>> welcome back to. >> the weekend. we begin this hour with a meltdown of global proportions. >> you're gambling with. >> the lives. >> of millions of people. you're gambling with. world war three. >> offer some words of appreciation for the united states of america and the president who's trying to save your country. >> if you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks. >> what you just witnessed was the embarrassing erosion of american credibility when it comes to standing with our allies and defending democracy abroad. in the hours since trump's heated oval office meeting with ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky, world leaders across the globe have made clear they stand with ukraine. john bolton, who was trump's national security adviser in his first term, thinks officials in this administration need to take a

stand as well. he's calling for mike wallace, trump's current national security adviser and secretary of state marco rubio to resign. former national security adviser john bolton. bolton joins us. mr. ambassador, thank you so much. calling for the resignations of these individuals, including the secretary of state. what does that say in your regard, in your view, and how should our european allies consider and understand what happened yesterday? >> well, thanks for having me. look, marco rubio. >> and michael waltz, during their political careers. really established. >> outstanding reputations. >> in my view of standing. >> for a. >> strong american. >> posture in the world. >> strong national. >> defense. >> looking out for american national interests. and i. was delighted that they joined. the trump administration's second term. and i'm. >> just saddened. >> for them. that they're put in a. >> position where they're.

>> where they're what i think. >> their basic. >> principles are, are. >> just being challenged on. >> on a. >> daily basis. i think we have to remember. >> that this this is. >> not the second month of. trump's tenure. >> as president. >> it's the. >> 50th month. >> so we've got a record to. >> look back on. >> and i. >> think at some point in. >> politics. >> maybe it's an old fashioned view. >> i think principle. >> has to. >> overcome ambition. >> or job security. >> i thought yesterday's display in the oval office. >> raised that point. >> i'm not. >> critical of them personally. >> as i say. >> i had to go through. >> this myself, as many other people did. >> i can. >> i. >> can say what i. >> think i would. >> do. >> and what i. >> hope they would do. >> i think they're going to come. >> to it at some point in their tenure. >> and this would have been a good time. >> to resign as a matter of principle. >> ambassador bolton, symone sanders, townsend i would assume i would. we don't know for sure, but i think it's safe to assume that secretary rubio is aware of your comments. yet last night,

he he did an interview on cnn where he actually questioned president zelensky's motives and said that donald trump is the only one in the war. i want to play that for you right now. >> my hope. >> is that this all can be reset and maturity can kick in, and. >> some pragmatism because this, this war tonight. people will. >> die in ukraine. >> tonight people. >> will die in this conflict. >> we're trying to bring an end to this conflict. >> which is unsustainable. >> it's an unsustainable. >> bloody war that has to. >> come to. >> an end. >> and right now. >> the only. >> leader in. >> the world. >> that can. >> even have a. >> chance of. >> bringing about. >> an end. >> to this is named president. >> donald trump. >> and we need to give him the opportunity to try and do that. and when you see efforts to impede. >> it, when you. >> deliberately when you tell someone, don't. >> say, let's not talk about these things. >> let's. >> not go in. >> this. direction because it makes. >> it harder for. >> us to engage and. they insist on doing it anyways. >> you start to wonder. you start to wonder. i don't. like to impugn. >> people's motives, but you start. >> to wonder. >> what's behind it. >> ambassador bolton, the thing that president zelensky was

talking about was the fact that there was a ceasefire in place prior to the invasion of ukraine in 2022. and so while everyone is talking about the need for a ceasefire here, he was trying to put on the table that it's not a cease fire can happen. and vladimir putin still may not respect it. >> well. >> of course not. >> look, vladimir. >> putin made. >> it. very clear in his. >> speech to the. >> state duma in russia. >> in. 2005 that he. >> was going to try. >> and recreate. >> the russian. >> empire, and he's been about. >> it ever. >> since then, with. >> more or less. >> success in one place or another. >> he has said publicly. >> and many. >> of his. >> advisers, that ukraine. >> is central. >> to their. >> vision of a renewed russian empire. >> so he didn't. >> get what. >> he. >> wanted in 2014. >> but the west. >> did not. effectively sanction him, did not make. >> it clear. >> this was unacceptable, and he. >> thought he could do. >> it again in 2022. he has not been. >> as successful. >> as he wants, but he doubled. >> the. >> amount of ukrainian territory under russian military control. i think. putin wants a ceasefire

now to rest, regroup, rebuild his army and he'll be back again in a matter of time. >> that's as clear. >> as anybody can make. >> what their strategic. >> doctrine is. >> john bolton, thank you for joining us this morning. we look forward to seeing you next time you're in dc. appreciate your time. >> thank you. last point is so, so critically important to understand what this is about. putin needs a pause to regroup. yeah. and donald trump is working overtime to give it to him. >> he's not just going to stop at ukraine like the americans are. like, why do we care about what happens in ukraine? because he's going to take ukraine. if we if we just sit back and let him do it, he'll take ukraine, and he's going to take the rest of what he believes to be the soviet union. he's going to go to the baltic states, he's going to go to poland. he's going to go. he's just this expansion is just going to continue. >> well, you have to understand that vladimir putin is a former kgb head. he is out of the old

soviet system. but that's not his endgame. his endgame is an imperialist russia. he has that that look back about where russia had imperial global power. that's one piece of this, the other piece. and this goes to what marco rubio says. i don't understand his secretary of state. how you even level up to donald trump is the only one to solve this problem. when donald trump is siding with one partner, one side of this equation, and that's putin. how do you have a negotiation between russia and ukraine when ukraine isn't in the room, you won't let them in the room to sit down at the table. so then you invite the president of ukraine into the oval office, and you put on this performative, you know, ganging up on him, which was all staged. i mean, everything was going fine. and then jd vance, who normally, as you know, simone.

>> would not speak. >> you will. not speak. >> vice president kamala harris would have never, after the president answered a question from reporters in the oval office, his office. >> thank you. >> the vice president. i don't care who the heck you are. you do not jump in and say, let me just say one thing. no, you can shut up, because this is my office. >> but he also, let's be clear, he wasn't. >> speaking on behalf of donald trump. he was speaking on. >> behalf. >> of. >> vladimir putin. >> well. >> listen, who benefited in. whatever you call what it is that we watch yesterday? just to. >> put a fine point on. >> that, this is what you have. >> the deputy chairman of. >> the. >> security council. >> of russia. >> saying yesterday, the insulin pig. that of course, he. >> is. >> referring to. zelensky there finally got. >> a proper slap. >> down in the. >> oval office and. >> at real donald. trump is right. >> the kyiv. >> regime is, quote, gambling with world war three. >> this is why zelensky it you can say you didn't like his body language. you can say the body language is maybe. and he rolled

his eyes and maybe that bothered donald trump. but exactly. >> watching watching this barrage of crazy come at him. >> and knowing what his people are dealing with. this is what he said to bret baier friday about respecting his civilians and his soldiers too much. the meeting this is after the meeting. after meeting honey, when you didn't go nowhere else, he was supposed to go to the hudson institute. canceled. yeah, he was on the phone with macron and some other folks, and he showed up at fox news. he pulled right up here outside. i was trying to pull out. i was like, oh, recording it like a tourist. i said, is this the he had a fire truck. let me tell you, president zelensky had a fire truck with him and an ambulance. they were ready. he pulls up, he comes upstairs and brett baer, and this is what he had to say about his soldiers. >> i think that's very important to understand what's going on. but i. i respect my soldiers and our people, our civilians who work and support our warriors. i can't say just stop. nobody will stop because everybody afraid that putin will come back

tomorrow. we want a just and lasting peace. it's true. we want security guarantees. >> these people know the enemy they're dealing with. they have history here. they were once part of the soviet satellite system. they understand how this. so if the people on the ground who are living through this war are saying, don't cut a deal with this guy because he's not going to honor it, they know. so listening to donald trump, who doesn't know, jack, i mean, by the way, how how are those toes doing? are they still hurting you, mr. president? because you don't know what warfare is? >> are you talking about the bone spur? >> the bone spurs, right. you don't have the bone spurs. so let's talk about that war experience. you don't you don't understand what this what this man has gone through and how he's been able to knit together the kind of victories, given the reticence, let's be honest, the reticence of the us throughout some of this as well. and now

the abject rejection of ukraine is ridiculous. >> i would just note at the end of the biden at the end of my first year in the biden administration, we had intelligence that everybody now knows about, that putin might invade after the invasion or even right before the u.s. offered zelenskyy the opportunity to leave, they said, we will get you out. he stayed. nobody believed that ukraine, the us, didn't even believe ukraine was going to last two weeks. they have lasted three years due to the resilience of the people and their president. god bless zelensky and i just hope the americans collectively pull it together and the federal government. >> and next. >> on that, the massive. >> legal setbacks. to elon musk's doge. >> this is. >> the weekend. >> the weekend. >> on msnbc. (man) got one more antoine. (vo) with usps ground advantage, it's like you're with us every step of the way. ♪

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bills. get a plan like gracie's. >> at. >> pumpkin care. >> we saw. >> elon musk take kind of a powerful role. did anything. >> about how he. >> wielded his power surprise you? >> do you not need. >> a katrina level type of response that is rebuilding to make. >> sure it won't happen again? >> you've obviously made a decision. >> to resign. are there any lessons. >> that can be. >> learned as. >> you're talking to members of your congregation. >> what do you tell them about how to stand up for their own moral beliefs, but still find grace in. >> this moment? >> as trump. >> gives elon. >> musk his blessing. >> to unilaterally. transform the federal workforce. >> and budget.

>> he's coming up. >> against some. >> powerful opposition. the rule. >> of law. on thursday. >> a judge ordered trump's. >> office. of personnel management to. >> rescind instructions. >> to federal agencies directing. >> mass layoffs of. >> federal workers. >> another judge blocked doj's access to the education department's. >> student loan systems. >> and a third judge. >> extended a. >> block on. >> the administration's freeze of grants. >> and loans, potentially. totaling trillions. >> of dollars. >> and these setbacks from. >> trump and company could be just the beginning. joining us now, former federal. prosecutor and. politico magazine senior. >> writer. >> and the president and. >> ceo of. >> democracy forward. skye perryman. >> her group has brought several lawsuits against. >> the trump administration. >> i. >> i understand why everybody is putting a lot of emphasis on the lawsuits, because that's an important thing to do. but do you do you think that there is potentially an overreliance on this being the wall that that stops the, you know, the bad

stuff from coming into our communities? you know, we were talking about how families are impacted. i don't i don't i have no faith that that's going to hold up because i've seen too much over the last few years of how it has been systematically contorted and broken down. and i think that there is that's what we're going to see here. so how how do those in the legal space continue to push to hold that up and to give it some resilience so it does become that bulwark against the encroachment and the deconstruction of our government? >> i think that is. >> an. >> excellent question, something i. >> think a. >> lot about, because you're right, the legal side of. >> this will be uncertain. >> and it will be time consuming. right? >> but groups like sky's. >> are doing. incredibly important work. these cases need to be filed. they need to take their time. and you're right to

be skeptical of. >> the supreme court. >> which frankly, literally just kind of bailed trump out of prison last summer. right. so that skepticism is warranted. my view, and, you know, as a. political folks, i assume you share the view, the nearest the most proximate way to stop this would be if a handful. >> of. >> republicans in either the senate or the. house or both just banded together and said, no more. we're not confirming anyone else. we're not passing any authorization or spending authorization bills. this has to stop. that would put an end to this probably pretty quickly. >> yeah, yeah. >> and that won't. happen because. >> have you heard from any republicans quietly who say, hey, keep going. >> i have not, but i'll. >> tell you, they're hearing. >> they're hearing both quietly and quite loudly in their districts. because when you do things like what we've had to stop at democracy forward, we've had to stop the federal essential services freeze or the federal funding freeze. we've had to stop a range of these unlawful and disastrous. >> attempts by. >> doj's to run roughshod over people and communities. that

affects everybody, and. >> it affects. >> people in blue states, and it affects people in red states, too. and so you're seeing people show up in red districts across the country saying, what is this about elon musk. having access to my personal data? what is this about me wondering if i am going to be able to rely. >> on meals. >> on wheels? >> what are you doing? we didn't elect this. we didn't vote for this. and so i think that there is a reckoning coming. i think the courts are doing a great job in giving the. >> time and the. >> exposure and stopping a lot of this harm in its tracks. and i think that. >> you know. >> i think those that are going to double down on the elon musk trump duo are going to face a lot of political accountability. >> one of the interesting. >> things that happened this week was that you had a judge. ordered doj's employees to testify in a lawsuit against the trump administration. >> what would you. >> ask them? >> oh, gosh. where do you. >> how did you get hired? what were there any background checks done? what sorts of authorizations within.

>> the. >> government did you get to access? all. access all of this information. what is your work plan? who's running the organization? what authorizations are you using to do any of this? if any, are lawyers vetting any of it? if so, who? what have they said? they're endless questions. but i just want to say, as we're talking about sort of the, you know, the stop and go nature of litigation, this is very rare at this stage of a litigation to be able to put government witnesses under oath, potentially and potentially put them on the stand, that sort of thing is really rare at this stage of litigation. but it will, you know, if it moves in the right direction. if, for instance, there's an evidentiary hearing, at the end of the day that's real people, real faces, real names who are going to have to defend this. >> stuff and take our case against the trump administration and doj's, where they're all your cases, you know. >> talk about your efforts, tell, tell, tell folks why, what you're doing, along with the community of folks in this space, why to ankush's point

about organizations out there doing this, not just relying on the lawyers to kind of push push this. >> i mean, we want people to. >> know. >> that there are lawyers and there are people working day and night. i mean, some people are wondering where the pushback is. well, you're seeing it in the courts and democracy forward. but at so many organizations and our state ags, you can learn more about this on a website called democracy 2020 5.org, where we've outlined all of that pushback for the american people and all of that's going on. we're seeing people in communities show up. we have had people have to show up in the middle of the night to get on file in court to stop things like the funding freeze and essential services across the country. we're seeing large organizations, the national council of nonprofits, the american public health association. i mean, these are big organizations, and we're seeing smaller community based organizations all aligning together, getting into court and making a real difference for people. and i think the question

really is that difference is important, but it's going to take. >> a continued. >> effort in the courts, as well as a continued effort by people in communities and, yes, congress, to stop this runaway executive branch. >> so congress hasn't done anything. >> thank you. >> they have not. >> done anything. >> the republicans. >> in congress have just ceded their authority as a co-equal branch of government. why? what is wrong with them? have the republicans called anybody? >> look, this is a remarkable aspect of what's going on right now. you know, i hate to be high minded about it, but we have a country with three branches of government. >> separation of. we thought we did. >> checks and balances, and it is essential part of our democracy that each of these branches engages in a little healthy competition and stands up for the institutional prerogatives. i have not seen in my lifetime congress relinquished so much authority so quickly. sometimes explicitly acquiescing from what you hear in republicans in congress. and i look around and i say, like,

if trump can spend whatever he wants, if he can use tariffs to raise his revenue, why does congress need to even exist? what is mike johnson even doing negotiating something if it's just paper that trump can ignore? >> yeah. and that and that's that's the key part of it. and then even within that trump orbit to focus and seek control and power to one man to sit over top of it all, i'd like to play. elon musk defending doj's having access to your social security information or yours. >> as it. >> is, there are. >> tens of thousands of federal employees that have access. >> already to. >> the system. >> anyone from. >> doj has to go through the same vetting process that those those federal employees went through. so there's not like some. >> unvetted random situation. >> okay, i'll say it. he's full of crap because there is everything he just said is a lie because it is random. it is not vetted. you're not vetting the

19 year old who's sitting atop of the system right now making these decisions and all those, you know, tens of thousands of federal employees that have access already to the system. dude, seriously. but even if they did, if that number were a real number, they were vetted. they filled out all the federal paperwork, the fbi checked their background. you just don't randomly give access to the system to just somebody. to somebody because they have a federal i.d. that's the problem. >> there's no vetting. i mean. thank you. when we get into court, often, the lawyers from the department of justice can't answer the questions about. what doe is doing. by the way, that's why we're having. >> to go to. >> discovery, because they can't answer a lot of the questions about what's happening. we you know, you've seen the social security administrator resign. the acting administrator resign as to what's going on. we have a case on that. you'll be hearing more from us next week on that. and so i think that this is just it's patently false. and the question i do think is, you know, where are the people?

where are the people putting country over party? and who decided that it was acceptable in this country and acceptable for so many people across the country to have their futures in the hands of elon musk, who clearly doesn't care about the american people's well-being. the stuff that noah i mean, you guys were, i think, talking about that earlier, but are we going to have information about major weather disasters anymore? i mean, this is not hypothetical. it's not academic. there's an article in the new york times saying that they planned this over a dinner party in silicon valley. i mean, this is not something for dinner party conversation. this is about real people's lives. and it's really high time for folks to it's a five alarm fire. >> i want to talk. >> about. one of one of the layers of oversight here. and that is. hampton dellinger, head of the office of special. >> counsel. >> which, as you know, has a lot of different functions. >> one of. >> their functions is to protect whistleblowers. >> and to protect. >> folks who want to come forward. >> and do the right thing. trump administration fires dellinger.

you got two different sets of judges that say they put a freeze on that. the freeze goes to today on that firing. so can. >> you both bring. >> us up to speed on the status of employment? and also what happens if that person who's. >> supposed to protect. >> government employees who are whistleblowers suddenly is replaced with a trump loyalist? well, right now the courts have held, you know, there's orders in place to keep him in the position as it should be. it's high stakes. we filed a complaint before the office of special counsel. it concluded that the probationary employees had been, you know, fired in violation of the law and has asked for an investigation and issued an important finding there. and so there's a lot at stake for not just federal employees, but for people across the country. when you have watchdogs and positions like this office of special counsel really in the balance, seeking to be politicized. there is just a lot at stake. so we're, you know, working both before the

office of special counsel, before this board called the merit systems protection board, which is the other board. that is where trump has also tried to fire cathie harris on that board. to both protect federal employees, but really to protect the american people, because these because of what these employees do. this is not again, it's not hypothetical. we want to know when there's a natural disaster coming to our communities. we want to know how we can access the meals on wheels, you know, situation that you need to access in a rural community in the middle of virginia, right. we want to know about these things. and that's what federal employees do and deliver every single day. and so it's very high stakes. god bless. so good to see you. >> thanks so. >> much for being. >> with us. >> thank you. coming up, you remember. >> those boxes of documents trump had piled in bathrooms and ballrooms at mar a lago? >> you know, the ones. >> that launched. >> a criminal investigation. >> well, he is getting some of them back. that is next on the weekend.

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>> storm surge for those 50 and up, get two unlimited lines for $30 each with consumer cellular. >> the white house says the fbi has returned at least some of the documents that belong to the government that were seized from mar a lago during the agency's 2022 court authorized search of the property. here is the video showing white house staffers that work for you government bureaucrats loading roughly 15 boxes of documents, again, that belong to the united states government onto air force one. yesterday, that court authorized search was part of the federal investigation into trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left the white house and his alleged obstruction of federal officials attempts to retrieve them. it is unclear if the classified material the fbi seized was returned to trump. >> well, you all know the goal. >> the boxes don't belong to him. they belong to the federal government. >> that's bottom line, number

one. but the goal is to undo everything that has been done. so whether it's related to lawsuits, whether it's related to, you know, trump, what, you know, policy that trump didn't like in the biden era, what everything is to be undone. so yeah, it doesn't surprise me that he gets these documents back. why wouldn't he get them back? >> documents and. >> documents don't belong. he said he. and the only reason they're going back is not like the, you know, government says. oh, here. my bad. take them back. he specifically made that request. he wants them back. now. what he's doing with them. what's in those documents? we don't know because no one is reading out anything that this administration is doing. we don't know. they're acting in the blind on a lot of these things. and even with respect to the little nugget, you know, about how some of these decisions are made over, you know, wine and steaks at a dinner table to crush the federal workforce. you know,

again, there's no there's no expansive conversation from from this administration about why he got those back. what documents are in those boxes? >> well, i would. >> layer on to your analysis, which i think is right, that everything is about the undoing. >> that is also about the. >> optics and about the narrative. >> so this is. >> what he's saying last night on on truth social, the department of. >> justice has just returned. >> the. >> boxes that. >> capitol deranged jack smith made such a. >> big deal. >> about their being brought. >> down to florida. >> and will someday be a part of the trump presidential library. justice finally went out. >> i did absolutely. nothing wrong. >> this was merely an attack. >> on a political opponent that obviously. >> did not work well. justice in our. >> country will. >> now be restored. i mean, it reminds. >> me of. >> like i am your retribution, right? >> that is. >> he's taking back. >> his boxes. he's taking back the country. >> and i'm a. >> little. torn on even like the visual of putting the boxes. >> on the plane because he want. he wants to see it. he wants. >> to say. >> i won. >> he wants to. >> say. >> i was. >> right. >> all along. >> it's all about. it's all

about these images and the narrative. >> he's always got to prove himself. >> i'm just like, because y'all, you don't need to steal to have the documents brought to your house, to have them be a part of the presidential library. no, that's actually not. >> that's why the presidential library thing is a. >> it's. literally like, not true. but he, he he believes that and not even believes the president understands that the people who follow him literally will take him at his word, even though he has been shown to have been a liar and lied to them many different times. they will take him at his word. so he says these things on his social media site because he understands the need to corral the narrative, and if he can control what the narrative, he can control how people perceive a situation and therefore he's controlling the people. it's actually quite, quite scary. >> all right. next, trump's lackey is just demoted. >> several senior federal prosecutors. we're going to discuss. >> why they were targeted. >> why they were targeted. >> this is the weekend.

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>> i feel like i'm a completely different person. >> get growing at nutrafol. >> com. >> tuesday, president trump addresses both. >> chambers of congress. >> rachel maddow and team will break down the speech and its impact at home and abroad. >> the joint address to congress. >> special coverage. >> tuesday at eight on msnbc. as the trump. >> administration forges ahead during these critical first 100 days. rachel maddow is on five nights a week. >> more than ever. this is not a time to pretend this isn't happening. >> the rachel maddow show weeknights at nine on msnbc. >> the trump justice department has demoted some of the most senior federal prosecutors who brought criminal charges against trump allies and handled some of the most significant cases stemming from the capitol insurrection. the demoted prosecutors include a group that sent to prison, leaders of the far right proud boys and oath keepers for spearheading the january 6th attack. interim u.s.

attorney ed martin is transferring these veteran prosecutors to pursue misdemeanor offenses in d.c. superior court. earlier in the week, ed martin described himself as trump's lawyer. reminder the justice department is not the personal law firm of the president. joining us now, former federal prosecutor and former justice department lawyer brendan ballou. welcome, mr. >> mr. ballou. thank you for being here. i have talked to a number of people who have either been fired outright or who are currently placed on administrative leave. and one person i spoke with is a general counsel at an agency. they don't want to say which one because they'll be found out quite easily. who is career nonpolitical administrative leave with the promise of being fired? and i said, what do you want people to know? what should people know? and they said that we are living through a coup. that, to me is very chilling. is that the feeling inside the justice department? >> i mean. >> whether or not you describe. >> it as a coup, this is a.

fundamental change in what the department of justice is supposed. >> to be. >> you know. >> after watergate, you. >> know, the department of justice really reformed itself. >> to become. >> a much. >> more nonpartisan institution, to try to build up its own credibility. >> and i think we've. >> seen in literally a matter of weeks that credibility get demolished. >> and i'll just say. >> you know, the department of justice isn't like nasa that has rockets. it's not like the army. >> you know, that has soldiers. >> the only thing. >> it has. >> is its credibility. >> so once. >> that's lost, it's going to. >> be very hard to. >> get back. >> it's very. >> clear who loses in all of this. and i've, you know, want us where you said the only people who benefit from these actions will be billionaire criminals, and for them, this will be a golden age. how quickly can that golden age come to be for those folks? >> it seems like a matter of weeks. you know, you look at what this department has been doing, things that maybe this administration doesn't want people to focus on, like ending investigations under the foreign corrupt practices act, which prohibits foreign bribery,

ending investigations under the foreign agents registration act, which prohibits acting as a unregistered agent of a foreign power, shifting prosecutors from the antitrust division, which investigates price fixing and other crimes to defend this administration's allegedly illegal proposals. so what we're seeing is a dismantling of much of the infrastructure that's used to go after rich criminals. >> we were talking a little bit ago, brennan, about the judicial part of this and how our courts are. you know, a lot of folks are coming to think that this is the last beachhead. this is where it all comes, and this is going to be the bulwark. and as as a prosecutor having to stand, you know, stand before judges and make that case, you know firsthand how important they are and how dispassionate they are. i mean, they're looking at the

facts. they're looking at the law, and they're listening to the arguments and making making judgments based on that. but that's not enough. with the elon musk and mike lee's of the world who put out a tweet in which musk says the only way to restore rule of the people in america is to impeach judges. no one is above the law, including judges. that is what it took to fix el salvador. same applies to america. and then this little ditty from mike lee. corrupt judges should be impeached and removed. pass it on. if you agree. like you know you're passing the hat on something, it should be noted that he filed articles of impeachment on thursday against the us district judge, a court judge who ruled that the trump administration could not suspend or cancel u.s. foreign aid. that judge got materials in front of him that

told him what he needed to do. and so you have representative andy ogles filing articles of impeachment against him for making an impartial decision based on the facts and the law. talk about the chilling effect that this has, both on prosecutors and judges who still are trying to do the right thing. >> yeah. so two things. one is, you know, you talked about the articles of impeachment. that is about judge john bates in the district of columbia, who was appointed by george w bush, is an extremely experienced judge, a well respected one. and the case that representative ogles was trying to impeach this guy for was one where judge bates said that it was improper for the government to take down public health information on hiv, sexually transmitted infections, contraception, in vitro fertilization. you know, he was, by all appearances, following the facts and the law here. but this goes to the second point, which is i think

what these folks are trying to do is prime their audience for this administration to ignore judicial orders. that's what they are trying to prepare people for. >> yeah, that sounds about right. i mean, you have the fbi. i mean, the number two at the fbi is now a podcaster, and i ain't got nothing against podcasters. but lord jesus. >> shouldn't be the number two at the fbi. >> i don't think so. and apparently, neither do some fbi agents. nbc reporting says fbi agents expressed shock and dismay over the naming of right wing podcaster. number two post on his podcast. former secret service agent dan bongino. bongino, who once called the fbi irredeemably corrupt, thanked the president for the appointment and suggested that he is prepared to step out of his role as a maga warrior. but even as he did so, he repeated the baseless charge that the justice department had been weaponized, a claim he has frequently brandished to criticize the agency he now will help lead. >> yeah, yeah. i mean, for one thing, the number two had a position in the fbi historically, i think always has been a career fbi agent. so this

is a change from precedent. and i'll just say this seems counterproductive to this administration's stated objectives. if you are serious about going after transnational crime or drug cartels or foreign influence, you would appoint an experienced agent or prosecutor. the fact that they have appointed a podcaster suggests that they are not particularly serious about these problems, that perhaps they don't even really care about whether these problems get solved. >> oh, let's talk a little bit about the capitol rioters. and the work you did on the case and the fact that they are now out here, back on the streets. what does that mean for america's national security? what does it mean for republicans in congress who talk about how scared they are to stand up and do the right thing, because they know that a right wing mob has been unleashed? >> yeah, i think this was certainly the effect, probably the intention of these pardons in that, you know, historically in america, we haven't had to deal with state aligned militias since the ku klux klan. that is

now changing. we have approximately 1600 people who have been pardoned for potentially violent actions of the capitol in the name of this president, and they have now been placed functionally above the law. so, you know, political violence is something that we haven't really had to experience in america for a generation or two that's coming to an end. >> mr. ballou, y'all wouldn't believe, but this is one of his first television appearances. thank you so much for your insight. we hope you will come back for adin ballou. appreciate your time. quick programing note folks on tuesday. be sure to tune in to msnbc for our special coverage of trump's joint address to congress. ari melber and jen psaki kick things off at 6 p.m. eastern with a preview of the address. then, at eight, they'll join rachel maddow and the team for the coverage of the speech. and at midnight, the three of us will bring you reaction from across the country from midnight to 2 a.m. that's tuesday right here on msnbc.

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seeing in washington that day. >> deadline white house, weekdays from 4 to 6 on msnbc. >> wondered what your taxpayer. >> dollars are going to there? >> going to. >> pam bondi prioritizing the release of the epstein files, which didn't. there was actually not anything in there that we already didn't have access to. i was trying to figure out why this bothered me so much. the times summed it up this way. the document, released on thursday, was a moment that said much about the trump administration, the two most powerful law enforcement officials in the country, miss bondi and mr. patel, were responsible for overseeing vital national security and criminal investigations, chose to prioritize a long concluded case to conservative media and the obsessive core of trump's supporters, who see the case as nefarious, unfinished business. >> yeah. >> this is what. >> trump had nothing to do with any of it. that's basically what that i mean, that's. >> well. >> but it doesn't mitigate the fact that he used to hang out with him. >> that's what i'm saying. like,

i. >> don't care. >> what the documents said. >> we have the visuals. you stand in there doing your party together. i mean, that's what it was. so. okay. >> this is serious. like people, there were people who were hurt in this process, right? take this seriously. instead, they come out with the binders, thumping them like this, and it's like, no, if you if you actually care about the problem, focus on the problem. >> go back to this, this whole thing. everything in this government is about justifying donald trump. it is about justifying all the, you know, that the allegations against him were lies. all right. so we're going to we're going to prove that. and it is all about relitigating everything that we have learned about this man that has tarnished his image with maga. and so this is where we are. and this is to your point, this is not about the care and concern about young women who were brutalized and abused and the fact that he hung out with

the guy who did the brutalizing and abusing. that's not about there's no accountability for that from donald trump. he never once came out and said, you know what? i didn't know that was going on with epstein, and i rebuke it. i know we have the video. so look, they pull out their boxes and their papers and they think that solves the problem. we're done. >> well, and now pam bondi is spending time pointing to her blame at the fbi for withholding the documents because it did not turn. you know, they hyped it a lot. they gave it to these, you know, right wing social media influencers. honestly, i just it just where lisa started. what are our tax dollars being spent on. definitely not trying to lower the price of eggs. no. they're being spent on chasing conspiracy theories about jeffrey epstein. they're being spent on firing, inflicting trauma. okay, on the federal workforce and golf at mar-a-lago. the president playing golf today. of course, they're being spent on everything. but you know what? some of these folks said that

they voted for. so i would just like to say, america, perhaps we have to have a very hard conversation with ourselves. okay, okay. there are people that are like, oh, i did not i didn't think he was going to do this. the rest of that sentence is to me because he was very clear about what he was going to do. and i would just like to ring the bell. ding ding ding. for the 92%. that said, we tried to tell y'all, so now we need to. it wasn't about the eggs. it couldn't have been about the eggs. look what they're doing right now. >> i just want to say executive producer just got in our ear to say that according to the pool, donald trump is, in fact. >> stop it. is he playing golf. >> or is it a day that ends. >> in y. of course. come on. >> well, do you. >> do you have a sense of what we're going to hear on tuesday? >> oh, this is going to be look, okay. the visual is republicans will wet their pants over and over again. and explosive applause for every little comma, period and exclamation point out of trump's mouth. trump will stand up there, basically, and do a relitigation of the last

eight years. >> he's going to say that we got the that we closed the border. you know, biden ruined the country. we're fixing the country. and it's all going to be a lot of bluster. but i just again, the people in the streets at these town halls and the folks on conservative talk radio, they are real. and i don't think they can ignore it. >> we'll see how real they are. well, coming up next on velshi, ali will be joined by someone with a unique connection to trump and zelensky's turbulent history, alexander vindman. that's coming up at 10 a.m. eastern right here on msnbc. eastern right here on msnbc. we'll be right back, folks. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis held me back. but now with skyrizi, i'm all in. thanks to skyrizi, i saw dramatically clearer skin. and many even achieved 100% clear skin. don't use if allergic. serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur. before treatment, get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flu-like symptoms or vaccines.

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plus, ask how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us. face on trump and elon musk's mass firing spree across the federal government. janice mandel, one of the officials fired from the office of personnel management, is going to join us. we're also going to talk to new mexico attorney general raul torres about the evolving legal strategy to fight d.o.j. that starts back here tomorrow, 8 a.m. eastern. be sure to follow us on social media at the weekend msnbc velshi continues our coverage now. good morning. >> good morning, friends. great to see you all. and as i sometimes like to do, i reach in and say, is there a weekend person who can join me on tv today? and simone got the short straw on that one. so i'm grateful to you because we're going to talk about something, even though michael should get it, given that we're a