let me go back to andrew weissman. bviously, is that the search warrant was last resort, they tried other methods, including subpoena to get this information? >> absolutely. when the story broke, one of the things i talked about and others as well is that merrick garland had to have said why do we have to use a search warrant because there are other ways to get information which is voluntarily have something turned over. a subpoena. so there had to be a very good answer why you would take this step. you go by search warrant when you cannot trust that the person served in the subpoena will actually comply with it. so it makes sense that we're learning they did try that route. and they probably have -- that insider that we're hearing about probably told them the story that they're hearing that everything was complied with and turned over was not true and particularly if this is sensitive national security information that still was extant in mar-a-lago. it really meant that the attorney general, to protect american nation

i want to bring in andrew weissman to discuss. er fbi general counsel and former senior member of the mueller probe, now a law professor at nyu. andrew, i can tell you since this news broke, my twitter feed is a flutter with people saying, we need weissman. so i'm just going to sit back, give you the mic, walk us through what your take aways are tonight. america wants andrew weissman. >> yeah. yeah. good evening. and good morning. so a quick read of this on the boring side but it's important for the judge, they really get the law -- it's dead on, as to why executive privilege doesn't work, why there's no special needed for the handful of attorney/client documents. all of that is somewhat less important in terms of big picture. let's just turn to the key here, which is that the department got approval from the d.c. chief judge barrel howell to review some grand jury information. and they do. they also go ahead -- >> i don't know what that means. >> so, goods to interrupt me. grand jury material is protected by a rule that the govern

andrew weissman. wedr appreciate your time. >>> n.well, after the search of mar-a-lago yesterday, trump supporters on the worst parts of the internet started mur merings of a, quote, civil war. i wouldqu love to write that ki of talk as typical internet hot air, but after january 6th, i don't know if we have that luxury. we'll have that story next. f e t luxury we'll have that story next the telephone! turns out moms are always right, and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage - go with the general. when hurting feet make you want to stop, it's dr. scholl's time. our custom fit orthotics use foot mapping technology to give you personalized support, for all-day pain relief. find your relief in store or online. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance find your relief through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insuran

. >> andrew weissman, speaking of january 6th, i think there's a lot of surprise around that of all the investigations that would lead to a search of one of donald trump's homes that it would be one surrounding classified documents. there are so many investigations involving the president right now and some pretty serious stuff. not to say this is not. but trying to overturn the 2020 election. are you confident that these are all separate moves? >> i am. but i don't think we should be surprised that it would be a concern over national security and particularly if it turns out these are highly compartmentalized documents, that that's the kind of thing that merrick garland and lisa monaco and chris wray would be saying, that that is -- that has to be something that is vindicated. that is extremely important. and to your comments with neal earlier about not repeating the sins of jim comey, it is really important to remember here that it is donald trump who made the search public. not the fbi. not merrick garland. so when you have the target of the search making it pun, the interest of sayi

andrew weissman can you bring us up to date on what more you are seeing in this extraordinary affidavit? >> following up on that point about kash patel, what is pretty clear here is when we get to paragraphs 52 and 53 of this 37-page document, what the government is doing is they are alerting the court to what is called brady information. they are alerting the court to information that could be on the other side so that is why they attach a letter from one of the president's counsel and why they make a reference as noted to this interview where kash patel says these records could be de classified. and that the president had the power to declassify them. and so it was improper and misleading to suggest that he was actually storing classified information at mar-a-lago because he claimed that these were declassified. what is notable is after that statement in paragraph 53 the affidavit has an enormous number of blacked out paragraphs that go on from 53 all the way to 62. where clearly the government is disputing that interpretation. they are still alerting the court to it. they have the da

we know what the agenda is forss andrew weissman and so on . i'm very, very extraordinarily disappointed in merrick garland because here soraor continues to make these statements like he did in abandoned case that this action reflects the equal application of the law. that's just nonsense. wewe know that it doesn't we knw the examples that it's a distinguished by and it's reprehensible, frankly. but the bottom line is , as you said from the start, we're not just speculating here aboutbl possible misconduct in the past. we have the fisa warrant situation. we know the misrepresentations and omissions were made to the most secretive in the most secretive and intrusive process in the country, the fisa court. so the american people deserve transparency here. open how we have to. yeah, yeah. they can't hide behind the national security implications. this broad language can i see rt through that, mike .nt and we should point out that the national archives official who notified the dojs, the probe, they declined to do the same thing overr the clintoe e

we turn now to a very special guest here to join me one-on-one, andrew weissman. has much experience as a prosecutor, fbi general counsel, senior prosecutor of the mueller probe and someone who does care about the independent prosecution of the law in america. thanks for being here on this big news night. >> you're welcome. glad to be here. >> your view of this news, what the search entails, and that final point that some people do damage to outrun the law for a long time but not necessarily forever. >> so, i'll do the last point at the end. but i had sort of two reactions to what happened. the first is i was really struck by the fact that this had to be done by a search warrant. there are lots of ways that government can obtain evidence and information. sometimes it's just voluntary, it's on consent. sometimes it's by subpoena. very often it's by subpoena. if you're trying to get documents from a reputable person or reputable company, you give them a subpoena and they collect the documents and they produce them. >> reputable, yeah. >> to do something by search wa

that's an andrew weissman acolytes an going on for years back .ndrew weissman clearly hadea the genda. we saw it during the mother stage. we saw it in his writings afterwards. get trump. i track a lot of this back , quite frankly. i've said before to jerry nadler saying during the trumpmp administration s, we can't trust the american voters. so these leaks are cheating the american public.eggi they're bad for donald trump.ngr they're worse are worse f for tn people. now harming another followw up article tonight inng "the washington post" that there had been like 18 months of efforts by the national archives. various email, of course, on this again, magically endscog up in u "the washington post" cited that they just couldn't get these records back and thatk the records belonged in the archives. and yet the trump team, for whatever reason, was not delivering. what about that tonight? well,el to my knowledge, the the federal librarians have never made this kind of effort with prior presidents. and indeed, as i mentioned yesterday on your show, the

. >> yes, but andrew weissman, in the last few weeks in the reporting, it was reported that trump overas more concerned about who is in his inner circle. he voiced concerns that maybe mar-a-lago was bugged. if it were bugged, and he didn't do anything, who cares, people will just hear you arguing with their spouse and gossiping. >> i don't think it's a bug, but it's clear from this filing that they say that there was evidence that was developed, that made them understand that after that june timeframe, that should've been turned over already. the department of justice in the fbi went to get in june, developed evidence that still has not everything despite the certification. yes, there will be a lot of speculation in the media, but i want to take it back stephanie to one thing you are asking in the discussion, about having to appoint a special master. i think it's really important to separate out the executive privilege issue, and the attorney client privilege issue, in the filing the department says yes, there is a small number of potential attorney-client privilege documents. their cl

next, they went on a two year partisan witch hunt led by devout democrat andrew weissman and staff with clinton donors director wray never held one of those people accountable. he made no institutional changes, no reforms at all. is where we are today. and that's why people don't trust this one . once great law institution. and that is thee fbi. the justice department, by theth way, just labelede concerned parents speaking out at school board meetings as potential domestic terrorists that may need to be investigated at the request of the democrats. they have also seemingly ignored the dozens of attacks on pro-lifefe pregnancy centers. they declined to prosecute violent far riotersrs who attacked federal buildings in the summer ofriho 2020. that courthouse in portland, thousands of cops injured, ed dozens of americans dead. they did nothing to stopin the doxing and harassment of supreme court justices. even though we haveve a law against that prohibiting thatye they barely yawn when chuck schumer threatened these b same justices by name on the steps of the u.s. supremeps court, they coul

. >> what about what andrew weissman was saying. donald trump himself. watch out for what the d.a. might do with charges against the former president. >> i would be more cautious than he is here. i don't think it's that unusual to have a plea agreement that looks like this one in the state system and so you know, i don't think that it necessarily indicates that the d.a. is doing in one direction or another with this. i also don't think it will be impossible for him to testify against the organization without implicating donald trump because in order for donald trump to be personally criminally liable, he would have had to have known, agreed or in some way participated in this scheme and if allen weisselberg is not ready to point his finger at him, that's a much more difficult prosecution for the d.a. and i'm not sure that he would bring it. so i think we would have seen further cooperation, further information about cooperation and maybe more of a discount in his sentence if he were implicating donald trump, but i don't think -- i t

betsy woodruff swan, andrew weissman and asha rangoppa, thank you for spending some time with us.cally saying the next president, he's above the law. the republicans coming to the defense of donald trump and vowing to investigate the fbi and worse. more on all of this after a quick break. store your things until you're ready. then we deliver to your new home - across town or across the country. pods, your personal moving and storage team. ♪ so i climbed into the cab, and then i settled down inside ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man ♪ ♪ of travel i've had my share, man ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere ♪ ♪♪ we just moved. so there's millions of - dahlias in bloom. over nine acres. when we started, we grew a quarter of an acre. now i'm taking on new projects on the regular. we always dreamed of having this property, so - i want to make my yard look as beautiful as butters, here. butters. how are you doing over there? we do both vegetables and large mouth bass. yep. we've got tons of them, don't we, buddy? there are millions of ways to make the most of your land. lear

. >> and to that very point, andrew weissman, could something have happened. i know thiss speculave that would suggest what that might be, but something outside, knowing that he had the documents, how important it was to get the docents back. what led merrick garland to make this enormous decision, could they have picked up indications from a foreign power that was some indication from the documents and donald trump, was he using them for something. it's hard to imagine what got the justi department from june, when they were sll negotiating with him, to say, okay, wre going in. >> so, with that caveat, this is definitely speculative. i have the exact same intuition, andrea, for somebody as thorough as merrick garland and lisa monaco to approve is, they would have had to have information that there was extent at mar-a-lago documents of such singular national security interest to the united states that that overwhelmed all of the other interests here. that those documents had to be repatriated back to the government. that they should not be in the hands of a pri

by far not the most, shall we say, aggressive style prosecutor that biden could have picked, andrew weissman, a mueller deputy, is very respected. he's known as independent but his style is more aggressive. biden picked this kind of person. it seems at mar-a-lago they felt like they had one over on him. does that fit into this? were they wrong? what happened in your view after so much time of deference? >> well, we saw there were some boxes that were turned over, and then there was an additional request, right? so that suggests that the government was not -- did not think they had everything. and then after that subpoena, of course we then have a search warrant later which suggests that they had some information that they still didn't have everything after a grand jury subpoena. and i think the message that trump's team got was because he's the former president, that they were going to treat him with kid gloves. they were going to give him special deference. and they were for a period of time. they were doing it precisely for this moment, for the moment when trump's team was going to cry fou

andrew weissman, people may remember, he's a former investigator in the mueller probe, high profile name at that time, he posted an interesting question that has not been answered amid all the noise surrounding this, which is why trump still has not said why he took the documents, why he did not return them, and what he did and what he did with them and/or was planning to do with them. the fact that he has not answered those questions or offered that up as he's been talking quite a bit, what do you think of that? >> it doesn't give confidence, does it? look, whatever the hypothesis is, it could be that he sees them as his play thing to show trophy to show friends, it could be that he is selling them somewhere, either way i agree with phil, it was a tough decision in a way, but it ultimately is simple. when they wouldn't give up the documents and then lied about them, eventually garland, who every day makes tough but in this sense simple decisions, had to make the call we must get the documents back. whatever else we do, whatever happens to the criminal investigation, we must get the docu

take mueller prosecutor andrew weissman. >> when i read this today, my big overarching takeaway -- i know this is prediction and speculation, but i say it's an educated one -- is that the former president is going to be prosecuted. >> mm. educated view from someone who's done these kinds of cases, but that may or may not happen. we don't know. what we do know is trump allies are concerned about what weissman is saying. they agree with that perspective, or think it's more possible now than it used to be. and also apparently some of them think they might scare prosecutors out of doing what they would otherwise do, out of this potentially likely indictment. here's an actual lawyer representing trump coming to sanctionable conduct if you take the word mayhem as a reference to violence. >> at the end of the day i think that would cause so much mayhem. that would be a monstrous mistake. >> mayhem. now, why do trump's allies sound like this? it comes all the way from the top. recently -- i'm not talk about any throwback trump history. in this recent controversy, trump sent an improper messa

andrew weissman, an attorney part of the mueller prosecution team or investigator there said this, the release of the redacted affidavit provides further clarity on why attorney general merrick garland took the extraordinary step of approving the search of certain locations in mar-a-lago. the short version is nothing else worked and top-secret information was at stake. he's clearly a critic of the president. ren, he says it lays out the timeline, the back-and-forth of the documents, the government feeling it wasn't getting the real story, wasn't getting the runaround. he says the affidavit makes the case. >> i don't agree with that. there was cooperation. what we saw actually in the affidavit is there was a lot of back-and-forth human communication. we knew they received some more documents. they went through those documents. they probably compared that to what they thought had left the white house from mar-a-lago at the beginning when he left at the end of his presidency, so i disagree with that assessment. i think it's easy to say, oh, they found classified. that's it. it's an open-a

and then third, they have to decide that it's not enough as andrew weissman was talking about before,dinary request for these documents, illegal subpoena. you've got to say, well if we do that ordinary request, the documents are gonna turnout being destroyed, he's gonna lie, , he's gonna go down the fire escape, gonna go down the toilet, in the fireplace, god knows where else trump will put them, but all these things will happen. those of the substantive three questions enough to happen. then procedural early, you have to say we have to go to the attorney general of the united states to authorize estates search to authorize for the first time. i have to have the eyes in the i dotted and the t's crossed up and down 50 different ways and yet lawrence they did it. there's one other thing i would be thinking of is, do i want to authorize the search not knowing what is in the safe? not knowing what's in mar-a-lago? because you don't want to authorize a search, have it on the cameras and then have the agents find nothing in turn up empty handed. that leads me to think that there might be so

however, to go into the andrew weissman case from the press release today, the manhattan district attorney's office is making very clear that the investigation not only into the trump organization, but the former president, is very much ongoing. >> tom, suzanne, and rebecca, thank you very much. we appreciate and that is going to do it for me today. hallie jackson picks up our coverage right now. >>> we are following that breaking news with the judge saying he's not prepared to keep all the secrets secret forever. cracking open the door to unseal at least part of the affidavit. but first, telling the doj to propose redactions saying they have a week to do it. we've got our nbc news team and legal analysts standing by. also, new comments from mitch mcconnell. why his prediction for the midterms now catching some attention with our new reporting on where republicans are and are not spending campaign cash. >>> plus, the new strategy from the white house on the monkeypox emergency, planning to roll out more vaccines asap, but is it too little too late? >>> and the man accused of attacking rushdi

i want you to listen tou to li s is crooked deep state actorke o andrew weissman's take on the affidavite when i readt, this today, my big overarching g takeaway is that the former president is going tobe be prosecuted. ecuted i don't see how you cannot give in it this information.w yo i don't see how you avoid that conclusion in this case. seconds >> senator , we have 20 seconds here. >> is he h right? no, he was involved in the corrupt russian collusion hoax. he's a thoroughly corrupt individual. and hopefully at some point in time the truth come out ual and n. uth come out >> senator , also really fast.et i know you're on the campaign trail. >> any last words on that?n ron johnsothn, the .com, they spent 50 million dollars slandering me, essentially my character. i'm going to need help from $5m going to need help from save this u.s. senat0 million a. >> ron johnson for senate .com. all right, senator , thanks foro joining us tonight. have a good night.>> hav >> declassified documents just declassified them. i'v well, i just want to know i'vegt declassified everything in the worlheworld

former fbi general counsel and former senior member of the mueller probe andrew weissman now an msnbc legal analyst. former u.s. attorney joyce vance. nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli, who's traveling with the president, president biden in south carolina. josh dawsey, political investigative reporter for the "washington post," along with jake sherman, co-founder of punchbowl news and msnbc political contributor. in talking about how long this is going to take, joyce, the modus operandi for former president donald trump in most of his legal dealings if not all of them is to delay. he often finds a way to delay. i imagine that his team would use the same strategy for this. i mean, they have been exploiting the lack of information right now, donald trump has, to his own advantage, claiming all sorts of baseless things like the fbi was potentially planing evidence at his house. >> doj has really put mr. trump on the horns of a dilemma here because he's the one who's accusing them of misbehavior. he's the one who's been on the offensive so far. he did that, one would suspect,

andrew weissman, i've been off the grid for a couple of weeks and i searched your feed by name to know what's going on and i want you to widen the lens and take me inside. what conversation are we really having about the affidavit? it seems like releasing the whole thing in any way that is illuminating would jeopardize an ongoing criminal investigation. >> yeah. there's no question that that was not going to happen when all of this to-do about the affidavit came out. there was no way that it was going to be fully released, that is there was a concern about the classified information that was in there. there was concern about the ongoing criminal investigation and a concern about the identifying of witnesses and everything that's happened since the search certainly raises concern about those witnesses in retaliation and interference with future witnesses. so that wasn't going to happen. where doj was sort of at its weakest is only in a footnote said, by the way, redacted version which we thought about wouldn't really be that helpful to the public, but if you think that, judge, give us a

former general counsel for the fbi, andrew weissman. and former fbi and cia agent tracy walder.ned, showing legal experts were hired to breach voting machines following the 2020 election. there is a follow-up to the election. system data from at least two states reportedly was shared with conspiracy theories and right-wing election deniers. attorneys working to overturn the election, including sidney powell, hired a georgia computer firm to put the sensitive information from dominion voting machines onto a server. the data was downloaded dozens o times. accord the downloaders were accounts associated with a texas meteorologist who appeared on sean hannity's radio show, a podcaster who suggested political enemies should be executed, former pro surfer saying the 2020 election was manipulated, and a self-described former seduction and pickup coach who claims also to have been a hacker. copies of election software and other data could help people who are trying to compromise similar systems. joining us now, investigative reporter at "the washington post," jon swaine. good to have yo