and d.a. willis as well, her office came back and said usually it's not a great argument to say you waited too long, but that is strong argument, and trump often uses the legal team delay as a strategy. >> is this a sign they're like, you know what, we don't need to play ball on any of this because we're about to get you. i'm just trying to interpret what the message might here be. >> i think we have to take each case, alex, on its own terms. i think it's easy to always think of him as someone looking for delay as a tactic. you've got a decade of a track record of him always trying to find a way to drag something out but i think what he's done in each of these cases is different, and we have to analyze the responses differently. i think what fani willis has said is this motion is both too late and too early, so as dania said it's too late because some of the stuff you're complaining about is the structural reason for having a two step jury in georgia. because you haven't been injured yet, nothing has

obviously d.a. willisas indicated she's willing to make an announcement somewhere between july and september. i think that will be a real game changer. there are key differences here i think fani or members of her team will raise as to the case they're relying on for this legal theory. really causes some concerns, i think. >> in the sort of course of making their argument i don't know to the public, just in case there's an indictment there's a -- i think the term is throwing people under the bus. like there is literally -- if anything bad happened with these fake elector votes involving mike pence and trying to play fuzzy math with the 2020 election, that's rudy giuliani and john eastman's fault. i mean does that ring -- how damaging is that for team trump, the fact that someone who was part of this plot is saying look this way? >> i think it creates an interesting dynamic, right? and sometimes it'll let you know how desporous things are starting to shape out on the other side. again, prosecutor is always

and they are trying to get d.a. willishe case in georgia is one of the several legal issues facing the former president. joining us is care line pulisi who is a lecturer of law in law school, and a former criminal attorney, and so you are a member of so many things. and so, tell us what this is about. >> the deadline is to be for this motion to disqualify willis, and this is not going to have chance, and to expunge the record entirely based on the argument that we have seen in the court of public opinion which is that this is a witch hunt, and politically motivated and all of the same arguments that trump uses in all of the legal trouble. they work to the public base in public, but not in court. to motions will be playing out, and the judge is going to let each party brief the issue, and then decide. >> we know that there is fund-raising on some of this as well regardless of what happens in court. the report is not out by the grand jury, but they want to get rid of it and not be part of the record, and what does that tell

d.a. fani willis, that it means they are coming or -- to say that yes, i broke laws and give me immunity soni willis, the extent of hadar investigation so far and the fact that she has a history of being able to craft together particularly complex investigations into a case sometimes implicating crimes like rico, would indicate that she has cast a very wide net and in the campaign of her making sure that she puts the requisite amount of pressure on the targets of this investigation, there are people that are now coming forward and saying, you know what, it is worth my while to take this deal to sit down and be able to say what i know. which kind of raises the question, though, nicolle, some of the electors have been interviewed if not testified concerning what happened when they convened illegally and improperly to be able to vote in a different slate than one that would have elected joe biden. it kind of suggests to me is there the possibility that they weren't forth right. maybe they weren't completely telling the truth. the other complicating issue, they're all represented by the same at

d.a. fani willis claiming that they are biased.ut a political cartoon, for example, made several public statements about trump. today a judge extended the deadline for her to respond to that attempt. what do you make of the extension? >> well, it's voluminous motion that president trump -- because number one, it's talking about as well as his conduct, the conduct of the grand jury foreperson and her public statements in a number of matters, and judges often extend time just to give a party more time to respond. it's another instance of if you lose you have to have filed it at the trial earlier on. look, with respect to fani willis's own statements, we have this system in the united states where prosecutors run in partisan elections and make statements all the time. they're all political figures. you're going to have a really hard time getting a case tossed out on account of a statement made by a prosecutor on the campaign trail. you just are. >> yeah, and notably, we are awaiting a potential indictment of the former president. she

d.a. fondy willis who signaled a decision from her could be coming in early august. so into this fray finally steps ron desantis. joining me to discuss is gary fineout. he writes for "florida playbook" for "politico." previously worked in the "associated press." nice to see you again. desantis has dug in on this disney issue, and i find it interesting that your reporting suggests that issue started, the feud that started, was not initially a priority for him. please explain that. >> yeah. basically what happened was the legislation that sort of sparked this entire battle actually was -- came from flat house, there were republicans in the house who decided to pursue it. then basically what happened very early on, i would say that very earliy on, is he got questioned about it, and he defended it, and he suddenly then became the face of the legislation. and he defended it very vociferously and basically said, you know, he was in favor of the legislation and supported it, and so sort of then when everything began to -- the ramping up of the opposition including disney's

to fulton county d.a., fani willis, who is investigating trump's efforts to overturn the results of thea, to fani willis, mr. schaffer is key. he has been singled out by the judge overseeing this case for the unique role that he played out in the day those fake electors met. when fani willis offered immunity to a group of fake electors, in exchange for collaboration, mr. schaffer was, reportedly, not included in that group. faced with this reality, schaffer's legal team sent a letter to dea willis, one that was obtained by the atlanta journal-constitution, a letter trying to ward off an indictment against mr. schaffer. the lawyers argument is, everything mr. schaffer did was based on legal advice provided by trump lawyers. quote, every action by mr. schaffer, as a presidential elect, or nominee, or contingent elector, which is what they were calling the fake electors, contingent electors. is that every actual taken in conformity with, and reliance upon the repeated, and detailed advice, of legal counsel. to see this, they attach a familiar name to alex kaufman. kaufman tells schaffer me

fulton county d.a., fani willis, told her staff to work remotely, asked judges not to schedule trialst half of august. signaling and narrow timetable for her charging decisions in this case. she wants staff to stay home, she wants judges to stay home. so, it seems there's something pretty big coming. of course, we don't know what, if any charges the case will bring or how the play. but we do know this case is centered around efforts to overturn the results of a democratic election. it's all about democracy. the district attorney's state playing those charges come, they're probably coming in august. do you know what else is happening in august? the first republican presidential primary debate. yes, i mean, trump may skip the debate, probably won't know until we're much much closer. but regardless, the debate will be a huge opportunity for you candidates out there, in a crowded field, they offer your best opportunity to have a moment perhaps that people remember, the help to raise money, that makes her candidacy standout. now, you may be thinking to yourself, i want to stay away from tr

d.a. fani willis is tell her staff to work from home in august, and asking judges who are scheduling trialsn hearings, willis did not give a reason for the request, but legal experts say it signals an august timetable for a potential donald trump indictment. >>> joining me now is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. walk me through everything you know. >> just the end of summer break, the start of the school year, for potential charges, not only donald trump who is in the cross hairs of this, but also potentially multiple electors, rudy giuliani, the georgia gop chairman. this has been a long time coming. two years of now investigations, of course the special grand jury issued its report and recommendations of potential charges, but now what fani willis is putting together is her presentation to go before a separate grand jury which will ultimately be the one to give the thumbs up to those indictments she seeks. >> she signalled that it would happen during the summer, right? >> correct. >> so this is even more signaling about when it would happen during the summer. she's also asking for

d.a. fani willis down in georgia, after she filed her response to trump's demand that her office be dismissedigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election. this is what dea willis wrote. if any of the elements put forward by mr. trump's motion where the egregious grounds for disqualification which he asserts they are, he had the duty to raise them to their courts attention as soon as he learned of them. far from raising this issue promptly, mr. trump has waited years, until after the conclusion of an entire special purpose grand jury investigation, when the fulton county district attorney own investigation had moved into its latter stages. in other words, good luck getting me fired. and good luck making your case, mr. trump. but, unless the judge demands it, the georgia investigation continues. this evening, trump's legal team asked the judge for another three weeks to file a reply didier willis, a request that seems unlikely to be granted. joining me now are former federal and state prosecutor tolley -- danya perry, former assistant u.s. attorney of the southern district of new york. tha

d.a. fani willis sent a letter to the county's sheriff putting him on notice of charging decisions she'll announce in her investigation of georgia's election. and she wrote these words, i'm providing this letter to bring to your attention the need for heightened security and preparedness in the coming months. she noted her timetable was between july 11 and september 1. now, granted, there are more individuals than just donald trump whose conduct is being investigated in georgia. but would any of the others warrant notification of the sheriff, of the possibility of unrest? i doubt it. instead, i think she tipped her hand that she intends to indict him. and then there's special counsel jack smith, appointed by merrick garland. the "wall street journal" was the first to report this week that smith has all but finished his work. they reported, quote, in recent weeks prosecutors working for smith have completed interviews with nearly every employee at trump's florida home, from top political aids to maintenance staff. the journal couldn't determine whether smith has decided to charge trump, bu

d.a. fani willis last summer talking about her probe of trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. and there are new indications tonight of precisely when any indictments will be coming this summer. >>> also tonight, ron desantis gets set to formally launch his presidential campaign with the baggage of a four-plus year record of attacking the personal freedoms of the people and businesses in his own state. including his economically destructive fight with disney. >>> plus, my conversation with chasten buttigieg who has a message for young people amid the growing threats to lgbtq youth. >>> but we begin tonight with seven battle ground states that president biden won in 20202020. arizona, georgia, michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. not only will these all be states to watch in next year's presidential election, but all part of the failed plot by donald trump and his team to overturn the last election by organizing slates of alternative fake electors. those illegitimate republican electors submitted forged documents in december of 2020 vouching that they were duly-elected and qua

d.a. fani willis if she chooses to indict trump over his efforts to overturn georgia's election results.ample, it was trump demanding that georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger, find him the votes he needed to be named the winner, even though there was no evidence of widespread irregularities in the state. last night, trump also weighed in on both of the special counsel's investigations, pertaining to the january 6th insurrection and trump's mishandling of classified documents. he may have also opened himself up to further legal jeopardy in the battery and defamation civil trial that just ended where a jury found trump liable to the tune of $5 million to writer e. jean carroll. after his comments last night, disparaging her and calling her a whack job, carroll and her lawyer say they're weighing whether to file a new defamation suit against her. joining me is glenn kirschner. let's start with e. jean carroll. could she say he disparaged me again. going in for more money? >> yes, and this would be the third suit she brought against him and like shooting fish in a barrel. right a

d.a. connie willis to judges and her fellow county officials saying in essence, clear your calendars.e new york times" reports this, the georgia prosecutor leading an investigation into the former president and his allies has taken the unusual step of announcing remote workdays for most of her staff during the first three weeks of august. asking judges in the downtown atlanta courthouse not to schedule trials for part of that time, as she prepares to bring charges in the inquiry. the move suggests that the fulton county d.a. is expecting a grand jury to unseal indictments during that time period. thanks to court filings and reporting, we know that willis has cast a very wide net, with everyone from state gop officials to the ex-president himself, under scrutiny right now. "the new york times" reports that a special grand jury that heard evidence in the case for roughly seven months recommended more than a dozen people for indictments. the forewoman strongly himmed in february that trump was among them. trump's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, was told last sunday that he is a target

d.a. fani willis suggesting that any grand jury indictments for trump's election meddling could come as soonressure after a record-breaking settlement for falsehoods. fox news facing another $2.7 billion lawsuit from smartmatic, it ain't hard to tell, this case is going to be hard for them to beat. pieces moving along, and there are hearings that are already under way. now, governor ron desantis saying he would consider presidential pardons for january 6th terrorists if he's elected president. >> what i'm going to do is i'm going to do on day one, i will have folks that will get together and look at all of these cases who people are victims of weaponization or political targeting, and we will be aggressive in issuing pardons. >> joining me now is former gop strategist and cofounder of the lincoln project, rick wilson, and nyu professor ruth ben geought, an expert on fascism and authoritarian leaders also author of the book, strong men, how they rise, why they succeed, and how they fall. rick, i want to start with you because of that audio that we just heard from desantis. the only reason it

after that, from the documents i've found, it looks as if neither that d.a., paul howard, nor the next one, fani willisi've seen no evidence that many witnesses were interviewed or evidence was tested. well, flash forward to 2022. jackie hollander, the woman who brought in these items said please send this stuff back. so one of the d.a.'s employees said we've shipped back these items. she looks at the box. all this stuff that is seen on video, it's just missing. since then, the d.a.'s office has not provided any answers about where this stuff went. >> and what are they doing, anything? the d.a.? >> right. we've tried many times to get answers, any sort of, you know, any explanation for where this stuff went, but there's this silence coming from the d.a.'s office. no response or any phone calls or emails. earlier this year jackie hollander actually filed a lawsuit against the d.a. trying to get some answers. months went by and there was no response to the lawsuit. finally earlier this month the d.a. did file a response to the lawsuit. that's all still pending, but many more questions than answers here.

vallejo police shot and killed his brother willie mccoy on february 9, 2019. solano county d.a.sed herself from investigating that case, as well. solano county hired an independent prosecutor, who determined the officers felt their lives were threatened and acted in self-defense. >> there is absolutely no consequences, nor is there any supervision when it comes to a police department that basically kills with impunity. melanie: of the solano county aclu chapter. andrea: there has not been substantial enough changes in the department to rebuild trust with the community and retain officers that will practice good policing. melanie: the vallejo police department tells abc 7 news that efforts are underway to create a vallejo police oversight and accountability commission, made up of appointed community members. valeo mayor robert mcconnell -- mayor there will be a lot of interest. melanie: beyond the community-based commission, the petition calls for a court supervised monitor and independent advisor. also, that the state department of justice extend its oversight of the department

d.a. to respond, extended it to today. the question is we can guess how willispond to it, but do we know the judge's positioning on this? >> i don't think she will say disqualify it and throw out all my evidence if he's the one that would make the call on this it would be hard for me to imagine let's throw out all of the evidence the grand jury has collected and it's possible that he'll say let's have another judge look at this and we pretty much expect from the d.a.'s office why the evidence should not be thrown out and why she should not be disqualified and this case is not even in the indictment stage and before we even see indictments, jim. >> sara murray, thanks so much. breaking news. >>> that's right, jim. we have breaking news just in to cnn the long-awaited durham investigation has just concluded. remember, this is the trump-era probe that explored the origins of the fbi's investigation into the trump campaign's ties to russia. we are joined now by cnn senior just i justin correspondent evan perez. they vowed to investigate the investigators, what did t

d.a. indictment. we've seen the e. jean carroll case concluded. now, all eyes are on what happens in georgia with fani willis.ons about timing and what might be happening on those two cases. >> i would say that at the town hall. donald trump gave those prosecutors gifts. he made numerous incriminating statements in the classified documents case. he said that he could not categorically deny that anyone has seen these classified documents. that is an incredibly damning case to make about the threat of this poses to national security. that's something you would imagine special counsel is certainly taking note of and looking at. on the january six investigation. trump said during the town hall that he agreed that no one will listen to him. no one will listen to anyone else like they listen to him. that was another powerful statement where he was saying look i had the power to stop this insurrection. i did not use it. powerful evidence of intent. the georgia investigation where he said what i really meant when i said you find those votes. what i meant was you only those votes because this was your rigged election.

d.a.'s investigation into whether donald trump and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 election. in georgia. dea, fani willisich -- trump could be charged within the first -- announcing remote work during that time for most of her staff. she is also asked an atlanta courthouse not has gettable trials the weeks of august 7th and 14. joining me now, political investigations reporter for the guardian, hugo lowell. and former brooklyn prosecutor, msnbc legal analyst, charles coleman. good to have you both here. charles, i'm curious what this timetable signals to you. does it suggest indictments? or could we be misreading this? >> alex, the same bet is to conclude that this is around the timeframe that fani willis expects that she will be moving forward with the indictment and potential prosecution that could very well and for fall of phone trump. these are important safety precautions that we have seen other das like ryan willis, including -- in order to make sure that they are securing the public safety of not only their own assistant but also any other court employees who might be involved in case there is som

fani willis has apparently told the courthouse, hey, all you judges, don't schedule anything. keep in mind this is the fulton county d.a.. someone who has direct involvement, direct interaction, all the d.a.'s under her command deal with these judges day in and day out. she would be boarding her own office as she did not keep tour schedule, where she is telling an entire courthouse to not schedule any trials. i have to tell you, there's nothing so delicate and at the same time so jam-packed, the way courtrooms trial schedule is. it is a really difficult thing to move things around. you cannot do with the way you would move around a doctor's appointment and something else. so if you're going to tell those judges that, here's a window that you need to keep wide open, no trials, i mean, i can't imagine telling a judge, hey,, keep in mind, the only thing a judge, a big thing judges care about is getting frowns over his fast as they can. efficiency. scheduling things, getting things over with. so to do things -- where and you don't need it? you can almost bet the farm, there are plenty of farms in georgia, you can bet the f

d.a. alvin bragg. there's the ongoing civil lawsuit by new york attorney general letitia james alleging widespread fraud by trump and his company. there's fulton county district attorney fani willis' investigation into trump's meddling in the 2020 presidential election in georgia. and of course, the two special counsel investigations into january 6th and into trump's mishandling of classified documents. joining me now is msnbc producer and reporter adam reese who was in the courtroom today as the verdict was read, also cynthia alksne, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, and tim o'brien, senior executive editor at bloomberg opinion. adam, i'm going to go to you first. you were in the courtroom. talk about the scene when the jury was read, what were the reactions of all involved? >> it was a bit of a shocker how soon it came, joy. but apparently, there wasn't much to discuss. the evidence was overwhelming. in fact, during jury -- actually, during closing arguments, two of the jurors were actually dozing off. one of them had his head actually in his chest. one of the attorneys told me a sleeping juror is a convicted juror. the evidence was really damning and overwhelm

d.a. we've heard from the police. what changes now because of this at least perception of what's happening in san francisco? >> willieknow, the first one is to understand that multiple independent academic analyses have basically shown the actions of the d.a. tend to make no difference to fundamental crime rates. whoever it is, the recalled district attorney, tossed out of office last year, had different views of crime than the current d.a., jenkins, yet the fundamental numbers seem not to be truly changing. the big change we're hoping for and looking for in the bay area where i live is a shift in how, basically, the housing and real estate market works. right now, you've got downtown landlord, some of the biggest property owners in the world, and the words they're using with me, they're saying ten years. that's the amount of time they think it'll take to turn the downtown corridor around. in order for the timer to even begin, the first thing they have to do is slash rents. they're agreeing, we're not holding out for the astronom astronomical rents we used to enjoy. we'll hand it over to arts districts, to people to