second, i want to provide clarity about what the job of the justice department is and about what it is. our job is to help keep our country safe. that includes working closely with local police departments and communities across the country to combat violent crime. in fact, today, we are announcing a recent u.s. marshals operation conducted with local, state law enforcement. that targeted violent fugitives and resulted in 4,400 arrests across 20 cities in just three months. our work also includes combatting the drug cartels that are poisoning americans. last friday we expedited ovidio guzman lopez, a leader of the sinaloa cartel from mexico to the united states. he is the son of el chapo and one of more than a dozen cartel members we have indicted and extradited to the united states. our job includes seeking justice for the victims of child exploitation, human smuggling and sex trafficking and it includes protecting democratic institutions like this one by holding accountable all those criminally responsible for the january 6th attack on the capitol. our job is also to protect civil ri

justice department's got both sides of the equation covered. look at the classified documents case, spring and early summer of last year, the department of justice asked president trump to turn over boxes of documents. he does just that. in the process, president trump finds 38 additional documents. he tells the department of justice the very next day the fbi comes to his home and he turns them over. then the department of justice asks the president to put any boxes he brought from the white house to his home in a storage room and secure it by locking it. he does that as well. everything they ask him to do he did, and then what's the justice department do? august 8th last year they raid president trump's home. and according to the fbi agent, steven dan twa know, the assistant director in charge of the washington field office, the search was a complete departure from standard protocol. when we interviewed him, he said, first, the miami field office didn't do the search. instead they sent folks from d.c. he said there was no u.s. attorney assigned

and, we in the justice department are helping our state and local colleagues do just that. the funding you described from the cops office and the office of justice programs allows us to get money to state and local police organizations that are having trouble with recruitment and retention and promotion of law versus. and they will help them make their departments respectful of the constitutional rights and at the same time, effective, investigation and prosecution of criminal law violations. >> thank you for those programs the cops are you also reinstituted practices investigations of certain police departments. memphis is one of them, thank you for doing that. can you share with us how important those pilot programs are and how they can improve policing? >> yes, congress has authorized the justice department to conduct practice investigations, when we have a reasonable belief that there has been unconstitutional patterns of behavior in the police department. we are careful to select his cases where we think there is a such a pattern. we make those investigations, and we th

he tells the department of justice very next day the f.b.i. comes to his home and he turns them over. then the department of justice asked the president to put any boxes he brought from the white house to his home in a storage room and secure it by locking it. he does that as well. everything they ask him to do he did. and then what does the justice department do? august 8th, last year, they raid president trump's home. according to the f.b.i. agent, the assistant director in charge of the washington field office, the search was a complete departure from standard protocol. when we interviewed him he said first the miami field office didn't do the search. instead they sent folks from d.c. there was no u.s. attorney assigned to the case, instead it was run by d.c. and jay bratt now on the special counsel team. he said the f.b.i. didn't get president trump's counsel's approval before they did the search. and then he told us he had recommended that when the f.b.i. got to mr. trump's home, president trump east home, they contacted his counsel. wait

department of justice issue a rule regulating stabilizing races. one of these braces was used in the mass shooting in my community in boulder, colorado were 10 coloradans lost their lives including one police officer. the department of justice issued a final rule earlier this year on this precise topic . unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made it their mission to overturn this rule. i wonder if you might be able to elaborate a bit on how the rule was drafted and deliberated within the department. >> yes. that horrific event in boulder is one of several examples of the use of attachment of a semiautomatic pistol onto a stabilizing brace intended to permit its firing from the shoulder. that violates the rule, the congressional statute against short barreled rifles being possessed. anything under 16 inches. the reason for a weapon and the ability to aim such a weapon on the shoulder. all that was done in this rule was to make clear that if you convert a pistol into a rifle, designed to be fired from the shoulder, you are s

what this department of justice has been doing to transform the department of justice, and that they will pursue the facts on the hunter biden case to the end, regardless of who the president is. that's what i want this a department of justice. i hope that's what the american people want. >> there are urgent talks right now in congress to avoid a government shutdown. just ten days left. hakeem jeffries met with a moderate group. are you on the same page with the democratic leadership and some of the moderate members in your caucus about finding a way out of this shutdown, potential shutdown? >> leader jeffrey met with the progressive caucus on monday evening, so we have had a recent meeting with him. and i think we are all on the same page, which is kevin mccarthy should keep the deal that he made with president biden on funding, but he hasn't done that. he's broken that. he's turn ed the gavel over to marjorie taylor greene. and i think there's a lot of agreement from both republicans and democrats that kevin mccarthy is a weak leader. he has not worked for the american people. we ne

congress has authorized the justice department to conduct pattern of practice investigations when there is a reasonable -- that there's been unconstitutional pattern and unconstitutional behavior in the police department. we are careful to select those cases where we think there is such a pattern. we make those investigations. we then work with the law enforcement agencies in the cities. our hope is to come to a consent decree that would lead to a better, more efficient and more constitutional police department. we have been successful in all of our cases to date in reaching consent agreements. >> thank you, sir. you were announced in bringing federal charges against the five officers who killed tyree nichols in memphis, and i thank you for that. we need a federal charge, and we need the department looked at. if there's a shutdown of the federal government how would that affect the department of justice and affect policing and local communities? >> i haven't done a complete calculation on the effects of a shutdown and the difference between which employees are indispensable under the st

>> congress has authorized the justice department to conduct pattern or practice investigations when there is a reasonable belief that there has been unconstitutional pattern of unconstitutional behavior in a police department. we are careful to select those cases where we think there is such a pattern. we make those investigations, we then work with the law enforcement agencies and the cities. our hope is to come to a consent decree that will lead to a better, more efficient and more constitutional police department. we have been successful in all of our cases to date in reaching consent agreements. >> thank you, sir. you were part of -- bringing of charges, federal charges against the five officers who killed tyre nichols. if there is a shutdown of the federal government, how will that affect the department of justice and affect policing and local communities? >> i haven't done a complete calculation on the effects of a shutdown and the difference between which employees are indispensable under the statute and which ones are not. it will disrupt all of our normal programs, including

the senator has vowed in a quote to the department of justice to a r hault. let me repeat that. the senator has vowed to the department of justice to a hault. although this because why? he's upset that special council jack smith has indicted the former president of united states on multiple felonies. this is a political protest or action taken by a special counsel but he's doing it at the expense of families from across america. let me repeat a member of this body is undermining our government efforts to prosecute violent crime terrorism and crimes against children as he does not like his political allies being held accountable for his actions. he's doing so despite the fact that these are exceptional nominees for u.s. attorney and there's simply no principled basis to delay that confirmation. let me describe some of these u.s. attorneys were being held up because of this one republican senator. todd -- founded from the southern district of mississippi dedicated to the rule of law the longtime career in public service. the of pittsburgh mississippi he attended georgia washington

he demanded that the department of justice stay independent from the nixon administration. he had the backbone to stand up to the president of the united states and make sure that the department of justice would not become the government's lawyer. you put that portrait there soon after you became attorney general because it was a signal. it was a signal to the world that you wanted to be known in the same way that others that had come before you were known. frankly, one of the reasons i respect attorney general barr so much is because after january 6th he made the very difficult decision to walk into the president's office and say the election was not stolen. we looked at this. for that reason, he resigned before january 20th when power was turned over. but mr. attorney general, you are unable to answer some questions here. but i'll answer them for you. do you know what people would have said if you had asked for u.s. attorney weiss' resignation when you became attorney general? i'm sorry, yeah, u.s. attorney general weiss' resignation. they would have said you were obstruct

and we in the justice department are helping our state and local colleagues do just that. the funding you described from the cops office and the office of justice programs allows us to give money to state and local police organizations that are having trouble with recruitment and retention and promotion of law officers. and helps them make their departments respectful of constitutional rights and at the same time effective in the investigation and the prosecution of criminal law violations. >> thank you for the programs through cops. you have reinstitute you had patterns and practices investigation of certain police departments. memphis is one of them. thank you for doing that. can you share with us how important those pilot programs are and how they can improve policing? >> yes. congress has authorized the justice department to conduct pattern of practice investigations when there is a reasonable belief there has been unconstitutional pattern of unconstitutional behavior in a police department. we are careful to select those cases where we think there is such a pattern. we

in 2021, march of 2021, i sent a letter to the department of justice requesting that the department of justice issue a rule regulating stabilizing braces, one of the braces used in a mass shooting in my community in boulder, colorado, where ten people lost their lives, including one police officer. the department of justice issued a final rule earlier this year on this precise topic. unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made it their mission to overturn this rule. i wonder if you might be able to elaborate on how the rule was drafted and deliberated within the department. >> yes. that horrific event in boulder is one of several examples of use of attachment of a semiautomatic pistol to a stabilizing brace intended to permit its firing from the shoulder. that violates the rule -- the congressional statute against short barreled rifles being possessed without registration. anything under 16 inches. the reason for congress's statute, which i think probably goes back to the al capone era, was the power of such a weapon and the ability to aim such a weapon when s

he oversees the justice department and justice is being done for instance against donald trump and against hunter biden. but they're goal is to try to make it look like there is some double standard because that is what they've been saying even though that is not the case. >> and carrie, they're making a big attempt, these house republicans, to paint merrick garland as some democratic hack. but the truth is, there are republican, former attorney generals, including trump's own bill barr who have pointed to the strength of the cases against donald trump. >> right. well in this particular hearing, the attorney general really took pains to demonstrate that he is trying to lead the department in a nonpartisan, impartial way. and what that has meant is that he has appointed special counsels to take on cases where there could be any possible appearance or inference that he would be making decisions for any inappropriate reason. so when it pertains to the former president, he's ainppoind a special counsel and given jack smith decision making about the cases regarding former president trump. when

department of justice issue a rule regulating stabilizing races. one of these braces was used in the mass shooting in my community in boulder, colorado were 10 coloradans lost their lives including one police officer. the department of justice issued a final rule earlier this year on this precise topic . unfortunately, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have made it their mission to overturn this rule. i wonder if you might be able to elaborate a bit on how the rule was drafted and deliberated within the department. >> yes. that horrific event in boulder is one of several examples of the use of attachment of a semiautomatic pistol onto a stabilizing brace intended to permit its firing from the shoulder. that violates the rule, the congressional statute against short barreled rifles being possessed. anything under 16 inches. the reason for a weapon and the ability to aim such a weapon on the shoulder. all that was done in this rule was to make clear that if you convert a pistol into a rifle, designed to be fired from the shoulder, you are s

and then he allowed them to come to the justice department. and what is interesting about and i have to give a credit to my sister so you can see daddy with about five children in his arms when he's talking to robert doar and nick katzenbach and trying to integrate at the university of alabama. now it's very popular today to have children come to work right? it was not really popular in 1963. nobody had take your children to work day. and no, you didn't do it usually with father when he's on the call with the police with the national guard and trying to get people to do the integration. and yet because he has children on his lap, he has an understanding that you are dealing. human beings. and also, it's difficult to keep your humanity when you're also talking about how to make do the right thing. and i think it's critically interesting to think when sometimes when people make tough decisions, it's just i'm going to be very tough and not understand that they're human beings that you're talking about. but if you have a child on your lap and othe

>> joyce vance i, would like to remind everyone of what donald trump said about our justice department and in the past. watch this. >> if i win, i am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. because there has never been so many lies, so much deception. >> i have actually called the justice department to look into the leaks. there was a criminal leaks. i have total confidence in my -- the attorney general to act. he's got to act. and he has got to act fast. this has to be known about before the election. remember, it's a democrat charging his opponent. nobody has ever seen anything like. it that means that, if i win, and somebody wants to run against me, i call my attorney general, and i say, listen. indict him. well, he has not done anything

clearly acting, as he defended his own integrity today, he really threw the offices of the department of justice fbi appropriately under the bus for the mishandling of these cases by saying he isn't doing it and obviously they're not getting done right. it is clear that there are problems of the department of justice including various political appointees, u.s. attorneys, and, as mentioned, some of these deputies who are also political appointees. >> neil: i don't know the procedure here, congressman, but the charge of slow walking the hunter biden investigation, everything attached to it. you could make the argument here that that was a deliberate strategy, having little to do with politics and every thing to do with what he perceived his role to be, let others move this on out of this. you are arguing by appearing so out of it to the point of being aloof, the gremlins took charge. >> gremlins took charge before he got there. that's remember that u.s. attorney weiss, had this case since 2018. it is not the attorney general that let the total agreements lapse, allowed hunter biden to get on the

however, there is a problem fo the department of justice. one of the problems for th department of justice is tha whistleblowers who are, of course, investigators an prosecutors who want to di into this case, have a claim that, in 2018, there was specific irs or tax fraud that hunter was involved in, that they believed they could bring in the sea and they believe they were being blocked from bringing. it that has not been explained and it probably should b explained, because i bet there is a pretty easy explanation and it would be nice to hear it i know it is complicated t provide it, and it's probabl not something garland ca testify to but it kind of looms over this case the idea that the fix is in, though, is kind of easil discarded. because this is such a rar situation for someone to b charged in this. way >> easily discovered -- the guys currently charged jen, it seemed like we saw a bit of a different merrick garland today. he came right out of the gate, defending the department debunking the idea that he i the presidents lawyer. >> yeah

though it's not a surprise, would you say that this is a pretty extraordinary step for the justice departmentand you know, what i was saying is that anytime you have a situation where a department controlled by the president is taking action against that president or their family, it's something that, you know, we've never seen, and it raises all these different questions. we are all very familiar with questions about the justice department's independence over the past several years. certainly those were major questions under donald trump, and joe biden has made it part of his presidency to try and reset those norms and have nothing to do with the justice department, people in biden's world will swear up and down that he has not tried to interfere in any way in this case against his son. nevertheless, there were huge perception, you know, questions here about, well, how can a justice department that's run by someone who was put there by joe biden do a thorough, fair investigation of the president's son. and one of the ways that the fruits of the investigation were sort of protected from the p

away at the confidence of our independent institutions in your case today, very important department of justice. that is the exact ammo of a former president. tear away at the confidence of our independent institutions, whether it is the electoral system, the department of justice, the judiciary, and watching this sham, but it's not just a circus, it is dangerous and you know that and you have mentioned that. i believe that these fictions and fantasies are dangerous, dangerous for you and the 115,000 public servants with whom you work. dangerous for national security. dangerous for communities security. dangerous for the rule of law and our constitution. all at the same time of a looming shutdown, the other side of the aisle cannot govern , so they had this hearing which was supposed to be oversight and use it as a big distraction because they are failing to govern. imagine if we are going your members of your department? what does it say to our servicemembers, u.s. troops who would be training, fighting without pay? and without confidence in this country's governing ability. it is a great dist

he wanted to make sure we took care of everything that the department of justice was concerned about with respect to hunter biden. that was firearms charges, tax charges, but there's no actual substantiative connection between them, so it sounds like the department of justice is working on the tax aspects and perhaps other aspects, foreign registration, but this is pretty cut and dried, these firearms charges. >> i also want to bring in nbc news investigations correspondent tom winter, and, tom, again, just to remind folks who david weiss is this prosecutor, he's a special counsel, appointed by merrick garland when the last plea deal we have been talking about so much fell apart. what can you tell us about him and how he might operate or what we know about how he operates? >> it's been stated many times and as you and i talked before, chris, he was appointed by the former president of the united states, donald trump. i think it's important for folks to remember, yes, he was appointed special counsel by merrick garland. it was because weiss asked for it, the agreements between the two

on the other hand, usually the justice department tries to treat pretty toughly people that lie to the government. these are called process crimes. sometimes they're seen by -- they're the cornerstone of our justice season. we are called to rely on witnesses and people to tell us the truth in order to have an operating system of justice. the justice department is not likely to offer hunter biden a sweet plea deal again. they might even go to trial. but if hunter is smart, he might try to plead this down to some jail time in order to avoid anything like a 25-year sentence. >> neil: you think he's looking at any jail time? i'm taking leaps here. curious about your thoughts. >> there's so many different paths this charge could go down. we're at square one. there's been an indictment issued. it's possible that hunter could cut a deal with the doj. it's possible that he decides that he wants to cross for ward to trial. it's also possible as mr. lowell has alleged that the plea agreement is revived somehow. so it's really hard to say, but i think ultimately there's a possibility that he will

republicans accuse his justice department of political bias. garland has appointed special counselors to oversee cases against hunter biden and donald trump. and just in, experts of his prepared remarks how he plans to take on his critics today. zachary cohen is live for us. grateful to have you here for this breaking reporting. what are we expecting garland to say? >> reporter: this is about as direct as we've ever heard merrick garland. he will hit back at his critics and prime ministerially house republicans who have criticized him for just about everything so far in their tenure as majority. and look, he will make clear to them that he is not the president's lawyer, he is not congress' prosecutor. and he says that i'm not the president's lawyer, and i will also add that i'm not the congress' prosecutor. he says that the justice department do what is politically convenient but rather -- doesn't take orders from the congress or president, they decide who to cricriminall prosecute. this is as the justice department is pursuing charges against

>> i am not the president's lawyer i will add, i am not congress' prosecutor the justice department works for the american people >> reporter: but republican lawmakers grilling garland over what they call a two-tiered justice system. >> there's one investigation protecting president biden. there's another one attacking president trump. the justice department has got both sides of the equation covered. >> reporter: the gop zeroing in on the special counsel investigation of hunter biden alleging garland was misleading when he said there was no interference in the investigation into the president's son. garland was pressed if he had any conversations with special counsel, david weiss, regarding the case >> i do not intend to discuss the internal justice department deliberations, whether or not i had them. >> so your testimony today is, you're not going to tell us whether you've had discussions with mr. weiss? >> my testimony today is, i told the committee that i would not interfere. >> reporter: two irs whistle-blowers have testified under oath the doj gave preferential treatment to the

the same sentence, but efforts in the senate s2321 to take $50 million in funding for the department of justice antitrust division and it would be an 18% cut, and to move that money to the general department of justice operations fund to try to further cripple the effort that are going on in court. the state attorney generals, and the antitrust division and federal trade commission, are doing a great job jointly in trying to combat the scourge of these monopolies. my question to you is will you make sure that the antitrust division is properly funded so it can continue this very serious effort at stopping these monopolies from harming our children, harming competition, and further strengthening china's position in this area. >> yes, i absolutely will and one of the first things i did and the first budget opportunity we had was to ask for more money for the antitrust division than had been given in quite a long time and to ask for the fees that are paid for purposes of merger analysis be given to the antitrust division directly, rather than to go into a general fund. >> thank you, i yield back.

department of justice issue a rule regulating stabilizing races. one of these braces was used in the mass shooting in my the department of justice issued a final rule earlier this year on this precise topic . unfortunately, my colleagues on the other sier if you might to elaborate a bit on how the rule was drafted and deliberated within the department. >> yes. that horrific event in boulder is one of several examples of the use of attachment of a semiautomatic pistol onto a stabilizing brace intended to permit its firing from the shoulder. that violate, the congressional statute against short barreled rifles . anythin inches. the reason for a weapon and the ability to aim such a weapon on the shouldermake clear that if designed to be fired from the shoulder, you are subject to the registration requirements. fema thank you, mr. attorney general. i yield back . >> the attorney general has requested a short break so we will be back for the remainder of our members' questions.

i worked at the justice department twice. everyone at the justice department knows there's a strict prohibition against employees engaging in political activity as part of their job. so engaging coup, just the claim that meadows made today is well, there's no way to have a line between politics and the regular work of a government official, and that is just wrong. there's no donald trump exception to the hatch act, which is the act that forbids political activity by people in the justice department, and with respect to meadows, i think the most -- this is why he lost his removal motion. the judge in a 49-page opinion said the constitution cuts out the executive branch from one thing, which is presidential elections, for the most important reasons. otherwise you'd use your powers as an encumbent to install yourself and keep yourself in power. that's why the founders did it. that's what donald trump tried to do with meadows and clark and the like. and to me, the most significant point of all these court actions over the last 48

is wolf still employed by the department of justice? >> i will not talk about any individuals in the justice department. like i said before, singling out individuals has led to threats to their safety. mr. weiss is responsible for all decisions that were made. excuse me. many of the things you are saying occurred during the previous administration. i apologize. >> there was a discussion by leslie wolf if they told investigators or got involved there would ultimately be issues. you still believe that at this point the entire investigation has moved in the correct discretion, handled by correct discretion of the individuals? >> mr. weiss was a long-standing career prosecuted, appointed by president trump, outstanding reputation and he will proceed as appropriate and end of investigation will give a public report like mr. durham and mr. mueller and be available for questions about why he did various things that were done. >> i yield balance of my time. >> what changed, in 2023, mr. weiss wrote and said i have not requested special counsel

the justice department works for the american people. job is to follow the facts and the law and that is what we do. >> now despite reiterating the independence of the doj over and over and over again, republicans throughout all manner of allegations accusing the justice department of malfeasance in the investigation into the president's son, by a trump-appointed prosecutor no less. one republican member suggested that garland be held in contempt of congress, leaving democratic members eric swalwell and adam schiff to remind that it's another justice department's special counsel investigation, jack smith's probe into donald trump's attempt to overthrow the 2020 election that committee chairman jim jordan is trying to whitewash. >> that is quite rich because the guy who is leaving the hearing room right now, mr. jordan, is about 500 days into evading his subpoena, about 500 days. so if we're going to talk about contempt of congress, let's get real. >> the chairman would abuse the power of this committee by trying to interfere in the prose

is unfair political and that joe biden is pulling all of the strings when it comes to the department of justice. the other thing i want to point out here. it's not just donald trump. it is republicans as a whole. when we talk to so many republicans, members in the house, they talk about the department of justice as though it is the deep state, that it is independent and rogue. it's interesting here to see how exactly they are going to marry this, because, again, they say it's run by democrats. i think what you're going end up hearing is what we heard from representative comb ker, that this is a small start, incremental responses here, but this is years of messaging that they are now going have to figure out how to rewrite because the messaging has been that this is only happening to donald trump because it is political. now you are seeing it happen on the other side, and they are going to have to navigate that. as we know, donald trump, we're not talking about just legal options here, legal ramifications, legal challenges that his team is making, we're talking about the court of public opinion

you are former department of justice, high-ranking executive at all levels. so would you agree that the job at the fbi's criminal investigation? >> it is criminal investigation, and protect the country from national security threats. those two things. >> so the idea that you take information and you have it taken down, you use your authority and the leverage you have to have, medical, facebook, facebook being, meta or twitter takedown peoples information on things like where covid came from, where do you find the national security interest in that? where do you find the interest in free speech of american citizens being taken down? and i repeat, free speech of american citizens. where do you have that authority? >> we don't ask social media companies to censor information or suppress information. when it comes to national security threats or anything like that. what we do do is alert them when some other intelligence agency gives us information about a foreign intelligence service being behind some account. we will call social media companies attention to tha

as we know, 65% of americans do not even trust the department of justice, that is a true shame, that is a fundamental part of our democracy, we need to have a cell department of justice, a solid fbi. when i listen to him, over and over, i don't discuss internal deliberations at doj, i don't discuss ongoing investigations. merrick garland, americans want answers. if you are saying you are not political, you need to provide answers and give transparency to the american people, and that was lacking completely today. is a former fbi agent, i watch this and i thought, there you go, there is no transparency. oh, we can't go talk to lisa wolf, don't talk to mr. weiss until this is over. what were we left with? having. i want you to contrast that with the whistle-blower spec important testified a couple of months ago. there was granular detail into what they were saying. there were facts, details, bank records, dates, they discussed all kinds of information. fbi whistle-blower coming forward, 1023, granular information and detail. americans are listening to that granular detail and comparing

the justice department works for the american people. we will not be intimidated. is nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent, ken dilanian, and nbc news capitol hill correspondent, ryan nobles, so you reported this morning that ag garland was going to be strong in pushing back on these attacks of the justice department and himself, and you heard him say there repeatedly that he's not the president's lawyer. he's also not congress's prosecutor, he said that over and over again in different ways. none of the prosecutions coming out of the justice department are politically motivated. >> that's right. that was some of the strongest language we have heard the mild mannered attorney general merrick garland use, and it's the result of a process at the doj. they have been preparing for this hearing for weeks, and they really decided that this rhetoric from the republicans in congress, accusing the doj of being politicized and being not on the level have gone too far, and they had to push back. will it matter? of course it's not going to convince the republicans, b

that's part of why he's currently under indictment from the biden justice department.s doesn't mean -- i think it's a reflection of joe biden's e team not just driving into this and saying, yes, there's a lot that's bad here, but there was no wrongdoing by joe biden. and i think that the continued sidestepping they're actually hurting themselves and not putting it to bed in the way they otherwise could. howard: i think that's a fair point. ahead, my sit-down with former vp mike pence, but up next, the white house is telling journalists in writing to expose the republicans' impeachment lies. ♪ why choose between a longer life or quality of life? you deserve both. and with kisqali, a treatment for people with metastatic breast cancer, you can have both. kisqali is a pill that, when taken with an aromatase inhibitor is the only treatment of its kind shown to both help people live longer and improve or preserve quality of life. because you shouldn't have to sacrifice one for the other. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it c

and criminal charges the justice department makes those decisions outside of political influence.ublicans and democrats are going to have their chance to question garland directly, as you said. republicans are really going to probably focus on two main issues, hunter biden, the idea and claims he got a sweetheart deal, and political influence over the investigation of hunter biden. they want to ask questions about the two indictments of donald trump by special counsel jack smith. expect a lot of questions on those topics today. >> zach, i want to underscore poppy's salient point which is this was planned, right, doing the excerpts, the way they're structuring this, the fact that they're putting it out before the hearing, also the specific elements they're putting out. they have a plan here to get in front of this, including on the criticism that garland and other justice department and fbi officials have faced from republicans, right? >> absolutely, and they want to make the point that when it comes to career officials at the justice department, garland does not think they should

at the confidence of our independence institutions, in your case today our very important department of justicect m.o. of a former president. tear away at the confidence of our independent institutions whether it's our electoral system, the department of justice, the judiciary, and independent news media. the american people are watching this sham, but it's not just a circus. it's dangerous, and you know that, and you have mentioned that. i believe that these fictions and fantasies are dangerous. dangerous for you and the 115,000 public servants with whom you work. dangerous for national security, dangerous for communities' security. dangerous for the rule of law and our constitution. all at the same time of a looming shutdown. the other side of the aisle cannot govern, and so they have this hearing, which was supposed to be oversight and use it as a big distraction because they are failing to govern. imagine if we go into a shutdown, what does that say to your members of your department? what does it say to our service members, u.s. troops who would be training, fighting, without pay ask witho

the department of justice tax division, up through march 16th of 2023, had not yet approved provided iscretion or decline charges. u.s. attorney weiss had no authority to charge any of those charges without the department of justice text divisions approval beforehand. >> i would like to focus in on this real quick. eric >> let me get back to you because i have a limited amount of time. and you have questions for you. in fact, mr. ziegler, you state that hunter biden's unpaid taxes were around $2 million. he has no pay the best taxes, as i understand. it he has been criminally charge for not paying taxes. would you just explain how people can be charged for not paying taxes even after they have made amends and gone on to pay? them >> under the statute, when someone fails to timely pay the taxes, usually do april 15th, once that date occurs if they have a known tax liability and they failed to pay, the crime has already been committed. the fact that they pay the taxes after, that is a mitigating factor that the judge can use their discretion at sentencing. -- i would like to make one th

the reason is because they see a politicized justice department. they see a two-tiered system of justice. they see by way of example, speaking of mr. weiss. they see this aggressive prosecution of president biden's main political rival, president trump. at the same time they see special treatment being given to the president's son. so, what are they to conclude? they're losing their faith in our system of justice itself. and that is a real threat in a constitutional republic like ours. that's why the dialogue today, the questions today, were so important. >> is it special treatment? because there are investigations happening to both of them. i mean, they've both been indicted by the same justice department for very different crimes, i should note. but they have both been indicted. can you really say it's a two-tiered justice system if president biden justice department has indicted his own son? >> well, look, one of the questions he wouldn't or couldn't answer today was, why did they allow the most important charges, the tax fraud charges, to lapse?

was his department of justice. that he had control over the department of justice. and he thought that barr was his lawyer. of course barr, often acted like he was donald trump's lawyer. so, garland's comments, though very normal to anybody else that's ever sat in the white house, must be a shock to donald trump and trump supporters because trump really did believe that the department of justice should act under his direction and arrest his political opponents. >> yeah, joe. and garland sought to be the anti-barr. a lot of his allies even will say that that has come to a detriment of his job performance, that his, ambition to distance himself and to be a-political as possible has hurt some of his investigations and some of the justice department moral at a time when the justice department is clearly under assault from -- in an active bid by trump and the house gop conference and the republican party. you'll hear democrats try to re-enforce this idea that david weiss was a trump-appointed u.s. attorney. he was someon

that was never sent, and that it never left the office at the justice department, and if that can be big question, because kit have implications for donald trump himself, and his attorneys are here to see how the proceedings are going, and it is come down to how much protection jeffrey clark and people like him may get because they were serving as federal officials after the 2020 election with the things they were doing, and now accused of being crimes in the state of georgia. >> and katelyn polantz from almost realtime updates from inside of that courtroom. keep us posted. thank you. kate. >>> and did donald trump just complicate matters for all of the defendants? >> the most senior lawyers in your own administration and on the campaign told you that after you had lost more than 60 legal challenges that it was over. why did you ignore them and decide to listen to a new o outside group? >> because i did not respect them. >> were you calling the shots, mr. president, ultimately? >> as to whether or not i thought that it was rigged? surement it was my decision, but i listened to some p

an extraordinary step at the justice department. prosecutors have indicted president biden's sole surviving son, hunter biden, on three criminal counts. quote, two counts are tied to biden allegedly filing a form claiming he was not using illegal drugs at the time he purchased a revolver. the third count alleges he purchased a firearm while using a narcotic. it's a legal saga filled with twists and turns. it's one that comes with deep personal anguish for the president and his entire family. the charges were brought by special counsel david weiss who was granted special counsel status by attorney general merrick garland. that was after a plea deal for hunter biden collapsed in court. according to the terms of that deal, hunter biden would have pled guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and entered a diversion agreement which would have led to the gun charge being dropped. the tax charges were not brought against hunter biden today. regarding the gun charges, "new york times" reports that it is, quote, only sporadically brought again