back with me to break it all down is msnbc justice and legal affairs analyst anthony coley. al tasks is going to be drafting and filing reports to outgoing ag merrick garland on these trump investigations and the subsequent indictments. once these reports are filed, can they be westernized by the gop against smith and are biden officials, say, in the manner that we are now seeing in this rumored court marshaling of the afghanistan withdrawal? >> well, my hope here, and it is not a given. but my hope is that the justice department does develop a report and release it to the public. it is important that the public is reminded of exactly what donald trump did, both to overturn a free and fair election, and to illegally retain all of his classified documents and obstruct efforts to return them. i really think it is important that there is not just a historical record, but that the public understands , before even the trump residency begins, everything donald trump did to evade the law. >> will the public even care, though? we just had an election, the trump administration is now

joining me now anthony coley justice and legal affairs analyst and senior affairs advisor along with brendan buck political analyst and former press secretary. anthony, the first. susan collins and lisa murkowski have signaled they plan to oppose matt gaetz's nomination for attorney general. house speaker mike johnson said he is strongly against the release of the house ethics report. you have been speaking to doj staff for both parties. give me a sense of the reaction to gaetz as potential ag. >> the term that comes to mind of my conversations is a train wreck. i would also add i have been a spokesman for three u.s. senators. the default position for most senators is to give incoming presidents the opportunity to make out their own batting order to allow a president to put his own team in place provided that those folks are qualified. that is the rub here with this attorney general nominee. as far as we can tell, matt gaetz has never even argued a case in court. he has scant management experience. the doj has 115,000 employees, multiple bureaus and components and matt gaetz has no na

anthony coley, you and i grew up in democratic politics together.of the kerry campaign when we lost. you know a lot of things about politics, but you also have an expertise in all of these legal cases having been the former communication director of the department of justice. and i think one of the questions that's going to start to become real for people sort of digesting this is what happens to these legal cases, and that seems pretty clear to me. donald trump has made very clear he's going to get rid of the legal cases by getting rid of jack smith, but let me ask you what you think is going to happen with this this sentencing. that's scheduled in new york. for just a couple weeks from now. >> yes, i don't think he's going to be sentenced to jail. >> do you think the sentencing will still happen. >> i think it will happen. i don't expect judge merchand to sentence him to prison. age is a factor. he hasn't been -- is not a criminal conviction in terms of he's more of a civil type of case. can i say one thing about this moment we're in. >> i had to