that's what bill barr did to b.j. pak with rudy giuliani's allegations about voter fraud in georgia, and pak said, yes, sir, you're the attorney general. do you want me to make it my priority? of course, i will. he uses his office and resources to go start investigating things. pak goes on to say as far as he knew, the division that handles crimes thought that this giuliani stuff in georgia was not a substantive matter and, therefore, should not be investigated by the justice department, but bill barr apparently overruled that main justice and said, no, i'm telling you personally do it anyway, directly, penally on the phone, that you need to look into this as a top priority, and then i'm going to go to the white house with it. one of the surprise revelations in this report just released today by the senate judiciary committee -- what they are investigating is what was the justice department's role in trump trying to seize power, trying to stay in power even though he lost the election? one of the surprise revelations

the morning after, i had a conversation with the attorney general at the time, attorney general bill barrtorney general barr asked me if i had seen the news about this allegation of this suitcase full of ballots, and i said i did hear about that. and then attorney general barr said, you know, he had an upcoming meeting with the white house, meaning he, bill barr, had an upcoming meeting with the white house, given the fact that he had made his public statement two days before that there was no widespread fraud in the election, he thought this videotape from georgia, might come up during the discussion at the white house. so, he asked me to make it a priority, to find out more details about the allegation made by mr. giuliani, he asked me to make it a top priority, so i said i would be certain to do that. question, outside of the election fraud contest, prior to the 2020 election season would you say that officials from main justice are often alerted about crimes? it's not, often it's not every day that the attorney general call. in terms of the actual allegations coming down from the atto

, they viewed their job, particularly bill barr, as essentially the criminal defense firm for donaldwitnesses who didn't show up accountable by referring them to prosecution because, after all, we held bill barr in contempt. if he wasn't going to prosecute himself, he certainly wasn't going to prosecute others for ignoring . >> stephen: you can't send out the sergeant at arms to collab somebody in irons and drag them in? >> actually, in the past, about 100 years ago, we could do that. there was a jail, and we might need to bring it back. >> stephen: earlier in the monologue,offs saying bannon wasn't in the administration at the time so the exertion of executive privilege was not being supported by the biden administration. makes him kind of a soft target here. is it because of what he knows or what he represents that it's so important to actually bring the enforcement of the subpoena? >> it's really both. certainly, what he knows is really important, and on januare insurrection, he was telling people all hell was going to break loose the next day. he was, as we understand, in continu

and jeffrey rosen, the deputy attorney general, who was a longtime partner ever bill barr's. in private practice, he was brought into the justice department by bill barr was there supporting i would say some of the worst abuse of bill barr leading up to the election but in the aftermath of the election stood strong when donald trump working through subordinate jeffrey clark was trying to get the dodge to put its thumb on the scale in a way that would have been invery appropriate. he is there to testify about other department of justice officials actions and what the president did and this fateful oval office meeting they had in the aftermath of the election. it is important to contrast him with bannon and patel and other witnesses. jeffrey clark -- sorry, jeffrey rosen was instructed by the justice department that we are going to waive any privileges we have. the events around january 6th are so important, the events involving the former president trying overturn an election are so important, we are not going to invoke not just executive privilege but any of the other privile

that's why i think bill barr ultimately walked out the door.ntling of our democracy, and i think that's what our old boss george w. bush is speaking to. they are of the same cloth of domestic violent extremist, the majority of them animated by stop the steal, believing the election was fraudulent, and they believe that because of mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy. they signalled that donald trump needed to cry it out, and they ripped the country apart. >> that's right old friend. good to see you. i wish the democrats had the same fierce urgency of the republicans to protect our democracy as the republicans do to poison it, and think about this, donald trump knows that if you repeat the lie enough, people will believe it. there's proof in the pudding. 57% of the country believe there was fraud in the election, despite zero evidence, after a year of lawsuits, millions of dollars spent, an audit paid for by the republican party in arizona. lieutenant governor dan patrick in texas offering a million dollar reward has yet to pay out a penny for any

justice department and in the proper role of the executive branch or what can you tell us about bill barr? >> very interesting personality and certainly he wants to leave and he left the trump administration with his reputation intact with some people, not with others. what we found was interesting about barr was that he would have private meetings with trump and in the middle of last year, the election year you went to trump and he said i traveled the country. i've seen more people out there. i see your supporters and you have incredible support they are but mister president, i need to tell you that your supporters think you are and acting acyl. sorry i should have made that a whole. >> that depends what it is. >> bob woodward said the real world when we were on the cold air show and i said oh boy, here we go. >> it's just stunning and he is trying to give them political advice. you think you are and acting political genius but you're not . and bar is a conservative republican and wants trump to win. and when he sees the whole administration, and there really is an epic collapse of the p

bill barr overruled that concern at main justice and said, i'm telling you to do it anyway. i'm telling you personally as attorney general directly on the phone that i need you to look into this as your top priority. then i'm going to go to the white house with it. one of the surprise revelations in this report just released today by the senate judiciary committee -- what they are investigating is what was the justice department's role in trump trying to seize power, trying to stay in power even though he lost the election? one of the surprise revelations is that the committee, based on what it found already, they have asked the d.c. bar to open a disciplinary investigation into the behavior of jeff clark. given what he did as a lawyer, given what he did with his justice department role in that scheme with trump. there's an interesting question i think as to whether or not what jeff clark did might be criminally prosecutable. his law license may be on the line. whether or not there's a potential crime, something for which he could be prosecuted, the committee said it's not w

it revealed a lot about bill barr and a lot frankly on the very inspiring and positive side like maria yanovich. everyone is entitled to their own facts and the idea that he can step foot in the speaker's office is terrifying in life. >> tell us about the idea if republicans win, control the house back in the next election next year. kevin mccarthy becomes speaker, what does it mean for the country in the next two years of the biden's presidency? >> it means a couple of things. one, people speculated. could donald trump be the speaker because you don't need to be in congress. the reality is he would not need to be the speaker. essentially kevin mccarthy would do anything donald trump told him to do. i think that's all too apparent. and, one of the most profound indications of that is what took place after that insurrection. for a moment you can see kevin mccarthy putting his finger to the wind and sensing the direction of the wind was running against donald trump. he suggested an attack against the capitol and he made statements relating to donald trump. it was clear to him that the wi

i am happy hour election was so secure, as bill barr mentioned. host: we are chatting with kimberly wehle, author of the book "how to read the constitution and why" taking your phone calls as usual. this is jean on the republican line, park ridge, illinois. caller: good morning. thank you, professor, for your insights and education. i am from illinois. we have been going through public integrity issues for many years. to understand the future, we have to circle back to when john f. kennedy was elected, when he phoned in and asked mayor daley how many votes do you have for me/ he said how many more do you need? public integrity is everything and not just in illinois. this absentee ballot seems to be the linchpin for not only mine but other cities where there could be corruption involved. last but not least, i would like to see the u.s. attorneys get more involved, especially in illinois to make sure we have a strong legal and clean election process. thank you. guest: i agree. public integrity is crucial. i think we have lost sight of that frankly i

>> donahue, was one of bill barr's closest allies. barr hand picked him, from the brooklyn u.s.ney's office, and brought him to justice, to try to payroll with running the doj overall. donahue is one of the very last trump administration in pointy 's at the senior level of the doj, had a front row seat to all the craziness that happened, he is perhaps most famous for spring with jeffrey clark, the administration official that wanted to send a letter to a bunch of states, saying the fbi had evidence of significant voter fraud. when the fbi did not have significant evidence of voter fraud. donahue is against that letter going out, so he really knows what the granularity, just how much craziness was going on a doj in those last days. >> thank you so much. >> thank. you >> next up, listen to this. the governor of idaho, left the state for a border folder up. while he was gone, the lieutenant governor of iowa hide a, when completely robe, in a brazen power grab. it is this story sounds familiar, it's because she's already done this once before. so stick around, this one's a good one.

kind of thing that can be highly motivating. >> there people who are cooperating. >> he was one of bill barr'sies. barr hand picked him from the brooklyn u.s. attorney's office and brought him to main justice. he's one of the very last trump administration on the senior level of doj. had a front row seat to the craziness that happened. saying the fbi had evidence of voter fraud when they did not. he was against that letter going out. he really knows with immense granularity how much craziness was going on. >> all right. thank you so much. >> thank you. >>> next, listen to this. the governor of idaho left the state for a border photo op. while gone the lieutenant governor went completely rogue in a brazen power grab and if this story sounds familiar, it's because she's already done this once before. stick around. this one is a good one. before. stick around this one is a good one ♪ i like it, i love it, i want some more of it♪ ♪i try so hard, i can't rise above it♪ ♪don't know what it is 'bout that little gal's lovin'♪ ♪but i like it, i love it♪ applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighbo

let's just say that bill barr was attorney general and some group wrote a letter to bill barr that, you know, a general conservative orientation, and said well, blm has been linked to groups that commit vandalism, carry out threats, intimidation, campaigns across the nation, riots. we want an investigation into on going into the activities of black lives matter. then he turned around and sent a letter out four days later over a weekend about black lives matter or any other pick your group. the left would i think justifiably so start can asking questions. what violence specifically, who originated the concern that brought it to you, who wrote the original draft of the letter. but -- okay. they would be going crazy. we know that. but today merrick garland, a very smart guy, former federal judge, he gets up there and can't answer simple yes or no questions. he's obviously in a corner. he's backed himself into a corner. really unwise of him to do so on this letter. what he should have said today, i think try to maybe get this behind him a little bit is say look, we maybe jumped the gun, pun

>> so criminal referrals are back in play in a way they weren't under the bill barr tenure as attorneybill barr was far more interested in protecting donald trump than he was in assisting congress to enforce its subpoenas that could have produced incriminating information about donald trump. with merrick garland as attorney general, criminal intent is back in play, and it's a really important vehicle for congress to enforce its subpoenas. here's what it involved. in congress decides a witness is in contempt for failing to appear, failing to comply with a subpoena, they refer the matter to the dcsu attorney's office. then what happens is here's how the federal law reads, lindsey. it says once referred by congress to the dcsu attorney, the attorney has, quote, a duty to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action. what does that action typically look like? a criminal indictment of a witness who refuses to appear. whether that's a steve bannon or a mark meadows. the penalty associated with that kind of criminal contempt is up to one year in prison. now, as cathartic as it might

the thing that strikes me, too, and you mentioned bill barr, is in very much the same way that donald trump imagined -- imagines everyone is like him, everyone lies like he does, everyone is corrupt like he is, i think that bob mueller, being this man of unquestioned integrity, also presumes of others that they share the same devotion to the truth and have the same rectitude, and i think he must have been astonished that bill barr would so betray his work, would lie to the american people about what was in his report repeatedly. and so i think you have the illustration of a really good man in bob mueller who presumes the best in everyone else, and then you have the exact opposite in donald trump. >> the book is called "midnight in washington: how we almost lost democracy and still could" with remarkable anecdotes about kevin mccarthy and why congressman schiff's telling, he absolutely should be nowhere near the speakership of the united states house. remarkable anecdotes about lindsey graham, remarkable anecdotes about devin nunes, a lot of his democratic colleagues. politicians don't

attorney general bill barr announces he's resigning.one to the new jeffrey rosen, the acting attorney general. clearly trying to get him engaged in his own conspiracy theory. he tells him different aspects that he has picked up on the internet or from rudy giuliani and other sources hoping to convince him to lead the effort. and what was the effort going to be? he wanted the attorney general of the united states of america to be writing to attorneys general and governors across the country to tell them to not announce the electoral vote count in their own states, to withhold that information based on suspicions by the department of justice that something was wrong with the election. thank goodness rosen resisted, said he wouldn't do it, and stood his ground. and he was joined by other attorneys in the department who stood with him. >> i want to ask you about something that we talked about but we have never seen so explicitly detailed. and that is the role of run members of congress. trumps efforts to enlist d.o.j. if his leadership and

. >> i want to -- you referenced attorney general garland's predecessor, bill barr.show you something adam schiff. >> we can't look at this enforcement action against steve bannon in isolation. it is part of a broad assault on our democratic institutions where you can ignore subpoenas, use the justice department in ways that bill barr did to go after the president's enemies. you can ignore the prohibition on using the white house grounds for political conventions. you can enrich yourself as president. the list goes on and on. at some point you have to say enough, we have to put back the guardrails of our democracy in he is making an argument that i feel like we have discussed. the stakes for the department of justice in doing what bill barr would do seem catastrophe cattic, not just plirtcally, but in regard to the rule of law. do you see the participation of republicans, the vote of nine republicans as a little bit of sort of political cover for merrick garland to do what you have made clear is the only logical conclusion if you evaluate the facts and follow the law

in getting anywhere in its investigations in the past, what schiff says was, well, that was under bill barrt is different. we'll see whether it makes any difference for merrick dgarland. doj is very reluctant to charge criminal contempt of congress cases. they have not charged one of them in over 50 years. and even over the last decade we have seen doj pass on charging bill barr, wilbur ross, that's both parties doj, both parties subject, but doj has not been willing to bring these charges. it is on the books. it is a crime for a reason. and it is inexplicable to me how doj has not charged these. >> what does the congressional subpoena mean? if you or i or they can refuse and reliably under democratic or republican leadership not be referred for criminal charges, does that make it a worthless piece of paper? >> you hit on the existential question here. what does a congressional subpoena mean? this is a question of how serious is congress about enforcing its own enforcement power? we have seen congress take the slow route, we have seen doj standing on the sidelines doing nothing. we have see

bill barr is a perfect example. under the george h.w.ration, he was surround bid integrity, the former president, we didn't get a sense of who he was, but later tethered to a man without scruples like donald trump, we found bill barr was also without scruples, that he would do anything to have a seat at the table ofower. and there are so many other cautionary tales along those lines. but i also wanted to tell the story in this book about the heroes that emerged, th marie yvonneovichs, bill taylor's, vennamens, who is who showed great courage because their example will lead us out of this darkness. >> woodruff: do you see an end to the influence of donald trump? >> i do, and what really i think is such a terrible tragedy is, after we went through that horrible ordeal of the insurrection, there was a window when the republican party might have recaptured its identity as a party of ideas. you could see in mitch mcconnell the struggle about whether to throw donald trump overboard. with kevin mccarthy the pangs of conscience lasted about 30 s

it revealed about bill barr. it revealed a lot frankly, and the very inspiring and positive side about people like maria bonavista, and alexander vindman, it's not all stories of villainy, there are some real heroes that have emerged from this period, but you're absolutely right, kevin mccarthy was ahead of his time, but he has really made for a presidency that believes that truth is not true. that everyone is entitled to their own alternative facts, in the idea that he would ever step foot in the speaker's office, is just a terrifying. one >> tell us about that idea, if the republicans win, and get the house back in the next, election next, year kevin mccarthy becomes speaker, what does that mean for the country? in the next two years of the biden presidency? >> i think what that means is a couple of things. one is people have speculated well could donald trump actually be the speaker, because you don't need to be in congress to be speaker, the reality is, he would need to be the speaker, because essentially, ke

. >> reporter: trump had been enraged when attorney general bill barr said there was no widespread fraud in early december. >> well, he hasn't done anything. so, he hasn't looked. they haven't looked very hard, which is a disappointment, to be honest with you. >> reporter: after barr left in mid-december, the report says trump turned the screws on acting attorney general jeffrey rosen to do what barr had refused to do. but rosen refused too. he told the senate committee he said to trump the justice department, quote, "can't and won't just flip a switch and change the election." in response, trump asked that doj "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen." in late december, trump turned to an obscure environmental lawyer at doj named jeffrey clark who promised to do what barr and rosen would not do -- declare, without evidence, that there was widespread voter fraud and to pressure states that joe biden had won to change the results. at a dramatic, three-hour oval office meeting on january 3rd, trump said he wanted to fire rosen and make clar

the other person who was responsible for finding fraud if there had been any was bill barr. he's long retired. he was the country's attorney general. he couldn't find any. he resigned by this point. i wonder if he's a witness of interest to ask who did you tell that the allegations of fraud were things that you looked into, couldn't find any. i mean, how much of this is dependent on their knowledge of the lie they were telling to one another, to donald trump, to trump supporters? >> so, when you separate this conduct from january 6th and the riot that occurred which i think is very important to do, and i think the department of justice needs to be investigating. this effort to effectively have coup and overturn the election. then you start looking at what bill barr relied on when he said in early december that he found no significant evidence of fraud. i thought one of the most remarkable statements in jackie's article was a michigan state legislator who was on a call with 300 people on january 2nd. and he said -- and where trump and others were saying, you have the power to

as acting attorney general and all i did was the right thing for the right reason every day until bill barr took over in 2019 and i went out and went back to what i was doing. that being said i want to talk about where we're at right now on immigration and contrast that to where we were. we had the border under control, i'll make a bold statement, in the trump administration. illegal immigration had been reduced to a trickle. we were effectively using title 42 emergency regulations because of covid to turn people around and prevent covid positive people at the border. we had the remain in mexico policy in place and we were supporting the men and women of law enforcement instead of taking away their tools, we were giving them more and, by the way, we were building a wall preventing folks from just walking across at various points in our southern border. where are we at now? it's very hard because no one will actually say this but it's pretty clear if you can get to our southern border via commercial flight, it appears, or other transportation, we let you in. the obama policy was also very cl

acting attorney general and all i did was the right thing for the right reason every single day until bill barr took over in 2019 and i went out and went back to what i was doing, which is the private practice of law. i've done almost 75% of my professional life. that being said, i want to talk about where we're at right now on immigration and contrast that to where we were. we had -- i'll make a bold statement, we had the border under control in the trump administration. illegal immigration through our southern border had been reduced to a trickle. we had effectively been using title 42, emergency regulations, because of covid, to turn people around and prevent covid positive or unvaccinated, untested, or otherwise, you know, people at the border. we had the remain in mexico policy in place. and we were supporting the men and women of law enforcement, instead of taking away their tools, we were giving them more. and oh, by the way, we were building a war that was preventing folks from, you know, just walking across at various points in our southern border. where are we at now? well, where we'r

>> seems like they're not delivering the big fish that president trump and bill barr promised. >> after a half years or so there have only been two indictments and they have really been thin. >> laura: what is man is their credibility and objectivity. it is nonexistent. wolf blitzer, one of the slimiest guys in the ongoing drama. former fbi director andrew mccabe. speak of the action of the special counsel after two years of investigating has found essentially not must, at least not yet? >> that is absolutely right. there is really very little here relevant to what he supposedly was hired to investigate. the subpoenas really hold the fbi more in the position of victim rather than the subject of an investigation. >> laura: the spin never ends. remember and he is always going to play the victim, though. the fbi, intel agencies, media and dishonest democrats, they did incalculable harm to the presidency and the people's faith in these institutions and none of the guilty parties and the saga, not the press or the intel community, have learned anything over the last two years. since we disco

disappointing and surprising i think everybody was open-minded about him and he will continue what bill barritics he is politicizing it turbocharged i'll eight is quite scary. >> still ahead a game changer against covid-19 but it marks the new antiviral making its way through the regulatory process doctor marty makary says the fda could save thousands of lives a day. >> tech: when you get a chip in your windshield... trust safelite. this couple was headed to the farmers market... when they got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service the way you need it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ wealth is your first big investment. worth is a partner to help share the load. wealth is saving a little extra. worth is knowing it's never too late to start - or too early. ♪ ♪ wealth helps you retire. worth is knowing why. ♪ ♪ principal. for all it's worth. is struggling to manage your type 2 diabetes knocking you out of your zone? lowering your a1c with once-weekly ozempic® can help y

still being vekted by bill barr special counsel john durham. the release of the mueller report, after being relentlessly attacked and dragged through the mud by president trump and allies, christopher steel himself is finally speaking for himself in an extensive interview with abc news's george stephanopoulos. it will drive critics insane he did it. steel is putting himself out there on camera and asserting none of what he reported in the dossier has been disproven and he says he stands by it. if anything, he says the mueller report reinforces it. >> robert mueller said could not establish firm evidence of the criminal conspiracy. >> mueller was working to beyond reasonable doubt there was evidence in criminal cases and prosecutions and in much intelligence work you never get to the point where you're 99% certain of the evidence and secure a conviction. >> on the whole, does the mueller report reinforce the dossier or reinforce it? >> it reinforces it. there was a whole scale campaign that was organized by the leadership in russia. the aim was

after all we held bill barr in contempt.show up, and we hold them in contempt, which we will, we'll refer that to the justice department and we have to expect that merrick garland and the biden justice department will uphold the rule of law, they will vindicate the fact that no one is above the law. >> you think the speaker made a mistake by not allowing kevin mccarthy not to have handpicked members of in committee. >> no. time has demonstrated the wisdom of that decision, democrats and republicans, we have two conservative republicans in liz cheney and adam kinzinger, we're all determined to get to the truth, and if you look at that first hearing that we did with those four capitol police officers it was remarkable, their testimony was incredible and powerful, but it's also remarkable that there was no fighting among the members, no effort to score points among each other if you didn't know who was a democrat or a republican, you couldn't tell because we were all interested in getting the facts out, had the speaker not made

trump -- was that if you helped people in criminal contempt it was just going to get referred to, bill barr's justice department. which inevitably would, most likely, take no action to actually hold these people accountable and complying with any sort of subpoena. that being said, the timeline here is really unclear, the justice department has not indicated one way or the other wet this process is going to look like. steve bannon could face potentially a year in prison, or 100,000 dollar fine if they do decide to hold him in criminal contempt. but democrats, i have to remind you and are under some time constraints. we've heard from legal experts, time and time again, throughout our reporting over these past few months saying that, if they want to be successful in trying. so again, the timeline unclear, but in democrat's minds, and why they're willing to take such aggressive action here is. cause they want to get this done as quickly as possible, the criminal content is a way to do that. >> on this unusual night, during this unusual times, we are so thankful for three friends of this broad chr

bush and replaced bill barr as acting attorney general in 1993. he's been around.ing the presidential election he co-lead george w. bush legal team during the florida recount. didn't they do a number? unlike most trump loving republicans he's admitted that joe biden won the election. >> i respect the outcome of the presidential election completely. that could never be proven. it's irresponsible in my opinion to continue to push the idea that that election had a level of fraud that affected the outcome. >> that is the guy who is now representing donald trump's chief of staff mark meadows who is the center of all this from a lot of the reporting. that's an interesting choice. one to look for as things continue to develop. congressman, what's the next steps on this complaint. >> we will act on it and vote on the criminal contempt that the select committee passed last evening. it will go do united states attorney. the federal law is clear has a duty to bring it before a federal grand jury. >> you have two republican votes for it already. the two members that serve on t

bill barr. we'll keep you posted on what if anything this turns up.op-ed titled how to lose a country in 10 months hits the president over his many crises from the border to his foreign policy. former obama economic advisor larry summers is going after the biden administration on another crisis. my alarm is increasing until the fed and treasury fully recognize the inflation reality they're unlikely to deal with it successfully. really bringing it all home a "new york times" headline, this year's thanksgiving meal is poised to wallop the wallet. the price of everything in potatoes to coffee is soaring. 16 pound turkey that was $13 two years ago will cost almost $22 this year. one woman telling the times i dread buying vanilla. power panel. former speaker of the oklahoma house, richard fowler, fox news contributor. gentlemen, great to have you in focus. t.w., i'll start with you. inflation. biden has got to do something. >> there is no doubt, harris, thank you for having me. joe biden and his failed economic policies in 10 months has set america back 40

remember, when bill barr came back to that job as attorney general, a position he need like a hole inhis reasons was that he wanted to try to depoliticize the department that had become way to politicized under obama and, which of course, ended in this epic disaster of the trump-russia collusion probe and the mueller report. he put in a lot of things designed to try to remove the department of justice from that political fray and yet now you have got attorney general merrick garland, he has launched this partisan lawsuit against georgia and its voting rights. he has this letter out about parents going to school boards. now up the president making this comment. all it does is undermine what little bit of trust had been rebuilt but perhaps this department is going to operate separate and above politics and with its eye, instead, on justice and the law. >> bret: yeah. brit, a little bit of an audible here just in the past few minutes a meeting on capitol hill between senators sanders and manchin and over the weekend. senator sanders wrote an op-ed in west virginia newspaper going after s

was found that makes me sleep well at night and i'm happy actually that our election was secure as bill barr. >> university of baltimore law professor and author off the bok and read the constitution and why and taking phone calls online. republicans and democrats and independents, this is gina the republican line from illinois and good morning pretty. >> good morning and thank you professor for your insights and education here but i'm from illinois and we have been going through public integrity issues for many many years and wonders in the future there to circle back to when john f. kennedy was elected and he asked the mayor how many more votes do you have there for me and they said how many more do you need. i mean, public integrity is everything is not just here in illinois. this absentee ballot seems to be the linchpin for not only us but other cities where there could be some corruption involved. and if it work that i would like to see the u.s. attorney get more involved especially here in illinois to make sureno we havea strong legal and clean election process and thank you. >> i agre

bill barr said so. at one point, mitch mcconnell said so. and d.o.j. ultimately opines that there is no fraud. let me show you the lies that eastman told about fraud on january 6th. >> we know there was fraud, traditional fraud, that occurred. we know that dead people voted. but we now know, because we caught it live last time in real time, how the machines contributed to that fraud. all we are demanding of vice president pence is this afternoon at 1:00 he let the legislatures of the state look into this so we get to the bottom of it and the american people know whether we have control of the directive of our government or not. [ cheers and applause ] we no longer live in a self-governing republic if we can't get the answer to this question. this is bigger than president trump. it's the very essence of our republican form of government. and it has to be done. and anybody that is not willing to stand up to do it does not deserve to be in the office. it is that simple. >> robert costa, i watched that a few times. i have two new questions after watching i

part of a broad assault where you can ignore subpoenas, use the justice department in ways that bill barr to go after the president's enemies. you can ignore the prohibition on using the white house grounds for political conventions. you can enrich yourself as president. the list goes on and on. you have to say, okay, enough. we need to put back in place these guardrails of democracy. >> what do you if the department of justice decides not to prosecute? how do you get the guardrails up? >> there are other remedies but none as effective as prosecution. the jail time idea weighs on the mind and finds out the vital information of steve bannon and to others who will look to this and decide, well, then they too can obstruct if he gets away with it or think he was prosecuted i should comply with the law also. >> all right. congressman, thank you for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >>> coming up, infrastructure. police reform. voting rights. gun control. all stalled in congress. why democrats need a big win right now more than ever. >>> also this morning, olympic gymnast

been proven false suggested hundreds of thousands of votes were illegally counted and he blames bill barr are you doing? john eastman can be heard criticizing former vice president mike pence for not overturning the 2020 election results. eastman was filmed by a progressive actionty viv who would approach, pretend to be a flattering person and then post the comments. >> i read it and i thought it was solid in all of its legal arguments. >> yeah. >> i was floored that mike pence didn't do anything. why didn't he act on it because you gave him the legal reasoning to do that. >> i know, i know. exactly. >> like all of your legal reasoning is totally solid. >> yeah. there's no question. >> i mean like, you know, just supported and supporter. why wouldn't mike pence do it? >> because mike pence is -- if we could have got the desert fe indication, we could have had georgia, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania back in january. i met -- trump, giuliani, and mehmet with 300 legislators on january 2nd via zoom conference call, and they all wouldn't do anything even though we gave them all of the evid

bush, went on to replace bill barr as acting general in 1983. so you know he's been around. in 2000 following the presidential election he -- unlike most trump loving republicans he has admitted that joe biden won the election. >> i respect the outcome of the election of the presidential election. if you fast forward to the 2020 election, and allegations of vote fraud that were made there, that could never be proven and it's irresponsible frankly in, my opinion to continue and push the idea that election had a level of fraud that affected the outcome. >> so that is a guy who is now representing donald trump's chief of staff mark meadows, who we know that the center of all the similar reporting. so that's an interesting choice, one telling four as we continues to develop. he joins me now. congressman, what is the sort of next steps on this complaint ruffle not made it out of the rules committee today? >> well tomorrow on the afternoon east coast time we will act on it, we will have 60 minutes of debate, and then we will vote on the criminal contempt committee, the select comm

. >> real quick, you think pat cipollone and bill barr will be talking to the january 6th committee?d to talk. >> you think they will. >> and they'll tell the truth and it will not be flattering for donald trump. >> okay. i want to ask you, paul, i'm going to bring you in on this conversation. there's question about whether democrats should be doing more to sound the alarm. i want to ask you about this new quinnipiac poll showing biden with his lowest job approval rating so far including a 12-point drop among independents since the end of august. what do you attribute that to? >> to the fact we're in the middle of the sausage making and it's ugly and vicious. how mcconnell is gumming things up, he gums things up and joe gets blamed, the president gets blamed. and that's just politics. the democrats had by god better pass the president's plans both for infrastructure and the build back better social safety net agenda. they had better do that. the reason it's down right now is quite rightly we're all focused on the sausage and process making. if it's ugly and petty. if it gets passed w

bill barr, 2019. wilbur ross, 2019. and lois learner and eric holder. doj said we're not going to charge. that said, merrick garland has a really important decision here. that could be the most direct, quickest and really the only route to compel these people to testify. >> if they did testify or eventually they are compelled to testify, they could take the fifth amendment. tell us about that. . >> yeah. so they have a trump card of sorts here. no pun intended. the fifth amendment. any person has the right to take the fifth to remain silent. we've seen that done in congress before by oliver north in the '80s, founder of enron kenneth lay, mark mcwire in the steroids investigation. the only counter move is congress can immunize the witnesses meaning you have to testify now. we're not going to use it against you in the future but you have to testify now. the problem is it makes it essentially impossible to prosecute these people. that's what happened with oliver north. he was immunized. he testified. he was then convicted. but a federal court threw out th

. >> when bill barr was attorney general, there was no way he would prosecute anyone covering up for donald trump. he viewed the justice department as trump's criminal defense firm. it's different now. we intend to enforce the subpoenas. i think if someone thumbs their nose at the law, doesn't comply, is prosecuted, it will be a powerful message that they better comply. >> i fully expect this department of justice to hold and enforce that subpoena. i think this department of justice believes nobody is above the law. >> sahil, the deadlines are today. steve bannon was holding a rally in virginia. he was close. he is within driving distance of showing up today. what do we know? when does the committee decide they haven't complied? is it 5:00? >> there's a growing likelihood that this committee is going to put out criminal referrals to the justice department to prosecute these individuals. steve bannon is the first to make it clear in a letter from his legal team that he is not going to comply. he is citing executive privilege claims made by former president trump which the white house

very senior official, jeffrey rosen, he served as attorney general in the final days of trump after bill barr quit, jeffrey rosen apparently spent eight straight hours yesterday testifying behind closed doors to that same january 6 investigation that's going to send the criminal referral for steve bannon. jeffrey rosen, eight hours of testimony yesterday. must have had a lot to talk about. it was behind closed doors, we don't know what happened. we expect that that testimony will eventually be shown to the public. and no, i'm not going to read all eight hours of it on the air when we finally get the transcript, but you better believe i will find the good stuff, when we finally get it. so like i said, we've got eyes on all those developing stories tonight. but there's been a whole different kind of drama and momentum today when it comes to covid. a whole but any things are happening now all at once on covid. first of all, and most importantly, of course, we've still got a huge proportion of our population that is unvaccinated, that is driving crushing numbers of very sick covid patients that a

this is not your father's department of justice, this is not bill barr. it's merrick garland.hem get a case of the criminal contempt measures. those penalties are severe. i believe doj will get involved. >> norm eisen, thank you for the time. much appreciated. >> thanks, boris. >>> former president trump wants to get back on twitter and he's asking a court to step in and help restore his account. >>> also, "snl" kicks off a new season and let's just say comedians did not hold back when it came to roasting lawmakers. >> i know what the average american wants. they want to be put on hold when they call 911. they want bridges that just stop and a car falls down. they want water so thick you can eat it with a fork. i will fight for that, no matter what. unless my foot hurts then i'll go back to arizona. ♪ ♪ i know the best coffee spot in town. i can make a rustic cabin feel modern. i am a guidebook for guests. i can make an indoorsy person, outdoorsy. i give families a home, not just a place to stay. i am a vrbo host. ♪ ♪ subway® has so much new it didn't fit in our last ad. like

people like steve bannon and putting pressure on the justice department and with client ags like bill barr and others. even now i don't see any appetite on the part of the biden administration to use the full extent of the law to go after trump and his henchmen like steve bannon because i think they're afraid of the political blowback. they're afraid this will just turbo charge the trump movement and they'll claim they're being persecuted by the deep state. this is all a political plot and it will blow up in their face. i just see, as you noted, merrick garland is a centrist. he has a very moderate reputation. he was very centrist as a judge. he seems to be pretty centrist as an attorney general. i just don't have a lot of confidence that garland and the justice department are going to go throw the book at trump or anybody else. >> i appreciate the point you're making, and as mentioned, you have a lot of experience in the upper echelons at least in the older version of the republican party and pushing back on the trump era. eli, max, also points to the political blowback out there. prosecu