i tend to agree with attorney general bill barr, former attorney general bill barr that trump actually something he wouldn't follow through on, but unhinged and willing and empowered to do whatever he thinks is appropriate, regardless whether or not it's legal, regardless of whether or not there is any basis for this kind of prosecution or punishment, i don't think there will be any leash on him at all in those kinds of actions. and he said so, i don't have to guess. he said so. he said he'll be a dictator at least on day one. and we should take him at his word. >> nobody ever stays a dictator for one day. once they get that power, they keep it. carol, thank you very much. >>> up next, president biden delivered a big warning on the fate of our democracy and the balance of the supreme court, if trump wins in november. that's next. ♪ limu emu... ♪ and doug. (bell ringing) limu, someone needs to customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. let's fly! (inaudible sounds) chief! doug. (inaudible sounds) ooooo ah. (elevator doors opening) (inaudible sounds) i thought you

and many, many disagree, and come out, those with initial reservations like bill barr, have come outy executives and a powwow with them and business types and house republicans and senate republicans, most if not answered, and most, if not all, said they would support him. in the meantime, i want to take you to lucerne switzerland, the summit for peace is there. and kamala harris is there representing. and this is for peace in ukraine. russia was not invited. the president, meanwhile, is not attending, he's in hollywood tonight for a big fundraiser and the democrats have already raised $28 million for the fundraiser, more than any other such democratic event in history. and the peace summits goes on in switzerland and the fund raising here. we'll have more after this. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. we're not talking about practice? no. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. not a game! we've been talking about practice for too long. -word. -no practice. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talk

. >> jonathan: is bill barr on the retribution list? >> i think bill barr has to be investigated.ibution. >> jonathan: trump said retribution. you said retribution. >> it's justice. >> jonathan: bill barr needs to be investigated? he needs to be in prison with merrick garland? >> i didn't say that. i won't prejudge. >> jonathan: bill barr could be going to prison as part of this retribution campaign. >> it's not retribution. it's justice. >> jonathan: just days after the 2020 election, twitter suspended bannon's podcast. the episode also yanked from youtube after he seemed to imply that dr. anthony fauci and cia -- fbi director christopher wray should be beheaded. >> i would put their heads on pikes. i would put them at two corners of the white house as a warning to federal bureaucrats. you either get with the program or you're gone. >> a couple of days before i was talking about the execution of thomas moore when metaphorically they put it on the pike. that is a metaphor. in this town, jonathan, and it's beneath you to bring that up. >> jonathan: it's not beneath me to bring it u

and bill barr kind of danced, like i don't recall that specific instance. be president of the united states. >> they all saw everything. and until the very end did nothing. joining our conversation, one of the democratic house members who has launched a task force to counter trump's project 2025. congressman ted lieu of california. the congressman is also a member of the house judiciary committee where a lot of the republican shenanigans get beta tested. congressman, thank you for being here. it feels like project 2025 has been out there for a long time. trump making no secrets of his plans to turn our democracy into an autocracy. there's a website for that now. it seems like peak trump 2024. tell me about the response and the sort of interest and the energy in combating it or at least being prepared for it. >> thank you, nicolle, for that question. let me first say a poll released shows that joe biden is going to win re-election and democrats will flip the house. and that's because we're running on the values of freedom, democracy and optimism. this projec

when he is staring at allegations, i agree with ty cobb, with bill barr.dy on the face of the indictment and in pleadings set forth by the special counsel. this case seems extremely strong. it does not rely like the federal case in washington on any indication of the president's intent, but simply his possession of these documents and allegations of obstruction after repeated requests. it seems really, really strong. so delaying that, the adjudication of that strong case, really prejudicial to the united states. >> charlie, let's go back to the strength of the evidence. here's, you know, what basically amounts to the crime being carried out on tape. >> these are the papers. this was done by the military and given to me. i think we can probably, right? >> i don't know. we'll have to see. you know, we'll have to try to -- >> declassify. see, as president, i could have it declassified. now, i can't. isn't that interesting? so cool. and you probably almost didn't believe me, but now you believe me. >> no, i believed you. >> incredible. >> so there he is, holdi

attorney general bill barr was held in contempt of congress by a democratic congress for not turning over information. the unredacted mahler report and now attorney general merrick garland for not turning over the audio a citizen who doesn't have a dog in the fight might say, it seems to me as though the legislative branch is trying to do oversight of the executive branch and the executive branch keeps giving the what whoever's in charge of the i've congress, the executive branch consistently gives the finger to the house. i assume you don't see it that way, but there is a consistency in these three contempt of congress votes well, there's only a consistency and the fact that they, three attorney generals have now been held in contempt by congress. >> but the situations and the circumstances are very different there there was no basis for for bill barr to withhold the unredacted report from congress he could identify none if it were a issue of classified or secret information, but there's really not it's going to see the justice department to not give the audio recordings to congress

griffin highlighted an april interview from former attorney general bill barr where he was asked if he remembered a time when trump called for a leaker to be executed. here's what he told cnn. >> alyssa farah griffin, trump's communications director, posted yesterday and said that you were present at a moment when trump suggested executing the person who leaked information, that he went to the white house bunker when the george floyd protests were happening outside of the white house. do you remember that? >> i remember him being very mad about that. i actually don't remember him saying executing, but, you know, i wouldn't dispute it. you know, it doesn't sound -- the president would lose his temper and say things like that. i doubt he would have actually carried it out, you know. >> but he would say that on other occasions? >> you know, the president had -- i think people sometimes took him too literally and, you know, he would say things like similar to that in occasions to blow off steam, but i wouldn't take him literally every time he did it. >> oh, you mean like he'll get rid of r

even bill barr, who believes very strongly in the power of the president, even bill barr ended up saying he is abusing his power. he can appoint a lot of people in the higher ranks of the justice department and even more problematic, into career positions at the department of justice where they can keep those positions into the next administration. so this is a very fraught time, obviously, but we have seen the indications of what he can do. we saw the kinds of pardons that he issued for his friends and for republican politicians and people who committed frauds. they were all pardoned and that is the problem. the president, despite the fact that all presidents should be held accountable for their actions, the president is actually not like others. that is something that the american voting public needs to keep in mind. >> all right, carol lam, thank you. tom and david, please stick around. next up, republicans once critical of trump are now carrying his water and it could land one of them a huge gig. but this is just right. and i don't like anything. but i like this. get a light scent th

bill barr was asked when he remembered a time that trump called for a leaker to be executed.look. >> griffin who was trump's communication director posted yesterday and said that you were present a at a moment when trump suggested executing the person who leaked information that he went to the white house bunker when george floyd protests were happening outside of the white house. do you remember that? >> i remember him being very mad about that. i actually don't remember him saying executing but, you know, i wouldn't dispute it, you know? i mean, it doesn't sound -- the president would lose his temper and say things like that. i doubt that he would have actually carried it out. you know? >> but he would say that on other occasions? >> the president -- i think people sometimes took him too literally and he would say things like similar to that and in occasions to blow off steam. but i wouldn't take him literally every time he did it. >> griffin went further saying trump had called for executions multiple times. >> and bill barr kind of danced saying i don't recall that specif

we all know the only time bill barr did anything is when donald trump told him to do it.got very fortunate and my wife was able to find an attorney who you have met many times, and she was with me at the recent trial, the criminal trial, and donya then filed a habeas petition within which to have me released from otisville based upon this unconstitutional remand, which was granted by federal judge alvin k. hellersteen, who in his order turns around and says that this is retaliation by the president and the attorney general in order to silence a critic of the president. >> in short, the weaponization of the department of justice, but not by joe biden's doj. michael cohen, thank you. >> that's the funny thing, joy. that's the funny thing about donald trump. what he's doing. he's projecting. and that's what donald does. he's projecting what he believes that everyone is as criminally inclined as he is. so he's trying to impugn that behavior onto the biden administration, knowing that's what his administration, not only that they did it to me, but that they intend to do it to

if we want to talk about weaponization of the justice department, the house needs to look at bill barr. to me the most important point is how in the world can these people be saying that the justice department is politicized when literally today, right now, it is prosecuting the only living son of president biden, hunter biden. so if i were to ask a question it would be about merrick garland. in a way he represents the cautious best of our judicial system. before he was there he was chief justice of our nation second-highest court for 20 years, never overturned by the supreme court. known as careful and meticulous. the question i would have is maybe you have been too careful. you obviously want to avoid the legacy that bill barr and others tried to impose on the justice department and go back to the traditions andrew talks about. traditions that everyone i know who served in the justice department takes so seriously. the independence and the avoidance of impropriety. the question i have is has that failed? you assume good faith and look at what these people have done. we grew up in a s

i think bill barr was held in contempt by the way, for similar reasons, right? >> idea of asserting executive privilege because they said and often for bill barr was about the idea of not having documents to turn over about the citizenship question on the census. so this has been part of it and they both said they all three have said executive privilege about having these documents out there and they have not been prosecuted. >> it's not a bit at the end of the de as a political matter, i don't think it's going to make a look at difference to anybody. but this is good theater, just about motivating your base, showing your fighting. the distracting way from trump's conviction, trying to move on to a hunter biden i think it's just a big show, but it won't have much impact on the election. >> well, will it have an impact in terms of focusing on the american public sees this and the idea of trying to talk about the system being weaponized, the doj being under biden it is but not a manhattan da's office. and of course they want the information about the how do you ch

people like jim matus, bill barr , rex tillerson. they fell by the wayside. the concern is in the second term, he will be surrounded by sycophants. the opposite of a team of he's never demonstrated a capacity to listen to anyone's advice. it's very disturbing. as i said at the outset of this program, that's one of the many reasons i am concerned about the next four years, regardless of which of these prospective nominees wins in november. >> you mentioned the president's weaknesses. you looked at flaws that these presidents also had. why is it important to recognize those as well? >> ken burns describes his process in all of the documentaries he makes with all of the famous people. you have to acknowledge the flaws because of the emotional archaeology. t my friend mark, who is a former head of the lbj library and head of the lbj foundation and a wonderful presidential biographer, mark said you can't put these guys on pedestals. you have to have a section in each chapter that identifies their flaws. so, i do. it makes them more human and it makes any potential

fear of the department and him looking partisan, probably like a ptsd from the leftover effect of bill barrt of prosecutors he allowed this case to go forward in a very unusual circumstance. it is very, very rare, in fact i never heard of it before, for someone to be convicted of this crime, which is lying on the certification for possession of a gun, if the gun wasn't used in any other crime. when we see that from the original attempt to dispose of the case through something called diversion which is no criminal conviction at all. that is the sort of fear part — so worried about looking partisan so he allowed this to go forward on its own. hold on, because there was a crime committed here, correct? yes. i mean, hunter biden did fill out a form saying he wasn't using drugs and we heard throughout the course of the testimony that he was still in the throes of addiction and did put down on that form that he wasn't when he bought it. correct, yes, that's absolutely a crime. it's just one is very rarely charged if the only issue is that the person lied about being a drug addict and the gun wasn

fear of the department and him looking partisan, probably like a ptsd from the leftover effect of bill barreral. because of that to me and a lot of prosecutors he allowed this case to go forward in a very unusual circumstance, it very, very rare, interactive never heard of it before, for someone to be convicted of this crime, which is lying on the certification for possession of a gun, if the gun wasn't used in any other crime. when we see that from the original attempt to dispose of the case through something like the virgin voyages no criminal conviction at all. that is the sort of fear but, worried about looking partisan so he allowed this to go forward on its own.- partisan so he allowed this to go forward on its own. hold on, because there _ go forward on its own. hold on, because there was _ go forward on its own. hold on, because there was a _ go forward on its own. hold on, because there was a crime - because there was a crime committed here, correct? yes. hunter biden did fill out a form saying he wasn't using drugs and we heard throughout the course of the testimony that he was st

in 2020, after he refused to be -- he was fired by trump and his then attorney general bill barr. he would say as much after he left the doj telling reporters as president, donald trump pushed him and his colleagues to prosecute his perceived political rivals. upshot of that is trump managed to shut down the federal hush money investigation even though he was he unindicted co- conspirator number 1. that was how the case ended up being picked up by the local manhattan da who does not report to the feds at all. trump has been charged with felonies and four different jurisdictions. the three outstanding cases are awaiting trial. one held up in an appeal for the supreme court of one third of whose members were nominated by trump. the ex-president has spent, as you know, as we covered on the program and resulted in multiple citations were condemned and cake orders, every possible moment, screaming at the people prosecuting him and the judges and the court officers and issue commands to his party allies, calling for other -- prosecuted. a target on the people who were anonymous officers

john durham who bill barr tasked with investigating the rusher probe, trump special. who was investigating his own son. that is because the new president, at the pains of a possible criminal conviction of his surviving son in recovery wanted no appearance of impropriety or of fearon's. merrick garland went a step forward. and he appointed david weiss as special counsel to make sure his work on the hunter biden case was independent. that was a move that republicans opposed? the republicans in the house judiciary, david weiss can't be trusted. it's a new way to whitewash the biden family's corruption. after all of that and a plea deal that was worked out with hunter biden but ultimately rejected by the courts, he ended up charging the president's son for an weapons are rarely prosecuted that even trey gaudi, the far right ex- congressman and former prosecutor could scarcely believe. >> i did gun prosecutions for six years. i went after convicted felons. i went after people who were fugitives from justice. i went after lots of different people who were prohibited from po

and focused interpreter and carry urban acute legal editor and from counselor to attorney general bill barrated to have you both with us. and we have commented on this but i think it's worth commenting on again because it's kind of interesting to see david weiss of fired up about justice for hunter biden when he, you know, took a pass on this for quite some time and sort of threw his hands up on the, side, said sorry, guides, to the whistleblowers from the irs, you know, this is above my grade basically god is nothing i can do about. what you think about wiseman no and what do you think navigations are for the next trial? >> you know, look at i think he is right to say that this is about lying and illegal possession hunter engaged in. what he conveniently leaves out in that it all happened in 2018 and david was sat on his hands for nearly five years and tried to make the case disappear. he didn't even want to the sweetheart lead you, martha, that you try to get rid of this case with any of that and it was only because the whistleblowers came forward and brought attention to this that we end

something bill barr called bullshit, just to quote bill barr. how do you see the voter suppression legislation enacted at the state level even by republicans who push back and in georgia, the voters suppression law is so odious to major league baseball that they moved the all-star game to another state and people just sort of shrug and it is what had to be even though the republican governor said there was no fraud there. how do we, one, do a better job and two, stop that erosion of voting rights? >> yeah, i mean, that one -- that is a jeanne that is out of the bottle and hard to get back. at least that first part. there is this feeling that there is widespread voter fraud. there is a fear that substantial numbers of people who shouldn't have the ability to vote are in fact voting. that voting is miscounted in a way that favors one party or the other. that has to be pushed back with statistical evidence and people tanding up and saying that is is not true. the brennan center has done great work in that regard. these are things that are not neces

and they've declined to prosecute other tones general for house citations, and with bill barr and 2012, then eric holder, the first sitting cabinet member being held in contempt of congress. and in the cases, then president trump and president obama exerted authority over the committee. aishah: thank you. griff: democrats are demanding sanctions for controversial supreme court justices making the high court, its rulings and conservative justices a plank in their election platform this fall. and chad pergum has more. >> and on the conservative justices. >> justice alito is an insurrectionist sympathizer joined by his right wing buddy, clarence thomas. >> democrats accuse clarence thomas and samuel alito of questionable ethics. thomas for lauvish get aways. >> he had done it on their time, my lord. >> alito for controversial flags flying at his homes. the legacy of the roberts court will be one of unchecked corruption. >> and lawyers say ethics rules don't require him to report such trips as long as they don't have businesses before the court. alito says his wife flew the flags and the r

were both in, where trump a straight up says, a staffer who leaked a story should be executed and bill barr said i don't recall that specific incident. but there were others. >> alyssa farrah griffin said this came out more than one so this is not mental flatulence, he has given it serious thought. can a sitting president with a willing attorney general put this in motion? >> reporter: it would be interesting to see, right? we've seen and reported on trump and his allies trying to come up with what he wants to accomplish in a second term. and in the event that trump installs a sympathetic and loyal attorney general and he can just call him up and say hey i want you to prosecute these guys, i think it's possible. i also see and envision a scenario where trump goes not only do we want to prosecute them but we want to make their life miserable whether it's through the irs, we know that trump went after his political enemies, this is the sort of thing that is discussed a lot in trump world, and i think everyone should take it at face value. >> so joyce, what is the impact of the supreme court's

. >> in fact, the attorney general for those criminal cases was bill barr, who was nominated by donaldtrump. with these back show is that the department of justice has not been weaponized. we have one department of justice that goes after criminals regardless of party affiliation. these trump associates were convicted under the administration of three republican attorneys general, each of whom was nominated by donald trump. trump's compare manager dash cam payment or, and fellow, deputy campaign manager, a fellow, foreign policy advisor, a felon, trump's lawyer, a felon, political advisor, a felon, trump's fundraiser, a felon. it is not the fault of the department of justice that donald trump's -- trump and surrounded himself with criminals. trump brought that on himsthings that makes america great is that we are ruled by the law and not by a cult of personality. i want to thank you and the department of justice for applying the law without fear or favoritism. i note as we sit here today the department of justice is prosecuting hunter biden in a federal court you can't love your countr

then trump fired him and hired bill barr who spent the rest of the administration acting like president trump's personal attorney. according to republicans, merrick garland is doing the president's bidding. the thing is, republicans are realizing it's hard to claim you're the victim of a rigged justice system when their candidate has spent his whole political career trying to rigged the justice system. merrick garland for his part was not taking any of this. >> i will not be intimidated and the justice department will not be intimidated. we will continue to do our jobs free from political influence and we will not back down from defending democracy. >> joining us now is a new york times reporter and claire mccaskill. trump claims that joe biden is a shut-in also simultaneously a political puppetmaster. can they have their cake and eat it too? his son, and do we remember that the same justice department the client to prosecute matt gaetz on trafficking? the justice department if they are doing political stuff, they are doing it badly. here is what is going on. there is evidence and it's

the idea that he is also bill barr, he is no good because he would go along with an insurrection.intended but that is pretty low bar for the attorney general of the united states. i'm not going to engage in a felony to interfere with democracy. it is incredibly scary to hear that from the leading candidate for the republican party. with respect to judge cannon, i should say mary and i were discussing this on the podcast. i never heard mary as upset. and it is unbelievable that judge cannon said, i'm rejecting your motion on a technicality that you didn't meet and confer. one, they did meet and confer and the defendants basically said, this is an important -- i will get back to you over the weekend at the end of the weekend. when the application had to do with danger to law enforcement, i think that issue were judge cannon is being cavalier with this claim by jack smith is going to rue the day. because of this is one where she does not rule and jack smith's favor, i can easily see that they will take this up on appeal. this is the kind of issue that is the reason people are in law

the fever dreams of the left chris wallace for example remember him used to be on msnbc was on the bill barr trump is going to jail journalist and people who disagree with him and -- he believes it. like he's living in this like -- rachel: alternative universe. will: when the reality is playing out in front of him pointed out by tulsi. a different -- rachel: decisions that could affect many of the january 6th political prisoners as well. that decisions that came out this week as well. pete: we're going turn to additional headlines starting with this. right now, as we speak, french citizens are lining up at the polls for the first round of country's snap parol parliamentary election calling after the centrist party lost its bid for parliament earlier this month. an official from the american ideas institute joined us earlier about how the election could impact the u.s. >> going to have to in turn having an effect on president biden because if the french, if france goes, then there is no european country that wants to do much. wants to do much in ukraine so it is essentially going to be more a

, specifically i'm thinking about eric holder during the obama administration and then of course bill barrthe trump administration, having the doj prosecute the head of it is certainly something we've never seen before and do not expect to happen now. >> meanwhile, tomorrow's visit by trump will be the first on capitol hill since his conviction. what's he going to be doing there? >> reporter: meeting with republicans on the house side and senate side. we've asked several republicans what they want to hear from him. listen to what chip roy said. roy backed desantis during the primary. watch. >> i want to hear him giving direction about where we're headed, the agenda for the american people struggling with inflation, can't afford houses, can't afford food. go through their hard working days and lives. i think we'll hear the president talk about those issues and number one securing the border of the united states when this president won't. >> reporter: you should look at trump's visit as republicans falling in line, despite the legal troubles, despite the primary, despite any concerns they ha

bill barr, great attorney general. merrick garland, great attorney general. out that says that joe biden should not be prosecuted because he is a kind gentleman with a bad memory, something to that effect. >> jon: right. that's not what he said, but okay. >> it is close. >> jon: what he said was, he would present to the jury as a kind old gentleman, which means, i don't think we can win this case because i think he is too sympathetic a figure. >> okay. >> jon: very different. >> apologize. i'm not trying to slander -- >> jon: objection sustained. objection -- what's the -- >> i don't know. it was a long time ago. >> jon: [laughs] but my point being that, if a candidate says, i'm going to get this person, then that is all alvin bragg was at that time was a candidate. so why aren't you holding donald trump, who was running for president to the same standard that you would hold alvin bragg? and not only that, when donald trump was president, he did impanel a special prosecutor to go after the russian pollution hoax that john durham panel, and that was there, to

most recently in 2019 former attorney general bill barr eric holder became the first ag to be held inses trump in a bomb exerted that executive privilege over certain records sought by the house oversight committee. jon: madeleine rivera and washington thank you. for more on this let's bring in tennessee congressman tim a member of the house oversight committee. any surprise the biden department of justice does not want to prosecute or press charges against mr. biden's attorney general? >> absolutely not. this is very predictable. they have been a weaponize against the american people. you have pro-life protesters are being ambushed at night to buy t teams and directed by the department you have got mom's who were not liking and pornography is being shared with their kids. they have the audacity to question that in the justice department causing domestic terrorist. them and clearly weaponize against the american public and the justice department everyone wants a call at the swamp it's just a sewer. it all flows in and nothing flows out. merrick garland court should be held in contempt

for me attorney general bill barr and eric holder were held in contempt of congress in both cases d.o.j. refused to prosecute them after former presidents trump and obama exercise executive privilege over certain records it. in addition the department has already released the transcript of the tapes. democrats and republicans with the audio to turn them into political attack ads. >> american garland a and the adjacent troves of information steve bannon and peter navarro thumb their nose at a lawful subpoena. they're going to jail as a result of it. >> florida congresswoman luna has interest a resolution for garland to passive goat directe sergeant and arms to rest garland himself. two legislative days to act on it. >> alrall right madeline, thanko much. arthel: eric, florida residents are still in cleanup mode. this is after strong storms dumped up to 20 inches of rain and its other parts of the state. i mean this looks insane. the downpours causing severe flooding. they are there for several days some streets around miami and fort lauderdale still have standing water today. officials s

yes, this is a -- we're talking about every year now over 100,000 deaths and as attorney general bill barrthal poison, it's really the poisoning of america and the largest killer of americans under 30, under 40 of any kind. so yes, i mean, if we really look -- look at what china's doing to this country. it's become extreme. the soviets never did anything like this, nobody's ever done anything like this. and i think all options teethed to be on the table -- options need to be on the table and a congress will have to draw up the options. what can we do to take action. maria: congress needs to draw up the actions and we need to start taking this seriously. it's just unbelievable that you said that, that this has become extreme. it feels extreme. we've never seen anything like this. and we have n now a new fox natn special called underwriting the enemy and i put a spotlight on what could be the greatest financial scandal in history, american investors unwittingly funding the chinese communist party with the retirement dollars. we discuss deterring conflict with china. watch this. >> strategic

andy: i was really struck watching all of this and how right former attorney general bill barr was when he said if you are going to prosecute a former president particular former president he was a de facto republican nominee for the presidency in the cycle, it should be at meat and potatoes crime in other words it should be a very serious offense that supported by very strong evidence and that everyone can look at it and see and say, anybody would be prosecuted for this i would happen here, was the opposite of that and they took two misdemeanors in the basically had a misdemeanor, business records falsification events that should have been time-barred as of 2019, and the tucked it together with another misdemeanor this new york election law, this misdemeanor conspiracy which also had a two-year statute of limitations it should have lapsed in 2019, they mushed them together and they decided that was a felony and they made it 34 felonies and then a six-year statute of limitations. it is about the most bizarre thing that i've ever seen and they were cagey about with the other crime was. w

then trump fired sessions and hired bill barr, who spent the rest of the trump administration acting a lot like president trump's personal attorney. but according to republicans merrick garland is the one doing the president's bidding. the thing is republicans are now realizing it is hard to claim you're the victim of a rigged justice system when their presidentialsy candidate has spt his whole political career trying to rig the justice system. merrick garlande for his part s not takingfo any of the bait. >> i will not be intimidated, and the justice department will not be intimidated. we will continue to work to do our jobs free from political influence, and we will not back down from defending democracy. >>nd joining us now former u.s. senator and msnbc political analyst claire mccaskill and "the new york times" reporter katie benner. claire, claire, claire, it's like trump claims biden is an enfeebled shut unbut also a master rigging the public justice system. can they have their cake and eat it to? >> he can't manage to cover up a payment to a porn star, but joe biden is capable

avoid extradition or more prison time he was granted bail by the high court in london released from bill barr's a northern mariana island, back in 2010 with the help of chelsea manny was accused of violating espionage law over wikileaks release of classified u.s. documents. a judge must approve the plea, is likely go to be sentenced to 62 months time served and that will be allowed to head back to australia with the freedom, his wife stella, supporters made a statement before his release, watch. >> 12 years on and visiting julian and high-security prison but this period of our lives i am confident now has come to an end and i think i this time next week julian will be free. >> the cost of julian has been deprived of freedom for all these years. >> in 2010 his wikileaks website released half a million documents related to the u.s. wars in iraq and afghanistan one of the largest classified document leaks in history and remember, the risk that he put u.s. soldiers in because of his release, some say he's a journalist and others say in activist, i will report and neil can discuss. >> as a navy rese

for the first time here in fox news, former attorney general bill barr will join us to react to the fallenidents trumps conviction in a case that he has called an abomination. we will see what you says. is a quick. [ ♪♪ ] [ ♪♪ ] in our family there was a passion for glass making that's passed down through the generations. on ancestry i was able to actually put together our family tree. each person is a glass worker. we stood on some pretty broad shoulders to get to where we are today. i bought the team! kevin...? i put it on my chase freedom unlimited card. and i'm gonna' cashback on a few other things too! starting with the sound system... that's caaaaaaaaash. cashback like a pro with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback? craig here pays too much for verizon wireless. so he sublet half his real estate office... [ bird squawks loudly ] to a pet shop. meg's moving company uses t-mobile. so she scaled down her fleet to save money. and don's paying so much for at&t, he's been waiting to update his equipment! there's a smarter way to save. comcast business mobile. you could save up to

i have almost no respect for bill barr, but when it came time to do the right thing after he lost thevolous lawsuits against the voting machines and what have you, so trump won't have forgotten that. project 2025 manifesto is his plan to remake the doj into an organization that would do its bidding. the key way to do that. look. the entire section is basically a seinfeld episode. just an airing of grievances that they have. >> can you talk about those grievances? there are many. one that i found particularly troubling is that project 2025 proposes to redirect the department of justices focus from white-collar crimes to violent crimes, and i thought this was really interesting given that many of the crimes of which trump and his others have been charged are often those white-collar crimes, so what do you make of this shift? is is self-serving or what is the subtext? >> they are trying to keep his family out of jail but this stuff because one of the other things. they should focus on violent crime. not fraud and all of the stuff they are accused of. it also says they have to fire lawyer

attorney general, unfortunately nothing will come of garlands contempt citation other attorney general bill barr, eric holder have been cited and nothing happened. this cover-up adds to the growing belief that this president is not up to the job. frankly with two wars and innovation across the border, it is frightening. the second hour of "varney" just getting started. ♪. stuart: liz peek, welcome back to the show, have i gone too far is it a national security issue the president cognitive decline. absolutely, imagine we all try to imagine what the hour-long conversations are like that he has with president xi or in the old days of vladimir putin, what do we think he's saying the president xi and the conversations, we never get a really good readout on those but going back to the merrick garland, how many times has he said no one is above the law, how often has he talked about the dangers of weaponizing contempt charges, peter navarro, the trade advisor under president trump, steve bannon of advisor in the white house are in jail because of contempt charges, no one is above the law except merric

the departments under bill barr and eric holder sent almost identical letters to congress, decliningcharge them as well. ♪ faces ramped up rocket attacks from hezbollah terrorists in lebanon, negotiations are dragging on concerning a proposed cease-fire in gaza. what was the u.s. navy's full attention is the ceaseless barrage of houthi attacks on key shipping lanes. correspondent alex hogan reports tonight from london. election el>> fire along israelr wages new attacks lebanon. the solution may be to the south. >> a cease-fire in gaza would be the best way in our assessment to advance a meaningful resolution in the north. >> peace talks are underway although president biden at the g-7 warns. >> i haven't lost hope. >> until then, the war drags on. today in central gaza, palestinians searched for rubble of this building. one man carried away a child covered in ash. washington is now sanctioning an israeli group of violent extremists for blocking aid into the strip. the state department called on the israeli government to do more, writing: we will not tolerate acts of sabotage and viol

the house democrats held bill barr in contempt, and the justice department didn't prosecute if him, congress held eric holder in contempt under obama, and the justice department didn't prosecute him. so the congress is going to have to consider this alternative method which is suing in civil course just like the house sued president trump for his tax returns. that's the route they're going to have to go. elizabeth: john, we'll come to you later in the show. thank you so much. let's get right to oversight chair james comer. he was in on the action. chair comer, it's good to see you today. thanks for joining us tonight. we hear there was a lot of fighting between republicans and democrats about a holding merrick garreland in contempt of congress -- garland. can you tell us more about that and the fallout of this vote? >> yeah. mine, look -- i mean, look, this is another win for the constitution, this is another win for congressional oversight. much like our impeople. inquiry vote -- impeachment inquiry vote, we got a strong vote. unlike what the mainstream media a's reporting, the republicans

what's your free text po three-to-one, three-to-one and today no hbo original series, real time with bill barr wow just see the debate in case you missed it, don't worry or resorted. >> one of the contestants i mean wow, i mean, trump told lie after lie after lie, he never would have gotten away with that if joe biden was there come on, man you know, joe, he famously loves trains, but apparently not of thought all night confused in the halting and trailing up, i've seen beauty pageant contestants enter questions better i don't want to say shut the bedroom secrets service name is amber heard. i'm there wasn't just what came out of his mouth i mean, the look on his face, the whole night. it just looked like somebody just thought he left the stove on you know? i mean, the last time cna last time scene and coverage them in this lost i gotta get back to that. malaysian airline plane that here's the most ironic part. the republicans were so afraid that joe is going to be beating the expectations. remember, last week, there were like he's gonna be jacked up put out all this crap of a jack job. he's g

barack obama held back where bill barr and trump move forward, and we have a big update on a free speechhose administrations next. a free speech case bridging those administrations next listen. horsepower keeps you going, but torque gets you going. ♪ ♪ [ engine revving ] oh now we're torquin'! the dodge hornet r/t. the totally torqued-out crossover. we are people living with afib. ♪♪ and over 400,000 of us have left blood thinners behind... ...for life. we've cut our stroke risk. and said goodbye to our bleeding worry with the watchman implant. ♪♪ we may be getting older. but we've never squeezed more out of life. and we are just getting started. join us at watchman.com. watchman. it's one time, for a lifetime. you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so

weaponization of the justice department, the only attorney general the house needs to look at is bill barr and to me, the most important point here is how in the world can these people be saying that the justice department is politicized when literally today right now it is prosecuting the only living son of president biden, hunter biden , you know, so if i were to ask a question it would be about merrick garland. in a way, he represents the cautious best of our judicial system. before he was there he was chief justice of our nation's second highest court for 20 years, never overturned by the supreme court, no one is careful and meticulous. the question i would have is maybe have you been to careful? you know, you obviously want to avoid the legacy that bar and others try to impose on the justice department to go back to the traditions that andrew talks about, traditions that everyone i know that served in the justice department takes so seriously that independence and the avoidance of any appearance of impropriety, the question i have his house that failed? you assume good faith under con

but the one thing that we know about merrick garland's heat is the complete antithesis of bill barr inms of understanding the rule of law and the independence of the department of justice. from the white house. and people need to understand, that is a norm. it is not set in stone, in law. and that independence justice is what separates us from and autocracy. you had judge sessions, the reason he was canned is because even though you might disagree with every single thing he stands for, politically, he understood that it was inappropriate to take orders from the white house. you couldn't does not prosecute republicans and prosecute democrats who commit crimes. that that is not what the justice department is about. and yet, this is what you are hearing from donald trump, steve bannon, steve miller, and a whole series of politicians, which is that fundamentally antithetical of what it means to be in this country. we will be a completely different country under a trump 2.0 administration, because what will happen to the department of justice and the courts. >> andrew weissman, thank you ve

sessions was not acting enough like his personal attorney, then trump fired sessions and heil -- hired bill barr spent the rest of the term acting like trumps personal attorney but according to republicans, merrick garland is the one doing the president's bidding. the thing is republicans are now realizing it is hard to claim you are the victim of a rigged justice system when their presidential candidate has spent his whole presidential career trying to rig the justice system. merrick garland, for his part, was not taking any of the bait. >> i will not be intimidated, and the justice department will not be intimidated. we will continue to do our jobs free from political influence, and we will not back down from defending democracy. >> joining us now are former u.s. senator and msnbc political analyst claire mccaskill and new york times reporter katie benner. claire, it is like trump claims biden is an enfeebled sudden but then also simultaneously a political public mastermind rigging the justice system. >> yeah, he can't manage to cover up a payment to a adult film star but joe biden is capable

in 2020 after he was fired by trump and attorney general bill barr. in fact, berman would say as much after he left the doj, telling reporters as president donald trump pushed him and his colleagues to prosecute his perceived political rivals. the upshot of all of that was that trump managed to shut down the hush money investigation before it led to him, even though he was the unindicted co- conspirator. so that was how the case ended up being picked up by the local manhattan d.a. who does not report to the feds at all. meanwhile, trump has been charged with felonies and four different jurisdictions, d.c., florida, and georgia. three outstanding cases are awaiting trial. one of them held up on appeal before the supreme court, one third of whose members were nominated by trump. the ex-president has spent, as we have covered on this program, as resulted in multiple citations for contempt of gag orders, every possible moment screaming at the people prosecuting him and the judges and court officers and essentially issuing demands calling for other people

and at that point he got rid of him and bill barr was his lackey. and that is what will be the scope of a trump 2.0. but you don't really have to worry about sort of like what would happen because you are seeing it right now. now there was all of the people who are -- who know much, much better and are going along with this. i keep on sort of using senator collins as an example. because she knows well that this is -- fundamentally inconsistent with what it means to be a democracy. under the rule of law. and is not saying anything. and that is the road to hell for this country. and it's -- it's coming with such -- such poor grace at this moment when you have the department of justice prosecuting democrats. you have senator menendez on trial right now. you have hunter biden on trial right now. and so you understand why a defendant like defendant donald trump would have this grievance with respect to the justice system. but what is so anathema to the rule of law and to our remaining a rule of law country is all of the enablers who are going along, who

i'm talking about eric holder under president obama, and bill barr under president trump. the doj, the attorney general of course oversees made the same qualification and assessment in those cases as we are seeing now. this means, again, that this case is closed, but we will bring you a response from speaker johnson and republicans who pushed this as soon as we have it. >> may i ask you a question, are there any ramifications for merrick garland for having been found in contempt of congress , but now the dodge not prosecuting. does there linger or merely an asterisk to a career. >> certainly you're going to see political statements. you're going to see republicans pushing back on this, saying the doj should have prosecuted merrick garland, of course we know republicans under the weaponization of government, that the government is weaponized, committees they have established. i expect them to continue to push this narrative out there, but effectively there is nothing else congress can do if the dodge has closed the case on this. remember what this is about, the white house,

on jeff sessions who he kept score on for not doing it, and on bill barr. this is a constant theme in the trump years. now you have all these republicans sort of setting the groundwork, saying look, with you pushed us into it. when we get back in power we are going to engage in political prosecution. >> i mean, that is fetishistic rhetoric and fetishistic topics where all politics are seen as ad hominem and character assassination, using what should have been an objective law enforcement system to target enemies. and you have a situation with donald trump who is like a one- man crime wave and who is out there violating all sorts of ethical boundaries. and when the law finally catches up with them they say okay, now you're really throwing down, we are just going to turn the guns on you as if they haven't been trying to do that to joe biden for the last year in the oversight committee where they cooked up this completely farcical impeachment crusade. but they have not been able to find it, despite their very liberal distortion of all of the evidence and the f

not ultimately bring charges, infuriating trump and contributing to a split in 2020 with his a.g., bill barrthe article continues, the open desire for using the criminal justice system against democrats after the verdict, surpasses anything seen before in trump's years in politics. you can believe your eyes. you can believe tv news. but "the new york times" doesn't write this every day. the open desire for using the system against democrats after the verdict surpasses anything seen before in trump's tumultuous years in national politics. okay. new law. what's different now is the range of republicans saying retaliation is necessary and no longer cloaking their intent with euphemisms. end quote. that's about right. euphemisms, the spin, that stuff's long over. forget the dog whistles. republicans let the dogs out. blunt threats, autocratic plots, and that very familiar desperate but possibly dangerous cry when the guilty -- and i use that word legally -- when the convicted felons, the guilty, are on the run. they don't have much left, but they are now claiming they are the true victims and ev