bill barr. he waslike oh. you thought i meant bill barr?she meant -- the way she did it. it was the way she said it and so official and so legal. and so i -- i thought -- >> authoritative. >> very. and i was sitting there going, well i saw the opening and no. that was not bill barr. but then i forget the comedian's name -- this is why you have morning coffee. this is why you do it. >> what do we think? >> i thought that -- the cold open was very -- it was really funny and very cleverly done. now you won, we were always with you. how much of that do you think we'll see in real life? we saw a little bit, we got a little preview of it. i think with some of the press and their dealing with endorsements and stuff like that. where people are like you know what? we're going to play it safe. how much more of that do you think we see? >> i mean, i don't know. maybe potentially a lot. people don't -- donald trump -- i mean, i just think about ruby freeman and shay moss and all the people that went and testified before congress in the january 6th comm

bill barr mostly operated as a defender of trump.ost of the criticism of barr was that he manipulated things so he could protect trump and roger stone and others but what he would not do is use doj as an offensive weapon to go after people. every indication as david said is that that's the strategy here. >> yeah, there's no indication tla the congressman based on my reporting of him in the context of a criminal investigation, that he has any line. he really does feel victimized by the justice department, by the fbi. trump also feels that way. they share that empathy and really the only check on him if he becomes the nation's top law enforcement official will be the judiciary and juries. >> all right, guys. thank you very much. excellent analysis all around. just ahead, i get reaction to all the breaking news from the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, congressman jim hines is standing by live. >>> plus, we'll take a closer look at the man donald trump just tapped as his next defense secretary, the fox news host, pete h

fraud and the reason bill barr had his falling out with donald trump is because bill barr came back to him and said, we didn't find anything, boss, sorry about that. so they can look again. they can keep looking do have to say this is the power that comes with the justice department. there's nothing illegal about them starting these investigations. i think they're a waste of time. i think they're ridiculous. but it's within the power of the a.g.. >> we left out that almost $1 billion has been paid out by fox and newsmax for the things that they've said about voting irregularities so, yeah, i think you're right. >> and great thing to bill barr compared it to whack a mole. you know, when they had to have someone, you know, look up the claim that there was an 18 wheeler driver who was carrying ballots. that was just not true but, judge, when you look at this, i mean trump will have the power to do this. and he's putting pam bondi in as his attorney general if she gets confirmed. he announced that last night. she is someone who herself filed a lot of election related lawsuits she did. >

after the election the whole reason bill barr had a falling out with donald trump is because bill barr went to donald trump and said there's nothing there. and then essentially they parted ways. and also, of course, jim remembered there was 60 some lawsuits brought that challenged that whether there was election fraud in the 2020 election, of course, all of them. but one failed. the one didn't that didn't fail. had nothing to do really with the claim of fraud. so it's been covered. but but if they want to go back and waste resources, nobody can stop them. >> well, there is one election. they're not investigating. that's the one they just won. even though many of the same voting methods vote by mail, early voting were all used but different outcome. clearly there was no fraud. i want to ask you about a bigger picture issue which hangs over this right you had a president attempt according to grand jury indictments, to overturn an election. you had a president who took with him to his home a whole host of classified documents. again indicted by a grand jury you have a president who attemp

not like bill barr. what a disaster he was. >> harry, if gaetz becomes the a.g. oing exactly what trump wants? >> not a lot. and it's so telling, ana, that barr and sessions come in for his dissent because these are people who were very conservative but had some regard for the institutional function of the doj. if gaetz does trumped up charges or otherwise goes after enemies on the other side of things, there are courts, there are juries. but you can exercise ruinous powers if you are jack smith today or letitia james, even though there is no possible predicate for looking at you, they know matt gaetz can make their lives miserable, can absolutely bleed them financially without doing anything, and that's just for starters. the institutional leadership of the fbi, of the department itself, everyone today is just in a complete state of fear and loathing, i would say. >> quickly, if you will, what is your sense if a.g. gaetz is in fact installed into that role, do you see mass exodus at the doj? will people resign, or will they hold strong? >> okay. holding strong he

bill barr joins us. good to have you with us.e have heard a little bit today from letitia james, who appears dogged in her pursuit of bringing some sort of justice to former president trump and the next president of the united states. how do you think this will play out with her and with jack smith and with president biden? >> i don't think the president will have any legal problems going forward. these cases are not going to go forward, neither the federal cases or the state cases against the president. so i think it's really a question of how these governments, the federal government, the justice department is going to dismount from the limb its gotten itself out on. so i think all cases are a matter of discretion. there's no rule that says because you can make a case or think you can put a case together that you have to pursue it. it's always what is in the best interest of the country. in this situation, there's no doubt in my mind that the best interest of the country are served by them dismissing the case. they're not going

. >> of course, he fired bill barr, who resigned. there were also two acting ags nobody made it to the two year mark. do you see pam bondi making it a full four years? >> she could. it depends on what trump asks her to do. i do not believe she would ever intentionally try to break the law even to please donald trump, and i think she will have the credibility with trump to say no to him, because he knows she is loyal to him. jeff sessions wasn't a true trump guy. bill barr wasn't part of the trump inner circle before he was hired pam bondi has been. and so i do think she has the moral authority within the maga universe to tell him, hey, i know what you want, but the law doesn't let you do it. >> real quickly, before i let you go, what do you envision happening in these first few days? right. if she becomes ag, where do you see the doj going in terms of investigations? >> she's going to implement trump's anti-immigration policies to get tough at the border and to clamp down on fentanyl, which is good. that's something she and i have a

look at jeff sessions and bill barr and all of these folks who we thought were going to be the saviors i did meet with donald trump 10 days after the election in 2016 and he brought jeff sessions into the room is a guy who would be like core. >> you are in there? >> yes. >> go on. >> the point is the warmth in the connection and then when it is gone, it is really gone. in most operations in politics, republican or democrat, there is mutual loyalty and people stick with 18 for the longest time -- the team for the longest time but that's not true with donald trump. >> people like tom cotton are taking themselves out of contention in part because they are looking toward 2028 and they realize how risky it is. >> i want to say on the pompeo and nikki haley thing, a lot of conservatives view them as war hawks and donald trump has been skeptical of prolonged expensive military conflicts with us involving ourselves in the interest of other countries so a lot of republican say we applaud this not act people or add people who will be pro-war. >> thank you, everyone. up next we have new details o

i think she is being set up to be bill barr of the second administration.h bill barr you have someone that did all of the presidents bidding on russia and the mueller board and other issues but ultimately he had a line he wouldn't cross. i think pam bondi will be pushed into testing the lines and i think she will do it. she has gone from jeb bush to donald trump. is there a line that she won't cross? may be so in a way that matt gaetz would have. i think all of that will get vetted out at a hearing. >> i see you nodding your head. what is your take on pam bondi and gaetz? >> we are in a new phase of trump television. we have had season one and now we are on season two. there is a new word which is pol attainment. half politics and half entertainment. what pam bondi is is central casting. we know that trump has been sitting in mar-a-lago. he is sitting there with his colleagues watching people and how they perform and how aggressive they are and how they defend him. it is essential to how he thinks about how they will do. >> i am so glad you brought this up.

the department was under bill barr i believe at the time. to support the left or protect the bidens. this is what happened. i think this is why so many people in the country feel the more people oppose folks like matt gaetz, no matter their background, the more they want some buddy like that because they know that deep things happen covered up and they want someone who will take an adversarial position. i appreciate you fact checking me if it is not true. it is 100% true. host: let me let jeff mordock jump in. guest: he is right in terms of people want -- trump won the popular about, got the help -- popular vote, got the house, got the senate, but there is a mandate. people are frustrated with how some of these department have run, and they want to bring people in who will clean house and overhaul because they feel that they've gotten too political and they are making political decisions. that was back to what i said earlier. one of the common threads that runs through all of these candidates is the fact that they have been very, very strong

because the path to bill barr was looking for a more assertive or aggressive person, but a qualifiedd, had a line, and apparently the fact that bill barr's line was not committing actual illegal voter fraud, that is something donald trump apparently wants to be able to push past. hypothetically. >> yeah, no, no, absolutely. this is not a second-tier cabinet position by any stretch. this is top one, two, three, whatever you want to call it. definitely in the top tier, and by the way, defense is there. and then there are things like, you know, hhs. well, kennedy is, by definition, very controversial at this point. but no, i mean, this is -- the department of justice is kind of the whole ball game when you talk about retribution against political enemies, overseeing all the law enforcement. we're talking about the top law enforcement authority in the government. so, yeah, and then you get down to the questions of character, questions of qualification, questions of judgment, go down the list, and somewhere down the list is the political vulnerabilities that he brings to this. but again,

in his first term in office. >> unless bill barr indicts these people for crimes, the greatest politicals in the history of the country we will get the satisfaction unless i win because i won't forget it. these people should be indicted. this is the greatest crime in the history of our country. this inclouds biden and obama. these are people who spied on my campaign. >> so elliott williams, there are people inside the justice department who are worried about political retribution to the point that the attorney mark zad is recommending that people take a vacation. just watch this. >> we are talking about people who have been specifically called out by the former president of the united states. we are not rushing to it. i'm not saying sell your home, move overseas, never come back, become an expat. i'm telling certain clients, a small number, take your vacation for inauguration. and let's see what happens in the days or week or two after. >> remarkable, what would you say? >> i think the converse is better. it is a nonpartisan, noncareer class of employees that will save government. it is

bill barr would not endorse his claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election. and that's what angered the former president. one key thing that paoletta said in his social media post, he said, no one will push them to implement flagrantly illegal actions, right? and that's one of the things that i think people are very, concerned inside of the department. as far as the fbi director, that's a big, big job and one of the things that's being considered there is that the former president still sticks by that idea or whether he really will fire chris wray. the expectation is, inside the transition and in the fbi is that he won't be fired, because he'll quit. he'll quit rather than be fired. >> yeah, trump has made pretty clear, even when he was in office, his dissatisfaction with christopher wray. hard to imagine he would stay in that role and serve out the ten-year term. evan perez, thank you. >>> still more news to come on "cnn news central. " the maryland army national guard honoring harriet tubman nearly 160 years after the civil war. we'll actually speak to her

as bill barr writes in his book.rump is complaining to him in december of 2020 that he never prosecuted jim comey. that was something that trump tried to do throughout his entire precedency, trump tried to do himself in 2018. he wanted to go out and prosecute him himself. even though he is, trump is not a prosecutor. that was the first roadblock. the second one was the courts. in that case they ran into the courts of andy mccade. former fbi director under investigation. they took his case to a grand jury and the grand jury came back and said they weren't going to indict him. that was a roadblock there. they were, there were no changes brought against him because of that. the first, with the gaetz at the top of the justice department, that roadblock that barr created on the issue of comey would be gone. i don't think i am taking too many leaps here to say that matt gaetz is someone that would go along with exactly what donald trump wanted. that is essentially what matt gaetz'brand is. i was reading back some of the st

bill barr can tell you that. and these people, i guess, are going in with great excitement, but look out because there's a lot of pitfalls operating with a management style like that. >> thanks to you. to think last week's election, just eight days ago, brought on all these changes. how democrats outside washington are digesting the aftermath of the election. including the breaking news that matt gaetz has been picked to be the new u.s. attorney general. stay with us. drop everything and get some magic of your own during the xfinity black friday sale. xfinity internet customers, our best deals of the year are back! switch to xfinity mobile and get your choice of a free 5g phone, plus your next unlimited line free for a year. get amazing savings and connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go with xfinity mobile. fly don't walk to get our best deals of the year. connect to the world of wicked this holiday, only in theaters november 22nd. >>> in our politics lead, wither the democrats, wither them. as democrats gr

this was an investigation that was opened during the trump administration, overseen by bill barr, and went on for several years and was eventually closed. the congressman was not charged, but that is something likely to come up during any potential confirmation hearing. he is also currently facing an ethics probe in congress over similar conduct. look at the truth social post that president elect trump posted. he described gaetz as a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the college of william and mary law school, who distinguished himself in congress by achieving desperately needed reform at the department of justice. we know that the president-elect has been frustrated with the fact he has been the subject of multiple criminal cases. congressman gaetz likely has empathy in that regard, because he too has been under investigation at the justice department, but this is a surprise. he has not been among the names floated by people familiar with these talks , and it's unclear if this will be a successful nomination. again, this would be an attorney general, who within the pas

bill barr didn't do that. bill barr said joe biden won the 2020 election.nch of other officials threatened to resign when trump tried to put in jeff clark in 2020. who was also going to push the big lie. so i think she's more -- she has more management experience and i think she's much smoother and i think she's got a good chance of being confirmed. so she's much smoother than gaetz. but she might follow the same things. i was like everybody looking at clippings and at one point she was decrying jack smith in the prosecutors the people that have talked about prosecuting and she called all of these people jack smith horrible meme who had weaponized the -- people who had weaponized the justice department. we don't know. i have talked to current justice department officials before she was announced and they were all hiring lawyers. >> wow. do you think -- i mean, given the record of what she's done and what she said and you know sort of where her loyalties lie. do you think that's going to have a tangible result on the staffing at the department of jus dis? i

i think pam bondi is being set up to be the bill barr of the second administration. with bill barr, you had someone who did all the presses's bidding on russia and the mueller report and other issues but ultimately, he had a line he would not cross. i think pam bondi will be pushed into testing many of these lines and i think she'll do it. she's gone from a jeb bush republican to a donald trump republican. is there a line that pam bondi won't cross? maybe so in a way that matt gaetz will have. i think all that will get vetted out. >> i see you nodding your head. what is your take as pam bondi as the pick and gaetz pulling out? >> we are actually in a new phase of the trump television. we've had season one. now we're on to season two. i realize, there is a new word for it which i think is poly-tainment. what pam bondi is is again, central. we know that trump has been sitting in mar-a-lago, or mar-a-lago patio correspondent has been telling us at the daily beast that he's sitting there with his colleagues watching people on television and how they perform on television

are mistaken to think everything will remain in place when you have donald trump, who convinced bill barro intervene in michael flynn's case, prompting the line prosecutors who you are putting so much trust into to resign. he intervened in roger stone's case. he intervened in michael flynn's case and ultimately fired james comey, because of the michael flynn investigation. this is a president who has already demonstrated as president he will weaponize the department of justice, and that was when he had people who would put guardrails on around him. bill barr ultimately resigned, because of the bogus claims of election fraud, and he was the most egregious political actor of all the attorney general's who served under donald trump did so, it is preposterous for you to say that the guardrails will remain on the bus, when donald trump tried to violate all of these rules and procedures you are talking about, and is trying to put somebody who is, himself, has revenge on his mind, because of the doj investigation. at the head of the doj, and himself has said we should eliminate the fbi. this is

. >> every time you saw an ag as it started, whether it was jeff sessions or bill barr, temporary ones, there were all of those who believed that they would be perfectly in line with trump and they would adhere to the principles you describe about advising and fomenting but when it came down to it, there was a crisis of, constitutional crisis a lot of times as well. >> the department of defense is going to be a tougher one, the question is going to be would you be willing to use american troops on american soil against american citizens? that is going to be a tough question. i think potentially they don't want these hearings because they'll be very embarrassing if you get someone like rfk junior, testifying, the questioning, it will look like a clown show very quickly. >> that would be on democrats, if they want to behave like children in the hearings. >> susie already says, no clown show, they will listen to her. we'll come right back, thank you so much. two other pics are revealing where trump will certainly focus his attention, to karen's point, mass deportations. one is a very fami

she'll be the bill barr of this administration and test every boundary that bill barr tested for trump. the question is there a line she won't cross like bill barr faced or will she go all the way? >> andrew, lisa, thank you so much for getting us started. david, you're sticking with me. >>> when we come back, the latest addition to the team trump, robert f. kennedy jr. once called his new boss a racist demagogue. we'll show you how he's now trying to walk that one back. >>> she had been stripped of her committee assignments in an earlier era on capitol hill. marjorie taylor greene is back, she's been picked by her colleagues to work with the brand-new department of government efficiency. how they expected to work together, that remains to be seen. >>> and later, matt gaetz may be on the sidelines for now. but will any of the other dangerous and unqualified cabinet picks be too much for republican senators to stomach? all those stories and more when "deadline: white house" continues after this. d more whe "deadline: white house" continues after this introducing new eroxon gel, the firs

bill barr ultimately resigned because of the bogus claims of election fraud, and he was the most egregiouspolitical actor of all the attorney general's who served under donald trump. so, it is preposterous for you to say that the guardrails will remain on the bus when they weren't -- when donald trump tried to violate all of these rules and proper procedures you are talking about, and he is trying to put somebody who is, himself, has revenge on his mind because of the investigation from the doj at the head of the doj and has himself said that we should eliminate the fbi. this is not the department of justice that you or i worked for , that they are envisioning, and i think that your faith in the department of justice is misplaced , when you have donald trump or matt gaetz at the helm. >> robert? >> i don't buy that book i think it is more the politics of this than what i think is coming. i will tell you what i think is coming, the first attorney general and the new president, special counsel regulations are gone. they are going to be overturned and abolished. i don't know what will replace

bill barr, you know, the hunter biden investigation launched under bill barr.kept it secret and, again, to credit -- and trying to be there in the partisan, but the biden justice department did prosecute hunter biden. hunter biden has pled guilty to tax charges. he has been convicted of the gun charges. senator menendez, robert menendez, convicted. henry cuellar, another democrat. eric adams, again. i'm not sure they will find that much but i think the early stages you will see lots of criminal investigations under a second trump administration. >> there's been so much talk about institutions. will they hold. largely, for the most part, they held in trump's first term right up to the moment mike pence refused to overturn the election on january 6. fears this time that those institutional guardrails are not there. what is the level of concern you would have a someone who understands the law and people you talk to injustice about just that? >> well, i think donald trump has telegraphed the areas he's more serious about. we know at times he lost focus or he would

bill barr, when he said facts, like donald trump lost the election and there was no widespread fraud that interfered with that. that was too far. that one act. it is the same version of doj of what politically and ultimately with a coup attempt happened with mike pence. that saying the words about what is true after four years of service was enough to have him more than attacked by donald trump, but his life quite physically threatened by trump's fans. so that is the history. not about policy or left and right, but just about whether you would go as far as a would be autocrat wanted. and if you do that even one time, you are out. so all those people are out. you heard trump say it. i am playing you his words. he said if he would note that session would follow the rules of fairness, he would not have given the job in the first place. he wanted someone willing to break the rules, to be unfair, quite publicly, on trump in the half. then take it up to intelligence. the dni, tulsa gabbard. trump spent his first term feuding with intelligence officials, plenty of them nonpartisan, but who

back just to give you [ inaudible ] >> to give you a very concrete example, his attorney general, bill barrdid not like that he wanted to use the justice department to pursue his election to nihilism and, trump doesn't like that and thinks he was disloyal. that is the kind of disloyalty we are talking about. so, yes, he won, but people should understand that the trump of 2016 to 2020 is going to be a person who took the lessons that bill barr is not loyal enough, because he won't go along with election lies. that's pertinent information for americans as we go into a second trump term. >> i also think we need to be careful to remember we are not in 2020 or 2016 anymore. this is a different moment we are entered we have been through a pandemic. there's been an entire presidency in between his first, and a second term. so lots have changed. americans were those who voted for him may have voted for him for certain reasons, but i don't think if the internal workings of the trump white house are chaotic that is really going to spell good news for policy at the end of the day. president trump star

bill barr staying "this case in new york is rife with legal abuse and error and if it were continue tod ultimately be overturned but we shouldn't put up with that kind of destruction and i think the right thing to do would be for prosecutors to dismiss this case." jonathan turley joins our coverage now, constitutional law attorney and gwu law professor. jonathan, your thoughts? >> well, in some ways, the position of bragg's office is what i have been worried about and we spoke about it early this morning. the worst possible scenario, in my view, is to keep this matter pending during the four years of the administration. you cannot have a local district attorney treat a sitting president like a freak on the leash, where he just is able to say that i will finish this once your out of office. it elevates the district attorney to a grotesque level. it also creates this local judge as determining the ultimate outcome of the president of the united states. it doesn't serve nation or justice to have that type of lingering question for the next four years. it certainly serves everyone in new y

implement -- >> just to give you -- just to give you a very concrete example, his attorney general, bill barrdid not like that he wanted to use the justice department to pursue his election to nihilism. and trump doesn't like that. that is the kind of disloyalty we are talking about. yes, he won, but people should understand that the trump of 2016 to 2020 is going to be the person who took the lessons that bill barr is not loyal enough because he won't go along with election lies. that is pertinent information for americans as we go into -- >> i think we need to be careful, remember we are not in 2020 or 2016. this is a moment. we have been three pandemic. there has been an entire presidency in his first and now second term. a lot has changed. americans, those who voted for him may have voted for him for certain reasons. i don't think of the internal workings of the trump white house are chaotic, that's really going to spell good news for policy at the end of the day, right? pres. trump started his term signing a ton of executive orders. it was a flurry the first two weeks he was there. we wi

. >> john: bill barr, for the good of the country, op-ed, not just -- to drop all of the cases against. >> that's absolutely right, it is part of this lawfare campaign that we have been watching, for eight years now, for eight years, this is what has been happening, former attorney general discussing this throughout the morning and this afternoon and look, i think what is going to happen next week, for instance, in this hearing of the business records is even if judge merchan rejects the immunity argument and i would argue put a quick speaking it is a way for him to get out if he wants, he can get out of the case, but if he doesn't is trump's lawyers are going to appeal that in the hopes of delaying the sentencing, but i would just say this, it would be wrong in the spirit, i think, fairness and justice, to keep that over president trump's head while he is in office. they may say oh, look here is a sentencing, we're just going to execute on it for, you know, the next four years, and if they were to do that, i would just, they should think long and hard about that because again the reas

if you consider he came on and fixed what had gone wrong, not in the eyes of the constitution, bill barr'senchman for donald trump in many ways. donald trump has a different priority that he wants his ag to go after now, the enemies list, he wants to make the department of justice a tool of the executive office of the president. many nominees eventually could do that, including u.s. senators. i think what we were spared in this case is a nominee wholly unqualified, matt gaetz lacks qualification for the job and the questions of his personal fitness with very substantive allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor. those probably will be eliminated from the potential next nominee. donald trump is going to get his person and he will be confirmed and we are in a new era for the department of justice. but i think of the other names, i find them qualified to run the department. >> so i wonder who might have the president elects here on this, for one of the nominees, who happens to be the last person at mar-a-lago, maybe there's also a question about are there people on this list who are gener

who do you tend to side with bill barr or letitia james? [chuckles] >> that's a tough one. er attorney general barr is exactly right. and i also think from what i can gather that sort of a deal is coming together. because everyone understands that president biden is going to pardon his son hunter that is not going to go down well -- at least if it's in a vacuum because he vowed he wouldn't do it. not that anyone took that too seriously. but i think it goes down easier for the country if it's kind of like a clemson clemency packagee the biden harris justice department dismiss the cases against former president trump president-elect trump. they can't prosecute him at this point anyhow. he will be the sitting president of the united states. then biden pardons hunter. i think the signal that sends hopefully to these progressive prosecutors at the state level is that, you know, it's time to turn the page from law fare which proved to be a disas for the democrats in the election. >> steve: that would be brilliant he wants his son pardon dawned even though he said i'm not going to

it was started by bill barr. there was evidence there, but in the end, the department of just found there was not enough evidence to take down a congressman. a congressman. they did not think that they were both credible enough to go after matt gaetz. doesn't mean he was cleared. doesn't mean he was conrated. they didn't have enough evidence to charge. >> let's talk about the other folks out there, i think that the names that have been mentioned are the one, rfk, gabbard. i wonder what you're hearing on the ground, because of the most recent ref ligss against pete hegseth, he may be the one who is in the most trouble or what are you hearing generally? >> he is the most problematic at this point. he had some comments saying he doesn't support women in combat, that could be a problem with joni ernst, very supportive of women in contract and more generally. there are see serious and legitimate questions of whether he's qualified to lead an agency as large and complex as the pentagon. i do think kind of big picture h

no more vice president pence, more no gina haspel, no more mark milley, no more bill barr. the title of that piece is "the man who will do anything for trump. >>> will he, and what could that extend to? >> reporter: i'm told by two sources he's under consideration to take the reins as director of the cia or fbi. he's not a veteran of either of the agencies he did work for the national security council, before working as a deputy to the acting director of national intelligence before making his way in the after math of the 2020 election for that brief period of time, as chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense. and in the interim, kash patel has remained close not only to donald trump but don jr. and other maga key players, including rick grenell, and he is seen as somebody who's highly critical of those intelligence spy agencies and skeptical of the department of justice. it was a year ago on steve bannon's war room, in which he called for investigations of conspiracy against not only members of the biden administration, and members of the press. he is somebody who

. >> reporter: president trump has his attorney general in the crosshairs unhappy after bill barr said the justice department has not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election. >> president trump's plan changed. as you will hear today, donald trump offered mr. clark the job of acting attorney general. >> the key points there are not about left and right. they are not about blue and red, although there will be people defending trump who argue disingenuously that's what it's about or this is cleaning up doj. those are distractions. what this is actually about quite clearly is what you just heard there. i'll say it very simply. when people follow the rules, even though they were arch-conservatives, maga supporters, politically supportive of donald trump in every public possible way, when they follow the rules there are rules on recusal at the doj because of the powers involved. the justice department prosecutes cases that can result in capital punishment. if you have a conflict of interest with someone who could be executed by the government, we ha

bill barr on several occasions it's been reported stopped the worst instincts. so it wasn't some olympian clinical institution that did it, it was the people who represented those institutions. so who are those people going to be this time? that's the question. there's not a mythical check and balance. checks and balances are human. it's about judges, it's about cabinet members, it's about generals. i think we have to be very clear-eyed and sober-minded about this. and i can't underscore enough how i would like us in four years to look back at our conversation here and say, "i was proved wrong." - president-elect trump has promised to shut down his federal prosecutions and his election could protect him from any accountability in his state criminal cases. there are conservatives who have called for president biden to simply pardon him citing the precedent of gerald ford pardoning richard nixon. as you look back now, did the nixon pardon help heal the country or did it just reinforce the notion that presidents are above the law? - it did both. - how? - that's an

i wasn't a huge bill barr fan, but there were points where he drew that line. and that's what you need a you certainly drew his line after the election in 2020. yeah he did. he waited a little longer than i would have liked. but you know, he got there and that's been true in other bill clinton. i'm sure he would have loved to have gotten rid of some of the investigations that were going on with him during janet reno's era but he kept his distance and let those things go forward. you have to let them play out. >> you're a member of the house homeland security committee. what do you make of this few weeks that tulsi gabbard was on this watch list? we should be clear. it's not a terror watch list, but it's an algorithm that looks at people's travel and foreign contacts and somehow she tripped the wire as it were, and ended up on this list for a time. how significant is that, in your view? >> you know, i'm not completely sure. i think it's something we want to take a very close look at certainly we can't rely on the trump transition team to vet these nominees. they

and, and bill barr wrote about it. he was like this is impossible. we tried to do it. and then covid actually stopped them from from going ahead with it. but we'll see if they are able to execute it. but i don't think for a second that it won't be messy. >> well aaron, let me go to the other major issue that we've heard from trump about this week alone. i mean obviously more than 50 days away from the inauguration, but he's talking about tariffs. and this is something that he has been talking about. frankly for more than a decade, actually. and these tariff threats against mexico, against canada and china, some say it's a negotiation tactic that they're just trying to see what kind of leverage he will have when he does take office. trump has hyped this up though. does he have to go through with it now? if they don't budge, if they don't look at this as an invitation to negotiate one, it looks like they are taking this as an invitation to negotiate. >> you saw justin trudeau come out today and say that he had a very good call with president trump. so you're seeing that

under attorney bill barr, the justice department launched an investigation into gaetz in 2018, but lastough biden justice department informed him they would not be bringing charges. >> congressman from florida is a great guy. >> reporter: and trump is sticking by gaetz, some republican senators have called on the ethics committee to release the report on investigation while democrats have said they might seek testimony from witnesses. >> i gather they are frightened about having their identity is revealed? >> absolutely they have been through heck, let me tell you. >> reporter: he says he wants the ethics committee to release the findings. >> the american people would know and they can decide if that's a person they want to be the next attorney general of the united states. >> rep >> reporter: an official of the trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. one source per million were gaetz's legal position crust and the credibility of the women and argued their recollections would not have withstood cross-examination in court had it ever come to that. norah? >> norah:

. >> reporter: under trump attorney general bill barr they launched an investigation into gaetz in 2019st year the biden justice department informed him they would not be bringing charges. >> congressman from florida is a great guy. >> reporter: trump is sticking by gaetz. some republican senators have called on the ethics committee to release a report on the investigation while democrats have said they might seek testimony from witnesses. i gather they are frightened about having their identity is revealed? >> absolutely they have been through heck, let me tell you. >> reporter: he says they want the ethics committee to release their findings. >> the american people would know and they can decide if they want that person to be the next attorney general of the united states. >> reporter: a transition official did not report for comments. and one official looking at the argue their recollections were not withstood cross-examination in court had it ever come to that, norah. >> norah: major, thank you. i want to ask you about trump's pick to lead the defense department. one of the most imp

an investigation that began under trump's then-attorney general bill barr.ely closing the investigation and bringing no charges against gaetz. the congressman is currently at the center of an ongoing bipartisan house ethics committee investigation into allegations of "sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, and accusations that he may have shared inappropriate, explicit images with colleagues on the house floor. charges gaetz has denied. trump has railed against what he describes as a corrupt justice department out to get him. tonight, the president-elect saying gaetz will “end weaponized government, protect our borders, dismantle criminal organizations and restore americans' badly-shattered faith and confidence in the justice department.” the reaction from republican lawmakers on capitol hill swift. >> his team is smart enough to know that mr. gaetz will never get confirmed by the senate. >> reporter: a reporter asking senator lindsey graham what he thought about trump's pick. >> reaction? >> i don't know yet. i have to think about that one >> do you have a

being called in because looks like jeff sessions is going to get fired today, or rod rosenstein or bill barr that tumult over a four-year period and everybody expects it to be more chaotic, unpredictable and perhaps off the rails than the previous administration. >> you talk about jeff sessions and rod rosensteins of the world. trump likes to fire people, acting heads or heads. vivek ramaswamy, who we're reporting to have a role in the administration, in 2023, he proposed mass layoffs, firing as much as 75% of the federal work force. he believed the supreme court would back him up. is there any expectation this may not be case by case basis but a massive bloodletting. is it being discussed? >> main concern is ethical and moral, people don't want to be put in position having to defend family separation or something worse. but there is another concern, which as you say is sort of a mass bloodletting and layoff, there's schedule f, trump or in project 2025 you see it there and end of his previous term talked about massive cutbacks in the civil service and eliminating protections. fewer people i

biggest regret was who he selected for the role referring to former attorneys general jeff session and bill barr. he says he has plans for what the justice department will do. when i talk to his team they say someone donald trump trusts greatly and also someone who he believes is very loyal to him. >> thank you so much. to you in washington, trump has said he is making plans for a lot of executive orders. what, if anything, can president biden do right now i guess to protect his legacy against the incoming executive orders by trump? >> president biden is really trying to safeguard what he can in his remaining time in office. there is no question there are initiatives that president-elect trump could very well undo once he comes into office. the focus for the white house in the coming weeks is really trying to finish up and tie up a lot of the loose ends to try to get as much money out the door, as much assistance out the door as possible. one key area they're focused on relates to additional aid to ukraine. they want to be sure all the approved money is out the door to that country at a time whe

and they need to be trusted to be able to do that and when bill barr was a.g. with a number of u.s. attorney and they did it quietly and well. >> bill: interesting. let me read this. atlantic. donald trump gets away with it? "new york times" opinion trump evaded jack smith and the rule of law. i don't know how you come down on that. what about the issue of firings coming up or terminations? how do you gauge that or what should we expect? >> it makes sense why donald trump would want to fire jack smith and special counsel team given the fact that special counsel teams are self-selecting. you raise your hand to go after the person you want to go after because you don't care for them typically. donald trump has reason to be concerned about animus from those team members. it gets tricky. civil servants have special kind of protections. however, there has been an open question whether those protections would make it very difficult -- which make it very difficult to file a civil servant if those are constitutional. what donald trump could do and my understanding is th

. >> and bill barr. of his biggest regrets he has said was bringing bill barr into the administration who turned on him after he was denying the election in 2020. and bill barr said it was because he was lying. but this is something he is putting a lot of consideration into. >> bill barr then obviously criticized him and then voted for him ultimately. just to give you a little bit of a preview into what is ahead for this transition. >> yeah. back with the team in new york. it is interesting how many people cycle out of donald trump's orbit and then sort of come back into it. something happens. >> you are never dead in trump world. >> look. good thing the president doesn't hold a grudge. >> how different do you think the setup of his administration is going to be this time compared to last time? >> look i think it will start out much stronger this time. there's a lot of chaos in the beginning. a lot of sniping. a lot of back biting and leaking. this campaign as others have noted was run complete professio