brad raffensperger has all the president told others that he felt pressured by that phone call.t's not a phone call that seems to be made in the exploration of lindsey graham's legislative options as a member of congress voting to certify the election. almost two months before january 61 congressman to certify the vote. yet again, the steps that he took during that call were as an advocate for donald trump and his capacity as a candidate. not as the president and certainly not in some underground capacity as a sitting senator. >> let me ask you about something. senator graham's team put this line out and reading into the wall street journal. here's the quote. senator graham will suffer irreparable harm if forced to appear before his appeal concludes. if you're telling the truth, how do you suffer irreparable harm? are they concerned illegally? are they concerned politically. how do you interpret that? >> i understand that argument legally that senator graham's team is making. and it's essentially what we call you can't un-ring the bell. in other words, of senator graham is force

there is a grand jury investigating, what we heard, donald trump asking former -- brad raffensperger to find 11,000 votes. that did not exist. this is related to other investigations and it's unclear of what they found related to the presidential record could be shared, but there are many gears turning right now. they are centered on donald trump and his inner circle. frankly, the fault lies with donald trump. not with the public servants who are effectuating their duties at this moment. we all have to stop at red light . we all need to be careful will meet -- when we cross the straits. -- cross the streets. and those are all roles that we just follow and if you don't there will be pushback, people want to know what happened. >> thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> c-span's washington journal, every day we are taking your calls alive on the air on the news of the day and we will -- alive on the air and we will discuss the news of the day and issues that impact to. we will discuss climate change with energy director. and then a new round of you -- and then we will discuss a new r

brad raffensperger claims graham asked him if he had the power to reject certain absentee ba

i mean, let's remind our viewers what he said to secretary of state brad raffensperger.e it is. >> so look, all i want to do is this, i just want to find 11, 000, 780 votes which is one more than we have. because we won the state. we kind of just said it right there, i don't understand why the big deal. why do you need all the secret investigation. i, mean there's a lot of discussion about fani willis possibly using rico statutes to prosecute organized crime cases. explain why and how that would work. >> well, the why would work is because you do have a tape. if you listen to that tape trump becomes more and more worked up as he goes along. and it's pretty obvious that he is pushing brad raffensperger to come up with these votes. he is threatening him to come up with these votes. he is appealing to the fact that their fellow republicans. but, in any kind of taped, case which is always the better case than just having witnesses, they are always some ambiguity duties for the defence lawyer can pull out of. there they are putting this together in the context of all of the o

i mean let's remind our viewers what he said to secretary state russ -- brad raffensperger. >> so, lookll i want to do is this i just want to find 11,780 votes. which is one more that we have. because we won the state. >> i mean, he kind of just said it right there, i don't know what's the big deal is and why you need all the secret investigation. he said. it i mean there's a lot to discuss about him possibly using rico statute to prosecute organized crime cases. explain how and why that would work. >> well the way the riot would work is because you do have a tape. if you listen to that tape trump becomes more and more worked up as he goes along. and it's pretty obvious that he is pushing brad raffensperger to come up with these votes, he's threatening him to come up with these votes. he's appealing to the fact that their fellow republicans. but, in any kind of tape case, which is always a better case than just having witnesses there is always some ambiguity these to the defense or can pull out of their. what they are doing in georgia is putting this together in the context of all of th

he tried to claim that when he called brad raffensperger, the georgia secretary of state, and urged him what raffensperger said -- urged him to toss out lawfully passed ballots, that he was involved in protected speech and debate, he was on a legislative fact-finding mission. the judge disbatched that argument in pretty short order. now lindsey graham will have a decision to make, one we know he'll appeal and fight it tooth and nail. he will land before the georgia grand jury and he'll have to decide whether to plead the fifth or testify. >> any prediction on that one? >> his lawyer will advise him to plead the fifth. alex, if a sitting senator pleads the fifth amendment before the grand jury, that's not a good look. >> fallout for sure politically. glenn, thank you for that. >>> coming up for all of you, wyoming voters decide today whether congresswoman liz cheney will stay in office after she's become one of donald trump's most vocal critics in the gop. could she have a political career beyond wyoming? new exclusive reporting on the nba's push to political activism. the bold move the

take a listen to how brad raffensperger characterize that had phone call in an interview with cnn fromhat year. >> he asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters and i got the sense it implied that then you could throw those out. really would look at the counties with the highest frequent error of signatures. so that's the impression that i got. just an implication that look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out. >> reporter: if a federal judge ultimately denies graham's stay to appear here in fulton county, he will have to appear next tuesday here. it will be, you know, the sight to see here, brianna. it's been very interesting to follow this case. >> it certainly has been, nick, and you've been very much in the middle of these developments. nick valencia live for us from atlanta. thank you. >>> as indictments, investigations and subpoenas continue to stack up against former president trump and his allies, two former trump officials are speaking out and warning the gop that it is time to truly put america first before it's too late. joining me no you is former

but pointing to a phone call that he made to brad raffensperger asking him to find enough votes to overturnden's win here in the state of georgia. overnight former president trump weighed in on that calling it a perfect phone call once again. but all of this is widening the possibility of exposure for the former president and any of his associates to criminal exposure. now all of this comes as we're seeing the investigation itself widen here in georgia. and in fact, this morning georgia's governor brian kemp is fighting a subpoena of his own calling it politically motivated this close to november. back to you. >> blayne alexander reporting from atlanta. for more on this, let's bring in tamar hallerman. it is good to see you. we'll get back to giuliani but let's start where blayne ended with governor kemp fighting a subpoena. he's supposed to testify today. what does that look like? is this grand jury going to hear from him? >> not today. the judge overseeing the grand jury proceedings gave the governor an excusal, he's excused for the day as this gets fought in court. we're expecting a resp

the 2020 race wants to question graham about the calls he made to georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger after the election. this new ruling could now delay that not for weeks but for months according to some experts. joining me now is nbc justice reporter ryan reilly. ryan, welcome and tell us what have you heard about this reversal and now could this truly be pushback past the midterms? >> there is the potential for that but essentially what the appeal circuit was -- couldn't have them take another look at it. more narrow pathway available here. essentially, what senator graham's argued is that he's protected by a -- privilege as a member of congress and he's acting that capacity. this was in his home state. this was more in the realm of political -- rather than his job as a senator. this was as part of the campaign, party trump's campaign team. i think it'll get kicked back in the -- we're not quite sure exactly how this will play out over the coming months and what it means for when graham can testify, corey. >> you are following several investigations as we are to following them acr

in georgia have access to the ballot box without barriers. >> so your opponent the incumbent brad raffenspergerr having the strength to say i'm not gonna throw the election completely for donald trump. and he did manage to fight off a travel and for a trump backed challenger. my question is to you is, what are you gonna do that is different specifically from raffensperger. are we gonna set up rules and see statutes as secretary of state that we were dependent on his integrity to fix when he was in office in 2020? >> well there is certainly a lot of room to grow as what the secretary of state should be doing, about the current secretary of state is doing right now. it goes to show you that the republican party is gone so far to the right that went and officer has taken an oath to swear allegiance to our constitution and our country simply follows the law, we are met with reaction that that is the bar that should be met, but in fact we deserve much better. i wanted to be a very specific example. something that is happening here in georgia right now. our public service commission is elected by a m

brad raffensperger is the 29th secretary of state of georgia serving in the role since 2019. as an elected official and a republican, secretary brad raffensperger is responsible for supervising elections in georgia and maintaining the states public records. welcome mister secretary. gabriel sterling is a chief operating officer in the georgia office. mr. sterling was the statewide implementation manager for the 2020 election in georgia, responsible for leading the secretary of state's response to the covid pandemic and rolling out modernized voting equipment. i will swear in our witnesses. witnesses will please stand and raise the right hand do you swear upon the penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? thank you, please be seated. let the record reflect that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. speaker bowers, thank you for being with us today. you ought to speak -- your speaker of the arizona house and a self described conservative republican. you campaigned for president trum

he called brad raffensperger, he wanted to stop the account in arizona and continue in pennsylvania.what happened on generator six where he wanted mike pence to decertify an american election. he wanted your your votes not to count. refusing to comply with the rules that every president had to comply with. he did not comply. no, i'm not! >> dan: he actually met with them. >> jessica: and then after that james who was the agent involved with this -- >> dana: it was six weeks since the end of june. >> dagen: if it was so urgent -- >> jessica: was there a subpoena ignored by the burisma? >> dagen: they had conversations after the subpoena you don't know if they complied or not. >> greg: this week has been so much fun with this story because no one's getting hurt and it's about paperwork! >> jessica: actually the fbi agents in cincinnati -- >> dan: the guy was shot dead. >> greg: you know what i meant, jessica, don't throw that. >> jessica: i didn't hear trump condemn it. a little bit smaller. >> greg: don't ever do that to a guy. >> dana: much more to come on the breaking news of this r

on one of the calls he spoke director to secretary of state brad raffensperger, and he says he was onon, but raffensperger had a much different take saying there was an implication to toss out ballots. graham continues those allegations and he's trying to get out of appearing in fulton county next week. if everything goes as planned, he'll appear on tuesday. but a federal judge still has to make a ruling on whether or not he can get a stay on that subpoena. >> nick valencia in atlanta, thank you. >>> congress is trying to crack down on the violent and extreme rhetoric on the fbi after they were forced to go to donald trump's home in florida to retrieve a trove of classified and top secret documents. the house oversight committee is going after not just the trolls online but the tech companies whose platforms they're using. >> the committee sent letters to eight firms, including meta, tiktok, donald trump's truth social. they want specific information by september 2nd. here's what they want. they want the platform's response when users threaten law enforcement and their plan on keeping

graham about two phone calls he made after the 2020 election to georgia's secretary of state brad raffenspergeruld throw out ballots. in response graham said that es trying to throw out ballots was ridiculous. regardless the d.a. wants to question graham about those calls and even the overall effort by trump to overturn the election results. this latest decision by the 11th circuit, it at least delays graham's testimony and may also limit what he can testify to, but in all likelihood here he probably will still have to testify but he could appeal to the supreme court and this could delay this overall especially given the grand jury is supposed to wrap up by may 2023. we will see how it plays out but maybe graham's goal is to delay which he right now is achieving. >> the justice department is facing a deadline this terse to send a federal judge proposed redactions for the doj search of donald trump's mar-a-lago home. the judge is spelling out his reasoning of releasing of that affiliated and how he feels about that. we have the latest for this. what did the judge say in this new filing? >> repor

lindsey graham has been subpoenaed for phone calls he made to brad raffensperger.o be court arguments on that coming up the next few weeks. so this is really heating up in georgia. now on the national stage, trump is facing the doj investigation. and he is talking about announcing his run for president, potentially right after november elections as a way to forestall merrick garland from indicting him. his thinking seems to be, if he announces as president, it will make it that much harder for that justice department to indict a candidate for president at this time, a republican candidate. >> right. >> so, trump is, on both fronts, doing everything he can to try to politicize this. >> all, right michael, thank you very much with your reporting tonight. and next, jurors trying the parkland florida high school where -- were killed in 2017. with a saw were bloodstains still covering the walls. - common percy! - yeah let's go! on a trip. book with priceline. you save more, so you can “woooo" more. - wooo. - wooo. wooooo!!!!! woohooooo!!!! w-o-o-o-o-o... ye, feel the sa

country1st.com we have played against madison cawthorn, we've played on behalf of brad raffensperger, played in michigan and some other places. what we are trying to do is to say that democrats are live in a district that you know is going to go republican, one of those it's not competitive. in certain areas, consider taking out a republican ballot and voting against these crazy. i personally am going to be focused on that. and i love calling out the garbage that is being done to abuse people. the abuse of emails that say, seven times match or just give me $10 or donald trump knows you have a given in this quarter. it's all lies, it's abusing people, many of which are seniors and on a fixed income. i am excited to be able to go out and fight that battle. because somebody has got to. people are just being abused and obviously the republicans are becoming a cult. i'm going to pulling people from that cult if i can. >> congressman, adam kinzinger, ready for the fight, member of the january six committee. best of luck with all of your efforts and thank you for your time tonight. >> thank

reporter: trump on social media calling his phone conversation asking georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger to find him votes a perfect call. as trump's legal troubles pile up, his grip on the gop only tightening. those who defy him risking revenge. >> liz, you're fired. >> reporter: were trump to announce a presidential run -- >> i'll make a decision in the coming months. >> reporter: -- it's altogether possible he'll run into them again. mike pence says in coming months he'll be talking more about his story from january 6th, marcus. >> we'll be looking forward to hearing what he has to say. susan mcginnis, thank you. >>> the family of an east bay woman now presumed dead is still seeking justice when it comes to the presumed killer's mother. alexis gabe's ex-boyfriend marshall jones died when seattle police tried to arrest him in june. her family members say evidenced points to jones' mother as an accomplice in her death and disposing of her body. they met yesterday with contra costa county prosecutors and say there are still too many balls up in the air. >> also legal issues and a need fo

no, i don't have to answer questions before this grand jury because the calls that i made to brad raffensperger any ballots and being tossed out, et cetera, was part of my job as a lawmaker. if you look at the speech and debate clause of the constitution article i section 6 says for any speech or debate in either house, they, meaning the lawmaker, shall not be questioned in any other place. but that's in civil suits. would that hold up here, do you think, in this grand jury probe? >> yeah, it's sort of like everybody's kind of right on this, and it's a complicated legal issue. look, the debate clause really does protect much of what members of congress do. it was started or put in place to prevent members of congress from being sued for things like defamation, for things they say on the floor of the house of representatives. and, poppy, it's gotten expanded beyond that. it really protects anything members of congress are doing when they are doing their jobs. the question is, are you doing your job as a member of congress when you're placing phone calls on behalf of another political candidate?

prosecutors want him to explain the reason for two calls he place just after the 2020 election to brad raffensperger, george's republicanecretary of state. raffensperger told reporters after the calls lindsey graham hinted he should throw away ballots from areas where biden likely got more votes. >> he asked the ballots be matched back to the voters and implied could throw those out. look at the counties with the highest frequent signatures. justin implication that look hard and see how many ballots you can throw up. amy: south carolina republican graham has promised to appeal the order compelling him to testify, or green -- arguing he is under the speech or debate clause. the justice department has asked a federal judge not to unseal a sworn affidavit used by the fbi toecover 1sets of cret govement docents fro ump'home in orida. the fidavit s the bas of an appcation tt convind a dge to sn off on the warrant used by federal agents in eir sear of tru's maa-lago sidence augus8. in federalourt filg, osecutorsaid theffidavit containsighly clsified materi and sentive infoation about witnesses and that it

this was all around two calls that he made after the election to georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger. he argued when he made the calls they were legislative acts. they also argued, lindsey graham's team, that this was under the constitutional speech and debate clause and he wouldn't have to be compelled to testify because he was a sitting senator. the judge said, no, that he would have to testify, he will have to show up in front of that grand jury on august 23rd. he said there's nothing that shields him from doing so, and that the d.a. had made a case that his testimony was critically important, so he would have to show up. >> kristen holmes, thank you very much for that breaking news. we'll dive into the details coming up. >>> to the expanding fallout of the fbi search of president trump's home in florida. extremist threats are intensifying against the fbi. congressional pressure is growing for more information from attorney general merrick garland and the explanations for why donald trump had the sensitive documents in the first place, well, that all keeps evolving. >> now a new d

are particularly interested in a phone call that graham had with georgia secretary of state brad raffenspergerfensperger came away from the call feeling like the senate was asking him to throw away ba ballots. we'll see if he has to appear before that grand jury on tuesday. sara murray, cnn, washington. >>> let's talk more about all of this now. i want to bring in michael zeldin, host of "that said with michael zeldin" podcast. good to see you. so senator lindsey graham still fighting to stay out of court and testify in georgia. are you convinced that he will testify as scheduled on tuesday? >> i believe he should testify. what the fight is about is the speech and debate clause of the constitution which provides that if your activities during your legislative work are something that the judiciary wants to hear about, you can be prevented from having to be called there. he's saying that these phone calls that he made to georgia and other calls that he may have made to other people is part of his legislative work. the court said, no, it's not. this is separate from legislation and, therefore, yo

georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger, a republican, has accused graham of implying that raffensperger should try to throw away ballots. also today, a new report in "the washington post" says that a team of computer experts working with trump's team copied sensitive data from georgia's election systems and that lawyers allied with trump asked a forensic data firm to access election systems in at least three battleground states. this afternoon, we also learned a federal justice department grand jury has subpoenaed trump white house lawyer eric hirschmann, probably best known for telling the january 6th committee about his conversation with john eastman, that eastman of course was the lawyer who came up with that crackpot unconstitutional scheme to steal the electoral votes in the house. here's what he says he told him. >> i said to him, are you out of your f'ing mind? i said, i only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on. orderly transition. eventually, he said orderly transition. i said, good, john. now i'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever g

graham's subpoena was around two calls that the senator had made to georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger. graham had argued and his legal team argued that they should quash the subpoena due to he, quote, was making legislative acts when he was making those. as a senator, he could not be compelled to testify. now, on the other side of that, the fulton county district attorney said graham's calls were, actually, trying to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome of president trump at that time. the judge ruled in favor of the d.a. and compelling graham to testify. in that ruling she also wrote that the d.a.'s office has shown, quote, extraordinary circumstances. and a special need for senator graham's testimony on issues relating to alleged attempts to influence or disrupt the lawful administration of georgia's 2020 election. she has ordered him to hear to testify on august 23rd, alex. >> all right. kristen holmes, thank you very much. back with me is jennifer rodgers. jennifer, you heard what kristen said right there. senator graham did not want to testify. this judge now essen

meadows was on a call between trump and georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger in january 2021 in which trump wanted him to find exactly 11,780 votes that trump needed to win the state. meadows also made a surprise appearance at a location in cobb county, georgia where officials were conducting an audit of an sen san bern absentee ballots. and meadows wanted them to investigate allegations of fraud. and the d.a. is seeking testimony from sydney powell and also james wallwaldren. >> and so even more to talk about that the point. the fulton county d.a. is looking for testimony from trump's former chief of staff. pretty close to the center of his orbit at least while he was in office. what do you think this tells us or signals about the state of where her investigation is? >> that investigation has been pending for a while and it does look like that they are honing in on people close to trump eye orbit there. and the d.a. in georgia is looking at solutions of georgia criminal statutes. same situation for charges against a former president, you will still have so many of the consti

georgia, you would have a popular sitting governor, raffensperger in a normal, time someone like brad raffenspergerwed courage in 2020 standing up to, trump might have. wang could've been promoted, run for senate. it would've been the toughest democrats to be because he could've gotten, votes but donald trump is a man baby and he just wants people who are gonna suck up to him. so those are the candidates that he picked and those have cost republicans in quality across the board. >> let's be clear, david mccormack, very clearly sucked up to trump, but still it didn't work. when eatonton, thank you both for joining us. i appreciate it. coming, up presidential historian and dear friend on the show, michael beschloss is here to discuss and already eventful week a very significant headlines. when the 11th hour continues. continues if she overdraws by $50 or less. and, kyle, well, he's keeping calm with another day to adjust his balance if he overdraws by more than $50. overdraft assist from chase. make more of what's yours. (vo) give your business an advantage right now, with nationwide 5g from t-mobile

we have played against madison cawthorn, we've played on behalf of brad raffensperger, played in michiganher places. what we are trying to do is to say that democrats are live in a district that you know is going to go republican, one of those it's not competitive. in certain areas, consider taking that over the republican ballot and voting against these crazy. i personally am going to be focused on that. and i love calling out the garbage that is being done to abuse people. the abuse of emails that say, seven times match or just give me $10 or donald trump knows you have a given in this corner. it's all lies, it's abusing people, many of which are seniors and on a fixed income. i am excited to be able to go out and fight that battle. because somebody has got to. people are just being abused and obviously the republicans are becoming a cult. i'm going to pulling people from that cult if i can. >> congressman, i'm kinzinger, ready for the fight, member of the january six committee. best of luck with all of your efforts and thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, congratulations. >>

infamous phone call between former president trump and secretary of state here in georgia, brad raffensperger. it has expanded to include these fake electors as well as rudy giuliani, lindsey graham, who's still in a lot of legal wrangling as to whether or not he's going to testify here, so this investigation, my point is, is very broad and wide-ranging that fani willis is running here. victor, alisyn? >> nick valencia, thank you. >>> let's bring in now jennifer rodgers, a cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. we have peter strzok, a former fbi deputy assistant director. he's also the author of "compromised: counterintelligence and the threat of donald j. trump." great to see both of you. jennifer, about this doj -- about the, yeah, the affidavit that everybody wants to see, except doj can you not it released, when do you think that the public could ever get their eyes on portions of this? >> well, alisyn, i think it's going to be a little while, because, of course, it will take some time if the judge does insist on releasing it with redactions, it will take some time for the judge

brad raffensperger.gine what could have happened over the course of that week, if those people had not been there. you are talking about how these elections are so low turnout, that we are covering tonight. that, actually, matters in this context, too. part of the problem that we are facing, as a country, and part of why we are polarized, is people on either extreme are, incredibly engaged, energized, and it is turning off everyone that crosses the entire spectrum in the middle. they're just choosing not to participate. they're choosing to not vote for secretary of state in arizona. if you're an arizona voter, and you think your vote doesn't matter? guess what, it really does. it's partly by design. this is how we are getting these and representative panels. for many, in the case of pennsylvania for example, a lot of pennsylvania republicans are saying, look, i'm not down with the top of the ticket. and the problem is you get these low turnout close partisan primaries. they're dominated by the most extre

committee, so he says he was on a fact-finding call, but listen to how georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger interpreted that call. he spoke to wolf blitzer in an interview that year. >> asked if the ballots could be matched back to the voters and then he -- i got the sense that it implied that then you could throw those out, any -- look at the counties with the highest frequent area of signatures. that's the impression i got. just an implication that look hard and see how much ballots you can throw out. >> reporter: it was on monday that a federal judge in atlanta here denied the motion to quash from graham's attorney saying there was considerable areas of inquiry that were not legislative in nature when he made those calls. on wednesday, graham's attorneys tried to fire back asking a second federal judge for a stay in that decision, and if everything goes as planned for the district attorney's office, graham is supposed to be here on tuesday to make an appearance before that special purpose grand jury. as you mentioned, we're waiting for that filing to drop here any moment now. jim? >> nic

the attack on our capital on january 6th, president trump made the now famous phone call to brad raffenspergervotes. and another connection between the january 6th investigation and at that rate on mar-a-lago, and investigation into trump's former company, there's so much going on can be hard to keep it all straight. but you should not lose sight of the importance of the investigation that fulton county district attorney fani willis is conducting into that infamous phone call. now, in part, that is because this is the case in which president trump's most directly implicated. they have him on tape. multiple witnesses corroborate it. that is hard to deny. but the other big reason to keep tabs on this case is that it wasn't just a trump pushing raffensperger on this. trump's phone call was part of the larger fake electors scheme that led up to january 6th itself. last month, fani willis's office notified georgia fake electors that they could be prosecuted for their actions. earlier this week, the president's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, was also notified that he is a target of the investigatio

on the senate judiciary committee, he argued, though georgia republican secretary of state brad raffensperger may feel quite differently as he suggested in november 2020. >> this can be matched back to the voters. i got the sense that it implied that then you could throw those out. we look at the counties with the highest frequent error of signatures. so that's the impression that i got. just an implication, look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out. >> look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out. >> a closer look at the new legal arguments that trump allies are attempting to push to discredit these widening investigations. >> reporter: new information revealed in documents related to the mar-a-lago search sharpening the focus on former president trump as a possible subject of the criminal probe. the application for the search warrant unsealed thursday reveals that among the crimes doj is investigating, includes the willful retention of national defense information. language that could point to the role of trump who would have been authorized to possess national defens

a popular sitting governor, where at camp -- raffensperger, in a normal time, someone like brad raffenspergerho showed courage in 2020 standing up to, trump might have. good have been promoted, ran for the senate. -- but donald trump is a man baby and he just wants people who are gonna suck up to him. and so those are the candidates that he picked and those have cost republicans in quality across the board. >> let's be clear, david mccormack, very clearly sucked up to trump, but it still didn't work. -- juanita tolliver and tim miller, thank you for joining us. -- we michael beschloss he's here to discuss an already eventful week we, when the 11th hour continues. continues. >> as we mentioned i cover all covered all day long here, ex trump organization cfo allen weisselberg has pleaded guilty to tax fraud. this is only one of several stunning developments involving the former president this week. back with us tonight to discuss, celebrated author and presidential historian, michael beschloss. his latest, work in a bookshelf full of brilliant works, is presidents of war. michael, welcome. >> t

and one of those calls, if you remember, was directly with secretary of state brad raffensperger, and it was his interpretation of the call that graham asked him to throw out legal ballots. graham and his attorneys have denied those allegations, cal calling them ridiculous. they're trying to keep him from appearing before the special purpose grand jury. he's the latest republican, ally of president trump, trying to get out of being questioned by the render in fulton county -- the district attorney in fulton county. next, more legal wrangling. graham's team has until august 31st, wednesday, to respond, at which point a judge will have to rule whether or not a full quashal or fpartial is in order. >> thanks for the update. let me bring in a former u.s. attorney for the western district of virginia and also cnn counter terrorism analyst phil mudd. thanks both very much for being with me. i guess let's begin because this news just came in about lindsey graham. and john, i would ask you, i mean, it's interesting because elliott williams was saying last hour to us the speech and debate clau

are particularly interested in a phone call that graham had with georgia secretary of state brad raffenspergerlike the senator was asking him to throw away ballots in georgia in a way that would benefit donald trump. senator lindsey graham has denied that. we will see what happens for his legal challenges and if he has to appear before that grand jury on tuesday. sara murray, cnn, washington. >>> let's get back to michael zeldin on this. we heard that senator graham is now arguing, look, he shouldn't have to testify in this because his actions were related to legislative activity. does his argument have any teeth in your opinion? and how much of a chance does he have at the federal level to appeal this? >> i don't think his argument is persuasive. i agree with the judge that the speech and debate clause, which is what's at stake here, is to protect legislatures from criminal investigation of stuff they do in the course of their official business. here this was not official business, according to the judge, and therefore the speech and debate clause does not protect him. and we saw this in the

reporter: trump on social media calling his phone conversation asking georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger to find him votes a perfect call. as trump's legal troubles pile up, those who defy him revenge. it's altogether possible he'll run into them again. mike pence says if invited, he will consider testifying before the january 6th committee. marcus, he says in coming months he'll be telling his story of january 6th more frequently. >> it will be interesting to see what he has to say about that, if he does, in fact, testify. susan, thank you. >>> the family of an east bay woman now presumed dead is still seeking justice when it comes to the presumed killer's mother. alexis gabe's ex-boyfriend marshal jones died when seattle police tried to arrest him in june. family members say evidence points to jones' mother as an accomplice in her death and the disposing of her body. they met with contra costa county pos can you tellers say right now there's too many balls up in the air. >> there's also a legal issue and a need for evidence. there's investigative aspects that we agreed upon today which

for weeks, and now with his lawyers arguing that his calls to the georgia secretary of state, brad raffensperger, were part of his duties as the chair of the senate judiciary committee, and are protected under the speech and debate clause of the constitution. federal judge lee martin may isn't buying in. she writes in her ruling, quote, the court finds that under the unique facts of this case, the public interest would not be served by granting a stay. in this context, the public interest is well served with a lawful investigation aimed at uncovering the facts and circumstances of alleged attempts to disrupt or influence georgia's elections, is allowed to proceed without unnecessary encumbrances. indeed, it is important that citizens maintain faith that there are mechanisms in place for investigating any such attempt to disrupt the elections, and if necessary, to prosecute these crimes, which by their very nature, strike at the heart of the democratic system. their very nature strike at the heart of the democratic system. pending the results of another motion today, senator graham is testifying,

brad raffensperger claims graham asked him if he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots. the question is was grim leaning on the georgia secretary of state throwing votes. the delay will allow grand an opportunity to challenge the subpoena based on protections for lawmakers under the constitution's speech and debate clause. msnbc legal analyst joyce vance told me the federal judge could move this along quickly, but don't count on it. >> she could order a very expedited briefing schedule and perhaps have the issue ready for resolution in under a week or ten days. that would be very unusual, and typical briefing schedules are much length ear. only after she makes that ruling does this case go back to the 11th circuit for determination. so we are likely talking about a delay of months more than weeks. big >> in the meantime, trump as he has work to do is playing the victim, attacking an investigation and his actions as they quote, witch hunt or hoax. he can't hide from the truth forever despite his attempts to undermine the investigations. the american people, they want to k

is interested in lindsey graham because he had a phone call with georgia secretary of state brad raffenspergering like graham was asking him to throw away ballots in a way that could benefit donald trump. graham has denied that this was his intent. but this is, of course, just one of the things that the district attorney wants to get to the bottom of with senator graham. we will see if he manages to get out of that tuesday appearance. back to you guys. >> sara murray, thank you so much. >>> let's dig deeper now with cnn legal analyst and former new york prosecutor paul kallan. appreciate you getting up bright and early for us. so lindsey graham says he's protected under the speech and debate clause. he's arguing he was acting in his capacity as a member of congress. what do you make of that position? >> well, good morning, boris. yeah, it is early. but, it's always nice to be with you. the speech and debate clause of the constitution is a very interesting clause and very important one. essentially when the founding fathers were putting the constitution together, they decided that members of co

specifically that his phone calls with georgia secretary of state, brad raffensperger, are protected immunity. >> i think that is something that we are waiting to see how the judge will rule. i bet there is a good case to be made that calls to a state official would be outside the bounds of what the senator was doing with his committee and his work in bc, particularly in the way that secretary of state raffensperger has described the call. i think we're all waiting to see what the judge does in this case. but certainly, if the da gets the opportunity, i'm sure she will ask the senator what his view of that one particular call was. what he was trying to achieve. remember, the special grand jury is already heard from raffensperger on his views and how he felt pressure as a result. >> rudy giuliani has been instructed to appear before the special grand jury on wednesday despite his lawyers claims of his poor health. you are calling it the brookings institution. you told the new york times that when it comes to georgia, giuliani may be the single most responsible person after trump. do y

actions being meadows participation in a call between trump and georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger in which trump asks officials to, in his words, find the nearly 12,000 votes he needed, just enough to win that state. willis is also seeking testimony on september 22nd from two others who spread misinformation about the election. trump connected attorney sidney powell and retired army colonel james phil waldron. >>> president biden goes on the offense in his first major political speech ahead of the midterms calling out part of the extreme wing of the republican party, using the term, quote, semifascist. >>> one year after the deadly terror attack in kabul at the airport, we will be joined by congressman jake auckencloss, a marine veteran, what he makes of this one year later. >>> a volatile dangerous situation at europe's largest nuclear power plant as it has been reconnected to ukraine's power grid. that's important to keep those reactors cooled. one worker on the inside warns cnn the threat of a radiation accident there remains high. i had been giving koli kibble. it never looked

down in georgia, i think we had a great result with brad raffensperger, the secretary of state theree a handful of people, particularly in arizona, mark finch hamm, who is particularly going to win, in power over elections. that's really scary stuff. now, these people have won their primaries. they may not win their general elections, though. and i think that we have to see how that plays out. candidates matter. and some of these states, like arizona, are not necessarily slam dunks for republicans. the retirement environment is good, but now it's really important for arizona voters to wake up and see what they may potentially be facing. so you clearly don't pay a price in republican primaries, for denying the election. but general elections may be a different story. >> and the other really ugly undercurrent, though, is victor orban. he's a white nationalist. and you also had mastriano with tb gubernatorial republican nominee in pennsylvania, until he was called out on it, largely by rachel maddow and other people, until he was called out about the philadelphia enquirer, leading the w

because according to the subpoena, graham made at least two calls to georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger after the 2020 election. just to make it clear why this is so important, graham does and did not live in georgia. he is the senator from south carolina. he was a very close ally of president trump's, and here is how secretary raffensperger said he understood his calls from graham. >> well, just an implication that look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out. >> see how many ballots you could throw out. that's what he took away with a call from lindsey graham, that's what he said to the georgia secretary of state who's responsible for elections in georgia. that call now exists in the context of the now infamous call that trump made to raffensperger. >> all i want to do is this, i just want to find 11,780 votes. >> kaitlan collins begins our coverage tonight at the white house. and i mentioned the news you broke at the top of the show. you've been working on this, and you found out there are deep concerns at the biden white house about the documents found at mar-a-lago. what

say they want to ask graham, for the phone calls he made, but the georgia secretary of state, brad raffenspergerstaff. if that name sounds familiar, it should, and could not lose sight over why georgia open this in the first place, and with this infamous phone call between trump, and raffensperger. >> so look, all i want to do is i just want to find 11,780 votes. which is one more than they have. >> just wanted to find them. charles junior, what is the full can county grand jury expecting to get from senator graham? what was so crucial about his testimony in this case? >> what we're looking to ascertain is what lindsey graham would do, how he would do it, and on the problem. essentially, what kind of conversations did he have the secretary of state georgia. what is the impetus for those calls, meaning, and did they do that himself? was they asked to do that? to what degree did he have information that claims, or was the notion, of what was in fact, simply false, and not just an attempt to try and make sure that there had not been any election fraud. all those things are important to ascertain wh

in georgia, he tried to get secretary of state brad raffensperger to overturn 2020 election., some of the gop want to move on from the make about this. i will speak with the political director of a group of republican spending big bucks to try to dump trump and restore the gop credibility. plus, young mothers across the country forced to make horrible choices, as more states criminalize abortion procedures. but there are glimmers of hopes at least on defense, like in michigan, where a judge just blocked a 91-year-old ban on abortions. this is american voices. we begin this hour with donald trump's war on the justice department and how he is leveraging a criminal investigation to grow his support with the gop base. four presidents -- spent the day bragging on social media about how the fbi search at mar-a-lago is solidifying his hold on the republican party, as he eyes a 2024 run for president. new reporting from nbc news, according to a source close to trump, he is inclined to launch his candidacy after the november elections, in part to avoid blame, should an early announcem

no question it's gone far beyond the initial phone call that former president trump made to brad raffensperger. it's now going into, you know, a rudy giuliani and statements that he made to georgia lawmakers. it's going to jenna ellis and what role she may have played in setting up those hearings. when i talked to d.a. fani willis she made it clear she's going to take her time with this investigation. the grand jury can be convened up to a year. she has really until may 2023 to issue whatever subpoenas she needed to issue, to issue, to bring people in for testimony and let this play out in a slow, deliberate way, the point that she made to me that she plans to do just that. >> blayne alexander reporting live in fulton county, thank you. blayne, you're going to stay close to a camera. if we see mr. giuliani speaking to the cameras i will come back to you for an update. appreciate. >>> it speaking of things going down in courtrooms and with judges, we're just one day away from a hearing that's going to decide whether or not we'll see what prompted last week's search at mar-a-lago because we know

they say he made 2 georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger and his staff in the weeks followingenator graham's request to throw out a subpoena, compelling his testimony. graham's office says that he will appear are up appeal, rather the ruling. >> another u.s. trip to taiwan could spell more trouble for the island. several u.s. lawmakers have been meeting with taiwan's president today wanting to reinforce u.s. support for taiwan. but like house speaker nancy pelosi's recent trip which took place less than 2 weeks ago, this visit has angered china leading to the country. restarting military exercises in the waters and airspace surrounding taiwan. the state department says this response from china is unnecessary. >> the prc has. >> entirely overreacted. members of congress visiting taiwan is entirely in line with our one. our longstanding one, china policy. >> china says the u.s. delegation is violating a previous policy that taiwan is part of china and therefore the u.s. can not support taiwan militarily. >> developing news tonight in the attack that left author salman rushdie se

a pair of postelection phone calls that senator graham made to georgia secretary of state, brad raffensperger graham pressed him about whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots which raffensperger so -- interpreted as -- some very legally cast votes. senator graham's lawyer say he was well within his rights to discuss election processes with raffensperger and that he made those calls in his then role as chair of the senate judiciary committee. georgia's republican governor himself brian kemp is also trying to a void a subpoena from the fulton county grand jury. he filed a motion last week alleging that the probe was being pursued for quote improper political purposes he asked the court to kill a subpoena that was requiring contest -- him to this violent of this month. but governor kemp is not in the same boat as giuliani in graham. kemp actually suffer the mobocracy in this instance and fended off pressure from trump to overturn the election results. the da willis even inscribed camp as a mere witness who acted honorably. it's not clear why he's fighting -- he probably does

and remember donald trump's infamous phone call to georgia secretary of state, brad raffensperger. urging him to quote find 11, 000, 780 votes in trump's favor. prosecutors recently informed donald trump's former personal attorney, rudy giuliani that he is a target of the investigation. and could be indicted for trying to keep trump in power, despite his attempts to fight a subpoena ordering him to appear in front of the grand jury. south carolina senator and trump ally, lindsey graham has been ordered by a federal judge to testify next week. georgia's probe however pales in comparison to the sprawling january six investigation that is being conducted by the department of justice. the attorney general, merrick garland has called it quote the most wide-ranging investigation in department of justice history. today it, more than 850 people have been charged in connection with the attack on the capitol and the work on that front continues. we also know that donald trump is the subject of the investigation meaning that the justice department has really acquired about the presidents acti