carol lee is with us from the white house.ere found in the president's home garage. >> that's right, jose. and the president noted that he said his garage is locked. it's not like these documents were out there in the street. so downplaying the significance of this a little bit and then we saw the president as he did when he was in mexico and asked about this a couple days ago read a statement that we've already got from his legal team. so he walked through what his lawyer had recently said in the -- within the past hour which is that they found those documents on november 2nd at his office here in washington, d.c., his post vice presidency office. they conducted a search of his houses in wilmington and rehoboth beach and they found classified documents. they're saying it's a small amount in the president's garage as well as one document in a room that's adjacent to the president's garage. as he said previously, he said he's fully cooperating with this, downplaying it, and he said he's confident and he got cut off a little bit

. >> nbc news white house correspondent carol lee is joining us now from outside of the white house. l, when you look at the landscape of what we saw in 2020, we know that voters in south carolina, primarily black voters in south carolina really worked to save president biden's campaign during the primary and if that state is going to go the way people think it will go, it will lead off the primary calendar in 2024. how much is the white house looking at that and the lens that we're looking at as we look at what president biden says today and in the days to come. >> i think you hit the nail on the head. you can't watch what the president was saying today and not take away from that that is a speech and remarks that a president who is planning on potentially running for re-election would be giving. we heard the president talk about this moment in history, something that has been a theme for him, going back to that 2020 campaign saying that how things shape out in the next several years whether the country chooses democracy over autocracy and love over hate and walked through how he see

white house correspondent carol lee and ali vitali is with us as well. carol, let me start you with. there were some moments in the press briefing that i think is happening probably still as we speak, it got a little bit of tense on this topic and others. talk us through it. >> it did, hallie and that is because reporters have a number of questions, this is an administration that has promised to be transparent and the feeling in the briefing room that confirm arine jean-pierre, the press secretary didn't have answers to a lot of questions, fairly obvious questions in the wake of the classified documents and she went so far to say she had not discussed this issue with the president. but take a listen to some of what she had to say. >> ongoing process. we're going to respect the process. as the president said, his team handled it the right way. and we're just not going to get ahead of the process from here. >> so there's a lot of not getting ahead of the process, when it comes to the white house's public posture on this. here's what we know. which is that t

joining us now is carol lee. >> we know that jeff zients is taking over, and that's a transition thatte of the union, which is on february 7th. we're hearing from the current chief of staff and president biden. ron klain in an e-mail to staff said he told the president late last year he was going to leave at this point in time saying it was always his expectation he would leave after two years. and talking about how proud he is of the work that this administration has done over this first two years in office. ask he said part of the doing this job is knowing when it's time to leave. now feels it's the right time. also noting that he would do whatever had he can to help president biden, if he chooses to run in 2024. as for president biden, he's thanking ron klain for his service. they have known each other for more than 30 years. the president praising jeff, the incoming chief of staff, this is a time where the current chief of staff needs to focus on implementing a lot of the laws the president signed during his first tu years in office. and the president saying that there will be a h

carol lee is at the white house with more. also with me, joyce vance. the white house has a tough balancing act here, publicly explaining what happened without appearing to affect the investigate that's happening at the federal level. how are they trying to manage this fallout as they face a lot of criticism from democratic allies, republicans and the public over how they handled this? >> reporter: the white house's approach was to not engage and try to get out ahead publicly of disclosures that would come to light through media reports or elsewhere and they've largely stuck to that strategy. you have the president who is not commented on the naming of a special counsel since that happened last week, despite being asked multiple questions. we've seen the white house press secretary at the podium not answering many of reporters' questions and now we learned that the justice department is saying they did not tell the white house that they can't talk publicly about the details of this. the white house to its point did not say that they had been told not to

i want to bring in carol lee at the white house, jeff bennett, an msnbc political contributor, and formertical analyst. so carol, do we know why the president has been refusing to take questions on this? i think yesterday peter said was day five. does the white house think if he answers questions it will give the story more oxygen? what are you hearing? >> reporter: what we know is that this initial approach that the white house took to this, which was to not get out in front of it and not disclose things before they were disclosed by the news media, that's largely been maintained. we did hear a few disclosures from the white house and the personal counsel on things that transpired and last few days since the special counsel was named, but they still have maintaining this position that they don't want to get too ahead of the investigation. they don't want to appear as though they are influencing it. they are limited in what they say. as you note, the justice department did not tell the white house that they can't talk about the details of this publicly. so the white house is making that c

joining me now is nbc news correspondent carol lee, and nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali, and political white house reporter and msnbc political contributor, eugene daniels. so carol, before we get started, let's slay play what republicans are saying about this, followed by what democrats are saying about this. >> we want to know the visitor logs to the residence. we want to know who had access to the biden center for diplomacy. >> this is a prime example of why we passed this week a new select committee that will fall under jim jordan's committee for the weaponization of government. >> if he wasn't in a glass house, don't throw stones and i think president biden was caught throwing stones. >> it is certainly embarrassing. it is embarrassing that you would find a small number of document, certainly not on purpose. >> we've got to review how departing presidents and vice presidents are going about organizing the archives of the documents both classified and unclassified. because this can't go on. >> i would like to know what these documents are, i would like to know what t

carol lee, have you learned anything more? >> we are learning -- my colleague mike memoli and i are reporting as part of the justice department review of the classified documents in president biden's possession, they have interviewed multiple biden staffers, those who worked for him in those closing time in his time as vice president, including kathy chung who was executive assistant to the president, who is described as somebody who had a key roll in packing up the boxes in the final days of president biden's term as vice president. what we are told is that those who have been interviewed, they did so when they were asked to be interview by federal law enforcement, they agreed to do so quickly and that those who were involved in packing up the former vice president's, now president's, office were not -- they were just putting things in boxes. there was no intent here. they weren't looking and seeing what exactly was in these papers. they weren't intentionally putting classified documents among and co-mingled with the presiden

carol lee is watching that for us. thank you. >>> the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee wants to know how documents marked classified has ended up in a former office used by joe biden were found by his attorney. according to the attorneys, they alerted the national archives and the documents were recovered the next morning. top democrats defended way the finding was handled, but not so much by the republicans. >> what we would like to know is that it was concealed to the americans, and that is wrong. it looks political. >> what president biden did was disclose this to the archives, let them know, because there a process in handling this. >> and now, ken dilanian is joining us from washington. what more do we know about the documents? >> aaron, we don't know the level of classification, and we know less than a dozen according to two sources that they were found in that office by lawyers as they were packing up some of biden's things. he used the office after he was vice president and before he began runn

i'm joined by carol lee, white house correspondent.his is all coming as we have new polling from quinnipiac, the majority of americans, roughly 60 pps, believe there was some kind of an issue, with the way the white house and the way that the president handled the classified documents? >> that's right, hallie. that is the first indication of what the public is thinking about these classified documents that were in the possession of now president biden but after he left the white house, in 2017. and we're also starting to see sort of the political elbows chartening in the white house here when it comes to pushing back on the republicans who are claiming that the president did something nefarious, who are making accusations about the penn biden center, who are calling for an investigation. visitor logs of the private residence. and things like that. we've heard from the white house, including, in response to the naming of those members of the oversight committee, which basically the white house is saying that they've been looking at the

carol lee is joining us, and there are a lot of moving parts of the story, and hard to keep track of the documents, and take a step back, and what do we know about these documents so far? >> sure. on november 2nd, a group of documents, and we are told fewer than a dozen were found that were left when president biden left when he was a secretary to president obama. one of them is ranked very, very high clearance. then on december 8th, the president's men found another group of small documents. we don't know the classification of those documents. and then there were in a room adjacent to the garage, more documents. we don't know the level of that classification. so that is the scope of what the president was learning about this, and he is frustrated it is >> and carole, the white house is and there a lot of hipocracy to those calling for investigation, and those criticizing president biden for the way he handled the paper, and those same democrats were not making the same calls when it was president trump who had documents at his mar-a-lago home. and so they say that there is no credib

carol lee, for your reporting and joining us to talk to us about it. eddie, thanks for starting me off today. >>> as our friend and colleague rachel maddow says, watch what they do, not what they say, and what some house republicans are doing today is try to further restrict reproductive freedom and access the in america. the anti-abortion bills they are putting forward in this new congress just this afternoon. we'll bring you all of that after a quick break. don't go anywhere. of that after a quick break. don't go anywhere. ■ if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. ■ ■if you're happy and you know it, ride your bike. ■ ■ if you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. ■ if you're happy and you know it, smile big and bright. ■ thousands of kids just like me, are happy every day. and it's all because of generous people like you, who support shriners hospitals for children every month. all you have to do is call the number on your screen or go online to loveshriners.org right now with your monthly gift. because of people lik

i want to bring in carol lee, who covers the white house with me. matthew doud, senior political analyst. and simone townsend, former spokesperson for vice president kamala harris. the president sees an opportunity here. he's trying to draw a sharp contrast with republicans, kind of test driving this message for what is a possible reelection campaign. what do we anticipate we're going to hear from him? >> i think according to the white house, what you're going to hear from the president is that contrast of the president trying to make the case that republicans are pushing for proposals that would hurt middle class americans, while the president is focused on implementing laws he passed or his first two years in office, that he says are going to continue to show benefits to the american people. and pointing to some of those numbers that you have referenced in terms of economic data. he's also going to announce this invest in america cabinet that's what the white house is calling it. essentially, this is members of the president's cabinet, secretaries

i think that to your point in that new reporting by my colleagues carol lee and mike memoli, white house getting pressure from allies to potentially think about delaying any announcement that the president was running for re-election. what we are hearing is that basically, this firestorm swirling around the white house is not going to impact the timing and the circumstances around any announcement. having said that, it appears if he does decide to run for re-election that will come after the state of the union address. the sources say that at the state of the union, he wants to focus on being president, talking about his record. i expect we will hear about the infrastructure bill, the chips act, some of what he perceives to be his greatest accomplishments in the first term. this comes as you have allies saying maybe he should consider a window when this controversy dies down. of course, in the briefing room, it has only ramped up as correspondents like myself have continued to ask questions and not getting a lot of answers. >> i want to dig into your reporting in "the washington post" to

ken dilanian and carol lee. also with me, ali vitali and joyce vance. s go ahead and listen, carol, before i ask you the first question. the president addressed this. let's listen. >> as i said earlier this week, people know i take classified documents, classified materials seriously. i also said we're cooperating fully and completely with the justice department's review. the department of justice was immediately notified and the lawyers arranged for the department of justice to take possession of the document. so you're going to see -- we're going to see all of this unfold. i'm confident -- >> walk us through the new developments here and what we learned also from what the president said. >> reporter: sure, lindsey. the president is saying that what his lawyers have already said moments before he answered that question, which is that after those documents at the pen biden center here in washington, d.c., the president's office here after he left the vice presidency, the president's team conducted a search of his homes in delaware. his home in wilmington

. >> one reason why this reporting from it myself and carol lee is so important is because it gives us the most insight into what may have happened that led these documents to be found in multiple locations of the president since he left office in the obama administration in 2017. among the individuals interviewed by law enforcement is kathy chung. she was the executive secretary for vice president biden. she was involved in helping to pack up his office in the west wing in january of 2017. the process to make room for the incoming president. they believe this was ab inadvertent case that there was never intention to take any documents from the white house that should have been a national archive document because of the presidential records act or certainly a classified document. i'm told by an official at the white house that the reason for this is they don't want to be seen as interfeerping with an ongoing investigation. they are argue figure they were to engage in providing more granule details, that's putting more information that can be seen as trying to influence that debate. thi

some of the unique reporting coming from my colleagues, carol lee and mike memoli, we know federal law officials have interviewed multiple aides of then vice president pence, working with him in the waning days of his time serving in the obama administration, among them, a woman by the name of kathy chung. she's a former executive assistant to vice president biden who played a role, who helped pack up some of the boxes here from the vice presidential office back in january of 2017. she now works for the pentagon for the defense secretary as a senior official there. the justice -- the pentagon has directed us to the justice department to try to answer any questions we have about her role here. the white house is not commenting on that either. >> peter baker, let's talk about the extraordinary situation we have. the attorney general is now overseeing two special counsels, at the same time, investigating the mishandling of classified documents, a current president, a former president. the political damage to president trump, it's baked in the cake. but what about the political damage to t

. >> he has that one right, today and the super porter's carole lee broke the news of more documents says since november, after the discovery of document with classified markings in his former office, biden aides have been searching for any additional classified materials that might be in other locations he used, said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details about the ongoing inquiry. the classification level, number and precise location of the addition of documents was not immediately clear, it was also not immediately clear when the additional documents were discovered and if the search for any other classified materials biden may have from the obama administration is complete. joining us now andrew weissmann former fbi comes melt -- and the eastern district of new york, he's a professor of practice at nyu law school and a msnbc analyst, we have the second set of documents associated with joe biden classified we don't know how many, what is your reaction to there now being a second said that have been discovered? >> well, i'll start with my reaction to

. >>> let me go to white house correspondent carol lee, political white house reporter and play book eugene daniels, also an msnbc contributor. so let's look at the democratic side of this, the chaos on the house floor, on the republican side, versus what we were talking about earlier, which is bipartisanship in kentucky. how is all of this playing at the white house? what is the administration saying, as we see an animated steve scalise talking to some members of his caucus. >> i think from the white house's perspective, what they like, the split screen, this is something that you will probably see more of, at least from the white house's strategic perspective, throughout this year, this is a year where the president's plan is to, very low expectations that legislating will get done and the plan for the president is to be out there in the country, focusing on the things that he has accomplished during his first two years in office, particularly bipartisan legislation. you heard the president while in kentucky with the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell say that he wanted to star

carol lee, jen sake, served as press secretary, jonathan lemire, host of "way too early," matthew dowd, a senior political analyst, barr barbara mcquaid, and lisa reuben, also msnbc legal analyst it's fantastic to have you here. barbara, we learned a little about these documents from the president and his attorney. he says it was a small number of pages. they were in a storage area of his garage in delaware. but we don't know what's this these documents. we don't know the level of classification. what do you hope we might learn, if indeed this is even the topic of discussion for merrick garland. >> i imagine one thing that could happen today is that he may announce he's apointing a special counsel. typically the process is for the attorney general himself to review a matter to determine whether a special counsel is merited. so i suppose this second round of documents at president biden's residence might call into question whether that's a line there. not every of possession of classified documents is a crime. it's a violation of rules, sometimes that results in people losing their clea

at that point, i understand from multiple sources that i have spoken to, along with carol lee, that there was essentially just his vice presidential staff, not lawyers, putting things in boxes, all in preparation for mike pence, ready to move in to his office, in just a few days, and so it is interesting that there was lawyers involved, now given, granted he is president of the united states now, and that is a certain higher sensitivity, but it was a personal private office, not the west wing of the white house, as it was in 2017. but as part of our reporting that some of those very aids who were helping to pack the office are among those that the u.s. attorney in illinois, the team had spoken to as a part of their review and some of the very same people that we may now expect to be part of a further discussion. as it relates to the question which i have been very interested in, katy, whether they would have been told there were documents missing, perhaps here, that is not something we've been told is the case yet, and in fact, a larger part of this discussion, not just in the biden case

carol lee, thank you, ken dilanian, thank you you. ryan nobles you're off to do more reporting. >>> i want to bring in democratic congressman from south carolina and the assistant democratic leader jim clyburn. congressman clyburn, thanks for joining us. was appointing a special counsel to investigate this document situation the right move by attorney merrick garland in your view? >> i think so. this is the kind of thing that must be agreed upon by the public, and i don't think you can get the public to agree about anything unless there is complete openness, and so i think that garland did exactly what he should do in this instance, and i hope that when it is all over the public will be supportive of the findings. >> we are just getting word here, from the oversight chairman, congressman comer on the republican side of the aisle, of course, that there will be an investigation by the oversight accountability committee, with or without the special counsel, he says there will be an investigation into what he describes as president biden'

let's bring in nbc's kara lee and chairman of african american studies and an msnbc contributor. good to have you both. carols to pass the john lewis voting rights act, in his speech today, but we all know what the political realities are. talk about the white house strategy and, frankly, their realistic expectations? >> chris, once republicans took control of the house the idea getting voting rights passed was dimmer than when democrats had control of the house and a 50/50 senate with democrats controlling there. something that the president a year ago really stepped to the plate and gave a full-throated endorsement of, would support a filibuster to get voting legislation passed it didn't happen and that was with a democratic-controlled congress. this year, the leader, the president, making that pitch saying he still supports and wants to see done and will continue to talk about it but it wasn't the centerpiece of what we heard the president talk about in the past two days. those themes were largely focused on what he would talking about at a 2024 election campaign. the battle for the soul of the nation, ru

carol five tonight on the stunning shakeup at opd. good evening, everyone i'm mike mibach julie julie haener cities halls. this city hall's decision took effect immediately, but is considered procedural. ktvu crime reporter henry lee first brought us the story of five. he joins us now in the newsroom, with more on the events leading up to this decision. henry julie, this is a stunning turn of events under chief laurent armstrong's leadership. the oakland police department was placed under one year probationary period, a step closer to getting out of federal oversight. now that could be in jeopardy with the top cop on paid leave. chief laurent armstrong, now unpaid leave after another misconduct scandal at the oakland police department sergeant accused of covering up two incidents taking off after he hit a parked car in san francisco and firing his service weapon inside, police headquarters. report from the law firm says the department's investigations of the incidents were deficient. armstrong should be disciplined for failing to hold his officers accountable. it was a systemic failure. this is very, very disappointing. i'm extremely upset. civil rights attorney jim channon monitors oakland police reform efforts,

but carol, i'll just stick with you for now for a return to lee because i mean, a couple of those things you then. we just heard that from labour representative echoing policy, echoing labour's policy, for example, the example, when it comes to the channel crossing. so go after example, when it comes to the cha peopleyssing. so go after example, when it comes to the cha people traffickers, jo after the people traffickers, a coordinated response with other countries in order to stop it. rishi sunak has said similar stuff he wants to stop all of the boats. he wants to reduce our asylum backlog and get some flights taking off to other countries. you just not believe that the policy will do any of that the policy will do any of that. that the policy will do any of that . i think that the policy will do any of that. i think you have to look at the numbers. i can't i can't numbers to you, patrick. but they are going well. they've gone through the roof basically. haven't and that really is all under a tory leadership and i just don't feel confident this . just don't feel confident this. starmer