aisha mills and charles coleman jr are back with me now. hink fetterman has to be it because he was personally insulted in that way. this moment. amen really does call for a moral imperative that requires a level of standing on principle. and while you can say, i need to go work with this person, he's going to be the commander in chief. i have to have a good relationship with him. there's a line, and fetterman crossed it. and so unfortunately, he and pennsylvania got to hold that l. >> i aisha, what about you? >> i agree, fetterman, i think that any democrat who's running down there to mar-a-lago is really condoning the fact that donald trump has decided that mar-a-lago is the new white house, and i completely disagree with that. i think it's ridiculous that people are buying into it. and so just the fact that he went is a problem. i also get that the dude wants to keep his job right. we just saw the bloodbath that happened in pennsylvania and he's like, oh, i guess i better get on the right side of the republicans in my state so that i look

charles coleman jr and jill wine-banks are back with me. nd forth we're seeing over the weekend, specifically over the classified documents case, because the doj is arguing that there's still ongoing legal proceedings. the logic is that donald trump comes in, his new attorney general gets sworn in, and the first thing they're probably going to do is maybe shut down this trial of these two individuals because they don't want trump or anyone else implicated in it. >> absolutely. i think that donald trump wants to keep this from getting any further out into the public as much as he can, because he knows that as soon as he gets in sworn into office, he's going to appoint a new attorney general. like you said, those cases are going to go away. but it becomes harder if the narrative has already gotten out of control because of the information in that report being out in the public. now, it's not to say that there's going to be, like i said, any bombshell that's dropped with respect to that. but if you have that report that's out there, more of it

and back with us now, our legal panel, chuck rosenberg, catherine christian and charles coleman.e all of you. so, judge grasso, let me start with you. your initial takeaways, having been in the court listening to today's final proceedings in this case. >> well, i was anyone who was in the courtroom was a personal witness to history. >> i think that judge michonne basically gave the country a masterclass on on what a judge being faced with such an unprecedented situation as judge michonne was faced with should do both to balance the rule of law, respect the jury, respect the rights of an individual defendant. and probably most important, given the unique circumstances in this case, respect the united states of america and everyone who voted in the past election. so what he did is he imposed a sentence that, as was said at the outset of this particular take, that that now locks in the jury, backs the jury. donald trump is now officially a convicted felon convicted of 34 felony counts. and it's very important for the rule of law. and i said, through every day of the trial, there was

charles coleman jr. is in for ayman next. >>> good evening. tonight on ayman, team trump has reportedly told his cabinet nominees to stay off of social media. what does the gop civil war tell us about the chaos to come? that. >>> plus, what's ahead for democrats as the party gears up to fight trump and redefine themselves before the next election. >>> and we're live in new orleans where the fbi has revealed new details about that deadly new year's day attack. i'm charles coleman jr. in for ayman, and we have a lot to talk about. let's do it. ♪♪ >>> welcome. donald trump is the king of chaos. he was the chaos candidate. he was the chaos president and chances are his plan so to revive his role as chaos agent in chief again. trump thrives on drama, but only reserved for him and the rest of team trump doesn't get to meyer in the muck apparently. why else would his cabinet nominees be told to stay off of social media? according to sources speaking with "usa today," trump's incoming white house chief of staff sent out a memo to trump's nominees. the

i am charles coleman jr. in for ayman mohyeldin we have a lot to talk about. >>> welcome. in the closing weeks of the election, billionaire elon musk have this to say about a potential kamala harris presidency. >> the machine that she represents -- >> she is just a puppet. there is no point in attacking a puppet. >> attacking a puppet. the puppet master. a puppet to who exactly? i'm not even really sure that musk even really knows, but now it has become clear he has found his own puppet in president donald trump. the x owner travels with them all over the world, joining meetings with fire leaders. he is with them so much he has taken up residence in a cottage at trump's mar-a-lago resort in florida and in a jaw-dropping shelf hour, it was musk, not trump, who brought the country to the brink of a government shutdown. a new report everyone saw coming is alleging that the former star of the apprentice is getting a little tired of elon musk's omnipresence in all the media attention he has been stealing from him lately. the trump insider worked on the campaign saw 1% trump is

joining us now, msnbc legal analyst charles coleman. charles, you predicted this in some ways.that you wrote recently where you said, if history is any indication, there is more than just cause for concern. under the previous trump administration, the doj civil rights division was on the wrong side of seemingly every substantive issue. what are those examples and why were you predicting this? >> well, good morning. one of the things that we know from the last trump administration is that this is not an administration that has any regard for the civil rights of americans. and one of the things that we had working to our benefit was a doj civil rights office that was headed by kristen clarke. it was not going to be that when you're returning to trump 2.0, because that was a doj that was interested in making sure that people were protected, to making sure that consent decrees were enforced, to making sure that investigations proceeded on behalf of all marginalized americans, not just specific groups. and donald trump has made very clear that he's not interested in that. and so whe

also, i'm joined by charles coleman jr. he's a civil rights attorney and former prosecutor and a writer for slate. they're both msnbc legal analyst, and charles and i have almost never been in the same room at the same time, because you're often here to help out when i'm away. thank you for that, charles. let's just talk about civil rights. there's so much to unpack here, but i want to talk about that just for a moment. we hear about it. they are often thought of as the civil rights defender of last resort. they are better resourced in some cases than states are to prosecute some of these things. but often when crimes fall under the radar or don't get prosecuted, the civil rights division comes in. it's a very, very important thing. why would why would trump want to get a get rid of it? >> ali. >> what we are seeing right now is this administration stripping away the guardrails that protect. all of. >> the. >> institutions, upholding our. >> democracy. >> and the civil rights division of the department of justice is. >> one

we're going to go now to charles coleman jr, former brooklyn, new york prosecutor, now civil rights lawyer msnbc legal analyst. a good friend to us. so here's the question, charles, are you convinced pam bondi, again, trump's pick for ag will operate with the independence we should expect from that office. will she push back if trump wants her to go against doj regulations and bury the special counsel report? >> alex, to answer all of those questions, the answer is no. >> we can. >> we've seen this movie before and we know how it ends. >> we can expect very little from pam bondi except for doing exactly what donald trump wants her to do. >> as you have already talked about, the office of the attorney general, the department of justice is supposed to be an independent law enforcement arbiter. that basically makes sure that the law is upheld. and i don't necessarily know that under a pam bondi regime, if you will, that the department of justice is going to do that because of the immense pressure that i would expect donald trump is going to put on her. now, i will say this as an attorney, pam

. >> joining us now, nbc senior supreme court correspondent lawrence hurley and charles coleman, civiley, former brooklyn prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. lawrence, first walk us through what happened during that traffic stop and the arguments that are made in the lawsuit. >> yeah. so as you discussed, the key issue in this case is whether the. >> immediate moment when the officer in this case decided. >> to use. >> force is the only thing that the courts should consider. but in this case, the moments leading up to it are quite important because the officer made this routine traffic stop, as you mentioned. then at some point the car started to move forward and we don't exactly know why that happened, but when it did, the officer then jumped up onto the door sill and quickly opened fire twice, killing ashton barnes in the process. and so the issue then is, do you consider those moments in which the officer made that decision to jump up onto the doorsill, which the lawyers for the family say, you know, that escalated the situation and led to him having to use force to stop the car?

until we meet again, i'm charles coleman jr. shoutout to ayman's team for doing the heavy lifting.a great week.

. >>> welcome back to aymen, and i am charles coleman jr., in for aymen.bello back. even as we step into a republican hat trick this year, there is a possibility for democrat and activists who have vowed to resist president-elect donald trump's mac agenda, this confirmation of mike johnson as house speaker happen because two holdouts, rob norman and keith south of texas decided to switch their votes at the 11th hour and that was only after johnson was able to get trump on the line. let's add insult to injury. members of the far right house freedom caucus have already put johnson on notice, writing that speaker johnson must prove he will not fail to enact president-elect donald trump's bold agenda. with that razor thin majority in the house, republicans came close to failing at their very first order of business. as the atlantic points out, this brief revolt offered a reminder of how much leverage democrats might still keep, even in trumps washington. that is because over the past two years, republicans who barely controlled the house could not pass any sig

charles coleman jr. is in for ayman next. >>> good evening. tonight on ayman, team trump

>> for real, i want to bring in former new york prosecutor and civil rights attorney charles coleman jr. and michael steele, former chairman of the republican national committee, former lieutenant governor of maryland. but you know him as the co-host of the weekend right here on msnbc. charles stewart rhodes said that none of them faced a fair trial. he was referring to the january 6th defendants. what's your reaction to that? >> i think it's absolutely absurd. i think that you're talking about people who were prosecuted for trying to overthrow the united states government, and they were prosecuted by the united states government. they were prosecuted by the department of justice, an independent law enforcement agency that exists outside of the direction of the president of the united states of america. and so these people were put in front of a jury of their peers, which is what our system demands. and they were convicted. the fact that they can't accept that, the fact that they can't really process that what they did was illegal is not the problem of the american people. and the fac

. >> let's bring in former new york prosecutor and civil rights attorney charles coleman jr.us, former u.s. attorney and former deputy assistant attorney general and former republican congressman david jolly of florida. harry, let's talk about this unconditional charge. i don't know what that means in legal speak, but in my plain vanilla jersey talk, man, this brother seems to have been hooked up. >> you're exactly right. >> what it means is what it sounds like. >> nothing at all. >> he walks free. >> on the other hand, merchan makes a big distinction between trump the person and trump the president. so what it means is the very important sort of scarlet letter that the conviction is finalized. you needed sentencing to make that happen. and he enters, as you say, the presidency as the first and only felon, something he fought mightily to try to avoid and he's going to try to appeal from. so even though for him, there are no consequences. >> and merchan understood that he had to do it that way, or he might have been reversed on appeal. >> that's one of the things that the supr

important point about privilege here, racial and socioeconomic privilege are good friend of the show, charles colemanhe writes that friday's sentencing, echoing what you just said, is a meaningless bark from a system that has otherwise licked trump's hand going forward. ali, what precedent does this set for future us presidents and for our legal system? >> well, republican presidents or democratic presidents again, right. because i'm going to go back to what i was saying before. obviously, republican presidents know that they can commit crimes with impunity and expect no retribution, expect no accountability. democratic presidents will not take that lesson. democratic presidents will continue to play by a rule book that does not exist for republican presidents, and that's what they're going to do going forward. so obviously, the worry here is not just about trump anymore. although the supreme court has given him absolute immunity to continue committing crimes as long as he calls his crimes official acts, given what he did in his first term, we can only expect more crimes in his second term. but whoev

post or a rant from one of his rallies. >> chuck rosenberg, dave aronberg, msnbc legal analyst charles colemangood morning. i am ana cabrera alongside my colleague, jose diaz-balart, with the sentencing of president-elect trump. the sentencing trump fought tooth and nail to prevent from happening is underway in a manhattan courthouse with trump being sentenced on his felony convictions in the new york hush money case. >> this makes trump the bearer of an unprecedented distinction. 10 days out from his inauguration he is about to become the first president to enter office as a convicted felon. trump arguing virtually this morning from mar-a-lago he continues to speak to the court via a monitor. >> this is all happening before the judge gives his sentence and his reasoning for this sentence. it will be the first time we hear from judge merchan later this morning. >> right. >> after a case in which we saw the former president, soon to be president again, attacked the judge, prosecution, and judicial system. let's get over to nbc's vaughn hillyard whose outside the courthouse in new york. and also

coleman live from the west coast bureau, christina, thank you. molly: thanks, griff. for more on both of the new year's day attacks, we're joined by former secret service special agent, charles moreno. we're learning more information per the authorities regarding the individual, livelsberger out in las vegas, a little bit of info on his motivations potentially ptsd, some family problems and in his words, the explosion was a wake-up call and not intended to be a terror attack. your thoughts on what we're learning about the suspect? >> i think in general for both las vegas and new orleans, the lesson learned here is, you know, what's this pathway to carrying out an act like took place in both of the cities and why didn't either one of these individuals come to the attention of law enforcement prior. now, they're going to look at both places, the pathway to carrying out this attack and the interactions and the activities into the leadup into the attacks and do a deep dive, a due diligence investigation on each of these individual's lives and their interactions and possible motives. we're getting more information about that right now, but it's why is law enforcement having such