in her letter d.a. willis cites recent states saying he will only speak to investigators from her office in this case if he is compelled to do so by a subpoena. well, she needs a grand jury in order to get subpoena power. a special grand jury cannot issue indictments but they can issue subpoenas to obtain testimony and obtain evidence. that's something the fulton's d.a. office cannot do on its own. they're ready to go forward with subpoenas in order to get testimony and they need a grand jury. apparently it's not just brad raffensperger. a specific number of witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony. a special grand jury with subpoena power would be needed to go forward on that level. but there's also a surreal real point. a true assertion, but it's just bizarre. she puts this up front in her letter to the county judge as to why her office need this special grand jury, which is that conceivably there are lots of law enforcement agencies in georgia wh

and if you recall some of the earlier statements d.a. willis has made.she was looking at four different elements here. she was looking at the january 2nd call, the january 4th resignation of the u.s. attorney. she was looking at an earlier november call between one of the senators and the secretary of state's office and she was also looking at statements that were made to the georgia legislature. so, this demonstrates the complexity and why special grand jury would be warranted. in this case. for i think it's important to point out, with the judge's vote, because she is seeking this grand jury in light of ret sns of some people coming forward to talk with our office to continue the investigation, i think it's critical that she mention that. it's very unlikely that judges will reward that opposition by denying the request. if they say no, then all of the evidence that she needs will never come to light. again, judges taken a oath just like prosecutors. it's their dut ato uphold the law and this grand jury is the best opportunity to fully vet all of the ev

d.a. willisare refusing to cooperate or refusing to cooperate without a subpoena. some people want a subpoena just for cover, but, you know, i suspect the regular grnl -- grand jury in fulton county, separate from the other grand jury she's seeking to impanel probably has lots of accounts from witnesses. it's just a small handful of witnesses that are refusing or defying congressional subpoenas. so it looks like this is just another piece of the georgia state investigation that is about to kick off. >> thank you for being with me. >>> still ahead, after last year's historic wildfire season, what the federal government is getting ready to do to fight and prevent more fires. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports. g jose diaz-balart g jose diaz-balart reports.than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. ered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. there's so muc

d.a. willis-- a grand jury would have the power to issue subpoena. in a recent interview of the associated press, willis says the investigation includes and that now infamous phone call when trump asked raffensberger to find the votes needed to overturn the election votes in that state. a conversation between reffensberger and lindsey graham. a grand jury requests the da cites an interview with raffensperger on nbc news. he echoes that again on fox news last night. >> obviously we'll follow the law and come before the grand jury and testify. >> the former president meanwhile is denying any wrong doing. in a statement released yesterday, he claims his phone call with raffensperger was more perfect than the ukraine president. that will phone call got him impeached. we'll answer the question we posted to all of you earlier. matt is up for an early morning swim in a steaming autodoor pool. wow, that's gorgeous. >> look at that. jeannie in new york is up early because it is cold, as in negative 24 deg

so in that sense it's a convenience for him to have, and the fulton county d.a. willisnew a witness, i think folks at home probably -- i don't want them to get confused. so the house committee on january 6th, they're subpoenaing witnesses to come and testify, they're subpoenaing people for documentary evidence, and people are like, yeah, no, we're not coming, right? you have what's happening with steve bannon and mark meadows and the list goes on and on and on. explain to the audience quickly why a special grand jury subpoena for a witness is different. >> i mean it's more that they're just thumbing their nose at congress because it's going to take so long for them to actually be -- enforce the law. subpoenas -- if i get one from congress or if i get one from a d.a., i'm going to go, but that grand jury seal on top does tend to kind of focus the mind on thinking, i eat better show up. there's a criminal investigation behind the scenes here. >> it's funny you say that. i always did think if you could say no to a congressional subpoena, what's the point of this whole thin

d.a. willis is very concerned about trump's rhetoric so she's asking the fbi to step in here and she's even telling the fbi especially agent in charge that she has already heard from people unhappy with her investigation into trump's possible election interference and now that he's ramping up the rhetoric she's asking the fbi for two things. here is what she said in the letter to the special agent in charge in the atlanta field office. she said i'm asking that you immediately conduct a risk assessment of the fulton county courthouse and government center and that you provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents. it is imperative that these resorts are in place well in advance of the convening of the special purpose grand jury. because as we learned last week, the special grand jury will be sitting may 2nd to subpoena people for testimony and compel discovery and obviously here the d.a. is very concerned about possible threats to anyone involved in that investigation int

d.a. fanny willis is sifting through to determine if there was criminal interference in the election process is speaking to issue subpoenas and compel the issuance of documents saying many witness refuse to cooperate. meanwhile, new york attorney general letitia james outlining for the first time in a court filing saying the company misstated the assets engaging in fraudulent and misleading practices. now, the attorney general wants to compel the testimony of trump and two of his children, donald trump jr. and ivanka trump. saying the allegations are baseless, this agency the first family member is the january 6th select committee is asking to talk to, they sent a detailed letter to ivanka, saying she's one of the few who can reflect on trump's state of mind. and explain why it took so long for truck to video instructing rioters. and she want her to fill in details about how fox host and other officials were urging trump to stop the stolen election talk after january 6th. >> ivanka trump is a critical figure because she was there in the morning. we believe she was there when trump was still

d.a. fanny willis has been investigating possible disruptions of the election for a year now.t indicates she is seriously pursuing criminal charges against the former president or his allies. >> and that is not all. trump's week from legal hell started when new york's attorney general announced she had uncovered, quote, significant evidence of fraud in the trump organization. and she's looking to question the ex-president, his daughter ivanka, and his son don jr. then, on wednesday, the supreme court cleared the way for presidential records from the trump white house to the january 6th committee. records that could shed light on the events leading up to and of course what happened during the insurrection. we also learned that the january 6th panel subpoenaed and obtained the phone records of eric trump and kimberly guilfoyle, who is engaged to donald trump jr. and now they have sent a letter to ivanka trump requesting that she appear for questioning. laura jarrett, attorney at low, and co-anchor of "early start". it's good to see you. >> reporter: good morning, from georgia to

news that came out today, the fulton county d.a., fanny willis, is calling for a special grand jury intigation. what do you think about that development and will you cooperate if asked to testify? >> we already have cooperated. any information that they requested we've sent it to them. if we're compelled to come before a grand jury, we'll do it. >> martha: is this a good development? you said on the weekend that there's a process to these things. if the process was moving forward, you would cooperate with it. >> well, obviously she's been slow-walking. she's been at the office for a year now. over a year. now she's finally getting to this point. she's trying to score cheap political points with her democrat friends. >> martha: we'll follow it. thanks very much, secretary state. good to have you here. >> thank you. >> martha: still ahead, we'll speak with republican congressman michael waltz who is now going after the international olympic committee in an effort to hold china accountable and ask what are they doing about this as it comes to the olympics in terms of human rights atrociti

d.a. fanny willis has been investigating for yearly a year now. request to seat a special grand jury might suggest she's seriously pursuing criminal charges against trump or his allies. >> it began when new york's attorney general announced she had uncovered significant evidence of fraud inside the trump organization. she wants to question the ex-president, daughter ivanka and son don jr. on wednesday, the supreme court cleared the way for records that should auto shed light on the events leading up to and of course during the insurrection. we also learned january 6th panel subpoenaed and obtained the phone records of eric trump and kimberly guilfoyle. kimberly of course is engaged to donald trump jr. now the committee has sent a letter to ivanka trump suggesting she appear for questioning. sara murray is following the latest developments here. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. it is a brutal week for the trump family. for donald trump himself, the big question, could he actually face legal charges, criminal charges when it comes to his eff

d.a. fani willis, saying her office has information indicating possible criminal disruptions of that state'sction process. the committee is looking into whether there was involvement in the trump white house in the creation or submission of fake election ors. sources tell cnn trump campaign officials led by rudy giuliani oversaw efforts in december 2020 to put forward illegitimate electors from seven states that trump lost. this is a core tenet of the broader plot to overturn biden's victory when congress counted the electoral votes on january 6. paula reid, cnn, washington. >>> now, former trump attorney rudy giuliani was subpoenaed this week, but the january 6 committee sources say he and his allies coordinated the nuts and bolts process of creating fake electors on a state by state level. not one illegitimate election or boasted at a recent republican event that the trump campaign directed the entire operation. have a listen to this. >> we fought authorize investigations into the election. he fought for the -- to testify. >> and the seven state sources say were targeted in the fake electo

d.a. fanny willis says she needs the special grand jury was witnessed have not cooperated with her office, including mr. raffensperger. it would come with subpoena power and would be solely focused on this case no indication when the judge may rule on the request, and a statement by president trump called the investigation a witch hunt and added my phone call to the secretary of state of georgia was perfect, perhaps even more so than my call with the ukrainian president, if that's possible. >> and as president biden enters his second year as president, a new nbc news poll shows that a majority of americans give him low marks for uniting the country and having the ability to handle a crisis president biden's popularity dropping significantly among two key demographics that helped him get elected in 2020. approval of the president declined among independents, now just 36% approve, down from 68% in april also dropping among african americans. 64% now, down from 83% in april. nbc news national political correspondent steve kornacki now with the numbers >> well, kelly, certainly a rough year po

d.a. fanny willis says some key witnesses won't testify unless they're forced by a subpoena.e story and potential criminal charges that could come from a grand jury investigation. mila covers the justice department for business insider. good to have you with us. so, in a request for this grand jury, fanny willis says she's found reasonable probability that georgia's 2020 elections were subject to possible criminal disruptions. do we know what she's found and what she might be looking for now with help from a grand jury? >> well, we know that the center of her investigation revolves around a january 2nd, 2021 phone call trump had with georgia secretary of state, and in that call, it's where he allegedly pressured the election official to find more votes to overturn the election result in that state. now, so that is the center of the investigation, but what's really notable is that with her power to have a special jury is that it will give her the agency to issue out subpoenas, to obtain documents that she couldn't get before, and compel witnesses to testify. and those are two

d.a. fanny willis says that she expects to decide on whether to bring charges against trump in the first halfmurray and former u.s. attorney for the middle district of georgia, michael moore. sara, to you first, just take us through this. it's so significant because as we mentioned this is the one case about that. >> it is significant. you know, it's been going on for about a year and so now she's making this move to seat a special grand jury. it's been approved and will give her a lot more power in order to subpoena witnesses, to gather more evidence. you know, she made it clear when she was asking for this special grand jury that a number of witnesses have been reluctant to speak with her without a subpoena and she even pointed to secretary of state brad raffensperger his office has given her a bunch of documents, interviews with staff but makes it very clear, she wants to hear from firsthand witnesses and wants their testimony in front of a grand jury and suggests that she's inching towards this question of do i bring potential criminal charges against donald trump or against others who we

d.a. fannie willis has just been given the green light to seat a special grand jury in her criminal investigatione subpoenas and gather additional evidence. joining us now is cnn senior legal analyst, pri privara, author of the new book out today "justice is a guide for young truth seekers ." such an important subject, such a wonderful book. we'll talk about that in a second. i want your take about georgia right now, a special grand jury to investigate the president on possible criminal activity there. what specific legal jeopardy do you think he's in? >> he's in criminal legal jeopardy, i would say that we have been down this road before, where particular prosecutors or enforcement agencies open up investigations of people up to and including the president and we all follow it and we think it means sometimes more than it means. this is very significant, it is very focused, specific request has been made to investigate criminally the conduct of the president of the united states in connection with the election in georgia. but, we're not going to see anything immediately. this special grand jury,

d.a. fanny willis said some witnesses have refused to cooperate without a subpoena. would have the power to subpoena. so that is happening. i'm going give you last word on this, michael. has federal prosecutors sure weren't shy about going after you. >> they weren't shy at all. >> your thoughts. >> they had no problem showing up to my home, to the hotel we were staying at because my apartment was flooded, my law office. they had no problems with that. but i do have to say god bless tish james, god bless alvin bragg and the district attorney's office. it's my true belief that's where we're finally going to see no one is above the law. we're going to see justice be had simply because -- and again, we can all blame merrick garland. this one is really on joe biden. it's on kamala harris. they're the ones that need to be speaking to merrick garland and to really push this thing a little faster. and again, i'm not for these expedited hearings, these expedited indictments. i'm all for methodical. but we, again, we've now spoken to 300 plus people. 2700 hours have been spent

d.a. here, fannie willis, will decide whether to bring charges to trump mid year.focused on whether they committed crimes when they convinced to hand the victory even though he didn't have the votes. you remember the call to brad asking him to find about 12,000 votes. that's really the centerpiece of this investigation and by impanelling this special grand jury, prosecutors will be able to issue subpoenas through the grand jury to compel witnesses to testify, that includes brad ra r and some refusing to talk and that's why this superb grand jury will be in panel. they'll start in may and that's really where this probe could ramp up because they'll be exclusively focused on this particular investigation. and of course, guys, it's just one of several investigations into trump or his business. we're seeing the new york attorney general's investigation ramp up. she called for testimony last week from trump and don jr. and ivanka trump and then there's a similar investigation from the manhattan d.a. into trump's businesses. so jim and biana, a lot swirling over the next