deputy attorney general, richard donoghue at the time.eff clark, the head of the civil division, at the time. had rosen and donoghue agreed with clark that they should sign this and send it, think about what that would have meant. there, of course, would have been a national clamor that the u.s. justice department had declared the election to be corrupted, potentially fatally so. the georgia republican legislature, if trump was right -- if -- if trump was right that they were onboard with this, they're on our side. and they -- if he was right, they would have tried to call themselves into special session to -- to, what, try to recall the state's biden electors from the electoral college. instead, consider whether the other slate, meaning the trump slate, should have been sent, instead. so, jeff clark sent over this draft letter, dated december 28th. he also sent over an e-mail, accompanying the letter, to the attorney general and the deputy attorney general. in that e-mail, he spelled out exactly that the plan was to do this, not just in

the rich donoghue and jeffrey rosen testimony happened in a rush on friday and saturday. we are awaiting the transcript of that testimony, which we believe will ultimately be released to the public. u.s. attorney bj pak, whose mysterious resignation in january, has finally been at least partially explained, his testimony is due in the next few days. fascinated to know about that too. but the story is finally spilling out. senator richard blumenthal joins us next. r richard blumenthal jos us next. sadly, not anymore. stay with us. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am. we put it off long enough. we are getting that $9.95 plan, today. (jonathan) is it time for you to call about the $9.95 plan? i'm jonathan from colonial penn life insurance company. sometimes we just need a reminder not to take today for granted. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get gua

but rosen's deputy, richard donoghue, rebuffed clark saying there is no chance that i would sign this letter or anything remotely like this. adding, quote, i cannot imagine a scenario in which already-certified election results should somehow be overridden by legislative action. both stories show that american democracy itself was hanging by a thread in the closing days of the last administration and that it was only a few government officials who held it together. the threat that this country faced and continues to face from trump's big lie was underscored today in a criminal hearing for one of the january 6th defendants. the judge in the case of karl dresch said the defendant came to the capitol because he placed his trust in someone who repaid that trust by lying to him. she told dresch that your vote doesn't count any more than anyone else's. you don't get to cancel them out. patriotism means loyalty to country, not to a single head of state. joining me now, michael steele, former chairman of the rnc, and daniel alonzo, former federal prosecutor for the eastern district of new yor

gary 0'donoghue, thank you very much.rk kimmitt — served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for middle east policy in president george w. bush's white house. thank you for talking to us. we have seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban injust seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban in just seven days. seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban injust seven days. are seen 15 provinces falling to the taliban in just seven days. are you surprised by the gains they have made? i surprised by the gains they have made? ., , ., surprised by the gains they have made? . , . . ~' . , made? i really am, and i think any military observer— made? i really am, and i think any military observer would _ made? i really am, and i think any military observer would be - made? i really am, and i think any l military observer would be surprised as well. it is not unprecedented throughout history to see this kind of collapse, but with the force that we have trained so welcome and we have put so much time and effort into, it is coming as a su

that was one day after trump pressured rosen and his deputy richard donoghue in a phone call.em to declare that the election was corrupt, something of course they both refused. but the pressure continued that next day with that draft letter from jeffrey clark where he recommended to georgia asl's lawmakers that they assemble this special election to investigate voter fraud. and clark said, i think we should get it out as soon as possible. personally i see no valid downside to sending out the letter. but an hour later very promptly donoghue sent back a lengthy rebuttal saying this, there is no chance that i would sign this letter or anything remotely like this from where i stand, this is not even within the realm of possibility. and the acting a.g. sending donoghue an email that said, i confirmed again today that i am not prepared to sign such a letter. so in the end this letter was never sent. but it is part of this trove of evidence that lawmakers as well likely the doj inspector general, they are all sifting through it to uncover the lengths that trump and his allies went to

and we know that rosen and his deputy richard donoghue, they refused to sign onto those letters.e focal point for congressional investigators. sources told us, that when rosen testified, he talked about five episodes work clark went out of the chain of command of doj to push these fraud claims. and trump and clark were indirect communication. that something totally out of the norm for officials other than the attorney general at doj. and we also know that in this testimony this weekend, rosen and donoghue told lynn lawmakers that trump, he never ordered them to do anything illegal and trump eventually accepted their advice. that doj could claim fraud when they have zero evidence of it but still, they remain a lot of questions about who else at the white house might have been part of this push to get doj involved in pushing these false election fraud claims, and potentially what other schemes might have been in the works. so erica, this might be the tip of the iceberg, what we've already seen come out, there needs to be a lot more testimony that the senators are pushing for in par

donoghue put it in black and white and said this. is no chance i would sign this letter or anything remotely like this. so the letter was never sent but it is part of a trove of evidence that lawmakers and likely the doj inspector general are sifting through to uncover the lengths that trump and his allies went to to push their claims of election fraud. this likely won't be the last we hear or last documents we get. doj has told trump officials that they can cooperate. we might get more documents that show how far the white house and trump went to put this pressure on and overturn the election. >> every single new episode we hear about is more chilling and there's no reason to believe there won't be more. jessica, thank you very much. let's bring back laura coates. she is back with us. so, laura, just what i just said, it is chilling to hear how president trump and his lackeys were trying to subvert democracy. and if it were not for men of conscience, you know, people, sane people of conscience who had to stop them, i don't know wher

um, he even offered it to richard donoghue, at -- at the justice department. rosen's number two. chain of command here and trump eventually gave the -- gave the acting job to rosen. which shows how really, really close we -- we came there. rosen is someone who sees his allegiance to the constitution, not the office of the president. and -- and, you know, max mentions the chaos in -- in georgia. that story in this book, too. you know, by the -- by the end -- by the beginning of january, lawyers were showing up in georgia saying the white house has sent us. we're with the white house. and that sounded very odd to the people down in georgia who had been there for, you know, several months who are actually from the white house. the first team that pat cipollone had sent with the campaign. they -- now, you know, mitchell and rudy giuliani's team was coming in, at the end, you know, just adding to, you know, the pandemonium down there. >> hmm. should the -- the doj now be investigating the former president and what he tried to do, how he tried to co-opt his doj? we will talk about that

this is an email to rosen and donoghue on december 28th. and he explains the georgia letter we reported last night. says attached is a draft letter concerning the broader topic of election irregularities of any kind. the concept is to send it to the governor, speaker and president pro temp of each relevant state to indicate that in light of time urgency and sworn evidence of election irregulariies presented to courts the legislators should assemble and make a decision about elector appointment in light of their deliberations. that's the jeffrey clark plot, it appears. >> chris, that is the smoking gun. it's unnerving how close trump came to using the full weight of the justice department to overturn the election result. what clark was saying to the georgia governor and legislature is not just you have a green light, but you should call a special session and say that the election was corrupt and overturn the result. now here's the shocking part. he says this is a concept that we can use in every other battleground state. it's like a high sch

donoghue, according to his own notes, previously, provided to congress, resisted pressure from trumpion results. democratic senator, mazie hirono, sits on the judiciary committee. i spoke with her, just before air. senator, hirono, i know you, of course, cannot divulge into details of the private testimony of richard donoghue before the judiciary committee today. but -- but in general terms, how much closer do you believe congress is to learning the full scope of what then-president trump and at least one loyalist, it appears, in the justice department, jeffrey clark, were trying to do here? >> i think we are getting closer to the -- the full range of trump's big lie. and his use of the department of justice, like it was his own law firm. jumping over the attorney general -- acting-attorney general. and trying to get them to push out the big lie. and so, we are closer to getting to the truth. by the way, is -- this is important because the big lie is, still, going on with all of these voter-suppression bills being considered in state legislatures. >> and so many people, sadly, buy th

the evidence is handwritten notes by the then-acting deputy attorney general, richard donoghue, who was listening to donald trump's telephone conversations with the then-acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen. the notes indicate attorney general rosen was asking donald trump to understand that there was nothing that the department of justice could do to change the outcome of the election. quote, understand that the doj can't and won't snap its fingers, and change the outcome of the election. doesn't work that way. the notes show that the president of the united states responded, just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the r. congressmen. later, in the same phone call, the notes show donald trump saying, doj failing to respond to legitimate complaints/report of crimes. you guys may not be following the internet, the way i do. those justice-department notes will, surely, be used in the house-select committee's investigation on the attack on the capitol and the weeks leading up to that attack. yesterday, republican congressman adam kinzinger, a member of the co

let's speak to our washington correspondent, gary 0'donoghue.stan 20 years ago to deal with at the threat of global terror. how do they deal with that threat now? well. deal with that threat now? well, the deal deal with that threat now? well, they deal with _ deal with that threat now? well, they deal with it, _ deal with that threat now? well, they deal with it, they _ deal with that threat now? well, they deal with it, they say, - deal with that threat now? well, they deal with it, they say, from j they deal with it, they say, from over the horizon when it comes from afghanistan and what that means is because there is not one single american service person on the ground in afghanistan, they are not there at all, no diplomats, they have to do it through other means of intelligence and they have to take out targets and they have promised to do that in the way they have done with isis—k in the last couple of days. it will be much harder. the remaining challenges are getting these remaining 200 or so americans out of afghanistan, but there are st

the acting-deputy attorney general, richard donoghue, took those notes.eral jeffrey rosen, on december 27th. according to the notes, mr. trump told the doj officials to quote, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the r congressmen. r, presumably, refers to his republican allies in congress. now, this punctuated a difficult week for the former president and his family and closest allies. they were hit with a number of legal challenges, including a ruling from the justice department. the doj ordered the former president's tax returns delivered to the house. let's break down these cases with carole lam, she is a former federal prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. ms. lam, good to see you. welcome. >> thank you, good to see you. >> what do you make of the release of these notes? and what they say? and not even just what's on those notes. but the fact that the notes were released, at all? >> i find it very extraordinary. and in fact, i'm -- i'm -- i'm sort of impressed. they were released without a lot of hullabaloo. and i think wha

well, we just heard from our correspondent gary 0'donoghue talking about the fact that there seems toern about pushing this in a different direction within america, in terms of getting more troops back into afghanistan. how much does that concern you, and what do you think we will see happening in afghanistan as a result? well, i think gary is right. the united states is quite focused inward at this point, but i think when we start seeing the pictures and videos coming out of afghanistanm of our translators being hung, of the women that we have paid for to go to school getting killed, i think there is enough of a blowback inside the beltway right now that we can certainly see that blowback if this gets to be an embarrassment that the average american can't stand. let me take you straight to these live pictures. they're from plymouth here in the uk where people are gathering to remember the people who were killed last night in the uk's worst mass shooting in more than a decade. a 22—year—old man killed five people, before turning the gun on himself. jake davison went on a shooting ramp

so you also write that barr had told donoghue that the fib needed to conduct some interviews about thelying on the investigation as frank is saying. it may well be that the georgia sos is correct in what happened, but the fact is that millions of americans have come to believe, rightly or wrongly, that something untoward took place, and it is incumbent to conduct an investigation to assure the american people that we have lead at these claims. do you have a sense of how many, how many inputs like that went from doj? because we've seen reporting about the lasers and there's been reporting about all sorts of -- and so wacky was a threshold that met opening an investigation, do you have a sense if there were more and how many? >> it is a great point. i don't have a sense of how many times this happened, but just from looking at these e-mails themselves you can tell that this was an ongoing tension between career officials in the criminal division at doj, one of whom is cited in this e-mail chain, and political leadership at the top of the justice department and rich donoghue who you just

well, we just heard from our correspondent gary 0'donoghue they're talking about the fact that thererent direction within america in terms of getting more troops back into afghanistan. how much does that concern you and what do you think we will see happen in afghanistan as a result? well, i think gary's right. the united states is quite focused inward at this point with all the other challenges that are being faced but i think when we start seeing the pictures and videos coming out of afghanistan of our translators being hung, the women that we have paid for to go to school getting killed, i think there is enough of a blow inside the beltway right now that we could certainly see that blowback if this gets to be an embarrassment that the average american can't stand. i was speaking thereto brigadier general mark kimmitt. let's get some of the day's other news. at least 21 people are reported to have died in the central chinese province of hubei after torrential rains battered the region. the downpour caused flooding and landslides. hundreds of reservoirs have reportedly exceeded thei

. —— gary 0'donoghue. are going or gone, now, how much political pressure is on washington for the illustration to find other ways to try to the government, given the deterioration? i the government, given the deterioration?— the government, given the deterioration? ~ , deterioration? ithink, politically, here, deterioration? ithink, politically, here. there's _ deterioration? ithink, politically, here, there's not _ deterioration? ithink, politically, here, there's not a _ deterioration? ithink, politically, here, there's not a lot _ deterioration? ithink, politically, here, there's not a lot of- deterioration? ithink, politically, here, there's not a lot of focus, l deterioration? i think, politically, l here, there's not a lot of focus, on afghanistan. i think we would be wrong to suggest that there was. the covid—19 pandemic, congress vote tied up with the infrastructure legislation rows over voting rights, and other issues, and there is not really a lot of focus among lawmakers, but i think the minist

but he asked his superiors in the justice department, joeff rosen and richard donoghue, to get a special classified briefing from the director of national intelligence to check this out. he went over for the briefing at the turn of the year, and was told that the intelligence showed there was no evidence that there was foreign interference that altered the vote total. something we've known. and he came away not convinced. he kept pushing this idea, and we know he helped try to orchestrate a coup in the justice department, try to get trump to fire rosen. we know trump didn't do that, but it shows you how close things came in those crucial days. >> it's -- it just -- everything, it grows more absurd by the day. cnn is learning that the january 6th select committee is deciding whether to go after call logs from the trump white house on the day of the riot. what will that tell them? >> there's a lot of things they can learn. one is what were the calls, who was calling whom at the white house, including from the pentagon, including members of congress. mark meadows had another nutty theory, h

gary 0'donoghue is in washington.omorrow, august to 31st. that's right, and you can tell by the numbers we are getting, ben, that the evacuation is sort of winding down. the last 2a hours about 1200 people were taken out of the airport, that is significantly down on previous days. they are now focusing on what they call force protection because there are fewer troops to remain at the airport and then they become vulnerable and they have got to make sure they are safe right up until one of those gets on the last plane now and things really winding down before tomorrow's deadline and in the meantime the pentagon investigating suggestions there have been civilian casualties, including children, as a result of that drone strike on a suspected suicide bomber headed for the airport in the centre of kabul yesterday. they went from a kind of, we are not sure about this, to a kind of, it is possible there have been civilian casualties. they are really trying obtain some details, but am very harrowing testimony from those on th

reported that the night before pak's resignation, the deputy attorney general at the time, richard donoghuee said that the white house was frustrated by pak's failure to bring voter fraud investigations. and pak was the u.s. attorney in atlanta, georgia, and he quit just two days after that now infamous phone call that trump had with georgia secretary of state where the former president really pleaded for officials there to find him more votes. so today members of the senate judiciary committee, they should be getting some more insight into any direct pressure that the former u.s. attorney in atlanta bjay pak faced. he could illuminate where the pressure came from. victor? >> all right, jessica schneider, thank you. >>> you know this. the price of just about everything is going up. gas, milk, everything. we're going to tell you when you can expect some relief, next. ry supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. if you're 55 and up, t-mobile has plans built just for you. switch now and get 2 unlimited l

the deputy attorney general, rich donoghue, sends an email to b.j. pak to call him asap.ed as u.s. attorney. within a few hours, he was sent an email thanking him for resigning, and calling him a class act for doing so. first of all, why did pak resign, and why did he get this urgent call from the number two official in the justice department? and why after the guy resigned did he get thanked by the number two official in the justice department? when somebody resigns, you thank them for it if they did it at your request. why would he have asked this u.s. attorney to resign? so what happened here? today, b.j. pak gave his side of the story behind closed doors. katie benner reports that his testimony lasted more than three hours. he told them that his resignation had been prompted by officials warning him that president trump was going to fire him, and resigning would preempt a public dismissal. reported that trump had been dismayed that mr. pak had investigated allegations of fraud and not found any evidence to support those allegations. so pak resigned rather than be publ

>> both rosen and donoghue told the committee they were not sure whether clark was acting at presidentt a plot that he orchestrated himself. both men testified that when they interacted with trump he never pressured them to do anything illegal and he did seem to understand that the justice department couldn't do anything to help him because they didn't have enough evidence of fraud. some unusual details uncovered by our colleagues about what exactly clark was trying to push inside the justice department. our colleagues have done some reporting and they have learned that clark told senior justice officials in late december 2020 that he believed that there was sensitive information that indicated chinese intelligence had used a special kind of digital thermometer to change the results in machines tallying votes. at that point there was no evidence of vote changing mechanisms. we are learning more from both documents and testimony that the pressure the top acting justice officials were facing at this time. >> paula reid with the latest for us. thank you very much. >>> dana bash is cnn's c

an outlet has a story about former deputy attorney general donoghue, who late december spoke with theosen is on the way. this comes with a lot of detail about a trump loyalist inside the doj basically trying to get intelligence briefings or other support for really wacky, unfounded theories. and then perhaps even become attorney general himself. what did you think about all of these new stories? >> we should be paying attention to this, ari. this is deeply distressing. this shows there was a trump loyalist inside the justice department who had not only fully bought into the big lie but who was advocating it and advancing it in a very real way, because if jeff clarke had gotten his way, then-acting attorney general rosen had would have sent a letter to the georgia legislature directing them to take over the election in georgia and to compel an outcome for trump despite the absence of any evidence of fraud. and it's fortunate, frankly, that the acting attorney general pushed back, declined to play games with clarke, who was someone who had been an assistant attorney general for the envi

luckily for our democracy, rosen and donoghue did not sign off on that letter from mr. clark.in fact georgia did three audits. there was no fraud. joining our conversation, frank figliuzzi, host of the bureau podcast. also joining us former congresswoman donna edwards, and neal katyal is here, former affecting solicitor general and georgetown law professor. all three msnbc contributors. neal, i have to start with you and colonel vindman's experience of having his nose pressed right up to the glass of donald trump's corruption and then pull the thread all the way through to that call that we all heard, i believe it was the sunday before the tuesday insurrection of donald trump pressuring georgia's election officials to overturn the results in that state. what are your thoughts as the ex-president's corruption and maniacal attempt to undermine our democracy and stay in power come into fuller focus. >> well, i think what we're learning and from particularly the emails and letter today from jeff clark, who was president trump's acting assistant attorney general in the civil divisi

hjt today they heard from richard donoghue who was the acting deputy attorney general.er official, patrick -- we anticipate that they're going to be calling additional witnesses, perhaps some of these that are already testifying to the senate. they want to subpoena the call logs from the trump white house because they want to see some of the communications that were coming inside to the white house, perhaps with clark and other people who were involved. >> today marks seven months exactly since the january 6th insurrection. we've learned a lot, but there is so much we're going to be learning in the next weeks and months. let's dig deeper right now. joining us cnn legal and national security analyst. phil, select committee members, they've said they want to know what then president trump was doing minute by minute during the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. if you could get your hands on the white house call logs, for example, for that day, what would you be looking for? >> i'd be looking for two things, in particular the call logs on contacts with the congress an

former acting attorney general jeffrey rosen and former acting deputy attorney general richard donoghuesenate judiciary committee and we're learning they shed new light on one specific former doj lawyer, jeffrey clark. and the lengths that he went to do subvert the election, including his efforts to get them fired for refusing to back up trump's lies about the 2020 election. cnn has learned that rosen and donahue both told investigators they don't know whether clark was acting on trump's orders. they have also told investigators apparently that trump himself never instructed either of them to do anything illegal. >>> well, the $1 trillion infrastructure bill clears another hurdle, closer to a senate vote. 18 republican senators joined democrats to shut down debate on the bill and to just move it forward. among them was senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. >>l >> the american people need roads, bridges, ports, and airports to build our businesses, build our families, and build our liechs. republicans and democrats have radically different visions these days, but both those visions inc

so even though donoghue, at justice, knew it was a lie.nt's gonna fire you. and pak thought, i'm gonna resign with dignity. nobody will know about it, then. but now that he's talking to the judiciary committee, they do know exactly why it happened, because the president was fixing to fire him. and why? because he wouldn't support the lie of election fraud in georgia, which he investigated and found no evidence of. >> yeah. we can hear you, very well. we can't see you well, so we are going to stick with it because what we need most is the information that you'll provide, harry. you point out that a president can fire u.s. attorney for any reason or no reason, at all. but what about a refusal to lie about an election? this is for harry. >> yeah. so -- so, thanks for that. you know, i was a u.s. attorney, and i got the sack, eventually. and really, in -- you know, he's not going to try to challenge it. but theoretically, don, you couldn't fire him because you didn't like his race and these are -- this is protected speech. you say to him, unle

former acting attorney general jeffrey rosen and former acting deputy attorney general richard donoghue both sitting down for interviews with the senate judiciary committee and we're learning they shed new light on one specific official. former doj lawyer jeffrey clark. and the lengths that clark went to do subvert the election, including his efforts to get his bosses fired for refusing to back up trump's lies about the 2020 election. cnn has learned that rosen and donahue both told investigators they didn't know whether clark was acting on trump's orders. they apparently also told investigators that trump himself never instructed them, either of them, to do anything illegal. >>> coming up, hospitals are being pushed to the brink again as coronavirus cases are skyrocketing. we are talking to a woman whose husband is in the icu right now. her message to all of us. centrum multigummies aren't just great tasting... they're power-packed vitamins... that help unleash your energy. loaded with b vitamins... ...and other key essential nutrients... ...it's a tasty way to conquer your day. try ce

former-acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen, and his acting deputy, richard donoghue, testified behind fraud allegations. according to a source, familiar with the testimony, much of what they said before staff at the senate judiciary committee was about attempts by one particular senior-department lawyer, jeffrey clark, to use department resources to push these false claims. just before the program, i spoke with the chairman of that committee, democratic senator, dick durban, about the testimony and investigation. . >> in the last administration, how concerned are you about the pressure they were under? >> let me tell you something, the pressure was as tough as it gets in this town of washington. here's the president of the united states basically saying, here's what i want you to do, if you can't do it, i've got somebody to replace you. that's pretty powerful. >> i mean, all this information coming the way from the report last week that jeffrey clark, environmental lawyer, had circulated a letter within the department after the election which he wanted to send to state officials to ge

did trump fire rich donoghue, rosen's deputy? no, he did not fire rich donoghue.lso, on september 7, 2021, cnn article states, quote -- now this is about those interviews that i've been talking about that happened in the last week from cnn. quote, the man testified that in their interactions with trump, trump -- i better start over again or i'll get this wrong. quote, the man testified that in their interactions with trump, he didn't order them to do anything illegal and eventually accepted their advice that the justice department couldn't take action to claim fraud when it had no evidence of it. in other words -- that's the end of the quote. i just want to interpret. claim fraud in the last presidential election because there was no evidence of fraud. incredibly, one of the same committee democrats who spread the trump lie today said criminal prosecutions could come out of this investigation. if the facts eventually fit the democrats' narrative that they so badly want to be a true of their narrative, then they fit. it is what it is. but i haven't seen anything ba

and general chris donoghue, commander of the 82nd airborne division. the last soldier to leave afghanistan. officially, ending the 20-year war. president biden set to address the american people tomorrow afternoon. putting out a statement saying, and i quote, it was the unanimous recommendation of the joint chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned. their view was that ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead. the secretary of state, antony blinken, vowing the united states will continue its commitment to americans who still want to leave. >> we believe there are still a small number of americans -- under 200, and likely closer to 100 -- who remain in afghanistan and want to leave. we're trying to determine exactly how many. our commitment to them and to all americans in afghanistan and everywhere in the world continues. >> and the pentagon acknowledgin

major general chris don donoghue. the allies who helped our troops did not make it to the airport gates in time. >> we believe there are still a small number of american, under 200 and likely closer to 100, who remain in afghanistan and want to leave. >> the taliban celebrating the u.s. withdrawal with fireworks and gun fire after midnight and taliban fighters surveying the kabul airport and the destroyed arms, ammunition and aircraft that the americans left behind. coming up, we'll be speaking with former defense secretary and the cia director leon panetta on the withdrawal from afghanistan and what comes next. we're also following the devastating aftermath of tropical storm ida. millions of residents along the gulf coast could be without power for weeks. louisiana governor john bell edwards is scheduled to hold a press conference. we'll bring that to you live when it happens. first, the latest on afghanistan, nbc's chief white house correspondent peter alexander and pentagon correspondent courtney kube. >> as you no

the last american soldier to leave afghanistan — major general chris donoghue boarding a cargo plane,. a hugely symbolic moment bringing to an end the us mission that started shortly after the september 11th attacks in 2001. as the c—17 disappeared into the night sky, on the ground the taliban celebrated with gun fire and fireworks. a victory for them, following two decades of international engagement in the country and recent weeks marked by violence, bloodshed and chaotic scenes in kabul. the us withdrawal follows frantic efforts over the past 18 days to fly 123,000 people out of afghanistan, including 6,000 us citizens. and chaotic scenes in kabul. the us withdrawal follows frantic efforts over the past 18 days to fly 123,000 people out of afghanistan, including 6,000 us citizens. this has been a massive military, diplomatic and humanitarian undertaking, one of the most difficult in our nation's history and an extraordinary feat of logistics and co—ordination under some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable. during the evacuations, 13 us service members were killed in an

let's head over to washington and speak to the bbc�*s gary 0'donoghue for more on the evacuation of staffntagon have been holding a press conference and team to point out the limited scope of this mission. , , . h, out the limited scope of this mission. , , . , ,, mission. yes. very much so stressing what they called _ mission. yes. very much so stressing what they called being _ mission. yes. very much so stressing what they called being a _ mission. yes. very much so stressing what they called being a temporary i what they called being a temporary admission with a narrow focus and also pointing out the state department want to get their personnel out to which the mission to do by the end of this month. that is barely a couple more weeks and we just over whether or not they will be there any longer than that we do not know. what we have been told is that at that its mission is complete that at that its mission is complete that they still will be fewer than a thousand troops inside afghanistan to protect the remaining diplomats and embassy there. it's unquestionably a reverse and in some

gary 0'donoghue is in washington.y clear that these troops will have a defined temporary remic? it is pretty important for the administration here to emphasise the temporary nature of this mission and had a narrow focus and they will be moving in and the next 24 to 48 hours into kabul airport and into those three infantry battalions. stressing also that the state department was intent on getting it for dramatic personnel out by the end of the month and that would effectively put an end point unpacked the month and that would effectively put an end point on that deployment even though he did not say so specifically. of course, we have heard these things before about the and they have never transpired that a significant change of policy albeit a temporary one because at the moment the americans have only around the battalions size 650 people, service people in afghanistan at the moment and they are upping that number significantly in order to ensure that safe evacuation of the embassy personnel down to the discordant dr

let's speak to our correspondent gary 0'donoghue, who's at the white house. longest war, 20 years, i suppose many americans might be asking themselves what exactly has been achieved with mac we will be hearing from joe biden later. we will be hearing from joe biden later. , . . ., , we will be hearing from joe biden later. , ., , ., ., , later. yes, in a couple of hours we are heping — later. yes, in a couple of hours we are hoping although _ later. yes, in a couple of hours we are hoping although his— later. yes, in a couple of hours we l are hoping although his appearances keep slipping nowadays quite significantly, so we will see what actually happens. i think he will try to focus on the wider picture, the fact that america is now finally out of afghanistan, no tricks, no diplomats even, not those 600 plus marines who were meant to be left behind in the original plan, if you remember, they are not there at all. but he will be focusing on the fact that that is what most americans want. they persistently wanted that, more than 60% in the polling wanted that,

the last american soldier to leave afghanistan — major general chris donoghue boarding a cargo plane,. a hugely symbolic moment bringing to an end the us mission that started shortly after the september 11th attacks in 2001. as the c—17 disappeared into the night sky, on the ground the taliban celebrated with gun fire and fireworks. a victory for them, following two decades of international engagement in the country and recent weeks marked by violence, bloodshed and chaotic scenes in kabul. the us withdrawal follows frantic efforts over the past 18 days to fly 123,000 people out of afghanistan, including 6,000 us citizens. this has been a massive military, diplomatic and humanitarian undertaking, one of the most difficult in our nation's history and an extraordinary feat of logistics and co—ordination under some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable. during the evacuations, 13 us service members were killed in an attack on kabul airport by isk — a local branch of islamic state. the us now faces questions over a drone attack on suspected militants, which also claimed the liv

think back to those notes that we reported on taken by then-acting deputy attorney general richard donoghuenderstand that, quote, understand that the doj can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. it doesn't work that way, he said. the notes show how trump responded. he said this, quote, just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the r congressmen, end quote. the question now, does that rise to the level as prove of intent? joining us now lead counsel for the democrats during donald trump's first impeachment as well as a former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, daniel goldman is here. your thoughts? >> it gets much closer to proving that very closer to pro criminal intent, nicole. rarely get testimonies or recording of someone's ordering someone else to just say something was corrupt falsely without any bases and facts. if he was indeed told by the department of justice during that conversation, that we can't overturn it and there is no basis to overturn this election. we know bill barr's thoughts and notes

donoghue as well who has the contemporaneous note that remembers what the president says, just say the republicans. >> do you think that it makes the select committee's work and its bipartisan nature with liz cheney and adam kinzinger and now former congressman denver riggleman joining as a technical advisor, do you think it helps them draw witnesses like mr. rosen if that's where their investigation leads them? and do you think he should testify before the select committee? >> i certainly hope he will, and i think the construction of this committee under all of the circumstances and all of the challenges that we have faced in putting together a committee, i think it is an extraordinary committee that will do extraordinary work, as evidenced by the first day of testimony by the four police officers. so absolutely i look forward to their work. i know it is not going to be easy, but i look forward to more people like jeffrey rosen coming forward voluntarily or if they need a subpoena, coming forward to correct the record, to make sure this never happens again. this is not a political mat

gary 0'donoghue talking to us about what's happening in the united states.ble to come to the uk. let's get more on this from our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. what more do we know about what this beefing up means? because it is something dominic raab was alluding to in interviews today. hat something dominic raab was alluding to in interviews today.— to in interviews today. not very much. to in interviews today. not very much- this _ to in interviews today. not very much. this is _ to in interviews today. not very much. this is the _ to in interviews today. not very much. this is the prime - to in interviews today. not very i much. this is the prime minister's official spokesperson talking about what will happen now, the efforts to still try to get afghans out who are at risk, and this is something that was talked about a week ago. the uk talking about processing people through neighbouring countries. a week ago they were talking about sending additional personnel. some discussion about could it be in refugee camps or would people have to go t

so we're aware of the notes that richard donoghue took of one conversation, but we don't know everything trump was doing himself. we don't know what conversations mark meadows was having at the behest of donald trump. so there's a lot that we don't know that would likely be helpful to prove intent. and that's the traditional way of proving intent. it's not through grand jury testimony or the prosecutor interviewing the defendant. it is from statements made by the punitive defendant to other witnesses who would testify to them. >> and the final thought, we know -- whatever his intent was, it was too much for bill barr and he left. so we don't have any of his notes -- >> by the way -- >> yeah. >> jeffrey rosen would have been in meetings that bill barr had with donald trump. he was the deputy attorney general at the time. so the reason he testified for seven hours is not just this one conversation. i am certain they asked him soup to nuts everything that he knows. >> we will stay on it with your help. dan goldman, it was a tweet from you that inspired this conversation, so keep tweeting, k

let�*s go live to our washington correspondent, gary 0�*donoghue. over again, what would that be a huge retrograde step. there is a real possibility of the taliban inheriting all this hardware that has been pumped into the country by the americans and others, including an airforce, they will possibly get hold of so their position may be a lot stronger than it was 20 years ago by the international community are still trying to threaten the taliban saying they will be cut off, there will be no aid assistance method are not getting involved and power—sharing but the military reality is they are completely pulverising the afghan forces, that is not much incentive to negotiate. in the meantime the us is taking steps as the uk is to send troops there to get its remaining nationals out. yes, the first contingent of that 3000 strong force of american marines and infantry have arrived at the airport, being transported from within the region not far away and we were told they would be there within 48 and was in any case so it is not surprising they are there