judge hoe is going to rip ed sullivan's face off, and ed sullivan is a retiring doj official. so he took one for the team because he didn't want anyone else to have to resign. so i hope when ed sullivan goes into court, it's going to be a really big show, as you would say, because it's going to be ugly for him. and i think, why. >> is a meal buffet? why isn't a meal beauvais going? >> emil bove should be the one to go. he's the one who cut the deal with alex spiro, the lawyer for eric adams. he is the one who ordered his team to drop the charges. he's the one who then sent the memo to say. i'm now going to investigate the prosecutors who have resigned. so he broke it. he owns it, and yet he's going to send others into court, because i think it'd just be really embarrassing if he's the one getting dressed down by judge dale ho. it's going to be ugly, but it's going to be warranted because you're not supposed to do this. this is a blatant quid pro quo. i mean, don't don't trust me on that. just look at the memo that beauvais sent. he said the quiet part out loud. he said, so. >>

and in the end, ed sullivan steps up. i mean, was this a i love my pension.ant to keep my pension move by ed sullivan or was this a i am going to come to everybody's kind of rescue, and i'm going to take it for the team. >> well, i think it was the latter. the reports are that a number of people, not just in the southern district, but also at main justice in washington, refused to go along with the beauvais order, clearly thinking that it was improper to do what he is he ordered to be done, and that he put all of these people in the public integrity section in a room and said, if one of you does not sign this, i think actually two of you do not sign this, i'm going to fire everyone. i mean, this is like a hostage situation. and it's very interesting. as you said, there are two people who signed the actual motion. but if you look at it, katie, it's really fascinating. while those two career prosecutors are have signed it, they actually don't make any factual representations. all of the representations are that emile beauvais, the acting deputy attorney general

this is the ed sullivan theater. >> stephen: ten years. what a guy got to do?tephen: o or i can have my bar mitzvah there. you're in broadwy and a new show, "all in." this one you did not write. and yet it is good. and it's not a musical. tell me, what's "all in." tell the people. >> lin-manuel: "all in" is, an amazing writer named simon rich who wrote for seven night live and live and the simpsons and has written some of my favorite short stories ever. it's directed by alex timbers. it's really four funny people reading these amazing simon rich short stories. it's like the heater version of a great bowl of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. you leave just feeling so good about love and the world and it's really funny. absolutely comfort food. they are laugh-out-loud funny and you have a tear in your eye at the end and he manages to do this magic trick every time. my first time not in a musical sins like college. it's much scarier doing some one else's words than mine. >> stephen: the first time you haven't been in the musical since college. i was going t

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> stephen: welcome. thank you, sir. welcome, everybody. thanks, everybody. welcome, ladies and gentlemen, around the world, around the united states and the ed sullivan theater. welcome to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. hope everyone is staying toasty warm, because it is bitter cold all over the country, including the deep south. take new orleans, or as locals call it "nawwwleeeoooons." [laughter] that's close, right? that's basically it? yesterday, the big easy turned big freezy and shattered its modern all-time daily snowfall record, receiving 8 inches of snow. laissez les bon temps froze. that snow is going to change the vibe of throwing beads at mardi gras. "show me your layers! take off your mittens!" there was so much snow that on bourbon street, they had a snow ball fight. new orleans hasn't seen that much powder since anyone took a bite from a beignet. speaking of bone-chilling, donald trump. it's his third day in office, and he's a

united nations and favorite candidates andin talking with ed sullivan and bob hope. mikemi wallace, jack par. edward marrow, and many more. she made an appearance on the game show, what's my line. if you haven't seen that, find it on youtube. she's there to promote united nations week. eleanor's life had so many dimensions but her savvy usage of the medium of television that has been overlooked. thee early days of television were influential in culture. ers usage of tv to advance the causes of world peace in the rights of women and politically marginalized was groundbreaking. james enlisted her in the prologue of 1940s. the isolationist in the sentence subcommitteeda on propaganda on motion pictures and radio. she would disappoint activist when choosing to cross the picket line protesting cinemas to attend a fundraiser of a screening for ab lincoln in illinois. this was in the film publications like variety during whitevo house years. it wasea written about it as a writer activist and humanist. was connected to film and television. that's where my book came in. the n

until finally, a guy named ed sullivan, edward. >> sullivan. >> who was about to retire. >> anyway, said, oh. >> i'll volunteer. >> i'll take. >> the hit. >> he's no. >> he's no profile in courage. they should all. >> have insisted on being fired. >> make a meal, beauvais. >> sign the damn thing himself. >> now. >> that's one perspective. another perspective is that. well, if all the principled people quit, who'd be left to push back? after all, don't you think donald trump wants all the career prosecutors who won't obey a potentially illegal order to leave, clearing the way for his people to do his bidding, especially considering his new edict today that only he and his hand-picked attorney general get to say what is and is not legal. >> this executive order would establish important oversight functions in the office of. >> management and. >> budget and its subsidiary office, oira, supervising independent agencies and many. >> of their actions. >> and also reestablishes. >> the. >> long standing norm that only the president or the attorney general can speak for the united states. when s

until finally, a guy named ed sullivan, edward sullivan, who was about to retire anyway, said, oh, i'll volunteer. i'll take the hit. he's no, he's no profile in courage. the fact is that to preserve his pension, purportedly to save the others, he broke ranks. they should all have insisted on being fired. make a meal. bovÉ sign the damn thing himself. but in any event, there's a lot anybody can do on monday, which is nominally president's day. a lot of people, including me, have kind of reconceived it as take back our flag day. there are going to be protests, peaceful protests in every capital in the country, in every city around the city hall, protests of people who say, this is not what we voted for. we did not vote to destroy the constitution of the united states and the rule of law. anybody, whether you're a lawyer or something else, can join. local groups can form peaceful resistance. and it's happened in other countries. i mean, when democracies have devolved into dictatorships, people have pushed back in chile, in poland, in the czech republic, in other places, it's taken war. sp

talking with ed sullivan, bob hope, frank sinatra. mike wallace. jack paar, edward r murrow and many more. she even made an appearance on the game show, what's my line? and if you haven't seen that, you can find on youtube. she's there to promote united nations week. but elena's life had so many dimensions that her savvy use of the brand new medium of television has been previously overlooked. the early days of television were profoundly influential on popular culture and early use of tv to advance the causes of peace in the rights of women and the politically marginalized was groundbreaking. however, she also courted relationships with the film industry as early as 1932, writing for fan magazines like photoplay and modern screen son james enlisted her to in the prolog for 1940 anti-nazi film pastor hall, riling the ire of isolationists in the senate on propaganda in motion pictures and radio. but she would also disappoint activists when choosing to cross a picket line protesting segregated cinemas in washington, dc to attend a fundraiser screening

now, live on tape on the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it is stephen colbert. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: please have a seat, my friend. welcome to the late show. i'm your host, stephen colbert. folks, there is a huge news. there is huge news on eating dip with your dad's friend. the super bowl matchup is that. eagles vs. the kansas chiefs. eagles versus the chief. travis kelce versus whoever plays travis kelce on the eagles. brad largeman. and his pop star girlfriend tonya velocity. the chiefs will not one but this is more challenging. all of the players have to rush to their game after their day shift at state farm. after philadelphia, this is yesterday afternoon. eagles fan demonstrated dignified horsemanship by filing out of the stadium. they celebrated with close range fireworks, surfed a cop car and climbed a bunch of greased up light poles. it is a sacred billy tradition that goes back to when ben franklin shimmied onto a lubed up liberty bell. it's in color. it has been one week since trump took office and there have already been big surprises. i

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] >> stephen: welcome! welcome one and all in here, out there, all around the world to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheering] what is this now? how many days? we are now 16 days into donald trump's second term, and day after day, it is exactly what you thought but worse than you could have imagined. the crazy is coming fast and furious. and the furious is coming crazy and fast. he and his tech-bro shock troops are violating so many laws and norms that it's hard to know when something outrageous he says or does is an atrocity or just a shiny distraction. or maybe a shiny atrocity. like yesterday, when trump met with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. first, the old buddies spoke to reporters in the oval office, and then they held a joint press conference, where trump said this. >> the u.s. will take over the gaza strip. >> stephen: aahhh! [laughter] [cheers and applause] i'm sorry. i'm sorry, that was just so shocking, it made me put

it's about the beatles appearance on the ed sullivan show. beatles expert, and that is the god's honest truth. ask him anything. he'll know the answer. so i'll let you take it to little timmy. >> i will say big tim. we'll call him big tim. here. thank you. i will say big tim. i do know a lot about the beatles, and certainly there have been so much, so many things written about the connection between john f kennedy's assassination and the need for a country to be distracted and have something to be happy about and cheer about. and the beatles fill that void. but there are so many uncanny parallels. i had no idea. on the day that jfk was assassinated in in dallas. the beatles had released their huge breakout album and it was a trust but verify moment for me. i did check it out when with the beatles came out. and sure enough, november 22nd, 1963, the same exact day which started a chain of events that led to something that, well, they shaped popular culture for the past 60 years. >> no. >> that's right. i mean, and thank. >> you for having me on

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city it's stephen colbert! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> stephen: hi! thank you very much. very kind, welcome. welcome one and all to "the late show." i am your host stephen colbert. it's good to be back. we were off of the air, it is presidents' day. so to those who celebrate, why? when i was a kid, probably some of you all, it was not presidents' day. we celebrated washington and lincoln's birthdays. every february we would hang our stockings and wait for abraham lincoln to fill them with wooden teeh. but now we celebrate 'all' the presidents. and donald trump is one of them. i just took a week off, and he did a lot. and it's hard to figure out, among all the things he did, which is the most, the most of what he did. each one of the things he did individually seems so criminal and catastrophic that you can't see the forest for the trees. jim, do we have a shot of the forest? yep, there you go. i have another metaphor. i have a lot of metaphors. i don't like them. but that's all i have right now. for instance,

live from the ed sullivan theater, it is stephen colbert. >> stephen: thank you, welcome. welcome one and all in here, out there, all around the world. you are joining us on an historic night, following the incredible afc championship game. afc championship, of course, often called the super bowl of finding out who will be in the super bowl. this is a rare sunday show. so, naturally, i and my staff, this morning, we all went to church together. cbs is a family. a family that occasionally cancels its children, and replaces them with a spinoff of one of their more successful children. but just because tonight's game is over two hours ago, doesn't mean you have to stop gambling. there are plenty of parlays available here at the late show. hot tip: take the over on whether or not i have the greatest audience in the world! [cheers and applause] get a little shot of that. that cheer just lost some kid their college savings. another reason to cheer: we survived the first week of the second trump administration. [boos] imagine how good we'll feel when we survive the first week of

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! and applause] ♪ ♪ >> stephen: come on, now. [cheers and applause] happy got away. hello! hi! thank you, friends! you guys doing okay? please have a seat, my friends. welcome one and all come in here, out there, all around the world, to "the late show," i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheers and applause] these people are excited for super bowl sunday. may too. i love everything about the super bowl, the commercials, the halftime show, the beers, seven-layer dip, the chips to dip in the dip, the wings, and the growing pile of wing bones that make me feel like an ancient king. [laughter] wiping my hands on the dog. on top of all that, during the super bowl, time permitting, there will be a football game. [laughter] this year, the matchup is kansas city chiefs, who are hoping to win a third straight title, versus the philadelphia eagles -- [cheers and applause] yeah, baby. were hoping their mascot doesn't die of bird flu. taylor swift will also be in attendance. [cheers and applause] to

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert!eers and applause] >> stephen: hey! thank you for being here. good to see you. thank you very much. lovely people. please have a seat, my friends. welcome one and all in here, out there, all around the world to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheers and applause] well, ladies and gentlemen. it happened. donald trump is president again. [booing] hey, hey, hey remember what obama said. don't boo, vote! and if possible, do that several months ago. apparently, some of you have some unpleasant feelings about all this, so i have an announcement to make: for the next four years, we get to live by airport rules. calories don't count, and it's perfectly reasonable to have a vodka tonic at 8:00 a.m. [cheers and applause] who knows what time it is where you're gonna land? that's the time you're on. a lot of people have said to me, and i'm sure to some of my writers, "i bet deep down, you're feeling pretty good, because with trump back, the jokes write themselves." so, i just wan

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert!eers and applause] >> stephen: there you are. hello! hello! ♪ ♪ welcome. welcome, one and all, to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheers and applause] i want to welcome anyone here out there watching and then recently fired federal employees looking to travel for a while. hey, remember when donald trump said he was going to be a dictator only on day one? well, evidently his first act as dictator was declaring that day one never ends. now, i don't want to cause panic. frankly, i don't have the energy. but i will say that it's not the greatest news that the trump justice department has fired the officials who investigated trump. [booing] keep in mind, the january 6 investigation was the largest single investigation in the history of the federal government. if you fire all those people, there's going to be nobody left. we'll have to change the name to department of "just dis guy." yes, justin? justin? this firing is probably -- and i hope you're sitting down -- illegal.

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert!eers and applause] >> stephen: hey! ♪ ♪ thank you, my friends, out there, down there. welcome. welcome one and all to what we call "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheers] i appreciate your enthusiasm but we have no time to waste. close the dishwasher, put down the baby, grab a seat, and then stand up, because i have shocking news: cbs is working on a new "fbi" spinoff with a cia twist called "fbi: cia." omg! this is the perfect addition to the extended fbi-verse: there's "fbi: international," "fbi", "fbi: most wanted," "fbi: true" and, the sexy, adult spinoff "fbi: bbl: dtf." that of course pg-13. all of those shows are imagineered by cbs television chemists to be the kind of edge-of-your seat procedural thrillers that pop-pop can still follow after the beta blockers kick in. the premise of "fbi: cia"? "a dedicated, strait-laced fbi agent and a street-smart cia agent are part of a new, clandestine taskforce charged with solving and preventing domestic terrorism in and

and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert!eers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> stephen: you can't sneak up on me. hey! thank you, my friends. thank you. welcome. welcome one and all to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheering] i don't know about you. i don't know about you folks but it's been a rough two weeks watching donald trump haphazardly dismantle our government like a champ with a chainsaw. but the end is in sight. because scientists say an asteroid might hit our planet on december 22, 2032. so just hold on a little longer, and might go out in a blaze of glory, like the dinosaurs. and then future little kids could wear pictures of us on their jammies! but if you're one of those americans who doesn't want to be incinerated by a giant space rock, i've got good news for you too. researchers say there's a less than a 2% chance of it striking earth. i know that seems kinda low, but i wanna point out, whenever i open a bottle of 2%, it's always 100% milk. maybe i'm just lucky. i don't know. i gotta go to vegas and bet

if and now live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> stephen: hey! welcome, everybody, thank you very much. welcome, welcome, one and all to the late show. i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheers and applause] let's kick off the proceedings this evening, i want to wish everybody out there a happy lunar new year, which despite my yearly letter writing campaign -- ink you, happy lunar new year. despite my yearly h campaign does not involve anderson and andy getting cranked on the moon. on the chinese zodiac calendar, this is the year of the snake, which, of course, we already knew from the official announcement. >> you knew damn well i was a snake before you took me in! [laughter] >> stephen: he's honest. i will give him that. why would i give him that? traditionally, the year of the snake is a time to reset. it's about letting go of the past and letting go of anger. so in that spirit, i'm letting go of my past anger. then picking up my future fury, because our possible -- our possible next secretary of health

back in 2009, he performed above the marquee at the ed sullivan theater, and then in 2018, he poppedp in grand central terminal to promote the release of his egypt station solo album. >> yeah, this is a pretty impressive storm that is moving this way. it has already caused some gale warnings out over the open waters, some high surf advisories as well. and what i'm doing right now is i'm trying to cue up our doppler radar so you can see where it's raining. and just about everywhere in the bay area. mind you, a lot of this is very light precipitation, but these are just renegade showers. these showers are running in advancement of the main front that will be plowing through the bay area in the overnight hours. what is captured? my attention, however, is this pocket right here. this signifies moderate to heavy downpours around the peninsula. this is adversely affecting the dumbarton bridge. also the san mateo bridge. light rain now scooting into the santa clara valley impacting milpitas. we have a break in the activity right here over the sunol area, pleasanton with some light sprinkles

and ed sullivan, a veteran with many decades of experience, decided to bite the bullet.peared on the court documents. >> what happens now to that unit? >> that's the. that's the important question. so sullivan obviously did something that his colleagues are describing as heroic. other people i've heard criticize him and said that he no one should have signed that, and they all should have resigned en masse. but you now have a division in which any attempt to investigate anyone who doesn't want it investigated, or trump doesn't want to investigate it now could face extraordinary disciplinary action or be put in a position where they're going to have to resign. we've also seen dozens of forced transfers of senior ethics and nonpartisan officials in the department over to this as yet mythical sanctuary cities task force. so the chill is already there. it's this the public corruption unit right now is in the deep freeze. so the damage, i think, has very much already been done. >> and the way they use it is part of their proactive weaponization probably remains to be seen. gl

ed sullivan, a trial attorney with the public integrity unit who is nearing retirement. he officially did that in just the last hour. it still requires a federal court judge to approve the decision before the charges can be dropped, but it came only after beauvais gave the remaining lawyers in the doj's public integrity section a. >> one hour deadline. >> earlier today for someone to agree to file it, or, as reuters reports, risk seeing all of the prosecutors in that section get fired. in addition to two former doj officials. on top of that mob like threat, beauvais ordered that what amounts to a quid pro quo, expressly promising a leadership position to whoever agreed to sign and file the order. and i say second, because accusations of quid pro quo are nothing new in this situation, with daniel sassoon making that claim in her resignation letter saying that she witnessed adams attorney indicate that adams would only be able to help push trump's immigration enforcement policies if the charges against him were dropped this morning. adams responded, of course, on fox. >> t

one of the interesting things about this, it is signed by ed sullivan. he is a very senior attorney in the public integrity section in washington, dc. headquarters justice department. uh, but it also bears the signature here of emil bove, who is the acting deputy attorney general. he's the one who has been overseeing all of this. and frankly, i think you and i, we've been discussing all of this. you know, he could have signed this from the start and this would have avoided all of this drama. but his his signature is also on this document, along with tony bacon, who is the top official in the criminal division at the justice department headquarters. pamela. >> wow. all right. evan perez, a lot to break down here. um, cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor jennifer rodgers, along with former u.s. district court judge shira scheindlin. jennifer, first to you. what is your reaction to what evan just reported? and that also, emil bove signature was on there at the end. >> well, it's funny, pamela, i had just finished saying that i thought he hadn't t

and so it seems as though this one prosecutor from that unit, ed sullivan, was the sacrificial lamb. the one thing i will say is this whole procedure of meeting with a bunch of prosecutors and telling them somebody needs to sign to dismiss a case is completely wrong. anytime when i was a line prosecutor, someone would transfer me a new case. it was my responsibility to review the file, review what had happened, what the memos were, and then recommend to my supervisors the next steps forward. it was never a top down directive. you need to do x. that's not that's not what our oath is. that's not how we are supposed to behave as prosecutors. so i'm i'm surprised they found anybody who was willing to sign off on this, even if it was to protect others from firing. >> and then will there be a hearing over filing to end this case? and if so, how then does the doj defend this move in court? >> well. >> there should be a hearing. judge ho should look at what has happened. he has seen these memos, presumably. and when you have that many career prosecutors resigning rather than sign off, that i

i think that the attorney, ed sullivan, who i actually know because he was there when i was there, whosigned the. >> motion. >> has said that he's done it basically to. protect all the other people in the public integrity section from whatever consequences might have befallen them. >> that there was enough resignations for the week, and you have to still go on at some point. >> right. and these people have families and they have, you know, they may be the principal breadwinners. i have no idea. they need they need their jobs. they love their jobs. he didn't want them to all be at risk of losing their jobs. so he sort of stood up. and as you mentioned in the intro, he's a senior guy who's fairly close to retirement. so unlike many of the other people in that section. >> right. >> i showed some of this interview with adams, who still remains technically a defendant, right. until this is resolved. yes. and one of the chief immigration officials in the trump administration, i asked you the question. i'll answer this part. i've never seen an interview or public appearance like this ever in

. >> i think that the attorney, ed sullivan, who i actually know because he was there when i was theregned who signed the motion, has said that he's done it basically to protect all the other people in the public integrity section from whatever consequences might have befallen them. >> that that there was enough resignations for the week. and you have to still go on at some point. >> right. and these people have families and they have, you know, they may be the principal breadwinners. i have no idea. they need they need their jobs. they love their jobs. he didn't want them to all be at risk of losing their jobs. so he sort of stood up. and as you mentioned in the intro, he's a senior guy who's fairly close to retirement. so unlike many of the other people in that section. >> right. >> i showed some of this interview with adams, who still remains technically a defendant, right. until this is resolved. yes. and one of the chief immigration officials in the trump administration. i asked you the question. i'll answer this part. i've never seen an interview or public appearance like this ev

and sources tell us that ed sullivan, a senior litigation counsel who is close to retirement, had agreed to do that. and ultimately, he wasn't the only signature. >> on. >> this document. also on. the document. >> is. >> tony bacon. >> who is the acting chief of the criminal division and also emil bove. he is the one who ordered this directive, and he is the most senior person in the justice department other than the attorney general at this point. now, this will next go to the judge. judge dale ho, who was appointed by president joe biden. it will be up to him what he wants to do next. does he hold a hearing? does he call these prosecutors in to talk about it, or does he agree on these motions to dismiss the case? that's next. >> erin. >> all right. kara, thank you very much. just an incredible story. as we said, the biggest mass resignation since the saturday night massacre in the nixon administration. outfront now is congressman jamie raskin, top democrat on the judiciary committee. congressman finally got what he wanted. he got someone to file the dismissal of the case. one of the pe

but then it was one longtime member of the team, someone close to retirement, ed sullivan, who said that he would step forward and sign the document. now on the document, he is also joined by the acting head of the criminal division, tony bacon, as well as emil bove signature himself. but this was an act that was perhaps seen to help save the team instead of leading and end the crisis. instead of leading to more and more resignations. so, you know, this week began with this directive. we had seven resignations. and then ultimately there was one person who was willing to step forward in public integrity. and now they filed this motion officially asking the judge to dismiss the case. >> so what happens next, carol? when and how would the judge respond? >> so this is the big question here. this judge, judge dale ho, who was appointed by president biden, has this option now of whether he is going to sign off on these documents as they're filed or if he will call everyone in for a hearing. and if he goes that route, it's possible we could learn a lot more about some of these conversations, be