elliott, how should we look at this?some are brewing, some appealed. how should we look at this? should we look at this as this is going to go on for a year or two and then back to the supreme court, or is this going to be a state by state, and if you live in state x, you should only worry about the challenge in your state? >> all of the above, john. look, dobbs, the supreme court decision recently decided around abortion, did not end abortion. it ushered in what i think might be decades of confusion as to what the laws are across america. so by way of example, what happens if somebody lives in a state with a six-week ban but crosses state lines to have an abortion with a 15-week ban. what happens in south carolina that has, in its constitution, a right to privacy but an abortion ban? you could amend the south carolina state constitution but maybe that ooaffects the right contraception. so these are all questions litigated across the country at the federal and state level for quite some time. >> as that plays wis out, yo

it looks like elliott was ready to jump in on this subject. if i could build on that, reading the book, there is the narrative part which is compelling, the memoir part is compelling. but you get into policy discussions and you have some very trenchant analysis and recommendations. in particular, you raised the issues of deficits. the boer war. the military force and some of the implications that has. i am wondering if you could share some insights with the audience. >> sure. to go from an afghan specific discussion to an american warmaking discussion, every war the united states has fought since the revolution has had to have a construct to sustain it. by that i mean in general, blood and treasure. who is going to fight the war? how are we going to pay for it? as we look at our history, one of the constructs of the u.s. civil war was blood. the first ever draft in this country's nation was a result of the civil war, as was our income tax. the second world war was characterized by a national mobilization of war bond tribes. the vietnam war we

as an example, i know there's been a lot of enthusiasm around elliott's involvement with paypal, and maybe they would push paypal to return more capital, or improve margins faster but i think the dynamics of apple plus vc, et cetera, mean pie paypal is in a position to continue to invest that's a key example of the impact of all this money flowing around. >> right, and paypal has had a brutal year, as you can see on this chart, down 50% year to date it's interesting, james, you say that the dynamics haven't changed with consumer oriented payment methods like apple pay you'restill using a debit or credit card. and maybe this is too long term, what's preventing them from by passing the rails for example in the longer run, in the way that chinese finteches were able to, and financial was able to? is that ultimately a threat for the visas and master cards of the world? >> i don't think so. the reality is that visa and mama mastercard's ability to execute a transaction, whether it's apple pay or some other mechanism, you can't do it cheaper or faster or more securely, can't do it with bro

i was talking to lisa elliott, saying there's been some concern that there hasn't been a resolution,ybe be a c.o.o. to step up, but there's been a huge focus, because there's a void here. the elliott investment, you mentioned paypal hasn't acknowledged that publicly, so any comment on that around the call elliott also has a stake in pinterest, but there's a lot of speculation that deal might be back in play there's a thought out there that full-lr full-year guidance may have to come down. we've seen things like currency headwinds and consumer spending has been hit paypal tends to skew toward more discretionary spending so the bar has lowered for paypal in previous quarters. the question, though, john, is the barlow enough to paypal. it remains, investors call it a show he emphasize story. based on how many times they have moved the goal post in terms of their own metrics and targets. >> good question jeff, is the barlow enough how exposed is paypal to downward consumer e-commerce trends >> this is sort of a lukewarm answer, i guess, but if you own it, i think it's okay to hold it, bu

then the elliott news. paypal speaking out about the first time that it's officially a $2 billion investment. also seeing it's entering into an information sharing agreement with elliott and there's a quote in the paypal release from jesse:who is a managing partner over at elliott. cowans", as one of paypal's largest investors with about a $2 billion investment, elliott strongly believes in the value proposition at paypal. paypal has an unmatched and industry-leading footprint across its payment businesses and the right to win over the near and long-term. but a lot of news out of paypal today as i can just that. stock up more than 10% after hours. back to you. >> wow. hey, you also spoke with a robin hood ceo on early earnings release plus layoffs announced. three manuals, both were a surprise. this company is supposed to report earnings tomorrow after the bell. came out with news that they are cutting about 22% of jobs over robin hood. that comes after a 9% reduction back in april. and vlad 10 of saying in

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elliott, on that point, it's a great point, dana.t point, this could be very much used as that political talking point as a way of saying there after me again. but i don't get the impression that you make the sort of action, elliott, willy-nilly. in a way philly doing today on a monday after cpac, no less we've talked about other issues, let's just go ahead and raid mar-a-lago. all swirl that ends well. >> there's a couple reasons, laura, as you know, in order to get a search warrant you have to establish number one, probable cause that a crime was committed in the first place, and number two, that you as law enforcement believe that there is evidence of that crime. it doesn't have to be a crime committed on those presidents, but they may not even be on the president. it could be somebody else, but you believe a crime was committed. you've got to convince the judge of that through affidavits and testimony. it is not something that happens overnight. this is a long process. weeks, if not months of preparations to get a search warrant

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elliott, i want to come to you first on this.nvestigation is actually progressing? >> so a couple of things. number one, it is broader than the first subpoena that went. the first subpoena that had gone was just for information provided to the january 6th committee. this is for everything that extends before january 6th. i think they're investigating, number one, january 6th itself. number two, classified documents. number three, the false electors scheme, the scheme to put electors in place. there's a network of things that the department of justice is investigating. it can be confusing because they're not all connecting but it is not just january 6th i think. >> based on -- >> based on the fact it is broader now. >> that it is broader now. to give you a sense of what has been happening in the last few days there's been a lot of activity from doj subpoenaing former white house lawyer ash hirschman, pat cipollone, patri patrick philbin and mark short and greg jake opencobs have tes. the activity is moving in some ways to the janu

also elliott williams, former deputy attorney general under president obama. great to have both of you here. i got the fbi component, i got the grumbling to t. j.. let me begin with you, andrew. look, i have to be honest with you. when the wall street journal reported this, the idea of having an informant there was not the shock of the century. there must have been some reason to go back, who might be, if there is actually a person there. do you have questions about the particular notion. we have the same sort of instinctive vibe that says somebody must have picked up a phone or done something to say, he did not look over here. >> absolutely, laura, for many reasons. first and foremost, the sequence of events here did not make sense, that both sides were meeting at monologue o as recently as june, discussing the documents, reviewing things in the basement and then a month and a half later, we have a search warrant. it seems clear to me that something happened in between that time that caused the fbi and department of justice to be much more concerned about wha

we'll give you the last word here, elliott. talking about a bifurcation between consumer spending and enterprise spending. at what point do you think those two things will impact each other, a downturn in consumer spending could really hit big picture enterprise spending? >> for sure. i think as the consumer tech exposure sorts itself out, i would go back to what i said a couple of minutes ago. we're in a little bit of a wait and see moment there are some good signs that the more b to b sass companies are raising guidance, but no one is hiring ahead of those numbers coming in. so i think we're in august now, it will be probably november, december, folks will know at the end of the year what it looks like and planning for next year will be more accurate. and that's when we're going to start to see ceos and cfos tell us a hiring freeze off or we're starting to all go into increasg over time. >> the ten year 286 this morning. elliott, thank you so much for being with us. we'll talk to you again soon. >> thank you, guys great to se

happy, elliott, and scott are back on the right now. to talk about beyoncÉ scott jennings, and an odd revelation of sorts. but i bring this up because, look. and it can be uncouple at times to talk about the things that people react to, that have a visceral reaction, that can lead to the so-called cancel culture things. and lizzo just change a lyric as well. it's not unheard of for people to be online and that the use of a term is offensive and can no longer be used. i think you put it past, elliott, the idea that, look, sometimes you get the information, you realize it's offensive, and then what you do then is up to you. >> yeah, no, i agree. language of all's overtime. i will give you the floor -- >> you had a smirk. we knew -- >> i'm ready to pounce on this. i'm not defending the thought police. let me use a better example for you. the state song of conduct heat, my old kentucky home, for 130 years had the word dark ease in it until overtime people realize this is not language that we in a civil society ought to be using. and they ch

does today's doj statement give us more clues elliott? >> no. i do not think so.ause the affidavit, you really would not ever want to make that public, for a big reason. there's public safety for potential witnesses, for fbi agents and officers for judges. anyone else along the line. they are identified in naming the affidavit and their safety gets jeopardized number one. number two, you run the risk of jeopardizing the evidence that you are gathering. as people become aware of what is being investigated, there becomes a risk that maybe somebody throws something away or flashes evidence in the toilet bowl as we have seen already. so for all of those reasons, it's probably a good idea to keep the affidavit under wraps for now. and they gave us a bit of a roadmap last week of what they were looking at, that doesn't really change right now. >> professor, let us talk about the espionage act, it doesn't necessarily imply spine, but how serious is it that is mentioned in the warrant? >> it's quite serious. it indicates that there's at least a suspicion that the presiden

deirdre bosa has the day off today paypal surging elliott revealing it has a $2 billion stake. amd and airbnb sliding after their results. a concern for both of those names. another earnings interview, anthony noto, the ceo of sofi will join us in about 30 minutes. investors like the q3 guide. interesting mix of results today, jon >> yeah, carl. we'll start with paypal. shares higher after a beat across the board raising full-year guidance as well revenue up 9% year over year the company did report a net loss compared to a nearly $2 billion profit in 2021 a big focus on cost cutting, expected to reduce spending by $900 million this year, $1.3 billion in 2023. one area they are sharing, the other big news driving the stock, investment from activist elliott. a day after revealing a pinterest position, they've amassed a $2 billion stake in paypal last fall it was rumored those two companies were exploring a merger which had me scratching my head, carl. i wonder what elliott is going to do now with a piece of each of these you mentioned a few minutes ago the big pop in fin tech ove

one is the fundamentals, and equally important is elliott's press release.xpectations were low, they were getting lower. pinterest was trading as if it was going out of business, to be honest. not like a growth company. now they jumped over a very low bar. the most important thing here is third quarter revenue outlook. facebook is telling us sequential declines. snap is telling us sequential declines in revenues. and pinterest comes along and says ok, we might grow sequentially. this is not what people expected. on top of that, elliott gives you this press release of pinterest, them being the largest shareholder in pinterest. so i think a lot of bad news was priced in, and here we are, up 20%. emily: you of course have a big leadership change that happened at pinterest. the cofounder and longtime ceo, out. longtime google executive is in. how do you see pinterest's challenges different from what is facing facebook and snap? rohit: pinterest has always been a tweener. there is always a debate between, are they are social media company, or are they company tha

elliott, they're in discussion with elliott management, if you just look separately, i mean, western digital's enterprise value is below that of seagate only 15% higher sales than western digital and did analysis previously, we're indicating that individually, the hard drive business and the flash business could be worth 35% to 40% more one of the things we base that on is intel sold their flash business to highnex for 9 billion. western digital running around 9 billion so could be a substantial improvement if the right strategy is taken. >> yeah. as we look at this question that elliott is pushing of whether the pieces are worth more than the sum of the parts, when management was asked about this in the earnings call they said the strategic review was ongoing and evaluating a range of alternatives what do you think is going to happen here and what do you think the chances are they do split up the company >> well, there might be more pressure on that now given the outlook over the next six months they could spin out the hard drive division look at the valuation seagate is getting. i

because all bet you this one is really long. >> elliott? okay. we have to move on. i want to talk about some other stuff we're learning, these new details as to why trump start being resisted calls to return document to the national archives. he got some advice from conservative legal activist tom fitton after 15 boxes had been retrieved from mar-a-lago. fitton told him not to give them anything else. apparently, it became a veteran obsession of trump, he felt boxes belong to him. is bad legal advice any excuse here? >> well, number one, it's not legal advice as far as i can tell. it's advice from an individual who may have a law degree. but it's not his attorney. so, this is the problem -- >> it is bad advice period. >> it's also we're conflating political advice from legal advice. and this is not a privileged conversation with his attorney about how he ought to proceed lawfully. it's a buddy of his telling him that it sort of bad, it would be a bad practice to release this information. and look, many of the documents at issue, assuming they aren't they but we beli

elliott, thank you as. well i learned a lot.is when i was talking about at the top of the show, talking about our critical democracy siri. one-on-one on where this goes and what is important here. thank you for helping out. let's talk about monkeypox, monkeypox cases are on the rise. should we have been better prepared? especially after going through covid? i will ask white house official hailing the monthly rip-off -- that's next. gies designed to help you keep more of what you earn. and set aside more for things like healthcare, or whatever comes down the road. this is "the planning effect" from fidelity. as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network with no line activation fees or term contracts... saving you up to $500 a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost you

i think at a minimum, with elliott's position, i think the folks at elliott will hold suleman's feethe fire as he goes through this pivot and doesn't have anymore grand ideas other than let's focus on what's the best of paypal right now and get those margins back up, get return on capital, cash flow return, on capital back above that 20 handle, that historically, that's where it's been and so yeah, elliott's position is small, they're influential, and they certainly have the ceo's ear. >> are their marriages where you think they would make a good partner? >> i've looked back and forth on pinterest. marriages are tough. again, if you can buy something -- yeah, i don't know if my wife's listening to this but i mean if you can buy something cheap with a very expensive stock, great if you can buy something cheap with cash, and it's accretive, great, but those are two really big ifs. if they've got a fat pitch, great. but i really like this new pivot and focus they're talking about. i hope they execute well on it the stock should be a good performer from here if they do. >> execution is k

elliott joins us now. elliott, pat cipollone, a federal grand jury subpoena the former white house attorney for the january 6th commission. what does this mean? >> don, pat cipollone is the ultimate insider. we have seen that he was involved in or present for or a witness for so many of the key conversations. generally speaking, his role was as a voice of reason, telling them, no, you can't take over the justice department. no, you can get on board with this. no, john eastman's theories are not legal. they're not constitutional. i think one of the questions your lips as i think abby phillip was alluding to this -- is how hard is doj going to push back against these executive privilege claims, because if we think to pat cipollone's videotaped deposition testimony, which we saw in some of the hearings, there were these moments when he was asked what was your conversation with donald trump. pat cipollone would pause, turned to his lawyer, a guy who i used to work with the doj, and cipollone would say, privile

carleton: i have confidence in elliott's admission. but basically this is a company that got ahead of itself during the pandemic but there is a solid business, it became undervalued during the selloff we saw in check companies. you've got to get costs under control, return capital to shareholders. you have an activist there that is accountable. jack: give me a stock to love or too low. al: i want to dislike lucid, the electric vehicle stock. they make 6500 cars, they are having supply chain problems, still $30 billion, stock is down 10% after they said that. jack: don't how you are breaking into the car business. yeti, last christmas you told viewers to avoid it, the stock is tanked on earnings. what should investors do? al: ben: the stock benefited from the pandemic, they were looking at $80 coolers and decide to buy them. now we are here, inflation is roaring, food prices are high, people aren't buying $480 coolers or going online. i would give this some stock or going. jack: $20 at dick's or walmart, great ideas and thank you. to re

karen, what do you think of the move elliott has into this?a couple of weeks ago they started and it was a very strong endorsement of the new ceo. it is interesting to me that, the thing about elliott baking the biggest shareholder is the forward revenue guidance of. it is interesting to me that a brand-new ceo would go out on a limb to put that guidance out there. he must be very confident that they will be able to meet it. otherwise, it would be dumb. so, i have no doubt that he is a smart guy. he has got to feel really confident and that is interesting to me when you look at what that what happened with the last of rest of social media. so this is impressive. >> he would have had a free pass just leaving it alone. earnings out after the bell today and the stock jumped by eight cents per share. courtney regan joins us with the latest. courtney. >>> the shares are higher by about 2 1/2%. they also did raise its dividend by about 3%. u.s. mall and outlet mall occupancy is almost up 94% and that is up from 91.8% last year. ceo david simon says

in the meantime, let me bring in elliott. elliott, if this trump appointed judge does grant a special master, what happens next? how will this person be chosen, and how long could it take to go through all the documents? >> look, picking up on georgia's point, the problem is we do not know, because the scenario has never come up before, right? special master's are incredibly common in cases where you have attorney client privilege. it's sort of, is this privilege that exist between everyone who has ever had an attorney, right, the things you say to your attorney. it's never really been a scenario in american history where a president sought to assert executive privilege, to protect documents as georgians said, against the executive branch, the justice department, from investigating either him or other people. and so, that ties into this question of, how do you even find a special master to look at these things? number one, you are going to need some windy with either very high security clearance, or can get one. because the f

elliott can explain the way the rules work. this has been an ongoing drama in trump land. today, he should rush home. announce, russia it off before labor day. there will be another story tomorrow. eventually he will say something. that's when we will start the clock. >> elliott, is it accurate that the former president and his legal team would get a copy of the warrant which he can release to the public? isn't that warrant required to list everything they found, or some of it can be sealed? >> no. only the warrant is the administrative document that we believe there is evidence of the crime, it's got the signature. on the good stuff you are talking about is in the affidavits and applications for the warrant. he gets an inventory, all the materials that were seized from his property. if he is really saying these are declassified or an important documents or just mementos from his trip to finland, or whatever, certainly he can release that. he's going to have that information. all of the documentation that really digs into what the public wants to see isn't going to be seen

you have elliott in pinterest. now you have value act in the new york times. are others on the horizon, and given the dynamics of the market and the leverage basis that people feel like, hey. i can still make change without that threat of a proxy fight on the horizon. >> it is a fairly effective one oftentimes. getting yourself over the goal line, so to speak, with what you are after. they do have leverage in terms of their own opinions and in the marketplace of what they can do. we will see, what are they asking for, leslie, that value act? at least it wasn't completely clear beyond what you would expect. >> it was kind of a wash of things. exactly. do better. we think this is an attractive valuation play. they did say they would be interested in pursuing an awards seat at the company. it goes back to the idea -- >> it appears roughly at 70%. it is tied up in the trust. let's call it a 70%. >> the majority. >> yes. you are not going to get past anything like a one. >> and discussing changes to management, changes to board composition, changes to business stra

in elliott's new book, the fifth act, america's end in afghanistan, he notes that everything americauilt in afghanistan was made of plywood, a metaphor for our hesitation about the mission. contrast that with the british who would arrive in a country and quickly build stone monuments to symbolize their enduring empire. while i suspect that america will always be ambivalent, we'll always be the plywood imperialists. go to cnn.com/fareed for a link to my washington post column this week, and let's get started. ♪ >>> on august 11 of last year, the pentagon was telling reporters that kabul might fall in 90 days. four days later, the city fell. the sudden collapse of the afghan capital, and thus the whole country stunned the world. a u.s. government report tells us that as the taliban was taking control of the city on the afternoon of the 15th, helicopters prepared to carry ashraf ghani and his wife to safety but fearing he would be executed if he didn't part with them, they convinced the president to get on a helicopter too. they ended up making an unauthorized landing in uzbekistan wher

our exclusive with hpe ceo is next b of a likes activist elliott in the name and what it means for future shareholders. guys, got to start with snap this morning, down big in the premarket, but now in the green as they confirm that good scoop yesterday. >> this is a big deal i think, carl, because of -- i don't know if you want to call it a head fake, a crossover, they're cutting 20% of the workforce yet they're saying they're still going to be at a higher level of employees than they were a year ago which means they grew 25% or more in a year they were wrong to do it, right? this is echoes of amazon and what they said about snapping. shopify. we saw this in e-commerce. now we're seeing it expanding into other areas i wonder, dee, how long before this moves outside -- it's really -- the consumer is at the root of all of this. digital consumer behavior, e-commerce, marketing connected to e-commerce. >> bed bath & beyond, it's brick and mortar, too. what else? >> in that sense, right, this is not a surprise this is one of the first shoes to drop when we knew the economy would be slowing we

with imagine other deals on the rise and two high profile investments from elliott management this weekfund boom leslie picker is joining us. >> reporter: brian, yes. we saw an up tick in the first half of the year, but off the highs of the pre-pandemic era. 390 companies targeted 7% above the first six months of 2021 the second half is ripe with activity elliott confirming stakes in pinterest and paypal this week alone. the ecosystem is buzzing with bankers and advisers to companies and telling me they are expecting an unprecedented second half of the year. >> we are setting up for a good year if it continues at this pace, it is likely to be a record year for activism unless there is something major, there is something that disrupts the markets, there should be activity in the back end of the year. >> markets, of course, are a key driver with valuations stabilizing for many companies at lower levels. that is true of growth tech which has been forbidden fruit among activists because of the dual class share trucstructures i'm told that activists like elliott are not dissuade there is als

elliott williams, thank you.avid, scott, stay with us as well. >>> look, barely after a month -- barely a month after the supreme court overturned roe v. way in the dobbs decision, a red state, known as kansas, send answer unexpected message. what do republicans do now after kansas voters shut down a bid to end abortion rights. i'm going to ask a former u.s. attorney for kansas appointed by then president trump. you know what? his personal views might just surprise you. that's next. purchases on your discover card. lysol is donating 28 million wipes to schools in need, so they can kill 99.9% of viruses and bacteria. keeping kids together here, at places like the lunch table. where they can share who they truly are. chicken nugget man. because when kids are together, they thrive. lysol. here for healthy schools. >> tech: cracked windshield? don't wait. go to safelite.com you can schedule service in just a few clicks. it's so easy. and more customers today are relying on their cars advanced safety features, like au

i'm jim elliott editorial director of publishers weekly and with me as chris finding author of a new book how free speech save democracy just out the last few weeks from stairford. press i've now chris for probably better than 30 years carly. he's executive director of the national coalition against censorship and before that. he had a long stint overseeing american booksellers foundation for free expression. and so chris. i thought maybe we would begin there and talking about, you know, maybe some of you earlier background how you got interested in this whole free speech moving and how that will they keep the country free. i've been doing this for over 40 years now. and i got involved in the early 80s i was looking for a job after i left graduate school. and i found an ads on ad in the new york times when they used to have classified ads and it was for a coordinator for a first amendment trade association. i had no idea what that was. but it sounded like me, you know, that sounded like a great opportunity. i i was very interested in in the issue at one point. i thought i was going t

elliott, how unprecedented is this? the attorney general of the united states breaking the silence on an ongoing investigation, and effectively calling the former president's bluff. >> excellent way to put it, wolf. what this does is it puts the onus on the president to say whether he wants this information released or not released. the three things that the attorney general said in this truly unprecedented statement, without talking about the substance of what was in there, number one, he approved it personally, that this is -- the buck stops with him. number two, the justice department doesn't just go knocking down people's doors and trying to find the least intrusive means possible, and number three, attacks on my folks are baseless and are corrosive to democracy. so there were three important, powerful statements without ever saying what was in the documents, which is sort of along the lines of what any attorney general would and should have done. >> dramatic stuff, indeed. gloria, the attorney general confirmed tha

let's discuss all of this, and more, with maggie haberman of the "new york times," and elliott williamslet's start on the legal front. we are awaiting possibly some more information about why the fbi took the extraordinary step to search trump's home. but there is just a kind of field of problems, a mine field, frankly, of problems for trump. what do you think he should be the most concerned about? >> oh, goodness, abby, all of it for a number of reasons. no investigator can even get in the door, literally, for a search warrant unless probable cause for a crime is found. it's important to step back and realize that number one you have investigators in georgia getting close to that point and number two you had a search warrant executed at the president's home. and then number three, legal woes in new york city. all of it is incredibly concerning, all of it particularly given that it's the former president of the united states being investigated. it's very hard to say that there's one because the totality of it is such a problem. >> we don't know a whole lot. but maggie, what strikes me a

let's turn right away to cnn senior justice correspondent evan perez and legal analyst elliott williams, a former deputy assistant attorney general under president obama. we have douglas london with us, today, a former cia operations officer and the author of "the recruiter: spying and the lost art of american intelligence." particularly apropos today, i should add. evan, i want to begin with you because i want to know, what can we learn from this search warrant and the receipts about the case that they might be at least investigating if not maybe building? >> well, laura, what this tells us is that this is a very serious case obviously. this is -- these are the statutes that the agents gave to the judge before they -- when they sought to get permission to do this search on monday. and obviously one of the ones that jumps out at us is the espionage statute. which the way that one works is, you know, it sort of bypasses the immediate defense that you're already hearing from donald trump and his allies, his legal team, which is, well, he declassified everything. and what this statute talk

i think elliott said it best.s and the law warrant this, then the process has to be allowed to happen, except for one thing, there is a political question here about whether or not -- his administration, can, will, and ike the person he defeated, -- who may well be a candidate that is not a small issue here. so, there will be a lot of people in america who may not think donald trump did anything right or good on gender six. but don't think it's right for donald trump to -- the political question has to weigh on -- >> because the thought is he's trying to silence a political political >> that is how it is seen by millions of americans. you may disagree with that, we may not think it's right, but that is not something you can ignore, i think when you are dealing with it. we are in uncharted waters. >> i think you are right. there is a political reality to indicting the former president at united states. look at the mountain of evidence, we have seen the number of people prosecuted around him, at least in connection

i think elliott said it best.law warrant this, then the process has to be allowed to happen except for one thing. there is a political question here about whether the sitting president of the united states and his administration should, can, will indict the person he defeat, the former president, who may well be a candidate for that office in the future. that is not a small issue here. so, there will be a lot of people in america who, you know, may not think donald trump did anything right or good on january 6th but don't think it's right for joe biden to indict him. the political question has to weigh on the final decision. >> because the thought is that he is trying to silence a potential political opponent? >> that's how it would be seen by millions of americans. now, you may disagree with that and you may not think that's right. that's not something you can ignore, i think, when you're dealing with -- i mean, we're in uncharted waters. >> i think you're absolutely right. there is a political right to indicting

elliott's lawyer, but this guy deserves everything, everything that he gets out of this. i mean, these people lost their kids, they were terrorists by this guy for years. terrorized by the sky for years. it is outrageous! i mean, it is easy to think that society is falling apart all around us. history can strike a blow for common american decency by doing everything they can do to this guy. >> it's not just the story, another one in connecticut coming up for this. >> texas, this is texas. >> this is texas! so no matter how it ends up for him, it doesn't look like it will be pretty well, he still goes on to another defamation suit. there has got to be a cost for defaming and hurting innocent people. this wasn't political speech. and a lot of what his attorneys are talking about, opposing the first amendment, he had the right to engage, but it's not. you know, you are targeting innocent individuals, and you are not speaking out on a broader political point. it is terrible. and it is perjury, based on what we saw there. i mean, he has lied under oath with an intent to deceiv

elliott, let me begin with you. to talk about how high up this would've had to go at doj in this political environment given the stakes to stay yes go ahead. go to this judge. asked for this search warrant and then would fbi agents or prosecute sort of had to accomplish to get a church to say yes go ahead. >> it was absolutely -- let's start with -- in order to get any search warrant whether it's against president of the united states or not, investigators have to establish probable cause that number one, a crime was committed and that number two, there is evidence of that crime that they found at those promises somewhere. it doesn't even need to be a crime that person committed. just that there is evidence there. so that the interesting -- then there's this added layer within the justice department where it would be grossly or responsible for a law enforcement to go to a former presidents house or frankly any elected official or prominent person's house without taking it up to at least the deputy attorney general i

i want to go into a little bit of this, elliott.ome in with this as well, jessica. the lower case e that's hidden. lawyers at the table who say turn your table, the little e. that's the focus here. it's 793e and relates to the espionage act saying the code doesn't use the term classified information. it doesn't mean the mishandling though declassified docs could also be a crime? >> right. and we've gotten on this classification and declassification train that somehow if the president had declassified these documents therefore they would have been no crime committed. and that is simply not accurate. now look there's a number of other problems and regulations when you mishandle sensitive classified information. but nearly having certain documents in your possession is a criminal offense. that's what they are getting here. >> and i know oftentimes the government is accused of overclassified everything. prosecutors could get a ham sandwich. and actually they actually go through a variety of different topics here. >> some of the people i

elliott, thanks so much.your assessment of the white house's efforts to get our allies, our partners in afghanistan out? >> well, unfortunately, you know, a year later there really is no method to get those afghans who are still trapped in the country under the taliban out. what we should really be focusing on as well is what we can do for the afghans who have come to the united states and there is legislation such as the afghan adjustment act that will make it easier for them to settle and work in the u.s but ultimately as you alluded to in the top of the piece, this is a massive failure for the united states and the biden administration how this withdrawal went one year ago >> you've said that you helped get some 200 people out. is there one who might stand out to you and a story you might share with our audience? >> when so much of this was happening, the word i've fallen onto is it was a collapse. one of the things for many veterans involved in this, it was a collapse of time and so in my own case, one of

response now from elliott williams, who was deputy attorney general at the doj, also here evan perez, and doug heye, former rnc communications director. i love the smile shot, announcing that moment in time. look, it's been two weeks since the search on mar-a-lago. the big question is, i mean, why now is the filing? why wait so long? we know there has been a history in the past of having a special master review for privileged documents in the michael cohen case, right? so, why do you think he's waiting so long now? >> look, it's been a mystery. we've been talking about this actually for a couple of weeks. and we frankly thought it would have happened the day of the search or certainly in the days afterwards. what this is, if you read the document that they filed in court, is partially a pr strategy, right, which is to air the president's grievances -- the former president's grievances -- about the previous investigation. but there is something here that if he had done it earlier perhaps might have worked. there still might be a judge's ruling that will help him here, which is to pause