i told you remember that name, tom fitton. he's a pro-trump activist, the president of judicial watch. but notably, he's not a lawyer. tonight, we have new reporting that shows he has been playing a major role in trump's resistance when it comes to handing over records. this might surprise you, given he does have a legal team. i'll look at how that's going to trump's public bravado when growing fears behind the scenes in trump's orbit about a potential charge or indictment, concerns that frankly might go all the way to the former president. here to talk about all this are three actual lawyers and top legal and investigative minds, shan wu, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney, bradley moss, a national security lawyer, and john wood, a former u.s. attorney and senior investigator for the january 6th committee. that's quite a panel, i must say. i want to begin here for a moment because, shan, brad -- and i'll get back to you as well, john -- can you help unpack a little bit for people -- we keep hearing about the ide

fitton seemed to believe that the former president had full authority over presidential records that white house to mar-a-lago at the end of his presidency. i want to read to you what one person close to former president donald trump told us in describing the influence that fitton had. here is what they said. the moment that tom got involved -- got in the boss' ear it was downhill from there. so we know that trump didn't totally heed this advice from tom fitton because of course as cnn and others have reported his attorneys did turn over further documents to federal investigators in june of this year, but our sources do tell us that around the time that fitton started calling him and delivering these arguments to him he began to break down his willingness to cooperate, kate. >> gabby, you're also reporting that trump appears to be prioritizing kind of a political strategy around this whole situation over any legal strategy. how are people in his orbit kind of reacting to that? >> i will tell you this has really split his camp. there are some allies and advisers to the former presiden

and the legal advice and from whom he's getting from conservative activist tom fitton. one person close to the former president said once trump took fitton's advice, quote, it was all downhill from there. this was sources tell cnn trump and his allies have become increasingly concerned about the potential legal implications from all this. plus, president biden fresh off what democrats believe are a winning streak, kicking off the midterm campaign season with a fiery speech in maryland. the president rebuked some trump-supporting republicans calling the extreme maga philosophy as it is known semifascism. his terms. >> so a lot to get to this morning. our reporters, correspondents are here covering all of the top stories this morning. let's begin on what we will get from doj sometime in the next three hours with our senior justice correspondent evan perez. talk about this affidavit that could come at any moment. what is expected to be allowed for the public to see, and how unprecedented is it for an affidavit to be released at this time? >> poppy, it is pretty unprecedent

here is tom fitton's logic.ne what he's doing with them. he can tear them up. but once the records are designated as presidential, that's when this restriction about disposal occurs. >> here's my question. is it true that everything a president touches for four years by definition is part of the presidential records? or do they have some personal stuff that they can take with them? >> you know, alisyn, there is a distinction under the presidential records act. just to be clear, that is different from these criminal statutes we're talking about. the presidential records act is a post-watergate reform that essentially says officially that official records belong to the american people, not to the individual that is exiting the white house. under that statute, sure, if he's got, you know, a holiday card from melania or a birthday card, that's personal, he can take that. it's not something that under the presidential records act an individual president can just decide for him or herself, there's a process in place.

copy personal under the presidential records act and that is -- that is what the 2012 decision tom fitton judicial watch's case against bill clinton for having 8 years of audiotape in the socks drawer. can make the sole determination whether personal belong to the president or presidential throordz go to the archives. >> judge jeanine: i don't mean to rush you but i want to get these questions. i was shocked to see classified documents and photos on a floor released by the fbi, why is the fbi staging evidence like this? i mean, i'm in law enforcement for 30 years. i have never seen anything like this. is this a legal issue or a political pr issue? >> this is a political issue. they know that they do not have a legal case against president trump for what we just discussed and so this is desperation on their part to put out these files. again, the president had the right to have these records and the former president has federally paid for staff, security clearances, secure facilities called scifs and secret service protection these are paper records guarded by the secret service not illega

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 believe they are in that information is available, merely being in possession of them in a manner that they were held, is itself a crime. or could be a crime. the mere idea that someone else, some advisor, was telling him that he ought to hold on to the them. it's not going to be a defense should ever be charged with a crime

in fact, its full release, just judicial watch president tom fitton joins me now.s it approximately what you anticipated? >> it's a little bit more than i think we were initially anticipating given the justice department's desperate position that none of it be released, but clearly, they wanted to release enough information and make trump look bad but in the end, and i'm glad for the transparencies as far as it went, it shows that it was a weak tea basis to raid president trump's home. there was a significant dispute about the nature of the document s, whether they were classified or declassified. the idea that the archives could come in and police the president 's holding of records after the presidency is not supported by law, so in many ways, it shows that they didn't really have much, and they manufactured an argument that they didn't want to manufacture with anyone else whether it be president obama or hillary clinton or anyone or bill clinton as we found, to justify this raid on the home and it's a shame. i don't understand why the court approved it. the issu

and tom fitton joins us now. tom , thank you so much for being with us. what are your thoughts on not only donald trump's tax returns but the motion you have filed to see the warrantax that led to this fbi raid? well, you know, to me it's two sides of the same coin, right? you have this unprecedented attack on the former president with this raid thates is inherently controversial and necessarily demands disclosures about how it happened. who's responsibleis? so we're asking a federal court to release it as quickly as possible with doj. silence on it is deafening and we hope that doj doesn't oppose us there. the biden doj, to be clear. buthe on the other hand , you have the democrats in congresshe use their so-called overthoughto oversight abilities to target the president personally, again asking for confidential taxki information, taxes from before he was president, taxes from when he was president, his tax returns from after he's president and unfortunately the courts here in the district of columbia ratified that abuse, pretended that there's no politi

was that good legal advice from tom fitton to the former president? >> i think it's probably not very good advice to the president because obviously the public is going to react very poorly to him taking particularly classified material. not only classified material, but, of course, that sci material which is the top level of classified material. anybody who is advising the president that it's okay for him to hold on to that stuff in a storage room at mar-a-lago, i've got a problem with that advice. >> so normally, and these are not normal times or nor is this a normal situation, david, but normally an affidavit would never be unsealed in any way, shape or form and only if and until charges were brought. it's very possible that charges in this investigation are not brought against the former president. if that turns out to be the case, what happens with this affidavit? because i think then you will maybe have an even louder drum beat of then what was the search for? put it all out there, et cetera. would it then be -- would there be any point when it

tom fitton joins us now. tom, without more information, it looks like the biden doj raided the home of president biden's future political opponent, is that what happened yesterday or is there any other possible justification for this rai >> there is pressure to prosecute and harass trump and they did what their leftist advocates or pressure groups wanted. this raid will go down in infame, the biden administration passed the rubicon in terms of attacking president trump and opponents by misusing law enforcement. this is continuation of what we saw during the obama administration, through the trump administration, even had the fbi and attack trump during the trump administration and now biden. if this is about records and our understanding of the law, we sued over bill clinton having presidential record and a left-wing court in district of columbia said too bad, the president has authority to designate white house record as personal records and do what they want with them. this is weak tea and no ready justific

stuart: that's what tom fitton wants as well. week. down market this monday morning, dow is up about 100 points, the opening bell is next. keep your eye on the money, keep your eye on the money ♪ moving forward with node- positive breast cancer is overwhelming. but i never just found my way; i made it. and did all i could to prevent recurrence. verzenio reduces the risk of recurrence of hr-positive, her2-negative, node-positive, early breast cancer with a high chance of returning,... as determined by your doctor when added to hormone therapy. hormone therapy works outside the cell... ...while verzenio works inside to help stop the growth of cancer cells. diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection. at the first sign, call your doctor, start an antidiarrheal, and drink fluids. before taking verzenio, tell your doctor about any fever, chills, or other signs of infection. verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. life-threatening lung inflammati

instead, he's taking legal advice like conservative activists tom fitton who told trump not to cooperatenvestigation, and he's still saying the same thing. >> he should go back and say, these are all my personal records. i want them back. >> other people close to the former president are urging him to tack a different route. one trump ally cold cnn after the affidavit was unsealed that trump, quote, really needs a competent defense attorney even more now. joining our panel are both of the washington post, this is a common theme for the former president. he has always a lot of people whispering in his ear things that don't really make a whole lot of sense, but a lot of times, they confirm things he already feels. he went on truth social after this affidavit was released and with a very strong statement calls the affidavit heavily redacted, attacks the fbi and doj and he came claims, we gave them much, which they were entitled to in the first place. >> these are government records that he should have given them before he left office. saying that he gave them much does not cover up the fact

returned to the national archives, former president donald trump started receiving calls from tom fittonservative legal activism group. in their conversations, fitten told him, first of all, you shouldn't have returned those boxes to the national archives because they're yours, and he laid out his case for why he believes trump has full authority over any records that he brought from the white house to his properties when he left the presidency. now, of course, donald trump didn't necessarily listen to fitten all the time. we know that in june attorneys for the former president did hand over additional documents to federal investigators. but he became more and more uncooperative, our sources tell us, after fitten penetrated his orbit and started influencing him and telling him he had authority over the presidential records that were at mar-a-lago, and that if archives or federal investigators came knocking again, he didn't need to give those things back. >> and also, gabby, there seems to be a lot of angst right now over trump's legal team's competency. why? >> kate, i think the sheer vo

tom fitton, we appreciate you being here. >> you're welcome. thank you, bye-bye.another huge story, and that is the inflation report. in the last year consumer prices went up 8.5%. now, that does hurt poor people. the white house says, hey, let's spend a lot more money to help hose poor people. edward lawrence, will that work? >> reporter: well, you know, just look at the inflation reduction act. all of the models with that act show that it will have a nominal, almost no effect on inflation until the end of 2024. so when you take out food and energy prices in this core inflation, it's at 5.9% year-over-year again this month. that shows that inflation is sticky and puts pressure on the federal reserve that they will have to act a little bit more aggressive at the september meeting. we have one more report between then, but still. so inside these numbers, we look at at a this, all food is up 10.9%. eggs increased 38% over the past 12 months, cereal, baking products up 15 percent. fresh biscuits, rolls, muffins up 13.9%. meat, poultry, eggs and fish up 9.3%. milk is

soun they were ordered releasede tom fitton sued them today. they announced that they sued to free those documents off.. all of those things areck the backdrop. ng here's the final piece. the washington field office is the office of the agents came from to do this raid today . thatat is the same office that one week ago today, exactly one week ago today. senator chuck grassley divulged there are whistleblowers saying that specific office and its assistant special agent in charge engaged in political tampering and investigations, in fact openededing ons. one investigatn against donald trump without a part of it, tried toho close down one investigation against hunter by the fbi, remove the official the agent inha charge without interrupting you . i think it's important that we get an answer to this. what is the normal practice? send washington field office agents when you have miamimi ffield office agents which are much closer to mar a lago, it can be normal in this respect that the russia field office may have more evidence about the case, may k

judicial watch president tom fitton is on the show with the very late nest that investigation, next. ♪ ashley: my heart is in havana but we'd all like to be on clear water beach. that's clear water, florida. 80 degrees there and a few folks out there and follow us on spotify if you like the music we play on the show. scan the qr code on your screen next to the smiling stuart varney. check the markets, we started the morning right out of the gate positive. modestly so but since turned south and as you can see, the dow off 174 points. down another half a percent and same story for the s&p and nasdaq composite. now this, we've been getting into this story today, the top fbi agent in charge of the hunter biden case, timothy thibault resigned. griff jenkins following that story in dc today. griff, is he being accused of political bias in the handling of this case? >> that's the question and according to sources who spoke to fox news, they said, ashley, that the 25 year fbi veteran who worked in the washington field office was walked out of the building on friday, all though the source str