not merrick garland. so when you have the target of the search making it pun, the interest of saying oh, we don't want to hurt the civil liberties of the target of the investigation by casting aspersions, that carries a lot less weight to acknowledge then that there in fact is an investigation because the target of the investigation has himself made it public. so i'm sure that weighed in on merrick garland's decision today. i'm going to take the other side of the wager from neal and say that i do think that he's going to talk about the search. i think it's pretty hard to come out and not say something. even though i'm confident that everyone will be left with a lot of questions because i don't think he's going to go into a lot of detail. but i think it's pretty hard to come out, not say anything and neal will certainly at the end, when this is over, you know, chastise me if i got this wrong. >> we will see. tim nichols, i know we only have a for a couple month minutes, so i just want to get you in one mor

about merrick garland.ssued a written statement, after merrick garland spoke today, but it was a rehash. of the stuff that he has already set. something the staff could have put together and using lines that he has already use this week. i'm gonna written out and it's entirely just to demonstrate that it is donald trump's version of being speechless. this is his version of silence because these words were all use and previous ailments this week. he actually put out a statement tonight simply saying, my tony and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships have been established. the government could have had whatever they want to, if we had it. they asked us to put an additional lock on a certain area, done. everything was fine, better than that most previous presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, mar-a-lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by very large numbers of agents and even safe crackers. they got way ahead of themselves, crazy! >> that's it, that's it that

so fine, says garland. let's put the facts about the search out and the judges and the public will see from yourself what items you were hiding, he might say to mr. trump. garland is a very different operator than trump or most of his lawyers. it seems like he might take a few rounds of criticism or punches before he legally acts. but mr. garland now after moving quietly is acting, and trump is out here complaining with his allies darkly and violently and menacingly threatening some kind of unrest. the search is unprecedented. i've got to tell you, the contours of this kind of stand-off are kind of actually classic. let me tell you what i mean. trump used to have power. but legally in the united states, he now has no federal power. garland is powerful. he is the one with far more moves that he is able to make. garland is the one who actually knows things that neither the former president or the current president would know. and as beanie segal put it so simply, the strong move quiet, the weak start riots. d

even then, there wasn't a public statement from garland. there was only a taped video from national security officials, and so we are waiting to see what garland has to say today and whether it will be addressing the mar-a-lago search that happened three days ago. >> if he's going to address this, how far he's willing to go. of course, we'll bring that to everyone live when it happens. thank you very much. >>> meantime, we are learning much more about what led to the unprecedented fbi search of former president trump's home. new cnn reporting shows the tension between the trump team and the justice department over sensitive documents had been escalating for months. so, sources reveal federal investigators obtained a grand jury subpoena and served it during a meeting in june when they were visiting there at mar-a-lago. during that meeting, investigators saw where documents were held and took some sensitive national security documents with them. sources also tell cnn that after that meeting, at least one witness tipped off investigators that

when he was judge garland.his psyche and the widely noted moderation, his sobriety and all the things that would have kept him from ever wanting to make a statement like he made today. talk about what you think it was in the course of these few days that would have weighed most heavily on his mind and drove him to the point where he decided to go out, make this statement, do what the department did, and say what he said on behalf of federal law enforcement. >> well, you know, i think that merrick garland's demonstrated here some attributes, some aspects of his personality and his mind that were not always visible because he was a judge for so long, but his agility, his responsiveness, and i think that, you know, he did a couple of things that were really important and go to the heart of who he is. first of all, he's a leader, and he stood up for the men and women who work for him at the fbi and the department of justice. he took responsibility for what they do, and he said that he would protect them and that he

but garland's really done that. i suspect still the kind of quiet voices, the ones saying let's follow the department's traditional rules will win out in the end. so i don't expect a lot of fulsome discussion here. but i he very well may be wrong. andrew is right more often than i am. so i may lose this bet. we'll see. >> well, we got indication that he's going to be talking about the search. so we'll see if -- how much detail we get about it. again, we should be about a minute away from not less to merrick garland. chuck rosenberg, going to squeeze one more question in to you. what are you expecting? tell us again. >> well, i would never bet with neal or andrew. they're both smarter than me and would take my money. but the affidavit has to be unsealed at some point because it will no longer be a legitimate law enforcement purpose for keeping it sealed. so that wouldn't shock me. just to add a little bit of color, as you look at this podium on your screen, off to the left there's a door and behind that door is a sma

. -- >> thank you, attorney general garland. the complaint alleges that idaho's law is contrary to impala because it presumptively criminalizes all abortions, making it a felony for doctors to provide emergency treatment required by federal law, even where a denial of care will likely result in the death of the pregnant patient. the idaho law flatly prohibits abortion even were medically -- where medically necessary to protect the health of the patient, such as where women are experiencing incomplete miscarriage or severe preeclampsia. specifically, idaho's law, which takes effect on august 25, places the burden on physicians to prove at trial following arrest and indictment that they are not criminally liable. physicians can only do so by providing by proving that the abortion they performed was necessary for one of two reasons -- to prevent the death of a pregnant woman or in response to a case of rape or incest that was previously reported to the police, or in the case of a minor to child protective services. physicians who d

merrick garland said, yes.a monica and merrick garland and involve classified information and by extension, involved american national security, merrick garland said, i don't care where they are, go get them. i think that what we learned -- and again, i really don't think merrick garland is trying to send anyone a signal, not donald trump, not you and not me, but what we do know is where there are crimes, merrick garland didn't draw a line around mar-a-lago and say, this is too precious, this is too sacred. he said go, get it. >> or that this will cause too much of a kerfuffle. i think there are times, often the most powerful signals, the most powerful tells are ones that you're not trying to send. they're the things that the careful eye sees the tell, and says, now i know something about that guy. he didn't mean to tell me that but i know something about him. here's tim o'brien. i'll ask you a couple questions and let you get back to your investigation. tim says, trump's search should be garland's opening act.

that just underlines what garland was saying. it's underlining it to the judge that's going to have to review this. and the other thing that happens is that the justice department does do what they normally would do in a situation like this. they say we would like to give the former president and his attorneys the opportunity to respond to this request. so donald trump's attorneys will be able to take a position in court on whether they want this to be public. and what's fascinating about that is that these three days have gone by, we have heard trump speak publicly. they have had an opportunity to file, to suppress whatever was collected in the search if they wanted to. we even saw something like that in a very separate recent search in a different investigation related to john eastman, the president's elections lawyer. in that case there was a search warrant and -- both of these types of documents, the returns, they were all made public in court. this is what eastman filed. he put it into his court record to make it public, to

attorney general merrick garland did today. he spoke a little under five minutes here at main justice headquarters. what he did, charles, he put the ball back in the hands of the former president's legal team. now the department of justice is saying we want to unseal the search warrant so everybody can see what is inside and see the items taken. now it's up to the trump legal team to object and say let's be transparent and do so. charles, this is a rapidly-moving story as you know. something else that many want to see including myself, including you, people want to see this affidavit. the affidavit will be the reason that the judge authorized and signed off on that search warrant. we could find that as soon as monday. right now the judge is considering a motion from some organizations that have sued to make some documents public. so we could see that as soon as monday. as far as when the search warrant will be released right now, it's in the hands of the trump legal team. charles? >> charles: before you go a lot of speculation

garland: good afternoon, everyone.oday, the justice department filed a lawsuit against the state of idaho. the suit seeks to hold invalid the state's criminal prohibition on providing abortions, as applied to women who are suffering medical emergencies. under a federal law known as the emergency medical treatment and labor act, or emtala, every hospital that receives medicare funds must provide necessary stabilizing treatment to a patient who arrives at an emergency room suffering from a medical condition that could place their life or health in serious jeopardy. in some circumstances, the medical treatment necessary to stabilize the patient's condition is abortion. this may be the case, for example, when a woman is undergoing a miscarriage that threatens septic infection or hemorrhage, or is suffering from severe preeclampsia. when the hospital determines that an abortion is the medical treatment necessary to stabilize the patient's emergency medical condition, it is required by federal law to provide that treatment.

merrick garland has been silent this week. procedure here at the justice department to be silent for an ongoing investigation. however, he is the attorney general and has the discretion to say something if he wants to, we are not going to say we know 100% what he's going to be talking about but sources say he is going to be speaking today at 2:30, so we will tune in and see what he has to say. >> sandra: 2:30 p.m. eastern time, we will obviously carry that live from the justice department. attorney general merrick garland will be giving a statement. obviously, david, with the backdrop of getting very little information and slow to respond after now we are on day three after the raid of the former president's mar-a-lago estate. so, one can only assume that is what this statement will be on. one can assume all eyes on the news conference expecting any sort of update on this situation and information that the attorney general will be providing the country. >> david: can i add something, sandra? the fbi director, christopher wray

that wasn't indicated by merrick garland. he's saying that they have the warrant, they have the receipt as you say of what was taken. but what they don't have is the underlying affidavit that prompted this judge to say, okay, go in, based on what you're saying is potentially criminal, that needs to be taken out of that residence right now. i mean, it all goes to the question which understandably michael mukasey couldn't answer but where is this going? >> bret: where is it going? you know, you still don't see a tie to january 6. you see classified documents. we don't have the answers to the key questions yet. even though there was this five-minute statement, we have a lot more questions now i think. we have one question answered that the attorney general was personally involved. that was from sources, various sources and various media outlets not clear. other people in the doj said he was removed from the decision. that was all straightened out from his point of view. what was not is the cause. they're saying it's going to com

garland's admission was not a surprise. after all, this man is spearheading the most wide-ranging investigation in department history with a january 6th probe, i don't know if you noticed, the same merrick garland who used the department of justice and fbi to target parents as domestic terrorists, which we know they are, for exercising their right to free speech at school board meetings, which we televise a lot of it, and play back even more of it. while merrick garland has done nothing to do anything for skyrocketing crime in major cities, he's declared white supremacy is the greatest american threat. he's not about ensuring equal justice. we saw a man that's desperate. in the words of one senior justice department official the raid was, quote, a spectacular backfire, no joke. merrick garland and the biden administration in their arrogance thought they could raid donald trump's home, and get away with it quietly, simply because they didn't wear windbreakers that said, "fbi" on them. americans have lost trust in the fbi sad

they say merrick garland didn't even see it. now merrick garland comes out and says actually i did.uld have come out monday night after the president revealed the information and then you wouldn't have him in front of the cameras not answering questions from the press. there's a reason why merrick garland is at the top of list for republicans if they take back the house they want to investigate. talking about the schools, remember, domestic terrorists. talking about they did not do anything at the justice department to protect supreme court justices being attacked and judicial crisis network just put out a million dollars add talking about that. that's before this even happened and that just all happened today. so the last thing i'll say because in the feed block we're going to talk about the white house and i have a lot about that. i don't understand how a document can be this critical. unless it has -- you want the picture, you're saying if it has a picture of putin and trump making out. short of the nuclear codes being written on these documents in a lock behind closed doors, i j

and merrick garland doesn't understand. this is a typical lawyer that trump has bumped around over the years. some new york pa that he has had powers with. merrick garland is everything that donald trump isn't. he is the epitome of integrity, educated, civil. cool minded. and only moves when he is forced to. anybody who thinks that garland came in to be attorney general with the idea of rating mar-a-lago and going after donald trump doesn't know him. so i think he's been coy this week, got it done, did the press conference today. we will see what happens. but if this has something to do, which it looks like it does with trump bringing nuclear documents, anything that of a national security concern to mar-a-lago. refusing to give it up. we are dealing with a big, big time in history moment here. where the president of the united states is almost committing the kind of treason. by having it at a treason resort in florida. nuclear documents. >> do you agree carl? >> i don't think we're there yet. but i think what we know is th

after donald trump doesn't know merrick garland. so i think he's been kind of coy this week, got it done, did the press conference today and see what happens, but if this has something to do, which it looks like it does, with trump bringing nuclear documents to mar-a-lago refusing to give them up, we're dealing with a big, big time history moment here where the president of the united states is almost committing a kind of treason by having at a cheesy resort in florida our key nuclear documents. >> do you agree, carl? >> i don't think we're there yet, but i think what we know is that there are in mar-a-lago unsecure, have been for months and months and months documents that the russians, that the chinese, that our foreign adversaries would love to have. that is the importance. we are going to learn in a granular way what those documents are. does it relate to nuclear weapons, to nuclear codes? we don't know yet. "the washington post" is reporting it has to do with something nuclear. that's certainly possible. what we do know with mo

also, merrick garland, keep in mind, he was very clear today. he was not doing, he was not talking about the ongoing investigation. what he was doing is explaining the justice department's reasoning. and that is something that he needed to do in order to basically combat the fact that trump and his allies were filling the void with information misinformation, and things that were outright untrue. and he did not want to follow the path of robert mueller. the former special counsel, who made no motions to correct the record at all. and who saw his entire investigation be sort of re-defined by trump. >> joyce, what does the law say about the mishandling of classified documents? because if these are of a nuclear nature, that's a whole other category. >> well it is and we are speculating steph, because we don't know precisely what's the facts are. but of course president trump who was outraged by what he perceived as hillary clinton's misconduct ultimately the fbi cleared her up knowingly possessing classified material. and no action was taken. but d

before the house and question him however, that is not likely to slow mer rick garland down. merrick garland has to be concerned about a lot more other things among those are the fact that executing a search warrant on a former president's home is going to draw a lot of jutescrutiny nw york city no matter what. they know that this particular search warrant may be one of the more scrutinized search warrants ever in search warrant history >> past the midterms, past that to 2024. if trump runs again there and it turns out that he did break the law, talk about that and talk about how that may cost him the presidency if, in fact, there was a crime here. >> it certainly could cost home the presidency in a very strange set of affairs, it could be that the only thing that would prevent him from running would be impeachment proceedings and not necessarily pending criminal charges. but at the same time, merrick garland and the doj have to think about that we're coming into a number of different election seasons, not just the midterms, the 2024 election you could argue is already starti

steve: and like the establishment poodle that he is garland one —- garland pandered they love callingam bar his personal lawyer that merrick garland is not just biden's personal lawyer but the democrats msnbc, cnn personal lawyer. merrick garland is the personal lawyer for the entire rage filled establishment after trump blood they have a pledge to same the soul of america instead they are ripping us apart. until they are gone with riding and his gang it will be impossible for americans to believe we have equal justice under the law because right now we have something very different a politicized justice system to protect the ruling establishment and punishes anyone who dares to challenge it. tell us what you think and share this message when we post it now bring in our post one —- first guest tonight , what did you make of that press conference earlier this week? >> when i wasn't laughing i was trying to pay attention but what struck me is that he unwittingly undermined his own argument for the intrusive search warrant and stood there in front of cameras and said it is a standard pra

this is an issue of show us the goods, attorney garland. you have to follow the law just as donald trump has to follow the law. congress has oversight. and the full ability to see these documents. justify that you went into this man's house for nine hours. >> it was the former president's social media network. you asked what it was. it was the former president's social media network. >> i said who. i said i don't know who said that. what i said is i don't know who -- >> who said what. >> and i certainly -- you know, you're saying that someone on social media said that. i'm telling you what i have said. >> i'm saying breitbart reported it. his social media network put it out. >> my entire republican committee membership openly at the beginning of our press conference demanding -- as has bipartisan demands been -- >> which is separate from what i'm asking. which is not what i'm asking, sir. >> we did so by first openly condemning all violence against any law enforcement and by specifically saying we honor those men and women who serve in the

garland statement today? >> as you know, he is in south carolina with his family at this time. i've not spoken to him. he is taking a little time, still doing the work of the american people, but taking some time with his family. >> let me ask you, the other big thing we saw today, was someone walking into cincinnati fbi office, armed, clearly with the intent to hurt people. that person is now dead. as this rhetoric amps up against the fbi, against the doj, can you give us a sense of the types of conversations that are happening inside the white house about what is going to be necessary in order to shield law enforcement? >> well we condemn violence of any kind. and we've always been incredibly consistent about that. we have said especially during this time, peaceful protest is appropriate. people should be able to voice their opinion. about whatever issues on their minds. but we condemn violence of any kind. and again, when it comes to what's currently happening, we just are not going to comment, we leave th

except for garland's prosecutors.t trump and founder of america first legal. all right, stephen, let's just say donald trump had a secret server for 4 years at mar-a-lago and it was discovered with classified information that he had you throw acid all over and just handed back to garland only the work-related e-mails that worked fine but he deleted everything personal. and everyone was okay with that. right? it is fine. >> stephen: don't forget smashing 13 phones to smithereens like the seen out of some cheap mafia film. henry literally selected for herself but these are the e-mail's i would like you to say. the rest i will destroy it and don't ask any questions about the millions and billions of dollars being paid to my husband for speaking fees that just magically coincide with my business as secretary of state or the fortunes pouring in from foreign governments. all, but it does all coincidences i'm sure. here is the core bottom line and all of this. we all know that hillary clinton is corrupt. we all know that she

kudos to merrick garland.cause i've been questioning whether he had the stomach for this fight. yesterday, that was a gangster move. i say that in a positive way. m.g. is the o.g. he came out and did something i've never seen before. he put trump in a box. he is forcing him to either agree to releasing the documents he never wanted released, or to try to block it. either way, he looks bad. either way, merrick garland wins. >> so donald trump has said that, oh, sure, release them, but i think we still need to hear that initially from his attorney. that could change. let's bring into the conversation author and msnbc political analyst, annan, good to have you on this morning. >> good to be here. >> joe, the backdrop to the information we now so far, and i keep trying to back up, back up, back up, because we don't know what was in there yet. >> we don't know yet. >> but rhetoric surrounding all of this. >> terrible. >> it's got a lot of echoes of january 6th. >> oh, yeah, no doubt about it. and we're seeing the c

merrick garland seems to be absent without leave on this. i was surprised by his statement yesterday. he talked about one aspect outside of the documents with regard to his approval. he didn't swat down the suggestions this could be a pretext for january 6. he didn't address some of these other sort of procedural or scheduling issues. now, he is someone that is known not to be inclined to reveal information. but he's the attorney general of the united states that just ordered a raid on the former president's home and the very likely opponent of a current president. there's no way you can reproduce that in any past historical event. he's really an unknown territory. he has to do better than to simply trust us, we're the government. >> charles: thank you, team. that was fantastic. we appreciate it. shannon, congratulations. so we have been getting reaction from capitol hill on the raid and what comes next. lucas tomlinson has the latest from washington. lucas? >> charles, how republican whip steve scalise doubts the white house didn't know abo

why won't merrick garland explain himself?basically all of those questions. the justice department did ask trump for those documents. that even sent him a subpoena. and enough or mental down that trump did not hand over everything he promised to hand over. they searched his home as a matter of last resort, and attorney general merrick garland is ready to show you the warrant, signed by a federal judge that authorized that search, as well as a list of with the fbi collective. the question now, what are we gonna learn next? joining us is the former federal prosecutor barbara mcquade. barbara, there is so much going on tonight, i want to start with your reaction. you have seen a lot in your life, in your career. but the breaking news from the washington post that some of the information that the justice department was searching for with the fbi were nuclear documents. i'm not sure i have words to understand what has happened here. >> i think it's really stunning that that is the content of these documents. there is no innocent ex

garland's mission was not a surprise. after all, this is the man who spearheading the most wide ranging investigation into department history with the january six probe. i don't know if you've noticed this the same merrick garland who used the department of justice and the fbi to target parents as the terrorist, which we know they are for exercising their right to free speech. a school board meetings, which we televise a lot of it and play it back even more of it. and while merrick garland has done nothing to even attempt to reduce skyrocketing violent crime, which is all around us in major cities, he has used his office to declare white supremacy the greatest domestic threat. so merrick garland is not a man interested in protecting americans or ensuring equal justice. what we saw today was a man on the defensive, at least i did a man desperate to save face because in the words of one senior justice department official, the raid was, quote, a spectacular backfire. no joke. merrick garland and the biden administration, in

and here i"m thinking about merrick garland.merrick garland 's public aspect, his public demeanor, this kind of man, this legal scholar type, looks like a professor, to donald trump this is a very boring, timid human being. and donald trump makes a the assessment, this guy is not bold enough to come after me. and so donald trump can be surprised today that merrick garland sent the fbi raid into donald trump's home. >> absolutely. merrick garland is the epitome of the kind of man that donald is contemptuous of. so it never occurred to him that garland would have the intestinal fortitude to -- well not go after him but to do his job quite honestly and hold donald accountable. it also serves as a reminder that donald trump is a private citizen, and this may be the very first time in his life that he is not protected. he is not protected by the office anymore, he is not protected by the banks anymore, not protected by his father anymore, so finally at long last he is in a position where he too can be served a search warrant by the f

merrick garland, that's where tax dollars are going? you see the massive trucks out there lined around. it was the optics, they thought donald trump would look like a common criminal but it backfired on them and the american people have seen what they have done and they are disgusted by this. he's got lot more explaining to do. >> sean: look at what they did to peter navarro, look at what they did to paul manafort, roger joining us tonight. this is their tactic how they want to harass, intimidate, send a message to everybody else don't mess with us. we are all powerful and almighty. the double standard, the dual system of justice couldn't be more clear than it is now. >> i don't question the integrity of the doj and the fbi, i criticize the other lack of integrity of merrick garland and christopher wray. merrick garland unwittingly and stupidly undermined his own argument when he said our standard practice is to use the least intrusive methods. if that's a subpoena. the fbi did that two months ago. they were counting on donald trump cha

how much do you think garland has thought about that?trump's likely to be a candidate and with all these investigations going on, it's a thing that garland and the doj and all of his aides are going to have to cope with in the high stakes, high pressure environment that a campaign provides. >> of course, you know, in interviews with top officials, people close to garland, he has thought a lot about the rule of law full stop. you know, he's thought about the rules that were put into place after watergate, as a very young lawyer himself, he worked at the justice department under former attorney general ben civil let tee, and was one of the lawyers who helped implement these post-watergate changes, that talk about why you treat people in criminal investigations the way that you do, why you do not speak about criminal investigations. why there are strong walls between the white house and the justice department, and why most of all the justice department cannot be used as a political tool. this is something he has been obsessed with since the

they don't know what merrick garland was doing.o say, kayleigh and they can't say it. >> they are all over the map. it's interesting. i was asking a friend of mine, former colleague, you know, what's the media saying about this? occasionally i will tune in and see what cnn and the others are saying. and we couldn't really define it this time because they are clueless. the raid talking point you are exactly right. let me clue you in mainstream media, yeah, it's a raid. nine and a half to 12 hours in the president's home, through melania's closet with a ryder truck. you bring a guy who can open safes. it is a raid. and then the other talking point they are going to oh what does this mean for 2024, trump is back. this feels like 2016. oh no. it's all the electoral political implications. it's crazy. >> so, they went into melania's closet. that seems a little perverted but i don't know. what do i know about aides are? i mean, search warrants. they bring a safe cracker. they are there for almost, what, 12 hours? it seems a little invasi

if she's in moments with response to merrick garland. first, spin cycle crash, that's tonight's focus of tonight's "angle." can you imagine what president xi or putin or terrorists who wish to strike against america? this is the america that they use to fear. to speak i personally approve the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the justice department and of our democracy. upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear, or favor. of under my watch, that's precisely what the justice department is doing. >> laura: doesn't he look like a guy who got a lot of wedgies in sixth grade? i'll be forever grateful for mitch mcconnell for keeping it off the court. he said a lot of nothing, changing no minds about the propriety of their raid and not a single one. what we witnessed in this week is a sham. it's a total embarrassment for america. putting trump on the vice of the current presidents fbi is what you would expect from russia's fsb, not a pr

we have not heard from merrick garland yet. we have not heard from the fbi director christopher wray, appointed by former president trump. no question, though, in your mind, this went all the way to the top, all the way to merrick garland. >> reporter: no doubt. when you're talking about a search of the former president's home, his private residence, absolutely, all the senior members of the department of justice would have been apprised of it and would have signed off on it, up to merrick garland. >> you heard a lot, particularly republicans, but from some democrats, too, saying, we need to know something about this raid because it is so historic and unprecedented. let me ask you, though, would merrick garland, would christopher wray move forward with something like this if they weren't really looking for something significant here? they had to know about this backlash, about the role this will play in history. >> reporter: absolutely. we don't know exact little what they were looking for. and i don't think they're going to te

and attorney general merrick garland making a surprise move. asking a federal court to unseal, which means make public, that search warrant and the property receipt that was given to trump's legal counsel that day. a source saying trump and his team are considering asking the court to block the doj motion and keep it out of the public's eye. i want to bring in cnn contributor june dean, former nixon white house counsel. good to see you. i am wondering what your reaction is to "the washington post" reporting. i mean, the idea that this is not just the category of classified documents, more broadly, but this is perhaps related to not just national security, but nuclear weapons? i mean, put that into perspective for us what this might mean. >> well, nuclear weapons and the classification of nuclear weapons are clearly restricted data and this is a hair on fire kind of problem. so i think what's happened, laura, as i have watched this story unfold, including the latest from "the post," is that the national archives learned early, a year or so ago,

garland is saying this is in the public interest.an't even count the number of people who have come out, not just republicans, but others who said because this is such an extraordinary and unprecedented move, we -- the american people, should see the warrant. now garland said go ahead. now trump may block it. what do you read into that, stephanie, knowing him? >> so i think that they will try to block it, and they will continue to play up the -- this has been corrupt, this has been a witch hunt. we can't trust anyone. just like he did yesterday when he pled the fifth or four or five hours. what i do want to say, i think a spectacle will be happening in the next day or two. whatever happens, it will need to be on trump's term. in that playbook, it is deny, destroy, and then distract. they have been denying any wrongdoing this whole time. the destroy element has been questioning doj, questioning the fbi. and now it's going to be time to distract. so i am honestly waiting for him to come down those beautiful trump tower escalators, or g

when he wanted to do and this is merrick garland and you're the lawyer and i'm not, but merrick garland wanted to say if the former presidents attorneys agree. it was not just going to say i want to do this. so they're going to go to court. we have reporting this evening that says donald trump either hasn't decided or maybe deciding to fight this, but that was before the washington post story came out. so, i don't know in the end with donald trump's attorneys are going to decide to do. but his folks have spent much of the past week decrying the justice department, and now the justice department has given them an opportunity to put up here and say okay, we are happy to reese release it if you are. >> this is a bit of a game of chicken. wonder who is going to win. elie, lets you and i play out this chess game. the idea of you remove. he wanted everyone to know we're not the ones who said we are actually were there. you told everyone. now we are telling everyone we may have planted evidence or the things that happened but that did not happen, they say. now it's your move to try to say you

merrick garland.addition to the deputy attorney general and other aids, this is an unprecedented step. this has never happened before. even if there was probable cause to think the former president might've committed a crime, there are former constitutional issues about not trying to create bad incentives to presidents when they make decisions to worry about their future legal liabilities. that is why presidents have absolute immunity, we do not want them being harassed by the archivist of the united states trying to -- i don't know, what's he thinking when you need to get a search warrant to search a former president's office to look for materials? you usually work that out between the president's lawyers and the justice department rather than busting into a former president's house in a surprise raid at that's really unheard of. plus i don't think this crime of carrying classified information would be serious enough to do this. this is exactly the kind of crime that haley clinton was accused of and

it was merrick garland.y're quoting a 30 year veteran of the fbi eye who called the raid spectacular backfire. they waited for former president trump out of town in order to avoid a media circus. that is astounding this is already unprecedented and historic there is nothing routine about this. if this is true they said that they're so remarkably out of touch maybe they shouldn't be in their jobs? >> i have never seen a situation where i would wait until the person is out of town. if anything you want that person to be in town because you never know what they're going to say while you're conducting the search. it gives you another opportunity to gather information. regardless this could be the most reliable search warrant the fbi has ever written, the implications and the way it appears politically. and i'm not saying the search warrant is good. it may be something that there has been information provided to the fbi that turns out that it's incorrect but the politics, the way it appears, the way it politicize

. >> all eyes are on merrick garland who they say knew about this. >> merrick garland almost certainly signed off on this, hard to determine a decision of this magnitude would be made without his knowledge and approval. >> brooke: the white house tells me it did not receive advance notice about the raid at mar-a-lago. >> carley: let's turn to kevin corke who has the latest from washington. >> kevin: the fbi raids the home of donald trump, mar-a-lago, with the approval of merrick garland and christopher wray. the former president said these are dark times as my beautiful home, mar-a-lago, in palm beach, florida, is under siege, occupied by fbi agents. nothing like this has ever happened to a president of the united states before. indeed. republicans on capitol hill incan desant. mike turner, i'm demanding immediate briefing by fbi director wray guarding the risk that rose to level of ordering raid on the residence of a former president. lindsey graham, time will tell regarding this most recent investigation. such an investigation of a former president this close to an election is beyond

that garland should be out there making a statement. but we really have not seen him and the bottom line here is that that is just the way that merrick garland as attorney general works. the policy long standing at the justice department is not to comment on existing investigations, they often won't even confirm that they exist even if they are known. and we also know that it just isn't the sort of thing that garland has done with other major investigations in recent months or even years. he hasn't made statements when there was seditious conspiracy cases charged, those were really a big deal. and then even yesterday there wasn't a press conference after the announcement of these charges in this case about the plot to assassinate john bolton, that could have been an opportunity for garland to come out. he just did not. and neither did the national security division, officials that were over top of that case and also would have been handling some of the issues here in the search of mar-a-lago related to classified documents. >> thank you