also in a way back door calling out merrick garland, the one guy that can protect both garland and thee's the guy that's the one they want to pick. >> you know i predicted on your show that sweetheart deal with not be allowed to go through eventually. and we were vindicated today. that deal is now dead. they do want to conduct an vehicles in the middle of this from the box. but even if justice is done the appearance of justice is not being done. the idea that when the president's son is being investigated, you don't follow the rules and appoint somebody from outside the government, is something that's just unexplainable. when you have such high visibility cases, you have to follow the rules to a p and if you don't then it mixes in as i eat. so i don't accept this notion because there's an investigation going, congress happ to stop. it's the constitution not the statute. that gives them the right to executive the authority and they should continue, and they ought to call garland and weiss and say why did you violate this regulation? this regulation that has been printed now have of cong

attorney general merrick garland says it's because the u.s. attorney asked for one, david weiss, the u.s. attorney in delaware, appointed by former president trump to handle this job. he says he needed special counsel status going forward and garland decided to grant that in a matter of days. this is a blockbuster development and a lot of questions going forward how long the probe is going to continue. but at the same time as we were learning about the special counsel designation, there was a court filing which made it clear that the u.s. attorney, david weiss, now special counsel weiss was unable to reach a concrete agreement on a potential second plea deal or future agreement, meaning this is a case over taxes and a gun charge that is now likely going to go to trial and not likely happening in the state of delaware, which of course this was originally going to be taking place. we in washington have gotten used to special counsels being appointed the last couple of years, but this one will be fascinating because it involves the president's so

garland and weiss. well now they would now be able to use this new special counsel investigatio n that will buyil them time that will stall any future hunter trial that see will they'll attempt. let's see if it works. they will attempt to block all and any congressional inquiries and let even more statute of limitations run ou rt. but remember, they're not protecting not hunter, who, remember, was an admitted crack addict the time, while all these deals with tens of millions of dollars weres happening. this is the joe biden protection programofwere. me be clear on this. merrick garland didn't bringan thatd didn today, but he shouldu this is now not about.o is this is about the president of the united states who is now for reelection and whose doj is going after donald trump with a vengeance. it's not a prosecution a. o it is now crossed the line into never ending persecution. y, wan and by the wayt , i want to croh the finish l line in 2024 and nt have this issue come up untie l then. and i'm sure that

say there is that letter of weiss corroborating merrick garland's story saying merrick garland, i neversked him for special counsel status and he's stood by that, stood by merrick garland, testimony is the same. whistleblowers have something else to say and whistleblowers had no motive in coming forward, did so at their own peril and shapley said david weiss lacked authority to charge hunter biden and remember, all of the search warrants pursued that went unanswered that were stymied. they wanted to search a vessel that had hunter biden key pieces of evidence and that was stymied. gary shap ley, joe ziegler, a former democrat, they came forward, what do they think today knowing david weiss, now special counsel status. >> harris: will we get to hear from them again? if this goes on and their hands don't get called, outside of the media, who will call on them to talk and testify? bring in jonathan turley, constitutional law expert and fox news contributor. jonathan, did we hear that correctly? were you surprised it is david weiss, special counsel in the hunter biden investigation? >> jona

previously, although merrick garland was very careful to say he could, mr.iss, act independently, he was still working under the ambit of the department of justice and all of those officials within the department of justice who supervise u.s. attorneys throughout the country. here merrick garland was careful to say that this special appointment is going to mean that he is going to be able to act without direct supervision from the department of justice. just as other special counsel -- special prosecutors have had to do, they bring a recommendation to merrick garland about whether or not to prosecute or whether or not to decline and merrick garland's commitment here was to make as much of that report available to the public as possible. so this is a very real step towards greater independence and i think it will assist the public in understanding that this is an individual who will act in an independent fashion without any perceived interference from the department of justice. >> and, ryan riley n getting to merrick garland's decision-making here, you cover

that is why garland picked him to be special counsel. biden and garland will use weiss as a shield to stonewall the investigation and will drag this on past 2024. he is moving venues out of delaware, and into dc in california that will put the case to a more the indigent judge to set up a sweeter plea deal. this gives biden more time to pardon his son. once the immunity deal blew up the pardon is the only move if reelected he will predict a softer plea deal but if trump is elected we predict he will pardon hunter on the way out the door. eventually special counsel will put out a report and weiss will explain why he did not prosecute because he is as it and they will say the special counsel exonerated. with a cover-up between the department of justice and fbi and the white house. one problem. this will just ignite the impeachment inquiry. house republicans see this as obstruction of justice. special counsel cancel things down but how's oversight is legally entitled to document witnesses. the impeachment inquiry gives republicans the apex

ag garland will have weissgh ona short leash. republicans should demand to see the scope on memo detaig the parameters of this investigation because i doubt weiss is allowed to pursue leads leading to joe biden. will weiss pursue the offshore bank accounts or biden,th the his family picking back the wilmington trust account? twe just spent five years waiting for this investigation to wrap up. but the irs whistle blowers, the biden bribe allegation and the threat of impeachment blew up the immunity deal. again, to a judge who askallega the right questions. so this speciatiwith thel counsl appointment is designed to drag this investigation for at least another year and a half past the next electio n. >> this is all coming off the heels of the oversight chair, james colmeis is alr anng he was moving toward subpoenaing biden families financial records. just as speaker kevin mccarthy announced an upcoming impeachment inquiry, just as house republicans were expectin as mcca g to haul in ways to testify this fall. well, with special cou

did garland essentially say to them today you're not getting anywhere? >> the most immediate impact of this appointment will be to insulate the department itself. weiss was supposed to testify in congress it's highly unlikely, if he does it's unlikely he will give any real information. there is another road here. by not expanding the mandate, garland may have fueled calls for the impeachment inquiry. impeachment is constitutional kryptonite. no court that i know of would say congress does not have a duty to investigate allegations of corruption by president biden and his family. this does not appear to be within the mandate laid out by the attorney general and i want to know something else, why would you answer that question? you just gave greater specificity as to the mandate with regard to hunter biden, why wouldn't the justice department answer clearly one of the president's within that mandate to? it speaks quite loudly to the rank and file. it suggests we are not on board with investigating the president's. you have to keep in mind this was the atto

cheryl: many are saying it's a political move by merrick garland.basically called out the sweetheart deal that whys negotiated and said no, this is ridiculous. no average american -- any average american would be thrown in jail for what hunter biden was accused of, especially on the gun charges. but i do want to ask you to move on to another issue here. a fourth criminal indictment against former president trump could be issued as early as this week. so you've got the georgia grand jury, they may begin hearing evidence against the former president today. former georgia lieutenant governor jeff done kin confirming he's going to testify tomorrow. here's what he wrote on x. quote, republicans should never left honesty be 34 mistaken for weakness and you've got end pent journalists -- independent journalists saying fannie willis is required to testify. what do you expect from all of this, in particular from your experience. i think the timeframe is what we're all curious about here. >> yeah, obviously in georgia the investigation's been going on for qui

merrick garland owes the american people better than to do something like this.executive order another weak response. >> absolutely, weak response, too little, too late. it is important that we deal with the chinese communist party and with their commercial and military sectors. maria: hold that thought, mike pompeo says the ccp is inside of the gates of america., i want toho get your take on tht when we come right back. i'm talking with marsha blackburn, stay with us. oh!! searchable, verified reviews. that's better than the ham, and i've never said that. booking.com booking.yeah it's true, though - you won't overpay for glasses if you shop at america's best. they offer two pairs and a free, quality eye exam starting at just $79.95. the exam alone is worth at least 59 bucks. i can see from your expression that you find that shocking. and you're actually speechless. ...aaaaaaaaand, you don't have ears. two pairs and a free exam for just $79.95. book an exam today at americasbest.com. it's true, though - you won't overpay for glasses if you shop at america's best.

what was his reaction when merrick garland came out -- attorney general garland came out today and announced he was being elevated to special counsel? >> his reaction was in the following order. first, i don't understand the difference because he had all the authority yesterday and he has the same authority today. second, this is the man who's been conducting an investigation, who's a republican appointed by a republican attorney general, and had no motive to turn away from any wrong doing he found after he and his professional staff had looked at everything mr. biden had done. and the third is, if it's the same guy who's looked at the same evidence now with a new title, the result shouldn't be any different. >> the only thing that is different that we can determine as of this moment is that he does have -- he is empowered to write a report. and merrick garland has said he will make as much of that report public as possible. do you expect that you'd be surprised by anything in that report? >> no, quite the opposite. you know, the report will be a terrific vehicle to point out that all the cr

i think that garland and weiss and them said, you know, we've looked bad here.t going out well. we've had this indictment, you know, we've had this plea deal thrown out, we've got more is and more information, people are not believing anymore that this millions of dollars didn't go -- and the sad part about this though, is this: they've known about these suspicious activity reports for years. this is not new. they have had this information for years. and they've just not acted opposite. ashley: you know, it's interesting because part of, as we heard from the whistleblower, devon archer, look, every step of the way the d. of justice, the fbi, the secret service, even the irs kind of blocked attempts to really get to the bottom, to really investigate properly, and now here we are again with another special counsel. i mean, could that be another problem? >> it could be. and, again, i think that that's an issue. when they started bringing up, the whistleblowers come forward, you had fbi folks begin to talk about this, you have reports coming out that they were tippe

garland and weiss have said the prosecutor was empowered to act independently. that means making mr. weiss a special counsel may be more of a cosmetic gesture essentially formalizing what is or even the case then a new reality. what do you make of that? will: ethic that's what's expected of hunter biden. his counsel has said and reveals the corruption and the outcome should be the same. david weiss basically made an offer of the sweetheart deal to hunter biden that would've swept away most of the investigation to him ongoing. now we as special counsel status, this is the words of hunter biden's attorney, his title should not change the conclusion which is favorable to hunter biden. rachel: before the sweetheart deal he allowed a lot of the charges to expire through statue of limitation. he's always been super loyal to the biden family and it makes no sense why he's doing this. one thing i worry about is the message they send to brave and courageous whistleblowers. this is the spit in the face. they said this is the guy who is stored in our investigation. the d.o

merrick garland owes the american people better than to do something like this.tely, weak response, too little, too late. it is important that we deal with the chinese communist party and with their commercial and military sectors. maria: hold that thought, mike pompeo says the ccp is inside of the gates of america sleep more deeply. and wake up rejuvenated. with purple's new mattresses fall asleep 20% faster have less aches and pains and sleep uninterrupted. visit purple.com or a store near you. my father didn't know his dad. with ancestry i dug and dug until i found some information. birth certificate. wow. and then you add it to the tree. it's like you discover a new family member. discover even more at ancestry.com welcome back back within a withtennessee sender marsha blackburn. senator i went to ask about the letters sent to tom cotton. acquisition of forbes by groups that are allegedly tied to thet ccp, your thoughts? >> and maria, we have to make certain ccp corrected companies are not going to be buying our media outlets. you can look at the path they ar

attorney general garland, u.s. attorney weiss and lisa monaco, talking to david weiss and what he could or couldn't do, and without detailing the investigation, questions like did david weiss call you and ask for special attorney authority. when he did so, what did you say to him. is it true the u.s. attorney in d.c. refused to sanction charges against hunter biden and how is that consistent with attorney general garland's statement that there was no plit -- would be no political interference, and the same question for the u.s. attorney in california who also declined to prosecute. those are the kind of questions that could and should be answered under oath. >> sandra: and you get the sense people at home have similar questions as the gop needed in the request for information, there are serious concerns how the department has handled this matter. and they would want to get to the bottom of that. sol, great to have you on today, thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. >> sandra: more coming up and as we approach

merrick garland owes the american people better than to do something like this.der another weak response. >> absolutely, weak response, too little, too late. it is important that we deal with the chinese communist party and with their commercial and military sectors. maria: hold that thought, mike pompeo says the ccp is inside of the gates of america i got into debt in college, and no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a personal loan with low low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. sofi get your money right. shingles. the rash can feel like an intense burning sensation and last for weeks. it can make your workday feel impossible. the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside of you. 50 years or older? ask your doctor about shingles. this is your summer to smile. to raise your glass and reconnect. to reel in the fun and serve up great times. to help you get ready your aspen dental team is celebrating 25 years of affordable care with an epic summer of smiles event. right n

instead, merrick garland appointed someone who's under a cloud of suspicion. for his conduct and handling of the prior hunter biden investigation. it flips the special counsel law on its head. now, it's true the department of justice did violate this before with the appointment of john durham who came from from within the justice department, but durham wasn't under any cloud of suspicion, he wasn't under any attacks over allegations of fixing the investigation. will: you know, jonathan, that would be akin to merrick garland pucking some other, you know -- picking some other prosecutor at some other jurisdiction far away within the doj, but he picked the one guy who's directly related, exactly as you described, in this case. i know it's hard to get inside another person's head, jonathan, but rachel asked this question earlier. it so clearly suggests political malfeasance, it so clearly -- what could be a motivation -- how about this, what is your most charitable explanation for the motivation of merrick garland? [laughter] >> that's e a tough question, will, be

attorney general merrick garland announced another special counsel, this one for hunter biden. why now? the investigation appeared to be nearing an end, appeared. there was a plea deal, even though it was rejected by a judge. and the man investigating hunter biden, the u.s. attorney out of delaware had been saying up until now that he never asked for and didn't need the powers that came with that appointment. so why was david weiss made special counsel today? we have reaction from the white house. hunter biden's team, and republicans on capitol hill. joining me now is nbc news investigative correspondent tom winter, nbc news white house correspondent monica alba, and ms p msnbc political contributor and cofounder of "punch bowl news," jake sherman. tom, i want to get some details from you. >> sure. >> the question that is nagging me is why all of a sudden does this investigation, this case need a special counsel? >> yeah, i really don't understand. and it's a question i think we need some more clarity on. so to be specific, what happened here is there was clearly an ongoing ple

i think merrick garland made that argument for us today.e're going to continue to follow the money, we're going to continue to interview witnesses that we know have firsthand knowledge of what exactly the bidens were doing to receive the millions and millions of dollars from bad actors in bad countries around the world and what role joe played in this scheme. and that's what's important to every american, what role joe played in this scheme because we believe that we have a president of the united states that's compromised because of the millions and millions of dollars his family's taken in. >> laura: now, congressman, dana bash over at cnn mentioned you today when discussing the hunter biden probe and the connections to joe biden himself. watch. >> so far, there is no evidence, james comer, the head of this committee just told my colleague jake tapper, pretty much admitted, that they don't have evidence to show that joe biden did anything wrong. >> laura: congressman, your response to that. >> i pretty much didn't admit that. i pretty muc

. >>> also tonight, attorney general merrick garland granting special counsel status to the u.s. prosecutor overseeing the hunter biden investigation, why now after a five-year-long probe and after his deal fell apart, is the president's son headed to trial? >>> the judge in donald trump's election conspiracy case limiting what he can share publicly about the government's evidence. what she warned the former president not to do. >>> sam bankman-fried, the one-time crypto mogul, thrown in jail ahead of his fraud trial. why the judge revoked his bail. >>> new photos inside the home of the suspected gilgo beach serial killer. why his family is threatening to sue police and also revealed his wife's health battle. >>> amid the destruction on maui, the beloved landmark still standing. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >>> good evening, and welcome, everyone. in maui tonight, residents and survivors of this week's deadly firestorm are being allowed to return to the scorched neighborhoods they called home to see what is left, but warned by hawaii's governor to br

griff: great point you're making although just to interject one thing, we don't fully know -- garlander or not this special counsel now, the scope of it, will involve influence peddling and possibly joe biden himself. we don't know the answer to that. it may are well be the case. but the larger point is with so many investigations, special counsels going on, are we nearing a dangerousing area from which we can't come back in terms of politicization of politics? i mean, we know if former president donald trump gets back into office, he's promising we're going to see more of what we've got right now. >> see i don't think this is pretty case. on both sides -- politicization. they both did things that deserve investigation, and it would be political if we didn't investigate them, if we didn't appoint special counsel, if we didn't treat them like any other person, all of whom are subject to the laws in the united states. so it's really important that we let this play out. and i would also note that for donald trump, he's going to make all sorts of defenses. he's going to conflate his campa

i think merrick garland made that argument for us today.reporter: critics also argue that urn justice department regulations the special counsel should be selected from outside the u.s. government and that a u.s. attorney should not be the one to take the lead on this. as special counsel, david weiss will be under no deadline to conclude his investigate, it all could stretch well past the 2024 elections. guys? will: thank you, alexandria. rachel: so this is really, like, we've beening talking all morning, it's so blatantly political that it almost is head-scratching, right? like you would try a little harder to make it not look so political. last weekend we had a really big discussion about this, the obama book that came out ott, the biography about barack obama that came out a couple years ago that sort of resurfaced x there's been some recent articles going over this again. and the reason why it's resurfacing is because a lot of people are finally starting to notice that we have kind of a shadow government. they're noting that. and the re

merrick garland would be on the supreme court. okay. that's terrifying.e spoke out about this in the last hour. watch this. >> immediately after the januarr democracy, career men and women of the justice department engaged in what has become the largest investigation in our history mr. smith and his team experienced principle agents, prosecutors, have followed the facts and the law wherever they lead. any questions about this matter will have to be answered by the filing committee. >> laura: senator, he is out bragging tonight. it's the largest investigation in u.s. history. most of the charges, of course, like trespassing, doors open, people walk in some bad actors indicted and charged for much more serious things. this the is the focus of the u.s. government now? this? >> yeah, so merrick garland and jack smith are just leading what i would say is the most ideologically charged investigation in american history. obviously we all agree that anyone who committed acted of violence especially against a law enforcement officer on that day or committed proper

garland said he agreed to grant that.hat this special counsel status means is david weiss, the u.s. attorney for delaware, will have authority to investigate this case anywhere in the u.s. that's been an issue, because hunter biden lives in california. one of the issues having to do with this investigation is his failure to fay taxes, and thinks tax preparer was in washington, d.c. so this gives him broad scope. he'll put together a report at the end of the investigation provided to garland. that report is expected to be made public, so there will be more transparency in this investigation, which has been under fire by house republicans who have presented testimony from i.r.s. whistle-blowers who have said they were stopped from pursuing certain investigative leads. this all comes about after hunter biden had reached a plea deal, appeared in federal court in delaware late last month, but the deal fell apart in real time, with the judge asking a lot of questions about the scope of the deal. he was expected to plead guilty

attorney general merrick garland is making a statement.t is unusual for there to be an and sensual impromptu statement so let's listen in. >> it has to do with president biden son, hunter biden. let's listen announce the appointment of david wise as a special counsel consistent with the department of justice regulations governing such matters. in keeping with those red regulations i notified the designated members of each house of congress of the appointment. in february 2018, after being nominated by the former president and confirmed by the senate, mr. weiss was sworn in as the united states attorney for the district of delaware. mr. weiss had been a career prosecutor serving previously in the office for more than a decade. beginning 2019, mr. weiss in his capacity as u.s. attorney and along with federal law enforcement partners began investigating allegations of certain criminal conduct by, among others robert hunter bi biden. that investigation has been recently referenced and federal criminal proceedings and the district of delaware a

so, again, i lay this at garland's feet.wasn't well managed and his reaction now makes things even worse. >> we should say that certainly the republicans are going to say that it implies that this has to do with the president. i mean, you would agree, there's no evidence of that at all. the only thing that it says is that they're investigating hunter biden and they're going to let basically -- these are my words -- they're going to let the evidence take that investigation where it goes even if it includes other people. >> yeah, the problem is from a legal standpoint, what are the extraordinary circumstances? the fact that it blew up in court is not an extraordinary circumstance. that's what the problem is. the question is, what's in there? >> i'm going to go to paula reid, she was there at the justice department in the room for the attorney general's announcement. paula? >> reporter: in addition to being there for the announcement, we've had the chance to speak to some sources and what we have learned is that doj is saying t

that's a policy i can tell you that attorney general merrick garland reaffirmed in a memo last year.artment tries to avoid those near elections and primaries. it's not a law, but it is the rules. we have every reason to think garland would enforce the rules and smith wouldn't be trying to break with the rules in an unprecedented first-ever diechlt a former president when's also running for office. so this hypothetical calendar would actually close that door. it would tie the hands of the special counsel. if donald trump or one of his aides happens to be watching tonight -- we do hear from them from time to time -- what you are looking at is the very likely scenario where the current defendant donald trump wouldn't have been indicted on either of these cases based on the actual time line, the actual rules. the only thing different was that donald trump had to start earlier, had to rig the system, had to try to outsmart people, which is why tonight in this particular discussion we begin with that greek tragedy of oedipus. with things so fundamental, people, humans, society, we have bee

garland naming trump appointed u.s.rom capitol hill. senator lindsey graham weighing in in just the last hour on fox news. >> this is a political decision, not a legal decision. they're trying to put out a fire and they just poured gasoline on it. >> i want to bring in former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst, barbara mcquade. msnbc political analyst, and white house press secretary under president obama robert gibbs, also with us, msnbc political analyst and former aide to speakers paul ryan and john boehner, brendan buck. it's great to have all of you here. barbara, we all know weiss had been looking into hunter biden, but as special counsel, how does that change the game and does it surprise you at all given the fact that he was part of this plea deal that fell through that he would be the one that is not a special counsel. >> it doesn't surprise me that he would get the nod, but it does surprise me that he has asked for special counsel status. i think when they had the plea deal that didn't go through, it seemed

we started in the aftermath of what happened with merrick garland. mitch mcconnell blocked president obama from filling that seat but more distressing was even his mitch mcconnell was doing that, the public didn't seem that upset about it. it was not a big issue in the 2016 election. even though the fate of the supreme court, whether it would be controlled by a majority of liberal or conservative justices, literally would be decided by that election. there was some attention during the presidential debate step but not much. when neil gorsuch was confirmed in 2017, that happened with a whimper and there wasn't much of a fight by the democrats against that nomination in 2017. from that, our group was started with the goal of trying to galvanize the public to care a little bit more. five years later, i would like to take credit for it but it's really external events that have happened over the last five years. you had the kavanaugh conversation, ruth bader ginsburg's untimely passing followed by amy coney barrett's confirmation, highly charged confirmat

merrick garland must have thought that august 11th was

garland had described david weiss's running room as sort of mren ary, right?is own plan to make his own decisions in the case, so why give him this extra title. it seems somewhat cosmetic to me, chuck. >> so are there additional tools that he has now that he didn't have before? what are those tools? >> at the edges, yes. it means he can bring charges and other districts on his own signature, but frankly, he could have done that if he needed to previously, so again, i think the right word here is cosmetic. it doesn't really change the tilt of the earth. >> so, and what's -- so then the motivation here for the attorney general is simply to -- is he worried that the cases against trump were going to look biassed if he didn't do this? >> there seemed to be a drumbeat to appoint a special counsel to investigate at least hunter biden, if not the biden family. mr. weiss, the special counsel now has the authority to take the investigation where everything ought to go. there's a problem, i think, generally with the special counsel regulations, and there's another probl

he had concluded it did if you were garland. was there a conflict of interest at play here? the talking point you see on the right and left suggest talking points around this very notion there is a conflict of being able to have the president appoint the attorney general who would oversee an investigation. >> into his own son. >> but finally it's the idea of what are you going to do about it now, and is there a way you can structure an investigation that is in the interest of the public to have the information? garland says all three criteria are met, and so whatever took place between the clear agreement and now is anyone's guess. >> paula, help me out here. david weiss, the u.s. attorney, now special counsel had previously said in writing that he had all the power he needed. he didn't need anymore authority. if he wanted today do charges in d.c., he could reach out to the u.s. attorney in d.c. if he wanted to do charges in l.a., he could reach out. now he has special counsel powers that give him that authority in writing in between we should note there were whistle blowers

it's curious garland chose that man to pursue the former president. finally, i want to point out every time a republican has won a presidency in this century, democrats tried to stop the certification of that victory, none face criminal charges over what is obviously first amendment. >> laura: i need to show how two former prosecutors from the southern district of new york described this indictment. >> i think it's a master piece. there is an elegance to it and a grace to it because of how well it's composed and how it's just jammed with facts. >> this indictment, i mean, he is in his taylor swift speak now era, jack smith. this is a speaking indictment. >> laura: senator, this is a speaking indictment, ooo, this is like the same type of spin they tried after the devon archer testimony yesterday on a different topic though. >> yeah, and well on the topic of speaking jack smith also spoke about this indictment, he sounded like a msnbc pundit, he didn't seem like a prosecutor pursuing criminal charges on well established law, rather novel legal theories

okay.and is >> garland is not a stupid manll . so i'm asking you this tonight in all in all candor, is he blinded by a desire to muddy the waters here, the election?m >> i don't know what could have motivated him here. andy in national review put itvw bluntly, there could not be as l more serious, blatant conflict of interest than a situation in which the president'satlictta department is conducting an investigation of the president' ion ofs that implicates the president in potentially impeachable conduct. well, the conflicts, of course, don't ene conflid there. remember what one of the irs to thel owers testified justice department allowed the president's political appointeesh to weigh in on whether they're charged the president's son. i was united statee uniteds atto still room for senior fbi and irs senior leadersd ir on october 7th, 2022, that he was not the deciding person and whether charges were filed. that was my red line. >> and garland's appointment is eve n more devious than that. now, for weeks, members of the house an

yeah when senator joe grassley asked attorney general merrick garland in 2023 garland testified the unitedstates attorney has been advised they have full authority to make the roads you are talking about when to bring cases in other districts when he needs to do that he should be advised that he should get anything he need. after the october seven redline meeting, there was no way to reconcile attorney general weiss's statement, his office's actions, with attorney general garland's public testimony . it i am 100 present service that the delaware political office so approval from the democratic nominees. new york times reported that independently -- charges in california. plenty of other witnesses are familiar with the facts, in addition to those who witnessed attorney general weiss's private emission. i encourage them to step forward and tell the truth about what happened in what they heard. let me be clear, although these facts contradict attorney general garland's testimony in raise very problems for his. i never claimed to have evidence that attorney general garland knowingly lied to co

we have no confidence in weiss, no confidence in merrick garland. this will not deter our investigation, we will continue to move forward and try to present the american people with the truth about this family. >> trey: before i let you go, i read a quote attributed to you and need to compliment you and said you are concerned if there are family members that may be trafficking in the name of one of their elected family members and i think we need more of that congressman. more folks saying it is wrong no matter who does it. you have a lot of work to do in district work period, you have a lot of work waiting on you come september, too, when you get back to dc. thank you for joining us on sunday night, chairman comer from great state of kentucky. impeachment used to be serious and rare. it is afterall the political death penalty, removal from office and perhaps forever barred from holding office again. democrats impeached donald trump twice and did not come close to a conviction. now republicans are fighting over who will be the first to file impeachm

garland has now elevated david weiss to special counsel status. been leading the years-long probe of president biden's son. and he recently requested that he be given special counsel designation after plea talks with hunter biden's lawyers to avoid taxes fell apart. we have more on how the investigation came about and where it may go from here. >> it is a whole new ball game with david wooers becoming a special coun selling. merrick garland, the attorney general, made the announcement yesterday at a news conference and did not take questions and did not really give a robust explanation for why this was happening now in the process. what was happening outside of that press conference may be was providing the answer. in a court filing, david weiss and his team disclosed to the judge that is overseeing this case the pre-negotiations have collapsed and they now believe a trial is appropriate. that's remarkable, fred. a trial against the son of the sitting president of the united states and that incredibly unprecedented and the high stakes attached to

>> well, president biden told his attorney general merrick garland to jump and merrick garland said howhe has brought this unprecedented law fare against president trump. sent attorney to join alvin bragg's office to bring unprecedented indictment against trump for the noncrime of settling a nuisance claim and garland had jack smith indict president trump for the noncrime of a former president having his presidential records, which is allowed by the presidential records act. now merrick garland has jack smith indicting trump for the noncrime of objecting to a presidential election. and it's only a crime to object to presidential elections in third world marxist hell holes. democrats objected to republican wins in 1968, 2,000, 2004, and 2016. and so this case, this current case is before an obama judge and a in d.c. with a 95% democrat d.c. jury pool that's 99% trump deranged. there is no question he will be found guilty and convicted in d.c. and the supreme court will have to overturn this conviction because it clearly violates the first amendment. it's lawless law fare by jack smith an

but the real question that everyone's asking is, why exactly did merrick garland decide to do this now? and maybe more importantly, since he was involved in the questionable plea agreement and offer that imploded, why did david weiss ask for this now? huge question everyone's asking at this moment in time. cnn's political correspondent sara murray, walk us through the special counsel now appointed to investigate hunter biden, and the name is the same. sarah, how did it get to this point? >> it really is that spectacular implosion you were talking about of the hunter biden plea deal. remember, he walked into court a few weeks ago ready to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and take a diversion program on a gun charge. but there was this disagreement over what kind of immunity hunter biden was actually getting as part of this deal. we learned that behind the scenes, that disagreement was not resolved between hunter biden's team and david weiss. and david weiss decided, look, we're going to move ahead, we are going to go to trial. he went to attorney general merrick garland and sought t

garland's move seemed to please nobody. it made democrats unhappy because it raises the prospect of drawing out an investigation that has already been going on for nearly five years, and the possibility that we can add a trial of the president's son to the crowded 2024 legal and campaign calendar. republicans had called for a special counsel, but they denounced the move saying that now special counsel david weiss is the wrong man for the job, and vowing to turn up the heat with their own investigations of the biden family and moving toward an election year impeachment inquiry of the president. oh, and by the way, president biden still faces his own special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents. and then there's former president donald trump who already faces charges in three criminal cases and the very real possibility that he'll be indicted for a fourth time in the coming days for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in georgia. in court friday, judge tanya chutkan who is overseeing jack s

and that message gets to merrick garland. and it's why, by the way, to i'm sure jack smith is going to be asked at some point, you know, did merrick garland asked atd or did merrick garland tell you to do this or not do this? did you talk to the president? he didn't need to. this has been broadcast from day one. and even if biden never, nevero said prosecute him, he's given di speeches where he ha he's talked about how donald trump is a threas peeches t to e country. he's made very clear how he feels about this. and everybody's noa thre >> made w the wishes of the boss. >> greg, when you look at this, just as an average american citizen, you see two trump indictments from the doj. you see no investigation of the d. 10231023 the cushy plea deal. and then you ask, where's robert? her?if you if you don't know his name, i don't don't blame you for that. he's guy looking into the biden docs. jonathan turley said his face belongs on a milk carton at this point. how can you not believe that ther in e is a two tiered justim system? >

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garland have been saying for a long time he didn't need special counsel authority. so it's kinds of an odd choice to pick this person who was leading the office during a time when the irs whistleblowers brought forward all kinds of concerns about the way that the probe was handled and the lack of independence and the special preferential treatment given to the president's son to choose that very same person to go ahead and elevate them to special counsel status when he has been claiming to congress he didn't need it is an odd choice and i don't know what is driving the timing other than perhaps they were not able to come to any kind of renegotiated plea deal with the subject. >> sandra: because obviously that's a big part of what we are learning now. garrett ventry says they waited over two years to appoint a special counsel, conveniently after the statute of limitations passed on some of hunter's crimes. career irs whistleblowers have alleged biden's doj have stifled and slowed down investigations into hunter biden, complete b.s. your reaction to that. >> well, it

gillian: also reporters' first shot really to press the white house since attorney general merrick garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the president's son. we'll take you to the briefing as soon as it begins. first the campaign trail in iowa. >> way up in the polls and all over the country, that's a lot, over 50 points. >> i think i'm the most likely to beat biden and get this stuff done and the ability to serve two terms and will not be a lame duck president on day one. >> leaders don't just give you the list of grievances that are the problem. they actually lead. >> it's going great. i think i've been here more than any other candidate and part of the reason is i actually enjoy it. >> john: a little taste of republicans on the campaign trail five months now until the caucus is in iowa. "america reports" starts hour number two. john roberts, good to be back with you again. >> gillian: nice to see the candidates enjoying themselves. >> john: the vivek ramaswamy rap was interesting. and like the casual dress, too. >> gillian: the current front-runner donald trump is awaiting

meantime, merrick garland spoke out and said weiss had all the authorities he needed.anged somehow. whether because of the meeting with hunter biden's attorneys or our proffer and that leaking to the just disdepartment, what we brought forward. may 15, two weeks after that call that mark had, gary shapley and his team were removed from the case. i forwarded a letter to congress identifying that and we forwarded that on to wineshimer. when we had a call may 16, he had zero interest in pursuing this and helping further. he said you have to talk to david weiss. he did not offer to set up a meeting. it was a complete turn around and raises a lot of questions about the involvement of main justice in this case. >> gillian: david just reported in three weeks from now, the attorney general will testify before this house oversight panel. what does your client hope he will say to house members? what information does he hope he will share? >> at this stage, attorney general garland has essentially called supervisory special agent shapley a liar. in not those words but in essence

who merrick garland appointed.re. will: yeah. the law requires, as you point out, them to appoint a special counsel outside the government. it's seemingly a brazen act of corruption by merrick garland. there is one group though that's interested in holding this potential crime in the biden family account accountable who's looking to investigate, and that is house republicans. i recognize that you're in the senate, i know that you have relationships with people over in the house, but you also understand the law. will this affect that investigation in any way? this put david weiss beyond the reach of the house and their subpoenas and james comer? will it put other pieces of evidence in general. ty? >> it was certainly senator grassley's and my experience, we were denied access the all kinds of documents that we were = always under the the excuse, well, we have an active investigation. we can't turn that investigation over to you. so the d. of justice, the fbi is insulate aring themselves from congressional oversight

attorney general merrick garland, appointing a special prosecutor david weiss us special counsel in thef president biden's son hunter. >> upon considering his request, as well as the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter, i have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel. this appointment confirms my commitment to provide mr. weiss all the resources he requests. it also reaffirms that mr. weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and to continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently. based only on the facts and the law the law. >> brian: let's try to break this down. keep this in mind. david weiss is the same prosecutor who cooked up the original sweetheart deal that hunter kind of blew up. judge kind of blew it up. involved in foreign business dealings, now we are learning tl prosecutors expect hunters taxing gun know my tax income . as for the big guy's involvement in the new hunter special counsel, the doj is declined to comment on whether president biden himself is under investigation. so, for