good to talk to you, harry lipman. i to talk to you, harry lipman.ident biden has been up to. he has overturned donald trump's and on transgender people joining the us military. mr trump announced the ban in 2017, citing what he called tremendous medical costs and disruption. the biden administration says a comprehensive study found that transgender people had very little impact on the military�*s healthcare spending or its effectiveness. it isjust healthcare spending or its effectiveness. it is just over a year since china imposed the world's first lockdown, on the city of wuhan. by then, coronavirus had in spreading for several weeks, coronavirus had in spreading forseveralweeks, in coronavirus had in spreading for several weeks, in which the chinese government had insisted that everything was under control. a new bbc documentary co—produced with pbs frontline has revealed the gap between what was happening on the ground, what chinese officials and scientists new, and what the world was told. alan hawley reports. new year's eve, 2019. by now, it ha

joining us, harry lipman, hosts the talking feds podcast. harry, is there anything in this call about what the president suggested here to push for that is illegal? >> the short answer, brianna, is yes. it is a lot like the impeachment call. if you pair it down to its essence, he says play ball with me and change, make a false vote, or as the still chief law enforcement officer of the united states, there could be criminal trouble for you, but it is a long meandering call. he leaves himself a lot of off ramps. it is not an easy case. and moreover, those charges which are i think viable don't take account of what you've just documented is the most pernicious aspect, the fact it is howling lie after howling lie, the book end of the administration, lying about inauguration size and obama's birth and leaving with these. that really is where the attack on the sort of body politic comes in. it would still be the same crime, even if he were telling the truth, and there should be and can be an investigation. you start questioning the other people in

>> harry lipman, a former deputy attorney general and former u.s. attorney. >> hi. >> hello. >> this warning that the president received from white house counsel that he would actually be put in legal jeopardy if he were to pardon himself and his family members, what do you think about this? >> i think it's right. the there's a stern rebuke. a lot of people out there are saying the pardon power is completely open-ended and you can do anything with t.obviously the white house counsel doesn't believe, that and they are worried they would subject himself to legal jeopardy and an ineffective pardon. even more than that we have after four years of his bulldozing through every check and balance in the constitution finally one that has stuck, and that's the prospect of the impeachment trial after he leaves office. he's obviously concerned as are his close advisers that were he to pull that trigger there would be republicans right now on the fence who would go over to the other side and they could then participate in a vote banning him from public office fo

you very much indeed for the moment while we wait for the result of that vote and let's bring in harry lipman he's a former u.s. attorney is a contributing columnist with the washington post and the host of the talking feds podcast he joins us via skype from not in california thank you very much indeed for being with us so we've had this extraordinary moment and it could still be and then to history the 1st president to become to be impeached twice what what what did you make of the proceedings. well there very sort of sober and methodical on the one hand but you're right there's this underlying current history and sort of personally utah go back and forth on days like this from just 0 in and seeing the news kind of develop into what's actually sort of a boring tablo and then shaking your head and realizing wait a 2nd this is the stuff of history books and they'll be teaching this you'll be telling your children about it it's i think it's momentous however you slice it whether or not there's a conviction it has been a remarkable kind of political fissure now forming within the republican part

attorney harry lipman. harry, you hear jim's reporting, manu's reporting. to dalton, georgia last night and pressures pence. he hopes pence, quote, comes through for him tomorrow, and the president today has tweeted, quote, the vice president has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors. does pence have any power here? >> the short answer is no. so trump doesn't understand the constitution, of course, and he did tweet, i like him less. even if, erin, pence wanted to try to channel the president, even if he opened the envelope from arizona that announced votes for biden and said, therefore, trump, he can't do it. he's utterly impotent here. if he tried to do it, he would be swiftly rebuffed by the senate and the house. he can only stand by. ilts it's a strictly ceremonial role where he is the emcee. i've analogized it in the past as an oscar presenter. it might be thursday, it might be friday where he has to say these most loathed words to president trump where he says, the next president of the united states is joe biden. >> you're saying you can ta

to talk about what could be in store for donald trump, i want to bring in harry lipman, former deputyney general, former u.s. attorney for the western district of pennsylvania. harry, let's start with, like, a law school exam, right, where you have to write a legal memo. you get brought down to mar-a-lago to write a legal memo to the president outlining what his current legal exposure is. what do you tell him? >> all right, first, it's a long essay question, not a short answer. he's got -- he's facing incoming, i think, from at least four sources. first, the impeachment itself, which i don't think will be immediate, i think there will be good reason for the democrats to try to push it off a little. second, from state prosecutions, especially in new york, which you've been covering, but now fulton county, there's a georgia investigation afoot for that ill-fated call to the secretary of state. third, the department of justice. i don't think merrick garland necessarily welcomes this, but given all the investigation and prosecutions you're going to have to bring against the insurrectionis