"politico" was first to report on john eastman taking the fifth today as they noted in their coverage, quote, eastman's decision is an extraordinary assertion by someone who worked closely with trump to attempt to overturn the 2020 election 02 results. as somebody who worked directly with the president to try to overturn the election results is taking the fifth saying he needs to invoke his right against self-incrimination. he worked with the president in those efforts. john eastman has become best known in this saga for his memos that laid out the part of the scheme by which vice president mike pence would refuse to accept the electoral votes from some states when he was supposed to be counting those votes on january 6th in the floor of the senate by trump -- excuse me, trump would thereby stay in power, eastman is the one who sketched out that scheme in his legal memos. there's another bit of involvement here by john eastman that may be more directly relevant to what's happened in this last 24 hours. as reported today in "the arizona republic" john eastman, like jeff clark, he was a

politico was first to report on john eastman take the fifth as they noted in coverage, quote, eastman's decision is it an extraordinary assertion by someone working closely with trump to attempt the overturn the 2020 election results. as somebody who worked directly with the president to try to overturn the election results is taking the fifth, saying he needs to invoke his right against self-inincrimination. he worked with the president in those efforts. john eastman of course has become best known in the saga for the mos that laid out the part of this scheme by which mike pence would refuse to except the electoral votes from some states when he was supposed to be counting votes on january 6th in the floor of the senate. by trump -- excuse me by pence refuseding to except the electoral votes trump would there be stay in power. east j sketched out the scheme in his legal mos. there is another bit of involvement here by john eastman that may be more directly relevant to what's happened in this last 24 hours. as report reported today in the arizona republic john eastman like jeff clark --

marc short was in the meeting with john eastman, in the oval office, january 4th, 2021. where we detailed trump's telling pants in front of eastman, you have to listen to eastman. this is before the famous one-on-one meeting the next day on january 5th. all of this is to say, marc short was in the room with these men as he is discussing. and if john eastman will participate and if you are a reporter, or you are an investigator, you have to find out information from other people who were there. >> yamiche, what is the answer of moving our scope overseas? what is the advancer of this video conference of biden and putin tomorrow? >> white house and white house officials have been saying that this is really about the president going into a conversation where one of diplomacy is still top of the line for him. still the best way this administration thinks of handling our relationship with russia. one thing of course that is going to be on our agenda is russia's actions towards ukraine. white house officials, as well as biden ministration's traditional's have said over and over

john eastman is one of the targets of this attack on a course of liberties. he spoke at the rally on january 6 pretty once advised donaldke t trump. on friday, verizon informed john easton that unless he could get a court order -- they turn over their personal text messages to nancy pelosi and buddy johnson. thank you very much for coming on. >> tucker, they ask for having me. it's my pleasure. what a scary time in which we find ourselves.. >> it's absolutely horrifying. there was a news blackout on it, and shame on the people who are not covering one of the most amazing developments in my lifetime, which is the total instruction of ouret civil liberties. to be totally clear, are you charged with or even accused of a crime? >> now, and is apsley no evidence that i had any connection or communications with anybody who is charged with the crime. this is -- we've got a fourth amendment for one very clear reason for the english used to issue what is called "general warrants." that would offer authorized british officers to go wherever they wanted to.

but john eastman, as another problem, he is and has his bar license.ke the fifth you are indicating that something you say could incriminate you. and that is going to get him in trouble with his state bar association. >> daniel goldman, as always great pleasure, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> coming up, have you noticed the weather? december heat wave, massive storms an outbreak of deadly tornado. the unbelievable scenes unfolding all across the country, next. country, next. relieve pressure points. and its temperature balancing so you both sleep just right. don't miss our weekend special. save 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 48 months. ends monday. ♪ ♪ ♪ aloha! isn't this a cozy little room? sorry your vacation request took so long to get approved, so you missed out on the suite special. but lucky for you, they had this. when employees are forced to wait for vacation request approvals,it can really cramp their style. i'm gonna leave you to it. um, just— with paycom, employees enter and manage the

but john eastman has another problem, which is his bar license.u take the fifth, you are indicating that something you say could incriminate you, and that's going to get him in trouble with his state bar association. >> daniel goldman, as always, great pleasure. thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> coming up, have you noticed the weather? december heat waves, massive windstorms, an outbreak of deadly tornadoes. the unbelievable scenes unfolding all across the country, next. d years -- ahead. with fidelity income planning, we'll look at what you've saved, what you'll need, and help you build a flexible plan for cash flow designed to last. so you can go from saving... to living. [uplifting music playing] a flexible plan for cash flow designed to last. ♪ i had a dream that someday ♪ ♪ i would just fly, fly away ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ after my car accident, i wondered what my case was worth. so i call

donald trump put john eastman in a room with mike pence. nt for a coup plot to overturn the 2020 election. these are the chief monsters you have got to get, eastman and clark. >> well, i think that john eastman, certainly, nicolle, is a significant player. i mean the reality is that you had a memo outlining a coup to end the peaceful transition of power in the united states, to overturn the will of the american people and install for the first time in the nation's history a dictator. that's what the eastman memo was. it was discussed in the oval office. it was discussed and advocated to the president, by the president, for the president, from the president and his top advisers on down. so it's a very, very serious matter. what i think about all of this is the trajectory, the momentum of the fact-finding is such that when you look at the thompson/cheney committee -- when you look at these actions -- i think that as we move past the one-year anniversary of january 6th, the insurrection date, the followon votes, the whitewashing of all of this,

we'll get back to michigan but cnn also learned that conservative lawyer john eastman said he'll defy a subpoena from the house select committee investigating the january 6. congressman schiff there is standing by live to discuss. we'll be right back. yeah. ♪ i love finding out things that other people don't want me to know. mm-hmm. [beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ this is your home. this is your family room slash gym. the guest bedroom slash music studio. the daybed slash dog bed. the living room slash yoga shanti slash regional office slash classroom. and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. ♪ are you a christian author with a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! >>> is there's more breaking news to follow here right now. conservative lawyer john eastman saying he'll defy a subpoena from the house select committee investigat

trump lawyer john eastman, you may remember, he tried to get pence to plok the certification. it's unclear what level of cooperation, it's important to note they each spent several hours behind closed doors. also ali alexander. they were both there for several hours behind closed doors with committee members. ryan, the committee, you know, as i said, the victories may be picturic but they are important such that they are. the committee is a step closer to getting these documents that trump has been fiegfighting too and nail to keep secret. he's run out the appeals process. >> there's no doubt about that. the trump legal team already responding to this decision by an appellate court saying they always assume this case would end up in the supreme court. this is another blow for trump's argument about the protection of executive privilege. the apellate court ruling there was no legal reason to allow the court to overrule the privilege decision that was made by the current occupant of the white house, joe biden. that's important because while it will impact this trove of documents

john eastman, did he answer any questions or did he take the fifth over and over?> i can't comment on that. i think he made clear before his appearance he intended to assert the fifth. but as to how or what basis or how often, we're not commenting on that tonight. >> the house is pass your bill meant to combat presidential abuses of power, but its future in the senate is really unclear, congressman. are you worried we could face another january 6th if this doesn't become law? >> i am worried that our democracy is at deep risk. and the if this legislation doesn't become law, if hr1 and the john lewis voting rights bill, those two foundations don't become law because we rely on this archaic senate rule of filibuster, then our democracy is in grave jeopardy. you know those first bills on voting rights, those are foundational. if we don't have that, if people are disenfranchised. if the gop losing another presidential election succeeds in overturning the election, that's pretty much lights out for our democracy. but even in the future if we don't pass the legislation w

you also mentioned they're set to hear from john eastman t former trump campaign attorney who tried to pressure vice president pence to overturn the election on january 6th. lindsey? >> glenn, what's the significance of pleading the fifth in these cases and how do you think these strategies will hold up? >> yeah, it feels like the fifth amendment is becoming somewhat contagious among trump loyalists, first jeffrey clark, at least through his lawyer, said he'd be invoking the fifth and now we hear john eastman, one of the lawyers working with donald trump to overturn the election results will also plead the fifth. here is -- there are two consequences that flow from somebody pleading the fifth. first of all, if, in fact, your truthful testimony would incriminate you, make it clear you committed crimes against the united states, you should plead the fifth, because the constitution offers you that protection. and frankly, the only way congress can overcome the invocation of the fifth amendment privilege by a witness is to grant a witness immunity and compel his testimony. so, i think we'r

nbc news learn the four witnesses complainy referenced includes john eastman, author the memo designedpressure mike pence to throw out the results of the election. as well as chris krebs chofs fired after declaring the election was the most secure in american history. liz cheney adds, quote, we have received exceptionally interesting and important documents from a number of witnesses, including mark meadows, he has turned over many texts from his private cell phone from january 6th. complainy adds, quote, do not be misled, trump is trying to hide what happened on january 6th and the delay and obstruct. we will not let that happen. the truth will come out. over on the obstruction side, the committee announcing that a vote will take place tuesday to find mark meadows in contempt of congress and refer him for potential criminal charges for failing to comply with the subpoena for his testimony. but other key witnesses are cooperating en masse, also on capitol hill today stop the steal rally arguer, ali alexander. he says he expected his testimony would exonerate trump but the "new york tim

they expect from hear from john eastman who helped pressure the vice president, the former vice president to overturn the election results on january 6 and hear from jason miller, a spokes person for the president and bennie thompson said he's focused on what they knew with the misinformation of the fraud they allege in the days leading to january 6. i want to play a sound bite from adam schiff, a member of the panel reacting to another name of mark meadows, the commit tee trying to secure a date for him. >> what each witness we'll have to evaluate them. mark meadows has a book out now apparently describing conversations with the president of january 6 and must have had the permission to discuss the communications and saying previously they're covered by executive privilege. >> reporter: now meadows the former chief of staff to president trump just started to cooperate with the committee and the lawyer says that he will assert the executive privilege when it comes to certain details of january 6. adam schiff said if they're revealed in the book and they're sure to challenge that claim and

the same day we learned john eastman had personally participated in putting that sot he pleasure on officials in arizona, mr. eastman announced he, too, would plead the fifth rather than cooperating with the congressional investigation.th step back from this for a second. i mean, there is already a criminal investigation in georgia. pressuring or intimidating officials into messing with election results is a crime in georgia. it is also a crime in arizona. whether or not the federal justice department is ever going to investigate or prosecute ers anyone for this scheme, trying to interfere in a state's elections, trying to induce officials to mess with the election thresults, pressuring officials to change election results, that'sng a crime in evy state in the country. and one of the things we should maybe start thinking about is whether these revelations that have been turned up by the investigation already, whether these revelations might potentially start state prosecutors looking at these things in other states just like they're looking at them in georgia.onp in many ways that would seem

that would be john eastman. he's a lawyer and adviser to donald trump spoke at the rally on the morning of january 6th and wrote the coup memos that laid out a kind of procedure by which the mechanics of the vote counting that day on january 6th could be hijacked at first of mike pence and others to bestow the presidency on donald trump. the letter says he asserts his fifth amendment right not to be a witness against himself in response to your subpoena. what do you make of that? >> he seems to be following mr. clark's example. he can assert a fifth amendment privilege. we have a great many questions for him. some of those may implicate no fifth amendment concern. no factual basis for that. we will have to see when he comes in whether there is a good faith basis to assert the fifth or whether he makes it clear even as to questions there's no potential fifth amendment privilege that he still intends to refuse to answer questions. with each of these witnesses we'll have to evaluate them when they come in. mark mea

election results on january 6, including one key meeting in the oval office with conservative lawyer john eastman who was floating this pretty much debunked legal theory that somehow pence had the authority to prevent the certification of the election. of course, pence said that he did not have that authority. he refused to take that step, which was part of why some of the rioters that were here on that day were looking for pence. some even saying that they wanted to execute him. so, the fact that we have a key player in pence's orbit willing to communicate with the january 6 committee, at least answer some questions and hand over documents about his experience on that day, gives us a level of insight cboe just how willing the pence world may be willing to cooperate on a broader scale. now, we should point out that marc short was subpoenaed by the january 6 select committee. this was information that we were not made aware of until cnn broke this story. so marc short, key player in all of the activity leading up to january 6, cooperating with the committee as they try and get to the bottom of wha

this is the law trump and his allies through the john eastman memo were trying to use to overturn thelicans have blocked past efforts to change this law. what possibility is there in this 50-50 senate that this law could be changed? >> well, of course it's going to be difficult without breaking the filibuster, but i think it's important to underline how important this is for congress to address this particular issue. of all of the issues that we have talked about -- and i've mentioned this before -- of vote suppression, the attacks on democracy, this particular piece of legislation is absolutely central to any attempt to overturn the election, and what you're seeing around the country, of course, is that donald trump and republicans are more than willing to change the rules to have legislatures become empowered to be able to overturn the popular vote. and as we know, it was this particular law that they were relying on, that they were hoping that mike pence would use to overturn the election. i mean, the good news, of course, is that he did not do it. the bad news, this is a badly wri

but for somebody like jeffrey clark or john eastman who seems to have birthday intimately involved ingive them immunity so congress can get to the bottom of this. >> i imagine they would want to participate in a valid and righteous investigation if they have law licenses and they want to practice in the future, but just my hunch. professor barbara mcquade. thank you so much for being here and helping us understand all of this news. please stay safe. have a great weekend. >>> coming up, a surprise show of support for the january 6th select committee from mitch mcconnell? did i read that right? we'll talk about that right after this break. snacking can mean that pieces get stuck under mike's denture. but super poligrip gives him a tight seal. to help block out food particles. so he can enjoy the game. super poligrip. fine, no one leaves the table until your finished. fine, we'll sleep here. ♪♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. people, with quickbooks live someone else will do your books for you. they'll even pair you with an expert bookkeeper like me,

that lawyer john eastman is pleading the 5th. trump justice department jeff clark is pleading the 5th. roger stone says he too is going to plead the 5th. conspiracy theorist alex jones says he, too, is going to plead the 5th. trump himself has to decide if he's going to plead the 5th in the new york attorney general's civil investigation of his rah business which is unfolding in parallel with a criminal investigation of his business which has already resulted in felony charges against his core business and his chief financial officer. you going to plead the 5th? it seems to be kind of a trend. in march of 1973, nixon had been reelected 1972. sworn in january of 1973. watergate was not erased by him running for reelection, he hoped it would be. watergate got way way way more serious for nixon in the early months of his second term. in march of 1973 as watergate was starting to crash down around richard nixon, this was around the time his chief of staff h.r. alderman that nixon finally seemed to understand the seriousness of waterg

former department of justice official, jeffrey clark, this man, and john eastman, the lawyer. this man. legal scholar who authored a memo for vice president mike pence on how he could do his part to overturn the election results on january 6th. both men are now reportedly planning to plead the fifth. in the meantime, the committee's pressing forward with more depositions scheduled for more trump associates in the coming days. the list includes michael flynn, stephen miller, kayleigh mcenany. we'll have to see how cooperative these three will be. but meanwhile, a former key figure in the trump orbit is reckoning with the years he spent doing the former president's bidding. michael cohen, who spent more than a decade as president trump's personal lawyer and fixer is a free man again. he recently completed a three-year sentence in prison and home confinement for pleading guilty to multiple charges, including tax evasion. yesterday, he spoke with my colleague, alex witt. >> i made a lot of mistakes, in terms of even just accepting the employment of donald trump in the year of 2007

but for somebody like jeffrey clark or john eastman who seems to have birthday intimately involved inbe important to give them immunity so congress can get to the bottom of this. >> i imagine they would want to participate in a valid and righteous investigation if they have law licenses and they want to practice in the future, but just my hunch. professor barbara mcquade. thank you so much for being here and helping us understand all of this news. please stay safe. have a great weekend. >>> coming up, a surprise show of support for the january 6th select committee from mitch mcconnell? did i read that right? we'll talk about that right after this break. after this break [sfx: radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. ♪ [band plays] ♪ a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. ebenezer. you're in good hands with allstate. ebenezer. ha ha ha ha. marley?

john eastman is now suing the committee and verizon over subpoenas of his phone records. eastman, who is also refusing to cooperate with the committee and takes the fifth, wonders how former vice president pence might overturn the 2020 election. the committee did hear from another gentleman, mike stockton, who took over the ellipse in the capitol riot. >> the buck has got to stop at president trump. he knew better and there is no excuse for him sending people down in that situation without having the logistics, the security, the stage and sound system to control the crowd. that stuff could have been in place and should have been in place before he ever sent people down there. >> also tonight a federal judge has dismissed trump's lawsuit to shield his tax returns from the house ways and means committee. the ruling from that trump-appointed judge gives the committee chairman broad leeway to request those documents despite trump's status as a former president. the judge also gave the former president 14 days to appeal. >>> also tonight, federal health officials are increasin

now, you also have john eastman that you mentioned at the top, the former trump campaign attorney whoeed, overturn the election on january 6th. of course he didn't do that. he also says, now look, i'm going to invoke the fifth amendment here, ironically said that on steve bannon's radio show this week so we're going to see in the next few weeks how everything shakes out. lindsey? >> julie, thank you. >>> let's discuss this further with michigan congressman and chief deputy whip for the house caucus, dan kildee. what do you make of these postponements? >> it's frustrating. we're a month away from the one-year anniversary of the terrible attack. when they were smashing the glass trying to get into the u.s. house of representatives i was on the other side of that glass. this is personal for a lot of us. this is an attack on our country, on our democracy, and i think it's important that if we all step back and realize what's happening here, the people who may have been involved in perpetrating this attack, or at least supporting the perpetrators of this attack, from within our own governm

we're not going to hear from john eastman. but the fourth person in that room was marc short. he can tell the committee what happened in that room. if you attack it that way, i do think you can get towards the truth here. >> charlie, elie, thank you very much, sirs. see you soon. >>> obviously from our previous conversation, the warning lights are blinking red for our democracy, and time is running out to make sure the next election is truly secure. if january 6th was a trial run, will they succeed next time? neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and

we're probably not going to hear from john eastman, but the fourth person in that room was mark short, and he can tell us, he can tell the committee what happened in that room. i do think you can get towards the truth here. >> all right, charlie, elie, thank you very much, sirs. see you soon. >>> obviously from our previous conversation, the warning lights are blinking red for our democracy, and time is running out to make sure the next election is truly secure. if january 6th was a trial run, will they succeed next time? and he gets one-on-one coaching when he needs it. so ben is feeling pretty zen. that's the planning effect from fidelity >> man: what's my safelite story? my truck...is my livelihood. so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me... with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ordinary tissues burn when theo blows. so puffs plus lotion rescued his nose. with up to 50% more lotion, puffs bring soothing relief. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. it's the

donald trump and this lawyer john eastman are trying to pressure mike pence. that room, we're never going to realistically hear from mark short. eastman doesn't seem like he is on the road to testify. and then, key moments on january 6th he is with mike pence. we know about that but to hear from a person who was there in that room. look, the committee said they are going to start doing public hearings next among. if i am putting that hearing together, mark short -- no pun intended -- on my short list of who i would want to put in front of the camera. >> well, and that's crucial because they have to make that decision. um, you know, the former-trump chief of staff, mark meadows, right, he's agreed to cooperate but he is one of the ones who may be playing little games with the word cooperate, right? what does that actually mean? does that mean showing up? or does that mean showing up and saying executive privilege, i can't share anything, gave you some e-mails. so will -- is mark short going to be enough, right? i know they can say we have heard from 200 people,

we know steve bannon hasn't complied with the committee, if john eastman is over there saying he thinks it's a farce, you probably can tell that's where you can go next. long-time senior trump aide jason miller also supposed to be deposed. the january 6th committee doing its work as one of its members liz cheney last week says in the new year we're going to start seeing more from them, including more hearings. >> okay, but harry, it clearly shows that they're not scared. all of this is going on while steve bannon is still talking about all of it on his podcast. eastman going on the podcast. help us understand the position that eastman is in, pleading the fifth. why would anyone plead the fifth unless speaking meant that they were going to incriminate themselves. further more, how does he continue as a lawyer, a career injustice having done this? >> yeah, so first, that's the killer point for him and for clark. it's a body blow, but he has to compare it now against the possibility of literally incriminating himself. he has proffered to date really lousy privilege claims, and that would b

john eastman, who helped former president trump to pressure vice president pence to overturn the 2020 election, plans to plead the fifth before the january 6th commission. jeffrey clark, who missed a deposition yesterday due to health reasons, has indicated he plans to do the same. kyle cheney of politico who broke the story called eastman's position extraordinary. what do you expect to happen, barb, now that these two have pleaded the fifth? >> the fifth amendment is a much stronger privilege than some of the others we've heard about. executive privilege is one that can yield if there is a more significant public interest, like joe biden has found with regard to the documents in the archives. attorney/client privilege is also out there. but the fifth amendment is strong, it's a right that all of us have. i don't impute any guilt to anybody, but you have to have a well-founded fear of criminal prosecution and two, you have to assert it on a question by question basis, you can't just say therefore i don't have to show up. it's not all over because they've asserted the fifth. >> mike fl

john eastman, for example, was one of the people pressuring mike pence.'s former national security advisor was talking about the insurrection act and seizing voting equipment. you know, one of the most extreme things in that powerpoint and that reporting had been out even before that memo was part of -- reached mark meadows. so, some of this was in plain sight at the time, but that powerpoint really captured a lot of it all in one place. a lot o place. >> kyle cheney, thank you. >>> continuing coverage of the deadly tornadoes coming up ahead. mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to break 'em in a little bit. you don't want 'em too loose. for those who were born to ride there's progressive. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. think i'm gonna wear these home. -excellent choice. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ wondering what actually goes into your multi-vitamin. at new chapter. its innovation organic ingredients and fer

that lawyer who drafted that scheme for trump, john eastman, himself, appeared before the january sixmittee today and reportedly, pled the fifth. he invoked his fifth amendment right for self incrimination. that lawyer, john eastman, pleading the fifth, trump will pleading the fifth, longtime trump advisor, said he too is going to plead the fifth. conspiracy theories salesman, alex joan, he said he is also going to plead the fifth. and now trump him self now has to decide if he is going to plead the fifth in the new york attorney generals civil investigation of his business which is unfolding in parallel with the criminal investigation of his business which is already resulted in felony charges against his core business and his chief financial officer. are you going to plead the fifth? it seems to be kind of a trend. in march of 1973, nixon had been reelected 1972, sworn in january 1973. watergate was now erased by him running for election. he kind of hoped it would be watergate. he felt in fact, in the early months of a second term as such. and as watergate was finally starting to cr

it seems like they need information from jeffrey clark and john eastman. in your experience, what options are available to the committee with these two? >> i think the individuals at this point have a choice to made, which is, do they want to invite a contempt of congress viation, just like steve bannon did, or do they want to cooperate to the best extent possible? and i think that my hope is that through the cooperation of mark meadows, they will feel that they have no choice but to cooperate, baa but we will see very much if that ends to be the case. >> congressman, politico is reporting that, quote, an unpublished investigative compilation, sometimes referred to as the alternative mueller report has been located in the justice department files and could be released soon. to do you know anything about this. >> mr. weismann, part of the mueller team revealed in his book that they could come up with this alternative, "the new york times" sued to get access to it. and the justice department is now apparently in the process of producing it. my hope is that i

because we already had john eastman's memorandum and there's an overlap in some of the arguments.meadows, one, and i say this and people won't be happy about it. this was a smart move from mark meadows personally in terms of a criminal contempt proceeding against him, because what he is going to say is, look, i'm cooperating. i'm turning things over. look at that memo i turned over. it is not relevant to the privilege claim of executive privilege because we didn't act on it. now, that's a pretty bold move for him, so that suggests that he feels fairly confident that the committee may not have any other evidence that shows him utilizing that memo in some way. but really, what's happening here, beyond this powerpoint, is the fact that we have members of congress, senate and house, deeply engaged in talking about and trying to figure out how to support then president donald trump to stay in office despite the election and despite the fact that bill barr, the attorney general appointed by donald trump, that for four years acted as his defender in chief, said, in early december, a mont

chris, john eastman, kash patel, and ali alexander, the stop the steal rally organizer., the committee will decide whether to recommend contempt charges for former white house chief of staff mark meadows after he sued the committee and refused to cooperate. >>> we have more from capitol hill, and also with us, nbc justice correspondent pete williams and "washington post" senior washington corner phil rucker, co-author of "i alone can fix it". >> let me get to the first question. how quickly could a case over trump's documents get to the supreme court? how soon could they rule on something like this? >> well, it will get to the supreme court within two weeks. the appeals court put its own ruling on hold to give the lawyers for the former president trump 14 days in which to ask the supreme court to hear the case. now, there's no guarantee that the court will take the case. you have to ask, in a case like this, for the supreme court to hear your case, the appeal is not automatic, and it's by no means certain that the court will agree to take it. if they do, then really ther

john eastman intends to invoke the fifth. on friday, jason miller is supposed to show up.ackie? s >> yeah, nicole, i didn't mean to down play the process. >> no, no, no. you made a perfect point. you made a perfect point. it was more important. we'll come back to the process now. >> you know, following these bread crumbs is our life blood at the moment, and especially, l think, that chart in particular helps illuminate just all of the various threads that the committee is following. you have, as jamie raskin has said before, various rings. he views it as three rings. we have heard that there are five different courses of investigation that are being pursued by the committee.ve d so, you have people that are ha following the money. that's -- that means subpoenaing people like budowich, who was involved with the planning of the rally. then you have the oath keepers and the extremism. you have the committee looking to figure out who funded these people, how they communicated with each other,se and what tha organization was like. that is the outermost ring, as jamie raskin has

today we learned another high-profile witness, john eastman who wrote that memo outlining a plan to overturn election have also involved his fifth amendment rights. the committee has requested eastman to turnover documents and appear for his deposition on the 8th of december. adam schiff says they are determined to hear from clark and eastman. >> we are following mr. clark's example. we have great questions for him. we indicate no fifth amendment concern and no factual basis for that. we'll have to see when he comes in whether there is a good faith bases to a certain of -- what i find extraordinary is we have someone in clark who's at the senior most senior level at the department of justice who's saying i can't answer certain questions because it may in criminate criminal activities. that just takes my breath away. >> another front, today started with a mix bit of news of the state of our economy. 210,000 jobs were created last month. a lot of the economy expected that number to be well over a million. unemployment dropped to 4.2%. that's the number of the real indication of the state of ou

weeks, more lawsuits have poured in, from trump's chief of staff mark meadows, michael flynn, john eastmanconservative lawyer, who wrote a memo. alex jones, the far right-wing media pundit. an election official for donald trump and a handful of other rally oarizers, all have sued to stop the committee. a judge in flynn's case just denied a request to immediately step in and block a subpoena for his tomorrow, and in request for phone records. >> the foundation is not based on a legislative purpose. >> in meadows' suit -- meadows handed over thousands of records to the committee. when we refused to meet with them, the house voted to refer hem to possible prosecution for criminal contempt of congress. >> truly the executive privilege that donald trump las claimed is his to waive, it's not mine to waive, not congress's to waive. that's why we filed the lawsuit to hopefully get 9 courts to weigh in. >> reporter: democrats pledging that their probably will not be impeded, stressing that hundreds have already cooperated. >> we won't stop fighting for democracy or rule of law. we're not going to b

lawsuits have poured in, from mark meadows, trump's first national security adviser michael flynn, john eastmanthe lawyer who wrote a memo detailing how mike pence could interrupt the election results, alex jones, alley alexander, and a handful of other rally organizers. all have sued to stop the c committy. a judge in flynn's case denied a request to block a subpoena for his testimony and request for phone records. >> the foundation is not based on a legislative purpose. >> reporter: mark meadows is challenging the basic premise of the committee. in meadows' suit, his lawyers write the select committee acts absent any legislative power and threatens to violate executive privilege and immunity. he handed over thousands of records to the committee. but when he refused to meet with them, the house voted to refer him to possible prosecution for criminal contempt of congress. >> truly, the executive privilege that donald trump has claimed is his to waive, not mine. that's why we filed the lawsuit. >> reporter: democrats are pledging that their probe won't be impeded, stressing that hundreds of witn

mike pence could overturn the election on top of the memo from john eastman. was this all right out in plain sight do you think? >> i don't know how out in the open it was. i think everybody recognizes that it was -- these were absurd arguments that the vice president had no authority to overturn the state certification of elections. i mean, the vice president understood that. dan quail explained it to mike pence and they were right. and so these lawyers were coming up with outrageous theories to prevent the peaceful transition of power and it's as simple as that and again, i lay the blame at the former president. that's why we're having these conversations today. i know most republicans with whom i've dealt with who served were currently in office believe they were all elected legitimately and if the democrats are going to steal elections, they wouldn't have just stolen the presidential election. they all know that. so i think this is really sad that we're in this position in this country right now. >> laura, the national archives -- say again. >> others are

we already knew trump was presenting things and john eastman writing their own presentation in this.h chris christy and votes were driven from the top, and that trump surrounded himself with c-teamers who told him what he wanted to hear. i agree with most of that, but i think chris christy is wrong. he was just playing the video of these people, trump's lawyers and others. i put mark meadows in that camp, too. so what i want to know is who in congress saw that powerpoint? who were they? when did they know it? at that point 63 different courts, federal and state, including the u.s. supreme court, said this election fraud stuff is all nonsense, and yet some of them appear to have given aid and comfort to team coup. >> you laid that all out. that makes sense. when the meadows defense says, well, this actually wasn't a big deal, that's why they turned it over, what's your response to that? >> well, i think they had to turn it over because they had no possible claim of privilege whatsoever, because meadows said, i didn't write this document, so he really didn't have anything there. i thin

have been subjected to subpoenas like former doj official jeffrey clark and former trump attorney john eastman

john eastman. you see him on the screen at that infamous rally on january 6th.e is famous for his efforts to try to get vice president pence to break his oath, defy the constitution and use his position overseeing the electoral college to overturn the election. that, fred, obviously didn't work either, but the committee really wants to hear from these guys to learn about more of these efforts behind the scenes and sounds like they won't get any answers. >> trump's former chief of staff mark meadows is cooperating, in some ways. with this, with his subpoena, but also claiming executive privilege on other parts and has a new book out about his time in the white house. what is he saying and how might it impact the january 6th probe? >> that's right, fred. mark meadows is cooperating to a certain extent with the committee and expectsed to go in and speak with the lawmakers this upcoming week. that book, though, is definitely something the lawmakers will want to read before they question him. it's incredible. we obtained a copy yesterday and read through a lot of it.

condition that prevents him from complying today, so this comes just one day after conservative lawyer john eastmanittee that he plans to defy a subpoena from the panel. the latest example highlighting the threats to democracy in america. joining me right now for context, timothy schneider from yale university. also the author of the book, on tyranny. so good to see you. so the january 6th committee is acting on multiple fronts to try to get to the bottom of what happened in the lead up to the insurrection, but former trump officials are throwing roadblocks at them at every opportunity. so how does this undermine the process that could ultimately affect our democracy? >> that's a wonderful question because it gets to the heart of the matter. democracy is based upon facts. we need facts to cooperate together at citizens, to be able to evaluate our candidates, we need facts to be able to think about laws and if there is an attack on our democracy, if there's a moment where our entire system is put at threat, what could we possibly need the facts about more than that? so this is a moment where the bas

another individual we didn't hear a lot about until these investigations kicked into gear, lawyer john eastmanplan for then vice president mike pence to interrupt vote certification. why would a lawyer worry about incriminating himself if he's just crafting legal strategies? >> because maybe he's doing more than that. that's one reason why he might not have attorney/client privilege. if you were engaging with your client, who you otherwise represent in a criminal conspiracy of some sort, then you don't get the protection of the attorney/client privilege. so that's meaningful. the other thing i want to say is everyone in america has the absolute right to assert the fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination. and if it's done in good faith. and you probe whether it's good faith or not, which i assume the commit will do. it's a thing that the former president who is at the center of this, donald trump, who said the only people who plead the fifth are people who are guilty. that was donald trump's view so i wonder what he thinks of this. >> and i want to turn now to this new book, revive