and also a guy named johnny mcentee. he may not be as familiar to you, it is possible that the name rings a bell. he was so powerful inside the trump white house he has been called the deputy president. which of course, we don't have in this country. we've got a vice president, we have a chief of staff of president. not a deputy president, it does not exist. now we are learning as set of shocking new details that is sort of trump ego johnny mcentee did. and how effective the ran the united states government. but before all this, he actually went viral a decade ago with this video, i actually remember seeing this video, he was the quarterback for the university of connecticut football team. impressive. he successfully through all these trick shots. these unlikely shots. and again, it is really impressive that he did that. but it is what mcentee did after college that has brought him the most notoriety. after a staffer at fox news said, he joined the trump campaign, then as the candidates body man. which is the person who

how central a figure do you view mcentee?el to this big lie that we are having to deal with. part of what you heard and read just then is how all this was created. if you put the lie out in front of the public that the machines somehow changed the outcome of the election or that certain officials in certain parts of the country were not loyal to the president, we have people who are working in this administration who are not loyal to this president, we are a democracy. so part of our challenge that we are having to address is whether or not what occurred came almost to the point of destroying this great democracy of ours, and if it did, what can we do to protect it? part of it is getting to the evidence. the phone call made to the secretary of state in georgia by the president saying he only needs a few thousand votes and he can take georgia. all those things bring into question as to, was this part of a bigger plan? the fact that officials in arizona, michigan, pennsylvania were all put under pressure to change the outcome o

carl thought that johnny mcentee was crossing the line.rr whose whole theory as an executive that the president controls the entire executive branch, this is like aoc saying your health care plan provides too much coverage. [ laughter ] >> you know, michael, i want to put up a calendar because i noticed yesterday when the subpoenas that came out that there is an interesting pattern happening and then the new subpoenas that came out and now this pattern is now clear. i mean, look from november 29th basically right through december 15th, every day someone who has been subpoenaed is due to appear to give a deposition before the select committee. every day with the exception of maybe one day i can see there, december 7th. do you think that what the committee is doing is basically defying these folks on a daily basis to not show up? >> i don't know. i'm not sure and i'm not sure what the committee will ultimately get from these individuals. some of them are the most loyal of the loyal. mike flynn was pardoned by donald trump. bernie carrick was

tonight the story of donald trump's white house enforcer johnny mcentee.ow he is the staffer that made january six possible. plus, january six committee chair, benny thompson, on what these subpoenas mean and what happens next. then the right-wing plan to use culture wars and covid to destroy public education in america. and as aaron rodgers attempt to npr nightmare over vaccine nonsense. >> i made some comments that people might have felt were misleading. >> tonight i'll talk to surgeon general, about his new plan to combat misinformation. when all in starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes, the biden partisan house committee investigating the january 6th insurrection released another round of subpoenas today. targeting a number of high-profile or allies, the former president donald trump has. this comes on the heels of that big run of subpoenas handed down yesterday. we are goi t

mcentee and his enforcers made the disastrous last weeks of the trump presidency possible.y backed the president's manic drive to overturn the election and helped set the stage for the january 6th assault on the capitol. just days before january 6th, mcentee sent pence's office an absurd memo making the case that pence would be following thomas jefferson's example if he used his power to declare trump the winner of the 2020 election. carol, i know he came up in your travels, your research along with phil for your first and second books. tell us more about this young man who is about to be better known. >> mcentee was indeed a university of connecticut football player. he had also an amazing ability to win in electronic gambling, which got him into trouble with the national security clearances early in the administration. he rose like a meteor in the trump white house because he had the quality that donald trump values more than anything else, which is, you know, basically blind loyalty. he did what donald trump wanted, and in the final days just as jonathan karl describes,

now, mcentee, why do people need to know that name?ck when i was first starting to cover the trump campaign. they had like ten employees. i went to trump tower. there was nobody there. there was a kid a few years out of connecticut named johnny mcentee shaking my hand and giving me a tour. fast forward trump wins and becomes the body guy, the kid who carries the bags for the president to marine one and served that role through much of the first year of the trump presidency until he was fired for issues raised on his background check but he came back in january of 2020 and he came back and he came back because trump knew that he was the guy that was more loyal to him than anybody who would do absolutely anything he wanted and trump actually put him in charge of the presidential personnel office. this is in charge of the hiring and firing of everybody in the united states government in the executive branch and all the political appointees and at that point, chris, he hadn't hired a single person in his life. he had no experience for this

his johnny mcentee, was trump's man through and through. a man who rose to power out of precisely the moment when america's democracy was falling apart. the committee's letter to johnny mcentee states, you were reportedly president the oval office when giuliani, justin clark, former president trump, and former vice president pence discussed the audit process in georgia and listened as giuliani suggested seizing dominion voting machines because of fraud. here is what house select committee, benny thompson told chris hayes tonight about the latest round of subpoenas. >> 16 individuals we have subpoenaed this week have has asked as to what occurred before january six as well as what occurred on january six. we think it is incumbent upon the committee to get them on the record in sworn testimony as to what actually occurred and what did they do during that time. the people we wanted to talk to directly, now, are people who we think have evidence as to what really went on in terms of the planning. >> yesterday, what was the justice department's

molly michael, mike will you in a, john mcentee and john cassidy. you covered this whois for a long time know their faces. they were always around, people we would see in the tape playback behind the president, next to the president, not the principles but those supporting the principles and to dhuk' point, they want to know what former president trump was saying on the critical days leading up to and on the riot. >> when history books are written, what they have to say, they are the footnote in the story always the most interesting. molly michael was the president's personal secretary, if you will. she was sitting at the door of the oval office. she knew everything on his calendar, every phone call that he dealt with. nick luna was the personal assistant to the president. so every interaction he had, every piece of paper on his desk, he would have dealt with. you can't get any closer than that. so those are very key interactions to know the mood of the president, who was in the room, who was speaking with him, what was the nature of who he wanted t

in an excerpt from his book in "the atlantic" jonathan karl described mcentee just 29 when he got the job, he would come up as trump's body guy, one of trump's most profile cabinet secretaries described him to me as an f-ing idiot but in 2020 his power was undeniable, the one person willing to do anything trump wanted. he we came the deputy president more than anyone else in the white house mcentee was trump's man through and through a man who rose to power at the precisely the moment when american democracy was falling apart. the committee's letter to johnny mcentee states quote you were reportedly present in the oval office when giuliani, justin clark, former president trump and former vice president pence discussed the audit process in georgia and listened as giuliani suggested seizing dominion voting machines because of fraud. here is what house select committee chairman bennie thompson told chris hayes tonight about the latest round of subpoenas. the 16 individuals we subpoenaed this week have knowledge as to what occurred before january 6th, as well as what occurred on january 6

mcentee reportly participating in that event. it's unknown in jon karl's book about whether the team wants to talk to him specifically but he did get subpoenaed today. general keith kellogg is subpoenaed. as well as trump adviser steven miller. he will be remembered in history for being the architect of the policy that arranged for the u.s. government to take thousands of little kids away from their moms and dads indefinitely. but he's been summed now to testify about his efforts to spread false information about election results and to persuade states to overthrow the results and proclaim trump the winner even in states that trump lost. a number of other people who are accused of participating in that pressure campaign targeting republican-controlled state legislatures in states they lost, telling state legislates that she should send to washington, even though he lost. the number of people who participated in those efforts, white house deputy chief of staff, also trump's personal assistant, also another guy who served as trump'

what do you make of some of these subpoenas against mcenany, mcentee and others? >> these were people in the white house who had direct conversations with the prrkts sat in the oval office, overheard the president, were in the room with the president and they kind of outline it here. made public statements about the so-called rigged election, the big lie. they tell you. they give you the road map about why they are -- they need to hear from them because they know what went on in the room when they were there. >> right. >> and so they've already interviewed other people, clearly, who are telling them a story and now they're going to them and saying, okay, we know this happened. tell me about it. and so, you know, these are people who they could claim privilege because they worked in the white house. the batch we had yesterday, i believe it was yesterday, didn't work in the white house. steve bannon did not work in the white house. yet he is claiming privilege. these people will certainly try and claim that which is why they are sort of waiting on what merrick garla

mcentee reportedly participated in that pressure campaign against mike pence directly. that was unknown before the book. it's unknown whether the january 6 committee wants to talk to him about that specifically. he did get subpoenaed today. vice president pence's national security advisor was subpoenaed as well as trump advisor stephen miller. he will be remembered in history for being the architect of the policy that arranged for the u.s. government to take little kids away from their moms and dads indefinitely. he has been subpoenaed to testify about his efforts to spread false information about the election results and to persuade states to overthrow those results and proclaim trum trump the winner. a number of other people who are accused of participated in that pressure campaign targeting republican controlled state legislatures in states that trump lost, telling length lay tors they should send electoral slates to washington as if trump won even though he lost. number of people who allegedly participated in those efforts. the white house deputy chief of staff. tru

talk about johnny mac, johnny mcentee, who for heretofore enjoyed brief frame on youtube doing footballs when he played college ball at the university of connecticut. tell us how this guy rose to the top of power in the white house, into an including the dismissal of the secretary of defense? >> he became truly one of the most powerful people in the white house, he is somebody who started out working as carrying the presidents bag. he was just a few years out of college when trump got elected and he was the so-called body guy. but he got fired, early on, by john kelly. issues that came up in his background check. but he was back in the beginning of 2020 and he was put at 29 years old, brian, he was put in charge of presidential personnel. the office that does all the hiring and firing for all of the employees, the political appointees in the executive branch, even though he had never hired or fired anybody in his life. he was put on top of the top hr office, and he i think is really somebody who may january six possible, because over the course of 2020 he with a group of friends that he

. >> what about john mcentee? i mean, he was the president's body man.president's body man, who then became the director of presidential personnel office which is extraordinary. um, how much influence did he have over the president? >> enormous influence. a former-college football player who became close to trump, jonathan carl has a strong piece in the atlantic about mcentee tonight. someone who is a total loyalist. in the final days, trump wanted only loyalists around him. he was an enforcer on everything from the policy of afghanistan withdrawal to who would be left in the white house n those final days. all of these people tonight are going to try and wait and see if they can have executive privilege protected for trump. but there are a lot of cracks in that executive privilege argument, anderson. so many of these participants like john eastman have talked publicly at length about their -- their efforts in -- in these events. so if they can talk publicly to reporters and podcasts, why can't they talk to the committee? >> i mean, the -- you know, you

johnny mcentee specifically but he did get subpoenaed today. vice president pence national security advisor general, also issued a subpoena. as well as stephen miller, he will be remembered in history for being the architect of the policy that arranged for the u.s. government to take thousands of little kids away from their mom and dad indefinitely. he has been subpoenaed now to testify about his efforts to spread false information about the election results and to persuade states to overthrow those results and proclaimed trump the win or even in states that trump lost. a number of other people who are accused of participating in that pressure campaign targeting republicans controlled state legislators in states that trump lost, telling state legislators that they should send electoral slates to washington as if trump won even though he lost. a number of people participated in those efforts, also the white house deputy chief of staff, also trump's personal assistance, also another guy who served as trump's body man when the first guy got promot

. >> reporter: also senior adviser stephen miller, john mcentee, who just at 29 years old, became one of trump's most powerful and loyal aides. and molly michael, his personal secretary. today's subpoenas followed those issued yesterday for michael flynn, rudy giuliani's associate bernie kerik. and a woman named angela mccallum. citing this voicemail to a michigan state representative. >> you do have the power to reclaim your authority and send a slate of electors that will support president trump and vice president pence. >> reporter: the question now is whether those subpoenaed today and yesterday will actually testify. the answer to that may depend on what happens with steve bannon. bannon defied his subpoena. he's been held in contempt. if the justice department prosecutors him, the others will see that they could go to jail for failing to cooperate. if justice does not cooperate, the others will see there is no price to pay for defying congress. david? >> all right, jon karl back with us tonight. jon, thank you. >>> we're going to turn next tonight to your money and more specific

johnny mcentee, not a name perhaps many viewers know, but a real power source within the white housewell. briefly dismissed by chief kelly, then he was brought back. he was often the last man in the room on many of trump's conversations. remains to be seen whether they'll cooperate. there have been varying degrees of cooperation among trump aides. steve bannon refuses and may face criminal charges. this committee says, look, we're proceeding and taking this seriously. they're trying to do this quickly. they know this all goes away if the republicans capture the house again next year. >> joyce, we basically got all the bold-face names now from the trump administration having been subpoenaed. bannon, meadows, mcenany, flynn, eastman, the list goes on and on. you have an interesting piece on msnbc, "steve bannon's subpoena case is taking longer than we want it to. that's a good thing." we were talking about the frustration with the justice department, about giving this some teeth, giving the subpoenas teeth and what it'd signal to people down the line if they didn't have to answer these

wasn't john mcentee fired and brought back, am i remembering that right?people subpoenaed in this i think far reaching investigation that the house is putting together. he is someone that may not be a high profile name to people watching, he is close to the president, who was in a lot of key meetings, key rooms around the white house. it is very interesting to see that the house committee investigating the capitol attack is honing in on him and a number of others. >> olivia, you're in this story, i'm going to read this. late october 2020, broad to mark meadows' attention a young assistant at hud was consorting with the enemy, liked a post from taylor swift. first photo in the post was of swift with the word vote, superimposed, a swipe revealed a second photo of swift carrying a tray of cookies emblaze onned with the biden-harris campaign logo, we can't have people liking that. this is a sign of treachery. i heard you were in trouble for playing taylor swift loudly in your office and got busted. tell us. >> i did. it was a known thing, you had to be really

. >> and in addition to mcenany, miller and mcentee, these are people that were very close the to the president on the day of january 6th. not just in terms of their relationship, but in proximity. they were physically in the room with him different parts of that day. including nicholas luna, michael molly and ben williamson, who is close to mark meadows. wolf, it shows that the committee is trying to find a direct link between the former president, donald trump, and what happened here on january 6th. >> certainly does. thank you very much. let's get more on this. joining us now, cnn senior law enforcement analyst, andrew mccabe, the former fbi deputy director and author of the threat. also with us, cnn's senior legal analyst and former assistant u.s. attorney, the author of hatchet man, how bill barr broke the prosecutor's code and corrupted the justice department. when you look at who's targeted with these new subpoenas, are these investigators after an inside account of what was happening inside the oval office on that critically important january 6th? >> i think that's exactly wha

. >> christopher little, john mcentee, keith kellogg, kayleigh mcenany, stephen miller, ben williamson, molly michael, nicholas luna. there they are up on your screen. always a pleasure, andrew. thank you, sir. i appreciate it. >> thanks, don. have a good night. >>> i want to turn now to cnn's senior political analyst mr. john avlon. john, good evening to you. thanks for helping us out on this breaking news. let me read a little bit more from the judge's ruling. it says, presidents are not king and plaintiff is not president. he retains the right to assert that his records are privileged, but the incumbent president is not constitutionally obliged to honor that assertion. presidents are not kings. that's a line first written by a different judge in the case over don mcgahn. give me your reaction to this. >> i'm so glad you read that line because it's so important. presidents are not kings, and the plaintiff is not president. presidential privilege exists for the benefit of the republic, not any particular individual. that gets to the heart of this case in effect, and this judge's decis

steven miller, former white house personnel director john mcentee, and personal assistant are among thosetestify. the house committee is apparently attempting to strip committee assignments for those who voted for the infrastructure bill. punchbowl reports that many republicans were angry. the victory for president biden could be a vital campaign tool during next year's midterms. one lawmaker that they're targeting, congressman john peck of new york. it's not the first time he upset rank and file republicans. he also voted to impeach former president trump and support a criminal contempt referral for steve bannon. and he was also the gop lawmaker who originally agreed to the bipartisan january 6th committee and denied. several criticized those who voted for the infrastructure package. congresswoman tweeted their names and phone numbers and congressman upton tweeted as a catalyst. >> i have a colleague that put out the phone numbers of 13 of us who voted that way. glad to defend that vote. we've been working since last spring. i'm concerned about my staff. they're taking these calls. these

of defense mark esper on the recommendation of the guy that carried his bags for him, 30-year-old mcenteeussia and promoting diversity in the ranks of the military which were betrayal. and allies including the claim that wireless thermostats made in china might have been used to manipulate voting machines in georgia. trump actually asked his director of national intelligence to look into that and carl said during the insurrection, the official vice presidential photographer was in hiding with mike pence at the capitol however, pence refused to allow carl to publish any of the photos from during the siege despite the fact that the photographer's salary was paid by u.s. taxpayers and the images are public property. there are also unflattering details about former financial journalist and media personality of fox news maria who reportedly called attorney general bill barr to complain the justice department wasn't interveing in the election to keep trump in office. barr told carl she called me up. i yelled back at her. she's lost it. joining me is jonathan karl author of "betrayal, the final

mcentee, who is working in the white house, who made that sort of argument to mr. pence.argument, put this sort of pressure on vice president pence, telling him, giving him an instruction manual to overturn the election results and keep trump in power. were you and the other members of the committee previously aware of that? or is that news to you, the way it was news to all of us when mr. carl wrote his book? >> you know, i can't go into specifics about we we knew and when we knew it, but i can say that we have learned a lot from very good investigative journalism. and that is supplemented what we know. and it's helpless for many of our questions -- and a good choice of witnesses. so these kind of reports that are being republish now can be really useful to us and our investigators. and it just shows how much there is too exposed to the public, for those that say don't we know everything already, the answer is no. there's so much we don't know about what went into the pressure, campaign of the price president, to try to con him -- ignore his constitutional duty. no, we w

and johnny mcentee hired his friends to if ill that office. almost all were in their 20s. went out systematically over 2020 and started doing interviews of officials high and low asking twes about their level of support and loyalty to donald trump. one official was asked about voting records. i see you voted in a democratic primary in virginia. why did you do that? you know, others were asked about, if they supported the president's policies on afghanistan, even if they worked at the environmental protection agency. on and on and on. but it was, it was designed to intimidate. it was designed to say, if you were not fully on board with all things trump, then you don't belong in the trump administration. >> you know, donna, i know there is sort of this cross pressure about how to move on, how to get behind the president's agenda, how to project a forward-looking economic message. and i know that everything is on the democrats, how they've saved democracy, how they've hanged on to power in the mid-terms, which is really hard to do. but i wonder if these flirtations with, embr