i'm joined, as promised by melissa murray, professor of law at nyu. she's an msnbc legal analyst. t of the strict scrutiny podcast. melissa, good to see you. i just want to get through this because i'm sure a lot of people were following it very closely. but there's still a couple of unanswered questions. why did this have to happen to make donald trump a convicted felon? because there were a whole lot of people who thought when he was convicted by a jury of his peers, that was that. and then what is this unconditional discharge mean? right. >> so generally, in the criminal process, it's sentencing that makes a person formally a convicted felon. so in order for donald trump to have that ignominious distinction, this sentencing had to happen. and so it did happen. it was not the sentencing that many individuals who are convicted of these crimes in new york state get. and typically, this kind of charge carries with it the penalty of some jail time or even prison time. >> right. >> donald trump is the only individual since 2014, when the new york times began looking at this, that has

melissa murray and ian millhiser, thank you both for being with us tonight.g up, a look back at president biden's legacy from clemency to conservation in the final days of his administration. don't go anywhere, folks. >> after my hair started thinning, my dermatologist recommended nutrafol. >> the formulas are clinically tested. >> my hair is much stronger and longer. >> i feel like i'm a completely different person. >> get growing at nutrafol. com. >> here you go. >> is there any way to get a better price on this? >> have you checked singlecare before? >> i pick up my prescription. i always check the singlecare price. price. >> it's quick, easy and total i'm not a doctor. i'm not even in a doctor's office. i'm standing on the streets talking to real people about their heart. how's your heart? my heart's pretty good. —you sure? —i think so. how do you know? you're driving a car, you have the check engine light. but the heart doesn't have a hey, check heart sign. i want to show you something. put both fingers right on those pads. there you go. in 30 seconds we

melissa murray, nyu law professor and msnbc legal analyst. and molly jong-fast, special correspondent for vanity fair. thank you all for being here. melissa, i do want to start with you, because the legal pretext for donald trump to be able to do this at all was that the man who swore him in john roberts essentially declared him to be essentially a monarch, to be essentially king? it does feel like today, the missing person at the inauguration was leonard leo. >> well, this is again the culmination of a lot of different movements. so certainly the coup that we saw started on january 6th, but also a much longer effort to capture the federal judiciary, to capture state legislatures by allowing the federal judiciary to absent itself from policing partizan gerrymandering. all of this has happened in concert. a lot of this has happened over a very slow and iterative process. they have played a really fantastic long game, and it has resulted in what we saw here today with john roberts, the man who swears he is an institutionalist, whom we have credi

my colleague melissa murray is next. >> good afternoon. >> i'm melissa murray, coming to you live from msnbc world headquarters in new york city on this big weekend ahead of the transition of power at the white house, donald trump is about to head to washington, d.c, for a weekend of activities ahead of his monday inauguration. >> his departure is just minutes away, but he is already making news. in a phone interview with nbc's kristen welker. the president elect weighed in with his plans to deal with the ban that may force the massively popular tiktok app to go dark at midnight. >> plus, we're just learning about new plans surrounding the president elect's signature issue immigration. >> it will all be very public and very soon. >> all of this and much more in this special hour. on the trump transition. >> we begin with the latest on preparations that are already underway for monday's presidential inauguration. >> at this hour, we are awaiting president elect trump's departure from florida and route to washington, d.c, where tonight he will kick off the inaugural festivities with a fi

well, here with me to answer that question and others is msnbc legal analyst melissa murray, a law professor being successful here? i need to understand this. >> charles, the question here is the difference between the letter of the law and spirit of the law. if you take these laws on their face, these public accommodations laws, they are clear that you cannot discriminate on the basis of gender. but they weren't thinking about just any kind of gender discrimination. they were thinking about circumstances that kept women out of public life for many, many years. they weren't thinking about ladies night or actual opportunities for women to pool their resources and empower each other. i think what you have here is sort of the difference between a kind of rigid formal equality and a more flexible kind of equity that better striving towards in a more pluralistic society. the difference between discriminating on the basis of gender as a classification and the idea of discriminating against people because of their gender for the purpose of subordinating them. i am not entirely unnerved by the prosp

joining me now is melissa murray, law professor and former clerk prto justice sonia sotomayor, of course, the author of "the trump indictments: the historic charging documents with commentary." also tim miller, host of "the bulwark podcast." thank you for being here lwto respond to this very new and significant developments happening within the last hour. melissa, first, let me get your thoughts on the double whammy lobbed trump's way at denials from conservative courts. how significant are they? >> they're obviously significant. the ruling from the supreme court puts in place -- cements the sentencing that is going to happen and that will make donald trump the first convicted felon to be inaugurated as president. breaking barriers all over the place here. and the other ruling is very significant. i will note the 11th circuit left judge cannon's ruling blocking the release of the report for three days after the decision on appeal, so that means we won't get the release of this until sunday as you noted. merrick garland suggested he was not going to release the mar-a-lago report because t

we are joined by melissa murray and -- professor, happy new year. >> your thoughts?trump does not want to get to the public, there's already a cloud hanging over him, if he goes forward, and is inaugurated, even if there's no sentencing in the hush money trial, he will be the first convicted felon to serve as president and having this hanging over his head is obviously something he doesn't want. the idea -- >> are your eyebrows raised, it's hard to tell us her glasses are so thick. >> they are. we know that judge cannon dismissed the case that the special counsel, that there's no authority for a special counsel and that was appealed to the 11th circuit, so the case is now before the 11th circuit and the judge doesn't have jurisdiction over an and as you said, she issued this order preventing the release of this report by the attorney general and made no distinction about the documents case and the election interference case in the see a case over which she never had jurisdiction because it was always before judge chutkan, and the question is how can she do that -- >>

andrew weissmann and melissa murray. thank you both.ocratic party is in desperate need, desperate need for shakeup. so its leadership could not be more important right now. we will talk to one of the candidates for dnc chair, progressive faith for dnc chair, progressive faith shakir, next. for people who feel limited by the unpredictability of generalized myasthenia gravis, season to season, ultomiris is continuous symptom control, with improvement in activities of daily living and reduced muscle weakness. and ultomiris is the only long-acting gmg treatment with the freedom of just 6 to 7 infusions per year, for a predictable routine i can count on. ultomiris may lower your immune system's ability to fight infections, increasing your chance of serious meningococcal and other infections which may become life-threatening or fatal. complete or update meningococcal vaccines at least 2 weeks before you start. if treatment is urgent, and you're not vaccinated, you should receive antibiotics with your vaccines. don't start if you have a mening

i'm melissa murray. thank you for joining me. politics nation with joining me.verend al sharpton is up [monologue] i got somebody for that! ♪♪ i got somebody for that. ♪♪ i got somebody for that! you guys got somebody for peyronie's disease? ♪♪ there's hope for the estimated 1 in 10 men who may have peyronie's disease, or pd. a urology specialist who treats pd can help you create a plan— including nonsurgical options. find somebody today at gogetsomebody.com special attention, the one on one you can't beat that. >> (800) 588-2300. empire. >> today is your shower. trying to tell you something is getting in and out of the bathtub becoming a safety concern? >> are you worried about the cost of a bathroom remodel that could go on for weeks and weeks? >> well, now you can have a gorgeous new bath or shower with a one day jacuzzi bath remodel that's safer at a price you can afford. >> it's incredible that they were able to do this in one day. >> oh my gosh, it is beautiful. >> oh, you have to see it. >> it was amazing how they fixed that bathroom in a day. you know wh

joining me now is melissa s murray, law professor and former clerk to justice sonia sotomayor, author of "the indictments" and tim miller, host of the wark podcast. thank you for being here and responding to the significant developments in the last hour. the double whammy, denials from conservative courts, how lssignificant are they? >> they're obviously significant. the ruling from the supreme court puts in place the sentencing, cements that sentencing that's going to happen. that will make donald trump the first convicted felon to d be inaugurated as president p. aubreaking barriers all over th brplace here, and the ruling is significant. i will note the 11th circuit left judge cannon's temporary order blocking the release of the report for three days after the decision on appeal, so that means we won't get the release of this until sunday as you noted. merrick garland suggested that he was not going to release the mar-a-lago report because there are two additional defendants there, codefendants of donald trump. that, i odthink, is a little interesting and concerning because it's en

just basic. >> basic stuff. >> yeah. >> melissa murray. thank you for starting. >> us off. >> and keeping us honest. >> on all this. >> alicia and david, stick around. >> up next, we're going to make a pivot to capitol hill. despite new allegations against. >> donald trump's pick to lead the department. >> of defense. >> 51 republican senators. >> voted in the last hour to. >> advance pete hegseth nomination. democratic senator nomination. democratic senator richard. “the darkness of bipolar depression made me feel like i was losing interest in the things i love. then i found a chance to let in the lyte.” discover caplyta. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar i & ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common. caplyta can cause serious side effects. call your doctor about sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. anti-depressants may increase these risks in young adults. elderly dementia pa

let's turn to melissa murray of nyu law school.ald trump might not be going to jail but this is not the outcome he wanted. does any of this surprise you? >> i'm not really surprised by any of this. it was always going to be an uphill battle for former future president trump to have this trial entirely vacated. judge marchand was always pretty firm that he would not be inked around on this. and alex bragg made really good points about the sanctity of a jury verdict. the fact that 12 individuals came together and unanimously found that donald trump had done these things and is guilty of 34 counts and that his bedrock in our system. i'm not surprised that judge marchand refused the president's arguments but what may be surprising is what will come next. >> judge mershon wrote that the most viable solution is an unconditional discharge. what does that mean? >> an unconditional discharge is essentially that the conviction stands. but we are not imposing any conditions as a condition of his release. there will not be incarceration, punis

joining me now is melissa murray, nyu law professor, msnbc legal analyst and cohost of the strict scrutinyquestion is how can the supreme court even get involved in this. i thought that state cases bore no involvement from the federal government. >> that's not always the case that a state issue has no federal bearing. i mean there may be a federal question here but typically in a situation like this, where there is a criminal case, it is usually the case that the defendant will exhaust his state court remedies before seeking review in federal court . so the question here is why has donald trump leapfrogged over the new york court of appeals, which is the highest court in new york, to go directly to the supreme court, seeking relief there? and again, this may be something that the justices take into account when they review this petition and we will see but you are right. he has received some very favorable treatment from this court, a third of which he has installed hear himself. >> and there is this other little thing that happened. samuel alito acknowledging that he met with trump or spo

the reidout with melissa murray is up next. hi, melissa.ump fast tracking deportations as. >> ice. >> agents scoop. >> up an. >> american military. >> veteran during one. >> of. >> their raids in newark. >> new jersey. >> also, in what. >> will come as a shock to. >> his supporters. >> in. >> red states prone to natural. >> disasters. >> trump is saying that he just might eliminate fema. >> altogether, which. >> surprise, surprise. >> is spelled out. >> on page. >> 135 of project 2025. but we begin tonight with the. sheer exhaustion. >> of donald trump's first. >> week in office. >> it's only been five. >> days, but. >> so far. >> trump has signed.

the reidout with melissa murray is up next. hi, melissa. have a great weekend. >> thanks so much, katie. >> we have a lot to. >> get into in the next hour. >> of the reidout. >> including donald trump fast tracking deportations as. >> ice. >> agents scoop. >> up an. >> american military. >> veteran during one. >> of. >> their raids in newark. >> new jersey. >> also, in what. >> will come as a shock to. >> his supporters. >> in. >> red states prone to natural. >> disasters. >> trump is saying that he just might eliminate fema. >> altogether, which. >> surprise, surprise. >> is spelled out. >> on page. >> 135 of project 2025. but we begin tonight with the. sheer exhaustion. >> of donald trump's first. >> week in office. >> it's only been five. >> days, but. >> so far. >> trump has signed. dozens of executive orders. >> since inauguration. day on monday. >> he's also issued pardons. >> for over 1500. >> people involved. >> in the. >> january 6th attack on the capitol. >> he commuted. >> the sentences of individuals who are associated with the