and what do you think history will say about merrick garland? first of all, that merrick garland went to my high school, so. but i don't know him, and he was many years after me. i don't think it will view him. i think that we have to go back before his appointment as attorney general. we have to go back to his failure to be part of the supreme court, where he would have done well, and the fact that as a result of his not being there, we ended up with two people appointed by donald trump who have made a horror out of the department, out of the supreme court, and have led to these decisions, including the immunity one that have done all of these bad things. and i'm concerned that the five four decision to allow him to be sentenced could indicate that when the case comes up on appeal, on the merits, that there might be a54 in the other direction to reverse it because of the admission of evidence. so that's a concern to me. >> let me ask you, charles, we have about 50s left. does the jack smith report if and when it comes out matter, and if so, why

they're not, merrick garland said. we're not going to see that.n't think we are. >> but again, that would see that because he's saying that there's going to that the legal proceedings against the other two defendants are still ongoing post his presidency. and he i don't know if he is thinking that donald trump is just somehow in his department of justice is just going to let these defendants go to trial and possibly implicate him and possibly and possibly implicating him it this has been the problem this whole time, right? >> as democrats have been like, this is the right thing to do, you know? well, this is not proper. and so, you know, here we are with no accountability for donald trump. and he's just and i mean, i think you could place the blame here squarely on merrick garland. yeah. >> we'll see. >> i wonder if jack smith is going to write a book or come forward or give an interview at some point. i mean, i feel i think the public interest in what his what he has to say is a radio show that he'd be great. >> yes. the dean obeidallah show. >>

and don't forget, it's merrick garland's doj policy that he enforced.ntinuing with the case until trump's fired him, which i would prefer that let trump pick his ag and then fire jack smith. and that becomes a big news story. he took that away, merrick garland, by saying, no, the internal memos, you have to drop the case. and that's what jack smith said in his filings. >> so let me get your thoughts. since you made this appeal to jack smith or anyone working in his office to release to you the dean of radio.com, that's my email, just said, why is it important to see the report? what is it from either from a legal i mean, we all know from a public perspective why it's important and certainly for the sake of transparency in our democracy to know what it was that jack smith was basing his arguments, legal arguments, legal charges on. but from your point of view, from your vantage point of view, explain to our viewers why this just seeing this report would be important. >> still, i think think of all the great cable news segments we can have discussing it r

did merrick garland just simply take too long with all of this yeah. >> not only did merrick garland take too long, and i've been critical of merrick garland for a very long time. it's too bad he didn't become a supreme court judge, because that's where he belongs. where they can spend four, five, six months coming up with a decision. these cases needed to move expeditiously. not only did this case not move expeditiously, neither did the alvin bragg case. they waited. as mark pomerantz put it, over a year too long. so all of these issues now that are going on with sentencing and with the criminal conviction, i hate to say it, and people will get angry at me. i was very clear when i spoke to vanity fair. i believe that they should toss the case. there is no repercussion. the hush money is going to take place to donald trump on that case. as far as what paula reid said, i agree with her completely. merrick garland waited too long to bring in jack smith. plain and simple. he is going to. meaning donald trump is going to shut that down. this case will never see accountability for whether

with respect to the mar-a-lago piece, i think that the real issue here is that merrick garland has said that he does not intend to publicly release that because there are, in his view, two defendants remaining, the two co-defendants remaining in that case. remember, the case has been dismissed by the government without prejudice as to donald trump. but they haven't dismissed the hcase as to the other defendan. i think merrick garland made the wrong call there because there is no way in god's green earth, and that's a polite way of putting it, that those two co-defendants are ever going to be tried under a trump administration. they are either going to get pardoned or incase will simply dismissed by the department of justice. so it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that merrick garland does not want to release the volume having to do with mar-a-lago. he does say that he wants to give that report, however, to certain people, the ranking members in congress so that they have an opportunity to see it. so it won't be completely buried. congress will have that opportunity. but i think, joy, t

i give merrick garland an f.e's a dirty cop and he did a terrible job and was corrupt and knew exactly what he was doing and they slow-walked all these investigations with the ways and means committee so these executive orders, look, it's really important because biden just destroyed the country in the first day he signed all these executive orders in, taking away our ability to have normal permitting. he cutoff our ability to do natural gas, exploration, cutoff the keystone pipeline. all the things that were driving our economy. opened up the border, ended, you know, ended the title 42 eventually, allowed catch and release to happen, ended remain in mexico. all these things keeping us safe and all of the things giving us energy production which you know, larry we've talked about this. the most important thing president trump needs to do right now is get rapid growth. we have four years probably two years for sure, at least for the first two years while the house is and anything he can do as an executive order we

, because merrick garland had a lot of decision- making power and it seemed that when the jeny delivered on the silver platter what should've been an indictment, he went around it with jack smith. that proved to be the opening that aileen cannon needed. so to that there are other openings, at least the radically. joyce vance, our wonderful friend and frequent guest on this and other shows, she said the following -- trump's doj when he's in charge of the doj can either move the cases for while sonata and donald trump's former aide in mar-a-lago to trial, which would be an interesting spectacle, or trump can pardon the doj can dismiss the case and if any of that happens, then congressional democrats would already have the report on the classified documents already released and new leaders of the doj would have to decide how much they were going to let trump dictate their work. do you see a scenario where democrats simply release the report yourself? >> well i think that under the president it would only be shared with the chair and ranking member of the judiciary committee, and

smith's parting words, released overnight by attorney general merrick garland, part of a sweeping 130 page report from smith's criminal investigation, as well as a letter that smith wrote to garland dated january 7th. the report doesn't have extensive new details from the more than 250 witnesses they interviewed, but it represents a sweeping defense of the department's case against president trump and the landmark decision to charge him with crimes and prosecute him, even as he ran for president again. in the letter, smith writes this quote, i want to be clear that the ultimate decision to bring charges against mr. trump was mine. it is a decision i stand behind fully. to have done otherwise on the facts developed during our work would have been to shirk my duties as a prosecutor and as a public servant. and in the letter, smith takes on trump directly over trump's repeated claims of, quote, complete exoneration, end quote, because the government ultimately dropped the case, smith writes that trump's claims that, quote, dismissal of his criminal cases signifies mr. trump's complete ex

that merrick garland was right to appoint him and to back him up under serious political attack.nd that there is a very credible case that trump committed serious crimes, particularly with regard to january 6th and attempting to overturn the election. jack smith still has his hands on a great deal of evidence that we probably have not seen. that we won't see until, if this report is released. if it is released. the public deserves to see that. i very much hope that frankly even if judge cannon still tries to suppress this report and keep it from the public that maybe joe biden and merrick garland decide that that immunity decision that the supreme court handed down it works for democratic presidents too. maybe joe biden needs to step in and ensure that the public sees this record of crime because otherwise trump is going to step in and wipe it off the books forever. >> lisa rubin, mark joseph stern. thank you for your time and wisdom. appreciate you. >>> coming up, we'll check again on the raging wildfires in los angeles. the latest from california is coming up next. coming up ne

could merrick garland releases right now?s been brought into contention with judge cannon, does that mean the justice department cannot release it because there is a pending court decision about it? >> the technical answer to your question is, no, there is no order right now but that is not something that they would do. >> we are up against it gentlemanly way to do things and one side is trapped in that and the other side has never heard of it. we are going to squeeze in a quick commercial break and we will be back with more on the breaking news that the donald trump legal team is trying to block the release of jack smith's report and a judge today denied donald trump's repeal trying to lock his sentencing date on the trial in manhattan. we will be right back with both of those stories. of those stories. don't leave! it's fine! ugh! i was worried about this side of town! mucinex in, mucus out! don't mask symptoms, treat the cause. i was stuck. unresolved depression symptoms were in my way. i needed more from my antidepressant

it is that merrick garland has said that he, merrick garland, does not want to release that publicly.s to give that to congress and certain people in congress. why? because he says that there's two codefendants of donald trump, still may have a criminal case pending in florida. i think he's wrong on that. technically, there is no case pending. >> where is the case? what's the case? >> where is the case is what he's talking about? >> you know, and i want to be clear, the people from the department of justice, they do watch this show. so we're going to have some text before this is over. but where is the case? because i don't see the case right now like merrick garland. but come on. >> yes. so i think he got something technically wrong when he said there is a pending case. judge cannon pointedly, when she dismissed the case before her. as to all three defendants, not just donald trump, she ordered the case closed. now, it is true that the department of justice is appealing that decision. as to the two co-defendants. but come on, a there's no pending case in the district court per judge

specifically because of how slow the justice department under merrick garland was in prosecuting trumpor january 6th. and our evan perez is reporting tonight exclusively that within the justice department a source is telling him that the justice department, quote, wasted time. other former justice officials telling evan that the charges could have been brought a whole year earlier. now, that is a wow moment. that is something that could have changed where trump is standing tonight. what happened today and in fact the entire arc of american history. evan perez is out front. telling evan that the charges could have been brought a whole year earlier. now, that is a wow moment. that is something that could have changed where trump is standing tonight, what happened today and in fact the entire arc of american history. >> the incoming president is not -- >> first that breaking news on a possible pardon tonight. what more are you learning about request by former proud boys leader enrique tarrio for a full pardon from trump? >> erin, the incoming president is not really saying exactly how he'

well, the attorney general merrick garland was to make the final call. but today, we are hearing that judge cannon in florida based on her throwing that classified documents cases out claiming the special prosecutor is not legally constituted, did not have the right to investigate. that has put a hold on the entire prosecution on both january 6th and the classified documents case. pending a decision on whether the prosecutor was legally mandated by the 11th circuit court of appeal. well, the 11th circuit would be hearing a case that had already been decided in many other districts. the special prosecutors are legal. but, this is a case that judge cannon and we know that she has done some very unusual decision to say the least that all favor, you know, donald trump in many controversial ways. has issued that order. temporarily blocking the portion of the report on classified documents. that is raising questions about the jurisdiction. it likely means the classified documents portion cannot be med public the defense lawyers that had been issuing the legal

merrick garland and a.g. merrick garland is supposed to give it to congress, right? >> that's correct. but then there's the question of whether a.g. merrick garland is going to release it to the public and that's where we get into this trouble with the courts because donald trump went to court to try and block any public release of the draft report, which he and his lawyers have already seen. they reviewed it over the weekend. there's something in it that they don't want the public to see. whether it's new content, which we don't understand these reports contain, or just simply the fact that it refocuses us on what i think is the most pernicious of his alleged crimes. there's a debate, i think, among people who have watched all these trump legal dramas, which is worse, the things he allegedly did on january 6th or the classified documents case. i would submit the classified documents case, because it is so much neater and cleaner in some ways, it has a lack of ambiguity about it. there is no telling of that story in which donald trump did not violate the law and did

when attorney general nominee merrick garland came before this committee, another one a republican colleagues still serving told garland, "my sole criteria for voting for your confirmation is your pledge to make sure politics does not affect your job as attorney general." the view that the justice department must be insulated from political influence should not be weaponized against political rivals has historically been bipartisan, certainly on this committee. at this crucial moment in history your view must prevail. ms. bondi, you made -- have many years of experience in law enforcement, including indicative service as attorney general and one of the largest states in the nation. i need to know you will tell the president know it -- no if you are asked to do something wrong or unconstitutional. ms. bondi, you are one of four trump lawyers he has nominated for top positions in the department of justice. he worked to overturn the 2020 election. he repeated the described investigations and prosecutions of mr. trump as witchhunts. you have echo his calls for investigating the prosecuting his po

so, i do think that a lot of time merrick garland allowed too much time to go past. but we don't know what it was they were looking at, what facts were in front of them. i do think that he obviously had the obligation if he's going to bring this to the justice process, to have the facts be as strong as they could be. and to go back to what you said, i do think republicans, not just trump, but republican leaders are going to bear a lot of responsibility and history is not going to be kind to them because while what you said is true that they were against him, that lasted like a nano shortstop nanosecond -- >> and then he tried to politicize it. >> no, the facts are the facts, brad. you saw the images we just redid on the television -- >> it deserves a full bipartisan investigation. >> you can't have a full bipartisan investigation when your party initially said yes, donald trump is in the wrong. and then completely capitulated. everyone went down to mar-a- lago to kiss the ring and everything changed after that. >> and the knee-bending continues. thank you very much.

secretary alec mayorkas as well as our treene general merrick garland, fbi director christopher wray. fbi is leading this case. we did hear from the president. he spent the night new year's eve in delaware at his home in the first lady or attending camp david for the day. here's what he has to say about this terrible tragedy. watch. [away from microphone] >> you understand that the person crossed the border? >> i'm not going to comment [indistinct]. [away from microphone] >> can you say if he was a foreigner or if he was domestic? >> i'm not going to say anything until i get all the facts. >> has the suspect been identified? >> i'm not going to comment until i [indistinct]. ciaa to national security team. fbi. there's a lot. [indistinct] anger and frustration. >> president biden giving an update as we hear from officials. the president elect says when i said that rain was coming in far worse than the criminals we have come in our country, that statement was refuted by democrats. it turned out to be true. the crime rate is at a level nobody has ever seen before. our hearts are with all

in the rule of law. >> and there's a court order, though, to merrick garland. >> merrick garland wasorrupt that judge is. i don't think this is over, but i think we're going to get an appeal and it'll be a it'll be ruled on above aileen cannon. but i also look, i'm willing to get dirty, right? i mean, part of this is that none of this, you know, when they go high, they go low. we go high anymore. that just doesn't it's not working in the in the trump era. but there are also lines that we will never cross and we should never cross. and frankly, it shouldn't be accepted. not only that, donald trump crosses them, but that every republican member of congress and the senate also crosses them. they have independent oaths and obligations to uphold the constitution. they are not actually just a lackey or a vessel for donald trump. and they need to stand up for our democracy, for the rule of law, because at some point it will he will come after them and it will come after them if they allow it to be undermined and you stop you there real quick. >> they need to stand up for the rule of law. i

that was the strategy and continues to be they fear merrick garland will not be delayed in anyway of releasing the report. he will release it immediately to silence the issue, make it mute. i wonder if garland were to release this is a tomorrow, has the report would they bible to do anything about it? no.. >> no. once it is out it is out. he immediately, could hit send or print that report, those reports, i think there are two or two volumes of the special counsel's final report about each of the criminal cases that were brought. the codefendants in the florida case asked the judge, judge cannon to step in and do that. order that the portion dealing with the mar-a-lago documents matter not be released. there is no case pending in the district of columbia any longer and therefore no logical place for that motion to be filed. i don't think it will be successful. i think garland will release the report before january 20th. >> where would be the authority for cannon to tell garland he can not release the report? >> i am not sure i am not sure it exists. i have not read the florida pleadin

would trump be president if it was not missteps by merrick garland. hawaii governor, a doctor determined to stop rfk jr. people can die if he becomes the health official. >>> america's closest allies, warning trump about elon musk. how come? let's got go "out front." >>> good evening i'm erin burnett. the leader of the proud boys asking president-elect trump for a pardon today four years to the day after the violent insurrection on capitol hill. members of the proud boys stormed the united states capitol in an attempt to overturn the election. right now serving a 22 year sentence for conspiracy. leading a plot to prevent the transfer of power. his attorney is speaking to one person now and one person only to plea. trump. writing, he was portrayed throughout the government's case as a white ring extremists that had a militant organization. henry is nothing more than a proud american that believes in conservative values. just to be clear this is what he said on tape just days before january 6th. >> there are ways you can enact change. get armed and go t

attorney general merrick garland says he will release parts of the special counsel jack smith's final report. >>> the final farewell for president jimmy carter. a national funeral service is set for later this morning with a eulogy from president joe biden expected. >>> plus president biden and his wife jill welcome a special new addition to their family. it's thursday, january 9. "early today" starts right now. >>> good morning. i'm frances rivera. we begin this morning as an apocalyptic scene continues to unfold across southern california. multiple wildfires fueled by punishing winds and extremely dry conditions are spreading at an alarming rate. at least five people havbeen killed and more than 100,000 have been forced to evacuate. the palisades fire exploded to more than 15,000 acres. it has decimated more than 1,000 structures so far making it the most destructive fire in los angeles history. a boil water night has been issued for the pacific palisades neighborhood and some surrounding areas. the eaton fire near pasadena has devoured more than 10,000 acres and has damaged or dest

what else is being suppressed by joe biden and merrick garland?l information about the nominee to lead the fbi. i believe it's new york times reporting that first revealed that that one of the witnesses in the nevada investigation is an immunized kash patel. i mean, is that not relevant to the committees that have to consider him to lead the fbi? >> well, it's interesting. i think that's obviously up to the committee in terms of those things tend to be generated by the committee. i'm not sure what the minority has asked for. what i can tell you is that there seems to be republican unanimity around kash patel on the committee, even though a lot of the members privately have expressed reservations about his nomination. i don't think that's that's particularly a secret. but again, this has to be generated by the committee, and it's not clear what they have asked for. i also don't know how much would necessarily be part of those immunity agreements. patel took the fifth. it is our understanding in the grand jury which endeared him greatly to donald tr

that means merrick garland can't release without being in non-compliance. >> so this goes to the 11ththe before times, that would have been a very conservative court that might not do the bidding of someone who was basically running up against the incoming republican president. but has been sort of you know, a bastien of level headedness. what is your expectation is? >> i don't think the 11th circuit will back up judge cannon and i want to clarify, judge cannon left ahead of the 11th circuit. trump and his codefendant filed these requests at the 11th circuit with judge cannon at the same time. if the 11th circuit had wanted to block the release of this report, it could have done so already but it didn't. it chose not to. that is a good omen i think and suggests that it will not ultimately try to block any of this report. but judge cannon wouldn't wait. she couldn't wait for the superior court. judge cannon does not have jurisdiction. it is not her case anymore. she said i am going to step in and shield trump and his codefendants from the release of any part of this report. this is a g

frustration from inside the department of justice putting blame on merrick garland for wasted time and, quote, it was a whole year of nothing. >>> and a political crisis may be coming very soon for america's neighbor to the north. new reports that the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, could announce that he is resigning as soon as this week. >>> and the winter storm taking a toll on millions of americans in states from coast to coast right now. the state of kentucky is one of those being hit so hard. the governor of kentucky is our guest. >>> this morning, a state of emergency has been declared in kentucky as a powerful winter storm has been bringing dangerous and potentially deadly conditions there and across huge swaths of the country. i'll show you what it looked like outside of lexington, kentucky, as some of the worst of the snow is hitting. a car flipped over, and a number of accidents like this one have also been reported. joining us right now is the governor of kentucky, governor andy beshear. governor, thank you so much for coming in. how bad of a hit is kentucky gettin

and from merrick garland.g to see, i think, from the supreme court or the appellate courts in new york is their order to stop this sentencing hearing. because there is nothing that we -- we have to get it right. and if they allow this to go forward, they allow this sentencing to occur, the verdict to be entered, that's irreversible. it's irrev cable harm to donald trump. we should take our time with the law. make sure we are getting it right. novel legal issues that have never been litigated before. before they rush to judgment. before they rush to the sentence, i think the supreme court is going to want to weigh in on this and make sure that that happens. >> the last time we heard from the supreme court about stuff like this. they said, look, a president has immunity over certain things judge merchan hasn't figured that out yet oh for get that i'm going to do it anyway. >> repeatedly rejected immunity claims despite the supreme court being so clear about it. it's not just that the supreme court was clear abou

it is merrick garland's decision, because there are two co-defendants on appeal that he is not seekingals court said nothing about any distinction between the two volumes? >> nothing at all. they just said there was a request by the defendants to have an injunction for the whole shebang. and they said, as a judge, i used to practice before, i said i have two words for you. denied. >> yeah. and it's -- and there are so many rulings like that. people have grown accustomed in this year current for elaborately written explanations about what judges are doing. this was just, no. like a rubber stamp sort much thing in. >> exactly. expect there will be some sort of action -- >> over the weekend? >> it is possible that the government will go back to the 11th circuit to say shorten the three-day period, so we don't have to wait that long. it's all good news in terms of public transparency. >> we will need you monday. andrew weissmann, thank you. tonight as last word is a lesson about real integrity. using an example that i just heard today. that's next. prilosec knows, for a fire... one fire ex

how about merrick garland? >> i am not going to answer hypotheticals. no one has been prejudged or nor will anyone be prejudged if i am confirmed, are the kind of people these are in fact, the people that you would prosecute. >> your time is up. would you like to? my time is like to respond, chairman. >> she is clearly not going to answer that question. so let me get on to would you would you like to. i do have questions for the second round. >> you you'll have a second round. would you like to speak before i go on, senator cruz? >> no, sir. >> thank you. >> senator cruz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> general bondi, welcome. >> thank you for your long career in public service. and thank you for your willingness to take on this, this incredibly important office. >> you know, i have to say. i don't know that there is a more important position in this new administration than the position to which you have been nominated. >> attorney general of the united states. >> i thought the exchange just a moment ago with senator hirono was illustrative. >> she asked

he tried to find rationales for his decision to block merrick garland. they talked up the biden rule. they talked up things that senator schumer had said. none of these are in the senate rulebook, none of them are real precedent. the only thing they could even come close to was back in the 1800s, and that wasn't a great precedent either. but he had something that mattered more. he had a majority, and he used that majority to change the rules and to eventually change the supreme court. what was the reaction to his decision there? hugely critical. people were very, you know, mindful of the idea that this was truly the nuclear option as they like to call it, their. i think people thought it was unfair that merrick garland was clearly a qualified nominee and the interesting thing was he didn't even want to put it to a vote. he didn't even want garland to have so much as a senate hearing. so for the talk about what the american people decide, well, the people's representatives never really got to decide about merrick garland. and he made sure that happened. h

. >> merrick garland kind of took himself out of it. to publicly release it. and the reason is because, well, there is still this ongoing appeal of judge cannon's dismissal of the case against the classified documents, case against these two co-defendants. and so there could be some prejudice to them. so we're just not going to publicly release it. we want to just release it to a few members of congress. i mean, that's absurd. in a week from now that, you know, trump's justice department is going to dismiss that appeal. and so why don't we just drop that appeal now and go ahead and release the classified documents, report to the public? that's something that the public, i think is entitled to see from the incoming president, who's going to be charged with once again protecting the nation's secrets. so that piece was confounding to me that that doj made that decision. as to the january 6th report, i mean, judge cannon has no jurisdiction over this case, right? it's on appeal to the 11th circuit. with respect to those two co-defendants, s

and according to a new doj filing the attorney general merrick garland intends to release at least partthe 2020 election. right now garland is blocked from releasing the other part of the report that focuses on trump's handling of classified documents but the department of justice says that it will remain private while a separate legal matter plays out involving two of trump's co-defendants. so you've got the documents case and then of course the january 6th, 2020 election, related case. what's your reaction to that? and especially on the january 6th piece, that could still be really impactful? >> that could be. the justice department made the right decision about the classified documents because there still are two co-defendants and it would be prejudicial assuming those cases remain open while -- when donald trump becomes president. so that was the right decision. in terms of january 6th, you would think that we know everything there is to know about that case because there was the indictment, there was a report that jack smith released, but there may be new information that we do not

merrick garland did not control me. these were legitimate prosecutions, and i believe they were warranted irrespective of who the defendant was. and in this case, the defendant was the former president, president elect, and then soon to be president in a few days. i thought that was very interesting, that he sort of it was sort of like it was the last day of school, and he felt emboldened to maybe just say a few things just before he leaves. and that was my sense, my takeaway, especially in the introduction that he penned to merrick garland. >> msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos joining us with short notice. >> we so appreciate you getting up, danny. >> thank you for your analysis. >> and the senate confirmation hearings for president elect donald trump's cabinet begin today with one of his most controversial selections, pete hegseth, trump's pick for defense secretary, will be the first to face lawmakers. yesterday, on the senate floor, minority leader chuck schumer laid out the democrats approach to these hearings. th

but you don't need to be a lawyer to analyze what merrick garland just did. the way. there is no legal basis. there is no legal rationale for what he did. >> absolutely not. they had their chance to get the conviction. they had indictment. superseding indictment. they were not able to convince the american people. now they want to throw this out there to suggest some sort of criminality before proving anything in a court of law. it's offensive to the constitution. >> carley: and i am most certainly sandwiched between two lawyers. a thorn between two litigators. >> todd: carley you don't need to be a lawyer because it is either common sense or not law. >> carley: something no lawyer has ever seen before. katie, have to leave it there. thank you for joining us on this topic and "fox & friends" will have continuing coverage of the california wildfires. >> todd: don't forget to set your dvr 5:00 a.m. eastern so you don't miss a minute of "fox & friends first." "fox & friends" takes it from here. ♪

but we know from merrick garland's filing that he is intending to release only the january 6th componentl all see that with redactions for grand jury material. the second volume relating to mar-a-lago, which frankly could be super interesting to see, is one that merrick garland has said that he is going to give to certain members of congress so that they can review it, but he is not intending to release that publicly. why? because he says there are still two co-defendants who are pending trial in florida. it's technically i think he's wrong because they are not technically pending. it has been the case that's been dismissed, but out of an abundance of caution because they are seeking to have that reinstated, merrick garland has said he is not seeking to release publicly that volume related to mar-a-lago. now, obviously, that if the two defendants are somehow no longer defendants, that is something that could change. >> which begs the question, christie, what might we learn from the release of this one report, the january 6th report? >> well, one thing i'm hoping to find out, and that i'm

and then volume two about the classified documents case against trump, the attorney general, merrick garland, doesn't want to release that publicly because there's ongoing appeals related to trump's two codefendants. whether that case could be revived against them, and they could still face charges. they don't want to prejudice that. so the plan is that the attorney general wants to make public what they believe these courts down in florida have no ability to stop them on the part about january 6th. the judge in the 2020 is presiding over that case, that january 6th case. but what she did yesterday was put a stop to releasing the report outside of the justice department in full. both volumes, with an additional three days. once the appeals court makes a decision here. and the attorney general, they made it quite, quite clear that we've told you the plan, quote, that should be the end of the matter here. we do have to wait and see exactly what this appeals court does, because that order from judge cannon is still in place, and there's only 12 days until the end of the time when merrick garlan

and so one of the precedents i hope comes out of this is that merrick garland and people like merrickower by democratic administrations. and i know that that is a pie in the sky. hope, right, that one day democrats will join the battle. but one thing i hope is that one day, democrats join the battle and stop appointing people like merrick garland who are going to look the other way and give people like donald trump, give people who are politically powerful and connected a pass on criminal justice, and instead go after the powerful people with the same zeal and effort that they go after any two bit drug hopper on the street. right? that's that's one thing that i would love to see the democrats. that's one lesson i would love the democrats to learn from. what has the tragedy that has happened over the past four years? >> yeah, from your lips to god's ears, my friend ellie. stick around. i want to hear your thoughts on the supreme court weighing in on the ban on tiktok. but first, an update on the catastrophic wildfires in the catastrophic wildfires in california. [coughing] copd is an u

. >> if you protested peacefully on january the 6th and you had merrick garland's department of justiceember, you should be pardoned if you committed violence on that day. obviously, you shouldn't be pardoned. and there's a little bit of a gray area there and a new concession today that russia's war against ukraine may not end before the inauguration like trump said it would. >> but the transition team is still holding out hope. >> well, we would like to see a ceasefire in any minute, any day. i think that would be a positive, incredibly positive first step on both sides. everybody knows that this has to end somehow, diplomatically. i just don't think it's realistic to say we're going to expel every russian from every inch of ukrainian soil. >> senate confirmation hearings begin tuesday, including for pete hegseth, trump's choice for defense secretary. we're going to bring in right now for a good conversation. we have stef kight, political reporter for axios. molly ball, senior political correspondent for the wall street journal, and eugene daniels, msnbc political contributor and coaut

that is one that merrick garland has said that he is not planning to make that public.planning to giving that to certain people in congress. not because of an injunction but because there are two codefendants on appeal. >> and the appeals court said nothing about any distinction between the two volumes. >> nothing at all. there was a request by the defendants to have an injunction for the whole shebang. and they said as a judge used to practice. i have two words for you. denied. >> yeah. there are so many rulings like that. people have grown accustomed for elaborately written investigations. >> expect there will be some sort of action. it is possible that the government will go back to the 11th circuit to say shorten the three day period so we don't have to wait that long. but it is all good news. in terms of public transparency. >> we'll need you monday. andrew, thank you very much for joining us. tonight's last word is a lesson about real integrity, using an example that i just heard today. that's next. ust heard today. that's next. prime's exclusive wild card playoff

as to the florida classified documents case, that report, merrick garland is, you know, made, i thinkreally bad call here. he said, well, because this appeal of cannon's dismissal of the case, as to those two co-defendants is still going on, because that's pending. we're not going to publicly release the classified documents volume, and we're just going to share it with certain members of congress privately, because releasing it publicly could potentially prejudice those two co-defendants. well, in nine days, that case against those two co-defendants is going away. trump is trump is going to have his doj drop that appeal. so why not just drop the case against them, drop that appeal against them now and then? you can release this report. it's silly. it's not pragmatic. that report to me the classified documents report is actually the more interesting report because jack smith has said that if he were to go to trial, there is unclassified evidence that he would have relied on to answer the question of why donald trump so desperately wanted to keep all of these classified documents and w

merrick garland has indicated he wants to release the volume regarding the classified documents case ranking leaders on judiciary committees in congress. >> presumably, that would ultimately result in a public release. once that case is no longer. yeah. so ultimately, how far can they go to keep these reports secret? can it go all the way to the supreme court? and if they get a delay, can trump seal them when he comes into office? january 20th. right. so this is the problem. the clock is running out. and as it so frequently has been, delay here works in trump's favor. >> yeah. >> all he would theoretically have to do is get the supreme court to sit on an appeal from the 11th circuit. if the 11th circuit signs off on doj releasing, and trump wouldn't have to seal them, even he could simply be in a position where his intern, his incoming justice department leadership understands that they will not release the reports, even though that would be in sharp contrast to the fate that has befell all of the special counsel proceedings that trump initiated, the ones that involved, for instance,

is fighting a political war instead of the real one, the is still focused on january 6 today, merrick garland of the most complex and resource intensive investigations into the justice department's history ". and de mccain called it an "massive piece of the institution's work ". so massive it is distracting them from noticing bombs and assassins, with a shadow government has not learned a thing, the whining that trump should have been put in prison before the election. >> you have extensive new reporting on whether they were to be here in this context of attorney general merrick garland had charged trump earlier for his actions on january sixth, what are you hearing from resources inside of the? >> at one thing you hear from the investigation, a dozen people, they said we could have probably brought this case earlier on, one person we talked to the said they wasted time, they were not strategic and in the end of the ento helping trump at the primary and dividing the country. >> jesse: this should all show and pretty soon. january 20th two weeks away. let's bring in michael shellenberger, the

he's speaking here in this letter to merrick garland, the attorney general. this is the words these are the words of jack smith. but he's also you can tell sending this out, obviously, to donald trump again, knowing full well that that's what the consequences of what of what these two prosecutions are. >> he knows full well that everyone's going to be dissecting every single word, looking for every little kernel of indication, either to support what they believe about him or to undermine what they thought they knew about him as well. in fact, i want to do we have the table of contents, just to give the audience a little bit of a sense of just how how thorough this is going to be. it's over 130 pages. this is one of the two volumes he goes through, not only his own personal, you know, stance as to his integrity as a prosecutor. as evan was talking about. and he's trying to convey, but also about the reasons for their decisions to go forward with cases, other considerations as well. i want to bring in senior legal analyst elie honig into the conversation as wel

merrick garland fully engaged on this. the president has been briefed. the fbi taking the lead in this investigation. >> ken dilanian, thank you very much for that. obviously still so many questions here. i want to just reset for folks for a moment who may just be joining us on the west coast or elsewhere as you're just waking up to let you know what's goings-on. just after 3:00 this morning, as we've been reporting here on this nbc news special report, a man driving a pickup that white pickup truck we showed you, plowed into a crowd of people right here in the french quarter at bourbon street near canal street in new orleans driving at least some distance, according to eyewitnesses down bourbon street, killing at least ten people. 30-plus people are in the hospital as we speak. according to police, the driver then opened fire on new orleans police officers, two of whom were shot. they are in the hospital in stable condition. there is also a homemade bomb, essentially, what police are calling an investigation into an imimprovised explosive device, that w

volume two deals with the classified documents case that also never went to trial but merrick garlandre days, says he will not release volume two because president-elect trump's two former codefendants are facing active prosecution and they say that would tip the scales of justice and would not be fair to them if that was released. >> thank you very much. so why now,'s what is he thinking taking from these findings. it's fascinating but there's a cautionary tale here also and i that they had on that. he blasted biden over the pardon. talked about how the president maligned the entire organization. i thought another part of this was the broad coverage of that pardon suggests it's almost a defect owe admission of something illegal happening over a period of time. >> the broader lesson to take away from this is what a disaster the special councils have been. both of them. even though the one in delaware did get two convictions of hunter biden. we shouldn't forget that this special counsel also dragged his feet and left behind some of the more egregious violations because they happen to l

bondi, merrick garland didn't campaign for president biden. never served as his personal attorney and never lobbied. after years of relentless criticism of garland from republican colleagues i hope they are prepared to hold you to the same standard. thank you, mr. chairman. >> it's now time for senators to introduce the nominee. the first one will be senator scott at the table as you see and senator schmitt is a member of his committee at his place on the dais. please proceed. >> mr. chairman, ranking member and committee members, it is an whore to sit before you to introduce my good friend, pam bondi, for her hearing. like to recognize important people appearing in support of her today, her husband, john as well as her mother, father-in-law, sister, brother, sister-in-law, brothers, friends and family members of john. many more would surely be here if space allowed. i can tell you wholeheartedly president trump couldn't have a better leader than pam bondi for attorney general. she is undoubtedly qualified. brilliant and committed to defending

in a letter to attorney general merrick garland with the title draft final report by jack smith, it saystorney general garland, we write on behalf of president trump to demand that smith terminate all efforts toward the preparation and release of this report. the 12 pages later the lawyers say, given the status of smith and his team as the inauguration approaches, using additional taxpayer resources to prepare, review, and disseminate a report is not a legitimate use of taxpayer funds, even if there were a valid appropriation here, which there is not. smith's proposed plan for releasing a report is unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest. joining us now on this breaking news coverage is andrew weissman, former fbi general counsel, former chief of the criminal division in the eastern district of new york. he's an msnbc legal analyst. i'm going right to the last question. are we going to see this report? >> i think we will. i think the key thing to keep our eye on is in addition to this letter to marek garland, that i am more concerned about, they've made a m