we are going to ask historian, michael beschloss. and my sit down with actress eva longoria, making her flamin'hot directorial debut. this is american voices. -- we begin this hour with donald trump and his allies, trying to deflect attention away from his decision to keep government secrets after his presidency. we've heard these excuses before. trump is relying on the same old script, distract with baseless claims of a witch hunt, to stopped stop his political witch hunt. -- on his knockoff version of twitter, calling special counsel jack smith, quote deranged, saying the indictment is fake. make no mistakes trump's social media rents, they are a sideshow. on the other hand, smith is relying on the evidence. letting the 37 count federal indictment tell the story of how trump refused to hand over classified information, and even went to great lengths to hide the documents from the government. while trump is playing the victim. his first court appearance, tuesday, in miami, served as an early indicator of how the government might pro

former nato commander and michael beschloss. meanwhile, russia has arrested another american, accusing michael travis leak on charges of drug dealing. accusations he denies. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. a defiant former president trump on the attack against his accusers before heading to court tomorrow if his schedule holds. first, he needs to name a new florida attorney. at the arraignment, he's supposed to hear the charges against him, have his fingerprints and mug shot taken and enter a plea. his attacks against jack smith have only escalated at political rallies on saturday. >> this vicious persecution is a travesty of justice. biden is trying to jail his leading political opponent. you have to maniac, i call him a deranged person, jack smith. he's deranged. >> joining me now from miami, florida, nbc news capitol hill correspondent, garrett haake and andrew weissman, lead prosecutor in the mueller investigation. garrett, you've been covering donald trump. set the scene for us today and tomorrow. has the for

michael beschloss is an expert in presidential history michael, there is a lot to digest here how do you suppose this will go down in history? >> well, lester, of all the things we have seen, you and i and our friends watching tonight are about to travel to a historical planet we've never been to before never in american history have we ever seen an ex-president indicted on criminal charges and not only criminal charges but connected very much to his duties as president because one of the central things that a president does as we've talked about in the past is defend our national security. and we don't know what the indictment is yet but if let's say president trump as there have been stories we don't know yet for certain but if he let national security documents get into the wrong hands or willfully allowed them to be away from a secure place, endangered national security, that gets him to the region of the espionage act of 1917, which was passed at the beginning of world war i and says that if an agent of the american government does that, there is a maximum penalty of 20 years in

it nbc news presidential historian, michael beschloss. three years after watergate. take a listen. >> great. >> when the president does it, that means it is not illegal. >> by definition. >> exactly. >> michael, it sounds a lot like donald trump, as you have noted on this network in recent days. the two did get a chance to know each other before nixon's death. talk us through the parallels as you see them. >> beginning with the fact that gerald ford, and you know this from history, alicia, in 1974, became president in august. nixon was in imminent danger of being indicted. and probably imprisoned, because it was thought to be a pretty open and shut case. so the surviving prosecutors -- forward was, you know, had been advised, well maybe you can pardon nixon. but probably you should wait until at least he is indicted. so that there is something to pardon. almost inexplicably, 30 days after nixon will resigned, ford appeared in a surprise appearance, sunday morning. a sunday morning in september, in the oval office. and gave nixon a full, f

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have seen in the last several years was a direct result of him being so quick about that. >> michael beschlossyou so much for joining us up in this historic night. really appreciate it. earlier this evening i spoke -- -- i went to see general forward in his home in colorado. which was on as ski run. nicest man on earth. well-intentioned. and i said, why did you pardon nixon so quickly? why didn't you at least wait for him to be fingerprinted. so that people would feel that there was equal justice in this country. and he said two things. number one, i did not have the stomach for this to go on. it was distracting people from my presidency. and they also took out of his wallet, as he did for many other people. a little card which was printed with a case called birdie versus the united states. 1950. which said that when somebody except a pardon, it is an admission of guilt. those things are never really explain to me. and as much as i admire many things about general forwards many fine qualities. i think what we have seen in the last several years was a direct result of him being so quick about t

michael beschloss, always a pleasure. thank you, don't go anywhere everyone. coverage of the indictment of donald trump continues. ur car insurance so you only pay for what you need. check it out, you could save $700 dollars just by switching. ooooh, i'll look into that. let me put a reminder on my phone. save $700 dollars. pick up dad from airport? ohhhhhh. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪♪ when you have chronic kidney disease... there are places you'd like to be. like here. and here. not so much here. if you have chronic kidney disease, farxiga can help you keep living life. ♪ farxiga ♪ and farxiga reduces the risk of kidney failure, which can lead to dialysis. farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections in women and men, and low blood sugar. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may lead to death. a rare life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of t

have seen in the last several years was a direct result of him being so quick about that. >> michael beschlossing us up in this historic night. really appreciate it. earlier this evening i spoke with rachel maddow about the federal indictment of donald trump. >> as he was going to the white house in 2016, he had to pay $25 million to settle fraud claims about his fake university. shortly thereafter, he had to pay a multi million dollar settlement. to shut down his fraudulent, fake charity. his business has been criminally convicted as a fraud. his cfo just got out of records. his campaign chairman served time in federal prison as a fraud. his campaign manager is awaiting trial on fraud charges. with a person with that kind of track record. are we surprised that the person in the middle of all of that has been indicted? no, it's not surprising. what is surprising is that we put that person in the white house. and that is the problem. this is a political problem, is that the party. the republican party has lost the ability to police itself. to prevent itself from letting someone like that become

michael beschloss, always a pleasure to talk to you. vote to oust churches with female pastors, that brand new report ahead. pa that brand new report ahead. from prom dresses to workouts and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. (vo) sadie switched to verizon. now she has myplan. the first unlimited plan where she chooses exactly what she wants, and only pays for what she needs. she picks her perks, and saves on every one. all with an incredible new iphone. act now and get iphone 14 pro max on us when you switch. it's your verizon. money stresses me out. so, i got this experian app, and now, i'm checking my fico® score. i got a new credit card, and i'm even find

so, michael beschloss, let me end with you on this very historic morning.fter, and just get your final thoughts. what should americans be thinking about today as they absorb this news digested? >> they should be sorry that someone like donald trump became president if he is guilty of these charges, and they should have faith in our system. you know, the sad day would be if he did these terrible things he's accused of and our system somehow couldn't get its act together and this guy got off scot-free or got elected again without coming to justice. you know, the other thing is, this is really surreal. >> yeah. >> the last seven years had who in our group could have imagined we would be talking plausibly about a former president of the united states willfully taking documents, being told they had to come back by the archives, lying about it, saying, no, and we're talking about the possibility that he might have sold these things for money, possibly to hostile countries. if we had brought this up, let's say we were talking in 2015 i would have said, you know, t

so brayden other in presidential historian michael beschloss. hat you just heard about nixon my response is, how dare he say such a thing? this is a guy that was pardoned to keep himself out of prison. and i say the same thing about donald trump. the first president who was criminally indicted, nixon only escape that because a successor, gerald ford, gave him a pardon. but in donald trump's case who did he think he was? showing classified documents to people, taking them out of the white house, this is the week of d-day 1944. 30,000 americans in that invasion gave their lives so that we could be helped to win world war ii and keep our freedom. the same thing has been true ever since. during the cold war, through all american history minutes of americans gave their lives or risk them so that we can have a democracy. so donald trump comes in, cause military warriors, our heroes, losers and suckers, and takes these pieces of paper that may have included battle plan for an invasion of iran, which is about as sensitive as it gets, and treat them as if

. >> i want to bring in nbc news presidential historian, michael beschloss. and as we're looking at these pictures, it's been described by people there as a circus like atmosphere. if we go back to doral, we have some other new video of the former president getting into the motorcade. the motorcade that has been described as very much like a presidential motorcade. they shut down that side of the highway. and obviously couldn't be more different from what's happening outside the courthouse. what's happening inside the courthouse. the seriousness of this moment. the first former president charged with federal crimes. give us your thoughts on what we're watching today. >> you're right, chris. with his sense of showmanship, he's that i canning this look at as though it's triumphant. someone who's charged with federal crimes who could send him to prison. it used to be in our society that when someone was asked of someone, not necessarily a sense of shame. because he is innocent until proven guilty but some sense that it is not a day of celebration. this is one re

also with us, nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. >> michael, what are we looking at today should never have had to expect in history. i loved what you were talking about a little bit earlier, the fact that -- look at the history of the republican party. the last 70 years. republican party, at least styled itself as the party of national security and law and order. when donald trump became president, 2017, there were some people who were stupid, such as myself, who thought that one restraint on donald trump since the constitution does not put enough restraint on presidents who seek power, one restraint might be the fact that republicans would say, we're the party of law and order, we're the party of national security, we will restrain our president from doing certain things. not only did that not happen, but look what's happened in recent months. just as you and the others in the group were saying. 70 years ago, dwight eisenhower put nixon on his party. he did that because that was the essence what the republican party is. few are willing to oppose that. larger picture -- i

i was thinking, how do we get michael beschloss to speak to mayor suarez, who obviously had no idea that healing the nation by pardoning president trump was a lesson that gerald ford, i think, learned not to do after the fact that he did. >> if you can produce that segment of television, i will be watching with rapt attention. >> maybe not the television, but if we could just convey to him the message that healing the nation by pardoning a president, who was accused of doing something wrong, is not a good idea. as we learned from gerald ford. >> do you think any of them believe that? or do you think it's just a talking point? >> that's a good question. luckily, i've run out of time. i have to start my show. you can't put me on the spot like that. anyway, great to see you my friend. take care. good evening to you, and welcome to ayman tonight. debunking donald trump, his lies, and false equivalency's about the documents case. they have reached some insane levels. we're gonna help set the record straight. then, ethics outrage, new reporting on clarence thomas's problematic patterns of beha

. >> that's why you have to come back often, michael beschloss, to remind us, this is not normal. thank you for being with us today. >>> that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow us online, on facebook and twitter. @mitchellreports. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc h. formal charges and a first-of-its-kind political fund-raiser all in one day. that's what's away waiting former president donald trump tomorrow in florida. he's lashing out at joe biden and his family, vowing to assign his own special prosecutor to, quote, go after the president. he's got a scorched earth political strategy. do his lawyers have a legal strategy equal to special prosecutor jack smith's case. >>> shoved out of the headlines by trump's indictment and impending trial, so how do they regain the political spotlight? >>> the commuting nightmare for those in and around philadelphia, forced to find a new way to work after part of a major interstate collapses. the effort to fix it as officials say it could be out of commission

i should note for those who would that recognize last name, her husband is michael beschloss. distinguished historian but her husband has cap twitter saying -- has kept twitter saying -- same --sane. i look at where we are right now and i want to speak to you with your public service to the nation and the carter administration but almost a nation starting off the recent nbc poll for some form of middleground, are moderate politics from both parties. how did you receive that the moderate voice and what one would call a silent america, how do they find their voice in this crazy presidential campaign to come both republican and democrat? david: it is unfair and difficult question to answer. politician typically pays your money from the far left and far right and it is difficult to raise money saying i will be right down the middle and balance the left and the right and come up with a good for my said everyone should be leased with. that doesn't raise a lot of money and as we know, money is important and people are spending their time raising money in washington dc so the moderate