joining us now is neal katyal, former acting u.s.town law. also with us, andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and former chief of the criminal division in the eastern district of new york. he's an nyu law professor. they are both msnbc legal analysts. andrew, you have participated in writing such reports. what is your assessment of this one? >> in terms of the substance? it is a sober, dispassionate recitation of the facts and the law. it is now public. it is something that everyone can read and i commend everyone to do that. i did want to focus, as you have lawrence on the four page letter. that's an easy thing for people to read that it starts the report and it's beautifully written. it is personal in tone, and it talks about not just what what you've outlined, but also sort of what the guiding principles were for jack smith and his team. and i think it's wonderful that he wrote that letter. the only thing and i'm old enough to remember this is i am a big fan of archibald cox. and that approach to thinking about different w

joining our discussion now is neal katyal, former acting u.s.icitor general who has argued over 50 cases before the united states supreme court. he's a professor of law at georgetown law and an msnbc legal analyst. neal. have at it. >> well, lawrence, when a judge appointed by donald trump's own party calls trump's executive order, as you said, blatantly unconstitutional, those are the words he used. it's clear this is not about partizan politics. it's just about fidelity to the rule of law. and trump's, you know, executive order wasn't just a misunderstanding of our constitution and our glorious fourth amendment. it's really a full scale assault on basic literacy. i mean, what donald trump's order, said, lawrence, is that children born in the united states to undocumented immigrants are no longer citizens, and it applies even to babies of moms who were in the country legally but temporarily, like a student or a tourist or something like that. and here's the basic legal problem. you just flashed it on the screen. the language of the 14th amendme

andrew weissmann is the former general counsel at the fbi, neal katyal is the former acting u.s. neral. you know them both. here we are. okay. neal, i think, obviously, this was a strongly worded from judge merchan. for anyone who is not a lawyer and wondering what is the point of a sentencing hearing but not punishing him at all, what is the point? >> yeah, so it's strongly worded in two different senses. one, the first part, judge merchan really says, look, trump violated the law, had felony convictions. this jury, this guilty verdict wasn't handed down by operatives or elites. it was a jury of 12 of donald trump's peers who listened, deliberated, and affirmed the enduring principle that no one is above the law. that's part one of the decision. the judge says i am not going to overturn this conviction. the jury rendered it in a fair and impartial way. part two about the sentencing, the judge says, but i am going to -- i am likely to give an unconditional discharge, which, as you say, means no jail time. it's still important because it's still a felony conviction and donald trump