nick ackerman is a forme er watergate reporter and joins me now. you say there is nothing illegal happening behind the scenes. but these 19 co-defendants lawyers they are not islands unto themselves, are they? >> of course not. what you wind up doing in the cases is entering into a joint defense agreement with all of the other lawyers to protect the privilege. and to come up with a strategy and a way to go after the government's case. to try to muck it up and make things difficult for the government. >> people here think it is it a signed document? does the judge need to look at it and agree on it? this doesn't have to be a signed document. it can be orgaal they agree to this. they come up with a strategy. the strategy is to try to break up this trial any way they can. they essentially cause the government to try this case more than one time. right now, it's possible they are trying it two times. what they really have to do. the d.a. has to be firm that she has prepared to g go ahead with all 19 defendants in act. the two that demand the speedy tri

joining me now to break it all down is former watergate prosecutor nick ackerman. so, nick. >> yes. >> let's talk about mark meadows. >> absolutely. >> what do you think of this argument that it's within the job description of chief of staff to basically try and overturn an election? >> totally absurd. not even close. i think this appeal is going nowhere. i think you're going to get an opinion from the 11th circuit that is basically going to mirror much of what you see in the district court's opinion. he is not getting anywhere with this. i think this whole argument of trying to get the case removed to federal court is going absolutely nowhere. and that goes for the fake electors who are trying to do the same thing. it goes for the former assistant attorney general who says it's in his resume that he was supposed to be writing phony letters to the georgia legislature about fraud in the election that didn't occur. i just don't see any of this going anywhere. >> you've actually anticipated some of my questions. so you mentioned jeffrey clark. >> right. >> that is the

. >> nick ackerman and john avalon, both of you, thank you very much for all of the insight this morning. >> all right. so inside of the republican food fight as the government shutdown is days away, can kevin mccarthy save his job? >>> and the writers guild in hollywood studios have a tentative deal to end the strik strike, and when you might get your new shows back. "matlock." >>> and some billion years old rock drop and some new details. >>> this morning a government shutdown seems all but certain. the house republicans walked through the weekend and worked through the weekend and still could not reach a funding deal. the government will run out of money in five days unless there's an 11th hour deal from house speaker kevin mccarthy and his divided caucus which means millions of federal workers could be affected, and somes forred to work without pay. lauren fox is joining us from capitol hill this morning, and you caught up with speaker kevin mccarthy this morning and what did he tell you? >> yeah, right now, the options are really limited for the speaker of the house when it comes to

attorney and former georgia prosecutor, sarah flak, and special assistant watergate prosecutor, nick ackerman. the court concluding that meadows has not met even this, quote, quite low threshold for removal. how are you reading this decision? >> i think i read this decision as bad news for all of the defendants. part of their strategy was to try and break up this case as much as they could, getting some of it into federal court. and this strategy tonight has failed. if you read this opinion, it doesn't spell good news for donald trump. he is not going to be able to meet that threshold. jeffrey clark, who was a government employee, assistant attorney general in charge of the environmental division, he's not going to be able to meet that threshold. all for the simple reason that trying to undermine a state election is not anywhere close to within the scope of duties of these federal officials. so, i think no matter what they do, they can appeal this to wherever. it's not going anywhere at this point. that avenue is foreclosed. >> sarah, is this what you were expecting? >> oh, absolutely. i am n

. >> now, i want to bring in nick ackerman, a former assistant u.s.ney with the southern district of new york, new york times columnist michelle goldman. thank you both for joining me. the defense offered so far by senator menendez and his lawyer is that the doj as misunderstood his role and his work as a senator, and the normal business of a congressional office. is that going to cut it in court based on what you read so far in the indictment? >> not based on any indictment, no. that indictment is very thorough. it lists the evidence, gives picture of the evidence. it's almost reminiscent of some of the indictments against donald trump. instead of pictures and boxes, you've got pictures of cold bars. you got a picture of a mercedes that was given to senator menendez's wife. you have a whole series of criminal acts that are laid out here in the evidence, and i must say, normally, it's true. a defendant asked to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, but if you look at the evidence and that is lined up in this indictment. you really can't help but c