i want to thank senator reid.ip he proved time after time he cares deeply about national security and about the united states of america. particularly the men and women who wear the uniform and stand watch both here and around the world to protect the united states. senator reid, i want to thank you for the many courtesies that you have extended to me in the past and look forward to working with you again in a bipartisan fashion this congress. it's also appropriate to recognize and welcome three senators attending their very first senate armed service committee hearing as members. senator banks of indiana, senator sheehy of montana and senator slotkin of michigan. we're excited to have you as committee colleagues and look forward to many important contributions from each of you. and senator slotkin, as i look down at the end of the dias it seems like a week or two ago i was sitting in that chair recognized by the chairman of the committee, the senator from michigan. so time flies. now, let me say this. we had a ve

frances reid, bbc news.�*illegitimate political attack�* a manhattan judge�*s order for him to be sentenced onjanuary 10th in the hush money case, ten days before his inauguration. mr trump was convicted in may on 3a felony counts. his lawyers had argued the president—elect was protected by presidential immunity. justicejuan merchan rejected this, but indicated he was not inclined to impose a jail sentence and he was likely to give donald trump an unconditional discharge. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. so it�*s devastating to come and see what someone would do to other people and they don�*t deserve it. the police said family liaison officers were helping edward pettyfer�*s family with the process of returning his body to the uk. frances reid, bbc news. donald trump has dismissed as an �*illegitimate political attack�* a manhattan judge�*s order for him to be sentenced onjanuary 10th in the hush money case, ten days before his inauguration. mr trump was convicted in may on 3a felony cou

the reid out with joy read is up next. >> tonight on the reid out -- i've been talking to friends, family. they've lost everything. homes, businesses. the whole city has just earned to the ground and there is nothing we can do. nothing. there's nothing we can do. >> utter devastation in southern california. hundreds of homes destroyed by wildfires and the worst is most likely yet to come. also tonight, attorney general merrick garland is ready to release jack smith's report on his investigation of from's election interference. but for now, trump's favorite judge is standing in the way. and then a last ditch effort to avoid becoming the first convicted felon in the white house. trump is running to his safe space -- the united states supreme court. but we begin tonight with heartbreaking, apocalypse vaccines from los angeles where firefighters are battling five different infernos, burning out of control throughout the city. fueled by whipping santa ana winds with gusts up to 100 miles per hour. in the last hour the los angeles county sheriff confirmed that five people are dead point here yo

in december 2018, the last person to lie in state was the late senate majority leader harry reid of nevada. in january 2022. this time last year, we were all at the iowa caucuses, but the first in the nation did not get much attention until 1976. that's when jimmy carter, a pretty unknown governor from georgia, decided to focus on iowa. he placed a surprising second in the democratic caucus, which caught the attention of the national media and catapulted him to the democratic nomination and ultimately, the white house. since then, almost all candidates of both parties have taken iowa quite seriously, and today in washington, it feels like an iowa day. in the 20s, as former president carter is being brought to the united states capitol for the first day of his funeral procession here in washington to take place a truly solemn ceremony on the steps in front of the capitol, where he will be greeted at the top of the steps by his family and accompanied into the capitol rotunda. let's see if we can listen in and pick up some more audio of the ceremony. >> and i keep on thinking, oh, here they c

paula reid, thank you so much. one of the most notorious january 6th defendants is asking trump for a pardon. former proud boys leader enrique tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison. his lawyer has written a letter to the president elect saying his client is nothing more than a, quote, proud american who believes in conservative values. but take a listen to what tarrio said on video. just days before the january 6th insurrection. >> there's ways that you can enact change. you can get armed and go to the capitol, attack the as crazy as that sounds like. yeah, i think that's the way that you make the biggest noise. >> trump has repeatedly trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon the rioters and attackers on day one of his second term, but it's still unclear who would receive them. and more trouble we should note for rudy giuliani. a federal judge is holding him in contempt for not giving information to the two former georgia election workers he defamed in 2020. giuliani was ord

joy reid again boxes it. also we have two terror attacks.dia still trying to falsely claim crime is down under joe biden. justice department data shows violent crime is up nearly 40% on biden's watch. we'll take it on and also we've got texas sheriff thaddius cleveland is here to set the record straight, but first we want to hear from our buddies dagen and brian. brian: liz, we have got a big show. this is when i get out my yellow note pad for because victor davis hanson will be here and he's going to talk new orleans and he's going to give his take on why the weakest president in american history is about to be followed by what he says is the most audacious. dagen: we love audacity and nicole neely and jason rantz together on parents defending education report that biden's department of injustice spent nine figures pushing dei on kids in classrooms, so if you can figure out a way to climb that pyramid of adversity, it's only opportunity. no consequences. we saw that in new orleans, now didn't we? top of the hour. as your host, i have some r

senator reid. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i would like to make three questions before my questioning. first, many of my members would like a second round. that has been the custom, senator hagel was afforded three rounds. senator carter two rounds, and that was done by republican chairman with the consent and appropriate guidance of democrats. i must say, too, my recollection is i've never denied anyone the opportunity to ask the second round of questions. i would request a second round. >> my time has run out. >> you are using your time. >> the time keeper will pause the time. i must say i think we'll have adequate time for questioning. i know democrat members have coordinated their questions as much as we have but we are following the same exact precedent on all things that we did with secretary austin. so i respectfully understand what you are saying, but i think we have an agreement. it has been known for quite some time and i intend to stick with that agreement which we made last december. what is your second request? >>

the reid out with joy read starts now. >> tonight on "the reid out" -- >> tonight, after a 49 year struggle, a constitutional amendment appears on the way, proclaiming once and for all that women have all the same rights as that other sex. >> that was more than 50 years ago, and we still don't have an equal rights amendment, meaning that in america, women do not have equal rights under law. changing that could be a major part of president biden's legacy. >>> plus, don junior is touring greenland but of course his father is tying it to his fever dream for the island to become part of the united states of america. wonder if he checked that plan with his boss, elon musk, before announcing that today. >>> and president jimmy carter, our truest good christian president, lying in state in the capitol rotunda, which will be open for public viewing later this hour. >> we begin tonight in greenland, a country most of us don't often think about, especially in the dead of winter, when we got our own frigid snow to focus on. but greenland has been a top of mind topic recently for the trump family. dona

yet, harry reid was the majority leader, and we weren't voting on anything, literally. i mean, finally claire mccaskill called it the heidi insurrection. finally, i just said, i came to vote. i came to do stuff. i didn't come to just sit in the chair and have people, whatever, glorify this job, sitting in this chair down here if we are not legislating, if we are not debating, if we are not talking about the issues of the day, which honestly, everybody criticizes c-span, because they say, it is with the cameras came in, things did not get done. i don't think that is true. when the cameras came in, that is when congress, the institution plummeted in terms of favorability, not because they were doing too much, because all they saw was an empty chamber. all they saw was nothing. corn calls. i went to harry and i said can we just vote? he goes, you know, heidi, there is a lot of issues people don't want to take a vote on. i said, you know what harry, i'm the most vulnerable democrat in this entire chamber, and if i say, i will vote, everybody should be willing to vote. so, o

thank you so much, paula reid, ryan young, we appreciate it. and let's bring in cnn national security analyst juliette kayyem and retired fbi special agent bobby chacon. bobby, to start with you, we were just talking about this with paula, that the new orleans mayor is calling this a terrorist attack. an fbi agent told reporters that it wasn't that. there's. so there's obviously this messaging issue here. but bottom line, this is an act that caused terror in new orleans. among these revelers yes. >> and i think what paula highlights is that we don't have a comprehensive domestic terrorism law. >> and that's why the charges at the local level and as a lawyer myself, i've lectured on this. the charges themselves have to be kind of piecemealed together. and a lot of us call for a comprehensive domestic terrorism law, as we have on the international terrorism side, but we just don't have it on the domestic terrorism side. so it's really kind of a like like paula said, an esoteric legal, legal argument. but certainly the sack of the fbi could have b

i want to recognize democratic leaders tom daschle and dear harry reid who were so supportive of me. i want to thank my great friend, senator chuck schumer and his extraordinary team, extraordinary team. chuck loves the united states senate, and he loves our country with every bone in his body. and i'm so appreciative of his leadership and tireless work and friendship. what i announced my retirement nearly two years ago, i thought i was ready to -- i said i was ready to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders and i couldn't be prouder to pass the torch to michigan's new senator-elect elissa slotkin. i snow she will have the -- i know she will have the heart and the talent for this job, and will do great things for our state and our country. i thought long and hard about how to express my gratitude to the smartest, hardworking staff that i could ever have imagined. truly my success comes from their amazing efforts. over 500 bright, talented professional staff have worked for me over the past 50 years. that's unbelievable. many of them for decades and that doesn't include countle

the reid out with joy read is up next. >> tonight on the reid out -- i've been talking to friends, familye city has just earned to the ground and there is

t reidout with joy reid starts now. >>> tonight on "the reid out." >> pretty damn simple. our democracy begins and ends with the duties of citizenship. that's why i worked for the ages. that's what i all of you -- and i mean this -- all of you embody. >> late today, president biden awarding civilian medals to 20 people, including the two representatives who led the house january 6th investigation. >>> meanwhile, this year's electoral certification could face a different, though less violent disruption. it can't happen, it turns out, without a speaker. and republicans face another potentially chaotic speaker election tomorrow. >>> also tonight america's billionaires and near-billionaires are preparing to take power with trump as their front man. having convinced millions of americans for decades that their own families' financial security is much less important than allowing the very richest to get even richer. >>> we begin tonight with what should be a happy new year. but instead, it's a tragic one marred by violence and death. 14 people were killed and more than 30 injure

jim reid has more. just going to be squeezing your arm, 0k?ur years since margaret keenan from coventry became the first person in the world to get her covid jab as part of a mass rollout. applause. those vaccinations are now thought to have saved hundreds of thousands of lives across the uk. the fact that we were able to get a usable vaccine in the autumn of that same year, deploy it within the next three months, get it out to all the vulnerable people, pretty much get their first doses out by february was something that had never, ever been achieved in human history. at its peak, almost a millionjabs were given in a single day — at gp surgeries, sports grounds and even cathedrals. now the uk covid inquiry is opening three weeks of hearings into vaccines and the drugs used to treat covid. that includes the way those jabs were developed in the pandemic, the speed of the rollout to different groups, vaccine safety and regulation, and the compensation scheme for people who, in rare cases, were harmed by the jabs. jamie scott was left with brain

i think it was a seminal moment and a change of the direction of the country in ways that harry reid, perhaps didn't envision. we just some background on this. senator mcconnell had worked on supreme court nominations back in the 1960s when he was a senate staffer and he's seen to of the president's nominees rejected. so he's really intimately familiar with the process. he had been through the robert bork hearings. he had been through the clarence thomas hearings. the supreme court was something that was very familiar territory to him. and i think he knew that's where this would lead eventually. it wasn't just district court judges or even appeals court judges or executive nominations, but it would eventually lead the supreme court. and he had a choice, though. he could have said, well, i'm not going to take that path. instead, he didn't. he took it as an opening and he remade the supreme court sort of in a right leaning conservative image. let's go forward three years to 2016 after this. and the death of supreme court justice antonin scalia. mitch mcconnell had become majority leader

cnn's paula reid has more.eporter. >> well, president-elect trump is still a convicted felon after this opinion. >> but there is some good news because the judge is revealing that he will not face any penalties. it is january 10th. sentencing. the judge did have the option to impose a jail sentence here. he says he will not do that. and in a rare move, he previews how he's thinking about this sentencing, saying, quote, while this court, as a matter of law, must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and defendant an opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence of an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution. so to translate that this january 10th sentencing will largely just be performative. now, it's also notable the judge is making a big concession about trump's role as president elect, something that his lawyers have repeatedly argued should be factored

you can follow me on blue sky and instagram at joy-ann reid, at tiktok at joy-ann reid official. and please do follow our show accounts on instagram and facebook at the reidout, tiktok at the reidout and on blue sky at joy msnbc. com all in with chris hayes starts now. >> tonight on all in. >> so are you saying that you would stand in the breach and push back if you were given an illegal order? >> i start by saying i reject the premise that president. >> i understand you've done your job. >> any illegal orders at all? >> donald trump's choice to run the pentagon faces senate confirmation. >> you are no longer on fox and friends, mr. hegseth. i hardly think you are prepared to do the job tonight. >> illinois senator tammy duckworth, on today's bruising hearing for pete hegseth. >> how can we ask these warriors to train and perform the absolute highest standards when you are asking us to lower the standards to make you the secretary of defense? >> then house democratic leader hakeem jeffries, on loyal opposition in the new congress. >> and jen psaki joins me with her exclusive inte

hague's past, that has been the details of which have been briefed to both jack reid and the republicanchairman of the committee, roger wicker. other members of this committee have not seen the contents of that investigation. they expect to get briefed on it. and right now, in this closed door meeting, i tried to ask the the jack reed, the top democrat on the committee, about that investigation, and he did not want to comment about this at all and suggested he would have more to say tomorrow. any concerns about the background check, the fbi background check, not really. >> until tomorrow. >> you're not. what i am i'm going to have a hearing tomorrow along with my colleagues, and we'll see what happens. are you going to vote for mr. hegseth? >> he has has to have an opportunity to testify. would you have concerns with his nomination more generally? >> you do. >> i think, you know, on the public record that we have right now, put aside all of the charges of sexual impropriety and alcohol abuse. >> there has never been a nominee for an office of such serious consequence. who is so unqualif

. >> as cnn's paula reid explains. reporter. >> good morning, amara and danny. well, after this opinion, president-elect trump is still a convicted felon. but there is certainly some good news here for him and that the judge is signaling that he does not intend to impose any penalties against trump. the judge had the option to impose even a jail sentence after trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records last year, but the judge said that he does not intend to do that. he says, quote, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration. so this really means that next friday's sentencing will be mostly performative. it's also notable that the judge is really conceding to the demands on trump's time right now. judge juan merchan throughout this case has been pretty dismissive of a lot of the arguments that the trump team has made when they invoke his status as a former president or now president elect. but here he says, quote, to assuage the defendant's concerns regarding the mental

. >> cnn's chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, is joining us right now. has more on trump's sentencing today. paula, take us through what happened today. >> good evening wolf. today we saw that even a man who's about to reclaim the nation's highest office is not entirely above the law. president trump elect attended this sentencing virtually alongside his lawyer, todd blanche. the judge had already signaled ahead of today's hearing that he was really not going to impose any punishment on trump. now, it was never really expected that trump would face jail time, even after being convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. but there were some other options on the table, including the possibility of fines or probation. and what was extraordinary today is that the judge allowed the audio of this hearing to be released. so we got to hear the judge in his own words, explain why he issued this. no punishment. punishment. let's take a listen. >> ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. it is the office of the president that bestows thos

paula reid, cnn, washington, d.c. >> u.s. house republicans gave mike johnson another term as house speaker on friday, the first day of the 119th congress. they selected him as leader on the first vote. unlike the weeks of wrangling over the speakership that took place a couple of years ago. but the day was not without its drama. johnson could lose only lose the support of one member to retain the gavel, and initially two lawmakers refused to back him. but intervention from the president elect flipped the holdouts. a call from trump got south carolina's ralph norman and keith self of texas onside. republicans told cnn that johnson respects the power of conservatives. >> the speaker realizes that he needs to listen to the conservative folks to the base. >> we want to make sure that this is honestly a collaborative environment. >> still, johnson will have the narrowest majority in nearly a century. he'll meet with his caucus this weekend to flesh out an agenda now that republicans control both congress and the presidency. but w

cnn's paula reid joins us now. paula, are we going to see this report on january 6th? what do we think? >> i don't know, jim. i mean, right now the justice department is under a deadline. it doesn't expire until later today. they have to wait until then before they release this. we're waiting to hear from a federal appeals court, the 11th circuit. we might hear from the trump appointed judge, aileen cannon. there's a lot of unknowns, but there's not going to be a lot of news in this report. we already had the committee investigation into january 6th. there was the trump indictment. there was, of course, this unusual filing back in october where the judge allowed us to see a lot of evidence that you would never see before a trial. so most of the evidence that jack smith has collected is already really in the public square. so we're not looking for news. the way i'm sort of looking at the potential release of this report is whether doj is really going to fight and be aggressive to just at least defend their work and get it out, because the trump team has been so extraord

chairman wicker, ranking member reid, for holding this hearing. and, mr. hegseth, i appreciate your service and your willingness to serve again. however, i am deeply disappointed that you would not agree to meet with me. as other members have said on this committee prior to this hearing, as is the precedent for this committee and others. so let me tell you a little bit about what i would have talked about had you made yourself available prior to the hearing. nevada is home to the premier aviation training ranges for both the air force and the navy, the largest ammunition depot in the world, and the only place in the country where we are able to verify the reliability of our nuclear stockpile without the need for explosive testing. the nevada national guard is one of the few, only few units across the country with the mission of fighting wildfires. it's for another hearing and currently activated to fight the devastating fires around los angeles. in support of our neighbors. we therefore play a critical role in our national security, and the person who hold

cnn's chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, is here with me in the situation room.hat are the key takeaways from this report? >> well, smith was required by regulation to write this report. >> and the fact that it was even released over objections from the trump team. >> that is one final victory. >> smith was able to eke out over this very successful campaign by the trump lawyers to delay pretty much every aspect of this case. >> so in this report, smith lays out the allegations and the evidence against trump, much of which we already know because there have been multiple indictments, court filings, a committee investigation on the hill and a report. but this was also an opportunity for smith to defend his team and defend their work. he also noted that, of course, he had to dismiss this case because trump was reelected. and you can't prosecute a sitting president. but he was careful to point out that even though the constitution prohibits mr. trump's indictment and prosecution while he is in office, that does not turn on the gravity of the crimes, charge the streng

so one of my first conversations with harry reid, and his conversations weren't very long, so it was short, he asked me to fund raise for democratic candidates to run against republican senators, which i guess both sides, that's the way -- i didn't know that. where i come from they take you behind the barn and we'll have a conversation. i told him, harry, i'm not going to raise money to attack my friends and colleagues just because they have an r by their name. how do we expect to work together if i'm working against them when they're in cycle? i said i'm not going to do that. of course i didn't win the popularity contest with harry either, but it sure felt like the right thing to do. equally important, it felt necessary that the senate was going to work on behalf of the people we needed to treat each other with respect. and i try to do that with everybody. i feel strongly about that. i signed an ethics pledge to never campaign again a sitting college. i have other colleagues sitting here that feel the same as i do and i'm looking for more signatures. i think it would be wonderful if

be careful out there, kids. >> paula reid, thank you so much. with us now to discuss is defense attorney misty marris. also joining us is former federal judge john e jones. the third judge jones is also the president of dickinson college. thank you both for sharing. part of the afternoon with us, misty. have you ever defended a client who headed into sentencing knowing that they wouldn't face any penalty? >> yeah, boris, this is very, very rare. so, judge mark carney order, which actually set out what the penalty would be an unconditional discharge is not common at all, especially in new york state courts, where i practice. that being said, in this particular case, he recognized that constitutionally, this criminal case could not go on. and truly, this sentencing was now or never. and so he laid that out in that order strategically so that this case could be brought to finality. with that laid out in the order, in addition to there being no penalty and a trump appearing via zoom as opposed to being into the courtroom, it really undermined any ar

. >> cnn's ryan young and paula reid are following the story for us. paula, to you first, i just spoke to a law enforcement source who said, look, they have the license plate of the suspect right there running down to see if the suspect had any association associates who might have been involved with this. what more can you tell us about the suspect? yeah. >> so here we know, of course, the fbi is the lead agency. they are now investigating this as an act of terrorism. there's a little confusion about that. earlier today in the briefings about whether this was being viewed as potential terrorism. now, the fbi confidently saying in a statement released a short time ago that they are investigating this as an act of terrorism. i want to read that statement this morning. an individual drove a car into a crowd of people on bourbon street in new orleans, killing a number of people and injuring dozens of others. the suspect then engaged with local law enforcement and is now deceased. and as i said, the fbi is the lead investigative agency and they are working

our chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, is on the story for us. paula, take us through this ruling and what it means for the president elect. >> wolf, after this opinion, president-elect trump is still a convicted felon. but there is some good news here, as the judge is signaling that he does not intend to impose penalties against trump after being convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records last year. the judge did have the option to impose a jail sentence, but in a sort of unusual move, he's previewing what he will do next friday, saying that is not something he is going to do. he says, quote, it seems improper at this juncture. it seems proper at this juncture to make known the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration. so he's imposing a sentence of what he describes as unconditional discharge, because that, he says, is the most viable solution. now, unconditional discharge just means there will be a sentencing, but there will be no penalties, no community service, no fine, no jail. so what happens next friday w

paula reid reporting for us. paula, thank you very much. our legal experts are here with me in the situation room. let's get some serious analysis. we'll start with laura coates, the special counsel's this report being blocked by judge. the judge? judge cannon is again giving trump a rather favorable ruling right now. why is she preventing this report, which normally would be standard operating procedure for the u.s. justice department? why is she blocking it from being released? >> that seems to be two primary reasons. one is she believes that because he's an illegitimate special counsel, anything that he gathered as a part of his work also can't be used now to kind of go through a back door and say, i'm not legitimate. >> but here's everything i learned while i was illegitimate. >> the second argument, of course, is that it will prejudice the two people who still have remaining cases. yes, trump's case is no longer active down there, but he still has two codefendants known as coconspirators. they take issue with that assessment because th

andrew mccabe, paula reid, thanks to both of you for being here today. i appreciate it. all right.millions across los angeles still on edge, waiting to see if they'll need to quickly evacuate from wildfires. next, i'll speak to the creator of an app that's been helping people track the threat in real time. as the flames spread. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn. >> i heard you found someone special. >> yeah. >> is that dog food in the fridge? >> it's not dog food. it's fresh meat. real veggies for peter. that's peter. >> should have known. >> you do make a pretty cute couple@drivetime.com. >> we've been hard at work, and we finally did it. >> did you make it so i can finally shop for thousands of cars with no hit to my credit. >> wait. yes, go to drivetime.com, get approved with no credit history go to drivetime.com, get approved and shop your real terms with no credit. >> hit safelite repair. >> pe

thank you so much, ryan young, paula reid, appreciate it. let's bring in cnn senior national security analyst juliette kayyem and former nypd lieutenant darren porcher. first to you, juliette, i just want to go back to the timeline here. you know, look, most revelers were out in this area at midnight, right? celebrating the new year. this event happened at 315 in the morning, and there were many, many casualties. ten dead, more than 30 injured. the barriers that we keep showing this because i'm just struck by this were appears to be those flimsy orange and white barriers, according to the eyewitness and according to video that we have. what do you make of all this? what are the big questions you have? >> so there's going to be yeah. so there's going to be an assessment on what the planning and preparation was and the questions that will be raised are. first you know, was the city deploying or utilizing different security measures because of upgrades or other critical infrastructure that may have made bourbon street more vulnerable? the secon

you can follow me on blue sky and instagram at joy-ann reid, at tiktok at joy-ann reid official.on instagram and facebook at the reidout, tiktok at the reidout and on blue sky at joy msnbc. com all in with chris hayes starts now. >> tonight on all in. >> so are you saying that you would stand in the breach and push back if you were given an illegal

do you hav any information from the ranking member of the committee, from senator reid, that you willmation from that fbi background check? >> margaret, let me start by saying there is not a job that's more serious and more critical to our national security than secretary of defense and we need a qualified individual in that job, and he just does not seem to have the qualifications. on top of that you look at his personal conduct when he was managing veterans for freedom and concerned veterans of america, these two organizations were financially mismanaged. there was reports of being intoxicated on the job and creating an environment where there was some issues with sexual harassment. so i think it's in the nominee, mr. hegseth's best interests if he wants to be confirmed for this job for us to have all the information. the information from these organizations but also the fbi background check. right now, as you say, the chairman and the ranking member are going to get it, that's an agreement with the white house. there have been exceptions made in the past for certain nominees. this

we're going to stand by the moment i asked paula reid a question. we're going to begin, but let's do it. paula, you have new reporting from pam bondi team. tell me what you got. >> yeah, i think her team might have seen our last our last hit, but a source familiar with her preparation says that when she is pressed about the independence of the justice department, she is going to outline that americans have lost trust in the justice department due to, quote, weaponization, and that she wants to work with senators to fix that. now, that's notable because we've heard some similar themes come out of discussions that presumed fbi nominee kash patel has had with lawmakers on the hill, the idea that they want to work with lawmakers to try to increase transparency around the justice department and restore trust. but i think it's also easy to see. and she will likely be pressed on how that too can be weaponized, especially if you bring the hill into some of these questions. obviously, a lot of partisanship up here, and it's unclear if they will be able to he

laura coates paula reid, thanks so much. laura will have much more tonight on her amazing program, laura coates live. that's at 11 p.m. eastern here on cnn. as if you don't know, coming up on the lead, what we could read into comments from the u.s. supreme court on a different matter. their pending decision on the tiktok ban that could go into effect on january 19th, that's just eight days away. plus, the head of fema will be here. a reality check on the federal response to the monumental tragedy unfolding in southern california. that's next. >> laura coates live tonight at 11 eastern on cnn. >> for gentle, dependable constipation relief, try senokot. >> it works differently than other laxatives because it's made from the senna plant, a natural vegetable laxative ingredient. gentle, dependable senna can also available in delicious gummies. >> i thought we had a plan for dad. >> he was set to go to the senior living community right by my house. >> then a friend suggested i talk to a place for mom. >> they really opened my eye

paula reid is here with this move just moments ago from the judge. paula. >> but here, in this new opinion, jake, the judge makes it clear that president-elect trump will not face any penalties after being convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. >> now, again, that sentencing is scheduled for january 10th, but it will mostly be performative here in this lengthy opinion today, the judge makes it clear that even though he has the option to potentially assign a prison sentence here, he does not believe that is, quote, proper. he said that at this point, he usually doesn't give a preview of what he's going to do at sentencing, but he believes the best thing to do is what is called an unconditional discharge. so there will be no punishment and no penalty applied to the president elect here. and the judge goes on to say that he agrees with the defendant's concerns about, quote, the mental and physical demands during the current transition, as well as a guidance that the federal level about the extent to which you can have have legal action a

ms reid says travelling to china with senior financial figures including the governor of seniorfinancialfiguresd and the chair of hsbc —— miss reeves. as for what is in it for china, one of the main goals is more cooperation in financial services. china is moving up the value chain. the uk could help, given its expertise in services and financial services. china is expected to be at the sharp end of donald trump's aggressive trade policy which could result in tariffs of up to 60% on all chinese goods. chinese officials are already contending with a rapidly declining currency and trade stock market sell—off and a protracted property crisis. the uk is unlikely to be able to resist taking sides but rachel reeves and her delegation might be hoping for something of an opportunity and amidst those tensions. london's national gallery will stay open all night next friday to give art lovers a final chance to see its vincent van gogh exhibition. more than 280,000 people have visited "van gogh: poets and lovers" so far. more than 60 works are on display, including "sunflowers","starry night over the rhone

even as recently as this week, i want to bring in chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid. trump has sounded off on how he has felt about this entire process, and why he continues to fight. you have been talking with sources this very morning. tell me how that trump team is feeling even heading into this today? >> well, i will say that his lawyers are feeling a lot more optimistic than the president elect, even though they fought to block today's sentencing, they believe that it's a huge win that their client, having been convicted on 34 felony counts, is only going to face an unconditional discharge that is less than the consequence for a speeding ticket. now, trump, of course he has. as you noted, he has always been angry about this case from the start. and today's sentencing is symbolic of his conviction that anger is what has driven these zealous appeals that we've seen really since the case started, but especially in the past few days. but his lawyers believe that this is really just checking a box so they can move forward with their appeals. and if you zoom out and lo

since harry reid has been getting chipped away at. you think it will survive? sen. manchin: i have more faith that republicans have more institutionalist people in their body than democrats. i told chuck schumer, you have already told me your game plan if you get majority leader and you have 51 democrat, you will get rid of it. because i am not going to be there and what kyrsten sinema is not going to be there. we voted against it and saved it. now i think you are happy because republicans have total control. so you like it now. but if you get control, you do it again. i am hoping they can basically solidify that or harden it, if you will, and protect it more. host: a couple of themes. in the speech you talked about your book. what is the name of your book? sen. manchin: "almost heaven." host: that is logical for west virginia. the vote, there was almost a character in your life story, you referenced it. sen. manchin: everybody has been there. i tried to get almost every senator. host: but what role has played in your success? sen. manchin: when i said, we are going

senator reid, shin and gary peters made, pete didn't meet with any of the democrats, they reached out to talk to him and his team and he didn't take any of those meetings. they all emphasized the fact they have been on this committee for a long time and voted for past nominees from the opposing party. this isn't typically a partisan one as far as confirmations go. i thought that was, it was actually surprised me about pete, someone i know personally and engages with me across the aisle in conversations and opens up to that kind of discourse. i thought that was a really big missed opportunity, especially in context of the turn that you clearly have seen from joni ernst, very public about her concerns about pete's nomination. someone who has served the country and been sexually assaulted in the military. made no bones in talking about that in very public forums. i thought if joni ernst turned and now in the pro-pete camp, this has been an easy confirmation. it's clear she changed her thoughts on him. in terms of women in the combat roling, elizabeth warren was quoting pete back to him.

. >> brian: if you look at the democratic side jack reid, serious guy, janine, same thing. gilllibrand, same. these are ones i think will go out for blood, duckworth, elizabeth warren, who submitted 100 questions, rono and richard blumenthal, who was last night frantic because he thought he had a great witness and it blew up in his face. pete has 20 years of war experience and this man-made up being in war. pete comes with harvard, princeton, iraq, afghanistan, gitmo experience. you have under secretaries that are going to be extremely organized. they understand big corporations. they are seeing surge of people signing up for the military, we have not had that in four years. >> lawrence: because culture is changing. they understand what donald trump stands for and pete wants to get back to war fighting. you saw chuck schumer, this is resistance. republicans on the committee and senate that have to vote on this, capitulate and give democrats a win. it is that simple. not about merit of pete hegseth, this is pure resistance, that is what axios quoted. you have pete hegseth, w