there was the ted stevens case, senator ted stevens of alaska, and his charges were thrown out after it was confirmed by the judge that the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence, discovery evidence. so the dea told me that the doj had review of all discovery procedures and that this procedure was reviewed. i asked at the dea for a copy of their review and the paperwork but they declined to make it available. host: watertown, tennessee, republican line. caller: first of all, thank you for your work in this area. there needs to be more reporters like you doing this sort of thing. i will speak to what i saw with my own two eyes. in the early 1990's i was a military pilot, and we were involved in the drug war. we had a systemic violation of rules, and that is that the military found alleged drug runners and tracked them, and when it came time for trial, customs agent or dea agent would show up and testify that it was then that started the case and all the stuff they saw, you know, a to b on the case, but the fact is it was all u.s. military personnel and equipment. i/o is thought tha

he represented ted stevens and convicted.s was the current attorney general threw that out. e's a $1,000 lawyer in this town. > he is, jeffrey thompson can afford it. i think we're in for the long haul with this. brendan sullivan is known for if you want to charge my client, trial.go to >> you say in the article that he current mayor, vincent gray's attorney is bob bennett. >> yet another bigtime attorney. interesting thing about ennett is that vincent gray's daughter is a very good attorney and she's like a -- one could of bennett.rotege so there's a relationship there he's had with vincent gray issue, y ran into this bennett.ned mr. >> let's catch everybody up. this is a d.c. thing. but before we -- i want to show of the former mayor and ask you about him. the american taxpayer have to do with the district of columbia? away from and you say why are they talking about the district of columbia? nation's capital. be very hould also interested because despite the fact that you see the city and it as separate from he federal and the capitol is , this is a city that still govern

he also represented ted stevens, -- and he was convicted -- but the attorney general throughout his conviction.-- atrough that -- threw th conviction out. >>he is a $1000 an hour lawyer in this town. >> yes, he is and jeffrey thompson can afford it. >> you say in your article that vincent gray's attorney is bob bennett. yet another big-time attorney. the interesting thing about bennett is that vincent gray's daughter is a very good attorney and she is kind of like a, i-- guess, one could call her a protÉge of bennett. so they have a relationship that he has had with vincent gray. when gray ran into this issue, he retained mr. bennett. >> let's catch everybody up on this. i know this is a d.c. thing. but i if this book before show some video, how much does the american taxpayer have to do with the district attorney of columbia? >> this is the nation's capital. you should also be interested because, despite the fact that you see the city and they see it as separate from the federal and capitol hill, this is a city that is still governed by congress. taxpayers have a say in that. that is somethin

at thewas jim interview dea, they decided the ted stevens case, which involved prosecutorial misconduct in which the senators charges were thrown out. they said after that there would be a review of all of the discovery procedures throughout the justice department, including at special operations division, but they said -- so i said, can i see a copy of the review? they said, no. >> so it is all legal? >> well, that is what happens when any agency gets to do what it wants to do for years and years and years without anybody looking over its shoulder. this agency has also done things in the area of medical marijuana, scientific research, the scheduling process of drugs were by they would go through the legal process, to the minister it of law process judges comehave down with recommendations that are scientifically based, that are credible, and then they will have to pollute the appointed head of the agency overruled those recommendations for no purpose whatsoever. once again, congress is not asking any questions. obviously, the obama administration's job as well an error holders job as w

you and the late ted stevens.ottom line is, i think as a progressive we ought to see government sitting up and taking notice and dealing with this instead of hiding from it. >> david, thanks for educating on this issue today. >> thank you. >> speaking of digital, we're going to move on to a little thing at msnbc.com/extrapresumedguilty. it's a new tv and web series that we're doing reporting on inequities in the american justice system. our latest installment zeros in on the sequester cuts we've all been talking so much about. it turns out they are punishing literally some more than others. >> it's been called shared sacrifice. >> sequester was meant to be something so bad that no one would allow it to happen. i think part of what we're learning is that we're in a new normal. >> that new normal for our nation's courts, a crisis of justice. in march, sequestration swept $350 million out from under the courts. defender services are already operating under a $51 million shortfall this year alone. public defenders are

when i met with the dea, they .aid they did this scrupulously there was the ted stevens case, senatorns of alaska, and his charges were thrown out after it was confirmed by the judge that the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence, discovery evidence. the dojea told me that had review of all discovery procedures and that this procedure was reviewed. i asked at the dea for a copy of their review and the paperwork but they declined to make it available. host: watertown, tennessee, republican line. youer: first of all, thank for your work in this area. there needs to be more reporters like you doing this sort of thing. i will speak to what i saw with my own two eyes. in the early 1990's i was a military pilot, and we were involved in the drug war. violation ofemic rules, and that is that the drugary found alleged runners and tracked them, and when it came time for trial, customs agent or dea agent would show up and testify that it was then that started the case and all the stuff they saw, you on the case, but the fact is it was all u.s. military personnel and equipment . i/o is though

. >> as matsunaga lost his composure, his friend ted stevens came to his aid. >> i think anyone who lived who had personal friends that literally disappeared, and then came back after the war to find out what happened to them, i can only be appalled. >> as we said, there was opposition. if you want to know what it sounded like, here's jesse helms. >> no fund shall be appropriated under this title. until the government of japan has fairly compensated the families of the men and women who were killed as a result of the japanese bombing of pearl harbor on december 7, 1941. >> the package did survive the senate, though, and then reagan changed his tune and put his signature on a bill that contained a formal apology and $20,000 for any surviving internment victims. >> no payment can make up for those last years, so what is most important in this bill has less to do with property than honor. for here we admit a wrong. here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law. >> and that was 25 years ago this month. when fdr signed his executive order, public opinion was on his