>> todd blanche has an unusually strong relationship with donald trump.d trump as we covered at the time, chris, was unhappy to be in the courtroom most of the time. morose, much of the time. there were moments he laughed and lightened up and that's when he was talking to todd blanche sitting next to him. >> really close. >> really close together, whispering together so they couldn't be detected. i joked that the relationship was almost bromantic. why that matters is because at the department of justice, there are protocols about who can talk to the white house about ongoing cases and under existing department policy, who can talk to the white house at the department of justice, well, that's the attorney general or the deputy attorney general. and the only people those people are supposed to talk to about ongoing litigation are the white house counsel or his deputy or the president himself. so, lots of reliance by donald trump on todd blanche will go into the future in s of who can pick up the phone and talk about what is going on at the department. >> th

todd blanche, if this matt gaetz thing goes south, todd blanche gets the nomination?> i'm not sure he gets the nomination. if i were the trump team, i would think about how to get confirmation hearings for todd blanche as soon as possible and have a vote on him. there is a federal statute that provides that the dag, the deputy attorney general, has the right to act as attorney general once confirmed for what could be an unlimited period of time. it is not time delimited as it is in the federal vacancies reform act and there are some people who believe if the two statutes are interpreted together, it means that doj's person is not subject to the same restrictions as other acting secretaries who have to stay in for 210 days and then out of there. the thought is if todd blanche is confirmed, right at the start of the trump administration, he can hit the ground running as the acting ag and do that for as long as they like. >> if he's going to get to be confirmed to be acting ag, what is the difference. >> between matt gaetz and -- >> between the confirmation hearings? >>

but i know that todd blanche, not as defense attorney, which was a different role, but todd blanche asce department knows what the justice department is supposed to be, that it is supposed to be the prosecutor of the people, it is supposed to prosecute violent crime, fraud, political corruption, and i worked with todd on those cases, i know that he likes those cases, that he believes in the mission of the department of justice to do the right thing in the right way for the right reasons. and i do hope and believe that he knows that, and that he will continue that once he rises to the occasion in that role. i know i'm going to get a lot of blowback on that, because there are a lot of people understandably who have no faith anymore in our institutions, or in the guardrails holding. but i think if there is someone who can be that person in this time, and i don't mean resist everything that donald trump wants him to do, that won't be his job, and that's not what we're here to ask for, we're here to ask for someone to hold on to the justice department as it is meant to be doing the right th

he is seeking top doj rules as garrett noted for criminal defense attorneys and todd blanche most notably among them if confirmed. what a blanche or a.g. acting blanche mean for that department? >> that is a really interesting question, peter. it depends on who you ask. if you ask people who served with todd blanche in the u.s. attorney's office for the district attorney district of new york you'll find people who are largely comfort that todd blanche, who enjoyed a sterling reputation when he was in the office is joining a department of justice that might be headed by matt gaetz in whom they don't have confidence to say the least. on the other hand, if this matter is not resolved, you will also have a deputy attorney general who was involved in litigating not only this case, but the federal election interference case that led to that presidential immunity decision, and a department of justice have an interest in entering this litigation for example, if the new york city's d.a.'s office want to sentence trump or uphold the conviction the department of judge has an interest as lawyers for

is it a todd blanche? because todd blanche and matt gaetz are not the same.t least not, at least from the experience that we've so far had with todd blanche. >> and todd blanche and emil bove, let's be very clear, before they defended donald trump, they both did work as top prosecutors in the southern district of new york's district attorney's office. these men both have experience in the top attorney's office of the doj. and so both of these men, if they were to get confirmed by the senate for todd blanche, that would be in the number two role as deputy attorney general, he would all but be in a position, in short order, in a week's time, to serve in the role of acting attorney general. and acting attorney general has just as much power as the attorney general, but depending on where these republican senators indicate that they're willing to go on this matt gaetz vote, you very well could see a confirmation process for attorney general for todd blanche instead of deputy attorney general. and these are two individuals who, i think, have less of a public recor

should gaetz falter, could be todd blanche. who is trump's personal lawyer and the choice for deputy attorney general that looks like, i mean picking his personal attorneys to also go into the administration, he's now at four with picking will sharp over the weekend to to be staff secretary notable in and of itself. >> but but you know as we're triaging the headlines here the other pick here that seems to be pushing the boundaries of what the system is going to take is his pick for the pentagon chief obviously, pete hegseth has been part of this as well. what did you hear? what have you heard over the last 48 hours of how trump is viewing that, given we've learned he did pay money to the woman that's accusing him of sexual assault, which i should note. he and his attorney are denying there's more concern from some people around trump than there is from trump himself about this whole issue. trump has really dug in and has told advisers that he is going to stick with hegseth. now we'll see if if anything else emerges. they did do

but now, because of this situation, you know, todd blanche gets put up.you think that there would be pushback to that? i mean, obviously there's different you know, levels of qualifications seems to be a prosecutor with you at s.d.n.y but what do you think? what's your view on all that? >> that would be night and day to go from matt gaetz as a nominee potentially to todd blanche as a nominee, you would be going from someone who's completely unqualified to someone who is eminently qualified in todd blanche as you said, i worked with him for several years at the southern district of new york as for the correct point that todd blanche and emil bove and and other john sauer who are all now in line to be top doj officials, all of them have represented donald trump? that is true but that is not out of line with historical precedent. george w. bush nominated alberto gonzales, who was a good ag, who had been his lawyer in the past. ronald reagan nominated edwin meese, jimmy carter nominated griffin bell, john f kennedy nominated his own brother, rfk senior. the f

todd blanche at least has a back ground as a prosecutor. he was a supervisor in that office. said, he just had a trial where he represented donald trump before judge mer chand and judge merclands said todd blanche lost credibility with the court after attacks on the judge, prosecutors, defending donald trump's completely improper attacks on jurors, on witnesses, in violation of a gag order. made improper arguments during jury addresses he knew he shouldn't have made. so, you know, it's a pick i think ultimately that signals where donald trump is. donald trump does not want public servants. donald trump wants soldiers. donald trump doesn't want people who are going to take an oath to uphold the constitution. he wants people who will be loyal to him. what we've seen with the picks are people he thinks who will be loyal to him, operate according to his whims, who will serve his personal interest rates -- interests and relationships. you would want somebody in this office in any of these positions at the department of justice or sdny who are going to push back and assert fierce i

the pick of todd blanche, emil bove and john sauer, all have solid credentials, are designed to calmaetz and say this is the department of justice that's about to go off the rails. i would say to folks if matt gaetz is still in control of the department of justice, you should not be calmed by the presence of these three people. they may understand the apparatus itself in the department of justice, but they will be subject to direction of one matt gaetz. >> but would a todd blanche be acting attorney general if there is no one already filling that role, if gaetz, again, confirmation process is moving slowly, who takes up that space as the head honcho? >> oftentimes it is the deputy attorney general, but usually not the newly confirmed deputy attorney general that acts as the attorney general. you'll remember that, for example, during the first trump presidency, the first acting attorney general was sally yates, who was president obama's deputy attorney general. she served in that capacity for ten days until rodgers- rosen s came in. you want to have your deputy and ag confirmed simult

lot of people are wondering what that dynamic would be like between matt gaetz at the top and a todd blancheyou know, a more, uh, you know, a more traditionalfigure right underneath him regardless. blanche is going to be doing a lot of day to day work running that agency. so he's still going to have a lot of power no matter who's above him. and it's curious when you look at this in the context of history, because i remember past confirmation hearings and people fell at the first hurdle because they were employing someone in their home who was maybe undocumented or didn't have the correct paperwork, or they had said certain things in past social media posts and so on, and they seem to be in a different bag to what kind of some of the allegations that we're seeing against some of the individuals here. but, you know, that goes along to what we hear from donald trump all the time that he's personally subjected to a witch hunt. and he says that of everyone in his entourage as well. so, you know, it is a very contentious time. we can't forget that, you know, donald trump had tremendous electoral s

there are hopes that trump defense lawyers, somebody like todd blanche might be that person. as someone who speaks fluent trump. many people don't know what that is, but he . nbc news reports people close to blanch says his past work gives him an understanding of the doj's traditions and barring presidents and politicians from influencing individual criminal investigations. joining me to discuss this, hayes brown, writer and editor for msnbc daily, molly fast and host of the fast politics podcast and special correspondent for "vanity fair." great to have you with us. what do you make of this reporting that somehow todd blanche is expected to be the adult in the room and maybe because he is familiar with the doj may be able to, as i said, speak trump and tell him lay off going after these people? >> that's a very nice idea. i do appreciate the fact that he was a federal prosecutor, has experience in the doj, he knows what the rules and regulations are and should be. the problem with that theory is that he did just spend the last several years as one of trump's key attorneys. a

todd blanche stood by trump's side almost every day in court, that to me is quite concerning that theyg to do that. >> so, that sunshine i mentioned a minute ago, that is now gone. so, one of the things when i saw those names, and especially when i saw that matt gaetz was trump's pick to be his ag, i immediately thought of the supreme court's immunity decision where they ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for things that he has done that have been deemed official acts. if you have got an attorney general matt gaetz who is taking orders from president trump, how does that not fall under the community -- the immunity ruling that the supreme court has given? am i wrong in being wildly alarmed? >> you should be, but there are guardrails. so, an attorney general cannot direct the fbi to search a person's home or office, a judge still has to approve a search warrant, so that is a good thing. >> for real? >> i just cannot go out here and say i'm going to indict x person, evidence still has to be presented. a grand jury of one's peers still has to improve that indictment before

when whatever that is tells todd blanche do you really think he's going to say no thanks, i'm going toign and i'm going to throw all of it away immediately the second that i give it an order that is wrong. >> we have said that trump has learned from 2016 he now knows a little bit more about the leaders of power he knows who does what, you probably didn't know any of this in 2016 he came up against people who said no mr. president, you can do that. >> i would say that trump is trump. yes there are a lot of republican think tanks that are very excited about this, they still don't have a ronald reagan. they have someone who considers cannot be a part of the republican brand. there going to come up against a lot. weaving solid with the mac gates apartment. >> everything i was going to flag was this reporting from the washington post the donald trump is playing, looking in battle ground states that there was fraud in the 2020 election. not the 24, but the 2021. >> that would be hilarious the best case scenario as he gives the order, they find exactly the same as everybody else which is noth

on todd blanche, i think you've got to remember there's no love lost sara lee between todd blanche inhaving to do trump's bidding at the justice department but it may be the case that todd is quite happy to do that bidding because he's got his own personal problems with the doj. during the classified documents case todd blanche and the prosecutors in jack smith's office regularly had big, heated arguments, whether over email, during their meetings or in the courtroom, for instance in the classified documents case before judge cannon. so i think it's more than possible that sort of animosity continues. >> i went back and read some of those transcripts from the classified documents case and it was spicy. you're right, hugo. thank you very much for your time and your insights. when we come back, folks, donald trump is raising money for his transition into office. like you know, candidates usually do. but a loophole means we have no idea who is funding it. we get into it after the break. many people were in remission at 12 weeks, at 1 year, and even at 2 years. don't use if allergic. seri

on todd blanche, i think you've got to remember that there's no love lost necessarily between todd blanche and the justice department. we talk about todd maybe having to do trump's bidding at the justice department, but it may be the case that he is quite happy to do the bidding. he has his own personal problems with the doj. during the classified document case, todd blanche and the prosecutors in jack smith's office had big heated arguments weather over email or even in the courtroom in the classified documents case before judge cannon. it's more than possible that that animosity continues. >> you know, i read some of those transcripts from the classified documents case, and it was spicy. you are right. thank you for your time and your insights. >>> when we come back, donald trump is raising money for his transition into office, like candidates usually do. but, a loophole means we have no idea who is funding it. we get into it after the break. >>> you are up late with us you know stephanie likes to follow money on the show. as far as funding for trump's transition goes, we can't because h

this includes todd blanche, his criminal defense attorney as his pick for deputy attorney general.t you to tell me how to pronounce his guys last name, he was also serving, and dean john sauer helped to win the presidential immunity case. joining me now, a former federal prosecutor and a senior writer with political magazine. and a former senior adviser for attorney general garland he is also an msnbc justice and legal affairs analyst. thank you so much for coming back, i have been making a big deal about transpersonal attorneys getting those top positions at doj, anthony, you work directly in main justice, can you please explain to viewers why they should be troubled that trumps three personal attorneys have the three top positions other than ag at the justice department. >> donald trump has learned the fundamental truth about washington which is that people are policy. i think back to the first two attorney general pics. they had legal and ethical lines that they would not cross. bill barr refused to go along with the 2020 election being stolen. overseeing the investigation into

and todd blanche worked at the justice department. he's a real lawyer. he understands that the wild charges that people like matt gaetz have been making about the justice department being corrupt and the fbi being politicized, that that fundamentally is not true. he may have his criticisms of how the investigations were handled, but he understands the justice department upholds the rule of law. the question is what kind of nominee will we see next to be his boss. another conspiracy theorist, a person who says the place needs to be blown up and sent to jail or someone like todd blanche, someone with experience who may be republican and may want to change priorities, but who fundamentally believes in the justice department. and that's a big question for not only the justice department, but for the future of the rule of law over the next four years. >> i want to bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard, in west palm beach. and, vaughn, just yesterday, ais you know, gaetz was asked about his prospects as weighs going around on the hill and meeting with senators. i wan

i can't get upset about it because todd blanche is a reasonably good lawyer.n court i did not think was that great , but he is not a terrible lawyer. there are three other cabinet level positions that trump has filled. >> we will get to that . let's talk about the selection of a fierce ally, matt gaetz, to become the next attorney general. what concerns do you have of him wielding the power of the u.s. justice department? >> first of all, he is a bad guy and he is completely unqualified for the job. his own experience with the criminal justice system, likely he only has experience in a small law firm in florida for a year . it is his investigation for sex trafficking. that, to me, is not a good qualification. it is not good for the rest of us, it makes no sense. >> you called the selections of robert f kennedy jr., matt gaetz, tulsi gabbard, potentially, the worst in american history. do you think the republicans will defy him on any of these picks ? >> i cannot say that with confidence. i would not that that all three would go through but i don't think you ca

trump announced todd blanche as his pick for deputy attorney general and emil, to serve as principle deputy. both played a central role in defending trump in the losing new york hush money case, and john sauer who won the presidential immunity case at the u.s. supreme court. he has been picked for u.s. solicitor general. let's discuss these picks with one of trump's former attorneys who was once part of trump's defense team in the new york hush money cover up case. joe opina. do you think all of the individuals from the defense team now ask to serve in the justice department in one way or another, do you think they're all qualified to serve in the justice department or do you think this as his critics would have it, is more about serving donald trump's interests? >> no, i mean, listen, i mean, i would like to break that down by individual instead of painting with a broad brush because they're different individuals, and certainly have different qualifications, jake. if we're talking about someone like todd blanche, in the position of deputy attorney general, i couldn't really think of

that may have been a failsafe to now elevate todd blanche., there are any number of people qualified and not, who he has considered to be attorney general. don't really know who they are at this point and how much that list has changed. he does have todd blanche waiting in the ring -- waiting in the wings. the doj is hugely important to the trump agenda because he has a lot of things he wants to do when it comes to immigration policing and hot button social issues and is looking for the doj to help carry that out. wendi, really appreciate you being with us there from washington. all right, let's transition to real estate markets. a key issue for the incoming administration. for more on that, i want to bring in picasso spencer and abigail doolittle. can you kick off with a brief discussion on what it does and how you plan to move it forward? >> we take luxury vacation homes like the one behind me and we fractionalize them. you can purchase 1/8 of this home for $1 million and we do property management. we have closets on the outside to keep you

trump has selected his personal defense attorney, todd blanche, to be the deputy attorney general. two job at the justice department. he is someone who defended trump during his criminal hush money trial. he also represented him in the classified documents and election interference cases. trump also named another of his attorneys as the principal associate deputy attorney general. don sauer is the solicitor general. of course the one that made this argument during trump's immunity case. >> had a president who ordered seal team six to assassinate a political rival , who was not as -- impeached, he would be subject to prosecution. >> if he were impeached and convicted first. >>'s your answer is no. >> my answer is a qualified yes. >> you went on to make the argument in front of the supreme court and we saw how that decision has reshaped the presidency. he could soon be back in front of the supreme court. this time he would be arguing for the federal government. cnn legal analyst and former prosecutor elliot williams. elliott, on the todd blanche of it all, it's kind of the rebuke of

todd blanche my get confirmed pretty easily. he's also picked his other attorney as the principal deputy attorney general. they do a lot of the work at the dlj. and also john sauer who you will remember argued his presidential amenity argument. he is going to be picked if he is confirmed as the solicitor general. the number three job at the justice department. it is three trump attorneys now being tapped . now they have much different qualifications and they may be just fine in their confirmation hearings. but it does speak to the moment that we are in that he picks his defense attorneys and a kind of goes over and no one really says anything. >> they do have experience as big-time prosecutors , something matt gaetz did not have. >> todd blanche worked as a federal prosecutor. >> katelyn collins, we will see at the top of the hour. thank you for being here. now to talk about this proposed nomination of robert f. kennedy jr. e -- dr. sanjay gupta. is robert kennedy qualify for this job? >> i would say no. he has no organizational

the president-elect said he will install his criminal defense lawyers todd blanche as the justice department's number two and number three under matt gaetz, this confirmation for attorney general is for many people questionable. trump also lost the lawyer who won his presidential immunity case at the supreme court to serve as u.s. solicitor general, and doug collins who led the defense in the first house impeachment has been selected to lead veterans affairs, collins is an air force reserves chaplain and iraq war veteran. kristin, it is always great seeing you, thank you for being with us, so trump has now selected 21 picks, how fast do you think the team hopes to have them all confirmed?>> it is great to be with you, thank you for having me on this friday, in talking to both those with the trump transition and senators on capitol hill, i can tell you that their focus is trying to get the picks confirmed as quickly as possible. we are going to have the rings -- hearings and votes on day one, when the president takes over, he's going to have as much of the cabinet in place as we can, so that wo

china's intelligence service broke into the phone used by trump's lead criminal defense attorney, todd blanche. the sources say in the leadup to the election, hackers gained access to blanche's text messages and captured audio recordings of some of his calls. we're told most of the communications involved family and friends, but tonight, the fbi is working to determine whether more sensitive contacts were compromised. sources tell us, blanche is under consideration for a role in the new administration after he defended trump against criminal charges in new york and in two federal cases. the hacks, part of a sweeping chinese cyber-espionage campaign to collect the private communications of prominent american officials. abc news previously reported the chinese attempted to hack phones used by trump himself, vice president-elect j.d. vance, and people affiliated with the harris campaign, by infiltrating u.s. telecommunications firms like verizon, lumen, and at&t. the chinese clearly have the know-how to do this to anyone, david. but a senior u.s. intelligence official tells us they're really inte

donald trump's behavior as a client in these cases changed significantly when todd blanche became hisot of favorability being directed at this nomination. again, it's a crucial job. it's really running the nuts and bolts of the department. at the end of the day wgs that trump wants him to do that people won't like. but given his experience level, generally viewed positive inside the department. >> you have a new piece out making the case for president biden to commute or even, i guess, pardon, but not to pardon, but to commute any prison sentence for hunter biden. the president said he will not pardon or commute his sentence, sentences. what would a commutation look like and why do you think the president should do it? >> well, so you're right. there is a distinction between a pardon and commutation. what i'm suggesting is not a pardon, wiping the convictions clean. i am saying commuting any prison term he may receive in connection with the sentences on these cases, the convictions would stand but he wouldn't necessarily serve -- he wouldn't serve prison time under my approach. the re

and emil bove and todd blanche having represented the president in his personal capacity will have thatse themselves from the department's involvement in this case in the future. >> lisa rubin and chuck rosenberg, thank you, both, very much. >>> and now to breaking news we're following on capitol hill. you're seeing new images here of vice president-elect jd vance at the capitol with former congressman matt gaetz. the outgoing senator, the former congressman are there meeting with senators to try to push them to support gaetz's confirmation, in the face of a potentially damaging house ethics report that includes serious sexual misconduct allegations against gaetz, allegations he's denied and we should mention the justice department at one point did look into these as well and decided not to press criminal charges. now, moments ago, another development, trump has announced he will tap matthew whitaker you'll recall, matthew whitaker served as acting attorney general in his first term, he's now going to be tapped to be ambassador to nato. on the campaign trail, trump frequently criticized

so in that respect, it brings them closer to being someone like todd blanche.n terms of their willingness to use the justice department for the aims that matt gaetz would have been willing to go to, that brings them closer to matt gaetz. maybe someone in between is where you end up with mark paoletta. he's very close with both thomases, justice clarence thomas and ginni thomas who he represented in the january 6th investigation. he also served in the last trump administration and was general counsel at the office of management and budget. in so doing, he had some involvement in some of the allegations that led to the first trump impeachment. he's a trump loyalist, and yet he is much more familiar with how to use government and maybe how to navigate government than someone like matt gaetz. >> what do we know about what happened behind the scenes of matt gaetz. we know the names of those who weren't budging. do we know why? >> apparently the meetings on the hill didn't go well and people came out more concerned than reassured. gaetz told people according to my co

that's 18 days before todd blanche and his colleagues proposed submitting a brief to judge merchan.y wanted this briefing schedule on the motion to dismiss potentially to bleed into former president and president-elect trump's new term in the oval office because at that point he would be sitting president trump and the constitutional issues that could underlie their being an existing case against him might be very different in terms of how courts weigh those factors once he is pack in the oval office. here judge merchan telling trump's lawyers put in the brief by december 2nd. he is telling the d.a. i will take your opposition on december 9th. that's the same day that the d.a.'s office originally proposed to po toes it. he is not allowing reply briefs, which means he is seemingly preparing to issue a decision perhaps sometime before the holidays and in calling off the sentencing, jose, the other thing that comes to my attention he is saying i am calling off of the sentencing only to the extent it was scheduled for next week. what he is not doing is saying the sentencing is postponed

they were tapped as not only being the deputy attorney general for todd blanche, but the deputy associate principal day sorry, the visible associate deputy attorney general, would be a meal but a bit. -- coming out of the trial that we all went through back in the spring, was a confident that donald trump, despite them losing, the 34 felony convictions, and his two top lawyers from the team, who is now tapped and will have to go through the confirmation process, at least todd blanche will and having to go and fill those number two and number three positions in the doj. both of these men work as top prosecutors for the fdny, previously and the scenario that matt gaetz is not able to be confirmed it would elevate the role that todd blanche would play. and much of this is a waiting game at this point are donald trump and his legal team. but it is one that a couple of months ago they were able to stare down the very realization that if you are to lose this election, donald trump could be facing potential serious punishment even present time. but now instead, his legal team from that case, the

todd blanche is a legitimate legal giant in his own right. and running the justice department will probably be his chore, given whoever is going to be attorney general. the most important thing to a lot of people isn't justice, though. it happened yesterday. it is the department of education. your children's high school and grammar school education, being run by someone more familiar with wrestling, with professional wrestling than with actually what goes on in the classroom. people are concerned about what's being taught in the classrooms now. that has occurred over the last couple of -- two or three years. what are third, fourth and fifth graders being taught in elementary schools? what is the curriculum? what is the high school curriculum? look who is the secretary of education now? what about dr. phil? is he going to get a spot? >> willie and lemire, reporting on this, again, what is -- even though "the washington post" today, it is like casey's countdown of the four most horrifying selections thus far and they actually rank them in order

what todd blanche wanted was to put in his opening brief on december 20th.ere talking about this earlier in the week, i noted to you if that were the deadline, this briefing would likely go into a period of time where former president trump and president-elect trump becomes sitting president trump. that is unlikely to happen now because what he is saying is i will accept no reply briefs, meaning the briefing will be done in its entirety by december 9th and i'm expecting to make some form of decision on this motion to dismiss, probably before the holidays if i had to read the tea leaves here from judge merchan. staying the sentencing only with respect to that existing sentencing date. he's not indefinitely staying. he's saying i'm calling off the sentencing that was scheduled for next week, and i'll take a briefing, but not on the timeline that you trump lawyers want. >> and remind us of the arguments trump's defense team is making for dismissal. >> they're saying once trump becomes president again, it is not just a question of his being immune from the intro

todd blanche my get confirmed easily. he's also picked his other attorney as the principal deputy attorney general. they do a lot of work at the dlj. and also john sauer who you will remember argue trump's presidential immunity. if he is confirmed he will be picked as the solicitor general. it is not just one or two, it is three trump attorneys now being tapped. they have much different qualifications and they may be just fine in confirmation hearings. but it does speak to the moment that we are in that he picks his defense attorneys and it goes over and no one really says anything. >> they do have experience as big-time prosecutors. >> top lands work that the southern district of new york and obviously john sauer has deep litigation experience as well. >> caitlin, thank you for being here tonight. >>> now to talk about this proposed nomination of robert f. kennedy jr. peer -- and also with us dr. sanjay gupta . is robert kennedy qualified for this job? >> i would say no. organizational management experience. over 83,000

todd blanche and emil bovey. they have been prosecutors before. again the bar is low here. you know, matt gaetz is somebody who's barely even a lauer at any point. so these are people who at least have some basic level of competency to do the job. >> therefore they are the most normal picks of them all. yeah. saying it all with the hands. thank you for making time my friend. we will be right back. autumn is here. that means if you don't have leaf filter, you're stuck dealing with leaves, debris, all kinds of headaches. excuse me. i'm sorry to interrupt. i'm ray sparks from 318 down the street. you did our gutters last year. the sparks family. we cleaned, sealed and installed leaf filter. yes, sir. of course. i love you, man. you make me feel so free. to schedule your free inspection. call 833 leaffilter today or visit leaffilter.com. . >>> that is our show for tonight. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> another one who is another great mind

trump already needed his criminal attorney todd blanche as deputy attorney general for former florida attorney general has been a strong ally pair the acting attorney general in his first term matt whitaker he has artie selected for her roll as u.s. ambassador to nato of course he can know is change things if he wanted to. martha back to you. >> martha: moving the chess pieces however, he wants is the process underway. rich thank you. jonathan turley fox news contributor could to have you with those. you're reaction obviously this is big news and mostly big news for him personally and his family has pulled his name out of the running midafternoon today khaki or reaction query. >> well, it's not surprising news. the math just was not adding appear he needed not only to get to confirmation but even for recess appointments he needed cooperation of both the senate and the house period to contend recess. those votes are also in question so, this was really becoming a major early fight for president-elect trump. that doesn't however mean that this is going to change tht wase selection of ga

this will be todd blanch, respected criminal defense attorney, but would he just go along with all of he stand up to his former client? >> well, good questions, andrea. so the deputy attorney general of the united states is the number two official in the department. he or she and right now it is a she, lisa monaco, serves as the chief operating officer. but whether you are the deputy attorney general or the attorney general or a line prosecutor, in some u.s. district offices in the country, you still need facts. again, we have to draw a line between charging and convicting someone on one hand and making their life miserable, simply by investigating them on the other. the most important question you are asking is whether mr. blanch, if he is confirmed as deputy attorney general has the integrity and adjustment to serve in the role which may mean standing up to the attorney general or president under certain circumstances. the answer to that question and it is an important one, we'll see. >> and also, the prosecutors in forecast on the manhattan d.a., alvin brag's team, they have until

can reports tonight that the president-elect is seriously considering naming his lead attorney, todd blanche, to serve as the next deputy attorney general. now, nothing has been finalized or announced, i should note, blanche is a former federal prosecutor who is now representing trump over the last 18 months or so including during his criminal hush money trial earlier this year in new york. trump and blanche have grown close and in that time , because of trump's trust in him it was widely expected inside trump's inner circle that if he won, lynch would likely follow him into the federal government. if blanche is ultimately nominated here, he would need to be confirmed by the senate before running the department which is one of the most prioritized by donald trump, and tonight certainly, one of the most controversial. straits to capitol hill this hour, were cnn's congressional respondent money roger is working his sources. what are you hearing from people specifically going to need to confirm matt gaetz is the attorney general? >> matt gaetz has a tough road ahead of you wants to be confirmed

he was a smart guy, todd blanche, -- they have been prosecutors. the bar is low here. at least have some basic level of competency. >> and therefore, they are the most normal pics of their all -- kristi greenberg, say at all with the hand. thank you for making time, we will be right back. back. lost her card, not the vibe. the soul searcher, is finding his identity, and helping to protect it. hey! oh yeah, the explorer! she's looking to dive deeper... all while chase looks out for her. because these friends have chase. alerts that help check. tools that help protect. one bank that puts you in control. chase. make more of what's yours. i'm amy grant, and i want to talk to you from my heart about the heart. i would have been the last person on the list to say this woman has a problem with her heart. so, no, there was nothing about my life that said, you have a ticking time bomb in your chest. but i did. i wound up in the office of a cardiologist because i was there with my husband, and at the tail end of that, the cardiologist looked at me and said, i want to see you. no

trump announced yesterday he selected todd blanche as secretary attorney general.anche could, in theory, serve as the acting attorney general of the united states while gaetz goes through the process. additionally, trump has chosen his attorney his the principal associate deputy attorney and d. john sauer as solicitsolicitor. one not named whose name was floated for a potential gig as press secretary but, yesterday, she denied she was in the running on social media. there is no word yet on where habba may end up. joining us is associate editor of "the washington post," eugene robinson. he is also an msnbc political analyst. eugene, i'm not speechless because, actually, in some respects, this is the most, to me at least the most quintessential trump thing to do, right? >> yeah. but your own attorney as deputy attorney general of the united states of america? >> of course. >> what is ironic is todd blanche didn't win the cases. he lost the cases. what do you make of this one? >> he is still looking for his roy cone, you know? that is what he has wanted all along and

this is significant, because you think about what todd blanche may be doing in the upcoming administration and his voice name has been floated. the kind of information on his phone would be of interest to foreign adversaries. >> thank you so much for the update and a story that we will continue tracking. >>> donald trump could start naming some of his key white house staff any day and there are questions about whether vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist rfk jr. will be in charge of health policy. >> cnn correspondent is here with help tracks vaccine efficacy and safety. >> reporter: talked about not taking anybody's vaccines away that he will immediately begin studying vaccine safety and efficacy. this has public health experts scratching their heads but what isn't out there that he thinks he is going to examine and reveal something new. the system for being vaccines before on the market and afterwards is incredibly robust. before a vaccine gets to market, it starts out with animal studies before it can get to human clinical trials. often, those take years and thousands of participants

the hackers were able to obtain voice recordings from todd blanche.l remember him, the attorney that defended trump during his hush money trial. the sources are telling us none of the material is related to trump himself. but, there is a moment in which blanche is just the latest target going after republicans and democrats. it is a list so far that we reported on that includes trump himself, j.d. vance, kutchner, trump, harris campaign, senior biden administration officials as well. important note, blanche is the first that we know of that was compromised. the other names they mentioned there we are told were targeted but not clear if the targets were successful. ply source tonight is the chief intelligence officer chris crabs who served as the top cybersecurity official at the department of homeland security. great to have you here chris. this is the first time we know the hackers were successful in going after someone, obviously a key maim in todd blanche. how damaging do you think this is? >> reporter: of course lawyers always have sensitive infor

but todd blanche, who was donald trump's lawyer in the hush money case, he was named the debbie, correct correct? he is and feeling better. he's an actual lawyer, a real respected lawyer. -- he is infinitely better. he went to work with donald trump. i can see that possibly happening. >> but that shows real strategy. >> i might be giving him more credit than is due. it is donald trump. >> let me ask about john soon. it is a good point. what does the election of senator john thune to be set majority leader, a huge shift away from mitch mcconnell but it also marks the rejection of rikc ck scott, who was running for leader and was backed by elon musk and other maga voices. what does it say to you that they elected john thune, about how senate republicans see their role in this next presidency? >> i think these leadership position elections are about personality and relationship, 50 republican senators basically and they all know each other very well, who they like, who do they feel comfortable with? john thune, has been in the senate a long time, very normal republican, not maga but knows h

role, already picked for the nomination process, could elevate him so that could be a top pick, todd blancherking to get more information on that. >> john: number two, just a quick step to number one, right? we will see what happens. senator mike lee's name also being kicked around, alexis mcadams in beautiful florida, thank you. >> sandra: i.c.e. officials announcing the arrest of two illegal migrants charged with raping children in massachusetts. a blue state where they have vowed to resist preside president trump's immigration crackdown. >> if the trump administration request it, would massachusetts state police assist in mass deportations? >> no, absolutely not. >> john: and the governor of massachusetts not the only democrat vowing to defy trump's deportation plan. >> sandra: national border control council president paul perez is just moments away. >> john: fox team coverage, jeff paul on new reporting that the biden administration is letting migrants skip in-person check-ins. >> sandra: but first senior correspondent mike toobin on those arrests out of massachusetts. so mike, did the

we are told they were able to obtain recordings and text messages from todd blanche, the attorney who defended donald trump during his hush money trial. they're telling us tonight that not a compromise material is related to trump himself but this is a moment in which blanche is just the latest target and what appears to be a wide-ranging operation going after both republicans and democrats . it is a list so far that we have reported on that includes trump himself, jd vance, jared kushner, eric trump, members of the harris campaign, senior biden administration officials, as well. important note, blanche is the first we know of who was actually compromised. the other names i just mentioned, we are told, were targeted but not clear if those targets were successful. my source tonight is the chief intelligence officer for sentinel one, chris krebs, who we all remember served as the nation's top cyber security official at the department of homeland security. it's great to have you here because this is the first time we know these hackers were actually successful in going after someone, obv

is anything possible is my question. >> if we know anything, anything is possible, but todd blanche isthe folks to keep your eye on, as vaughn hillyard just said, he is very close to trump , he has been his lawyer in one of his many legal cases. at the end of the day, not even donald trump has a pain point, it was very clear for a very long time, from day one that matt gaetz would have an uphill climb and once he got on and talked to the senators, donald trump himself had been leaning on a bunch of senators and it became clear that this wasn't going to work and donald trump is someone who does feel like he has the power over the republican party and he's right to a certain extent. he seems to be listening to some of the senators and their concerns, that also means there's probably a world in which senators say look, please don't take any senators, let me have my people so we can deal with everything else. because they do have a longer list of folks who would it be taken out of the senate and some of these people may not want to go through the entire process of being vetted by the judic

the same question for todd blanche and for others who are coming in.ay be steeped in the traditions of doj by virtue of the fact they spent their early years as prosecutors in places like the southern district of new york. the question is whether they'll say no if they're asked to engage in revenge prosecutions. i expect we'll see senators ask them that at confirmation. they'll be asked if they believe donald trump lost in 2020. you can't be an election denier and work credibly at the justice department, so these confirmation hearings will be deeply important. >> and, senator, of course you're a former senator and you know your former colleagues and the institutions of the senate. what is the likelihood that the republican senators are going to fall in line for pam bondi and not give her a really tough going over in the judiciary committee because there was matt gaetz, as one person who was pulled down, and now one theory is that they've already given it the office of ethics and will now have to be more in line with what the president-elect wants? >> i

>> that's a really interesting question, chris, because todd blanche is the number two at the justicet finished winning an argument, down with judge aileen cannon in florida that the way the justice department appoints special counsels is illegal and unconstitutional. that is not the justice department's position. and that actually that court ruling is not binding on the justice department. and there are going to be opportunities and maybe motivations for donald trump and his attorney general pam bondi to want to appoint a special counsel. you can foresee a situation where they might want to appoint a special counsel to investigate the investigators the way they did in the first term with john durham. and it is going to be really interesting to see whether the doj changes its position with todd blanche at the number two slot or whether they just decide that that view is no longer operative and that they can still appoint special counsels where there are conflicts of interest or whether they need to investigate their own people. >> and somebody who could play into this as you well know

no, they are not legally allowed to be fired and yet do i expect pam bondi and todd blanche to try to fire some of these people? yes, and they will spend the bulk of the next trump administration i expect fighting to regain those jobs for which they have that legal protection. >> yes. big difference in the words short and will. what would you expect to see in this case? >> reporter: you can also -- we should expect donald trump in his first week in office finds an executive order called schedule f which would reclassify potentially tens of thousands of federal civil workers, some of these doj prosecutors, and turn them into political appointee decisions. the schedule f classification notes of someone is in a policymaking decision and the trump doj could try to determine that a lot of these folks who are working on this case are in policymaking decisions and could use that as a means of trying to subvert the protections currently there for the civil workforce. >> can i go back for a second, catherine christian , about jack smith -- let me show folks there at the bottom of the page. the

i wonder what will happen with todd blanche, obviously john sauer has been picked for sg, who has beenely endorsed in the conservative legal world is a fantastic pick. todd blanche, i don't know if they will bump them all up, jay clayton as the end of st and why, i don't know if they're going to -- there are a number of people in trump orbit who will do a phenomenal job. >> john: members of the senate he might draw from? mike lee's name -- >> i've heard mike lee's name, but of course there is a calculation there as far as keeping the majority the way it is, not just that, it is counting on solid votes on the issues that you care about. so when you pull a senator, you trust and rely on on x issue, there is the risk you may not get that same vote even if you think -- >> john: senator hegarty's name has also been thrown around. >> i saw his name -- there are a lot of names being circulated. we know donald trump is quite unpredictable, hence the matt gaetz pick, so it really remains to be seen. >> john: unpredictability is one of his strengths, let's just say. kerri, thank you so much.i gu

todd blanche is donald trump's personal attorney who represented him for 18 months during the criminaly trial in manhattan. when it comes to responses to a lot of these nominations so far, we had one that are lisa desjardins got from senator bill cassidy, a doctor, in response to rfk junior. he is the chair of the -- he said ultimately he is open to rfk junior's nomination and he wants to learn more about it. that is what we are hearing a decent amount from republicans. they are open to a number of these nominations, despite the fact that none of them are qualified and have no experience. amna: we have also just gotten word that trump has nominated former congressman doug collins to be his v.a. secretary. the shape of this next administration is coming together. laura barron-lopez, always good to see you. laura: thank you. ♪ geoff: house republicans will maintain their hold on the lower chamber next year, giving republicans a political trifecta in washington, controlling both chambers of congress and the presidency come january. our lisa desjardins has been following it all, and joins

todd blanche, also tonight, a trump spokesperson says that trump will pardon january 6 defendants on a case by case distancing the president from a blanket pardon. >>> also breaking this evening, federal authorities in houston announcing the arrest of a man accused of supporting isis planning a terrorist attack on jewish targets in texas. >> reporter: tonight, the fbi says they stopped a possible terrorist attack in houston. >> we have taken a suspected terrorist off of streets of houston, texas. >> reporter: according to the fbi after his arrest on november 8th, anas said, talked about wanting to commit violence in the united states, researching the layout and security at jewish-related locations such as synagogues and expressing the desire to use an explosive belt. >> he bragged he would commit a 9/11 attack if he only had the resources. >> reporter: he said he would consider attacking members of the military if they supported killing muslims there. he admitted to federal agents he created videos and images that glorified isis attacks and tried several times to travel to join isis.