what does todd blanch have to say about that? tell. >> us more. >> about that. >> that january 6th investigation piece of. emil bobby's background. >> right. so bove is the acting deputy attorney general, and he's been the face of the administration's campaign to go after prosecutors and fbi agents who worked on january 6th cases. he wrote the memo ordering the fbi to turn over all the names of people who worked those cases. what he didn't say in that memo is that he played a key role in efforts to arrest and prosecute january 6th defendants when he was head of the counterterrorism unit in new york city after the capitol riot. and we have a story exploring this on nbc news.com this morning, quoting people who worked with him, saying he never expressed any qualms about the investigation, and they were stunned to see him repeating trump's talking points that the january 6th probes were a grave national injustice, and that fbi agents acted unethically in some of the cases. there's no evidence for that. and bove's former colleagues s

so, christie, you know, todd blanche.was asked point blank if the deputy ag is the president's lawyer. and he said no, but how might that be put to the test if he's confirmed? >> well, it was already. >> put to the test today. because i agree with. >> senator schiff. that todd blanche sounded. >> a whole lot. >> more like donald trump's lawyer than he did. >> the people's lawyer. >> and in his statement to senator grassley, he identified. >> four areas. >> where he believed that. >> the doj. >> had previously engaged in misconduct, that. >> he. >> said was a travesty of justice. and all four of the. >> items that he mentioned. >> were all arguments that he. >> made as donald. >> trump's defense attorney. none of which, by the way, were actual misconduct and all of which were incredibly misleading. for example, he said that the special counsel's office wouldn't let donald trump review evidence in the mar-a-lago case. totally misleading. not true. initially, there was an argument about whether classified information could b

that is. >> a big distinction. >> and the issue. >> here is, while i appreciate the fact that todd blanche been a prosecutor, came up through the ranks, has some actual real experience as a prosecutor. >> when you look at. >> who the president. >> is putting into. >> the justice. >> department right. >> now, right. >> bondi blanche, beau sauer. >> these are their lawyers. >> they could literally have a law firm. you could just picture. >> the. >> letterhead instead of the doj. you got the letterhead. >> with their names with a. >> picture of the trump tower. >> they all represented him personally. and that's why i was pressing. >> todd blanche, who. >> would be going in as. >> the number. >> two. >> why in the. >> world you would. >> want to have all the president's lawyers in? and the fact. >> that this is a. >> major distinction. >> when you're. >> representing the people. >> and not the president directly. >> it seems to me that whatever assurances he might be able to give you, and i don't know where you are leaning on him. >> oh, no, i'm. >> not going to i've. >> made clear. >> to him,

i mean, todd blanch says he's not aware of that happening.n't believe that's what's going on. what can you tell us from your reporting? >> well, katie, we know that there was a plan to fire. >> a. >> large number of january. >> 6th. >> agents, agents. >> and employees. >> who worked on january 6th cases. the acting fbi director, brian driscoll, essentially resisted that, pushed back. >> on that plan. and then the justice. >> department requested a list. >> of all. >> the names of everyone. who worked on these cases. that's around 5000 or more fbi employees, including acting director. driscoll himself. and driscoll resisted. >> turning over the names. >> he turned over employee id numbers. he was subsequently ordered to turn over the names, and he did that. and there is a widespread fear inside the fbi that. maybe not all of these people, but a good chunk of these people are going to be targeted and are. >> going to be fired. >> or demoted or somehow disciplined because of their work on january 6th. >> now, blanch is saying, you. >> know, that

>> could she be todd blanch? right? right. collapsed their moral compass, llir spines, erase their own memories? i mean, there are people who worked on george w bush's democracy agenda who are now helping donald trump. and the war in ukraine by aiding russia. i mean, sassoon was not in the grand plan. >> no. >> and. >> i. >> think that's. >> really important. and that letter was i mean, all the letters we've seen from these people who have resigned, one has been more clear clarifying than the next and important and brave, right. these people have done brave things. they've really torched their own careers for the greater good, which i think is really important. but even just if you pull back and look at project 2025, not to sound like a broken record here. >> but but. >> project 2025 had this idea of making the department of justice an arm of the presidency. i mean, that. >> was in writing, right? >> in writing. and it was like the idea is to expand the power of the president so that the doj is an arm of his presidency or even

and to the extent that todd blanche, who's been nominated to be the deputy attorney general, and hisuvais, who's now serving as that role in his absence until he is confirmed to the extent that they were once southern district prosecutors. they seem to have lost that thread because of their proximity to donald trump and the power that he affords them. >> and i will note, the second person that lisa mentioned, todd blanche, was the other lawyer for donald trump in the failed case against him. let me read some of this angry letter. so first of all, before i read that there was another indictment coming. this is what was going to come. we have we have proposed a superseding indictment that would add an obstruction conspiracy count based on evidence that adams, that that mayor adams destroyed evidence and instructed others to destroy evidence and provided false information to the fbi and that that would further add further factual allegations regarding his participation in a fraudulent straw donor scheme. the there were more things coming. >> serious charges that he lied to the fbi, that

you have todd blanche, who's about to become the deputy attorney general. john sauer the also and then ed martin, who is the acting u.s. attorney in d.c., who represented defendants in january 6th in the case of beauvais, though, there's a you know, i talked to some of his former colleagues who are very surprised at his role here, in part because, you know, after january 6th, he helped lead the effort in new york. he was a lawyer at the southern district of new york, and he pushed for agents and prosecutors to be involved in these cases, helped approve some of the legal process. so for him to now be part of this weaponization group that is reviewing these cases seems like a bit of a conflict of interest, or at least an appearance one. >> yeah, i highly doubt that his work on those january 6th cases is going to be reviewed as as part of this. and evan, we're learning that the new doj's leadership, their relationship with trump has caused some tensions within the department. tell us about that. >> well, yeah, i mean, obviously they in some of the meetings beh

. >> reporter: pressing todd blanche on everything from president trump's executive orders to the firing of several watchdogs across multiple federal agencies. >> do you think he broke the law by firing these attorneys general -- the inspectors general? >> i don't know. i wasn't part of the decisions that he and the white house counsel made. >> reporter: eight of the federal watchdogs banding together in a new lawsuit today, arguing the president failed to give congress a 30-day heads up required by law. >> igs are independent. we are non-partisan. which means that we are the taxpayers' advocates within each of government agencies. >> reporter: the legal challenges to the president's efforts to reshape the government mounting. the administration now racking up more than 50 civil lawsuits since inauguration day, on everything from the use of guantanamo bay to proposed funding freezes. judges across party lines issuing injunctions bringing a halt to nearly a dozen trump policies or actions. >> i follow the courts. i have to follow the law. hopefully, the courts will be fair. they don't hav

. >> reporter: senators also pressing todd blanche on everything from president trump's recent executive orders to the abrupt firing of multiple watchdogs across agencies. >> do you think he broke the law by firing these inspectors general. >> i don't know. i wasn't part of the decisions that he and the white house counsels made. >> reporter: eight of those federal watchdogs fired by mr. trump banding together in a new lawsuit arguing the president failed to give congress a 30-day heads up required by law. >> igs are independent. we're non-partisan, which means we are the taxpayers' advocates within each of government agencies. >> reporter: the legal challenges to the president's efforts to reshape the government mounting. the administration now racking up more than 50 civil lawsuits since inauguration day, on everything from the use of guantanamo bay to proposed funding freezes. judges across party lines issuing injunctions, bringing a halt to nearly a dozen different trump policies or actions. >> i follow the courts. i have to follow the law. hopefully the courts will be fair. they don

but starting there with todd blanche.y that he sort of understood or backed up the idea that they're going through. the prosecutors who worked on january 6th cases. he had a pretty fiery exchange with dick durbin about that. what stood out to you there? and overall, as blanche tries to get confirmed? >> yeah. i mean, i think you can't underestimate. >> how much anger. >> there is. >> within the justice department right now about this targeting of prosecutors. who did their job and worked the cases, as well as that the. >> fbi being put. >> on a list because they worked on the largest investigation in fbi history. it's just it's really a historic thing that you have this case that normally would have been something that people would have been. >> proud of. >> right. and i think that's that's sort of the. criticism is that some people saw this as a way to sort of build their, their careers. the these january 6th investigations, you know, the on the conservative side, you hear that like, you know, they thought of this as sor

. >> i think going to get confirmed todd blanche slated to be deputy attorney general corn confirmede guy we need and pam bondi running justice department, is to i am very encouraged, by the people who are now at justice going to apply supposed to always apply equal treatment under law not politically prosecutions, equal treatment under the law law, that is what they are going to do i can't wait. >> is there an issue we haven't seen him confirmed what prospects for tulsi gabbard. >> no, i think patel will will he fine tulsi we need tulsi right on fisa the would be understands that that the fisa court i want -- wall want to figure out what is going on when it comes to americans we got to have reforms in place that protect americans liberty, americans rights americans privacy she s understands that we need her in that key position. >> what should we be more wider about spied on by china or u.s. government? >> well when democrats in charge, it looks like they are looking into americans, frightening, certainly trying to censor americans we have a hearing today 10:00 bringing back some or

if confirmed todd blanch would run the day-to-day operations at the justice department as the deputy general under attorney general pam bondi. he is known as a no nonsense former federal prosecutor spectate on both sides of the aisle and spent a lot of time at the department of justice and people praised him for his work there. he served as the president's personal defense attorney during his major criminal cases in 2023 and 2024. he is expected to say he will follow the rule of law in his relationship with the president won't affect that. i heard from top d.o.j. officials. they are transparent about implementing the president's agenda and why the american people wanted this in november and no secret they will carry out such an agenda. a 180 from the prior d.o.j. under garland who rarely met with president biden and made clear the justice department was separate from the white house. blanch is expected to be confirmed though he will have tough questions today during this confirmation hearing. once he is on board, if he is indeed confirmed he will work with his former co-counsel bove

in fact, i thought emil bove did a better job in that courtroom than the lead defense counsel, todd blanch, who donald trump has nominated for a position in the justice department that requires senate confirmation. bove formerly served for previously served as a federal prosecutor in the southern district of new york, where he was, we discovered this week and enthusiastic supporter of the investigations and prosecutions of the january 6th attackers at the capitol. now that he is working in donald trump's justice department, he has made it his personal mission to search out, find and attempt to fire any fbi agent or federal prosecutor who worked on any of the january 6th prosecutions, which he personally enthusiastically supported inside the justice department before he left the department in 2022. today, the acting u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york, 38 year old danielle sassin, resigned after refusing to ask the judge to dismiss the criminal case against mayor adams. and so the principled resignation is back. there is nothing quite like the principled resignation in americ

. >> juan merchan todd blanche. fatah party. >> to all. >> those who never give. >> a second thought to being the first ones in. >> thank you, servpro. >> a proud supporter of our nation's first responders. >> take your. >> business from launch to legendary. with shopify. >> sell more with. >> the world's best converting. >> checkout and turn analytics. >> into opportunities so you can scale further, faster. take your business to a whole new level. switch to shopify. start your free trial today. >> are you one of the millions of americans who suffer from an upset stomach after a big meal? try pepto-bismol. unlike some products, pepto coats and soothes your digestive system to provide fast five symptom relief, stock up on pepto today. >> you go to. sandals to get really, really. >> close to. >> the caribbean. >> we should do this every morning. >> sandals valentines sale is now on. save up to $1,000 and get a candlelit dinner for two. >> my hair. >> was thinning all around my hairline. >> my dermatologist. >> recomme

todd blanche, the deputy attorney general over at the department of justice who'd be. responsible for interfacing with the fbi, is not in the building. pam bondi, the presumed new attorney general. she's not in the building. emil bove is in the building, and he seems. >> to be. >> willing to expedite the firings. and this massive review. before they get there. so they have plausible deniability. >> whether or. >> not they had advance knowledge of this. their folks are not saying, but this certainly seems. >> to have. >> been something. that was planned. and from all of our reporting, it is emanating from. >> the white. >> house with beau's consent. and bove, for the uninitiated. along with todd, blanche was led trump's criminal defense team, adding to what ryan was saying. and i would urge everyone to get his excellent book, sedition. >> hunters. >> which speaks which. which really documents, i think, in very clear terms, the extent. >> to which. >> these individuals who were convicted committed crimes. i think what's going on internally now in. >> both the department.

up at the confirmation hearing of another of donald trump's former criminal defense attorneys, todd blanche, to be the deputy attorney general. >> for this narrative of. >> corruption. >> weaponization gets completely out of control. >> i do. >> want to just make. >> the point that there. >> is another. >> possible explanation. >> and the other. >> possible explanation. >> is that. >> the guy committed. >> the crimes. >> well, i do very much disagree with that, senator. >> as i expected you would as his lawyer, and i. >> respect. >> you not just. >> as his lawyer up. >> meanwhile, this morning there you had the indicted mayor at the center of all of this, eric adams on fox, sitting next to trump's border czar, tom homan, to discuss their agreement to collaborate on the issue of immigration. now, i want to stop again and underline that this appearance today comes after danielle sassoon put this into the public record yesterday in her resignation letter. quote, i attended a meeting on january 31st, 2025 with mr. beauvais, adam's counsel, and members of my office. adam's attorneys repeatedly u

many of these lawyers, including todd blanche, who's about to likely be the deputy attorney general. they worked on trump's federal cases. they've been on the other side of this system. and tim's point, i think, is an important one, which is if you look at administrations of both parties, there tends to be this revolving door of the same political people who come in once their party is in power. then you have people who stay there for their whole careers, and there's not a lot of fresh perspective. now, the messaging even trump officials will will confess has not been great. they have not done a great job about winning hearts and minds there. but there is a lot of distrust. but there's also this other perspective that maybe we do need to have some new people inside the department to look at, possibly some new ways of doing things. >> paula reid, appreciate the reporting. thank you so much. coming up, if you're in the market for a home, don't expect a rate cut anytime soon. find out why federal reserve chair jerome powell is not rushing to lower interest rates. >> have i got. >> news

trump's pick for deputy ag, todd blanche, is facing questions from the senate judiciary committee. what can we expect from that? >> i mean, i think it's more of the same right now. we're in that sort of period of time where we're tracking, you know, the movement on the hill to get through his his nominees. but we're also, of course, tracking everything that donald trump is doing. i mean, the number of executive orders that he's signing every day, the amount that he's posting on truth social, i think there's so much happening right now that i think, even for people in washington who follow this on a daily basis, it can be a little chaotic. you can get a little lost in, okay, who's next? who's going to get a vote next. but but i think for the nominees when it comes to deputy attorney general, i mean the expectation is, of course, that he's going to be getting lots of questions on whether he is going to follow the law or whether he is going to follow what donald trump says. i think there are a lot of questions right now about the future of the justice department, especially as the pre

. >> todd blanche testified in the senate. >> this is a post that he clearly. >> got because. >> he defended trump. >> and lost, by. >> the way. >> you can see him there with defendant. trump in the new york criminal trial in manhattan. this is the reason what you see on your. screen past is prolog for. >> his current. >> position that he's being vetted for. in fact. >> the now confirmed ag also served as one of trump's defense. >> attorneys during the impeachment. >> this has replaced other traditional and standard merit and legal qualifications. >> for what it takes. indeed. >> these moves harken all the. >> way back. >> to what many viewed as a lawless nixon era. the president is not hiding it. he is blatantly installing his personal legal defenders because of his own past personal legal problems in these posts. that is a big part of the story tonight. donald trump never accepted the premise of the constitutional oath that he and. other officials take the independent rule of law. he's long wanted loyalty from everyone in government, and especially at d.o.j. so that is the baseline for how

in 2023, beauvais teamed up with trump's defense lawyer, todd blanche, in the hush money case. trump was found guilty and is appealing the conviction. now, beauvais is leading a new justice department effort called the weaponization working group. according to a memo beauvais wrote, the fbi actively participated in what president trump appropriately described as a grave national injustice by investigating the january 6th u.s. capitol riot. beauvais is expected to be named principal associate deputy attorney general in trump's justice department. he's hardly waiting until that role to make an impact. this week, beauvais ordered federal prosecutors to drop federal corruption charges against new york city mayor eric adams. >> it was done at the direct directive of of amel. so that case should be dropped. >> the move to drop the case resulted in the resignation of acting u.s. attorney for new york's southern district. danielle sassoon, along with other top prosecutors. in her resignation letter, sassoon made it all sound like some sort of quid pro quo. writing in part, beauvais pro

there's also todd blanche, who is the incoming deputy attorney general. we're expecting his hearing later this week. john sauer, who's going to be the solicitor general or he is nominated for that? and emil bove, who is kind of the center of our story that we published today on cnn.com. he is the acting deputy attorney general. and one of the things we found is that he was intimately involved in helping design and helping some of the legal process that fbi agents used for dozens of cases back when he was a prosecutor in the southern district of new york. and that was back in 2021. he joined donald trump's legal team in 2022, and now he is helping to oversee this weaponization. he's the one that has been sending memos, trying to get the names of all those 5000 agents and analysts who worked on these cases. there's also ed martin, right. he is the acting dc, u.s. attorney. he actually represented january 6th. defendants before now running the u.s. attorney's office in d.c., which did the bulk of these prosecutions. so we've talked to experts, ethics experts

you got todd blanche. who was who was one of his personal attorneys and is now about to be the deputy attorney general. john sauer also involved here. he was helping on the supreme court cases. and, you know, the question of whether these people should recuse themselves. it comes up. but, of course, you and i both remember that in donald trump's world, recusal is a dirty word. you remember, of course you know. yeah. you remember jeff. sessions never recovered from that. so that that is part of what is now part of this discussion. >> it's it's interesting too, because beauvais was the one that sent that initial email over to the fbi or memo saying terminations. >> right. exactly. >> for these agents that and he was involved with the early stages. i think that context is so important. i really want to ask you quickly about the jfk file assassination files, and there are some new tidbits coming out about that. >> the fbi says they found 2400 documents that could be part of this review. now that they're doing.

also on the hill today, the president's personal lawyer, todd blanche, is facing the senate judiciary committee for his own nomination hearing as deputy attorney general, the number two spot within the doj. there is a lot to cover and a lot of moving pieces. so let's get started with nbc news senior white house correspondent garrett hake, nbc news chief capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles, nbc news investigative reporter dan deluce, and former special assistant to president george w bush and a member of his national security council, michael allen. ryan, i'll get to you in a moment on the dynamics on capitol hill. but first, i want to go to the panel here. dan, your reaction, as you and i both, we were all reading the president's truth social post about his call with vladimir putin. several things struck us in that. what was top for you? >> i mean. >> first of all, what's. >> interesting is he doesn't make any kind of threat. >> or. >> warning that russia needs to a, you know, halt the fighting, or b fear that maybe there will be u.s. sanctions or more weapons going to ukraine. so

. >> didn't trump's about to be deputy ag todd blanche work in s.d.n.y? that's right. okay. so they they're very familiar. >> with that. beauvais did as well. >> and beauvais did as well. and so technically this case still has not been dropped as far as i know. >> it hasn't. and look the. >> other shoe is going to drop when. >> they have to go before a judge and explain why they're dismissing the case. in other words. >> they've got to find someone to. >> drop. it first. they got to find someone to drop it. then they're gonna have to go to the judge and explain the circumstances. so this isn't over yet. >> can the judge say no? >> so. well, ultimately, the judge can say no. although, as a practical matter, that would be exceedingly unusual. i mean, if the justice department is saying we're not going to prosecute, we're not going to prosecute. >> you ran into this issue during the first trump administration, where bill barr dropped the case against mike flynn, and the judge really made it excruciatingly difficult and embarrassing for doj. he kind of put them through the wring

the other thing is, todd blanche's hearing is coming up. you remember, he is trump's personal defense attorney, going to be the number two at the department of justice. it will be interesting to see whether he claims that he will remain independent after being donald trump's personal defense attorney. i think that he will toe the line a little bit, but i think that's what i'm looking at for this week. >> i'm just looking for the continued march toward reconciliation. you know, the house republicans and the senate republicans have to keep making progress toward getting one big, beautiful bill, because that's the trump agenda. the executive orders are great. what's happening with doge is great. the confirmations are great. but where the rubber is really going to hit the road is whether the trump agenda can pass. >> republicans aren't agreed on that. >> they're working on it right now. this is the great challenge for thune and johnson to get these conferences together. and my suspicion is politically, no one republican is going to be the one t

you know, by todd blanche, who in his confirmation hearing was all big and bad, talking about his iron man go into court, face the music. this is s.d.n.y. this is your home turf. go in there, make the arguments to this judge and face the music. you defend this. you answer these questions of how this is possibly in the interests of justice. >> quickly do you, harry? and then i have one last thing for you, ryan. >> harry. >> do you think what. do you do? >> you think. >> they. >> just file themselves. >> or. >> do they use this as. >> a kind. >> of loyalty test up and down the department? >> yeah, they'll go up and down the part and. find somebody. maybe it's an ausa in idaho, but i. don't think that the that can do. it himself. they'll send that person in and that person will get eviscerated. >> and. >> ryan, one quick. >> final note. >> you had. >> some reporting. >> that there. >> was a. >> lawyer who. >> did not resign in that office of public integrity. >> but there was a reason that she. >> did not. what was that. >> reason. >> she's giving birth was what i was been told by sources

todd. blanche.efense lawyer in his new york hush money case, as well as the two criminal cases brought by the justice department. blanche used his opening statement to push the narrative that the prosecutions against trump were political, including those launched by the very department he wants to help lead. >> representing president trump. was the greatest job i've ever had. i think if i'm confirmed, my new job will surpass it. but it was the greatest job i ever had. it was it was an honor and i learned a ton. it opened my eyes for sure to what happens when politics takes the place of justice. and both both you and the ranking member talked about this. and i couldn't agree more that politics should never play a part in the department of justice. and i saw with my own eyes in manhattan with with the manhattan case. i saw it in the georgia case. i saw it in both jack smith's prosecutions. i saw it in elected officials trying to keep president trump off the ballot. it opened my eyes to something that

. >> todd blanche testified in the senate. >> this is a post that he clearly. >> got because. >> he defended reason what you see on your. screen past is prolog for. >> his current. >> position that he's being vetted for. in fact. >> the now confirmed ag also served as one of trump's defense. >> attorneys during the impeachment. >> this has replaced

and no, it wasn't attorney general bondi who wrote this memo, or even deputy attorney general todd blancheyet there. but bondi is it's emil bove, who has been the d.o.j. hatchet man. i mean, that is really been his role. and he seems to take some fanfare in it. he wrote a memo to the office that is to the u.s. attorney directing them. i've never seen anything like that. a memo, a public memo. it's such an heavy handed exercise of power. i'm not just telling you to do this. i'm making it public so that if you are going to defy me, everyone will know. and i'm going to lay out my reasons, my pretextual reasons. i mean, that's the other thing. this memo is full of pretext. everything in there is a made up excuse to try to make this look legitimate. and it is so obviously not legitimate. it is corrupt. i mean, that is really the only word for it. and that gets to the why? why are they doing this? why are they ordering the southern district to drop a case that a grand jury indicted, that the southern district had indicated they were going to go back to the grand jury to add more, because they we

day and the inauguration, did you, in fact, discuss these firings with people like pam bondi or todd blanch who's been nominated to be the number two at the department? did you talk about them with driscoll, who is the acting director of the fbi, and his deputy, a man named cassidy. they are asking those questions because on the face of these answers, they're not sure that they're right or true. and so they are trying to get at what actually happened. here it is. it really speaks, i think, to the weaknesses in the senate confirmation process. i've talked with you guys about that before, where it comes to allegations of sexual misconduct or personal misconduct. but it's also true where the committee has doubts about the veracity of information that a nominee is providing. they don't really have much at their disposal other than the nominee's goodwill to get at the information that they're really looking for. >> and as lisa points out, patel will not testify again. chairman grassley said two days ago that he thought a second round of questioning was unnecessary and that he would not indulge.