but i think merrick garland is wanting to return to the norms of the justice department. which is, go slow. which is, stay away from political prosecutions. it's almost like he is trying to ignore what happened over the last four years. where every norm was busted. were there were -- somebody pled guilty and then they said, no, you get to no longer have to plead guilty anymore. michael flynn, pride guilty, but never my. we're going to wipe that away for you. i mean, crazy stuff like that. that they were doing. we don't even have to go into the fact that trump used a doj like his personal law firm, for political purposes. i think merrick garland is so anxious to make it normal again, he's advocating his incredible responsibility, because if they're allowed to get away with this, congress will -- the congress you and i know, lawrence, where people used to be afraid of subpoenas, no one is ever going to be afraid of a congressional subpoena again. >> does that merrick garland have an even bigger responsibility and relation to jeffrey clark, because he's a former justice depa

merrick garland and the department of justice has three more years. that clock isn't going to be run out. so whatever we think of what merrick garland has or hasn't done in terms of january 6th, three more years in which to do it. i look back at what -- at the last week. we had forgotten what happened last week with mitch mcconnell, a couple of different times saying, oh, no, we're interested in seeing what this 1/6 committee does and who is involved and we're very interested. unlike the fellow you mentioned, he's going to be in office, he's not leaving and therefore doesn't have that as the way to suddenly tell the truth about -- and be honest about the need for accountability. so i still take whatever his intentions were, obviously we had a couple of days of speculation about what they were, i would -- until he goes back on that, we're interested in january 6th, i think there might be space for the mcconnell evil genius rational leaders of the republican party to begin distancing themselves from the -- what happened on january 6th, especially -- we

and i hope merrick garland is going to do it. when he does, i will apologize for criticizing him for going so slowly. >> i think -- you know, luke, what your reporting points out -- and bennie thompson is specific in the "washington post" interview from the holiday weekend. i am going the read some of this, about what the committee is examining specifically. quote, he wasn't telling people to go home, chairman thompson said characterizing trump's behavior that day. he wouldn't tell them that this is not the way to do it. so i think, since the taping was recorded at the white house, we will have access to it. the possibility of multiple recordings of a message from trump to his supporters has been discussed in interviews with several witnesses. according to a person familiar with the panel's work who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss details. a lot of people in that white house have testified. a lot of people in that white house have been examined by some of the great books that have been written in the la

garland likes it or not. the question, is whether he is going to do the right thing or whether he is going to abstain. whatever he does, he's going to have an effect on the 2024 election. if he does nothing, he's going to have an effect and if he does something, conducting the investigation i -- would say even if trump does not run for 2024, for the presidency, this is going to have a lasting effect -- on the structural stability of our democracy. somebody else can do some of the very same things that trump did, maybe not the violence, but things like the call, trying to intimidate people into changing the outcome of the election, and we have a long, long history in this country for a political impunity. even if it's not about, trump we are going to pay the cost for -- on this issue. whether it's in the next couple, years or ten years from now. >> thank you very much for joining our discussion tonight. thank you >> thanks for having me. >> coming up, towards the night before christmas eve, and americans packa

the professor writes, quote, in his nine months in office, attorney general merrick garland has done a great deal to restore integrity to an agency that was badly misused for political reasons under his predecessor. but his place in history will be assessed against the challenges that confronted him. and the overriding test that he and the rest of the government face is the threat to our democracy from people bent on destroying it. mr. garland's success depends on ensuring that the rule of law endures. that means dissuading future coup plotters by holding the leaders of the insurrection fully accountable for their attempt to overthrow the government. but he cannot do so without a robust criminal investigation of those at the top, from the people who planned, assisted, or funded the attempt to overturn the electoral college vote to those who organized or encouraged the mob attack on the capitol. to decline from the outset to investigate would be appeasement, pure and simple, and appeasing bullies and wrongdoers only encouraging more of the same. leading off our discussion tonight is n

merrick garland, an experienced professional, could have gone into this. instead, he's done basically nothing but allowed trump add his crime cult to run out the clock. none of this should have come as a surprise to anybody. >> malcolm, after hearing what sarah just said, i don't have a tremendous amount of confidence in this administration hunting down these people who are terrorists. if you found a powerpoint for people who attempted to overthrow a government, i don't care if you're in the middle east, somewhere in asia, africa, wouldn't your first thought about, if there's this one, there's probably one out there? >> what do you think is still likely out there? >> with the u.s. intelligence agency where we actually intercepted plans of a terrorist plot, i action, in motion. we mobilized three commands, the entirety of european command, entirety of special operations command. we move resources when we know something is about to happen. we try to do disruptive counter-action. i'm not seeing that from the united states government. i think what we are seein

i think merrick garland has done things largely right. but i think he could be more forthcoming on certain aspects of this. for example, is it, and does garland believe that the trump department wrongly closed a criminal investigation? would they be able to reopen it? that's a simple argument that the thing that is something he should be talking about. but garland is a very quiet individual. when he was a judge, he almost never spoke to his speeches. he has carried that through. and i understand the reasons for it. but right now, we are in a media world where jokers like steve bannon and moe brooks have big microphones. and right now we are not hearing very much from merrick garland. you heard from you and me. but you're not hearing it from the attorney general of the united states. >> the wheels of justice maybe turning but we might want to hear some of that machinery. or at least some people may want to. harriet >> neal, good to see you, you make things clear for. us neal katyal form, or acting solicitor general in the obama administrat

attorney general merrick garland announced the justice department has filed a lawsuit against texas for violating the federal voting rights act over the state's newly drawn electoral maps. the attorney general says denies black and latino voters an equal opportunity to participate. this is about 10 minutes. mr. garland: good afternoon and thank you for coming. the justice department's filed suit against the state of texas for violating section ii. of the voting rights act. as the supreme court has observed, the core principle of our democracy is that voters should choose representatives, not the other way around. section ii requires that state voting laws, including laws that drawn electoral maps, provide eligible voters with an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and to elect representatives of their choosing. the complaint we have filed alleges that texas has violated section ii by redistricting plans that violate the rights of latino and black voters to vote on account of their lease or -- of their race or membership in a linkage group. in 2015, the supreme cou

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where is merrick garland and where is the justice department? >> and, elie, before we let you go, i think that is a big question. we're coming up on that one-year anniversary, we're less than a week away. we haven't heard a lot from them. so what do you expect -- should people be expecting something from the attorney general on this? >> i've not seen much from merrick garland that leads me to believe he's looking at donald trump in any serious way. and people want and deserve accountability here. and i think if doj doesn't at least open an investigation of donald trump and others behind this, i think it is a really miscarriage of prosecutorial responsibility there. >> well, we'll wait to see what they do. elie honig, thank you. hope you have a great 2022 new year. >> thank you, happy new year to both of you. >> happy new year to you. "new day" continues right now. >>> good morning to our viewers here in the u.s. and in sydney, australia, where you can see moments ago, celebrating the new

>> we don't know for sure what they are doing because merrick garland is very good at holding his cards close and he is very good at following the normal rules of not revealing things. but by this time in the mueller investigation a great deal had already happened. manafort and gates had been indicted. papadopoulos had been charged and was cooperating fully. bannon and miller had been interviewed according to media reports. so it looks like the department of justice is waiting and waiting is playing into trump's hand. as you pointed out in the setup to this piece, his strategy is to run out clock. the committee itself may not exist after the next election because we are told that if the republicans take over the house, first thing they will do is dissolve the committee. you can stonewall a congressional committee and, as we have seen, trump is running out clock on something as simple as, obviously, invalid claim of executive privilege to withhold presidential papers that every judge who looked at it so far say need to be turned over. it's not so easy to stonewall a grand jury. it seems

what do you want to see from merrick garland at this time? >> well, it is hard to think nothing has leaked out if they are looking to flip people, trying to get up the ladder to the higher ranks. but there is no indication of that. your commentary is right on. i think people are very restless. i think they don't want to see this just pass by the way. and i think he'll have to answer to this at some point. >> we learned bennie thompson the chair of the committee was talking to "the washington post" this evening and telling them the committee's focused on trump's hours of silence during the attack and he says, quote, that dereliction of duty causes us real concern. one of those concerns is that whether or not it was intentional and whether or not the lack of attention for that longer period of time would warrant a referral. cnn is reporting a criminal referral would be a long way off but historic if they did refer trump to the doj. what actions from the former president would warrant an open criminal investigation in your mind? is it that lapse

merrick garland and the department of justice has three more years. so that clock isn't going to be run out. so, whenever we think of what merrick garland has or hasn't done in terms of january 6th, there's three more years in which to do it. i look back at what -- at the last week, we've already forgotten what happened last week with mitch mcconnell, a couple of different times, saying, well, no, we're really interested in seeing what this 1/6 committee does and who was involved and we're very interested. well, unlike the fellow you mentioned, he's going to be in office. he's not leaving and therefore doesn't have that as the way to suddenly tell the truth about -- and be honest about the need for accountability. so, i still take whatever his intentions were, and obviously, we had a couple of days of lots of speculation about what they were, i would -- until he goes back on that, no, we're interested in january 6th, i think there might be space for the mcconnell evil genius rational leaders of the republican party to begin distancing themselves from

>> we're never going back but we don't need any of us on the left to have merrick garland to do anything but the right thing. with democratic leaders, they don't want to call for the prosecution of donald trump for obvious crimes. it is not partisan to call for someone to be prosecuted for a coup and terrorist attack january 6th. it is patriotic my fellow democrats, it is time we call for and the stories will look back and say merrick garland does not prosecute donald trump for obvious crimes, obvious crimes led the downfall of our republic as we know it. it's wrong what bill barr did. you shouldn't politically prosecute someone or defer a prosecution for political reasons. that's just as wrong. so here we are. somebody said january 6th we're doing a great job but the doj should be doing this. we need proof with merrick garland because he has to step up, our republic is on the line. >> our republic is on the line. democracy is on the line and it really damages america's standing in the global community, as well when we see fail, essentially. don, listen, you worked a lot of campaigns. we

as well as the merrick garland question, because on paper, doj and prosecutors will always say, they just look at the case and make a decision. but michelle raises an incisive counterpoint to that, as she often does, which is yeah, but if they're both defying but meadows has found this way to position himself differently, and he was chief of staff, the most powerful appointed job in the white house, the type of person merrick garland has been professionally would suggest that he would have more pause about that than indicting bannon. >> i think ultimately both are equally culpable. i think that meadows has a better claim for executive privilege because he actually worked in the white house. but the privilege falls when it's not related to the job of the president. and i don't think there's anyone who will argue with a straight face that planning a coup, planning to undermine congress from doing its duty as required by law is part of the president's job. so if the conversations that we would be asking about of meadows pertain to that, then executive privilege doesn't apply. if there's

. >> attorney general merrick garland announced the justice department has filed a lawsuit against texas for violating the federal voting rights act over the newly drawn electoral maps. the attorney general said the planes deny black and latino voters and equal opportunity to participate in the voting process. this is about 10 minutes. electoral maps. the attorney general says denies black and latino voters an equal opportunity to participate. this is about 10 minutes. mr. garland: good afternoon and thank you for coming. the justice department's filed suit against the state of texas for violating section ii. of the voting rights act. as the supreme court has observed, the core principle of our democracy is that voters should choose representatives, not the other way around. section ii requires that state voting laws, including laws that drawn electoral maps, provide eligible voters with an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and to elect representatives of their choosing. the complaint we have filed alleges that texas has violated section ii by redistricting plans

. >> i think santa is very, very cross with merrick garland, the attorney general. parents speak up at school board meetings because they don't want their children brainwashed by crazy leftists. i'm sure they put in special requests to santa to put merrick garland on the list. he could redeem himself if he would rescind that memo siccing the fbi on parents. >> and we'll wait to see if there is any action on the laptop. next we saw the rittenhouse prosecutor. he was a bad dude. run the tape. >> i was astonished when you began your examination by commenting on the defendant's post arrest silence. that's basic. >> don't get brains with me. >> isn't it true when you would hang out with dominic black that if you would play video games and kill everyone with your guns. >> it's just a video game, it's not a veal life. >> but you decide you need to run because of the fire? >> what was so urgent? >> if it was a fire. >> look, binger has become a verb to describe anybody who made a fool of himself? a trial. he failed miserably but it wasn't for wont of trying. for perverting

what do you want to see from merrick garland at this time? >> well, it's hard to think that nothing has leaked out if they're looking to flip people f they're trying to get up on the ladder to the higher ranks. but there's no indication of that, laura. your commentary is right on. i think people are very restless. i think they don't want to see this just pass by the way, and i think he'll have to answer to this at some point. how soon, i don't know. >> you know, one of the things that's happening, we learned tonight that congressman bennie thompson, who is the chair of the committee, was talking to "the washington post" this evening and telling them that the committee is focused on trump's hours of silence during the attack. and he says, quote, that dereliction of duty causes us real concern. and one of those concerns is that whether or not it was intentional and whether or not that lack of attention for that longer period of time would warrant a referral. now, cnn's reporting a criminal referral would be a long way off, but this would be his

. >> attorney general merrick garland announced the justice department has filed a lawsuit against texas for violating the the federal voting rights act over the state's newly drawn electoral maps. the attorney general says denies black and latino voters an equal opportunity to participate. this is about 10 minutes. k and latino voters an equal opportunity to participate. this is about 10 minutes. mr. garland: good afternoon and thank you for coming. the justice department's filed suit against the state of texas for violating section ii. of the voting rights act. as the supreme court has observed, the core principle of our democracy is that voters should choose representatives, not the other way around. section ii requires that state voting laws, including laws that drawn electoral maps, provide eligible voters with an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and to elect representatives of their choosing. the complaint we have filed alleges that texas has violated section ii by redistricting plans that violate the rights of latino and black voters to vote on account of

there is some talk merrick garland decided to sidestep this investigation. there are other people that believe it's being conducted in silence or perhaps more likely that the information that's being uncovered in the course of the congressional investigation may have nudged doj into action perhaps even the fact that getting a referral from a bipartisan congressional committee could give them the cover that they need to forge ahead. so joy, i think, you know, it's the former president who once said only the guilty take the fifth amendment and there is that appearance here when we have people who were clearly participants in these events declining to testify to the committee and david says something that i think is really on point. he says who wouldn't want to help congress get to the bottom of what happened? january 6th was not an everyday pedestrian sort of tourist event. it was a once in a lifetime, maybe more like a once in a lifetime of our country sort of effort to overturn the republic and there has to be a way to hold these folks accountable starting w

let's focus on merrick garland, the questions before him and what he'll do about mark meadows. in the past you were represented by the same attorney representing meadows now, but what do you think merrick garland is considering in deciding whether to pursue charges against meadows? >> i think he's going to be looking at a wide range of issues. one, he's going to look at, what is the evidence? of course, it's one thing for congress to make this referral, but does the evidence support the claim of contempt of congress? so a fundamental question that has to be answered. i think he's also going to be looking at the likelihood the supreme court will take up the issue as to whether or not this is executive privilege. he may wait a bit to see if the court does, in fact, do that. because that will answer the fundamental question, whether this is a valid assertion of executive privilege by the former president. as we all know, the assertion of executive privilege is a qualified privilege. even an assertion by a sitting president, it's a qualified privilege. so i'd argue it's probably ev

where is march rick merrick garland in this? >> he's made the prosecution based on the congressional referral of steve bannon. he's now looking at meadows and there are lawsuit after lawsuit trying to stop garland and others from doing their job. so i think they've done a fairly good job in fending that off. at the end of the day, we're almost a year after the january 6th attacks and the american people don't have answers to a lot of basic questions so that's really concerning to me. i think merrick garland has done things largely right but could be more forthcoming on certain aspects of this. so for example, you know, is it -- does garland believe if the trump justice department falsely, wrongly closed a criminal investigation, can they reopen it? that's a very simple thing that the editors of law fair said that's something you should be talking about, garland. garland is very quiet individual. when he was a judge, he all most never gave speeches. he carried that through. i understand the reasons for it but right now we're in a

merrick garland, this is a different decision than steve bannon. >> it is. steve bannon was not a part of the executive branch. mark meadows was the white house chief of staff. that makes it easier to charge bannon. next. steve bannon has -- remember, steve bannon partially complied. sorry, steve bannon completely defied the committee. mark meadows partially complied. he partially defied them. bannon never waived the p privilege. meadows did with writing his book and providing these documents. for both of them, we're talking about the executive privilege by a former president. the d.c. court of appeals has said, that doesn't work here. i think they could both be charged. meadows is going to be a tougher case. doesn't mean he is in the clear though. >> the most important thing for last year, liz cheney making sure, or at least opening the door to the idea that what happened during these hours may have been a crime. inside the white house. >> liz csehheney said something that made my prosecutorial ears perk up. did donald trump, through action or inaction, cor

what will merrick garland do? i think merrick garland has been weak so far in the way he has investigated and prosecuted january 6th. he does not seem to be interested in potentially political decisions. i think this one's going to be a coin toss as to what he does. i think it's going to be a 50/50 call. >> wow, interesting. and a federal appeals court ruled against former president trump as he has tried to keep his white house records from the committee. trump is now vowing to take this legal battle to the highest court. one of our viewers wants to know how likely is it that the supreme court will decide to hear the executive privilege case involving trump and the national archives? what do you think? >> yeah. so i actually think the supreme court is not going to hear this case. you need to have four out of the nine justices to vote to take a case. this case has already been ruled on by the court of appeals. they ruled against trump. so why might the court take it or not take it? they might take it because it rai

merrick garland had to restore the traditional evenhanded fair way that the department operates. and he has done that. and he has done it very well. one of the features of his situation, though, is that we're dealing with a former president who not only persisted in denying that he had lost but who also continues to persist and apparently has minions around the country who are working and plotting the next effort to steal the election. and so here we are today with an attorney general who's being judicious and careful. he's not putting out public statements of what he's doing. we don't see evidence of an ongoing investigation. there might be such an investigation. we're concerned, though, that there might not be. and that's why we wrote this op-ed piece. we think it's really, really important that there be a full-blown investigation for accountability of the leaders, not just the 700 rioters and people who committed violent acts, who are being prosecuted, which is commendable and terrific. but we need to go after the leaders. and we want to make sure that that investigation is un

i have to start by asking you about merrick garland and january the 6th. he was a very cautious, centrists, kind of small seat conservative judge, who obama nominated for the supreme court to get the support of influential republicans like van utah senator orrin hatch. he was clearly robbed of that position, but should the a.g. of the united states really be a political consolation prize? i felt like an own the cons moments, a lot of democrats. below democrats are wondering, is he the right guy for this moment? what is your view? >> well, there's a lot we don't know, as you said, in terms of what it's happening. what kinds of investigations are happening behind this scene it's. but time is of the evidence. we have a lot of low level charges, low level guilty pleas allow around this violent insurrection. this direct attack on our democracy. and even in those low level cases, he seems to be under charging. the real question is, what about the big car charges? he'd better be preparing those. just because we haven't seen indictments does that mean they aren't

attorney general merrick garland saying, quote, we will exercise our of authority so those who complied with conditions of confinement and in the interests of justice should be given an opportunity to transition back to society. murder and gun violence, in chicago there were 767 homicides this year, 4% since 2020, and 3400 shootings in the windy city up 9% over the past year and 60 convicted felons facing murder, or shooting charges arrested involving trial. lori lightfoot begging for federal help, the highest murder rate, one year after she proposed 80 million from the police budget. >> i asked the attorney general, merrick garland, with all deliberate haste to chicago for six months with a large number of gun investigations and seizures in chicago. the federal government remains uniquely qualified to help cities like chicago address the scourge of gun violence. >> reporter: quite the plea. back to you. ashley: pressure to recall the district attorney in wisconsin filing a petition accusing the da of their religion of duty. they say john chisholm must go from releasing the man charged

. >> attorney merrick garland announced the justice department has filed a lawsuit against texas for violating the federal voting rights act over the state's newly drawn electoral maps. the attorney general said the states new restricting plans deny black and latino voters an equal opportunity to participate in the voting process. this is about 10 minutes. mr. garland: good afternoon and thank you for coming. the justice department's filed suit against the state of texas for violating section ii. of the voting rights act. as the supreme court has observed, the core principle of our democracy is that voters should choose representatives, not the other way around. section ii requires that state voting laws, including laws that drawn electoral maps, provide eligible voters with an equal opportunity to participate in the democratic process and to elect representatives of their choosing. the complaint we have filed alleges that texas has violated section ii by redistricting plans that violate the rights of latino and black voters to vot on account of their race, color, membership or langu

merrick garland has been the single worst political feature in the country this area. the consequences of his weakness and reckless behavior may be the loss of our democracy next year. >> listen, when he was president obama's pick for the supreme court, you know, and you had all kind of other people out there and my face was sort of like, so i'm not sure that he is the man for this moment. you know, mark the mile. he does seem to be very calm about what feels like a very urgent threat to our democracy. but we shall see. perhaps things will change. tiffany cross, who is the absolute worse? >> okay. i will tell you the absolute worse. i am so tired of wearing mask everywhere i go. i am against being cancelled. i am against not being able to gather in large places, the absolute worse are these ridiculous uninformed disillusioned people who thinks their google search matches a medical degree and they refuse to get vaccinated. i am so over them. what i hear so often people will say, if you are vaccinated and i'm not, everybody should be protected because the vaccine works t

. >> attorney general merrick garland announced the justice department has filed a lawsuit against texas for violating the the federal voting rights act over the state's newly drawn electoral maps. the attorney general says denies black and latino voters an equal opportunity to participate. this is about 10 minutes. k and latino voters an equal opportunity to participate. this is about 10 minutes.

merrick garland has to decide if he wants to bring a criminal charge. we're talking about mark meadows. he has partially compiled but overall of this, he's the former president. we got a ruling last week from the court of appeals in d.c. the former president doesn't get to call for executive privilege contrary to the current president. i think doj should charge it but this is a gut check for merrick garland. >> i think i know the answer to this. does the fever break? i don't think. i don't know if this evening breaks the fever. sad it keeps going on and on and on. it just continues and am i crazy to think that? you think okay, here is the proof. everybody knows this is a farce. all these people are lying about it. fox news, you know, don junior, whatever. yet, the grift keeps going. d do you understand what i'm saying? >> i do. this is a rare moment of clarity, right? there is a concept in the law in evidence called an excited u utter. an exception to the hearsay rule. this is based on the idea when someone is in a state of shock or under stress, what t

laura: merrick garland will not pursue anything on the federal level. the federal court of appeals ruling, unanimous ruling against your legal team's request to withhold certain presidential documents from congress's january 6th committee. a lot of legal court watchers think the supreme court will agree, will affirm what the court of appeals said about the executive privilege and biden's decision to release those documents. your reaction. >> we will see what happens. if you look at the protest it was a protests, the insurrection took place on november 3rd which was election day. this was a protests, a lot of innocent people, being hurt, being injured. i would say the panel of judges we are talking about didn't like trump and if you look at the appointments you can figure that out for your self but this was absolute protests people are being treated very unfairly, their rights are being taken away from them and the other side is not. that what is going on with blm and antifa what they did in portland and minneapolis and seattle and nothing happens but wh

if merrick garland is not doing a full blown investigation, he should've done so yesterday, if not tomorrow -- whether or all of the downsides of an indictment should or should not prevent us from indicting. that's for a later day. the investigation has to go full speed ahead. when you are being investigated for criminal activity, and maybe informant or a possible target, that tends to focus them on this. however important other things are, we really are running out the clock on democracy itself. the leading expert on civil wars around the world, barbara walter, from the university of california, san diego, has a book, in which she says, by all objective messengers, we're about 50% of the way toward a civil war. not the standard old blue costume, versus gray costume civil war. utter chaos. breakdown of the rule of law. the rule of law depends on having institutions that we can trust. that depends on the idea that no one is above the law. if you start holding everybody at the top accountable, at least to the point of being subject to full blown investigation, then we are really are giving. u

garland saying we're not going to stand for this. he's already challenged the previous voting law and now he's saying that this hasn't passed muster. it's important to note over the last decade or so, republicans have tried to make connections with latino voters in texas but the reality is you're seeing in hea harris county where there was huge minority population growth and we didn't add any seat to reflect the growth, you see republicans trying to silence minority voters and continue to try to do that. it will be an interesting story heading into the midterms and for sure ahead of the presidential election. >> well, so as we have been talking, we mentioned a little bit here what is happening in texas and you mentioned doesn't include minorities because political trends are improving for democrats so republicans are passing restrictive measures to suppress the vote and now redrawing the districts. is this the kind of ground war that democrats are going to have to fight in these battle ground states all over the country now? >> well,

merrick garland's justice department and the fbi couldn't do a heck of a lot more to fight this crime. you don't even -- emily can jump in on this, but you don't even need to use the racketeering statute. you could investigate it based purely on interstate commerce if the stolen property is being moved or if interstate conspiracies are organizing them. remember that the judgment of justice went and after investigating the theft of joe biden's daughters diary alleging it might've been stolen out of a hotel. or merrick garland said that the justice department needs to escape parents and help on school boards that might be facing upwards. they could get involved in prosecuting these crimes. and alexandria ocasio-cortez has always talked about the screech and climate deniers. when she's a screeching crime to denier and that's worse. >> harris: unless these people have committed that, they have things that they're already committed. what you're saying, is it an overall crime wave. if they just wouldn't bail reform, they could go after the people that are already there. >> it's a crime that

should merrick garland be doing more to hold the planners and organizers of the insurrection accountable. >> we don't know what all he's doing. we don't know what's happening behind the scenes. what we know is a process that began before he even was in office was to arrest, investigate, prosecute hundreds of people who were involved in the insurrection at various levels. there is some concern that the department of justice may not be looking at the highest level individuals, mark meadows, donald trump, and others, but we don't know that because there may be a lot of things going on behind the scenes, may be evidence collected from some of the other people who have been arrested and maybe cooperating, so we don't know. the other thing by the way is, you know, two things can happen at once, the department of justice is in the business of prosecuting people and holding them accountable and that's important. they're not in the business of issuing reports about what happened. so in that regard, the 1/6 select committee remains fundamentally important, and that's why we're talking about it a l

merrick garland is bothered by the crime across the country. what the white house is doing about this at all. >> john: plus in new york, to implement a first in the nation vaccine mandate for private businesses. does that order actually follow the science? well, dr. nicole saphier is here next. . with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® is a pill that lowers blood sugar in three ways. increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neo

attorney general merrick garland accusing the state's redistricting effort as discriminating against black and latino voters. we'll discuss that next. ♪ i'm a reporter for the new york times. if you just hold it like this. yeah. ♪ i love finding out things that other people don't want me to know. mm-hmm. [beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ . . . . baas ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom for me and you ♪ (music) ♪ so i think to myself ♪ ♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ >>> the justice department is taking the state of texas to court again, this time over the state's new congressional district maps that the doj says intentionally discriminated against black and latino voters. now attorney general merrick garland says the new maps do not recognize the population growth among voters of color in the state which is part of the reason that the state has earned two new congressional districts. joining me now for more on this is republican election att

it feels like shades of 2016 again with merrick garland and the mcconnell rule of doing business. >> well, that's right, laura. manu raju and i spent time last week talking to senators, including a number of prominent republican senators on the judiciary committee. they said in pretty clear terms that if there is a republican majority and a vacancy opens on the supreme court, they're ready to do again what happened with merrick garland. they said they would not confirm a nominee if the party of majority in the senate doesn't match what's in the white house. that is, of course, a big concern for democrats as they go into not only the mid terms but the year ahead. they have a number of members who are aging, some who have been in poor health and are in states with republicans governors who could appoint their residential replacements. >> it's part of why you hear this quiet underbelly from some progressives about justice prior a -- breyer and retiring. some are more recently willing to speak out. has he shoni interest in stepping down though? i haven't seen any. >> well, look, he's 83

merrick garland announcing the press conference on monday. they also said the maps drawn after 2020 census deny the right of latinos to vote. it's the fourth lawsuit in texas since president biden took office. you can catch me on weekends from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. eastern. >>> also a programming note, "paper and glue" from brian glaser and ron howard. it follows j.r. watch the world television premier of "paper and glue" friday at 10:00 p.m. eastern. first, "andrea mitchell reports" starts next. next. i never thought i'd buy a pink velvet sofa, but when i saw it, i was like 'ah'. and then i sat on it, and i was like 'ooh'. ooh! stylish and napable. okay now. i can relate to this one. i'm a working mom with three boys. [ yelling ] wayfair is my therapy. amen, kim! yup! i'm hiding from my kids, as we speak. no one can deliver your mom's homemade short ribs. that's why instacart helps deliver the ingredients. and you add the love. - oh...oh. - what's going on? - oh, darn! - let me help. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshi

merrick garland said they would. there is zero public indication right now that doj is meaningfully investigating people at the higher levels of organization. so there is going to be a lot of pressure on doj to take up that kind of investigation in the coming year. >> we have gotten a lot more information in the past year. we have got more information coming from these investigations, but accountability, that's really the key point. marshall cohen, elie honig, thank you very much for all you do and happy new year. >> thanks. >> and "new day" continues right now. >>> good morning to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. it is thursday, december 30th. i'm kaitlan collins with john avlon this morning. john and brianna are off. good morning, john. >> good morning. >> this morning, we have the u.s. shattering its record of daily new coronavirus cases as thely contagious omicron variant is spreading. daily new cases hit a seven day average of more than 300,000 cases. the last time the number of cases

it is now suing texas over its newly drawn legislative map. >> attorney general merrick garland just filed a lawsuit alleging the texas redistricting plan violates the voting rights act. cnn justice correspondent evan perez joins us now from the justice department, evan, what's the basis of this lawsuit. >> the basis is that the legislative maps, the maps for both house and the legislative elections violates section 2 of the voting rights act. the attorney general says that based on the population growth in the last ten years in texas, the new maps do not reflect what should be the increased voting power of latino residents in texas. take a listen to what he said at the press conference just a little while ago. >> complaint filed today alleges that texas has violated section 2 by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of latino and black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group. >> and according to the lawsuit, texas added about 4 million people in the last ten years according to the census. 95% of that population

wade that's a startling different result you would have with merrick garland who was president obama's choice for the seat. 6-3 case, may not make that big of a difference, but a culmination of a half century of work on the path of conservatives so overturn or at least, you know, take a out of a lot of the fundamental tenets of roe v. wade. >> sam stein, because so many of these nine justices are at times so nakedly political, i feel less gross asking a nakedly political question, and that is this. we heard the phrase over and over today, a lot on social media, elections have consequences. will the democrats be able to convert this? >> that's a great question. the conventional wisdom would say yes, the country, if you look at the opinion polls still by and large supports a right to choos about whether you want to have an abortion. but you can't just judge things in that type of vacuum. what we have seen time and again is that conservatives get incredibly more passionate about these types of things than their liberal counterparts. we have also seen a change in the voting dynamics in thi

we will be appealing again to the merrick garland justice department to find some kind of safe haven resolution that does not involve setting this kind of precedent that will smear their own reputations. if that doesn't happen, all of these groups will be in court as friends of the court, arguing this is an intolerable prosecution under the first amendment. amy: ben wizner, thank you for being with us director of the , aclu's speech, privacy, and technology project. we also want to thank gabriel shipton, julian assange's brother and film maker. to see all of our conversations with julian assange including when he was in political exile performing said to the belmarsh maximum-security prison, go to democracynow.org. except, two journalists have received the nobel peace prize in oslo. you will hear the speech of maria ressa. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> accept the nobel prize for peace at a moment when 22 million new grows of the united states are engaged in a creative battle to end the l