of the justice department. he was consistent. i think you have an impossible job at that time but he did it well and he also cited the judge sided with the justice department on these discussions. >> so let's pause for the second. new year's eve. president trump is talking about seizing voting machines and making the same demands that had already been shot down by former attorney general barr on at least three occasions and why mr. rosen and mr. donoghue on multiple other occasions. claim after claim knocked down. but the president didn't care. the next day chief of staff maurer meadows sent a flurry of emails to you, mr. robin, asking that the department look into a new set of allegations. and we're going to put those emails here on the screen. here we see three requests made on january forest. one email is a request from mr. meadows to you, mr. rosenberg, to send jeffrey clark to fulton county. what did you do with this request? >> well, really, nothing. certainly didn't send mr. clark to fulton county. but t

department of justice mr. chairman, how does the ability to protect the federal judiciary into protect high level officials to go after organized crime and violent crime and to coordinate the robust protections of our nations electoral process and find it necessary having hard this commentary from our colleagues today, to remind my colleagues of what happened in georgia. limits donald trump's endless barrage of lies, some of them amplified by members of the under this body, as he sought to hold onto power by any means necessary and republicans election officials in georgia, or morning that it constituted a threat to the lives of election workers, the house committee heard a couple of weeks ago from two election workers in georgia who describe threats of lynchings that they received for doing their jobs to carry out free and fair elections in this country. i am astounded mr. chairman, that her colleagues on the senate judiciary committee have decided with the opportunity to hear from two senior officials about

, the department of justice, the grand jury subpoena. it plainly makes clear why a search warrant was needed because all of this material would not have come to light, if the department had been given a certification that was demonstrably false everyone everything a being produced in the photo that everyone can see right now which i thought was just brilliant for the department to include so people could see exactly what was found completely shows that obstruction of justice. not just the taking of highly sensitive information but the lying about it. >> let's bring chuck rosenberg back into this conversation. chuck, i'm thinking back when trump was in his office, and people be tearing your hair out and, they say why is a lot to do this? common people are, other members administration can't, but there was really a shroud around the president and their powers. so many things they couldn't be prosecuted for. the fact that all of this is happening now that he's a private citizen, one that doesn't even have private security clearance anymore,

don't forget the department of justice has an enormous to get it right. if they get it wrong, if there's actually a document that's covered by attorney/client privilege and there's no exception to it, and they pass it over the transom to the investigative team, they can do harm to the investigation. so whether it's the doj internal filter team looking at it or special master looking at it, everybody has an incentive to do this right. but your point is a good one. it's a really savvy point that there might be for some people an imprimitor of neutrality if a third party does it. i get that. in fact the department of justice gets it because in this response they filed just before midnight yesterday, they said if you're going to appoint a special master, your honor, here is a couple of things we would like you to consider. set a deadline. make sure it's somebody who already has a clearance so we don't have to delay in getting that. we want to move this forward as quickly as we can. look, in the end, the documents the investigative team ought to have they will

, the department of justice, the grand jury subpoena. it plainly makes clear why a search warrant was needed because all of this material would not have come to light, if the department had been given a certification that was demonstrably false everyone everything a being produced in the photo that everyone can see right now which i thought was just brilliant for the department to include so people could see exactly what was found completely shows that obstruction of justice. a highly not just the leaking of highly sensitive information belying about. >> let's bring chuck rosenberg back into this conversation. chuck, i'm thinking back when trump was in his office, and people be tearing your hair out and, they say why is a lot to do this? common people are, other members administration can't, but there was really a shroud around the president and their powers. so many things he couldn't be prosecuted for. the fact that all of this is happening now that he's a private citizen, one that doesn't even have private security clearance anymore,

so, we leave it to the department of justice. any specifics on what they will do next or anything into that fashion i would refer you to the department of justice. >> student loans just one more time. previously in recordings, around cancellation and possible extensions when it comes to decisions being made before august, the president has said that, decision would be made before august. is it possible the decision is limited to whether or not there is an extension or not? cancellations and any relief is left for another time? karine: when it comes to the pause, i know there is opossum cancellation, we have not made a decision. i will go to the pause. the department of education will communicate directly about the payment all laws -- payment pause when the decision is made. when it comes to cancellation, the president understands the burden that the student loan has on families. we are just going to continue to assess our options for cancellations no decisions have been made on that yesterday. the president has made clear he will

the department of justice to take this step. we can only presume that if in fact there is no objection from the former president, we don't yet know, we'll have an understanding. but what we already know is on june the 3rd, june the 3rd, the beginning of this summer, a subpoena was issued for these 15 boxes of information which are the property of the united states government which were taken from the property of the united states government by then former employee in the form of the president of the united states they requested that those boxes be returned. on june 8th, the information says that more classified documents inside mar-a-lago. the reporting of nbc news that they requested that another lock be put in the area of mar-a-lago where those documents were contained. and then during a period between june and august, there was an informant who said that there may be more classified documents inside mar-a-lago. all of that leads up to the september the 8th or the august the 8th, two days ago, execution of this search warrant

department of justice. i served in the department of justice, i care about it, i value it, and it is critical to our democracy that it has credibility and broad suprt and they operate under our rule of law and they need to explain what is happening here. there is some urgency. i think both democrats and republicans expect some comment from the department of justice explaining exactly what is happening. judy: house minority leader kevin mccarthy has already said what the justice department has done is weaponizing, he has used the term they weaponized the justice system. are you prepared to go that far? gov. hutchinson: no, because i don't know the facts and i think that would be unfair. i think they've had instances in the past where it appears the justice department got political, but i don't think we ought to jump to that conclusion. i don't think we should jump to a different conclusion. let's get the facts out there and hear from the justice department exactly what happened and what interest is at stake.

the department of justice. we take very seriously any incidents of violence that occur within this country. i can tell you that those incidents that you are reflecting upon, if they are ultimately being considered by the department of justice, they will be taken -- >> pulled on a second. if they are being considered? you don't know? >> a number of these incidents are priorities and a focus not just of the criminal division but of the civil division and our civil rights division. >> is there a task force? >> it does not take a task force . >> have any cases been brought? >> i cannot comment on the existence of any current or pending investigations at this time. >> you are commenting on the existence of when it meets the political priorities of the white house. simultaneously, while violent terrorists are threatening pregnancy centers, we have had protesters at the homes of supreme court justices night after night. now i believe protesting at someone's home, where your spouse sleeps, where your children sleep, is

. >> he's talking about the department of justice, he says after the department of justice we have asked to hear from the attorney general, we have not yet. so basically what's going on here, the government obviously has these documents they know what is in them. the trump team, trump attorney also confirmed they have a copy of the warrant, either could release them, so who will release it first, that's the question, mike. >> mike: david spunt, live at the justice department. thanks very much. >> sandra: jessica and sean, fox news contributors. can democrats stay on message ahead of the midterm elections? obviously a lot to look at there, but before all this happened, democrats were out on the tv airwaves touting these recent wins for joe biden. seems this is distracting from that. >> i think there has been a lot of discipline on the senate level, and mitch mcconnell does not really want to talk about this, everyone wants to focus on policy. they know in a midterm election where the economy is the central issue that people will vote their kitchen table issues, checkbook, etc. i think it

back to things at the department of justice. i told you at the beginning of the show, someone told me earlier this week, you know merrick garland. i don't know him that well. i've had several interactions with him. this is not something that he's going to release, release. it's extraordinary to get him in front of cameras yet. he felt an obligation to do so under pressure. now we want the affidavit. we want more. so fingers crossed that he will go for that. >> martha: the problem is what ari just said. if you don't get the affidavit, you'll have leaks and speculation. that would be a very untenuous place for the country to be in. thanks, david. i'd like to bring in victor davis hanson, the hoover institution senior fellow. victor, as you hear about this potential obstruction of justice and violations of the espionage acted, what do you think is going on here? >> you played a clip of james comey. james comey was commenting on how hillary clinton violated the law of classified releases. she was not going to be punished. james come

of this investigation at the justice department. what can you tell us as we hit 3:00 eastern time this afternoon, david? >> you hit the nail on the head. this is the nexus of this investigation into the former president and surprisingly the energy here today very quiet. i say quiet because we have heard nothing from attorney general merrick garland. nothing from the fbi director christopher wray. ultimately though this is up to the department of justice to sign off on something like this. merrick garland not only oversees the doj but the fbi. because the fbi falls under the doj umbrella. let's tell everyone what we know specifically about the search of the former president's home early yesterday morning. the fbi gave a heads up to the secret service and a few local law enforcement officials to let them know they're on their way to mar-a-largo to take document and had a valid search warrant. the former president was not there. he was in new york. in january, the trump team at mar-a-largo voluntarily turned over 15 boxes of records to

shouldn't there be some sort of level of trust in the department of justice? >> it's a good question. i think that the public influences going to have certainly going to play a role here, as to whether or not it should because it's just hotly publicized. it's clear that the judge is trying to give trump any breaks she could. she's a trump appointed judge. and when they filed bogus are not well filed filings initially, she held her hand walk them through the process with owed having and how to file something improperly on the docket. i think she's assisting them and pushing them in the right direction here and already indicated that she would be open to appointing a special master. but i don't know. it's a tough argument that they have to contend with that trump has to come back and respond to hear. but i think a big part in trump's corner is this ongoing argument that the american people or at least trump supporters don't support the fbi don't trust the fbi don't trust the doj, which is obviously something that donald trump has been trying to promote actively

the department of justice is asking him not to do it. interestingly donald trump, who said on his social media site that he also wanted the affidavit released, is not making a formal request for it. one of his lawyers is in the courtroom today, but just to watch. team trump isn't arguing or filing anything. so how will judge reinhart rule? if fast is precedent, it is almost certain he will side with the d.o.j. and keep the affidavit under seal. and all, d.o.j. is arguing releasing it would do grave damage to their investigation. but here's the thing, there really isn't a lot of specific precedent here. a former president of the united states has never had their home searched by the fbi. a former president of the united states has never taken classified materials home and then not given them back. a former president of the united states has then never gone on to publicly attack the fbi and the d.o.j., putting the departments and the individual law enforcement officers and officials who work there in grave personal danger. that is to say t

this is an important part of the justice department a lot of folks don't understand. the fbi has 37,000 people. and when i speak publicly about it, i always ask folks in the audience to tell me how many of those 37,000 they believe are politically appointed. and you get all kinds of interesting answers. hundreds. 500. 30. 70. the answer is one. the answer is one. it's the director of the fbi. joyce was the united states attorney for the northern district of alabama. i don't know quite how many people she had in her office. she'll know of course. but how many of them were politically appointed? and the answer is one. joyce. and by the way, joyce was a career official before she was ever a political appointee. and so the political layer by design in the department of justice and the fbi is actually very thin and very thin for a reason. it enables career men and women, career prosecutors and agents to do the right thing in the right way for the right reason. and if people don't like it or don't understand it or wish he did something else, you know, you can't always accom

what is the department of justice doing? >> they told you what they were doing, yasmin, they just haven't told you how they're doing it. they have an ongoing investigation, which is why large portions of the affidavit have been redacted. they have numerous witnesses that they are talking to and protecting, which is completely appropriate. remember, search warrants come at the beginning of investigations or sort of the early middle, and not typically at the very end. so we don't know precisely what they're doing or how they're doing it, nor are we entitled to know that, but we know they're still doing it. i think charles made a really interesting and important point by noting what's missing from the attorney's letter. but there's something else i would add to that. the three statutes that the government relied upon to get the search warrant don't require that the information that's mishandled or destroyed be classified information at all. so we can debate, you know, all day if you'd like, yasmin, whether or not the president

it won't stop the efforts of the department of justice. but i think there's an extraordinary amount that the u. s. congress can do to slow down and come up the works of what the department of justice in particular is doing . and i think they're willing to do that in a way that we've never seen before done in the united states. i want to get your opinion before we run out of time here about what we heard today from former us vice president mike pence. he tweeted about an hour ago. i share the deep concern of millions of americans over the unprecedented search of the personal residence. a president trump, no former president of the united states has ever been subjected to a raid of their personal residence in american history. he's outrage that this has happened to donald trump and there are many who say that donald trump was willing to let him be hanged on january 6th. the. how do you make sense of that? well you, that's exactly right. i mean, the fact of the matter is, as you indicated, there has been no vice president in united states his

the department of justice in this nation. it's been so badly damaged. he embodied honor, fidelity to the rule of law and judicial independence. to those same traits, he will now bring as attorney general to the united states not as a personal attorney to the president, but as the people's lawyer. >> so perhaps unsurprisingly, house republicans are not necessarily convinced though. they read into merrick garland's statement that he personally signed off on the search warrant as saying that it creates more questions than answers. they want to know does signed off mean that he actively directed it or did he just allow it to happen and not stop it down or intervene. they say the fact that he admitted that he signed off has created questions among white house republicans about his decision making involvement. beyond that, they're skeptical of garland overall. many see him as a political person and harken back to that scuffle among the teachers. they point to the white house and doj having discussions about investigating parents wh

many were taken on directly by the department of justice. in fact with kmart yesterday was a direct result of his efforts to get a special master to reveal the documents -- to review the documents, and as a result, more incriminating information has come up. we know what the markings mean. the question about whether their removal was improper or whether the efforts to get them back where obstructed or impeded in some way, will be what the doj has to figure out in deciding with her to pursue a criminal case. kristen: when will the decision be made on whether a special master will be appointed? rick: the judge in the case already said she is inclined to grant the motion for a special master, it -- this is an attempt by the department of justice to say, we don't need it, that some of these documents appeared to be intermixed with things like trump's passport, one of which was retired. they are saying, we donate a special master, it would impede the pace of the investigation. everything would need to be put on pause. that before the justice depa

it is out of the department of justice. the judge in florida, brand new information, on his decision, judge rinehart's decision about the affidavits surrounding the armed raid of the former president trump's home in florida. david spunts has this breaking news for us. what do you have, david? >> one thing, judge bruce rinehart is quick. the deadline was not four hours ago. he has this two-page order announcing the redactions proposed by the department of justice must be put in the public docket, which means they will be released to the public at some point on or before noon tomorrow. so it could happen at any time between now and noon tomorrow. i want to read some of what judge rinehart said in this order. he wrote "i find that the government has met its burden of showing a compelling reason, good cause to seal portions of the affidavit because disclosure would reveal the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents and uncharged parties." the investigation strategy direction, scope, sources and methods. on for before no

i do think that the work my office in other parts of the justice department to find the definition of crime in america. >> record arrests have gone up to record highs which is one of the ways we've also brought down crime. we arrest a lot of people. >> maybe we can catch one of them but we can sure as heck deliver a message - if you do get caught you're gonna lose your liberty and go to prison. >> nothing disturbs me more to see all the revelations by those committed by some of the most powerful and some of the most wealthiest in our society. >> rudy giuliani's has gone from america's mayor in quotation marks to a criminal target. he is officially a target of the fulton county investigation into interference in the 2020 election. as trump's lawyer once put it, target is a designation given by the government to individuals it believes of criminal culpability for whom they have indicated and an intent to bring formal charges. he may remember, days after the election, giuliani traveled down to georgia to try to overturn the election results. that is to steal the election for the loser fo

and i think that is such a critical issue for the department of justice. i mean, really, if you take a step back, and appreciate, and you talk about the department of justice, it is foundational to the legitimacy of the government to exercise its authority. i mean, it is a department that has the ability to deprive an individual of their liberty. and so, the legitimacy of that department is paramount. and i think the attorney general, not only appreciates that, but you can see through his words and deeds that that is a constant theme in how he acts. >> brandon van grack, veteran prosecutor from the u.s. justice department, member of special counsel robert mueller's team, again, this is your first usda interview. i hope it will not be your last, even with me. i hope you come back. >> absolutely. >> thank you. thank you for your service. all right, we'll be right back, stay with us. ust passed the inflation reduction act, reducing costs for millions of families. it lowers the cost of drugs and ramps up production of american-made clean energy. that means low

of justice. so for him to be crying presidential records act is like a criminal, you know, citing a criminal statute that they violated. it seems nonsensical. >> ken and andrew, thanks for starting us off. appreciate it. >>> in georgia today, no decision from a judge in fulton county after lawyers for governor brian kemp argued he should not have to testify in the d.a.'s election interference investigation. that happening as a key member of former president trump's legal team, jenna ellis, is appearing today before that grand jury. i'm joined by nbc news correspondent blayne alexander in fulton county for us. talk to us here about what's happening, what this judge is going to be deciding? >> reporter: well, lindsey, that hearing went for a couple hours today. no decision today. we're expecting it in the coming days from that judge. lawyers for georgia governor brian kemp were arguing to quash the subpoena, essentially arguing several things -- one, they're arguing a series of things, one, executi

the actions of the department of justice. all the action weerz talking about are not influenced by the considerations and there is really no appearance of political influence in these decisions. and i think that is such a critical issue for the department of justice. i mean really, if you take a step back and appreciate and talk about the department of justice, it is foundational to the legitimacy of the government to exercise the authority. it is a department that has the ability to deprive an individual of their liberty and so the legitimacy of that department is paramount. i think the attorney general not only appreciates that but you can see through his words an deeds that is a constant theme in how he acts. >> brandon van grack, veteran prosecutor from the u.s. justice department, member of special counsel robert mueller's team, again, yurt first u.s. tv interview. i hope it will not be your last. i hope you come back. thank you. thank you for your service. we'll be right back. stay with us. r your service we'll be right

so, the department of justice is saying the train has already left the station. we've got these documents over two weeks ago. we've already reviewed them. and there's just a small portion of these top secret documents that arguably may be attorney client privilege. and they were already separated out. those documents have already been identified. so, the department of justice has said this is just a complete waste of time. it's unnecessary. and it is not going to change the result because of the review of the documents has already record. >> we do not know specifically what the classified information is within these documents. we just know that is mark classified. if there is a possible way of linking these missing documents that were taken -- but on trump and found at mar-a-lago to some kind of breaching national security, what happens then? >> it just makes the legal jeopardy that trump and others are in even more significant. we already know from the 36-page filing, john, that the department believes there's been obstruction of justice. that the department bel

i suspect the department of justice felt some urgency to take this step. they did so are now outside of the window of the elections in the united states. right. very interesting. thank you for giving us your thoughts. jeff, how's a lawyer on the director of the revolving door project? the center for economic policy was such fella had on al jazeera with, for us men killed in america. their fears at a serial killer could be still king's. bringing the benign fronds at home ever century after they were stolen, a london museum agrees to hand back 72 price ah, the journey has begun. the v for world copy is on its way to the castle book, your travel package today. here's your forecast for tuesday, august the 9th, across asia. hi everyone. let's kick this one off in pockets. time where we're seeing those monsoon rains intensify for sin state. particularly eastern portions. seen a lot of rain as of late in karachi, and the prediction is for above average monsoon rains for the month of august in terms of where there was been soon. rains are in india, bread, weather

two of them fall under the department of justice. when is this nara issue of the archive issue brought to the department and referred to the department of justice and the other of the january 6 investigation. one of the things we are trying to figure out as you mentioned, brett my weather intersection between the two. an effort to dig for january 6th information and still an outstanding question. >> it really is, and i think andy mccarthy has shed light on this before that there is a belief that perhaps there was something bigger that they were searching for. but the impetus for the classified documents in the possession of them, even trust the possession of them is the question, even though it is a former president. there is a lot here that we have to digest. the 1978 presidential records act and how that affects all of this. we are going to dig tremendous trumpian move, we have the letter from the department of justice that they previously indicated, they have seen where the documents are stored, they don't think it's secure enough

that source told me they feel like the burden is on the department of justice to be transparent what led to the search warrant and what probable cause of a crime they had when they went to a judge to seek that search warrant ahead of its execution here. you know, folks who are familiar with trump's thinking around the leadup to ultimely t search warrant beingexecut, tell us that ty feel like theyere coopatingith th deparent of stice. ere i a june 3rd meeti paicular in wch donal trp hself wasere atis residence and met with officials algsidef hisawyers and persally swedhem at least e roo whe tseateria re being held the srceells us tha donald trump authorizedaving a second padlock put onto the room where these particular materials were placed. at the same time, you have seen here the warrant is in the hands of, you know, the trump team here and they're choosing not to reveal what was being looked for here at the premises and in large part, you have seen donald trump instead rally around the defenses within the republican party around him and you even sawhis mornin the statent donaltrump

for all of the people who say why didn't the ar kwiefs in the department of justice act faster and by the way, when you piece together the time line and this affidavit does give you more, the department acted quite quickly once they had the referral and in spite of the fact that donald trump had his lawyers were trying to keep that referral away from the bureau, that all is going to be really damning evidence intentionality. just imagine if somebody by accident took some documents, even a box and again, the volume belies the idea that it would be an accident, but here that length of time and the fact that you only returned some of the documents, but not all of them and then you made statements that you did return everything and that's leaving aside as frank said they clearly have talked to a whole series is clear le refuting the kash patel statement was that they were declined and it's clear that the justice department doesn't believe that for a minute. all of that goes to the discretionary decision that merrick garland is going to have to make. and as i said, i don't see how if you w

department of justice. he took responsibility for what they do, and he said that he would protect them and that he honors their work. but beyond that, i think that he understands that we are in a new era where the rule of law is being attacked, when you talk about the execution of a search warrant as a raid, even before you get to ugly words like gestapo. that is an attack on the rule of law, not just on the men and women who work in the institutions that uphold the rule of law, but on what makes this country what it is, and i think that he found an incredibly agile and creative way, in a very short amount of time, to say that, this is what we do. this is how we do it. and he took an opportunity that really mr. trump gave him, because often, the reason that you don't make disclosures as a prosecutor in the course of investigation is to respect the privacy of the target, the subject, the would-be defendant, the person on whom a search warrant was executed at his premises in this case, but what he said is, le

and so we leave it to the department of justice. we leave it to merrick garland as we just heard him speaking earlier today. >> to the president watching garland statement today? >> as you know, he is in south carolina with his family at this time. i've not spoken to him. he is taking a little time, still doing the work of the american people, but taking some time with his family. >> let me ask you, the other big thing we saw today, was someone walking into cincinnati fbi office, armed, clearly with the intent to hurt people. that person is now dead. as this rhetoric amps up against the fbi, against the doj, can you give us a sense of the types of conversations that are happening inside the white house about what is going to be necessary in order to shield law enforcement? >> well we condemn violence of any kind. and we've always been incredibly consistent about that. we have said especially during this time, peaceful protest is appropriate. people should be able to voice their opinion. about whatever issues on their minds. but we c

department of justice. the seventh floor is reduced to be transparent with the victims in the public. even after five years. i want to know the underlying facts of this. the public trust will continue to be a rodent for federal law enforcement until they are transparent at the highest levels of the fbi. i think as a holy and make it public trust our everyday rank-and-file fbi members and every day the department of justice. i am a former prosecutor, former district attorney. i work with federal law enforcement officials day and in day out. i trusted the men and women that i work with on a daily basis. i do not trust the level of leadership that has politicized these great organizations of an american justice. i call for full and complete transparency on this matter from the senate floor in the highest levels of the department of justice. the american public demands transparency and accountability. no one is above the law. i heard that yesterday. no one is above the law and that includes the attorney general

department of justice. the seventh floor is reduced to be transparent with the victims in the public. even after five years. i want to know the underlying facts of this. the public trust will continue to be a rodent for federal law enforcement until they are transparent at the highest levels of the fbi. i think as a holy and make it public trust our everyday rank-and-file fbi members and every day the department of justice. i am a former prosecutor, former district attorney. i work with federal law enforcement officials day and in day out. i trusted the men and women that i work with on a daily basis. i do not trust the level of leadership that has politicized these great organizations of an american justice. i call for full and complete transparency on this matter from the senate floor in the highest levels of the department of justice. the american public demands transparency and accountability. no one is above the law. i heard that yesterday. no one is above the law and that includes the attorney general

the highest levels of the department of justice. right? well, trumpet is republicans have blasted the rate as a weaponized politicization of the department of justice and their accusing democrats of abusing the justice system to keep him from running for president again in 2024. is there any reason to believe that this was politically motivated? what's only possible the statute that donald trump may have violated 18 u. s. c. 207. 1 has a disqualification provision and this was passed after richard nixon. and it specifically says, in addition to a potential 3 year term and federal prison. that if you are convicted of violating this statute, you are prohibited from holding public office. that is a question whether this laws unconstitutional or not because it's never been applied. but it's a real possibility that if trump is prosecuted, that is prohibited from running in 2024. right, well, you're a lawyer. so what would you advise donald trump to do if you were his lawyer? now? i would advise him what his lawyers did when they're in th

the department of justice. he has been clear about that, especially when it comes to investigations. we do not comment w, we do not interfere, and we do not get briefed. when it comes to the investigation itself, we are just not going to comment. >> are you saying he didn't know about the actual -- that there would be asearch warrant carried out? because they did have to know about the documents being there, because you have to sign off on the -- giving the archives -- >> again, two different things, right? >> okay, that is fine. >> again, we did not know -- >> but you knew -- you had to know that it was there or that they were missing because he signed off on giving the archives the authority -- >> but, don, just to be very -- >> excuse me. >> i just want to make sure we separate the two, right? when it comes to the actual search, when it comes to the comments that the attorney general made recently. i believe it was last week. we did not know about that. we learned about that from your reporting. now, the let

we have had leaks and lies coming out of the justice department. they leaked out that attorney general merrick garland did not personally approve this raid. well, that's a lie. he did. they leaked out that trump had nuclear documents at mar-a-lago. that's a lie. they leaked out that the president biden, the biden white house was -- did not have any advance warning about this raid. that's a lie. john, than the deputy white house counsel to president biden waived executive privilege for president trump on behalf of president trump. so that paved the way for the -- for this home raid. will let me ask you something that is fascinating. the department of justice is suggesting that the president does not have standing to raise the issue. if the president doesn't have standing, who has standing? >> that. >> is such a silly argument. if you look at rule 41 g of the federal rules of criminal procedure, it is a motion to get back property. and this property belongs to president trump. because it is declassified and he made a copy personal under the president

no other comment from the department of justice. we've heard many people talk about the affidavit being released, the latest from the justice department. there's been no motion folks for this affidavit even though this affidavit would give us many more pieces of the pie, pieces of the puzzle, whatever you want to call it. that would have to be a separate motion filed and there's no indication that would be done. other sources, federal sources, close to the department of justice tell me that it took some convincing on behalf of attorney general merrick garland to allow him to come to the cameras to speak in front of the country yesterday. that's just not something typically that he would do. most attorneys general would not speak about an on going investigation but this is an extraordinary case and it's you neck and he said there's great public interest to so. charles? >> charles: what can you tell about this potential probe for the political espionage act which apparently includes a lot of potential crimes including gathering, trans

why this happened with the interests of the department of justice in preserving an ongoing criminal and for -- investigation. if you left everything you have, it makes it hard to do interviews and keep on investigating the case. host: because of your background, what does an affidavit do particularly when it comes with -- two mar-a-lago? guest: it is from a lead agent and it will set out the evidence that the government has obtained so far. it will say we are investigating these offenses and we talked to these people. here is what we obtained. we have reason to believe these offenses may have been committed and is evidence -- this evidence exists in this location but it maintains things like the identity of people who have been spoken to and what they said and that can do a number of things. it can allow other potential witnesses to know everything up -- that is out there and both their stories --mold their stories. we have seen threats to fbi agents and offices and people at the department of justice. we saw an armed person show up at the rpr office in cincinnati so the idea that y

why would the department of justice open up this bag of worms? imagine if a president or ex-president could be changed with endless debate over bureaucratic policies followed or not, the impact it would have on the ability of any president to be president and do his job, i took notes to make sure i get it right. among other reasons this is why many of us are argue he sitting president cannot be indicted. trump here is a former president. but that gets to my early component about interpreting a president's actions on his be-- departure. i heard them saying where is the evidence, they are not constitutional. like former federal prosecutors, and political operatives, listen to me, these are challenges should the department of justice be foolish to proceed on the path they are on. we get to document possession, that issue, understand presidential roarrecords act of 1978, no mentalities, no enforcement mechanisms, but the second after the president leaves office he is not subject to trial charges or penalties if he has documents or any information he

, members of the department of justice said. can we go ahead and look in this storage room? president trump's attorney said. no you can't and i think that, in addition to other things set off some red flags, we of course know that they were right to be suspicious because in fact when the fbi executed search warrants, they found additional documents that would have been responsive. yead he all of this is whether this filing here and these accusations of possible obstruction of justice here. increased the likelihood that we will see indictments in this case. and is it clear whether mr trump himself could potentially face charges or those around him? so i think at this point what you'd be looking at with the filing, and of course, we only know all of these additional facts because the former president asked for a special master. in this case. if he had essentially done nothing, all of this would still be private. but does the doj filing indicate that the former president and or his attorneys who, for instance, certified to the poin

it won't stop the efforts of the department of justice . but i think there's an extraordinary amount that the u. s. congress can do to slow down and come up the works of what the department of justice in particular is doing. and i think they're willing to do that in a way that we've never seen before done in the united states. i want to get your opinion before we run out of time here about what we heard today from former u. s. vice president mike pence. he tweeted about an hour ago. i share the deep concern of millions of americans over the unprecedented search of the personal residence. a president trump, no former president of the united states has ever been subjected to a raid of their personal residence in american history. he's outrage that this has happened to donald trump and there are many who say that donald trump was willing to let them be hanged on january 6th. the. how do you make sense of that? well you, that's exactly right. i mean, the fact of the matter is, as you indicated, there has been no vice president in united states

it won't stop the efforts of the department of justice . but i think there's an extraordinary amount that the u. s. congress can do to slow down and come up the works of what the department of justice in particular is doing. and i think they're willing to do that in a way that we've never seen before done in the united states. i want to get your opinion before we run out of time here about what we heard today from former us vice president mike pence. he tweeted about an hour ago. i share the deep concern of millions of americans over the unprecedented search of the personal residence. a president trump, no former president of the united states has ever been subjected to a raid of their personal residence in american history. he's outrage that this has happened to donald trump and there are many who say that donald trump was willing to let them be hanged on january 6th. the. how do you make sense of that? well you, that's exactly right. i mean, the fact of the matter is, as you indicated, there has been no vice president in united states his

the department of justice. former governor ron desantis compare the fbi's actions to something that happens in a banana republic. virginia governor youngkin said that these kinds of politically motivated actions have no place in our democracy. even democrat, former governor of new york andrew cuomo declaring the doj must immediately explain the reason for this raid and it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation peer that credibility to me has been long gone. credibility of the fbi and the doj was always hanging by a thread. merrick garland, christopher wray, they remain silent in the silence tonight is deafening. here now is one senator who is speaking out against all of this, former senator marco rubio. do you actually said this and i found it interesting, doj, the fbi are playing with fire. >> look, i am here in a very unique position in south florida surrounded by people who come from countries where th

the most fly speck affidavit i suppose in the history of the department of justice, and then approval by a federal judge. >> chuck, i started making calls and texting people as soon as the news broke tonight and in addition to yourself, i spoke to another former very high-ranking d.o.j. official who told me a couple of things that i wanted to run by you and this is a person not comfortable being identified publicly but was willing to let me characterize their remarks in terms of framing their understanding of what happened here. and the first comment i got from this person, jives a little bit with what you just said, that attorney general merrick garland himself would have had to approve this personally, and the official i spoke with also pointed out that attorney general garland approving this as a search, rather than as a subpoena, maybe significant, in that it may mean that the attorney general was convinced that these documents in question were at risk of being destroyed, or were potentially at risk of being disseminated to third parties, which would further aggravate the crime he

the context of this document is that, as we know, the department of justice back in the spring issued a subpoena to trump in his aids, to return all classified materials that had been moved to morrow lago, the press of the former president's private estate. and that was followed up in june by an in person visit from the department of justice as top counter intelligence official in the national security division, in which he not only met with, with trump during that meeting, but also with 2 trumps attorneys. and walked away from our lago that day, reportedly with some of these classified materials. then around that same time as when the department of justice received this written declaration signed by one of trumps attorney saying that all of the classified materials had already been given up at that point that none remained at mar logo. well, as it turns out, we saw for monday's f, b, i search of mar logo. that was not the truth. in fact, 11 sets of classified documents were removed by f. b, i. agents that day, some of those sets were labeled top secret. and some of the highest level

i'm certain this was vetted through the highest levels of the department of justice, probably through the number two person, the deputy attorney general, lisa monaco, up to merrick garland. this is sort of a shift in the legal tectonic plates. when you are searching the home of a former president of the united states because a judge determined that there was likely to be evidence of crime located on the property of mar-a-lago. i think this search warrant was probably extremely strong. >> you mentioned merrick garland, the attorney general. i can't help but to wonder, it would have to go through him before you even go to the judge for the search warrant. does the a.g. for something like this, have to sign off, yes, i agree all the ducks are in a row and every possible argument could be made for obtaining this search warrant, go get it? >> not necessarily under standard doj protocol and procedures, but there's nothing standard about the search of a former president's home. i strongly suspect merrick garland was apprised of it and in agreement with it at a minimum. >> kim, let me bring y