colleague katy tur will interview the attorney for hunter biden, abbe lowell about the new indictment against the president's son. "katy tur reports" starts right now ♪♪ good to be with you. i'm katy tur. would he be facing criminal charges if he were not the president's son? hunter biden's lawyers argue their client is only being federally indicted because his last name is biden. and because the now special counsel appointed to investigate him faced enormous pressure from republicans to help them make hunter biden a campaign issue. after all, his team argues, prosecutor david weiss looked into hunter biden for five years, and only decided to indict now after the plea deal fell apart. we'll get to the bottom of how much those arguments hold water in a moment with chuck rosenberg, but first, we will exclusively speak with hunter biden's attorney, abbe lowell. let's lay out what david weiss says he found. there are nine counts in the 56 page indictment, including three felony counts, accusing biden of engaging in a four-year scheme to willfully avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes. instead, using that money on, quote, drugs, escorts, and girlfriends, luxury hotels, and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and more. from the indictment, a $1,500 venmo payment to an exotic dancer at a club. the exotic dancer had not sold him any art work. health care benefits to girlfriends, quote. these payroll expenses were treated as business expenses. college tuition for his daughter, quote, the professional and outside service schedule included a $30,000 payment to columbia university. and some $43,000 at chateau marmont which was just a portion of the nearly $134,000 spent on hotels. incredibly, some of the most damming details in the indictment do not come from any investigation but from hunter biden himself. descriptions that are pulled straight from biden's own memoir, including an excerpt where biden describes his use of crack cocaine, quote, 24 hours a day, smoking every 15 minutes, seven days a week, while surrounding himself with thieves, junkies, petty dealers, over the hill strippers, con artists and assorted hangers on. joining us now counsel to hunter biden, abbe lowell, partner and cochair of government investigations enforcement and compliance at international law firm winston and straun. it's good to have you. thank you for being here. >> thanks for the time. >> this indictment is 56 pages long. it's highly detailed. much is pulled from hunter biden's memoir, describing what he was doing and spending money. you say this isn't fair. you say he's being politically targeted because of his last name, but the indictment as "the new york times" puts it, and i think accurately so, reads as a wither ultimate indulgence. refused to pay his taxes for many years, be held accountable. >> let's start with what you said, katy. i want to show you this document. this is what u.s. attorney david weiss filed on june 20th after looking at all of these matters for five years, and came to the decision that the appropriate resolution was a two count misdemeanor for filing late and failure to pay on time. two pages, june 20th. let me show you this document. this is a 56-page document that was filed in court yesterday by the same prosecutor using the same evidence, none of which is new, with nine counts. what happened between june 20th and yesterday? the facts didn't change. they are exactly the same as they were. the law didn't change. so you have to ask, what changed. what changed was the enormous political pressure that was put on the u.s. attorney. when he made a deal that was appropriate for what the facts and law showed to him deciding i don't want that brief any longer. i don't want to be ridiculed by the republican party of which i'm a member. and i don't want to have to go in front of congress and testify anymore, so i'll just be a tough guy, and now i'm going to take two pages of a misdemeanor where millions of americans file late and turn it in to a 56-page document. that is the important question government works, and as to my client, he has well stated many times that at the depths of his addiction, somebody that american families, have somebody in their family or no has behavior he's not proud of but doesn't make him a tax felon. and lastly, how many cases do you know in which somebody when he got sobber and he got his act together, paid his taxes back with interest and penalties two years ago only to face this kind of a document yesterday. so people should ask, what changed between june 20th and yesterday. and the answer is politics. >> did you find anything in discovery that points you in that direction, anything maybe regarding donald trump's allies that points you definitively in the direction of this being a political persecution? >> we done have to look at discovery. you just can look at the public record. you can look at the moment that that two-page document was filed on june the 20th and see the outrage that chairman jim comber, chairman, jason smith all said. the reaction of the maga right media and the former president of the united states who went publicly and said this is an outrage, this is a traffic ticket. this would be the equivalent of letting jeffrey dahmer go. i think matt gaetz said. i want to point out that the timing of yesterday is not a coincidence. this coming monday in the first case that the u.s. attorney's office in delaware brought, the gun charge, which by the way, on june 20th, they were content to have a diversion agreement for somebody that was in the predicament of mr. biden and turn that into a three-count felony. what changed? by the way, the only thing that changed there is the law on gun possession restrictions got looser, not more strict. >> let me ask you, i assume you're going to file a selective prosecution motion -- >> all i can tell you is on monday there will be multiple motions filed in delaware, some relative to the charges that have been filed in california, and people should pay close attention to what the motions say. >> what are you going to argue you in the motion that is going to get you over the top because they almost never succeed? >> they don't succeed because they don't have the facts we have. i agree with your observation. you have the former president of the united states, three republican chairs of congress, yelling and screaming that a deal that had been properly worked out after a five-year investigation, when the u.s. attorneys office was acting in their best interest, only to change and nothing else has changed other than the politics, you have a very strong presumption that that's the reason why. again, there will be many issues raised in these motions to basically argue them all at a small segment today doesn't make sense. we can talk again next week when you read them. >> you talk about how a lot of this wrong doing was done while he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and going through a dark time. that's well documented, but didn't he file these returns when he was clean and sober? wasn't this filed in 2020 regarding 2018 when he was clean and sober? so wasn't he sober when he was attesting to all of the things in 2018 as being business expenses? >> if you parse out each of the charges, which start with failure to file in 2016, which ordinarily be beyond the statute of limitations, except they're coming up with a theory to stave, to the felony counts in 2018, i think we already made clear, both to the chair of the ways and means committee and to the justice department itself that in 2018 the year in which they said hunter biden did something bad on his taxes, he over paid his taxes for that year by a long amount of money, and we put in a protective motion, notice for a refund. so when we parse out each of the years involved, like 2018, filed in 2020. one of the elements of the crime is there's a tax deficiency, least in the main charge they make. there won't be a tax efficiency. which goes back to my point. if his name wasn't hunter biden, this would not have happened. there's been nobody in the district of delaware, charged with the kind of gun case he was charged with, who wasn't involved in a crime, none applied for his possession of a gun for eleven days that was never loaded and never used. and there's nobody who was in a position to be owed money by the government to be charged with tax evasion. and more importantly, as i said and the record is perfectly clear about, the u.s. attorney's office felt on june 20th after five years, the right resolution were two misdemeanors and now it's nine different counts. that in itself requires an explanation and they'll have to give that explanation in court. >> can i ask you again, was he sober when he filed these returns, when he attested finally that all of these expenses he listed as business expenses, these hotel stays, the health care, et cetera, was he sober when he said those were business expenses? >> i don't know which year you're talking about. >> 2018 when he filed for 2018 and 2020. >> so when he filed his tax returns in 2020. that was not random. the things that were filed were based on conversations he would have had with tax advisers and accountants and professionals, he'll stand by whether or not, okay, i can't sit here today and tell you if there's a 25-page tax return and there's one thing on it that could have been relabeled as something else, that's not the point. people make mistakes or people put things on their tax returns which the irs response is, by the way, we would like to do an audit. by the way, why did you do this. by the way, can you give us backup. how many people who have done that, the response of the government is no notice, change in position, and by the way, here's your nine-count, 56-page indictment. nobody, and that's why we say, if it wasn't him, and it wasn't the u.s. attorney, caving to political pressure. this would not be the outcome. >> are you going to go back and try to get another plea agreement, and if so, what are you willing to concede? i assume your goal is to keep hunter biden out of prison. what is a plea agreement that's fair today look like to you, if you're not able to get this case thrown out? >> i don't know why we're at the point of a plea agreement, but let's start there. there was a plea agreement. there was a diversion agreement. it came as a result of a five-year pain staking thorough investigation. it was agreed upon between the parties and it was something the u.s. attorney believed in. he's the one who reneged. he's the one who took it back. the question about whether there should be a nonlitigated resolution, you might want to ask him, not us. it's clear that he is not interested in any resolution because last time he did the right thing, all he got was grief and pressure from the republicans. and he has made the decision, obviously, that he doesn't want to withstand that again. and as to the what's going to happen in the case, i think this is a case that cries out for a transparency of what changed and what caused these counts to be filed, and that's what will be explored in our motions, and look, you got to believe in a system that will get to the truth of when, as i said, june 20th, two misdemeanor counts, today, nine counts about the same facts. the only thing you can point to in the middle is the political pressure. >> abbe lowell, thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you, katy. and we're going to talk more about this when we're back in just 60 seconds with tom winter of our investigations team, and chuck rosenberg, our legal analyst who you know well. don't go anywhere. n't go anywhe. and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. only on verizon. have fun, sis! ♪♪ can't stop adding stuff to your cart? 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(avo) this holiday turn any samsung phone, in any condition, into a galaxy s23+ on us. and now add netflix and max to your plan for just $10 a month. only on verizon. . joining us now, nbc news investigative correspondent, tom winter, and chuck rosenberg, msnbc contributor, and former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official. i think abbe lowell has an interesting point to say that the plea deal fell apart. the plea deal is a couple of misdemeanors, and this is a whole lot more. what happened in that time, i think that's a fair question. what i didn't get as an answer from him just now, tom, was whether or not hunter biden was sober when he was filing those returns, when he was attesting that the expenses for the hotels, the health care for the girlfriends, the student university payments for his daughter, et cetera, whether they were actually business expenses, whether he was sober when he attested that they were business expenses, which i think is a pretty explosive refusal to confirm or deny. >> it speaks to the crux of the seriousness of the charges in this indictment versus that plea agreement. i think you're absolutely right, katy. i noticed and we were trading notes here in the commercial break that it seemed that the discussion from abbe lowell today is about whether or not this indictment should have been filed and why and not specific to the allegations. and when you look at the allegations today, it's something, hunter biden, i was in the courtroom when he was ready to admit, look, i didn't file my taxes on time. i don't think if he was to join us right now, he would dispute that in any way, shape or form. i think the big issue for him legally, these felony counts and the allegations that have caught so much attention is the idea that when he filed the tax returns in 2020, they date back to 2018, and this is something the judge asked him straight out in court on that day when the plea deal fell apart. he said he was sober at the time the tax returns were filed. he was working with an accountant, and it was on him, according to the document, and according to the charges brought by the justice department to assert to his team what was a business expense, and what wasn't. and it was there that prosecutors say, and the grand jury indicted him on this idea that, in fact, he was calling things business expenses that were not business expenses, that he was saying that, oh, i've got a country club membership, but, in fact, it was for a sex club membership in los angeles. things like that that get criminal investigators attention, and not so much the civil route that we typically see these cases go. >> tom, thank you, i'm going to let you go. chuck, let's talk about whether this argument that he's being politically targeted is going to hold water. i know it certainly is going to resonate politically speaking with a lot of voters out there. is it going to make any headway with a judge? >> i don't think so, katy, and here's why. what hunter biden's attorney is essentially saying is that his client was selectively prosecuted. he was chosen as a target for some odious reason. this is linked to the 14th amendment of our constitution, equal protection clause, you can't be selected for prosecution based on race or creed, national origin, religion and the like. i gather his argument is that he's being selective because of his political affiliation, his last name, the office that his father holds but in order to make that claim, not on television but in a courtroom where evidence matters, you need evidence, and so saying that members of congress have made statements that may have put pressure on the prosecutor saying that the former president made statements that may have put pressure on the prosecutor, frankly are not the sort of evidence that a judge is going to find compelling. neither do i for that matter. i think the selective prosecution motion will be made. and it will be denied. >> let me ask you about whether it's fair to bring these charges against him. these taxes have been paid back. are these things normally prosecuted in criminal court? are there normally federal criminal charges against somebody who did not pay taxes but then eventually did? >> well, one important point about the payment of taxes, katy, the late payment of taxes, it occurred because the investigation had started. if you rob a bank, katy, and you find out that the fbi is knocking on doors looking for you, when you bring the money back to the bank, not really an act of contrition, i would argue. to your first question, look, there aren't a lot of federal criminal tax cases prosecuted in the united states. there really aren't. the resources available to prosecute the number of people who actually cheat on their taxes. when there are, and this is a high profile case, the department of justice is looking to do it to really sort of maximum impact. maximum deterrent effect. and so, you know, if hunter biden wanted to be a tax cheat, the best thing for him to have done is not to cheat on his taxes. i don't think the selective prosecution motion flies. i don't think a judge buys it. i don't think mr. biden or his attorneys have the evidence that they will need to prove it in court. and, you know, sort of final point in this here, katy, the fact that he repaid his taxes at the point he repaid his taxes was not really a voluntary act or act of contrition, it was because he had been caught, and that doesn't really count. >> chuck rosenberg, thank you very much. and we also are following some breaking news. this is about donald trump out of washington. the district court of appeals in the district of d.c. has upheld the gag order on donald trump in his 2020 election interference case, but it has narrowed the parameters. so what exactly does that mean? joining us now, msnbc league analyst, lisa rubin who was in court for donald trump's fraud trial. let me ask you about this gag order. remind us what it's about and how these judges ruled? >> this is in the federal election interference case, not in the civil fraud trial that i have been watching. judge tanya chutkan had entered a gag order that prevented the parties and their lawyers from talking about or targeting witnesses, reasonably foreseeable witnesses in the case, in so far as it related to their testimony. she had an order that the lawyers could not talk about one another, for example, or courtroom personnel. this is a narrowed order. it essentially says that they can't make public statements. that same group of people can't make public statements or direct others to make public statements about foreseeable witnesses as it relates to the witnesses in the trial. same thing applies to lawyers and staff and court staff and the family members of all of those people. guess who's exempted from that, jack smith himself, they can talk about him. and they can't talk about those people only where their intent is to interfere with their work in the case. so they can talk about them generally, but not if the goal is to intimidate them in so far as they're working on this case. >> two gag orders have been upheld so far. limiting what donald trump is allowed to say about these cases, let's talk about the other case where there's currently a gag order, and that is the one in new york, the civil fraud trial, trying to keep all of these things in your head at the same time. >> welcome to my world. >> donald trump is supposed to testify on monday, the final witness for the defense, the second time he testifies. what do we expect to hear from him. how will it differ from the first set of testimony? >> let's go to each side's testimony. that's good context for how fst it's going to differ. they examined him about things they thought would help their case. this is donald trump's opportunity to talk a lot more broadly about his intent, the value of his properties, the fact that he relied on his accountants and lawyers, and there was nothing materially wrong with his financial statements, the banks were happy, all of the things you heard him say in the press conferences, this is in testimony form. >> wasn't there a contentious exchange between one of the accountants and attorneys yesterday how they didn't feel misled, there was no fraud, donald trump didn't do anything wrong? >> the person testifying yesterday is an accounting expert in the case, he said, i read all of the financial statements. i saw no indicia of fraud, gaap violations, all he did was read the financial statements on their face, and he admits he didn't do this in the deposition, the supporting data where they explain how they get to some of the values. that's where one would have detected the gaap valuations and the deliberate fraud. >> didn't it get kind of heated? >> very heated. this guy is made in donald trump's image. he said a lot of things like that's absurd or at one point he was very insulted something an attorney general's lawyer said to him where he essentially said this guy is going to say whatever he was hired to say. he said, you should be ashamed of yourself multiple times. you can see why trump identifies with this guy. >> this is being decided by the judge. a bench case. >> there was somebody next to me, a member of the process, who i won't name, who snickered when he got so outraged because there's a lot of feelings in this case, and most of those feelings are exchanged between the men who are conducting the examinations and the people who are on the stands. >> lisa rubin, thank you very much. coming up, a $100 million donation gone, a campus rabbi resigns, and calls for more resignations, what the three university presidents who testified on capitol hill this week say they will do now. and later, what happened last night when israeli soldiers tried to save hostages in the gaza strip? 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(vo) for a limited time, turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. only on verizon. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ last night on the first night of hanukkah, a man fired two shots in front of a synagogue in albany new york as police took him into custody. he allegedly shouted free palestine. it's another incidence of anti-semitism since the war between israel and hamas. unease and danger is being felt across the country, especially on college campuses. stephanie gosk has the latest on outrage against three university president who is testified about hate speech in front of congress this week. >> tensions are rising across the country, including on college campuses. law enforcement nationwide have been tracking an up tick in threats, and last night, an alarming scene at a synagogue in new york. shots fired on the first night of hanukkah. just hours before the start of hanukkah, at least two shots fired outside a temple in albany, new york, yesterday. while two dozen preschoolers were at the synagogue. none were injured. police arresting 28-year-old mufid alkhader and charging him federally with illegal possession of a firearm. the case also being investigated as a potential hate crime. >> we were told by responding officers that he made a comment, free palestine. >> reporter: jewish students on college campuses also concerned for their safety. at the university of pennsylvania, president liz magill is under fire following her comments at this week's anti-semitism hearing on capitol hill, where she and the presidents of harvard and m.i.t. testified for hours, condemning anti-semitism while attempting to embrace the importance of free speech. but it was exchanges with new york congresswoman elise stefanik that triggered widespread criticism. >> i am asking specifically calling for the genocide of jews, does that constitute bullying or harassment. >> if the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment, yes. >> conduct meaning committing the act of genocide? the answer is yes. calling for the genocide of jews violates harvard code of conduct, correct? >> again, it depends on the context. >> it does not depend on the context. >> reporter: the white house weighing in after the hearing. we should all stand firmly against calls for genocide. the governor of pennsylvania a democrat who is also jewish taking aim at penn's president. >> leaders have a responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity. and liz magill failed to meet that simple task. >> reporter: president magill attempt to go clarify her comments. >> a call for genocide of jewish people is a call for some of the most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. it's evil, plain and simple. >> reporter: harvard's presidents writing, calls for genocide of any group are vile, incoming they have no place at harvard. . penn would immediately clarify policies regarding speech but the school is facing a major financial hit with a wealthy donor threatening to withdraw a $100 million donation calling on the school to replace president magill. a university spokesperson tells nbc news the board of trustees has no plans to change leadership but overnight, the board of the influential wharton school of business called on her to step down. back to you. >> stephanie gosk, thank you. coming up, the idf says it came close to freeing hostages last night in gaza. what happened? police have released new video of the unlv shooter right before he was killed. what they say about who the shooter was apparently targeting. targeting. customized, choose the online shopping category and earn 3% cash back. 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(vo) for a limited time, turn any iphone in any condition into a new iphone 15 pro with titanium and ipad and apple watch se - all on us. only on verizon. the united nations security council is meeting as we speak to vote on a resolution calling for an immediate cease fire in gaza. this vote is expected to fail. as the u.s., a permanent member is expected to veto the resolution. but that does not mean the u.s. is condoning israel's actions in gaza, not all of them at least. here is secretary of state antony blinken rebuking israel for not doing enough to protect civilians. >> it is imperative, it remains imperative that israel put a premium on civilian protection, and there does remain a gap between exactly what i said when i was there, the intent to protect civilians and the actual results that we're seeing on the ground. >> according to the hamas-run health ministry, more than 17,000 palestinians have died since the war began in gaza and the u.n. secretary general now says the conditions are effectively null. the ability to deliver aid to millions of displaced gazans doesn't exist any longer, he says, but a senior u.s. official tells nbc news that israel has agreed to open another border crossing for aid trucks in the coming days. meanwhile, the israeli military says two soldiers were injured in a failed attempt to rescue hostages in the gaza strip last night. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel has the latest on the ground. >> the u.n. is now warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in gaza, as israel expands its offensive against hamas to southern gaza where hundreds of thousands of palestinians are seeking refuge. u.s. officials are pressing israel to explain what it plans next. on thursday, secretary blinken laid down what sounded like red lines. >> we cannot have an israeli reoccupation of gaza. we cannot have forced displacement of palestinians from gaza. we cannot have the territory of gaza diminished in any way. >> sealed off from the world, gazans are helping each other. in rafah, teachers paint razan's face with a dove for peace. she lost a left leg relatives say in an israeli strike that killed her parents and siblings. her aunt is taking care of her. the aunt tells us razan screams nonstop when talking about her family. israel says it has two goals. to drive hamas from power and return the remaining 137 hostages. in israel, irena returned to kibbutz nir oz, the 73-year-old was held by hamas in gaza, and was freed last week. she was overwhelmed by the damage. she came back to her home to collect a prayer book for hanukkah. what's it like to come back here after all you have been through? >> here i feel better. but not very well. i want the war to stopped. she did not want to talk about what happened to her while she was captive. her neighbor says many are furious at hamas and the government for being too slow to react for hamas's attack. >> how did it take eight hours to have a response? >> why it took eight hours because they. [ bleep ] didn't care. they left us here. >> reporter: across israel overnight, candles were lit for hanukkah and prayers for the hostages safe return. >> joining us now, aaron david miller, former arab negotiator, and the carnegie endowment for international peace senior fellow. it's good to have you back. did those sound like red lines from secretary of state antony blinken? >> the problem with red lines, katy, and thanks for having me, is that they turn pink, particularly in the u.s.-israeli relationship. i think the administration, the basic frame has remained more or less the same since october 7th in the president's speech. the administrations give israelis the time, space and support they need to do what they think they need to do with respect to hamas. the frame has changed, evolved in response to the exponential palestinian deaths and humanitarian catastrophe that israeli military efforts are causing as a consequence of their efforts to degrade hamas's military degree. i don't think the administration, john finer, deputy national security, said yesterday, it is not our war. we're not going to micro manage it. i do believe, last point, that the administration has conveyed the sense that this operation has got to be done in weeks, not in months. and if there is a tension coming, it will be over the time factor. >> i know the united states says it's not our war, we're not going to micro manage this. the middle east sees this as standing side by side with israel, and if not holding the gun, at least supplying the guns, and a lot of the region, at least on the arab street, if not, you know, in the government offices are holding the u.s. accountable for what's happening here. we heard from the fbi director saying he's never seen anything like what he's seeing right now in terms of every single red flashing light for warnings and worries about attacks coming here in the aftermath of this war. >> including domestic attacks that originate here rather than at the direction of some foreign terrorist organization, that's possible as well. and look, our credibility, our image is taking a beating. i think the administration deserves credit for getting what little humanitarian aid there is in gaza. and i do not think that would have happened. the israeli government was not interested in any of it. i think the administration deserves a lot of credit for getting the hostages released. i don't think that would have happened without the president's, the biden administration has tethered itself to israel's war aims. those war aims are prosecute instead a densely populated area where hamas is embedding its military assets in and around under civilian assets. it's magical thinking. i said this before i think when we talked to believe that you can conduct that kind of operation in these circumstances and not cause grievous harm to palestinian civilians. the sooner he sends the better. i think it puts the fine point on the time factor. by january, the kinetic, this sort of kinetic intense operations in northern gaza and in the south i think will probably be over. i think that's the administration's expectation. >> you say the u.s. wants to see this go on for weeks more, not months more, and you're talking about pink lines, not red lines, do you think that message is being conveyed to benjamin netanyahu that, he only has a certain amount of time left before the u.s. is going to start to do what, will we start to pull back on sending aid? what does it look like to hold him to that line? >> that is the question, isn't it? i mean, words without deeds, warnings without costs and implications. the united states has any number of options. there's the u.n. security resolution in new york right now, will probably veto it and could abstain. that would send a firm message to the israelis. i don't think the israeli military campaign, frankly, this sort of intensity can essentially continue without a continuous supply of munitions, particularly precision guided munitions, so there are all sorts of options. the real question is follow the u.s. israeli relationship for a long time. republicans, democrats. presidents do not like to fight publicly with israeli prime ministers. it's messy, awkward, costly, it could be politically costly, and usually, katy, it really doesn't work. >> aaron david miller, always good to have you. appreciate it. and still to come, the unlv shooter called epidemic sentry -- eccentric and obsessed with las vegas. and everyone on the st. paul city council has one major thing in common, what it is, and why it's making history in a moment. . get the bank of america customized cash rewards card, choose the online shopping category and earn 3% cash back. rsv is out there. for those 60 years and older protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. i chose arexvy. rsv? 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(avo) this holiday turn any samsung phone, in any condition, into a galaxy s23+ on us. and now add netflix and max to your plan for just $10 a month. only on verizon. we are going to go to oakland county, michigan, this is ethan crumbley, he was 15 years old when he killed classmates at his high school. he's going to be sentenced. let's listen. >> all i want is for the people i hurt to just have a final sense of culpability that justice has been served in any capacity that they can recogniz. any sentence they ask for, i ask that you impose it. i want them to be happy and i want them to feel secure and safe. i do not -- i really am sorry for what i've taken. i cannot give it back, but i can try my best in the future to help other people. >> thank you. >> with that, this court has listened to extensive evidence in this case. i heard four days of testimony from the miller hearing. i have presided over numerous placement hearings. i conducted the initial placement hearing in this case, and so the court is fully aware of the defendant's upbringing. i'm fully aware of the circumstances that brought him before the court. first, to the victims of the deceased, the court sends out its sincerest condolences to the families, appeared to the victims as it relates to count 1, thank you for your courage and strength in speaking today, as well as sending written correspondence. as counsel pointed out, the court has reads everything submitted. i have read all of the exhibits that were attached. i read every single victim impact statement over the course of three days. it probably took me closer to 36 hours to read all of this. i have read everything, and have got back through the complete file. the letters truly gave the court a sliver of insight into the unique and amazing personalities of the victims. the court cannot imagine the fear that the parents had in 2021. i cannot even begin to fathom. to have to wait to see in your loved one would return is heart-wrenching. that's true terror. not to have your loved one show up, your court could not imagine the pain. i know whatever sentence the court imposes will not bring your loved one back or cure the mental anguish or lifelong physical scars that you have, but i hope the sentence helpses to close one chapter in your life. i also want to thank law enforcement who responded, because it's not been easy on them. again, defense argues that defendant should receive a term of years because of the alleged mental ilany. 335 myrrh 8, a 2021 case. the court notes that it is not saying because the defendant may by mentally ill that that automatically means he's irreparableably corrupt, the court notes he has this sense of violence, that it involved extensive planning, extensive research, and he executed on every last one of the things that he planned. as the court stated in his written opinion, defendants alleged illness did not interfere. his actions, nor did it interfere with the believe to execute the plans. it started with him asking for a better gun to conduct the school shooting. he had initially a .22 caliber weapon that he wrote would not do enough damage, and so weeks and weeks prior to this offense, he started to formulate this plan and asked for the weapon he could cause the most harm with. as counsel is aware, the goals of sentencing involve not only rehabilitation, but deterens and punishment. deterrence is two parts. there's also public dough terrence, with the public sees the pun h that the individual has received and hopes that the public will never do anything like this in the future. the court has read the report from guidepost. respectfully the court does not find this report to be mitigating in this case. it simply points the finger at access to public schools. while the court agrees more possibly could have been done, that issue is not properly before this court. we are here for sentencing based on the defendant's action, not the alleged shortcomings of others. as the defendant pointed out himself, he took responsibility. he himself is not asking for a term of years. the court cannot underscore the planning and execution of this case enough. he practiced shooting at a gun range. he practices racking and unracking the gun. on november 30, when his parents were called to the school on that morning for his drawings, he could have said something then. he had a gun in his backpack at that time. when the school counselor advised the parents to please get him help within the most 48 hours, he could have stopped then and simply accepted the help that was going to be offered for him, because, according to the report, his mother said she would get him the help. he could have changed his mind after shooting the first person. but he didn't. he continued to walk through the school picking and chooses who was going to die. as the defendant said in his own words, this is nobody's fault but his own. he stated this afternoon that, with help, that probably would not have stopped him. that is absolutely concerning to this court. the court apologized to the victim for the bluntness, but defendant shot and killed justin at point blank range after having him get down on his knees in front of another student. he shot hannah, who was already shot once before. he walked up to her to finish the job by shooting her again. that is an execution. that is torture. he shot most people multiple times. as he wrote, he did this for notoriety. he wanted to go down as the biggest school shooter in michigan history. the court cannot -- in particular the oxford community, the court simply cannot order that. the court knows that teachers and students returned to the high school after this tragic event. the court cannot even fathom or imagine walking through the halls of that school, knowing that your fellow student, your friend, your classmate was killed in a rest room or in the hallway. most, if not all the letters you read advised the court there are a significant number of people in oxford that now have ptsd, that now have survivor's guilt, and deep depression that arose from this incident. defendant's actions clearly create a new normal for all of the individuals involved and all of those indirectly impacted as well. unfortunately, this is what the defendant wanted, as he wrote in his journal. he wanted to see the impact of his crime, which is why he did not take his own life. again, this goes back to the defendant's extensive planning. he chose not to die on that day, because he wanted the notoriety. the terror he caused in the state of michigan and in oxford is a true act of terrorism. respectfully, the defendant is the rare juvenile before this court. the court having read the psi and being fully -- before i get to that, i will also note counsel brought up an issue of making bombs for hitler. that does not change the court's opinion about the obsession with violence. i think bringing -- thank bringing that to the court's attention, but that doesn't change -- his obsession was outlined in his extensive drawings of violence. his obsession continued as i noted in the court's opinion and order, even while he was in the oakland county jail. with that, the court, having read the psi and being fully familiar with the defendant and underlying facts of this case, believes it's in the best interest of justice as well as proportionate to sentence defendant as