Thank you so much for letting us into your home during these extraordinary times. We are grateful. Beth beet with ari melber start rights now. We start with Breaking News a legal first for President Biden. Attorney general Merrick Garland Upending Washington today with an announcement, he is appointing a special counsel to hand it will probe of classified do you means found in joe bidens office at home. This is a significant legal development. No matter what happens from here. Its also the kind of twist that would have seemed like a movie plot even just a few months ago when former President Trump was clashing with the doj over his handling and alleged mishanding of classified material. Would have felt like a twist in the last couple weeks when bidens team was optimistic after the midterms and then the gops chaotic start to the congress. Garland did not preview plans at all. He announced he would deliver remarks today. Didnt deliver the topic and then said the words that tend to rattle any white house regardless of era or party. Based on mr. Laushs initial investigation i concluded that under the special counsel regulations, it was in the best breast the appoint a special counsel. There you have it. Came after todays ongoing review spilled into the press about how whether doj or garland responded to events. We learned some of this has already been going on, but this announcement today came after the rest of it spilled into the public view. And there are reports that also have pushed the white house to state that more documents were found in a locked garage in bidens delaware home. The president discussed that briefly with journalists today. Classified material next to your corvette . What were you thinking . Let me im going get a chance to speak on all of this, god willing, soon, but as i said this week by the way, my corvette is in a locked garage. Its not like its sit out in a street. The material was in a locked garage. Yes, as well as my corvette. Just a brief exchange there. The details come after news that bidens lawyers found the first batch back on november 2nd in a locked closet. There was no public details about any level of classification. For his part, President Biden has vowed that hes cooperating fully and completely, and we can state theres been no disagreement on that point in public from the doj, which is a contrast to some other probes. Garland authorized and appointed this new special counsel, a former prosecutor and former trump appointee, robert hur. Im here today to announce the appointment of robert hur as a special counsel pursuant to department of justice regulations governing such matters. Added that the special counsel will find out if anyone broke the law here. I signed an order appointing robert hur as special counsel for the matter ive just described. The document authorizes him to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter. There you have it. And if you follow Merrick Garland at all, you know this is how he always talks, so dry and sober that at time you might forget hes talk the about the kind of thing that can lead to indictments and upend entire administrations. On paper, the process poses more direct legal peril for people potentially around joe biden than President Biden himself, who can in the be indicted by the doj while in office under policy. Now, many people reminded of that longstanding rule during the First Federal probe of donald trump, by then special counsel mueller, which upturned all kinds of information material and ultimately convicted crimes. But remember, that probe indicted other people, never went near trying to indict donald trump. Ended in an initially private and later released report that discussed the president s actions its not about anyone suggesting yet whether theres a crime. Theres no facts on that. The point is that theres no way to indict a president under these rules. Now, today the other thing that garland said, and he was very careful thought, is he said something within the spirit of these rules but represents something of a view or even a hope. He argued that by doing this, appointing this special counsel at this point in time based on the information he has, it will itself add Public Confidence. This Appointment Underscores for the public the departments commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters and making decisions guided only by the facts and the law. That is a perfectly fine statement and goal indisputably guided by the facts and the law. Well endeavor to continue to follow the facts here. One issue for Merrick Garland is the issue that hit james comey and others who went to washington with well intended but this era of washington were living in and i dont know if you noticed buck its a doozy. They thought the old tools can be applied under this era. Thats not always the case. What im saying to be as direct as possible, the law and facts are over here. The Public Confidence, the allowed or agreed upon respect and deference that goes to good faith efforts to do things fairly, that has blown up and changed in a world full of constant bad faith political lies. And so anything that anyone this isnt about specifically mr. Garland per se, but anything anyone does at doj that thinks will be taken at face value and will contribute to Public Confidence is making a bet beyond the facts of the law, about wherever the confidence comes from. The question of why it was announced only now after this spilled to the public and whether there are any other considerations that are going into this, Well Intentioned or not, is a tough question that we will put to our experts and well endeavor to follow as we follow a story these completely exploded a lot of expectations and premise in washington. So we bring in our experts. Emily bazalon and a former federal prosecutor karen leffler. Welcome to both of you. Emily, i start with you. I think you know and viewers know the distinction im drawing. Everyone understands that Merrick Garland is at this point saying hes trying to do what we considers to be the right thing, and there hasnt been public reporting or evidence he has some other hidden agenda, and yet i wonder what you think of the timing and process here, and then in addition what legal peril is there for anyone involved with these documents . I think what garland is doing is trying to be as scrupulous and even handed as possible. He appointed a special counsel, as you know to, investigate former President Trumps alleged mishandling of documents at maralago. President bidens situation also involves having classified documents in a place he wasnt supposed to have them. Doesnt mean the two things are the same, right . So far what we know, it appears, is biden and his Team Immediately cooperated, returned what they werent supposed to have. That is certainly not the case from the facts we know about former President Trump. I think the big question for this Special Prosecutor will be, how did the documents get there . Was this an accident . And the question of timing. When did they in fact turn them over as soon as they found out about them . And when time a lapsed between when they knew about this and the november election. You could argue if you had a partisan view of this, President Biden and democrats and im sure the Special Prosecutor will be thinking about the implications of the timing as he does his work. Karen, whats your view of all this . Ill remind viewers you have extensive experience dong this work, often behind the scenes. What do you see here . I agree with all of the comments that were just made. Politically theres timing. In terms of the criminal probe youre looking at things like and its 18 usc, 1924 is the statute. If youre looking criminally you have to follow the facts in the law. How did the documents get there. Were they on purpose . It always turn on intent. But thats very different than the points youve made ari about what was the timing of when it was discovered. I see things very different factually, but theres still the problem in the United States right now is youve got to handle both probes fair will and i got to let the public know whats going on. Whether that makes a difference to the public, well find out. Build on your point, you said about what you see factually. These type of things always turn on intent and the statute requires you to knowingly remove without authorization and retain it without authorization. You have to show, how did the documents get there . Did anybody do it on purpose . When youre leaving obviously theres some documents you can take. There should be a solid review you dont take classified documents. How did they get in there . Did anybody know what was put in there . What individuals, once they go to bidens office and residence were they looked at . Those are all questions that have to be answered by the independent counsel. I appreciate you raising all. That thats important. Karen lets take a listen to how the president publicly addressed all this. They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in Storage Areas and File Cabinets in my home and my personal library. Department of justice was immediately notified, and the lawyers arranged for the department of justice to take possession of the document. Karen, thats one of several assertions or claims, that this now special counsel will investigate. Tell us a little bit about what that entails and if they find things that for example, they want to fact check whether biden officials or some other individual or person might have had, as you said, the wrong intent. Well, you have to look into, what was the process . Seems to me if i were run an investigation what was the process to how the documents left . What was the review . When you leave the government there should be review of anything that you take. Was it open . Who oversaw it . Did anybody do it . How did the documents get discovered . Ive only looked at whats in the public arena, which said it was bidens lawyers that notified archives that they had them, which is different than the other probe were looking at. But there is a process for classified documents. Was it followed . If it was followed, was there any intent and knowledge involved in how the documents got there . We all need to clean this up. But either way, classified documents should not end up in these places. Sure. Makes sense. Here we are a few minutes into the report. We showed the facts, the statements. I tried to tell everyone how it works. Heard how it works from two experts. Emily, i want to go to the next question. Which is, can we talk turkey here for a second . Are you ready . Sure. Lets talk turkey. Youre a legal journalist. Im somewhat of a legal journalist. You have Justice Department having open special counsel probes into the current and former president , both who are slated to run for the white house again going with the months into the what will then be the traditional political calendar. If were going to talk turkey, is this not wild . For viewers who say, gosh, ari, you seem busy. Is it our imagination that there seems to be more of both legal squabbles and news in the sures you had to absorb this . I wonder, with that bigger picture, what your thoughts are, emily . I think this is pretty wild. Also means a scandal that seemed limited to former President Trump is now in some way, shape, or form, however different, also inflicting President Biden. And you said earlier, and i think youre right, nobody wants to hear theyre the target of a special counsel. Thats not good news. On the other hand i do think the hope the Biden Administration has of truly differentiating bidens conduct from trump, assume theyre telling the truth, that hope is actually furthered if the special counsel investigating biden issues a very different kind of report from the special counsel investigating trump. Right now what we have is taking President Biden and his lawyer at their word. And maybe thats true. But having an investigation that either credits or discredits them could actually be helpful politically depending on the outcome, of course, but thats how investigations roll. We dont know what theyre going to find at the outset. Im running out of time. Karen, with 30 seconds,u such a serious person. Youre an expert. I dont ask all the people the same way, but the question is, do you also think this is wild . I think its its just bizarre, absolutely. And what im hoping is i agree this could be a good thing, but whatever they do, they have to do it quickly. You know, i think the public needs to know quickly. It cant drag on and on, and to thats to me is for the benefit of the country. Yeah. Okay. All right. So its not our imagination. Karen, emily, my thanks to both of you. Right now, our shortest break. We turn to the other special counsel probe with real news about heat on Trump Officials and kevin mccarthy, seeming to want to go along with the lies of a noname rookie. Why . Were back in a minute. Were back in a minute for the first time ever, tonight we can report the Justice Department of the United States has distinct and separate empowered special counsels probing a current and former president , who are both slated to run for president in 2024. Special counsel smith is probing the possible crimes for both classified document issues and the insurrection that relate to trump and or his aides, and having report on the news on the biden front, it happens that in this story, set of stories i was discussing with our experts, we have brand new reports coming out about this probe. Take a look. Smith obtaining secret files from the January 6th Committee It Thath not released to the public, which is interesting considering the report aimed at releasing more rather than less and plenty of stuff in the addendums, including voluminous transcripts. So what they held back could be sensitive. There are many leads, one is doj seeking more information on the Voting Machine Companies trump targeted in his plot, and theyre doing that under the force of law with these new subpoenas. Ill tell you more about the subpoenas in a mink but the whole thing about the Voting Machines could include the lies and Conspiracy Theories to the actual efforts to steal or seize them illegally, which Trumps White House lawyer blasted under oath. The idea the federal government could come in and seize election machines and let i dont understand thats a terrible idea. He said terrible idea. Hes a careful lawyer. The doj is not currently looking at whether its terrible. Thats not their job. Theyre looking at whether its criminal, and thats one of the leads. Special counsel also wants more evidence across the board. Hes looking at trump lawyers, donors, fundraisers, ellipse, Voting Machines, and the elector scheme. Theyre also following the money according to the washington post. Theyre pressing people in trumps orbit to reveal if anyone other than themselves are paying were legal representation. Its legal, you can have someone else fund it, they just want to know who it is and that helps them understand. Theyre also looking at the election defense fund. They want to see if he took money from trump supporters. The doj wants more evidence on the false elector. The committee famously broke ground, and best we can tell was ahead of doj prosecutors with its early scrutiny of those plots and then gathering eyewitness testimony, not hearsay, from none other than the chair of the Republican Party who was installed by trump, as she said, donald trump himself was in on setting up that plot. What did the president say when he called you . Essentially he turned to call over the mr. Eastman who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the rnc helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed their result. That is the head of the party, picked by trump, dropping a dime on him, saying, yeah, you know that plot that was probably illegal . The elector fraud . How did i get involve . The president call med and forced me on the phone with john eastman. Theyre saying the jury is accelerating its activity, talking to witnesses both high and low level. This is the other big game in town, and as ive told you before, the facts and the potential crimes and the insurrection part of it are much more significant than the classified document part, and thats before you even goat all of the new swirl of pressure on the doj to resolve what are two different but to many people overlapping classified document cases. With this much public evidence on this many crimes, even short of the insurrection offense, the question is, will Special Counsel Smith take any action . We have a lot more coming up tonight when you look at the d. C. Chaos. We have someone whos been inside the congress, barbara boxer. And coming up, George Santos spending time with matt gaetz. As we sometimes say around here, but why . Well, it was Steve Bannons internet show. Does that clarify. Well get into it next. L get int just till they taste what weve got [ tires squeal, crash ] when owning a Small Business gets real, progressive gets you right back to living the dream. Now, where were we . [ cheering ] vo with verizon, you can now get a private 5g network. So you can do more than connect your business, you can make it even smarter. Now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. 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These are absolutely huge lies which of course mr. Santos admitted, meaning theyre no longer in the era of contested debatable things. Theyre things he had to cough up and admit he lied about. Hes the scandal riddled republican freshman from new york. He lie about where we went to school, work, family origins, religion. Hes now facing new questions about an Unregistered Fund that apparently raised money for him, and questions about the source of his own money. He faces multiple investigations. And there are members of congress in his own party in his own state that means they share the same delegation who decided to come out and draw a line and say, if he can not explain this stuff, he should resign now. Santos is not doing. That he has become sort of bad famous in washington. I can tell you most freshman dont get this kind of press retinue, if you will, kind of a tmz for liars. George santos is trying to flip it into his own immediate yam he went to the steve bannon podcast to talk to not even a friendly member of the socalled media, but just to another member of congress, guest host, republican matt gaetz. I could ask you what its like to be an embattled congressman, but i kind of know a little bit about that seat. George, youve heard just there congressman des to see toe calling for you to resign, Nick Langworthy also has. Its their prerogative. I came here to serve people, not politicians and party leaders. I was elected by 142,000 people. Until those same 142,000 people tell me they dont want me, well find out in two years. Again, thats a process defense. Other scandal ridden politicians have made the same point, that they cant just be drummed out by colleagues, politicians as he put it or some vague moving standard that if theyre not legally ejected theyll wait till the next election. You have mccarthy who had his own problems with mr. Gaetz, the guest host. Apparently he doesnt want to deal with the santos thing, doesnt want to stay neutral, but the questions are not evaporating. Have you made any decision how youre going handle George Santos . No, but ill tell you when we do. What are the charges against him . Is there a charge against him . In America Today youre innocent until proving. Guilty. Youre referring to jarj santos. Hes got a long way to go to earn trust. We bring in someone whos ran a party and all the different members, which does involve balancing, former dnc chair, vermont governor, howard dean. Nice to be on. Thanks. Nice to have you. I want to be proportionate. If this is a random, aberrant thing, one person in one district, so be it. As i mentioned when you ran the dnc im sure we could have found some democrat you can official at some level of government you would be asked about. However, if this is a point where the bar is so low that leaders of the Republican Party we credit new york officials who are different cant even say the obvious, that this kind of rampant lying is a problem, maybe it is. Where do you come down . This is really a reflection as much on mccarthy as it is on santos. Its interesting to think about the republican speakers, the last few republican speakers. Most of them were very weak speakers. Mccarthy may take the cake as being the weakest speaker, so he doesnt dare say anything. I think mccarthy will only do something about this when the damage from santos gets too intolerable. For the new york delegation it already has. This is their backyard, and thats going to cost them. It hasnt gotten intolerable yet for mccarthy, because mccarthy basically has no backbone, and as long as he can coninterpreter himself where they doesnt think he has to do something about this, he wont. Eventually he will, and thats going to happen when a criminal indictment comes because a this 100,000 mystery contribution he got which could very well have been from a foreign country, which is completely illegal. As you know governor, because i know a little by about vermont, from politics to yoga, if you have no backbone, you can stretch more, right . Mollusks can do downward dog with the best of them. But in the analogy you draw, its worse if we want some backbone from leaders. Were not talk about some superbig ask. Kevin mccarthy is supposed to have a powerful job. How hard is it to say, we dont truck with lies. Thats concerning. But democracy will have its day. I understand the due process point. Due process doesnt mean youre innocent. It means theres a process beforeu demmed guilty. I get. That mr. Santos has owe longer record. I want to lack at his rise briefly with you, look at where he was not this cycle but last cycle going into the election where, he was trying to get more fame or clout than he otherwise would the kids call that clout chasing, and its not cool as you may know, governor, but chasing clout rather than doing real stuff, and thats how he was rising prejan 6th with statements i think with very concerning. Take a look. They did to me what they did to donald j. Trump they stole my election. Who here is ready to overturn the election for donald j. Trump . Governor. Yeah. Well, look, i hate to be cynical about this, but the longer this guy is around, the better it is for the Democratic Party, but the longer this guys around, the worse it is for the United States of america. If mccarthy had one part of a spine, which he doesnt seem to have, he would do whats right for the country. As i said, there was a long success of weak republican speaker, but some of them you could respect. I respect paul ryan. His instincts were decent. He just got run over by the right wing. Mccarthy doesnt have to get run over by the right wing. He just get put under their thumb, and now he is in dutch to the right wing, and hes got a big problem. This is an example of the problem. So, you know, this is going to go on for quite some time, and its going to cost the democrats excuse me, its going to cost the republicans probably some seats because this is not going to stop just in George Santoss district. Yeah. Final question for you. You mentioned the politic of that. Matt gaetz on paper got more than a back bench young congressman like him usually would get. Got exposure and is trying to do the bannon thing. On the flipside theres a report in bloomberg he is officially i dont know how they calculate Something Like this the most hated man in congress. Youre someone willing to take criticism. In your case it was didnt always hurt you. In the long run, a politician has to be more than just creating conflict and criticism as a brand, though. Well, its a hard question to ask. I wouldnt say there was i would say there was a fairly large difference between running a president ial campaign to move the Democratic Party in the direction its supposed to be going in and matt gaetz, who as far as i can tell, is a nobody. If it wasnt a fourvote difference, nobody would have heard of matt gaetz other than his potential prosecution, which doesnt look like its going anywhere. I put matt gaetz in the category of Bomb Throwing and not a serious legislator. I think the taxpayers in his district certainly arent getting their moneys worth. Fair. Fair and concise. We would question at a certain point whether you were a politician given your concision. Governor, thanks for being here. Thank you. We have a lot lor coming up. At least contrast between the news we started the show with and what donald trump is facing. 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Well, the stock is bubbling in the pot just till they taste what weve got [ tires squeal, crash ] when owning a Small Business gets real, progressive gets you right back to living the dream. Now, where were we . [ cheering ] now, where were we . I had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. C call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. We will help get you the best result possible. Call one eight hundred, Eight Million when a truck hit my car, the insurance companyed, wasnt fair. Eight million i dididt t kn whahatmy c caswa, so i called the barnes firm. Im rich barnes. Its hard for people to k how much their Accident Case is worth. H barnes. T ouour Juryry Aorneneys Hehelpou happy new year. We still doing that . You always have to question when around the office you start saying it. It is still the new year season, which does mark new governments. Republicans in the house famously struggled to pick a leader, and also around the nation, even if it has not drawn as much energy as the chaos you saw on your screen. At the very time an elected Supreme Court gutted 50 year of precedent of womens rights, i can tell you the public continues to push a womens wave in leadership, which is our story right now. Voters diversifying congress. And for the first time ever, tonight 1 out of 4 of the nations governors are women. Thats the most at one time in american history. If you havent heard about it, welsh its big news, so were going to get into it right now. Remember, for most issues from schools to taxes to crime, its governors who have the most power in peoples lives. Governors also tend to be in line for the big party spots as a running mate or president ial candidate. One of these candidates might be making more history in the future. In the governors race, democratic encumbent Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been reelected. Tonight you made your voices heard loud and clear. You made me the first woman ever elected to be the governor of the state of new york. Republican encumbent governor is projected to have been reelected as the governor of alabama. I know it will be the honor of a lifetime to serve as arkansas 47th governor and the first female governor the state after arkansas has ever had. This is a big deal. Some of the results suggest that voters attitudes are continuing to shift. Some states are putting a woman at the helm for the first time, that includes oregon and massachusetts, which elected the first gay women as the states governors. The prior record was nine Women Governors ruling or governing at one time. Every state holds equal weight, but these Women Leaders are at the helm of states where more people live. Many countries of course have already chosen owe elected women heads of state. Because of the Electoral College, the u. S. Has not hit that milestone, although we should remember, more voters backed a Woman Candidate in 2016 than the man on the tick, donald trump, who won through the Electoral College while losing the votes. Its also a major shift from as recently as the 80s, which we checked, that was a time when over 80 of voters said they were not ready to elect a woman president. Thats according to a nbc poll. Democrats are largely driving these shifts. Theyre at least the first mover. And as i tell you tonight, were in this historic period. Twothirds of governors are democrats. We showed you what happened in arkansas briefly where they elected the daughter of a former governor, Trump Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders. She is the states first woman governor. Her deputy also a woman. You take itting to, and what were seeing here is the kind of story you might read about as a trend piece or in History Books some day, but this is happening in front of us, and its as important as the high jinx or chaos on the house floor. It is a shift of whos in charge and who wields power, and in a democracy and how we understand how anyone, if we get towards equality, can and should, if elected, be able to wield Power William that in mind, we turn to someone who was a pioneer in this space, democratic senator of california, barbara boxer. She and Dianne Feinstein were the first female senators to represent a state in american history. Welcome back. Thank you so much, ari. You can see why we thought of you. Im sure we arent the only ones. Many people in california would. What does it mean to america to hit this milestone to have this many states run with a Chief Executive who happens to be a woman, and Where Do We Go From Here . I see it as a very slow but steady march toward equality. We have a very, very, very long way to go. We have about 25 now of elected leaders. When you count the senator, house, and governorships, who are women. This is big. This is good. But honestly, given the fact that women make up 51 of the population, were still turing our back on so many qualified women. Here in california, weve never had a female governor, believe it or not. We do have a female lieutenant governor. But i want to make a point you may be too young to remember when i went to the senate, it was 1992. And you referenced Senator Finestein and i becoming the first women elected from a state to the senate. It was really quite an honor and a thrill, and it was a very, very tough race everyone called that the year of the woman. Oh, it was the year of the woman. We were on the morning show, the night show, talking about the year of the woman. Well, we did triple the number in the United States senate, ari, but we went from 2 to 6. 6 out of 100. So were still in the senate 25 out of 100. Great. But thats 31 years ago that we went from 2 to 6. I say its a slow march. We have to do more and faster. What would you say the governor Huckabee Sanders . Congratulations. And . And fight for womens rights now that youre there. You know, dont turn your back on women and try to criminalize us if we want to take care of our own health care. But i wish all these governors well. And i think theyll do best if they really think about the everyday problems that families have, including women. And put that foot forward instead a their party. I mean, i look, i want to make a point here. I have never said that women are better, ever in my life. I have only said that we are equal. And you can look around and see some women in the congress that i dont think are carrying the banner of women very well. Thats my own view. Other people can disagree. But were equal, which means we should be equal in numbers. It just makes that much sense. It is a thrill to see these governorships, though, because one of the big prejudices i faced by whole life i won my first race in 1976 for local government was women really cant be an executive. U just youre too emotional, especially at certain times of the month. Youre not you know, crazy stuff. And, you know, oh, you have kids . Then youre abandoning them. And if you dont have kids, whats wrong with you. Literally, i had experiences you will not believe i knocked on one door and said, i hope youll vote for me. Im barbara boxer. And a woman says, i cant vote for you. Two reasons. One, youre too short. Number two i swear. I said, i cant help that. She says, number, two youre abandoning your four children. I said, i only have two children. She had an absolute fight with me at the door of her house. I says, lady, i dont know if youve ever given birth, but if you have, you dont forget how many times. I mean, these are the crazy things, honestly, that i went through. Looking back, you had to brush it off with a sense of humor. But behind me, you see a book i wrote a million years ago called strangers in the senate, and that was yeah, you can see it now. The poster. Thats what they called the house members who walked up the steps to complain about Clarence Thomas in the anita hill debacle. And honest to god, the person who represented Senator Mitchell looked at us we were ten women in the house. Between us, we had more than 100 year of experience, and they said, we dont let strangers in the senate caucus. Thats why this book is strangers in the is that the. Wow, i didnt know thats why it was the title. Crazy times. But were getting better. Im so glad were marking this. Im supposed to fit in a break now. Glad you mentioned strangers in the senate. Now we know the back story. And as you said, we marked it. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is welcome to come on as well. I look forward to the next time we see you. Barbara boxer, thank you. Thank you. Were going to fit in a break. When we come back, the big fact check. Stay with us. H us skreward anals help make trading feel effortless. And its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market love you. Have a good day, behave yourself. Like she goes to work at three in the afternoon and sometimes gets off at midnight. She works a lot, a whole lot. We dont get to eat in the early morning. We just wait till we get to the school. So, yeah. Right now here in america, millions of kids like victoria and andre live with hunger, and the need to help them has never been greater. When you join your friends, neighbors and me to support no kid hungry, youll help hungry kids get the food they need. If we want to take care of our children, then we have to feed them. 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The other special counsel, jack smith, is probing two things. The insurrection and trumps handling of classified documents. Trump had returned 15 boxes of documents but stands accused of basically misleading the doj through his team. He was subpoenaed to hand over the rest. They basically thought they were knowingly hiding material. Fbi official went down to maralago to basically do what they dont usually do to other folks in the situation, which is to say, hey, please give them back. Defiance continued and the feds executed that rare and assertive Search Warrant for lawful seizure of those documents. By contrast, the same attorney general, same sort of willingness to go get the documents, has not gone anywhere near that kind of action. Biden has publicly said theyre fully cooperating. The doj has not resisting that claim. And certainly, as far as we know, has not gone to get a Search Warrant, which takes an independent layer of approval. Its one of the contrasts we have seen and well continue to follow both cases. Now, i want to tell you we had a very busy news day. Juggling things with the special counsel announcement. Im always interested in your views. You can connect with me at arimelber. Com. I have heard just this week from some of you about everything from Cameron Crowe to stories you want us to cover or on social media at ari melber. Thanks as always for spending time with us on the beat. The reidout with joy reid is up after this break. Ot [ tires squeal, crash ] when owning a Small Business gets real, progressive gets you right back to living the dream. Now, where were we . [ cheering ] meet leon the third. Leon the second. And leon. The first of them all. Three generations, who all bank differently with chase. Leons saving up for his first set of wheels. Nice try. Really . This leons paying for his paint job on the spot. 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