First americans started to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Also today, the most radical attorney general since the watergate era, when one attorney general went to prison, today trump attorney general william barr finally resigned, or was fired. Hard to tell. All of those things happened in one day. A vaccine, a new president and Vice President , and the northbound of a southbound attorney general william barr. How was your day . All at once. Everything happens all at once. In just a moment, we will be speaking here with the Incoming White House chief of staff. President elect biden tonight gave a big, serious speech on the occasion of the electors meeting in the various states and officially casting their ballots to make biden and harris officially the president and Vice President elect. Ron klain is going to join us live in just a moment to talk about that speech from president elect biden and also to talk about this historic moment that we got to see play out live today all over the country. I never thought i would burst into tears watching a ups driver go up a loading dock ramp with a hand truck but that happened to me more than once today. All over the country today, nearly 150 sites received their first doses of corona vaccine today. 145 sites got it today. Another 425 sites are going to get their first doses of vaccine tomorrow. A few dozen more sites will receive their first doses on wednesday. It is rolling out, and we saw today highly at risk Frontline Health providers getting the first doses of the vaccine. Nurses and doctors who work in covid icus. Even as we saw those first shots administered today to those frontline heroes, the white house was apparently embarrassed enough yes, apparently its possible. The Trump White House was apparently embarrassed enough today by reporting this weekend that Trump White House staff would jump the line and get vaccinated before everybody else they were embarrassed enough by that reporting this weekend in the New York Times that they climbed down from that plan and publicly announced that at least, okay, most white house staff will not jump the queue. Just astonishing that they even tried to get away with that. Almost as astonishing that they were embarrassed enough to change the plan when it was exposed to sun light. Hey, look, shame. The National Priority populations for access to the vaccine are, for a very good reason, health care workers, who we need to stay alive so they can keep the rest of us alive. Also people who live and work in longterm care facilities like nursing homes. Those are the americans most at risk of dying. Those are the locations where americans are most vulnerable not only for getting the virus but for dying from it, right . Those are the priorities. Frontline Health Providers and people in longterm care facilities, people who live and work there. White house staffers fit neither of those categories, but they tried it until they got called out on it. Now theyve walked that back. I mean then again, you know, its not just supposed to be the president s friends who get access to super expensive, super rare, monday cloenl antibody treatments when they get covid, right . The protocol for the distribution of those super rare, super expensive treatments is not just supposed to be people who the president can call on his cell phone, but thats how that worked out so far. So maybe they thought they could get away with having white house staffers jump the queue. To showcase just how much the administration is prioritizing the fight against the virus even now, it is tomorrow night that secretary of state mike pompeo is hosting a Holiday Party at the state department, an indoor Holiday Party that has a guest list of 900 people all in one room tomorrow night at the state department. Thats how serious they are about this thing. Today on the day the first vaccines were administered in this country, the Trump National security adviser, Robert Obrien, was off on a european and mediterranean junket. Robert obrien had a meeting overseas today to be followed by some lovely and ambitious sightseeing time in paris and in london and in rome, and then hes going to tel aviv. It is a taxpayerfunded trip, but as first reported by axios, National Security adviser Robert Obrien has brought his wife on this trip. It sounds like its going to be romantic and amazing. Their itinerary reportedly includes a private tour of the louvre, the Louvre Museum in paris, even though the louvre is closed to the public because of covid. Nevertheless he pulled some strings so he could get his wife in there, and thats the junket that hes on right now. Thats how the National Security adviser is spending Coronavirus Vaccine dday. Oui cest bon. Multiple veterans homes in multiple states reporting dozens of deaths in single facilities among elderly veterans. Well, today, on Coronavirus Vaccine dday, multiple American Veterans groups are calling for the resignation or the firing of trump v. A. Secretary robert wilkie. This after the Inspector General told Justice Department federal prosecutors that wilkies behavior may have crossed the line to unconscionable to potentially criminal when he female veteran who made a Sexual Assault allegation. 37 days left, right . On the pace of scandal that the Trump Administration has maintained from the beginning, honestly, 37 days is plenty of time for them to have another cabinet official resign in disgrace or get fired or arrested or maybe all three. I mean 37 days . How many more cabinet scandals might break open . How many more people might resign in disimmigratigrace . I mentioned at the top of the show, attorney general william barr is out tonight. Were going to have reaction from a former senior Justice Department and fbi official who has been one of William Barrs most potent critics. But i should also note and, you know, this may turn out to be just a coincidence, but just before we got word that william barr was resigning tonight, we also learned about the resignation of the first trumpappointed u. S. Attorney as well. U. S. Attorneys, of course, dont serve for fixed terms. They can quit whenever they want. But the resignation tonight of craig car fee tow, who is the trump appointed u. S. Attorney in new jersey, hes the first u. S. Attorney to quit since the election. And it is a little bit weird for a u. S. Attorney to quit during a lame duck. He was also part of the scheme that attorney general william barr cooked up in sdny. You might remember this summer there was a big scandal when william barr tried to sort of vards quietly nudge out and then force out the u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york. It was carpenito, the new jersey u. S. Attorney, who bill barr wanted to install instead as a temporary leader in charge of sdny when he was trying to fire u. S. Attorney geoff berman there. This all fell apart when u. S. Attorney geoff berman pushed back on what barr was trying to do. He went public with what barr was trying to do. He wouldnt go quietly. He insisted it would be his own deputy at sdny who would take charge at that office, not some guy barr was bringing in from the outside. Again, carpenito resignation announced tonight just minutes before we learned that barr is also resigning. It may just be a coincidence, but barr is out, as is the guy that barr used in that sort of hit job where he was trying to decapitate sdny, while, it should be noted, sdny was reportedly investigating the president s lawyer, rudy giuliani. I mean untangling the mess left behind by bill barr at the Justice Department and the way he blatantly, brazenly used the Justice Department to serve the president personally, to settle political scores for the president , to go after the president s enemies, to protect the president s friends, wading in personally to multiple u. S. Attorneys offices to stop or to derail prosecutions or sentencing that was potentially going to pose a threat to the president in terms of the president s own criminal exposure i mean unraveling all of this stuff is going to be its going to be a lifetimes work in terms of the amount of mess that he was able to create inside the storied department of justice. But as of tonight, barr is out. So long, farewell, auf veeder sane, good night. Some some republican u. S. Senators are now finally acknowledging that president elect biden is president elect. People like missouri senator roy blunt, who now says, quote, we have gone through the constitutional process, and the electors have voted. So theres a president elect, by which he means its biden. And senator john thune of south dakota, who said, quote, at some point you have to face the music. And i think once the Electoral College settles the issue today, its time for everybody to move on. Senator Shelley Moore capito of West Virginia saying, quote, its time to turn the page and begin new administration. Republican joni ernst going the classy route saying, quote, i know for iowans its disappointing, but the process is what it is. It is what it is. And this year the process was weird and threatening at every turn, especially today as the electors met in their various states and in the District Of Columbia to cast their electoral votes to officially make biden and harris president and Vice President elect. Today was weird and threatening in terms of the way the process goes because of how President Trump and the Republican Party have handled themselves since the election. I mean this was the start of the day today in michigan. This was a radio interview conducted by protrump republican state representative by the name of gary eisen. Listen. You cant keep me from going into the capitol on official business. They cant do that, okay . So if they do that today, then were simply going to move our event to a different location and proceed what were going to do today. And whats that . What event are you planning . Whats that again . What event are you referring to . It will be all over the news later on. This sounds dangerous, gary, and im not kidding around. It is dangerous. I was warned there is going to be violence, theres going to be protest. And they asked me if i would assist today, and i said, you know what . How can i not . Who asked you to gary, who asked you to assist, and what kind of assistance are you providing . Okay. Originally it was to support and escort certain members in and out of the capitol, okay . And i cant go into a lot of it, but and i was asked to do that. And i said, yeah. Were talking to state representative gary eisen. Im concerned about violence today in lansing. I understand your passion about this. A lot of people are passionate about it. Can you assure me this is going to be a safe day in lansing, nobodys going to get hurt . No. All right. I dont know because what were doing today is uncharted. It hasnt been done. Its not me doing it. Its the michigan its the youre part of it. Its the michigan party. Youre part of it. Im just here to witness. Well, you said you were asked to help and participate. Well, help as far as they said supporting, being there, and that kind of stuff. Showing that i support what theyre doing, so all right. Theres more to it than what i can say right now. Can you assure me that nobodys going to get hurt . No. No, i cant. No, i cant. They told me theres going to be violence. They told me theres going to be protests. They asked if i would assist today. I said yes. Can you assure me nobodys going to get hurt . No. Its not just me. Its the whole michigan Republican Party. Its michigan republicans. Were going to the capitol, and, yeah, were expecting violence, and im not saying nobodys going to get hurt. Thats an elected republican official in the state of michigan. That state representative after those remarks today was stripped of his committee assignments. He later apologized for his remarks and said they had been confusing. He says he did not go down to the capitol today. What did happen at the Michigan State capitol today was a group of republicans, including some other republican state representatives turning up at the door of the State Capitol, demanding to be let inside as electors even though the state of michigan chose the democratic slate to be its electors, not the republican slate when biden and harris won the election in michigan by more than 150,000 votes. Republicans in the state of michigan apparently really do not care. They turned up anyway. They want the states Electoral College votes to go to trump anyway. So today at the State Capitol, they wanted in. Per the capitol commission, per the governors house, per the speaker of the house, per the speaker of the senate, the capitol is closed were electors. Were electors. The electors are already here. Theyve been checked. Not all of the electors are inside. The capitol is closed. The gop electors im so y sorry. The capitol is closed. Michigan republicans trying to get in to the State Capitol today to cast electoral votes for trump as republican electors even though there is not a slate of republican electric torz in michigan because trump lost michigan, so theres a democratic slate of electors inside. Michigan today did have its real electors cast its real electoral votes. All 16 of them went for biden and harris, and that happened today officially and really. Just like all the states did that trump and his supporters have been raving about ever since biten and harris won them. Wisconsin cast its electoral votes for biden and harris today. Pennsylvania cast its electoral votes for biden and harris today. Georgia, arizona. But it did get weird. In arizona, i kid you not, republicans in arizona sent a forged certificate of ascertainment to the National Archives in washington pretending that they were the real electors from arizona and their votes for trump are real and should be counted by the United States senate. Literally they sent a forged document. This is from the Arizona Republic today. Quote, fake electors try to deliver arizonas 11 votes for trump. Heres the lede. An Arizona Group set the National Archives in washington, d. C. Notarized documents intended to deliver wrongly the states 11 electoral votes for President Trump. Mesa resident lori oziki, age 62, helped create a facsimile of the certificate of ascertainment that is submitted to formally cast each states electoral votes. She told the Arizona Republic, quote, we already turned it in. We beat them to the game. So the real electoral votes wont count because we sent in a fake set of them first. We were earlier. The actual arizona electors cast their votes for biden and harris today. And the fake republican electors and whatever they do it doesnt amount to anything legally, right . I mean legally, i suppose, its possible the consequence of that might be significant if they get charged with a crime, something having to do with forged government documents. But they werent real electoral votes. The real arizona electors today cast the real votes for arizona. They did have to meet at a secure, undisclosed location for safety reasons. Same thing was true in wisconsin. The real electors in wisconsin were told that they needed to come into the State Capitol through an unmarked side door in an obscure part of the State Capitol for their own safety. In michigan, one of the real electors, one of the democratic electors today turned up to cast her electoral vote. She wore a bulletproof vest for her own safety today. Republicans in georgia and republicans in wisconsin and republicans in pennsylvania all ceremonially cast fake electoral votes for donald trump today. The real electoral votes in all of those states were cast today for biden and harris, but republicans held ceremonial, like, fake pageants where they fakecast votes for donald trump just in case or because thats the world they want to live in, so theyre pretending those are the real votes. White house adviser Stephen Miller said in an interview today that multiple states where biden won will have alternate electors, alternate electors, who will pretend that trump won those states even though biden won those states because somehow they think having alternate, fake, republican states of electors from all these swing states, that will somehow help them when they try on january 6th to not count the electoral votes when they formally get conveyed to the u. S. Senate. I mean theyre working theyre working all these things, right . Theyve got their fake republican electoral slates all ready to go and doing stuff in states that biden won, so there arent any republican electors. I mean this is not Getting Better over time. Things are not Getting Better in terms of the republicans coming around to democracy as the way we decide things as a country. As the protrump, pseudolegal effort poops entirely, not just at the Supreme Court but everywhere, as the Electoral College votes cast in 50 states and d. C. Today as those Electoral College votes sealed the deal for biden, these stunts in all these states today, the forged documents, the pretend electors arguing with the state Police Captain that they must be allowed in the building to go cast electoral votes for trump i mean the hundreds of millions of dollars in fundraising theyre still doing on this fantasy, its really not Getting Better. It is getting worse, and elements of this movement and this fantastical trip into unreality are getting more unhinged and more dangerous. Meanwhile in the streets this weekend, theres this protrump sort of paramilitary gang roving around the streets of the capitol, brawling, drinking, attacking people in the street, right . Attacking and ripping down banners from historically black churches in washington, d. C. There really is a violent, protrump street movement, and theyre not getting any better either as the election fantasy substantively comes to an end, but these guys are coming nowhere near recognition of that. I mean four people were stabbed saturday night in washington, d. C. One person was shot on saturday in Washington State at these protests by protrump sort of quasi paramilitary neofascist groups that have no intention of accepting the biden harris election victory. Where does that go . Where does that end . Tonight president elect biden sort of called the question here for republicans and for what theyve been trying and for what it has led to already and for where they think this ends. The Trump Campaign brought dozens and dozens and dozens of legal challenges to test the result. They were heard again and again. And each of the times they were heard, they were found to be without merit. Time and again President Trumps lawyers presented arguments to state officials, state legislatures, state and federal cou courts, and ultimately to the United StatesSupreme Court twice. They were heard by more than 80 judges across this country and in every case, no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute the results. 17 republican attorneys general and 126 republican members of the Congress Actually they actually signed on to a lawsuit filed by the state of texas. That lawsuit asked the United StatesSupreme Court to reject the certified vote counts in georgia, michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. This legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the Supreme Court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million americans in other states and to hand the president to a candidate who lost the Electoral College, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse. Its a position so extreme, weve never seen it before. A position that refuses to respect the will of the people, refuses to respect the rule of law, and refuses to honor our constitution. Together Vice President elect harris and i earned 306 electoral votes, well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory. 306 electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes that donald trump and Vice President pence received when they won in 2016. Excuse me. At the time, President Trump called his Electoral College tally a landslide. By his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then, and i respectfully suggest they do so now. President elect biden speaking tonight. His Incoming White House chief of staff joins us live here next. Stay with us. Experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list sales event. Sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first months payment. Latonight, silence it with newd byzzzquil night pain. Because pain should never get in the way of a restful nights sleep. New zzzquil night pain. Silence pain, sleep soundly. But you can work out anything wowith comcast business. W. Get fast, reliable, and secure internet on the nations largest gig speed network. Flexible tools like wifi you control. Voice solutions that connect you from anywhere. And expert advice here, here, or even here. Be fast. Be flexible. Bounce forward with comcast business. Get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Switch today. On this historic day when the First Americans started receiving the first doses of the Coronavirus Vaccine, when we crossed the terrible threshold of 300,000 americans dead from the coronavirus as of today, when we just tonight hit a new record for the largest numbers of new cases in a single day ever, nbc news reporting just moments ago that there were 232,000 new infections reported just today. That is a new record for the largest number of infections ever reported in one 24hour period. On this day, the day that joe biden and Kamala Harris officially became president and Vice President elect, with the Electoral College votes being submitted today in all 50 states, i know it kind of feels like too much all at once. I know. But you can make yourself feel better about it with one neat trick. Imagine you had to be running the white house in a time like this. That would be impossible. Doesnt that make you feel better about your own responsibilities maybe . Joining us now is president elect bidens Incoming White House chief of staff ron klain. Mr. Klains was bidens chief of staff when he was Vice President , and he also was president obamas coordinator for ebola response. Mr. Klain, its great to see you. Thanks for making time for us on this historic day. Thanks for having me, rachel. For all of the things that are happening all at once, the thing that today will probably go down in history for first is that the first doses of the vaccine got into the First American arms today. Yeah. I just have to ask how both exciting and daunting that is for you as you prepare to take over. Well, you know, rachel, as you said, its both a great day and a horrific day on the front of the battle against covid. The first vaccination given is obviously a sign of hope. But the Record Number of cases today and the 300,000death mile tone is a reminder that were still in the middle of what will be a very, very, very dark winter. There are literally probably tens of thousands of deaths left before the end of the year and more deaths after that. And the saddest thing of all, rachel, is while were waiting for this vaccine to be deployed, manufactured, distributed, there are simple things we could do now that would radically change the course of this virus. All americans could wear masks. We could socially distance. We could wash our hands. We could do the things we need to do to bring this virus under control. The vaccine is hope. The vaccine is the end point. But full vaccination of the country is still months and months away, and its in our hands and in the hands of the government and washington, our leaders around the country to save lives between now and then. President elect biden has talked about sort of the coming crimps in the process, that he expects that there may be supply issues in coming months, in part because the Trump White House turned down the opportunity to get more doses than were getting. Yeah. He also talked about the fact that if congress doesnt act to fund Vaccination Efforts, were not actually funded for very long to carry out Vaccination Efforts around the country. Is it clear to you what the sort of decision points are, where we need to do policy things, legislation things, funding things in order to make this work as well as it can . Yeah, rachel. I think its pretty clear what needs to happen. First of all, Congress Needs to act this month to fund the vaccination effort thats going to unfold next year. The president likes to talk about the fact that weve bought a lot of vaccine, and that is a good thing. But we dont have enough vaccine yet to cover all the american people. And more importantly, we dont have the funding we need, probably as soon as february or march, to actually vaccinate people. Opening the vaccine is one thing, but getting it to people is an entirely different challenge. It has to be transported. It has to be distributed. Medical workers have to administer it to people, and we need special efforts to reach people in urban areas and in rural areas and places that arent covered verile by the existing health care system. We need special outreach workers to get the vax to people. Theres a lot of work to be done. Our Transition Team is busy planning that work that will start after january 20th, but Congress Needs to fund it now even before joe biden takes office. Ron, today as we watched the historic rollout of the first vaccine doses, were also watching the historic vote of the electors in the 50 states and the District Of Columbia all gathering to cast those official electoral votes. It is unnerving to have to report that there were armed Police Escorts for electors in multiple states, that there were multiple states in which the electors had to meet effectively in secret locations for their own safety, that we had fake republican slates of electors trying to present themselves, in one case, to the National Archives as if they were the real electors when they were not. Is this just noise to you, or do you see this as dangerous . Rachel, i think it was important for the president elect to address this directly tonight, to talk about the challenges to our democracy that have been posed over the six weeks since the election, that were posed today on a number of fronts. But i also think its important to take a moment and to thank all the people, including a lot of republican elected officials, who stood up for our democracy and who insisted that the will of the people be done. I mean, you know, that scene in michigan whi republican Election Officials all over the country stood by their counts, famously in georgia. We saw the harassment and intimidation of republican elected officials for trying to stand by the count. So i think, look, i think there are people who are launching an assault on our system. The system so far is working. It has held. I think tonight were not just celebrating the victory of joe biden and Kamala Harris, were celebrating a victory for democracy and getting these electoral votes cast the right way and in reaffirming that joe biden and Kamala Harris did win the election. Ron, are you at all worried that january 6th is going to be truly weird . I mean that is when the congress will gather to receive the electoral votes, to formally tally them, to basically put the period on the end of the sentence here. The white house is suggesting that theyre going to try to make that as difficult a process as possible, and it seems like some trump allies in congress, potentially even republican senators, may be willing to try to basically muck up that process at the end and make it not work. Are you prepared for that, or do you have expectations around that . Well, of course were prepared for that, rachel. Weve been prepared for every step in this process as its moved forward. Ive was heartened tonight to see a number of Senior Republicans come out tonight and joe biden and Kamala Harris had won. I think the dam broke on that tonight. We saw people who hadnt said anything before finally acknowledge this victory. So President Trump is going to be President Trump. He is not going to change. He hasnt changed in four years. He is not going to change in the final 36 days. But i think the system is working. Were getting towards that inauguration date on january 20th. Joe biden and Kamala Harris will be ready. Theyre picking a cabinet. Theyre setting their policies in place. Theyre doing their part, and i have confidence that on january 6th, the Electoral College tally will reflect the votes cast today making joe biden and Kamala Harris the next president and Vice President of the United States. Ron, i have one last question for you about just how unusual this lame duck period has been, this transition period has been. I mean the litany of things that have been weird and unprecedented, i could go on. But the latest one is the news tonight that attorney general william barr is resigning. It is not weird to know that hell be leaving washington. It is weird to know that hes going to be leaving washington essentially with three weeks left of the Trump Administration in office. I just have to ask your reaction to that news tonight. It did surprise me. I think its a bit of a surprise, a bit rumored, rachel, but, look, i think weird thinks happening at the trump Justice Department isnt news unfortunately. We know the president s treated the Department Like his personal law firm. We know he fired an attorney general, an acting attorney general. Hes done all kinds of strange things. All i can tell people is that that will change on january 20th. Were going to restore the independence and the intech rit of the Justice Department. Its going to be the peoples lawyer, not the president s lawyer. What happens between now and then, i have very little say over. But what happens starting january 20th, i can tell you joe biden is going to change the way the Justice Department has worked these past four years. Ron klain, Incoming White House chief of staff for president elect joe biden, officially president elect joe biden as of today with the Electoral College casting its votes. Ron, its great to see you. Good luck in the weeks ahead. Stay in touch. Thanks, rachel. Appreciate it. All right. Speaking of William Barrs resignation as attorney general, Andrew Weissmann, former Senior Member of special counsel robert muell muellers team, somebody who has been very and specifically critical of william barr at the helm of the Justice Department, Andrew Weissmann joins us next to get his reaction about barrs surprise resignation tonight. Well be right back. To the skin. Its formulated with vitamin b3 plus peptides and shea butter, providing lasting hydration, for up to 24 hours. Theres no need to reapply, and no greasy residue. And, for enhanced hydration, try olay serum. Just 1 drop has the power to renew a million surface skincells. For deep, lasting hydration try olay. These are difficult times. Hey. Stop little girl is lost. Friend. She needs taken home. I am taking her to her surviving family. Word is shes that captive out of wichita falls. How much you want for her . Shes not for sale. Dont hurt her she aint worth dying for. You cant have her captain. Im taking her home how to get their dishes as clean as possible. I tell them, you should try cascade Platinum Plus the power of oxi. Cascade platinum oxi breaks down food soils some detergents can leave behind, cleaning up to 99 of visible and invisible food residue then washing it away so it doesnt redeposit on your dishes. And oxi is cascades most powerful clean, formulated with no chlorine bleach. For a deep, hygienic clean you can see and feel cascade the power of oxi. Satchel paige was still dominating batters at 59. At 52 celia cruz was still winning grammys at 77 john wheeler illuminated our ideas of the universe at 70 and roger crouch was 56 when he first went into space your best is yet to come quote, i stiffened up behind the wheel. Something was very wrong. That was not, in fact, what our report said. Knowing the evidence inside and out, i found it inconceivable that attorney general william barr had digested our voluminous discussion of the facts and come away believing that the president had not obstructed justice. Barr could not have written what they said, i thought. But when our report would become public, it was obvious that barr had spun our findings for political gain at best and lied for the president at worst. I had seen an analogous dereliction of duty time and time again during my prosecutorial career, most notably in the failure of numerous financial watchdogs to prevent or at least blow the whistle on the corrupt leaders of the Enron Corporation as they pulled off one of the worlds most lucrative and destructive corporate frauds. But barrs complicit was far worse as it struck at americas core democratic architecture. That barr and his wife were personal friends of Robert Mueller and his family struck an especially painful chord. Barr had betrayed both friend and country. As bad as it was, William Barrs false public representation of the Mueller Report was just the start. Ba barr of court had only been at the Justice Department for a hot minute before he did that. Barr, of course, tried to throw out the case against trump Andrew Weissmann wrote about in his book where law ends, it started in bill barrs very first days at the Justice Department with him making a public porky pie, a big public lie about the content of the mueller investigation, which came as a shock to the people working on that investigation at the time that barr ambushed everybody with it. Joining us now is Andrew Weissmann, former Senior Member of special counsel Robert Muellers team. He served as fbi general counsel, former head of the criminal fraud section at doj. And his latest book is called where law ends inside the mueller investigation. Thats why we have that firstperson account of the initial shock what barr tried to do with that investigation. Its really nice to see you tonight. Thanks for making time. Nice to see you, rachel. What is your reaction to attorney general barrs resignation tonight . What i think about when i heard that he was resigning is i thought about the enormous number of career prosecutors who have had to resign under attorney general barrs watch. And, rachel, as you know, that does not happen under normal attorney generals, whether republican or democratic. As you recounted, when attorney general barr filed a motion to dismiss the flynn case, prosecutors resigned. When he filed a motion to reduce the sentence recommended for roger stone, another friend of the president , prosecutors resigned. When he appointed john durham to do an investigation of the investigators, the number two to john durham resigned. And then most recently when you had attorney general barr touting that mailin voting would somehow be fraudulent and admitting there was no evidence and then changing the department of Justice Policy on elections so that they could interfere sooner, again, career people resigned. I think the legacy of attorney general barr is going to be dismal, and i think there are numerous career people today who are really looking forward to a new administration. And that means an administration, whether it was biden or anyone else, but a president who is actually going to uphold the rule of law, which is absolutely central to our country and our democracy. There was a simultaneous announcement, the president telling us telling the public that barr was leaving and also that Deputy Attorney general jeff rosen will be taking over, at least in the interim, as acting attorney general. I dont know very much about Deputy Attorney general rosen. Most of what i know is unflattering in terms of public reporting, opensource reporting about the senior levels of the Justice Department under barr, including Deputy Attorney general rosen having leaned on prosecutors in various u. S. Attorneys offices about sensitive cases related to the president in ways that seemed likely to benefit the president. But, again, thats a very narrow slice. Do you have a reaction at all to the news that hell be at the helm, at least for these next few weeks . Well, its pretty typical for the Deputy Attorney general to take over. Its remarkable that jeff rosen has no criminal experience whatsoever and is really not a doj alum with any kind of experience in running the department. He was a friend of attorney general barr, and as you may recall, one of the very first things that he did when he took office, its small, but it shows the lack of respect for the rule of law, is he reached out and changed the location of where Paul Manafort would be housed. So while everyone else. Oh, god, yeah. When everyone else when they get brought up to new york to face charges has to go into state custody, nope. That was not going to be the right thing for a friend of the president even though every other prisoner is not treated that way. You know, that, to me, its a really small anecdote, but it is so telling because that is the real problem with this administration, which is the rule of law means people get treated the same who are in the same situation. It doesnt matter that youre a friend of the president or an enemy of the president. Theres still due process. Otherwise, we really become an autocratic regime, all the kinds of things that we see around the globe that we heretofore have tried to change and deplored, we have been emulating. So seeing attorney general barr go is something that, you know, its hard to not think of the word schadenfreude at this very moment where, you know, youre just waiting for january 20th to restore the department of justice to what it once was. Andrew weissmann, former Senior Member of special counsel Robert Muellers team, has had senior roles both at the Justice Department and the fbi. Andrew, thank you for being here tonight. Im really glad we could get you on the air tonight. Thanks. Nice to be here. All right. It is a historic day with all of these things happening at once. An attorney general resigning would normally be like a blow out everything kind of story. Its one of three stories we are covering tonight as well as the electoral formally making biden and harris president and Vice President elect and of course the first vaccine doses getting to the First Americans today. More on all of it ahead. Stay with us. Since youre heading off to school, i got you this brita. Dad. 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