across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late. i ll see you then tomorrow. you then tomorrow one of the many revelations to come out of the january six committees, was trump attorney general bill barr described in his own words how he pushed back against trump s claims of election fraud. he called those claims bogus, crazy stuff, and most notoriously complete bs despite the heroic headlines generated by barr s testimony, it is a good point to remember that barr did not say anything publicly debunking those same claims of election fraud until december 1st, which was nearly a month after the 2020 election. in fact, before his post trump rehabilitation tour, this was the bill barr we knew. what happened to the president in the 2016 election, and throughout the first two years of his administration, was a point. it was a grave injustice, and it was unprecedented in american history. the law enforcement and intelligence apparatus of this country who are involved in
mold of bill barr, quote, as he was drawn into barr s personal orbit, durham came to embrace that particular attorney generals intense feelings about the russia investigation. probably the most explosive revelation in the times piece is this, while on a foreign trip to europe, barr and durham received a credible tip linking donald trump to suspected financial crimes rather than assign it to a different prosecutor, perhaps someone less inclined to drink scotch with him, barr told durham to investigate it himself. quote, mr. durham never filed charges, and it remains unclear what level of an investigation it was, what steps he, took what he learned, and whether anyone at the white house ever found out. the extraordinary fact durham opened a criminal investigation that included scrutinizing trump has remained secret. the investigator who was supposed to be investigating, excuse the rough prince, the investigators, john durham, open a criminal inquiry into than president donald
dealing with just mistakes, or sloppiness. there s something far more troubling here. we re going to get to the bottom of it. i think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in american history. that is the bill barr we knew for the years of the trump administration. trump s attorney general spent the vast majority of his time as the head of the justice department, doing absolutely everything he could to cast doubt on the investigations into trump. he argued that doj and fbi institutions that he oversaw were somehow part of a deep state plot to overthrow president trump. to appease trump in 2019, barr appointed john durham, a career justice department prosecutor, to investigate the origins and intelligence committees investigation into trump and his 2016 campaign dealings with russia. right before the 2020 election, barr would promote durham to special counsel, protecting his work from any future doj s grasp. as barr promised, special counsel john durham did get to th
backing trump again in 2024. the new york times called, emailed, or texted all 168 rnc members, just four of them offered an unabashed endorsement of mr. trump s 2024 campaign. 20 said the former president should not be the party s nominee. an additional 35 said they would like to see a big primary field or declined to stake their position on mr. trump, and other major did not respond to messages. new phone, who this? the move away from trump comes as the party is being roiled by an internal battle between is trump-supporting ronna mcdaniel, and the conservative challenger named harmeet dhillon. tomorrow, the rnc will hold an election for its chairmanship and though mcdaniel is expected to win that election and remain in her current role, she s facing surprisingly strong challenge from her meet dhillon who managed to earn the backing of leading movement conservatives like matt gaetz and tucker carlson. just today, dhillon picked up her most important .
only 170 votes, three from each state, and another 18. that is the official. they don t like outsiders. as you saw in the new york times, they want a change. so, you know, it s not impossible that harmeet upsets this thing, but it would be a shocker. now, desantis has made it a proxy battle in a smaller way between him and trump. i can t figure out the smart move for him here. now, if ronna, who starts with more support, is able to hang on, that is a win for trump at a time when his new york times showed us the rnc, a bunch of those members that used to be hard-core trump all the way, are now looking for something new. what i don t get, and i mean, i don t there is a lot of reporting on this, about the way in which ronna mcdaniel romney, i ve got to say romney, i know she wants me to, ronna mcdaniel is being blamed for the parties losses, the hill says some republicans called for mcdaniel to step down as