the white house and justice is delayed? i could. i don t want to, but i could. i mean, it s a crazy world that donald trump has dragged this country into, but he could be wearing an ankle bracelet while accepting the nomination at the republican convention. former fbi director jim comey describing a very real scenario as trump lawyers meet with the doj. and with the grand jury in the classified documents case set to meet this week. also, if trump is indicted, what are the national security ramifications when trump inevitably asks his maga faithful to avenge him? also tonight, aj owens was a loving mother of four. friday night, she was shot dead in ocala, florida. the sheriff calls it a neighborhood feud. but the family says it was a completely unjustified shooting, and they are demanding justice. members of the owens family join me tonight for their first interview. we begin the reidout tonight with what could prove to be a consequential week in the special counsel s i
good morning. happy new year. welcome to a special new year s day edition of morning joe. we re on tape this morning with some of our top, recent conversations. we begin with a discussion about donald trump s increasing use of authoritarian language in his speeches and social media posts. in recent months, trump has repeated fascist rhetoric, including saying immigrants are, quote, poisoning the blood of our country, and referring to his political enemies as vermin. we pledge to you that we will root out the communists, marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. the threat from outside forces is sinister, dangerous, and grave, more than the threat from within. donald trump echoing the words of 20th century authoritarians at a rally earlier this month. joining us now, national affairs analyst john heilemann. special correspondent at vanity fair and host of the fast politics podcast, molly jong-fast. and co
the countdown to the caucuses is on. donald trump is still far and away the favorite. the question is, could anything shake up the race between now and caucus day? plus, with just a few days to go until another it january 6th anniversary for the attack on the capitol, we will look at some republican still trying to rewrite history. also today, my one-on-one conversation with officer harry dunn, who defended the capitol, and our democracy on january 6th. later, with so much to be concerned about in 2024, there s also so many reasons to be excited. at the top of my list, the olympic games in paris. i will introduce you to do to paralympians, her most some of the most inspiring people i ve talked to all year. as we ring in 2024, i just want to take a moment to talk about with this next year has in store. we have a little bit more than two weeks left until the official kickoff until the presidential race. that s when republican caucus goers in iowa cast the first votes in the
4:00 in new york with the skies above us are hazy from those canadian wildfires. we are all under air quality warnings. we re going to get to that story later in the broadcast. but we begin with what is shaping up to be a white knuckle day for the disgraced twice impeached now indicted legally liable for sex abuse ex-president thank foss fast-moving developments in special counsel jack smith s investigations, plural, into donald trump. today, a federal jury in miami is back in action hearing witness testimony as part of the special counsel s investigation into whether the ex-president mishandled classified documents. or obstructed government efforts to retrieve those documents after leaving office. and it was not just any witness, it was one of trump s closest aides. a former trump spokesman who have as super pac. saying that prosecutors weres partially interested in taylor budowich, after sending boxes of material from his private home to the national archives, trump left a
legal analyst. of course, the one and only, rick wilson, cofounder of the lincoln project, republican media strategist. welcome to all of you. he is also the author of run against the devil, a plot to save america from trump and democrats from themselves. i love that one. so, barbara, let s start with you. will the supreme court be forced to weigh in on trump s ballot eligibility? i think that s the driving question right now. i think so. i don t know how they dodged this. in light of the fact that we have seen different opinions now coming out of different states. i think, ultimately, there is a risk that we get this patchwork of eligibility that s different in all 50 states. even that each state gets to decide procedurally how they handle ballot questions, the substance of who is eligible is really a question for the u.s. supreme court interpreting the 14th amendment, it s a question. i think most people expect that the court might find some procedural off-ramp to avoid a