investigations into the disgraced ex-president is where we start today with some of our most favorite reporters and friends. jackie alemany is here, washington post congressional investigations reporter, also joining us, alan wiseman, senior member of robert mueller s special counsel investigation, and former cia director, john brennan is here. they re all msnbc contributors. director brennan, i start with you. the legal process is something that we ve all people outside of the legal system have become familiar with. just by virtue of the nature of trump s presidency. and now his sort of former presidency. and one thing is always true. it takes a lot longer for the process to catch up with his pace and pattern of criminality and misconduct. but it seems that that catches up is very much what is underway this week.
merrick garland told our colleague lester holt, it all comes down to upholding the rule of law. how is your department dealing with the pressure? every day you wake up. there s a column in the newspaper talking about what you will do and when you will do it. this i ve said before and i mean it from the bottom of my heart. the only pressure that i and the prosecutors or the agents feel is the pressure to do the right thing. that s the only way we can pursue the rule of law. that s the only way we can keep the confidence of the american people in the rule of law, which is an essential part of our democratic system. it s where we begin the hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. washington post congressional investigations reporter, jackie alemany is back, also joining us msnbc legal analyst joyce vance is here, former u.s. attorney and now a law professor at the university of alabama, and miles taylor, former chief of staff at the department of homeland security. he
cassidy. keep in touch with me. we re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen. aaron blake goes on to compare cipollone s testimony to that of former attorney general bill barr, writing this, barr has already proved a significant witness because of his own misgivings and willingness to testify about them. but unlike barr, who resigned in late december 2020, cipollone was still around for many of the key late events, and his willingness to shed light upon them could turn the guy whose big entry into the public s consciousness was to defend trump to the hilt, into a very significant witness against trump. joining our conversation, former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade, who s now a university of michigan law professor, ben rhodes is back, former deputy national security advisor to president obama, and jackie alemany is here, washington post congressional investigations reporter. all three, msnbc contributors. jackie, what do we know of that on
as lawyers. they were loyal to donald trump. they stayed loyal to donald trump over four years. january 6th, though, was a breaking point, and as we heard from mr. donoghue, pat had an impossible job at this point, and he did it well. i must also say, again, as an attorney and let s bring in former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official chuck rosenberg, i ll ask him, and the washington post congressional investigations reporter jackie allah mainly. i have to say, chuck, with pat cipollone, if i were the president s counsel and people wanted me to testify, i would want to receive a letter just like the one that pat cipollone received saying, we ve tried everything to get you to testify, you will not testify, you leave us no choice but to subpoena you to testify, and at that point, i mean, it s much easier to say okay, now i can
the help of our lead-off panel this evening. jackie, congressional investigations reporter, for the washington post, and the msnbc contributor, she was in the room during tonight s hearing. and i want to bring in former missouri senator and msnbc political analyst claire mccaskill. and former acting solicitor general during the obama administration who has argued dozens of cases before the supreme court. night one is done. it was brutal and damning for anyone associated with the insurrection, with trying to overturn the election, or even push the big lie. do you think the committee did their job? i think the committee did a great job tonight. i thought liz cheney was particularly strong. she laid out the case, i think neil will back me up here, it was an elegant and thorough opening statement. the jury, which is the american public, heard very clearly what donald trump did in terms of the big lie and what was really