garland appointed a special prosecutor to look into it. well, today we got the results of the investigation in a report. the special counsel will not seek criminal charges against president biden. so if you re in a fantasy league for presidential indictments, it s still, trump, 91. every other president ever, 0. you got that? clean that up. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is friday, february 9th. good to have joe, willie and me here together. along with us, the host of way too early, white house bureau chief at politico, jonathan lemire. nbc news national affairs analyst john heilemann. former u.s. attorney and msnbc contributor chuck rosenberg. and nbc news justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian is with us this morning. we have a lot going on. we ll start with the special counsel investigating president biden for his handling of classified documents will not bring charges against the president. that s the conclusion. he wrote in the report, wrot
process to limit how american tax dollars are spent at the department of justice. i yield back. general lady from texas is recognized. good morning. you have value the independence of a special counsel. i do. you asked garland to allow you to continue the investigation saying we want to thank you and your office for permitting our inquiry to proceed with will without interfere answer as you assured the members of the judiciary committee would be the case during the confirmation hearings to become attorney general of the united states. you value your special counsel status. it a being a rat that garland let you proceed on your case as you wish. that s true. it was important you have to as special counsel your investigation was supposed to be independent because special counsels and attorneys are supposed to be independent, right? special counsel is. yes. they are supposed to be independent, is that correct? special counsel is independent of the attorney gener
lawyer is testifying in a matter of hush payments in a federal court in west texas behind closed doors, no cameras, no audio recordings. we start there because what happens in this courtroom and this judge decides could ultimately have consequences for every single woman and every single family in america oral arguments took place in a case brought by anti-abortion groups challenges the completely legal, completely safe long-ago approved routine and decades old use of medication for abortion those groups today asked a judge to order a stop to the use of an abortion pill as their case makes its way through the courts it s reported at the hearing the judge, quote, asked government lawyers on wednesday about what he characterized as an accelerated process for approving one of two drugs used in most pregnancy terminations nationwide in response the justice department lawyer said there s tremendous evidence showing this pill as safe, even when a doctor does not administer it it s
has it cost? i understand the figure having looked at it is around 6 1/2 million. after 3 1/2 years of investigation and 6 1/2 million dollars ever taxpayer money spent, your investigation led to the indictment of only three individuals, correct? that s correct. contrary to the fervent prayers of some on this panel, former f.b.i. director jim comey and former c.i.a. director john brennan were not among those three who were indicted, isn t that correct? that s correct. to the extreme disappointment on some on this panel your investigation failed to produce indictments against hillary clinton, correct? that s correct. didn t indict barack obama? that s correct. or joe biden? that s correct. couldn t indict hunter biden? we didn t investigate mr.
rogue agency, a biased agency or agent, i shouldn t condemn everyone. but individuals in the agency. how do we protect american citizens from what could occur? another quick example. going out and buying information from private data sellers to obtain information that you couldn t obtain with a search warrant because you don t have probable cause. those techniques are available under fisa. what should we do? that s clearly beyond my background and experience. thieves are very complicated questions particularly when we know adversaries are doing the same thing. what do we do under those circumstances? i think you have a tough job to figure out how to balance the liberties of the american people while at the same time protecting the country and the nation and the people of the united states? i don t feel qualified really to