keeps our democracy in place. and thanks to you at home for joining me this evening. in february of 2021 joe biden had been president for less than a month. the united states senate was still in the middle of impeaching the previous president for stoking insurrection. the house impeachment managers, all of them democrats, were making the case that even though trump was no longer president, he had to be impeached because otherwise future presidents would be free to commit any crime or misdemeanor as long as they did so right before leaving office. to rebut that trump s lawyers offered this counter argument. if my colleague on this side of the chamber actually think that president trump committed a criminal offense and let s understand a high crime is a felony and a misdemeanor is a misdemeanor. the words haven t changed that much over time. after he s out of office you go and arrest him. so there is no opportunity where the president of the united states can run rampant in
along with analysts chuck rosenberg and lisa rubin. what can we expect based on arguments put forward in advance by both sides? reporter: to set the scene, because donald trump is here in person the security has really been ramped up. there s a much greater police presence. in terms of in the courtroom, this is a long shot for donald trump, this idea that a former president can t be prosecuted for any acts whited while serving in offense, it s belied by the fact that gerald ford pardoned richard nixon. this three-judge panel is an all-female panel with two judges appointed by president biden and one appointed by former president george h.w. bush. in addition to arguing immunity, trump lawyers are also making the argument that this produce is improper under double jeopardy. ken, i need to interrupt you because the hearing is starting. let s listen in right now. our jurisdiction was challenged by an amicus. you are not questioning our collateral order jurisdiction? [indis
lawrence, i m gobsmacked by some of these numbers. i m just gonna leave it to you while i scratch my head. aly you , know that thing happens once in awhile where one of our great guests guests really is getting warmed up right when we have to go to commercial break because that s life on commercial television. that happened last week with yale professor david blight, who is an expert on the 14th amendment. he knows everything about how it came to be, the congressional debate about it. we are bringing back tonight finishes thoughts about that. that is worth watching because the most important amendment nobody ever thought about six months ago, and this is worth staying and listening to. certainly not in this context. and he will follow harvard law professor laurence tribe, also an expert on constitutional law and the 14th amendment, who will give us his view of how the 14th amendment, how it has the power to keep donald trump off the ballot in some states. i look forw
very good to beac you for another hour. i m alex witt in for katy tur. we re continuing our breaking news coverage of a legal setback for special counsel jack smith in his election interference investigation into the former president. the supreme court has just put out a single line order statement denying smith s request to immediately settle trump s presidential immunity claims, meaning the issue now heads to the court of appeals in d.c. we do have the date for those oral arguments. so what this decision all means for timing and how quickly the supreme court could take up the case once that court rules, there s a lot to get into. we re going to dive in right now joining us, justice and intelligence correspondent, ken dilanian, and msnbc legal analyst, and former assistant d.a. with the manhattan district attorney s office, catherine christian. ken, first off, were we expecting a sidestep like this? because that s essentially what it is. it s a punt, if you will, from the su
it is 11:00 a.m. in the east, 8:00 a.m. pacific. right now in atlanta, we are awaiting a decision on whether mark meadows, trump s former chief of staff, can move his election interference case to federal court. what it would mean if this request is granted. also, we re keeping our eye on the federal courthouse in washington, d.c., where a jury is deliberating. how much rudy giuliani is going to have to pay to two poll workers he defamed after the 2020 election. then to the border where we go to a tiny town in arizona that is fast becoming the new epicenter of the migrant crisis. meanwhile, on capitol hill, senate negotiators are work on a border policy delaying their holiday break. are they close to making a deal? overseas, reports of a second day that parts of gaza are under a telecommunications and internet blackout as israeli prime minister bibi netanyahu declares, quote, nothing will stop us. hey, everybody. good to see you. we re going to begin with the breaking n