things. and it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. i didn t have a document per se. oh, gosh. an audio recording undercuts trump s pathetic defense in the classified documents case as the doj reportedly barrels forward on its investigation of his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. also tonight, a supreme court victory for voters and democracy. in a defeat for republicans who wanted to strip state courts of any role in running federal elections and give politicians the final say. plus, ron desantis admits he wants to rewrite the constitution so that right-wing politicians can decide whether people born in this country can legally be considered u.s. citizens. we begin tonight with a frequent and losing strategy by the twice impeached, twice indicted former president. whenever he finds himself stuck in a perilous legal mess of his own making, he goes full orwell and just tells the world don t believe your lying eyes. stick with us, don t
the lead starts right now. this hour, hunter biden is going into court, donald trump is coming out of court, we are following it all. the lead starts right now. donald trump gets a second chance, he is allowed to speak at the closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. what you said and why a judge and then shut it down and one day after hunter biden s shop appearance on capitol hill, he is now back home in california facing federal charges. and now, the first lady, his mom, is weighing in. and a stunning rise in public officials targeted and dangerous swatting incidents, that s when hoax 911 calls report fake violent crimes to get a police response and possibly real police violence against innocent victims. i am going to speak with a republican who has faced threats and ask them what needs to happen for these cases to stop. [ music ] welcome to the lead, i am jake tapper. we start with the final moments of donald trump s civil fraud trial, playing out right now in a
and i thank you. good to be back with you on this second hour of msnbc reports with jose diaz-balart. it is 1:00 eastern, 10:00 a.m. pacific. i m in today for chris jansing. what happens today in a d.c. courthouse could be one of the most important days yet for the former president. donald trump s lawyer facing off against jack smith s special counsel team about the durability of trump s presidential immunity argument. it is now in the hands of three judges, but could this case as trump s lawyer put it open pandora s box? a president has to have immunity. and the other thing is i did nothing wrong. and the two top figures in this case, special counsel jack smith and judge tanya chutkan have now both been victims of swatting. what does that mean for the safety of public officials as we head into a busy 2024? plus, the pentagon s investigation into secretary of to hide his hospitalization from even the white house as more lawmakers on capitol hill call for his resignation.
nope. going to have to correct you there, donald. that is in fact not the law, which is how you ended up in a court of law just yesterday. plus, gaslighting efforts kick into high gear on the right with false equivalencies flying fast and furious all over fox. and later, the great rachel maddow joins me to talk about her amazing new podcast that takes us back in time eerily similar to those we are experiencing today. we begin tonight on donald trump s birthday. he turned 77 years old today. happy birthday you twice indicted, twice impeached found liable for sexual abuse former president! i m sure it s been an interesting one. a day of reflection perhaps on what matters in life like family, good health, community, or not. i mean, this is donald trump we re talking about. so what matters in life are things, gold toilets, celebrity tchotchke collections, gold stuff on the walls in the gold ballroom or the shaquille o neal sneak he bragged about to a wall street journal