welcome to the beat. i m ari melber. we are tracking several stories tonight, including another supreme court ethics scandal, tying gop appointee samuel alito to another billionaire on a fishing trip. we ll get into that later. it s a big story. but our news program begins tonight with not only the criminal trial of donald trump, now slated to begin on august 14th buck the broader ongoing threat of right wing individual lantyism and authoritarianism. tonight we begin with a special report on that very challenge, and trump s efforts to hijack the criminal justice system that now is trying to potentially hold him accountable. we re talking about a range of actions that has prompted already fear of violence over the violent rhetoric and whether that could turn to action. we re about one week out from the federal arraignment that trump did try to prevent. we remember he was forced to sit silently in that miami courtroom. outside cameras showed a very small crowd. the scene was
it over to josé diaz-balart to pick up on the coverage right now. good morning, it s 11:00 a.m. pacific, and 11:00 a.m. eastern. an attorney for hunter biden released a statement to nbc news that reads in part, quote, i know hunter believes it s important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life and he looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward. joining us this morning, nbc s justice and intelligence correspondent, ken delanen, and barbara mcquade, msnbc legal analyst, and u.s. former attorney and law professor at the university of michigan. walk us through this deal and the charges. good morning, josé. so hunter biden is agreeing to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay income taxes in 2016 and 2018. we know he paid back more than a million dollars, or paid a tax bill of more than a million dollars last year as part of the effort to resolve this case, and those
short time ago, tropical storm brett forming in the atlantic. gin ginger zee tracking it all. new reports of letters, targeting lawmakers in kansas, now more than 100 letters found. federal law enforcement sources tell abc news postal inspectors intercepted letters addressed to former president trump and supreme court justice clarence thomas. the high stakes meeting in beijing, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken face to face with chinese president xi. the meeting was confirmed only one hour before it began. matt rivers in beijing. the war in ukraine, new images of grueling trench warfare between ukrainian and russian fighters. ukraine now claims to have driven russian forces out of eight villages since the start of its latest counter in pannell, ukraine. here at home, images of dare rescues, the houseboat going under with several people trapped inside. other boaters jumping to the rescue. the popular musician, bibi rexae hit in the face by a cell phone. what the s
president. we re getting new information right now on the multiple fronts in this trump investigation. tonight, the u.s. justice department details systemic violations by the minneapolis police department, saying the problems of excessive force and racial discrimination led to the murder of george floyd. dozens of guilty verdicts against the gunman behind the 2018 massacre at a pittsburgh synagogue. now that a federal jury had its say, will the killer be sentenced to death? welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you are in the situation room. we begin this hour with a new request by the special counsel in the classified documents probe. the filing reflects prosecutpro fears donald trump might go public with information about the investigation. paula reed is joining us now. walk us through this protective order as it is called, this request. reporter: wolf, this is a request from prosecutors that we would expect in a ca
again i m stephanie ruhle. alongside my partner ali velshi, covering our breaking coverage of this historic friday as the government has unsealed and estimating devastating 37 count and i meant against former president donald j trump. also the leading tender for the presidential nomination for the republicans. he s accused of mishandling documents and blocking efforts to get them back for mar-a-lago. the charges against him included violating the espionage act, improperly retaining national defense information. within the indictment, photos of what the government says are boxes containing classified material. onstage at mar-a-lago, in the ballroom, stacked to the ceiling in a bathroom. let s take a look at that. there s a toilet or. they re in a bathroom, classified government documents, piled up inside a storage room and spilling out across the floor in another room. today, for the very first time, we heard from the special counsel himself, who has spent some six months