now for the last word with lawrence o donnell. good evening lawrence. good evening alex. seeing is kevin mccarthy s first order of business in the house of representatives is to prove how much we do not need a house of representatives if it is to be run by the legislative crazies of the republican party. maybe that will never be seated. maybe this is it. maybe it s just about the upper chamber? so far, the republicans have done no damage in the house of representatives. the damage begins as soon as they have control of it with the speaker. we are wishing for the good old days when nobody was seated, once they do. and, alex, one nice note for history today is that the person who is next in line for the presidency, after the vice president, is, once again, a woman, because patty murray became the president pro tem of the united states senate, and there is no speaker of the house. so, as of now, the next in line for the presidency is a woman in the united states senate
while george howell has yet to issue a decision on the request to hold trump s team in contempt, prosecutors have now asked for the names of the investigators who carried out the searches. the times reports, quote, according to people familiar with the matter the trump lawyers offered to make the investigators available for questioning, but wanted their identities shielded by a protective order out, of concern that the government might leak the information to the news media, instead of agreeing to a protective order. one of the people said, prosecutors asked judge howell for a motion to compel the release of the investigators names. judge howell, granting that motion yesterday. heading off our discussion, andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel, and former chief of the criminal division of the eastern district of new york. he is a professor practiced at nyu law school. also with us, neil castillo, acting u.s. surgeon general. both msnbc legal analysts. andrew weissmann, let me beg