elections, that could have changed the game because it would have lent an err of legitimacy. people were appointed by donald trump, stood their ground and did the right thing and refused to go along with this. in fact, threatened to resign if trump carried out his plan to replace jeffrey rosen with clark. and they headed it off. trump had to back down. that was a crucial moment in american history arguably and the people who are working there now, different people, some of the same career people, are very cognizant of the line held there and of the evidence surfacing in this hearing and i ve reported that there are, there have been discussions inside this building, very preliminary discussions, about, and kind of, you know, not specific and kron concrete, about the notion of what happens if it ever comes to criminal charges against the former president and what kind of things would weigh into that
i m reading the transcript of what kinzinger said to garrett haake as to when that comes in. isn t white house counsel, cipollone, the key unheard voice here? a pardon request would go pardo go to the white house counsel before it would be forwarded to doj. he is refusing to testify publicly. yeah, pardon requests can go through the department of justice or through the white house and usually both offices are involved, but undoubtedly the white house counsel, pat cipollone, you are correct, would be a critical witness here. i agree with congresswoman cheney. we really need to hear his testimony. he obviously thought what donald trump was doing was unlawful, election fraud, unconstitutional, illegal, unpatriotic, un-american. he should say so. there s no reason for him to hide. jeremy bash, thank you so
doj to do his bidding on top of the other stuff we have been seeing in the previous hearings. reporter: the president was trying to use the doj s credibility against election results? that s fair to say. it s fair to say the president really wanted the stamp of doubt that comes with the doj seal. reporter: that sets up the second part of the hearing. i don t know how it will be structures. it s the second editorial point, which is having failed to convince the doj leadership that was in place to take this course of action, there was this secondary scheme with congressman scott perry, who has cited in a senate report, to try to find client officials in the doj who might be willing to follow donald trump s collection. that set off a chain where the acting attorney general, the acting deputy attorney general discussed the possibility that they might resign to prevent it. that pushback effort after the fact i think will be the second major editorial point set up in today s hearing.
will have to pass them before they can come into affect. the other states, i think, there will be similar legal challenges and similar outcomes. pete williams, thanks so much for all your expertise on this. let s turn to today s other big story, the january 6th committee hearing. bringing in our panel. this is the fifth and we believe the last public hearing for at least two weeks in a change in their schedule. nbc s senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake, who has been following the gun law changes as well, the votes procedural votes right now, clearing the way for that to take place later today possibly. more likely. joining us also is nbc justice reporter ryan reilly and jackie alamanie. garrett, let s get a preview what we will hear from congressman kinzinger as we lead off on donald trump s pressure on the justice department.
interviews, search warrants, the nevada head of the gop, search warrant. this is telling me that after a year, year and a half, the fbi is now going overt, as they say. they re going overt. they re going the door knocks. they re executing the warrants. they re delivering the subpoenas having had built up their case. so for those doubting thomas that have said they re doing nothing, merrick garland is sitting on his hands, we re seeing public signs that s simply not true. i want to just be very clear of the language that nbc has again. i know i said fbi, but it s federal authorities were at the home of jeffrey clark. we don t know yet what this is in connection to. we know clark because of his connection to donald trump and the doj and what we re hearing about right now in these hearings, the effort according to the panel, to corrupt the doj.