live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. breaking right now, an unprecedented move republicans trying to expel three democratic lawmakers in tennessee for protesting gun violence on the state house floor after the nashville shootings. hundreds packing the state house to protest one of the democrats being targeted calls today s vote, quote, morally insane. and court dates are on a collision course with campaign events in 2024 as attorneys for former president donald trump try to delay his trial until the primaries. the new reporting on what s happening with cases targeting trump in both georgia and d.c., and why atlanta officials are closely watching the manhattan case as it unfolds and the horrific reporting out of baltimore, a years in the making report that accuses the catholic archdiocese of turning a blind eye to hundreds of cases of child sex abuse by priests and others in the words of the attorney general, church leaders were more concerned with avoiding scandal
a significant moment coming from the white house about what really does stand as one of the real black marks on president biden s time in office so far. we remember those moments in august of 2021 watching those horrific scenes as individuals were being attempted to evacuate from kabul after the decision to withdraw, the rapid taliban advance that included, of course, ultimately the taking of afghanistan s capital, a decision by the administration, by the president to send more u.s. troops back into afghanistan to help facilitate the withdrawal of not just americans but those siv holders, especially immigrant visas, those afghans who were partners for the u.s. during that longest war in afghanistan and the very tragic moment towards the end of that process when american military officials were lost their lives when there was a terrorist bombing at the abbey gate there at the airport. and so there will be more details shortly, chris, and we ll hear from admiral kirby
him. president biden inherited a forced presence in afghanistan of some 2,500 troops that was the lowest since 2001 he inherited a special immigrant visa program that had been starved of resources, and he inherited a deal struck between the previous administration and the taliban that called for the complete removal of all u.s. troops by may of 2021 or else the taliban, which had stopped its attacks while a deal was in place, would go back to war against the united states. the president s transition team asked to see plans for that removal. they asked to see plans for a security transition to the afghan government, and they asked to see plans to increase the processing of special immigrant visas. none were forthcoming. transitions matter that s the first lesson learned here, and the incoming administration wasn t afforded much of one. thus, president biden s choice
in the region by mid summer in case they were ever needed throughout, president biden insisted that his team plan for worst-case scenarios such as the fall of kabul, even though the intelligence community s assessment when he was making the decision in early 2021 was that taliban advances would accelerate only after the withdrawal of u.s. forces. the president repeatedly requested assessments of the trajectory of the conflict from his military and his intelligence professionals no agency predicted a taliban takeover in nine days. no agency predicted the rapid fleeing of president ghani who had indicated to us his intent to remain in afghanistan up until he departed on the 15th of august, and no agency predicted that the more than 300,000 trained and equipped afghan national security and defense forces would fail to fight for their country. especially after 20 years of american support in fact, the assessment was that
was stark, either withdraw all our forces or resume fighting with the taliban he chose the former. but even in so doing, secured extra time to conduct that withdrawal stretching it out to august, and that s the second point worth making despite having his options curtailed, president biden led a deliberate, rigorous, and inclusive decision-making process that was responsive to facts on the ground. he focused keenly on the need for proper planning. in fact, president biden directed his top national security leaders to begin planning for a withdrawal even before he had made the final decision to leave afghanistan. he ordered troop reduction plans, plans to turn over bases and equipment to the afghan government, as are the previous administration had negotiated. plans to draw down our diplomatic presence, and plans to evacuate both american citizens and afghan allies alike. indeed, evacuation planning started in spring of 2021, and the president ordered additional military forces pre-posi