asked to turn those security cameras off when this search occurred and refused to do so. i want to read to you what one person close to former president trump told us when we asked do you think that this is a good idea? should he release these tapes? here is what that person said. quote, it s one thing to read a bunch of numbers on an inventory list, it s another to see law enforcement agents actually carrying a dozen plus boxes out of president trump s home knowing they probably contain sensitive documents. i don t see how that helps him. so, again, this has drawn mixed reactions inside the former president s orbit with some aides saying it s a good idea, release the footage, get it out there. among those steve bannon the former white house chief strategist to president trump. others saying we should hold back. maybe continue to tease this but don t ever actually release the footage, brianna. look, it depends on where you re looking at this from. for the people who think t
wall street journal about what aboutism, people mock it. but i think the key hoar, this was part of his article, the key is when we have the attorney general saying it this reflects the equal application of the law, same thing he said in the bannon case, it really doesn t. we haven t treated everyone similarly situated the same. i think especially when it comes to a public figure like the president of the united states or former president of the united states, there are a number of factors that have to be considered. people get upset when they say there could be a revolution, there could be a civil war and so on. you have to take into account public sentiment. right now there is half of the nation doesn t trust the government, our government. we have to get past that. we have to again, this is, i think, a function of transparency to some degree, but there have been some very bad moves. you have in the justice department now number two in charge who is an andrew wise man accolade,
we want to know what s in there. what would the risks be for a possible defendant? what would the risks be for donald trump in making this public be? well, the risks would be that information negative information comes in, but that s going to have to come in one way or another one day. i think you re better off testing it now. again, information is the key. that s your business. you know, to do very well. i think when it s out there i think we will hear both sides of the argument and some of the facts, alleged facts in the affidavit can be challenged publicly with people who know the underlying facts. that s what s so important, i think. rumor doesn t help anyone and the country is very divided now. everybody needs to know what happened, i think. let me ask you this, we have reporting, i think you just heard it from our cnn reporter gabby orr who said some people are arguing for donald trump to release the surveillance footage of the fbi searching mar-a-lago. that s a political
knowingly, intentionally or willfully i m so glad you brought that up because the new york times reports that in discussions about the former documents, and this came out in the reporting of pat cipollone former white house counsel and pat philbin his deputy talking to investigators as part of this investigation, the former president had been asked to return some of these documents. he had been pushed to return some of these documents by his representatives and the former president repeated the resisted entreaties from his advisers, he said, quote, it s not theirs, it s mine. several advisers say mr. trump told them. it s not theirs, it s mine. by definition does that not suggest he knew he had these? it may suggest he knew he had certain documents, it doesn t mean he had a guilty state of mind. to be perfectly clear, i don t believe donald trump thought he did anything wrong with any of these documents at any time.
that outpaces climate change, education and illegal immigration. the top issue by far, inflation. despite the fact that it s a problem for the fed to tackle. i m mentioning all of this because we so often obsess over short-term problems that we miss the bigger picture. despite the really real threats to our democracy right now bipartisan progress is still possible in congress and that s still a reason to remain a determined optimist. and that s your reality check. john avalon, our optimist. thank you. so next we re going to speak to the sole survivor of that lightning strike that i m sure you saw near the white house. how she is doing this morning. what she remembers and doesn t remember from that day. and soon the former cfo of the trump organization expected to plead guilty to a 15-year tax fraud scheme. we are live outside the courthouse.