election subversion trial should start a day before the biggest election day of the republican primary. stunning admissions from mark meadows in his effort to get his trial moved to a federal court. also tonight, a sad note on the anniversary of doctor king s march on washington, new details including video in the racist shooting that took three lives in jacksonville this weekend. also, idalia now expected to become a major hurricane and on track to hit florida. good evening, everyone. john berman here, in for anderson. whoever said there is a time and place for everything could not have imagined a day like today, the first of many, it appears, over the battle of when to try donald trump and company and where. today in washington, federal district judge tanya chutkan put the former president s election subversion trial on a fast track on a court calendar packed with other trump trials. and in atlanta, former courthouse chief of staff took the stand trying to get his f
report how meadows did himself grave legal harm in an exchange in which meadows appears to lie about his own role in the fake lectors plot. meadows hit a snag, a prosecutor asked whether he had, quote, any role in coordinating the bogus electors used in a last-ditch effort to keep trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. i did not, he replied. prosecutor then introduced into the record a december 2020 e-mail mr. meadows wrote to a trump campaign staff member. in it, mr. med to wrote this, quote, we just need to have someone coordinating the lectors for the states end quote. the exchange, which prosecutors will almost use against meadows at trial, underscore the high stakes gamble he took by testifying so far the gamble has not paid off. in early september u.s. district judge steve jones declined to move meadows case to federal court. meadows has appealed. as we said the swamp of alligators waiting to bite meadows head off, trump telling nbc news this about meadows, qu
but he knew he was in the bathroom and he was able to get out of the building, again, because these exit doors were working well. i can t tell you how thankful i am just to do that one task homeland security told us to do. because in the past you couldn t push through the exit doors? they weren t easily opened. they had safeties on them so they couldn t open either way. but now he was able to get out. i mean, he could be alive because of this. where were you when you found out this had occurred? i was heading up to the service. i m there every i was there last night for service. i go up there around 10:00 and in the morning and one of the vice presidents that i work with on facilities now that i stepped down, he called. he worked for city emergency management. and he said he just got word there s an active shooter at
tree of life. go up there and see if this is true. i tried to get up. i only live a block away from the synagogue. i tried to get up shady avenue and was
This investigation and the central issue before the judge in federal court. andrew, hit on this a little bit more about whether his actions were political or if they were administrative for the government. because this wasn t about the government in 2020. this was about who would be the next president in 2021. sure. there s no doubt in my mind, john, that from his perspective, as any number of a million different things he had to do for then-president trump in the course of a day, he probably saw this stuff as part of his job. but the law sees it very differently. if he was carrying out taskings and taking care of business on behalf of the president that were not strictly authorized by federal law, that were not in pursuit of some legitimate federal objective, then it was not within the scope of his authority or the scope of his position as chief of state, even
Yet. it seems to be starting atrtn least with the washington post g and new york times and reports and the politicoew york report. you know, doj policy sayse to that you have to be outside of the department to be appointed counsel. we know thathe the whistleblowers are saying that mr. weiss is lying as it relates to him, what he said to them and what both merrick garland and mr. weiss have said publicls y that he had fullr authority to go in other jut that sm of tha something we really need to get to the bottom of. and then we have the whole issuen we hae of now we understt the that. weiss his plan was to not even charge hunter with anything that evolved into a sweetheart dealnything.th, only of the irs whistleblowers that hunter biden, his lawyerse-blower appay wanted investigated. but then wrently we now know tht that resulted in a plea deal. d eal, tthe sweetheart plea deal t that was only plan b and even the judge is askings, y the prosecutors, you ever see a deal like this?