pandemic that affected so many lives and dragged him down in the eyes of americans who concluded they failed when faced with that all-important task. as for trump, he said at the time he did not see the emergency as his test of a lifetime. was there a moment in all of this last two months where you said to yourself, ah, this is the leadership test of a lifetime? no. no. and no hesitation. now, that is a small part of one of trump s newsworthy interviews with bob woodward conducted across the outbreak of the pandemic and 2020 campaign. 20 interviews across that stretch. trump sometimes making the calls, something he apparently now regrets. the former president is suing woodward, we should note, over publishing these interviews that he agreed to. any legal expert say trump would be likely to lose based on the law. we published the interviews in the trump tapes , his assessment that trump is a unique danger to network. that conclusion goes parter quite frankly than much o
thanks for joining us. fear not. nicolle will be back tomorrow. the beat with ari melber starts rite now. hi, ari. thanks so much. i m ari melber. after all this breaking news coverage of trump s indictment we have been at the table. all of our colleagues following this. tonight we turn from this fast fluid first draft of history to a wider view of how history may absorb this historic precedent breaking week, because tonight pulitzer prize winning journalist bob woodward who you see on the right will analyze what you see on the left. he s known for best selling books, including about now defendant donald trump. he is our exclusive guest tonight on the beat. we begin as the nation absorbs the fallout of something many thought was impossible, even recently, something donald trump said would roil the country, the former president arrested by the same government he once ran. that was yesterday. jack smith spoke out through his filing, through his team in court, and today
district attorney calls a special grand jury. and for the second time in three years lawmakers on capitol hill are talking about police reform following a black man s deadly encounter with officers. plus president joe biden sends a message to speaker kevin mccarthy, show me your budget. that s all ahead on way too early. good morning and welcome to way too early on this tuesday, january 31st. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we ll begin with a move that could mean potential criminal charges for former president donald trump just as he ramps up his latest run for the white house. a grand jury has been convened in the case of hush money payments made to adult film star stormy daniels by trump back in 2016. that s according to sources familiar with the situation confirming the development to nbc news and first reported by the new york times. the times reports that manhattan district attorney alvin bragg started presenting evidence to a gra
money payments to stormy daniels. remember that? now, that could come back to haunt him. his former attorney and fixer, michael cohen, says trump can t hide from the paper trail. calling the new grand jury convened by the manhattan d.a. his biggest legal threat yet. and there are many. meanwhile, the former president is suing journalist bob woodward for $50 million. we ll explain what that is all about. plus, more fallout and firings in the aftermath of tyre nichols death. we ll go live to memphis for the latest in that case. for the second time in three years, lawmakers on capitol hill are talking about police reform following a high-profile murder case involving officers. we ll look at whether these discussions have a real chance at being successful. and president joe biden announces a major policy shift on covid in response to strong opposition from house republicans. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, january 31st. joe will be back tomorrow.
investigator reporter and bob woodward of the former president. some of it was played on cnn earlier today but what you ll hear tonight has never aired. from 2016 through 2020 woodward taped his conversations with the former president. he will be releasing all 20 of these conversations on the 25th of this month as an audio book titled the trump tapes which runs for more than eight hours. cnn has obtained a copy and what you ll hear tonight is striking. it speaks to who he was as president, who he is as a person and how completely intertwined the personal and presidential were for him and probably still are. something that s not just apparent in what he says but even more so in how he says it. something the printed word just can t fully convey. the conversations also speak directly to some of what the former president is now being investigated for. namely how he views classified material and a president s responsibility for safe guarding some of the countries deepest secrets a