abortion nationwide. i thought of the night to introduce a bill. senator amy corker on the overwhelming backlash to lindsey graham s plan. give me a chance to vote on this bill. when all in starts right now. good evening from new york. i m chris hayes. well, it was as bad as it looked, in fact it was even worse. had a lot of occasions to say that in the trump years of american life but this new example of donald trump s misconduct in office is about as clear as it gets. it comes directly from the former united states attorney for the southern district of new york, arguably the most powerful district in the entire country. for two and a half years that man you see there geoffrey berman served in that role as the head of that district during the trump administration. berman has written a new book out today in which he details several instances in which donald trump abused the power of the department of justice. as berman told rachel maddow last, night trump s doj rapi
4 00 in new york. As we kick off what will be the second week of Witness Testimony in donald j. Trumps Hush Money Trial. It is important to take stock and remind ourselves, it is not normal. To have an examerican President Stand Trial as a criminal defendant. It is not normal for that same criminal defendant to also be the Republican Partys current presumptive nominee for the upcoming president ial election. We learned a great deal from david pecker during his time on the Witness Stand last week about exactly how the catch and kill scheme that was used to benefit donald trump when he was running for president the first time worked. It worked by burying stories that would have been harmful to his reputation. We heard from trumps long Time Assistant rhona graf that Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal, the women paid to keep their stories quiet ahead of the election, were both named in trumps rolla dex. So this week we expect to hear new evidence and new testimony from new witnesses further
the federal election case brought by special counsel jack smith has been on hold for more than six months now. that in and of itself a victory for trump as he uses every lever of the justice system available to any criminal deft to his advantage. to avoid standing trial before the election in november, at which point if he prevails and is elected, he can dismiss the felony counts he faces for attempting a coup. as we have pointed out on this patrol before, every day that goes by without a decision one way or the other from the supreme court is a victory for trump. it s a day that trump gets closer to his goal. it s a glaring delay for many other reasons as well. there s the fact that not one but two of the nine justices are facing calls for recusal. one whose home flew a flag flown by the january 6th insurrectionists at the catch toll on his property. the other has a wife who was involved in urging state legislatures to overturn joe biden s victory. there s the facts at hand
sunset monday to mark the massacre. he and vice president harris will be in atlanta tomorrow to meet with leaders of the city s asian-american community. earlier today atlanta police insisted the investigation is far from over. we are not done. we re still working very diligently to ascertain all of the facts so we can have a successful prosecution. the investigation into a possible hate crime, is that still on the table? nothing is off the table for our investigation. is there any indication the suspect visited those spas previously? it appears he may have frequented those locations, yes. all we do know is he purchased the gun on the day of the incident. on that same line the fbi is assisting local law enforcement with the investigation. this was interesting. tonight the fbi director chris wray told npr, quote, it does not appear that the motive was racially motivated. the suspect who s charged with eight counts of murder waived an arraignment scheduled for today
Widening as i speak, with new names added on like a traffic lineup in manhattan. Theres still no indication that donald trump is anywhere near to making one of the key decisions of his presidency, who will serve as his chief diplomat. Vice President Elect mike pence ran through some of the top contenders yesterday. I think everyone that hes talked to and has been talked about, whether it be a Rudy Giuliani or mitt romney or General Petraeus or senator corker or john bolten, and others, bring extraordinary background and qualities to this. Nbc news reports that several new names have been added to that list, even if they remain outside contenders. The associated press, meanwhile, is reporting that prospects of Rudy Giuliani and mitt romney, they say, are fading. The new names include jon huntsman, who was critical of trump during the campaign, but who wasnt also reportedly in the mix, ceo of exxonmobil, rex the bulk of the time was with the President Elect, donald trump. I found it an