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Hour with the cast of In The Heights. This is American Voices. Hello, everyone. Im alicia menendez. Donald trump has been out of office for over 140 days now, yet the damage hes inflicted on democracy continues to be revealed. New reactions tonight to news from the New York Times that his department of justice subpoenaed the Communications Records of lawmakers and their families, including a minor. Illinois congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to clean house. I was a little disappointed quite frankly that we learned about this secret subpoenas of Intelligence Community members from apple and not from Merrick Garlands Justice Department. They need to also show that they are Cleaning House and that they come clean with any other secret subpoenas or investigations or inappropriate targets. The Justice Departments internal watchdog is launching an investigation into federal prosecutors use of secret subpoenas to obtain records from apple concerning two california lawmakers on the house intelligence committee. Those lawmakers were then Ranking Member now current House Intel Chair adam schiff as well as congressman Eric Swalwell, both democrats. The New York Times reports the doj, while under the leadership of jeff sessions, was hunting for the sources behind news media reports about contacts between Trump Associates and russia. As they report, ultimately the data and other evidence did not tie the committee to the leaks. That report is prompting Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer and other democrats to demand sessions and former Attorney General bill barr testify before the Senate Judiciary committee. Both sessions and barr claim they know nothing about the subpoenas. Were only finding out about this because the gag order placed on apple by trumps doj expired, allowing apple to disclose what was happening. Its important to note that the New York Times reports this was happening in 2017, not trumps final days in office. It was not a frantic, lastditch effort to stay in office after losing the election. This reporting reveals that trump was willing to do what he felt he would be in office forever and what he would be willing to do if the American People allow him back into the oval office, which brings us to the republican party, working since the day trump the lost roll back Voting Rights. According to the brennen center, 14 states have enacted 22 new laws that restrict voting access. 61 bills with restrictive provisions are moving through 18 state legislatures. Attorney general Merrick Garland says the doj will work to secure and expand the right to vote for all americans. With me now, msnbc legal contributor, katie phang. Herrera litman, Legal Affairs columnist for the l. A. Times and former u. S. Attorney, and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the clinton administration, Betsy Woodruff swan, National Correspondent and msnbc contributor. Good to see you all. The dojs internal watchdog is going to investigate the seizure of Communications Records of congress memories during the trump era. What are they going to be looking for and how could it help shed light on what trump was using the doj to do . Itll help, but its not enough. The oig will only look at current employees, no power to force nonemployees to talk to him. And also it could take a year, 18 months, but hell sit down with the remaining people there and say what exactly happened here, how did it come to be that these guys were on the list . Its important to note, alicia, there are potential nonsinister explanations here, which makes it all the more important that there be a full investigation. But Leak Investigations are needle in a haystack propositions, and they may be saying it was just piece of hay in the stack that we didnt know about. But thats what hell be looking forward. It will be a limited and long inquiry. And not a substitution for a full congressional inquiry. Katie, you dont need to remind you, trump has been falsely publicly calling adam schiff a leaker, constantly calling for an investigation. How could that be used as evidence now . Well, it would just be evidence that there was the complete and total politicization of the department of justice during the Trump Administration. I mean, you know, theres Actual Supreme Court precedent, alicia, concerning federal grand jury subpoenas because thats exactly what was used in this case as the vehicle by which the records were obtained for 73 Phone Numbers and at least 16 email addresses from apple. This prior Supreme Court precedent says that these grand jury subpoenas, although they can be readily issued as long as theyre generally relevant to an investigation, they can never be used as a fishing expedition, and they certainly cannot be used if the targets of those subpoenas are done out of malice or for some type of malevolent intent or some type of specific political intent. Thats exactly what we all need to know. If barr denies knowledge, if sessions denies knowledge, and now we know that rosenstein from reporting is denying knowledge, then what does that mean . Is there some Rogue Division at the department of justice during the Trump Administration that was running around issuing these subpoenas or getting these subpoenas issued to be able to get these records . Its concerning, and the American Public needs to know. So the Senate Judiciary committee should have hearings and people like barr, sessions, rosenstein, they should testify and explain why they were doing what they were doing. Well, betsy, your latest reporting talks about how the former a. G. Is distancing himself from those trumpera subpoenas of lawmakers, writing barr said that while he was Attorney General he was not aware of any congressmans records being so you go to in a leak case. He added that trump never encouraged him to zero in on the democratic lawmakers who reportedly became targets of the former president s push to unmask leakers of classified information. Betsy, what does it say that even bill barr doesnt want to touch this . It tells you this isnt great. Usually people like barr and sessions are the most enthusiastic defenders of the most controversial steps that the Justice Department took during the Trump Administration. The fact that the First Response from the former Attorney General was to say that he didnt know about this without putting forward any sort of defense or any sort of plausible argument that, hey, maybe this wasnt that bad, the fact that were not hearing that from him tells you everything you need to know about the potential significance or the actual significance of this news thats broken over the weekend. One thing thats important Taking A Step Back is to look at the context of this. And that is, in the very early days of the Trump Administration, the Justice Department, led by sessions and rod rosenstein, rolled out aggressive, torquedup focus On Finding People who were leaking or sharing information with journalists, including classified information, finding them, prosecuting them and trying to put them behind bars. This became a top priority for the dojs National Security division, even though that division has finite resources and im sure you and i can think of one or two or several other National Security problems that might be of slightly hire concern to this country that people talking to reporters. But at the Justice Department in response to the president s broader constant tweets and comments and harangues about these classified leaks, the department moved forward with this effort to hunt down as many people as possible who talked about classified material with journalists. Ask thats the context in which the department ended up, even if its most benign explanation possible, thats where the Justice Department ended up hoovering up information from two lawmakers, part of the job that they had, of course, is to oversee the department of justice. One of those Lawmakers Schiff calling on Merrick Garland to clean house inside of doj. What would that look like . Yeah, he is. Thats really important point because the pressure grows on garland. Hes tried very much to take the approach of ill now stay in my lane and do it right and leave the past behind. But the pressure grows on him, including with these recent decisions. What would it look like . It would look like more investigations like this. It would look like more Policy Initiatives of the sort hes undertaking already with, say, Voting Rights that hes announced. It would mean that he actually is putting his hands around certain problems from the past. A really quick point on the investigation. Everything betsy and katie says is right, and the big question is, was it politically motivated . But we dont think right now schiff and swalwell were the actual targets, rather, they were a number called by one of the targets. Its a problem, but we dont have yet a smoking gun that they were targeted in a political way. Somebodys dog is very upset about this. Katie, to zoom out, what happens if this passes without consequence . [ no audio ] yeah, ive lost her audio. Im sorry. Betsy, im going to kick that over to you. What happens is one more piece of damage that trump did to the reputation of the Justice Department will remain intact. Whatever the explanation is for how this happened, the fact that it happened and it was possible for these members of congress to have their information sucked up in this way and not get notification in time is something that is going to further erode Public Confidence in the wall of separation between doj and the white house. So to harrys point, this is something thats become a priority for Merrick Garland. The challenge it presents, of course, is that there are many cases where perhaps the white house wishes they could somehow signal to the Justice Department maybe recalibrate some things. For instance, the Justice Department is defending trump in litigation involving Rape Accusations against him. That litigation has continued under Merrick Garland. White house officials can say, look, if they had their say, if there was political sway over doj, that litigation probably would not be going on. What this means is that the cost or the challenge to the Biden Administration is, are they willing to actually take some of the potential hits, deal with some of the complicated or nuanced headlines that will be required in order for the public to really have confidence that dojs acting independently of the white house, independently of political officials and the Biden Administration . Thats something to keeping an eye on going forward, is when do they see the doj taking steps that perhaps wouldnt be politically beneficial to the white house . That, interestingly, is one of the signs that the institution itself is regaining the independence that traditionally its joint custody and has been absolutely bedrock to the American Public having confidence in our federal Law Enforcement system. Katie, harry, betsy, thank you for getting us started. Next, republicans carry on with their attacks on Voting Rights. Its a statelevel onslaught with nationwide consequences. What can congress do . And the City Of Orlando Gathering to mark five years since the attack on the Pulse Nightclub and to honor the 49 lives stolen that night. Well speak to the first reporter to arrive on the scene that day. Plus, the latest from the u. K. And bidens first appearance as president on The World Stage where hes doing a bit of diplomatic Damage Control and working to spread this message. The united states, ive said before, were back. The u. S. Is back. First to richard lui with a look at the other big stories were tracking this hour. Richard . Alicia, very good afternoon to you. Some Breaking News in austin, texas. First a manhunt continues for one suspect involved in a shooting overnight. 14 were injured. One suspect was arrested this afternoon. A motive remains unclear. Now to some video that some might find disturbing. Today during a uefa euro match, christian eriksen, who plays for Denmarks National team, collapsed on field. Within seconds, both teams rushed to help him. The danish leagues director said the 29yearold received Chest Compressions on the field. He is stable and conscious at a nearby hospital. Another Midair Meltdown to report, this one on a delta flight from los angeles to atlanta. Video from inside the cabin shows passengers subduing a man now confirmed to be an offduty delta employee. Its unclear what led him to lose his cool, but we do know the plane landed safely in oklahoma city. More American Voices right after this short break. Not thinking about her work or her schedule. Hi baby. Hey ma, how are you doing . Im doing good, how are you . Good. We are just on our way back from the beach. Shes not thinking about her next appearance or even her book tour. No, shes thinking about something more important. 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Welcome back to that same old place that you laughed about well, the names have all changed since you hung around but those dreams have remained and theyve turned around whod have thought theyd lead you whod have thought theyd lead you back here where we need you back here where we need you yeah, we tease him a lot. Welcome back, america. It sure is good to see you. For democrats, the window is closing to block the gops assault on Voting Rights. While negotiations over two new bills continue on capitol hill, Attorney General Merrick Garland is stepping up the dojs role in protecting every americans right to vote. We are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access and where we see violations, we will not hesitate to act. There are many things that are open to debate in america, but the right of all eligible citizens to vote is not one of them. Joining me now to discuss, sarah mucha and a