Transcripts For MSNBCW Katy 20240704

And the man investigating hunter biden, the u. S. Attorney out of delaware had been saying up until now that he never asked for and didnt need the powers that came with that appointment. So why was david weiss made Special Counsel today . We have reaction from the white house. Hunter bidens team, and republicans on capitol hill. Joining me now is nbc news investigative correspondent tom winter, nbc News White House correspondent monica alba, and ms p msnbc political contributor and cofounder of punch bowl news, jake sherman. Tom, i want to get some details from you. Sure. The question that is nagging me is why all of a sudden does this investigation, this case need a Special Counsel . Yeah, i really dont understand. And its a question i think we need some more clarity on. So to be specific, what happened here is there was clearly an ongoing plea negotiation, after the judge said, look, im not going to accept this, im not going to reject this Plea Agreement. You all have to get back together and work on this. The two sides Work Together on it, and we know that because fellow prosecutors said so in their own Statement Today, and got to an impasse where it didnt appear that either side was going to be happy with the turns, and so they thought, well, okay, if we decide to bring charges in delaware, federal prosecutors were going to lose immediately. They had no venue, no standing. The first responsibility of federal prosecutors, you have to prove venue, nothing thats talked about in the agreed statement of facts with the Plea Agreement has anything to do with delaware whatsoever. So as they write in their own letter, it would be irresponsible for them to bring it. They said a trial in delaware would be a farce. I thought he could bring it anywhere, i thought he had authority to do it. If he had authority to bring these charges anywhere, why did he need Special Counsel status . Why couldnt he have just gone to california and said, hey, we need to file this in this jurisdiction or d. C. Or both, or anywhere, frankly, wherever they thought they had venue and a reason case to bring. He says in his letters to congress, he had never been denied bringing charges anywhere. He said in his letters to congress he would be able to do that. Irs agents have testified under oath under congress, there was an attempt to do that, and the u. S. Attorneys in california and d. C. Said were not going to do it. So whos telling the truth here, and whats really happening, but the letters that weiss sent to congress dont appear to match up to what actions occurred here today, either way, katy, it certainly appears they were going toward a trial Andhunter Biden is going to have to face tax charges. I had chris clark, Hunter Bidens lawyer on the show after the news of the plea deal. I want to play what he said about whether there was more to come. Sure. Is this the end of it . My understanding is that were done. The statement from the Prosecutors Office from weisss office said the investigation is ongoing. This is the statement announcing that criminal charges have been filed. Its obviously not the statement about the Plea Agreement. Are you led to believe that that investigation is ongoing, will be dropped once this plea deal is made official . Im not led to believe anything. Thats mr. Weisss statement. I think theres going to be a court proceeding. I think there are going to be agreements that are going to come out about the court proceeding, and i think everyone will see what happens once that occurs. Would you make a deal, though, if you thought there were more charges coming. Would i make a deal . Yeah. No, i wouldnt. So in a Statement Today he said its hard to see why he would propose such a resolution, david weiss, if there were other fences he could have successfully prosecuted. We are aware of none. We are confident when these maneuvers are at an end, my client will be moving on with his life successfully. Could this be about just taxes or could there be Something Else thats lingering . We have seen no indication from our reporting and colleagues, fitzpatrick who have covered this for years and myself is theres anything other than tax charges theyre considering. The Gun Possession Charge recently got hit hard in the federal circuit court. In the appellate court, something unconstitutional, its hard to see how that potential case moves forward. With respect to taxes, with respect to this Ongoing Investigation and everything that congress raises, it raises two points, one, have any of the documents, it doesnt matter what congressional leaders or representatives say when it comes to the court of law, with respect to their perspectives on whatever they review, but have there been any sort of things that have come out in the last couple of weeks that have given the u. S. Attorneys office in delaware pause from an investigative standpoint. Not sure. I dont have the answer to that. Weve seen no overt steps, people being questioned. People being brought before the fbi. Weve seen nothing in the last year that theres been anything going on tied to an Ongoing Investigation. Could ag garland be succumbing to pressure on this. Anything i would respond to that would be complete speculation. I have no idea. It feels to me that this authority we have been told for weeks wasnt needed is now needed. That they were negotiating while at the same time weiss was asking garland to be made Special Counsel, so was that negotiation in good faith . A lot of questions here, katy, about whats happened. Its confusing. Lets talk to jake sherman about what we have been hearing on capitol hill. The pressure ive spoken about, republicans have been banging this drum that this deal was not fair. It was a sweetheart deal. They had those whistleblowers in congress. What are they reacting to or what is their reaction to this now . The reaction is that they dont believe this is the right person to be Special Counsel. And to be clear, they have been calling for a Special Counsel for a long time now that Merrick Garland has attacked mr. Weisss Special Counsel. They say this is not the guy for the job. Now, listen, i think from a political capitol hill perspective, this is, i dont want to say the nail in the coffin, but i think this makes it much more likely as if it wasnt likely already, that they are going to launch some sort of the Impeachment Inquiry against the president. Now, the grounds under which or on which they will do that are shaky, right, i mean, i dont think theres anything right now that we know of that indicates that he has committed high crimes that were misdemeanors. I just, i dont see that right now. But i think when they get back to washington in about a month or so, they are going to launch an Impeachment Inquiry, and i think this will play into that, but thats the general vibe were getting capitol hill right now. An Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden, what about Merrick Garland. That actually was the original plan, that was the initial thing we thought would happen, they would launch an Impeachment Inquiry into Merrick Garland, and not President Biden. I think they will probably do, they could even do both to be honest with you, and an Impeachment Inquiry just to be clear does not mean they are going to impeach the subject of the inquiry, it means they are trying to get heightened power to investigate and to get documents and to get testimony from certain figures. So i think thats important to keep in mind. Monica, lets talk about the white house reaction. I know they have issued has there been a public reaction, and if so, does it jive with the private reaction . It does, katy, and this is really a white house that has been consistent with several Department Of Justice probes that we have seen unfold during the course of the president s administration. Of course a Special Counsel that even was appointed to look into his own classified documents, now the fact that this u. S. Attorney has been elevated with this Special Counsel status to continue and perhaps broaden that investigation. It was net inside the white house with the same response. Were not going to really weigh in on this. We completely defer you to the Department Of Justice and to Hunter Bidens own personal attorneys for reaction and response. You can look to the president s own real take and position on this when this did become something, of course, that was brought to him, when the news of the Plea Agreement started earlier this summer. And the president and the first lady have said repeatedly, we love our son, we support him. We stand by him, and they were going to leave it at that, in fact, saying were not going to comment any more on this. They were trying to put that bind them. Echoes what they told you at the time, they thought this meant this was simply going to come to a conclusion, and they could move on with their lives and put what they say sometimes as this painful chapter, of course, a president whos also a father looking at his son who has faced a lot of difficulty as a drug addict and is in active recovery, so within the context of all of that, they have always tried to frame this to a personal Family Matter that really now has extended to one that is political that you simply cannot ignore. When the president of the United States and his own son are currently under their own very different Special Counsel investigations of course. The white house said they had absolutely no advanced notice of any of this, which again, is consistent with what we have seen in the past, that top senior officials including the president , learned about this just like everyone else did, which was when it became public from attorney general Merrick Garlands own statement, katy, and hes set to depart here in just a couple of hours to Rehoboth Beach for the weekend. Its unclear whether hell want to weigh in or say anything on this matter. The white house privately is saying what they want to project publicly, were not going to touch this, but this is a father who sometimes will speak about his son in the terms and context of that relationship and the president has done that in the past and could do so again today. You nodded to the other Special Counsel, the one of many, this one looking into President Biden. Whats the status on that investigation into his retention of classified documents . Reporter and those were the documents that were discovered late last year and earlier this year in his time in the Obama Administration as Vice President , some dating back to his time as senator. That probe is in its 8th month, and we have learned over the last month, the last four weeks or so, there have been negotiations between the president s attorneys and Special Counsel robert hurs team on what a potential Interview Team could look like. The logistics and specifics on everything whether it would be in person, if so, where that would take place, when it could happen, what the scope of the questions would be, and we do know that if it came to that point that the interview was decided on, and they were going to be able to do that, that was lookly going to be a final signal that that Special Counsel investigation might be wrapping up. Were not quite there yet, as there could be disagreements on specifics i just mentioned. The president and his attorneys have completely pledged to cooperate fully with this, and they have said, essentially that this was really some errors in packing and it hasnt amounted to more, wanting to make that very clear contrast with the former president and the charges he has been indicted on for his own mishandling of classified information. Monica alba, jake sherman, tom winter, thank you very much, and joining me now is former Acting Assistant Attorney for Acting Security and nbc news legal analyst, mary mccord. Can you clear up some of the confusion about why now in this Special Counsel into hunter biden . I think the simple answer to why now is because u. S. Attorney weiss asked for the appointment, so if you can imagine if ag garland had denied that, that would have been widely criticized as being, you know, political interference. And you can imagine that if hed of said, well, im going to appoint somebody else, that would have also been seen as some type of political interference, notwithstanding that now some of the very same people on capitol hill that were urging Merrick Garland to appoint mr. Weiss are now saying mr. Weiss is the wrong person for the job, so i think, you know, ag garland has been clear all along, even before this appointment that mr. Weiss had independent authority to bring the charges, seek the charges that he wants to seek, and that the Department Of Justice would provide him with all resources necessary. This is memorializing this. This is the first time mr. Weiss asked for it, according to public records, and mr. Weisss own statements, and the ag is now committed to the independence, again, of mr. Weisss investigation and to providing him with whatever resources he needs to continue his investigation. What about the issue of venue that tom raised . Well, its a real issue, and its, in fact, the entire reason that mr. Weiss has today gone into court, and moved not only to vacate the Briefing Schedule that the judge there had ordered to, you know, with respect to the Plea Agreement that fell apart a few weeks ago, but also moved to actually dismiss that case, saying we dont have venue here. We were only here because mr. Biden was going to waive venue, and so we are now going to be bringing our charges elsewhere. Now, whats interesting is that motion, and im glancing this way because i have it on my screen here, says that the government in the exercise of its prosecutorial discretion is considering what tax charges to bring in another district, and may elect to bring the same charges that they had brought before as part of the Plea Agreement or different charges. Now, thats not necessarily surprising because a Plea Agreement is the product of negotiation over the charges. So it could be that now that that agreement has fallen apart and they have reached an impasse, which he makes clear in his motion to dismiss, they have reached an impasse, now maybe they are considering other charges that arent necessarily based on new evidence but could be based on evidence they already had but had for whatever declined to bring. Something is making them say, you know, they might want to bring additional charges. Are you expecting charges here, is that why he would ask for this or, i mean, would he ask for this if he really had nothing and is just going to hand over a charge to Merrick Garland . I dont see any indication. He says we expect to be proceeding to trial. I think mr. Weiss has been clear that he expects to seek an indictment, the District Of Columbia or california. That does not mean, notwithstanding him saying that we have reached an impasse and we think the court needs to, you know, were preparing to go to trial, and we need to go to a different court, that doesnt mean they could not still reach an agreement. Plenty of criminal cases, high Profile Cases do Reach Agreements on the eve of trial or at any other time before trial, even when the parties have said theres an impasse. Mary mccord, thank you very much. And coming up, what a judge in d. C. Just warned donald trump about how his words can speed up the Election Interference Trial date. Plus, what the Supreme Court is doing to the 6 billion Opioid Settlement that would have protected the Sackler Family from future lawsuits. Then later, what survivors say they did not get ahead of the wildfires that destroyed lahaina town in maui and killed at least 55 people. We are back in 60 seconds. People we are back in 60 seconds. I proffer freshly sliced turkey. Its my favorite mouth guard flavor. 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Judge Tanya Chutkan gave donald trump and his legal team, imposing fewer restrictions on what evidence can be shared, and limiting the order to only sensitive materials. Thats also where the prosecution likely feels vindicated. Jack smiths team gets to deem which evidence is sensitive and there might be a lot of it. The Special Counsels office told the court they are prepared to hand over 11 million pages of discovery in its first production and hundreds of recordings of Witness Interviews. The sheer volume prompted judge to look at trumps attorney and joke that she can only imagine what this will mean for his proposed trial date. What she should not joke about is what she would tolerate, though, regarding the rules of the court saying that the more the parties make statements that could influence potential jurors, the faster, she says, this case will go to trial. Joining me now, msnbc legal analyst, lisa rubin whos at the d. C. Courthouse for us and was inside for the hearing. So, lisa, what stood out to you . Reporter there are a lot of things that stood out to me, katy, not the least of which the most famous person in the courtroom today obviously was not former President Donald Trump but harry dunn and it struck me that a number of people you and i could walk by on the street and not recognize were in charge of helping a judge decide what President Trump can see, what he can talk about and what is the most weighty of the three criminal indictments against him. A bunch of people who are virtual strangers to the American Public but also helping together to make a decision that will be incredibly impactful in the year ahead. Lets talk about the warning that she gave donald trump and his attorneys and also the Special Counsels office, talking about what she will tolerate and what she will not. Reporter yeah, there were a number of instances during the trial today where the parties took pot shots at each other. John laurel, the lawyer for President Trump did that more so than the Special Counsels office, but there were definitely moments where each side was taking shots at the other. Reiterating a number of talking points along the way, including the newest trope that the January 6th Committee has destroyed evidence, and judge chutkin said ive listened to you, ive seen the filings where you reference Different Social Media posts. Im not going to engage with that. If you continue to escalate this fight in public and talk about things that endanger witnesses or tamper the jury pool or notify people who might still be subjects of this investigation whats coming down the pike for them, ill have no choice but to go to trial faster, if only because thats the best way of ensuring you get a fair trial, mr. Trump. Let me ask you about the scope of the protective order. As i understand it, the Special Counsel gets to deem what is sensitive. How much leeway do they have . Reporter they actually have, its not quite like that. There are a number of categories in the protective order as it was just entered, and those categories automatically get treated as sensitive materials and they cannot be discussed or disclosed in the public domain. President trumps lawyers can apply on a document specific basis for an exemption. For example, all grand jury materials are part of the protective order, all Witness Interviews and transcripts and materials shown to witnesses outside the grand jury are also part of this. Anything with whats called Personally Identifiable Information, a witnesss home address or Telephone Number or bank account information, thats included too, but if trump feels that theres something that falls within these categories that should be his to talk about, his lawyers are free to make an application to the judge and i suspect well see a fair amount of that in the weeks and months to come. Donald trump is limited to how he can view these materials, right . Reporter he is limited to how he can view these materials, and most importantly, hes not allowed to retain his own copies of them. The custody at all times must be with his counsel. There was a fight today about whether trump and our colleague ryan reilly sort of made him akin to a toddler or preschooler needed to have counsel sit next to him as he reviewed materials. The answer to that is no, but at all times, even if he gets up to go to the bathroom or have lunch, those materials need to be returned back to counsel, and if he takes notes from any of the materials covered by the protective order, his lawyers have to examine them, line by line, to make sure that his notes dont include any of the that Personally Identifiable Information like a witnesss address, for example, like we were talking about earlier. Theres so much material here, 11. 6 million pages of discovery. The hundreds of Audio Recordings of Witness Interviews. Trumps lawyer was saying this is like David Versus Goliath. The Special Counsel has got a 60person team, and weve just got us. How can we possibly do this . The sheer amount of evidence, what is your, you know, whats your read on all of that stuff, and then secondly, what do you think its going to do to a trial date . The Special Counsels office wants it to be january 2nd. Reporter trump is not an ordinary litigant in the sense that he is much more resource rich than many people who find themselves on the other side of the v in cases. The description as the David Versus Goliath is only going to go so far, particularly when we know, Save America Pact has spent tens of millions of dollars in Trump Defense over the last several years. The volume is considerable. There will be duplication, there will also be, by necessity, a number of materials within that 11. 6 million pages that are already public, but i dont want to diminish the size of the discovery here. It dwarves anything i saw in private practice as a lawyer, katy. It will be interesting just to consider what donald trump might be hearing as he listens to Audio Recordings of Witness Interviews, especially if among those witnesses are some of the people he sees as his closest allies, like rudy giuliani, for example, lisa rubin, thank you very much for coming. Thank you. The Supreme Court blocks a 6 billion Opioid Settlement, what it means for one of the richest families in america. First up, though, at least a thousand people are still missing on maui. The latest from the island. Mau. The lastte from the island ather. She knew that i always want to know more about my family history. With ancestry i dug and dug until i found some information. I was able to find out more than just a name. 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Splenda Diabetes Care shakes find them in the pharmacy aisle today. People are found in houses in a huddle holding each other because the fire surrounded their homes before they could even get out. There was nowhere to go. And these are beautiful homes, light up like a match stick. Nobody had warning. Nothing quite like this has happened in hawaii before, and the governor now says its likely the worst Natural Disaster the island has ever experienced and yet survivors say there was no warning, no sirens or text messages, no alerts telling them to evacuate or get out now or to run, that the only message was the smoke filling their homes and the flames licking their walls. The death toll in maui now stands at 55 people at least. Making it not just the worst fire in hawaiis history, but the second deadliest wildfire in u. S. History. With a break in the wind, firefighters have finally gotten the upper hand on the flames. The fire that destroyed historic lahaina town is now 80 contained. Allowing Recovery Efforts to finally begin. We have not yet searched in the interior of the buildings. Were waiting for fema to help with that search, as they are equipped to handle the Hazmat Conditions of the buildings that have been burned. Joining me now from an Evacuation Center in maui is nbc news correspondent steve patterson. Steve, you know, these people lost their homes. There are now worries that it wont be easy to get homes back. What are they telling you . Reporter you know the stories here are as harrowing as they are heartbreaking, as they are hopeful in some cases, katy. I mean, i think hopeful in the way that people are happy to have made it to a shelter like this with their lives, harrowing in that theyre escaping the flames with seconds to spare with a wall of smoke coming towards them, trying to get their families from hotels, driving on highways that are filled with flames. And then heartbreaking in that there are residents there that have lost nearly everything. As you can imagine, i spoke to one woman, shes a younger woman living with her parents. Her parents have lost their jobs because their jobs were on front street. Front street is gone. They have also lost people. They dont know where specific Family Members and friends are. As im speaking to her, she keeps realizing and remembering that, oh, this person is lost, and this person is lost. Listen to what she tells me as were speaking outside this shelter. Take a listen. My moms friends sibling or family member, they havent heard from him quite yet. I havent heard from my friends for a really long time. I got here and had service. Jacqueline, she hasnt been found yet. I hope everybodys whos missing is safe somewhere. And can eventually contact us. Reporter apologies, the audio was a little low there, but shes literally listing that she cant find, her family cant find. Harrowing situation, the list of missing is not official. We dont know exactly how many people it is. We have heard reports that it could be upwards of a thousand people that have not checked in with their family. That is the primary operation of all the Search Efforts right now in lahaina town along with pulling out the dead. Katy. Im just thinking about the family that i had on the show earlier this week who were talking about not being able to find their Family Members and how at the time we were assuming that maybe it was just a communication issue because of all the Cell Phone Towers are down. And now with all of the rising death toll and the worries about the missing, i just cant help but think about those two people that i had on, and i hope all the best for them. Thank you very much, steve patterson. Joining me now is maui resident, allen decar, thank you for being with us. We have been Hearing Reports from survivors who say that they didnt get any alerts about this coming. There was no texts, no sirens, nothing talking about an evacuation, get out now. Did you get any . There was nothing about anything. The wind storm began overnight. I was awake, and i live right in lahaina. Right in lahaina town, and normally we get alerts about wind storms because people have things in the yard, you know, its an outdoor place. And bad things dont really happen. People tend to be very casual about putting things away, so when theres a wind storm, you know to tie things down or put things away so they dont blow all over the place. There was no warning, none. The winds were howling overnight. And i even checked at about 4 00 in the morning because i was surprised that i had missed, you know, a weather advisory, and there was still no advisory, and the winds outside my house were gusting like crazy. I went outside right after the power went out about 4 30 in the morning, and i could barely stand up in my driveway because the gusts were so strong, and my house is right now youre showing video that i took when i was trying to get back to my gallery, right as i was evacuating. My house is just a few blocks from there. And then the police never came by to warn us. I saw smoke in the early afternoon, very close by, but i thought it was a brush fire. I wasnt that concerned. Figured well Pay Attention to it. And if its becoming serious, usually the police would come around and let people know that they might want to evacuate. But my thing is i dont like when people evacuate out of panic because if there are people who need to be evacuated, let them get out first, and nobody ever came. Why do you think that is . I finally evacuated when i found out one of my houses i have three houses in the same neighborhood, and i found out one of them was on fire. Why do you think there was no warning . How can you explain that . The weirdest thing is the weather, the fact that there was no Weather Warning because thats where it would have started and they usually warn people, we get weather advisories all the time, and its a perfect day. So, you know, usually if theres any chance theres going to be any foul weather, because thats a bad event, right, because especially in lahaina, the weather is usually perfect, so thats why when i checked at 4 00 in the morning, and it still said clear, i was like, the trees are breaking. So i dont understand how that happened. Because even when its really nice, it will usually say theres wind, and youre like, theres no wind, or it will say, Chance Of Rain and its perfectly clear and sunny. So thats the one thing that, you know, ive never seen a situation where they under warn, and because theres no warning, even if they had said there was a small chance, people here love to panic because bad things dont happen. People go check on elderly people in advance, and they tell people, go check on the people who night not be so mobile. Make sure you know where they are, and, you know, if anything happens that, you know, go get them. There was none of that. Then on top of that, what made this so horrific is that usually if we have fires, theyre brush fires out in the fields, and the Fire Department is very good about keeping the fires from jumping to the residential areas. Thats their job, and theyre good at it. These fires started right on the buildings because it was power lines coming down like crazy because of those winds. So there was no time. As soon as the fires started, there were people in danger, and happened in a lot of places very quickly, and then on top of that, the Fire Department was already dealing with this massive fire on the other side of the island, so they already had resources pulled away. Whats so striking about these images were watching, including the ones you shot, is we dont normally see stuff from this vantage point. Usually by the time it gets this bad, people gone. Usually by the time that there are flames engulfing entire buildings in an entire town, its been evacuated by this point. Thats what makes this even more surprising and as youre laying out, that even when theres wind, you usually get a notice, and you didnt get it in this scenario. The town is gone. You guys have experienced hurricanes, nothing, no hurricane has ever done what this has done. Can you rebuild . Do you think youre going to get the resources you need to rebuild . Do you see that as a possibility . This is the thing. This is not like other catastrophes, where, you know, there are situations where whole towns are wiped out by a fire or a flood. And its devastating. But there are places for people to go. Theres neighboring towns. You can drive far away. If where you work burned down, you can get a job and just have to commute farther. If your house burned down but your job is still there, you could go stay a few towns over and come commute. We cant do that. There is no next place. And on top of that, this wasnt just the houses that burned, and it wasnt just the Commercial District that burned, it was both. So the economic engine is destroyed. The housing stock, we already had a Housing Crisis here. Major restaurants that were packed closed for good because they couldnt hire enough staff because theres no Worker Housing left. This has been a problem for the last few years. So its not like there was any excess capacity to go rent another place right now. Theres nothing. And then on top of that, we just lost thousands of houses. And so one of my things is we got to figure this part out because, for instance, a lot of Construction Workers just lost their house. Yeah. So when we figure out how were going to make it so that permits can be expedited in a reasonable way, even when people can start rebuilding, how are we going to have the workers because there arent werent enough Construction Workers. This is before the fire. If you needed a plumber or an ac company, or an electrician, you had a long wait. Okay. So we already had a problem, and now not only do we have a massive amount of need, but a lot of those people dont have homes anymore and if they cant house their families, theyre going to leave the island. So we have to and i think its solvable. I just i think its going to take ive said this before, its going to take a heroic effort, and my hope is that the governor and the county government, the mayor, the council, get together and put egos aside, and, you know, i know that there will be federal support, but this is something where, like as an example, the county is going to need a lot more people in the Planning Department to process permits because we cant wait 12 months for a permit right now. And theyre going to need an awful lot more inspectors because thats always been a backlog too, and theyre going to need them quickly so that you can get the inspections and get things built properly, and get people back in houses quickly. And my thing is they shouldnt cut corners. Im not saying ignore the rules or, you know, lower your safety standards, but they just have to not nitpick. Youre saying expedite, get things done and get them done quickly. Everybody has to understand what the goal is. Yeah. And right now, because its so many agencies, and, you know, someones going to have to from the top, thats why im hoping the Governors Office really takes the lead or the mayors office, because the state is going to have to provide a lot of resources, which ever, somebodys got to take the lead and smack people up side the head every time they start nitpicking and slowing things down. The video that youre looking at right now that i shot, i was trying to get to my gallery, which is in the dead center of the Main Commercial district. And if just those two blocks had burned and nothing else, it would be economically devastate to go maui for a decade. Those two blocks, just two blocks, right. And Everything Else was up, it would still be devastating, but then you realize the entire towns also gone. So how do you have the people around that you can even try to do this. And, you know, everybody wants to help, and, i mean, its wonderful that people want to help. Were going to need it, but were going to need it for a long time, and the things that were going to need are things like more people in the Planning Department, you know, resources. Right now, crazy thing, i have three houses. Theyre all gone. Yeah. And all of my employees are safe. I didnt find out that the last of my tenants was alive until yesterday when a news report showed him in a shelter. He was one of the people who had to jump in the ocean. He got battered against the rocks, wounded, pulled out by a rescuer, sent over to a rescue vehicle, but he also lost his shoes in the ocean. He badly burned his feet, so they had to throw him back in the ocean and wait until they could get people to carry him across the parking lot and hut him in a vehicle to take him to the hospital, and he doesnt have a phone. He still doesnt have a phone and it amazing me that no one has gone to the Phone Companies and said all right were going to give you names and phone cards, give them a phone with a sim card for the moment. I dont understand why thats not happening. Its a little thing, but it would make it easier. You need a whole lot of not just people doing the work but a whole lot of Paper Pushers behind the scenes getting things started. Problem solvers. Youve laid it out better than anyone ive heard so far, and youre so right, it was not just the businesses, its the homes as well and the homes of the people that you need to rebuild things. The scope of the devastation is jaw dropping, jaw dropping, if you have been to lahaina, ive been there, used to go there a lot as a kid. The two blocks, it was the economic driver, where all the tourists went. I remember Cheese Burger in paradise, our favorite place to go eat. Allen, thank you so much. If you look at that video that you just had up, the building on the right thats burning for the last 20 or 30 years, its been a pizza place, but that used to be the old blue max. Elton john, when he would be on maui in the early 70s, he would play there, it was a bar. He would just play there. A lot of places that are really special. Yeah. For a lot of reasons. And theres a magic and my biggest fear is that if people dont understand that this isnt a situation where you just Start Building again. Theres a fabric of this community thats special, and i got to tell you, the fabric is burned, but its still there. Even people, a lot of people have nothing left, but most people are determined to stay. The problem is right now were all couch surfing, that cant go on forever. We got to solve the shortterm Housing Crisis, which i think is solvable because we got resorts and we got all the airbnbs that didnt burn, and we got to figure out a way to make it so that the people who now have no place to live can at least stay someplace for six months while we start rebuilding. And if we dont do that, were going to lose the community. Youre right. Im going to have to leave it there. Im so sorry to cut you off, we have a lot of other stuff. Thank you so much for coming on and laying it out. Its special not only to locals and residents but anybody thats gone there and created a family memory. Its a big loss. Allen, thank you very much, and coming up next, what the Supreme Court just decided that could open the sacklers, the family behind Purdue Pharma up to more opioid related lawsuits. P to mo opioid related lawsuits. christina with Verizon Business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. 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The court says it will take the case and hear arguments this september. Nbc news correspondent Anne Thompson explains. Hey there, this deal would have limited how responsible the prominent Sackler Family would be for the damage caused by opioids made by Purdue Pharma, the company it controlled. The government challenged that agreement, and now the court will hear that argument out. A massive settlement for Purdue Pharma is on hold this morning. After the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the deal that would protect members of the Sackler Family from more opioidrelated lawsuits. Purdue pharma made oxycontin and a lot of money for the Sackler Family. The drug brought in an estimate 35 billion for the company. Using aggressive marketing tactics, millions of americans became adicked to the opioid. Cheryl lost her two sons cory and sean. Ive lost my children. Ive lost two of my children. That is a Life Sentence in itself. Reporter such deaths led to an avalanche of lawsuits against the company and its owners. The crisis dramatized on hulus dope sick. Purdue pharma filed for bankruptcy in to 19 under the terms of the bankruptcy, members of the Sackler Family will be shielded for future lawsuits in exchange for 6 billion that could be used to settle opioid related claims. But the Justice Department said the sacklers should not be able to use Legal Protections designed Tor Debtors Illegal Suppress and the Solicitor General warning it would leave in place a road map for wealthy corporations and individuals to misuse the bankruptcy system. What is the issue the Supreme Court wants to look at . The Supreme Court wants to look at whether people who doan file for bankruptcy like the sacklers but have some connection to a bankruptcy should get the benefit of a release. The Bankruptcy Court has done that here for the sacklers and the Supreme Court is deciding whether that violates the law. Reporter but for many of the families involved, there is say human toll to further delay. I know hundreds of families who have lost hundreds and they just want it over. Reporter Purdue Pharma is confident in the legality of the plan and it is optimistic the Supreme Court will uphold the current agreement. The court will hear oral arguments in the case in december and it could issue a ruling next year. Now back to you. Ain thompson, thank you. Come up next, why joe manchin is skipping the white house celebration of a bill he helped write and what he might be doing instead. T letting me r. So, we switched to Verizon Business internet. They have business grade internet, nationwide. vo make the switch. Its your business. Its your verizon. With your hearing, if you start having a little trouble, youre concerned that its going to cost you money. To this day i only paid what i had to pay for the device. When i go back everything is covered. 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Police said that wild other charges still may come, officials are not pursuing hate crime charges. The Montgomery Police say they are continuing to watch all of the available video of what happened ant the fight that broke out along mostly racial lines. So far most of those that came to the aid of River Boat Captain have yet to be charged. When President Biden makes remarks next week, senator joe manchin will not be there to mark it. It is latest example of West Virginias efforts to distance himself from the white house ahead of another possible senate run in his deeply republican state. Or a speculated third Party President ial run in 2024. Joining me now one of the reporters behind that exclusive and nbc news capitol hill correspondent julie sirkin. He said hes skipping because of the congressional recess and the white house is standing behind that. And interesting enough, and i think youll see the pike on your screen, he was front and center during the bill signing and biden handing him the pen used to sign the bill into law and this is all just a culmination of what weve been seeing over the last year where manchin tries to have it both ways. Touting the parts of the bill that he likes and helped West Virginia and bring down inflation but at the same time hes calling out biden for the Ip Pleamentation of the bill saying that democrats are ignoring Energy Security and Energy Investments they made in the bill. Cant ignore the political setting here. Joe manchin is from West Virginia, a deeply red state and if he does run next year, well have some competition. That is right. And mcconnell is making sure that happens and they praised manchin as a thorn in the Democratic Party but hes the only elected democrat statewide and he knows that, hes the only one that could win in West Virginia if he chooses to rub again and this is they are watching very closely. My family reported that right before they left town, manchin sat down with one of his top allies, one of his top allies in the white house, steve to feel each other out. Julie sirkin, thank you very much. And that is going to do it for me today. Deadline white house starts right now. Hi there, everyone. It is 4 00 in new york, im Alisa Menendez in for nicolle wallace. Were following Breaking News facing the disgraced twice impeached thrice indicted expresident. Judge Tanya Chutkan issuing a protective order in the case. But now the legal playbook is no secret. Invoke the first amendment, and delay, delay, and try the case in the media. It is the calling card. But today it may have met their match in the form of judge Tanya Chutkan who signals she was having none of it