150,000 florida republicans, i believe, have signed onto that ballot. i mean it's just an epically appalling move to try and do this to pregnant people across the u.s. >> repugnant to the vast majority of voters. >> they will pay and pay and pay as long as they keep trying to do thiske to the american publi. thank you, chris, and thank you jessica vulenty as always. today the criminal case against donald trump, the one that was mostru likely to be completed before the 2024 election, special counsel jack smith's federal election interference case, todayec it effectively ca to a standstill. it was frozen or in legal terminology its deadlines were stayed. two weeks ago the judge in that case, judge tanya chutkan denied trump's claim that the entire case be null and void because of, quote, presidential immunity. trump'sty lawyers immediately appealed that decision and asked judge chutkan to stay the case until the appeals court can rule on a question of immunity. well, today judge chutkan granted that request, and she clarified exactly what that means for the future of this case.f if jurisdiction is returned to this court, the court will consistent with its duty to ensure both a speedy trial and fairness for all parties, consider at that time whether to retain or continue the dates of any still future deadlines and proceedings including the trial scheduled for march 4, 2024. so this case is on hold until the immunity appeal works its way through. that means the final decision on this appeal and how quickly that decision is made is very much a live issue that could potentially delay or even destroy the special counsel's case altogether. jack smith is not just rolling over here. earlier this week smith asked the supreme court to take up the issue directly and as soon as possible to tryis and head this thing off at the pass. trump's lawyers have another week to respond to that request. but even if going straight to the highest court in the land does not expedite the process here, mr. smith is working on the lower level courts as well. on monday smith asked the d.c. circuit court of appeals to fast track its appeals process on this immunity question. and today trump's legal team filed their response. now, you would think that trump's lawyers might want their own appeal heard and decided on as soon as possible if they thought they would win it. and apparently they do not.y they want a delay because that is their main strategy in all of this. let me read you one of the actual arguments trump's lawyers made in court today in their formal filing to the d.c. circuit court of appeals. this proposed schedule would require attorneys and support staff to workto around the cloc through the holidays inevitably disrupting family and travel plans. it is as if the special counsel growled nervously drumming and must found some way to keep christmas from coming. it is one of the most spectacularly unserious legal arguments i have ever heard in one of the most serious cases this country has ever grappled with. they literally called jack smith the grinch. and the whole thing is extra comical when you think about how this entire case is about trump's actions in the lead-up to january 6th. when trump and his lawyers worked around the clock through the holidays to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election. for example, on the last night of hanukkah in 2020, december 18th sidney powell, michael flynn, rudy giuliani, they all pitched trump conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory in a, quote, unhinged west wing meeting. the same night, last night of hanukkah trump asked his followers to come to d.c. on january 6th saying, be there, will be wild. on christmas eve trump lawyer john eastman wrote his now infamous memo explaining how vice president pence could stop the certification on january 6rtth. on the first night of christmas trump asked pence to overturn the 2020 election, on christmas day. on the third night of christmas, december 27th trump talked to florida justice department officials to say it was corrupt and leave theto rest to me. and the day after new year's trump was on the phone with georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger asking him to find trump nearly 12,000 votes. what about the stockings? was there no christmas ham that year? apparently in trump world it is fine to work over the holidays if the work is trying to overthrow the american democracy. but when the work is the most important legal case in modern american history, well, then suddenly jack smith is the literal grinch. attorneys need eggnog, too, you know. the special counsel isno amaziny ahead of this argument. within hours of them they immediately filed their response and asked theme appeals court t respond tonight. trump's legal teamwork will be due december 23rd, two days before christmas, eight days before the last night of hanukkah, and three days before kwanzaa, plenty of time for ginger bread houses. ifgi trump's team still has gris i would like to remind them on december 23rd of 2020, not only did trump have time to pardon 26 people including paul manafort, roger stone, and charles kushner, but trump also found the time to call the lead investigator in georgia secretary of state's office to urge her to look for wrongdoing in the election results and tell her that she would be praised s when the right answer comes out. it is abundantly clear that mr. trump does not, but every who down in whoville wants to quit the delay stuff a lot. joining me now is chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official now an msnbc contributor are, and msnbc legal analyst and not so secret weapon lisa rubin. do you prefer the lorax or the cat and the hat or is the grinch your go to? >> i think this is green eggs and ham tonight. they are endlessly trying to peddle as green eggs and ham this incredibly contradictory story. and yet all of the judges they encounter unlike character in the seuss book do not want to eat green eggs and ham. >> first, i will ask you both, and chuck, let me go to you here. i'm not a lawyer and i did not goer to law school, but citing e grinch and making the excuse of an appeals process should not be expedited because people need to celebrate the christmas holidays seems far-fetched to me. what was your reaction to that? >> i thought it was juvenile. i'm glad you went to lisa first because she was obviously well prepared on the dr. seuss references. i am not. i will tell you. this. on any holiday military officials, federal law enforcement officials, intelligence officials are working. that's what they do. they work because the work is important and the work is necessary. and so the notion that the most important criminal case in the country can't be litigated by attorneys over the holidays is juvenile and nonsensical and that was my reaction, alex. by the way, calling people names really doesn't get you any sort of traction. jack smith ignored it, and the courts will ignore it. i promise you that. >> yeah, i don't think this even plays to trump's base, just the idea somehow jack smith is a grinch-like figure. settling it aside for a minute i wonder what you make of the d.c. appeals decision tonight to move this thing forward. it's a three-judge panel, two of them appointed by biden, one appointed by george h.w. bush. >> i think it's interesting they made this decision to move it along particularly given the supreme court has already set a deadline for trump to submit his brief in opposition to the served petition jack smith has put before them. we've talked beforet and you'v talked to other guests about this two-track approach jack smith is trying to pursue. now we've got a three-day window between the supreme court brief due on the 20th, his brief now to the d.c. circuit due ten days from now on the 23rd. if the supreme court wants to be what we would call good colleagues, they'll make a decision whether to cert in that three-day window. and if we're going to rule that question that obviates the need because the supreme court is supreme. >> right, thee highest court i the land. how do you read the decision here, chuck? is thisch d.c. circuit court of appeals basically hedging its best against the supreme court and what they're going to do given the different make-ups on these two reports? >> well, i'm glad it's proceeding on al, parallel trac alex. both courts were asked to expedite this, and that's what they're doing. i don't know they're hedging their bets. i think the best solution, of course, is for the supreme court to take the case now. they're going to get it eventually one way or another, but to take case the now to resolve the issue. it's not a frivolous issue. i'm reasonably confident the government wins it, but since it's going to be litigated in front of the supreme court, let's do it now, let's resolve it as quickly as possible and let the parties go back to judge chutkan, the trial judge in d.c. and hit the play button again and get the case moving. that seems like the most logical thing to me. >> yeah, i mean no matter what judge chutkan has issued a stay, right? the thing is frozen in time as it stands right now. and ita wonder, "a," how surprising you think that is on the part of judge chutkan and how meaningful that is in terms of trump's broader goal to delay everything here. >> it's not surprising in that jack smith effectively conceded that was the right result, that an appeal on a motion to dismous where the questions presented ones of constitutional import. his presidential immunity argument is effective lea constitutional one. he'sle saying, yes, i acknowled that deprives the trial court of jurisdiction and things have to pause. at the same time, what's notable about judge chutkan's decision today is her carving out room for her still to exert some authorize. over the gag order which she still can enforce, over trump's conditions of release, al, those are the rules by which he has to play as a free person having been criminally indicted asked over the protective order that he complained of in his brief to the d.c. circuit today. that means as i was telling one of our colleagues today, trump can't walk into the hallway, throw up the discovery into the public domain and let everyone see that which jack smith and the department of justice do not wanttuse have vantage points into at this point. >> that all has to stay effectively under wraps. chuck, the jury selection in thisch seems like it's going toe a propronged process, and that has to stop while the appeals courtth plays out, right? i would assume that's meaningful time the judge is losing here and that the special counsel's office is losing. >> potentially, al, and that's the problem. i think lisa described it correctly. the case didn't evaporate. it didn't disappear. it simply paused. and so the protective order and the gag order and other things like it remain in place. but the parties cannot go back in front of judge chutkan and continue to litigate other matters by picking a jury while the case is on appeal. so you're right, jury selection will be paused. obviously very important. in a case like this somewhat cumbersome, and that's when you begin to see the potential delay tactics taking hold and taking effect, right? so the quicker that this gets resolved and it gets back to a point we were discussing earlier, the quicker the supreme court hears the case and decides it, the faster judge chutkan cau go back, hit the play button, and resume all the things you need to do before trial like picking a jury. i don't know that the march trial date is doomed, but it's certainly endangered. >> that's going to be -- i mean i think that's -- it's hard to hear that given the fact that this case is in many ways the best shot the country has of determining whether or not the president -- the former and potentially future president of the united states is apo felon. double jeopardy is another case that trump'spa lawyers are maki alongside the presidential immunityid claim. thir saying that effectively because trump was already impeached for actions around january 6th he can't be held accountable again. that's been kind of waived. i feel like we've waived off that as a viable defense. but the supreme court says it's going to rule on that. what do you make of the double jeopardy defense? >> when trump was saying earlier that the issues that trump is presenting here are serious, they are serious.ar and they're issues of first impression for the supreme court. however, between the two, between his sort of like structural absolute presidential immunity argument and his double jeopardy argument, i don't think it's a serious argument to say because he was impeached but not convicted by the senate, he can't be criminally prosecuted. there's nothing as judge chutkan said in her decision and in fact there's a provision in the constitution. the impeachment judgment clause that would lead you to the opposite conclusion based on its actual plain text. >> well, i mean, if anything the trump team throwing spaghetti at the wall and the fact the supreme court -- this is such like a difficult metaphor -- is scraping all the spaghetti potentially off-the-wall at the same time by deciding to take all of it seems meaningful here. chuck rosenberg, i'm sorry we sprung all the seuss trivia on you without adequate preparation. we have a lot more ahead tonight. abortion is back before the supreme court. what the justices are considering and how their decision could impact women even in states where abortion is legal. but first, the impossible logic behind house republicans newly launched impeachment inquiry against joe biden. congressman adam schiff joins me on that coming up next. stay with us. s me on that coming up next stay with us (man) mm, hey, honey. looks like my to-do list grew. "paint the bathroom, give baxter a bath, get life insurance," hm. i have a few minutes. i can do that now. oh, that fast? remember that colonial penn ad? i called and i got information. they sent the simple form i need to apply. all i do is fill it out and send it back. well, that sounds too easy! (man) give a little information, check a few boxes, sign my name, done. they don't ask about your health? (man) no health questions. -physical exam? -don't need one. it's colonial penn guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance. if you're between the ages of 50 and 85, your acceptance is guaranteed in most states, even if you're not in the best health. options start at $9.95 a month, 35 cents a day. once insured, your rate will never increase. a lifetime rate lock guarantees it. keep in mind, this is lifetime protection. as long as you pay your premiums, it's yours to keep. call for more information and the simple form you need to apply today. there's no obligation, and you'll receive a free beneficiary planner just for calling. first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. during my battle with addiction, my parents were there for me. they literally saved my lives. in the depths of my addiction i was extremely irresponsible with my finances. but to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. it's shameless. there's no evidence to support the allegations my father was financially involved in my business, because it did not happen. there is no fairness or decency in what these republicans are doing. >> that was hunter biden today outside the u.s. capitol taking accountability for his actions and calling out republicans for a sham impeachment. hunter biden is facing nine charges of tax evasion in california and three gun charges in the state of delaware. now, in any normal election cycle republicans would be everywhere talking about the president's son in a swirl of tax evasion gun charges. this is not a normal election cycle, and republicans have spent the last three years telling their base that the biden family is orchestrating some kind of grand criminal conspiracy, a conspiracy that directly implicates president biden in all kinds of nefarious acts. as it stands they have precisely zero evidence to back up that claim, but that has not stopped republicans from raising expectations sky high, and now they are in a real bind. the very real charges against hunter biden kind of pale in comparison to what conservatives have been promising. and so what republicans and conservative media are actually down-playing the crimes hunter biden is charged with, claiming those charges are actually an effort to cover-up the much bigger and so far imaginary crimes of president joe biden. >> they've been sitting on this potential indictment. why do they release this now? is this a further cover-up? i'm wondering if the timing on hunter biden is partly a cover-up? >> i agree the timing is suspect. >> pushing hunter in front of the bus and saying okay we've got to feed the masses a bit to keep them off the joe scent. it does have a feeling of the biden folks creating bad news to cover up other bad news. >> the fact they're covering this up, sean, it's not only the crimes biden committed, it's the cover-up. >> weiss may have indicted hunter biden to protect him. >> ah, yes. he indicted him to protect him. yes, the classic rubric. >> the republican theory of the case here is laughable. even the most generous reading of it makes no sense, but republicans are still hanging onto this theory as the basis for an impeachment inquiry into joe biden. tonight the house voted along party lines 221-212 to open a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. so-called moderates in swing districts every member voted in favor of it. what do they do they've opened this door with promises to expose this grand plot when there's no reason to believe that grand plot actually exists. and how do democrats respond? i'll talk to congressman adam schiff who led trump's first impeachment about all of that coming up. trump's first impeachment about all of that coming up. (man) mm, hey, honey. looks like my to-do list grew. "paint the bathroom, give baxter a bath, get life insurance," hm. i have a few minutes. i can do that now. oh, that fast? remember that colonial penn ad? i called and i got information. they sent the simple form i need to apply. all i do is fill it out and send it back. well, that sounds too easy! (man) give a little information, check a few boxes, sign my name, done. they don't ask about your health? (man) no health questions. -physical exam? -don't need one. it's colonial penn guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance. if you're between the ages of 50 and 85, your acceptance is guaranteed in most states, even if you're not in the best health. options start at $9.95 a month, 35 cents a day. once insured, your rate will never increase. a lifetime rate lock guarantees it. keep in mind, this is lifetime protection. as long as you pay your premiums, it's yours to keep. call for more information and the simple form you need to apply today. there's no obligation, and you'll receive a free beneficiary planner just for calling. the house has now spoken, and i think pretty loudly pretty clearly with every single republican voting in favor of moving into this official impeachment inquiry phase of our constitutional duty to do oversight. so when i a majority of the house goes on record in support of an official impeachment inquiry with the power that resides solely in the house of representatives, this impeachment power, i think that sends a message. >> as congressman jim jo