Take it. Join the team at contra costa college. Start today at contracosta. Edu a shocking accusation from Cassidy Hutchinson against Rudy Giuliani. The lead starts right now. In her new book, the star witness in the january 6 Committee Hearings, Cassidy Hutchinson now said Rudy Giuliani groped her. This according to an excerpt obtained by the guardian. Now giuliani is responding. Plus, interrogated on the hill. Tough questions putz to Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland about the Special Counsel Investigation News hunter biden an into donald trump and the Justice Departments decisions to proceed with charges. Who does he report to . Again im not going to get into. Is it you. Im ultly responsible. Is it mr. Weiss did not have to report to anybody. He was the supervisor and Decision Maker in these matters. Also this hour, a brandnew cnn poll zeroing in on the primary state of New Hampshire. A state trump won the primary for but lost in the general election. Then and in 2020. Where does he stand with the voters of New Hampshire today . Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. We begin with our Law And Justice lead, the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, forcefully attempting to Rebuke Republicans who are accusing him and the Justice Department of political bias. As the president hip smself said and reaffirm today, i am not the president s lawyer. This is Committee Hearing today is the culmination of months of tensions. Today those House Republicans accuse the Attorney General of weaponizing the Justice Department to work in favor of President Bidens son hunter. While targeting President Bidens opponent donald trump. Garland defended the independence of the Justice Department and the Special Counsel saying no one has told the Special Counsel to indict trump or no one told him to indict trump and he has not interfered in any way in the hunter biden probe. Sara murray begins our coverage of this intense day of questioning and how the plea deal fell apart in july. Reporter Attorney General mayor. Garland on capitol hill today. The fix is in. Even with the face saving indictment last week of hunter biden, everyone knows the fix is in. I am not the president s lawyer. I will add, i am not congresss prosecutor. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee hounding garland about details in hunter biden after his plea deal and he was indicted last week in connection with a 2018 gun purchase. After five years, what stage are we in . Are we in the beginning taj, the end stage, the i cant discuss ongoing cases. A judge called b. S. On the plea deal. Garland rebuffing questions and deferring to Special Counsel dade weiss who is overseeing the hunter biden probe. I leave it to mr. Weiss whether to bring charges or not. That would include whether to let statute of limitations expire or not. Whether there was sufficient evidence to bring a case. That was subject to the statute of limitations or not. Whether there were better cases to bring or not. Reporter the Attorney General reiterating he stayed out of the hunter biden investigation. I promise the senate, when i came before it for confirmation, that i would leave mr. Weiss in place and that i would not interfere with his investigation. Has anyone at the department told President Biden to knock it off . With hunter . No one that i know of has spoken to the white house about the hunter biden case. But the political interference accusation is sure to reemerge as the gop controlled House Proceeds with an Impeachment Inquiry to president joe biden. These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption. Reporter leaving garland to be threats of being held in contempt. Arent you held in contempt when you refuse to answer. I have the greatest respect for honor. And democrats defending garland. That is quite rich. Because the guy who is leaving the hearing room mr. Jordan is about 500 days into evading his subpoena. Garland beating Back Criticism of the Civil Servants some of whom have been named by republicans as they barrel into the probe into alleged political bias at doj. Singling out career Public Servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous. Particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of Public Servants and theyre families. We will not be intimidated. Reporter now just today Special Counsel david weiss said hunter biden should have to appear in person for his First Court Appearance on those gun charges to promote the Public Confidence that hes not getting any special treatment. Jake, a judge just agreed with prosecutors and said hunter biden does have to appear in person in court in Delaware Next week. Sara murray, thank you so much. Lets bring in evan perez. The Attorney General tried to shut down the claim that donald trump made, without a scintilla of evidence, that was Priesiden Biden that ordered trump be indicted. That is right. The theme of the day was that the Justice Department has been politicized and that the Attorney General is doing the bids of joe biden, the president , in order to attack his chief opponent, donald trump, of course, in those indictments, those two federal indictments. Here is former president making that claim over the weekend in an interview. He went to the Attorney General of the United States and he told them indict trump. And not surprisingly, the Attorney General pushed back against that saying that there has been none of that. None of those instructions. Especially because the charges that have been brought have been brought by a Special Counsel. Listen. No one has told me to indictment and in this case the Decision Toin Indict was made by the Special Counsel. So that entertainment the president Made On Sunday was false . Im just going to say again that no one has told me who should be indicted and in any matter like this. And the decision about indictment was made by mr. Smith. Reporter jake, you say a lot of careful wording but more fire than in previous hearings. He pushed back when congressman from new jersey accused him of being of discriminating against catholics an he said that was an absurd claim and pushed back against claims that they are targeting for parents for speaking out at school board meetings. Jake. Evan, stick around and lets bring in Adam Kinzinger and former assistant attorney carrie cordero. Adam, Attorney Garland refused to answer questions related to on going Investigations Led by Special Counsel weiss. There were called to hold him in cob Contempt Of Congress and they pointed out that jordan refused to comply with your january 6 subpoena to testify. How do you interpret the back and forth . Well, i mean it is just show. I think, look, yes, jordan refused to refused our subpoena. Refused to talk to us. He and others did the same. And it also happened to be some of the loudest. It has completely been appropriate for the Attorney General not to comment at this hearing on ongoing investigations. As far as i know, that is pretty much what every Attorney General does. Especially on issues like this. And all it is, it is jim jordan knows and the others on the committee know that he cant comment and so they try to fashion questions in a way that make it look like there is something that hes hiding when there is not anything hes hiding. He oversees the Justice Department and justice is being done for instance against donald trump and against hunter biden. But theyre goal is to try to make it look like there is some double standard because that is what theyve been saying even though that is not the case. And carrie, theyre making a big attempt, these House Republicans, to paint Merrick Garland as some democratic hack. But the truth is, there are republican, former Attorney Generals, including trumps own bill barr who have pointed to the strength of the cases against donald trump. Right. Well in this particular hearing, the Attorney General really took pains to demonstrate that he is trying to lead the department in a nonpartisan, impartial way. And what that has meant is that he has appointed Special Counsels to take on cases where there could be any possible appearance or inference that he would be making decisions for any inappropriate reason. So when it pertains to the former president , hes ainppoind a Special Counsel and given jack smith Decision Making about the cases regarding former President Trump. When it comes to the current president s son, he has now appointed the u. S. Attorney in delaware as a Special Counsel to be able to make the final decisions in that case. So he is showing how much he is trying to keep his position as Attorney General impartial and run the department in a nonpartisan way. But that means that he is extricated from the facts of the cases himself which then could make him appear like hes not answering questions. Evan, i wonder if Hunter Bidens lawyers are kicking themselves for not making that Plea Deal Work for getting their backup when the judge was pushing and probing on it. Because now he faces hunter biden faces federal gun charges, a Special Counsel investigation that is ongoing, hes likely going to face some tougher charges on on tax issues and los angeles and in washington, d. C. Do you think his lawyers wish they could take a mulligan and do it over again. I think hunter biden believes that and certainly wishes that that were the case. Look, i mean, the judge had not unreasonable questions when she asked these very questions at that hearing. What does this cover . Do you understand, hunter biden, and your team, what this Agreement Covers and in the end what happened was Hunter Bidens lawyer got his back up and and said essentially, we dont have a deal. And that is something that you see now david weiss, the Special Counsel bringing up. He points out that it was Hunter Bidens attorneys who couldnt simply just answer the questions from the judge. And that is one reason why theyre saying that hunter biden has to come back and present himself in court, you know, for his arraignment. He cant do it over zoom or video conference. And so, look, i do think there is a lot of wishing by hunter biden that this had gone through. Because this is obviously going to be a very painful process. And it is going to be front and center as the republicans pursue their Impeachment Inquiry in the coming weeks, jake. Adam kinzinger, how do you see these attacks by your former republican colleagues on the Justice Department . The attacks by matt gaetz and jim jordan and tom massey. What do you think they achieve in terms of the publics perception of the Justice Department . Well, first off, their dishonorable and that is important to keep in mind. As we talk about the political impacts. The political impacts, i think theyll be effective. Because as donald trump is facing legitimate charges, whether it is handling the classified documents, whether it is january 6, and all of these other issues and in georgia and new york, theyre going to try to throw as much spaghetti against the wall to create people, theyre going to flood the zone, as steve bannon would say, that is what youre going to see. Youre going to see them continue to try to flood an the zone and i think it is some what effective but people need to keep in mind this is about a president that broke the law but not about a president s son that wouldnt wasnt in the government. Thanks to all of you. Cnn has a brandnew poll out this hour on the race for 2024 and the person coming in closest to donald trump in New Hampshire, not Florida Governor ron desantis. A former attorney for donald trump who pushed election lies now on the list to testify against him in the georgia case alleging a conspiracy to steal the states 16 electoral votes. Plus well have that stunning accusation by Cassidy Hutchinson reported in the guardian from her new book. Claiming that Rudy Giuliani groped her. Stay with us. Tmobile for busin. Mlb partners with tmobile to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. Aaa relies onn tmobiles network to stay connected nationwide, so they can help get their members back on the road. And were helping pano ai innovate, to stop the spread of wildfires. Nows the time to see what americas largest 5g network can do for your business. Try killing bugs the worryfree way. Not the other way. 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