something terrible from his past. in eight weeks we have had an uprising, a pandemic, and an economic shutdown and it is only halfway through the year. who knows what is going to happen between now and november. for the moment, trump has shown an inability the rise to the occasion. >> adam serwer, whose great piece can be found in the atlantic on line or i think in the print magazine. i don't know. did we do that anymore. >> no, it is on line. thank you. >> i appreciate it. all right. that is all in for this evening. the rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. i owe you one my friend. thank you very much. appreciate it. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. time being the operative word there. i will tell you, speaking of time, i was initially scheduled to have today off from work. there is a small mouthed bass somewhere in range of my canoe that i urgently need to meet, and soon if i am going to maintain my sanity. but i don't have a day off today because when a news day like this rolls around the day off must wait. some other time. not today. not when today was like this. >> last friday, without explanation attorney general william barr announced that jeffrey berman, the united states attorney for the southern district of new york was, quote, stepping down, unquote. this was, of course, untrue. mr. berman had not resigned. the work of mr. berman's office has included a number of criminal investigations aimed at individuals close to president trump. among them, the president's attorney, michael cohen. the president's inaugural committee, and rudy giuliani, the president's current counsel, campaign adviser and direct lining to kiev. the effort to move mr. berman is part of a clear and dangerous pattern of conduct that began when mr. barr took office and continues to this day. mr. barr's actions make clear that in hess department of justice, the president's allies get special treatment. the president's enemies, real and imagined, are targeted for extra scrutiny. and the needs of the american people and the needs of justice are generally ignored. early this year, after the president's associate roger step to was convicted of obstructing justice, mr. barr overruled his career prosecutors and recommended a lighter sentence for president trump's friend. in may, mr. barr abruptly reversed course in the prosecution of michael flynn, the president's former national security adviser who pled guilty to lying to the fbi about his conversations with the russian ambassador. once again, the president tweeted his feelings about the case. once again, mr. barr reached into the proceedings -- understand, these are merely the symptoms of an underlying disease. the sickness that we must address is mr. barr's use of the department of justice as a weapon to serve the president's petty, private interests. our witnesses today will speak to the extremes to which mr. barr has reached to carry out the president's bidding. i am special grateful to mr. elias and mr. zelensky who are current department employees for their bravery in appearing before the committee. this administration is a record of witnesses intimidation, and i have no doubt they will try to exact a price for your testimony. but you are patriots, and you have done your duty here today. it gives me hope for what may come at the department of justice when bill barr is finally removed. >> when bill barr is finally removed. congressman jerry nadler, the head of the judiciary committee talking about the prospective removal of bill barr from office. he did say to reporters today that it was possible that his committee would pursue impeachment of attorney general william barr. mr. nadler also today predicting that the whistle blowers who came forward today to name names and make serious accusations about what president trump and attorney general barr have been doing to the justice department and the rule of law -- congressman nadler predicting out loud today that they will be retaliated against by the administration for coming forward today as whistle-blowers. we shall see. johnnie lie yas did testify today about the attorney general ordering what the department were prison louse and uncalled for investigations of companies and other entities targeted by the president for political reasons. and aaron zelensky did testify today about interference if on high into the sentencing of roger stone because of roger stone's association with the president. >> ifls told that the acting u.s. attorney was giving stone a break because he was afraid of the president of the united states. >> erin zelensky it should also be noted today named names of more senior at the justice department who he says received the political pressure to botch the roger stone sentencing and who discussed it at the highest levels including with the attorney general. it is important that aaron zelensky named those names today because it gives us a sense what have might come next in this investigation into what has happened at the justice department. as kyle cheaneyed a politico.com put it today, quote, a federal prosecutor today offered lawmakers a road map to investigate alleged political interference in the sentencing of roger stone. aaron zelensky one of four lead prosecutors in the stone case told the house that senior officials including the head of the deputy's political corruption unit froley discussed concerns that they were being pressured to go easy on roger stone during sentencing. in other words, thanks to aaron zelensky coming forward, this whistle-blower, and not only saying what he knew, but naming names, other people in the department currently serving, who know more about what happened -- because of that, congress now knows who to s&p to try to fully document these allegations of the attorney general and potentially even the president intervening in a criminal case to help the president's friend. right? so as remarkable as this hearing and these whistle-blowers testifying were today the bottom line is, especially after what zelensky said is hey congress, here's who to talk to next, go get it. it was remarkable. it was everything you would expect, contentious, bickering sniping among member of the committee. one republican member of the committee was drumming his hands trying to drown out some of the witness testimony. even former attorney general michael mukasey admitted under questioning today that in his words maybe the president has intervened in federal procedures to help his friends. he said maybe. yeah, maybe he might have done that. it was just bizarre. in this intense and bizarre hearing today happened within hours of bill barr's justice department telling a federal court that they would be fine with it if roger stone doesn't report to prison next week and instead puts his surrender date until this fall. the federal judge in the roger stone case is demanding an explanation of that stance by the justice department by tomorrow. the hearing today also happened within hours of two conservative judges on a federal appeals court ruling that the judge in the michael flynn case has to go along with them wanting to drop the case against flynn. even if the judge believe has the prosecution of mike flynn was dropped for a corrupt reason or even for potentially an illegal reason. the two conservative judges on the appeals court ruled that the judge in the flynn case has to go along with it anyway. he can't inquire as to what made the justice department drop that prosecution. remarkable ruling from the appeals court. very, very controversial. we are basically counting down waiting to see if that ruling is going to be appealed potentially to the supreme court, which would be quite a dramatic turn. i should also mention -- you may remember we had congressman jerry nadler on the show here on monday night. that's when he said in the interview that he did here that he was preparing a subpoena for attorney general william barr himself to come testify on these issues. now we have learned that the morning after jerry nadler did that interview here monday night yesterday morning the prosecutor called up jerry nadler's committee and in fact scheduled a date for william barr to come in and voluntarily testify so as to avoid the planned subpoena that nadler told us about here on monday night. barr doesn't want to be subpoenaed so he is going to come in next month for voluntary testimony. since he has been attorney general bill barr has never once testified to the house. now he says he will. next month. we'll see. and we'll see how far this investigation into his alleged political interference in individual federal criminal cases to benefit the president's friends -- we'll see how far that investigation has gotten by the time bill barr is due in that seat. meanwhile, the virallogical implosion continues. here's how the epidemic is going right now in some of our closest allies around the world, italy in the upper left. that's germany in the upper right. that is spain in the lower left. all countries that got hit good and hard, good and early, just like we did. obviously, allies of ours, industrialized democratic countries. they have all just had a heck of a go with it. now here's us. that is what an abject total failure our response has been under this administration. look at us compared to italy, germany, spain, these countries that were so hard hit, hard hit at a time that gave gave us warning it was coming. we had an advantage, we had prep time over those european countries. but that's how disastrously poorly managed our epidemic has been. that's why it is the worst in the world that's why there are more dead americans than dead citizens of any other country globally because of this coronavirus. that has been the fault, that has -- that is what it looks like when you have a failed national response to a public health crisis like this. and of course we americans are the ones who are paying the price for it. over 121,000 americans dead as of tonight. now, as of tonight we have got the highest rise in case numbers we have ever seen in a single day in the united states throughout the course of the epidemic. the previous record for the largest number of new infections reported in one day had been set back in late april, april 25th. well tonight we blew through that with over 36,000 new infections reported as of 6:00 p.m. today. and, you know, it was probably inevitable that we would hit this new national benchmark given the large number of states and the large income of large states that keep reporting record numbers of new infections on their own. i mean the three most populous states in the country are california, texas, and florida, right. california, texas, and florida all just reported record new numbers of new coronavirus cases today. california hit a record number of new cases, more than 4,500 new infections on sunday. on monday, they topped 5 thousand new infections. on tuesday, more than 6,000 new infections. today more than 7,000 new infections just in california alone. in florida they topped more than 5,500 newly reported infections today. the highest number they ever hit. the state of florida refuses to compile hospital numbers in a useful format. but the sentinel reported today that at least half a dozen hospitals in south florida have completely filled their icu wards already. their already at capacity. at coral gables hospital homestead hospital in miami-dade county, broward health north in broward county. and three other medical centers in palm beach county florida. all six of those hospitals in south florida say they have zero icu beds available. they are at capacity. while the state of florida continues to hit record numbers every day. so california blowing through, by huge numbers, its record case numbers every day for the last few days now. florida is starting to do the same with icu beds already maxed out in multiple hospitals. and that's the same situation we have got going on now in texas as well. >> my first message to the public that's watching this is people must know the facts. the facts are that covid-19 is expanding far faster and far wider than at any time during the pandemic in texas. and that is exactly why we are having to take additional measures. we will tell you that there is a massive outbreak of covid-19 across the state of texas. today we will have more than 5,000 people test positive once again as well as have more than 4,000 people hospitalized because of it. >> texas governor greg abbott doing multiple local news interviews as his state tops 5,000 new cases for the second straight day. the situation in texas is worrying right now. you can tell that in part because suddenly the state's governor is no longer doing his mike pence impression saying everything is just fine. you have the governor out there ahead of the release of the numbers warning news outlets in the country the terrible numbers are coming. this is a big deal. i mentioned mike pence. let me say while i am on the subject, just a sidebar here, vice president mike pence today really do do a lunch with republican senators about coronavirus where he told republican senators that they should accent weight the positive. they should look on the bright side. according to the "washington post," vice president pence told republican senators today to, quote, focus on encouraging signs right now. that's -- that's the suppose who is supposed to be running the white house coronavirus response. we hit the largest number of new infections we have ever had as a country today. on that day, he's telling republican senators at lunch, smiles, everyone, smilts, say it is -- smiles, say it's fine. in the real world, though, the governor of texas, greg abbott is doing news interviews warning texas about the massive epidemic they have got and how they need to do something to turn it around. 40789izations in the state of texas have more than doubled since the beginning of june. we are still in june. montgomery county, texas, north of houston just announced they think they are running out of hospital beds so quickly that the county is purchasing a quote, portable shelter in which they are going to build out another 75 hospital beds for that county in texas. the houston situation is dire overall. 97% of icu beds full in houston. houston icus at 97% capacity as texas coronavirus cases break records. houston is one of the biggest cities in the country. population of millions. their icus are full now. we are going to talk with the top elected official in houston, the harris county executive lina hidalgo in a emmo. she has been warn being this moment coming. it has arrived. we will speak with her live from houston in just a moment. but yeah, when the three most populous states in the country are thundering through their case number records, just blowing them away now day after day the case numbers in the country are going start breaking records, too. question is, when it slows down. why it might. it's not just the big states, though. oklahoma just hit a new record again, today. they keep doing that. this is -- this is tulsa. this is what the new record of cases in tulsa, oklahoma, looked like today. that's where the president held his rally this weekend. north carolina and arizona both hit hospitalization records in the past couple of days. arizona, statewide, is 88% full in terms of its icu beds. north carolina says they are going to pause their reopening and they are going to start requiring face masks statewide now in public. tonight at midnight new jersey, connecticut, and new york will start restricting travelers from other u.s. states that have 10% positivity rates in their testing. that means travelers or returning residents coming from these nine states will have to quarantine for 14 days if they want to come to the tri-state area. the initial list of states that will be affected by this quarantine ban are alabama, arkansas, arizona, florida, north carolina, south carolina, utah, texas, washington state. those are the states that currently meet the criteria for a mandatory quarantine if you want to come to new york, new jersey, or connecticut. each if you are a resident of new york, new jersey, or connecticut, if you have been staying or visiting any of those states when you come home you will have to quarantine for 14 days. now, we'll see how the enforcement of that goes in new york, new jersey or connecticut -- it is not clear how it will be enforced but at least attempts to impose measures like this were probably inevitable as some states started to handle this and lots of states didn't. it is inevitable that some states that are doing relatively okay are going to ban together to try to make policy together if the federal government is just not going to work on this thing, right? like, we are the united states for a reason. we thought that banding together as 50 states and doing things as a country would be a good idea for us not only in the world but for us in our individual states f. the federal government isn't going work on this thing that killed 121,000 americans in 16 weeks with no signs of stopping and we are breaking records all around the country, if the federal government is not going to work on it we will form new smaller subgroups of united states to try to work on it together since the federal government is just abandoning ship. so you have got the tri-state area that went through held and high water and is coming out of it and has bent their curve all the way down. you see those states now banding together and say well we are going to try to protect ourselves from the states where this thing is out of control. today in virginia for example, it looks like that's going to be the first state in the country to issue their own statewide binding workplace safety rules for what companies have to do to keep workers safe from coronavirus in the workplace. it is really weird. it is really odd that an individual state is trying to do this since this is the sort of thing that the federal government does, the occupational safety and health association -- safety and health administration in the federal government is in charge of doing this. but in the trump administration they are just not. they are just not working on it at all. since the federal government isn't doing anything at all on that score while lots and lots of people are going back to work in the face of the threat of getting infected at work, well, yeah, states are going to have to start making up these rules themselves, for themselves. because the president has just decided that the federal government won't do it. so in ways large and small, the failure of the federal government to address the coronavirus disaster will start to pull the states apart from one another and to pit the states against each other in some ways. and if we have good leadership in the states, we can all hope and pray that the states will try to work together cooperatively and collectively to advance their mutual interests. ultimately what we are going to have happen here is confrontation and conflict and competition where states feel like they have got to look out for their interests against other states. and the states will dislocate and pull apart like that because of the failed failure effort. mike pence with republican senators today being like seems fine to me, accentuate the positive? so there's a lot going on. it's at least all on a theme. you know? it is all distopia. it's all on a theme of how disastrously bad american governance, perhaps the worst american governance in the history of this country, how that manifests in terms of rule of law, in terms of health and safety of the people, in terms of the la la land nonsense from the people who are supposed to be leading this country during this dark time. yes, the fishing should wait, for at least another day or two. we have lots to get to tonight. stay with us. we are off to the city of houston, texas, next. e city of houston, texas, next switch your family from at&t or verizon to t-mobile and you will save up to 50% off your current service and smart phones.... 50% with three or more lines of essentials with unlimited talk, text and data. all on a network built with our best signals for coverage. and keep your current phones. we'll pay them off up to $450 bucks each. now get an amazing network for an amazing price. only at t-mobile. throughout our history any time something bad has happened to us ...we've recovered. ♪ every time. we fall, we rise. we break, we rebuild. we stumble, we learn. we come together. we work together. we innovate and create. we meet up and get to work. we find our way forward. every time. this has been the key to our survival, the key to our growth that whenever we thought we were at our weakest, this is when we became the strongest, became the best version of ourselves, and found our way home. together. masimo. together in hospital. together at home. together in hospital. a lotta folks are asking me lately how to get their dishes as clean as possible. i tell them, you should try cascade platinum plus the power of oxi. cascade platinum + oxi penetrates and breaks down food soils some detergents can leave behind, washing away even the smallest food residue, so it doesn't redeposit on your dishes. and oxi is cascade's most powerful clean, formulated without any chlorine bleach, for a deep hygienic clean you can see and feel. cascade + the power of oxi. the #1 recommended brand in north america. there are people searching - headed in your direction. so, since people are still looking for what you do, godaddy is making it possible for you to create a website for free. start now at godaddy.com we were paying an arm and a leg for postage. i remember setting up shipstation. one or two clicks and everything was up and running. i was printing out labels and saving money. shipstation saves us so much time. it makes it really easy and seamless. pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and it's ready to go. our costs for shipping were cut in half. just like that. shipstation. the #1 choice of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/try and get 2 months free. >> . already today we transferred a patient in and, immediately, we had to intubate here. she's in her 40s. and it's -- it's very overwhelming to see. on top of the fact that when we came in this morning, we learned that one of our patients who has been here with us for a while passed last night. that's really sad. and then another -- another patient coded, but was able to make it. but then we brought -- we are helping his family with some you know, saying good-bye issues. it is not a normal good-bye. it is under mask and gown and ppe. and they get one person for one hour to say good-bye. it's just -- it's just not natural to get to say good-bye in that way. and that's overwhelming. also today we are trying to prepare for this surge, and we are trying to find ways to be proactive because we want to have enough beds for patients that need our help. so we are converting what we have had as her zen dens which is a place for staff to sit and put their feet up for a minute and eat a meal in quiet without interruption. but they are going to have to convert these two joining rooms back to patient rooms. so i am frantically trying to rearrange our supply room into our zen den number two. so my staff still can go in and sit down for a minute and have a place to eat that's comfortable and quiet for a minute and replenish themselves for a money. >> alice cummings is the director of patient care at baylor st. luke's medical center. she is in leadership there and she has to think about keeping her staff together keeping them going making sure they get what they need. she is describing how her nurses are are going to eat their moles in the corner of a supply room. they had had them in a room but the hospital needs all the room they can get now for the covid patients, got to find a place for the zen den as she put it. the exhaustion she is describing there, which is plainly her protective work toward keeping her staff going, that stress is of course right now compounded by the fear that houston health care providers are feeling about these huge new case numbers specifically in houston are going to mean n terms of what happens in houston hospitals, in terms of crushing the region's hospital capacity. i use that verb advisedly because the data from houston is bad. as of today, according to the city of houston, 97% of the icu beds in the city of houston are full. that's up from 90% of icu beds just two days ago in houston. mean while, new infections, new case numbers are not expected to level off in houston for weeks. and all of that together has health officials and local leaders in houston, forgive me, a little freaked out. at least that's how it seems, a little freaked out about what the next few weeks are going to bring and whether hospitals will be able the treat all the patients who come through their doors. one professor at the baylor college of medicine warning over the weekend that the city of houston is on track to have the worst outbreak in the country, worse than new york had. the mayor of houston saying today that his city is in a health care crisis, with new cases moving in the wrong direction n his words, quote, very fast. we are moving very fast in the wrong direction. lina hidalgo is the chief executive in harris county, where houston is, she says now that the coronavirus in harris county is an unprecedented and dangerous situation. the curve will not flatten on its own and we cannot afford the wait. she is joining us now. she's the judge in harris county, which is the top elected officials in charge of mark's third largest county which is experiencing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks on earth right now. judge thank you for taking time to be here tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. >> first, let me ask you -- i am trying to describe what is happening broadly in texas but specifically in harris county and in houston from afar. let me ask you if i got anything wrong or if there is anything else -- anything that i have gotten wrong or anything important that we should understand about the situation you and your county are in right now? >> no, it is crushing to see that testimonial from the nurse. if there is a silver lining, it is that the hospitals' operational capacity is hitting 92, 97%, but as she said, they have been working to make room, to make surge capacity, and sustainable surge capacity, which gives us a little bit of a chance to perhaps have a chance at success. does that mean we will succeed? who knows? and certainly not without severe action on the part of the community. but the reality of it is, we have been watching these hospitalization trends. this is no surprise. if you increase close contact to such a degree as has been happening here you are going to have more hospitalizations and the projections show that we would run out of all beds anywhere between the next ten and 40 days. now we know that it takes about three weeks to flatten a curve with the most severe restrictions. >> in terms of that horizon, that sort of dire horizon in terms of running out of all beds when you talk about surge capacity one of the things we have heard from other health officials and seen in other places is that surge capacity -- it is never easy, but it is easier to organize in terms of physical space and literal beds and getting equipment in place. the thing that's hard to organize in terms of surge capacity is the right number of trained professionals to staff those beds and staff particularly intensive care patients who need so much attention and so much care from he was pro. are you at all concerned about health care staffing levels as harris county looks toward moving into an intensive care surge capacity kind of situation? >> absolutely. there is a reason those beds are not permanent. you have to look at the beds, the staff, the ppe. we are standing up -- we have a medical shelter raleigh-durham to go as well to supplement the need if it came down to that. but that's not where we need to be. the idea is not to have such disregard for human life as to say let's just way until we get to the very edge and fill that capacity. for one, it is not sustainable. but also this is the community you have to remember during harvey where neighbors were helping nibs out of flood waters, where the concern for human life was overwhelming. and that's what this is. it is an invisible hurricane, so to speak, where your neighbor's home is getting flooded and we need to go and help out. and that's what it takes is we are going to need folks to work together. of course, the issue is while i had the authority to issue restrictions in the past i no longer do. and so i am working with the state to try and find a solution quickly. and at worst i will make sure and be very clear with the community as to what the recommendations are because we are headed toward a precipice, and it may well be too late. >> if you did have the authority to issue restrictions in harris county in houston in terms of people's behavior and what should happen, what would you order at this point? what do you think would be necessary in terms of mandatory restrictions. you have to remember harris county is houston and 3 other cities. it is a large area. would he know what doesn't work. that is the status quo, that is the ability for people to go to bars, restaurants, clubs. i have been saying we are at the second highest alert level we have been on that for a couple of weeks. i have been asking the community not to do that. but recommendations is just human nature. folks think and get the sense that life is back to normal. what we know works is a stay home order. do i want to go there? no. from the beginning of the reopening i have said i am committed to making it succeed. we pulled out all the stops entreesing, on testing on quarantine ongs for first responders, on this medical shelter, work with nursing homes, all kinds of things. but the reality of it is we need to avoid being the canary in the coal mine as far as what a reopening should not look like. and we need to figure out how to do this sustainably. >> harris county judge lina hidalgo. let me ask you one question before we go. obviously harris county is capable, big, very large, as you said. third largest populous in the country in terms of counties. and you guys have your act together. you guys know -- you have good governance, you know what you are doing. given all of that -- i am hesitant to ask but is there something that you need in terms of national help? is there something that harris county needs to tap the rest of the country for as you face these very, very scary numbers right now? >> i hope that folks that are reopening too quickly, folks that are getting complacent will see what is happening here and take it as a word of warning and recognize that the virus has not gone away, that it spreads from person to person contact and that we can't get complacent with this virus. other than that, what i need is the ability for the community to buckle down. we did it first already with the first wave. we were able to bring those case numbers -- to flatten them before it started reopening and we have got to do that again. >> lynn hidalgo harris county judge thanks for being here. good luck. it is going to be a tough few weeks in harris county. please keep us apprised. >> thank you. all right. no outrageously busy news day is complete without an incredible dramatic legal filing. that's next. stay with us. chances are you know us. yoo-hoo, progressive shoppers. we laughed with you. sprinkles are for winners. we surprised you. on occasion, we've probably even annoyed you. we've done this all with one thing in mind. to help protect the things you love. and if we can't offer you the best price we'll help you find a better one. it's not always the lowest! even if it's not with us. that's how we've done it for the past 80 years. not just today, or this month, but always. i thought it had to be thick to protect. but new always discreet is made differently. with ultra-thin layers that turn liquid to gel and lock it inside. for protection i barely feel. new always discreet. some companies still have hr stuck between employeesentering data.a. changing data. more and more sensitive, personal data. and it doesn't just drag hr down. it drags the entire business down -- with inefficiency, errors and waste. it's ridiculous. so ridiculous. with paycom, employees enter and manage their own data in a single, easy to use software. visit paycom.com, and schedule your demo today. let's be honest. quitting smoking is hard. like, quitting every monday hard. quitting feels so big. so try making it smaller, and you'll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. start stopping with nicorette. swithout even on yoleaving your house. starting small can lead to something big. just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. you can get it by ordering a free sim card online. once you activate, you'll only have to pay for the data you need- starting at just $15 a month. there are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. get a $50 prepaid card when you switch. 5g is now included with all new data options. switch and save hundreds. xfinity mobile. today at the federal appeals court in washington, d.c. in a 2-1 ruling the judge in the mike flynn case, judge emmett sullivan was ordered to stop inquiring as to why the justice department and attorney general bill barr have dropped the prosecution of mike flynn even after he pled guilty. the appeals court ruled that judge sullivan should rubber stamp what the justice department did here, he should stop asking questions as to why they did this sort of crazy thing. he is directed now to pull the plug on flynn's prosecution and be quiet about it. it was 2-1 ruling. the third judge, judge robert wilkins dissented from the ruling, his dissent the kind you end up unable to stop yourself from reading even if you are not a lawyer. let me give you a taste of why. this is from the dissent. quote, it is a great irony that in finding judge sullivan to have exceeded his jurisdiction this court so greivously oversteps its own jurisdiction this. appears to be the first time we have issued a writ of man damous to compel a district court to rule in a particular manner on a motion without first giving the lower court the opportunity to issue its own ruling. quote in 2017 then acting attorney general told the vice president that flynnace's false statements posed a potential compromise situation for flynn with the russians. just a few months ago the prosecution said that flynn's false statements to the fbi went to the heart of a valid counter-intelligence inquiry and were absolutely material. now in a complete reversal, the government says none of this is true. quote, this is no mere about-face. it is more akin to turning around an aircraft carrier. today a majority this court declares that nevertheless in spite of the government's abrupt reversal on the facts and the law these circumstances merit no inquiry into the action and if so if any such reasons are impermissible. quote, judge sullivan must be given a reasonable opportunity to consider and hold a hearing on the government's request to make sure it is not clearly contrary to the public interest. i therefore dissent. to ensure that it is not clearly contrary to the public interest. joining us now, is a former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. thank you for coming back. when we talked last night i had no idea we would have so much to discuss 24 hours later. >> every day is a surprise in this administration, rachel. >> it is remarkable. we have got this hearing today at the judiciary committee in the house where we have got justice department whistle-blowers coming up and saying yeah the justice department is now bringing cases and dropping cases and interfering in cases in ways that are designed to benefit the president politically and help his friends and hurt his enemies. that is happening. we work in the justice department. we have seen it happen. and you have got this 2-1 ruling in the appeals court where this judge in flynn's case is told to shut up and take it, that he doesn't have the ability to review what the justice department did in flynn's case. i found the appeals court ruling today absolutely baffling. as a former u.s. attorney, though, did it makes sense to you? >> no. i agree with you. in fact i was sharing texts with colleagues and friends and the words i was seeing was stunning, shocking, astonishing, all of those kinds of words. i think it is because we see the way the world the dissenting opinion does as you just said. the world that the dissenting court was looking at here says a case may be dismissed only with leave of court. if that means anything it means judge sullivan should at the very least have the ability to at least hold a hearing. on the merits it makes the most sense even if you disagree with the merits, the idea of granting man damous is so unusual and extraordinary i think that part aen loan gives me a glimmer of hope that the cull court might pick it up enbank and review it because it sets a further press department for the cases. because ordinarily the district court makes its rule and a process comes later to review what the court did. but here they ran straight to mom and dad and said tell them not to issue my order not to have a hearing. they did that. i think it would be so damaging for future cases in the department of justice i am cautious that the district court might vacate this and rehear it. >> barb, as a lower than average intelligence non-lawyer observer, i have a question for you. i realize i have no mind for these things. but it seems to me looking at that ruling today that in the -- let's say that mike flynn got this prosecution dropped, right? he gets prosecuted. he pleads guilty. he's about to be sentenced. he freaks out, he is going to prison, and he decides he is going to bribe them. he just bribing people in the justice to get him off. i am saying this is a hypothetical. if at that point the justice said we are going to withdraw this prosecution. we don't want flynn to go to prison at all and the judge had reason to believe something that corrupt had happened doesn't this ruling say, well, it's all right, doesn't matter, you are not allowed to inquire as to why this might have happened even if it was something totally egregious and corrupt. >> i think it does. one of the things that the majority opinion focuses on is there is a presumption of regularity in prosecution unless there is evidence to the contrary and the court said we see no evidence to the contrary here. but what the dissent points out is that rule 48 is not just there to protect defendants. that's the part that the majority focuses on. it also says it is there to prevent defendants who are well connected and powerful from getting preferential treatment because that's in the public's best interest. it is also there to mick sure that the court doesn't get taken for a ride in a scheme like the one you described there. that's the merits issue aside from the procedural issue. on think on both of these counts this decision should be reversed. >> we will see about an appeal. obviously judge sullivan could ask for it to be reviewed enbank by the full dc circuit. any judge on the dc circuit could say we should look at this enbank. there is also the possibility of an appeal to the supreme court. this is not over yet. barbara mcquaid, appreciate you helping me through this. thank you. >> you bet, rach e8. thank. much more still to come here tonight. stay with us. re tonight. stay with us your bank can be virtually any place. so, when you get a check... you can deposit it from here. and you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. you can save for an emergency from here. or pay bills from here. so when someone asks you, "where's your bank?" you can tell them: here's my bank. or here's my bank. or, here's my bank. because if you download and use the chase mobile app, your bank is virtually any place. visit chase.com/mobile. did you know liberty mutual customizes your car insurance ta-da! so you only pay for what you need? i should get a quote. do it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ theand we want to thank times, the extraordinary people in the healthcare community, working to care for all of us. at novartis, we promise to do our part. as always, we're doing everything we can to help keep cosentyx accessible and affordable. if you have any questions at all, call us, email us, visit us online. we're here to help support you when you need us. take care, and be well. to learn more, call one eight four four cosentyx or visit cosentyx.com sstop struggling to clean tough messes with sprays. try clean freak! it has three times the cleaning power of the leading spray to dissolve kitchen grease on contact. and it's great for bathrooms! just keep pumping the power nozzle to release a continuous burst of mist and make quick work of big jobs. it even works on stainless steel. it cuts through 100% of dirt, grease and grime. available with easy-to-swap refills. to get three times the cleaning power, try clean freak from mr. clean. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. last night, and then all day today, we watched as two american cities worked on taking down confederate monuments. one monument for a staunch defender of slavery in charleston, south carolina. the other at the state capital in raleigh, north carolina. it turns out taking down centuries olds monuments is time consuming work. in raleigh, it has taken three days and quite a few different cranes to fully disassemble even just the pillar of that 75 foot tall monument to confederate sould i soldiers. it was around 11:30 last night they finally finished. they labored at it in the heat for most of the day today. but it's interesting. one of the things we're now seeing about the length of time it takes logistly to remove these monuments is that while it's happening people gather around to watch and you get to hear what they think seeing them being taken down after all these years. that john calhoun statue is 100 feet tall. here is what some people who live in charleston told the post and courier, their local paper today, about having lived in that particular shadow their entire lives. quote, this has been a symbol of hate since the day it was put up. or a fifth generation charleston native said, quote, i don't know how many people i was blood related to that was under his enslavement. he's not going to be looking down on us anymore. or, quote, this moment was about the uprising we saw across the country. we're ju happy that the mayor and the council came to the same conclusion as the people. ashton said after having this thing looming over me my entire life as a person of color in 2020, i'm happy to see this symbol of slavery come down. so while the president sits in the white house full min nating about saying it may cost you ten years in prison if you vandalize a federal monument, more states and cities are deciding for themselves that now is the time to take these down. church bells played amazing grace as they finally prepared to lower old john calhoun to the ground. he left his pedestal today at 5:07 p.m. i think we've got a shot of him there back down on earth. doesn't he look a little annoyed to you, like how dare you. maybe like a cat stuck in a bathtub. who can say? maybe he changed his mind about the whole thing while he was up there. maybe he also was glad to be done with it. charleston sure sounds glad of it. [ applause ] [ applause ] from essential workers... to frontline responders... to you. whenever you're ready to get out there, enterprise is ready, too. ♪ with our complete clean pledge, you'll have the peace-of-mind that we'll get you safely on your way... wherever...and whenever that may be. enterprise. when you're ready, we're ready. tvwhere we've got the best to odeals on refrigerators, microwaves, gas ranges and grills. and if you're looking for... (grilled cheese sizzles) (timer chimes) liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ who has the highest percentage of its vehiclesto longevity, still on the road today? subaru. when it comes to best overall value, who does intellichoice rank number one? subaru. and when it comes to safety, who has more 2020 iihs top safety pick+ winning vehicles? more than toyota, honda, and hyundai-combined? subaru. it's easy to love a car you can trust. it's easy to love a subaru. get 0% apr financing for 63 months on select subaru models now through june 30th. and my side super soft? yes, with the sleep number 360 smart bed, on sale now, you can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. come on pup, time to go. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet but can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. so you can really promise better sleep? not promise. prove. and now, during the lowest prices of the season, the queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only $1,299, save $400. only for a limited time. to learn more, go to sleepnumber.com. here's what we want everyone to do. count all the hugs you haven't given. all the hands you haven't held. all the dinners you didn't share with friends. the trips you haven't taken. keep track of them. each one means one less person vulnerable, one less person exposed, and one step closer to a healthier community. so for now, keep your distance. but don't lose count. we'll have some catching up to do. quick update for you tonight on a story we brought you a few days ago about the trump administration staging a hostile takeover of something called the u.s. agency for global media, the agency that over sees voice of america. president trump installed a new director of that agency. soon after, the head and her deputy resigned without explanation. 48 hours later in what they called a wednesday night massacre, the heads of all of the other agencies networks were all suddenly fired all at once. the new trump appointed director fired all of the members of all of the boards of directors that advised all of those networks. everybody was fired all in one fell swoop and instead he installed hand picked junior varsity trump people there. none of whom have any experience in news or journalism or diplomacy. on friday night we had two of the newly fired board members, both of whom are real heavy weights in their field. both expressed alarm. now the update is that they are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that has just been filed against the new trump appointed director who fired them. their lawsuit says the wholesale firing of the heads of all those networks and the governing boards were illegal. they should be nullified by a judge and all of the network heads and the board of directors should be reinstated. legal drama aside, the president really does sort of appear to be trying to come deer the federal government's giant tick media arm for his own purposes. but now at least we know that the people who have been ousted there are not going out without a fight. so watch this space. now it's time for "the last word" the lawrence o'donnell. as you know, new york politics has a lot of very big stars like, say,