classified documents. the special counsel found evidence that president biden, quote, willfully retaineds classified materials found no reason to press criminal charges. drew distinction between the criminal probe of handling of documents and his findings regarding president biden. the long standing justice department priniple that you cannot indict a sitting president does not apply and would not bring charges even if joe biden were no longer president. we ll have more on that later in the program. we begin with a hearing at the nation s highest court. an historic hearing for some very big questions about the constitution. the future of our democracy and at the heart of the case, a request from voters for some accountability for an unprecedented insurrection. first up, jonathan mitchell, the attorney for donald trump, argued among other things, that january 6th was not an insurrection. it was a riot. he also argued that the president is not technically an officer of the unit
welcome to msnbc s special coverage in tonight s iowa caucus. i am ari melber here with jen psaki for the next hour. great to be here. as we count on to the caucus results coming later tonight with candidates making their final push is. here s what they had to say. today is the day we make history because we do do you guys know anybody who has gonna vote for haley or desantis? yes, i do. and i m gonna try to persuade you can t sit home, even if you vote and then passed away, it s worth it. you can be the most worthless republican in america, but if you kiss the ring, he will say you are wonderful. it s just because he has an excellent record of service. what do you think about when people say, well, iowa is still trump country? i think that is wrong. some iowans, you just heard, pushing back on efforts for tonight s story before voters weigh in. it should happen in the next few hours. while trump does have a lead in the final poll, with haley rising, a
washington, d.c. i m in for nicolle wallace. we begin with the one thing that has consistently haunted the disgraced, twice impeached, four times indicted vice president, something that has time and again kneecaped donald j. trump, in the way his adversaries, even the legal system has struggled to do. we re talking about donald trump s own words. today we re reminded that words do, in fact, matter, particularly when they are uttered during a deposition under oath. it s part of the $370 million civil fraud suit brought by new york attorney general letitia james. as viewers of this show know well, that trial has not been short on fireworks between trump grandstanding outside court or grandstanding inside the court. time and again, trump has turned this trial into a cross between a maga rally and a wwe wrestling match. whether he s sparring with the judge or delivering last week s blistering six-minute soliloquy in open court, or final day of proceedings. this is not the first t
thanks for joining us. fear not. nicolle will be back tomorrow. the beat with ari melber starts rite now. hi, ari. thanks so much. i m ari melber. after all this breaking news coverage of trump s indictment we have been at the table. all of our colleagues following this. tonight we turn from this fast fluid first draft of history to a wider view of how history may absorb this historic precedent breaking week, because tonight pulitzer prize winning journalist bob woodward who you see on the right will analyze what you see on the left. he s known for best selling books, including about now defendant donald trump. he is our exclusive guest tonight on the beat. we begin as the nation absorbs the fallout of something many thought was impossible, even recently, something donald trump said would roil the country, the former president arrested by the same government he once ran. that was yesterday. jack smith spoke out through his filing, through his team in court, and today
everything in the senate now, requires 60 votes 60 votes. you know how many votes it got? 100, because they basically did it by unanimous consent. unanimous consent is how everything used to go to the floor, you know, like, 30 years ago, and certainly before the trump era and the mcconnell era. so, that moment earlier tonight, when they just went, unanimous consent meant that every single senator who made the slightest noise about getting in the way of this bill was not really serious about getting in the way of this bill. some of them to have points they really need to make and everyone understands that. and that s why they are being accommodated in this fashion tonight. but all of them want to race out of that building and get to the airport at this point tomorrow morning as soon as they can. yes, it s a question of is it a concern about the u.s. default that is making them putting the pep and the steps, or is it just the problem of losing their weekend? only time w