it s always good to see you. happy new year, by the way, it s not too light to say happy new year. it is not, the whole month of january, as far as i am concerned. the whole 2024 will be, you can see it, but my fingers are crossed. from your mouth to my ears, have a good show. and tonight, donald trump s criminal defense team is renewing its requests for judge tanya chutkan to hold special counsel jack smith in contempt of court. with the election interference case currently on hold while trump s immunity claims get worked out in a federal appeals court, trump s lawyers lot of activity in the case halted, even the routine filing of documents which jack smith s team has said is permissible because it does not require the trump team to do anything. the motion to punish a jack smith for something that he is not prohibitive from even doing is yet another example of how donald trump has always referred to live in the world of alternative facts. with that strategy, it s on
For him. I think that is funny that is all anyone asked about. To talk about in the questions. Ton don riddell. Thank you so much. The lead with jake tapper starts right now. Senator bob menendez said there is a good reason he had nearly half a Million Dollars in cash stuffed in envelopes in jackets at his home. The lead starts right now. A defiant defense, senator bob menendez denying federal charges against him. How he justified all of that money stuffed in envelopes in jackets and close ties to the egyptian officials. But how about those gold bars and a mercedesbenz. Plus less than a week until the Government Shutdown. What Kevin Mccarthy just told cnn about his cut with democrats and those threatening to oust him if he does. And donald trump playing to his maga base at a gun store in south carolina. Welcome to the lead, im era hill in for jake tapper. We begin with our law and justice league. A defiant senator bob menendez pushing back on calls for him to resign. For those that Rus
to it 1.65 trillion dollar spending deal. that s the same top line spending number agreed to last year in bipartisan debt ceiling deal, but this deal happens to include a major win for republicans. the deal cuts 20 billion dollars from the irs over the next two fiscal years, republicans often insist that they care about the deficit but they are slashing the only government program that reduces the deficit. today, the irs announcing that it s collected more than $500 million in back taxes from tax delinquint millionaires so far, all thanks to president biden s inflation reduction act. but some republicans still aren t happy with the spending bill, with one texas republican saying that the motion to vacate the speaker is, quote, on the table. if he makes this deal that is not tough enough on the border and as you laid out, is his job in jeopardy? what i ve said is that everything is on the table. that s the point of having, rules so that he can hold a body to account. nothing should
second, the unvaxxed does not understand china. some of the biden folks, including biden himself and john kerry are apparently still committed to the old idea that a rising china is good for the world. of course, that is nonsense. russia has the gdp of $1.65 trillion, china s gdp is nearly $17 trillion and rising. the ccp has turned to the second-largest economy into a prison driven by the women of its president, president xi, and it is the greatest threat to peace and freedom on earth. so focusing on russia and neglecting china is a cataclysmic mistake. other biden supporters along with some of the warmongers and the republican party, you know who they are, claim if we don t for ukraine, we will encourage china to take taiwan. but nothing would make president xi happier than for the u.s. to waste money, troops, and equipment in eastern europe.
money, can t do it on his own. we re talking about money that has been borrowed, appropriated and spent by the congress. mcconnell s lie is being spread by other congressional republicans. the fact that the president is making unprecedented power grabs for the executive branch and now not only wants the authority to make laws through the rule-making process but wants the opportunity to borrow money in unlimited amounts anytime and anywhere he chooses. listen to this republican congressman misunderstand what a blank check is while saying the president has unilateral power over the debt ceiling? the president really asked for a blank check here. and when you re talking about $1.65 trillion annual deficits, we re not talking about small movement. it s very important. in fact, it s probably the most