Prosecutions of donald trump and hunter biden. Tonight he tells us about the principles that guide him and how he would deal with political interference. If necessary, i would resign, but there is no sense that anything like that will happen. [ ticking ] as a 60 minutes camera rolled and Michael Lewis took more note, former crypto mega billionaire Sam Bankmanfried shuffled cars and jackhammered his legs avoiding eye contact. Today hes trying to avoid prison. You had so much access to Sam Bankmanfried writing this book. What, ultimately, is the purpose here . Theres going to be a trial and the lawyers are going to tell two stories. So theres a story of war going in the courtroom, and i dont think either one of those stories are as good as the story i have. Im lesley stahl. Im bill whitaker. Im anderson cooper. Im sharyn alfonsi. Im john wortheim. Im celia vega. Im scott pelley. Those stories and more tonight on 60 minutes. 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In a rare interview, the attorney general told us that in the trump and biden trials ahead, his prosecutors will pursue Justice Without fear and without favor. We do not have one rule for republicans and another for democrats. We dont have one rule for foes and another for friends. We dont have one rule for the powerless or one rule for the poor or the rich. We have one and thats we follow the facts and the law and we reach the decisions required by the constitution and protect civil liberties. Are you essentially saying, as attorney general, to the American People, trust me . Well, in the end i suppose it does, in the end, come down to trust. Its not just me. Its decades of the norms of this department that are part of the dna of the career prosecutors who are running the investigation and supervising the investigations that youre taking about. Former President Trump faces two federal trials. One for allegedly hoarding classified documents and covering it up, the other for allegingly conspireing to seize power after the 2020 election. Attorney general Merrick Garland has said little about this, we power after the 2020 election. Attorney general Merrick Garland has said littledly conspireing power after the 2020 election. Attorney general Merrick Garland has said little about this, we wanted to understand why. I think the first thing to understand is because these are pending cases, two federal indictments and the longstanding rule in the Justice Department is that we cant comment on pending cases. Where does that rule come from . One is to protect the privacy and liberties of the person under investigation. Its to protect witnesses who also may or may not become public later in an investigation, and then finally, its to protect the investigation itself. Investigations proceed in many different directions, eventually coming to fruition or decision to charge or not charge about a particular thing or not, and if witnesses and potential subjects knew everything that the investigators had previously looked at and were about to look at, it could well change testimony. It could well make witnesses unavailable to us. And this is not peculiar to the trump investigations . This is a rule for all investigations. This is part of what we call our justice manual. Its been there for at least 50 years or probably longer than that. Help us understand the timing. These prosecutions of the former president are happening during the campaign. You could make the argument that its the worst possible time. The Justice Department has general practices about not making significant overt steps or charging within a month or so of an election. Were clearly outside that time frame in these cases. Prosecutors, special counsel, they followed the facts and the law where they lead, when theyve gotten the amount of evidence necessary to make a charging decision and theyve decided if a charge is warranted thats when they bring their cases. The investigation itself has determined the timing . Yes, exactly right. Your critics say that its time to ruin mr. Trumps chances in the election. Well, thats absolutely not true. Justice department prosecutors are nonpartisan. They dont allow partisan considerations to play any role in their determinations. The prosecutor in the trump cases is jack smith. He was named by garland to be special counsel. Thats a job under the regulations of the Justice Department designed to give smith broad independence from the department and from the white house. The most important aspect of the regulations is that the special counsel is not subject to the daytoday supervision of anyone in the Justice Department. You are not in communication with the president or any member of his administration with regard to the investigation of former President Trump . No, i am not. If President Biden asked you to take action with regard to the trump investigation, what would your reaction be . I am sure that that will not happen, but i would not do anything in that regard. If necessary, i would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen. Have you ever had to tell him, hands off these investigations, mr. President . No because he has never tried to put hands on these investigations. Separately, President Biden himself is the subject of a special counsel investigation into whether he improperly held classified documents after he was vice president. His son, hunter biden, is the target of a fouryear investigation into his business deals and his taxes. Hes been indicted for lying about drug abuse when he bought a gun. Republicans accused special counsel david weiss of slow walking the hunter biden investigation. The allegation is, mr. Attorney general, that what is described in some quarters as the biden Justice Department, is taking it easy on the president s son. Well, look, this investigation began under david weiss. David weiss is a longstanding career prosecutor, and he was appointed by mr. Trump as the United States attorney for the district of delaware. I promised at my nomination hearing that i would continue him on in that position, and that i would not interfere in this investigation. You are not participating in the decisions . No, mr. Weiss is. The white house is not attempting to influence those decisions . Absolutely not. And he said we wont have to take his word for it. Under Justice Department regulations a special counsel must write a final report. Which i will make public to the extent permissible under the law, that it is required to explain the prosecuting decisions, the decisions to prosecute or not prosecute and the Strategic Decisions along the way. Usually the special counsels have testified at the end of their reports and i expect that will be the case here. Hows your relationship with the president . It must be frosty. I have a good working relationship with the president. Good, perhaps, but maybe not close. The president addressed the question in august when he spotted garland at a white house event. Attorney general garland havent seen you in a long while, good to see you. Secretary of homeland, you think im kidding. Im not. [ laughter ] attorney general garland leads 115,000 employees, prosecutors agents of the fbi and other federal law enforcement. Additional security is now assigned to protect judges and prosecutors after the trump cases drew death threats. Political violence is among garlands gravest concerns. People can argue with each other as much as they want and as vociferously as they want but one thing they cannot do is use violence or threats of violence to alter the outcome. The most important aspect is the American People themselves. The American People must protect each other. They must ensure that they treat each other with civility and kindness, listen to opposing views, argue as vociferously as they want, but refrain from violence and threats of violence. Thats the only way this democracy will survive. Why do you feel so strongly about that . Well, i feel it for a number of reasons, and a number of things that ive seen, but for my own family who fled religious persecution in europe and some members who did not survive when they got to the United States, the United States protected them. It guaranteed that they could practice their religion, they could vote, they could do all the things they thought a democracy would provide. Thats the difference between this country and many other countries. And its my responsibility, its the Justice Departments responsibility to ensure that that difference continues. That we protect each other. Two of your ancestors were murdered in the holocaust. Yes. Is that why you devoted yourself to the law . Yes. Thats i would say thats why i devoted myself to the rule of law, to public service, to trying to ensure that the rule of law governs this country and continues to govern this country. Merrick garland has spent a life in the law. Merrick garland. Hes the associate Deputy Attorney general. At justice he oversaw the Oklahoma City bombing case, an act of political terrorism. Later, after nearly two decades as a federal Appeals Court judge he was nominated to the u. S. Supreme court by president obama, but republicans stalled the nomination for ten months until donald trump was sworn in. President elect biden picked garland for attorney general on the same day the capitol was attacked. That became one of the largest investigations in the departments history. Weve arrested and brought charges against more than 1,100 people. There are more to come. The videos that every Single Person happened to have on their phones, that security cameras had, that bystanders had, that media had at the time disclosed faces, some of which we have not yet been able to connect to people. Youre looking for new suspects, new defendants still . Yeah. Its not that there are new suspects, but there are people that we havent found yet. Why do these prosecutions mean so much to you . Because this is a fundamental aspect of our democrat see. If we cant ensure that this kind of behavior doesnt recur it will occur. Prosecutions we bring are deterrents that will keep that from happening. Garland knows hell be vilified regardless of how the cases are decided. His job was to take the arrows for the department. He has learned to embrace the pain that comes with the job. The youngest is ryan mitchell, forever 8 months old. We saw that at de aheadquarters where he was surrounded by those lost to the Opioid Epidemic attorney general Merrick Garland. And their grieving families. Meeting them he told us reminds us why he fights and whom he is fighting for. Thank you for being here and listening to us. I represent the American People. I dont represent the president , i represent the American People. And likewise, i am not congress prosecutor. I work for the American People. And if democracy is an emotional subject for Merrick Garland, maybe its because he has witnessed how suddenly ican be threatened. In Oklahoma City and washington d. C. When the history of this extraordinary time is written, what is the best that Merrick Garland can hope for . I think its the best any Public Servant can hope for that weve done our best, that we pass on a Justice Department that continues to pursue the rule of law and protect it. And its the same thing that every generation has to hope. That we can pass our democracy on in working order to the next generation that picks up the torch and is responsible when we are finished to continue that job. [ ticking ] im kareem abdul jabbar. I was diagnosed with afib. The first inkling that something was wrong was i i started toto notice ththat i couldldnt do thihis wiwithout losising my breaea. I couldndnt make itit througugh the airprport, anand every lilike 20 or 3 30 s i had d to sit dowown and d get my brereath. Everery physicalal exertionn seemeded to exhausust me. And fifinally, i went to o the hospitital where e i was diagnosed d with afib. B. Whenen i first n noticed symym, whicich kept comoming and gog, i shshould have e gone toto the doctotor and totold them what wasas happeningng. Instead, i i tried toto let it papass. If you expxperience irregulalar heartbeaeat, heart t racing, chchest pain, shortntness of brereath, fatig, oror lightheaeadedness, you u should talalk to youour doctor. Afib incncreases thehe risk ofof stroke ababout 5 timems i wawant my exexperience to help p others undnderstand the sympmptoms of a atrial fibrbrillation. When it comes toto your heheal, ththis is no t time to waia. Michael lewis has made a literary career finding jump off the page characters and using them to help tell complicated stories and what can be more complicated than explaining cryptocurrency . Lewis gained allhours access to Sam Bankmanfried, known at the time as the j. P. Morgan of crypto. As unlikely celebrity, his life braided finance, politics, sports and pop culture, then the empire crumbled and today bankmanfried sits in jail various federal charges and faces potential sentences of more than a hundred years. Lewis didnt panic just went where the story took him. His latest book going infinite comes out tuesday which is also the opening day of the trial of Sam Bankmanfried. You had so much access to Sam Bankmanfried writing this book. What ultimately is the purpose lear . I realized i had an ambition to the book. I saw it as a letter to the jury. Theres going to be a trial and the lawyers are going to tell two stories. So theres a story war going on in the courtroom and i think neither one of those stories is as good as the story i have. Michael lewis didnt set out to write this book. Two autumns ago he was at home in the bay area when he got a call from a friend interested in investing with the young billionaire. Could lewis meet with this wonder kid and size him up . So it was lewis brought Sam Bankmanfried here in the Berkeley Hills for a hike in the park. You have to remember, i knew nothing about him. I knew i was supposed to evaluate his character and 18 months earlier he had nothing now he had 22. 5 billion and was the richest person in the world under 30. He didnt spend care to spend it on yachts. He was going to spend it to Save Humanity from extinction kind of thing. Yachts. He was going to spend it to Save Humani