Dozens of lavish vacations. The new reporting raising new ethical questions for the Supreme Court justice. Im Jonathan Capehart this is the Saturday Show. Republican president ial hopefuls are facing a Digital Campaign test this week. The Iowa State Fair. The fair, home of the Famous Butter Cow Sculpture is a right of passage for candidates to make their pitch directly to voters. Florida Governor Ron Desantis and former South Carolina governor nikki haley are set to make an appearance this morning. But they have a lot of ground to cover to catch up to the parties front runner. A recent poll by the New York Times and Siena College shows donald trump leading desantis by 24 points in the state. Trump plans to attend the fair later today, despite facing fresh new legal troubles, including a trial that could take place before the Iowa Caucuses on january 15th. Special counsel jack smith has proposed a trial date of january 2nd for the 2020 Election Interference Case. But we will have to wait until august 28th for judge Tanya Chutkan can to set an official date. So far shes proven she is willing to take a quick and decisive action. Yesterday she issued a protective order limiting the use of disclosure of quote sensitive materials. She also warned trump, and his attorneys against making inflammatory statements. Meanwhile, there were surprised developments on a new Special Counsel, this time, in the hunter biden investigation. Yesterday, attorney general Merrick Garland announced he was appointed u. S. Attorney david weiss to Special Counsel after a plea deal on tax and gun charges fall apart. Weiss was first nominated the u. S. Attorney for delaware in 2018 by then president donald trump. Joining me now is Harry Lippman former u. S. Attorney for los angeles time Legal Affairs columnist and host of the talking feds podcast. Harry, thank you very much for being here this morning. David weiss was already investigating hunter biden as i mentioned in the intro. So why would he seek the power of the special Counsel Title . Hes been investigating it for five years, and he had by his own testimony, on trampled authority. This designation lets him take cases to other districts. He couldve done that anyway, but now he doesnt have to ask. And the suggestion jonathan is that he is interested in bringing attacks case against biden it either los angeles or california, and as the u. S. Attorney in delaware, he wouldnt have automatic authority for that. But he would have actual authority. But he asked, it became a little bit of a point of contention, and congressional hearings. And when he sort of said to garland, okay, can i just have this authority, and put the matter to rest, garland i think was more less oxygen and said, all, right you can be designated as Special Counsel. Even though by the way, hes not, hes from within the department, and typically Special Counsels come from outside the department. So harry, if im hearing you correctly, excuse me, is this Special Counsel in the hunter biden investigation, given powers that the u. S. Attorney already had, is this really cosmetic . Well, i would say no in this sense. I dont think its a good question that he has more power actually today that he did two days ago. But, i dont think hunter biden sees it as cosmetic in the sense that everyone saw the cases having been basically resolved and put to bed. There was a little hiccup at the plea agreement, that made them had to go back and talk more. Now i think he is truly in the crosshairs. I think Special Counsel weiss is going to do some things that u. S. Attorney weiss didnt do. But its not because of all the sudden hes got a special sc on his chest. Lets talk about judge touchdown, and the protective order she issued yesterday in the january six case. Which grants the government request in part, and denies the governments request in part. What does her order restrict trump front doing . Well, it says he cant use sensitive material, basically in any way other than to prepare his defense. And the big add on to that, is she defined sensitive material very broadly. Basically to include anything about witnesses. Not just grandeury transcripts, but also interviews of which theyve done thousands. Other videos, and the like. Now, its true, she didnt do the same restrictions on nonsensitive material. But at first, there doesnt seem to be a lot of that. And second, she said look, i dont have to. Because if trump does what hes worried about, if he tries to, in any way intimidate witnesses, or pollute the jury pool, hes already barred from that and coming down like thunder on him. And it was very clear who is the judge, and whos a criminal defendant, and who has regular First Amendment rights, and who doesnt. So she gave him a chunk of what he parnas king for, but not in a way that permits him, in theory of course, its trump, but in theory to mess with the jury or the trial. One more real quick question on this. In reading the protective order, listening to answers, your response to my question, is it, am i right to think that the judge has basically set up saying, if you violate this, im gonna go the next step. And if you violated again, im gonna go the next step. Basically warning him, you have one or two more chances. Or four or five. I think she has is very much in mind. Everybody does. At the end of the day, she can do certain things, finger wagging, and a little more, and then she has a kind of Nuclear Option of putting him in jail. And just as you suggest jonathan, she wants to subdivide. Nobody wants to go there, including xi. She wants to sub divide so she can say, i really mean it, i really mean it. And it will come a time when she says next time youre going to jail. And then that will be it if he really violates it. And hes going to jail. All right, Harry Lippman, thank you very much for coming on to the Saturday Show. Joining me now, tim miller, msnbc political analyst, writer at large, and author of why we did it, a travelog from the republican road to hell. And and republican strategist. Thank you both very much for coming to the show. Tim, trump is headed to the iowa state flare with nine Florida Republicans who endorsed him over governor desantis. What do you think of the strategy to divert attention from desantiss visit . I mean, i think trump is Alpha Desantis right now. When it comes to trump, i like waking up on the Saturday Morning Hearing harry talking about him going to jail. Thats what i prefer to talk about. But ron desantis, i think he was riding high last winter, coming off of winning midterm. He seemed like a winner, like trumps candidate seemed like losers, desantiss strength was pitching himself as the new strongman, to go after the media, or go after migrants, whatever it was. But on the campaign trail, he struggled to do that. And trump has really been, you know, the alpha dog in this primary. And desantis has struggled. I think that trump is kind of rubbing it in his face this time in iowa. In a way thats triggering jonathan, it reminds me of when trump landed his plane at the Iowa State Fair in 2015, and immediately caught off and held a press conference, started attacking jeff white and jeff stanley. I remember i was working for jeff at the time, i remember thinking, oh boy, we have a whole new bag reforms to deal with here. We didnt expect, i think hes basically trying to have that same energy this week visavis desantis. Right. This is to both of you. But i want you to answer first susan. Speaking, you know, picking up on what tim was saying. You know, it was all shiny and wonderful back in 2016. But it seems as though a lot of people are getting a little tired of the trump show. Take a listen to what some iowa voters had to say about it. I think it was all right for the first time, with everything going on, i just think its time for a change. I think a lot of my friends that voted for trump are interested in a different candidate. They feel that hes too divisive. So i think im in that camp. We need to find somebody who doesnt have a whole train loaded baggage. And so susan, you know, thats, those are votes of Iowa State Fair. The question, is how is donald trump still leading by 22 plus points. Well, for a few reasons. One, because we found a few who said that. Unfortunately, right now when you look at the polls, they are in the minority. Plus, donald trump only needs a third of the votes if someone does search, he still has to win the majority. And to tims point, it is not going to be desantis he surges. Im fairly sure of that. In that desantis missed his window. People are done with desantis, even more than they are with trump right now. Hes not the alternative to trump. They are going to be looking at folks like tim scott i think, very seriously. An eye what they also may give a second look to mike pence. But these are not the hardcore trump supporters. Right now, trump is leading because he has not been taken down. And again, when trump was looking like a loser at the end of 2022, that was the time to go after him, to really take his numbers down. But no one had the guts to do it. Chris christie is chiseling away at trump, not so much to win a primary, but to cause trump to lose in a general election. Because if we do see trumps numbers going down in a head to head with biden, that may provide an opening for someone else. Although i dont think it would be chris christie. Tim, im going to get your answer. We have to take a break, but i want your answer on the other side. We will be right back with our Political Panel in a moment. L panel in a moment. To not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. Nows the time to see what americas largest 5g network can do for your business. Ladies. Welcome to my Digestive System. When your gut and vaginal bacteria are off balance. You may feel it. But just one align womens Probiotic Daily helps soothe digestive upsets. And support vaginal health. Want a smarter way to mop . Introducing the new swiffer powermop. An allinone cleaning tool with a 360degree swivel head that goes places a regular mop just cant. Mop smarter with the new swiffer powermop. I brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein. Those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks uuuhhhh. Here, ill take that woohoo ensure max protein, 30 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar. Enter the 10,000 powered by protein max challenge. Tim miller and susan del ratio are back with me. Tim, why do you think given the iowa voters we just heard from in the last break think that its time for someone new, that donald trump is still the number one contender in iowa by 24 points . Yeah, jonathan all explained it this way. Theres about 35 of the party, around 44 that are always trumpers. These are people who are with trump in the 2016 primary. With him in the 2016 general. With him 2020. I dont think january six was a big deal, Something Like january six. Now theyre with him again. Thats a 35 base of the party to be after. Now theres two thirds of the party that kind of like him, you know, maybe there with cruz or rubio last time. During his presidency they werent happy about the economy. January six happened, the like, okay, its time to look around. He has a little too much baggage. Okay, like those people exist. Theyre out there, and theyve left him. But that doesnt change his stranglehold on the other 35 . So if you have 35 , plus a handful, oh thats gonna get him to a majority. And somebody else is gonna have to consolidate the other 65 , and nobody, you have to have somebody to be somebody. Theres no one out there that seems like they can do it at this point. I am dying to ask you about tim scott, and mike pence. But i cant let you guys go in the minutes that we have left without talking about ohio. Trump won that state in 2020 by eight points. But voters overwhelmingly rejected the Ballot Measure that wouldve made it more difficult to amend the state constitution, which would eventually make it more difficult to protect Abortion Rights in that state. Will republican finally recognize how unpopular or alarming the public views their efforts to limit Abortion Access . Most will not. There are fewer than understand it. For example, those members of congress who got elected in jovita districts. They tend to say theyre personally prolife, but they are a little more open on how, how many weeks on the abortion issue. Maybe not six, 15, 20. I think whats really interesting now, even donald trump, and i cant believe tim and i can give trump a little credit this hour, but even donald Trump Realizes this is a losing proposition for republicans. He knows it, because he knows, he has a decent feel for where people move towards. And the fact is, is that with half of this country being women, and more than half of the voters being women, there is something to be said for rejecting extremism. Thats what we saw in ohio. Make no mistake about it. This should be a wake up call to republicans, as should be kansas. Republicans, moderate republicans, centerright independents, do not want extremism. My guess is, we will see the number one name, you know, our issue wont beat donald trump or joe biden. It will be a womans Reproductive Health care. And that will be at the top of the ballot if the democrats are, you know, if they really want to win this thing. Because that will help them from the top, all the way to the bottom. Tim, when it comes to abortion, it used to be that that issue for republicans was like, it was the dog chasing the car. Full chase it, but never catch it. Well with this decision, the dog caught the car, and now as a result, kansas, kentucky, montana, now ohio, the car is repeatedly running over the dog. So do the democrats really need to do anything special to ensure that what theyve done, what republicans have done on the issue of abortion and writ large freedom continues to beat them up . Yeah, i think more ballot uninsured events for example, and continuing to press it and make it an issue. You remember when was put in Game Marriage on the ballot to help evangelical turnout. They did a reverse of that strategy in 2024. You see it as a big change and where energy is around this issue. Republicans, the evangelical base that they could turn out by talking about abortion, by getting them, motivating them, that base is not us energized about this issue anymore. And other republicans as weve seen arent as strongly pro life as they are. Meanwhile, democrats are super energized about this. Special elections, valid initiatives, off year elections, midterms. Democrats now have an advantage with republicans used to have. They have more energy, more motivation to come out on this issue, and to stop other donald trump antidemocratic initiatives. Thats a problem that republicans havent figured out how to deal with yet. And were gonna have to leave it there. Just as we were really getting into, it we have to go. Tim miller, susan del percio, thank you very much for coming to the Saturday Show. And coming up, that alabama boat brawl. Why it became a viral in cultural moment. That is next. That is next christina wanna know the secret ingredient to running my business . tina her. christina being all over, all at once. tina all the time. christina but my old network wasnt cutting it. And thats not good for baking. Or judging. Or writing. So, we switched to verizon, the Network Businesses rely on. With Verizon Business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. So, no matter what, im running this kitchen. vo make the switch. Its your business. Its your verizon. Weve all seen this video by now, the brawl on the docks of alabamas Riverfront Park in montgomery, as several black men came to the rescue of a Black River Boat Captain who was assaulted by a group of white people after they refused to move their pontoon. The viral moment spurred thousands of memes, songs, and collective black joy. But why . Montgomery was the First Capital of the failed Confederate States of america. It was once one of the largest Slave Trading Communities in the country. Commerce street, where the enslaved operated from what is now known as Riverfront Park to the slave market was named that for a reason. The city of montgomery in the state of alabama were early focal points of the civil rights movement. Its where rosa parks refused to yield her seat to a white man. Its where Martin Luther king juniors house was bombed. And it was 50 miles west in selma where a Young John Lewis and Jose Williams lead 600 demonstrators on what was supposed to be a Peaceful March To montgomery for voting rights. They were less than a mile into their journey when just after crossing over the edmund bri