for a criminal indictments, four criminal trials barreling towards him. and now the former president is openly threatening to weaponize the justice department against his political opponents if he takes back the white house. congressman jamie raskin is here with his reaction, and he's coming up first. plus, special counsel jack smith unveils a big clue about how he plans to prosecute his case. as trump's lawyers ask for his federal trial to be televised. the law firm of andrew weissmann and niel cattiel is here to weigh in on all of it. also today, resounding victories for democrats and crucial races all across the country, as republican culture wars fall completely flat. we'll talk about what it means for 2024 and beyond. and later, a trip to the forum, a bike ride through georgia with raphael warnock. we talk about the fight for democracy, the former president, and balancing his life as a pastor with his life as a united states senator. ♪ ♪ ♪ after a long stretch of dark political predictions for democrats, and a lot of freaking out over poll numbers, things did start to feel a little bit better this week. democratic governor was reelected in kentucky, democrats swept control of the virginia legislature, which most people were not predicting. and the people of ohio turned out in droves to protect abortion rights in their state. you have to find yourself thinking, all right. maybe things aren't so bad. maybe i shouldn't be so terrified about the safety of democracy and my rights after all. the forces of good are winning out in the end. i'm going to tune this all out for a while, i have other things to worry about. if that's how your feeling, i kind of get it. and there are some things to feel relieved about. but at the same time, the threat of a second trump term is still very real. and the things he is saying right now are some of the most concerning things we have ever heard him say. so it's important for everyone to really start listening. >> if i happen to be president and i see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, i say go down and indict them, mostly what that would be, they would be out of business. they'd be out. they'd be out of the election. >> if they're beating me, go down and indict them. trump is forecasting that in the second term he will wield power however he chooses. unconstrained by the rule of law. this is some truly scary authoritarian banana republic type stuff, and we should hear it that way. just yesterday, he took to truth social to imply that democrats, or any political opponents, are the greatest threat to america and need to be rooted out like vermin. vermin is the word he used there. it's not just rhetoric. remember the washington post reported just last week about specific plans trump and his allies have drafted to put his words into action. on top of planning to launch investigations into people who dare to critique him, or disagree with him during this time in office. including people that work for him. his team has also started to map out plans to invoke the insurrection act on his first day in office. which basically would allow him to dispatch the military against civil demonstrations. think about how crazy that is. and in the same interview, he also defended his family separation policy at the border. and new reporting from the new york times this weekend confirms he also has plans for sweeping rates of undocumented immigrants, mass deportations, and the creation of giant camps. he wants to restate the muslim ban, something he also repeated this weekend. and when he was asked about it this week, about how the u.s. can stop the killing of innocent people in the israel-hamas war, he basically said we should just let it all play out. and yet, the hand wringing and cocktail party speculation about an alternative to joe biden is continuing. will continue. guess what? joe biden isn't perfect. no candidate is, by the way. but we have to understand what the alternative is here. if elected to a second term, donald trump would prosecute anyone he deems an enemy. unleash troops on protesters, and essentially unravel the rule of law as we know it. and this time, he plans to line his administration with people who will actually will help him to it. but sure, joe biden is three years older and occasionally trips over things. there's a lot to be concerned about right now when it comes to a second trump term. the speeches are getting much more disturbing, and much more unhinged, and we should all hear it that way. it's also important to talk about all of this, and important to call it out. but there is nothing more important than digging into his actual plans. the silver lining here is that trump is warning us here. with his own voice, with a microphone on and a camera rolling. he is telling us exactly what he plans to do, and we all just need to listen. joining me now is congressman jamie raskin, he led the second impeachment trial of donald trump, and he's now the ranking democrat on the house oversight committee. you have thought a lot about donald trump, and you have studied him a lot, you've been so involved in holding him accountable. when he said this week, if they're beating me, go down and indict them. some of the pronouncements he's made over the weekend, i've heard that as kind of his authoritarian impulses getting worse. how do you hear them? >> the role of the government in his view is to advance his political fortunes and destroy his political enemies. so what would a second term look like? it would look a lot like vladimir putin in russia. it would look a lot like viktor orban in hungary, illiberal democracy. meaning democracy without rights, or liberties, or respect for the due process has, the rule of law. in fact, there's not much democracy left to it, because their position is that they don't accept the integrity of any election where they lose. and that is a hallmark of an authoritarian party. they don't accept elections that don't go their way, they refused to disavow political violence, they embrace political violence for an instrument for taking power, and everything flows from the will of a charismatic politician. and that is donald trump. so we are clearly headed into a completely different form of government than any of us would recognize, as continuous with the past. right-wing authoritarian governments, in league with putin, xi jinping, orban, bolsonaro -- >> putin and xi jinping, those are some serious authoritarian dictators out there. it sounds like you're saying people should look at, if they're wondering what a second trump term would look like. >> those are the people that donald trump and his family do business with. remember, his son-in-law brought back two billion dollars from saudi arabia, from mohammed bin salman. he pocketed that after four years of rendering favors to saudi arabia, including covering up the assassination and dismemberment, drawing and quarter-ing of saudi american journalists. for the washington post, and rendering all sorts of favors to saudi arabia. multiply that times every authoritarian despot on earth, and that's what we're getting with donald trump, because they've made relationships with every autocratic, plutocratic, kleptocratic regime on earth. and they don't pretend to have any program for the american people. it's just about restoring donald trump's power. they literally didn't have a platform that they adopted last time around, which tells you what? their platform is whatever donald trump dictates to them on any particular day. and we see our colleagues in congress just taking orders from donald trump on everything from shutting down the government, to impeaching joe biden for nothing. >> i do want to ask you about one of the specific things. there was some reporting over this weekend in the new york times over his immigration plans. this isn't surprising given what he's done in the past, but it described it as preparing to round up undocumented people already in the united states on a vast scale, and detain them in sprawling camps while they wait to be expelled. there are a lot of things in history that reminds me of. what did you think of when you read that story? >> of course, there's been an anti immigrant impulse in america going back to the beginning, with the alien and sedition acts, and the attempts to politicize and demonized foreigners to the country. of course, the rounding up of japanese americans during world war ii. so he wants to pick up on that strain, and that is a purely authoritarian program. i mean, they really have two programs. one is that, and the other is to pass what mike johnson wants, a national ban on abortion rights for american women, with no exceptions for rape or incest. they understand how deeply unpopular that is, so they're trying to downplay that for now. the cats got their tongue, they don't want to talk about it. but of course, that will rise to the top the moment they think they can get it passed. >> let me ask you about speaker mike johnson, who you know pretty well, it sounds like. he did release his two step plan to keep the government open yesterday. no deep spending cuts, which some of the right-wing want. but no funding for israel and ukraine. i haven't seen democratic leadership make a pronouncement about what they think of it. the white house has kind of criticized it. what do you make of it? is this something that could possibly be -- does it have any legs? >> we haven't been able to study that new republican plan yet, and obviously you want to do everything in our power to keep the government open. so we're serving the american people. the problem within the republican caucus is that they're caught in a double bind in two directions. if they go to try to fund each appropriation bill separately, then the maga right starts pasting all of this extreme right-wing graffiti on it. so there's antiabortion stuff, there's anti lgbtq stuff, there's anti dei stuff. all that. and then there's about a dozen republicans that can't vote for that because they're in biden districts and they won't go wrong with it. >> 18 of them. >> they're basically signing their own political defeat by doing that. however, if they go for a clean continuing resolution, which is clearly the way to do it, then you get chip roy and the freedom caucus saying no, this doesn't create the slashing reductions and expenditures that we want whenever a democrat's president. they don't look for that when donald trump was president, and he of course he created record deficits and was spending like a drunken sailor. >> you are not running the republican caucus, we only have five days here. should the public be preparing for a shutdown? >> well, the best hope is that they want to give their new guy, mike johnson, some reprieve. i mean, they have put someone in who they think appeals to the common denominator within the caucus, which is a kind of theocratic agenda. and some of them are saying, well, he's like the backup quarterback who comes in in the fourth quarter, so don't blame him for everything that's happened, give him a break here and go with what he wants. but the plan seems strange to me, but i will reserve judgment on it. we're trying to operate with unity in our caucus, behind hakeem jeffries and our leadership, because it's complicated enough with the republicans falling apart on a weekly or daily basis. so if it's something that our leadership thinks they can work with, it's something that i imagine most democrats will say they'll swallow for now. >> we'll see, it could be a fight. i'll ask you about mike johnson, because you're a constitutional scholar. he is somebody who believes the bible comes first over the constitution. i want to be clear, this is not about being a person of faith. there are many people of faith in congress, democrats and republicans. but saying that the bible comes first over the constitution, how problematic is that? second in line for the presidency? >> let's start with this. when we take our oath of office, we put our hand on the bible and we swear to uphold the constitution, we don't put our hand on the constitution and swear to uphold the bible. the constitution is the governing document of the country, and we of course have a multiplicity of fates and people can choose their faith, or no faith at all. and that's what jefferson and adams and madison fought for, with the american revolution and the declaration and the constitution. i mean, the great breakthrough of the american constitution was to rebel against centuries of religious conflict. the wars between the catholics and the protestants, and inquisition, and crusade, and witchcraft trials and all of that. they said we want to put government on a secular principle, which is no establishment of religion, no religious test for public office, and free exercise. everybody can worship exactly as he or she pleases. but i've got colleagues who get up, one got up not long ago and said the moral downfall was in 1962 where the supreme court banned prayer in public schools, and i had to remind him, no, the supreme court never banned prayer in the public schools. as long as there are pop math quizzes, there will be prayer in the public schools. all the supreme court said in that case is that the government can't compel you to pray according to a script that the government writes. and that case was from new york, the suit was brought by catholic families, saying that there was a protestant prayer that was being imposed on everybody. and of course, that's the great argument, or one of the great arguments for the separation of church and state, and the no establishment of religion. what happens is one church gets control of the governmental process, and then imposes its theological orthodoxy and discipline on everybody else. >> and that's why it's in place. never has there been a greater value for constitutional expertise, so thank you so much for bringing it to us, and for breaking down so many issues with us. congressman, thank you for joining me this morning. >> my pleasure. >> coming up after a week in which he turned a new york courtroom into a surface, donald trump is now asking for his federal trial to be televised. -- join me with their reaction, after the break. we'll be right back. ...to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for your business. with the freestyle libre 2 system know your glucose level and where it's headed without fingersticks. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. it's covered by medicare for those who qualify. ask your doctor about the freestyle libre 2 system. detect this: living with hiv, i learned that i can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why i switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop dovato without talking to your doctor. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. this can cause serious or life-threatening side effects. if you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop dovato and get medical help right away. serious or life-threatening lactic acid buildup and liver problems can occur. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems or if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or considering pregnancy. dovato may harm an unborn baby. most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping, tiredness, and anxiety. detect this: i stay undetectable with fewer medicines. ask your doctor about switching to dovato. ♪ students... students of any age, from anywhere. students in a new kind of classroom. ♪ using our technology to power different ways of learning. ♪ harnessing ai to plant new beginnings. ♪ so when minds grow, opportunities follow. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ [bell ringing] and doug says, “you can customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual.” he hits his mark —center stage— and is crushed by a baby grand piano. are you replacing me? 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[limu emu squawks.] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ outbursts in a new york courtroom this week were shocking, but not exactly surprising. and of course, by behaving in such an outrageous way he is making a political calculation. not exactly a legal one. now, trump's defense team says they want to put that kind of behavior on full display in his upcoming federal trial in washington d. c.. and in a filing late friday, his lawyers argue that cameras should be allowed inside the courtroom. to capture the proceedings for a television audience. this is something that a range of news organizations, including msnbc's parent company are calling for. but the trump team is clearly making this request for a much different reason. joining me now is our in-house law firm, neil -- is the former acting solicitor general, andrew weissmann is the formal council to the fbi, and as senior member of special counsel mueller's team. let me start with you, because you wrote in favor of cameras in the courtroom. you argued for this in an august op-ed, saying the reward outweighs the risk. but we did kind of see how this would be this week. trump tried to turn the courtroom into a circus, and there weren't even cameras in there. so did anything about that change your view, or how you see this? >> no, so first of all, john, happy de valle to you and to all of our viewers. and of course, joe wally is the festival of lights, and the idea of light is what motivated that up at. the idea that this is the american peoples courtroom. new taxpayers pay for this trial, and you should be able to see it in bright lights, and that is part and parcel of our democracy. the fact that donald trump has -- is going to act in as you put it a circus light fashion, that's what donald trump does. whether there's cameras in the courtroom or not, it's going to be a circus every day of every week. the judge will of course exert some rain over that, but i don't think that's a reason not to let the american public see exactly what's happening. and i know that there is some speculation that trump doesn't really mean it. that he doesn't mean it. he filed this thing, but he didn't even have a single legal citation to any law or rules or anything like that in his filing, asking for cameras in the room. but that slick part and parcel of donald trump's legal filings generally. they're very light on law if any at all, and donald trump generally wants this. the most dangerous place in washington d. c. is the space between donald trump and a camera. so of course he wants this. i think the important thing is this trial be televised, so that the american public can see it, or at a minimum, live audio in realtime. that's what the u.s. supreme court has done ever since covid, i do that a lot with them. and we should at least be able to hear the trial, and not be relegated to third hand news accounts. >> happy diwali to you as well, wonderful celebration. andrew, let me go to you, because it's no surprise that a former reality tv personality would want this kind of exposure. maybe audio is an interesting option, i'd love to know what you think of that. but what do you think his motivation is in all of this? >> i think he knows that in federal criminal cases, that the district judge has no leeway here on her own, to order this. this is why about ten days ago, when he asked his position, he told the government and they represented it to the courts that he was agnost