i think that an election of donald trump, as tragic as that would be, it would mean worsening for the united states than the global climate challenge. >> david wallace-wells, always a what of information, optimism on an important topic. that is our show for tonight. now it is time for the last word with ali velshi, in for lawrence. good evening, ali. >> you know, alex, sometimes we talk about serious things, once in a while, what do you talk to your colleagues about when you're not on camera? you and i had a remarkable conversation before the show, topic being, hair, which i don't think most people would think that you and i would be talking about. >> yeah, i mean, listen, just because you are not and enthusiastic of the hair salon, necessarily, does not mean that you don't have valid opinions. >> we managed to fill a few minutes a conversation. >> and if filled a few more minutes a conversation in front of an american audience. >> we'll see you soon. >> have a. go by. >> i don't know why i am thinking at these things, it's when they. we are tracking major developments in the case of donald trump, including a delay tracked by the former president including the hand of one federal judge overseeing one of special counsel jack smith's cases. you must call last week, donald trump's criminal defense team filed an appeal of judge shotguns ruling, saying that trump is not protected by president immunity for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, leading up to and on january six. today, in response to that appeal, judge chutkan temporarily halted all proceedings unl e appeal is resolved, writing in a three-page order that she, quote, agrees both parts that defendants appeal automatically space any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on defendant. accordingly, and for clarity, the court hereby stays the that lines and proceedings scheduled by its pre trial order as amended, and quote. the steak is obsessively a win for donald trump, who is doing everything he can to delay the trial as long as possible. also today, jack smith received an affirmative ruling from the appeals court, considering the trump immunity plan. hours ago, the d.c. appeals court ruled in favor of the special counsel request for an pedited schedule on donald trump's claims of immunity. donald trump now has until december 23rd, that's next saturday, to submit his brief to the appeals court. jack smith and his team get a week to respond to that, and then trump attorneys have an additional three days to get their final reply brief in. the decisions on the expedited schedule came hours after filings from trump and smith to the d.c. appeals court this afternoon, apparently, the appeals court was not imprse with this order from trump's attorney. quote, even if the court grants expedited considerio -- even if the court grants expedited consideration, which it should not do, it should not adopt the prosecution's proposed schedule, which is officially unreasonable and would make president tmp's opening brief do the day after christmas. this proposed schedule would require attorneys and support staff to work around the clock through the holidays, inevitably, the shopping family and travel plans. it is as if the special counsel grout, with his grinch fingers nervously drumming, i must find some way to keep christmas from coming, but how? and quote. yeah, i did not make that up. according to team trump, not only is jack smith deranged and a thug, their words, he is also apparently, the grinch. and a minute, we'll ask our legal experts that they have ever come across a dr. seuss citation in an appeals court filing before. remember, as the appeals court goes about its business with a trump immunity claim, we are still waiting to find out whether the united states supreme court will ultimately decide to rule on trump's immunity claim. the court signaled earlier this week that it was considering whether or not to take up the question. trump and his team up until next wednesday to submit a briefing to the supreme court, as it weighs smith's request for trump to rule, for them to rule on trump's immunity claim. here in new york, after 44 long days, testimony ended today in new york state attorney general letitia james's civil fraud trial against donald trump, his family and his business. closing arguments and their case are set for january 11th. judge arthur engoron, who had already ruled that trump had did insisted fraud in business dealings, will decide on penalties. despite being on the receiving end of a nonstop stream of verbal abuse from trump, judge engoron set at the start today, quote, in a strange way, i am going to miss this trial. it has been an experience, and quote. that's putting it mildly. also making legal news today, defendant rudolph giuliani. today, the federal jury and the civil case formation suit filed against giuliani heard more testimony about the threats received by the two atlanta election workers, who were singled out by giuliani and donald trump and their lies about the 2020 election results in georgia. one message said to one of the two women, ruby freeman, read, quote, we're coming for you and your family. miss ruby, the safest place for you right now is in prison, where you will swing from the trees, and quote. another of giuliani's lies were the two women caught by a surveillance camera passing around usb drives inside an election facility. samos testified about that lie to the january six committee last year. >> where a lot of these threats and vile comments racist in nature? >> a lot of them were races. a lot were hateful, yes, sir. >> in one of the videos that we watched, mr. giuliani accused you and your mother of passing some sort of usb drive to each other. what was your mom actually handing you on the video? >> a ginger mint. >> a ginger mint. an attorney for one of the women out up one of those minutes in court earlier this week for the jury to see. leading off the discussion tonight, glenn kershner, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. also with us, harry litman, former u.s. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, a secret legals affair columnist for the los angeles times. gentlemen, thank you for being with us this evening. glenn kirschner, first of all, it's going to make the decision by judge chutkan to stay the proceedings. is this procedural or is the suppressing in any way? >> yeah, this is criminal procedure 101 really, ali. once an appeal has been filed, the trial court's divested of jurisdiction, so she just has to stay the case, pause the case and sit back, wait the appellate court rulings. interestingly in that three-page order, she did say a couple of things. she said, i would not vacate, in other words, cancel all of the deadlines, and she certainly did not canceled the march 4th trial booth. she said, i will suspend them. we'll see how quickly things move through the appellate process and, perhaps, they can keep to some of the original deadlines though that may end up being difficult. the other thing she said is i am not letting go of the gag order that i imposed on donald trump because i continue to have a responsibility to make sure that the administration, the administration of this adjust the system of this case remains intact and sound and safe. that may inspire more litigation by the trump side, we'll see. by and large, the trial matters on pause, while this sort of dual track that jack smith is following in both the d.c. federal circuit court of appeals and simultaneously, in the supreme court, plays itself out. >> harry, let's talk about the d.c. circuit court of appeals. what is going on here? on one hand, you have the supreme court saying, we are not necessarily going to take up jacks mitt's condition, but will consider and hear from the trump team. meanwhile, the d.c. court of appeals, is still continuing with its activities. >> not just continuing but going in overdrive. jack smith says, you know, you still have it, so, please do a quick briefing schedule. they did, a very quick one, and that shows that there are concerns of trying to move quickly. at the same time, that has not changed the special motion that smith made on monday to the supreme court to say, hey, consider whether to take the case, even before judgment. that includes a judgment in the district of columbia court of appeals. they could still decide the supreme court to grab it, even from the court of appeals, what they have not yet. for now, the court of appeals has, and they are showing every sign of going very quickly, all briefing will be done by january 2nd, and they may will issue a decision within a week or two after that. >> glenn, what are the possible outcomes at the supreme court that could have an effect on what the appeals court is doing? >> so, if the supreme court decides to let the case leap frog over the d.c. federal circuit court of appeals, then the d.c. court of appeals is out of it, and it will be directly in the hands of the supreme court to decide. i have a feeling that will end up there and why, so it may be that the supreme court appreciates the urgency at the moment, appreciates the need to at least attempt to keep at the march trial date intact. and, maybe, no go ahead, as harry said, grab a hold of it and decided promptly. it's anybody's guess right now. i do think given that the d.c. federal circuit court of appeals has put it on this extremely accelerated track with all briefs do budgetary second, that may give the supreme court a little bit of breathing room and a little bit of comfortable to say, okay, it will quickly go through ordinary channels, and then we can promptly grab hold of it, when the appellate court is done with it. >> harry litman, you can answer this question by invoking or not invoking dr. seuss, but does this -- does the trump argument that you are wrecking christmas by putting this down on, will that hold water? >> yeah, i don't think so, but it's not the first citation of dr. seuss. doctor kagan, my co-core, famously cited one fish, to fish, red fresh, blue fish in a supreme court case, and justice scalia joined. but i want to amplify what glenn said and said that it's not really going to matter what the doj decides to do in its supply brief. they filed the brief, sent to the supreme court, saying, grab this. enough donald trump, next wednesday, will file a brief, presumably, saying, oh, what's at the big rush, guys? and then, the doj will come back in. maybe they say, we'll let it go now, let the d.c. circuit go and it's normal time. maybe they say, no, the ticket anyway, time is of the essence here, go forward. one thing seems pretty sure to me. because a judge chuck consent not just the trial but the discovery is on hold, we now are sort of day for day delayed. i think at the trial date itself is going to give a month or so in any of that. the question is it will not get more than that. >> regardless, though, glenn, donald trump and his team continued to bring up this immunity, situation, so jacks mitt as done what jack smith had to do. what is his best and worst case all come at this point. >> worst-case an area is the supreme court conjures out of finn air, absolute presidential him in for a sitting president. he will be given a free pass to commit any and all crimes he wants, including and forensically, crimes designed to or lawfully detain the power of the presidency. i don't think that there is a chance that the supreme court does not because there is no statute that provides a president is absolutely immune from prosecution. there is no case, thought no precedent from any appellate court, and there is no constitutional provision, and those are the three sources of law, so i don't think that there is a fourth source out there. i don't know or the supreme court can conjure up one, but consequences cannot be more dire, if they find a president is absolutely immune from prosecution. the case against dismiss and an a president, including joe biden, is free to commit any crimes they choose to commit. >> harry, obviously, that would not affect -- well, i don't know if that will affect the mar-a-lago case, because that applies to donald trump post presidency, or the mnn case, which opposed to pre-presidency, but does it apply to the georgia case? >> short answer is, yes. just as you say, ali, the argument is, while you are in the presidency, you have an automatic get out of jail free. i agree with glenn of that being the worse. the second is that they take so long, we can't have a child by november, and i don't think that is very likely either. in terms of will effect at fulton county? it will be a federal constitution provision. the constitution says that federal law usurps, i think yes. if he is immune for conduct in office, it would mean that a state court also could not prosecute him criminally, with state law violations. >> glenn kirschner, let's turn to the rudy giuliani case. he's expected to take the stand tomorrow. he's not donald trump, but he is another are going to control, if you're his lawyer. what have you seen so far, and what are you expecting from this? >> the one thing that shocked even me with all the rudy giuliani's is that he seems to have defamed sheamus and ruby freeman, again, during the course of the trial, by telling a reporter on the courthouse steps that he did not lie about them, and they were involved in, quote, changing votes. that raised the hackles of judge beryl howell, and she says that it seems he may have defamed them and you. interestingly today, ruby freeman testified, and it was gut-wrenching, the accounts that i read. she talked about how the fbi told her, it wasn't safe to go back to her home, and she could not go back to her home, so out of her own pocket, she had to pay for airbnb's, ultimately paid thousands of dollars to have security system put in her house until her own address was disclosed online, then she had to flee her home. she said, even to this day, she is afraid to use her name. interestingly, rudy giuliani's lawyers chose not to cross examine her. that's a difficult thing to do, to forego across examining a witness or if victim, sometimes, it's the smart thing to do because no lawyer once the be perceived as beating up on a victim, however, everything she said today, it was heartbreaking and gut wrenching, sits an rebutted in the minds of those jurors. >> it's good to have you here tonight to help us through our increasingly complicated legal issues. glenn kirschner and mary lemon, was appreciate it. >> thanks a lot. >> coming up, republicans have been running for the chance to impeach president biden from the moment he was sworn in. today, as republicans got their revenge by voting to open an impeachment inquiry against the president, who is trying to solve two different international conflicts as a dysfunction rains on capitol hill. senator chris van hollen joins us next, and later, a battle for a woman's right to choose is heading back to the supreme court, this time for the right to use an abortion pill, please stay with us. ay with us from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. i love that my daughter still needs me. but sometimes i can't help due to burning and stabbing pain in my hands, so i use nervive. nervive's clinical dose of ala reduces nerve discomfort in as little as 14 days. now i can help again. feel the difference with nervive. marlo thomas: my father founded saint jude children's research hospital because he believed no child should die in the dawn of life. in 1984, a patient named stacy arrived, and it began her family's touching story that is still going on today. vicki: childhood cancer, it's just hard. stacey passed on christmas day of 1986. there is no pain like losing a child, but saint jude gave us more years to love on her each day. marlo thomas: you can join the battle to save lives. for just $19 a month, you'll help us continue the lifesaving research and treatment these kids need now and in the future. jessica: i remember as a child, walking the halls of saint jude, and watching my sister fight for her life. we never imagined that we would come back. and then my son charlie was diagnosed with ewing's sarcoma. vicki: i'm thinking, we already had a catastrophic disease in our family. not my grandson too. marlo thomas: st. jude has helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% when it opened to 80% today. join with your credit or debit card for only $19 a month, and we'll send you this saint jude t-shirt that you can proudly wear to show your support. jessica: for anybody that would give, the money is going towards research, and you are the reason my child is here today. charlie: i was declared-- this will be two years cancer free. but there's thousands and thousands of kids who need help. saint jude, how many lives they do save is just so many. marlo thomas: charlie's progress warms my heart, but memories of little angels like stacy are why we need your help. please become a saint jude partner in hope right now. [music playing] there's something going around the gordon home. good thing gertrude found delsym. now what's going around is 12-hour cough relief. no amount of evidence could and the giggles. the family that takes delsym together, feels better together. convince republicans that joe biden did nothing wrong, because they are looking for the troops, they are looking for revenge. i would just say, directly to the american people, mister speaker, that the republican party works for donald trump, not for you. >> that was a top democrat on the house rules committee, jim mcgovern, before the republican let house of representatives approved a resolution to get revenge. in other words, today, every single republican voted to formalize an impeachment inquiry into president biden. >> on this vote, the yays are 2:21 and the nays are 2:12. the resolution is adopted. >> now, while republicans are focused on exacting revenge for, i don't know, something. they are failing to do actual critical to national security important, what it actually means to get things done in congress. more than a month after president biden requested a 110 billion dollars in emergency funding,hi includes billion dollars in aid to ukraine, house republicans ha yet to consider that package. in a statement, esident biden said, quote, i wake up every day focused issues facing the american people, real issues that impact their lives and the strength and security of our cotry and the world. unfortunately, house republicans are not joining. instead of doing anything to help make americans lives better, they are focusing on attacking me with allies, instead of doing the job by the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this basis political stunt, that even republicans in congress amid is not supported by facts, unquote. yesterday, republicans ignored ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy and his plea for more aid in the defense of ukraine. >> it's very important that by the end of this year, we can send a strong signal of our unity to the aggressor and the unity of ukraine, america, europe, the entire world. >> joining us now is a democratic senator chris van hollen. he is a member of the senate foreign relations and senate appropriation committee. good to see you again, thank you for being with us. i watched with amazement, was on air while the press conference with the president was going on. i watched in amazement that any person plea by volodymyr zelenskyy, who has turned out to be one of the most formidable leaders that we have seen in, i don't know, half a century, fill, essentially on deaf ears with some of your republican colleagues. >> well, it's good to be with you. president biden is right that the republicans have no posit