January 6th investigators want to know if critical information from the cell phones of secret Service Agents gone forever. They have learned that they notified the committee that Text Messages from january fifth and sixth were erased and that it happened after those records were requested by the dhs Inspector General. Here is jamie raskin. We dont know what the facts are and we will get to the facts about why that happened and we will do whatever we can to retrieve the substance of those texts. And communal, fortunately the chair of our Committee Bennie Thompson is also the chair of the Homeland Security committee, so, he is very well versed in this kind of thing and we will get to the bottom of it. The secret Service Claims the text were deleted as part of a Device Replacement Program not due to malicious intent intent. Those Text Messages could shed light on key incidents. The first by Cassidy Hutchinson when former President Trump allegedly tried to grab the wheel of his car to drive to the capital. The second incident involves former president mike pence escorted out of the capital by the secret service and then told to get into the armored limousine. In a book, pence is quoted as telling asians if i get in that vehicle, these eyes are taking off. Im not getting in the car. Something raskin once called the six most chilling words of the entire thing ive seen so far. That all brings us to a development that is the folding. Last night he dropped an enticing possibility while talking with the wall street journal but they are still considering either a written interview with pence or possibly issuing a subpoena to compel him to testify. In fact, the committee that met last night to discuss that very question although the chairman said afterwards, no decision had been made yet. I want to bring in allie vitali. Lisa ribbons is a legal analyst and matthew dowd is a msnbc political analyst and founder of country over party. Do we know anything about the debate within the committee about what to do about getting information from mike pence . Reporter look, that has sort of been one of the open questions this entire investigation, whether or not they should be going for the biggest fish of all which is the former Vice President or even the former president himself. These are en asking over the co the last few weeks and of course the congressman spurred the things that was under active discussion. Our team was just with the chairman and he declined to comment inventorying a question on the very issue but it is clearly something that they are still debating as they try to start wrapping up the threats as they head into what we think is the final, at least in the summer series of hearings that comes in just a week for thursday in prime time but there is also new information in regards to the secret service deleted Text Messages. We can now report that the january 6th committee this morning met with the Inspector General and he breached them on the question of those deleted secret service texts. That is two sources familiar confirming to us in the last few minutes and what it says again is that this community is embarking on a still active investigation even as they are actively laying out what new they are learning from their investigation and telling it to the American Public at even as i am waiting out here, i keep checking the steps behind me because the house is actively voting and this is the time we start getting information in from the lawmakers as they are in and out of the house floors as we keep talking we will keep reporting and see if there is anything we can bring to you. Absolutely bring anything we get back for this. The Washington Post might be better source than any other reporter when it comes to the secret service. They had a history of important records disappearing under cover of night and and agency staff member refusing to cooperate with investigators came calling, seeking information. If we dont have the Text Messages here, what is the likelihood the committee could get the straight story straight from the agents themselves . This is quite a mess to use a technical term and, look, the secret service has been rife with scandal and issues and public recessions. It is important to say they are pushing back hard on the allegation from the Inspector General, even not agreeing on the timing of his request, but, here is the bottom line. Even if you take everything they say at face value, these texts disappeared and if they disappeared because of a preplanned routine transition to a new phone system, well, okay, but, you still come in terms of leadership, should have known that this was happening in we knew we were losing text from the phone transition. They should have known this agency under a microscope that we just had an intensive coup, this is being very much in the middle of an investigation yet they didnt save the timeout on the transition. Everybody save their communications relating to january fifth or sixth. That didnt happen, so, it is a leadership issue. Can these techs be recovered . Yes, there is a possibility that that can happen. The committee will have to get Forensic Experts in on this end this isnt the first time we have heard about an Agency Losing important texts or emails. It happened at the fbi if you recall, they struck up a conversation that the doj found there was a problem. Some of them were recovered, some of them are not. Lisa, i see you nodding. A go ahead. Reporter you know, this is, as frank said, just one big mess, and one of the things im really interested in is whether mike pence is going to be a part of curing that mess earlier in the hour whether or not mike pence is going to come in and my response to that is mike pence is going to come in if mike pence wants to come in. This is in the first time we have heard the committee float the possibility of mike pence as a witness so you have to ask yourself, why are we having this discussion again . Particularly given that any litigation over whether pence will be a witness before the committee would take longer than the process that they seem to have laid out and the schedule that they have. There is a possibility that the former Vice President sees the tide turning against former President Trump and he has information that he wants to share and his lawyers have signaled that the committee. I am really interested in seeing whether as the days unfold, why they will be what looks to be a reluctant and belated witness, but a witness nonetheless in front of the committee. I want to remind people, just how important it is when mike pence gets pulled out of the capital proper, goes down into the garage and then his will by secret service to get in the car and refuses to get in , quote, one congressional official told intercept, quote, people need to understand if pence listened to the secret service and fled the capital, this could have turned out a whole lot worse. It could have been a successful coup, not just an attempted one. That could have been the critical moment of the entire day. And one of the series of the critical moments obviously in this and we can add to that, add to that, the idea that there were already threats and there was worry about violence for mike pence to begin with and it seems from what we heard from testimony, donald trump was encouraging and then when he found out that people wanted to hang mike pence up, the Vice President was basically happy with that purity was like i understand that. I am mad at mike pence in the course of this. So, i would love the former Vice President to testify. I think it is probably politically a mistake to get in a weeks or months long ringling. To me, we are at the point of we made a case and then we have added a third layer to the case and now weve got a fourth layer and a fifth layer and mike pence would be important but he will be the seventh or eighth player. I think, at present, the evidence they have already been presented is compelling enough as frank and i have had a conversation before and open against negation but indict the former president related to this. Again, i would love it, but somebody said it is going to be totally up to mike pence. I think it is probably a mistake for the committee. You and matthew have talked on this program before about these very things and part of it comes down to that because we know, we heard just again this morning that they are continuing, the committee is continuing to get in new information, continuing to look at other possible people that would come in and testify, but at what point do they have to say, both politically, logistically, realistically, knowing that there is an election coming up that democrats could lose control of the house. Does all of this ruling have to land in the dojs lap and they have to pick up the ball here . Ultimately, of course, that is where the tough calls are going to be made, but, i think because of the timetable that they are facing, because of midterms and the fact that they might go away at some point. I dont see how you do an investigation without at least asking the Vice President to show up. He is a key player. Conspicuous by his absence if you did not get even asked to show up, so, we should see that happen just for the benefit of understanding that they gave it a try. Last night they had the meeting and also today they are meeting with Patrick Byrne as we have heard from Pat Cipollone earlier this week, he was in that infamous, chaotic, six hourlong meeting with then President Trump on december 18th. A reminder. The first thing i did, i walked in and i said who are you . He told me. I dont think any of these people are providing the president with good advice. I would imagine that this isnt just about hearing about that meeting, per se, but why he was in that meeting in the first place. I mean, obviously, it speaks among other things for the kind of people that the former president was listening to at that point. Yeah, i mean, that is actually exactly what i was talking about. It shows, the fact that he was ignoring the counsel of the white house, he was ignoring the attorney general from the united states. He was ignoring three or four other counsel that they were experiencing. He was going to ignore them and their advice but i will go to the overstock guy and the reason he was going to the overstock i and the other nut jobs that he had in the meeting was because they were telling him what he wanted to hear. He was searching for somebody and he landed on overstock ceo, which is amazing that the overstock ceo is giving him constitutional or legal advice in the midst of this voter crimes. That is just the desperation upon which donald trump wanted to find anybody who would go along with his crazy ideas. We dont know for sure exactly who might be giving the president advice now. We have some speculation. We know people he has talked to. He has gone tomorrow lago. But, the political headline today that says announcing his 2024 campaign could be trumps best legal defense. It would obviously change the optics, but, would it really change the calculation in the minds of federal or state prosecutors about whether to bring in an indictment . It definitely could. And here is why. The department of justice has a longstanding policy that persists from administration to ministration, that in federal election years they havent brought new charges within 60 to 90 days of a primary or general election. Now, if the former president depends that he is a candidate for 2024, does he bring himself within that protection . Does he count as a candidate for federal office within that dod policy . That is unclear, but he seems to be banking on the fact that it would make it all the more difficult for the department of justice that is aware of what they call electionyear sensitivities, to either take further overt investigative stuff against him or doing to indict him. That is certainly part of the calculus as well as the Political Considerations of clearing the field and making it easier for him to raise money. With all of the moving parts, what are the chances, what are you hearing that next weeks hearing, which is supposed to be the big wrapup, might not be the big wrapup . Yeah, you are talking to me no more Interested Party and the answer to that question, colleagues hear from the hill. The question we have continued to ask is really that this is a committee that has shown a willingness to continue to include what it is finding in real time and that requires a flexibility. They laid out a schedule for seven or eight hearings on the onset of this and that is exactly where we ended up at the information hasnt stopped flowing and it depends on if they continue to get more cooperation. The people that i and thinking for example, chairman thompson said he wants to get documents steve bannon before they entertained doing some kind of deposition. Of those documents could be eliminating but they are certainly not in the timeline of having to come in and the next four or five days. We also know, and with the chairman told me the other day, is that when they released their final reports, sometime in the early fall that they want to do a hearing around that release so we at least know that we are getting one more hearing, potentially in the early fall when that release comes out and they are all leaving the door open to this making us wonder at what point they finally put the pen down here and stopped that and just said, okay, this is what we have found out, this is what we are presenting. Congress may have a recess but we will continue for the entire list in pursuit of this story. Thank you so much. Always great to see all of you. Thank you. This morning, it is happening, the highly anticipated and controversial meeting between President Biden and saudi arabias crown prince. The highstakes politically and maybe for the price you pay at the pump. Plus, back on, how West Virginia senator joe mansion has once again thrown a wrench into the democrats agenda. So, now what for the democrats . You are watching Chris Johnson reports only on msnbc. [whistling] msnbc. What if i told you. [whistling] msnbc. Youll leave here different . Are you ready . hell no. No. Right now President Biden is the most controversial meeting of his middle east trip with the crown prince of saudi arabia. This is the video, they call it the pool spray of the pictures that were taken the video with the meeting a little more than an hour ago. Moment since he is widely known as the u. S. Intelligence to have ordered the murder of jamaals now the question is whether he will come away from the meeting with the promise of stepped up Oil Production or more. Karoly is traveling with the president. So, i think even more than previous diplomatic trips, body language is being carefully scrutinized. For the white house, though, the question will ultimately be, what is taking this controversial trip worth it . What if we seen so far . . Yeah, that is absolutely right. Is this going to be worth it . They have come under so much criticism for members of the own party. The family of Jamal Khashoggi and others saying that he should never have made this visit, the president saying that they are big Security Issues at stake better a lot of the u. S. Interest at stake and that is why he is doing this. What he comes back with will be critical and we dont know what he may have gotten out of that meeting just yet, but going into that meeting we saw the body language, the choreography , everything was so scrutinized on the front end and then by the media obviously when they were brought into that meeting it was very limited coverage. There was no audio, couldnt hear what either of them were saying and our own Peter Alexander saturday question asking if he would apologize to the family. Lets take a listen to that moment and the crown princes response. You apologized to the family . You can see the crown prince sort of seems to smirk at the hearing. That question they said that an aide tightly grabbed his arm after he asked that question and another u. S. Reporter asked President Biden if saudi arabia was still up, so that is in a reference to President Biden knowing saudi arabia or he would make it a pariah state if you were to end office. As for the rest of the agenda obviously human rights is front and center. The president was asked going into the meeting if he was going to raise the murder directly with the crown prince and he declined to commit to doing that. Other issues that are on the table are iran and obviously oil. If President Biden will come back with any commitment on the gas prices back at home. Thank you. Just to give a little bit of context, we have been in the meetings before. It is not unusual including after an uncomfortable question has been asked for folks to be ushered out for somebody to grab your arm it is unusual. Im sure we will hear more about that. Thank you. This morning another devastating photo, a stark reminder of the cost of russias war on ukraine. According to the president , among the latest missile strike, the fouryearold, you see her lifeless body, her shoes covered in blood. Her mother had posted a video to social media just moments before the attack. A local charity says they were on their way to a Speech Therapy class. Brittney griner is back in court today for the fourth hearing in her trial and now the case is adjourned for 11 days after her defense team requested more time to prepare. Her team submitted 20 character referen