Theres no indication of the individuals involved. It also does not indicate whether any Administration Officials were aware of the scheme. But it does question whether prosecutors may review documents seized as a result of a search warrant that may have been protected by attorneyclient privilege. This Court Document shows the investigation may involve at least two individuals who and were quoting here acted as lobbyist tuesday senior white house officials without complying with the registration requirement of the lobbying disclosure act to secure a pardon or reprieve of sentence for someone whose name is redacted. The document also says the investigation involves an alleged offer by another individual to, quote, offer a substantial political contribution in exchange for a president ial pardon or reprieve of sentence. That indeed gets your attention. The white house has declined to comment on this development, but a few minutes ago trump sent out this on his own, quote, pardon investigation is fake news. The New York Times is reporting trump has apparently taken Sean Hannitys advice and has discussed with advisers whether to grant preemptive pardons for his lawyer Rudy Giuliani as well as three oldest children, don, jr. , eric, and ivanka and her husband, president ial soninlaw jared. Trump is said to be concerned his children might be targeted by the Biden Justice department. Nbc news has confirmed these discussions of pardons. There was also this development today, and what does this say about these past four years when the attorney general makes news because he told the truth . Attorney general bill barr among the most obedient of the supplicants in trumps circle actually said this to the Associated Press today and we quote. To date we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election. Before the election lets not forget barr was publicly echoing trumps concerns and talking points about Election Integrity particularly regarding mailin ballots. Im talking about a comprehensive rule where all the ballots are essentially mailin, and theres so many occasions for fraud there that cannot be policed. This is playing with fire. This method is very open to fraud and coercion is reckless and dangerous. My primary concerns are other things. The usual ones are fraud and coercion. Barr spent several hours at the white house today, said to have met with chief of staff mark meadows. They fell all over themselves saying it was a previously scheduled meeting. The administration has yet to react to barrs comments about the vote, but the Trump Campaigns hobbled legal team of giuliani and jenna ellis issued a statement that read in part, quote, with the greatest respect to the attorney general his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud. That was right before lou dobbs went to work. For the attorney general of the United States to make that statement he is either a liar or a fool or both. He may be perhaps compromised. He may be simply unprincipled or may be personally distraught or ill. But in no way can he honestly stand up before the American People and say that the fbi has with any integrity or intensity investigated voter fraud in this country and then say it did not amount to anything. Lou dobbs, Harvard University class of 67. As if all that was not enough we also learned today that attorney general barr appointed john durham as a special counsel back in october. We are just now learning about it because barr says he didnt want to reveal the appointment until prior to the election. Durham is now said to be investigating the origins of the fbis inquiry into russian interference in the 2016 election as well as Robert Muellers work product. The appointment keeps durhams investigation technically alive into the biden late presidency. And theres this development. Nbc news has learned trump is considering launching his 2024 campaign to retake the white house on Inauguration Day while skipping bidens swearing in. Quote, regardless of the timing of a Campaign Announcement trump is not expected to attend the inauguration of president elect joe biden. He also does not plan to invite biden to the white house or even call him. Trump is quoted as having told a white House Holiday gathering tonight, quote, its been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise ill see you in four years. Then there is lets not forget the uncontrolled pandemic, which is right now killing an american every minute. Hospitalizations in our country have doubled since november 1st. Theyve tripled since october 1st. It is out of control. Today a panel of experts advising the cdc issued recommendations about who will get the first vaccines once theyre approved. Health care workers and longterm care residents would be the first to be inoculated. The same panel suggested some 40 million doses of the vaccine could be made available by the end of this month. More on that just ahead. Today the president elect formally introduced his team to help deal with the economic fall out from what weve been living through. Biden made it clear his focus will be about jobs. From the most unequal economic and job crisis in modern history we can build a new American Economy that works for all americans. My message to everybody struggling right now is this. Help is on the way. Biden and his economic advisers are pushing congress to pass a substantial relief package to help the millions of americans who are unemployed. They may be difficult to achieve in the next few weeks left before Congress Leaves Town on their next richly deserved holiday recess. Today Mitch Mcconnell who has delayed and full on prevented action for months expressed caution about rushing to pass legislation as he seemed to finally recognize there will be no second term for donald trump. I think we all know after the first of the year theres likely to be a discussion about additional some additional package of some size next year depending upon what the new administration wants to pursue. With that lets bring in our guests on this first night of december. Phil rucker, pulitzer prizewinning White House Bureau chief for the washington post. Coauthor of the long time bestseller a very stable genius. Katey, and andrew wiseman, former lead prosecutor under the russia investigation working under bob mueller. Hes these days a distinguished fellow at the nyu scule of law. His recent book is where law ends inside the Mueller Investigation which is currently a the New York Times bestseller. Good evening and welcome to you all. Phil, id like to begin on your beat at the white house. Trumps end game after january 20 is up to trump. Its much more urgent to figure out his end game for the remaining 50 days. Do you have any better read on that . Well, brian, it seems the president s end game between now and the inauguration when hes going to be forced to leave office is to try to hold onto power as best hes able. We see the legal challenges from Rudy Giuliani continue. We see the president continue to be fixated on what he believes or at least says he believes to be a stolen election. Theres no evidence of that, of course, but thats what the president s been consumed be as opposed to governing. Thats been the case day after day and continues to be the case today. We also see the president issuing a number of pardons. We saw the first of what is expected to be many issued for the former Lieutenant General michael flynn. And the reporting from this case, we dont know a lot of details. But it certainly indicates there could be some bad practices have gone on in the white house before, and well want to keep an eye on what sort of pardons the president chooses to issue between now and inauguration. Keep in mind a number of his former associates including the former Campaign ChairmanPaul Manafort are seeking pardons and of course he could preemptively try to pardon his family members as you just alluded to. Over to your beat where you cover for the New York Times. A lot of people hadnt seen the attorney general for a matter of weeks. Some just assumed he had entered witness protection. So at minimum todays interview with the Associated Press is proof of life. Why do you reckon he said what he said today, was instantly branded an attempt at reputation repair having thoroughly trashed his reputation thus far in office . I dont know that attorney general barr really cares about his reputation at this point. I do think what you saw was a really carefully a carefully set of messages on the same day related on the one hand push back on the messaging that the election was stolen. I do think there are republicans and friends of bill barr who have said to him quietly and privately why cant you put a stop to this . Youre one of the very few people who can come out and say as the chief Law Enforcement officer in the land this is wrong. But at the same time he came out with other messaging that helps him thread the needle to continue to be part of the Trump Administration and continue to be part of trumps like inner circle of people who he still trusts in the waning days of his administration by saying, one, that durham will continue to investigate the origins of the russia investigation, which donald trump is obsessed with. And two, you know, also carefully after the fact after the ap story came utreiterating hes not yet seen broad through a spokesperson. Counselor, over to you and lets begin where we began tonight and thats this story about potential pardons. I know the subject of pardons youve written about hampered your investigation, just the hint, the promise, the threat of them being dangled. What do you make of this story . And whats the way to read the federal judge in this case revealing that it exists with all the proper redactions in place . Brian, the way i read whats going on here is to first ask myself does anyone say to themselves, thats crazy, who would think that by giving lots of money to the white house or Political Campaign that the president would issue a pardon . I dont think anyone has that thought because weve lived through the last four years. And here, although, the president can tweet out this is a fake investigation it comes from his own department of justice. And the decision that was issued today or really unsealed today by chief judge howell makes it clear there are emails that are explicit that there was somebody who went to jail who has sought help from an intermediary who was a substantial donor to intercede with the white house. And you have to ask yourselves why would you give that much money to try and get a pardon if you didnt have some confidence that there would be a receptive audience somewhere in the white house . Remember, this is a president who put to the side all of the processes that democratic and republican president s have here to for used which is to have a pardon attorney and career people scrutinize carefully every pardon decision precisely so that there was equal justice being provided. And this kind of thing was not possible. So really the president here has brought this on himself by scrapping that kind of process to allow this kind of investigation into true political corruption. Phil rucker, back to your beat and coming off kateys answer. What do you think this does to barrs standing with donald trump who presumably would think nothing of further personnel changes inside of 50 days . Well, brian, you have to assume it would weaken barrs standing, but we should keep in mind barr has already in the past couple of months been in a somewhat fragile state in terms of his relationship with president trump. And thats because in the waning weeks of the campaign barr was unwilling to do some of the things trump wanted done politically, to announce certain investigations into trumps political opponents, to speed up the outcome of the durham investigation in a way that might publicize some negative material that trump could use to his advantage on the campaign trail. You know, trump very much wanted this attorney general to serve as a political instrument for his Reelection Campaign never more so than in the final two months of the run when he was behind in the polls to joe biden and looking for some game changi changing moment that could shift the momentum in the race. And barr simply did not provide it to the president. That angered the president. The president had thought about getting rid of barr. You know, at this. 50 days left im not sure hes actually going to make that kind of move although it certainly wouldnt surprise me because keep in mind shortly after the election the president chose to remove the defense secretary, mark esper, even though he was a lame duck president and knew that the new defense secretary would only have a couple of months to serve. Trump made the change nonetheless. So certainly he could remove barr, but well have to see. Katey, you remember when barr was named all of our counsel television lawyers said hes a straightforward guy, hes an institutionalist. And then when barr named durham, the connecticut based u. S. Attorney everyone said of durham hes a straightforward guy, hes an institutionalist, certainly looks the part. What do you make of barr continuing to wall off the durham investigation absent any evidence that weve seen that there is a there there . Sure. Ill start with durham first. I do think he is a respected prosecutor, he hasnt made any moves to reveal to make the sort of announcement that would have made trump happy. We know there was discontent on his team and push back. We dont know what hell actually say after january 20th as special counsel. Barr himself i think is interesting. Youre right many people did say when he say appointed he would be a straight shooter. He is that. But i think the idea he was an institutionalist sort of erased history. If you look back at an interview barr did with the Mueller Center about the bush presidency under which he served as attorney general, its very clear he felt bush did not adequately use his powers of the president , that he could have done more, he could have been more imperial president , and thats something he supports. So were in a situation barr has a president in many ways he wishes he had, he believes the country needs and he thinks is right. So in many ways hes actually able to now be the attorney general hed like to be serving the president in a way that explicitly serves his needs for no separation from the white house. Havent seen anything like this since watergate. And barr himself believes the reaction to watergate was an overreaction. And in some ways i think he feels hes restoring the Justice Department in a way he thinks it should be in a subordinate role to the president. Counselor, you get the last word. And its a serious question. Is there an innocent explanation for someone to seek preemptive pardons for family members . Would you do that if you knew you were innocent and just worried about outside forces . The answer to that is going to be no. And, you know, if you havent done anything wrong you sit there and go what do you need a preemptive pardon for . The president will say its because hes worried about all these witch hunts and bogus investigations. But just remember in order for someone to go to prison a jury of civilians needs to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt unanimously. So this isnt a question of a Different Administration just being able to lock somebody up. So that other thing thats worth noting that im sure as im sitting here there will be those pardons. But it doesnt apply to state charges which im sure many people who get pardoned could face. And also doesnt apply to future crimes. And the reason i raise that is that the president and his family are going to have to file future federal tax returns. And thats going to pose some issues for them if they have been fudging on their taxes here heretosmz for. So this is a storey worth following if it plays out because i dont think a federal pardon will be the end of the story. The tax returns we assumed are sitting on mr. Muellers desk. The tax returns i know you expected to at least glance at as part of the investigation. Thank you so much for starting off this first day of december with us. Coming up for us, there may be a vaccine to distribute within weeks, but are the states ready for the extraordinary logistical challenge of getting all those shots in all those arms . We have an experts on immunity standing by to talk with us. And later, what is Donald Trumps end game to our first discussion here tonight . What will these next 50 days, his remaining time in office be like . Well talk about it some more, all of it as the 11th hour just getting under way on this first night of december. Gettins first night of december. Orks, ww its easy to forget to use your vision benefits before the years up. This is us making sure you dont. Use em before you lose em, backed by our 100day guarantee visionworks. See the difference. Tonight. Ill be eating Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza with extra broccolini. My tuuuurrrrn tonight. Ill be eating Cheesy Cauliflower Pizza and yummy broccolini doorbell rings thanks. doorbell rings thank you. Is that my leotard . No. Yes. Ehh, you can keep it. [whats this . ] oh, are we kicking karly out . We live with at t. It was a lapse in judgment. At t, we called this house meeting because you advertise gigspeed internet, but we cant sign up for that here. Yeah, but im just like warming up to those speeds. Youve lived here two years. The personal attacks arent helping, ka