Back Channel Message News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

welcome to "the beat." i'm ari melber. we are tracking several stories tonight, including another supreme court ethics scandal, tying gop appointee samuel alito to another billionaire on a fishing trip. we'll get into that later. it's a big story. but our news program begins tonight with not only the criminal trial of donald trump, now slated to begin on august 14th buck the broader ongoing threat of right wing individual lantyism and authoritarianism. tonight we begin with a special report on that very challenge, and trump's efforts to hijack the criminal justice system that now is ...

this legal pressure that is engulfing donald trump to a degree he's clearly aware of. his former white house lawyer made waves and concerned people by ricking trump will go to jail over white house documents. now we have this short but unusual letter from donald trump's lawyers, signed by them, publicized by donald trump that reads like a cry for help or some sort of freakout. i can tell you straight up it's not a normal legal proceeding. it's addressed to attorney general merrick garland. "the wall street journal" made waves that the quays may be nearing the intend although no one c...

it strikes and claims it makes neither of which are typical of the category. quoting now from the introductions first line, politics cannot be allowed to impact the use of justice. so, we'll focus on the filing ahead in the chances that a judge will agree with any or all of it given how early in the process it is. as well so examine how the various a surgeons are in fact in the filing, actually stand up to the facts themselves. also tonight, cnn exclusive that the justice department is issued a new subpoena for more january six related documents. katie collins starts us. off what is ...

Belong to the american people. not to. trump >> maggie, give us a sense of what's the strategy is right now, his lawyers are including this purported back channel message from the former, to merrick garland? >> right, anderson, this court filing a model lawyer but this filing has a lot of public relations comments to. it unless the defense strategy, or anytime a court strategy. and more about trying to sway public opinion, it's notable that he referenced that conversation, that intermediary hat with garland, that is kaitlan said it a classic donald trump move where he starts to have a negotiat...

Place, you know, obviously notes are taken and then what are called read outs are then sent to other agencies and departments. and it wasn't milley alone who was reaching out to the chinese. it was also the secretary of defense mark esper at the time. as i mentioned, there was this perception here in the pentagon that the chinese were unusually concerned about what they were seeing in terms of the rhetoric leading up to the election in november. and so esper ordered his top defense official, sorry, his top policy official to send a back channel message to the chinese as well to also reassure t...