ghost of theodore geysel and josh holly talking about the super bowl on the senate floor all evening. the bill they nevertheless passed this hour would send over $60 billion to ukraine. it would send over $14 billion to israel. once the senate gives final approval to this thing. it will go the house. e effectively saying he doesn't want it to go any where in the house. the house will have to continue to in part, quote, the house will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters. it's not at all clear that mike johnson and house republicans have anything approaching a unified will or that republican leadership is in any position what that will might be. there is even some talk among house republicans of circumventing mike johnson entirely on this matter, and doing it without him. but honestly, with these guys,

who knows. watch this space. that is going to do it for us tonight. now it's time for the last word with the great lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. we have andrew weissmann joining us tonight to tell you everything you might not yet know about the special counsel's report on joe biden's possession of classified material between his vice presidency and his presidency. either to say, a lot has been left out. we're also going to be joined by that neuroscientist who wrote that great op-ed piece in the new york times about what we are getting wrong about age and memory and how it works and how memories fail at all ages. it's a brilliant professional examination of this story about president biden's age, memory issues, that is nothing, nothing in comparison to what donald trump said about nato, which i agree with you is the most important story of the day, which is the way you treated it, which is the way it

will be treated here, with yale professor timothy snyder as our first guest. >> oh good, excellent. >> a. just continues to astonish me that these perspectives of what is real and important in the news are so difficult to hold onto these days with so much of the news media. >> you just need to be able to keep different focal points going at times. and you have to deal with the outrage of the moment, you do, you have to talk about it when outrageous things are said and done. and you've got to keep your eyes on the horizon on terms of where we're going as a country and what real threats are. you just have to be able to do both. timothy snyder is exactly the person to talk about both of that. his writing on the subject, exactly and specifically on what putin said and what trump said in supporting it was absolutely brilliant. i'm looking for to what he has to say. >> yeah, it's a serious subject. we're gonna get right to. it really get right to it. thank you, rachel. well, the flu has left a rather miserable and very tired

but he can't give into it. at about 12:30 he was dropping with sleep and let him take me to the big chair by the fireplace and put his feet on the two step stool. i went out to get ready for lunch, and he felt sound asleep . that was a description of the president of the united states by his cousin in the middle of a workday one year before he was reelected, when the president woke up from that much-needed nap he went back to work on what turned out to be his brilliant strategies for winning world war ii. he continued running the secret project picked it in the film oppenheimer to develop an atomic bomb. he did find the operating structure of what would become the united nations, and he's calling it the united nations then. and he did all of that and much much more while he was dying.

franklin delano roosevelt, who by most historians is considered the best or second breast president in history, depending on your view of lincoln, was never a very healthy man, since he was paralyzed from the waist down by polio at age 39. polio was common enough in those days that reporters understood why roosevelt spent every day of his presidency in a wheelchair. before world war ii started, president roosevelt had already done more in domestic policy than all previous presidents combined. he created social security, a 40 hour work week, minimum wage, public works projects like the tennessee valley authority, beyond any previous imaginable scale, and he led the country out of the depression, bringing the economy back to life in the darkest time in american economic history. in 1944, with victory in world war ii seeming at least a year away, president roosevelt decided he had to run for reelection to finish the job, even though a doctor who had

examined him earlier that year said privately to the white house physician that he did not think roosevelt could survive a second term and might not survive the reelection campaign . the republican campaign against roosevelt relied on his appearance as a frail, old man to underline the republican campaign theme of replacing what they called the tired old man, the whole group of them and the administration, the tired old man in the white house. roosevelt won. when franklin roosevelt died three months after his next inauguration, no one said i wish i didn't vote for him. not one person. the reporters who covered franklin roosevelt in the white house, without ever screaming a single question at him, cried when he died. they understood the real work of the presidency, what they were there to report on better,

much better, known most of the current white house press corps. the next republican president of united states, dwight eisenhower , was the army general who executed every detail of franklin roosevelt decision to turn the tide of world war ii in europe with what was the single largest military operation in human history, the d-day invasion's of normandy, france, depicted masterfully in steven spielberg saving private ryan. one year before he was reelected , as an eisenhower had a heart attack after a day of golf in denver. he did not return to the white house for almost three months and reporters took it in stride. it was just a heart attack. not a word of what a disaster it was for the eisenhower reelection campaign for him to be knocked out of commission by a heart attack a year before the election. the only political speculation that appeared in the new york

times the day after the heart attack was by veteran journalist james reston, who often the informed speculation that president eisenhower's family might not want him to run for reelection now. the political danger that scottie rostin identified was the danger to the republican party if president eisenhower didn't run for reelection, not if he did run for reelection. the conventional wisdom captured by rested in the new york times was that dwight eisenhower was the only republican who could win the next year. and so, the heart attack was presented not as a political problem for eisenhower, but a political problem for the republican party , only if president eisenhower let what doctors called a moderate hard attacked stop him for running for reelection. president eisenhower easily won his reelection campaign. one reason is the news media was better at stories like that in those days. today, nobel

prize winning economist paul crewmen published a column in the new york times called why i am now deeply worried for america. he says, quote, watching the frenzy over president biden's age, i am for the first time profoundly concerned about the nation's future. and now seems entirely possible within the next year american democracy could be virtually altered. and the final blow won't be the rise of political extremism, that rise certainly created the preconditions for disaster, but it has been part of the landscape for sometime now. no, what may turn this minutes into catastrophe is the way the hand wringing over biden's age has over shadow the real stakes in the 2024 election. it reminds me, as it reminds everyone i know, of the 2016 over hillary clinton's emails server, which was a minor issue that may well have wound up swinging the election to donald trump.

paul krugman doesn't say it explicitly in his column, but he is complaining about his employer, the new york times. here is a graph of press coverage of president biden's mental fitness over three days at the end of last week, 33 stories in the washington post, 30 stories in the new york times. and here's a graph of press coverage of donald trump confusing nikki haley for nancy pelosi. the important thing about the avalanche of stories about president biden's age and the sharpness of his memory is that that story does not exist in a news desert, competing only with the super bowl this weekend. it was competing with and losing to the single most important thing and the single most disqualifying thing ever said by a presidential candidate. on saturday in south carolina, donald trump talked about nato it is typically lying way.

he told the falsely uninformed people who attend's rally that he'd force other countries to pay money to nato, something no other country has done. nato does not collect money from countries. nato encourages members to spanned certain amounts, depending on their ability to pay, for their own national defense, on their own military, for their own armies, so their armies will be ready to join other nato country armies if another nato country is ever attacked. the united states signed a treaty joining nato in 1949. that treaty is the fall of the land of the united states of america. it is law. treaties are law. donald trump said on saturday that while he was president, he promised to violate that law, violate that treaty, and he made that promise to the unnamed president of another country. >> i came in, i made a speech, and i said you got to pay off.

they asked me that question. one of the presence of a big country stood up, said, well, sir, if we don't pay and were attacked by russia, will you protect us? i said you didn't pay. you delinquent. he said, yes, let's say that happened. no, i would not protect you. in fact, i would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. you gotta pay. you gotta pay your bills! >> so the statement i would not protect you describes a violation of american law. that treaty is american law. and then to say i would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want means donald trump wouldn't encourage, would have encouraged, vladimir putin in russia to attack any nato country that he wanted to attack and do whatever the hell he wanted to do. and this is what vladimir putin wants to do. that is vladimir

putin, more criminal, attacking, deliberately targeting hospitals in ukraine. donald trump has seen that picture. everyone in the picture saw that picture in the first weeks of vladimir putin's -- donald trump knows exactly what vladimir putin wants to do . there were people in this country who were fans of adolf hitler. that statement makes it very clear that donald trump would have been one of them if he had just been born soon enough. the european precedent for what vladimir putin is doing in ukraine is what hitler did when he invaded neighboring countries in europe. and donald trump is on the side of the invader. the hottest story, a definitive story of the 1976 presidential campaign was this moment in the presidential

debate that turned the election in favor of jimmy carter. >> there is no soviet domination of eastern europe, and there never will be under a ford administration. >> i'm sorry, could i just pause? did i understand you to say, sir, that the russians are not using eastern europe as their own sphere of influence in occupying most of the countries there and making sure with their troops that it's a communist zone? whereas on our side of the line, the italians and the french are still flirting with the possibility -- >> i don't believe, mr. franco, that the yugoslavian's consider themselves dominated by the soviet union. i don't believe that the romanians consider themselves dominated by the soviet union. i don't believe that the polls consider themselves dominated by the soviet union. each of those countries is independent

or autonomous. it has its own territorial integrity. and the united states does not concede that those countries are under the domination of the soviet union. >> it was a disaster. president ford got carried away. he was trying to convince voters that he was doing a great job managing and containing the soviet union. but voters knew that the soviet union was indeed dominating the entire region. and voters in both parties were opposed to what the soviet union was doing. more news print was devoted to what gerald ford said that night than anything donald trump has ever said, because those were the days when words mattered. those are the days when reporters knew what was serious . they knew what the central issues were in a presidential campaign, and they were not distracted by fireworks. that is the failure of the news media that paul krugman is so correctly worried about

tonight. any president prior to donald trump would have been impeached and removed from office immediately after telling that story that donald trump told on saturday about his willful determination to violate the law by violating the nato treaty. the stakes of this presidential election are not just what would happen in the united states with a president biden or a president trump, but what would happen around the world, and how specifically, what would happen to ukraine, what would happen to pull and, what would happen to finland, and other threaten members of nato without joe biden in the presidency to protect them. and as joe biden and donald trump make clear every day, joe biden is better on his worst day then donald trump is on his best day on every issue confronting the presidency, from health care to nato. and if you write about president biden's age without saying that, then you are doing a disservice to the truth. when the united nations was

created after world war ii following president roosevelt's design for the institution, it soon became clear that the soviet union, which achieved the status of prominent member of the security council of the united nations by being an ally of the british and the united states during world war ii was no longer going to behave like an ally. that a separate structure was needed to contain the aggression in europe that started world war ii, aggression that could come from the soviet union. so the north and landed treaty organization was born in 1949 and made law in the united states as a treaty. nato is an extension of president roosevelt's vision in building a permanent alliance to prevent european wars. one day before the tenth anniversary of germany's surrender in world war ii, president eisenhower on may 6th, 1955, welcomed germany as the newest member of nato, ten years after the troops

under general eisenhower's command force germany to surrender. germany signed a treaty promising to defend the united states of america if the united states were attacked, or defend any other nato country, if that country were attacked. donald trump doesn't know that. donald trump doesn't know why nato was formed. he doesn't know when it was formed. he doesn't know what nato has accomplished. and he doesn't know that no country pays anything to nato. donald trump wants to destroy the careful work of the winners of world war ii. and you live in a country where the news media thinks joe biden's age is more important than that. you never know when a president is going to die. we lost abraham lincoln at age 56. we lost president kennedy at age 46. we almost lost president franklin d. roosevelt before he was ever inaugurated, lost him to a failed assassination attempt when he was president elect. the bullet that could've killed the president elect,

roosevelt, in his motorcade instead wounded the mayor of struck all go. the founders had a plan for that. it's called the vice presidency. president franklin delano roosevelt look like a frail old man when he died in his 80s in office. he was 63 years old. and on his last day of consciousness as president of the united states, he was still better at that job and then any republican who ran against him would have been. leading off our discussion tonight is timothy snyder, professor of history at yale university. he's the author of the road to an freedom: russia, europe, america. professor snyder, thank you for joining us tonight. i just all weekend have been waiting for your reaction to what you heard donald trump say about nato and what he says he said to the president of another country, he would violate the treaty, he would violate the law. >> yeah, i think the worst of

it might be do whatever the hell you want. because the whole point of a mutual defense treaty is to assure your allies that you will be there for them, not to invite a potential aggressor to attack. and in russia's case, whatever the hell you want includes the destruction of cities, torture, mass murder, and rape. nato has been invoked once in its history, article five, the mutual defense portion, has been invoked once, by us after 9/11. and when we invoked it, our european allies all helped us. canada helped us. ukraine, even though it wasn't our ally, opened its airfields for us. it open its airspace to us. it actually sent troops to afghanistan, even though it was not a member of nato at the time. what's interesting to me now when we think about who's paying a price, the ukrainians are paying a price. right now when we talk about these obstructions, like how

much is 2% of gdp, right now, the ukrainians are paying a real price in a real war. there are men and women are being killed right now as we speak, absorbing a full scale russian attack, doing everything that nato was supposed to be doing. the real question is how much can we do to help the ukrainians ? and when donald trump talks about this 2% and the europeans, he's taking attention away from a real war where we are right now not doing a thing. and the reason we are not doing a thing is because he and his allies in congress are stopping us from doing something. that's the reality. >> when president roosevelt was sending -- before pearl harbor and before the united states was engaged in world war ii, president roosevelt was doing everything he could to send munitions and supplies, ships, planes, to the british to fight the germans, telling americans said the best defense and the best use of american defense munitions is by the british,

because they are defending us from what could be coming. and pro hitler people in the united states, like charles lindbergh and many other prominent ones, rachel maddow has written a great deal about this, said no, there's nothing to worry about, that's basically a regional war, it's not our war. this is the same thing we are now hearing on the senate floor about rand paul and senators like that. >> rarely do we have a chance to so clearly be on the right side, as we do with the russian invasion of ukraine. it breaks every rule, commits every possible crime. but more than, that rarely do we have such a good chance to prove that aggression shouldn't be rewarded. all we have to do is help the ukrainians a little bit, together with our nato allies. our economy is 250 times bigger than the ukrainian one. so 25 times bigger than the russian one. we can do a little, and we can show that the world is ruled by law. we can show the chinese that enough and some in the pacific would be a bad idea. it's a very -- we will never

have an opportunity to do so much with so little. it would be a horrible shame to miss it. >> and much easier to do in relative terms as what reesville added to tell the british in a struggling economy at the time. the biden campaign put a statement at the time that said donald trump encouraged russians, with this dictator, to attack our allies and fellow western democracies, rightly sparking outrage across europe and among those fighting for democracy around the world. you may have missed it, because marquee media outlets in america deem it less newsworthy than gratuitous and sensational attacks on the presidents age. professor, how would you advise people as historians have to do to keep their eye on the ball in the simplest term, what matters and what doesn't matter, as they are living through times like this? >> yeah, don't overthink who you are persuading. report on the truth. the times and other media outlets are doing a bad job here, because they're thinking

we are not going to persuade trump supporters anyway. they don't care about that. that's not what matters. the truth and the world are what matters. and the independent voter, who needs to know about these basic thing, that the person who matters. they're overthinking it. they're taking their eyes away from the world. they're following trump's words, the 2%, the europe, and they're not paying attention to the world, which is actually around them, which is in the palms of our hands and we can change. >> yeah, and they're also seems to be a complete loss of historical reference. here i mean, the truth of the matter is we knew absolutely nothing about presidents health or cognitive function in till well into the 20th century. it wasn't possible to know. you can die from drinking the wrong glass of water in the 18 80s in this country. and yet, there seems to be this presumption that there is no model, there is no model at all for a president being older or

being not particularly sharp every minute of the day. fdr was falling asleep in the middle of signing his name, in the middle of his presidency during his healthiest days, and was still extremely effective at a job, which was making decisions. that's the job. the job is making decisions, not making speeches. that's the front end of the job, the real job, making decisions doesn't seem to be what the press focuses on. >> but the thing i don't like about the age discussion is that it's a way of not talking about all the things that happened during the biden administration. the guy passed more laws. he did more for the domestic survival of our country after a pandemic, after an economic crisis, than any president since fdr. and he's done a better job of leading the country at war than any president and fdr. if we don't know his age, we don't think about that, and we asked what president did more in a single term, your hard press to find someone who did more in a single term and biden.

>> professor timothy snyder, thank you very much for joining us on this important story tonight. really appreciate it. coming up, we're thinking about biden's memory and age in the wrong way. that is the title of a new york times op-ed piece by a neuroscientist who will join us next. join us next. laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. i'm getting vaccinated... ...with pfizer's pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine. so am i. because i'm at risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. i already got a pneumonia vaccine, ...but i'm asking about the added protection of prevnar 20®. if you're 19 or older with certain chronic conditions... ...like asthma, diabetes, copd, or heart disease,... ...or are 65 or older, you are at increased... ...risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. prevnar 20® is approved in adults... ...to help prevent infections from 20 strains of the bacteria... ...that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. in just one dose. don't get prevnar 20® if you've had a severe... ...allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. adults with weakened immune systems...

... may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects were pain and swelling at the injection site,... ... muscle pain, fatigue, headache, and joint pain. i want to be able to keep my plans. i don't want to risk ending up in the hospital with pneumococcal pneumonia. that's why i chose prevnar 20®. ask your doctor or pharmacist about the pfizer vaccine... ...for pneumococcal pneumonia. i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein! those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. -ugh. -here, i'll take that. woo hoo! ensure max protein, 30 grams protein, 1 gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals. and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. (♪♪) hi. my name is kim and i am 41 years old. i've been given the opportunity to work from home, so that means lots of video calls. i see myself more and i definitely see those deeper lines. i'm still kim and i got botox® cosmetic. i wanted to keep the expressions that i would normally have, you know, you're on camera and the only person they can look at is you.

i was really happy with the results. i look like me just with fewer lines. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping and eyelid swelling. tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. see for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com.

i'm daniel lurie as and i've spent my careerisk of fighting poverty,cts. helping people right here in san francisco. i'm also a father raising two kids in the city. deeply concerned that city hall is allowing crime and lawlessness to spread. now we can do something about it by voting yes on prop e. a common sense solution that ensures we use community safety cameras to catch repeat offenders and hold them accountable. vote yes on e. things have gotten better

recently, but too many businesses like mine are still getting broken into. it's time our police officers have access to 21st century tools to prevent and solve more crimes. allow public safety cameras that other bay area police departments have to discourage crime, catch criminals, and increase prosecutions. prop e is a smart step our city can take right now to keep san francisco moving in the right direction. please join me in voting yes on prop e. a new op-ed piece in the new york times is titled i'm a neuroscientist. where thank about biden's memory and age in the wrong

way. in the article, charan ranganath explains mr. biden is the same age as harrison ford, paul mccartney, and martin scored cz. he's also a bit younger than jane fonda, and a lot younger than berkshire hathaway ceo warren buffett, 93. all these individuals are considered to be at the top of their professions, and yet i would not be surprised if they are more forgetful and absent minded and then when they were younger. in other words, an individuals age does not say anything definitive about their cognitive status or where it will head in the near future. joining us now is doctor charan ranganath, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the university of california at davis. he's also the author of the new book why we remember: unlocking memories power to hold on to what matters. it's available february 20th. doctor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. you make the point here that

what you have seen, or any way in president biden, is nothing unusual or nothing alarming. >> yeah, so i want to be very clear i am a scientist, i'm not in a position to clinically diagnosed either biden or trump or anyone, really. but i think that the conversation we've been having of the biden is centered around age and memory. and i think that the way people are thinking about it isn't right. and what i mean by that is, what i said, age in and of itself does not tell you anything definitive. and i think a lot of what people talk about as memory lapses are really reflecting some misconceptions about how memory works. >> what is that misconception? the other day when the president was speaking, it was in this high pressure press conference situation. reporters literally screaming questions at him, and he said the word

mexico when he met the word egypt. what is that? >> well, so, i think this is really important for people to understand, is that's not a memory deficit, at least as scientists would think about it. so that's basically these kinds of articulation problems. actually, the president was known to have been dealing with a stutter since childhood. so he's had some challenges with articulation. but i think the key is these are pretty normal things that happen with age. as people get older, they tend to have trouble finding the information they need when they need it. and a lot of what's been coming up in the news is not really that he hasn't been able to form memories or that he's losing memories, but rather he's just having trouble articulating them at the right moment. >> i want to ask you about something that's not an element in your article in the times, which i strongly recommend everyone to read. and that is the issue actually that we are experiencing a lesser version of right now,

which is the pressure of speaking to millions of people via television or the pressure of being a president surrounded by reporters screaming questions at you in a very important situation. and how pressure like that can affect the word choice when we are all searching for the best word we can find, and sometimes don't under that pressure. >> yeah, i'm certainly feeling that pressure now. [laughter] but if you look at the science of stress, one of the things you find is that stress down regulates an area of the brain called prefrontal cortex, which is super important for me of the focus use so you can find what you need when you need it. so in general, i think many of your viewers can relate to this when we're under stress, it can be harder to find the right word. and that something as we get older, the funnel process works a little bit more slowly and

less officially. again, these are truly things that are totally normal. and i think the thing i really want to stress is that's one ability that changes with age. but there's a lot of families that don't change with age, too . and i think it's very important for people not to get caught up in surface level features, as opposed to the things that really matter. >> yeah, this is some of the greatest actors in the history of broadway in their 30s, and their 300th performance of the same play could lose lines in the middle of the play and not know why. thank you very much helping to clarify this tonight, dr. charan ranganath. make you very much for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up, most of what you heard from the news media about the special counsel's report on joe biden's possession of classified documents is wrong. andrew weissmann we'll explain it all, next. eissmann we'll exn it all, next.

liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, i've bee telling everyone. baby: liberty. oh! baby: liberty. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ baby: ♪ liberty. ♪ children are the greatest

joy and our best hope for a better future. friends, they are the future. but did you know that millions of kids right here in our own backyard are facing hunger every day without healthy food? it's harder to grow, to thrive, to feel their best. the impact when children don't have enough to eat is tremendous because when you're hungry and your basic needs aren't being met, you cannot learn. that's why i'm here now, asking you to join me in helping end child hunger in america. this is a problem we know how to solve, and we can do it better by supporting no kid hungry for just $0.63 a day, only $19 a month. you can help provide healthy meals like a good breakfast in class to power kids through their days. breakfast in the classroom contributes to kids being more focused, which leads to higher grades. test scores, and simply just their well-being. ensuring all kids get a good breakfast

and other nutritious food is a beautiful thing. it's a game changer and you can help make it happen. when you join me in supporting no kid hungry today, that food is not just food. it's energy, health, confidence, hope and even love. yes, love. so please call now or go online to helpnokidhungry.org, right now. give $19 a month, only $0.63 a day. and when you use your credit card, you'll get this special team t-shirt to show that you're helping kids build a brighter future for themselves. thank you. families are struggling to make ends meet. these are hard times, but together we can help connect america's kids with meals. so please call now or go online to give. thank you.

growing up, my parents wanted me to become a doctor or an engineer. those are good careers! but i chose a different path. first, as mayor and then in the legislature. i enshrined abortion rights in our california constitution. in the face of trump, i strengthened hate crime laws and lowered the costs for the middle class. now i'm running to bring the fight to congress. you were always stubborn. and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message. two leading candidates for senate. two very different visions for california. steve garvey, the leading republican, is too conservative for california. he voted for trump twice and supported republicans for years, including far right conservatives. adam schiff, the leading democrat,

defended democracy against trump and the insurrectionists. he helped build affordable housing, lower drug costs, and bring good jobs back home. the choice is clear. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message. in what you could now call the reliable laziness of most of the american news media, most of the reports you have been subjected to about the special counsel's investigation of president biden's possession of classified material after he left the vice presidency has been limited to literally one sentence that appears on page one of this 388-page report. that sentence, on page one says

president biden willfully retain and disclose classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen. only much later in the report do you discovered that the only classified materials that that sentence refers to were joe biden's own hand written diary notes of his time in the obama white house. the special counsel's report makes clear that other presidents and vice presidents have kept their private notes like that after leaving office. indeed, three books were written about president reagan's private notes and diary that he kept after he left office. the justice department has public referred to those notes by ronald reagan as private notes, which is to say it is impossible to prosecute a president or vice president for retaining their private notes taken on the job, even though that could now technically

violate the presidential records act. no one has ever been prosecuted for that, and no one has ever thought about prosecuting anyone for that. furthermore, the special counsel's report makes clear that president biden did not believe that he could not willfully retain his personal notes. he willfully retain them because he thought he could. every other classified documents found in the searches of president biden's home and office has what the special counsel's report calls an innocent explanation. none of that has been reported in most of the coverage of the special counsel's report. joining us now, someone who's read that report, andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and former chief of the criminal division of the eastern district of new york. he's a msnbc legal analyst and the co-author of the new book the trump indictments: the historic charging documents with commentary, a veil on february 27th. andrew, thank you for plowing

your way through this report and doing it with your professional high. i've read your report on the report, and it is just a stunning difference of the -- every single thing in it has an innocent explanation, which means to say, there was zero possibility of prosecuting anything there because there was nothing resembling crime and nothing that could possibly brought to a grand jury in what i read of it. >> so the report you referring to, professor ryan goodman, my colleague at nyu, he and i read -- if people want to read more, they should go to just security , which is something that ryan runs. and what we pointed out was first we made it clear what the report found and what it didn't find.

there was gross misreporting going on in major, major outlets , saying -- making it sound like what rob hur found was that the current president actually willfully violated the law, but just as a matter of prosecutorial discretion, rob hur was deciding there shouldn't be a case. that is wrong. that is absolutely flatly contradicted. whether report says is there is not a prosecutable case. it repeats over and over and over again, and we give quote after quote directly from the report, that says this was -- there were innocent explanations that cannot be refuted. and in fact, there is evidence to support those innocent explanations. so as a former prosecutor, you know what that means when you look at the case and you say there are innocent explanations and i have evidence to them and i cannot refute them? that's new case. you do not go forward. so it's

-- what we really wanted to do in writing this was make sure that both the public knew, but also our colleagues in the press were getting the actual straight scoop. now, to be fair, like, you had to dig through the entire report . and the executive summary is hard to parse, especially if you are not a lawyer. but that's why -- [laughter] with ryan and i, who are both lawyers, we put this together so people could see what is actually being said and what is actually found so that there is not of this disinformation that's out there. >> well, it looks like the special counsel got the press coverage he was hoping for. because all of those -- every single statement he has in there about innocence, he tries to frame it in a way that tries to devalue the word innocent while he's saying it. and by the way, as you know, innocent is not a word prosecutors throw around. guilty, not guilty, not guilty

doesn't mean innocent. not guilty just means we can't prove it. innocent is a very strong word. and it's in this report. >> yes, absolutely. so i think one of the things that i think could help people understanding this confusion is on paid one, there is a statement that the prosecution found evidence of classified documents being in president biden's possession. the same thing could be said of mike pence. of course, there is evidence of that, that's why the investigation was opened, because classified documents were found where they shouldn't be. but in order for there to be a crime, it is not enough that something's mistakenly in a location. you have to show that the person didn't just have them, but they knew that the documents were there, that they knew that they were classified and continued national defense

information. and willful requires that they actually knows that it is wrong to do that. and you have to show all of that. and with a report says over and over again is that in spite of the fact there was possession of these documents, there was either a lack of knowledge, there was a lack of intent, there is a lack of knowing they were classified, there was no will fullness. and just repeat that over and over again. the problem is it should've said that on page one. >> andrew weissmann, i thank you very much for joining us. >> you're welcome. well, voters go to the polls in long island tomorrow, if they can make it through the, snow in filling the seat vacated by criminal defendant george santos. by this time tomorrow night, the democrats might have one more member of the house of representatives. that's next, with new york democratic congressman dan goldman. congressman dan goldman. ♪ at each day's start! ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to see ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c! ♪ jardiance works twenty-four seven in your body

to flush out some sugar. and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. serious side effects may include ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. you may have an increased risk for lower limb loss. call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of infection in your legs or feet. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell ♪ ♪ the little pill ♪ ♪ with a big story to tell! ♪ can neuriva support your brain health? mary, janet, hey!! (thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge. ♪♪ vicks vapostick provides soothing, non-medicated vicks vapors.

easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try vicks vaposhower for steamy vicks vapors. only unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans come with the ucard - one simple member card that opens doors where it matters for you. what if we need to see a doctor away from home? ucard gets you in with medicare advantage's largest national provider network. how 'bout using it at the pharmacy? yes - your ucard is all you need. huh - that's easy! can it help keep my smile looking good? yep! use your ucard at the dentist. say cheese! get access to what matters with the ucard only from unitedhealthcare.

rsv can seriously impact breathing, even for the best performer. protect yourself with pfizer's abrysvo... ...a vaccine to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. it's not for everyone and may not protect all who receive it. don't get abrysvo if you've had an allergic reaction to its ingredients. a weakened immune system may decrease your response. most common side effects are tiredness, headache, injection-site pain and muscle pain. ask your pharmacist or doctor about abrysvo today. my name is marie. i'm 49 years old and i'm a business owner. i own a lemonade and ice cream shop in florida,

so i can feel and see that my lines have gotten deeper just from a year out in the sun. i'm still marie and i got botox® cosmetic. i did not want a dramatic change. i wanted something subtle. and i'm really, really happy with the results. it's still me, but with fewer lines. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. see for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com. if you try vaping to quit smoking, it might feel like progress, but with 3x more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes -

vapes increase cravings - trapping you in an endless craving loop. nicorette reduces cravings until they're gone for good. tonight, there are 219 republicans in the house of representatives, and 212 democrats. one of the parties is going to add a member on wednesday after a special election on long island to fill the seat vacated by george santos, now criminal defendant george santos. democrat tom suozzi is running for the seat, once again, after serving three terms in that seat before running a losing campaign for governor of new york. he is facing a relatively unknown republican, similar in ways to george santos, a republican who most recently was a registered democrat, as a philip.

turnout could be sharply effected by a storm that could bring up to eight inches of snow to long island tomorrow. joining us now is democratic congressman dan goldman of new york. he's a member the house oversight committee and a former -- house majority counsel first impeachment trial of trump. thank you very much for joining us tonight. -- as much as anything else -- >> yeah, it looks like it's not gonna be good. but that whole -- when you basically have -- who was a three term congressman from that district, is very moderate, works very bipartisanly, has really excellent understanding and knowledge of all the issues facing down here against someone who has spent two years in the legislature, cannot enumerate

what her position is on abortion, on assault weapons, and has shady financial disclosures. and if that sounds familiar to you in new york three, lawrence, it's because this is the seat that george santos was expelled from. in the notion that voters in new york three would choose someone with similar shady financial situation and without any position of any sort other than just supporting donald trump who is very dangerous. >> the tv ads for this campaign , which are flooding local new york channels, on the suozzi ads, they're almost entirely about abortion rights and how the republicans want to legislate a national restriction ban, beginning in the house representatives. -- adds seem to be mostly about the southern border.

>> yeah, and that's what to be expected. as to the border, tom suozzi has come out and strong support for the bipartisan senate bill that was squashed by donald trump. and mazi pilip, the republican opponent, has supported donald trump's position that she opposes the bill. so clearly, you have one person who is just a rubber stamp for maga, and you have another one who wants to get solutions. on the flip side, mazi pilip, and the debate said that she was she was for personal choice in abortion rights. so when tom suozzi said, okay, that means ear pro-choice, she said, no, i'm pro-life. she has no real opinions on this, and it's just want to be a rubber stamp. and that's why it's so dangerous. she is just gonna follow mike johnson and follow donald trump. and if a national abortion ban comes to the floor, she has demonstrated no ideas of her

own, no backbone, and we'll just go along with the maga world, and that is what is so dangerous. >> for the democrats to be able to flip this and add one in the house, what will that mean for the rest of the year? >> look, this is an important bellwether district in new york. as you know, there are six very generally considered swing districts in new york. we are gonna get new lines that may change that to some extent. we don't know. but new york 3 is similar to new york 4 to 17 to 19, new york 18, or pat ryan's. so this is going to be an indication where the voters of new york are in february. obviously as we move forward and democrats recognize that we are the party of solutions, we are truly putting the people over politics. and donald trump

wants chaos at the southern border so that he can run, that's going to be a message, along with abortion, that we are gonna continue to hammer home. because we are the party of solutions, we are the party of ideas, we are the party of individual freedoms. and the republicans have been completely inept in governing and are just the party of chaos and destruction. >> congressman dan goldman, hoping to welcome another democratic member of the house of representatives on wednesday, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. tonight's last word is next. tonight's last word is next. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: marnina learned that 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: you could stay undetectable with fewer medicines. ask your doctor about dovato. >> woman: what's my safelite story? you could stay undetectable with fewer medicines. i'm a photographer. and when i'm driving, i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield cracked, it had to be fixed right. i scheduled with safelite autoglass. their experts replaced my windshield and recalibrated my car's advanced safety system. ♪ acoustic rock music ♪ >> woman: safelite is the one i trust. they focus on safety so i can focus on this view. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ when my doctor gave me breztri for my copd things changed for me. breztri gave me better breathing, symptom improvement,

and reduced flare-ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ask your doctor about breztri. from pep in their step to shine in their coats, when people switch their dog's food to the farmer's dog, the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. (dog bark) it's just smarter, healthier pet food. it's amazing what real food can do. when migraine strikes, you're faced with a choice. accept the trade offs of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with ubrelvy, there's another option. one dose quickly stops migraine in its tracks. treat it anytime, anywhere without worrying where you are or if it's too late. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. allergic reactions to ubrelvy can happen.

most common side effects were nausea and sleepiness. migraine pain relief starts with you. ask about ubrelvy. learn how abbvie could help you save. these underwear are period-proof. and sneeze-proof. and sweat-proof. they're leakproof underwear, from knix. comfy & confident protection that feel just like normal. with so many styles and colors to choose from, switching is easy at knix.com

time for tonight's last word. >> if he is elected, the stock market will crash. >> once again today, the biden stock market hit another all- time high, with the dow jones closing at 38,797. that is tonight's last word. "the 11th hour" with stephanie ruhle starts now. " with stephae ruhle starts now. tonight, donald trump's last ditch delay tactics. his request