jeffrey toobin, thank you as always. we appreciate it. >> all right. >>> still ahead, as states make moves to drop mask hanmandates in some schools, some parents say it can't come soon enough. a mom who's also a doctor. hear what she says about it all. . for insights on when to buy and sell. and proactive alerts on market evenents. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. [ joe ] my teeth were a mess. i had a lot of pain. as far as my physical health, my body was telling me you

but to jeffrey toobin's point about intent, what do we know? we know in all of these cases he's trying to circumvent the rules. we don't know why but i would add one more thing. will there be the political will to go after a former president? will the justice department do that, will the biden white house want to do that. >> that's the ultimate question, jeffrey. we're getting to the point, at what point does this add up to something the justice department has no choice but to do? the former president says it is no big deal, but when you look at all of this, gaps in call logs, top secret documents at mar-a-lago, at what point does it amount to obstruction of justice. >> that's a huge question, jim. i am not here to convict donald trump of anything. i don't know what the reason was. but when you add it all up, when you look at how many examples there appear to be of the president trying to cover his tracks, trying to keep documents from people who have the right to see them, it certainly calls out for an investigation by the justice department,

jeffrey toobin, stay with us. jurors have found "the new york times" not liable in sarah palin's defamation suit against the paper. >> cnn's brian stelter joins us now with an update and jeffrey to been sticks around. first, tell us about this verdict. >> that's right, the jury greeting with the judge. this time yesterday, the judge came out and said in a rather unusual move, he said, i believe this case does not have merit. sarah palin's lawsuit does not have merit. basically, he was saying this shouldn't have gone to trial but it had already gone to trial and after seeing all the evidence, he said this was not adding up. the jury has now said the same thing. the jury says "the new york times" is not liable in this case and that even though "the new york times" screwed up when they wrote about her in an editorial in 2017, there wasn't enough evidence that it happened on purpose, that the "times" was doing it maliciously. that's the standard. the jury believes and agrees with the judge and the judge said in court

let's discuss now with cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. jeffrey, good to see you here today. i got to ask you first of all, what was your reaction? were you expecting there to be this -- not just a dismissal prompted by the judge but the idea of her not having met her burden? was that surprising to you? >> no, it wasn't. i mean "the times" made a mistake. they admitted it right upfront. they acknowledged it as soon as it was brought to their attention. and the next morning, they corrected it. this is what responsible people and responsible journalists do. they do make mistakes, but then they correct them, and the libel laws are not designed to punish journalists who act that way. so i think the judge was right. the jury was right. this was embarrassing for "the times," but it was not something that the libel laws, at least as they're currently constructed, is designed to address. >> just so we're clear, the idea of mistake, i know you're very intentional with the language you're using. if somebody had printed something that was false and they did it with a disregard for the t

jeff zeleny, abby phillip, jeffrey toobin, thank you as always. >>> more on our breaking news coverage out of ukraine. russian forces are inching closer to the capital of kyiv, and the west is closely watching where those troops might go next. we'll discuss it all straight ahead. pnc bank believes that if a pair of goggles can help your backhand get better yeah! then your bank should help you b budget even better. virtual wallet® is so much more than a checking accountnt. its low cash mode℠ feature gives you at least 24 hours of extra time to help you avoid an overdraft fee. you see that? virtual wallet® with low cash mode℠ from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference. one role of a lifetime...one sore throat. but she had enough. she took new mucinex instasoothe sore throat lozenges. show your sore throat who's boss. new mucinex instasoothe. works in sonds, lasts for hours. with unitedhealthcare medicare advantage plans, you can take advantage of free eye exams and free designer eyewear. - wow. - uh-huh. free yearly eye exams, designer frames and prescription lenses. take adv

let's dig deeper with cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. what do you think of the ruling from the supreme court? >> it is yet another loss for the president in his efforts to protect all sorts of information from all sorts of investigators, but it is worth remembering how long this took, and this information from national archives has still not been turned over to the january 6th committee. so now it clearly will be. but the goal of these cases has been delay as much as defeat, and he was defeated but he has certainly succeeded in delaying the investigation. >> the case only applied to a particular set of documents being sought by the committee. does that mean trump could still potentially challenge other attempts to keep information he wants to keep secret? >> absolutely. and he is. and one thing we have learned about the former president's response to all of the investigations, whether it is in new york state or georgia or in washington with the january 6 he is appealing every time he loses. his goal is delaying these investigations as mu

so far the national archives folks have the best look at these. >> jeffrey toobin, i have a feeling, because i spoke to you four hours ago about this, will tell me that the intent here matters. but as i throw this question to you, let me read you a quote from matt's article which might get to that a little bit. i think this was overlooked in their reporting. trump was very secretive about the packing of boxes that were retrieved from mar-a-lago last month and did not let other aides, including some of his most senior aides, look at them, according to people close to him. does that make the plot thicken? >> reporter: well, it does. you know, this is an important story. but there's a lot more that needs to be found out about it. who packed these documents? who directed the people who packed the documents? who knew what was in the boxes. now, what complicates this somewhat is that the president himself, when he's president, not ex-president, is in a different position with regard to classified information than anyone else. he has the right to declassify anything he wants. but what he do

toobin. i want to start with you, jeffrey. this letter from mazars is a wrong to read into it, tantamount to saying trump lied to us. >> that's the only logical implication you can draw from it. the way it works, the accountant says give me your financial data, and we will turn it into a tax return, a financial statement, but they rely on the candor and honesty of their clients, and what this letter says is that we can't rely on the candor and honesty of this client, the trump organization. now, who prepared the false information? who knew information that had been provided to the accountants was false? that's not disclosed here. was it donald trump himself, was it lower level people in the organization. not at all clear. but what is clear is that the numbers were wrong. >> common to do, to cut ties? >> super uncommon. very uncommon, and by the way, the trump organization's comment that this somehow vindicates them is nuts. i mean, it's quite the opposite. >> gloria, you know the push back is

jeffrey toobin as well. we have more breaking news tonight. the most significant sign yet the former vice president pence -- former vice president pence's inner circle is cooperating with the january 6th committee. new information on that. cnn is learning exclusively about the testimony provided by top insider who was with the vice president at the capitol on the day of the insurrection. that's next. my family's been devastated by covid-19. and we're not alone. we've all had to find new ways to keep going. and cue has made that easier. with cue, you get lab-quality covid-19 test results in just 20 minutes. speed and accuracy. it's just for the nba; it's for you too. cue health. the official covid-19 home test of the nba. go cue. go you. inner voice (furniture maker): i'm constantly nodding... ...because i know everything about furniture ...but with the business side... ...i'm feeling a little lost. quickbooks can help. an easy way to get paid, pay your staff, and know where your business stands. new business? no problem. success starts with in

joining us now, jeffrey toobin, cnn chief legal analyst and former federal prosecutor. one can see why the logs would be important in the investigation. what was going in and out of the white house after election day until january 6th. >> it is very important evidence. and it is also an easy call. the white house logs are something that democratic administrations, the obama administration, biden administration, doesn't think they're covered by executive privilege and doesn't think they should be private. they have released them publicly. consistent with what the courts have said, we only have one president at a time, to assert executive privilege and the great majority of cases. this is something that i am sure the national archives would simply follow and turn over. >> and if the trump people do try to fight this in court, it seems to be a tough battle, given what the courts have already ruled in terms of the merits of the investigation. that things like this do seem worthy. >> this is a slam dunk. compared to other -- you know, there are certain areas of executive pri

this would be something very different. >> jeffrey toobin, does that raise the legal stakes here in. >> i don't really think it does, because presidents have the power to declassify anything they want at any time. but again, this is really bad procedure. it's not the way the government is supposed to work. and, by the way, hillary clinton may have lost the 2016 election because donald trump criticized the bthe way she criticized e-mails. but as a criminal matter, i find it very hard to believe this is something the justice department would prosecutor. >> irony, not always against the law. jamie gangel, in terms of the january 6th committee, how much does the destruction of these documents or the tearing up and re-taping of them, how much is it getting in the way of their investigation or factoring into what's going on there? >> so, to jeffrey's part, this is not a surprise to the january 6th committee. because after all, as maggie has been reporting since day one, he has been ripping up papers and did it for four years. so, the committee has known this was going to be a stumbling blo

laura jarrett, jeffrey toobin, thank you both very, very much. >>> in a new court filing special counsel john durham is accusing a democratic lawyer of subjecting former president trump to a smear campaign by sharing data with officials to raise their suspicions against him. durham alleges that michael suszman told the cia about russian-made phones being used near the white house. it's a little bit complicated. but these are very important details. can you walk us through this. >> yes. the big picture here, brianna, john durham has been saying for a while that the democrats took internet data they believe tied trump to russia, two federal agents including the fbi and cia in 2016 and 2017. what we knew from the original indictment about an internet connection they believe tied trump organization to a russian bank, this new wrinkle, it really is just a wrinkle and it's very vague. in this one durham is saying suszman was speaking to the cia about russian-made phones being used in certain places including the executive office of the office in the white house. so michael sussman hit back las

and cnn chief legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. jeff, i want to start with you on the purely legal matter here. "the post" says that donald trump was warned about tearing up documents by two chiefs of staff, and maybe also the white house counsel. so, could he be in legal jeopardy here? >> well, i think the only way he could be in legal jeopardy is if someone could prove -- if the justice department can prove he was tearing up documents in order to avoid disclosure to a specific investigation. if he just did that as a matter of course, or if he did it just, um, in violation of the presidential records act, that is not a criminal violation. in order to be a criminal violation, you have to look at his intent. and only if his intent was to make sure those documents didn't get into the hands of investigators, whether it was robert mueller earlier or the -- the congressional investigators later, that's the only way this could be a criminal problem. >> and even if he was warned, specifically, by chiefs of staff and white house counsel? >

jeffrey toobin as wechlt we have more breaking news tonight. the most significant sign yet the former vice president pence's inner circle is cooperating with the january 6th committee. new information on that. cnn is learning exclusively about the testimony provided by top insider who was with the vice president at the capitol on the day of the insurrection. that's next. [ coughing and sneezing ] cold season is back. bounce back fast with alka seltzer plus. with 25% more concentrated power. alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh, what a relief it is ♪ so fast! also try for cough, mucus & congestion. inner voice (sneaker shop owner): i'm surprising my team with a preview of the latest sneaker drop. because i can answer any question about any shoe. but i'm stumped when it comes to payroll. intuit quickbooks helps you easily run payroll in less than 5 minutes... ...so you can stay... one step ahead. with quality that's guaranteed for life, bath fitter doesn't just fit your bath, it fits your high standards. why have over two million people welcomed bath fitt

i'm joined now by our chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. history -- no, first, to cnn's jeff zeleny with the reporting on this. jeff? >> john, president biden, we're told, extended the offer last evening in a telephone call to judge jackson, who lives here in washington, d.c. he offered this position, this historic position on the supreme court. about one week after he sat for an interview with her at the white house. he informed the other two final contenders that they did not get the spot, in phone calls this morning, we're told. but he did extend that historic offer last evening on thursday evening. and this is the rollout is expected to take place over the next few hours, with an announcement ceremony at the white house this afternoon. and, john, this comes exactly two years to the day when joe biden, then a candidate for president, his candidacy on the ropes in the south carolina primary, offered the pledge that he would put the first black woman on the supreme court when he got that opportunity, if he got that opportunity, and now he

and cnn chief legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. gloria, what does it say to you that this quest to receive missing trump documents from the white house escalated into this apparently months-long struggle involving multiple lawyers, even a threat from the national archives. typically, a mild-mannered bunch. to go through congress of the justice department. >> well it says to me that it wasn't as amicable, as the former president and his aides wanted to portray it. donald trump had he believes at the white house and then, he packed up and left and moved, he decided he could take anything he wanted with him. maybe, he wanted to sell some of it on ebay. i mean, who knows? but, you know, this is not a good situation. um, and we are going to see how this unwinds. >> it is always him selling something, jeff toobin. and a source tells cnn the document turnover has not been fully resolved. that is another thing cnn reporting is picking up on. and that trump is still in possession of documents that the archives wants. um, how do you predict

toobin's little moment of zoom appreciation work carried out exactly what is going on. a small army of aging hippies tried to get joe rogan cancel from spotify rate neil young and joni mitchell were among those artists who pulled her music from the streaming platform and protest the company's refusal to take down rogan's a podcast because they not like some the stuff there that gets said there about covid vaccines. once a tech company had the colonist to stand up to the counselors. don't need much in the way to set up two musicians have not had a hit since before the internet got started. but still it was a small and rare victory for freedom of speech. a blow to big tech continuing efforts to suppress content they don't like it. and a reminder that money still talks louder, still talks at least louder than they can put seeing. then shapiro distinguished academic at georgetown university law school face possible cancellation after clumsy tweet about joe biden supreme court pick up. professor sapir wrote biden's plan to consider only black women for the court vacancy made

at least jeffrey toobin kept his hands to himself. i don't know if things can get worse for cnn. if this is not rock bottom what is? two former producers being investigated for crimes against juveniles and chris cuomo out and jeff zucker out and on top of all of it the ratings are abysmal. if this is not the bottom, what is? >> laura: i don't know how much lower you can go but there is always tomorrow. jason, jim acosta credited zucker with a lot turning cnn into a left wing mouthpiece and said if we didn't have jeff here during the trump administration we would have been taken out and you would have something like fox news lite on the air right now. they are acting like if we have any credible conservatives on their air it it would be an abomination. a little balance is bad? >> yes, they don't want any balance. what ted turner started at cnn was needed and new. then jeff zucker showed up and drove it right into the dirt and down into the ground to the point the only people watching this are the poor people that cnn paid those airports to run them there. that's the only people wa

look at jeffrey toobin masturbating on a zoom call if front of co-workers. and jim acosta called them a soviet style hate because they ended mask mandates. they are members of the press and talk show hosts. they occasionally do straight news but give a lot of opinions. and another person joined fake news cnn. the anti-trump pundit is so desperate he joined cnn after treating this meme right there. straight news has been extinct for a long time. all hosts giving their opinion. fake news cnn still pretends these hosts are non-partisan jaurjts. they are -- jonathan turleys. -- journalists. we know they are lying and they know we know they are lying but they are still lying. this is fake news cnn. i don't call for anyone it be fired, if i were humpty-dumpty, i would be sweating more than he usually does. here with more the author of here's the deal, kellyanne conway and fox news contributor leo terrell. your broad view of rogan and this tape that came out if his response to it. spotify's response to it. and what do we do -- are there going to be exceptions like

joining us, jeffrey toobin and elie honig. jeffrey, how csignificant is it to see top advisers go to speak to the select committee? >> well, you know, wolf, this isn't a prosecution, but the committee is approaching it more or less like a prosecution. they are working from the bottom up, from the outside in. and they are finding witnesses who were one or perhaps two steps removed from the president and finding out what they know. the interesting political part of this is that even though former vice president pence is publicly loyal to the former president, his staff doesn't seem as happy with donald trump and they are telling what they know unlike the people closest to trump. >> well, about that, what does it say that these pence aides are stepping up, doing what the trump inner circle is clearly refusing to do? >> wolf, i think it's becoming increasingly clear that the star witnesses for the committee will be these key advisers to mike pence. they were first of all in the room. they were eyewitnesses, earwitnesses, to key co

james spoyder marks and jeffrey toobin. you think putin is ready to invade and occupy half of ukraine? >> i do. i think given what he's said today on the russian side, he's preparing for a major operation. you don't really need 70% of russia's ground forces opposite ukraine to just recognize the separatist republic. so i think what we'll see, as russian forces move into the east, you're going to see some kind of false flag operation or something that blames ukraine militarily for attacking the russians and that will be his move to broaden the campaign. >> look, there are still different views here of what would happen. general marks, i know you agree with much of what he said, that there are great risks, but you think it is possible, still, that this ends up being almost bloodless like crimea in 2014. tell me why. >> not entirely bloodless, but yeah, i think this is going to approximate more crimea than the baltics in the '90s as we all remember as a horrible slaughter, but then the u.s. rode in and the stable of veteran fo

. >>> and cnn's chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin explains more on the investigation and how the trumps might respond. >> it's actually very straightforward. this is a legitimate investigation and the attorney general of new york has subpoena power. she subpoenaed the former president and his two children and they have a choice. they can testify or they can take the fifth. the problem with taking the fifth is, first of all, it's embarrassing but that's no bar to having to do it. second, in a civil case as opposed to a criminal case, a jury can draw what's called an adverse inference. if you take the fifth in a civil case, the jury can assume, if it comes to that, that you did something wrong, that there is an incriminating answer there. so that's why the trump family wants to avoid having to take the fifth, but the answer to that is, too bad. that's what the law is so it's not a surprise that the judge ruled this way. >> and the former president's long time accounting firm recently said the last ten years of financial statements it prepared for trump are unreliable. >>> still ahead on "

jeffrey toobin. good to see you both. elliott, i am going to start with you. what does the ruling mean for black voters in alabama? the republican map includes only one district where black voters can elect a candidate of their choice. >> these questions of discrimination are sometimes hard to pin down or prove because they are nebulous. what is discrimination? just look at the numbers. blacks make about 27% of alabama's population. but only 14% of the congressional districts. about one-third of blacks in alabama live in a majority black district. 92% of whites do. now you can say that somehow these were drawn and it so happened to be the case that the numbers were so skewed. but the simple fact is when you look at the data it is abundantly clear that the votes of blacks in alabama have been diluted and the law as it is written now very clearly allows consideration of race, not above all other factors but at least consideration of it to ensure that voters have the ability to vote for the leaders of their choosing. that is just not the case in alabama right now

maybe like jeffrey toobin, keyboard warriors open, watching, praying that somebody on fox is one thing or simply on the radio says one thing, one word, one phrase, one sentence that you can equally incorrect and then go after and try to get you fired. that is why humpty dumpty at think cnn never misses an episode he is right now. he's a pathetic loser. a debacle of fake gnu c and we will have a lot of not, this war on food bigger than something is an ever present everyone. all you parents, you speak out at a school board meeting because you love your children. if you about you to read it now like domestic terrorist protesting of racism by a prime minister who loves to dress in black face, really? we have u.s. soldiers, nurses, hospital workers, millions of other americans that are being fired because they believe in freedom. they go from heroes to fired in less than two years. that is not the america i know. here is the good news. the best way to defeat and confront these far left lunatics. keep talking, keep listening and keep doing what they don't want you to do. might as well have f

this is on the heels of the jeffrey toobin situation, you know, the cnn lawyer who got caught red handed mixing business with pleasure on a zoom call. and then there was not one but two producers at the network who left after being tied to alleged sex crimes with kids. all this while don lemon is fighting a lawsuit where he is accused of shoving his hands down a man's pants. it's not just cnn. msnbc is dealing with its own problem. the network's most popular personality rachel maddow announced this week she was going to take a break from her nightly show. this after "primetime" smoked her in the ratings. not a coincidence. she said she would be back in april but left the door open for another hiatus. is maddow finally seeing the writing on the wall? it's over at msnbc. after the russia hoax, msnbc was toast. and rachel knows that and while maddow is stepping aside, whoopi goldberg suspended from "the view" for these comments. >> the holocaust isn't about race. >> no. >> no. it's not about race. >> jew race. >> not about race. it's not about race. >> what is it about? >> it's about man's

all that's left at cnn is a fiery crater and jeffrey toobin. here now outnumbered co-host kayleigh mcenany and washington examiner columnist deanna lowe. kayleigh, you were at cnn. you worked with cuomo. you know zucker. this looks like it could blow up even further. you now have three powerful people out on very bad terms. what is next. >> yeah. i think this could go further. clearly we have seen it happen like dominoes. jesse, you are right i was there. i used to sit on 8 on 1 panels, 8 leftists including the host and myself a trump supporter, a conservative. and i had to listen to them lecture me about president trump and ethics and this and that i got a word an apple is an apple and banana is a banana. we are cnn. it turns out they didn't, jesse. they elevated governor cuomo and chris cuomo with all of this going on behind the scenes. no room for them to be lecturing anyone on ethics. they should have been looking in the mirror. >> jesse: i do too when you compile the ratings disaster. i think they are at seven year low in terms of viewersh

toobin. abby, this is a repudiation of republican national committee leadership, house leadership, and conservative commentators who say there was no insurrection. what fissures to you does this expose in the republican party? >> reporter: well, this is about those who want to signal to trump that they love him, they are aligned with him and others like mitch mcconnell who want to win, who want to take over the control of the senate to win. mcconnell is a smart politician. he understands that this is bad politics. he also -- i do think genuinely believes this is stupid and perhaps morally wrong as well because he did speak out against the insurrection when it happened. but at the same time, i think he is also clearly aware that this is really just aligning the republican party with crazy. there's no way to get around it. the idea that you would put out a resolution that calls a violent insurrection that we all saw with our own eyes, legitimate political discourse, as many republicans said the

. >> i want to bring in chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin, who has written how many books on the supreme court? >> two. . >> cnn reporting there will be a nominee announced today and choosing careful language here, the clear front-runner is judge ketanji brown jackson. this is an historic moment, jeffrey. . >> it's always a historic moment when a supreme court justice is dom nominated. there have been 114 or 115 in the history of the country. and of course this will be the first african american woman on the court. you know, the -- you can look at the changes in american life and american politics by the evolution of appointments to the supreme court. it was only in the 1850s that the first catholic was appointed to the supreme court. the first jewish person after the turn of the last century. of course more familiarly, the first african american, thurgood marshall, 1967. the first woman, sandra day o'connor in the first hispanic, sonia sotomayor in 2009 and now the first african american woman. i mean, this is an example of how the changes in american life are reflected in the supreme c

. >> joining me is cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin. gloria borger and tameka brown negan and author of "civil rights queen: biography of first appointed." what's your reaction to this news today? >> i did. i believe that president biden has made a smart selection. jackson is unquestionably qualified for the most. earned her credential at harvard college and harvard law school. she has vast experience in the law as a judicial clerk, as a lawyer, in private law firms, on the u.s. sentencing commission and a public defender. i don't think her judicial record will be easily distorted as overly ideological and as was just said, she has experience in the confirmation process, twice been confirmed and in short, this is a nominee who should be able to garner broad support in the u.s. senate. >> jeffrey, as we've been talking for quite some time about the short list, if you will, judge jackson's been on the short list, a front-runner the whole time. talk to me about why. >> she combines very conventional qualifications for the supreme court and

joining me now in the meantime is cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and with us, cnn legal analyst areva martin. i was watching this morning and it struck me you and i were listening together to equally similarly gut wrenching victim impact statements in the sentencing hearing after the death of ahmaud arbery and listening to ahmaud arbery's family speaking about him. how do you reflect what we heard today so far from daunte wright's family? >> i had the same feeling when we turned on to listen to the family. i thought back tooth the day sitting back here and his dad, his sister give that powerful testimony. you remember ahmaud's sister talk about the blackness and how the defense tried to use the blackness to paint him as someone menacing but to say it was his super power and it was beautiful. but will fight for justice until driving while black is no longer a death sentence. very similar theme to what we heard from ahmaud arbery's family. this notion that by virtue of just being an african-american person, that makes you a target, that makes you someone that is more likely to be

toobin. how serious is the request for the u.s. department of justice to look into trump's handling of the white house documents, these are official documents, government documents, could it potentially, jeffrey, lead to criminal charges? >> it could but there is a very important unknown, which is the issue of intent. it's not a crime to violate the presidential records ac. it's not a crime to destroy documents. it is a crime to destroy documents with the intent of keeping them from an ongoing investigation. so the focus of the justice department investigation, if it goes forward, is why did donald trump take these documents? why did he destroy these documents? if he did it for some sort of innocent purpose or he did it as a matter of routine, i don't think that's a criminal malts. if he did it to keep the documents away from people worn doing an investigation, a legitimate investigation, then he's got a big problem. >> that's a good point. you know, jamie, how much could this potentially imp

jeffrey toobin has talked a lot about this over the course of the last day the motive on why somebody does this in terms of records, poor recordkeeping in the white house. that would become, you know, a focus if there is some kind of investigation into how he handled material, as you say. it's been known for a very long time that he was not necessarily tucking everything away. certainly there had been issues with previous white houses about records keeps. but this was the first time i had heard something like this, let's put it that way. >> he has the ability to declassify information. >> yes. >> so clearly this is trying to hide information. and i think the reason that someone would do -- >> brianna, i don't want to say clearly. i don't know what his motive is. >> i understand you're not saying that, maggie. but this is highly unusual. and this would have the effect of obscuring the information that was on those papers. i think it's important, maggie, as you know from covering him so long, he has an information from trying to hide information, classified information. this is somethin

joining us now is jeffrey toobin and cnn political correspondent and host of "inside politics" host abbey phillip. it's good to see you guys. jeff, you've covered the process for multiple supreme court judges now. what do you think this one will be like, expected and unexpected? >> well, i think the most important fact about this vacancy is that a democratic president is replacing a democratic appointee so that the balance of the court is not going to change. there are six conservatives and three liberals, and that will be true after whoever this is is confirmed. the big fights you get are when the balance might change, when justice barrett replaces justice ginsberg. that's a tremendous change in the court. when justice kavanaugh replaces justice kennedy. that's a big change in the court. here i think you have a narrow but real democratic majority in the senate, democratic president, democratic vacancy. i think this is unlikely to be world war iii the way some supreme court nominations are. >> but, abbey, there is a heavy dose of politics throughout all of this, of course. some republican

let me bring in chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and joey jackson. joey, we found in a statement from the presidency of the naacp saying this. two years ago today, none of us knew of ahmaud arbery but two years ago tomorrow, his story shook the conscience of our nation and world. ahmaud arbery was lynched in broad daylight and today's verdict brings us one step closer to justice. what's your reaction to the verdict, joey? >> there's no question about that. good to be with you, kate and jeffrey. this was a case, kate, that may not have happened. we should recall there was a 74 day delay. two and a half months which led ultimately to the arrest of the defendants in this case. this was a case that the first district attorney noted, nothing to see here, issued a letter indicating they were acting because of a citizens arrest law and acted in self-defense, another district attorney who is under herself indictment for failing to uphold her oath in office and then you look at this actual verdict and it's a case that may not have occurred but for we heard wa

so let's begin there with cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and cnn political commentator errol louis. if you're to follow what chief justice roberts' opinion states, it's that the lower court followed the law. if that was in case true, why did the majority rule the way it did? >> because this looks like yet another example of the five very conservative justices on the court getting ready to change the law, like they're getting ready to change the law on abortion, but what's so important about this case is that it's not just about one congressional seat in alabama. it's about how the voting rights act which is the key law that's supposed to prevent discrimination on the basis of race in all election-related

toobin kept his hands to himself, which i don't know how that guy still has a job, but i don't know if things can get worse for cnn if this isn'tt rock bottom . what is i mean, youoc have two b former producers who are being investigated for alleged crimes against involving juveniles. you've got chris cuomo out fors trying to smear his brother's's accusers. jeff zucker nowd and then dad, insult to injury on top of all of it, the ratings are abysmal . so this isn't the bottom like oh my god, what is i mean, i don't know how i don't knowuc how far much lower than you canl go than this . but you know, there's always tomorrow. jason . so jim acosta credited zucker l with a lot kind of turning cnn into a left wing mouthpiece. he said if we had not had jeffio here during the trump administration, we would have probably beenn hav taken out anu would have something like fox news lite on the air right now. jason , is it what what is said thereby? acosta they're acting like well, if we even i have some credible any credible conservatives on their air, it would be an abomination. that's what h

look at jeffrey toobin recently to zoom call in front of his coworkers. he's not a journalist either. fake news jim acosta who just called a called virginia of soviet style police state. that's journalism. that's not an opinion because they ended mask mandates.he yeah, not journalism in the daytime or opinion from other trump hating obsessed democrats that they say arere journalistss and not their talk show hosts and members of the press, their talk show hosts, they occasionally do straight news, but they giveo a lot of opinion. and we got jonah goldberg, by the way, just joined fake news cnn the anti trump pundit is now so desperate for a platform that he joined cnn three years after tweetingea this meme right there. yikes.timeme right there. we can go on and on and on . straight news has been extinct for a long time over there almost pretty much now giving their opinion. s but here's this thing fake news. cnn still pretends that all of these hosts are not partisan journalists. they're not their talk show hosts. jt they'res. giving their opinion, which r

jeffrey, former president trump and his kids argued that sitting for a deposition would violate, they say, their constitutional rights, this judge certainly disagreed. what do you make of this ruling? >> well it was very straightforward. this is a legitimate investigation and the attorney general of new york has subpoena power, she subpoenaed the former president and his two children and they have a choice. they could testify, or they could take the fifth. the problem with taking the fifth is, first of all, it is embarrassing but that is no bar to doing it, but in a civil case, as opposed to a criminal case, a jury could draw an adverse appearance. the jury could assume, if it comes to that, that you did something wrong. that there is annin crem nating answer there. so that is why the trump family wants to avoid having to take the fifth. but the answer to that is too bad. that is what the law is and so it is not a surprise that the judge ruled this way. >> abby, after dodging accountability through scandal after scandal after scandal, what will it say if trump is deposed in this voinv