i'm lindsey reiser. right now all eyes are on capitol hill where we could see fireworks from lawmakers. attorney general merrick garland is literally moments away from testifying in front of the senate judiciary committee, and to say senators have a lot of questions for him, well, that would be a massive understatement. this is garland's first appearance before lawmakers since the fbi's dramatic search

of mar-a-lago for classified documents. but also since he launched not one, but two special counsel investigations into both former president trump and president biden. we just saw garland walk into the hearing room moments ago. he didn't answer any questions on the way in. we are live on the hill. also, congress intensifies its scrutiny of china. one lawmakers even warning of a, quote existential struggle with the nation during the very first meeting of a house select committee dedicated to china. what we learned. plus, the warning from the head of the fbi about china's efforts to hinder investigations into the origin of covid. we are also following breaking news in greece, a devastating head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train carrying 350 passengers. officials saying dozens were killed with reports of people being thrown out of windows from the impact. the desperate search this morning for survivors in the wreckage. and an extraordinary moment playing out in the closing days

of the alex murdaugh trial. the jury is on a rare field trip to the scene of the double murders. the wife and son of the disgraced south carolina attorney. why the defense requested this trip to murdaugh's sprawling hunting estate. we begin with breaking news on the hill, merrick garland getting ready to answer questions. starting us off nbc news capitol hill correspondent ally vitale, julia ainsley who covers the justice department, and lisa rubin here with me also an msnbc legal analyst. let's start with what senators will want to ask about the hill team, ask committee chair dick durbin what he wanted to hear, his answer was so much. so what are we expecting? >> reporter: perhaps an understatement here. there are just so many topics that these senators are going to want to ask him about as he comes before them for the first time since fall of 2021. so much has happened between that time. you touched on this, lindsey, in

your introduction. it is, of course, the fist time that they're going to see attorney general garland since those probes into classified documents found not just at former president donald trump's mar-a-lago home but also in lesser amounts at former vice president mike pence and current president's joe biden's from his time as vice president, all of that of chief importance to these senators. there's also the reality they may want to ask about everything from covid's origins, which the fbi director has been out about recently saying that he believes that those may have come from a lab leak in wuhan, but then also going forward on things like abortion rights, the ways that the doj might try to move to try to offer protections in those states where abortion access is being stripped away. and you just listened to, again, senator kennedy on his way to this hearing. it underscores there might not be enough time for everything. listen. >> what i generally do in these hearings is i prepare, and then

i listen carefully to the questions my colleagues ask, and the answers, of course, and a lot of times that generates other questions. but i'll put it this way. i'll probably run out of time before i run out of questions. >> reporter: and candidly, that's probably how most of these senators feel here. they're going to have two rounds of questions with the ag, and then we'll see where it goes from here, but certainly a lot to ask him about as he heads here to capitol hill. >> right now we are hearing opening remarks from committee chairman dick durbin, then we're going to hear from ranking member lindsey graham. julia, this will be garland's first time back on the hill since the search of mar-a-lago and the launch of those two investigations into former president trump and president biden, what are you hearing about how that will play into the hearing? >> i'm hearing, of course, that garland as usual is thoroughly prepared for this. they've gone through lots and lots of preparations as various

members of these teams have gotten him up to speed. of course he's someone who personally appointed the special counsels in both of those cases. but it might be a disappointment to some lawmakers who want the fireworks today, particularly republicans who want to press garland on why there would be a need for a special counsel. they want to question the need for the raid at mar-a-lago. they're going to want to poke holes and why there has been so much scrutiny, particularly over pence's classified documents and of course former president trump's documents. this will be their chance to try to compare his handling of biden's documents and of course trump's, even though those are such different cases. oftentimes, garland doesn't take the bait. he's very polished on this. he knows how to give them just enough information, but in so many cases, he can't disclose so much because these are very active, ongoing investigations. in fact, most of the information we've learned so far to date has been because of law enforcement sources. while these deliberations still

go on under grand juries, which means that all of those documents, all of those requests, even the recent request by jack smith who's overseeing the trump case to get pence to testify to ask a judge to compel his testimony, that's all under seal. there's really only so much on those hot topics garland can say today. we know he's thoroughly prepared, but he's also thoroughly prepared to tell what he can't say. >> merrick garland rarely gives press conferences, what are the stakes of today's hearing, and do you see it then as mostly political theater given the number of active investigations that senators seem so hungry to ask him the questions about? >> well, of course it's going to be political theater. i think it's sort of the opening of, you know, what is referred to as the silly season, and they're going to see a lot of political point scoring on both sides, and i think this is an opportunity for merrick garland to, again, be almost an exhibit for the american people to see

that he is dispassionate and that he handled this in a very professional way in contrast perhaps to some of the questioning. i do suspect that we're going to hear everything except about the murdaugh double murder trial. i mean, preparing the attorney general for this must have been a beast in terms of getting him ready because there's so much to anticipate. obviously in addition to trump and biden and the classified documents, i do think we might hear about the border and the fentanyl problem because i do think that's something that republicans will try to say is sort of something that this administration bears responsibility for. so i could see that also being a topic for today's hearing with the attorney general. >> all right and ranking member republican senator lindsey graham making his opening remarks right now, so lisa, senator josh hawley told our team he wants to ask garland

about the politicization of the justice department. how do you expect that attorney general garland will maneuver given those questions? >> i think attorney general garland can point to a number of things he's done to deescalate what had been the politicization of the justice department under his predecessor, bill barr. we know that during the trump administration, attorney general bill barr took a number of steps to give credence to investigations that donald trump wanted to happen. we also know that there was an effort afoot within the trump white house to use the department of justice as an instrument in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. so it's a little bit rich for josh hawley to talk about the politicization of the justice department under this administration given the history. that having been said, the appointments of both of the special counsels are an easy way for merrick garland to say we are taking this out of politics, both of these gentlemen are either the declared candidate for the republican nomination or the incumbent president. it's totally appropriate.

>> democrats have been actually -- have criticize the fact that there was a special counsel in president biden's case because those cases were so different. >> correct. i think merrick garland is trying to take himself out of the day-to-day supervision of those cases for the exact criticism that josh hawley plans to level today. >> we see some images now behind senator graham here as he's giving his opening remarks before the swearing in of attorney general garland. andrew, "the washington post" has a new report this morning into apparent fbi resistance into search trump's mar-a-lago estate to begin with. it says, quote, two senior fbi officials who would be in charge of leading the search resisted the plans as being combative and proposed instead to seek trump's permission to search his property, to describe a sensitive investigation. from what we know, there were multiple attempts to get these documents and there was resistance to that, what does this new reporting tell you? >> i think there are two things that i found particularly

shocking or surprising. you know, i was the former general counsel of the -- i am the former general counsel of the fbi, and know the institution pretty well. one thing for people to remember is that the head of the washington field office that had this investigation who has since retired was somebody who was on record saying that the fbi had no advanced notice of any potential violence on january 6th. that is just flat out wrong. the second is i was really surprised that the fbi took the position that once donald trump's lawyers said we've turned over everything that was in june that they wanted to close the case. imagine what would have happened that none of these really highly sensitive documents would have been found. it's been proven that that statement was incorrect. there was obviously an investigation into whether it was intentionally so, but for the fbi to take the position that they should have closed the

investigation down in june i found quite remarkable. it showed a lack of tenacity, perhaps fear of the former president, and perhaps politicization of the fbi and how they were handling this case. >> ali vitali, julia ainsley, andrew weissman, thank you to all of you. we do want to go now to the growing tensions between washington and beijing after fbi director christopher wray revealed the agency believes the covid pandemic likely originated in a lab incident in wuhan, china, and accused beijing of trying to block efforts to investigate further. >> the chinese government seems to me has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we're doing, the work that our u.s. government and close foreign partners are doing, and that's unfortunate for everybody.

>> the chinese embassy in washington hasn't responded yet to those comments and the tension with china isn't just about covid. in a bipartisan house hearing on china last night we heard warnings about military, economic, and technological threats from china, a rare moment of unity for both parties. joining me now nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent fwar garrett haake. what did lawmakers warn of last night during this hearing? >> reporter: comments marked the public airing of a position that the fbi has held since 2021. it's still the minority view among the broader intelligence community. as wray pointed out in that interview, the fbi with agents, analysts, bioweapons experts, microbiologists, you name it all on staff believe their pretty well-positioned to make this determination, and i think this is going to be an issue that gets much more attention in congress going forward. we know that senators have been given access to some of the underlying intelligence here that helped the fbi and earlier

this week, we learned or last month it was the determination that the energy department has made a similar finding here that it was, in fact, a lab leak that started the covid-19 pandemic. now, in this bipartisan china hearing in prime time last night, this was actually not a major topic. and the one time the idea of a lab leak did come up, the answer from the expert panelists here about whether it could happen again was not especially encouraging. take a listen. >> do you believe that china has taken the appropriate steps to make a future lab leak less likely? >> i think that the system that's in place in china does not permit for or prize serious safety. we've seen multiple leaks of dangerous pathogens out of chinese laboratories over the years. >> all right, our thanks to garrett for that report. let's go ahead and listen to attorney general merrick garland's opening statements before the senate judiciary

committee. >> every day department employees counter complex threats to our national security. they fiercely protect the civil rights of our citizens, they pursue accountability for environmental harms. they prosecute crimes that victimize workers, consumers, and taxpayers, and they defend our country's democratic institutions. and every day in everything they do, the employees of the justice department adhere to and uphold the rule of law that is the foundation of our system of government. thank you for an opportunity to discuss our work. first, upholding the rule of law. when i began my tenure as attorney general, i said it would be my mission to reaffirm the norms that have guided the justice department for nearly 50 years. i do it so because those norms matter now more than ever to our democracy. the health of our democracy

requires that the justice department treat like cases alike and that we apply the law in a way that respects the constitution. it requires that as much as possible we speak through our work and our filings in court so that we do not jeopardize the viability of our investigations and the civil liberties of our citizens. and the survival of our democracy requires that we stand firmly against attempts to undermine the rule of law both at home and abroad. i am proud of the work that the department has done on each of these fronts. we are strengthening the norms that protect the department's independence and integrity. we are securing convictions for a wide range of criminal conduct related to the january 6th attack on the capitol. we are disrupting, investigating, and prosecuting violence and threats of violence and targeting those who serve the public. and we are working closer than ever with our ukrainian partners in defense of democracy,

justice, and the rule of law. we will continue to do so for as long as it takes. second, keeping our country safe, the justice department is using every resource at our disposal to keep our country safe. we are working to counter, disrupt, and prosecute threats posed by nation states, terrorist groups, radicalized individuals, and cyber criminals, and together with our partners across the country, we are continuing to combat the rise in violent crime that began in 2020. all 94 of our u.s. attorneys' offices are working alongside their state and local partners to pursue district-specific violent crime reduction strategies. the department's grant making components are providing financial assistance to local law enforcement agencies. at the same time, they are supporting community-led violence intervention efforts, and our law enforcement components are working with state, local, tribal, and

territorial counterparts to apprehend the most dangerous fugitives and seize illegal drugs and illegal guns. for example, last year dea and its partners seized enough fentanyl laced pills and powder to kill every single american. we also aggressively prosecuting the crimes that inflict economic harm on the american people. we are prioritizing the prosecution of schemes that impact older americans and vulnerable populations as well as schemes involving pandemic and procurement fraud. in our corporate criminal enforcement, we are prioritizing and securing individual accountability and we are vigorously enforcing our antitrust laws. our enforcement actions have already resulted in the blocking or abandonment of mergers that would have stifled competition and harmed consumers. third, protecting civil rights. protecting civil rights was a

founding purpose of the justice department and it remains an urgent priority. the department's storied civil rights division has been at the forefront of efforts to protect the right to vote, ensure constitutional policing, and enforce federal statutes prohibiting discrimination in all of its forms. but now protecting civil rights is also the responsibility of every justice the president employee every single day. we are working across opponents to combat hate crimes and improving hate crimes reporting. in the wake of the supreme court's decision to overturn roe and casey, the department has pulled together to protect reproductive freedom under federal law. and the department recognizes that communities of color, indigenous communities and low income communities often bear the brunt of harm caused by environmental crime, pollution, and climate change. so we are prioritizing cases that will have the grea impact

on the communities most burdened by those harms. i am proud of the work of the department's employees, the work they have done to uphold the rule of law to keep our country safe and protect civil rights. the department's career work force has demonstrated extraordinary resilience after years of unprecedented challenges. they have conducted themselves with the utmost integrity without regard to any partisan or other influences, and they have done their work with a singular commitment to the public we all serve. the employees of the justice department are dedicated, skilled, and patriotic public servants. it is my honor to represent them here today. thank you for the opportunity to testify. i look forward to your questions. >> thanks, attorney general, you grew up in lincolnwood, illinois, if i'm not mistaken, at least part of your life. >> not true. >> it's not fa r from highland park, is it? >> that's also true. >> we know what happened last 4th of july when the people of highland park gathered for a 4th

of july parade. a gunman went on the roof of a business downtown and fired off 83 rounds into the crowd in 60 seconds. even the armed good guys, the policemen who were there trying to protect the public had trouble locating that person and certainly sadly could not have the time to respond to what he had done until it was finished. when he was finished, there was an 8-year-old cooper roberts who will be paralyzed for life. there was a young man, 2-year-old, aiden mccarthy became an orphan because both of his parents were killed. seven total lives were lost. 50 people were injured. it's hard for me to imagine that some disciple of originalism believes that our second amendment envisioned what happened in highland park. to think that there is a weapon out there, a military style weapon and the rounds and clips that are available to fire off

multiple rounds into innocent crowds just to me makes little or no sense when you read the basic language of the second amendment. and so congress did something -- and i want to credit senator cornyn for being a participant in this effort, a leader in this effort, with senator murphy of connecticut to try to pass a bill to make it better. the bipartisan safer communities act addressed issues of straw purchasing, which we have discussed before. the terrible death of ella french chicago policeman because of the straw purchase made in the state of indiana, and this situation with the shootings of innocent individuals in highland park. i'd like to ask you, what have you seen, if anything, this change for the better since we passed our law? >> i think it's a very important law, and i'm grateful to the members who sponsored it and to the joef all congress that passed it. it's done several things for us. first of all, it has, as you

said, established a stand alone crime for straw purchasing and a stand-alone crime for trafficking in illegal weapons. we have already -- >> are these being prosecuted? >> yes, in both cases we have already brought trafficking cases, i think we already have two gun trafficking cases and several straw purchasing cases as a consequence of this law. in addition -- >> go ahead. >> in addition, the law provided for enhanced background checks for people under 21, and we have largely completed the process of making those possible so that juvenile records that disclose prohibited conduct and make somebody a prohibited possessor would now be identified. that's another thing we've done. the statute also provided funds under the burn program and additional programs for violence intervention and for helping

states deal with red flag laws so that people who have been subject to a court order barring them from obtaining a gun, we would be able to get those kind of systems provided, and we've already given out grants in both of those areas. >> senator graham basically challenged me, and i accept the challenge to show as much concern about the gun deaths, show as much concern about fentanyl deaths in this country, and i want to do that. he noted, i believe, correct me if i'm wrong, that the number one cause of death people 18 to 45 is drug overdose. i don't know if it's fentanyl specifically, but a drug overdose, and i know that reality. but the number one cause of death to children under the age of 18 is gun violence in america, too. we can do both. we must do both. so let's address the fentanyl issue for a minute. we had a hearing in this committee two or three weeks ago, which talked about the social media platforms and what they were peddling to americans, particularly to our children across america.

there were mothers sitting near where you're sitting today who brought color photographs of their children who died as a result of their trafficking of information on social media, and there's little or no responsibility accepted by these platforms. section 230 absolves them from civil liability when they broadcast things which harm children, whether it's bullying or harassment or something as basic as this choke challenge, which unfortunately claims the lives of children as well. i think there was a general consensus on this committee, which is saying something, that we need to do something about the social media platforms. i coincidentally had a meeting just a day or two later with ann wigham from the drug enforcement industry. she described for me the sale on the internet and social media platforms of phony drugs, senator graham made the

reference to a person who thought they were buying percocet and bought fentanyl and died as a result of it. i asked her how common this was. she said very common. the sellers even have valet services where they will physically deliver boxes of these phony drugs to people at their homes on their porches. this is out of hand. do you believe that we need to do more to regulate and control the use of social media platforms that are currently exploiting families and children across america? >> senator, i agree with both you and senator graham with respect to how horrible this situation is. i have personally met with the families of children and teenagers and young adults and even the elderly who have taken these pills often thinking that they're taking adderall or oxycodone or percocet, a prescription drug, but when, in fact, it is filled with fentanyl. and as the dea administrator's

testimony demonstrated, six out of ten of those pills are a fatal dose. the cartels that are creating these pills and that are distributing them within the united states are the most horrid individuals you can imagine, and unfortunately they are doing it on social media advertising as if they are prescription pills. so the dea has a program of going out to the social media companies and urging them to advise dea when they see this and advising -- >> ms. wigham told me when they approached the social media and asked for the algorithm so that they can get to the root cause of this death and destruction, the social media platforms plead section 230 and refuse. what do we do? >> i think we do have to do something to force them to provide information to search their own platforms for sales of illegal drugs.

this is a -- >> i tell you, i mean, i don't want to put words in your mouth, but i think section 230 has become a suicide pact. we have basically said to these companies, you are absolved from liability, make money, and they're at it in overtime. and deaths result from it, and we have a responsibility -- i think the committee really spoke to it. we may see it differently, but on a bipartisan basis, and i've spoken to senator graham and immaterial to make sure that when we agree it also is publicized, we both feel very strongly that this committee needs to be a venue to take on this issue. i hope we have your support and the support of the president when we do that. >> certainly have our support with respect to finding a better way to get the social media companies, whether it's civil or criminal, to take these kinds of things off their platplatforms. to search for them, to not use algorithms that recommend them. i totally agree with that. >> thank you, senator graham. >> thank you. again, welcome, attorney general.

i'm going to do something maybe a bit different. i'm going to try to find consensus where we can, see how far we go. do you agree that the wagner organization associated with russia should be a foreign terrorist organization under u.s. law? >> i think they are a organization that's committing war crimes, an organization that's damaging the united states. i think they've already been designated as a trans -- as a -- yeah, tco. >> i want to go up a notch. are you okay -- >> i understand. the way in which determinations are made with respect to terrorist organizations come through the state department. they have to make determinations of what the consequences for countries that have them in them -- >> do you object to me trying to make them a foreign terrorist organization? >> i don't object. but i would defer in the end to the state department on this. >> well, i bet we'll all come together on that one.

fentanyl deaths are more than gun and accident deaths combined in the united states. did you know that? >> yes, sir. >> i mean, this is -- how would you describe the fentanyl problem in america? >> it's a horrible epidemic, but it's an epidemic that's been unleashed on purpose by the sinaloa and the new generation cartels. >> let's stop and absorb that for a moment. it's a horrible epidemic. it kills more people than car wrecks and gun violence combined, and the question is what are we going to do about it? under current law, fentanyl loses its schedule 1 status by the end of the year, you opposed that i assume. >> i certainly to. all fentanyl related drugs should be scheduled permanently. >> minimums for people dealing in fentanyl, do you think they should be increased? >> i think we have more than enough about now to attack this problem. >> would you agree with me whatever we have is not working?

>> well -- >> whatever we're doing is not working. >> i agree with that because of the number of deaths that you pointed out. >> so just keep an open mind that what we got on the books is not working. if somebody gave a pill to another person with arsenic or ricin, could they be charged for murder because that will kill you? >> absolutely. >> okay. if somebody gave a candy shaped pill full of fentanyl, could they be charged with murder? >> they can be charged with drug trafficking leading to death. i don't think the statute says murder, but it does say specifically aims at that. we have brought prosecutions, i know having discussed this with the u.s. attorney in colorado and the u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york. >> senator cotton's got a proposal to tramatically increase the penalties associated with fentanyl. i'd like to work with you and the chairman if we could to find a bipartisan solution to this problem to create deterrence that doesn't exist.

mexican drug cartels, should they be designated foreign terrorist organizations under u.s. law? >> yeah, i think it's the same answer i gave before. they are ready designated in any number of ways and sanctioned by the treasury -- >> would you oppose some of us trying to make them foreign terrorist organizations? >> i wouldn't oppose it. there are diplomatic concerns. we need the assistance of mexico in this and designating -- >> is mexico helping us effectively with our fentanyl problem? >> they are helping us, but they could do much more. there's no question about that. >> if this is helping, i would hate to see whatnot helping looks like. the bottom line for me is they're not helping and we knead to up our game when it comes to fentanyl. git mo, are you familiar with the gitmo prison. >> i haven't been there if that's what you're asking. >> you know that we have foreign terrorists housed there, right? >> i certainly do. >> do you agree with me that

under the law of war, an enemy combatant properly designated can be held to the end of hostilities? >> yes. that's a law both of the circuit i was on before and the supreme court. >> right. so do you agree with me that isis and al qaeda is still at war with us? >> yes, i do. >> so you agree that anybody associated with these organizations could be held indefinitely if they present a risk to the american people? >> i think they could. i think that determination of whether they present a risk and how they should be dealt with is a determination to be made by the defense department and the defense department is making -- >> but legally they can be held as long as they're a risk and that could be the rest of their lives, correct? >> i think that's right, it obviously depends on the facts of the determination. >> do do you believe russia is committing crimes against humanity? >> i do. >> okay. that's a pretty bold statement. should we create an international court to support charges of crime of aggression? do you support that idea?

>> so the united states supports what is now being developed in the hague sponsored by euro just looking into the possibility of creating that court. there are concerns that we have to take into account with respect to how they might deal with our own service members and other circumstances. we have to be sure that the appropriate guardrails are up, but we support any number of different ways in which war crimes, crimes against humanity and the potential for crimes against aggression are investigated. >> i'd like to work with you in that regard. i think that's something we could do. >> i would be happy to. >> when it comes to federal prisons, are you aware that 1,200 prisons are requesting to be sent from a male prison to a female prison? >> i'm not, no. >> okay. what is our policy when it comes to allowing a male prisoner to be transitioned into a female prison? >> i think -- if you're generally asking the question of

how trans people are dealt with in the bureau of prisons, my understanding is that these are determinations about where they're placed or where people are placed in general have to do with individualized determinations regarding the security of that individual and the management of the prison. these are done on a case by case basis. that's my understanding. >> are you aware of any policy guidelines that they use to make that determination? >> i think there is a policy guideline along the lines that i just said, that they are -- >> i would like for the bureau of prisons to send it to us. are you concerned that if a biological male is sent to a female prison there could be a risk to female prisoners? >> i think every person in prison has to be dealt with with dignity and respect. that determinations of the safety questions you're talking about have to be made on an individualized basis and not categorically. >> finally, let's end where we started, fentanyl. if this drug is killing more americans that are car wrecks

and gun violence combined, do you believe that the policies we have today in effect are working? >> i've been involved in the problem of drug crimes and drug trafficking for more than 40 years including -- >> that's not my question. it's not how long you've been involved. are they working? >> they are not stopping fentanyl from killing americans, if that's the question you're asking. >> would you say they're woefully inadequate to the task? >> we are putting all the resources that congress provides to us into doing this. the dea is doing -- we are starting at the precursor level when precursors are sent from china to mexico. we are then working on attacking the labs. >> my time is up. mr. attorney general, they're not working, and we're going to help you if you'll work with us to give you more tools. i hope you will meet us in the middle. thank you. >> happy to have more tools, senator. >> before recognizing another colleague, i want to apologize. my reference to the dea

administrator, her name is ann milgram, i mispronounced it. i wanted for the record to clarify that. >> thank you for being here. i appreciate it. methane is probably the -- one of the most dangerous greenhouse gases we see plumes of it miles long floating across the united states. it takes multiple levels of enforcement, federal, state, local, and private to address these massive leaks. what can you tell me you are doing to assure that there is that coordinated multijurisdictional enforcement operation in place? >> you are exactly right. and we now have the benefit of overhead commercial satellites which are able to actually see methane with respect to the infrared spectrum, so we are in the process of establishing a working group between our

environment natural resources division and the justice department, the epa, the interior -- >> we've been listening to the questioning of attorney general merrick garland before the senate judiciary committee, his first time going before them since the raid at mar-a-lago and the appointment of two special counsels for former president trump and president biden in the classified documents cases. i want to bring back with me msnbc legal analyst, andrew weissman and lisa rubin. andrew, we heard chairman dick durbin asking about gun legislation, asking about social media companies section 230. we heard senator lindsey graham asking about russia, war crimes, whether it should be considered a terrorist group, and also fentanyl and then trans people in prisons and how they're treated. what stuck out to you so far in what we've heard? >> so a few things, one, surprising in tone. you had both of the initial round of questioning by lindsey graham and by senator durbin

being very polite and trying to deal with some consensus. that being said, i do think that the fentanyl issue which got a lot of deserved attention is one that i think is going to be weaponized. i mean, it is great if the congress is going to try and figure out additional tools that can be used to protect americans, but i think that will be something that is viewed as a problem with porous borders because you don't just have illegal aliens coming in, republicans will say, but you also have this drug that is problem that the dea is doing a ton to try and combat. but more can be done because it's not working to protect everybody. the sec thing i thought was interesting was that the attorney general did take a very sort of polite swipe at his

predecessor when he spoke about the people at the the president and the, quote, years of unprecedented challenges that they faced, which was in connection with the imposition of the rule of law under the garland administration at the department of justice and he's essentially contrasting that not by name, with what happened under the trump/barr administration when the department of justice i think was widely viewed within the department as being politicized. so those all stuck out to me. >> lisa, is wildly nodding her head. i know that stuck out to you as well, merrick garland lifting up members of the doj. >> i want to provide some context, during the trump administration as andre was referencing, attorney general barr not only sublimated the morale of line prosecutors but went out of his way to try and put them in their place. after there were a bunch of resignations regarding the roger stone case in particular where the department of justice intervened to try and reverse

the sentencing for roger stone, there were some resignations and barr made a speech soon thereafter where he essentially said line prosecutors need to listen to the political judgment of those in the senior leadership of the department of justice. we are not a montessori kind gar tin. contrast that with the respect that merrick garland showed this morning for the line prosecutors and employees of the department of justice. he not only elevated them but said each and every one of them has an important role to play in the enforcement of civil rights. and so the elevation of the civil rights agenda as core to what the department of justice is doing in this period i also thought was notable. >> yeah, of course that stuck out to me as well, of courses in the wake of what happened to tyre nichols in memphis. both of you stay close. we're going to keep our eye on this hearing. we will bring you back news as it develops. but we do want to get now to the

scene of the crime in south carolina, the jury right now wrapping up a tour of where alex murdaugh's wife and son were killed. how big of a difference will that make for them as they consider the case. we're back in 60 seconds. e backs well, thank goodness. it's time for the "good news of the week." and, boy, do we need it. [ chuckles ] well, this safe driver saved money with the snapshot app from progressive. -how do you feel? -um, good? he's better than good. he got rewarded for driving safe and driving less. sorry, barb, just to confirm, this is the feel-good news of the week? this is what we found. -yay, snapshot! (vo) with verizon, you can now get a private 5g network. so you can do more than connect your business, you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time. (vo) robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. (foreman) nice work. (vo) and retailers can get ahead of the fashion trend of the day with a new line tomorrow.

with a verizon private 5g network, you can get more agility and security. giving you more control of your business. we call this enterprise intelligence. from the network america relies on. this morning the jury in the double murder trail of disbarred lawyer alex murdaugh has left the courtroom to visit the scene of the gruesome killings. at the request of the defense, the 12 jurors are visiting moselle to see for themselves where murdaugh's wife and son were shot and killed in june of 2021. this is one of the final steps before both sides begin closing arguments. ellison barber is live from walterboro, south carolina, and kristin gibbons feden former prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. we were seeing that video of the vans bringing the jury, the windows blurred out so nobody's

identifiable. what can we expect here on this field trip, and also once the jury returns to the courtroom? >> reporter: yeah, so for now it seems like they are actually keeping to schedule and going to be a little earlier than we were expecting, at least yesterday evening and early this morning, they left earlier than anticipated and from the latest pool reports we have, it seems like they are in the process of finishing up this visit, and the judge previously said they wanted to have the jury back here by 11 so they could get started with closing arguments. that would sort of expedite the time line we had in our head heading into today. but look, the jury was given very clear instructions on the way to moselle, they were told that they could come, they could look. the majority of the time was going to be spent at the kennels in the feed room area. they were going to be able to go up to the house to see the exterior of the house, but they were not going to go inside. the jury was going to spend approximately 30 minutes on the ground. they were able to look, but they

could not ask any questions. they could not talk to each other from the pool report that we have on the ground right now, we're told that the pool was able to see from their vans at least one juror standing in the feed room. that's where paul murdaugh was shot standing in that doorway and looking around in that area and looking up at the door frame. after the jury finished looking, the press pool was going to be able to spend the same amount of time and see some of the same stuff that they did before making their way back here to the courthouse. once that takes place, once they come back, we expect the prosecution and defense and even to just sort of roll right into closing arguments. this visit, it was requested by the defense. we've been told by a court official yet that alex murdaugh would not be going with the jury. when we asked where he would be during this visit, they said either he would stay at the county courthouse in his cell there or they would put him in a holding cell in the basement

here at the courthouse. lindsey. >> as ellison has mentioned, this is pretty rare. why would the defense push for this ahead of closing arguments. we know one of their arguments has been, look, the property, the actual house is far away from the dog kennels. it's possible someone might not hear the gunshots. is that one of the lines of thinking they're trying to pursue? >> absolutely. when i was a prosecutor, i had cases where i would request the judge to allow the jury to visit the crime scene. pictures don't always do it for you. you really only make that request when you're sure that the visit will actually have an impact in your favor. in this case, the defense is probably pretty certain that the jury hasn't really grasped the vast distances between the various locations on the huge murdaugh estate. so reviewing or looking at the exterior is really important, and potentially could cast doubt on the ability one shooter to carry two long guns.

additionally, as we heard reporting of a juror looking in the feed room, that's really important because it may test the juror's belief that a large man such as murdaugh could navigate in that tiny space, commit the murder up close and not end up with any blood or any other type of forensic matter on him. >> kristen, as we enter closing arguments here in the culmination of this trial, we have seen both sides pivot a little bit. we've seen the defense bring this this late two shooter theory. we've seen the prosecution bring up so many more witnesses in their rebuttal to the chagrin of the defense. how do you see both sides tweaking their arguments? >> i think the prosecution is going to stand firm because that's what they basically did in their rebuttal. they stood firm to all of the forensic evidence that they put in. they're going to keep to their narrative that, you know, murdaugh did this and that he had to be the one who did these vicious murders and he did it to cover up all of the financial misdeeds. the defense is going to pivot.

they're going to throw in the two shooter theory. they're going to talk about how murdaugh could not have done this, not only from an emotional standpoint, and they'll bring up his testimony, but they're also going to say from a physical and forensic standpoint. i think they're going to focus in on that to cast that reasonable doubt. remember, lindsey, they really only have to convince one juror. >> all right, thank you so very much. this morning a major development in the investigation into the trail derailment in ohio that spilled toxic chemicals and sparked serious health concerns for residents of east palestine. allen shaw, the ceo of norfolk southern has agreed to testify before a senate committee. that hearing will be next thursday. nbc's julie tsirkin is now with us from capitol hill. how eager are senators to get shaw in the hot seat? what can we expect them to want to ask? >> reporter: yeah, lindsey, near ly a month after that devastating trail derailment,

alan shaw will appear before the senate environment and public works committee march 9th. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle can't wait to get him in the hot seat. and i think a big focus of this is going to be their cleanup efforts, much of which we haven't seen through the finish line as residents there are still suffering from the effects of this toxic spill. senator brown from ohio of course, the lead democrat there, said yesterday that he wants the ceo to answer, to make sure that they are going to take care monetarily everything that the residents of that community need including cleaning up that train spill, and also this morning we have rare bipartisanship legislation coming from senators brown and -- of ohio, and also the two pennsylvania senators and two other republicans, josh hawley and marco rubio trying to overhaul the safety requirements of train railroads, of railroad companies as well. number one being they have to notify if this legislation is passed state emergency

responders before carrying any possible hazardous materials or toxic waste through that state. this legislation, however, is going to face some uphill roadblocks. senator vance the only senator on the commerce committee out of the group that signed onto this letter that will potentially mark up and consider this bill. this, of course, as political tensions continue on both sides with democrats blaming former president trump's rollback of obama era epa regulations for causing this and republicans of course hammering the biden administration for not paying close enough attention in the cleanup on this. a month after this happened, some initial steps from congress. >> julie tsirkin, thank you. next, the impact so intense passengers were thrown through windows, the latest on rescue efforts ahead. forts ahead. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time.

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freight train collided at high speed on the tracks. the impact of the collision so powerful, passengers were thrown through the windows of the train. and at this hour, rescue efforts are ongoing for others that remain trapped in train cars. nbc's molly hunter is following the story for us. the images are horrific. what more are you learning about rescue efforts, the victims and how this may have happened? >> the pictures are absolutely terrifying. this is two trains, freight train and a very crowded passenger train as you mentioned with more than 350 passengers going at high speeds in opposite directions, heading towards each other on the same track. investigators are trying to figure out how that could have happened. what we know is you mentioned the death toll is rising. right now, 36 people have been confirmed dead. more than 80 people have been injured. many of those were college students, leaving a festival weekend. many of those people, more than 70, in the hospital with very serious injuries. now, firefighters have just said and they have been there all

night, the crash happened just after midnight, firefighters say that in one of the train carriages that derailed, the temperature inside, lindsey, got up to 2,372 degrees. not only is that going to complicate the investigation, it is also complicating the heart wrenching process of identifying victims. as far as causes, the prime minister visited the crash site earlier this morning and he vowed a thorough investigation. but already we have seen at least one arrest, the station master. they have detained others for questioning. the transport minister has just resigned in the last couple of hours, lindsey, and we have just gotten the first indication about possible cause. the president of the greek train drivers association has said he believes it was likely human error because electric signals have not been working for years. >> this is an incredibly quick revelation so soon after this crash. what do we know about how big of a priority this is for them, but also how they came to find this out so quickly?

>> i think this is absolutely not conclusive. this is simply an early indication, but certainly if it is the head of the greek train drivers association who says, look, these electronic signals on this old infrastructure have not been working, his belief is that it was human error. that's pretty damning. but the prime minister on the scene earlier today and we have heard from other greek officials say there will be a full, thorough investigation and certainly they're still in search and rescue operations there, not yet in recovery. >> molly hunter, thank you. that does it for me this hour. i'll be back here tomorrow. "jose diaz-balart reports" starts next. hertoe morrow "jose diaz-balart reports" starts next. we all have a purpose in life - a “why.” maybe it's perfecting that special place that you want to keep in the family... ...or passing down the family business... ...or giving back to the places that inspire you. no matter your purpose, at pnc private bank, we will work with you every step of the way to help you achieve it. so let us focus on the how.

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good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. right now, attorney general merrick garland is facing tough questions by senators on capitol hill. he's expected to address a wide range of issues including investigations into classified documents. we will bring you a live report in moments. in south carolina, jurors in alex murdaugh's double murder trial just wrapped a tour of the crime scene at murdaugh's estate, with closing arguments expected any moment now. plus, what the fbi director is saying about the origins of covid and why he believes the chinese government is essentially interfering with its investigation. this as the new congressional committee held a hearing on threats posed by china. congressman raja krishnamoorthi joins us live. and at this hour, an inat