DOJ admits it did not post most Epstein files by deadline

0:00Hello, I'm Ozempic. And I'm other GLP ones, kind of like him. Are you shaking a maraca? No, I'm shaking the pill version of Ozempic, which no one should ever do except in ads like this. A nice disclaimer. Hey, thanks. Ask your doctor about which FDA-approved uses of the Ozempic pen or pill may be right for you. Call 1-833-OZEMPIC or visit Ozempic.com to view the medication guide and learn more about Ozempic semaglutide tablets, 9 mg, and Ozempic semaglutide injection, 2 mg. There's a pill version of Ozempic. Hey, I just Venmo'd you for rent. Nice. Now I can instantly spend it whether I'm checking out online with Venmo or using a Venmo debit card.

0:37Say more. More exactly. Because the more you do with Venmo, the more you get. Like earning up to 5 % cash back with Venmo Stash on a bundle of brands. So, order more pizza. The math demands it. Get the Venmo debit card. Venmo Stash bundle terms and exclusions apply. See terms at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Venmo checkout not available at all merchants. Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Ari Melber. We begin with an update on this escalating manhunt that's in Providence, Rhode Island, after the terrible shooting at Brown University over the weekend Saturday, leaving two dead and several students injured.

1:13Officials have now released new images and video of the person of interest in this case. We got this material from the briefing, which you may have seen on the news. That was finishing just moments ago. They've also announced a reward. We are renewing our call for the public's assistance in seeking any and all information about the shooter. No amount of information is too small or irrelevant. We are also here to announce the FBI is now offering a reward of$50 ,000 for information that can lead to the identification, the arrest, and the conviction of the individual responsible who we believe to be armed and dangerous.

1:55Officials releasing this new footage of the person of interest that they are now eyeing. You can see dark clothing, a hat, what looks like a mask. This is the first look of the individual we've seen from this view. They did release another video over the weekend of the person that they also thought was the same person exiting the scene of the crime, hoping that someone could recognize them. Saturday at 4 p.m., the shooter entered an economics classroom. This was a final exam review, so a weekend setting where students were gathered and they opened fire with the rifle, killing two students. 19-year-old Ella Cook from Alabama and 18-year-old Muhammad Aziz Umarzakov from Virginia.

2:38Local hospital treating nine other students with gunshot injuries as of this afternoon, one in critical condition. Cell phone footage obtained by WABC shows the scene of the students sheltering in place in a room at Brown.

3:22You can see the difficult scene there, the live action police work, the students young, scared. And while this was a college and mentioning, as I mentioned, some of the students as young as 19 among the victims, This is a harrowing scene we've seen play out in schools, high school, middle school colleges around the country. Law enforcement also facing some criticism for detaining and releasing the person of interest on Sunday in a manner that seemed to add to confusion, if not outright misinformation. And that is because of essentially the social media habits of Trump's FBI director, not the line agents.

4:02Indeed, if you're counting, it's now the second time that FBI Director Patel seemed to rush to post things online. That's against usual investigative practice before they had all the facts at their disposal. He touted the arrest and then backtracked. If you recall, this also occurred after the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk in September. Officials are continuing the search for leads. They want any local video footage, no matter how short, any leads, no matter how small. They have not named any other potential suspects, persons of interest or a motive. We're joined now by Rob Diamico, former FBI tactical operations specialist, as well as a hostage rescue team operator.

4:43These are always just terrible stories to experience for the community, for people watching it, and unfortunately too familiar in the education setting. Your view of what we know now and what authorities are focused on after that briefing. Well, they're focused on now they have video that I think is better quality, at least some of it is. But I think one of the most important things is it was from the day before. so what that tells me i'm looking at some of the things that happened especially with the cell phone uh analytical stuff is they know the shooter was there when the shooting took place and they're going to look at all the towers and then the day before when that video was taken they knew his location was there and they're going to compare and see what cell phones in fact were there at the same time now you're going to have to take out all the residents that are around there how far that cell tower looks.

5:35But that's what those cellular analytical teams that, you know, Director Patel talked about, that's what they do. And that is big. That's really big because you can start narrowing down the device to potentially the subject. Plus, the picture is somewhat, it's not great, but it's better than what they had before, and they may get better ones along the way. One of the terrible things here with this type of gun violence, we have it in this country. We had a terrible attack that authorities are describing as this anti-Semitic attack in Australia. And I have a separate report on that coming up. But in the U.S.

6:14context, it's too familiar. And there are these students at Brown who are very quickly discussing how this was not their first school shooting. Take a listen. Until our congresspeople actually decide to do something and care about children, care about their constituents, care about people in this country, this will continue to happen. And there will be more people like me who have survived several school shootings. Every act of gun violence is 100 percent preventable. And we know why this happened. We know why it happened at Saugus. We know why it happened at Brown. And we know why it happened everywhere else.

6:47It's because of decades of government inaction. There's no reason that two families should be planning funerals instead of Christmas parties right now. Those are two students who marked past living through past school shootings at the earlier level of their education and now live through this one at Brown. How do you view this? Obviously, the authorities do their jobs. They don't write the laws. But obviously, I think we're doing something wrong. There's something we could do better to protect our our students, our youngest more. I'm a father of four. Matter of fact, I was doing the school shooting in UNC Chapel Hill, and I had two of my kids were students there, and now they're back in grad school.

7:32So they're back in school. I understand it. And I remember coming out of an FBI briefing once, and there was a threat at one of their middle schools when they were younger, and I felt so helpless to it. It has to be like a layer in defense where not one solution is going to work at it. you know, badging buildings and doing all these other things and trying to prevent guns getting in. I'm also now on a board of a national violence prevention hotline that's trying to stand up full time. So when people are thinking, doing violent things, they can call someone and get a counselor. Or if you know someone, if you see them sliding down that, that, you know, that path that you see in the yellow flags, you can call and get help.

8:12And I think all of that has to go into it. But getting all the guns off the street, I think, is a long-term thing. You know, it's America and there's something about it. But you still have to keep trying everything you can because not one thing is going to work better than the other. You just have to hope some of them work. But it is scary. Like looking at the students sitting there, I just thought of my kids in their classes. I remember one was talking about being hours in the library writing the papers for the grad studies and thought if they were in there and there was a shooting and I'm sitting here not being able to do anything.

8:50It's just horrible. Yeah. And we track this, but the grim math is that as it becomes more common, it takes a worse shooting, quote unquote, every loss of life tragic, to become what they call national news or something people hear about. I want to use this night to remind folks that in the year so far, obviously we're near the end of it, you have 392 mass shootings in the United States. It averages out to more than one a day. What else do you tell people about what they can do? You said the understandable feeling of being helpless. What are best practices for what people can do if they are in these places that increase the number of targets has increased?

9:35So they're in places considered a target to some degree. It's one of those things that when I would go in my kids' school when they were young, I would figure out the best way out. And a lot of times that they're on the first floor, I would find something in that room that stayed there. And I'd say, use this to break the window, get out and put something over the glass and just go out the window. Do not go in the hallway. Or I would find a better way. And I taught all my kids situational awareness. When you go to something, a friend of mine, a Jewish friend of mine was telling me about they were going to a Hanukkah event.

10:08And I said, look, situational awareness, the shoes you wear, the exit, knowing where you're going before something happens is really important. So you don't have to think about it. You already thought about it before it happened. And unfortunately, as a police officer, I do that. I go into a restaurant. I sit with my back to the wall. I see the door. I see the cash register. It's just habit for me how I do it. But nowadays, students as young as middle school are having to do the same thing, having to really look at this. Training helps and thinking about what you're going to do beforehand. And it just it is what it is.

10:43And it's unfortunate. But that's what I'm telling the ones I love and the friends of mine that they have to do when they go to a big event. Same thing with all these terrorist events. Look where you're going to go. If a car drives up on the sidewalk, look where you're going to go. because ISIS loves to tell people to use vehicles because it's easier than getting guns in countries and you can actually sometimes do more damage. So I'm always aware of that and I'm pushing that out to friends and loved ones. Yeah, understood. Rob, Damico, thank you very much for your work and for walking us through that tough topic.

11:18I want to mention what I said earlier. There was another terrible attack over the weekend. Again, this was abroad, and we wanted to report on the latest, a mass shooting in Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on Sunday, leaving 16 dead, including one of the suspects. This was at a Hanukkah celebration, the Jewish holiday, a 10-year-old girl and a Holocaust survivor, and two rabbis were among those slain. Over 40 people hospitalized after this incident. 27 are in the hospital, according to Australia's local news reports. police indicating the two suspects were a father and son. This is being viewed as an anti-Semitic attack targeting the Hanukkah celebration.

12:00You can see here what appears to be one of the gunmen firing. Bystanders fled. The shooting actually went on for about 20 minutes. The elder gunman killed by police. The younger hospitalized. Locals there holding vigils. This is that country's deadliest shooting in over 25 years. officials recounting it and the motive as an anti-Semitic terror attack. This attack was designed to target Sydney's Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah. What should have been a night of peace and joy celebrated in that community with families and supporters has been shattered. The Jewish community are hurting today.

12:47Today, all Australians wrap our arms around them and say, we stand with you. We will do whatever is necessary to stamp out anti-Semitism. Authorities there discussing that wider context. There's also really remarkable footage, which has been shared a lot online, where someone captured the moment by video where a bystander, a courageous good Samaritan, risked their own life while others were being slain to intervene and try to save lives. Take a look. Oh! Some man. I don't know who. What do you think about it? You can guess what? Oh! Some man. I don't know who. What do you think about it? You can guess what?

13:44Oh! Some man. Come on, you're cool. What are you doing? You can hear the stunned onlookers as they captured that real-life moment, actual heroism, someone stepping up in a way that, as you can see from the footage, they didn't have to. They literally risked their own life and likely saved others. The wider context is a rise in anti-Semitic violence, which includes here in the United States. According to the ADL, which tracks this anti-Semitic incidents have been on the rise for four years in a row, and they reached their highest level since the ADL has been recording it here in 2024. You can see a huge increase in the bar chart on your screen.

14:28Two different terrible incidents around the world, each involving gun violence. That is our grim top story tonight. Now, we have a lot more in the program, including the politics of Donald Trump's lame duck problem. This is the week that leads up to the now famed Epstein deadline for the Trump DOJ. We're going to keep in mind what Bob Woodward said about this case and following the receipts, the evidence and, of course, following the money. And tonight we also remember Rob and Michelle Reiner. I have a report on their deaths later in the hour. We'll be back.

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17:11Thank you.

17:41Thank you.

18:15When things start changing in politics, they can change fast. We started the year hearing all about Donald Trump's comeback and how he had a mandate and Elon Musk could do what he wants and the courts wouldn't stop him. And for a minute there, it looked like that. But a lot has changed. The breaking point is always hard to find in real time. Historians have the job of combing through all the stuff we live through day by day and finding it. But if there is one, it may be the Epstein vote that showed the emperor has no clothes, Republicans weren't scared of Trump, and after they rejected him and his bid to hide Epstein last month, the files and everything else, they didn't pay a price.

18:53If anything, they are finding that disagreement with Trump in public may help them distance themselves from his sagging poll numbers. And now there are cracks in the wall going into 26. Trump reportedly losing ground, not just among independents and moderates, but among his MAGA base. He has an eight-point drop in the strong approval rating for MAGA Republicans. You may say, okay, he's still got support there, but they're not necessarily strongly standing by everything. The Post reports that rank-and-file Republicans in Washington feel the heat on health care and just unpopular positions Trump has forced them to take on slashing the safety net and health care funding and Obamacare subsidies.

19:35One House Republican office gets 300 calls a day just on the health care issue. Politico reporting that in Deep Red, Montana, there's a revolt against the impact of all of those cuts from Musk and folks saying, I didn't vote for this. MAGA leaders also warning that the base is checking out, which is a problem for someone like Trump, who does best when he has his 40, 42, 38 percent checked in. A pollster who works with Republicans told Trump there's a disconnect between the Trump administration and what it's focused on and what the passionate base of supporters actually want to see. In this story, he recounts telling Trump, you said fight, fight, fight.

20:21Nobody ever clarified what that means. and fight now, you're fight, fight, fighting MTG and not actually fight, fight, fighting for Americans. And that, of course, is just the base. Broadly, Trump is at a second term low. The price problem, the inflation, the Epstein scandal, California Governor Newsom saying National Guard troops are now out of L.A. because of another Trump loss. It took a while, but a judge ordered them out. And while Trump was testing his power and may have gotten away with some flexing for some time, it also, like the Epstein case, has revealed the limits of his ability to put the military folks you see here in American streets indefinitely.

21:04And if that was a plan to mess with the public or the midterms or a future election, well, Trump is finding that losing in court is reminding everyone, including those troops, there are limits set by people other than the commander-in-chief. It is a grim picture for Republicans going into the midterms, and conservatives know it. Hard stops in American politics typically create massive political blowback and 2026 looks like it's going to be pretty ugly for Republicans anyways. The political blowback is going to lead to Democrats in power in 2028. You can't gaslight people and tell them that their bills are affordable and you can't tell them that the economy is an A+++.

21:45You just can't do that. And I think it's insulting to people's intelligence. Now, will it be enough to save the Republicans in the midterms? Probably not. But that's OK. This is a long term deal. You're going to lose the House. You may keep the Senate. I'll take that.

22:04A lot of folks are talking in terms of messaging and PR, and that's a language Donald Trump understands. He just told the Journal. We'll see what happens. We should win. But, you know, statistically, it's very tough to win. And he's right. The winds are going against them on these midterms But why is he already spinning a loss he hasn't even faced? And if he looks like he's got cracks with the Republicans now Just imagine if they blame him And what are very unpopular policies for losing the midterms And then he's got two years left A lame duck as the party looks beyond him I've got two great guests to get into exactly this political moment When we come back

22:49It's not a secret. There's no sugarcoating it. It's a pending, blooming disaster heading our way. We're facing almost certain defeat. This is a absolute disaster. You know, no matter what party's in power, they normally get crushed in the midterms. The chances are the Republicans will go down and will go down hard. Republicans' party chair says they could go down hard. We are joined by Mark Liebervich from The Atlantic, MSNOW contributor, and Semaphore's Margaret Carlson. Mark, they're talking a lot about losing.

23:27Yeah, they seem to be. Look, I mean, it could be just expectation setting. It could be just realistic. I mean, look, I mean, the polls are kind of ugly for Republicans right now. historic trends in off-year elections absolutely favor the party out of power, and Democrats have been locked out of power since a year ago, since Trump came back. So, yeah, I mean, I think they're just being realistic. I mean, this is probably a case of maybe just speaking the truth inconveniently, but I also don't think any voters are going to be swayed either way, whether, you know, for or against by, you know, a bunch of Republicans sort of trying to be realistic about what the electoral landscape is, which I think we've all been seeing pretty clearly for the last few months.

24:08Margaret? Well, they seem that Trump and the Fox commentator that you had in your intro, Ari, seem to be like, Que sera sera? Well, it's going to happen, but so what? But, you know, the people who don't feel that way are in the House and the Senate, And if they start feeling that it does matter, that could be the crack in the Trump MAGA hold right then and there. And they're not going to vote in the numbers they did the last time for the presidential, in part because that other clip from Montana or the Politico piece in which she said, I didn't vote for this. I think that's going to come into an ad in which Democrats put up to voters, you didn't vote for this.

25:03And that's becoming, you know, the affordability hoax. I don't think that landed well. Trump loves his hoaxes because that's always worked for him. But an affordability hoax, I don't think people like at all.

25:17And do you see this, Mark, as a tipping point issue? I mean, you think about these things for a living. You wrote a whole book talking to all the Republicans and others in Washington. Did Epstein really happen to be the thing that revealed it? Or do you see a lot of factors? I think it definitely broke the momentum. And I think Trump had quite a bit of uninterrupted momentum starting from his inauguration, at least within his own party. Right. I mean, there was a lot of shock and awe, you know, frankly, disgust from from the opposition, both at Trump and also kind of at the lameness of the Democratic opposition, such as it was in those first two months.

25:54I think what Epstein did is it actually did sort of organize both an opposition to Trump, which tended to the Republican Party. And I think it sort of got him off his footing. And I think from there, there were a lot of sort of economic things that hurt him, a lot of other things that hurt him around foreign policy, immigration and some of the enforcement and stuff that I think has sort of been an avalanche sort of since then. But I think if you look, you know, historians will look to Epstein as sort of the thing that broke the momentum. Yeah. And Margaret, it's striking because people who oppose Trump feel they have all the reasons in the world.