Welcome to the beat, everyone.

I am Ari Melver.

And we are beginning this week tracking several stories for you, including the nation meeting

its new speaker of the House from the very real questions facing the real Mike Johnson

to the Saturday Live debut of his own impression that you see there in a mock meeting

with President Biden for Halloween.

So we have more on that and a special guest on that front tonight, the real

long time Biden Chief of Staff Ron Claim is here tonight.

In fact, it's his first time on the program since leaving the White House.

We have all that.

And also later tonight a report from the Middle East.

But our top story right now is a new procedural victory for DOJ prosecutor Jack Smith

and thus illegal law for defense Donald Trump, who got in trouble for his recent attacks

on his own former aide, turned key DOJ witness, Mark Meadows.

Jack Smith just won his bid to invoke those attacks to re-gag Trump.

And that is the kind of technical legal way to put it.

You may have heard about this.

I'm going to walk it through it with you right now.

Basically late Sunday, the federal judge overseeing that open coup case reinstated a partial

gag order that bars defendant Trump from attacking witnesses and others.

And that order had been on hold basically in deference to the appeals process.

But Trump blew that by attacking Meadows after ABC reported that he was cooperating

...