>> the twice impeached 45th president of the united states may become the first former president as well as first major presidential candidate indicted on a criminal charge. when that may happen, if it happens, is anybody's guess. and today's events only add to

the drama. i'm pamela brown, in for anderson tonight. the former president kicked off speculation that an indictment that maybe eminent the social media post over the weekend stating that it may come tomorrow but he offered no proof of that. and his own lawyer told cnn that let -- they write in the media. everyone is in the dark about what is going on behind the closed doors of the grand jury room. and about when they could reach a decision. all we know is that if the former president is charged, it will be historic. and not just for the reasons we cited, but also because of the nature of the crime being alleged. a payoff and cover-up of the alleged relationship with an adult actress, something trump has denied. but more importantly, because any potential indictment could also be the first of more charges to come for former president trump. those would involve separate investigations out of the justice department and the state of georgia. and to his actions surrounding

election interference. law -- 2024 republican front runner. so here's what we do know tonight, the manhattan district attorney's office has signaled that it is very close to a decision about whether to indict and that fact, plus trump social media blast, has kicked off the series of developments we may see in any future indictment from the justice department, special counsel, or out of georgia. and it's not by the former president and the prosecutor around early -- around republicans as we keep seeing and fears of violence. this weekend in that same social media post, the president told his followers he expects to be arrested and called on them to, quote, protest, take our nation back. a lot of -- starting with cnn's paula reid. paulo, what more are you learning about the timeline for potential indictment of the former president? >> pamela, if the former president is indicted, his

attorneys will be notified and then they will have to negotiate a self surrender and a time for an initial appearance. you're hearing from multiple sources tonight both from law enforcement and a source close to the former president. that initial appearance in a new arrest would not happen until next week. and it's still only if he is indicted. we've also learned that the former presidents legal team is not expecting anything to happen tomorrow. at this point it's unclear if the grand jury will be hearing from any additional witnesses or when they will possibly vote on an indictment. so we will sit on the edge of our seats to see if there are any developments. and former advisor michael cohen testified before the manhattan grand jury today. what did he have to say, paula? >> that's right pamela, it's interesting because this was a witness who was requested by former president trump's legal team. and they wanted him to go before the grand jury to undermine and attack michael corden's credibility. cohen is of course a central witness in this investigation

and this witness robert costello he's an attorney who had one-time represented michael cohen and he says that he told a grand jury back when he discussed these hush money payments and the center of this investigation with cohen several years ago that cohen told him that he was doing that on his own. he also accused cohen of being on a revenge tour. michael cohen was in court today and unavailable to rebut the testimony. but the grandeur didn't hear from him, though they have heard from him at least two times in the past. again, pamela, the question is, is there anyone else who's gonna go before the grand jury and how long will this investigation continue to go on? it's been going off for five years, this is conduct that is seven years old, it's unclear why this is all coming to a head now. >> paula reid, thank you so much. perspective now from cnn geopolitical correspondent, sunday state of the union, -- to political commentators, ben jones, a former special adviser to obama, and david orban, of

former trump adviser and republican strategist. dana, starting with, you would you make of the fact that there are still so many unknowns at this point regarding such an extremely consequential moment in american politics? >> the da is working very -- holding his cards close to his vest. but that's an important point you just made. it's an unknown. the words that you used at the beginning of the program, talking about the fact that the former president is saying -- and his attorneys are saying, we just are repeating but we heard in the press. it's a little bit of a, you know, they're doing this intentionally, the trump team. because the former president understands -- in the words of one of his -- somebody in his orbit today, to me said, he was on political life support. talking about politics now, not the potential legal trouble

he's an. politics. he was on life support and this whole situation has been a political infusion for him. it's something that he is creating and i think that's the important thing we need to keep repeating. he is the one who is putting out information about when he would allegedly be arrested, and it hasn't happened yet. we have to keep that in very clear perspective. he believes that this is a very big political plus for him which is why he is fanning the flames right now. >> we know he sees everything through that lens, how is it gonna help me politically, the pr rounded, i think it's really important context dana. and many republicans, they've been quick to come out publicly to defend the former president and attacked district attorney track and this process. i'm going to play some of that and talk about it on the other hand. look >> i'm taking aback at the idea, indicting a former president of the united states.

>> lawyer, after lawyer, after lawyer will tell you this is the weakest case out there. >> the fact that the manhattan da things that indicting president trump's his top priority i think is -- it's also everything that you need to know about the radical left. >> this is a da, i've got more than a the -- prosecutor in new york has done more to help donald trump get elected president than any single person. >> it's a misdemeanor. so it's not really a crime of the century. >> what changed? trump president trump announced he's running for president. >> brad, you have helped the donald trump ran for president. >> this is selective prosecution, if i were president trump, i would take this all the way to the supreme court. >> there you go, david, trump is not like any other president. he has shown repeated disregard for the lot of varieties of fronts. if prosecutors give him a pass on, this if they were sufficient evidence in charge, what message does that send to future presidential candidates? >> pam, i think you heard a

cross section of republican voices there. and i do think that the question -- why now, why not seven years later? why not side fans when you took a look at. why not southern district of new york. why did they choose to pass and why is district attorney bragg bringing it up. that's a big question that still remains to be answered. i don't think it gives -- it sends a wrong message of the district attorney decides to pass ultimately because he's gonna weigh the merits of the case and decide whether he gets a conviction or not. if you're going to indict the president, you want to convict the president. and -- ask himself that question. because there may be more substantial indictments to come down, and just like the two impeachments came and went and made trump arguably politically stronger among his base and supporters, i think that if the district attorney here swings

and misses and -- may kind of overlooked by the trump base. >> what do you say to that ban? because there has been some criticism that, look, the first charges a former president in the historic nature of it shouldn't come from a local prosecutor who ran as a democrat and who is elected, the politics of this could overshadow other cases like we know the doj case that is going on. what do you say to that? >> if anybody is a republican and they have been afraid that there is some conspiracy, some well organized conspiracy among progressives, they can relax now because they would not start with this charge. you would start with the charge in georgia where he was -- he was not put the charge that he helped start an insurrection with the coup. you wouldn't start with an eight year old porn star payoff. again, this is proof that if, nothing else, the progressives

aren't well organized. this is not something you would start with. that said, -- he's being overcharged, it's so aggressive, it's so terrible. welcome to my world, folks. prosecutors, overcharging, being over aggressive, being happens every single day in america, every courthouse in america. you can be consistent. now if you're concerned by this particular person. donald trump is being overcharged mistreated, join the rest of us who are trying to -- ordinary people. mind you, this is about i think the heat is honesty, i think he's going to make a very sober decision i wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't step back from the brink. >> i will get to you done and even in a second, but i want to follow up with you, dan, the -- bracket is, quote, racist. if called this un-american, i want to get your reaction to that. >> that's not fair, you can disagree whether to charge or

not charge people will disappear no matter what he does. but the fact that he's racist,, frankly a lot of white progressive voters in new york city who have been pushing him to do this, are they raised as well? i think this -- the reality is he's gonna make a sober decision now. i agree with david, church like, this appoint star payoff, seven years ago, somehow tied to election but not really, it doesn't seem like the right way to go when you look at history, they're not gonna judge donald trump based on stormy daniels, they're gonna judge based on the elections, based on the coup attempt, the insurrection. i think if i were even i would wait for georgia to go first. jordy, have the president calling it, trying to change an election. that seems to be -- not. this >> if trump's attorney in the georgia case later on on the show, so be sure to stick around for. that, and speaker mccarthy defended the move by three of

his committee chairman to launch this investigation into the manhattan district attorney and demand his testimony before backs investigation has concluded. tell us more about the vibe going on at capitol hill right now. law >> he defended it because he has publicly encouraged his committee chairs to do whatever they could to investigate and to look into it. so what is interesting is, especially at -- pam, someone like you who understands we, a recent string of the, law the way, particularly the judiciary chair, jim jordan, is putting it is there gonna figure out if there was any federal sort of oversight that is needed here. they don't know. they don't know if there is even any rule for congress. but that again doesn't really matter when you are talking about what's really going on here is politics. they're using the gavel, they're using the megaphone that the republicans now have that they have these --

chairman ships we to do as much as they can in sort of stir as much as they can. that's about the vibe on capitol hill, i would be remiss if i didn't talk about the democrats. and i have heard from so many of them who are saying what you just heard from dan. maybe the first couple of months, maybe year that trump was on the political scene that they would underestimate the power of everything being backwards day, or opposite day. this is what they understand will go on here. that this almost certainly will empower the former president, so there's a lot of concern among democrats, exactly what you heard from van. >> we play the montage at the beginning here, david, someone who notably absent from defending trump and this is of course governor ron desantis. he weighed in on all of this for the first time today. i want to play what he said for our viewers and then we will

chat. >> i don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair, i can't speak to that, but a what i can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go many many years ago to try to do something about porn star hush money payments, that's an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. >> so what does it say, david, that governor desantis went out of his way to go after the district attorney, but chose not to defend trump's alleged actions and poked fun at the situation that trump has found himself in? >> it's me is running for president, that's what it tells me. and look,, i think his message probably resonates with a lot of americans, who are tuning in and watching.

some are looking at shoplifting, , crime they're worried about people getting assaulted in the city, and being led free in new york city, and yet they see the district attorney charging up the seven year old charges. and i think that the point that governor desantis trying to make. and i would think it resonates with a lot of republican voters. not so much the pure trump part of it, but the more political nature of the entire prosecution. i think republicans view it as -- low persecution, not prosecution. >> france office said that they released a statement tonight, saying under -- homicides are down 30 to, percentage shootings are down 14%, and they say new york remains one of the safest big cities in the u.s.. so just pointing out that that is what brags office is saying tonight, amid the criticism. thank you so, much denounced, finn jen, david urban, thank. you still to come, a criminal charge against the former president means a massive security, left more so for former president who was called on his followers to protest. we're gonna take a look at what's underway to ensure

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after trump rode on social media to, quote, protest, take our nation back. there's also the question of how do you protect former president during such an unprecedented and historic moment and time? i'm joined now by our senior crime and justice correspondent shimon prokupecz. shimon, what more can you tell us about the timing of the potential indictment? and how was long forsman prepare for such a potential moment? >> there's so many different dynamics at play here, pam, when you think about it you have a former president, never before in the history of our country have we seen a situation like this. then you have potential protesters, you have the fact that law enforcement's thinking about what happened on january 6th and what they may have missed back then. so all of that is factoring into the decision-making that is going on here from federal law enforcement to the new york city de police department, state and other federal agencies who have all been in meetings for the last several

days. one of the things that certainly is very concerning was the posting, the social media posting by the former president, calling on his followers to take to the streets, to take action. that he was going to be arrested tomorrow. we're getting indications of that -- that is not true. the soonest for the earliest that we could see the president, if he was to be indicted and we don't know when that would be, or if that would even happen, would be next week. that's what law enforcement is working on right now. his initial court of parents would be next week. so everything and all of that is playing into what long forsman here is gonna be doing in terms of increasing security around the courthouse, bringing in barricades, bringing in more cameras, and of course bringing in the former president into the courthouse. that is the number one priority for the secret service to ensure his security and sort of his arrival here at the courthouse which could happen next week. so a lot still at play, as law

enforcement krista figure out the logistics of all of this. and protecting the former president. obviously, anybody who comes out. here and the court staff and the people who live around here and work around here, pam. >> stay with us, shimon, because i want to bring in cnn senior law enforcement analyst andrew mccabe. a former fbi deputy director. andrew, as we mentioned over the weekend the former president called for protest ahead of a possible indictment. what has long enforcement raising for if he is charged? >> pam, i think if you are a security professional, along forsman professional, you have to begin by assuming that the president still has the same sway an influence over his supporters that he did leading into january 6th. so they are taking all the steps that many argue should argue that should've been taken before january six. they're looking at social media they're trying to decide if they're cheddar online, in those places where the former president's most extreme adherence go back to exchange

messages and things like. that i would expect my former colleagues at the fbi are looking at in sources of information law -- kind of interest there is an convening in new york or any other place around a potential arraignment and charges. and new york is relying on their deep experience and crowd control, there's no place in the country that does it better than new york city. i'm confident that there will be well prepared, so that we can avoid what happened on january 6th. >> do you think, andy, he has the influence to mobilize far-right supporters like he did on january 6th? >> i think you have to assume that he does. i mean, this is a very different sort of event, the lead up to january 6th, the president and his supporters had many days to talk about coming to d.c.. there was a date certain that they needed to be. there that all facilitates organization and transportation

funding for people who want to come and attend. and they have to cover if you will have the legitimate permitted assembly at the ellipse. so those are all things that don't really add into the mix here which i think puts enforcement and security professionals in a better position. but they have to plan for the rest, that's their job. >> there's so many questions, shimon, that we are asking for the first time because of the unprecedented nature at play here. if this happens, is there any more in terms of logistics on how donald trump would appear in the courtroom if he is indicted? >> everyone expects him to appear here. like any other defendants, the manhattan da's office when there's an indictment, they've been notified the defense attorneys for the defendant, for the person who's gonna be arrested. the person appears to be at the district attorney's office who's just behind me where they are photographed, and then they're brought over to the courthouse. usually the manhattan da's office, they walk the defendant

through the halls into the courtroom for all of us to see handcuffed. we don't think it's gonna have been here for many reasons. but we certainly do expect that he will be here. you just want to know one thing, pam, in terms of social media postings and threats. i spoke to a lot enforcement official today who said that things seem pretty quiet on social media, nothing compared to the run up on january 6th. they've been running down, things they've been sort of questioning people who are posting suspicious things but so far from everything that they are seeing about there may be some noise, there's not a lot of concern from them right. now biggest concern is getting the former president here safely. that is something that they're certainly working on. >> all right, shimon prokupecz, andrew mccabe, thank you so much. sometimes lost in the headlines about the president, the indictment or his party's reaction to all of this is the story of the woman at the center of this alleged cover-up. stephanie clifford's who goes by the name stormy daniels. cnn's tom foreman has the

details. >> he had a hit television show, she was an adult phil's. he was 60, she was 27 when they met at a golf tournament in 2006 where stormy daniels says donald trump shared photos of his wife, his new baby boy -- >> and you had sex with them? >> yes. >> trump has denied ever since. >> to bring up that kind of crap, and if we bring it up -- all the, time that's all you want to talk about. >> born in louisiana, stephanie clifford got into adult entertainment in her teens, taking the name stormy. by her account, she thought trump might help or get into tv. instead, her allegations of an affair took over the headlines. a key claim as trump's 2016 campaign came to the wire, she says she was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about him. he denied any knowledge of that in the spring of 2018. >> mister president!

did you know about the [inaudible] stormy daniels? >> but that same summer -- >> did you know that the payments? >> later on, i knew. >> her story has seen the times confusing. for example, i want, point she signed statements denying any affair took place. >> if it was untruthful why did you sign it? >> because they made it sound like i had no choice. >> no one was putting a gun to your head. >> no physical violence, no. >> you thought there would be some legal repercussions if you didn't sign? >> correct. the exact sentence used, they can make your life in many different ways. >> further complicating questions now at the center of the legal case against trump, did the alleged payoff come from campaign funds, and was that a violation of campaign finance laws? former trump lawyer michael cohen who went to prison over the alleged hush money says, yes. and that trump knew about it. but others and trump's orbit say, no way! >> that money was not campaign

money. sorry. >> as for the former president, just days ago he leveled an insult at daniels as he insisted once again, i did nothing wrong in the horse faced case. never had an affair with her. which hunt. this story has been an winding for years and it's now full of many twists and turns. but it may finally be time for a court to smooth it all out. pam? >> tom foreman, thank you. up next, tonight, russian president vladimir putin on chinese leader xi jinping meet in moscow. a look at how china is attempting to be a peace broker and ukraine. plus, a cnn exclusive as ukrainian couple makes a wrong turn near the front lines and comes under attack. the moment remarkably caught on camera by ukrainian drone. the incident now under investigation for possible war crimes. that's ahead.

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>> and moscow's, chinese president xi jinping and russia's vladimir putin shaking hands and stressing close ties as a three-day state visit gets underway, this is the first visit by the chinese leader since russia invaded ukraine last year. according to russian state media, the two leaders met for more than four hours to day. china has a vaguely worded proposal to end the conflict in ukraine, but it stopped short of calling for russia's

withdrawal, a key demand of ukraine and the west. the talks come just days after putin was indicted for war crimes tied to alleged abduction of ukrainian children. the u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken says she's attempt to provide diplomatic cover for alleged russian atrocities in ukraine. and tonight, for the first time, you will see one attack by russia under investigation and the ukrainian city of as the, in an attack remarkably caught on camera. the exclusive report now from cnn's ivan watson. >> from a battlefield in eastern ukraine, a desperate call for help as a ukrainian woman pleads for wounded husband's life. footage from last june shows the moment when ukrainian couple took a wrong turn towards an active frontline. their car was caught on under fire russian forces. badly wounding the driver.

her husband. [speaking non-english] >> translator: i saw his head was injured and immediately began to bandage his head. >> the incident captured on video by a drone highlighted by ukrainian soldiers. and later compiled into a documentary by the ukrainian director luber mere levitskiy. [speaking non-english] >> translator: i turned and fell on my knees and screamed with the most agonizing cry. i don't know who's drone it was. our forces or the enemy? >> the pilot taped a sign saying follow me on his drone, and directed her to safety. she made the agonizing decision to leave her wounded husband behind as she followed the drone, russian soldiers had emerged to approach her car. they took her husband and dumped him in a ditch. the this is the intersection where that terrible shooting took place. the ukrainian military subsequently liberated the area. allowing ukrainian police to come in and launch an

investigation. into an alleged russian war crime. the ukrainian police investigator says he has gathered evidence to accuse a 26-year-old russian army officer of the war crime of attempted murder of a civilian. [speaking non-english] >> translator: he's a company commander of the second motorized division. the western military district. reestablished his identity. >> for police to work here, suffers first had to clear the area of my land mines. then police conducted forensic and ballistic analysis of the crime scene. >> ukrainian police say the russian troops were stationed here on this side of this wall. and it's from here that they opened fire on the car. >> inspector bowl union shows me what he says are in criminality telephone intercepts of the chief suspect calling his wife. [speaking non-english]

[speaking non-english] >> ukrainian police say the weapon was a 30 millimeter cannon aboard of this infantry fighting vehicles. police also say they tracked down photos of the officer and his wife for their social media accounts. on that dark day, she followed the drone to safety, stepping around deadly land mines until a ukrainian soldier met her. he was too dangerous to retrieve -- this is where they brought the

victim, the russian soldiers? that's not the end of his story. miraculously, he somehow survived after spending the night badly wounded in the ditch. >> i felt i'd fall line, i looked around and realized i was lying in some kind of a ditch. >> the next day he limped to safety. it took 30 or 40 minutes. i stopped a lot because i wasn't a lot of pain. >> andre is still in treatment from multiple shrapnel wounds to the head, chest, and spine. the alleged attempted murder of ukrainians civilian at this crossroads just one of potential war crime cases being investigated by police and ukraine's kharkiv region. but it's perhaps the only incident that has been so incredibly well documented. >> incredible record reporting. ivan watson joins us from ukraine. i've, and we know the international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for russian president vladimir

putin for kidnapping children. what kind of other investigations are ukrainian police and investigators conducting? >> -- that was was so remarkable about this interview with the investigator. in the kharkiv region, he's in charge of more than 900 other investigators. and says that after every russian artillery or market or strike on ukrainian town or village, if it, save his investigators will go win. they will collect information evidence. they will do the ballistics reports. they will see the damage to infrastructure, to homes. we'll find out about civilian casualties, and they're collecting cases. he saying more than half of their work right now is collecting cases for potential war crimes prosecution. so it's not just the ukrainian army that the russian military is fighting. it is police and prosecutors and the message they're sending with this report and this potential prosecution is that there is somebody taking names. there's someone gathering

evidence. as we see from the icc, they're issuing an arrest warrant all the way up for the russian president himself. but you also have police and prosecutors who can figure out individual battalions and brigades on the russian side and potentially named the officers behind some of the actions and attacks. it will potentially put psychological pressure on these people. we don't know how the final chapter of this war will be written, but somebody is taking note and it sounds a powerful message, even if those individuals are for now beyond the reach of ukrainian law. >> ivan watson, thank you so much. booster, murdaugh's son of convicted murderer with alex murdaugh is breaking his silence over the death of his former classmate steven smith. this as the new legal team for smith's family promised to launch a, quote, fresh investigation into his death.

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>> tonight we have new developments from south carolina. the investigation into the 2015 death of stephen smith. smith was a classmate of buster murdoch. son of convicted double murderer, alex murdaugh. smith

staff was deemed a hidden run. but in 2021, state investigator said they were reopening the investigation based on information they learned while investigating the murders of alex murdaugh's wife and youngest son. now a new legal team for smith's family is seeking to launch a fresh investigation into his death. his family has raised more than $70, 000, and they plan to ask a judge to allow them to have his body exhumed for a private autopsy. three 60's randi kaye has been reporting on every angle of the saget for majeski, or the rubber. >> it's heartbreaking, he was a human, monte deserves justice. >> sandy, smith now one step closer to what she hopes will be justice for her side. >> it's hard to open up an investigation after a, years but it needs to start with an examination of his body. >> it's important to me, because i just let my son, since i couldn't protect him -- >> stephen smith, a 19-year-old with dreams of becoming a doctor, was found at about four a. m. july 8th 2015 on sandy ron rhoden hampton county. >> it was -- >> at the time a pathologist setup here steven was the victim of a head imran. but the south carolina highway patrol incident report noted they didn't find any vehicle debris or injury consistent

with someone being struck by of. according to the case, noticed even died from blunt force trauma to the head. he had no broken bones, and evidence from the scene shows stevens loosely tied shoes remained from on his feet. >> if you're hit by a vehicle, that's going fast enough, it's gonna project you. your shoes are just gonna fall off under those circumstances. >> along with exhuming stevens body. sandy's lawyer also hope to gain access to worsens phone calls and text messages in the months and hours leading up to his dad. a crime scene investigators also expected to take a fresh look at the friends attack, and determine if he was struck by a vehicle or something else. sandy tomi last year she's never accepted or some of the victim of a hit and run. >> what do you believe happened to your son? >> i believe he was beaten to death.

>> the case files obtained by cnn shows that even the lead investigator of the time didn't believe this was a hidden run. >> typically, you don't see the high repertoire working a murder. and that's what this says. there's no doubt. we're not classifying this is anything other than a murder. >> yet, steven's case went cold. until june 2021, that's when the south carolina law enforcement division known as slide, opened an investigation into stevens death. based on information gathered while investigating the murders of paul and maggie murdaugh. slide has not said what was found. >> do you know the murdaugh family? >> he went to school with nestor. yeah. and they played little league ball together. >> during interviews in the case file released by highway patrol to cnn. the murdaugh name is mentioned dozens of times by both witnesses and investigators. including alex murdaugh surrounding sun buster. during one audio interview them south carolina state trooper todd proctor says this -- >> buster was on our

radar, the murdaugh's knew that. >> why exactly buster was on the radar is still unclear. neither he, nor anyone else has been charged in this case. and now for the first time, besting murdaugh commenting publicly about the case. he released a statement reads in part, these baseless rumors of my involvement with stephen, his death are false. ian equivocally deny any involvement in his death. and my heart goes out the smith family. >> and pam, years ago sandy's middle investigators that her side stephen had been acting very secretive in the weeks before a died. she hopes to find out why. they're planning on to look at itself on which is found on his body. they hope to look at who was in contact with before a died,

also where he was, they come out at the steps that were taken. and they're hoping of course to bring in this accident reconstructionist. who they hope will be able to tell them whether or not stephen was actually killed in that roadway, perhaps by a vehicle, or perhaps he was killed elsewhere and then late in the roadway. to make it look like it was ahead and run. but it's certainly what his mother believes happened. they'll partition the job within the next ten days. look at an answer as to whether or not the leagues in the body. the mildew that private autopsy. >> randi kaye, thank you so much. still ahead tonight with a possible indictment in new york at the former president looming. georgia prosecutors say that they're weighing charges against the investigation -- into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. one of his attorneys joins us, up next. - double check that. eh, pretty good! (whistles) yeek. not cryin', are ya? let's tighten that. (fabric ripping) ooh. - wait, wh- wh- what was that? - huh? what, that? no, don't worry about that. here we go. - asking the right question can greatly impact your future. - are, are you qualified to do this?

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>> as we await a possible indictment of the former president, in georgia, a source tells cnn prosecutors are considering racketeering and conspiracy charges against the former president. this in connection with his efforts to overturn the states 2020 election results, meanwhile, the former presidents legal team as he can just pull -- also asked that the fulton county da's office be disqualified from overseeing the investigation. joining us now is the former presidents

defense attorney, drew finley. why mr. finley, thanks for your time tonight. before we get to the specifics of the george investigation, i want to ask you about a possible indictment of the former president in new york. -- impact the timeline of the investigation in fulton county, and are you coordinating with the attorneys representing him in manhattan? >> pamela, i am exclusively doing the case with my team in fulton county. we have a total effort, laser focused on this case. you can see by the massive motion that we filed today, this is all we are thinking about right now. i certainly would hope there would not be political gamesmanship as to who can present a case first. but then again, if you look at our motion and we see the political motivations, the attempts to get the trigger account and raise funds of this case, you may think that it might become political gamesmanship but

let's hope not. >> let's talk a little bit about that motion, because you are asking for the special grand jury report to be thrown out. but what does that actually do, what does that actually accomplish? this is not the criminal grand jury, it is a special grand jury of a criminal proceeding. -- >> yeah. so pamela let's, be frank with one another. before this, you and your viewers never heard of a special grand purpose jury. in georgia, most of our citizens have never heard of it because it is rarely ever used. however, the district attorney's office wanted to use it in this case. and for immigrants, we step back, we were never invited to testify or subpoenaed to testify, but we saw very strange things taking place. we saw this grand jury, which is being used by the district attorney to give them a recommendation as to whether or not to indict. but while they were doing that? the district attorney was giving commentary, constantly, at the same time understanding that the special purpose grand jury, this is really weird, was allowed to watch tv about this case. they were allowed to go online about

this case. they were allowed to read newspapers about this case. so we knew that something wasn't right here and then of course, a few weeks ago, when the foreperson came out and gave her statement we realized all of our suspicions about a really bizarre and unconstitutional process were cooperated. we were right. it was a bizarre circus. that is what we have witnessed. >> as i know you know, the judge has said that what she did with the grand jury did, that what the former women did was allowed. she said that there were special grand jury members allowed to speak publicly about nearly everything aside from their deliberations. what i want to talk to you about is this, at the center of this case. the phone call. there are -- play a part of the phone call from then president trump to georgia secretary of state raffensperger, that is part of the evidence in this case.

let's listen. >> so, look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. because we won the state. >> are you worried the facts in this case are not favorable to your client? given what you just heard there? and another calls? >> what i'm worried about is that people just listen to eight or nine seconds and don't really look at evidence. we look at 62 minutes, we look at all the evidence. when we look at all the evidence we understand and know that our client did not break any laws whatsoever. but i don't want to dismiss what you said about the judge saying everything is cool. because, most people say to themselves, when just edges around giving a tour of to the press and give six or seven interviews? that never happens. at the same time, you never see for people giving interviews. >> i do want to focus on this. because you said essentially that it was taken out of context. we have read through the whole crunch script

again today. he said i want to do -- which is one more than we have, because we won the state, leading up to the point though, he laid out several conspiracy theories that have been disproven to support his claim that he wanted raffensperger to overturn the election in georgia. he also went on to say i have to find 12,000 votes if i have -- how is that okay? >> what isn't incidents pollination for that? if you are saying that that is okay. >> what i will say, pamela, i won't try the case with you or anybody else on tv or in the media. that is something you deal with in core. really here to talk about emotion that we files, looking at unconstitutional behavior in the special purpose grand jury. we see violations of the -- over the course of eight months and we see it, an insatiable desire to kind of go after one person, resulting in people compromising their constitutional integrity. we aren't going to do that, we are defensive ratings, we believe in the constitution. we are

committed to being criminal defense attorneys. my greater concern is that three miles from here, this fulton account -- ignoring the fact that we have a jail overflowing with souls, people that can't get their cases to court, pamela. for years to come, this case is going on, and we think that they deserve justice. and this is a broken legal system here. i get everyone's concern, -- but the families of these loved ones, right down the road in this jail that can't get to court but three, four, even five years, they really want their cases to go to court. that is what we are concerned about. we >> appreciate your time tonight. thank you very much. we will be right back. >> the news continues aaron burnett out front starts now. ♪ ♪ ♪

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