>> reporter: as you can see, erin, a very difficult situation for the residents there. they told us they have seen a distinct uptick in shelling in that area. as far as the ukrainian military is concerned, they're still remaining coy about their possible counteroffensive, but they're indicating they have the initiative at this point in time. in fact, a ukrainian official came out today and said that right now the russians are conducting defensive operations in that area. ukrainians also saying that positional battles are ongoing. erin? >> fred, thank you very much. live in ukraine. and thanks so much to all of you for joining us. your special coverage continues now with anderson cooper and now with anderson cooper and jake tapper. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening. tonight on "360," one subject and one subject only, the 49-page federal indictment of the former president of the united states, donald trump. joining me now, t lead's jake tapper. >> thanks for having me.

jack smith released the indictment today ahead of the court appearance in miami. and as we all discovered when it hit, the details inside those pages are simply stunning. >> yeah, and disturbing. the indictment alleges the former president transported boxes containing hundreds of classified documents from the white house to mar-a-lago. some were stored on the stage of a working ball room that he used at the time for events and gatherings, that anybody could wander into. the club's website calling it perfect, quote, for smaller soirees or an incredible cocktail party. some of the documents were kept in the bathroom. most telling in the indictment was that trump aid walt nauta texted of papers spilling onto the floor, including one so restrictive it's restricted to the five eyes, our closest allies. >> and the anderson, the indictment alleges that mr. trump took some of these documents to a second club, bedminster, where he is today,

and where he shared the information about an attack, planning an attack on a foreign country. and he shared this document, according to the indictment, with a group of people, none of them cleared to see it. the encounter was caught on audio tape. this is secret information, trump is quoted as saying. quote, look. look at this. by the way, isn't that incredible, unquote. he admits that the document is still classified, to which a staffer laughing says, now we have a problem. >> there's also the issue what the former president and his aide allegedly did to obstruct the government effort to get the documents back and significantly the investigation as well. the indictment cites trump asking attorneys, quote, wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here. 37 charges, 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one each of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a

document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, a scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations. until this moment, no former president had ever been charged with even a single federal count. this one now faces 37. until this moment as well, we hadn't heard a word from the special counsel, jack smith, which is why we're playing his remarks today in full. listen. >> good afternoon. today, an indictment was unsealed, charging donald j. trump with felony violations of our national security laws, as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. this indictment was voted by a grand jury of citizens in the southern district of florida, and i invite everyone to read it in full to understand the scope and the gravity of the crimes charged. the men and women of the united states intelligence community and our armed forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people.

our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the united states, and they must be enforced. violations of those laws put our country at risk. adherence to the rule of law is a bedrock principle of the department of justice. and our nation's commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world. we have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. applying those laws, collecting facts, that's what determines the outcome of an investigation. nothing more and nothing less. the prosecutors in my office are among the most talented and experienced in the department of justice. they have investigated this case even to the highest ethical standards, and they will continue to do so, as this case proceeds.

it's very important for me to note that the defendants in this case must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. to that end, my office will seek a speedy trial in this matter, consistent with the public interest and the rights of the accused. we very much look forward to presenting our case to a jury of citizens in the southern district of florida. in conclusion, i would like to thank the dedicated public servants of a federal bureau of investigation, with whom my office is conducting this investigation and who worked tirelessly every day upholding the rule of law in our country. i'm deeply proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. thank you very much. >> that's special counsel jack smith, the first time we've heard his voice since the investigation began. and in a moment, republican

presidential candidate chris christie joins us. first, paula reid. if you can, go into the details on the most damning parts of the indictment. >> prosecutors allege that former president trump intentionally, knowingly, retained hundreds of classified documents. and among these materials were information about u.s. nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities of the u.s. and foreign countries, including also potential vulnerabilities of the u.s. and its allies to attacks. prosecutors say that these documents were kept at various locations at mar-a-lago, including a bathroom, a ball room, a bedroom. you showed that photo earlier of a storage closet, where sensitive information meant for only a handful of allies was just strewn across the floor. prosecutors also allege that on at least two occasions, former president trump shared classified information directly with people who did not have clearances.

the first instance that they cite is a story that was broken by cnn last week, a meeting in the summer of 2021 at his bedminster golf club, where he says that he is in possession of sensitive information and shares it with people in the room while knowing he's being recorded. there's then a second previously unknown incident where he shares a classified map with someone who works for a political action committee. this indictment lays out the narrative of everything that they have uncovered during their investigation. and anderson, it's a damning indictment. >> is it clear if the special counsel wanted to unseal the indictment today or planned to and speak publicly? or did he feel like the former president and his allies kind of forced his hand? >> he's under a lot of pressure. he's been facing a t will the of criticism for not having lined up with a judge to unseal the indictment at the same time he notified trump's legal team. he gave the trump camp about 16 hours of lead time to use their enormous bully pulpit to set the narrative on what was happening with this case. typically these indictments are not unsealed until presented,

but we're in an extraordinary case. more surprising was that we heard from jack smith. anderson, this man just does not seek the limelight. let me give you an example. early on when he started, we asked for an updated head shot for use in the news media because we only had that one photo of him where it looks like he might be at hog warts or something. we asked his prep rep for an updated government photo, he refused. the fact we heard from him today was significant. one, enforcing classified material laws is a matter of life and death. that was at the top of his remarks, right? you need to enforce these laws because if you don't properly handle this information, people could die. the other important thing he had seemed to be a message for the trump legal team. that is he's going to seek a speedy trial. we know he is up against a deadline for the election. there's going to be a lot of pressure not to bring any sort of case too close to the election. we know the former president likes to delay it. here he makes it clear he's going to try to move this along as quickly as possible.

>> paula reid, appreciate it. thanks so much. joining me now, chief correspondent kaitlan collins, former prosecutor elie honig, and adam kinzinger, also ashley alison, former national coalitions director of the biden/harris campaign, and former senior obama adviser, david axelrod, and john miller. el li, just from a legal standpoint, what stands out to you? >> i've read a lot of indictments and sometimes they fall into two buckets. sometimes you can't tell. they're too general and you don't know if they have the goods to back it up. sometimes you bring an indictment and it sounds like a little bit of a stretch. and sometimes you read an indictment and go, okay, they have the goods. this fell into that last category. every key assertion here was backed up by a specific reference to a recording, to an audio tape, to a text, to an email. and by the way, i'm not just saying this because you were part of the reporting team, the

single most important piece of evidence in this case is that audio tape where donald trump acknowledges that he knows these documents were classified, that he knows he does not have the power to declassify. when asked about motive, what on earth was he doing with these documents? because that was just something unknown. now we know that at least twice he tried to use these documents to shape the political narrative around him, to influence his own coverage, which is not as serious as what it could have been, but it still matters. >> what you're referencing is the transcript is in the indictment. this is the former president talking to a group of people without clearances, saying, this thing just came up, look, this was him talking about general milley. they presented me with this. it's off the record. they presented me with this. let's see here, it's highly confidential. he goes on to say secret. this is secret information. look. look at this. >> it's a war plan too on top of all that, the way he's talking about it. so, that, to me, is the most

egregious not just use but dissemination. he's sharing information with it. >> and it's so serious they brought in the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, which is the highest ranking national security official that we know of that has gone before investigators and testified. the thing about that recording is trump's own team did not know about that until mid-march when someone went in to testify. they played the recording for her, and when they came out, that's how trump's team learned about it. i think it speaks to the fact that because mark meadows was writing a book and his autogoing fers were there recording it, and because evan corcoran took such detailed notes -- evan corcoran is no longer on this case because he had to testify after they wiped his attorney/client privilege. >> earlier today, speaker mccarthy was saying that this president has been treated differently under the law. he certainly has been. he's gotten way more lenient treatment than if you had taken these documents and found with these documents --

>> i would already be a year into my term in prison if that was the case. you have to be very careful obviously when you talk about indicting the former president because it is -- it's unprecedented. but it's also unprecedented to have a former president that so openly holds on to classified materials, whether it's to brag or for any other reason. keep in mind, anderson, there's a guy, kid, young man, who's about 22 years old that just got arrested and indicted for dissemination of classified information. he was doing that to show off to his discord group. and he is rightly now facing the long arm of justice, and that's exactly what the former president -- >> and being held without bail. >> right. absolutely. >> david axelrod? >> look, one thing that strikes me just reading this and what kaitlan just reported about when they knew, this was incredibly stupid, okay? i mean, just the way he handled this and the naivety -- >> none of this had to happen.

>> no. >> and idea that he thought that he could get away with it is unbelievable. that may be arrogance, whatever it is. but he just hung himself out to dry through the way that he did this. in terms of being treated differently, though, there is a political -- i mean, the meme that you see on social media among republicans who are supporting trump is, well, they're not treating biden this way because he took documents. they didn't treat hillary this way. so, he's being -- and that is the focus of their response to all of this, not the substance of this. and it's hard to respond to the substance of this. >> kaitlan, i should have also started with you on the legal team changes now. what happened? the lawyer interviewed really well last night is gone. >> yeah, 24 hours ago. he was doing television this morning. that wasn't even his last appearance defending trump against this. he was the one that the justice department sent the summons to

what the charges were last night. >> why is he no longer on the team? >> jim trusty and -- resigned i was told to trump. there was a little bit of back and forth. trump put out his statement saying they are no longer going to be on this case. they put out a statement saying they reside overall. that's cigsignificant because j rally is one of the top attorneys on the january 6th case. they're the top two attorneys who have been litigating this since the fall. i think trump was looking to bring someone else in. obviously they did not like that because they're the attorneys who have been dealing with the breaks in the cases and they're no longer on the team. by tuesday, trump is expected to bring someone else on. it's not totally clear who that's going to be yet. there is going to be another attorney that's going with him on tuesday. can i just note one thing, because tim particllatore was mg a note that the national archives has a grace period of two years or so to go through

documents. the national archives put out a statement saying, that's false, and there's no history, practice, or provision for presidents to take records with them and then sort through them later on. >> you know, it makes me think about the change in his legal team when he was talking about the emails and the person that supposedly deleted hillary clinton's emails. it's that trump wants someone who will do whatever he tells them to do, whether it is the law or against the law. >> in the indictment, it talks about an instance that he's telling somebody in a favorable way about the person -- an attorney, i think he said -- who deleted -- was the one who claimed to have deleted hillary clinton's emails. this is all the president's explanation of it. and he was saying, that's the kind of attorney i want, essentially. >> speaking of hillary clinton, who anybody associated to hillary clinton in a favorable way from donald trump, only if it breaks the law. just think about that sentence. donald trump speaking favorably about hillary clinton. >> it's the same principle he

applied when he said, i want roy cone as attorney general. >> somebody who's worked with intelligence documents for a long time. what do you think? >> so, i think it's just worth kind of going backwards because, you know, we're deep into this discussion because of the indictment. we're always deep into this discussion because it's a bottomless story. but to be clear, when you're president of the united states, you can look at anything classified and declassify anything. when that clock strikes 12:00, you know, on january 20th, when the other president is sworn in, all that goes away then and there. you can't keep those documents. you can't possess it. by the way, it has to do with classified documents because they're classified. but it as to do with all documents. >> the president in that discussion that's recorded said, see, as president, i could have declassified it. and people are laughing. he says, now i can't, you know, but this is still a secret. >> so, he understood that, despite statements made to many people, including kaitlan collins. so, when you kind of read the

transcript of that scene, where he says, look at this, this is secret, highly confidential, you know, it's classified. i could have declassified it but now i can't. and the staffer says, well, that's a problem because you're waving it around here. >> to be fair, he said not really. >> he said, not really. now we know what not really means. >> it means really. he really did. >> let me add to it. the interesting thing about this -- so, chris christie did a really good job in his announcement in making the point that trump is never wrong. he's never been wrong, never been wrong, never wrong ever. and i think you see some of that in his attitude with the declassification. i can keep them because i'm me. i'm never wrong. but i think there's also a sad story, and it doesn't mean there shouldn't be accountability. but the other guy that has been indicted with donald trump was his navy butler or whatever the attendant is served for all intents and purposes, served his country honorably, goes to work

for donald trump, and does donald trump's dirty work basically at donald trump's request. and while he should be held accountable, of course it is yet another casualty in the circle of donald trump. >> let's go back to jake in washington. jake? >> thanks so much. anderson, joining us now, perhaps the most full-throated critic the former president has on this subject among his republican primary opponents, governor chris christie, who i should remind everyone, will be joining anderson monday night for a cnn town hall, which i will be eagerly watching. governor christie thanks so much for joining us. last night you said, no one's above the law but you wanted to wait and read the indictment for reacting, which seems like a responsible thing to do. now you've read it. what do you think? >> jake, look, you know, for folks who may not remember this, i did this for seven years as the u.s. attorney in new jersey,

the fifth largest u.s. attorney's office in the country, brought 130 political corruption prosecutions against republicans and democrats, and didn't lose one. so, i know how this stuff works. and the fact is that these facts are devastating. you know, you have a president who, according to the indictment, directed the packing of those boxes in terms of what to take, directed where they should go to mar-a-lago, directed where they went while they were inside mar-a-lago, directed them to move to bedminster during the summer, where he would spend his summers in new jersey. and then when requests came starting in may of 2021, informal requests, he continued to stonewall them and not return the documents. then when a subpoena came asked his lawyers, jake, whether or not we would have to respond to it? do we have to play ball? and then tried to get them to lie on his behalf. and we knew they wouldn't.

and his own lawyer had to make recordings to protect himself. when they wouldn't, he directed his folks to hide boxes from his own lawyer in order not to turn these documents over to the government. look, you know, people are going to argue about who should and who should not have been indicted and who should be tried. let me say this. the bigger issue for our country is, is this the type of conduct that we want from someone who wants to be president of the united states, to take national security documents involving warfare and our nuclear program, to keep them in their home when they're not allowed to do so, exposing them to potentially being seen by any number of people, and then actually showing them to people? showing off. this is irresponsible conduct. and, look, at the time when hillary clinton was not charged, i argued against that. i think eshd shh have been charged. i think that was a mistake.

and during the russia investigation, i was one of the people who spoke out and said i don't think donald trump had anything to do with it. i was involved with the campaign, and i didn't think there was anything to the russian collusion as it applied to donald trump. i've spoken out against those things when i think they're wrong. just because they were wrong doesn't justify the conduct that he engaged in. and i think we have to focus on the conduct, jake. and the conduct is bad. and it is bad for anybody in this country to do it. but it's particularly awful for someone who has been president and who aspires to be president again. >> as a former u.s. attorney, does this look like a case that you would theoretically have brought had you been assigned? >> i don't know all the facts, jake, but i'll tell you this, it's a very, very evidence-filled indictment. what you can tell as a trained person reading this is they have tape recordings, they have electronic text messages and emails, and they have the testimony of dozens of people

who were right around donald trump in mar-a-lago and in bedminster over time. those are all the elements of the things you need to bring a case like this. and so what i would say is that it looks like these prosecutors and their partners at the fbi thoroughly investigated this. and it looks like the only two people who did not cooperate with the government are donald trump and walt nauta. and i think that's why they're on the wrong side of the v, as we say in the business, and have been charged in this case. >> republican officials, whether candidates or elected officials, seem to be falling into three groups. one is those who are just being quiet. that's most of them. then there's those who are vociferously defending donald trump. and then there's a small group of you and governor asa hutchinson and mitt romney and adam kinzinger. this afternoon, house speaker mccarthy said that this indictment will disrupt the nation. he says that it calls into

question equal justice for all. congressman andy biggs says that we've reached a, quote, war phase. what do you make of the rhetoric, and what do you make of the fact that you and -- you're in such a small group of people willing to call out this alleged lawlessness? >> i think the group will get larger, jake, as everyone gets an opportunity to absorb the facts. look, i agree with speaker mccarthy in this respect. the indictment will disrupt the nation. but let me ask you a question. who's responsible for that? the conduct that donald trump engaged in was completely self-inflicted. in may or june or july or august of 2021, he could have just returned the documents. and in fact, if you look at the indictment, even the documents that he did return, subject to the subpoena, in 2022, those

documents, he wasn't charged on any of them. so, even if he had given all the documents back in response to the subpoena, as he was legally required to do, we wouldn't be here today. so, everyone wants to blame the prosecutors. and, look, i think the prosecution, doj, is at fault for not charging hillary clinton. it's at fault for what happened in the russia investigation because it undercut people's faith and confidence in the system. but each case has to be looked at on its own merits. and the facts that are laid out here are damning in terms of donald trump's conduct. and that's what, i think, we as a party should be looking at. do we really believe that someone who engaged in this type of conduct is going to be the best person to put up against joe biden? that's the question we should be asking. congress has the ability to have oversight over the department of justice, and i encourage them to do it vigorously and fairly and ask all the questions they need to ask of the leadership of the

department of justice. that's what we should be doing. but what we should also be doing is holding to account people who are in positions of responsibility and saying, if you act badly, there has to be penalties for that. there has to be a cost to be paid. and he could have avoided all of this if he had just returned the documents at any point. if he hadn't taken them in the first place. but once he took them, if he had returned them at any time between january 2021 and august of 2022, he wouldn't be here tonight and the country wouldn't be here. he has contributed mightily to subjecting the country to the pain that we're going to go through over the course of the next number of months because of what's going on. >> i know you'll have a lot more to say about this with anderson cooper on monday night at the town hall in new jersey. governor chris christie, always good to see you. thank you so much. that town hall with chris christie will be monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, hosted by anderson cooper. tonight, the mood at

bedminster, where mr. trump and his entourage are staying. plus what it will look like when they decamp for miami and tuesday's court appearance. be sure to let them know. -hey dad -hey z. the lexus rx. never lose your edge.. narrator: the man with the troublesome hemorrhoid enters the room. phil: excuse me? hillary: that wasn't me. hillary: i cycl here. narrator: speaking of cycles, mary's perio is due to start in three days. mary: how do they know so much about us? narrator: your all sharing health data without realizing it. that's how i know about kevin's rash. who's next? wait... what's that in your hand? no, no, stop! oh you're no fun. [lock clicks shut] if we want a more viable future for our kids, we need to find more sustainable ways of doing things. america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars in new technologies and creating plastic products that are more recyclable.

durable. and dependable. our goal is a cleaner, healthier planet for generations to come. for a better tomorrow, we're focused on making plastics better today. i will be a travel influencer... hey, i thought you were on vacation? it's too expensive. use priceline, they've got deals no one else has. what about work? i got you. looking great you guys! ♪ go to your happy price ♪ ♪ priceline ♪ my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c? it's down with rybelsus®. my doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. i got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes.

don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. need to get your a1c down? you may pay as little as $10 per prescription.

we have just got new reporting on how long the government expects it will take to make its case in court against donald trump. it comes from a court document filed along side the indictment. the estimate is 21 business days, about a month.

the former president is at his bedminster club in new jersey tonight. any sense of what the mood is like in bedminster tonight? >> reporter: well, anderson, we've really seen a shift in tone, particularly from trump's allies. as we reported last night and we were hearing kind of defiant tone from many of the allies. they were pushing back, saying, this is all political, this is election interference. they were saying they were, quote, jacked up. that's what one person told my colleague, alaina treene. that is not what we are hearing from allies. we are getting notable silence from many republicans. in addition to that, we are also hearing more of a concern. the political aspect, they understand this could help them. they believe this would help with fundraising. one person told me this is great it happened before the end of q4 because they want to get in the fundraising numbers after they saw after the manhattan indictment. however, there are also a lot of skepticism now. they've seen the charges. they know these charges are very serious. and there's a lot of

contemplation about what this means legally. how is this going to play out? how is this going to play out with the campaign? we know trump has said no matter what, he is going to keep running. and that's what his aides and advisers are telling us as well. however, this obviously throws a wrench in it and it also makes it difficult for him to appeal to voters outside of his base. now, i will tell you that i spoke to an adviser tonight who said that trump is defiant, that he wants to fight this. but we're talking about particularly the people who support trump and the allies around him, anderson. >> and the former president has campaign events this weekend. >> reporter: yes. there is no change in that schedule. he is going to georgia tomorrow afternoon. i will be there with him. we expect him to address this. then he's going to the north carolina after that. again, no change in schedule. the other thing to keep an eye on is they will have two reporters traveling on the plane with him. and that's something we're going to really want to watch, those one-on-one interviews. we know that he's mad.

we know that he's worked up. he spent most of the last several hours just incessantly posting on truth social about this, attacking jack smith. when he has these hours alone with reporters on the plane, it'll be interesting to see what he says. it'll be the first time we get a reaction and of course when we're in georgia. law enforcement officials met in miami today to discuss supreme court preparations for the former president's court appearance on tuesday. the sources tell cnn that fbi special agents across the country assigned to domestic terrorism squads are working to identify any possible threats. shimon prokupecz joins us now from miami. any word on how law enforcement there is preparing for the court appearance? >> reporter: well, one of the key things, anderson, as we saw in manhattan when i was out there talking to you, is how to get the former president into the courthouse safely. and one of the things that we're hearing out here is that they may bring him in through a door

here. there's a garage that goes into -- this is the old courthouse here in downtown miami. they may drive him in this area. this is a secure area. and then process him inside here, book him, do the photo, do the fingerprinting, what you would normally see when someone is taken into custody. and then actually walking into the new courthouse, which is over here. there are also garage entrances that they can enter his vehicles, they can enter through those. the whole point of this anderson is that they're trying to keep him underground here because it's really hard for him to just walk through. there's a lot of space to cover. so, they're really trying to limit how much time he spends outside because, anderson, one of the concerns, as you can see -- we're going to show you in a second -- this is a large area. and this courthouse really surrounds this entire area. there's a park here. and one of the things they're concerned about is some of the supporters who may be gathering here. so, in the coming days, we're going to start seeing some extra

security here from the u.s. marshals and the federal protective services, which protects the courthouse here, anderson. >> and a number of law enforcement agencies would be looking for specific threats at this point already. >> yeah. so, yeah. the fbi, certainly the secret service. and then also the local law enforcement, miami-dade police, the sheriff's office here. they would be looking for those threats as well, talking to folks. look, we've already seen indications about people telling trump supporters to come here to show their support. what's different about florida than new york city obviously also is that this is where he lives. this is where many of his supporters are. so, there is that concern. there could be a very different tone from what we saw in manhattan when, what, just about two months ago, he was taken into custody there and arraigned on those charges. >> shimon, thanks so much. jake? >> thanks, anderson. here with me, cnn political correspondent abby phillip, cnn law enforcement analyst andrew

mccabe, john king, laura coates, also 2020 trump campaign strategic communications director mark lauder. that's 2020 trump campaign. and cnn senior political analyst, kirsten powers. lots to discuss. john king, are people reacting to the news of the indictment pretty much as you would have predicted? >> well, i think what governor christie said is interesting in the point where he was echoing what jack smith, the special counsel said, is people please read this. and i think the question is not what people are saying tonight but what are they saying tomorrow and a few days from now because there is a conversation around republicans working a campaign. even though you work for a different campaign, they talk to each other and stuff. i asked people this morning if the conversation changed. then when the indictment came out and said, okay, has it changed now. people have seen the details. here's one from a smart republican in new hampshire, who is not a trump person. not really, but the trumpies got

very quiet when they saw the bathroom stash. that's in the vernacular there. we've seen repeated fundraising from donald trump. we know what happened after he was indicted in new york. there is zero question that he will quote, unquote benefit from this in the immediate in that he rallies his people, who are very loyal to him. and he rallies the fundraising base. it would be interesting to see how much money. but i think the thing to watch politically from the impact, a lot of house republicans last night, this is an outrage. a lot of silence tonight. you have governor christie saying, i used to do this. you have congressman don bacon -- you've got to look at people's politics when they say this, but he also served in the military for a long time. he said, this used to be my job. if this stuff is true, it's horrible. do those voices sink in? do republicans start listening to people who have experience on these issues and say, maybe i should dial it back and maybe we should all be quiet and let this filter out a little bit. trump doesn't want that. he wants to keep the anger, the

outrage, the deep state, whatever, going. and i do think we should be careful in our business to watch how this plays out. but it's weird, interesting, talking to these early stages -- if you're going to stop donald trump, you have to do it in iowa, new hampshire, and spinal cord and south carolina. does this stop him from becoming the next nominee? you're not going to answer that question tonight. the lawyers can help us here and andy can help us here. a two-month trial, roughly. the prosecution says it would take about a month, the defense says maybe half that time, maybe all that time. when? >> right. >> when? when? if the manhattan trial is on the books for march of next year, then what? then the lawyers need a break. you have to give donald trump time. you have to give his legal team time. whatever you think of him, he deserves the right and the patience and everything else. when? does this happen before the election? that's a big, open question. >> when is the soonest they could do this? >> that's what jack smith was

alluding to, wanting to have a speedy trial. there was a lot of conversation around if he has new counsel -- most defendants meet their lawyers when it's the actual indictment and they're being arraigned. the idea of having to take months to say i'm preparing for indictment is not what happens in the real world. and for everyone who's complaining about two systems of justice, i think they should look at the average courtroom that does not involve donald trump. so, the idea of trying to get this done speedily -- the biggest thing to look for will be the motions at the pretrial hearings, et cetera. that will be very telling on the schedule of events, what kind of motions might be filed, and to what extent -- and who the ultimate judge in this case will be. keep in mind all that's being alleged right now -- imagine if you will that donald trump said, i want to keep the keys to the white house. you'd say, no, you're no longer the president. you don't get the keys to the white house. you can't use the oval office, not your desk anymore, not your bedroom, et cetera. the same thing can happen when we're talking about once that clock struck midnight, you're no

longer the president, all the privileges of documents and classified material no longer belongs to you. so, the whole indictment was alleging that there was an intentional act, he knew he did not have the right to be there, wanted to keep the keys nonetheless. and the laws clearly state you don't get to do that. and so a basic civics lesson tells you, you want to be the president of the united states, that's the executive branch. your job is to enforce the current laws on the books. they cited more than one, the tune of 37 counts, violated. >> mark, what's your take on all this? >> i'm not surprised by all this. i think we all knew it was coming. it was just a question of the amount of information they put in it. this indictment read like their talking points. they laid their story out. it was alluded to earlier on one of the panels that they didn't want the trump team to get the narrative going. they gave them 16 hours. they were going to have this discussed on their terms, which i think probably from their standpoint is good. ultimately, i think it's going to be -- it's going to help him politically. >> you do? >> absolutely.

there's a huge portion of the republican -- i wouldn't say party, not just the maga base -- that believes hillary should have -- like chris christie said, hillary should have been charged. they believe joe biden is getting a separate level of treatment than donald trump. and whether each case is different and unique, and that's an argument for a court of law, the court of public opinion, the court of politics, that's an easy case for a republican, for donald trump, for his surrogates to make. she got off the hook. he's not likely going to be charged and here they are once again targeting me. i don't have to explain it. i don't have to defend it. if you want to argue it, you've got to explain why it's different. and when you're arguing, you're losing. >> i think this is why -- >> how do you explain the pence scenario. >> throw pence in there as well. >> and biden? >> yeah. >> i think this is why reading between the lines of chris christie, he didn't focus on whether the charges should have been brought. he said the conduct. when you look at the conduct that is alleged here, do you want this person being president of the united states? that is a way for a republican

to get around what mark is talking about, which you will hear from a lot of republicans this idea that it's prosecutorial misconduct. it's two systems of justice, whether that is true or not. will other republicans take chris christie up on that? i'm really not sure. and as it relates to timing, do wonder to what extent trump actually might want this to hang over him just to get through the primary, just to get through maybe the early part of the primary in iowa, for example, so that he can use it to rally his base in the early part of the primary, perhaps lock down the nomination, have a quick trial, and have it done before he goes into a general election. not to speculate too much, but just to say that i think that there's a sense in trump's mind, if he's going to be in the situation, he may want to use it, wring as much political

benefit out of it as possible. and that is going to come out of the primary. >> and the benefit is he is now the center of everything. all the oxygen is spent on talking about donald trump. you're either talking about donald trump. he's playing the persecuted victim. and every other candidate that's running has to talk about this. so, you're either talking about donald trump as the media covering it or you are a candidate having to talk about donald trump. so, in that way, it works to his advantage. i have to say, i don't expect very many republicans to condemn this. i think they learned their lesson on january 6th when they came out and they made their condemnations and then donald trump came out and basically forced them to walk them back. so, i think they're more likely to go along the lines of what you were saying. i think they're more likely to kind of muddy the waters, even though nothing about this is comparable to pence or biden, it's very easy to muddy the waters with people who aren't following this closely. >> and to your point, we saw

this with mar-a-lago raid and with new york attorney charges. most of the republicans running against donald trump came out and talked about what an outrage it was. >> yeah. so, you had two things coming together here, right? the existence of this narrative of persecution helps him politically. and the longer he can delay the outcome of this trial, the better off he is from a legal, tactical standpoint. he doesn't want the result of this trial to land right in the middle of his campaign because it might not go his way. so, when you put the motion practice on top of the number of motions that'll be appealed, every time he loses in a preliminary trial motion, that'll get appealed. if he loses at the circuit court, he'll try for a supreme court appeal. that is going to drag this thing out as long as you can possibly imagine. i think very little chance that it happens before the election. >> i think there's also an idea of evidence. and evidence -- when people who are going after donald trump are able to present evidence -- and

i don't know how good the new york case is. but whether it's e. jean carroll or whether the first impeachment or the second impeachment or whether it's the plaintiffs going after him for trump university, whether it's any of the depositions that we've seen over the years of donald trump, he's not a particularly good defendant. right? he just isn't. and the evidence tends to be there. >> and he is in a corner with this case the way it's currently structured, the way these allegations are structured. he's going to be under a lot of pressure if this goes to trial to take the stand and testify on his own behalf. and you can only imagine the mess that that's going to create for him as a witness. >> just to have the national security implications of what is alleged in the indictment, former secretary of defense william cohen joins us next.

ten years ago, invented the ring video doorbell for moments like that. and ng security cameras for moments like this. [ring fldlight cam siren sounds] [bear growls] and ring alarm with professional monitoring.

ten years of reinventing home security, and tens of millions of safer homes. protect your home, the way i do. learn more at ring.com the first time you connected your godaddy website and your store was also the first time you realized... well, we can do anything. cheesecake cookies? the chookie! manage all your sales from one place with a partner that always puts you first. (we did it) start today at godaddy.com as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind.

so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network, with no line activation fees or term contracts... saving you up to 75% a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities™.

welcome back. as we noted at the top of the broadcast when special counsel jack smith announced today that he was unsealing the indictment against donald trump, which alleges, among other things, that the former president was in position of national security documents that contained sensitive information about defensive capabilities and vulnerabilities of the u.s. and its allies. not to mention details about u.s. nuclear programs. he said that violations of national security law, quote, put our country at risk. joining us now is senior national security correspondent alex marquardt. how concerned are the national security officials with whom you've spoken about all this, about what may have gotten out? >> extremely concerned, jake. stunned. in the words of a former senior

cia official, he is deeply outraged. a word i keep hearing the cavalier. they're stunned at the cavalier nature in which president trump handled these documents. they're concerned about the short and long term. what may have gotten out is military secrets, contingency plans for the u.s. the former president showed a map to someone, as a former intelligence person told me, it can take years of intelligence gathering to put just one point on a map. and all of that may be at risk. foreign adversaries often don't even know what we know about those countries. so, that, in the short-term, the worries about that getting out. and the longer-term, jake, what this may mean for assets, spies in foreign countries, who put everything on the line. they risk their lives and their families' lives. they may no longer have

confidence to share that with the united states. so, that is what intelligence professionals tell me that they are afraid of. in the words of one of those former officials, trump showed disdain for intelligence collection. jake, you would be very hard pressed to find an intelligence official tonight who is not expressing some level of surprise, disappointment, and anger. >> based on your reporting, based on your conversations with sources, what stands out from the indictment? >> it's not just the sheer magnitude, more than 300 documents the former president had in his position, but the subjects the documents pertain to. and the sensitive, jake. i want to highlight one of the 31 documents that was highlighted in this indictment, document 17. it talks about the military capabilities of a foreign country. it's tabled top secret. you can see it right there. it's highlighted, redacted. what that is, i'm told my intelligence professionals, is that this was so sensitive that you needed a code word to get

that clearance. it is code word classified. that is among the most sensitive intelligence that this country has. it reduces the pool of people who can have access to it to a small number. you can see no foreign on there. that means no foreign nationals, no one from some of our closest allies, great britain, australia, the europeans, anything like that. so, this is major concern about what is the sensitivity there. and it's just worth highlighting, jake, that this comes on the heels of those massive leaks of jack -- the first class airman in cape cod. we saw the documents that were exposed and it showed how sensitive the information that was in there. spying on the russian security services, eavesdropping on some of our closest partners, the united nations, ma sad, south koreans, among others. so, there is a lot of

disappointment, a lot of frustration, and a lot of embarrassment in the intelligence community tonight. >> anderson? >> perspective now from william cohen. secretary cohen, i know you have said in the past that you would be in handcuffs if you had possession of the documents the former president had at mar-a-lago. now that you've seen the contents of this indictment, what do you think? >> i'd probably have leg cuffs on as well. i don't think there's any question that anyone who had clearance to see these documents and to act upon them would have been indicted by now and charged by now and prosecuted by now. adam kinzinger said that he'd be doing part of his term by now. and imagine if barack obama had done any of this, how long his term would have been. so, i think that this is an abdication of presidential responsibility because president trump took an oath of office to

protect and defend. and we've gone from protect and defend to hide and lie. and that, to me, is the most shocking thing about these revelations. he's not only aware that he has information, which he shouldn't have access to, but he's directing his staff to hide the information and lie for him. and so i think it undercuts certainly admiration for the united states. john bolton, the former national security adviser, conservative, said that trump has done enormous damage to our country. and i believe that to be the case. >> when you read the transcript of the former president saying to a room full of just people who were there to hear from him and suck up to him, none of whom had security clearances, saying, you know, this is highly confidential, it's secret. this is secret information. look. look at this, and showing them a document. i mean, did you ever imagine a president or somebody who had been president would do that? >> well, anderson, i felt that

he was unfit to be president, unfit to be commander in chief, from the very beginning. i felt that initially and i didn't vote for him, and i spoke out against him because i saw his character shining through, how he criticized john mccain not being a hero, how he embarrassed a reporter who had a disability, how he actually criticized a gold star family during a convention. all of that told me that the care he was lacking in character and was morally bankrupt. and as far as dealing with our men and women who serve us, he's in arlington national cemetery looking over the grave sites with john kelly, general john kelly, whose son is buried there and said, what was in it for all these people? what was in it was the fight for democracy, which is something he apparently doesn't really understand. >> secretary william cohen, i appreciate it your time tonight. still to come, we have reaction from the former president's neighbors, plus

critic of the former president, chris saununu joins us. tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coraral reefs. that can be analyzed by a ai in real time. ♪ so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish. ♪

oh booking.com,

♪ i'm going to somewhere, anywhere. ♪ ♪ a beach house, a treehouse, ♪ ♪ honestly i don't care ♪ find the perfect vacation rental for you booking.com, booking. yeah. after my car accident, i wondered what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, our r inry a attneysys wk hahard i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, to get you the best result possible.

call us now and find out what your case could be worth. you u mit bebe sprisised ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ . just about at the top of the hour, the end of another

historic day and another historic first for donald trump. mere weeks after becoming the first former president charged on state felony offenses, he's now also the first to be charged with the federal kind, specifically 37 counts connected to retaining, mishandling, moving, concealing government documents, some of them highly classified. the indictment also details allegations of two occasions he shared highly sensitive material with people not cleared to see it. he's also accused of hiding documents from his own attorneys and conspiring to obstruct government efforts to get them back. just a short time ago we got our first read on how long the government expects it will take to make its case in court against donald trump according to a court document filed along with the document, the estimate that jack smith, the special counsel's team is making, is 21 business days. that's about a month. that does not include how long the defense might want to make their case. all in all a stunning document at the end of the a stunning

day. joining us with much more insight right now, evan perez. evan, what stands out to you the most in this indictment? >> well, i think the thing that stands out the most, jake, is the fact that, you know, prosecutors portray the former president as someone who's just reckless in his handling of the nation's most closely guarded secrets, things that require special handling. and you know, we were talking about top secret documents, things that are special access programs that require special handling of those documents. you can only read it in certain specific rooms that are protected from spies. we know that these were documents that had to do with the u.s. defense capabilities, nuclear capabilities of the united states as well as foreign countries. some of the vulnerabilities of the united states and of its allies, you know, from foreign attack and of course some of the vulnerabilities that w