know that quickly. >> john miller, invaluable perspective. and cedric leighton, thank you, my friends. we're going to continue to cover the breaking news of the peninsula, an american man is believed to be in north korean custody after crossing the border. stay with us, our reporters across the world are working to bring this information to you as soon as we have. "cnn news central" starts right now. breaking news. a u.s. soldier detained by north korea. taken into custody right at the border. we are working our sources and have the latest from u.s. officials. missiles rain down on the city of odesa. russia's response to ukraine's attack on a key bridge. for the first time in weeks,

wagner mercenary troops are spotted after launching a serious challenge against russia's vladimir putin. we're live in ukraine with developments. >> the most important day of the classified documents case yet. and maybe the most important decision could be coming, when donald trump's trial will start, i'm kate bolduan with john berman and sara sidner, this is "cnn news central." all right. the breaking news this morning. we learned just a short time agatha a u.s. national was detained by north korea. it is believed the man is a u.s. soldier, that is according to an american official. now according to the united nations' command, the man was on a tour of a joint security when he crossed the demarcation mark. right on the border. the demilitarized zone.

he crossed the border into north korean territory, it is believed, when he was taken into custody. we have team coverage. we're joined from the state department from the white house. we have our military analysts available. first, though, let's go to cnn's will ripley who has been to north korea so many times. will, give us a sense of what happened. >> reporter: well, it's a very interesting location, john, because pun munjom is an area, it's like a tourist attraction there are gift shops on the north korean side and the south korean side. you can get souvenirs. it can be a pretty dangerous area but a lot of people cross through without any single incident every day. it's opened on the south korean side. and obviously the pandemic has

thrown a wrench in some of that as well. it is a type of routine tour to show the service members this is what it looks like. standing very close. it doesn't frequently happen that somebody would step out of that group and actually take that walk across the demilitarized zone line. it's the line that president trump technically the first u.s. president to cross into north korean soil when he was having impromptu discussions with kim jong-un. we know at least six u.s. service men who have defected to north korea north korea. but the last time it happened, 40 years ago in 1982. it's a very different time now, north korea is a nuclear-armed nation. they've been conducting launches trying to get the attention of the united states, through missile testing and the biden administration hasn't reached out at all. now, john, this american in custody may be an opportunity

for the americans to engage that they did not have in this person apparently decided to make the steps across the demarcation line into north korea. >> will, just to be clear. we don't know why he crossed the line, if in fact he did cross the line but how easy is it? i mean, when you were on tour there, how close is the north korean side and how big of a step is it to simply go across like that? >> reporter: you know, it's funny, i've only actually done the tour on the north korean side. i signed up for the south korean tour once and they cancelled the tour so i didn't actually get to do it. from the north korean side. i can tell you it's a bit of a distance. if you're trying to get over there in a meat ofatter of secou might have to jog. or walk briskly. it's not a long distance. it's not a difficult thing to cross. there's buildings and a gap in the middle, somebody could walk right through if that's what they wanted to do.

very few people do that. obviously, when north koreans attempt to the crossing, sometimes, they're even fired at other north korean soldiers. there have been incidents of bullets of bullets flying in this area of north korean defe defectors. it's pretty rare, as i said, a service member, hasn't happened in decades. >> will ripley stand by. priscilla alvarez at the white house, what are you hearing from there this morning? >> reporter: this is a situation, john, that the white house is closely monitoring and trying to map their arms around. as you heard, there's limited communication with north korea. this is a situation where u.s. officials are talking with allies and leaning on them as they try to gather more information about the circumstances in which this u.s. national on this tour crossed over into north korea and is now believed to be detained. now, again, it's a complicated relationship that the u.s. has with north korea.

and one that the u.s. has tried to reach out in the past on issues like denuclearization and has not received a response. but we do have a sense of what they do have from national security spokesman john kirby. >> look, we have channels to community with pyongyang. katelin, as you know, we don't have an embassy there. but there are ways to pass communications back and forth. >> reporter: so, as you heard there there are ways for them to pass communication back and forth but without those diplomatic relations it makes it all the more difficult and makes it a tenuous situation. but i will also add, this is a white house that has maintained americans a priority, president biden spoke about it last week in finland saying he would do all he can to detained americans. i have reached out to the white house. they have not weighed in.

>> priscilla, any sense that the president has been notifiyied o this incident? >> reporter: we're asking those questions. you can imagine in a case like this, with a detained american that the president would be well aware of it. >> priscilla alcaraz, at the white house, stand by. kylie atwood at the state department, obviously relations with north korea are more or less nonexistent. what is the view from there this morning? >> reporter: and because of that, that makes a moment like this even more challenging, even more complicated for u.s. officials, right, john? if you reflect back on the trump administration, there was pretty regular contact between u.s. officials and north korean officials as they were setting up the summit between president trump and kim jong-un. so, we know there are ways for the u.s. to send signals, to send contacts to north korea. but our understanding is, those haven't been hot channel that have been active over the course

of the last few years with u.s. officials saying they haven't received substantive responses from the north korean side as they have reached out to engage saying there would be no preconditions. they wouldn't be asking north korea to do anything to partake in initial conversations, but the north koreans just haven't done so. even with this incident, we're still waiting to learn more details. all we know right now is that according to the u.n. command it preserves the establishment of the korean peninsula, this american crossed over the demarcation line from south korea to north korea, and do so without authorization. we're waiting to learn a little bit more about what that means. was the person aggressively crossing over as we've heard from experts. i myself have been to the area. it's pretty hard to cross over in an accidental way. because these tours are not done to be provocative. these tours are done to show off what the united nations has been able to do, to maintain

stability, between south korea and north korea. so, we're waiting to hear a little bit more about just how all of this went down but we should note, that there are not, before this incident, any known americans who were detained by north korea at this time. the last americans who were released from north korea were released in 2018, three americans, and then, of course, after that we saw that there were multiple summits between president trump and kim jong-un which obviously didn't deliver any results on denuclearization, but it was the first time that we saw such high-level engagement between the two sides. >> kylie atwood, let me just ask and put a fine point on it because there's still so much we don't know. were do not know at this point if this u.s. soldier willingly, desize siffly walked across the border on purpose, or whether it was some kind of an accident, correct? >> that's right. >> that is very important to know at this point to determine, i think, the posture of both countries as we move forward

over the next several hours. i want to bring in retired lieutenant general mark le hertling. you know what it's like to be there, general, you know what it's like to be a serviceman on duty and tour perspective. give us your perspective? >> yeah, i've been there, john, in 1989, the 2nd infantry division. we took a group of soldiers to do exactly what happened here, it was a tour, to see what we were defending. the reason those buildings are blue, this is a u.n. command post, it's not a u.s. command post. it's mostly guarded by u.s. forces, military policemen. but these are the best of the best. the same is true on the other side. the north korea can't soldiers are chosen for their height, their strapness, they're over 6 feet tall. you don't mess around when you go to this site. this site is on a post named

camp boniface, art boniface was an instructor killed in an incident in 1996. the post is named after him when he was killed by north korean soldiers. they take their job seriously. again, you just brought up very good points about what was this person doing to cross over the border. was it accidental. was it purposeful, was it a defection? we don't no know. when you're on the tour, you see the demarcation line. just like president trump walked up and stepped over it. you know it, it's painted a different color on the north and the south side. depending on what we learn in the next couple of hours about what happened, i would tend to speculate one way or another, that this was someone doing something stupid and going across the border when you shouldn't have been. you're warned before you take

the tour do not go anywhere near any of the contentious point. >> do not go anywhere near the contentious points. will ripley, let me put this back to you where we started given how uncertain it is, how this u.s. soldier got to the other side of the border, how does it change the posture of what happens next? you've seen americans in detention there before. if he walked over voluntarily, if he knew what he was doing, versus if it was all some terrible accident, how does that change the next few steps here? >> reporter: well, step one is they probably take him to some sort of holding facility that's not a prison. he could actually be at one of north korea's empty old soviet chic i call them hotels. in fact, that's where the americans that we interviewed during the first trip in 2015 are held. they're held in a hotel where charges are potentially compiled

against him. i don't know what north korea would charge this american with, if there would even be a trial, or assess if -- in the past, they used words like mental case, people that crossed into north korea and asked for refuge, particularly americans. it's not something that happens often. or north koreans, it's not something that they welcome or encourage. they don't want people illegally crossing into their country and creating a burden, essentially providing food, medical care. and other things that this person will need while in north korean custody. the north koreans, you know, they'll have a bill. and when the united states wants that person handed back over, the north koreans will present the bill and say first you've got to pay what's due because they have very limited resources. but the conditions will be probably isolation. no television, no radio. maybe some books in korean. i'm not even sure they'd be in english sitting in a plain room. if he ends up going to a prison. basically it's going to feel

like this private prison where he only sees the guards on him. they keep tabs on him. they keep prisoners in isolation, eight hours a day, they move rocks around. do manual labor. they beat three square meals a day. certainly a different situation for an american than a north korean who had to go to one of the nation's infamous labor camps. >> will ripley, priscilla alcaraz, general hertling, kylie atwood went out to do more reporting. thank you more. we're waiting to hear more, official statements from the u.s. as well. much more coming up on this, we'll be back soon. sara. >> you do not mess around with that demarcation line. all right, this morning, large convoys of wagner mercenary groups are on the move spotted for the first time since they tried to overthrow vladimir

putin's government as russia retaliate retaliates, watch. >> overnight, russia unloading a series of missiles on the port city of odesa. that's in direct response to ukraine's recent bridge attack. the strikes lighting up the skies as you saw there as air raid sirens blared. ukrainian forces say they intercepted six cruise missiles and 36 shehda drones. rocked from the black sea and crimea. the explosion comes 36 hours after ukraine attacked putin's prized bridge that connects russia to crimea and after terminating a deal. the direct route from drain to leave ukraine and feed other nations around the world, also raising alarm this morning is the convoy of wagner mercenaries. 115 new vehicles seen arriving at a vacant military base in belarus. more than 200 more reportedly en

route. why are they there? what will they do? and what does this signal about their leader yevgeny prigozhin who has not been seen in public since the failed insurrection of the putin regime. let's go to alex marquardt in odesa. give us the sense of damage, if there is any in odesa from the strikes? >> reporter: well, there's certainly some damage, sara. thankfully, nobody was killed. one man, we understand, was hurt. the heart of the port, the critical part of odesa, buildings damaged outside of it. there was a major revenge for the ukrainian strike against the kerch bridge yesterday. it happened as you noted just shy of 24 hours after that attack, 2:00 in the morning here local time when a local official announced that the city was under assault. we saw that very clearly with

our own eyes from our hotel. we saw the red tracers being fired up in the sky, hundreds of them. we saw ukrainian spotlights around the area of the port looking for drones in the sky. we heard the air defenses going off and we saw what appeared to be a drone or something else on fire streaking behind us. and then we heard, sara, that there were at least six to 12 kalibr missiles fired towards odesa. we heard large impacts that you just played shot from our photojournalist from our window. extremely loud. the ukrainians say that the missiles were intercepted and destroyed, but they certainly made an impact, russia not hiding the fact that this was in response to that kerch bridge attack. and saying that they're still weighing other options that they could carry out in revenge. sara. >> i've been to odesa, it's an

important place off the port there, it's strategic. and we're watching one of those missiles over and over again and reracking the video to show you what it looked like in the night sky. alex, i want to talk to you about samantha power, right now, she's in ukraine, delivering a message to both ukraine and putin this morning. what's that message? >> reporter: yeah, sara, she arrived in odesa just hours after that critical grain deal expired at midnight last night. now, russia had indicated they were going to pull out, in fact, they did. they said it was not in connection with the attack on the bridge, they'd aired their grievances for some time. the russians pulling out received global condemnation from world leaders including the u.n. secretary-general and the secretary of state. and we did have about exclusive interview the head of usaid

samantha power earlier today. she told me what putin is doing it playing roulette with the hungriest people in the world and called deeply disturbing. here's what she told me. >> the whole world needs to raise its voice, particularly countries in the global south, to say it's unacceptable to hold hostage the hungriest people in the world because of some power play and aggression carried out by moscow. >> reporter: so, sara, she does not buy the russian argument that russia has not been able to export what it wants to, fertilizer and other food. and she is hopes that russia could come back to the grain deal, from that pressure, around the world. particularly countries that russia is close to in the global south. and very notably, sara, power announced that the u.s. is offering another $250 million, a quarter billion dollars, in aid

to ukraine, to support ukrainian farmers and the agricultural sector. sara. >> what people may not know is that both ukraine and russia, they put out about 20% of the world's grain. and so, it's hugely important. and it will bring prices up. and it will cause food insecurities in countries that are having difficulties. alex marquardt, thank you to you. thank you to scott mcquinney as well for getting that incredible video. appreciate it. kate. joining us right now is democratic congressman adam smith of washington, he's the top democrat on the house services committee. congressman thank you for being here. we'll get to ukraine in a second. but first, have you heard anything about this unfolding situation that we're covering right now of an american in north korean custody after crossing over the demarcation line? >> no more than what you reported. obviously, it's a huge diplomatic problem. trying to figure out why he went to cross the border is going to

be step one, but regardless of why, this creates a significant diplomatic problem between north korea and the u.s. and it has been noted we've not been in communication. the first step is re-establishing those communications but if a u.s. soldier is in north korean custody, we need to do what we can to get him back. >> is it your understanding, i'm not sure if you've been briefed, obviously, it's unfolding as we speak that it is a u.s. soldier, it's said that he's believed to be. have you gotten any granular reporting on that? >> i have not. and much more on that after the briefing on this. back to ukraine. the kerch bridge attacked. ukraine claims responsibility. russia now retaliating. what do you see in this slow slog of this counteroffensive in this moment? >> it's a very difficult situation. russia has taken territory from ukraine.

ukraine's trying it to get it back. but russia has dug in for a year now and they have really destroyed the territory they've taken over. there are mines everywhere, there are tank traps everywhere. it's going to be difficult for ukraine to take it. and what ukraine is trying to do is break off the supply lines, limiting the supply to the soldiers that are on that front line. so this is a very difficult situation. and it also points 0 os out wha russia is doing and how it impacts the world. it impacts as you said food to the world and now russia has cut off the grain. it's imperative that the rest of world, china as well, put pressure on russia to stop this war and at a minimum, allow the world to be fed, to allow the grain to come out. i hope they realize how devastating it is not just for ukraine, but the rest of the world.

>> you preefrl viously said if cluster munitions could bring an end to the war sooner, do you think the bombs will have that impact of turning the tide? >> well, actually two things, one, yes, obviously, if it can bring the war to a conclusion sooner, that's good. but even if it just allows ukraine to continue to defend itself, that, too, is a positive. the bottom line we've been running out of excess munitions for ukraine. this is what we have in order to allow them to, a, defend themselves, because the attack isn't over. the russians continue to attack across ukraine. ukraine needs to be in a position to defense itself. but also russia is brutally occupying significant portions of southern ukraine. these munitions are going to be critical in giving ukrainians a chance to get their territory back and win this war. >> on the role of congress in all of this, the mmba, massive

defense policy and funding bill, you coauthored the bill coming out of committee. we now know it's a very different and modified, amended version passed through on a partisan basis through the house. now, the process will continue, as you well know and many of our viewers, senate will work its will, and this eventually is likely then to get hashed out in conference committee. even though this bill came out of committee with bipartisan support, where you are now in this divided partisan congress, do you see a chance that this is a year when congress actually fails to pass the nba? >> you're right. the bill is going to change. the senate is passing their version this week or next, assigned it, it will go into conference committee, what republicans passed off the floor will not pass. the only question is the extreme right-wing republicans who put

in the language that attacks a women's right for reproductive health care that goes after the truly diverse military and goes after the trans community, when we take those provisions out, will the house republicans allow the bill to come back to the floor. will kevin mccarthy go with the overwhelming majority of the house? or will he go with those couple dozen right-wing extremists who took the process hostage. look, you strip that stuff out, you've got 3 ske67 votes for th bill. mike rogers said as much, so did i, we have a strong bipartisan bill and kevin mccarthy is allowing it to be hijacked. who have an agenda. driving trans people out of the military and women to serve in the military. and simply a right-wing

quote-unquote anti-right agenda. i hope we get a conference report and kevin mccarthy stands up and chooses a different path, but i can't say i'm sure of that. >> let's see what happens in the coming months, congressman, ranking member, thank you. as one report puts it, a federal judge is about to shape the course of the 2024 presidential election and perhaps the fate of the country. what could be the most important decision in the mar-a-lago documents case and it could come today. emails shared with cnn raise more questions whether migrants are being pushed into the water. and breaking news, officials say a man who crossed the border into north korea is believed to be a u.s. soldier. we have new reporting coming in. at morgan stanley, old school hard work meets bold new thinking. ♪ partneringng to unlock new ideas, to create new legacieses,

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i think we have some breaking news that former -- one second. the control room is speaking to us. we have breaking news coming in, former president donald trump putting out a statement saying that he is the target of an investigation. >> i think it's the january 6th investigation. >> yes. >> and i think the issue here is donald trump is making the statement that he has been -- he is the target of the january 6th investigation. what we don't know and need to find out very quickly is if he has received a target letter. >> right. >> identifying him as a target. because that means something very specific. we don't know if trump is using specific language or being widely general here. >> we have katelyn polantz, if he's got a target letter, let's

go to katelyn, what are hearing about what trump is saying and number number, what you hear about him putting this out that he's the target of a january 6 investigation? >> yeah, guys, we're watching to see what's bubbling behind the scenes because it felt like something has been rife in the january 6th investigation for the special counsel's office for some sometime now. and indeed, we are getting this statement from donald trump posting on true social, also sending out a statement, saying that the justice department, the special counsel jack smith, has sent him a letter stating that he is a target of the january 6 grand jury investigation. so that's a federal investigation that has been looking for months looking into both his actions in the white house. and other actions that he may have taken after the 2020 election, as well as actions of others around him, fake electors

and all kinds of schemes that would support donald trump and overturn his loss in the eelection. those things have been investigated. and he is saying he's received a target letter giving him four days to appear before a grand jury. you believe that grand jury would be in washington, d.c., he would choose. and i should step back and explain what a target letter is. because it's one of the things that the justice department does at the very end of an investigation. it lets someone know, yes, we looking at potentially charging you. we are very close to a charging decision. and we want to make sure you have your rights preserved. and if you want to come in as the target of this investigation as someone who can be charged, very likely charged. if you want to come in and explain yourself on the record to the federal grand jury who has been looking at you as the potential target, as the person charged, you have the opportunity. and donald trump saying he received this notice on sunday

night and is being given the four days to consider whether he wants to come into the grand jury. like i said, one of the last things that typically happens in an investigation like this. a very similar thing played out in the weeks before donald trump was indicted in the southern district of florida, in a separate investigation in that documents investigation that we're also watching for activity on today. but this is the january 6 investigation, one where we've watched the grand jury closely. it appears it is coming to an end, now a very firm signal from the special counsel that donald trump may be indicted related to january 6. his actions after the 2020 election and giving him a final opportunity to come in and speak to the grand jury if he chooses. he did not choose to do so in the florida investigation. also conducted by smith's office related to the documents held at mar-a-lago after the presidency.

it does not appear that he's happy with receiving this news. he's quite offended, saying it's horrifying news. and that it happened on sunday night when he received notice from his attorneys, he was with his family. so at this point in time, there really isn't an expectation trump would go in and speak to a grand jury. but we are going to be watching very closely what happens in the federal courthouse in washington in the coming days. we know there's a grand jury meeting today that has been investigating trump and january 6. and it sounds very likely that they also may be meeting this thursday. and could be looking at a potential indictment of the former president for actions he took at the end of his presidency to hold on to power. >> katelyn, thank you for bringing us that. just to recap the big news we're laying out in the social media post, donald trump said sunday night, he received a letter from the special counsel saying that he is the target of

the january 6 grand jury investigation. and now, obviously, as katelyn is laying out, very big questions. >> rem rlet me read it so peopl figure out what exactly was said. this was said by donald trump. at this point, he's the source of this information. he wrote deranged jack smith the prosecutor with joe biden's doj sent a letter sunday night stating i am a target, and "target" is in all caps. giving me a very four short days to report to the grand jury which almost always means an arrest and indictment. that again is the statement posted by donald trump himself who is now right now the source of the information that he is the target of the january 6 investigation which is a major development. if so. let's go to paula reid. i understand we have paula reid in florida who can weigh in on this, paula. >> reporter: it is incredibly significant, that special

counsel jack smith is conducting two separate investigations into president trump and his associates one is with classified documents. that's why we're in florida today. in court, we expect them to talk about a trial date which is significant because at the core of trump's legal strategy is an effort to delay this trial, at least in after the 2024 election. now, he's also under investigation for efforts to overturn the 2020 election. and it was not clear. it was just not clear if he would be charged. but as he indicates in the statement, which we have not verified independently with the special counsel's office. he's received a target letter which he is correct usually means an indictment is coming soon. he has the opportunity to go before the grand jury. it's unlikely he'll do that. he did not do that after receiving a target letter in the

mar-a-lago investigation. but it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few hours here. because his legal team, they're expected in court here in florida in just a few short hours. lakely ly are going to face a of questions from reporters likely to cover his other ongoing trial. >> paula reid in florida. stand by. much more from you in just a moment. >> let's go to other elie honig to give us a sense of what this mean, first of all, donald trump making it clear this is his statement. he said he's received a target letter and definitely means he's going to be arrested and charges. is he correct? >> he's mostly correct. assuming that the doj has sent a target letter what that means donald trump is a punitive, meaning very likely defendant and that the doj has evidence linking him to a crime. you do not have to send a target letter at the justice department. but it's common practice.

we know jack smith sends target letters because within a week or so of the mar-a-lago indictment, donald trump did in fact send a letter to donald trump. assuming that is happening here this is a very telling moment into the investigation. >> what's the process now? >> so, the process, jack smith sent this letter, donald trump will assume the truth of this given four days to appear before a grand jury, he will not do that, that would be incredibly self-ingrim criminating to do t. jack smith assuming he's given the grand jury, saying here are the defendants i propose to charge and here are the charges and instruct the grand jury as to the law. and take a vote from the grand jury, assuming they vote yes which grand juries almost always do, we will have an indictment. it could be sealed. when means in a moment in time there's an indictment, but we don't actually get to see it.

and that's on a fairly short time frame. >> in the mar-a-lago documents case, he received a target letter, he was indicted. >> within days. >> within days. in this case, he said he received a target letter that is expectation that he could be indicted. in the mar-a-lago documents case, his lawyers also went in to meet with justice department lawyers to basically talk them out of charging which is happens. we don't know if there's been that meeting. will that happen before or after a target letter? >> so, there's no rule on that. you typically would give defense lawyers a last chance to talk you out of it. that did happen in the mar-a-lago case. we don't know that's happened here. it's possible that happened and we don't know about it. it's possible he did it by phone call or zoom or some locations that we weren't able to spot it. but both of those things given jack smith's tendencies would signal end game to me. >> let's go to katelyn polantz with content and background.

with this investigation, what are aspects of this special counsel investigation into january 6, katelyn? >> you know, there have been so many different aspects here. but when you put them all together, you can see how prosecutors really have been throughout trying to find exactly what donald trump was saying, doing, thinking. the record around him, after the election. and so some of the aspects here that have built this investigation to this point where donald trump gets a target letter from the justice department saying he could be charged with a crime, a federal crime, related to january 6 and the 2020 election, some of that includes prosecutors bringing in his vice president mike pence. not just to talk about what pence experienced generally on january 6, but to talk about communication pence had directly with donald trump, that trump was trying to block him from sharing. trump also had gone to court to try and block from this grand

jury probe conversations he had with his white house counsel. conversations with others around pence. conversations with his chief of staff mark meadows. and at the end of the day, all of those people and more in the west wing had to testify about not just what they witnessed on january 6 and this capitol riot. but specifically, about what trump was saying to them directly. so that's a piece of it. there's also a financial part of this investigation that we picked up hints of, that was ongoing. unclear how that will shake out, if that's some sort of charges that the justice department would still be considering. but we also know there was pressure within the justice department for supporting trump even though there was no evidence of election fraud that could overturn the election. that was part of the investigation. it resulted in the seizure of many materials related to jeffrey clark, a top administration official that trump wanted to install as attorney general at the very end

and was blocked by his top advisers. we also know there was a fake electors scheme across the country. these seven battleground states where electors were brought in, and organized, apparently, by the trump campaign to put in false information to the federal government saying that trump won their states when he had not. and so there's a question for some time, would trump be the person ultimately charged when the justice department looks at things like conspiracy or false statements, obstruction of the congressional proceeding. and the hints throughout this investigation is not only have those potential crimes been looked at, donald trump himself has been the subject of a great abundance of grand jury testimony, leading prosecutors, apparently, to where they are now. >> all right, katelyn, thank you for that. stay close. >> let's go back to florida,

cnn's paula reid is there. paula, trump's got a lot of different lawyers talking about a lot of different things and a lot of different cases. what are the likely defenses here? >> reporter: so, we don't know what the actual charge is in this case, we can guess at the legal strategy. first up, though, even though the former president is really a lawyer employment act, he will likely bring in additional lawyers if he's facing additional charges related to january 6. we know in the classified do you means case, here in florida, it was difficult for him to bring on additional attorneys for his team. it's difficult for a few reasons. one reason we've been told, some lawyers are a little bit nervous about taking him on as a client, concerned they will not get paid. i'm told he will likely find defense attorneys down here in florida as long as he pays them up front but at a political cost on taking on president trump. lawyers have told us they're

worried about alienating clients and similar up in washington. we know he has had trouble in the past few years, finding prominent d.c.-based attorneys willing to take him on as a client. no matter who he hires as a lawyer, we're expecting him to delay any criminal case in after the 2024 election. we know that because that's already the strategy they're taking down here in florida, they've made it clear to the judge, the special counsel says they'd be willing to take this case to trial in december, the defense attorneys have said it's premature to even think about a trial date and they would like to litigate a lot of constitutional questions, many unprecedented before taking this to trial. so it's expected if the former president is charged, and it appears he likely will be, because he's received this target letter, he will have to take on additional lawyers because he's lost most of his legal team that's handles his

case. once he findings those lawyer, we expect they will try to delay, delay, delay. >> paula reid, stand by. we'll be back to you in a second. >> we just heard from paula there could be many charges. what potentially could be the charges in this case? >> this is one of the challenges that jack smith is facing. there's so many evidence that katelyn and paula just laid out, how exactly can i charge this criminally. you can't just say january 6th, or all of this stuff on the january 6th report with hundreds and hundreds of pages. here's what i see as potential charges. first of all, obstruction of a federal proceeding. meaning if the effort was to stop congress from casting the vote, that charge has brought by 300 people who stormed the capitol. that's one possibility. the broadest statute, the brodest position jack smith could take is the conspiracy to

defraud the united states of a free and fair election which is a charge that's not been brought many times or capitol rioters but robert mueller actually did charge it in russia's attempt to interfere with the 2016 election. and also false statements tied to donald trump and others. another possible charge that strikes me unlikely is insurrection based on donald trump's speech. that gets into first amend, free speech issues. that's probably the universe that jack smith is looking at right now. >> it's all again couched in what donald trump said he's been issued the letter and that he is the target of this special counsel investigation. all along, it has been viewed, it was donald trump was under investigation, as well as those in his orbit, related to the 2020 election. if he is indicted, do you think

that necessarily is going to mean, given what katelyn polantz lays out is various aspects of this investigation others are going to face charges as well? >> so, it's a great question, one of the things we have to watch for, have other people received target letters too, assuming what donald trump is saying here. that's another important question for jack smith. do i charge dozens and dozens of people? legally, he can. do i charge just the ringleaders, do i charge just donald trump? i know there are other people hearing the news that have to be worried. this is not a one-man show. he definitely was at the top of it. but there's other people we know have received subpoenas, have been asked questions, have been asked questions about that have to be nervous about this news. >> it's likely others have received target letters one thing we should make clear, we don't find out about that, because of a statement with the

justice department or announcement. it's people ultimately who become defendants who release that information. trump has chosen to release that information. if there are other people, we'll only know if they receive the target letters. one other point, back to elie here, how would you like to be ron desantis waiting ining to interview with jake tapper today at 4:00. this decision comes out that this has such impact that the leading presidential candidate could be facing charges with the last election. we'll get back to that in just a second here. these final days, elie, between the indictment, what happens? >> first, let's be clear, jack smith has to get merrick garland's approval. >> do you think he had merrick garland's approval?

>> i think, yes. you have to let the a.g. know of substantial steps. sending a target letter would definitely qualify. i think merrick garland has made clear through his statement, or lack of statements that he intends to follow the regulations which says he has to give great weight to what jack smith wants to do. it strikes me very unlikely that merrick garland would overrule jack smith. you have to make sure that your evidence is pitch perfect and instruct the grand jury and an evidence plan. jack smith knows what day he's going to indict this, if he's going to indict this. you have to be ready to know when to unseal the indictment, making arrests and what happened at mar-a-lago, you have to think about the month agogistics as well. and now, looking at when this potentially the trial will

start, and looking at that case, and what he is going to do potentially on this case, and very, very pointed, and are we not going to be seeing a whole lot of things, but the thins that he is sure that he is going to be prosecuting? >> yeah, jack smith is going to show us that he is going to be accusing the most narrow and specific charge available, but maybe it is hard to do with january 6th, because the conduct so hard. and we are headed to the traffic jam of trials, and people are oriented. we have the manhattan case directed to hush money, and headed to trial for march 2024, and the mar-a-lago case, where that may come out today, and then another case coming out in georgia where it may be vying before or after the election. and now, we go to katelyn polantz, and what else is going on behind the scenes right now? >> well, that is a huge

question, because this january 6th investigation for much of it, our understanding is that it is around trump, but others, too, and many other people that he was collaborating with, that he was talking to that is supporting the efforts to overturn the efforts of the 2020 election and put the pressure on mike pence and the states and rally the supporters and now a question now that if one of the charges that could be considered here is conspiracy, which is one of the things that the justice department has said before in some of their court filings related to others who took part in trump's efforts after the election, that if there is a question of conspiracy, are there other people receiving target lerts or receiving some indication that they could be charged alongside donald trump. now, the person who often comes to mind here about being at donald trump's side and pushing

false claims of lek shun fraud after the 2020 election often is rudy giuliani, but he has an interesting story here in that our colleague paula reid is just receiving information that according to his lawyer, he has not received a target letter, and in recent weeks we have reported that giuliani went in to speak to the investigators two days for what he had seen. and what is happening with giuliani, and has he flipped with the former president and something else happened with the situation, and i should say that it was not a four-day period in the documents case that jack smith previously charged donald trump with from the time he got the target letter to time he was indicted, and a few weeks there, and the time that trump was told that he was the target of the january 6th, but a few weeks that walt nauta was told that he

was a target, and there was a lag there of the conspiracy case of the two of them, but the question is what happens next, and how close to the end, and is this a case of donald trump, himself, and if not, who else and how many. >> keep working your sources, and katelyn, keep bringing us the details. >> and rudy for two days, and that is an awful long time to be in front of them, and what paula reid is reporting that he has not received a target letter. >> that is surprising, because i would think that most of the conduct ran through rudy, and it is consistent that the fact that he does not have a target, because as a doj, you don't

bring him in as a target letter, unless you warn him first, and so you don't, and so it is making sense that he does not receive a target letter, and what is rudy? well, they interviewed him for eight hours and could he be a witness, and i have a hard time where the doj calls rudolph giuliani as a witness to offer him as credible, because he has massive credibility problems, but it is interesting that he has not received a target letter, and he is sort of 1a to donald trump's 1 who i would suspect would receive a target letter. >> you were touching on this a little bit, but do they impact each other at all the fact that you have potentially the kind of different, different trials and different cases that the president, former president now has to face happening in tandem, in parallel all at the same time, and how does it work? >> they are inextricably tried,

but not all at the same time. >> it is not possible. >> no way to have the three cases tried between now and the election, and logistically, you can't manage that, and so, yeah, jockeying for the space. it is possible that the doj chooses to charge donald trump alone in one indictment, and then perhaps others and follow-up indictments to charge other, and you can split the indictments any way you want, and maybe strategic considerations at play. >> and katcaikatelyn polantz sa time between donald trump and walt nauta being charged. >> and there is a ton of breaking news right now. donald trump says he has received a letter saying that he is a target of january 6th probe, and this is a major, major, major development. also, breaking news out of north korea where a u.s. soldier has crossed into north korea and

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