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(male announcer) join dr. david jeremiah as he teaches who jesus is and what that means for your life. tune in to dr. jeremiah's new series, "christ above all", on the next "turning point", right here on this station. ♪ welcome back to "face the

nation." joining us now is the former u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, preet bharara. >> good morning. >> i want to mention to our viewers as well that you know new york very well. >> yep. >> you also know the district attorney alvin bragg. >> i do. >> you hired him at one point. >> yep. >> you endorsed him when he ran for this office. >> i did. i supervised him as well. >> i want to dig into your knowledge of that man who is now very much in the spotlight, but let me start first on the case itself. the previous district attorney of manhattan didn't prosecute this case. your former office, the southern district of new york also chose not to move ahead with it. so what do you think is different this time? >> we don't know. i know the man pretty well, alvin bragg, as you said. excuse me. i don't know what the charges are. we have been speculating about them. maybe there's new evidence. different people who are reasonable like cy vance is, and alvin bragg is, can come to

different conclusions about different matters. there were two prosecutors who resigned over great fanfare over different charges that might have been brought against donald trump, and alvin bragg is a careful person, based on my experience with him, not an overly political person, and he decided based on things we don't know about yet because we haven't seen the indictment or any evidence in trial that it was a worthwhile case to bring. i can't, you know, speculate as to why cy vance didn't bring the case or my office didn't bring the case. maybe they were concerned that michael cohen hadn't been fully supportc forthcoming, and they have a policy that was in place when i was the u.s. attorney. so different policies, different legal considerations may be the reason why there's a divergence, but we don't know for sure. >> so one of the things that cbs news has confirmed here is that the former president is being charged with falsifying business

felony if i understand it correctly. >> yeah. >> that would require them to prove, in other words have evidence here, that it's more than the misdemeanor of falsifying records, that it was done to hide a second crime. that seems fairly complex. what kind of evidence do you need to have there? >> yeah. it's not that complex. it's done all the time. so, you know, the predicate offense, falsification of business records is pretty simple. it seems to have been conceded in large part by various people, including some of the president's own lawyers that on the business records of the company, it has been suggested that the payments made to stormy daniels and those payments were legal fees when they obviously weren't. michael cohen was a pass through for, you know, $100,000-plus to someone else. the other crime we believe to be campaign finance violation. >> that part is fairly novel here. >> well -- >> in fact, the former manhattan district attorney, cy vance was

on another network this morning making that point. he said, we've historically filed cases of false documentation when federal statutes were involved, but this has never been done with regard to federal election law. would the alvin bragg you know who you said doesn't really take a lot of risks here and is not political, would he take this risk? >> well, he's probably done legal analysis, and his people have told him that you can have a federal crime be the thing that's being concealed or being furthered by the falsification crime, and just because it's never been a campaign finance violation before, i'm sure his people have told him and have research to back this up, that there's no distinction between one kind of federal violation or another. so it is true that that's not been tested in court, and there are going to be legal challenges here. i don't think anybody thinks, and i haven't heard anybody say, even though we haven't seen the charges yet, that it's a slam-dunk 100% winner, but i believe based on the alvin bragg that i know who is careful and was so careful as not to bring

that other case that people were im to t hasndroun t bridge this one. >> the former trump attorney general bill barr, spoke about the indictment in an interview friday. i want to hear what he had to say. >> it's the archetypal abuse of the prosecutorial function to engage in a political hit job, and legally i think it's -- it's, from what i understand, it's a pathetically weak case. >> you just told us that alvin bragg is not overtly political. that's the exact opposite impression from the former attorney general. >> yeah. well, there are a lot of people who think the former attorney general was overtly political, and weaponized the justice department. >> he says it's a pathetically weak case. >> we don't know that. >> until these charges are unsealed tuesday, no one can speak with authority. >> i have bealking about the

case because i think we have some credible reporting and i think we have good sources that are telling us what the case might be about. >> mm-hmm. tha strength of a case before we've seen what the charges are, and by the way, even when we see the charges, we won't necessarily know what all the evidentiary basis of those charges are. i believe there will be a speaking indictment which is more detail than sometimes you need to have in an indictment, but we don't know the quality of the evidence. eck speculate about the credibility issues that michael cohen, but beyond that, we know some of the documents. we know some of the checks that are signed in donald trump's own name to reimburse for the hush money payment, and into donald trump's term when he was sitting in the oval office. we don't know all the evidence, and what's interesting is when people attack alvin bragg ahead of time for being political and being weak. they are themselves, doing the exact same thing, defending someone who is a political ally.

>> we'll talk about some of that the unified republican defense of trump is not to talk at all about the case being built against him, but rather to attack bragg himself. how would you characterize him in terms of policy? he ran as a democrat to this office. does he have higher political ambitions? >> i don't know that he does. when i said he's not overtly political, obviously every district attorney in almost every jurisdiction in the country with exception of a few, is a political office. you run for office, and he knows the facts of the law. i keep going back to this point. if he was so overtly political and didn't mind bringing weak cases, he would have brought this other case, that very well.

this case may fail. it may not go well. maybe it will be dismissed. i don't think so because i think the law is probably on alvin bragg's side, but we'll see. maybe he'll lose a trial, but the idea this is frivolous when someone has gone to prison, who's less culpable and gone to prison at the direction of the person we're talking about donald trump, the idea this is frivolous or purely political or stupid or anything else is nonsensical. >> because falsifying business records whether it's a misdemeanor or a felony is still a crime. >> there should be one standard of justice, right? >> mm-hmm. >> if there's a crime that's being brought, that's being charged against people in new york city on a regular basis, and in particular has been charged in this kind of context, then to say that someone because he was the former president of the united states should get away with it doesn't seem right. i understand the concerns, the potential democratic kconcerns. i understand the concerns that

if you are going to charge a former president in an unprecedented way, you want to be careful, and you want to have your ts crossed and your is dotted and be serious about it and explain in the documents you file in court and the indictment that this is serious, and someone else has dgone to priso for this, and i don't want to be in a position where we're insent vising prosecutors to do this, but it is not frivolous or silly. >> thank you for your insights today. we'll be right back. om dozens of sizes, frames and styles. go to mixtiles.com, upload pictures, pick a fancy frame and voila! buy 10 and get 10 for free. to love sitting on the ramp.

it's that wind in your face experience and being on the recumbent kind of brought that back. an rpg came through the belly of the aircraft. i'm not sure i would still be here if i didn't find the friends in wounded warrior project that i did. we don't talk about the female combat wounded. these are our daughters and our sisters and our mothers. i got on the bike and i tried it out. it felt a lot like flight and i felt like i got a piece of me back. in that moment, i was like, this is it. i'm unstoppable. i can , i can do anything. the truth is i think we all have this strength inside of us,

we turn now to john bolton who served as national security adviser under former president trump. good to have you here. >> glad to be back. >> so as we were just discussing, republicans seem to be avoiding explicitly defending mr. trump's actions and instead attacking the district attorney of manhattan, but we don't know the details of these charges. we won't until tuesday, if then. don't you see there being a danger for republicans to do that? because they are still aligning

ply critical of. i tnk it's a politically for republicans to do that, and i think it's important to stress that in this case that involves hush money to a porn star, to cover up an affair that later involves cooking his company's book, you have in the heard a single trump defender stand up and say, oh, that's not the donald trump i know, and it goes to the question of character and fitness for the presidency. i think that trump's obviously trying to attack the prosecutor and his supporters are following that. look. prosecutors have broad discretion, and they should, but they don't have unlimited discretion. if trump thinks there's p prosecutorial misconduct here, violating the law or violating the lawyers' ethical obligations, he has plenty of time to raise that, but if he can't show that alvin bragg has violated the law olated the hics rules, he ha tis is a k rough justice

here because it's deeply ironic that a person who spent a good part of his four years in the white house trying to weaponize the justice department against his political enemysies is now saying he's the victim of persecution. what comes around goes around, mr. trump. >> so you agree that the justice department was weaponized under the trump administration? >> i can attest to it personally. i don't need to look at other story. >> what do you mean by that? >> when you look at trump and his lawyers and the justice department, they brought both a v civil and a criminal against me for publishing a book that didn't go through the review process when they knew it had been cleared in the regular order, that's abusing the justice department, and there are several other examples besides. >> you brought up your book, and in it, you talk about president trump being obsessed with media coverage of his former attorney michael cohen who's now very much at the heart of this

trial -- case, who was on trial himself, and you said it was a big distraction in the midst of the trip to hanoi where the former president was negotiating with kim jong-un. i mean, nuclear security, but he was obsessed with the cohen case. do you look at that differently now? do you think there was a real reason for him to be worried or was it a real p.r. concern? >> i think he has reason to be concerned about the substance of the case here, and i think while we're all obviously and appropriately focused on the indictment, that's just the beginning. the real issue here is whether alvin bragg gets a conviction at some point in the near term. >> right. >> or whether trump springs free because the political implications are vastly different. >> i mean, the timetable for this goes right into 2024, and we don't have clarity on that. >> we'll see whether trump runs the courtroom or whether the judge runs the courtroom. >> what do you mean? >> well, i have no doubt a lot of trees are going to die to

support the motions to dismiss the case that trump's going to try. if the judge keeps the pace going, and we talk about speedy trial, let's see if we can get one here. >> you said it was a mistake for republicans in messaging around this, but even florida's governor ron deesantis in the past who you said good things about said, it's a misdemeanor. it's political. a misdemeanor is still a crime, but the only republican that's prominent that has remained silent is mitch mcconnell. most everyone is defending. >> i think asa hutchinson said earlier in addition to announcing he's running for the presidency that trump should stand aside, and that's an absolute minimum. >> that's two, plus you. that's three. >> trump is basically extorting the republican party. he's threatening that if he doesn't get the nomination, he'll blow up the presidential campaign, and whoever the democrats nominate will win. >> it seems to be persuasive. >> i think what the republicans need do to save the party and

frankly to sth crned about mistreated byhi pcueyewut td, t cure for that mistreatment is not to make donald trump the republican presidential nominee. those are two completely different subjects. >> i understand your point. you have said in the past, if this indictment happens, it's rocket fuel to his campaign to get the republican nomination for the president, and you think that's what democrats want, essentially, because it benefits whoever the democratic nominee is, presumably the current president. >> i'm not worried about alvin bragg hurting donald trump. i'm worried about him benefitting trump, and this is where the case is so important. if trump gets acquitted or he gets the case dissmissed becaus it's not legally sufficient or whatever, that will beoce casay you i was being picked on and now i've been vindicated. if he's convicted, however, at

some point before the campaign ends, i think that will have a very different impact on people. you can say it's a sleazy case and it involves sleazy people. >> yeah. >> if he's convicted of a crime, i think most americans actually don't want a convicted felon to be their president. >> if he does end up being the nominee, will you support him as the republican nominee? >> absolutely not. i didn't support him in 2020. i wanted to vote for a real conservative, and there was neither the republican nor the democratic nominee so i wrote in a name and i would do the same. >> so you have said you might be considering a run. have you ruled that out or are you still considering? >> no, i'm still considering, and i have to say watching the response to the indictment has been not been encouraging for the future of the party. trump is a cancer on the republican party. we need his supporters. that's absolutely true. most of them have correct values. the distortion -- >> does it disappoint you that -- >> it's the field of donald trump. >> does it support you that someone you supported in the

past, ron desantis is part of the group circling the wagons arnold mr. trump? >> i believe in redemption for everyone, so i think there's still a way ahead here, but i tell you what the people really want in the nominee, i think, is some somebody who will say, this conduct is unacceptable to us, and we hav higher values. we have higher principles, than simply defending whatever donald trump does. >> so you're willing to forgive that of desantis, and you also, however, have to be upset with his foreign policy positions. he said, while the u.s. has many vital national interests becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between ukraine and russia is not one of them. he tried to soften that after, but it reveals this thread reflected in house republicans of more isolation and less likely to beul >> i wisappoind t r desantis said . t h view

changing, t ink this isolationism, i attribute a large part of it to donald trump. not that he has any coherent philosophy, but his knee-jerk positions to take positions. i think you would take that back to a reagan-ite policy. it's not donald trump's policy, but ronald reagan's that will get support. >> thank you for your time today. >> thank you. >> we'll be back in a moment.

joining us now to discuss russia's detention of "wall street journal" reporter is the editor in chief, emma tucker. she joins us there new york. good morning to you. >> good morning, margaret, and thanks very much for having me on. also jii just want to say befor we get going, thank you to cbs and all the other news networks and outlets that are continuing to focus on this story. it's really important for us to keep focus on evan's plight at a time when i know the news is very busy. >> we agree with you, and i want to ask you this morning,

secretary of state antony blinken spoke with his russian cordintohe ste departmethe secretary had grave concern over the unacceptable detention of a journalist, and that is evan. what do you know about this? has any of it helped evan's case? g . >> well, one of the big problems in this case is we know so little. we know to the best of our knowledge, we know that evan is being held in a prison in moscow, but we haven't been able to get any messages to him. we haven' heard anything from him. there's been very little official information. the fact that secretary of state antony blinken spoke to his counterpart today is hugely reassuring to us. we know that the u.s. government's taking the case very seriously right up to the op, and as i say, that has you knowatifying nowheyaket aserisly as the do

>>reegal determination being wrongfully detained, and it comes with it a little bit more leeway for the fight that the u.s. government can put up here. what difference do you think that will make in this case, and how quickly will it come? >> well, we're hoping that the government will move swiftly to designate evan as wrongfully detained. it can take a long time, but we're hoping -- we're optimistic it will move a bit more swiftly in this case. when that happens, it's an official recognition that the charges against evan are entirely bogus, and once that official recognition comes, things can then move a bit more rapidly. >> well, we know that when evan was taken, there was also a very swift h. his lawyer was not allowed in. the state department said state officials were not given any access to

do you have any timeline? it sounds like you don't have much more clarity, but will he be given what are supposed to be the legal standards here of access? >> well, i think that's anyone's guess. we are hopeful that a lawyer will get to see him next week. we're pressing constantly for reassurance that he's not been mistreated in any way, but we're dealing with the prurussian authorities here. it's unclear what will happen next. i'm optimistic we will be able to make contact with him next week, but who knows. >> you know, from the very top of the russian government, we have seen those commenting. vladimir putin's own spokesperson says evan was caught red-handed. johnli was f u.s. ambassador tscs, "the wall street journal" is too high-profile an organization for this to have been a mistake, for this not to have been targeted,

and it had to have been approved at the very highest levels in moscow. do you have any idea what the motivation was? >> i have no idea. evan -- evan is a very talented, experienced reporter. he's accredited to report from russia, and he was on an assignment doing what he always does. he was gathering information. he was reporting from the ground to provide our readers with eyewitness accounts of what it's like to be in russia at the moment. he -- it's a complete outrage that he was arrested like this, and i, you know, i really don't understand. none of us -- what the russian authorities are saying is utter nonsense. >> there was some russian reporting he was working on a story about the military, and others potentially about a mercenary group known as the wagner group. was that true? >> evan was doing what he always does. he wasover all sorts of ienced

stories. he was on a mission over in the east, writing about -- i don't -- he was just doing he was news-gathering, and talking to his contacts out there. >> i know that -- i've read you pulled your moscow viewer chief from her post. how important is it to be able to continue to report from russia, and do you plan to be able to continue this in some way? >> well, look. reporting out of russia has become increasingly difficult, not just for foreign reporters, but especially for russian reporters. you know, "the wall street journal" is committed to covering stories from russia, stories from around the world, but we're also obviously, we put the safety of our journalists first. a lot of other newsussia.

it's -- it's clearly and particularly sending a very, you know, a bad signal that it's not a safe place for journalists, even journalists who are accredited to work there. >> mm-hmm. >> to work from. >> yes. >> we are committed to covering -- >> good. >> -- the news. we're committed to the safety of our journalists. >> so important. emma tucker, thank you for your time. we wish you well. we'll be right back. only $11. dealdash.com the fair and honest bidding site. this kitchenaid mixer sold for less than $26. this i-pad sold for less than $43. and this playstation 5 sold for less than a dollar. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. i got these three suitcases for less than $40. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. hi, i'm darlene and i lost 40 pounds with golo in just eight months. i gained an enormous amount of weight due to a medication i was put on. when i started the golo plan

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