♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advir tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".

christian: hello i an aser and this is the context. >> january 6, 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of democracy. described in the indictment it was fueled by lies. >> a d.c. ju finds donald trump guilty. am i going to think that is legitimate? [laughter] no. >> donald trump has convinced his voters that he is a victim. they believe that. every new charge and every new indictment only strengthens that narrative. ♪

christian: the indictment is 45 pages long, four counts including a charge of conspiracy to defraud the nation. he will appear for his arraignment in court tomorrow. they are pushing for a speedy trial. that could mean a court case right in the midst of the presidential election campaign. trump supporters say it is an outrage with all sorts of accusations at special counsel jack smith. we get reaction to that tonight. we have a special our coming up at 9:00. also in the program, nigeria cuts off electricity in response to the military coup. the european countries are busy acuating those in the country. ai, the shortcut to quicker and cheaper diagnosis. scientists in sweden say it can depict cancer in screenings more

accurately and quickly that radiologist. good evening, if the special counsel case is upheld, donald trump orchestrated one of the most sensational frauds in the history of the united states. litany of lies and can -- conspiracy fueled by an attempt to cling to power. in the indictment, special prosecutor jack smith dispenses any notion that the former president believed his claims of election fraud. the defendant said he no -- he knew that they will falls. but he said mistrust and anger and to erode public faith in the administration of the election. there are millions of trump supporters who embrace the narrative that this is a political persecution, but with trump there is now significant

legal jeopardy. arrested twice, charged in three criminal cases and soon to be indicted in a fourth. that is the case in the state of georgia. american editor sarah smith reports. sarah: diehard trump supporters were anything but distraught as they learned the latest charges against him. these people do believe he is beating -- being unfairly prosecuted but he can overcome. >> he is being prosecuted, but such people are a martyr. they are just being persecuted. and as they go they get more votes. sarah: of washington prison that houses some of the january 6 rioters they say it will be a hostile territory for a trump trial. >> do you think that if the jury finds donald trump guilty am i going to think that was legitimate?

[laughter] no. >> donald john trump do solemnly swear. sarah: donald trump swore to defend the constitution of the united states but now he is accused of spreading lies and deceit in a desperate attempt to stay in power despite knowing he lost for 2020 election. the violent attack on january 6 -- prosecutors say as a result of his prolific lies as he deliberately created nationwide angst. [indiscernible] january 6, 2021 was an unprecedented assault in the seat of democracy. described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the u.s. government. and a process of collecting, counting, and certifying the

results of the presidential election. sarah: easter trumps as he is being politically prosecuted and this is similar to the nazis in the 1930's. >> wadded the weight 2.5 years? because he is leading in the polls. they are worried he will dismantle the deep state and the union already. sarah: the parade in iowa always features gary leffler. he went to support trump in washington on the sixth of january but did not break into the capital. >> the democrats new playbook is whoever the republican nominee is they are going to try to rest criminal on him. i don't like it, but that is the way they decided to do it. sarah: voters here follow politics closely and were fully expecting mr. trump to be charged with trying to overturn the election. >> given all of e eagle troubles right -- legal troubles

i do not think he is a viable candidate. sarah: but every time he is prosecuted his numbers go up. >> people believing this is all deep state against him. he is there protecting them from deep state that is going to take over this country. sarah: donald trump can -- insist he will continue his presidential campaign even if he is convicted and jailed for overturning the results of the last election. bbc news washington. chriian: let's cross to washington dc to the federal court where donald trump will be arraigned tomorrow. nick is they are. it will be the event. i imagine security is already tight. whether or not donald trump shows up for it. >> yes and when we have covered indictments in new york and miami it is always a spectacle. we do not know if he will turn up in person, previously he did,

but he has an option to appear virtually because there is some concern that the judge will decide how he appears. nonetheless, security is going to be tight. the police have been walking around trying to make sure everything is ok. and capitol police are trying to make sure everything goes according to planned. if he does not show up, he will of course have his security detail he has secret information clear it -- clearing and the like. -- so many of those still having their cases heard of the rioters -- we understand the judges office here has postponed some of the hearings to next week. that gives an indication that they are inspecting gingerly for donald trump to arrive here in the courthouse tomorrow. christian: what do you expect?

>> he is likely to plead not guilty. that is what he has done previously. when you look at the reaction with the indictment and even today on his social media, he is making it very clear that he has done nothing wrong and he is leaning in on the support that we always seem to get. and that he is the victim of a political witchhunt. and it does work with his supporters, we have seen that. and you know that d.c. is a very liberal city. there have been some people here who have been contesting about donald trump. one man turned up in an orange jumpsuit and donald mass -- donald trump mask and in handcuffs. we do not expect to see him in handcuffs other way. and some said what about donald trump and his litigation as well? so we already see that all or is asian on the eve of this

arraignment. christian: what can you tell us about the judge that will be sitting in this case? >> the judge, it is interesting i think there will be a lot of focus on tanya chutkan that was appointed by the former president barack obama. she is known for handing out some of the most severe sentence is to the january 6 rioters. all 1000 people have been investigated, more than 100 -- 400 have been charged. some of them are serving jail sentences. and she, i just wanted to let you know that she made a quick ahead of the arraignment as well. she today told an attorney and an unrelated mass that she -- fizzes what has been reported that she has not slept. that she received the assignment. and that she tried to get some sleep and in case if i can get out of town which is increasingly looking like a good idea.

this is what we know about the judge so far. as you heard in the report, there are already those who support donald trump saying there is no way he can get a fair trial in a place like d.c.. a very left-leaning part of america with the judge who is known for having severe sentences for january 6. in florida, the jury is going to be picked out of the state which leans toward donald trump and he is very popular there. he has also said he cannot get a fair trial there. i think it is fair to say that donald trump views generally any trial against him as being unfair. christian: i want to bring into friends from the program. director of the clinton campaign 2016, and former advisor to resident words w bush -- george w. bush -- president george w. bush. who knows he may face more

charges before the trial is done in the summer. but this is more severe for american democracy. >> that is right it brings in seven states and conversations with political leaders who have engagements in -- have engaged in this for a long time. people are now combing through the 45 pages of where they might have had a conversation. this is different. it is different because it is at a high level talking about the seriousness our democracy. edit hits differently across the board for elected leaders that are in place today and also thinking about the future of america in terms of the presidential campaign going on this happens in the background. christian: this is clearly in patients on the special counsel to get on with this and maybe takes precedence over the other cases. what are you hearing about timing? >> you can see there is a push

to get this done. i think exactly where trump's team will go is start talking about process. they will push on both timing and process because of the substance being pretty comprehensive here. i think this is the first battle we will all be engaged in and that you are already seeing. some trump supporters talking about it right now. we will have to work this out immediately, but there is no doubt that everybody will want to move through this as fast as possible and at the same time be in readily -- incredibly careful because this is such a serious case. christian: i want to clear a few things with you. there is no legal barrier for donald trump running for president while facing indictment in the federal court? >> no, not only is there no legal barrier, but he could undoubtably run, win, and potentially ardent himself on the united states constitution.

let me say something here that i think is very important, in a criminal matter, you have to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. i have looked at this indictment and i, from my reading of it, i would say there is a lot of spacious material in here. there's a lot of thingshat you can say it could be this it could be that. the jury has to prove -- pardon me -- the prosecution has to prove to the jury that it is beyond reasonable doubt. from what i have read i do not know if i see this in this indictment today. christian: it is a very simple story that jack smith has set out he has indicted the other conspiracies and he wants the focus to be on donald trump because he wants is to be through the court weekly. why do you think he did not indict -- court quickly. buddy think he did not indict --

why do you think he did not indict previously? >> i think you will see that in the court hearing. -- i think to your point, they want to get to the former president. they want to do this quickly. again, i would say to the viewers around the world and listening to us, boy, you have a pretty high bar to pass and i just don't know based on what i have read and the evidence that i have seen that they can prove this beyond unreasonable doubt -- reasonable doubt. christian: let me put this to you, clearly they know what the defense will be witches first amendment rights and freedom of speech. and donald trump's case is that he had to speak out to ensure that the election was fair. they say that is fair enough, everybody, you can even lie about the election if you want to lie about the election what

you cannot do is conspire to defraud the electors from their vote. >> that is right. and i agree there is some sorting out to do that he's going to have to do in this process, but aiona, do they have a lot to work with. the comprehensiveness of this have a lot of ways you can go. seven case studies in states and what is happening with the states. stringing this together. there is a lot to work with but the challenge will be how do you simplify it and do it quickly and within the timeframe of public opinion where it days on a trajectory that can get done and keeps the american public along in a very intens environment right now. christian: you say there's a lot here, but we will go through it at 9:00 as well, but essentially he sets out five chapters to the story. he says, first of all, donald trump did though he lost be election and he can prove that was some of the testimony that

the january 6 committee put forward. second, he tried to impose his own electors. then he weaponize the justice department in order to get the false claims of election fraud before state officials. to do something they knew was unconstitutionally -- he then pressured vice president mike pence to do something they knew was wrong unconstitutional -- was unconstitutional. >> i think the fourth element is the one you should key in on. former president -- former vice president mike pence today said that it should be about the constitution and not about any one man. and iust think what the former president did on january 6 was reprehensible. he could not stop this. he could've make -- he could have stopped this. he could have made it clear that

this is not the way to conduct democracy. he elected not to do so until after all of those elders were in place meaning that thousands of people were streaming -- storming the capital. but i go back to my original statement. can you prove yonder a reasonable doubt that before donald trump sayingr doing anything that that led to the incitement -- indictment and riot at the capitol. i think that will be a heavy burden for the prosecution. christian: what the january 6 committee did not know was vice president pence -- on the stand or mark meadows the former chief of staff have given evidence to the grand jury and what we learn from the indictment last night that we did not know before is that vice president pence kept a note of what it was happening in the white house. and you would imagine when he comes to the trial at the courthou behind you they will play a key part. >> they are.

what is so fainating is that mike pence in this statement last night, he was very careful about the way he spoke about it. he said that donald trump asked him to do something that was against his constitutional. and that was correct. then he pivoted to joe biden saying we should focus on him and the mess he is making of the economy and so forth. today he is more or less repeating that. and of course, mike pence is trying to vie for the presidential nomination for the republican already but he is way behind. donald trump is the clear favorite, but this is some of the criticism you're seeing for the republican party by democrat is that they are condemning donald trump for this. this indictment, unlike the other two you could argue, is more an albatross for the republican posse.

they did not do as well as they expected. they won the house by majority, but they di not get the senate. part of that was blamed on donald trump pushing this claim of election fraud. and fueling election denies that did not win the races. that put off the american electorate. while donald trump may be popular with his base and republican bases, the big question that is coming is this a reckoning for the american election? will they look at all of this, this indictment and one that is digitally coming from georgia and all the criminal cases that are against donald trump laying out next year. well they look at all of this and decide that we will return this man to power? i think that is a question we constantly need to ask in the run-up of 2024. christian: can we take a step back? i want to look at the covid -- and as we mention we do not

fully know their identity but we can put some quotes that we mentioned in the indictment to the quotes that we already know. some people have already given this inhe course of their testimony. we have a look at that. here it is. >> were talking about a 45 page indictment. let's look at the key takeaways. donald trump weaponize any wrongdoing with -- denies any wrongdoing throughout. they are not just looking at one event like the attack on the u.s. capitol, they are looking at donald trump's words and actions in a two-month period. shortly after the election day 2020 until the day he left office in 2021 the first of the indictment was that prosecutors are accusing donald trump of a broad conspiracy to keep them in power even after he was defeated by joe biden. they say he did this by spreading pervasive and destabilizing lies. and he repeated those claims to create an intense natural

atmosphere of mistrust and anger. the reason all of this language is important is that they are trying -- what they are trying to prove and what is key to their case is intense. they need to pro that he knew what he was saying was not true. now let's look at the legal jargon itself. the first charge is conspiracy to defraud the united states. that has to do with the way the government collects, counts, and certifies vote. they say donald trump allegedly tried to interfere with that. next, thestwo charges are related. conspiracies of obstruction of a official proceeding. both of these relate to the electoral college vote being counted on january 6. and the vote authentication process that they say donald trump allegedly tried to obstruct. and finally conspiracy against the right of citizens. that is about the right that u.s. is as u.s. citizens have to vote and they are accusing

donald trump of allegedly trying to interfere with those rights. another interesting take away in the indictment comes to co-conspirators they are not naming them or charging them but based on the public information bbc has been able to piece gathers -- together who some of them are. rudy giuliani, he says the indictment is a abomination. it appears he is co-conspirator one in the indictment. bbc has also identified john eastman and a constitutional lawyer part of donald trump's team. according to u.s. media days speculate others could be sidney powell a conservative lawyer who was part of his legal team, jeffrey clark former department of justice lawyer, and in the rsey bro a lawyer. the sixth one has not been identified yet. legal experts are saying a key lead for -- donald trump is the first amendment right for free

speech. as far as donald trump is concerned right now he is calling the indictment as part of a un-american witchhunt against him. christian: new york times saying tonight at in emailed trump advisor was actually sent to rudy giuliani. this is page 57 in the indictment so it looks like he may be co-conspirator number six. he was on a conference call with rudy giuliani in december shortly after trump made a statement on the electors. other news tonight is that shortly after he was indicted, donald trump had a private dinner with the top leadership of fox news who were lobbying in taking part in the first leadership debate in a month time. what do you make of that? >> there is a presidential campaign and it is clear he will use it as any -- in any fashion he can as he goes through the campaign cycle. one thing i would like to mention, as we think about the

cycle, it is not the american people whoecide what does or doesn't happen with trump and how they view the presidential campaign, it is primary voters who we have seen time and time again use these opportunities to further feel connected and support donald trump. that is what is interesting here. as we think about the next stages and how trump will use this, he has been clear and consistent that he uses this as a campaign energy exercise to move his supporters closer to him and fight for him in moments exactly like this. christian: there is a theory that he now becomes the -- candidate because he looks like a martyr. we know what republicans think about the charges every day in court his report gets stronger -- his support gets stronger. and with gop, the we would like to parallel that with the case going on with hunter biden and a possible impeachment of president biden. it seems to be the political strategy to say to independence

as that both candidates are the same. that is what gives donald trump the chance in the general election. >> two things one i agree with amanda's analysis and i think it is spot on. i think every time you see in indictment, every time you see some sort of perceived political persecution it only strengthens the base. i think his numbers candidly after this indictment will rise, but the question you raise and pose which is a very important one is what will the independent do? donald trump in so many key states it -- amongst the midwestern states is that we want to get a different president. and i just think that has lost the independence with all of this. christian: it is interesting's shari -- sorry to push you. we are out of time. we will talk more about this we will have a special at 9:00 and he will join

narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentationf this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".