we know that federal prosecutors told cyrus vance to drop that investigation.ime, was president, the guidance was that the department ofjustice did not go after a sitting president even after he left office, this hovered around him and many got the sense that it was not going to come back to bite him. but then we heard that after alvin bragg secured a victory in november against the trump organisation in a tax fraud case, then he took a second look at the hush money payments. he thought to himself, can we win in a jury trial? does, is the evidence strong enough? given the success of the trump organisation trial, which did rely on testimony from his former chief financial officer, but very limited testimony because remember allen weisselberg has been very reluctant to betray his long—time boss. the case really centred around financial documents and i think that is what so many are waiting to see. we have heard from michael cohen's lawyer saying that this case does not rests just on michael cohen. someone, some republicans have attacked as someone as someone who

former manhattan distric attorney cyrus vance i breaking his silence on th indictment today, and he i coming up first. plus, house speaker kevi mccarthy promises to hol current mta alvin brag accountable, whatever that means. congressman adam shift joins m with his reaction in just a fe minutes. at the same time, presiden biden is keeping his head down on the trump indictment. i will offer my advice on ho other democrats should handl the politics of this moment. and later, i don't think forme prosecutor andrew weissmann ha slipped in 72 hours, as he continues to break down all of this legal news across msnbc i paid angela visit to tal about how he keeps up with all of, it and also, his weekend routine. okay, by now you know that the former president has bee indicted this all may feel like a whole lot to digest, i know it feels like that even to me lots of evidence, lots o witnesses, and years o investigation have led to this moment but, here is the bottom line this is an example of ou judicial system working like i should work. and how it works in democracie across the globe yes, i kn

neil: didn't cyrus vance, jr. have the same case and others have the same case?emocrats all and they didn't pursue it? >> well at the time cyrus vance was bringing the case they certainly did not but this case is evolving. there is always, this investigation has been going on. alvin bragg had a lot more information having indicted the cfo an indicted and convicted cfo and trump company. that is where the business fraud, financial fraud eminate from. watch and see what the indictment is unsealed and what is there. stormy daniels may have not be there. if it is there, it will be a small indictment of the charges, of 20 or 30 counts. it will be business fraud piece. it will be a dark cloud over republicans and donald trump because this indictment will lay out a criminal enterprise. if he does that, there is a lot that could change politically. we won't be talking about impact of the race. we'll talk about whether donald trump can beat this case or not. we just haven't seen the indictment. neil: you know, he overcome a lot, right? he survived two impeachment votes. >

pro-bono a special assistant district attorney in the office of the new york district attorney cyrus vance, to assist with that office's criminal investigation into the personal and business finances of former president donald trump. this evening will talk about his new book, the people versus donald trump and this riveting work of nonfiction. pomeranz tells the story of his unprecedented investigation, why he believes donald trump should be prosecuted, and what we can learn about the nature of justice in america from extraordinary case. mark will be in conversation session with robert costa. robert is the chief election and campaign correspond for cbs news where he covers national politics and american democracy. so everyone, let us welcome mark pomerantz and robert costa. i know much you all. it's great to be here. thanks very much. to politics and prose for hosting this conversation to. c-span audience and to everyone the neighborhood who stop by and mark. thank you for being here to discuss your new book a very in-depth look at this and ongoing investigation of former president donald

and i do not think from the conversations that we had that cyrus vance thought that that was going to happen. we all understood of course that the new regime would have two that the case -- to vet the case. the new district attorney would have to make the decision that he was comfortable with the case and proceed. and it did not quite happen the way that we hoped or anticipated. host: and you resigned eventually? mr. pomerantz: eventually, after it became clear that the district attorney was not going to authorize the prosecution on the record we had developed. host: here is what district attorney bragg has said on the record in recent days in a quote to reporters. we have an active ongoing investigation so i am constrained from what i can say but here is what i can say, i bring hard cases when they are ready. i came to the same conclusion that multiple senior prosecutors in my office independently came to and that was that mark pomerantz's case simply was not ready. your response? mr. pomerantz: well, i think it was ready, but apart from that dispute, which is a fact about which nobo

let's move on now to what cyrus vance said about the judge's reprimand to donald trump about his own invective, personalattacks. isn't that potentially very dangerous for donald trump. given that you know him very well, is he actually capable of holding back do you think? ~ ~' capable of holding back do you think? ~ ~ ., think? well, i think donald trump's manners and _ think? well, i think donald trump's manners and mannerisms - think? well, i think donald trump's manners and mannerisms are i think? well, i think donald trump's| manners and mannerisms are baked think? well, i think donald trump's i manners and mannerisms are baked in an everyone's mine. i think people would be shocked if all of a sudden he behaved with a certain amount of decorum. as your previous guest said, everyone in the world knows he marks the beat of a different drummer. and as he continues these frontal assaults against the judge, or thejudge's family, i think is normal bombast is expected. or the judge's family, i think is normal bombast is expected. hang on a minute, i would _ normal bombast is expected. h

cyrus vance jr had some advice for trump ahead of his arraignment. take listen. i've got to say that i was disturbed to hear the former president speak in the way he spoke about about the district attorney brag and even the trial court in the past week, i would be mindful of not committing some other criminal offense like obstruction of government administration, which is interfering with or, uh bikes by threat or otherwise, the operation of government and obviously, that's referring to trump's not so high opinion. i think it's fair to say, of manhattan manhattan district attorney alvin bragg and some of the judges involved here. what do you make of those comments? yeah, well, you know, remember cyrus vance was the previous d a from manhattan. and there's been a lot of, um, you know, criticism or uh, comments in the last couple of days from defenders of the former president, saying, if this case was so great, why didn't save ants bring it, so that's a big thing he was asked about, and what he's been saying is he did not because the justice department asked him to

, friedman agnifilo, former chief assistant da at manhattan da's office, a top aide to former d cyrus vances for joining us on this, karen. we appreciate it i think the overarchin thinking on this is, alvin bragg better have a pretty strong case if he is indicted, the former president of th united states. we are looking at what we have seen to be 34 counts are, so w don't know what those will be. what do you think about that notion and the prospect of the strength of this case? >> obviously, until we see the indictment, we know exactl what the charges are and the evidence supporting the charges, which we think we might have some indication of that when the charges are filed becaus there will be a statement of facts or a speaking indictment that is published because this is a case of great publi interest after that, many people will b able to comment further on the strength of the case let's just remember that thi was a case that was brought by the southern district agains michael cohen for exactly thes payments they certainly felt the case was strong enough to bring against michael cohen. t

what would be something different that cyrus vance jr. passed up on pursuing when he was dealing with this, when the federal election commission passed up pursuing this very case. so lo and behold, the 34 counts come out. i don't know what the the legal term is, but nothing burger comes to mind. what say you? >> neil, you do a good job playing a lawyer on tv. let me tell you. because your review of the document points out why it does seem like a nothing burger. it's 34 counts. but each time the prosecutor alleges that donald trump sent a check to michael cohen, he charges him four times for each check. you get the 34 counts really fast. but it's really only a one course of conduct that is just the 130,000 payment. broken up in to basically 11 different times, 11 different checks multiplied by two or three times each. we talked about this on the program earlier this week. last week. it's a big hole in this case. this indictment and the statement of facts that were released with it do nothing to fill that hole, which is how do you turn this

cyrus vance was asked, why did you declined to prosecute? why is alvin bragg prosecuting. he admitted it's never been done with regard to federal election law. the question is not so much why didn't i do it but why this d.a. is doing it. he said it requires us to be patient and wait. this process isn't going to be accelerated by us talking about it. as we reference the fact that the doj, fec, prior d.a. cyrus vance included an alvin bragg himself declined to prosecute, we have a prior prosecutor saying yeah, i actually don't know either. the world is waiting for not only the legal concept that this is based on but perhaps some reassurance that it's actually a bit stronger than from what we anticipate thus far is so flimsy. 34 counts of flimsy does not make it stronger. >> douglas: it is said, isn't it, "the new york post" reported that bragg might've been partly pushed into this by his former associate publishing his book. saying that bragg had dropped the ball on trump. bragg was kind of stunned by it and gets back into it. do you think there's something in it? >> emily:

i would say, um, because um, you know, the predecessors, cyrus vance, to alvin brag. um, it seemed was about to bring the case. everybody thought it was going to be brought, or at least something this domain was going to be brought. and then he suddenly retired. and there's been nonstop pressure not only from donald trump, of course, but from trump's, a supporters in adherence, and, and even from members of congress. the threats to album rang in the last we own, or who rendez, racist threats, threats that he's being a supported by george soros, anti semitic threats, therefore, and, and, and a picture that donald trump posted with himself with a baseball bat, next to the head of alvin brag so it, it's rather extraordinary that alvin bragg has the courage to go ahead and bring it at all a given the, the threats and lack of forthright support of from the justice department. the justice department should be out there making statements that given that the case has been wrought, whether they would have brought it at this moment or not that they will support alvin bragg and

question is, considering mueller was against this, the doj was against it, the fcc was against it, cyrus vance was against it and alvin bragg when he first took office seemed against it. my question now that bragg showed his great courage, is he going to get in the courtroom with you, joe? is he going to try this case start to finish? >> he will be in the courtroom. i think he will be about three or four rows back. when and if the bell rings in a trial in this case, i have a hunch he's going to be a spectator, not a participant. i agree with you. it would be the courageous thing to do when you do something so historic, so monumental bringing an indictment against the first former president in the history of this country. you know, you should try that yourself being you're the one pulling the strings. i can't imagine that happening. of course, i would welcome that. i can't imagine it happening, sean. >> sean: let's go through what day be like. the reports are you and the president will arrive. others will be there at 11:00 a.m. you'll be before a judge around 2:15. we know the president will be

a 17-year-old liaison with a porn star that this office, under the previous district attorney, cyrus vanceassed on, or paused on. the federal prosecutors similarly reviewed all of this evidence and decided not to prosecute. for this particular district attorney, alvin bragg, at this particular time to bring this specific action is farcical. these are chump charges. i broke with president trump over january 6th and his activities leading up to january 6th. i thought that what he did was un-american and very, very dangerous but that has been reviewed. this is not about that. they chose not to criminally charge him on that. he was impeached for that. i think now to have a local district attorney from the opposing political party in a place that is very, very unfair, the borough of manhattan for president trump where he is very, very unpopular to be tried before a jury, this is not a jury of his peers. this will be a jury of trump haters. i'm really very troubled by the fact that this is trivializing the criminal justice system. it is mashing it up with a bunch of politics and i, i think donal

cyrus vance, who preceded alvin bragg and it was vance's office that began this investigation.e, welcome to "meet the press". >> good morning, chuck. >> you began this campaign in 2018. i know you haven't read the indictment, but if you could perhaps help us sort out what does it look like the charges are going to be on tuesday morning? well, chuck, the truth is as you've already commented i haven't head the indictment and we've read a lot about what the indictment may be about, but i think we all have to sort of take a pause here and wait until the charges are released in court on tuesday, if the charges are exclusive he along the lines of the reporting before i came on, it will be a class e felony and there is an upward range and a downward range as you noted that involved no prison whatsoever. so that's what we have to wait and see, really only district attorney bragg knows what the evidence is and it's another thing we all have to be mindful of that we can speculate on what evidence we think they may or may not have, but even with the indictment published, we really will no

and secretaries of state like cyrus vance, who did not have close relationships with the presidents they served, failed as secretary. condi had a terrific relationship with george w bush. george shultz didn't really have a relationship with reagan when he became of state. haig flamed out. reagan invited him to come and be secretary of state. i forget in his roles previously in the nixon administration, he had been dealing with diplomatic and international issues in frequently yes, the treasury secretary's critical on various international economic issues. but george was not a deeply experienced diplomat. a special on national security issues. so he comes in and he does his all the speeches that reagan given, they're very harsh, belligerent, anti-soviet speeches. you remember some of the phrases the evil empire, communism end up on the ash heap of history. there were all of this very tough rhetoric. he was building up the defense budget, working very closely with caspar weinberger and with the scent of congress pumping tens and tens of billions of dollars into american defense. so george

it used to be cyrus vance jr. he kicked off the investigation into the hush payment.lvin bragg took over after his election, bragg backed off on the investigation, he got a lot of pushback, both from his own staff and the people who elected him. so, yeah, there's some politics there. i do want everyone to start that this is a local prosecution. president biden, the justice department, federal law enforcement have nothing to do with this case. in fact, biden has been avoiding talking about the entire subject. as far as security, new york seems ready. nobody is expecting the sort of january 6th scene. new york is ready. they've got 35,000 cops on standby and here is the mayor. >> while there may be some rebel rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple, control yourselves. new york city is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger. >> that's the mayor speaking yesterday about today. >> it will be a big day. and of course we're following it all. thank you very much. we'll continue to monitor the latest on president trump'

help understand joyce's excellent point, which is in her interview she was asking about that, and cyrus vance confirmed that when he left office, that the cases that he was doing, that they were investigating, the financial case into donald trump, this hush money case, were not ready, that they were still investigating. so you really get the sense that when d.a. bragg took over and said, you know what? he toll me the investigation, that year-plus period is one where they continued digging, as a good prosecutor would to make sure you've look at all witnesses and all possible documents. >> and a quick question to adam reiss who's now on the phone with us, our nbc producer. was there an outcome to the request for protective order to the judge? >> there was not while i was there, but i can brief you on what was said from both sides inside the courtroom if you like when i left there was no decision on the request by the prosecutors. >> yeah, go ahead, adam, tell us what happened. >> chris conroy, acting as prosecutor, talked about the 34 counts said this was in order to conceal a conspiracy and un

former manhattan distric attorney cyrus vance i breaking his silence on th indictment today, and he ipromises to hol current mta alvin brag accountable, whatever that means. congressman adam shift joins m with his reaction in just a fe minutes. at the same time, presiden biden is keeping his head down on the trump indictment. i will offer my advice on ho other democrats should handl the politics of this moment. and later, i don't think forme prosecutor andrew weissmann ha slipped in 72 hours, as he continues to break down all of this legal news across msnbc i paid angela visi

race in the wake of the indictment against him and meanwhile, former manhattan district attorney cyrus vancewarning he could face further trouble. vance is the man that began the investigation that led to donald trump's indictment and made the call as he called for a new judge to be appointed for his trial. >> tyler, thank you very much for the news update. coming up on the show, bank turmoil, inflation, and there have been a lot of headwinds for the market lately, but you wouldn't know it lkioong at the recent stock market rally. the question is will the rally last leon cooper mooman says no, but will debate it next. ♪♪ choosing miracle-ear was a great decision. like when i decided to host family movie nights. miracle-ear made it easy. i just booked an appointment and a certified hearing care professional evaluated my hearing loss and helped me find the right device calibrated to my unique hearing needs. now i enjoy every moment. the quiet ones and the loud ones. make a sound decision. call 1-800 miracle now, and book your free hearing evaluation. it's hard to run a business on your own. ma

for his tax and financial information, you might recall that he sued the then district attorney cyrus vance in manhattan federal court. that was a suit that made its way up and back to the supreme court twice before the d.a.'s office eventually got the information they had subpoenaed. to see it in reverse as d.a. bragg's office has done here is wh wholly novel as far as i know. let me bring in the argument from jordan hear david, i'll put this to you. he responded on twitter, the congressman arguing the suit is intended to, quote, block congressional oversight. is that how you see it >> well, no, not at all. foundationally what's happening is jim jordan and house republicans are desperate to pull this case into the court of public opinion, and what alvin bragg is saying is this case resides in a court of law, and there is no position for politicians to interfere and so he's asking for a judge's assistance look, jim jordan wants this to be about stormy daniels and about hush money, about the 2016 election, maybe even the 2024 election alvin bragg is saying we have charged the defendant in ma

represent manafort, he successfully represented him, getting state charges that were filed by then cyrus vance, the district attorney of manhattan dropped. he hat state charges including mortgage fraud and a dozen other charges dropped against paul manafort arguing it represented double jeopardy. you can't charge him with a state crime because he was also being charged with a similar crime in federal court. so you can understand why the former president would perhaps want somebody that is not on a top white collar attorney but somebody who successfully represented paul manafort, who was obviously in the former president's circle. this is somebody who not only represented and successfully argued it, but he's argued it in a way that is very similar to how trump's attorneys are arguing and defending the former president today. even then, todd blanche called the then da's prosecution of paul manafort a politically motivated attack. so again, you can see some similarities there. as of now, a new lead counsel hired by the former president today to defend him starting tomorrow. >> martha: very intere

>> i haven't heard a singl prosecutor, including cyru vance, former district attorney, say that that makes any sense. organized crime cases are wo by prosecutors and they put on as witnesses, people of lied and committed crimes michael cohen did live for ten years. but he owned those lies an went public in front of chairman cummings and national television he said i am ashamed of my lies, i'm telling the truth for my country and my children. and this is something that a jury will have to decide t weigh michael's credibility. i also already said if it is a problem with michael's credibility, it can be sur that he is backed up multipl times with documents, phon calls, emails. he is not his word for anything it is corroborating everything he says. >> are you at all concerne about threats of violenc directed towards michael cohen or perhaps even yourself a this case gets underway? >> so owed rather not answer that question. i'm told that people who are professionals, that yo encourage crazy people if yo they think you are concerned -- has already shown that he is willing to call him up t

the district attorney, cyrus vance.he initially opened this investigation into trump but did not bring charges society. there's so much to ask you about because, you know, i know you don't want to be a central figure in this, but of course you are and what you did and didn't do and why it is so important here, so when we go through the actual indictment 34 counts every one of them a felony related to falsifying business records. right it's one after the other. all that changes really is the date. is there anything in this indictment as you go through it that you did not expect to see uh, erin, first of all, thank you for having me on and it's good to see you. uh i think the indictment in one sense was as predicted it was a indictment containing counts around felony counts around false business records. elevated by the object of the misdemeanor crimes to affect the voting laws, either state or federal. what i did find different and where i differ from some of your excellent panelists that we're just on is i found that th

cyrus vance was against this. and even alvin bragg, when he first took office, seemed against this. my question is now the bragge showed his great courage. is he going to get in the courtroom with joe tacopina ? is he going to try this case, start to finish or he'll be in the courtroom? i think it'll be about three or four roads back . but when when and if the bell rings to trial in this case, i have a hunch he's going to be a spectator, not participant. >> you know, i agree with you. it would be the courageous thing to do when you're doing something so historic, so monumental. >> bringing an indictment against the first former president in the history of this country. you know, you should try that yourself, being that you're the one who's, you know, pulling the strings. but i can't imagine that happening. >> of course, i would welcome that, but i can't imagine it happening, sean. all right. let's go through what the day will be like tomorrow report so that you and the president will arrive. i assume others will be with the president at about 11:00 a.m. you'll be before a judge arou

cyrus vance jr in manhattan. didn't prosecute this case and now this district attorney after making a campaign promise is camp is problem is prosecuting this case. but didn't wasn't there a grand jury looking at this? you're not saying that the grand jury was no, i'm not saying the grand jury's political at all. i have a great deal of respect for grand jury investigations. the grand jury only receives the information and only is able to, uh, really decide for the information that is given by the prosecutor. there may have been one or two witnesses on behalf of president trump. but the defense attorneys are never gonna put their full case in front of a grand jury. the rules of justice don't apply. i'm sorry the rules of evidence don't apply and that the grand jury only finds probable cause it does not find proof beyond a reasonable doubt that's going to be left up. to a jury. if this case, in fact gets to a jury in manhattan when you were saying you would prefer to see federal prosecutors handled perhaps whatever

cyrus vance was the former manhattan district attorney now, obviously, that is elvin brags job.he was saying yesterday that cohen's credibility is more than what you've heard. his critics argue in recent days, so this is all going to come down to corroboration. prosecutors are very taken with corroboration because you never want to be in a position where you're asking a jury. to just take the word of a convicted criminal at face value. it's not at all abnormal to basic case on the testimony of a person who's been convicted of crimes. we say the jury's that's the only way we can take you inside crimes. so with michael cohen, it's all going to come down to do the other witnesses back him up. do the other documents back him up the cross examination of michael cohen, i think almost writes itself. he's a person who has been convicted of perjury of financial fraud, tax fraud. he hates donald trump with the heat of 1000 suns. he makes no sense. great. about that, and he has made prior inconsistent statements in his past. he has said there was nothing criminal here. on the other hand, t

in regards to what the other gentleman said earlier, the reason cyrus vance did not continue on with- hello? host: i am listening. go ahead. caller: the reason cyrus vance did not continue on with the prosecution of donald trump was because bill barr and donald trump told him to stop. and besides, it is the exact same charge about michael cohen was charged for, by donald trump and bill barr. so i definitely believe in the rule of law, and i am glad donald trump has been indicted. host: laura is next out of hampton, georgia, unsure about the rule of law in this country. why? caller: i am unsure about the rule of law because it depends on how much money you have, what is your status here in america. based on what i've seen throughout my life, people with money, it applies to them. now when 5 black and brown guys, the central park 5, donald trump put an ad out, saying the death penalty. and those guys were innocent. so it depends. how much money you have. thank you. host: turning back to the "globe and mail" column out of canada, this is part of what he writes in the column that came ov

federal prosecutors think it's too trivial for doj to touch >> well, and i was -- i worked for cyrus vance, and i was watching that yesterday. he said he was asked to stand down it's not trivial i said there are going to be people who say, it's just about the porn star case no, it is about someone who is going to become president and then becoming president, conspiring to promote his candidacy, to violate election law, to violate the federal election law and, yes, he's innocent until proven guilty, clearly but i agree with john, this is a statement i now in private practice to clients, when they ask me can i do something, i say well, the president of the united states was indicted for that, so no, you can't it is about, you know, being -- treating everyone without fear or favor people are saying, you're doing this trivial case, he's the former president as you said, you would have been indicted for it. it's a novel legal query but so what. it is a serious crime. 34 of them and look at the photos of mr. trump today and him coming into the courtroom. he looked sober and serious and reserved

pouring over stacks of evidence collected by his predecessor cyrus vance.avid road executive editor of new for new yorker.com and an msnbc contributor the author of indeed, the fbi, the cia, and the truth about americas deep state. david, great to see you. cy vance was talking to je psaki today, he was saying tha back when he was investigating the case and dropped, it he did so at the behest of the southern district of new york the federal prosecutor the southern district of new york at the time was under bil barr so, it's a case of michael cohen, an argument he's been making he makes it in his most recent book that the bar trump administration justice department was instrumental in this case not proceeding are this not going forward >> it was. one explanation that's come ou is that the problem is thi long-standing justic department opinion that the justice departmen itself cannot prosecute sitting president. yes, that i see and why, manhattan prosecutors they d that it's known as the sovereign district of new york there was an effort by barr to slow down t

staff went back to the drawing board pouring over stacks of evidenc collected by his predecessor cyrus vanceed hush money payments to the adult film star, stormy daniels and the rest you know, i history. joining us now is david rohde, executive editor of news for new yorker.com, and an msnbc contributor. he's also author of the book indeed, the fbi, the cia, an the truth about america's deep state. david, good to see you cy vance was talking to je psaki today. and he was saying that bac when he was investigating this case, and dropped it, he did s at the behest of the souther district of new york, th federal prosecutors. the southern district of new york at the time was under bil barr so, it's a case that michael cohen, it's an argument he's been making, he makes it in hi most recent book, that the bor trump administration justice department was instrumental in this case not proceeding, or this not going forward >> it was. one explanation that has com out is the problem is this long-standing justic department opinion that th justice department itsel cannot prosecute a sitting president. so,

we are stuck on this problem, listen to cyrus vance from sunday, they got involved and they said we wille over. that's where drops in new york. i would like to see the quotation were bragg said he was going after trump for this. we already know they have the trump organization nailed down. the ceo cannot be insulated, that's not how companies like that work. all this is proof. these maga people, i know if they hear and i know it they down here. rupert murdoch has admitted that fox wanted money in lieu of the truth. host: we will hear from our guest. guest: let's start with the first point which is that trump is all about delay in these cases. there is ample evidence to suggest that is true. he does everything he possibly can to throw sand in the gears but this is someone who has been under investigation on and off both for his business practices before he was in public office and throughout his entire presidency and post-presidency for decades and decades. he is experienced at being under investigation. the irony is that while the manhattan d.a. is going to be first out of the gate with

we are stuck on this problem, listen to cyrus vance from sunday, they got involved and they said we wille over. that's where drops in new york. i would like to see the quotation were bragg said he was going after trump for this. we already know they have the trump organization nailed down. the ceo cannot be insulated, that's not how companies like that work. all this is proof. these maga people, i know if they hear and i know it they down here. rupert murdoch has admitted that fox wanted money in lieu of the truth. host: we will hear from our guest. guest: let's start with the first point which is that trump is all about delay in these cases. there is ample evidence to suggest that is true. he does everything he possibly can to throw sand in the gears but this is someone who has been under investigation on and off both for his business practices before he was in public office and throughout his entire presidency and post-presidency for decades and decades. he is experienced at being under investigation. the irony is that while the manhattan d.a. is going to be first out of the gate with

alvin bragg's predecessor , cyrus alvin bragg's predecessor, cyrus vance, also passed on bringing theseto ask, why now ? d.a. who's brought ask, why now? d.a. who's brought it to the aptly named bragg, he is, of course, a member of the democratic party. he's a political appointment. and he has a political ambition all of his own. jennifer absolutely . of his own. jennifer absolutely. of course he doesn't . depending on course he doesn't. depending on who you listen to, he sort of ran on the on the precipice of i've tried, you know , so many i've tried, you know, so many cases against the trump family and i'll get him that sort of thing. so he was he was very clear in his motivations with regards to how he feels about former president trump . you're former president trump. you're a republican. do you think this is damaging the republican party internationally? turn it into , internationally? turn it into, frankly, a bit of a laughing stock, a circus, even . well, stock, a circus, even. well, it's definitely a circus. that's true . but i'm not sure it's the true. but i'm not sure it's the

alright former district attorney cyrus vance. thank you so much really appreciate your time.e thank you very much. now it's funny. this our cnn senior political analyst gloria borger, gloria, what's your reaction to what happened today and then the strength of this case? well i think earlier on in the day, as donald trump himself said in his speech tonight that this indictment was muted in the legal community, to say the least. and then this evening, so he goes into this evening at mar-a-lago. with a little bit of wind. it is back. and what does he do? he turns it upside down. he just took the momentum. i think he may have had and blew it with this speech that he gave , which was not about how he had been vindicated. or you know how this indictment was wrong, which he talked about a little bit, but instead he goes to russia, russia, russia ukraine impeachment hoax number one impeachment hoax number two the illegal rate on mar-a-lago, the fbi and the and the doj, relentlessly pursuing republicans and on and on lots of the american public has sort of turned off on the you know