elliot williams, tell me if you think this is wrong. donald trump, like any defendant, deserves a good legal team. his new legal team or additions deserve the time to go through what is a very complicated case. we know it's complicate d. we know there's weeks if not months of discovery. is this to get lawyers who are in the florida bar who can walk into that courthouse wout having to file papers? or i need more time. let's delay this. and it runs until after the november 2024 election. >> it could be all of the above, john. the most important thing to recognize here is to set aside the fact that it's a former president of the united states or the politics. these are simply complicated charges based on the ones we have heard about in bodies of law that aren't litigated that often. and nurl two, aren't litigated in the context of high elected officials or foreign presidents of the united states. you need people not just admitted in florida to act pras, but you need people who understand some of the things of how documents are classified a

. >>> with us is cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, elliot williams. romans, and kate, they were just talking about the policy, whether it was good policy, or what the policy would do. the supreme court justices shouldn't be focused on that. they should be focused on whether it's a legal policy. it's a two-step consideration. >> it's always a two-step consideration. there's something known as standing, which is the person who was wronged by an action is the one who can sue. for instance, if you and sara sidner are having a dispute. >> never. >> never, but i can't join a lawsuit on her behalf or sue you because she's my favorite an sor -- an anchor on cnn news central. she has to sue you. the problem in this matter is it's not clear who has sitting. the supreme court grappled with this in oral argument. a bunch of states sued the bilden admbiden administration, but the loan service providers didn't. they could make this going away saying the wrong party is suing here. >> missouri is suing saying there are loan servicers in our state are wronged here. bu

elliot williams, geoff duncan. thanks so much to both of you.nna. >>> up next, police just released body cam video from that mass shooting last month at a texas outlet mall. we'll have that ahead. this is your summer to smile. to raise your glass and reconnect. to reel in the fun and serve up great times. toelp you get ready your aspen dentateam is celebrating 25 years of affordab care with an epic summer of smiles event. rit now, new patients without insurance get a free full exam and x-rays. plus, everyone can get 20% off their treatment plan. but hurry, because while these summer savings won't last, the memories you make together will. aspen dental. book today. >> woman: why did i choose safelite? i love my electric car, so when my windshield got cracked, i trusted the experts at safelite. with their state-of-the-art technology, they replaced the windshield, recalibrated the car's camera, and then recycled my old glass. i found out safelite recycles over three million windshields a year. great job! >> tech: thank you! >> woman: replace, recal

paula reid is here with me in washington along with elliot williams. kaitlan collins, let me start with you. we reported yesterday that prosecutors have this audio recording of donald trump talking about having a classified document, saying, on that audio recording, that he wishes he could share it but he knows he can't, which is important. now, in this new reporting, you and your colleagues, number one, is a trump aide, margot martin, who goes before the grand jury, they have an audiorecording, and after her testimony, they send a subpoena to trump attorneys. walk us through the significance of this. >> yeah, so, mario martin, who is a former white house press aide who followed trump and works in his post-presidency office down in mar-a-lago went before investigators back in mid-march, he was there when she testified they played this audio recording that we broke the reporting on for her. we are told that shortly after she left, that is when prosecutors sent a subpoena asking for any and all documents related to general mark milley, the chairman of th

evan perez and former federal prosecutor elliot williams is with us and cnn political analyst and senior political correspondent for the "new york times" maggie haberman. paula reid back with us. i want to read part of this tryptophan. quote, as president i could have declassified but now i can't. perhaps the most stunning line of all of this. kaitlan collins, to you for your thoughts given you were a key part of this team that broke the original reporting. do you expect that that would be a key part when this indictment is unsealed? everyone will be looking for was this tape a key part of it because this was again about iran, this was about a key national security issue. >> yeah. and it completely undercuts everything that trump and his legal team said publicly about the powers he had after leaving office or what he could do with the documents. that is one of those damning lines of this transcript that we reported on. there is a reason this tape caused so much consternation in trump's legal team. they didn't learn about it all that long ago. it was in march when this recording was playe

. >>> here to help us is david chalian, elliot williams and cnn's paula reid. a lot to digest. paula, i want to start with you. you have done so much extensive reporting on this story. before i do, i want to play for our viewers and for you what donald trump said to brett bear about that particular that we have him on tape talking about. >> you were recorded saying that you had a document detailing a plan of attack on another country prepared by the u.s. military prea paired for you. you remember that? >> it wasn't a document. i had lots of paper. i had copies of newspaper articles, copies of magazines. there was no document. >> well, he said in that audio recording, this is a classified document. i can't declassify it because i'm not president anymore. but more than that, i think the context about what the grand jury heard about corroborating evidence is important. >> you mic a great point. he's arguing i didn't have the document. hi a pile of papers. you hear papers shuffle ing. one of the key quotes from the recording not previously disclosed is that he says, these are the p

we want to get into that with former federal prosecutor and former deputy assistant general elliot williams, author, and cnn political commentator, columnist and host of the you decide podcast errol louis. i want to start with you on that idea president biden saying this is not a normal court. i asked secretary johnson about that, to some degree, if you read what they've done, it follows what conservative legal scholars have been laying out aspirationally for decades, now they're doing it, why does it make it not normal? >> i think that the last term of the court, you know, leading up to the dobbs decision, i think you could say that was abnormal in a lot of ways including they made this very high-profile decision that went against public opinion. this term the court has charted a much more moderate course. you've seen a lot of splits not the typical 6-3 you would see. and this decision, it's similar to dobbs and there is a significant shift in the court's jurisprudence. the not similar to dobbs. this is in line with public opinion. >> we can show the polling here because it's pew and 50% o

. >> richard, holger thought, i also want to bring in elliot williams with me in studio, one of our legal experts, what do you think of that argument richard makes, and that president biden touched on? >> i think it is undeniable that income, and one's access to wealth early in life has some impact on where a person might go later on. something we are not talking -- there's a couple things we are not talking about in this discussion which is, number one, first-generation students going to college, even setting aside the question of the family's wealth, so much can be done to improve diversity on college campuses by bringing in first-generation students whose parents did not go to college in the first place. the other thing lost today, allison, and this is important, is what this means for gender, which is, if you consider the fact that we can stipulate that colleges and universities are going to get less divers on a racial level in the coming year or two or however long it is, consider that -- i think it is two thirds of the black students on college campuses, now, art women. and, if you

back with me tonight john miller, elliot williams, scott jennings and mondaire jones? a tough road for republicans. we've seen what others will say but that was the 2024 race. pence knew trump well and how how he operated. this is what he said tonight. >> i'm deeply troubled to see this indictment move forward. believing it will only further divide our nation, a time when american families are facing real hardship at home. and real peril abroad. first let me be clear, no one is above the law. secondly, it is important to note from my years ras -- as your vice president and servingen 0 the international relations committee in the congress of the united states, the handling of classified materials of the united states is a serious matter. >> how does he say those two things but also say the indictment is deeply troubling? >> i know. i mean, he said to danger that bash this shouldn't move forward right after saying we have to uphold the constitution and rule of law. today he says classified information is very important and, yet, i'm troubled by -- this is the amazing dua

joining me no share their insights is paula reid, kristin holmes and elliot williams. let's start with this bizarre. it's a resort. donald trump lives a the a resort with a swimming pool. the pool is drained. waters flood into the server room and prosecutors get suspicious because they have had reason to be suspicious about moving documents. the same maintenance worker who drained the pool was part of another incident. >> an interesting story that raises serious questions about obstruction you have most of the facts correct. it flooded this area where footage was kept. at this point, there's no indication this was intentional. it does not appear the footage damaged. this video has been a key piece of evidence in it this investigation. there's been requests, subpoenas for the surveillance footage as investigators look at questions of whether there has been effort to move potentially even hide boxes of documents. we know before the grand jury, witnesses, including the head of security for the trump organization, that would be in charge of monitoring the security cameras,

former federal prosecutor elliot williams. scott jennings who worked in the george w.democratic congressman mondera jones. you heard clapper talking about the fact that this compromise potentially of intelligence that is shared only among a select few nations, including the united states, that was just spilled on the floor, which they learned from these text messages -- trump is running to be the commander in chief again. to be running. what do you think allies think when they're reading this indictment? >> i think they would be horrified, looking at those pictures. and when you consider in the proper handling of those exact same documents that were on the stage, in the bathroom, falling out of the box on the floor with the guitar against the wall, these why documents where you had to go into a lead-lined room, hap an authorized security officer open a safe, take out a cover sheet -- these are places where you weren't allowed to bring a cell phone into the room or the building, anything that could signal in or out or take a picture. then you look at how they're strewn

. >> in baseball is the very contained and careful elliot williams, the prosecutor who isn't going tooutside of the lane or be hyperbolic. does exactly that. and that's why we love sport. >> just putting it out there. god is a yankee fan. i don't make the rules, phil, i don't. >> this is fun. >> it's a great story. thanks so much, appreciate it. >>> the u.s. coast guard making a grim discovery, fiending huma remains amid the wreckage. >>> and vladimir putin speaking in moscow this morning as questions remain about the whereabouts of one of his top generals following that revolt against the kremlin. that's coming up next. stay with us. sensodyne sensitivity gum & enamel relieves sensitivity, helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of recommending things that i know work. this is a piece of string. doesn't seem like much - unless it's a strand of mrna. then it has the power to change everything. mrna has already changed how we fight viruses. it has created medicines at unprecedented speed. it could even individualize how we approach cancer. ♪ and the company t

elliot williams, so is all this a sign, the fact they've got to deal with these highly classified top secret documents a sign of how complicated this entire case could wind up being? >> absolutely, wolf. what's it's a sign of is there are really two important interests at stake here that come in conflict with each other. number one, as a defendant the president is entitled to a free, fair, and open trial to the public. as americans we are entitled to keep our national security information protected and secret. and that's going to be intentioned throughout this trial. think about all the things these presents. number one, who are the attorneys looking at it? number two, who are the people looking at it? and how do you put it in front of a jury, these are just ordinary krdss. today's ruling from judge cannon was kind of a gimme because they had to get security clearances from the attorneys to make this even a trial in the first place. >> they kind of laid it out in the indictment in a vague way, didn't they? showing a map, talking about a so-called war plan. they in a vague way can a la

elliot williams, what do you make of the details we're learning from what happened inside the courtroom>> the details are -- demonstrate that it played out exactly as initial appearances almost always play out in courts across the country, wolf. the defendant comes in, is advised of his rights, is given an opportunity to plead guilty, and the conditions of his release were set. what was striking was that the justice department did not oppose having donald trump and walt nauta sort of released to the public, because it's an obvious statement that the most famous person probably on the planet is not a flight risk. and i think it did not benefit -- it would not have benefited the justice department to dig in and say they needed to lock the former president up in a cell while he was pending trial. so this was as straightforward as a legal proceeding is. there will be time for the big fights, the political fights, and the legal ones that are complicated. but these initial appearances are often quite simple. >> kerry cordero, the former president was told he can't discuss the case with his co

astead herndon, elliot williams, thank you both. >> thank you. >> coming up, more of what astead was to there that is backed up by new cnn polling. president trump in the past has proven impervious to scandals. but the question is is that the case now. we'll tell you what the new polling shows us ahead. i think this is it guys? when the martins booked their vrbo vacation home, they really weren't looking for much: a patch of grass for bruno, a pool for first-timers, don't worry, i've got you. and time with each other. and when they needed support, someone was right there. i got you. because what's unique about a vrbo is you can reach a real person in about a minute. ♪ narrator: it's called, “shared leadership.” driven by each community in a groundbreaking setting: california's community schools. where parents and families, students and educators, make decisions as one. creating the school and shaping futures - together. based on the needs of their students... ...steeped in local culture. curriculum from cyber security to gardening. and assisting families with their needs: wellness ce

joining us right now cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor elliot williams and mary schiavo analyst and former inspector general at the department of transportation. mary, the first step -- a first step here, because a lot of things happen at the same time is figuring out what exactly happened. who has the authority and how long do you think that will take? >> well, i think that, yeah, in terms of the authority, the coast guard, although they usually are in search and rescue and recovery, they are staying on site to do more investigation and they do have the ability to do that, to investigate, but of course a lot -- the development, investigation, what laws applied -- [ inaudible ] -- which was involved in the company. >> mary, we're going to work on your audio, i think there is a hiccup in your audio we're going to try to fix. elliott, there are two possible avenues here when you look at the liability, you have criminal liability and you have civil action, what could you see happening here? >> i think possibly both, kate. so what anything is going to come down to is this qu

i want to dig deeper with our legal and political experts standing by, elliot williams, let me start with you. how critical is the testimony before this grand jury? >> it's very critical, wolf. for a big reason, let's look at the role that mark meadows would have played in the trump white house. as chief of staff he would have had access. so look at the two different inquiries. to the extent that he can provide insight as to january 6th, he could talk about what the president said, what the president knew, did the president ever convey that he knew he lost the election? what was in the president's mind? what was his state of mind around the statements he made on january 6th and other, you know, activity there so plenty to be gleaned from him there. with respect to documents, it's an entirely separate investigation but he could also provide insight into what did the president know was being packed up in boxes on the final days of the administration and being sent down to mar-a-lago, what did the president say about his right to declassify documents or that he knew was in his possessio

back with me tonight, john miller, elliot williams, scott jen jennings, and mondaire jones.is a tough road for republicans. we've seen what other republicans are going to say, but those are the 2024 race. pence knew trump very well, saw how he operated with classified information. this is what he said tonight. >> i'm deeply troubled to see this indictment move forward, believing it will only further divide our nation at a time that american families are facing real hardship at home and really peril abroad. first let me be clear. no one is above the law. secondly, it is important to note from my years as your vice president and also my years serving on the international relations committee in the congress of the united states, the handling of classified materials of the united states is a serious matter. >> how does he say those two things but also say the indictment is deeply troubling? >> i know. i mean he said to dana bash the other night this indictment shouldn't move forward right after saying we have to uphold the constitution and the rule of law. today he says classifi

. >> with me, ryan goodman, elliot williams, and scott jennings.nk you very much for all of you for being with me. trump's team is preparing for an indictment and ty cobb saying it could come as early as this week, and caitlin said lead prosecution team was seen leaving the courthouse in miami today. so is this imminent? >> it sure seems imminent and there are no reporting that there's been witnesses before the grand jury today, and it's consistent that they might be presenting the final sum magsz for an indictment to agree to or not, so i think we're that close. >> elliot, in florida, a couple of weeks ago it wasn't the center of the conversation and now it is very much the center of the conversation that this could happen there. so do you think that that is better or worse for the prosecution? >> it's different for the prosecution and it all depends on where different crimes were alleged to have been committed. retention is different from possession is different from obstruction and is different from destroying a document and those might have hap

we've got legal analyst elliot williams, former federal prosecutor.s a former trump white house press secretary. cnn national security analyst juliette kayyem, and former republican congressman denver riggleman, who was an adviser to the house january 6th committee. denver, welcome to the program. >> hi. >> i'll start with you on all of this. this is really, i think, we thought january 6th was a pivotal moment, right. we haven't even gotten to the federal investigation into that. but this is a pivotal moment because of the seriousness of the charges against trump. when you look at the array of things that he could be facing from a legal perspective, how much worse do you really think this can get? >> i think it can always get worse. i still think january 6th on the way, when they're starting to look at january 6th, i think the classified documents debacle is awful. but i still think when we look at happen had on january 6th, it's going to get worse. what amazing me is in my background in counterterrorism, national security agency, i was talking to ell