paula hancocks, arlette saenz and jeff zeleny, thank you very much for joining us.re seeing the pictures and we will bring you the ceremony as it happens. >> it looks like it will be under way shortly. you see the secretary of state coming out and the treasury secretary all coming out. you can see this is going to be getting under way very shortly. >> very soon, kate. they don't let the vice president wait too long. once she's out there i expect to see the president of the united states and the president of south korea very soon. this just in to cnn. two united airlines flights departed from houston and one is suspected to have been a bird strike. all of this is happening as the acting head of the aviation administration is facing tough questions as the agency deals with all kinds of issues, including in-flight violence and several near misses on runways and cnn's pete muntean is in washington with all of this. these close calls, pete, today what are you learning about that? >> let's talk about the close calls and the bird strikes. >> explain to me the bird strikes.

jeff zeleny. um.ou know, we talked about this earlier about how gerrymandering leads to extremism. uh democrats or republicans running rough shot over their opposition. but this is a rather stark example with a supermajority just expelling three representatives for disruptive behavior on the floor of the house. and as as we have discussed, um we have seen disruptive behavior on the floor of the house of representatives, the u. s house of representatives. democrats being disruptive republicans being disruptive it has as far as i can tell, never not in the modern era ever resulted in expulsion, or even kicking people off their committees. this is a this is just by its own definition. this is an extreme, take extreme action by the republican supermajority in the state legislature without a doubt, and it's just an example of just how broken american politics are, and it was a four words that those three legislators were saying over and over. no action, no peace. by worldwide standards. i mean, on the floo

so we await that and as we do, i want to go to jeff zeleny outside trump tower. and jeff. as i said, you've got some new reporting. what are you learning? erin. we're learning that the former president after he arrived here at trump tower, he spent some time meeting with his political advisors and his legal advisers as well. and of course we are on the eve of a very historic moment for him, but a first for donald trump, appearing in that manhattan courtroom, and i am told that his advisers hope i should emphasize hope that he deploys a two pronged strategy one in the court of law tomorrow. they do not want him to speak at all. really here in new york publicly, they want him to wait and save his comments for tomorrow evening in mar-a-lago. this really speaks to a two pronged strategy that they hope he will employ over the next several months. perhaps even longer than that, as this legal case proceeds as his campaign proceeds as well on the campaign trail. yes he can unleash some of the vitriol that he's been doing, but in the court of law here in the courtroom. they hope th

jeff zeleny appreciate it.hank you, just ahead of grand jury today declined to indict eight akron, ohio police officers involved in the fatal shooting about 25 year old black man last year. details of the case and what his family has to say about the jury's ruling and later we've told you about the thousands of ukrainian children taken to russia. russian controlled crimea tonight. some of those children recently reunited with their families and payton. walsh has the reunion from ukraine just ahead. for the life you're making. he has it. the self set up featuring google nest products. now you can easily install your system that's backed by 24 7. monitoring 18 long term contracts have fun, so you have no worries brought to you by a d t for over 45 years has taken a toll on my body i take, you know turmeric because it helps with healthy joints and inflammation. support like you know, has superior absorption compared to regular turmeric. you know the brand. i trust how to grow more vibrant flowers. step one. feed t

jeff zeleny appreciate it. thank you , just ahead of grand jury today declined to indict eight akron, ohio police officers involved in the fatal shooting about 25 year old black man last year. details of the case and what his family has to say about the jury's ruling and later we've told you about the thousands of ukrainian children taken to russia. russian controlled crimea tonight. some of those children recently reunited with their families stands. nick paton walsh has the reunion from ukraine just ahead. what will you do? will you make somethinig better? create something new. our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise. you need to bring out the innovator in you. how to grow more vibra flowers. step one. feed them with miracle gro , shake and feed. that's it. miracle gro, you need to know to grow. nicorette knows quitting. smoking is freaking hard. you get advice, like, just stop. go for a run. go for 10 runs run a marathon. instead start small with nicorette, which can lead

i also want to bring in our chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny, who's watching this very , very closely, jeff. how your reaction first of all to what? we just heard. well, look, it's extraordinary, really the speed in which the nashville council unanimously sent former representative jones back to his seat temporarily. this is a two step process. he's going to have to run for his seat again, but wolf what it shows is that he now is something of a hero to the gun control movement to youth activists, of course in tennessee, but indeed across the country as well, so it really raises the question of what was this all for anyway? what did the speaker of the tennessee house and his fellow republicans do last week and was that in the best interest in their best interest? it's certainly has not moved forward the conversation. about. this epidemic of gun violence in the country in neighboring kentucky. we saw again today. of course, another shooting. so this, of course, the politics of this are very important. it shows that the youth activism is alive and well , and this movement

yeah jeff zeleny. and when i was doing the math yesterday, the idea that it's been eight years since he announced that he was running for president the first time that he actually did indeed run for office. it's just notable to see how this story specifically has followed him when he was at the end of his campaign during his time in the white house and now is an ex president launching a third presidential run. well yesterday he arrived on fifth avenue, and now he will be leaving departing this avenue to go down to 100 center street, sending in the middle of fifth avenue or at least sleeping there overnight. he's going to face accountability now. just hours from now. donald trump set to turn himself in and become the first ex president in american history to face criminal charges. right now, he is at trump tower, as i said on fifth avenue as he prepares for his arraignment in manhattan this afternoon. just a breakdown right now what to expect today, the court hearing is set to happen in two o'clock hour

jeff zeleny, cnn, boston.lorida has expanded the reach of its so called don't say gay law now lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity can no longer be taught to students through high school. the ban had previously only affected younger grades. but on wednesday, the state board of education extended it through 12th grade. classes that teach about health or reproductive systems are the only exception. teachers who violate the new state policy could be suspended or have their teaching licenses revoked. and oklahoma county commissioner has resigned over a secretly recorded conversation that appears to include him talking about lynching black people and killing journalists. mark jennings resignation comes after days of protests. angry residents have also been demanding that several other officials who allegedly participated in the conversation stepped down as well, including the local sheriff. here's a portion of the audio. the commissioner who just resigned is said to be speaker. one. tell you something

but i'd be concerned if i were in his camp. >> you know, jeff zeleny, desantis' legislative allies inlorida, he's in jerusalem, israel, right now. they've advanced a bill barring requests for records about desantis' travel, a move which appears to be an attempt to protect desantis from negative news stories or opposition research. so much for being -- being the sunshine state, shall we say. >> without a doubt. as david was saying, and you're right, these proposed laws which of course will pass because he controls the florida legislature are designed to sort of mask his travel and not have -- florida famously has some of the most open public records in the country, and this would change that. the reason that this is under way is because donald trump and others have been sort of going after him, pointing out to florida voters and others, voters elsewhere, how much he's been out of the state. in fact, he's out of the state or the country in this case more than he's been in the office in tallahassee. look, this is not going to strengthen a potential presidential bid. this may sort of keep

students chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny is live outside trump tower. jeff obviously, we have a sense of what today is going to look like i heard, one of trump's attorneys said yesterday. they hope it all goes smoothly. what are you expecting to see? well. good morning. kaitlin former president donald trump. he did spend the night here at trump tower. but today is going to do something that he has never done in all of his years that is surrender to the manhattan district attorney's office today is going to unfold actually, pretty on schedule. at least that's what his advisers say he'll stop at the district attorney's office will go to an arraignment. this proceeding is only scheduled to last but perhaps five or 10 minutes, and then he's scheduled to leave town, but the what happens in that short period time will certainly carry with him. throughout his presidential campaign. he does arrive here in new york as the leading republican presidential candidate. of course that hangs over all of this, but for all the spectacle that unfolded yesterday and is like

cnn's jeff zeleny has more on rfk jr is just launched campaign.t was a political rally steeped in kennedy family history with one critical missing piece, most of the storied kennedy family today in boston as he announced a long shot presidential bid going to take back this country with your help, robert f. kennedy jr evoked images of his father and uncle, as he bluntly acknowledged his siblings with she wouldn't be launching a campaign to challenge president biden. there are other members of my family who are not here today with the famous political name plunged. to the fringe of today's politics, railing against the safety of vaccines and what he calls corrupt corporate power in america. many of them also just just plain disagree with me on issues like the censorship. on war on public health and they aren't hideout to their beliefs and i respect their opinions on them. and i love them back of bobby and ethel kennedy, who once led crusades to clean up the hudson and other rivers. but in recent years he's ventured deep into conspiracy theories, dra

jeff zeleny reporting for us, jeff thank you very much right now. i want to bring in our legal, political and security experts for more analysis than katelyn polantz. you've covered former president trump for a long time. he and his team view this truly historic moment, returning to his native new york city to turn himself in tomorrow. yeah i think publicly. you're obviously seeing a lot of bravado coming from trump shortly before he took off from palm beach to fly here to new york. he was tweeting that this or he was posting on truth social, that this was a witch hunt. proof that the country was quote going to hell, the once great country that's what he wrote on truth social. he's using this also to energize his base wolf because his political advisors as they were flying up here, we're tweeting that they have raised some $7 million, according to their claims. i should note not some ftc report that we have seen some seven million dollars , though since thursday night when word of this indictment came down, so certainly using it to try to energize h

time, he has always jumped into those debates, because that tv time is too tempting for him. >> jeff zeleny, thank you so, much appreciate your perspective on all this. kaitlan collins, cnn political correspondent anchor abby philip, cnn contributor -- remarkable biography of the president and his latest book is on a deep division of the u.s. societal while land the making of america's fury. what are you hearing, caitlin, from the biden campaign about the road ahead? >> i think it is not going to look that if it in terms of what biden is doing day-by-day, initially, they pointed to what president obama did when he announced he was running for reelection. he was not out of the campaign trail every day. it will use white house events to really showcase that. he is never going to be holding any kind of rallies like what you have seen, former president trump, where he's expected to do going forward. one thing this announcement today does help in what they are looking for to doing is fundraising. that is going to be a key component of this. they have been questions of what he's going to announce

cnn's jeff zeleny is live outside trump tower as security swells around lower manhattan. jeff mere, adams was very pointed and specifically called out, congresswoman. um uh, marjorie taylor green, who is also a conspiracy theorist. um she basically has said she was going to take to the script to the street and the mayor said look if you're coming here. you better behave but that the security apparatus is ready for whatever happens. what are you seeing out there? well, sarah, we can say here at trump tower, it is business as usual in manhattan. people are going to work. tourists are walking by trump tower that you can see behind me here, but really the only spectacle that's been created so far is indeed a media spectacle, dozens and dozens of cameras from all across the world here, but importantly inside trump tower is what the former president is doing. i'm told he's huddling with his advisers. he met with his lawyers last evening. and of course, there is one thing above all that he wants to learn. what exactly are the criminal charges against him? what will he be facing h

since jeff zeleny has been following this race very closely, jeff.ean these these results i don't everyone's watching trump's speech last night, but everyone else is also keeping an eye on what was happening in wisconsin because the implications of this aren't just from abortion they could span for the next 10. years of what wisconsin looks like when it comes to their politics. there's no doubt about it katelyn polantz because donald trump, of course, only lost to joe biden by 20,000 votes in the state of wisconsin and the state supreme court had a case before it to look at those results, and only by one vote. do they come close to overturning those results that was at the center of this race as well, but it was abortion rights that really was driving. voters were told we were out there a couple weeks ago, talking to so many voters and politicians on both sides and the estate. reverted back to an 18 49 law that effectively ban abortion in nearly all cases after that, dobbs decision last year, so this is one more example as we saw in the midterm elect

cnn chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny isn't cedar rapids, iowa. so, jeff, you have made many visits to iowa recently. how in your opinion, would a scott candidacy be received by voters there? well, there's no doubt that senator tim scott is viewed very favorably by many republicans, many of them like his his strong faith connection . they like his deeply conservative voting record, and the fact that he speaks with an optimistic tone calling for more unity than divisiveness that rings true, too many republicans who are looking for a change to turn the page from the former president, but it's far from certain whether this is the majority or the base of the party. i mean, we've seen the base of this party react again and again to donald trump, and he has consolidated the base of the party. so in some respects, they liked senator scott, but they're not yet seen him as a presidential candidate. so the big question here is the senator really going to draw a distinction with the front runner? who is unquestionably donald trump? so, yes, there's respect an

cnn's jeff zeleny has been tracking all of this. and jeff there were questions about whether president biden may face a democratic rival in a potential reelection bid. i bet this is not what he expected. certainly not being challenged by kennedy, boris, but i can tell you for an hour and 48 minutes long. robert f. kennedy jr. who is the third eldest child of bobby and ethel kennedy, spoke here in boston, largely talking about vaccinations what he calls a corrupt american greed, and he promised to be a truth teller. but he did not correct any of his mistress city has been really gaining prominence on for years talking about the safety and security of vaccines. but he did take note of the fact that the majority of his family was not on hand for this announcement. take a listen to how he characterized that. i'm very, very grateful to all of you for coming. there are other members of my family who are not here today. many of them also just just plain disagree with me on the issues like the censorship. on war on public health and they are

cnn's jeff zeleny is stationed there and jeff we've been talking about the legal implications for donaldrump today, and they are they are immense. but that's not the only implication for him today because, of course there is politics. john without a doubt and now and forever as long as he is a republican presidential candidate, or perhaps the party's nominee. we're going forward. these two paths are completely linked the legal path and the political path we know that the former president has essentially frozen this republican presidential race into place. i've been talking with advisers from some of his rival candidates. yes they're lamenting the fact that there's no oxygen left for them to make their own cases. but they've also had to sort of rally behind him. and against this criminal indictment. we will see how long that lasts, of course, but the politics of this are very immense. it's part of the unprecedented nature of all this, but we should point out. this is one of the very reasons that the former president wanted to announce his candidacy so early. last fall, he knew these poten

jeff zeleny. thank you very much. and now joining us is cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor jennifer rogers. so jennifer, unlike the georgia investigation, the doj special counsel probes what is at play here in this manhattan indictment is conduct that occurred before trump was president. but interestingly, in the statement of facts that came along with this indictment they also talked about conduct when he was president, including that meeting that he had with michael cohen from the white house about the payment scheme and also another, you know, post post presidential meeting with david pecker from am i thanking him for helping him in an invitation to the inauguration and an invitation to the white house for dinner. it also to thank david pecker for helping trump killed those stories. what does that say to you? from a legal perspective? does it change the nature of the case or the strength of the case in your mind? there's a couple of things, abby. one thing is that extends the time period of the crimina

jeff zeleny. i want to go to you. first. were just in wisconsin covering this supreme court race. what is this liberal victory mean for 2024? practically it means for 2020 for the rules of the actual election. how you vote could be different. this is what i mean by that simple things like um, where you drop off your early ballots like drop off boxes have been outlawed in wisconsin. they have changed the laws of how you vote there, so the supreme court is likely to hear cases about the mechanics of voting. but more interestingly, when you look at the results of last night, it was, uh you know, this was driven by abortion rights. no doubt. we saw it last year in the midterm elections. this was driving this as well. but if you look in the suburban counties around milwaukee, the wow counties. we call them the three counties around milwaukee that used to be republican strongholds. not any longer. they still win there. but the 30 point victory by mitt romney just a decade ago. now it's only about a three point victory from republi

jeff zeleny, cnn washington. alright stormy politics and storms on the green coming up round two of the masters, it still has resumed after play was halted yesterday because of heavy rain, wind and down trees along the course. and tiger woods. guess what? he just made. the cut will go there live next. hey just just a number and mine's unlisted boost high protein 20 g of protein for muscle health versus 1 16 g and ensure high protein boost high protein now available in cinnabon bakery inspired flavor learn more boost .com slash tv. what's this car collection at america's st, wow, azing styl and unbelievable prices. now that'suite the duoet two pairs of severe car frames free exam for 89 95 for a limited time in america's best. i can't believe this is how you kids talk to your friends. this is talking. did you have a nice day? look at the size of these butterfly shrimp, enormous shrimp. what no, she's talking. mm. popcorn. disaster. darling we need poli grip before crispy popcorn. let's fix this grip. power holding

jeff zeleny, cnn washington. the us supreme court justice has issued a rare statement of defense critics say justice clarence thomas should have disclosed luxury trips he and his wife took for free. but justice thomas said the trips were gifts from a close personal friend and not a conflict of interest. in a statement, thomas said, quote early in my tenure at the court, iaw guidance from my colleagues and others and the judiciary. pardon me and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends who did not have business before the court was not reportable. now critics say justice thomas should have reported the travel anyway. he says judicial guidelines are being changed which he will follow. okay ahead for us here on cnn newsroom the american journalists detained in russia is formally charged with espionage. what it means for the case against evan gorski, which, as he denies allegations of spying plus u. s military secrets on ukraine, apparently out in the open, us agencies scrambled

cnn's kaitlin collins and jeff zeleny . our live for us outside trump tower, caitlin with you. you've been covering donald trump. for years. you've seen him react to big events. i see on truth social. he's using this perp walk of sorts to raise funds. beyond the bluster, though, based on your conversations with people around him based on covering him. how do you think he's actually feeling right now? i think he's obviously concerned . he's not publicly projecting that when you talk to people who had conversations with him about this, jake, he obviously is not the one who wants to be indicted. certainly not in a case that is personally sensitive as this one is because it's not just the hush money payments. it's the affair at the heart of the repayments, which we should note trump has denied. and you're right, jake. this is all very carefully pornographic by trump's team. they know that this is footage that they want to use campaign ads. clearly they're already using it to try to fundraise. but also they plan to use it going forward, knowing that it is going to be essentially eve

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jeff zeleny, i want to go to you first. how much of a dangerous precedent do you believe this could set specifically using this kind of procedure? expulsion to silence the political opposition. well look, it certainly is possible in many states across this country because of how legislatures are elected. how legislatures run. we have not seen this. we should point out this is very rare, and this may be the only time this happens. this is a symbol of our broken politics in the country. it's a symbol of and the reason for that, of course, is gerrymandering how these legislative districts are drawn . it is a design to put the left blue on one side, the red the republican on the others. side and not have really any mixed districts at all urban rural etcetera, so it could happen in many other states. we will see if it will. there are some political downsides from obviously what is happening today, so we do not know what lessons will be drawn from this, but one thing i'm struck by when you look at the pictures that ryan young was

jeff zeleny, cnn, washington and jeff. thank you for that report.'s discuss now with cnn political analyst in princeton university historian and professor julian zelizer. julian, good to see you. typically i come to you for some historical example that informs this moment. i don't think there is one for a primary that now includes a former president who's been indicted, but let's look at the latest cnn poll here. six out of 10. americans support the indictment , roughly that 62% of intense independent supported so trump is holding strong in the party, but within the party how much does electability beyond the primary matter to these voters? well as of now, that doesn't seem to be the top consideration of former president running for reelection indicted and he ends the week more popular than ever before. he's rallied republicans around him, he is crafted his message in some ways of once again, him fighting the establishment, and it seems that least now republican voters are more focused on that then questions of general election electability primarie

concerns that it might be leaked, and the former president isn't expected to be handcuffed more from jeff zeleny. donald trump has seen it all and done it all, including run for the white house from here in trump tower in new york. but on tuesday morning, he does something new faces a judge for an indictment and an arraignment in a felony case here in new york city for an old hush money case involving stormy daniels. of course, this was litigated during his first presidential run back in 2016, but now the manhattan district attorney has brought this up again, and a grand jury last week indicted the former president. this will all come to a head really the first time in a historic moment, whereas former american president faces an arraignment in a criminal court. i'm told that the former president was huddling with his advisers as after he arrived here in new york city after flying up for mar-a-lago on monday, meeting with his lawyers and his political team as well. he's not expected to speak on tuesday here in new york. he's going to save his remarks. i'm told for on tuesday evening at mar-a-lag

cnn's david chalian laura baron lopez of the pbs news hour sarah long well of the bulwark and cnn's jeff zelenyand jeff what's striking to me? it's not that they're defending him. obviously i think that we would expect, especially those individuals to defend him. but it's the tone of it, uh, dialing up the outrage meter as high as they can possibly get it, which seems to me to be right out of trump's playbook. producing outraged about something that now is in the hands of the legal sphere without question. i mean, we've not really seen the rallying behind the former president since the last time he had a crisis of trouble, so we have seen it many times, but it's been a minute and we all have been sort of wondering this year. is it going to be different is the exhaustion factor for the former president? so high? will this be different? it's not different. it's exactly the same. when there was any type of drama or crisis, all the republicans a circle the wagons around him, but what is different is the legal situation we've never seen. donald trump has never really had things out of his control as

with me is jeff zeleny, and rhonda coleman. let's listen to more of the president. it is pretty clear they view 2024 as a lot like 2020 with the insurrection in between. who wants to win again. >> know we believe in honesty, respect and treating each other with dignity. that we're a nation when we give hate no safe harbor. >> it's the tone of the republican party. how do they view about your president, you don't want to overdo it. >> he's going to still be out there in his presidential role. he will be traveling across the country, but as president and then in 2024, going out there more on the on the campaign trail. we have seen in his presidential role, he's been very clear about striking that contrast with republicans and what the white house is arguing as well as what they are going to argue during the campaign is that if he does not win reelection, then the extremism republican agenda ises a ing in the number of red states, state legislatures, talking about the tennessee three, the lack of movement on guns, the antitransalso six-week abortion bans, those are all

our chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny is here.cans countering president biden's message? >> a fairly predictable way. we heard the critique the first two years of the biden presidency and in the last re-election as well. there is no doubt that former president donald trump was talking about the weak economy, inflation, and we saw something we have not seen before, an advertisement based in fiction, artificial intelligence from the republican national committee simulating a newscast looking into the future. let's take a listen. >> this morning an emboldened china invades taiwan. financial markets are in freefall as 500 regional banks have shuttered their doors. border agents overrun by a surge of 80,000 illegals yesterday evening. closed the city of san francisco, escalating crime and fentanyl crisis. >> this is based on artificial intelligence. it's looking into the future, but it's also looking into what future campaigns in fact this campaign may look like really taking steps never before done. the reality here is they could have

president, he certainly didn't look like he was in great spirits, as his lawyer suggested , are jeff zeleny and in new york. thank you very, very much aaron back to you. all right. and you know, as wolf and jeff are talking about, right, clearly, not in high spirits, not a situation you want to be in and yet now they can go through these documents themselves. the indictment itself as well as the statement of facts. joining me now, karin agness follow ryan goodman, karen finney, jonah goldberg and also joining us from london. laura coates, so let me go down the line here, ryan, when you got a chance to look at this, you got 12 pages pages here for the actual statement of facts, right? which, i guess is the talking indictment such that there is one and then you've got the actual six. 18 pages of copy and piece with different dates on falsifying business documents in the first degree. what is there anything here? that surprised you either. this is stronger than i thought or no, this is weaker. um a lot of it is unsurprising. a lot of it has been reported or is in the federal government documen

cnn's jeff zeleny joins us now from much more on this, jeff . many people think people that politics played some role in this indictment. but how many people of how many people that were pulled actually approve of the indictment? okay this is so interesting. of course, you cannot divorce politics from any of this because we're talking about the former president here . who, of course, is a current candidate for the white house. but when you look at the findings of our new poll, take a look at this 60% of americans, some six in 10, americans support the overall indictment here and 40% are against it. that's largely driven by sort of some common views from republicans. of course, they're opposed. democrats support but independence largely follow this rule. so that is so interesting that 60% support and we should be clear. would you not know exactly what is in the indictment? this is just based on the broad confines of a familiar storyline of a hush money payment that we've been talking about for more than six years now. so six in 10, americans supp

at least doesn't know john tough sell, but jeff zeleny and senator scott, both in iowa. proof the campaign is heating up, jeff. thanks for that report. let's bring the conversation back in the room with our great reporters. look let's just look at the biography is an interesting candidate and various jeff notes very popular, especially among fellow republicans here in washington. we'll see if you can sell it at the country's. the only black republican senator in 2013 is when he came to the united states senate, then governor nikki haley, now arrival in the republican race, appointed him to that seat. he led the effort to make lynching a federal hate crime led a bipartisan policing negotiations after george floyd's murder, said they were is no constitutionally viable means to overturn the 2020 election and let's listen to just a little bit from his an asset. what does make him different is donald trump is often dark and full of grievances. some people say they see that in ron desantis scott is consistently optimistic. i know america is a land of opportunity, not a land of

as our jeff zeleny has new reporting from inside trump's camp this late hour this evening, plus, i'll be joined by a reporter who's talking to trump insiders and why they are worried tonight about the protest tomorrow. a new word about the american journalists jailed in russia as one of evan gorski, which is closest friends is here. whatever is said to him the night before his arrest, let's go, outfront. and good evening. i'm erin burnett and welcome to a special edition of outfront tonight hours from surrendering former president

cnn's jeff zeleny has more. they plan to run against him. the winners get to make policy.the losers go home. and believed republicans were ready to turn the page. if you're tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation at the end of a historic week in american politics, the only crime that i have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. donald trump's top gop challengers are suddenly on his side after falling into line and blasting criminal charges against the former president. you see this guy in manhattan, this district attorney they're weaponizing the process. tutorial power. to advance a political agenda. maybe it's targeting a politician. they don't like republican rivals fear their opening against trump may have closed a bit after manhattan district attorney alvin brags indictment on 34 counts felony crimes in new york state. no matter who you are. prompted a storm of outrage even from some of trump's fiercest critics, like senator mitt romney, who called it a dangerous precedent , saying, i believe president trump's chara

jeff zeleny is outside there. and what are you learning, jeff? erin. we're learning tonight that the former president after he arrived here , he met with his political advisors as well as his legal advisers. and for all these circus like atmosphere, and for all the spectacle that indeed has been surrounding this, the former president his team are taking this very seriously. that was underscored today by the hiring of a new criminal defense attorney also underscored by the fact that tomorrow i'm told his lawyers are going to do via talking. the former president of at least is not scheduled or expected to speak here about the charges. he's going to save that, of course, until he returns to mar-a-lago in florida tomorrow evening, but for the next foreseeable future, weeks and likely months, perhaps even longer to come. this is the presidential campaign. the presidential campaign is inextricably linked. to his legal case here, so he does arrive as the republican presidential frontrunner. his campaign says they raised $7 million, largely through small dolla

former president donald trump, jeff zeleny? is outfront. i am so happy to be with you. senator tim scott believes his fellow republicans deserve more choices in their quest to win back the white house only is it possible . for kids kevin describes raised in poverty. in a single parent household one day have the possibility to run for the highest office. in the greatest country. on god's green earth. in a new campaign video today, the south carolina senator presented himself as a candidate offering optimism over anger and hope over grievance. america is a land of opportunity, not a land of oppression, millet because i've lived it more to the point. he's not donald trump , whom scots supported and has taken great care to avoid speaking out against now, scott has joined a growing band of republicans testing whether there is a market inside the gop for a candidate other than the former president. who was overshadowing the 2024 race. tony and gail polasek are among the republicans eager to turn the page from trump. i think his time has come and gone, and it's time to move on

i'm curious what you're hearing about this because we have reporting from our cnn's jeff zeleny, who, you know quite well, who's saying? look the defense attorneys in this case have told donald trump not to use this vitriolic language when he if he addresses the cameras against the judge, and against the d. a is there any indication that he is going to heed the warning by his attorneys? because in other times he has not. one of the things that we've heard of people for is trump often gets legal advice. he doesn't always take such legal advice. he obviously has been very critical of the judge that he is going to go before today. you see a few protesters behind us that are here. not that many. i should note that are gathered out here yet. so a few hours to go before he arrives, his own legal team and advisors don't think it's wise to be criticizing the judge, especially given that's who is going to be appearing before today. but he has criticized the judge constantly. he is obviously attacked the district attorney in this case, we'll see you know whether or not that is something that ju

cnn's jeff zeleny, heather kegel of punch bowl news and so on, can oh young's of the new york times. heather, the speaker was talking confidently yesterday, saying, it's important that we prove we're unified so i can negotiate with the president. um problem? nope this is what happens when you have a five vote majority, right ? and you already have more than five people saying i'm not going to vote for this until i see more. um, that home away from home. you just showed the house basement of mine. what we learned today was this this package, whatever it's going to be, it's probably going to have to go even more right. there's even talk of trying to repeal the inflation reduction act in this you kind of get into some wonkery there because that would actually raise the cost of things. um so what we hope to see in the next few days is then put out something they hope to vote next week because the house is in recess the week after that, but it's definitely very unclear right now, whether he can get 2 to 18 and what happens and this is a reminder of how hard it it was for him to become spe

few blocks away from where she ammonia as we have seen its chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny and cnn senior legal analyst, both with us. the idea that they don't want cameras to be in the courtroom. you know this office this courthouse very well. are you surprised that? no, i'm not. i think that's what i expected. so ordinarily in new york state courts and that's where we are. we're not in federal court, where in state court rule is no cameras in the courtroom, however, the judge does have discretion. judge can say i'm going to allow them and what the judge has to balance is on the one hand. the need for transparency in the public interest, which is not just high here, but i would say unprecedented in terms of how high it is. on the other hand, the need to protect the presumption of innocence of the defendant and the thinking there as well. the image of somebody standing at the defendant's table, even if not in handcuffs , even if not in prison garb still could be influential on our jury board. let's remember our whole jury pool is watching, so i think it's not at all surpris

that adviser asks cnn's jeff zeleny is part of this reporting. and joins our conversation and we were led to believe late last year at the beginning of this year that the nasa would come early. now they think the way the climate has evolved late. why it's a combination of a lot of things. one is joe biden. he's not known to rush any decision he's known to take his sweet time. it's happening every presidential decision. he's made our let's remember as well covering it back in 2019, but he did get in in april that year in 2015, he was deciding on running. then it was too late. uh huh. but look at the adviser who said that quote that you just said to me, he said, what's the upside and that is really the central point here. there is no upside necessarily of the president jumping in at this point if he's running but democrats still have that question. if he doesn't is he putting them in a box here by not having a robust campaign, but look, a lot of this is he wants to govern. he's one of this job for so long. he wants to be in the job. but of course,

trump's arrival is cnn's chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny and cnn political director david chalian. both joining me here live thank you both for being here. one thing that i have been thinking about is trump is on his way here as he's already launched these attacks he's been going after the district attorney alvin bragg here. there's no surprise there. also going after the judge, though, and vance, who was the former manhattan district attorney was saying yesterday that trump needed to be careful, essentially a potentially committing another criminal offense by going after and lashing out at these officials, including the judge, that he is going to be arraigned before tomorrow without a doubt, and he is arriving in new york shortly momentarily as the leading republican presidential candidate. but once he arrives here in his hometown of new york city, of course, things will be different. beginning tomorrow. he is in a legal proceeding, one that he does not have full control over. so we've seen many, many times. he's been sort of a servic, he says, whatever on social me

cnn's jeff zeleny and francesca chambers of usa today. so again, it's a baseline and again it's early. but if you're the incumbent president, the question you want to ask the american people is give me four more years. i have made the case in former years. when you look at the numbers again. it's this is biden a vacuum right? if you if the democrats would say, well, wait if he's running against trump or if he's running against desantis, but as a candidate, your first deal with your issues how much of this is him and how much of it does team biden think it's ok people? you know, the economy has been volatile. if the economy gets better, we'll be okay. the white house is convinced that they that the public just needs to get a better handle on what president biden has achieved today. i mean, this is why you see him on this big invest in america tour touring factories making the pitch for his legislation, but to your other point about the economy, i mean, economists i have spoken to for months have said with inflation being as it is and being

cnn's jeff zeleny and david chalian are back here with me now, obviously, we are still waiting for the legal ramifications all this to see what this indictment looks like, but we're already seeing the political benefits and what this could potentially do for trump's trying to rework candidates. i mean, they are now saying that he has raised $5 million. we should note they are saying that that's not actually in any epc report that we have seen. but clearly initially he is seeing a boost from voters. there's no doubt about it. i mean the short term political benefit of this. we should emphasize short term that's all we know right now. but the short term benefit of this has been so important for him in many reasons. $5 million , as you said, that they've raised or they say they are raised and, most importantly, they frozen the republican field into place. we have seen his rivals who are on the cusp of trying to draw you know some differences between him florida governor and his answers was just a week ago. nikki haley, the former vice president, mike pence. now they're all rallying , if n

now let's go over to cnn's jeff zeleny. trump tower where, eight years ago this june, donald trump came down that escalator and changed the world forever. jeff you are getting new information from the inner circle of mr trump. what do you do, telling you? jake i am told that former president donald trump has spent the majority of the morning talking with his political advisors and his legal advisers. and that is significant because both of these two very distinctive teams suzy wiles and campaign manager from florida blanche, a criminal defense attorney from here in new york, they all now have the same client if you will that has donald j. trump. what they want to know. overall first and foremost is what charges are in this indictment. what are the political challenges going forward and without knowing what is in the indictment? they cannot fully assess that. but once the indictment is unsealed , they do plan to assess what is next from here. of course, he has been inside trump tower for about 20 hours now. of course, this is