david. >> david: john santucci with us tonight. john, thank you. to the other notable person that courtroom today, jack smith, special counsel. let's bring our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas back with us tonight project with of course did not have to be there. we didn't see much of robert mueller for example. so why why was he there question close the message he was sending not only to his colleagues in the justice department but donald trump? >> reporter: dramatic move. he wanted to signal donald trump "i am here. i'm the person who personally brought this case against you. we are going forward." secondly wanted to send a signal to his staff "i appreciate what you've done. there's going to be a lot of work moving forward. i'm here to support you. ghost within thing is, he's the veteran prosecutor who was cases before. the hague, war criminals any scott yet more work to be done. an angry sixth investigation is ongoing and it's fascinating he chose to bring this case now even with that case still underway. he wanted to send a signal. this

john santucci, as always , thank you. thanks, juju. and up next, where the criminal case against donald trump goes next and what it could mean on the campaign trail. our roundtable joins us to break it all down joins us to break it all down the man with phil: excuse me? hillary: that wasn't me. narrator: said hillary, who's only taken 347 steps today. hillary: i cycled here. narrator: speaking of cycles, mary's period is due to start in three days. mary: how do they know so much about us? narrator: your all sharing health data without realizing it. that's how i know about kevin's rash. who's next? wait... what's that in your hand? no, no, stop! oh you're no fun. [lock clicks shut] i've become a bit of an expert in suncare... an spf-icianado if you will. my bottle of choice? neutrogena® ultra sheer a lightweight blend that protects 6 layers deep with a smooth dry-touch finish. this round's on me. neutrogena® ultra sheer so i didn't think i needed swiffer. until... i saw how easily it picked up my hair! every time i dried it! it only tak

. >> david: john santucci, thanks to you. want to bring our chief legal analyst, dan abrams.n't heard from jack smith yet at all here really. very few leaks from the special counsel but given the range of charges we just heard there from catherine, and of course we're being very careful here because we don't have the exact counts but the range here, what does it say about what jack smith believes he's uncovered. of course he knows the stakes, that history is made here in charting a former president. >> reporter: yeah, it means that not only does he believe that the former president retained classified documents illegally. not only does he believe that the former president obstructed in the efforts to get them back but that the documents themselves were very sensitive. they were important. that's where the willful retention of the national defense information charge become so significant because it tells us that. >> david: dan, the venue, is there any relief in bedminster tonight, any relief or donald trump this would appear that will be playing out in a federal court in flori

david. >> john santucci here in new york as well. thank you, john.all playing out with the race for the white house now well underway and the republican side a crowded field already. note the real question now, how do republican candidates want to be donald trump to win the republican nomination, how did they handle this? our political team reaching out to every republican candidate today to ask, are you comfortable with the former president holding onto classified documents, everything from u.s. nuclear capabilities to u.s. vulnerabilities if the u.s. were to come under attack? how the u.s. would respond. did they respond? i want to bring in rachel scott. she's lived in iowa tonight. the team reaching out asking candidates if they were comfortable with this and if proven true whether or not there should be in a consequent is here. this is going to be a very difficult road ahead in answering this question for them. >> reporter: david, we did ask every single republican campaign if it is appropriate for the former president to hang onto such sensitive

i want to bring in john santucci. also with the investigative unit. hn, of course, covered donald trump for years when he was president. right. and john, as to be expected, we wondered if this would happen. and it has played out. the former president confirming himself that he and his attorneys have been informed . and he writes that i have been indicted, david, a very lengthy post from donald trump on his social media platform, truth, social. it's extremely long. he goes on to say he never thought this was possible. he calls it a dark day. but david, i can tell you from my sources that have been around the former president for much of the last week, they very much thought this was possible. they have been huddled in bedminster, new jersey, where the former president spends his summers waiting for this today. they have been anxious. they were watching news coverage yesterday of trump's former spokesperson, taylor budowich, going before that grand jury down in southern florida. and, david, that a bit of a mystery to the trump team. you know, they've bee

. >> he saw that picture of the document john santucci thank you. >> will source reporting from john and the rest of the team here to explain the charges against the former president is mec shauna lloyd thank you for take this down for us. how serious are these charges especially when we talk about the penalties that he could face. >> jenae this is quite a sweeping indictment and it carries severe penalties each one of these charges carries a maximum fine of 250,000 and they range from 5 to 20 years in prison for each charge we are looking at significant time as well as financial fines for each one of these counts. >> of course the special counsel jack smith reminded everyone when he spoke yesterday the former president is presumed innocent until proven guilty how strong do you think the special counsel's case is? >> when we see these pictures and we see the text messages and the communications and the videos i don't think it's coincidence this is when indictment comes they have clear direct evidence that put him talking about these documents and how to move them around. that is very