katelyn polantz, are you there? we do not have katelyn polantz. jennifer rogerogers, why don't tell me about the meetings that need to take place between donald trump and his attorneys to get straight between now and tomorrow morning? >> well, it is not much, because it is a formal proceeding to have the arraignments and the enter of the guilty or not guilty, and set a time line, and not a lot to discuss, but it is a complicated case, and we have classified protection act is involved and motion schedule coming up, and starting right now, and not necessarily the afternoon tomorrow, but soon, they will have to dig into what their defenses might be, and what motions they need to make, and when classified information is involved, it is a little bit more complicated. >> and he has new attorneys, and jim trusty cycled out last week, and he has new lawyer, and do we know who they are, and how long does it take to get ramped up for a case like this? >> well, you have to remember that most people don't know that they are indicted until they are actually ar

katelyn polantz out is for us. thanks so much.hn. >>> this morning, what is being billed as controversy on the campaign trail. dueling events in new hampshire, one for donald trump, one for ron desantis, at the same time. and that has ticked off the sponsors of the trump event, the new hampshire federation of republican women. they issued a release criticizing desantis for not waiting. jessica dean is with us now. yes caw, they take this kind of stuff very seriously in new hampshire. >> reporter: they sure do, john. you know that from being there during previous election seasons. look, new hampshire is its own beast. they expect a lot of retail politics there. there's a very specific way to camp pain in new hampshire. let's start first with ron desantis because this event will be first this morning. he'll get started in about ten minutes. he's going to take questions from voters. that's key in new hampshire. they want that interaction, that back and forth with the candidate. that's something desantis has continued to do more of, t

this exclusive of course building on our bombshell report last week with kaitlan collins and katelyn polantz about this recording where the former president claims to retained classified information and acknowledges the elements of his power to do so. now we have the transcript of the relevant portion and i will read parts of that. it's clear he acknowledges or claims that he kept secret information. now, in this recording this was back in july of 2021 he is speaking to some visitors at his new jersey golf club. among the people in the room two peerp working on mark meadows' autobiography as well as trump aides. he referring to general mark milley. quote, with milley, i will show youon example. he said that he wanted to attack iran. isn't that amazing? i have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up, on the tame we are told you can hear him rustling the paper. look, this was him. they presented me this. this is off the record but they presented me this. this was him. this was the defense department and him. we looked at some -- this was him. this wasn't done by me. this was him. i'll ke

well, last week with the powerhouse team of kaitlan collins, katelyn polantz, sara murray we broke theews of the existence of this audio reporting, something that the former president's attorneys found out a few months ago where the former president claims to be in possession of classified materials and also acknowledges the limits of his ability to declassify once he was out of office. now we have the full transcript this have audio recording where the former president acknowledges that he has a secret information. i'm going to read the transcript to you here. so it starts with him, he's at his bedminster, new jersey, golf club, he is speaking to some vis visitors, among the people in the room we know from our reporting are two people working on mark meadows' autobiography and two of his aides. at the time he was upset about a recent article about general mark milley and he says, quote, well, with milley, let me see. i will show you an example. he said that i wanted to attack iran. isn't that amazing? i have a big pile of papers and we're told from our sources that at this point you c

okay, so, katelyn polantz, tell us what we know.us more about this audiotape and what's on it and what this means for the investigation moving forward. >> well, alisyn, it is an audiotape that the justice department has. the special counsel investigation that is looking into donald trump, whether he mishandled national security information classified documents, and also whether he obstructed justice, as the justice department was trying to get all of those documents back. and so, this audiotape is quite significant for several reasons. and it's not just me saying that. there are sources that we're speaking to our team saying, yeah, this is very important. this is a big piece of evidence for the justice department has now gotten. they are asking witnesses about it. they are getting grandeur a testimony about what happened. and this incident at bedminster -- this is a meeting where donald trump is talking to assistance of his of and some people are working on a sympathetic before his former chief of staff mark meadows -- this meeting.

my colleague katelyn polantz joins us now. katelyn, the big question is the time line.alk us through how this went down. >> kaitlan, this is in october of last year. that's when the pool was drained by this maintenance worker, and it flooded that i.t. room at mar-a-lago, not damaging any of the video tape that we know of, but clearly something that was quite suspicious that has happened. at that point in time last year, kaitlan, that was when this was the heart of the obstruction investigation. the justice department was not trusting at that time donald trump and his attorneys that they had turned over all of the classified records in his possession at mar-a-lago. they were headed toward a contempt fight in court in the fall. we also know this happened after the fbi search of mar-a-lago. so, a point in time after that fbi search where the justice department, we now know, went back to the trump organization and either asked for them to preserve surveillance footage or they demanded for them to turn over surveillance footage a couple of different times to the grand jury a

katelyn polantz joins us now. what more are you learning?jim, we just got word that donald trump is planning to make a speech as he loves to do after that court appearance on tuesday once he returns home to his golf club in new jersey that night, but the real momentous thing that will happen is what happens in the federal courthouse here in miami on tuesday afternoon at 3:00. that is when donald trump will say he is not guilty to the federal judge. the judge will take a look at what his conditions will be if he has any restrictions on travel or what he might be able to say, things like that, and he will be told exactly what he i, indictment against the former president that in great detail the justice department says they have evidence for these 37 charges against donald trump, both for believing he obstructed investigation and also that there are 31 national security, national defense, classified documents that he kept at his mar-a-lago resort in florida outside of the protections of the federal government and willfully knew that they were

i'm going to go now to katelyn pol polantz. can you tell me from your perspective how this went down? what was found exactly inside trump's mar-a-lago property that really started all this? >> reporter: sara, this has been a protracted effort by the federal government to get federal records back from donald trump. so it started after he left the presidency, the national archives really wanted him to return any documents he might have in possession. they realized he had some. and then when trump finally did send back 15 boxes to the national archives in january of 2022, that's when this criminal investigation began because that's when the federal government looked through those boxes and realized there were many classified records within them or documents with classification markings on them. so the intelligence community gets involved, the justice department gets involved. they subpoena trump and say turn over everything in your possession. we need anything with a classification marking on it. his attorney went and looked, foun

cnn's katelyn polantz is live in washington, d.c. it tell us about what jack smith is looking into? >> john, micke roman was a campaign official in 2020, one of the people working on the scheme to essentially convince battle ground states that donald trump had lost, to submit to congress that actually he had won, the fake electors scheme. you might not recognize his face. you might not have heard his name before, but this is why mike roman matters as someone who's speaking to the justice department. it's because this, take a listen to what he said previously when he was being asked by investigators what happened. here's microke roman, testifyin about what happened on january 6th on capitol hill. >> what was your role, if any, having alternate electors meet in states where trump lost, including pennsylvania. >> the fifth. >> did you discuss the alternate electors plan with president trump either before or after the electors met and cast votes on december 14th, 2020? >> the fifth. >> so you see there mike roman is not providing answers

katelyn polantz, cnn, miami. >>> and in the city of miami, facing the hours in the courthouse ahead ofonald trump's appearance on tuesday. mayor francis suarez spoke about the preparations. >> i can tell you in miami, we're going to have a press conference on monday to talk about safety and security. we want to make sure that all of our citizens know that they're able to express their first amendment rights. and at the same time, we're going to keep them safe and we're going to make sure there are no disorder. >> experts and cnn analysts are weighing in on the case and what impact it could have, not only on trump, but on the republican party as well. >> our system of government absolutely -- our system of justice, depends on people being innocent in prube en proven guilty. it doesn't disqualify him. but his party should think twice about having as its standard-bearer someone who has put at risk, it appears, major american secrets. the republican party has wrapped around -- it has wrapped itself around the u.s. army, u.s. military, understandably. they have a great military. our militar

we go to katelyn polantz, and you are hearing maybe more witnesses who will testify in front of the grand more do you know about that? >> we don't know if it is today, but we did know donald trump's political spokesperson and then there was an grand jury proceeding which is secret. the list of witnesses is expansive. sara, we have heard of nearly everyone in touch with trump or in the room with trump or talking to him about documents or hearing him about documents or handling documents on his behalf after he left the presidency, and people like mark meadows, evan corcoran, aides at mar-a-lago, and dozens of people have been subpoenaed, and even in florida where we have been tracking this for so long, and it is uncloo clear who -- it is unclear exactly what was found. >> can you remind us of what was found in mar-a-lago. >> it was a long, long list. it was a search authorized by a court that they had to have probable cause that they would find evidence of crime when they did that search, and the numbers are fairly staggering for a case like that. it was almost 50 top secret and secret, and

cnn's katelyn polantz is here. eeping track. >> there's no doubt they're keeping track. what trump was saying about previously classified documents, quite frankly in the indictment. and we also know they have much witness testimony, evidence, these audiotapes. and now potentially what donald trump is saying out there publicly that coco become part of a criminal trial, if and when he goes to trial. now, there's been a lot of reaction to what trump said, especially the part where he's acknowledging in this interview last night on fox news that he had these documents. and wanted to go through them, even after receiving a subpoena from the grand jury. and not turning over all of the documents back to the justice department. here's what one person, a very particular of political person, who also has some experience with law enforcement chris christie said on cbs this morning. >> it appears to me last night, as a former prosecutor, that he admitted obstruction of justice on the air last night. i can tell you this, his law

cnn's katelyn polantz has more from london. >> reporter: the detail and evidence collected in the case begun to sink in. and donald trump's own attorney general, bill barr, one of his top people in his own administration who had gone to bat multiple times saying investigations throughout donald trump should not have been taking place previously was condemning the actions of the former president after he left the white house. because this indictment is so explicit and the evidence that it has, because of the photos of documents in a bathroom at mar-a-lago, photos of boxes of documents spilled in a storage room. and then those 31 charges each representing a document that donald trump is accused of willfully retaining outside of the protected area of the federal government top secret doubts. classified documents. national security information. here's more of what bill barr had to say on sunday on fox news. >> and this idea of presenting trump as a victim here, a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous. yes, he's been a victim in the past. yes, his adversaries have obsessively pursued him wit

katelyn polantz, cnn, washington. >> just incredible reporting there. let's unpack this more. we want to bring in national security analyst beth sanger. so nice to see you. the classified adudocument in question is something as sensitive as plans on a potential strike on iran. do we know anything else about the document and who the president wanted to show it to? >> i don't know anything about this particular document, but i do know that it is general milley's job as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to respond to requests by the president to provide military options for something that the president would want to do. i don't see joint chiefs of staff role as pre-freelancing i proposing war plans. war plans are proposed and provided in response to a question. of course you would want to have that plan to be pretty robust. i mean, this is what the bent gone does, shock and awe, for an attack to -- on an adversary like iran. so i think that that is probably what was going on here. but i can't say in particular. >> so let's listen to a few clips of what the former president ha

. >> katelyn polantz, fit this defense explanation into what we know about the case. if you ask any defense lure on the planet if it's wise to talk about the case as they are heading to trial want to go fight it. most will say that is not something you should do. they are warned anything they say could be held against them in the court of law and donald trump is out there on fox news in this interview essentially responding to many of the things that are alleged in this indictment. bret baier asked him about the spen he received where a grand jury demanded he return documents with classified markings in his position to the federal government. and here was what his response was there. >> why not just hand them over then? >> because i had boxes. i want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. i don't want to hand that over. and i was very busy as you've sort of seen. >> reporter: so trump does appear there to be be a knowledging the delay and the next thing he did want to pull out his personal things, things like golf shirts, other clothing. there is

and stay tuned for that, because we are trying to get more details. >> sara murray, paula reid, katelyn polantz and alanna, thank you for all of your exclusive reporting. >>> and our colleagues have obtained a exclusive taped transcript where he said he had classified documents. and so now what he expects to see with the charges against the former president, and what could be next for the former president's team. and this morning, the former vice president and now political rival mike pence is calling on the attorney general to unseal this indictment against the former president before the sun sets today. we will be right back. - if i d kayak to book our car, we could have saved on our trip instead of during our tripip. ughh - kayak.k. search one and done. okay everyonone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we provide nutrients to support immune, muscle, bone, and heart health. everyone: woo o! ensure with 25 vitamins and minerals. enter the $10,000 nourishing moments giveaway. subway just keeps getting better. they gotorld class bakers to develop their tastiest bread yet. thi

>> katelyn polantz, thanks very much. >>> want to bring in norm eisen. thanks so much for joining us. does this new reporting from katelyn and the others suggest that the special counsel could be getting closer to charging decisions in this investigation? >> alex, it didn't. we know that these fake electoral certificates have been the subject of attention, part of an effort to allegedly overturn the election, have been found by a federal judge by a preponderance of the evidence to be part of a larger alleged scheme. and we know that the january 6th committee made criminal referrals. now it seems as if jack smith is on the case. and this flurry of effort could suggest charging decisions may be near. >> and norm, we've also learned that prosecutors are taking an interest in members of trump's post-election legal team. and given everything that we know now, what kind of charges do you think are in play here? >> well, that federal judge in california, that case involved one of those members of the post-election team, john eastman. cnn is reporting interest in

cnn's katelyn polantz is there. one, but two active grand juries, it appears, what do we know about events there in miami? >> reporter: well, there's still a lot of questions go what we're seeing here in miami, some grand jury activity that brought the former spokesperson now super pac leader taylor buttawich with his attorney. he did testify for just under an hour in this sealed proceeding, secret confidential proceeding in this investigation. it is part of the documents investigation led out of washington. that question of whether donald trump should be criminally charged with possible mishandling of classified records, retention of classified records or obstruction of justice, all of the things that the special counsel's office is looking at. buttawich is central to what trump is saying including about documents in his possession. there was a moment in early 2020 when he was among the people that talked trump out of or cast some doubt on trump's willingness or wish to put out a public statement saying that he had

indicat katelyn polantz, cnn, washington. >>> a raft of presidential nominations coming. three sources tell cnn chris christie will jump in today announcing his candidacy at a town hall. christie ran unsuccessfully in 2016 and has been an outspoken critic of the frontrunner donald trump. former vice president mike pence filed paperwork monday to enter the republican presidential derby. he is set to formally announce his candidacy wednesday ahead of a cnn town hall that evening. that town hall 9:00 p.m. tomorrow. another maybe less well-known name is also set to announce on wednesday, north dakota governor doug burgum released a teaser video that highlights the difference in temperament between himself and donald trump. >> anger, yelling, in-fighting, that won't cut it any more. let's get things done. in north dakota, we listen with respect and we talk things out. >> the video takes aim at progressives saying woke is what you did at 5:00 in the morning to start the day. >>> one republican who will not be running in new hampshire is new hampshire governor chris sununu. he t

let's bring in katelyn polantz. aileen cannon set the initial trial date for mid august.at are you learning about that? >> we do have that order from the judge today, one of the first ones from judge cannon now that she will be in charge of this case as it heads to trial. that t de for mid august that she is setting, that is a starting point. it is a trial date and a trial could happen as soon as august, we know the justice department wants to get the trial fast. and has already made sure that they are not kicking up any dust that could throw things off track. but right now, there are a lot of things that could come up between now and the trial that the judge even said in her order that there could be more complicated issues in this case that will need a delay. there are also the classified documents issues around this case that could be prompting a delay. but there is going to be a lot of eyes on everything that happens in this court record leading up to trial. and some of that is what will be presented at the trial. we already know just from yesterday donald trump is ou

cnn's katelyn polantz has the details from washington. >> we have exclusive reporting, the federal prosecutorse special counsel's investigation around donald trump, his handling of classified documents and possible obstruction of justice. they have an audiotape now of donald trump in the meeting in july 2021 where he talks about a classified proposal from the pentagon on what it would look like to bomb iran. and then he appears on this audiotape to be waving around the sound. you could hear the sound on the tape referring to a document, waving it around. now, cnn has not listened to this audio at this point. but multiple sources have described to us and have told us that it is quite significant in the justice department investigation. we know that they have the audio, they've also been asking people about it, they've talked to witnesses they brought in people for the grand jury testimony. all working towards possible case. which they haven't brought yet against donald trump but that they could. and one of the things in the audiotape that makes it so significant is that donald trump, on the tap

cnn's katelyn polantz was inside the courtroom in miami. what do we know and what's next here?, what is next is there will be another moment where donald trump's co-defendant walt nauta is going to have to enter a plea of not guilty. he didn't do that yesterday though the former president did himself, and then the next thing that happens after that is the justice department is going to provide a list to donald trump and his attorneys as well as t so right now trump cannot speak about this case with walt nauta even thougn are traveling together. because walt nauta works with him ople, witnesses, and potential victims in this case that will be added to that list. they will be getting but with this case as it goes on, one of the things that's so interesting about it is that in anre told when they're put under arrest that what they say publicly could be used against them in the court of law and donald trump has seemed to not had any hint of inhibition so far about talking about this case publicly. here's one of the things he said last night. >> as president, the law that applies to

katelyn polantz in miami. thanks very much for that. joining us now cnn legal analyst norm eisyieisen. norm, obviously you've gone through this 37-count federal indictment. what stands out to you? what should we be thinking about? what's top of mind for you heading into this tuesday arraignment? >> jim, it's really the espionage act charges, the charges that trump unlawfully, criminally removed and retained national defense information. it was itemized in the indictment, and it's really striking. plans for u.s. attacks on other countries. attacks on the united states, how we would counter that. nuclear secrets. some of our most sensitive national security information. and we saw the pictures on ballroom stages, in bathrooms. there's another photograph of top secret information spilled on the floor. so any other defendant who faced this, as trump's own attorney general bill barr said, any other defendant who faced this would be in the most grave trouble. and i think donald trump is. nothing political about it to my mind. >> and what do y

live outside the courthouse in miami with katelyn polantz. what more are we learning about the timing for trump's case? >> reporter: well, boris, there's still a lot of questions about timing. we don't have a trial date set yet. that's going to be coming in the days or weeks ahead once this case gets to judge aileen cannon, the judge that will see this case through to the trial. right now, we're just still in the magistrate phase. donald trump has entered that not guilty plea, and he has the provisions that he has set, and then there's a couple things that are going to happen in the next couple of days or weeks. in two weeks nauta is going to be entering a not guilty plea, we do know that he didn't yet because he doesn't have an attorney in florida to help out his existing legal team. but once he gets that, he's going to be putting that plea in. he has been arrested as well and has been processed like donald trump. but after that, then the prosecutors are going to provide a list to the defense team of who donald trump and walt nauta can't dis

cameras are not allowed in federal court, but the public s our katelyn polantz watched it all go downn court. describe for us, katelyn, the key take a ways that you had as you witnessed this moment in the courtroom. >> reporter: share ration you say it was a different version of donald trump, that's exactly right, it was a silent donald trump. a donald trump who was never addressed directly by the judge to have to respond with a question, and he never had to stand up and say anything for himself. he uttered not a single word during the court appearance. now, this was already a pretty intense room to be in because donald trump was sitting fairly close, only a few security guards between the two of them, fairly close to the special counsel, jack smith, the man who under the justice department his role there has brought this case against the ex-president. throughout this proceeding trump clearly had -- he was clearly looking forward, he wasn't really looking around, except when he exited the room, he took a good long look at the people behind him, both public, some of his supporters, eve

katelyn polantz is outside the courthouse where the former president will show up on tuesday. we start with sara murray in washington. not that we have seen the indictment, but by trump's attor attorneys. >> it's an unusual situation, a historic situation, the first time a former president has been indicted on former charges. we have not heard from the justice department. we have not heard from special counsel jack smith. we haven't seen the full indictment. donald trump himself broke the news of this on his social media page. former president donald trump indicted again. the special counsel investigating his alleged mishandling of classified documents indicted trump on seven count, including a charge understood the espionage act, and charges related to obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and making false statements. >> they basically break out from an espionage act charge, which is ludicrous under the facts of this case, and i can certainly explain it, and several obstruction-based type charges, and then false statement charges, which a

john miller intelligence analyst joins us, and katelyn polantz, outside the courthouse in miami. what do we know about what's going to happen on tuesday afternoon? >> reporter: well, we're going to be watching to see just how much we're going to be able to see of donald trump himself as a criminal dflt efendant coming i this court to enter his appearance. full expectation, he would enter a plea of not guilty at that time, and whenever he does arrive here, this is a federal complex that is surrounding this miami federal courthouse here and so there is a question, do they bring him in a back door, and we never see him on camera or have video or photos of him. once he's inside the building, there's none of that. it is a very lockdown scenario in any federal court building where you have to be there in person to witness what's going on if you want to see exactly what a defendant looks like, what a judge looks like, what rooms look like. that is how federal court works. we're still waiting to see what paperwork comes out as well, as far as the indictment, and any other things that the

katelyn polantz, with err lucky to have you there. expect we will be talking quite a lot in the next few hours and days. thank you. rahel. >>> no american has ever run for president while facing dozens of felonies, so how exactly is trump's team preparing to handle all of this? alayna treene is in bedminster, new jersey, where his team has been strategizing. what more are we learning about trump's plans for today? >> reporter: good morning, rahel. so we are just outside donald trump's golf club in bedminster where he will soon be leaving to head to florida ahead of his appearance in court tomorrow. he will be traveling just by here and then we're told that once he's there he will be huddling with his florida-based legal team to figure out his new strategy, that's after donald trump abruptly removed two of his attorneys, jim trusty and john rowley on friday. we are told that he also spent the weekend calling more attorneys and that his attorney who he just fired a couple months ago todd blanche will appear with him in court tomorrow. t

katelyn polantz has this story. we previously knew about one audio tape. i believe you broke that story as well to some degree. what actually happens now? >> reporter: now the justice department has to hand over all of the evidence that they have in this case against donald trump whether it's going to come up at trial or not, they have to give it over to his defense team so that everybody can be fully prepared for the trial. and in this court filing last night pretty late we did get indication from the prosecutors exactly what they're turning over already, what they gave to the team yesterday. so let's go through the list so far. they're handing over recorded interviews, plural, interviews. so they say that does include the bedminster july 2021 audio recording of donald trump holding up a document relating to iran and mark milley and talking about it, but there are other interviews that they have. we don't know how relevant they may be to the case, but donald trump apparently is on tape by his own consent speaking to people, and that is part of the case, p

our senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz was inside the room for today's meetings. n's kristen holmes is outside the former president's golf club in new jersey where we expect him to arrive shortly. first, katelyn is joining us from the courthouse in miami. you watched all the drama unfold inside that courtroom. walk us through what happened. >> reporter: well, wolf, this 50-minute proceeding, donald trump sat slumped over for some of it or his arms crossed, apparently scowling, for much of the rest of it as he was faced with these criminal charges for the very first time before a judge in federal court and in the same room as special counsel jack smith and much of his team. both of the men were there today, so it really made for one of these moments that it's extraordinary, with donald trump sitting with a plate in front of him saying, defendant, in a hushed courtroom, as the proceedings went on. through this proceeding, it was quite procedural, right? donald trump needed to say he was not guilty, to enter that initial pleading into the court. his attorney did it fo

katelyn polantz is in miami, where wall st nauta will be indicted tomorrow. l start with this video, buzz it was you, katelyn, and i who broke this story. this is what jack smith had in his possession, this audio tape. now to hear this, the idea of how critical this evidence could be at a trial, where jurors could hear potentially trump's tone and the casual nature of the way he's talking about this, how much does that change things? >> it's fascinating because this will likely be a key piece, if not the key piece of evidence at an eventual trial down in florida, where the jury will have the opportunity to hear just how casually the former president is discussing what he acknowledges is secret information. he says, look, this is classified. he acknowledges that now that he's out of the white house, he does not have the power to declassify. and people in the room are laughing. a staffer appearing to be egging him on. but let's take a listen to trump in his own words explaining why he would do this. >> these are bad, sick people. >> that was your coup, you know,

katelyn polantz live from miami. please stand by and bring us the latest there. let's expand the conversation. wee kristin holmes, zachary owen. trump is huddled with allies in bedminster and openly acknowledging that he's going to be indicted. >> that's right. for the last few weeks we know that he had been asking people what they thought was going happen in these cases. now seems that he has pivoted and believes that he will be indicted. it's not just him. his entire team believes that. they believe it's going to happen sooner rather than later. and they've been reaching out to allies on the hill trying to shore up their defense. as we know, donald trump believes in the court of public opinion. and that is something that he takes very seriously. he wants his most staunch allies, his most staunch defenders out there on the airwaves really trying to bolster his defense. they're going to call this political. they're going to call this election interference. now i will say, as you noted in bedminster, there are plans to go to two campaign events this weekend, one i

cnn senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz outside the court in miami. don't you bring us up to speed. >> reporter: well, john, taylor and his attorney stanley woodward did arrive a half an hour ago to the federal courthouse in downtown miami. they wouldn't answer any questions about why they were here or why they believed they were here in miami rather than in washington, d.c. where we saw for months grand jury activity, but our reporting team has been able to confirm that they are here today because of the special counsel's investigation and because of that special counsel looking into the handling of documents at mar-a-lago, obviously mar-a-lago is just down the road in palm beach, in the same federal district that miami is in. so there are a lot of questions why this grand jury activity is now in miami, why it's not continuing in washington, d.c., but we do know that this isn't the first time that a witness has been called in to testify to a grand jury here, that there have been other witnesses in this special counsel investigation into the handling

kat kat katelyn polantz is covering the details what are you learning tonight?this is one where prosecutors are piecing together all of the bits that could lead them to charge donald trump with knowingly, willfully, having classified or national security records outside of the protected hands of the federal government and in his possession after he left the white house. so, erin, whenever you look back over the course of this investigation it is quite lengthy and there have been so many witnesses and i just want to walk through some of them because when you read their names back-to-back, it is stacking up, the people who fill out if the puzzle on the entire arc of the story and mark meadows, his white house chief of staff who he was helping with the document issues and had people writing a book that were speaking with trump at a time where trump was holding up a paper and captured on audio talking about classified documents from the pentagon. there's evan corcoran, his former defense attorney or his current defense attorney who in this investigation had been for

katelyn polantz was in the courtroom and you were talking about his interactions. did he look at jack smith. this is the first time they have been in the same room together. >> that is astonishing to see smith. he's not very far from trump and you can be in a courtroom and be very far from shomeone but ther is only about two people between, between smith sitting on the edge of one of the seats and then trump sitting at the defense table. now, one of the things that was so interesting about this is that trump really was not looking around. he was whispering to his attorney todd blanche, blanche at one time seemed to be making a joke during the proceedings for walt nauta, which was the second half of the hearing. and he just wasn't very emotive. he was having his arms crossed. he was leaning back or he was hunching over, having these whispers with his attorney, todd blanche, occasionally others would lean over and chat. but it wasn't this huge moment where he was looking around or looking at even who was in the room behind him. but when he did leave, you know, as the

cnn's katelyn polantz is in miami.s is a journal who has made an appearance before at an earlier stage of this investigation. >> reporter: indeed she has. judge aileen cannon who sits in this district, she is a life-time appointee to the federal bench by donald trump, no less, and judge cannon previously when she -- after the search warrant she got a petition from donald trump to try to slow down the justice department investigation essentially and she allowed that to happen and then an appeals court said she got the law wrong. so judge aileen cannon, her name was on that summons, that document that went to donald trump and his lawyers yesterday telling him that he has been indicted and it indicates that she is the judge that will handle and shepherd this case lieu the court system and through a jury trial. so the things that she will get to oversee are how the law is interpreted for this trial. she will also get to see what evidence can come in and out. she will get to make decisions on that after hearing arguments fr

our senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz is live outside courthouse. the sun is up.y. what are you learning about really both teams adding more florida attorneys? >> reporter: well, poppy, everybody is getting ready for this case to be here, to stay here in the southern district of florida whether it's at the miami courthouse or it's at a different courthouse in this district, maybe west palm beach or force pierce where judge cannon sits. and what is happening is that donald trump needs some lawyers who know this court really well. he has a couple of people on his team who are able to practice law in florida, but he has been marred by departures of lawyers on his team pretty regularly over the course of the many investigations he's been under over the past five or so years, and then even recently some of the lawyers that shepherded this through, the investigation that we're around him and knowing every step of what was happening, they've all departed the legal team or have to be such as his defense attorney evan corcoran who still is representing him but has become a

secondly, as you've seen some of the evidence that kaitlan collins, katelyn polantz has been talking about, the former president was certainly holding on to things he shouldn't have, and preventing an investigation. >>> evan perez, thank you so much for guiding us through that. jim? >>> tonight president biden will address the nation, his first time speaking to the country since final passage of the bill it will follow a red-hot jobs report, nearly doubling expectations. cnn's phil mattingly is at the white house. phil, the president calling today a good day for the u.s. economy. what's the message tonight? >> reporter: white house officials have been close to the vest about what the president says. a very rare occasion, giving oval office remarks at 7:00 p.m. tonight. if you look at the context of this moment, you were just walking through, you'll get a sense of white house officials can to some degree turn the page on the major issue hanging over them over the last several months. the longtime stalemate, the very real possibility for the first default in u.s. history, economic cata

katelyn polantz tells us what to expect. >> the co-defendant will be here in the federal courthouse in downtown miami on tuesday morning to enter a plea of not guilty, that is what is expected to happen. the co-defendant walt nauta is trump's body man, his valet, and he is accused of obstructing justice along side the president after the federal government and justice department demanded had trump return any sqclassified documents. nauta was the person moving those boxes around of classified records throughout mar-a-lago so that the justice department was not able to find them throughout 2021 and 2022. so he appeared beside donald trump in court two weeks ago at the initial arraignment for trump. but walt nauta did not have a lawyer in the state of florida at that time so he wasn't able to formally enter a plea of not guilty. so that is why he is returning to court tuesday morning. trump himself is not expected to be here, but it is a significant moment in the case because things are already moving toward a trail. both sides are beginning to get information that prosecutors have collec

katelyn polantz has part of the story, and paula reid with the other part of the story, and tell us whatut the now investigation being closed? >> well, as of yesterday, the justice department told mike pence and his lawyers, they will not be bringing any criminal charge, and this is the end of the investigation into classified documents that were found in mike pence's home in ind indiana. this is a very short sentence, and as you know, they were notified of the classification of markings at mike pence's residence it reads the national security division and the department of justice have received information that vice president mike pence is not guilty of criminal charges in classified document probe. we are making sure that he had no white house classified records in his possession. they found about a dozen yin and this launched the internal investigation of what happened there. and so there were two search ises of pence's home and his office in d.c. they found one document marked "classified." we know that bookended by this investigation yesterday with this letter to the evan, tell me m

evan perez and katelyn polantz is with us. i am going to you first, kate. >> well, it is clear that the justice department is not bringing any criminal charges related to the discovery of classified records or records with the classified markings with them in the possession of former vice president mike pence. what happened to start this investigation, buzz that back in january, a lawyer had gone to pence's home in indianapolis to make sure that he had no records after he left the vice presidency. they found a dozen of documents there with classified markings on them, and called federal government and got them back into the hands of the fbi. after that, there were fbi searches of both mike pence's home in indiana to make sure there were no others, and they recovered one, and then a search of the office in washington, d.c., but then, fast forward a couple of months and not is a very long time when those searches took place in february of this year, mike pence's team did receive a letter from the justice department saying they h

. >> evan perez, and katelyn polantz and everyone, thank you for your perspectives. >>> and now, coming up next, we will discuss the indictment and plus the cnn exclusive reporting of this transcript of donald trump knowingly being recorded and what that means in the hands of the prosecutors now. some of the 2024 republican prooifls of the former president are weighing in, including the former >>> and we are listening in from a campaign event of mike pence and how he is reacting to the news of donald trump's indictment coming up. so caramel swiwirl is always there for the taking. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. i told myself i was ok with my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms after a tnf blocker like humira or enbrel, rinvoq is different and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can dr

katelyn polantz. >> reporter:s. >> reporter: the top federal prosecutor investigating donald trump and the way he handled classified documents after he left the presidency, that prosecutor took a meeting on monday with a team of defense lawyers representing donald trump. they all met at the justice department headquarters in washington, d.c. along with a career official from the justice department who also sat down with trump's lawyers. this is the sort of meeting that appears to be coming at the final stage or in a final stage of this criminal investigation around the former president and around what happened at his estate in mar-a-lago and potentially other places throughout his business empire. we don't know exactly what happened at the meeting at this time, but it is quite significant that people in the justice department would agree to meet with trump's lawyers whenever they had requested this. so there are potentially additional people who could be brought into a grand jury investigation. we do believe one witness is going to be speaking to a grand jury in south florida this week

cnn's katelyn polantz is polling all of this. telyn, first let's talk about the reporting about rudy giuliani. what more are you learning? >> reporter: well, kate, rudy giuliani is a really interesting figure in this investigation at a moment where the investigation has been very busy. so sara murray and paula reid last night exclusively reported that rudy giuliani has been in for an interview with the special counsel's office as they investigate donald trump and others around january 6th and the 2020 election. and that raises a ton of questions. why and why now is rudy giuliani sitting for a voluntary interview? we previously knew that he had been the subject of a subpoena, he had received a subpoena from early on in this -- or several months ago in this investigation and he's also the subject of other people's subpoenas, where the special counsel's office has been seeking a lot of communications he had with others around the election, being one of those central figures helping donald trump try to sow doubt in the election. talki

to share their reporting is gloria borger, paula reid, also on that giuliani reporting, and katelyn polantz. thank you all for being here. paula, i'll start with you. i can't keep track of the stories we break. let's talk about the trump defense. >> it's been a long evolution. when mar-a-lago was searched by the feds, the former president came out with this idea he had standing order to declass everything. he could decls if i if you don't know it's in the box. thsz a key piece of evidence. not only is he the one who says they are secret, he infers they are classified. he says he can't declassify them. one of the new pieces of information we got obtaining this tape is that he says these are the papers. so it's been these conflicting contradicting or devolving, depending on how you look at it explanations for what happened here. at the end of the day, none of this ab solves you of criminal liability. >> i want to play a little more of his latest explanation on the papers. he did this yesterday. >> hi a whole desk full of lots of papers. copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies o

>> that's right, wolf, our colleague katelyn polantz learned that grand jury is active, making inquiriesf the witness, gathering evidence. it's not unheard of for a grand jury to continue investigating even after charges are brought. we know from our own reporting that there were really significant lines of inquiry that did not show up in the indictment. for example, there were a lot of questions about whether there were gaps in surveillance footage, also a lot of questions about how records were stored at bedminster. it is certainly possible that there could be additional ka charges in a superceding indictment. >> significant indeed. kaitlyn, how is the trump team, i know krour doing a lot of reporting on this, actually thinking about the flurry of activity ongoing in the miami grand jury right now, and susan wiles meeting with these federal prosecutors? >> it's not totally clear to me that trump's team, trump or his legal team were still aware that there was continued activity in the miami grand jury. obviously that could potential be of consequence. it could be nothing. we don't know

>> so cnn reporters, paula reid, katelyn polantz and kaitlin collins broke this story.ial counsel has from july 2021. expresident trump, former president trump at bedminster meeting with some individuals that are writing an autobiography of mark meadows. on the tape we are told donald trump is pushing back on an article in which mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is described as keeping trump from attacking iran. trump is angry about this and basically holds up a document. we hear the rustling of papers. we're not sure if it's actually the document in question. but he refers to a classified document that would disprove all of this, but he says he can't share it because it's classified. now, why this is significant is because that would seem to suggest that donald trump knew that just because he brought documents with him from the white house to any one of his resorts didn't automatically declassify them and that he didn't have the ability to declassify them just by thinking about them, as he claimed on fox. it seems to contradict what he has said abo

let's go straight to our senior crime and justice correspondent katelyn polantz on how significant they are. talk to us about mike roman. >> reporter: the special counsel's office, they're getting answers. that is the bottom line here. this person, mike roman, he was a campaign official in the 2020 election for donald trump. he was one of the people working on election day operations, and clearly someone involved in organizing those fake electeors in battleground states. what's so significant about this there are a lot of signs the special counsel's office is drilling down on that fake elector scheme and they're in a very end stage of the investigation there. and what's indicative of what they're doing, they're getting answers from people who refused earlier to provide answers like to the house investigators whenever they've questioned mike roman and he took the fifth. but in this circumstance he's answering, he's willing to answer because he's willing to cooperate because he has a layer of protection as far as we know. that allows him to become a witness who can talk not just about his

i want to now bring in katelyn polantz who has been outside of the court in miami for several days. can you walk us through what is going to play out over the next day and what you are seeing here? we are noticing new videos of barricades there as they are ramping up the security. >> sara, certainly more people here around the miami courthouse since that indictment friday of donald trump and the aide walt nauta, but much of the activity is going to go over the course of a few hours tomorrow afternoon, and this is when trump and walt nauta is going to be scheduled to be summoned to appear before this court before a magistrate judge, and a judge to take them through the initial proceedings of defendants after they are charged with case like this by a grand jury, and what is going to happen is that trump and nauta if they are traveling together, they will be brought into federal courthouse without being seen clearly. they won't have to walk in through the front door and brought in underground and taken to the courtroom and appear before the judge. this is not like the case in new york

details from katelyn polantz now. >> reporter: rahel and victor, donald trump's legal team has been unableproduce to the justice department the exact document that the former president was capture order tape talking about and apparently waving around in a meeting with some aides and people working on a book. so this all goes back to that audiotape that we were reporting on earlier in the week. and that audiotape captured donald trump talking about an apparent plan to attack iran, something he had been presented with by the pentagon at the end of his presidency and he had a lot of anger over the fact that he couldn't attack iran. and the justice department revealinged itself to the trump lawyers and others just two months ago in march that they had a hold of this audiotape and they were zeroing in on this particular episode in july of 2021. and they revealed it because they asked a witness about what happened in this meeting and shortly after sent a subpoena to 2kud donald trump and his attorney saying if you have this record or other records related to mark mi milley, turn all of it over,