we're going to begin with cnn legal correspondent paula reid who is tracking all the latest developments. and paula, it's unclear when or if the federal grand jury has even voted on whether or not they want to indict donald trump. what do we know about how and when we might find out? >> here's what we know, jake. we know the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the special counsel's investigation into january 6th. they were in building earlier today for several hours, and then they left, except for the grand jury foreperson. and that is significant because that is the only member of the grand jury that is required to return an indictment. but as you said, at this point, it is unclear if they have voted to indict the former president or any of his associates. right now we have reporters in the court watching to see any sign of a returned indictment. now in a usual case, an indictment would be returned to a magistrate judge in a sealed hearing. it would remain under seal until arrest. but jake, again, we don't know if there is an indictment here. but if there is, it's unclear if th

let's begin now with that fbi raid and cnn's senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid. paula, i'm so glad you're here tonight. listen, i need you to walk us through what we know about why prosecutors were even looking to arrest this man. what's the story? >> he was allegedly making threats against president biden ahead of his visit to the state. he also allegedly made threats against democratic politicians and investigators working on the cases related to former president trump. he was facing three charges, including threats against the president, interstate threats, and this charge of influencing, impeding, or retaliating against federal law enforcement agents by threat. when s.w.a.t. agents were big him commands, he allegedly pointed a gun at them. >> paula, stand by for a moment. i want to talk about this with our panel right now. joining me is former federal prosecutor gene rossi, former head of intelligence in the homeland security d.c. department who warned about january 6th. and republican strategist michael singleton. by what paula described and what we know abou

but first i want to begin with cnn's foreign affairs correspondent paula reid. paula, bill barr setup today's developments, so i want to know what do we now know tonight about what the plan is for trump to build a defense? >> we're starting to see the broad contours of a legal defense here, and they're really trying to hit on this idea of infringing on his freedom of speech and saying that here the government has allegedly criminalized political speech. but what that fails to take into consideration is the fact the indictment outlines exactly how this went so much further than just words and lays out the specific series of alleged actions the former president took. in the alternative they're also arguing this good faithful leap, that the former president really believed that the election had been stolen. but prosecutors were one step ahead of him laying out in the indictment multiple instances where he either admitted that he did lose or that he had officials telling him that, in fact, there was no basis for these claims. >> paula, stick around. we need your insi

paula reid has more on those stories as well, as new documents surfacing. let's start with the fulton county district attorney. what are you learning about what she is expecting to present to the grand jury. >> fani willis' long running investigation into overturning the results in georgia appears to be coming to a head next week. we expect that over the course of two days next week, she will present her case to a regular grand jury that can vote on indictments. and we learned that she is contemplating charges that include conspiracy, racketeering, and rico. again, these are state-level charges. so, this case might look a little bit different than what we've seen at the federal level. john, the biggest question a lot of people have is, of course, will the former president be charged. we don't know for sure. but even his own attorneys have said they expect he will be indicted in georgia next week. >> and paula reid we also have this new internal trump campaign memo. what details do we get here about this plot to overturn the election? >> this is really the m

so let's go straight to paula reid who has been following every development in this case. paula, let's start with the in you exclusive reporting. what are you learning about today's interview? >> we've learned that bernie carrick, he was the former new york police commissioner but a close associate of rudy giuliani and he was part of the team that tried to investigate allegations of fraud following the 2020 election. well he met with special counsel prosecutors today for the first time. he was inviewed over several hours and after that interview his attorney spoke exclusively to cnn to talk about what they learned. let's take a listen. >> it was a little cut short by incoming tornados. but we're all good to go. >> so no -- [ inaudible ]. >> no. >> jack smith in the room with you? >> no. he didn't want to see me, i guess. >> what did they ask you about? >> it was mostly about all of the efforts in between the election and january 6 of what the giuliani team was doing and really just going through all of the efforts that they took at time, to take all of the complaints of fra

. >> that might drag the presses out as well, paula reid. thanks so much. >>> trumps co-defendant said he will surrender next week, we are learning new information about the armor new york mayors financial problems. we have been covering the story, giuliani's attorneys say that he is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills, outrageous sums of money. >> he has to fight this criminal case, he says he is anxious to fight the criminal case from the fulton county, prosecutors but that is essentially a side and apart from the major legal battle he's fighting right now. which is just keeping his head above water to respond to what he needs to respond to in these lawsuits around the 2020 election, he's being accused by multiple different parties as well as two georgia election workers that he defamed them when he made false statements about the election, about election fraud. those places are suing him, they will ultimately seek damages if they were to win which can be huge and enormous, the bills that can bankrupt a person very easil

first, cnn's paula reid starts us off. paula, what is the latest we know about logistics tomorrow. >> anderson, we expect the former president will travel here to washington to attend this hearing in person, even though he did have the option to do this virtually. now, this is a courthouse that is used to dealing with vips and people with motorcades, so it is entirely possible that we may not see him at all during this court proceeding because there is a garage underneath this courthouse where most vips or people who want to avoid the media can easily pull into. and of course there are no cameras in federal court. once he's inside the courthouse tomorrow, he's effectively under arrest. he'll be processed like any other defendant, but we do not expect he will have a mug shot taken. this issue came up in the manhattan appearance and the florida initial appearance. mug shots are for when a suspect goes on the lam. he is, of course, one of the most recognizable faces in the world, so they have not been taking mug shots of him.

first, quickly, paula reid is on the legal maneuvering today. what is expected to happen friday morning in d. c. federal court? >> anderson, this is a significant hearing. this is the first time that trump's defense attorneys and special counsel prosecutor would appear before judge tanya chutkan. the last hearing was handled by a magistrate judge, and chutkan is the one who is going to handle all of the hearings up until a likely trial. now, on friday, both sides will have the opportunity to make their arguments about what they think the rules should look like in this case for handling, and publicly sharing any sensitive information. prosecutors want broad protections, defense attorneys are seeking something more narrow. protections only for really sensitive information, which they argue would be more in line with what has happened another january 6th cases. judge chutkan is overseeing dozens of cases related to january 6th, she is an experienced judge, and on the bench for about a decade, and it appears, anderson, based on her scheduling orders

. >> paula reid is live outside the fulton county courthouse. we now have the 98 pages.have the former president and 18 associates here. what happens next? this is now all at this point. >> reporter: well, phil, the next step is surrender and the district attorney, fani willis, gave them to next friday at noon to arrange their surrender. then there will be an initial appearance. a little bit different than what we have seen if federal court where they have initial appearance, arraignment in one fell swoop. it will take a while to go through the process with 19 different defendants. now, we fully expect the former president will cooperate here in terms of the surrender, going through the process. after that we expect many legal challenges. the first i am told is a challenge to jurisdiction and attempt to move this case from fulton county to the federal level. now, one of the biggest advantages that would potentially give the former president is dprrawing from a broader jury pool instead of just heavily democratic fulton county. >> can you lay out bruce willis' case here.

paula reid, thank you very much for being there.alk to you soon. >>> there are two co-dfsefendan in georgia who are hoping to skip this step and process, mark meadows and jeffrey clark, both are also asking a judge to move their state case to federal court, and in the process, kind of let them off the hook for facing arrest this week. cnn's jessica schneider has more on this, and joins us now. jessica, what are they asking for here? >> yeah, kate. they're really banking on these motions to move their cases to federal court and in the short term, anyway, that would be so they could avoid arrest before the noon deadline friday that was set by the fulton county d.a. so it's both mark meadows and jeffrey clark. jeffrey clark was a justice department official and they've argued that their status as federal officers when their alleged conduct occurred forms the basis of this indictment, because they were federal officers it requires their cases to be heard by federal and not state court, and the advantages, in their view, would be that th

cnn's paula reid joins us now. paula, these bills, enormous. >> seven-figure legal debt.a in late april to make their pitch to the former president about why he should help them out. we learned they had multiple meetings and they walked away with some sort of implied assurance of assistance, but in a very trump way he did not commit to a specific amount or timeline. one month after these conversations a trump aligned political action committee did pay over $300,000 to settle one of giuliani's many legal debts. now going forward, it's unclear if he will get any additional money and we are told as of now he has not received any other assistance. >> that is some, not even half of what he goes to stand owing. are there concerns about the consequences of this within trump's world? >> absolutely, we have learned that advisers close to the president believe it is in his interest to help giuliani and keep him in the fold. they have learned a lot from what happened with michael cohen who went from being trump's fixers to one of his most public critics and provided information that

paula reid has the details from washington. >> reporter: former president trump is expected do here to washington to appear in person for this hearing which is expected to be both an initial appearance and also an arraignment. it is unclear if we'll see him arrive because this federal courthouse is designed to deal with people with security details and it would be very easy for him to pull into the underground ga undergarage and we won't see him at all. and of course inside there are no cameras but he is effectively under arrest and it is expected that he'll be processed like any other defendant but we don't expect a mug shot because those are used to identify the defendant if they go on the lam. but this won't be in front of the judge who will oversee his trial, this will be in front of a magistrate judge. it is expected that he will hear the charges filed against him, have the opportunity to enter the plea and it should be over pretty quickly. this is the third time this year alone, so he should know what it on expect. paula reid, cnn, washington. >>> some of trump's republican rival

paula reid has that. >> reporter: rudy giuliani is expected to meet with the fulton county district attorney on wednesday. he is expected to travel to georgia along with his long time friend better than a bernie ker. kerik has been helping giuliani in his search for an attorney, something proven challenging given that giuliani currently has seven figures worth of unpaid legal bills. but it does appear that they have someone with a georgia law license who will at least help them through the bond phase of this process. unclear if he has retained someone who has agreed to represent him in this case. it is an open question about whether giuliani can even afford a lawyer to represents him in this case. now, i'm also told that giuliani would like to get through the bondhim in this case. now, i'm also told that giuliani would like to get through the bond negotiations and surrender before donald trump shows up on thursday. rudy has gone to former president trump pleading with him to give him help with his legal bills. and as of now, giuliani has only received a small portion of what he owes and that

paula reid, cnn, washington. >>> scott jennings is a cnn senior political commentator. he joins me now from louisville, kentucky. good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> so donald trump suffered a big setback tuesday in his attempt to delay the hearing of his january 6th case. the judge rejecting his legal team's efforts to move it to next week, but while trump's strategy to delay proceedings appears to be failing, at the same time, his support rises, doesn't it? ever time his legal woes deepen, how inevitable is it that the republican party will head into the 2024 november election was an indicted, perhaps convicted presidential nominee? and what impact will that have on this country? >> well, he's certainly the leader in the republican primary right now, but you alluded to the calendar. and this is what's very important is that there is a possibility that donald trump could become the de facto nominee of the republican party some time in the spring of next year, then face trial, then be convicted and then go to the republican national convention in august to get fo

paula reid has more. >> i have four of them now if you look. >> reporter: former president trump reacting to his georgia indictment for the first time on camera and calling for his party to come to his defense. >> they have no idea the anger they cause. the republicans have to be tough. the republicans are great in many ways, but they don't fight as hard. they have to get a lot tougher. >> reporter: this call to action comes as the georgia residents who served on the grand jury that indicted trump for trying to overturn the 2020 election are facing threats and even getting doxxed online. >> they were called to serve and now they have been basically put on the ax by these disclosures. >> reporter: names, pictures, profiles and even home addresses purporting to belong to the grand jurors are now circulating on far right websites, their names were published on the indictment, a public document as is the practice in georgia. but experts say -- >> this is really a quirk of law in the state of georgia that the names of grand jurors come out with the indictment. so this is really the first time

cnn's paula reid is in atlanta. paula, what does this bond agreement look like? house chief of staff now has a $100,000 bond agreement. he will have to post a small percentage of that in cash. he's also subject to a list of specific restrictions if he wants to continue to be a free man and not be detained. among those restrictions, and we've seen these with other defendants, he cannot discuss the case with other defendants, only can discuss it through counsel, also cannot discuss it with any witnesses, and he's also barred from trying to intimidate anyone involved in this case. now that he has his bond all settled, dana, we expect mark meadows could show up here at the fulton county sheriff's office at any time. he had actually been trying to avoid all of this. he had asked a federal judge to give him a reprieve from this deadline of tomorrow at noon to surrender because he's currently trying to get his entire fulton county case moved to federal court. he believes if he can get this moved to federal court he can get it dismissed. and he asked a federal judge that

paula reid, cnn, washington. >> trump's attorneys are testing more potential defenses in the election plot case. they now claim that it is not a crime to suggest that an elected official do something. for example asking then vice president mike pence to not certify the election results. >> there is no conspiracy, illegal conspiracy to do and i will legal act. so when you are saying congress is going to meet, i want congress do y action instead of x action or i want the vice president do a instead of b, that is not a conspiracy do something iillegal. it is just asking a government official to do something. >> i'm not aware of the aspirational defense or free speech defense to a gang leader saying to his subordinates i need you to rob a bank for me and they do it, you know that is aspirational. but it leads to a crime. and that is exactly what trump did with pence. >> and trump's attorneys also claim he was simply following his legal team's advice when he pressured state election officials to find more votes for him. >>> severe thunderstorms are rolling across much of the eastern united

paula reid is standing outside of the jail live in fulton county, and what is the latest happening behind you, and how are they preparing? >> well, we expect the former president won't be here until later on this evening, but there are definitely security preparations under way, road closures, and folks are confined to certain areas if they want to come here to watch or protest, but we don't expect this is going to happen until after rush hour traffic, and one of the goals is not to shutdown rush hour traffic, and though he is going to be treated like any other defendant, he is not like any other defendant, and he is going to get a full security escort. this is how it going to work. he going to leave his bedminster, new jersey, home in the afternoon, and head here to surrender around 7:00 p.m. this process for most people has taken a little bit over an hour, and involves fingerprinting, a mugshot and some paperwork. the former president's lawyers have already come here to georgia to negotiate the bond, and this is just about having the former president processed. and as you noted, even th

paula reid, cnn, washington. >> former president trump reportedly remained angry on the flight back to bedminster venting his frustrations on social media and spinning his arraignment as a win for him. kristen holmess has more. >> reporter: former president posting on truth social that this was him being arrested by a political opponent who was losing to him in the polls and calling it a very good day. obviously this is how he reacts. but people tell me that he is angry, that this is not something that he wants to be doing is getting indicted, he wants to be running for president again in 2024. but as we have reported over and over again, we are at a point where the legal and political are one in the same. his arguments for the political are that he has to win because he is being persecuted in the court of law. and so it is interesting to see, but obviously as we know now, he is lashing out, so we'll see what he says on friday when he attends a dinner in alabama where he is speaking to the republican party there. kristen holmes, cnn, washington. >>> this is former president trump's thi

paula reid has more. >> reporter: former president trump is expected to come here to washington to appear in person for this hearing which is expected to be both an initial appearance and also an arraignment. it is unclear if we'll see him arrive because this federal courthouse, it is designed to deal with people who have security details and vips. so it would be easy for him to pull into the underground garage and we won't get to see him at all. but once he is inside the federal courthouse where of course there are no cameras, he is effectively under arrest and it is expected that he will be processed like any other defendant but we don't expect a mug shot because those are used to identify suspects if they go on the lam. but this will be a quick procedural hearing. it will be in front of a magistrate judge. this is expected that he will hear the charges, have the opportunity to enter a plea, and it should all be over pretty quickly and this will be the third time that he has done this this year alone. so he should know what to expect. paula reid, cnn, washington. >> the law sees donald

paula reid, cnn, fulton county, georgia. >> for more, let's bring in a former prosecutor. so we've learned that two of the co-defendents just released. can you explain why they went through the process overnight? >> timing is everything. and again, they have time to turn themselves in because this is not the deadline yet. also they may be trying to escape all the media and all the action around this case which is very big. and mr. schafer who was the republican chairman in georgia, gop chairman, has already indicated that he wants removal as a contingent if you will presidential elector. but he has signaled that this is trump, i was listening to trump's attorneys, i have -- i was following trump's lawyers. so he may be trying to distance himself not wanting to be caught up with giuliani and trump, the bigger fish, come in. >> we've been discussing rudy giuliani a lot. first struggling to pay the legal bills and then trouble finding a georgia attorney. now we understand that he does have a lawyer to help him through the bond process. we're expecting him to be in georgia tod

paula reid has the latest from atlanta. >> reporter: rudy giuliani traveled down to georgia on wednesday to negotiate his bond and then surrender at the fulton county sheriff's office. his bond was set at $150,000. he will have to put a portion of that up this cash. he is also subject to a list of restrictions including being barred from discussing the case with any of his co-defendants. former president trump is of course a co-defendant and also hosting a fundraiser for giuliani in a few weeks to try to help him raise money for these many defenses that he needs to put on. so unclear how exactly he will not discuss this case with trump. but going forward, it will be interesting to see if his lawyer that he worked with today brian tevis stays on the case. he currently faces seven figures of unpaid legal debt, and it was unclear if he could find an attorney here in georgia. he just needed someone to sign that bond agreement. when i asked if he would stay on the case, he says that remains to be seen. when i asked if he was getting paid, he declined to answer. it is notable that even though

cnn's paula reid is tracking these developments.ey believe they have a right to a three-year delay? >> reporter: they're asking for approximately three years between indictment and trial. they argue that they need that time to prepare. i've seen them argue in other cases in court. for example, in the mar-a-lago case. they have a lot of cases, they have a lot of work, and they can't do everything at once. in their filing they argued, quote, the government's objective is clear, to deny president trump and his counsel a fair ability to prepare for the trial. and of course the government is requesting to take this to trial on january 2, 2024. but this is going to be up to the judge. judge tanya chutkan. she has the final say, and she's looking at a calendar that's pretty crowded. you've got the possibility of four criminal trials in addition to civil matters, and i think there is a legitimate question, could this be the one or one of the trials that happens before the 2024 election? most of the experts i've spoken with think this one pr

paula reid, cnn, washington. >>> now to the missile strikes in ukraine. seven people were killed overnight, at least 81 others injured, this is after two russian strikes on the city. clare sebastian is live with the latest. it is midday now in that region. what more are officials saying? >> reporter: yeah, a second day now rescue efforts are ongoing. we're told that they have to take a pause overnight because of the threat of shelling. but the scale of the destruction is extreme. some 2,000 windows were blown out, some 12 multistory buildings affected including a hotel and restaurant that were popular we're told with journalists who had visited the area. this was a double missile attack using what ukrainian officials say were russian missiles. it happened around 30 to 40 minutes apart in the early evening of monday. and the reason why this kind of attack is so destructive is because you have one missile that strikes and then rescuers, police officers move in and the second missile hits and you can see from the injury toll we're getting exactly what is hap

paula reid, cnn, washington. >>> we're keeping a close watch on hurrica hurrican hilary. it has winds of 140 miles per hour and still gaining strength. it is located some 400 miles south of cabo san lucas and heading west/northwest. but it is unclear just where the storm will make landfall and how strong it will be when it does. the national hurricane center predicts heavy rain will spread into california and southwestern united states late this weekend. chad myers is tracking the storm for you. >> quite a few things going on with hilary at this hour. the storm in very warm water off the southwest coast of baja california, just to the west of cabo san lucas, but in very hot water and gaining strength rapidly on thursday. but it will try to squeeze its way between a low to the west and high to the east and that is where things really get interesting. this rarely happens. and so we rarely get tropical systems into southern california or arizona because of the very, very difficult pattern to get, but with this storm, we actually do have it. and eventually the low will be som

paula reid, cnn, washington. >> jessica levinson is a professor of law at loyola law school. also a host of the passing judgment podcast. it's good to have you with. us >> good to be here. so in a new court filing on monday, donald trump's legal team accused special counsel prosecutors of a politically motivated campaign to restrict the former president's first amendment rights. his team pushing back in response to the protective order. limiting what he can say by arguing that trump's ability to share information on the case is covered by his first amendment rights for free speech. what is your legal response to that argument? >> and i legal response to that is that is more of a political argument then a legal argument. there are protective orders, they are a thing that exists. they are not exceedingly rare. they happen in the district of columbia where this case will be tried. and it does not mean that somebody's first amendment rights are infringed upon. as we all know, the first amendment does provide robust protection for speech. particularly for political speech. and the

paula reid has more on that. >> reporter: judge tanya chutkan has scheduled a hearing for friday a arguments from both attorneys for former president trump and the special counsel about the possible rules for exactly how evidence especially sensitive evidence will be handled in this case. the special counsel has been lobbying for a broad protective order to limit the ability the former president has to share sensitive information that is turned over in this case. but trump's lawyers have argued for something more narrow, something that only covers the most sensitive information. they argue that that would be more in line with the protective orders in other january 6 cases. trump lawyers also asked that the hearing be scheduled text week as they have another hearing in the other special counsel investigation down in florida on thursday. but judge chutkan appears based on her scheduling orders so far to be keen to move this along as quickly as possible. so she's scheduled this for hearing on friday, both sides will have the opportunity to present arguments and this will be their first time app

paula reid was inside the courtroom watching this all play out.we assume you've left court, that this hearing is now over? >> reporter: it is not over. in fact, i came out a little bit early, as we had some other news that we're working on. but it was fascinating because this was the first time the defense attorneys and prosecutors were appearing before the judge who will handle this case through what is expected to be a trial. and judge tanya chutkan, she has been on the bench for over a decade, and it shows, it was a big contrast to what we saw in florida before judge aileen cannon, who has only been on the bench for a very short time. judge chutkan's experience shows through in her command of the courtroom. the way she is able to pepper lawyers with questions, just get to the heart of an issue. and she infused humor throughout this hearing at the expense of both prosecutors and the defense. and, as you were just discussing, i think the real key takeaway isn't just necessarily how she decided on how sensitive materials will be handled there. she

paula reid, live for us in fulton county, thank you so much. let's take you across town to the fulton county jail where zachary cohen is. more surrenders today, more arrest reports. walk us through the latest details that you're getting. >> there's been a revolving door here and it started if the predawn hours of the morning when two co-defendants, kathy wisdom and david turned themselves in followed by two lawyers who turned themselves just in the last few hours, ray smith, a local georgia lawyer for the trump campaign and ken chesboro, he's been described as the architect of the alleged scheme and a core part of the broader effort to overturn the election. we expect a steady stream of more than these defendants to show up and turn themselves at the fulton county jail. obviously rudy giuliani is the biggest name that we know of that we anticipate showing up here today but it's clear these defendants are trying to surrender before the former president arrives in atlanta and is expected to turn himself in. >> all right. we'll be looking for that

let's turn now to cnn's senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid. do you know about the grand jury meeting today? their work continues. >> that's right. the special counsel said the investigation continues so not a big surprise to see them show up. we know they typically meet on tuesdays and thursdays and this comes just a day after we saw the special counsel interviewing bernie kerik. he is of course the former new york police commissioner but he is also a close associate of rudy giuliani. the big question is, well, if the investigation continues, who else could be charged? we know giuliani is of course identified as co-conspirator number 1. we know kerik got a lot of questions about his long-time associate, the work he did for giuliani looking into these allegations of election fraud but he came out of the interview insisting that giuliani will not be charged. we know he was also asked about a lot of the other key players here, notably, brianna, though, today the grand jury didn't hear from any additional witnesses. so it's possible that they were

paula reid has more from washington. >> reporter: fani willis just making a request, a proposal to have her trial begin the first week of march 2024. it is highly unlikely that this request will be granted because six months is a very tight time line for a rico case. they are notoriously complicated and tend to get drawn out. and here she has 19 different defendants. three of them expected or have already challenged the jurisdiction trying to move the case from the state to the federal level. but we know she is also competing for increasingly scarce space on an increasingly crowded calendar where the president has not only likely a few trials that have been scheduled, but also he has election events, things that he would likely have to participate in as a candidate for the presidency. so that is likely part of why she wants to get the discussion going and why she is proposing such an aggressive time line. paula reid, cnn, washington. >>> meanwhile sources close to former president trump tell cnn that he is considering counter programming next week's republican presidential debate on fox

. >> paula reid, thanks so much. as those witnesses continue to testify before the grand jury in atlanta, donald trump is expecting he could be indicted at any moment. cnn's alayna treene joins us. how is trump's team preparing for this latest indictment? >> reporter: jake, they have a playbook now. they've had to respond to three previous indictments, and they're planning to use the same playbook with this potential indictment. they are lining up surrogates and allies, having them ready to respond to potential charges if they are filed. they've also spoken to conservative media and had them write pre written statements. they're preparing a response ahead of time for when or if an indictment in georgia does come. i'm also told that donald trump's team does expect that a potential arraignment, if he is indicted, would be in person. that he would have to show up in person in georgia and appear before the court. of course, that's an early guess from his team, from what they tell me. that's what they're anticipating at t

cnn's paula reid on why starting the trial that soon could be district. >> reporter: fani willis just making a request, a proposal to have her trial begin the first week of march 2024. it is highly unlikely that this request is going to be granted because six months is a very tight time line for a rico case. they are complated and get drawn out and here, she has 19 different defendants, three of them expected or have already challenged the jurisdiction trying to move the case from the state to the federal level. but we know she's also competing for increasingly scarce space on an increasgly crowded calendar where the president has not only likely a few trials that have been scheduled, but also he has election events, things that he would likely have to participate in as a candidate for the presidency. so likely part of why she wants to get the discussion going and why she's proposing such an aggressive time line. paula reid, cnn, washington. >>> one of trump's co-defendants is his former chief of staff mark meadows who is now securing a hearing date with a federal judge in less than t

paula reid is live outside the fulton county courthouse. a, walk us through exactly how long this presentation of this case is expected to take. >> reporter: well, the district attorney fani willis is expected to need two days to present her case to a grand jury in this courthouse behind me. she's been investigating this for over two years now and the evidence she has gathered includes evidence to support allegations that state officials here were facing enormous pressure. that there were alleged efforts to install fake electors to subvert the electoral college process, she will also detail allegations about trying to use the justice department up to d.c. to overturn the election results here as well as these meritless lawsuits that were filed by the trump campaign. now, we also have new reporting from our colleague sara murray and zach cohen detailing how fani willis also has evidence that former president president trump and his allies were trying to breach a voting system in rural georgia as part of these alleged efforts. now, at least on

trial >> paula reid, appreciate it. joining me now a senior -- trump and nerves maggie haberman, and in atlanta michael moore who like elder was federal prosecution his case u.s. attorney for middle district of georgia. this ruling canal from the judge, warning about trump can threaten anybody a witness, this is kind of an odd line. i mean, he's running against mike pence. if he tweets something negative about mike pence, where is the line here? >> we're in unprecedented territory and we have grown tired of saying but it really happens what you hear. i think are going to find over the line is and i think as we have seen with former president trump over and over again with social media and commentary he tends to test for the line. as we've seen in the federal cases against. and i think we will see him do it here but you are right it is a very broad stroke, and so i do not know what's going to look like. what trump lawyers have said over and over is at his free speech rights are being targeted and he is the front runner f

. -- but first, cnn's paula reid on the special counsel's need, the need for speed. paula, what exactly is the government requesting, and how likely is the judge to grant the date? well >> they have this need for speed, they say, to serve what they described as to serve the public interest, it having a speedy resolution to this case. what they are asking for the judge to start this trial immediately, and after the new year. they say the last 4 to 6 weeks. and these are of course the for the first two months of a presidential election year. and right at the start of when primary voting would start for republicans. this would mean that candidate trump will be spending most of his weekdays in a courtroom. so, it's unclear if a judge is going to go for this schedule. the special counsel also revealed a new detail today. and that is the fact that at least some of the evidence in this case is classified. and john, that could potentially complicated some of the pre trial hearings here. but, the special counsel insists that even with that classified material, they will still

cnn's senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid is outside the court. ing isn't about timing exactly, paula, but everything at this point seems like it's about timing. >> reporter: you are absolutely right, john. everything in this case is about timing and about speed because the dee freps strategy is to delay, delay, delay. you also have prosecutors asking for a speedy trial. we will get to that in a second. today's hearing is about the rules for handling sensitive evidence in this case. this will be the first time they're a cheering before judge chutkan, she is an obama appointee, she's been on the bench for a decade and overseen dozens of january 6th cases. both sides will have the opportunity to present their arguments for how they think the most sensitive evidence should be handled as it is shared between prosecutors and defense attorneys leading up to a trial. just yesterday prosecutors said that they believe this trial should start on january 2nd, 2024. john, by any objective measure that's a pretty quick timeline for a case like this. prosecutors

legal affairs correspondent paula reid is here. paula, you have been working this for so long. fabulous reporting, you and the team. and today's indictment is laying out how trump used, quote, dishonesty, fraud, and deceit in his efforts to stay in power. so what is standing out to you tonight? >> the biggest thing that stands out to me is that the former president is the only one being charged today. this is something that our reporting over the past several weeks had suggested to us, but we were quite surprised that he would be the only one charged, at least initially at this point because he clearly did not act alone. you look at the charges that he is facing right now. three of them involve a conspiracy, throughout the indictment, they lay out how he worked with others to amplify what he knew were false claims of election fraud to litigate this strategy, to pressure various states, to pressure his own vice president, and then, of course, on the day of january 6th, he continued to pressure his vice president which resulted in violence, and then he and his supporters continue

paula reid, thank you so much. aaron? >> laura, the indictment against trump repeatedly references the six coconspirators that paul is referring to enter national security reporter zachary cohen is here to tell us more about them. the ones that we know now about, and of course one that we don't get, zach. >> yeah, erin, the indictment refers to these people as six individuals who trump and listed to assist him in his criminal efforts -- we have identified five of the six people who are described in this indictment and, if you followed along in january six committee hearings, none of these names will come as a surprise, they include people like trump's former personal attorney rudy giuliani, attorney john eastman, and even people like jeffrey clark, the former doj official who we know is trying to use the justice department to overturn the 2020 election. those details, some of the red are included in the indictment. a lot of this information was publicly known, which is how we were able to identify, in part, some of these

correspondent paula reid is here with us. let's start with the conspiracy to defraud the united states. what exactly does that mean? >> jake, no real surprises here in the list of charges for that particular charge. what you're alleging is a scheme between tany two people to defraud the u.s. government and here they're alleging that former president not only conspired with one person but with six other people to try to undermine the outcome of the 2020 election. and then they use the indictment to try to explain exactly how they believe he did that. alleging that he tried to install these slates of fake elekkors, tried to pressure states, pressure his own vice president and even use his own justice department to overturn the results of the election. now, a key component of prosecuting someone under which charge is proving deceit which is why you see throughout this indictment they continue to emphasize how trump knew that these claims of election fraud were false and how many people told him there is no evidence to support th

paula reid at the fulton county jail. brianna. >>> joining us now we have cnn senior legal analyst elie honig. he was an assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. elie, fulton county d.a. fani willis at this point now requesting an october trial date, which is right around the corner. is that too aggressive? do you think that's going to happen? >> that's absolutely unrealistic. that's not going to happen. and to be clear, when we say october, we mean 2023, not 2024. that is two months from now. here's what happened in this case. we have 19 charged defendants. one of them so far, mr. cheseboro, has invoked his speedy trial rights. meaning he's entitled to have his trial start by november or so. and what the d.a. said today is fine, i'm going to try all 19 of you together in late october. the problem is while any defendant certainly has the right to say i want my speedy trial right you can't realistically force the ones who don't want that speedy trial right to go to trial that quickly. this is a case i

cnn's paula reid is here with us now. break down the story for us.kind of information were prosecutors hoping to gain from twitter, from donald trump's twitter account? i mean the public posts are there. >> they wanted something that was not public. but this opinion is clearly written to obscure what the specific request was beyond just data and records. it is very clear that they did not want us to know. and it is also clear that there was some tension, the government being frustrated with twitter for dropping hints in some of the hearings about what the request was and in twitter then blasting the government for not being clear enough about exactly what it was they were seeking. >> why did twitter run by elon musk, we should note, delay handing over records of trump's twitter account? >> so they did not appear to object to the warrant itself but they took issue with the secrecy, not being able to inform trump about this warren. they argued that was a violation of the first amendment and the current laws that govern electronic communications an soci

. >> let's go right to our senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid. ball another truly stunning day in our history with the former president making his initial court appearance, what happened in that room and what comes next? >> extraordinary, wolf. our colleagues who are in the courtroom described how special counsel jack smith and former president trump or seeded just a few feet apart from one another and while they were waiting for the judge to take the bench, we are told that the two men actually exchanged glances towards one another, multiple times. this is the second time that they have been in the same room jack smith also attended trump's florida initial appearance and arrangement. now, once this hearing got underway, the former president, he was asked to say his name, age, and he then listened to the charges that have been filed against him and android his own plea of not guilty. that is significant because in florida arraignment, he actually had his lawyer enter that for him and we didn't hear him speak at all. notably, this case appears to

cnn's paula reid has more on the complicated logistics involved. >> reporter: on monday trump's team is going to head down to fulton county, georgia, to negotiate the details of this expected surrender. the d.a., fani willis, has given all of the defendants until next friday at noon to surrender. right now it is our understanding that trump is likely to do his surrender toward the back half of the week. now, here is what's going to happen when he goes to surrender. he is going to surrender to the fulton county sheriff's office and this process typically involves a mug shot and fingerprints. the mug shot is important because, remember, at the federal level they did not take a mug shot of the former president, because they said, look, we use those, they don't release them, but use them for law enforcement if someone goes on the lam. trump is recognizable and they don't really need a mug shot. it's unclear if fulton county is going to make that kind of exception. another big difference between the state and federal appearances, he's just going to be processed next week. then a judge wil

for that, i want to go to cnn's paula reid, who is live outside the fulton county jail. a, you have this breaking news on rudy giuliani. we have not seen him get at the courthouse. what are you hearing from your sources? >> we expect, we could see him tomorrow, kaitlan, because we have learned that giuliani is scheduled to meet with the district attorney here in fulton county tomorrow. our colleague zak cohen and i have learned that giuliani will travel to georgia tomorrow, with bernie kerik. he is of course the former new york police commissioner. he is not a lawyer. he's also an unindicted coconspirator in this case. but he is a longtime friend of rudy giuliani and he's been helping him try to find a lawyer, something that has proven challenging, given giuliani's seven figure legal bills that remain unpaid. it does appear that, at this point, they have been able to find an attorney with a georgia license who is at least willing and expected to help them tomorrow with the bond part of this procedure. it's unclear, though, if this individual will be representing giuliani

cnn's paula reid joins us now. vering, paula, for the grand jury to leave that courthouse there, indicates their work is done for today? is it an indication about a decision on an indictment? >>. >> reporter: jim there's one detail we've learned from our colleagues at the courthouse, that is that the foreperson has remained behind and that is significant because you only need the foreperson when a grand jury returns an indictment. it is unclear if they have voted on an indictment of the former president or any of his allies. that's what we're waiting for and watching now. we do expect that the former president will likely be indicted in this investigation. he has received a target letter informing him he's a target of this investigation. he was also offered an opportunity to go before the grand jury and offer his side of the story. he declined that invitation and late last week his legal team met with jack smith and his team here in washington, d.c. now sources tell cnn they did not expect -- the defense attorneys d

let's take you now to atlanta and cnn's paula reid, who's outside the courthouse for us live. ula, you've been watching closely to see who's been coming in and out of court all day. what are you seeing? >> reporter: that's right. well, boris, the grand jury has already heard today from two witnesses, at least two witnesses. both of these witnesses are former georgia state lawmakers. now, both are democratic former state senators, jen jordan and bee nguyen. they both allegedly witnessed a conspiracy-laden presentation from then trump attorney rudy giuliani. now, we're just getting new breaking news from our colleague sara murray that another witness who was supposed to testify tomorrow, an independent journalist, george chidi, he was supposed to testify tomorrow but we're learning from this reporting from sara that the case is moving so quickly they're actually going to call him in today. we still expect the district attorney is going to need two days to fully present their case. she's been investigating this for over two years, and we know that at least one of the witnesses exp

paula reid is ousds outside the courthouse for us. this is a large case that invokes a law that's normally used to prosecute organized crime. lay out the charges for us. >> reporter: that's exactly right, jake. special counsel jack smith filed a pretty narrow indictment focused on president trump. fani willis is pursuing this as a rico case. she's alleging a vast conspiracy by these 19 defendants to try to overturn the results of the election here in georgia. and to support this, she's offered up a nearly 100-page indictment that detail 61 acts that were part of this conspiracy across these 19 defendants. there were also 30 unindicted coconspirators and these allegations span 7 states and the district of columbia. while this is the fourth criminal indictment trump faces this year, this is by far the most sweeping. rico cases are challenging. they tend to get drawn out. when you have 19 defendants and their attorneys, it's easy to see how things could get drawn out for months or even years, but the district attorney said she wants to t