todd blanch at blanche law there are two lawyers. you're talking about cases where the discovery in the federal case 11.6 million i believe documents, i know this is one of the excuses trump's legal team has said, we can't get to all this in the c allotted time. well, the reason for part of that is there's two people in theth shop. right, what can you tell me about the bare bones nature of his counsel given the mountain of evidence that the feds have, that the d.a. has and how they're going to plow through that tow assemble a defense. >> it's interesting because it's a 2-inch sword in the d.c. case because you have jack smith who's saying i want a really fast trial.anly we're going to see the same thing playing out in the georgia case where fani willis is now saying i want a march trial. and at the same time the defense gets toti say, you know, it's a huge amount of resources needed to r get through this. so one of the things that was argued before judge chutkan in the d.c. case was could you give sensitive material to volunteer lawy

todd blanche is on three different cases. and if former president trump is already hemorrhaging cash with this small, shall we say, elite group of lawyers, then he might need to bring in volunteer staff to help manage the defense for 91 felony counts. and then, of course, there are legal bills from trump's codefendants. bills at trump in his various packs are paying. people like trump's ballot and property manager, carlos de oliveira, those fellows from the mar-a-lago case. those are just the people that we know trump and his packs are paying the legal bills for. thanks to the georgia indictment trump has 18 more codefendants. that means 18 more people facing potentially serious jail time her needing to figure out how to pay their legal bills. and that might be problematic for more than just trump's involvement. today, former trump attorney and current trump codefendant, jenna ellis, turned to a christian crowdfunding website to raise cash for her legal defense. you can send money or you can send digital prayers to help her d

his attorneys are todd blanche, hearing that name again, or do you? chris case and lindsay haugen.it means that we would be deep into the nominating calendar of the presidential run. and let's not forget that there is more, 250 million dollar civil trial in new york brought by new york a.g. laetitia james, that's set for october 2nd, 2023 and she's alleging fraud by, trump's oldest children, and also his companies. but wait, there's more. because on january 15th of 2024, a manhattan federal judge said that trump is gonna go on trial in a defamation lawsuit brought by writer e. jean carroll. that's for a second time. coming now to discuss, is the host of the -- judge hatchet, judge linda hatchette. she is also the counsel at stuart miller simmons trial attorneys. so glad to hear you today, i have to tell, you you are out of breath going through all of the different trials that this man has in front of him. not to mention, of course, the big trial of trying to be the president of the united states yet again. have you ever seen anything close to this scope, this type of high profile n

he will be the attorney along with todd blanche heading up the january 6th defense. he's making clear they're going to say this has to do with trump's first amendment rights. >> our focus is this is an attack on free speech and political advocacy. there's nothing more protected under the first amendment than political speech. donald trump had every right to advocate for his position. >> you don't get to violate people's first amendment rights, smith, no matter who the hell you are or no matter how sick you are with trump derangement syndrome! >> notwithstanding that rudy giuliani is co-conspirator number one and could potentially be charged in this case. he says he hasn't gotten a target letter yet. they're pointing back to free speech. of course, when you look at this indictment, what he is being indicted for is not for what he said. it's for this scheme, and how he used the levers of the government and the office of the president of the united states to try to overturn the election results, to try to subvert americans' votes. that is what is at the heart of the ind

that means he's not at the counsel's table with trump and john lauro and todd blanch. but it is notable that he is in the room. also the fact that donald trump and jack smith are sitting 15 feet apart from each other right now, occasionally glancing at one another, but the fact that that is happening and that this is a very normal process, as paula described, even though it's very not normal given trump has attacked jack smith as deranged, called him a crack head. he implied he had something to do with the cocaine found at the white house which obviously we know is not true. those two men are seated 15 feet apart from one another inside this courtroom right now, just really speaks to the moment that we're in. obviously trump and his allies have been attacking jack smith, talking about defunding him, taking away his paycheck essentially. as even people like bill barr were defending him saying hallohe's not a partisan actor. >> wife been told the former president has been sworn in. i want to bring in -- paula, what are you hearing? >> reporter: that's right. following al

he's joined by some of his closest political aides, as well as two of his attorneys, todd blanch and john lawyuro. an then they'll go to the courthouse. advisers do not believe it will be a lengthy time at the courthouse. now, not entirely sure why for the reasoning, but that's their belief. when he goes into court, he's going to appear with two of his attorneys, todd blanch and john lauro. then he will come back to the airport before taking off to newark. he wants to get out of here as soon as that arraignment is over. we do anticipate him giving remark to the reporters traveling with him. it will all be dependent on the president and how he files. >> reporter: he's talking about how another indictment will get him elected president. given that stance he's clearly taking, i would anticipate very strongly we are going to hear from the former president after that arraignment today, erin. >> kristen, thank you very much. wolf? >>> one of the key voices condemning him is his former attorney general. in an exclusive interview, bill barr drilled down on the core issue, the election lies t

he and todd blanche are going to be the ones who are handling this case now that it has become actual charges that have been brought down. and so i think it is a question of what thursday actually looks like, but we have already seen what trump has been saying online, if you want to guess what he is going to be saying over the next 48 hours or so. i will note that what is different here, about this indictment, these federal charges that he is facing, is that the indictment was unsealed almost immediately. we have got to read through it yourself and see what is laid out here in detail by jack smith and his team. anderson, that was not the case last time trump was indicted. of course, you and i were on air that night when he told us about the indictment and the documents investigation. there is a vacuum that we have not seen the -- filling the void there, making his argument, the government's argument. this is different here, you can read in this and that is what jack smith encouraged people to do when he made that rare statement earlier. >> you mentioned the coconspirators, the people

todd blanch and john lauro, who was said to be leading the legal efforts on january 6th. so thursday, 4 p.m, the former president is expected to be right here in this courthouse. >> katherine faulders with our team here with us today. katherine our thanks to you again. we're keeping our eyes trained on this room the moment jack smith comes before the microphone, there, we'll let you hear what he has to say about this federal criminal indictment . again, much more serious, the most serious federal criminal indictment ever faced by a former american president in this country. again, four counts that include obstructing official proceedings, trying to overturn the 2020 election. depriv ovation of rights, voting rights across this country that every vote be counted and valued in so many words, we're going to bring in john santucci, who has covered donald trump for years. and, john, along the way, what has donald trump's defense been to this notion that he knew that he had lost the election? >> well, david, i can tell you from speaking to people that have been around the forme

for the former president in two of the cases that have been brought, his lead counsel is todd blanche who is a solo practitioner and formerly a federal prosecutor and partner in a large law firm, and we will see if mr. blanche is leading the charge in washington, d.c. but it becomes a real challenge. i mean, because each court is going to say to the defendant, here's your case. we need to move this case forward, and it is going to be a scramble as to which case gets tried first. the case in florida as you and i have discussed, there are a number of issues that could slow it down because of the confidential documents involved. the case in new york does not suffer from that, and nor does the case in washington, d.c., will suffer from that and nor will the case in fulton county, if they bring a case. so it is possible for the case in d.c. going first and then in new york and then fulton county before you deal with the florida case. >> it is a lot of cases to juggle, and the court system is going to have to look at, and they can't try them all at once. thank you for coming on, daniel horw

. >> and he just brought on two new attorneys, todd blanche, and april ludnar and what do you have for advice for them? >> get a lot of insurance. they will be spending a lot of time themselves at some point before grand juries or answering questions as witnesses in investigations. >> bill barr there. joining us is david chalian for much more on this. take it all together, and taken in piece, what do you think of what bill barr said last night? >> he is such an interesting character in this episode in american history, because you recall in the run-up to the 2020 election, he was fully on board with what trump was seeding the ground with a little bit, and then it took him a little while in the aftermath to come out to say enough is enough, and then in the january 6th testimony, he sort of broke with him on all of this, and what is intriguing about his analysis is his progression on believing that donald trump knew that he lost the election. in that in the indictment he is listed as one of the experts who looked into this, and informed donald trump that he lost the election, and he beli

that includes todd blanche, who we're told is also expected to appear with donald trump in court this afternoon. now they know what is likely to transpire in court. this is the third time in months now that donald trump has gone through this type of court appearance. so they know what they are walking into, but i also want to just talk to you about donald trump's mood heading into today. i spent the last several days now speaking with donald trump's advisers and his aids. they tell me that he is very concerned about this indictment. he recognizes the seriousness of these charges, but he's also quite frustrated about having to go through all of this yet again. >> thank you so much. we appreciate it. we'll be getting back to you as well. >>> back here in d.c., authorities are preparing for what is likely the highest profile appearance. shimon prokupecz is joining us now. you are out there talking to law enforcement sources about that. what can you tell us? >> reporter: right. you want to kind of give our viewers a sense of what's going on outside here at the courthouse. this is constitu

they want to deny him his sixth amendment rights to counsel, to give me and my co-counsel, todd blancheortunity to prepare. they want to deny president trump his due process rights to look at documents, to get witnesses, to use our subpoena power. they want to deny all of him those rights and a rush to judgment for one political purpose and be that's to uphold the biden administration. make no mistake about it. this hasmaker imarld's handy work all around it. this case was brought. had to be approved by merrick garland. and interestingly enough, why the bumps rush on this case do they feel that there is a problem in the other cases that are being orchestrated and they need to bring this case to trial in a couple of months in this venue. >> laura: they don't want to name any other co-conspirator that would slow them down. if this was such an assault on democratic process which it was not trump left office voluntarily. electors, you know, had the votes certified. all of that. so that all happened. forward as fast as possible so they will let go of the co-conspirator, that's key to that. >

they want to deny him his sixth amendment rights to counsel to give me and my cocounsel todd blanch anpportunity to prepare. they want to deny president trump his due process rights to look at documents, to get witnesses, to use our subpoena power. they want to deny all of him those rights and a rush to judgment for one political purpose, and that's to uphold the biden administration. why the rush on this case? do they feel there's a problem in the other cases that are being orchestrated and they need to bring this case to trial in a couple of months in this venue? what does that tell you? >> what that tell me? it tells me that team trump is shooting for a significant delay. joining me now is tim parlatore, a former lawyer for donald trump. mr. parlatore, thanks so much for being here tonight. let me first get your thoughts -- how optimistic i should say is the judge in this case going to be recept chb to the argument the trump legal team is making sheer, there's going to be due process if there's a speedy trial? >> well, i think a lot of what he said there was more, you know, designed

a few months, and deny him the sixth amendment rights to counsel to give me and my co-counsel todd blanche a chance to prepare and deny him due process rights to look at the documents, and to get the witnesses and use our subpoena power. they want to deny him all of those rights in a russia judgment for one political purpose which is to uphold the biden administration. >> so the justice department does want this case to be moving fast and they said as much in court yesterday, but they have also said that there is a way to do this case to hand over the evidence starting very fast, and ready to go, and the magistrate case before her, and she said directly, that this court, this case is going to be fair, and trump said that he wants things to go to the supreme court, and that is not how it works either. you can't just snap your fingers and expect things to go to supreme court on appeals. >> thank you syou, katelyn pola so, joining us now is elie honig, and let's talk about the strategy that they are laying out in this political prosecution, as they called it, saying that the special counsel's

there were times where he was animated and having lots of great conversations with todd blanche and there was something in the paperwork handed over to him that seemed to annoy him. we've all seen him when he gets irked and certainly i described it earlier as that look you see when he was on the stage with hillary clinton and she said something that got under his skin. we can see that face that he has made that goes into so many jokes. there are moments where he clearly looked at jack smith and this is something that was different than the miami arraignment because of where he was sitting and where jack smith was in that courtroom he was basically in direct line of sight and clearly also looked at him with about 20 minutes or so to do this before the judge actually sat on the bench. he sat there and managed to sign paperwork which is standard with the pretrial paperwork that happens. and i certainly think it was a different man than we see for example in the new york arraignment where he was almost affiant. that was not the look that they had here today. >> at the end it seemed like the o

his attorneys are todd blanche. you're hearing that name again. chris cris and lindsay halligan. holds, we would be deep in the presidential calendar for the run. and a $250 million civil trial in new york, brought by letitia james. that's set for october 22nd, 2023. she's alleging fraud by trump, his oldest children and his companies. wait, there's more. on january 15th of 2024, a manhattan federal judge said that trump is going to go on trial in a defamation lawsuit brought by writer e. jean carroll. that's for a second time. joining me now judge glenda hatchett. so glad to see you today. i got to tell you, i'm damn near out of breath going through all of the different trials that this man has in front of him. not to mention, of course, the big trial of trying to be the president of the united states again. have y ever seen anything close to this scope this, high-profile nature to these face? >> absolutely not. i was sitting here thinking as you were going through all of those, this is such a situation that we've never seen ever. and so, it's almost like a jigsaw puzzle. this c

his attorney, todd blanche, who also the criminal attorney for donald trump, answered our email withmed folks? >> i think we will. but the thing that puts boris epshteyn kind of ahead of other unindicted co-conspirators is there are people wiho reported directly to him. mike romans, did field operations during the attempt to get people on this alternate electors ballot who were charged in the case and people above him, donald trump. thus, the question, what is coming for him, if anything? testified in the grand jury in atlanta. spent two days with the special prosecutor in washington answering questions there. mentioned 17 times in the january 6th committee report. but so far, not a defendant in either one of these cases. >> all right. very interesting. john miller, thank you. >>> only hours to go before former president trump is expected to surrender at the fulton county jail after his fourth indictment this year. cnn's got new reporting and a legal move trump just made. >> and given last night's first gop debate, trump and his legal troubles were clearly a focus of conversation. >>

his current counsel and you did not see donald trump but his counsel was present in the form of todd blanche and chris guys. >> nbc news learned that extra security precautions have been put in place around the judge in the election interference case in washington? >> we started judge chutkan being escorted by three u.s. marshals around the courtroom. last week, the day that donald trump had his court appearance when judge chutkan wasn't yet -- she was assigned to the case, but not overseeing the case, she was going around as normal inside the courtroom. with a few more extra sets of eyes on her. just is very unique situation where you have these very high profile people sort of circulating around the court, but now she does appear to have additional security and i think that's really critical because, of course, you've seen already donald trump put some focus on her and frankly the fact that she is a black woman is something that is going to be very critical here because you've seen the sort of ire that donald trump has pointed towards particularly women of color who have sort of crossed hi

i was told by todd blanche one of the main attorneys handling a lot of his cases they were essentiallyg the argument, you can't always just go to him and say don't do this. it is not always effective but arguing twa is not going to help his ongoing investigations into claims of election fraud and trying to overturn the election. he is saying tonight they're going to put it in formal legal filings. it is not my sense of the arguments his team is going to be making in court but we had heard rumblings today that this was likely not going to materialize. don't make any trips to go to bedminster. >> i don't have anybody who was seriously thinking this was real. >> he did have an aide, communications aide also referenced in one of the other indictments, the document indictment actually compiled some kind of report document. it isn't totally clear what was in there but someone who promoted his election lies. >> he had some aide making some sort of copies of things to pitch. >> yeah. >> wow. that must be a great job. imagine that task. kaitlan, stand by. i want to bring karen back in. the form

today, what i saw happen with todd blanch and chris chis that disgusted me is they kept on referring to their client as president trump. he's not the president. and they do it again and again in the filings. that is the kind of stuff that makes our profession as lawyers look bad. that is the disingenuous move you make as a lawyer that is a problem with our profession. he's not the president. he's the former president. and even then, today, the magistrate judge didn't take the bait. she said mr. trump. and so it's just one small example, and people may think it's superficial, but an example of how dishonest the profession can be when you're just trying to service a client. >> right, and charles, the thing about, lawyers have had various reputations in the country. most of our politicians i don't think people realize, are lawyers. most elected officials are actually lawyers, they were prosecutors first like you both were. there's the ambulance chaser sort of theme of lawyers, but then there's like when you're in trouble, who do you call? not the ghost busters but a lawyer. in this case

i think todd blanche was representing trump in three cases is part of a law firm that has two lawyers. the question i think at some point needs to be posed, when will trump actually spend the money to hire more lawyers to deal with all this? that seems like a necessity at this point, does it not? >> i, mean most of the time in a case like this you'll see a firm that has sufficient resources where they can call upon a number of associates, or even temporary associates that come on board to do discovery review. there will be a lawyer overseeing all of it telling them what it is there looking for, and the lawyers review that for the kinds of things they need. so, it certainly more resources can come to bear than just one lawyer reading each page the documents. i think what is going to happen is first a trial date will get set, and then he will retain the lawyers he needs to meet that deadline. >> mark, as we talk about how incorrigible trump's behavior is here and everywhere, it is worth noting that he canceled the press conference that he was supposed to have on monday, which i know was

you have a little bit of overlap with todd blanche, for example, but how does it work then when you havethis many lawyers on this many cases with this many trial dates within such a short period of time? >> you know, i think even the campaign, the trump campaign will tell you that there is no clear line whether lawyers in the legal team starts and ends and where the campaign starts and ends. and that is been the strategy all along. if you think back to november when trump launches, it was, he puts on the campaign because he thinks it's going to insulate him from prosecution. he thinks that if he runs as a candidate, the doj might not be so inclined as to prosecute him. and i think that this is the strategy that runs through here as well. if they can keep as many of the witnesses on save america pact payroll, they think they can keep these guys close to them and they will learn about sort of how they might prep for trial, what sort of things they might want to say at trial. it's the trump legal team is very happy with where things are at because, as far as they are concerned, they think t

they put the damper on this by i was told todd blanche one of the main attorneys handling a lot of his cases. that they were essentially making the argument to him, go to trump and say don't do this, snow is an effective argument for. him but arguing that it was not going to help his ongoing investigations into his claims of election fraud and trying to overturn the election. he is saying in the argument tonight, they are going to put it in formal legal filings. it's not my sense of the arguments, his team is at least going to be making court. but we had heard rumblings today that this was likely not going to materialize, do not make any trips too good to bedminster. >> well he did have an aid, a communications aide also referenced in one of his other indictments, documents indictment. had actually compiled a report document, it's not totally clear what was in there. she is something he was promoted the election lies. >> so he had an aid making some sort of copy of things to pitch. that must be imagine that task, he'll standby want to bring back and -- former president has obviously be

we're also told he had what appeared to be some heated conversations with his attorney, todd blanch. the judge also sitting, setting the next hearing for august 28th. which is just days after the first republican primary debate. >> and wolf, trump responding to today's hearing speaking briefly to reporters. he railed against the judge. in the hearing. >> when you look at what's happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. this was never supposed to happen in america. this is the persecution of the person that's leading by very, very substantial numbers in the republican primary and leading biden by a lot. so if you can't beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. >> all right. well, it was a sad day for america. something of course we heard often after the january 6th attack on the united states capitol and we have so much to cover over the next hour. with wolf and myself. we want to begin though with paula reid live outside that courthouse in washington. and paula, what are you learning about what's next in this case? >> well, erin, we could be looking at a rocke

walt nauta did appear with his counsel and counsel for donald trump in the form of chris kise and todd blanchee here. mr. trump not here. fascinatingly, again and again, his counsel kept on referring to him, as, quote, plump. the magistrate jump referred to him as mr. trump. there was an attempt by this counsel for de oliveira, mr. irving who's not local, said can we set this over for august 25th, which is the next major hearing in this case, and the magistrate judge said no. judge cannon wants to make sure that counsel is in place as well as de oliveira being arraigned before the 25th of august. >> while i have you, i want to ask about new reporting we just got in about the judge in donald trump's d.c. federal case there, now receiving extra security. in fact, she was seen this morning with three u.s. marshals. is that typical in a high profile case? >> reporter: yeah, so it's not atypical to increase security not only for the judges but for the staff as well. just, for example, ana, here at this small federal courthouse in fort pierce, there was a number of people that appeared, many of whom

. >> what would you say, he just brought on two new attorneys in april, todd blanche and john lauro.hat's happened with other attorneys heing has had, what is your advice to other attorneys? do you have any? >> get a lot of insurance. they'll be spending a lot of time themselves at some point before grand juries or answering questions or as witnesses in investigations. >> he is spending a lot of money on political fees. his political action committee spent more than $40 million on political fees already this year. what do you make of his political supporters giving him money to his campaign, and he then uses that for his legal fees and his co-defendants' legal fee. >> yeah, i find that sort of nauseating. this guy claims to be a multibillionaire and he goes out and raises money from hardworking people, small donors, and tells them this is to defend america and, you know, to cake of the -- he didn't provide any significant support during the '22 elections. and a lot of this money seems to be going to his legal fees. >> you just mentioned earlier you don't believe in the weapons inspec

and in the filing that was made by john lauro and todd blanche, they say that is protected political speech. there is no sense of shame. they try and say it wasn't about a threat or retaliation. it is a horrifying example of what's to come. and this is the government trying to have a strict protective order to protect the judicial system. this is something he's gonna try the case in the press, and in order to not lose in the court, they need to take these extra judicial steps of threatening people. and imagine a more junior person, people like cassidy hutchinson, seeing what's going on, think of court officers, jurors, families of witnesses, law enforcement officers, judges and their families, let alone the prosecutors and their families. this is a way to say that is not what discovery is for. discovery is not to give you information to try to attack those people. this is a rule of law country. and that is the reason for this back and forth that you saw over the weekend and what is at stake here. >> neal katyal, so, accompanying this filing outside of the courtroom, donald trump has

he has some good counsel in john lauro and todd blanch. i would not be surprised and they said to him something to the effect of if you continue down this path, you will do so, sir, with other lawyers at your side. our reputations are too important to us. so, john, i think that is another element to president trump's calling this off on monday. >> yeah, it was ill-advised from moment one. let's turn back now to trump's legal team proposing a 2026 start date for his federal election interference trial. they even displayed a figure yesterday if you stacked all the paperwork together it would be as tall as the washington monument. do you think their arguments are legitimate? it is a big case but two plus years seems pretty excessive. what's your guess how the judge will rule? what's your analysis of their proposal? >> let's start with my analysis of the proposal. if you take the trial date out of the equation, their brief does make good arguments about the discovery here which is really quite sizable. i don't want to undermine or minimize the

lauro, someone you probably have seen repeatedly speaking on behalf of donald trump as his lawyer, todd blanch will be in the courtroom as well. that courtroom, tim, is very close. really just blocks away from where the insurrection happened. how important do you think it is that the trial take place in washington, d.c., even though the charges don't involve directly the insurrection, don't involve incitement? it is what for many people is represented in this indictment. what do you make of the symbolism of this and the moment we're seeing right now? >> look, i don't know that it's symbolism, but it's sort of standard prosecutorial practice to bring a case in the jurisdiction in which the charged events occur. that's why the mar-a-lago case is charged in florida. and this case is charged in washington. it does happen to be a building just literally steps away from where some of the worst violence occurred, the p-circle, the initial breach point where the proud boys pushed through bicycle racks, concussing officer edwards and streaming up to the capitol, is literally right across the street and

donald trump's lawyer todd blanche entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. co-defendant walt nauta was there. he pled not guilty, and the third co-defendant carlos de oliveira was not able to enter a plea for the second time in this case because while he has a lawyer that's paid for by essentially a donald trump political action committee, he doesn't -- he says he doesn't have a local florida lawyer, and you need that down there to go forward with the arraignment. they say they're going to have one soon and the judge scheduled another date for next week on tuesday. but it's got a lot of people wondering whether this is a delay tactic. often in these kinds of cases the court will appoint a public defender if someone doesn't come up with a lawyer. in this case the court is giving great deference to these defendants. >> ken dilanian, carol leonnig and charles coleman, thank you all very much. tim miller, we're going to see you again in just a bit. >>> president biden is wrapping up his time out west set to speak in salt lake city in just a few minutes to mark t

>> there were definitely periods where -- conversations with todd blanche, and something that peoplek was handed over to him that seemed to annoy him, and we have all seen when he gets hurt and i described earlier us what you saw when he was on stage with hillary clinton and said something that got under his skin and we have seen that facie makes and that is what you saw. there were moments where he clearly looked at jack smith, and this is something that was different from the miami arraignment, because the position of where he was stunning and jacks mitt was, in that courtroom, in this, mine he was basically in direct line of sight, and jack smith looked at him in about 20 minutes to sort of do this before the judge actually sat on the bench. >> totally silent? >> exactly, on, time he's out, they are signed paperwork, or to standard, the pre -- now have, bins and certainly a different -- that we saw for example in the new york arraignment where he was almost defiant. you saw the fist bump when he was in the courthouse, that was not -- >> and of course, one thing they talked about s

. >> along with todd blanche. yeah, we are co-counsel on it, definitely. >> bret: on the other cases is it legally somebody else? for the documents case are you on that. >> i'm not on that team. i'm concentrating on the first amendment issues. i'm concentrating on this case which is a direct attack on constitution. >> bret: will you run point on georgia if an indictment comes down in georgia? >> no. there are other groups. obviously there is coordination around the country. all of this is being done in the middle of an election season where donald trump is winning. so you have a series of criminal cases that are being brought and serially brought out on a regular basis now with only one objective in mind and that's to interfere in this election cycle, which is now underway. >> bret: what about the stories that that's campaign funds are paying for legal fees and you are rub running out of cash on that front. >> i'm not involved in that. the way they are trying to take out donald trump legal process. he is being for

and the court confirms for us that he will be arraigned, he'll be flanked by his attorneys, todd blanch and john lauro in the lead there. we fully expect he will plead not guilty to the four felonies he's facing. three are conspiracy charges. one is an obstruction charge. now, the magistrate judge will go before today is not the judge that will preside over the trial. that is a judge named tanya chutki, a 2014 obama appointee. she'll deal with the majority of the trial. this is just the initial court appearance and the arraignment. and this magistrate judge, we don't expect it to take a long time on the scene out here. by the way, obviously heightened security. you can see the us marshals put up railing all around here. a lot of law enforcement, a handful of protesters, some for the president, some against the former president, and a lot of media. it's somewhat resembles a scene we saw in june when we were down in miami, outside the courthouse, when former president trump was arraigned for alleged mishandling of classified documents. but it's a little less of a circus, but nonetheless,

he has todd blanche, who has been with him since alvin bragg dropped charges related to the porn star and hush moneymy dani. he has a well-respected and seasoned lawyer helming the legal effort. there is christopher kise, the lawyer trump brought in last year who was sidelined on the mar-a-lago case, now more involved with that case. we haven't seen much of him with regards to the january 6th investigation. then there is john lauro, the tv lawyer we've seen in the past few days, who also is someone who is well respected and has experience with this. as chuck and a few people noted, has been making some interesting, behind the eight ball arguments about what trump's legal defense is going to be, primarily focus ong the issue of free speech when jack smith's charges have avoided some of that issue by -- i talked to a number of lawmakers, january 6th committee members yesterday, who actually commended smith with dropping the insurrection charge and, instead, going with that final charge of conspiring against people's right to have their votes counted, because it does help prosecutors avo

todd blanche, one of trump's lawyers, appeared to be conferring with mr. trump, reading what looked like the indictment and possibly explaining the indictment to mr. trump. he seemed, you know, animated, inquisitive. people in the courtroom said he was looser perhaps than the last one. when he was asked his name, "donald j. trump," and he added "john." when asked his age, he said, "seven, seven," for 77. i've covered trials in that courtroom and others that look exactly like it. for me, it was bracing. it was jarring to see former president sitting at the defense table in that courtroom. >> next hearing scheduled for august 28th, three weeks from now, when a trial date will be set. there will be a lot of haggling and negotiating back and forth about when that'll be. that's obviously critical to see whether it'll get in and completed before the election. joyce vance, i want to ask you about that admonition from the judge that ken mentioned. she told trump it is a crime to influence a juror, threaten or bribe a witness, or retaliate against someone working w

todd blanche one of trump's lawyers appeared to be conferring with trump reading the indictment and possibly explained indictment to mr. trump, he seemed animated and inquisitive. people said that he was looser perhaps then last one and he was asked his name, donald j trump, and he added john, asked his age he said 77, 77, the upshot here was that this is washington d.c., this is different from florida. i've covered trials and criminal cases in that courtroom in other courtrooms i look exactly like it, and to me was bracing, drawing to see the former president sitting at the defense table of that courtroom. >> next hearing scheduled for august 28 just over three weeks from now when a trial date will be set, there will be a lot of haggling and negotiating back and forth about when that will be, that is critical to see what if it will be completed before the election. joyce vance, i want to ask you about the admonition from the judge, she told donald trump it is a crime to try to influence a juror, threaten or bribe a witness or retaliate against someone providing information to prosecutors, d

trump's attorneys john lauro and todd blanche contend that the prosecution's proposed order can too broadnt-runner for the presidential nomination. federal prosecutors countered the trump proposed revisions to their order were designed to allow them to try this case in the media rather than in the courtroom. my colleague ken dilanian points out there is also more at stake than publicly divulging the evidence. quote, broader and more consequential issue may still be looming. are there any limits to what trump and his lawyers can say to criticize the case? special counsel jack smith's prosecutor or heap scorn on the judge? putting judge chutkan in a tough position. ken dilanian saying chutkan faces an impossible dilemma should she decide to impose any restrictions. how can you limit the speech of a candidate for president and what would she do if trump decides not to comply? a proposal for a start day for the trial, january 2nd of 2024. and they estimate the trial could take four to six weeks that is where we start this hour. former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst carol lam is he

he's got two good lawyers in john lauro and todd blanche.re. the court may ultimately be forced to take action, but she'd only want to do that based on a very strong record, something that would make it clear that trump couldn't be controlled or constrained in any other way. >> so donald trump's former attorney general bill barr made the tv rounds again over the weekend, largely defending the department of justice. saying the charges against trump are not a result of a weaponized doj. >> i don't like, you know, all these overkill attacks, that this was somehow reprehensible to bring it. what was reprehensible was the conduct after the election. it's perfectly to be expected that the department of justice would approach it the way it would approach something like this, which is under the laws against defrauding the united states and obstructing proceedings. i think it's a legitimate case. i don't understand the attacks on the department, saying it's abusive or it is weaponization for bringing this case. when someone says, you know, this is un