Joining us now is former
Trump White House attorney Jim Schultz.
It's good to see you, Jim.
Just your reaction
to this news that we have now.
Donald Trump
receiving this to Donald Trump's
legal team and Trump
receiving this target letter
regarding the special counsel's
investigation into January 6th
Well, I mean, we saw it
beginning to wrap up
as you get closer
and closer to the inner circle
and more important folks
coming in to the grand jury.
That's a signal
that they're coming to a close.
So the culmination of that is
that they've sent him a target letter.
We don't know who else has received
or if anyone else has received
target letters associated with it.
I expect it has a lot to do with,
you know,
perhaps conspiracy to commit fraud
and relating to the overturn
the outcome of an election
relating to,
you know, there's a number of factors.
The fake elector scheme,
perhaps, you know,
perhaps the
trying to switch
the attorney general out,
you know,
the pressure on the former vice president
There's a number of different things
that kind of all culminate together
to perhaps form their case.
Jim, what's it like
to get a target letter?
I mean, it's it's
something that you have never had one
black union.
Have you represented anyone
when you are working
with somebody who gets a target letter?
What's that like?
Donald Trump
has obviously now
had this experience fairly recently,
but it's a pretty serious moment
and it causes from both a legal
and in this case, a political standpoint,
I imagine a certain degree
of circling the wagons
Look, it shows that there is
there is a degree of legal jeopardy
coming in the direction
of the former president.
And that's always serious
for anybody who receives a target letter.
So I do think, you know,
it's something that needs to be
taken seriously.
Perhaps an indictment is on its way.
We saw in the last case
that that that preceded the indictment
I think we're likely
to see the same thing here.
He's probably
not going to go in and testify.
And then it's
you know, then we're back to this case,
perhaps going to be be heard in the
in the D.C. district.
And who's the judge that gets assigned
more kind of off
to all the questions
that we had on the first round?
Can I quickly ask you,
you worked for Donald Trump
and he has this tactic
that he uses of attacking
whoever goes against him.
Now he's attacking Jack Smith.
He said he looks like a crack head
initially.
Now he's saying that he's deranged.
Why does he do this?
And is it problematic?
Is it a problematic tactic?
It's not going to help him in court.
Well, I think the judge
is likely to intervene
as it relates to that.
I think you're going to hear some of that
probably at the hearing today.
I would imagine
because,
you know,
there's a difference, right,
between
the political speech
associated with these cases
and the political strategy
associated with these cases.
And the legal strategy.
That tactic certainly doesn't help
the legal strategy.
Jim, do you think if charges do
come related to trying to overturn
the election,
trying to stop the peaceful
transfer of power,
if criminal charges
come to Donald
Trump on that, do you think it diminishes
the classified documents case
that he's already up against
No, I think there are two
separate issues. Right.
And they are separate
and distinct issues.
That case is going to stand on its own.
And if there's a case
that's brought in connection
with January six,
that case is going to have
to stand on its own.
And, you know, the case against him,
you know,
in the documents
case is incredibly compelling.
If all that evidence,
if all those allegations make it
into evidence.
Can I ask you what you think
Donald Trump will do here?
With his lawyers,
what his defenses may be in
this particular case?
Well, look,
on the documents case
or the potential case coming,
we've seen the documents case.
He wants it delayed.
He says that there
that it was
prosecutor trial misconduct
and he's laid it out.
But in the potential
that there is another case, a January
six case brought,
which
prosecutors have have gotten about 550
or so plea agreements,
and they've not lost the case yet.
What do you think
his defense is going to be
if this case is brought forward?
I think
there's a difference
between those plea agreements
in relation
to the violence at the Capitol
and likely what they're going
to bring against Donald Trump. Right.
So we don't know what the charges
are going to be.
We can only speculate
as to what the charges are going to be.
Therefore, it's
kind of premature to start talking
about what the defenses might be.
But I think it's going to be distinct
from that idea of incitement.
I do not believe that this will be a case
that involves incitement
because of the first Amendment
speech issues.
So you're talking about
it's not going to be things
like seditious conspiracy
that's already
been charged and adjudicated.
But there's a potential
we were hearing from Ellie Honig
obstruction of an official proceeding.
I've seen that in court myself
over and over and over again.
The Justice Department
has won those cases.
And that's a potential of 20 years
in prison. That's at the height of it.
It's not always given.
But these are really serious charges,
even though they don't sound as serious.
They can't be for sure.
Listen, Jim,
before this stunning news
that Donald Trump
has received, a target letter
in the January
six case came down,
we were looking forward to this hearing.
This afternoon, Judge Eileen Cannon,
for the first time,
this hearing directly from the attorneys
on both sides of this case.
And she's told them
this is the moral legal documents case
and she's told both sides
to come in with arguments
about whether or not
the trial should be delayed
and when the trial should begin.
What do you expect to happen today?
How do you think she is considering this?
And do you see any hints one way
or the other of how she might rule
So I think she's
going to be under considerable,
considerable pressure,
given some of the criticism
she's had in the past
to move this case along
in an expeditious fashion.
Of course, the Trump
side is going to say,
look, we need more time.
This is going to interfere
with the election.
You know, there's a lot of issues
associated with this.
But the bottom line is absent
some appellate issue
kind of coming in the middle of this
three to four months
is probably a reasonable amount of time
to get ready for that case.
And I do think, though, that you know,
I talked about in the past
the Classified Information
Procedures Act.
You've already seen the Trump
team saying, look,
we want to see all these documents,
all these documents
need to be made public.
If the government opposes that
and the judge rules in favor of Trump.
The government has an ability to appeal.
And that would be an appeal directly
to the 11th Circuit.
And that could potentially delay the case
for a couple of months,
even an expedited manner,
even an expedited appeal.
Same thing.
If they ruled against the Trump
team on it,
they would have an ability
to appeal to the 11th Circuit.
And if that happens again,
you're talking about a couple of months.
So even if she sets this for December,
if there are appellate issues that
are able to be immediately
appealed to the 11th Circuit,
that's going to cause some delay,
then she's going to have a decision.
Okay.
Now we're looking at February,
March, April, for a potential trial date.
Now it's in the middle of primary season.
What happens then?