Quickly check
with Paul
readers outside the courthouse
with who's
getting details from our folks
inside the courtroom.
Paula, what do you think
An extraordinary moment, Anderson.
The former president was asked to stand
and enter his own plea
to the charges
have been filed against him.
And I'm told he didn't
even use the microphone.
He just looked straight at the judge
and projected his voice
and entered a plea of not guilty.
Now, again,
at the hearing down in Florida,
when he went through this
in a federal courtroom down there,
he had his lawyer enter that.
Pleased to hear him
say that in his own voice is significant.
Now, the judge is reading
the conditions of his release.
You may remember that down in Florida,
this is actually what
delayed the hearing.
But here is
he saying that you must not violate state
or federal law.
And also that he cannot communicate
with anyone known to be a witness
about the case unless through a lawyer.
Now, that could get tricky
because as we know, he's listening
to six coconspirators
many of whom are still close associates.
So much like in the Mar
a Lago documents case,
the fact that so many people in his inner
circle are caught up in this.
That will likely be a difficult issue
to navigate.
Just looking really quickly to see
if there are any other significant,
significant things from the judge.
Yes, she's saying she's reminding him
that it is a crime
to influence a juror
or threaten a witness or retaliate
against anyone else
who provided information or otherwise
obstruct justice.
Of course,
he has been charged
with not only obstruction,
obstruction of justice,
but obstructing his own
alleged obstruction.
So she's going through
all of these standard things
that you would go through
with any defendant,
but again,
taking on a different significance
with the former leader of the free world.
We are told again by our colleague,
Hannah Rabinowitz, who's inside.
He has agreed to all of these conditions.
He has now sat down
and they are bringing the actual
paperwork to his attorney.
All right, Paul, we'll check in with you
shortly.
Did you have any doubt
that the former president
would show up in person to this?
You know, there's
this kind of speculation
within Trump's
orbit, those who are still with him
that actually
multiple indictments
is better for him than one,
and that they want to try to use
this as they can in the P.R.
space to try to boost his reelection.
So I think because of that,
he want to show up.
He wants to be indignant
and, you know,
on the sidelines of this,
he's got amplifiers out
giving press conferences,
you know,
talking about things like Hunter Biden
that have nothing to do with this.
And he's got folks
on Capitol Hill defending him.
But I do think that it's important
to echo
something Van said,
to the degree that I know
the former president.
This is a sobering moment.
There is going to be
this moment that it sets
and this is happening again.
It is out of his hands.
Things are out of his control
in this moment and as this legal process
carries out.
And I think that
we also have to remember,
this is a man with a lack of self-control
and those words that he was just
issued by the judge, you know, about what
he's able to do,
what he can do
with witnesses, the jury and so forth,
that I think is
when his attorneys start getting nervous
because he tends to use his megaphone,
say whatever he thinks
we know he's gone after.
And in some ways I would say
intimidated Jack Smith.
So I think it's also going to be notable
to watch how he reacts
after he leaves the courtroom
if he gets on his tweets social
and says what we expect him to.
Yeah.
You know, in some ways
this will be
a normal person's nightmare
and maybe a narcissist dream,
you know, to that,
you know, to be martyred,
you know,
for for his cause, for his people.
This they have to go and
face the establishment.
I'm doing this for you.
And then to be able to go back,
he usually does some
big rally or something.
But, you know,
at some point, I would imagine
this is just not the way
that he thought it was going to work out.
I think that
when you run for office with, you know,
city council class president,
you have some idea it's
going to be a good thing for you.
And this is turning out to be something
quite different.
You know,
I think the other thing is that
they're if you listen
to the other network
that we never mention
it's the exact same storyline.
It's just flipped.
Everybody agrees
that it's wrong for a president
to abuse power to stay in office.
I think myself, I look at this.
Yeah, it's wrong.
Trump abused
power to try to stay in office.
But there's a
reverse mirror world narrative
that says no, it's Biden
abusing his power
by seeking the DOJ on Trump
so that Biden can stay in office.
So Trump has been quite masterful
at getting half the country now
to go along with this delusion
that he has,
that somehow he's the victim here
when he's not.
Now, let's check in with Kaitlan Collins
outside the courthouse. Kelly,
Yeah, Anderson, obviously
we're learning more about
this is going on.
We are told, obviously,
that the judge is doing
as we expected here,
not seeking
any kind of a pretrial detention.
But Paula, as we are learning about
what's happening here,
the judge said that she has actually been
she talked to Judge
Chuck Cohen,
who is going to be the actual judge
overseeing this entire case
about what the next steps are here
and what a date could look like.
That's exactly right.
And this was something we expected
could happen.
That Judge
Chuck in would back
channel and say,
hey, this is when I would like you
to set the next hearing
because you have all the parties there.
And so the judge here says a magistrate
judge says with respect
to moving forward,
she's consulted with Judge Chuck in.
And they have three dates
that they've suggested
August 21st, August 22nd and August 28th,
giving specific time.
And this is so procedural. Right.
But this these little decisions, Kaitlin,
when they have this hearing over time,
this adds up days turned into weeks.
And this could be the difference between
whether this gets tried
before the election or not.
So right now, the lawyers are talking
also and they want to have
their first hearing.
These three dates
I mean August 23rd
is the first debate in Milwaukee,
the first Republican primary debate.
Trump has said he's not going to that.
But the idea
that he could be in court again for this
this hearing
for this case would break
before
all of his opponents are on stage
is just notable in itself.
It is notable.
And you make a great point
because if you look at the calendar
for all the things
that a potential Republican
presidential candidate
has to attend
has to do the deadlines, the events.
There's so much overlap
with all the other legal issues
that he is facing. Right.
He has a trial,
a civil trial scheduled in January,
another one scheduled in next March.
It's almost impossible
to find a big chunk of the calendar
where you can try to put a trial
or anything else
that doesn't in any way overlap
with some of his activities.
As the presumptive Republican nominee.
So we'll see which date they settle on.
But this will be the first hearing
before the judge overseeing the trial.
It's unlikely that the former president
will have to attend.
He'll probably have the option,
but it will be very procedural,
all about scheduling,
just like we saw in Florida.
And while that's so mundane,
right, setting the calendar
here, it's
so incredibly significant
when so much of the defense
strategy is delay. DeLay delay.
Yeah.
And so we'll see if the judge goes
along with that.
I want to bring in CNN's Evan Perez,
who was just inside the courtroom.
Evan, I mean, we're
now learning that the judge has said
and agreed
with Trump's attorneys
on August 28th, 2023 at 10 a.m.
that is five days
after the first Republican
debate is going to happen in Milwaukee.
We don't expect Trump to attend that
but Evan, can you tell us what
it was like inside the room
Well, yeah, look,
the former president,
maybe it's
the fact that this is his third time
going through an arraignment,
but his body language was
you know, absolutely a lot different.
I mean, he sat there
with his hands clasped.
He appeared displeased about something.
There was something
that the pretrial services
official who was in the courtroom
handed papers
to his attorneys, to the
to the Justice Department
attorneys there, Tom Windham and
and John Lauro on Mr.
Trump's side.
And then they began discussing
whatever it is in
perhaps the bail package.
That's typically the paperwork
that he is handed.
And then, you know, he is signing it.
There was something in that paperwork
that appears to appear to displease
the former president
because he had a couple of that
seemed to be heated conversations
with Todd Bland, who were fitted
fitted to his right.
The former president
mostly looked straight ahead.
He had looked around the room.
There were a few times
where he and Tom Windham, sorry,
he and Chuck Smith looked at each other.
It was absolutely more Jack Smith
looking in his direction.
But the former president,
because of the vantage point,
absolutely saw Jack Smith.
There was also
a lot different from the one in Miami,
from the hearing in Miami,
where they on the
they didn't see each other
during the entire hearing.
One of the things that I think
was interesting was the former president.
You know, you heard him just a few times.
He said, yes, yes, I do.
When the judge asked him if he
if he understood
the charges,
if he understood his right
to remain silent.
And, of course, when he said
when he pleaded not guilty,
he didn't speak
directly into the microphone.
He spoke directly ahead.
We know
the beaner of the former president,
it reminded me a lot of,
you know, your during
during the
during the presidential debates
with Hillary Clinton when
candidate Clinton
said something to get under his skin.
That's the look he had on his face
quite a few times
as he sat there with his attorneys
having some discussions
as he waited
about 20 minutes
for the judge to take her seat
in the courtroom.
So now we expect, obviously,
as you guys have just been talking,
that this is a
this is a case
that's going to start moving
a lot more quickly.
Absolutely.
More quickly
than the one you saw in Miami.
Again, a sharp difference.
There was a lot of sharp differences
between the two proceedings,
having been the one in Miami.
You could see how this one is going
is going to shape
up a lot differently, guys.
And that's that's so notable, Evan.
I mean, just fascinating
to hear that perspective,
what it's like to actually be
inside the courtroom where Trump and Doug
Smith are in the same room. Stand by.
We'll get back to you, Paula.
I know we're learning
they set this date of August 28
that the judge is weighed in
on whether or not Trump
needs to be there.
And also, next steps
for prosecutors here. That's right.
She's saying that the former president
may be able to waive his appearance
and not have to come back for this
next hearing at the end of the month.
But, Caitlin,
it looks like
there may be a rocket docket here
because they have told
the government
that in the next seven days
they need to file a brief
and they need to outline
how much preparation
they need to do for a possible trial.
The same question
that came up in Florida,
but this is moving along a lot faster.
Then she wants defense attorneys
to weigh in, too.
And there's a lot
that goes into the answer
to that question.
How much time will it take you
to go through discovery
to share with the defense?
But we know the special counsel,
Jack Smith, has said he wants
a, quote, speedy trial.
Now, the defense attorneys
they are going to want to delay this
as long as possible.
But this is a pretty tight turnaround
in terms of wanting
to get this answer down in Florida,
took out about a month before
they were able to settle on this answer.
So this appears to me
moving along quickly
and this is what we expected
from Judge Chuck,
and we expected
that she was going to try to move
this along pretty quickly.