And now to this week's legal drama,
the scene, the Fulton County Jail.
The event,
Donald Trump
and his alleged coconspirators
surrendering to Georgia.
Authorities on charges
that they schemed
to subvert the 2020 election.
CNN's Kaitlin Plante
is where else
live in front of a courthouse this time.
It is in Fulton County
in Atlanta Caitlin,
walk us through
what is going to happen there.
Well, Dana,
there's action in two places here in
Fulton County,
Georgia,
following the indictment of Donald Trump
and 18 others
here at the courthouse
where the district attorney
prosecutors and others work.
And then over at the jail.
And what we are learning here
on the ground,
Jason Morris Holmes
Lebrons that Cohen and I
is that
Donald Trump's
attorneys are very likely
to be working out his bond terms
today
in a negotiation
with the district attorney.
Now, we haven't seen them
yet here on the ground
and we're not sure if we will.
We have seen some prosecutors
working on this case
here around the courthouse complex.
But once they get those terms set,
then there will be a wait
for Donald Trump to go over to the jail,
turn himself in and be arrested process
and have to spend a little bit of time
in that infamous space
that has really become the subject
of a lot of looking at making sure
the conditions there are okay.
Because there have been so much criticism
about the conditions
inside the jail insects
and how they're so it's not a place
where Donald Trump's
lawyers or Trump himself
would want to spend a lot of time.
That's why
he and other lawyers
would be working up
on conditions ahead of time
so that they can move very quickly,
because that is a different aspect
of the criminal justice system
at that jail
that Trump and others would have to face.
Trump now being a criminal defendant
in four different cases,
this process
will look a little bit different
than what he had to do in federal court.
When he was arrested.
I'll say,
thank you so much for that, Caitlin.
Here with me,
former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former
federal prosecutor Elliot Williams
and CNN's Evan Perez.
So, Evan, what are you hearing?
Well, let me just start by start by
asking you this, and I want
these other two gentlemen to add to it.
For those of us who have not surrendered
to the allegations and to indictments,
particularly in a place
like Fulton County, which, as Katelyn
rightly
pointed out,
is going to be a very different process
and atmosphere
that even even in New York,
but certainly
with the federal indictments
that we've seen, he's
gotten so much deference from the system
up to this point.
They have made sure he can get in and out
in within minutes.
Certainly the federal
federal system doesn't
release any any any mug shots.
The New York state also does not release
mug shots.
And the Fulton County system
however, has their law
allows for the release of mug shots.
And according to the sheriff there,
they're going to treat him
like any other defendant.
He's going to show up at the jail,
not at the courthouse
where he's been processed
and his previous three arrests.
And so that just brings
the extraordinary part of this even more
into into extraordinary territory.
There will be a mug shot.
There will be a mug shot
is what we expect,
according to the sheriff.
And under Georgia law, it is releasable.
So it is possible
for the first time
that we're going to see one.
And again, the former president,
they have his at this his fundraising arm
has been very,
very gleeful at the idea of this
because they thought
they could fundraise off it.
As a matter of fact,
I think they created fake
they did right at the beginning.
So that's where I think we're going
to get into this
realm of the surreal later this week
when we anticipate he's
going to try to make maximum
advantage,
take a maximum advantage
of his surrender.
I think that Cyril left the building
a long time ago.
I don't live here anymore. No,
you know, we've
for each
one of these events, we've talked
about how important it is
that the system treat all defendants
the same
and that the former president
goes through the same steps
that everyone else goes through.
But that has not happened yet
as Evan points out.
He has been given enormous deference
until they didn't
even take photographs
at either of the two federal processing
and arraignment days, which is
quite remarkable.
There's nothing
offensive about a photograph
and especially one
that would not have been released
to the public.
Nevertheless,
this process will be different.
He's not going to be arraigned on the day
he's processed.
He just goes to the jail,
works out in terms of his bail,
which will probably be done in advance.
We're hearing that from from Katelyn.
And then he's fingerprinted,
photographed and officially booked,
and that should happen.
And as you were speaking,
we were looking at photographs
and the names of the other 18
alleged coconspirators in this case.
The first one,
of course, the former president
you just heard, Eliot, Katelyn
talk about the reporting,
about the negotiations
going on today,
about how it's going to go down,
how the bond will work and things
like that,
as somebody
who has
probably been involved in such
negotiations, again
with a former president.
Walk us through that.
So setting aside the question of
does he get special treatment or not?
The question being answered is, no.
One, is this person a flight risk?
And number two,
are they a danger to the community?
Now, setting aside
what many people believe
about the former president,
you're looking at
the alleged crimes
and you're looking at his ability
to get out of town.
The most famous person on the planet
simply is not a flight risk.
And they will decide in all likelihood
that they don't need to
to lock him up prior to trial.
All the bond decision is about
is just trying to ensure that the person
shows up to the next hearing
and they have no reason to believe.
Again,
setting aside
the seriousness of the crime
or who it is
or the defendant, his notoriety.
So he's not going to be held,
held behind bars.
Now, they may set a dollar amount
for his bond.
They may make him post
something like that.
But beyond that, it's business as usual.
I want to also look at what Mark
Meadows said when he was there.
His lawyers gave a
a statement
to the federal court
excuse me, to the U.S.
It was a federal court
thank you
asked a federal court
to dismiss charges in Georgia.
He's the lawyer, said Mr.
Meadows served a critically important
advise and assist function that has been
firmly entrenched in federal law
for nearly 100 years.
The conduct
charged here
fails squarely
with falls squarely
within the scope of Mr.
Meadows duties
as chief of staff
and the federal policy
underlying that role.
How do we read into that?
No, look, it's
a real
it's a real effort that they're making
and one that
under normal circumstances
could very well succeed. Right.
The former president,
his chief of staff, was working with him
to try to ascertain
whether there was fraud.
And that's a very good argument
that they're making.
What he's charged
with is going beyond that. Right.
And what the
what the prosecutors are alleging
is that Mark Meadows went beyond
just his normal duties
your normal duties
as chief of staff of the president
does not usually include
committing crimes.
And so that's what
they're alleging that he did.
And so that's where he is going to run up
against the law,
especially in the 11th Circuit,
which does not usually favor moving cases
out of state court like this.
Yeah, the removal and dismissal
are two sides of the same strategy.
You have to get the case first
and then you make the motion,
which he has now to be
to have the matter dismissed.
Because you allege
that you were acting within
the scope of your authority,
that despite their confident
language in their papers,
which we all expected
and he might actually prevail
on that argument,
the devil's in the details,
and the court is going to look at exactly
what he's been alleged in
what he is alleged to have engaged in
and whether or not
those acts were part of his authority
under federal law.
And I think there's
a very compelling argument to say
it was not.
I want to get your thoughts
first on a numbers
that were really striking
in the latest CBS News poll.
And the question was about Trump voters.
Who do they trust more than anyone else?
Trump. 71%.
Their own friends and family.
63% conservative media.
56% religious leaders.
42%
Mean once
again, Donald
Trump has thrown the country
upside down on top of its head.
I think
maybe you could flip that grass
and go back ten years and keep the same,
you know, same numbers.
It's it is remarkable.
He is
probably the most effective
public messenger
we've ever seen in terms
of delivering his own message
to his audience.
Yet they believe everything he says,
despite the fact that he's been proven
to have misled them
hundreds of thousands of times.
And, you know,
look, this is playing out in real life.
I could shoot anyone on Seventh Avenue
and still get away with it.
That you're talking about homicide there.
And I think maybe that might have been
a clearer example.
I think part of what
perhaps the president's
supporters are struggling with
is the kinds of questions
we just asked have in a moment ago.
It's a little bit abstract
to people, this question
of where
the line between candidate Trump
and then candidate aide
Mark Meadows ended
and the people who work
for the government did.
It's a little blurry
and confusing to many people.
Intentionally so, yes.
Which is one of the reasons
why former President Trump
is candidate Trump.
Again, Thank you, guys, very much.