More now on the breaking news.
Donald Trump officially the target
of another criminal investigation.
CNN's
Christine Holmes is closely
following how the former president
is dealing
with his growing legal jeopardy.
So you're getting word
now of an urgent effort, I understand, to
to figure out if anyone else has received
a target letter.
That's right, Anderson.
As soon as they got this target,
what are they started making?
Calls to lawyers, to allies,
anyone involved
in the January six investigation
who might have an answer
as to who
if anyone else got a target letter.
Now, I am told as of now,
they have not identified anyone else
who got a target letter.
But of course,
they are still making the calls.
The reason that they are doing
this is it's going to give them
some sort of insight
into what
the evidence is against Donald Trump
and what exactly
a trial or charges
might look like
against the former president.
And part of
this is because
some members of his team
were surprised
at the timing of the target letter.
Now they have long anticipated
that he was going to be indicted
several more times,
but they were looking at the timeline
for January six
in terms of target letter
and the movement there
being in the fall, not being right
now, had actually been
talking to one lawyer
who said
they thought
that things had cooled off
in that investigation.
So a lot of calls going on right now
trying to figure out exactly what
this is going to look like.
The timing on all of this.
And we do expect to hear from former
President Donald Trump tonight.
He is on the campaign trail,
a reminder that he is again
running for president.
He will be in Iowa doing a town hall.
We'll obviously be watching
that very closely
to see what he says about this.
All right, Chris, appreciate it.
Joining me now in New York,
John McCain,
Kelvin Jones, Kaitlan
Collins, Ellie Hoenig,
former Georgia Lieutenant
Governor Jeff Duncan,
former White House
communications director
Lisa Far Griffin,
just under the Target letter.
Would they send them out
to anybody who was going to get one
at the same time?
You should.
Yeah. I mean, it's good practice.
If you intend to indict
a bunch of people together,
you should notify them
with a target letter all at once.
And I think one of the big questions
is who else,
if anyone else has received
these target letters?
And just to be clear,
DOJ does not have to send out
target letters, but they often do.
And we know Jack Smith does
because he did before the Mar
a Lago indictments.
And once you get a Target letter,
you are very likely.
And the purpose of the target letter
is to inform the defendant
what's going about to happen
and also give them an opportunity
if they want to testify
before the grand jury. Exactly.
Or if the lawyers want to come in
and try to make any other pitch.
So it's interesting
that as far as we know
right now, Donald Trump's
the only target letter we know of.
And prosecutors have a lot of discretion
in how they shape their indictments.
Who do you charge in which indictment
do you roll them out?
Sort of serious them,
one after the other or all at once?
It could be
that they just want one big indictment
to focus on Trump
to minimize the distractions
and the paperwork that will go with it.
And then there's other people
perhaps will be referred
to as coconspirators
or perhaps will be indicted
separately or later.
Griffin, you're just joining us.
What stands out to you today?
Well, looking at the politics of this,
I mean, it's
just stunning
that we're now talking about
a potential third indictment, second
federal of the former president,
who still remains
the Republican frontrunner.
And I just
somebody as somebody
who spoke out the day
after January six
and has continued to sense,
I can't imagine how different
the political landscape
would look right now
if Republicans stayed the course
as they after
January six with what they were saying.
Nikki Haley condemning him at the RNC
winter meeting.
Nearly every prominent Republican saying
we need to turn the page on Trump.
But because so many people
flipped that language
and did a one 80 on him,
he is pulling ahead of anyone
despite these investigations going.
And I don't know that
anyone can bank on the idea of him
being in prison,
keeping him from winning the nomination.
Jeff Duncan, you certainly wish
that they had stayed the course as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
I think it would
it would certainly have our party
in a totally different position
than it is today.
And, you know, January 6th
is the headline on on all of this
target letters and indictments
that are out there.
But this was a process
that led up to January 6th.
And I think that's
what's going to continue to unpack.
And I think we're just missing an easy
opportunity to beat
the least
popular president, sitting president
and maybe US history in Joe Biden.
And we just continue to miss it
and miss it and miss it.
I hope we course correct here.
I hope we get to a pivot point
where folks
wake up on the Republican side and say,
you know what, we've got real problems.
Republican Party has real solutions
and we're going to move forward.
Jamie, I know you're hearing from
from some Republicans,
we got a statement from former appellate
court judge
Michael Luttig,
who became well-known for testifying
for the January six committee.
He played a critical role in advising
former Vice
President Mike Pence
that he could not delay Congress.
Let's just remember
before I read this statement.
He is one of the most conservative
Republicans out there.
And he says
there is not an attorney general
or special counsel of either party
who would not bring charges
against the former president
for his efforts
on January six
to overturn the 2020
presidential election.
He goes on, he meaning Trump has
dared,
taunted, provoked
and goaded DOJ
to prosecute him
for his offenses on
and relating to January six.
For two and a half years
The former president has left Jack Smith
no choice but to bring charges,
lest the former president
make a mockery of the Constitution
of the United States and the rule of law.
I spoke to him a few minutes ago.
He expects an indictment within days.
He does not think Trump is going to go
in front of the grand jury.
And yet
so many Republicans are not echoing that.
So many Republicans
are standing by the former president.
No question, as we just heard,
whether they are scared of Donald Trump
or whether they want his base
to get elected.
His numbers seem to be going up
every time he gets indicted.
But we definitely need more
and more of that.
I mean, that
that's what you would expect.
I mean, if you if you if you honestly,
four years
ago, five years ago and woke up
and it turned out
that there was somebody
who clearly on national television
was allowing an insurrection to happen,
didn't do anything about it.
And this person
was now being charged
by the Department of Justice.
You would say, thank goodness,
thank goodness, rule of law
applies to everyone.
Thank goodness
somebody has looked into the facts
or thinks thank goodness.
Instead, you hear this appalling silence
and then people coming out
and trying to excuse the inexcusable.
We need more of that.
But also, look at how
Trump is talking about January six.
I mean, he's
saying that Trump made a mockery
of the Constitution with those efforts
and what he did that day.
Trump still talks on January six
all the time when he's at these campaign
trail stops when he's out there.
He essentially is reframe it.
He calls the people who were there
that day
breaking into the Capitol Patriots
and you have not seen
the rest of the 2024
field it all come out.
I mean a high school student
in New Hampshire asked Ron DeSantis
about his thoughts
on January six recently
and his first response was
I wasn't anywhere near Washington
that day.
And as Chris Christie said,
was he alive that day? Did he have a TV?
Was he watching?
I mean, everyone saw what was happening.
So do you
think it is
just a sign of that
Trump hasn't veered away
from talking about this.
I mean, he's talking about pardoning
the people who are convicted for crimes
related to January 6th.
So he hasn't really shied away from this.
Didn't
you make an album
with some of the players
he played their music at his rallies?
I mean, he's completely recast this
as something entirely differently.
And so,
I mean, that also speaks to the fact
that if he is going
to get indicted on this
so what happens next?
I mean, from a legal standpoint,
he how much time does he have to respond
or does he need to respond at all?
When do you think
the indictment will come
So according to Donald
Trump, he's
been given four days from Sunday,
which takes us to Thursday.
Really, at any point after Thursday,
we could see an indictment.
It's important to understand
it is real quick
and easy for a federal prosecutor
to finish the process
of getting an indictment
in the federal system.
You are allowed to summarize.
So I think what will happen is
a prosecutor
will stand in front of the grand jury,
say, here's a summary, here's
a reminder of all the evidence
that you've heard, all the testimony
you've heard.
You can do that in an hour or so.
Then you have to present
the actual draft indictment
You have to
say, here are the X number of charges
and here,
whoever the defendants are,
and here are the elements of law
that you have to find by probable cause,
lower standard.
Then ultimately
they have to prove a trial,
which, of course,
is beyond a reasonable doubt.
And that's it.
Then the jury grand jury votes,
and then the indictment
will be in the prosecutor's hands now.
Important to know,
it may be sealed
for some short amount of time, meaning
the indictment may be voted on
as an indictment,
and then it will be filed
docket it with the court.
But we won't be able to see it
for some amount of time.
In fact,
with the moral legal case,
there was a couple of days or a day or so
where we couldn't see told us,
but then we found out he was indicted.
Exactly. Told us exactly.