We're happy to be able to report that the wheels of justice are turning
in South Florida.
And the most telling part of this is what is doing to the former president,
how he is just reeling,
even though he's putting up the kind of front that any defendant would.
And you have to expect that he would do that.
This morning, he was on Howie Carr's radio show, he redirected every single question
about his indictment back to the 2020 election and his 2024 campaign.
And as I alluded to earlier, he also went after Jack Smith,
the special counsel in this case,
he said had no evidence in this case, which we know is not true.
He said it's vanity run amok, he said that in North Carolina the other day.
>> What do you tell your 75 million voters tonight on the eve of this arraignment?
>> Just stay strong, stay very, very strong, and we're gonna bring it back, and
we're going to win in a landslide.
I believe it'll be one of the greatest wins ever, much bigger than the other way,
because they've been done so poorly.
They've done so poorly in these four years, I say to everybody,
just stay strong, because we're gonna win it and we're gonna make America great.
We're gonna make America greater than ever before because these guys have shot their
watt, they've shown how bad they are.
>> But this is what he said on Truth Social.
This is the Thug overturned consistently and unanimously in big cases,
that Biden and his corrupt injustice department stuck on me.
He's a radical right lunatic and Trump hater, as are all his friends and family,
who probably planted information in the boxes given to them.
That's what he's saying, they planted information.
They taint everything they touch, including our country,
which is rapidly going to hell.
Again, we talked a little bit about patriotism, right?
And what defines patriotism, and how Donald Trump and Republicans have
been appealing to patriotism and what it means to be American.
Max, is there anything less American?
Is there anything less patriotic?
Is Donald Trump a traitor because of what he did?
>> Well, he's certainly someone who's put the United States in incredible national
security risk.
I mean, you have a room full of people who are going to testify under oath that
a former president was waving around some of America's most sensitive
battle plans and showing them off to them because he thought bombs were cool.
I mean, the same guy who sat all day in a fire truck playing
Pretend is now distributing some of America's most guarded
military secrets to anyone who gives him validation.
I mean, that's not just unpatriotic, it's a level of self involved
nihilism that goes beyond anything I think we've seen in modern politics.
>> And that self involved nihilism really well put, I like that turn of phrase.
That is exactly what is preventing lawyers from wanting to get on his team.
The guy cannot get an attorney, can you imagine a president or
former president of the United States that wouldn't have people lining up
outside his door to represent him in a case like this?
It would be the honor of many lawyers lives, I would imagine, but
that's not the case here.
Part of the problem, they say, of recruiting lawyers which Trump has
not been able to do, has been Trump's reputation for
being a notoriously difficult client who has a record of declining legal advice and
seeking to have his lawyers act as attack dogs or political aides rather than
attorneys bound by ethics rules, people close to the process have said.
This is according to Hugo Lowell and The Guardian.
The other concern for the top lawyers in Florida being contacted by
Trump's advisers has been the perceived reputational
damage that could come from defending the former president, the people said.
Not just because of his politics, but also because of the strength of the indictment.
Can you imagine that?
Lawyers not wanting to defend a former United States
president because of the damage it could do to them?
>> I am actually having a hard time imagining that.
[LAUGH] I don't think lawyers have a lot of shame when it comes to defending
anybody, quite frankly it's everybody's right to have a lawyer, right?
It's everybody's right to defend themselves in the courts.
I don't know that I'm buying that part of the whispers, I can absolutely buy
the part where this doesn't seem like a slam dunk for the defense, right?
It feels like the government has all their ducks in a row, which is kind of the case.
Usually when we see a federal level indictment,
we see all the time when the FBI brings a case against somebody, they always
tell the people that they're coming after we have a 95% conviction rate.
We read that all the time.
I think these lawyers understand that they're probably going to lose in court.
Although, guys, it's still very early in the process,
the indictment was only handed down today.
Some lawyer in Florida is going to convince themselves that it is a good idea
for their career to represent the former President of the United States,
even in a loss.
I think somebody's gonna convince themselves to take this case and
be damn happy that they did.
>> Yeah, there's no question he is going to get a lawyer.
He'll be represented by at least on his team, a Florida attorney and litigator.
One of the problems is though that he is a difficult client, today, E Jean Carroll,
you remember who won the civil case against Trump, awarded damages for
sexual harassment.
She was allowed now to ask for more damages because of what Trump did
after that case in badmouthing E Jean Carroll and the whole process.
So he is a loose cannon, he costs himself, which is why you can understand that
the legal community does not wanna get behind him,
especially in something like this, where 37 count indictment that seems rock solid.
Of course, they all do at the beginning, seems rock solid has been handed down.
One of the sort of aces in the hole that the defense may have is Aileen Cannon.
She is the judge who did not preside over today's arraignment, but the judge who is
going to be presiding over this case because of the random assignment.
She was one who wanted to put a stay on the original
documents case back in November, I think it was.
And then she was found out to have been acting irresponsibly there.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned what she did.
They told her that she cannot put a stay on, the case can go forward,
they cannot have a special master, all the things she wanted.
But she's clearly a Trump sympathizer, she was appointed by Trump.
That may be something that helps the former president.
Does that ring true with you, Max?
>> Yeah, I mean, nothing would surprise me in this sort of fallen era we're in.
In any sane democracy, Aileen Cannon would recuse herself immediately.
I mean, the biases are clear and even the presumption, and remember, so
much of recusal is about avoiding even the presumption of impropriety.
You don't have to have done anything wrong,
it's just best practice to even remove the doubt.
There's no sign Aileen Cannon is going to do that, and
she certainly has seen through these cases in the past.
I honestly have never seen something like her case on appeal receiving some of
the harshest criticism I've ever seen a federal judge receive for
her basic knowledge of the law.
I mean, it is simply not safe to entrust a case like
this to someone who doesn't know how to read law.
>> Yeah, and that's, again,
one of the things that the Republicans are hanging their hat on is that
there is some protection for their guy down there because of this judge.
And recusal can't be forced, it has to be taken by the judge.
And that's why it could be that you see Cannon presiding over this case, but
she's gonna be watched very closely, and I would imagine we'll try and do.
She acted almost as a loose Cannon herself last time, and I imagine with all the eyes
on her in this case that it may be a little bit different.
But again, those are my rose colored glasses about this.
But let's talk about the way this is being received by Republicans,
because both of you guys have talked about it a little bit.
Astonished by how the Republican community writ large has looked at this indictment,
has looked at trump.
Has not come after, with the exception of a couple of presidential candidates who
are Aileen Cannon run against him, has not come after Trump in any way.
In fact, has defended him.