Donald Trump's 2024 campaign released
this scathing statement last night.
Quote, Fulton County
radical Democrat
District Attorney
Fani Willis is a
rabid partizan
called election
interference or election manipulation.
It is a dangerous effort
by the ruling class
to suppress the choice of the people.
It is un-American and wrong.
CNN's Elaine
Treene is live with the latest.
Elaina, what's the word inside
Trump world right now?
Well, Phil,
they have been through this
now three times before.
And so they have a playbook
that they have cultivated over the past
several months
and they believe it is working.
And so they're going to continue
to use it, his team tells me.
But one thing
that I found
really interesting is what Donald Trump
posted this morning on True Social.
He said that he was, quote,
hosting a major news conference
at 11 a.m.
on Monday
of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey.
And Phil,
he said that he's going to use
those public remarks to present a report
that his team
has been working on
riddled really with the false claims
that the election results in Georgia
in 2020 were rife with fraud.
Now, of course, we know
Donald Trump has been peddling
these claims for years now
and we know they're just simply not true.
There were two recounts in Georgia
that show Joe Biden
won the majority of votes in the state.
But this is clearly what Donald Trump
and his team
are using to deploy
as their strategy to defend him.
But one thing that I found
really interesting about this is
they're not just going to be arguing
that this is election
interference
and that Donald Trump is a victim
of political persecution.
Of course, they will argue that,
but they're also going
to be disputing the facts of the case.
And that is a bit different here.
And one thing, Phil,
that I'm really watching for is
how Donald Trump's allies
will react to that report specifically.
We know that they immediately
came to his defense last night
after the indictment dropped.
But will they
echo and share his continued
false claims?
Really,
that the election was stolen in Georgia?
Yeah, it'll be very telling
who decides to go down that path.
I think we both probably
have some ideas of some names here.
Appreciate, Alina, as always,
and here to share their reporting
and their insights, CNN's
David Chalian segment, Kim,
The Associated Press and Republican
strategist and pollster
Kristen Soltis Anderson.
Sam, can I start with you because you are
perhaps the most rigorous reporter
I know, also very careful and fact-based.
Elena made this point.
I just want to double check it with you.
Has there
been any evidence of widespread fraud
in Georgia
based on all of the court cases
and all of the investigations
and all the audience audits?
Absolutely not.
Okay, that's helpful.
Yeah,
I just
I joke, but honestly,
this is going to become important
if they actually go down this route
to not allow this
to spread to some degree.
And I guess that's my question.
Elena makes a great point.
They had a strategy and a playbook
which they have deployed
over the course
of the last three indictments,
all of which have seemed
to have been effective
for their Republican primary audience.
This is different.
Why do you think they go down this route?
So I think, well,
first of all, this
this indictment
is so much more sprawling,
so much more sweeping
that we have seen in the other
previous three indictments.
Obviously, there are indicted,
other people indicted in this case,
making this case,
making this instance
so much more far reaching
than in the previous cases.
But I think they
I feel like the Trump team
perhaps needs to feel like
they need
a broader base of attack
or in responding to these charges.
I think that's a part of it as well.
And I also think one thing
you're going to see from the Trump team
is that what the
what the clerk's office in Atlanta says
was a mistake in posting
of that early version of an indictment
that named President Trump.
They they
they are claiming that it was an error,
that it was the wrong the wrong document.
But you already see Trump's team
kind of point that out and really seize
that on to make their case.
But I do agree with Elena that when
when that
when the Trump team produces
their so-called report next week,
how many of their allies, you know,
not only just the people
in the presidential primary
supporting them,
but their allies on Capitol Hill
who actually seize on the report
and use it to bolster Trump's defense.
Yeah.
Again, it's going to be worth
watching and taking names on that one.
Christine, it's important in my view,
you're the expert here.
But to differentiate
a Republican primary electorate
and the general election, we're right now
by 20 plus points
the former president
seems to be headed towards.
But on the primary front.
I want to play something
that the former president said
a couple of weeks ago.
Listen,
every time
they file an indictment,
we go way up in the polls.
We need one more indictment
to close out this election,
one more indictment,
and this election is closed out.
Nobody has even a chance.
I mean, I
don't think it's a scientific or
calculation there to some degree.
But to that point,
we have not seen any slippage
in his polling
over the course
of the first three indictments.
Do you think that this kind of locks
things up for him,
given where the race stands right now?
Well,
I don't often agree with the former
president's interpretation of the polls,
but in this case,
while I don't think that each indictment
has caused him to have a massive spike
or however he defined it,
it certainly
has caused a bit of a rally
around him effect
and it has made it
harder for his opponents
who are trying to introduce themselves
to the Republican field
to be able
to get oxygen airtime
and to be able
to differentiate themselves.
Of course, so many Republicans
even those who aren't
necessarily planning to vote for Trump,
nevertheless are sympathetic
to his arguments
that he's being prosecuted
because he is a political opponent,
because he is who he is.
That the charges are too sweeping,
that they're unfair,
and because Republicans are sympathetic
to this.
It's put his opponents in the primary
in a box
where they are unable to really say,
hey, Donald Trump
could be facing prison time.
We cannot nominate this guy.
It winds up
meaning that folks like Ron
DeSantis are in a very tough spot.
They can't differentiate
themselves effectively.
And it's made it harder
for them to gain traction.
So while these indictments,
I wouldn't expect Trump
to bounce 15 points in the polls per se,
it does further solidify
I think,
his larger
gains
that he's seen over
the last couple of months.
And Phil, just to underscore something
Kristen said there
that I think is so important,
what some polls have shown,
I think largely most of the polls
since these indictments,
Chris, and correct me if I'm wrong,
but even people
who are supporting candidates
in the primary not named Trump
don't want to hear those candidates
go after Trump
as it relates to the indictment.
So it is it is broader than just Trump's
base of support
inside the party
that that just doesn't
want to hear an attack on him on this.
Yeah.
I mean, look,
you wouldn't
have the top tier candidates
going against Trump refusing to do this.
If they were seeing something
that gave them
any indication
that it would be a value
to their campaigns. I fully understand.
I don't necessarily get it
when you're down by 30 points,
but I understand that there's nothing
telling them to do it.
David, I did want to ask you the thing
I've been thinking about all day
and definitely don't
have an answer to yet
is we have been talking
about the cash crunch
based on the legal issues
that the former president
has been having over the course
of the last couple of weeks.
The FEC filings really kind of laid
that bare to some degree.
This is the former president.
Another indictment.
18 coconspirators he's been helping
or financing
a lot of the legal fees
for his allies here.
You kind of map this out going forward
into a general election.
How big of a problem
if you look down over the course
of the last four
and a half months, Manhattan
district attorney indicted
DOJ Special Counsel
Documents Indicted DOJ
special counsel Jan six indicted
Fulton County D.A.
2020 election indicted.
That money is still going
to be going other places
than his campaign organization.
There's no doubt about it.
And you see in recent social media posts
from the former president
that's getting under his skin
a bit, right?
I mean,
recently as recently as last week,
I think he was
sort of bemoaning that money
that he would rather be
spending on television
ads or campaign proper expenditures.
He is spending on legal fees
not just for himself but for his allies.
And that's not where he wants to go.
I also think it gets at,
again, how inextricably linked
the political and the legal here is.
That is the definition of
Trump's 2024 candidacy.