Tonight.
US District
Judge Tanya Chacon is rejecting a request
from the Trump legal team
and is now scheduled a hearing
for 10 a.m.
this Friday
to talk with both sides
about what rules should be imposed
for handling of evidence
in that investigation
by the special counsel
and to Trump's efforts to overturn
the 2020 election.
Trump does
not have to go in person on Friday.
I should note
his appearance has been waived.
But today on the campaign trail,
he was complaining about
how his legal problems
are affecting his presidential run
I won't be able to go to Iowa today.
I won't be able to
go to New Hampshire today
because I'm sitting in a courtroom
on bullshit because his attorney general
charged me with something
terrible.
With me to discuss all of this
is CNN
senior legal analyst
and former assistant U.S.
attorney in the Southern District
of New York, Ellie Hoenig.
Elliott,
we won't make you
weigh in on those comments there.
Thank you.
But what do you make of this decision by.
What do you read into Judge
Chuck and saying
no, I'm not going to give you
until next Monday or Tuesday
as the Trump team had requested.
Let's do this on Friday.
It's a completely fair decision.
Prosecutors want it to go in ASAP.
Trump's team wanted till next week
and she said, let's do it Friday.
And this is a mini skirmish
that's really going to foreshadow
much bigger battles
we have ahead about timing,
because you can see the dynamic.
Trump's team wants to push off
as far as possible.
Prosecutors
want to pull as quick as possible
and the judge is going to have
to find a middle ground.
But this is pretty
I was talking to a source in Trump world
earlier and I was saying
this is actually pretty standard
this early on in a criminal prosecution
to decide.
Here's what you can
and cannot say publicly
about what we are sharing
with you of evidence in the case.
I mean, could be transcripts
from witnesses for the grand jury.
Could be a lot of information.
Really important distinction.
The judge is not deciding to shut
Donald Trump up entirely.
It may get to that point
if he keeps making comments like that.
All the judge is saying is
you can't take the evidence in this case,
the discovery,
the grand jury transcripts,
the witness information
and blasted out over to social.
And the judge is going to decide
what the parameters are of that.
But, yeah,
that's a really important
distinction here
in the federal grand jury
that is investigating here.
The one that handed down the indictment
last week, they met again today.
I mean,
clearly, they're still investigating
because there's
six unindicted coconspirators.
What is this?
It's got to be that.
I mean, look, prosecutors
always love to say
the investigation's ongoing.
It's clear that mean something here.
It's not just boilerplate.
Yeah.
Look, there are six
people named as coconspirators.
Prosecutors don't do that lightly
when you call someone a coconspirator.
What you're saying is we believe
this person was part of the crime
and in on it.
And so
there is a continuing investigation.
All indications,
including Paula Reid's
reporting that Bernie Kerik was in there,
being questioned about Rudy Giuliani.
Tell me that their next focus
on those six coconspirators.
Big question, by the way,
is if they are going to indict them,
do they add them to the Trump indictment
or do them separately?
If they add them to the Trump indictment,
that's going to be
a big problem for timing.
Yeah, we'll see what that looks like.
But also today, Trump
was railing against this,
the district county,
the district attorney in Fulton County,
Fani Willis.
I mean, he was going after her.
And in terms that we're not going to play
what he said about her today,
but he was going after her.
But we have learned from Sara Murray
just now that she is expected
to present her case to the grand
jury starting next week.
That's going to take about 48 hours.
We believe.
I mean,
how soon do you think Trump
could she be facing another indictment?
Look, it looks clear.
It's going to be very soon.
Could be next week
when you're at this phase,
you're really an end game.
And remember,
funny, Willis has already
put all her evidence
into this special grand jury
that wrapped up a couple months ago.
She can just go in to this
grand jury now and summarize it.
I do have to say,
because I just feel obligated
every time Trump goes on
one of these rants,
you're right not to play it.
Don't give it air.
But what he says here is disgraceful.
It's grotesque.
It's a dangerous I'm out of adjectives,
but I do
feel it's really important
to call this out
every time he attacks
our judicial system.
Our prosecutors are judges.
Yeah.
I mean, he's not just attacking
Connie Willis.
He's saying
she's politically motivated
and what she's doing here,
but he also says that
he's attacking the judge
that is going to
his attorneys are going to be before
on Friday.
Obviously, he goes after Chuck
Smith essentially every day at breakfast.
I mean,
what is that like when Trump's attorneys
are in the room
with Judge Chuck Ken on Friday
trying to have this discussion?
Here's the thing.
You do have a right
as a criminal defendant to criticize
your judge, your prosecutor.
I've been criticized in public
by people I've prosecuted.
That's fine.
It's a First Amendment right.
But at a certain point,
when you cross a line into threats,
into potentially tampering
with witnesses
or your jury pool, remember, everyone's
watching this or part of the jury pool,
then it's up to the prosecutors.
I mean, normal citizens
can't go to a judge and say,
you need to put a stop to this.
Only prosecutors can do that
or the judge can do it herself.
But, gosh,
I can't even imagine how difficult it is
to try to be the lawyer for this client.
The other thing
that stood out to me today
when he was in New Hampshire
is he said this this is a quote.
He said There was never
a second of any day
that I didn't believe
that it was a rigged election.
I've never heard him
say something like that before.
Obviously,
we listen to a lot of his speeches,
but we looked at the indictment.
Jack Smith opens
the indictment by saying Trump knew
that he had lost at least 30 times in it.
He references Trump's, quote, knowingly
false claims.
Do you think this is a defense tactic
that we are seeing from Trump? 100%.
That's going to be a crucial battleground
in this case, by the way,
I think the most important
piece of evidence
in that indictment,
one of them is
when Donald Trump is talking about claims
that Sidney Powell has made
about election fraud.
And Donald
Trump says those claims are,
and I quote, crazy
that's going to be a key battleground
throughout this case.
A lot of key battlegrounds
that we have here.
We have you
listening to help by your voice.
Thank you. Thanks.