Today.
Jim Trusty, the
attorney for former President
Donald Trump, who recently resigned
after Trump's
federal indictment was unsealed,
just announced he's
withdrawing from another Trump case
The former president's lawsuit
against our network, CNN trustees cited
irreconcilable differences
with Trump
as the reason for his resignation.
In the meantime, we're learning
two of Trump's
current lawyers
have contacted the Justice Department
to get security clearances.
Those are requirements for them
to access evidence in his federal case,
much of the evidence is classified.
The judge overseeing
that case, Eileen Cannon,
told Trump's
legal team
they had to get in touch with the DOJ
by today.
And this comes as another federal judge
just set an early 2024
trial date
for Jean Carroll's
original defamation case against Trump.
This one is separate
from the one
that we saw last month
where a jury
awarded Carroll
$5 million after finding Trump
sexually abused and defamed Carol.
With us now,
we have CNN national correspondent
Kristen Holmes.
We have CNN chief
national affairs correspondent
Jeff Zeleny as well.
Kristen, I want to start with you,
because if Carroll's defamation case
goes to trial in January of 2024,
I mean, you see where this goes
with the timeline, right?
It's going to take place
right in the thick
of presidential primary season.
And he's also facing a lot of other
legal hurdles at the exact same time.
Yeah.
There's actually four trials
that we know of that have been scheduled.
And keep in mind,
this last arraignment
that hasn't even been scheduled
in terms of the trial.
So there's four that we know of.
And all of them are coming at a time
that is
incredibly critical
for this political race.
And this is why we continue
to report
that there really cannot be
a real separation of the Trump
legal operation
and the Trump political operation.
So let's look at the trials
that we know of one
being in October of 20, 23.
That's the first one.
This is the Trump Company
civil fraud suit.
This is brought
by the New York attorney general.
Then January 15th,
the Jean Carroll defamation trial.
January 29th, a federal class action suit
that accuses Trump and his company
of promoting a pyramid scheme.
And then March 25th 2020
for a trial
in that alleged hush money scheme.
Again
all of these being critical moments.
Now the one thing to note
is that we don't know
which of these Trump
will have to appear at
But again
it goes to show you
that these things cannot be separated.
And as we reported earlier
this week,
that is part of the Trump playbook.
They want
to be running on his legal issues.
This is tricky.
I mean,
if I'm a presidential candidate,
I don't want to be dealing
with filing my taxes.
I'm going to outsource
everything that I can during this season.
But just this
just speaks
to all of this
hanging over this political race.
And let's take a look
at where
Republican voters are on this,
because they aren't all behind
Donald Trump.
A recent ABC News Ipsos poll
shows that 38% of Republicans
do view the charges against Trump
as serious.
Now, that is interesting
when you look at that, you say that.
50% say it's not serious.
So you think, okay, you know,
an almost majority of Republicans
say it's not,
but 38% saying it's serious.
That essentially shows you
what the lane is for voters perhaps
looking for something else,
perhaps tired of the drama.
We hear this anecdotally
as we talk to voters
on the campaign trail. All the time.
So many Republicans
who voted for Trump,
they liked his policies
but are just exhausted by it all.
And you have to wonder, all these trials
that Christine was talking about
as they add up
and there could be more
with the Georgia case with
the possibility of a case here is that.
38% who are concerned about this.
Is that going to increase or not?
So that offers a window for other
potential Republican candidates.
But the pollsters and strategists
I've been talking to this week,
this is just still settling in
to public opinion.
The indictment is just still
you know,
it's a snapshot in time
and that's not likely to decrease here.
So I think we have to put a pause
on our reliance on polls on this
and just kind of give a sense.
But this divide in the Republican Party
is significant.
That's a really good point.
I also just want to be clear.
I'm not saying they shouldn't
file their taxes they should write.
The issue is,
do they take care of it personally
or outsource it to someone else?
Okay.
So that's this federal indictment.
He's also using it to raise money. Right.
Just so he does use it as an advantage.
Sure.
The point is, it's a double edged sword.
Without question.
And there's so many things
you have to do as a candidate,
particularly going into Iowa
and New Hampshire, South Carolina,
there are dates on the calendar.
So he'll have to be potentially
in two places at one time
or he'll delay these.
But I think it is a challenge,
perhaps more than anything mentally.
How do you keep track
and sort of separate all this?
So I think we just have to wait and see.
But one thing is probably clear.
Republican voters
will have a say on this long
before any jurors do.
How how do people around him
feel about that, having the energy
and the bandwidth to
to manage these things?
I mean,
I think there's
a lot of compartmentalization.
I think that the the tone I saw in
Bedminster was very different
than the tone
I saw at Mar a Lago
after that first arraignment
in New York in Bedminster.
They seemed a little bit more confident.
And when I asked them about that,
they said it was because they felt like
they were getting the hang
of this playbook
of how to navigate both of them.
But again, now
we're just talking about two indictments.
There is still, as Jeff said,
looming in Georgia,
the January six investigation,
the federal investigation.
So whether or not
they can keep up that confidence.
It's just this is a lot.
It's never been done before.
It certainly is not unprecedented.
Christine, Jeff, thank you so much.