Jodi, I'll start off with you. We've seen, of course, the reaction from
the former president and in a way this very much plays into the kind of
grievance driven narrative that he's embraced for a very long time.
Yes, Heidi, this is really Donald Trump's playbook, as you may recall.
He he said he was going to be arrested a week and half ago and he wasn't.
But now he's saying the same kind of thing.
He did say when he claimed he was going to be arrested.
He's saying it's a political witch hunt and he's leveling blame at the district
attorney in Manhattan, saying this is politically motivated.
They're out to get him. They want to stop his campaign again for
president, that he's the front runner. We're also hearing from supporters of
Donald Trump saying the same thing, leveling a lot of criticism at the D.A.
in Manhattan, saying this was a case that's politically motivated.
It's, of course, alleging that he paid hush money to a porn star, Stormy
Daniels, that he falsified documents in that payment.
Even his rival, Yvonne De Santis of the Republican Party, Jack, coming out with
a tweet saying that the weaponization of the legal system to advance a political
agenda turns the rule of law on its head.
That it's un-American. How will this play out in his base?
Well, clearly, the former president is trying to take an approach with this to
motivate his base. He is kind of leaning into this.
His statement was very lengthy, going after Allen, Alvin Bragg, a litany of
complaints about how he's been treated by Democrats.
It is maybe something he sees as an opportunity to motivate his base.
It does raise questions about any more persuadable voters.
And it's notable that we saw generally a supportive statement of Trump by Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis. Seeing as the dissenters is seen right
now as maybe the top contender for the Republican nomination for president
against Trump, maybe the second tier person after Trump.
It is a good opportunity for anyone who doesn't know exactly how to play this.
To direct the attention to brag. DeSantis doesn't necessarily need to go
after Trump. Other Republicans don't necessarily need
to go after Trump. You're seeing a lot of pressure on Bragg
to sort of direct their attention elsewhere.
There are other charges that are under way, and we know that with the previous
impeachments that it ends up playing out quite favorably.
Right. Do we see this galvanizing not just his
base, but potentially political support within the party?
Well, within the party, clearly, the initial reaction is pretty supportive.
I'm seeing statements in support of Trump from not just diehard Trump
supporters, but really the mainstream Republican members.
I saw one from Mario Diaz-Balart is essentially a leadership aligned person.
There was one from Kevin McCarthy that was very similar even to what you heard
from Ron DeSantis. Thom Tillis from North Carolina.
Essentially, the reasoning that led to the impeachment impeachments, plural,
failing on Trump is what you're seeing from the mainstream Republican lawmakers
standing by him. Maybe if some of them hope that he
doesn't succeed in winning a nomination going forward, they're not necessarily
saying it outright. So there is there's still some solid
support for Trump from Republican lawmakers.
So, Jody, how can we expect this to play out in the next few days when President
Trump is a rain by the district attorney's office?
And when we get those specific charges, what could the picture look like?
Yeah. And you're right.
Cheri, you're implicit in your question. We haven't even seen the charges yet.
The indictment has not been sealed. This is all according to people
familiar. What we're seeing in terms of the
indictment. But it will be sealed.
Him showing up is the question in his statement, interestingly.
And Ron, to say it does the Florida governor's statement keep first of all,
he didn't mention Donald Trump's name, which was interesting, but he said he
would not he would not extradite him from Florida.
So that's interesting. We really don't know whether he would be
made to show up. There's been talk that the Secret
Service could not protect him adequately and therefore, he wouldn't necessarily
have to show up in person. So we'll really have to see how that
plays out. The other question is protests.
When Donald Trump said a week and a half ago that he was going to be indicted
that Tuesday. That didn't happen.
There were. He did call for people to protest and
there were some concern and there was a lot of protection that went up around
that Manhattan courthouse that still remains in case there were protests.
So we're really going to have to see. But this indictment, I expect, will be
sealed pretty quickly and we will see what happens in the court of the
courthouse there tomorrow in Manhattan.