(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Former President Donald Trump
has been in court a lot lately.
- [Reporter 1] Hush money payments.
- [Reporter 2] Illegally possessed
classified government materials.
- His attempt to overturn the results of an election.
- We have seen nothing approaching this before,
with respect to these indictments of Donald Trump.
- [Narrator] Trump, now faces four trials
from two federal indictments
and two state indictments.
Here's how Trump's legal team
could mount their defense,
and how these charges could influence his 2024 bid
and those of his rivals.
- A Fulton County Grand Jury
returned a true bill of indictment.
- [Narrator] The Georgia Indictment
charges the former president with 13 felonies
for trying to undo his 2020 election defeat in the state.
The probe hinges on a key piece of evidence,
a recorded phone call,
then, President Trump made
to Georgia's Top Elections Official, Brad Raffensperger,
- [Trump] I just wanna find 11,780 votes,
which is one more that we have.
- [Narrator] Trump has said that, "He did nothing wrong,
and the call was quote 'Absolutely perfect.'"
- I think that the strategy here
sort of the umbrella strategy
that it's a quote-unquote, "Witch hunt on multiple fronts
to stop him from regaining the presidency."
That's not really a legal defense
that's more of a public relations defense,
but, you know, he obviously has people
who are buying into that theory.
- [Narrator] One reason the Georgia Indictment
is different from the federal cases
is that even if Trump were reelected as president.
- Let's presume he's convicted in Georgia,
the Federal Government President has no pardon power
over those state convictions.
- [Narrator] In Georgia,
the State Board of Pardons and Paroles,
doesn't consider pardon applications until five years
after an individual has completed their sentence.
- So he could be conceivably,
under the most outlandish scenario,
sitting in prison
and still being the President of the United States.
- [Narrator] Trump's alleged conduct in Georgia,
also plays a role in a federal case,
accusing him of trying to subvert the will
of American voters.
On August 1st,
Trump was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Washington.
The indictment brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith,
charges the former president with four criminal counts
for his actions that culminated
in the January 6th Capitol Riot.
[Crowd] We want Trump.
We want Trump, we want Trump!
- [Leslie] The January 6th case
is clearly the most significant case.
It's the most comprehensive.
- The attack on our nation's Capitol,
on January 6th, 2021
was an unprecedented assault
on the seat of American democracy.
- Trump has a right to challenge the election results.
Trump has a right to speak out,
even lie about the election results.
Trump took his right and went to court,
and lost every single significant case!
That should have been the end of it.
- We fight like hell,
and if you don't fight like hell,
you're not gonna have a country anymore.
- For the defense,
they've already laid some seeds for their approach.
One is to delay the case as long as possible.
The second thing is to allege that he was merely
exercising his First Amendment Rights.
And I think, you know, as in most criminal defense cases,
and I've been a criminal defense lawyer
for a number of years myself,
you try to distract the jury from the evidence
by raising things like the First Amendment and other issues,
which I think they'll do
- [Narrator] In a social media post.
Trump said, "The case was a pathetic attempt
by the Justice Department
to interfere with the 2024 Presidential Election.
- When you look at what's happening,
this is a persecution of a political opponent.
This was never supposed to happen in America.
- [Narrator] In June, Trump was indicted
for his handling of classified documents,
marking the first time in history
that the federal government
has brought charges against a former president.
The case, also led by Jack Smith, alleges that,
"Trump deliberately withheld sensitive documents
at his Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida,
even after prosecutors requested their return last year."
- This is really an obstruction of justice case,
this is not a possession of classified documents case.
Yes, you could have left office
and accidentally, or on purpose,
taken some documents that you shouldn't have,
but once you know you're supposed to give them back,
you can't then lie about it and hide them,
and engage in various schemes,
enlisting other people to help you do that.
- [Narrator] Trump has complained that,
"He is being treated unfairly.
Since classified documents have been found
in the possession of other high-ranking politicians."
- They've tried to create a false equivalency
between Trump's handling of documents
and the handling of documents by others.
Okay, while Mike Pence and Joe Biden
had classified documents,
which they immediately returned
as soon as they were alerted.
- [Narrator] Smith added new charges on July 27th,
alleging that, "Trump and a maintenance worker
sought to delete surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago
so it couldn't be turned over to a grand jury."
Trump has said, "He's an innocent man."
The April indictment of Donald Trump
for allegedly falsifying business records
marked the first time in US history
that a former president has faced criminal charges.
- The Manhattan DA's case
is a case that doesn't necessarily
have anything to do with the fact
that Trump was President of the United States,
it has to do with the fact that he,
apparently paid hush money to a pornography actress,
and tried to conceal it,
which, you know, at the end of the day,
he's not the first person,
nor will he be the last who does something like that.
- [Narrator] Trump has pleaded not guilty
in the New York, Florida, and Washington D.C. Cases.
It remains to be seen how each trial will play out in court.
- Trump's team, I think that their strategy
has gotta be to delay as long as possible.
The other strategy that they have
is to try to try this case in the court of public opinion,
as opposed to in the courtroom,
where they can make these arguments
that aren't really legal defenses,
like "Trump believed that he actually won,"
and I think that's gonna be hard for them
to convince a jury unanimously,
that that was the case here.
- [Narrator] Even if the defense
doesn't convince the entire jury,
a hung jury could still be considered a win for Trump.
- All that Trump has to achieve in any of these cases,
is one juror who's voting against the other jurors.
So 11 to 1 for him would be a victory,
and then the prosecutor would have to decide
"Do I wanna retry this case?"
- [Narrator] While recent polls show Trump
has a commanding lead over the rest of the Republican field,
his legal troubles have taken a chunk
out of his campaign finances.
Recent data show
that his main political committee Save America,
shelled out more than $20 million
on legal-related expenses so far this year.
But the indictments have also helped Trump fundraise,
in the days following the indictments,
his campaign contributions increased by millions.
- The critical thing will be the trials,
and whether he is convicted,
and the conventional wisdom is,
you know, this may help him,
his base will unite behind him.
They've softened a bit,
"Yes, we still love Trump,
but do we really want to go through all of this again
or do we want to look forward?"
- [Narrator] Trump may also have to navigate
attending various court dates while he's campaigning.
- It's possible, he could have four trials
before the November Election,
each of which, could take many weeks.
In other words, during the prime campaign season,
he could be tied down in court.
- [Narrator] And as for his political opponents
on the 2024 Campaign Trail?
- You know, if DeSantis, and Nikki Haley,
and Tim Scott, and others,
hope to bring down Trump, they have to go after him.
Kind of what they've done so far,
tiptoeing around these incredibly serious charges
against Donald Trump
is gonna do absolutely nothing for them.
(crowd cheering) (playful music)