See how Trump responded to his fourth indictment

 

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.