for that case. tonight, trump announced he is canceling his much anticipated big get out of jail free rebuttal to the fulton county charges. saying his lawyers would rather he put in a legal filing. stay tuned for that. also, just a short time ago we got trump s team s response to special counsel jack smith s proposed january 2nd 2024 trial date. for the ex presidents jamie sixth case. trump is asking for just a bit more time quote, donald j trump through council respectfully request the court placed this case on the april 20 26th trial calendar. amy lee copeland is a criminal defense and appellate attorney based in savannah georgia, also served as appellate she s for the u.s. attorney s office in the southern district of georgia. andrew weissmann served as lead prosecutor for special counsel mueller s office. coasting the prosecuting donald trump podcast. both join me now. all right, let s first your reaction to the april 2026.
son. and they ended up bringing a couple of anemic misdemeanor instead of pursuing these very serious charges. and yet come with the indictment today, smith is willing to take a former president to court, hope and a prayer. i don t think he has a prayer. i think ultimately, even if he can get a conviction i cannot imagine how this would stand and appellate review unless he s withholding evidence that we have not seen. this is a speaking indictment but it doesn t say very much. basically, it just is that we think trump is lying that he actually didn t believe this. i can t tell you how ridiculous this claim is. a startup by saying, of course, you can say false things in the campaign, but then says that donald trump knew they were false. is that the test going forward? in terms of criminalizing political speech? the supreme court in a case called alvarez, said that a
instead of pursuing these very serious charges. and yet come with the indictment today, smith is willing to take a former president to court, hope and a prayer. i don t think he has a prayer. i think ultimately, even if he can get a conviction i cannot imagine how this would stand and appellate review unless he s withholding evidence that we have not seen. this is a speaking indictment but it doesn t say very much. basically, it just is that we think trump is lying that he actually didn t believe this. i can t tell you how ridiculous this claim is. a startup by saying, of course, you can say false things in the campaign, but then says that donald trump knew they were false. is that the test going forward? in terms of criminalizing political speech? the supreme court in a case called alvarez, said that a politician who lied about military decorations, could not be constitutionally prosecuted for
anything that comes close to identifying that criminal intent. that s where i would focus, build your record, they will lose probably on the district court, maybe at the appellate. but the supreme court is one that is going to look at it i think in an impartial way, understanding how important mensrea is to criminal. laura: law again, if the appeals keep going before this trial even gets going, could this end up at the supreme court on a challenge to the motion to dismiss given the importance of this case to the future of the country? i mean the whole future of the country really depends in many ways, it could, on how these cases are administered, that sounds like it s hyperbolic to say so, i don t think so. no, it s not, because as a criminal defense attorney you sit there and you always say, you know, this is a case where maybe this will be the one where
that criminal intent so that s where i would focus. build your record. they will lose probably on the district court and maybe even at the appellate. but the supreme court is one that is going to look at it, i think in an impartial way and understanding how important mens rea is to criminal law. and tim, before this trial even gets going, could this end up at the supreme court on a challenge to the motion to dismiss given the importance of this case to the future of the country? i mean, the whole future of the country really depends in many ways it could on how these cases are administered. i mean, that sounds like it s hyperbolic to say so but i don t think so. no. it s not. because, as a criminal defense attorney, you sit there and you always say, you know, this is case where maybe this will be the one where i go to the