hi there, everyone. it s 4:00 in new york. there s brand new reporting that drives home the fact that donald trump is his own worst enemy when it comes to his many, many, many legal problems and when it comes to the indictment and the classified documents investigation turning him from a disgraced twice impeached once indicted ex-president. in that case he has no one to blame but himself. the washington post reports late last year team trump hit a fork in a road, a point in which trump could have chosen an option that very well may have avoided an indictment in the documents case. from that new reporting, quote, one of trump s new attorneys proposed an idea in the fall of 2022. the former president s team could try to arrange a settlement with the justice department. the attorney, chris kise, wanted to quietly approach justice to see if he could negotiate a settlement that could preclude charges hoping the department would want an exit ramp to avoid prosecuting a former pre
felony violations of our national security laws as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the department of justice in our nation s commitment to the rule of law sits an example for the world. we have one set of laws in this country, and they ve let everyone. the 38 count indictment against trump and his personal and now codefendant walt nauta accuses the former president of 30 accounts of willful retention of national defense information, three counts of withholding or concealing documents in a federal investigation, two counts of false statements, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. according to the indictment the classified documents trump stored in these boxes included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the united states and foreign countries. united states nuclear programs, potential vulnerabilities of the united states and its allies to military attack
as imperious as always, he emerged today if he s going to take any questions to defend his departments actions lea via president trump yuri to speak on my role is to be completely consistent during the special counsel regulations. following the regulations. laura: let s be very clear here. the issue is are you acting in good faith or part of a political operation to get a conviction of trump by any means necessary? 81% of republicans believe this about this is all about politics and protecting one of the more destructive presidents the united states has ever had joe biden. and they are right. consider the situation this way. no one believes that merrick garland would still be ag if he didn t, hadn t green light a special prosecutor in this case. everyone at msnbc and cnn believed that merrick garland s trying to put trump in jail. no matter where the facts leave. otherwise, they would be calling tonight for his removal. it s really not that complicated. any of the lawyers
i m dana perino. bill: i hope you had a good weekend. quite relaxing. bill hemmer, good morning. the biden campaign getting off to a slow public roll-out and republicans are busy courting support coast to coast focusing on important primary states. desantis telling voters why he wants to send biden back to the basement in delaware. you have to recognize our country is in decline right now. i don t think decline is inevitable and i m running for president to reverse that decline and to put us on a path to american renewal. we can do it and we ll get it done. i know it can be done because we did it in florida. dana: bret baier joining us in a moment. first rich edson live in washington. you have an update. good morning, rich. good morning. republicans are courting primary voters across the country. governor desantis campaigned in oklahoma where he picked up the governor s endorsement. his first from a sitting governor. we have an opportunity to get a big coalition tog
the attention of national by the office of the special counsel jack smith comes as there has been a wide-ranging investigation into the handling of top-secret documents and mr. trump s effort to maintain after 2020 election loss. make no mistake that this creates an extraordinary situation as it displaces the u.s. justice department into a investigation not only of the former president, but the current republican front runner for the 2024 presidential race. this is going to be messy, politically. donald trump already holds the historic place of being the only president being at being twice impeached and now he is the choice to be indicted on federal charges. cbs, catherine joins us now. this is a big development tonight. trump was already on edge that former president broke the news on a social media platform. reporter: multiple sources confirmed to cbs news that the former president has been indicted on criminal charges andy mar-a-lago document case. includes the unlaw