everybody s attention and did what he always does best made it all about him. that s what all these other candidates are up against, what they re trying to compete with. one of the lesser known candidates, former congressman will hurd, well, he dared to say the only reason donald trump is running for president is to try and stay out of prison. well, he nearly got booed off the stage for that. ron desantis, well, he got a very enthusiastic reception, in fact, and he approached the whole issue rather differently. he didn t say donald trump s name, but he did say that if he s elected president, he would end the weaponisation of the federal government and fire the director of the fbi. that s his way of saying to trump supporters, look, i agree with you that the charges against donald trump are politically motivated, but i m still the guy that you should elect to put in charge of all of this. but, you know, when he s having to make that case, it still means this race is all about donald
it s the question so many have asked over these last eight years. what is this cultish like allure that trump has? clearly, whether it s in proximity to power or whether they just become full-on acolytes, the problem with these supporters is that right now, all of them, whether they accepted or not, are in tremendous legal jeopardy. the only thing that trump can try to promise them is if he can somehow get elected in 18 months, the prospect of some sort of a presidential pardon will all go away. does anyone really want to take that risk, looking at the case that the special counsel seemingly has assembled, this airtight smoking gun case where they have it on film, on audio? i don t think so. and i think that s why earlier you heard in that clip that you played, michael, will hurd, the one thing that you can t do when a republican primary these days, it s telling the truth. because by telling the truth and accepting that truth, the whole house of cards comes collapsing down. and the rep
and then you acid wash them or bleach them. i d like to see the server. i think it is very important for this country to see the server. joining me now is one of donald trump s 2024 republican rivals former texas congressman will hurd. we played that really to illustrate how much this has been a part of the public life and now to see in this indictment pretty clear evidence, allegations here that trump was the one who directed his aides to try to delete surveillance footage, delete the server so federal investigators would not see what was on them. abby, i ve never been indicted and i am not a lawyer, but if you are deleting evidence it is because you know you are committing a crime. anybody who supports this, anybody who defends this, is complicit in endangering america, endangering men and
address this in the primary as you heard will hurd say that they have to if they re going to beat trump? no. i mean, certainly not. look, i am optimistic on the republican party long like 30 years from now, 20 years from now, maybe ten. they ll have to lose more and morays unfortunately i think. i hope there is an awakening. people like will hurd, chris christie, saying the truth. that is important out there. but donald trump is popular. it is a cult. i mean it is a cult and he is a cult leader and it is tough to break people from that spell but we have to keep trying. miles taylor and adam kinzinger, thank you both very much. up next, another major development today, trump s lawyers meeting with the special counsel as he awaits a third indictment involving efforts to overturn the election. hear what happened in that meeting and what it means for his legal peril. this is cnn s special live coverage. to reel in the fun and serve up great times.. to help you get readyy
biden or any democrat at any point, and they probably are not going to vote for will hurd, adam kinzinger, chris christie, or anybody else. the key is how do we get a majority of the people in these swing states to say that is unacceptable. i m not talking about tax cyeducation policy, i am talking about democracy. what this one person would do if he got the levers of government again and how dangerous that would be. so those people i think are not going to be eligible for another option within the political system, so you ve got to focus on the reasonable people in the middle, and i think in ohio and other places there are a lot of those people. there are lot of people on the right warning about what an indictment or conviction of trump could do to the country. do you worry about that at all? there will be some pushback, but i will tell you that the people from january six and the people involved in the insurrection, they have been