strongest brand within the gop. until someone topples him, until someone proves otherwise . with these down ballot candidates, perdue, vance, i think what you re seeing is that voters are gonna sorting out the authentic versus the inauthentic. right? don t trump s authentic, contemptuous, jerk. that is not met his pejoratively as he sounds. he was a jerk and business. he is a jerk in tv. he s a jerk in politics. that is his brand. when you see someone trying to take on that contemptuous jerk brand that was very successful for donald trump, it is hard to sell if you re vance or perdue. the in authenticity is what s, ultimately, the ink around their neck. it ends up being a test, right? elaine, when you say haven t clear the field . i ve always felt that there is a weird, sort of, interplay vis-à-vis the political strength of this particular individual. the perception helps, you know, be more powerful than maybe he would be if it was all tested.
the infamous image of what could be known as peddle recording, well reaching over for the phone. nearly 50 years later, we re in the midst of an investigation of another president, and another apparent cover-up. this comes just one day after a federal judge, looking at donald trump s plot to overturn a free and fair election, said the former president more likely than not committed a federal crime in trying to obstruct the congressional count of electoral college votes on january 6th. now, all this heightens the scrutiny on don t trump s coconspirators, and the criminal nature of what they appear to have done that. jacqui elementary is a washington post congressional correspondent, she s been reporting on the january six investigation, and she joins me now. i just want to start with the technical question. about these documents. right? these documents came from the national security archive, which turned them over to the investigators. but they are furnished to the
they are serious. by every indication, they are not going to take no for an answer. they are coming for john trump. norm, it does seem that they have learned lessons. you have seen and covered all of the major congressional investigations of our time. and this one comes after all of those. they are starting at the top, starting just one layer down from don t trump and self. and clearly, targeting donald trump, sometimes these investigations begin with a set of subpoenas where you say, well, i wonder where that is going? i wonder what the angle they are going for is? it s extremely clear where this investigation is aimed. it absolutely is. and i will mention the one person we have not yet talked about, which is kashyap patel. remember, we had top defense department officials, including the secretary, removed just
lawyer who talks too much. today, don t trump s new criminal defense lawyer, 85-year-old, yes, 85-year-old won fish eddie, told the associated press there is no indictment coming down this week against the former president. i can t say he s out of the woods yet completely. outso, there is donald trump sn lawyer saying that donald trump might at some point face criminal charges from the manhattan district attorney. today was reportedly the deadline for the manhattan district attorney to give lorries to present any evidence to the district attorney to show why criminal charges should not be brought for use of company money to pay tuition for private schools, and rent for new york city apartments for some trump employees. today, the trump lawyers had a relatively short, less than one hour video call with rescue s. then, trump s criminal defense
which is we have significant records, a record of accomplishments around workers on a deal fighting like that. they wouldn t want me in the senate they ask, come pitches and money, help us get their. this will be a decisive election in ohio. we get to get the worker front and center. even don t trump knows that. were you surprised that donald trump took you on personally by name so early in this campaign? well, you know, i figured he was going to mention, me i did not realize that he would spend that much time, you know? i come from outside, lawrence, we re not afraid to get in a dustup. i gave plenty of shots to donald trump over the last couple years when i disagreed with him. you know, he wants to comment on me, but all i can focus on, i think the big takeaway here is, i am laser-like focused on