joins me live to discuss the new strategy. and, rebellion, speaker kevin mccarthy s far-right flank isn t happy, and that has messed things up in the house. could a government shutdown be in our future? i am jonathan capehart, this is the saturday show. it has been a rough week for twice impeached, and twice indicted former president donald trump. you re seeing a former president of the united states under the espionage act of 1917. it wasn t meant for this. and act for a crime so heinous that only the death penalty would do. it s one of the most outrageous and vicious legal theories ever put forward in an american court of law. the espionage act has been used
[applause]. charging a former president of the united states under the espionage act of 1917. trace, president trump then laid out his interpretation of the presidential records act. this will likely be a key focus in any potential trial. listen to him here. whatever documents the president decides to take with him, he has the right to do so. it is an absolute right. this is the law. and that is something that people have now seen and it couldn t be more clear. they ought to drop this case immediately, because they re destroying the country. tonight president trump is enjoying a fundraiser with his top donors at his bedminster club, and they were there for the speech. the campaign expects to raise $2 million when it is all said and done tonight. back out here live, trace, former president trump s lawyer
are very serious allegations and i can t defend what is alleged, but the president is entitled to his day in court. he is entitled to bring a defense. i want to reserve judgment until he has the responsibility to respond. and here is asa hutchinson. anyone is a disservice provides a disservice to our justice system and our rule of law if they diminish the seriousness of these charges and the allegations. it does a disservice to our service men and women, one convicted to three years in prison for mishandling classified information. in florida, i believe. so we need to be straightforward and not play political games. trump says the choornlgs against him are a misapplication of the espionage act. kaitlan collinss spoke to former assistant u.s. attorney david weinstein about that claim. it is part of a larger act, and it covers people who have at
in the coming weeks as this case gets under way here in southern florida. evan perez, cnn, miami. here at bedminster, the supporters were cheering for him and he gave a speech that we were expecting, he called this election interference, he said it was all because joe biden didn t want to run against the former president in 2024. as we know, he is not even the republican nominee. but i do want to play a sound bite from his speech because i think that it is very important, it gives you an idea of what he is focused on. take a listen. charging a former president of the united states under the espionage act of 1917, wasn t meant for this. an act for a crime so heinous that only the death penalty would do and threatening me with 400 years in prison for possessing my own presidential papers, which just about every other president has done, one of
the most outrageous and vicious legal theories ever put forward in an american court of law. reporter: so he has a fixation on the espionage act. he also talked about the presidential records act which he could have declassified documents this office, but he has said on tape that he had documents that he didn t declassify showing both that he knew the process and he hadn t followed the process while in office. one other interesting thing to note, we ve talked a lot about walt nauta, the body man who is the co-defendant. we know he traveled back to new jersey with the former president. and we ve learned that his lawyer was on the plane as was donald trump s lawyer. so maybe an indication there of how exactly they will deal with this communication. of course the judge saying that they could not communicate to each other about the case. we still have questions about who else will be on that witness list that donald trump cannot communicate with about the case. of course we ll see how th