donald trump will be alone in that room. this is unlike anything else you ever go through as a possible witness or defendant in a criminal investigation. alone in the room. no lawyers. no trump lawyers will be allowed in that grand jury room. donald trump will be in that room alone. no one can help donald trump in that room. it is unlike any room he s ever been in, in his life. and in that room, all alone, donald trump may have to make a choice, a historic choice. he may, on the advice of his lawyers, have to become the first president in history who takes the fifth amendment when he testifies to a grand jury. joining us now, mieke eoyang, former house intelligence committee staff member and vice
is your best defense is to tell the truth. and as you say, that may be difficult if donald trump goes into that grand jury room. alex, just one more thing about the grand jury. tell us what you think it means in this investigation. let s look at it from the trump perspective. what is the most optimistic reading of what this grand jury means if you re looking at it as one of donald trump s lawyers? what would be the optimistic reading you d give to the president about it? so the optimistic reading is this. look, it s obviously an important development. it s significant for the reasons that you ve said. but it was also inevitable that there would be a grand jury impaneled in this investigation. it s impossible to do a complex federal investigation without a grand jury because it is only through a grand jury that you can compel testimony and documents. you can subpoena them. you can t do it without the
into that grand jury room. alex, just one more thing about the grand jury. tell us what you think it means in this investigation. let s look at it from the trump perspective. what is the most optimistic reading of what this grand jury means if you re looking at it as one of donald trump s lawyers? what would be the optimistic reading you d give to the president about it? so the optimistic reading is this. look, it s obviously an important development. it s significant for the reasons that you ve said. but it was also inevitable that there would be a grand jury impaneled in this investigation. it s impossible to do a complex federal investigation without a grand jury because it is only through a grand jury that you can compel testimony and documents. you can subpoena them. you can t do it without the grand jury. so in an investigation like this, you are going to need to have a grand jury.
presidency after he goes tiinto that grand jury room. alex whiting, talk about the grand jury room and how it is unlike any other judicial procedure that a witness can be in. so as you said, lawrence, what makes it different is as a witness and as a potential target in some cases, you are alone in the room. there s the prosecutor, the court reporter transcribing every word you say, and the grand jurors. but you re not allowed to have your lawyer there. you can take breaks to go talk to your lawyer outside, but you are alone facing the questioning of the prosecutor and the grand jury. and everything you say is transcribed and is under oath. and as you said in your opening, you do not know what other witnesses have said, what other documents have revealed. you do not know what the prosecutor knows, and that puts you in a very difficult position. it puts a lot of pressure on you to tell the truth because that
jurisdiction. it s really up to the prosecutor what they want to subpoena. the same grand jury can investigate financial transactions, can investigate tax offenses, can investigate obstruction of justice. it really is one stop shopping. the other point to be made is that grand juries are tools of prosecutors. there are no defense lawyers present when witnesses are examined. there are no there is no notice to individuals that they are being investigated by the grand jury. when you go into a grand jury room, it doesn t look like a courtroom, it looks like a classroom. there s no judge there. the prosecutor runs the process. so it really is a tool of the prosecutor, and he can operate essentially independently, and doesn t have to notify anyone about what he s doing, or what he s finding. so phil, when the president s attorney in his statement says,