menendez. as we begin this hour, action in the face of distraction. the bluster and bombast of donald trump s new reporting shows jack smith is relying on the facts, not the fury. also this hour, departed to pardon trump or not. a new witness tests in the republican quest for the nomination. we ve pardoned a president before, but doing so again presents a further danger to democracy. we are going to ask historian, michael beschloss. and my sit down with actress eva longoria, making her flamin hot directorial debut. this is american voices. we begin this hour with donald trump and his allies, trying to deflect attention away from his decision to keep government secrets after his presidency. we ve heard these excuses before. trump is relying on the same old script, distract with baseless claims of a witch hunt, to stopped stop his political witch hunt. on his knockoff version of twitter, calling special counsel jack smith, quote deranged, saying the indictment is fake.
aggressive, though, if donald trump s behavior begins to tamper with witness selection or undoing influence of witness. you even saw the judge last week say, i don t want on trump having contact with witnesses. i think the lens that is so important here, alicia, and this goes to what is informing jack smith s behavior. it s not the donald trump is a former president, in that case you could argue there is deference. and there shouldn t be. he should be treating like anybody else. jack smith knows he s dealing with the front runner for the republican nomination. if we thought that comey, hillary blowup was a huge deal, which it was. that s what jack smith is wrestling with. because you very well might have a conviction of the front runner for the republican nomination, or the republican nominee, the head of a general election. i think jack smith is doing absolutely everything he can. to sideline any questions about his propriety about whether or not he is treating donald trump fairly, he
because where donald trump very well might lose in a court of law, he may actually be victorious in the court of public opinion. that, ultimately, ushers in a very dark chapter for our country. i would ask you more of the, but monique, i have less than a minute left. we have learned that what trump says on the campaign trail often not what his lawyers actually argue in court. your sense of what the defense is going to look like? well, what we know is that the defense attorney that has been abruptly removed from the team, quit or fired, had already tried to plea out in this case, before the case was even charged. i have no idea what these lawyers will be able to do. you need a client who actually wants to participate, who actually cares about what s happening in a court of law. that is not what they have with the former president of the united states. i monique pressley, thank you so much for being with us. david, you are sticking around. next, the pardon primary, how
secrets after his presidency. we ve heard these excuses before. trump is relying on the same old script, distract with baseless claims of a witch hunt, to stopped stop his political witch hunt. on his knockoff version of twitter, calling special counsel jack smith, quote deranged, saying the indictment is fake. make no mistakes trump s social media rents, they are a sideshow. on the other hand, smith is relying on the evidence. letting the 37 count federal indictment tell the story of how trump refused to hand over classified information, and even went to great lengths to hide the documents from the government. while trump is playing the victim. his first court appearance, tuesday, in miami, served as an early indicator of how the government might proceed. for now, it appears prosecutors might try to avoid unnecessary court battles. court watchers say the special counsel s team, and the magistrate judge, showed restraint during trump s arraignment. trump was not required to hand over
if they hold their powder. congressman jolly, a new calling out today in the washington post reads, quote, in the estimation of many legal experts, declining to charge trump, given the preponderance of evidence laid out in the indictment, would have sent a signal that former presidents, or at least this former president are above the law. but the indictment provided trump and opening to attack federal law enforcement and to further erode his political supporters trust in the institutions of government. trump s line of attack, it is not a surprise, damaging, nonetheless. just to zoom out here, what is at stake here for our democracy? the rule of law. i mean, look, jack smith believes he has both the facts and the law on his side. donald trump doesn t. so as the old saying goes, donald trump is banging the table. but jack smith, i think the reason you are seeing kind of the silence, and we call it deference or call it strategy, towards donald trump, is because he truly believes he ca