politicsnation. tonight s lead, justice for all. . tonight, from a president and current candidate donald trump. responding to news of his federal indictment. special counsel jack smith unveiled of the charges yesterday which included 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information as well as making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice. trump is accused of holding on to sensitive documents that he had no right to keep. and resisting requests from the national archives to return them, even against the advice of his own lawyers. the charges are serious and consequential and yet trump s response is all too familiar. in georgia today he called the indictments baseless and accused to the biden administration of weaponizing the justice department. the former president is hoping that once again he can dodge a counter ability about riling up his maga army of supporters and pressuring the republican party to rally behind him. but when donald trump v
reporter: hi, good morning. yeah, we will likely hear from the former president today as prosecutors allege that he went beyond keeping the documents in his home, going so far as to show them to people and had the bulk of them spread out in random storage spaces throughout the estate and at that residence. trump is the first former president to face federal charges. he s accused of violating 7 broken down into 37 counts including 31 counts of willful retension of national defense information, withholding and concealing documents, making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice. some of these individual penalties max out at 20 years per count. special counsel jack smith said yesterday e that his office will seek a speed eauty trial. speedy trial. we have one set of laws in this country, and they aloo to everyone. very important to note that the defendants in this case must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. re
stuff. did you know the end of pink richard nixon, i think $18 million for what he had? in an indictment watch. the trump attorney for the case directly to jack smith in washington. the exact same thing happened in manhattan. just to bet stories make an argument and leaving charges. tonight sorry no bronze night showdown and what it can mean for charges. he could be wearing an ankle bracelet while accepting the nomination. plus, former cia director john brennan on the national security concerns. then, a roundtable of white house insiders, kate bedingfield, robert gibbs, and me. but there s an awful lot of really good republicans. the maga republicans are different breed. and the republican field shrinks by one. and that is the strategy. every candidate we needs to see the responsibility of getting out quickly. new hampshire governor, kristen, joins me live when all in starts right now we good evening from new york i am jen psaki in for chris hayes tonight. a
his ton aides here in bedminster, new jersey. we learned today he is facing 37 felony charges for his handling of classified documents after leaving the white house and in some cases prosecutors say he showed those documents to people who should not have seen them and in one case he is accused of showing a plan of attack put together for him by the department of defense. our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the united states and they must be enforced. violations of those laws put our country at risk. special counsel jack smith announced the first federal criminal case ever against a former u.s. president. the federal felony charges trump faces include willfully retaining national defense information, withholding and concealing documents. making false statements, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. the former president calls the indictment the box hoax and smith a deranged lunatic. they can t stop because it s elec
a bedrock principle of the department of justice and our nation s commitment to the rule of law sets a an example for the world. we have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone. applying those laws, collecting facts, that s what determines the outcome of an investigation. nothing more, nothing less. the words of rachel math maddow, stunningly simple words in both the indictment and from behind the podium. it was the first time we as an american public have ever heard from the special counsel notably he praised the fbi and the prosecutors on his team. rachel pointed out they have already come under vicious attack by the indicted ex-president. he encouraged all of us to read the indictment itself, an endeavor we re taking seriously. it s known as a speaking indictment, meaning it is straight forward and, frankly, gripping and dramatic. it lays out the alleged crimes trump faces. 31 counts have to do with the espionage act. we re going to unpack all of them.