Alleged coconspirators in that indictment. Charles burnham, defense attorney for coconspirator number 2 from the recent indictment. This is a person who has been confirmed and identified as john eastman, the lawyer, who advised donald trump, who spoke at the January 6th Rally there next to rudy giuliani, and was a key architect of much of what the president and his aides were trying to push heading into the january 6th certification. Charles, first of all, thank you very much for making the time and joining me tonight. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. We put aside some time for this. I want to start with a couple of quick things and then get into the case. But first and foremost, donald trump lost the 2020 election. You accept that fact . Well, look. There is a large portion of the country that has issues with the 2020 election. There are still discussion about things that went on. A large portion of the country believes in goats or horoscopes. Im asking do you accept the results o
So were going to do it the way we try to do it around here, which is with the facts and details first, and then well discuss them together. Todays proceeding began around 4 15 p. M. Eastern. Defendant trump was seated with his lawyers, just as he was during his last arraignment. You may recall. This is a sketch from that day in a Federal Court in florida. That was how he looked then. Todays arraignment adjourned so recently that we actually dont have those actual Court Sketches yet. We will get them and we will bring them to you on msnbc at whatever hour we get them. Lets put it like this when this year began, no former president had ever been indicted and arraigned. Tonight were reporting on Defendant Trumps third arraignment in four months. So he does know this process. Today he was digitally fingerprinted, submitted details like his birthday and Social Security number william a know that special counsel jack smith was in the courtroom because our reporters spotted him, seated roughl
i m ari melber. we begin with breaking news. donald trump s federal trial is back on because this court is ruling against defendant trump today. they re green lighting the trial sought by special counsel jack smith. this spruling sets a precedent for holding a former president accountable. we have special coverage we ve been working on since this broke early on the east coast today. we start with the basics. you don t need to be a lawyer or constitutional scholar to understand this. the ruling rejects donald trump s very far-fetched arguments that his job history as president should mean he could never be arrested, indicted or tried for anything related to his time in office. trump s lawyers argued he should basically retain a kind of permanent immunity from the fact he used to be president. the court is rejecting that today. we re going to begin, like i said, with the clarity of this single spare sentence. quote, for the purpose of this criminal case, former president trump
it is the eve of the iowa caucus, the start of the presidential primaries, you may have heard. and i m ari melber, with you right now for an msnbc special, a candidate slash defendant trump, reporting on his own clash of american politics, law, and how voters may assess the candidate, whose ear could end in the exalted oval office, or a small prison cell. that will depend on the outcome of several criminal trials, plus other cases. and the next person to track, and break it all down for you tonight on caucus eve, as the primaries begin tomorrow, some of trump s rivals are now invoking trump s legal problems as a general election problem for the ex president. obviously, the distractions of everything that s going on with all of these legal issues has been a huge thing for him. you re going to have criminal trials, you re going to have a lot of focus on things like january 6th by the media. and i think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be adva
primaries, you may have heard. i m ari melber, and right now for an msnbc special candidate slash defendant trump recorded on this unprecedented class of american politics. law, and how voters may is as a candidate who might and in the exulted oval office or a small prison cell. it will depend on the and other cases. we have special guests to help break it all down for you tonight on caucus eve of the primaries begin tomorrow. some of trump s rivals are now invoking trump s legal problems as a general election problem for the ex president. obviously, the distractions of everything that s going on with all of these legal issues has been a huge thing for him. you re going to have criminal trials, you re going to have a lot of focus on things like january 6th by the media. and i think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for democrats. the notion that somehow all of the stuff that is swirling around and it s good to be a positive in