when pence refused, mr. trump allegedly telling him, quote, you re too honest. sadly, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear. reporter: and later the indictment says attempting to use the angry crowd summoned on the 6th to pressure pence more directly. the indictment says mr. trump s own attorney general and white house counsel told him he had lost, but tonight his defense attorney insists mr. trump still believes he won and was acting on what his lawyers had told him. everything that mr. trump requested to be done was done with the advice of counsel, was done with lawyers giving him advice. those lawyers are going to come in and testify. reporter: arguing the charges against the republican front-runner are from a partisan prosecutor. so now we have the criminalization and the weaponization of public policy and political speech by one political party over another. reporter: presiding over the ca
they bring this case 2.5 years ago? they wanted it right in the middle of my campaign. that s why. the dramatic third indictment of mr. trump with a potential to shake up the gop race. some rivals are starting to sharpen their tone including mr. trump s former vice president, mike pence, who is cited in the indictment refusing his boss request not to certify president biden s election win. anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be president of the united states, and anyone who asks someone else to put themselves over the constitution should never be president of the united states again. reporter: but mr. trump s top republican challenger, florida governor ron desantis, criticizing the indictment that could land with a jury in deep blue washington, d.c. a d.c. jury would indict a ham sandwich and convict a ham sandwich if it was a republican ham sandwich. i think americans need to be able to remove cases out of d.c. reporter: house speaker kevin mccarthy
they may defend against the charges. garrett haake leads us off tonight with the very latest. reporter: former president trump tonight thanking his supporters for standing by him in the face of what he is slamming as a new unprecedented indictment. mr. trump now accused of leading a conspiracy in a desperate bid to hang on to power after losing the 2020 election, pursuing what special counsel jack smith s prosecutors say was a, quote, criminal scheme culminating in the violence of january 6th, though the indictment does not charge mr. trump with inciting the riot. the department of justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day. this case is brought consistent with that commitment. reporter: mr. trump facing four felony counts, conspiracy to defraud the united states, conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against people s right to vote and have their votes counted. the ind
voting is now underway in several states, nbc news reports that nearly 8 million people have already cast their votes, either in person or by mail. meanwhile, new cnn polling shows that a extremely tight race for governor in wisconsin. while democrats have pulled ahead in michigan and pennsylvania. new reporting shows the former president is focusing on the state of pa, cbs news says that donald trump is trying to get state republicans to repeal mail-in voting. the rolling stone says that trump and his allies are focusing on challenging the results of that state senate race, before they even know who won. as the ex president tries to influence these elections, his legal problems are only getting worse. the new york times reporting that the justice department, now trying to pressure trump s aides to get the in new york, the trump organization is also the defendant in a criminal tax fraud trial that started earlier today. former longtime money man,
worse. the new york times reporting that the justice department, now trying to pressure trump s aides to get the in new york, the trump organization is also the defendant in a criminal tax fraud trial that started earlier today. former longtime money man, allen weisselberg, who pleaded to tax fraud earlier this summer, agreed to tax testify against that company, but we do not know what that is going to look like. we all there is also news in another case involving another trump ally in the senate. clarence thomas as temporary blocked a subpoena to lindsey graham. they want to question lindsey graham as to possible interference in the 2020 election. let s get started with katie bennett is here, pulitzer prize-winning reporter. david, and covering the trump family and its business interests. he won a pulitzer prize for covering them too. and barbara quaid, a veteran federal prosecutor in eastern