Of course, thank you for joining us. Cnn prime time with laura coates starts right now. Wow, that was a really fascinating interview. Weve all been leaning in to say what bill barr had to say. A lot of wanting to see what he had to say. Thank you for joining us here in washington, d. C. Its a Capitol On High alert tonight . Why . Because the nation is bracing for the arrest and arraignment of a former president. Should i say again the third time in three months. He will appear in Court Tomorrow as expected, and now his third indictment on charges of trying to overturn an election. And we learned on cnn the Secret Service has already done a walk through of the courthouse and Law Enforcement is even monitoring any potential threats. Meantime, everyone, were getting an early look at what his potential Defense Strategy might be including whats called this is not my term but the dilution defense, that he actually believed his own lies. Plus the suggestion hes about to throw his Legal Advise
Fascinating interview. Weve all been leaning into see what bill barr had to say. A lot of us, waiting to figure out what he would think about all this. Im laura coates. Everyone. And thank you all for joining me right here in washington, d. C. Its the capitol on high alert tonight. Why . Because the nation is bracing for the arrest and arraignment of a former president. Shall i say, again . The third time in, what, three months . He will appear in court tomorrow, as expected. In now his third indictment on charges of trying to overturn an election. And weve learned at cnn that the Secret Service is already done a walk through of the courthouse and Law Enforcement is now monitoring even potential threats. Meantime, everyone, we are getting an early look at what his potential Defense Strategy might be. Including whats called, this is not my term, but the delusion defense, that he actually believed his own lies. Plus, suggestions that hes about to throw his legal advisors under the bus. I
did lose or that he had officials telling him that, in fact, there was no basis for these claims. paula, stick around. we need your insight tonight. and right now also i m joined by david aaron, a former federal prosecutor, sarah nelson, a cnn contributor and also former house republican investigative committee council. and johnson is also here. and a former federal prosecutor as well. in other words, we ve got us a panel, and i m glad you re all here because the number one question i keep getting including at the grocery store today is what s up with this whole free speech discussion, the political speech notion? is it true as long as trump was saying something about his views on the election that he s protected? what do you think? well, yes and no. the attorney general, the former attorney general said it best. you can have free speech, you can say what you think, you can
and also former house republican investigative committee counsel, beta johnson s also here in associate professor of law at george howell university. and on kuch could or, is a former federal prosecutor as well. in other words, we ve got his panel and i m glad that you re all here because the number one question i keep getting, including at the grocery store today, was, what s up with his whole free speech discussion? the political speech notion. is it true that as long as trump was saying something about his views on the election that he s protected? what do you think? well, yes and no. the attorney general, the former attorney general said it best. you can have free speech, you can say what do you think. you can even lie. but you can t engage in a conspiracy to commit fraud and do other things that are crimes. that is the line that jack smith is going to have to walk. i mean, the network, and that s a great point because