The special coverage. He is of course innocent until Proven Guilty and he will and should mount a robust defense against these charges, and he should be acquitted if he didnt do what he is accused of. But if the allegations made by the Justice Department in this indictment are proven, if the former president did what he is accused of, history is going to ask a different question of this time than what we might have otherwise been expecting. If the allegations in this indictment are proven Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and a jury convict some of these crimes, history will not ask, wow, how did america get to the point where they indicted a former president . History instead is going to ask, how did america get to the point where such a person could be elected to the presidency of the United States. Where actions such as these could be carried out from the oval office directed by a person who was elected president by the American People, along with his advisers. This is a grave day and a ser
des moines, iowa. this is the story this hour. former president trump just held a news conference in new york city. the closing arguments on the other side of this equation are still underway in this fraud trial. the former president saying again today that he s innocent. he s done nothing wrong. watch. so they have no case. it s a shame that a thing like this is able to happen. businesses leave new york. martha: hunter biden on the other coast of the country, we re waiting for his arrival in court in los angeles on tax charges. one day after causing chaos on capitol hill when he showed up unexpectedly at his contempt of congress hearing as if he was open to testifying and speaking at the hearing except when he didn t like the way things were going, he stormed out. matt whitaker is standing by here in iowa where he s born and raised in iowa. let s go to nate foy, our correspondent covering the trump trials and he s in new york city on the latest developments in that today
welcome to the beat. i m ari melber. we are tracking several stories tonight, including another supreme court ethics scandal, tying gop appointee samuel alito to another billionaire on a fishing trip. we ll get into that later. it s a big story. but our news program begins tonight with not only the criminal trial of donald trump, now slated to begin on august 14th buck the broader ongoing threat of right wing individual lantyism and authoritarianism. tonight we begin with a special report on that very challenge, and trump s efforts to hijack the criminal justice system that now is trying to potentially hold him accountable. we re talking about a range of actions that has prompted already fear of violence over the violent rhetoric and whether that could turn to action. we re about one week out from the federal arraignment that trump did try to prevent. we remember he was forced to sit silently in that miami courtroom. outside cameras showed a very small crowd. the scene was
campaign from his former bos and 2020 and today mike penc appeared before the grand jury investigating january six. what his testimony could mea for the special counsel. and then the parents of louisville shooter speak out i an emotional interview what are they are saying about for real change. and it is more than just hollywood magic, how artificia intelligence is transforming movies, music, and eve politics but at what cost as the 11th hour gets underway on this thursday night goo evening once again, i am stephanie ruhle live fro washington d.c. tonight wher there is a major development i the special counse investigation into forme president donald trump s efforts to overturn the 2020 election according to a source familiar with the matter, today, former vice president mike penc testified for hours before the federal grand jury in the case the january six committe already shed some light on wha pence did that day in th capitol riot we have seen video of then vic president p
deals with that caucus after the small but effective group of republicans showed impact. yanked away mid tirade against congressman gaetz. now, that process was used to take new powers away from leadership and em power mccarthy foes. in a new piece reporting that whatever everyone think of gaetz his critics across the spectrum acknowledge he must be dealt with after the speaker clash, and mccarthy allies don t like it, saying it s not the outcome they preferred but gaetz s stature has been elevated. true on house rules and visibility as well. mccarthy setbacks in this early period, they often played as gaetz s gains. there are a handful of far right holdouts and they warn they will not support him. the more conservative freedom caucus members pledged not to vote for kevin mccarthy. kevin mccarthy celebrating a victory that almost didn t happen. this looks like a bit of a heated conversation. this is incredible. this is an incredible moment. mccarthy is directly enga