Today on inside politics, the United States investigator vus donald trump. The grand jury meets again and the nation is on pins and needles. Plus a new National Poll shows donald trump and Joe Biden Running even and as of now, criminal indictments have not tanked trumps chances of become ing the once and future president if hes on the ballot. And its the Vice President on the line. A former Business Partner tells congress that hunter biden put his father on speakerphone 20 times. Democrats say it was part of an illusion. Republicans see it as a biden lie. Im dana bash. Lets go behind the headlines and inside politics. Up first, we are closely watching for any indicators that a federal indictment against the former president is coming. The grand jury that will make that decision whether or not to charge donald trump with january 6 related crimes is back in today. Cnns Katelyn Polantz is live outside the federal courthouse here in washington. What are you seeing there at this hour . Repo
All eyes are on the courthouse. The grand jury investigating donald trump for events surrounding january 6th is meeting there at this moment. Could an indictment be minutes away . Ukrainian forces launched another drone attack on moscow one day after a Russian Missile strike killed at least six people in ukraine. The Colorado River is draining fast and losing some 10 trillion gallons of water from 2000 to 2021 and that is a lot. Kate is off today and im john berman with sara sidner, and this is cnn news central. Happening now, the grand jury is meeting, and could they hand up a new indictment for donald trump with actions around january 6th. We know he got a Target Letter, and we know that the legal team was told that an indictment is pending, but it seems that the grand jury does not have much work left to do, and the cnn did spot the grand jurors entering court this morning, so what is happening this morning. Our Crime Reporter Katelyn Polantz is outside of the court trying to discer
Person to be charged in connection with the insurrection according to one count is a former president and a current front runner for the nomination of a Major Political party who is already facing 74 criminal counts. Who stands accused of trying to defraud the government that he led at that time. Trying to obstruct the proceedings of a branch of government and trying to overturn the will of millions of voters in the swing states that determined the outcome of the Electoral College. The big question now that trump has been booked and fingerprinted, whats next in this case . Which is really unlike any other in American History. Here is what team trump has planned according to the New York Times. His lawyers used the arraignment to hint at one of his central defense strategies, a request to delay a second pending federal trial for months if not years. Delaying the proceedings as much as possible is widely expected to be part of mr. Trumps legal strategy given that he could effectively cal
York city. Where we are just hours away from former president donald j trumps third criminal arraignment in just four months. Tomorrow afternoon, at four pm eastern he is expected to appear in person at a federal court in washington d. C. , where he will enter a plea to charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 president ial election. Tonight dawn forsman is preparing, setting up barricades outside the courthouse. Of course, on tuesday a grand jury indicted trump on four separate felony counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States of america. Today trumps lawyer gave another preview of what could be a possible defense that the Indictment Strikes at the former president right for free speech. This is the first time that the First Amendment has been criminalized. This indictment is criminalizing conduct not speech . Its criminalizing speech for this reason, what the president saw in the 2020 election was all these irregularities going on, he had the right to comment on
Proceeding, and conspiring against the rights of voters. It ties these to the violent attack of trumps voters at the capitol on january 6th. Special counsel jack smith spoke on that after it was filed. It was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing a Bedrock Function of the u. S. Government, a nations process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the president ial election. The men and women of Law Enforcement who defended the u. S. Capital on january 6th, are our heroes. They are patriots, and they are the very best of us. Since the attack on our capitol, the Department Justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day. This case has brought consistent with that commitment, and our investigation evander individuals continues. The indictment names trump as the only defendant, but it describes six coconspirators working with him to contest joe bidens win in 2020. Trump, no surpris