plane back to new jersey, what trump, standing in the pouring rain, said about this historic criminal case. our team all right here at the desk tonight on what happens next, but first, abc s chief justice correspondent pierre thomas leading us off. reporter: it was an extraordinary moment in washington. former president donald trump returning to the nation s capi capital, but this was not the way he expected to come back. waving as he stepped off his plane at reagan national airport just before 3:00 p.m. this afternoon to face historic charges. never before has a former president been charged with attempting to overturn an election. special counsel alleging donald trump knew he lost. driving through the nation s capital to the courthouse just blocks from the white house, and the capitol, where the attack played out on january 6th. seen through the window traveling alone in his motorcade as it traveled through the city streets, weaving toward that federal courthouse. his motorcade dri
special counsel. the former president accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election, an election the special counsel says donald trump knew he lost. moments ago, the former president s plane landing back at newark airport right there. he is headed back to bedminster at this hour, after surrendering in washington today. trump pleading not guilty in that courtroom. just hours earlier, we witnessed the mow tar torcade in washingt. trump riding alone in his vehicle. the motorcade entering through an underground garage. inside the courtroom, special counsel jack smith, along with his team. also in the courthouse, police officers who defended the capitol and january 6th. tonight here, the striking details from inside the courtroom. trump waiting 25 minutes for the judge to arrive. hearing the charges. the judge listing the maximum prison sentences for each charge. and just before he boarded his
yes. i do agree. i mean, i think it s not a time for panic. if the administration had made a different on sunday i would not agree. but they made the right decision, they pulled the guns out and guaranteed all the depositors. once they have done that, they have assured all the depositors that they re not going to lose their money. one thing that a run on the bank is, when you really are worried whether you can get your money out of that bank. once they are assured they are not going to lose their money, this really sets the tone and makes the banking system a lot more secure, jake. art laffer, former economic adviser for president reagan, thank you for joining us. coming up, another phone call captures donald trump pressuring lawmakers to overturn election results. and three more people charged with murder in the death of a man smothered in a mental health facility. and an update on the american
intention of overturning the election. now if you compare this with that, i m sure in many cases this takes that argument away. and now you can have different layers of a president potentially saying, look, i know i lost georgia, but i would rather just win georgia. if i m the defense team, i m going to be a little nervous about this, for sure. the phone call, if it is as described, and they talked to a number of members of the grand jury, it s trump pushing the statehouse speaker in georgia to reconvene a meeting of the legislature to overturn the will of the voters in georgia and give the electoral votes to trump instead of biden. i don t know if that sounds illegal on its face. what is the significance legally? i think the significance, jake, it s part of a pattern. it shows intentionality. i would argue this wasn t just donald trump having a bad day lashing outlet s say brad
raffensperger. this was an effort over several weeks, and we know of three calls. he called the secretary of state and asked him to find certain votes. we also know and we heard the audio of trump s call to an investigator, francis watson, asking her to investigate and try to find voter fraud. now this is a third piece he called the then speaker of the georgia house and asked him to convene a special legislature. so any of those events in isolation may not constitute a crime per se. but as a prosecutor, you are trying to argue this is all part of an intentional pattern that, taken together, amounts to criminality. congressman, your reaction to something donald trump s current attorney said on cnn last night. take a listen. i m not saying it s a great thing if he gets indicted. i said if they indict him, it will embolden him, because he will win this case. it will catapult him to the white house. his listening is, any indictment will embolden trump