The family of travis king is speaking out. The american soldier who ran across the dmz into north korea and still being detained there. His family is pushing back on statements that he defected to the north korean army. This is cnn news central. Keep your eyes on this courthouse in washington d. C. Today. It now becomes the center of the legal and political universe really in some sense hours from now, donald trump will come here and once he steps inside, he will again be under arrest. Under arrest for the third time in four months as he faces a new round of criminal charges. At this courthouse, donald trump is expected to be fingerprinted. Not expected to have a mug shot taken, he is to face a Magistrate Judge and all indications hell plead not guilty to all four counts. New details on how his lawyers plan to defend him coming in, planning to argue the lies about the 2020 election are protected speech under the First Amendment and theyre trying to prove that trump new the claims. But overnight bill barr had this to say about that. That does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy. All conspiracies involve speech. And all fraud involves speech. So, you know, free speech doesnt give you the right to engage in a fraudulent conspiracy. Our sarah murray outside the courthouse now in d. C. Can you walk us through how its all going to play out this afternoon . In. Reporter sure, kate. Donald trump is going to arrive here at the federal courthouse in welcomeashington d. C. The same courthouse we have seen so many rioters from january 6th prosecuted. And when he arrives hell be placed under arrest, fing fingerprints taken digitally. We dont expect him to have a mug shot. And we think its a short appearance for donald trump weve seen it before, hell be advised of the charges against him. Hes going to be advised of his rights and its possible that hell be given an opportunity today to enter a plea. We would expect him to plead not guilty to the four criminal charges hes facing. So well look for anything that donald trump actually says in if court. Were also going to be looking in the courtroom to see if jack smith himself shows up as he did in miami when donald trump was facing charges in the classified documents case. Well see one defendant, donald trump in the courtroom today. Could we soon be seeing others . I this i that was one of the most surprising things to everyone about the donald Trump Indictment was there were no other defendants listed alongside him. It was just him facing these criminal charges. But there were six unindicted consp conspirators. And jack smith made clear if had his brief remarks this is an ongoing investigation. You think about the coconspirators we identified here, people like rudy giuliani, like john eastman, sidney powell. The unidentified political consul stan, coconspirator number 6, this indictment could be a Shot Across The Bow that prosecutors are still sk scrutinizing their behavior. Thank you so much, sara. John it goes without saying with the scenes were seeing its a security question. Yes. You can see the police tape and barricades behind sara murray there. Were told Law Enforcement officials are on high alert, obviously. We spotted secret Service Agents going through the Courthouse Building sort of advanced prep from what well see today. Shimon prokupecz is there manning the barricades himself. Why dont you show us whats going on . Reporter well, so were on the Third Street Side of the courthouse. You heard sara talk about when he gets here and the process. So this is normally the entrance here, john, that is closed. Theyre only allowing staff in here. These are the officers protecting the outside, interior of the building. Theyre out with bomb sniffing dogs. But this, john, is the street we expect the former president to drive through as he enters the courthouse. What weve seen Law Enforcement here do is now setting up these snowplows. Weve seen them in other high security situations. This is what theyre using as an extra level of security here. They just move these in this morning. You can see a lot of media here because we thought wed be able to get a clear shot of trump going in but its sort of blocked here, let me show you here where hes going to enter. You can see through here this is the street hes going to enter. Theres a garage here on the left. We expect the motorcade to drive down that garage and then enter into the courthouse, taken into custody by the u. S. Marshals. Placed under arrest and then head up to the courthouse. And all along this street, as you mentioned, john, were seeing these metal barriers all around. What theyre doing basically is keeping people to the sidewalk on this side and on the other side theyre not even letting people walk. Because that is the side where we believe the former president will be entering. The other thing really significant here this morning, were not seeing the number of people we have seen previously when trump has appeared in court. Certainly not to the level we saw in florida and certainly not to the level we saw in new york city. So were not seeing those groups, those crowds yesterday. Its early, right. He happens not here until 4 00. But for now Law Enforcement taking every precaution getting ready, getting their people in place, getting equipment in place. As they await his arrival here sometime around 4 00, john. Im fascinating by the snowplows. Those are actual snowplows not because they expect snow but because they are using these big trucks to block the road. Reporter yeah thats what theyre using. Not clear why its over here specifically and what their purpose will be but its an extra level of security. Weve seen these used in parades to block vehicles. Theyre mostly used to block vehicles. And for whatever reason they have chosen to place these here. I was speaking to one of the senior officials with the washington d. C. Police they dont expect to close traffic here. Theyre going to keep the road open, limit some of the Pedestrian Traffic but these here, these snowplows theyre using sort of, you know, to kind of, as an extra layer incase they need to block any vehicles. People are concerned. Not so much for the former president s security lets say but also just concerned that people may try to disrupt the proceedings here and also john, quickly, keep in mind were not far from the capitol. Just diagonal this way is the capitol. That is on the top of everyones mind. These are the same Law Enforcement officials that were here On January 6th and so, as a result theyre really not taking any chances and putting all of these precautions in place. Shimon prokupecz thank you so much. Our tour guide through the events that we will see. Such an interesting ground level look. Appreciate it. Kate . Donald trump spent the night at his bedminster, new Jersey Property ahead of the trip to d. C. For todays Court Appearance. His team is now tasked with crafting a Legal Defense in whats becoming one of biggest cases in u. S. History. Elena is joining us now from there. Whats going on this morning . Reporter im here just outside the former president s golf club where hell be departing soon to head to washington d. C. For his Court Appearance later today. Trumps team has an idea whats going to transpire at court. This is his third arraignment in in a matter of months. So they have a pretty good idea of what hes walking into. Just to get into the former president s mood today. I think you can expect him to be somber in court. Ive spoken with trumps advisers and allies, and he is very much concerned about these charges. Hes also frustrated he has to go through the charges yet again. Hell leave his club and take his motorcade here at a little after noon and head to Newark Airport where hell board his private plane and take that to d. C. His Court Appearance starts at 4 00 p. M. , expected to be a Swift Process and immediately after his appearance hes going to travel back to the airport. Hes expected to speak with reporters there and get back on his plane and come back to new jersey later tonight. What more are you learning about Donald TrumpsDefense Strategy thats starting to be put together . Reporter as you can see and youve been hearing from some of his attorneys. Theyre narrowing in on this one defense about him having the First Amendment right to have argued that the 2020 election was rife with fraud. Theyre also arguing that he genuinely believed that the 2020 tl election was stolen and his behavior in the leadup and after was him following the advice of his attorneys. One of his attorneys spoke about this had yesteay. Lets listen. He got advice from counsel, very wise and learned counsel, on a variety of ises. So its a straight guard defense that he had every right to advocateor a position he beeved in and his supporters believed in. Well argue that President Trump was arguing for the truth to come out in that Election Cycle rather than the truth to be denied. Reporter now, kate, its unclear if this type of defense would hold up in the court of law. If you look at the 45 Page Indictment that jack smith and his team filed on tuesday. They point out the former president did know he lost the election. He was told be many officials around him. They also argue he did not have the right, prosecutors say, to engage in a conspiracy to defraud the United States nor obstruct the january 6th proceedings. Be thank you so much alayna. Speak to you soon. Sorry. No p. She did a great job. With us now, Jennifer Rogers and lawyer, michael waldman, president of the Brennan Center for justice. Alayna who did a great job and we thank her again was laying out the defense were going to hear from the trump team it was a Free Speech Issue and he believed he didnt lose. Well, former attorney general bill barr was asked about that last night. Lets listen. Do you think he knew he lost the election . Do i personally believe that . At first i wasnt sure but i have come to believe that he knew well that he lost the election. Now, what i think is important is, the government assumed the burden of proving that. The government in their indictment takes the position that he had actual knowledge that he had lost the election and the election wasnt strollen through fraud. They have to prove that Beyond A Reasonable Doubt. How do you, michael, prove that, Beyond A Reasonable Doubt . What the indictment does in great detail is show that all the people charged by donald trump with telling him what had happened, whether it was people from his campaign, people from the justice department, people from the department of Homeland Security said no, sorry, you lost. Its its a question of whether this is a Legal Defense or Public Opinion defense. When you think about this kind of thing in a criminal context. I may believe the money in a bank is mine but that doesnt mean i can go in and rob the bank. There are laws youre not allowed to break the laws and those are laws that were certainly allegedly broken. The way that bill barr answered that, he said at first i wasnt sure. For a jury that could be a doubt and or reasonable doubt, yes . This is the kind of thing thats going to play out in this trial. This is the most important criminal trial in many ways in american history. And the issues are not just everyday law. But really grand and vital issues of our democracy and was our constitution attempted to be overthrown. A lot of it will turn on the legal specifications. But a lot of it will turn on something we saw as citizens at the time. On the most basic level why is he the fact whether or not donald trump acknowledged he lost the election, why is it so key . In. Ing because you have to prove intent, right, for virtually any criminal charge we have in our system you have to prove intent. If he really was pursuing what he believed to be true with all of these efforts, hes the rightful president , believes it and is pursuing ways to stay in office, you wouldnt have the criminal intent. How hard do you think this is in terms of the bar the prosecution has to meet is now. Hes such a good fraudster its hard to prove it against him because he never breaks character. Most of the time you have fraudsters who acknowledge to people they know what theyre doing is wrong and theyre trying to fool their victims. Here in some ways hes trying to fool everybody even the people close to him that hes the rightful president. Theyve gathered a lot of evidence and spelled it out making it clear he had a right to contest in lawful ways, to file 60 lawsuits but he did. His people kept tell ing him, yu lost. The state election people, you lost. Its over and he still sets up fake eing lectors and others th where he crosses the line. So in the indictment itself a lot of the information is not new. One of the details around him was around former Vice President mike pence who kept notes. So in addition to the new details about mike pence its possible we saw a new mike pence yesterday as well when he was asked about this case. I want to play a little bit of what he said about how he was being pushed to overturn the election. Lets be clear on the point. They didnt ask for a pause. The president specifically asked me and his gaggle of Crack Pot Lawyers asked me to literally reject votes. That felt different to me than what mike pence has written or said in interviews. And if thats it was different than what hes said. Thank you. If that is the mike pence we see on the Witness Stand as kate said, how much of a difference does that make . Talking like that on a Witness Stand hes a heck of a witness. One of the tagsfacts in the indictment. At one point trump said to pence, youre just too honest. And that is a powerful bit of evidence begging them to put mike pence on the stand. Pence, if you remember, he wouldnt cooperate with the january 6th committee. But he clearly cooperated and felt he had no choice but to cooperate with the criminal process. And may be saying this is where i need to speak up, i have no choice. Jennifer, thinking of the fact that mike pence, the former Vice President under donald trump, hes running against him now, in the president ial primary could be a witness on the Witness Stand in his trial, its just it really is just quite an image to be painting here. Him and others. The former white house counsel, maybe the former Chief Of Staff depending on what mark meadows is doing. Which is one of the Big Questions here. The witness list will be epic like the defendant is epic here, never seen before. But these are the people who have the evidence because these are the people in the room with him as they were plotting to find ways to keep power. That was a different mike pence that we saw there in terms of the emotion he was putting in the answer but also what he actually said there. That donald trump and his team of crackpot lawyers were trying to get me to throw out votes. That statement in and of itself if he puts that in the Witness Stand does that put donald trump in a different kind of legal jeopardy . It puts him in the legal jeopardy hes charged with. Its great evidence in the case as is the other evidence weve collected. Mike pence hasnt been forthcoming publically presumely he told investigators what he knows. This is the key evidence and mark meadows as well. The First Amendment defense at large, what are the boundaries of it . What are they playing here . Its powerful, the Supreme Court is respectful of the First Amendment the kind of thing that gets raised occasionally in criminal cases, somebody committing Securities Fraud or Something Like that, i was expressing my opinion and as a general matter its not a powerful defense if youve been breaking the law. The indictment said he had the right to say publicly what he believe ed. He had the right to lie publically even. But these are actions. So this is the kind of defense, in part, that may be aimed for appealing the case, appealing a conviction rather than actually winning in the courtroom. Terrific discussion, thank you both. Coming up, three indictments, two impeachments, Donald Trumps high polling and support amongst republicans still seems unshakable as he pushes towards the 2024 race. Can anything stop the momentum and what is the impact of his legal troubles . What does it have on the race i that you were you were going to get to five golden rings at some point. Stand by john berman. Fox News Executives are urging donald trump to take part in the first republican president ial debate later this month. What sources are saying about whether he will show up and the circumstances around those conversations. New cnn polling on how americans are feeling right now about this man, president joe biden. Breaking down the numbers and what this means for the president ahead. Especially those economy numbers. So, no more sweating all night. Or blasting the air conditioning.