thank you so much for joining me. "cnn primetime" with abby phillip starts right now. a., abby. >> hello, kaitlan. thank you so much. good evening, everyone. i am abby phillip. welcome to "cnn primetime". we have one big development after another in that georgia election subversion case against the former president and his 18 codefendants. and tonight, we are learning that rudy giuliani is set to meet with fulton county district attorney's office tomorrow to discuss a bond agreement. that's according to multiple sources. and i will talk tonight with a giuliani adviser about what is ahead for him. plus, with trump's surrender looming, new bond agreements and last-minute legal maneuvers -- how a top member of the trump white house and a former doj official are both trying to avoid arrest tonight. which of donald trump's 18 codefendants did surrender today? and who reached bail agreements with the fulton county d.a.? and we've got new developments in the fulton county mar-a-lago case as well. and with 2024 just around the corner, president biden is named the new white house counsel, as he's facing a special counsel investigation into his own handling of classified documents and the hunter biden investigation as well, as house republicans are eyeing and potentially peach meant inquiry. we've got much more to come on all of that. but we begin tonight with a big night of trump legal news. first of all, there is mark meadows, who was trump's right-hand man in the waning days of his administration, and former top doj official jeffrey clark -- both of them trying to move their state cases into federal court. so that they do not have to surrender by this noon friday deadline. that, as the first two of the former presidents codefendants surrender today at fulton county jail. john eastman, the right-wing attorney who advised trump on how to subvert the election, and scott hall, a bail bondsmen in a poem pro trump poll watcher in -- meanwhile, we have a new filing in the mar-a-lago classified documents case. special counsel jack smith's office is investigating whether to trump employees gave a false testimony to a grand jury. we will get to that this hour as well. plus, rudy giuliani is set to meet with a fulton county district attorney's office tomorrow to discuss a bond agreement. former new york police commissioner bernie kerik has been working with the former mayor to help him find a georgia lawyer to represent him in this case. but to start out tonight, i want to bring in an adviser to giuliani himself. joining me now is ted goodman. ted, thank you for joining us. we did just learn tonight that giuliani is expected to meet with the fulton county da's office tomorrow. how soon do you expect that he will surrender in this case? >> look, i don't know who is giving you that information. but what i can tell you is that -- i am not going to talk about the mayor's movements for security purposes -- however, discussions are happening. and, of course, there is a deadline for this friday. >> yeah. and you expect that he will be able to surrender by this friday? as he found an attorney to represent him in those bond proceedings? >> the mayor will be appropriately representative every step of the way. and, of course, he intends to follow the law. >> so, ted, cnn is reporting that giuliani has gone to trump personally to help him get help with those legal bills. and those pleas from giuliani have fallen on deaf ears. he currently doesn't have a georgia attorney to represent him, according to our reporting, in the full case, not just the bond hearing, but the full case, because of his -- >> i'm sorry, i don't mean -- >> is that still the case? >> that's not the case. i'm not sure where this reporting is coming from. and so, what i can tell you, once again -- the mayor is going to be appropriately represented in this case. and anything to the contrary, to me, is just fan fiction. >> is it not -- are you saying it's not the case that he asked trump for help with his legal bills? we're not the case that he -- >> okay. well, there is one thing when you say, you know, did he ask the president for trump with legal bills. but that's not how you were traded, right? >> so, did he ask the former president for help with -- >> look, i wasn't in the room. i wasn't a part of those discussions -- >> so, you don't -- >> presidents -- involvement -- again, this is fan fiction. this attempt by some -- not all -- but some, to drive a rift between the mayor, and the president, for example, when that is simply not the case. so, again, a lot of this is fan fiction. and it's just not true. >> you are describing it as fans fiction. but you also say -- >> well, yeah -- >> did he ask for help with his legal bills or not? >> again -- again, the way some are covering this in the media -- there is an obvious deliver it attempts to drive a wedge between america's mayor and the president. so -- >> so, ted, the let me ask you, does giuliani want trump or his allies to do what they have done for other people involved in legal cases? which is to pay for a lawyer to help him defend himself in some of these cases? >> look, again, we are talking about, maybe, the most consequential federal prosecutor in american history. this is someone who took down the mafia. this is a man who put away some of the biggest criminals on wall street. again, we are talking about someone who understands the law more than, maybe, anyone in this country. and again, someone who has been as effective a prosecutor as anyone. again, he will be well represented an appropriately -- >> i understand what you are saying. but that's not what i am asking you. i'm just asking, simply, does he need help paying for his lawyers? and as he want that help from the former president? that's a yes or no question. >> again, so, i am here to discuss the mayor's background, of course, and to discuss what is coming up here in georgia. i am not here to discuss private discussions between the mayor and the president. that is not my job. and, again, some of this reporting we are seeing on this matter is intentional. and it is being done to try and drive a wedge between the mayor and the former president and to create issues -- >> well, look -- you are claiming that it is intended to drive a wedge. but you are also not denying, based on anything that you might know -- >> go back -- how did you originally asked the question -- >> let me ask you about a separate topic here. there is also the special counsel investigation into election interference at the federal level. and i want to just get an update here. has mr. giuliani received a target letter from the special counsel in that case? >> my understanding is he has not heard from the special counsel since we have last talked. and so, what i can tell you is that he has done the right thing all along. this is a man who has been proven right time and time again. and he will be proven right yet again in this matter. >> and is he concerned at all that he might face additional charges in that -- >> look, we are talking about someone who -- he had multiple -- >> i know exactly what we are talking about, mr. goodman. i know exactly who we are talking. about -- concern that he is going to be facing federal charges in that -- >> i can speak to what the mayor is thinking inside of his head here. what i can tell you -- he knows everything he has done is legal and by the book. he has been proven right time and time again, whether it was the democrat russian collusion hoax, whether it was hunter biden's laptop, or joe biden's foreign corruption, time and time -- >> mayor -- thank you very much for your time -- mr. goodman -- thank you very much for your time tonight. >> thank you. we >> will see later this week what happens with mr. giuliani. we appreciate it. and i want now want to bring in new york times congressional reporter, luke broadwater, cnn correspondent jamie gangel, and -- jim schultz. jim, i want to start with you. this reporting on giuliani really brings to -- us some of these legal issues which is that they need to find attorneys. some of them are struggling to deal with their legal bills. giuliani needs a lawyer with a georgia license to deal with this. what is your reaction to the fact that, at this late stage, he seems to not have someone to deal with the broader legal peril that he faces in this fulton county case? >> we are getting up until friday. he doesn't have representation as of yet that we know of. he needs to get representation. he can't go in there and defend himself as much as he believes himself to be a great lawyer and, for all the accomplishments we have seen in the past, when he was u.s. attorney, years and years and years ago, he still needs a lawyer. he is charged with serious crimes in georgia and he has been unnamed in an indictment. but -- identified as a coconspirator in the federal january 6th case and so he certainly has lorries engaged in january 6th case, or at least he did -- he went in and talked with the special counsel at some point in time. he's going to need lawyers in georgia. and he's going to need an attorney in georgia that can handle this case. this case is going to be very motion intensive and it's very going to be very expensive to defend. and i'm certain he's going to want to advance certain motions in this case. you can't do it with a lawyer. >> yeah, jamie, look, this is kind of interesting. because there are so many people who the trump super pac is willing to pay their legal fees for. of all people, rudy giuliani is not one of them? >> so, they are willing to pay some peoples legal fees, mainly donald trump has had the advantage of getting his legal fees paid, apparently. but this speaks to a bigger question, which we have known for quite a while. -- donald trump loyalty is a one-way street. and as long as rudy was getting the job done for him, whatever that was along the way, he kept rudy close. now it has not worked out that way. what is, i think, crazy about, it from donald trump's perspective is, whether it is rudy giuliani or jenna ellis, who has also come out and ask for -- she has a gofundme page -- these are codefendants. they can turn on donald trump. they can flip. that makes it dangerous not to help them out. >> one of the other characters in all this is mark meadows and -- story loop you have a story with their colleagues at the new york times -- it's really fascinating. because he's appeared to, chosen -- federal level. at the state level, he appears to have not cooperated, was in charge. but is now trying to move that case into the federal system. so, what is mark meadows's game plan here? >> yeah, mark meadows has engaged in what we sort of described as a risky high wire act. he has pretty much stonewalled the investigation in georgia. when he went in there with a grand jury he took the fifth a lot. he didn't cooperate very much. with the feds, though, he took a different strategy. he testified twice before the grand jury. and the second time -- now, after a judge's order -- he was much more cooperative. he told them some things that were helpful to their case. and if you read that indictment, as opposed to the georgia indictment, it says several things that are somewhat positive about mark meadows. it is not a clean win for him. but he seems to believe his best ways to be more cooperative with the feds. and now he is trying to move that georgia case federally as well, which he thinks is better terrain for him. >> could i just add something? this is a great piece -- >> you should read it -- >> and everyone should read it. it gives a glimpse behind the veil of what we have all been wondering for a long time, which is, what is mark meadows doing? and where has he been also? you have the phrase, we are has he been? quietly cooperating. and that's really at the crux of it. and there is more that we don't know yet. but i think the bottom line of this -- this is bad news for donald trump. because mark meadows was his chief of staff. he was in the room. he was on that call with georgia. he was in the white house on january 6th. he has a lot to tell. >> yeah, and our reporting is that he has been refusing to call trump. so, that has been making people in trump's inner circle very nervous about what he is up to. >> and now that they can rediscover, they may be even more nervous. >> there's no one closer to the inner circle of a presidential administration and the chief of staff. and -- they are important. but you did see mark meadows kind of sprinkled throughout that federal indictment. and if there is one thing he is trying to get this to federal court -- because he believes his lawyers are telling me that he believes this course k should be taken federally because he was acting on the behalf of the president of the united states, acting on his official capacity, in the course and scope of his special position to -- >> do you think he is doing that so, that if it does get moved to the federal jurisdiction, that get superseded by the fact that there is a special counsel investigation that has not charged him? >> i think he is trying to get before a federal judges that will it look at the supremacy clause and other things, that are going to look at that position as chief of staff, the president of the united states, and to a thoughtful legal analysis as to whether that supersedes anything that is going on in the state level, because he was serving in his capacity as chief of staff and acting in the course of -- that is where the rubber is going to hit the road in that analysis as to whether he was acting in the course of -- >> so, jim, i also want to play for you what john eastman who -- he also surrendered today. he made a statement outside of the jail. listen to what he said. >> it represents a crossing of the rubicon for our country, implicating the fundamental first amendment right to petition the government to redress of grievances. as troubling, it targets attorneys for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients, something that attorneys are ethically bound to provide and which is attempted here by formally challenging the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means, and an opportunity never afforded them or their clients in the fulton county superior court. >> is alice advocacy. do you buy that as a legal defense? >> there is a line between zealous advocacy and being involved in criminal activity in furthering that criminal activity. and that is something that john eastman is going to have to deal with when he goes -- when he's trying to push forward with his legal theory, and trying to push for the attorney-client privilege tax and -- he is acting as his attorney. there are a lot of facts that are going to get the other way on that. and he's going to have an uphill battle without. argument people basically telling him, hey, get a lawyer because what you're asking him to do is basically illegal. jamie, this week, actually as early as tonight we can see some mugshots from some of these folks who have been coming in trump's expected to surrender on thursday. what a moment that will be for us. >> john eastman said he doesn't have any regrets, i find that hard to believe. john eastman, rudy giuliani, these are men no matter where they are today, they never imagined in their career that they would be facing arrest and arraignment on these felony charges. and i think donald trump may use his mugshot to try to raise money, because that is the sort of thing that he would do, but for the rest of these defendants this is really bad news for them. >> mark meadows is trying his best to avoid having to do, one but i suspect he probably will buy that deadly on friday. live jeanne and jim, thank you for joining us. a -- deadly danger on the capitol on january 6th, marc short weighs in on the fulton county election case and what we can expect tomorrow at that republican debate. try killing bugs the worry-free way. not the other way. zevo traps use light to attract and trap flying insects with no odor and no mess. they work continuously, so you don't have to. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ( ♪ ) constant contact's advanced automation lets you send the right message at the right time, every time. 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[coughing] ...from this highly... ...contagious virus. not all dangers come with warning labels. talk to your pharmacist or doctor... ...about getting vaccinated against rsv today. >> woman: why did we choose safelite? we were loading our suv when... crack! safelite came right to us, and we could see exactly when they'd arrive with a replacement we could trust. that's service the way we want it. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ republican presidential candidates are fine-tuning their strategies for a trump free debate. front runner donald trump is planning to skip the event tonight as he prepares for his historic fourth criminal arrest. joining me now in milwaukee is marc short, the former chief of staff to vice president mike pence. he is also a senior adviser to pence. mark, it's good to see you. you are in milwaukee for the debate and i will get to that in just a moment but i want to talk to you about these georgia indictments and this renders that we are seeing this week. trump's former chief of staff, mark meadows, is maneuvering all of these different ways to avoid some legal jeopardy as it relates to all of this and he is cooperating on the federal side, but to trying to move the case in georgia to the federal system. i wonder, do you think that meadows should face any consequences for his role in what transpired in the lead up to january 6th? >> well, abby, congrats on the new show. regarding mark, i don't think any of us relish witnessing what is happening with these people who we work with. i think that, in your last panel, i think it is fair to say that mark was a ringleader that watch the events that happened around january 6th. he is somebody who has the president sought to find additional attorneys, gave advice different than the white house counsel, and it was very central to the events that happened on that day. i think it's often missed in the coverage are the weeks leading up to that, in which the vice president made it clear that he did not think that there was some magical authority vested on the vice president of the united states, never used in our republic that allowed him to overturn the election results. there had been a lot of conversations leading up to this. mark or central to pulling together many of those who are i think whispering falsehoods to the president here. and so i think that when you look at the federal indictment and he's not in it, others on your previous panel questioned whether or not there has been involvement with mark with the special counsel office. if it relates to what happens in georgia, i don't think any of us relishes seeing what our former colleagues -- >> speaking of ringleaders, we also saw john eastman, why the architects of the fake electors scheme. he surrendered today but was unapologetic. he said he was acting on behalf of the former president, he called it zealous advocacy of an attorney. what did you think of seeing him walk into that jail today after all that happened and, frankly, you are an adviser to pence. pence was physically put in danger as a result of all of this. >> sure. he was, and i think he has had a storied career, or in advancing concerted causes. it is tragic to see that this is sort of a final chapter in his career. but i think you listen to his comments and it is either, i am advocating for the first amendment rights to mislead the american people, i am protected to provide halls votes to the american people under the first amendment, or it is i have evidence that shows the election was stolen and if only i could bring that forward i would prove it. despite the fact there had been many recounts, many lawsuits, they're still the claim that i have evidence to prove it was stolen, well which is it. it can't really be both. it is either, i'm going to prove the election was stolen or i have a first amendment right to mislead and that is what i'm protected by. it seems like they're trying to argue both at the time. >> getting to this debate tomorrow night, can we expect to see former vice president pence be very critical of his former boss here? >> well, abby, i think that he has been pretty clear and straightforward to the american people about what his role was. it has been featured prominently in his book and i think there is probably a different role in everybody in the stage. for him, he's been a congressman, a ceo of state, he is advised the president in the situation room, he has ignores experience on the national debate stage. i think you'll see that experience come through, but running for president, you know, it is sort of like a full body cat scan and everything is scrutinized. you've seen that scrutiny over ron desantis in the last couple of months that has dragged his numbers down. in the last 24 hours, even on cnn last night he's flip-flopping on whether or not he believes 9/11 is conspiracy or not, but i'm more concerned about things that he hasn't flip-flopped on such as proposing a 59% debt tax which is more than bernie sanders, joe biden, or elizabeth warren has even opposed. i never took time to vote until 2020, but i expect you to vote for me. i think you'll see that scrutiny for other camped it's, whereas pence's had that scrutiny on a national stage before. >> what do you make of trump's decision to schedule his arrest for right after the debate? what message does that send to republican voters? >> the reality is for each indictment there has been rallying around the president with primary voters. the question is that that continue or not, and i am not sure that i would be advocating for the split screen of seeing other candidates on the debate stage and seeing him being arraigned in a courthouse. i'm not really sure that is the message that is the best for your voters, but i leave that up to them. it is the split screen that they have chosen, and the juxtaposition that they want and i think overtime we will see how that plays out. >> your boss, former vice president mike pence, what is his expectation coming out of this debate? what does he want to accomplish at the end of the day? >> he is had the experience again of running the state as well as the vice president of the united states and i think that he knows the -- and i think that he will hopefully hear a lot of different topics coverage. i think he's the only candidate to his put forward a plan to combat inflation to address the energy crisis, to address a federalism and he has several warnings going out. he's anxious to have a policy conversation as opposed to the conversation about personalities. i think he's looking forward to showing the american people the depth of his policy knowledge and is showing that his experience shows he's ready on day one. for a lot of crises that faces country, whether it is the highest mortgage rates in 21, years or a crisis at the border the likes of which we have never seen before. i think that he is better positioned to show that on a national debate stage against his primary opponents. >> marc short, we'll be looking forward to seeing what comes out of the debate tomorrow night, we appreciated. thank you. >> thank you abby, thank you for having me. >> up next, new developments in the jack smith investigation, including whether to trump employees gave false testimony about the mar-a-lago case. and it relates to an alleged effort to delete security camera footage. we will discuss that, next. when you find your reason to go on, let it pull you past the doubt. past the pai and past your limits. no matter at, we go on. biofreeze she runs and plays like a puppy again. his #2s are perfect! he's a brand new dog, all in less than a year. when people switch their dog's food from kibble to the farmer's dog, they often say that it feels like magic. but there's no magic involved. (dog bark) it's simply fresh meat and vegetables, with all the nutrients dogs need— instead of dried pellets. just food made for the health of dogs. delivered in packs portioned for your dog. it's amazing what real food can do. new tonight, prosecutors say a trump employee changed his story in the mar-a-lago classified documents case. according to new filing from federal prosecutors tonight, an i.t. worker who is attorney was paid for by trump's political action committee initially told prosecutors that he didn't remember any conversations about security footage at mar-a-lago. but now, that a ploy appears to be cooperating with the special counsel's case. let's discuss this with senior justice correspondent, evan perez, and former nixon white house counsel and cnn contributor john dean. evan, i want to start with you. what are you learning from this filing now? it is interesting that this showed up at this particular stage in the investigation. >> what is happening is that prosecutors are trying to have the judge overseeing this case pay attention to potential conflicts, so that they see exist because stan woodward, who is a lawyer, paid for as you pointed out by the former presidents political operation, he is representing walt nada who is the former presidents aide, a close aide who is also a co defendant in this case. and, he is representing a couple of witnesses who may be called to testify at this trial. what emerges in this filing, it sort of gives an explanation of why prosecutors added to those additional charges against the former president, and against these other aides. they say that this information came from this i.t. worker, his name is -- and he was also represented by stan woodward, the same trump funded lawyer. after he made those initial statements saying he didn't know anything about the surveillance tapes, he changed his story after he got a new lawyer, a public defender, and said that not only was the president involved, but walt nauta and of course carlo is -- the property manager implicated all of them in the effort to delete the. that change in the story is what made prosecutors bring those additional charges. >> that superseding indictment. i want your take on this, it seems that the trump team thought let's pay for all the lawyers and make it easy on ourselves. it seems that backfired in this case. what is your take on what happened here? >> well, it certainly backfired during watergate, that is how information was -- was through joint defense agreements and resulted, if anything, in aggravating the cover-up. i am not charging it as a cover-up here, they are certainly sharing a lot of information, and it is what the government wants to do here. they are calling the judge, judge cannon, to have what is called a garcia hearing. it is old law, it goes back to 1975 where a defendant, like walt nauta, is entitled to know in an open hearing or ex parte, theoretically, what the conflict is. and what his lawyer may or may not be able to do in cross examining witnesses who are against him. that is not clear at all right now, it is really not a very attractive position for the lawyer to be because you could not have a conflict between your clients and there certainly appears it be a very serious conflict for stan woodward with his prior client witnesses and walt nauta. >> john and evan, as we were speaking here, we are just receiving now into cnn the first mug shots from the folks who surrendered today. that is john eastman you are seeing there on the screen, i believe, and that is the first of the two mugshots that we have received. we also have a mugshot here from steve, scott hall, who is one of the other codefendants in this case. these are the first looks that we are getting of what we could potentially be seeing for several other people, including a former president. it is extraordinary, they look like anybody else who might find themselves in a county jail facing criminal charges. >> in the case of john eastman, it appears that he wore his suit and tie for the mugshot. sometimes in the county jail they have to put on, it depends on if they are being detained, how long, they might actually be wearing prison garb. and so we were told today that he was allowed to wear his suit and tie and obviously it was a prearranged for seeding today where he had his bond set, he was in and out i think in about an hour. so this was something obviously that was a lot more smooth than for many other defendants who might go through that facility in fulton county. >> it is really interesting, evan, as we are getting these mugshot and you are just talking about the shooting tie. we heard earlier this week that a similar thing could happen for trump, that he could sort of be able to keep what he has on, they will do the photo though because, in the federal case, and in the new york case they were like we know this guy looks like we don't need to take a photo. >> in the new york case of the concern was that if they took a photo it might leak and in the federal case they said we don't really need it because, after, all he's one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. but i think the reason also is, simply, they don't want the whole spectacle of the possibility of it leaking. in the case of georgia, georgia law allows for the release of these photographs for the booking photographs, and so we anticipated this was going to happen. i am surprised that it took this long because this happened hours and hours ago on the state of georgia said it is releasable pretty quickly. >> john, i want to bring you in on, those because one of the factors in this georgia case is that you are not just seeing trump, here you are seeing all of the people around him. they are alleging a conspiracy and we are seeing government officials and people, lawyers who have long legal careers like john eastman, for example, showing up in a county jail and getting their mugshots released. put this in the context of all that you have lived through, from author gate on to the present day. >> conspiracies are favorite crimes for prosecutors because they hold everybody who is in the conspiracy to the overt acts and crimes of the other coconspirators. richard nixon was an unindicted coconspirator. as a result, all the evidence of his tapes was admissible when he was addressing issues related to the watergate cover-up. that will happen here, where trump will be responsible for people. i'm sure that he doesn't even know or has heard of before this case. so these are particularly in, a rico case, where they are charged with forming in enterprise, i am sure that there are going to be t-shirts with all these pictures on them and the re-co-t-shirt will be a collectors item one day. it is not a pretty look and i notice none of those men were smiling, some people pose well for their mug shots. others not to sit well. >> certainly no laughing matter. >> trump says he wants to fund-raise off of this. >> some of the reporting earlier in the new york case is that he considered even creating merchandise. >> a fake one, they did, and they tried to fund-raise off of it. it is possibly what they might see. >> this is a very serious, we are talking about a jail time, potentially, for these individuals. the mugshots are the beginning of the story for these two and the other codefendants in this case. evan perez and john dean, thank you very much for doing all of that with us. >> thank you, abby. >> amid legal troubles for president biden and his family, the white house is now changing up its top legal counsel and bringing in a familiar face from the obama administration. are they preparing for a big fight? we will discuss that ahead. so i called innovation refunds. their team of independent tax attorneys will work with your cpa to determine if your company is eligible. 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( ♪ ) constant contact. helping the small stand tall. huh. how long have you been tracking our car's value with carvana? just, like, 7 months. should we sell it? we hold... hold... silver vans are going for more right now, should we... hold... our low mileage is paying off. you think we should... hold... depreciation is really heating up you think... hoooold!!! hooold! hooold. hold! we just dipped 2.5%! hooooooold!!! now!!!! i'm on it. i'm, on it. already sold to carvana. go to carvana and track your car's value today. david: as we start a new school year, there's something new happening in california's public schools. they're called community schools. leslie: it really is shared leadership with families, students, educators, and communities. jessie: i feel like we're really valued as partners. david: it's a more innovative, holistic approach. grant: in addition to academic services, we look at serving the whole family. narrator: wellness centers, food pantries, and parental education. jessie: they're already making a difference. david: california's community schools: reimagining public education. >> president biden tapping a new white house counsel -- his administration announcing today that former white house attorney ed siskel will step into the world next month. he will succeed current white house counselor to ellery. siskel served for nearly four years in the obama biden administration, where he oversaw the obama white house's legal response to the congressional oversight, and complex challenges, like the rollout of the affordable care act. i want to bring in now cnn senior political commentator and host of the ax files, david axelrod. david, we are talking about ed siskel here tonight. but just before you came on the air, we got those mugshots of two of those codefendants in the georgia case, john eastman and scott hall there. it just strikes me that this is going to be some 2024 election cycle. you've got the white house gearing up for what is going to be a three 60 degrees of a legal battle, and also this mugshot from the former president -- >> abby, i am just guessing. this is the first time you have had that instinct, that 24 is going to be something. no -- we are in completely uncharted waters here. we have a front running candidate who is so confident that he has chosen to skip the first presidential debate last night, who has got to the largest lead that i have seen in a very long time. no one has ever lost who has had a leaders beget national polls in this point, but who is under four separate indictments -- 91 felony counts -- and he's going to be running from arraignment to trials. there will be -- apparently there will be a mugshot of president trump. i am sure that it will very quickly be on t-shirts among his supporters like those old che guevara t-shirts that used to be popular in the 60s and 70s. so, it is a very strange and unsettling environment. and i think we have got to get used to it. because that's the way this whole year is going to roll. >> yeah, and it's one that this incumbent president -- president biden -- will have to, at some point, contend with. what is your take on the choice to name ed siskel to this white house counsel role? what does it tell you about how this white house and maybe even the biden campaign is preparing to position themselves going into this next presidential cycle? >> well, look, i think it is a sensible thing to do. back in 2011, almost at exactly the same, time a couple of months earlier, bob ballor left the white house, and they named kathy roller rumpler -- kathy was a very tough and experience federal prosecutor and she basically -- he was going into a campaign. he knew that the republicans in congress who are going to use the congress and the powers of congress to try and -- and frankly muddy him of, and that there would be a hail of subpoenas, whether baseless or not, there would be a hail of subpoenas, and you better have a tough and experienced person in charge to over see that process. and i think that is exactly what joe biden has decided here. ed siskel has that experience of being in the white house. he also was the corporation counsel for ramah manual in chicago. very tough and experienced and smart guy -- probably a very smart guy. >> it seems to indicate, also, they are not brushing this stuff off, right? >> you can't. i mean, even -- look, we had a benghazi. we had so linda solyndra -- neither of them amounted to anything in the end, over many, many investigations of various committees were launched. and they basically lasted as long as the campaign, and when they outlived their usefulness, they disappeared. and so, you know, i think you've got to be ready for that. there is a public facing piece of this but there is also just the process of how do you respond to the subpoenas? are they appropriate or not appropriate? what countermeasures should you take? these are things you want an experienced hand there to judge. >> yeah, a lot of blocking and tackling that goes on behind the scenes. >> a lot of it. >> especially when it comes to that paperwork. david axelrod, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> goodbye, abby. good to see. >> you as well. and d we will be right back. was daring to dream. 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"cnn tonight" with laura coates starts right now. laura, as always, there's quite a lot going on. >> you know what's going on right now abby? i'm trying to get my microphone on. i'm so ready to have this conversation -- i'm just going to show america how you do it. >> this is the real life, behind the scenes -- >> -- >> look at that -- drop the mic -- >> now you are ready to give them all the legal information they need tonight, laura. >> as sammy davis once said, i can only be me. -- to surrender in the georgia election case. john eastman and also scott hall. they have they are, right there. and we are now just two days away from donald trump's