for donald trump. >> the history books will remember this as much as his official presidential portrait which hung in post offices and got buildings. a first he did not want. knowing donald trump as we do, he figured he will make the most of it. since this has gone out, he fund-raised off of it. he is on twitter or x we call it. he is back posting this and saying, never surrender. of course, the picture is of him surrendering. that's a bit off. his team september out nearly half a dozen fund-raising blasts. >> he had a blast as he was turning himself -- just before turning himself in. >> i would remind viewers that it's donors to his campaign paying his legal bills. he is running for president to stay out of trail but also to pay legal bills. >> the shot of him when he is coming in -- when they flew into atl atlanta. the new attorney was greeted to come on the plane. it's this crazy thing where it's like, what's political, what's campaign? versus the fact that this is a real legal case where he has real issues. >> this is the video. >> is anybody surprised? at the end of the day, this is the same game we have seen going back to 2016. we saw it in the 2020 cycle. this is endearing chaos. i have had time to think about this. what a win looks like here. the attorney and the lawyers and judges and the law talk about time and jail and penalties. a win -- i think a win for this country is donald trump having to admit he is a liar. this process getting us to the point him having to publically admit he lied and miss lled us. this country needs to hear that. >> why would he admit publically -- >> i know. it's the only thing that's going to get us back on tracks. if we don't use this as a pivot point for republicans, it's our fault. >> i would say this. it's a split screen world we live in. i don't know what fox is showing. i guarantee it's different what we are showing. they think -- they believe this is the persecution and prosecution of donald trump -- not the prosecution, the persecution of donald trump. he is raising money on it. >> by the way, they are talking about last night's debate. >> they don't mind that their dollars are helping defend donald trump. they are contributing -- they know that's happening. there is no daylight. >> i'm not sure they know -- the average donor knows how much is going to his legal bills. i think it's to build the wall or take the country back. >> if you give mrnoney to donal trump, you don't care. >> if you are giving money to donald trump, you are paying for a theater ticket. i'm talking getting our country back. there's nothing he is going to do to get this country back on track. this is all a charade. this is not going to get us closer to winning the white house and beating joe biden. he might get more support inside the republican party, but less support amongst americans. >> i can tell you this, from talking to my friends in western pennsylvania, these aren't -- >> that's where i was born. >> these are folks that just -- you couldn't distinguish them from other folks walking down the street. they believe he is being unfunfair ly prosecuted. he is their best shot of keeping the america they want. >> they believe in a immemedia ecosystem where there's -- people in public trust are telling the truth to the public. it's not -- we can point fingers. when you have most elected republicans still lying to the public saying the election was stolen, this is political, on that debate stage, some people did good jobs. nikki haley crushed it. even so, they had to pivot back to there's a weaponization of the department of justice. tell the public he will have his day in court. >> we have kevin mccarthy, sitting u.s. senators, house representatives, governors telling folks partial truths, still, they can't trust them. i guarantee you there's less than 1% -- if you give them an ounce of truth serum, republicans, that believe it was rigged, that have proof something happened. >> instead of pivoting, what we are seeing as you know are people that are using this moment to fund-raise and get their names out there and go after willis. we have people calling for special sessions so she can be disbarred, which the general assembly can't do. it's not even like they are looking at this as a moment where we can sit there and say, okay, let's take a breath, let's give thereis guy his time in co. they are pushing further more ridiculous conspiracy theories. >> we should cold democrats accountable for joe biden's policy positions, on the border, foreign policy, everything. even democrats don't have -- >> it's hard to do that when you have your guy getting booked and being indicted. >> that's right. you maud my case for me. >> the split screen world, this is the argument republicans are making. look what happened when the department of justice went to the court to seal up hunter biden's plea deal. it fell apart. vanished. the flip side of the world is saying, they are watching video of hunter biden with cocaine and prostitutes. they say, nothing is happening. he is fooling around. >> we agree, every one of us wants it see hunter held accountable. he is not the president or former president. >> i don't disagree. when america sees all this going on, they see nothing happening to the biden family, this is the narrative that gets reinforced. >> two flegives don't make a positive. this is the spot our party needs. if the leaders tell folks this is not okay behavior, this is not accept blg, then people are going to follow. it's a long-term investment. >> everybody on that stage last night, except for asa hutch inson and i'm not sure what chris christie was doing with his hand said they would vote for him. the most popular person on that stage was the guy who was imitating the former president. he is doing the trump show just in -- with list own spin. >> i want to say, urban is not wrong that's how most of the right sees this with regard to hunter biden. it goes back to people in position of public trust lying. we were watching another network last night. they kept referring to the biden crime family. hunter family, it's beinge adjudicated. you will not deal with this issue that's in front of you. >> the thing that's equally absurd is, this entire conversation going back and forth between which of these elites are tweeted which way by the system. the masses of people are tweeted badly by the system every day. we have a mug shot. having a mug shot isn't a bad thing. a lot of people have mug shots. it's what's it for. with a did you get arrested for? this is something that got arrested abusing his power and hurting a lot of people. my question to the republicans who say, you are willing to vote for this guy, would you hire somebody with a mug shot? would you hire somebody with 91 charges against them that haven't been proven guilty of anything? would you give somebody else a chance that you are willing to give there guy a chance? i see no evidence that the same party that jumped up and down to defend this guy are defending anybody else. that curt cuts people. regular people are asking. why now? do you care the criminal justice system is care. it affects hunter biden or donald trump. you don't care about everybody else. >> argue the about the weaponization of fbi. it was weaponized for decades. >> against dr. king. >> it's kind of -- >> it's selective. >> your point is well taken about whether we saw this on the first step act when we work together on those issues in terms of joining together to get things done. i think a lot of america also is frustrated with -- this isn't necessarily related to this. what you see in smash and grabs. lawlessness in america, no laws being enforced. they are selectively enforced against certain people. you see whether it's in k kensington in philadelphia and terrible things. no one is going to jail. no one is prosecuted. drug lords are running amuck in america. >> this idea of lawlessness, from the top to the bottom. you have lawlessness on january 6. lawlessness with what's going on with this person. this idea -- you have stuff going on on the neighborhood level that needs to stop. this idea you can't trust law enforcement, welcome to the party. we have been screaming for decades now that there's some things that are not fair to people and that can be used negatively. we have been talking about prosecutors abusing their power and going too far. no offense to my friend here. people in the same republican party that are now all upwere telling us we were wrong. then when we tried to fix it, now there's been this backlash. let's take this conversation, if we're going to have it, beyond just these couple of elite families. we are supposed to pick sides about which elite family is supposed to get treated right. what about everybody else? >> whether all this is over -- when all this is over, donald trump will go down as one of the biggest mistakes this country made. we as republicans have to figure out how serious do we want to get about fixing this? when you simplify this problem, 35% of people are in love with donald trump. 65% of the republican party, our friends and colleagues, that are still persuadable. we need to fight for the keys for this party. we need to send real leaders forward. >> 30 years from now, someone will see this and think that guy was president of the united states? >> what is it about the biden/harris administration that makes republicans persuadable? why do republicans need to be persuaded. why are republicans rs like, th is terrible? i would rather vote for him than biden and harris. >> that's what the leaders are saying. leaders that have not necessarily been pro trump, they keep saying, i'm going to vote for him. i'm going to vote for whoever gets the nomination. governor kemp said that. it's one of those things where it's something -- you can sit here and talk about integrity and leading with truth and all that stuff. but when the rubber hits the road, you gotta be able to act your values. >> why do you think governor kemp is saying that? do you think he loves donald trump or he fears what four more years -- >> i think we are such a deeply polarized country and people keep their jerseys on -- >> one thing that is indisbutable about this, it's polarizing. it will be an indelible image. liberals will look at it and be delighted or think this is a moment of accountable. conservatives will say this is persecution. as a prosecutor, thinking back, that worries me. you need unanimity in that jury room. you need 12-0. if you have different people seeing that and it ee voekss strong emotions, that's not good. >> by the way, this is something van made me think of, to keep myself honest. how would i feel about this if it was barack obama? that should be the basic question republicans ask themselves. if 91 felony accounts were committed, still have to go through the process, would i be shouting and calling for congressional hearings? my party cannot hold him to a different standard. i remember when i was working on the oversight committee. jim jordan deguyed a congressional subpoena as did mark meadows. it's the height of hypocrisy. it's not leadership. to your point, i don't know we have a party in ten years if we don't wrap our arms around the direction that it's going. >> ply kids would say donald trump figured out the cheat code for winning this election. the cheat code. he plugs in a couple numbers with indictments and fear mongering and screaming and hol holling. did you win? when neighbors can't talk to neighbors because they're not in the same party or don't go to the same church or don't have the same sexual orientation, if you can't talk to people at your office, can't talk to people in your party, we don't go to state party functions. brian kemp doesn't go to state party functions. it doesn't represent america. that's my point about the 65%. it's here, it's now or never. we will stand up and fight for the keys to the party, redirect our course in a better direction that's not softer. i have a 13-year-old son who is more conservative than donald trump and been a republican longer than donald trump. he has confused the base to be loud and angry. >> this is what showed up in polling. the people that are identifying themselves as republican tend to be pro trump. you have this whole block of folks -- i call them chamber of commerce or business republicans. 10% to 15% of the republican electorate in our state that now identify themselves as independent and not partisan. even the polling is off. when you hear that 35%, 40% of republicans feel this way, i don't think -- i think those are the republicans who will say they are republicans now. that's a real problem. >> by the way, the democrats -- you have the same problem. only 35% of your base really supports joe biden, wants him to stay. i won't put you on the spot. you wish you had somebody better than was younger, month policy centric, more geared -- dialed in. you don't. that's just -- your guy doesn't have 91 indictments. >> that's right. >> the lesser of two evils. >> i think a couple things can be true at the same time. i'm proud of joe biden. i'm proud we are under economic recovery. the nose of the plane is pointed up. there's hurt out there. we are not talking about it. the main problem that most people have is not donald trump. it's not joe biden. the main thing they are scared of, the check engine light. whether that light goes on, that's 3,000 bucks that you don't have. every day you drive to work hoping it doesn't come on. who cares? you have people that have real problems out here. they are watching this. they say, one thing i know for sure, none of these people care about me. that's the big issue. to me, my concern is that the only thing we have is each other. to your point, it's really getting bad when we can't talk to each other about anything. you put something on the table. i will put something on the table. do i like lawyers getting arrested? that's scary. that's scary. a lot of times, the only thing people have are lawyers. if they get in the crosshairs, that's scary. i don't want to give aid and comfort when bad lawyers are getting in trouble. nuances get chased out. for ordinary people, it's not nuanced. there are real problems. neither party seems to care. the only people we care about who get this trouble with the people at the top when everybody else can go to hell. that's not right. >> we will go down to caitlyn in fulton county. >> reporter: we are outside the jail here in fulton county. i'm joined tonight by charles burnun, the attorney for john eastman who is one of the former president's 18 co-defendants here. john east man is the one who told trump that pence could block certification of biden's win of the 2020 election. good evening. thank you for joining me. does your client, mr. eastman, want a speedy trial? >> as we stand here today, we are not prepared to make that demand. it is something we might think through as a thought experiment. i think we would be inclined not to do something similar to what mr. chesebro has done. >> reporter: go ahead. >> i was going to conclude by saying this is an enormously complicated case. i can only imagine what the discovery is going to look like. i think it's going to take time to work through all that. >> reporter: right now, you have no plans to ask for a speedy trial for john eastman? >> that's correct. >> reporter: will your client try to move this case from state court to a federal court, like we have seen others attempt to do? >> he may not have a choice from what i understand. there's a viable argument that if a federal officer -- a federal officer that worked for the federal government gets his case successfully removed, which could happen, there's a reasonable argument that the rest of the defendants may automatically be removed, whether federal officers or not. that may be what ends up happening. if that doesn't happen, we might take a serious look at that. we haven't made a decision one way or the other. >> reporter: if one moves, maybe all could. if not, you still may potentially ask for that as well. i guess ply qmy question is, wi would your premise be? the law is federal officers or agencies. mark meadows worked inside the white house, jeffrey clark at the justice department. john eastman did not work for the executive branch. how would you make that argument? >> it would be a more difficult argument. we might look and see if there's an agency theory that might apply. we haven't made any final decisions yet. >> reporter: what would the agency be? >> there may be some support -- i don't want to get into the weeds too much. there could be an argument that someone who isn't a federal employee, if they worked in connection with other federal officers, perhaps there's an argument. we might look at that. we haven't made a decision. >> reporter: won't that be a pretty difficult argument given -- he wasn't being paid by the federal government. he didn't have a taxpayer funded job. how could you -- lhow is there any stretch of an argument that he was working on behalf of the federal government? >> he wasn't working on behalf of the federal government. we haven't played a final decision on that. you may wind up being right. we're not sure. you made the kocounterargument very well. >> reporter: will you seek to rec sever this case? >> i want to answer your question directly. any decision, especially severance more so than removal, is made down the road. certainly, there's benefits to going to trial apart from co-defendants. there may be benefits to going to trial with co-defendants. i will put it like this. the odds we move to sever are greats than we would ask for a speedy trial. put it that way. >> reporter: okay. that's an option you are considering. is your client worried that donald trump, mark meadows and other co-defendants here will try to pin that activity that happened after the election on mr. eastman? >> no. not at all. in fact, council for mr. trump, not anyone that represents him in georgia, but i'm referring to mr. lauro, has made comments to that effect in media appearances, that it is their position that donald trump did exactly what we would expect him to do. he had a serious constitutional question to confront around the certification of the election. what does he do? he hires a constitutional law professor to advise him and follows that advice. we have no problem if that's a part of the defense that former president trump decides to mount in georgia. that's fine with us. >> reporter: he would have been following that advice against the advice of top officials who worked for him. the attorney general, top election officials, top attorneys in the white house. when your client left the jail here, he said he believes that the election was stolen, which of course it wasn't. is that a defense? why is he saying that still? >> dr. eastman believes very strongly, specifically that there were major problems with election illegalities, is the way he would phrase it, which is different than fraud. dr. eastman's contention is that many votes were cast in many states in contravention of the manner of the election set forth by the state legislatures which has constitutional underpinnings. in that, dr. eastman is not a voice in the wilderness. pence made statements along the same lines. his chief counsel has made statements along those lines. dr. eastman does very much still maintain that view today. >> reporter: secretaries of state, they had the right to change the way the elections wered aministers. there wasn't anything illegal. it wasn't fraudulent. it doesn't mean the 2020 election was stolen. if he is indicted over the role he played in trying to overturn the 2020 election, does it help for him to continue claiming that election was stolen? >> i would say two things. one is, dr. eastman, if you look at his record, he is a man of principle and not afraid to call it like he sees it. when he makes a comment like that, it's not a strategy. that's what he thinks. i think when you look at the trial, the issue that's going to be presented, perhaps some day to a georgia jury, is was there a good faith basis to cham various aspects of the 2020 election? did dr. eastman and the other defendants bring those challenges in good faith? we're confident the answer will be yes. >> reporter: i will say attorney general bill barr disagrees. you mentioned mike pence. i want to ask you about something he said. i don't think you have been asked about that. he said the president was surrounded by a group of crack pot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear. he is talking about your client there. >> i will say this about the former vice president. i want to -- i think the former vice president -- look at his insinnives around january 6. he had two choices. he could have said, dr. eastman, you may have a point, but i don't think there's any evidence of fraud or illegality here, as urm suggesting earlier. there would have been nothing inconsistent about that. the problem for viez president pence would be for obvious reasons that would be significantly dised avan tanlous to any future mrit cam campaign. the second option the vice president had, which is the one he chose, was to say, yes, a degree there was evidence of illegality and fraud, which he said publically at the time. but i think the constitution has tied my hands. i can't do anything about it. the consequence of taking that approach on january 6 is it aligns the vice president's evidence in opposition to eastman. i can't read his mind. he hasincentive to discredit eastman. i think that's very important context for anyone evaluating this case to appreciate. >> reporter: are you saying that mike pence had politics on his mind at the time? he was the one who came under pressure from people, including your client, to try to do something that he did not -- that everyone agrees -- everyone looking at the legal basis, that he did not have the ability to do. it sounds like you are saying he had politics in mind on january 6. >> all i can say is i can't read the vice president's mind. i don't know what his internal discussions were. the question is presented to the jury -- >> reporter: you can see what he did. >> what were the incentives? i don't think it's debatable the vice president and his allies have an intensive to discredit as best they can the theories that dr. eastman put forward on that date. none of which, i continue to insist, were foreclosed by any supreme court or any precedent. you might not like his theories. you might think they are bad public policy consequences of the country. they were not foreclosed. >> reporter: there's no supreme court precedent for this. thank you for your time. thank you for coming on with the news you do not plan to ask for a speedy trial. reaction from a congressman to 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(intercom) flightdeck, see you at the house warming. ♪ chevy silverado has what it takes to do it all. with up to 13 camera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? yeah. any truck can help you make a living. this one helps you build a life. chevy silverado. donald trump's 757 has just landed at newark international airport. let's talk about the events with house freedom caucus member ken buck. thanks for joining us. what's your reaction to the former president's arrest and what you have witnessed today? >> first, it's a sad day for america in my view. any time we have a former president going through the criminal justice system, it is i think terribly unfortunate. i look at this case and i would love to see what some of the other prosecutors open your panel think. i think willis has a difficult case. she's going to have one defendant who wants a speedy trial. she has to put 90% of her case on with that defendant. you have witnesses who are going to be testifying under oath. then you have another defendant who has a trial in state court and another defendant who gets severed. then you have one or two in federal court. by the time you try donald trump, you have had a witness testify four or five times. there's going to be inconsistencies. that makes the case weaker. the d.a.'s office in fulton county overcharged this case with rico. i think they overcovercharged b having 19 defendants. she's counting on 15 of the defendants pleading guilty and becoming states evidence. i'm not sure that's going to happen in a case like this. this is not -- rico has to do with organized crime. if this is a crime, i think it's disorganized. i don't think these folks are willing to testify against the former president of the united states. >> to that point, you previously have said the charges brought against trump in this indietment are, quote, comparable to a nuclear bomb. a bullet would have sufficed. you were a prosecutor. you were a former district attorney. what charges would have sufficed? do you think district attorney willis should have just deferred to special counsel smith? >> i think jack smith brought charges -- he considered rico. he decided not to go with rico. this is really a federal case. it's not a state case. she's charging acts that are alleged to have happened in pennsylvania. she can. it's not all that uncommon in a drug case. you may have deals made outside of fulton county she could charge. in this particular case, a lot of the activity happened in washington, d.c. a lot of the activity happened in pennsylvania, arizona, or places. this is really a case that should have been brought by the federal government, was brought by the federal government in a much narrower and more focused way. >> you have said you would not support a convicted felon for the position of president of the united states. does that mean that if donald trump is ultimately convicted of up with of these crimes, whether the two being brought by jack smith or this one by fani willis, do you think that you will not support him? >> what i have said is, i don't think any of these cases will go to trial before the election. i don't think that the appeals will be heard. there won't be a final judgement before the election. i will not support a convicted felon for the position of president regardless who that person is. >> as you know, the former chief of staff mark meadows surrendered and was arrested and processed today. he is somebody that served in the house of representatives until relatively recently and was a member of the house freedom caucus, the head at one point. what goes through your mind when you see mark meadows' mug shot? >> mark is a good friend of mine. we served together. we met every week in the freedom caucus. he was the chair of the freedom caucus at the time that he left to go become the chief of staff for the white house. i think it's terribly sad. it's sad for mark. it's sad for debbie. these charges are charges that mark -- i don't know he visited georgia. he set up a phone call. he did other things at the direction of the president. i think the folks who are saying this is a political action and not an action within his scope as chief of staff, if i'm going to make a fund-raising call as a congressman, i have to leave my congressional office and i have to go someplace else to make it. i can't make it on government property. the president of the united states is exempt for that. people expect the president to conduct political activity at the same time he conducts other activities in the white house. it's difficult to say where mark -- where the line is where mark was acting in his political capacity or in his professional capacity for the president. >> finally, sir, this is the fourth time that donald trump has been booked on criminal charges. i understand that a lot of people don't take the charges from bragg in new york very seriously. jack smith charges seem serious. willis charges seem serious, regardless how heavy a lift to bring them forward. do you think republican voters are paying less and less attention each time this happens? do you think they rally around him more each time it happens? is there a hunger for a credible alternative and more so as the presidential primaries continue? >> i think all of the above. i think that there is a sympathy factor for a president of the united states. it's magnified by the fact the case against hillary clinton, the case against hunter biden don't appear to be treated the same way to republicans. i think that there are many republicans out there who are saying, enough drama. make mike pence is the right guy. maybe tim scott is the right guy. maybe the governor desantis is the right person. nikki haley, to really run against joe biden and express our values and be a better contrast. i think president trump has a large support right now. the question is going to be as this drags on, is he going to continue to have that support. >> congressman ken bauck, thank you. we saw donald trump's 757 wheels down as newark international airport. he will get into yet another motorcade and make his way back to his private golf club in new jersey where kristkristin holme joins us now. set to arrive in a few minutes at his golf club, after the historic arrest tonight in georgia. what is waiting him? we have seen him -- when he came back from florida, from being charged there in the classified documents case, i think there was a fund-raiser of some sort. what's happening at bedminister? >> reporter: jake. according to trump advisors, not much. when he was indicted in new york or arraigned in new york, he had a big party at mar-a-lago. he gave remarks, talked to club members and ain't a giant dinner with friends on the patio. when he was arraigned again in miami, he had remarks at bedminister and gave a fund-raiser. none of that is happening tonight. trump is going back to his club with a small group of aides. they don't stay there at the club. they stay at nearby hotels. they are put up in the residences. it's him going back to the golf club where he is inspend the summer. we heard from him in addition to the remarks on the tarmac, we heard from him in an interview he did on news max where he said going to the fulton county jail was a, quote, terrible experience. of course, he added they were very fleinice to him. it was interesting to have him say it was a terrible experience he had at the jail today. >> thanks so much. back with our panel. dana, one tlhing that's interesting when you talk to ken buck, at no point did he say, donald trump didn't do this, donald trump is innocent. if we booked matt gaetz, maybe we would have heard something along those lines. this is a very conservative member of the house freedom caucus. very conservative republican. not really offering much of a defense. >> no. doesn't think donald trump should be the nominee. he is one of the people who we call part of the extreme right back in 2010 and now -- >> tea party guy. >> yeah. exactly. he considers himself that. it's that part of the party has been totally overtaken by donald trump. all of the party has been overtaken. what was interesting about last night is you started to hear some of the fiscal responsibility arguments seep up and catch a lot of fire from nikki haley and others. the question is whether the ken buck arguments, the nikki haley arguments and all of those are going to actually have an oxygen when you have what you saw tonight from the frontrunner. >> you know what else struck me after last night's debate? the candidates were asked the same question that jake asked ken buck. will you vote for a guy convicted of a federal crime? ken buck said no. i'm not going to do it. i think last night, it was probably the vast majority of the candidates -- >> six out of -- >> chris christie and hutchinson. >> i will support him still. it speaks volumes, i think, about how far you have to go if you are running for president, even if you are running against him, if you think his conduct is deplorable, even if you think he should be charged, many of those people still said they would vote for him. ken buck didn't. not very much people in the congress or house of representatives right now are willing to say that. that was very notable to me. >> i thought it was also interesting, because if i had a nickel for every time a republican said privately to me what they really thought of donald trump, i won't be buying any lottery tickets anymore. the fact that we are still here today, the fact that donald trump still has such a grip, not only on the republican base voters, but on elected ed offics is stunning. >> it's interesting so much of this is ending in georgia where donald trump -- he waged there campaign to flip states that had voted for joe biden. in arizona, in pennsylvania, in michigan, wisconsin, nevada and georgia. i asked the head of one of the states that's not prosecuting donald trump, i said the fwake elector scheme, there were too many looploopholes. we are seeing accountable in michigan. and in georgia. >> that's true. i do think the special counsel's case covers some of this activity. >> but on the state level. >> the question is, do you need to double dip? there's an argument to be made it's not going to matter if he is convicted once or twice if convicted on the federal, does he need the state to follow as well? i thought the congressman made a good argument and a fair point. that is, what happens with these cases as they go along, especially if you have -- if the prosecutor has to try them at different times. if you try one and you put a witness up and suddenly you have a record of what that witness says. the next trial, if it's different, they could be impeached. it gos on, not to mention those wait doing have their case heard have time to get a dry run and hear the evidence that the government might want to put on against them. he made some fair points when it came to the complexity. >> sure. >> we could have seen a case where the district attorney didn't need 2 1/2 years to investigate but came in quickly with a call -- a charge base -- >> but one of the things that i sense, of course, there's politics afoot with a district attorney who was elected and all the rest and bragg in new york. i do think that there is an incentive for district attorneys and the like to try to provide a disincentive for any politician trying to do this ever again. not just a president but a local alderman or a congressional candidate. this coordinated conspiracy about lying about an election and trying to force through public pressure local officials to overturn an election, which would probably be easier to do on a local level with people not watching as much. >> that's true. i think it tees up an interesting conflict here. there are some, like the congressman who say it's double dipping. is it necessary? there are others who raise very good questions about, should we be in a system where every politically elected county prosecutor across the country can start prosecuting a sitting president? >> sure. >> these are all very legitimate questions. however, the other side of that coin is you have prosecutors, like in this case, fani willis, looking at substantial criminal activity, allegedly -- >> and evidence. >> evidence there her jurisdiction in fulton county georgia. she was elected by the people to prosecute crimes that happen there. this was, according to her, a significant one. that's within her -- >> thanks. another important story we have been following tonight. u.s. military officials giving their first commends about what might have caused that plane crash that appears to have killed putin ally turned rival prigozhin. analysis of that plus putin's remarks about prigozhin next. 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(swords clashing) -had enough? -no... arthritis. here. aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. my sport propels me forward. contra costa college saw potential in me that i didn't know i had. focus. determination. drive. contra costa college helped me blaze the trail. now i'm a comet, and there's no stopping me. come on, this is your shot. take it. join the team at contra costa college. start today at contracosta.edu as we have been following the arrest and first mugshot of a foreign president, u.s. military officials said it is, quote, likely that the head of the wagner mercenary, group yevgeny prigozhin, was killed in wednesday's plane crash. they also say that they, quote, doesn't have any information to indicate right now that the plane crashed, which was caught on camera, which was the result of a missile. all possibilities are being evaluated, including an onboard explosion. people are familiar with the intelligence to believe the plane crash was no accident and the goal was to kill prigozhin, a one-time ally of vladimir putin who led a brief failed rebellion two months before the crash. today, vladimir putin gave his first public remarks about prigozhin's death, we are joined by our most -- and cnn national security analyst steve hall. so, what did vladimir putin have to say about this incident? >> well, it was the first time there is a break in the silence on the part of russian authorities. all we had were some previous putin's comments, was the mention from the aviation authority about the facts of the matter of this plane crash. so, breaking the silence and yet, even though vladimir putin is not really known for his florida statements or obvious displays of emotion, this was a remarkably deadpan assessment of the death of a man of really went back for decades. take a listen. >> a new prigozhin for a very long time, since the early 90s. he was a man of difficult fades and he made serious mistakes in life. he achieved the results needed, both for himself and, a common cause. >> wow. very emotional. >> -- a man who just died there, and a reminder that vladimir putin's opinions of his longtime ally turned foe were, at best, mixed. a reminder also that the worst kind of enemy really is one that used to be a close friend, anderson. >> steve, you spent a lot of time thinking about vladimir putin. when you step message, what do you see? >> you know, i think most of vladimir putin's interactions with other human beings are transactional. so this whole idea that, an old friend of mine who came back from st. petersburg, you know i don't know how much that holds true. i think what he is trying to do when he makes statements like this, he is walking a very fine line. he has already sent the strongest message possible, the most important message for him, which is to others who would try to pull off what prigozhin pulled off. you know, a mutiny or some sort of coup. he sent the strongest message by bringing that plane down. however, what he is also trying to do is he's got to convince the russian people, and the reason he has to do this is because there are some popular support for prigozhin, and i think he is trying to walk that line by essentially saying, look, yeah, other oligarchs, others who might try, this don't because this is how it could end up. but the same token, to the russian people, listen, this is deniability here and i'm really not sure what happened. it is unclear as to whether it will work for, him but i think that's what he's trying to pull off. >> steve, the fact that, assuming that he has behind the death of prigozhin, the fact that he would be willing to kill somebody who he has an economic incentive to keep around is very telling. the economic incentive was not enough to save yevgeny prigozhin. >> this is a chance that we have seen a couple of other oligarchs failed to do. 20 years ago you had mchale -- not an identical situation, but an oligarch who began to become almost as powerful, or at least in the same strata, as vladimir putin. he felt that he could participate politically and do things that putin was extremely unhappy about. what happened to him? ten years in a russian jail, the only reason he was released was because of the olympics. this is not the first time that an oligarch has expressed and acted on a sense of hubris, there are a lot of questions that we're asking ourselves, why did prigozhin even try, this is a de-think it was going to, work and then two months later is when his plane goes down. you know, this is a guy, prigozhin, who thought he could pull it off and putin now shows, this is not going to happen and more importantly to others who might try it, it's not gonna happen. >> on a two month anniversary, as you pointed out last night. most, as the written any further response from wagner about the decapitation of the leadership? >> they have these expressions of grief, these makeshift memorials that have been set up in prigozhin's hometown of st. petersburg. people playing their respects, shouting the audit here, but there have been expressions of anger of wagner mercenaries on social media, some threatening retaliation on the part of the former boss. but most worrying to the kremlin and reflecting what steve just said there, prigozhin was one man but he represented a particular strand of sinking in russian politics and not just among his own fighters, but more widely in russian society than outflanked vladimir putin on the question of the war and what we need to be down to win it. things like bring in mass mobilization, that strand of thinking is still very much there. the question is what becomes now? 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