Next in the case. Plus, officers who put their lives on the line on january 6th were at the Courthouse Yesterday for that hearing. Well bring you their reaction. And theres still one more major legal issue on the horizon for donald trump. What the georgia prosecutor is saying about that case. Good morning and welcome to Way Too Early on this friday, august 4th. Its friday, folks. We made it. Im jonathan lemire, thanks for starting your day with us. History was made in the nations capitol again yesterday where for the First Time Ever a former president of the United States was arraigned for his alleged efforts to subvert american democracy. Just a few blocks away from where he took the Oath Of Office and from where his supporters carried out an unprecedented act of violence just a few years later, donald j. Trump pleaded not guilty to four Felony Charges yesterday stemming from his actions after the 2020 election. The charges were conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. Now, no cameras were allowed in the courtroom yesterday where only about 100 people were present. Trump in a blue seat and trademark red tie was seated about 10 feet away from the man leading the prosecution against him, Special Counsel jack smith. When the former president s lawyers introduced themselves to the Magistrate Judge presiding yesterday they referred to their client as President Trump. The judge then referred back to him as mr. Trump. A reminder that everyone is equal in the court of law. The former president himself only spoke a few times mostly to acknowledge he was aware of his rights. He was asked to state his name and age to which he responded donald j. Trump, john, and 77. Most of the arraignment was typical in nature, but before trump agreed to the conditions of his release, the judge gave him an unusual warning. She reminded him that it is a crime to try to influence a juror to threaten or bribe a witness or to retaliate against someone providing information to prosecutors. When asked if he understood that violating those terms could result in his bond being revoked, the former president simply said, yes. Now, trump had more to say after he left the courthouse. Speaking to reporters on the tarmac before flying back to his new jersey club, trump lamented his return to washington, d. C. This is very sad day for america. And it was also very sad driving through washington, d. C. And seeing the filth and the decay and all the broken buildings in walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that i left. Its a very sad thing to do see it. When you look at whats happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. If you cant beat him, you persecute him or prosecute him. We cant let this happen in america. Trump later reiterated most of those same points about the nations capitol on his fledgling social media site, but its unclear what hes actually looking at and quite a bit of his 10minute ride from Reagan Airport from the federal courthouse was underground. Now that the former president has been formally arraigned, the next court date in this case will be august 28th. In the meantime prosecutors must submit a proposed Case Schedule that includes a trial date and estimated length of proceedings, and thats by august 10th, just a week or so away to what trumps defense team will have just a few days to respond. When both sides meet again on the 28th, jauj judge Tanya Chutkan will be attending. During the proceedings judge chutkan plans to set the trial date for the case. Its likely the prosecutors will argue for a speedy trial while trumps team will push for the trial to be held after next novembers election. Joining us now msnbc justice and Legal Affairs analyst. He was most recently the top spokesperson at the Department Of Justice under Attorney General merrick garland. Anthony, good morning. Were so grateful youre with us this morning. So you were working under the a. G. With he made the decision to appoint Special Counsel jack smith to that case. Now, there have been some deliberations about the appropriateness of the investigation and how to handle it. Tell us what you can. Take us behind the scenes about what went into that now extraordinary and historic decision. Yeah, thank you for having me, thonthen. Thats exactly right. The Attorney General made the decision in november of last year to appoint a Special Counsel. And number two, to appoint jack smith to the role. He did so to ensure independence and accountability. Youll recall he got some criticism from individuals at the time who did not think it was necessary for him to take himself out of the Decision Making process, but he appropriately in my opinion saw this was a pretty cut and dry decision. In his words he thought the extraordinary circumstances of the moment and those extraordinary circumstances being the former president who was under Criminal Investigation was running for his old job again and against whose cabinet the Attorney General served. The Attorney General in my view made the decision to appoint jack smith to this position, and importantly and this is important, jonathan, because what were hearing now from donald trump and others is that the Justice Department is being weaponized against him. But that is not what is happening. Jack smith is the one who has exercised his own prosecutorial discretion to bring this case. Smith is not a political appointee like garland was, like i was. He is part of dojs career workforce. Hes a political independent, and he doesnt have a political bone in his body despite what donald trump is telling his supporters. Yeah, trump, of course, Criticizing Smith on his social media site. We should note those in his courtroom about a month or so down in South Florida said smith didnt even make contact. Yesterday in washington the two did exchange some glances, but no words were spoken. Anthony, tell us about what we know so far about the timetable here, the calender. What does it tell you the Magistrate Judge gave prosecutors just one week to propose a trial date, and then we also know august 28th, just a few weeks from now, theyre going to set a schedule for the trial itself. Yeah, so judge chutkan is the District Judge in this case who by all accounts is fair but shes also tough. Shes one of the few judges in washington, d. C. Whos actually handed down longer sentences than the government even requested. It does tell me shes committed to having a speedy trial which by all intents and purposes we all americans i think should want this. Whats interesting to me, jonathan, is that typically when defendants are innocent, they want to have a trial as quickly as they can, right, so they can have their day in court and move on with their lives. This is trump undertaking the opposite tact here. He wants to delay the trial, understanding really he doesnt have based on my reading and more importantly the reading of notable legal scholars that have been on this network over the course of the last couple of days, he doesnt have any real legitimate defense in this case. Yeah, certainly seems like the government wants to get this done before the election so voters have the information before they go to the polls. Trumps team afterwards if he wins he can make it all go away. We really appreciate you starting us off this morning. Well speak to you again down the road. House speaker Kevin Mccarthy had some responses. He tried to compare the situation to hunter biden and got upset when asked about trumps continued claims the 2020 election was stolen. I could say the same thing Hillary Clinton says about her election she lost. I can say the same thing about the dnc who said it about the 2016 race. I can say the same thing about those in the Democratic Party from the leadership on down about george bush not winning and al gore did. Were any of them put in jail inwere any of them held with no response able to get out . The answer is no. So, yeah, you can raise that. And someone raised the question you know in america youre entitled to raise a question. Youre entitled to question whether it was honest or not. Thats the uniqueness of the first amendment. Thats the uniqueness of america. But you know what, you shouldnt be prosecuted for your thoughts. And the difference here is when Hillary Clinton said it, Nothing Happened to him. When they said it in georgias elekds, Nothing Happened to them either. When the dnc said it, Nothing Happened to them either. That is wrong and that should stop now. Theres only one problem with all that, its not true at all. Hillary clinton did not challenge the results of the 2016 election. She gave a Concession Speech the very next morning saying she hoped trump would be a successful president for all americans. And back in 2000 youll recall al gore won the popular vote, and then it took five weeks of florida recounts and court battles, eventually going all the way to the Supreme Court before george w. Bush was declared the winner by 537 votes. Gore in his role as Vice President then presided over the certification of that election on january 6th, 2001. Still ahead here on Way Too EarlyFulton CountyDistrict Attorney fani willis weighs in on the status of her years long investigation into Election Interference in the state of georgia. What shes saying about any possible impacts from Special Counsel jack smiths probe. Plus what were learning about the arrest of two u. S. Navy sailors on charges relating to national security. Those stories, more on trumps historic arraignment, and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. R when we come right back businesses need 5g solutions today. Thats why they choose tmobile for business. Mlb partners with tmobile to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. Aaa relies on tmobiles network to stay connected nationwide, so they can help get their members back on the road. And were helping pano ai innovate, to stop the spread of wildfires. Nows the time to see what americas largest 5g network can do for your business. Having triplets is. Amazing expensive. So, we switched to the bargain detergent, but we ended up using three times as much and the clothes still werent as clean as with tide. So were back with tide, and the clothes are clean again. Do 3x the laundry and get a tide clean. Meet the portable blender we can barely keep in stock. Blendjet 2 gives you icecrushing, big Blender Power onthego. So you can blend up a mouthwatering smoothie, protein shake, or latte wherever you are recharge quickly with any usb port. Best of all, it even cleans itself just blend water with a drop of soap. What are you waiting for . Order yours now from blendjet. Com before they sell out again my most important kitchen tool . My brain. So i choose neuriva plus. Unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. To help keep me sharp. Neuriva think bigger. Welcome back. At a Press Conference yesterday Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney fani willis stressed that the Special Counsels latest indictment of former President Trump would not affect any charges she may bring in her own Election Interference investigation. Take a look. Have you read it . I have. Anything surprising in there . No. Are you coordinating with the Special Counsels office at all . Im not going to kmint on the investigation at this time. How much overlap between what youre planning to do and the Special Counsel . Obviously were concentrating on georgia and things that impacted georgia. Does it have any bearing on the investigation at all . Im not sure i understand the question. Does it affect what youre planning to do . No. Theres some people who say that there are already now three indictments against the former president. They argue that even if there were crimes committed here in Fulton County, a fourth indictment isnt worth all the work that would come with this. To people who say that what would you say . That i took an oath. That if someone broke the law in Fulton County, georgia, that i have a duty to prosecute, and thats exactly what i plan to do. You heard her. Meanwhile, the Fulton County courthouse is preparing for when willis announces her decision. Starting next week the road surrounding the courthouse will be closed to general traffic, and parking wont be available on that street. Barricades have already been put up outside as an additional precaution. Willis has said chat she will make a decision on potential indictments by the end of this month. Meanwhile, in other headlines, two navy sailors in Southern California are under arrest accused of providing Sensitive National security information to china. Nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell has the details. The Justice Department says the two navy sailors have each been arrested for selling Military Secrets to china. Sensitive Military Information ended up in the hands of the peoples republic of china. The First Defendant faces espionage charges. Wey sent National Defense information to china including documents, photos, videos, and technical manuals. In exchange his Intelligence Officer paid Wey Thousands of dollars. Authorities say wey said the chinese officer had photos of vehicles and exercises. And 26yearold from a naval base in california. Federal authorities allege he received approximately 15,000 from a chinese Intelligence Officer in exchange for sharing operational plans, navy movements, and blueprints for a radar system at a u. S. Military base in okinawa, japan. In short mr. Jhao chose a path of corruption. With microsoft reporting chinese backed hackers broke into the email accounts of state and Commerce Department employees including the secretary of commerce. Keep you posted on developments in that story in the days ahead. Next up here, were going to turn to sports. Football is back sort of. Well have the highlights from last nights Hall Of Fame Game. Plus, it seems the only thing that can stop baseballs best player, the cramps. Well tell you who that is and what happened. You can guess it. Thats all straight ahead on Way Too Early. Ll straight ahen Way Too Early. Day ticket. josh allen its not your best plan. But you know what is . Myplan from verizon. Switch now and theyll give you Nfl Sunday Ticket from youtubetv, on them. hero fan this plan is amazing josh allen another amazing plan, backing away from here very slowly. fan 1 that was josh allen. fan 2 mmhm. vo for a limited time get Nfl Sunday Ticket from youtubetv on us. A 449 value. Plus, get a free Samsung Galaxy s23. Only on verizon. Youre going to see a lot more of that than what youve seen historically and a lot more scrambling from this quarterback. Robinson straight for the touch down. That touch down pass caught by the immortal Austin Watkins jr. In the fourth quarter. Puts the Cleveland Browns ahead of the New York Jets for good last night. It was the preseason opener. The gang green kicked off the aaron rogers era with a loss. Rogers he didnt play. Instead he helped coach the Backup Quarterback from the side line, there he is, with wilson giving rogers credit for setting up the play that