>> ultimately, what president trump said is, let's go with option d. let's just halt, let's pause the voting and allow the state legislatures to take one last look and make a determination as to the -- as to whether or not the elections were handled fairly. that's constitutional law. that's not an issue of criminal activity. i will be joined by nancy pelosi on the charges against the former president. the republican support for him, which is increasing, plus the challenges for congressional democrats. reaction from the officers who defended capitol hill on january 6th. they were in the courthouse yesterday to watch it unfold. >> it was refreshing, if you will, so to speak, to see the president -- the former president treated like any other criminal who violates the law sitting in that courtroom going through the judicial process. it isn't closure. i wish it would have happened. i said he should have been arrest order chared or charged 7. it's not closure, but it's not a necessary step to get that closure. accountability is being held accountable for your actions, that's happening now. justice is -- looks like a guilty verdict. ♪♪ good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. former president trump will be back on the campaign trail this evening in alabama one day after pleading not guilty at his arraignment on conspiracy charges for his alleged efforts to overturn a free and fair election. an election he lost and upend the peaceful transfer of power. among the more unusual moments, the magistrate judge reminding mr. trump it's a crime to try to influence a juror, to threaten or bribe a witness, or to retaliate against someone providing information to prosecutors. joining me now, garrett haake, ken dilanian and former u.s. attorney harry litman. garrett, you were in the courtroom. ken, you were in the overflow room. you were both witnesses to everything that unfolded. garrett, first to you. you were there. give us a sense of what it was like to be sitting in that courtroom, watch donald trump, former president coming in, how confident was? the lawyers, the magistrate judge, all of it. >> it was a strange combination between feeling historic and totally mundane. there were members of the public. there were multiple judges who had come in some cases with their family to watch the proceedings. you could tell it was history they wanted to be a part of. the proceedings were perfunctory. it felt like any other defendant other than the fact that it was the most famous and one of the most powerful people in the world who was in the chair. as for donald trump, i have been in the courtroom for all three of his arraignments. this time, he is getting more comfortable with this. he is used to the process. he understands when to stand and when to sit and what to say. he was pretty comfortable looking around the room, talking with his lawyers. except when it came to jack smith. the two men's eyes met as donald trump came into the room. while smith was watching donald trump, taking in his behavior and his demeanor, donald trump never returned his gaze for the rest of the time there. he would look around the room, look at the reporters and the judge, but not jack smith. >> what will we hear next? the magistrate judge seemed to be reflecting, we have some window into the thinking of the trial judge. >> that's right. it was clear that they coordinated and discussed this. they want to move quickly. the magistrate judge gave three dates for next hearing. the government said, we want the earliest. trump's lawyer wanted the latest. trump's lawyers won that round. it's very clear the judge wants to set a trial date. there was a back and forth when filings are due. the magistrate judge said, i expect it to be in the filings. the judge will make a decision. come prepared. >> ken, you were in the overflow room. you had a different vantage point. you talked to john lauro. he gave you a sense today about how the defense is going to lay it out. >> we have an analysis we published about president trump's potential legal defenses and their pitfalls. before i get into that, i will say one thing yesterday's hearing made clear is his defense is to delay. that was john lauro's approach. the judge ordered both sides to write a brief about when they think the trial could be scheduled. lauro said, we need an idea of what discovery is. we will afford ourselves every possible defense. some of the defenses include what he has been articulating on tv, everything donald trump said was covered by the first amendment. it doesn't mean it's protected. there's another defense that he relied on the advice of lawyers. the problem is, a lot of the lawyers that gave him that advice are unnamed co-conspirators. >> that's john eastman. >> rudy giuliani, sidney powell. >> jeff clark. >> exactly. third defense is donald trump legitimately believed the election was stolen from him. these weren't fraudulent claims. he felt these things were true. the problem is, there's a lot of evidence in this indictment and elsewhere to the contrary. no less than bill barr, his attorney general, says he is convinced donald trump knew he lost. >> harry, i want to talk to you about, first of all, mike pence's response to trump's legal team. let's watch that. >> let's be clear on this point. it wasn't just that he asked for a pause. the president specifically asked me and his gaggle of crackpot lawyers asked me to literally reject votes, which would have resulted in the issue being turned over to the house of representatives and literally chaos would have ensued. >> harry, this gets to the heart of something that's on page 34 in the indictment. i want to play something that the defense lawyer seemed to be acknowledging last night. we played some of that. i think we can hear more right now. sorry about that. we referred to it earlier. >> i have a sense of it. >> he said they had asked for this pause to send it back to the states. this was legal. according to an acknowledgement at 11:45, i think, on january 6, in an email to vice president pence's counsel, to his chief counsel, this was what john eastman called, in writing, just a minor violation of the electoral count act. that's a violation of the law. >> and it's a crime to conspire to do it. he calls it a pause. we have -- this is the exact language that's charged in the indictment. they agreed to try to impede or delay the proceeding. that's a pause of ten days, which would have resulted in chaos. that was quite a show of flamboyance from the vice president, that struck me, from his normal style. it's an admission that they did exactly what the u.s. code in the indictment says is a crime. they made an agreement to do something unlawful by trying to put off the january 6 certification. there's also -- that's why there are four counts. he actually did it. things were delayed. that was, in fact, lauro saying, ten days, what the heck. they did it for two hours. that was a crime. the whole idea was, in fact, to impair the official proceeding. >> ken, one of the other things that you talked about yesterday, which i found so intriguing, you were in the court in florida. you were there yesterday watching from the overflow room. there was a real difference that you felt between the way the court employees, the bailiffs, were behaving toward the former president. >> garrett there in miami. i was in the overflow room. they were much different proceedings. trump did not speak in miami. magistrate kept it light and loose in miami and made jokes. there seemed to be more of a feeling that this was a big deal, a big show. yesterday was all business. they do this kind of thing in that courthouse all the time with high profile defendants. it did not deviate from standard procedure. donald trump was addressed by the magistrate directly. he was kept waiting for 15 minutes. how often is a president or former president kept waiting? not very often. in this case, he was. >> one difference is this is a case where there's easy to understand victims. they live in the city. many are in that court either in the overflow room or perhaps in the room themselves. whatever else you think about the legal arguments in new york or classified documents case, the victims are theoretical. here it's the people who were in the capitol. it's a very related thing. you can feel that, that this is a community that's very much affected by this story still. >> harry dunn and daniel hodges were in the overflow room. what about the admonition from the magistrate judge not to talk or consult with any of the other witnesses or co-conspirators or to interfere with a juror? some of the other -- some of your colleagues, other attorneys whom we have spoken to, thought was unusual for this district. >> not unprecedented, but they have gang cases. it is unusual. the big thing to me, andrea, was the fact that the judge and the magistrate already had conferred. normally, you would take another hearing just to set when you would do the schedule. obviously -- this is what's really unusual -- they have huddled in advance. the judge has made clear her preferences and wanted the magistrate to begin to put them in place from this very first appearance. >> harry, thanks so much. garrett and ken, i don't know how you are still on your feet. you are amazing. both of you. we thank you. we gave you chairs. >> we appreciate that. >> thank you. cashing in. billionaire donald trump using his third criminal indictment to ask his supporters for more money. what that means for his 2024 presidential campaign coming next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." we are back in 60 seconds. this is msnbc. this is msnbc. what do we always say, son? 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"new york times" polling shows the gop presidential primary is trump's race to lose. more than half of republican voters say they are sticking with trump. that was taken -- the polling was taken before the indict ment. joining me, jackie alemany, sam stein, and charlie sykes. all three are msnbc contributors. charlie, to you. donald trump is on the attack. he is trying to convince his supporters he is being charged because of the gop frontrunner. what does trump using his legal troubles reveal about the current state of the republican party? >> nothing new. this is very much on brand for donald trump to portray himself as a victim and to use this in order to raise money. the reality is, he is asking the republicans to buy their ticket that will suck up a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of attention. a lot of republicans would love to run on the economy, on inflation, on crime, on the border, on hunter biden. what donald trump is making absolutely clear is that he is going to make the re-litigation of the 2020 campaign and the big lie central to his campaign. these trials will dominate the campaign. there's a rally around the flag issue. the question is whether any of the other republican candidates are able to point out, do you want to buy this? do you want to have 2024 take place frankly in a series of courthouses where donald trump is facing 78 felony charges? >> jackie, kevin mccarthy immediately defended donald trump, pointing the finger at hunter biden. how are trump's allies on capitol hill helping build his defense? >> yeah. james comber, the gop chairman, just happened to release the transcribed interview of devin archer yesterday just hours before trump's arraignment. this was supposed to be someone who was the blockbuster gop star who would tip things over the edge for republicans in terms of rallying everyone around the idea of opening up an impeachment inquiry into joe biden. he promised that this was the person who was going to finally be the linchpin in providing and substantiating these claims that joe biden somehow was involved in hunter biden's businesses. his international affairs and these bribery allegations that we heard for months now of which republicans have panned up zero information on. devin's testimony really proved just that. there is no there there. yes, hunter biden did try to sell access, he tried to sell the illusion of access to his father, he tried to capitalize off of his proximity to power to make himself appear more valuable to potential business partners. at the end of the day, all of hunter biden's interactions with joe biden were polite, benign, and the current president then vice president was really an unwitting participant, where he was just simply checking in on his son who as we know has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction. >> sam, let's talk about the calendar. trump's next court date, as we heard from ken dilanian and garrett haake, is -- comes five days after the first gop debate. it's on august 28th. what do you expect? >> first off, thank you to your graphics department for having the red banners in the legal dates and blue for political ones. that was helpful. it's going to complicate things. we don't expect donald trump to be at the first republican debate. having his court hearing in the shadow of it is not exactly the type of contrast you want. that said, trump has benefitted from being in these types of spotlights in the context of a primary. his team was prepared to orchestrate's yesterday's appearance in d.c. they were passing out pamphlets to the reporters. they had a spokesperson ready to go with a prepared statement right outside the courthouse. they were blasting fund-raising emails. flip side of going through the wringer a couple times for trump is that they know the routine. they professionalized politically the routine around this. while a normal, traditional sense, being indicted for the third time and potentially the fourth time might not be the most advantageous political thing to happen to you, in the context of this republican primary, they have proven effective at turning it into a rally around the flag type of phenomenon. >> sam, jackie, and charlie, thank you very much. under arrest. two u.s. navy sailors are charged with spying for china. the latest on what we know next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. 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two u.s. navy sailors, are under arrest in california. charged in two separate indictments with spying for china by disclosing sensitive military information to chinese intelligence in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes. >> these individuals stand accused of violating rules that protect the united states and ensure that those who are entrusted with our national security do not abuse their positions for any reason, including for personal profit. china, among all such nations, stands apart in terms of the threat that its government poses to the united states.uled in th audacity. >> they both pled not guilty. their trials are scheduled to begin next month. joining me now is dan deloose. what can you tell us? the administration is trying to reset. >> this is an extraordinary case and very worrisome for the u.s. government. mr. wei was passing on sensitive information about the amphibious ship that he served on, including its weapon systems, to a chinese intelligence officer over two years. he got thousands of dollars in return. he also was passing on other sensitive information to the intelligence officer. he is facing a possible life sentence. at the same time you have another young sailor in his 20s, zhao, who passed on information about u.s. military exercises in the pacific, specific details about where ships would be moving, systems on those ships. in addition, he was passing on allegedly diagrams and blueprints of u.s. radar systems at the american base in okinawa, japan. all of these things are crucial to the u.s. military's defense and operations in the pacific in an event of any confrontation or conflict with china. as you say, this comes against the background of a whole array of chinese espionage that's been exposed. a few other federal cases have come to light. as well as a massive cyber hacking operation that have penetrated the federal government and even cabinet officials' emails. >> it's really alarming, especially the context that you provided. is there a pentagon briefing today? >> there won't be a briefing today. yesterday, there was. they didn't have much to say about it. we were asking them -- reporters were asking, are you going to change security procedures? it wasn't that long ago that there was another major intelligence breach with that air national guardsman. at the moment, they say they think the procedures are sufficient. we will see. >> that was jack ta share are a. congresswoman nancy pelosi is joining us next. you are watching msnbc. es that e gentle on your skin, try downy free & gentle downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. the towel washed with downy is softer, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. my husband and i have never been more active. shingles doesn't care. i go to spin classes with my coworkers. good for you, shingles doesn't care. because no matter how healthy you feel, your risk of shingles sharply increases after age 50. but shingrix protects. proven over 90% effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. shingles doesn't care but, shingrix protects. shingrix is now zero dollars for almost everyone. ask your doctor about shingrix today. businesses need 5g solutions today. that's why they choose t-mobile for business. mlb partners with t-mobile to not only enhance the fan experience, but to advance how the game is played. aaa relies on t-mobile's network to stay connected nationwide, so they can help get their members back on the road. and we're helping pano ai innovate, to stop the spread of wildfires. now's the time to see what america's largest 5g network can do for your business. type 2 diabetes? 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>> i think that's really up to -- i've had conversations about this. i just don't know. i would leave that up to the justice department. i don't give them advice. i could make the argument either way. the letter is a very powerful one about why it should happen. i think we leave that up to the justice department. as you say, that would be the chief justice of the supreme court, beyond the justice department. i think the point is right now that we just have clarity and we have respect for the legal process. and that is one of the sins of donald trump is that he has disrespected the rule of law and the judicial process in our country. that's just not right. because that is a very important pillar of our foreign policy -- not our foreign policy. i say foreign policy, because as we go into other countries, we make judgment about their rule of law. it's a very important part of our democracy and a judgment we make about others. >> how do you feel about the push by the house republicans, many of them -- flirted with this idea of impeachment proceedings against president biden because of unfounded allegations that he was involved with his son hunter's businesses. >> let's just -- >> as you were cautious about starting impeachment proceedings for the reason that once you start in a special committee on the judiciary committee, it's hard to stop that process. >> with all due respect to your question, this is frivolous, this is a diversionary tactic. they can't stand the fact we have a job report of over 200,000 jobs today, that unemployment is 3.5%, 18 months of unemployment under 4%. 13.4 million jobs created with joe biden in the white house and working with the congressional democrats. they have to change the subject. they have nothing to offer the american people in terms of jobs and the rest. they talk about it, but then they change the subject when it's time to deliver. i'm so proud of the democrats in the congress. we intend to take back the house the next time so we don't have to deal with the waste of time of the congress for them to go down this path. it's really sad. i wish that the republican party would be -- somebody would take it back, that we would have a real republican party. it's up to them to decide what it is. it shouldn't be a cult to somebody frivolous with the law and his puppets. >> is there anything in terms of procedure that house democrats can do to stop it from happening if they decide to vote for starting the impeachment process? >> public sentiment. if they want to sit down with their members who are in a difficult district -- subject them to that, bring it on. just bring it on. it's not going to go anyplace. they are going to undo the other impeachments? they can't undo that. they can talk about it. they can talk about it. but do you understand that they have done nothing in the term, the time that they have been there, to meet the needs of the american people? now, they have a big diversion. they have their hero being arraigned, something so sad for our country. you think they would be prayerful or thoughtful or patriotic. but instead, they want to change the subject. in any case, push that aside. the fact is, we have a great president who is doing a great job. they can't stand that. so they have to come up with some gimmick. on the other hand, right now, this greatest country that ever existed in the history of the world, has a person who tainted the office he served in. allegations are allegations. innocent until proven guilty. >> we heard today that part of the defense strategy -- i'm sorry about the satellite delay. i didn't mean to interrupt you. i was going to ask you about the defense strategy, which is to delay and push this trial and the other trials until after the election, if he is the nominee. he could then stop the process. >> because he is afraid of the truth. let's leave that up -- i think we should have to be a little calm, a little prayerful, loving our country as we all do, and let -- instead of having this back and forth publically about delay and that, there's certain options that are available to a person who has been arraigned. but that's up to the judges to decide. but it's not up to the arraigned person to say the justice system is not on the level, is not on the level. let me just say this. the january 6 committee, i'm very, very proud of the work that it did. as you probably recall, we were having a movement to have a bipartisan, outside commission. we thought that would be the right path to take. we passed it in the house. of course, we had the democratic majority. in the senate, they need 60 votes. we thought we had that. we had an agreement with some of the republicans, susan collins and others in the senate, which would equal membership, equal staffing, money, subpoena power and the rest, just to be able to have this joint commission outside the congress. when the vote came, instead of the 13 votes, it was 56. they maybe would have had 57 if somebody was present who couldn't be. the reason it failed is because mitch mcconnell went to the members and said, do me a personal favor and vote against this. people said to him, do you think nancy will let this fail, stop? no. so we had to form our own house bipartisan committee. they did excellent work. probably one of the best achievements in terms of a committee of that kind in the history of our country. they have laid the foundation, created a path for the justice department to have the data. this is all about the facts and the law. it's up to them then to take -- they took a couple of the recommendations of the committee in terms of the charges against the former president of the united states. >> we will have to leave it there. nancy pelosi, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. thank you. one of vladimir putin's strongest critics sentenced to another 19 years in prison. what that means for russia. that's next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. now is the time to partner with our experts. get started today with verizon business. it's your business. it's your verizon. hi, i'm katie. i live in flagstaff, arizona. i'm an older student. i'm getting my doctorate in clinical psychology. i do a lot of hiking and kayaking. i needed something to help me gain clarity. so i was in the pharmacy and i saw a display of prevagen and i asked the pharmacist about it. i started taking prevagen and i noticed that i had more cognitive clarity. memory is better. it's been about two years now and it's working for me. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. 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(vo) verizon small business days are coming. talk to your pharmacist from august 7th to the 13th. now is the time to partner with our experts. get started today with verizon business. it's your business. it's your verizon. overnight in ukraine, a major victory for the navy, damaging a russian warship with a drone. ship movements temporarily halted. joining me now is ben rhodes, former deputy national security advisor in the obama white house. what does this attack -- it's a major attack. we see a lot of aggressiveness, these drone attacks against moscow. what they have acknowledged is that they have not gotten to the first line of defense of russia. heavily mined territory. the counteroffensive, whatever you call it, are proceeding slowly. some of the troops are not doing as well as we hoped. >> i think you have to see this attack in that light. what we have seen is as the ukrainians have had trouble pushing back that front line that is so heavily mined and fortified by the russians, they have gotten more aggressive and more brazen with these drone attacks. we have seen more cross-border attacks into russia. you have seen attacks on, in this case, the russian fleet in the black sea. you will see more ukrainian efforts behind the front line to bring the war to russia, particularly as they are getting stalled in the counteroffensive. this is a big victory for the ukrainians, but also speaks to some escalation risk and the volatile to try to further emba vladimir putin personally because of any perceived weakness after the mini rebellion by the wagner group. we learned alexei navalny is back in court. he's been the jail for two and a half years, he got jailed the day of or after he came back voluntarily from germany to join the opposition. rejoin it. now sentenced to another 19 years. >> yeah. if you talk to navalny before he went back and talk to his people today, their basic view is navalny will be in prison as long as vladimir putin is in power. stacking these sentences one upon another is kind of immaterial. he's not guilty of these things. this is just putin kind of cracking down on the repression in russia. i think what you see, though, is putin more and more afraid. he's not just detaining navalny. he recently detained a far right critic of his. he's feeling heat from prigozhin, from nationals, and he wants to keep people like alexei navalny locked up. the phase of the war we're in you see a more totalitarian russia exemplified, more aggressive ukraine striking into russia, so i think we could be entering a time where it's not just ukraine, and its politics that merits watching, it it's russia. we're inside russia and what is the effect of putin's crackdown, putin's opponents and these more aggressive ukrainian strikes to bring the war to russia. >> jake sullivan is going to saudi arabia. what do you think of the saudis hosting a summit, ukrainian sponsored to try to bring some of the global south countries, india, brazil, more into the orbit, china is coming as well. some kind of peace deal? >> there's a lot happening here. i'm not hopeful they're going to emerge with a peace deal. what's interesting you have to see this in the context of the ongoing negotiations between the united states and saudi arabia about normalizing relations between saudi and israel. the saudis want a lot from the united states. they want a security guarantee, a mutual defense pact, weapons, nuclear program, and this is part of them demonstrating look what we can bring to you. we can be the bridge between the global south and your interest and china to the table. i think this has to be seen in the context of u.s. and saudi arabia circling around each other and determining can we trust each other. >> two navy sailors arrested briefly that have been hacks of commerce, state department and "new york times" report of a deeper concern about malware embedded in our military. >> if you look at the arrests, these were people passing naval secrets, navy exercises, nature of our ships and bases, that is china getting information in information in anticipation of a potential conflict. this is china trying to prepare for a potential military contingency with the united states which is alarming. >> taiwan. >> ben rhodes great to see you. the world isn't getting safer. take care, my friend. >> thanks, andrea. and class dismissed. less than a week before school starts in florida the college board says the state has effectively banned the teaching of its advanced placement psychology courses, college grade course. what's going on there? we'll be right back. e? we'll be right back. 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"chris jansing reports" starts now. good afternoon. i'm chris jansing. the extraordinary political and legal collision course clock is now ticking very loudly. in 24 days, the courtroom and the campaign trail come together for former president trump set into motion by the high stakes day in court yesterday. where the former president pled not guilty to charges he broke the law by trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. and a new poll sho