Understand that he has the opportunity to appear either virtually or in thursday. That was granted in the last two arraignments. We understand that thejudge will arraignments. We understand that the judge will decide which one it is. But given that mr trump has appeared in person for the last two, it is probably likely that he will appear in person for this indictment. He tends to use them, as weve seen previously, as part of his campaign. And we are seeing his republican allies really rally around him. And in some ways, they are ramping up the rhetoric to defend him. Some of them are calling for the special prosecutions investigation to be defunded. They are saying that donald trump cant get a fair trial in dc. Of course, its being held here, the scene of the alleged crime because it is a left leaning city. They refer to it as the swamp. But remember, Donald Trumps second indictment, which is in florida. The trial will take place there. Florida is his home state. Its also a republican
Democratic President Joe Biden. If the election were today, the polls show biden claiming 43 of registered voters. Tying with former president trump, who also sits right at 43 . Earlier, Iasked Pollster and communication strategist frank luntz for his thoughts on Republican Voters as we inch closer to the start of the primary season. Frank, great to have you back on the bbc. You have been speaking with the Republican Voters around this is an indictment on the januar the six investigation, what have you found . Theyre willin what have you found . Theyre willing to what have you found . Theyre willing to give what have you found . Theyre willing to give him what have you found . Theyre willing to give him a what have you found . Theyre willing to give him a pass, willing to give him a pass, theyre willing to. They see this as victimisation, they see this as victimisation, they see this as victimisation, they see this as persecution. In fact, what i found is that every time he gets indict
This is a very sad day for america. And it was also very sad driving through washington, dc and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that i left. Its a very sad thing to see it. When you look at whats happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in america. This is the persecution of the person thats leading by very, very substantial numbers in the republican primary and leading biden by a lot. So, if you cant beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. We cant let this happen in america. Thank you very much. Earlier, my colleague Sumi Somaskanda spoke to former congresswoman stephanie murphy. She served as a democratic representative for the State Of Florida and also worked on the House Select Committee to investigate the january 6th attack. Thank you so much forjoining us. Firstly, you served on the january Six Committee in the house of representatives. At
Notice, blaming the stand off over the debt ceiling which was ultimately lifted any last minute bipartisan deal. The feud was cited by fitch is one of the reasons for the downgrade. Make no mistake, this is a major black eye for america. The us treasury, essentially government ious are seen as the bedrock of the Global Financial system. Fitch is essentially pointing out there is an erosion of trust in american leadership. Given the death and perceived safety of us treasuries, this downgrade is not likely to change its role in the financial system. Likely to change its role in the financialsystem. It likely to change its role in the financial system. It could, likely to change its role in the financialsystem. It could, however, make it potentially harder and more expensive for the government to borrow in the future. Right now the Us Government owes 30 trillion in debt. Fitch is highlighting that the Us Government has too much debt doesnt have a way to bring it down. And at washington at
Remember thatjust like most americans who have credit records when they want to borrow money and find out how much debt they can take on, the Us Government also gets a credit rating. When it gets downgraded like this, the potential long term effect as it could push up the cost for the Us Government of borrowing money, and in turn that might long run push up taxes, it could mean less spending by the government and could mean fewer government and could mean fewer government programmes in the future. We are not there yet, but that is the underlying fear. If you look at what they are trying to address here in this downgrade, or one of the concerns they cite, it is a problem that exists both in the past but also in the future, and that is rising Us Government debt. At the moment Us Government debt stands at in excess of 30 trillion and it is expected to exceed the total size of the us economy at some point. With that in mind, with this problem in sight, and with the political disunity we ha