Happening now in the newsroom, a heartbreaking loss for u. S. Womens soccer. Off the post sweden can win on this kick. Plus one on one with Donald Trumps lawyer who claims trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election were aspirational, not criminal. And lost at sea for two days in a boat only 12 feet long. Well show you the incredible rescue. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this sunday, im fredricka whitfield. Donald trumps lawyer doubling down that trump was within his First Amendment rights when he told former Vice President mike pence not to certify the election results. The Attorney Says it all boils down to the way he asked. And all of this played out in the open. Its all free speech. There was a Supreme Court decision that says when youre exercising free speech, youre not engaging in a fraud on the government. Unfortunately most people dont understand thats just one example of the actions. Its very political. Thats just one
present its case and we don t know also whether the former president might choose to testify in his own defense. i want to start by bringing in cnn senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid who has been all over this story for many, many week, and paula, the indictment is out now. i wonder, what to you as someone following this and every single move and detail, what stands out to you as the most damning information we ve gotten? it s such a strong reminder of how little we know compared to investigators. one of the things that struck me and i think will resonate with the american people are the photographs that the indictment uses to tell the story of how some of the nation s most sensitive secrets were strewn about mar-a-lago. prosecutors in this indictment say that these secrets were in a bathroom, in a ballroom. there you see the photo of them being in a bathroom boxes stacked up there, in the ballroom. these are cardboard, pretty flimsy in a ballroom actively being
bathroom, in a ballroom. there you see the photo of them being in a bathroom, boxes just stacked up there in the ballroom. i mean these are pretty flimsy cardboard boxes in a ballroom that is actively being used for events. there you see sensitive defense information, secrets that are only meant to be shared with a small handful of our closest allies, and they re strewn about the floor of a storage closet. and it s one thing to say that in an indictment, but it s another to support this with photographs. that was one of the things that really struck me in this indictment. but the breadth and the depth of the evidence that they ve gathered in this investigation, it s incredible. i mean, for example, there are two incidents where they say the former president shared classified documents in person. one is a story that we broke last week, a meeting at his bedminster golf club, where he says that he has sensitive information and appears to be urging people in a meeting to look at.
i remember pat saying something to the effect of, mark, we need to do something more. they re literally calling for the vice president to be f ing hung. and mark had responded something to the effect of, you heard him, pat. he thinks mike deserves it. he doesn t think they re doing anything wrong. the pence subpoena. what really happened between trump and his vice president in the days leading up to january 6th? and could this be a signal that we are nearing the end of the special counsel investigation of donald trump? also tonight, reproductive rights under threat. again. the right wing trump nominated judge who could single-handedly ban abortion pills nationwide. plus, students in alabama said they were told to censor their black history month program and leave out all the uncomfortable stuff like slavery and civil rights as the right continues to target black history. we begin tonight with former vice president mike pence weighing his response to a new subpoena fro
so this afternoon, i am offering this resolution that the committee direct the chairman to issue a subpoena for relevant documents and testimony under oath from donald john trump. if trump lost, he would declare victory anyway. and do literally anything to stay in power. while trump ultimately failed, the threat is ongoing. republicans who stoked the insurrection are running for re-election. while a new crop of far right candidates will gladly overturn the next one if they don t like the results. and we begin tonight with the house january 6th committee closing out what s likely to be its final investigative hearing, public hearing, at least, with a remarkable step. one of three major developments as it seeks to wrap up its work. the first, voting unanimously to subpoena the former president and making it very clear why. he s required to answer to those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy. he s required to answer to those m