a key witness in the trump classified documents case now identified. the lead starts right now. who is trump employee number 4? cnn confirms the name after he allegedly discussed surveillance camera footage on donald trump s mar-a-lago property. this new identity as the former president faces new charges. plus the political future of senator mitch mcconnell. what his office is saying today about his freeze this week in front of reporters. and only on cnn. terrorized by the taliban, the desperate plea from afghans now in hiding two years after the chaotic american withdrawal. welcome to the lead, everyone. i m in for jake tapper. we start today with our law and justice lead and the chaotic and consequential week for donald trump and his growing legal challenges. as the former president and his lawyers waited to see if he would be charged for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, special counsel jack smith unveiled more charges in a separate case. the one involving t
special counsel jack smith has expanded his classified documents case against the former president. all happening as we wait for another potential indictment to drop. that one on his investigation of 2020 election interference. we re following the latest. plus, legal issues. what legal issues? thformer president is far and republican nomination.r the he and several gop rivals will speak in iowa tonight. will any of them break through, will any of them take on the former president directly? we ll discuss. and a scare in the air. a plane taking, quote, evasive action to avoid a midair collision. we re going to hear from a passenger who says the flight felt like a roller coaster. we re following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to cnn news central. donald trump, he faces new charges in the classified documents case. at the same time we re learning there are security preparations under way right now here in the capital for his possible thi
thank you so much for joining me tonight. cnn primetime with abby phillip starts now. hi, abby. good evening, everyone, i am abby philip. thank you for joining me. this morning, hunter biden woke up thinking he had a plea deal. but tonight, not only is he without one, but he is still under active investigation. now, the president son had expected to plead guilty to tax and gun possession charges after making a deal with the justice department. but the judge today raised some concerns about the deal, calling it unusual and tangled. in fact, at one point, she asked, is it even constitutional? now, prosecutors and biden s lawyers fought back and forth. and eventually, he changed his plea when the judge said that she could neither accept nor deny the deal in its current form. so, now, after thinking a deal could put all his legal problems in the rearview mirror ahead of his father s reelection run, no less, the politics just got a little messier. it s giving republicans a n
robert wolf standing by for us. first, we go to griff jenkins. he s over at the courthouse. hi, griff. good afternoon, gillian. in a trickle of events leads to us believe that this grand jury and the special counsel may be near ago decision on whether or not to bring any charges. former president trump has taken to social media to talk about that meeting with his attorneys and jack smith. here s let me show you on truth social what he wrote. he said my attorneys had a productive meeting with the doj explaining in detail that i did nothing wrong. was advised by many lawyers and an indictment of me would further destroy our country. no indication of notice was given during the meeting. do not trust the fake news on anything. it has been an interesting day. now, if we go back though, this all started july 16 when trump s defense got that target letter. sources confirming to fox news that there were three federal charges that the president, former president could potentially
prosecutors confirmed that he is still under federal investigation and this all comes after the two virus whistleblowers testified the politics influence the doj s decision, throughout the bided and been dissented investigation welcome the troubled is. there pretty hunter and his former associate kevin archer is expected to set the closed-door testimony of the house oversight committee tomorrow, and former director national intelligence, click joins me now i should also a formal acting u.s. attorney from the great state of texas and spray to see you mr. radcliffe. you bet katie could be with you sweetie was a big week and we saw something very unusual the words of this federal judge take place. the plea deal completely fell apart and we are now in this position where looks like the department of justice, under president joe biden colluded essentially with hunter biden s attorney, to get him to steal and the judge simply read through it and found some things that she thought