a post-election trial in the georgia elections case, and that could actually happen. we ll have expert legal analysis for you straight ahead. meanwhile, a codefendant in that case is taking a different approach. we ll explain the strategy for trump s former chief of staff, mark meadows. meanwhile, president joe biden was on the road yesterday talking about everything but the latest indictment for his predecessor. we ll show you what he was focused on instead. good morning and welcome to way too early on this wednesday, august 16th. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. the clock has begun on the ten-day windowt that former president trump and his 18 codefendants have to voluntarily turn themselves in. fulton county district attorney fani willis announced a sweeping election interference indictment on monday night and gave everyone charged until august 25th to surrender to authorities. if and when they appear they ll do so at the fulton county jail i
accuser. he s ordered to pay $83 million to the writer e. jean carroll. she s the victor was plaintiff in this case, as she first walked out of court with hers lawyers today. the jury deliberated for just under three hours. that is fast. it shows a very costly miscalculation that he, the ongoing defendant, made by lying and defaming her again after a previous cord victory. $18 million to compensate carroll. okay? that s what the jury foun and then the larger number, a massive $6 billion to punh this defiant defendant. i m going to walk you through why that is such a high number. the injure determined he acted maliciously. this is big in every sense, a large amount of money even for an wealthy defendant they can directly grab the money, as loan as trump owes this and the judgment is not somehow later reversed, the court system can take the 83 mill from his kits, his properties, period. this also sets a huge and significant press den, as legal, as legal reporters ctainly know,
forces working against him and his allies. concerns are mounting that we could see more than mere spikes of violence as we near the midterm elections. a motley crop of trump acolytes are running on the ticket in states across the country. it includes, and this is by no means a comprehensive list, election deniers, covid vaccine skeptics, a celebrity doctor pedaling quack medical cures and a former football star under fire for allegedly paying for a girlfriend s abortion while advocating for a near total ban on abortion. this is one of the great tricks that i think the sexual revolution pulled on the american populous, this idea, okay, these marriages were fundamental, you know, they were maybe even violent but certainly they were unhappy. and so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that s going to make people happy in the long term. 250,000 illegals cross this boarder every month. this is an invasion. i p
Foundations of our policy are at stake. we have to be honest with ourselves. a true highlight for me is anytime we get to speak to the professor at princeton university eddie glaude. thank you, my friend, next on a new warning from republican strategists about the impact of dlife s latest indictment on a bid for his second term. we ll get that that. coming up on morning joe, the former president and his 18 co-defendants have until next friday to surrender to authorities in fulton county. who might turn themselves in first and the option that trump s legal team are now weighing. plus, we ll get reaction to the strong indictment out of georgia from senate majority leader chuck schumer when he joins the conversation live. also ahead, special counsel jack smith has trump s direct messages on twitter. what newly unsealed court documents reveal about the
American public, in public officials and voters alike that they can? i have to believe they can. that was a really horrible strike zone. i have faith in the american people that each generation in some ways they re tasked we re tasked in some ways to secure democracy. it s a difficult moment. we have to ask ourselves will we rise to the challenge. and i think in asking the question itself we re priming ourselves to take on the responsibility that is before us, but we will see. we will see. it s a difficult time. so, eddie, are you heartened at all by republicans like kemp and raffensperger going above and beyond to push back against trump s false claims. he s provided no evidence of this voter fraud. what is your read on there because it does seem to me they re pretty lonely voices out there among a sea of republicans. they are. but i think raffensperger s point either you believe in a law and constitution or you