noticeably been trying to find a defense in the latter case, in the times they ve offered contradictory excuses to explain why it was the trump illegally retained government records, and seemingly obstructed federal authorities from retrieving this record for many months. if convicted in that case alone, it could produce a years-long prison sentence, and that is just one example of the legal peril the former president faces right now. and the classified documents investigation is in its early days. according to an abc news report this week, the special counsel s team recently informed a trump organization employee but they are a target in their investigation, which means that more indictments could be camille and the documents case. while trump cannot simply wish that away, there is one thing he can do to possibly evade accountability and even shut down the cases against him. all he has to do is become president again. and a new legal filing from trump s team this week signal
he s also asking the georgia supreme court to shut down district tierney fani willis s investigation into whether trump and its allies tried to overturn the 2020 election. in a filing yesterday in that case trump s legal team writes that allowing the georgia investigation to continue with cause, quote, reputational harm to the petitioner as he seeks his party s nomination for the presidency of the united states via a flagrant disregard for in violation of, his fundamental constitutional rights. and i spoke last night with congressman, jamie raskin, and about these increasingly desperate looking moose on the part of the trump team. listen to what he told me. you can t prosecute him when he is president, because he s president. you can t prosecute him after he sees president, because he is running for president. you can t impeach and convict him, they argued. you can t use the impeachment process because, really, he should be tried, they say. use the criminal statutes. but you
that tweet, be there, we will be wild. it was a tweet that set up a violent chain reaction that resulted in a deadly attack on our government. cnn is not reporting the special counsel is asking witnesses about a contentious oval office meeting on december 18th, 2020. more than a month after the election, and mere days after the electoral college made official the decision of the american people. in short, that trump had lost the election. in that moment, the disgraced ex-president had two paths. he had door number one, admit head on that his campaign met the end of the line, keep in pace simple peaceful transfer of power. behind door number two, not just fall, but vaults into the abyss, commit to antidemocratic measures. of course, we all know the rest of the story. on this night in december, this crucial juncture, the six-hour cage match essentially unfolded deep inside the white house. on one side, it would summon trump s own white house team, quote, crazy. as you know, peo
we are so grateful. the beat with katie phang starts now. it s so good to see you. welcome to the beat. i m katie phang in for ari melber. we re going to start with what could be a consequential plea deal. the new york times reporting former trump organization ceo alan weisselberg is in negotiations with manhattan prosecutors to plead guilty again, but this time to the charge of perjury. now, this deal would require weisselberg to have to admit that he lied on the witness stand in trump s civil fraud trial and that he lied under oath in an interview with the new york attorney general s office. weisselberg previously admitted to orchestrating an off-the-books scheme within the trump organization for which he spent 100 days at rikers jail last year. this breaking news just came out from the new york times. your reaction to this news? i guess timing is everything, right? we are waiting for judge arthur engoron to issue his ruling on the remaining counts that were under
court. jack smith requested that the supreme court circumvent the normal appellate process to quickly decide the process and presidential immunity. it is an important question about the powers of the presidency that the courts have really considered before. it could determine whether the criminal election interference cases against trump in washington d.c. and in fulton county georgia can move forward on schedule, or at all. this decision from the supreme court does not mean that the case against trump is dead. far from. in the d.c. court of appeals has agreed to expedite this case. a hearing is already scheduled for january 9th. the supreme court could still weigh in on the matter at a later date. however, this decision does threaten to delay the march 4th start date for trump s federal election interference trial, since judge tanya chutkan was, as a matter of normal procedure, compelled to pause proceedings on her case until the appeal is resolved. however, simultaneously