possible indictment. we are in uncharted waters, people, and a shifting hazard. if you don t have to be outside, then don t be outside. that s the mayor of washington, d.c. dangerous thick smoke from canadian wildfires is moving south. major cities in the u.s. are elevating their alert as air quality is getting worse. plus, new russian aggression on the battlefield. the significant losses for ukraine as ukrainian forces try to breach enemy lines. welcome to the load. i m jake tapper, and we ll start today with our law and justice lead. donald trump is gathering with his top aides reaching out to allies on capitol hill ahead of possible criminal charges, criminal charges, being filed against him. sources say the justice department recently told trump s legal team that the former president is a target in the federal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents after he left office and, of course, possible obstruction of justice charges related to
of mar-a-lago. but they chose to do that only in recent weeks, which tells us a lot. it tells us they are near a decision to bring possible charges against the former president. obviously, jack smith, the special counsel, works under attorney general merrick garland, who could at the last minute decide to intervene. but what this tells us a lot and the reason why you see the trump lawyers very concerned is that this signals that the special counsel is heading towards an indictment and the question is when that indictment might come, who else might be under it, and certainly the former president should believe that, you know, at this point he has the option to go to the prosecutors and say he wants to speak to the grand jury to present his own evidence and to try to persuade them at the last minute that they should not bring that case. we do not expect that donald trump will do that, jake. no, we don t. katelyn, the special counsel s enlisted a second grand jury, this one in
Obama white house, includes then vice president joe biden. the special counsel is investigating both men when it comes to mishandling classified documents. this individual was asked about both. but you say there was a distinct difference in the line of questioning from prosecutors. yeah, this is what really makes this witness unique. it s really the only one that we know of that has talked to prosecutors in both the trump and biden document investigations. and they described very different experiences when they were talking to the two teams. with trump it was very aggressively focused on direct interactions with trump, who was having conversations with trump, who was talking with him, meeting with him specifically. the biden prosecutors were more focused on process, logistics, how were the boxes packed up and moved to his home in delaware. this former official said that the vice president typically does not have any sort of a role in the packing process. so distinguishing between tho
Get it before it s gone on the subway app. time for our politics lead on the 2024 campaign trail. republican presidential candidates are weighing in on the news that donald trump has been notified he s the target of the special counsel s investigation and could face a possible indictment. take a listen. it s a bigger problem whether he s indicted or not because these are all self-inflicted wounds. it is very, very dangerous to see and/or feel like the department of justice is being weaponized against anyone in this country.
Gender transition before you re 18. we re going to talk to a conservative republican from ohio who has a transgender child and talk to them about what mr. pence said. and leading this hour donald trump s legal team standing by for a possible indictment after the former president was told he is the target of a federal investigation. let s bring in cnn s katelyn polantz in miami where a second special counsel grand jury has been meeting p. we also have with us senior cnn justice correspondent evan perez. evan, what s the significance of pe special counsel smith deciding now is the time to inform trump he s the target of his investigation? well, jake, you know, the fact is that donald trump has known for months that he has been under investigation and prosecutors had the option to notify him much earlier that he was the target of that investigation given the fact obviously that they did a search