More now on the breaking news. Donald Trump officially the target of another criminal investigation. CNN's Christine Holmes is closely following how the former president is dealing with his growing legal jeopardy. So you're getting word now of an urgent effort, I understand, to to figure out if anyone else has received a target letter. That's right, Anderson. As soon as they got this target, what are they started making? Calls to lawyers, to allies, anyone involved in the January six investigation who might have an answer as to who if anyone else got a target letter. Now, I am told as of now, they have not identified anyone else who got a target letter. But of course, they are still making the calls. The reason that they are doing this is it's going to give them some sort of insight into what the evidence is against Donald Trump and what exactly a trial or charges might look like against the former president. And part of this is because some members of his team were surprised at the timing of the target letter. Now they have long anticipated that he was going to be indicted several more times, but they were looking at the timeline for January six in terms of target letter and the movement there being in the fall, not being right now, had actually been talking to one lawyer who said they thought that things had cooled off in that investigation. So a lot of calls going on right now trying to figure out exactly what this is going to look like. The timing on all of this. And we do expect to hear from former President Donald Trump tonight. He is on the campaign trail, a reminder that he is again running for president. He will be in Iowa doing a town hall. We'll obviously be watching that very closely to see what he says about this. All right, Chris, appreciate it. Joining me now in New York, John McCain, Kelvin Jones, Kaitlan Collins, Ellie Hoenig, former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan, former White House communications director Lisa Far Griffin, just under the Target letter. Would they send them out to anybody who was going to get one at the same time? You should. Yeah. I mean, it's good practice. If you intend to indict a bunch of people together, you should notify them with a target letter all at once. And I think one of the big questions is who else, if anyone else has received these target letters? And just to be clear, DOJ does not have to send out target letters, but they often do. And we know Jack Smith does because he did before the Mar a Lago indictments. And once you get a Target letter, you are very likely. And the purpose of the target letter is to inform the defendant what's going about to happen and also give them an opportunity if they want to testify before the grand jury. Exactly. Or if the lawyers want to come in and try to make any other pitch. So it's interesting that as far as we know right now, Donald Trump's the only target letter we know of. And prosecutors have a lot of discretion in how they shape their indictments. Who do you charge in which indictment do you roll them out? Sort of serious them, one after the other or all at once? It could be that they just want one big indictment to focus on Trump to minimize the distractions and the paperwork that will go with it. And then there's other people perhaps will be referred to as coconspirators or perhaps will be indicted separately or later. Griffin, you're just joining us. What stands out to you today? Well, looking at the politics of this, I mean, it's just stunning that we're now talking about a potential third indictment, second federal of the former president, who still remains the Republican frontrunner. And I just somebody as somebody who spoke out the day after January six and has continued to sense, I can't imagine how different the political landscape would look right now if Republicans stayed the course as they after January six with what they were saying. Nikki Haley condemning him at the RNC winter meeting. Nearly every prominent Republican saying we need to turn the page on Trump. But because so many people flipped that language and did a one 80 on him, he is pulling ahead of anyone despite these investigations going. And I don't know that anyone can bank on the idea of him being in prison, keeping him from winning the nomination. Jeff Duncan, you certainly wish that they had stayed the course as well. Yeah, absolutely. I think it would it would certainly have our party in a totally different position than it is today. And, you know, January 6th is the headline on on all of this target letters and indictments that are out there. But this was a process that led up to January 6th. And I think that's what's going to continue to unpack. And I think we're just missing an easy opportunity to beat the least popular president, sitting president and maybe US history in Joe Biden. And we just continue to miss it and miss it and miss it. I hope we course correct here. I hope we get to a pivot point where folks wake up on the Republican side and say, you know what, we've got real problems. Republican Party has real solutions and we're going to move forward. Jamie, I know you're hearing from from some Republicans, we got a statement from former appellate court judge Michael Luttig, who became well-known for testifying for the January six committee. He played a critical role in advising former Vice President Mike Pence that he could not delay Congress. Let's just remember before I read this statement. He is one of the most conservative Republicans out there. And he says there is not an attorney general or special counsel of either party who would not bring charges against the former president for his efforts on January six to overturn the 2020 presidential election. He goes on, he meaning Trump has dared, taunted, provoked and goaded DOJ to prosecute him for his offenses on and relating to January six. For two and a half years The former president has left Jack Smith no choice but to bring charges, lest the former president make a mockery of the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law. I spoke to him a few minutes ago. He expects an indictment within days. He does not think Trump is going to go in front of the grand jury. And yet so many Republicans are not echoing that. So many Republicans are standing by the former president. No question, as we just heard, whether they are scared of Donald Trump or whether they want his base to get elected. His numbers seem to be going up every time he gets indicted. But we definitely need more and more of that. I mean, that that's what you would expect. I mean, if you if you if you honestly, four years ago, five years ago and woke up and it turned out that there was somebody who clearly on national television was allowing an insurrection to happen, didn't do anything about it. And this person was now being charged by the Department of Justice. You would say, thank goodness, thank goodness, rule of law applies to everyone. Thank goodness somebody has looked into the facts or thinks thank goodness. Instead, you hear this appalling silence and then people coming out and trying to excuse the inexcusable. We need more of that. But also, look at how Trump is talking about January six. I mean, he's saying that Trump made a mockery of the Constitution with those efforts and what he did that day. Trump still talks on January six all the time when he's at these campaign trail stops when he's out there. He essentially is reframe it. He calls the people who were there that day breaking into the Capitol Patriots and you have not seen the rest of the 2024 field it all come out. I mean a high school student in New Hampshire asked Ron DeSantis about his thoughts on January six recently and his first response was I wasn't anywhere near Washington that day. And as Chris Christie said, was he alive that day? Did he have a TV? Was he watching? I mean, everyone saw what was happening. So do you think it is just a sign of that Trump hasn't veered away from talking about this. I mean, he's talking about pardoning the people who are convicted for crimes related to January 6th. So he hasn't really shied away from this. Didn't you make an album with some of the players he played their music at his rallies? I mean, he's completely recast this as something entirely differently. And so, I mean, that also speaks to the fact that if he is going to get indicted on this so what happens next? I mean, from a legal standpoint, he how much time does he have to respond or does he need to respond at all? When do you think the indictment will come So according to Donald Trump, he's been given four days from Sunday, which takes us to Thursday. Really, at any point after Thursday, we could see an indictment. It's important to understand it is real quick and easy for a federal prosecutor to finish the process of getting an indictment in the federal system. You are allowed to summarize. So I think what will happen is a prosecutor will stand in front of the grand jury, say, here's a summary, here's a reminder of all the evidence that you've heard, all the testimony you've heard. You can do that in an hour or so. Then you have to present the actual draft indictment You have to say, here are the X number of charges and here, whoever the defendants are, and here are the elements of law that you have to find by probable cause, lower standard. Then ultimately they have to prove a trial, which, of course, is beyond a reasonable doubt. And that's it. Then the jury grand jury votes, and then the indictment will be in the prosecutor's hands now. Important to know, it may be sealed for some short amount of time, meaning the indictment may be voted on as an indictment, and then it will be filed docket it with the court. But we won't be able to see it for some amount of time. In fact, with the moral legal case, there was a couple of days or a day or so where we couldn't see told us, but then we found out he was indicted. Exactly. Told us exactly.
