This is bbc world news america. Welcome to world news america. We are following this working news as we heard from christian. Former u. S. President trump pleading not guilty to four charges against him relating to january 6 and the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. These are life pictures here as the former and his motorcade are arriving at Washington Reagan National airport. This is trumps third indictment this year with a potential fourth out of georgia likely to come later this month. He appeared later in court blocks from the capitol building. Is about 10 minutes from where you see the president now at the airport. A protrump mob stormed the capital. Lawmakers were working to certify the election. This was the center of the indictment former president was arraigned on today. We saw rioters come from a rally where trump had repeated claims the election was stolen from him. Something he had been saying for weeks. At the very courthouse some of the rioters have been tried, charged and tried for their role. More than 1000 have been charged in connection with the events of january 6. As we are looking at these pictures of the former president s motorcade arriving at the airport we will tell you what happened. He flew into washington, d. C. From new jersey. That is where his golf course is in new jersey before making his way to the courthouse. Supporters and protesters waited outside. No one got a glimpse of the former president as he entered the courthouse because he went through the garage. He made his way to the courtroom through back orders to he was read his rights before entering his not guilty plea. The next hearing is set for the morning of august 28. That is according to the magistrate judge overseeing the arraignment today. Donald trump is facing four federal criminal charges. Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of typing to obstruct a official proceeding and obstructing rights of citizens. The former president arriving here at Washington Reagan National airport. We see reporters and journalists following him. We are not sure if the former president is going to deliver a statement. He did speak or greet some supporters after the arraignment in miami arriving at a cafe. This is something we are waiting to see before he gets on the plane if he delivers a statement. We can see the journalists rushing to the former president s plane hoping perhaps he might as and journalists. This indictment as we know is one that is the third the former president is facing this year. A possible fourth on its way in the state of georgia. We dont see donald trump just yet having gotten out of the car. We expect them to do so shortly. It is raining in washington, d. C. There waiting for him to exit the car. This was a short ride for the former president from the court just blocks from the u. S. Capitol where as we know the right took place on january 6, 2021. That is the center of the indictment. It is about efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. As we are waiting for the former president to step out lets see if we can bring in our correspondent who is standing outside the courthouse. We are still looking at these pictures. We will keep them up but give us an idea of the last hour or so. What you witnessed. It was an historic day in washington, d. C. As we heard and you mentioned. Former President Trump arraigned today in federal court pleading not guilty to four criminal charges. Im just going to interrupt you because we do see the former president stepping out. Lets listen. This is a very sad day for america. It was very sad driving through washington, d. C. And eating the air seeing the filth and the k and all of the broken buildings and graffiti. This is not the place i who. Place i left. When you look at what is happening this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in america. This is a persecution of the person leading by substantial numbers in the republican primary and leading biden by a lot. If you cannot eat him, you persecute him or prosecute him. We cannot let this happen in america. Former president as we heard. Before getting on the plane back to bedminster new jersey saying echoing the message we have heard from him all along he has posted on his social network that this is political persecution. Just to bring you in as we see the former president getting back on his plane as he is heading back to new jersey. The short statement. Your initial reaction to that. It was a short statement and it will be and as we heard from the former president many times in recent days and months he has been trying to paint these charges as well as the other charges he is facing as politically motivated. He has been painting the special counsel jack smith and the white house and President Biden as trying to leverage the u. S. Justice department and use these charges to try to affect the upcoming election. Of course donald trump is the front runner for the 2024 republican nomination. Despite all of the legal cases he continues to hold a strong lead over his nearest rival and the latest polling we are seeing coming out today puts him that can with President Biden. If we can turn to what we saw today in the courtroom. It was an historic day pleading not guilty the four charges. Our north america correspondent has been reporting on the very other cases trump has been facing for share with us your thoughts on what you saw took place today. It is quite similar to the previous arraignments. I was in miami. Huge media spectacle. It always is with donald trump. It was interesting we have a team inside the courtroom. Donald trump entered the courtroom. He had these charges laid out but also inside the courtroom was special counsel jack smith to Donald Trumps clear on what he feels about the special counsel. Call him a lunatic. Inside the courtroom he was not saying that. In miami they did not look at each other. Jack smith was said to have really looked at donald trump he never looked back at him. Inside the courtroom reporters said they did Exchange Glances but they did not say anything. This is very rare. It has never happened for a former president while he was in the white house to be accused of the charges. We heard in the short brief meant the short statement he believes this is a clinical which unfit a political witchhunt. It was a brief arraignment. We heard the not guilty plea but there were some special restrictions placed on the former president. Tell us briefly about that. Trump has been told he cannot came to kate with anyone he knows to be a witness aspect he cannot communicate with anyone he knows to be a witness except his lawyers. There were lots of people the special counsel has relied on, parts abound trumps inner circle. So donald trump has been told he cannot contact them. There are so many charges now. More than 70 donald trump is facing including this case as well. A lot of speculation and a lot of discussion about how his legal team will go about defending these charges. How they will go about especially in this case because of how highprofile it is. Many calling this the most serious case against the former president. How does it seem his legal team will go about defending the former president in this case . I think they are going to try to slow it down. The justice the special prosecutor once a speedy trial. Trumps lawyer has said they want to take their time paired they are accusing the special counsel of coming arisings free speech saying donald trump had the right to say what he did. In the indictment the special counsel has laid out what he thinks Donald Trumps actions were criminal. Not what he said. Donald trumps intent, donald trump can say i genuinely thought i lost the election. I generally thought it was stolen from me. The other thing we are seeing is attacking d. C. Saying this is the wrong venue for the trial because d. C. Is a leftleaning city. He will say he cannot get a fair trial here because the jury will be made up of people who dont like him. The opposite is true in southern florida where he is having a trial for the classified documents. We know florida is a very republican leaning state, a state that he won twice. I want to ask you about the special counsel jack smith bringing the case against the former president to help difficult could hit be for him to prove the allegations in this case and what strategies might they take . The indictment was rather short. Only about 54 pages long. In the indictment, right on the first page jack smith has laid out he had the right to question the election results. He had the right to call it a fraud. Lots of president s have challenged election results. His speech is protected in that respect but not his actions. In the indictment he has laid out donald trump was told by many people including his aid, his staffers, his Vice President who in the indictment had a personal interest to believe donald trump so he could stay in office but he was told by homeland security, everybody he had lost the election. He has detailed in the indictment scenarios, witnesses, events. It almost reads like a novel dare i say. I think the special counsel will argue that is an exhaustive indictment and it actually goes into detail on why they think he they believe they have an airtight case to proof. So much of what has been going on with donald trump legally is also tied up in what is going on politically. He is still the front runner for the nomination on the republican side. He is the former president. He has been campaigning so much on a lot of these legal cases. How does this case affect him not just legally but also politically in his polling numbers and how you might go forward . Legally he is innocent until proven guilty. Politically this strengthens him. As we have seen with the previous indictments his support amongst Republican Voters goes up. They believe in his narrative he is the victim of a political witchhunt. He has a strong message which we know resonates with a lot of americans which is the system is rigged against me, against you appeared only i can fix it. The big thing and we will have to see as we get into the Election Year is what the rest of the american electorate think. What did the swing voters think . What to the independent voters think . I remember after the first indictment i was in virginia speaking to lots of trumps odors and one man said to me i love trump but i dont think the American Public will vote for an indicted president. That was after the first indictment. Donald trump could be facing four in total. We are expecting and other potential indictment coming down in the state of georgia in the coming days. Our north american correspondent from here in washington, d. C. Where we have seen the former president pleading not guilty to the four latest charges against him. We can send it back to you. Thank you so much. Great to get those insights from on the ground. I want to bring in our panel to talk about the legal and political perspective of all of this. We have the former director of communications in Donald Trumps transition team, rodney davis, from a republican congressman from the state of illinois. A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of new york and the former u. S. District attorney from the southern stripped of new york david kelly. Quite to have you on to discuss this momentous day. I went to start with you first of all to get your thoughts on the arraignment and what we saw today. The conditions of the former president release. Full of is indeed standard. It is standard. It is routine. It is kind of a nonevent. It is a big event when the president or the former president of the United States gets dragged into a courtroom but this type of proceeding is a nonevent. It is very procedural. Not more nothing more to make a bit more than that. I went to bring you in on this as well. Not just the arraignment but the indictment. Jack smith was in court today. We heard from reporters he and donald trump were stealing glances at each other here and there. We know this indictment lays out what jacks mets team says is proof the former president was lying big lying about the election results. He knew he was lying. What do you make of what we saw in the arraignment today and the entire case the special counsels office has brought . I think it is interesting jack smith chose to show up today. He did not need to do that. He made a decision to be there. Frankly he made a decision to bring this case even after the other case had been brought. He obviously views this case as important. He thought it was important to bring it. He signaled that i being there today in the courtroom. One more question for david on the legal perspective. The next court date being set for august 28. Clearly the defense team asked for the last day possible for the next court hearing. We are seeing we understand one of the strategies of the Trump Defense team is to postpone. That is nothing new. Everybody tries to delay. This is a particularly unique case. Because of all the different trials he has coming up and yet another if georgia comes through with an indictment. The biggest challenge here is how to get this tried and processed quickly. The defendant is going to have lots of opportunities to argue for delay both because of discovery issues, because of the Campaign Issues which i think a judge will be somewhat dismissive of. Trying to navigate a calendar not just for the judge and the d. C. District court is backed up with a lot of january 6 the trials but navigate the trial for a defendant named in several other criminal and civil litigations and basically the same stage which is trying to set trial dates. One is already set. It will probably be pushed. The big challenge is navigating schedules and calendars which i think will run up against jack smiths desire to get this tried quickly. We are just watching a plane here with the former president and his team sitting on the runway as they are about to take off to head back to new jersey to his golf club in bedminster. You obviously worked on the former president s transition team. You have an idea from your contacts within the former President Team what his mindset is like right now . He is angry. Obviously he is disappointed it has come to this. He is not surprised. They have felt this was going to happen for several months now. They have had plenty of time to prepare. The president it is hard to get inside his mind at this moment as it it is to any but up on these charges. The one natural instinct we know of the president in these situations is in his mind he has already calculated how to fight back. They have their strategy. Theyre going to go forward. We will see where it lands. He is certainly angry and frustrated. I want to bring you in here as well. You were at the capital on january 6. Tell us your thoughts on the arraignment today. I am not surprised like the rest of your panelists. We knew this was coming. Im not surprised jack smith showed up today. The entire world was watching. Of course jack smith is going to be in that courtroom. On the trump is a fighter and you sell that when he stopped to give an impromptu statement talking about washington, d. C. And increased graffiti since he left. I have not seen that but what he is doing is he is talking to his base. He is talking to his supporters to try to draw a contrast between the way he is being treated by the Justice System and how everyone else is perceived to have been treated by the Justice System to he will continue to talk about a twotiered system of justice. He will begin to lump all of these cases together. He will be the best victim politically speaking that we will ever see in american political history and unfortunately his numbers will likely go up amongst Republican Voters. Were just seeing the president s plane again on the runway waiting to take off. I want to come back to you. We heard brian say the trump team is looking towards this child. Looking to their own strategies. One of which is to delay as we have been discussing. If you look at the indictment itself and what the prosecutions strategy is going to be here, Jack Smith Team says there is proof the former president knew he was lying and launched a criminal conspiracy. Do you think after having read the indictment and the evidence laid out some its that . I think this is a masterpiece in terms of indictments. It really lays out well. I think there is an awful lot that proves his participation in these conspiracies. A lot of it proves his criminal intent and his knowledge. Particularly for instance that the election was in fact lost by him. That there was not sufficient fraud in order to make the claims he had. That his statements publicly well protected by the First Amendment were not supported by the facts. That is going to be a real dagger for him to deal with at trial. We saw the former attorney general in the Trump Administration bill barr speaking to cnn. He said this indictment is just the tip of the iceberg. What do you think of that . You think jack smith has more evidence not included we are going to see if this goes to trial . Im sorry. Just bringing sarah on that question. The one thing about this case is a little bit different from the standard case is we are seeing these expensive indictments. Speaking indictments which happen but we are seeing the governments case set out in real detail in these indictments. That is we have this picture, this window into the governments case. There is certainly more to come. They have recounted in this indictment much of the western we have gleaned much of the evidence they have gleaned from the witnesses. I am sure what is set forth in the indictment is a small portion of what they would expect to present at any trial in this matter. I want to get your thoughts on that. We just cut you off. I was just going to say it is jampacked with a lot of information. We never put everything you have in the indictment. I think what jack smith did is a couple things. In an effort to be completely transparent and educational he painted out the whole story and it speaks to all the issues anticipates a lot of the defense. Such as the First Amendment, the advice of counsel and so forth. He had all of that. You never put everything you know into the indictment. He put in an awful lot. I would expect has more. I want to come to you now. I found interesting i saw a trump l. A. Was speaking to nbc news saying it helps to have the former president facing more than one indictment because if it is one all of the focus is on the details of that one case. If it is three some of the details get lost in the wider narrative. You think that is something the trump team is thinking about . They are very good and i would have to add i was very good at muddying the waters in 2016 and it is a strategy that works very well. It is a good one. That is what is going to happen. That is the playbook. Everybody has a playbook. Muddying the waters does work and having the conversation is good for him. Having the hunter biden conversation is good for him. Having jack smith who is not entitled to a constitution speedy trial demanding a speedy trial is good for him. Targeting a guy for what his people claim is free speech at the same time that you have the current president s son who is trying to be given a prepardon deal absolving him of any future crimes not related to guns and taxes. You put those together it is a formula that does well and speaking to the speaking indictment, trump would tell you the speaking indictment as a result of the weakness object smith. The public image of jack smith has gone down dramatically since the beginning of his appointment. We have seen this pattern happen with molar. When you go after the prosecutor you muddy the waters morning drive up the negatives of that person which make it harder for them to deliver their message. The playbook is textbook. It has worked before. I would not be surprised if it works again. We are looking at the former president s plane about to leave washington, d. C. Inching forward. Congressman davis, your thoughts on what we heard from brian. Do you agree . I completely agree. From what i know from working directly with President Trump and the team around him they are doing exactly what brian did for him in 2016. This is about politics right now. This is a focus by the Trump Campaign in trump world to focus only on the upcoming president ial nomination process. This is just a bump in the road that will continue to allow the world to talk about no one other than donald j. Trump. They believe and i think rightfully so in the republican nomination process that will only help him seal up the nomination and i think we will have a true constitutional crisis in this country if he is on trial as the nominee for a Major Political party in this country in 2024. Interesting point and something we are going to be watching talking about the political consequences. Here we are watching the former president plane about to take off from washington, d. C. That is Reagan National airport. 10 to 15 minutes away from the courthouse where the president was arraigned on four criminal charges related to the january 6 riot and attempts to overturn the narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Narrator Financial Services firm, raymond james. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. And by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Introducing a technological achievement so advanced. It rivals the moon landing. Wow ok. Rude. Thats one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind. Good evening. Tonight, former President Donald Trump is arranged in that are ordered following his indictment on the january 6 insurrection case. Former attorney general bill barr gives an insiders take on this latest indictment. The abuse was after the election. Four years after a mass shooting killed almost two dozen people in el paso, two people affected by the tragedy reflect on gun violence and grief