interference. they re trying to destroy a reputationsy they can win an election. i did nothing wrong and will fight this out just like we ve been fighting for seven years. i m innocent, and we ll prove that very, very soundly. fact check. when the former president is saying the word they he is referring to democrats. democrats did not indict the president. president joe biden did not indict donald trump. it was a grand jury based in florida. that is it. we should also note trump has already pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records here in new york. we ve got a lot to cover so let s start off with our panel this evening. peter baker, katie bennett, former u.s. attorney joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor, charles coleman, former new york prosecutor and civil rights attorney, anthony former justice spokesperson under attorney merrick garland, and frank figliuzzi, former fbi director for counter intelligence. as i look at you all, h
president with multiple crimes. and for the first time since this investigation began america heard directly from the man in charge, special counsel jack smith. today, and indictment was unseed. charging donald j trump with felony violations of our national security laws as well as participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the department of justice in our nation s commitment to the rule of law sits an example for the world. we have one set of laws in this country, and they ve let everyone. the 38 count indictment against trump and his personal and now codefendant walt nauta accuses the former president of 30 accounts of willful retention of national defense information, three counts of withholding or concealing documents in a federal investigation, two counts of false statements, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. according to the indictment the classified documents trump stored in these boxes
trump s legal team went to the justice department to meet with the one and only jack smith. remember, just two weeks ago, trump s lawyers sent an official letter to attorney general merrick garland asking for a chance to make their case. the attorney general was not at today s meeting, we don t know everything that was discussed. but the washington post reports this, people familiar with the matter say trump s lawyers asked the department of justice not to charge the former president. earlier, former federal prosecutor andrew weissmann said this meeting is a sign of what s to come. there is no reason to have the meeting if there weren t going to be potential charges. when you look at what the facts are, it would actually be a violation of the rule of law for donald trump, not to be charged. not long after, his lawyers left the department of justice, donald trump himself posted this on his social media platform, quote, how can doj possibly charge me, who did nothing wrong,
but at least they have, like, i don t know it s nicer there generally. what a day. thank you, my friend. and thanks to you at home for joining us this evening. tonight we have new reporting which confirms something that up to this point we d only suspected. former president donald trump is officially a target of the criminal investigation of alleged mishandling of documents at mar-a-lago. that news reported first today by the guardian. multiple outlets are now reporting federal prosecutors notified trump in a letter that he is the target. now, nbc news has not independently verified those reports, but donald trump is the person who allegedly took those classified documents from the white house and then refused to comply with the justice department s order to return them. so if anyone in this case is going to be targeted for potential criminal charges, it is probably donald trump. for his part trump today posted a caps lock-heavy statement arguing being the target of an invest
chris christie on stage. somehow by hook or by crook. thanks, chris. and thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. we start tonight with significant breaking news. the new york times is confirming that mark meadows, donald trump s former chief of staff, has testified to a federal grand jury as part of special counsel jack smith s ongoing investigations into trump s mishanding of classified information and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. this is a major development, and we are going to talk about it in just a minute with representative jamie raskin who served on the january 6th committee, but we start with mar-a-lago. at this point you have probably seen a picture of trump s florida resort. now, mar-a-lago is massive. it sits on about 20 acres of land. it has more than 50 bedrooms, and has all the hallmarks of luxury, all the fancy stuff, italian stone and spanish tile, and lots of marble and gold plated fixtures and expense was rugs and also has a golf cour