Mobile made free event. With our business internet, new and existing customers can get one year of unlimited mobile for free. Its our best internet. Powered by The Next Generation 10g network and with 99. 9 reliability. Plus one line of free mobile for an entire year. Its the mobile made free eventhappening now. Get started for just 49. 99 a month. Plus, ask how to get one free line of unlimited mobile. Comcast business, powering possibilities. Our special breaking News Coverage continues now of the third, yes, third criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump. Im lara coates. And im erin burnett. The news tonight still stunning, even though people expected an indictment to come. Right now its here. You have to let it sink in. The 45th president indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in jack smiths investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And its not lost on anyone that while trump is facing charges over the last election, he is, of course, in the middle of his reelection campaign, laura. This is the third time, the third time that donald trump has now been criminally indicted. In what, four months at this point . Special counsel jack smith charged him in the classified documents probe in june. Heed that manhattan grand jury charging the former president for Business Fraud back in march. And just listen to what Special Counsel jack smith had to say tonight. The attack on our nations capitol on january 6th, 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the Seat Of American Democracy as described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a Bedrock Function of the u. S. Government, a nations process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the president ial election. All right. So what exactly is in this indictment . Legal Affairs Correspondent paula reid is here. Paula, you have been working this for so long. Fabulous reporting, you and the team. And todays indictment is laying out how trump used, quote, dishonesty, fraud, and deceit in his efforts to stay in power. So what is standing out to you tonight . The biggest thing that stands out to me is that the former president is the only one being charged today. This is something that our reporting over the past several weeks had suggested to us, but we were quite surprised that he would be the only one charged, at least initially at this point because he clearly did not act alone. You look at the charges that he is facing right now. Three of them involve a conspiracy, throughout the indictment, they lay out how he worked with others to amplify what he knew were false claims of Election Fraud to litigate this strategy, to pressure various states, to pressure his own Vice President , and then, of course, on the day of january 6th, he continued to pressure his Vice President which resulted in violence, and then he and his supporters continued to double down to try to use this as an opportunity to overturn the election. Again, he was not operating in a silo. So really watching Going Forward toee if any of these six coconspirators will be formally charged. The other thing, one of the other two things that stood out the me is we didnt get a lot of new information. We got some new details from the Vice President s handwritten notes, some interactions with political advisers. We werent privy to prior. But given how much Additional Information jack smith was able to on tarngs he got access to mark meadows, i was expecting to learn even more. Peeking of releasing details, we did get the indictment today. We didnt have to wait until the initial appearance. We didnt have to wait a few days. The country, the world gets to see the case today, and they dont have to wait. And i think that is significant, and thats something weve been lobbying the Special Counsel to do. And of course there are some unanswered questions. We have names, the reporting identifies five of the six coconspirators. We dont if theyll be charged, this case is historic so many reasons, no matter what the outcome will be. What are the next steps, paula . The biggest next step is the former president s court appearance. We expect that will happen on thursday. Its unclear if that will be via zoom that is an option available to him, or if he will come in person. Now after that we know the Special Counsel has at least one more witness Interview Schedule next week, and at least another one in the next few weeks. We know from our reporting this investigation continues. As the Special Counsel said that, but we know what theyre up to. Theyre continuing to talk to witnesses, witnesses like former new York Police Commissioner bernie kerik. He worked very closely with Rudy Giuliani in these efforts to allege fraud. And one of the other witness, at least one of them is a former trump lawyer. So they will continue to gather evidence. It is unclear if there will be a superseding indictment and additional charges. Weve already seen one proceeding document that led to an additional codefendant in the maralago case. There is already a precedent for this unprecedented time. Thank you so much. Erin . Indictment against trump repeatedly references the six coaxes that paula is referring to. Zachary cohen is who are to tell us more about them, the ones we now know about, and of course one we dont yet, zack. Aaron, the indictment refers to people as six individuals who trump enlisted to assist him in his criminal behavior. We have identified five of the six people that are described in this indictment. And if you follow it along during the January 6th Committee hears, none of the names will really come as a surprise. They include people like trumps former personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, attorney john eastman, and even people like Jeffrey Clark, the formal doj who is trying to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020. Like paula said, a lot of this information was publicly known, which is how we were able to identify in part some of these folks. The unidentified person is described as a political consultant who helped implement a central theme the fake el electors plot. This is really one of the cornerstones of jack smiths case here. He said trump and these six individuals tried to trick these electors in the seven state tots sign the certificates asserting they were the original collectors and to send them to National Archive in congress. The unite that pence could use them. We dont know the identity of this sixth individual yet. But im sure well back with that shortly. Mostly curious. Usually the term used when you talk about cocon spirit cores is unindicted. And the modifier is not there is nothing in this indictment that is not purposeful. So that word is not in there on purpose. It could mean theyre going to be charged. Perhaps they have indictments handed out. Do you have any clarity . There. Could be a number of reasons, including what jack smith told us today. He said theyre still investigating. And as paula noted, we know from our reporting that they still are witness interviews lined up, including with bernie kerik, who can shed some light on these efforts to find evidence of authority fraud. But i think the lockest indication is the investigation is still ongoing. If your one of the six people unnamed in this indictment or you think you are, youre probably not resting easy at this stage. Absolutely. Zachary, thank you very much. With these charges, these are very serious. 20 wroers, bent years, 10 years. This is incredibly, incredibly serious allegations that cnn as a conspirator would be facing. I want to bring in tim haffey. So timothy you look at this with an eye on almost anyone else because you have been through reams and reams of information, hundreds of hours of interviews all related to the January 6th Committees investigation, which was exhaustive. So when you read through this 45page giemt from jack smith, did you learn anything . Did anything surprise you about how it was presented . No, erin. Thanks for having me. It reads very much like a truncated version of our report. It actually reads very similar to vice chair cheneys Opening Statement in the first of our summer hearings. It was during that First Reading where she laid out that there is a multipart intentional plan to disrupt the joint session and prevent the transfer of power. It involved pressure on state officials, on the department of justice, on the Vice President , and ultimately launching a mob at the capital. Thats exactly whats alleged in this indictment. There is not a lot of new information other than some details about direct communications between the president and the Vice President. The Vice President pat cipollone. They have gotten some additional Corroborative Information that provides important context and manifestations of the president s state of mind. But core conduct is what we said worth in our report in our hearings. Obviously you refer to pence. I know you all didnt have a chance to interview him. So obviously the there is some information from that. Im also curious, because look, 45 pages. He knows he has a lot of information he didnt include. You know youve got to make choices. How much paula reid was referring to this question. How much do you think he is holding back. Do you think there are some real gems he is holding back, but really crucial pieces of information or no . Yeah, potentially. Again, i dont think he is holding back anything, any part of the core conduct. Okay. I think he has laid out the three objectives of a cone spirs and essentially sketched out the pattern that he is going to prove. Im certain that he has left out some details, some specific conversations, some events, specific allegations. Thats common. A prosecutor would never put absolutely every fact that he or she has gathered in an indictment. This is pretty detailed. But as you said, erin, my guess is there are some additional facts that would be further proof of the allegations that were find out about. So when you went through everything and all the information you had, you recommended criminal charges. You recommended investigation. Im curious. When you go through this, he did not charge trump with Seditious Conspiracy, inciting a mob. Those charges are not in here. Does that surprise you, or does that disappoint you . No. He charged the two lead downs are the exact two that the select committee referred for his conversation, the construction of official proceeding and conspiracy to fraud the United States. Seditious conspiracy we decided it did not include that. That requires a prosecutor to solve intent to use force. There was evidence of that against the proud boys and the oath keepers. We look very hard for evidence, that the president was in communication with or somehow was ah wear of there, plans, actions, and we werent able to establish it. It doesnt mean that interwasnt there. We just werent able to establish it. The Special Counsel has not either. Otherwise you would have seen the Seditious Conspiracy count. Youre not going to issue an advertisement proved well Beyond A Reasonable Doubt in a case of this magnitude. And im not surprised at all that he chose obstruction of the official proceeding. The attempt to obstruct, interfere or impede the joint session. He has only gotten more evidence since then. As you point out, he would need to go responsibly with what he could, requiring a unanimous jury for conviction here. This very much. I appreciate your perspective. Thank you. Laura . You know, my panel is still here with me in washington, d. C. There is something that keeps going in my head, everyone about this, that is the notion of the First Amendment aspect of it, and especially what is happening in terms of whether or not trump is going to be able to build a defense, really, in this case. So youve got his allies in Congress Rushing to his defense as you well know. But his lawyer was actually on with Kaitlan Collins earlier. And listen to what he had to say about the First Amendment issues. The ultimate request that mr. Trump made to Vice President pence was pause the vote counting, allow the states to weigh in ultimately and audit and recertify. And under article 2, section 1, clause 2, the actual responsibility for qualifying electors is the state legislatures. Mr. Trump had the advice of council, mr. Eastman, who was one of the most respected constitutional scholars in the United States, giving him advice and guidance. Thats pure politics. What do you guys think . The idea of talking to lawyers about this, advice council, is that going to be the ultimate protection . As long as your lawyer told you to do so, thats it. Its already been litigated before judge carter in colorado, john eastman tried to resist turning over documents and says oh, Attorney Client privilege. But there is no privilege when the lawyer is helping the client commit a crime. What my friend john lauro said about the constitution, you can turn that document upside down and sideways. You will not find the power that he is striking in the constitution. The notion that for the fest time in American History has the thought to pause, if it were england, he would be the guy who walks in with the mace and the funny hat. He has no power to pause that proceeding. Trump knew that full well. Pit cipollone, his white house council. Pat philbin, one of our most brilliant constitutionists, and many other people told themselves that will not wash. I think the judge is going to let them make that argument to the jury. Its so far outside the pale. Do you agree . The advice of Council Defense is a little bit different than that because trump wants to argue that its not my fault. I had no state of mind. I was relying on my lawyers. Thats what makes the discovery of the identity of those coconspirators so intriguing. Theyre all lawyers. And one aspect of this is maybe smift smith is aoff mode. It takes those people off the table. Its very hard to decide to go and testify in favor of the defense if your named as a conspirator. You have a big Fifth Amendment concern at that point. The idea of can you walk past every road that says common sense, common sense, obvious, obvious. And go lie thick one over here. You got the Attorney General, got the Deputy Attorney general, white house counsel, youre a former white house lawyer. All the peoples including the Secretary Of State and beyond what you are saying is not true. And the complaint says you know thats not true. Can you really say look, i was just following my council. Or were they following him . Again, i think thats why he is the only named defendant in this case. They want to make it clear that he was the one driving this. He got advice from a number of folks that said very credible, some of the best lawyers in constitutional scholars in washington, no, you cant do that. And yet he went to others, he got a second opinion. And was he driving the conversation to get the answer he wanted . Or was he really seeking council. This idea of plausible denia deniability. It is it realistic . Im not a lawyer but this goes beyond the Attorney Client argument. Its the case that political speech broadly protected. That fundamentally the case that john lauro is making that you can almost use a political speech as a shield to do anything, as long as youre doing it while being a political candidate. And i think weve been looking at this as though that is a political argument. That couldnt be a plausible legal argument. But if youre looking at the sport that is lully more conservative that the court that gave us citizens united, i think its worth asking the question, like what if that was a plausible argument . What would happen to the american presidency . Who what wouldo what john lauro was saying to Kaitlan Collins in the fum interview when he talked about the idea he believes and he is saying this is this indictment that is turning the notion of political speech on its face. You mean i cant just have a political strategy . I cant be critical . I cant bet on particular issue and ill be punished . Is that going to be a good Talking Point that will have Staying Power . I think it will be a good Talking Point for the Republican Party. Im not certain about the individuals in the middle, however. I think norm laid this out pretty clearly. The way this indictment has been written, its pretty clear, a simple narrative. Most people can genuinely understand. He tried to pretend that he won, he tried to find fake boats that werent there, this stuff is absolutely wrong. So this idea of what divine rights of kings, you know