Charged with any crime. Will they be or there they flip on him . The testimony of former Vice President mike pence proving to be a key part of this historic indictment. Sara is off today. Im john berman with kate bolduan. This is cnn news central. Great to have you back, first of all. Thank you. Quite a day it is. This morning donald trump has been charged with trying to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power. It is unprecedented. It is historic. And it puts the nation in truly uncharted territory. Two monumental almost foundational forces directly at odds. On the one hand as peter baker of the New York Times writes, can a sitting president spread lies about an election and try to employ the authority of the government to overturn the will of the voters without consequence . On the other hand the wall street Journal Editorial Board suggests it, quote, potentially criminalizes many kinds of actions and statements by a president that a prosecutor deems to be false. We will explain how Special Counsel jack smith intends to navigate these waters. And choppy ones they are. In terms of the immediate next steps, donald trump will face a federal judge in washington, d. C. Tomorrow. It is there that he will once again be arrested and arraigned and then a trial date and a schedule for pretrial motions comes next. All indications are he will once again plead not guilty. This time to the four new federal criminal counts connected to his efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election. While much of the information in the indictment was generally known, there is some new information as well, including from testimony from former Vice President mike pence. He kept previously unknown contemporaneous notes of trumps efforts to enlist pence to overturn the election. The indictment suggests that trump enlisted at least six coconspirators to help him. Cnn has been able to identify five so far, among them Rudy Giuliani, john eastman, Sidney Powell along with Jeffrey Clark and another pro trump attorney. One key question is why are none of these people charged, at least not yet. Might they still be . Who else might be cooperating with prosecutors . Lets start with cnns katelyn polantz. Quite a moment. Reporter it is. This is a set of charges built arou Around Da Seat that the yd believes they can try in court that is a criminal conspiracy when you look at the way the indictment is structured there are essentially three parts and they all are conspiracies propagated by donald trump, led by donald trump and that donald trump was doing, working with these other lawyers who were with him after the election, people like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, john eastman, they were doing one thing and his campaign, his white house advisers and others in the Republican Party were telling him to stop, that he was doing something fraudulent and that he could not be spreading this disinformation because it just was not true. The three parts of this, they are three conspiracies, one, the Conspiracy To Defraud it the United States government, that is one of the key charges here, the top charge that sets out how all of this scheme came together with a lot of different legs to it, trying to use State Legislators, trying to use Fake Electors, trying to put pressure on the Justice Department, trying to measure mike pence and then also harnessing the power of those rioters on january 6th to try to block congress. So thats the Conspiracy To Defraud. Theres also a charge two charges, in fact, related to obstructing the congressional proceeding on january 6th, the certification of electoral votes. There is a conspiracy alleged around that, a pretty sizable charge that carries a significant amount of maximum prison time if convicted. And then finally a conspiracy against rights. Accusing donald trump of leading a conspiracy of disenfranchising people from their votes, essentially getting in there and disrupting the ability of people to cast votes in confidence that those would elect the next president of the United States. So pulling that all together, here is a little bit more of what Special Counsel jack smith said yesterday after these charges were released. The attack on our nations Capitol On January 6th, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of american democracy. Its described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant, targeted at obstructing a Bedrock Function of the u. S. Government, the nations process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the president ial election. Reporter so the Justice Department is saying they are not just emphasizing the lies, they also are talking about how for more than two months following election day the defendant spread lies that there had been outcome determinative fraud in the election and he had actually won. John, a sustained campaign to defraud the government, the voters, the Congressional Proceedings by the Justice Department. Theyre saying this was not just something that happened flippantly after the election, that it was a scheme that took place over the course of several months and that they are saying could amount to several crimes. Katelyn polantz outside the courthouse where donald trump will appear to get arrested tomorrow. Thank you very much, katelyn. Trump and his team are definitely jumping out to react to this third indictment and quickly. With much the same approach as they have twice before, claiming that donald trump himself is being attacked, being attacked for his actions and that his actions are protected under the First Amendment. Listen. The government has had three years to investigate this and now they want to rush this to trial in the middle of a political season. What does that tell you . Trumps campaign is going as far as to try and say the indictment is reminiscent of persecutiones in nazi germany, which is neither historically correct or even close to appropriate. The Antidefamation League called the comparison factually inaccurate, completely appropriate and flat out offense. Alayna treene joins us near trumps bedminster, new jersey, home. What is trump, his team and his those around him, what are they saying today and how are they preparing for this . Reporter good morning, kate. Donald trumps team was very much prepared for this indictment to drop. Its a bit of a departure from the past two indictments. They were very much expecting it to come last night and it did. They spent all of monday and tuesday preparing for it, they lined up surrogates and influencers and allies to immediately respond once new charges were filed and they had begun formulating a plan for how they would push back against this new indictment. Of course, as weve seen, hes reviving the old playbook that he has used when talking about his legal troubles, which is to argue that these are purely political and argue that they amount to election interference. Now, we did hear one line, potential line of defense, from one of trumps lawyers Last Night Speaking in an interview with Kaitlan Collins. Lets take a listen. Our focus is on the fact that this is an attack on free speech and political advocacy and theres nothing thats more protected under the First Amendment than political speech. So at the end our defense is going to be focusing on the fact that what we have now is an administration that has criminalized the free speech and advocacy of a Prior Administration during the time that there is a political election going on. Reporter now, kate, i need to make one thing clear. I dont know if john lauro that attorney who was speaking with Kaitlan Collins or other members of Donald Trumps legal team will use that as part of their defense in a potential trial, but we know that this is what this he want to put out into the public narrative. We know that donald trump wants this to play out publicly, he wants to argue to his voters that he did not commit any crime. I can tell you from speaking with donald Trump Supporters, i was at his rally over the weekend in erie, pennsylvania, i spoke with many Trump Supporters as they were heading into the venue, and they believe him. They believe that he did nothing wrong and they also think that he is a victim of a twotiered Justice System. You can see in the polls donald trump is still very much the republican front runner and so i think as you continue to see them message on this, he will be in alabama on friday, he will be in South Carolina on saturday for two Different Campaign stops, hes going to continue to use this type of rhetoric, kate. Alayna treene, thank you so much. So as we mentioned, the indictment lists six unnamed coconspirators, they have not been charged with any claims yet. Cnn has been able to identify five people, they include Rudy Giuliani, Constitutional Lawyer john eastman, conservative lawyer Sidney Powell, former doj official Jeffrey Clark and attorney ken chesebro, the indictment identifies a last person as a political consultant. Zachary cohen joins us now. It is so interesting to see these people listed as coconspirators to not see them named and to not see them indicted at least not yet, zach. Yeah, john, especially because the indictment says clearly that these are six people who trump, quote, enlisted to assist him in his criminal efforts and, look, if you read this list of five names that we have identified and you were following along with the january 6th Committee Hearings theyre probably not all that surprising, they include four attorneys, namely at the top of the first coconspirator number 1 Rudy Giuliani who was acting as the former president s personal attorney at the time but also the head of his post election legal team as they were trying to find evidence of voter fraud to back up his claims that he had won an election that he really did not. Now, giuliani was notable in the indictment, it lays out how he led the way on pressuring State Legislators during this postelection period, that was something we know from our reporting that investigators were asking a lot of witnesses about before the indictment came. The second coconspirator is john eastman, another attorney who was advising former President Trump either directly or indirectly at the time and eastman is most known for his plan to pressure Vice President mike pence and to overturn the election on january 6th. He was one of the first people that curbed that idea into the high levels of the white house. The third is Sidney Powell, another trump attorney who was one of the biggest pushers of these Conspiracy Theories related to Voting Machines and fraud that came from that, things like Venezuela HackingVoting Machines or china using thermometers to change and flip votes. Jeffrey clark a former doj official we have identified as one of the coconspirator, he was the one that wanted to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election. We know from previous reporting that Jeffrey Clark was almost named Acting Attorney General by former President Trump in the waning days of his time in office. Finally weve side if i had kenneth chesebro, he is also a protrump attorney who was working to help overturn the election but he was known or identified by the January 6th Committee as the architect of the Fake Electors plot and reading this indictment the Fake Electors Scheme is a cornerstone of what jack smith is laying out and what he says are crimes committed by trump and potentially as cysted about i these five individuals and one other untied if i had individual. Zach cohen, thank you for bringing us up to speed on these five known other people, the sixth remains something of a mystery right now. Thank you so much. And to all of our reporters for that. Coming up, much more on this. The indictment and the new details about former Vice President s mike pences conversations with donald trump leading up to january 6 and his testimony and all the detail in then diemt from him. What pence is saying now about this historic indictment. And more about the federal judge assigned to preside over trumps case. No stranger to other january 6th defendants and now facing a whole new spotlight with President Trump. And for the first time in over a decade the u. S. Debt rating gets a downgrade, what january 6th also has to do with that. We will be back. It takes two to make it outta sight one, two, get loose n now it takes two to make a. Stay two nights and gett a 50 best western gift carar. Book now at bestwestern. Com. You tried. Limiting when it was okay. No tech behind closed doors. But social medias algorithms of addiction always won out. Its not your fault. Alone you cant stop it. Together, we will. We have a plan. Join us. are you still struggling with your bra . Its time for you to try knix. Makers of the worlds comfiest wireless bras. For revolutionary support without underwires, and sizes up to a gcup, find your new favorite bra today at knix. Com every day, more dog people, and more vets are deciding its time for a fresh approach to pet food. Theyre quitting the kibble. And kicking the cans. And feeding their dogs dog food thats actually well, food. Developed with vets. Made from real meat and veggies. Portioned for your dog. And delivered right to your door. Its smarter, healthier pet food. Get 50 off your first box at thefarmersdog. Com realfood former Vice President mike pence is a key figure throughout this indictment against donald trump. His actions on that day are wellknown, of course, for standing up to the former president , but the notes that he kept leading up to january 6th, the conversations that he had with trump are new and now coming out. Pence reacted to the indictment, though, this way, writing a statement saying todays indictment serves as an important reminder anyone who puts himself over the constitution should never be president of the United States. Adding, on january 6th former President Trump demanded that i choose between him and the constitution and i chose the constitution and i always will. Its hard to overstate the importance of pences role that day, according to the charging document, trump was relentless in his efforts to get his vp to illegally reject the 2020 election results. You will remember that on January 6th Trump called on pence to, quote, unquote, come through for him. And mike pence i hope youre going to stand up for the good of our constitution and for the good of our country. And if youre not, im going to be very disappointed in you, i will tell you right now. Im not hearing good stories. The indictment highlights how trumps Pressure Campaign seriously put the Vice President s life at risk. Hang mike pence. Hang mike pence. Hang mike pence. Hang mike pence. That one of the enduring images from that day. Pence is also a victim in all of this, targeted that very day as the riot was unfolding at 2 24 p. M. Trump attacked pence for refuse to go interfere with the Electoral College certification. At that point he tweeted this, in part, mike pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution. One minute later the Secret Service was forced to evacuate the Vice President , his family and his team from the Senate Chamber to a secure location. We later learned that pence spent several hours in a loading dock underneath the building as Law Enforcement worked to push back the mob. At one point he was less than 100 feet from the violent crowd. John . Joining us now former Trump White House lawyer jim scholz and elliot williams. Friends, theres no real dispute here about what happened, right . The actions that took place generally speaking everyone agrees took place. So what jack smith has to prove, elliot, is