Welcome to cnn news central. 24 hours from now we expect to see donald trump on his way to Federal Court here in washington scheduled to make his First Court Appearance after term prosecutors charged him with four separate counts in a sweeping indictment. Special counsel alleges trump was central in a plot to overturn the 2020 election. The indictment also says he had help coconspirators. It repeatedly references six coconspirators. Cnn has been able to identify five of those six. They are former Trump Lawyers rudy giuliani, john eastman and sidney powell, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and protrump lawyer kenneth chesebro. I want to go to zach cohen. Tell us what we should expect to see tomorrow and included in that what kind of security should we expect to see . Yeah, the expectation right now is that donald trump will be in d. C. In person and have to travel to the courthouse for this appearance, and, look, federal agencies and local Law Enforcement have been preparing for this possibility for weeks now, but theyre continuing to coordinate, the Secret Service already put out a Statement Warning of increased traffic coinciding with trumps appearance in Court Tomorrow and, you know, its a weird dance. You have the local police departments, npd in d. C. Is the lead agency but Secret Service, a federal agency is the chief protective entity of the president so all these Law Enforcement agencies are all talking to each other ahead of trumps arrival in d. C. Expected to arrive in d. C. And the courthouse tomorrow. Looking back to the miami Court Appearance there were expectations of thousands. The numbers ended up being much smaller than that. Well see what turns out to be the case tomorrow, zach cohen in washington, thanks. Brianna. We have alana treen new the president s new Jersey Property and norm eisen in studio, Special Counsel for the house judiciary in trumps first impeachment trial. Norm, what is your initial reaction here to this latest indictment . Brianna, its powerful. It states the case when taken together with what we know publicly that i do think establishes likely proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt against donald trump. Its simple. You can describe the story of desperation, pushing doj, pushing state officials, getting fraudulent electoral certificate, using them to squeeze mike pence and then exploiting the violence in one sentence. The same with the legal claims, defrauding the United States, obstructing an official proceeding and trying to take away the civil rights of everybody who voted for the rightful president , joe biden, so the simplicity gives it power and finally i would say its historic. Weve never seen anything like this before in american history, particularly with three major criminal case, federal and state and a fourth one expected on the way. Remarkable times in our nation. How does this one factor in the three to you . Well, its complex in the three so far, because is it the most important, do you think . Yes, i would say its the most important and ill tell you why. The thing that underlies the american experiment, the reason that all over the world i served as an ambassador and wherever i went people admired our country was our democracy. The legitimacy that the votes of americans give to the way our government operates. This case of the three that have been filed. The other two are very serious goes most directly to the heart of that democracy. Weve never had an attempted selfcoup in america before. Its something you see elsewhere in the world, so it is, i think, the most important and it also is likely to go first because alvin bragg has said, hey, ill step back in effect. Oh, you think it will go first. Well come back to that. Alana, we know that the former president s team has been coordinating its public response, theyre talking to surrogates and talking to gop lawmakers knowing that theyre going to be speaking to the media. Now you have some new reporting that top fox executives are trying to get trump to commit to the first debate on their network. What more can you tell us . Reporter well, thats right, brianna. Kristen holmes and i have learned donald trump on tuesday night shortly after he learned that he was being indicted in the Special Counsels case regarding his efforts to overturn the election dined with former fox News Executives including jay wallace as well as foxs chief executive Suzanne Scott and encouraged him to attend their president ial debate in milwaukee later this month. But we were told donald trump is noncommittal in line with his posture on these debates so far. Hes both privately and publicly signaled that he will likely skip one or both of the upcoming two president ial primary debates and pointed to his command at the polls and his frontrunner status right now in the republican field for wanting to not share the stage with his rivals, however, one trump adviser previously told cnn, quote, why would we debate . That would be stupid to go out with that kind of lead so thats one trump advisers outlook on it but im also told by other advisers, there is some concern about him not being president in one of these debates and worry his absence from the stage could give a lower tier candidate or another one of his rivals the opportunity for a breakout moment. But i also want to note that Ronna Mcdaniel as well as david bossie in charge of the Debate Committee both recently dined with donald trump At Bedminster at well and encouraged him to participate in the debates. During that dinner he was also noncommittal. Now, just going back to the charges about the indictment i think its really intestg to see how Donald Trumps team is messaging on this and what theyre defending, what their lines of defense will be for donald trump. We know that john lauro, one of Donald Trumps attorneys has leaned into the argument that donald trump was engaging in his First Amendment right of free speech to when he was pushing those election claims and Election Fraud claims. Lets listen to what he had to say. This is the first time that the First Amendment has been criminalized. Its the first time that a sitting president is attacking a political opponent on First Amendment grounds and basically making it criminal to state your position and to engage in political got to give you a little reporter now, brianna, clearly we do not know if john lauro or Donald Trumps legal team will use this defense at a potential trial, but it is what theyre putting out in the public narrative and its what they want voters to be thinking about. But if you look at the indictment that jack smith filed last night youll see that one of the key arguments is that donald trump knew that he had lost the election. He was told repeatedly by those around him including those in his own government and yet he still continued to peddle the election lies and the idea that the election was stolen, brianna. Certainly does. Alana treene. You hear her point out everything trump is dealing with. Will he participate in the debate . He blew off a Republican Debate before and then he didnt do it again so well see how he approaches that. He has so much going on and then he has these three indictments and you actually think that this is correct, this latest indictment will go first . I do. Why . Ill tell you why. Brianna, the first case at the moment is alvin braggs case for 2016 Election Interference. People refer to it as a Hush Money Case but its really a case for fabricating documents over 30 counts of fabricating documents to cover up Hush Money Payments that could have cost donald trump the 2016 election after access hollywood. Thats an Election Interference too. A grateway drug for what smith is prosecuting. Alvin bragg said i have a march 2024 trial date. Thats ahead of judge cannon and says if the interests of justice require, im willing to give that up, so i think jack smith is going to take him up on it. I think judge Tanya Chechkin as dealt with these fights over documents. Theyre going to say, fine, lets go. There is no reason this simple streamlined case cant go in that march 2024 time frame go fast. Thats what smith wants. He said speedy trial. March, as i recall, is a very busy time in the electoral calendar. Well see you, norm. You remind me all the times you predicted me correctly. I wont say youre wrong. Well see where it goes. Norm eisen, thanks so much. Alayna treene, thanks for your time. Congresswoman zoe lofgren, thanks for taking time this afternoon. Sure. You, of course, were on the january 6th select committee. Its been eight months since that panel finished its own investigation and sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department. In your view did the Special Counsel take too long to act after that . Well, no, i think hes moved promptly. I do think the Special Counsel should have been appointed before he was, but once he was appointed, i think hes moved pretty quickly and i think our committee was helpful. We read quite a bit of it as the evidence we uncovered. In terms of the committees work with the doj, should the january 6th committee have worked more in concert, for instance, sharing Interview Transcripts with witnesses to propel that time line faster . No, were a separate branch of government. Were not an arm of the Executive Branch including the department of justice. We made our Information Available to the world, to the public as well as the department of justice, all of the evidence that we compiled we made publicly available and, of course, the department of justice had access to that. They obviously have had to reinterview the individuals that we interviewed and i understand that. They cant just rely on our interviews and they were also refusing to talk to us. Its pretty obvious they talked to the former Chief Of Staff mark meadows and they certainly talked to the former Vice President , who we were unable to interview. Just for folks at home, here we are, its some 2 1 2 years after the events of january 6th as well as the election of november 2020. Were deep into the 2024 Election Cycle here. Thats not your fault. Thats just the way the calendar works but you can see how in the eyes of some voters theyll say, wait a second. Why did it take so long. Why given the evidence you had and to your point the doj could have appointed a Special Counsel further, do you see a danger here that because its in the Election Cycle that will weaken the case and add to at least the argument, the accusation that this is political . Well, obviously it isnt political. The Special Counsel is independent from the Attorney General, and the president , President Biden has made clear he is hands off. He is not political. In fact, he has prosecuted both democrats and republicans in past. I think this will just in the regular course of business be tried. I would hope that the trial is sooner rather than later, justice delayed is justice denied but thats going to be up to the judge. This, you know, application of the Law And Justice cant be postponed simply because some of the accused and avoid being held to account. So, this will proceed ordinary course. The expresident , the defendant, is entitled to assumption of innocence unless he is convicted and hopefully that determination is forthcoming. There was some interruption in the line but we heard your final thought, in effect that the former president cannot be above the law. Thanks for joining us this afternoon. Bring an that, certainly a conversation well keep going. Yes, it sure will. Ahead this hour on cnn news central, the latest donald Trump Indictment is accusing the former president of Organizing Fraud Lent Slates of electors in seven targeted states. 16 people in michigan are charged separately in the scheme. The Secretary Of State there will be joining us. Plus, a surprising announcement from canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau. What we are learning about his separation from his wife sophie. For a limited time, get two pairs of prive r Revaux Frames from jamie foxx for only 89. 95. Book your exexam today. More shopping . You should watch your spending honey. Im saving with liberty mutual, mom. They customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Checit out, you could save 700 dollars just by switching. Ooooh, ill look into that. Let me put a reminder on my phone. Save 700 dollars. Pick up dad from airport . Ohhhhhh. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Good checkup . No, great checkup [laughs] nailed it again keep up the good work for great checkups, crest has you covered because crest prohealth protects 100 of your mouth for 24 hours. Look, ma no cavities crest. Get it with gurus. Cargurus. As we are learning the former president dined with fox News Executives last night. This indictment in particular creates a unique predicament for the right wing media because the Election Falsehoods at the center of these charges prompted multimillion Dollar Defamation Suits against fox news. Newsmax and others. Hundreds of millions of dollars in fact, nevertheless these hosts are Still Standing by the former president. Are we now living in america where equal justice is dead . The equal application of our laws is a thing of the past . That were the shredding of our constitution. Were witnessing this this realtime in front of our own eyes. This is only the beginning of politicians putting other politicians and their families in prison. Sad we had to go down this road but this is where we are and now we have to finish it. Finish it . Cnns oliver darcy joins me now. You reported this for some time. Obviously fox news paid an enormous financial price for this and another case is coming its way. What is the strategy, if any, here in terms of handling the lies at the center of these indictments against trump and, well, the lies that have sometimes been shared on their network . Yeah, jim, youre seeing some really dishonest Dark Rhetoric in right wing media in the aftermath of this latest indictment. Theyre really trying to do to jack smith the Special Counsel here what they did to robert mueller, which is to paint him as a dishonest man, to question his integrity and really what youre seeing is a portrait being painted in right wing media of a weaponized doj thats being wielded by an evil biden to target and imprison his political opponents. Of course, thats not whats happening but thats what millions of americans are seeing when they turn on fox news or newsmax or oan. Its what theyre hearing when they listen to talk radio and what theyre seeing on their social feeds if they subscribe some of these right wing institutions like breitbart and so its really disturbing, but its important to know because so Many Americans are living in this world where biden is head of a crime family and hunter biden is committing crimes and getting away with them while trump is being prosecuted by the doj and its worrisome because this is the kind of rhetoric, i think, that leads people to no longer have faith in their institutions and, you know, you saw what happened on january 6th when people lose confidence in their government. Yeah, well, Charles Ramsey made the point last hour, hes concerned about whether that could potentially fuel violence as well. Oliver, thanks so much. Brianna. All right, jim, lets zero in on this Fake Electors Scheme Aspect of this indictment. The scheme encompassed seven state, seven targeted states that trump lost and the goal according to the indictment was to submit illegitimate protrump electors to congress in order to, quote, create a fake controversy at the certification proceeding. Now, one of the states at the heart of that plot mentioned dozens of times in the indictment was michigan and we are joined by a key official who stood in the way of that effort, that is michigan Secretary Of State jocelyn benson. Secretary benson, thank you so much for being with us today and spending some time with us. 16 Fake Electors have been charged