Former President Trump now making his way back to his golf club in new jersey. Earlier pleading not guilty to four criminal counts tied to alleges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election. And that courthouse where he was is symbolically so crucial. Just blocks from where Trump Supporters stormed the capitol on january 6th. An insurrection fueled by what the indictment calls trumps pervasive lies and election fraud. Todays 27minute hearing marks his third arraignment in just four months. Our reporter in the courtroom said trump appeared angry, his hands collapsed as he stared straight ahead. Were also told he had what appeared to be some heated conversations with his attorney, todd blanch. The judge also sitting, setting the next hearing for august 28th. Which is just days after the first republican primary debate. And wolf, trump responding to todays hearing speaking briefly to reporters. He railed against the judge. In the hearing. When you look at whats happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in america. This is the persecution of the person thats leading by very, very substantial numbers in the republican primary and leading biden by a lot. So if you cant beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him. All right. Well, it was a sad day for america. Something of course we heard often after the january 6th attack on the United States capitol and we have so much to cover over the next hour. With wolf and myself. We want to begin though with paula reid live outside that courthouse in washington. And paula, what are you learning about whats next in this case . Well, erin, we could be looking at a Rocket Docket here because the judge will oversee this case and a probable trial. Shes told the government she wants to know in seven days, she wants them to tell her when they can take this case to trial and how long it will take. Then the defense attorneys, they have just another week to tell her the same thing. Because she appears ready to set a trial date at the next hearing, which is on august 28th. Defense attorneys in court today, they did raise some concerns about how long it will take them to really understand how much evidence they have to review in this case. But it appears that she wants to move this along swiftly. This courthouse has overseen Hundreds Of January 6th related cases. At this point, its just impossible to say if this case will definitely go on before the 2024 election. One thing that could really impact a potential timeline is if there are additional charges or additional defendants added to this case. We know from our reporting that over the next several weeks, the Special Counsel will interview at least two additional witnesses suggesting that additional charges are possible. All right. Paula, thank you very much. Wolf . Erin, i want to go quickly to cnns Kristen Holmes whos been following trump all day today. The former president touching down in new jersey tonight. What are you learning about the thinking within the trump camp tonight . Were hearing from trump again whos saying considering the fact i had to fly to a filthy, dirty, falling apart washington, d. C. Then arrested by my political opponent, it was a very good day. Thats a paraphrase. I cut some of the middle adjectives out there. This is what we are told by multiple sources. Usually on days like today, he is angry. Frustrated. This is not something he wants to be doing. He wants to be running a political campaign. Wants to be focused on 2024. Thats why so much of the time were talking to these advisers, they say hes conpartmentalizing. Hes not thinking about the legal. Only talking about the next election but we are at a place here where the legal and political are the same. This is an argument here that is both legal. Its about his legal issues but also political because he is saying that because he believes that he will be the frontrunner and right now, polls show he is, that joe biden is personally attacking him because theyre going to run against each other. Now, the question of course is whether or not voters will believe this but this is something they are hammering down. They are saying the doj is corrupt. The fbi is corrupt. They are saying this is all a political scheme because he is running for president and they are going to continue hammering that narrative obviously as weve seen. We heard from him tonight. He did not take questions. We were told he would then he walked away after about three minutes. Very unlike him to give a statement that short. Good point. Erin . Ty cobb joins us now. Another historic day and here you are. It is the first time a former president in the United States has ever been charged with crimes committed while in office. Whats your reaction watching this . Well as you know, i think this is sad. Unfortunately as the situation could have been avoided, trump forced it upon the department of justice. By the way he conducted himself in the last few days in office. And by the criminal conduct that he committed as he finished his presidency. I do think as weve discussed, that former judge ludigs poignant comments on what this means for america and for the world. The fact that the star that america has been to the rest of the world for the past 250 years. You know the a little, has been dimmed greatly by trump. But its a little brighter tonight because as a country, weve shown that we are going to stand up for the constitution. That we are not going to tolerate unconstitutional criminal behavior and that we will apply that law you know to the highest offices in the land. So this could be an inflection point. I hope it is. In terms of america returning to greater standing within the world and fortunately demonstrating our commitment to the rule of law. So ty, the next court date is august 28th. Thats when well find out when the trial is set to begin. Trumps attorney already today in the hearing pushed back on prosecutors push for a quote unquote speedy trial. They say he needs a lot of time because theres a massive amount of discovery he needed to do and it just cant happen quickly. Does that add up and how long will this take . No, it doesnt. I think mr. Laurel for all his skills, which you know, i understand to be considerable, hes been in this case for two weeks, ten days. He doesnt know all the facts. Couldnt possibly have mastered them all by now. Hes making only political arguments. Hes been out insisting that theyre criminalizing speech where the simple counter to that is you actually can facilitate it further crime through speech and be prosecuted for it just saw an example in the some of the reporting today where if tony soprano tells one of his guys to whack a witness, well, that speech, thats crime. So i think some of his arguments are not well thought out and purely theatrical. I think in terms of the theory that this case could take nine months, thats delusional. The government has a very, very strong case. They will probably need, i would say somewhere in the neighborhood of four to six weeks to put on their case. But the defendant has virtually nothing to come back with. Its not like he can say you know, i didnt say that. If trump and pence and eastman and meadows and other people are all in the same room and say he did. Its not like he can go out and find somebody to say you know, trump really believed he lost. Thats here say. Thats an opinion. The only person they can put trumps State Of Mind into the trial is trump and trump testifying subjects himself to questions like let me run through the, this 500 or 600 examples of tv clips where you lied to the country and explain each lie to us. Hes not going to testify. So i think the likelihood of the defense putting on much of a case is nil. I dont think they have anything that they can come back with. By the direct questioning by the prosecution while it will be lengthy, it will be consistent with the narrative set forth in the indictment. While youre saying four to six weeks to present and they wouldnt have much to say, this would be extremely quick. Are you implying this is something that could you could be done by christmas . Well, you could although i will say one thing. The judge is an excellent judge. A no nonsense judge and she will move this case expeditiously. But as a former public defender, shes very mindful of the right that is the defendants have of the due process rights. Shes not going to disadvantage the defendant trying this case at a pace that treats him unfairly. She would have taken that into consideration. But yes, i do think this case could get to trial shortly after the first of the year and i wouldnt be surprised to see the first one on the docket. Thank you very much. So what do you think, ryan . First of the year and be quick after . Could be the first one out. Its pretty incredible when you think about it. This is basically judiciously litigating the 2020 election. Yeah. This is the big one. And the Manhattan District Attorney seems to recognize that as well by having intimated in a recent interview that he is potentially willing to move his case, which is otherwise scheduled in march, to accommodate jack smith because he says in the interest of justice, that the country needs to see this first as a bigger case. What is he thinking . His trial is march. Thats creating space. And that window. And i think thats the right window. Its also i think a situation in which jack smith will probably operate as hes doing in florida with the classified Documents Case in which hell give the defendant an enormous amount of information that the prosecutors dont have to give until the first day of trial just to say we are ready to go. We want to have an expeditious trial. Theres a Public Interest in having this trial proceed as quickly as possible with all the defendants rights in tact. You know to your point and part of your question was about relitigating the 2020 election. Really touches on something ty said, which is this is a great chance for us to show we dont tolerate unconstitutional behavior. I want to push back on that a bit because whos the we because january 6th was a sign that actually we do tolerate unconstitutional behavior based on the fact there are millions of americans who believe number one that donald trump did nothing wrong and that number two, january 6th was you know a Tourist Event and so on. The rule of law and supporters believe that we are subordinate to it in some way and thats not a per valing view. Thats the great fear. When you look at it and we were talking all day. 70 of republicans, 69 to be exact believe that bidens not the legitimate president of the United States. Thats the context in which a day like today plays out. Today, my heart is really heavy because i think about the day i decided i wanted to be a Public Servant and go into politics. I think about Young Children who hear the president tells his number two that youre just a little too honest. These are the principles we teach children. Honesty and not telling lies but when they see the person that was holding the highest office persuade people that he is their boss to potentially lie, our country is in trouble and this is beggar than politics right now. This is about when we talk about we hold these truths to be selfevident. If we do not live in a country where facts mean something and when no matter who you are, the janitor or the president of the United States, you do something dishonest, you do not have to be held account. President ial Elections Campaign staffs mean nothing that that moment. So whatever intervepntions have to happen in this country and get back into a reality of truth must happen across party lines, across gender, across socioeconomic or we wont survive the next attack on our democracy because it is too fragile. Interesting what tyler was saying that america starved because what has happened but today, he felt brightness because the system worked. You also have a heavy heart today. You have an ominous, foreboding feeling. Im a frustrated republican because i know this should be much simpler. Just think the different days joe biden and donald trump had today. Donald trump got arrested and joe biden took a nap on the beach. This is going to continue to play out over and over again. Theres such a right moment in time for republicans to put a once in a generation leader. A leader that steps up and prop projects these big ideas. Really whether democrat or republican, really putting this vision out there. Im reminded of the way reagan led. The person who agrees 80 of the time is a friend and ally. Im frustrated because you know, unfortunately, it looks like were going to have to lose again to maybe learn our lesson. He has hijacked our party and weve let him. One other question i want to ask you. When you talk about the speed this trial could happen. Theres the question of jurisdiction. Which is coming up again. Obviously the proceedings themselves, the actual certification happened in washington, d. C. There are seven states mentioned here. Is there an argument to be made by trump that it could be successful about changing the jurisdiction . No. Or somebodys wanted in d. C. , its not going to happen. Its not going to move out. Ty pointed at this with other arguments mr. Laurie is making in the Public Square about venue. The idea he wont get a fair shake in d. C. 10 of people voted for trump. Theyre making a political argument there. Exactly. Its political. Its not a legal argument. That will not work in a courtroom. If you make that argument in a courtroom, theyll probably just lose the entire question because thats not how the system works. The system would never base it on that. Th thats why also the Justice Department could not instead of bringing the classify Documents Case in florida, bring it in d. C. , they can never say that. They couldnt say that in a room in the Justice Department that that would be a legitimate calculation. The law doesnt hear that. Because we think the system can hold and we can get jurors to be impartial. In the courtroom, there were reporters, we didnt have cameras, but there were reporters. Kaitlyn was one and you were able to watch trump throughout this tell us about what you saw. Froms. He commands attention when he walks into a courtroom. All eyes are going to go to him. And he was fidgeting quite a bit as he sat in the courtroom. Sort of playing with his jacket. Had his hand folded. Wanted to talk to his lawyers and they had to move the microphone away from him so it wouldnt pick up the whiserring he was doing to his lawyers. He was really looking around a lot. He looked at directly at jack smith, the Special Counsel. He looked and observed the others in the courtroom. There were about 50 people from the court staff, the press, members of the public as well. At one point, he looked down to the table he was at and picked up a stack of papers and you could see him pick it up, hold it in front of him, read it a little bit and that became very clear as he was placing down, it was the indictment himself that he was pleading not guilty to in court today and so there was another person who was there just because they recognized this was such a historical moment. They wanted to tell their grandchildren about it. But its also a humbling moment to have a criminal defendant in court and when donald trump is in court, he is the former president but he is addressed like any other criminal defendant. Hes sitting further down her looking up and every time shes asking him question, he has to respond for the record. Do you understand what im asking you. Yes. Can you comply with the orders from this court thats going to place on you. What your bail terms are. That you cant intimidate any witnesses or potential jurors. That you need to make sure that you understand whats happening here and that you also have the right to remain silent and to that, donald trump did vocally on all of those things tell the judge yes, i understand. He did answer her questions in the affirmative she asked and he also was sworn in at one point with his hand up to the sky to be sworn in around the time that he did need to plead not guilty. Interesting that even the looking up, these things matter. The dynamic of the power in the courtroom is the judge and the law. The law itself. Wolf, also interesting what kaitlyn just reported there that she saw him putting papers down and she was able from where she was sitting to see that was the actual indictment. I want to bring back our legal and political experts for more angealysis. Jamie jamie, what do you make of the description about how trump was behaving with his head down. He seemed pretty nervous. Were hearing from many sources that today was different. That it was a sobering day. Stephanie grisham said he looked angry to her on the tarmac. One other notable thing. We have been very lucky. Whether it was in new york or florida or here today, there was no violence. The security worked. We were talking about you know perhaps part of that is because so many of the rioters from january 6th, theyve got to jail. People dont want to go to jail. Its been a deterrent. That said, donald trump continues to attack the department of justice, judges, the Special Counsel. Hes calls the Special Counsel thugs. Slime ball. Gustapo. There were a number of federal judges that came into the courtroom today. Thats very unusual. His judges did not go in there because they were curious. Texted me and said they were there to show solidarity. They know the rule of law, democracy, the Justice Department has been you under ak and that was the statement they gave today. And this case as well as all of the january 6th related cases, theyre really serving two purposes. One is to hold the actual individuals who are accused accountable for the particular thing they are being charged or convicted with. The other has a deterrent factor. Thankfully there is no violence that is acomp niring any of these proceedings. There was some Police Presence but there was nothing that caused any violence today. Knock on wood. For the attack on the capitol, i believe those really are having a Deterrent Effect on individuals is about protecting future elections. Theres a deterrent aspect to