Our Special Coverage continues now on the arrest and arraignment of donald trump. Im wolf blitzer alongside laura coates. Truly an extraordinary and unprecedented day right here in washington, d. C. I mean the former president at one point was in the custody of the very government he allegedly tried to overthrow, just a mere step or two from the center of democracy of supporters even attacked on january 6th in the culmination of the plot to overture election. Onald j. Trump arres arraigned for the third time in four months on four federal charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights. The next hearing now scheduled for august 28th when the judge intends to set a trial date. And donald trump was standing up in court today, and he actually pleaded not guilty to all four of those criminal charges. And before boarding his private plane to return to new jersey, he was railing against the indictment and trying to recast all of this as what he called persecution. 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. We cant let this happen in america. What happened in that washington Courtroom Today is just the very beginning. Our Senior Legal Affairs correspondent paula reid is here to break down the next steps in a case thats like nothing weve ever seen before in this country. Paula, a truly dramatic and historic day. Take us inside the courtroom. Tell our viewers what happened. Wolf, it really was extraordinary. Here you had the former leader of the free world standing inside a federal courtroom here in washington in his own Voice Pleading not guilty. Now, its significant he entered this plea on his own because at his other initial appearance and arraignment down in florida on the other federal charges hes facing he had his lawyer enter this plea. So theres an open question about whether he would be the one to stand up and speak during this hearing. And we actually heard him speak several times, and again, its very different than what weve seen before. We heard him enter his name, agree he understood the charges, and enter that plea of not guilty. And interestingly before the hearing got started, the judge was running late. There was about 15 minutes of a pretty quiet time in the courtroom. People were just milling about, but im told it was so quiet you could hear someone clicking their pen. And during that time Special Counsel jack smith and the former president sort of looked at each other, exchanged glances multiple times. Truly extraordinary, wolf. Paula, The Big Question tonight as you know is how long it could be before this all goes to trial. What comes next . Wolf, this looks like its going to be a Rocket Docket because judge chutkan, she did not handle todays hearing but shell handle the case going forward. Shes given the government just seven days to tell her when they think they can take this trial and how long the case will take to try. And then the Defense Attorneys have one week after that to give her the same information because the next hearing is on august 28th, and tat that time she wants to set a trial date. So that really suggests she wants to move this along quickly. Wolf, one of the things that could potentially throw off the time line is additional codefendants. We know they continue to interview witnesses so it is possible they could adadditional charges or a codefendant. Yeah, the Special Counsel keeps saying this investigation is continuing, so we shall see. Paula reid, thank you very much. Laura, back to you. Thanks, wolf. Tom foreman is here to help us break down what the former president is forbidden to do possibly now hes been indicted for the third time. Tom, talk to me about what restrictions might be in place. Weve seen something similar in maralago about who we can and cannot talk to. Is that going to take place here . Thats a key issue, but, yeah, it will. Take a look at the names he was told he either could not talk to at all, but if hes going to talk to them about the case it has to go through his lawyers, so gate keepers who might be able to communicate some way there. Mark meadows, mark short, dan scavino, patchrick fillben, ken cuccinelli, on and on it goes. This is a whole lot of people close to donald trump who he now cannot talk about that case, probably a similar case list to this one. These are the people who talked to the grand jury. There are others on another list also included he cant talk to who were interviewed by the Special Counsel investigators. So a whole bunch of people. The judge was so intent on making sure that donald trump not only understood but acknowledged what he had to do here that he was warned that trump said to him you cannot retaliate against these witnesses. Meaning not only can you not talk to them, but you cant do like in the old mob movie the wink and the nod. None of that. And the judge said are you prepared to comply, and in front of the judge and in front of the American People and in front of the flag, donald trump said, yes, and he made a pledge he would play by the rules. First of all, that was like an Energizer Bunny list and kept going and kept going. And remember for the January 6th Committee there were a thousand witnesses he spoke to. There could be tons. We know hes heard some part of Potential Defenses, the First Amendment and free speech. We havent heard how hes handling all these charges. You have any idea . Well, if you look at what hes put on truth social hes not liking it. Hes been arrested for a corrupt, rigged and stolen election. Its a great honor because i was arrested for you, no hes arrested for what he did. Im headed to d. C. For protesting a crooked election, unfair venue, unfair judge, attacking the judge there and on and on he goes here. I really think if you look at all this what you find yourself saying no matter how you feel about the outcome of this case is the person who puts out this information, attacks the judge and says all this, is that person capable of doing what he pledged in court he would do, following the rules . And if he does follow the rules, if thee tries to communicate with his people and lets them know what he wants, what price might he pay . Im looking at this as a prosecutor and saying i see some of the motions will he file. But attacking a judge might get him in some hot water. And look at this, as you mentioned soon in 2024 it will be our turn. How many times have we heard about the weaponization . Its going to be as i think he said last night unprecedented no longer means anything because were saying it every minute when it deals with issues around donald trump. Tom, thank you so much. Wolf . Thank you. I want to bring in our experts and analysts to discuss this truly historic day. Jim acosta, as all our viewers know youve been facetoface with trump on many occasions in recent years, in gaggles and press briefings. What to you make of his demeanor today . I was used to donald trump being in the white house, and hes gone from being Commander In Chief to criminal defendant. I guess it was no surprise to hear what he was saying on the tarmac at Reagan National airport this was persecution. I think we should be looking for donald trump to pursue a strategy that could be summed up as the two ds, delay in the courthouse and disparage and demeanize out on the campaign trail. I talked to a long time trump advisor in recent days who said its going to be incredibly difficult for donald trump to win a general election no matter how they campaign over the next 12 months. And so what remain tuesday be seen at this point is as tom and laura were discussing, can donald trump play by the rules . Obviously weve seen up until this point hes certainly not going to do that. He has demonstrated time and again that he has no interest in doing that, and i think thats what we should expect to see moving forward. Kristen, you saw desantis. What did he think . I think he sounded defiant and touched on a message hes hit on for years, this sackficial type martyr narrative. Hes someone who sacrificed, sacrificed his Business Career for people who were his supporters. Now hes saying im taking these Slings And Arrows from the courts for you. This is part of the reason why there was such a large number of republican who remain devoted to him personally. Hes made it about himself, and this feeds that narrative further. I want you to listen for a second to see how some of trumps lawyers are already trying to maybe spin this entire moment. Listen to this. I think that everybody was made aware that he lost the election, but that doesnt mean that was the only advice he was given. If anybody understands what happens in the oval office, there are numerous amount of advisers and politicians and lawyers, not just one or two that are giving you advice and telling you what they believe is true. So he may not agree with mike pence. He may not agree with un of his lawyers, but that doesnt mean there werent people advising him exactly the opposite. And the president has the right as all of us do to listen to the opinion. What do you make of that . I think its baloney and heres why. When the attorney general of the United States, bill barr, tells him theres no fraud, i think you take that to the bank. When the white House Counsel says that, you take it to the bank. There is probably only one person who thought the election had been stolen in the white house. That was donald trump. So according to this indictment, theres not one person who truthfully said to him that he won. And the other thing is he made admissions that he had lost. He said to aides how can you believe i lost to this guy. And he asked mike pence on new years day to reject the certification. And he basically said youre too honest. Thats a person who has a guilty mind and knows that he lost the election. By the way, pence is now marketing on that as part of his Memorabilia Paraphernalia campaigns hes doing. But you know how the right hand and left hand are not always on the same body when it comes to having a united front . You heard from the lawyer. I want you now to listen to what trumps daughterinlaw said moments ago. Let me clear it up for anyone who has questions out there, donald trump believed on the November 3rd Of 2020 he won that election, he still continues to believe that. So anyone who says theyre lies wants to take note of that. You mean the attorney or someone else on that very point . Well, heres what i want to say. If you go through this indictment and look at those list of witnesses, i was a former prosecutor for a long time. I am salivating because everyone of those witnesses including mark meadows and all the Campaign People including steven miller, they knew he lost the election. I want to go back to 1960. John f. Kennedy got 306 electoral votes. He beat Richard Nixon by 118,000 votes. Did nixon do this januaryf 6th thing . No. He was a statesman at that time and he said you won. Donald trump lost by 7. 1 million votes, and he knew that he had no chance of winning other than causing havoc on january 6th. Well, if hes salivating, i saw you chanting at the bit, jim acosta. I was there covering the white house in the days after the 2020 election and talking to aides and advisers who said donald trump knew that he lost the election. And what he was doing from that Point Forward was trying to orchestrate an administrative or procedural coup. What ended up being almost a coup unfolding before our eyes. I talked to white house advisers who said, yes, he understands he lost and sometimes grumble i cant believe i lost and that sort of thing. We reported and go back and find it online. I think, yes, theres absolutely a State Of Mind. And one of the things were going to be looking to in this upcoming trial of the 21st century if you want to call it that is whether or not his former Vice President , mike pence, takes the stand and testifies, which i think will be a huge moment. And he says, yes, donald trump did tell me youre being too hoppest. That suggests going to jeans Point Donald Trump was fully prepared to be dishonest. Can i make one point . Motive in a criminal case is one element. Mike pence had motive to say the election was stolen because he would remain as Vice President. And ive got to compliment mike pence. Even though he had the motive to say there was a fraud, he said there wasnt, and i couldnt do this constitutionally and reject the will of the people, so ive got to compliment mike pence on this. Yeah. Let me bring jamille into his conversation. The Trump Lawyers will ask for a change of venue. They dont necessarily think theyll get a fair trial here in washington, d. C. How do you think the judge is going to react to this motion . I think donald trump can get a fair trial in d. C. Hes got a judge whos seen a number of january 6th defendants whos got a reputation for being a fair and even handed judge. This is fraught matter and everyone is watching here on cnn on every channel. If the president cant get a fair trial here, he cant get a fair trial anywhere. This was the locus of the events that took place that day. It was here that insurrection took place. This is the place to try to case. Do you agree, eugene some. In february march of this year i had a sixweek oath keeper trial. Great kid, 21 years old, he swallowed the koolaid. I lost, fought like heck. It was very hard to pick a jury, took us almost a week. And the reason is 95 of the voters in d. C. Voted against donald trump. Can you get a fair trial here . Yes, but its going to be difficult. Jury selection in this case is going to take two to three weeks, and the questions and the answers are going to be really hard to deal with. But i experienced it for six weeks. It can be done. My clients going to appeal, but he could get a fair trial. Yeah, i suspect youre right. All right, guys, everybody standby. We have a lot to discuss. Up next, an advisor to Rudy Giuliani joins us live after the former mayor is named as a coconspirator in this case. Plus tara swisher is here on the very interesting revelation Chris Christie made to her about jack smith. And president ial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also joins us as he defends donald trump. This is cnns special live coverage. Chevy silverado has what it t takes to do it all. With up to 13 camera views. And the z71 offroad package. You ok . Yeah. Any truck can help you make a living. This one helps you build a life. Chevy silverado. Woman why did we choose safelite . 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A clearchoice day changes every day. Schedule a free consultation. Were reinventing our network. With smarter, more efficient routes. So you can deliver more value to your customers. Fast. Reliable. Perfectly orchestrated. The United States postal service. Our Special Coverage continues on this historic arrest and ament of donald trump in connection with a wide rangg alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election. Now, indictment leaves the Unindicted Coconspirators facing some pretty touch choices. Joining me now is a political advisor for Rudy Giuliani, ted goodman. Giuliani appears to be according to reporting a coconspirator and likely Coconspirator One. Ted, i want to thank you for joining me,