Indictment. Those indictments arent wort the paper theyre written on. How will he defend himself . And will he go to trial before the election . Trumps attorney john loro joins in me moments. And too honest. A central figure in the new case, the former Vice President ramps up his criticism of his old boss. The president ultimately continued to demand that i choose him over the constitution. What does he make of the case . Gop president ial candidate mike pence is next. Plus, on message. With just over two weeks until the gop debate, other candidates struggle to break through. Is there a new opportunity to edge out the frontrunner. Gop president ial candidate Chris Christie joins me ahead. Hello, im dana bash in washington, where the state of our union is watching Court Filings pile up. Donald trump is kicking off a new week, juggling an evermore legal calendar over his third indictment over alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. As usual, the former president is lashing out at the legal system and those he perceives to be his enemies. Last night, he called Special Counsel jack smith, quote, mentally ill, and, quote, deranged. And a Trump Campaign adviser told cnn that the president has no plans to change his rhetoric. Even as in Federal Court this weekend, trumps attorneys worked to respond to a filing by the justice department, which took issue with a new threatening social media post by trump. Here with me now is trump attorney, john lauro. Thank you so much for joining me. This week a judge rejected your request for three more days on how to handle evidence. The proposed protective order that would let use some information, but not take that information with him. Would you agree to that . First of all, this protective order thats being suggested by the Biden Administration is an effort to keep from the press important nonsensitive information that the Biden Administration has that may speak to this isnt buy the Biden Administration. This is by the special independent counsel mr. Trump. No, no, here for this reason no. The independent counsel, its not independent, its Special Counsel, has to get the approval of Merrick Garland in order to go forward. Joe biden said in November Of 2022 that he wanted to see President Trump prosecuted and taken out of this race so it is the Biden Administration. Im just going to stop you. Theres no evidence that joe biden is involved in this. And youre right, its a Special Counsel. Lets just stick to the question. Do you believe that this is something that youll agree to . The point is that we will not agree to keeping information thats not sensitive from the press. The press and the American People in a Campaign Season have a right to know what the evidence is in this case, provided that this evidence is not protected otherwise. So were going to oppose it, as we have. But for whatever reason, these lawyers on the Prosecution Team want to keep that from the press. Wont the evidence come out in trial anyway . Im shocked that the press some of it will, not all of it. Im shocked that the press isnt lined up objecting to this protective order. Not only is President Trump being attacked for his First Amendment rights, now these prosecutors are trying to impinge on the Freedom Of The Press. I appreciate you trying to stick up for us, but lets talk about the actual im telling you whats going on right now. Substance of what they were trying to do in the filing. Which was try to make the point not some that they want to keep the discovery information. What the witnesses said for the time being quiet, but also, he made pretty clear, the Special Counsel that the idea that the former president is calling him deranged and mentally ill is something that maybe shouldnt be happening. So let me ask you, as his attorney in this criminal case, do you want your client to stop speaking publicly like this . Using terms like that. This case was brought by this case was brought by the Biden Administration in the middle of a political campaign. And with the realization that people are out there campaigning for office. Im not involved in the campaign. Im involved in representing totally understand, youre not his campaign manager. You are his lawyer. As his lawyer, would you want a client to say things like this about the Special Counsel . One thing that we are one thing that we are going to do is fight this very, very unusual, outside of the bounds criminal prosecution of First Amendment rights vigorously in court. My focus is on addressing the issues. One of the issues that the Biden Administration will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that donald trump had corrupt intent, had criminal intent, when he protests the results of the 2020 election. Thats core freedom of speech. Thats core political speech. Lets talk about this. Youve talked about freedom of speech a lot. I want you to listen to what Donald Trumps own former Attorney General said about that argument. I really dont think thats a valid argument. He can say whatever he wants. He can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen when he knew better. Free speech doesnt give you the right to engage in a fraudulent conspiracy. Your response . First of all, there was no fraudulent conspiracy. That was part of the reality of the defense. What President Trump was entitled to do and what mr. Barr misses, and im not sure hes read all the cases, but when it comes to political speech, you cannot only advocate for a position, but you can take action, you can petition, you can ask even your Vice President to pause the vote for a period of time. But you cant break the law, which is what this indictment alleges. It alleges that he caused actions like the proving what was what was what was it ill tell you what the Dodo Indictment no, what was ill tell you what the indictment says. The indictment says that he attempted to cause actions like approving fake electors, opening sham fraud investigations, and obstructing the certification of the election. Whether he can prove that, thats going to happen in the trial. Im just saying whats in the indictment. Right. Let me take the first thing, the question about electorates, okay . Alternate electorates are used in every fouryear cycles, okay. The Senate Parliamentarian acknowledged to Vice President pence that they always receive protest alternate electorates. None of those electorates were counted. Vice president pence was completely aware of the nature of the they werent counted because mike pence rejected the scheme. Thats why they werent counted. Absolutely. And thats how of course and thats how the political process works. But there was defrauding no, it doesnt. There was no trickery, there was no deceit. Because if mike pence had said yes, thats exactly what would have happened. No. No, because thank with Freedom Of The Press zp i dont want to go down no, you asked me a question and i hope you can let me finish, because the government alleges deceit or trickery, and all of this played out in the open. Its all free speech. There was a Supreme Court decision which is right on point that says when youre exercising free speech, youre not engaging in a fraud on the government. And thats what, unfortunately, most people dont understand. In that context, its very political thats just one example of the actions in this indictment. Absolutely, but youre entitled this is a long list that weve compiled from the indictment. There are its more than a dozen, not speech, actions that the former president allegedly took. Like what . Where do i even start. Like what . Tell me. What actions . Asking the arizona speaker to interfere with arizonas elections. Asking. Asking. Asking is speech. But any alleged thats the point. Asking is speech. Its not action. Almost all alleged Criminal Activity has to do with using words and is speech thats what you dont no, this is obviously the defense that youre going to use and it will be fascinating to see how it works out in a court of law. I want to move on to another bno, but youre you make n interesting point, because youre saying that asking is action. No, asking is aspirational. Asking is not action. Its core free speech. The press should be defending free speech in this case. Because free speech is the most protected speech. Lets talk about something else, and that is the former president ultimately asked his Vice President only for a pause in the electoral count. Right. That was one of the things, ultimately. The final ask right. The final ask in the Ellipse Speech was that. President trump was following the advice of his lawyer. Okay, the word ultimately, ive heard you use many times. The word ultimately is doing a lot of work in that sentence. I know youre intentionally using the word ultimately, because at that point i use ultimately because its the truth. Youre right, it was the truth. At that point, he was asking for a pause, and its only because its only because for many, many, many other asks before that, what the former president was asking mike pence to do was to completely stop, stop it and reject it. And that is the point that mike pence is making. Its that it got to the point where he said pause, because mike pence said, im not going to reject it. Can i respond . Sure. Okay. Okay, so what we have, and many people dont this is a memo from john eastman, an esteemed constitutional scholar laying out a number of scenarios. Those scenarios were presented to Vice President pence. He considered them, and as a constitutional matter, he rejected them. One of the last and the ultimate requests that President Trump made was to pause the voting for ten days to allow the state to recertify or certify or audit. And mr. Pence rejected that as well. After that, there was a peaceful transition of power. Thats how the constitution works. Okay, what happened on january 6th was not peaceful. I want to ask you something about john eastman, because you talked a lot about how hes a respected constitutional attorney. The transfer of power was certainly peaceful. Did you see what happened on january 6th . Did that look peaceful to you . Did you im not saying that that was in any way appropriate, but the ultimately power of the presidency was transferred to mr. Biden. We all know that. As you do. I want to ask you about john eastman said, according to this indictment, that even when he was talking to the Vice President s counsel, that he thought that his plan to reject the slate of electors would be rejected by the Supreme Court. 90. He thought he was right. And by the way, that proposal was not the ultimate one presented to Vice President pence. But what happens in the course of a constitution fall discussion like this is all legal theories are discussed and analyzed. And once again, what President Trump was doing is within the reality and the realm of free speech. Hes asking his Vice President , what about taking this course of action. Ultimately, his Vice President rejected all of the proposals that were made. But whats critical one quick question before we go back to trial. One quick response. What President Trump did not do is direct Vice President pence to do anything. He asked him, in an aspirational way. Asking is covered by the First Amendment. And said some pretty intense stuff online that caused people to think that they needed to build gallows outside of the capitol. And hes not being charged for that by the way. By the way, thats not part of the criminal case. Just to be clear. It is youre right about that. You can say that politically, but its not in the case. Would you be open to having cameras in the courtroom during this trial . I personally want the public to see whats going on in this country right now. I want the public to see what kind of prosecution is going on. And i want the public to see the evidence. If you ask me what my personal opinion is, the answer is absolutely, i would like to see that. What im concerned about is the government has already signaled that they dont want the press and the American People to see the evidence in this case, because they filed an Emergency Protective Order to prevent that from happening. Thank you so much, john lauro, appreciate your time this morning. Great to see you. Absolutely. He is a central figure in the new Trump Indictment. Ill ask former Vice President mike pence about the case against his former boss and now opponent for the gop nomination. Plus, the gift Chris Christie brought all the way to ukraine for president zelenskyy. Chris christie is just back and joins us exclusively coming up. The chase ink business premier card is made for sam who makes, everyday products, designed smarter. Genius like 2. 5cash back of 5,000 or more, so sam can make smart idea a brilant reality chase for busess. Make more of whats yours. For moms, from centrum. 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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. Welcome back to state of the union. As donald trump lashes out on the Campaign Trail over his third indictment, none of his competitors are as well versed in the substance of the allegations as his Vice President , setting up a clash between the former running mates. Joining me now is former Vice President and gop president ial candidate, mike pence. Thank you so much for joining me, sir. Just a few days ago, the former president had this to say about you. He said, quote, i feel badly for mike pence who is attracting no crowds, enthusiasm, or lalty from people who, as a member of the trump administration, should be lovely loving him. The vp had power that mike didnt understand. So you hear there that he is still claiming to this day that you had the power to reject electoral votes. And his lawyers are suggesting reasonable people can disagree on whether you had that auth authority. Well, dana, President Trump was wrong then and hes wrong n now. I had no right to overturn the election. Very clear under the constitution of the United States, article ii, my responsibility as Vice President , as president of the senate was to preside over a joint session of congress, where the constitution says the electoral votes shall be opened and shall be counted. And you know, i really do believe that people all across this country are coming to realize that more every day, although as ive told you before, dana, over the last two years, ive been deeply humbled how Many Americans have come up to me and expressed their appreciation. I truly do believe that we kept our oath to the constitution that day. But the American People deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the constitution, but i kept my oath and i always will. And im running for president in part because i think anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be president of the United States. I mean, our constitution is more important than any one man. Our country is more important than any one mans career. And im running for office, because when people look at my record, i hope that they understand wev