Investigation. For me this is a story that is important for republicans to hear, americans to hear. Lets hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Donald Trumps actions ask the surrounding cast of characters around him. . Cnns Marshal Cohen is joining me in the studio with more details on this. Weve all had our eye. Youve definitely had your eye very trained on georgia, Fulton County. Whats going on down there . Does this mean things are about to start happening . Yes. Finally. After three years of investigations, 70 witnesses to the grand jury, a grand jury report, lawsuits, Security Feting beefed up, so much speculation. Its happening. According to, as you just played, Lieutenant Governor, former Lieutenant Governor jeff duncan. Really making clear that this is sort of the opening shot of the very final stage of this investigation. These witnesses are being told that its time to come in and get ready to testify. So as weve previously reported, the prosecutors down there led by District Attorney fani willis, an elected democrat, they are expected to give a probably twoday presentation. This grand jury meets mondays and tuesdays. So if witnesses are coming in tuesday, that means activity could begin as soon as monday. We also know that in addition to jeff duncan that a Second Person has also been asked to testify. Tell us about that. Thats right. This is george cheaty, an indepeenjournalist based in atlanta. He had subpoenaed to the special he had testified to the special grand jury last year. We had previously reported that he got a subpoena for this charging grand jury that has Charging Powers and he has also confirmed he was asked to come in on wednesday. Twoday presentation, monday, tuesday, i did just say wednesday, but i meant tuesday. Trump allies across the state of georgia and beyond, people like Rudy Giuliani received a Target Letter in this investigation, thinking about things like expertise, racketeering, rico, this is stuff that fani willis has experience with and she has signaled she is ready to go. So much nor more to come on this. Marshal cohen thanks so much for breaking it down. For legal analysis, palm beach Florida State attorney Dave Aronberg is joining us now. Lovely to see you. Thanks for making time. Just if first, what do you make this announcement from jeff duncan . Its a big deal because jeff duncan would be the Cleanup Hitter for fani willis. Hes long been a critic of trumps attempts to overturn the election. Hes long been a critic of giulianis lies to legislative committees, so he is going to be a truth teller before that grand jury and perhaps the final witness before an indictment, and not just any indictment. It looks like an indictment for racketeering, which carries with it a fiveyear mandatory minimum sentence in georgia. Marshal was just laying out this Grand Jury Meats On Mondays and tuesdays. Walk us through whats next this this process. We know these witnesses will go in, and they will talk to the grand jury. Walk us through how that will play out. Well, its often said, jessica, that you can indict a ham sandwich before a grand jury, and thats because in a fw grand jury its just the prosecution and the witnesses. There is no Defense Counsel there and the prosecution presents the case, and the dgrad jurors are asked to vote. All you need is the majority of the grand jurors to vote based on probable cause, and then youve got an indictment. Its a relatively low standard to reach. Now, getting a conviction is much tougher. Youve got to prove cases beyond a reasonable doubt. This has been going on, though, since january. Remember, fani willis said that indictments would be imminent back then. Here we are in august. I think the reason for the delay is that a lot of the witnesses have flipped. People who would have otherwise been charged in the fake elector scheme have flipped and are assisting fani williss investigation. You can see why the former president is really nervous right now. And we know that the Fulton County d. A. , fani willis who you just mentioned is considering as many as 12 indictments. Shes reportedly considering conspiracy and racketeering charges. That would allow her to bring a case against multiple defendants. Do you think using socalled rico charges is the right strategy in this case . Rico is not just for the mafia anymore. Its been used broadly for many years now. In fact, fanny i williss experience in bringing rico cases, just last week she brought one against a street gang in georgia. Shes previously brought one against teachers for a cheating scandal. So you can bring a rico case. You have to show that its a criminal enterprise, engage in a pattern of racketeering activity. What is a pattern . You need two or more qualified offenses. Not every offense qualifies under rico. If you try to influence witnesses, thats a qualifying offense. If you have computer trespass, which apparently happened here with Sidney Powell, thats a qualifying offense. Now, the key is thao tie that t donald trump. You have to show that donald trump personally was involved in this scheme, and if they can show that, its game on. Okay, so to that point, i want to play a clip because a lot of this case centers on a phone call that trump made to Georgia Election officials. So lets listen to that, and then well come back. So look this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state. Okay. And we know at a Campaign Event earlier this week, he called that a perfect phone call, but dave, youve just laid out what theyre trying to do in proving this, and it seems like that is some pretty solid evidence with that phone call. It is, jessica. You know, youre not going to see donald trump take the stand in this case, if and when he is indicted. I do not think he will go under oath and take the stand in what could be a perjury trap. So the next best thing for jurors is to hear Donald Trumps own voice on a recording, and thats what separates this case from all the others, and thats why i think this is the second strongest case against donald trump. Of the four criminal cases, i think the strongest is the documents case at maralago. They got dead right on that one. But here youve got donald trump on tape and thats the difference, and thats whey i think why i think theyve got a really strong case, not just for rico but other charges like trying to improperly influence an election official. Theres going to be a number of charges not just against the former president but his cohorts as well. That will also be different here, right . There could be the other allies that could be kind of sucked into this as well . I think the ally that has the most to worry about here is Rudy Giuliani. Rudy giuliani lied to legislative committees. Now, when Rudy Giuliani went before the public, he can say whatever he wants. He has a First Amendment right t to do so, but when you lie before a legislative body in georgia, it ass a crime, so i expect he will be indicted as well. And then theres the others like Sidney Powell who were part of this scheme. If youre going to charge rico, its an enterprise. A oneman rico doesnt exist. You need others. Thats why you can expect others will be charged alongside donald trump. Those who have not yet flipped already. Okay. So we know this grand jury will meet monday and tuesday and then is it possible to know then kind of what a Time Line Looks like after that . Or is it really up to the d. A. I expect that an announcement will come as early as tuesday. Jeff duncan is testifying tuesday. If those are the only days the grand jury will be meeting next week, then all signs point to an indictment tuesday evening it will be announced. What will happen is theyll come out and then it will be unsealed and trump and his team and others will be notified and the public will know. Probably by donald trump himself. He has a habit of letting people know when these things happen to him so you can expect that its going to get really interesting next week, thats going to be the fourth of four cases against donald trump. As i said, i think the second most powerful one against him. It really is an unprecedented time seeing as he is the front runner for the gop nomination as it stands, just a few months before americans start voting in that primary race. It is quite a moment in american history. Dave aronberg, thank you so much for your analysis, for helping us understand that better. We appreciate it. Thank you. Still to come, much more analysis on the ramp up to a possibly fourth indictment of donald trump, this one in f georgia. Former adviser to four president s david gergen will talk to us about it. And were going to take you live to hawaii as firefighters still continue to battle the wildfires. And later, the incredible comeback of damar hamlin continues, as he plays in the Buffalo Bills first preseason game just seven months after suffering a Cardiac Arrest on the field. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Plus, switch, keep your number, and d get up to 300 off. With verizon business. Its your business. Its your verizon. 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Airborne unprecedented and historic, it seems like we say those words a lot when it comes to these investigations and indictments of former president donald trump. Think about it, trump is facing what could be his fourth indictment. In a few days, the Fulton County d. A. Is expected to present her case that trump tried to overturn Election Results in the state of georgia. A Trial Schedule appears very likely to collide with the 2024 election calendar, and we really are in uncharted territory here. The former president remaining defiant and continuing to claim hes a victim of a weaponized justice system. Joining me now is former adviser to president s nixon, ford, reagan, and clinton, david gergen, its great to see you. Im so happy we have you on. I want to get your perspective on The Big Picture impact of this moment, and i know we can get lost in the daytoday churn of all of this, but what do you take away if you kind of zoom out and look at this moment . Were in one of the strangest moments in american political history. We havent seen anything like this in at least 100 years. There is some precedent, jessica. There was a fellow named carly in boston, his first time out, people loved him. He was the mayor of the poor, and he went to jail, and the election was held while curly was in jail, and guess what, curly won by 20 points. So its not impossible, and we may see it more than once. Eugene debs was another person that was a candidate, an activist in the 1920s. He went to jail, but he was still very, very popular. So we have to say there are occasionally moments, but this one is, i think, particularly challenged because it is so dangerous, so dangerous to our democracy, and so dangerous to our place in the world. If were seen as slipping as we are, all the nations are going to try to take advantage of us in all sorts of ways we cant even imagine at this point. Theres a lot more on the line than weve seen in most scandals in the past. Weve also, you know, were coming into a period, Swjessicas One Headline said the day hunter has become the hunted, and that is going to be hunter biden is now in the thick of all of this and inevitably Television Cameras are going to swerve that way as well as towards the courtrooms. No question about it. Its just kind of this swirl, this storm that were all keen kind of heading into at this moment. If we go back to the former president , i was just talking with our political director, David Chalian who you know as well whos in iowa at the state fair. Hes the best. Hes the best, and he was talking about the big crowds that trump is getting today as hes there at the iowa state fair. We know that he remains far and away the front runner for the republican nomination, meaning that this 2024 election could feature a twice impeached former president whos facing four criminal indictments, and also a current president who himself let us not forget is under a Special Counsel investigation over his handling of the classified documents. And then you mentioned his son, hunter biden, it is truly remarkable how all of this is spinning around. But when we go to trump and we talk about we talk to voters in iowa, they dont mention any of this. Theyll talk about how they feel about him. Do you think this is getting through to voters . How are they metabolizing all of this . Well, i think its very, very unlikely that the landscape were in today is going to be the landscape in october, november, of the election year. Somethings going to happen. Somebodys going to get hurt in some fashionfashion, somebody know, trump might go to jail for a lot of charges for a lot of years. There are all sorts of things that could change things some. It makes it very, very unpredictable. But at the moment, i do continue to believe that were more threatened by us than we are by our enemies right now. Were more threatened by the way were allowing our democracy to erode and people arent standing up enough. Theres a lot of cowardice in politics right now. And really just such a pushback from the American People. Theyre just losing their faith in institutions it seems like in a lot of ways. Yes. Which so foundational, right, to democracy. I to do want to ask you, if you were advising any one of the republican candidates running against trump at this point, how would you approach this issue . Because ive been following them. They really are trying to kind of delicately go afternround it. Mike pence has been very direct about that third indictment. But otherwise, you know, theyre not really going right at donald trump. Yeah, thats very, very true. Theyre not going after donald trump at this point because theyre scared. Thats what i mean by the cowardice because theyre scared. The polls, you know, cnn post add really interesting piece asking and comparing Desantis On The on the right to tim scott of south carolina, and theyre running against each other in the republican primary, and the question cnn was phrasing was what do republican voters, maga voters want . Do they want a brawler, someone whos going to get in a fight and go for the knockout or do they want a unifier . Scott is truly the unifier, trump is the brawler. So far despite the polls that say people want a unifier more than theyve gotten, so far, though, the brawler is carrying forth. Just this last week, you know, where scott was calling for compassion in various issues, on the same issues desantis was saying about the immigration of Illeg