Donald trump lashing out today after the latest indictment against him, this one in Fulton County, georgia. Why this case could be so consequential. Plus, the actions of mark meadows, charged for the first time in one of these cases. A chief trump critic and rival is here, former governor chris christie. Why he says hes uncomfortable with how the georgia indictment went down. One week after the first evacuations in hawaii, new questions about warning systems. Did the wildfire make them inoperable or did no one ever sound the alarm . Im jake tapper. We start today with our Law And Justice lead. 91 charges, thats what donald trump is now facing after he was indicted in Fulton County, georgia last night. This was the fourth time hes been indicted since leaving office. Hes one of 19 people charged in georgia for his and their attempts to overturn the 2020 Election Results in that state. Trump joined by his former attorneys, as well as former white house Chief Of Staff mark meadows. All of them have been given until noon next friday to turn themselves in. One major difference in this case is the Racketeering Charge that trump and his coconspirators face. Prosecutors accuse him of being the head of a criminal enterprise working to overthrow democracy. In georgia, that charge carries with it a fiveyear mandatory minimum prison sentence. Mr. Trump is once again today lashing out and reverting to his playbook, attacking the prosecutor, call thing a witch hunt, hunt, insisting that the 2020 election was stolen, in which the governor of georgia responded saying, the 2020 election in georgia was not stolen. For three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward and prove anything in a court of law. Our elections in georgia are secure, accessible, and fair. And will continue to be as long as im governor. The georgia indictment is nearly 100 pages long, and includes a sweeping list of ways that trump allegedly broke the law. So championships sarah murray is starting off by digging into what exactly went down in georgia. Reporter a tenday clock for donald trump and allies to turn themselves in here in georgia. I am giving the defendants the opportunity to voluntarily surrender no later than noon on friday, the 25th day of august, 2023. Reporter after Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney fani willis unveiled the fourth indictment against the former president , at a near midnight Press Conference. The defendant engaged in a Criminal Racketeering Enterprise to overturn georgias president ial election result. Reporter its the most sweeping indictment yet, charging trump alongside 18 other defendants. Including prominent alleged coconspirators, like mark meadows and his former attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Theres nobody in this country that has used a racketeering statute more than i have. This is a disgrace. Reporter according to the indictment, trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of trump. If convicted, the defendants face a minimum fiveyear sentence. The rico changes have time that you have to serve. Reporter the wideranging indictment covers the january 2021 call to Georgia Secretary Of State brad raffensperger. I just want to find 11,780 votes. I cannot say what specifically [ inaudible ] reporter as well as the trump campaigns fake elector plot, and the breach of a Voting System in rural coffee county. Trump posting that all charges should be dropped against me and others. There will be a complete exoneration. As he clings to claims of voter fraud and vows to hold a Press Conference about it monday. Republican governor brian kemp, once a trump ally, fired back on twitter. The 2020 election in georgia was not stolen. The Fulton County sheriff says he hopes to ss to keep the proc consistent. Unless someone tells me differently, were following our normal practices. Doesnt matter your status, we have our mugshots ready for you. Reporter the District Attorney indicating a trial could be massive. Do you intend to try all these defendants together . Do i intend to try the 19 defendants together . Yes. Reporter and she hopes to get to it in speedy fashion. We want to move this case along. So we will be asking for a proposed order, a trial date within the next six months. Reporter but that might be difficult with trumps other civil and criminal trials next year. Now, we are still waiting to hear when defendants, including former President Donald Trump, may choose to turn themselves in. This will work a little differently. The day they surrender and processed is not necessarily going to be the day we see them in court. Well wait for the judge who is assigned to this case to set an initial appearance for the defendant. Jake . Sarah murray in atlanta, georgia for us. Thank you so much. Lets discuss with former federal prosecutor and cnn legal analyst jennifer rogers. One of the Big Questions today is whether trumps legal team will try to get this moved from state to Federal Court by noting he was holding a federal office when the alleged crimes took place. How does a judge decide that, and how likely is it that will succeed . Its unlikely to succeed. The judge will refer to the statute at issue. So a defendant cant try to remove to Federal Court if she or he is a Federal Court and if the Conduct Charge involves their duties as a federal officer. He would argue that as president. Hes responsible for ensuring that elections for president s are secure and thats all he is doing. Of course, the indictment is full of allegations, that there are people charged with ensuring elections are fair and clean, and those are the state Election Officials who conduct the elections in the states and he was interfering with them. So hes not going to be able to prove that. In fact, he was acting within the confines of his job, so i think he will make the motion and it will be denied. How might this case be different if it does get moved to a Federal Court instead of Fulton County, georgia . Its a better deal for trump because its a rural area. He likes the look of the jury tool more. He might get a judge that will be more on his side. And then importantly, if it moves to Federal Court, it then is under the federal governments control, right . So if he were to win the election or even another republican, he would be more likely to pardon himself, get a pardon from someone else or interfere directly with the case by ordering it dismissed. Special counsel jack smith charged donald trump but no one else. Why did smith only pursue charges against trump opposed to Fulton County indicting 19 people, including trump. I think they went about their cases differently. Jack smith wanted to get this as dream lined as possible to get it tried as early as possible. So hes pushing for an early trial date. Despite what fani willis is saying, theres just no way this is happening in the next six months. She charged everyone she wanted to charge with everything she wanted to charge them with. Thats arguably the way it should be done, but it will mean theres no way this goes to trial before the election. There are just too many defendants and too many schedules to coordinate and so on. She said she wants to try all 19 of the defendants at the same time. How many of the 19 defendants are going to trial . Some of them might choose to cooperate and flip. Not just flip, jake. A lot will just plead out. Theyll start making offers to some of the folks at the bottom of that food chain. Theyll give them offers that dont include any mandatory time. Theyll try to spin out this case quickly. I think they would probably struggle to do more than say six to eight defendants in the courtroom. It just gets logistically difficult. So some will be cooperators, some will plead out. Former prosecutor jennifer rogers, thank you. Joining us now, republican president ial candidate and former u. S. Attorney chris christie. Governor christie, thank you for joining us. You said earlier the georgia charges against donald trump you feel are unnecessary, because you feel as though jack smith, the special counsel, has already charged trump for these exact actions in georgia. Georgia prosecutors might point out if trump is elected president , he can shut down jack smiths case or pardon himself, but he wouldnt have the right to do that with a Georgia Investigation and or verdict. Whats your response to that . Well, jake, i dont think thats the prosecutors job. The prosecutors job is to look at how you administer justice in this case. Let me say, first off, i have no argument with the underlying conduct constituting something that should be seriously considered by any grand jury at the state or the federal level. But what happened here was, jack smith charged the case. He charged the case weeks ago that consumes this conduct. Now, she could have brought this case without donald trump, because jack smith didnt charge anybody else other than donald trump in this matter. So i think the Double Charging here of donald trump is just something that complicates things in a way, which makes the administration of justice much more difficult in the near term. So i didnt think it was a necessary thing to do. Once you saw jack smith was charging him for the same conduct federally, we would have these discussions with federal and state prosecutors when i was u. S. Attorney, and we would work it out so we didnt do these things. Im concerned this had to do with ego more than anything else. Her office put a lot of time into this investigation. Jack smiths team came in a few months ago, moved swiftly. So i think it was an unnecessary thing to do. She has 18 other defendants who have not been charged any place else, that she could have charged without trump and still have a very, very strong case down there. So beyond that concern, independent of that, when you read this indictment, is this a solid case do you think . The conduct is very disturbing, jake. Thats why i said that off the top, when you look at what hes alleged to have done here, along with others on his behalf, the Pressure Campaign that was put on these folks. Look, donald trump got due process in georgia. Theres the original count, there was a machine recount. Then there was a hand recount. All of which came up with essentially the same result. He had access to all the courts in georgia to contest it in the same way that al gore contested these matters in florida back in 2000. The difference being, when al gore lost his case, he conceded and moved on. Donald trump ratcheted the pressure up even more, ultimately resulting in what we saw january 6th. So theres a lot of disturbing conduct here by donald trump and the others named in the indictment. What about the Racketeering Charges specifically . As a former prosecutor, i would think youve used rico statutes, statewide and federal. Im wondering what you think about fani willis application of them here. The rico statute in georgia is broader than even the federal prosecutor. I did use it as a u. S. Attorney, but look, shes got a number of Predicate Acts here, i think 161 Predicate Acts she cites, that people misunderstand, they think every one of those acts has to be a crime. What she is establishing is these were acts in furtherance of the conspiracy to commit that crime. You know, the fact is, the rico statute is being brought in as it is in georgia gives her the opportunity to do it this way. I dont know if i would have charged it that way, be you you but now were in the realm of second guessing. Is it permissible for what she did on rico . I think it is. W we had mark short, Vice President pences former Chief Of Staff, on yesterday. I asked him, do you think this fourth indictment will have the same effect the previous three did, which is basically solidifying a rlot of support fr donald trump among Republican Voters. He said he didnt know, but evidence being presented in court, all of that might change this dynamic that we have seen. What do you think . Look, i think mark has that read pretty well. All of this is just theoretical now to the public, right . Most people are not going to read the indictment, jake. Theyre just going to read whatever news reports they read about characterizations of it. It becomes much different when there is a trial going on. Thats why i think jack smith charged this case the way he did, with just donald trump as a defendant. No one else. He wants to move that case quickly, and get this case done. He wants january, that might be a little tight. I can see this happening in february or march of 2024. So, you know, i do think when evidence starts to be presented, witnesses get on the stand and tell their story. If the prosecution does an effective job of weaving that story together, and donald trump has to be sitting there. Remember, he has to be there every day. This is not an optional exercise. You are a criminal defendant. I think thats one of the things folks should keep in mind that are watching. Hes now going to be, when he appears next week, in georgia sometime, hes going to be out on bail in four different jurisdictions in this country. New york, miami, washington, and atlanta. I think that what Republican Voters have to start to ask themselves is, two things one, is someone out on bail in four jurisdictions really our best chance to beat joe biden . And secondly, are we really going to continue to about as if this is normal conduct . Its not. So even if you disagree with some of the criminal charges here, if you think they were an overreach, or as i think on this one, theyre unnecessary. It doesnt get rid of the underlying conduct, which is what we should be discussing in the campaign, which is does this man have the temperament and the character to beat joe biden and to be president of the United States again . And i firmly believe the answer to that is no. Governor whats going on, jake, with your old city . I just root for the phillies. I have nothing to do with prosecutions. Youre a mets fan, i believe. Yes, i am, suffering. Republican president ial candidate, former new jersey governor chris christie. Thank you so much. And best of luck at the debate next week. Jake, thank you very much. Coming up, the other 18 coconspirators also charged in Fulton County from former trump attorneys to fake electors, and one who was a publy sis for ye. Plus, the actions of mark meadows. What led him to be charged in this case and not in any of the others against trump . Activity today in another case with the Special County investigating hunter biden, the president s son. Stay with us. [announcer] carvana has Hundreds Of Thousands of five star reviews and counting. To be honest, i thought it was almost too smooth, financing, every step. There were no surprises. Well, my Monthly Payment did come out lower than expected. Financing my car with carvana was super smooth. [announcer] finance your next car with carvana today. Subways now slicing their meats fresh. Thats why subways proffered by this champ. And this future champ. And if we proffer it, we know youll proffer it too. Hes cocky for a nineteen year old. In our Law And Justice lead, a closer look now at the 18 coconspirators charged in this indictment along with donald trump in Fulton County, georgia. One of those codefendants is mark meadows, the former president s former white house Chief Of Staff. He was obviously in the room for many of the pivotal events surrounding election subversion attempts. In recent months, hes kept a low profile, but not low enough to fly under the georgia District Attorneys radar. In Donald Trumps previous federal indictment, mark meadows managed to escape any charges. Leaving many to wonder if the former white house Chief Of Staff may have turned on his former boss. I think one name thats obviously not in the indictment is mark meadows, who was kind of the ringleader of all of this. Reporter but his fate changed monday night when the grand jury in Fulton County, georgia, charged him and 18 other defendants, including the former president , with racketeering for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In the indictment, the prosecutoring say the defendants joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election. Meadows is the highest ranking official to be charged outside of trump, and the indictment outlines the role meadows played to keep trump in power. In the weeks following trumps election loss, meadows got involved. Meadows and trump met with michigan legislators in the white house, where the former president made claims of Election Fraud in that state. The next day, meadows sent a text to congressman scott perry, asking, can you send me the number for the speaker and the leader of Pennsylvania Legislature . Potus wants to chat with them. The following week, they met with pennsylvania legislators at the white house, the s