Anwj and facebook at facebook. Com cspan. [video clip] today an indictment was unsealed charging donald j. Trump with defrauding the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. It was issued by a grand jury of the citizens here in the district of columbia and sets forth the crimes charged in detail. I encourage everyone to read it in full. The attack on our nations capitol on january 6, 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of democracy. It was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the u. S. Government. The nations process of counting and certifying the Election Results. The men and women of Law Enforcement who defended the u. S. Capitol on january 6 are heroes. They are the very best of us. They did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people. They defended the very institution and principles that define the United States. Since the attack on our capitol the department of justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day. This case is consistent with that commitment and our investigation of other individuals continues. In this case my office will seek a speedy trial so that our evidence can be tested in court and judged by a jury of citizens. In the meantime, i must emphasize that the indictment is only an allegation and the defendant must be presumed innocent until Proven Guilty beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law. I would like to thank the members of the federal bureau of investigation who are working on this investigation with my office, as well as the prosecutors and Law Enforcement agents from around the country who have worked on previous january 6 investigations. These women and men are Public Servants of the highest order and it is a privilege to work alongside them. Thank you. Host special counsel jack smith yesterday announcing those latest charges. We are talking to you for most of this morning on washington journal about the latest indictment. Taking your phone calls on phone lines split by political party. Republicans, it is 202 7488001. Democrats, 202 7488000. Independents, 202 7488002. Just to show you the headlines this morning this is the front page of todays usa today. Trumpet indicted in january 6 case. Former president charged with four counts. New charges are far more serious, they write, than earlier ones. The statement from the former president s campaign reads in part, this is nothing more than the lcorrupt chapter in thenued pathetic attempt by the Biden Crime Family and their weaponized department of justice to interfere wit which President Trump is then undisputed front runner and leading by substantigins. Why did they wa years to bring these charges . Why was it announced the day after the Crooked Joe Biden scandal broke out from the halls of congress . The answer, they say, election interference. That is the statement from the trump campaign. We are getting your reaction this morning. We will show your reactions as well from other candidates and capitol hill, but we mostly want to hear from you. Teresa is first out of tennessee, a republican. Caller good morning. First of all i have to say the judge has got to be removed from this case. She is biased. She has already sentenced january 6 protesters to exorbitant amounts of jail time. She is an obama pick. She has to be removed from this case. She is biased. Please do your investigation work in checking her out. Second of all, we have to make sure donald trump is elected. The only way this corruption against him goes away is if we put him in office. I have been supporting donald trump since day one. Never donated a penny but i will take everything i have today and donate to that man for his legal funds. The crooks and the liars and the cheats are running the doj, the fbi, joe biden, hunter biden, and it is not right. We believe in rule of law in this country. If donald trump did something wrong, so be it. But you prosecute joe biden and his corruption too. It is not fair. If donald trump loses and goes to jail, i fear there will be war in this country. Host that is teresa out of tennessee. You talk about the judge, scott mcfarland. He also covered the january 6 prosecutions. He tweeted yesterday about how she dealt with other cases. She is a district judge for columbia. She was randomly assigned to this case that will be tried in d. C. She has been especially vocal in her denunciations of the attack. Of the attack. Quoting her saying denunciations of the attack. Scott mcfarland quoting her saying that she went twice above prosecutors recommended sentences. He said it is a true rarity in the thousand plus cases that have been tried. She said the true patriots are the capitol employees, including those who slipped in their own blood seeking cover. And then she also said the video showed how horrifying the events that day were. Every time i watch i am sure by how the Law Enforcement officers were trying to stay alive. Scott mcfarland with his wrap up of the background on the u. S. District court judge. Unlike the case being brought by the special counsel, that is being tried in florida on the documents retention case. This is being tried in washington, d. C. And the president is expected to be in court tomorrow. That court actually sits between the white house and the capitol, about halfway between in what is known as judiciary square. This is deb in plymouth, wisconsin, a democrat. Caller good morning. I say, finally. I cannot wait for the other co in spirit ors to be indicted coconspirators to be indicted. All of the witnesses were republicans. And for the woman that was just on, i suggest you watch the second january 6 hearing. John, why is that hearing not found in the cspan archives . I would think it would be there. Fox did not show it and it should be in the archives. I even suggest you reply it, but for sure it should be in the archives. Host i am pretty sure all of those congressional hearings are in the archives. Type it in at the top of the webpage. I encourage you to try that again because those hearings are all part of our record that we keep of these congressional hearings. Caller thank you. Host this is paul in paducah, kentucky. Caller this makes me want to support President Trump more. Democrats, what goes around, comes around. This is going to be on you one of these days. You think we are going to sit back . No. I will investigate every democrat on the planet. The Democrat Party is one of the most evil, vile parties. They have no party has enslaved more people than the Democrat Party. You think this will stop right here . No. I do not even consider democrats my fellow americans. Host this is bob in florida, republican. Caller hi, mr. John. Trump needs to fight back in a court of law. We need to be finding out if he is guilty or not. That is why the american courts are there. The videos can be manipulated with ai. Trump needs to move to moscow. Putin will protect him. If not, moved to china. Host that is bob in florida. This is gary in New Hampshire on the line for democrats. Caller good morning. First of all, i do not agree with what teresa said. Number one, you cannot take democracy away from the people. Our Founding Fathers made sure of that. Democracy belongs to the people and i do not understand why the other people are being prosecuted to the fullest extent when he is not. He is the one that incited that riot. He got them whipped up into a frenzy, encouraging them to march to the capitol. This is disgusting what he did. He needs to be held accountable for his actions, just like anybody else would in this country. Host do you think this indictment does that . Caller yes, it is the start of holding him accountable. He needs to be held accountable. He is not above the law. Nobody is above the law. It goes back to that old adage nobody is above the law. Host thats gary in New Hampshire. This 45page, four count indictment being unsealed yesterday and announced late afternoon. You can find it and read it for yourself on the cspan website, cspan. Org. Just from the opening introductions the special counsel writes, despite having lost the defendant was determined to remain in power. For more than two months following election date on november 3, 2020, the defendant spread lies that there had been outcomes flawed in the election and that he had won. These claims were false and the defendant knew they were false but the defendant repeatedly and widely disseminated them anyway to make his false claims appear legitimate, create an atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and eroded public faith in the election. He pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting Election Results. In so doing, the perpetrator used dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government. A conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the january 6 congressional proceedings in which the results of the president ial election are counted and certified. Conspiracy against the right to vote and have ones vote counted. Each of these conspiracies, which builds on widespread mistrust the defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about Election Fraud, targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government, the nations process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the president ial election. That is three of the paragraphs in that 45page indictment unsealed yesterday. This is don in california, independent. Caller good morning. Good conversation. I became an independent after the republicans after 9 11 and i will explain but republicans, you have got to look and listen. Most republicans, i think their pride is holding them from looking at evidence. They do not want to be wrong on who they voted for. Republicans have always been that way. They were like that with nixon. They were like that with george w. Bush. We invaded iraq and created a terrorist war for another 30 years. Donald trump, if you look at the facts during his career, he has been charged numerous times. Recently he was charged as a felony sexual abuser. Stop. The guy committed crimes. Quit being a victim like trump. He is great at selfvictimizing. You guys are falling for a victim who admitted he is a pathological liar and he does not know how to tell the truth, or he cannot see the truth. Just like bill barr says. He has a problem with reality and that is true. God bless everybody and put him in jail. Have a good day. Host 78 charges stemming from two federal cases and one state case in new york. We are waiting to see if there will be charges in georgia as well in a state case concerning january 6 and the president s actions in georgia. But if we stick to the 78 charges, the Washington Times with the wrapup of what that might mean if he was convicted and went to prison on all charges. The maximum sentences for all 78 charges in florida, new york, and the district of columbia add up to nearly 600 years in prison if mr. Trump is forced to serve them consecutively. Christopher Columbus Landing in america would be closer to today than mr. Trumps scheduled release date. If convicted, he would be more likely to get concurrent sentences and recommendations for far less time than the maximum. The former president could face additional prison time in georgia where danny willis is investigating whether he attempted to overturn the states 2020 president ial results. This is dennis in mount all of, alabama mount olive, alabama. Caller i think this is diversion. Are you aware that they downgraded our Credit Rating yesterday . The only second time in history. It does not look like by the bidenomics is working at all. Host they wrote in their statement there has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance the last 20 years, including on the fiscal and debt matters. The United States appears to suffer from an erosion of governance, pointing to the washington debt ceiling as an example, with a rating of aa . The u. S. Still holds among the possible highest ratings and benefits from a well diversified and high income economy. But the treasury secretary saying, i strongly disagree with the rating, calling the change arbitrary and based on outdated data. That story from nbc news wrapping up that rating downgrade. This is jane in brooklyn, new york, a democrat. Caller good morning, john. Thank you for having me on your show. I want to wish everybody a good august. The Justice Department, special counsel, thank you. Trump is the biggest narcissist we are probably ever going to see in our lifetime, i hope. He should never be able to run for any kind of office in our government of any type ever again. I feel bad for the Police Officers who put up with that and got beat up. As far as the lady calling earlier talking about war and this and that, if you say so. No one is against anybody here but nobody is above the law. He did something wrong and he hurt a lot of people. Now he has a cult following. My theory is that it is always joe biden or hunter. This is ridiculous. He did what he did, he should pay for what he did. Nobody is above the law. Thank you. Host paul in kansas city, missouri, independent. Caller good morning. Host are you with us . I think we lost you. This is john in texas, republican. Good morning. Caller good morning. How are you today . Host doing well. Go ahead. Caller we need to look through the trees. We have this problem with division in the United States and hate that the democrats have for anybody who is against them. You have people saying that nobody is above the law. Trump is the worst person in the world. He just wanted to make America Great again. For some strange reason democrats are against having america be great again, go figure. We have mass hysteria. These democrats will believe anything. Nobody is above the law and yet, you have the most corrupt president in the office who is known to take bribes from foreign companies. Yet somehow hillary and obama the democrats believe themselves holier than thou and they are the only ones that know what is going on and anybody who disagrees should be shot. Host lets not get to violence. Caller exactly, that is where we do not want to go. Host what do think about republicans who criticized the president for his actions january 6 . There are some running against him for the republican nomination who have criticized him for what he did january 6. Caller they are the perfect example of rhinos. All they care about is their own career. They do not care about the country and that is the difference. President trump put the country first. No one wants to take away the gravy train, that is what trump tried to do. We have the most corrupt government. People are getting filthy rich off of this and the people are getting screwed and it is sad. Host some of the reaction from fellow republican candidate for president in 2024. Mike pence with a series of tweets yesterday after the news came out. Todays indictment shares as a reminder that anybody who puts himself over the constitution should never be president. As americans, his candidacy means less attention and aid to joe bidens Economic Policy and to the pattern of corruption with hunter, as your president , i will not yield an inch in defending america, are people, or all values. I will do so with the character and decency of the American People. The former Vice President goes on from there. Chris christie has been quite vocal in his criticism of the former president saying the events around the white house from Election Night are a stain on history and a disgrace to those who participated. Donald trump swore an oath to the constitution, violated that oath, and brought shame to his presidency. Ron desantis saying, as president i will end the weaponization of government and replace the fbi director and assure justice for all americans. I do believe we need to enact reforms when it comes to the Justice System in this country. And the senator from South Carolina saying, we are watching bidens doj continue to hurt republicans while protecting democrats. Just a few of the comments from those running for republican nomination. It was vivek yesterday that sent out a video. This is a little bit from that video. [video clip] this is a politicized prosecution. Now in a third indictment in a manner of months against the person who is still the lead contender in the republican party. I am running for u. S. President in that same primary. It would be easier for me if donald trump were eliminated from competition. That is not how i want to win. This is not about politics to me. This is about first principles. We do not want to become a country where the party in power is able to use banana republiclike tactics to eliminate its opponents. Im sad to say that is where we are. The allegations in this indictment fall flat. It is wrong and incorrect and inaccurate to place blame for what happened on january 6 at the feet of donald trump. I said this at the time and have said it ever sense and i continue to say it today. I would not have made the same judgments donald trump did and how he handled that day. But that is different than saying he committed a crime. He did not. He told the protesters that day to behave peacefully. The First Amendment in this country gives political protesters the ability to express themselves and their opinions freely. Donald trump was not responsible for what happened on january 6. You want to know what was responsible . I said this in the days after january 6, 2021 just as i say it today. Systematic pervasive censorship. That was after a year where we told people across