United states is on to the Knockout Round. The game ended a few minutes ago. Man, by the skin of their teeth. They were inches away from their tournament being over in a flash. We knew, the u. S. Is twotime defending champions, and this is a historic run by this squad. Going into the tournament, we knew this was a bit of a transition year. Its sort of the last gasp, if you will, from some of the stalwarts weve gotten to know from the last couple runs. Theyre older now, and there is a young and Impressive Group of players coming through. At times, its been an uneasy mix. They, frankly, havent looked very good so far. They beat vietnam 30 when expectations were seven, eight, nine or more, then a pair of draws. It cant be said enough, if this is a couple inches to the left, they go home. Theyre fortunate to advance here. They have a couple days off. Hopefully they get things going in the right direction before the knockout stage. Twotime defending champions, the womens team are on to the Knockout Round. As jonathan said, maybe a reset now as the next game will be an elimination game. With us this morning, the Washington Posts Jackie Alemany and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and Associate Editor of the Washington Post, eugene robinson. Good morning to you both. Yes, we are, tell me if youve heard this before, On Grand Jury testimony watch. Could there be an indictment . Special counsel jack smiths Investigation Into FormerPresident Donald Trump for his alleged efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election expected to be back in session today. Its been two weeks since trump announced on social media he received a Target Letter, an indication charges could be brought in the near future. The former president could face charges of Depriving Voters their rights, Conspiracy To Defraud the United States, and witness tampering. Trump posted yesterday on social media he assumes an indictment will be coming, quote, any day now. Jackie, weve all been assuming that now for about a week and a half. Weve told our viewers last week that the grand jury meets in washington on tuesdays and thursdays. Here we are on another tuesday. Where is your sense of where things are, to the extent anyone has a sense of where things are . Yeah, willie, well, im renascent to make any predictions, because last week, we had predicted that the january 6th indictment for former President Donald Trump was going to be coming down, and instead we all got a surprise with the Superseding Indictment instead with the classified documents case, the other case jack smith is working on, where a third employee, Carlos De Oliveira, was charged with a slew of crimes related to the mishandling of classified documents. But this week, we are expecting, finally, the indictment to come down from the Justice Department on donald trump regarding the january 6th attack on the u. S. Capitol and all of the Effort Efforts ahead of january 6th in the aftermath to try to overturn the election. You are right, the grand jury does meet today. We will all be on lookout. Im sure there are tons of cameras and producers and reporters already staked out outside that courthouse in d. C. Right now. Of course, this is a waiting game, and anything is possible. We have been waiting, after all, for over a year now. Gene robinson, well talk in a minute about new polling that shows the impact these indictments and the next likely indictment are having on donald trump, which is to say, working to his advantage. Yeah. It is, because of the Target Letter, it is fair to say, and our legal analysts underscored this, its a matter of time here, this indictment around the january 6th and the 2020 election case. Yeah, it is a matter of time. Thats pretty clear. We just dont know about jack smith. You know, we have seen that he is willing, for example, in the documents case, he filed a Superseding Indictment that included new charges and a new person. So even if we think there might be a few loose ends he is trying to tie up here in washington on the january 6th case, that doesnt necessarily mean that hes not ready to indict with what he has now, and perhaps if theres still a few more people he needs to hear from or some more business he wants to take care of, he could do a Superseding Indictment. We really just dont know when this is going to happen, but i think were pretty confident that it is going to happen, given the Target Letter. Trump himself posted on truth social yesterday, its coming any day now. Hes been, for once, a reliable narater when it comes to the indictments. Hes shared there has been a Target Letter. As weve been saying throughout this process, willie, when it goes to court, this might be the most difficult case to prove, just because it is so sprawling. Theres so many pieces of it. But it is also the most important. Many feel that its so vital that this charge about january 6th its beyond january 6th, its beyond the capitol riots. It is also the efforts to overturn the election be brought. It was an assault at the fabric of our democracy. Absolutely. In the other federal case against donald trump, the charges against him for mishandling classified documents, including Nuclear Secrets after leaving the white house, the third defendant in the case, maralago Property ManagerCarlos De Oliveira, made his first appearance in a miami court. De oliveira was charged with four counts related to his alleged efforts to erase Security Camera footage at trumps palm beach home, which was monitoring a room where boxes of classified documents were being stored. Thats according to prosecutors. The order to destroy the footage came from trump directly and was given to de oliveira and the former president s valet, walt nauta. Trump denied ordering the footage to be deleted. De oliveira doesnt have a floridabased attorney so didnt have a plea. He is released on 10,000 bond and is due back in court for arraignment. Lets bring in barbara mcquaid. Good the see you this morning. Because theres so much going on, well remind viewers mr. De oliveira the Property Manager at maralago named in the Superseding Indictment we got last week that suggested he was directed by donald trump, according to prosecutors, to go find the tape, delete the tape that could show Security Footage perhaps of people moving classified documents around, and that donald trump then checked in on him to make sure he was still good, that he was still loyal, youre still on our side. Youre not going to flip. What did we learn yesterday, if anything, from the hearing, and how central a figure might mr. De oliveira be in this case . Well, willie, the appearance yesterday was rather routine, which they often are. We did learn he has not yet secured a lawyer, which means his arraignment will have to be delayed until that can happen. I think that it does build in the possibility of more delay in the ultimate trial date, that May 20th Trial date. The longer it takes for him to get a lawyer, i imagine it will cause them to ask for additional time. I dont know whether theyll get it, but i think that is a possibility. How important is he . I think he is very important. He adds to this dimension of Obstruction Of Justice, and that is, after all, what makes this case so different from other cases involving inadvertent retention of classified documents. You know, the case with mike pence, the case with joe biden, where, upon discovery, they alerted the officials and returned the boxes. Here, there was an alleged movement of boxes, where donald trump was engaged with the government over the return of the documents. Instead of returning them, he reviewed them all, and the movement of boxes was captured on video, which the government later was able to obtain. I think he is a key witness because he is the one who pulls all that together. Another new figure introduced in the Superseding Indictment, barbara, is what was known in the document as trump Employee Number four. Cnn is reporting he was the i. T. Worker who was working with de oliveira, and de oliveira said, i need you to delete the Security Cameras, the tapes, and he said, i dont think i can do that. In the indictment, he doesnt seem to be charged with anything. Could it be possible he is cooperating with the government. The word cooperating is a term of art in prosecution, and it means it is someone who has criminal exposure and agreed that in exchange for providing information, they will either get a lenient sentence or not be charged at all. It appears that Employee Number four will not be charged at all because hes not named in the indictment, and hes not charged. In fact, it looks like he did what you would hope a person would do, which is to decline to engage in Obstruction Of Justice. You know, we have focused on the violated the law in their loyalty to donald trump, in the form of walt nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, but there are other people, trump employee x, y or z, and did the right thing and have not complied and appear that they have testified at the grand jury. Because we know from their testimony about some of these facts. I think Employee Number four could end up being a key witness in all this. He did receive a Target Letter but not charged in the case. Well keep an eye on him, as well. Lets move to georgia, where a jump has denied yet another attempt by former President Trumps legal team to stop the investigation by Fulton County d. A. Fani willis about alleged interference in 2020. This is the second ruling against the trump team in as many weeks. A third petition to the court is scheduled for an august 10th hearing. In a ninepage ruling, the trump found neither the former president nor one of his former allies in squashing the investigation. Willis saying, quote, we are ready to go. Barbara, the ninepage ruling is forceful, a smackdown, if youll forgive the term, of the lawyers. Frankly, he is saying, youre gumming up the system. These are not credible claims to get rid of the investigation. It will move on. Like the Supreme Court in georgia did last week, telling effectively trumps legal team, this case is Going Forward. Yes, i mean, until youre charged with a crime, you dont have any standing to say, i cant be charged with a crime. We dont even know what the indictment might allege, if any. So the time to file motions attacking charges or even the validity of a grand jury or the process there is after those charges are filed. I imagine that trump will file many of those motions afterwards. But the idea you can do it prematurely, before youve even seen what potential charges are there, is just not ripe, its not ready. Most legal experts expected to get this ruling, but i think what is valuable is the ruling came now, so there is no uncertainty for fani willis to be able to go forward. The last one remaining relates to her recusal from the case. Again, i dont see any reason to expect that one will be granted, but even if, for some reason, it does, there will be some assistant who is ready to go forward. So this case is Going Forward one way or the other, and the time to attack it will come later. Fani willis, the d. A. , has said august, and here we are in august now, ready for that. We will see. Barbara, before we let you go, i understand you had recorded and were planning to watch the womens soccer match, and we sp you at the top of the show. Accept our policies. I know youre a big fan. What is your assessment . Can the team turn it around in the Knockout Round . Yeah, i think so. You know, weve had some early hesitations, i guess, i suppose, but ill be watching, wearing my Megan Rapinoe jersey as we advance to the next stages. Shes the secret weapon. They have to get her on the pitch more. I agree. I think theyll turn it around. Sorry we ruined it for you. Still a fun watch if you want to sit through it again. Barbara mcquaid, thank you. A Daily Tracking of potential primary Republican Voters show donald trump with 58 support. 43 points ahead of his closest challenger, Florida Governor ron desantis. Joining us now, senior columnist for the daily beast, matt lewis. The Tracking Poll includes different polls, like watching your stocks every day, you take it with something of a grain of salt, but there was the poll yesterday that showed donald trump up 37 points on december ron desantis. The reboot of ron desantis is not working, number one. Number two, these indictments and a potential other indictment are only strengthening donald trump. First, thank you for not showing the orioles and bluejays last night. Lets hold off on that as long as we can. I like that. This is the same story, willie. Nothing has changed, except i guess donald trump continues to add to his lead. I think the fundamental problem with the reboot is when campaigns reboot, its about doing things like bringing in different staffers, different advisers. Its about controlling the burn rate. Youre spending too much money. These are things that have to do with, you know, Campaign Infrastructure and logistics and all of that, and that can be important and it can be decisive. In the case of ron desantis versus donald trump, the fundamental problem is republicans like donald trump. They find him fun. They find him entertaining. And they do not like ron desantis. So i think you have to look, if youre in trouble, you have to shake things up. You have to try to reboot. You cant fire the candidate. You cant fire ron desantis. I think at the end of the day, this is what it is. Ron desantis cannot beat donald trump. What could happen is that ron desantis could be in the race if something were to happen to donald trump. Thats the best Case Scenario, i think, is that ron desantis is basically a placeholder, waiting for some external event to knock out donald trump, if it happens. Gene, theres actually a brandnew New York TimesSienna College poll that dropped a moment ago that shows trump and biden tied at 43 . Focusing here, at least for the moment, on the republican field itself, you know, matt laid it out, this desantis reboot, at least so far, is not working. He is hemorrhaging cash. Hes had to fair a bunch of staff. There was an event in New Hampshire over the weekend where he offered people to have a beer with him, just 1 to get in the door. 30 people showed up. Doesnt speak well of him or the quality of his beer. If it is not ron desantis, who is it . Is there anyone else in the republican field who has shown signs of life, that they can threaten trump . All the other candidates says, its me. Sure. It can be me. They see desantis flagging. They probably themselves, well, this is why trumps lead is growing. Its not that people love trump more, its that they like desantis less. Given that they like him less, why shouldnt it be me . In that sense, all of this helps trump because i think it tends to keep more people in this race. You know, a crowded field is good for donald trump. The one person i think we all ought to keep an eye on right now is senator tim scott, who a lot of republicans speak of highly, who seems, not in the recent polls, hes not doing all that well, but among the republican chattering class, he seems to be perhaps with a small arrow floating upwards in terms of his candidacy. Well have to see if he hangs in there and if some of this, while maybe not trump sentiment, ends Up Coalescing around tim scott. I dont see anybody else who is making a move. Matt, if youre thinking about whether these investigations, these indictments are going to hurt donald trump in the long run, again, were just talking about the primary. Most people believe theyre not a benefit in a general election. But if you look at the New York Times sienna poll, 71 of Republican Voters say they should stand behind donald trump through these investigations. Exact same number, 71 say trump has not committed serious crimes. Think about that for a second when you think about the maralago documents and potentially Something Like leading a coup against the United States government. Voters believe trump was exercising his right to contest the 2020 election. Thats not the kind of support, thats not the kind of depth of support that it seems to me is going to change just if another indictment is added to the soup here. I completely agree.