Party from a third trump nomination. And the latest on the alleged gilgo beach killer, meet the woman who says she went on a date with him and survived. Good evening, we begin with new information about Special Counsel jack smiths keen interest in a 2020 Oval Office Meeting that has not been previously reported on. The meeting took place in february of 2020. In attendance were the former president , senior u. S. Officials and white house staff. Sources tell cnn that smith is focused on comments the former president made during this meeting about the state of u. S. Election security and how those private remarks may differ from the baseless lies he may spread about Election Fraud in the coming weeks. One hurdle smith has to overcome in any potential indictment of the former president in attempts to overturn the election is whether he can prove the former president actually knew he lost. Its been eight days sinces president was informed he was a target in the investigation. Our senior justice correspondent who helped break the story about the meeting joins us with more. What more have you learned . Reporter anderson, this is a meeting that happened in february of 2020, and the former president was encouraging some of his top officials, from the Homeland Security department, the fbi to go out and tell the public all of the great work they had done to secure the 2020 election. He was very proud of the work that they said they had done. He said you should go out and Do A Public Press Conference to try to tell the public about this. Of course this, within weeks, the former president began talking about his concerns that the 2020 vote would be the subject of fraud, that there would be interference in the election, including because the democrats were using mailin ballots. Of course, we know, anderson, once the former president realized that he had not won the election, that he didnt like the election results, he quickly abandoned all of those experts who he had stood with him, obviously, and was starting to listen to people, his nonexperts, people who were telling him that the election had been interfered with by venezuela, by china, and of course by italian satellites, all of which of course was false. What does this meeting mean for jack smiths investigation . Well one of the things you pointed out for jack smith and his Prosecution Team will be trying to decipher what the former president believed. Did the actually think there was fraud. Did he think the election had been interfered with by venezuela or the chinese satellites. Thats one of the key things for the prosecutors to try to cross the hurdle, certainly, if they bring a case against the former president , so we expect certainly from one of the questions that we understand witnesses were asked, the prosecutors seemed very much focused on that. The former president s state of mind, whether he actually believed these bogus claims or whether he really believed his experts that the election was as the Homeland SecurityDepartment Said the most secure in u. S. History. Theres new reporting regarding thousands of documents related to Rudy Giuliani that have been turned over to the Special Counsel. Right. These finally got into the hands of the Special Counsel team just yesterday on sunday, and that is bernie kerik, the former Police Commissioner new york, he had been working alongside Rudy Giuliani, again, trying to come up with some of the proof that they were looking for, that there was actually this fraud or that there were actually problems in the election, and so now we know that thousands of pages of documents, things like Witness Statements and research that kerik and his team had prepared for giuliani and some of the former president s allies, all of that now is in the hands of the Special Counsel. Again, they have not had access to this. This is something that the January 6th Committee in congress had asked for and did not receive. And so, anderson, bun of the things were trying to figure out. We wait for the grjd to reconvene tomorrow and on thursday is whether this batch of new documents, thousands of pages is something that puts off their work, or, you know, finally completing their work by some time or whether this is something that perhaps they already have enough evidence that they are ready to go forward with an indictment, anderson. Appreciate it. Perspective from elie honig, former assistant u. S. Attorney and author of untouchable, how powerful people get away with it now is it that the former president , praising Election Security and the security folks, how does that interest jack smith . This case, anderson, for prosecutors is going to be all about proving Criminal Intent. Proving what donald trump actually did is not going to be that tough. A lot of it was done publicly, a lot of it was captured on video tape. What he knew he was asking for was false. As a prosecutor this is a great Starting Point to make the argument. You say ultimately to a jury, here he is, hes geg advice from the best Election Security experts in the world, in his own administration, and not only is he accepting it, hes celebrating it, and then later on, you would argue, there are times he acknowledges to certain witnesses, mark milley, alyssa farah, that he knew he lost the election, and other times there are reliable people telling him you lost the election. All taken, you know he knew he lost and therefore this was a fraud. Couldnt somebody who believes the former president look at it and say doesnt this show he was concerned about Election Security and genuinely interested in Election Security. Theres always going to be a defense and a another side. This proves he was hands on, concerned about Election Security, and later on when some of his advisers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and others told him there was fraud that when he was reaching out to georgia and these other states he was simply trying to act on that concern, act on that information. We may say who would trust rudy and Sidney Powell, his response would be, sure, maybe i was wrong, but you cant say thats criminal, you cant say that was a fraud. There was never actually any evidence that showed fraud, and courted ruled that time and time again. I think that gets to the second story that evan was just talking about, the only evidence that was ever ginned up was sort of nonsense, these documents that Rudy Giuliani put together that amount to nothing and that it was all really a pretext, and hence, again, prosecutors would argue, hence he had Criminal Intent and hence it was a fraud. It does give a sense that jack smith was going, you know, we all knew about the oval office, jack smith, or we knew because of cnn and others reporting that jack smith was looking at one Oval Office Meeting, but seems as though hes looking back into the history time machine. This is another indication that jack smith is looking at this case as a long lasting broadbased security. In fact, the events of january 6th itself seem to be like theyre going to be maybe a final chapter or postscript, but the conspiracy, i think, jack smith will argue goes back well before the election that donald trump had it in his head for months before the election that win or lose, and he lost, he was still going to claim that there was fraud and that was the conspiracy in action for many many months before this. Youve said in the past that this is a really hard case to bring. Do you still believe that . I do think its a difficult case to bring. Dont believe anyone who says that is smoking gun, slam dunk, especially with issues with intent. Its not the better argument, prosecutors have to prove their case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and on top of that, donald trump is a polarizing figure. If this case goes to trial, it will be near the 2024 election, maybe after the 2024 election, if he loses, youve got to get all 12 jurors to convict. This is a worthy case based on what we know, i think its a justifiable case, a righteous case, but its not an easy case. Ellie honig, thank you very much. Two new polls from fox show they are not stopping his political momentum. In iowa, 46 of likely voters prefer the former president. 46 . Thats 30 points above Florida Governor ron desantis, at 16. Tim scott, South Carolina senator, the only other candidate in double digits is at 11 in the poll. In South Carolina, 48 . 34 points ahead of South Carolina governor nikki haley and 14 , desantis has 13 and scott is at 10 . We should know both polls conducted july 15th through the 19th, the former president announced he received the letter from the doj on the 18th. This afternoon as we mentioned, senator mitt romney published an oped, headline, asking donors to polling candidates, nudge them when they cant win the nomination. Left to their own inclinations, expect several contenders to stay in the race for a long time, they will split the nontrump vote giving him the prize. Joined by two senior political commentators, adam kinzinger, former congressman, and david axelrod, former Senior Adviser to president obama. A commanding lead in two key primary states doesnt appear as though legal troubles amount to much for supporters in those states. Do you think another indictment from the Special Counsel makes a difference . No, i mean, no. I think, look, every indictment, every legal issue makes it less likely that donald trump wins the presidency because certainly i think independents this will affect, and it will drive turnout from the democrats and may depress turnout a little bit on the republicans, but look, it is a sign of your fealty to republicanism if you just want to own the libs and owning the libs including im going to put donald trump back in despite all of this, and theres obviously this Information Warfare out there from the party, from other networks and stuff that basically is saying this is one big attack by The Deep State against donald trump. So i dont know if this one strengthens him per se, i dont think its going to hurt him. I think when it comes to the general election, it makes it, again, thankfully, far less likely he can win. David, senator romney certainly seems to be making a sensible point, if when a republican, you dont want trump to be elected, is he right . Should certain gop candidates drop out when their paths become impossible . You know, the problem is that you have to have someone to run against trump. People have to coalesce around a candidate, and no one has, at this juncture, shown themselves to be that strong candidate who can take trump on. Look, the bottom line is half of the republican electorate or more, want donald trump. Half the electorate or more, despite what adam just said, and i agree with him believed that trump would be the strongest candidate, those are the facts and i have enormous respect for senator romney, and a lot of my friends who say similar things, but they have a hard time come to go grips with the fact that this Republican Party is not their Republican Party. This Republican Party is not the party that mitt romney ran in even in 2012. This is Donald Trumps party, and right now, he is in command, and every one of these indictments is a certification that he is taking on The Deep State. He is taking on the establishment, and this is their revenge, and people are lining up and theyre lining up behind him. He has a larger lead now than when the indictments began. Congressman, the Desantis Campaign are talking about pivoting to a leaner and meaner operation, after obviously failing to gain traction in this early polling. Did the governor miscalculate, Leaning Into Culture War Activities right out of the gate. Not being lean and mean the issue . I think his issue was thinking, and i think his plan was donald trump will be indicted, this is what he was hoping, he will naturally through miracles and unicorns and the man on a white horse that doesnt exist be kind of taken out of the race. And desantis, then, hes trumplike, hes a younger version of donald trump. That was his play. Its not working because if you want donald trump, guess what, youre going to vote for donald trump. I think desantis is doa in this election. I think the only people this is just a wag, a wild guess, i think the only people who have a shot besides donald trump, potentially tim scott. Tim scott is the guy who i think really could surprise people, similar to Bill Clinton In 92. Chris christie actually has a shot if there is a widespread kind of understanding that donald trump is utterly unfit for office, and hes been the one that has really taken donald trump head on. Its a very small path, of course, and then i think, you know, i think its people like that that may have a shot, but no, this is Donald Trumps campaign. This is Donald Trumps race. Hes probably going to win this primary. But that doesnt mean, by the way, other republicans listening to this that dont like donald trump, stay on top of this. Try to save the party. Because its a noble fight, and frankly, the Republican Party will burn down in the general election in 2024, if, in fact, it is donald trump, and thats when you can rebuild. David, what about your assessment, is desantis in the congressmans words doa . What do you think about tim scott and chris christie, or is there anybody else . Yeah, there are several. I mean, ive never really bought the desantis thing for a number of reasons. One is if you have a choice between a replica, you know, a new and improved maga trump kind of guy, you know, people want the real thing. They have made that clear. They dont want the new and improved product. No one liked new coke when it came out. Exactly. He is the new coke of the Republican Party right now. The second element is, you know, his one critique of trump is that hes a loser, but he wont even acknowledge that trump lost. And i dont think that is lost on people. You know, he is coming across as a politician and trumps supporters dont view him as a politician. They view him as an antipolitician, they view him as the leader of a movement, and its hard to be a conventional politician. By the way, you know, he announced that he is going to do this reboot, and hes going to become lean and mean at a meeting of his high dollar donors in utah. And thats exactly what the people who have questions about Desantis Fear is that hes actually the establishments candidate to take out trump. So one thing, anderson, i want to say, ive heard a lot of republicans, including tim scott in the last few days, when the latest indictment letter, the target letter went out, i was at the capital, and donald trump wasnt there. He didnt provoke this, it was the people who came. I dont think thats what the indictment is going to be about. I dont think theyre going to indict him for provoking the riot, and the insurrection at the capitol. Theyre going to indict him for months and months of scheming and plotting to overturn an election. And when the facts of that come out, theyre going to have to reboot, and i dont know how they explain it, you know. Can also just pretend like they have been pretending that they never said it or just move on. Adam kinzinger, david axelrod. And show up at a convention where they nominate donald trump. Breaking news on what was found at Ukraines Zaporizhzhia power plant that is of concern. Also airraid sirens in odessa as ukrainians face another night of possible russian attacks. And later my conversation with a woman named nicky brash. She says she went on a date with a man accused of being the gilgo beach killer, and he talked about the killings on their date. Get it with gurus. Cargurus. Rich, velvety coffee. Cafe quality espresso. One highpressure system that can do both. Brew to your Hearts Desire with the lor barista system. A masterpiece in taste. 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. 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