Making some history, perhaps major leaguing donald trump the first former president to be indicted with a federal crime. Nbc news is reporting the Federal Grand Jury that has been hearing in evidence the Justice Departments investigation of former President Trumps handling of classified documents is expected to meet again this coming week in washington. Thats according to multiple people familiar with the investigation. Prosecutors working for special counsel jack smith have been presenting the grand jury with evidence and Witness Testimony for months, but activity appeared to have slowed in recent weeks. That was based on observations at the courthouse and through sources. Another major sign that investigation could be close to wrapping up, trumps legal team was spotted at the Justice Department today. You can see them leaving shortly before noon. This was weeks after they requested a meeting with Merrick Garland to discuss this case. It is unclear who nay met with at doj, but the Wall Street Journal reports they were there, quote, to argue against any indictment of the former president over his handling of classified documents at his maralago resort. As the meeting was under way, our friend, cbs robert costa, reported this trumps lawyers are expected to raise concerns about how prosecutors have handled Attorney Client questions during the grand jury. But there is no sign the special counsel is going toive waver from how he and his team have handled the question. Questions of Attorney Client privilege are central to this case. Earlier this year, jack smith went to a judge and invoked what is known as the crime fraud exception, claiming that there was probable cause to believe that donald trump had used his lawyer to help commit a crime. Now, a judge bought it, sided with smith, and compelled trump attorney Evan Corcoran to testify and provide evidence without a shield of Attorney Client privilege preventing him from doing so. And thus providing details about his interactions with the expresident. Theres brandnew reporting today on what some of that evidence is that corcoran handed over the jack smith, notes that he took of his conversations with his client, The One And Only donald trump, from the New York Times turning on his Iphone One Day last year, the lawyer, Evan Corcoran, recorded his reflections about highprofile new job representing former president donald trump. In an investigation into his handling of classified documents. In complete sentences and a narrative tone that sound like it had been ripped from a novel, corcoran recounted in detail the documents investigation. The New York Times reporting a glimpse into what is in those audio notes explain why they could completely cripple trumps defense and any prosecution, quote, in an early scene in his account, corcoran describes Meeting Trump at maralago last spring to help him handle a subpoena that had just been issued by a Federal Grand Jury in washington. Seeking the return of all classified material in the possession of of his president ial office. After pleasantries, according to a description of the recorded notes, trump asked corcoran if he had to comply with the subpoena. Corcoran told him that he did. And this is all on tape. New developments in the final stages perhaps of the investigation into Donald Trumps handling of classified documents is where we begin today with some of our favorite reporters and friends, Politico National correspondent and nbc contributor Betsy Woodruff swan is back. Legal analyst Andrew Weissmann is back. Also joining us, former fbi counterintelligence agent pete struck. Anded a the table for the hour, democratic strategist and director of the Public Policy at hunters college. You issued a tantalizing and nudes worthy tweet in your own right with your credentials, with your relationships and your expertise. Im going to read it to our viewers. A Zillion Stories about trump case, but bottom line is that hes getting charged and it will be in d. C. And this week. Open issues are whether others may be charged and whether they will be in d. C. Or florida. Please explain. Sure. First, it is really typical to see what we are seeing in terms of Donald Trumps counsel going to the Department Of Justice. We saw the same thing looking at the manhattan d. A. s office that prosecutors in case like this, where theres no need to nab the defendant because theyre in the middle of committing a crime or a Violent Crime or theyre fleeing, they give Defense Counsel an opportunity to be heard and to make any and all legal, factual, discretionary arguments as to why there should not be charges. Here, especially if the reporting is about the Attorney Client privilege, thats just never going to stop anyone from finding charges are appropriate, because here a judge has approved what it is that happened here. I should point out the current Solicitor General of the United States work tond Mueller Investigation where the exact same thing was done in front of the exact same judge. I think thats going to be a loser and something theyre arguing in order to make a political point here. So we really are seeing what i always view as the harbinger of, you know, cases being brought, so the exact same thing happened in manhattan. You see Defense Lawyers making an argument and you see charges. The open issue is where the charges will be brought and who, if anyone, may be charged alongside donald trump, maybe conspirators. Those charges may be ones that can only be brought in a different jurisdiction because theres constitutional rules about where charges can be brought. I should say in spite of my tweet, it is conceivable that donald trump would be charged in florida and not d. C. I dont think that will be the case. But i do think the one thing im pretty confident of is that we are going to see charges with respect to the classified documents case and it seems by all accounts its going to be this week because i think that doj will feel that internal pressure to move this along. I have 378 followup questions, but ill start with one. What i think youre articulating is that the auspices of the meeting, to battle the peering of Attorney Client privilege, may be a trumpdriven errand because the matter has been adjudicated. Not something we saw, in secret, evidence has been provided that was Strong Enough that a judge said oh, yeah, oops, yes, crimes, yes, crimes, and thats why we get to see everything. Is that how i understand what youre articulaing . Yes. And its really important to remember, there is a model with this having been done with respect to Paul Manafort and rick gates in the special counsel investigation. Before he ruled in that case, manafort and gates and their counsel all had an opportunity to be heard. In other words, this is not ex parte. They all get an opportunity to argue why the government has been wrong. So this has been fully litigated. Theres no question that donald trump, as the person who holds the privilege, would have the opportunity to be heard, so this has all been vetted by a federal judge, a respected federal judge, and im confident it follows the which it should have, the exact same plan that was done and the reasoning that was done by the judge in the manafort case. This is not one where the doj is going to secondguess what jack smith did or what the judge did because its all been vetted. So that just seems like a real loser. You know, i think they may have made an argument based on venue. I know that sounds like a really weak tea in terms of, like, i get were going to get charged but can we please do it in florida and not in d. C. And i think florida would be a better venue for trump than d. C. He may have already made that argument as well. What does it mean that a grand jury in florida has heard evidence . Does that you know, us nonlawyers spitballing, which is always dicey, and wondered if perhaps some of the early reporting about how every Single Person at maralago, including, you know, maintenance staff and including people that work on the grounds has been interviewed that may be a convenience, but maybe thats a crazy stupid way of thinking about it. Could that grand jury there have been convened for Something Else . So, just so you know, you shouldnt feel too bad because a lot of lawyers do a lot of spitballing also and we can get it wrong as well. So, you know, its not unique to nonlawyers to be doing this sort of educated guessing. I think there are two possibilities with respect to what were hearing about also getting a Florida Grand Jury. One possibility is all of the charges against donald trump will be brought in florida. It seems by all accounts there would be venue for all of the charges. Just to be a little bit of a nerd, the constitution requires that a crime be charged where it occurred, but a lot of times crimes happen in many, many jurisdictions. For instance, if you have a conspiracy charge, that could happen in many, many different locations, and any one of those would satisfy the constitution for being brought in a location where the crime occurred. But theres no question i think that from everything weve heard that florida would be a place where all of the charges could be brought. In d. C. , its not clear in washington, d. C. , all of the charges could be brought but i think some could be brought there. The other possibility is that the reason were hearing about a Florida Grand Jury is that its not so much with respect to donald trump, but it may be with respect to, for instance, if an underling like mr. Noda, somebody who allegedly moved boxes for donald trump at maralago, if he made false statements to the government in florida, that is something that may be you leekly be charged in florida so that if the government is thinking im going to charge donald trump in d. C. , they may at the same time decide that they want to charge him to put more pressure on him and also because he should be held to account if he lied to the government, and that charge may be brought in florida. That might be a second reason for why were hearing that there may be Grand Jury Activity in that state. One more for you. It felt like jim comeys, you know, payout from the political grave, the tapes, as Michael Cohen before him, and done mcgahn with his copious notes and his note taker, who became the narrator of the mueller report, trump has another lawyer who didnt just take notes but who narrated a novellike version of his monthlong Legal Service for trump. Is that normal . No. So, you know, when i think about the lawyers and the caliber of lawyers who have represents president s of the United States, whether democrats or republicans, i dont think that is normal. And thats just thats not either the caliber of the lawyers that weve seen. Usually, these are the people who are the most revered and at the very top of their profession, think David Kendall or bower or people who are just at the very top of their legal game. And theres no reason, whether youre representing george bush or barack obama or joe biden to be taking copious notes because youre concerned that your client or that the president of the United States or the former president of the United States is going to be lying about what happened. But we know from starting as you mentioned with done mcgahn, that if you are representing donald trump, it is a Good Practice to take notes so that you have a memorialization of what you did do and what you didnt do to protect yourself from these kinds of claims. So, it is really abnormal, and these are lawyers who realize what they need to do in order to protect their bar license with respect to a very difficult client. Nbc news is reporting that trumps attorneys spotted at the Justice Department today. Ill read you what we have. James trusty, john hall ran and Lindsey Halligan met with officials that did not include Merrick Garland or the Deputy Attorney general. The team was first spotted by cbs news and was seen emerging from the building just before noon. What do we know about what happened there . We know that about a week ago one of the lawyers participated in this meeting, jim trusty, telegraphed something of an agenda for what he was hoping to talk about with Merrick Garland himself. Obviously, that conversation didnt happen, but he said in a tv interview that he hoped to sort of Level Accusations of prosecutorial misconduct, that he wants to claim prosecutors work for jack smiths team have engaged in problematic behavior that should shape dojs Charging Decision in this case. Of course certainly it seems like garland, lisa monaco and the other top brass at the Justice Department did not decide to engage with that overture that trusty made publicly. My sense in general is when Defense Attorneys are Making Overtures like this publicly, its because private outreach has not proven fruitful the way they would hope it to be. That said, of course this meeting also comes at the investigation by all available public evidence appears to be zooming towards its conclusion. We know therefore one of the things that hes said he wanted to talk about but of course theres no question that trumps lawyers would be trying to glean as much as information as possible from their doj interlock or t utors about a caj could be building against their client. Lets have that public bluster. Let me show that to everybody. The angle theyre pushing on the obstruction is to try to create some sort of daylight between joe bidens possession of documents and President Trumps. And its not going to work. I mean, they have literally put in everybody in the grand jury you can imagine. They dont respect any privilege that President Trump holds. And its desperately trying to find an Obstruction Angle that just isnt there. President trump from my understanding, declassified everything. The fbis withholding other information and lack of transparency is crazy. Its honestly it may be the first step to tyranny. They are very selective in terms of what they want out there, and we definitely want to know what theyre claiming they have as evidence. So their withholding of information is essentially controlling the flow of information, and that is the first step to tyranny. Theyve got their Talking Points down. I guess the problem with lindsey and jims arguments is that their client has already contradicted them in public. The angle on the Obstruction Case is being argued by donald trump, who said, quote, theyre mine, and end quote, we have the president ial act. Lind v sees argument seems to be the declassification by trump, saying i cant show you this, its classified. How do they contend with their own rear ends being out there contradicted by their own client in highprofile appearances . Theres been something of spaghetti noodles against the wall approach from trump compared to his lawyers when it comes to the explanation that he and his team have been trying to give as it pertains to these documents. At least on trumps part, any possible explanation is one hes willing to bring forward and a basket of contradictory explanations hes been making is something doj officials will decide is persuasive or a jury will decide is persuasive. The other thing of course here thats important is that, while trumps lawyers are arguing that there was a violation of an Attorney Client privilege as Andrew Weissmann pointed out, as you pointed out, the Attorney Client privilege matter was adjudicated. This was not something that doj did unilaterally or could do unilaterally. Trumps lawyer, and trump already got their day in court. It was under seal, but they had that day in court and a judge sided with doj, at least to a limited extent, as it came to this privilege question. The fact that trumps lawyers are speaking out publicly to raise their concerns about what doj did is not going to have any bearing on the legality at least as far as judge beryl howell ruled when it came to these matters covered by Attorney Client privilege, allegedly. Pete, let me read you more of the