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we have cnn zachary cohen with us to break down all of these details. it can be a tangled web, zach, for those not focused on what's been playing on conservative immedi media and what they're alleging. untanksal the web for us? >> eager to link president joe biden to this alleged bribery scheme. it's outlined in this form that the fbi has and that they've showed to lawmakers on the oversight committees basically contains a bunch of unverified allegations from an informant. they're years' old and 17 audiotapes are contained within there. claiming that they're from the informant. 17 audiotapes containing conversations between this foreign national and joe biden when vice president. allegations talking about play tore pay bribery. seen here, even chuck grassley, went to the senate floor a few days ago to lay this out saying these audiotapes of evidence
of weeks. trump himself saying i believe i'm going to get indicted and his team essentially saying that they think it could happen sooner rather than later. it is interesting to watch this unfold, because i've spoken to about half a dozen people who have talked to trump in the last several days and they describe his demeanor as very different from when the bragg indictment happened. he is much calmer. he seems to be in okay spirits. this is very different from what we saw in the days leading up to the bragg indictment. >> the manhattan indictment pertaining to the stormy daniels case. >> it's a very different energy that you're seeing here from donald trump. maybe because they were expecting this and, again, trump has also told sources he believes he will be indicted in the georgia probe so clearly this is becoming a pattern. >> they are focused obviously not only on the legal fight but in the court of public opinion, that fight being important. that's why they're going after the special counsel as well, zach, on the note of the legal fight, you have some reporting about a potential key witness,
process of someone who is under federal investigation that as the investigation progressed they get informed because this provides a last opportunity for his defense team to present information to the justice department that maybe it doesn't have already that would be exculpatory and would potentially clear him, that would clear up this whole mess and it gives them that space before the indictment is actually brought to do that. whether or not they have that kind of information, whether they'll do that, whether they want to take this opportunity to start talking about a potential plea, we don't know but it gives them those opportunities. >> i promised to ask a question about mark meadows but want to expand it to include other testimony we're learning from zach and others' reporting that the special counsel is gathering specifically about trump's awareness of declassifying documents and potentially his intent. what do you make that so many people have apparently been questioned and some have cooperated? >> so the investigation is
they're used to motors case, right, used to the secret service. there are all kinds of protocols in place. if this was to be brought down in miami and the initial appearance is in miami, there will need to be a plan to accommodate the former president, to accounts for any potential security threats, protests. there is also potentially the option of a virtual appearance. now unlike what we saw in manhattan where there were still photographers allowed in the courtroom, and there are cameras in the hall of the courtroom, so trump got his quote/unquote photo op, that's not going to happen in federal court. interesting to see how they weigh this, the federal criminal charges, no cameras in the court. if it still is appealing to come in person or if they'll potentially, if he is charged, try to do something virtually. it's extremely complicated, like you said. we are again, as we are so often with former president trump, just in a completely unprecedented situation. >> paula, zach, andy, please grab some snacks. very important to this process. stick around because we're awaiting a potential indictment of former president trump. thank you so much. and any moment now president
but what's so interesting about zach's reporting is that his expert is completely undercutting that confusing explanation saying, look, he was well aware of the process, he followed it. he should have continued to follow it. one of the reasons this is significant. clearly prosecutors are not buying really anything that the defense team is selling in court of public opinion. >> yeah, it's not just a question of whether he had the documents or not but the intent behind keeping them. for them we turn to former fbi deputy director andy mccabe. andy, i want to take a step back and talk about the historical significance of this. you have a former president receiving this letter indicating that he's a target. not just a subject but a target of this investigation. in your estimation, how likely is it that he's going to be indicted? >> i think it's very likely. i think most legal experts would say with the many signals we've received over the last few weeks, it's extraordinarily likely that he's going to be indicted. you know, go back to the battles over piercing attorney-client privilege which required the
let's be frank. one of the allegations involved ken paxton actually having extramarital affairs and having to cover it up by having to pay some stuff. i mean, is angela paxton actually potentially the largest achilles heel for ken paxton when it comes to the senate trial? >> it certainly is a really weird wrinkle. we have had only two impeachments in texas history, so there's not a lot of precedent here. obviously, it's very strange that the wife of the person who is being impeached is essentially a juror in this case, being a member of the senate. there's nothing in the law that says she has to recuse herself. it's hard to anticipate this scenario ever coming up. she hasn't said anything about this. we hopefully will know more about that soon. but the attorney general paxton needs the support of one-third of the senate, that's 11 members, to be acquitted. obviously, it would be harmful to him if his wife does not participate in the process. >> zach, before you go, i'm going to put this out here. 1917, they did the first
in taxpayer money to settle that case. now, the legislators were concerned about that because, one, having the settlement approved would eliminate the need for a trial, so some of these evidence would not become public, and also they were concerned with, hey, are we being essentially asked to participate in this alleged corruption by approving this taxpayer money. they launched this committee investigation in secret in march. it's only a week ago, crazy to think it's only been seven days we first learned the committee was investigating the attorney general. they moved quickly toward impeachment, had that saturday debate that lasted for four hours and voted overwhelmingly including among the republican caucus, 70% of republican members voted for impeachment. that sends a strong message to the senate that will now at some point this summer conduct the trial. >> so zach, let's talk about that senate. i'm intrigued by the fact that angela paxton, texas state senator, wife to ken paxton, is not automatically going to be recused from that trial, but