Meet the Press NOW — April 3

If it's Monday, breaking news, former President Trump has just arrived in New York City to face criminal charges against him, ahead of an historic day in court tomorrow. Plus, another Republican presidential hopeful joins the 2024 race, and unlike his rivals, he's calling for Trump to step aside as an independent group's third-party plans are raising eyebrows and concerns on both sides of the aisle. And exclusive NBC News reporting on the intel the Chinese spy balloon was able to gather, despite the White House's attempts to block it. Welcome to me, the press now.

I'm Kristen Welker and Washington, as we cover the breaking news happening right now in New York City. We are in the midst of an historic moment here, folks. Former President Donald Trump has just arrived at LaGuardia Airport this taken just moments ago. He's in New York to face criminal charges against him, the first time ever a former U.S.

President has been indicted. Former President is heading with a police escort from the airport to Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan. And tomorrow Mr. Trump will be processed at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan, where he's expected to face about 30 charges that all relates to hush money payments.

Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen says he made to an adult film star on Trump's behalf. Those charges remain under seal, so we don't know what they are yet. But Mr. Trump's attorney says he's preparing for what he describes as battle.

He's giving up for a battle. You know, this is something that obviously we believe is a political persecution. And I think people on both sides of the aisle believe that it's a complete abuse of power. He's a tough guy, George, as you know, and he's someone who's going to be ready for this fight.

We're ready for this fight. And I look forward to moving this thing along as quickly as possible to exonerate him. So we are looking at live pictures now again, a former President Trump traveling through Manhattan set to arrive in Midtown Manhattan. At Trump Tower, we will continue to bring you these images as we continue our coverage.

We learned late this afternoon that Mr. Trump has hired a new attorney to take on this case. We also learned that Trump's legal team is opposing a request from the media to have cameras in court. Immediately after that court appearance tomorrow, the former President is set to return to Florida, where he scheduled to speak for Mar-a-Lago tomorrow night.

Now overnight, Mr. Trump lashed out on social media, demanding a new judge and new venue. All of this comes after Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's predecessor, Saivance, told Chuck Yesterday on Meet the Press, the former President's rhetoric could land him in even more legal peril. Well, I've got to say that I was disturbed to hear the former President speak in the way he spoke about the District Attorney Bragg and even the trial court in the past week.

And I think if I were his lawyer and believe me, no one has called up to ask for my advice, I would be mindful of not committing some other criminal offense like obstruction of government administration, which is interfering with or by threat or otherwise the operation of government. And I think that could take what perhaps we think is not the strongest case. When you add a count like that, put it in front of a jury. On the ground outside the courthouse in Manhattan is Gabe Gutierrez and von Hilliard is in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Gabe, I have to start to you, Mr. Trump, of course, just landed in New York ahead of the arraignment. Tomorrow we are tracking his motorcade as it travels to Trump Tower, bringing folks the live images. Talk to me a little bit about tomorrow.

What is the choreography? What are we expecting? Yeah, Christine, good afternoon. I'm watching those live pictures right along with you.

And yes, several minutes ago it was the former President that landed at the border now making his way to Midtown Manhattan. The Trump Tower, where he's expected to overnight. For those of you unfamiliar with New York on a good day with no traffic, it should take about 20 or 30 minutes to make for the motorcade to make its way to Trump Tower. Several of the streets around Trump Tower have been closed off, heavy security presence there.

And also here in Lower Manhattan, where I'm at, and where the former President is expected to be arraigned tomorrow afternoon around 2.15. Now, again, former President expected overnight at Trump Tower. Then he'd driven here sometime around midday tomorrow. Some of that timetable is still very fluid, but the NYPD on high alert, both in Midtown and Manhattan, about 4 miles north from where I am, and also right here in front of the courthouse where the former President is expected to be arraigned on the 54.

Now, we are still trying to find out whether a mugshot might be taken here. We understand he will be processed. No DNA swab will be taken or told by sources, but he will be fingerprinted. And, Kristen, as you mentioned, there is still this legal battle playing out right now on whether the judge will allow cameras in courtrooms just a short time ago.

We got that legal filing from the Trump team saying that cameras in the courtroom, in their opinion, would contribute to a, quote, circus-like atmosphere. Well, I can't tell you, Kristen, this already has some feelings of a circus-like atmosphere here in Lower Manhattan. There was quite a security presence here just a short time ago. There were a small altercation between two people.

The NYPD swooped right in, took them into custody. They were on very high alert, especially, Kristen, because of the threats against the district attorney's office here. Over the last several weeks, several dozen serious threats against DA, Alvin Bragg. And so the NYPD, again, looking at this very closely, but tomorrow, after the arraignment, the former president then expected to get back on a plane and head back towards West Palm Beach and speak at Mar-a-Lago, Kristen.

And Gabe, as you are talking, we continue to watch these extraordinary images of the Trump motorcade getting closer to Trump Tower in Midtown. Manhattan Garrett Hake has been reporting that he is traveling with his campaign team, a number of members of his campaign staff, top aides to the former president who are going to work with him on his effort. And of course, there are some real security concerns, all of which you talked about, Gabe. How much of the timing of this is because of those security concerns?

Well, this has been choreographed now for several days, Kristen. We've been trying to report out the exact timetable of this, and even at this late hour, the date for the arraignment. We still don't know as several key details, whether it be exactly how much, but the legal catch of former president as he comes to this building. We understand, you know, several streets might be shut down.

However, and, you know, most of this building behind me will be shut down. For what will be a very short proceeding, arraignments typically take only, you know, two, three, maybe five minutes, but, you know, the entire building will essentially be shut down because of those security concerns. So we don't know what exactly we will see. It's unlikely we will get, you know, what's commonly referred to as some sort of perp walk, of course, a secret service in heavy consultation with the NYPD, trying to make this so that, you know, the former president is brought here safely.

Certainly an unprecedented situation that we just, this has not been done before. However, the NYPD is in a unique position to help with this because they are so used to transporting high-level dignitaries, especially, for example, the UN General Assembly happens here every year. If any law enforcement agency can do this, it's the NYPD. However, Mayor Eric Adams earlier today said the city is so far tracking no specific credible threats.

Really important detail there, Gabe, and President Biden was just asked about this as well. He said he has confidence in the NYPD to handle whatever comes their way tomorrow. But let me turn to you, and Gabe, stick around if you would. You obviously have been tracking all things Trump world.

We know that the former president was lashing out on a social media site overnight. I spoke to a source close to the former president who acknowledged, look, these next couple of days are going to be tough. But obviously, he's also been pretty defiant. Take us inside, Mar-a-Lago inside Trump world.

What's the thinking? Right, this is the same playbook that Donald Trump has played for years now, not only against the media, making the idea of fake news, a mainstay among the right wing, and then to take on Robert Mueller, to take on the impeachment proceedings against him. To take on the January 6th, select me. It is an effort to undermine the credibility and the legitimacy, at least in the millions of supporters of his eyes.

Of course, we have seen in 2020 election, and in 2022 midterms, when it comes to a general election electorate, difficulty in getting sympathy from a greater part of the electorate to some of that mantra. But this go around. You see Donald Trump again trying to consolidate that support here on the Republican end of this. He has raised since the indictment came down on Thursday night, according to one of his top aides, more than $70 million for his campaign, and he is using this as an opportunity to try to also apply pressure to the likes of Ron DeSantis.

Mike Pence, both of whom came out in his defense, under underscoring the idea that this is prosecutorial misconduct. For Donald Trump, this is about trying to use this moment in the reality that he has a criminal trial before him, and a jury that will ultimately be the one to determine whether to convict him or not. I'll just say, Kristin, I think it's important to point out that his defense attorneys are trying to bar cameras from inside of the courtroom, inside the courtroom. Donald Trump, unless he were to take the witness stand, does not have the microphone.

Why he will have the microphone is tomorrow night when he returns to Mar-a-Lago, when he intends to make prime-time remarks at 8.15pm eastern time, using his private club as a backdrop. And we would assume we'll take that opportunity to try to undercut the investigation and the criminal potential criminal proceedings in him. Yeah, I think that's a fair assumption, and Von, as we are listening to all of your great reporting, we are watching the Trump motorcade get closer to Trump Tower. Von, you talk about the strategy so well, and I'm reminded that this is not just a former president, he's a former reality TV star, right?

He understands the power of these images to use that to turn them around for his potential political gain. And I really look at this in two buckets. It's the short term where he is sucking up a lot of the oxygen in the primary, but then there's a long term. When it could get more complicated, starting with debates, when some of the people who are defending him right now may not be inclined to do so.

Once they have to come face to face with him and Von, we're getting a much closer look at the motorcade now, turning the corner there, getting much closer to Trump Tower. I'm not sure exactly what street that is, but you obviously see the big police presence. Von. Right, I think that it's the Quinnipiac poll that came out here at the end of last week that I think is notable when answering that question.

Among Republican voters nationally, 75% of them said that if Donald Trump were to be criminally charged, they would not believe those criminal charges to be disqualifying, of him as a presidential candidate, 75% of Republicans nationally. But when you open up that polling question to all voters across the country, a majority of them said that they did believe that it was disqualifying of Donald Trump. And that's where you get at the heart of the difference between ascending to the Republican nomination and then ultimately winning a general election in November of 2024. And for Donald Trump, yes, you had a reality TV show coming out of this year.

But for Donald Trump, there is a reality that is very difficult, and that is that coming from these courtroom proceedings, we will learn evidence. We will learn details that likely Republicans will have an easier time pointing to it. They do intend to ultimately flip because it is not going to be a he said she said you're likely to hear from key witnesses who had direct conversations with Donald Trump, not only in this case. But let me interrupt you very quickly.

We have a picture of former President Trump walking into Trump Tower. He waved to his supporters who were standing outside of Trump Tower. So just to put a fine point on this former President Trump now inside Trump Tower in lower Manhattan, Von apologies for interrupting and please continue. No, and I think that this is the part when you're talking about Trump Tower.

That was base camp. That was where not only he called home, but he also operated his 2016 2015 Trump campaign out of there. And there were many Republicans that regretted in 2016 not taking on Donald Trump until it became so many of their own words in 2016 too late. Ted Cruz, who was his chief Republican rival, waited there until it was past the Iowa caucus to really try to take on Donald Trump head on.

And the issue was that on May 3, 2016 when Ted Cruz dropped out of that presidential race against Donald Trump, used the words a moral, a serial philander. A lot of those very personal attacks. And at that point, the primary election was already pretty solid. And so now for Donald Trump, this is about drawing attention.

You know, there are nine months until we get to the Iowa caucus here. But right now, national polls indicate that he is up by 30 percentage points nationally. And those numbers are not lost on anybody. And that's why Ace of Hutchinson is a unique candidate jumping into this race this weekend here to really try to draw that contrast.

And he makes a claim that this DA's indictment of him should force Donald Trump out of the race. Of course he's not, but the question here is, is there going to be Republican pressure elsewhere outside of Ace of Hutchinson? Yeah, that will be a big question. Von, you're absolutely right about that.

I want to go to Dasha Burns right now who's outside Trump Tower. Dasha, set the scene. What is it like to be there? You're really in the center of it.

Yeah, this is a moment that the crowds here have been waiting for regularly all day. Kristen, we've had people come up to us tourists. You know, this is been town in Manhattan. There are a lot of folks here all day throughout the day and they've been coming up to us asking, what is going on?

Where is the former president? When is he landing here? Well, he is going to arrive here at Trump Tower at any moment now. And just about everyone on the street right now has their cell phone out.

They are recording. What is happening? Crowds are building across the street from Trump Tower here. We're a catty corner just on the other side of the street, a diagonal from Trump Tower.

And across the street, there is a massive crowd of onlookers right now. There are some police helicopters circling around above here right now. And everyone seems to be ready to record, to be here, to witness this unprecedented moment. And Dasha, as you're speaking, I can tell you, he actually just walked in moments ago.

We saw him walk in. We saw him wave. And I know the anticipation, as you point out, has just been growing throughout the day. But there are some real security concerns.

Gabe was talking about this earlier. Talk about the concerns about potential protests and how that relates to what you're seeing right now. And thank you for letting me know, Chris, that we've just been observing what's going on around us here. Yeah, that's exactly right.

Security has been paramount. The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, held a security briefing earlier and said that NYPD is preparing. He said that there is no credible threat to the city right now, but that's certainly, they are on high alert. He had a stern warning for what he called any rabble rousers who are planning to come here to air any grievances or to stir anything up.

He told everyone to come here, exercise the first amendment right, but behave yourselves, keep calm, peacefully protest. That is the expectation that he has set for folks here. And why PD is prepared to handle any sorts of issues that come up. They are out in full force.

We can tell you that certainly what we've seen here, a lot of police presence, a lot of barricades. But also, Chris, it is going to be a challenge because there are a lot of people here anticipating what's going to happen over the next 12 to 24 hours, a lot of media, a lot of onlookers. And tomorrow, while we haven't seen a lot of protest action yet here, we do expect that will be the case tomorrow, Chris. Yeah, and we can just see the unbelievable scene behind you as it's unfolding, Dasha.

We see a lot of Trump protesters, people holding up Trump signs, American flags. And Dasha, as you were talking, we replayed former President Trump entering Trump Tower. Again, he waved to his supporters, walked in, he has been striking a note of defiance every day since this indictment has been announced. And so we anticipate we will hear more of that same tone when we hear from him tomorrow night.

Let me bring in now, NBC Senior Legal correspondent, Laura Jarrett, and also with me, Carol Lam, a former federal prosecutor and an NBC News legal analyst. Thanks to both of you for being here, for joining us. Laura, let me start with you. We do not know what these specific charges are yet, right?

I mean, we know there are more than 30. What are you going to be watching for tomorrow? What are your big questions? The big question is, what is the evidence that the prosecutor has to support the charges that we believe have to do with falsifying business records?

That's a charge that is typically a misdemeanor and in order to elevate it to a felony. When we're talking about actual jail time on the line, Kristen, it has to be in connection with furthering or trying to conceal a second crime. And so my big question is, what is that second crime? What is the District Attorney's Hook here for trying to charge the former President of the United States with a felony?

Is it some state election crime, election law crime? Is it a federal campaign violation? Is it conspiracy? We just don't know.

And we don't have the visibility into what's in the indictment. But that's going to be a key question, because it will help us understand the stakes here, and will help us understand what is the theory of the case that the prosecutors are going to bring against them. Carolyn, let me turn to you, because Laura maps out a legal strategy that some legal analysts have said is risky. This is untested in some ways.

How risky is this strategy to bring whatever these charges may be against the former President? The one thing that prosecutors really don't like is to do things that are unprecedented. We like to have well-worn paths where the judges' rulings are going to be predictable and, more importantly, the appellate courts' rulings are going to be predictable. When I heard the reports that there were more than 30 charges in the indictment, it got me thinking that what this District Attorney has done, and I tend to agree with his approach, is probably to charge President Trump's actions in every which way possible.

Let me explain what I mean by that. He may have done a few things. He paid money. He repaid Michael Cohen, who had already paid push money to Stormy Dangles.

But what this District Attorney likely did, and we will know in 24 hours, thankfully, what he likely did was charge it in a number of ways. So what Laura was referring to, what is going to create the felony here? Maybe it's violation of state election law, maybe it's violation of a federal election law, maybe it's a tax charge, and it's that last charge that I'm going to be particularly interested in seeing whether it's charged, because I think that could be the cleaner case, it could be the case that's most removed from politics here. And this District Attorney can actually charge all of those things, plus a conspiracy count.

And that's important as well, because a conspiracy count would allow the District Attorney to get in certain types of evidence about the acts of co-conspirators, who may not be charged, they may be uncharged co-conspirators in the indictment, but it allows the District Attorney to put in more evidence about what the actual charge was. Let me get back to the tax charge, or the potential tax charge for a minute, because when the Trump Organization, presumably at Donald Trump's direction, repaid Michael Cohen, they repaid him not just the $130,000 that went to Stormy Daniels, but they gave him a bonus and they gave him an extra amount of money to pay the taxes that they anticipated he was going to pay on that $130,000. So what that means is that the Trump Organization and presumably Donald Trump anticipated the filing of false tax returns. So I'm going to be looking for all of that, because 30 counts in an indictment is a lot, and I think that the District Attorney is approaching this in a way that's going to give him the most celebrity here.

Well, it will just be fascinating to finally see what is in this indictment. Laura Jarrett, what more do we know about this judge tomorrow? Maddy, who runs a tight ship, which by all accounts, given the spectacle that we have seen play out just in the last couple of hours before, he's even actually faced an arraignment, will be important here. Specifically, as people who had appeared in front of him, whether he was likely to issue a gag order, which would be an order barring the former President or his attorneys, or even witnesses from talking publicly about the case, obviously that would be a huge move, especially considering that the defendant here is actually running for public office.

To be the next President of the United States, so prohibiting him from talking on the campaign about this would be an enormously consequential move. And some of the people that I spoke with, former prosecutor, who appeared in front of Judge Mercedon said, he may not do that, but what he may do instead is you see him issue sort of a warning shot to the former President, and the management of sorts to say, basically be on notice that I'm watching, and if you keep talking, you do so at your peril. Now, other people like to say the judge may not say anything at all, and simply just let him talk. The other thing he's saying right now can be used against him, and so even the district attorney may just want to just let him talk and see what he's likely to say, if completely unrestricted.

Obviously, making any threats would be a different issue and would be handled in a completely different way, Kristen. Von Hill, let me have you pick up on the point that Laura makes. How is he being advised by his attorneys? We have seen him lashing out.

As Laura says, rightfully, anything he says can be used against him, so this can be incredibly risky for him to speak out on social media. Right, and the issue here is if they were to try to seek a gag order, you're silencing not only a former President of the United States, but also a presidential candidate who is up by anywhere from 20, 30% points nationally. But when you look at this here, you know, Donald Trump, I think it's important to note, in all of these individual cases, he has different counsel working on them. In Georgia, from this case, to the special counsel's cases, in a lot of the documents case, he does have Boris Epstein, who is sort of leading the coordination of the lawyers that are representing Donald Trump.

But this is a moment here in which you are seeing the former President, who has obviously only taken counsel to a certain degree throughout the course of his own presidency. But also, it's playing out. He's not only attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his social media posts, but also attacking the judge here, Justice Marshall acting as Supreme Court Justice, and suggesting that he was overnight, quote, Trump hating. Of course, there's no evidence of that, but this is somebody who also, he's not naive to the fact that in Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's CFO, in his case, who, Allen Weisselberg, struck a plea agreement with prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney's office, but the Justice was the same one who oversaw that plea agreement in the sentencing of Allen Weisselberg to five months at Rikers Jail.

And so Donald Trump is not naive to that, but when you're also talking about him trying to change the venues here, right, this is Donald Trump, at least trying to, you know, despite whatever counsel may be suggested. His own attorney, Joe Tokopino, has said that this judge was not biased yesterday, in his opinion. So, if Donald Trump does what he does, his own counsel will try to do what they do. Yeah, that's a good way to say it.

Let me give you the final word here. You have been, obviously, standing outside the courthouse. We see outside Trump Tower. People are already gathering on both sides.

Those who support Trump, those who think that this indictment is a good thing. How is the city preparing for the potential protests tomorrow? Well, Chris, I will say I've been here out in front of the courthouse now for several weeks. There's only been a smattering of people here that have protested this one way or the other.

The last crowd that we saw, very small few dozen people, on that day that the former president asked the call for protests, pretty much fizzled. Now, I have spoken with the organizers for tomorrow's scheduled protests. They do expect a piece of a bigger crowd, partly because they say we'll be headlined by Congress when Marjorie Taylor Green, obviously a lightning rod, and they are publicizing the location of this rally. But it remains to be seen exactly how many people that will do all.

But still, I think the NYPD is recognizing the potential for a crowd. They want to prepare either way. But what has been concerning, Chris, and has put this in a picture, how unusual it is for a defendant, in any type of case, to make what are essentially threats or attacks, verbal attacks, on a district attorney. And that has really played out over the last several weeks, and that there was one social media posting over a quad, Chris, and that was the former president Trump holding a bat, and that image was near an image of the district attorney brag.

That post was later deleted. And, you know, some of those posts have been called ill-advised by the former president's own attorneys. But there have been serious threats several dozen over the last several weeks, the NYPD looking at this very closely. And one last point I'll make, Chris, and it's unclear exactly whether we will get any clean video shots of the president coming into the courthouse, the secret service, and the NYPD may make it hard for journalists to get that shot.

A lot of us still have in the air at the timing, but again, we expect that arraignment sometime around 2.15 tomorrow afternoon, Chris. Yeah, there's no doubt it will be quite a scene. Thank you for starting us off to all of you. A fantastic conversation.

Again, former president Trump is at Trump Tower as we speak, Gabe Gutierrez on Hilliard, Dasha Burns, Laura Jarrett, Carol Lam. Thank you all for getting us started. We really appreciate it. Great conversation.

Coming up. More on what to expect is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and former president Trump's defense team prepare for a legal showdown, plus the political impact of this historic indictment. Many of Trump's potential primary rivals rally into his defense without even knowing the details of the charges. You're watching me the press now.

Welcome back. Former president Trump has arrived at Trump Tower ahead of his arraignment tomorrow. And as we wait for the indictment to be unsealed, questions are growing about what Mr. Trump is actually being charged with and how exactly prosecutors land to prove their case.

Chuck Asbo is Michael Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, and former Manhattan D.H. Sirens fans about the tough road ahead for Bragg. Take a listen. Is this an airtight case in your mind or is this going to be a tough case?

So it's not going to be an easy case because they do have to create a novel law. Is there any doubt in your mind that this case is airtight? Well, I do not know if this case is airtight or not. I know that the DA's office has extremely experienced and seasoned lawyers.

This is, you know, the charges that might be involved here are certainly well within their experience level and their trial experience level. Joining me now is Jeremy Salon, former Manhattan assistant district attorney in the trial division. He currently works as a criminal defense attorney. Thank you so much for joining me.

I appreciate it. Thank you. You just heard side ends and Lanny Davis essentially say they can't say for sure it's airtight. Can Bragg really afford to bring a case against a former president that's not airtight?

Well, I think you have to start with the premise that every case is airtight. And sometimes you pursue a case because you believe it's just, you believe the law points to it. And that's what we should do. But it doesn't mean it's going to be easy.

Sometimes you take those cases that you lose. That being said here, you would expect that there'd be that extra precaution because a loss in acquittal is something that the public can interpret worse than egg on the face, but something that was more political from the onset. So it should be a concern, but I have no doubt they've also done their homework to put them in the best place possible to secure that conviction. Well, let me follow up with you on that point.

I mean, obviously you've, you know, worked in the DA's office. What can you tell us about how they might approach this type of a case given the high stakes? Well, there's a lot of background issues that they no doubt addressed first. We've heard this routinely already.

It was your statute of limitations issue. It is somewhat novel with the premise of the bump up we will from the misdemeanor to the felony is something from a federal crime or campaign finance issue as opposed to a state issue. Well, then that's something that they must have vetted thoroughly because they wouldn't find themselves here. Keep in mind to them.

Maybe other charges just because it's a 30 somewhat count indictment as you understand. There could be conspiracy charge. I mentioned previously in blog about it. There could be a criminal tax fraud charge.

So there's a lot of different things that are in the air and I wish I could tell you more. But we're all dying like you are to see what's in that indictment. Yeah, we certainly are. That's for sure.

Let me play something that Bill Barr told Fox News over the weekend. Let me get your reaction on the other side. I'm not as lawyer. Generally, I think it's a bad idea to go on the stand.

And I think it's particularly bad idea for Trump because he lacks well self control. And it'd be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion. So there was the former Attorney General when asked if Mr. Trump should be on the stand.

What do you make of that? Do you think there's any scenario where Mr. Trump's lawyers would put him on the stand? There's certainly a scenario where someone in this situation would want to testify and relying on the advice of counsel that was fine to Michael Cohen.

But I think he took Bill Barr's quote and you stamp that everywhere. That would be a very fair assessment. Donald Trump is not your average witness. I'm not talking about a president being not average and atypical.

I'm talking about someone who would be difficult to control and you really would be fearful that he'd impeach himself by continuing to speak and say the wrong things. He is not a great witness. He's not someone who can be controlled. If I was a prosecutor, I would love a shot at him because you could probably get him off that sort of Colonel Jessup way of saying something that he should not be saying.

You know, his lawyer Joe Takapina has said that they plan to challenge the charges despite not knowing what exactly the charges are. Walk us through what that would look like. How long could this process stretch out? So a typical case of such a thing in Supreme Court, once there's an indictment, usually you're on about a month to two months later for your file motions or response with certain motions that you may file and then it starts to move on quickly.

Remember, under New York Discovery law, the day's office to be ready for trial have to turn over the entire scope of this discovery. So whereas a normal case of such a thing, maybe three to six months or so, I would expect this case will likely expand and go beyond a year because every angle that they can do and pursue to challenge us, whether it's a grand jury minutes, whether it's a statute of limitations. Whether it's just a facial sufficiency of the indictment, there is going to be a challenge. There's going to be a rent stone into this process.

Jeremy, one more before I let you go, the former president is asking for a new venue. Is that realistic? Do you expect that that's going to happen? He's arguing he can't get a fair trial in Manhattan.

I've heard that. I've heard also he wants to go Staten Island because it's more favorable potential in terms of Republican, more of a strong Republican base. I think that's just more noise. I don't imagine the judge agreeing to that or any party agreeing to that matter.

All right, Jeremy Salon. Thank you so much for your insights. We really appreciate it. Mr.

Trump is, of course, an active candidate for president and his campaigns as it raised more than $7 million since the news of the indictment came out. And at the same time, the 2024 Republican presidential primary field is getting bigger. Former Arkansas governor, so Hutchinson joined the primary yesterday telling ABC News he will formally announce his campaign later this month. Now, unlike the rest of the announced candidates in the field, Hutchinson has been critical of Donald Trump's legal situation saying Mr.

Trump should drop out of the race amid this indictment. Look. Do you believe that? Nothing's been indicted.

Should he drop out? Well, I do. First of all, the office is more important than any individual person. And so for the sake of the office of the presidency, I do think that's too much of a sideshow and distraction.

Joining me now on set is Mariana Sotomayor, congressional reporter for The Washington Post, Democratic strategist and NBC News political analyst Juanita Tolliver and Republican strategist and NBC News political analyst Rick Tyler. Thanks to all of you for being here. We certainly have no shortage of things to discuss today. Mariana, let me start with you.

Look, this is extraordinary. The former president has convinced most of his rivals, save Asa Hutchinson, to close ranks around Tim, to rally behind him, to go after the DA in this indictment that he's facing. In the short term, he's been emboldened. There's no doubt about that.

But is this sustainable? I mean, there are a number of other investigations about him, right? So there are some discussions of when could that be the breaking point for these other candidates? We won't really know, right?

And I think tomorrow will be very interesting when we look at all the counts and all of those charges. What exactly did he do, right? I don't know if that means that these candidates are all of a sudden going to flip the script. Maybe some who have been critical will be more critical, but that those little things are still going to come out.

And I think just how these candidates respond is going to be interesting. Let me go to you on that point. I've been talking to some of the people with the various campaigns and they're saying, look, this case is not like the other cases. They're potentially facing.

They're more straightforward. They're more serious in terms of the jail time that they carry. Do you think, as Mariana says, we might see a shift in strategy from Iran to Santas? We have no idea because they have no idea what's in the indictment.

So we'll know tomorrow what's in the indictment and we can predict what they're going to say about it. I think that the losing strategy is to just treat Donald Trump with some difference and defend him on this because then you're playing into his media game. Donald Trump has played to use the Game Show or reality show analogy a little further. He's been playing this game his entire life.

He was a Game Show host, a reality TV host. But now it's flipped a little bit. When you watch the motorcade come in, you're sending the signal is that this is somebody different. This is an important, but most people who are brought up on arraignment charges don't have a motorcade meet their airplane at the airport.

But tomorrow he doesn't write the script. He's not his own producer. He's not his own script writer. He's not his own writer.

He will not control it. He will be in an ordinary arraignment just like many other people who are indicted. And that may change. So in terms of all the potential candidates, if you were ever thinking of running for president, this would be your last time.

You ought to get in because you do not know what nobody knows what is going to happen. Yeah, that is for sure. I want to put up this new CNN poll, which is majority of Americans approve of the arrest of the former president, but a greater majority, a greater majority says politics played a role in the arrest. Again, we don't know what these charges are, but what do you make of this when you see these staggering numbers?

I think what it shows is that one, people are relying on him to be held accountable, first and foremost, majority of the country is there. I think when they're saying politics played a role, I don't think it's the same way that Trump's saying it, right? Like they're saying this in a different sense that does not feed into some of the tones that he's been offering up or the charges or, let's be real, lies he's been telling about D.A. Bragg.

That does not what's happening there. Maybe for the Republican base, and I want to go back to something Ariana mentioned about a breaking point potentially. I don't see a breaking point because the other poll that I've been watching is the fact that the lead between Trump and DeSantis has grown from eight points to 26, right? That is the other part here that shows me that whatever's in the indictment or what isn't there is not going to change what his base of supporters want to see from him.

Yeah, Mariana, let me let you jump in. I mean, I had so many conversations this weekend where people said this moment is worse for DeSantis because not only has he failed to distinguish himself from Trump from a policy perspective, but now he's one of his chief defenders. Absolutely, and you really have seen DeSantis try and find himself. He's obviously been able to really reign in Florida.

You can very much put it that way. He has a lot of support. He has a lot of support from even independence in that state. But Florida is so different from any other state.

And Trump really does have a support out there, even though the midterms did teach us that there are some Republicans out there that I don't want this kind of extremism. I don't want those kind of Trump endorsed candidates, but this has been a rallying cry for Trump. And for those who are trying to model themselves but not be Trump, it's very awkward to reign. Here's how David Frum wrote about this in the Atlantic.

He says that DeSantis campaign has been built on an impossible contradiction. His message to his party was, I offer you Trump's style, minus Trump's scandals. That offer only made sense on the assumption that Trump's scandals were bad. Yet when any major new Trump's scandal has erupted, DeSantis has jumped to deny or defend it.

Is this a smart strategy for DeSantis? And how does he reclaim the oxygen in the spotlight? That's all a point. DeSantis needs to define what his candidacy would potentially mean.

And it can't be a reaction to Trump, whether I'm more like Trump or I'm not like Trump in this way. All of that is Trump-centric. He has to get to a campaign that is DeSantis-centric. And so far, right now, he was doing a fairly good job, but I'd say he's failing at that now.

What strikes me is that it seems like a lesson of 2016 was if you want to go after Trump, you have to go directly at him. Juanita, we're just not seeing that with any of the candidates. Not yet. Asa Hutchison is trying.

I'll give him that. He's the only one who's called out some Trump's liabilities. And he's doing it consistently. He's saying, on principle, which is not going to come from a Republican.

I appreciate it, but it's not going to cut through that noise. It's not going to cut through the oxygen when Trump is staying gains in spite of these indictments. President Biden really not weighing in on this as well, basically saying I'm not going to weigh in on a real and criminal matter. But I've talked to some of his allies who say that's not sustainable.

I don't think it's sustainable fully, but let's be real. The president has been explicitly clear to not engage in any action from the justice system. He's got to do that even more when the DOJ, if the DOJ comes forward with an indictment. So brace yourselves for it.

It might be a little rocky road. Eventually, he will get there, but not in the early days. All right. I want to shift gears a little bit and play some sound from Senator Manchin with Chuck Yastray on me, the press.

When he left, the possibility opened that he could run as a third-party candidate. Take a look. When you're asking me what I'm going to do, what my political ambitions would be, is to make the country work together. And be a United States, and not to divide its states.

And that's what I've seen happen over the period of time. I'm going to do whatever I can to have a voice in that middle. And when you hear people say that you might be a spoiler, if you run for president, what would you say to that? I would never intend to be a spoiler of anything.

To Mariana, some alarm bells are going off about comments like that. The No Labels group getting closer to saying, yes, we are very serious about finding a third-party candidate. They cite the fact that polls are higher than ever before for the possibility of a third-party candidate. But of course, that doesn't take into account specific names.

What do you make of a potential third-party candidate? I mean, it's not something that Democrats want to see. At all. Or Republican.

Or Republican. Or a little nervous about it too. Right, because it could, I mean, not even could. It will pull away voters.

And we've seen that throughout other presidential elections too. And I mean, with Biden in particular, you do have a lot of people who worry about his age. You have Republicans who also think the same about Trump. I think that is fueling a lot of this.

Well, who else is it going to be? And the Labels in particular, very much saying, you know, we don't want anyone extreme left. We don't want anyone extreme right. I'm sure the Biden administration or future campaign will argue they are not that left.

But there are people there who are just wanting to know. I don't want Biden. I don't want Trump. They're all these other Republicans who could it be.

Alarm bells are going off from both sides. Absolutely. Like, let's be real. Democrats know any chance of a loss of voters, like, implose the 2024 election for them.

And what I do appreciate in the write up in the Washington Post is that when prompted with that question. They're up from low level. No label. I have no answer.

They didn't want to touch it. They don't want to accept the reality of them being spoilers. So thousands of independent parties have come and gone. This may or may not be different.

The polling does show this is the unique. It is a unique opportunity. I don't think Joe Manchin is it. I think the base of his own party is very, very angry with him.

And so I'm not sure that he would be the spoiler in this race. All right. Thank you all for being here. Really appreciate it to kick off a very busy week.

Mariana Juanita and Rick appreciate it. After the break, NBC News exclusive reporting on the Chinese spy balloon and the intelligent secrets Beijing was able to gather in real time despite Washington's best defense. You're watching at the press now. Welcome back.

NBC News has exclusive reporting about the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the U.S. just over two months ago and potentially raising new national security concerns. Three U.S. officials tell NBC News, despite efforts to block it, the balloon was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive military sites and transmit that information back to Beijing in real time.

Joining me now on set is the reporter, my colleague, who broke that story. NBC News managing editor for Washington, Carol Lee. Carol, thank you for being here. You and Courtney Cubie had this great exclusive.

So what were the key takeaways for you? So I think, Kristen, it's that this balloon hovered over the U.S. for a week. We all knew that.

The administration at the time said they had moved things around to potential intelligence gathering targets on the ground. They had tried to obscure the balloon from being able to collect intelligence. But what we've learned is that the balloon did indeed collect intelligence and some very sensitive intelligence. It was largely electronic signals, types of intelligence.

And it was able to do that and transmit it back to China in real time. And so we also know that there was a self-destruct mechanism in the balloon. And so China could have remotely activated that. That didn't happen.

The U.S. doesn't quite know exactly why, whether they tried to and it didn't work out or whether they just decided to leave it linger. Because what we're told it was doing, Kristen is doing even figure eight formations over some of these sensitive military sites and just scooping things out. It's just incredible.

Because, of course, at the time, the administration was very defensive about the way that they handled it. And one of the controversial things was the fact that they allowed it to basically travel across the U.S. before they shot it down. Are they standing by that decision?

And how much concern is there that this is a real national security threat? They are standing by that decision, which won't surprise you. They're pretty dug in on it. And basically make the argument that whatever China got, it could have been a lot worse.

They took steps to mitigate them from being able to get more. And at the same time, it was kind of a two-way street. So the way it got to not, they're like, well, we learned a lot too. And they were able to monitor the balloon as it was traveling across the U.S.

And not only that, but also then once it got shot down off the coast of South Carolina, they gathered all of the debris and have pieced it back together and are studying it and looking at it and learning a lot about China's capabilities. Well, you and Courtney have been just out front on all of this reporting. So thank you for that. Let me ask you about something else I know you're watching today.

We're all covering this week. Speaker McCarthy announced today that he is, in fact, going to meet with the president of Taiwan. China has already threatened some form of retaliation. The White House is trying to downplay that.

What are you hearing? What's the White House saying today about this? So one of the things they're saying, which is interesting when you look at this, is that it's not a visit. It's a transit.

So the president of Taiwan, it just happens to be passing through. It's not as if it's something intentional. And that's designed to really just downplay it. There's a lot of concern in the administration that this is something that's going to escalate.

Tensions with China. This administration currently is going to great lengths to not escalate. Tensions with China. Things have gotten so bad after the balloon incident.

And then the questions about whether China was going to send lethal aid to Russia for use in Ukraine. There was a lot of fire breathing on either side, a lot of public comments. And right now the White House's position is they want to downplay that. And so they don't want this to turn into something that could really escalate.

Yeah. And of course there was a big backlash after former House Speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan and they're concerned about that same thing. Carely. Thank you for covering other angles for us.

They really appreciate it. Great to see you. Silicon countdown to Election Day with Wisconsin and Chicago voters will hit the polls tomorrow for a number of key races with national impact. We'll tell you what to watch for.

You're watching the press now. Welcome back. Tomorrow is Election Day and two races that we're watching very closely because of what they could tell us about the national landscape and two issues that will be key in 2024 crime and abortion. And Chicago too.

Democrats are facing off in a mayoral race where crime has become the central issue. Paul Vallis, the moderate former chief of Chicago public schools is endorsed by the city's police union and vowed to ramp up policing while Brandon Johnson, a progressive, has had to defend his past calls to defund the police. Meanwhile, Wisconsin voters will elect the next member of the state's Supreme Court in an election that will in all likelihood determine the future of abortion access in the state. And if it's Monday, it's Amy Walter, publisher and editor and chief of the Cook Political Report who is joining me.

Amy, thanks for being here. Thank you so much. It's a very good day. Oh my goodness.

So let's talk about these races in Chicago and Wisconsin. What are you going to be watching for? Yeah. I think the Wisconsin one is the most interesting in part because, well, it's the partisan race.

It's actually on paper, not partisan. They do not run with party labels, but it's a conservative versus a liberal candidate. And as you pointed out, the balance of the Supreme Court is at stake here. And so what could be really interesting to watch on the same day, of course, we're spending a lot of time at a tension, looking at Donald Trump is whether or not the issue of Donald Trump is going to his indictment is going to have an impact on this race.

Now, in some ways, you'd say, well, why would it have an impact on a local race in Wisconsin? Well, Republicans hoping maybe to see some turn out, some enthusiasm from their race. Republicans, I'm sorry, Democrats have been feeling pretty optimistic about their chances to win this race. But with the attention now going to Donald Trump, and especially as you all pointed out in your earlier segment, all of the energy among his base, the sense that he's being wronged might make things, right?

They're a little more unstable when it comes to understanding turnout. The other thing, and you pointed to abortion, that's exactly right, are the two issues that really defined elections in 2022, Trump and abortion, going to continue to benefit the Democratic Party. And in Wisconsin, it's obviously a battleground state and it matters a lot. Well, and to what extent, I mean, I know you will be watching turnout very closely, how much attention should we give?

How much wheat should we give to just the turn? Just the turnout is really important to appreciate, and especially in this post-Trump era, Greg Gilbert, who's a columnist at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is great reporting on all things Wisconsin politics. He had a PC other week pointing out that since Trump was elected, and obviously he won in Wisconsin very narrowly in 2016, of all the state-wide races that have taken place, there have been about eight state-wide races, including state Supreme Court races, Democrats have won in six of those, Republicans in two, and those two, by very, very narrow margins. Obviously, Ron Johnson winning reelection as Senator last year, a state Supreme Court in 2019.

Democrats, though, seem to have been building a bigger cushion in this Trump era, suburbs of Milwaukee. Madison, Wisconsin have become really critical to Democrats, and the turnout there is usually incredibly strong. World areas, obviously, tilting to Republicans as they are across the country. But in this, again, in this Trump era, those suburban votes outside of Milwaukee that used to be Republican, Dane County, Madison getting bigger and bigger and bigger, that's helping Democrats a lot.

Interesting. So, you're talking about popping numbers when you're talking about the money here spent on this race. Again, a state-wide race, 28 million in ad spending. What does that tell you?

For a nonpartisan office, wait for a judge, right? And they're not really hiding their partisanship or their opinions on issues, including abortion, especially the candidate who's running as the liberal option, Janet Pardisagua, who's been endorsed by Emily's List, is really leading into this idea that, you know what, abortion rights or reproductive access is central to this job. That's something that 10, 20 years ago, you would never believe that somebody running to be a justice would have an opinion or at least make their opinion known on a case that we know is going to come before them. And we have less than a minute left, very quickly.

What are you watching for in Chicago? Well, let's say crime, you're right, is the critical issue here. We saw this in New York and maybe in Chicago as well, where the more center-left candidate because of crime is able to defeat the more progressive candidate, even in an overwhelmingly blue city. Yeah, and if that is initial, Brendan Johnson's initial support of defunding the police, even though he's disavowed it now, if he can really shake it.

That's right. Amy Walter, thank you so much. Thank you so much. We appreciate your insights.

You can always get Amy's smart political analysis at cookpolitical.com. Thank you so much for being with us this hour. I'm back tomorrow with more of The Press Now. NBC News Now coverage continues with Hallie Jackson right now.