from just outside mar-a-lago, he's going to be leaving that gate, crossing that bridge to a very short drive to palm beach, west palm beach airport where his plane is on stand by we've been watching that as well but it's kind of important to take a step back and just realize the historic nature of this just the unprecedented nature of what we're seeing happen >> again, it's a lot of firsts we are going to be seeing a lot of firsts over the next 24 hours. i think at the end of the day, we can only do so much reporting then it's just a wait and see moment i think for this country as all eyes are going to be trained on the building behind me seeing a former president of the united states walk in to that building and be arraigned. we're waiting for the counts to be released. hopefully later on today depending on that judge's

decision, but this will be viewed over and over again the unprecedented nature of this moment in nation's history many of us will remember where we were on that day. on the day president trump was arraigned and whether or not that mug shot will be taken of him. then what happens next when this trial will begin we know the former president has a way of being able to delay things and how long that will take of course, we will be live from outside the courthouse tomorrow morning as well. >> indeed, we will thank you very much. thank you, all, for the privilege of our time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the breaking news in florida. former president and 2024 republican nomination front-runner, donald trump, heading to the west palm beach airport this hour to board his private plane for the flight to new york and tuesday's historic court appearance where he will become the first

former president to be raarraige on criminal charges. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in new york, where donald trump will be traveling this hour for tomorrow's arraignment in lower manhattan. the city is bracing for trump's arrival with 35,000 uniformed police some guarding trump tower. some in lower manhattan. trump tower, where the former president will be staying tonight. i'll be joined in a few moments by the former president's newest primary rival, former arkansas governor, asa hutchison, one of the few republicans openly criticizing mr. trump. we begin with vaughn hillyard in palm beach dasha burns in manhattan and laura jarrett here with me in new york we see the gate there at mar-a-lago when that white gate comes up, the limo will be coming out. his car. what we're learning about the

latest from his social media posts overnight. >> right, andrea we're all watching the exact same shot that everybody at home is watching here right now that is the first camera point that is the exit of his mar-a-lago private club in the place that is also his home. we expect to see him any moment now leaving mar-a-lago, coming around here. we're about a quarter mile away from where that shot is you presently see. we saw a few images of some of his campaign staff including boris epstein who has been coordinating his legal counsel across the country for the federal cases, the state case in new york, as well as the fulton county investigation in georgia. that motorcade, we counted about seven vehicles, it will come past where we are now. you've got a handful of supporters who have come out here this is where palm beach connects west palm beach and that motorcade is going to drive about five miles west straight over to palm beach international

airport where his 757 jet, the trump branded plane, is waiting for him. at that point is when he will then fly to new york city. we expect him at this time to land into laguardia airport, which is just outside of manhattan. his motorcade will then head into manhattan he will be staying the night at trump tower before his arraignment tomorrow morning donald trump, we have not heard him on camera here since his indictment all we have gotten from his own words is through those essential mode area posts and just overnight, he went on attack against the district attorney suggesting he should be removed from his post. the only way to do that would take the official effort, the formal processing by the new york governor, who is a democrat, kathy hochul so that is unlikely to take place. he also went on attack against the judge set to oversee his case that judge is somebody who donald trump suggested was quote trump hating of course there is no evidence

to that extent, but this is the same judge who oversaw allen weisselberg's five-month plea agreement. he was cfo of the trump organization just sentenced to five months in jail at rikers just down the road from manhattan for implicating a tax fraud scheme in which the trump organization was also found guilty in this decades long scheme he also wanted the trial to be moved out of manhattan suggesting that it would be an unfriendly trial, jury pool. for donald trump to note, his attorney yesterday suggested that they had had no internal deliberations about requesting the judge to move the case out of new york city, but of course there is a lot ahead between now and that arraignment, but as we are all watching here this shot, we've got cameras here that are lined up in positions alon g th way. the motorcade will be going within arm's reach of these supporters here.

donald trump is somebody who has welcomed the show of all this. he is trying to use this moment for his own political benefit. this is tough because a trial in the fall could ultimately run parallel directly with the presidential campaign that he is trying to run simultaneously >> and vaughn, i know you've blood been on that plane, but today, his staff, but no press pool you flew recently with him to one of his campaign stops. >> right there's a lot of negotiations and our understanding at this t time, there is no camera a pool camera, which is an agreement, all the networks, they send one on, but we don't believe that is taking place here so we expect to at least see donald trump board his plane you see that shot at atlantic aviation which is where the private planes come and go from palm beach international airport. i was on the plane with donald trump just a week ago when he went out to his rally in waco,

texas. of course, we did not see that plane for several years. it came back on to the market at the end of 2022 after refrushishment this was the same plane he flew around in his 2015, 2016 campaign i attempted to ask him some questions about the particular investigation and he promptly cut me off this is an investigation in which donald trump is not wanting to answer any pointed questions about and it's important to note he declined to go before the grand jury and testify under oath himself to his version of events. so that is where you've seen him take to social media to try to write his own predefense to what is going to be a criminal trial. >> while we've been speaking and we keep an eye on that gate for the first sign of his car and short ride to the airport, about a ten-minute ride, mayor adams in new york is holding a security briefing with the police commissioner there saying if you are coming to new york tomorrow, be calm.

this is of course lot of preparations let's listen >> historical event that will take place in the city at this time, i'd like to introduce the police commissioner of the city of new york >> thank you, mr. mayor. good afternoon, everyone thank you for being here as always, the nypd is prepared to ensure everyone is able to have their voices heard peacefully while exercising their first amendment right. we do this work in close collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners. because keeping our city safe is absolutely a collective effort as the mayor stated, there are no credible or specific threats to new york city at this time. new yorkers may see an increased p police presence in the city and should anticipate intermittent road closures over the next two days particularly in manhattan to avoid delays, use mass transit whenever possible. our job is to facilitate and

safeguard the rights of people to excpress themselves, but i will remind everyone that violence and destruction are not part of legitimate, lawful expression and it will never be tolerated in our city. the people we serve know this. just as they know that the nypd will be out there today, tomorrow, and every day to make sure they are safe thank you. mr. mayor. >> sure. sure we'll take some questions. the permitting that's happened is done through city hall. i will say that anyone who protests -- >> as the police commissioner and mayor say this they are prepared for anything, but that people should be calm. people should be respectful. people will be able to have their voices heard dasha burns is joining us from trump tower. what about the security presence that's been there for several

days on fifth avenue and around trump tower. >> reporter: right now, things are calm there are a couple of pro and anti trump protesters. there is a heavy police presence here police buses parked in front of trump tower blocking the entrance heavy, heavy media presence, but right now, things have been peaceful and quiet of course, this may look different tomorrow as city officials here just addressed. here's what we are expecting here as the former president makes his way to the city. he's expected to land and laguardia airport where we are just getting reporting that several nypd highway expert units will meet the former president. two highway escort units will take the former president to trump tower. they will likely travel on grand central parkway.

they are not expected to shutdown any other roads and one official says that they don't want a quote paparazzi princess diana motorcycle like chase or other safety issues during the drive to trump tower right now, everyone is just holding their breath for this unprecedented moment we're all about to experience. the tick-tock for the next 12 the 24 hours here, andrea. >> thanks so much. lawyer jarrett is here with me our senior legal analyst and all things, expert on all things involving this case. we are still waiting for the big unsealing of the indictment which could be you know, sort of an anticlimax because we may not see that much in it because it could be a speaking indictment which goes through the whole case and a lot of the evidence or it could be very bare bones >> we just don't know which version it will take

vaughn mentioned the former cfo, allen weisselberg. in that case, the indictment ran over 25 pages. some is just rehearsing the counts, but some of it tells a story. that's what you want to look for when this indictment is unsealed now, the timing of when this gets unsealed is something we're digging at a lot today and just trying to figure out when that will happen. typically it happens around the time of the actual arraignment, but you need to have the indictment unsealed so that everyone can talk about it in open court tomorrow. as he's been arraigned sometime tomorrow afternoon, presumably it has to happen sometime before then would it happen in the morning just before? that's one of the things we're trying to find out obviously, we have reported and other outlets have reported on some level of detail about the actual indictment. not the precise charges, but that we know it has to do with business records, document fraud, roughly 30 charges but we

need to see the actual counts and the actual levels detailed to be able to provide full analysis about what all is there. >> and we believe that the central piece of all this is the hush money payments. how they were recorded how they were repaid we've seen the checks. but how they were accounted. >> yes, it's important to understand that it's not the hush money itself. that is not a legal law. it's how it gets documented on the books of the trump organization and that's why in the indictment itself, it will be interesting to see what level of detail the district attorney provides about how it came to understand that legal expenses are written on the books and records. is it written on some general ledger that never leaves the trump organization or is it written on the document that actually did go to some tax agency the former president's lawyers have said he didn't take a tax deduction on these payments, but we need to understand that

we need to not just hear it from the former president's lawyer. we need to see in the indictment how it's described, what level of detail they're willing to provide and what documentation they have to back up the words of michael cohen remember, they can't just use cohen as a witness in this case. they need to have documentation to back up what he's saying to essentially bolster his testimony in his case. >> and we don't know if one other woman who claimed she had an affair with donald trump, she is part of this because she received i believe $150,000 from the newspaper. >> yes so that deal is -- exactly that's an interesting one because she didn't actually receive any money from trump or cohen he gets it from the publisher of the national enquirer. >> and a witness for the grand jury >> we don't know whether she was actually appeared in front of the grand jury

>> i mean the publisher. >> yes, the publisher and "the new york times" has reported the key lawyer for karen mcdougal. it will be interesting to see again what more we can learn about whether the mcdougal situation is related to a charge >> it was interesting this weekend that joe -- was not expressing problems with the federal judge, but former president was on social media. so how much, how abusive can you be on social media about the judge, the prosecutor, the prosecutor's wife without admonishment from the judge. >> yeah, i've talked to a lot of people about this the last couple of days giv given the gravity, given what he has posted on truth social this is a judge that has a history with trump in the trump

organization he presided over the trial of the trump organization and that guilty plea for alan weisselberg so there's a history here, but everyone has described him as a fair and impartial he runs a tight ship i'm told in his courtroom. as for whether in fact he will impose a gag order, i think that is a high threshold for somebody who is seeking public office running to be the next president of the united states it would be hard i think for a lot of folks that i talked to to see him imposing one without more at this point he might do something of a warning to everyone in court yesterday and say basically you're on note that you need to be careful about your public statements but typically, gag orders are used by defendants who don't want prosecutors talking about the case because they might prejudice the jury pool. in this case, it's trump talking about the case one of the more unusual twists the case has shown us. >> okay, the gate is opening and

vaughn hillyard, we see the gate opening. we don't know how quickly this motorcade is going to come out obviously he's got secret service security with him. there's the car. vaughn hillyard, do we believe that's the former president's car? >> reporter: the first, we believe it's going to be about a seven-vehicling motorcade. it appears that one car has come through, but we got our eyes on some key campaign staff earlier that were on the property. our guidance was that his departure was intended to be about noon of course, when you're dealing with secret service here, andrea, they try to keep adhered to the closest schedule you can. the later you get into new york city, the more traffic you get i think we were anticipating about a 4:00 arrival into new york city. laguardia, his motorcade was going to head over to trump

tower. this is so much, i should note the campaign operation has really tried to stay away from his legal efforts. all the individuals affiliated, his legal counsel, are not affiliated with the campaign epstein has remained a senior adviser to trump he had been affiliated with the campaign in the past and he has been with him every step of the way. when you think about the number of cases, andrea, it is not just this criminal trial that's going to go to court here for trump. at the end of this april, the rouge carol defamation is set to go to trial. the woman who has alleged that donald trump raped her in the mid '90s and has since filed a defamation case. set to go to trial in new york this month of course, there's the new york attorney general's case. the civil lawsuit filed by the new york ag last fall looking for $250 million in penalties. it hits at the heart of financial fraud allegations of donald trump's assets.

not only against trump, but his children and the trump organization at this moment in time, that is set to go to trial in new york in october so there's a reality that donald trump we do not know when this particular one will go to trial, it could a couple of months from now, a year from now, but donald trump is staring at at least one criminal trial, two civil trials over the course of the next year of course, iowa primary, the new hampshire caucus we're staring at next february the fulton county district attorney has suggested she could bring charges imminently not just against donald trump, but she has suggested there are 18 different targets of her investigation. there could be racketeering charges as it relates to the efforts in fgeorgia to overturn donald trump's election loss there and of course the work of the special counsel who is investigating not only efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the lead up to the january 6th attack, but also the mar-a-lago clas

classified documents case here donald trump had this prosecutor search warrant executed by the northbound last august i was here for that. there were supporters that came out in his defense and time and again, we have season republican lawmakers, leaders, circle around donald trump and his defense. we saw that last august and now. about six hours from here is tallahassee. the home of ron desantis who over the weekend suggested this was political persecution and targeting of donald trump. he even said that he would not agree to extradite donald trump. of course, that would be a wild situation which donald trump fought surveyer roundering and new york he never suggested he would do that we believe he is about to jump in his motorcade to do that very thing tomorrow but you also look to mike pence this weekend mike pence even coming to donald trump's defense. this is a moment in which there is a lot of reckoning for this republican party about the individual who is the stan cdard

bearer polls have shown him by about 30 percentage points nationally it's a moment for the party as they're going to be watching just like you and i going up to new york >> we've got more cars coming out. a second car, third car. >> this is the -- we should see him in about 30 seconds. >> let me say -- >> yeah. >> and once he passes you and hits the bridge, it would be west palm beach from the airport is, correct? >> correct he is currently on ocean boulevard and it's going to be making a right turn on to southern boulevard that's the street we are standing on. it is going to be five miles directly east to get to the airport. palm beach is about 18 miles long but it's only you know, a couple hundred yards wide and that is where mar-a-lago is. so what he is going to be doing is driving down southern

boulevard here past his supporters, past media that have assembled and will be crossing over on to bingham island, the causeway that connects palm beach to west palm beach and that is where the airport is where donald trump will be i think wegetting our sights he. this is the -- this is the motorcade of former president donald trump leaving his florida drensz, heading to new york city where he is set to surrender to authorities to be arraigned on those criminal charges take a listen. [ horns honking at this point, he is now crossing over. you're seeing him go up over a bridge that causeway that will connect him to west palm beach where you'll get another shot of him coming up and over that bridge we've been hearing honks of

folks who have been cheering on the supporters who have been in attendance, but we should expect this ride to be about five, six minutes at this point before he arrives to palm beach international airport to board his 757 jet. of course, the trump branded plane, to head to new york city. >> we have numerous shots. an ariel view. now we see the motorcade approaching from the other side. and now they are in west palm beach as they head to the airport there. a very convenient airport. obviously, during his presidency, it was so difficult for people trying land and take off because there were so many flight calls you see more supporters waving, more flags it looks like only supporters there. we didn't see any others no protesters on the other side there. on his home turf he's heading to new york, which will have a very mixed reception. you can see sure some horns honking. laura jarrett is still with me

as we watch this motorcade the expectation that this is going to lead to legal challenges right in the middle of a presidential campaign, laura. there are a lot of steps between an arraignment and a trial including lengthy discovery and this could be protracted for as long as a year easily. >> easily. and certainly months his lawyers have signalled that they plan to file motions to dismiss. he has used about a motion to transfer venue not clear where exactly he thinks he would be able to get a fairer trial obviously this is a case that has attracted nationwide aatte attention. it's not as if the jury in new york would know any more or less than everybody else about this case obviously efverybody's following it around the country. it's so striking to watch a motorcade taking a former president to surrender for criminal charges the pomp and circumstance of

having a motorcade for his safety, which was usually used to transport our public officials to matters of great national importance and historic events and obviously, this is one of those historical events for a very different purpose >> in the past as presidents follow this practice and previous ones, the helicopter from whatever airport they're landing at, laguardia, jfk, helicopter to avoid the traffic and the jams and go to one of the landing zones in new york city and manhattan, but this time, we're told as was reported, that he is going to actually be driving in on grand central parkway from laguardia, which is very close from the city garrett haake, you've covered donald trump for so long and you're so familiar with mar-a-lago you're there in lower manhattan near the courthouse where there have been, there's extraordinary

security for several days now. what are you seeing today? >> with security only continuing to ramp up here in lower manhattan as does the media footprint by the way sort of all part and parcel of what covering donald trump, the president, candidate, or the ex-president has looked like sort of maximum spectacle at all times up to and including this motorcade today. but the nypd is getting prepared for what could be a big day tomorrow i just finished watching a briefing that eric adams had with the police commissioner, really trying to lower the temperature on what we'll see today. the mayor, police commissioner told people they should probably take public transportation be prepared for significant traffic, especially downtown but beyond that, they expect new yorkers to go about their day. they say the nypd, if you are ready, you don't have to get ready and the nypd is ready and are evening warning folks like marjorie taylor greene who are coming in to hold a protest,

that they should be on their best behavior. they've had a several week long ramp up for this, andrea, which is important to point out. even before mr. trump predicted his own arrest two weeks ago, he did that in part based on reporting done by nbc news that law enforcement officials, security officials across the nypd, the marshall's office, were already preparing you've got the most experienced police department in the world for this kind of large scale movement, having a three-week lead up time to prepare. the city says they are ready and obviously there's always a possibility of surprises, but to move a former dignitary around the city in a high security environment is something the nypd does every day, every year for the u.n. general assembly and they think they can handle it a fairly straightforward to getting to trump tower from the courthouse behind me >> the mayor said there are no credible threats they have the best intelligence. >> went to great lengths to

repeat that point. >> they have the best intelligence post 9/11 they've built a unit in the nypd equal to any around the world. it rivals what we have in washington at the federal level. it's very closely coordinated with the secret service and fbi done by a great man, michael sheehan, tragically passed way too early. but he created an extraordinary post 9/11 operation for what we didn't have. now it is not foreign threats as much domestic threats that they are mostly worried about as the fbi director chris wray has been telling co telling congress year after year and as we saw on january 6th as we see the motorcade continues toward the airport in west palm beach, we're going to see him board the plane and then travel for probably about two

hours or more until he gets to laguardia airport then he will be driving in to the city and it will be a ko los sal traffic jam. they won't close the parkway as they might for a presidential motorcade, but that he will then get to trump tower, which is 59th street and 5th avenue dasha, this motorcade is heading -- was there a few moments ago. we'll be going back to trump t tower closer to the arrival. vaughn, as he approaches the airport there, he's taken off and landed so many times there this is usually a very quick operation. get on the plane we don't think he'll stop and talk >> no. that is not the anticipation here at this time. we've got another camera positioned there at the entrance of the airport

we know there's at least a couple dozen supporters that are there as well. i think it's important to note when we talk about donald trump talking, unlike in 2016 or even over the course of his presidency, when he was eager to talk about anything, that is not the donald trump that we know now. he has not done a network tv interview since well before the 2020 election. he has refused to talk on camera about the january 6th insurrection he has refused to talk with mainstream outlets non right wing outlets about the mar-a-lago documents case or any efforts to overturn the 2020 election and he has refused to talk on camera here about this about the hush money payments and the allegations that he created or that he had committed criminal acts in the process here i was on his plane the other day when he took off from this very airport and then came back from his rally in waco, texas and when i began to ask him specifics about the michael cohen reimbursement, it's

important to note donald trump was writing checks to him to reimburse him for the stormy daniels payment as late as december 2017 when donald trump was still in the white house donald trump has denied he was paying daniels back essentially before the 2016 election, but he has not answered the specific questions as to when he did become aware of this arrangement and when i tried asking those questions, he cut me off and said i have no many questions. donald trump has not been eager to answer any questions around this his focus is cutting down the media, prosecutors, democrats, other republicans who have spoken out against him and the latest is cutting down alvin bragg and the judge who is overseeing the case against him. the difficulty this time around for him is that it's ultimately going to come down to a jury in new york city to determine his guilt and meanwhile, he's going to have to wait as this process plays out. he is flying to new york city. we see him right now coming down

the freeway. that is the same road when he drove by us, he is coming down he should be there just about any moment when he does get on to that plane, he will be joined by multiple campaign staff. these are his allies who understand that donald trump did not want to get arrested but there's reality that they are working in in which they must benefit from it. he has raised more than $5 million since he was indicted on thursday night and they have put pressure on other republicans like desantis and pence to back them for years, it was republicans at the very top who had suggested this was all prosecutorial efforts from the likes of robert mueller to the impeachment proceedings on capitol hill to the january 6th select committee. all in effort to not only take down donald trump, but the republican party that is where they're sort of in this weird position now because these are allegations that stem

before 2015. it was mike pence who while serving as vice president called them quote baseless allegations. so he's really in a bind here. and the other republicans find themselves in that and for donald trump, getting on that trump branded plane, it harkens back to 2016, 2015, when he put the pressure on other republicans. talking to asa hhutchison, has required the republican candidates to support their nominee. i know that's an issue in which the former arkansas has taken up but really as bill cassidy said it best this weekend he is somebody who actually voted to convict donald trump after the january 6th attack in the senate he said what this does outside of whether it's right or wrong or whether he actually committed these acts or not. it created theatre around him and takes the focus away from actual issues and right now,

donald trump is drawing this attention to him the best he can. and he's going to board that plane, go into the heart of new york city and stand before a judge. >> we can see the motorcade has turned into the entrance of the airport. the plane is on the tarmac and unless he stops, it should be very quickly, he'll be boarding that plane and taking off for new york it's so striking vaughn and laura jarrett, that this is the kind of motorcade we usually see for a president of the united states arriving at an important venue or a presidential nominee arriving at the convention to be, you know, renominated. to watch a motorcade like this and ariel coverage and cameras to see a former president of the united states to be flying to surrender in new york city for an arraignment tomorrow is just so extraordinary

as he's coming into the airport now, we expect very shortly to see him getting out of the car we do not see him getting into the car. there was a camera inside, we would have gotten into the car in the driveway and that was moved back by the trump people and secret service to outside the gate so now it's a relatively small airport in west palm beach, florida. >> you can hear the honking. hear them shouting hear their support >> supporters are gathered there. this is closely guarded by the secret service all former presidents have secret service expect interestingly, richard knicks in, who declined that support. he was suspicious of the secret service guarding him in his retirement, post presidency, so he hired private security. but all presidents are entitled to secret service for lifetime as are their spouses some adult children.

there is also secret service connection for a lot of people connected to the trump presidency because of threats from iran former cabinet members, secretary of state, others all have special secret service protection the former president's going to get out of that car and -- they're obviously quite a distance to see if that is he going up the steps of the back of the plane vaughn hillyard, from your vantage point -- >> andrea, exactly how he boarded a week ago. when i took the flight with him to his first major rally of 2024, waco, texas. this is his same plane he used in 2015, 2016. he had it refurbished during his presidency brought it back here to palm

beach. he is now on that plane. i want to note as i'm watching this, the other players involved in this. michael cohen, the star witness in all of this, served three years in charges, is on a plea agreement related to this very case here. served just over a year behind bars and two years in home confinement and now over the last year, he has met repeatedly with not only the manhattan district attorney's office, but also the new york attorney general's office for the lawsuit related to financial charges and now he has that star witness who has provided the checks that donald trump personally wrote to him in 2017 while in the white house reimbursing him for the stormy daniels arrangement when i say stormy daniels, she is the other player. just two hours ago, she posted she is working on the final edits to a new film called

redemption that she wrote, directed and stars in. she suggested she would be willing to take the stand against donald trump as what it appears to be a criminal trial ahead for him. >> and garrett haake, you have of course traveled so frequently on that plane as well. been a lot of recent travel. >> yeah, that's right. the former president has been out once again campaigning he's been traveling around the country. i traveled with him when he went to east palestine, ohio, to visit the site of the train derailment he's a creature of habit on these flights. he does like to travel with a larger group of aides. sometimes family members he's got a couple of personal aides who kind of straddle the campaign versus his post presidency office who also travel with him. i've been watching the feed here trying to see if i can determine who's with him today a full compliment of agents on that plane with him for the duration of that flight and into

new york city tomorrow where he'll be met by other agents he typically likes to travel with family, senior aides. he keeps up a pretty active conversation in the main cabin he'll watch news coverage. probably watching some of the coverage of himself traveling across the country now he prefers news max after the falling out he's had with some folks on the fox network. i think, you know, on a travel like this, it's a little different obviously from campaign travel, but he will typically review where he's going, what he's doing, what he'll be saying. on a trip like this, i'd be curious to see if there are senior campaign aides traveling with him given he's not expected to speak publicly in new york. this has been an open question for me covering this particular element of the story the last three weeks. we're not expected to hear from him until he's back in florida so perhaps no campaign aides on this part of travel plan here.

>> and while we have seen the motorcade, seen him board, i want to bring in another republican who has swjoined the presidential race and he says donald trump should step aside former two-term governor of arkansas, asa hutchison, former congressman who served in the george w. bush administration. your thoughts as we're watching what can only be described as a spectacle here of the former president heading towards his surrender in new york city >> it's a sad day to see this motorcade that's going to an arraignment in new york city as an american, as somebody who's a competitor that's in the presidential race, this is not a good thing for america it's not a good thing for the gop. yes, i always belief that the office of presidency is the most

important and that you set aside your personal views for the office of the presidency and this is not good but he's in. he's going to continue on and that's his right and prerogative and nobody can stop that so we've got to deal with this and i hope that we can remove the spectacle part i'm doubtful that's dwgoing to the case, but as kocandidates running for president, we've got to navigate around this and talk about the energy costs talk about border security and fentanyl and the issues that really americans care about now and are impacted with every day. so we're kwgoing to have to compete with this and it's going to be challenging. >> it's only going to get worse if there are possibly other indictments on issues that are you know, obviously much more serious to most americans like january 6th, classified documents, possible obstruction of justice being reported today by "the washington post. you have said that he should step aside because of all of the

legal problems he has yet to face this year isn't he innocent until proved guilty and why should he not be able to run just to play devil's advocate here, just because he is facing these charges? >> well, he absolutely is innocent until proven guilty absolutely entitled to all the due process and i said if i was a federal prosecutor, based upon the facts that i know, i would have not taken this case but the prosecutor has made that decision we don't know all the facts yet, but regardless, there's going to be a very long process as a matter of principle, i said the office of presidency is more important than any person and i had that consistent view of while i've been governor for eight years calling on people close to me to resign once they were indicted. so there's a consistent position there and you can see the

outcome here now the fact is it's not going to happen. he doesn't have to do it there's no constitutional requirement so we're going to have to deal with it so we need to move on from that and talk about what the voters are really concerned about today in arkansas in the midwest, we have tornados, but we also have the concern about the inflation, the border, our concerns with china. and the competition there and the adversarial relationship that's building. those are things we're going to have to continue to come back with that i think are important for the american voters. >> why do you think you're the only person who has said you're running who is willing to take a stand against the former president? to criticize him and criticize his behaviors, his performance? not even mike pence is willing to really criticize him fully and his life and the life of his whole family were in jeopardy because of january 6th

>> well, it's important that you state your position and donald trump is going to be the defining issue in the 2024 gop p primary. so if you're running against him or running for that office, you've got to take a clear position i've said it and i will continue to say it. even though that shouldn't be the focus of it and you want to do it in a way that tries to bring people together in a very divisive time. there's not an angst against donald trump it's just simply if you let the worst thing for america in terms of the body of politics would be a campaign between joe biden and donald trump and i think that's the only basis the gop is going to win. we've got to have somebody that can appeal to independents, to suburban voters, and i don't believe donald trump is that person and we need to say that very clearly and campaign on

that basis >> they say they've raised $5 million just since friday with the indictment he is getting so much support from this. within the republican primary field, he has enormous support something like 80% support among republicans. in some recent polls how do you penetrate that? >> well, your choice is either to fold and yield to donald trump to be the nominee or you get in there and fight for the vote i think that's a better result for the gop primary and for our country and that's the decision i've made. i think as time goes on, they're going to see the leadership, the experience, the ability to address the issues and not go into chaos and fighting over the last election is important for our country. that's my plan and i think other candidates will fall along that line as time goes on so you've got to make a

commitment you've got to go after in places like iowa and new hampshire and that's where i'll be >> just one final thing. as we see the plane taxiing, the republican national committee, the chair has said every candidate for the republican nomination will have to take a vow to support to nominee. would you support him if he turns out to be the nominee? >> i've expressed my view on that i think the important thing is that we don't have somebody like trump or anyone else participate in rnc debate. but then goes and runs as a third party candidate. that to me is the purpose of a pledge i will be having more conversations with the rnc on this clearly, i don't think party loyalty is something we ought to be pushing today let's have an open primary let's make sure we don't support third party candidates and let's give the voters on the republican side a choice that's

very important for 2024 and our future >> governor, i hope you'll come back thank you first of all for your patience today and i hope you'll come back as we discuss the issues in this campaign as we have every intention of doing on both sides thank you. joining me now as we see the plane about to taxi down the runway is boston globe columnist, kendall as well as former u.s. attorney, harry litman and deputy editor for the "washington post." kimberly, president trump is the center ring right new. how is he spinning his arraignment? >> he is doing the classic trump style of victim hood claiming he is the target of people who hate him as opposed to being the soon to be defendant in a criminal case set to be arraigned after an

extensive investigation. politically, we are seeing him spinning it as a form of -- as we mentioned, he's been doing a lot of fund raising off it as he continues to ready his 2024 presidential run and trying to really set the pace of this but this is one of many investigations that have been ongoing for quite some time. it is no evidence that it is political persecution in any way, but that there is evidence in multiple cases that it has piled up seemingly against him not just in this case, but other case involving classified documents we've mentioned and also surrounding his role in georgia trying to tamper with election results there sos so this is the beginning of what will be a long period. >> and harry, former manhattan d.a., cy vance was on with jen psaki yesterday saying he'd have

to stand down by the southern district of new york he pressed the pause button on this and said he was surprised after cohen pleaded guilty that the investigation from the southern district did not go forward on this issue. >> yeah. there is a re-examination of that i just think we really need to think of it in the time it arose rather than now. so immediately after a new change of administration with garland to green light it, it would have been his decision a backward looking case, not the most gray facts against the just left president i can see why he didn't want to do that. he had first wanted to leave the pasto past past. all the things that came up, new and present investigations he can't ignore i agree they are coming to fruition shortly >> and phil, donald trump of course has been embroiled in

several investigations for so many years, but one of them most notably is the classified documents at mar-a-lago. you edited the story in "the washington post" today that there is fresh evidence of possible obstruction of justice. talk to me about what has been discovered by "the washington post." >> this is a great effort by our team at the post i was one of several editors on that, andrea, and the reporting is that federal investigators have uncovered fresh evidence that points to possible obstruction of justice by the former president specifically, they have evidence that after a subpoena was issued seeking all those classified documents being kept at mar-a-lago, that trump had some of those, had gone through some of the boxes of evidence and some of those boxes, of of course, were moved and then when the fbi did their search of mar-a-lago in august of last year, that's where they uncovered all of those classified documents that had been hidden.

away, at mar-a-lago. so, this is a new sort of piece of evidence in this ongoing investigation. and an indication that special counsel jack smith is gathering more and more signs, pointing to possible charge of obstruction of justice for the former president. >> and with that, of course, there's a much more serious charge legally if that were to happen than taking the documents. this is as distinct from what happened with mike pence, or president biden, with their documents. this is a whole different level. but we don't know, we're just -- >> exactly right >> and i should point out that nbc news has not matched that reporting from the "washington post." as you see the flaengsing on the runway i want to thank kimberly adkins, phil lebeau and harry litman, just briefly, i want to touch base with you in west palm, about how long is the flight to

new york city? >> reporter: we're expecting him to get in, it's going to be 2 1/2, three hours, into laguardia. this is the journey i've taken often. and that he used to take on occasion when he was still living in new york at trump tower. that is where he is set to stay here tonight we're looking at 2 1/2, 3 hours, leaning at 4:00, which is where the heart of it sits at new york city at this time, andrea. we believe he's going to be taking a motor kcade here. for donald trump this is returning home in a very unusual way than he used to. andrea, you guys were talking about politically here, donald trump in 2022, really wednesday on the tour, politically, going on to investigate him on the january 6 select committee he was able to vanish liz cheney by politics. beating her by 40 points

and he got adam kinzinger to retire this time around, though, it's different. for donald trump, this out of out of his hands as in baierl's words he has no self-control but this is a process that's going to play out in the hands of the jury here, one, quite frankly, the team can try to undercut the district attorney alvin bragg and try to country cut the reputation of the judge here but this is going to play out in criminal court, unlike where he can go after a liz cheney, this is one where he's flying with less control over the situation. >> we'll bring in david jolly, of course, the former republican congressman from florida associate editor a.b. stoddard, and "the new york times" reporter jeremy peters jeremy's here with me in new york what do we expect from the

mar-a-lago rally when the president returns tomorrow night? is that a speech is that a rally? as we heard after the arraignment, he's flying directly from there to mar-a-lago, to florida >> usually, these big appearances tend to have a repeat soundtrack. i don't think we'll hear anything much different except for maybe more anger and contempt in his voice. what's so interesting to me, though, is the way that -- regardless of what will we know about trump being personally terrified as one of my colleagues at the "times" have reported about his current mind-set, and terrified of losing this case, he also understands how to make himself the center of the news psych until a way that few people in modern politics have ever done before and he has no shame about the fact that he's being covered in a very unflattering way. this reminds me of the story of reporting on trump from years

ago, when he was looking on the front page of the "the new york times. this is during the first campaign it had three, four stories all about trump. and one of the aides pointed out, yeah, that one says you cheat on your wife that one says you cheat on your taxes. that one says you're losing the campaign but he was thrilled he was thrilled to be on the front page of the "the new york times" and have three or four stories about him. unlike anything we've ever seen. >> and one of the remarkable things, or maybe unremarkable things, to see his plane is waiting in line. it's normally air force one. he's been in line as many of us have been in at laguardia, david jolly, what about the fact that the former president's plane doesn't just get the right to take off when it wants to? >> well, not only an ex-president, but more importantly, andrea, he remains a candidate for president again and right now the front-runner

for the republican nomination. i think what we have learned in the last two weeks is donald trump's grim on the nomination process is strengthening, not weakening, we'll see there could be other indictments. i was taken by governor hutchinson's remarks to you. that's as far as other republicans will go, which is to say, he should drop out, condemn jeb bush and mainstream republicanism that has come out and attacked alvin bragg and said head shouldn't do this. or somewhat of a mitch mcconnell, saying let the process work its course. and i think the takeaway politically, as he remains now a candidate is the strength of trump's grip on thenomination process. >> and he's got the polling news, taken after the indictment

announcement it shows him with a big jump a 26-point lead over ron desantis, from an eight-point lead before the indictment >> i think, andrea, that we have suspected all along, this will do nothing but help him with his base and it would intimidate the other candidates who are either in the race with him or want to be with the exception, of course, of governor hutchinson who you just spoke to, who is the only one willing to say that the office is more important than the man. and that these kinds of legal troubles are a distraction, that the republican party should move on from. i think all of the people who want to take donald trump out, in the campaign, will say this behind closed-d doors, oh, this would be terrible for independent voters, there will be another indictment or three more indictments, however, they're not going to say it in

public they're desperate of hanging on to the maga base they're terrified. and i'll say as david, it cements the position as the nominee, and for desantis, that paralyzes him, he's the only one in position to take on donald trump or take him down you have to take him on, and it doesn't look like he's ready to do that. >> eric trump on the plane with his father is tweeting a picture as they're watching their favorite network's coverage of the plane on the runway. jeremy >> to a.b.'s point about his popularity, let's not former get, this is exactly what we saw after he was impeached, right -- the first time his approval ratings among republicans went up. same thing happened to bill clinton, too that's not an unusual partisan reaction when the leader of your party you feel is under siege unfairly that's exactly what we've seen from the die-hards in both

parties. however, i think it remains to be seen because we don't know what's in his indictment we don't know what's going to unfold not only in this case, but the several other case where is he's under investigation, how long that bump in popularity lasts. and whether or not, going through a trial is at all to his, or anyone's political benefit. i mean, let's not forget, as much as it may rally his key supporters, the spectacle, the embarrassing stuff that can come out during a criminal trial like this is not always good for people yes, it will keep him in the headlines, but i don't know that the headlines will be good for his long-term political survival >> and donald trump has just posted on truth social, his website, that a once great country, our once great country has gone to hell >> something we've heard from him many, many times

>> yeah, as the plane is ready to take off. i think it's timely, number one, for takeoff, we're watching the trump parade, as donald trump heads to new york. lifting off to new york for about a two-hour flight to laguardia airport. then, he'll hit that rush hour traffic, but something tells me his motorcade will be able to get through with the secret service fore and aft they will get to the group of protesters waiting for him i thank you, david jolly, and vaughn hill yard, and everyone who has helped us today, of course, we'll have a lot more continuing breaking news coverage all day on this extraordinary spectacle it is. and some would say a sad day in history for all sides for donald trump, the former president of

the united states,