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00:00 A fourth criminal indictment against Donald Trump now seems likely, this time in the state
00:04 of Georgia.
00:05 The case focuses on the former president's efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election
00:09 results.
00:10 Security around the local courthouse has already ramped up ahead of potential charges.
00:15 CNN's Nick Valencia has more.
00:20 With a half smile and a nod, Fannie Willis says she's ready.
00:24 The Fulton County District Attorney is leading the investigation into the former president
00:28 and his allies' efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
00:33 If someone broke the law in Fulton County, Georgia, then I have a duty to prosecute
00:37 and that's exactly what I plan to do.
00:39 While indictments could be handed down this month, it's been more than a year since Willis
00:43 launched the investigation, convening a rare special purpose grand jury with the power
00:48 to subpoena.
00:49 Although the special purpose grand jury cannot itself issue indictments, it handed over its
00:54 recommendations in February after interviewing more than 75 witnesses, including some of
00:59 the biggest names in Trump's orbit.
01:01 Mr. Giuliani, when you met with Georgia lawmakers, did you lie to them?
01:06 We will not talk about this until it's over.
01:09 It's a grand jury and grand juries, as I recall, a secret.
01:12 Trump's former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is among the list of Trump associates who received
01:16 letters from the DA indicating he is a target of the investigation.
01:22 In the months after Trump's loss in Georgia, Giuliani met with Georgia lawmakers at the
01:26 state capitol three times, spreading conspiracy theories and election interference lies.
01:31 I thought they were trying to conceal something from me.
01:35 Independent Atlanta-based journalist George Chidi stumbled into the 2020 meeting of fake
01:39 electors in the Georgia state capitol.
01:41 This week, he received a subpoena to appear before the grand jury as soon as Monday.
01:46 Once the grand jury hears the case, it will be in their hands to decide whether or not
01:50 to issue indictments.
01:52 Is there merit to this investigation from what you've seen firsthand?
01:55 I think there's enough to put things in front of a grand jury.
01:58 Beyond that, I'm going to let the grand jury figure it out.
02:01 It has been months of work for a sprawling investigation that could include racketeering
02:06 and conspiracy charges.
02:08 And there are several indications it may be nearing the end.
02:12 On Friday, outside of the Fulton County courthouse, a heavier than normal police presence in the
02:17 shadows of freshly erected police barricades.
02:20 Starting Monday morning, streets around the courthouse will be closed.
02:24 And now with Trump already facing three other indictments, the big question here is will
02:29 Fulton County be yet another place where the former president is arrested and charged?
02:35 The Fulton County sheriff telling Out Front his team is prepared.
02:39 We understand what courthouse security looks like.
02:41 And quite simply, we are ready.
02:44 All right, let's get some perspective now on the political fallout and the historic
02:48 context of the latest Trump indictment.
02:51 Joining me now is CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer.
02:54 He is a historian and professor at Princeton University.
02:59 First off, if we can just take a step back, Julian, because perhaps some voters, people
03:03 have gotten a bit desensitized.
03:05 And now that we're talking about a potential fourth indictment being handed up, but let's
03:11 not get lost in the details here, because there is a very historic and consequential
03:16 nature to the fact that, you know, we are seeing a former president being indicted three
03:22 times thus far.
03:23 Just put all of this into context for us.
03:26 Yes, it's historic to see a former president indicted so many times.
03:32 It's a break from a precedent set by President Gerald Ford in 1974, when he pardoned Richard
03:39 Nixon after Watergate and prevented legal proceedings from going forward.
03:46 But it's also historic and we can never forget in terms of what the substance is in this
03:51 indictment.
03:52 This is about a former president who was involved in an effort to overturn a presidential election
03:59 that he lost.
04:00 And that remains the central issue.
04:02 And that's why this particular indictment is so important, as will be the trial.
04:09 You had in your most recent CNN.com piece, you know, you talk about, you know, the Watergate
04:16 scandal, comparing that to what's happening now.
04:19 But also, you know, the fact that this country learned just how powerful the presidency was
04:25 from the Watergate scandal.
04:27 Yet it doesn't seem like we learned much from it because the Oval Office has become increasingly
04:32 powerful since, you know, then.
04:36 That's exactly right.
04:37 There was this moment in the 1970s in the United States after Vietnam, after Watergate,
04:44 where there was a lot of pressure to curb the power of what was called the imperial
04:48 presidency.
04:49 But since that time, many of the efforts to constrain the power have failed.
04:55 And the presidency, the executive branch has gotten stronger and stronger.
05:00 And in this case, with January 6, with the election, we're not just talking about presidential
05:05 power, we're talking about the abuse of presidential power in the most egregious form.
05:11 And that's what's on the table right now as this indictment moves forward.
05:16 I do want to read a part of your article.
05:19 And you write, quote, "By seeking this indictment, as well as the one involving Trump's handling
05:24 of classified documents, the Department of Justice has broken with the precedent established
05:28 by former President Gerald Ford when he preemptively pardoned former President Richard Nixon on
05:33 September 8, 1974, for any crimes that he might have committed in Watergate."
05:39 Just curious, in your opinion, which was more dangerous, pardoning Richard Nixon by setting
05:44 that precedent, showing that the government wasn't willing to take action against a former
05:49 president versus, you know, indicting a former president?
05:54 How would you weigh the two?
05:57 Both are problematic.
05:59 Both are risky.
06:00 There's no doubt about that.
06:02 But not seeking accountability had very high costs.
06:06 I don't know if dangerous is the right word, but certainly we've paid a price for never
06:11 really resolving the crisis of Watergate, the crisis of what had been exposed during
06:17 the Nixon presidency.
06:19 And you know, some of the costs we saw during the presidency of Trump, including January
06:26 6.
06:27 So I don't think it was a free ride to say, let's heal over let's achieve accountability.
06:32 Sometimes accountability is actually central to a healthy democracy, even more than some
06:38 of the divisions that an indictment might cause.
06:41 Is it important that this election subversion trial or perhaps a federal documents case
06:47 is resolved or concluded before 2024's presidential election?
06:55 I think timing is less important than doing it well.
06:58 Because of the nature of this trial and all these cases, it is true that the public needs
07:04 to see this as being handled legitimately, being handled carefully and fairly.
07:10 So I don't know when that timing really falls, but what matters is that this is a good, solid
07:17 process, and that should be the litmus test.
07:19 Julian Zelizer, appreciate you joining us this morning.