The charges Trump may face in New York hush-money case

AMNA NAWAZ: This week might bring an historic and high-stakes moment, what would be the first ever indictment of a former president.

Former President Donald Trump says he expects to be arrested this week on possible charges from the Manhattan district attorney related to the Stormy Daniels case.

Lisa Desjardins has been following this and other Trump cases, and joins me now.

Good to see you.

So let's start with this Manhattan case.

Walk us through it.

What do we need to know and where is it now?

LISA DESJARDINS: OK, we're about to enter another complicated road trip, this country.

So let's set up a road map for all of this, starting with that local Manhattan case with the powerful district attorney there, Alvin Bragg.

This case centers around $130,000 that was paid to Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels.

Allegedly, that was hush money, some say -- and that's what the charges would be about if they come -- for covering up an affair.

Now, two kinds of charges we will be watching for here, one accounting, bookkeeping, whether Trump and his organization falsely claimed that money was for something else, two, campaign finance, whether that money was used for a campaign purpose, his reputation.

Now, as we're waiting for this indictment, which could come any time, we have heard from Trump.

And now more and more leading Republicans, what they're doing in defending him is going on offense against the prosecutor, Bragg, saying that he has corrupt bias.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Stop going after people because you have political differences.

MIKE PENCE, Former Vice President of the United States: It just feels like a politically charged prosecution here.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Like other Soros-funded prosecutors, they weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society.

LISA DESJARDINS: OK, that was the message up and down from Republicans, not about Trump, but about the prosecutor here.

For Democrats, on the other hand, legal scholars say, no, charges here could be justified.

And they scoff at the idea that this is politics.

Here's Norm Eisen.

NORMAN EISEN, Brookings Institution: I think it's clear that they were trying to cover up the campaign finance benefit.

There's a campaign finance violation there.

So if you have got a case that's supported by the law and the facts, it's not really fair to say that it's political.

It would be political not to bring the case.

Why should a former president get special treatment different than everybody else?

LISA DESJARDINS: There are a lot of details about this case.

There's debate over whether it would be a weak or a strong case if the indictment comes.

Obviously, we will get to that.

We're talking about that first because that is the charge that we expect first, today, tomorrow, Wednesday, possibly.

AMNA NAWAZ: That case, of course, is one of several investigations around former President Trump.

Remind us where the other probes are unfolding and what we need to know about them.

LISA DESJARDINS: Even for us -- we cover this all the time -- this can be dizzying.

So I want to take our viewers through these cases.

Think of them in terms of location and the types of prosecutors involved.

Let's start in Fulton County, Georgia.

This is the next case that we expect perhaps in terms of time.

This is a local case in front of Fulton County.

The question there, did Trump, President Trump, try to overturn the 2020 results in Georgia?

Charges there could include things like election felonies, racketeering.

This is the case that we talked about the grand jury meeting on.

The grand jury filed its report in this case to the prosecutor there two months ago.

We're waiting for the prosecutor to make her decision.

And that is expected soon.

That is the Fulton County, Georgia, case.

There's a national case that also is incredibly high-stakes.

The Department of Justice has a special counsel in a separate case that we have been talking about.

That special counsel looking into two different kinds of cases, the classified documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago and elsewhere, and then also the 2020 election, whether President Trump had a role.

Now, that means possible charges there include things like document miss handling, which sometimes could be a misdemeanor, all the way to insurrection itself.

The timeline for that is unclear.

The special prosecutor has an open-ended charge.

But there is some reporting that the idea is, this would likely happen before 2024.

Of course, former President Trump a candidate for 2024.

That's the national Department of Justice case.

One more case, for all four of them.

This will be the last one.

New York state is investigating the Trump investigation -- organization, has been.

A question there from the attorney general in New York state, did the Trump Organization lie to lenders?

This is about the organization, the business.

It's a civil case.

So this would not send anyone to jail.

However, the results of this could be, if pursued, if it ends up this way, is, the Trump business could be banned from New York.

Trial in that case is set for November.

So think of this, Amna, in terms of, we have got three major potential criminal cases and we have got one civil case that would really affect former President Trump's business.

He is defending himself on all fronts.

And we're seeing, increasingly, Republicans really ratchet up the rhetoric as well.

AMNA NAWAZ: Well, tell me more about that.

You hinted at that earlier.

This is not just about the president.

It's about the party and fellow Republicans.

What are you hearing?

LISA DESJARDINS: I think we're headed to potentially another dangerous back-and-forth in our corridors of power.

Today, we saw two very powerful House committees, Judiciary and Oversight, ask for communications from the Department of Justice to the prosecutor in Manhattan about this case that we're waiting for the indictment on.

Now, that is part of the oversight mission here.

But then what you're setting up is House Republicans vs. the current Department of Justice and the current prosecutor, each accusing the other of being political.

There are questions of whether they could step in there.

Also, Amna, this is Republican primary ramp-up season.

What happens to former President Trump in these cases will very likely affect the Republican primary significantly.

Finally, there are security concerns here, I don't have to tell you.

We were both there on January 6.

That President Trump has asked for protests over this potential indictment in Manhattan.

There is increased security, a heightened awareness in New York, and I'm told at the U.S. Capitol, a little bit of awareness, nothing too much yet, but it's already on the radar.

People are getting nervous to see what could happen, how supporters of President Trump react.

AMNA NAWAZ: High-stakes, indeed.

Lisa Desjardins, covering it all, thank you.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.