Watch The Beat with Ari Melber Highlights: March 31

It's March 31, 2023, and we're reporting on the first filing in former President Donald Trump's indictment. You may not have seen this yet. It is new and formalized by a court document listing this case for the first time for the people of the state. of the New York defendant versus Donald J. Trump what you see on your screen and we have highlighted the key word, it is actually a first in all of Mr. Trump's legal fights and civil cases that end in payments, not in prison, even if he loses, this is the first time he has been on the other side of the government, the people of the state of New York against this criminal defendant, we have this new order from a judge.

It marks the formal opening of this case. The record notes the allegation that it is called a true bill. you see that it was returned by the grand jury, you can think of the words true bill as legally equivalent to indictment or charges and under that legal terminology or jargon we learn that there is a true bill, there are charges, a judge authorizes the prosecutor from District. to publicly acknowledge that yesterday, so again you see this, we got it today, it was formally filed in the court system yesterday. I'm going to explain to you why this is important, why I'm showing you this, but you see the date right at the end. top March 30, 2023 this is new this is formal this is real now this ruling was not technically public yesterday but it was legally implied, we know this because a district attorney cannot legally discuss a sealed indictment without judicial approval, so the The district attorney contacted Trump's lawyers to arrange his booking, which we've been hearing about now and the word seemed to start to leak out informally, but now we can see what the prosecutor did, which is by the book, what supposed to do, the prosecutor immediately asked the judge. overseeing this new case to get clearance, not to reveal the entire indictment, we don't have that yet, but for clearance, even to confirm the mere fact of the single claim that there was an indictment, that there was a true bill and that the news hit like thunder.

America and the world from last night to today the headlines are sometimes quite simple, like two words at the top of an edition of the New York Times that will live in history, we are sure that Trump impeached and here we are tonight, do you remember where you were when you heard trump was impeached how you heard he was impeached who and what you'll hear next here's how some of this played out historic breaking news an unprecedented moment the Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Donald J. Trump Monumental historical importance of the word former President Donald Trump have been accused at the communist level, take a deep breath everyone.

I think Donald is petrified right now. He is calling the impeachment quote political persecution before tonight, the presidents in this country were Kings, too big an assault on our system, far greater than anything we saw on January 6, it will only get uglier From this moment One more example of the criminalization of politics Give the president some money to fight this An unprecedented moment in American history All the major newspapers in the country What was your reaction? At first he was surprised, almost certainly his defense lawyers are telling him to shut up. This is a landmark case, monumental cases that will have wide-ranging ramifications.

The American legal system is being tested like never before, so today we wake up to a nation holding a former president accountable in Criminal Court, something many started. To ask ourselves more and more to this day, given the many investigations of Trump, the cases of exposed misconduct and the truly notable lack of charges anywhere I showed you that the New York Times headline accused others noticed that this is the first time the unusual prospect of an American president is happening. The trial has caused the front pages of the newspapers you see here to be marked in various ways.

This is foreign news to them and it is still quite important front page news from Brazil to Ireland. Donald Trump's newspaper made a more joking reference to an accused Queen's man as if this was legal news about any other local resident or citizen but under the law he is supposed to be held accountable like any other citizen tonight we also have updates on the case itself reports that the sealed indictment that we don't have yet could have around 30 reports of charges that Trump, who has been mixing attacks on the Nile and sometimes deception in his approach to this case, credible reports from some sources that he actually he was caught off guard by the news that his attorney also said he plans to fly to New York on Monday to turn himself in for arraignment on Tuesday with a hearing in the afternoon and we will have more information on that process later in the hour, ready o No, although Trump's lawyers are responding today, they are criticizing what they believe is the theory of the case, the district attorney emphasizes that this will be a fight. with no deal in sight, no plea deal and I'm going to play with that a little bit, but to be clear in the context, it may seem standard for Trump to fight, but keep in mind that most defense attorneys settle the charges with a guilty plea. most cases never go to trial do you expect this to go to trial?

Do you see any scenario in which you or the former president would accept a zero zero plea deal first of all, I'm not going to accept a plea deal with anyone but you? I know that President Trump will not accept a full settlement in this case. It's not going to happen. There is no plea agreement. It means there are only two moves left. One. Trump's lawyers are trying to get a judge to dismiss this case. That is possible and you have every right to try. that usually doesn't work for felony charges and two, if that fails, they go to trial and then Donald Trump's future is freedom;

His freedom will not depend on his fame or his public relations tactics or his political position that is mocked by some on the right or his ability to pressure Republican politicians or any other tactic that we have heard sometimes works for him in the business or politics or in those past legal skirmishes that didn't get to this point that didn't get to charges not if they don't get this dismissed and go to trial this will all depend on how a jury of citizens evaluates the facts a citizen judged by others That is a foundation of the American justice system.

It is the process that Donald Trump is attacking now. It is a process that has been applied without any major crisis, by the way, to Donald Trump's lawyer convicted of a related crime in 2016 in New York, so Donald Trump's CFO convicted in New York and currently imprisoned Donald Trump's 2016 campaign manager and that's just to name a few of the many Trump aides who have been down this road so far. I tell you tonight that having absorbed this here over the course of about 24 hours, this apparent horror and surprise that we have heard fulminated on the airwaves and elsewhere from Trump and some allies might have made you think: did this come about of nothing?

Is this really? new, strange and bad, and it could lead to crises, and if you are a reasonable person and you hear something, you can evaluate it to think for a second about what they are saying and give credit to people who don't. I don't follow all of this as closely as you might think some of those things, but then you can take a moment of reflection or a recent memory that shows that convicted crimes have been piling up. I just showed you three important people, they are not junior employees, they were not volunteers, they were the people who were at the top of Trump's political, legal and business operations and they were all convicted based on evidence.

Legally judged by juries, it is not really far-fetched at this point to see how that trail of evidence and various convicted crimes in New York eventually after years have reached Donald Trump himself, the boss, the client, the beneficiary of those convicted crimes, some of them and I'm going to tell you this too, whether you want to hear it or not, whether you like it or not, none of that means that Donald Trump is legally guilty tonight, it means that some of the attacks are, as we say in court, total nonsense, but legally and this is important, tonight he is presumed innocent, all the supposed shock, the resentment, the surprise, that's hard to take seriously, but if this goes to trial, it will be.

See as I told a jury and a fair trial shouldn't scare the innocent who have the facts on their side, that's why Meek Mill famously said: "You locked me in a cell for all those nights and I won't explode when you mention my name". to the judge just tell them the facts, of course, that is if the facts help. Meek also reflected on how a single trial can reduce anyone to size. a king, we do not have Kings in the United States, anyone can be tried and in the coming days the United States must apply the right to due process and presumed innocence for this accused, not anything else will be enough, but neither will any fear or favor for It's part of this prosecutor to follow the facts wherever they lead, whether they lead to some kind of exoneration by his peers or whether they lead to an eight-foot-long prison cell.

The impeachment of Donald Trump has generated many reactions and some of them in politics follow some familiar lines that we have discussed tonight. It's also surprising to see these reports that many of those who know Trump personally or worked for him silently applaud and remember that Trump opposes him more and, in his own words, many of his closest associates hate him much more than other people in politics or business and other difficult sectors. impeaching Fields is a dynamic we've actually witnessed from witnesses to former colleagues to employees to Insiders we've heard from right here throughout the Trump era.

I will tell you that one of Donald Trump's most eloquent and moving critics was a writer who initially helped channel Trump's voice or even made it sound better than his reality. I'm talking about the New York Times veteran who co-wrote The Art of the Deal Tony Schwartz, who became a public critic and long said it would be fear. of actual criminal responsibility that would move Trump more than anything else. He worries that he is about to be criminally charged and that he could end up in prison. That notion that he's a scammer. Believe me, that's very much within who he knows he is.

Driven by fear, that's really the crux of this, anger, anger is the only emotion available to Donald Trump, he doesn't traffic in other emotions, there are a lot of behaviors, choices and actions that he has taken that are potentially criminal. , the prosecutor now agrees. Like a grand jury, fear has become a reality with the criminal indictment and Tony Schwartz is exactly who we want to hear from on this special newsworthy historic night. He is a friend of rhythm. He is the co-author of Donald Trump's book, The Art of the Deal viewers will remember him for a long time people will join in a big news night like this will be presented welcome back Tony thank you for having me did you think this day would ever come for this man?

Carmen is a um, I did it in I always believed that the Chances are you can't run forever, you can run but you can't hide and at some point I would catch up. Do I think he would be charged? I don't know if I thought about it much, but I knew that we were talking about a career criminal, we were talking about a career criminal and that, in my opinion, you know that he committed dozens of crimes in the last 50 years and you know that a cat has nine lives but he doesn't have 900. lives, you spent this time with him in those early days, you followed him and then you worked with him in what was in a collaborative sense, a role that many people would find difficult to imagine him playing, How did that man you spent time with?

He's processing something like this right now, at the risk of repeating myself since you played an old clip. Well, you know what Lecrae says. Well, no, I don't know what Lecrae is saying. He says the reason he sounds the same is the truth. You don't change the truth, you don't change, it's okay and he's furious all the time, so I think what's happening now is he's moving between anger and literally a mix of delusion and dissociation. I mean, I think his control of his reality is you. Be incredibly thin most of the time and when he's not out of touch with reality he's just angry.

Why is he angry? They have caught me. They could catch me. I might end up in an 8 by 10 foot cell now, I don't think. He has thought about that. I don't think he has the ability to imagine himself inside a cell, but we know from many reports that he was worried about being charged. You went about developing a narrative, as they call it, a story about himself, which then grew in size and you talked about how he also donated money to charities and talked about theevolution that he did not want him to become president, the story that he would tell in this trial, would it be effective?

It will be different than the story that his lawyers will try to tell you, you know, I think he is so unleashed now if you look at, for example, his last speech, the one he just gave in Texas, yes, last week, yes, I mean, he is very on board. from the reality that I don't think he would be a great witness um now I would never be a great witness with a whole jury because a lot of them would say no, I don't believe you, but he in the past I think he could I have actually dated at least one or two.

I'm not sure he is, unless he is an absolute devotee. I'm not sure he can hold it together enough to be in any way persuasive to the people around him, um, so many to so many. the reasons are flattering and yet we show the reports that more people are applauding this. I mean, if they're criticizing you or you've been even half decent to people, they might argue with you as a boss, that doesn't mean they want you to be prosecuted unfairly, so what did you do with the reported silent cheering among people you, like you, did they ever work?he, oh, the silent applause that they're happy, well, no one likes Donald Trump, I mean, literally, no one likes Donald Trump.

Ivanka has basically said today with her statement that I am no longer with the guy that I will read that we have, that she claims to quote. I love my father and I love my country as if they were separate, they are opposites, I am paying for both. I appreciate the voices across the spectrum expressing support and concern, yeah, I mean, it's a carefully crafted statement, what are those three? Three people helped her write that, but I'm not really with this guy anymore. I told you I like it. I've had it if she's had it. Republicans could take a page from that and the answer is no.

What I mean is that Donald Trump's infection is that he is no longer just Trump, but he has actually moved an entire party, millions and millions of people, into Absolute Comfort by lying and creating a completely fictitious reality with enlightenment Of gas. I mean, we've moved an entire country. to our half of a country to its worst instincts that it has and that's a scary thought and we live in a scary time right now. I mean, when you think about the variety of things that threaten us, it's no wonder that I noticed, for example, that this is absolutely anecdotal, but I noticed that a lot of people talk about all the physical ailments that they have right now.

I think it's fundamentally psychosomatic. I think you know that stress is overwhelming for people, it shows up in their bodies, it shows up in depression, it shows up in mental health. This is the consequence of its effectiveness as a deathbed in taking people to a completely illogical place. Yes, that all makes sense. So there is a counterpoint compared to the two insurrection campaigns and this was the last thing I wanted to ask you. about Donald Trump's posts, this is the worst thing that has ever happened. Come take back your country in protest. He gives one day.

There is no major protest. No, he now he has been charged. I showed the newspapers. We're one day into that story and on Tuesday there's an arraignment and I'm. I'm not trying anything here in the news and we will also fairly report and respect peaceful protests, but what does it say to you that the public crowd that was expected and called for so far has not materialized in the slightest, not even by a sum of 10? of the multitude that would like to be free at last free at last I don't think I already have the same level of command.

He has converted many people, but they are not going to do the same. There are so many of them, including you know. uh those who showed up at the Capitol who have been able to observe that they could end up in jail if they do what he tells them to do and he did tell them again and you're right, they haven't done it yet, I hope. they won't