female. no worries. the arraignment takes place tuesday. what happens after that? guest: this is where it goes to trial or not. it is possible that donald trump could make a deal or charges can be does this -- could be dismissed. there could be motions to dismiss them or trump could make a plea agreement. but if he does not, this is where we see it goes into trial and he could be found tilting or not guilty. -- guilty or not guilty. we are starting the steps to find out if he is guilty or not guilty. an indictment does not mean he is guilty. it just means these are charges that have happened and now we are entering the legal proceeding to determine whether he is convicted of a crime or not. host: how long could it take

before bca trial? guest: i don't know. we know that legal proceedings take a long time. i do not think we should expect an answer next month or this month on that. think about how long the investigation has taken. we are talking about something that happened in 2016. this is a particularly slow place -- slow pace. host: perry stein, justice reporter with the washington post. you can read her piece, "trump is indicted in new york". go to washingtonpost.com. back to calls. heater in florida, republican. we are getting your reaction this morning around the country to the news that a former president has been charged with a crime. good morning. caller: the morning. it is disgusting that we have

double standards in this country. all you hear is donald trump, donald trump but they go after nobody else. we have bigger problems than this. i do not understand why people have suppressed the movie "2000 meals" where it shows you how the election was stolen but nobody wants to take a look. congress does not want to look at it. the supreme court does not want to look at it. i do not understand why even reporters do not want to look at it. host: did you watch the january 6 hearing in the evidence they put forward from people in their own words like the kearney general par -- the attorney general bar saying there was no evidence? caller: they did not want to look at the movie. if evidence was out there, they did not want to look at it. host: have you looked at it?

i am talking about the counter yourself. caller: yes. host: jack, brownsville, california. morning. president trump indicted. your reaction. caller: by reaction says with all the criticism of alvin bragg bringing this case forward, the criticism in my opinion lies at merrick garland. because when he took that oath, but had no manners about the law. for him to not seriously go after -- when the january 6 commission laid out all the evidence, but he has been silent all the way through this. in my opinion, he has not lived up to what he was hired for, for whatever reason. that is the only criticism i have of our president.

i believe he will go down as one of the greatest presidents we have ever had. he has taken on a big job, there are a lot of problems. they can be dismissed. the attorney general. for whatever reason, he has done a good job but he is not -- has not been cut out to be the attorney general of the united states of america. do not know how he would have done as a supreme court justice. to me, it is really sad that ep would have done his job, we would not be talking about everybody saying how this should not have went off or they should have not started with this. it is a of limitations. all the things he did while he was president -- they keep using the word unprecedented. it is unprecedented that a

president has been indicted. everything he did. when he sat over there in helsinki and talk to vladimir putin for hours and people said, what do you think he is talking about? getting back to the point, i feel that merrick garland should have been the remedy. host: trump was the cause, got it. there is another viewer. "if donald trump broke the law of 30 counts, then so be it. it -- if it is about the adult actress, ok. but i hope we will be scrutinizing all politicians like this". caller: thank you for taking my call. i have a question. what is beijing biden and his crime family above the law? why is nancy pelosi and her

husband for insider trading above the law? why is adam schiff's, for lying to congress, above the law? why is hillary clinton the law? are the only people that are supposed to follow the law have gotten a "r" in front of them? we are a joke. the u.s. has been made a joke by the democrats in front of the whole world. it is terrible and very embarrassing. donald trump was the best president that we have ever had. our economy was booming. crime was down. our border was safe. everything was just wonderful when he was president. now we have this person who has a 35% approval rating.

we need to indict him and impeach him. that is my opinion. thank you for taking my call. host: e lane in florida, independent. caller: i agree with everything that woman had to say. as far as i am concerned, this indictment is just to divert the american people about the border isis. this president said the vice president was going to be there to help. i have not seen her do a thing. host: we are listening to you. are you getting confused by the tv? caller: no, i am not. i have another question. i saw on the news the other day, biden's resident is not even in his name. it is in son's name. and it does not even go the right way. it is in the sense name.

and these -- and the story that stormy daniels own lawyer went to jail for fraud and was stealing from her? i am a new yorker. about 30 or 40 years ago, there was a woman in the midwest who needed an operation and had no money. donald trump paid for her operation and paid her mortgage off. you are in a bad way with this so-called president. host: richard, little rock, arkansas, democrat. caller: alvin bragg is an elected official, am i corre? i believe that his job is to deliver indictments and subpoenas. he has issued 117 tax fraud subpoenas since he has been in office. this is just catching up from the last seven years.

four of them have to do with donald trump. the statute of limitations are no and void when he is in office. the crimes he committed were out of office. who knows what is in that indictment? nobody but alvin bragg. everybody else can calm down and wait until the indictment is unsealed and then, we will go from there. i cannot wait to see with the jury pool is going to be like in new york city if this comes to trial. host: all right. the indictment remains sealed this morning after the news broke last night. cnn is reporting of the our 30 plus related counts against the former president. we will see if that comes true. when and if that is unsealed before the president is arraigned on tuesday, april 4. washington post reporting that is happening around 2:00 p.m. eastern time.

mark in maryland, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. the democrats have finally done it after years of being the bad guys in american history, they have finally done the ultimate and indicted a former president. we are supposed to believe, i guess, the two star witnesses in the case are a pornography star and a serial perjurer. this is just as pathetic as the russia hoax, the ukraine impeachment, the january 6 fraud that we now know was an fbi operation. there were at least two dozen fbi agents there, coercing people to go into the capital. we now have the receipts for that thanks to the twitter files, even though you have not done an hour on that, even though it came out to more than

a month ago. the democrats have been trying to burn the country down every sense they lost the civil war and have their slaves taken away from them. the republican party should have dissolved the democratic party at the end of the civil war. we would have never had the clan in this country and never had jim crow and the democrats would not have been around in the 60's to get and dr. nathan into communism which is the news they have been following the last 60 years. host: the front page of the washington times this morning, "from indicted over hush money". the first former president to face criminal charges. in the new york grand jury indicts trump. the first ex-president charged with a crime and plans for possible arraignment on tuesday. front page of another nationally news -- another nationally used paper, washington post.

the first former president and current presidential candidate has been charged. the new york times with a very large picture of the former resident above the words "trump indictment". mark, philadelphia, democrat. hello. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. i am amazed listening to these trump cult members calling in, defending their dear leader here. when we are talking about the grand jury in manhattan, they are saying they cannot indict. i heard the jellyfish mark pentz say this. first, there were rebuttal witnesses in the grand jury which means donald trump's

lawyers had the potential to present trump's case and the grand juror's still indicted him. are we led to believe the grand juror's in manhattan are all democrats? it was not alvin bragg that indicted trump. it was grand juror's. the trump cult members know how our -- do the trump cult members know how our system actually works? host: bert in kentucky, republican. you are next. caller: every time i hear the names soros, my blood boils. here is the man -- many sources i have read. i have seen it where he is the most evil man in the world. when alvin bragg ran for office, he ran on the fact that he was going to indict donald trump.

soros gave $1 million to the democrat whatever party -- host: color of change. caller: just exactly the same amount, $1 million, went to alvin bragg. not $500. i do not care what you say. that was earmarked to go at trump. a note to all dems out there, you secondhand through alvin bragg and you are all ponds of soros, the most evil man in the world. i heard twice that you fact check to this thing about soros. i understand what they say.

in my mind, it was earmarked for alvin bragg. also, i heard a couple times donald trump said that he could shoot somebody and not be indicted. that did not sound right to me. i googled and fact checked it. several sources -- he said he could shoot someone and not lose voters. now, this is donald trump's way of bragging. you and i both know why you did not fact checked that. host: you must not have been listening because the first person who brought that up, i said i was referring -- he was referring to his poll numbers. judy, new hampshire, independent. caller: thank you for taking my call. i do not think he is going to get a fair trial in new york.

especially when i hear callers coming -- calling in and democrats have such hatred in their voice. why don't they take qualified judges who are qualified to do this indictment, put him in a hat, draw their name and the trial would be held in that state and the jurors to be picked state. that way you are taking it out of new york which is such a democratic state. listening to these colors, i do not think he would have a fair trial. i do not think anyone would have a fair trial whether they were republican or and ended in new york -- or independent in new york. the hatred is unbelievable within the democratic party. come together. let us work together. i agree that nobody is above the law. i do feel a lot of happening in this country with people who

have committed crimes and they get off scott free. that includes the district attorney who is letting all these criminals out without any type of bail, no jury, nothing and push people off into trains. they watch people getting sucker punched. lemon getting beat up and men. especially elderly. where is this country coming to? host: i will leave it at that point. more calls coming up on the washington journal until 10:00 a.m. eastern time. earlier in today's program, john bresnahan from huntsville news joins this morning to discuss how -- punch bowl news joins this morning to discuss the reaction of house speaker kevin mccarthy. [video clip] >> mccarthy like a lot of

republicans expressed outrage over the news of the indictment which broke last night. he said the house of representatives will continue to look into this issue. you have had three house committee chairs sent a letter to the manhattan d.a. alvin bragg, asking for a testimony and documents. the deadline on that is today. alvin bragg has indicated he is not going to cooperate. mccarthy is of course a very close trump ally. he is saying the house will look into this. we do not know whether the house will try to subpoena alvin bragg or what will happen if he misses the deadline. this will be a whole different level of involvement in an ongoing criminal case. we will have to see how far house republicans are willing to push this. host: jim jordan, the chair of the district committee tweeting out something outrageous last night.

you had the chair of the oversight committee james comer tweeting about this. the manhattan district attorney alvin bragg has weaponized's office to launch a blatantly political indictment. this committee will this fall under? you do have the new select subcommittee. the weaponize station of the federal government and james comer who heads up the oversight committee. >> we will have to see if they actually move ahead with this with any kind of subpoena. again, they threatened to subpoena or intimated there would be a subpoena but that was before the news that donald trump had been indicted. a congressional committee interfering with an ongoing active criminal case is a really unprecedented move. we have seen it before but we have not seen it in decades. congressional committees usually stay out of it. in this case, you would think

alvin bragg would resist any kind of subpoena or move to subpoena anything related to the case or end up in court. to cross the line for the judiciary committee or oversight committee or house administration committee which is also involved would be a pretty serious step. it sounds like republicans may do it but this would be a serious step. just as alvin bragg indicting -- seeking indictment of trump is unprecedented. having something like this happen would be really -- having congressional committees try to subpoena ada in the middle of a criminal case would be a move that i have not seen in my time and i have been reporting for 30 years on hill. host: we talked about the republicans in the house. they are the majority there, the minority in the senate. are the reactions? have we heard from minority leader mitch mcconnell?

guest: we have not. he did report this morning at principal news from a number three statement from john marotta. he was outraged over this. a number of other republican senators expressing their displeasure to a lindsey graham, at republican senator from south carolina, put out a very strong statement in defense of donald trump. criticizing alvin bragg and saying how dangerous this is. he saw a number of other senators say the same thing. that he is going through the indictment and pursuing the case in the justice department did not pursue that alvin bragg is going to a place that prosecutors should not go. they just become a political prosecution, intent to destroy a candidate for president, and former president. the whole, we are off the map here. we are in a place where there's has not -- where this has not

recurred -- occurred so far. host: what about democrats? guest: democrats are pretty cautious. chuck schumer put out a statement. nancy pelosi put out a statement. a never of democrats pretty much said the same thing. that this is just an accusation and donald trump has the right to full defense, to get a good legal defense. but they are saying again and again, every democrat is saying nobody is above the law. even former president's. you probably heard that 25 times within the last day from democrats saying no one is above the law. that is what they are saying. alvin bragg had the right to bring charges against trump for this crime. and if you violated the law, just because of donald trump status at -- as a former

president, does not make him immune. host: we have seen security being beefed up in host cities including the capitol. the timing of this occurred hours after the house and turned in the senate was gone and now they are on a break for a couple we. guest: congress'not back until april 17. this broke literally a couple hours after they had wrapped up a period in session and are gone until the middle of april for the easter recess, spring recess . it was unbelievable because all week, that is all anybody was talking about. will trump be indicted? then, there were confusing reports that the grand jury was not going to do anything until later in april. then later reports that trump himself and his legal team were surprised. everybody kind of took it down the hill and took a deep breath

and said, it will come back and we will end up dealing with this. literally, we were sending out our pm addition and the story broke with the new york times. it caught everybody. not the fact he was indicted, so much as the timing of it. it was really shocking. i do think members are scattered all over the place. there are congressional delegations going overseas. i think this just surprised everybody. i think we will have more discussion about this today. host: john bresnahan of punch bowl news from earlier today on the program. 30 minutes left this morning on the washington journal. we are getting your reaction to breaking news last night. the former president indicted. cnn reporting 30 plus counts related to the hush money paid to stormy daniels. dennis in virginia.

democratic caller. when you heard this yesterday, what did you think? caller: my first thought was it was a long time coming. i was born and raised in new york city from the late 60's and donald trump has been manipulating the law for decades and it is finally catching up to him. i believe the people who support him just recently heard about him within the last eight to 10 years but i have been hearing about him for decades. i have known people who worked in his casinos in atlantic city and i have never heard anything positive or good about him. i think the indictment is exactly what he deserves and a long time coming. i am looking to see how this plays out because i think he has had this coming for a long time. host: pleasant valley, new york. ed, republican. caller: i live in the state of new york. it is a cesspool, as you can

tell. we have 33,000 illegals running our street, crime of an down the street. i am up in midstate. our little town we live five, you cannot recognize. there are no americans on the streets anymore. they are all illegals. this guy killed his whole family 30 years ago and they are letting him back out on the streets in our town. this is ridiculous. the law is not equal. people should start to open their eyes. i will not even go to new york city because people are getting mugged and beat up on the subways and set on fire -- host: tie it back to the indictment. caller: the indictment is ridiculous. i want to thank all the democrats that are so happy that he is in trouble because he will be our next president and i hope they love it. host: dax, independent. what was were first reaction

when you heard this news? caller: my reaction was that every president since nixon should have been indicted and charged with all sorts of manners of rhymes. obama was killing 70% of civilians with his drone strikes. president biden pushed for the 1994 crime bill. in general, we are just losing ourselves in dishonest arguments from the republicans saying donald trump -- what are all these things behind alvin bragg 's intentions? the man should be in jail but probably so should wear than 50% of the people in congress. i would say let's not entertain the dishonest arguments of the republicans. obviously you are a news outlet and you are trying to -- but

these people are dishonest. now donald trump, i imagine, regrets pussyfooting around with fascism and not going through with putting hillary in prison. the reality is this majority of people are going down the road of fascism. once this happens, they have already begun to take matters into their own hands and kill people in the streets like that kid. i forget his name. in general, this is an issue where fascists are rising. host: danny, denver, democrat. caller: he is exactly right. this movement going on is crazy. you asked about my reaction at first and i was driving and listening to the radio when the announcement came over. at first, it was a little bit of relief. not jubilation. i am not excited or happy about

this. if the american voters put donald trump back in office, we are going to have a situation where it is going to be like a civil war. these people want total chaos. they forget that donald trump is tied in with bannon. donald trump said he was to eliminate the constitution. if he gets elected, we are going to have a dictatorship. it is a shame our country is coming to this. mike pence is not speaking up. he is a weak person and everyone who does not speak against him is a weak person. host: hooted to say is not speaking up? caller: mike pence. he is the weakest one of all and wants to run for president? he should have been exposing this man before all of this came down or when it was coming down. the evidence is going to show and the evidence is already there on these other procedures.

the evidence of his phone call to georgia. there's so much evidence against this guy. he is a con man who has conned everybody into believing in him like he is a messiah. it is a shame it is coming to this. they might try to reelect him again. by the time i got to work, i was thinking to myself, lock him up. you remember how he wanted hillary? they sit there and say what about hunter biden, what about hillary? it is all a distraction. host: understood. jason in d.c., republican. what israel take on this? caller: i believe the only two people that will be able to help donald trump through this indictment -- host: austin texas, independent.

caller: listening to all the rhetoric this morning from everybody from all sides, everybody is so absent and filled with hatred. no one is actually looking at the facts. our country is going down the toilet. the restricted act is about to be passed by congress and they will completely take down all independent voices in this country. host: john, tie this into the indictment. caller: joe biden is more guilty -- the crimes him, his son, and his family have committed compared to this trumped up charge. i am not taking either side. i am just looking at our country. people need to start looking at our country and where it is going because we cannot come back from where we are going if people keep the hyperbolic rhetoric going about everything they do not understand. host: terry in dixon, illinois. democrat.

caller: good morning. i have two comments. one, the crime was committed in new york so that is where it should be adjudicated. not some other state. two, i am just laughing at myself. here from 1990 until the end of 2016, the republicans have been after the clintons. do we all remember from 1990 to 1999 all the investigations? china gate, file gate, teacup gaetz, whitewater, monica, all these things that they were trying to lock up this president? that is what they are saying. no man is above the law. at the process go through. if he is innocent, he will be released. i am just laughing at republicans. here they are flip-flopping

saying donald trump was the worst investigation of any president? i am sorry. go back to bill clinton's administration from before he even got into office. they were after him. host:. and people can use our archives if they want to go back to those times and the investigations held in congress. terry mentioned the trial will take place in new york. that is where the former president is headed on tuesday, april 4 for the arraignment. the washington post reports that will happen around 2:00 p.m. eastern time. cnn is reporting he faces more than 30 counts. sharon in middleton, delaware, republican. hello. caller: hello. here are my comments. donald trump more than likely didn't pay the hush money. but how does this compare to what joe biden and his crew are doing to read which was a

legitimate rape offense? where is the investigation into this? the new york times posted her full social security number. all you callers out there, would you like to see this happen to you? the new york times is suing tara reid for legal expenses. as far as the country is confirmed, i am very concerned. a couple callers back, they said if donald trump is back in, we are on the verge of a civil war. where have they been? do they see what china, russia, iran and north korea -- today see what is happening out there? they better wake up. i do not worry for myself because i am elderly but i worry about my kids and grandkids coming up in this mess. host: allen, arkansas, independent. what do you make of this news? caller: good morning, greta.

as an independent -- conservative independent, i wanted to make the point from a higher elevation, looking down on the arguments here. it seems to me that the issue really is a pro-life issue. you have the democrat party and the republican party now split. both parties -- the democrat party is 100% for abortion. republican republican party is pro-life. donald trump came out as pro-life when he ran. that is the main key. host: how is this related to the indictment? caller: it is an absolutely obvious farce. if you not expect to get any conviction. they just want the headlines. three hours of talk. i wanted to ask you a question on programming. i have asked you before in

previous call and you said you would work on this. i remember that you were on the morning of january 6. i called and asked you on air to replay the morning of january 6. you were on the air time that morning. i keep saying and asking people, why are we not discussing the issue there? the issue there was having three days of debate on whether or not these three closest dates could be reviewed -- states could be reviewed. that is what it seems to me the democrats wanted to stop. host: we are going to sit with the indictment story. james, democrat, massachusetts. caller: i have been sitting here and listening for three hours

and not once as the statute of limitations interpretation been mentioned. i am no expert so i would like to refer everyone to -- his letter who is a much better lawyer than i ever could have hoped to be if i took up law. he is saying right now that in his newsletter, "according to the new york statute, it exempts any period of time the defendant was continuously outside new york eight -- states. the whereabouts of the defendant were continuously unknown and an ascertainable. donald trump could have been indicted at any time during the two years or five years, whether it was a misdemeanor or felony they are accusing him of and they never did which he served his right to a speedy trial.

he certainly maintains residence in new york while he was president because he was in and out of new york a hundred times. and everybody because he was president exactly where he was and he could have been found to be subpoenaed". i am sure people want to realize this and they are say nobody is above the law that nobody is but view the law either. i am calling from a state whose attorney general, now governor, sued trump 220 times. alvin bragg to 100 times. when are you going to call it quits? i would like to congratulate you for your 15 seconds of fame. thank you very much. host: dennis, alabama, republican. caller: hello. i am just so -- can you hear me? host: yes pecan. you are listening.

caller: i am so upset and so is 125 million other americans. we are about pushed to the very end. all the things -- i noticed the independent and republicans are altogether on your calls this morning. the democrats seem to be programmed. i have heard their voices before . it is not fair. thank god i live in alabama, where the truth is the truth. i know that they were going to indict him. it is not fair if they have it in new york. it is all going to come out. it is going to be a big mess. the democrats about spend our money broke. the black people in these big

cities need help and need to get a jumpstart. they need to get an education. they need some love and we are sending all this money overseas. host: all right. dennis, republican in alabama reagan we have around 10 minutes left. we are going to keep taking your calls. take a look at these newspapers in states across the country. this is south florida, "trump indictment" dominating the front page of papers across the country. you have the desert sun from palm springs, california. again with the two words, "trump indicted". at the same for the atlanta constitution and the detroit free press as well. -- the detroit news, excuse me. john in wisconsin, independent. hello. caller: good morning.

thank you for taking my call. it is what it is at this point. we have to let it play out in the business -- in the judicial system. for a long time, he had qualified annuity -- immunity. the democrat party wants to get rid of police officers. who will protect us? same with the indictment. we will see what happens. it is not going to go anywhere. except it is going to andrew does -- going to energize the republican base and drive more people out to vote for him. i do not think this will come to an end before the 2024 election because even tho

>> thank you to be staff and yourself for being so brave and listening to all these people call in. the clintons are very happy today. she has had a vendetta against trump ever says she lost. trump try to fix things with nafta and the border, and people were against that. china -- we are giving china the upper hand. it is wrong. nobody is perfect. nobody is perfect but god.

it is all crazy. we have to all get along in this country. the division is a horrible thing . thank you so much for letting me on the air. i am very grateful. host: rita, tucson, independent. where did you hear the news? where were you? caller: i was in my kitchen, cooking dinner. host: what did you think? caller: i see we have an awful lot of people who want to judge. instead of judging something that happened prior to them taking the presidency and winning the election twice -- the election quite well, judge him on the four years that he was in office and did some magnificent things for the country. the news media, aside from a

few, do not want to focus on this. they want to bring the sensational things out that really, as far as good common sense, do not make a hill of beans in our everyday living and the future of the country. the man was dedicated to improving and doing the best he could to really make this country great. the last four years have been a disaster. anyone with any sense can see that we are on a downward trend in every way. host: michael, democrat, tennessee. your turn. caller: i think your question was, where was i -- host: your reaction.

caller: i am a person who wants to hear the facts of the indictment or making any judgment calls. i think america should sit back and start doing this before we just start saying that he is innocent or guilty. let's listen to the facts first. i am a democrat. that is how i am going to look at it. i will not judge him. i will just listen to the facts. host: howard, republican in colorado. hello howard. caller: thank you for having me on. this boils down to an article that was in an l.a. paper about large contributions from china into the clinton campaign. madelyn albright took jobs and investments from china. the people with him on all this stuff are the chinese.

the country is being divided on a silly trumped up charge. it has had trumped up charges against him because trump is for america. he is for the middle class, the hard-working american. they want to stop that. want globalization and world dominance. they do not care about middle-class americans. this happens in other countries. they have a get together every year to where the powerful people decide what they think should be right for everyone in the world and this leads people out from having a say in what is going on. host: you voted for him in 2016 and 2020? caller: that is correct. host: in four years in the white house, what did he do for middle-class people that you think of right away? caller: he brought jobs back. he made