It's Friday, former President Trump lashing out and digging in as America plunges into the unknown

with a criminal defendant and a presidential candidate putting the rule of law and the fate of our democracy,

both on trial and on your ballot.

Plus, running for president and running out of time.

I'll speak with presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson as he fights to make the first debate stage

and warn his party that it faces a defining moment.

And Ukrainian sea drones appear to strike a critical Russian warship.

The latest strike on a target inside of Russia as a Republican presidential candidate

makes a surprise visit of his own to Kiev.

Welcome to meet the press. Now I'm Chuck Todd reporting from Washington.

This has truly been an unprecedented week in American politics. And yes, we're using that word again, unprecedented, because what else are you going to use?

We begin today with what in any other era would seem unthinkable. Voters in next year's presidential election could end up

deciding whether former President Trump goes to the White House or to prison. I'm not being hyperbolic

on this one. We really have a calendar that could put us on that path. Right now, 2024 is shaping up

to be the biggest test that our democracy and the rule of law has ever seen in this

country, not just since the civil war, but perhaps ever. The former president is likely facing

at least three trials in the coming year in the midst of the 2024 campaign. And those are just

criminal trials. There's a whole bunch of civil trials he's dealing with, too. Yesterday in his

third arraignment in less than five months,

Trump pled not guilty to four counts related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that he

lost. And he continued to claim the charges are designed to damage his 2024 campaign.

When you look at what's happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to

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