Sunday shows preview: Trump’s legal woes on full display ahead of 2024 after new charges

In the wake of a superseding indictment in the classified documents case, former President Trump’s ever-growing legal woes and the 2024 Republican presidential primary race will likely dominate this week’s Sunday talk show circuit.

The Justice Department (DOJ) brought new charges against Trump over his handling and retention of classified materials on Thursday night, accusing the former president of attempting to delete surveillance footage at his Mar-a-Lago property.

More than 300 classified documents were recovered from the resort in Palm Beach, Fla., last year, some 100 of which were found during an FBI search of the property last August.

The superseding indictment also alleged that Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira aided the former president in his efforts to delete the footage. While Nauta was charged in the initial indictment, de Oliveira was a new addition to the case.

Trump slammed the new charges on Thursday night as “ridiculous,” claiming that they amounted to “election interference at the highest level.”

“This is prosecutorial misconduct used at a level never seen before,” he told Fox News Digital. “If I weren’t leading Biden by a lot in numerous polls, and wasn’t going to be the Republican nominee, it wouldn’t be happening. It wouldn’t be happening.”

The former president has repeatedly claimed prosecutorial misconduct and election interference in the wake of two indictments. Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over a 2016 hush money payment earlier this year, followed by the initial 37-count indictment in the classified documents case last month.

Special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the DOJ’s Trump-related cases, also appears to be nearing an indictment in his investigation into the Jan. 6 riot.

The former president received a letter earlier this month notifying him that he is a target of the probe, and his attorneys met with Smith’s office on Thursday. Similar events also occurred before the last indictment.

Alina Habba, a legal spokesperson for Trump, is set to join “Fox News Sunday” this weekend to discuss the new indictment, while Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who served as lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment, will also chat about the investigation during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

Despite his ever-growing legal woes, Trump continues to hold a commanding lead over the 2024 Republican field. A recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey found that 52 percent of Republican voters would support the former president in the primary, leaving him 40 points ahead of the next candidate.

While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held onto second place in the poll with 12 percent, conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy saw his support tick upward to 10 percent. 

Ramaswamy, who is set to join CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, has repeatedly defended Trump amid his recent legal battles. Like the former president, Ramaswamy suggested on Thursday that the new charges represented “election interference.”

“They’re leaving nothing to chance this time. Lock him up, facts or law be damned,” he said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

While Ramaswamy and others have stood firmly behind the former president, the anti-Trump candidates in the GOP field have used the repeated indictments to knock their rival with limited success.

Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, who will make an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this weekend, suggested on Thursday that the former president is running to “stay out of jail.”

“Donald Trump is not running for president to make American great again,” Hurd told CNN. “Donald Trump is not running for president to defend our interests overseas. Donald Trump is not even running to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and in 2020. Donald Trump is running for president in order for him to stay out of jail.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also called the former president a “one-man crime wave” on Thursday, while former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson suggested in Iowa on Friday that voters have an opportunity to choose a “new direction for America and for the GOP.”

Christie is set to join CNN’s “State of the Union,” and Hutchinson will make an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this week’s Sunday talk shows:

ABC’s “This Week” — New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R); Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.); actor Matthew McConaughey

NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.); former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican presidential candidate

CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Republican presidential candidates; Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg

CNN’s “State of the Union” — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican presidential candidates; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

“Fox News Sunday” — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican presidential candidate; Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.); Alina Habba, a lawyer for Donald Trump

Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” — Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio); Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; Miranda Devine, New York Post columnist and author of “Laptop From Hell;” Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law professor emeritus and author of “Get Trump”