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I want to slow us down just for a moment. Because this is important. This is not something you want to rush into without thinking about it.
Over the last few days, we have seen mug shots released as the 19 defendants in the Fulton County case have started turning themselves in for booking at the Fulton County Jail. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman — one after another.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has promised that former President Donald Trump would be treated like anyone else. Trump would get a Fulton County mug shot like everyone else.
We have never before had a mug shot of a United States president, current or former.
Tonight, just this hour, the sheriff has released that mug shot. And so we slow down, just for a second, because this is serious stuff for the nation, and for who we are as a country.
We have never before had a mug shot of a United States president, current or former.
But now we do. There it is.
Criminal defendant and former President Donald J. Trump, presumed innocent until proven guilty, in accordance with the rule of law, for his sake and for ours.
This is not something to take lightly.
Our constitutional republic depends on the very basic concept of rule by law, not rule by man. A constitutional standard under which a president is still just a citizen, and all citizens have equal standing before one system of law, which applies equally to everyone.
The rule of law and health of our democracy depend not just on the conduct of this criminal case, but on our ability as citizens to take this with the sort of heft that it deserves. To look at it and to see it, as American citizens who prize country above politics.
We have never been here before, where we are forced to consider an American president as a suspected and indicted felon. But here we are.
This is an excerpt from the Aug. 24 indictment special on MSNBC. It has been slightly edited for length and clarity.