The United States, donald trump. The prosecutions main message that donald trump and his allies were involved in a criminal conspiracy and cover up. Cnns paula reid is outside the courthouse paula, how did the prosecution and the defense leg out their cases today before the jury . Well dig we heard doing interpretations of events roughly eight years ago. Prosecutors said, look, this is Election Interference, plain and simple they alleged that these payments to Stormy Daniels were part of a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election then they walked through stepbystep, how they allege trump cohen and then publisher the National Enquirer, david worked to suppress negative stories. And then in the Opening Statement, they briefly referenced the paper trail that will be at the heart of this case. But when it was time for Defense Attorneys to get up, they insisted their client is innocent. They said, look, there is no crime here because trump wasnt involved in this kind of paperwork. He is not involved with things like the 34 documents that constitute each of the counts he is charged with here now, they also emphasized the nondisclosure agreements or not illegal and interestingly, they took aim at Michael Cohen. Thats very much expected. They went after his credibility. They suggested that this is someone who has quote obsessed with getting trump it was surprising jake, but they also went after Stormy Daniels now its not a guarantee that you will testify in this case because her testimony is not essential to proving the charges that prosecutors have filed here, but its clear the defense team expects her on the stand, which is part of why they decided to target her. And hes Opening Statements and then the jury heard briefly from the first witness, david it was pretty pretty lighthearted Testimony Questions about his age, his occupation, even got a few laughs that will continue tomorrow. Its unlikely though either side will be laughing for long. So last week in court, there was whats called a Sandoval Hearing, which basically addressing how much trump can be asked about some of his past criminal cases. If he ultimately decides to testify as he promised, he would. So today, the judge weigh in on which cases the prosecution could bring up if trump testifies yeah there were four big issues. The trump team was trying to prevent prosecutors from being able to ask trump about if he takes the stand and they lost on three out of the four. So the judge found that they can ask trump about the recent civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization. Trump as some of his adult children. Then they also said they can ask about violations of the gag order in that case. They can also ask about the E Jean Carroll defamation cases, but they cannot ask about a totally separate line of inquiry. Lawsuits related to a quote, Frivolous Lawsuit that trump filed against former Secretary Of State hillary clinton. That kid come in, but the rest of it can. So thats only not the way the Trump Defense team hoped that would go. And it may give them pause about putting their client on the stand, but im not sure jake could talk with my sources. It does appear this is something theyre seriously considering having trump testified at some point in this trial. All right. Paula, lets bring in a renowned hello, mariotti, the former federal prosecutor and host of the podcast is complicated. Were not the Opening Statement by trumps lawyer essentially argues that trump was in the white house and had no idea that false Business Records were being created and he should not be held liable for the actions of others. How do you write that argument . I think thats the best argument that trumps team has available in other words, the Hush Money Scheme itself is not what trump is charged with. Its hes charged with false statements in Business Records. And i think is best argument as he wanted to cover this up because it was going to generate bad press but he had no idea how that was going to be recorded in the books and records of the Trump Organization obviously, there are issues with that argument. Its not a not a perfect argument, but i think thats the likely the best argument that they have for an outright victory. And what i think his lawyer is going to be focusing on in the weeks ahead. Paula prosecutors Opening Statements referred to trumps actions as a conspiracy multiple times. For example, heres what they said about 2015 meeting between trump, david from a National EnquirerMichael Cohen, trumps lawyer. They quote, formed a Conspiracy Prosecutor said, at that meeting to influence the president ial section by concealing negative information about mr. Trump in order to help him get elected unquote. And we should point out though even though theres calling this a conspiracy, trumps not facing any charges of conspiracy. Why not . Well, look, this is a difficult case and we know that because of course the Justice Department past its been around for many years many legal experts werent sure if this could be a case that we successfully prosecuted. So when you have a case like this, you have to go with what you know. You can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. And here they are. Martinez is falsifying documents, but theyre charging it as a felony connecting it to federal Campaign Election campaign interference, even though hes not specifically charged with that, the complexity of this case, the way its being charged right now, jake this is going to be something that the defense will seize on and its clear the prosecutors likely would not want to add conspiracy here because it would further complicated the case likely make it less likely that they would get guilty verdict. And thats something we should underscore for our for our viewers. This is not going to be easy for the prosecution this is going to be a left and renato, the defense is coming out swinging at two of the prosecutions three witnesses, three biggest witnesses. Theyre painting Michael Cohen is obsessed with trump, and theyre casting Stormy Daniels as an opportunist. Theyre suggesting that they never had a sexual encounter. Stormy daniels and donald trump. Do you think thats effective . I dont think the attack has served me. Daniels is effective. I actually think thats a mistake on their part. They should actually just say, you know, what they can they can dispute her her whether shes truthful or not, but i think trying to attack her is you know, not not where they want to go. Theres going to be people on the jury who are sympathetic to her unlike michael collins, shes not a criminal in fact, shes been the victim of crime on behalf for our own attorney, committed. I think the technical and though are going to be very successful. I mean, is it convicted liar, convicted fraudster . Theres a lot for the defense to work with with him, and i think thats why the prosecution is going to be focusing a lot on the documents and the inferences that they are going to argue can be drawn for the documents. Paula, tomorrow morning, theres gonna be this hearing about whether donald trump has violated his gag order with multiple truth social posts that Attack Witnesses pack others that hes been told hes not allowed to attack. He is allowed to attack alvin bragg, the da and the judge he also claimed with no proof that undercover liberal activists were lying to the judge to get onto the trump jury. Hes not allowed to attack the jury. Do you think the judge is going to go along with prosecutors claim that trump violated his gag order if he does, do you think hell find him . What will he do right now . Prosecutors are asking for fines for what they allege, or at least seven instances of trump violating the gag order. They also want them to be put on notice that he could be sanctioned. So yes, i do expect that the judge is going to weigh in here, will likely she finds, but will that matter . A fine of what size isnt really going to make a dent in trumps bank account. A lot of issues here, but i think the most significant one for the judge to weigh has any impact of statements like that on the jury because we know that these people theyre doing their civic duty, but they were taking on a significant risk for themselves and their families. And if we get into a situation where those people continue to feel under increased threat or their outed online that is something that they go through the alternates and start to get to fewer than 12 jurors that could create a mistrial so that i think is the most serious thing that the judge has to find a way to address and get trump to stopped doing. Were not i wanted to ask you last week when they were going through jury selection, somebody on a conservative channel started putting up d to put up details about one of the jurors that everyone did that put up details that we were allowed to have because the judge is trying to be transparent, but then started to suggest final know about this juror. I dont know about this one. Donald trump then retrieved it on his social media post. Is that a violation . I think it is and just be clear what he did jake is he didnt just press the button to reach truth or retweet he actually typed out the words that this host said, Jessie Waters worked for word. And i think because he did that, he read them. I think a the judge is more likely to find the adopted those statements i made them his own, even if you put Quotation Marks around them, i think the judge is going to find that to be a violation, but i agree with paula. I dont know how much or what thousand dollars fine. Im going to do about that. But theres no question in my mind that the judge is going to find that he violated the judges order. Were not before you go today after court wrapped up donald trump question by this case was even brought by this date to begin with, and not by the federal court. Take a listen this work, such great case. Why didnt he said the district bring it, looked at it . Turgid down . Why did numerous other agencies and Law Enforcement groups look at it . Because it was shown to everybody. And very importantly, why didnt the federal hello elections do anything about this, this this federal, its not state. Theyre trying to make a mistake case whats your response to that . Ronaldo well falsifying Business Records is the State Offense, not a federal offense. So the bottom line is that there is a State Offense here thats very straightforward to prove prosecutors felt like they could prove this case and they didnt feel like the feds didnt feel like they could prove the more broader crime of election fraud. Paula, are that are there members of this jury sequestered . Are they in a hotel with no tvs and no internet or they allowed to go home, potentially watching or reading the coverage around the case . Yeah, they are not sequestered at this point. This is something that you know, of course it has been considered at one point, but its not something thats being done in this case. The judge has acknowledged at environment of sort of threats and intimidation that they will face, which is why they are largely anonymous that we can report im details given the gravity of the situation, it is unclear if thats something that judge would reconsider, but its not expected that they will be sequestered, lob up to them to stay away from the news. Now, were staying away from this story. That means pride, no late night comedy shows, no talk shows. Its gonna be hard to stay away from this case. Theyre going to have to make a concerted effort, although i should know that one of the reasons these jurors were packed is because it seemed like a lot of them stayed away from news or at least forming opinions about news. So maybe theyre uniquely qualified for this. Were not on mary odean, paula reid, thanks to both of you coming up. How trumps former fixer, Michael Cohen, found a way to troll his old boss is court wrapped up today. Plus, will donald trump take the standard zone defense, as he said, multiple times now, he will we will talk about what he needs to say under oath. If so, and a crisis at Columbia Universitys parking, one of its biggest donors to threaten, dont no longer give money to his alma mater for what robert kraft thinks needs to be done to end the spike, an antisemitism on that campus. 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Lets discuss with Jaylene Miles of consultant with expertise in jury selection, in witness preparation. So le prosecution has likely been working to prepare cohen four is expected expected Witness Testimony against trump should posts like this, worry the prosecution at all. I mean, pretty out there yeah. I agree. And thank you so much for having me. Yeah. I think the problem is both sides are making this case about