Court is back in session as the leadoff Witness For The Prosecution returns to the stand in the new york criminal case against former president donald trump. Welcome to a new hour of americas newsroom, bill hemmer is off today but shannon is my partner in crime and down at the courthouse. Shannon good to be with you. Im Shannon Bream. Right now the Trump Defense is continuing its Cross Examination questioning that former publisher of the National Enquirer. The major update out of the trial since court began 30 minutes ago, the judge began todays session by pushing back next weeks Gag Order Hearing from wednesday afternoon. It is now going to be thursday morning at 9 30 eastern. Well have you covered on that. As Cross Examination began a member of the prosecution began the questioning yesterday was unclear when he was referencing federal and state prosecutors. Dana on his way to court he said he should be on the campaign trail, not new york city. Yesterday went very well in this courthouse. It was it should be over. The case is over. You heard what was said and the case should be over. But you will have to make that determination. I think we have a judge that will never allow this case to be over. He is highly conflicted. The most highly conflicted judge i have ever seen. And yesterday i think the Supreme Court had to do with immunity. I heard the argument was brilliant. I listened to it last night and thought it was great and the judges questions were great. All president s have to have immunity. This has nothing to do with me, absolutely nothing. All president s have to have immunity. Or you dont have a president. Certainly not a president that the founders wanted. So we have another day of court in a freezing courthouse. It is very cold in there. On purpose i believe. They dont seem to be able to get the temperature up. It shouldnt be that complicated but we have a freezing courthouse and thats fine. Just fine. This is a weak trial. Thank you very much. Shannon eric shawn is covering it outside the courthouse. Good morning, eric. Good morning, shannon and dana. Prosecutors have had a chance to try to tie former President Trump to buying those stories of mcdougal and daniels in order to protect his election chances in 2016. But so far this jury has not heard that. And right now the former president s lawyer is cross examining david pecker and perhaps we can get to that later on this morning or sometime this afternoon. Right now pecker back on the stand after he testified that he paid former Playboy Playmate Mcduly ago to ditch her story to protect his friend and his president ial campaign. It was also the goal of michael cohen. So far there has been no mention that pecker was directed personally and directly by donald trump himself to buy off the two women to protect his election chances. Thats the key to the prosecution case. D. A. Alvin] charged 34 counts of falsifying Business Records at felonies. The Defense Attorneys goal is try to separate his client from the deal making that pecker and cohen were doing. He testified to several conversations with trump but none revealed that trump said to buy the story directly to protect the race. Trump was angry when mcdougals story was made public and trump asked about karen after he was elected referring to her as our girl. The president ial race never came into it. Perhaps this could happen today in court. The Defense Attorney could ask david pecker did donald trump ever directly tell you to buy Karen Mcdougals story or Stormy Daniels story to protect his chances in the election . If the answer to that question is no from david pecker, it could blow up this case and it would be a major defeat for prosecutors, if the Defense Attorney comes back and says in other words you are telling this jury that my client never asked you directly buy this to protect his election chances and the answer is no, thats not what the prosecutors will want to hear. Well see if thats part of the Defense Strategy today. Back to you. Shannon eric shawn, thank you. Dana in d. C. The Supreme Court now weighing the scope of president ial immunity. The decision could determine whether donald trump is immune from prosecution in his Election Interference case. Will sharp is the attorney representing trump standing by. Lets go to david spunt to help us understand, david, what happened yesterday and where are we now and when do we expect a decision . It could come any time before the end of june. Right now the justices meet today Behind Closed Doors in washington at their Weekly Conference to formally discuss this case. A case that puts them square in the middle of the 2024 president ial election. The former president , of course, is charged with attempting to overturn results of the 2020 election. He claims the allegations surround a time when he was still president and everything he did was considered an official act. The justices were quick to point out this case will stretch far beyond donald trump. Gorsuch said yesterday that he and the other justices are writing a rule for the ages. Now while trump wants full immunity from prosecution, Justice Kagan noted the Framers Of The Constitution wrote no such clause for a president. They were reacting against a monarch who claims to be above the law. Wasnt the whole point that the president was not a monarch and the president was not supposed to be above the law. If an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election knows that a real possibility after leaving office is not that the president is going to be able to go off into a peaceful retirement, but that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy . There are lawful mechanisms to contest the results in an election and outside the record, but i think of public knowledge, petitioner and his allies filed dozens of electoral challenges. Trump lost those legal challenges to the 2020 election. End of june is the last we would hear from them. The latest we would hear from them. Could be any time before that. Dana what are the top three things that could happen here . Well, if the justices rule in favor of donald trump, we may not see a trial in washington, d. C. At all for attempts to try to overturn the 2020 election. If they rule against donald trump in some way, special counsel jack smith will move forward with his prosecution. The question is when that is going to happen because the judge paused the case in washington, d. C. While this went to the Supreme Court. So they need at least 2 1 2 months to get the engines back on to get things moving. The third thing, of course, it may go back down to the appeals level or trial level if the justices have some sort of piecemeal decision that further would delay things past the election and thats what trumps team wants is to get any trial to happen after the election, if one happens at all. Jack smith wants one before the election. Dana david spunt in washington, d. C. For us. Thank you so much. Joining us for more on all this is attorney will sharp. He is on the legal team representing former President Trump before the u. S. Supreme court and a candidate for Missouri Attorney general. Thank you for making time for us today. David axelrod was a Campaign Consultant and worked in the white house for obama. He now has a big podcast and tweeted this yesterday. Based oh than what we heard today from scotus it may seem trump may skate past the election without standing trial on the january 6th charges. If so the new york city trial is likely the only he will face prenovember. Under the circumstances the best scenario he could have hoped for. How do you see it . We were certainly optimistic coming out of the Supreme Court yesterday. They seem to be taking this issue of president ial immunity, the scope of president ial immunity, very seriously and they seemed very receptive to our arguments without a robust president ial immunity for a president s official acts in office, the presidency itself as an institution could be absolutely crippled and we wouldnt have president s able to take Decisive Action the constitution intended because of this fear of political prosecutions after they leave office. So i think it was a great day for us in court yesterday. Well obviously have to wait a little bit to see their final opinions in this case. But in the meantime, i think were pretty excited by the way the court seems to be viewing this basket of issues. Shannon will you know during the arguments yesterday, there were a number of justices worried about worst Case Scenarios where you have a president who staged a coup. Now he is out of office and you cant impeach him. Is there no way that would be an act that he could be held liable for . For the average person who hears that hypothetical on street they would have a problem with that even if they agree president s have some kind of immunity. We think the constitution provides powerful checks against exact life that sort of parade of whhorribles, weve worked throughout the duration of the public. We fear the greater threat what James Madison referred to as the use of artificial tree sons, the political show trials of banana republicans. Without president ial immunity thats the future we have to fear. All of these outlandish fierce of Military Assassinations and coupes we havent seen that in american history. The use of the legal system by political faction to persecute their opponents is the real fear we need to avoid. That seems to be what the Supreme Court was focused on yesterday, particularly with questioning by Justice Alito and gorsuch. Dana shannon asked Jonathan Turley earlier, i have no answer to this because im not a lawyer. Do you think that you will get this decision sooner than later or will they wait until june . I think its likely well see this decision on a normal time frame, which would be lets say mid to late june. Remember back in December Jack smith tried to do an end run around the entire appellate process in this case, asked the Supreme Court to expedite things to have essentially an immediate Supreme Court hearing on these president ial immunity issues before the d. C. Circuit had the chance to weigh in. The Supreme Court rejected that effort without a single noted dissent by a 90 vote. I think the Supreme Court understands how serious these issues are. I think they want to take their time getting to the right decision. And i dont think they will let a political timeline get in the way of making sure they get the law right here on a momentous issue like president ial immunity. Dana will sharp, thank you so much. We appreciate your time as we wait to hear what the Supreme Court decides. Thank you so much. Great to be with you. Thank you. Dana continue our coverage of trumps trial. Is his legal Team Poking Holes in peckers testimony. Giving voice to victims of atrocities. This may be upsetting for some viewers but it is important. First thing you see is terrorist drags her out and her face looks terrified. She is barefoot and in her pajamas. They are blood stained. Dana a new documentary shedding light on the Sexual Violence by hamas on october 7th. 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In fact, if youve had Credit Challenges and missed a payment along the way, youre more than five times more likely to get approved for the Newday 100 Va Cash Out Loan. No one knows veterans like newday usa. But st. Jude has gotten us through it. St. Jude is hope for every child diagnosed with cancer because the research is being shared all over the world. Shannon were at the courthouse in new york city covering the latest day of the Criminal Trial against President Trump related to payments to a former adult star Stormy Daniels who claims she had a tryst with him. The former publisher of the National Enquirer establishing there were a lot of celebrities that had stories killed or the enquirer would buy them from going to a rival outlet suggesting it was more about money and capitalism and not about campaigning or swaying and election. Well continue to cover this Cross Examination and whichever witness comes next. Thats it for here for now. Dana. Rape is targeted. Rape is terror. Rape is torture. The world has to decide who to believe. Do we believe the hamas spokesperson who said that rape is forbidden therefore it couldnt possibly have happened on october 7th . Or do we believe the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives . It is inexcusable when those who have the capacity to make a difference dont. Dana Sheryl Sandberg at the United States last december calling for leaders to condemn is Sexual Violence committed by hamas on october 7th. Much of the world has forgotten or down played the horrors of that day. Her new documentary is serving as are reminder entitled screams before silence and details the harrowing accounts of victims and First Responders. A clip from a woman who survived the massacre at the nova music festival. When you hear this for 20 minutes or 15 minutes you understand that something much worse happening right over there. And it is not it doesnt stop. It was the time when i started to be afraid. Im going to be raped. Dana Sheryl Sandberg is the host of this documentary and founder of lean in. Org. You are not a documentarian. I am not. Dana why did you want to do this . Becauses you just said after october 7th reports were come out about not just mass murder but mass Sexual Violence. The usual people who should be speaking out were either ignoring it or denying it and that is not okay. And this documentary gives anyone a chance to hear directly from First Responders. In this documentary i walk into a field with this guy name ramy. Huge guy. Sirens go off on october 7th. He drove to where the terrorists were and rescued hundreds of people but he also got to this forest and he saw women naked, legs spread, bloodied, tied to trees and he sits there and tells that story crying that he couldnt save them. I think the world needs to see and acknowledge what happened here. Dana we have a bit of that to play for everybody here, watch. If its okay i would like to see some of what you saw. As you could see the body was brutal, different stages. This is part of the breast. Over here and over here and over here. And what is that there . Thats one foot, another foot. This is the body with the nails and when we get closer you can see the nails. Oh my god. Dana cheryl, hamas, when they did the attack, Sexual Assault was part of the plan. Correct. Dana it wasnt just random guys that decided to be violent. They wanted to commit these Sexual Assaults. I believe that and i think anyone who sees this documentary will believe that. This was happened at multiple locations. Body after body coming in naked. I asked one of the witnesses in the film who has processed dead bodies after tragedy and terrorism in multiple locations and in your experience how often are they naked . He looks up and says never. This was on purpose, part of a systematic attack for terror. Dana one of the things that bothered me, and i know you and some other people, not enough people. Is that womens groups are pretty much silent. It took them forever to say something. At the u. N. It took them months to send somebody over to look at what happened to women there. Not just women. There were Sexual Assaults on men as well that were victims there. We have all been wat