former president trump about to head downtown. the final phase of his trial where the jury could deliver a verdict as early as today. we'll watch it. good morning. let's go. i'm bill hemmer, welcome to the program. a lot to get to. >> dana: i'm dana perino and this is "america's newsroom." so it is a big day, everyone will try to focus. we might get a verdict today, we could. let's get you first to the beginning of the day. a live look at the courthouse where less than one hour from now judge merchan will give the jury instructions to them. it has been a bone of contention before they're given about to take an hour with that. the jury starts deliberating and then we see where they go. >> bill: the clock will be running and verdict watch. former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. the jury to convict or he quit him on all charges. it could also deliver a mixed verdict which gets very complicated. if the jury is deadlocked the judge may declare a mistrial. >> dana: each count carries a sentence of up to four years in president and face probation or house arrest. that, of course, could hamper his campaign. first let's go to eric shawn kicking us off outside the courthouse. hi, eric. >> good morning, dana and bill. a tenet of american democracy is the right to be judged by a jury of your peers. today for the first time in american history 12 ordinary american citizens will sit in judgment of the former u.s. president. the courthouse, inside the courtroom of judge merchan in over an hour from now he will give the jurors the final instructions for them to deliberate. those jury instructions expected to be finished at 11:00 a.m. when the jury is expected to get the case. the prosecution and the trump defense have weighed in on what merchan will tell the jurors. the judge mostly sided with the district attorney's side during that hearing and won't include the fact the hush money deal for stormy daniels, the so-called non-disclosure agreement is legal. it is not against the law. he also will not include the defense request that trump claims he was relying on his lawyer michael cohen, for legal advice through all this. in his closing arguments yesterday prosecutor said a mountain of evidence shows trump engaged in what he called a conspiracy and a cover-up. he said the smoking guns are michael cohen's bank statement and the trump memo pad with the financial calculations to reimburse cohen for paying stormy daniels scribbled in black and white plain for all the jurors to see. he said cohen's testimony is corroborated by documents, email and testimony and told the jury, the con spur tee to unlawfully influence the 2016 election, you don't need michael cohen to prove one bit. todd blanche said there is not a shred of evidence to show trump was involved in paying cohen and savaged cohen's credibility calling him the greatest liar of all time telling the jurors they can't believe anything the convicted perjurer and disbarred lawyer who has lied under oath before told him in this courthouse and also said he committed perjury in front of them during this trial. there is an air of expectation, a bit of an edge here in the air today. the street is different, the court officers have put up a double metal barrier, there is no parking. more police, more security as we all wait for the jury to get the case and then the verdict when that comes. back to the studio. >> dana: eric shawn, thank you so much as we get this underway. >> bill: andy mccarthy, former federal prosecutor and shannon bream, anchor of "fox news sunday." hello, you two. hope you slept well last night because you guys will be chained to that chair for a long time. one quote from the prosecution yesterday during this five-hour wrap-up, he said any single one of the unlawful means is enough for you to conclude that the trump tower conspiracy violated new york state election law. you don't have to agree on which unlawful means were involved. andy, can you interpret that for us? i thought they were arguing federal law, or did to get to that later? >> well, i can interpret it but i can't bring it into the line with the united states constitution. here we go. what is supposed to happen in a criminal trial is a prosecutor has to prove every element of an offense beyond a reasonable doubt. every crime which is a creature of some statute has different elements. one is a mental element and then the things you have to do to commit the crime. so like with bank robbery, you have to take money by force from a financial institution and do it intentionally. and those are the things the prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. what this judge is telling this jury in this kind of make it up as you go along new york state prosecution of federal law is that when they get to the end of the rainbow and we get to the elements of the offense, the jury doesn't have to be in agreement on what it is exactly that trump did or what he was trying to commit or conceal when he allegedly falsified his business records. they will give the jury a menu of choices and tell the jury that some of them may believe that this was the criminal objective. some may believe something else was but that they don't have to be unanimous on that. i think that is pretty outrageous, but in this case i'm not sure it makes the top ten of outrageous. >> dana: i will ask shannon bream to talk about that. judge merchan yesterday said to the lawyers, both prosecution and defense, that those of you who have appeared before me who have summed up before me i want to remind you, please don't go into the law. stay away from the law. stay away from the law, stay away from the law. that will be my job. i will take care of that. shannon, i don't understand how they are supposed to talk about a case if they can't talk about the law. moving forward as we advance the story here, the jury instructions are going to be how detailed whether they get into the law? there are 34 counts here. >> uh-huh, yeah. this will be the interesting part, dana. we haven't seen the jury instructions. the counsel and teams got them on thursday apparently. what we need to know is where do they go? judge merchan as you said yesterday admonished the lawyers don't get into my space. i talk about what the law is. you talk about the evidence, the facts, the witnesses, those kinds of things. the jury instructions are so critical. they are going on the instructions they get from judge merchan, the one interpreting all of this. as a andy and all been saying what the underlying crime is. without that peg you are left with misdemeanor counts that the statute of limitations ran on long ago. so those jury instructions that get into the law will be very detailed, we think. they are estimating an hour to get them to the jury this morning. but again they are all coming from the pen from the hand of judge merchan. you heard the two sides arguing about these last week what they wanted in. they know this is what the jury has as their guide book to getting to a decision and that's why they are so powerful and why the judge has so much power over the jury in a case like this. >> bill: andy, just on trump truth social right now he says all caps, kangaroo court, corrupt and conflicted judge. reliance on counsel. advice of counsel. not allowed by merchan, a first. his rulings in a case that should according to all legal scholars and experts never been brought have made it a biden pushed witch hunt. there was no crime except for the bum that got caught stealing from me and god we trust. the bum is michael cohen and this is how todd blanche, the attorney for donald trump, summarized cohen yesterday said cohen the gloat. michael cohen is the gloat, the greatest liar of all time. might be a good line. appears the entire case is hinged on cohen's testimony, andy. >> so i don't think trials ever get won by add homonym. that stuff is great for political consumption. where trump has gone wrong on the approach to this case, he continues when he is outside the courtroom to say none of this is illegal or a crime. but his defense in the trial approached the things that are legal as if they were criminal and that he had to stay a million miles away from them. they say again and again non-disclosure agreements, ndas we keep talking about are legal. if they're legal, then don't run away from them. don't treat them like they're dynamite. except what the defense approach has been to say that was all michael cohen, had nothing to do with trump. reimbursing cohen was legal, yet todd blanche, trump's lawyer at the start of the trial, looked the jury in the eye and said trump didn't reimburse cohen under circumstances we're like there is a ton of evidence including trump's tweets and financial disclosure form he did when he was president that shows he paid him. so i think the problem here for him aside from the fact that the fix is in, i think, as far as the d.a. is concerned and the judge is concerned, but trump has played into their hands by treating the strengths of the defense as weaknesses and gone a long way toward helping them. it wasn't the intention but one of the cases where the political dynamic, the political message that he wants to carry to voters for 2024 does not sync up with the defense he should have been pursuing in the four corners of the trial. >> dana: shannon, i know you don't have a crystal ball. you don't know. any sense of how long the deliberations will take? >> gosh, this is the game we played this morning. andy, jonathan, the judge, trey and i waiting in line taking the over/under. wondering whether the jury will come back with the questions. how clear are the jury instructions. if they come back and say we're at an impasse, one or two of us holding out and can't get to a unanimous decision the judge will send them back. an allen charge saying you have a duty, please go back through this. you are the jurors. we expect you to make full consideration. so if they come back and say they're hung, you know, that's going to be step one. he will send them back for more deliberations. if they feel united and come out with a unanimous verdict one way or the other, i think that will take a little longer. i think it's more likely we come out with one or two hold-outs and a command to them to go back and stay at it. i don't know. i won't name who thinks it is but there is one of us who thinks it could come together and i will let everybody speak for themselves. juries are totally unpredictable. they fooled all of us in trials before. >> dana: that's true. >> bill: we have a draft kings for this. andy, shannon, stand by, thank you much and talk to you in a moment. share this image with you. 56th street as it runs in mid town manhattan west to east, the side entrance on the street side where donald trump junior is presumably waiting for his father to come out. they will take the caravan directly east over to the east river and downtown about two miles, i guess, maybe 2 1/2 to court. we'll see the former president momentarily. looks like ms. habba is there as well. we haven't been given a list of the guests we expect to be in court today. that may be forthcoming. regardless we should hear from trump before he goes in today. we're standing by for that. that's what we're watching and we're listening to this as well. check it out. >> the pressure on you to endorse joe biden. >> i'm not -- that's not what i'm here for. >> bill: he called president biden uninspiring. is it sounding alarm bells at the white house? there is this, check it out. >> donald trump wants to destroy not only the city, but the country. >> dana: biden campaign tapping actor robert de niro for a surreal news conference. we had it here live yesterday >> bill: waiting to hear from the former president on what could be a climatic day of his criminal trial. no matter what we get, it will be. so we'll watch it together as we move throughout this morning. introducing, ned's plaque psoriasis. he thinks his flaky red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. otezla can help you get clearer skin. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? 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(♪) using the finest materials, like indulgent memory foam, and ultra-conforming inner-springs, for a beautiful mattress, and indescribable comfort. save up to $800 on select adjustable mattress sets at stearnsandfoster.com people couldn't see my potential. so i had to show them. i've run this place for 20 years, but i still need to prove that i'm more than what you see on paper. today i'm the ceo of my own company. it's the way my mind works. i have a very mechanical brain. why are we not rethinking this? i am more... i'm more than who i am on paper. >> bill: this will be a day. this will be some day and the day is only just beginning. we haven't seen the former president yet but expect him to come out of the door in the next 30 minutes and make his way downtown and expect comments on camera. we're waiting for how he frames the big day before the judge gives the instructions to the jury and then they go off into their own private room. that's just step one. >> dana: as we wait for that we'll get other news. covid select committee investigating a potential con spur tee at the nih. republicans say they have evidence top health officials purposely hid records from the public. we have more. >> good morning to you, dana. this whole thing gets worse and worse for the nih. chairman of the covid committee just told us that he now knows the name of that so-called foia lady, the name is margaret moore, also goes by marge and he wants to bring her in to capitol hill for a transcribed interview. we could see marge very soon on the hill. he also just sent the nih director a letter demanding a briefing by judge -- june 4th. >> what we have asked in this letter right now taking the next step is that we want a staff brief, at least, on the policies at nih on retention of documents, on transparency. >> this all comes because last week dr. fauci's former top advisor, offered some apologies, excuses, after a trove of his emails showed him trying to evade the foia requests, freedom of information act requests to hide conversations about covid and eco health alliance in the bombshell email that you remember he wrote i learned from our foia lady here how to make these emails disappear after i'm foiaed but before the search starts. the committee is flagging more dramatic emails. o o one that peter saying it is drumming up lab leak. all eyes on margaret moore and when we might see her. >> dana: we wait for the trump trial to get underway again other news is happening and big news. >> bill: while the former president waits to go down to court now, president biden will head to philadelphia for a campaign stop. it will be his seventh trip this year to the keystone state. critical where he and the vp harris plan a new outreach to african-american voters. jacque heinrich is in philly waiting on them now. >> good morning, bill. this trip is coming as the democrats are officially freaking out according to that "politico" report that said pervasive sense of fear has settled in at the highest levels of the democratic party and it is showing with how top operatives are talking about it. you had robert de niro telling the world that trump could literally destroy it. that was in front of the new york court yesterday. then the campaign statement this morning calling trump's agenda racist and toxic. that was part of an effort to drum up black support and then this anonymous democratic operative describing the internal pandering to "politico", this is oh my god, the democracy might end. so today both biden and harris are heading to swing state pennsylvania to try to turn things around. according to the real clear politics average trump is up 2.3 points in this state. a recent fox poll showed trumps lead is coming from white evangelicals, conservatives, white men with no degree. rural voters and independents. that's not who team biden is going after today. he is launching black voters for biden/harris. >> president biden: that's my commitment to you to show you democracy, democracy, democracy. it's still the way. the black men are being killed in the streets, we bear witness, for me that means to call out the poison of white supremacy. throw out systemic racism. instead of a trail of broken promises we're investing more money than ever if black families and black communities. >> today's focus is on black student centers and faith centers across the country. we expect biden to talk about how he forgave billions of dollars in student loans that disproportionately impacted black borrowers and how he delivered a record low unemployment rate for black people. so that's some of what we anticipate later on today, bill. >> bill: thanks for that . jacque heinrich in philadelphia. >> dana: want to bring in josh holmes, co-host of the ruthless podcast. who would you lean towards and for the election amongst black voters biden 69, trump 18. if you think what it was like in 2020 and years past there might be a reason why biden and harris are going to philadelphia today to launch voter initiative aimed at black voters in particular black men. what's going on? >> yeah, you mean to tell me joe biden is having trouble relating to black voters? of course he is. of course he is. he is having trouble relating to anybody outside of an assisted living facility at this point. this is a demographic that immediately causes the most problems within the biden campaign. as you illustrated and what you laid out, dana, it is not this will be a competitive demographic overall but the margins matter a lot here. the biden campaign, need 85 or 86% of african-americans nationwide in order to win this election. that's true in places like atlanta, philadelphia, detroit, those three key states, two of which he has got to win to be reelected. it is becoming a real problem. as you just suggested his polling is down in the low 70s. >> bill: here are numbers from 2020, josh. biden got 81% of the vote in philadelphia. and if you look at the raw numbers, that was nearly 500,000 raw votes. which tells you if you live in philly and a democrat, you have to run up the numbers. he will be back in the city of philadelphia repeatedly, josh. >> no question. equally important to the percentage that you get with urban demographics is the volume, as you just suggested, bill. they need record-type volume to off set losses they have had across this country. increasingly if you see sort of the non-college educated voter and rural voter, white men, for example, the numbers there are significantly worse for joe biden than they were in 2020. so the volume of voters, the turnout, enthusiasm which is what they are focused on here today is super important if they will be competitive in a lot of these states. >> dana: want to ask you about this. the biden campaign decided to take the opportunity to do a campaign event acro