Mr. Trump of a criminal conspiracy to cover up a payment to Adult Film ActressStormy Daniels just before the 2016 election to keep quiet about an affair. The defense calling it merely a legal expense, saying its not illegal to try to influence an election. And the first witness, the former publisher of the national enquirer. The key Role Prosecutors said he plays in the case. Also tonight, clashes on College Campuses. Nearly 50 propalestinian protesters arrested at yale as another ivy league university, columbia, moves classes online, citing Safety Concerns after a campus rabbi warned jewish students to go home. The senate poised to pass a bill that could ban tiktok nationwide. What it means for tiktoks 170 million users in the u. S. That tiktok bill part of a 95 billion foreign aid package passed in the house after the Speaker Mike Johnson put himself on the line. Will democrats help him keep his job . Nbc news reports the surge at the southern border of migrants from china. And the legendary Barry Manilow. Were backstage at radio city for his recordbreaking night. Announcer this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. Good evening and welcome. The prosecution in Donald TrumpsHush Money Trial drew the sharp outlines of its case against the former president today, telling the manhattan jury mr. Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt. During a 40minute Opening Statement a prosecutor told the panel Hush Money Payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to assure her silence over an alleged affair and were illegally disguised as Legal Expenses were part of a planned longrunning conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. In his Opening Statement a lawyer for mr. Trump firing back saying there was nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. The prosecution putting on the stand as its first witness the former publisher of the national enquirer, who the state says was central to an effort to quash negative stories about mr. Trump during the 2016 president ial race. Donald trump denies having had an affair with miss daniels and has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. Laura jarrett was in the courthouse and has the latest. Reporter tonight prosecutors painting a stark portrait of former President Trump in their Opening Statements during his Hush Money Trial, a case mr. Trump has argued is designed to derail his campaign. This is done as Election Interference. Everybody knows it. Reporter but today prosecutors said it is mr. Trump who is guilty of Election Interference by paying off an Adult Film Star to silence her before the 2016 election. Telling the jury, this case is about a criminal conspiracy to bury a story that could have cost him the presidency and then lying in his Business Records over and over again to cover it all up. The alleged scheme stretches back to 2015, a meeting at trump tower between mr. Trump, his former fixer and attorney Michael Cohen, and david pecker, the longtime publisher of the national enquirer. This is where prosecutors say the trio hatched a plot for the tabloid to buy and bury any damning stories about mr. Trump, a tactic known as catch and kill. Prosecutors say it was the release of the access Hollywood Tape that turned the campaign upside down in october of 2016. Lead prosecutor Matthew Colangelo reading mr. Trumps most incendiary remarks from that video for the jury today, arguing the former president was so desperate to contain the damage with female voters he directed cohen to pay off Stormy Daniels so she couldnt go public about an alleged sexual encounter, which mr. Trump denies. But it is not the hush money itself that hes charged with in this trial. Its how then President Trump documented his monthly Reimbursement Payments to cohen on internal Company Records as Legal Expenses. Prosecutors telling the jury of seven men and five women today it was election fraud, pure and simple. But mr. Trump is not facing conspiracy or Campaign Finance violations, something the defense sought to highlight today. In Opening Statements mr. Trumps attorney describing him as a husband and a father, a person just like you and me, and is innocent, saying the payments to cohen were for Legal Expenses. Arguing there is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. Its called democracy. Not a crime. The alleged crime he is facing, a lowlevel felony, carrying up to four years in prison if convicted. But the judge could sentence him to probation. Mr. Trump today noting the previous d. A. And federal prosecutors looked at this case and did not charge him. You got indicted for that . People in the court said to me i cant believe it, this is the case . So we did nothing wrong. Reporter mr. Trumps attorney Casting Cohen as the prosecutions only real witness, out for revenge, saying hes, quote, obsessed with mr. Trump and wants to see him in an Orange Jumpsuit because cohens entire financial livelihood depends on trumps destruction. Cohen has pleaded guilty to Campaign Finance violations and lying under oath. The prosecutors preemptively defending him today saying he made mistakes in the past to protect his boss. And laura is here with me on the set alongside hallie jackson. Laura, let me begin with you. The first witness on the stand right now, does it give us any hint where all this is leading . Yes. Tabloid mogul david pecker is at that 2015 meeting at trump tower as we mentioned. Hes useful for prosecutors because he puts mr. Trump in the room for this alleged plot. Hes also useful because his name is not Michael Cohen and his testimony will continue tomorrow, lester. All right, laura, thank you. And hallie, this is a partisan prosecution in the opinion of mr. Trump. Yeah, thats what his campaigns been saying. And in some ways what we just heard in court, what laura has laid out, echoes what we have also heard from mr. Trump himself on the campaign trail. His defense, casting him as a fighter, aggressively attacking central players in this case. Familiar themes. Now, the trump campaigns trying to show that the former president can kind of walk and chew gum at the same time by setting a meeting with the former japanese Prime Minister after court wraps tomorrow. But for mr. Trump, remember, hes a person who used to run his own business. He ran the country from the white house. One thing has been clear in this trial. He does not run this courtroom. He is now finding himself in a position he really doesnt like to be in. A position where he has to give up control. Lester. Hallie and laura, thank you both. Be. Propalestinian protests spreading to more College Campuses across america tonight. Prompting new restrictions and more arrests. Classes moving online at one major campus amid rising concerns over safety. Erin mclaughlin has late developments. Reporter Tonight Tension Across Major american College Campuses. If you do not leave, you will be arrested. Reporter students setting up encampments from university of North Carolina to m. I. T. Harvards yard closed until friday. We shall not be moved all of it as fury over the israelhamas war boils over. Students expressing fear for their personal safety and concern for antisemitic hate speech. Raising new questions about the line between hate speech and the first amendment. Were asking for the school to call for a ceasefire in gaza. Reporter this Morning Police say at least 45 propalestinian protesters were arrested at Yale University for violating yales policies and instructions. Police say they were later released. In a statement the university adding that yale does not tolerate behavior that threatened, harassed or intimidated others. Meanwhile, at columbia todays classes were online only, with the universitys President Calling for a reset to deescalate the rancor while also adding more than 100 Safety Personnel to campus after more than 100 protesters were arrested last week. Though with videos like this emerging online and another showing a young Woman Holding a sign pointing in the direction of jewish students saying al qassams next targets, hamass military wing, students andrew stein and alicia baker say they dont feel safe. It was the most terrified ive probably been in my entire life. Reporter on Saturday Night Stein says he was on campus for a proisrael counterprotest when this happened. You see him in the White Sweatshirt Filming as a group of propalestinian protesters yell expletives against israel. They started saying in arabic hamas hamas our beloved please bomb tel aviv and then started saying were coming for you, no zionists on this campus, get off campus. Reporter stein alleges the situation escalated. Me and my friend had water poured, physically poured in our face. My friend was abused in the middle of campus. Reporter faculty from barnard and columbia came out in support of the propalestinian students who were arrested and suspended last week. Were calling for divestment. Were calling for a ceasefire. Reporter students inside the encampment told nbc news they were unaware of any physical or verbal threats toward students on saturday night. Anyone who makes any threat to any jewish student, we oppose you. We do not associate with you. Reporter meanwhile, at Rutgers UniversityPolice Announcing a man has been charged with a federal hate crime for breaking into the universitys center for islamic life and destroying property earlier this month. Tonight on College Campuses across the country students saying they dont feel safe. And erin, Tonight The White House is weighing in on all this. Reporter thats right, lester. Tonight President Biden saying he condemns both antisemitic protests and those who, quote, dont understand whats going on with the palestinians. Lester . All right, erin, thank you. In washington The Future Of Tiktok is very much Up In The Air Tonight after a bill passed by the house could result in an eventual ban of the platform. Savannah sellers reports on what could happen next. Reporter tonight tiktok the closest its been to a national ban becoming a reality. The senate expected to vote as soon as tomorrow on the bill the house passed over the weekend. The bill is passed without objection. Reporter it appears likely to pass in the senate too. And President Biden has said he will sign the bill, which would require tiktoks chinese parent company, bytedance, to sell its stake in the platform within a year or face a national ban. An earlier bill would have required a sale within six months. Tiktok is really built as a massive Data Collection machine. Reporter Congress Looking to address National Security concerns, with worries china could access the Sensitive Data of the apps 170 million american users. According to the apps privacy policy, they automatically collect geolocationrelated data and browsing history. The problem is when bytedance decides to create a wall to block u. S. Data from leaving the United States its like asking the wolf to build a safer henhouse. Reporter tiktok has denied sharing data with the chinese government. In a statement tiktok said the bill would trample the Free Speech Rights of 170 million americans and devastate 7 million small businesses. Vowing in an internal memo obtained by nbc news to fight the legislation in court if passed, encouraging employees to stay composed and its users to fight hard against a possible ban. Debra mayer relies on tiktok for her business selling handbags. She says its added upwards of six figures in sales. The numbers just keep growing month over month. What percentage of your sales would you lose if tiktok were to be banned in the u. S. . Overnight, probably about 60 . Reporter one of millions of users who will be watching this weeks vote very carefully. Savannah sellers, nbc news. And at the same time congressional leaders are working to get billions of dollars in american aid to ukraine, israel and taiwan as quickly as possible. Ryan nobles is tracking this for us. Ryan, what can we expect . Reporter lester, the senate could vote on this package as soon as tomorrow. It is expected to pass. It is a 95 billion total package. More than 26 billion in funding for israel. That includes more than 9 billion in humanitarian aid for gaza. And it comes at a time when israel is facing increased pressure for its prosecution of the war with hamas. Now, the package also allocates more than 60 billion for ukraine. This despite protests from House Conservatives who felt that money should be spent here at home. They are now threatening to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his job. If they try House Democrats have said that they will consider Helping Johnson remain in the speakership. Lester . All right, ryan nobles, thank you. And well talk more about the potential risks of international and domestic security threats, tiktok and much more when i sit down one on one with the fbi director, Christopher Wray tomorrow on nightly news. Well turn now to minnesota and the house explosion that rocked a neighborhood just outside minneapolis. First responders rescuing a woman trapped under the rubble, though her condition at this hour is unclear. Fire Officials Say the debris is consistent with a natural gas explosion. In 60 seconds, the surprising vote to unionize by workers at a major car Assembly Plant. Is it a sea change moment for h cars is it a sea change moment for h cars ow upbeat music asthma. It can make you miss out on those epic hikes with friends. Step back out there, with fasenra. Fasenra is an addon treatment for Eosinophilic Asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. Fasenra helps prevent asthma attacks. Most patients did not have an attack in the first year. Fasenra is proven to help you breathe better so you can get back to doing daytoday activities. And fasenra helps lower the use of oral steroids. Fasenra is not for sudden Breathing Problems or other eosinophilic conditions. Allergic reactions may occur. Dont stop your Asthma Treatments without talking with your doctor. Tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. Headache and sore throat may occur. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Get back to better breathing. Get back to what youve missed. Ask your doctor about fasenra, the only asthma treatment taken once every 8 weeks. If you cant afford your medication astrazeneca may be able to help. The United Auto Workers are claiming a major victory after workers at a Volkswagen Assembly plant in chattanooga voted to unionize. Priya sridhar reports from tennessee on whether its a sign of things to come. Reporter tonight the United Auto Workers union has its eyes on the south after a major victory at a Volkswagen Assembly plant in chattanooga where workers voted to unionize. On friday the uaw won in a stunning 73 vote after losing elections here in 2014 and 2019. Its the unions first win in a southern Assembly Plant owned by a foreign automaker. We held each other. We cried. I got on my knees and thanked the lord. Reporter in three weeks uaw is taking their fight to alabama where workers at two mercedesbenz plants in tuscaloosa will vote to unionize. When we started this campaign, we had kind of that little bit of a pride, we wanted to be the first. You know, were now a shining example to these other plants. Reporter experts say this win could be a watershed moment in the labor movement, which has already picked up momentum in the last year in Industries Like healthcare and hollywood