Occupation of a building there. Well have the latest on that situation and the growing demonstrations on campuses across the country. That comes as theres some optimism that a ceasefire in gaza and the release of israeli hostages could soon be reached. Wellbri you those developments out of the middle east. And also ahead a preview what we can expect in court today when Donald TrumpsHush Money Trial resumes in manhattan. Good morning and welcome to Way Too Early on this tuesday, april 30th. Im jonathan lemire. Thanks for starting your day with us. And well begin this morning with the growing unrest at Columbia University. Overnight propalestinian Student Protesters occupied a campus building. Its hamilton hall, the same building students took over back in the 1960s. That building just a few hundred feet away from the guzza encampment site. It came just hours after the university began sus spending students who refused to leave that encampment. The tents have been up for nearly two weeks, and the university wants to clear the area before graduation scheduled for may 15th. The protesters held a Press Conference yesterday afternoon saying the university has not made significant concessions to their main demands. The group wants columbia to divest from companies with links to the Israeli Occupation of gaza. The students also claim columbia has stopped negotiations. As a result, they say they will, quote, not be moved unless by force. As we keep an eye on the situation there uptown here in manhattan, protests are also escalating at other College Campuses. The University Of Texas protesters clashed with police resulting in dozens of arrests. Video shows officers in Riot Gear Dragging and carrying out demonstrators. The University Says at least 40 people were taken into custody yesterday for trespassing and disorderly conduct. Many of those people were not affiliated with the school. Thats a phenomenon happening at columbia as well. Theyre not all students. Meanwhile at the University Of Utah police were called to disperse a crowd of protesters there. The University Says 17 people were arrested last night, and one officer was injured. A hatchet was also confiscated. The number of arrests at campuses nationwide is now approaching about 1,000 people. We will have more on this developing story throughout the morning here on msnbc. But now we turn to another major headline tonight. In just hours day 9 of Donald TrumpsHush Money Criminal Trial will resume in a new york city courtroom. Today banker gary farrow is set to return to the witness stand for more questioning, specifically about his handling of Michael Cohens account at the time the alleged Hush Money Payment was paid to Stormy Daniels back in 2016. That payment was part of an agreement to keep daniels from going public about an alleged affair with trump. Trump has repeatedly denied any sexual encounter with the adult film actress. After the Hush Money Payment became public, daniels lawyer at the time, michael avenatti, provided nbc news with an email of an assistant to farrow which confirmed the transfer. Cohen had used his Trump Organization email address in the communication that said at the time Company Funds were not used. Also this week in the manhattan courtroom judge Juan Merchan Will Hold A Second Hearing On Whether Trump violated his gag order. That hearing is set for thursday. Meanwhile, in another Legal Development lawyers for president joe bidens youngest son, hunter biden, say theyre planning to sue fox news independently they say over unfounded claims made about him on their air. In a letter sent to the network last week, which has since been obtained by nbc news, bidens attorneys notified fox of the impending lawsuit. They write it arises for the networks, quote, subsequent actions to defame mr. Biden among other things. The letter focuses heavily on a sixpart special that aired on foxs streaming service in 2021. In it the network presented a mock trial for what it may look like if biden were charged with being a Foreign Agent or bribery. Mind you, hes never been charged with either of those crimes. Biden is also planning to sue over foxs decision to show nude photos of him onair, which he says were stolen. Fox has not responded to a request for comment. Joining us now to help us understand these Legal Developments, State Attorney from palm beach county, florida, dave aronberg. Lets start with hunter biden before we turn to the trump trial. His lawyers indicate theyre on the verge of suing fox news. If they do indeed do that, how strong do you think their case is . What could happen . Good to be with you, jonathan. Its hard to tell. We dont know all the details of the lawsuit, but there are laws in place in various states in whats called revenge porn. And theres nonconsensual disclosure of sexually explicit images and he could go after them for that. And not putting out the factual part the articles theyre basing this story on about the fbi informabout when was the guy who told all about hunter biden, well that inform want was recently indicted for lying about hunter biden. Thats the thinking behind the lawsuit. There are broad First Amendment protections and its hard to say at this early stage when they will sue, whether theyll succeed. This dd be the latest case of Holding Media Organizations accountable. Fox news in another lawsuit making a major payment not long ago. Lets turn to the Hush Money Trial. Banker garret farrow set to return to the stand. This is the nuts and bolts of the case, namely the prosecutors put on a powerful witness in and the middle youve got the blocking and tackling. Youve got the details about how Michael Cohen got the money because hes not a rich man. So when he came up with 130,000, he had to go to a bank and get a home loan, and he had to create this shell company. Well, youve got to establish that and thats why you put up a witness like this, whos not the most exciting witness. Hes a banker after all, but in the end its important for prosecutors to establish the facts to the jury especially after the big high of the david pecker testimony who i think was devastating for the prosecution. He was a powerful witness, and i dont think trumps legal team really laid a glove on him. You start off with that high and go to this witness, the banker and then a few other witnesses like that and then you go for Michael Cohen. Thats going to be mustsee tv. If only new york had cameras in the courtroom. Alas, new york does not. You mentioned pecker and you deemed his testimony devastating. Tell us why. Dig into that more. Trump has three major defenses here. First, he wants to establish he knew nothing. He wasnt aware of anything, its a low level employee who did this accounting mistake, if you even want to call it that. Here, david pecker who was in the room when it happened, who said that this was a scheme, that there were three people involved, it was pecker, Michael Cohen, and donald trump, and he repeatedly said, yeah, trump knew about all this stuff. And he said its a broader scheme. He wanted us to pay for it for Stormy Daniels but we didnt, and thats pretty damaging. Second, its important to trumps defense he try to establish this wasnt about a Campaign Finance violation, this was about protecting trumps marriage, thats why if they did it, they did it for that purpose. But david pecker says melania was never mentioned in the conversations. It was always about the campaign. And finally the Trump Defense is going to put Michael Cohen on trial, the key witness, because Michael Cohen is a fraud witness, hes had perjury charges. Here you have david pecker corroborating Michael Cohen in advance. Its so much harder to discredit a guy when you have multiple witnesses corroborating what hes about to say. Well have complete coverage on msnbc today as the trial resumes. State attorney from palm beach county, dave aronberg, thank you very much. Still ahead here on Way Too Early, what were learning this morning about a deadly shooting in charlotte, north carolina, that left four Law Enforcement officers dead. Plus, south dakota governor kristi nomes facing backlash about a story about killing a puppy. Well take a look at the blow back shes getting. Those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. Sports and weather when we come right back its a beautiful. Day to fly. Wooooo sometimes Jonah Wrestles with falling asleep. So he takes zzzquil. The worlds 1 sleep aid brand. And wakes up feeling like himself. Get the rest to be your best with nonhabit forming zzzquil. 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Get started for 49. 99 a month plus ask how to get up to an 800 prepaid card. Dont wait call today. Welcome back. As we turn to some of the mornings other top headlines including this tragic one. Four Law Enforcement officers were killed and four others were shot and wounded yesterday while trying to serve a warrant at a home in charlotte, north carolina. Police say the members of a u. S. Marshals Fugitive Task force and some local officers were met with gunfire from a high powered rifle when they arrived at the Charlotte Home yesterday afternoon. They then returned fire and killed the suspect in the homes front yard. As officers approached him, someone inside the home, fired at them. Officers eventually cleared the home and took two persons of interest into custody. The Charlotte Police chief yesterday praised the bravery of those officers. They knew what they were going into and still held their own in attempt to apprehend this suspect. They knew that they had officers that needed help, that needed to be extracted from that location. Yet they went in, some getting shot themselves as a result. So the bravery, the heroism, everything that goes down with that defines what our profession is, our people demonstrated that today. This morning we now know the names of three of the fallen officers. Sam palosh and alden elliot were both 14 year veterans and also Task Force Officers working with the u. S. Marshals. Late last night police announced that charlotte officer joshua eyer also died of his injuries. A fourth deputy with the u. S. Marshals has not yet been publicly identified. Police do say all the other officers who are shot, they are expected to survive. Meanwhile, to politics now. South dakota governor kristi noem is still facing intense backlash from both sides of the aisle after she admitted to killing her 14month old puppy, a little dog named cricket. She did so in her upcoming memoir. Or story even baffled some fox news hosts and analysts who say a she sabotaged herself while also describing how the fallout of the submission, killing a puppy in a gravel pit, can be quite damaging to her Vice President ial aspirations. When you think about people having a dog put down, and i had an experience with a dog in our family having to be put down, you go to the vet and the vet does a little shot and the dog goes unconscious and doesnt feel anything. Not a lot of people have gone onto execute their own dog, and i a great many people will look at that and think its telling. Killing your dog strikes people as not normal behavior as they will probably imagine by a not normal person. The fact she wanted to say that is also telling. Peculiar. I mean if i were a political advisor to her, and thats not my department, but had i been asked for an opinion i would say dont put that in your book whatever you do. I have four rescues, and i have a puppy. Ive got to tell you, you know, what shes done is shes sabotaged herself. Whether or not it was to buttress what was coming down the road, but she also managed to unite the right and the left. Because america if nothing else, we are dog lovers. She just destroyed any chance she had of being Donald TrumpsVice President if she had any chance at all. Theres no going back from this. We turn now to the latest on the war in ukraine and news of russian advances among multiple points on the front line. In a lengthy social media post on sunday ukraines Commander In Chief acknowledged the Situation Alt The Front has worsened, saying russia has created a significant advantage in forces and means compelling ukraine to retreat from three villages near the front as it waits for additional aid to arrive. This assessment also points to russian advances west of the city of avdivka from where ukraine had to reteat back in february. Thats an assessment corroborated by the institute of the study of war, a nonprofit think tank based in washington. Now, of course the u. S. Finally did approve aid to ukraine, but the delay in doing so was costly, and its still going to be some time before the benefit is felt on the battlefield. Next up here well turn to sports with the latest Playoff Action in both the nhl and nba. Well tell you who is moving on whos going home. Plus, the l. A. Dodgers pull off something they hadnt done in nearly 20 years. Well tell you what that is, all those stories, plus a check on the forecast when Way Too Early comes right back. The forecast when Way Too Early comes right back. Restaurant Noise [announcer] introducing allisons Plaque Psoriasis. She thinks her flaky gray patches are all people see. Otezla is the 1 prescribed pill to treat Plaque Psoriasis. Allison over here otezla can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. With no routine blood tests required. 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