Also ahead, Donald Trumps hush money trial resumes today in new york city. Well have a preview of what could be the final week in court. Plus, well have some of the highlights from president bidens Commencement Speech at Morehouse College where he attempted to thread the needle on several issues connected to his reelection campaign. Good morning and welcome to Way Too Early on this monday, may 20th. Im jonathan lemire. Thanks for starting your day and week with us, and we will begin with significant breaking news. Iran state media is reporting that the nations president and Foreign Minister have died in a Helicopter Crash. Search teams arrived at the site of what was originally called a hard landing, and they found no sign of life. According to a news outlet affiliated with the iranian government, seven other officials were on board the aircraft at the time of the accident. The Associated Press cites Iranian State tv is giving no immediate cause for the crash, although, weather could be a factor. The group was returning from an event near irans border with azerbaijan when the helicopter went down. Heavy fog prevented search and rescueteams from finding the wreckage for hours. A hardline conservative within the iranian political landscape, the president , raisi, has been irans leader since 2021. Joining us now, nbc news chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel live from europe. Richard, tell us, whats the latest we know here about the cause of the crash and tell us a little bit more about the man who died. Reporter so what we know is from Iranian State media that there was this trip meeting with officials in azerbaijan in the border area. This is a mountainous area in Northern Iran covered in forests. There were, according to Iranian State media, three helicopterers traveling together. One of them went down carrying the iranian president raisi and other officials. They initially said it was a hard landing. There was quite a bit of skepticism, however, when images of the area started to emerge, totally blanketed in fog. Generally Helicopter Crashes dont end well, dont end with survivors in the mountains, in the forests with those kinds of conditions. Then for the your night period in iran, there was quite a bit of silence. People were anticipating that iran was going to be making an announcement. The anchors of State Television started wearing black. There was the presumption that soon they would be announcing that he had died, and a relatively short while ago, because this is now about 167 hours or so since it happened, so quite a few hours passed before they made the announcement that they did not find survivors among the wreckage. It causes shortterm problems for iran, but more importantly, it raises some serious succession issues about the Iranian Regime because president raisi was, as you mentioned, a hardliner, but he was also very likely tapped to be the next Supreme Leedser in iran, and iran doesnt function iran is a theocracy. Its opinion in power since 1979. They threw out thousand ofts years of dynasties, bureaucracies, and shaws. The second ayatollah is 85 years old and raisi was widely anticipated to replace him. A man who was in his 60s. Who could have been lead eig ran in the ultimate position of power for the next two decades, and now he died in this Helicopter Crash. So they have two immediate problems. One, to replace the president. Technically the Vice President steps in and should hold new elections within the next 50 days, but the president is not the one who wields the power. The main decisions in the country are with the supreme leader, and he was being graumed to be the supreme leader, raising real questions about the future of rule in that country, could it expedite more power being could we start seeing more power being wielded by the revolutionary guard as some analysts and intelligence officials believe we should watch this internal space. They to not expect to see any major changes in policy, that the basic positions of iran, which are three and have been fixed for the last several decades will not change, and those three Core Principles of iran being that israel should be replaced with palestine, that the United States should be driven out of The Middle East, and the u. S. Led world order should be overturned and iran needs to make allies with whoever is on that page, including iran or maduro, or a host of others. So they do not expect those three basic principles of iran is going to change, but it does create a leadership crisis, which could potentially even threaten clerical rule at the expense of seeing a more traditional manner with the Military Stepping in. The world is certainly watching what happens here. Nbc news chief correspondent Richard Engelle. Thank you. Well see you again very shortly on morning joe. Well have complete coverage of irans president s death here on msnbc and including here on Way Too Early. For now we want to turn to matters here at home. The Trump Hush Money Trial will resume today for what could be the final day of testimony. Courts scheduled to begin early at 8 45 a. M. Michael cohen is expected to return to the stand for a third days of crossexamination. They say it will be the final day of questioning him. The prosecution has already confirmed cohen is its final witness and will likely rest their case after his testimony is complete. They focused thursdays Cross Compassion on a key 2016 call where cohen said he spoke directly to trump about the Hush Money Payment to stormy dabbials. The lawyer pressed him, bringing up an exchange he had with trumps former bodyguard which seemed to be about a prank caller, not stormy daniels. Cohen insisted he spoke about both things dae spite the short conversation, about a minute and a half. Last week lawyers for the former president were still unsure whether trump would testify even though hes publicly said he would like to. They always said they may not call any other witnesses. Judge merchan told them to be ready tomorrow if both sides rest. Joining us now, a former District Attorney in machblts thank you for being with us this morning. So first lets start here. If you were prosecuting this case, would you redirect Michael Cohen once the defense was done with him . Would the effort here to be to clear up some of the story after crossexamination, or just let it be . I would redirect only because of what happened on thursday about that phone call that he testified on my direct examination that he made and had a conversation with donald trump about stormy daniels, and on crossexamination, the jury is left with that he lied, that he really didnt talk about stormy daniels. He was talking about this 14yearold who was doing crank calls. Now, he either was mistaken, which is probably what happened, or hi was untruthful. So if im the prosecutor and i believe its mistaken, i want the jury to know he was mistaken. You know, he spoke to he, meaning mr. Cohen, multiple times to donald trump. It is likely he is mistake p. I wouldnt spend a lot of time with him because the defense would do redirect or recross. The prosecutors would have proven beyond a reasonable doubt. So i expect they will today, the prosecutors say, the people rest. So, catherine, lets talk about the biggest question, the idea of trump taking the stand. He said hed like to. What do you think . Do you think hell do so . No, one, i would tell him not to do so if i was his attorney. Two, i dont believe he will. Most defendants do not testify. This defendant wont. It would be ridiculous if he did. It would be a gift to the prosecution. They also should not call defense witnesses. Once they call defense witnessesing its opens the door for the prosecution to talk about the defense witnesses. If the defendant doesnt testify and the defense doesnt call witnesses, the prosecutors cant talk about it at all. If they call witnesses, the prosecution can say, look at the witnesses they called. They were incredible. They probably thought about it over the weekend and wont call witnesses. Well see. If they dont, there will be closing arguments today starting with the defense and ending with the prosecution. Thank you for joining us. Well talk to you again soon. Still ahead here on Way Too Early, President Joe Biden delivers the Commencement Address at Morehouse College. Well take a look at what he had to say there. Plus, former President Trump makes a pitch to gun owners at a massive nra event. Those stories and the Helicopter Crash and a check on sports and weather when Way Too Early returns. S and weather when Way Too Early returns. Type 2 diabetes . Discover the ozempic® trizone. I got the power of 3. I lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. In studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. Im under 7. Ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. Im lowering my risk. Adults lost up to 14 pounds. I lost some weight. Ozempic® isnt for people with type 1 diabetes. Dont share needles or pens, or reuse needles. Dont take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. 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Your wings. Light em up gentlemen, its a beautiful. Day to fly. Crisis and showing the power you can change the world. Also, you know, some of you ask, what is democracy. We cant stop wars that break out and stop our hearts in a democracy. We break and dissent about americas role in the world. I want to say this very clearly. I support peaceful nonviolent protests. Your voices should be heard, and i promise you i hear them. President joe biden delivered the Commencement Address yesterday at Morehouse College. This was his most direct engagement yet with College Students since the start of the israel hamas war. A few protests few students did protest the speech by turning their backs to the stage, but they were isolated incidents and no irinterruptions. The president told graduates at the Historic Black School he was still working toward a ceasefire with the war between israel and gaza. And he talked about the extreme forces that threaten the soul of the nation. I never thought i would be a president at a time when theres a National Effort to ban books to a race history. They dont see you in the future of america, but theyre wrong. To me, we make history, not erase it. We know blake history is american history. Biden has made a read effort in trying to shore u up support in recent days. Meanwhile donald trump on the same topic yet again is claiming hes the best president for black americans, telling a crowd at an mra conference hes done more for the black dmuntd than Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, of course, abolished slavery. Likewise were doing Record Numbers with the african voters theyre tired of whats happening to them, and, honestly, theres been no president since Abraham Lincoln and perhaps in a way including president lincoln, but theres been no president since Abraham Lincoln thats done more for the black individual in this country than president donald j. Trump, nobody, not even close. Factcheck, not true. Still ahead here w well turn to sports and bring you the latest Playoff Action in both the nhl and nba, in a weekend filled with game seven drama, including the defending champion Denver Nuggets fighting to stay alive in their push for repeat. Plus, well show you if the New York Knicks put an end to the pacers dream season. All that and a check on the forecast when we come right back. Forecast when we come right back mike is still living in the red. With a very high risk of another heart attack or stroke. He doesnt know with his risk factors his ldlc Bad Cholesterol is still too high the recommended level is below 55. Are you living in the red . Get in the know. Learn how to get a free ldlc test at attackheartdisease. Com. So this is pickleball . Pickle ah, these guys are intense. With e trade from Morgan Stanley, were ready for whatever gets served up. Dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. Id rather work on saving for retirement. Or college, since you like to get schooled. 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Anthony edwards took off with a slow start and finished with 16, mostly in the second half, as the twolves will eliminate the champions the Denver Nuggets on the road last night. The wolves will advance. Minnesota will host the Dallas Mavericks on game one on wednesday night. Meanwhile the magic ran out for the New York Knicks against the Indiana Pacers yesterday afternoon. Already decimated by injuries, stargardt Jalen Brunson added one more as he exited the second half with a broke about left hand. Meanwhile the pacers simply could. Miss, and they set an nba record by shooting ov