Transcripts For MSNBCW Trump 20240703 : vimarsana.com

MSNBCW Trump July 3, 2024

Is made this morning in a new york courthouse. Donald trump will be the first former president and presumptive president ial nominee to face a criminal trial arriving just minutes ago for the start of Jury Selection in the new york hush money cases. He faces 34 Felony Counts of falsifying Business Records to cover up a Hush Money Payment to Adult Film Actress Stormy Daniels in the runup to the 2016 president election. The focus of the trial today, choosing the men and women who will decide this case from a pool of thousands. We have a team inside the courthouse watching it all as it unfolds. We have a team as well with us right now to talk you through it. Nbcs Vaughn Hillyard is standing by outside the courthouse. Also with us chuck rosenberg, former u. S. Attorney and senior fib official. Maya wiley a former u. S. District attorney. Williams who is a former prosecutor. Thank you all for being part of our coverage. Vaughn, lets start there at the courthouse. Walk us through what we can expect today and the former president s demeanor so far on day one. Reporter judge merchan entered the courtroom in the last two minutes. This is a moment when donald trump along with the rest of the courtroom all stood. We have officially begun the first criminal trial of a former president of the United States. Donald trump is facing 34 Felony Counts for falsifying Business Records stemming from the Michael Cohen payment to Stormy Daniels for 130,000 in which donald trump through the course of 2017 reimbursed him for those funds. Right now the Jury Selection is going to begin, but we expect initial points of discussion to commence first. That could very well include discussion over the gag order and the extent to which donald trump may have violated that over the last week. Donald trump was sitting for about a half hour inside this courtroom before it officially began. So far were running about a half hour late at this point. Of course, were looking at Jury Selection that could very well begin and take a matter of weeks here, as some 6,000 new yorkers have been summoned just this week alone to the Manhattan Criminal Court system. Defense and prosecution will have the opportunity to ask questions. Were looking at a questionnaire of 42 questions stemming from everything from what news sites they read and watch to where anyone has attended a trump rally. You see donald trump leaving and entering the courtroom. I want to let you listen to a quick moment of him addressing the cameras. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Theres never been anything like it. Reporter this is the scene guys where a vehicle having trump flags just came out. We saw about 20 protesters who blocked off the road for a few minutes. The security around here is a tight perimeter. Were in lower manhattan, to give you an idea of the geographic location of where this criminal trial is taking place, were one block away from 60 Center Street which is where donald trump sat in on His Civil Fraud Trial against him and the Trump Organization. So lower manhattan, donald trump has spent a lot of time here despite moving to florida just in the last few years, its new york that has brought him home for these pivotal trials here ahead of his president election. Indeed these pivotal trials. Chuck, as weve said, no one in the United States has seen anything like this. Whats on your mind and top of mind as this first day starts . Do i only get to pick one thing . How about what are the things top of mind . I may have been spoiled as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of virginia where Jury Selection went very, very fast, 30 minutes, 45 minutes tops. For me this is fascinating. Not only is there a questionnaire which we didnt use, but the lawyers themselves get to question the individual jurors which we were not permitted to do. One thing ill be watching for is how judge merchan controls his courtroom. The Defense Attorneys here have an unlimited number of strikes for cause, as do the prosecutors. How many of these jurors will they find unacceptable and try to get rid of . How will judge merchan push back on that . How will he control his courtroom . Do they start on time, end on time . One thing you have to keep in mind, you have to make this not just fair for both sides, but you also have to make it fair for the jurors. Maya, lets talk about the legal theory these jurors will be asked to consider and to judge whether or not this former president is guilty or not. We know weve referred to it as a hush money case. Thats kind of short for the broader picture here, and the d. A. Is casting this as an election interference case. How do you see it . What do we need to know . The first and most important thing we need to know, its not just that the District Attorney is calling it that, its that the judge himself has said he is going to say to the jury that count one includes the question of whether this was being done to conceal information and, therefore, its an election interference case. The jury is going to hear that from the judge. Now, the judge is not going to say whether or not thats true or not, but this case is being cast explicit bibi the prosecution and for the judge to the jury as fundamentally not just did he falsify records which obviously has to be proven and will be, no question about that. But was it to conceal from voters the fact that he had these affairs and to prevent them from coming out because it would damage him . At the end of the day, central to this case is the i think theres evidence that corroborates Michael Cohen, but are the jurors going to believe Michael Cohen and that corroborating evidence, that its there. Thats when to chucks point about the length and controlling the courtroom, the most important people in that room are the people of the city of new york. The most important people in that room are the people in that jury box who will ultimately be selected for that jury. The most important people in that room are going to be the ones that will say were going to decide whether we believe the evidence or not. Temidayo, what evidence is presented in the different aspects and the trial of this case. What are the Biggest Challenges for the prosecution in this case . I think here its going to be a question of credibility. Youre putting these witnesses up that at times Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, who had previously said things that were not true, they made false statements in the past. If youre a defense lawyer, thats your first attack point. Are you a liar then or are you a liar now . The burden is on the prosecutors. Prosecutors have to prove this Beyond A Reasonable Doubt. Donald trumps lawyers can get up there and say they havent made that case. I dont have to prove democrat is innocent. They have to prove that hes guilty. I think thats the attack point, that these witnesses are not credible. Thats where corroboration comes in. Thats where prosecutors say you dont have to just believe Michael Cohen. Look at the documents, the audio recording. And that youll find Beyond A Reasonable Doubt that dprm is guilty. Lets go back outside to vaughn and get an update on whats happening right now as this trial kicks off. Reporter Jury Selection is supposed to begin here any minute. Of course, that was todays order of business. But we did also expect, and this is now what is coming forward, are deliberations over some other pretrial kind of conversations here, one of those being the motion for judge merchan to recuse himself. Of course, we have seen donald trump over the course of the last several weeks continually call into question judge merchans ability to fairly judge this case, namely because of his daughters affiliation and past work with a firm that had done business on behalf of joe biden. Now, judge merchan, as were getting notes from inside the courthouse right now, is fiercely pushing back against that, calling it an unfair innuendo saying, quote, it is the opinion of this court based on innuendo and speculation about aa member of the courts family, the defendant has failed to provide evidence this court has direct personal or substantial interest. There is no basis for recusal. Judge Merchan Defiantly said. This is a part of the motion that we heard last week. Trumps legal team had taken this to an Appellate Court and had been shot down. Judge merchan is standing by the decision that he will, in fact, continue to oversee this case. We saw multiple attempts by donald trump to try to delay this case and call in question the integrity of the court here. We expect other points of conversation to be taking place before Jury Selection begins. One of those conversations also expected to take place is over the gag order and the extent to which donald trump may have violated it with two particular social media posts over the last week, but we have yet to get to that conversation. That could happen any minute, guys. Thank you, vaughn. Please keep us posted. I do want to note on the issue about the judges recusal that was requested to trumps team, this is something that dates back to last summer when that was first brought up. The judge in this case went to the state courts ethics board and they basically gave him the green light. He also came back and said on the record, this court has examined its conscience and is certain in its ability to be fair and impartial. So this is an argument that the trump team has tried to make over and over and over again to no avail. Just seconds ago, merchan was very clear and he said, among other things, for these reasons the defendants second motion for recusal is denied and the court will not address this matter further. Caroline, what is he trying to do here, do you think . Merchan is sort of bulletproofing his record on appeal. This is a renewed motion. There wasnt much new evidence coming forth. Thats sort of the standard to make it again. He had gone to the ethics board. I think because he got that goahead from the ethics board, he has an ethical obligation not to recuse himself and to continue presiding over this case. This is nothing new. Trump has tried to get other judges and other cases recused for far less than what weve seen here with judge merchan. Its not going to work. The defense team is ticking off their appellate issues. Caroline, lets talk about some of the witnesses, because there are pretty big ones in here, Stormy Daniels, Karen Mcdougal, david pecker, hope hicks and, of course, Michael Cohen. Weve actually been hearing from cohen over and over again, as frequently as just over the weekend. This is what he had to say over the weekend. If it was you in this specific case, well call it the Campaign Finance violation case as opposed to the hush money case, though the president and the porn star certainly has a Better Television ring than Campaign Finance violation. A lifetime movie for sure. You would be already charged, the case would have already taken place and you would be incarcerated. Do you agree with that . Is this a good thing for the prosecution as they prep their possible witnesses . No. I was going to say, first of all, if im alvin braggs office, im appalled and saying what can we do to rein this guy in. Its so inappropriate, highly wrong for a potential witness to be hes promoting kind of like hes starring in an upcoming film. Its not a good look for alvin braggs office. You never want your witnesses to talk like that. I read a new yorker piece, Line The Seinfeld Finale where every character from trump world gets to come and have their say at the end of this. We are seeing people come back into our conscious. Hope hicks, the cast of characters giving their gloss on the situation. At the end of the day, honestly, jose, i think this is a documents case. The proof is in the pudding, and really documents dont lie. Were talking about the credibility issues with cohen. There are taperecordings. There are documents. Those things are difficult to rebut at trial. So i think thats really those are going to be the stars of the show. Stay with us. Were really just getting started. So much more to dissect and discuss as we continue this special coverage. Coming up, picking the jury for this trial, something donald trump is calling, quote, largely luck. Is he right . Well talk to a Jury Selection expert. Stormy daniels, Michael Cohen, hope hicks, the key witnesses we could see on the stand. Well talk to former nypd commissioner bill bratton. Much more special coverage when were back in just 60 seconds. You know whats brilliant . Boring. Think about it. Boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. What straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space . Boring does. Boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. Because its smart, dependable, and steady. All words you want from your bank. For nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled. Which is pretty unboring if you think about it. My name is oluseyi and some of my favorite moments throughout my life are watching sports with my dad. 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And theyll have to answer a questionnaire with some 42 questions touching on everything from political views to media habits. Joining us now, msnbcs Yasmin Vossoughian outside the courthouse. Also richard gab well, president of the Trial Consulting Firm Decision analysis and author of the book acquittal. Yasmin, what do we know about potential jurors and the questions theyre facing this morning . Reporter its interesting that you guys were talking about this now because judge merchan is actually going through some of the questions that are still in question, i should say, in this juror questionnaire. There was question number 29 in this questionnaire which asks, have you ever attended a rally or Campaign Event for donald trump . Have you, a relative or close friend ever worked or volunteered for the trump president ial campaign, the trump president ial administration or any other political entity affiliated with mr. Trump. It seems as if theres a question to modify that particular question. I do, jose and ana, want to go through some of the questions theyll be asking the potential jurors. 1,500 showing up in the courthouse behind me today in this historyinthemaking trial. For instance, which of the following print publications, network or Cable Programs do you get your news . Were on the list, cnn, google as well. Its honing in on the potential political affiliations, do you currently follow drum on social media or have you done so in the past . Have you ever attended a rally or Campaign Event for any antiTrump Organization . Are you signed up or ever been subscribed to or followed any Email List Run by any antiTrump Organization. Also the question talking about any affiliations with qanon, proud boys, oath keepers as well. There is a question as to whether or not theyre trying to not politicize this Jury Selection moment, right, but still hone in on the political affiliation of these jurors. I only say this because i think back to judge kaplan in the e. Jean carroll Defamation Case in which they specifically asked, do you feel as if the 2020 election was stolen . That question is not in this juror questionnaire. This Jury Selection process, guys, could potentially take up to two weeks. Yasmin, thank you. Well check back. Richard, you have been a consultant for picking juries on several highprofile cases from o. J. Simpson to casey anthony. For this case we know 6,000 potential jurors have been summoned, 2,000 more than typical. The court is looking for that perfect 12. If you were trumps legal time. For some reason, i lost

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