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saturday, april 13. you are watching velshi. we are 48 hours away from the start of what might be one of the most unprecedented event in american history. on monday, right here in new york, jury selection will begin in the first of donald trump's four criminal traces -- cases. preparations are already underway across manhattan. the secret service, nypd, anne state court officers are working together to tighten security around the city. activities will be closely monitored for the next several weeks around trump tower and 107th street where the trial will be held. if you did not already know, it is a landmark that has seen its share of high-profile cases. in 1990, a group of black and

latino teenagers were wrongly convicted of a woman. trump went as far as to take out full-page ads in local papers calling for the conviction of the center part five. including one that called for the return of the death penalty. 12 years after their convictions, the central park five were exonerated and released from prison. after the exoneration, donald trump would not apologize for being wrong and calling for their deaths. it is donald trump that will enter as an accused to terminal, it starts with jury selection. his team knows this and knows that it is a high-stakes and crucial process. last night, the judge denied

his attempts to adjourn the case based on pretrial publicity. this is hilarious to me because of the irony. he uses his true social platform to fuel a circus like atmosphere and then wants to argue for a delay because of publicity that he contributed to in no small measure. you cannot make this up. earlier in the week, his lawyers made an emergency appeal for a change of venue based on a similar argument. manhattan is biased against president trump and they did not buy that one either and denied it as well. opening statements might not happen for another week or two, the jury selection process will set the tone for the trial. a big part of cases being won

and lost is jury selection. do not sleep on it. joining me as a super lawyer and criminal defense did attorney. hey, my friend, let's get into it. i'm taking the glasses off. >> i am a huge charles coleman fan and i will tell you one more thing, i love this taking them off to talk to lawyers, i trademarked it for us, we are going to make a nickel any one time trying to take their glasses off to talk to lawyers. here i am, taking my glasses off. >> it is a thing. we think this will go monday, we are pretty sure this is going to happen. i want to talk about witnesses and credibility real quick. michael cohen is the star witness for the prosecution. as we know.

the biggest thing will be his credibility. he was on this weekend earlier this morning with our colleagues and this is what he had to say about the attempts to paint him as a liar. let's take a listen and then get your thoughts. newly i would appreciate if people would finish the sentence. my lie to congress. donald trump likes to call it perjury. that is what the lie was. the number of times that i claimed to have spoken to donald about the failed trump tower project. i stated before the senate and the committee on intelligence, number three, the true answer was 10. i say that over and over again because i want people to understand. if you think that is the lie that is going to knock me out

of the good graces of the jury, you would be wrong. >> are you buying that? do you think that ultimately he overcomes any credibility issues in a way that does not impact him? >> you have probably used him in your own cases as a prosecutor, i see him all the time. they have much worse credibility problems because often times they are murderers and they are brought in in shackles. cooperating witnesses are people that have credibility problems baked in. the reason prosecutors use them is that they work. are your standard closing to the jury is something like look, this is somebody with a lot of credibility issues and we did not choose this witness, the defendant chose to commit

crimes with this witness. we would've liked someone more credible. this is who the defendant shows. here is the other thing about michael cohen, he has credibility problems. they have the standard tools to help attack that in cross- examination. the prosecution might be able to overcome his lack of credibility because a document says what a document says. the jury can take that for what it is worth. of course, he has credibility issues. just like every cooperating witness in the history of cooperating witnesses. >> this is an important one because of regardless of what he says out of his mouth, the documents say what they say, it is hard to refute. i spoke to mike colleagues in the last hour about jury selection and how important it is in respect to this case. we have never seen anything

like this. if you are responsible for defending donald trump and you go into jury selection, give me, as best you can, the profile of the juror that you are trying to get in that box. >> i probably want a staten island juror. the jury questionnaire and the questions by the prosecution are really going to suss that out. it asks questions like if you have ever been a member of the proud boys. the judge said low, it is not fair to ask them who they voted for but we can figure out who they voted for by the questionnaire. i'm a member of the proud boys? if i am, i voted for trump, i don't want to generalize. i believe that jury selection is astrology. it will lend itself to improper generalizations about people.

there is no more diverse or more interesting colorful group of jurors than the manhattan jury. you get all kinds of folks in there. in a perfect world what he wants is trump voters. you will not find that many in manhattan. i have always believed that you try and assess the juror from their presence, from their job and their demeanor, if they made eye contact with you or your client. i try and stay away from false science around race and gender. education is a good indicator. it can be helpful. it is really the vibe that you get. that was your experience too with jury selection. >> i had a sense of the jurors that i wanted depending on the case i had. if i am defending donald trump, i will try and go off of vibes. typical metrics do not work because this is not a typical

case. thank you for being here again. for the second hour of velshi. coming up, mike johnson took a trip and handed his reputation over to the former president for his big lie. today's meeting of the banned book club features an award winning book that has become a rite of passage for many leaders. we will be back with more velshi. >> tech vo: we came toh service that fit her schedule. >> woman: you must be pascal. >> tech: nice to meet you. >> tech vo: we got right to work, with a replacement she could trust.

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turning to the middle east where the pentagon is repositioning assets for naval

ships in preparation for a naval attack against israel. president biden stated that a strike can happen sooner than later. this comes after an israeli strike on april 1st on the iranian consulate in damascus. that strike killed 12 people including several members of the revolutionary guard. iran has vowed to retaliate. president biden said yesterday, don't. he added that america is devoted to the defense of israel. joining me live from london is our international correspondent. josh, israel is demanding a direct strike, how close is this situation to spiraling completely out of control and how soon can we actually get

there? >> this is scary stuff. we are no longer talking about proxy fights between iran and israel. this is not hitting iranian interest in syria with rockets over the border. we are talking about a direct iranian strike inside israel with a swarm of missiles and drones. that is what officials say they are bracing for. if that happens, it will launch the retaliatory strike inside of iranian territory. you can see how this will quickly spiral into a war. there are questions about if that would drag the u.s. into a. interns of how soon, they think this could be imminent at any time now. this is a related concern. we already saw today an incident where iranians natural forces have seized a container

ship in the strait that is owned by in iranian businessman. they dropped from a helicopter and boarded that ship and are now directing it towards the iran coast. we don't think this is the big strike we were bracing for, it is ramping up tensions in the region. >> i want to turn your attention to breaking news in australia where we have six people who are dead in a stabbing spree in sydney, what do we know? >> this is a heartbreaking incident, a man entered this busy shopping mall in sydney, australia and started stabbing people. he stabbed about nine people and killed about six of them and a single police officer approached him and shot him when he tried to stab her and then performed cpr on the suspect until other police and rescuers were able to arrive. among those who are in the hospital in serious or critical conditions are a nine week old baby.

police say they do not exactly know what the motive was yet. they do believe this is a man who is known to law enforcement previously, they say that right now they don't see any connection to terrorism. this is a scary incident for the people of sydney, australia. thank you so much. >> velshi is back after a quick break. break. front pricing. with usps ground advantage®. ♪♪

i am william alden smith, a united states senator investigating the cause of one of the greatest maritime disasters in history. the titanic. your ship, sir.

they'll only be compensated if white star and its employees are found negligent. you did not respond, "we are sinking. and our passengers and our crew are in danger. what agreement with the military? war, miss ricard, war. rated pg you've got xfinity wifi at home. take it on the go with xfinity mobile. customers now get exclusive access to wifi speed up to a gig in millions of locations. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free. that's like getting two unlimited lines for twenty dollars a month each for a year. so, ditch the other guys and switch today. buy one line of unlimited, get one free for a year with xfinity mobile! plus, save even more and get an eligible 5g phone on us! visit xfinitymobile.com today. wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink. facts. that's why i use secret whole body deodorant for clinically proven odor protection everywhere. so i smell great all day,

all hike, and all night. secret whole body deodorant. at st. jude, the mission is just something that everyone can truly get behind. look at our little st. jude pin there on the fridge! we're just regular people donating. yeah. and i think it's cool to be able to make a difference in someone's lives in a way that is meaningful. welcome back. defendant/candidates/former president and house speaker mike johnson have been having a rough time lately. trump is facing six weeks in court as the first former

president to become a criminal defendant. johnson is having his position affected by marjorie taylor greene. trump endorsed his leadership and put his name on the line as being the latest person to endorse him. to undermine confidence in the electoral process, donald trump has been railing against noncitizen voting. just to be clear, noncitizens voting in elections is not uncommon in the u.s. trump is hoping that it will so doubt ahead of the election so that if he loses there is a lie to explain the loss and fuel the outrage that will keep his supporters behind him as he tries to deny another election outcome. the center for justice did an

analysis of the election. there were only 30 instances of noncitizens voting. that is 0.00 1%. the speaker got the sound bite he was shopping for in south florida. >> it is not an easy situation for any speaker. he's doing a good job, about as good as you are going to do. i'm sure that marjorie understands that. >> he is doing a good as job as he is going to do. that is not a ringing endorsement but mike johnson will take it nonetheless. this was a welcome into a turbulent week for the speaker. earlier in the week there were 19 republicans that voted

against johnson to kill the authorization of a government surveillance law after trump voiced opposition on wednesday. the house was able to get it passed on saturday after making the law more favorable for trump if he is re-elected. i am joined by our national senior reporter on capitol hill. julie, let's start with you, what does the phrase, he's doing as good of a job as you are going to do. what does that actually mean? will that by mike johnson any greater degree of job security? >> that was his main goal in having the press conference. i'm glad that you framed it up that way, charles. even in the last couple of hours, i received an email from the campaign side, this was a

way to try and keep his job for a couple more weeks or months, he has the motion to vacate the wretch. yesterday saying that he is a friend. and was asked if it needs to be reformed, this is exactly what johnson went down there for. trump acknowledging the tight margins that he has to work with one vote right now, he said that he is doing as good of a job as any speaker can be doing. johnson coming back to washington next week, the fight is long from being over. trump had posted against him in the beginning of the week. he has a bag -- big test in front of him. now when you talk about this issue of election security and interference they had brought up there, perhaps this is the out that johnson is looking for pairing with aid to ukraine as

a form of border security. johnson saying that the house will vote on that measure in the coming weeks when it comes to that proposal they talked about with trump yesterday. it is messaging to put democrats in a tough spot months before the election. >> i want to read from a political magazine this week about anxieties over a second trump term. why america's long time ally in asia is concerned about trump 2.0. we are already living in a trump 1.5 world. despite multiple civil charges, he has exerted influence over current u.s. policy having swept the nomination, he is calling the shots on capitol hill on issues ranging from the stall ukraine military aid

package. how accurate do you think that is? yesterday's events solidified this moment as a trump 1.5 world. >> yeah. tomorrow he heads to new york for his first criminal trial. the first criminal trial of any president. this week on a couple issues he came out saying that it should be left up to the states and every republican lawmaker who has been more conservative on the issue came out to say, their previous stance was not realistic or he had someone go with trump to become the more moderate position and then you have pfizer. the first version of that bill had no chance of passing. then you had something like this on the immigration bill that you mentioned. trump had to say one word and

you had his defenders on the hill before that bill even came out. yeah. he has a lot of sway over congress. yesterday, mike johnson got exactly what he needed. as big of a stamp of approval as he is going to get. i have been talking to a lot of allies over the past couple of days, there is concern about the dangers of another fight that could result in made democratic speaker. they do think that when it comes to a republican speaker, johnson is as good as it's going to get. >> julie, i want to talk about the nuanced changes and adjustments that donald trump has made in his pivots. he has pivoted slightly on

ukraine aid and has pivoted on his position on abortion. at one point he was for the elimination of roe. he came out and said that he was in favor of exceptions when it comes to abortion in america. are these pivots putting republicans in more difficult positions around maintaining their own stances? what is it doing to the party overall, when he backtracks or makes adjustments on foreign- policy adjustments before. >> you heard sophia lay out how much every republican in congress has to hang on his every word when it comes to all of these positions. trump being on the ballot, they think it is only going to help him because of the way he has managed to keep his standing in the polls.

even amid all of his legal challenges that are ongoing. let's start with abortion, for example, yesterday, he was asked about this in his press conference multiple times, he sidestepped the question, i was in favor of signing the band if congress would pass that in 2018. let's keep it back to the states. they have been on capitol hill for the last couple of years struggling with trying to toe the line on this issue. standing next to matt speaker mike johnson was notable. i tried pressing johnson earlier this week if he agrees with the former president's comments that congress does not have a role when it comes to the abortion debate any longer, he ignored the question as he does around here when it comes to these issues. when you talk about ukraine aid, the former president has been saying for months that this is something that congress should approve in the form of a loan. sources have no idea how that will be enforceable.

the bottom line is that johnson is running out of time. you do not have that strong coalition among democrats because of all of the violence and developments we have seen in gauze over the last couple of months. lawmakers think that the only thing to do is put the foreign aid package on the floor. johnson doing that could cost him to lose his job. >> think you both. i am charles coleman junior with more velshi after the break. stay tuned. . when you have chronic kidney disease, there are places you'd like to be.

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arizona, this fight is about freedom. this fight is about freedom. in america, freedom is not to be given. it is not to be disposed. it is ours, by right. that includes the freedom to make decisions about one's own body and not have the government telling people what to do. >> ladies and gentlemen, vice president kamala harris has entered the chat and she is standing on business. that was the vice president

last night in tucson tearing a new you know what into the dystopian story of the week. a story we are seeing more and more these days. even republicans that helped usher in this era of american policy are not sure what to do now. yes, as you may have heard, the arizona supreme court has announced that an abortion ban before arizona is a state is now enforceable. it is a near total ban on abortion with a single exception. allowing it when it is needed to save a woman's life. if the reality of living in america has taught us anything that these exceptions that still exist are intentionally vague for doctors to find when a woman's life is in enough

danger is subjective. the consequences for getting it wrong are so high that the exception might not even exist. arizona voters might get a chance to weigh in, november. advocates in the state say they have collected enough signatures to add a constitutional amendment to the ballot this fall that will establish a fundamental right to receive care until viability with exceptions after that. the governor told msnbc earlier this week that she will do everything in her power to make the initiative successful in november. the governor herself will join me tomorrow to discuss all of this. i'm super excited about this discussion. please tune in. tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern time only on velshi. first, allie left us with a special edition of the velshi

club with katherine paterson and her book, bridge to terabithia. many explain how meaningful this book has been to them, there children, and their students. a member known as ms. friday. i read this book with my fourth graders and was worried about how they would handle leslie's death. we all cried together and then we spent five minutes together writing a memory of someone we love to died. i shared my story about my grandmother first. i was able to share how much fun and laughter she brought to my life. when i finished, several students were ready to share their memories of loved ones. it was such a special day and i am happy we can have the conversations. the books are a way for kids to process things that happen to them and seeing how the character deals with death, divorce, sickness, and all of the other painful realities of

life. banning books like bridge to terabithia helps no one and robs children of understanding topics that they will inevitably face in their lives. don't go anywhere, today's meeting of the velshi banned book club is moments away. uo get thyroid eye disease, or t-e-d, which may need a different doctor. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com. ♪♪ ugh! nope!

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the only person that can beat him in a race. he confides in leslie and tells her about his dream to become an artist. the financial challenges that his family faces, and his own insecurities. they become best friends and build an imaginary world that only they know about. they call it terabithia. one day jess is invited to go to an art exhibit. while he is gone, leslie goes to matt terabithia alone and drowns in the creek. cremated. something clicked inside his head, that men leslie was gone. turned to ashes. he would never see her again. not even dead. never. how could they dare? leslie belonged to him. he is left to go face this life

altering tragedy. bridge to terabithia by katherine paterson is today's velshi banned book club feature. one of the most enduring children books of the 20th century. it demands that the reader knows that identity, and death. without reading bridge to terabithia, you might assume that these topics are too serious and too heavy for a children's book. the challenges and the imagination found in the pages of this book are the reality. to think otherwise is to do a disservice to children. bridge to terabithia was written in reaction to the death of patterson's own son's best friend. after he ready he asked me to put lisa's name on this page as

well. and so i do. she ends the dedication with a japanese x -- exclamation. patterson captures the joy of a child. in the way that the protagonist and full spectrum of grief from anger to guilt and then to acceptance. at its core, it is the story of the power of friendship. their friendship provides the space for both of them to grow. there is an understanding of safety that is masterfully captured in the description of this friendship. if you've been lucky to experience friendship like this, it reads as truthful and sacred. leslie was more than his friend, it was his other more

exciting self and his way to terabithia and all the worlds beyond. in the pages, patterson reminds us that those feelings of longing and belonging and searching for why when it does not exist and life affirming friendship, it does not just begin in adulthood. rather, these are universal and unavoidable and always there. if you are among the school board members for the far right groups that have banned and challenged bridge to terabithia for foul language and witchcraft, you have missed the point of this book. if you are among the masses that have targeted bridge to terabithia , you have missed the point. bridge to terabithia is equally as powerful for adult readers as young readers. it reminds us that the imprint left after friendship and first

loss never fades away. today, decades after the initial publication and decades after i opened it for the first time, bridge to terabithia still has the power to make me cry. that emotional resonance is the point. exactly the point. after the break i will be joined by catherine patterson. she is the author of today is velshi banned book , bridge to terabithia. weeds...

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today's meeting of the velshi book club is underway. i am joined by katherine paterson. the author of 16 young adult books and winner of multiple awards. including it one for today's velshi book club read, bridge to terabithia. >> thank you for having me on. it's a real pleasure. >> this is the first time that many young readers are confronted with the idea of death. talk to me about why you thought it important to broach that topic with literature before many of these people will experience it in life. >> well, i did not start the

book that way, i always felt that books are a wonderful rehearsal for what you are going to have to meet in life. we all have to meet death. can i tell you a story? >> yes. >> good friend wrote to me and said that he had a best friend growing up and they were always together until they went to separate colleges. he could not wait until thanksgiving when they could get together again and talk about their experiences when they were apart and he got home first and then he got the word that his best friend had been killed. on the way back home. he wrote to me and he said, i went to my shelf in my bedroom and took out my copy of bridge

to terabithia. i've owned since i was 10 and i read it through and i cannot tell you what a comfort it was to me. you know, if someone had not given it to him then it would not have been there when you were 18 and needed it. >> one way to think about it. a rehearsal for what you might need in life. one of the reasons this book has been challenged was because it is anti-christianity. leslie joins the family at easter mass and has never been to church before and is interested even though she disagrees with the idea that god would send anyone to hell. what do you say to people who say that your book is anti- christianity? >> it is sad because it is

only my christian brothers and sisters that bandit. i don't find the book anti- christian at all. i think if we are honest, we are always struggling with our faith. all that are god does is argue. what does your god do? bridge to terabithia was one of my arguments with god, why should this wonderful child be struck and killed by lightning, it did not make any sense. >> i touched on this in the introduction, it is as much about friendship as it is about death. let's talk about that, the actual friendship irrespective of the tragedy.

>> i sent the first cry of pain to my wonderful editor. i knew i had made a mistake. a real writer would send the book in spanish. she called me up and said, this is a book about friendship or is this a book about death. and i had always thought it was a book about death. and she said, when she asked me that question, you could be a book about friendship. she said, that is what i thought, you have to go back and write it that way. that was when the bully who i knew in the fourth grade came into the book. i could not name her pansy. and i said, i will get my

revenge. you know, before i finished, it was janice avery, i kind of liked her. it did the job. it showed how leslie could grow because she knew jess. >> i want to talk about the role of ms. edmund, sounds like some kind of hippie, when brando had been in seventh grade last year described miss mack edmonds last year. he saw her as a beautiful and wild creature who had been caught in a dirty old cage of a schoolhouse. he prayed that she would never get loose and fly away. and during the boring week of school for that one half hour on friday when they would sit on the rug in the teachers

room. there is no other place for her to spread out her stuff and sing songs. that took me back to my childhood. what is miss mack edmonds role in his world? >> of course, she takes them to the art museum and not causes the tragedy. but the tragedy occurs when jazz has gone off and i invited her to come on the trip with her and that makes him feel guilty and responsible for her death. she play that role. but also, she played a real role in bringing jess and leslie together. and making them feel like it is okay to have a girl for a

friend. >> an amazing book. thank you for all you have done and all you have written. katherine paterson, the author of many young adult books. including today's velshi banned book feature, bridge to terabithia. that will do it for velshi today. we had so much fun, let's run it back tomorrow. i will be back here tomorrow morning with katie hobbs and some wild facts about the arizona abortion fight. velshi airs every friday and saturday morning from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. eastern. eastern. im katie phang, here is the week that was. >> once in