site that's d w dot com. ah, donald trump is no stranger to legal troubles. actually, he's been under investigation for much of his life. over the last 5 decades, he's been involved in thousands of lawsuits, but to day it became obvious. the not even he is above the wall. the former u. s. president termed himself in new york city criminal court. he was charged with 34 counts, falsifying business records, a humbling moment. sure, but one he is certain to exploit his political advantage to night. we take a closer look at the case that hurled donald j. trump and the united states into uncharted legal and political territory. i'm to go for the him, berlin, and this is the day ah,

a person over the united states is arrested building behind me. i. i'm excited for justice to be served if this is for to on why. i think this is just the political hurts. curious are don't word as always, we will not allow bias or vandalism of any time. no matter who you are. hunch is very divided at this point. i think it's important that we understand about justice. also, on the day, nato double says border with russia by welcoming a new member into the alliance. ah, this is

a scary. we welcome long as the news member of our lives. it is a great day for finland, and i want to see the deities an important day for nato to ah, welcome to the show. is nothing short of a watershed moment for the political and criminal system in the united states. for the 1st time in history, a former us president is facing criminal charges. donald j. trump turned himself into a court and manhattan and pleaded not guilty to $34.00 felony charges. trump did not speak to the media inside or outside the court house. he showed little emotion when he waved to crowds as he arrived to turn himself in. had been driven in a motorcade from his new york residence a trump tower. he's accused of falsifying business records in relation to hush

money payments, allegedly made to several people in the run up to the 2016 election. after the arraignment, the judge released trump from custody without pre trial restrictions in the charges against trump come from an investigation led by manhattan district attorney albany bragg here is brags speaking to the press, just minutes after trump left the court under new york state law is a felony to falsified business records with intensive fraud at an intent to conceal another crime. that is exactly what this case is about. 34 false statements made to cover up other crimes. these are felony crimes in new york state. no matter who you are. we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. and the w washington bureau chief, it's paul, is outside the court building in manhattan,

where trump was arraigned. innis trump has pleaded not guilty on all 34 accounts. what can you tell us about the charges? yeah, that was quite a day here. nicole. we started really early and it was really intense. helicopters are still cruising over the court. i saw to simplify what's happened. the prosecutors are saying that donald trump broke election law by falsifying business records to cover up bad information about him information which might have heard his chances to become elected as the president of the united states. many people here and probably around tonight is states and maybe even around the world. we're hoping for some bombshells today to be disclosed. they might be disappointed because we didn't really learn a really, very new things, but it still might be far too early. really, to say are what we are. will be a kind of learning over the course of the next days. because this is just like the

very 1st moment after we heard about the charges and this historic court appearance has drawn huge crowds. there was concern about possible altercations who was there today. and what did they have to say about this whole affair? read them a 100, so for people in front of the court house before donald trump arrived and they also were there when he was inside and they came, many of them came really from outside new york. and as always, in these cases, you see those who are in support of donald trump, and those are very critical with him. i had the chance to talk with some of them. let's have a list of what they told me. and it's going to hunt them. absolutely. i mean listen, he was indeed, he was an impeach. twice he was under invest asian since he came down the elevator in 2016 and they couldn't find anything. so this is just

a destruction from what's really going on in this country with the binary shame. i think this is a very serious moment right now, and it's wonderful that he is being held accountable for the crime that he's committed. this is the 1st i'm sure of many indictments that's going to come his way. i want to make sure that president trump doesn't get, you know, run over by this attorney general brag. and, and it's politically motivated, which on against him, i don't think it's going to hurt him. i think we, the people stand for trump and that's why we're here today. i think the da did his job. he followed the facts and the facts led to an indictment. this wasn't a case where it was influenced our, like donald trump took out a full page ads against 5 black kids and said they should be executed as wasn't the case. would it have police officers lying on a record? he simply thought of the fraction that led to indictment. and now we have to let the process place up. oh, it already helped to help him yesterday. so it helped him the day before. so obviously it's going to help him today. he got a 10 percent boost in the bowls. rhonda sant has got

a 10 percent negative in the poll, just so you see i, we just, i heard that this is also one of these very divisive issues here in the united states. and he called and as little as we know what the outcome will be, we already know that this will be really a money machine for donald trump, because he's always able to turn attention into dollar. it's like only 24 hours after the indictment was analysis. and friday, his campaign at least says he was able to fundraise $4000000.00. so this is anyhow, what he's going to make out of this appearance here today at the courthouse behind me. and no such thing as bad felicity. that's one of his big mottoes in his pull. joining us from new york city, great speaking to you now for more on the 1st criminal charges to ever be brought against a former or sitting president of the united states. let's bring and mark fisher. he's a senior editor at the washington post. mr. fisher,

welcome to the de. now over the years, trump has been involved in many investigations. how come until now? none of them had led to an indictment. well, he's been a master of lading courts. he's a master of delay, is already speaking to the way this trial. he's a master of marketing himself, was already selling t shirts and his campaign websites that show him with a fake mug shots for $47.00. you can get one of those t shirts and it says not guilty across the front of it. so he's someone who's able to move the legal system to his own bed. and he's been able to speak by using the system to delay and tackles. attacking those were coming after the attack when he attacked the. busy judge prosecutor, so this is ages from long standing say both companies, news, or 5 decades to escape legal troubles. can you do it again on the we're certainly

this is going to be a dominant factor in the coming. yeah, he has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the 1st degree . how serious is this? these are serious felons the lowest plan only you know when. busy you go to prison for these kinds of ex. busy but he will be punished and he will face some serious consequences in an effort to perhaps to stop him from running for the 3rd time for president. but in all likelihood, this is going to stretch out over the course of the campaign. the prosecution wants this trial to start in january of next year. the defense where you said no, what's waiting, that's spring well into the presidential campaign. judge hasn't decided quite yet when the trial starts, but it's going to be probably a year long process. yeah, the judge wants to get this underway as soon as possible as well. but let's not

forget that trump is also being investigated and at least for other cases isn't he? and some analysts argue that it's not ideal that this one was the 1st case for him to be indicted for why is that? well. busy case base has the center of the payments of money to a woman who actually mistakes to women who said that he had several places with them were sought to. and so it's the kind of behavior that some people, some americans by private behavior should not be prosecuted. whereas the other investigations that are on the way that may need to invited to come weeks are of much more senior matters of policy and governance. matters of whether trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election. whether he secreted away classified

documents after his president was over. so these are the kinds of issues that i think would have a much wider public supporting prosecution. in those cases. the term case you mentioned before is busy trying to spin this in his favor and getting lots of backing from their supporters actually. but i want to ask you as someone who's been watching from very closely over the years, he rode a biography of his that this is a day he has long hoped would never come, isn't it? how do you think he personally feels about all this? well, you could tell by looking at the court room, the pictures that have emerged, or someone who's angry having to go through this process. he's, this is david, he's waiting for them years of so he's, he's, they're really shaken by this. on the other hand of where you always watch these things is to be, to take the anger and turn it to reason vantage use it as the rest of the aspect of

his campaigns and his business wants to make money off. this seems to be that track record, that he will the fact that only a handful of republicans have spoken out against this candidacy in light of his indictment. what does that tell us about his remaining power over the republican party because political instance would be to immediately instrumental license wasn't it? well, we'll see. busy so for the most. busy speaking by him as they watched the poles as they watch how the base react to this indictment. but they've been a real, with the way from, from both among republican and independent voters. and among some offices there's as well over the last several months. and whether that will continue or not, we'll have to see if there's a tremendous consensus miss country want don't press republican alike. other people

do not want to see either donald trump or joe biden, wanting from opposite what we want to new generation leadership or large majorities and holes who say that way they'll stick with that, were feel sympathetic to trump feel that he'd be well wrote, prosecuted for political reasons, that's when we go over the coming months and it's anybody's guess lists very true, mark fisher of the washington post. thank you so much for those insights. ah, finland is hailing it as the beginning of a new era. after decades of non alignment, the north country has firmly joined the nato military alliance. russia's full scale invasion of ukraine led to a change of heart, followed by the quickest accession process and nato's recent history. and much to vladimir putin chagrin an alliance that is now bigger than ever. finland was officially welcomed as the 31st member at the alliance's headquarters in brussels,

finish foreign minister of pick a hob is still signing the official accession document and handed it to you. a secretary of state antony blinking, blinking seized the opportunity to ask turkey and hungary to also ratify sweden's request to join the alliance. new member, finland has a 1300 kilometer long border with russia and one of the strongest land based militaries in europe. and about this historic day for nato and for finland, i can now speak to henry, bon hon, and he's a research fellow at the finish institute of international affairs. mr. haunted good to see you. a finance non alignment is a thing of the past. how significant is this for the country? it certainly represents the end of an era. and also it is linked to the end of an era more broadly in european security. with russia innovating the print, we saw the sort of collapse of respect for any kind of rules based

secure at the order in europe. and i think what finland did is just basically drew the conclusion of this development and so ending the arrow minutes are not alignment for finland as well. but i would say that it also ends fin long journey to the west in general. the started, especially after the 2nd world war with 1st the dean, the creation of between only countries and then gradually debating economically is the west and then european union. and now nate, so, so the, in many ways, the sort of western gender of finland. the circle is now complete with joining nato . yeah. but nato membership is not a one way street. is that what does a finland bring to the table? well, of course, one must not forget that finland actually has very modern capability as it has modernized, states, navy vessels. it's about to get 60 for loo, f $35.00. fire is starting from 2026. it has the, one of the,

was the strongest artillery in western europe. it has a wartime strength of 280000. it fulfills the 2 percent done, g d, p on defense. so we're actually looking at a country that takes its national security quite seriously. and actually does contribute to the security of and only the baltic sea, but also the arctic region. so you're looking at a country that has actually capabilities to provide in pretty much all all the domains, but also, you know, geographically white area. russia has reacted to finance accession saying it weakens security in the wider range and increases the risk of conflict and would force moscow to take counter measures. how is the saber rattling being received in finland? well, to be honest, it's something that finland has been preparing for quite some time. now it also, it goes to saint mary rhetoric that who has used for years now when he has spoken

about finland, potential nato membership. and we were expecting for these kind of statements to, to increase. and i think we're going to see a lot more of that because that when finland is now a member of nate. so it also. ready becomes a part of this russian sort of perception of enemies and we're going to see a lot more harsh rhetoric and potentially in the fall future russia when he tries to build back its losses in the warranty, craning for its army when it tries to build that back he will most likely do some kind of true maneuver. it goes to the territories of fin on in those borders. but other than that, i think it's just merely rhetoric because russia at the moment is basically occupied, occupying other countries. and how important is it for finland to get sweden into the alliance as well? now, it's an essential question. no doubt. one must understand that if you look at the geostrategic map of love in europe, but also try to plan the defense of this region,

you immediately can see that sweden is basically a potential hub for nato operations as a platform to provide troops, security of supply ammunition and also the so called teaching tips which you will need in a crisis scenario. so you could be a vital interest for finished national security to evolve sweden in as soon as possible. and we also know that nato's operational planning is only open to nato members. so as long as sweden is outside nato, that means that nato will not be able to start the actual operational planning of northern europe and even hot enough to finish institute of international affairs. thanks for your time. thank you. aah. systemic rivals or a strategic autonomy or both european commission president was left on the line as traveling to china this week, just days after laying out

a framework to rebalance the ease relations with beijing shall be joining frances president, emmanuel mccomb for talks expected to focus on trade and the war and ukraine. the joint visit meant to underscore european unity comes at a time when the east main partner, the united states has been seeking to isolate china. he went german chancellor, olaf sholtes, and he went shar michelle of the european council. and he went spanish prime minister pedro sanchez, all made the pilgrimage to beijing shuttle diplomacy with a major player on the world stage. but not just diplomacy. they all went to talk trade. that trading relationship is huge. you countries exported $240000000000.00 worth of goods to china last year. much of that was in high margin items like heavy machinery, energy infrastructure and cars. european countries also don't want to be

side large as china's international influence groves. beijing is asserting itself, not just in asia, but in africa and the middle east. setting the stage for a superpower rivalry with the us chinese communist parties. clearly, a goal is a systemic change of the international order. with china at its center. we have seen it with china's positions in multilateral bodies which show its determination to promote an alternative vision of the world order closer to home. europeans want china to help rain in russian aggression against ukraine. china is russia, economic lifeline. and at the end of march chinese president, she's in king, made a high profile visit to moscow. spain has pressed she to meet with his ukranian counterpart as well, so far to no avail. others want to prod beijing harder. oh,

china continues to interact with proteins. war will be a determining factor for you. china relations going follow it as a permanent member of the security council, china has a responsibility to safeguard the principles and values that lie at the heart of the un charter. and china has a responsibility to play a constructive role in advantages and bouncing a just peace. beijing has been tight lipped about russia's war, aside from releasing a 12 point piece plan that was dismissed by the west is overly vague and too easy on moscow. the 1st point called for nations to respect territorial integrity and sovereignty,

but made no specific demands on russia in regards to its invasion of its neighbor. so far, europe doesn't have much to show for its attempts to influence beijing. european leaders might ask themselves how much more credibility to invest without alienating the u. s. a traditional ally that is doing all it can to isolate china. thank you. and jack perry joins me now for more from brussels. jack, well, china's actions over ukraine really determine the eas, attitudes, largest trading partner. yes, to be question nicole. when asked live on the line, the european commission president outline did not speech her plan. she said that it was due to d risk not to decouple from china. that's the plant bearing in mind that you m exports into china remains to about 9 percent of the whole trading relationship that the you has and 20 percent of everything that you imports comes from china. specifically, things like lithium, really important in batteries, which is

a priority issue for the use green transition, 97 percent of the use that the him comes from china. having said that, the european union officials, the i've spoken to people from the member states of the you that are watching this visit by a sort of on the line and a manual. but macro closely said that that speech did broadly distill what the european union's overarching position is that they want to keep the relationship with china. but the china has to do more, a must play a bigger role in trying to get russia to end the war. and ukraine, how much weight do these words have though, if they're followed by a state visit, joined by dozens of business representatives hoping to strike 1000000000 dollar deal? yeah, this is the really big question. we had the, the outline of all of the people in the delegation and in the, in the sort of entourage that are going behind with a manual micron, 53 business leaders from france are going along with him. and that was the criticism that was really heavily leveled at the german chancellor law shows when he recently visited china,

that this was all about business. we've heard human rights charities across europe in the world saying that europe isn't using it's leverage against china to try and look into things like the place of the weakness and changing, and other human rights issues. also to put leverage on china regarding the issue of taiwan as well. the lithuanian foreign minister has been tweeting today saying that the risking is just a simple, a short term strategy. a quick fix to deal with the relationship with china. bearing might, his country put a de facto embassy in taipei in taiwan and has received a barrage of criticism and sort of a trading fries from the chinese and had a downgrading of diplomatic relations. so that's one of you members state is facing sort of the, the full force of chinese, you know, unpleasant actions in the wake of something they've done. so there is a lot of pressure on what of on the line and one manual micron going to do as we say, the thing a big business i'll delegation. they've made some strong statements here in europe

. how hard will they go when they meet with shipping? in asia, well, we have a couple of seconds left, but the you would like to see china take a step back from its no limits, friendship with russia, with so many liter showing that their economies need china. what is their leverage if they have any at all at this point most, that is the trading relationship because well, china, well the eas, rely on china. china is also relying on your for the import export relationship as well. i spoke to a couple of experts. one said the, the most important thing now is that your opinion leaders get their message straight. the string of european needed that have been traipsing through beijing may have been giving incoherent and mixed messages. and i think that's what micron and bonded line will try to do show a unified european face. and that's our time jack parent, thank you so much and found myself on the entire team here on the day. thank you so much for spending parts of your day with

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