mr. cruz? mr. daines? ms. duckworth? mr. durbin? ms. ernst? mr. federman? mrs. fisher? ms. gillibrand? mrs. graham? mr. grassley? mr. hagerty? ms. athens? ? mr. hawley? mr. heinrich? mr. hickenlooper? ms. hirono? mr. hoeven? ms. hyde-smith? mr. johnson? mr. kaine? mr. kelly? mr. kennedy? mr. king? ms. klobuchar? mr. lankford? mr. lee? mr. lujan? ms. lummis? mr. manchin? mr. markey? mr. marshall? mr. mcconnell? mr. menendez? mr. merkley? mr. marion? mr. mullin? ms. murkowski? mr. murphy? mrs. murray? mr. also? mr. padilla? mr. paul? mr. peters? mr. reed? mr. ricketts? mr. risk? mr. romney? mr. rosen? mr. rounds? mr. rubio? mr. sanders? mr. shots? mr. smit? mr. schumer? mr. scott of florida? mr. scott of south carolina? mrs. shaheen? ms. sinema? ms. smith? ms. domino? mr. sullivan? mr. tester? mr. thune? mr. tillis? mr. tuberville? mr. van hollen's? mr. vance? mr. warner? mr. warnock? ms. warren? mr. welch? mr. whitehouse? mr. wicker? mr. wyden? mr. young? >> we are waiting for the vinyl vote count, the republican of louisiana to adjourn the impeachment trial for nearly two w

crapo, mr. cruz, mr. daines, ms. duckworth, mr. durbin, ms. ernst,al mr. fetterman mrs. fischer, mrs. jill the brand, mr. graham, mr. grassley, mr. hagerty, ms. hassan, mr. hawley, mr. heinrich, mr. hickenlooper, mr. ono, mr. hoeven, ms. hyde smith, mr. johnson, mr. kaine, mr. kelly, district kennedy, mr. ms. klobuchar, mr. lankford, mr, mr. manchin, mr. markey, mr. marshall,. >> we are currently in a roll call vote. voting on senator ted cruz republican of texas his emotion to proceed to a close session to considersi senate majority leadr chuck schumer's motion the impeachment articles are unconstitutional deciding whether to go to close session and after that we expect senate majority leader chuck schumer to continue with his push to make this a speedy trial. we are here on cspan2 watching live. >> mr. rounds, mr. rubio, mr. sanders, mr. schatz, mr. schmidt, mr. schumer, mr. scott of florida, mr. scott of south carolina, mrs. shaheen, mrs. sinema, mrs. smith, ms. stabenow, mr. sullivan, mr. tester, mr. thune, mr. tillis, mr. tober bill, mr. ben holland, mr. vance, mr.

the clerk: mr. cruz, no. mr. lee, no. the clerk: mr. cardin, aye. vote: yeah >> the house a reauthorization bill and has a lot of problems more problems than a macbook not are the bills reported reforms mostly fake and when they're not fake they're woefully inadequate but the bill itself will will and there is one thing standing and becoming law in between where the bill stands now she's in it could be soon if we enacted without an amendment that the united states senate. under article one section seven the same bill has to pass both houses before it can be presented to the president for acquiescence. recess as amended by the amendment would allow the government with a huge range of ordinary u.s. businesses and individuals and other organizations exempting only honest workman of entities including hotels, library's and restaurants to assist in the united states government and spying on american citizens. currently the government conducts pfizer 702 surveillance with the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers or ecs p, his

mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. sf sf coons, grassley, king, murray, smith and whitehouse. senators voting in the negative -- crapo, paul, scott of s

mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. the clerk: mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. the clerk: mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. the clerk: ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. the clerk: ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. the clerk: mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. the clerk: ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. the clerk: ms. lummis. mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. the clerk: mr. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. . the clerk: mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. the clerk: mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. the clerk: mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. the clerk: ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. the clerk: mr. schatz. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. the clerk: ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. the clerk: mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. the clerk: mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. war

crapo, mr. cruz, mr. daines, ms. duckworth. mr. durbin, ms. ernst, mr. fetterman, missus fischer. mrs. gillibrand, mr. graham, mr. ms. hassan, mr. hawley, mr. heinrich, mr. hickenlooper. ms. sharon oh, mr. hoeven, ms. hyde smith, mr. johnson. mr. kaine, mr. kelly, mr. kennedy, mr. king. mr. klobuchar, mr. lankford, mr. ms. lummis, mr. manchin, mr. markey, mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell, mr. menendez, mr mr. mullin, ms. murkowski. mr. murphy, mrs. murray. mr. all soft, mr. padilla, mr. paul, mr. petersmr. romney. mr. rounds, mr. rubio, mr. sandersmr. schatz, mr. schmitz, mr. schumer, mr. scott of floridamr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen, ms. sinema, ms. smith. mrs. stabenow, mr. sullivan, mr. mr. tillis, mr. taber bill, mr. van hollen, mr. vance. mr. warner, mr. warnock, ms. warren, mr. welch. mr. whitehouse, mr. wicker, mr. wyden, mr. young. majority leaders recognize. ask any senator is not in the senate chamber at the time the meoath was administered to the other senators will make the facts are known to the chairs of the oath may be administered as soon as possible to the

fellow, he went to princeton and harvard law school, me must have learned economics, where are you mr. cruz? there you are, i want to see him, is he good, there senatorred to cruz. ted cruz. >> larry how are you. larry: in all seriousness, i found my cpi sheet. this is the third month in a row as you problem know -- probably know where inflation of hotter than wall street expected, numbers have jumped 4. 5% annual rate for last 3 months, and the other number, since january of 2021, during the biden tenure, the consumer price index level is up 19.4%. that is a very big number. and if i annualize this over 38 months 6.1%. that would be highest since early 1980s, only difference is that in early 1980s, ronald reagan was bringing inflation down from 15%. right now, inflation which had come down a bit on year-to-year change is go back up. and meanwhile, working folks are suffering declining real wages both hourly earnings and weakly earnings are down -- weekly earnings are down, what do you make, there is a political take as well. >> well these are terrible numbers for joe biden, they are terrib

mr. cruz: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: madam president, there are times when the eyes of history are upon the united states senate. this is one of those times. we are facing today an existential crisis at our southern border. it is qualitatively different than anything we have ever faced at our southern border in the history of our nation. a few moments ago the senator from illinois acknowledged the border was broken, although he acknowledged it in a classic washington way of using the passive voice, the border is broken, that is designed to hide and obscure who broke the border. he is correct that the border is broken, but it was broken deliberately by the president of the united states, joe biden, by the vice president of the united states, kamala harris, by the secretary of homeland security, alejandro mayorkas, and by every single senate democrat who repeatedly have rubber-stamped and embraced this open-border policy. the senator from illinois s

mr. cruz, no. mr. rounds, aye. the clerk: mrs. murray, aye. the clerk: mr. cramer, no. mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. markey, aye. ms. baldwin, aye. the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith, no. the clerk: mr. schmitt, no. the clerk: mr. risch, no. mr. vance, no. the clerk: ms. duckworth, aye. the clerk: mr. casey, aye. the clerk: mr. boozman, no. mr. hoeven, no. mr. wyden, aye. ms. rosen, aye. mr. reed, aye. mr. bennet, aye. the clerk: mr. warner, aye. the clerk: mr. welch, aye. the clerk: mr. graham, aye. the clerk: mr. mullin, no. the clerk: mr. kelly, aye. the clerk: mr. warnock, aye. mr. merkley, aye. the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, aye. the clerk: mr. booker, aye. the presiding officer: the ayes are 589, the nays are 42. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination o. the clerk: the judiciary. robert j. white of michigan to be united states district judge for the eastern district of michigan. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until 2:15 p.m. president biden and first ladym. build biden didn't prime minister c-span.org spent now motivat

mr. cruz. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. the clerk: mr. hawley mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. the clerk: mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. the clerk: mr. manchin. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mcconnell. mr. menendez. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. & mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. the clerk: mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. romney. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. the clerk: mr. schmitt. vote: mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. ms. sinema. ms. smith. ms. stabenow. mr. sullivan. mr. tester. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators

crapo, mr. cruz, mr. daines, mrs. duckworth, mr. durbin, ms. ernest, mr. fetterman, mrs. fischer, mrs. julie brann, mr. graham, mr. grassley, mr. hagerty, ms. hassan, mr. hawley, mr. heinrich, mr. hickenlooper, ms. ms. hirono, mr. hoeven, mr. hyde smith, mr. johnson, mr. kaine, mr. kelly, mr. kennedy, mr. king, ms. klobuchar, mr. lankford, mr. lee, mr. lujan, mr. alanis district of islamists, mr. manchin, mr. markey, mr. marshall, mr. mcconnell, mr. menendez, mr, mr. mullin, ms. murkowski, mr. murphy, mrs. murray, mr. ossoff, mr. padilla, mr. paul, mr. peters, mr. reed, mr. ricketts, mr. risch, mr. romney, ms. rosen, mr. rounds, mr. rubio, mr. sanders, mr. schatz, mr. schmitt, mr. schumer, mr. scott of florida, mr. scott of south carolina, mrs. shaheen, ms. sinema, ms. smith, ms. stabenow, mr. sullivan, mr. tester, mr. thune, mr. tillis, mr. turberville mr. vance mr. warnock, ms. warren, mr. welch, mr. whitehouse, mr. wicker, mr. wyden, mr. young, [roll call vote] >> what are the final results here on the boat to officially end the impeachment trial homeland security secr

where are you, mr. cruz? there you are. i want to see his picture to know that he is good. there is senator ted cruz. >> larry, how are you doing. larry: a good friend of mine, senator ted cruz. in all seriousness, i don't want to make light of these numbers, i finally found my cpi sheet. this is the third month in a row as you probably know inflation was much hotter than wall street expected. the numbers jumped to 4 1/2% at an annual rate for the last three months. i will read you this other number. since january of 2021, so during the biden tenure, the consumer price index level is up 19.4%. that is a very big number and if i annualize that, sir, over the 38 month it is 6.1% at an annualized rate. that would be the highest since the early 1980s. the only difference was, in the early 1980s ronald reagan was bringing inflation down from 15%. >> yep. larry: right now, inflation which had come down a bit on year to year change is going back up again and meanwhile working folks are suffering declining real wages both hourly earnings and weekly earnings are down. what do you mak

mr. cruz, no. mr. coons, aye. mr. braun, no. ms. rosen, aye. mr. booker, aye. the clerk: mr. sanders, no. the clerk: mr. casey, aye. vote: the clerk: mr. van hollen, aye. mr. reed, aye. the clerk: mr. cotton, no. the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 75, the nays are 20. on this vote the yeas are 75, the nays are 20. three fifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn, the point of order fails. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: could away have order? this is an extremely important day in the history of our country and of the free world. they're all watching, waiting to see what we would do. when putin escalated his war against ukraine, i told our colleagues that allies and adversaries alike would pay very close attention to america's response. when iran-backed terrorists invaded the jewish state on october 7 to slaughter innocent israelis, i warned that the world would watch closely for signs that american leadership was actually weakening. for months our friends have watched to see whether america still had the strength that won the cold

the clerk: mr. cruz, aye. the clerk: ms. cantwell, aye. the clerk: mr. mcconnell, aye. the clerk: ms. klobuchar, aye. vote: the clerk: mr. hawley, aye. the presiding officer: the ayes are 96. the nays are 2. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i move to proceed to legislative -- he looked in the other direction. it's not going to happen. don't worry. i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: mrs. capito. mr. cardin. the clerk: ms. baldwin. mr. barrasso. mr. bennet. mrs. blackburn. mr. blumenthal. mr. booker. mr. boozman. mr. braun. mrs. britt. mr. brown. mr. budd. ms. butler. ms. cantwell. mrs. capito. mr. cardin. mr. carper. mr. casey. the clerk: mr. he camed. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. corn

the clerk: mr. cruz, aye. vote: what i rented was dangerous,unjo plunge the mideast into widespread war. i strongly urge the iranian regime to cease their reckless behavior from both its forces and proxies. now, when the attack came, thank god israel was ready. israel is ready because of u.s. ironclad commitment to its security. the night of the attack i was in touch with senior administration officials. who told me with help from the united states, england, france and some arab nations the overwhelming majority of all iranian missiles and drone strikes were successfully intercepted. the damage to israel, thank god was minimal. only one serious casualty was reported. we pray for her recovery. today, above all a breve a sigh of relief for israel. that injuries were minimal. relief the damage was not worse. of course it was no accident israel insured around the attack largely that israel insured around attack would be largely unscathed. on the contrary israel endured because america support for israel's security

we appreciate your time mr. cruz nick today. so there we have it on american congressman proposing a how russian i like solution for the guys that were, although his spokes person claims it was simply a method for though the politician would even make a passing analogy to such a horrific active work. how shocking is that? it is shocking is it's truly shocking is so far beyond the pal as this is a or a rationality. the man is not only a model in the cell is also ignoramus. he doesn't even know that it was in the atomic bombings that force japan to surrender. it was the soviet invasion that took place at midnight on august 8th. and as you go to the official us navy museum here in washington, dc, it says that explicitly has that america's war department operations report in january of 46. the 7 of america is a 5 star ad. was in general's, in 1945, or on the record to any atomic balmy's, or either militarily unnecessary, morally reprehensible or both. you know, new or time out, mcarthur, late, he eisenhower. we're talking about amer

mr. cruz, aye. the clerk: mr. van hollen, no. the clerk: mr. warnock, no. mr. coons, no. the clerk: mr. carper, no. ms. murkowski, aye. the clerk: ms. lummis, aye. the clerk: mr. sullivan, aye. vote: the presiding officer: on this vote the nays are 48 -- on this vote the yeas are 48, the nays are 50. the motion is not agreed to. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion on the house message to accompany h.r. 815 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. schumer: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 815, an act to amend title 38 united states code, and so forth and for other purposes. signed

the clerk: mr. cruz, no. the clerk: mr. cramer, no. the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are 42, and the motion is agreed to. mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i -- we're not in a quorum call, is that correct? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. whitehouse: great. i'm here today for the 31st time in my series on the special interest scheme that captured the united states supreme court. there is an old adage that the best way to show that one stick is crooked is to set a straight stick down next to it. so, today we're going to look at some sticks. supreme court justices are caught over and over receiving enormous gifts, often from people very interested in court proce proceedings, and refusing even to report the gifts as the law requires. the disciplinary process for these justices is virtually nonexistent. not even basic factfinding takes place. so, let's compare the court's dereliction about its own conduct with the straight

mr. cruz. >> aye. >> ms. duckworth. >> no. >> mr. durbin. >> no. >> mr. >> no. >> so just so you know what they're voting on here, you saw ted cruz, that was his motion to go into closed session. you just heard the response from chuck schumer. we gave them the possibility of two and a half hours of debate, 15 different resolutions argue this should be held in public. while they are voting, and we'll continue to follow that. really quickly, julia ainsley, i want to go to you. ted cruz said something that should have a fact check. he said mayorkas presided over the worst criminal invasion in history. fact check that for us. >> reporter: look, how do you define that in legal term, but what we've seen is a very low number of anyone posing a threat who has crossed the boarder and to call it an invasion is a misrepresentation of the facts because the people who cross the border are stopped by customs and border protection, and they're processed. yes, there are some people who come in, they call them got aways in the ports of entry. the majority are processed, v

rubio and mr. cruz and others.stion will be legally does not constitute -- >> jesse: you are saying democrat campaigns don't coordinate with the media to plant stories? >> harold: if you listen, i am saying that. just listen to me once i can. mr. pecker is openly saying, he is laying out a narrative saying they were together, they talked about these things, mr. trump -- none of that was illegal -- he was popular with women in these stories, they were paying for journalism at all that kind of stuff -- that's fine. the question becomes, if you are out peddling stories that you know are not true about other candidates, cannot be perceived as -- >> judge jeanine: who said that? >> harold: that's what they said today, judge. these are just a fact. you can disagree with the analysis -- >> judge jeanine: who said that today? >> harold: the prosecutor. that's what i'm saying. this is the part of the indictment that was not talked about. and this is the question. they are going to be good days and bad days in court beer i'm

mr. trump's republican opponents, including ted cruz. pecker admitting today the enquirer made up a story about cruz's father and the man who assassinated jfk. also testifying his company paid a doorman $30,000 for a completely untrue story about mr. trump fathering a child with his housekeeper so the doorman couldn't take the story elsewhere, trying to save mr. trump and the campaign the potential embarrassment. the day began with the judge taking the defense team to task over mr. trump's posts on social media targeting cohen and stormy daniels. the state seeking to hold mr. trump in criminal contempt for violating the judge's gag order that bars him from attacking trial witnesses. >> so they can talk about me. they can say whatever they want. they can lie. but i'm not allowed to say anything. i would love to say everything that's on my mind. >> reporter: in court, the defense arguing mr. trump should be permitted to respond to political attacks, and the gag order should not cover reposts of someone else. the judge didn't rule today, bu

mr. cruz's line of questioning.forces in the region have interdicted shipping, special envoy lenderking referenced it earlier. interdicted the shipments from iran over to yemen for a number of years running. can you describe briefly and then i'll turn it over to my colleague senator barraso, mr. shapiro. how is the smuggling situation evolved since october 7th and since we forced our forces into the arabian sea? >> thank you senator. the smuggling continues. we know that it continues. i think to get into details to describe exactly what we are seeing, the volume, the routes, the shipments will probably require speaking in a closed session. but because we continue to see those efforts, we have under taken in that sense in particular has been in the lead on this enhanced efforts to identify and then interdict those shipments when we see them. we do communicate with various partner who is could also bring that capability to interdict. we ambassador lenderking and i have worked together in looking at opportunities to st

cruz: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. shapiro, you have worked on iran-related issues throughout this administration. you are now at the defense department. meanwhile, the biden administration has allowed the iranian regime to build up a ghost fleet of tankers which are third country flagged takers. that fleet grew to about 70 vessels at the beginning of the administration to almost 400 tankers today. the iranian regime used that goes fleet to ship over one billion barrels of oil and to make unaccountable tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars. when joe biden came into power, iran was selling roughly 300,000 barrels of oil a day. today, due to the biden administration's appeasement of iran, iran is selling roughly 2 million barrels of oil a day. those billions of dollars went directly to fund terrorism. they went to the houthis, they went to hamas, they went to hezbollah. they pay for the houthis terrorism and for the october 7 atrocities in israel. the biden administration refused to meaningfully enforce our sanctio

. >> thank you very much, mr. cruz. ms. nelson? >> chair klobuchar and members. i'm janai nelson. i'm the director of lds, formerly the naacp legal defense and educational fund. thank you for the opportunity to testify about the state of voting rights for black americans. both on the ground and in the courts, about the urgent need to protect and secure the fundamental freedom to vote. my testimony is informed by lds extensive experience over 80 years, advancing rights for black americans since our founding by thurgood marshall in 1940. and it is also informed by the on the ground election protection work that we must do every election cycle in order to ensure that black voters can cast a ballot and have it counted. last week was the 59th anniversary of bloody sunday when patriots, like genre lewis were brutally beaten in selma, alabama for simply demanding the right to vote. and their courage and action led to the passage of the voting rights act of 1965 and the true start of our multi-racial democracy. we need congress to follow in the steps of those foot soldiers with courage an

and i'm being nice here when i say unsubstantiated stories among them claimed that ted cruz and mr.there's father was linked to jfk his assassination, even the dr. ben carson left a sponge in a patient's brain. now those stories their outrageous and in escaped precisely no one's notice that they were all coincidentally about trump's rawls the prosecution asking, why were you running in the story is about marco rubio and ted cruz? who's and ben carson while pecker's response, after the republican debates, and based on this of some of the other candidates i would receive a call from michael cohen and he would direct me and direct dylan howard. that was pecker's right-hand man. on which candidate and which direction we should go. that's how the problem sas happened. now, stuff like that is bound to grab your attention at the checkout land, the grocery store, let's not forget that prosecutors have got to grab the attention of the jury. they've got to try and prove that trump conspired to interfere the 2016 election and falsified business records to conceal all of it. so follow along wit

mr. ratcliffe or senator cotten or senator cruz. trey: i wish you were the general manager for the dallas cowboys. you do a very good job with the mock draft choices. i want to change to the debate both candidates can't wait to debate, here they're talking about it then i'll ask you something on the other side. >> i don't know if you get a debate your opponent. >> i am somewhere i don't know when. >> i'm happy to do it. >> will do it monday night, tuesday night, wednesday night, thursday night or friday night on national television we are ready just tell me where it will do it at the white house i would be very comfortable actually. >> is a current debate structure is like one separate move from being worthless were picking the leader of the free world and you have to answer questions and 30 seconds. if hugh hewitt were in charge would you change the debate structure and how? >> i will go back to the most successful debate of my adulthood which is when joe lieberman and cheney sat down at a roundtable with one moderator in 2004 thos

mr. rubio, he went after ted cruz they were all sexual scandals. i think there was zero concerned about what was true or not true. they were just having a holhot which makes it kind of poetic justice that he's having to deal with this right now. >> interesting, i know you sketch trump in the e jean carroll defamation trial and his new york civil fraud trial as well. and you say he seems to have lost rank. a lot of his bravado since them, since then, tell us more about trump's demeanor in this courtroom from what you've observed over the past few days? >> i, mean, trump is basically still being treated like royalty. he has a procession that, you know, of secret service who follow him in and all of us are like being tamped down the presses and allowed to stand from their seat, move any move at all when trump is present and we're very restricted by his moves, you know? so where we're suffering a little bit you know, kind of being treated like naughty schoolchildren because they're very, very protective of this man as far as how he's bearing up it's ha

mr. trump and publish negative stories about his opponents. ection exposing a series of headlines about then candidate trump and derogatory comments making baseless claims about his opponents including ted cruz. pecker admitted today and also testifying his company paid a doorman $30,000 for a completely untrue story about mr. trump fathering a child with his housekeeper so the doorman couldn't take the story else where, trying to save mr. trump and the campaign the potential embarrassment. >> that was nbc's laura jarrett with that report. and joining us now is former assistant district attorney in manhattan catherine christian, and also an nbc legal analyst. thank you for joining us. let's just get your reaction to the david pecker testimony on the witness stand yesterday. how does it help the prosecution? >> it's very helpful, and it's not over yet. we haven't really even gotten to karen mcdougal, the playboy model who ami, american media company, which david pecker's company paid $150,000 to. so he is central to the prosecution's case, their theory there's this conspiracy with donald trump and david pecker and michael cohen to suppress negative information about donald trump in order to h

admitting today the enquirer made up a story linking cruz's father to the man who assassinated jfk and a completely untrue story about mr. trump fathering a child with his housekeeper so the doorman couldn't take the story elsewhere. the day began with the judge taking the defense team to task over mr. trump's post on social media. targeting cohen and stormy daniels. the state seeking to hold mr. trump in criminal contempt for violating the judge's gag order. >> so they can talk about me. they can lie. but i'm not allowed today say anything. i would love to say everything that is on my mind. >> reporter: in court, the defense arguing mr. trump should be permitted to respond to political attacks. and the gag order should not cover reposts of someone else. the judge didn't rule today but seemed exasperated telling todd blanche you are losing all credibility with the court. minutes later mr. trump back on truth social falsely writing the judge had taken away his right to free speech. this is a kangaroo court. the trial will not be in session tomorrow but testimony will continue on thursday. with that, let's get smarter wit

cruz. pecker said negative articles, headlines, main images we published on mr. trump's opponents that he would get information from michael cohen and then "the national enquirer" would embellish it from there. when he said we, he said, cohen, was talking about it, i thought he was talking about himself and mr. trump. how important is the salacious inside baseball part of this, as they weave this story? >> well, you want to give a jury, to your point, chris, a peek behind the curtain. the articles didn't happen by chance, that there was a rhyme and a reason for them, and it was orchestrated, not just by mr. pecker, but mr. cohen at mr. trump's direction. not everything in a trial is salacious. not everything in a trial is interesting. in the movies, of course, it always is. in real life, there are parts that are dry, and when you're just perhaps authenticating documents through custodians of record, but this part i would imagine is not dry. it could become dry. you have to be careful. you don't want to linger too long on this one topic. >> but do you want to spri

mr. booker -- >> bill: we will watch how this goes, it's not easy to shut down ted cruz.d a former lawyer who argued in front of the u.s. supreme court. his motion is under review right now. >> sandra: chadha, very clearly when he was informed the senate floor was not open for debate he said that was his intention to change that. chad, your thoughts on what we are watching right now? >> they are not allowed to have debate among senators during an impeachment trial. if you look back at the senate impeachment rules which were agreed to back in the 1980s that is not allowed. the only thing they can do is debate the articles of impeachment in a closed session. we have seen that in recent senate impeachment trials in the last couple of years which is what ted cruz was trying to do to put the senate in a closed session to debate this. again we are at a very unique parliamentary construct right now this court of impeachment and rules are a little bit different. so what they were trying to do is get a vote on putting the senate into that closed session to debate that, but as i al

cruz. he also testified his company paid a doorman $30,000 for completely untrue story about mr. trump fathering a child with his housekeeper, so the doorman couldn't take the story elsewhere, trying to save mr. trump and the campaign, the potential in person -- embarrassment. the state seeking to hold mr. trump in the criminal contempt for violating the judges gag order that bars him from attacking trial witnesses. >> so they can talk about me and say whatever they want, they can live and i'm not allowed to say anything. i'd love to see everything that's on my mind. >> the defense argued that trump should be permitted to respond to political attacks and the gag order should not cover repost of someone else. the judge didn't rule today but seemed exasperated telling the lead defense attorney, you are losing all credibility with the court. minutes later, during a break, mr. trump, back on truth social, falsely writing the judge had taken away his right to free speech. this is a kangaroo court. >> the trial will not be in session tomorrow but testimony will continue on thursday. wi

cruz and hillary clinton. trump's defense lawyers argued that the decision to publish those stories was based on what was best for the magazine. mr. trump denies that he tried to illegally influence the 2016 race by paying to suppress stories about alleged affairs outside court. mr. trump continued to attack the judge. >> i think we have a judge that will never allow this case to be over in a positive way, and he's highly conflicted. the most highly conflicted judge i've ever seen. >> the prosecution claims that mr. trump has repeatedly violated a gag order in this case. the judge is scheduled a hearing on that matter for may 2nd. >> president biden says he's willing to take on donald trump once again on the debate stage. >> i don't know if you're going to debate your your opponent. >> i am somewhere i don't know when i'm happy to debate him, president biden said in an interview with howard stern today that he's willing to engage in a debate. >> until now, the biden campaign had not promised on whether he would participate. donald trump responded on his social media platform, saying he's willing to debate biden, quote, anywhere,

mr. described that process. michael cohen would call me and say we would like you to run a negative article on ted cruz. he would send me information about ted cruz or ben carson or marco rubio. that was the basis of our story and we would embellish it from there. steinglass said you would said we would like to you to run a story on the political opponent. who did you understand we to be referring to? michael cohen always told me he was not part of the campaign so i assumed he was talking to mr. trump. when he said we, i thought he was talking about himself and mr. trump. and the national enquirer were by his own admission influencing the 2016 campaign at the direction of his lawyer. then there was what prosecutors allege was doing behind the scene to help trump's campaign. today prosecutors asked mr. about two negative stories about donald trump. stories that the national enquirer purchased the exclusive rights to and then sat on so the accusations against trump would not come out before the election. a process that is now known publicly as catch and kill. the first of these involved a doorman who alle

pecker admitting that enquirer made up a story linking cruz's father to the man who assassinated jfk. trying to save mrand the campaign the potential embarrassment. the day began with the judge taking the defense team to task about mr. trump's posts on social media. targeting cohen and stormy daniels. the state seeking to hold mr. trump in contempt. >> so they can talk about me, they can lie, but i'm not allowed to say anything. >> reporter: in court the defense arguing that mr. trump should be permitted to respond to political attacks and the gag order should not cover reposts of someone else, the judge didn't rule -- telling lead defense attorney todd blanche you're losing all credibility with the court. minutes later during a break, donald trump back on truth social falsely writing that the judge had taken away his right to free speech. >> nbc's laura jarrett reporting for us there. let's bring in andrew weissman and charles coleman. andrew, the first part of the day was the hearing on the gag order, whether or not donald trump violated the gag order, the d.a.'s office said he's done so ten times. t

back to politics in michigan because mr biden knows he needs 15 electoral votes from there to an reelection. why hasn't he been more forceful on this issue? >> senator cruzelective memory about protests. he's out there raising money to get protesters out of jail while telling and people on our college campuses they don't have the right to peacefully protest the. >> at the quay speaking out at a peaceful protest at the goods the threats. >> we should all speak out right when protest cross a line and he comes violent or when there is hate speech. but 95% of the young people on these campuses are there. they believe there's a fundamental injustice in israel and we should protect their right to peacefully protest. we also have a history of overnight multi- day protests in this country prepare don't think there's anything wrong with protecting the ability of peaceful protests to last beyond a handful of hours. yes there is a point in which these protests will get in the way of the efficient operation of the campus but i'm not criminally offended by the fact some of these protests go on for multiple days. >> shannon: but the threat issue is a real issue. >> an