nbc's yasmin vossoughian is on the ground for us. jim kavanaugh is back with me.ust a little more than an hour since this happened. >> you're right. i think the witnesses reporting that he threw some pamphlets in the air, prior to powering a flammable liquid on himself and lighting himself with a lighter. some of the answers are in those pamphlets. that's his message. that's what he wants the world to know. it may prove to be nonsensical, and won't make sense to anyone, only to him, but largely some of the answers are there, and he may have posted things online or left notes at home as well. i think nypd will have some answers for us, that, you know, he might have been disturbed, but clearly he's suicidal, and he went to this location because this is a spot where he'll get attention for whatever his issue is. he could burn himself up behind a warehouse in newark, and it's not going to make the news. it's not going to be on the news. when he goes to the trump trial, just like going to the front of the white house or the capitol and the supreme court or an embassy,

joining us now from outside the manhattan courthouse, our yasmin vossoughian. also with us, msnbc legal analyst, charles coleman, a former new york prosecutor, and catherine christian, former assistant manhattan district attorney. yasmin, get us up to speed. there was a break. since they came back from that lunch break, what's happening inside the courtroom? >> reporter: they're in voir dire now. steinglass who's one of the attorneys for the people is asking his questions to this potential jury. and then after that, he'll be followed by todd blanche or attorneys for the former president, and they'll get 30 minutes to ask their version of those questions to these potential jurors. i kind of want to read a few exchanges i'm seeing to get a sense of what's happening inside the courtroom. so in regards to one juror saying they follow donald trump on instagram. this is the exchange. do you still currently follow him? i followed him years ago, that is juror. just generally because it was a news item when he put a tweet out, so i was aware of that. have you seen him po

in the meantime, joining us right now is nbc news national correspondent yasmin vossoughian outside that courthouse. she witnessed this whole thing go down. yasmin, you were on air when this fire happened. tell me what you saw and have we learned any more details? >> reporter: it was really unbelievable to see, obviously reporting on the impanelled jury for donald trump, a historic moment in this nation's history, and as i look out of the corner of my eye, i heard an individual yelling that he's on fire, and it was hard to kind of understand what i was seeing with my own eyes. and i want to keep an eye on this press conference and make sure we go to that as soon as they get up and going, but as i looked over, i thought, there's a fire in the middle of that square, and this is a cordoned off area, ana, that is there for protesters and on day one of this trial, of the jury selection process, it was filled with protesters. today there were one or two individuals mulling about in the area throughout the day, and then i understood what i was actually seeing with my own eyes, which was an indi

yasmin vossoughian starts us off. >> reporter: just hours from now, a historic moment for american politics and the country's legal system. opening statements in the criminal trial against donald trump in new york. >> opening statements really just offer a preview of the facts to come. >> reporter: david pecker, former publisher of the "national enquirer," and a trump ally, could be among the first witnesses called. other key witnesses could include adult film star stormy daniels, michael cohen, trump's former fixer, karen mcdougal, an ex-playboy model, hope hicks, trump's former white house communications director, and possibly mr. trump himself. >> are you going to testify? >> yes. >> reporter: the prosecution will make its case to a jury of seven men and five women along with six alternates, alleging that this is a matter of election interference. mr. trump has pled not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment made to stormy daniels. prosecutors say it was made to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter. the payment allegedly happened afte

joining us now, msnbc's yasmin vossoughian outside the courthouse. , 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 they're facing this morning? >> reporter: it's 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 presidential campaign, the trump presidential administration or any other political entity affiliated with mr. trump. it seems as if there's a question to modify that particular question. i do, jose and ana, want to go through some of the questions they'll be asking the potential jurors. 1,500 showing up in the courthouse behind me today in this history-in-the-making trial. for instance,

. >> don't go anywhere, but i want to go to yasmin vossoughian because i understand, is it possible, ctually have a full jury now? >> reporter: we got it, judge juan merchan saying it himself inside the courtroom, s chris. we have our full panel. this is, chris, i feel like an incredibly historic moment if we think about ibit, right? the first former president, ex-president of the united states to be tried criminally in the united states of america. the jury is set. the people in this jury is set. let me take you through kind of the makeup, chris, of this jury so we can kind of remind folks who will be really kind of knowing the future of this president, right? we have on this jury right now seven menig and five women. that will be the jury that will be in the jury box. then amongst the alternates, we have five women and one man. we just added two more alternates to the jury box in the last 20 minutes or so, and a jury has, in fact, been impanelled. let me talk you through some of what these folks do for their vocation. we have a sales worker, an investment banker, an attorney, a secu

there's no case. >> reporter: joining us now, nbc news national correspondent yasmin vossoughian.this trial. donald trump is going to be in court every single day. we cannot overstate the historic nature, the presumptive nominee of the republican party, the former president of the united states in a criminal trial. it is incredible to think about. the thing that i'm going to be watching, and i'll be interested to see what lisa has to say as well, because i know you have her coming up next. michael cohen, the star witness from the prosecution. do you remember the judgment from judge engoron, when it came down, we were reading through the judgment, right, and he talked about the credibility of michael cohen. he addressed that specifically in that judgment. i'm wondering if this jury thinkings the same thing about michael cohen. >> he said just because you've been caught in a lie once, doesn't mean you can't tell the truth in other situations. >> exactly. >> yasmin vossoughian, thank you very much. >>> joining us as promised, msnbc legal correspondent, lisa rubin, i want to talk abou

nbc news correspondent yasmin vossoughian joins us outside this courthouse, and back with us is former federal prosecutors, barbara mcquade and ankush khardori. yasmin, the judge asked potential jurors to raise their hands if they couldn't be impartial. what happened? >> reporter: six raised their hands, six walked out. six more excused as well. so we're at the number of 12 so far that have been excused, this total of 96. i know i'm throwing a lot of numbers at you. let me quickly, ana, you had 96 jurors brought into the courtroom this morning. they filled the jury box with 18, right? so six of those 18 walked away. they now have to refill that jury box with six more to get to that magic 18 number. then they're going to go to the reading of those 42 questions, right? after they read off those 42 questions, a few more will likely be struck, and then that voir dire process, both the prosecution and the defense asking them their own questions. then they go to their separate corners to decide who they want to strike and then it's the causal strikes and the preemptory strikes. one more thin

msnbc's yasmin vossoughian is with us from new york's laguardia airport. ing for travelers there? >> reporter: better than it was in the last couple of days, and i only say that because the weather that we've been dealing with here in new york city, ana. we've been seeing a lot of people in and out of this airport, some people completing their spring break, heading out on spring break, and then of course it's the confluence of folks that are heading to areas in which they want to be in that path of totality for the eclipse. we heard from less of those individuals. we have seen some cancellations or delays as well. around 2,000 or so cancellations domestically so far along with 300 or so delays. we got two cancellations so far and all the ones in yellow were delays. a lot of the folks i've been speaking to so far say they have not yet been affected. however, they are showing up early to the airport just in case, ana. take a listen. >> were you worried at all about delays? >> yes, definitely. this morning i was checking my phone and everything to make sure my

our yasmin vossoughian is joining us now. indicted in this case a little over a year ago, the first criminal charges brought. it will be now the first case to go to trial. how'd we get here? >> you said it, right? three times is not a charm in this week when it comes to appeals, and it hasn't been successful for the former president, but this dates all the way back, ana, to the access hollywood tape released back in 2016. and i think a lot of folks forget that. let's take a look. >> on august 21st, 2018, michael cohen, donald trump's former fixer pled guilty to eight counts in manhattan federal court. cohen alleged in a court of law donald trump directed him to make illegal payments to influence the 2016 election. >> he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign. >> those two women, adult film star stormy daniels and playboy playmate karen mcdougal were at the center of hush money payments by michael cohen ahead of the 2016 election. >> women and eve

nbc's yasmin vossoughian is outside that courthouse, also with us msnbc legal analyst carol lam, a former prosecutor, and joyce vance, a former u.s. attorney. yasmin, kick us off here, what's the latest from inside that courthouse? >> reporter: 22 juror in that case pool going through their questionnaires. two of them already excused, ana, for quotes like this, and i'm going to read them for you. one woman, i have really, really bad anxiety. people have found out where i am. i don't think i'll be able to be completely here and fair. she was excused. another juror, i don't think i can be impartial. i want to be and i have every intention, but after the questions posed to prospective jurors and asking those questions to myself, i don't think that i can be, in fact, impartial. they're currently going through that 42-question questionnaire with all of those potential jurors looking to fill those five alternate seats, ana, so that leaves just 20 jurors in that potential jury pool now, the former president seated in the courtroom as well. he started the day off with his eyes closed. however, wh

. >> nbc news correspondent yasmin vossoughian today reporting on the shocking self emilation of a man outside the trump trial. as it happened, this as the historic trial draws media attention from around the world. >>> also tonight, just a short time ago, judge merchan denied a last-minute appeal by trump and declared to the former president and everyone else in court, we're going to have opening statements on monday morning. this trial is starting. >>> and we begin tonight with our new reality as a country, and in the media, as our first ever criminal trial of a former u.s. president is slated to get under way bright and early monday morning. in the state of new york versus donald trump. the jury of 12 plus six alternates was sworn in this afternoon, much more quickly than anymore anyone expected. but the reality that we're now faced with is my industry, the media, which has struggled with how to cover a former president who fomented an actual insurrection and is running for president again now has to figure out how to cover the absolute spectacle of him being on trial. the historic

nbc's yasmin vossoughian is with us here in studio. what happened in florida that makes the biden campaign so at least mildly optimistic this is in play? >> florida's supreme court deciding 6-1 in favor of keeping the 15-week abortion ban in place. that means in four weeks time, chris, 30 days or so, the six-week ban will also be put into place, that was signed into law by florida governor ron desantis. however, 4-3 the florida supreme court also deciding in favor of putting abortion on the ballot. we well know 7 states that have all seen abortion rights on the ballot have decided in favor of abortion rights. it just so happens the house, congress actually held a hearing on reproductive freedoms down fort lauderdale today. i want to listen to what we heard on the ground there and then i'll talk on the other side. >> after my doctors told me i could not get induced, they said it was because the laws in their hands were tied. we have all struggled with our mental health. even my 4-year-old has had to see a therapist to understand, you kn

days later, he was arraigned. >> our yasmin vossoughian with that reporting. thanks.k with us now, paul butler, and joining us someone you just saw in that piece, "new york times" investigative reporter suzanne craig. welcome, suzanne. paul, let me start with you and your legal expertise. we just went through the key players in this case. we mentioned some of the witnesses that could be called by the prosecution. who could have the biggest impact? >> i think hope hicks could be a star witness as she was involved in calls with michael cohen and donald trump and ami. she doesn't have michael cohen's baggage. it's just the opposite. she was team trump all the way during the period that's the subject of this indictment, so that makes her especially credible, and she will be able to connect the hush money payments to trump's presidential ambitions. >> hope hicks, ronna graph, michael cohen, serious trump insiders or former insiders in the case of michael cohen, suzanne. what's your sense of the trump team's mind-set and how concerned trump might be about some of these peop

msnbc's yasmin vossoughian is among the many people standing by outside the courthouse.re following our google doc with the reporting coming from inside. what are you following right now? >> reporter: so, we have got a lot of folks that are being excused so far today, ana, because they got right into this thing. so far this morning we have four potential jurors that were excused, three of them, vaughn was talking about a little bit earlier was because of their inability to be impartial. two more also saying it was because of their inability to be impartial. it seems like that one question of do you have political beliefs that you feel like will get in the way of serving as a juror in this trial, and that is the question that is kind of stumping some folks, which is interesting, though, by the way, considering that merchan asked everybody at the beginning of this selection process as to whether or not they can be impartial and if they could not be and raised their hands and they would have been excused. now some of them are saying they cannot be impartial. one more juror,

yasmin vossoughian joins us with more. two different rulings here.does this mean for abortion access in florida? >> 6-1 in favor of maintaining the 15-week abortion ban, which means ron desantis, the governor's six-week abortion ban, which he signed into law, takes effect in 30 days or so. florida is not going to be a safe haven for the south that it has been historically, especially under the time of roe in other states that were deserts for abortion clinics, where there was only one abortion clinic in those states. but then there was another decision, which is now bringing abortion to the ballot. 4-3 in favor of that. which means in november, floridians will head to the polls to decide whether or not abortion rights should be in the florida state constitution. i want to take a listen to some of the reaction that we got from on the ground in florida and how people are feeling about this. and then we'll talk. >> honestly, i feel like women should not be told what to do, to be honest. so, i think the government needs to stay out of it. >> i believe ev

nbc's yasmin vossoughian takes us through the key figures. >> the trump hush money case is the firstcriminal cases to move to trial. former president donald trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying records in the first degree. trump is not the only one involved. michael cohen will likely be the star witness in the hush money case. he was donald trump's lawyer and fixer, and on august 21st, 2018, he pled guilty to eight counts in manhattan federal court. and cohen alleged in a court of law donald trump directed him to make illegal payments to influence the 2016 election. which trump denies. >> i did it at the direction of and for the benefit of donald j. trump. >> cohen was sentenced to three years in prison. he alleges he orchestrated payoffs two two women who said they had affairs with donald trump, including stormy daniels. he says he sought reimbursement from trump and even recorded one of their conversations about it. the fbi seized that tape during a raid on cohen's residence and office. cohen's attorney released it to the media. adult film actress, stormy daniels, also kn

yasmin vossoughian, nbc news. >>> be sure to tune in for our special coverage in the first of former. it starts monday morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern here on msnbc. >>> up next, we just heard for the first time from the family of an ohio teen who was shot while holding a toy gun. what they're demanding now as police continue their investigation. >>> plus, an nbc exclusive with the missouri teen who survived being shot in the head after he rang the wrong doorbell, the trauma he still feels and how he's trying to chart a path forward next. he's trying to chart a path forward next the totally torqued-out crossover. it's payback time. all these years, you've worked hard. you fixed it. you looked after it. maybe it's time for your home to start taking care of you? we've invested in our home, we've worked on it, we had a whole lot of equity just sitting there, you paid down the mortgage, invested in your home. i guess, you could say, your home owes you. if you're 62 or older and own your home, learn how you can access a portion of your home equity to give you cash. a reverse mortgage can put

it is going to be a lot of back and forth throughout the duration of this trial. >> yasmin vossoughian, barbara mcquaid, david henderson, thank you. >>> back to capitol hill, breaking news there. ali vitali. what do we know? >> reporter: this rule has now passed in the fashion that we expected it to. but certainly in a considerably rare way, which seems to be the word of the day here because of the way that the house is conducting its business. the final vote total is 316-94. 165 democrats and 151 republicans supported the rule. what makes this rare is not the bipartisan nature of it. though it is not typical to see democrats join with republicans to pass rules in bipartisan fashion. what makes this notable is the fact that there are more democrats from the minority party than members of the republican majority voting to put this eventual vote on the floor on saturday. now, we might hear from speaker johnson in the next few minutes, certainly that's something that we're keeping an eye out for because the other thing that is now going to be very much alive is the threat of a motion to v

nbc's yasmin vossoughian is at laguardia airport for us. how are things looking? >> reporter: let me show you, chris. i'm going to walk this way to show you exactly what's going on here. let's talk numbers, right. reporting 50,000 travelers going told. 48,000 or so tomorrow, kind of a peak for the season, the confluence of what we're talking about, a lot of spring breakers coming home from spring break and/or folks heading out for the eclipse on monday. i know you're headed there as well. take a look at the board here. you've got delays, some cancellations as well. domestically, country wide. we're looking at about 2,000 or so delays, about 300 cancellations so far. a lot of folks, chris, that are choosing to travel today tell me it's because the end of this spring break is this weekend, better to travel on a thursday and prices may be a little lower. if you go online and look for a plane ticket right about now, those prices are sky high. take a listen. >> the closer we get to this coming weekend, the more expensive it got. that's one of the reasons we decided to

nbc's yasmin vossoughian is outside the courthouse as well. yasmin, give us a sense of what is going on inside. i know you've been closely following what people have been writing from inside. what do we know about donald trump's demeanor and any sense of the vibe inside the courthouse on day two? >> reporter: i think when people showed up today, what we're hearing from inside is that it felt like kind of the first day of school jitters. i think a lot of potential jurors that were showing up today kind of knew the gravity and understood what was going to -- it was going to take to sit on this jury and were quite nervous to start this second day and understanding what it would take away from their lives, but also the potential of what it could mean for the rest of the country. when it comes to the former president of the united states and his demeanor, chris, inside this courtroom, lisa rubin described him as kind of leaning to the left, arms crossed, and eyes closed on and off all throughout the morning. you have to imagine, i mean, this is a pr

here is nbc's yasmin vossoughian. >> reporter: just hours from now opening statements in a criminal trial against donald trump in new york. >> opening statements really offer a preview of the facts to come. >> reporter: david perk, a trump ally and former publisher of the national enquirer among those called. other key witnesses could include adult film star stormy daniels, michael cohen, trump's former fixer, karen mcdougal, an ex-playboy model, hope hicks, trump's former white house communications director, and possibly mr. trump himself. >> are you going to testify? >> yes. >> reporter: the prosecution will make its case to a jury of seven men and five women along with six alternates, alleging that this is a matter of election interference. >> how are you feeling this morning? >> reporter: mr. trump has met nod guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, related to a $130,000 payment made to stormy daniels. prosecutors say it was made to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter. the payment allegedly happened after his "access hollywood" tape leaked during the 2016 camp

joining us, msnbc's yasmin vossoughian outside the courthouse. temidayo aganga-williams, a former prosecuor and defense attorney caroline pull lisi. >> yasmin, jury instrekss under way right now. what's going on? >> jury instructions under way ahead of opening statements, jose and ana. 45 minutes for the prosecution, 25 minutes for the defense. they're doing that because there's going to be a lot of details, much of a timeline, a lot of dates and they don't want to overwhelm the jury in the opening statements process. judgments made from the bench that i want to talk about with you quickly, first, when it comes to the -- evidence if, in fact, the former president decides to testify, judge juan merchan is allowing six various cases to be decided if donald trump it was. talking about the trump payroll judgment, the trump civil fraud -- gag orders as well along with e. jean carol assault case and the defamation case. -- a couple more things happening in court this morning. the former president spoke about how challenging it is to campaign. he said he

nbc news national correspondent yasmin vossoughian is outside court. ding as to why the one was, in fact, dismissed, as we're kind of doing the math here, chris, because i have been looking at the timing of this whole thing, right, and we talk a lot about how this jury selection is going to take some time. they started at 2:34 p.m. that was when judge merchan brought in the first set of jurors out of the first 18, right, into the jury box. it took about 30 minutes to read the rules restrictions for becoming a member of this jury. and he's going to have to do that, by the way, for every set of jurors that comes through. we have 15 that are waiting and left. it's 3:45 right now. court is supposed to adjourn at 4:00 p.m. they're in a short recess, and they've got to get to the lucky number 12, obviously with alternates as well, with 1,500 here today as potential jurors in a pool of 6,000 that we're looking at for the week. i'm trying to drill down as to why that one juror was dismissed. we went from 34 to 33. i want to go through some of the questions we'r

my colleague, yasmin vossoughian, is with me in studio.ig question has always been will these trials impact what happens in november. we don't know the answer to that with this trial starting on monday, but it's been a long time coming. >> it has been a long time coming, and we cannot stress enough the historic nature, the former president of the united states, the presumptive nominee for the republican party, standing trial for criminal charges. that is a wow moment in this nation's history, and then the kind of tangled web that it took to get here, right, the handover from cy vance to alvin bragg, retired as a manhattan d.a., dating all the way back, chris, as we remember to 2016 and the "access hollywood" tape, which is really where it began. let's watch. >> on august 21st, 2018, michael cohen, donald trump's former fixer pled guilty to eight counts in manhattan federal court. cohen alleged in a court of law donald trump directed him to make illegal payments to influence the 2016 election. >> he worked to pay money to silence two women

yasmin vossoughian is joining us from wilmington, north carolina , which i learned it actually exist. i thought it was delaware. anyway -- geography lesson today. you have covered the jury selection all week long but you are getting it on both fronts. on tuesday, the judge in the trump case will preside over hearing about the gag order. how closely do you think prosecutors will watch what the former presence is tonight at the rally? >> reporter: barry. i think many of the incidents that attorneys for the people have already cited when it came to violations in the gag order were about trump social post that he put out and/or things he said at campaign rallies. they were cited in front of juan merchan. that is why they have set the date of the hearing on tuesday to go over the violations and see what judge juan merchan says. if you find season held in contempt of court because he violated the gag order. i imagine and assume that prosecutors in the case will watch the rally incredibly close. you think about the timing of this. this is the first campaign rally happening after this trial i

joining us now, nbc news correspondent yasmin vossoughian, danny cevallos, criminal defense attorney and msnbc legal analyst and rebecca roy fee, a law professor at new york law school. so, yasmin, a lot going on in that courtroom today. >> reporter: a lot of folks are dismissed so far today, 96 walked in, 57 walked out after the two questions that were read by judge juan merchan, can you be impartial, many folks raised their hands, they walked out. do you have conflicts with this trial, can you sit it out or can you wait it out, for the next six to seven weeks? many of them walked out as well. we're at 57 having walked out. that's way more than half. i actually had the opportunity just a couple of minutes ago to speak to a potential juror who in fact raised her hand when asked can you be impartial. and she said no. and subsequently walked out. take a listen to what she had to say. >> when did you realize that this was a trial involving the ex-president of the united states, donald trump? >> we were here on tuesday from 9:00 a.m., but we realized that it is about this case around 4:00

that includes one woman who spoke to my colleague yasmin vossoughian who's not sure it's even possiblepick an impartial jury. >> i'm not sure about that. >> really? why? >> you know, everybody has biases and, you know, stereotypes in their mind. so you have to be a really, you know, deep and fair person, which is very hard to do, right? >> yeah. >> in order to serve as a juror. i hope they do. i mean, this is justice, right? i hope they do, yeah. >> i want to bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard who is outside the courthouse. danny cevallos is a criminal district attorney and an msnbc legal analyst. with me here in studio, carol lam, former superior court judge, former u.s. attorney and an msnbc legal analyst. get us up to speed, vaughn, what's the latest from inside the courtroom? >> reporter: and chris, we expect them to be heading in to lunch break here soon, that is after two jurors have been dismissed and excused so far today. those were individuals who had already been seated, already been sworn, took an oath to go and be a part of this jury for donald trump, but what we saw was juror

i'm yasmin vossoughian in for chris janicing in new york city. a historic moment, the first parents in the united states to be held criminally responsible for their child's mass shooting, each sentenced to 10 to 15 years for involuntary manslaughter. the latest from court, including emotional testimony from the families of students killed and what they're still asking for. >>> also this hour, a critical decision on the future of abortion access in one state, that could change the scope of access for millions of women across this country. the arizona supreme court deciding whether to keep a ban on nearly all abortions after 15 weeks or revert back to a civil war era almost total ban. >>> and legal pressure for donald trump, growing by the minute, as his criminal trial gets closer to becoming a reality. despite nearly daily attempts to delay, the former president is on track to face his first criminal trial on monday. we begin with the historic sentencing in michigan where a judge sentenced both parents of to 10 to 15 years in prison. james and jen

we begin right here in new york city with nbc's yasmin vossoughian who is outside the courthouse for us. so so many twists and turns already with jury selection at the former president's trial. it's about to pick up again any minute now. what's ahead? >> reporter: voir dire is next, chris. essentially they got the 18 jurors in the box. they have heard the answers to their 42 questions on the questionnaire. next step is we're going to hear from the prosecution and defense, asking them some very specific questions about some of the things that they said. i want to read for you some of what we heard when it came to the question of impartiality and can they put their opinions aside. from one juror we heard, i do have opinions but i firmly believe i can be fair and impartial. and leave those outside of the facts of this case. another juror said, i do believe in innocent until proven guilty. they're going to be digging into statements like this from potential jurors. we started off with 96 potential jurors walking into the room, half come them subsequently walking out after the crucial que

i would also note, jason, another kind of component happening here is when our colleague yasmin vossoughianthose excused jurors, she said he looked less orange in person. now, i beg to differ. i don't know if he looks less orange, but the reality is she's seeing a man that is forced to have to sit in court, and you take away all of the bluster, you take away all of this idea in the public and the media about what a big guy this guy is, and he's just this old dude sitting there looking orange and tired. what it does, though, is i think it recalibrates everybody from the judge to the lawyers to the jurors to understand, he's just a guy. he's not a deity. he's not a cult leader. he's just a man who has violated the laws and just like all of us who violate a law, there's going to be consequences. when he violates a gag order, the judge is going to say you're not learning your lesson and i can put you in jail, or i can take you out of court, i can make you sit privately somewhere else. i won't let you have access to a phone. there's remedies and we'll see what happens on tuesday. >> i can imagin

. >> my colleague, yasmin vossoughian is on the campaign trail and is covering the trial from the manhattan courthouse. welcome. walk us through yesterday's dramatic developments and what we can expect next week. >> reporter: i'm at the rally right now. yesterday was incredibly historic. they empaneled 12 jurors and 6 alternates as well. but outside of the courthouse, that's where all of the drama unfolded. this morning, the full jury with 12 people and 6 alternates officially sworn in to hear the hush money trial of donald trump but with a chaotic and disturbing scene friday just across the scene from the courthouse putting everyone on edge. video capturing a man setting himself on fire in the park area reserved for protesters. bright orange flames engulfing his body shortly after. >> i heard someone scream he's going to set himself on fire. i turn around and i saw a man dump liquid on himself and he immediately lit himself with a lighter. >> police were able to extinguish the blaze in several minutes before an ambulance took him to the hospital in critical condition. his motive was unclea

i'm yasmin vossoughian in for chris jansing live here at msnbc headquarters in new york city. cue the dark side of the moon. the day is finally here. the first images of the eclipse that's got the whole country staring at the sky just a couple of minutes away, by the way. millions, they're betting on blue skies, but big parts of the country may wind up with a washout or at least some cloudy skies. al roker standing by for us with the very latest on the forecast. >>> plus, donald trump ends months of mixed signals by resisting calls for a national abortion ban. instead insisting states should make the call. how will that play with critical female workers, with abortion being one of president biden's biggest political advantages? at the same time the president headed to wisconsin to make his pitch to younger voters that he needs. we're going to explain what he's going to say coming up. >>> and it smells like death. the words of one palestinian mother returning to the devastated ruins of khan younis after israeli troops pulled out. but are they clearing the way for a cease-fire o

. >> nbc's yasmin vossoughian has been outside the court.re when the drama played out yesterday. >> it was history in the making. a jury impanelled and set for the criminal trial of a former president but outside tragedy at the very same time. this morning with full jury with 12 people and 6 alternates officially sworn in to hear the hush money trial of former-president donald trump. with a chaotic and disturbing scene friday across the street from the courthouse putting everyone on edge. video capturing a man setting himself on fire in the park area reserved for protesters. bright orange flames engulfing his body shortly after. >> i heard someone scream, "he's going to set himself on fire." i turned around and i saw a man dump liquid on himself, on his face, and he immediately lit himself with a lighter or something. >> reporter: police were able to extinguish the blaze after several minutes before an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital in critical condition. his exact motivation still unclear. he later died from his injuries. pol

let's bring in nbc news correspondent yasmin vossoughian live outside the courthouse in manhattan.rg. amanda carpenter is back with us. tell us what's happening inside the courtroom. >> reporter: this is exactly what we predicted would happen. juror number nine came in, had some concerns about media attention with the trial. it's something we predicted could happen after two days of thinking about the gravity of this case, the nature of the case, the attention surrounding the case as well. they went into the judge's chambers, both the prosecution and the defense, to have a private conversation with juror number nine as the former president of the united states sat at the defense table all by himself because he said he didn't want to be involved in any of the side-bar conversations. as they emerged from the judge's chambers, it seems as if juror number nine is remaining inside this jury pool. it's five women, seven men with six alternates. one other thing i want to add, it seems as if the trial will go into recess at 12:30 this afternoon because a juror has a dental emergency they h