the former manhattan district attorney cyrus vance joins me next. istrict attorney cyrus vance joins me next these underwear are period-proof. and sneeze-proof. and sweat-proof. they're leakproof underwear, from knix. comfy & confident protection that feel just like normal. with so many styles and colors to choose from, switching is easy at knix.com nexium 24hr prevents heartburn acid before it begins. get all-day and all-night heartburn acid prevention with just one pill a day. choose acid prevention. choose nexium. >>> welcome back. president biden's weeks-long trial for falsifying business records was not his first legal battle with the manhattan district attorney. our next guest spent more than two years investigating the business dealings of the trump organization before prosecuting the company and its chief financial officer, but not the former president, and joining me now is the former three-term manhattan district attorney cyrus vance. cy, welcome back to "meet the press." >> good morning and thank you for having me back. >> donald trump's

not the former president and joining me now is the former three-term manhattan district attorney cyrus vance"meet the press." >> good morning and thank you for having me back. >> donald trump's campaign, as you have seen is leaning into the idea of this untested legal theory behind the case that escalated, state misdemeanors into state felonies based among other things a violation of federal lech law. prosecutors, this is from eli hoenig, the former felony prosecutor, prosecutors got their man for now at least and they contorted the law to snare their prey. you chose not to bring these charges against donald trump when you were d.a. how much did this being an unprecedented legal novel theory weigh into your decision making? >> well, we did investigate the former president on a range of issues. i ultimately believed that our investigation was best focused on financial crimes. first, we had a lot of time spent lost during covid where our investigations were interrupted. we had to go to the supreme court twice to ultimately have the highest court in the country rule that the president's tax ret

cyrus vance junior when trump was still the president. this the biden doj started this is not true.started years ago. the southern district of new york also was investigating him but cyrus vance junior started this investigation and alvin bragg inherited it, and there was -- i will say kerfuffle, when he came in. >> there was concern about whether or not he would continue the investigation which goes to the point i was trying to make. he is looking at the work and he reassessed --'s. he said let's take a break. first of all he was the new person so why should he suddenly did whatever the old person did? i work for the old person and he was a good old person, but he took his time and evaluated and signed some very great career prosecutors. they keep talking about this biden doj guy, who i never met. and he may have worked there, but he was one of six members of the trial team. and who really were the leaders -- no offense to that person -- joshua steinglass who did the summation. he also was the one who did the direct examination of, who i think was the main witness, mr. pecker . sus

cyrus vance, thank you for your insights.red a lot of questions, but a big one remains, what happens next? i spoke to our north america correspondent, who had the answers to some of your most pressing questions. the first, can mr trump still run for president as a convicted felon? yes, surprisingly he can. there is nothing in the us constitution that prevents us citizens with a criminal record or in prison from running for the presidency. the second question, what sentence could he face onjuly ii? it's possible he could go to prison, but most legal experts seem to think that a fine might be more likely. it's a low level state crime, he is a first—time offender, all of that will be taken into account. but mr trump did behave pretty badly during the trial. he repeatedly violated a gag order, so perhaps that could affect the judge's decision. we will have to wait forjuly ii. could donald trump pardon himself? no, presidents can only issue pardons for people convicted on federal crimes, this was a state crime. but presidents pard

and meet the press this morning, former manhattan da cyrus vance jr said he does not think the former president will get jail time. if you were still da, would you recommend jail time? well, i'm not going to answer that question, because that's really just for mr. bragg to decide. if you ask me, do i think the court will impose jail in this case? as i said to you, i think yesterday, i think not, but ultimately, that's judge burchard's decision. and with the guilty verdict in trump's case still reverberating through the presidential race, president biden's only surviving son, hunter, is facing potential jail time for federal gun charges. hunter biden's criminal trial opens tomorrow in delaware. he was indicted in september. three counts involving possession of a gun while using narcotics. he has pleaded not guilty. we're going to go back to that breaking news. we're following in san jose. our sky ranger overhead, the neighborhood on quimby road in southeast san jose. this isn't far from lake cunningham, and it appears right here. multiple homes on fire. you can see flames right there s

. >> so cyrus vance was the previous d.a., declined this case. >> jon: okay. >> alvin bragg brought aue of limitations and brought the case. >> jon: found a felony or there was a felony? for the previous >> well, there wasn't a felony for the previous district attorney. >> jon: many times, district attorneys will say i don't think the evidence get set standards but another district attorney might say, that is a felony. he is doing that in order to manipulate an election. that is a felony. >> so this district attorney declined the case, alvin bragg declined the case and then brought the case. and there were significant political pressure to bring the case. that is something that our justice system needs to be insulated from. at the federal system has done a fairly good job of being insulated. you got hunter biden, you've got special counsel appointed on -- >> jon: but hunter biden wouldn't be up against charges if he wasn't hunter biden. he would be just some dude who brought a gun somewhere. he wouldn't be facing the charges he's facing. >> well, we probably disagree about that. hopef

cyrus vance, thank you for your insights.appens next. 0ur north america correspondent is here to answer your burning questions. thank you for coming in to tackle some of these. the first, can mrtrump in to tackle some of these. the first, can mr trump still run for president as a convicted felon? , , , , , felon? yes, surprisingly he can. felon? yes, surprisingly he can- there _ felon? yes, surprisingly he can. there is _ felon? yes, surprisingly he can. there is nothing - felon? yes, surprisingly he can. there is nothing in - felon? yes, surprisingly he| can. there is nothing in the felon? yes, surprisingly he - can. there is nothing in the us constitution that prevents us citizens with a criminal record or in prison from running for the presidency.— the presidency. the second question. _ the presidency. the second question, what _ the presidency. the second question, what sentence i the presidency. the second i question, what sentence could he face onjuly ii? it’s he face on july 11? it's possible _ he face on july 11? it's

on meet the press this morning, former manhattan da cyrus vance jr said he does not think the formerl get jail time. if you were still da, would you recommend jail time? well, i'm not going to answer that question because that's really just for mr. bragg to decide. if you ask me, do i think the court will impose jail in this case as i said to you, i think yesterday, i think not, but ultimately that's judge burchard's decision. with the guilty verdict in trump's case still reverberating through the presidential race, president biden's only surviving son, hunter, is facing potential jail time for federal gun charges. hunter biden's criminal trial opens tomorrow in delaware. he was indicted in september on three counts involving possession of a gun while using narcotics. he has pleaded not guilty. david depape is set to be back in court this week for his state trial. depape, accused of attempted murder after breaking into the home of former house speaker nancy pelosi and beating her husband with a hammer on friday. paul pelosi was called to testify and walked jurors through the entire o

the feds said that, bragg's predecessor , cyrus that, bragg's predecessor, cyrus vance jr, said, no, even alvin bragg prior said no crime . but then he was even alvin bragg prior said no crime. but then he was in a campaign for re—election . the campaign for re—election. the weird thing here, i know, but we have elections for prosecutors and this hack, who was funded by george soros , said, i'm going to george soros, said, i'm going to put donald trump behind bars. that's how independent he was. so no, he has no jurisdiction . so no, he has no jurisdiction. that's why they couldn't even explain what the crime was, which is it's really weird. how do you have election interference? three months after the election occurred ? it is an the election occurred? it is an absolute farrago. it's a nonsense . but don't worry, trump nonsense. but don't worry, trump is now stronger than he has ever been since he came down the escalators. go to my twitter vie , 90 escalators. go to my twitter vie , go to seb gorka and see all the democrats twitter feed. >> where's the screenshot? okay, answer on th