now, if you recall the reason d.a. bragg has to move the why here is because the way he structured the charges against trump is not just one singular crime. bragg has charged trump with a mitts demeanor, the falsifying of business records. but bragg has elevated that charge to a felony by alleging that trump falsified those business records in service of committing another large crime. now, d.a. bragg has not yet revealed what that second larger crime is, but it is likely something like tax fraud or a state or federal election crime because stormy daniels story wasn't just killed on some random odate. it wasn't killed while donald trump was a businessman or while he was hosting "the apprentice." it was killed days after the "access hollywood" tape was made public. tape where donald trump said he liked to grab women by h the you know what. the uh-uh fair, paying to make that story go away just before the election certainly feels a lot like the campaign expense or at least an in-kind donation. so that is why trump's knowledge

d.a. bragg's skin a little bit here or -- >> yes. though there were motions in leminae, none of that is coming before the jury. the judge has already ruled a month ago all that evidence is not permissible evidence that gets before the jury. and mark pomeranz issue with alvin bragg is he wasn't being aggressive enough. and alvin bragg after that book came out charged the case. and so i think the pressure points, yeah, there were interpersonal issues, probably. it seems like just in reading mark pomeranz book, he's got a lot of digs along the way, but none of that is relevant evidence for the trial. that i agree with you is what they are looking for, freedling. >> you talk about the jury. jury questionnaires went out today. there are no questions about, you know, whether, you know, who people voted for in the 2020 election, but there are questions about news media consumption. yes, msnbc is on the questionnaire, and whether or not they consider themselves supporters of or consider themselves members of the qanon movement or antifa. how

d.a. bragg arrested jose alba on murder charges which were later dropped. take a listen to what trump said yesterday in harlem. watch this. >> we're going to come in and, number one, you have to stop crime. the police have to be given back their authority, they have to be able to do their job. and we're going to come into new york, we're making a big play for new york. other cities too, but this city. i love this city, and it's gotten so bad in the last three years, four years that we're going to straighten new york out. they've destroyed so many people. the african-american community now is not getting jobs. migrants are taking their jobs that are here illegally. hispanics are not getting jobs. they're coming from prison, i don't know if you know, they come from mental a institutions, they come from prisons, today come from places you don't want to know about. elizabeth: it's interesting, trump is talking to the voters out there in harlem, tudor, and, you know, the voters either you look at ap, quinnipiac polls, they show that voters don't care about the t

if you recall, the reason d.a. bragg has to prove the why here is because the way he structured the charges against trump here is not just one singular crime. bragg has charged trump with a misdemeanor, the falsifying of business records, but bragg elevated that charge to a felony by alleging trump falsified those business records in service of committing another larger crime. now d.a. bragg has not yet revealed what that second larger crime is, but it is likely something like tax fraud or a state or federal election crime because stormy daniels' story wasn't killed on a random date, while donald trump was a businessman or hosting "the apprentice." stormy daniels story was killed the month before the 2016 general election and days after the access hollywood tape was made public, the tape where trump said he liked to grab women by the you know what. a story about trump allegedly having an affair with an adult film star just months after his own wife had given birth to their son, paying to make that story go away just befo

d.a. bragg cites that as the exact evidence of why this was a campaign crime coverup rather than a generalized desire to make that story go away. trump's lawyers may argue, no, this was an embarrassing thing. he may have paid for these kind of things before and therefore they're going to argue it wasn't with a criminal intent to break campaign laws. more evidence bolsters d.a. bragg's side and the allegations because there was another scenario you may remember, karen mcdougall. she was also paid 150 k just from a different source. instead of cohen taking that money on behalf of trump, the tabloid, the enquirer, used trickery to get her to be silent about her history with trump. the publisher has already confirmed this to federal prosecutors. when i said some of this has been established, well, all the way back in 2018, different office than the d.a., got that confirmation with receipts by giving that tabloid figure immunity. when i asked if they were aware of the intent when getting that story?

d.a. bragg has built a robust case only narrowly tailored theory of prosecution, falsifying business records to conceal criminal conduct that he damaging information during the 2016 presidential campaign," proving that trump falsified business records is the crux of the prosecution. a some what we heard in court, it's just as important for the d.a. to layout intent and the narrative of what donald trump and his campaign did to influence the election. prosecutors argued for permission to exhibit -- exhibitions on the national enquirer, saying its influence of the scheme, holding back bad stories. that's influence. judge merchan will allow those exhibits, saying "this is necessary to complete the narrative of what took place." joining me now is norm eisen, the author of this book you should buy, he investigated donald trump as a special counsel to the house judiciary committee during donald trump's first impeachment. he was at the courthouse today and literally wrote the book on this case , "tryin

i don't know if more people know about this, maybe d.a. bragg by asking the arc of what happened in 2016. as a way to explain trump's motive and intent. this is part of what we heard today and it was an important reminder to me about all of the details around this. >> one of the stunning things about being in court today, jen, was to see that theory of the case unfold in full display both in the morning session when the d.a. laid out a chronology of election interference, as i say in the title of the book. in the afternoon session, when the first words of substance that the judge said to the prospective jurors was, this is a case about allegations of election influence in 2016. so, both have the were expressing the narrative that you ask about. it starts in 2015, actually, with the meeting at trump tower . david , the publisher of the national enquirer, michael cohen -- so, you have them and you have michael cohen and this is where prosecutors started this morning. on agreement to influence the 2016 election through catch and kill. you actually

also delivering the message that d.a. bragg has not prosecuted crimes, particularly serious violent crimes, and so we're seeing that matched against what he's saying as an unfair, unjust targeting of him for political purposes. so, yesterday was a perfect microcosm of a lot of the arguments that he's making. in addition to that, we'll see him i think during this -- according to his aides, during this period when he has wednesdays free go out and do some campaign events, maybe locally, maybe on the east coast, and then on weekends we're more likely to see some of the traditional trump rallies. he's going to make the argument he's being prosecuted as a form of persecution and to stop his political ambition and those of the republican party and we have been hearing it for a long time, we're going to continue to hear it more and he's got visual evidence he would like to show of him being in court to support that now. the d.a. believes he has committed crimes for which he should be held accountable. >> and, lisa, meanwhile, jury sel

on december 6th, 2022, d.a. braggthe conviction of the trump corporation and the payroll corporation for conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records. >> the focus in the last 24 hours has been almost exclusively on trump. >> then on march 30th, 2023, donald trump was indicted by d.a. alvin bragg in a manhattan court. days later he was arraigned. yasmin vossoughian, nbc news. >> joining us now, nbc news senior correspondent garrett haake, good to have you. two days left, how is donald trump handling this? >> we'll probably find out in 45 minutes to an hour when he has this news conference at mar-a-lago with mike johnson on another topic. we have not seen very much of trump over the last couple of weeks. he has been preparing for the trial to start, meeting with lawyers. he has been posting about it on social media, which is always a pretty good window into his mind, and you see his frustration with the judge in particular and with the gag order that he feels like is limiting his ability to cast this

and d.a. bragg is trying to get trump on a technicality.ion will come back and say that is the way the law is structured. you can call it whatever you want. but the fact is the law is designed such as that if you use accounting records for the purpose of conducting some other crime, in this case, avoidance of campaign finance laws, it is not just a technicality, it is a serious crime. evergy 34 counts of frauds under those campaign finance laws. he played not guilty to all of them. and you said we should not read too much into what donald trump says outside of court, but it is interesting -- he says it is all politically motivated. it means 's not out on the campaign trail ahead of the elections in november. that puts him at a disadvantage. and we see whenever he appears in a court or a setting like this, his fundraising goes up in his support gets louder. >> i think what is going to drive a lot of this is the outcome of this trial. if donald trump is convicted, he may have to be stuck in new york pending sentencing, even pending appeal. so

on december 6th, 2022 d.a. bragg secured the conviction of the trump organization and payroll for conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. >> the focus has been almost exclusively on trump. >> then on march 30th, 2023 donald trump was indicted by d.a. alvin bragg in the manhattan court days later, he was arraigned. >> now you know the players, looking to break down what we can expect, my legal panel join me next with their thoughts on how this high-stakes trial could actually play out. we will be right back. back. we all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10% of us get enough each day. good thing metamucil gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plant-based fiber. with the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. metamucil gummies the easy way to get your daily fiber. business. metamucil gummies it's not a nine-to-five proposition. it's all day and into the night. it's all the things that keep this world turning. the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. and check

bragg's skin. the manhattan d.a. a response, defending his handling of the case, and adding that his "top priority remains combating violent crime and the office has worked hand-in-hand with the nypd to drive down overall crime in manhattan, including double-digit decreases in homicides and shootings since he took office." that however still doesn't change the fact that bragg has downgraded a staggering 60% of felony cases to lesser charges last year. meanwhile trump got a very warm reception at that bodega. [chanting "four more years"] [chanting "we love trump"] >> dana: but the media not a fan. one msnbc analyst comparing the former president to a caged animal, warning that he might lash out dangerously because of the trial. >> essentially he is like a caged animal, and that is a dangerous situation. he is feeling very threatened, he is out of control, so we do expect him to lash out. anybody who has covered him over the past decade can expect that. >> dana: judge? you got a kick out of that one. >> judge jeanine:

d.a. bragg stressed trump broke campaign laws.e was hiding the damning material, not in general, but specifically two weeks out from the election. >> less than two weeks before the presidential election michael cohen wired $130,000 to stormy daniels' lawyer. that payment was to hide damaging information from the voting public. the scheme violated new york election law. >> that's the key there. this new jury will be told it was more than a pay-off. it was more than i mentioned, quote, unquote, personal matters or trysts. the d.a. will argue through his team of lawyers that it was about deceiving the voting public before they voted. trump lied in those business records to cover up the hush money payments. this is courtesy of the d.a.'s office. a lot of that is documented with very detailed receipts. if i were covering this as a journalistic story, he's legally presumed innocent. this part about the business lies, journalistically is basically proven on paper at this time. the lies on the business records are against the law and it's

d.a. bragg's charges?n sen chul -- consensual. what's really at issue here is did they pay her? were they concerned about what story she could tell, not whether the relationship, in fact, happened, but did they pay her, and then did they essentially use business documents to cover up what was an illegally campaign contribution. >> the trial starts on monday, we're going to start with jury selection, that should take a little time at least. donald trump is trying to argue immunity. that was shut down by judge merchan. >> he's not trying to argue immunity in the same way as judge chutkan's case. because he was president, when he issued communications, tweets from the white house, those are official acts and therefore, including them among the evidence is precluded by presidential immunity. >> what about signing a check while president, does that make him immune in his mind? >> not clear. not part of what he argued in the motion papers from what i remember. could that be part of their argument? it sure could

on december 6th, 2022, d.a. braggured the conviction of the trump corporation and the payroll corporation for conspiracy, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records. >> the focus in the last 24 hours has been almost exclusively on trump. >> reporter: then on march 30th, 2023, donald trump was indicted by d.a. alvin bragg in a manhattan court. days later, he was arraigned. >> our yasmin vossoughian with that reporting. thanks. back 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

d.a. alvin bragg collected 850,000 dollars campaign donations, former new york xham lee zeldin rights insteadhattan d.a. alvin bragg launches a str show trial joining me for political panel republican political analyst campaign strategist, democrat skrunlt former house judiciary committee chief counsel thank you so much for being here i want to kick off with you your reaction. >> well shouldn't come as surprise to nobody the biden n bragg manhattan case legal absurdity scam never should have been brought in the first place election interference abuse of law to get trump starts, alvin bragg state prosecutor should not be prosecuting federal election law has no authority to do so the legal gymnastics you have to make from a misdemeanor to felony even a first year law student can see through. >> thank you for having me again, i think this is a completely abusive prosecution by prosecutor campaign raised money going after trump there is no precedent for use of the law, the way alvin bragg is attempting to use in this case using a business, records miss neenor alleged invitation hush money not rep

d.a. a alvin bragg who can't tell us what the felony is. watch former president trump here -- >> there's not so -- >> all of them are hoaxes including the civil cases. they're controlled by the white house, they're controlled by democrat judges and prosecutors that were put there specifically. they hate trump. and the people are getting it. that's why we just came out, a new emerson poll was just released two minutes ago, and i'm leading by a lot in every swing state and leading in the general election. this is a judge who's conflicted, badly, badly, badly conflicted. i've never seen a judge so conflicted. if. elizabeth: i'm so sorry, andrew. we accidentally cut you off. by the way -- >> no, my fault. elizabeth: we've got to get into what trump just mentioned. a new emerson poll shows trump ahead of biden in all seven swing states whether it's a two-way or five-way race rah. what were you with about to say? >> i was about to say this is part of the problem. there's not supposed to be any federal charge in this case. bragg, as a state distri

the d.a. bragg explains, quote, the defendant repeatedly and modularly falsified new york business records to conceal criminal conduct that had damaging information in the voting public during the 2015 presidential election. the defendant orchestrated a scheme, and in a word, execute the unlawful scheme that participants violated election laws. the whole point of falsifying those business records was to interfere in the election process to vent his presidential campaign. the access hollywood tape had just come out, revealing trumps lewd comments about women. another revelation, like weeks after, but the salacious extramarital affair, really could have been the end of his campaign. so again, this is where they are saying -- the manhattan district attorney case claims 130,000 dollars payment to stormy daniels was essentially undisclosed and illegal campaign contributions. now, in terms of that theory, it's not so far-fetched, because michael cohen literally already pleaded guilty to -- wait for it --

it wasn't brought by cy vance and now d.a. braggnnounced that he was running for office again. there's no coincidences here. so now he wants to rush it because november 2024 is an election and is he probably hoping he has got this in the bag. even though it's on a completely discredited witnesses, that we know have perjured themselves. it's ridiculous. so, yeah, that's an accommodation that would normally be made. it's not just a discourtesy to the president. it's to all the people in there, the jurors. the attorneys that observe hollywoods, never mind barron's high school graduation. there is absolutely no rush after 8 years other than the fact that november 2024 is election day. >> todd: and to your point on the quote, unquote rush job that merchan is doing he said well, i may grant the president allowance to go see his son graduate if we are moving along. that's a warning shot. don't slow this thing up, donald trump's attorney and ie don't slow it up doing your job, attorneys, which is to advocate for the best interest of your cl

d.a. alvin bragg doesn't have a legal leg to stand on.ch. >> everything about this case is in my view legally absurd. this case is basically a state misdemeanor that had run out of statute of limitations. he was forced after he declined to bring this charge to do so. his predecessor rejected it. they took a dead misdemeanor and bootstrapped it into effectively trying a federal crime. the federal crime here under election law was rejected by the department of justice. they didn't feel that this should be charged. you have this crazy case that's gonna go forward. it's going to turn on the testimony of people like michael cohen. michael cohen just recently had a judge call him a serial perjurer. he's going to appear as the center of this case. >> emily: bill hemmer, so much to unpack here. walk us through what we need to know in what stands out to you. >> bill: here's what i've learned. misdemeanors to felonies, which is what jonathan turley is talking about. there's a statute of limitations that expired for this case. did you know that? it

remember, he accused trump of making payments to cover up a felony that the d.a. braggn't charge him with because he can't this alleged campaign finance violation federal issue. the fec passed on the trump case years ago. come see the amazing alvin. bragg is a magician but a bad one. he was trying to pull a rabbit out of a vizor, abracadabra now watch him make the constitution disappear. during oral arguments at the supreme court yesterday justice neil gorsuch spoke about the dual standards of justice. specifically referencing how left wing protesters seem to always get away with it. never being charged like the j-6ers for disrupt ago congressional proceeding. >> would a sit-in that disrupts a trial or access to a federal courthouse qualify would a heckler at today's audience qualify or at the state of the union address. would pulling a fire alarm before a vote qualify? for 20 years in federal prison? >> laura: well, we all know the answer, don't we? no, because congressman jamal brown, who pulled that fire alarm when the house was in session, was charged with a nothing

he accused trump of making payments to cover up the bill and need that the d.a. braggn't charge him with because he can't hear this allegedmpai campaign finance violation, that is a federal issue. the fec passed on the trump cae years ago. come see the amazing alvin alvin bragg! he wt a badmagician bu one. he was trying to pull a rabbit out of a visor, abracadabra, noc watch him make the constitution disappeared. during oral arguments at the supreme court yesterday, justict neil gorsuch spoke brilliantly about the dual standards of justice, specifically inreferencing how left-wing protesters seem to always get away with it neverge being chard like the j6 mike 6 if any rs. >> access to a federal courthouse qualify for what a heckler in today's audience qualify for the state of the union address? would pulling a fire alarm before a vote qualify? and for 20 years in federal prison? >> laura: well, we all know thcause answer, don't we smirke, because congressman jamaal brow, who pulled the fire alarm when the house was in session wass of charged with nothing burger misdeme

d.a. alvin bragg, he is perfect for the place here and himself one of the most far left prosecutors in a countryleft-wingst prosecutors. now, the violent criminals stalking, beating, murdering, raping innocent new yorkers, they have never been his priority. since taking his job in 2022.ru he's been most impassioned about one cause and that is taking down donald trump by any means necessary. of course, attempting tot, bridk ralph 34 count indictment as doing the people's work. >> at its core, this case today is one with allegations like so many of white-collar cases, allocation someone lieagaid agan and again.wh we checked their interest and evad e the laws and all are held accountable. as this office has done time and time again, we, today, uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law. no amount of money and no amount of power changes that enduring american principal. >> laura: oh, yeah? the only thing enduring in his case is his own radicalism. but at its core, the bragg casee is a brazen exercise in election interference new yordyk style.tn andy mccarthy

d.a. alvin bragg's case against president trump. that's next. ♪ (♪) (♪) (♪) (♪) book in the hotels.com app to find your perfect somewhere. maria: welcome back. the house judiciary committee takes us behind the efforts to take down donald trump. manhattan d.a. alvin bragg allowed political motivations and hostility toward trump to dictate his plans to charge the former president with allegations of falsifying business records. the former federal prosecutor, mark if pom if rants, who at one time volunteered to serve as special assistant the district attorney to develop a case against trump, the he was one of the main forces in pressuring bragg to charge trump. pomerantz, who donated to hillary clinton's 2016 campaign, resigned shortly after bragg took office, but according to the report, quote, when bragg did not move quickly enough to file charges against president trump, pomerantz opted to go public writing a book and orchestrating a pressure campaign to force bragg into action, and it worked. joining me right now is the chairman of the committe

gregg jarrett, writing in a new op-ed, manhattan d.a. braggocus-pocus case exposed on the first day. he argues it is a neat trick called law fare. weaponizing the law. that was a quote by gregg jarrett. let's go now to leo terrell, fox news contributor and attorney. leo, you saw the president there. he laid out the case, he seemed to stay within the confines of any sort of gag order that -- he is getting better at this. the judge and it seems the prosecution are just -- i don't know, how would you describe what is going on? >> very simple, harris, the goal of this legal proceeding is to inflict as much political damage on president trump. that's the whole purpose of it. this is an attempt to harm president trump's election chances in november 2024. nothing more, nothing less. i will tell you right now, it would make a difference if the gag order is unconstitutional or if michael cohen can basically say whatever he wants. the goal is to hurt trump chances to win this election. the public realizes with but it's the goal of this proceeding. >> ha

the court order applies to court staff and their families but that doesn't include the judge, so d.a. bragg is asking for a clarification on that point. >> and also today trump's lawyers are moving to dismiss the entire case claiming there is too much prejudicial publicity, pretrial publicity to get a fair trial. one could argue it's basically his statements on truth social. president biden has certainly been absolutely clear in not talking about the cases themselves, because he doesn't want to get into that mess talking about something under the justice department. in any case, will this succeed? can they get a fair trial in new york when there's been so much publicity about the case? >> he absolutely can get a fair trial, so it's not that jurors won't know anything about the case. that's not the standard. the standard is whether they can objectively judge these fairly technical legal crimes that trump is charged with. and i think the jurors will be capable of doing that in manhattan as they do every single day. >> paul butler, thanks so much. and vaughn hillyard, kelly o'donnell and micha

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d.a. bragg's office and mr. weisselberg for the simple fact that at some point you have to basically acknowledge that the jig is up. i think allen weisselberg decided this is what he was going to do, this is the plea deal he took. and then rather than sort of go through and continue to fight it, he knew that jail -- they were ultimately going to settle on a number, a number, i would say, jose, is probably a reflection of his age, where he is in life, and the likelihood that he will pose future harm. so, five months to someone of that age is a very significant deal. and i think that's probably how they were able to arrive and agree upon that sentence. >> so, will, lisa, weisselberg have a role in trump's hush money case? >> no. he won't. although he certainly could have, jose. one of the things about the allegations in this upcoming trial is that there are two people who are said to have been in the room with trump or on the phone with trump where critical conversations were had or arrangements were made. they ar

d.a. bragg is opposed that. we are on track for a trial within two weeks and those are the tensions in that criminal trial that looms. while last night, trump took a very different approach and i want to explain this contrast here, where he complied with the laws in his civil fraud case. the contrast is telling because trump is testing and defying all these criminal rules on the one hand where he clearly doubts this judge will jail him before trial regardless of what he does or even if he clearly violates the gag order. common defendants might commonly face that kind of pretrial incarceration. yet at the same time, trump is fully complying in the civil case and that's because he doesn't have a lot of good choices. trump owing roughly half a billion dollars in the civil fraud case. he wants to appeal it to see if he can get that number reduced. the law requires a bond in new york to be able to appeal, so he is complying. indeed, you may have heard about the struggle to get the money but last night, trump found a

d.a. bragg is the one prosecutor who is putting trump on trial. that is a fact. he is only one on track to finish the trial by the election for the atlanta d.a. move more slowly and less effectively. jack smith is hitting roadblocks beyond the control. first hobbled by the doj's late start. and then running into this maga friendly roadblock at the supreme court last week . that controversial hearing, which showed chief justice roberts presiding over the most obviously partisan court in the modern era. that should be an embarrassment to him given everything he said about independence or two justices who care about that. that might be a minority members of this court. i say that as an observation about the way the hearing went, not a criticism out of the air. here is a nonpartisan report from the new york times which notes conservatives on the court went in this unexpected direction last week without precedent, rushing to try to limit whether defendant trump can be put on trial at all. and putting a thumb on the scale in the timeline to probably delay it past the el

he can't continue to attack the judge and d.a. bragg. he can't attack their families, he can't attack their staff. he's allowed to do that. and i think it was very smart of the d.a.'s office to make this motion because i'm not sure that juan merchan on his own, would have amended the gag order. it was important that the d.a.'s office requested it be done. >> let's turn to the civil fraud trial. he posted bond, $175 million. he got a company to pay it. this is the civil fraud trial. we learned knight specialty insurance company wrote this bond for trump. and you pointed out, this company actually has its own reasons to not want trump's assets seized. >> yeah. they're both business assets and political assets -- political reasons. don hingy, the owner of knight specialty insurance company, that's part of a conglomerate of companies he owns based in california, he is sort of an auto empire king, particularly made his money in subprime loans, but separate and apart from his auto industry empire over here, he's also the largest investor in a c

from making statements about witnesses, jurors and individual prosecutors in the case other than d.a. bragg. >> the gag order has to come off. i should be allowed to speak. every time i come out to speak to you. i want to be open because we did absolutely nothing wrong inside the courtroom. >> trump, looking on as those prospective alternates, answered the questionnaire one by one, with some jurors revealing loose connections to trump and others surrounding the case. one woman, who said her father was a friend of former republican presidential candidate chris christie, broke down crying during questioning, saying, quote, this is so much more stressful than i thought it would be. she was excused from serving a jury of 12. seven men and five women have already been sworn in to decide the outcome of the first criminal trial of a former president. together the jurors will decide whether trump is guilty of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment. so voters in the 2016 presidential election would not find out about an alleged affair with adult film actress stormy daniels, whic

on december 6th, 2022, d.a. braggmp organization and payroll organization for conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. >> the focus in the last 24 hours has been almost exclusively on trump. >> donald trump was invited by alvin bragg in a manhattan court. days later he was arraigned. yasmin vossoughian, nbc news. >>> be sure to tune in for our special coverage in the first of former president trump's criminal trials. 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

you've had in so many aspects of this case and given the d.a., first, what would you say now to d.a. bragg good of the country. let jack smith do what he needs to do in the january 6th case. that is the case that really matters. >> to donald trump? >> buckle up. from somebody who's been through this three times, this is going to be a very eye opening and humble experience. >> to the other clients that legally it was determined you wronged asked you spoke about them in some of your cases, but what do you say to them? >> i standby the apologies that i've made to them, and i intend on making right. >> what do you think the final question the country should make of this trial, and again, walk us through how you think it will end. >> i think ultimately trump will be convicted in this trial. i don't believe he will receive jail time in connection with the case. i think that could be very problematic especially from a political standpoint and even more true were he to be elected in november. i think the risk that is run in connection with this case is, you know, it's a criminal defendant. he only

in the statement of facts about the case, d.a. bragg explain, quote, the defendant donald j. trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified new york business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election. the defendant orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 election and in order to execute the unlawful scheme, the participants violated election laws. the whole point of falsifying those business records was to interfere in the election process to protect his presidential campaign. remember the access hollywood tape had just come out, revealing trump's lewd comments about women. another revelation, a salacious marital affair, could have been been the end. the case claims the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels was an undisclosed and illegal campaign contribution. now, in terms of that theory, it's not so farfetched because michael cohen literally already pleaded guilty to, wait for it, ryelating federal campaign finance laws for his role in the scheme, and he served prison time. so aga

d.a. bragg's family, and what that signals to anybody else who could find themselves a participant in that proceeding. and that's why he says that future violations will be met with sanctions including criminal contempt, which can mean up to 30 days in prison. it doesn't just affect the people you're terrorizing, it affects anybody else that can be a participant here. i want to read you a quote from the order that really made an impact on me. he said all citizens called upon to participate in the proceedings, whether as a juror, a witness or in some other capacity must concern themselves not only with their own personal safety, but with the safety and the potential for personal attacks upon their loved ones. that reality cannot be overstated. and so, again, what he's saying is the threat environment here, even if directed right now at his own daughter, it affects anybody who could touch this case, it affects me, it affects potential jurors, it affects people throughout our news organization and other news organizations, all throughout the country, it impacts all of us and therefore should

d.a. braggic is generating significant publicity and it would be prefers to perverse to. is this trial going to go forward on the 15th? >> i think this motion will not delay this trial. the d.a. is correct when he points out that donald trump shouldn't be rewarded for his own bad behavior. the reality is, when you pick a jury, you are not looking for a jury that hasn't heard anything about your case. you are looking for a jury that can be fair no matter what they have heard outside of the courtroom. the d.a. points out correctly that during the jury selection process, they will be able to question jurors and try to exclude people with bias. donald trump will be able to use a number of strikes. that means he can reject jurors either for a reason or he will have a limited number of strikes he can use to reject jurors that he simply has a bad feeling about. >> one quick question. is the jury pool just manhattan? does it include staten island and other suburban areas? >> this is the manhattan d.a.'s

d.a. bragg's case relied on a particular new york statute and the effort here, as i've menged to you beforere going to get into it, it-s to take a lower crime, a misdemeanor charge and make it a felony because, as the d.a. explained, there was more to it. >> less than two weeks before the presidential election, michael cohen wired $130,000 to stormy daniels's lawyer. that payment was to hide damaging information from the voting public. the scheme violated new york election law. >> election law, and possibly tax law, more than one law, which is basically why the d.a. is saying this becoming a cover-up felony rather than just a misdemeanor. and that means prosecutors will have to prove more than just the underlying business fraud. they'll have to prove that he intended to conceal another crime. that is what will make it the felony. and without a felony, you wouldn't even have this trial. you would have something to a business parking ticket type situation. bragg said he could use tax law and penal law or federal campaign finance law, that is a key part of the indictment. we're going to keep s

remember, d.a. bragg was the first prosecutor to ever show up and actually indict donald trump for anything. others came after him and going first is the toughest. he doesn't want to lose. he is betting that this rather salacious and interesting subject matter and the trail of headlines will help him keep the jury's attention. here was one of them all of the way back in the day courtesy of that same magazine i mentioned to you "in touch." quote, my affair with donald was one of the stories that came out courtesy of daniels. there were secret efforts we later learned to kill headlines like that. the d.a. will show the headlines. he will show the secret tape i played you and all of this messy drama. so jurors pay attention and they're riveted that it's interesting and you want to people attention of people in court and anywhere else and it was a long-running criminal plot. president trump is presumed innocent. the burden is on the d.a. to not only prove this occurred. some of it clearly did, and not only to

magnitude of the weinstein conviction and to have it overturned and now it falls on the shoulders of d.a. bragg> to decide to retry the case. he has not formally said he is going to, but he has released a statement saying he will do everything in his power to do so, which will make him a very busy man with a very busy office. >> was going to say he was not in office at that point. for everyone wondering does this mean harvey weinstein is free, no, he will be sent back to california where he will face time for those convictions. >> he may get sent to rikers, for instance. if they decide to retry him in new york. ultimately he still has to serve a 16 year sentence for a guilty verdict in california and that verdict, i've been in touch with the d.a.s office in l.a. county, they are more confident about. california is one of the states where you can let in, as we discussed, propensity evidence more easily. >> do you think, setting aside the legal aspects, how do you see all of this as it pertains to the picture of accountability for sexual predators? there is donald trump on trial for hush money. t

. >> and that is what is going to keep d.a. bragg up at night. on most cases, you have people who are trying to find any excuse not to sit on the jury, they are really doing their best, and you know those people, any question their hand is up, they got something to say, they need a sidebar with the judge. here, that's going to be less of the issue because it is such a historic case. is the first criminal trial involving a president, and you can see people, even if they think the answer is yes, the election was stolen, i know why they're asking that and i want to be seated, so i'm not going to tell you what i really think. that's were jury consultants really will be important. >> all of his computer screens. but, there's a threat that judge merchan has put out there, in the context of expanding this gag order to include sean's family members in the context of making these very articulate arguments for what donald trump is doing to the rule of law and why he needs to be gagged, for lack of a better term, he's also said that if trump continues to mo

he's continuing to attack the judge, to attack d.a. bragg. you just think it is not smart? >> yeah.n, chuck has it exactly right. it is obviously not smart. you know, if you step back from, you know, this discussion is we're talking about somebody who was the former president of the united states, and we're discussing whether he should be denigrating the legal system, denigrating a d.a., notably both part of, you know, minority communities, and, you know, this is the former leader of the free world. he is being accorded not just due process for any defendant would get, he is clearly being provided due process above and beyond what any other defendant would get as we have talked about, the judge is in a difficult spot on the contempt order, because i truly think that any other person who is engaged in 11 episodes like this would have at least some time being stepped back, which is the term of art for spending some time, you know, in a holding cell. so, he is being courted every, every due process that anyone else would be entitled to, and more so. so, his complaining is clearly just

d.a. bragg's office and what specifically in evidence or logic do you think is wrong with this case? >> i'm going to decline to answer as to whether i've been in touch with either the defense or the d.a.'s office, but let me say this in response to the second part of your question. you know, i think the case has a lot of problems. now that, i don't mean to suggest that means that trump will not be convicted because i think he will be convicted. because number one, he's a criminal defendant and in our society, i don't believe criminal defendants generally get a fair shake. in fact, i think the percentage of convictions demonstrates that the deck is stacked decidedly against all criminal defendants. number one. number two, i don't think he can get a fair trial in new york. and to the people who claim that in fact he can get a fair trial in new york with a new york jury, i would ask them if they were to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow and found out that the case had been moved to mississippi or alabama, would think still think the trial was going to be fair. i think if they wer

d.a. alvin bragg.ump has made critical and false statements about the judge's daughter on social media. >>> the supreme court has upheld the current 15-week ban, which now means a stricter ban can go into effect in just 30 days. the court also ruled abortion rights will be on the state ballot in november, letting voters decide whether to enshrine voters rights in the florida constitution. >> i think it's fair to say the democrats are pretty excited about this being on the ballot, and what they believe is that this could energize not just democrats, but independents, no-party preference, voters, swing voters. >> up until now florida has been viewed as a safe haven for abortions since the current ban has fewer abortions than neighboring states. >>> crews are in a desperate race to reopen one of the busiest ports in the country. a temporary channel was opened yesterday in the port of baltimore. this is video of the first ship leaving. it's been trapped there since last week's collapse of the francis scott

alvin bragg's -- d.a. alvin bragg's case. >> trump's relationship with the "national enquirer" was even sleazier than it looked in 2016. >> david pecker was not a significant witness for the prosecution. and i'll tell you why. because there is no crime. >> david pecker is very composed, a credible witness. he was being specific in his testimony. >> so it was the star witnesses of the case that wanted to catch and kill to protect trump, not trump. got it? howard: now to the catch and kill the inquirer paid a trump doorman $30,000 for a tale about the former president fathering an out of wedlock child which turned out to be totally false. the inquireerer paid $150,000 to cairn mcdougal to stay quiet about an alleged 10-month affair which trump denies. trump opposed the payments saying such things always come out, but pecker insisted. yet the publisher said he balked at playing off stormy daniels. another factor, perhaps, pecker hadn't been reimbursed for the payment to karen mc mcdougal, so michael cohen had

d.a. alvin bragg.ros' favorite prosecutor, then going at length into what they are, what they're alleging are his soft on crime positions of not prosecuting this case and not prosecuting that case. trying to tie him to escalating crime. which is not even happening. crime is down in new york. i would love for you to comment on that because that has been a thematic for donald trump and for other maga conservatives. of attacking prosecutors they consider to be too liberal. alvin bragg is a quiet prosecutor. he's not been out there talking. he's not an ostentatious prosecutors yet he's still under this kind of attack. >> well, you can run a campaign any way you want including with misinformation and as we know, this is also deeply tinged in what you said, joy. it's tinged with racism and antisemitism. those are tropes and we should be very concerned about that. at the end of the day, elections have consequences and the election of bragg as the first black district attorney in manhattan who pledged and was

bragg. >> you got a d.a. that is out of control. you have a judge that is highly conflicted. >> reporter: among the new jurors, an engineer, a physical therapist, and a banker, who said they follow one of the key witnesses in this case on social media, michael cohen. they also follow trump. in the judge said opening arguments could now begin

>> knowing d.a. bragg he would have brought this case unless the facts were strong and he were following those facts wherever they led which in this case is to a strong prosecution of donald trump. so i know there's a long history here and a long history in the d.a.'s office when it comes fros kugs, investigation and prosecution of trump. alvin is among the most level-headed people i've ever worked with. he brings that level-headedness to everything he does, including every case he prosecuted, whether it was in the southern dr., in the a.g.'s office and now in the d.a.'s office. he's not someone that would ever bring a case unless the facts were there. he's certainly not someone motivated by politics. he's motivated by a rule of law, by a commitment to the facts. >> would he typically be in court on the first day like he was today? >> it's important that he's in court because this is certainly a crucial case. so i saw some of the tweets and the color from the courtroom of alvin sitting there with his accor

meant business during this multiyear probe. >> reporter: in january of 2022, a new manhattan d.a., alvin braggorn in with speculation over whether he will pursue charges. on april 7th, 2022, he releases a statement saying in part the investigation continues. in august of 2022, allen weisselberg pleas guilty and agrees to testify against the trump organization. four months later, the trump organization is convicted, found guilty of tax fraud and eventually alvin bragg calls a new grand jury. >> we finally got answers on the political, financial, legal, moral, public corruption scandal. >> reporter: and in march of 2023, trump posts on true social of an imminent arrest. and while the arrest on that day did not happen, on march 30th, 2023, mr. trump was indicted on 34 counts. days later in a manhattan courthouse, he was arraigned. he's pled not guilty. >> charging a former president of the united states for the first time in history. on a basis that every single pundit and legal analyst said there is no case. there's no case. >> donald trump's got to be in court every single day. it's supposed to