michael cohen has been david pecker. i mean, whatever you think of his reputation in his work. he actually verifies everything, michael cohen says. that's exactly right. so pecker becomes absolutely central and important. and look, we know from the non prosecution agreement that i mentioned with federal prosecutors that he is also willing to sing on this does david pecker? help the d a approved the underlying crime that elevates this to make it a felony, so they haven't specified exactly what that predicate will be. what the crime will be that that these business accounting misrepresentations were in service of, but we know from brags press conference yesterday that he's looking in this area of election law, possibly both state and federal, and for sure having david pecker say to this grand jury. we were doing this as part of a plan to protect him during the election, specifically not just to spare his marriage, not just to spare his personal reputation that's going to be powerful. that's going to be important to the case they're making. the other question is, you know there's b

and it lays out the role of the publisher of the national enquirer, david pecker.nt is his role in laying out in this case? >> dan: he is obviously critical witness here. why? in part because michael cohen is such a problematic witness. so you need someone else who can come forward and verify much of what the prosecution is alleging. they would say we have also got documents. we have tape recordings, et cetera. the david pecker becomes the critical issue not necessarily on the falsified business records. he becomes the critical factor in explaining the lie and the "why" is what alvin bragg says is the felony even though he has not been specific about exactly which felony it is. he has made it clear that that brought issue is what has led us to at this point. >> juju: to protect the campaign? >> jonathan: it says something about the case that when it was more credible witness is the publisher of the national enquirer. >> dan: and he has his own set of problems including to inquirer had to pay a fine. and one who told you this is an easy case it is not know the case.

so david pecker knew a lot trump was very concerned about what david pecker knew our reporting at theshown that trump wanted to get more out of david pecker that may concern him. so the case and investigation was continuing what we also know, though, is that then attorney general barr, he would come in as this case was ongoing, he did not love this case. and he's spoken about that he didn't love this idea that people are talking about now about campaign finance case, this idea of an in-kind contribution so it was clear that the leadership at justice didn't love this whole investigation. so that could have been mixed up but a lot of it was shrouded to us, and that david pecker deal was always quite fascinating but very importantly, now, if david pecker spoke about this in terms of helping trump keep something quiet, to help him in an election. that is still something of great value, i would think, for this case, depending on how prosecutors make that linkage. >> hey, jim. i want to go back and think about this in a broader way, and talk a little bit about just exactly what it meant, an

all he did was write the paper up to do the deal betwee donald trump and david pecker.eporting by the wall street journal >> and you have refreshed my memory can we squeeze in a commercial break here and could you possibly stay for a little longer >> i'd love to, lawrence sorry i went on longer than should have. >> that's fine we're going to squeeze in commercial break we'll be right back with michael cohen's lawyer, lann davis. (screaming) defeat allergy headaches fast with new flonase headache and allergy relief! two pills relieve allergy headache pain? and the congestion that causes it! flonase headache and allergy relief. psst! psst! all good! my name is tonya, i am 42. as mother of nine kids, i think i waited this long to get botox® cosmetic because i take like no time for myself. my kids are sports kids. we're always running from one activity to another. i'm still tonya, and i got botox® cosmetic, and this is like the first thing i've done for me in a really, really long time. my life is still crazy, it's just as full as it was before. just with less lines. botox®

ami, david pecker, which is the people who published the national enquirer, michael cohen, and donald trump. and they say we're going to squash any negative stories. it's an illicit child, we'll pay $30,000 to this person this person says they had an affair, they get $150. this person gets $130, then we'll reimburse and pretend we make a shell company that ain't real, two companies, they pay out. and then we reimburse cohen and say this was a retainer. ain't a retainer this to me reads like a pretty standard thing that gets prosecuted in new york it doesn't seem extraordinary to me >> all you have to do is plug and play a defendant so for all of the drama that this is former president donald trump. he's just jail number donald trump now. that's why the judge referred to him as mr. trump, not former president trump. this is what alvin bragg said at the presser this afternoon this is the bread and butter of the new york d.a.'s office your timeline is right, and that's really important, what's laid out in the statement of facts and the indictment august 2015, that agreement. pecker, cohe

and on one occasion, in august of 2016, that's close to the election, david pecker and donald trump agreedpay $150,000 to someone named kare mcdougal, in order to keep her news or value of the news of a affair with donald trump, whic he has never denied, by the way, secret so, that story was kille thanks to the money paid by, according to the wall street journal, the national enquirer now, david pecker is a grand jury witness twice and the second time had nothin to do with this costello character, who didn't do a thing, add or subtract, just make a lot of noise. but had nothing to do with the case what i'm saying is there i another witness who had conversations and exchange with donald trump. and according to the wal street journal, i'm not goin to reveal anything else othe than the wall street journal reporting on this, david pecke has testimony about hi conversation with donald trump and by the way, michael cohe pled guilty to that crime. he was charged with the crim of the illegal cover-up by karen mcdougal, people forge this, lawrence, he pled guilty to that. that was an illegal campai

, >> michael cohen and david pecker - >> yeah, michael cohen and david pecker, if you put tha togetheren cohen an trump, all of the documentatio basically lining up with everything both individuals ar saying, it's a prett overwhelming case. but then, if you put int account other witnesses who ar likely to testify, like hope hicks, and others in the white house who they've called in to testify. i mean, this could wind up being a slam dunk if you've go so many people pointing at donald trump's guilt >> so, here is my understandin again. i find myself, in readin commentary by this case, because it's been somewhat polarized, people have ver different views, even people i trust and agree with, kind o commits by the last thing read judge shugerman, like i've had on our show, at times, he call it a legal embarrassment he says the case appears s weak on its legal an jurisdictional bases, a stat judge might dismiss the case and mitigate the damage. that seems not to be the cas in your mind i don't think so either. but let me point to th criticisms here but. the facts seem beyond dispute. like,

>> what's interesting, a littl after i left the apprentice, i want to go work for ami fo david peckerwas also launching a new project called reality weekly, magazine so, i was the west coast editor, during that time, he had a deputy named dylan, an dillon's full-time job apparently, was to catch and suppress the stories about donald trump there was this infamous vaul that they had, the enquire allegedly, that kept all o this information about donald. fast forward to the indictment i'm reading it a lot of the rumors that i heard, well it worked at the magazine, were confirmed in th indictment >> hang on dylan was assigned to, essentially, catch and kill, it's a phrase we've all become familiar with now. exclusively donald trump stories? or others as well? >> exclusively donald trump. allegedly, we go to th headquarters of ami, which o course, i visited very often with those working as a west coast editor there is, supposedly, this infamous vault of information, tapes, pictures, secrets, that david kept safe for donald trump and they were overseen b his chief, dylan who i believe now is

it also to thank david pecker for helping trump killed those stories. what does that say to you? from a legal perspective? does it change the nature of the case or the strength of the case in your mind? there's a couple of things, abby. one thing is that extends the time period of the criminal conduct, which is important for statute of limitations purposes, but i also think they're telling a bigger story here. they're saying it wasn't just a matter of a payoff and the falsified business records. this was an effort to undermine the 2016 election. that was the point. we all know about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but alvin bragg and his team are saying that's not his first play with election interference that actually happened in this case. when he hid from the voters information that they may have found important and he did it in a criminal way. i also think it's important to try to move away from michael cohen is the center of this case they're going to bring in david pecker. they're going to talk about these other instances as well in terms of trying to influence t

david pecker and michael cohen. so that's the thrust of it on top of it all, and they also had a plot not only to stop negative information from appearing in the national enquirer, but they were also going after trump's competitors. i mean, they haven't detailed that in the complaint, but boy, i'd love to know which republicans which democrats were, you know, hung out to dry. in the national enquirer during the 2016 election. i mean, this is a very , very serious situation revolving around this indictment that people have not focused on and have to look at it as two bookends. one trump getting elected to presidency in 2016 and then trying to hold onto the presidency. through a false scheme. the fraudulent scheme. yeah. yes ah, yes, early. they're like we have 30 seconds left to talk about one thing that gaudi, which i noticed yesterday, as i was up to the courthouse is trump have been calling on all these protests. they didn't materialize certainly not the way that he had expected. not even around the country. reall

march that you had mentioned david pecker. we have a press release. you have it as well from the d.a. alvin bragg that goes over some of these counts. it does talk about ami, which was american media company, david pecker was the witness brought in to the grand jury, correct? he testified twice as you mentioned, martha. he was accused of catch for kill. he was the person that was the intermediary between him and michael cohen, the former president's personal attorney to pay karen mcdougal the $150,000. that is mentioned in the d.a.'s press release describing these payments and describing these felony counts. so it does appear that karen mcdougal is at the base of this and david pecker that was interviewed mull time times by the grand jury and michael cohen and stormy daniels. jake, you have anything else to offer us? >> it's worth noting, i think i brought it up already but i may not have, that president trump, former president trump definitely glared at the da bragg when he left. he got up, looked around the rim. chef walked in -- trump was the last

benefit for david pecker to do this for donald trump. did he just like being in the orbit of donald trump? this is the question that so many even am i insiders posed to me over my years of reporting on this. and i think that's a big part of it. honestly he liked the status afforded to him being close to celebrities. and especially this one am i had similar relationships with a number of prominent people over the years, and i think when donald trump became a viable political candidate a number of people at m. i realized that they stood to benefit from that relationship inquirer was on the rocks financially going into that election season. i think the number of people there were looking for ways out. we're looking for golden parachutes were looking for favorable treatment of that company. so there was a lot in this for david pecker and other associates there. thank you appreciate it. good to be here, anderson. just ahead the senate republicans who have been notably silent on the former president's indictments in the house republican who sa

michael cohen has a role but i was very interested that they sort of downplayed his role that david pecker has a huge role in terms of establishing the scheme and there also appears to be, i say appears, a lot of documents that are corroborative. - david pecker of course who is the publisher of the "national enquirer" who helped donald trump and his campaign by suppressing negative stories about him. look, observers point out that of all the potential cases that are to be brought before the court related to the former president, that this is one of the weakest and potentially the easiest to portray as a witch hunt. bragg has already taken a lot of heat for being the first prosecutor to file charges against a former president. "the wall street journal" even editorializes that this could open a pandora's box. what's your response? - so i think that there's no question that this case is the least serious. i won't say the weakest because we don't know what the proof is yet on this case or any of the other cases that have not yet been brought. but i do think it's the least serious. i do think t

panel earlier this afternoon >> sources close to the investigation tell cbs news that david pecker'sis a sign district attorney alvin bragg might be finalizing a case against former president donald trump in 2016, it was pecker who encouraged efforts by then-candidate trump and michael cohen to prevent damaging stories about trump from being published >> yesterday's convening of this two-month long grand jury probe appeared to center around hearing testimony from david pecker pecker is a central figure in this drama as you pointed out where both of those hush money payments to adult film actress stormy daniels in his role at the time as publisher of the "national enquirer" and a friend of then-candidate donald trump, he helped broker the original $130,000 payment >> seth: that's right. the grand jury heard from a key player in trump's corrupt scheme to broker a secretive hush money payment to conceal an ellicit affair jsut weeks before a presidential election and then disguised those payments by lying about what they were for it's a damning development in what is already a serious ca

one from michael cohen and david pecker to pay hush money to stormy daniels which is now the subjectump's indictment and people forget this, but was there and i am telling you this is how it went down the thing that really hurt hillary clinton that electio was the fact that she was th object of attention, certainly down the stretch it was the clinton campaig everyone was obsessively focused on her emails, the comey letter the laptop in the ensuing years since 2016, since that rupture in the spac time continuum, it is become clear, when the general voting public, medium, persuadable, normally voters pay attentio to donald trump. they don't like him. they don't like what they see. this has been demonstrated ove and over again in election after election it was true in 2018 when the election became a midter referendum on his presidency and republicans lost 40 seat in the house it was true in 2021 trum became the first incumbent president to lose reelection since george h. w. bush in 1992, losing the popular vote by 7 million and underperformin other republicans up and dow the ballot to h

a lot of u in the media, we are familia with stormy daniels and he story of what happened but, david pecker lot of people may not b familiar with. how do you see his involvement his potential testimon impacting this case? >> isn't it just interesting that we thought of so much o this we've been talking michae cohen, michael cohen, michae cohen, and how does he fit int this david pecker is an incredibl character in this, and i think he is going to be, i don't wan to say the star, but he is going to be a star of this shouldn't go to trial. the reason is that he is the former editor of the enquire and he was involved in these catch and kill payments. he was involved in the storm daniels ones that didn't actually go to a catch and kil and there was a private paymen that was facilitated from trum to her, but he was als involved in the karen mcdougal case where there was a catch and kill a catch and kill, most peopl know it, but it's where yo take a story and instead o publishing it you pay for it you kill it. he's been in the center of all these, and there's a third cas that's lesser known about

which they did and david pecker and the national enquirer, the acknowledged to federa prosecutors previously, th question is, did they go to th quiet state prosecutors, the matt da and the grand jury thi time around? and say what they told federal prosecutors previously and that that, in order to buy karen mcdougal's story was don for the principal purpose of influencing the 2016 election. if in fact the grand jury is bringing charges related t election violation, that i where, was it to influence the presidential election? that is where karen mcdougal's story specifically reall becomes important for th special case simon? >> vaughn, thank you so much for your reporting joining me now is hugo lowell, he is a politica investigations reporter for th guardian and lisa rubin is also, here she is an msnbc legal analyst. hugo, you have a lot of th reporting about the trump team and you report that donald trump himself may actually hav been one of the last people to hear about his own indictment. how? how could this have even happened and why was his team s surprised by these charges, if you can br

even since this investigation we didn't know publicly, at least about david pecker. being invited to the white house. we thanked for how he helped trump during the campaign. unfortunately we're out of time, errol karen. thank you both. you have amazing perspective on this, so i really appreciate your insight. thank you. also this morning, newly released video shows the moment an officer jumped in the back seat of a car and shot and killed a teenager as he sped off the deadly encounter in washington, d c will tell you next. thank you guys. right now. we're keeping our eye on severe weather happening across the midwest and south, same areas hit by strong storms just yesterday. cnn this morning brought to you by far sega visit us f for sega dot com foror mori wouldn't have chronic kidney disease. there are places you'd like to be. like here. and here and here. not so mu here. if you've been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease for cigarette deuces, the risk of kidney failure which can lead to dialysis. farcical can cause serious side effects, including dehydration, uri

what was happening when the payments to michael cohen were made or when david pecker may have been winvolved, and was in the end of the 2016 campaign in the days before the 2016 campaign, in the couple months before the end of the campaign, it looked like donald trump's hopes for being president were dashed "the access hollywood" tape came out where he bragged about being able to grab women you know where, he was getting criticized by almost everybody, including everybody in the republican party, saying they couldn't support him. teary videos from people like mike lee, the senator from utah, saying they could never support donald trump after hearing these words from his mouth paul ryan, the same. i mean, it was everybody, essentially, saying donald trump was toast. there was also the comments he was making at the time about -- that came out about alicia machado who was the former miss universe she alleged that he called her miss chubby. so his comments and his behavior toward women were very much in the spotlight. in the days before the election. at the time michael cohen alleged he made the

but the overall scheme is very much as much about america media and david pecker as it i about mr. cohen. and that ends up being a interesting dynamic given th different types of immunit that were offered in different stages for different types o testimony, including fro weisselberg and from pecker. >> there's an argument to be made that the district attorne bag has a better prosecution o the facts then the feds do because he alone has the business records crime that is not a federal crime. that is not something that the would be able to bring in th southern district. so, it is tricky if michael cohen was a full an open, total disclosure cooperator in the southern district - still decided not to go forward, i don't get to, but i do understand why we are where we are now with bragg >> can we also make the note that this office, this da' office, prosecute this - all the time there's one sense in which the goose news about this is thi is a mundane business record crime that is not uncommon and it is not uncommon from this prosecutor so, his most recent victor against trump -- llc's ma

and david pecker, michael cohen, donald trump met together to hatch this scheme and to basically keepp pressing that fact and the jury meaning even if arguendo as journalists say, that doesn't cancel out. >> if i had two witnesses, i thought i had a solid case if i had three witnesses, four witnesses, ways a slam dunk. >> right more criminals avoid what this is >> exactly that's how they work >> the other piece i want to ask you is, we talked about fear now, the law doesn't have any particular statutory note about it some plead out one reason is fear what did you think plaiof mr. cohen's view that tomorrow will be a day that makes him afraid >> i think so. because he's -- as i said before, he is going into a courtroom. there is going to be a judge sitting at a high bench. he's going to have zero control over the whole proceeding. he has to say i plead not guilty this is totally new for this person so, yeah michael cohen is spot on that as well that donald trump is in a different world. now that doesn't mean that donald trump is ever going to throw in the towel and plead guilty i mean,

david pecker, the publisher of the natio"national enquirer" and ot documents. that's a smart way to build an indictment what we don't know and one of the greater weaknesses is how the felony charges will hold up when they are challenged by mr. trump's defense attorneys, whether or not these election law violations will truly result in felony charges after the judge reviews these argument s. we will have to say. >> the false business statements were made to conceal another crime. that's what stepped it up to a felony he didn't specify, but they certainly in the narrative allude to tax problems and conspiracy as i understand it in talking to our lawyers yesterday, in real time, they don't have to charge him with the other crimes. they don't have to charge him with conspiracy or tax evasion they just have to show the intent to commit this felony in order to -- if they persuade a jury, get a conviction all of this is assuming the defense does not get charges dismissed. they have a lot of preliminary opportunities to do that before any trial were to take place >> th

credit to his client, but hi crowd -- is client is a difficult witness to put off but now you have david pecker, according to the allegations who is a very central to the scheme and you also have the documents corroborating them the other is legally there is lot of discussion about ho this became a felony and whether it was just going to b campaign finances, whether federal or state finance laws. and yes, that does appear, her but there also appears to be tax offenses that form thi reason that it could be bumped up, and also false statement by a ally. those seem rock-solid, because the campaign finance stuff, al of their issues about whethe it is a federal, there are issues there, if it state, there are issues there but on ami false busines records and tax, take a stat tax offenses, you have to prov that that was the intent, bu it is not the same kind of legal challenges so what i see when i look at this is it is gonna be ver hard to not miss out as motion to dismiss. meaning, the prosecution wil get its day in court, whethe they prove it, that remains to be seen. that is for the jury decide. t

you don't just have michael cohen in this case you have david pecker, the long time publishers of the "national enquirer." and a long time friend of donald trump. he is foremost in this case because he is the one who helped to put together the architecture of the catch and kill scheme this is not a case that's just michael cohen and a handful of checks this is david pecker, michael cohen, tapes, witnesses that back them up i think it's a strong case this discussion about the legal theory, i understand the issue about federal preemption but we're talking about an attempt to violate a state crime. this capacity in disemployeesing the precise theory is going to insulate and inoculate the indictment it gives the d.a. the ability argue the catch and scheme nascheme narrative. you have layers of evidence and layers of legal theories that make this a strong case. >> daniel horowitz, very good to speak to you we'll look forward to doing that again. >>> what a record breaking wisconsin supreme court election win means in one of the country's most important political battle ground states. >>> c

trump's longtime friend and then chairman of the national enquirer's parent company, david pecker, is believed to have orchestrated that $150,000 payment, pecker testified before the grand jury monday. trump also denies any affair with mcdougal. trump's lawyers are now vowing to fight, saying they will move to get all charges dismissed before any trial. there's no crime. i don't know if it's going to make the trial because we have substantial legal challenges that we have to two front before we get to that point, cnn has been digging into who this last witness was on thursday before the grand jury voted to indict trump a lot more could become clear as this case progresses, and we'll see just how strong this case might be after the indictment is unsealed likely tuesday at the arraignment. in the meantime, former attorney general bill barr is the latest now speaking out, joining republicans in saying that this case is just a political hit job in a weak case, notably no, no one has seen the exact charges or the evidence here. jessica schneider , cnn washington jessica schneider, thank yo

david pecker, owner of national >> tonight president trump arrested and arraigned in new york city, the only president former or present leaving trump tower, his 4-mile ride to lower manhattan, along with the secret service agents, the nypd and the secret service guiding the room, his eyes locked on the caera as he walked into the courtroom on the 15th floor of criminal court. and once inside, still photographers allowed in the room, capturing images both somber and surreal. trump flanked by his legal team, officers standing behind them. the former president himself pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. tonight the indictment and what it reveals about three separate hush money payments before the pivotal 2016 election. and why david packer, the owner of the "national enquirer" could play a key role in the prosecution with the catching kills scheme allegedly paying for stories but then killing them to allegedly help the candidate. tonight trump headed back to mar-a-lago where this all hits next, and one about the other investigations many legal observers

there was stormy daniels, ther was michael cohen, there was david pecker from the publishe of the nationalhis becaus they say that nothing happened with trump's money, bu weisselberg involved and o course, there is donald trump. one of the things donald trump has tried to do, not wit weisselberg and not with pecker, but with stormy daniels an michael cohen, is to undermine them, to target witnesses, t make their credibility, to mak them seem less credible in the eyes of the public i don't know if that's going t work with a jury >> well, i think we need t distinguish between the cour of public opinion and the cour of law trump plays -- in the court of public opinion and he's not going to be abl to do that in a court of law and we saw that last week when he had the opportunity t present a witness to the grand jury he presented his former lawyer robert costello, who tried t undermine michael cohen. i think the version that was presented was that storm daniels approached michael cohen and i think, you know, sort of engaged in some kind o shakedown that trump had nothing to do with this. michae

in june 20. 15 where there was a meeting at trump tower where not just michael cohen but also david pecker and the defendant now donald trump. we're all together and they agreed at that time to engage in what's a criminal conspiracy to catch and kill these things for the election. you've got several of these meetings that again don't just rely on michael cohen that also have david pecker, and there's also someone they refer to in there as the editor in chief of the national enquirer, who was in on it, too. right, so there's multiple this is their text messages. there's phone calls, and i think there will be facts in here that support that this was a conspiracy to influence the election. okay so now here's now let's try to unscramble the site katie because one passage in the entitlement statement of facts, says speaking about trump, he instructed lawyer a. that's cohen. that if they could delay the payment until after the election, they could avoid paying altogether because at that point, it wouldn't matter if the story it wouldn't it would not matter if the story became public. okay so two

we know about david pecker we know about the general claims that cohen has made against trump. it is possible that there is a raft of additional evidence that we're not aware of documents, text messages phone call evidence of phone calls between the parties that will support and bolster the testimony of the witnesses so far, elliot, one of the things that i think is looming over this, you heard apologized. kind of reference it we? we've been discussing a quote unquote novel legal theory at play here , but but actually, there's something even more basic than that. when you're talking about crimes, which is did he hurt anyone? right did he defraud anyone? what do you think about that question of whether that is up in the air. actually bill barr, trump's former attorney general just this morning, said he doesn't think that there is any evidence of defrauding either the government or an individual or is, you know business partners anything like that. with all due respect to the former attorney general, he hasn't seen the indictment, either. so it's hard to say whether there is evid

and so there was a rebuttal with david pecker.his one was a little bit bigger than a typical grand jury presentation. they may very well call. these witnesses will see kirby a good witness. people know what story is this is what conversations she had with michael cohen. i'd like to hear that. i think that would be might be interesting. michael cohen could testify to that, too. i think there there is a little danger and putting it on and it's a little it. they know we know it. we know what the case is about. so it's a little beside the point. and i think that we wanna and i don't know i i'm not a district attorney, but i hear you, alyssa. from the d a s perspective. i completely agree. i don't think that it would make sense necessarily or necessary to put her up. however there is kind of a vital public interest there. she would be under oath. so she's given tons of media interviews, michael cohen's given countless media interviews with these kind of characters that that you know, involved in these cases that we've heard from so muc

and so there was a rebuttal with david pecker.this one was a little bit bigger than a typical grand jury presentation. they may very well call. these witnesses will see kirby a good witness. people know what story is this is what conversations she had with michael cohen. i'd like to hear that. i think that would be might be interesting. michael cohen could testify to that, too. i think there there is a little danger and putting it on and it's a little it. they know we know it. we know what the case is about. so it's a little beside the point. and i think that we wanna. and i don't know i i'm not a district attorney, but i hear you, alyssa. from the d a s perspective. i completely agree. i don't think that it would make sense necessarily or necessary to put her up. however there is kind of a vital public interest there. she would be under oath. so she's given tons of media interviews, michael cohen's given countless media interviews, i would these kind of characters that that you know involved in these cases that we've heard from s

orchestrated a scheme with his former lawyer, michael cohen, and former national inquirer publisher david pecker to pay hush money to at least three people. alluding porn actress stormy daniels. everybody said, this is not really an indictment. there's nothing here. my lawyers came to me and they said there's nothing here. they're not even misdemeano in w , but ch can upgdedo felonyf 'so ot , s tax or campaign violations.e prosecutor would try and prosecute something that thin as this and prosecute a violation of federal election laws. when they're state prosecutors. i don't think we're gonna get to direct in this case is going to fall on the law before we get there, the district attorney saying he's bringing the case now because of new evidence, but he did not elaborate. legal experts called that a strategic move, not putting out all that factual narrative. it protects the prosecution from revealing too much is harder to attack the narrative when it's not in the indictment. the court proceedings, a historic first for sitting or former american president concluded in just under one hour reporter

but it also relies on david pecker, who was the head of ami with the head of the head of the national enquirer. there was a detail in this statement of fact that i had not known before, which was that david pecker apparently was brought to the white house to sit with trump and trump thanked him for help during the campaign, and so i think in terms of certainly the implications not just for trump, but for the country in terms of the types of investigations, this one feels more trivial, but it's still a criminal case, assuming the judge allows it to go forward. also speaking of the campaign and what that platform is, i don't know of any other major campaign events he has coming up. he just did that rally in waco, texas. he's got something coming up in new hampshire there, but nothing no massive rallies that i have seen any notices go out about or anything like that. he's got something coming up. i think in iowa is what i was told to hampshire is, yeah, i think that he's got some early state travel, but i think you're right. i don't think they're planning on doing big rallies, whether it

that is where that phrase come from the fact that david pecker was one of the last people the grandeurto the last witnes we've heard of but there was one witness afte that that they would not tel us who that was. and that may have been the - let's not forget, the cfo is getting out of rikers island now. allen weisselberg fired hi lawyer and i before, he fire the lawyer paid for by the trump organization and hired a new lawyer how do we know weisselberg wasn't the one that came i those last 30 minutes throug the basement and said -- has agreed to say some things? because he did the books he was paying for othe cover-ups. if he has done any of the othe cover and donald trump used -- it was for election purposes that could be a lot going on there's a reason why donal trump is not making his speech in trump tower's he needs time to fly back an be de-briefed by lawyers befor he says something in mar-a-lago otherwise he will be standin on fifth avenue saying - >> - you all know donald trump will not be shy about a camera. today, is a hutchinson's announcement is such a stark reminder that in

but david pecker, who could, lead come to the second time i front of the gradually t testify, he wast - packer was not sent by > that's right, by donald trump. >> sent by costello. and that's why i'm saying ther may be a lot more of that, we'll see. and i think that trump i coming in tomorrow night, or tomorrow afternoon and his lawyers will probabl not going to be able to tell him until 2:15 so, i mean, you talk about jonathan always knows, his mother's and simone's mother knows a song we used to know we call it stormy monday, bu tuesday's just as. bad >> [laughter all right, everybody standby join us now is olivia troye. she's former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser t then vice president mike pence she left her white house rol following the trum administration's covid-1 response she's since taken up, she' been an outspoken critic o donald trump and the mag movement olivia, good to see you again. thank you for being with us. we touched just a little bit o your former boss, because whil he has nothing to do with this particular case in manhattan this is one of seven cas

violate state tax law you also see the centrality not just of michael cohen to the scheme but also david pecker and it's clear to me from reading the statement of facts -- i assume the prosecutors can prove or think they can prove everything in the statement of facts, that mr. pecker, who essential publishes the "national enquirer" is an important witness. because he had private conversations with trump and those conversations included the details of how these hush money payments were going to be made and what they were for what they were for was to protect mr. trump in the upcoming election. so some things were expected the felonies related to the false entries and the bookkeeping. but the centrality of mr. pecker, i think, puts a new gloss on this, and it's something i'm going to watch carefully going forward. >> so george conway, i am a child -- a product of the '80s so i must say, after this indictment came out i thought about two pop cultural moments one "where's the beef" as far as the felony goes. and the second was -- well, the second one was -- see i forgot what it was. because the '80

but the overall scheme is very much as much about america media and david pecker as it i about mr.en. and that ends up being a interesting dynamic given th different types of immunit that were offered in different stages for different types o testimony, including fro weisselberg and from pecker. >> there's an argument to be made that the district attorne bag has a better prosecution o the facts then the feds do because he alone has the businessecorrime that is a fel crime. thatnot thinat the would ble to bring in th herntrict. if michael cohas al an open, tol disclosure eratn thuthern distri still decided not o forwd, i don't get , but do untand why we are wher are now with bragg >> can we so makthe that ts offi, this da' , prosute this - the ti goose ne abouthihi wch t crime that is unco and it is nouncoon from this ainst trump --ecvict c's up the trum oratwas out business res anx records, e ra, his omething you want to taboutnyone. what happened -- thisld hn to anyone -- white collar cris.brr of >>ould say though, we keep coming, you end up cing of what the law isoc what ie la wh

. >> steve: i read the indictment and i think david pecker will be their key witness. when you look at donald trump's many cases pending against him, georgia, docu-lago, this is their weakest case. they have to figure out what to do with the indictments and jack smith trying to figure out what to do with that. have you advised the former president about the pending cases? >> jim: we don't know what is going on there, the left never stops, 2016, 2018, mueller investigation and the hunter biden laptop story and raiding his home 91 days before the election and now this in the run-up to the 2024 race. why won't they just let "we the people" decide who they want representing in the office, why does the fbi and the left get involved trying to put their finger on the scale. they have been out to get trump since he ran for office because he is fighting for we the people and not for the swamp and that is key problem the left has with president trump. >> brian: we have bigger problems, the dollar will be leaving as currency, military threats, the ukraine are wa, russia and china

federally david pecker is an important important witness to he's mentioned here. there's actually an interesting mention that he was invited to the white house after the inauguration, and the purpose there is to show this was campaign related. according to the d a. this was not personal. there are documents. um they do corroborate the fact that money was paid, but they don't necessarily show donald trump's exact involvement in it. list for griffin. i'm wondering what stands out to you. it was also interesting here in this indictment. there's talk that the former president and michael cohen actually were in the oval office, discussing how to characterize these payments. yes and is caring, laid out. listen michael cohen was always going to be challenging start witness, but the d a. did a good job of laying out the facts that back it up. however the court of public opinion matters here, and i think the politics that donald trump is going to lean into when we hear him. speak tonight are going. there are some things that are in his favor here. so the next hearing, acco

enquirer" publisher and dentist explaining that while you were out, someone stole all your teeth, david pecker. and like always, it's never good when the pecker unexpectedly pops up. alreaestifithe stormy case, but somethicy must be going on, be yesterday, pecker testified again in the hush money in or as the "national enquirer" reported it, "bombshell: harry cheats on meghan with bat boy!" ecker even involved? well, the guy is known for helping the former prez quash embarrassing gossip by paying for exclusive rights to someone's story with no intention of publishing it, a practice they call "catch and kill," of course, also the less popular cousins of snap, crackle, and pop. with the indictment walls closing st night, the ex-president sat down with his buddy, conservative pundit and the first thing fox news viewers see when they die, sean hannity. he's waiting. he's on the other side hannity asked the former president about his truth social post from the weekend, where he put up this threatening photo of himself wielding a baseball bat next to a photo of manhattan d.a. alvin bragg's head. it

done as part of a scheme involving the former publisher of the national enquirer, a man named david pecker pecker, prosecutors say, told trump's legal team he would act as the, quote, eyes and ears of the 2016 campaign seeking out any negative story about the then-candidate in order to suppress him in addition to facilitating the alleged stormy daniels payment the indictment accuses pecker and trump paying another woman to stay silent about allegations of sex with the former president. trump and his former lawyer even discussed the hush money scheme inside the oval office after trump was elected. that meeting took place in 2017. manhattan d.a. bragg spoke to reporters after trump was arraigned and defended the charges against the former president. >> donald trump was arraigned on a new york supreme court indictment, returned by a manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree under new york state law it is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and an intent to conceal another crime. that is exactly what this case is about 3

they heard testimony from "national enquirer" publisher and trump buddy david pecker, who might be theal witness in this, which is kind of poetic if you think. this started with a pecker, and now it may end with one. how great would it be if in the end, trump has to flee to mexico and crashes into the wall that he built. trump has been begging and bragging on fox news. he sat down for a two-part interview with sean hannity, during which he repeated this nonsense claimed that if he was president, there never would have been an invasion of ukraine. >> i used to talk to putin about it. i said, don't do it. and he would not have done it. we had a very friendly conversation. hey, vladimir, you can't go into ukraine. >> you say it with such conviction. why if you were president they would have not done this? >> because he knew not to mess around with me. >> they fear you? >> i would want to say that. i don't like people to say, oh, they fear me like a schmuck. but i -- did they fear me? i suspect they did. >> jimmy: he is so cool. everyone thinks so. he kept going with an idea i would like t