joining us now is our political analyst, larry gerston. larry, let's first talk about what these charges mean. >> well, good evening, audrey. this is quite a big day for the manhattan d.a., president trump, and the nation in various different ways. as far as the charges, we don't know yet. it could be one of two ways. one would be a misdemeanor, which really relates to the bribe itself. $130,000, that's wrong, it's a crime. it's a misdemeanor. the second gets a bit more controversial and involved. that has to do with whether, in fact, the president used those funds from different areas, (yrfferent places. were they designed for the campaign? were they business funds? did they go without the right numbers and calculations, and, you know, accounting? and that's where it gets to be a possible felony. now, misdemeanors are nothing in terms of a fine perhaps and a modest jail sentence of a few days at the most, usually nothing, perhaps a slap on the wrist. felonies could be up to four years in prison. now, that rarely happens, but think about i

let's bring in our political analyst larry gerston. i want to start by asking you the term woke. what does woke mean? >> reporter: good evening, audrey. it is used by so many people, conservative republicans. we don't know a lot about it. it's strange as to what it really is and how it came about. it's used in a disparaging way to criticize democrats, progressive democrats, who really want to use government for social justice programs, things of that nature. the interesting thing is originally woke was a term used by the african american community. woke comes from awake. stay awake in case of police brutality and other injustices done to african americans. that term has evolved to where republicans use it in an entirely different manner as i have suggested above. >> over the years i did see this term evolve. i wonder how did it change so much. like you said it was first used by the black community and of late i'm hearing the term used almost as a tool by republican conservatives. >> audrey, you are right. it is a tool and it places all of the grievances under one four-letter worl

nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston is here. good morning. great to see you.this is true, there is a big if -- >> sure. >> how unprecedented would this be? >> about as unprecedented as unprecedented can be, kira. no kidding. no former president has ever been arrested for anything, much less something like this. so no, this is something brand new. he's under investigation, not just for this, of course, but several crimes. and in some sense, it seems like the walls may be closing in. >> if you can, remind us, you know, i'm not trying to make any commentary here. but there are various investigations surrounding trump. can you remind us of what's going on and the significance of that. >> absolutely. we begin with tuesday's indictment. that has to do with the investigation of stormy daniels receiving $130,000, remember the adult film star to keep quiet about their affair. that's the first thing that's happening. and from there, we go on to other ones. i think probably the second one has to do with the district attorney from fulton county, georgia. remember that sto

let's bring in our political analyst, larry gerston. larry, i want to start with the indictment.'s sealed, so we don't know exactly what's in it. while the case involves those hush money payments to stormy daniels, the crime that trump is accused falsification of documents within the trump organization. can you sort that out a little bit more for me? >> sure. the idea here is that he's likely to be indicted -- he, the former president -- for a felony, and the felony happens because not only the payments occurred. but as you said, jessica, they were done in such a way that they did not go through routine business practices. for example, they may not have been counted on for taxes. they may have been written down as a different business expense, that kind of thing. once you do that, the idea of the hush money payment really becomes insignificant. now we're talking about the president violating the law in a variety of ways all the way from avoiding taxes to literally breaking the rules in terms of the way he spends his money. so we don't know exactly what it is. we're talking about

. >> and we will have much more on the president's legal issues coming up at 5:30, and larry gerston is going to look deeper into what he is facing. >>> and now, the president is vetoing a measure that the senate passed that would block a labor department rule that would put retirement savings at risk across the country. and it would also allow measurements of climate change to take investments and not just profit. so they need 2/3 majority vote to override the presidential veto. >>> overnight, we can see a grim picture of the climate in crisis and what is being done in the bay area to curb our emissions. >>> and now, what is happening that is going to go to more affordable housing. >>> and we will have the dramatic >> while the planet is getting hotter and we are not cool it down fast enough. it is the newest warning from the latest report. if we don't turn things around, we won't have time to turn it around. and what are the latest on the battles being fought here in the bay area. >> reporter: in the latest intergovernmental panel on climate change, they stress two things. first, w

. >> joining us now is our political analyst larry gerston. nice to have you back on the program. a common response from people here is why is this still an issue? didn't we get past the stormy daniels stuff years ago? >> well, good evening, raj. yes, we did get past the stormy daniels stuff to the extent that michael cohen, if you know, went ahead and pled guilty to a three-year term for giving those checks to stormy daniels. so in a sense, we did get rid of it. now the question looms did president trump authorize that money? we've seen his name on checks for that purpose. and if so, could it have been money taken away from his campaign? in the first case, it's just a misdemeanor. the second case, it could be a felony. so there's a lot at stake in the next couple of days. >> we just heard house speaker kevin mccarthy say stop going after this for potentially a misdemeanor. at what point does the government go after it, knowing if it's a misdemeanor or felony? >> we'll know that pretty soon. if, in fact, manhattan d.a. alvin bragg goes ahead and prosecutes, he will say, i'm prosec

our political analyst, larry gerston, weighs in. >>> also, water restrictions in benicia tonight, butnothing to do with the drought. why repairs from the recent storms are forcing people to cut back their water use.

nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston joins us now. 12 in california since january 1.e've had some of the deadliest. the half moon bay shooting, the one at a dance hall in monterey park. but how did california compare to other states? >> reporter: well, good evening, janelle. interestingly enough, california actually has a smaller share of mass gun shootings than other states. we've got about 12.5% of the nation's population, and our share of these terribles is under 10%. so, okay, that's minor satisfaction considering everything that is going on. truly, california is different, very different from just about every other state. in fact, the giffords law center ranks california the best in the california that way because of all of the changes you see right there. universal background checks, assault weapons restrictions. that goes back to the famous stockton mass slaying in 1989. safe storage of arms, ammunition regulations. i've given you five of these major changes. in fact, there have been more than two dozen, almost all of them separates california from the rest of

and then at 5:30, our political analyst, larry gerston joins us with his insights. we're also updating our digital platforms with the latest information all the time. >>> let's go ahead and talk about our other top story today. san jose police union employee is now facing federal charges of trafficking illegal drugs for years. today the president of the union sat down with us for his first interview since the indictment of the 64-year-old woman that some called the grandma of the office. nbc bay area's ian cull joins us now. ian, the details are shocking a lot of people today. >> reporter: yeah, audrey. accusations of trafficking fentanyl and other drugs, in some cases using union resources to do it. that's the charge against 54-year-old joanne segovia, the san jose police union's executive director. federal investigators say the 20-year civilian employee of the police officers association used her office email and computer to make some of the transactions. in the federal complaint, prosecutors allege that segovia had 61 drug shipments, including thousands of pills

. >> larry gerston, thanks for joining us this morning. it's 7:52.next, a quick look at the top stories, including the wet weather causing lots of headaches for people across the y area. ba ba you go by lots of titles. veteran, son, dad. -it's time to get up. -no hair stylist and cheerleader. so adding a “student” title might feel overwhelming. but what if a school could be there for all of you? career, family, finances and mental health. it's coming along. well, it can. national university. supporting the whole you. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart... efficient... agile... and that's never been more important than it is right now. so for a limited time, comcast business is introducing small business savings. call now to get powerful internet for just $39 a month, with no contract, and a money back guarantee. all on the largest, fastest, reliable network. from the company that powers more businesses than anyone else. call and start saving today. comcast business. powering possibilities. >>> welcome back. here is a quick