that gag order, they said all trump was doing here was trying to amplify defense arguments about rochon. so in his post about the daughter last week, they claim that really, what that was about was just trying to help his lawyers communicate to people how necessary recusal was i don't want to rehash exactly what he posted, but that was not the aim but here, what they are trying to do is complete the political and the legal, that it all collapses into one and would the opposition research, and an ordinary medical campaign, sort of migrated into this case and the recusal motion. >> that is the question, there has always been this, there is these two universes, we saw this in the litigation after the election, 2020, which is they can make all the compiled claims they want to and be hosted by republican lawmakers and say all sorts of crazy stuff. as soon as those claims enter a courthouse they got reduced to rubble. what good is it dude for them to be doing this in a court, i guess is the question? >> it is not that it does them any good in the court, it is that the court is the forum for t

. >>> opening statements will begin on monday and in the words of judge rochon, quote, this trial is starting. for so long we have used the word erosion to describe donald trump's erosion. but if this week's spectacle in new york city showed us anything, it is that the term erosion, flow of water, slow and steady, might be understating the immediate danger. instead, perhaps not to think of the ongoing harm done to the structure of our democracy like a tidal wave with flash flooding possible. try as he might to board up the windows, keep from being swept away, there is irreparable damage being done or more every second phase you can see it in the actions and the fear of prospective jurors, some of them so frightened or intimidated for doing their basic civic duty that some or moved to tears in the courthouse as it were today for fear of retaliation. you can see it in the way the disgraced ex-president lies about the case and everyone involved in it. most of all you can see it in the way he has conditioned his followers to distrust anything and everything outside the hermetically seale

joining me now, democratic congressman rochon of california, member on the house services committee and congressman jerry conley of virginia, member of the house foreign affairs committee. both are members of the oversight committee. welcome to the sunday show. ig congressman, you said you would save johnson. >> if he brings a clean bill on ukraine funding i think he would be doing a responsible thing and he should be funding the bridge in baltimore. those are common sense priorities and i would be willing to work across the aisle if he does that. >> no, i don't believe rewarding speaker johnson for doing his job is a smart policy and there are lots of problems, i think, doing that. he is the most ideological right-wing speaker since the 1830s. everything he stands for is antithetical to democratic an and keeping him in office is being complicit when we do that. secondly, this is extortion. where do we stop? that it was ukraine. what is it next? and thursday -- thirdly, there is liability. what kind of shelf life is he going to have in his own caucus when he is the speaker at the suffer

was a conversation we needed to have on this program for tonight's keynote, i am proud to welcome rochonessor at princeton, also part of a group of historians and scholars that have met with president biden from time to time. all right, let's get started. thank you, what is the media getting wrong, how should we be approaching this? >> the treating this as a normal election. that is really the problem. just normalizing the process normalizing what is a situation. that is really the problem. let me just say i am saying this as a historian because you put into larger prospective on how you might want this. what is a normal election? in normal election with the political parties nominating a candidate, prospective candidates for an entire process, lots of bedding is changed over the decades but nevertheless, they name the candidates in the candidates will debate the issues and different ideas to the american people, where they stand. and with a certain amount, nonetheless, that is what it is. that is not happening now. that is just not happening. >> okay, people might say okay, that is not

york during jury selection, as we came on the air apparently the former president attacking judge rochonything that is developing in the middle east, we talked a lot about weeks that could be hugely consequential not just for politics before our democracy and this certainly feels like one of those weeks. >> i absolutely believe it is and again what people will see tomorrow in that i know we refer to it as a hush money trial but it is an election interference that will kickoff in new york with jury selection on monday and it may not, what we see coming out of the sketches and the reporter, standups that happen because there will be no cameras in the courtroom may not feel hugely consequential in the moment but it is the history books will record what happens tomorrow. and the history books are going to record what happened and what will happen in the day and months moving forward as it relates to not just the middle east but how americans and members of congress choose to stand up and act think president biden has led throughout this very tumultuous moment extremely well and congress now

greater detail but he says he is doing his best or something or like trying our best and that is when rochon says you are losing credibility point come on, buddy. what is blanches angle here? not primarily legal, it is primarily about the sort of making this broader case in the court of public opinion. is blanche on board with that strategy? >> well, i think that blanche is ultimately trying to, made it very clear, they're hoping to find a juror, one juror, really, who will hold out and will vote to convict donald trump and they're hoping for a mistrial and if there is a mistrial, course donald trump will go out on the courtroom, courthouse steps and say i am completely exonerated, here in new york and so that was their strategy ultimately the back- and-forth with the judges is happening outside the has not blood into the trial too much but it is >> >> in terms of the mistrial, one of the things that just going back to the transcripts, just sort of striking me again, maybe this is such an obvious point but indulge me, sometimes you'll have like in a classic sort of mystery courtroom drama th

also to yours, alicia, that we had timothy snyder -- rochon a asked him a really important question about this. he said that it was a mistake to link the two. they are two different situations. linking the two may have delayed and made it harder to get that ukraine aid across the finish line. i think that may be at that time, it seemed like a good idea. we have seen that we have had full democratic support. we just needed a handful of republicans who weren't willing to come along to get the ukraine aid to the floor. let's get it out there. in the bill, there is a provision that allows it to go in an expedited fashion to ukraine because we all understand that stopping putin's march across europe and the destruction that would cause with his dictatorship is very critical, not just ukraine but to the entire world. >> i want to play for folks about speaker jeffries -- the way democrats are carrying this legislation over the line, democratic leader jeffries, during his weekly address, had this to say about the negotiations and these aid packages. take a listen. >> we still have to get the nati

joining me now, democratic congressman rochon of california, member of the house armed services committee and gerry connolly of virginia, member of the house foreign affairs committee. both are members of the oversight committee. congressman, welcome to the sunday show. thank you both very much for being here. you said that you would save speaker johnson on two conditions. have those changed? >> no. if he brings a clean bill and you grant funding, he would be doing the responsible thing. he should be funding the bridge in baltimore. those are common sense priorities and they would be willing to work across the aisle if he does that. >> congressman connolly. >> know. i don't believe rewarding speaker johnson for doing his job as a smart policy. there's lots of problems i think doing that. he is the most of the illogical right-wing speakers since the 1830s. everything he stands for is antithetical to democratic values. keeping him in office is being complicit when we do that. secondly, this is extortion. where do we stop? this time it's ukraine, what next? and third, there is liability. wha

judge rochon doing the opposite of judge cannon in this sense, which is ruling on this sort of immunity hail mary. he basically said that he waited too long to raise the issue that was so clearly last-minute . he denied trump's motion to deny the trial start date until the "rules on this claim in the federal case in washington, d.c. all of that aims to me, april 15th, as of now, is that your understanding? >> exactly right. and it is more than that. remember, this is what he was able to leverage in other settings to get a delay. what was said is, i'm not going to entertain it, you are late. you are so late, i doubt, this is a very dramatic claim, i doubt the sincerity and purpose of what you are doing. you have just basically waited until the last minute to try and delay things. i am not even going to consider because it is untimely. and really, i don't think he has cards left to play . we are, as you said, 12 days away from picking a jury in a first ever criminal trial with a former president. >> kristy, is that your read as well? >> i agree with harry. looking at the opinion, we are s

congresswoman crockett and congresswoman rochon, on this issue about whether to save speaker johnson.ssues and have been very critical of him, but he did the right thing and he deserves to keep his job until the end of his term. >> we don't do things for you or save you because you did the bare minimum of doing your job. doing the decent thing, as allies and friends of various nations and countries, that is just the bare minimum. >> so, sophia, given your reporting, these are the folks you cover. the likelihood of them doing, what congresswoman edwards said, that democrats are going to save her johnson? >> look, house democratic leadership has said, let's not say anything just yet. a lot of rank-and-file members created this problem, it's your problem, you deal with it, that's the sentiment. i think that we may not, to congresswoman edwards point, we may not get to this point because the key is that former president trump does not want another ugly speakership fight. marjorie taylor greene knows that. i think she has really boxed herself in. the thinking in trump world, from what i am

my name is rochon, i am calling from detroit, dearborn, michigan. was born in iraq, but i lived 50 years of my age here in the united states. i have been watching the news. i think, unfortunately, the united states government and the media taking side with israel. as a democratic country and as the best country in the world and the best accomplishment of human being in the history, we should be neutral. like president biden, he went to israel and told that yahoo! -- and told benjamin netanyahu i am a zionist. this country is made of jewish and christian and muslim and more. we should be more neutral. for example, the title of your program, you said countless demonstration about the problem between hamas and israel. it is not between hamas and israel. it is between the arab or muslim and israel. host: the campus protests over gaza? caller: yes. anyway, i think we should be more honest, because nobody talk about the occupied land in israel. like, for example, the golan heights of syria. the seven villages. in south lebanon. i think that it is better a

my name is rochon, i am calling from detroit, dearborn, michigan. was born in iraq, but i lived 50 years of my age here in the united states. i have been watching the news. i think, unfortunately, the united states government and the media taking side with israel. as a democratic country and as the best country in the world and the best accomplishment of human being in the history, we should be neutral. like president biden, he went to israel and told that yahoo! -- and told benjamin netanyahu i am a zionist. this country is made of jewish and christian and muslim and more. we should be more neutral. for example, the title of your program, you said countless demonstration about the problem between hamas and israel. it is not between hamas and israel. it is between the arab or muslim and israel. host: the campus protests over gaza? caller: yes. anyway, i think we should be more honest, because nobody talk about the occupied land in israel. like, for example, the golan heights of syria. the seven villages. in south lebanon. i think that it is better a