believe i did anything illegal or ever thought i was doing anything illegal i did an awful, awful lot that was wrong the jury acquitted edwards on one charge and split on the other five, leading the justice department to ultimately dropped the case. well, election interference and it's got to stop. it's a third world country. >> trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments made to hide an alleged affair with an adult film star and influence the 2016 election. trump denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty, but trump's former attorney, michael cohen, swore under oath that he made the payments in order to affect the outcome of the election cohen, though, was convicted of perjury in a separate case, the edwards case had its own star witness, a close aide to the former senator who testified to helping edwards keep that a fair secret. but prosecutors did not prove their claim. the cover up was about the alleged section the woman with whom edwards had the affair real

hunter told cnn edwards did not want the truth to hurt his wife. >> the issues for internal family and. she was trying to hide it from elizabeth try not to hurt anybody. >> he didn't want to hurt elizabeth. or his family a key difference could be the timing of the alleged affairs and subsequent payoffs, which might help spell out the payments intent edwards affair occurred during the 2008 campaign with at least one payment happening after the election was over, long after edwards dropped out of the race in trump's case, the alleged affair happened in 2006, years before he ran for president the payoff is alleged to have been made just two weeks before the 2016 election persecution. >> and this is about me, but perhaps the starkest difference is how each man reacted to their cases there is no one else responsible for my sans

none of the people who came to court and testified are responsible. >> nobody working for the government is responsible. i am responsible. >> this is really an attack on a political opponent that's all it is. >> jessica dean, cnn, washington thanks for joining us. >> the news continues here on cnn breaking news tonight, the trump trial testimony begin any official transcript was just released for the next hour. >> we'll take you inside the courtroom from gavel to gavel. as this historic hush money criminal case unfolds, the prosecution's first key witness takes the stand. after both sides start to lay out their cases in opening statements our reporters and experts are standing by to break down all of today's most important developments and look ahead to what's next welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world i'm wolf blitzer with a special report in the situation

room trump trial today let's get right to the breaking news on the opening statements and testimony in this the first criminal trial of a former president of the united states, donald trump at the defense table as prosecutors. and his lawyers began cutting to the heart of the hush money case against him. cnn's kara scannell is joining us live from new york, where she was inside the courtroom today kara, we now have the first official court transcript well, if there are no cameras in the courtroom, but they are public interest in this case is insatiable. so the treat chief administrative judge here took an extraordinary step, and so they would make the transcript public every day. so anyone can look word for word to see what is happening inside the courtroom behind me, this on the day when prosecutors laid out the evidence, they hope to

prove in this case and trump's lawyers said what his defense would be saying that he was not guilty of these crimes as opening statements got underway opening statements and the first witness, a former tabloid executive front and center monday as the first criminal trial of donald trump officially got underway i think it went very well. prosecutor said the case boils down to a conspiracy and cover up that trump orchestrated the scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election and covered it up by lying in his business records. assistant district attorney, matthew colangelo's saying it was election fraud, pure and simple. trump attorney todd blanche argued the former president is innocent. the payments made were legal. blanche also claimed there is nothing wrong with trying to to influence an election in his remarks, colangelo's a lead prosecutor on the case, said the alleged crimes began at an august 2015 meeting between trump cohen and x national enquirer publisher david the

first witness to testify in the trial on monday colangelo's said the three formed a conspiracy at that meeting to influence since the presidential election by concealing negative information about mr. trump in order to help him get elected. the prosecution said agreed to help by damaging information on trump to make it go away, a move known as catch and kill at the center of the case, a $130,000 payment to adult film star stormy day. daniel's just weeks before election day in 2016, the prosecution said a sexual infidelity, especially with a porn star on the heels of the access hollywood tape would have been devastating to his campaign. so at trump's direction, cohen negotiated the deal to buy daniel story to prevent it from becoming public before the election? trump has denied having an affair with daniels prosecutor said trump did not want to write the check himself. so cohen put up the money, colangelo's argued trump, cohen and former trump organization cfo allen

weisselberg agreed cohen would be paid back in monthly installments through fake invoices to the trump organization. prosecutors peter said key witnesses like cohen have made mistakes in the past. and encourage the jury to keep an open mind and carefully evaluate all of the evidence that corroborates michael cohen's testimony, then it was trump's attorneys turned blanche said the da's office should never have brought this case he said the prosecution story is not true and the jury will find plenty of reasonable doubt. he pivoted to paint trump as a husband and father, saying he's a person just like you and just like me, trump's team suggested the payments trump made to cohen. we're not a payback for funds paid to stormy daniels, but instead payments do as personal attorney trump defended himself against these charges after court on monday and invoice. >> so whatever, a bill. >> and they didn't call it a legal expense. >> i got indicted for that land shifted blame to cohen saying the reality is mr. trump is not

on the hook, is not criminally responsible for something mr. cohen may have done years after the fact. blanche said the prosecution's outline of a supposed catching killed deal with was not a scheme, but completely irrelevant and not illegal in the afternoon as briefly took the stand, he did not look at trump, but trump look directly at him as he testified david was on the stand for about 20 minutes to de he was explaining to the jury how the national enquirer operate, saying that they did pay for certain stories he testified on the celebrity sayyed of the magazine industry, at least on the tabloid side, we use checkbook journalism and we paid for stories. he also said that any story that required a payment of more than $10,000 required his approval and he testified that need to email addresses at ami one than it used for general businesses. that is assistant often looked at and one that he kept confidentially. now, before left the room, he walked past donald trump's table, said hello to the table. it wasn't

clear if donald trump had responded. we couldn't get a good vantage point of that. the will be back on the stance tomorrow. will he will get into what the prosecutor sees the core of this testimony, these catch and kill deals, and the conspiracy they say was hatched at trump tower in 2015. wolf, are kara scannell outside the courthouse in new york. >> thank you very much. i want to dig deeper right now into the legal strategy on both sides. cnn legal analyst elie williams is with me here at the magic while elliott walk us through what you think are the key points in the prosecution's opening arguments absolutely wolf and everything in criminal prosecution starts with the law. prosecutors have to establish elements of an offense and we flag the important one points here today, false so fine. business records, that's the crime with an intent to defraud, but here's the thing. and most important in this case is for the purpose of committing another crime or aiding or concealing, covering up a crime. and you heard the prosecutors today literally call it a conspiracy & a cover up. so that's what we're talking about here. this aid or conceal now this qarrah talk

about this august 2015 meeting, and this is critical for prosecutors efforts to establish an intent to defraud on the part of the defendant what they're saying, donald trump, what they're saying is that these three people got together at this august 2015 meeting and didn't just agree to falsify records, but agreed to falsify records for the purpose of helping the former president's campaign. chances that crime is the cover-up of the campaign in 2016. now, you also have to establish the records are falsified and remember the jurors know none of this. you and i might many viewers might, but jurors don't so they, have to establish how business records were kept within the trump organization. and you have these three employees, jeff mcconney, rona graph, and deborah tarasoff, who can actually testify as to what happened within the trump organization, how they falsified records or allegedly falsified records, put them together. and what they did. now, what was the purpose of all? well, this and kara touched on this a little bit. we all remember 2016 swirling

around the trump campaign were questions perhaps about this personal misconduct. they might have, and this is the allegation on the part of the prosecutors it collaborated to benefit the presence campaign by essentially shushing these and these personal intimate relationships. >> what were some of the key points in trump's defense teams opening statement that stand out to you, it's important that we call them opening statements, not arguments. they're just saying what they think the evidence is going to be and they went hard after michael cohen and stormy daniels on credibility witness credibility think number one, michael cohen with he has criminal convictions and his record, stormy daniels might have had a reason for moving forward with this. she came forward with the story and finally, wolf really important here too big points made by the defense using the term president trump is innocent. that's not something that prosecutors have to establish. this idea of innocence versus not guilty. they said he's

innocent. they swing for the fences here, and most importantly, they are attacking the very heart of the charge here by saying that there's nothing wrong with attempting to influence an election. it's called democracy. now look a core part of the case is this, this allegation that trump's should not have been invalid? let's anything election. the defense went right after that here, attack trump on it. you're going to hear more about this over the course of this trial. very important, very interesting elliott standby as we bring in more legal and political experts into our conversation. and andrew mccabe, the defense says, they will find in their was plenty of reasonable doubt how to prosecutors overcome that? >> well, it's really interesting wolf, the prosecution and the defense have two very different jobs the prosecution has to essentially build a house and they do it the way they they start with that, the way they did today, they put the foundation down with their opening statement in the first witness, and then they start to bring in more ways witnesses, they enter evidence to prove every element of the crime. the defense simply has to tear that house down. they do that by

insinuating doubt. they do that by attacking witnesses. they do that by attacking the evidence and so they have much less of a coherent, broad theory it's just more one shot after another, one shot after another. and you will see the main witnesses take those shots very directly. >> yeah, it's interesting. david chalian, europe, political director, prosecutors are framing this as a 2016 election interference case, potentially that could be illegal phrase trump, very regularly spins it sitting outside the court earlier today, after the session, listen to this this is done as election interference. >> everybody knows it i'm here instead of being able to be invincible anion and georgia lots of other places campaigning. & is very unfair. >> david, what do you make of that? well, this is an argument we're hearing from him on a daily basis now, and it's not an argument that's going to be in court. this is not the difference between inside the

courtroom and what jurors can actually use to adjudicate his guilt or innocence in this case, whether he's guilty or not guilty versus what happens outside the courtroom when he's free to make a political grievance argument as he's doing here. but it has nothing to do with what the case will be decided on. that is an argument. he's making a political case to the american people rather than actually trying to improve his standing as a defendant in the case. and i think the distinction is key to understand because this is part of why the jurors are instructed not to consume media around this case, not to be on social media. it's exactly because this will happen in that space and it shouldn't go into their calculations. will the american people buy that donald trump is being sidelined in this campaign in some way by joe biden, who has absolutely nothing to do with this manhattan da's case. we'll see i mean, the american people have bought other untruths of donald trump's so we'll see if they, by this one. but this is

it's something we're going to hear on a daily basis. i suspect you're right that gloria borger is with us as well because you don't gloria trump's attorney, todd blanche, said this today and i'm quoting him. there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. it is called democracy. it's a pretty stunning argument. >> well, it is a stunning argument and one man's democracy is another person's conspiracy and that's, that's what we were hearing in the court today. he said what donald trump did was perfectly legal and normal than he was effectively just paying his attorney for services rendered, period. and you're allowed to do that. and if a candidate you're allowed to try and get people to vote for you. that's that's what elections are about. now the other side is saying, wait a minute, no, no, no, this was a conspiracy he was trying to hide the paperwork and that they were trying to dupe the american public because he didn't want the news about stormy daniels out. so you have two sides of the coin here it was

interesting. >> yeah, go ahead. >> i think that theory that todd blanche put out today is going to run into some trouble because they're going to hear from the prosecutors that it is actually a crime in new york state to promote a prevent an election. it's part of the new york state election laws, and it is specifically addresses a conspiracy between two people who tried to either promote or prevent an election through unlawful mean. so that is something they are going to hear. the prosecutors come back to time, time again. >> i'm blanche says it was perfectly lawful and perfectly legal, but that's the problem. that's the issue. >> sure. that gets you right back to the underlying charge, which is of course the falsification of business record i think that there they have in some ways, i think logically painted themselves into a bit of a corner on the defense side today by putting both of these defenses out, one that he basically didn't know what the payments were for that he wasn't involved in making those ledger entries and those fraudulent entries. >> but on the other hand, saying, well, he did what he did not to influence so you election, he did it to protect his family and to spare them

the embarrassment. i think those two things are fundamentally contradictory. if you knew that you are protecting your family, you knew what the payments were for early. it was interesting, david, of the national enquirer it came out today that he had a separate work email when he didn't want any of this assistance at the national enquirer to see that private separate work email. uh, how significant is this testimony? his testimony in this case overall, a. given the fact that he has immunity it's critical because of the fact that he was in that august 2015 meeting that we talked about over at the magic wall that he can speak firsthand of conversations he had with the defendant, and that's always valuable testimony now, the evidence about the email account is the kind of thing that doesn't need to be brought up at trial. it doesn't help to establish any given fact, but you plant that seed and jurors heads and it just seems a little off in a little bit. why does this man have a second email address? and it's the kind of thing that little detail that prosecutors can get in to sort of make

people raise an eyebrow, eyebrow and think, wait a second. something doesn't smell quite it's interesting. >> david, the court released the full transcript today of what happened in the court proceeding. about 1,000 pages. now, there's a different with the short de yeah i mean, if you if you go through i mean, as long it keeps on going and going and going. i see over here page 953959. so there's a lot of pages that were released today, but there's a difference between reading all these pages and watching a video of what was going on. there's no cameras are allowed in the courtroom that will have a significant impact. aid are pro and con on the on this case. >> well undoubtedly will have a significant impact in how americans are consuming the information out of this case, it will not be through memorable soundbites are the ways in which instagram video gets consumed. now, for many american voters, i don't think

it means necessarily wolf, that americans won't be paying attention. we'll see but a first ever criminal case against the former president, who is also the current republican nominee, will undoubtedly be of interest, if not every single day of the trial for people. >> certainly news junkies like us will be gripped by it, but there will be big moments, days of big witnesses, or as a verdict is approaching, where you can easily imagine, even without the video and audio coming out of the courtroom of americans tuning in to learn what happened and make their own judgments. >> all of it, but all of this is a reminder of how so the legal system is, how slow the process as and frankly, how boring a lot of things are. and i think people this is a very salacious his trial with some details that are interested with great number of people. but the world is going to see, it takes a long time to try a case sometimes, like the characters in this case are so interesting. i mean, you have michael cohen, you have stormy daniels, karen mcdougal, i

mean, the i think the american public will tune in just because of the salacious nature of but and also because it involves a former president of the united states and it's an embarrassing case.& so even though you can't witness what's going on in court, you can certainly read about it even if you're not reading every word of those thousand page transcripts every day? >> yeah. >> all right, guys. thanks very, very much. we'll continue this conversation just ahead. we'll have boron. today's opening statements. and the first day of witness testimony, a lawyer are used to represent the former president is standing by. but first, a closer look at the first witness. the prosecution in the criminal case brought forward against donald trump, lied. david is key player and how the catch and kill schemes fits into the case smile, you found it, the feeling of findings, psoriasis can't filter out the real you. so go ahead, live

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friendship with donald trump and his his familiarity with a tactics of the tabloids that make him such a compelling witness in this trial? 72 year-old david told the court today that when he was president and ceo of american media incorporated, which publishes the national enquirer. he quote, the final say on which stories would get published,& that quote on the celebrity side of the magazine industry, at least on the tabloid sayyed, we used checkbook journal holism and he said they paid for stories that practice was just part of what prosecutors say. we're plans between donald trump and trump's former lawyer, michael cohen to pay women who alleged they'd had affairs with trump to keep quiet, why mr. important is he can talk about the plan to execute the scheme and this is also important. this election interference case doesn't involve just stormy daniels it involves karen mcdougal, karen mcdougal is a

former playboy model who the new yorker magazine first reported had an affair with trump. >> prosecutors say, and the enquirer were part of a scheme to pay mcdougal and stormy daniels for their stories about their alleged affairs with trump. and then to bury those stories, it was called catch-and-kill as an approach, stories and episodes that might be incredibly embarrassing or damaging to donald trump as he ran for president might be acquired by the national enquirer and never see the light of day. >> trump has denied having affairs with both mcdougal and daniel's. prosecutors have given david immunity in exchange for his testimony his former company, american media, has signed a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors born in the bronx didn't start his career with the tabloids, but was gradually drawn to that world. >> i believe it's an accountant he had worked in book publishing but he saw an opportunity he thought in tabloid news with american media to really capitalize on america thirst for, gossip and

celebrity folk one former employee of has told cnn is known for taking care of his friends and the donald trump was definitely in that category. >> and trump have been friends since magazines really ruled the roost in new york city in 90s, you've got to remember david launched george magazine with jfk junior so at that time when trump was on the rise as a real estate mogul in new york city. logically, he went after a media owner who's going to help advance his career. the two hit it off analysts say former president trump's lawyers could try to tear down david is credibility by simply calling attention to the kinds of sorted stories that is, tabloids would run. >> but it's really not clear at this point what strategy trump's lawyers will use to deal with david is testimony they haven't indicated they're going to come after him with guns blazing wolf, but they might see what happens. >> going to be back there tomorrow. let's see what happens, bryan, todd. thank you very much coming up. we'll go

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i wonder what i will be doing? probably still living here with mom and dad. fast reliable speeds right where you need them. that's wall-to-wall wifi with xfinity. preferred better science, better results with jake tapper weekdays it for on cnn we're back with our special report on what happened to donald trump's criminal trial today his lawyers kicked off their opening statements by insisting that the former president is innocent and did not commit any crimes. >> let's bring in c in an accurate kaitlan collins, caitlin, what does that opening statement revealed? about how del approach this case? >> i mean, it's really the two sides arguing their view of what is at the center of this these documents, these allegations, and it's basically the prosecution saying it was election interference and trump's team coming out and trying to undercut that and downplay it by saying it's really just bookkeeping and you can't prove that trump knew about it that he was involved in it. they

said the extent of his involvement with signing checks, we'll see you have to see how the jurors feel about whether or not that said enough about trump's involvement and what he knew was happening. >> they made arguments about trump not easily parting ways with his money, talking about him being frugal, turning an argument that you saw the prosecution tried to use on it ted, and they also wolf talked about the witnesses here. >> must immediately right out of the gate. trump's defense attorney todd blanche, started talking about michael cohen and essentially saying that he is not to be believed. of course, we know michael cohen is going to be a central witness to this case because he is someone who had direct conversations about this with trump. he was in the room in august 2015 with david, the first witness today, and donald trump and he was at the center of all of these efforts to kill these bad stories and the negative stories about trump and to keep them from coming out so that very clearly is going to be a target of theirs. and really what their overall trying to do, wolfe here is just create doubt among the jurors about the extent of trump's involvement in all of

this. >> kaitlan. i understand you're also getting some new information in another criminal case facing trump, the classified documents case. what can you tell us about that? >> yeah. well, this is interesting. of course that is the case where or trump has been indicted for taking those classified occupants to mar-a-lago out of the white house, refusing to give them back to the government and standing in the way of the government's efforts to retrieve them. and now we're learning that allegedly one witness in the classified documents investigation told investigators that trump offered to pardon his co-defendant and his valet, walt nauta in this case, if he was charged with lying to the fbi when trump is re-elected in 2024. of course, are lot of caveats there, but this is really notable because it's coming from this redacted interview that we're getting. we don't know which witness it is in the classified documents as investigation, who is saying that trump did offer to pardon walt nauta, who of course we know was subsequently charged lying to the fbi. in this case. and the reason we don't we

don't we still a lot of questions about this is because this is someone who said that they have not spoken to walt nauta since donald trump left the white house, but they did go to mar-a-lago several times throughout the course after he left the white house and they spoke to him about the classified documents. and according to this interview they told him to essentially make sure he returned them to the national archives or otherwise warned that he would give the justice department a reason to indict him something that we do note later happen. it's not clear why this was not part of the charges that was brought against donald trump. i think there's still a lot of questions, but it does have a witness who did not want to be accorded in this it's interview because they feared backlash in trump's orbit, saying that he did offer to pardon someone who was later charged for lying to the fbi. very are potentially very significant. kaitlan collins. thanks very much into our viewers. kaitlan, of course, we will be back later tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern tanker hershko, the source. we'll be watching and joining us now, a former attorney for donald trump, jim trusty. jim, thanks very much for coming and let me get your reaction to the

kaitlan just reported about this cooperating witness in the classified documents case. i understand you were once helping trump in that case. what's your reaction? i mean, it's super speculative right now to say there's some reference by some width goodness about some sort of pardon, conversation. let me just say walt nauta was always like this talisman for the government where they would do almost anything to try to trip him up thinking he's the keys of the kingdom. he's going to get them to donald trump and donald trump's intent so anything that circles around nada, including the league campaign with the washington post that did at his expense. i take it with a grain of salt. >> well, how much potential damage legal damage with this cause trump, if in fact what, what this allegation is true. >> yeah, i don't think much. i mean, honestly, the president had the remnants of the canon thing is that you have this pardon, power. we've had all sorts of controversial pardons over the years going back at least to bill clinton, maybe going back to gerald ford, i suppose. and so the idea that

he did he's talking about something that he would have authority to do is not particularly stunning are shocking. obviously, it's contextual, were saying, is he trying to mold tests? tomorrow one or shapes somebody's cooperation or non-cooperation. i just think it's too speculative to take a nugget out of a report and say that there's anything that's proven at this point, i want to play this clip of what trump said after the trial today. listen to this. sure. >> thanks you got in trouble for things that had nothing to do with troubling, went to jail. this had nothing to do with me. they said to do with the taxi cab company video. and what are they going to look at all the lives that the last drought he got caught line and the last trial. so he got caught lying pure lime as you know, the gag order the truck is under prevents trump from attacking witnesses, potential witnesses in this case. >> michael cohen as a witness. that's gonna be called upon. did he violate the gag order?

>> well, we'll find out tomorrow morning. obviously, the court's going to have a hearing about this at 9:30. i mean, look, he's talking about cohen. cohen is talking about him ever we day and to me, the shock there is that as a prosecutor, the last thing you want is a guy with a perjury conviction, a guy that's a failed cooperator running around and still telling television how much he hates donald trump. he's only added, here's trump is under a gag or judge cohen is not under any gag order. right? i mean, he should be in an informal one where the prosecutors gag order. i understand what he wants. i know he can't it's just not helping his case where the government's case. but look, well, see if the, if the balances there, if the judge looks at it tomorrow morning and says, i think you have violated my gag order. how much hill care about the fact that the chief recipient of that violation is going on on tv daily, nightly, and saying the same types of things. >> michael cohen responded on x, formerly known as twitter. today writing this and i'm quoting him. your attacks of me stink of desperation. we are all hoping that you take the

stand in your defense. what do you think about that? >> i've feels like i'm rubber and you're glue i mean, it's kind of childish. i mean look at the, end, of the day, cohen is his own person and he is helping the defense in a sense here make him the centerpiece of this whole prosecution that should be the strategy. and i think we saw a lot of that from the opening statement today. make it all about a referendum on his credibility. if you do that from the defense perspective, you've got a chance and the prosecution of course, was distancing themselves saying, well, everybody's got to pass. he may have a history but this is about corroboration and schemes and other witnesses. so they're walking away from the importance of cohen while the defense is pushing hard, i think if anything cohen going on tv and saying these things, probably maybe a little bit helps the defense. >> interesting, judge varchar merchan. he ruled today that some of trump's past legal problems are can be brought up during cross-examination. and now i'm quoting from him including the verdict in the new york civil fraud trial, his violations of the gag order in

that case, the two verdicts against trump in the civil suits brought by e. jean carroll and the 2018 settlements dissolving trump's charity. how does that impact the likelihood that trump will do what he says he's ready to do, namely testifying. yeah. i look i think from the beginning, even before that ruling from the court about all these other little individual moments that they think reflect on credibility i think it's a bad idea. i think you want the entire focus of this jury on cohen's credibility, and i know president trump probably thinks that he could go out there and changed the de, by having his opportunity to address the jury. i get the frustration. this is kinda true in the white-collar sphere all the time. c-suite executives, guys that are used to controlling things. but basically what i hear you saying is if you were trump's lawyer today, you would tell him to shut up well, i don't know about shut up because there's a political lane you can avoid the guys running for president. >> but in terms of testifying on the witness stand, i'd say look, let's make this about michael cohen and nothing else it shouldn't testify. >> i would say no, but it's going to be but it's one of those things the client

ultimately has control of that the lawyers can only woodshop thank you. so long and push. so we'll see there's, you know, prosecutors are calling this whole case a scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. but trump's attorney, today's said this, and i'm quoting him. there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. it's called democracy what do you make of that argument? >> well, i get the point. i don't know that i would awarded it exactly like that because now everyone gets a chance to pick at it and say, what, what are you saying that there's no boundaries, there's no illegality is that could ever accommodate pushing for an election. but i get the point. the point is, this was misdemeanor bookkeeping, crotchet interference as a major crime well, show me the statute that is charged here. i mean, we're talking the crimes in the indictment. it's not a speaking indictments 34 pages, kinda bare-boned, 34 counts of barebones charges. it is literally bookkeeping entries and so yes, they're using the criminal intent aspect to try to elevate misdemeanors, felonies. that's where the battleground is going to be in this trial. when it comes to a jury verdict. >> but at the end of the day, i

don't the evidence is going to be riding on the shoulders of two or three people and colon being one of them you've got to just go kind of hammer that every second you can as the defense attorney assume that defense team will do that. that's coming up. all right. jim. trusty. thanks very much for coming. i'm sure could see you. >> appreciate it. just ahead. we'll go live once again to outside the court in new york and get the viewpoint from one of our correspondence, who was in the room on this the first day of witness testimony hi. >> i'm tally and i lost 85 pounds angola. i started gala because i was diabetic and my a1c and cholesterol. we're high the minute i start taking the goal release, i knew it's working. i was not hungry and i did not have any cravings since losing weight with gullo healthier now than i've ever been in my doctor is thrilled gullo is so much more than weight-loss. it's going to give you your life back sometimes

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their opening statements, trump was looking straht ahead, not really engaging with the jur but he was passing a number of notes to his lawyers, especially when prosecutors had mentioned michael cohen. but when his attory, todd blanche, had given his opening trump had turned he wa watching t jury paying close attention to the opening statement as his lawyer was urging jury toind trump not guty. now, we also we saw that the jurors were paying close attention to all of the attorneys thathey smoke into the judge when he was laying out how this case would unfold and what the jurors should aluate any edence more than a half othem raise their hand when asked if they wanted a notebook and pens to take notes during this trl, and we saw them all he th handed hand as this opening statemen got underw. >> it's interestg characters tomorrow before witness testimony begins, the judge will hold a hearing to determine if trump violated the gag order. tell us about that. >> right. so prosecutors say that the former president has violated this gag order, at

least ten times and they want the judge to find him $1,000 for each violation and to warn donald trump that he could be put in jail if he continues to violate the gag orr on trump's lawyers have said that michael cohen, the o of the people that trump is accused of violating a gag order for statents he's made aut should be treated fferently at than the other witsses in this case because he continuously those daily mes comments about the former president. they're also saying that they want some clarity on what trump can repost from other people, saying that they weren't sure if that was covered we're by this gag order. so this hearing is expected to take place before testimony resumes tomorrow, and we'll see if the judge makes the determination in the morning. wolf kara scannell luck the courthouse in new york. excellent reporting. thank you very much coming up. new filings reveal just how much money trump world is spending on legal fees. and who that money is coming from as he tries to make make up a cash deficit just ahead of the general election i was born

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preferred better science, better results the assignment with audie cornish, listen wherever you get your podcasts tonight, as testimony has begun in donald trump's first criminal trial, there's new

evidence that is huge. legal bills are draining millions of dollars from his so-called leadership pac. money that could have been spent on trump's presidential campaign. brian todd is back with us. we're here at the magic. while breakdown, the new campaign finance that's report for us, brian, or what it reveals. well, wolf, the former president and presumptive gop's excuse me, legal expenses pardon me a really racking up as his first criminal trial gets underway. and that's just one of the many legal challenges he is facing. his save america, a political action committee fronts the vast majority of the cost of these leaks delicious. and that's becoming a big drain on trump. let's take a look at save america, at their legal expenses. expenses in just in march, according to a new filing from the federal election commission, save america spent nearly $3.7 million on legal related expenses just in march that pardon me. that is nearly three. let's put the figure up here. you can see the kind of the dimensions here that's

going to be three out of every $4 than had collected altogether, save america has spent more than 77 million on legal fees for trump and his associates since the start of 2021, when spending shifted from his 2000 20 campaign to his current bid for the white house at the same time, these legal expenses are draining trump's coffers. president biden& the democratic party, or seriously expanding. their war chest. just take a look at the disparity here heading into april, biden's campaign reports at five million in cash on hand that that is nearly double the trump campaign with 45.1 million in pardon me, looking at the democratic national committee versus the republican national committee, you see the same pattern the dnc has 45.2 million in cash on hand at the rnc, just $21.6 billion. that is a major early fundraising advantage that is money that trump and his political action committees could be spending on advertising, polling, and field offices. they're instead going

to these mounting legal fees and that could be an issue for trump, especially as we hadn't head into that stretch run of the election season, wolf, the conventions coming up and all of that, they've got real money problems on their hand because of these trials it's a huge issue indeed, brian, thanks very much for that report coming up the 2024 split-screen on full display once again today with president biden on the road and virginia log donald trump sits on trial in new york liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. >> i know i've been telling everyone how many people did you tell only pay for what you need lucky for advanced lung cancer as you searching for possibilities, discover a different first treatment immunotherapies work with your immune system to attack cancer, but up devo plus your voice is the first combination of two immunotherapy bees for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread, tests positive for

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stanley old school hardware meets bold new thinking at 88 years old we still see the world with a wonder of new eyes helping you discover untapped possibilities and relentlessly working with you to make them real old-school grid, new world ideas. >> morgan stanley while donald trump was on trial in the new york courthouse, president biden was out on the campaign trail once again today, let's bring in our senior white house correspondent, kayla tausche. >> kayla, how are the president and his campaign for that matter, seizinthis moment? >> well, we'll president biden and his advisers are seeking to stay above the fray focusing on issues of policy and substance and declining to wait innd comment on trump's legal issues. you'll see today,

prident biden s in vginia highlighng 7 bilon in clean energy iestments. vice president harris, for her part, was it's in battleground, wisconsin highlighting trump's role in the overturning of roe bindings is expected tdo more of t same tomorrow he heads to florida. ump's figurative backyard. and when you look at just thechedule for the first two weeks of this trial, wolf president biden would have been on a swing through pennsylvania. he's going to upstate new york later this week and campaign and white house officials say, expect his schedule to stay incredibly robust as trump is kept in court through june. now, advisers tell me that they're using this time with trump in court and off the trail to essentially hey, hunker down and kraft strategy and plans for the months to come. but publicly the campaign has wasted no time trying to rip the former president. their new and now opponent in the 2024 race with some sharply worded missives strategically usi language like slee, n,

stormy, d hush, inserted we ve an oblique reference to the trial in those statements, told by both campaign and white house officialwill, if there's no formalized effort toonitor the daily velopmen of the tria thers no waroom,here are no daily memos, there are no individual staffers who are tasked wh reporting up to campaign and white house brass on what happens each day. til they're getting their information like the rest of us just watching the proceedings on tv. >> wealth, they let's aocit thwhite use. tha you. have i'm wo blier in the tuion room. thks very much for watching the ws continues ne on sien opening atements& rly testimony say about ere thgs areeaded the first ever criminal trial of a former president. >> also tonight, breaking news in one of his three other crinal cases what a witnesses the former president hold his valet and the part and he says he dangled in the classified documents se ps th