update from the campan trail is former president donald trump has begun his first criminal trial in new york city. according to cbs news, the former president is in a manhattan courtroom as jury selection has begun on a case involving alleged falsification of business records as part of a hush money payment tstormy daniels. shortly before the start of the truck, the former president spoke outside the courtroom calling it political persecution and referred to the case as an attack on a political opponent. >> this is an assault on america. nothing like this has ever happened before. every legal scholar says this case should never have been brought. never seen anything like this. there is no case. people that don't necessarily follow or like donald trump said

this is an outrage this case was brought. political persecution. this is a persecution like never before. nobody is ever seen anything like it. it is a case that never should have been brought. it is an assault on americans. that is why i am very proud to be here. this is an assault on our country. it is a country that is run by an incompetent man who is very much involved in this case. this is an attack on our political opponent is all it is. i am very honored to be here. thank you. host: we look ahead in washington and on capitol hill. back with us is eric wasson. news reporter. this is your story, how they may add on ukraine, and take us through what happened over the weekend. >> this has been stalled when

the congress requested in the fall. the senate passed a 90 $5 billion taiwan ukraine and israel package and the house has not taken that up. it would pass the house for my calculations but the speaker has been under pressure not to bring it up. there's been an attempt to link it to border security, that link is starting to be broken and now the speaker may have the opportunity of the iran attacks on israel to move something similar. he's talked about making the ukraine grant into loans using russian assets as a way to pay for it. he has to make a decision in the next 24 hours whether to finally get this off his plate or do something more political to try and pass and israel stand-alone bill. the house took up an israel bill which failed. some like the fact it wasn't paid for but as mosley democrats who brought that down saying if

we pass is relayed alone then ukraine eight will just languish. host: what sort of reaction have you seen on the republican side to speaker johnson floating this idea. >> his nemesis in the house now was marjorie taylor greene who's filed a motion out sting the speaker. she was very angry by the government spending process in which the border was not essentially included. the shutdown did not ensue. a confrontation she would like to see. she could trigger it within two days a vote on that but basically she reacted over the weekend and said we've got no briefing on this we don't know what's going on. she's called funding ukraine people. she is convinced the war should just be ended by ukraine seating a lot of territory to russia and

that's been her push all along. speaker johnson went down to mar-a-lago to talk to president trump to get his backing and he sure did. he said the speaker is doing a good job and that marjorie taylor greene's motion was misguided. that may enable them to move forward on ukraine aid. that job could be somewhat secure. caller: major movement on the international front. the missile attack on israel, the block of republicans who have been pushing for some sort of border component to this aid bill have foreign events just overtaken their objections here? host: they are still very much focused -- caller: they're still very much focused on that. the speaker is urging president biden to take executive action. the same type of executive action, remain in mexico, a closing down the board of the president trump was sued over.

biden says he is studying that. this sense is whatever the president would do would not go far enough. but it may give them some cover to move a ukraine bill. for biden it's difficult political calculation. certainly on the left there's a sense they don't want him take this action and sort of demonizing immigrants that immigrants were bad for the country. >> that brings us to the impeachment trial in the senate. last week to make that happen. take us through the timeframe here and expectations in the senate. guest: the senate is bound to take it up. and those will be brought over from the house on tuesday and

the majority leader has said the senators will be sworn in, the president pro tem will preside in the chair. we expected to be quickly dismissed. i'm not sure if on that day or the day after but the deadline is adding impetus to this with sworn intelligence surveillance act that passed the house, the senate needs to act on that before april 19, the end of the week. that would give a lot of argument for those who want to dismiss the impeachment saying we have to get back to the legislative agenda. we are told there's a procedural objection in the house one that cleared on monday. starting the process but it will be right up to the deadline. >> you talk about procedural to

drag out the impeachment beyond maybe just the next day and vote for dismissal? guest: there are always procedural motions. at the end of the day if you've got the votes it takes the majority to dismiss it or referred to committee, it looks like democrats including the most conservatively joe manchin on board with seeing this as a political sideshow that's not something they need to feel nervous about. host: eric is with us for the next 20 to 25 minutes and a fantastic resource if you have questions about what's happening on capitol hill and what's expected this week. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats 202-748-8000. independents 202-748-8002. is if that wasn't enough, what else are you watching for? guest: ukraine is something i'm

focused on. this is been tied up in congress. people of covered ukraine closely in the region. there's a real sense but if it doesn't pass from the ukrainian side could turn world history. putin is emboldened to go into europe. that's really drowning out everything. for a long time i was focused on the tax bill. , passing this tax cut bill that house republicans, house democrats and senate democrats. maybe schumer would bring that up. using tax day as a way to highlight that. there may be eight or so. so they're working to change that. it's a very interesting move. it would -- by mike who would be in line.

leading the dutch he wants to have free rein to use these tax breaks as incentive to get things that he wants which are really extensions of a wealthy individual. host: first out of cleveland in the buckeye state, a line for democrats. caller: i would just like to say these comments about the trial being held now during the campaign season. that's not the prosecutor's call. trump is the one who decided in the delay. this could have been tried long ago before trump decided to run. >> we will certainly get back to that trial a little bit here

focusing on the week ahead in washington. the house is in at noon today. a big week ahead. the question from the capitol hill perspective is how much what can happen in new york in manhattan how much will that cast a shadow over what's happening in d.c.. >> trump is exercising his authority over house republicans to affect the agenda. a lot of drama over this foreign surveillance law. and there was a moment when it was coming to the floor, a five-year extension and trump went on true social and killed the bill. it basically was killed. republicans, it used to be extraordinary once again voting down a rule, this is the most like a filibuster in the senate. but house or republicans preventing debate from beginning this bill with what trump was

saying. the speaker made the two-year bill argument that if trump becomes president he can come back and try to reform it. it's a very interesting dynamic the people who voted against that bill, the aoc's of the world and a jayapal's and other conservatives. they came very close to amending the bill. it was a tied vote in the house. that was defeated and it looks like the senate is going to be on track to pass this without the requirement. >> voting down a rule to the bill. how significant is that as a story's last week of how could the speakers whip operation not know they were going to join in voting down the bill. is it significant in the grand

scheme of things. >> they were asked saying we don't whip rules, we don't try to pressure members to vote. >> and the difference between a rule and a bill? guest: the way bills are brought up on the floor in the way they control the floor. how it's brought up. basically all rules limit the number of amendments. and then basically structure a certain amount of time. this allows until very recent times to be much more sufficiently surpassing bills which can be dragged out to go through a lot of hoops to end debate. but this was almost unheard of for decades for the majority to not be able to pass the rule. it didn't happen until speaker pelosi and the democrats.

it become a new tactic conservatives are using to show displeasure. because the majority is so small , a two vote threshold. conservatives are really willing that power, they can defeat a bill they can at least block it. host: not to get to inside d.c. but nancy pelosi's whipping operation whip rules? guest: this is one of the things a lot of things in d.c. are norms not really written down. sometimes these norms collapse. it's a norm that someone who is convicted of a crime can be president. there no law against it. if former president trump were elected and in jail he could still serve his term. we just assume no one was going who committed a crime would be president.

the majority party would dominate the floor with rules and the divisiveness within the republican party has change that norm now. host: republican line this is rose in lockport illinois. caller: good morning. i want to comment on the donald trump trial american citizens think what a joke. who cares if he had an affair on his wife. do you really think they care about that when we have open borders, crime. we our member clinton with monica lewinsky in the white house, what he did in our oval office. we all are remembering that and that was absolutely disgusting. if democrats don't think citizens are sitting and thinking about that, we all

remember what clinton did to monica lewinsky in the white house and that was disgusting and appalling. so get over this trump stuff, that's what i would like to say. host: saying the issues americans really care about her opening borders, crime and inflation. what is congress doing on the inflation front these days. guest: that is what americans do care about. i asked steve scalise that with new inflation numbers, what are you doing and the answer with republicans as we have limited spending which they have. it has under the previous congress but they've not achieved the massive spending cut, and they cut regulations and lower energy costs. -- they said they would cut regulations and lower energy costs. both sides went in saying they would combat inflation.

the real inflation cutting tool in the federal reserve what it's doing of higher interest rates seeking a mortgage about 7% now. is trying to rein in the economy to lower prices and that's the setback. especially on wall street. the fed is to maintain rates higher than we had thought. into later in the year, start cutting perhaps then and that's what we thought were some losses in the major indices on wall street last week when stocks were falling because there was a sense the fed would maintain higher interest rates. >> how much of the covid money has been clawed back, where is it, can other law or fundings be clawed back. >> i do know the omnibus

spending bill that were enacted into law in recent weeks did make use of clawback covid money. there was also a clawback. the $80 billion increase under biden. that was repurposed. claimant look favorably on that legislation i don't at this -- covid money would be available. republican's would be eager especially if they maintain the house for the 2025 cycle. that's can it be a much more difficult appropriations process, the debt ceiling agreement that listeners and viewers remember a year ago probably sitting here talking abut the debt ceiling and how it may default.

kevin mccarthy alternately lost his job in part from this and president biden, that included covid clawbacks. the deal was focused on this current fiscal year that wrapped up. going back to the table, -- they're going to have to go back. it's good to come back it will extend to january 25. we are good to see another big-budget spike but i think covid clawbacks, irs clawbacks and possibly other spending cuts in the white house. >> the budget deadline is always at the end of october. how likely are we to be to blow through that deadline again? guest: there will be a stopgap bill.

they want to give the new congress and the new president a chance to address this. i think if no one changes hands and it still president biden, we will be looking at a lame-duck session. in december when they try to take care of some things they don't necessarily feel able to before the election. >> you've got lame-duck's who don't care, that's when we might see this tax bill go through. trade measures and so forth get past. host: eric watson is with us. this is carl, line for democrats . good morning. caller: the first comment was about the gentleman talking about advising.

i consider myself a democrat and also consider myself fairly liberal when it comes to civil liberties. this is probably the only time in my life i say this but i support with the conservative republicans were doing on that because there's no reason on earth, they are not saying you can't do it, you have to get an independent person to look at it. i haven't good debt heard any good arguments against that. there's a gentleman that called on the last segment and i'll answer quick he said if your democrats would you be truck -- prosecuting trump if he were president deaf running for president. the question is would he be running for president if he wasn't worried of being prosecuted. he broke the law, he tried to overthrow the government, i don't know how you can say we wouldn't prosecute it it's just election interference.

the third point was just talking about if the democrats did take power, you were just talking with the debt ceiling. wouldn't it make sense for them to get rid of that so it can be used to hang over the head of democratic presidents by republicans? i think they should just repeal the whole thing. thank you very much. guest: i think the first point from earlier, on this issue. the phrase about politics. the reason he slept on this is just a volume. the volume of data they are sifting through, it's just so great. you have to hire hundreds -- i think that's a practical

issue. of warrant issuing judges to address it but he was saying if we do it to snap our fingers into it right now it will pause and lead to a failure on the scale of 9/11. and then on the debt ceiling there are talks of eliminating this. it's really not something we've seen to pass a budget, you don't have to read pay that debt, usually it's together. those were united sort of exercise as republicans frankly tried to cause spending agreements. i think this would be in the category of things that would happen if democrats, and keep the presidency and eliminate the dust you see people like kyrsten

sinema and joe manchin who defended the filibuster, prevented from being eliminated. this takes the institution where you need 60 votes to do anything super significant outside of the spending including reconciliation. a long story there. to an institution. if you did that you would get things like mitch mcconnell and other defenders of the filibuster are worried about that would permit of the senate. i also think it's unlikely. i think the senate is going to flip. i think the house is a tossup. the white house is a tossup. host: with joe manchin and kyrsten sinema leaving who's the

next one in the democratic party? i realize kyrsten sinema is no longer a democrat. guest: i don't think there is an equivalent person there. it's an adjusting change in the democratic party, becoming summing more uniformly progressive. the house you may see a resurgence of blue dogs who take the majority but we have people like sherrod brown who's going to try to hang onto his seat in ohio, an uphill battle there. a swing sibling to a partner with republicans on certain matters. this is the end of an era. an interesting race in arizona. we will see how that plays out. host: independent, thanks for waiting. caller: good morning gentlemen. i have a question about the agenda for this coming week.

they have a lot of stuff list it out that has to do with laundry, washing machines, air conditioning. something in there is the fourth amendment not for sale, number 4639. it looks to me like it's something to do with having a warrant. is this something that's possibly going to be tied into the pfizer reauthorization kind of like a backdoor approach for summing about warrants that's not in pfizer. host: is that warren davidson's bill? guest: one of the freedom caucus members he wanted this bill offered as an amendment. host: it is. guest: he wanted that as an amendment to the fisa which

caused a big controversy. if it passed that would make the bill -- that would cause us so -- showdown deleted to expire. what happened is they would have a separate vote on it. i thing would probably pass the house. the fact it's taken out of the process and given a second vote is unlikely to be involved. it's like a consolation prize. maybe he can go back later and say a lot of people like this. but basically just another way to put it on the side. it's not on the train that is moving so it's not really going to be enacted. >> to mind if i ask you how you found out about this bill >>? interesting that you bring up that bill. caller: i'm just an old guy, not

too intelligent about it but i was wandering around the internet and i found this list of upcoming bills for congress. they list out the numbers. host: i think it might be congress.gov. caller: i believe that's where it was where i found it. i've never been really up on all of this. host: thanks for doing it. guest: jobs. house.gov is another good one. you can see the agenda there. this is one of the more impressive questions i've gotten , that you go to this website and look at those bills. it's something i'm paid to do but good on you for doing that. host: a couple minutes left. in massachusetts, republican, good morning. caller:

caller: does the gentleman know about amy harris? she has the diary that biden left there. i would look at it. then that diary, biden was a pedophile, it proves it because the fbi wanted that diary so bad. look what he does on the campaign trail? it's ridiculous. host: this was just from last week from a cnn story you were referring to. a woman stole his diary and is sentenced to one month in jail. it's a topic you have tracked? guest: i haven't attracted closely at all. i have to do for what's in that diary. i will definitely look that up after the show. host: alex in new york, mount

vernon, good morning. caller: good morning. like i was saying before, there's been a lot of people going to jail over the january 6 incident. why isn't donald trump going to jail and other people do? host: the january 6 case? guest: trump is being charged over election interference. he's not being charged with insurrection. it's interesting the way january 6 convicted writers are playing into this campaign. trump has embraced them and he said he would pardon them. an interesting base play and it probably plays with some of the base. these people did right in the capital. host: bloomberg.com is where you

can see eric's story. >> coming up, a conversation about your crane more with parliamentary leaders from france, germany, and poland. watch the woodrow wilson center discussion life today at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. or online at c-span.org.

then at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, sights and sounds from inside the ballroom before the festivities began. watch the white house correspondents dinner live saturday, april 27, on the c-span network. an update from the campaign trail as former president donald trump has begun his first criminal trial in new york city. according to cbs news, former president is in a manhattan courtroom as jury selection has begun on a case involving alleged falsification of bune records as part of hush money payment to stormy diels. shortly before the start oth trial, the president spoke outside the courtroom calli a political persecution and referred to the case as an attack on a political opponent. >>