arguments, the trial of the people of the state of new york versus donald j. trump is in the hands of seven men and five women, 12 jurors who will decide the first criminal case of a former president of the united states who weighed in just moments ago. >> mother teresa could not beat these charges. these charges are rigged. the whole thing is rigged. i mean that, mother teresa could not beat those charges. we will see. we will see how we do. today, white house saying a deadly israeli attack that killed at least 21 people in a tent encampment inside rafah does not cross the president's red line against a major ground offensive. questions though are being raised about whether israeli forces used american munitions in the strike. on the campaign trail, president biden and vice president kamala harris heading to philadelphia for a rally to try to shore up lagging support among critical -- a critical democratic constituency, black voters. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in new york. in an unprecedented trial that has galvanized the nation, 12 jurors are now deliberating on the guilt or innocence of a former president of the united states. donald trump, the presumptive republican presidential nominee, is awaiting his fate inside a manhattan courthouse steps away from where the jury is deliberating on the 34 felony counts, with which trump is charged. the jurors are behind closed doors. this is the first time that they are permitted to discuss the case amongst each other. they will be pouring over more than 200 pieces of evidence, 80 hours of testimony from 22 witnesses. yesterday's marathon closing arguments that took them well into the evening. they are going over that evidence and all of that testimony. the marathon closing arguments took them into 8:00 p.m. judge merchan laying out instructions to the jury. reminding them the burden of proof is on the prosecution and that intent to commit fraud suffices. judge merchan said that we do know whether -- if it's a verdict or simply a question -- if a question comes in, we won't know if it's a verdict until the foreperson reads it in the court. vaughn hillyard is back outside the courthouse. former fbi again counsel andrew weissmann, jeremy saland, former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade and former federal judge john jones, president of dickinson college. vaughn, walk us through the legal guidelines judge merchan gave the jury. what resources the jurors have. set the stage. >> reporter: judge merchan left these 12 jurors with meaty instructions about what they are tasked to determine. that starts with the felony counts that he is facing. that is whether donald trump caused the falsification of business records with the intent to defraud. for the purposes of breaking new york state election law by influencing the outcome of the 2016 election through unlawful means. these jurors were given several potential unlawful acts that they could determine that justified unlawful means, including tax violations, including breaking federal election law, including breaking other financial records violations. so for these jurors here, if they have questions about the law that they are being asked to determine donald trump's guiltiness or innocence over, they are able to go back to judge merchan to have him rearticulate the law that they are being asked to determine donald trump's fate over. they also at this time have two laptops that contain all of the evidence presented to them throughout the course of the last five weeks. these were five weeks' worth of testimony and exhibits and documents that were presented to these jurors. and after over eight hours of closing arguments they have officially entered into the deliberation room to determine whether donald trump is guilty of those 34 felony counts. for donald trump, upon leaving the courtroom, he has to stay in the courthouse, he said this trial is rigged. >> andrew, laura is in the courtroom. she's describing the judge's affect, he was speaking slowly. as you heard inside and i heard inside, he speaks very calmly and slowly and deliberately, even when he was chiding the defense or prosecution in various instances. >> right. i really wish for that reason that at least there was an audio. >> the supreme court audio has been so helpful to us. >> exactly. you can actually simultaneously listen to arguments now. one of the more striking things is hearing judge merchan's voice. at a time when there's so much distrust in our legal system being fomented by donald trump and others, it would be so helpful to hear that. that was the first thing that struck me. laura's reporting in terms of what was going on this morning, which was the reading for about an hour of the jury instructions and the jurors being rapt to attention makes total sense. this is when they find, what is the law, what do they have to find or not find? they are given all these instructions. the reporting is that they were paying very, very close attention to that. as you would expect. >> describe the rapport between the judge and the jurors in this case, in many cases. >> almost all jurors, unless you have a really erratic judge, develop a real bond with the judge. the judge, he or she is looking out for the jurors. paying careful attention to their time, making things move along. as you noted with respect to judge merchan, i am now -- i have a man crush on him. he is such a great judge that it's hard to see the jurors wouldn't have the same impression. you just keep on thinking, if you looked in a dictionary for judicial temperament, that's what you would get. remember, he has had to put up with the defendant who committed ten acts of contcontempt, who threatened not just him but his family. in spite of that, you would not know for a second that that is in any way weighing on him, because it has an impeccably fair trial. >> just a fascinating context here, especially given all of the ruckus on social media and outsidde the courtroom. judge jones, what's the most critical part you saw today? did any side benefit at all from the way the judge described the law here? >> first of all, andrew is precisely correct. i want to comment on that. jurors do cleave to the trial judge, particularly this trial judge who is so even tempered and did an exemplary job with a tough case. andrew couldn't be more correct. as far as the instructions are concerned, i think the instructions on the law itself, broad as they were, giving the jury some room to find these underlying so-called predicate crimes, those are very, very important in the jury's deliberations. unfortunately, in new york, you can't take the instructions to the jury room with you. we did that in the federal system, as your panelists know. that was always helpful to the jury. you have what you have. i do think there's going to be some questions. no juror, lawyer or otherwise, can memorize pages and pages of intricate law. unfortunately, that may slow deliberations. otherwise, i think it's the substantive law, the law of the case as we call it, that is going to be most important in the deliberations. >> there was a slight delay in them starting to deliberate. two of the jurors needed instructions on how to use the laptop, which had the evidence loaded. jeremy, let's talk about that. this brings it home to all of us who have dealt with technology as things have evolved. two jurors who were not that familiar with the laptop. >> funny is not the right word, but i had a trial in brooklyn supreme court where the jury wanted to access things with the computer. what they have to do, meaning the court system in the district attorney's office as well is to make sure and the defense is that that laptop is clean. it's not internet accessible. there's nothing on there other than whatever tool, whatever they need to look at is on that laptop. believe it or not, it took us three or four hours for the court system in the state of new york or the city of new york to get a laptop, clean it up and make sure it was accessible and usable. while there was a delay, it's a really effective tool for a jury to use to synthesize what they need to and then move that ball forward to either an acquittal or conviction. >> another bit of housekeeping. there are six alternates. notable to me that they were not dismissed as the deliberations started. they can't participate in deliberations. are they being kept in case someone gets sick and they could be brought up to speed? is there -- >> again, i will use the term funny. that's what happened in my most recent trial. i lost one and one was substituted. they are critical but not involved in the initial deliberation. they are separate and apart. they also have to be involved in that entirety of the deliberation. they don't just come on at the end and say we have 11 and you are the 12th, what do you want to do? they have to be immersed to ensure the accused has fair due process and that case is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. >> barb, we just got the transcript, as we do on a delayed basis. 55 pages of the judge's instructions that lasted a little more than an hour. a partial verdict is a possibility. let's talk about the first seven counts. they are tied to the two checks that were not signed by donald trump. even if the jury finds him not guilty on those first counts, it could change -- it could all change on count eight. could you break it down for us? >> absolutely. each of these 34 counts has to be looked at individually. it seems quite possible that the jury could find guilt on some counts and not guilt proven on other counts. in some ways, if you are an appellate lawyer, this is a godsend, a gift. it demonstrates the jury did not look at it in an all or nothing fashion but carefully parsed each count in the indictment. for example, it could be that the jury finds as you said the signed checks show guilty and donald trump's direct participation. unsigned, maybe there's a reasonable doubt. same with invoices and ledger entries where it was said he didn't create them himself but caused them to be created. there's certainly evidence on the other documents that he caused them to be executed. you are right, the jury will have to look at each of the individual. from the prosecution's perspective, guilt on any count is success. that brings with it a felony conviction. there's 34 ways to guilty here, guilt on one count is a conviction for the former president. >> judge jones, how much influence will the judge have, especially if the jury comes back with questions at various times? >> i don't think influence would be exactly the correct word. i think it's up to the judge to take the questions, for example, coalesce with the lawyers and find the right way to answer the questions and not to show that he is leaning one way or the other with respect to the answers. it's an art form to do it. there are some questions, as your panelists know, that judges, after coalescing with the attorneys, have to say to the jury, i'm sorry, but i can't answer that for you. it's not an appropriate question. it's out of bounds. i'm going to instruct you to go back to the jury room and continue to deliberate. how he manages the jury is going to really help the jury in its deliberations, generally. i don't think he will influence the jury. he doesn't want to influence the jury. they are the finders of fact, per se. i expect given his qualifications, his vast experience as a trial judge, he knows exactly what he is doing, he is in the moment and he will handle inquiries from the jury very, very well. >> judge jones, thank you so much. we appreciate it. vaughn hillyard, andrew, jeremy and barbara, you will be checking back a little later in the hour. thanks to all of you for starting us off. israeli forces entering central rafah for the first time after civilians were killed in another stricondemnation. you are watching msnbc. ♪ i'm gonna hold you forever... ♪ ♪ i'll be there... ♪ ♪ you don't... ♪ ♪ you don't have to worry... ♪ slowing my cancer from growing and living longer are two things i want from my metastatic breast cancer treatment. and with kisqali, i can have both. kisqali is a pill that when taken with an aromatase inhibitor helps delay cancer from growing and has been proven to help people live significantly longer across three separate clinical trials. so, i have the confidence to live my life. kisqali can cause lung problems or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. avoid grapefruit during treatment. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. long live life and long live you. ask your doctor about kisqali today. i am obsessed with olay's retinol body wash. with olay retinol body wash, 95% of women had visibly renewed skin. it makes my skin feel so smooth and moisturized. see the difference with olay. israel's national security advisor said today, he expects military operations in gaza to continue until the end of the year. in an election year, that's a bad timetable for president biden caught between voters who think he has been too supportive of israel in the war and those who disagree and disagree strongly. nbc news learned israel submit submitted a new cease-fire plan. it offers a sustainable calm, not a complete end to the war as hamas had been demanding. yesterday, a strike on a tent encampment near rafah reportedly killed at least 21 people, many of them women and children according to gaza emergency services. the white house is facing questions about whether israel has crossed an unofficial red line after the air strike over the weekend that killed dozens of people in a firestorm at a camp in rafah. >> how many more charred corpses does he have to see? >> we don't want to see a single more innocent life taken. no civilian casualties is the right number of civilian casualties. >> joining me now from tel aviv, raf sanchez. raf, more tragedy in gaza. israel being criticized. the u.s. being criticized. we don't know whether american munitions were used. the fog of war, we don't know what happened yet. >> reporter: here is what we know about that deadly strike on sunday. it happened late sunday night into early monday morning local time. it was at a camp west of rafah. these were displaced people who many of them had fled seven, eight times trying to get away from the fighting. the idf says they were targeting two senior hamas commanders who were meeting in a structure inside of that camp. they say that they used fairly small bombs, bombs with a warhead that weighs 37 pounds. they were deliberately trying to use smaller weapons to minimize civilian casualties. when those bombs exploded, they triggered some secondary explosion. that's what caused that absolute raging inferno that swept through that camp where palestinian families were sleeping in tents made of wood, made of plastic. at least 45 people killed. many of them women and children. the question at this point is what caused that secondary explosion. the israeli military is suggesting it's possible there were hamas weapons in a neighboring structure. that's what exploded. that's what caused the fire. they haven't presented any evidence of that. an israeli official told me it's possible it was a gas tank that people were cooking inside of the tents and one of them went up. just outcome harrowing, tragic, loss of life on an enormous scale. it's reverberating around the world. you saw john kirby, the spokesman for the national security council, facing difficult questions from our colleagues at the white house. struggling to explain, what is president biden's red line at this point given you have israeli forces in the center of rafah and you have loss of life on this scale? >> they are careful not to use the phrase red line, which became toxic during the obama white house, in syria, when the president laid down a red line on nerve gas and then did not enforce it, according to many people in the arab world. raf, let's talk about the new cease-fire proposal from israel as well as -- the security council is meeting right now. the u.s. is very strongly criticizing some of israel's policies, cutting off arab, israeli and palestinian access to banks controlled by israel, access for aid and the like. in any case, we expect pushback against any formal resolution against israel as has been -- it has isolated the u.s. with israel diplomatically. what do we know about the cease-fire proposal. >> reporter: since the last brief cease-fire collapsed in late november, one of the big sticking points is hamas has been saying, whatever cease-fire proposal comes needs to lead to an end to the war. israel is saying, that's not acceptable. israel will fight until it destroys hamas after the 7th of october. what the mediator, the prime minister of qatar, the egyptians have been looking for is some way to bridge what seems like kind of a zero sum gap between the two sides. this latest proposal put forward by israel offers what they are calling a sustainable calm. they are not saying they will end the war. they are saying a sustainable calm. we don't know exactly what that would look like in practice. one possibility is that israel moves from what it cams the high intensity phase of the war, air strikes, lots of armored units inside gaza, and moves to something more surgical, something that looks more like the occupied west bank so israel could say the war continues but perhaps the level of violence wouldn't be as severe as it is in gaza right now. >> raf, thank you very much. appreciate it. crunch time. how 12 jurors who have spent seven weeks in this historic trial in new york city will work together now to decide on those 34 felony charges. millions of people around the world really, but certainly millions in america are awaiting the verdict. 45 minutes into deliberations. they got a slow start because of some laptop orientation. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. hell reports." this is msnbc. 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>> i think one of the things that stood out to me is how normal they were. there was a lot of attention. it's great to see there was a lot of attention on the jury instructions. i think they are basically your standard new york jury instructions. this is a charge that's frequently brought, not in this context all the time, but is frequently brought by the manhattan district attorney's office. i kept thinking, when we talk about the jury process, the judge overseeing it, the jury instructions, the evidence, this country has gone through what as you know many other countries have gone through, which is holding political leaders to account. it shows that we can do it. we have joined i think an international group of countries that understand that this is a process that's necessary to a democracy. going back to judge merchan, huge kudos to him and the defense lawyers and prosecutors for handling this, i think by all accounts, in an incredibly fairway. even though everyone can't be in the courtroom because of our reporting and the transcripts, they get to see a trial and there's there's been a trial in a fairway, regardless of what one side or the other might say. >> how possible is it for the jurors to ignore the hubbub? the former president saying things and gag orders being violated. all the threats on social media. they have been told not to read or watch that, not to discuss it with family and friends. but then you have the protesters outside. can they get in and out of the courthouse without seeing that and without -- a long holiday weekend break, not talking to family and friends? >> i think it's impossible to ignore all of it. as you said, it's visible and audible as they enter the courthouse. i have not had experience with anything that's this high profile, a former president of the united states. nobody has. i have seen high profile cases in the local area where there has been pressure and interest and lots of press attention to the case. it does seem to me that jurors take their jobs very seriously. they are admonished by the court every day not to read the media, not to talk even to each other until the time comes for deliberation. certainly not to talk to friends or family members about the case. i think most jurors take that very seriously. they don't want to get in trouble. they know they have been selected it perform a very important service for the public. i think most of them do adhere to their oath to do that. i think for the first time, they are now hashing this out in the courtroom. i have seen lengthy jury trials like this in high profile cases where during the trial itself, they appear to be amiable, getting along. now suddenly they are taking about serious matters. their demeanor changes where they become very serious, because they are now grappling with the issues coming before the court. i think the one thing we are going to see, i think they will be back for more instructions from the court. that's because based on the law, they can't have a copy with them. we might get glimpses of their demeanor as they come back to get repeats of some of the instructions. it will be interesting to watch their body language and the way they are interacting with each other as to how they are getting along. >> andrew, the jury does have the option -- they don't have an option of just deciding on a misdemeanor here. this is a felony case. how does that complicate or make life easier? they don't have an exit ramp here. >> great question. normally in a case like this where there are only felonies, one side or the other could ask the court to give the jury the option of just doing a misdemeanor, which is a simpler charge. there's an element that doesn't need to be proved. the state cannot do that in this case. why? there's a certain amount of time by which you have to bring charges. the misdemeanor charges had to be brought within two years, give or take. >> the statute has run? >> the statute has run. the defense does have the option of asking for -- to waive their right to have those charges brought on time. there's reasons they might not want to do that. they made the decision they don't want to ask for that. it's an easier charge. they want the all or nothing of the felony. the option to the jury of can they just decide this as a misdemeanor is off the table. >> jeremy, it's lunchtime. they are used to getting a break in the 1:00 hour. they worked until 8:00 last night. they might be tired. are they bringing food in? what's happening in the jury room? >> it's the -- they will bring you lunch. they will tell you where you are ordering from. you will have an option. it's a good distraction in the moment. it's not an easy task. to your point before, the weight of this is significant. the weight of anybody's freedom and livelihood and clean record, if they don't have a criminal conviction, is paramount to who they are. in any case, whether it's someone who is a teacher or someone who lives on the street or an accountant, it's significant. when it's the president or former president of the united states, the potential ripple affect is really astronomical and something none of us can judge sitting here other than to appreciate what could happen. i have no doubt that's weighing on them. also, i'm confident that these people will parse through that and get to what they think is a just resolution. >> it's just all so fascinating. we are not going to speculate on anything, because we don't know what is in their minds or hearts or politics or anything else. i guess, that's the special quality of the jury system. it's supposed to be so pristine. >> andrew was correct, this has been done properly, ethically, despite what bombastic terms and words have been used outside the courtroom. this has been textbook by judge merchan. >> thank you so much. thanks for everything. i think we will rely on you heavily. vaughn, of course, as well as barbara. thanks to you. coming up next, the other campaign. the presidential campaign. president biden trying to shore up critical support in philadelphia today with the vice president as both candidates now in this presidential election are wondering how are volters -- voters going to react to the verdict in the trial? 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>> i think he has to do exactly what he is doing, which is talking to them directly about what is at stake. i continue to believe we are too far out ahead for polls to be a decisive measure of anything just yet. i do understand that in 2020, those poll numbers were at a time that it was a primary race on the democratic side. it wasn't until south carolina and afterwards when black voters were clear about the threat that donald trump presented not only to their lives but to the economy and to the nation's very democracy, and they came out in droves and decisively helped joe biden win in 2020. i don't believe that suddenly all of those same voters got amnesia over the last four years and no longer understand the threat that trump presents. certainly, not now that we have seen, as you pointed out, a lot of coverage of this trial in new york, which really brings it to bear. that doesn't mean the biden campaign can take black voters for granted either. they have to talk about the student loan forgiveness that has helped a lot of people in what was a big ask among black voters in 2020. they have to talk about the rise in wages and other things, that it's hard to get across, get through the trump dominated headlines. >> jeremy, the biden campaign has really been frustrated by all the focus on the trial that they have done a lot of campaign events, small events. this one is one of the unusual ones, it's a larger event with the vice president and with wes moore, the popular governor from maryland. yesterday, they had a staged event across from the courthouse. not related to the trial, but choosing to be there, according to robert de niro, the star actor, producer, director. de niro saying he did that because the media were there. they also had two january 6 officers outside the trial yesterday, trying to break through the noise. did that work? did it get them any attention? >> i think one of the interesting things about campaigning with the police officers who were there at the capitol on january 6th is, it's a way to remind voters of the threat that trump poses to the stability and national order. the biden campaign would say to the foundations of american democracy. it's also interesting because law enforcement is traditionally the constituency of republicans. republicans, the party that likes to frame itself as the party of law and order. democrats have always had a problem with crime and making it appear as if they are taking crime seriously. biden is no different. by appearing with law enforcement, what that does is that signals to voters that biden is looking at crime and taking it seriously. republicans have been pretty disingenuous about crime and exaggeraing how serious it is. people do feel like crime has gone up. that's a problem that i think democrats have taken too long to address. but biden seems to be confronting that head on now. >> it certainly has become a major issue now, especially whether crime is up or not in new york city. it's not up there. in other cities it's not up, it's perceived to be up. the republicans have taken great advantage of that, of amplifying it. thank you. the threat assessment. how the rhetoric from former president trump allowed by a federal judge in florida now is raising serious concerns among federal law enforcement. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. what if you could go from this to this. with just one step tresemmé silk serum. time for the ultimate humidity test. weightlessly smooth hair your turn. new tresemmé keratin smooth collection. ♪ ♪ engineered to minimize noise. and built for adventure. which can also be your own quiet cabin in the woods. the fully electric q8 e-tron. an electric vehicle that recharges you. how we get there matters. sara federico: at st. jude, we don't care who cures cancer. we just need to advance the cure. it's a bold initiative to try and bump cure rates all around the world, but we should. it is our commitment. we need to do this. 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that was so interesting. >> here's the data, which is scary enough, 850 murders alongside our nation's highway largely of sex trafficked women. the fbi makes no bones about the fact that they believe long haul serial killers, truck drivers, have been responsible for this, and it's still going on. 25 long haul truckers are currently serving in prison for multiple homicides. there are currently 450 suspects being looked at right now by the fbi in 200 active cases. >> this is just so terrifying. i mean, terrifying for everyone, for the innocent, all the thousands and thousands of long-haul drivers who do great work, men and women on the road. >> that's true. >> and the book is "long haul," buy it. it's a great read. thank you so much, frank. >> thanks for having me. >> it's great to see you again. that does it for us on "andrea mitchell reports." follow us on social media @mitchellreports. you can rewatch the best parts of our show on youtube. 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