Good morning. Its 11 00 a. M. Eastern, and 8 00 a. M. Pacific. I am jose diazbalart. We begin with the latest of day two of the criminal trial against former president donald trump. Hes charged with 34 Felony Counts and accused of falsifying Business Records related to a hushmoney payment to Stormy Daniels. Trump who is the presumptive nominee for the president is coming facetoface with jurors that will decide his legal fate. We heard from trump this morning before he headed into court. I should be right now in pennsylvania, in florida, in many other states, north carolina, georgia, campaigning. The judge should recuse himself. Also this morning, prosecutors asked the judge to both fine trump and hold him in contempt for recent social media posts accusing him of violating his gag order. And joining us, msnbc legal contributor, and a civil rights attorney and former prosecutors and msnbc legal analysts and served as a prosecutor in the bill cosby case. Yasmin, get us up to speed of what is happening in the courtroom. Reporter they are going through the answer and question period in the Jury Selection, reading their 42 answers to the questions on the Jury Questionnaire. We have 12 initial jurors that passed the initial phase of the process, and what that means is once they fill a jury box of 18 people, then they move on to the next phase called voir dire. They get to ask then their own questions, for instance in the parameter of what the judge laid out, and they cant say im a republican or did you vote for trump or biden, but they do get to ask their own set of sub questions. One of the attorneys could say i dont want one of these Potential Jurors to be part of the jury, and they dont have to have a reason. They can do that ten separate times, but then they need to also have specific reasons outside of those ten separate times. They will keep doing that, jose, until they reach 12 Potential Jurors. Thats the magic number to fill the box. One more thing, the one question a lot of folks are getting stuck on and why many are getting excused, and so far today we are looking at six being excused as Potential Jurors. Just today alone in the last 90 minutes or so it was can you be impartial based on your personal or religious views, and they are answering now saying they can not be impartial. And one more note of trumps demeanor on the inside, his eyes are closed and hes leaning to the left a little bit and quiet and his arms are crossed as well, and lisa ruben giving us some of those notes from inside the courtroom. And its a quiet morning and waiting to reach that number 18 to start the voir dire section. What do you make of them asking them to fine trump on the gag order issue . Reporter yeah, no court is in session on wednesdays, so they amended that to say it was going to be the 23rd of april at 2 00 p. M. In the afternoon, they are going to talk about a possible violation of the gag order and then the judge will issue his decision on that. That will set the stage, jose, as to how they are going to go when it comes to the gag order. If you remember, he was fined, i believe, twice, with judge engoron, so we will see how it goes. What is your thoughts about them waiting to address the gag order . Its reasonable, jose, and its part of the process. What the prosecution has asked is for judge merchan to hold donald trump in Contempt Of Court. In order to be held in Contempt Of Court you have to violate an order or do something in front of the judge that is contestimony chew wus. The prosecution could say, your honor, issue an order for a rule to show cause, which means have the judge issue an order telling donald trump he has to appear at a hearing, an evidentiary hearing set at a later date to be able to show cause, to be able to prove to explain why he should not be held in Contempt Of Court. Its part of the process, and during the hearing on april 23rd, the prosecution will present the evidence of donald trump violating the gag order and donald trump can refute it or not, and in the end the judge will issue the ruling. The key is what yasmin says, how much does judge want to set the tone, and a lot of people are scoffing that 1,000 isnt a lot, but lets be clear, it can start at 1,000 and it could include incarceration, and we dont go zero to 60, theres a process, and this is how the process works. You want the process to work properly so nothing hapgs on Appellant Review to say that the judge did something wrong. For somebody that has worked on a high profile trial, how difficult is it that somebody can look at the jury and be objective when the defendant has been so much in the headlines and in part of, i guess, peoples everyday discussions . Its difficult but not impossible. Extensive Media Coverage and Public Opinions can always influence Potential Jurors, right . It instills in them the preconceived notions, and jurors are just like you and i. Some of them will not be able to sit through the facts and make the decision, the facts they hear on tv and the facts they hear on the Witness Stand and some are going to be able to, and thats why the Jury Selection is a process. Its a process where the judge has to maintain order and allow the attorneys to actually go through and ask questions, questions that really counter or allow them to identify those preconceived notions. You know, asking them about their media exposure, which we see in this case. We also had to ask the questions of the cosby Potential Jurors. Their existing opinions and the ability to set aside the biases and the ability to comprehend the legal principles alongside with their Life Principles but only considering the information from the Witness Stand. Thinking back on your experience, for example, the cosby case, is it not human nature to simply have an opinion based on a preconceived concept of what that person is or who that person is . Absolutely. But again, The Jury Process is not asking them to put all of their preconceived notions to the side, its asking them to put it to the side just while making this decision, so everything the Potential Jurors or the sitting jury, which they will ultimately decide on, everything they know about trump they have to put it to the side and only make their factual findings based on the evidence that comes in during trial and can make their finding as to guilt or innocence based on the facts they found and the law the judge ininstructs them on. Everybody comes with the preconceived notions, but are they able to impartially view the evidence in the trial, and thats the key there. Just looking over from our producers in the courthouse, some of the Potential Jurors answering the questions are essentially saying we are regularly part of the conversation that goes on in Many American households, one saying that they have read the Art Of The Deal, and another saying they watched cnn and msnbc, lawrence odonnell, and tell us a little bit about some of those answers that we have been seeing to the questionnaire . Reporter so this is, i think, why the process gets so complicated, jose, right . Because you get further and further down the road and then certain answers are given that are problematic. This is seat number 15, and as i mentioned, they have to get to the magic 18 number before they can move on to the next portion which is voir dire. One of the Potential Jurors giving the answer is i read Art Of The Deal and are part of the Republican Party and have Family Members that do fundraising for the gop, and they followed trump on twitter when, in fact, he was president. If you think about kind of the complications that that poses to the people, to the prosecution in this individual being a member of the jury, and obviously you would imagine that todd blanche or the former president as the defendant would want somebody like potential juror number number 15, being a member of the jury. Hes not been excused and lived in Lower Manhattan for a long time and is from boston. He has not yet been excused, but i imagine that is somebody who the prosecution, who the people will focus in on during the voir dire section to draw out more of their potential problematic presence on a jury that will eventually be seated in the trial, jose. You wrote its not hyperbolic to say Jury Selection is the most important part of the trial. What are the stakes in the process . Because if you dont seat the right jury, and i used right in quotes in my piece, jose, then you lost the battle. You want the type of juror that yasmin just talked about, and the reason i was nodding along, its an art form. As a trial lawyer, what we do is you develop a conversation when you move on to the individualized questioning that happens in front of the other prospective jurors, and say i am the d. A. , jose, and i will dig deeper with the jury that i know will be, quote, pro trump. Why . Because i can look at the Body Language and the nodding of the heads and the vocal agreement, i can say jury number 112, do you agree with what jury 15 just said . Then i traded a pro cause challenge, and its a Pretty Amazing thing. You have a grid in front of you, and i am old school. Its a grid you draw out by hand and you have the names internally, and publicly its not available, right, and you have all the information coming from the Jury Questionnaire being answered out loud, and you have to move and navigate your way through the answers so you dont have to waste time going through 96 plus or 100 something. Jose that is really important, too. We know thousands of subpoenas were released excuse me, sent, to get people to show up yesterday, and think about how many dont show up . You have not a lot showing up, that should show up, and the ones that show up are there to do their civic duty or want to get on this jury for this high profile trial, and you have to weed those out, and its a science and art form and luck and magic and experience. You have to count on your experience as a trial lawyer to read instinctively tell you in the way they are moving and answering. All the benefits of old school, doing things by hand. Thank you all so much for being with us this morning. Up next, Steve Kornacki is at the big board to break down what the demographics of new york can bring to that Jury Selection. And then more than 300 missiles and drones sent to israel, and now the new warning from irans president today. You are watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. V. Visit purple. Com or a store near you. Nothing dims my light like a migraine. With nurtec odt, i found relief. The only Migraine Medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. To those with migraine, i see you. For the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of Episodic Migraine in adults. Dont take if allergic to nurtec odt. Allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. Most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. Its time we all shine. Talk to a Healthcare Provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. Sometimes your work shirt needs to be for more than just work. 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Now, i work at comcast as part of the team that created our ai highlights technology, which uses ai to detect the major plays in a sports game. Giving millions of fans, like my dad and me, new ways of catching up on their favorite sport. 19 past the hour. We are following news on capitol hill, and a second member of congress has showed support for ousting Speaker Johnson. Moments ago Speaker Johnson responded to this. I am not resigning. It is, in my view, an absurd notion that somebody would bring a vacate notion. Its not helpful to the cause. Its not helpful to the country. It does not help the House Republicans advance our agenda in the best interest of the American People here. I will tell you i am not concerned about this. I am going to do my job. Joining us from capitol hill, jake sherman, founder of Punchbowl News and msnbc political contributor. There seems to be a lot of absurdity. What is the latest on this . Lets take for a second how unusual it is for a speaker of the house to have to come out and say hes not resigning. When you have to say you are not resigning thats probably not a great sign. Tom massey, as you noted, has become the second member to say he would support a motion to vacate, and there are procedural hurdles, and if somebody triggered the motion, which we should note, Marjorie Taylor greene has not asked for a vote yet, and before that motion there could be a motion to table which they could set aside that motion with the house of representatives, and its over the aid package that johnson tried to push through this week. He put this off for a long time and now you can see why he put it off. Jake, explain to us a little bit the structure that exists so there has to be a motion triggered to vacate, and then there will be other motions to nullify that motion . Where does this end up . What is that process as far as time wise . Marjorie taylor greene, or any member of congress can go to the floor at any point and trigger this motion to vacate. That would set off a 48hour clock if the leadership wanted 48 hours, they are afforded 48 hours, two legislative days, effectively, to delay the vote. Theres one motion here and its a motion to table. Somebody that supports johnson can motion to table and that would set aside the motion, and that would be considered at a simple majority of those voting, and it would be around 218, 214, and it depends on the attendance, and if that passes, that motion to table, johnson survives, and that would have to happen almost certainly with democratic votes. Lets put it this way, jose. Mike johnson is in a very perilous situation. This is a very highwire act as ukraine aid is related to the taiwan aid and hes doing so with the Republican House conference that is not totally behind him. What about the aid to israel and what about the aid to ukraine and taiwan . The speaker said hes will be to do piece by piece on this. Yes, we expect four votes on this that would create a single package that would send aid, and that will probably not definitely, but probably will happen by friday evening if they get the text of the bill out today. Its based on our reporting at Punchbowl News, its our theory this will come to the floor this week and they will try to do it this week. Theres a lot of hurdles and we detailed them in the news this morning, just the process of getting democrats onboard and its far from a certainty at this point. While this is happening, the house is preparing to vote or sending the articles of impeachment for Alejandro Mayorkas to the senate . Yeah, we expect Senate Democrats to dispense the articles and in a stroke of fortune or misfortune, however you want to look at it, hes testifying about the budget, and he deals with a whole host of priorities around the globe and he Needs Congress to fund the agency to stay open, and so thats scheduled for october 1st of this year. Thank you, my friend. Steve kornacki is at the big board to break down what the demographics of a New York County could tell us about the Jury Selection in a trump case. We will talk to one of the Pulitzer Prize winning reporters that broke the hushmoney payment story in 2016. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. D. Tamra, izzy, and emma. No one puts more love into logistics than these three. You need them. They need a retirement plan. Work with principal so we can help you with a plan thats right for your team. Let our Expertise Round out yours. Heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. 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Good thing Metamucil Gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plantbased fiber. With the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. Metamucil gummies. The easy way to get your daily fiber. Voir dire. 29 past the hour. Happening now in a new york court, jurors are being questioned, and the court is in the process of finding the 12 jurors and six alternates in one of the most high profile cases in americas history. Steve kornacki, good morning. What does the data tell us about the pool of Potential Jurors for this trial . We always talk about manhattan, and this is the manhattan district attorney, and folks outside that area, one of the five boroughs in new york city, and they are interchangeable. New york city as a whole, thats what you are looking at here, five boroughs in new york city. Donald trump got 66 and donald trump got 2 , but that differenters by borough. You start here. This is staten island. This is the outlier and this is red. Donald trump actually won staten island. This is by far the smallest of the five boroughs, and theres a succession to try and get it removed from this, and you look at brooklyn, biden got 77 , and the bronx, 83 for biden, and then manhattan, nearly 87 for biden, so among the five boroughs, manhattan is the bluest of the five boroughs. Then the question sort of becomes why is manhattan so blue, and even in the blue city why does it stand out for being this democratic, and it has to do with the demographics. Manhattan is 45 white. Citywide, the entire city of new york, its 31 white, so manhattan is relative to new york city and its whiter, and as for new york city as a whole, its whiter. And these are some of the big differences here. This is a huge one here. White and college educated, thats 40 of the population in manhattan. Citywide, thats only 21 . Then you get to income, Median Household Income is 100,000, and you put the characteristics that make manhattan different from the rest of the city, and its whiter and has more white voters can College Degrees and its wealthier. We look at trends that define american politics, and especially in the trump age, and one of the most democratic groups you will find, white voters with College Degrees and higher levels of education for attainment. We talk about the areas getting bluer and bluer, very enthusiastic to vote, and that makes manhattan the bluest of the five boroughs. Thank you so much. Appreciate that look. Joining us, Vaughn Hillyard, and a white collar criminal defense attorney, and a Investigative Reporter that first reported on the hushmoney deal, and hes coauthor of the fixer. What is the latest from inside the courtroom . Reporter right now we believe we are at 16 individuals, Potential Jurors that have gone through the entire 42questionnaire and have not been dismissed. This is a monumental number. The Defense Counsel and prosecutors can begin to ask separate questions outside of the 42 questions from the questionnaire to get a better read on whether an individual should be seated on the jury and whether they fit the profile they feel comfortable in this individual meeting the qualifications to be one of either the 12 jurors or six alternates here. We are at 16 individuals, and it takes 18 to get to that next process. When i say 16, that doesnt mean they are seated, it just essentially moves them to the next moment in the process here. A marked point of interest here in the last hour and a half, jose, was the number of individuals that raised their hand yesterday when initially asked if they could be fair and impartial, and moving on to day two, in which they went to the process of answering the questionnaire. Well, there has been now four individuals so far today that despite raising their hands yesterday saying they could be fair, for some reason overnight they determined today that they could not actually be fair. One individual just a moment ago said quote, i believe nobody is above the law and so i guess thats a strong opinion. I am not 100 sure i could be fair. And another potential jury woke up today and came into the courtroom and said he had Family Members in the state of texas that are republican and that would cause him to be Poe Tensionally Fair and impartial. We are making progress, but its slow and go. We should hit the 18 number in a matter of minutes potentially, jose. Meanwhile, michael, you worked on the team that broke the story that sets the stage for the first criminal trial ever facing a former president. What goes through your mind today . Its Pretty Amazing to see what we worked on six years ago when we first revealed the Stormy Daniels hushmoney payment when i was at the Wall Street Journal to be the first criminal trial of a former president. We didnt know this would happen and so much time has passed and so much has happened. Its just an amazing thing to have been part of that. When you started seeing these details unravel through your hard work, what was the most difficult part of getting to the details of this . Well, this started actually before the 2016 election when we got a tip that there was a lawyer who was paying off women for trump, and thats when we broke the story of karen mcdougal, and it took years to know what happened, is she was paid by trumps fixer, michael cohen, also before the election, and we broke that in 2018, and just documenting that it took a while and it was painstaking work. Caroline, just thinking how could all of these details, the aspects of, you know, what is behind this, how could that influence how trumps legal team handles this case . Yeah, such an important question, jose. You know, while michaels reporting is amazing and very thorough and, you know, was bombshell at the time, i think its important to note legally as you step back from this case and this is the reason you are seeing some of the evidentiary rulings play out this way, is that is really not the heart of the piece. We are referring to it as a hushmoney case. Alvin bragg has been pointed in making sure this case is not about sex for money or hushmoney, and hushmoney in and of itself is not illegal. Remember, these are Misdemeanor Charges of falsifying Business Records as its core, at their heart, and alvin bragg bumped up authorize Misdemeanor Charges to Felony Charges because the falsification was done during another crime, and he has not charged that crime, and the other crime is a Campaign Finance law violation, and thats the payment of money to Stormy Daniels, and we are calling that hushmoney, and that was an Illegal Campaign contribution above the legal limit and he was trying to hide the contribution through the falsification. Thats a convoluted legal theory, and its novel in the way bragg has charged it and it has raised the eyebrows of some legal scholars and commentators. The john edwards case, you recall that, and its not the Rock Solid Campaign violation itself, and then the second part of the crime he needs to prove is sort of interesting. It could be minutes before we got that magic 18 number, vaughn, and what is the latest . Reporter that was more like seconds. We hit the 18 jurors that have passed through the questionnaire and not been dismissed. Now this moves us to the voir dire process. I have not been through the process myself either legally or as a juror, so i will leave it to the experts to tell you what this process will look like. I will tell you from the courtroom 18 jurors are facing questions now from the district attorneys office, and the d. A. Is able to in a rapid fire sense ask the 18 individuals questions here that gets to the heart of their qualifications. This is not a moment for the lawyers, this is not an opportunity for them to convince them of Potential Evidence or sway them on the case. The judge can curtail questions or efforts to potentially taint what could be actual jurors that are included in the actual jury pool here. This is a process where the d. A. s office has the opportunity to ask followup questions of the 18. Very well, it could be determined that none of these 18 individuals end up getting seated based on their followup answers and responses, and then we continue to go through the batch of the 96 individuals, and then we look for another batch of 18 individuals. We could walk away with one, two, three, four, five, six of them, based off this process of whether the defense and the prosecution agree on the individuals. This is the first batch of 18 that have gone through the 42questionnaire session, and they have not been dismissed because of their own scheduling or said they could not be impartial or fair. Well, as somebody that has gone through that, tell us what the process is, and the prosecution will ask questions and the defense will do that later, and what are some of the pitfalls and both sides will have to be careful about . Its a painstaking process, jose. We have not gotten far and we are already in day two. Its about Jury Selection. Its a misnomer, and its more of a jury deselection. The thing i would be most concerned about here on both sides, really, is the ability for a Stealth Juror to fly under the radar, and we want them to self report and accurately describe their inability to serve, not only for the mundane reasons but for the prejudice and bias that they cant look past. The Qualification Aspect is not that you have had no thoughts about donald trump, but whatever thoughts you have you can put them aside and listen to the law and keep an open mind in that regard. A lot of people just dont want to serve on juries, so i would be paying attention to the eager beavers, because they may be the ones that really want to get on the jury for ulterior motives, and perhaps they have already decided they will or will not vote to convict former President Trump regardless of what evidence is presented. Vaughn hillyard, caroline and michael, thank you very much. Still to come, a tale of two campaigns. President biden heads to his hometown today while trump sits in a criminal courtroom for day two of his criminal trial. How that is playing out with voters. But then officials are looking how israel will respond to the barrage of missiles from iran. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. e diazbalart reports on msnbc. Ly to fight them, liver problems, and inflammatory bowel disease, have occurred. Tell your doctor if these happen or worsen, or if youve had a vaccine or plan to. start to get yourself back, with bimzelx. Ask your dermatologist about bimzelx today. This is our future, ma. Godaddy airo. Creates a logo, website, even social posts. In minutes how . A. I. impressed ay i like it who wants to come see the future . get your Business Online in minutes with godaddy airo what will you do when the power goes out . Power outages can be unpredictable and inconvenient. But with a generac home standby generator, your life goes on uninterrupted. 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More than 300 missiles and drones launched at one time from different locations . Massive, and 350 is the number i have seen most frequently cited. Whats really extraordinary is the combination of israel, the united states, britain, france, jordan, saudi arabia, all of those team players in the air Defense Coalition were able to knock down literally every one of these missiles, both ballistic and cruise, as well as 170 drones in the package. Its a remarkable feed of air defense, jose. Yeah, it was not simply iran saying i will throw a few things out there and see how they react, but this was pretty massive. I am wondering, admiral, what does israel do after Saturday Night . Let me take you inside what i suspect is being briefed to the war cabinet of israel. The Israeli Military will be giving them effectively four options. One will be to do nothing. They will discard that. Another one going up the ladder of escalation, jose, would be to strike iranian targets but outside the homeland like an iranian warship, for example, and then a strike against targets inside iran, but pure military targets, probably a factory where the drones are made, for example, and at the very high end, israel could choose i dont think they will but they could choose to launch an equal strike of iran, and i think it will fall in the middle of the two options i mentioned. The smallest reaction will, quote, definitely be met with a severe, extensive and painful response. What are we looking at here, admiral . I think the good news is that were probably 80 sure that israel will give them a missile response, but i think this thing kind of slows down, an chooses iran. Iran could then choose to go big back at israel. The way they would do that is unleash hezbollah, a terrorist organization in lebanon, which has 100,000 missiles at its disposal. Thats the Nightmare Scenario that the Biden Administration and quite obviously the Netanyahu Administration want to avoid. Admiral, always a pleasure to see you. Thank you very much for your time, as always. Thank you, jose. Today you can see my colleague Andrea Mitchells full interview with linda thomasgreenfield. She talked about what is going on in the middle east and the israeli reaction to this attack on Saturday Night and a lot more. Thats coming up in the next hour on Andrea Mitchell reports right here on msnbc. I want to go back to Vaughn Hillyard outside the courthouse. You have a potential juror that was just dismissed. Reporter right. I want to introduce everybody to our new friend, kara. You are the first individual i talked to. You are from the east village neighborhood. We are talking about a bunch of new yorkers coming together. You literally just left the courtroom. You were in seat . Seat 13. Reporter you were dismissed because . I work in cybersecurity. It would be hard for me to be here for the hours needed for as long as this trial is going to be. Reporter did you have a sense you were coming for the trump trial when you got your summons and you knew what was happening . I didnt. But when i got my summons, i had texted my mom, i have jury duty coming up. She said, oh, i think mid april is when the jurors for the trump trial are getting called. I was like, wow, that would be fascinating. Then i get here yesterday and theres a massive line and trump protesters and counterprotesters. Its like, well, im either on that trial or one down the hall from that trial. Then our holding room had Something Like 250 people in it. Reporter you were part of the first batch of 96 . Yes. Reporter you were in the courtroom the entire time yesterday during the Jury Selection process. I wasnt i was in the first group of jurors they brought into the courtroom. We werent in the courtroom all the time. Reporter you were one of the lucky ones seated in seat 13, that initial batch to answer questions. You did answer the 42 questions. You were asked the question about what you thought of donald trump. I know they were yes or no questions. Whether you could be fair and impartial to donald trump. You responded . I responded i can be fair and impartial. The question was, do you have any prior beliefs or opinions, i believe it was worded, about the defendant that would prohibit you from being fair and impartial . And i said i would be able to be fair and impartial. Reporter two questions off the top of my mind. You were seated there. How far away from donald trump . Quite close. Gosh, estimate, you know, maybe 30 feet, 20 feet. Reporter what was that like answering questions, including some about donald trump, as he is sitting 30 feet from you . It was odd. It was such an interesting experience, because its i had never seen him in person before. You see someone blown up so larger than life on the media for so many years. To see them in person is very jarring. You get the sense that its like, this is just another guy. Also, he sees me talking about him, which is bizarre. Reporter did you make eye contact . Yes. Reporter at what point . I believe right before i started to read off the questionnaire and right after i finished, before i got up to go. Reporter did it add another level of nervousness or tension that you felt with him sitting there . I think so. It made the whole thing feel more real in a way, because i guess when you are on any jury, you have elements of that persons future in your hands. Whether it was trump or whether it was some stranger off the street in manhattan who i had never heard of before, if you commit to sitting on the jury, you can change that persons life forever. Reporter you felt that . Yeah. Reporter jose has a question we want to follow up with. I was wondering, the extraordinary responsibility, the Civic Responsibility that we all have living in this country of maybe participating in a jury, its probably the only system like this in the world. There she was sitting just feet away from someone who, as she said, is so famous and yet in the final days, its just about one human being. Did she ever take that kind of responsibility and awesome privilege that we have and did it make a difference by being there . Reporter as a potential juror, you had a huge potential responsibility knowing that the fate of one man rests in your hands there. Did you feel the gravity of that . Yes. Very much so. Especially considering that historical nature of the trial. I think it was a fascinating contrast between feeling that gravity of not only as someones fate in our hands here, but the fate of parts off you are countrys legal system Going Forward is kind of in our hands, because this is unprecedented. Reporter did you have conversations with other Potential Jurors about this . What did those conversations look like . Weirdly, no. Everyone has been very quiet so far. Even yesterday, when people kind of seemed to start to realize that we were there for the trump trial, there was a sense that everyone was worried about what the protocols were and worried about whether we should talk about it or were allowed to talk about it or might get sent home for talking about it. Everyone was kind of at one point i heard one juror say to another, do you think this means we are on the jury after they dismissed a few more people . Apart from that, everyone was heads down and silent. Reporter whats your moms name . Sharon. Reporter you can talk to sharon now. Kara, dismissed this morning. What a fascinating conversation, Vaughn Hillyard, thanks very much. Thank kara for being with us. Thank you both. Joining us now, as we continue to have this conversation, Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National committee and an msnbc political analyst. He is the host of the Michael Steele podcast. Always contributing in so many ways. Its always great to see you, my friend. Nice to see you, my friend. We are 6 1 2 months from the president ial election. Trump starting his first criminal trial, day two today. What kind of impact do you think this will have or could already be having on voters . Thats an interesting question. I was thinking about that over the last 24 hours. One of the things that occurs to me is, this idea of the when something is far away, the idea of it is sort of a myth. It could be this. We dont know if it will have this impact and how people will respond to it. Now that its here, i think it lands differently for folks. I think it lands a lot differently for voters. He is in he is actually there in court at the table. There are jurors being selected. Its now real. The mythmythification starts tot down. You still have the trappings of the presidency around him, which i believe should be removed. But okay, well play. That longer is enough. The images of him at trial, even though they are still images, i think changes the way voters are perceiving this. I think what we just heard from juror number 13 there is the fact that people in that room are now impacted by this. Its real. Its solemn. Its important. They want to get it right. I think thats something that six months ago when you were so far removed from this, people were more flippant, now its more sobering. Its interesting to see how this plays out for voters as we get into the meat of the trial. Its true, michael, you can see she felt the importance of that role. Thats a beauiful thing about the american system. The only one in the world where you could have a jury like this. Thank you so much. You got it. That wraps up the hour for me. Im jose diazbalart. You can reach me on social media jdbalart. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now