Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in new york along with my colleague and friend, Chris Jansing, as history is being made in that Lower Manhattan courtroom. Donald trump is the first former president of the United States to stand as a defendant in a criminal trial. At any moment, could be facing the first witness to testify against him. Thats expected to be former National Enquirer publisher, david pecker. Hes likely to be pressed about alleged efforts to bury damaging stories about donald trump during the 2016 election. Earlier this morning, prosecutors gave their open statement, accusing mr. Trump of a criminal conspiracy to hide embarrassing relationships by preventing them from getting into the press, thus influencing the outcome of the 2016 election then covering it all up. The defense followed saying that mr. Trump did not commit any crimes, describing him as not just the republican nominee, but as the frugal business man, also a husband and a father. Defense lawyer todd bla
I know youre not a body language expert. Im asking about your observations about david pecker. Reporter its interesting. We didnt get a ton of testimony from mr. Pecker. The proceedings ended at 12 30est earn time. There was a long break, there was an interruption because the judge told the jurors they could have Writing Implements and pads of paper if they wanted. He forgot to ask them if they wanted them. There was another interruption where everyone got school supplies. That ate up a lot of time so we didnt get a lot from mr. Pecker. My impressions of him youll see it in the transcript later today. He described himself as 72 years old. Hes now selfemployed as a Consultant Including Consulting for the company that he used to run, but he doesnt run that company anymore. He did say he was at this proceeding under subpoena and he had a Lawyer Present in the