both sides about when is his next court date, and when could he stand trial our full coverage. also tonight, the dangerous tornado threat more than 40 million on alert in the south and midwest, including areas still reeling from deadly storms al roker is here for the first time the officers who took down the nashville school shooter speak out. what went through their minds as they raced toward the gun fire and the uconn huskies winning it all in the family dynasties inspiring america. announer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt good evening, and welcome. it was a legal spectacle never seen before in america with potentially unprecedented political ramifications, as well donald trump, the former president and current presidential candidate, walking into a new york courtroom after being fingerprinted and being charged with 34 felonies the charges stemming from a series of alleged hush money payoffs to an adult film star in hope of avoiding scandals as he ra
president to be criminally charged surrendering at the courthouse in new york where he was processed and fingerprinted, but no mug shot. he was then taken into the courtroom and the indictment unsealed. 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. prosecutors alleging an illegal conspiracy involving hush money payments to two women during the 2016 campaign and the allegation of a third payment to a doorman at trump tower. the new evidence d.a. alvin bragg hinted at. mr. trump pleading not guilty to t court date and when could he stand trial? our full coverage. also tonight, the dangerous tornado threat. more than 40 million on alert in the south and midwest including areas still reeling from deadly storms. al roker is here. for the first time the officers who took down the nashville school shooters speak out. what went through their minds as they raced toward the gun fire? and the uconn huskies winning in all in the family dynasties inspiring america. this is nbc
thank you. joining me now is senior legal correspondent laura jarett. 34 counts here. how strong does the state s case appear to be? lester, there is a mountain of evidence offered by prosecutors in court papers today, but the fundamental question is whether any of it amounts to a crime. expect to hear from mr. trump s attorneys attacking the way bragg is using uncharged violations of federal campaign finance violations to bolster what is normally a state misdemeanor no court has ever ruled that that s allowed and it s what makes the case legally risky. we can t take this in isolation, there are other investigations coming right now. that s right. including the special counsel investigation where a federal court of appeals unanimously rejected mr. trump s bid to block a number of his senior aides from testifying in front of a grand jury examining his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. laura jarett, thank you. the political fallout was
to fix that and to have it roll forward in the 2020 census. the justice department released a statement last night thanking the lawyers who i guess up until now have been working on the census case. the attorney general is confident in the new team though will take the case on from here. steve, ainsley, and pete we will watch to see what happens today. ainsley: they are supposed to file these court papers today. pete: what s clear from the outside is something got messed up here. argument was confusing. so the court rejected not saying you can t do it. they said your argument does not seemed tether to the rationale. steve: five judges said the census act allows for the question. five judges said the rule making that added the question didn t work. so apparently somebody messed up in that particular argument in front of the supreme court. it looks now like they are bringing in another team to clean up the mess. pete: switching lawyers.
so what more are you learning about flynn s russia contacts? well, these court papers today reveal interesting information, brianna, they reveal information we did not know before today, that russia s ambassador to the u.s. told michael flynn that russia would not retaliate immediately to u.s. sanctions leveled last year. and the ambassador said that specifically as a result of a request flynn made to him. we have new information on the motives for these deals. flynn s motives and the russians. on russian state-sponsored tv in recent days, sergey kislyak, russia s former ambassador to washington, the man at the center of michael flynn s legal troubles, had great laughs with his hosts as they mocked the mueller investigation. translator: if it s not difficult, can you list those whom you met with and spoke on the phone so we know who will be going to jail or at least be