here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. donald trump has already lost a big part of this case. trump did not have to be there today, but he went. later on, he might have to testify. why did he go today? it was to appear before cameras, as he was walking into the courtroom. he made a broad statement as he was walking in. no cameras inside as the opening statements were made, and a picture here as the judge did allow some pictures to be taken before the opening statements. we have reporters inside giving us realtime updates. the judge in this case, we are learning from the reporters inside of this courtroom, he expects the trial to continue into december, and three months possibly. the case is centered around a $250 million lawsuit brought by letitia james. the a.g. claims that he inflated his net worth to get favorable interest rates and more big deals and more worth. >> and the entities in all of the case committed fraud. trump is saying that he is in court to for for his name and that is what he did for several minutes going after the judge and the a.g., and before he came to court a message from a.g. letitia james minutes before she entered court. this is what she said. >> my message is simple. no matter how powerful you are. no matter how much money you think that you may have, no one is above the law. it is my responsibility, my duty and my job to enforce it. the law is both powerful and fragile, and today in court, we will prove our case. >> noted that she said how much you think that you have, because the whole argument is that it was a false reporting of what they were worth. right over to brynn gingras outside of the courthouse. and what are you hearing, because we know that you are getting a lot of information from inside of the courthouse where there are no cameras admitted. >> yes, we have colleagues gives us constant updates. and what is going on is the attorney general's office giving opening statements, and bringing up old video statements from eric trump, donald trump, and a former cfo, alan weissleman and answering question at the heart of this who is lying now and then. and so the question before the jury is who is going to determine the damages if there is repercussions can against the charges against trump and the adult sons. a big decision was made by the judge last week regardlessing some of the elements in the trial. in that, the judge stripped but we could see more of that, and a number of damages to be paid out from trump and the family, and we know that, and she would never like to see trump and his son work in new york alone. this is something that we would like to last entering the statement as trump made that statement entering courtroom, but because we have letitia james making that statement before she went in, sitting front row, then trump walked in. after he made the comments about james and also about the judge, he didn't address letitia james at all, and give her a handshake or anything, and he didn't even look at her. he sat down next to the attorneys. he is conferring the state 's ad listening to this portion of opening statements. but he wanted to be there today and maybe tomorrow, and he is eager to bring his own defense to this trial. we will see if it happens. we don't expect it to happen today, but maybe next week is what we are hearing right now, but it could change. he is on the witness list for both the state's attorneys and his defense. >> there is a lot to be learned going forward when it is come fog the witness list, and yet to be learned. a lot to be and of course, we will have our team in there reporting it out for us. brynn is going to be staying close. meanwhile, over to kristen holtz outside of trump tower. we know that trump spoke at length before going to the and now, we feel that the statements that he said before is indicative of how he could be using this court fight for his 2024 campaign. >> yes, i was told by the advisers that he wanted to have a show of force and this was intended for optics. so he knew and not only waited for the cameras to roll they were following close the judge's ruling, and whether or not the hallway would have a camera al allow. donald trump is the master of optics, and he wants to play it out in the court of public opinion, and i have been and run a campaign in 2024 which is obviously, by itself, rigorous. they said they did not have an answer. they were talking with ways to do this, but with this, they have found one way to do so which is to turn the trials into somewhat of and i spoke to one adviser who almost and then they put out and so, clearly, this is how they are ma and so maybe this is going to help him when he claims election interference, but when it comes to the general election, we have no idea. even the people close to him acknowledge that the close-up coverage of the trial could have a bad effect because of polling fatigue which is a true thing, but right now, they are honing in on it, and using it to the benefit to and now as mentioned, at the d.a.'s office, donald trump at this courthouse which he did not have to be at spent many, many statements attacking judge, the d.a., and making broad statements and being there when he did not have to. my question is would he have been doing these things, and doing these things, and conducting the performance had he not and so in other words, i have nothing else to lose so i will make it about the campaign? >> it sure seems like it. he knows that he has lost the judge, lost the biggest count against him being brought by the attorney general, and so now he is trying to win in the court of public opinion, and win over the he hearts and the minds of the american people, because there are no cameras in the courtroom. so the cameras will not be able to show what the ed is. he wants to get his story out and without people seeing what is really being presented in court. >> i want to look at the claims here. there are seven still undecided. a lot of it is going to intent. i am curious the you, elie, when you are looking at the claims, because this is different from what the judge has decided, correct? that is only the paperwork, and forensics, and not intent. it is harder to prove? >> right. donald trump and team has lost on consistent and there are six other records all related to falsifying financial statements and intent to commit fraud and so they are levels of intent. the count that the judge has ruled against trump the on, does not require a so long as his names are on the documents, and the name went to him. and so was there a victim, some loss, somebody out of pocket? again, count one that the a.g. won, and trump lost. the last six counts are going to be difficult to prove. >> what does this do? >> with, it is a shame to get the late-break decision that there are not going to be cameras in the courtroom, because it is going to serve as a counter example to some of the courtroom step pressers taking place, because certainly, that is not going to happen and certainly, cnn has a lot of people there. but there are ineverable things that you will get such as glances from tisch james and eye contact with donald trump and things like that are really important. but, no, this is political theater. and the press conference that trump just gave, i don't think that we carried all of it, because it is not really pertinent to the case at hand. >> and if this continues, does it impact the judge? the facts are the facts, and what happens in the courtroom is different from what they are seeing from >> and is this going to impact other cases? >> the answer is absolutely not, and the judge will do a good job to keep the court of public opinion separate. it could only impact the court of public opinion when it veers off over into the potential of interfering with danger, and let me sgrrnlg and where to rein him in on the first amendment rights. >> we mentioned donald trump did not look the attorney general in the eye. we are not sure why, and one reason could be that she beat him already once at least in appeals. the key part of the case he is found to have committed fraud. part of what we are seeing here is a trial to determine how much he has to pay, and how much business control he is going to lose because of it. i want to bring in jeff zeleny. in this courtroom and looking to turn a political corner here. >> yes the at some point, these two competing strategies, if you will, the politics and the actual legal case that is going on there, they are doing to collide, and there is a realtime interpretation going on, and for now the presidential campaign is simply tying to do one thing to run out of the clock before can look to plauk and he is in the courtroom today when this, and there is no differentiation, and no day light between the presidential campaign, and the illegal activities no matter how many times we sayt here. we will have to see how voters view of all of this, and this is explained through social media, but wing thing that we have known national and his finances, and the stature at trump tower as the chairman of the board, if you will, has been the sen fer and personally, but politically, who knows. >> jeff zeleny, you rock as always. everyone, stick with us. this hearing continues, and donald trump before a judge in lower manhattan, and this is continuing as we speak, and again, this is the video from a short time ago when cameras were allowed in briefly to show the former president there in manhattan courtroom. we are getting the new developments coming out of court, and we will bring them to you as well. we are also following some important news out of capitol hill, where kevin mccarthy and the way he pulled it off? working in a bipartisan way to aide tand we will look at kevin mccarthy's new approach on capitol hill. we will take you there. new this morning, we are learning that house top republicans are trying to block congressman matt gaetz' attempt to block house speaker kevin mccarthy's position. he trying to remove him because the speaker rely on democratic votes to fund a short term bill to avoid a government shutdown. the hardliners are threatening to oust him if he reaches across the aisle, and he did. manu raju is joining us from capitol hill. you have brand-new reporting for us. what is the plan going forward? >> yeah, in fact, i asked the speaker moments ago about whether or not he is going to need the democratic votes to maintain the speakership, and that a big question in the das a andment and so if the democrats decide to el h hp kevin mccarthy by some deal cutting or concessions that they make, it could save mccarthy's speakership. moments ago, i asked fim he is refusing to i will read you what he said moments ago. he said, it is about the institution. it is too important. i said, are you refusing to cut a deal with democrats? he said, any time someone has an ethics complaint and get what they want about it, and one side is going to park with other, and not decide what i am going to do. that is not in the house and he was trying to push him out of the emics probe, because frnlt, vrnlt and this a real problem, because a vote could happen today and be on the house floor within two legislative days. speaker move it being moved, and a number of key moving parts here. the democrats are not sure what to do. the leader hakeem jeffries and the members are having discussions can of how to help mccarthy, and if they want to help him, but mccarthy said those o >> it is interesting to have them see if they are going to help the democratic part of the house. >> and deals don't come cheat. so it is going to be interesting. thank you, john. >> and adam smith, congressman, thank you for ug that will be -- for keeping kevin mccarthy as speaker. how do you plan to vote? >> well, i have not decided. i will listen to leadership, and hakeem jeffries and the caucus about the best approach. one of the problems is that i heard your quote about a member of the democratic caucus saying they would not come cheap. mccarthy has kept it clear that he would not keep the promises. he is going to promise what he has to get through the moment, and the second that the moment is done, he wipes the clean clean, and there is nothing to promise us to make a difference. he made a deal on the debt ceiling on what the appropriations bill looked like and bailed on that when it was not convenient, so promises don't get us there, and for kevin mccarthy to be talking about protecting the institution, and the guy who ultimately sited with trump over the insur reck mun. it is hard to see him a credible figure. >> how much do you trust speaker kevin mccarthy? >> well, i don't. i have been in the rooms where you have to make deal, and every time you do that, you know that member of your own caucus are not going to like it, but you stand by the agreement, because that is how the institution works, and kevin has not and now all of that said, as bad sprm is, it can get worse, and we have to contemplate that. what is the alternative if and we have seen the chaos in the first seven or eight months, but calculate what comes next? do you have any thoughts? >> i have thoughts, but they are not fully formed, because it is an unprecedented situation. it is likely that if mccarthy was ousted as speaker, we would go through an extended period of time without a speaker, because the republicans would have to try to figure that out, and how extended, and what are the consequences of not having a speaker, and so if you are a speaker, you can't do anything else until you get one, and we saw that last january. vote after vote after vote. so what are implications of that? i am weighing it again that speaker mccarthy brought it on himself. he has sided with the insurrectionists, and broke n t cut education, dea agents, health care -- by 30%? that is the plan? that is the guy you want to run the house. from my perspective and the democrats' perspective, that is why we have a problem with it. >> one thing that is not part of the continuing resolution is funding for ukraine, and what if anything could kevin mccarthy promise on that, that would make you feel better about voting to keep him. >> well, let me telp you here. he can't promise anything. he can do some thing, and that is one possibility. any member of the house can make a motion to vacate. the way i look at it is two big things that i want right now is a supplemental for ukraine and the passage of the appropriations bills, because as you know, we bought ourselves to november 17th, and we face another shutdown, and continuing appropriations are terrible, and what we want is a vote on the supplemental to support ukraine and passage of the appropriations bills, and maybe we reject matt gaetz' motion to vacate, but we will be happy to entertain it if you don't get those two things done. so i would not take anything that kevin mccarthy promises. if he does something, and if he actually delivers something, that is a different conversation. but believing in a promise from him, it just does not seem like a smart thing to do. >> i have been covering the congressman for years, and for this time, it does seem that you are working through it, and it does not seem that you are 100% sure where you are going to be tomorrow or even six hours from now depending upon how things play out? >> i have been doing it for a long time, too, and i am a little weird, and i like to be honest with people where i am coming from and it is the best approach, and that is the honest balancing assessment against the speaker. the only thing going for him is if the situation could be worse without him, and that is what we have to think about, what are the exact implication, and like i said, substance matters here, and pass the appropriations bill, and give us a vote on the ukraine supplemental, and that is what is going to matter, and whatever personality matters are going on, maybe it is fascinating for television, but we democrats are focused on governing and governing effectively. >> with that said, if the democrats emerge without any of the things mentioned, how will you feel about that? >> umm, how will i feel about that? well obviously, i will be disappointed, but look, control what you can control. the notion that we democrats are in the minority in the house have control of this situation is completely wrong. we don't. we will try to influence, but try to move it in the right direction, and as we go through this. it is going to motivate me more and more to try to make sure that the democrats re-take the house next year so that the house can function. what we would all like is a functioning house. speaker mccarthy and the entire house, and it is not just on mccarthy, and they have picked him. they have allowed matt gaetz to influence the process to the degree they have, and you need different leadership in the house, and democratic leadership in the house to get back to some sort of governance. >> thank you, congressman, because i feel that you give us a very good sense of things on your side of the aisle as we are here at 11:31 on a monday. >> thank you. >> thank you, congressman. >> thank you for the chance. >> kate. >> that is very interesting, in that the democrats have a real leverage in if kevin mccarthy keeps or loses his post. and next, we go back to court in lower manhattan, and learning about the new detalils and what the attorney general's office is asking of the judge in these opening statements against donald trump as he is sitting now for the civil fraud trial. we will be back. here in the bs and all of our stuff where we want to go. but, our cars can't take us e with unpaid tolls. vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. payment assistance is available. visit bayareafastrak.org/ase so go pay your unpaid tolls y and keep your wheels on the ! right now, former president donald trump is in a new york courtroom where the opening statements are under way in the civil fraud trial, the former president is accused of falsely inflating the value of the business empire, and the net woth worth by billions and getting favorable interest rates and loans. the attorney general is asking him to pay $250 million in penalties and other things. what you have seeing is donald trump making statements before he went into the courtroom. now we are learning more since this hearing in the trial has gotten under way. brynn gingras is standing by. and brynn, the a.g.'s office is laying out what they hope the judge will do here. >> yeah, it took a little less than an hour to do so. i wanted to go through what is going on now, kate, and then i will talk about that. and right now, we are hearing from trump's attorneys, and their sides of the opening statements saying here, that there were no attempts to defraud. there were no unjust profits made, and there are no victims in this case. essentially saying that donald trump built a huge empire, and he did it all rightly so. essentially saying that he did not do anything that is against any rules, and he performed all of the right maneuvers in order to make money, and so we are going to have the crux of the case k right. this is how they will defend their client, and we know that donald trump is there at the table with his attorneys weighing in on what they are saying as they give these opening statement, and you are right, we have heard in an hour or so less than the state's attorneys that they did defraud and lied on the financial statements and we saw deposition statements from multiple members of the trump organization, and including his son, and alan weisselberg, and the attorneys saying are they lying then or now? so these are some of the things that we are hearing from inside of the courtroom as some of the opening statements are continuing -- sorry, i am getting some information from my producer here saying that trump actually is standing, and he is leaving in the middle of these opening statements that are happening. there is a 10-minute break, and he is leaving courtroom. so i am not sure if we will get my colleague down here to get more information, kara ska nell, but a 10-minute break there in the opening statements and trying to get the information, but the crux of the case here laid out as to what if there was any fraud, and we know that the judge made a huge ruling last week saying that there is some fraud in the elements of the case and penalizing trump, and his sons and the organization and taking away some of the certifications as well, and we will see if it is hands down penalties in the amount of dollars and one thing that the state's attorneys did say as they wrap up some of the things and they asked the judge to bar the trump family from doing things in the state of new york, and again, things are fluid right now, and we will continue to get you updates from inside of that courtroom, but a lot laid out in termsf how this could look, and it is going to last as long as three months, and we are fully expecting trump to take the stand at some point. >> we are looking at one of the live cameras outside of the courtroom, and, brynn, and as you have reported, there is a break, and people are leaving court, and setting up for donald trump, himself, to be walking out as well. so, we are going to be looking at, this brynn, and one thing from the colleagues in the courtroom also reporting that for the attorney general's office in their opening statement, they asked the judge to bar donald trump from doing business in new york. that is one of on top of financial penalties that they have clearly already sought. that would be such a blow to donald trump the business, the organization, and the empire and the brand. >> yeah, kate, sorry. you are talking to me, right? >> yeah, go ahead, brynn. >> sorry, sorry. yeah. that is one of the things that we also don't know what is going to happen next after the judge's ruling last week, and as i said, the business certifications from trump, his sons and the trump organization were stripped, and it is last week in a hearing, the judges gave trump's attorneys another 30 days to look like where that stands right now. but, yes, just before they finished the opening statements they said they do want to bar the trumps from doing business in new york, and this is where his empire, started. so it is very unclear as to what the future of the trump organization and the wealth of the trumps will look like after this trial gets finished. remember, it is very significant trial, and like you said, the attorney general is asking for $250 million, which doesn't seem much to the trump trumps, but t judge is going to make the discretion for penalizing on which ever way he is going to find in these trials, but it is significant and interesting to find the beginning this before the opening statements started of how trump made the comments attacking james of which he is not shy of doing, and attacking judge which he is not shy of doing, and not addressing letitia james walking into the courtroom today, and the judge is going to make those decisions, and not a jury. so we will be certainly seeing how that lays out. and another thing testifying, we could hear from his sons as well, and also, bringing people to the stand who are going to show that the way they filled out all of the financial statements that they are just everyday things that happen in the state of new york, and they were completely okay, and nothing wrong about them, and so it is going to be a lot of interesting testimony, though it is very confusing, right, because it has to do with the financial statements, but at the heart of the case, did they commit fraud, knowingly commit fraud, and the judge ruled they did, so we will see how it plays out. >> brynn, thank you for bringing the details of inside of the court now that they are on break, and expecting that donald trump is going to be leaving courtroom some time soon, and caroline and elie here with us again, and what we have heard from trump's attorneys, no victims, no unjust profits and no victims. >> that is a val did defense to the remaining counts, and important to note that the judge has ruled in favor of donald trump before the trial on one of the counts, but these are the remaining accounts, and that is val did and -- valid response. and so because this is a not a jury trial, this changes everything. the way you give your opening statement, and the witnesses and how you cross-examine them, because it is a case not to six civilians, but to not just the judge, but the judge who knows this case. he is probably the foremost expert on this case. so, that is really going to change the entire atmosphere. >> we saw how brief the opening statements were compared to what we are used to, and that is maybe speaking to what elie is talking to. >> and the judge does not have to get up to speed here. and the landmark summary judgment that the judge ruled on last week is a unique statue in that the pervasive fraud, the hall mark of a fraud charge would be some intent to defraud would be a victim. this is more of a what we call the strict liability charge in that, really the judge was able just to look at the facts, and he has already been ruling on the law, but for this bench trial, he is also the finder of fact, and he looked up the receipts as it were and he said, no, this is fraud. as a matter of law and as a matter of fact, this is fraud, and we don't have to move forward with that count, and now for the issue of intent on these other issues, i think that there are five individual defendants here on top of all of the entities, and, you know, i don't anticipate it, but we could see sort of a blame game going on here, and a finger pointing specifically with alan weisselberg, and i expect some advice of the accountant defense, and look, i signed papers and there is no intent on my part, and i told people to do what people told me to do, and if there are antagonistic defenses here, and it was not me, but him. >> one of the things that happened in court during the first opening statements by the state is kevin wallis said that they tried to distance themselves from who is the preparer of this, and specifically pointed out that weisselberg oversaw the preparation, and donald trump said yes, and at the end he said, look, the defendants are left to answer the question, are you lying then or now, and how do you defend against that? well, first, you don't get on the stand, and that sounds like donald trump is planning to do that and we have been hearing it before and he has walked it back and certainly, i would advice against it, because it is a civil trial, and he does have the ability to plead the fifth, and however, the judge can take what is a negative inference from that in a criminal case, and he would not be allowed to do that, but because it is a civil trial he can assume the worst. and if trump says he is not doing that to protect my fifth amendment against incrimination, and there are other incriminating cases, the judge can then think and use it as part of his decision in this trial that the answer would have been bad. so, you know, it is a lose-lose really. >> elie, 25 seconds or less, they made it clear that the control of his empire is at stake, or what they want at stake in this. >> make no mistake of this, and he could be hit with a massive monetary judgment, but more importantly, he could lose the business certification, and the ability to do business in new york, and more wave across the country. >> and we will continue to bring you details inside of the courtroom, and donald trump and his business empire on trial. we have just learned that republican congressman matt gaetz is to speak on the house floor in the coming business -- >> ooh. >> and this ongoing feud with kevin mccarthy with the aftermath and the fallout, and one of the ripple effects of what was a narrowly avoided government shutdown thisthis weekend. what he might say, we shall learn, next. t. . congress may be headed for another battle after narrowly avoiding a government shutdown. matt gaetz who promised he was going to do this is expected to speak on the floor to try to oust the speaker kevin mccarthy. he said he does intend to file a motion to vacate. that is what he said this weekend. it is all because mccarthy avoided a government shutdown by working with democrats. >> kevin mccarthy's job is on the line. kevin mccarthy might lose his speakership, the process may begin minutes from now. to capitol hill, manu raju is there. manu, give us the latest. >> reporter: yeah. matt gaetz actually right now in the house chamber and we do expect him to speak after -- right after the house gavels in at noon. the question whether or not he files that motion to try to kick kevin mccarthy out as speakership, something that has never been successfully executed in the history of the country. one in which gaetz could have the votes to do just that. he would need more than four republicans to join with him, if all democrats agree that it's time for kevin mccarthy to go. that is the big question at the moment, how will democrats deal with this and whether they will cut a deal with mccarthy to be the speaker. i asked mccarthy about whether or not he is open to cutting a deal with democrats, and he sidestepped the question. [ no audio ] >> apparently we don't have the sound. he said -- the speaker essentially said that he is more concerned about the institution more than he is about anything else at the moment. not saying one way or the other if democrats, in fact, would get behind this effort. that remains the question. hakeem jeffries, democratic leader, has been keeping his powder dry about how to proceed and a lot of rank and file members will take their cue from the democratic leadership. procedurally the next step here is expected to be an effort by the house gop leadership to try to kill this effort to kick the speaker out of his speakership and that would require a majority vote in the house. could happen within two days. as early as today. we'll just see what a gaetz does here in a matter of moments. very significant moment on the floor of the house. >> we should mention it has been 100 years since the speaker's gavel has been challenged. manu raju, thank you for your reporting. kevin mccarthy making it easier in order to get the speakership in the same place we talked about before, between a rock and a hard place of his own design. let's see what happens in the next hour. thank you so much for joining us. "cnn news central." "inside politics" is up next. to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today.