And this is fox friends. Brian yes, all rise. Opening arguments again today in former president trumps Hush Money Trial and who we expect to see today on the stand. First witness. Will plus anarchy on columbia universitys campus pushes Classes Online today. [chanting free, free palestine] will massive protests break out as students plan a walkout this first day of passover. Lawrence wild video of Good Samaritan saving drivers trapped in a burning car on the highway. Ainsley scary. Remember, your mornings are better with friends. Lawrence buckle up. Fox news alert. Opening statements in former president trumps new york Hush Money Trial are set to begin in a few hours. Former publisher of the National Inquirer david pecker will reportedly be the first one to take the witness stand this morning or today, some time today. Will we have team conch, Matt Whitaker is standing by but we will begin with Eric Shawn Outside the new york state Supreme Court. Good morning, eric. Good morning, guys, well, today it kicks off. The people of the state of new york vs. Donald j. Trump. Prosecutors will finally completely reveal their hand and the defense will push back against that in trial that will start in about three and a half hours or so from now. Manhattan District Attorney alvin braggs team will begin their Opening Statements and arguments by laying out their evidence behind the allegations that the former president tried to interfere with the 2016 president ial election. Doing that by paying off Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair. 34 counts involve filing false business records. Those checks from trump, to his lawyer, Michael Cohen that the former president says were Legal Expenses but prosecutors say were actually his reimbursing cohen to pay for daniels silence so voters wouldnt find out about the sex scandal. Well, the former president has continually slammed this case saying the payments to cohen were legit. I called a i was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense, some accountant, didnt know, marked it down as a legal expense. Thats exactly what it was. And you get indicted over that . But prosecutor josh stein glass told prospective jurors quote this case is about the rule of law and whether or not donald trump broke it. Reports say that first witness, yes, will be david pecker, the former publisher of the National Inquirer he says he paid playboy playmate Karen Macdougall for her silence. Lawyers for trump say prosecutors have it wrong. We believe the facts are absolutely on our side that theyre absolutely exxonner racism of the president. And as long as the jury focuses on the facts and see through all the media conch and sensationalism and the facts at issue in this case we believe we have a winning case they file these type of cases all the time. Difference with this it involves the former president and what bragg says is election interference. The opening arguments in morning back to you in the studio. Brian all right, eric, thank you so much. Bring in former acting u. S. Attorney general Matt Whitaker. Matt, the president saying the payments were to Michael Cohen or does he say the payments were to Michael Cohen to keep this to keep Stormy Daniels quiet because it was embarrassing to him personally as opposed to its hurting his election chances . Yeah. Thats a really good point, brian. What i know is that first of all, you know, Michael Cohen made this transaction with Stormy Daniels and it was typical nondisclosure agreement. Its a little unclear from what we know right now, whether the president knew or didnt know. But i will tell you Michael Cohen has said publicly and has filed with, i think, the fec a statement that is going to be inconsistent with his upcoming testimony. So the question that Michael Cohen is going to have to face you are a convicted purger. Were you lying now or lying then. You had a judge who should have confused and massive conflict with his daughters outside work. I think this whole case, ultimately, is going to crumble because it doesnt work under the law and especially under the facts. Will you know, matt, i think over the next couple weeks we will fall down the are a bit hole details arguing about the facts of the case. Thats important. Thats what a trial is for. One of the things i find fascinating that both the prosecution and the defense said yeah, well take two lawyers on the jury. Thats highly abnormal for either side to be comfortable with the attorneys in the jury box. In the end is the trumps Team Number One okay we have argued over the fax. Now your job is to apply them to the law and you two lawyers, you know, they are not going to say that but imply it. You better take the lead here in this room and show everyone this does not apply to the law. Its a really good point. I tried many cases a as prosecutor and defense lawyer. And rule number one is you dont want to seat a lawyer on the jury. Ultimately they become a super juror and dominate because everyone looks to them for, you know, sort of decisions and help them think through the law and the facts. With two, thats an interesting dynamic. But, you know, especially in this case, i think because the law is such ridiculous of the federal Campaign Finance laws together with this new york misdemeanor enhancement, i think it is probably a decision both sides made but especially the Trump Campaign two lawyers probably helping us in a convoluted factual case. Matt, one thing that is curious about is on two fronts, that the Court AllowedDonald Trumps former attorney to testify. There used to be Legal Protections for that on the same ground the trump legal team, there has been the idea floated of having Michael Avenatti testify as well, who is Stormy Daniels attorney as well. Do you have any idea why the Court Allowed that . Well, you know, you have the same thing in the florida case. You have seen these lawyers who have breached their ethical duties, spoken out against their clients and not kept confidences. Really the most basic confidence to your point. I would say, you know, michael avenue neat, if he testifies, could you know, undermine the entire governments case how this deal was negotiated with Michael Cohen. Make a really good point. Ainsley its not illegal if you are an outlet like the National Inquirer and decide later on you are not going to air it or run. It is it illegal for him to say to Stormy Daniels, okay, i dont want this story coming out, im going to give you money. I never talk about it. Ill never talk about it. This is important thing. Nondisclosure agreements are entered into all the time. They are suggesting it was only done in an tis pace of the 2016 elections. And, obviously, saying the story wasnt true in the first place. To suggest because it was right before the 2016 election that somehow thats a violation of federal Campaign Finance law. The fec and Southern District of new york looked at the same fact pattern and decided it wasnt a violation of the law. This is where alvin bragg gets too far over his skis and legal theory where the jury will be confused and then decide this is not a violation of the law. Will Matt Whitaker thank you so much for being here this morning. Ainsley Supreme Court set to discuss if trump has the president ial immunity. He says if you are president then you are immune to a criminal trial because it would effect president s decisions. If you know when you leave office youre going to be in trouble for something that you did while you were president. Will ainsley, i really liked your message to matt. It is confusing for everyone. Its not against the law to pay someone for their silence. But the way and thats the allegation, by the way, the trump team denies that was what was taking place. Even if that were what happened. Its not against the law. The allegation of lawbreak something that you didnt keep records correctly. That you mismarked. Ainsley charges a legal fee. Will even at that, thats a misdemeanor that had expired on the statute of limitations. Then he turns it into an Election Fraud thing, which he doesnt have jurisdiction on. The fec as Matt Points Out has passed on it and uses that to make it a felony that is still active. Thats why i asked my question. Its super weird to have two lawyers sitting on a jury. You kind of look at it and go i think the gamble is those two lawyers will go you dont see what everyone watching what the four of us see. Thats not appropriate use of the law. Brian not if one of those lawyers wants to be a contributor on msnbc. Will right. Brian i see a lot of these lawyers on these other channels actually think this case is good and strong. Which makes me think really wonder. People bike gavin newsom that came out over the weekend and said i dont like the way these cases are playing out in this election. And im not liking what these next six weeks could wring. Listen to this. Just had to focus again on him. When focusing on him i do worry electorally he has a slight advantage. Im a little concerned about the overindulgence around the daytoday. I get it. I totally get it. The consequential nature of a criminal trial is profound and outsized in some respect but not more outsized than democracy. More outsized than dobbs and the consequences of him prevailing in this election in november, less is more as it relates to our obsession and focus on putting any more Bright Lights on someone who seeks them no matter how ill conceived or how ill will and ill fated his current standing might be. Lawrence stephen a. Smith makes a similar point. He says that theres the appearance that you cant beat donald trump fairly and that you are using the criminal Justice System to go after him. And voters dont like that. They want a oneonone fight. The courts used to be a referee, right, to look at things from a legal standpoint, and will makes the case that, look, this stuff happens all the time. You even have defendants that pay people off in a sense in criminal prosecutions. That say hey, well just settle this civilly. That way you wont go to the stand to testify against me. It should be illegal but it happens all the time why is that okay. Brian going to kill the president to be in court for six weeks. Not do anything for eight hours a day four days a week and thats definitely i know its still april. But i remember in april is when barack obama painted mitt romney as a selfish white guy who like to fire people. Cut up companies and fire people. I remember thinking to myself why is mitt romney not doing anything . Putting together his team for the general election. There is a danger in the president letting joe biden tee off on him while is he in court. I hope they have a Counter Campaign strategy and a counter legal strategy. Ainsley the irony here is they are accusing donald trump of election interference, paying these people off before the election, yet, they are keeping him in court. The judge and the prosecutor. Its already in. We already know. Some of them ran on getting donald trump. They are interfering with the election while joe biden is flying on air force one. Going out there campaigning. President trump is sitting in a courtroom. Brian good news for trump is is he a terrible campaigner. President biden goes for 12 minutes and runs out of gas. Almost a half of it the closed caption cant figure out what he is saying. Thats advantage. He doesnt have barack obama that he is running against. Ainsley talk about the protest. Today is the beginning of passover. Propalestinian Student Workers at columbia university. Brian unbelievable. Ainsley planning to walk out today. Will schools president planning to announce his deescalation plan saying in part to deescalate the rancor and give us the chance to consider next steps. Im announcing august classes will be held virtually on monday. Lawrence comes as the massive antiisraeli protest continue on Ivy League Campuses on fifth straight day. Brian i cant figure it out. Go home and fire up the zoom. As jewish students free press celebrate Passover Rabbi at The School Go Home saying quote columbia universitys Public Safety and nypd cannot qcan guaranteestudent safety. When the columbia president goes up to capitol hill to say listen, we had a problem, we no longer had have a problem. I hear you. Lesko go back. No, you have a problem. We are proud of being semitic. Were going to have a sitin with pup tents in the middle of the square. They gave them 24 hours. So the real up goes outside and arrest 100 people. Instead of Backwards Step and being embarrassed now doubling and tripling down. Nyu going uptown. A college there. Yale is having their protest. Berkeley, mit. Theyre our mirroring this behavior. Ainsley Michael Rapaport who is that actor, one time liberal actor. He host dollars the oscars. He has been in israel, if you follow them on social media or watch anything about him he is so proisrael. He knows so much about what is going on. Basically a hero when he walks the streets in israel. So he has been adamant about against these propalestinian protests. But he says go ahead. Keep doing it. Because its only helping donald trump. Listen to this donald trump gets voted and i aint a voting for him but when he does win and he is going to win, the Scream Thawing are doing at jews, about free palestine, screaming you are doing zionists is going to be nothing compared to the screaming you are going to be doing come november when [bleep] trump wins presidency because of you. Lawrence he is right. And a lot of my liberal friends that were once democrats a lot of them are changing their mind just based on this issue just protesting standing with the children in gavmentz meanwhile seen the prohamas votes seen al kassem. Yesterday in a video a terrorist organization. And a sign saying this is your next target, pointing to the jewish people on the campus. And finally, you have democrats that are late to the party. When you have students that are being blocked to go class, i mean, it just makes no sense. And why are we allowing these people that call themselves protesters, proterrorist organization wear masks on campus. The pandemic is over. They are covering their faces. Brian why arent they proud of what they are doing. Why dont they show their face . Its funny when people come up, have to put their palestinian shawl over their mouth. Ainsley heard about that protester at yale a journalist. Runs the yale free press. And she was in the middle of this protest and just trying to cover it. She said she was recording it. They saw she was recording it. They started yelling antisemitic chants at her. Surrounded her. She felt very nervous. They waived a palestinian flag in front of her. One person the whole face was covered she didnt know his identity. He rams the palestinian flag into her left eye. She chases after him you just harassed me and hurt me. They surround her. All of his Friends Surround Herr so he can get away. Brian one of the professors at columbia came out and said you have to open up the gates and nypd come in and disperse this crowd and arrest everyone that refuses a Professor Jewish keep them in jail. If the nypd cant do this. Then we needed national guard. I hate the capitulation. I hate the fact that they are telling students they want to graduate in three weeks, maybe or just finish out their semester go home. I dont like the rabbi said to these jewish students go home. They have paid 70,000 a year. Will he said go home he didnt think the exist was safe for them. Its not safe you are here. This isnt just being tolerated. This isnt just being allowed. This is being subsidized. I want you to remember campaign or rather College Debt Forgiveness program, like these kids are all being subsidized by joe bidens attempts to continuously forgive student debt programs. This is what the plumbers of america are not just being forced to tolerate but to pay for. You are paying for the student debt of these people you seen see on your screen. Lawrence number one duty of government. If government cant keep kids safe on college campuses. Then why are you there. I mean, its not like nypd and the mayor released a statement yesterday saying said be careful. Its not that our guys dont want to support the people on campus. But we have to be invited onto the campus. So the question is, why hasnt nypd been given an open invitation to go enforce the law . Brian thats what this professor is calling for. Ainsley or release the hostages. Lawrence that, too. Ainsley then it will be over. Release the hostages. Brian it wont be over until hamas is wiped out. They cant stay. Ainsley then do that, too. Investigators are looking