Moment as well with Opening Statements set to start in formerpresident Donald Trumps new york hush money trial. The president has arrived at the courthouse. This, of course, is the first time a former president and a Presumptive Republican nominee for president is standing trial for criminal charges. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying Business Records. Those counts are related to a 2016 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter, all of which the former president has denied. Todays Opening Statements coming a week after the trial started with jury selection. Now those 12 jurors and 6 alternates are set to hear the case against him and his teams defense in a watershed moment for our countrys legal landscape. We start now with our senior Legal Correspondent laura jarrett. She has made her way to that courthouse there in lower manhattan. Laura, what are we expecting to see and hear inside that courtroom this morning . Reporter well, craig, it was a little over a year ago that donald trump stepped into the courthouse here behind me for his arraignment. Today he walks in as a criminal defendant for his Opening Statements in his first criminal trial. A remarkable moment for mr. Trump, for the 12 jurors set to sit in judgment of him, and for the country a remarkable test, as you said, for our legal system as a whole. Those 34 counts, technically about falsification of Business Records, but the story that the prosecutors here want to tell, craig, is far broader than that, far more ambitious. The story that they want to tell, a roadmap if you will that they want to layout today in Opening Statements is about election interference and theyre telling the Trump Campaign in 2016 was reeling from the release of the access Hollywood Tape and so desperate to make sure they could shore up the female vote they tried to bury the story of Stormy Daniels, a story that could have upended the campaign. So in prosecutors telling, mr. Trump directed his former fixer, mike an cohen, to pay her off with 130,000. That payment is made days before voters went to the poll but, of course, the voters found out about it anyway. The defense team is going to layout how mr. Trump didnt know anything about this plot, this alleged orchestration, that mr. Trump wasnt involved in it and that mr. Cohen did it on his own. The defense team wants to say, craig, if all of this happened the way prosecutors say, which they deny, was actually being falsified, the internal crime are Business Records that would never have seen the light of day. So how could the voters have been fooled . Thats the duelling narratives we will see play out in Opening Statements, craig. After Opening Statements, the first witness weve been told a man named david pecker. Explain how he fits into all of this and what is the prosecution hoping to accomplish by calling him first . Reporter it is an interesting strategic move really, crack, because david pecker was the former leader of ami, which is the Parent Company of the national enquirer. Everyone knows that tabloid. The reason prosecutors want him is because he allows them to put mr. Trump in room for when the scheme happened in 2015, and prosecutors telling, theyre going to tell the jury here mr. Trump, mr. Cohen and david pecker sat in a room and they decided to try to catch and kill bad stories that could have hurt mr. Trump. Theyre going to say it was mr. Pecker and mr. Trump and mr. Cohen who decided to take and buy the stories to make sure other people couldnt publicize them. Mr. Trump doesnt deny that meeting happened. He cant. But he is going to deny there was anything illegal about it, craig. Laura jarrett for us there at the courthouse. Laura, thank you. Lets bring in senior washington correspondent Hallie Jackson and nbc news legal analyst danny cevallos. We will hear from danny pecker but the aforementioned michael cohen, the president s former fixer, a man who wrote a book called revenge about his former boss. He is also a convicted felon. Much has been made of his lack of credibility and he has that problem, but prosecutors routinely use cooperating witnesses with much worse character issues than michael cohen. You will have trials and i have had these where the cooperating witness comes in in shackles and prison gear. The point is prosecutors often go to other bad guys to get testimony against the defendant bad guy that they want to convict. This is nothing new. The prosecutions already been seeding the jury, prepping them for the fact, hey, you may hear from people who have credibility issues in this case, but the state here as a lot of corroborating evidence. I think that comes a lot in the form of david pecker, who i think is quietly going to be really the governments star witness here, not so much michael cohen. Hallie jackson, of course, there are several other opinion pending cases the president is dealing with. So far it does not appear to have affected him at all politically. Do we expect it to change anything in that regard . Huge question and something we will not get an answer until after the verdict comes down later on in the spring. You are correct, craig. His legal issues did not phase republican primary voters who overingly backed formerPresident Trump. Here is something im watching from the latest nbc news polling. We are calling it shorthanding this as the hush money trial to differentiate it from the other trial, the other legal issues the former president faces. The prosecution is hoping to have people think about it not as a hush money trial but as something bigger than a sex scandal but an election interference trial. Why does it matter . When you look at issues that voters say matter to them and voters come november, it is inflation and imgrangs. No surprise. Those are stalwarts, always big issues. Third, they say threats to democracy is one of the biggest issues facing the country. If prosecutors are able to make that connection, there you see the former president walking in, that could sway folks. We have meet the press Moderator Kristen Welker joining us from washington. Kristen, good morning to you. Lets talk about the current president. President biden, so far it would seem as if the strategy from the white house has been pretty much a handsoff approach. We havent heard the current president talking a lot about the former president s legal troubles. Do we expect thats going to change this time around . Absolutely not, craig. I expect that to continue this week. You are absolutely right. It has been a handsoff approach. Last week President Biden on the campaign trail in battleground pennsylvania talking about one of top issues for voters, the economy. This week his big speech is going to focus on reproductive rights in battleground florida, in trumps home turf. He will be blasting that sixweek ban in the state there. The strategy, craig, is two fold. One to try to keep the focus on the issues as an attempt to cast himself as a steady leader, as the person who is the opposite of bringing chaos, and also to try to live up to the promise he made on the campaign trail back in 2020, that he wouldnt intervene in the justice system. So i anticipate we will see this play out. Look at our latest nbc news poll, shows that he is narrowing the gap with formerPresident Trump now just trailing him by two points as opposed to five last time we took the poll, craig. Moderator of meet the press, kristen welker. Big thanks to you. That will conclude the special report. We will have more on our streaming network, nbc news now online and on nbcnews. Com. The full and comprehensive wrap up tonig that was an nbc news special report. Starting with the forecast. As we take a look at the city, a look at what to expect. We are going to see much more sunny skies throughout today, and it was warm yesterday in some of our valleys, headed for the low 80s again today. Tomorrow it will be slightly cooler and become windy, in some spots well see a drop in temperatures of about 10 degrees. By late week, were going to have a slight chance of rain, but thats about all we have for the week. Today well see a high of 79 in dublin, about the same in fremont, and upper 70s for much of the north bay. Well talk about that cooldown and whats ahead. Mike, youre seeing a buildup in the east bay. Overall, slowing into Contra Costa County area, and also in the north bay. But this is the good news. Highway 4 actually sees some relief. The earlier crash cleared at willow pass road. Unfortunately, we may have another crash. Waiting for detail. Theres not a lot more slowing, still from kirker pass road folks are taking the cutthrough and that might increase traffic on Ygnacio Valley road. Out of the altamont pass, standard build. Slowing toward hayward and that first slowing for san jose has cleared from the northbound direction. Prepare for the next over the next half hour. Back to you. Well, in just a few hours, the u. S. Supreme court will hear arguments brought by unhoused individuals in oregon. The case could set a new precedent for fining or arresting people for sleeping outside. Today in the bays brie jackson is joining us live from washington this morning. Reporter good morning, marcus. So experts are considering it the most significant case in decade surrounding homelessness. The justices will consider a challenge to rulings from a californiabased Appeals Court that found punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is limited equates to cruel and unusual punishment. The city of grants pass, oregon, banned camping and set a 295 fine for people sleeping outside there. The small town says it needs tools to prevent sprawling encampment, but an Appeals Court blocked the ban, calling it unconstitutional. Both advocates and oregon residents are weighing in ahead of opening arguments. Theyve started putting in some pretty extreme measures that make it literally impossible to be homeless in grants pass without getting increasing fines, and then eventually getting kicked out of parks, which then leads to jail time. Watching our streets be full of tents and garbage and people peeing against the buildings, its just not to me, its not normal. Reporter closer to home, the coalition on homelessness is suing San Francisco over this and other issues. A judge issued an injunction in that case, which is now on pause until the Supreme Court rules on the grants pass case. Now, today in the bay will have a live report with a legal analyst ahead of todays opening arguments. That will be happening in less than 30 minutes. Brie, thank you. We will continue coverage of this story, as brie was just saying. Make sure you follow us by downloading our free nbc bay area app. That way you can get updates for free. It is available right now on your smartphone to download. It is 6 12 right now. Nurses plan to line the streets outside of a San Francisco hospital, drawing attention to the use of Artificial Intelligence in health care. Today in the bays kris sanchez joins us in our newsroom. Do we know if this protest will Impact Health care at all today . Reporter hi, there, laura. We dont know what the impact is going to be on patient care or staffing today. We did reach out to kaiser San Francisco, but we have not yet gotten a response. But the action is happening on the same day Kaiser Permanente begins an integrated Care Experience conference about this. We can tell you that the nurses protest is centered on kaiser San Francisco because it was an early adopter of Artificial Intelligence. However, kaiser is not the only hospital using ai. The California Nurses Association position is that ai puts patients at risk because it removes some of the handson care that patients need. No computer, no ai cannot replace a human touch. It cannot hold your loved ones hand. You cannot teach a computer how to have empathy. Reporter on the flip side, some ai experts say that ai could reduce Health Care Costs and could result in better treatments through improved access to patient data, helping doctors analyze medical images like mammograms and such, and identifying potential drug interactions. But with all of that access to information comes questions over privacy and responsibility. President biden signed an executive order back in october to develop a federal framework for developing and using ai in health care and beyond. That is still in the works. The union tells us that the nurses protest should begin at noon today. If we hear back from Kaiser Permanente before then, we will bring you their comments. Kris sanchez, thank you. 6 14 right now. Heightened emotions on the campus of new York Citys Columbia University thats prompting the school to take extra Safety Measures today. Tonight marks the first night of passover, and it follows days of protests by palestinian supporters. Yesterday Campus Police broke up an encampment and have made more than 100 arrests. Now, today all classes will be held virtually. The School Leaders plan to meet to talk about how to deescalate tensions. Back here in the bay area, five north bay security guards are facing criminal charges after they were arrested following what police are calling a violent altercation with a patron. It happened late saturday night at jamisons roaring donkey in petaluma. Police say the victim went into the restroom where the fight started with a security guard. Ultimately, five guards were removed from the bar removed him from the bar, and witnesses told police they saw the guards place the man in a chokehold and punch him repeatedly. Paramedics treated him at the scene. The guards were arrested and face felony battery charges. As soon as today, teams plan to tow the body of a whale floating off of the alameda coastline. The 40 foot long gray whale was spotted yesterday in the waters off crown memorial state beach. They will be working with the coast guard to determine how it died. This is the first dead whale found in bay area waters this year. By the way, experts do not believe this to be the same whale seen tangled in netting near pacifica just two weeks ago. That whale has yet to be found. We want to check in with scott now with what hes working on. Good morning. Were working on the tiktok bill. Over the weekend the house voted to ban tiktok. Lets go to the futures this lets go to the futures this morning andee s you made a cow actually its a piggy bank. My inspiration to start saving. How about a more solid way to save . Im listening. Well, bmo helps get your savings habit into shape with a cash reward, every month you save. Both cash reward . And theres a cash bonus when you open a new Checking Account to get you started. Wow. Anything you cant do . mugs. Bmo good monday morning. Right now at 6 18, take a look at this beautiful view looking down at the Golden Gate Bridge with thin wisps of fog rolling across the city. Were going to see temperatures in the mid50s to start and staying in the low 60s today. Another nice one, with a mostly sunny sky. Well talk about some slight changes in our forecast throughout the week coming up. Across this bridge, the richmondsan rafael, were seeing more traffic on the left side and you can see folks slowing down on the extension for the toll plaza as well. A smooth drive across the span. Well show you where there is more significant slowing coming up. Tesla has dropped prices to match recent prices here in america and is dropping prices on its socalled full selfdriving. Though, a reminder, it is not full selfdriving. Australia is worried about the stabbing violence being published on social media, particularly x. An austrailian court is ordering them to take down videos featuring the actual stabbing and x complied with the request. But ceo elon musk complains australia is asking for a global ban on content and x says it will challenge those restrictions in an austrailian court. Australias Emergency Service minister said on austrailian tv he had had enough of, quote, narcissistic billionaires who think theyre above the law. The senate says it will take up that tiktok ban this week, after the house passed its over version of the bill over the weekend. Its likely to pass the senate because a similar bill has been approved before. The restriction would give tiktoks Parent Company bytedance a year to sell tiktok to an american interest. President biden says he is prepared to sign that legislation into law, despite the fact that bidens campaign uses tiktok. You may remember the president s attempt at a tiktok just before the super bowl. Its worth mentioning, we call it a tiktok bill and tiktok is specifically targeted in the bill. It would actually give the president all kinds of power and president s in the future as well. The other thing to remember is nobody has actually proven that tiktok has given information to the chinese government. There is a fear but nobody has proven any of this. I think well see a tiktok ban, which will take at least a year, almost immediately. Interesting. Thanks, scott. 6 21 t