No matter how much money you think you may have, no one is above the law. So trump in his comments as he continues to talk to the media there, is calling her racist, calling this the biggest witch hunt of all time. Lets bring in our guests and analysts to talk more about what we can expect in this trial. Nbcs Vaughn Hillyard is outside the courthouse. Also joining us, assistant Manhattan District AttorneyCatherine Christian and civil attorney Danny Cevallos. Vaughn, tell us what we can expect to happen in court today in terms of the trial kicking off. Well wait to see if any witnesses are brought forward. You see donald trump standing alongside alina habba, his legal spokeswoman. You see jason miller, his Campaign Senior advisor. Just out of frame we saw his lead attorney on this case, chris kise who just met Attorney GeneralLetitia James inside the courthouse. They briefly exchanged pleasantries and shook hands. Leticia james was joined by other prosecutors in the office. We dont expect her to be the one presenting this case day to day. We dont expect donald trump to be here day to day. This trial can last into december, three months, if it should take that long. Theres a long list of witnesses that will potentially come forward here. Were listening to donald trump. Hes calling this is a witch hunt. This is a man who had the opportunity when he sat for a deposition with the Attorney Generals Office to answer numerous questions and answer the allegations laid out in this lawsuit. Instead, he pled the fifth. More than 400 times to be precise. When i actually asked him on friday when i was with him on the Campaign Trail in los angeles about one of the alleged overinflation of his assets, he demurred. I asked him specifically about his Trump Tower Residency in Midtown Manhattan which he estimated the size to be 30,000 square feet instead of 10,000 square feet and placed the value at 327 million which is three times the amount of any apartment sold in new york history. Take a listen to my attempt to ask him about that specific example. Why did youoverstated the size of your apartment by 20,000 square feet . Just for you know, its a rigged deal. My Financial Statements are much lower than the actual net worth. The judge and your fake Attorney General from new york who is driving business out, who is letting murderers run all over the city. They dont do anything to murderers running all over the city, the Attorney General is a racist, Leticia James, she ought to be ashamed again, ana, instead of donald trump defending himself and addressing the allegations against him, hes repeatedly attacked the new York Attorney general, Leticia James. Hes called on both she and the judge to resign. While donald trump often does the attacking on the Campaign Trail, inside the courtroom it will be up to his attorney, chris kise, to ae fend defend him over the course of the next three months. Danny, we already know the judge in this case came out and said its a fact, trump and his business, they committed fraught repeatedly. There is proof of this. So given that ruling already came down, what is left to be ruled upon at this trial . Its understandable its a little confusing. Basically this is akin to a judge ruling on the issue of liability, taking that out of the actual factfinding portion of the case. What makes it even more confusing is there is no jury. The judge didnt really take any issues away from the jury. The judge took issues away from the judge. In ruling essentially that the statements of Financial Condition were false and, therefore, fraudulent, mostly what remains, although there are some issues as to the defendants State Of Mind that remain to be resolved, really what this is about is its like a damages trial at this point. The amount of the penalty and that case is being tried to a jury, really a judge, that has already indicated what his opinion of of the defense in his opinion, which i think any reasonable mind could say excoriated the defense, highly critical of the defense. If youre the defense going into this trial, youre not feeling confident about your chances against a factfinder, the judge, who already signaled he doesnt think much of the defense. As you are speaking, trump is attacking the judge. Does that help his case, katherine . No, it doesnt. Thats what he does. The Attorney General of New York State has no Jurisdiction Overstreet crimes or homicides. When he says shes letting murderers go loose, thats not her job. This is what he does. Its not going to impress the judge. The judge will be fair and impartial and will just ignore whatever he says. Im sure mr. Trump is going to be sitting in the Courtroom Scowling at the judge and the judge will ignore that. This lawsuit seeks 250 million, i understand, potential cancellation of his businesses is already happening. Can you help us understand how they arrived at that number, katherine, the 250 million number as well as the bigger stakes . Its actually called discouragement which is legalese for the Attorney General wants the Trump Organization to pay back the 250 million that they allegedly unjustly received by inflating the value of their properties. They got favorable loans, favorable insurance premiums. The New York StateExecutive Law allows the Attorney General to seek that. She still has to, as danny said, prove that shes deserving of that. Theres other claims, did they issue false Financial Statements. Insurance fraud. Insurance fraud. Thats why this trial is happening, for the Attorney Generals Office to prove to the judge thats what happened and, therefore, please exact this penalty of 250 million to repay the state. Danny, so interesting that trump is still talking right now, its 10 06. Hes been going for several minutes. The hearing is supposed to get under way at 10 00. Hes outside the courtroom. People inside the courtroom are silent. They can hear what hes saying. Your reaction to what were witnessing. Its begging for trouble. On the defense team, its another palmtotheforehead moment. You want your client not to do anything to shoot your case in the footment he may be doing that by Holding Court outside the courtroom when the judge may want to get everybody going and get the case started. You dont want to be last into the courtroom if everybody is lined up, including the judge and his staff waiting for you. Why isnt his attorney over his shoulder there pulling him in . The answer to that is most likely at this stage, almost a decade into trump having attorneys he has now handselected attorneys, you know if youre defending trump, youre not going to put your hand on his shoulder when hes stating his case and say, mr. Trump, time for court. You may want it to happen. In fact, i suspect in those Retainer Agreements are plenty of disclaimers saying, were your attorneys, well make recommendations to you. If you fail to follow them, its at your own risk. This is a client who doesnt listen. As a Criminal Defense Attorney, our business is full of clients who dont listen to good advice. Thats why they need criminal Defense Attorneys in the first place. So this is not unusual. This happens all the time. Every Criminal Defense Attorney out there, every Civil Defense attorney out there has had a client who doesnt listen to advise. Donald trump is one of them. Again, i just want to add, too, if donald trump is criticizing the judge for being biased, im going to say this, it may be the case that justice goran is biased by the defendant. The key is he biased based on outside influence . No. During the course of the case, sometimes judges form opinions about the strengths and weaknesses of the partys case. That happens. Its obviously happened here. Hes developed an opinion, it runs about 30 pages on the summary judgment. He called their defense fantasy world. Exactly. This happens all the time. Plenty of judges have formed the opinion that some of my choices throughout a case have been not good ones. That may lead you to think, oh, this judge has id out for me. Ive admittedly felt that way throughout a case. I dont know if katherine has ever felt that way. It happens to attorneys. It doesnt mean a judge is biased in an improper way against you. It does sometimes feel like the world is against you. Thats Just A Little Bit of attorney paranoia. Donald trump should know just because the judge doesnt think much of his case doesnt mean hes truly biased in the sense that he should recuse himself. This is video were playing back outside the courtroom moments ago. We did see him go in. The doors closed behind him. Our reporter in the courtroom says he walked in looking solemn, walked right by Attorney General james. Katherine, we talked about the judge being the decider here. This is not a more familiar jury trial. Explain why the Bench Trial Route is going . Donald trump and his lawyers chose a bench trial. Sometimes you do that as a defendant because you believe the jury will be so tainted by bad publicity that they wont follow the facts and the law, so you choose a judge. Its interesting that now donald trump is criticizing that very judge. He didnt choose the judge. He chose to have a judge trial. You dont get to choose your own judge in new york or basically anywhere. So that is why. Quite frankly, as danny said, you can have a judge that throughout a trial will chop you to pieces as an attorney and rule in your favor at the end. It doesnt mean because last week he granted a motion for summary judgment, that he will find that the Attorney General has met their burden for these other courses of action. There are agents aligning the perimeter around him, around the courtroom, in the back. Of course, trump is a former president. It requires a different level of security. Danny, he didnt have to be in court in person for this. So what do you make of the fact he chose to show up . In civil cases, a party doesnt actually have to be present for all stages the way a defendant is expected to be present at every day of a criminal trial. This not a criminal trial. It feelsz like one because you have the Attorney General on one side people often and probably think of a state Attorney General as primarily a criminal justice agency. Its really not. Thats not the role that Letitia James is playing in this case. Sometimes strategically theres a good reason to not have a civil defendant in the courtroom every day. But donald trump is likely here not for any legal reason, not for any strategic legal tactical reason but for his own likely Political Campaign purposes to make a scene, to make a show like he just did in front repor. But there really isnt any need for him to be here. Maybe his attorneys have made a recommendation as to how often he should be present at his civil trial. Whether or not hes following their advice, who knows . I wonder if hell take the stand. Vaughn, the a. G. Signaled she plans to call him along with his sons eric and don jr. To testify. Should we expect them to take the stand . Who else is on this witness list . Reporter the initial witness list we expect to be called by the Attorney General is 25people long, in the situation where they have the opportunity to rebuttal theres additional witnesses they can bring forward. Don jr. , eric and ivanka are all on this witness list. Over the summer ivanka was dropped as a defendant. The two sons who continued to serve in Vice President capacities of the Trump Organization through his presidency remain defendants as well as the Trump Organization. The other names are Michael Cohen who really led to this investigation from the new York Attorney general back in March Of 2019 when you can say he flipped on donald trump and began to make the claims publicly and under oath in front of congress that he while working for the Trump Organization and at the direction of donald trump inflated the estimations and value of their assets. It was Michael Cohen who has cooperated repeatedly with new York Attorney general Leticia James to provide evidence that ultimately led to the lawsuit against him. The other big name to Pay Attention to is Allan Weisselberg who first began working with Donald Trumps dad, fred trump, back in 1973. You eelecall just over last who part of a federal case for tax fraud brought by the Southern District of new york, District Attorney alvin bragg, he agreed to a Plea Agreement on 15 counts ranging from grand lars see, tax fraud, to falsifying Business Records. He served several months at rikers jail on those charges. Now, as part of his testimony and part of his Plea Agreement related to the charges against him, he did testify against him against the Trump Organization, but he refused to directly testify against donald trump himself. Ultimately prosecutors went forward with the Plea Agreement under those terms. But one of the parts of his acknowledgment when he sat down with the new york Attorney Generals Office was as it pertained to the Midtown Manhattan apartment complex, trump tower, where they estimated the size to be 30,000 square feet instead of 10,000. As part of his deposition he acknowledged they stated the value of that apartment overstated it by over 200 million. Allen weisselberg has been a key defender and loyal supporter of donald trump now for decades, when he takes the stand here in this trial could be that very important witness because of what he knows and a potential to validate the climbs that Michael Cohen has made and the new York Attorney general laid as the foundation of her lawsuit against donald trump, his children and the familys company, ana. So far just now inside the courtroom the judge considered a motion to grant cameras in the courtroom for Opening Statements and closing arguments. He has denied that request. Catherine, does that surprise you he isnt going to allow cameras for those portions of this trial . Every judge is different. I know judges who believe it should be open. The only thing you dont show are the jurors or obviously in a rape case or Something Like that you dont show the victim. This is this particulars judge on a case like this, which involves a former president , you should be as open as you can. Theres no issues here of showing a jury. Its just a judge and the witnesses. It would be completely appropriate. Thats in his discretion. New york allows judges in their discretion to do it or not. The judge is allowing some still photography inside the courtroom. Going back to whether trump will take the stand, danny, again, youre a Defense Attorney . Could he be compelled . Will he have to take the stand . This is a civil case. Even if he takes the stand, he may try to invoke the fifth amendment if hes compelled to speak on something that could expose him to criminal liability. So that is something he has to be very mindful of. This is a criminal case, no way to call the defendant to the stand by the state. Going back to what you were asking about cameras, really interesting thing. Throughout history, as cameras have developed in court, theres a huge difference between allowing them in civil cases and in criminal cases. Much less likely to affect a Sixth Amendment right To A Fair Trial in a civil case than a criminal case. Even the federal course which have long banned cameras completely, even allow them in a trial a test trial several years back for civil cases only even the federal courts who have long been against