Attorney general new yorks Attorney General made those remarks, donald trump is in court on trial to determine what price he should pay for the massive fraud hes committed for years. Plus, trumps increasing threat to democracy. Hes attacking judges and threatening to lock up americas district attorneys. The authors of how democracies die join me. Also tonight, one of the most hated members of congress, matt gaetz, just might have the power to take down Kevin Mccarthy unless democrats come to kevins rescue, but will they . But we begin tonight with donald trump and new York Attorney general Letitia James. Together for the first time in a New York City courtroom. Today was the first day of the Civil Fraud Trial Over charges that trump along with his two adult sons and his business grossly inflated the value of his assets for years. Attorney general james who has not was not arguing the case today, did have a front row seat. Presiding is judge arthur angoran, who delivered the Bombshell Ruling Finding Trump Liable for fraud, caming his defenses of the real estate was based in a, quote, fantasy world. The trial is expected to last until just before christmas with six more causes of action to be determined with a focus on the intent by trump, his Family Members, and Business Associates to commit the fraud. In their opening statement, the prosecution said they have the receipts to prove that the defendants made these false declarations to intentionally defraud the banks and insurance companies. The prosecutors used some of the depositions with don jr. , eric, and former trump cfo Allen Weisselberg to make that point. Trumps lawyers are holding to their claims not only is trump nothing less than a super successful real estate tycoon, but there could not have been any intent to defraud because there was no fraud, no false statements and no such thing as an objective valuation of a property. While trump is not expected to be present through the trial, he along with don jr. , ivanka, and eric are on the witness list and we expect to see them testify at some point under oath. Beyond the 250 million in penalties that new york a. G. Letitia james is seeking, this trial could also likely put an end to the entire Trump Organization in new york. It will also completely shatter whatever remains of the myth of trump as an extremely wealthy and successful businessman, the original big lie that helped propel him into the white house in 2016. That point has not been lost on trump. Who was lashing out once again at the judge and the Attorney General in this case. We have a rogue judge. A racist Attorney General who is a horror show. This judge is a politician, and he should be investigated for what hes done. These are corrupt people were dealing with, the most corrupt people. When you have a radical left Attorney General like Letitia James who is a disgrace to our country, this rogue judge, a trump hater, hes a democrat operative. This judge should be disbarred. He shouldnt be allowed to be a judge. That Police Officer is everyone right now. Joining me now is nbcs adam reese in the courtroom today. Tim obrien of bloomberg opinion, and mary mccoward, former acting assistant attorney. Adam, i was noting the Police Officer at the front who was standing in the foreground in that image. He was holding his composure very well. You could kind of almost see what was going on inside of his mind. What was going on in the courtroom . Give us sort of the color of the courtroom and Donald Trumps demeanor. Because he seems angry. Very angry, and joy, as you just heard, there was no love lost between donald trump and Attorney GeneralLetitia James. And for that matter, judge angoran, when mr. Trump came into the courtroom numerous times he totally avoided Letitia James. She also avoided him. She looked away, looked to her left as he came in from the right. He seemed angry at times, agitated. He was repeatedly consulting with his attorneys on both sides of him. He looked beet red at times, heated. He was looking at a particular article when the final and first witness, rather, took the stand, he really was taking issue with a lot of what he was saying. But the Opening Statements were more of the same from both sides. A lot of what we have heard in all of the leadup to this trial. The prosecution saying all of trumps properties here in new york were overvalued. Were not just talking about a couple million here or there. Were talking hundreds of millions of dollars. He overestimated his net weather anywhere between 800 and 2. 2 billion. The defense came up. They said he is an incredibly successful businessman. These are trophy properties. No one got hurt, in fact, the banks made some 100 million. The insurers werent hurt. The first witness, as i mentioned, donald bender, trumps long time accountant, he testified to a lot of detailed accounting throughout the afternoon. But at the very end of the day, the judge said you know, a lot of this 2011 valuations seem to be redundant. We could be wasting our time, at which point trump jumped up with a trouble thumbs up, and his attorney said, i couldnt agree with you more, judge. What a circus. Let me just play, just to remind everyone why were here. This is Michael Cohen, him testifying in 2019 to congress. This is what led to this case happening at all. To your knowledge, did the president or his company ever inflate assets or revenues . Yes. To your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an Insurance Company . Yes. To your knowledge, was the president interested in reducing his local Real Estate Tax bills . Yes. How did he do that . What you do is deflate the value of the asset and then you put in a request to the Tax Department for a deduction. Was that done with the president s knowledge or direction . Everything was done with the knowledge and at the direction of mr. Trump. That is why were here, tim obrien. And that gentleman is going to be testifying, Michael Cohen, who was Donald Trumps lawyer for a long time, more than a decade. Also will be testifying as somebody that you told me the name of is i didnt watch apprentice so i didnt know who he was, Allen Weisselberg. I think he was on in 2006. He was trumps business guy. Those are going to be two of the main witnesses besides trumps kids. And you would know probably better than anyone else, they know what he did. Allen weisselberg and Michael Cohen both have been to prison because of donald trump. So they know what theyre talking about, and weisselberg to stay out of prison has to tell the truth. Your thoughts, tim . Ill tell you a story about Allen Weisselberg. I went to trump tower in 2005 when donald was asserting his holdings were 6 billion. I had sourced around him who knew his finances intimately who said it was a fraction of that amount, well less than A Billion Dollars. When i went to Allen Weisselberg, the exercise was to prove to me it added up to 6 billion. I was there for most of the afternoon. Allen was sitting across the table to me with a yellow legal pad. He gave me all the valuations. At the end, i took up my calculator and added it up. I said this only adds up to 5 billion. He looked perplexed and said im going to go to my office and find that other billion. Thats basically how these guys rolled day to day forever. Trump inflated his wealth because he is a deeply insecure person about his own Business Prowess and his own track record. He saw it as a scorecard that he used to compare himself to other wealthy people in the United States. Thats why he always lobbied for, but it also served a business purpose, as we know. It put him in front of bankers who otherwise might not have been dealing with him. And he got away with that for a long time because i think the heed yeah treated it like a game. Law enforcement didnt see any harm in it, and bankers during a certain period of time were afraid to take him on because he would savage them in the press. Ultimately, they just all washed their hands of him, because he was a serial bankruptcy artist and did not make good on a number of these loans. Multibillion dollar loans he never paid back. And walked away from him. What youre seeing in this courtroom right now is decades of this. Donald trump started doing this in the 1970s. He is a 77yearold man who is finally being held to account for behavior he got away with for a long time because no one cared until he became president. I think all of this amounts to an unraveling of his familys Business Root to new york. I dont think hes going to stay in business. Fraud is a foregone conclusion. All were talking about now are the kind of the scale of the penalties that are going to be assessed against him. He is not acting like someone who thinks he has a good story to tell. Hes acting like someone who is cornered and caged and afraid and lashing out at the judge and lashing out at Letitia James. And i think its because he feels he has nowhere else to go. I think the other thing to be cognizant of is he rose to fame in public attention around this idea that he was a selfmade entrepreneurial genius, and then he became a television celebrity. Hes a shape shifter. And hes now transitioned away from being a businessman into being the leader of a political cult. And i think when hes making these appeals in the courtroom, its not as a businessman. Hes trying to appeal to his Political Base because he knows hes had it in this courtroom, i think. Youre right, the fabulism is happening even now. Elena hobba got up today and again said that donald trump is now he was very engaged, this is the New York Times reporting, trump was very engaged, as one o his lawyers made her presentation. His golf course at doral and ralago would sell for over a million dollars. Repeating the false valuations trump submitted to the bas. Trump seemed pleased, watching her intently. The judge confronts hava, saying he made no valuations but he referenced the documents that did, that said not even close to A Billion Dollars would any of these properties be worth. She gets up, mary, and does it again. And does it. And then he gets up and complains that he doesnt have a jury trial. The same woman, she signed the paper saying he wanted a judge only trial. His own lawyers chose to go before a judge, not a jury. Now hes out here trying to make his Cult Following believe hes wronged because he doesnt have a jury trial. Your thoughts . Well, i guess maybe he made that decision before the judge ruled against him. Sow now hes singing a different tune. I thought it was pretty remarkable when i read about the attorney getting up and making some of the statements she made. I think she prefaced it by saying i wasnt going to hear anything, but after i heard the Attorney General speaking, i decided to speak. I think youre exactly right. Hes using this trial now and i think thats why he attended today, using it as part of his political campaign. Hes fundraising off it. He sent out a statement this morning attacking the Attorney General, attacking the judge, attacking the political persecution, seeking assistance. And we know from all of the other cases against him, he does use these for fundraising. He also is using, i think, the reason he was so pleased by what hava had to say was it was more of the same types of things he says outside of the courtroom. And you know, that just plays to his base and he thinks hes running for office at this trial. I dont think well see him there every day. Theres just too many days to come. But that seems to be what hes intending to do. Its also remarkable that while he has pending in one of his criminal cases a motion for a limited restriction on his speech because of threats that hes made against the prosecutors and the judges and witnesses that he would start the day off with so many social media posts and public statements disparaging and attacking the judge and the Attorney General in this very case. This is a man who just absolutely positively 100 of the time thinks the law doesnt apply to him and he can do whatever he wants. I think tim makes a great point. Its all starting to come crashing down on him, but he has not brought himself to that reality yet, and still seems to think that if he, you know, just keeps up with the lies, the lies, the lies, that hell get past this. And one other comment i would make, when i think it was tim talking about the banks just kind of going along with things for a number of years, it reminds me of his supporters including those on capitol hill. Right now, who have just been going along as sycophants to mr. Trump, and will they, like the banks, ever decide to put some distance between themselves and trump. And that remains to be seen, but the triem sure as heck is now. I wouldnt count on it. Tim, last question to you. Here are the people who are upcoming. Donald bender, cameron harris, a cpa, jeffrey mcconney, controller of the Trump Organization, and of course, Allen Weisselberg and another guy named Patrick Birneyy who on the list should we be looking out for their testimony . Bender is obviously pivotal. He signed off on all of the accounting statements for years, and Jeff Mcconney matters because he was one of the Decision Makers in the Trump Organization, which was neither an organization nor a very big company. It was a handful of people doing what donald trump told them to do. I think Donald Trumps world has one way in terms of loyalty. He expects it but he doesnt give it. When people get prosecuted and their own wellbeing is at stake and their own livelihood, youre going to start to see them understand that loyalty in Donald Trumps world will only get them in trouble and you might start to see people flip. You can just ask Allen Weisselberg and Michael Cohen how that loyalty works out for you because theyre the ones who ended up doing time. Thank you all very much. Up next on the reidout, if you think trumps rant outside the courtroom today sounded completely unhinged you have got to hear some of the dangerous rhetoric he was spouted in the days leading up to it. The reidout continues after this. About two years ago, i realized that jade was overweight. I wish i would have introduced the fresh food a lot sooner. After farmers dog, shes a much healthier weight. Shes a lot more active. 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Exactly dont delay the game with verizon or tmobile 5g Home Internet. Catch it on the xfinity 10g network. American people must protect each other. They must insure that they treat each other with civility and kindness, listen to opposing views. Argue vociferously as they want, but refrain from violence and threats of violence. Thats the only way this democracy will survive. It is alarming to think ow normalized Political Violence has become, where you have leaders like Merrick Garland getting visibly emotional about the state of our democracy. At the epicenter is donald trump, a man whose war path is marked with threats of violence. Heres a sampling from just this past friday. If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store. Shot. I will direct a completely overhauled doj to investigate every radical d. A. And a. G. In america for their illegal, racist and reverse enforcement of the law. Well stand up to crazy nancy pelosi who ruined san francisco. How is her husband doing, by the way . Anybody know .