Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in new york along with my colleague and friend, Chris Jansing, as history is being made in that Lower Manhattan courtroom. Donald trump is the first former president of the United States to stand as a defendant in a criminal trial. At any moment, could be facing the first witness to testify against him. Thats expected to be former National Enquirer publisher, david pecker. Hes likely to be pressed about alleged efforts to bury damaging stories about donald trump during the 2016 election. Earlier this morning, prosecutors gave their open statement, accusing mr. Trump of a criminal conspiracy to hide embarrassing relationships by preventing them from getting into the press, thus influencing the outcome of the 2016 election then covering it all up. The defense followed saying that mr. Trump did not commit any crimes, describing him as not just the republican nominee, but as the frugal business man, also a husband and a father. Defense lawyer todd blanche calling the story a lie and insisting mr. Trump is not what Michael Cohen did. Donald trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges. Thats a lot and theres a lot were going to get to but i should say what we witnessed over the last several hours the just the start of a hugely consequential week for the former president who is simultaneously the republican nominee, presumed nominee. Certainly the frontrunner for the nomination. We learned this morning what details from Donald Trumps past judge merchan will allow prosecutors to bring up if mr. Trump takes the stand as hes claimed that he will. In another manhattan courtroom today, the question is whether the insurer that provided donald trump a 170 million bond has the financial strength to issue the guarantee. Now if the judge rules against him, mr. Trump will have ten days to come up with the cash. Also for the first time today in the florida classified documents case, Witness Statemented that had been redacted have been made public. Back in new york tomorrow, judge merchan will hold a hearing about trumps gag order. Did he violate it and if so, what could be the consequences . And as if all that isnt enough, on thursday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on his claims of president ial immunity even as he is back in a new york courtroom. To say this is a consequential week for him is an understatement. Absolutely. All those cases. Hes facing a lot and this is as you say, an historic moment. The Court Session that will end earlier today because of the Passover Holiday but we also learned an alternate juror has a tooth ache and that needs to be attended to so theyre ending earlier because she has to get to the dentist. Life goes on. We begin our Special Coverage now with Vaughn Hillyard outside the court. Nbc news legal analyst, former u. S. Attorney, and former senior fbi official, chuck rosenberg. And Jury Consultant and former prosecutor, David Henderson and paul charlton. And we have Charles Cohen and former manhattan District Attorney, catherine christiansen. Vaughn, courts expected to get back underway at any moment. Donald trump just walked back into the courtroom. What is the latest from inside the courthouse . Reporter literally at this minute right now, the people calling david pecker from alvin braggs office, the first witness in this criminal trial is now taking the stand. David pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer who is going to be a pivotal witness in this for the prosecution who established the meeting at Trump Tower In August of 2015. That is where the prosecution alleges the catch and kill scheme was first outlined and thought of. From that point on, in 2016, it led to not only the purchasing by ami of karen mcdougles story, but also Michael Cohen being informed by the enquirer that Stormy Daniels in october of 2016, had her own story to share and at that point, it was Michael Cohen who paid her 130,000 to keep her story silent. David pecker in realtime, we are being told from inside of the courtroom, is now taking the stand and he is being sworn in to testify for what could be for a number of days, andrea. And chuck, this Opening Statement, it was supposed to be a statement with just facts, no argument. Thats why its called the Opening Statement. Its closing arguments. But chuck, at this point, how do you explain all the objections we saw . It sounded to me some of those statements were, the prosecutions case is a lie. Well, if the Defense Lawyer is saying that the governments case is a lie, that would be argument and it would be impermissible. Its hard to know why all these objections were made. Its possible that the defense team was beginning to cross a line that judge merchan had laid down in pretrial rulings. As a prosecutor, i never want to object during a trial. If possible. That doesnt mean i never objected, andrea. It just means i prefer not to because i dont want to ever look in the eyes of a jury as if im trying to keep something from them. If youre going to object as a prosecutor, far better that you be sustained, that the judge agree your objection than you be overruled, the judge disagree with it. You have to be careful, to your point, in an opening, only to induce facts. Typically a Government Opening includes phrases like the evidence will show or this particular witness will tell you. An argument of course is always saved for closing. Thats why, to your point, andrea, its called Opening Statements and closing argument. Catherine, look, as were reading this, we didnt get to hear it, but we got to read it. This is quite the story. Even though all of us here know it, weve talked about it, but if youre a juror sitting there, you heard about sex and a cover up and back room deals and payoffs and now david pecker, the guy at the helm of the National Enquirer, somebody who had done this on a number of occasions, who was central to the case that the prosecution is making talk about what is likely the importance of what were hearing right now on the stand in that manhattan courtroom. It sets the stage and the prosecutor in the Opening Statement basically started off with that Trump Tower Meeting. Where Michael Cohen and trump and david pecker had this agreement where david pecker would be the eyes and ears of the campaign and look out for those negative stories. Give Cohen A Heads Up and try to suppress it. So its important he is the lead off witness because it sets the stage. Hes the one, of course he was in charge of at the head of ami, in charge of the National Enquirer. It sets the stage and just sort of provides for the jury. It started as soon as donald trump announced he was running for president. Charles, does it matter that they were long time friends, associates, people who worked together for a long time . Does that give him more credibility . I think it does. The prosecutors are going to tie that into their narrative around why you should believe him and why hes credible. I think when youre setting the stage, giving a jury a very clear picture around whats happening, you have to give to the jury a reason why you should be believing these witnesses and their testimony. So for the reasons youve just mentioned, i think that pecker is going to be a very important witness for that. Not to mention its very important that the audience understands this is a case that quite frankly is really centered on the documents in terms of the documents and the paper trail and so thats not exciting for a jury. You dont want to lose a jury. You have to have someone whos going to be able to tell a story and narrate it and then use the documents to supplement what it is that the storys being told around. Thats why pecker is an important Witness For The Prosecution to start out, get the jury locked in, understanding exactly what were talking about here. Also because what todd blanche made clear is part of what Donald Trumps defense is he didnt really know the details of what was going on here, right . And maybe peckers someone who could disabuse that notion. It was interesting looking at the reports around the Opening Statements. I expected exactly what we got from Donald TrumpsDefense Attorneys. Specifically admit what you cant deny and deny what you cant admit. Specifically when you look at for example the commentary around Stormy Daniels and her testimony not mattering. If youre the defense, her testimony cant matter. And so you have to do everything you can to sort of condition and season the jury in advance so theyre prepared to hear these things and not be fazed by them. In terms of how the attorneys ask and frame questions and how they frame the responses and their follow ups. Just a follow up on that. He was in the oval office with Michael Cohen. He is a witness to what cohen will testify to so he is the first witness in this case to actually be, we expect, corroborating with Michael Cohens story. You heard in the Opening Statement that this is something that happened after the fact that Michael Cohen dreamed up after the fact. Years later, that donald trump didnt even know about. This places them in the oval office. Wouldnt have been in there without donald trump. Wanted to follow up with david about the jury because court is wrapping up even earlier than scheduled today. It was supposed to leave at 2 00 for the Passover Holiday rather than much later in the afternoon. And now an alternate juror has a tooth ache. And you also had a juror according to the google doc were following, a regular juror was complaining about the Media Coverage and that this was a lot of pressure. We dont know to what extent. The judge did not dismiss here, but that could come up again. So how is this jury being treated to protect them from pressure and also the normal things like a tooth ache that comes after a weekend when the whole case was supposed to start. Its shortening even further so she can go to the dentist. In terms of pressure, i think theyre trying to alleviate as much pressure on this jury as they can, but theres only so much you can do in a case that has this level of magnitude surrounding it. The cameras around in the courtroom primarily i think to alleviate pressure on the jury. So the judge is doing as much of that as he can. Jurists typically experience stress while sitting for trial. Part of what that tells you is jurors are being affected by outside Media Coverage so the lawyers on both sides have to be thinking about that. Family members, friends, are going to be calling them saying have you heard about this . Thought about that . That tends to exacerbate other Life Pressures like medical problems. What were seeing here is theres only so much you can do to shield them from this process and the public has the right to have free access to courts. Thats been an ongoing topic in legal communities especially in recent years. Theres an old saying, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Thats true here. There are any number of lawyers who will argue to you that cases if not are won or lost but certainly go a long way to being won or lost in the Opening Statements. I wonder if youre one of those folks and how important is it to establish the credibility that you have, that your team has . How important is not just the story youre telling but the way youre telling it . Chris, its critically important. And it is true. I think to say in the trials ive had and im quite certain everyone thats on here today would tell you some of these Opening Statements are some of the most momentous parts of every trial. Why . Because the jurors for the very first time are hearing the evidence the governments going to produce and hearing what the defense is going to produce in contrary to what the government has put forward. Just as importantly, the jurors are not just looking at the defendant and trying to make a determine as to whether theyre guilty or not guilty, but theyre listening to the lawyers. When they go back into the jury room, theyre going to spend a great deal of time talking about the lawyers. What kind of tie they wore. What they were saying. How they acted. So here, mr. Trumps lawyer got up from front of this jury for example and he said mr. Trump is very much like me. A father and a husband. Why would blanche do that . Because he wants to try to take some of that good will he hopes to receive from the jurors and attach it to mr. Trump. Mr. Blanche is hoping when those jurors go back and deliberate theyre going to think trump is just like this lawyer that mr. Blanche hopes the jurors will like very much. David pecker is being questioned now about check the journalism. We should point out that we at nbc and msnbc and the Mainstream Media do not pay for, they dont pay for interviews. They dont pay people other than we pay an outside author for something theyre writing or doing. But you dont pay for journalism. Hes explaining the way of the tabloids, which was to pay. The max they would pay that he would have to approve personally would be 10,000. Were talking here about payments of 130,000 stretched out to kill a story. So theyre establishing this was very unusual. Not only are they establishing its very unusual, andrea, part of the art, the skill of Trial Lawyers here including it is the way the prosecutors put out a very complicated case in 45 minutes told a story that captivates the jury. They know that they can continue, begin their opening witness, they can put mr. Pecker on the stand and it will likely not allow the defense the opportunity to begin their crossexamination until thursday. So the jurors are going to live with what they heard from mr. Pecker today, this afternoon. The court is going to be in recess. Tomorrow, there are different hearings. Wednesday, the courtroom is dark. They wont begin until thursday. It is smart. It is tactically astute to put mr. Pecker on the stand with these remaining minutes of court today so the jurors will begin to hear the continuing theme that the prosecutors developed in their Opening Statements. Catherine, were not in that room, but were getting good details from the folks that are. I think its worth reestablishing and we talked about this throughout the day, paying hush money is not a crime. Thats not whats at issue here. Its the underlying what they say are the underlying facts of this and how it was pursued. Our folks say when david pecker walked into the room, donald trump craned his neck. It was almost as if, this is their own take on what they saw, he was trying to make eye contact with him. How much of this kind of stuff, and its going to happen again and again and again. Donald trump knows most of the people and in fact, was very close to some of the people who will be on the stand for the prosecution. How much, in your experience, do jurors Pay Attention to that and can it influence them . They Pay Attention to everything in the courtroom. So you always, should as a lawyer, be trained the dont do anything thats going to be out of the ordinary because the jurors will look at you. What would be out of the ordinary . You dont want to be like, you know, i always say as a lawyer, dont ever let them see you sweat. If a witness explodes on the stand, no big deal. You take it that way. You dont want the witness, the jurors to know that something went wrong. Especially on cross. Remember, now the defense has a long time to prepare their crossexamination. So he testifies today. Theyre going to spend a lot of time researching what he said tomorrow. I mean, they have off on wednesday. So the defense is going to have an extraordinary amount of time to prepare. Do you think they will consider the fact that this is the National Enquirer that they were paying people off . Hes acknowledging that it was in his criminal. Here he says its on our screen, i have final say on the celebrity side. Are they not supposed to but they just might consider that when theyre assessing his credibility or what he has to say . They will, but theyll also assess that he was a friend of donald trump. And did what donald trump wanted. The defense wants them to think the other way. This is just something who is a sleaze. The National Enquirer pays for it. Thats what he does. So its going to be interesting. Its going to be the battle between the defense and the prosecution over credibility. How credible is the prosecution witness. And i dont think, andrea, that we have ever seen an interview with david pecker like most of the other people who have come out and given interviews. Not david pecker. They tied him up very early as a prosecution witness.