Saturday, april 13th, and you are watching velshi on msnbc. I am filling in for my friend ali velshi. In two days the country will witness something that literally never happened before the first criminal trial of a former president of the united face of america. This coming monday, it is the beginning of Donald Trumps hush money trial. It may also be the only case it goes to court before election day. The man who was widely expected to be the star witness in the trial Michael Cohen sat down exclusively with the morning cast of my colleagues from the weekend and he had this to say about how we should be thinking about the case. The prosecutors are going to put forth their case and im just the narrator and rest assured, alvin bragg and the prosecutor a team over at the District Attorney of new yorks office would not have brought this case unless they thought they were going to be successful. So far, trumpet his legal team have been pretty successful in their delight. There is no trial set yet in fulton county, georgia in the classified documents case in florida will likely be pushed back. The Interference Case in d. C. Is indefinitely on pause until the Supreme Court weighs in on the question of president ial immunity. At this criminal case in new york has also been delayed. It was originally scheduled Start On March 25th but that was pushed back after a new batch of documents was turned over late in discovery. Even still, the former president is not done yet. In the past week donald trump tried and failed three separate times to force the courts to further delay his trial. The last ditch effort, his argues for argued for a change of venue. They also filed a lawsuit challenging some of the judges rulings. For all the complaining that donald trump does about a twotier justice system, what he fails to acknowledge is he is on the top tier on the one who is benefiting from it. Everything weve seen about the former president has been able to manipulate the legal system and a function of his own privilege and access to different legal maneuvers that it affords him. Take for example his last minute mary all trying to thwart the trial. These were only possible because he had the money and power to do it. Anyone else who didnt have the resources would have had to face her day in court already and never would have been able to delay things trump has. The former president has been millions to get his small army of expensive lawyers to fire file whatever cases no matter how was just to stall the cases against him. That is not a strategy that an average defendant can afford. Meanwhile, he is doing it with the help of his Campaign Donors money. Eye raise that point this morning. Take a listen. Let me assure you and all the viewers that if it was you in this specific case, we will call it the campaignfinance violation case as opposed to the hush money case, no the president and star has a Better Television ring. You would be already charged, the case would have already taken place, and you would be incarcerated. If we really believe that we are supposed to be a country where the all law applies equally to everyone, which i think we all acknowledge it doesnt, we are not even a two tier system of justice. There are three tiers. For all of us, the average pupil than those in power and that donald trump who can skirt the law whenever he wants and however he wants. Even though the trial is right around the corner, trump may still have two more tricks up his sleeve to try and derail the case. Lets talk about it. Joining me now are two of my favorites. Paul butler, a legal analyst and former prosecutor, and barbara mcquade, also a legal analyst and a former u. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of michigan and author of the amazing but, attack from within. How this information is sabotaging america. I want to ask you the Million Dollar question. We are all former prosecutors and we all bid with the experience of getting to trial and ready to go and something happens where it doesnt go on the date planned. Everyone wants to know, is this actually going to go on monday . Do you think Jury Selection will actually start . Will we see the beginning of the first trial of the former president of the United States of america . On monday, something historical happened. It will be the first day and Donald Trumps life that he is beginning to be brought to judgment in a criminal case for his own alleged corruption. As you noted, his lawyers have filed nine different emotions to delay the trial. They are trying to get around the law that they cant appeal after the trial that is what article 78 motion was about. The reason for that is that trumps defense is delayed. Is delayed. When this case is heard he loses all the time. E. Jean carroll, Letitia James beat him and the civil fraud trial. Alvin bragg beat him in the criminal conviction of the trump organization. The new York Attorney general took down his Fake University and his fake charity. So, monday, april 5th, 2024, will be the worst day of trumps public life because it is the first time he is personally being brought to judgment in a criminal court. Barbara, i am taking my glasses off and having some lawyer talk. We are all former Trial Attorneys and prosecutors. Lets talk inside baseball. Weve all tried cases before and cases that ive had somewhat of a very public atmosphere or press cases, if you will. Thats what we call them. Donald trump has a ridiculous, almost super bowl public platform with respect to the amount the people he can reach and the narrative he can sell. If you are trying this case as the prosecutor, how do you keep the public environment, the circuslike atmosphere, from interfering with how you go about doing your work. Its an important point. I remember being a prosecutor and cases that were getting a lot of Press Attention and one of the things we said is we have to tune out the noise. We have to focus on the case but you also want to join to tune out the noise. One of the things that the judge has decided to do that i think will be important is keeping the jury anonymous to the public. The lawyers and court will know who they are but in terms of public knowledge, it will be juror number 17 in juror number 72. I think that will help them focus. I also think Jury Selection is an important part of this case. There is a questionnaire with 42 questions, a lot about what people have heard or read coming into this trial. Everyone has heard of President Trump donald trump, but if they are not news junkies like us, if they have not read some of these tellall books, if they are not 24 7 viewers of fox news, chances are there are people who can set aside what they may know about donald trump and decide the case based on the fact that the here in the trial. That is what i am hoping for. I want to followup. Number one, you talked about having prosecuted cases that have gotten a lot of attention. Youre talking now about the former president who literally has put out a notion that in 72 hours, this is what he tweeted yesterday on truth social, all is going to break loose. This is not just a matter of a circus or someone who is calling attention to what could be a very monumental trial. We have nypd, Secret Service and new York Court Officers all trying to gear up and beat up security around this. At what point if any do you as a Prosecutor Say we need some additional protection because this is getting out of hand . Or do you just leave that to the judge and focus on what you are trying to prove the prosecutor . I think it is the courts job to provide adequate security. Especially the jurors. Imagine you are someone who received this jury summons and you shop at the courthouse and it is a madhouse. I think the security will have to have a perimeter around the building and a place where they check i. D. S and letting people in so someone is not harassed, and just following and fulfilling their duty as a citizen. You have to make sure those people will not get yelled at, spat upon, or impeded in any way to get into the courthouse. That is the challenge. People have a right to protest and they have a right to express the views but they dont have a right to interfere with the coming and goings of the courthouse. I am confident that the security dealing with this has dealt with situations before. Probably not of this magnitude, but they can keep protesters apart from those people who need to access the court to do the business of court. Barbara alluded to this and i want to have some fun with both of you. I will ask you both the same question. We will not have cameras inside the courtroom but we know Jury Selection is supposed to start monday. For those of us not familiar, Jury Selection is probably one of the most important and you can do as a trial attorney. I want to hear from you and from barb being the super lawyers that you are, who is your ideal juror if you are trying to convict donald trump and if youre trying to acquit donald trump . Who is your ideal juror . Give me the profile if you will of your ideal juror for conviction if you are prosecuting. Is such a great question because the judge is taking every step to ensure an object of jury and giving both the prosecutors and the Defense Attorneys extra time to ask a whole bunch of questions and as you acknowledge, he is the only person in the room who wants an objective juror for prosecutors when someone who is likely to convict donald trump. They want someone who is not afraid to sit in judgment and they dont want someone who is trying to get on the jury just to be on the jury. They want someone who will consider the evidence in this case. The best evidence will be documents, documents dont lie. They want someone to look at those records that alvin bragg says donald trump order to be falsified as legal payments to cover up his relationship with stormy daniels. To prevent it from becoming public. When i was a prosecutor, we did not want people who are scientific we were concerned they would have too high a standard of proof. We didnt want religious people because we thought they might be concerned about being sitting in judgment of someone. Hes got a good jury pool in manhattan, almost everybody in manhattan voted for biden but that does not mean they will use their politics to convict donald trump but it does mean they will not give him the benefit of the doubt because he is a former president. Barbara, who is your ideal juror here . If you are the defense. The real maga entity is will be doesnt have a 95 someone more likely to be skeptical of institutions and Law Enforcement so those are the people i might be looking for. There you have it from two of the best in the butt comes up business. Thank you for getting us started coming up on velshi, split screen politics Vice PresidentKamala Harris is campaigning in arizona days after the date court passed a antiabortion law. While House Speaker mike johnson headed down to maralago to kiss her and help donald set tomorrow i will be joined by the democratic governor of arizona katie hobbs. She says she will do everything in her power to ensure women get the healthcare they need. She will be joining me tomorrow morning at 10 00 a. M. Eastern right here on velshi. Stay tuned. Well be back right after a short break. [ Cellphone Ringing ] phone call from the boss . Sorry. Outdoor time is me time. I hear that. Thats why we protect all your vehicles here. But hey. Nothing wrong with sticking it to the boss. Ooooh, flo, you gonna take that . Why would that concern me . Because youre. The. Arent you the. . Huh. We never actually discussed hierarchy. Ok, why dont we just stick to letting dave know how much he can save when he bundles his home or auto with his boat or rv. Wait, i thought jamie was the boss. [ laughter ] its funny because im not boss material her uncles unhappy. Im sensing an underlying issue. Its tmobile. It started when we tried to get him under a new plan. But they they unexpectedly unraveled their price lock guarantee. Which has made him, a bit. Unruly. You called yourself the uncarrier. You sing about price lock on those commercials. the price lock, the price lock. so, if you could change the price, change the name its not a lock, i know a lock. So how can we undo the damage . We could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. Their connection is unreal. And we could all unexperience this whole session. Okay, thats uncalled for. I am William Alden smith, a United States senator investigating the cause of one of the greatest maritime disasters in history. The titanic. Your ship, sir. Theyll only be compensated if white star and its employees are found negligent. You did not respond, we are sinking. And our passengers and our crew are in danger. What agreement with the military . War, miss ricard, war. Rated pg turning out to the israel gaza war where the humanitarian situation has reached a desperate low. The director of the u. S. Agency for International Development told lawmakers on capitol hill this week that people in parts of Northern Gaza are now experiencing famine. It comes as israels military claims humanitarian aid trucks are being allowed to enter Northern Gaza but the United Nations and other eight officials as well as Relief Workers Inside Gaza tight little has actually changed on the ground. Yesterday, the u. N. Reported to mission to Northern Gaza were blocked by israeli authorities. Joining me now is the senior Diplomatic Correspondent at huff post. Thank you for being with me this morning. Israel says it is allowing a boost of a into gaza. The u. N. And others say otherwise. What is the reality on the ground . Where is the aid . What we need to understand is that israel is not allowing distribution of aid to take place. While they are talking about an increase in terms of the amount of supplies, where are they going . Are they going to people who needed . Are there aid workers distributing a . Repeatedly has seen Israel Attack actual aid workers and what is called a civilian defense. The police and internal security that remains within gaza. That is essential to avoid issues like what we saw in what is called the flower massacre. There was such a rush for a because people are so desperate. In reality, israel is still controlling so much of the land crossings into gaza. It controls so much of the territory. They opened one of the crossings but eight officials is not open. So you are seeing ad hoc measures. They keep telling us that is not enough and now that we are in damning, we are in a situation that multiplies itself. People in famine, you cant just be them calories and say, you are going to be okay. Its a medical crisis where you need professionals and why israel can say they are letting more supplies in, they are not letting a lot of humanitarian experts, workers, eight people into gaza yet. Samantha power is the highest ranking u. S. Official to say that a famine is under way in Northern Gaza. Can you explain for us the significance of this statement . Absolutely. Power made that comment and it was a story i broke last week about an internal assessment that was made. Her agency is supposed to be the Gold Standard for the u. S. Government tracking and her agency has warned the white house that we are in a famine. They told the white house, they told embassies, but they were not letting it out publicly. Now the power now the power has been pressed on it, the u. S. Cannot back away from it knowing what it is enabling. And has several implications. It happened it has implications for both President Joe Bidens policy and what he has allowed on his watch. And also legal implications. Someone with a legal background, right now, israel is on trial at the International Court of justice for genocide. That court has said we heatedly , israel, you need to let in more humanitarian aid. Even now there top ally is saying it is our assessment that this is not just a humanitarian crisis that this is a famine. Really important thing to remember is they said this is, quote, unprecedented in modern history. What that means is the decline for the people in gaza is so rapid we dont know how bad this can get. That was akbar shahid ahmed. Thank you for that important context with this ongoing story. Coming up next, congressman jim clyburn of is joining me to talk politics but he played a pivotal role in getting joe biden basically the nomination and ultimately towards the finish line in last election. We will talk about what has changed since then including the biggest threat to biden and his coalition and more than that after the break on velshi. C odt. 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