Everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. Im fredricka whitfield. All right. Were less than 24 hours away now from witness singh history tomorrow, Opening Statements began and the trial of defendant donald trump, the first former president ever to be on trial. For criminal charges. Trump well, Walk Into A Manhattan courtroom tomorrow morning, where he will hear the states case against him. He is facing dozens of charges related to an alleged Hush Money Payment to Adult Film Actress Stormy Daniels made before the 2016 election this is the first of four criminal cases against trump to go to trial. 12 jurors and six alternates will decide trumps fate. Heres cnns brian todd ready to empaneled jurors have been excused from former president trumps Hush Money Trial, underscoring just how crucial the six alternate jurors are, whove just been seated in a case of this length in a highprofile case, the alternates are as significant as the regular jury panel, because theres a very high likelihoo
donald trump. what needs to be established in tomorrow s opening statements? well i m glad you called it a statement because some people erroneously call it an opening argument. it is not an argument. the opening statement is the first time that the jury gets to hear from the lawyers aside from jury selection. so the opening statement is a roadmap for the jury in an effective opening statement pigment tells a story. why? because everybody loves a story. so the prosecution will go first, followed by the defendants. trump s lawyer they don t have to give their opening statement right after that they can wait until the entire prosecution case has done. it rarely happens that way, but it could so what s critical in the opening statement is that the lawyer who s giving the statement to the jury has to read the room maimed. the goal is to persuade to persuade the jurors. so if the jurors eyes start to glaze over if there s yawning and fidgeting the lawyers losing