URGENT!! Latest Trump News [10AM] 10_2_23 _ Breaking News Oct 2, 2023
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00:00 time. Let's bring in our guests and analysts to talk more about what we can
00:04 expect in this trial. NBC's Von Hilliard is outside the courthouse. Also joining
00:08 us is Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Catherine Christian and
00:11 Criminal Defense Attorney Danny Savalas. We'll continue to monitor these comments
00:15 from the former president, but Von, tell us what we can expect to happen in court
00:19 today in terms of the trial kicking off. We will wait to see whether any actual
00:25 witnesses are brought forward today in this first day of trial. You see Donald
00:29 Trump standing alongside Alina Haba, who is his legal spokeswoman. You see there
00:35 on further on his right Jason Miller, who is his campaign senior advisor. And just
00:39 out of frame, we saw his lead attorney on this case, Chris Keis, who just a few
00:45 moments ago met Attorney General Letitia James inside of the courthouse. They
00:50 briefly exchanged pleasantries and shook hands. Letitia James was joined by other
00:55 prosecutors within the Attorney General's office. We do not expect her to
01:00 actually be the one presenting this case day to day. We don't expect Donald Trump
01:04 to be here day to day. This trial could very well last all the way into December,
01:09 three months if it should take that long. There is a long list of witnesses that
01:14 will potentially come forward here and we are listening to Donald Trump here
01:18 right now, but what we have heard so far from Trump is calling this a witch hunt
01:22 and this is a man who had the opportunity when he sat for a deposition
01:26 with the New York Attorney General's office to answer numerous questions and
01:30 to defend himself from the allegations laid out in this lawsuit. But instead he
01:35 pled the fifth, more than 400 times to be precise. And when I actually asked him on
01:41 Friday when I was with him on the campaign trail in Los Angeles about one
01:46 of the alleged overinflation of his assets, he demurred. I asked him
01:52 specifically about his Trump Tower residency here in Midtown Manhattan,
01:55 which he overestimated the size to be 30,000 square feet instead of 10,000
01:59 square feet and they placed the value at $327 million dollars, which is three
02:04 times that of any apartment ever sold in New York history. Take a listen to my
02:07 attempt to ask him about that specific example.
02:12 Why did you overstate the size of your apartment by 20,000 square feet?
02:16 You said that your apartment was valued...
02:18 My financial statement is just for you by the way.
02:20 You said it was valued...
02:22 It's a rigged deal. My financial statements are much lower than the actual net worth.
02:26 This judge and your fake Attorney General of New York, who's driving business out,
02:32 who's letting murderers run all over the city. They don't do anything to murderers
02:37 that are running all over the city. The Attorney General is a racist.
02:41 Letitia James, she ought to be ashamed of herself.
02:47 Again, Anna, instead of Donald Trump defending himself and addressing the actual allegations against him,
02:52 he has repeatedly attacked the New York Attorney General, Letitia James,
02:55 bringing this case against him, as well as the judge overseeing this case.
02:59 He has called on both individuals to resign, but while Donald Trump often does the attacking
03:04 on the campaign trail, inside of the courtroom it's going to be up to his attorney, Chris Keis,
03:08 to actually defend him against the lawsuit and the allegations listed against him
03:13 over the course of the next three months.
03:15 And so, Danny, again, we already know the judge in this case came out and said,
03:20 "It's a fact. Trump and his business, they committed fraud repeatedly. There is proof of this."
03:27 So, given that ruling already came down, what is left to be ruled upon at this trial?
03:32 It's understandable that it's a little confusing, but basically this is akin, in a civil trial,
03:36 to a judge ruling on the issue of liability, taking that out of the actual fact-finding portion of the case.
03:43 What makes it even more confusing is that there is no jury.
03:46 So the judge didn't really take any issues away from the jury.
03:49 The judge took issues away from the judge.
03:52 So, in ruling, essentially, that the statements of financial condition were false and therefore fraudulent,
03:57 mostly what remains, although there are some issues as to the defendant's state of mind
04:02 that remain to be resolved, really what this is about is it's like a damages trial at this point.
04:08 The amount of the penalty and that case is being tried to a jury, really a judge,
04:14 that has already indicated what his opinion is of the defense in his opinion,
04:19 which I think any reasonable mind could say excoriated the defense, highly critical of the defense.
04:25 So, if you're the defense going into this trial, you're not feeling very confident about your chances
04:30 against a fact-finder, the judge, who has already signaled that he doesn't think much of the defense.
04:36 And I'm told, as you are speaking, Trump is attacking the judge. Does that help his case, Catherine?
04:42 No, it doesn't. It doesn't help it at all. But that's what he does.
04:45 Let me just say, the attorney general of New York State has no jurisdiction over street crime or homicides.
04:50 So when he says she's letting murderers go loose, that's not her job.
04:54 So, this is what he does, and it's clearly, it's not going to impress the judge.
05:00 The judge will be fair and impartial and will just ignore whatever he says.
05:06 And I'm sure Mr. Trump is going to be sitting in the courtroom scowling at the judge, and the judge will ignore that.
05:11 And so this lawsuit seeks $250 million. I understand potential cancellation of his businesses is already happening.
05:20 So, can you help us understand how they arrived at that number, Catherine, the $250 million number, as well as the bigger stakes?
05:28 It's actually called disgorgement, which is legalese for saying the attorney general wants the Trump organization to pay back the $250 million in profits
05:38 that they unjustly, allegedly unjustly receive by inflating the value of their properties.
05:45 And they got favorable loans, favorable insurance premiums, so the attorney general, she is seeking that.
05:52 So the New York State executive law allows her to seek that. She still has to, as Danny said, prove that she's deserving of that.
06:01 There are still other claims. Did they falsify business records? Did they issue false financial statements?
06:06 Insurance fraud.
06:07 Insurance fraud. And so that's why this trial is happening, for the attorney general's office to prove to the judge that that's what happened.
06:14 And therefore, please exact this penalty of $250 million to repay the state.
06:20 Danny, it's so interesting that Trump is still talking right now. It's 10.06, so he's been going now for several minutes.
06:25 The hearing was all supposed to get underway at 10 o'clock. The courtroom doors are open.
06:30 He's just outside that courtroom, and people inside that courtroom are silent.
06:34 They can hear what he's saying. Just your reaction to what we're witnessing.
06:38 It's begging for trouble from the judge. And of course, on his defense team, it's another palm to the forehead moment,
06:45 because you want your client not to do anything to shoot your case in the foot, and he may be doing that by holding court here outside of the courtroom,
06:53 when the judge may want to get everybody going and get the case started.
06:57 You don't want to be last into the courtroom if everybody else is lined up, including the judge and his staff, waiting for you.
07:03 Why isn't his attorney, who's over his shoulder there, not pulling him in?
07:08 Well, the answer to that is most likely that at this stage, almost a decade into Trump having attorneys, he has now hand-selected attorneys who know the deal.
07:17 You know that if you're defending Donald Trump, you're not going to put your hand on his shoulder when he's in front of a bunch of reporters and stating his case,
07:24 and say, "Mr. Trump, time for court." You know that that's not going to happen. You might want it to happen.
07:29 And in fact, I suspect that in those retainer agreements are plenty of disclaimers saying, "We're the attorneys. We're going to make recommendations to you.
07:37 You fail to follow them at your own risk." They have to cover themselves because they know going into it, this is a client who doesn't listen.
07:45 I've got to tell you something. As a criminal defense attorney, our business is full of clients who don't listen to good advice.
07:51 That's why they need criminal defense attorneys in the first place.
07:54 So, this is not unusual. This happens all the time.
07:58 Every criminal defense attorney out there, every civil defense attorney out there has had a client who doesn't listen to advice.
08:04 Donald Trump is one of them. And again, I just want to add too that if Donald Trump is criticizing the judge for being biased, I'm going to say this.
08:12 It may be the case that Justice Ngorin is biased against the defendant. That happens throughout the course of the case.
08:19 The key is, is he biased based on some outside influence? No.
08:23 During the course of a case, sometimes judges form opinions about the strengths or weaknesses of a party's case.
08:30 That happens. It's obviously happened here. Justice Ngorin has developed an opinion about the defense here.
08:37 It's in his opinion, which runs about 30 pages on the summary judgment issues.
08:42 He called their defense "fantasy world."
08:45 Exactly. And this happens all the time.
08:47 Plenty of judges have formed the opinion that some of my choices throughout a case have been not good ones.
08:54 And that can lead you to think, "Oh, this judge has it out for me." I've admittedly felt that way myself throughout a case.
09:01 I don't know if Catherine has ever felt that way, but it happens to attorneys.
09:05 It doesn't mean the judge is biased in an improper way against you.
09:10 It does sometimes feel like the world's against you, but that is just a little bit of attorney paranoia.
09:16 Donald Trump should know that just because the judge doesn't think much of his case doesn't mean he's truly biased in the sense that he should recuse himself.
09:23 And so this is video we're playing back from his comments outside that courtroom moments ago, but we did see him go in.
09:28 The doors closed behind him. Our reporter in the courtroom says he walked in looking solemn, walked right by Attorney General James.
09:37 And so, Catherine, we've talked about the judge being the decider here, right?
09:42 It's not a more familiar jury trial. Explain why the bench trial is the route that this is going.
09:50 Because Donald Trump and his lawyers chose a judge trial.
09:54 They chose this.
09:55 Yes. So sometimes you do that as a defendant because you believe the jury will be so tainted by bad publicity that they won't follow the facts and they won't follow the law.
10:09 So you choose a judge. And so it's interesting that now Donald Trump is criticizing that very judge.
10:15 Now, he didn't choose the judge. He chose to have a judge trial. So you don't get to choose your own judge in New York or basically anywhere.
10:22 So that is why. And quite frankly, as Danny said, you can have a judge that, you know, throughout a trial just will chop you to pieces as an attorney and then ruling your favor at the end.
10:35 So it doesn't mean that 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.
10:45 Tell her inside the courtroom right now that there are agents literally lining the perimeter around him and around the courtroom in the back.
10:52 And so, of course, Trump is a former president. It requires a different level of security.
10:58 Danny, he didn't have to be in court in person for this. So what do you make of the fact he chose to show up?
11:06 No, in civil cases, a party doesn't actually have to be present for all stages.
11:10 The way a defendant is expected to be present at every day of a criminal trial.
11:15 This is not a criminal trial. It feels like one because you have the attorney general on one side and people often and probably inaccurately think of an attorney general,
11:24 state attorney general, as primarily a criminal justice agency. It's really not.
11:29 And that's not the role that Letitia James is playing in this case.
11:33 So a civil defendant doesn't need to be present all the time.
11:36 Sometimes strategically, there's a good reason to not have a civil defendant in the courtroom every day.
11:41 But Donald Trump is likely here not for any legal reason, not for even any strategic legal tactical reason,
11:49 but for his own likely political campaign purposes to make a scene, to make a show like he just did in front of the cameras and the reporters.
12:00 But there really isn't any need for him to be here.
12:03 Maybe his attorneys have made a recommendation as to how often he should be present at his civil trial.
12:08 Whether or not he's following their advice, who knows?
12:11 I wonder if he'll take the stand.
12:13 Dawn, the AG has signaled that she certainly intends to call Trump along with his adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, to testify.
12:20 I understand that at least we've seen Eric in the courtroom today.
12:23 Should we expect them to take the stand? And who else is on this witness list?
12:27 Right. The initial witness list that we expect to be called by the attorney general is 25 people long in this situation,
12:34 which they have the opportunity to rebuttal. There's additional witnesses they could bring forward.
12:38 But Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka are all on this witness list.
12:43 To note, over the summer, Ivanka was dropped as a defendant.
12:46 The two sons, who continue to serve in vice president capacities of the Trump Organization through his presidency,
12:53 remain defendants as well as Donald Trump and the Trump Organization.
12:57 But the other names are Michael Cohen, who really led to this investigation from the New York attorney general back in March of 2019,
13:06 when you could say he flipped on Donald Trump and began to make the claims publicly and under oath in front of Congress
13:13 that he, while working for the Trump Organization and Donald Trump and at the direction of Donald Trump,
13:18 inflated the estimations and the value of their assets.
13:22 And it was Michael Cohen who has cooperated repeatedly with New York Attorney General Letitia James
13:28 to provide evidence of the claims that he made against Donald Trump and the organization
13:33 that ultimately led, after three years, to the lawsuit filed against him.
13:38 But the other big name to pay attention to on this witness list is Allen Weisselberg,
13:43 the longtime chief financial officer who first began working with Donald Trump's dad, Fred Trump, back in 1973.
13:50 You'll recall that just last year, it was Allen Weisselberg, who, part of a federal case for tax fraud
13:58 brought by the Southern District of New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, he agreed to a plea agreement
14:05 on 15 counts, ranging from grand larceny to tax fraud to falsifying business records.
14:11 He served several months at Rikers Jail on those charges.
14:16 Now, as part of his testimony and as part of his plea agreement related to the charges against him,
14:21 he did testify directly against the Trump organization, but he refused to directly testify against Donald Trump himself.
14:29 Ultimately, prosecutors went forward with the group plea agreement under those terms.
14:33 But one of the parts of his acknowledgment when he sat down with the New York Attorney General's office
14:41 was as it pertained particularly to the Trump Tower, Midtown Manhattan apartment complex,
14:46 in which they estimated the size of it to be 30,000 square feet instead of 10,000 square feet,
14:52 and put the price tag at $327 million.
14:54 As part of his deposition, he acknowledged that they stated the value of that apartment overstated it by about $200 million.
15:02 Allen Weisselberg, he knows the books, and while he has been a key defender and loyal supporter of Donald Trump now for decades,
15:11 he, when he takes a stand here in this trial, could be that very important witness because of what he knows
15:17 and the potential to validate the claims that Michael Cohen has made
15:21 and that the New York Attorney General has laid as the foundation of her lawsuit against Donald Trump,
15:26 his children, and the family's company, Anna.
15:30 And so far, just...
15:31 If he's compelled to speak on something that could expose him to criminal liability.
15:36 So, that is something he has to be very mindful of.
15:39 If this were a criminal case, there is no way to call the defendant to the stand by the state.
15:44 And going back to what you were asking about cameras, really interesting thing.
15:48 Throughout history, as cameras have developed in court, there's a huge difference between allowing them in civil cases and criminal cases.
15:55 Much less likely to affect a Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial in a civil case than a criminal case.
16:02 Even the federal courts, which have long banned cameras completely, even allowed them in a trial, a test trial several years back, for civil cases only.
16:12 So, even the federal courts, who have long been against cameras in the courtroom, actually warmed to the idea.
16:18 And after that test pilot program, a few districts actually continued with cameras in the courtroom.
16:23 I believe it included districts like even the district of Guam, if I'm remembering right.
16:27 But, interestingly enough, cameras in the courtroom are a little more acceptable in civil cases than in criminal cases.
16:34 So, this is one that arguably the public interest is certainly such that we should be watching it.
16:41 So, I was just thinking about how Trump keeps on using his defense that this is election interference.
16:47 You know, the culmination of all these cases that he's now facing, including the criminal cases.
16:52 This, again, just a civil case.
16:54 But, I'm reminded that this really was sparked, this investigation was sparked in 2019 by the comments Michael Cohen made
17:04 when he was testifying before Congress talking about Trump inflating and undervaluing his assets when it served his own purposes.
17:11 That's what he alleged when he testified under oath.
17:14 Yesterday, here on MSNBC, Catherine, Cohen was back on our air and he said, based on where we're at in this case,
17:21 with the ruling that happened last week saying, yes, they committed fraud, business certificates are on their way out,
17:30 that this could be a death blow to the former president's businesses. What do you think?
17:34 Oh, definitely. If he loses this trial and then loses on appeal, which it will be appealed if he loses the trial,
17:40 this will be the end of the Trump organization, the Trump business in New York State.
17:45 If the Attorney General wins, she's requesting that he, Trump, and his two co-defendant sons be permanently barred from being a director or officer
17:54 of any business in New York State, be barred from engaging in any commercial real estate transactions for five years.
18:02 They're real estate guys. So, this will be the end of his business as he knows it.
18:08 And that's why, quite frankly, he's there, one, for politics, but this case is very, very important to him.
18:15 No, he won't be imprisoned because there is no conviction, but it will end the Trump identity as being a successful businessman,
18:25 this New York businessman. So, it's a big deal if he loses this case.
18:29 Today is day one of this trial. Danny, how long could it last?
18:33 It could last months. There's a very long witness list, but this is a bench trial.
18:38 Those move with lightning speed compared to a jury trial. Consider if this was a jury trial.
18:43 You'd have to fill the room and actually find a jury in New York County that doesn't have some strong preconceived idea about Donald Trump
18:52 such that they couldn't serve as a juror. That alone could take weeks, maybe even months.
18:57 We're going to see that in Donald Trump's separate criminal case here in New York County, the challenges of coming up with a jury.
19:04 So, even that, then you add to that the security of all those people, those members of the public, the jury pool,
19:11 with a former president and secret service. That would add layers of complexity to just moving them in and out of the courtroom.
19:17 And then, of course, jury trials just move slower. There's a motion. The judge has to excuse the jury, bring the attorneys up to the bench, discuss it.
19:26 None of that's going to happen. Bench trials are streamlined because you don't have the complexities of a jury, and the judge gets it.
19:35 Look for opening and closing statements to be a lot shorter than they otherwise would be because, candidly, you can save the theatrics.
19:43 The judge has seen it. You don't need a lot of extra verbiage. You can cut straight to the issues for the judge.
19:49 And, in fact, with a judge...
19:51 The judge has a full grasp of the law, which is obviously not the case with an average jury.
19:55 Judge Gingorin moves fast. That's his reputation in New York.
19:59 Hey, guys, this is the first look inside that courtroom. Our NBC cameras, the pool camera here, they gave us a chance to shoot.
20:05 So, now we all see what's happening inside there as this trial gets underway.
20:09 That's the DA James.
20:10 There's the DA James, yep, right, sitting there. Actually, not at the front table. That's kind of interesting.
20:14 No, because she's not trying the case. So, she's sitting behind her attorneys.
20:18 You have the Attorney General there, Letitia James.
20:20 Thank you so much. And there you see President Trump, the former president, I should say, next to his attorney.
20:27 And that's Chris Kyes, who we expect to make the opening statements here.
20:31 And then this, I guess, is Judge Gingorin.
20:36 And he is awaiting the start of this trial.
20:40 So, that was just the brief moment we were allowed to get a snapshot with our pool camera inside the courtroom.
20:46 Let's go back to our Vaughn Hilliard, who's standing by outside.
20:50 Give us an update on what we're hearing from our reporting inside the courtroom, Vaughn.
20:56 Right, inside the courtroom, they're currently going back and forth over the extent to which cameras are allowed.
21:02 The judge determined that there is going to be no live broadcast of the opening or closing statements.
21:09 But they did allow the pool camera, as you said, that means one camera.
21:13 That video feed is shared with all of the other news organizations.
21:16 It was allowed to go in there and shoot at least these preliminary shots.
21:20 There are also five pool still photographers that will be in there to be able to document here these proceedings.
21:28 We know that when Donald Trump walked in, according to our producer in the courtroom, he had his head down as he walked through and walked to his seat.
21:35 He walked past Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, without acknowledging her presence.
21:40 He is seated next to not only Chris Kyes, his lead attorney in the case, who you see there in that camera shot,
21:46 but also the likes of Alina Haba, who is an attorney herself, but also has been serving in the capacity of spokeswoman for his legal team over the course of the summer.
21:58 For Donald Trump, there is a lot at stake here.
22:01 We do not anticipate that he is going to necessarily come in for many days of this trial.
22:07 He does not have to be here today, but Donald Trump has outwardly run a defiant campaign,
22:13 one in which he has attacked the indictments and the charges and the lawsuits against him,
22:18 attacked the judge, who you saw there in that video, has attached the prosecutors and those that are a part of Letitia James' team.
22:26 But for Donald Trump, it's ultimately going to come down to the facts.
22:29 Just one of the examples laid out in the lawsuit from the Attorney General is the Trump Hotel.
22:34 When he bought the Trump Hotel years ago in Washington, D.C., he received a favorable loan, according to the allegations of the New York Attorney General,
22:43 and was able to purchase it for $175 million.
22:46 Upon leaving the White House, he sold it for $375 million, being able to pull in a $200 million profit,
22:54 and suggesting that if it weren't for him being able to receive these favorable loans and inflating his own net worth by billions of dollars,
23:02 that he would have been able to be in a position to get these loan guarantees from the banks.
23:08 For Letitia James, this is taking a direct shot at the business empire that his family has overseen for more than a century now.
23:17 For Donald Trump, he has properties not only here in Manhattan, but now across the country.
23:22 And that business empire that he and his family have built up over the last 100 years is now on stand,
23:28 along with Donald Trump himself and his two sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump.
23:33 And, Vaughn, just the political impact here.
23:36 You've been traveling around the country covering Trump's events as he campaigns for 2024.
23:43 What do you see as the significance of him being seen now inside this courtroom when it comes to the politics of this moment?
23:52 Donald Trump is holding himself up as a martyr of the political and legal system.
24:00 And I think this is an important distinction over the last several weeks particularly.
24:05 When I've been going to campaign events around the country from Iowa to South Dakota to Iowa to California, Los Angeles,
24:13 where he was on Friday when I joined him, you're seeing folks wear shirts that have his mugshot from Fulton County with the words "Never Surrender."
24:23 For Donald Trump, when he takes the campaign stage, again, without actually answering any of the serious allegations
24:28 and the criminal and the civil suits and cases against him, he is suggesting that this is nothing more than a witch hunt by Democratic prosecutors.
24:38 And for Donald Trump, you're seeing his poll numbers rise.
24:42 He had about a 15 percentage point advantage over Ron DeSantis back this spring when he was indicted for the first time
24:50 in a New York hush money payment case here out of Manhattan.
24:53 And since then, he's looking at national percentage point leads of anywhere from 30 to 40 percentage points over his next closest rivals.
25:03 And for Donald Trump, I've talked to a great many of his supporters who have told me they were eyeing potentially looking towards an alternative
25:11 and moving on from Donald Trump.
25:13 But when in their eyes he has been so targeted by these prosecutors and that indictments and lawsuits have been filed against him,
25:22 they feel, because Donald Trump has told them in large part, the reason they're coming after him is because he announced his run for president again.
25:29 And we should note in this particular case, the important distinction is that the New York attorney general brought this case on back in September of 2022.
25:39 That's when she announced her lawsuit.
25:41 He announced his run for the 2024 presidency in November.
25:44 But his supporters, millions of them across the country, view this as nothing more than an effort to cripple him politically and potentially keep him in the criminal cases
25:54 from seeking the presidency if he were to be sentenced to prison time.
25:58 But also in this particular financial fraud case brought by the New York attorney general's office, an effort to financially cripple him and his family.
26:06 And because even back his business certificates are stripped from him and his business is all but shuttered here in New York,
26:14 Donald Trump's political dynasty would ultimately most likely come to an end.
26:20 Folks have told me, quite frankly, once Donald Trump is finished running for office himself, they would like to see Don Jr. run for office.
26:27 So this for Donald Trump and his family has much greater stakes than Donald Trump's even own 2024 presidential run on it.
26:34 And we just saw the Trump campaign put out this fundraising blast.
26:39 They have seen some of these moments in his legal challenges that have come up along the course of the campaign so far be big fundraising moments for their campaign.
26:50 Where they've had a burst in donations.
26:53 And so this latest fundraising email says, "The Democrats have ripped my civil rights straight from my hands.
26:59 Now they're trying to dissolve the Trump organization, bring down the world famous Trump Tower, and impose the corporate death penalty upon me."
27:06 Your reaction to this, Catherine?
27:09 Well, that's one of the reasons why he's there.
27:12 He uses every one of his cases, the indictments and the civil case, as a campaign.
27:19 He thinks it helps his campaign.
27:22 At least he says he thinks so.
27:25 That it helps.
27:26 So the same thing here.
27:28 And going back to why this trial should properly be televised, is because the public will see that it's not rigged.
27:36 That the judge is not biased against Mr. Trump.
27:40 So instead of him coming out or his lawyers or his spokespeople coming out and spinning it in a different way.
27:47 So this is all part of, he thinks this is all part of his campaign and this will help his campaign.
27:53 We just got word that the judge is now saying December 22nd should be the end date of this trial.
27:58 So we were discussing, Danny, just a few minutes ago, how long this trial could last.
28:03 The judge already has an end date.
28:05 He means it.
28:07 There's an old saying, "People plan, God laughs."
28:10 I mean, you can set trial dates, you can set the end dates.
28:14 There's always a very harrowing moment before every trial where the judge turns to each side and says, "How long do you need?"
28:20 I hate that moment because you can't possibly predict how long your case is going to take.
28:25 Especially the defense side, which is largely reactive to what the prosecution or what the plaintiff is going to put on.
28:32 So, yes, the judge may set an end date, he may mean it, but things happen.
28:37 So, is that a reasonable forecast? Maybe.
28:40 But something could come up that we just don't even anticipate.
28:43 Witnesses availability, travel issues, all kinds of things.
28:47 So, good forecast, I wouldn't necessarily bet on that being an absolute hard date.
28:53 I know Justice Ngoran means his timelines when he says them, but look, things happen.
28:58 And we continue to play this clip.
29:00 This is all we have right now from inside the courtroom.
29:02 That's all the judge would allow in this case, up to this point at least.
29:05 And we have seen again and again the Attorney General there, Letitia James, inside the courtroom.
29:12 You mentioned she's not giving the opening statement on behalf of her office today.
29:16 In fact, we're told that should be Kevin Wallace.
29:19 Why do you think she's there? What's the significance?
29:22 How important this case is to the Attorney General's office, and as she would say, to the state of New York.
29:27 So, you'll often see that.
29:30 DAs will show up if it's a very big, important case.
29:34 I'm sure Alvin Bragg, if that Hush Money case is ever tried, he will be in the audience.
29:39 So, that's the same reason why the Attorney General is there.
29:42 It's also to give support to the attorneys in her office.
29:45 So, she's standing there, she's making it clear that this was her decision, she brought this case.
29:51 And if Mr. Trump is going to trash attorneys, her way is to trash me.
29:57 I'm the elected official here.
29:59 So, it's a statement of how important she views this case.
30:03 And of course, she has been the target of many Trump attacks, including when he was making the remarks right before this, calling her a racist.
30:11 Well, all black prosecutors are racist, according to Donald Trump.
30:15 That's what he's been saying. Right. I mean, what are your thoughts about that and how she's endured these attacks?
30:21 Well, she's just sort of letting it go.
30:24 I mean, this is what Trump does.
30:26 And what people don't know about Letitia James, she's a trial attorney.
30:31 She started her career in Manhattan as a public defender.
30:35 She was in court probably every day.
30:37 She tried cases. I tried a case against her.
30:40 So, this is someone who's very accomplished.
30:43 She knows how to try a case.
30:45 So, she's picked what she believes are stellar people to try this case on behalf of the Attorney General's office.
30:52 So, his comments do not affect her or any, quite frankly, of the other prosecutors who are prosecuting him.
31:00 All right, Catherine Christian, thank you.
31:02 Danny and Vaughn, stay close. We'll continue to monitor.
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