Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) played a video montage on Thursday which recapped former President Donald Trump's legal issues.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:03Mr. Chairman, we sit here today for one reason and one reason only.
00:09House Republicans are willing to do just about anything to protect Donald Trump from the
00:14consequences of his actions.
00:17On May 30th, a jury of his peers sitting in the state court in Manhattan convicted Donald
00:22Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree for paying hush
00:27money to conceal information that could have been harmful to his 2016 presidential campaign.
00:35Let's see how that all unfolded.
00:38An unprecedented moment in American politics.
00:44Former President Trump indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.
00:47Breaking news.
00:48It appears for the first time in American history, an American president has been indicted
00:53on federal charges.
00:55The Justice Department unsealing the 49 page federal indictment against former President
00:59Trump for his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
01:03Federal grand jury here in Washington has voted to indict the former president for his
01:07efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
01:11President Trump has been indicted for a fourth time.
01:14The nearly 100 page indictment was unsealed last night in Georgia.
01:17A whopping 91 felony counts in total.
01:2191.
01:22The jury a short time ago alerting the judge.
01:24President Trump has reached a decision in the Donald Trump hush money trial.
01:27One guilty.
01:28Two guilty.
01:29Count three guilty.
01:30It's 15 out of 15 so far.
01:31He became very still.
01:32He had his arms folded across his chest.
01:33Count 31 guilty.
01:34Count 32 guilty.
01:35His face was red.
01:36He looked upset.
01:37He had a frown on his face.
01:38He's scared.
01:39And frankly, he should be.
01:40Guilty on all 34 felony counts.
01:41We arrived at this trial and ultimately today at this verdict in the same manner as every
01:58other case that comes to the courtroom doors.
02:07Let me be clear.
02:10This trial was fair and just and allegations to the contrary represent a desperate evidence
02:16free attempt to shield Trump from accountability.
02:20Today you are going to hear a long list of allegations designed to undermine public faith
02:23and confidence in the jury's verdict.
02:27Do not be deceived.
02:28These are baseless allegations and we can take them down one by one.
02:33First, Republicans claim that Judge Mershon was, quote, handpicked to handle the Trump
02:39case because he had donated $35 to Democrats in the past.
02:43This is false.
02:44Judges are assigned at random in the New York court system.
02:48With respect to Judge Mershon's $35 donation, the New York Advisory Committee on Judicial
02:53Ethics issued an opinion saying that he need not recuse himself from the case and there
02:58is simply no evidence that any of Judge Mershon's rulings were biased in any way.
03:03Second, Republicans claim that the jury's verdict convicting Trump was not unanimous.
03:09This is absurd.
03:10The jury instructions plainly stated that, quote, your verdict on each count you consider,
03:16whether guilty or not guilty, must be unanimous.
03:19That is, each and every juror must agree to it, close quote.
03:23The verdict was unanimous on each of the 34 counts.
03:27Third, Republicans claim that all of Judge Mershon's rulings went against Trump.
03:33This is false.
03:34In fact, Judge Mershon repeatedly ruled for Trump, including a critical ruling that required
03:40prosecutors to prove willfulness under a heightened mens rea standard.
03:45Fourth, Republicans claim that Judge Mershon prevented Trump's expert witness from testifying.
03:51This is false.
03:53Trump's attorneys chose not to call that witness because he could not have testified
03:58about underlying questions of law, which is a role solely reserved to the judge.
04:04Fifth, Republicans claim that Attorney General Garland secretly, quote, dispatched Matthew
04:10Colangelo, a former DOJ attorney who served as the lead prosecutor in the Trump case,
04:17to the Manhattan DA's office as part of an elaborate ruse to plant DOJ prosecutors
04:23in state-level offices to attack Donald Trump.
04:27This is false and utterly absurd.
04:29Last week, the Attorney General clearly and unequivocally told Republicans that they are
04:33wrong.
04:34The Department of Justice has no record of any communication to the contrary, and Republicans
04:39have not and cannot produce any evidence whatsoever to support this nonsensical claim.
04:46And that's the theme for today.
04:49Republican attacks, one after another, lack any basis in truth or fact.
04:55My colleagues across the aisle know this, and yet they repeat their attacks ad nauseum
04:59because that is the only play left in their playbook.
05:03They didn't like the fact that Trump lost in 2020, so, lacking facts or evidence to
05:08support their claims, they instead attacked our democratic institutions, basically claiming
05:13that the election was rigged and corrupt.
05:17They didn't like the fact that Trump was indicted for mishandling highly sensitive
05:20classified documents, so they claimed that Trump declassified them with his mind.
05:26They didn't like the fact that the FBI had to send in agents to execute a search warrant
05:31at Mar-a-Lago because of concerns that Trump would destroy documents, so they claimed that
05:36the lawful execution of a search warrant constitutes a raid and a witch hunt.
05:42And now, they don't like the fact that an impartial jury found Trump guilty not once,
05:47not twice, but on 34 separate counts, so they are attacking the judicial process, calling
05:53it rigged, corrupt, and precooked, without a shred of evidence to back their allegations.
06:00And why are they doing this?
06:02Why are they sowing doubt in our system?
06:04Why are they using rhetoric that is guaranteed to generate death threats against the judges
06:08and jurors and prosecutors and police involved in these cases, for one reason only, to protect
06:15a felon, a felon who, I remind you, faces an additional 37 felony counts related to
06:22his mishandling of classified documents, four federal counts for conspiring to launch a
06:27riot on January 6th, and 13 counts in Georgia for conspiring to interfere with the administration
06:33of the 2020 election.
06:35In the bounds of our system of laws, there is nothing Trump can do to escape a trial
06:40in each of those counts, or to escape a sentence if he is found guilty on any of them.
06:46Trump and his allies know this, and so they are moving heaven and earth to undermine the
06:51system itself.
06:53That includes the attempt by our chairman to reach into the New York case while sentencing
06:58is still pending and drag the Manhattan District Attorney before this committee.
07:03That demand represents a completely unacceptable abuse of the gavel.
07:07It is entirely inappropriate for us to interfere with an ongoing state prosecution, no matter
07:13how much blind loyalty you feel you owe to the defendant.
07:17It is also an effort that smacks of desperation, and it seems, from the standing of MAGA Republicans
07:22these days, that the American public has caught on.
07:26Donald Trump has faced a jury of his peers.
07:30Nothing can change that.
07:31We here will face our constituents in November.
07:34We should conduct ourselves accordingly.
07:36I thank the witnesses for being here today, and I yield back.