♪ host: good morning, monday,

april 15, 2024. the house needs at noon eastern today. senate returns at 3:00 p.m. but we begin in manhattan where the first-ever criminal trial against a former president of the united states is set to get underway. the hush money case against donald trump begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern. the first order of business will be to select a jury. 34 counts related to falsifying records. you're taking your phone calls on that case split as usual by political party. publicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. you can also send us a text. that number, (202) 748-8003. if you do, please include your name and where you are from. otherwise, catch up with us on social media, on x @c-spanwj. at facebook it is facebook.com/c-span.

start calling and now, a morning for headlines from the major national papers. starting in the front page of the wall street journal this morning, despite some best efforts, his criminal trial has arrived. this on the front page of the new york times today as the court seals from beckons bedlam. the front page of usa today, new york court delves into new territory. they are right in the lead story, jury selection in that hush money trial of trump is set to start. here is how the process reward. this from the abc news story on that topic, they note that the jury will be made up only of people who live in manhattan. all english-speaking u.s. citizens over the age of 18 who have not been convicted of a felony and are eligible for jury duty in new york. court officials identify potential jurors from a list of registered voters, taxpayers,

drivers license holders, public benefit recipients and others. they will have to be chosen at random. people can volunteer for jury duty but they can't pick what trial they will serve on. the former president of the united states on his truth social page last night previewing today's events, talking about this upcoming trial saying that just four years ago i was a very popular and successful president of the united states, getting more votes than any sitting president in history. tomorrow morning i will be in criminal court before a totally conflicted judge, a legal system in chaos, a state being overrun by violent crime and corruption and crooked joe biden's henchmen waiting -- rigging the system against this political opponent, me. i will be fighting for myself and more importantly, i will be fighting for our country. donald trump on truth social

just a few hours ago. again, the case is set to get underway, proceedings set to get underway 9:30 a.m. eastern and we will show you what pictures there are coming from outside the courthouse. former president entering that manhattan courtroom. we are mostly hearing from you this morning, getting your thoughts on that trial and what it means, especially in light of election 2024. phone lines again, (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. this is rob in new york, line for democrats up first. good morning. caller: good morning. anka began for c-span, you do a great job. my question is rhetorically why is trump fighting it so hard with his lawyers to not have his

day in court? you would think that if former president would want his day in court and would want the people to know his version. how do you know when jailhouse trump is lying? when his lips are moving. those of us from new york who have been around the game of especially real estate people in manhattan and new york city, you just here line after line of bs after bs. unlike many of the good, down to earth people around the country who don't even have it in their mindset to not tell the truth when they interact with other people, when they meet other people, they are who they are. what happens with certain types,

especially new york real estate people, unfortunately our former president, it is not in their system to be able to hold an honest, intellectual conversation, so there you go. donald jailhouse trump. host: you are in new york, only a resident of manhattan would serve on this trial. but those who go for jury selection today will get this question from the judge. can you serve and be fair and impartial? how would you enter that question if you were in that courtroom today? do you think you could serve on the jury in this trial and be fair and impartial? >> my career and my work background actually makes me a disciplined and intellectually honest person.

i've been in worse situations regarding insurance legal matters ride dealing with all kinds of people and you have to be straight right down the middle, doesn't make a difference who it is, and i could serve on that jury and be completely independent and open-minded to wherever the facts may lead, yes. host: this is eric out of maryland, good morning. caller: good morning, america. the question that we have today is the question that every american, everybody in the world today should the asking, is the president or the president of the united states above the law? everybody around trump has consequences for their actions, but up until now, donald trump has escaped every accountability

to the law of the united states of america. so i already hope that he will answer for all the crimes he committed, and mostly about the crimes he committed on january 6. thank you very much. host: that is eric in port tobacco, marilyn. this case today now that january 6 for the president's actions that day, this case related to the hush-money payments and falsifying business records, 34 counts that the president is facing in that new york courtroom. set to get underway at 9:30 a.m. eastern. this is sheila in massachusetts, good morning. caller: good morning and thanks for taking the call. i'm just wondering why these people are this upset over the hush money that the government has to protect congressional people from sexual harassment suits. nobody seems to care that our tax money is used to shut people

up. all of a sudden, donald trump's private affairs become everybody's business. we use our tax money to shut people up with nondisclosure agreements and i don't think it is right and we ought to just elect donald trump to get us back on the right track on this country. we are headed to heck in a hand basket. thank you very much. host: that is sheila in massachusetts. this from a usa today story, that front-page story, jurors being asked to decide whether the real estate mogul donald trump falsify business records in order to conceal or commit another crime, a purpose that turns those acts into felonies under new york law. both sides framing the cases being about election interference, but they are talking about two different elections. alvin bragg has said that the cases not falsifying records in order to unlawfully interfere with the 2016 election.

former donald trump attorney michael: paid stormy daniels less than two weeks before t november rate election day and at a time of the trump campaign was still reeling from the october 7 release of the access hollywood tape. donald trump and his lawyers have said the case and all his criminal and civil cases are about the 2024 election, saying they represent an illegal attack on a political opponent and election interference at its best. he posted those exact words to his truth social media platform as recently as last week, spending a lot of time this past weekend previewing today's case on his truth social platform. we show you one of those posts already. we're asking your thoughts about the case that is set to get underway this morning and that manhattan courtroom on the 15th floor of the manhattan criminal art. new york, democrat, good morning. caller: morning. longtime watcher, first time

caller. i know you just reviewed from the paper that it is interference of election, and that is what this whole case is about. who cares about who he has a list of affairs with? the point is he was trying to keep this out of the media so it wouldn't affect the 2016 election, and that in my opinion is nothing but election interference. thank you and have a good day. host: new york, this is willy in annapolis, maryland. good morning. caller: first of all, i know a person is innocent until proven guilty, but i think if this man is proven guilty, i think he has to do time like anybody else to send a message to all these billionaires and all these people who bow down to vladimir putin, that no one is above the law. particularly other people who

are now serving time. i don't think this man should be allowed. i don't care if it is house arrest, two weeks or three, he should serve time for what he is doing because nobody else can get away with something like this. that is all i've got to say. host: t could serve time if convicted, he could just receive probation. a lot of discussion in today's papers about what could happen to the former president if he is convicted. this is the former president this past weekend from saturday at one of his campaign rallies talking about this case, about the prosecutors in this case saturday evening. from: a few days from now the entire world will witness -- and i'm proud to go to you, have a good time watching. on monday in new york city i will be forced to sit -- i'm not

allowed to talk, can you believe it? they want to take away my constitutional right to talk. this has never happened before, by the way. fully gagged before a highly conflicted and corrupt judge suffering from tbs. does anyone know what the ds is? trumped arrangement syndrome -- trump derangement syndrome. to do anything possible to keep me from running and winning this election. they are losing by so much, they don't know what is happening. i did nothing wrong. from day one, i did nothing. russia, ukraine, every hoax. with all of the things they did, they found nothing, but like all

true communists, and we are going communist, don't kid yourself. we are winning this election, this country is finished. host: today, he will be in manhattan, donald trump required to attend this trial, meaning he will be spending at least four days a week at the defense table, not out on the campaign trail. we will see how much he speaks with members of the media, with the sea will be like. we will show you what we start getting live pictures in about an hour or so from up there in new york. we will be talking about it this morning on washington journal. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002.

that hush money trial set to begin at 9:30 a.m. eastern. this is joe out of georgia, republican. good morning to you. caller: i love c-span, 30 years. i just want to say i think donald trump is the best leader in history. i think all these trials of election interference, i live in georgia, our town would go 85%-90% for donald trump. i think trump will be elected, i just bought some from stock. i think he is the best in history. i think you will win a landslide victory and i'm happy to predict a landslide win for donald john trump under great network. host: there was a color from new york, i asked him if he thought he could be on a jury to be fair and impartial. do you think donald trump is going to get a fair and impartial jury out of this case

in manhattan? caller:caller: it will be very difficult. new york is extremely liberal. it is an anti-trump state. if he was in my hometown, the case would be thrown out immediately, and it would be hard but i think truly they can find one or two people who will stand up for the ex-president, but it will be difficult because as you know, new york is very liberal and anti-trump but regardless of what happens, i think trump is going to be the next president and i think the stock market break every record in history. i am fired up and energized by donald john trump. host: we will talk to you next month. this is chet in amsterdam, new york. caller: my intention is to vote for donald trump and biden and trump have made mistakes like a lot of politicians. what would they do if donald trump was found guilty? the nomination is already soda.

people know his problems, they know joe biden's problems. we've got to move on with this. i'm going to vote for donald trump but what will happen, you are going to throw him in jail? why don't they go after biden and try to put him in jail for the things that he has done? they've got to move on. we've got a lot of problems in this country and i think donald trump would be good on foreign policy. i think the people just hate him. they have so much hatred for donald trump even going back to 2016, but the only reason why he got arrested to begin with is people are tired of the rockefellers, the bushes, the kennedys. one family running everything. so we put donald trump in there who was a businessman, he tried to do the nasty could and because he is not -- doesn't

cater to anybody, the politicians didn't like him. host: did you vote for donald trump in 2016? caller: yes i did and i voted for him in 2020 and i'm going to vote for him again. host: you still consider yourself a democrat? caller: no, i'm not a democrat. host: you are calling on the line for democrats. caller: i'm sorry, i thought it was 001 for republicans. host: that's the line, we tried to get people to call in on the line that best fits them. this is judy in north carolina, line for republicans. caller: good morning. i'm scared to death, first time. i am just so sick of the democrats trying to destroy this man. he has done more than anybody else, democrats don't want him up there. he is a good man and if they had gotten hillary, all she had done

is they've got biden and his family for all they've done. they would get on hunter biden, they don't do anything with him, and yet trump's kids they tried to destroy. and then just destroying the goodness in this country. the democrats need to wake up and see what they're doing. host: that is judy in north carolina. this is eugene in georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm happy that this courtroom scene is not going to be on tv. it would be too much for this country to bear. i wish that man would take the stand, but he can't get out of his own way to tell a lie. thank you and i'm glad to be here. host: that is eugene in georgia. donald trump has said that he would testify in this trial.

we'll see of course whether that happens in the weeks and perhaps months to come. the trial expected to take maybe six weeks, perhaps more. jury selection at least a week or two if the hush money case for the stormy daniels hush-money payments. this is the column in today's new york times. jessica bennett, that contributing editor in the opinion section writing this. sometimes i lie awake at night wondering whether donald trump is afraid. letitia james, fani willis, e.g. carol and her lawyers, roberta kaplan and of course stormy daniels. living rent-free into donald trump's mind these days. she says i've never gotten the sense that joe biden or adam schiff or jeb bush ever got into mr. trump's head in the way that other women do. there are certain karmic justice is here, she writes, after mr. trump talked about grabbing women in the access hollywood tape.

defeating at the ballot box in 20, maybe what we are seeing now is the grab bag moment, i'll be at more of a slow and steady paycheck your years of uniting women who refuse to do his bidding. he is getting a measure of comeuppance at their hands. this is lester out of tuscaloosa, alabama, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: doing well. caller: great day in america. this reminds me of the o.j. simpson trial. america would be able to watch a man all his life, he always talked about people. now he's going to come to court, and he committed the crime. if he was so worried about people going against him, why don't you get on the stand and tell the truth for once in his life?

trump has always been a hater. trump never cared about nobody but himself and a hope these republicans understand one thing. you look at your god and find out if he would tell the truth for once in his life, america would be great. host: north carolina, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. on calling that people need to realize that trump has been innocent the whole time they have this witch hunt going on for him. if they would have done the same thing to joe biden, he would have sold us out to china, russia and ukraine.

all these black people against trump, he's got nothing against y'all. y'all are in the dark about this mess. host: this is mike in orlando, former, independent. caller: good morning. wow, dishonest donald going to court? it's hard to believe. here is a man that proclaims his innocence, everything he is not guilty of, so why doesn't he want to go to court? why did he delay this for all this time and even now, still railing against it? it was me, i would want to go to court yesterday, but donald doesn't want to go to court. it is about time he finally pays for all the things he has done wrong. i think about the 1100 people that used to work in this casino that lost a pension fund, or the people who invested in a trump

university lost their money, for he stole from his own charity. and let's not forget that he bankrupted the ussr, so this is a great day in america. we used to say nobody is above the law. fantastic day. thank you very much for having me on. host: that is mike in orlando, florida. and here is more from the former street social page. as we said, he's been pushing quite a bit in the lead up to this trial taking place today. this was with the former president posted on thursday. >> informed that another corrupt new york judge gagged to. that is gagged, like you can't talk. but he gagged me with respect to a case that everyone including the da felt should never have been brought. plenty of people have gagged me recently because when i talk in a new york, i explained to the

people and they understand, these cases are all rigged. sounds fair, doesn't it? but it is not. it virtually never happens, it only happens to me because i'm able to tell people what is happening and those people get extremely angry with what is happening. this judge should be recused and the case should be thrown out. he's totally conflicted. there has never been a judge more conflicted than this one. there has virtually never been anything like it. thank you very much. host: that was from thursday. in today's preview of the trial, usa today talks about his social media and pr campaign leading up to this trial. donald trump keeps antagonizing the judge on social media as part of his apparent strategy to portray the judge who he believes is unfriendly and biased. he calls him a highly conflicted and corrupt judge. his hatred for me has no bounds.

he has also targeted the judge's daughter,: or a rabbit trump hater based on her marketing work and posted a follower for it was millions of followers. the gag order was expanded to have a trump from attacking them or their families. the average observer must now after hearing the defendant's recent attack straw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well. that was judge merchan spreading in his gag order decision back in usa today. this is carolyn in san antonio, texas, democrat. caller: good morning. political science is not the study of bugs. i have to say that all my life i've gone to school and i was robbed in a san antonio taco house and was pronounced dead on arrival.

host: what do you think of the trial today? caller: the trial today, somebody who knows law knows how to break the law. i believe that america needs to go forward with biden for the simple fact that he is trying to do something to serve the country. when i was born in 1964, the law didn't use people against themselves. all the crime that has gone on in the last 10 years while he was in office had to do with money. and it needs to be about the people. that my opinion. host: oklahoma city, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go ahead. caller: ok. what i would like to say is, and i imagine everybody can agree with me, but the last eight years, that's all you heard is trump, trump. i mean, he is the most talked

about man in the world. i mean, do they ever get tired of talking about the man? and i voted for him and i will be voting for him again. thank you. host: this is deborah out of michigan, indian river. independent. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: morning. caller: the young lady that you just had on, i forget what her name was, but i agree with her. all we've heard for the last 80 years is trump, trump, trump. we need trump back in office to save our country. we are going down the tubes quick and trump is our guy to make it right. host: that is deborah in michigan. ithaca, new york, good morning. caller: good morning, john. i wanted to say something very quickly. i haven't called in a very long time.

i have an art background and the new design for your office, the colors, it is just so stark and it is not attractive at all and i wish that you could redesign the office there. it is not appealing at all. host: what are your thoughts on the trial today? caller: i'm sorry, i just needed to say that. i can believe this has gone on for so long. i mean, trump is such a con artist. it is such an embarrassment to this country. it is so wrong. it is so wrong that this has been going on for so long. and i want to add that mitch mcconnell is the puppeteer behind all this. he is a horrible man who has changed the supreme court. it is just unbelievable that all this has happened. it is so criminal. host: why do you call him a

puppeteer? caller: because he supported trump. they didn't impeach him. he's very, very two-faced. he is worse in a way because he is sitting in the background pulling all the strings and you've got this lunatic of a person, a narcissist being let loose and delaying every trial. i mean, these trials should have happened. i mean, it is scary because our country is -- host: mitch mcconnell said he is stepping down from leadership. there's already jockeying underweight to see who will replace him at the republican leader in the senate. do you think whoever replaces him would be more likely to stand up to donald trump, more likely to be a puppeteer like mitch mcconnell as you describe it? caller: i don't know who would

replace him but -- people that, the accountability, he is there now and he's done so much damage. he had pushed supreme court judge right -- you know -- right before biden got in. he went against his own rules. the criminality is right in front of our eyes. you know, i watches c-span, i love c-span. i --, with jeffrey epstein --, help me there, the guy that -- i'm sorry, i'm getting a little nervous here because i might get cut off by my phone.

is it jeffrey epstein? i'm just blanking out now. he, it was a couple months ago when they said names would come out in terms of who he -- people that he was bringing to his place to have sex with the young women. and all of a sudden i did not hear anything. trump was friends with him. ok? they're so -- what i'm trying to get at is there is so much that's there that should be put out into the public about his background. first of all he is not a republican. he is a closeted democrat and i'm sure he forced women to have an abortion. he is the biggest liar, -- host: got your point. this is stephen massachusetts, republican. good morning brady caller:

trumped arrangement syndrome is a serious thing and i'm happy you finally let that woman off the line. i want to talk about election interference and the fact that this originally was going to be a misdemeanor but the statute of limitations went by and everyone , the democrats say why doesn't he want a trial, why didn't they have a trial a long time ago? the democrats waited until donald trump was running for office. that's why there hasn't been a trial. who would want to have a trial in new york city if you were republican if you were donald trump? our country is making our country look bad. that woman that said the country looks bad. the fact is is -- this has gone on and gone on. it's election interference. in russia, putin killed his

opponents. we are a few steps away from that now. we have people running with knives down the streets of l.a., illegal immigrants -- running down the streets of l.a., we are turning into venezuela. we are getting so close to being the third world it's unbelievable. and here you have the person that's running as a republican against the sitting president who previously was -- attacked by the fbi, the nsa and the cia and everyone else and he was in with the -- the russians. and here we go again. by law he has to be in court every day in new york city. that's the law for this case. so for the next six weeks they are saying he's got a have to -- that isn't under election appearance i can't believe that it isn't. >> started by talking about the misdemeanors versus criminal

indictments and the 34 counts criminal indictment focusing on falsifying business records, ruth marcus in today's washington post explains why this has become a criminal case as opposed to a misdemeanor. falsifying business records ordinarily is a misdemeanor under new york law but if that falsification is done with the intent to defraud and steal -- and still another crime that is elevated into a felony. what alleged crimes elevated that conduct, alvin bragg has identified three. federal election law under which michael cohen was convicted, a new york state election law that prohibits conspiring to promote or prevent the election of any person to public office through illegal means in new york tax law because the payments were grossed up.

that's ruth marcus writing about the legal back and forth in today's washington post. the 34 felony count indictments all kinds of records the prosecutor said donald trump falsified as he reimbursed michael cohen for those payments to stormy daniels, 11 invoices, 12 general ledger entries adding those up and you get 34 felony counts. this is ronald in lawton, oklahoma. good morning. >> good morning john, thank you c-span. it's a great day in america. all the americans crying because of trump, they'll get exactly what they get. so welcome to the world, the real world. all the republicans and democrats you live your life how

you want and this is what you get. god is taking over your life. thank you you c-span, goodbye. host: that's ronald in oklahoma. this is robert in texas, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. let's talk for a cup of coffee and sit back and let the american constitution and the rule of law do what it was intended and let's put our faith in americans, jurors that will court -- that are going to be picked today. we always need to relax and praise that the american system of justice will eventually have it stay and all people are equal under the law.

and john, i calling here regularly. i hope people will take politics out of this and just judge our country based on the rule of law as the founders intended and appreciate that our country works. host: is it the legal system which seemed to have a lot of faith in that works, the political system in the country works? caller: it doesn't have anything to do with politics. we have equal separation in our constitution. and the justice system is separate for a very good reason. we are all equal and they are

the final arbitrators whether it's making laws or any actions the government takes, it has to be able to pass that third party that most of the people have been ignored for centuries literally. host: so you have -- do you have more faith in the judicial system then the legislative branch and executive branch? you say take politics out of it. does the judicial branch work better or give you more faith than the other two do you have faith in all three branches of government? caller: i have faith in all three branches. i think there are some things -- the judicial is to me, the key.

it is the rule of law. things have happened political like with the legislative and the executive branch that eventually the court system seems to work out. sometimes they rule good, sometimes they rule bad. i think the biggest problem in the legislative and executive branch is honestly citizens united, too much money in politics. lobbyists seem to control those branches of government. but i've always had faith in the judicial because once you are elected to office in a judgeship on the federal level and you have tenure for life, politics no longer becomes an issue, right and wrong functions, the

humanity of the difference between right and wrong, i have faith in the judicial system. host: a about 20 minutes left in this first segment of the washington journal. coming up at 8:00 a.m. eastern we will focus on the week ahead here on capitol hill and there is plenty to talk about including a potential foreign aid vote in the house today. eric will be joining us, bloomberg news for that discussion. until that we are talking about donald trump's hush money trial in new york. that set to begin on the 15th. this is michael here in washington dc. line for republicans, what do you think about it. caller: thanks for taking my call. every legal scholar has said this is a bootstrap case it

should not have happened. the department of justice and the federal election commission everyone said he did no wrong and for alan brad to do this is totally illegal. he can get a fair trial in new york because most of them are democrats so hopefully in jury selection we can find one republican then you might have a hung jury. stormy daniels wrote a letter to the judge abouthree years ago. the greatest judges in the world said michael cohen is a serial perjurer. so why is this even going forward? i don't even understand. it's like thewant this public notice, this big circus of donald trump. host: you use the term a bootstrap trial? caller: that's what they said.

host: what does that mean? caller: it's like they just made up something. made up something that came out of nowhere. it was totally misdemeanor, there was no trial at the federal election commission. the department of justice. just like the insurrection with jack smith they couldn't charge him because there was no insurrection. insurrection is the military, and take over the capital. they keep bootstrapping everything. all the scholars of the world saying you can do this. >> you also use the term circus. this is the headline we showed you earlier from the new york times, trump beckons bedlam for the city. here's the first couple of graphs in the new york times. manhattan criminal court building is short on charm, circled in scaffolding, neighbor

to a colossal pile of rubble with the remains of the manhattan detention complex which is being demolished yet, monday it will be the pulsing center of a swirling mass of security measures and likely headaches is the first criminal trial of donald j. trump kicks off on the 15th for their court and law enforcement personnel have been tense of the subject -- the preparations had been underway for months. they will have plenty to contend with, a right-wing supporters for the former president party announced plans to protest at the courthouse is jury selection began and cable news networks of promised wall-to-wall coverage of this case. this is nehemiah in pompano beach, florida. caller: i've got one thing to say and it's about trump and when he goes to court today,

i've been to prison, i've seen how the justice system works. and you can be calm about it or you can sit back and chill about it but let me tell you something when they get a hold of him, he will be really messed up because he thinks that he's somebody like everybody else, before you get in front of that judge, once that happens and that verdict comes back, i don't care if they are democrat, if it's a sanctuary city, i don't care where you are at, if the judges speaking there again to get you. host: you were waiting with that one caller talked about faith in the judicial system. to do their jobs and that this system -- do you think it will work? caller: i was listening to the guy, the independent guy and he hit it right on.

we've got three controllers and one is the main justice system from the supreme court on down and all those very smart people that they run down the line, i don't care fair democrat because once they are in the justice system they are going to run it like it's supposed to be run because everybody is counting on justice. justice is blind. he don't see trump, he doesn't see any of these people that are doing this it all she knows it she has to do her job. host: did you feel like justice was served in your situation? caller: yes justice was served. i was at the lincoln kid running around doing what i wanted to do and then my attention was drawn saying you can't be doing robberies and stuff. you've got to get --

after i got a hold to this christian stuff and i got myself together but the thing is i'm get a tell you that man, from a for real man. that man is going to prison. he's going somewhere and they are going to get him. i don't want to talk about it no more. >> nehemiah in pompano beach florida. this was president trump with reporters on friday alongside speaker mike johnson at mar-a-lago who was asked about the case that begins today. [video clip] >> i would testify absolutely. it's a scam. that's not a trial. that's a scam. if you read jonathan turley, if you read auntie mcduff andy mccarthy. they said there's not even a case there. that's election interference by the biden administration. they took their top guy, put them into the das office to run

it and it's a shame. what they have done is incredible. it's election interference and is got to stop. this country is never done it. you read jonathan turley, you read andrew mccarthy, you read the legal scholars. everyone of them said it's a scam. what they are doing is a crime. they are criminals. >> why do you believe it is important for you to testify, take the stand in an upcoming trial and what are you watching is jury selection begins in new york? >> jury selection is largely luck. it depends on who you get. it's very unfair that i'm having a trial there. it's very unfair we have this judge who hates trump and has tremendous conflict as you note. nobody can believe this judge isn't recusing himself. the conflict is at a level no one has ever seen before. so i have that and i have the venue. we have all these things they've asked for.

it is a witch that takes place in new york and that is taking place in new york. it's very bad for new york and the judicial system. i tell the truth. all i can do is tell the truth. and the truth is that there is no case. they have no case. again you have to read the scholars. read all of the legal scholars. i haven't seen one legal scholar that says this is the case. even you people said it's too bad this is the first one. all of them are scams. host: former president donald trump from friday. i want to take you back to a little over a year ago, manhattan district attorney announcing the charges in this case at the beginning of this case at 9:30 a.m. this morning. this is how alvin bragg described those charges back on april 4 of 2023. >> earlier this afternoon donald

trump was arraigned on the new york supreme court indictment returned by a manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. under new york state law it is a felony to falsify business records with the intention of fraud and intent to conceal another crime. that is exactly what this case is about. 34 false statements made to cover up other crimes. these are felony crimes in new york state. we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. the defendant repeatedly made false statements on new york business records. he also cost -- caused others to make false statements. the defendant claimed he was paying michael cohen for legal

services performed in 2017. this simply was not true. and it was a false statement that the defendant made month after month in 2017. april, may, june and so on. through the rest of the year. for nine straight months, the defendant held documents in his hand containing this key lie that he was paying michael cohen legal services performed in 2017. and he personally signed checks for payments to michael cohen for each of these nine months. in total, a grand jury found there were 34 documents with this critical false statement. why did donald trump repeatedly make these false statements? the evidence will show he did so

to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election. donald trump, executives of the publishing company american media inc., mr. cohen and others agreed in 2015 to a catch and kill scheme, a scheme to buy and suppress negative information to help mr. trump's chance of winning the election. as part of this scheme, donald trump and others made three payments to people who claim to have negative information about mr. trump. to make these payments, they set up shell companies and they made yet more false statements including for example ami business records. one in three people -- one of three people they paid to keep quiet was a woman named stormy daniels. less than two weeks before the presidential election michael

cohen wired 100 $30,000 to stormy daniels lawyer. that payment was to hide damaging information from the voting public. the participant scheme was illegal, of the scheme violated new york election law which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means. the $130,000 wire payment exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap and the false statements in the books violated new york law. >> the manhattan district attorney, that was last year announcing these charges, this case gets underway today. this photo in usa today, the trial is not expected to be televised in keeping with general new york court policy, the usa today story notes alvin bragg is expected to call stormy daniels to the witness stand,

michael cohen, donald trump's former attorney could also take a turn on the stand for the white house spokesperson. hope hicks also expected to testify, a wrap up of who could be on trial or who could be hearing from him or those in the courtroom. in the courtroom outside the courtroom, the courtroom in the courthouse in downtown manhattan. and it begins in a little over 90 minutes. getting your phone calls, carlisle, pennsylvania. independent, thank you for waiting. caller: good morning john. very interesting topic, there is so much to unfold here but i think it's all a scam the same in the atlanta case. this case is going down. it's funny, alvin bragg brings up shell companies.

doesn't that sound familiar, doesn't that ring a bell. i have one question for you. if joe biden is the special prosecutor for his classified documents, if he is unfit to stand trial how can he be president? like donald trump said, if they can do it to him they can do it to anybody. so when the truth comes out there better be some heads rolling because this is ridiculous. i'm all the way for donald trump. when the truth comes out all these whiny crazy democrats, you are going to see when the tables are turned you can start whining about it. have a great day. >> you mentioned leading to federal criminal cases a story in today's washington post

noting manhattan is not the only place where it will be action when it comes to criminal cases. this ring called oral arguments that makes them -- that would charge hundreds of people in connection with the january 2021 riots. an offer was used to charge donald trump and his federal election interference case here in d.c.. the law was written in the wake of the enron scandal involved document shredding. if the justices ruled broadly that the law did not apply to efforts to block the election results that could invalidate some of the charges donald trump faces in that federal case in d.c.. that's tuesday. what's happening today's the hush money case. this is in pennsylvania. >> i really think the gentleman,

the constitution this is a very calm and very just look at what's going on. no man is above the law in this country. if we go back to the founding of this nation. that is something that the founding fathers who both sides are always likely to quote, that is something that they stressed. no man is above the law. these cases that are being brought are violations of the law. whether we like it or not. and we've always believed in this country that the law of the land is supreme. that we do not go above the law whether president of the united states or a person who lives and works in a menial job.

we have to trust that a nation that has juries of our peers will act in accordance with the law. that there is justice. this hysteria that i hear people saying that there is a trumped up, pardon me for the pun, charges against this gentleman, these are violations of the law and people must answer for that. and finally as a historian, i look at the lines from the declaration of independence when the gentleman who declared our independence from a royal king that they pledge their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor and those two words, sacred honor seem to have left the thoughts and process of many

americans, where is the honor. we must restore honor to our institutions. donald trump is a deconstructionist. deconstructing our judicial system, our executive system and attempting to deconstruct our legislative system. this is something we must be aware of and when we talk about a service he brings it with them. it's not created by those who are seeking the truth. it is created by the person for whom there has to be answers. >> time for just one or two more calls. staying in the keystone state. republicans, good morning. >> the topic you have today is pretty broad. i wanted to ask simple question,

to all the people who want to trump indicted, convicted and thrown in jail, this is what they are talking about. ask this question. if donald trump wasn't for running for president would he be prosecuted in any of these cases? i'd like to hear the answer from that from a lot of these democrats who don't think this is election interference. host: do you think the answer to that is no? caller: obviously none of this would be happening if donald trump wasn't running for president. this is election interference, it's driven out of the white house and justice department. letitia james, her mantra was get trump. alvin bragg didn't want to bring this case up. the fec refused in 2018 to prosecute this case because there's nothing there. they had to do a frankenstein

monster misdemeanor case into a federal case to even get this thing seen before a judge and a grand jury. it's ridiculous. the fani willis case is ridiculous. it's all about keeping him from running for president. after he wins the election who's in a cleanup the exploding heads of the democratic side that i get to be freaking out because donald trump is president again. and the guy from new york, that the kind of new york jerry we are going to get. thanks john. host: our last caller in this first segment of washington journal. we will return to the topic. we will get a preview of the week ahead. here in washington on capitol hill we will be joined by eric watson a bloomberg news. stick around for that discussion. we will be right back. ♪

>> friday nights, watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail, a weekly round up of c-span's campaign coverage perverting a one-stop shop to discover what the candidates across the country are saying to voters. along with first-hand accounts from political reporters, updated poll numbers, fundraising data. watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail friday night at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span online at c-span.org or download as a podcast on c-span now our free mobile app or wherever you get podcast. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> celebrating the 20th anniversary of our annual studentcam documentary

competition. c-span asked middle and high school students across the country to look forward while considering the past. adjustments were given the option to look 20 years into the future or 20 years into the past and in response we received inspiring and thought-provoking documentaries from over 32 hundred students across 42 states. our top award goes to nate coleman and jonah, 10th graders in connecticut. there documentary innocence held hostage navigating path in future conflicts with iran. >> it's evident in the next 20 years the united states must make more policy but places heavy restriction on all americans traveling to iran because not only will we see positioning but the united states will no longer have to participate in considerable negotiations with iran. >> be sure to watch the top 21 winning documentaries on c-span every day this month starting at 6:50 a.m. eastern or anytime on studentcam.org.

>> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of governing congress like noah -- covering congress like no other. we've been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced unfiltered coverage of government. where the policy is debated and decided all with the support of america's cable company. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> washington journal continues. >> each monday when congress is in session we look at the week ahead in washington and on capitol hill. back with us to do that is the bloomberg news reporter. this is your story, how they may add on ukraine, and take us through what happened over the weekend. >> this has been stalled when

the congress requested in the fall. the senate passed a 90 $5 billion taiwan ukraine and israel package and the house has not taken that up. it would pass the house for my calculations but the speaker has been under pressure not to bring it up. there's been an attempt to link it to border security, that link is starting to be broken and now the speaker may have the opportunity of the iran attacks on israel to move something similar. he's talked about making the ukraine grant into loans using russian assets as a way to pay for it. he has to make a decision in the next 24 hours whether to finally get this off his plate or do something more political to try and pass and israel stand-alone bill. the house took up an israel bill which failed. some like the fact it wasn't paid for but as mosley democrats

who brought that down saying if we pass is relayed alone then ukraine eight will just languish. host: what sort of reaction have you seen on the republican side to speaker johnson floating this idea. >> his nemesis in the house now was marjorie taylor greene who's filed a motion out sting the speaker. she was very angry by the government spending process in which the border was not essentially included. the shutdown did not ensue. a confrontation she would like to see. she could trigger it within two days a vote on that but basically she reacted over the weekend and said we've got no briefing on this we don't know what's going on. she's called funding ukraine people. she is convinced the war should just be ended by ukraine seating

a lot of territory to russia and that's been her push all along. speaker johnson went down to mar-a-lago to talk to president trump to get his backing and he sure did. he said the speaker is doing a good job and that marjorie taylor greene's motion was misguided. that may enable them to move forward on ukraine aid. that job could be somewhat secure. caller: major movement on the international front. the missile attack on israel, the block of republicans who have been pushing for some sort of border component to this aid bill have foreign events just overtaken their objections here? host: they are still very much focused -- caller: they're still very much focused on that. the speaker is urging president biden to take executive action. the same type of executive action, remain in mexico, a

closing down the board of the president trump was sued over. biden says he is studying that. this sense is whatever the president would do would not go far enough. but it may give them some cover to move a ukraine bill. for biden it's difficult political calculation. certainly on the left there's a sense they don't want him take this action and sort of demonizing immigrants that immigrants were bad for the country. >> that brings us to the impeachment trial in the senate. last week to make that happen. take us through the timeframe here and expectations in the senate. guest: the senate is bound to take it up. and those will be brought over

from the house on tuesday and the majority leader has said the senators will be sworn in, the president pro tem will preside in the chair. we expected to be quickly dismissed. i'm not sure if on that day or the day after but the deadline is adding impetus to this with sworn intelligence surveillance act that passed the house, the senate needs to act on that before april 19, the end of the week. that would give a lot of argument for those who want to dismiss the impeachment saying we have to get back to the legislative agenda. we are told there's a procedural objection in the house one that cleared on monday. starting the process but it will be right up to the deadline. >> you talk about procedural to

drag out the impeachment beyond maybe just the next day and vote for dismissal? guest: there are always procedural motions. at the end of the day if you've got the votes it takes the majority to dismiss it or referred to committee, it looks like democrats including the most conservatively joe manchin on board with seeing this as a political sideshow that's not something they need to feel nervous about. host: eric is with us for the next 20 to 25 minutes and a fantastic resource if you have questions about what's happening on capitol hill and what's expected this week. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats 202-748-8000. independents 202-748-8002. is if that wasn't enough, what else are you watching for? guest: ukraine is something i'm

focused on. this is been tied up in congress. people of covered ukraine closely in the region. there's a real sense but if it doesn't pass from the ukrainian side could turn world history. putin is emboldened to go into europe. that's really drowning out everything. for a long time i was focused on the tax bill. , passing this tax cut bill that house republicans, house democrats and senate democrats. maybe schumer would bring that up. using tax day as a way to highlight that. there may be eight or so. so they're working to change that. it's a very interesting move. it would -- by mike who would be

in line. leading the dutch he wants to have free rein to use these tax breaks as incentive to get things that he wants which are really extensions of a wealthy individual. host: first out of cleveland in the buckeye state, a line for democrats. caller: i would just like to say these comments about the trial being held now during the campaign season. that's not the prosecutor's call. trump is the one who decided in the delay. this could have been tried long ago before trump decided to run. >> we will certainly get back to that trial a little bit here

focusing on the week ahead in washington. the house is in at noon today. a big week ahead. the question from the capitol hill perspective is how much what can happen in new york in manhattan how much will that cast a shadow over what's happening in d.c.. >> trump is exercising his authority over house republicans to affect the agenda. a lot of drama over this foreign surveillance law. and there was a moment when it was coming to the floor, a five-year extension and trump went on true social and killed the bill. it basically was killed. republicans, it used to be extraordinary once again voting down a rule, this is the most like a filibuster in the senate. but house or republicans preventing debate from beginning

this bill with what trump was saying. the speaker made the two-year bill argument that if trump becomes president he can come back and try to reform it. it's a very interesting dynamic the people who voted against that bill, the aoc's of the world and a jayapal's and other conservatives. they came very close to amending the bill. it was a tied vote in the house. that was defeated and it looks like the senate is going to be on track to pass this without the requirement. >> voting down a rule to the bill. how significant is that as a story's last week of how could the speakers whip operation not know they were going to join in voting down the bill.

is it significant in the grand scheme of things. >> they were asked saying we don't whip rules, we don't try to pressure members to vote. >> and the difference between a rule and a bill? guest: the way bills are brought up on the floor in the way they control the floor. how it's brought up. basically all rules limit the number of amendments. and then basically structure a certain amount of time. this allows until very recent times to be much more sufficiently surpassing bills which can be dragged out to go through a lot of hoops to end debate. but this was almost unheard of for decades for the majority to not be able to pass the rule.

it didn't happen until speaker pelosi and the democrats. it become a new tactic conservatives are using to show displeasure. because the majority is so small , a two vote threshold. conservatives are really willing that power, they can defeat a bill they can at least block it. host: not to get to inside d.c. but nancy pelosi's whipping operation whip rules? guest: this is one of the things a lot of things in d.c. are norms not really written down. sometimes these norms collapse. it's a norm that someone who is convicted of a crime can be president. there no law against it. if former president trump were elected and in jail he could still serve his term. we just assume no one was going who committed a crime would be

president. the majority party would dominate the floor with rules and the divisiveness within the republican party has change that norm now. host: republican line this is rose in lockport illinois. caller: good morning. i want to comment on the donald trump trial american citizens think what a joke. who cares if he had an affair on his wife. do you really think they care about that when we have open borders, crime. we our member clinton with monica lewinsky in the white house, what he did in our oval office. we all are remembering that and that was absolutely disgusting. if democrats don't think citizens are sitting and thinking about that, we all

remember what clinton did to monica lewinsky in the white house and that was disgusting and appalling. so get over this trump stuff, that's what i would like to say. host: saying the issues americans really care about her opening borders, crime and inflation. what is congress doing on the inflation front these days. guest: that is what americans do care about. i asked steve scalise that with new inflation numbers, what are you doing and the answer with republicans as we have limited spending which they have. it has under the previous congress but they've not achieved the massive spending cut, and they cut regulations and lower energy costs. -- they said they would cut regulations and lower energy costs. both sides went in saying they

would combat inflation. the real inflation cutting tool in the federal reserve what it's doing of higher interest rates seeking a mortgage about 7% now. is trying to rein in the economy to lower prices and that's the setback. especially on wall street. the fed is to maintain rates higher than we had thought. into later in the year, start cutting perhaps then and that's what we thought were some losses in the major indices on wall street last week when stocks were falling because there was a sense the fed would maintain higher interest rates. >> how much the covid money has been clawed back, where is it, can other law or fundings be clawed back. >> i do know the omnibus

spending bill that were enacted into law in recent weeks did make use of clawback covid money. there was also a clawback. the $80 billion increase under biden. that was repurposed. claimant look favorably on that legislation i don't at this -- covid money would be available. republican's would be eager especially if they maintain the house for the 2025 cycle. that's can it be a much more difficult appropriations process, the debt ceiling agreement that listeners and viewers remember a year ago probably sitting here talking

abut the debt ceiling and how it may default. kevin mccarthy alternately lost his job in part from this and president biden, that included covid clawbacks. the deal was focused on this current fiscal year that wrapped up. going back to the table, -- they're going to have to go back. it's good to come back it will extend to january 25. we are good to see another big-budget spike but i think covid clawbacks, irs clawbacks and possibly other spending cuts in the white house. >> the budget deadline is always at the end of october. how likely are we to be to blow through that deadline again? guest: there will be a stopgap

bill. they want to give the new congress and the new president a chance to address this. i think if no one changes hands and it still president biden, we will be looking at a lame-duck session. in december when they try to take care of some things they don't necessarily feel able to before the election. >> you've got lame-duck's who don't care, that's when we might see this tax bill go through. trade measures and so forth get past. host: eric watson is with us. this is carl, line for democrats . good morning. caller: the first comment was about the gentleman talking about advising.

i consider myself a democrat and also consider myself fairly liberal when it comes to civil liberties. this is probably the only time in my life i say this but i support with the conservative republicans were doing on that because there's no reason on earth, they are not saying you can't do it, you have to get an independent person to look at it. i haven't good debt heard any good arguments against that. there's a gentleman that called on the last segment and i'll answer quick he said if your democrats would you be truck -- prosecuting trump if he were president deaf running for president. the question is would he be running for president if he wasn't worried of being prosecuted. he broke the law, he tried to overthrow the government, i don't know how you can say we wouldn't prosecute it it's just election interference.

the third point was just talking about if the democrats did take power, you were just talking with the debt ceiling. wouldn't it make sense for them to get rid of that so it can be used to hang over the head of democratic presidents by republicans? i think they should just repeal the whole thing. thank you very much. guest: i think the first point from earlier, on this issue. the phrase about politics. the reason he slept on this is just a volume. the volume of data they are sifting through, it's just so great. you have to hire hundreds -- i think that's a practical

issue. of warrant issuing judges to address it but he was saying if we do it to snap our fingers into it right now it will pause and lead to a failure on the scale of 9/11. and then on the debt ceiling there are talks of eliminating this. it's really not something we've seen to pass a budget, you don't have to read pay that debt, usually it's together. those were united sort of exercise as republicans frankly tried to cause spending agreements. i think this would be in the category of things that would happen if democrats, and keep the presidency and eliminate the

dust you see people like kyrsten sinema and joe manchin who defended the filibuster, prevented from being eliminated. this takes the institution where you need 60 votes to do anything super significant outside of the spending including reconciliation. a long story there. to an institution. if you did that you would get things like mitch mcconnell and other defenders of the filibuster are worried about that would permit of the senate. i also think it's unlikely. i think the senate is going to flip. i think the house is a tossup. the white house is a tossup. host: with joe manchin and

kyrsten sinema leaving who's the next one in the democratic party? i realize kyrsten sinema is no longer a democrat. guest: i don't think there is an equivalent person there. it's an adjusting change in the democratic party, becoming summing more uniformly progressive. the house you may see a resurgence of blue dogs who take the majority but we have people like sherrod brown who's going to try to hang onto his seat in ohio, an uphill battle there. a swing sibling to a partner with republicans on certain matters. this is the end of an era. an interesting race in arizona. we will see how that plays out. host: independent, thanks for waiting. caller: good morning gentlemen. i have a question about the

agenda for this coming week. they have a lot of stuff list it out that has to do with laundry, washing machines, air conditioning. something in there is the fourth amendment not for sale, number 4639. it looks to me like it's something to do with having a warrant. is this something that's possibly going to be tied into the pfizer reauthorization kind of like a backdoor approach for summing about warrants that's not in pfizer. host: is that warren davidson's bill? guest: one of the freedom caucus members he wanted this bill offered as an amendment. host: it is. guest: he wanted that as an amendment to the fisa which

caused a big controversy. if it passed that would make the bill -- that would cause us so -- showdown deleted to expire. what happened is they would have a separate vote on it. i thing would probably pass the house. the fact it's taken out of the process and given a second vote is unlikely to be involved. it's like a consolation prize. maybe he can go back later and say a lot of people like this. but basically just another way to put it on the side. it's not on the train that is moving so it's not really going to be enacted. >> to mind if i ask you how you found out about this bill >>? interesting that you bring up that bill.

caller: i'm just an old guy, not too intelligent about it but i was wandering around the internet and i found this list of upcoming bills for congress. they list out the numbers. host: i think it might be congress.gov. caller: i believe that's where it was where i found it. i've never been really up on all of this. host: thanks for doing it. guest: jobs. house.gov is another good one. you can see the agenda there. this is one of the more impressive questions i've gotten , that you go to this website and look at those bills. it's something i'm paid to do but good on you for doing that. host: a couple minutes left. in massachusetts, republican,

good morning. caller: caller: does the gentleman know about amy harris? she has the diary that biden left there. i would look at it. then that diary, biden was a pedophile, it proves it because the fbi wanted that diary so bad. look what he does on the campaign trail? it's ridiculous. host: this was just from last week from a cnn story you were referring to. a woman stole his diary and is sentenced to one month in jail. it's a topic you have tracked? guest: i haven't attracted closely at all. i have to do for what's in that diary. i will definitely look that up after the show. host: alex in new york, mount

vernon, good morning. caller: good morning. like i was saying before, there's been a lot of people going to jail over the january 6 incident. why isn't donald trump going to jail and other people do? host: the january 6 case? guest: trump is being charged over election interference. he's not being charged with insurrection. it's interesting the way january 6 convicted writers are playing into this campaign. trump has embraced them and he said he would pardon them. an interesting base play and it probably plays with some of the base. these people did right in the capital.

host: bloomberg.com is where you can see eric's story. a congressional reporter at bloomberg and we appreciate your time. guest: thank you. host: coming up after the break, it's day one for president donald trump's hush money trial in new york. we will return to that topic this morning and take your phone calls on the lines as usual for republicans, democrats and independents. the numbers are on your screen so start calling and now we will get your calls after the break. ♪ >> over the hill, some say that's a man in his prime. >> watch c-span's coverage the annual white house correspondents dinner live saturday, april 27 with saturday by -- saturn eight live colin

jos and president biden will give remarks. our coverage begins at 6 p.m. eastern on and c-span now. c-span.org. at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span, sights and sounds from inside the ballroom before the festivities begin. watch the white house correspondents dinner live saturday, april 27 on the c-span networks. ♪ >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress, from the house and senate floors, to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat of how issues are debated and decided. with no interruption and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. ♪

announcer: if you ever miss any of c-span's coverage, you can find it any time online at c-span.org. videos of key hearings, debates, and other events feature markers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. these points of interest markers appear on the right-hand side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. this time table makes it easy to quickly get an idea of what was debated and decided in washington. scroll through and spend a few minutes on c-span's points of interest. >> here is a highlight from a key moment in c-span's coverage. >> although this nation's capital for a short time, the

eyes of the world have continued to be on new york. one year ago, this great center of history, enterprise and creativity suffered the greatest cruelties and showed itself to be a place of valor and generosity and grace. here were so many innocent lives were suddenly taken, the world saw acts of kindness and heroism that will be remembered forever. >> c-span, powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: taking your phone calls this morning on donald trump's hush money trial in new york. it's set to begin today on the 50th floor of a manhattan courtroom at 9:30 a.m. eastern, little over an hour from now. that's when jury selection will begin. we want to hear your thoughts on this trial. we have the phone lines as usual by political party, republicans

(202) 748-8000, democrats (202) 748-8001 and independents (202) 748-8002. as you call in, to set the scene of what will take place in new york, we are joined by usa today justice department corresponded mark jensen. good morning. guest: hello. host: remind viewers what donald trump is actually accused of here in the 34 counts indictment that this case is about. guest: it's 34 counts, all of them are falsifying business records. the additional accusation is that he was falsifying those records to hide payments that he was making to a woman, pouring actress stormy daniels who claim to have sex with him and was trying to prevent word of that episode from being broadcast before the 2016 election.

there is the additional accusation that the hiding of the payments was effectively a campaign contribution in excess of the allowable amount because it prevented disparaging information from getting out before the election. host: what is the defense the donald trump team has put out ahead of the trial? guest: trump has said he was paying his personal lawyer, michael cohen, money, he called it a retainer michael cohen said there was no retainer. michael cohen's lawyer was the one who arranged for the payment of $130,000 to stormy daniels. trump says he just paid his lawyer and the lawyer was executing a nondisclosure agreement with daniels. it was just a personal contract and had nothing to do with the campaign. cohen and daniels are potential witnesses for the trial to

discuss what they considered a payment to keep her quiet before the election. host: 34 criminal charges if convicted of any or all, what punishment will the former president possibly face? guest: there are four year terms for each of the 34 counts. that's what you may have heard. trump will sometimes say that he is threatened with 136 years in prison and that if he is convicted him all of the counts and they would run consecutively. typically, even if convicted as a first-time offense, it's a relatively shorter term for a felony charge and the range would be somewhere below four years and the counts would run concurrently rather than consecutively. there could potentially be some prison time but not as long as what trump has been warning about. host: backing up to the big

picture, in today's washington post, the headline says for trump's trial, the first cut is the weakest of the trial. she is referring to this trial to the other three criminal trials he is facing. what is your assessment of strength of case compared to the other trial? s? guest: it's a little more direct than some of the other cases. the accusation is that there are these misdated financial documents, there are these payments to cohen, the 11 payments, nine of them are checks that trump signed himself and you can have the testimony from cohen and daniels and perhaps others talking about how he was trying to silence the inrmation from getting out3 it's a fairly straightforward case. the problems or potential problems for the prosecution are

that the main witness, michael cohen has been convicted of a finance violation which is basically in the shadows of this case for making that payment to daniels. he has also been convicted of lying to congress. he has been disbarred. trump says he's an unreliable witness and he was giving this information to prosecutors to shorten his own three year sentence for his felony. there will be many accusations going back and forth during the trial and that's where it's a little messier and perhaps it's a potentially weaker case. host: do we know who will take the stand in his trial in new york? guest: decides cohen, the lawyer arranging the payments and stormy daniels, the woman receiving the payments, david packer, an executive for a

company that oversees the national enquirer was also in the wings of this incident with another woman who has also claimed to have received a payment, karen mcdougal, received 150,000 after making a similar accusation, that payment was arranged through the national enquirer which cohen then reimbursed. you could potentially hear from pecker and there are other people such as trump's former director who picks as a possible potential witness. she was dealing with cohen quite a bit as: arrange the payments. she contends she did not know payments were being made. she knew cohen was trying to stifle the news and prevented from coming out but she was on the phone repeatedly with him as the payments were arranged in october and then as the news began to break about payments to

karen mcdougal in early november of 2016. host: jury selection begins today at the trial and directly after that, what's the timeline for jury selection and the trial and does the former president have to be there for every day of jury selection and trial? guest: trump is expected to be at the trial every day for both jury selection and the actual trial getting underway. it's important to have the defendant participate in these charges that could potentially take away his freedom. estimating the time of the tribal, the overall estimate is 6-8 weeks. it's also a little difficult to predict how long jury selection will take. there have been estimates of two weeks and they are taking wednesdays off.

how do you find this group of dozen people plus alternates who probably are familiar with trump because his name recognition is almost universal. he was a longtime fixture in new york before moving to florida. it's not so much finding people that don't know about trump or don't know about the accusations in this case but to find people who have not yet made a judgment about that. both sides will be asking how much do you know, where'd you get your news, can you be impartial in judging this case? host: what is your sense of the atmosphere in new york and how this is being handled by the city? guest: so far, it looks calm this morning. there were some crowds of protesters in earlier court trials he had come in civil cases that were tried in the federal and the same courthouse. police have set up barricades around the courthouse.

there are people with flags and signs this morning but that is sparse and outnumbered by the number of reporters waiting to get into the courthouse. so far, it looks calm and the secret service, the new york police department boat issued a statement friday saying they were prepared to offer the highest security they have dealt with in these type of cases in the past. they are confident they can provide security while still allowing pedestrian traffic around the courthouse. host: we have live pictures of some of the security coming in from new york ahead of that trial. the jury selection is starting at 9:30 a.m. on the 15th floor of the house there in manhattan. before you go, what is the most interesting aspect of this case for you? what angle will you be looking at as this plays out today in the days to come? guest: we have already seen

michael: testify about many of these accusations. i was in the room for that in february 2019. it will be interesting to see how he holds up under cross-examination, basically how the accusations are portrayed if stormy daniels is called. i will be interested to see how she testifies. this will be her first chance to make your case in a case she argues she never wanted to be a participant in. she wanted it to go away by signing a nondisclosure agreement so i will be interested to see how the witnesses testify and how they hold up under cross-examination. host: don't go away just yet. you mention michael: testifying on capitol hill. i want to play a minute and a half of michael: testifying -- michaelcohen testifying. >> can you carefully explained

to america how the hush-money payments to karen mcdougal and stormy daniels worked? can you explain what catch and kill is? >> i received a phone call regarding both karen mcdougal as well as stormy daniels obviously at different times, stating there were issues that were going to be damaging to mr. trump. with the stormy daniels, it started in 2011 when she wanted to have something removed from a website. that was the first time i spoke with keep david and her, her acting attorney and we were successful in having it taken down from the website. years later, around the time of the campaign, they came back and they asked what are you going to do now because she is back on the trail trying to sell the story. at which point, david pecker on

behalf of the national enquirer reached out to her and her attorney in order to take a look at lie detector tests that would prove she was telling the truth. they then contacted me and told me she was telling the truth at which point >> she took a lie detector test? >> she was seen by an employee of the national enquirer is when i went into mr. trump's office and explained why this time it's different than another time. >> where there are other women given hush money by donald trump or his organization? was the standard? >> no. i'm not aware of any other cases that mr. trump had. he was supposed to pay karen mcdougal. he was supposed to pay 125,000 dollars for the life story of karen mcdougal. for whatever the reason may be,

he elected not to pay it. davidecho was very angry because there was other money he that was expended on his behalf. david never got paid back for that either. >> so davidpecker has done this in other cases? >> in other circumstances, yes. not all of them had to do with women. host: that was michael cohen from 2019. help put that into context here and how that testimony might play into what you were just talking about. guest: at that testimony, it's five years ago now but it was very dramatic at the time because he had copies of the canceled checks so you could see the checks with trump's signature on it. that was quite dramatic. it was paid in monthly installments over one year. that was to be reimbursed for

the things he passed along to stormy daniels for karen mcdougal. the mcdougall case was a little more complicated because it went through the national enquirer. there was this accusation that the national wire was paying for her life story under this catch and kill strategy and never published anything about her life story. the newspaper executives denied that happened. they say they were going to make payments for fitness columns she would write. the thing about the stormy daniels payment is that cohen set up a company that he transferred the money through as an intermediary company because he was worried about his own wife finding out about these payments and having a problem with that. it was quite a detailed story and i'm sure we will hear all of

those details again and maybe have trump's lawyers taking apart that inconsistencies or flaws they see in the narrative. he will be arguing that he didn't know this large chunk of money was going to stormy daniels and cohen will testify that he knew. host: all of this will play out in the coming weeks and that meant courtroom. go to usa today for coverage. thanks for the preview this morning. guest: thanks for having me. host: until the end of our program at 10:00 a.m. eastern, we will take your calls on the hush money trial. the trial itself will begin at 9:30 a.m. with live pictures starting to come in out of new york and we will see -- show you those as we hear from you about this case. this is john in california, republican, good morning. caller: good morning.

you've got a prosecutor whose daughter is a democrat activists whose taking money from adam schiff, who is a nemesis of donald trump set on two congressional hearings of impeachment for trump. you got a prosecutor who is george soros sponsored, you've got a district that went over 70% for joe biden. there is no way that donald trump is going to get a jury of his peers. the prosecutor maneuvered and manipulated a minor misdemeanor campaign contribution into 34 felonies. the judge put a gag order of donald trump that violates his first amendment rights and violates his fourth amendment rights. these people should be charged and violating the civil rights of donald trump. this is trumped up, forgive the

pun, i do think equal time to trump, he is guilty of the mishandling of classified documents. i take they've got him dead to rights on that. i hope they punish him as severely as they did joe biden and hillary clinton who committed the same offense. in hillary's case, maybe more so. i hope they punish him just like they did joe biden and just like they did hillary clinton. i don't know why you don't get alan dershowitz on their to explain these legal terms. he's probably the greatest legal scholar of our time and i'm sure he would talk to you guys. he's nowhere to be found. instead, you get these people from the liberal media organizations to put the spin on it that this is a viable case. the reason is the weakest case because there's nothing to it.

all these trials are out to get trump, keeping him from get elected, keep him busy. you guys are just like npr. i wish you would do a little research and find out how many registered republicans there are on the c-span list. i'm sure is just like npr, there aren't any. you need to get your balance to your broadcasting. host: on the jury pool, some information on that -- the jury will be made up only of people who live in manhattan. all english-speaking u.s. citizens over the age of 18 who have not been convicted of a felony or -- and are eligible for jury duty in new york. new york city officials are pulling their list of potential jurors from registered voters, taxpayers, drivers license

holders, public benefit recipients and other sources in manhattan. you also talked about the gag order that is in place on donald trump. that was one of the issues he talked about ahead of this trial on his true social page and he talked about the gag order. >> i was recently informed that another corrupt new york judge gag me. he gag me with respect to a case that everyone including the da felt and never have been brought. plenty of people have gagged me recently because when i talked to new york, these cases are all rigged. it sounds fair, doesn't it, to be g buta it's not, it virtually never happens,g it only happens to meged because i'm able to tell people what's happening in those people get extremely angry with what's happening. this judge should be recused in

the case should be thrown out. he's totally conflicted. there's never been a judge more conflicted than this one. there has virtually been never anything like it. thank you very much. host: that was donald trump from his social page. this is kathleen in chicago, line for democrats. caller: good morning. please give me a second to get this thought out. this donald trump has compared himself to jesus, martin luther king and mandela. he says he is suffering for the american people. let's take jesus -- jesus didn't do anything like donald trump but he was persecuted. he didn't worry about who was republican or democrat. mandela just wanted to help people get their rights. he took his punishment and didn't worry about democrats or republicans. king got stoned, beaten and thrown in jail and didn't worry about who was republican or

democrat and this man wants to compare himself to these three figures? he says he's taking on this for all the american people? do like those guys did and then you can call yourself tomorrow. right now, you're running away. he claims he's innocent all these many years. put me on trial and let me speak. now he wants to claim this step it is nowhere near those three figures. he knows he's guilty. host: this is gary in minnesota, independent. caller: good morning. i was thinking about trump. he is always in trouble. why are these people always coming up with this stuff that is guilty all the time? you can't trust these women, they will say anything about him and his lawyers better stick up and help them a little bit. all these politicians are crooked as heck.

you have to do something, how will you get it jury that will not be prejudiced against trump? after they heard about this case , i don't think they will find anybody in the world. host: jason in montgomery, alabama, democrat, good morning. caller: how are you doing? the first dude calls in and admits he's -- from committed crimes in florida but then goes on to say what about this that and the third? if you can admit it's a crime, then say whatever punishment he should get his coming to him. take your punishment. mandela went to prison for like 30 years. martin luther king was assassinated. trump is a coward and he's

obviously guilty. he denies when he can't admit and admits when he can't deny. he says stormy daniels not his mitten is but why did michael cohen go to prison for paying a lady that was irrelevant. let's be real. the dude did it on the reason why he gets all the smoke is because he doesn't know how to close his mouth. he insults everybody. he hollers and disparages every person known to man and he falls back and claims they are coming out -- after him for no reason. they are doing it because he brings it all on himself. host: this is the former president of the united states from about 13 hours ago go on his true social page saying in part --

i will be fighting for myself but i will be fighting for our country. election interference like this has never happened before and hopefully will never happen again. we are in nomination and serious decline. we will soon be a great nation again, november 5 will be the most important day in the history of the united states. maga 2024, see you tomorrow, the president last night. he is on his way to his manhattan courtroom for this hush money case. jury selection in that case is set to begin in just half an hour from now. this is alex in minnesota, republican. caller: thanks for taking my call. i did not vote for donald trump but i would vote for him in 2024 and the reason is i've come to the conclusion that what you were witnessing is a struggle over who will be in control of the country. it's a power struggle. there is really no reason we

should drag up things that happened in 2015 and 2016. you look at what happened with the intelligence officers did about hunter biden's laptop. they could have verified that because the fbi had the light -- the laptop but they lied about it and to me that's a campaign issue all by itself. beyond that, you can say the reason the power struggle is going on is is because about the economic direction of the country and whether we will be a country that makes things here or whether we will be a country that's in business with the chinese communist party. look where the money to the biden family came from. the company that was giving money to the bidens, they were people under fisa and hunter biden's name came up.

it came out in trial. you won't cover that but that's coming up. host: i promise you, we've covered the congressional investigation into the biden family. caller: his name was patrick ho and he was a spy in china and there is an email where hunter biden's name was mentioned. you can see the same email and there's no way that people didn't know about that. host: this is carol in west virginia, independent. caller: good morning. i think farce for the simple reason that if we are going to charge people for paying people off, we need to do everybody in new york. i'm sure the today show,

everybody remembers that. those women were paid off. hilary paid off a lawyer firm, that money was laundered into the lawyers firm to come up with a fake dossier. it's done. but yet the fcc didn't find anything wrong. they didn't find -- file any charges. the justice department looked at this and they couldn't find any charges and they didn't find anything but yet mr. bragg can find a crime and is far as the documents go, both former president trump and president biden should be charged the same with the exception that it is against the law to take classified documents.

i would like to know how and nobody has asked this question, how did joe biden get those documents when he was a senator? why nobody has asked him that question? the president is the only one that can unclassified documents. when trump hit mar-a-lago on the 20th of january, he was still president until joe biden took the oath. as far as the jury pool, you stated yourself that it would be people with a drivers license. you need to pull up watch the cheryl adkins show called full measures. she did a thing on this to where everybody's going into the dmv

or the health department or wherever and getting registered to vote. there is no proof they had to show citizenship. they could just check yes. host: we are just minutes away in the beginning of that trial in new york. live pictures from new york city of the security screening area where the former president is expected to come through the door. we see more security officers stepping out of those doors in recent minutes. we will show you the scene there when the former president walks through those doors as we watch and wait, we will hear from you. craig and alabama, good morning. caller: good morning. mega republicans have more excuses than the men on death row. how do they think trump is not guilty or this is a farce

because of the russian collusion hoax? it wasn't a hoax. there were 10 instances of obstruction of justice. trump didn't even testify or sit down for a deposition. he prepared a questionnaire and answer the questionnaire with his lawyers. on top of that, he stopped anybody with firsthand knowledge of testifying in front of congress. biden did all of these things. when it comes to the hush-money payments in this court and jury pools, can maga republicans really say they are impartial when it comes to facts in these cases when it comes to donald trump? they are not impartial because they are -- they already convicted biden before he had a

chance in court. the same time, trump is trying to delay this into the election. there is a section of america that has answers that deserve to be answered regardless of what conservatives think. the public deserves the right to know. that's all i have to say. host: mike, republican in kentucky is next. caller: good morning. would trump even be on trial in any of these cases if he wasn't running for president? i doubt it. what is the statute of limitations? isn't it ironic that all these trials, before the election at the end of this year? why didn't they do it two or three years ago? they weren't worried two or three years ago but now that he's running for president, all

the democrats want is getting him from getting elected president. the democrats don't know what they done with these trials. that's all i got to say. host: what would you say to the caller who said he believed donald trump is running for president because of these charges and because of the effect they could carry in the hopes they would go away if he becomes president? caller: he's running for president to get rid of the trials? he's running for president to try to save this country from the mess it's in. look what happened over the weekend. do you think iran would've done that to israel of trump was still president? trump didn't give iran billions of dollars like joe biden does and says they can't use it on weapons. that's the most foolish thing

ever in my life. trump is running to get this country out of the mess to put people back to work and get more gas and food where people can afford to buy it. that's why trump's running for president. it's not to cover up some trial or kangaroo trial in manhattan, new york. everybody sees through it. host: this is bob and coopersburg pennsylvania, independent. caller: one aspect of the trial, i was wondering because one of the charges is falsifying which means he tried to put this payment through as a business expense which he didn't have to. he could have called a personal expense. that wouldn't be a crime so he purposely chose to call it a

business expense and take a deduction for it. host: the wall street journal wrap up -- there are pictures there from the wall street journal wrap up in all the major players -- papers with the story in the front page and we are waiting for the former president to arrive for the trailer manhattan. tennessee, democrat, go ahead. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call.

i want to change gears and on my second lesson, it was about perception. i asked the kids what they were seeing. i would take a picture and turn it upside down and they saw an old lady. which is it? is it an old lady or princess? the whole point is perception. your brain perceives things and then your perception influences your perspective. i hear a lot of perspectives on this program that are wrong because people's perception is wrong. the fact is in science, we look at all evidence, we don't to confuse evidence based on what we want. look at all of it. if you are not willing to look at all of the evidence then your

perception, your perspective will be wrong. host: what does all of the evidence show us? caller: there is evidence that says that donald trump did these things. there is evidence that says he didn't is what you hear from people on the right. is it their evidence or perception or perspective? you have to look at everything. these first three trials, they are pretty iffy. my father worked in nuclear weapons industry for 20 plus years and i will guarantee you that if he had taken a nap can head of that facility with notes scribbled on it, he would've gone to jail, lost his job. the real thing here is those documents and the fact is, they were not his, that's government property.

i don't know about these other things. anyway, if you're not looking at all the evidence then your perception, your perspective is going to be wrong. host: do you think you would make a good jury member? caller: i think i would make it good jury member. i am not a trump supporter i'm not particularly a biden supporter. i would rather see two other people running. i have never voted for a republican for president however, i did not vote for bill clinton either time. i would have voted for nikki haley because i think she's on the right track for this country. i hear these people call in with their perspective which is totally wrong because they are only looking at one side. i never watch msnbc. i do watch fox because i want to

get their opinion and their perspective so i can make a logical conclusion. that's what it's all about. people in this country live in denial and i'm talking both sides. they deny all of the facts because their perception is flawed. host: we are awaiting the arrival of donald trump at that courthouse. nikki haley was mentioned by nicole russell in her column today is trump trial begins, what conservatives have to ask ourselves is the headline.

this is cindy in norwalk, connecticut, republican, good morning. caller: good morning. the american people have spoken and they want donald trump as their presidential candidate.

maybe we should respect that a little bit. we don't respect each other. donald trump is not a coward or he wouldn't be running. look at that his he's taken to his financial situation. if all he cared about was making money and cared about himself, he wouldn't be running for president. we should thank donald trump because the abraham accords is the only thing holding this mess together in the middle east. instead, we want to focus on jonathan edwards paying that woman a million dollars to keep her pregnancy and affair quiet but he got off because he has a d at the end of his name. he will not get a fair jury and that's fine. let it all play out. we will all see the truth. if i hear one more democrat say no one is above the law, then

let's look at it fairly. joe biden broke the law and took those documents as a senator. he is breaking the federal law every day, having millions of people, illegals come over the border. let's all be honest with each other here. no one is above the law including your president joe biden, thank you. host: virginia, michael, independent, good morning. are you with us? i hear your television on in the background but stick by your phone. this is iowa, democrat, good morning. caller: ok, i agree with some people and i disagree with some people. i honestly think that donald trump is running for president. he was the first one to declare

a long time ago because he knew that these trials were going to come up. it's really a shame that all these people that have worked with him so far have gone to jail. he is still scot-free. he deserves to have the same kind of punishment, in some cases may be more, than the people before him who have already gone to jail. i just think it's a shame that he wants to make america great again when it's already been good until he closed the country down because of covid. it did not have to be closed down. that's when all the trouble started. i thank you and have a good day. host: this is margaret and munro, north carolina, republican, good morning. caller: yes, sir.

and i am proud of it. innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until proven innocent. donald trump, the only thing he's guilty of is standing up for the american people and standing up for the most crooked administration to come across our land. the people of america, we know who is innocent and we know who is for america and we salute him every day. i pray for him. i want this man back in there. he knows how to run a country business or otherwise. he is also a person who loves american history and the american flag. he embraces the american people

that stands between us and this crooked administration under joe biden. democrats should hang their heads in shame if they don't stand up and vote for this man. i will vote for him every time he runs. if he runs for eternity, i would be on his coattails. he is very straightforward. he tells it like it is. his record speaks for itself. who can deny it? it is factual, thank you, sir. host: jury selection is set to begin in about 10 minutes on the 15th floor of that manhattan courtroom. it's the hush money case, the first of the four metal cases against donald trump said to go to trial and we are taking your phone calls here, (202) 748-8000 republicans, democrats, (202) 748-8001, independents (202)

748-8002. nikki is in rockaway park, new york, independent, good morning. caller: good morning, america. as someone who is actually been tried in court, in federal court, i can tell you that none of these conspiracy theories, none of these accusations would ever be allowed in a trial. the jurors are ticked. they are asked specific questions as to what relates to the actual facts of this trial not what somebody thinks are the facts. most of the evidence that your viewers, whether they be republican or democrat who have never been indicted, never been a defendant in a trial like i was and it was international news, should have let the jury.

host: what were you on trial for? caller: attempting to kidnap, kill or injure donald trump area host: you're on trial for that? caller: yes, i was and i was arrested. it was international news when i was arrested. it was 2022. i went to trial on november 2 of 2022. i was acquitted. on november 4. in my district in new york, the conviction rate is over 97%. i went to trial because the fact of -- the facts of the matter were not there. by the way, i was prosecuted, it wasn't joe biden's department of justice and it wasn't donald trump. it was a department of justice.

they thought they had the evidence based on a complaint by the secret service they taped 41 of my telephone calls that it couldn't use my trail with the jury was presented with the evidence. the jury is picked by both sides. the prosecution and the defense and i was acquitted after the jury heard the evidence. i was acquitted on november 4, 2022. host: this is kevin in san antonio, texas, democrat. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. o.j. simpson and donald trump are baby boomers. o.j. simpson was not convicted because he did not do it by himself.

donald trump does not do it by himself. everybody understands what's going on. we are talking about government and we need somebody to run this country, not a celebrity. host: wanda in california's next, good morning. caller: the first question i have for you is blackmail a crime? host: is blackmail a crime? i believe it is. caller: that's what stormy daniels did. i would also like to know is paying a blackmailer crime? host: i'm not your legal expert here. what are your thoughts on the case for? caller: i think this is all trumped up and i think stormy daniels should be on trial for blackmail. host: v this isolker in minnesota, good morning. caller: good morning.

stormy daniels went through the lie detector test and me personally for making my opinion would be nice to have donald trump go through a lie detector test. that's my opinion. it's because of his reputation with the truth. it's to say the least, poor. host: do you think you would pass a lie detector test? caller: maybe the machine would explode, i don't know. i doubt it. i honestly doubt it otherwise i wouldn't question it. to make a call and that matter

would help. host: tommy in kentucky is next, good morning. caller: yes, i can't believe what i'm hearing from some of these people. honest to god, they didn't see him have that three hour meeting with vladimir putin in helsinki? they didn't see him give billions of dollars to millionaires? what bills has he passed? he is not a strong man. he took six deferments from the military. how can you consider someone like that strong? it's ridiculous. the republicans, they are crazy. they don't know any facts about him. he told them he wants to be a dictator.

what else does he need? are they really that blinded? i wonder how many oligarchs that call on this line. i don't believe american people would see a man and agree with rush on everything and go to north korea and talk about our soldiers? what kind of people are they? 4 peers a few host: of your comments as we await the former president's arrival -- here is a few of your comments.

some of your comments as you been watching. we will continue to take your comments for this last half-hour of the "washington journal." you can also send us a text at (202) 748-8003 or we will look for your comments on facebook and twitter as well. this is gerald in georgia, republican, good morning. caller: i am also an ordained minister and a pastor of a

little church. i want everybody to know that i supported trump and i will continue. i would vote for him for eternity. we didn't have all these wars going on when trump was in there. gas was $1.87 per gallon when he left. we didn't go to the grocery store and spend three times the price on groceries. trump stood with israel. it in go the way the wind was blowing. we need somebody who will stand up.

you have to stamp or something or you fall for everything. that administration that that -- that's in there now is a godless generation. host: you mentioned you are a pastor? caller: i am an assistant pastor. how often do these issues come up at your church, whether it is what you are talking about or the election? do they come up much, or do they leave it at the church doors? caller: oh, it comes up. guest: we will leave it there before the president walks into the courtroom. mr. trump: this is an assault on america.

nothing like this has happened before through there has never been anything like it. it should have never been brought forward. there's never been anything like it. this is an outrage that this case was brought. it is persecution like never before. nobody has ever seen anything like it. and, again, it is a case that never should have been brought. it is an assault on america. this is an assault on our country. it is a country that is run by a man who is very much involved in this case. this is really an attack on a political opponent. that is all it is. thank you very much.

reporter: [inaudible] host: former president donald trump inside the manhattan criminal court on his way up to the 15th floor, room 1530 on the courthouse for the hush money case, speaking to many reporters as they gathered there. that trial is getting underway shortly. there are not cameras in that courtroom, as per the regulations for the new york courts, but we are taking your phone calls, and we will certainly look for the reporting as jury selection begins this morning. jury selection expected to take a week, maybe two. this case could be wrapped up in four weeks, six weeks, maybe longer. a lot is up in the air. this is the first of four criminal cases against the

former president, and this is the first one going to trial. this is richard in wisconsin, an independent. good morning. caller: hi. first of all, i belong to an independent voters club here in wisconsin. there's 93 of us. also, there is five attorneys that belong there, too, and everybody here so far has that trump is a self-centered independent jerk. and anybody who votes for him has got to be brain-dead. we meet two times a month, or once a month, depends on what is happening. we talk everything over, and, yeah. that is how we think here in wisconsin. host: richard, why did you form

an independent voters club? caller: pardon me? host: why did you form an independent voters club? caller: this started before trump, and actually, we got dis gust at different companies and different places. it's just that we all decided to do this, and i guaranteed the voters club. and also, everyone says so far that the people who vote for trump cannot see the forest because of the trees. it is just, that is the way we are doing it. and like i said, we vote twice a month at a meeting hall that is in a bowling alley. we discuss a lot of things,

argue sometimes, and whatever trump did, the jury will decide what happened there, not the people that call in. host: richard, do you think he will get a fair trial? caller: who knows? it depends on what the people say. you never know with a jury trial. so that is what is happening here. it is just that we are all disgusted, and like i said, we have five attorneys that go over everything with us, and we just do me like that. can then trump took over a fairly good, not great, but fairly good economy from obama. so everybody says that trump did really good. well, he took something over that was not as bad as biden. host: richard, do me a favor, as

we get closer to the election, call back in. let us know what is going on with your independent voters club in wisconsin, certainly a key state to watch, independent voters certainly a key aspect of this year's election. thanks for the phone call. this is right in matthews, north carolina, republican. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. as far as the hush money trials or any of the trials, i believe all the democrats, the deep state, obama and the deep state are just looking for one guilty verdict, so that when trump wins the election, that obama will have struck biden not to step down, and that will be the end of our democracy. host: this is jack in philadelphia, good morning. democrat. good morning. caller: yes, i cannot believe how all these republicans backup

donald trump. they just back him up. i don't believe it. they are so bitter when they call in. how can you back of a man like this? i'm relieved that this trial is taking place. it should have taken place a long time ago. donald trump's face, orange face matches that orange jumpsuit. thank you. host: tennessee, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. can anybody hear me? host: i can hear you, joshua. caller: i wanted to call in and say no matter which way the trial goes, if he is found guilty or not, that he is going to wind up getting elected one way or another. people don't care. at the end of the day, what happens, republicans are going to vote for trump, and democrats are going to vote for biden, and it is just going to wind up making him a martyr at the end of the day. host: anything else you want to

add, joshua? caller: no. host: that is joshua in tennessee. that trial scheduled to begin seven minutes ago in room 1530 of the manhattan criminal court. alvin bragg is leaving that case for the manhattan district attorney's office. it was alvin bragg a little over a year ago announcing these charges, this 34-count indictment against former president donald trump, laying out his case back on april 4 of 2023. pierce three minutes of what he had to say at the time. [video clip] mr. bragg: earlier this morning, donald trump was named in an indictment returned by a manhattan grand jury of 34 counts of falsifying records in the first degree. under new york state law, it is a felony to falsify business

records with intent to defraud and intent to conceal another crime. that is exactly what this case is about. 34 false statements, made to cover up other crimes. felony crimes in new york state, no matter who you are, we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct. the defendant repeatedly made false statements on new york business records. he also caused others to make false statements. the defendant claimed he was paying michael cohen for legal services performed in 20. this simply was not true. and it was a false statement the defendant made month after month in 2017.

april, may, june, and so on through the rest of the year. for nine straight months, the defendant held documents in his hand containing this key lie, that he was paying michael cohen for legal services performed in 2017, and he personally signed checks for payments to michael cohen for each of these nine months. in total, the grand jury found there were 34 documents with this critical false statement. why did donald trump repeatedly make these false statements? the evidence will show that he did so to cover up crimes related to the 2016 election. donald trump, executive at the publishing company american media inc., mr. cohen, and others agreed in 2015 to a catch

and kill scheme, that is, a scheme to buy and suppress negative information to bill's chance -- to help mr. trump oct has of winning the election. as part of this scheme, donald trump made three payments to those who claim to have negative from ancient about mr. trump. to make these payments, they set up shell companies and made more false statements, including, for example, in ami, american media inc., business records. they paid to keep quiet a woman named stormy daniels. less than two weeks before the presidential election, michael cohen wired $130,000 to stormy daniels' lawyer. that payment was to hide damaging information from the voting public. the scheme was illegal. the scheme violated new york

election law, a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means. the $130,000 wire payment exceeding the federal campaign contribution cap, and the false statements in ami's books violated new york law. host: manhattan district attorney alvin bragg. that was just over one year ago today. that case goes to trial. jury selection is underway in that manhattan courtroom. and we are taking your phone calls on this case. phone lines as usual, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. and we will take your calls until the end of our program today in just about 20 minutes. the houses in today at noon, the senate is in a 3:00 p.m., and you can watch coverage on c-span in the house and of course on

c-span2 for the senate. jeff is in racine, wisconsin, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm curious to ask you why this investigation is going off of what the national enquirer had to say. i just don't get it. they are not a reputable newspaper. it is a tabloid, isn't it? it is not a newspaper. thank you. host: patty, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: i am doing well, thanks. caller: i would like to comment on this now, so much emma they should not even have this. they should just go on and convict him for not being a president. anybody else, i heard, for instance, a lot of people that

are in jail for assault on women and everything else, but he just walks away. i think if it was wrong of him, he would not have did that. and also, you can hear it on the news, the damage and those people in jail, but he is still walking around, saying that, you know, those are what's wrong and everything. so donald trump gets away with all of this, i'm a christian, and we heard this man saying he is a christian, that is not right there. host: patty in houston. michael, an independent, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing? host: i'm doing well. caller: this trial is null and void by the fact that trump will buy off a juror or intimidate a juror, like he has done before, and he will stand in front of

the cameras, saying how innocent he is, etc. host: you know that justice will be served in this case? do you think justice will be served in any case? caller: well, it could become, but trump has done this before in the 1980's, when the mafiosi died was importing steel for his buildings, and he was busted, he paid to have a juror, i'm not sure if he was intending to mandated or bought off, whether it will happen in other trials, i don't know, but i think it will happen in this trial. host:host: michael in virginia. gloria international, north carolina, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: doing well. caller: i have a couple of comments. i would vote for donald trump if he were in prison for murder. look at what joe biden has done.

hillary clinton, they did not do a thing about it. so many others, they don't do a thing about it. i'm 85 years old, and i will tell you, he kept our country safe, and he did not raise taxes for senior citizens. someone had been using my card, my visa card, and i did not know who they were, and i called the foodstamp office, and said can i get food stamp for about a month until i can get this straightened out? you know what they told me? no. host: you said you would vote for donald trump if he was convicted for murder and in prison. caller: absolutely. above joe biden, yes, sir. host: is there any other

president in history, and you mentioned your age, that you felt so strongly about iago caller: well, there's probably a couple. i like trump -- i mean, i can't think of him. i like whatever we had -- i mean, obama, he was so so, but he still was crooked just like any of them are. all of them make mistakes. now, i liked kennedy. john f. kennedy. i thought he was fair. he was a big democrat. i was a democrat until i voted for donald trump. all my life, i've been a democrat, until donald trump

ran, after all of this with the obamas and what have you come and i did not even like george bush. i thought he was a little bit on the crooked side. but donald trump, we had the best economy that i can ever remember. host: that is gloria in north carolina. staying in the tar heel state emma this is an in charlotte. good morning. [no audio] caller: hi, john. i wanted to make a short comment. donald trump lacks impulse control coming is because he has -- thank you, bye. host: charles in south carolina, independent. good morning. caller: good morning.

i happened to be democrat. sir? host: i'm listening to you. caller: just to be held accountable, nobody is above the law. being in south carolina, ken starr following this man, that lets us know what is going on with everybody. host: this is suzanne, also in charleston, south carolina. republican. caller: good morning. i'm a little confused. i understand he has been falsified records, hiding another crime.

what is the other crime? host: what is being alleged as the other crime? caller: correct. host: plenty of discussion on that in today's paper. the best i can give you is in today's "washington post," she says it better than i could. ordinarily, she writes, falsify business records is a misdemeanor under new york law, but if it is done with the intent to defraud or conceal another crime, that can elevate it into a felony. and what alleged crime elevated trump's condo from misdemeanor to felony? bragg has identified three. a new york state election law that prohibits conspiring to promote or convict the election of any person to public office through legal means, and a new york tax law, because the payments to cohen so that cohen could avoid incurring a tax liability. so that is the explanation.

caller: thank you for that explanation for it i was a little confused. on his behalf, i would challenge everyone to stop and think about the people that are saying i can't understand why people would stand behind trump or vote for him, well, so far, i stand on his record, and there has to be something about all of the persecution and indictments that he has received, and so far, nothing has stuck. host: this is the first want to go to trial, suzanne. you said nothing has stuck. this is the first one that is actually going to trial. caller: correct. but i find a lot of people are giving the verdict of guilty by public opinion, and that makes me very sad for what america has come through. to. host: do you think there's also

a lot of "not guilty" by public opinion? are people too quick to -- caller: sure, i would agree with that. host: are you willing to trust the outcome of these trials, that we will get a fair verdict, that would be in manhattan or in atlanta, georgia, and washington, d.c., or in florida? caller: i could not comment on that until the aftereffect. i have to see how it is handled. i would not want to predict something like that in advance. i would like to see the facts before i would be able to answer that. host: this is penny, a democrat in delaware. good morning. caller: good morning, john. regardless of what side you are on, it is a very sad day in america that we should have a past president on trial for criminal matters and we should

always hold our presidents to a higher standard. this man has never acted in an ethical way. people have known this their whole life about him. he does not see anything wrong with his actions. because he has always gotten away with it his entire life. he does not understand why he should have to account for that. probably based on that advice from attorneys when he was running for president back in 2016, you know, to find the people, pay them off. the price tag that he put on these, it goes to show how much he actually values them. 100 $30,000, 100 $50,000 is all they are worth to him. he's very narcissistic. you have the perfect personality -- it is never him. it is always someone else.

again, the narcissistic personality, he believes he is above the law, he has never been held to account, and he probably would not have been had he not run for president, he probably would've continued to live his life in new york, the same as he always has. his children would have carried on the legacy of real estate magnate, because he is. the problem i see with the hush money trials is to find a worker, because of -- find a new yorker, because the jury is pulled from citizens of new york, to find somebody who is not a sympathizer and has already worked on this song and dance, to spread their social media and to infiltrate the jury, to be able to accommodate a not guilty verdict for him. i'm sure he's been working on that for quite a while. that is what he does. host: players penny in delaware on donald trump and women, this is the column in today's "new york times," jessica bennett is

the contributing editor at the "new york times" opinions section. i lie awake at night wondering if donald trump is afraid. roberta kaplan it of course stormy daniels, five women who are living rent-free in donald trump's mind these days. she writes, i've never gotten the sense that joe biden or adam schiff or jeb bush or another man ever got in mr. trump's head the way ms. carol, ms. james, ms. daniels and other women do. there's a certain justice here, she writes, as he talked about grabbing women, women grab back at the ballot box, they did not do that, but maybe what we are seeing now though is the grabbed back moment, maybe, i'll, a slow and steady pinch. he's getting a slow and steady comeuppance. jessica bennett writing in today's "new york times."

we've been taking your calls on donald trump's hush money trial. it has begun already this morning, at 9:30 a.m. eastern is when it was scheduled for at that new york courthouse, room 1530 of the manhattan criminal court. this is joe in california, independent. good morning. caller: yeah. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: as far as what donald trump did not do in the middle east, when he did not do is do anything about iraq. they were a new york minute away from having an atomic bomb. all these people calling and confirm my theories that most of them are basically started and stupid. host: let's work on not insulting the other callers. this is isabella in new jersey, republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i'm 89 years old you'd about 40 years ago, i voted democrat, and

then i became a republican. the thing that i'm speaking about is there is a single senator or congressman accused of a sexual problem, there is a hush money fund existing to this day in washington, d.c. to pay it and protect the accused. is anyone aware of that? because that is when i switched over from a democrat to a republican. and there is a hush money fund existing to this day to hush any of these stormy daniels people who are opportunists, figuring it is an opportunity or figuring to blackmail him. that is all i have to say. but it is something i live with, over 89 years old, and i'm

appalled at the corruption that's going on today. and the liberal media, there's only one way. it's only one way. they never opened up to other people's opinions, and that is all i have to say. host: fact-check.org, a couple of years ago at this point, took a look at the hush money claim, that i think that caller is referring to, money spent on sexual harassment funds for members of congress. it includes payments for other types of settlements as well as other payments to it employees other than members of congress over the course of two decades. fact-check.org is the place you can go if you want to learn a little more about congressional settlements.

just a minute or so left here, though it i want to get a couple more calls into it anthony has been waiting in hyattsville, maryland, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, john and c-span family feud about the republican callers calling nsa and trump kept us safe -- family. about the republican callers calling in and saying trump kept us safe, he allowed one million people died from covid because he did not want to panic the country, he said. a majority of those were in red states, killing hundreds of thousands. they wore no mask, they were no-vax voters. about 1000 people on january 6, who were convicted, they will not be voting. and even if trump is convicted, he will not be able to vote for himself, even if he is allowed to run.

so the shortcomings or the shortfall are the voters in the republican party will make the election, i think, more in the favor of the democrats. host: anthony in hyattsville, maryland. our last caller in today's "washington journal." we will be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 a.m. pacific it a reminder that the house is in today at noon, and the senate is in at 3:00 p.m. eastern. i hope you have a great monday, and we will see you back here tomorrow morning. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪ >> later