0:00

Post reports is brought to you by

0:02

the City of Houston. Your journey begins

0:04

at visithouston.com There's

0:17

some people marching down Center Street now

0:19

with the signs say not above the

0:22

law and they're doing like a military

0:25

style chant. That's

0:27

Isaac Arnstorf, a national political reporter

0:30

for the Post. It's 8.15.

0:33

It's a perfect April

0:35

morning in lower Manhattan.

0:37

There is like the longest

0:40

battery of TV cameras that

0:42

you've ever seen. This

0:47

morning, Isaac was standing outside the

0:50

Manhattan courthouse where the criminal trial

0:52

of former president Donald Trump began

0:54

today. This is the case that goes back

0:56

to the run up to the 2016 election and Trump is

1:00

accused of falsifying business records to

1:03

hide hush payments to an adult

1:05

film actress who alleged they had

1:08

an affair to prevent that from

1:10

coming out before the election. This

1:13

trial is expected to take anywhere from six

1:15

to eight weeks and

1:17

it's unprecedented. Well this

1:20

is the first time in American history that

1:22

we have a former president on trial. It's

1:24

also the first time we have a presumptive

1:26

major party nominee on a criminal

1:29

trial during an election and

1:31

it might not be the last time just this year.

1:39

From the newsroom of The Washington

1:41

Post, this is Post Reports. I'm

1:44

Martine Powers. It's Monday, April 15th. Today

1:47

we take you to the New York trial

1:49

of Donald Trump where the former president is

1:51

facing 34 felony

1:53

counts of falsifying business records.

1:56

Here's what we know to expect. Prosecutors

1:59

will build. Trump's alleged

2:01

hush money payments to adult

2:03

film star Stormy Daniels, plus

2:05

the efforts to keep them

2:07

quiet amounted to a legal

2:09

actions to try to help

2:11

win the presidency. Will.

2:13

Hear the defense argue that the payments

2:15

were legal and meant to protect Trump's

2:18

family from an embarrassing. Disclosure: Trump

2:20

has denied having. That

2:22

alleged affair at all. And even

2:24

this morning after entering the courthouse,

2:26

he stopped in the hallway to

2:29

deliver a message to reporters arguing

2:31

that this trial is bigger. First

2:35

suicide bombers ever before and

2:37

over the summer season. And

2:41

again suggested she would have

2:43

been brought to the so

2:45

far. As as

2:47

whatever. Throughout the season, the saw.

2:51

This trial is being overseen by

2:53

New York Supreme Court Justice One

2:55

and Marshawn. During the course of

2:57

the trials were anticipating testimony from Stormy

2:59

Daniels, whose real name by the

3:01

way is Stephanie Clifford. We also

3:03

expect to hear from Trump's former

3:05

lawyer. Michael Cohen is now a key

3:08

witness for the prosecution, but before

3:10

any of that can happen, the

3:12

first task is to select a

3:14

jury. That. Process got started today

3:16

again the first time in history that

3:18

regular Americans are being called on to

3:21

judge whether a former President committed a

3:23

crime. Wanting. To know

3:25

this trial will not be televised.

3:28

So we at the Post had a team

3:30

of reporters in New York rotating in and

3:32

out of the court room. And the overflow

3:34

room to give us a steady updates and

3:37

what's happening in this trial? Isaac.

3:39

So you heard at the Topic Today show

3:41

was there this morning. Now we're turning to

3:44

Seen and Shake the Covers courts and law

3:46

enforcement for the past. This afternoon on a

3:48

break between sessions, Seen as stepped out of

3:50

the courthouse and onto the streets to give

3:53

us a picture of what happened and they

3:55

wanted list. Right

4:00

now it is. and what? Around one

4:02

o'clock in the afternoon you spent this

4:04

morning inside of the courthouse to get

4:06

a sense of the first few. Hours

4:08

of the proceedings. In this

4:11

historic case, tell me what have you

4:13

been seeing. And hearing so far

4:15

what happened as snow today is

4:17

scheduled for jury. Selection but

4:20

sire morning such included

4:22

without a single Derby.

4:24

And called him to start the

4:26

screening process. And that is because

4:28

there were a number of legal

4:31

issue that has had not yet

4:33

been was all and some new

4:35

issues as. Using

4:37

so by the time they wraps

4:39

up, there wasn't much time left

4:41

for the panel on the first

4:44

hundred or so dearth abroad. And

4:46

so they senators to launch early.

4:48

And so the party's. Come. Back

4:50

earlier than usual, what around whatever

4:52

size presumably once a comeback. They

4:55

will get started relatively quickly on

4:57

the process of bringing jersey and

4:59

screaming them and sitting for smears.

5:03

My impression is that some of this

5:05

is kind of normal for our criminal

5:07

trial. Works as theirs and housekeeping the

5:10

you have to take care of at

5:12

the outset about leg like outstanding motions

5:14

or question But also this is a

5:16

trial in which we've seen a significant

5:19

number of. Delay tactics essentially

5:21

coming from especially these the defense attorneys

5:23

to talk me through like what was

5:25

actually happening this morning and to what

5:27

extent it was normal on to what

5:29

extent it was a kind of free

5:31

lewd to our we're going to see

5:34

in the rest. Of the trial

5:36

very normal to have a

5:38

on result legal issues going

5:40

to trial. itself it was not

5:42

that unusual off in the reserve

5:44

a day in advance of jury

5:46

selection a difference a sucker for

5:48

all this and finalize it before

5:51

jurors get here and you're correct

5:53

there have been a number of

5:55

delay request on from he has

5:57

in the past week and even

5:59

before Some of those requests were sort

6:01

of touched on a little bit today. Judge

6:04

Marchon officially ruled that

6:06

he is denying

6:08

their emotion for his recusal.

6:11

Trump's defense has continued to raise the issue

6:14

that Marchon, in their view,

6:16

is not equipped to

6:18

be fair enough because of personal

6:20

conflict. He completely disagrees with that

6:23

and he renewed his statement that

6:25

he's fully capable of being

6:27

fair and impartial and

6:29

they moved on from that. Can some

6:31

of what the lawyers were discussing

6:33

with Judge Marchon this morning are

6:35

related to questions around what information

6:38

is going to be able to

6:40

be shared with the jurors? Yes.

6:42

Can you talk a little bit about that and the

6:44

kind of key details that there were questions

6:46

around whether or not the jurors in this

6:48

case are even going to be able to

6:50

hear them? Judge Marchon

6:53

is making a point

6:55

of excluding facts

6:58

and details that may come off

7:00

as too prejudicial and too unfair

7:02

to Trump. A couple

7:04

of examples of that are that

7:06

the jury will not find out that

7:09

Melania was pregnant with Barron Trump at

7:11

the time of one of the alleged

7:13

affairs that are part of the evidence

7:16

in this case. That's Karen McDougal. Jurors

7:20

will also not see

7:22

the entirety of the

7:24

famous Access Hollywood page

7:26

where Trump brags to

7:28

the host about being

7:30

able to grab women's

7:32

genitals without restriction. And

7:34

so those two things are too prejudicial,

7:37

according to Marchon's ruling, and

7:39

will not be coming into the case

7:41

in the way that prosecutors may have

7:43

thought to introduce them. Interesting. So

7:47

as you were saying, jury selection

7:49

is the next task that the court

7:51

is going to get to. My understanding

7:53

is that there are hundreds of

7:55

potential jurors who are gathered there

7:58

waiting for the election. to see

8:00

if they might serve on this historic jury. Can

8:03

you talk a little bit about who

8:05

these people are and what information the lawyers

8:07

are going to try to find out about them

8:09

as they are picking the story?

8:12

Yeah, so we won't know yet who they are

8:14

until we hear them give some

8:16

biographical details. And

8:19

they are people from up

8:21

and down Manhattan. They are

8:23

from all walks of life and socioeconomic

8:25

statuses. There's

8:28

about 500 in the group for consideration

8:30

at the moment. And they will be

8:32

brought in in groups of about

8:34

100 at a time for Marchand and the parties

8:38

to begin the selection process. There will be initial

8:41

screening and jurors who say that

8:43

they can't be fair or have

8:46

conflicts, personal conflicts, crime conflicts. Those

8:48

people will be largely dismissed

8:51

without question. It

8:53

is possible that Judge Marchand

8:55

could have to speak to

8:57

some of those people individually, but

8:59

it is also at the moment the plan

9:01

to take people as a word and release

9:03

anyone who says they can.

9:05

So it's one of those primary reasons.

9:09

And I mean for something like

9:11

this that is so, I guess, politically

9:13

sensitive, what are the questions that they're

9:15

going to be wanting to ask jurors

9:18

about their either political involvement

9:21

or political alignment? Are these

9:23

jurors going to tell

9:25

the lawyers, you know, whether or not

9:27

they voted for Trump for president in

9:29

the past? I don't have

9:31

the questionnaire in front of me, but I

9:33

believe that they're not going to be asked

9:35

that directly. I think they're going to be

9:37

asked if they've supported him, if they have

9:39

attended any rallies. They're going to

9:41

be asked about what type of news they can see.

9:44

So I think the parties will at least

9:46

be able to get a sense of possible

9:48

political leanings depending on what they

9:50

hear and read and how they

9:52

choose to get news. But

9:54

they will directly be asked if they're

9:56

involved in any Certain

9:59

organization. They're considered

10:01

mobile like the proud boys you

10:03

know. Same question for and heap

10:05

and they're going as that's I

10:07

think they're trying to weed out

10:10

possible extreme views. Either way, there

10:12

will be a point where. Sanders

10:15

are going to admit that they sell for

10:17

to. The like Trump said, they've

10:20

never supported him, that they have

10:22

voted for a maybe fight. They

10:24

can still be considered fair regardless

10:26

of their personal feelings about him

10:29

and how many jurors are they

10:31

going to need in the hands

10:33

to do this trap? Every

10:35

criminal juri in New York

10:38

New York City is slow

10:40

so they need closer than

10:42

I believe. That be picking

10:44

a number of alternate freshly.

10:46

This is the successor to

10:48

be a fairly more trial

10:50

sixty me nuts to standard

10:52

practice. My understanding is that

10:54

the court is taking some

10:57

pretty unusual measures in this

10:59

trial to protect the jurors.

11:01

I'm being identified publicly. Including

11:03

not even allowing courtroom drawings

11:05

of any of the tourism.

11:07

And been clear about instructions to.

11:09

Prevent any kind of identifying information

11:12

about them to demean public. Why

11:14

in this case is that particularly

11:16

important and wise is the judge

11:18

taking extra steps to try. To

11:20

keep these tours private so I

11:22

think it's. Becoming more common and

11:25

sensitive to reverse this protected was

11:27

anonymity in this particular case in

11:29

they will not known to her

11:32

father surprise five the parties will

11:34

know those names so they can

11:36

do their. Own. Research on the

11:38

people that are apart spot

11:41

on, the jury, the court

11:43

system and judgment Shine are

11:45

going to say every measure

11:47

within our power speedsters say

11:49

number one and also keep

11:51

them from any possibility of

11:53

being tainted with. I believe

11:55

the plan is to settle

11:58

them from the courthouse. The

12:00

way they need to go or at least to cents

12:02

locations that are not. Walking in another building

12:04

unaccompanied, there's going to be really

12:06

no access to them except for

12:08

when they affected me. See them

12:11

in the courtroom. One

12:13

last question about two days preceding

12:15

so far of course former President

12:18

Trump is in the courtroom as

12:20

all of this is unfolding. Can

12:22

you just described like. What

12:24

he's been like so far mean anything

12:27

that sticks out to you about how

12:29

he's handled himself, and quarters of his

12:31

reacted to anything as he's been sitting

12:33

there watching. That. I

12:35

personally have a brief view of him in the

12:38

back of the cover of i'm looking at the

12:40

back. With head and as he. Said

12:43

he did spend a lot of time

12:45

meaning over to his wife. Or

12:48

your heart. Glance. I would say

12:50

that. Every few

12:52

seconds doing that at some

12:54

point, especially when. They

12:57

weren't on the record with her. Son was in in the room.

12:59

So you know there's a little

13:02

bit of anxious chatting with his

13:04

lawyer. You

13:06

know coming in and out of the

13:09

for any kind of scans the role

13:11

of the poor quarters of the sitting

13:13

there a sign of definitely did not

13:15

look happy. he had a little bit

13:18

of a scowl but he figured it

13:20

ever know outbursts like their happen in

13:22

other situations and. Warns

13:25

that an outburst would not be tolerated.

13:27

He could be subjected. From the trial

13:30

which I think George machine with

13:32

absolutely do he felt the need

13:34

to do that. Soon a give

13:36

us a sense of what's. To come after

13:38

a jury is selected After all these

13:40

motions of the beginning are out of

13:42

the way, what can we expect from

13:44

the beginning of the trial? Wants it

13:46

really gets underway. The first big moment

13:49

has set of the opening statements. We

13:51

don't yet know when that didn't happen,

13:53

you know And then there will be

13:55

a carousel of witnesses. some of them

13:57

more see to the case than other.

14:00

There's some, you might have some that are really

14:02

dry and they're just there to present

14:05

financial documents and things like that. But

14:08

there are also going to be people like

14:10

Michael Collins, who are arguably the key witness

14:13

in the case, who was the one who

14:15

paid Stormy Daniels, allegedly on Trump's behalf. There's

14:18

going to be a few big witnesses that

14:20

will, I think, underscore

14:22

the prominence of this case,

14:24

including Stormy Daniels herself. She's

14:27

expected to take the witness stand. I

14:30

know you said that we're probably going to see this trial

14:32

play out over the course of the better part

14:34

of the next few months. When all

14:36

of a sudden done, we have a verdict

14:38

from this jury, what do you think the

14:40

stakes are here for Trump

14:43

personally, financially, and politically? This

14:46

is an enormous deal for anyone, but it is

14:48

certainly a big deal for him and what

14:50

it will mean for the campaign and

14:52

for his future. This

14:54

is not one of his cases

14:56

that are about national

14:59

security or election security.

15:03

This is instead about, more about

15:05

an issue he dealt with in

15:08

the middle of the campaign that he's

15:10

going to argue was personal and not

15:12

about keeping it a secret from voters. But

15:15

of course on one level, and the Manhattan

15:18

DA has been arguing this, this

15:20

is actually about interfering with the

15:23

election, this is about keeping bad

15:25

information about a candidate out

15:28

of the public realm. But obviously

15:30

leading into this year's election, this

15:33

has the potential to have a lot of impact. This

15:35

is not going to be a flattering presentation of

15:38

who Trump is and what he's accomplished. It's just going

15:40

to be the opposite of that.

15:43

And him and his team are going to

15:46

be defending some pretty salacious things and some

15:48

pretty allegedly egregious

15:50

conduct. Shayna,

15:53

thank you so much for taking the time

15:55

to talk with us and explain all this. It

15:57

was a pleasure. Thanks. your

16:00

time. Shana

16:06

Jacobs covers federal courts and criminal justice

16:08

at the Post. After

16:11

we talked to Shana, later in the afternoon, jury

16:14

selection did, in fact, begin in

16:16

earnest. A first batch of almost 100

16:19

potential jurors were brought in. As

16:21

a judge read extended instructions to the

16:23

jury, Trump closed his eyes

16:26

and at times appeared to nod

16:28

off and would abruptly catch himself

16:30

and stiffen his posture. The

16:33

judge asked these potential jurors if they could

16:35

hear the case against Trump fairly and if

16:37

they could be impartial. About

16:39

half raised their hand to say that they could

16:41

not, and they were excused from the court. As

16:45

I said, the Post is going to be covering every

16:47

day of this trial. So, if you want

16:49

to keep up with the latest, you'll definitely

16:51

want to head to washingtonpost.com. After

16:55

a quick break, we've got some news from the Middle

16:57

East. We'll be right back. Post

17:07

Reports is brought to you by

17:09

Houston. Experience a city full of

17:11

flavors and culture, from first steps

17:13

to giant leaps. Houston is a

17:15

city that rewards the bold, the

17:17

innovative, and the imaginative. When you're

17:19

in Houston, you're one of us.

17:24

Before we wrap today's show, we wanted to

17:26

share some updates on a story that you

17:28

might have seen over the weekend. On

17:31

Saturday night, Iran launched more than

17:33

300 armed drones and

17:36

missiles at Israel. It

17:38

was a five-hour onslaught. This

17:45

was the first-ever direct attack

17:47

by Iran on Israel. The

17:50

attack was in response to a strike

17:52

that Israel carried out earlier this month

17:54

on Iran's diplomatic compound in Syria. That

17:57

strike killed two senior Iranian

17:59

commanders. commanders. The

18:01

Israel Defense Forces said that there was

18:04

limited damage from Saturday's attack, and that

18:06

99% of the missiles and

18:08

drones were intercepted. Now

18:11

Israel's War Cabinet is deliberating

18:13

on how to quote, send

18:15

a message to Iran, while also

18:17

preserving international alliances. The

18:19

Post has reported that Israel is looking at

18:21

options that would not cause casualties. US

18:24

officials want to avoid a

18:26

wider war, and they are

18:28

concerned that Israel's response could

18:30

further escalate tensions. That's

18:38

it for Post Reports. Thanks for listening.

18:41

Today's show was produced and mixed by Ted

18:43

Muldoon and Peter Bresnan. It was edited by

18:46

Lucy Perkins. Thank you also to Maggie Penman.

18:49

If you are looking for the latest updates on the big

18:51

news of the day, check out our

18:53

morning news briefing The Seven. We bring you

18:55

through the seven stories that you need to

18:57

know about every weekday morning by 7am. You

19:00

can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe

19:02

in Apple Podcasts or by following the link

19:05

in our show notes. I'm

19:07

Martine Powers. We'll be back tomorrow

19:09

with more stories from The Washington Post. Post

19:27

Reports is brought to you by Houston. Experience

19:30

a city full of flavors and cultures.

19:33

From first steps to giant

19:35

leaps, Houston is a city

19:37

that welcomes the bold, the innovative,

19:39

and the imaginative. A

19:41

city where you can be yourself and

19:43

belong to something bigger. When

19:46

you're in Houston, you're one of us. Log

19:49

on to www.visithouston.com

19:52

and explore Houston

19:54

today.