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Hi everyone, it's Nicole Wallace. I

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want to tell you about a new podcast from

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MSNBC called Prosecuting

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Donald Trump. It's hosted by MSNBC

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legal analysts and veteran prosecutors,

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Andrew Weissman and Mary McCord. This

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week, Donald Trump became the first former

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president ever to be arraigned on criminal

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charges, pleading not guilty

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to 34 felony counts of

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falsifying business

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records. Andrew and Mary,

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with their

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combined five decades of prosecuting

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experience, help us understand

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how prosecutors like Alvin Bragg, Fonny

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Willis, and Jack Smith think

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about building a case when the defendant

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happens to be a former president. Stay

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right here to listen to a special preview of

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the latest episode and search for prosecuting

0:46

Donald Trump wherever you're listening to

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hear the full episode and follow the series.

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The statement of the facts comes right out

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of the gate framing this case

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really as part, I think, of the

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whole Donald Trump assault on

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democracy.

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Paragraphs one

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and two, this was a scheme with

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others to influence the 2016 presidential election.

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The transcript of the arraignment,

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the assistant district attorney,

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Chris Conroy, same thing. He came right

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out of the gate telling the story

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of these charges and characterizing

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it as an illegal conspiracy to undermine

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the integrity of the 2016 presidential

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election. First of all, it's unusual

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in my experience at an arraignment to even

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sort of talk about the facts

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of the case or the framing of the case up front.

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But I think this was so important in part

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because it is a false business

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records case. And we can talk about the significance

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of these. These are felony charges. They're

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commonly

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used in white collar work, as the

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district attorney Alvin Bragg explained

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during the press conference. But I think it

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is significant for people.

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to understand this case in

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the

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big scheme, in the overall

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picture of Donald Trump 2016, tried

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to influence the election, 2020 tried to influence

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the election, post 2020

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is still trying to overturn the

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election, and he'll be doing this going

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into 2024.

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He's done it multiple

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different ways, but there is a

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through line here, and we see it in this

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indictment. It started with these hush

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money payments that were done specifically

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to influence the outcome

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of the election and at a critical time in the

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election too. But I don't know, Andrew, whether you

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had that same opinion.

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Absolutely. That was my first thought,

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which is they really were thinking about

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sort of two audiences. One

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was at an ultimate trial,

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how do you get a jury to care?

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Is this just as people were saying,

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oh, it's just hush money payments, it doesn't add

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anything in terms of what we know

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about Donald Trump. We already knew that

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he had that kind of history. No one

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was voting for him because he's a

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paragon of virtue. After

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all, there was the Access Hollywood tape and he

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still got elected. And what this was saying

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is this is actually an election

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fraud case. And that scheme

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happened to trip over these crimes,

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which is filing false business records.

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But it was really sort of why you should

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care. And I think the second

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audience was the public, trying

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to educate the public as to

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why the former president of the United

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States for the first time in history is being

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charged.

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Thanks for listening to this special preview

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of prosecuting Donald Trump. Search

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for prosecuting Donald Trump wherever

3:44

you're listening to hear the full episode

3:46

and and follow the series.