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Judge Giving Instructions Ahead of Opening Statements; Opening Statements Underway in Trump Hush Money Trial. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 22, 2024 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[10:00:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back. You're looking at live images, the Manhattan courthouse, 100 Center Street the stage for history. The jury just took their seats, the start of opening statements in the hush money trial of Donald Trump.

Judge Juan Merchan just gave them instructions to consider the next few hours the grand preview of the case against the former president. The prosecution plans to run the men and women of the jury through Trump's alleged scheme seem to hide a sexual encounter with Stormy Daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 campaign.

The defense will likely lay out their version of events, a version of events in which Donald Trump had no knowledge of payments alleged meant to silence the adult film actress.

I want to go straight to CNN's Paula Reid who's joining me here along with Kaitlan Collins.

So, Paula, we are getting for our viewers who are just joining us minute-by-minute accounts from our three correspondents in the courtroom and in the overflow room. That's what viewers are going to be seeing on the left-hand side of the screen.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And we're getting updates after our own Slack channel here. And this is it, the jury is seated. They are now getting their instructions from the judge. He is walking them through what they're going to see starting with opening statements. He's explaining the prosecution will go first then the defense. He's going to explain the burden is on the prosecution. In fact, there's many parts of this trial that the defense doesn't even have to put on. The burden is that of the prosecutors.

He' s also going to talk them though you how they should operate throughout the next five to six weeks. He's going to tell them not to talk to anyone about the case, right? Don't read anything about the case. So, this is going to be their mission statement. He is laying out what the job entails. It should take maybe about half an hour.

COOPER: And then we're going to hear opening statements from both the defense and from the prosecution. REID: That's exactly right. Now, prosecutors will go first. And as I said, they're trying to rebrand this case from this so-called hush money case to an election interference case. And we heard one of the prosecutors last week lay out that he wants to convince the jury that this isn't about so-called hush money. This is about the rule of law and whether Trump broke the law in order to help his chances in 2016.

Now, then we're going to hear from the defense, and the defense is going to argue Trump wasn't involved in paperwork at this level because they're going to argue that is just a paperwork crime. Trump had people to handle invoices and such things for him. They'll also argue that Michael Cohen was Trump's lawyer at the time in question. He was doing legal work for him and also then, of course, they're going to try to completely undercut the credibility of Michael Cohen.

COOPER: We know that the prosecution opening statement takes about 40 minutes. The defense says theirs is going to be about 20 minutes. The judge is giving instructions now, which may be 20 or so minutes. It's very possible we could get the first witness before the stop the break of this trial at 12:30.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And that's certainly what the Trump team expects, that the first witness will be brought. Now, it's expected that the prosecution will bring their first witness. They will start asking them questions.

It's not clear that today we'll get to the cross-examination, where Trump's team gets to ask whoever the first witnesses, who we do expect to be David Pecker, as we were talking about earlier, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, to be that first witness, who can speak about direct conversations he had with Trump.

But just to note, is the judge is explaining to the jury how this is going to work, what they need to rely on, that it is not what he says that is evidence, it's what the actual -- what is presented to them that is the evidence that they decide to sign.

Trump is in this room with the 12 jurors who are going to decide ultimately what happens here. And he's someone who the jurors last week, because they were being brought in, were describing that he was waving at some of them and they as they came in. He kind of is viewing this in the way that he does really the lens of everything right now, which is through this like kind of campaign lens of someone who thinks he is his own best campaigner, his own best spokesperson and his own best attorney, really.

COOPER: Paula?

REID: And so we're getting these quotes from the judge right now, as he explains what the jury has to do. And he says that you must decide this case on the evidence. And he tells the jurors to remember that what lawyers say is not evidence. He says that evidence includes documents, testimony, physical evidence. It is the question with the answer that is evidence.

So, he's laying out exactly what they have to do as they contemplate these charges over the next five to six weeks. He says, I remind you throughout these proceedings that the defendant is presumed to be innocent. And, of course, former President Trump has pleaded not guilty and also denied the affair of Stormy Daniels.

COLLINS: And also our reporters say that Trump's eyes are closed as Judge Merchan is reading these directions to the jury. I think it's also just a reminder of how tedious a lot of this is going to be for the former president, to be sitting there as he is listening to all of this and then, of course, listening to those opening statements, which will be a prosecutor's words of his actions.

[10:05:00]

COOPER: Yes. And you can continue to follow across -- follow on the left-hand side of your screen the notes from our three folks inside the courtroom.

Joining me now, Criminal Defense Arthur Aidala. You've represented some very high-profile, controversial defendants, Harvey Weinstein, Rudy Giuliani. How do you approach opening statements in a case when the jury knows your client and he's one of the most famous or infamous people in the world?

ARTHUR AIDALA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, Anderson, you try to make your opening argument as close as you can to your closing argument. It's almost like a summation. The first thing I would do here is I would listen intently, obviously, to the prosecutor's opening, and then try to pull something out of it, and my first line would be like, you heard what she just said? Well, let me tell you this, and then attack.

You want to try to make a connection with those jurors. You want them to like you. I believe Todd Blanche is the one who's doing the opening. You want to make some kind of a connection with them, and you just want to attack, attack, attack. You can't believe Michael Cohen. You can't believe Stormy Daniels.

And then you want to embrace yourself with the judge and what the judge's instructions are, and say, the judge is going to tell you this, and the judge is going to tell you that, and we agree. And if you listen to the judge, there's no way that they can prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and the only verdict you can reach is one of not guilty.

COOPER: The prosecution, we're told an opening statement, it's going to be about 40 minutes, the defense, about 20. Is keeping it short better?

AIDALA: It's a real strategic decision, Anderson. And I know Susan Necheles, who's one of the attorneys here, and she's a masterful lawyer. I mean, I'm sure they've spoken about this, I'm sure they've vetted it, I'm sure they've done a little moot oral arguments. My approach is to really go hard in the opening statement.

Years ago the New York Times did a study and jurors found that, 80 percent of jurors found that whatever they thought the verdict was going to be after the openings was their verdict, 80 percent. So, I look at opening statements as a tremendous opportunity to really sway jurors over to your side.

COOPER: Arthur, just hold on. I want to get some more information from inside the court. What are you hearing?

REID: So, we don't have too many updates beyond just talking about the burden of proof. And the judge is emphasizing that the burden of proof is always with the prosecutor. It never shifts to the defendant. And if that burden of proof is not met, the judge reminds the jurors that they must find the defendant not guilty.

COOPER: Arthur, I know you've said that if you were on the Trump defense, you wouldn't be looking for an outright acquittal. You'd be aiming for a hung jury. How would you go about creating that shadow of a doubt in the mind of, you know, at least one juror?

AIDALA: You know, again, you got to really look at the law and what the judge is going to say in the closing instructions to the jury. You know, he just gave the opening instructions to the jury. But, you know, we have a good idea as lawyers what the judge is going to say at the end.

So, you look at what he's going to say at the end and you bring it to the beginning because it gives you so much credibility at the end of the case when the jurors hear again what you said at the beginning of the case out of the mouth of the judge, which they usually hold in very high regard.

And, again, you just have to attack, attack, attack those witnesses. And, look, what you got to say is Michael Cohen should be a co- defendant. If you believe what the prosecutors just said, Michael Cohen should be a co-defendant, not a witness. He has so many reasons to lie, so many reasons to pin this on someone else to keep himself out of jail, which he was unable to do in the federal case.

COOPER: I mean, Michael Cohen is a felon, he is an admitted liar, and to the prosecution's case, do you think, rise and fall with his credibility?

AIDALA: I think it has a tremendous impact. Look, there is paperwork that corroborates the people's evidence, and that's obviously hurtful for the president, but my understanding is it's not paperwork with Donald Trump's handwriting on it or his signature on it, except for a check.

So, the defense could merely be, hey, Michael Cohen did all of this. He never told his client. He just said, look, I need money for this, I need money for that. And, you know, one of the witnesses who's going to testify at this trial testified for defense, and he said that the money that was given to Michael Cohen was for Stormy Daniels' end for legal fees. That's a reasonable doubt. So, you got to hang on these little reasonable doubts, Anderson, and put as many together as you can for your closing argument.

COOPER: Arthur, hold on one second. We're hearing more from the court.

COLLINS: Yes. We're seeing just as the judge is explaining to them, you know, in depth what exactly their responsibilities are going to be.

[10:10:00]

I mean, it's something that's kind of we know what happens, what jury instructions are, but the fact that these are jury instructions being delivered for the jury that's going to hear the first case -- first criminal trial of a former president is remarkable in and of itself.

And we are hearing from reporters inside the room that Trump is looking over at the jury box as they are getting these instructions from Judge Merchan. He wasn't initially looking at them. He was when they came in the room, and then he wasn't. And now he is looking over at them as the judge is explaining, you know, they could take notes, but they should be brief and shouldn't be something that distracts them from what's actually going on. He's urging them to pay close attention to what they are about to hear, you know, as Arthur was just talking about from the prosecution, but also from the defense.

Also there's going to be a lot of evidence. This is not just going to be based on testimony of people, like Michael Cohen. They're also going to be relying heavily on documents here.

COOPER: Yes. Arthur, I want to thank you so much for your time and your expertise. I really appreciate it on this morning.

As we stand by for opening statements in Donald Trump's hush money trial, we're getting new information about the prosecution's first witness, a man who admits to a scheme to buy and bury damaging stories about Donald Trump, David Pecker. We will have more on him when we come back.

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[10:15:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're back with our live coverage of the Trump hush money trial right now, jury instructions in the case of the people of the state of New York versus Donald J. Trump. The former president of the United States is intermittently looking at the jury, the men and women, who will decide his fate as this hush money cover- up criminal trial continues.

CNN reporters inside the courthouse have observed that Mr. Trump shut his eyes at one point, leaning back in his chair. Judge Merchan said there is no particular formula for evaluating the truthfulness and accuracy of witness testimony that is from our reporters in the courtroom. And if you look on the far left side of the screen, you can see you're getting live reports there from our reporters in the courtroom.

CNN's Paula Reid is standing by in Manhattan. Paula, bring us up to speed. REID: So, Jake, the judge is laying out for the jury the gravity of the task that they have at hand and the fact that these charges against former President Trump must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. He said, if you find him guilty, that must be based on the evidence, not on speculation and not on bias.

And he's going on to explain to the jurors exactly how this will work. And he notes that, for example, lawyers are not allowed to comment during witness testimony, telling the jury that that only happens in movies and on television shows, but not at a real trial.

Now, our reporters inside the courtroom note that that drew a smile both from the prosecution and the defense, probably one of the few unifying moments in this case so far.

The judge will continue to lay out what exactly is happening and what is expected of these jurors. This whole thing, this whole instruction is expected to take about 30 minutes and then we'll get into opening statements.

TAPPER: All right. Paula Reid, thanks so much.

And just to recap, Judge Merchan said that lawyers are not allowed to make comments about witness testimony.

Let's bring back the panel. The lawyers in the room smiled when the judge said, that happens on T.V. and in the movies, that does not happen in real trials.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, they're smiling in this room as well because it's true, you're going to have to balance against what jurors think happens in Law and Order, when in 48 minutes, you've got a crime committed, a defendant identified, arrested, and you have someone walking down the steps at the end of the trial in 42 minutes.

Here, it's interesting because there's a moment he says that the notes are not a substitute for the actual transcripts. This will come into play in having lawyers on your jury as well. We were concerned about, remember, can lawyers be on the actual jury? The reason he left concerns is because you might be deferential to them and say, is that what happened? Is that the issue here?

It's almost a way of them reminding us, look, the prosecution and the defense, they have to build their case, they have to defend their case, but the lawyers and also note-taking is not going to substitute for you what you're hearing. And, again, there is no formula for evaluating accuracy. You have your varied life experiences to do so.

So, much like the jury selection was kind of an art. Assessing incredibility is going to come from your own gut intuition and what you believe to be true.

TAPPER: And if, unless I'm mistaken, in the criminal justice system, the people represented this separate but equally important groups, the police who investigate crimes, and the district attorneys who prosecute the defenders.

COATES: Hold on a second. I actually have a new found respect for this right now.

TAPPER: I'll send them the check, yes.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I also just, as we're as we're doing this to stay on the same thread, look at what's that on the side of your screen, it's not only chuckle-inducing to say, you know, this is real life. This is this is not a T.V. show because that's true in general. It's also interesting because the guy who's a defendant became known to people around the country and the world on a reality T.V. show.

Obviously, it wasn't court related. It was business related. And it is part of the dynamic that we are told is going through his brain, which is whether it was on that T.V. show or in his business or on the campaign trail or whatever. Even in the White House, he determines what he does on a minute-by-minute basis. And right now, for the next probably six weeks, that is not happening and it's driving him mad.

TAPPER: And we've had, Jamie Gangel, Republican commentators, want Trump to get elected on the show and on these panels say that if they were advising Trump or if Trump were listening to them, they would advise that instead of coming out and doing a grievance about the judge rejecting the bond or this or that about the case, it's kind of in the weeds that he should take the opportunity of this free air time to talk about what he would do as president for the American people.

[10:20:13]

But that's not Mr. Trump.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So, as we know, Donald Trump thinks he's the smartest person in the room. He may listen. But in the end, look what we saw when he walked into court today and stopped, and I don't mean this lightly, but it was really Donald Trump bingo with, you know, witch hunt in the free center space. He hit every single poll. It's not fair. My polls are up. This is coordinated with Washington, Letitia James, Letitia James, Letitia James.

TAPPER: Most overturned judge in the state of New York, right.

GANGEL: So, Donald Trump does no branding. He does no messaging. Whether it's right or wrong, he thinks this works.

TAPPER: Let's dive into one thing, because my phone is blowing up with messages from Michael Cohen, who is the key witness for the prosecution, or one of the key witnesses for the prosecution. He took issue with me saying that he'd been convicted of perjury. It actually was code 1001.

Why don't you tell us exactly what he pleaded guilty to and what he was pleading guilty about?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Right. So, a brief history of Michael Cohen, back in 2018, he was convicted by guilty plea. He did not go to trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York of the following, first of all, of campaign finance violations, by the way, which is very relevant to this case, second of all, of making false statements to Congress relating to Donald Trump's efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Michael Cohen said that those conversations were fewer in number than they actually were and stopped earlier than they actually stopped.

What Michael Cohen pled guilty called 18USC 1001 false statements, and it makes it a crime to, quote, make any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement to a government body, including Congress. He also -- this is important. Michael Cohen sometimes says, well, I only ever committed crimes for within for Donald Trump. Not true. He pled guilty to tax fraud related to hiding $4 million of his own personal income. He pled guilty to bank fraud in relation to multi-million dollar loans related to his bank medallion business.

And then this is where it gets really crazy. When he testified earlier this year at the civil fraud trial, he testified, when I pled guilty back in 2018 to tax fraud and bank fraud, I was lying. I was not actually guilty, which led a federal judge to make this finding about Michael Cohen. He said, Michael Cohen's testimony, quote, gives rise to two possibilities. One, Cohen committed perjury when he pled guilty, the first case, or two Cohen committed perjury in his testimony in the civil fraud case.

So, there's a lot to unpack there. Those are the specifics.

TAPPER: And Karen, let's talk about what's going on right now because Judge Merchan is giving the jury instructions. He just told them that they shouldn't let any biases they have or stereotypes influence their view. He said, as a jury, you are asked to make a very important decision about another member of the community. Talk a bit about, if you would, for those of us who have never been through a trial and have avoided jury duty so far successfully for all 55 years of their life.

COATES: You've just (INAUDIBLE) yourself completely.

TAPPER: I know. I actually have (INAUDIBLE) coming on up. What's going on right now and how important this moment is?

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, for Donald Trump to say this is coming from Washington, D.C., this is from Joe Biden, this is all about the jury. The jury is the one who's deciding his fate. It's not the judge, if you think the judge is biased. It's not Alvin Bragg, if he doesn't like Alvin Bragg. It has nothing to do with Joe Biden. It's the 12 jurors who are sitting in that box. And they are 100 percent making the decision about whether or not he's guilty of these crimes.

And so in this trial, like every other trial, the very first thing the judge does is he gives an instruction to the jury. And the instruction takes about 30 minutes where he explains the procedures. He explains that a defendant, every defendant, including Donald Trump, is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, that every single day that he sits in that chair, he is innocent. And you have to not let your biases come in, not let your prejudices come in, and you have to evaluate the evidence and listen to the evidence.

He's also telling the jury they are allowed to take notes, but don't let your notes substitute for the transcript, tells them a question without an answer is nothing. So, don't presume anything by a question that's being asked if there's no answer.

He explains objections, right? There's sustained or overruled. And he's explaining all the procedures because they're not lawyers, or some of them are, but, typically, they're just everyday people in the community who will be evaluating all of this.

So, he's explaining to them what their job is, what they're allowed to do, what they're not allowed to do, and how he runs his courtroom.

TAPPER: Right. And he also just mentioned to the alternate jurors, there are six alternate jurors, he told them that they are expected to pay the same close attention to the case as any one of the 12 jurors.

[10:25:01]

He's hoping that the twelve who are seated will be the 12 who end the trial, but the six substitutes have to be there paying attention regardless.

We're standing by for opening statements in Donald Trump's testimony cover-up trial, much more from inside the courtroom just ahead.

You're watching CNN special live coverage. We'll be right back.

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COOPER: And welcome back to CNN special live coverage. Right now, opening statements are just starting in the Hush Money trial of Donald J. Trump.

[10:30:00]

CNN's Paula Reid is collecting all the updates from the CNN team inside the courthouse. You'll see them on the left-hand side of your screen. Run us through what's happening, Paula.

REID: All right. Opening statements just got underway.