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CNN Live Event/Special

Soon: Stormy Daniels To Resume Testimony; Stormy Daniels Testifying In Trump Hush Money Trial; Biden Speaks On Rise Of Antisemitism In The US. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 07, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:15]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And welcome back to CNN's special live coverage. In minutes, we expect to hear directly from the President of the United States Joe Biden. He's slated to deliver a keynote address at the United States Capitol as the country marks the Holocaust Museum's annual Day of Remembrance. We'll take those remarks live the second that they happen.

But first, we are waiting for the jurors to retake their seats inside a courtroom in the building behind me. They've spent the morning listening to testimony from the woman at the center for the criminal case against Donald Trump, adult film star Stormy Daniels. Here with the team in New York, Paula Reid and John Berman.

I mean, they have set the stage. We're now at the point where she is recounting the run -- she's now in the hotel room of the hotel suite of Donald Trump. And now, they have taken a break.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the judge probably knows what's coming after this. They will talk about this alleged sexual encounter. And it's also the time that they usually take a break. Now, one of my takeaways here is of course, the defense has argued that Trump made this hush money payment not to help his chances of getting into the White House, but instead to protect his family. Throughout this case, though, prosecutors have done a pretty good job of bringing in evidence, including Hope Hicks' testimony that Trump told her that he was happy to sort of suppressed ahead of the election, of recounting that.

But I want to remind people that Eric Trump, he's in court today. He's sitting in the front row, listening to this. Now, our colleagues report that he's pretty much just looking down at his phone, not really engaging.

But he's the only one of Trump's five adult children who has shown up to this trial. He was there yesterday. He's been here before. But you think again, the impact on the story even if that wasn't why he suppressed it or you know, they're arguing over why he suppressed it, how uncomfortable is this for Eric Trump right now?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: What I think we're seeing in -- you can talk more about this, Paula, is we're not seeing the how Donald Trump allegedly falsified business records to cover up the hush money payment. But we are absolutely seeing the why he allegedly did that and what he was allegedly covering up.

He is going step by step into this sexual encounter. We're about to get to that moment after the break here. And the jury might be sitting there thinking, OK, now I get.

I get the issue that is at play here. Whether or not the documents were falsified, that's another thing, but at least here we have what I think we see on TV as a motive. The motive behind doing it and why he would do it.

One other thing I want to point out, is I think the defense only objected once so far since Stormy Daniels has actually been on the stand. If it was more than that, it was only, you know, a little bit. We've seen a lot of contentious action between the defense and prosecution witnesses on the stand. The defense seems to be sitting back and just taking its medicine here, at least so far.

REID: That is correct. Trump certainly much more attentive than he usually is. But if you remember at the beginning of the day before the jury came in, they did argue, specifically they didn't want this to get too detailed. There was that whole back and forth about genitalia outside of the presence of the jury. And the prosecutor said that they weren't going to get too specific about this encounter beyond the fact that physical act of having sex.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Back in the room, though, they backed off.

REID: They backed up. Because anytime you object, that makes something a lot more interesting to the jury. They're curious, well, what are you trying to hide? What are you trying to keep from us?

COOPER: As important as her testimony about meeting the former -- Donald Trump is it's also important for the jury to hear the negotiations that occurred. Her perspective on the signing of an agreement in which she said that this encounter never actually did take place. So, she -- there's a lot for her to actually cover once they get past what happened in that hotel.

REID: Yes.

BERMAN: That's kind of like Act Three. I feel like this is an act one until the break right now, how they meet that lead up to the sexual encounter? That's act two. We'll see how long that goes on in the courtroom itself. But then act three, Anderson, I suspect you're right, is very much about the alleged cover-up in hush money.

COOPER: I want to bring in a well-known criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby. Ron, I'm wondering what you make so far of Stormy Daniels's testimony. And -- I mean, what is the importance of having her for the prosecution? RON KUBY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, having her actually testify about the sexual relationship that he had with Trump, you know, is the thing that gave rise to the case. In a different universe with a different client, the defense would have admitted upfront, yes, he had a fling with an adult film star. Yes, you know, he was twice her age. And yes, you know, he's another rich and powerful man promising or suggesting influence in exchange for sex for a poor and younger woman.

That's an old narrative. That's nothing outrageous or well -- or nothing new in any case. And that would have been the end of it. But it's been Donald Trump's insistence over the years that this is all a lie. That she's lying. There was no relationship.

[11:35:00]

That really gives the prosecution the opportunity to put around the witness stand. And the problem with that from the defense perspective, is you only want one liar per case. And the liar -- the person they have to show he's lying in order to win this case is Michael Cohen.

Once you have Michael Cohen lying and Stormy Daniels lying and Hope Hicks lying, you know, it looks like everybody is conspiring against you, which I know has been Trump's narrative. But juries don't accept that. You need one liar.

So, I think if I'm the defense here, I don't want to put myself in their unenviable position, but I asked some perfunctory questions. I point out that she had previously denied this relationship ever took place, a couple of those other denials, and just moved away. I think they're only doing all of this because it's Donald Trump driving the case.

COOPER: If the -- if the jury believes that Donald Trump lied about the -- having sex with Stormy Daniels, if you were his attorney, you would be concerned that the jury would then just brand him a liar and that would influence him -- I mean, his credibility for the entire trial.

KUBY: Completely. And that's, of course, one of the problems with the whole road that Trump has gone down in terms of his criminal case and his criminal defense, branding her a liar. The jury is likely to believe her.

It's not so much a question of credibility in the sense that what does she have to be credible about? That she had a 92nd sexual encounter with Donald Trump? Nobody is going to find that like, unbelievable or odd or bizarre or really questioned that that took place. The only person who's been questioning it and denying it has been Donald Trump and some of the supporters.

COOPER: If you were defending the former president, how aggressive would you be with Stormy Daniels on the stand? I mean, you talk about you know, she did sign two documents in 2018, denying that this incident occurred at all. She then later said that she was essentially kind of coerced or pressured into doing that because she was told that -- by her representatives that you know, they could make life really difficult for her. How hard would you go after her?

KUBY: A little bit, but not too hard. You can take that testimony and simply turn it around. You denied that you had this relationship a few years back, yes. You did so because you thought that they could make trouble for you. Yes, that's right.

And the prosecution can make trouble for you too, isn't that right? And you've had a lawyer here as well consulting you with the case? Yes, I have.

And you want to make sure you tell the prosecution what they want to hear, isn't that right? And what they want to hear is that you were lying before, but you're telling the truth now. I understand. Thank you, goodbye.

COOPER: The fact that Stormy Daniels owes money -- a court judgment says that she owes money to Donald Trump. Is that something that they will bring up to the kind of impugn her motives?

KUBY: I wouldn't go there. I -- because look, whether he had a fling with Stormy Daniels or not, that's what generated the case but that's not really at the heart of the case. The heart of the case is the falsified documents. And to spend too much time attacking Stormy Daniels makes it more difficult to attack somebody like Michael Cohen, who really is the person who is going to tie all of this together. Because if everybody's a liar, you're either the victim of the most elaborate conspiracy that has ever bedeviled a defendant in the history of the universe or you are in fact, guilty.

COOPER: Ron Kuby, it's good to talk to you. Thank you so much, Ron. We've seen the former president now going back into the courtroom. So, that should resume quite shortly.

REID: Yes, I would expect that resume. They take their lunch break at 1:00, so we have about an hour and a half. Seems like Stormy Daniels will probably be on the stand throughout today. Tomorrow, the court is not in session. And then likely back on the stand Thursday to either continue direct or for cross.

I think when she comes back to the stand, we can move along more quickly there. The judge encouraging the prosecution to move things along. He does like things to move quickly. He admonishes lawyers when they don't come back swiftly enough from break. So, he's obviously trying to keep this -- keep this on track.

Yesterday, he asked prosecutors. Daniels is now back on the stand. How much longer they have in their case when they said two weeks to today, which prompted a real explosive reaction from Trump? He threw himself back in his chair and threw up his arms, but that kind of makes sense.

[11:40:01]

You have Stormy Daniels. Interesting Daniels did not look at Trump when approaching the stand. Michael Cohen could last a whole week between direct examination and cross. And then there might be one or two other witnesses. Now, Trump is looking at papers in front of him --

COOPER: Yes.

REID: With one of his lawyers, Susan Necheles, as Daniels entered.

COOPER: Let's get back to Jake in D.C. Jake?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Anderson, thanks so much. And we are preparing for President Biden to deliver an address on antisemitism in the United States, and we will bring that to you live when it happens. We will also continue to bring you updates from the court as they happen.

But right now, let us talk about what is going on inside that courtroom because the jury has returned. And I think we should just take a breath and take a -- and take -- trying to make sense of what we heard from Stormy Daniels today in terms of what was achieved, if anything by the prosecution. Laura, briefly, if you could. Like, what do you think that they achieved? Just the credibility of her story that this actually did happen --

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

TAPPER: This encounter with Donald Trump.

COATES: They're trying to establish her as a person who can connect the actual from the paper, we've seen about the stories around it to this is the person who has a transactional occurrence that she had this particular encounter, and then she puts in herself in the room where this essentially happens. Now, that's not going to be enough because we're talking about falsification of business records, but this is the underlying substance of the crime.

And they also -- Elie Honig, we should point out, like, at no point during her narrative about this alleged encounter and we should, again, remind people that Donald Trump denies that this happened, but as -- I think it was -- it was Senator Mitt Romney said I've never paid $130,000 to somebody to not have sex with him. But in any case, I think one of the issues is like, at no point did we hear anything about a nondisclosure agreement before this encounter. And it actually is not all that surprising, given the givens, that if somebody were to have sex with a porn star in 2006, and a decade later, maybe her career is fading a little bit in terms of on-screen, that individual is now the Republican presidential nominee, it's not really all that surprising that she would want to tell that story.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. This is a necessary part of the prosecution's story. I think it's come across as credible from what we can see, of course, the jurors are the ones there in person making that judgment. I also think the cross-examination of her is going to focus only on her later rejection of this or later denials of this. But I don't think the prosecution needs to do much more with her than just establish the baseline because this gets us to the actual crime.

It's not the crime. Having sex with Stormy Daniels is not a crime. The crime becomes a cover-up, the payment of hush money, and then the falsely mislabeling that hush money as attorney's fee. So, she's an unnecessary part of the story. She gives the prosecutors a human face on it in a way that thus far I think has come across as credible. We'll see what they do on cross.

TAPPER: So --

COATES: But if they don't front, the -- what the defense is going to do, they're (INAUDIBLE)

HONIG: Yes. And they will get to that.

TAPPER: So --

HONIG: I'm sure they will get to that. Yes.

TAPPER: Bill, is it not actually a huge mistake by Donald Trump if this encounter actually happened to admit it? Because if his credibility is also at stake, right -- obviously, the burden is on the prosecution. They have to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. But if the jury is like, hmm, this sounds credible right now inside the courtroom of Stormy Daniels returning to that hotel interaction says she drank a couple bottles of water while they were talking. Noting that that's all they were drinking Donald Trump, of -- a famous teetotaler, by the way. Daniels said she walked through the bedroom to go to the bathroom. This is -- these are as simple as it is.

WILLIAM BRENNAN, FORMER TRUMP PAYROLL CORP. ATTORNEY: Big if it occurred.

TAPPER: If it --

BRENNAN: If it --

TAPPER: If it occurred. Right.

BRENNAN: That's a condition precedent or your hypothetical. But let's look at the --

TAPPER: But my point is that if his credibility is important because he is going to deny that he knew anything about this, right, would the -- if you're a juror, and you're like, you know what, I think something happened between them and maybe I'd be willing to think that Donald Trump is telling the truth and he didn't know the details, and he didn't sign off on this. But again, hypothetical, but this is --

BRENNAN: I understand.

TAPPER: A juror says that he's lying about the encounter. I think that happened.

BRENNAN: He still has the ripcord of his wife and his family. He can have his lawyers look at that jury and say, look, did it happen? I don't know. But he did it for the wife and family. And that's going to connect with jurors. Let's say -- let's take this case and put it on the shelf for a minute. Hypothetically, somebody's accused of building a bomb and they're going to blow up a bridge, OK? And they say I don't know anything about a bomb. And they bring in all the evidence to show that it was a bomb. And jurors believed it was a bomb.

But then they find out that the person that built the bomb was going to blow up a stump in their backyard. There's no crime there. That's what this case is. All of this may be salacious, may be titillating, but unless they can tie it to election fraud or election fraud finance, there's no felony.

TAPPER: Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: That's really interesting. That's a -- that analogy because it brings us back to the central question. Despite the fact that just to play sort of the Greek chorus here, again, we are watching a former president, a candidate for president in a courtroom across from somebody --

[11:45:00]

TAPPER: Stormy Daniels admitting now that she -- when she was in the bathroom -- going to the bathroom at this hotel in Lake Tahoe, or where this golf tournament is going on, she went to the restroom while she was in a hotel with Donald Trump. And she looks for Donald Trump's toiletry bag, she says.

BASH: So --

TAPPER: I did look --

COATES: Now, she's credible.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Now, she's credible.

COATES: Now, she's credible.

BASH: The jab is getting real.

TAPPER: I did look and I'm not proud of it, she said. Mr. Trump had come into the bedroom and was on the bed, Stormy Daniels said. Trump, she says was wearing boxers and a T-shirt.

BASH: And this makes my point, and we'll probably -- even --

TAPPER: -- (INAUDIBLE) boxers and a T-shirt removed.

COATES: I know.

BASH: At least it's not the silk pajamas. But if this is continuing to make the point and it probably will be even more so as we see in here the description of the events as they unfolded from the perspective of Stormy Daniels right now, this is the -- as Paula Reid was saying, the blockbuster, the showstopper testimony. The question it does become what is the jury thinks of this as it relates to the underlying prosecution's allegations --

TAPPER: Stormy Daniels is saying she was trying to call her friend when she was in the bathroom, but the call was going straight to voicemail. And she said in the interview with Anderson Cooper several years ago that she didn't really know -- she wasn't really happy about how this all came about and how she ended up in this room. But once she was there, she's like, well, I guess I got to go through with this kind of thing. "I felt like the room spun in slow motion and I felt the blood leave my hands. And my feet almost like if you stood up too fast, Daniels said, I thought oh my god, what did I misread to get here?" she says.

That's a little odd. She went to a hotel room of a gentleman, and she was surprised that he expected sex. The intention was pretty clear. Somebody's stripped down to their underwear and is posing for you, Daniels said. I'm not -- well, I'm not sure how that's going to play with the jurors.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well -- I mean, look, Jake, I think that especially when remember he's an older powerful man. She's a young woman who is looking --

TAPPER: I'm not saying it's her right. But I'm --

HUNT: I -- no. But it's --

TAPPER: He stood up between me and the door. Not in a threatening manner. He didn't come at me. He didn't rush at me. Nothing like that, Daniel says of Trump.

So, she has been invited to his room. She goes to his room. They talk for a couple of hours. She goes to the restroom, she comes back, and he expects sex. The judge -- according to her, the judge has sustained an objection relating to Daniels' upbringing. This is the second time.

HUNT: OK, interesting.

TAPPER: Related to -- that means related to something Daniels --

HUNT: Were --

TAPPER: Broke up, yes?

HUNT: Right. Where they're likely --

TAPPER: (INAUDIBLE)

HUNT: Still try -- like, trying to buttress her credibility as someone who, you know, found herself in this -- in this situation for reasons that are perhaps understandable to the jury. I mean, look at -- when you are a young woman and you are dealing with powerful men, she thinks she has a dinner invitation. It turns out, it's the hotel room. It -- these situations --

TAPPER: Yes.

HUNT: Honestly, they play out all the time.

TAPPER: Yes.

HUNT: And I think if you are a woman in that jury box, you may very well recognize what is happening here. As unfortunate as that may be.

BASH: To be at that point.

HUNT: And, you know, you have to look out for yourself in those kinds of situations. And, you know, she clearly made a set of decisions going on from this point that has led us to where we are today. There's no denying that. But I also don't think it's necessarily fair to her to try and say, hey, this is -- you know, she should have had this --

TAPPER: Remember --

HUNT: She should have just -- I -- you know.

TAPPER: No, I'm not saying that. I'm just like when you go back to the original when she told Anderson Cooper, she said, I realized exactly what I'd gotten myself into and I was like, ugh, here we go. And I just felt like maybe it was sort of I had coming from making the bad decision for going to someone's room alone. And I heard the voice in my head, well, you put yourself in a bad situation and things happen --

HUNT: Yes.

TAPPER: So, you deserve this. I'm not saying that she should have felt that way. I'm not saying that --

HUNT: I mean, that's -- probably --

TAPPER: The situation --

HUNT: I mean, that's how a lot of women feel.

TAPPER: Yes.

HUNT: I mean, when if you end up on these --

TAPPER: Now, we heard about the story, Harvey Weinstein stuff, yes.

HUNT: Kinds of situations.

TAPPER: Yes. pretty awful.

HUNT: I mean, you do end up blaming yourself. And I think a lot of the conversation we had around that as a -- as a -- as a country was OK, how do we kind of change the culture that has women blaming themselves? I mean, I think that's kind of where we are at here in terms of -- TAPPER: Stormy Daniels said she blacked out at that point, clarifying

I was not drugged. I would never insinuate I was drugged. So, I'm not sure what she's driving out here but blacking out. This was obviously she seems to be describing it as a rather traumatic experience.

COATES: She'd increasing her credibility before a jury because they're going to try to -- on cross-examination, they're going to try to suggest that she is suggesting that she's -- was forced and compelled physically. She is distinguishing that from the allegations that she is sure to be confronted with.

She's saying I was not drugged. I would never insinuate it. She talks about what -- her calling someone from the bathroom A friend that she had tried to call earlier in the day and put on speakerphone as well, I think she talked about. All of this is really talking about her clarity and remembering the events.

And one of the problems as you just read from her own statements to Anderson Cooper is that the more that she has spoken about this issue and others, whether it's the podcast, whether it's books, or interviews, the more opportunities on cross-examination she will be confronted with all of these things. And if you are a smart cross- examiner -- and again, we have Bove and Blanche grew animated --

[11:50:02]

TAPPER: These are Trump's attorneys.

COATES: At the defense table. And Trump hit Necheles, that's the attorney who is a woman on his team to get her attention then she objected. Daniels then said to the point that you'd raised, Kasie.

HUNT: Yes.

COATES: There was an imbalance of power for sure. He was bigger and blocking the way. I was not threatened verbally or physically. Again, the more she has spoken on this issue, you have to fodder for the defense team.

And, of course, Trump now hitting an attorney to say, say something, because they will compare and contrast. And again, it does not matter if it actually happened to try to what's called impeach her credibility, which means show her to be a liar or try. It all matters to show the jury that there are inconsistencies.

And we have an update here. She said she had my -- I had my clothes and my shoes off. I removed my bra. We were in a missionary position. Now, remember --

TAPPER: She is -- we should just underline the fact that she has -- she has said -- and at the end of that exchange with Anderson. She's saying I'm not a victim. And she agrees it was entirely conceptual.

That's an important -- that's an important part of that. She feels kind of -- I don't know that coerced is the right way. She found herself in this situation. COATES: Yes.

TAPPER: But none of this is really germane to --

COATES: Well --

TAPPER: To the payments -- the hush money payments.

COATES: Well, the defense has suggested through earlier statements that this was a kind of a shakedown, right? And what would be an enticing shakedown motivation? If you are claiming not only that you've had sex with somebody in person, an extramarital affair, but during a year when the person has a wife with a newborn, you're running for president now, but also that would add to the inclination to pay someone to be quiet if it was asserted that was physical or compelled, and non-consensual in some way.

TAPPER: But she's -- but she's not just -- to direct -- for the -- for the --

COATES: Exactly, she's not saying that.

TAPPER: She's not saying that.

COATES: She's -- right.

HONIG: The judge is trying to move this along and trying to find a middle ground here. Remember, at the break, the judge said, I think we're going into unnecessary detail. But of course, details matter. If you're the prosecutor, you do want some level of detail. And the judge just --

BASH: They put that on the screen right now.

HONIG: Right. I mean, this -- well, that's a very important detail. The judge also sustained that objection, a few questions ago. We don't know exactly what it was, but it means, you owe to her family background or her upbringing. So, the judge is trying to keep it focused.

It doesn't matter whether they had sex or not. It doesn't matter when you list out the technical legal elements, but it absolutely matters A., when it comes to the credibility of the parties, and B., as Laura said, let's remember, one of the defenses that we've heard is this idea that he was essentially trying to -- she was trying to shake down Donald Trump. If this never happened, that lends credibility to the shakedown theory. If it did, undermines it.

TAPPER: We are trying to continue to track each key piece of testimony for Donald Trump's hush money trial. But right now, President Biden is delivering remarks at the U.S. Capitol, so we're going to listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sit down, please. Thank you, Stuart Eizenstat, for that introduction, and for your leadership in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. You're a true scholar, a statesman, and a dear friend.

Speaker Johnson, Mr. Jeffries, members of Congress, and especially the survivors of the Holocaust. My mother her, she looked at you. God loves you all. God loves you all. Abe Foxman and all other survivors who embody absolute courage and dignity and grace are here as well.

During these sacred days of remembrance, we grieve. We give voice to the 6 million Jews who were systematically targeted, murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War Two. We honor the memory of victims, the pain of survivors, the bravery of heroes, who stood up to Hitler's unspeakable evil, and we recommit to heading and heeding the lessons at one of the darkest chapters in human history, to revitalize and realize the responsibility of never again.

Never again, simply translated for me means never forget. Never forget. Never forgetting means we must keep telling the story. We must keep teaching the truth. We must keep teaching our children and our grandchildren.

And the truth is, we're at risk of people not knowing the truth. That's why growing up, my dad taught me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah up at our family dinner table. That's why I visited Yad Vashem with my family, as a senator, as vice president, and as president. And that's why I took my grandchildren to Dachau, so they could see and bear witness to the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence in the face of evil that they knew was happening.

Germany 1933, Hitler and his Nazi Party's rise to power by rekindling one of the world's oldest forms of prejudice and hate, antisemitism. His role then began with mass murder. It started slowly across economic, political, social and cultural life. Propaganda demonizing Jews.

[11:55:12]

Boycotts of Jewish businesses. Synagogues defaced with swastikas. Harassment of Jews in the street, and in the schools, antisemitic demonstrations, pogroms, organized riots. With the indifference of the world, Hitler knew he could expand his reign of terror by eliminating Jews from Germany, to annihilate Jews across Europe through genocide, the Nazis called the final solution. Concentration camps, gas chambers, mass shootings.

By the time the war ended, six million Jews, one out of every three Jews in the entire world were murdered. This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust. It didn't end with the Holocaust either, or after -- even after our victory in World War Two. This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.

That hatred was brought to life on October 7th of 2023. On a sacred Jewish holiday, the terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Driven by the ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1200 innocent people, babies, parents, grandparents, slaughtered in a kibbutz, massacred at the music festival, brutally raped, mutilated, and sexually assaulted.

Thousands more carrying wounds, bullets, and shrapnel from the memory of that terrible day they endured. Hundreds were taken hostage, including survivors of the Shoah. Now, here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later and people are already forgetting.

They are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror. It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten nor have you. And we will not forget.

As Jews around the world still cope with the atrocities and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we've seen a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world. Vicious propaganda on social media. Jews forced to keep their -- hide their Kippahs under baseball hats, tuck their Jewish stars into their shirts. On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, and attacked while walking to class. Antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's only Jewish state.

Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, and ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7, including Hamas's appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. It's absolutely despicable and it must stop. Silence and denial can hide much, but it can't erase anything. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be married -- buried, no matter how hard people try.

In my view, a major lesson the Holocaust is, as mentioned earlier is not -- was not inevitable. We know hate never goes away. It only hides. Given a little oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks. But we also know what stops hate. One thing, all of us. The late Rabbi Jonathan Sachs described antisemitism as a virus that has survived and mutated over time.