Trump lashes out angrily before his trial's opening statements

You were

looking at live

pictures of the courthouse

in Lower Manhattan.

This is CNN's

special coverage of an event

the likes of which

this country has never seen.

This morning,

we are standing by for opening statements

in a case that could

ultimately put a former president

behind bars.

Donald Trump is charged

with falsifying business records

to hide

a potentially damaging story

about an affair with a porn star.

This is something he has long denied.

This morning, brand new details

about the first witness,

the prosecution plans to call a man

who once led The National Enquirer.

And as The New York Times

put it, bought and buried stories

that could be damaging to Donald Trump.

CNN's Caitlin Paul is outside the court

this morning for the latest on what we

are expected to see. Caitlin

Well, John, those 18

jurors, the 12 jurors

that will judge Donald Trump,

plus the alternates,

they're all going to be coming in

to the courthouse by nine 30 today.

And then we're off in earnest

in this first criminal trial

against Donald Trump.

Opening statements will be taking place

this morning.

Expected to start pretty quickly

once the jurors

have assembled for the day.

And what they will be doing

is previewing

the contours of the case on both sides.

So the prosecutors

are going to give the jurors

and the public

a glimpse into all of the evidence

that they have collected

against Donald Trump

and want to present to him, represent

against him

over the course of the coming days.

That's what

their opening statement will be.

And then the defense team,

Todd Blanch, Donald Trump's

chief attorney,

is going to be giving

his opening statement.

We do expect that to be largely

about witness credibility,

trying to cut in to what

the prosecutors

are going to be putting on the stand.

The first witness

that will be David Pecker, he's

going to be called

as a witness for the prosecution.

He's the former chairman

of the publishing company

that was publishing

The National Enquirer.

And is a person

who has agreed to cooperate,

got a deal with prosecutors

and is stepping up at this time

to speak about very likely

what he knows of catch and kill schemes.

These schemes in 2016

that Donald Trump

and his campaign were interested in.

And his personal attorney,

Michael Cohen, were interested in

to collect

negative stories

about Donald Trump,

put money

toward the people who had those stories,

whose those stories were theirs to tell

and silence them.

A very big thing

not just for Stormy

Daniels who is at the core of this

falsification of business records case,

but also for other witnesses

who are likely to be called to testify

against the former president.

Caitlin, how long will

the opening statements be?

Do we know?

In just a little bit

more on David Pecker,

because you said he reached

an immunity deal with federal prosecutors

what is it that he has admitted or

conceded to in the past?

Well, John, as far as opening statements,

there isn't a time limit on

how long

these attorneys will go,

but they're not going to bore the jury

to start out this day.

Typically, opening statements can take,

you know, an hour.

45 minutes, something like that.

I understand

from my sources that on the defense side,

it's not going to be very long at all.

But as far as David Pecker

being the first person

up on the witness stand

and what he's going to be speaking about,

he is particularly attuned to

what had happened

with another woman

who accused Donald Trump

of an alleged affair,

a woman named Karen McDougal,

who is expected to be testifying

at some point against Trump

during this trial.

Sort of

to paint that portrait

of all of the motivations of Trump

to allegedly falsify

these business records.

And so he would be a person

that can give a window

into the entire atmosphere of what

Donald Trump wanted to do

and what may have motivated him

in 2016

to want to pay off stormy Daniels.

Very very interesting.

Great explanations.

Great to have you down there

for this moment in history.

Caitlin, Paul Lance thank you very much.

Kate.

So before Trump's

legal team

begins laying out their legal strategy

inside court,

Donald Trump is doing his level

best to have his say outside

of the courtroom,

lashing out on social media

against the district attorney

the gag order.

The fact

that he even needs to be in court

and more all this weekend, part

of his continued effort

to manage the narrative

before having to sit silently

before the jury.

CNN's Alina Trina has much more on this.

She's joining us now.

What are you hearing about

Donald Trump's

thinking going into this week?

Because you look at social media

or how he talked outside of court

on Friday. He's he seems angry for sure.

He is angry, Kate.

And I can

say his public comments,

his raging about this being unfair,

his frustration

with the gag order placed on him,

all of that is also playing out

behind the scenes.

He very much

does not want to be a criminal defendant

in any trial.

But this one in particular,

I think is very personal

for Donald Trump.

And remember,

a lot of salacious details are expected

to come out of this.

You're going to be hearing from people

who have been very close

to him in the past,

people like Michael Cohen, his former

attorney and fixer,

as they referred to him.

That's part of the reason as well

that he's very angry about this gag order

because he's not able to attack

witnesses.

That's something that he is particularly

very frustrated about.

But a lot of this as well

could be embarrassing for Donald Trump.

And he does not want this

on display, particularly in the lead

up to his next presidential election

ahead of November.

And, you know, if you think back to what

this is really about,

it's about alleged payments

to a porn star

that he allegedly had an affair with

and then used hush money payments

to try and cover that up

during his first campaign ahead of 2016.

And again,

when it comes down to it, you strip

all the bluster,

what you think about Donald Trump.

This is not something

he wants to be sitting through.

Now, I also just want to point out

that as much as his advisers are saying

that they think this trial

could help him with fundraising,

this could boost his support

and donations.

They really don't know

particularly how

this is going to play out

because it is in a general election.

What we saw happen during the primary

when he was indicted

is not necessarily

going to be the same thing

that happens in adrenaline.

So I keep that in mind.

Now, I also just want to point

your attention to Kate, some of this.

This interview

we had with the South

Dakota governor, Kristi Noem, yesterday,

she was speaking with Dana Bash.

She had a very interesting two response

about how it could be playing with some

of his allies. Take a listen.

If Donald Trump is

convicted in this trial,

will you still support him in November?

If my choice is between Joe Biden

and Donald Trump

every single day of the week, yes,

I will support Donald Trump.

I have from the very beginning

Now, pretty stunning answer, Kate,

from Kristi Noem.

But I think that just underscores as well

how they're unsure of what could happen

if he is ultimately convicted in this.

How will this play out?

He knows,

though, that he has his best defenders

out there on the airwaves,

like Kristi Noem

rehashing talking points

that the campaign

has given them to support him.

And so I think you're going to continue

to see interviews like that

in the days to come.

That's for sure.

It's good to see you.

And we'll see what today brings for sure.

Donald Trump

vowing to take the stand,

insisting once again on Friday

he plans to testify.

Now, we have heard this

from the former president

before in his civil fraud trial

last year.

He was set to testify for a second time,

but he canceled just 24 hours notice.

Our panel is back.

Ellie, would you do it if you were Trump?

Would you testify?

I mean, can you even answer that question

at this stage? Right.

So that's a

that's a really good question,

because the real answer is

you cannot answer it.

You don't have to answer it

until the moment you take the stand.

You get one of the benefits

of being a defendant

is you get to see

the prosecution's entire case.

How your lawyer does,

trying to undermine it, see how you feel.

But the short answer is no.

Hell, no.

I would not take the stand.

I would not advise him to take the stand.

There's no reason

for him to take the stand.

It's incredibly risky.

Like I said

before, the prosecution bears the burden

of proving their case

beyond a reasonable doubt.

Anyone who takes

the stand is taking an enormous risk.

I know on TV,

everyone takes the stand

because it's dramatic.

It's quite rare in the real world here

if you're Donald Trump.

I mean, look, it would just be a disaster

if you get caught in a contradiction

or as a defendant

taking the stand, it's over.

If you get caught in a lie,

if the jury doesn't like you, it's over.

So I would beg, plead, urge him.

I don't think he is

going to take the stand.

I think he's positioning right now.

I just it's so tactically self-defeating.

I can't see it happening.

I mean, Frank, what is Trump doing there?

It almost seems to me like he feels like,

you know,

people think he was a coward

if he said no, basically.

Correct me if wrong,

he has to be there,

at least physically be there.

Yeah.

But he doesn't have to take the stand.

Right.

So he doesn't have to take the stand.

I mean,

I think this is the type of bluster.

I mean, you asked Donald Trump,

are you are

you mad enough to take the stand?

He's going to say, yes, I'm doing this.

And it's easy to bait him into that. Yes.

Whether he means it or not,

I mean, I don't know if he knows if

he means it in his own head.

Matt, what do you think?

Yeah.

No, I think to certain

I completely agree with you.

He's going to

of course, say yes

and then he's going to say, you know,

well, you know,

I can't do it for this or that.

I completely agree.

And I think he makes a good point

where the jury pool is

so tainted against him,

I'm taking the stand I could see he's

simply poisoning it.

But I think also it's important

to remember

his messaging

about taking the stand isn't

necessarily about the trial.

It is about the politics of it.

And I think he's speaking

to a very different audience

necessarily than the jurors.

I think Frank would appreciate

this is this is the same.

Yeah, I think this is the same bluff.

He's calling on debates,

to be honest with you.

It's like he's

you know,

he's kind of marching around

saying any time, anywhere.

Of course I'll do it.

I mean, you know,

but at the end of the day,

do I think he actually wants to debate

Joe Biden?

I actually don't think that he does.

And I think it will be really interesting

to see how that plays out.

But it's like the same

it's the same bravado

and it's the same kind

of political posturing.

But because I'd be surprised

if Biden is

I think Biden is the one

that actually doesn't want to debate.

But we can have

people that for another day,

we got enough news.

I would say, look,

he may not

I would say I actually think he should.

I think any time

he is standing next to Donald Trump,

I think it's a good comparison for him.

It certainly was in 20, 20.

But there's a lot a lot

a lot to that goes

into preparing for a debate.

So Fair enough.

I'll tell you right now

what Donald Trump's out will be if

and when he decides not to testify,

he'll go, well, we just saw their case.

It was a disaster.

They didn't have anything on me.

My attorneys

tore down

Michael Cohen in their joke

a whole case

and their joke of a batch of witnesses.

They got nothing.

I don't need to take the stand.

That's it.

That's what he'll say publicly.

Well, I think that doesn't make sense.

I think that makes a lot of sense.

And it's also

I think it helps that it's not televised.

Right.

So if it was televised

and that might be

a little different calculation

to speak to the voters

if he's trying to filter to the media.

I think that's a good point.

Yeah.

If this were televised

and who were on the stand.

That's interesting.

I mean, that would be yeah.

That would be a moment to stop it.