The Trump trials: A former president faces justice

he spent more time in courtrooms than  perhaps any presidential candidate or  

former president in American history Erin  Moriarty explains how in some ways it's  

not just Donald Trump who's on trial it's  the very nature of our nation's judicial

system on March 25th inside room 1530 of this  Manhattan Courthouse a trial unlike any other  

scheduled to begin a criminal trial of a former  US president Donald J Trump you know we've never  

been in a situation like this where we've  been faced with the prospect of holding a  

former leader to account what does that mean  for the balance of power Melissa Murray teaches  

constitutional law at the New York University  School of Law Andrew Weissmann teaches criminal  

procedure there well I do think that if you think  about American history there's sort of defining  

moments there's the actual promulgation of the  Constitution there's the Civil War and I think  

I mean without the hyperbole I do you think this  is a defining moment in terms of having a criminal  

case to be clear Donald Trump is no stranger to  the legal system and recent civil judgments May  

cost him nearly half a billion dollars but what  makes this a defining moment say Weissmann and  

Murray is that he is facing 91 criminal charges  in four different courtrooms in New York in the  

so-called hush money case Trump is accused of  falsifying business records in Washington DC and  

Georgia for allegedly conspiring to overturn  the 2020 election and in Florida for keeping  

classified documents at his Mara Lago property  and what's at stake now for Donald Trump is not  

just his finances but possibly his freedom the  fact that we have these four indictments show  

that there is an appetite for accountability but  is he too much for the American legal system I  

think that's what we're going to find out because  overshadowing this tangle of Trials is the fact  

that defendant Trump is also candidate Trump I  think the country is going to rue the day that  

we ever travel down this road Robert Ray a former  Federal prosecutor successfully defended Trump  

when he first faced impeachment in late 2019 what  federal prosecutors want is they want the public  

to come to accept that the defendant was afforded  fairness I think that there's a good percentage of  

the country right now that doesn't believe that  and that is why professors Weissmann and Murray  

put together what they say is an impartial Guide  to the Trump indictments there are facts that are  

disputed in four criminal cases and our job is to  translate that for uh people hopefully who really  

will understand that they need to get engaged  they begin not with the New York case but the  

one they believe levels the most serious charges  United States of America versus Donald Trump being  

heard in Washington DC today an indictment was  unsealed charging Donald J Trump with conspiring  

to defraud the United States last August Jack  Smith the special Counsel appointed by attorney  

general Merrick Garland charged Trump with  conspiring with others to interfere with the  

results of the 2020 presidential election the  sort of gist of it is that you have a plot to  

disrupt the counting of the votes Smith alleges  Donald Trump knowingly made false statements about  

election results in States like Georgia and  according to court filings cites as evidence  

Trump's own social social media posts like this  one falsely accusing Democrats of stuffing ballot  

boxes Smith also alleges the defendant lied to the  Georgia Secretary of State to induce him to alter  

Georgia's vote count in that now famous telephone  call on January 2nd 2021 I just want to find

11,780 votes which is one more than we have but  former Trump attorney Robert Ray says a jury  

may hear that phone call differently finding votes  doesn't necessarily mean find me 11,000 fraudulent  

votes and adds that Donald Trump will argue he  was exercising his right to free speech attorney  

Weissmann counters I was a prosecutor for many  years there's no First Amendment um protection  

in terms of a criminal case if you were to to rob  a bank and say give me all your money that speech  

none of that is protected my office will seek a  speedy trial so that our evidence can be tested  

in court and judged by a jury of citizens  but that speedy trial that was scheduled  

to begin in a federal courtroom in Washington DC  tomorrow ran into a roadblock earlier this year  

after Trump's lawyers made a claim that echoed one  made by another former president 50 years ago go  

when the president does it that means that it is  not illegal by definition exactly exactly Donald  

Trump asserts he's protected from prosecution  by Presidential immunity while that claim was  

initially thrown out by a federal appeals court  Trump asked the Supreme Court to weigh in and in  

a win for Trump just this past week the justices  agreed to hear arguments on the case in April so  

even a case that's built for Speed can be derailed  by delays yes doesn't that kind of reflect one of  

the limitations of the American system these  delays Donald Trump once wrote a book called  

The Art of the deal this is the art of delay and  he's played it very well there's no question that  

it is desirable politically for Donald Trump to  delay these cases until after the election for  

obvious reason um he's entitled to take that  position it's a strategy that presidential  

historian Douglas Brinkley says that Trump learned  from controversial attorney Roy Cohn chief counsel  

to senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s and who  represented the Trump organization in the 1970s  

what Trump has going for him is that he learned  how to stall and defer and postpone kick the  

can but more than that he learned never admit  defeat but as much as they have tried Donald  

Trump's lawyers have not been able to delay or  dismiss this case the people of the state of  

New York against Donald Trump under New York  state law it is a felony to falsify business  

records with intent to defraud and an intent  to conceal another crime last year Manhattan  

district attorney Vin Bragg alleged that Donald  Trump had falsified records to conceal a bigger  

crime election fraud the defendant claimed  that he was paying Michael Cohen for Legal  

Services performed in 2017 this simply was not  true instead Bragg says the hush money went to  

pay Stephanie Clifford an adult film star better  known as Stormy Daniels to buy her Silence about  

an alleged affair with Trump before the 2016  election while some legal observers question  

the strength of the case Trump's former lawyer  Michael Cohen was convicted of similar charges  

in 2018 and sentenced to three years in prison  jurors chosen for Trump's trial will likely remain  

anonymous and no cameras will be allowed inside  the courtroom what's more unlike his previous  

civil trials Donald Trump will be required to  be in here instead of on the campaign Trail this  

is about defending his rights him showing up in  court and being able to mount a vigorous defense  

to the charges against him that's his right as a  defendant that won't keep him from holding Court  

outside as he did after a recent hearing nobody's  ever seen anything like it in this country it's a  

disgrace is he going to try to use this case as  part of his campaign message of course he will  

he has done that with regard to every other  stage of of these prosecutions why would the  

trial be any different Manhattan D.A. Bragg has  already asked the judge to rein Trump in with a  

partial gag order but Ray blames the prosecutors  for taking a candidate to trial just months  

before a presidential election are you saying  that former leaders should never when they're  

running for reelection ever be held accountable  for alleged crimes no but I'm saying that the  

unusual circumstance that we find ourselves in  is that we've got four pending indictments in an  

election cycle that is a result that I think most  people would agree is undesirable but Bob he gets  

to bring in his evidence he gets to cross-examine  Witnesses and he could be acquitted and that would  

that would help him in an election year I think  there are questions about about whether or not  

Donald Trump can get a fair trial in the District  of Columbia as there are whether or not he can  

get a fair trial in Manhattan given the potential  juries I've watched them deliberate they take it  

very seriously but Professor Murray is confident  that juries made up of American citizens are more  

than up to the task I think very few jurors go  into there like I'm a Democrat I'm a Republican  

and I I think they go in there like I'm a juror  and I'm an American and this is my civic duty