military, they could not have an attached, there are also questions about a marine battalion commander on site at abbey gate and whether he understood the rules of engagement, did the report look into that? >> this was another complaint that some sniper marine corps snipers had, which is that they inform their battalion commander about this bald man in black and saying that they wanted to engage him. it was not clear what the response of the battalion commander was to that request. but of course, ultimately that shot was not taken however, the military says that the battalion commander understood very well what the rules of engagements were in that there is no evidence to the contrary, jake. all right. natasha bertrand at the pentagon for us. thank you so much. you can follow me on facebook, instagram threads, x formerly known as twitter, also on the tiktok, all of it under jake tapper, you can follow the show on x at the lead cnn if you ever miss an episode will lead. you can listen to the show once you get your podcasts, all two hours, just sitting out there like a big ripe peach. are covered. engineers now with wolf blitzer

now, we're following two major breaking stories tonight he case begins. >> it's the first time a former us president as ever stood trial. on criminal charges. jury selection now underway as the judge, the defense attorneys and the prosecutors marrow down a massive list of potential jurors to find the 12th new yorkers who will consider trump's fate also tonight, the middle east on edge after israel vows to exact a price for an iranian attack, what israeli official tells cnn the war cabinet is determined to act, but it's still unclear where, when and how the idf might retaliate the white house, meanwhile, urging calm in the region as president biden turns his focus to diplomacy and de-escalation

welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world i'm wolf blitzer, a urine the situation room the skis, cnn, breaking news >> we begin our coverage tonight in new york. were donald trump's historic criminal trial is finally underway. the court adjourning for the day just a short time ago after getting started on the first order of business jury selection. cnn's kara scannell has more on all of today's developments >> so when i'm >> nothing like this has ever happened before is never been anything like it. >> after weeks of delays and last-ditch legal maneuvering, jury selection now underway in the historic in unprecedented hush money case against donald trump following a series of rulings clarifying the evidence allowed in the case 96 potential jurors passed through magnetometers to enter the courtroom with trump. they were

sworn in and questioning began a few minutes later, at least 50 perspective jurors were excused because they pulled the judge they could not be fair and impartial of those who remained. three question by the judge listed the new york times and cnn as their sources of news. none said they had read any books by michael cohen or trump and none of them said they worked or volunteered for any pro trump or anti-trump groups. nine members of the jury free pool were questioned and not dismissed by the time court adjourned for the day. trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. that manhattan district attorney alvin bragg says the former president attempted to cover up payments made to adult film actress stormy daniels just before the 2016 election trying to stop her from speaking out about the alleged affair with trump judge juan merchan started the de by denying a motion from trump's lawyers to recuse himself as attorneys debated judge juan merchan said he would not allow the infamous access hollywood

tape to be shown or video of trump's deposition in the e jean carroll lawsuit that found him luck bible for defamation. karen mcdougal, a model who says she had an affair with trump in 2006 and was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it will be allowed to testify. attorneys also argued about how much the jury can be told about michael cohen's crimes i did it at the direction of in concert with him for the benefit of donald j. trump, the credibility of trump's former fixer who admitted he orchestrated the hush money payment to stormy daniels will be one of the most bad over are elements of the case. prosecutors also ask the judge to fine trump for social media posts attacking witnesses balden, the case saying he violated a gag order. the judge scheduled a hearing for next week to settle that matter. the trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. it may be the only case against trump to face a jury before the 2024 election. the presumptive republican nominee, complaining about the judge as he walked

out of the courtroom. >> course is not going to allow us is a very conflicted, you and he's not allow us to go to that allow me to leave here for i have to take go pc and you before the united states supreme court because he thinks you superior >> trump's lawyers asked the judge to excuse him from court next thursday so he could attend oral arguments before the us supreme court where trump's lawyers argued that the former president has presidential immunity from the february, from the january 6 case in washington, dc, the judge did not hi, that requesting that trump is a criminal defendant and he is required to be here. wolfe >> pure scannell in new york for us. thank you. let's get some analysis from our legal and political experts and elliott williams, let me start with, you. were than half of these potential jurors were excused today. what does that say to you >> oh, okay. >> jurors can't serve if they can't pledge to be fair and impartial. now there's a big

caveat to that. a judge can actually rehabilitate them and say, look, if i instruct you as to what the facts and the law are, could you serve on this jury? the judge seems to have chosen not to do that here for a big reason. i think he knows it's going to take a very hard time to pick a jury here and if you can weed out as many people as possible, people who raised their hands and start from the position of saying that they can't be fair, are good folks to skim off the top. so i think that's what the judge did just trying to fend the herd because jury selection here is going to be a beast it's certainly could take days. and what does it say to you? andrew mccabe, that this suggests that this whole jury selection process could turn out to be rather difficult. >> i think it absolutely will be difficult and i think that the judges action today is an implied acknowledgment of the fact that he understands that that jury population probably leans against trump. and so today's cattle call approach to dismissing a fift 50 jurors at once is kind of acknowledgment of that. he

doesn't want to spend his time as elliot laid out trying to rehabilitate and really drill down on each one of those 50 people. he's going to let them go in mass to try to boil down under that group of folks who are more impartial in who can pledge to do the fair analysis that he requires during the process of the trial. >> jaime ganim yellows with us today is any reason to think trump can't get a fair trial in manhattan? >> i don't think there is the there have been very high celebrated trials where well-known defendants, scott off, o.j. simpson comes to mind and i am old enough. one of the first trials i covered was john hinckley, who in 1981 attempted to assassinate ronald reagan. he almost killed him, shot three other people john hinckley in 1982 was found not guilty by reason of insanity everybody knew about the case. this shooting actually happened on camera. i do think to andy's point this jury pool in

manhattan they did not vote for donald trump by enlarge that said trump's lawyers are looking for one thing, one juror to hang. this group. >> that's all it takes. all right. and so to eliot's point though, the getting rid of these folks who volunteer to say, i'm not going to be impartial, i'm not gonna be able to do that it really robs trump and his team of this immediate it when i say rob's, they're going to still make this point. i'm not suggesting the former president's could all of a sudden say this is a totally fair trial. but i think it robs them substantively of this point that whatever gets seated as somehow skewed against them because at the outset, to judges completely just excusing all the people that they themselves say, i can't do this in any kind of impartial way. and they would >> the trump team would very much like to have the individual explanations of why these people feel like they can't possibly be fair because that would all be very helpful to them in the event he

receives a final verdict of conviction that would be very important data to use. in an appeal challenging the choice of venue essentially, he filed a motion wanting to move the trial to someplace where we'd have a more favorable jury that was of course, denied, and that could be grounds for years through a little bit of the mechanics of jury selection. this is such a critically important part of this case. and people don't understand it. we all go to jury duty but people don't sort of know the behind the scenes. judges are seeing number one, who can be fair and impartial in the eyes of the law. and then both sides are allowed to get rid of some jurors that they simply don't want. these are people who aren't legally excluded. these are the people who could still be fair and could still follow the law and don't have a major conflict. but one side or the other just doesn't like now the questions aren't as straightforward as you think wolff. a lot of times, even things like what's your education, what zip code you live in, what magazines do you read? our little ways of teasing out, number one, how might this person work in a

group? how whizzes personal leader is this person going to buck tradition or leadership or anything like that? in a case like this where politics is a little bit of a proxy, even education is something valuable because of the fact that i think the prosecutors here might want more highly educated traditionally voters trump folks, may want to see more sort of joe six pack. >> i mean, education is the >> defining faultline. in american politics today, i was being polite about it, but yes it is. >> i think >> in the pop psychology of jury selection, those are the kinds of things that prosecutors and defense attorneys are trying to tease out to see if they can divine how a particular juror might, one way or another. so jimmy, what other challenges will both sides face in picking jurors? >> so look, these lawyers have a lot of experience they have a sense of what they're looking for the judge merchan has this very extensive questionnaire as elliott pointed out, but

lawyers will tell you very good. you can get fooled. you can think someone is sympathetic and they're not or juror who might lean one way or the other gets persuaded by the other. jurors >> at the end of the day, they >> do run out of strikes. and that will be the panel you and. i should have clarified that both sides have a finite number of what are called peremptory challenges are strikes of jurors. so they've got to be selective and playing them ten each side. you're playing a game of chess, trying to get him the other sides had to figure things out. but look, we've all been burned by a juror who was nodding and smiling along with what we were saying at jury selection or who on paper paper, whether it's education, class, politics victim of a crime, crime, dog node, whatever else, simply voted a way that we weren't anticipates art, not sayyed. >> it's you go with your gut. you tried to make these very meaningful decisions based on very superficial information,

very limited information. but at the end of the day, a jury will be in paneled and i shared jamie's confidence that we'll have a fair one. >> interesting. they're related development. the judge next week will hear arguments on whether or not trump has already violated the gag order that has been imposed, had to do it. absolutely had to do at those tweets over the over the weekend are pretty clearly far beyond the parameters of what's been and permitted under the gag order. to not address the prosecutors demand that he bees sanctioned for that conduct over the weekend, would have sent a clear signal to trump that their the gag order is useless. it's not going to be enforced and would have made the whole thing, meaning it's interesting that david the biden campaign announced that president biden will remain quiet. he won't comment on this ongoing trauma for now. >> we'll see if that holds. they didn't today and the white house press secretary, karine jean-pierre, was asked at the briefing today and she just danced around this issue. clearly, what they don't want to do with their hyper aware of when you talk to folks in

sayyed biden world, is they don't want to feed into this is already false claim, quite frankly, from donald trump, that this is all politics and this is team biden exacting of persecution in the form of a prosecution against him. and they want to make sure they stay away from doing anything that gives him any kind of rope on that matter. and so you'll see right now why the i'm dressed. they'll be on display though. i mean, joe biden will be in scranton, pennsylvania tomorrow talking about the economy and donald trump will be sitting in a courtroom for jury selection. >> yeah, that's quite a different way of campaign our guys, everybody standby. we have a lot more coming up just ahead. we're getting more on this historic trial of donald trump, including a closer look at just whose objective to take the witness stand. but first israel vowing to hit back against iran after that unprecedented drone and missile attack. a live report from tel aviv is coming up. i will also speak with the key us senator. stay with us. you're in the situation situation room with

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all >> i need to do with my >> new hands free sketches slip into. >> it's like slip ends have an invisible built-in shoe horn. so my foot slides into place. what could be better? >> right now, we're keeping a very close eye on the extremely tense situation in the middle east. israel vowing to respond to saturday's iranian drone and missile attack as the us tries to keep the conflict from spiraling out of control, let's check in with our chief international correspondent clarissa ward. she's joining us live from telling we've right now our clerk, clarissa, how israel weighing its next steps >> well, today, wolf, we had the fourth session of the war cabinet since saturday nights attack that meeting went on for something like three hours and there was no announcement at the end of it as to what israel's leadership has decided in terms of a response to iran. but there are definitely, i would say wolf growing rumblings that that response is likely to be

sooner, rather than later. the question becomes, what will it look like? we'll israel, he, the caution that is being urged by many of its allies, including the us us, to try not to escalate will it? he'd the forceful cries from some elements of the government here, particularly part of that right-wing coalition that netanyahu has, who are calling for a forceful attack to re-establish a deterrent? will it be a direct for tat hitting some kind of a military installation? sham, would it possibly be an asymmetric attack focusing on one of your ron's numerous proxies in the region, could it be a cyber attack? these are all the various options that have been considered. and now the region really just bracing itself, waiting and watching to see what will happen. and of course, real concerns from some quarters that this could good potentially escalate the situation further. >> how does all this tension between israel and iran right now impact israel's war against hamas in gaza well, i

think it depends on the perspective you're looking at it from wolf, some will say that this has been a lifeline to netanyahu because it's really >> deflect attention away from gaza, away from the withering criticism that israel has faced about its handling of gaza, israel is still adamant that it is going to proceed seat ahead with that incursion into rafah, where some 1 million palestinians are currently hunkered down unclear as to how this will affect the timeline, whether the focus on iran to tracks from the focus on gaza. but there are certainly domestic pressure from here in israel for some kind of a wind in or what would be viewed as a win in israel on that front, particularly with those hostage-ceasefire talks, just completely stalled, will shed completely stalled. and indeed, clarissa ward and tel aviv for us. thank you very much. let's get some more of a breaking news. cnn has learned that house republican leaders will

try to pass four separate foreign aid bills to provide assistance to ukraine, israel, and taiwan. but it's unclear whether conservative hardliners in the house will accept that joining me now, democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut. he's a key member of the senate foreign relations committee. senator, thank you so much for joining us. what's your reaction to this latest? plan by the house republican leadership to pass four separate bills decoupling aid to israel from ukraine aid that may potentially bundle these before sending them to the senate. but is that something you could support decoupling all these bills? >> well, i haven't read any of the details of these four different proposals, so i certainly can't comment on how they would fare in the senator, whether i'd vote for them, but it's a disturbing development. but the speaker of the house has a bill in front of him right now that has passed the senate with 70 votes. a huge bipartisan majority it funds ukraine, it funds israel, it funds important humanitarian

relief, and it helps taiwan defend itself that bill is supported by the majority of his members and he is still continuing to refuse to call it up for a vote that bill could be on the president's desk tomorrow if speaker johnson just called for a vote. so every two days he seems to have a new plan as to how he is he's going to avoid doing the right thing, just taking a vote, letting his members decide on what they feel about the senate proposal that funds ukraine. this new plan. i don't know how it will fare in the house. i don't know how or fair in the senate. what i know is that did inevitably just delays getting funding to both israel and ukraine, both of those countries need that help desperately right now >> as you know, israel, at this time is snell deliberating its response to that iranian attack over the weekend. when you look at how successfully israel and it's partners defendant again all those missiles that were coming in how little damage iran actually did on the ground

in israel would a direct counter-strike from israel, honore run do you think that would go too far? >> well, first of all, this attack from iran is unacceptable, and i am glad that israel was able to shoot down all these incoming missiles and drones. but you, there's a lot of skill involved in that, but probably some luck as well. we could easily be dealing with dozens, if not hundreds, of dead israelis today. israel has a decision vision to make. i think everyone knows by now that the united states is counseling israel to engage in a strategy moving forward or that doesn't escalate this conflict any further. it certainly appears that the way in which iran conducted the strike was telegraphing the fact that it does not want to be engaged in a deeper, bloodier, long-term conflict. and right now, with our ships being shot at in the red sea with gaza still on fire, with it's unrest in jordan. this is

the absolute wrong time for there to be an additional new broader conflict in the region. >> the right says this decision is now up to israel. listen to this, listen this is an israeli decision to make whether and how they'll respond. we're going to leave it squarely with them. >> we are not >> involved in their decision-making process about a potential response so senator, what should the us roby and what advice should the israelis should be receiving from the united states considering their >> risk to us troops throughout the middle east region, if this conflict were to spiral well, israel is a sovereign nation. and this was undoubtedly a vicious attack on their territory and on their people. so israel has a right to determine for themselves how they respond. i think the president has been right to say that this is israel's decision. the united states is not going to participate in this attack. and i think it's important for us to signal to israel that the

way in which they respond needs to be and should be calculated. so as not to get israel or the united states more deeply involved in a direct confrontation with iran, rights now, that is not good for israeli security, is not good for us security. our focus right now needs to be on getting those hostages out of gaza, bringing the war in gaza to a close. there's already been enough damage and israel's national security and to the us national security we don't need a another wider dangerous conflict with iran. >> senator chris murphy, thanks so much for joining us. thank you. >> coming up. >> we'll have more on the first criminal >> trial of a former president of the united states with a closer look at the key players in the case of the people state of new york versus donald j. trump every piece

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visit xfinitymobile.com today. free text. hello? >> to three-to-one, three-to-one today >> erin burnett, outfront tonight at seven odd cnn >> we're back with the breaking news, donald trump's hush money criminal trial dow underway. a historic first for a former us president cnn's brian todd takes a closer look at some of the key players in the case >> this is an outrage that this case was brought other than the protagonist himself, who's on trial. there are some critical players who will determine the former president's fate in this case, starting with the man presiding over it juan merchan, the colombian-born new york supreme court judge, who is in his early 60s, has already stood firm against donald trump's moves to delay and throw out this case and expanded a gag order after trump's personal attacks against merchan and his family, he will be have a very commanding presence in the courtroom in a very quiet and under stated way. but he has no

problem being strong if he needs to be sparring before judge more, sean will be a prosecution team led by manhattan da alvin bragg, who will go against trump's lead defense lawyer todd blanche, and his team, who get praise from legal analysts for their track record. >> unlike some of trump's prior representation in some well, there's other cases that i wouldn't put in the same caliber or the same quality of lawyering. trump's got excellent lawyers here but it's the witnesses who will likely bring the most sizzle, possibly the most critical one, michael cohen, trump's former central becaushe made the hush money payments to dan was reimbursed by the trump ganization? patient >> and he had told me that he had spoken to a co o friends and it's 130,000 it's not a lot of money and we should just do it. so go ahead and do it >> trump denies the charges of falsifying records of the payment. o analyst says the pressure on the prosecution to establish cohen's credibility will be enormous if he fails and he looks like this is an

agenda and he's a scorned individual and we know these admitted lying and we know that he's a criminal conviction that is not gonna be favorable in any way, shape, or form to the prosecution. they're stormy daniels, the adult film star whose alleged sexual encounter with trump was the reason for the hushoney pment h testimony the affair,hich donald trump h denied ll be pivotal in this trial, as we'll her accoun of the payments david former chairman ofhe company that publishes the tional enquirer, will be asked abt his efforts to bury media stories about the fas t a witness who could provid thmost dramatitab testimony, hope hicks, trum's former communitions adser, who lped the campaigdeal th the stormy daniels fallout. >> anyone who was in trump's inner circle and who can provide that context and that perspective i think as someone that the jury will be listening very csely and iently to at they haveo say. >> we, should point, out that karen agnifilo provided

analysis for our peace works for a firm that represents michael cohen. but agnifilo does not have any contact with cohen, does not rk on any case relating to him, and we did not have her speak about cohen for our story. wolf, right? >> todd reporting. brian. thank you very much. let's bring in our political and legal experts for some serious analysis righ now,lliott, let mert wh you ain. wch of these high-profile witnesses whoill bealled upon to testify stands out to u. >> of urse, michael cohen, only in so far as credibility being a central issue at trial, witnesses only as good as whether jurors choose to believe that witness and there might be questions seen about michael cohen's credibility, his former ties, a former president trump and so on. now, there are other witnesses who can corroborate somewhat statements and michael cohen makes about the order of the payments and what they serve to do and so on. it's really just a question of what the jury believes and do they trust the people that are put in front of them? so i'll be really be watching apparently there's lot of documentation the backup, what he says at the same time as you know, andrew near the former fbi deputy director

michael cohen? yes, he is a key witness, but he has perjured himself and he actually went to jail as a result of that. so what does the prosecution attempting to achieve by calling on them >> every witness brings a certain amount of baggage to their role at the trial cohen certainly has a lot most significantly that perjury conviction. however prosecutors build cases every day across the country on the backs of witnesses who are troubled, who've been in who have criminal convictions, who have lied of committed acts of violence, and they're able to rehabilitate those witnesses on the stand with things like documentation. if it's not just going to be that michael cohen says, i paid stormy daniels this at. he's ing tohey're going to actually show m the check with donald trump's signature on it that includes that payment. so there is a way to get beyond even significant baggage that cohen presents and wolff, can i just add? that and andy and elliott can address this, but michael cohen has

already served prison time. he is not getting any benefit out of doing this. this is not a deal that's going to lessen the sentence he's already had. we've also been told by his former lawyer, lanny davis that there are emails text messages, other things that this is a case that will be let's say, won or lost on paper, not just on a michael cohen's one other cks is going to say in every case, there are potential surprises for several people who are going to be called, who like hope hicks were in the inner circle who heard things, saw things that may very well support what michael cohen says, you agree? >> no, i absolutely do agree that more to the point he made, he repeatedly says, i lied and did what i did at the direction of the defendant, mr. trump. now, there may be questions

about whether he can get that statement in court because he's expressing an opinion. and maybe the defense might try to strike it, but he says, no, look, yes. i have allying perjury conviction, i did it because the guy that's on trial right now, that's could be very compelling evidence of the statement if he's allowed to make as you know, david david chalian, cases often seen as the least potentially important of the four criminal charges, not charges, four criminal cases that trump is going to have to deal with in the coming months. we have a recent poll. we saw recent poll that showed a majority of voters look at this 58% say they see this case as very or somewhat serious, including a majority of independent voters break that down for us. yeah. i mean, nearly six in ten americans, he does vary somewhat and serious and i never really have understood over the course of the last year how we why we rank these trials. they don't happen that way, right? i mean it may be that some people see january 6 trial is a more serious matter, but that doesn't take away from the fact that we're seeing today, this process is going to play out on its own in a courtroom

in manhattan for these charges in this case that he is on an a jury will decide his guilt or innocence on that i do think we should treat this case as that a standalone case here, not in comparison to the others. and clearly americans, as you noted, also a majority of independence think this is a serious matter or the classified documents case down in mar-a-lago in florida. that's a very serious of course. now these cases are pretty serious. how do you think it's going to play politically? >> well donald trump will be campaigning from the courthouse steps. we know that he will be playing the victim, which i think works for his base. i think again, to the point of we don't know everything that's going to come out in this case. there may be testimony that is damaging to him. he may also get off >> and that is that will have its own political ramification. >> we'll see what happens on that front in a significant tomorrow morning, the us supreme court is can hear oral arguments on a federal

obstruction law that was used to prosecute trump and others involved in the j anyway, sixth insurrection set the scene for walk us through what we should anticipate. sure. so it's a white-collar offense. people may have heard of sarbanes oxley many years ago that put in this crime of obstructing an official proceeding obstruct, influencing, or corruptly, obstructing are influencing an official proceeding of congress. now the question is, was that intended just to apply to people like accountants and white-collar criminals who behaved in a self-serving are corrupt manner or candidate based on what the language of the statute says be applied to people who stormed the capitol on january 6. they were also obstructing an official proceeding. and so the supreme court is going to be looking at number one, what did congress mean when it passed this law? and two, what is the history of these prosecutions for obstruction to official proceeding actually made the decision of the supreme court could directly impacts a lot. trump, obviously, as well. all right, guys. thank you very, very much. just ahead, an inside look at how this unprecedented drought will play

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>> 2024, we got play is it begin april 20 more now in the breaking news, we're following donald trump's first criminal trial is officially underway in new york city with jury selection beginning this afternoon, joining us now to discuss this and more of the former us district court judge shira shetland judge xianmin. thank you very much for joining us. you know, these players take us inside this case from the perspective of a judge, how is judge merchan approaching this jury selection process? >> well jury selection is a difficult phase of a trial, particularly when it's so high profile, that's why he's used are written questionnaire with so many probing questions that helps to move the word deer. that is the questioning of the jurors along because you can read those answers. but in this court, the lawyers are allowed to question each juror

individually and really try to tease out the biases that they may have. so it's not going to be a fast process are the challenges of seating and impartial jury, judge, greater in this case, can trump actually wind up getting a fair trial >> i believe he can get a fair trial, but it's not an easy job to read out those who are biased against him as even he has pointed out, this is manhattan. this is a district that when 25% for biden in the election. so he has a right to really question each juror are carefully and be sure that people who are eventually ceded really can be fair and impartial. look, this is so high profile that there's almost nobody who hasn't heard about it. certainly there's nobody who doesn't know. this is the former president. it's not going to be an easy thing for them to listen to the evidence and decide the case. as we always tell jurors solely on what you hear in the

courtroom that instruction judges give. >> so they tried to do. that's absolutely right. the judge will hear arguments on a related matter on whether trump actually violated the gag order in this case, how significant is this, judge? and what are you expected? >> well, this is tricky chu in the gag order, he is not allowed to sort of make comments about the prosecutors or the judges family, or the witnesses, or the jurors >> and he's >> always going way up to the line, if not over, and he can't seem to stop it himself. so he made comments of course, about michael cohen and about stormy daniels. i forget her real name, but he certainly went on social media yesterday and make a lot of comments calling them liars. i'm trash and all kinds of fixed prosecution has asked her ready for contempt order and they've asked him to start imposing fines of $3,000, which isn't much of a deterrent for him.

but it can ratchet up from there. it could be daily finds that increase the exponentially and eventually he may have to consider if you won't stop i can nic card partially, right. you for violating a court order so we'll see what the tug of war between the judge and mr. trump is with respect to that gag order, will see if tropics he does shut up trump has railed against this prosecution from the very start, from your perspective, judge, would a defendant not named donald trump have faced these? charges in this case >> yes. i think i think someone else would. now, i know his argument that this is unprecedented and a witch-hunt and it's just done to get him. i don't buy that there are a lot of prosecutor prosecutions for for making false business records but what makes this a felony and not a misdemeanor is that if you file these false business records in furtherance of another crime then it can be

a felony. and that's what's unusual here. the other crimes that underlie it our election fraud. and we have to see if that can hold up as an underlying crime. both federal and state election fraud or election interference. and the third crime is tax fraud. so there are three underlying crimes. now, they don't have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. not at all. the three has to just find that the intent of the filing, the false business records or making the false business records was to further the underlying crimes and then it becomes a felony. so it is unusual, but i think other people have many people have been prosecuted for the misdemeanor filing false business records. the question here is the underlying crimes and that's that's a bit of a first impression case. the election interference. in the election fraud charges. that's that's new >> excellent explanation of why these are felony charges and

not simply misdemeanor charges. a judge, gentlemen, thank you very much. for your expertise. thanks very much for joining us and thanks for all your service. we appreciate it very much. thank you. thank you. wael for having me. >> thank you. coming up. >> iran now >> warning it won't show restraint should israel respond after that iranian drone and missile attack against israel? our anderson cooper is now back in israel. you'll join us live. >> that's coming up next >> the sinking of >> the titanic, how >> it really happen, especially to our premiere sunday row 28th at nine on cnn >> good data cough. oh, no >> bob, i call later chest congestion. hello, 12 hours of relief wow >> offering at that movies,

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three-to-one today. >> i'm evan perez at the federal court in washington, and this is cnn >> let's get back to the latest developments in the middle east where israel is weighing military options after saturday's barrage of iranian missiles and drones. cnn's anderson cooper is standing by for his life i've in tel aviv. he's got an update for us, anderson died glad you're back there and israel right now reporting on what's going on, what do we know so far about israel's potential response? >> well the idf chief of staff

said today that there will be a respond to that. there's no question about that. the question is exactly what is the nature of that response is going to be the israeli war cabinet for several hours today, they've had a number of meetings since this attack. obviously, we're told the times it was has been very tense, discussed questions inside inside that that counsel, we don't know if a decision has been made, nor do we know what exactly the nature of response will be. obviously, there's a number of factors involved >> both >> the nature of the response, whether it be diplomatic or military, which would be more are likely. and also that the timing of it, is it something that needs to happen quickly? there's some thought that the quicker the better as far as israel may see it, because they want to still try to maintain the international port. they've gotten in the longer they wait to respond, that any kind of support or sympathy for israel may diminish in terms of a response so there's a lot

still, we don't know and obviously we are you're watching very closely what happens here on the ground. will >> anderson we also just learned that hamas, has actually offered a counterproposal in the ceasefire negotiations >> what are we learning? >> yeah. this comes from israeli source close to negotiations telling cnn's jeremy diamond that there has really been what can only be described as a setback in these negotiations. what has been on the table and has been being discussed for months was a release of some 40 israeli hostages being held by hamas and other groups inside gaza. in exchange for what would be a six-week ceasefire and the release of palestinian prisoners in jails that now seems according to this source, talking to jeremy diamond that number has been cut in half by hamas from to about 20:20 prisoners they also want to, excuse me, 20 hostages. they

also want the number of palestinian prisoners being held. they want a higher number of those release and a higher percentage of those who have life sentences his release. so that would be a big setback in the negotiation in the negotiations for the release of the hostages. and a lot now depends on whether there's going to be a ground operation in rafah, which was expected to take place this week. but right now, there's no sign of exactly when that may occur. >> there's a cooper and tel aviv for us, stay safe over there. anderson. thank you very much. enderson, of course. we'll be back for his show, ac30, 60 in a little bit more than an hour or so from now, 8:00 p.m. eastern and we'll be right back new ally in the fight against climate change. his is >> in carpus is blue carbon me to protect nature will do the rest >> blue carbon plus cnn filled sunday night

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central >> erin burnett outfront next on cnn a new mexico judges just sentenced the armor for the film rust to 18 months in prison. the maximum possible punishment, hannah gutierrez reed was responsible for firearm safety on the movie set where cinematographer halyna hutchins was killed by a prop gun held by the actor alec baldwin baldwin has also been charged with involuntary manslaughter for the shooting. he is expected to stand trial in july and has pleaded not guilty i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. i'll see you tomorrow morning, 11:00 eastern on cnn newsroom. and then of course, 6:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room until that thanks very much for watching erin burnett outfront starts right now