Name: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department deliver press conference on details of robbery involving two children
Uploaded: 2023-05-22T14:29:00-0400
Duration: 971187
Description: CMPD is investigating a robbery involving a 12-year-old and a 6-year-old. Police said the two children robbed a woman after asking to borrow her cell phone.

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CMPD is investigating a robbery involving a 12-year-old and a 6-year-old. Police said the two children robbed a woman after asking to borrow her cell phone.

Good afternoon to you all. I'm Lieutenant Kevin Petrice with the Charlotte Meck Police Department. We're here today to discuss an armed robbery incident that occurred in the Steel Creek Division over the over the weekend that was perpetrated by two young juveniles. Captain Jason Hilton is the commander of the Steel Creek Division and he's here to discuss the incident further. Captain. Hey, good afternoon. My name is Jason Hilton. I'm the captain of the Steel Creek Division. Just want to highlight one of the cases we had this weekend and, and just, just setting it up and let you know this is something we deal with on a daily basis with our officers out there with juveniles, but this particular one took place Sunday morning around eight AM in the Still Creek Division, uh, in the 2100 block of Diamond Creek Circle. Uh We had a female victim who was out walking in the parking lot in broad daylight eight o'clock in the morning and two juveniles came up to her and asked to use your phone. She did like the rest of us to do. She let them have their phone. Well, when she did that they took off running with the phone. So she followed after him to get her phone back. And when she did a 12 year old juvenile pointed a gun in her face and tried to pistol whip her at that point, she, uh, quit giving chase and then they proceeded to a nearby apartment complex. Right. The, uh, our officers responded to that area. Uh, they knew based on some, uh, witness descriptions, what was going on, they knew who the suspect a department was. Officers got a perimeter there. They contacted the mother based on the past history of that family. And once they contacted the mother, she was very cooperative, we were able to get the juveniles to come out. Uh Ultimately, there was a 12 year old and a six year old. Yes, you heard me right. A six year old with a 12 year old brother involved in this crime, uh, where they had the firearm, the six year old ended up giving us some information and we were able to, uh, get that gun, which is pictured here on the screen. It's actually a B B gun. But if you look at it really, really closely, does that look like a BB gun to anybody? All right, let me paint a picture for you. What would happen if that female would have been armed? Right. We could have been dealing with something really, really tragic here. We could have been dealing with a 12 year old who maybe lost their life or even a six year old. So think about that, think about the consequences. That's why it was important to us to highlight this case today. Like I said before, officers are dealing with juveniles every single day, property crimes, violent crimes. And when I say juveniles, I mean, kids, I mean, ages 11, 12, 13, 14 years old and it seems like they just keep getting younger and younger. So uh couple of things just to highlight, right? Know where your kids are. I said this is eight o'clock on a Sunday morning, right? Know where your kids are, what they're doing, know what's on their social media right after looking at the investigation, uh this child had posed with a gun a couple of days uh prior on social media, right? So I know what's on your kids', social media, what they're doing on the phone, right? Uh check in with your kids, talk to them, see who they're hanging out with. Those are really, really important things, right? To make sure they're on the right path. Um victim in this case just finished working the night shift. Thought she was helping these kids out, right? We wanna help out people. That's what we do. That's the human response. We wanna help people as police officers. That's our job. That's why most of us signed up to do this job is to help people, right? If a six year old comes up and ask me for my phone. I'm gonna give it to him 100% of the time. Right. But just being aware that just because they may be smaller in stature or maybe a smaller, uh, individual, you could be a victim of a crime there. Does anybody have any questions related to this? They were, they were the same family, they be charged, uh, the 12 year old was charged with armed robbery and damaged the property for the phone. They took, you mentioned a history here. So we, we are familiar with the family, right? And I'll just, I'll, I'll leave that. But there this is a behavior we're seeing, right? So the improper model behavior, uh a history of robberies, uh auto crimes largely mos things like that uh with that family and some of those kids, friends. And so what we're seeing is the juveniles and you guys are offering me with the different things, the tiktok challenges with the Hyundai and Kia and just auto thefts in general going on. So we're seeing a lot of our juveniles, 12, 13, 14, 15 years old in bomb, these types of crimes and they're educating each other. Right? So they've got their own role models, which is each other. I, I don't wanna go too much into, into this child's case because I don't want to, I don't want us to identify the child, but you're not identifying the child. No, absolutely not. So then there must be a point at which you've been involved and you've decided now this child needs to be charged. We need to take this to the next level. Right. And we've done some. That's a, that's a great point. So we work a lot with, uh, CV C P or child development community policing. Right. That's one of those things where if a child has been involved in some type of trauma or exposed to some type of traumatic event, we've got counselors in every division, we've got to do a home visit just to see is it safe? Of course, we're a partnership with DS S Child Protective Services just to make sure it's a safe environment for the child. But our, you know, our Department of Juvenile Justice has a point system. We're looking at that and I don't want to get into all that right now. But uh sometimes they just, they're getting started earlier earlier and they don't meet that criteria for being placed into custody. So they get released back to mom and if, if that becomes a cycle, then it also educates them on maybe there's not as many consequences there. And so they end up back at home with mom and, and then the community is, is a little more concerned with coming out or, or just even coming forward or being victims of a crime. I wanna ask because you have the schools that are trying to do uh intervention, you have community groups that are out there trying to do crime intervention, prevent stuff like this from happening. And then you have law enforcement, everybody's working toward the same goal. But there still seems to be that disconnect. Where do you think that that disconnect is when it comes to reaching these kids to where it will make an impact? Well, you're, you're right. Everybody is doing their part. We're doing our part. Like I said, we've got all these programs in place at C MP D. Uh even the community groups, they're trying, everybody's trying. But we can't, we can't grab hold of them 24 hours a day. So it really, it's got to be the family. It's got to be the community at large. We always talked about it takes a village to raise a child, but the village has to trust it right enough to be if the villagers scared of that child based on their criminal behavior, how willing are they be to put yourself out there? So we've got to show them right as a collaborative effort that we can get in front of this and we can actually get some results out of it. I mean, we've been to this, this child's house beforehand to do a home visit because we saw some potential and we also saw, you know, maybe a road they were going down but we don't want them to go and, and we tried that just to get out in front of it and we tried to anticipate and we, and we see it all the time. This, this kid's going down the wrong road. We don't want him to go down there. All right. So what we've done made some really proactive efforts to try to get ahead of this. But there are a lot of kids in Charlotte and, and limited resources. We do our best to kind of get in front of it. They were, they were really receptive. I mean, uh, the mom has uh, several kids. Uh, she's working hard trying to do the best as a mother. Like we all are. I'm a dad. I've got a 15 year old and nine year old boys. Right. I got a wife. Right. And we're trying to raise these kids the right way and I find most of the time the parents are trying to do that. But if you're working hard, working a job and your kids are at home, maybe you're a single parent, maybe you don't have those resources in place or somebody to help you out. Those kids are being by themselves for a couple hours a day and then they get bored and then they start looking around, look on the internet and things like that and get educated on how to do that. If there's nobody there to supervise them or the neighbor's not watching out for them or their grandmother's not watching out for them, what are they gonna do, right. So it's one of those things where you really just try to stay engaged and do the best you can. And yeah, the mom is really cooperate with us. She has been every single time you talking about. And what is the one right now? I don't think there's any one program you could say this program is the most successful because if you could, we would just do that program realistically, if we had one program that was 100% effective or 99% effective, we would just put them all on that program and we wouldn't even be standing here. So I think it's one of those things where you try to cast a broader net and offer programs to gauge that interest, to see what they're interested in. Uh some of its sports programs. We've got our pal program right where we try to involve and we have CPD leaders like myself. I mean, I'm a basketball coach, I coach in the community. I try to get back in that way, but I can't imagine one of my 10 year olds, I coach in basketball being involved in a crime. But is that happening? Absolutely. Right, because I'm only dealing with him a couple of hours when I'm coaching him. Right. So, so that's a really, really good question. These kids, were they involved in any of these type of, they have, they have not been, we have just had the one on ones with them. Uh, we've tried to reach out, uh, to the mom about the ones that are a little bit older years ago and the kids just weren't interested. Unfortunately. And with summer coming up with student out of school for a potential, we traditionally, we look at our traditional hotpots as far as based on the crime for. And luckily, we have a great crime analysis unit that does that who provides based on this time of year, this time of day, this day of the week, even that uh minute detail and provide us that as commanders in the division and we try to allocate our resources to those times, those problems based on that for our patrol staffing and, and our crime reduction units. Even some of our detectives as far as that goes, who commits this crime based on this day of the week or this time of the year or this type of m based on a crime. Well, I think he's a victim. We have to look at that six year old as a victim. He's a victim of his circumstances and environment. Right. What six year old, I mean, we can't charge a six year old in the state of North Carolina. They have to be nine. We can't because there's no way we could prove an intent that a six year old, their, their brains are just so, so naive. Right? So to look at that. So it's tragic, right. And it really, I mean, that's, that's one of the reasons we decided to highlight the case today just to show, you know, this is what we're dealing with. So, really good question. Two boys, two boys. I think we keep, we keep going. I mean, we keep fighting the good fight. We keep doing the best. We do. Officers get out there every day and they patrol and they're getting guns off the street and they're proactively going after people who are committing crimes and we're doing our job at C N P D. We're putting people there. We have to present cases to the court counselors. They don't always meet the points and that's not DJ J's fault necessarily, right? But we keep fighting the good fight and doing the work. That's what we do. I wanna ask, what is your message to the public? I mean, this is discouraging to hear young kids that were able to trick someone into using their phone, you know, taking advantage of someone's goodwill. Now, if people see that they may think, oh my gosh, I'm why I'm not ever gonna try and help uh especially a young kid like that. That walks up to me. What is your message to get past that discouragement that people may have? That's, that's a really great question. I'm glad you asked it because we can do this really simply, right? Just think about that. If a kid comes up and asks to use your phone. It's real simple. Do we have to give him the phone? No. Can we ask him? Hey, what's your mom's name? Do you know her number? Hey, who can I say is calling? What do you need? Where does she live? Right. So you can have your phone help that kid out and really, you know, like we say, provide them excellent customer service to this child here without really making yourself a victim of a crime, right? This is a B B gun, right? So they're allowed to have a B B gun. So I'm not sure where this one came from per se. But I gotta ask though, I mean, we, we've been over this for decades now, right? Like when I was a kid, these guns were a problem. They looked like real guns. We saw a kid in, in Ohio get shot because he was holding a gun that looks at why are we allowed to make BB guns that look like real guns? I wish I had the answer to that, sir. I do not have the answer. I'm not a gun manufacturer. I will tell you between air shafts and BB guns and being a former range master, they look more realistic now than they ever have. It's really hard to differentiate officer. How does that mean? I mean, you're a guy that's going out on, on calls, you might see somebody waving those around and not know the difference. Can you imagine that new story, how tragic that would be for us. Can you imagine an officer shooting a 12 year old or a six year old and the mental impact that may have on them in the community? It's tragic. It really is. So that's why we're trying to get ahead of it. That's why we're highlighting this case today to get ahead of it and work together with, with you guys really to kind of make an impact. The training evolved. I mean, with these guns developing the way they have these guns, how do you train to spot the difference between that is really a good way to do it. It's really tough and being involved in training since 2010, I can tell you the training has evolved more on that weapon identification, making sure it's a gun, not a cell phone, right? We had issues with that 10 years ago right now. The guns are getting so defined and so detailed looking to see. Does it have a safety tip on the end? Unfortunately, there are people who design real guns have safety tips on the end that look like fake guns. So we're dealing with that. So it really puts law enforcement in a tough position. So we're teaching them move to cover, try to make the best assessment possible. And really if there's any doubt, we don't take that shot, right. We want to teach them if there's any doubt, there's no doubt you don't take that shot and take that extra time. All right, take that soon. So just to wrap up today, um thank you to Captain Hilton for, for uh joining us and for answering your questions. Um C N P D is proud of the work that we do with at risk youth and with all youth here in our community. And we're proud of our community services division who provide tens of programs to divert young Children away from crime away from violence to provide mentorship, to provide positive role models, to teach life lessons, to provide encouragement and support and to come alongside parents in doing those. Uh but C N P D is not the only resource in Charlotte. It, it, it can't be, it shouldn't be. We have faith based community, large faith based community churches, we have neighborhood support groups. We have schools, the entire Mabrook school system and surrounding. We have nonprofits, folks who volunteer their time to engage with at risk youth to teach them and provide for them good positive role models. So we call upon all of the stakeholders in our community. We call upon all of the members in our community, whether you're a parent or not to, to provide a positive role model and to provide a positive example for all of the youth in our neighborhoods and parents, we encourage you to not wait until it's too late. We encourage you to reach out to any one or multiple of those resources and we encourage you to do it early. We encourage you to do it now. So yes, as summer quickly approaches, as school is about to let out, we want you to be thinking about these things. We have programs, we encourage you to reach out to us if you have questions about those to our community services divisions so that we can get kids in these programs and they don't so that they don't sit idly by all summer up to. No. Good. Thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department deliver press conference on details of robbery involving two children

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I'm meteorologist, Kat Campbell in the wr a severe weather center. No more thirties in the forecast and we don't have a frost threat tonight so you can leave your plants be, temperatures are falling into the upper forties to lower fifties overnight. We've got a different wind direction and some more clouds that will fill in by daybreak tomorrow at the bus stop, it'll be in the low to mid fifties for most of the kids out there. So a mild start, but you may want to send your kids to school with an umbrella because by the time they head home, some of us are going to be dealing with a chance for rain during the afternoon. It's all due to this cold front. Approaching from the northwest. There's not a lot of moisture for the front to work with, but just enough and enough lift to squeeze out some rain. I think that rain chances would start in our northwestern counties around 11 a.m. through lunchtime. And then that chance is really closer to, to three o'clock here in the triangle. But that might be when the kids are heading home as we get toward 456. It would be south and east of the triangle with the best chance for rain. Rocky Mount, Southern Pines. I'm thinking you'll be in that 3 to 5 p.m. time frame for rain. It's not going to be a very heavy rain. There is a small chance of a thunderstorm embedded, but most of us will just see some pretty light rain. In fact, models are showing less than 5/100 of an inch of rain. So very tiny rainfall amounts from this event. We do have the Durham Bulls in town this week. And luckily the forecast looks good for all of their home games. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We've just got wonderful baseball weather. Temperatures will be near 70 for the first pitches and the rain should be over in Durham, the triangle by the time we get to dinner time for tomorrow evening, which means it's likely to be a dry game for us. Your seven day forecast show, some big changes are on the way though. We've got 74 for the high Wednesday with chance for rain Thursday just 72. So a small dip in our high temperatures more noticeable at night though we fall into the upper forties Thursday night to Friday morning, we're going with 47 as the low Friday morning around the triangle. And then once we get to the weekend temperatures begin to rebound. However, that will come with an increasing cloud cover mostly cloudy Saturday and Sunday. But back in the eighties by Sunday and even warmer next week, highs could climb near 90 a week from today.

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NBC News provides a special report on the end of testimony for the day in the trial of Donald Trump.

OCTOBER OF 2016 WHEN SHE CAME FORWARD TO THE "NATIONAL ENQUIRER," THE "NATIONAL ENQUIRER" IN TURN CONTACTED MICHAEL COHEN WHO THEN PAID HER $130,000 JUST TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE 2016 ELECTION THE D.A.'S OFFICE FROM DISTRICT ATTORNEY ALVIN BRAGG'S TEAM HAVE OUTLINED HERE OVER THE COURSE OF 45 MINUTES IN OPENING STATEMENTS THAT THEY INTEND TO SHOW THAT THERE IS A CONSPIRACY, THAT DONALD TRUMP DIRECTED THE PAYMENTS IN 2016 WEEKS BEFORE THE ELECTION TO STORMY DANIELS, AND THAT HE WOULD THEN IN TURN IN 2017 REIMBURSE MICHAEL COHEN FOR THOSE PAYMENTS. THE WHAT DID DONALD TRUMP KNOW AND DIDN'T KNOW IS AT THE HEART OF THIS CASE. BACK IN 2016 WHEN THIS CASE BECAME PUBLIC, HE INITIALLY DENIED THAT HE WAS AWARE OF THE STORMY DANIELS PAYMENT OF $130,000, BUT WHAT YOU ARE HEARD FROM HIS DEFENSE TEAM WHEN THEY TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO PUT FORWARD THEIR OPENING STATEMENTS OVER 35 MINUTES, HIS DEFENSE LAWYER OUTLINED THAT DONALD TRUMP WAS A SYMPATHETIC FIGURE IN THIS, THAT HE DID NOT COMMIT ANY CRIME, THAT HE COMPENSATED MICHAEL COHEN AS HIS PERSONAL LAWYER, THAT IT WAS NOT A REPAYMENT TO COVER UP THE STORMY DANIELS' STORY BEFORE THE 2016 ELECTION, BUT HE WAS SIMPLY PAYINGIM AS HIS PERSONAL LAWYER. HE TOLD THE JURY -- THIS WAS DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY -- THAT THEY SHOULD IGNORE THE TESTIMONY FROM THE LIKES OF STORMY DANIELS WHEN SHE TAKES THE STAND SAYING YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR SALACIOUS MATERIAL ABOUT ALLEGED AFFAIRS AND AN ATTEMPTED HUSH MONEY PAYMENT, BUT NONE OF THAT MATTERS BECAUSE AT THE HEART OF THIS IS OVER FINANCIAL RECORDS AND THAT DONALD TRUMP WAS NOT THE ONE THAT ULTIMATELY WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE ACTS. AND SO THIS IS GOING TO BE AN INTENSE FIVE TO SEVEN-WEEK TRIAL HERE. TOMORROW THEY WILL RETURN TO COURT FOR SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE WE LOOK AT OTHER WITNESSES INCLUDING STORMY DANIELS AND OF COURSE, MICHAEL COHEN WHOM THE DEFENSE TEAM FOR DONALD TRUMP ALREADY WAS QUESTIONING THE CREDIBILITY OF SAYING THAT MICHAEL COHEN'S TRUE INTENT HERE IS JUST TO GET DONALD TRUMP AND GET HIM INTO JAIL AFTER THOSE TWO, BEING THE FORMER LAWYER, FORMER FIXER, THE TWO OF THEM PARTED WAYS AS ALL OF THIS CAME TO LIGHT IN 2018. FOR DONALD TRUMP AND HIS PART INSIDE OF THAT COURTROOM FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME, HE KEPT HIS EYES SHUT, BUT AT OTHER MOMENTS, HE WAS LOOKING AT HIS DEFENSE LAWYER TODD BLANCHE AS HE BEGAN TO MAKE HIS CASE TO THE JURY. AND HE ALSO TURNED AROUND AND LOOKED AT THE GALLERY, LOOKED AT THOSE WHO WERE IN THE ROOM. HE ATTEMPTED TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH DAVID PECKER, THAT "NATIONAL ENQUIRER" PUBLISHER WHO WAS A LONG-TIME, ONE-TIME FRIEND OF HIS. THIS FOR HIM IS GOING TO BE A LONG HAUL HERE, BUT ONE THAT COULD ULTIMATELY LEAD TO HIM AND HIS LEGAL FATE EITHER BEING FOUND GUILTY OR INNOCENT OR THE VERY REAL POTENTIAL OF A HUNG JURY. THE FIRST WITNESS TAKE THE STAND IN WHAT IS A MONUMENTAL DAY FOR DONALD TRUMP, THE FORMER PRESIDENT'S CRIMINAL TRIAL. >> DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING FROM THE OTHER SIDE THAT SUGGESTS SOMETHING NEW IN HOW THEY WANT TO FRAME THIS CASE FOR THE JURY? >> Reporter: THE QUESTION WAS ABOUT THE EVIDENCE AND TESTIMONY THAT THE PROSECUTION WAS GOING TO BE ABLE TO BRING FORWARD BECAUSE IF YOU JUST TAKE DAVID PECKER, THAT MAN WHO WAS AT TRUMP TOWER WITH MICHAEL COHEN, WITH DONALD TRUMP, THE QUESTION WAS WHAT KIND OF TESTIMONY AND EVIDENCE WOULD HE BE ABLE TO PROVIDE? BECAUSE HE HAS NEVER DONE A PUBLIC INTERVIEW. HE HAS NEVER PUBLICLY DISCUSSED THIS, BUT WHAT THE PROSECUTION OUTLINED IS THAT THEY HAVE CORROBORATING EVIDENCE THROUGH EMAILS AND TEXT MESSAGES AND PHONE CALLS. THEY EVEN HAVE GOING BACK TO OCTOBER 26th OF 2016 A PHONE CALL, TWO PHONE CALLS THAT TOOK PLACE BETWEEN DONALD TRUMP AND MICHAEL COHEN IN WHICH THEY ALLEGE THAT MICHAEL COHEN JUST AFTER THOSE PHONE CALLS WENT TO A BANK, SET UP A BANK ACCOUNT IN THE FOLLOWING DAY, WIRED $130,000 TO STORMY DANIELS. SO THE PROSECUTION IS MAKING THE CASE THAT THIS IS MORE THAN JUST THE TESTIMONY OF MICHAEL COHEN BUT WE HAVE THE RECORDS. THE QUESTION IS DO THEY HAVE ENOUGH TO MAKE DONALD TRUMP THE TRUE CRIMINAL DEFENDANT HERE AS HIS DEFENSE TEAM HAS MADE THE CASE, LESTER, THAT THIS WAS A MATTER OF FINANCING AND THAT THOSE IN THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION WHO WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR KEEPING THOSE FINANCIAL RECORDS, IT WAS INCUMBENT ON THEM ON HOW THOSE RECORDS WERE ACTUALLY MAINTAINED AND THAT LEGAL, WHICH IS AT THE HEART OF THE FINANCIAL FRAUD ALLEGATIONS THAT ARE BEING MADE AGAINST DONALD TRUMP HERE, THAT THOSE DENOTATIONS OF LEGAL EXPENSES WERE FAIR AND JUST BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT DONALD TRUMP THOUGHT THAT HE WAS ACTUALLY USING MICHAEL COHEN FOR AND THAT THE IDEA OF REPAYING HIM FOR A HUSH MONEY PAYMENT WAS NOT AT THE FOREFRONT OF DONALD TRUMP'S MIND WHILE HE WAS SITTING IN THE OVAL OFFICE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR OF 2017. >> ALL RIGHT, VAUGHN, I'M GOING TO ASK YOU TO STAND BY. LET ME BRING IN FOR MORE, OUR SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT HALLIE JACKSON, AND NBC NEWS LEGAL ANALYST, DANNY CEVALLOS. GOOD TO HAVE YOU BOTH HERE. HALLIE, FIRST OFF, FRAME WHAT WE HAVE HEARD TODAY. >> THE PROSECUTION IS ESSENTIALLY LOOKING TO LAY OUT THE CASE, AND YOU HEARD THIS COME UP A COUPLE OF TIMES IN THE OPENING STATEMENTS TODAY, THAT THIS GOES BEYOND SIMPLY WHAT WE ALL SHORTHAND IT AS THE HUSH MONEY TRIAL, THAT THIS WAS ABOUT ELECTION INTERFERENCE. THEY DID SOMETHING INTERESTING, THEY TOOK THIS PHRASE THAT IN MANY WAYS THE FORMER PRESIDENT HAS CO-OPTED, THIS IDEA OF ELECTION FRAUD AND THEY TRIED TO FLIP IT AND USE IT AGAINST DONALD TRUMP IN THESE OPENING STATEMENTS, DESCRIBING WHAT HE DID AS ILLEGAL ELECTION FRAUD, THAT HE TRIED TO COVER UP ALONG WITH MICHAEL COHEN AND DAVID PECKER THIS, YOU KNOW, MONEY TO COVER UP AN ALLEGED SEX SCANDAL. WHAT THE DEFENSE DID WAS TRY TO TAKE THAT BACK. YOU HEARD THIS VERY INTERESTING LINE FROM TODD BLANCHE, THE LEAD ATTORNEY THERE FOR THE FORMER PRESIDENT WHO SAID SPOILER ALERT, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH TRYING TO INFLUENCE AN ELECTION. IT'S CALLED DEMOCRACY. KIND OF AN EXTRAORDINARY LINE TO HEAR FROM THE FORMER PRESIDENT'S TEAM, AND SO THE DEFENSE CAME BACK, BLANCHE SAID THAT, BUT ALSO TRIED TO MAKE DONALD TRUMP SEEM SUPER RELATABLE. THAT WAS STRIKING AT SEVERAL MOMENTS FOR THE DEFENSE'S OPENING STATEMENTS TALKING ABOUT, SURE, HE'S THE FORMER PRESIDENT, BUT HEY, HE'S JUST LIKE US. HE'S A FATHER. HE'S A HUSBAND, YOU KNOW, WE'RE ALL NEW YORKERS HERE. WE ALL GET IT. TRYING TO ESTABLISH THAT PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE JURY IN HOPES THAT THAT COULD SERVE THE DEFENSE TEAM OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT SIX WEEKS THERE. WHAT I'M GOING TO BE WATCHING FOR, YOU ASKED ABOUT WHAT COULD BE NEW HERE, AND YOU HEARD VAUGHN ALLUDE TO SOME OF THIS, THE PROSECUTION HAS RECEIPTS. THEY'RE ALLUDING TO A TAPE WITH THE FORMER PRESIDENT'S VOICE ON IT. THEY'RE ALLUDING TO A PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE OVAL OFFICE OF DONALD TRUMP WITH MICHAEL COHEN. THEY'RE GOING TO TRY TO PROVE THAT MICHAEL COHEN, STORMY DANIELS, THAT THE PAPER DOCUMENTS, THE EVIDENCE, THE PAPER TRAIL PROVES THEIR CASE. >> SO DANNY, THEY'RE GOING TO SAY, THE DEFENSE IS GOING TO SAY THERE'S NO CRIME HERE? >> THEY'RE GOING TO DO THAN THAT. THEY ACTUALLY OPENED WITH HE'S INNOCENT. WHICH IS AN INTERESTING CHOICE OF WORDS. INNOCENCE IS NOT DETERMINED AT CRIMINAL TRIAL, GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY. SOMETIMES IF YOU FEEL THAT YOUR CASE IS PARTICULARLY STRONG, YOU MAY TRY TO ESSENTIALLY ARGUE INNOCENCE TO THE JURY. MY CLIENT IS SO NOT GUILTY THAT HE'S INNOCENT, AND THEY ESSENTIALLY OPENED WITH THAT. WE ALREADY GOT A PREVIEW AND THERE WERE NO SURPRISES. THEY'RE GOING TO POINT TO MICHAEL COHEN AS SOMEBODY WHO IS NOT CREDIBLE. THEY'RE GOING TO POINT TO STORMY DANIELS AS SOMEONE WHO IS NOT CREDIBLE, ALTHOUGH YOU COULD ARGUE THAT STORMY DANIELS IS ALMOST NOT NECESSARY AS A WITNESS IN THIS CASE. HER INVOLVEMENT IS KIND OF TANGENTIAL. THE AFFAIR ITSELF IS NOT CRITICAL TO WHETHER OR NOT IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED FOR THIS CASE. SO REALLY WHAT WE GOOD PREVIEW OF IS EXACTLY WHAT WE EXPECTED FROM THE PROSECUTION. THEY GOT OUT IN FRONT OF WHAT THEY CONSIDER THEIR MICHAEL COHEN ISSUE, THAT HE MIGHT HAVE CREDIBILITY  ISSUES. IN THE SPECTRUM OF COOPERATING WITNESSES, MICHAEL COHEN, WHO IS NOT TECHNICALLY A COOPERATING WITNESS, HE'S PROBABLY ON THE LOW END OF LACK OF CREDIBILITY. MOST COOPERATES WITNESSES ARE BROUGHT IN FROM THE PRISON IN SHACKLES, AND THEY HAVE TONS OF ISSUES WITH CREDIBILITY AND CRIMINALITY. BUT AS THE PROSECUTION WILL SAY, AS THEY ALWAYS SAY, IT'S A STANDARD LINE, WE DIDN'T CHOOSE THIS WITNESS. THE DEFENDANT CHOSE THIS WITNESS. BUT, YOU KNOW, AS THIS -- THE OPENINGS COME TO A CLOSE, I THINK ALL EYES ARE ON THE STAR WITNESS, AND I DON'T THINK I MEAN MICHAEL COHEN ANYMORE. I THINK DAVID PECKER IS GOING TO BE A CRITICAL WITNESS BECAUSE, NUMBER ONE, HE CORROBORATES MICHAEL COHEN. HE ESTABLISHES THE ALLEGED CONSPIRACY, AND HE CORROBORATES A LOT OF DIFFERENT DOCUMENTS THAT ARE GOING TO SUPPORT WITNESSES LIKE MICHAEL COHEN. THE GOVERNMENT, THE PROSECUTION HAS A WAY OF MAKING MICHAEL COHEN'S LACK OF CREDIBILITY A MINIMAL ISSUE, AND IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE GOING RIGHT IN THAT DIRECTION. >> THE PROSECUTION MADE AN EFFORT TO POOUT THAT DAVID PECKER HAD BROUGHT A LAWYER TO THE COURTROOM WITH HIM. IS THERE SOME STRATEGY IN THAT? >> NOT NECESSARILY. WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IS IF YOU'RE THE STATE AND YOU HAVE A COOPERATING WITNESS, YOU DON'T WANT TO LOOK LIKE YOU'RE TOO HAND IF HAND WITH THAT WITNESS. I'LL GIVE YOU SOME OF THE STANDARD LINES AS A DEFENSE ATTORNEY THAT YOU'RE GOING TO HIT THAT COOPERATING WITNESS WITH, WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY FRAME THEM AS DOING ANYTHING THEY CAN TO PLEASE THEIR CAPTORS AND THEIR CAPTORS ARE THE GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE OFFERED THEM A DEAL. THEY'VE GOTTEN HAND IN HAND WITH THE DEVIL. THEY'RE TOO COZY WITH PROSECUTORS. THIS IS A COMMON THEME WHEN YOU'RE ATTACKING CORROBORATING WITNESSES OR PEOPLE TESTIFYING FOR THE GOVERNMENT. THE STATE WILL HAVE PREPARED THEIR WITNESSES FOR THIS. THEY'LL HAVE AN ANSWER FOR THAT IN CROSS EXAMINATION, THAT'S PROBABLY WHAT YOU'LL SEE. >> I WANT TO GO BACK TO VAUGHN FOR AMOMENT. WE KNOW THE FORMER PRESIDENT HAD ED A COUPLE OF TIMES THAT HE WOULD TESTIFY. I ASSUME THAT DECISION OFFICIALLY IS STILL WEEKS AWAY, BUT WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THAT? >> Reporter: RIGHT, DONALD TRUMP'S CREDIBILITY, LESTER, IS GOING TO BE CRITICAL HERE FOR THIS JURY WHEN THEY'RE DETERMINING THE EXTENT TO WHICH HE IS GUILTY OR INNOCENT HERE. AND YOU SAID TWO TIMES NOW ALREADY IN THE LAST WEEK HE HAS MADE CLEAR THAT HE WOULD TESTIFY IN HIS OWN DEFENSE, BUT THERE ARE NUMEROUS QUESTIONS THAT DONALD TRUMP HAS NEVER PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY, INCLUDING INSIDE OF A COURTROOM, ANSWERED WHEN IT COMES TO THE SPECIFICS OF THIS CASE. AND ONE OF THOSE COMES DOWN TO THE FACT THAT IN JANUAUARY OF 2018, THAT IS WHEN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL FIRST REPORTED ABOUT THE MICHAEL COHEN AND STORMY DANIELS $130,000 ARRANGEMENT, MORE THAN A YEAR INTO HIS PRESIDENCY, JANUARY OF 2018, WHEN DONALD TRUMP WAS FIRST ASKED ABOUT IT IN APRIL OF 2018 ON AIR FORCE ONE, HALLIE WAS COVERING HIS WHITE HOUSE AT THE TIME. DONALD TRUMP WAS ASKED SPECIFICALLY, DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THE $130,000 PAYMENT TO STORMY DANIELS. DONALD TRUMP REPLIED NO. HE THEN WENT ON TO SAY, QUOTE, YOU'LL HAVE TO ASK MICHAEL COHEN. MICHAEL IS MY ATTORNEY. YOU'LL HAVE TO ASK MICHAEL, AND SO DONALD D TRUMPILL HAVE TO WEIGH KNOWING THAT HE WILL GET THESE QUESTIONS AND DEPENDING ON WHAT THE PROSECUTION HAS IN TERMS OF EVIDENCE AND TESTIMONY FROM THE LIKES OF DAVID PECKER, THAT THEY ARE GOING TO BE ABLE TO REPLAY THOSE VERY COMMENTS FROM DONALD TRUMP IN 2018 AND PUT THEM SIDE BY SIDE TO COMMENTS THAT HE MADE IN 2016. ONE OTHER NOTE ON HIS CREDIBILITY, THERE IS A MAJOR DECISION EARLIER THIS MORNING AS WELL BY THE JUDGE. JUDGE MERCHAN MADE THE DETERMINATION THAT THE PROSECUTION WILL BE ABLE TO INTRODUCE TO THE JURY PREVIOUS TRIAL DETERMINATIONS AGAINST DONALD TRUMP, NAMELY TWO OF THOSE BEING IN JUST THE LAST YEAR, THE E. JEAN CARROLL DEFAMATION CASE AS WELL AS THE CIVIL FRAUD TRIAL IN WHICH JUDGE ENGORON JUST THIS YEAR FOUND THAT HE AND THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION HAD ENGAGED REPEATEDLY IN FINANCIAL FRAUD. THOSE CASES WHICH THE JUDGE IS GOING TO ALLOW THE PROSECUTION TO BRING FORWARD IN FRONT OF THE JURY WILL ALLOW THEM TO TELL THE JURY THAT DONALD TRUMP'S CREDIBILITY AND HIS PENCHANT FOR LYING AND NOT BEING WHOLLY TRUTHFUL ARE GOING TO BE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THAT DONALD TRUMP'S DEFENSE AND HIS LEGAL TEAM'S DEFENSE ARE NOT ALL THAT CREDIBLE WHEN YOU LOOK AT HIM IN THE ENTIRETY OF THE LAST DECADE THAT STARTED IN AUGUST 2015, WHEN THAT TRUMP TOWER MEETING WHICH DONALD TRUMP HAS NOT PUBLICLY COMMENTED ON, ALL THE WAY INTO 2017 WHEN DAVID PECKER, THE "NATIONAL ENQUIRER" PUBLISHER WAS INVITED TO THE WHITE HOUSE FOR A DINNER THAT THE D.A.'S OFFICE SAYS WAS ARRANGED FOR DONALD TRUMP, THE THEN PRESIDENT, TO THANK DAVID PECKER FOR HIS EFFORTS TO SQUASH THOSE SALACIOUS STORIES FROM KAREN McDOUGAL AND STORMY DANIELS. >> WE'RE SEEING FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP, THERE HE IS, OUTSIDE THE COURTHOUSE OR OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM. HE'S PREPARING TO LEAVE AS HE OFTEN DOES. HE ADDRESSES THEAMERAS GATHERED THERE. DANNY, LET ME BRING YOU BACK INTO THE CONVERSATION. THERE IS ANOTHER MATTER THAT THE FORMER PRESIDENT FACED. THAT'S THE QUESTION OF THE GAG ORDER AND WHETHER HE HAS RECENTLY VIOLATED THAT. THAT'S GOING TO COME BACK UP TOMORROW, CORRECT? >> YES, AND LAST WEEK I SUSPECT THAT JUSTICE MERCHAN SAID IT FOR MORE THAN A WEEK OUT BECAUSE OF A COUPLE DIFFERENT REASONS. NUMBER ONE, HE HAD HUNDREDS, IF NOT THOUSANDS, OF POTENTIAL JURORS TO GET THROUGH, AND HE WANTED TO GET THE PARTY STARTED. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, BACK THEN, MONDAY MORNING -- MONDAY MORNING LAST WEEK WAS MIRED IN ARGUMENTS AND MOTIONS AND I SUSPECT THE JUSTICE WANTED TO JUST PUSH IT OFF TO NEXT WEEK SO THEY COULD GET THROUGH JURY SELECTION, AND THEN ALSO, THERE WAS ALWAYS THE POSSIBILITY THAT BY THAT NEXT WEEK, BY TOMORROW THERE WOULD BE MORE VIOLATIONS OF THE GAG ORDER, AND THEY COULD PROBABLY JUST BE CONSOLIDATED. BUT AT THE TIME, IT WAS APPROXIMATELY SEVEN CLAIMED VIOLATIONS. THAT HEARING WILL GO ON TOMORROW, AND HERE'S WHAT I SUSPECT. LOOK FOR THE PEOPLE, THE PROSECUTORS, TO ASK FOR MINIMAL PENALTIES AT THE OUTSET. A LOT OF FOLKS SAY A THOUSAND DOLLARS, WHAT DOES THAT MATTER TO DONALD TRUMP? WELL, THESE VIOLATIONS AND THE PUNISHMENTS ARE INCREMENTAL. REALLY WHAT THEY'RE DOING IS SETTING A FLOOR. SURE, START HIM OUT WITH A THOUSAND DOLLARS, $5,000, IT DOESN'T MATTER, BUT THIS SPECTRUM, THIS PATH STARTS FROM ADMONITIONS. IT GOES TO FINES, AND EVENTUALLY, AT THE END OF THE ROAD IS INCARCERATION FOR SOMEBODY WHO VIOLATES OR IS HELD IN CONTEMPT BY THE COURT. NOW, THAT WOULD BE A MONUMENTAL DECISION AND A DIFFICULT DECISION BY THE JUDGE, BUT I THINK THE STATE IS SHOWING THAT THEY WANT TO MOVE IN INCREMENTS BUT THAT THEY WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE IF THERE ARE VIOLATIONS OF THE GAG ORDER. >> HALLIE, HOW IS THIS AFFECTING THE RACE FOR PRESIDENT? THE FORMER PRESIDENT LIKES TO MENTION THAT HE WOULD OTHERWISE BE OUT CAMPAIGNING RIGHT NOW. >> WE'RE SEEING SOME OF THE RUBBER MEET THE ROAD ON THAT FRONT. COURT IS NOT IN SESSION ON WEDNESDAY. HE COULD DO CAMPAIGN EVENTS ON THOSE DAYS OR THE WEEKEND. THIS PAST WEEKEND HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A CAMPAIGN RALLY. IT WAS ESSENTIALLY A WASHOUT, RAINED OUT, IT HAD TO BE CANCELED BECAUSE OF WEATHER. WHICH IS AN INDICATION SOMETIMES THINGS JUST POP UP. IT'S NOT ALWAYS IN YOUR CONTROL WHEN YOU'RE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. TO GET REAL INSIGHT ON HOW THIS CASE WILL AFFECT HIM IN THE GENERAL ELECTION. REMEMBER, IN THE PRIMARY, ALL OF HIS LEGAL ISSUES WERE A BOON TO HIM. IT RALLIED HIS REPUBLICAN BASE AROUND HIM AND HELPED HIM GET THAT PRESUMPTIVE GOP NOMINATION ALL BUT LOCKED UP HERE. WHAT HAPPENS IN A GENERAL ELECTION. WE MAY NOT KNOW FOR A BIT YET. WE CAN LOOK AT NUMBERS OUT PR OUR NBC NEWS POLLING SHOWING THAT ABOUT 50% OF PEOPLE, AND THIS IS POLLING IN JUST THE LAST 24 HOURS, BELIEVE THAT THE FORMER PRESIDENT IS BEING TREATED FAIRLY BY THE SAME STANDARD OF LAW AS YOU OR ME OR ANYBODY ELSE. 43% DISAGREE. THEY BELIEVE THAT DONALD TRUMP IS BEING TREATED UNFAIRLY, SEEMING TO ECHO WHAT HE HAS BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG TT HE IS IN MANY WAYS THE VICTIM OF POLITICAL PERSECUTION. THE CONVERSATION YOU WERE JUST HAVING WITH DANNY ABOUT THAT GAG ORDER, THE FORMER PRESIDENT SEIZED THAT THROUGH THE LENS THROUGH WHICH HE SEES SO MANY OF HIS LEAGUE PROBLEMS AS AN ISSUE OF UNFAIRNESS AGAINST HIM. HE HAS SAID THIS ON TRUTH SOCIAL, THIS ISN'T FAIR, THEY CAN TALK ABOUT ME BUT I CAN'T TALK ABOUT THEM. HE HAS ILED AGAINST THAT AGAIN AND AGAIN. KEEP IN MIND, IT'S A PARTIAL GAG ORDER. HE DOES HAVE THE ABILITY TO SPEAK AGAINST THE JUDGE OR MAKE COMMENTS IN A CAMPAIGN RALLY SETTING RELATED TO THAT, BUT THE POLITICAL IMPOLITICAL OCCASIONS I THINK ARE GOING TO BE REALLY TOLD, WHEN WE DO GET A VERDICT AND WE GET POLLING IN THE FIELD AFTER THAT. >> WE SAW FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP ADDRESSING THE CAMERAS A MOMENT AGO. ANY IDEA WHAT HE SAID? >> Reporter: YEAH, HE'S STILL ADDRESSING THE CAMERAS IN REALTIME, AND HE I SHOULD NOTE OVER THE LAST WEEK THROUGH JURY SELECTION WOULD OFTEN GIVE ABOUT FIVE, 15 SECONDS OF QUICK REMARKS OR COMMENTS TO THE PRESS, BUT THIS IS HIS MOST PROLONGED COMMENTARY WE HAVE SEEN YET. AND LARGE AMOUNT OF IT HAS SO FAR BEEN FOCUSED ON MICHAEL COHEN, OF COURSE WHO WAS HIS LONG-TIME PERSONAL LAWYER, AND HE IS UNDERCUTTING MICHAEL COHEN'S REPUTATION. WE SHOULD NOTE THAT, IN FACT, IT WAS CAMPAIGN FINANCES VIOLATIONS THAT WERE PART OF WHAT LED TO A GUILTY PLEA F FROM MICHAEL COHEN BACK IN 2018 WHILE DONALD TRUMP WAS SERVING AS PRESIDENT, AND IT WAS A LONG-STANDING DOJ POLICY TO NOT PROSECUTE A SITTING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. BUT THAT IS WHEN MICHAEL COHEN FOR THE ACTS THAT HAVE BEEN ALLEGED AS PART OF THE ACTUAL HUSH MONEY SCHEME, LED TO MICHAEL COHEN SERVING PRISON TIME. AND MICHAEL COHEN HAS BEEN VERY PUBLIC AND VOCAL IN THE YEARS SINCE ABOUT HIS FRUSTRATIONS AS TO WHY PROSECUTORS AFTER DONALD TRUMP LEFT THE WHITE HOUSE, GO AFTER DONALD TRUMP FOR THE ALLEGED CRIMES, AND NOW WHAT YOU ARE HEARING IS MICHAEL COHEN WITH THE EXPECTATION THAT HE IS GOING TO BE A WITNESS, YOU'RE HEARING DONALD TRUMP CALL INTO QUESTION HIS CREDIBILITY AND SOMEBODY WHO ONLY HAS THE INTENT OF UNDERCUTTING HIM NOW THROUGH THIS PROCESS. >> VAUGHN, THANKS VERY MUCH, SO THE OPENING STATEMENTS ARE DONE. THE FIRST WITNESS ON THE STAND TODAY, THAT CONCLUDES THIS NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT. MUCH MORE ON OUR STREAMINGNG

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