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For licensing information, go to www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. It's

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time for Justice Matters with former

0:32

federal prosecutor and MSNBC analyst, Glenn

0:35

Kirchner. Donald

0:46

Trump's hush money trial is now set for

0:48

April 15th, and a New

0:50

York appeals court has reduced the amount of

0:53

bond Trump must post to stop his properties

0:55

from being seized. Here's Glenn

0:57

to unpack the good news and

0:59

the bad. So, friends,

1:02

we've got to start with the good news today, because

1:06

at least at the moment, Donald

1:09

Trump's first criminal case, his

1:12

first prosecution, is

1:14

scheduled to begin on April 15th. That's

1:17

the case in New York

1:20

being prosecuted by District Attorney

1:22

Alvin Bragg. That's the case

1:24

in which Donald Trump interfered

1:26

in the 2016 presidential election

1:28

by making hush money

1:30

payments to playmates and porn

1:33

stars, and then falsifying business

1:35

records, criminally, to try to

1:37

cover up the true nature

1:40

of those payments. Why? Well, because

1:42

he wanted to bury that deeply

1:44

damaging information from the American voters.

1:46

He wanted to rob us of

1:48

the full value of our vote.

1:51

That's what those crimes were all about. And

1:54

that trial, at long last, is

1:56

scheduled to begin on April 15th at least. least

2:00

for the moment. But

2:02

then we got some

2:04

inexplicably bad news. A

2:07

New York appeals court did an

2:09

enormous favor for Donald Trump in

2:12

his business fraud case. That's the

2:14

case in which he

2:16

was ordered to pay or disgorge

2:18

about a half a billion

2:21

dollars for his long-term systemic

2:23

business fraud in New York.

2:26

The reason I call it inexplicably bad

2:28

news is because the appeals court

2:30

didn't offer one word of explanation

2:33

about why they did

2:35

this enormous favor for Donald Trump.

2:37

And you probably heard the nature

2:39

of the favor. They

2:42

reduced the amount of bond he had to post

2:44

to perfect his right to appeal his case and

2:47

to stop New York Attorney

2:49

Letitia James from beginning to

2:51

seize his properties, to

2:53

satisfy the massive money judgment that

2:55

was entered against him. They reduced

2:57

it from about half

3:00

a billion dollars all the way down

3:03

to just 175 million dollars. And they did

3:06

it. The appeals court did it

3:08

friends. Just days after

3:10

Donald Trump boasted in a

3:13

social media post that he

3:15

had about a half a billion

3:17

dollars cash on hand. So

3:19

we easily could have made

3:21

the bond. But the appeals

3:23

court put a stop to it. They put

3:25

a hold on everything with one

3:27

exception and they reduced

3:30

the amount of bond he has to

3:32

put up. 175 million

3:34

dollars. So friends

3:36

today was a justice split

3:39

decision. We're going to

3:41

start with the new reporting and then we're going to talk

3:43

about, you know, what is

3:45

the takeaway from what

3:47

the New York Appellate Court did

3:50

without explanation, doing an

3:52

enormous favor for Donald Trump.

3:55

But first, here is the

3:57

latest reporting. This from CNN.

4:00

Headline, Trump can pay

4:02

smaller bond in civil fraud case

4:05

as judge sets April date for

4:07

hush money trial. And

4:09

that article begins, Trump

4:12

gets partial victory on bond. Former

4:15

President Donald Trump had a big day of

4:17

legal developments in New York on Monday. An

4:20

appeals court ruled Trump can have 10

4:22

additional days to pay a reduced $175

4:25

million bond to appeal

4:29

the $464 million

4:31

civil fraud judgment against him,

4:33

which was due today. Trump

4:37

told reporters he will cover the

4:39

bond using cash as collateral and

4:42

the ruling for now staves off

4:44

the prospect of the New York

4:46

Attorney General seeking to seize his

4:48

property. Hush money trial

4:50

set for April. Meanwhile, in

4:52

the separate hush money case, a

4:54

judge said the criminal trial against

4:56

Trump will begin on April 15th

4:59

with jury selection. During

5:01

a hearing on Monday, which Trump

5:03

attended, the judge dismissed the former

5:05

president's motion to toss out the

5:08

indictment altogether or delay

5:10

the trial further. What's at

5:12

stake? Trump's legal challenges

5:14

come as he gears up for a

5:16

rematch with President Joe Biden in November.

5:19

With the hush money trial set to

5:21

start in April, it will be the

5:23

first of Trump's four criminal trials to

5:25

begin and potentially the

5:27

only one to occur before

5:30

the presidential election. On

5:33

the way, is Donald Trump getting preferential

5:35

treatment by the justice system? Glenn

5:38

counts the many times that has happened. Hi,

5:46

Bea Wolf here with Justice Matters and

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8:00

the Supreme Court, believe the rule of law

8:02

and the Constitution applied differently to Donald Trump

8:04

than to the rest of us, here's

8:07

Gwen with evidence of why that's true.

8:10

So friends, the good news is if

8:14

Donald Trump's April 15th trial

8:16

date holds, Donald

8:18

Trump could be a convicted felon

8:21

by June. But

8:24

friends, I think we have to

8:26

tackle the reality. The

8:29

reality that our institutions of government

8:32

apparently believe that the

8:35

rules, the laws, the

8:38

Constitution apply

8:40

differently to Donald Trump than

8:43

they apply to you and me. You

8:46

need some examples of that? Exhibit

8:49

one, Michael Cohen

8:51

is part of Donald Trump's criminal

8:54

hush money scheme, paying

8:57

off playmates and porn stars at

9:00

the direction of and for

9:02

the benefit of Donald Trump. In

9:04

a very real sense, Donald Trump

9:06

is his co-conspirator and Donald Trump

9:08

is the bigger criminal fish in

9:10

that conspiracy. What happens? Michael

9:13

Cohen is indicted. He's

9:17

prosecuted. In fact, here is what

9:19

the Department of Justice said about

9:21

Michael Cohen on the day

9:23

of his guilty plea. The

9:26

plea was entered following the filing

9:28

of an eight count criminal information,

9:30

which alleged among other things

9:33

that in 2016 Michael Cohen caused $280,000 in payments to be made to

9:40

silence two women who

9:42

otherwise plan to speak publicly

9:45

about their alleged affairs with

9:47

a presidential candidate, thereby

9:49

intending to influence the

9:51

2016 presidential

9:54

election. And

9:56

friends, whereas Michael Cohen was

9:59

prosecuted. convicted, sentenced,

10:02

and imprisoned, Donald

10:04

Trump, the bigger criminal fish

10:06

in that scheme, has

10:09

not seen a single solitary

10:11

day of accountability, at

10:14

least not at the hands of the

10:16

federal government, even

10:19

though Michael Cohen paid hush money.

10:21

At Donald Trump's direction, what

10:24

happened to individual one, which was that

10:26

famous designation that Donald Trump earned

10:29

himself in connection with some of

10:31

Michael Cohen's misdeeds? What happened to

10:33

Donald Trump, individual one? Fed's

10:37

Trump campaign case is

10:39

dead. You

10:42

need more friends? Exhibit two.

10:44

Donald Trump is an adjudicated insurrectionist.

10:48

A state court after a trial found,

10:51

ruled, concluded Donald

10:54

Trump engaged in insurrection. The

10:56

state Supreme Court affirmed that

10:58

finding. Donald Trump

11:00

is not only an adjudicated

11:02

insurrectionist, he continues to give

11:05

aid and comfort to the

11:07

insurrection, pledging love and pardons

11:10

to those who attack the Capitol, to

11:12

those who tried to stop the

11:15

peaceful transfer of presidential power

11:17

at Donald Trump's direction. Up

11:20

on the Supreme Court, a

11:22

court that is chock full

11:25

of self-proclaimed textualists,

11:29

and of course, the text of

11:31

the Constitution says insurrectionists

11:35

are disqualified from holding office.

11:39

No person shall hold any

11:41

office if that person engaged

11:43

in insurrection or gave aid

11:45

or comfort, there too,

11:48

to the insurrection. So

11:50

you would think these

11:53

self-declared textualists on the Supreme

11:55

Court would say, well, the text is clear, the

11:58

words are plain, it's unmistakable.

12:00

Unstakeable Donald Trump having

12:02

been adjudicated an insurrectionist is

12:05

disqualified By the plain

12:07

language of the Constitution, but no because

12:10

the rules and the law and the Constitution don't apply

12:13

To Donald Trump the way they would apply to you

12:15

and me So the

12:18

Supreme Court said no, of course, he's not

12:21

Disquad oh pay no attention to

12:23

the plain text of the Constitution

12:26

We are ordering that he must be

12:28

kept on the presidential

12:30

ballots You need

12:32

more friends. How about exhibit three? What

12:35

do those same? textualists

12:37

on the Supreme Court say When

12:41

Donald Trump makes a claim that

12:43

has no textual

12:45

support in the Constitution Donald Trump

12:47

claims He

12:50

has Oh absolute presidential

12:52

immunity From being

12:54

prosecuted for all crimes he

12:56

commits against the American

12:59

people while in office Well,

13:02

what does the text of the Constitution have

13:04

to say about that? Even

13:07

if impeached the party

13:09

shall nevertheless be libel and subject

13:11

to indictment trial judgment

13:13

and punishment According to law.

13:16

So the plain text of

13:18

the Constitution actually undercuts Donald

13:20

Trump's claim that he has absolutely absolute

13:23

presidential immunity against prosecution So

13:26

you would think you

13:28

know that same batch of self-declared? textualists

13:32

on the Supreme Court would

13:34

have Declined to take that

13:36

issue up on appeal but no instead

13:40

They brought Donald Trump's criminal prosecution

13:43

in Washington DC for trying to

13:45

overturn the 2020 presidential

13:48

election to a screeching halt

13:51

Even though the Constitution contradicts

13:55

the notion of absolute presidential immunity

13:57

and of course exhibit four could

14:00

go on all day friends. Exhibit

14:02

four is that New York appeals

14:05

court opinion, right,

14:07

with no explanation, no

14:10

analysis, and no citation

14:13

of authority, and on

14:15

the heels of Donald Trump saying, I have

14:17

half a billion in cash so I can

14:19

make the bond, no problem,

14:22

no. The appeals court said, well, you

14:24

know, we wouldn't want to

14:27

tap you out financially so we're

14:29

just going to produce it to

14:31

a hundred and seventy five million

14:34

and that will help you stave off Attorney

14:37

General James seizing your properties.

14:40

I'm going to stop there but we

14:42

could go on. We could talk about

14:44

how Donald Trump has never been held

14:47

accountable for the crimes of bribery and

14:49

extortion of President Zelensky asking him for

14:51

a favor though, leveraging,

14:53

holding hostage congressional aid to Ukraine

14:55

in exchange for what did Donald

14:57

Trump want? A dirty political favor.

14:59

I want you to make up

15:02

a false investigation into

15:04

my political opponent and announce it

15:06

to the world. Nor

15:09

are we going to spend time talking

15:11

about the more than half a dozen

15:14

felony obstruction of justice charges

15:16

that were documented. The evidence

15:19

is right there, you know, ready

15:21

for the prosecuting in

15:24

the Trump-Russia report. No, Donald Trump

15:26

never held accountable for those crimes.

15:30

We could talk about Donald

15:32

Trump's criminal responsibility for

15:35

causing avoidable COVID deaths.

15:38

Not a minute of accountability for that.

15:41

So no, it

15:43

seems pretty clear. I mean,

15:45

you cannot escape the pattern

15:47

that the institutions of government have

15:51

decided that the rules and

15:53

the laws in the Constitution don't apply to

15:55

Donald Trump as they would apply

15:57

to you and me. And

16:01

that's gotta change. That's

16:03

gotta change. Because

16:07

justice matters.