Rachel Maddow on Trump's criminal trial: He is dragging a ‘litany of criminality’ into elex

Manhattan da Alvin Bragg has defined this Trump

criminal

trial

in those Stark terms, our special coverage continues and our panel is back with Rachel Nicole Jen Alex and Chris, our legal experts and others who will be joining us shortly and Rachel. I wanted to start there because there are so many smart people. and informed people have debated for the past year plus which accusation against Donald Trump is the worst which

criminal

trial

should begin F uh, most of the candidates, I should say, in both parties are not currently accused of crimes, no it's the majority of people who are running for congress we're not expecting criminal trials before election day just to restart that um and we wanted to start with you on that da Bragg statement is really the only time he talked about this in detail when announced the charges um because his job is not to compare and contrast the entire country, he says there is evidence of a crime in his jurisdiction, uh, and that's what he says, that's the only thing he had to think about and that's why that we are here today, yes, and I mean, I think when we think.

In terms of the timeline, I mean, I think it's important to remember that these charges have, in some ways, been in the queue that has been lined up for five and a half years since Michael Cohen five and a half years ago pleaded guilty. in federal court to federal campaign finance violations that the prosecutor said and Michael Cohen admitted under oath were committed at the behest of an individual who was Donald Trump. I mean, this crime was described in federal court with supporting evidence almost six years ago. and what happened between then and now that finally in a completely different court system in New York state court, Trump is finally being held accountable for a crime that happened so blatantly and so obviously and so long ago and that the Saga itself It's partly the story of Trump's political power and how he chose to use his political power to protect himself within the criminal justice system, part of that is being a sitting president when they're not going to press charges against you, but part of that is also being a sitting president who uses his power over the US justice department to thwart investigations and whitewash federal criminal court documents so they don't reveal as much information about him as they were going to, so this just happened Ha been a long time, the fact that it took this long is a testament to how Trump has been able to manipulate the justice department, the US Department of Justice, and the US criminal justice system more broadly. , for their own benefit.

I feel like it's almost a miracle. That we have brought this case to this court for trial, the fact that there are three more stacked behind him simply tells you about the

litany

of alleged

criminality

that this candidate drags with him into this election season and into Rachel. I mean, Rachel is the person who I feel like I've learned the most about the extent to which the bar association and the Department of Justice acted in an outrageous manner, with the right to hijack normal processes so that the person named as an individual would mean nothing. , but I also think that when you look at the chronology here there is a clear trajectory and the line that is the 2016 election was the subject of two different criminal conspiracies, this criminal conspiracy that is declared to M by Michael Cohen in federal court and the criminal conspiracy Russian to sabotage the election, which has been accused in uh, you know, accusations of Russian foreign nationals who will probably never face justice after no one really in Trump's orbit was punished for that right and then tried to re-execute him with Ukraine in the run-up to the 2020 elections, which was discovered and ruined and faced an impeachment trial for which it was acquitted, it actually faced no real accountability, all leading up to January 6, when even after Losing the election, he tries again to use essentially any means necessary and any means necessary for this man.

It's kind of agnostic about the media. I mean, it could be legal, it could not be legal, it could be ethical, dubious, gray or scandalous. but he is just trying to do everything he can to gain power is true in 2016 in a sort of foothold of The facts of this case is true in the lead up to 2020 is true after the 2020 election that is all a story about someone who never faces responsibility for his insatiable thirst for power and his willingness to do anything to, quote, win even after losing and this is the first of those stories, well, and that explains Nicole why the story that the jury hears and by proxy the country is so important, I'm curious to know what you think, but I would say that if it becomes just a sensational story, you can probably find one or more jurors that are not there, but if It's a story about democracy, which is what da Bragg said, and I just spoke to the evidence that it became something bigger, it's about cheating, right?

I mean, sports just went through one of the biggest stories in a decade with sh Otani, right, being literally taken off the field for stealing, I mean, it's, it's, it's. It is a crime that everyone can understand stealing cheating lying these are easy crimes to understand and I think the reason Donald Trump has worked so hard to keep this one from going to trial is because it is an easy crime to understand that the jury goes to ask You will be asked to find out if Trump did some things that are pretty easy to understand and, going back to Rachel's point, the first people who found Trump responsible as a conspirator was the Billb Bar justice department and Jeff Burman writes about this in his book. how involved the Justice Department leadership in Washington was in editing the sentencing memo that describes Donald Trump as an individual over and over again Michael Cen paid the money to benefit an individual Michael Coen, you know everything Co, you know it and, again, not a lawyer, but for some reason I always get chosen to serve on juries.

I mean, the jury will be asked to look at Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen Didn't Have Sex With Stby Daniel Michael Cohen Didn't Become President Donald Trump, Was Michael Cohen? to jail I mean one of these things is not like the other I think the story is a pretty simple story about pretty simple crimes Rachel you've been summoned uh go ahead I was just going to say I mean uh Nicole I heard you say That thing from before about Michael Cohen and it always wears me down a little bit, but it's very true in a very fundamental way, like he's super gross, but we're talking about Trump, he always has a super gross element to him, my ears are turning. red like I'm raising that little guy, sorry, raised in the suburbs, very Catholic, can't stand it, but the basic idea here is so true, like think about what, think about the fact that Michael Cohen went to prison for This, Michael Cohen does not. having sex with Stormy Daniels Michael Cohen did not run for president Michael Cohen did not receive any benefits from this why is he the one who did it?

He's the only one who's gone to prison for it, especially when it wasn't like he made this up as his own. idea to please the boss, it is essentially an admission that the boss advised him to do this, that this was part of Trump's effort to get elected, keeping this information away from the public during the election, simply cannot be a fundamental issue of justice. and I think Nicole and AR are right as a fundamental matter of justice, no jury will look at this and say yes, the only one who should go to prison for this is the one who had to reduce the value of his home to zero. credit to be able to do this for his boss because the last time the boss had to pay hush money to another alleged mistress, he tricked the tabloid editor who gave him the money that time, so this time I have to do it, right?

OK? You are the one who should be punished it just doesn't make sense you can't tell yourself any story about that where there is a crime that has been described and admitted and litigated in court and the one that ends up in the only one that ends up in jail that's why it's Michael, hello everyone, MSNBC has a new and improved app, you will receive real-time alerts and analysis, live blogs, in-depth essays, video highlights and the best coverage of the 2024 election, download the new MSNBC App, here's how Do it: Tap the App Store on your phone, hit search in the bottom right corner, type MSNBC, click the MSNBC app, click get or the cloud icon and enjoy.