1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: There is a solemn obligation that these jurors and prospective 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: jurors are being asked to perform. And this includes importantly 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:19,920 Speaker 1: people who disdain the idea of Donald Trump returning to 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: political power. But the criminal trial is not a proxy 5 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: for an election. It is not a substitute for the 6 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: will of the American people. A criminal trial is exactly that, 7 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:38,279 Speaker 1: a criminal trial. This is a moment where Donald Trump's 8 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:47,559 Speaker 1: fiercest critics must be his most vociferous defenders for a 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: fair trial, because the system that he attacked cannot be denigrated. 10 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: It is Monday, April fifteenth, twenty twenty four. This is 11 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: the warning. There are two hundred and four days remaining 12 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 1: until the American people will decide who is in command. 13 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 1: During the most dangerous hours the world has seen, perhaps 14 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: since the Cuban missile crisis, or perhaps nineteen seventy three. 15 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: In the Middle East, what happened this past weekend was unprecedented. 16 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: Iran made a declaration that it's prepared to wage war 17 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: against Israel and the United States in the clear light 18 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: of day. The war that has gone on between Israel 19 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: and Iran has escaped from the shadows and now a 20 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: great question hangs over the Israeli war Cabinet, the situation room, 21 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: in the White House, all of the world capitals, of 22 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: all of the democratic powers. There is a coalition of 23 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: chaos and men that is merging, coming together, that is prodding, poking, 24 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 1: testing the resolve of the free world. Eighty years on 25 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: from the day that will soon be recognized and honored, 26 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: the invasion of Europe d Day, June sixth, nineteen forty four. 27 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: This access of Iran, of North Korea, of Russia and 28 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: China is menacing. It's probing, it's probing, prodding in the Philippines, 29 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: in Taiwan. Russia is fueling instability all over the world, 30 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: while every night It's missiles and drones assault the sovereignty 31 00:02:54,320 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: and the peace of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin and his propagandists 32 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: promised the use of nuclear weapons on a weekly basis. 33 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin has made a declaration that wherever Russia is spoken, 34 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: is Russia, and that there are no permanent international boundaries 35 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:23,359 Speaker 1: so far as it is concerning where Russian is spoken. 36 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,679 Speaker 1: Iran is the world's pre eminent force of chaos. Its 37 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: proxies are firing missiles into international shipping lanes, targeting the 38 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: ships of dozens of countries, delaying the transfer of goods 39 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: throughout the world. They are the full manners of terror 40 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: and chaos, the principal backers of Hamas and Hezbolah. They 41 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: are the world's leading exporterers of terror, and they have 42 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:04,240 Speaker 1: a close relationship and close with North Korea. This access 43 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: is powerful. It is formidable Iranian drones or used by 44 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:20,720 Speaker 1: Russians to attack Ukrainian cities. There is communication, there is coordination. 45 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: There is a commitment amongst these countries to bring down 46 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: the world order that has existed since the world was rebuilt. 47 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: After it was brought to the brink of ruin, Europe 48 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: was shattered and much of Asia. Upwards of eighty five 49 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: million people were killed all over the world just eighty 50 00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 1: years ago. And all of this, the great escalation that 51 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: took coincides with the criminal trial of Donald Trump, the 52 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: Republican nominee, the MAGA nominee, the former president of the 53 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: United States hush money trial for paying off a porn 54 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,320 Speaker 1: star Stormy Daniels many years ago. The trial will play 55 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: out in the Manhattan District Court. The prosecution is led 56 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: by the District Attorney mister Alvin Bragg, and jury selection 57 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: has begun. A great test is underway that in the end, 58 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,720 Speaker 1: when the jury is seated, they will have to swear 59 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:44,400 Speaker 1: an oath, and Donald Trump's freedom is utterly dependent on 60 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: the fidelity of those American citizens to that oath. When 61 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: that jury is seated, the twelve people will share one 62 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:02,799 Speaker 1: thing in common, not their se exergender or their political views. 63 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:09,239 Speaker 1: It is their citizenship. Everybody who sits on the jury 64 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:15,919 Speaker 1: will be an American citizen. Donald Trump took an oath, 65 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: he desecrated it. His oath was thirty five words. It's 66 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 1: the only oath of office that's actually prescribed in the 67 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: American Constitution. Trump promised to preserve, protect, and defend the 68 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: Constitution of the United States, which calls for the assignment 69 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: of political power through the outcome of elections, which Donald 70 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: Trump lost, but refused to concede and triggered an insurrection 71 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: and assault, a criminal act, violence, mayhem, and chaos, bloodying 72 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: the peaceful transition of power, humiliating the United States on 73 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: the world stage. Now, the jurors in the Trump trial 74 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: will not be asked a question about whether they think 75 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a good president or a bad president 76 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: or even a good person or a bad person. The 77 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: jurors will be asked a question in the end, and 78 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: it is whether they can be faithful, have integrity towards 79 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: an idea of impartiality. Are they able to put their 80 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: prejudices aside we all have them, and be fair and 81 00:07:49,480 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: do their duty, duty, obligation, responsibility. Freedom is a non 82 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: sense word without these concepts, and the American criminal justice 83 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: system relies not on politics but on justice, on the 84 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: notion that justice is blind. And so a jury of 85 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: Donald Trump's peers will be seated and let us understand 86 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: something immediately. Manhattan is where Donald Trump's peers are. He is, 87 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: if anything, a New Yorker. He is known there and 88 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: famous there for a generation before anybody had seen their 89 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: first Apprentice episode, an eon, before his political aspirations were clear, 90 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: or even before he made his first appearance on The 91 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: Howard Stern Show. New Yorkers will be asked a question, 92 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: and it has to do with the functioning of the 93 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: American justice system. Can a jury be assembled of citizens 94 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: that can be impartial towards the most famous man of 95 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: the age, the dominant figure in the culture. Can they 96 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 1: understand intellectually, morally that Donald Trump is presumed innocent. This 97 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,720 Speaker 1: is not an occasion for anybody to be rooting for 98 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: political outcomes. This is not a baseball game, This is 99 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:02,319 Speaker 1: not the masters, and it's not a certain It's a 100 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: criminal trial, and it's a serious matter for any citizen 101 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: who sits there accused by the state, with a risk 102 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: of losing their freedom, of being incarcerated by the state 103 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: threw an assault on him where the ends are justified 104 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: by the means. No justice requires justice, and the American 105 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:40,040 Speaker 1: system is not a kangaroo court. Donald Trump attacks our 106 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: system of justice every day. He promises chaos and mayhem 107 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: and violence in the streets. He promises retribution and revenge 108 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 1: and imprisonment for his political foes who exercise their God 109 00:10:54,960 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: given constitutional rights to speech, to conscience, to political as activity, 110 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: including denunciations of his misconduct, his aberrant behavior, his insanity, 111 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: and his manifest on fitness for authority, power and control 112 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: of anything anyone at any time ever. But the trial 113 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: ahead is just that, a trial, and everybody who looks 114 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: at Donald Trump and worries about his return to power 115 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: should understand that these trials have not hurt Donald Trump politically. 116 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: The jury proverbially speaking, is out on that question. We'll 117 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 1: see in the end, but for now, if anything they've 118 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:06,080 Speaker 1: cut in Trump benefit towards his direction. Now here's the thing. 119 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: Nobody's above the law in America, but nobody's below it either, 120 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: including Donald Trump. This is an important moment for the 121 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:25,319 Speaker 1: whole country, as the whole of the world stands at 122 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: the edge of an abyss. Eighty years on from the 123 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: end of a global war. The world, it seems, has 124 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:42,240 Speaker 1: forgotten many of the lessons learned by the horror in 125 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:47,959 Speaker 1: the blood of nearly one hundred million dead. So here 126 00:12:48,320 --> 00:12:54,439 Speaker 1: we are, on this April fifteenth, when the American people 127 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: pay a multitude of their hard earned money to the 128 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: American government, watching a criminal trial of a former disgrace president, 129 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: a hush money trial involving a level of clawdriness that 130 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: is epic, empathetic and tragic. Then, yeah, a little funny. 131 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:27,000 Speaker 1: But in a moment when the world is at a 132 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:32,319 Speaker 1: dangerous edge, in a dangerous hour that is growing darker, 133 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:46,119 Speaker 1: the winds are blowing, catastrophe is in the air. American 134 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: people have indulged a lot of madness, a lot of frivolousness, 135 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: a lot of insanity in the hour. For all the fun, 136 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,720 Speaker 1: it seems to me seems to be coming to a 137 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: pretty decisive end. So appreciate today the split screen ahead 138 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:15,080 Speaker 1: World War III to the right and the porn star 139 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: hush money trial to the left. Neither one is a joke. 140 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: Both are utterly real, and both are happening. What will 141 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: you do about it? If anything? Two hundred and four 142 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: days to go until the man on trial could be 143 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: the most powerful man in the world. Again, that's not 144 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: a criminal trial question, that's not a jury question. That's 145 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: a political question, and we all get a vote on that. 146 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: That is the great part about being an American. Thank 147 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: you for listening to my political commentary. If you like 148 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 1: what you heard today, please also consider subscribing to the 149 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: Warning Daily newsletter on substack.