Speaker 1: There is a solemn obligation that these jurors and prospective
Speaker 1: jurors are being asked to perform. And this includes importantly
Speaker 1: people who disdain the idea of Donald Trump returning to
Speaker 1: political power. But the criminal trial is not a proxy
Speaker 1: for an election. It is not a substitute for the
Speaker 1: will of the American people. A criminal trial is exactly that,
Speaker 1: a criminal trial. This is a moment where Donald Trump's
Speaker 1: fiercest critics must be his most vociferous defenders for a
Speaker 1: fair trial, because the system that he attacked cannot be denigrated.
Speaker 1: It is Monday, April fifteenth, twenty twenty four. This is
Speaker 1: the warning. There are two hundred and four days remaining
Speaker 1: until the American people will decide who is in command.
Speaker 1: During the most dangerous hours the world has seen, perhaps
Speaker 1: since the Cuban missile crisis, or perhaps nineteen seventy three.
Speaker 1: In the Middle East, what happened this past weekend was unprecedented.
Speaker 1: Iran made a declaration that it's prepared to wage war
Speaker 1: against Israel and the United States in the clear light
Speaker 1: of day. The war that has gone on between Israel
Speaker 1: and Iran has escaped from the shadows and now a
Speaker 1: great question hangs over the Israeli war Cabinet, the situation room,
Speaker 1: in the White House, all of the world capitals, of
Speaker 1: all of the democratic powers. There is a coalition of
Speaker 1: chaos and men that is merging, coming together, that is prodding, poking,
Speaker 1: testing the resolve of the free world. Eighty years on
Speaker 1: from the day that will soon be recognized and honored,
Speaker 1: the invasion of Europe d Day, June sixth, nineteen forty four.
Speaker 1: This access of Iran, of North Korea, of Russia and
Speaker 1: China is menacing. It's probing, it's probing, prodding in the Philippines,
Speaker 1: in Taiwan. Russia is fueling instability all over the world,
Speaker 1: while every night It's missiles and drones assault the sovereignty
Speaker 1: and the peace of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin and his propagandists
Speaker 1: promised the use of nuclear weapons on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin has made a declaration that wherever Russia is spoken,
Speaker 1: is Russia, and that there are no permanent international boundaries
Speaker 1: so far as it is concerning where Russian is spoken.
Speaker 1: Iran is the world's pre eminent force of chaos. Its
Speaker 1: proxies are firing missiles into international shipping lanes, targeting the
Speaker 1: ships of dozens of countries, delaying the transfer of goods
Speaker 1: throughout the world. They are the full manners of terror
Speaker 1: and chaos, the principal backers of Hamas and Hezbolah. They
Speaker 1: are the world's leading exporterers of terror, and they have
Speaker 1: a close relationship and close with North Korea. This access
Speaker 1: is powerful. It is formidable Iranian drones or used by
Speaker 1: Russians to attack Ukrainian cities. There is communication, there is coordination.
Speaker 1: There is a commitment amongst these countries to bring down
Speaker 1: the world order that has existed since the world was rebuilt.
Speaker 1: After it was brought to the brink of ruin, Europe
Speaker 1: was shattered and much of Asia. Upwards of eighty five
Speaker 1: million people were killed all over the world just eighty
Speaker 1: years ago. And all of this, the great escalation that
Speaker 1: took coincides with the criminal trial of Donald Trump, the
Speaker 1: Republican nominee, the MAGA nominee, the former president of the
Speaker 1: United States hush money trial for paying off a porn
Speaker 1: star Stormy Daniels many years ago. The trial will play
Speaker 1: out in the Manhattan District Court. The prosecution is led
Speaker 1: by the District Attorney mister Alvin Bragg, and jury selection
Speaker 1: has begun. A great test is underway that in the end,
Speaker 1: when the jury is seated, they will have to swear
Speaker 1: an oath, and Donald Trump's freedom is utterly dependent on
Speaker 1: the fidelity of those American citizens to that oath. When
Speaker 1: that jury is seated, the twelve people will share one
Speaker 1: thing in common, not their se exergender or their political views.
Speaker 1: It is their citizenship. Everybody who sits on the jury
Speaker 1: will be an American citizen. Donald Trump took an oath,
Speaker 1: he desecrated it. His oath was thirty five words. It's
Speaker 1: the only oath of office that's actually prescribed in the
Speaker 1: American Constitution. Trump promised to preserve, protect, and defend the
Speaker 1: Constitution of the United States, which calls for the assignment
Speaker 1: of political power through the outcome of elections, which Donald
Speaker 1: Trump lost, but refused to concede and triggered an insurrection
Speaker 1: and assault, a criminal act, violence, mayhem, and chaos, bloodying
Speaker 1: the peaceful transition of power, humiliating the United States on
Speaker 1: the world stage. Now, the jurors in the Trump trial
Speaker 1: will not be asked a question about whether they think
Speaker 1: Donald Trump is a good president or a bad president
Speaker 1: or even a good person or a bad person. The
Speaker 1: jurors will be asked a question in the end, and
Speaker 1: it is whether they can be faithful, have integrity towards
Speaker 1: an idea of impartiality. Are they able to put their
Speaker 1: prejudices aside we all have them, and be fair and
Speaker 1: do their duty, duty, obligation, responsibility. Freedom is a non
Speaker 1: sense word without these concepts, and the American criminal justice
Speaker 1: system relies not on politics but on justice, on the
Speaker 1: notion that justice is blind. And so a jury of
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's peers will be seated and let us understand
Speaker 1: something immediately. Manhattan is where Donald Trump's peers are. He is,
Speaker 1: if anything, a New Yorker. He is known there and
Speaker 1: famous there for a generation before anybody had seen their
Speaker 1: first Apprentice episode, an eon, before his political aspirations were clear,
Speaker 1: or even before he made his first appearance on The
Speaker 1: Howard Stern Show. New Yorkers will be asked a question,
Speaker 1: and it has to do with the functioning of the
Speaker 1: American justice system. Can a jury be assembled of citizens
Speaker 1: that can be impartial towards the most famous man of
Speaker 1: the age, the dominant figure in the culture. Can they
Speaker 1: understand intellectually, morally that Donald Trump is presumed innocent. This
Speaker 1: is not an occasion for anybody to be rooting for
Speaker 1: political outcomes. This is not a baseball game, This is
Speaker 1: not the masters, and it's not a certain It's a
Speaker 1: criminal trial, and it's a serious matter for any citizen
Speaker 1: who sits there accused by the state, with a risk
Speaker 1: of losing their freedom, of being incarcerated by the state
Speaker 1: threw an assault on him where the ends are justified
Speaker 1: by the means. No justice requires justice, and the American
Speaker 1: system is not a kangaroo court. Donald Trump attacks our
Speaker 1: system of justice every day. He promises chaos and mayhem
Speaker 1: and violence in the streets. He promises retribution and revenge
Speaker 1: and imprisonment for his political foes who exercise their God
Speaker 1: given constitutional rights to speech, to conscience, to political as activity,
Speaker 1: including denunciations of his misconduct, his aberrant behavior, his insanity,
Speaker 1: and his manifest on fitness for authority, power and control
Speaker 1: of anything anyone at any time ever. But the trial
Speaker 1: ahead is just that, a trial, and everybody who looks
Speaker 1: at Donald Trump and worries about his return to power
Speaker 1: should understand that these trials have not hurt Donald Trump politically.
Speaker 1: The jury proverbially speaking, is out on that question. We'll
Speaker 1: see in the end, but for now, if anything they've
Speaker 1: cut in Trump benefit towards his direction. Now here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Nobody's above the law in America, but nobody's below it either,
Speaker 1: including Donald Trump. This is an important moment for the
Speaker 1: whole country, as the whole of the world stands at
Speaker 1: the edge of an abyss. Eighty years on from the
Speaker 1: end of a global war. The world, it seems, has
Speaker 1: forgotten many of the lessons learned by the horror in
Speaker 1: the blood of nearly one hundred million dead. So here
Speaker 1: we are, on this April fifteenth, when the American people
Speaker 1: pay a multitude of their hard earned money to the
Speaker 1: American government, watching a criminal trial of a former disgrace president,
Speaker 1: a hush money trial involving a level of clawdriness that
Speaker 1: is epic, empathetic and tragic. Then, yeah, a little funny.
Speaker 1: But in a moment when the world is at a
Speaker 1: dangerous edge, in a dangerous hour that is growing darker,
Speaker 1: the winds are blowing, catastrophe is in the air. American
Speaker 1: people have indulged a lot of madness, a lot of frivolousness,
Speaker 1: a lot of insanity in the hour. For all the fun,
Speaker 1: it seems to me seems to be coming to a
Speaker 1: pretty decisive end. So appreciate today the split screen ahead
Speaker 1: World War III to the right and the porn star
Speaker 1: hush money trial to the left. Neither one is a joke.
Speaker 1: Both are utterly real, and both are happening. What will
Speaker 1: you do about it? If anything? Two hundred and four
Speaker 1: days to go until the man on trial could be
Speaker 1: the most powerful man in the world. Again, that's not
Speaker 1: a criminal trial question, that's not a jury question. That's
Speaker 1: a political question, and we all get a vote on that.
Speaker 1: That is the great part about being an American. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to my political commentary. If you like
Speaker 1: what you heard today, please also consider subscribing to the
Speaker 1: Warning Daily newsletter on substack.