Donald Trump Jr. and GOP allies of former President Trump hold a press briefing outside a hearing in his NYC hush money trial.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Well guys, I had to come down and witness the Bolshevik Shield trials for myself.
00:07 What's going on here is an absolute farce and anyone in America should be embarrassed
00:12 at the absolute miscarriage of justice that we're seeing here.
00:16 There's no crime.
00:18 The only problem is the witnesses who are experts in these things aren't allowed to
00:21 actually testify to that because you have a rigged system.
00:26 You have a judge whose daughter is making millions, millions off of this very case.
00:32 But you know what?
00:33 That's not a problem in New York City.
00:35 We're just going to allow it.
00:37 When our defense goes after arguably the least credible witnesses in the history of, I don't
00:44 know, witnesses, you're not allowed to ask the damning questions of them.
00:49 The star witness in this case is a what?
00:51 Nine times convicted liar.
00:54 And now, now an admitted thief.
00:58 That is who they're hanging the entire case on.
01:01 The other one happens to be a porn star.
01:03 Not exactly, not exactly the ultimate form of jurisprudence here.
01:09 But that's what you have.
01:10 And what it's doing is setting a disastrous precedent for our legal system for justice
01:16 in America.
01:17 If it can happen to Donald Trump, and if they will try to do this to someone like Donald
01:21 Trump, with a platform, hundreds of millions of followers, the ability to fight, they will
01:28 do it to anyone.
01:29 They have weaponized this system against their political enemies, and they've started to
01:33 go down a very dangerous and a very slippery slope.
01:38 This insanity cannot stand.
01:40 This kind of bias cannot be allowed to happen in the United States of America or anywhere
01:46 else.
01:47 If this is going on right now in a third world banana republic, there would be people screaming
01:52 about it.
01:53 You people, the media would be outraged instead, because I presume you're fine with whatever
01:58 the results are, as long as it's against Donald Trump.
02:01 Your silence is deafening and it's disgusting.
02:04 This cannot stand and it cannot allow to continue.
02:08 John, why'd you feel the need to come down here and go?
02:12 Because you have no choice.
02:13 And again, I wasn't a political guy my whole life.
02:15 I may have been a conservative.
02:16 We used to change the skyline of this city.
02:18 We built buildings.
02:19 But once you get involved and you see the disasters created, especially by this current
02:25 administration, you understand that you have to fight.
02:27 You have to leave our country to our children in a way that they can recognize it.
02:32 You have to fight for the freedoms that we have enjoyed our entire lives.
02:36 They are all at risk right now.
02:37 They are all on the table, and that's unacceptable.
02:39 John, do you agree with what he's saying?
02:40 I was going to say, Matt Whitaker, former acting attorney general, equal protection
02:45 under the law is a most fundamental bedrock constitutional principle of American jurisprudence.
02:51 What I just saw in this courtroom is a complete miscarriage of justice.
02:56 We cannot have judges who are wearing the same jersey as the prosecution and are not
03:01 calling balls and strikes, but are intentionally preventing the defense from defending themselves.
03:06 We have witnesses that are liars and stealers.
03:10 We cannot have this in America.
03:12 And the fact that this is going to most likely go to a jury trial on no crimes, that this
03:18 is essentially a referendum on whether or not the jurors like Donald Trump or not, is
03:23 not the American system of justice.
03:25 We demand better.
03:26 New York City demands better.
03:28 We have the most serious crisis on our border that's causing the most insecure terrorism
03:34 situation since 9/11.
03:36 We need to wake up to what's important in America and start paying attention to that.
03:40 Pam?
03:41 Thank you.
03:42 I'm Pam Jackson.
03:43 Prior to being Attorney General of Florida, I was a career prosecutor for 18 years.
03:47 I've prosecuted hundreds of jury trials in a courtroom very similar to the one today,
03:53 yet I've never seen anything like this.
03:54 A judge is supposed to be a neutral arbiter of facts.
03:57 First of all, this case was declined by many years from the Southern District of New York,
04:02 by the Department of Justice, by multiple jurisdictions, yet they bring it on the heels
04:07 of a presidential election with a convicted felon, a convicted liar, Michael Cohen, who
04:13 admitted in court yesterday to being a thief.
04:16 They need to prosecute Michael Cohen now for stealing from the Trump Organization.
04:21 I've truly never seen anything like this.
04:23 That judge is sustaining the prosecution's objections, meaning agreeing with them before
04:27 they could barely get the objection out of their mouth.
04:30 Listen, all the rights here, I'm a prosecutor, former prosecutor, yet all the rights here
04:35 go to the defendant because it's his liberty at stake, and that has not been happening
04:40 in this courtroom.
04:41 So let's just pray that we have jurors that see through this.
04:45 When Bob Costello was trying to answer questions on cross-examination today, the prosecutors
04:50 were cutting him off.
04:51 They didn't want him to tell the full truth.
04:54 They only wanted to cherry-pick portions of his statement.
04:57 They weren't letting him answer the question.
05:01 Prosecutors want the truth out there.
05:03 They want everything to be heard so the jurors can make a fair and reasonable decision.
05:08 This case should have never, ever been brought.
05:12 If I may, I'm just going to add a point that Don Jr. made.
05:19 Sebastian Walker, former deputy to the president.
05:22 What is Judge Murchin hiding?
05:24 There is a 28-page document from the Southern District of New York about what Michael Cohen
05:32 is and why he is a criminal.
05:34 This document was meant to be brought up in court.
05:37 Judge Murchin suppressed it.
05:38 This is from the Southern District.
05:41 Twenty-eight pages on Michael Cohen being a perjurer and a criminal.
05:45 What are you hiding, Judge Murchin?
05:47 Is it perhaps the fact that your daughter has just made $93 million to the Democrat
05:52 Party?
05:53 President Trump has been gagged.
05:54 He's the leader of the opposition.
05:55 He is the only person who can replace the incumbent senile old man.
06:01 We know that this judge is working on behalf of the Democrats.
06:05 Why are you hiding this document, Judge Murchin?
06:08 I'm going to put it on the Internet today.
06:11 What are you hiding, Judge Murchin?
06:13 Sorry.
06:14 No, no, no.
06:15 Dan Patrick, lieutenant governor of Texas.
06:18 So why aren't you asking the question, when is Michael Cohen going to be indicted?
06:22 He stole $60,000 due to your job.
06:26 That should be the headline.
06:28 Number two, Alvin Bragg should be indicted.
06:31 He brought someone as a witness in a case with someone he knew had committed a crime.
06:38 He should be indicted.
06:39 So headline, please.
06:42 Where are you, Alvin Bragg?
06:43 Who's going to indict him?
06:45 Who's going to indict Michael Cohen?
06:46 Look, we are here to defend our Constitution, our freedoms, and we're here because we are
06:53 friends of Donald Trump, the president of the United States.
06:57 And when a friend is troubled, friends have his back.
07:01 The way he has been treated, you would see in Russia, you would see in China, you would
07:05 see in North Korea, you would see in every little tin pot dictatorship across the world.
07:12 And that's what we have here in New York, in America.
07:15 If they can go after the former president of the United States of America, who has the
07:21 ability and the financial resources to fight back, what happens to the average American?
07:25 What happens to any of you?
07:27 Does the courts in New York come after any of you because of something you said?
07:30 Because you said something the ruling class didn't like.
07:33 And that's what all these other countries are about.
07:36 They shut down the ruling class.
07:39 They want to be sure that anyone that speaks up against the ruling class disappears.
07:45 They want Donald Trump to disappear.
07:47 They want to send him to jail.
07:49 They want to take him off the main stage because they know here's their biggest danger to taking
07:56 the ruling class down.
07:57 You know why, sir?
07:58 Donald Trump is not the ruling class.
07:59 Donald Trump is for every New Yorker.
08:01 He's for every Texan, every state.
08:04 Donald Trump has put his whole life on the line, his whole life on the line for the American
08:09 people.
08:10 When he came down that escalator, he probably had no idea that he was going to be called
08:14 to be the man in the gap, to stand up for Americans.
08:17 And he's standing up for you, even if you don't know it.
08:19 I don't know who's next.
08:20 So a member of the ruling class will be facing 730 years in prison.
08:25 What a pathetic question.
08:27 730 years in prison and he's a member of the elite.
08:29 That's pathetic.
08:30 You're not a journalist.
08:32 So I will say as a former attorney general, it's my previous job and now as a US Senator,
08:36 Eric Schmidt from Missouri, I can tell you, these charges should never have been brought.
08:39 There's no crime.
08:40 The only crime that's been unveiled through this, you know, Soviet style show trial is
08:46 Michael Cohen, who stole money, admitted it on the stand.
08:49 This is the star witness.
08:50 This is the witness upon which this entire case stands.
08:53 And as a legal matter, this case is a total joke.
08:57 In a broader sense, you want to talk about threats to democracy?
09:01 That's what this is across the street.
09:03 The idea that the Democrats not only try to keep him off the ballot, Donald Trump, but
09:07 now throw him in jail for the rest of his life because they know he's going to win in
09:10 November.
09:11 And the only way they think they can get after it is this unprecedented lawfare.
09:15 We have never, ladies and gentlemen, we've never seen anything like this in this country.
09:19 So I know this can kind of be normalized as you've been covering it.
09:22 This is outrageous.
09:23 If this were happening in any country, any other country, our State Department, our State
09:27 Department will be warning people not to go to that country because it's a banana republic.
09:32 And more broadly speaking, let me just say this from a political perspective, from a
09:36 political perspective, the American people see what's happening.
09:40 This has added jet fuel to his campaign.
09:42 You want to know why he's rising in the polls?
09:44 Because the American people understand the injustice is happening and they don't want
09:48 to see their country turn into a banana republic.
09:50 I'm Ronnie Jackson, Ronnie Jackson from Texas.
09:56 And I just want to say real quick, make no mistake about this.
09:58 We all know this.
09:59 These corrupt prosecutors and this corrupt judge are nothing more than puppets of the
10:03 Biden administration and the Biden DOJ right now.
10:06 You know what?
10:07 It's a shame.
10:08 They will do anything.
10:09 They will lie.
10:10 They will cheat.
10:11 They will steal.
10:12 They will do anything to keep him from becoming president again.
10:14 They fear Donald Trump.
10:15 They fear Donald Trump and they fear what's going to happen if he becomes president again.
10:19 And I tell you, they should fear because he started draining the swamp.
10:22 He's going to keep draining again.
10:23 And all of these people are representative of the swamp.
10:26 The sad thing is today, Lady Justice in the city of New York no longer wears a blindfold.
10:31 She's wearing the Michael Cohen t-shirt with President Trump.
10:35 That's how disgusting this this is.
10:38 This has got to be right now.
10:39 And it was mentioned before.
10:41 This is not the kind of stuff that happens in the United States of America.
10:44 This is Soviet era stuff right here.
10:46 Everybody out here.
10:47 I don't care what side of the aisle you're on.
10:48 If you're Republican or Democrat, I don't care what your political leanings are.
10:51 You better look at what's happening right here in New York and it better scare the hell
10:54 out of you because they'll come for you next.
10:56 I'm representative of Salazar.
10:58 I probably am the only member of this group that can speak in both languages.
11:05 So I'm going to do that in Spanish when we finish.
11:08 And I have a few remarks that I think are going to be very interesting to all of you.
11:12 I represent District number 27 in Florida, a bastion of the ultimate melting pot in the
11:17 United States.
11:18 And I just want to make very clear that I am here on my own volition.
11:22 I am not on the list of the favorites.
11:25 I am not looking for a job and I paid for my own way to make sure.
11:29 And the only reason why I'm here is because thousands of my constituents back in Miami
11:34 are terrified, terrified when the courts in this country are used as weapons to crush
11:41 our political enemies.
11:43 Regardless of what you think of Donald Trump, regardless of what you think of him, regardless
11:47 of what you feel about him, regardless whether you want to vote for him or not in November,
11:52 Donald Trump is not the only one going to trial.
11:56 We all are.
11:57 And I'm not sure if you know that, but that's the truth.
12:01 Trump may be the one on the stand today, but the same forces that are manipulating the
12:07 court system against him today will be after you tomorrow if we do not stop this political
12:16 cycle circus that we are facing right now.
12:19 The empirical evidence is overwhelming.
12:21 And why do I say that?
12:23 How come a person is being charged and we do not know the charges that are against him
12:28 are clearly defined?
12:30 That is all political.
12:32 That happens in Cuba and Venezuela, not in the United States.
12:35 How come the federal prosecutors six years ago decided not to touch this case, but somehow
12:41 the state prosecutors in New York decided that it was the right time because it's all
12:46 political.
12:47 Why?
12:48 There are no audio recordings.
12:52 Don't you guys want to hear what's happening?
12:54 How come there are no cameras in the courtroom?
12:57 Why is that?
12:58 Because it's all political.
12:59 You know what?
13:01 My parents are Cuban Americans.
13:03 They are political refugees.
13:05 They came from Cuba 60 years ago.
13:07 And political trials happen in banana republics, in banana republics, not in the United States
13:14 of America.
13:15 Thousands and thousands of my constituents, and that is why I am here, not because I'm
13:20 one of the favorites, but thousands of my constituents come from those countries, the
13:25 Cuba, the Venezuela, the Nicaragua, very close to us.
13:29 And they recognize and see very well when there is a political inquisition going on.
13:35 They have lived it.
13:36 They have suffered it.
13:37 And they escaped it, including my parents.
13:41 And yet now we're watching this again, where?
13:44 In the United States of America.
13:46 There is something very wrong with this picture.
13:50 And we have lifted, and that's why I am here talking to you.
13:53 The United States, the courts, the laws, the judges cannot be used as political weapons
14:00 just to silence the other guy because you do not like him.
14:04 The ballot box is where you fight those political battles, not in a court of law.
14:10 And in the meantime, you, I belong to you for 35 years.
14:16 You should be ashamed of how passively you're sitting passively by while the credibility
14:23 of one of the most revered American institutions, the judicial system, is scrambling in front
14:31 of your eyes.
14:32 Where is your profession?
14:35 Where is your impartiality?
14:37 Your biased coverage will cost us for many generations.
14:44 Unfortunately, my constituents know this movie does not end well.
14:50 But the problem is that millions and millions of my fellow Americans have never watched
14:56 it.
14:57 So they do not know the dangers we're facing.
15:00 America and its political genius of the American exceptionality, if we lose faith in it, we
15:07 are marching towards a very dark place.
15:11 America is the only hope, ask my parents and my constituents.
15:15 For humanity, if we want to continue pursuing the happiness of all of us, may the Lord Almighty,
15:23 the Lord of Abraham, the Lord of Jesus, protect us because we are in a very dark place.
15:28 Thank you.
15:29 Thank you.
15:30 Thank you.
15:31 Thank you.
15:32 Thank you.
15:33 Thank you.
15:34 Thank you.
15:35 Thank you.
15:36 Thank you.
15:37 Thank you.
15:38 Thank you.
15:39 Thank you.
15:40 Thank you.
15:41 Thank you.
15:42 Thank you.
15:43 We are the largest minority in the country.
15:44 The Hispanics.
15:45 We are the largest minority in the country.
16:04 Thank you.
16:28 Troy Nails from the great state of Texas.
16:30 I tell you what I saw today.
16:31 This is nothing more and the American people see it.
16:34 This is election interference.
16:35 First time to the courtroom, I sat in there for an hour and I said, we've got a compromise
16:41 judge, no question about it.
16:43 We've already highlighted to you all about the daughter, big mega donor for all the Democrats.
16:48 They don't want Donald Trump off the ballot.
16:49 They don't want him on the ballot.
16:51 They don't want Donald Trump holding rallies because what happens at his rallies?
16:54 This is five weeks sitting in the courtroom when he should be out reaching the American
16:58 people and telling the American people what he would like to do for this country.
17:01 And who shows up?
17:02 Tens of thousands of people show up at Donald Trump's rallies.
17:06 The Democrats hate it.
17:07 There's not another person on the planet that can do that other than the Pope, the Pope.
17:12 And when do people go?
17:13 They visit the Pope.
17:14 What do they say?
17:15 Pope, what can you do?
17:16 Would you bless me and my family?
17:17 That's what they want.
17:18 They want blessings for their family when they go see the Pope.
17:21 When people come to Donald Trump's rallies, they're saying, Donald Trump, we need you
17:24 more than ever before.
17:26 Our country is burning.
17:27 The world's on fire.
17:29 We need leadership.
17:30 The American people are begging for leadership and they're asking Donald J. Trump, stay strong,
17:35 continue to fight for the American people and to make America great movement.
17:39 That's what this is all about.
17:40 And all the dishonest media, all of you out there, you don't want to talk about it.
17:44 You don't want to talk about it.
17:45 But I guarantee you this, Donald Trump's going to be the 47th president.
17:50 Donald Trump's going to be the 47th president and he's going to make America great again,
17:53 again.
17:54 So I don't think any of us have seen a more glaring example of undermining American democracy
18:08 than we I just witnessed in this courtroom and we're seeing throughout this court case.
18:13 What is the offense?
18:14 What is truly the charge?
18:16 I guarantee you the jurors don't know the minutia on on whether there were records kept
18:23 right or if a payment was made properly.
18:26 It is it is senseless.
18:29 Then let's just look at and frivolous.
18:32 Let's look at the players involved here.
18:33 Can you just at least do that?
18:35 Brag.
18:36 Go back and look at when he ran for D.A.
18:39 He ran on getting Donald Trump.
18:41 He was paid for his campaign was paid for.
18:44 He's owned by the Soros family.
18:47 That's who this guy is.
18:48 Look at the timing of when he brought this case to the court.
18:52 Just so happens we got a presidential election in five months.
18:56 And by the way, when you get up, you lose the former president of the United States
19:00 and the leading opponent of Joe Biden's in a presidential election for the United States
19:06 of America.
19:07 You better have a case.
19:08 OK, I'm not hearing anything up there.
19:11 Take it a little further.
19:12 This judge, he donates to Joe Biden.
19:15 His daughter is one of the most prolific fundraisers for the Democrats, for the DNC and Kamala Harris.
19:21 I mean, where does it end with the mockery that that has been created here?
19:26 This should have this case never should have come to court.
19:28 This case is totally frivolous.
19:31 This case has no merit.
19:33 Donald Trump is incredibly innocent.
19:35 And it's only about defeating him in November.
19:39 Everybody's got to understand that this is a weaponization of our judicial system.
19:43 So it's that serious.
19:45 It's that scary.
19:46 It's that bad for the great constitutional republic known as the United States of America.
19:52 Thank you.
19:53 I'm Congressman Dale Strong from the great state of Alabama.
19:57 I want to come here and see it myself.
20:00 So the common people of this country can understand what's going on.
20:04 It's election interference at a level never seen before.
20:08 We're keeping a candidate that is leading the Republican Party from campaigning throughout
20:12 this country.
20:13 What he wants to talk about is inflation.
20:17 He wants to talk about fuel prices throughout this country.
20:20 He wants to talk about why interest rates for those that are wanting to build homes
20:25 is at six to seven percent.
20:27 And people can't reach their dreams.
20:30 Let's just put it what it is.
20:31 This is election interference at the highest level so that this candidate cannot tell his
20:36 story throughout this country.
20:37 But I'm going to tell you right now, the American people see right through it.
20:41 I'm proud to be here with Don Jr., Pam Bondi, members of Congress, Senate, my man right
20:48 here.
20:49 And I'm telling you right now, this is the worst thing I've ever seen.
20:52 I saw it in person today.
20:54 It shouldn't be happening.
20:55 And America's going to see right through it.
20:57 No, let me let's answer that real quick.
21:00 No, he didn't ask me to come here.
21:03 I came here on my own because I can see what's going on.
21:06 I said, rather than someone else try to tell me what's going on and someone else trying
21:11 to tell the people of Alabama what's going on.
21:14 I came here and I damn sure saw it myself.
21:16 It is a circus in that courtroom.
21:19 And I'll promise you, the people are seeing right through it.
21:22 And Donald Trump is fixed to be the next president of America.
21:25 And this is going to be part of it.
21:27 The former president of the United States shared his story in front of a jury.
21:31 I'm Daniel Webster from Central Florida.
21:34 And I came here today for one reason.
21:36 I want to support my friend, President Donald Trump.
21:39 He's a great man.
21:41 He deserves an opportunity to campaign.
21:43 It's not happening.
21:44 All I saw here is what everybody has said.
21:47 This is a farce.
21:48 It's an unjust thing to bring someone to trial when they've done nothing.
21:56 So I haven't seen a person that's committed a crime.
22:00 I haven't seen any evidence that proves a commission of crime.
22:05 All I've seen is there's a liar, a convicted liar.
22:10 That's the star witness.
22:12 And secondly, a thief with the stolen money.
22:18 Where's the prosecution there?
22:19 $60,000 is a lot of money.
22:20 So I know my people, and they believe this to be a farce.
22:21 And I think that we're going to prove that.
22:22 I think we're going to win that.
22:40 I think we're going to win that.