0:00:00: Jeff Swartz he is a former judge in Florida and a law professor at the Tampa

0:00:05: campus for the Thomas M Cooley Law School. Great to see you again judge.

0:00:10: Thank you Fred it's nice to see you too. Great so how do you assess the impact of

0:00:16: the testimony from David Pecker the first witness who took the stand for

0:00:19: four days this week in the trial? I think David Pecker was an outstanding

0:00:24: choice for the first witness. He set the stage and he set the the whole scheme up

0:00:30: for the jury and he was really very good on cross-examination. I don't think that

0:00:38: he actually got impeached in any really serious way. I think that people are

0:00:43: going to look at his testimony and start building around it. I think the jury paid

0:00:49: attention to him from all accounts they paid very close attention to him and I

0:00:53: think he was incredibly credible and I think that that really went a long way

0:00:58: for the prosecution. But during cross-examination of Pecker I mean

0:01:02: Trump's attorneys did try to punch holes in his credibility. Were they at all

0:01:07: successful at that? Very little that one exchange that we just heard about where

0:01:13: he said yes I did things about Hillary and and Bill Clinton before 2015 their

0:01:21: problems were in fact good for business for AMI but when it got really intense

0:01:27: when it was really down to Trump and Hillary who were running for president

0:01:31: things got really intense at AMI and they ran a lot of stories beyond what

0:01:36: they used to run. I think that that became pretty clear too that this was

0:01:41: part of what needed to be done to help the campaign. And then what do

0:01:45: prosecutors need to do next as they try to make the case to the jury that Trump

0:01:49: falsified business records to cover up the hush money payment? Well they've

0:01:55: started working on that. They started by bringing in a records keeper a banker

0:02:00: who's now going to present records involving Michael Cohen and the way

0:02:05: money came in and the way money went out and the loans that were taken. They

0:02:09: brought in Rona and she kind of she did more than just testify for the

0:02:14: prosecution and set the stage again for the visits from Mr. Pecker, from Michael

0:02:21: Cohen, his access to the former president. She was in fact the gatekeeper. You

0:02:28: didn't get in, you didn't get to talk to Donald Trump unless you went through

0:02:32: Rona and that's really kind of important and that's what her testimony was set to

0:02:36: bring out. I think the next step that they're going to have to do is they're

0:02:39: going to have to start dealing with more of the records to help with Michael

0:02:45: Cohen and I think that they're also going to start bringing in other people

0:02:48: who work basically on the campaign to set the stage again for what Mr. Trump's

0:02:54: attitude was and his anger that he exhibited and his fear of things coming

0:03:00: out as it related to the campaign and the discussions that took place relating

0:03:05: to the campaign. That sets the stage for Michael Cohen to finish it off.

0:03:10: Okay and you know the former president is saying that he'll testify in the

0:03:14: hush money trial you know quote if it's necessary. Do you think, I know it's

0:03:19: laughable isn't it? Who believes that really? I'm sorry I shouldn't do that but I can't help it.

0:03:24: That's okay. I've been around too long. I think people are rather skeptical of him

0:03:29: saying that because clearly his attorneys would not want him to testify,

0:03:33: right? No, no there's not one defense attorney in the world who would want him

0:03:39: to testify. He's a loose cannon. He can't hold his temper. He will say things that

0:03:45: he shouldn't say. He thinks he can talk his way out of trouble. My experience as

0:03:50: a defense attorney, my experience as a judge that I have never seen a defendant

0:03:55: talk their way out of trouble. That includes lawyers that have tried to talk

0:03:58: their way out of trouble. He can't do this and and if he does it will be

0:04:03: against every single lawyer that's ever advised him. All right, Judge Jeff Swartz

0:04:08: good to see you. Thanks so much. Have a nice day.