Trump STORMS OUT of Courtroom Trump Lawyers ADMIT CRIMES!!

[00:00:00]Breaking news today about President elect Donald Trump's work to stop sentencing in his hush money case. So Trump fired two shots trying to get this done. So let's talk about the first shot. A petition to the New York Court of Appeals and then the second shot asking the Supreme Court to weigh in. So here's your update on that first shot of the first part where the New York request is concerned. The judge in New York just declined to block Trump's sentencing. So now part two, we await for the Supreme Court to weigh in and while we wait, there's a pretty urgent ticking clock here. Trump's sentencing is said to take place as early as tomorrow. So all eyes on SCOTUS. Now we just got this from the Manhattan DA's office, quote, the defendant makes the unprecedented claim that the temporary presidential immunity he will possess in the future fully immunizes him now weeks before he even takes the oath of office.

[00:00:51]It goes on to say this extraordinary immunity claim is unsupported by any decision from any court. It is axiomatic, they say, that there is only one president at a time, close quote.

[00:01:02]Bringing up to speed here, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records. CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi joins us live on the stream today. Always good to talk to you, my friend. You make me smarter here. So does the New York decision influence the Supreme Court's thinking as we have all eyes on the Supreme Court with that ticking clock in mind?

[00:01:22]>> What's happening, friends? Welcome to Dr. John podcast right now. In open court, Trump's own legal team admitted that if their immunity defense fails, then without question he committed multiple felonies, said under oath, on the record, where everyone could hear.

[00:01:38]The sitting president then got up and walked out rather than sit through one more minute as his entire legal strategy collapsed in real time. Under intense judicial skepticism, Trump's own legal team conceded on the record that if presidential immunity does not cover his conduct, then what he did constitutes multiple felonies, election subversion, conspiracy to defraud the United States, falsifying business records to influence an election. The sitting president walked out rather than hear more as his legal strategy collapsed under sustained judicial pressure.

[00:02:10]>> Yeah, I don't think so. I think that was sort of the expected course of action by the New York state courts. And as you mentioned, Trump's lead attorney Todd Blanche had already sort of had the wheels in motion to go to the Supreme Court as early as as yesterday. I think it's likely we will hear the court weigh in given their expedited mandate to prosecutors. We heard early today from Manhattan prosecutors that they obviously are opposing this last-ditch effort to stop the sentencing. But, you know, the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative supermajority.

[00:02:47]Three of those justices were appointed during President Trump's first term of office. And nobody really saw the immunity decision coming.

[00:02:58]I think, you know, it's not it's not necessarily the Hail Mary that it's been described as being. The court very well likely may may side with Trump.

[00:03:09]You know, as you noted, that argument there that they're making is that this this broad presidential immunity that the Supreme Court granted earlier this summer, that that is supposed to you know, be bestowed upon presidents elect as well. So, we'll see where that goes.

[00:03:29]>> Okay, so let's break down the possibilities if the sentencing goes on as scheduled. So, the judge has already said that the president-elect will not face any jail time.

[00:03:38]So, what does he face here?

[00:03:40]>> Now, I need you to understand why this admission is so much more significant than just another bad day in court for Trump. His entire defense strategy for years has been built on one argument and one argument only, immunity. He cannot be prosecuted because he was president.

[00:03:54]Presidents get special protections. The law does not apply to him the way it applies to everyone else. That has been the message. That has been the legal theory. That has been the wall they have been trying to build around him since the first investigation started. But here is the problem with building your entire defense on a single argument. If that argument fails, you have nothing left. And Trump's lawyers have never really developed a strong backup position. They never spent time arguing that the evidence was insufficient or that the prosecution was malicious or that the facts were wrong. They bet everything on immunity. And now we know why they never bothered with a backup plan. Because without immunity, they have got nothing. Their own words confirm it. Without immunity, Trump committed felonies.

[00:04:36]>> Nothing. It's a symbolic finality to the case if anything.

[00:04:43]Justice Juan Merchan has already indicated he would be open to and likely will impose what's known as a unconditional discharge, meaning no not only no jail time, no fine, no restrictions on travel. Basically, and actually, literally, no punishment. All it it would be is a symbolic finishing of this case. He would be a convicted felon and it would start the clock for his appeal of the conviction to move forward. Now, he has pending motions to dismiss the case prior to that, but it's really symbolic at this point, which you know, is take from that what you will, but it's an interesting issue.

[00:05:26]>> Yeah, interesting issue, especially for those who are tried and convicted for the same issues going forward. It would be fascinating to hear what they think about what happens to them if they are convicted. So, while we have you here, let's turn a page here. Another Trump case that we really haven't talked to about in a while, and that's the one down in Georgia, Atlanta DA >> That is not prosecutors saying it. That is not Democrats saying it. That is not media speculation or anonymous sources or political spin. That is Trump's own lawyers acknowledging the legal reality of their client situation in a formal court proceeding with judges watching and reporters listening and the entire world about to find out what happened.

[00:06:04]The scene inside that courtroom was apparently chaotic in ways that captured just how badly this hearing went for Trump's side. The appeals panel was not buying the immunity arguments. They pressed the lawyers hard on the specifics. They asked pointed questions that forced concessions the defense clearly did not want to make. And when the lawyers finally admitted that yes, without immunity, these acts would be felonies, reports say there were visible reactions throughout the courtroom.

[00:06:30]People turning to look at each other.

[00:06:32]>> Fani Willis is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to put her back on the Trump election interference case.

[00:06:38]This really kind of got me. Is this her last chance to hold on to this prosecution? We know she's deeply invested, but she was also deeply criticized on many points as she advanced in this argument.

[00:06:49]How likely is it that she'll be allowed back on the case?

[00:06:52]>> I think pretty unlikely. You know, the appellate court in Georgia overturned that trial court's decision saying that Fani Willis could stay on the case.

[00:07:01]There was an appearance of impropriety that you know, Fani Willis had engaged in this romantic relationship with a prosecutor she hired, Nathan Wade, and that the remedy therefore would just be that Nathan Wade had to leave the prosecutorial team. Now, the appellate court said, "Uh-uh. She and the entire, you know, office needs to be removed from this case because this appearance of impropriety really is too great for the public to to stomach. And that even though there wasn't an actual conflict, that that appearance is enough to disqualify her." Fani Willis is now taking this up to the Supreme Court in Georgia saying, "Look, even though, you know, that's not the the rule in Georgia that, you know, even though there is potentially the appearance of an impropriety, there's no actual conflict for her office to move forward on the case.

[00:07:49]>> Quiet murmurs. The kind of electricity that happens when everyone in the room realizes they have just witnessed something historic and damaging. And then there was Trump himself. His fury was evident to everyone present. He sat there listening to his own lawyers essentially confess on his behalf. He watched the judges dismantle his defenses piece by piece. He felt the momentum shifting irreversibly against him. And at some point, he made a decision. Rather than maintain composure and sit through the rest of the proceeding like a defendant who is confident in his position, he got up and he left. He stormed out of his own appeals hearing. That is not the behavior of someone who thinks they are winning. That is not the behavior of someone who believes the legal system will ultimately vindicate them. That is the behavior of someone who just watched their last legal lifeline start to snap and could not bear to witness the rest of the collapse. Storming out of your own hearing is an extraordinary action.

[00:08:43]It speaks volumes about how badly things were going and how little confidence Trump had in the outcome. This is a sitting president of the United States walking out of a courtroom because he could not handle what was happening inside it. This admission did not happen in a vacuum. It echoes what has been happening in Trump's federal cases where the same all or nothing immunity strategy has been deployed with similar results. In the January 6th case, the judge ruled that the acts being prosecuted are not protected, stating clearly that no president has unbounded authority to commit crimes. The appeals court was unanimous in rejecting blanket immunity claims. The Supreme Court's own immunity framework, while giving presidents some protection, explicitly does not cover unofficial personal conduct like paying hush money to cover up affairs before an election. Every court that has seriously examined these immunity claims has found them insufficient to block prosecution. And now Trump's lawyers have essentially admitted that if the courts are right about immunity, then their client is a felon. That is the legal corner they have painted themselves into. There is no way out. There is no escape hatch.

[00:09:49]There is no clever argument waiting in the wings. They made their bet. They lost their bet. And now the entire world knows it. Let me walk you through the exact moment everything fell apart for Trump's legal team. Because understanding what happened in that courtroom requires seeing how the judges systematically dismantled every argument the defense tried to make. The appeals panel did not come to this hearing with an open mind about immunity. They came with knowledge of what other courts had already decided. They came with the Supreme Court's framework fresh in their thinking. They came prepared to ask the hard questions that Trump's lawyers had been dodging for years. And the hardest question of all was this one. How can paying hush money to hide an affair during a presidential campaign possibly be considered an official act of the presidency? The Constitution gives presidents certain protections for actions they take while performing their official duties, signing legislation, commanding the military, appointing cabinet members, conducting foreign policy. Those are official acts. Those are things only the president can do.

[00:10:52]But paying off a porn star through a personal lawyer using private funds to cover up a sexual encounter from before the election, that is not an official act by any reasonable definition. That is personal conduct. That is private behavior. That is something any ordinary person could do and any ordinary person could be prosecuted for doing illegally.

[00:11:10]And once the judges made that distinction clear, once they forced the defense to admit that the conduct at issue was personal rather than official, the immunity argument collapsed. Trump's lawyers tried everything to keep the argument alive. They claimed that even personal conduct could be protected if it somehow related to the president's broader duties. They argued that the hush money payment was connected to the campaign and that campaign activities should be considered part of the presidency. They reached for any argument that might give the judges a reason to rule in their favor, but the panel was having none of it. The judges pointed out that the payment happened before Trump was even sworn in as president. They noted that the false business records were created while Trump was a private citizen running for office. They emphasized that the Supreme Court's immunity ruling explicitly said unofficial conduct receives no protection whatsoever. And they asked the defense a question that cut to the heart of the matter. If immunity protects this, what would it not protect? If a president can commit fraud to hide personal scandals and claim immunity, where does that logic stop?

[00:12:16]Could a president commit bank robbery and claim immunity because being president means he needs money? Could a president assault someone and claim immunity because being president means he needs to relieve stress? The absurdity of the defense position became obvious to everyone in that room, including apparently Trump himself, who sat watching his lawyers struggle against questions they could not adequately answer. Then came the admission that changed everything. Under sustained questioning from the panel, Trump's lawyers conceded the critical point. They acknowledged that if immunity does not cover their client's conduct, then what he did constitutes multiple felonies. Let me repeat that because it is so important. Trump's own lawyers said in open court that their client committed felonies. They did not say allegedly. They did not say possibly. They did not say the prosecution claims this. They said it as a factual statement conditional only on immunity failing. And since immunity is failing everywhere these lawyers look, since court after court has rejected the sweeping claims of protection Trump has been making, that condition is looking less like a hypothetical and more like reality every single day. The admission was strategic in a sense because the lawyers had no choice but to make it.

[00:13:26]They could not argue that the conduct was legal because it obviously was not.

[00:13:31]Falsifying business records to hide campaign expenditures is illegal.

[00:13:36]Conspiracy to defraud the United States is illegal. Election subversion is illegal. The facts are overwhelming. The evidence is documented. The lawyers could not stand up and say with a straight face that their client did nothing wrong because the record shows otherwise. So, they took the only path available to them. They admitted the criminality and argued that immunity should still protect them anyway. But, to make that argument, they had to concede the underlying conduct was criminal. And now, that concession is on the record forever. Think about what this means for Trump's legal position going forward. His own lawyers have essentially done the prosecution's job for them. In any future trial, prosecutors can stand before a jury and say the following. The defendant's own attorneys have already admitted that these acts are felonies. They said it under oath in a court proceeding. They said it in front of judges. They did not claim their client was innocent. They claimed he should be immune from prosecution despite his guilt. And now that immunity has been stripped away, all that remains is the guilt they already acknowledged. That is an incredibly powerful argument. It takes the question of criminality off the table and leaves only the question of whether the prosecution can prove what the defense has already conceded. A jury hearing that admission from the defendant's own legal team is going to have a very hard time finding reasonable doubt. The defense cannot unring this bell. They cannot take back what they said. They cannot claim later that they never meant to admit criminal conduct.

[00:15:03]The record is clear. The words were spoken, and those words are going to follow Trump through every remaining stage of this case, and potentially through his other cases as well. The timing of this admission matters almost as much as the admission itself. This did not happen at the beginning of the case when things were still uncertain.

[00:15:20]It did not happen during a routine hearing that nobody was watching. It happened as Trump faces mounting legal pressure from multiple directions simultaneously. The classified documents case is still moving forward. The January 6th investigation continues to produce evidence. The Georgia election case has its own momentum. And in the middle of all of that, Trump's lawyers just handed prosecutors a gift they could never have imagined receiving, an admission of criminality from the defense itself. The convergence of these cases creates a cumulative effect that is devastating for Trump. When immunity fails in one case, it weakens immunity arguments in other cases because courts cite each other's reasoning. When evidence emerges in one proceeding, it informs understanding of related conduct in other proceedings. And when Trump's own lawyers admit criminality in one case, it validates everything prosecutors have been saying about his conduct in every case. The legal walls are not just closing in from one direction. They are converging from multiple directions simultaneously. And Trump is running out of places to hide.

[00:16:23]Now, let me tell you about what happened inside that courtroom when the admission was made because the human drama of the moment reveals as much as the legal significance. Reporters who were present described the atmosphere as tense and increasingly electric as the hearing progressed. The judges were not just skeptical. They were actively dismantling the defense arguments piece by piece. They referenced earlier rulings that had stripped away broad immunity claims. They cited the Supreme Court's immunity framework that explicitly does not protect unofficial conduct. They pointed out that paying hush money to influence an election involves personal rather than official conduct. Every argument the defense tried to make ran into factual and legal obstacles that the panel clearly was not willing to overlook. And through all of this, Trump sat at the defense table watching his legal team struggle. His posture reportedly shifted from confident to tense to visibly agitated as the hearing wore on. His lawyers were making concessions he did not want them to make. The judges were asking questions he did not want them to ask.

[00:17:25]The entire proceeding was turning into a disaster that his legal team had assured him would go differently. When the admission finally came, when the lawyers acknowledged the criminality of the conduct, the room reportedly went quiet for a moment. Everyone understood what had just happened, and then Trump made his move. He got up from his seat. He did not wait for a break in the proceedings. He did not whisper to his lawyers or try to salvage the moment. He simply stood up and walked out. Stormed out is how witnesses described it. Not a calm exit, not a dignified departure, a furious exit from a man who could no longer contain his anger at what was unfolding. This is a sitting president of the United States walking out of his own appeals hearing because he could not handle the legal reality that his own lawyers were being forced to acknowledge. The image is stunning when you think about it. The most powerful office in the world, the leader of the free world, storming out of a courtroom like a defendant who has just heard a verdict he did not expect. That image is going to stick. It is going to define how people remember this moment in Trump's legal saga. Not the legal arguments, not the judicial rulings, the image of a president who could not face the truth that was being spoken in that room. The behavior Trump displayed in that courtroom, storming out rather than sitting through the rest of the hearing, tells us something important about where his head is at as his legal walls continue to crumble. This is not the first time he has reacted with visible fury when things go against him in court. When judges make unfavorable rulings, he attacks them on social media. When witnesses testify against him, he lashes out publicly. When his own lawyers bring bad news, he rages at them privately. But storming out of your own appeals hearing is different. It is more dramatic, more public, more revealing. It shows a level of emotional volatility that is genuinely concerning for someone who holds the office of the presidency and has access to the powers that office entails. Someone who storms out of courtrooms when proceedings go badly is someone who struggles to accept reality when reality is not what he wants it to be. And the reality Trump is struggling to accept is that his immunity defense is failing across every legal front. The judges are not buying it. The courts are not protecting him.

[00:19:39]The legal system is treating him like any other defendant subject to the same rules as everyone else, and he cannot handle it. The pattern has been consistent throughout Trump's legal battles during his second term. He attacks judges personally when they rule against him. He demands investigations of prosecutors who bring cases he does not like. He rushes from courtrooms when proceedings go badly. He storms out of hearings when his lawyers make damaging admissions. This is not the behavior of someone who believes the legal system will ultimately vindicate him. It is the behavior of someone who expected his legal problems to simply go away once he returned to office and is genuinely shocked and enraged each time the system refuses to bend to his will. Every adverse ruling, every damaging admission, every piece of evidence that emerges chips away at the narrative of untouchability he has tried to maintain, and his angry reactions reveal that he feels those chips acutely, even if he projects confidence publicly in his statements and on his social media accounts. The psychological pressure of watching his legal defenses collapse in real time is clearly taking a toll, and that pressure is only going to intensify as the December trial date approaches, and the reality of facing a jury without immunity protection becomes unavoidable.

[00:20:57]Now, let me connect this admission to what is happening in Trump's other cases because the cumulative picture is what matters most. In In classified documents case, prosecutors have recordings of Trump acknowledging that he possessed documents he should not have had. In the January 6th case, witnesses have testified under oath about Trump's actions and intentions. In the Georgia election case, phone calls and emails document the pressure campaign to overturn results. And now in the hush money case, Trump's own lawyers have admitted that without immunity, their client committed felonies. Each case on its own is damaging, but together they tell a story that is impossible to dismiss as political persecution or prosecutorial overreach. They tell the story of a man who believes rules do not apply to him, who lies when it suits his purposes, who covers up inconvenient information, who pressures others to do his bidding, and who attacks anyone who tries to hold him accountable. The evidence comes from documents and recordings and testimony, and now from the admissions of his own attorneys.

[00:22:00]That is not a conspiracy. That is not a witch hunt. That is a pattern of behavior documented across multiple jurisdictions by multiple legal authorities over multiple years. The question of what happens next looms over everything. The appeals panel has not yet issued its final ruling, but based on what happened during the hearing, based on the aggressive questioning and the forced admissions, the direction seems clear. The panel is likely to uphold the trial court's ruling that immunity does not protect Trump's conduct in this case. That means the December trial date stands. That means Trump faces a jury without the immunity shield he has been counting on. That means prosecutors get to present all of their evidence to 12 ordinary citizens who will decide whether a sitting president of the United States is guilty of felony crimes. And because Trump's own lawyers have already admitted that without immunity, the conduct constitutes felonies, the defense is going into that trial with a massive handicap. Their own words will be used against them. Their own concessions will be played for the jury. Their own admissions will be read aloud in open court. The only question at that point will be whether the jury finds the evidence persuasive. And given that a previous jury already convicted Trump on all counts in the first trial, the answer seems pretty clear. The possibility of a convicted felon sitting in the Oval Office is no longer theoretical. It is approaching reality faster than most people expected. And the consequences of that reality are profound in ways that American democracy has never had to confront before. State charges like the hush money case cannot be pardoned away by the president because the presidential pardon power only extends to federal offenses. If Trump is convicted and sentenced in New York, he has to serve whatever sentence is imposed unless and until the state provides some form of relief. A president with a criminal conviction is unprecedented. A president serving time in prison while also serving as commander-in-chief is something the founders never anticipated and the Constitution does not address. The legal and political chaos that would follow such a conviction is difficult to overstate. And yet, that is exactly where the evidence is pointing. That is exactly where the legal trajectory is heading. Trump's lawyers admitted the criminality. The courts are stripping away the immunity. The trial is coming and no one knows how it ends. Let me also address what this admission means for the broader debate about presidential power and accountability.

[00:24:25]For years, Trump has argued that presidents need absolute immunity to do their jobs effectively. He has claimed that without protection from prosecution, presidents would be paralyzed by fear of future legal consequences. But the hush money case shows why that argument is wrong. The conduct at issue in this case has nothing to do with governing. It has nothing to do with presidential duties.

[00:24:49]It has nothing to do with national security or foreign policy or any of the legitimate functions of the executive branch. It is about personal behavior, private misconduct, covering up an affair to win an election. No president needs immunity for that. No president should have immunity for that. The fact that Trump's lawyers had to admit the criminality of that conduct only underscores why the immunity claim was always legally dubious. You cannot commit fraud and then claim you should be immune because of your job title.

[00:25:20]That is not how the rule of law works.

[00:25:22]That is not how American democracy works. And the courts are finally making that clear. The coming weeks are going to be crucial for understanding where all of this leads. The appeals panel will issue its ruling. The December trial date will either hold or be pushed back. Trump's legal team will have to decide how to defend a case where they have already admitted the underlying criminal conduct. Prosecutors will prepare to present their evidence to a jury that will include ordinary citizens from New York. And through it all, Trump will have to decide whether to attend the proceedings or continue storming out when things go badly. The admission in the appeals hearing may be remembered as a pivotal moment when the facade of invincibility finally cracked beyond repair. Trump's lawyers essentially conceded guilt while hoping immunity would save them. That hope is dying across every legal front. What remains is a defendant whose own attorneys have acknowledged his criminal liability, whose immunity claims keep getting rejected, and whose options for avoiding accountability are narrowing by the day.

[00:26:20]The trial is coming. The evidence is overwhelming. And now even the defense has admitted the conduct was criminal.

[00:26:26]Keep watching because what happens next is going to be historic. A sitting president facing a jury on felony charges. A defense that has already admitted the underlying criminality. An appeals process that appears headed toward affirming the trial court's rulings. A defendant whose behavior suggests he knows how badly this is going, even if he cannot admit it publicly. The legal reckoning that seemed impossible just a few years ago is now becoming inevitable. The only remaining questions are exactly when and exactly what the consequences will be.

[00:26:57]Will Trump actually stand trial while serving as president? Will a jury convict him again? Will the appeals courts uphold that conviction? And what happens to the presidency if the person holding the office is also a convicted felon? These are not academic questions.

[00:27:12]They are not hypothetical scenarios.

[00:27:14]They are the reality we are hurtling toward as Trump's legal defenses continue to collapse in case after case.

[00:27:21]The admission in that courtroom changed everything. It took the question of criminality off the table and left only the question of accountability. And accountability is coming. The only uncertainty is exactly what form it will take and exactly when it will arrive.

[00:27:34]Stay tuned because this is far from over and the ending is going to be historic one way or another. The man who thought he was above the law is learning that no one is above the law, not even the president, especially not the president.

[00:27:45]And the moment that lesson finally sinks in, the moment the courts hand down their rulings and the juries deliver their verdicts, the world is going to witness something no generation has ever seen before. A president held accountable for his crimes, a presidency tested like never before, a democracy proving that its institutions still work. That is what is at stake. That is why this matters. And that is why you need to keep watching as this story continues to unfold.