I want to bring in ABC News executive editorial producer
John Santucci for more on this.
John, how significant is it that Trump has now been
named an unindicted Co conspirator in two more cases?
It's just remarkable, right? We would think that Donald Trump
is done with being added to any of the caseloads
around the country.
But the remarkable thing here is that Donald Trump,
obviously, we know what happened in Georgia,
but to think that he's part of another case that
we just learned about last night in Arizona is remarkable.
And you know take a side for a second.
Donald Trump to think that his top advisors his allies
Rudy Giuliani.
Mark Meadows. Boris Epstein who Diane just to you know
it's not a name not familiar to most of our
viewers.
This is a person that has worked for Donald Trump
since the 2016 campaign again in 2020 brief stint in
the White House.
He's current the guy currently the person that is coalescing
a legal team for all the different Trump cases and
he's still on the Trump payroll.
One of the other people that was indicted in this
case,
Christina Bob, she was working on some of the cases
that involve Trump over the last year.
She just left the Trump campaign not saying goodbye.
She just joined the RNC,
which obviously has gone through a huge takeover by Team
Trump.
Now meanwhile in this hush money case playing out in
Manhattan today,
former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker has already testified that
he agreed to this scheme to catch and kill negative
stories about then candidate Trump and that that only agreement
that came agreement only came about once Trump started running
for president.
How critical is that testimony to the prosecution?
Hugely critical because the reality is that what they are
doing,
and we've seen this very slowly and methodically,
they are building out this relationship that Donald Trump,
David Pecker and Michael had.
They got a little bit into the testimony earlier this
week about a former doorman at Trump Tower.
They talked about an illegitimate child that Trump allegedly had
story ended up not being true at all.
However, now they're moving more into a bigger case,
a bigger story. This is Karen McDougal.
And you know, you have to remember,
obviously this case, the indictment in the Manhattan case is
about Stormy Daniels.
But Karen McDougal is the same story,
if you will, an affair with Donald Trump paid off
by David Pecker for her silence.
And nevertheless, you know, just shows that this was not
a one time thing and the timeline of that payment,
again leading up to the 2016 election.
The difference between the two is the way in which
the payment was logged.
It was a direct payment dealt with by the National
Enquirer,
not a reimbursement of Cohen.
And thus there's nothing about something in the books,
I'll allow, you know, legal reimbursement fees,
etcetera, which is why we get into a business fraud
claim in this case with 34 criminal counts.
So what do you listen for when Pecker takes the
stand again today?
So I'm listening for a bunch of things.
I think that so much of what he said the
other day
#1, just because he spoke in and of itself was
significant.
I'm listening for more of the facts to show how
close of a relationship this was.
And I think there was something really important the other
day that he said on the stand,
Diane, anytime I heard something about Trump or the family,
we all had a deal.
I picked up the phone and called Michael Cohen and
then we would come over and we'd talk out how
we would do this.
And he talked about how it would be once a
week,
occasionally, then it became every day.
We have not gotten yet to the heart of the
campaign.
We haven't gotten to the fall of 2016 where so
much happened.
That's what I want to see the intensity.
Did it pick up? Certainly seems like it did.
And John, I'm out of time.
But quickly, we're also awaiting a ruling on former President
Trump potentially being held in contempt for alleged gag order
violations.
What's the latest on that?
We're waiting. So this is going to be something the
Judge Marshawn will probably just post to the docket.
We don't think we'll see it in an open court,
but nevertheless, it's possible. The reality is Donald Trump.
Right now prosecutors want $1000 fine per violation.
They have formally filed 10,
mention 11, so could be a
$10,000 fine. Or as we know from our reporting,
the Secret Service had conversations that if Donald Trump was
held in contempt of court and put in jail for
a small period of time,
they're ready if that happens.
Remarkable if it does. All right,
John Santucci, thank you. And we will be following this
story and those Supreme Court oral arguments all day long.
We will bring you the latest right here on ABC
News Live.