this is bbc news, the headlines... from the campaign trail to the courtroom — donald trump has just arrived to the courthouse, where his criminal trial enters the next phase. israel's military�*s intelligence chief resigns, accepting responsiblity forfailures before the hamas attack on october the 7th. ukraine's president welcomes washington's military aid deal, saying it could help turn the tide in the war against russia. in the next few minutes, a court in new york is due to begin hearing opening statements in the unprecedented criminal trial of donald trump. the former us president denies charges that he falsified accounts to hide hush money paid to the porn

actress stormy daniels. a jury of 12 new yorkers — five women and seven men — will hear initial evidence from prosecutors and defence lawyers. if convicted, mr trump could be sent to prison for up to four years. let's get some more now on some of those we're expecting to see in the courtroom. meghan owen reports. obviously, donald trump himself is at the heart of the trial but there are a number of key players, described as a bit of a hollywood blockbuster cast. so let's take a look. first of all we have justicejuan merchan. now he is a seasoned new york judge who also proceeded over the trump organisation's tax fraud case. next we have alvin bragg. he is the prosecutor, he inherited the trump investigation when he took office in 2021. and his former colleague, todd blanche, who is trump's top trial lawyer. interestingly, he is a former registered democrat before he became a republican and took on the biggest client of his life. it has not been easy

to find a jury. in fact, the court has had to whittle it down from hundreds of people to just 12 jurors. their identities will remain anonymous due to security concerns but we do know there are five women and seven men. now for the witnesses. of course, at the heart of the trial we have stormy daniels, the adult film star, who alleges that she received a hush money payment from michael cohen, a lawyer for the trump organisation, just before the 2016 election to keep silent about her claimed affair with donald trump. and this is michael cohen. he is the fixer, he pleaded guilty to making the hush money payment to stormy daniels in 2018 but says that trump directed him to send that money. next we have karen mcdougal, who is also expected to be a witness. she claims to have had a previous illicit affair with mr trump and also says she was paid hush money by american media incorporated,

which is the parent company of the national enquirer, for his story, forcing her to keep quiet. which brings me finally to david pecker. he was the then chairman and ceo of that tabloid and part of a catch and kill the scheme to support donald trump's 2016 presidential run. so essentially what he would do is buy the rights to stories that made donald trump look bad, he would then refuse to publish them to suppress damaging information. and he is expected to be the first witness called after the opening arguments. a few minutes ago the former president made remarks to the waiting media. just president made remarks to the waiting media.— president made remarks to the waiting media. just want to say before we _ waiting media. just want to say before we begin, _ waiting media. just want to say before we begin, this _ waiting media. just want to say before we begin, this is - waiting media. just want to say before we begin, this is done i waiting media. just want to say | before we begin, this is done as election interference, everybody knows it, i am here instead of being able to be in pennsylvania, georgia, lots of other places campaigning. it

is very unfair. fortunately the poll numbers are very good, they have been giving up because people understand what is going on. this is a witchhunt and it is a shame and it comes out of washington, everything, including the da's office, in coordination with washington. ijust want people to understand that. this is done for purposes of hurting the opponents of the worst president in the history of our country. second of all we have another trial going on right now, she campaigned at the fact... it has to do with a bond of 1005 fact... it has to do with a bond of 100s and $5 million, she doesn't want me to participate with companies in new york so we have a company based in california, a bonding company, and a put up 175 million in cash but she says the bonding company is not good. she doesn't like the bonding company because she doesn't know if the collateral is good, and i put up 175 million in cash and she is questioning the bonding company.

when you put up cash in the numbers are 175, what was supposed to be put up, but i give it in cash and she shouldn't be complaining about the bonding company. the bonding company would be good for it because i put up would be good for it because i put up the money. and i have plenty of money to put up and nobody is going to be putting up with this, nobody is going to be listening are coming to new york any more, businesses will be fleeing because people are treated so badly, it has got to be the mist and fog place to do business and that's why business is leaving, people are leaving as migrants come in and take over our parks and schools and everything else. so letitia james's case, the worst attorney general in the country, she keeps a lot of business out of new york and businesses that are here are leaving. that leaves jobs and a lot of revenue. somebody is going to step in, somebody has to step in and do something because your businesses are playing. letitia

james, the money is 100 city 5 million, i don't think she's complaining about me for the first time ever, she is complaining about the company, life and should be doing that when i put up the money? ijust want you doing that when i put up the money? i just want you to know that that is taking place in front of an extremely crazed charge, the most overturned judge in new york state, overturned judge in new york state, overturned 45 times for five times for that case alone. you know who it is, i don't have to mention it, i want to be very nice. but i thing like that at anything like what is going on should never be happening, it is a very sad day in america, i can tell you that. thank you very much. figs can tell you that. thank you very much. �* , ., , can tell you that. thank you very much. a , ., ., much. as has become common, donald trump making — a brief statement outside the court room before proceedings begin today. let's cross to new york and speak with our correspondent, nada tawfik. a legal double—header for donald trump today. two matters before two differentjudges in new york, can you explain to us and remind us what

has happened in this bond hearing? absolutely. itjust underscores how many cases donald trump is facing because literally right behind me are the two courts. this bond hearing is starting at the top of the hour, so very shortly, and that is related to his civil fraud case that was brought by new york's attorney general letitia james. that is the case where a judge found him liable saying he did fraudulently inflate his assets to get better loans from banks. he was fined in that case more than $300 million in ill gotten gains. when you add interest to that, that explodes to more than $400 million. donald trump while he appeals in order to kind of pause collection efforts, that could have affected some of his key

properties in new york. he sought to get a bond to be held with the court until the appeals process plays out. he was given a lifeline, the judge allowed him to get an appeals court allowed him to get an appeals court allowed him to get a smaller bond of $175 million instead of the full amount of more than 400 million, but with the new york attorney general, she says the bond is not really with the paper it is written on. the company that posted the bond is not licensed in new york but that the money that donald trump put forward, he still has access to that money and that the company itself doesn't have enough assets to really ensure that they could make good on that payment. so the new york attorney general says there is several issues with this bond, they want it rejected and they want then the judge to give donald trump seven days to come up with a new one. in terms of the criminal trial, donald trump once again calling it election interference, saying it is

incredibly unfair, but is it actually under way, is caught now in session? ., , ., , ._ session? there was a brief delay, 'ust session? there was a brief delay, just before _ session? there was a brief delay, just before i _ session? there was a brief delay, just before i got _ session? there was a brief delay, just before i got on _ session? there was a brief delay, just before i got on with - session? there was a brief delay, just before i got on with you. - session? there was a brief delay, just before i got on with you. i. session? there was a brief delay, | just before i got on with you. i am unsure actually if they have now started. there was a short delay, i am looking over to my producer to see, it has started, apologies. the court is now in session and we will get those opening statements from both sides. that is really where they will layout the facts of their case, it will service the foundation forjewish to return back to as the big picture of what they are arguing —— foundation for jewellers. big picture of what they are arguing —— foundation forjewellers. they are trying to tie election interference with a salacious sex scandal with white—collar crime saying that in essentially donald trump falsified business records to conceal the payment, this alleged hush money payment to the former

pornography star stormy daniels in order to prevent herfrom going public about her story and potentially hurting his campaign. that is what they will layout and we will be very keen to see what the defence says. it is up to the prosecution to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, donald trump doesn't have to prove his innocence. but his team will want to be serving enough doubting jurors' minds. they say this is about preventing embarrassing information from being made public and embarrassing his family, but we will be interested to see how his lawyers approach this case. abs, be interested to see how his lawyers approach this case.— be interested to see how his lawyers approach this case. a development to brina ou approach this case. a development to bring you as — approach this case. a development to bring you as well _ approach this case. a development to bring you as well as _ approach this case. a development to bring you as well as our— approach this case. a development to bring you as well as our viewers - bring you as well as our viewers from inside the court. one of the reasons for the short delay is we understand a second juror has started to have some doubts about the amount of media attention that the amount of media attention that the case is receiving. really concerned about whether or not they actually wanted to be part of this

case. so the justice actually wanted to be part of this case. so thejustice hijack actually wanted to be part of this case. so the justice hijack a conversation with the juror which led to a delay, which underscores the amount of attention there is on this case, how much pressure these jurors feel they are under. absolutely, let's remember the original juror absolutely, let's remember the originaljuror number two in this case, last week was excused for that exact reason. saying that she felt intimidated because her identity had been made public, that herfriends had family had guessed she was a likely jeweller and had family had guessed she was a likelyjeweller and she had family had guessed she was a likely jeweller and she felt after sleeping on it it was too much. we then saw overjury selection, three other women, sometimes breaking down in tears saying they felt anxiety around this case. that theyjust felt it was too difficult to serve. so that has been a key theme that has come up. beyond injury selection, more than half of the panel saying they out right didn't

feel they could be impartial because of who the defendant was, donald trump, for others saying they had other personal reasons such as just the length of the trial being difficult. but that other kind of point in focus, just the burden and anxiety that many feel on this trial has certainly been an issue. so interesting to see that that has now come up just as they were getting video to start opening statements. we were already talking earlier about how it is a shorter day today because of passover, the judge saying there might be a break because one of the jewellers has an emergency dental appointment. there was an expectation we might see the first witness called with david pick—up. that may now not happen, hard to know how things will go. was that the expectation that the first witness would be called today? certainly the defence had asked prosecutors to alert them to who

that first witness would be so they could properly prepare, and there was a real reluctance to actually give over that name because they were concerned that donald trump would perhaps tweet about it, that would perhaps tweet about it, that would again raise concerns for witness intimidation. donald trump us lawyers had promised, tell us who the witnesses and we won't even tell donald trump, our client, or have him post about it. so that was an interesting point that came up, again the unprecedented nature of this trial is certainly testing the legal system. with all of these delays, it would be difficult to see us getting to the first witness, we will have to see how that plays out. larger picture, we have all come to see that with this case, we have to be prepared for the unexpected. donald trump us lawyers would certainly welcome any delays, they had already complained thatjury

selection went to quickly for their liking, a key tactic they have used throughout is trying to delay this process. throughout is trying to delay this rocess. �* . . ~' throughout is trying to delay this rocess. 1, . ~ , ., throughout is trying to delay this rocess. , ., , process. back with you shortly, thank you- _ around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.