it's time. it's on my teeth. brand new whip is what they see. >> yeah, in my bag. like a bunch of groceries. all these cheese and greens just come to me. freedom. you can't take your eyes off the new 2024 jeep wrangler and gladiator jeep. >> there's only one right now during the jeep celebration event, well qualified lessees can lease the 2024 wrangler sport s4 by ea for 369 a month. don't miss this great offer. >> no one can undo an accidental death, but we can help manage what comes next. justice takes more than a fighter. you need a champion walk, a personal injury law visit. walk up law.com local stories, real >> announcer: "this week with george stephanopoulos" starts >> announcer: "this week with george stephanopoulos" starts right now. campaigning from courtrooms. >> this is a trial that should have never happened. >> donald trump facing four legal battles over efforts to corrupt two presidential elections. >> i will not allow american democracy to be undermined.

>> this case has huge implications for the future of the president. for the future of the country. this morning, aaron katersky breaks down the historic week, and our legal experts analyze all the consequential developments. critical aid. >> when our allies are stronger, we are stronger. >> president biden signs the foreign aid package sending crucial assistance to u.s. allies as gaza protests spread across campuses. [ crowd chanting ] white house national security spokesman john kirby joins us live, plus our powerhouse roundtable and -- >> do you believe that president biden and the democratic party take black voters for granted? >> oh, most definitely. most definitely. >> just over six months till election day, rachel scott reports on the state of the race in georgia. kicking off our new series on the battleground states. >> announcer: from abc news, it's "this week." here now, george stephanopoulos. good morning, and welcome to "this week."

until now, no american president had ever faced a criminal trial. no american president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. no american president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. no american president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse. until now, no american presidential race had been more defined by what's happening in courtrooms than what is happening on the campaign trail until now. the scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. it's all too easy to fall into reflective habits and treat it as a normal campaign where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. but that is not what's

happening this election year. those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven't seen since the civil war. it's a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens. this morning we'll do our best to put it all in perspective and analyze what it means. senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky starts us off. good morning, aaron. >> and, george, good morning to you. let's add one more to your list. no american president has ever had the publisher of the nation's most well-known supermarket tabloid testify about scheming on his behalf by running hit pieces on rivals and quashing stories about sex. from a manhattan court to the u.s. supreme court and the arizona attorney general's office, this week the legal life of donald trump took an extraordinary path. >> mr. trump, how is it going? >> reporter: for most of it, trump sat inside a new york courtroom where for the first time in history a new york jury began hearing testimony in a criminal case against a former president. manhattan prosecutors have charged trump with falsifying business records to

conceal a $130,000 payment in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign to adult film star stormy daniels to keep her from revealing a sexual tryst that trump denies. >> i was paying a lawyer and marking it down as a legal expense. >> reporter: the first witness has known trump for decades and said he considered him a friend and mentor, former "national enquirer" publisher david pecker. >> david has been very nice, nice guy. >> reporter: over four days pecker revealed the art of catch and kill buying and burying stories to protect trump's campaign. the story saw "the national enquirer's" agreement to pay "playboy" model karen mcdougal $150,000. "i believe the story was true," pecker testified. "it would have been very embarrassing to trump and also to his campaign." and he told the jury, trump hosted a thank you dinner for him at the white house. >> mr. trump, do you still like pecker? >> reporter: the defense argued trump wanted to quash salacious stories to protect his family, but pecker said he thought it was for the campaign. his family was never mentioned, pecker testified, only

the impact it would have on the election. the judge refused to let trump skip court on thursday so he could be at the u.s. supreme court when it weighed his unprecedented claim that presidents cannot be prosecuted for conduct that occurred while in office. >> the argument on immunity is very important. the president has to have immunity. >> reporter: for trump it means special counsel jack smith cannot prosecute him for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. >> without presidential immunity from criminal prosecution, there can be no presidency as we know it. >> reporter: conservative justices appeared to suggest presidents deserve some level of immunity, so if they lose re-election, they won't face prosecution from a political rival. >> will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy? >> reporter: liberal justices appeared skeptical. >> the framers did not put an immunity clause into the constitution. wasn't the whole point that the president was not a monarch and the president was not supposed to be above the law. >> reporter: how and when the court decides could push the special counsel's election

interference case past this november's election. meanwhile, in arizona, the state filed a criminal case over the 2020 election and named trump unindicted co-conspirator 1. >> the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency. the scheme, had it succeeded, would have deprived arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president. >> and, george, one note about the case charging trump over his handling of classified documents, newly released evidence quoted a witness saying his co-defendant and valet, walt nauta, was told he would get a pardon if trump is re-elected and another witness said that the storeroom at mar-a-lago where trump kept classified documents for more than a year was no more secure than an ordinary household bathroom. george, the judge in florida has not said when that case is going to trial. george. >> all right. aaron katersky, thanks. let's bring in our panel,

air legal assistant dan abrams, the assistant dean of the school of global affairs. asha rangappa, university of pennsylvania law professor kate show. timothy parlatore. senior fellow, norm eisen, author of "trying trump." so much to cover, dan. let's begin with the supreme court. i guess you could come up with one bottom line from all the hours of oral argument. doesn't look like there will be a trial this year. >> no, and that's the important question, the timing of this. what's clear from the arguments is that the justices are going to figure out some standard for what is deemed to be an official act, meaning the trump team has now waved the argument that there's absolute immunity, right? in the lower courts they were arguing that the president should be immune completely and totally for private and official acts. they've now said, okay, okay, we get it. that's not a viable argument. now, the question becomes defining where does the line get drawn when it comes to what is

an official act? i think, a, that's going to take a long time for the court to died, and, b, after they decide it they'll probably send it back and that will be additional delays. >> i want to bring it to kate snow. it does seem that they will carve out some immunity for presidents. >> i think there's more than just timing is at stake. i'm a constitutional law professor. i never taught my students about the document of criminal immunity of ex-presidents for or from prosecution for official acts, and that's for the simple reason there is no such doctrine, right? if the court chooses to create one in the case, it really does sound as though they will create it in order to protect donald trump rather than because anything in the text or structure or history of the constitution supports that kind of doctrine. >> asha, many of the conservative justices seemed -- they just didn't want to deal with trump at all or anything that happened on january 6th. most remarkable, justice alito who seemed to suggest -- not didn't seem, who suggested that the greater threat is not the president who tried to overturn

an election, but the threat of prosecution for a president tempted to overturn an election. >> yes, it was very interesting to see the conservative justices who are typically not pro-defendant or anti-law enforcement by any means suddenly preoccupied with systemic bias in the criminal justice system. i mean, they almost sounded woke. you know? they seemed to say, seemed to be thinking, as you said, that the greater threat, the bigger threat to the stability of our democracy is the criminal justice system, not a wanton, lawless, rogue president sitting in the oval office, and that's kind of a very trumpian world view. >> timothy parlatore, your read on the supreme court? >> i do think that they're going to chart a middle road here, and certainly trump brings people together on issues of the two-tier system of justice. you know, having done that investigation myself, i will tell you that there is, you know, risks along with any investigation into a former administration.

if they were to adopt the jack smith position, then that would open things up to where every time the administration changes hands, the new administration could open a grand jury and then call the vice president, the white house counsel, the attorney general, basically everybody in, vitiate all those privileges and force them to testify about anything. if trump wins, he could open one into every decision-making process of ukraine and china, every drone strike, and so i do think that there is a slippery slope here to where -- >> if that's a threat, how do you explain why it's never happened before now? >> it hasn't happened before now probably because most presidents just wanted to stay away from it, but, unfortunately, politics, you know, has devolved to a point where some form of immunity does make sense to at least define, and if there is no immunity, then define that too so that everybody knows what the rules are. >> norm eisen? >> well, my friend, tim is dead

wrong on this, george. we have survived 2 1/2 centuries as a nation without any president ever having engaged in this kind of conduct or having needed to cloak themselves in absolute immunity for criminal prosecution. the safeguards are ample and multiple. the courts that the supreme court are at the head of can knock that kind of a case out right away. we should not be lulled into thinking anything normal is happening at this supreme court. both the delay that they've occasioned already moving much slower than comparable cases of national import, and contemplating this needless test put them squarely in the direction of cloaking donald trump in impunity, and making them, if they go down this

route, both delaying further and creating this unneeded protection for their favorite candidate will make them complicit. they're acting -- the majority is acting more like donald trump's general counsel than the supreme court of the united states. >> let's turn to the trial that is already happening this year, dan, you've been kind of a skeptic of this prosecution from the start. we're now deep into the testimony. what do you make of it? >> look, i'm still a skeptic of the fact that he brought the case, right. two separate questions, should he have brought the case, and second, is there a possibility for a conviction meaning is there enough evidence? i think you have to view it through the prism of a technical violation. i think this is a souped up misdemeanor. with all that said, they have certainly presented evidence of falsified records, right, and now you've got these first witnesses demonstrating, particularly david pecker, that it does seem there is an argument it was done to impact the campaign, and that will be

the legal question that the jurors will be deciding, not the question of, should the case have been brought, that's for us to decide out here, right? inside that courtroom, that's not really the question they should be assessing. the only question is going to be, is there enough evidence, and the prosecution is now presenting evidence that i think could in the end become a technical violation, although as you and i have talked about, i'm convinced there will be a hung jury. >> let me bring it to tim parlatore. maggie haberman in the nshlg "new york times" has an interesting article this morning about trump's lawyers are doing as much to please him as they are to convince the jury on what happened here. are you concerned that by failing to concede anything about his conduct, they are making it a tougher case? >> oh, very much so. i mean, this is a case where all of the pecker testimony, i believe is all true. i believe it's not criminal. i mean, the idea of paying somebody hush money, the idea of, you know, putting out false stories against rivals, as amoral and reprehensible as

that is, it is legal. other campaigns have done it. i mean, even, you know, during that same campaign, we had, you know, the steele dossier, clinton pee tape or trump pee tape, all of that. so that's all legal, so you're much better off as a defense attorney saying all of this stuff here, that's not in dispute. we agree with all of that, but that's not a crime. the only crime is this thing right here just focused right in on these records, and really laser focus on that, and if you do that, you can make things such simpler, and you can actually make the jury sit here and say, you know what, i just listened to eight weeks proving things that aren't in dispute, so let's focus on this one thing. >> norm, dan talked about a hung jury. that does seem to be the strategy for the trump team. >> that's right, george. they're going for one angry juror. i'm in the courtroom every day observing and writing about the trial, and one of the things

i do is look at the jury, particularly when they come in and out. when trump moves in the courtroom, and so far, it's not working. the prosecution has very effectively, again, i have to disagree with tim, they have very effectively argued in their opening and then presented evidence through david pecker of a criminal conspiracy to influence an election. if you pump money to individuals to kill negative stories, to benefit a campaign, and pecker testified they agreed to that, that is a violation of law. and people have been prosecuted for that, have pled guilty to that. that is against the law, and then if you cover it up with 34 false documents, you have 34 very serious felonies, and the prosecution has made this case, george, as an election interference case. they've emphasized to the jury the seriousness of the case. they did try to tear down david

pecker, but they made a mistake, the same kind of misleading conduct that their client has engaged in. they showed pecker a document, and the judge said it was misleading, and i've never had to do this, and i was telling tim the other day, i've never had to do this in over 30 years of going to court. they made trump's lawyer apologize when we started court on friday morning. so i think we're headed for a conviction, and with it, as i wrote in "the new york times" this week, possible jail time. >> kate shaw, before we get to that, the former president is also facing the prospect of possible jail time for being in contempt. unlikely, but the judge still has not ruled. >> yeah, and may not rule until after the trial concludes. so we don't really know. i think that the judge has a very -- the trial judge has a very difficult, a number of objectives he has to see the trial through and decide what to do about pending contempt proceedings while -- >> not rule until after the trial?

>> there at least until then could be another hearing. there could -- the trial could conclude and a ruling happen after. trump has not total control of this, but his conduct between now and the end of the trial, i think, will influence what the judge decides to do, but i think it's at least possible that a ruling on the contempt, it could happen after the trial. >> asha, one of the four attorneys in the courtroom, boris epshteyn, who is 1 of 53 trump associates charged with election interference in four separate battleground states, arizona, michigan, georgia and nevada. what is the import of these cases. >> the import of these cases is that it is adding to the underlying scheme that trump has been charged for. now, in the arizona case, what's really notable is there's one absent defendant, which is donald trump, and i think to bring it back to the supreme court case, it goes to some of the inconsistency of this theory of immunity that he can engage in illegal conduct and potentially not be held accountable, but all of these people who participated in that same scheme can be. the same thing is happening in the hush money case, you know, with michael cohen who pleaded

guilty, so i think it illuminates some of the contradiction that's happening in terms of his own criminal liability. and that of all the people who -- >> it's always dangerous to call the hush money case a big election interference case, right? there are all these other cases out there that in my view really do address big picture election interference. to say this is all -- this is election -- it loses the significance of what election interference means, and i think the prosecutors risk in that case with the jury saying the prosecutors are overpromising. this is a grand election interference, and then they finish the case and say, wait a sec, this is about paying off a porn star. that's very different. >> to influence an election. that's -- >> yes, but my point is that, again, even for us in talking about election interference, if we start lumping in that case with some of the other cases with much more serious and dire conduct, i think it sort of minimizes the significance of it. >> tim, we've already seen it in georgia.

jenna ellis, who, of course, one of donald trump's attorneys turn and start to provide testimony. we're seeing that with some of the other people charged, as well. are you concerned about that as these cases go forward in the states? >> oh, absolutely. i read the arizona indictment. i thought it was actually well written. i thought it was the first time that i saw a really coherent theory about this whole tension between the alternate electors versus fake electors theory, and they have emails apparently from mike roman and boris epshteyn to back it up. will that actually, you know, reach its way up to rudy giuliani and mark meadows? i don't know if they're going to be able to show that, because, you know, knowing boris as i do, he sometimes says, oh, this is authorized from above when it's not, but could that pressure somebody like him or mike roman to, you know, to turn? absolutely. so, i do think that is something that is a risk. >> norm, how do these play out before the election, if at all? >> well, that will depend on how alvin bragg and his team of very

capable prosecutors do in that courtroom, george. what we're seeing unfold, the gravity of it, the weight of it in the courtroom, my read of the jurors, certainly the judge does view it as an election interference case when he summarized for the jury what it is. it is a very serious matter of the identical pattern to 2020, deceiving voters to grasp power, and then covering it up. if alvin bragg makes that case to the court of law, to the judge and jury, but also to the court of public opinion, i think you'll see a powerful resonance from a likely guilty verdict in that case, and then the sentencing, george, poll after poll shows that if the former president is convicted and sentenced, that that creates huge swings in the polling, up

to a 14-point swing in the key 6 states, and i think that a conviction is likely, and with it, i looked it over, 10,000 of these cases for my book, a jail sentence as well, if convicted. >> kate shaw, before we go, we didn't talk about the classified documents case. it appears the judge seems to be slow-walking that case as well, but in the meantime, a lot of evidence has come out, and one irony, that is the case where the evidence seems most lock tight against former president trump. >> yeah, it's incredibly powerful evidence and yet i think it's right it's on the slowest track in terms of i don't think anyone think there's a real chance of it seeing the light of day before the election but there are all kind of parallels in terms of immunity arguments trump is making in the january 6th case but could also, he has made and could further make arguments that he is absolutely immune for some or all of the conduct charged in all of these cases, state and federal, and in some ways the expansiveness of the argument trump was making in the january 6th case in the supreme court i think has potential repercussions.

his lawyer was arguing he could not be criminally prosecuted even if he directed the military to assassinate a rival, if he ordered the staging of a coup, and that would sweep in lots of other conduct that could be deemed official, but yet could never be subject to criminal prosecution. those are the stakes of the argument he is making in the january 6th case and i think in all the other cases as well. >> this will not be the last time we discuss these issues. thank you all for coming in. up next the white john kirby on gaza and those rising college campus protests. we'll be right back. but instead remade over and over... into the things that keep our food fresher, our families safer, and our planet cleaner. to help us get there, america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars to create innovative products and new recycling technologies for sustainable change. because when you push for smarter solutions, big things can happen. can neuriva support your brain health?

mary, janet, hey!! (thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge. i'm adding downy unstopables to my wash. now i'll be smelling fresh all day long. [sniff] still fresh. ♪ get 6x longer-lasting freshness, plus odor protection. try for under $5! an alternative to pills, voltaren is a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement.

salonpas lidocaine flex. a super thin, flexible patch with maximum otc strength lidocaine that contours to the body to relieve pain right where it hurts. and did we mention, it really, really sticks? salonpas, it's good medicine. secretary of state antony blinken returns to israel this week on the secretary of state antony blinken returns to israel this week on the heels of hamas releasing new video showing american and israeli hostages estimate held in gaza and sparked new calls for the netanyahu government to secure a cease-fire, and john kirby is going to join us after this report from foreign correspondent, tom soufi burridge. [ speaking non-english ] >> reporter: this week two

american israeli hostages -- [ speaking non-english ] >> reporter: -- seen in captivity in gaza for the first time in hamas videos. 64-year-old keith siegel breaking down with emotion, and 23-year-old hersh goldberg-polin both men speaking under duress both imploring the israeli government to do everything in its power to set them free. one of keith's daughters demanding that israeli leaders watch the video of her dad and see their father crying out for help, and hersh's mom rachel with this moving message to her son. >> hersh, if you can hear this, we heard your voice today for the first time in 201 days, and if you can hear us, i am telling you, we are telling you, we love you. stay strong. survive. >> reporter: as that hamas video of hersh came out, police clashing with protesters who want a cease-fire to get the hostages free. there's real tension on the

streets of jerusalem tonight. people are trying to block the road. the police are trying to pull them back. this movement says the cry of them is the cry of all hostages. amid deadly air strikes in rafah, palestinian families grieving for their children and the youngest victims of this war. this baby born premature rescued by doctors by c-section after her pregnant mother was killed in an air strike. the baby named sabrine initially surviving then dying just 5 days old. in other hospital in southern gaza, a grim scene. officials from the hamas-run government saying they exhumed nearly 400 bodies from mass graves inside the hospital compound. the israeli military plans to soon start trying to move hundreds of thousands of civilians out of the southern city of rafah, possibly into these newly constructed tented areas ahead of a planned invasion, which aid groups say

would be catastrophic, and despite more aid trucks despite more aid trucks entering the strip, there isn't enough. u.s. military personnel now in the region to construct a temporary pier off gaza's coast, so large shipments of aid can get in. >> thanks for tom soufi burridge for that. let's bring in adviser john kirby. john, thanks for joining us again. let's start out with secretary blinken's mission. he's going to be in the middle east tomorrow. what's on the table? what are the prospects for getting the cease-fire and hostage release? >> that's going to be right at the top of the list for secretary blinken, to keep pushing for this temporary cease-fire. we want it to last for about six weeks. it wouldl allow for all those hostages to get out, and, of course, to allow for easier aid access to places in gaza, particularly up in the north, so he's going to be working on that very, very hard and also be talking to the israelis about

their intentions and their thinking about rafah, military operations and sort of where they are in the planning stages for that. >> if they go into rafah, cease-fire is off, any prospect of any short-term -- of a short ending to this war is completely over. >> well, look, i think, again, we have to have a better understanding from the israelis about what they want to do. as a matter of fact, we've had several staff talks with them. we intend to do that more. they've assured us that they won't go into rafah until we've had a chance to really share our perspectives and concerns with them, so we'll see where that goes. obviously, george, if we're able to get this hostage deal in place, and we are still working at that, hamas has not fully rejected it. they are considering this proposal on the table. if we can get that in place, then that gives you six weeks of mase. it gives you no fighting for six weeks, and that includes no fighting in rafah, and what we're hoping is that after six weeks of a temporary cease-fire, we can get maybe something more enduring in place. we want to see an end as soon as possible. >> the humanitarian crisis is so dire right now.

how quickly can this pier be put up, and why is that better than intensifying land operations? >> i wouldn't say it's better, george. it's another alternative. it certainly will help increase the volume of aid getting into gaza, but nothing can replace, quite frankly, nothing can replace the ground routes and the trucks that are getting in and i will say that they have been increasing the amount of trucks that have been getting into gaza. now there's still challenges on the ground in getting it up into the north, but that's starting to happen and the israelis are starting to meet the commitments president biden asked them to meet. this pier is now being constructed. it will take probably two to three weeks before we can really see it in operation. i mean, it's a fairly complicated procedure to get that in place, and we're working closely with the israelis about how the operation of the pier would work. >> we're seeing these protests cascade across college campuses here in the united states. what is the administration's response to these protests, and what do you think about the use

of police, bringing in the police to break them up? >> the president knows that there are very strong feelings, george, about the war in gaza. he understands that. he respects that, and as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protests. now, people should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly, but it has to be peaceful. we'll leave it to local authorities to determine how these protests are managed, but we want them to be peaceful protests, and obviously we don't want to see anybody hurt in the process of peacefully protesting, but, again, the president understands that. we absolutely condemn the anti-semitism language we've heard of late and certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there. these protests, we understand they're important, but they do need to be peaceful. >> john kirby, thanks as always for your time. up next, rachel scott kicks off our battleground state series with a look at what's at stake in georgia. we're back in two minutes. a lo

stake in georgia. we're back in two minutes. in ideas you believe in. y to t spot a trend in electric vehicles? have a passion for online gaming? or want to explore the space economy? choose from over 40 themes, each with up to 25 stocks identified by our unique algorithm. buy it as-is or customize to align with your goals. all at your fingertips. schwab investing themes. 40 customizable themes. up to 25 stocks in just a few clicks. ♪ pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink. facts. that's why i use secret whole body deodorant for clinically proven odor protection everywhere. so i smell great all day, all hike, and all night. secret whole body deodorant.

(woman) ugh, of course it stops loading at the best part. (tony hale) i wasn't eavesdropping, yes i was. you need verizon. get their crazy powerful network out here, and get six months of disney bundle on them! and it is all good. (vo) that's right, stream on the go, with six months of disney bundle on us. all your favorite content from hulu, disney plus and espn plus is all yours, and watch it all on the new galaxy s24+, also on us. only on verizon. can neuriva support your brain health? mary, janet, hey!! (thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge. i'll be honest. by the end of the day, my floors...yeesh. but who has the time to clean? that's why i love my swiffer wetjet. it's a quick and easy way to get my floors clean. wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. look at that! swiffer wetjet.

shingles. the rash can feel like an intense burning sensation, and last for weeks. shingles could make it hard to be there for your loved ones. over 50? the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside you. don't wait. ask your doctor about shingles.

we've we've never found systemic fraud, not enough to overturn the election. we have over 250 cases right now, and we don't see anything that would overturn the will of the people. >> there's no doubt in your mind that president trump lost the state of georgia and lost the election? >> sad, but true, i wish he would have won. i'm a conservative republican, and i'm disappointed, but those are the results. >> georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger after the 2020 election when joe biden became the first democrat to win georgia since bill clinton. ballots were counted three times, the outcome not in doubt even as donald trump continues to falsely claim he won, and trump, of course, is facing criminal charges over his post-election actions in georgia, but the race will be tight in 2024. here's rachel scott starting our series on the battleground states that will determine the outcome. >> reporter: six months out from an anticipated rematch between president joe biden and former president donald trump, the race to secure georgia's 16 electoral votes is in full swing. >> with your vote we are going to win the state of georgia in

an epic landslide. >> over here today, you know, you're the reason why we're going to win. >> reporter: while there are many issues animating voters in the state -- >> to me, our financial situation is huge. >> my most important issue is student loan coverage. >> closing the border. >> reporter: -- 2020 election denial still looms over the 2024 race in georgia where trump pleaded not guilty to ten criminal counts over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 results there. but biden's lackluster approval and charges he hasn't lived up to his campaign promises call into question whether he can reassemble the coalition that delivered him his slimmest margin of victory over trump four years ago. polling suggests it will be an uphill battle for biden with trump leading by an average of six points in a head-to-head matchup. >> oh, there's no question that this is going to be a close election. >> senator raphael warnock who has been on the ballot five times in two years knows his state's voters well.

>> i would urge him to do what we're doing, and that is to keep telling the story about the work that we are doing. the other side doesn't have anything to talk about. >> reporter: to win in november, biden needs to turn out voters, especially black voters in and metro atlanta's democratic stronghold. places like fulton county, home to cascade skating roller rink, a mainstay in the black community. for the owner, greg alexander, an air force veteran, biden is the clear choice. >> i cannot in good conscience support donald trump. >> reporter: but he says the president needs to do a better job at selling his record. >> what i'm hearing is what has biden done for the country? what has biden done for black people? he has to really focus on getting the word out on this is what i've done. this is what i stand for. >> reporter: bukcy isn't sold on any candidate. any election where you sit it out? >> that's a strong possibility as well. >> reporter: he's not alone.

a january poll from "the atlanta journal constitution" found one in ten black voters in the state say they don't plan to vote in november. could that significantly hurt the president? >> i think that georgia voters, black voters included are going to show up for joe biden the same way they showed up for me, not to vote is to vote. it is to push donald trump a little bit closer to the white house, and that is a dangerous proposition. >> hello, georgia. >> reporter: but a trump victory is exactly what several georgia voters we spoke to are hoping for? >> i'm for trump all the way. he's my man. >> reporter: tommy thomas owns tommy's barber shop in an affluent neighborhood, and here they're always talking politics. >> do you think that trump can win this state again? >> i think if people look at their pocketbooks, i think they're going to change their mind this time. >> reporter: to retake the state, trump will also have to win over voters like lynn

dinkins, a self-described big nikki haley supporter and supported trump in 2020, but this time she says his priorities are off. >> i feel like there's just so much drama associated with him at the moment, and i'm not convinced that he is necessarily focused on the issues at hand right now. >> reporter: out in rockmart just over an hour outside atlanta, a much different sentiment like the city's congress ago representative marjorie taylor greene -- >> we're going to re-elect our favorite president. >> reporter: people i spoke to in polk county where he earned 78% of the vote in 2020 are still firmly behind the former president. >> i like his fight. >> reporter: a local bar and grill, we met sharon. she said her support for the former president is unwavering. >> would you still support trump if he was convicted of a crime? >> absolutely, no questions asked. no questions asked. i would bail him out if i could afford it. >> reporter: sharon believes trump's false claims that the election was stolen.

what will get you to actually have trust in the november election in the system? >> i guess if trump wins, i would probably have trust in it again. >> reporter: gabriel sterling the chief operations officer in the georgia secretary of state's office says that position undermines american democracy. >> what happens if he wins georgia but loses the country? do you accept it then? what happens if he wins the country but loses georgia? do you accept it then? i mean, you can't base your blfr in the outcome based on whether your side wins or not. that's just not logical. >> reporter: a lifelong republican, sterling supported trump in 2020, but when trump refused to accept he lost, he became one of the loudest voices defending georgia's election. his plea to voters this cycle, have faith in the system. >> anybody saying, i feel safe about my vote here, but i don't know about those guys over there. we do know about those guys over there. it's a little bit different, but it's safe and secure everywhere in america. >> reporter: for "this week," rachel scott, abc news, atlanta.

thatnks to rachel. the roundtable is up next. we'll be right back. mom, can i help? camping was fun, but it looks we brought the woods back with us. if you're a mom, then you really need weathertech for mother's day. it's the ultimate way to kid proof your vehicle. from laser-measured floorliners for the front and rear... to cargoliner...seat protector... and seat back protectors... we've got mom's covered. your turn. (hose spraying and laughter) find all these american made gifts, perfect for mother's day, at wt.com i'm steve. i lost 138 pounds in 9 months find all these american made gifts, on golo and taking release. golo saved my life. i was way overweight, and that's what sent me down the path, was i--i wanted to make sure and live for my kid. plain and simple. auntie, you can't put that right in the dishwasher. watch me. with cascade platinum plus i have upped my dish game. i just scrape... load... and i'm done. in that dishwasher? in that dishwasher. only platinum plus is packed with more dawn

to remove up to 100% of grease and food residue. get the highest standard of clean, even in your machine. clean enough for ya? yeah. scrape, load, done. cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently. pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. if you spit blood when you brush, it could be the start of a domino effect. new parodontax active gum repair breath freshener. clinically proven to help reverse the four signs of early gum disease. a new toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts. we're hitting the road, talking to people about their hearts. putting the mobile in kardiamobile. how's your heart? doing good. is it? i think so. how do you know, right? how do i know... i don't actually know. you don't actually know. with kardiamobile card,

you can take a medical-grade ekg in just 30 seconds, from anywhere. kardiamobile card is proven to detect atrial fibrillation, one of the leading causes of stroke. this year, give mom peace of mind for mother's day with kardiamobile card for just $89. get kardiamobile card at kardia.com or amazon. the undtle is here and ready to go. we're back in a moment. we're back in a moment. before you use ai to transform business, accelerate growth, predict trends, you need to begin with trust. introducing watsonx governance. helping you govern any ai, as data, models, and policies change, so you can scale it responsibly. let's create ai that begins with trust, with watsonx governance. ibm. let's create. (vo) it's shrimp your way. choose three flavors for just $20*. with watsonx governance. like new street corn shrimp. and our famous garlic shrimp scampi.

it's time to grab some cheddar bays and get flavorfull. hurry in to try shrimp your way, only at red lobster. ( ♪ ) feel the power of osteo bi-flex®. taken every day, it's clinically shown to improve joint comfort in 7 days, with significant improvement over time. ( ♪ ) wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink. that's why i use secret whole body deodorant... everywhere. 4 out of 5 gynecologists would recommend whole body deodorant, which gives you 72 hour odor protection from your pits to your- (sfx: deoderant being sprayed) secret whole body deodorant. [coughing] copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler,

trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful.

pain means pause on the things you love, but... green... means... go! ♪ cool the pain with biofreeze. and keep on going. biofreeze. green means go. the 2024 the 2024 election is in full swing, and, yes, age is an issue. i'm a grown man running against a 6-year-old. [ laughter ] age is the only thing we have in common. my vice president actually endorses me. [ laughter and applause ] >> i'm sincerely not asking you to take sides, but asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment. move past the horse race numbers

and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics and focus on what's actually at stake. >> president biden at the white house correspondents' dinner last night. let's talk about it on our roundtable with former dnc chairperson donna brazile, former trump justice department spokesperson sarah isgur, susan page, author of "the rule breaker: the life and times of our former colleague barbara walters" and our senior white house correspondent selina wang. thanks for driving through the night from the white house correspondents' dinner to be here with us, and, selina, that speech last night capped off the first full week of the split screen campaign. >> it was, and it was perfectly encapsulated in his speech, which is the tact that this campaign is taking, which is don't directly comment on trump's legal troubles, but joke about it, allude to it. we heard the president do that last night.

they are taking full advantage of trump being stuck in court as he's been across the battleground states and one democratic strategist told me to see trump in court looking grumpy and old and frustrated is perfect for the president. >> also out on the campaign trail every day he has been stepping up his attacks in a way we haven't seen before. >> he used to call him my predecessor as if he didn't have a name and now he's on the attack with specific names. this court case has been surprisingly difficult for trump because we've seen that these indictments help trump, boosted his -- solidified his support in the republican party, but he looks humiliated and small and out of control and silenced during these long court hearings, and that is not trump's brand. that is the opposite of the brand that had brought trump to the white house. >> wonder if you agree. clearly the indictments helped him during the primaries. i was struck by what was written about him this week saying it could continue to help during the general election.

>> i don't know. as susan said, this moment we're in doesn't seem to be helping him, and you're seeing some of the trend lines at the polls, donald trump went into the month ahead in every swing state, and you see joe biden starting to narrow at least some of those margins in those swing states, though donald trump is still ahead in the vast majority of them. but are people really tuned in? are they seeing sleepy don, et cetera? it seems only the high information voters are paying attention. after this when we get a conviction whether there's a sentencing, is there going to be another trial at that point? >> you assume there's going to be a conviction or is that just a term of -- [ laughter ] >> i actually think there's a chance there's not a conviction, but i think there's a higher chance of conviction at this point. i think the problems with this case are legal problems, not necessarily fact problems, but all it takes, remember, is one juror. that's why jury instructions are so important and why jury selection probably the most important part of this case already is over. >> donna, you worked on several presidential campaigns and hard to wrap your head around a presidential campaign playing out in criminal court.

>> george, i've never been here before, and i never thought in the years, almost 30 years that i worked in presidential politics and campaigns that i would ever have to figure out some talking points when your opponent in the case of donald trump is sitting in court all day and not on the campaign trail, so you have very little to react from, and what i see coming from what i often refer to as the messaging points from the democrats, hey, go ahead and point out what joe biden is doing for the american people. how he's lifting people out of poverty, how he's providing jobs, getting industries back on their feet, and don't get into the salacious, lurid details of this court case, and that's been great. you know, i went out and bought a "national enquirer" because i thought catch and kill was about trapping a mouse in the house or figuring out if there are rats around you. i never thought it was about burying stories. there's so much legalese in all of this that i think it's just passing over everyone's head, but i have to make a statement,

because i remember bush v. gore as if it were yesterday. i do believe that the supreme court is dangling into election interference by slowing it down. i'm not a lawyer, sarah, but i had to listen to the oral arguments the other day, and what i heard again was, they weren't talking about the facts of the case. they were coming up with all these hypotheticals. that's election -- they should go ahead and allow this trial on january 6th to go forward in the district court, and we should know the results before the election. >> sarah, you are a lawyer. you worked in the justice department. >> i disagree. the supreme court decides questions, not cases, that's what they're supposed to do and take issues of national importance. i will be surprised if this is not a unanimous decision coming from the supreme court that holds that it's not going to be about official acts versus unofficial acts, it's going to be something more like qualified immunity where if it is so clearly outside the bounds of presidential authority, ordering the assassination of a political rival, of course, that is not going to be immune, but don't forget 1982 this court held that

presidents were absolutely immune from civil liability. it's why they had to take this case. it's not election interference. this is actually the job of the third branch of government. >> that's one element, but it was remarkable how the -- many of the conservative justices refused to address what donald trump did on january 6th. >> you heard that from all of the justices saying this is not about donald trump. this is a rule that we're making for the ages. this is a rule that's going to have to apply to future presidents. you saw justice kagan asking many of the same hypotheticals as anyone else. that's why i think it will be a unanimous decision, and i think people took snippets from the oral argument not understanding that's how the supreme court does this. they don't make a rule for this case. they make a rule for all of the cases. >> you can still argue the timing. the district court of appeal rendered this decision in february. jack smith said all along the special counsel back in december, go ahead. make the decision, and they are dragging their feet. >> if this had been a normal case, donna, they would put it on the merits docket for next

fall. >> it is democracy denied. that's what's at stake. >> selina wang, we saw president biden give this interview to howard stern on friday where he said he's ready to debate donald trump. do you think it's going to happen? >> that was a very big surprise and interesting he chose howard stern as an example for that, because it's another stance of biden choosing to go with more nontraditional media outlets. this was a very long-ranging interview about the entire arc of his life. i mean, i think the debate could actually happen. the question is, is it held by the committee on presidential debates, which, you know, the democratic party has a lot of issues with, or is it held in some other way or sense, but i do think the debate could happen, and president biden was very clear in his response. >> susan, i have long been a believer in debates but admit to being conflicted this year. i wonder if a useful debate can happen under the circumstances we face right now looking at the experience of what happened in 2020. looking how difficult in realtime on live television it will be to actually have a substantive debate based on facts.

>> well, you know, i moderated the vice presidential debate last time, and it was hard, and i'm not sure it could -- was as useful as it could be, but i believe in debates. i think we will have an debate. i think donald trump will want one because he assumes he will eviscerate joe biden. the sitting president should not have the political option of avoiding debating his opponent for re-election. >> look, i'd support having a debate. if anything else, i mean, the entertainment factor will be really great. i hope the temperature is at donald trump's liking, so he doesn't complain it's too cold, and i hope nothing smelly happens. >> sarah, before we go, i want to talk about the campus protest and what we're seeing play out across the country this week. it really has sort of cascaded across the country this week, and it seems to be posing much more of a threat to joe biden's campaign than donald trump. >> well, look, i am upset. i'm horrified that joe biden who said he ran because of the unite the right rally won't say the same things about what's going

on now that he did then. because what we're seeing is the right and the left, a large minority of both of those political movements rejecting liberal values like free speech, like persuasion. they now think those aren't necessary, that, in fact, they should be just in charge in this authoritarian manner. that's what these campus protests are about. they're not about persuasion. they're not trying to convince anyone, and they're not for peace. they're fine with violence as long as it's against jews. as long as it's against israel. it's so outside the bounds of what we should be seeing in the united states of america, and where are on people on the political left saying as the right are saying about the anti-liberal values on the right? where are they now, donna? >> on campus trying to lead the dialogue. >> dialogue? can you imagine dialoguing with the unite the right. >> let me tell you something, i'm on those campuses every week. i'll be on another one tomorrow, and it is important that we engage in civil dialogue. yes, some students are crossing the line.

pitting students against students, and there's no place for the kind of rhetoric that threatens students and threaten entire the jewish faith and jewish community. there is no place for this on campus, but, yes, we have to have dialogue. we have to talk to students. we have to make sure they understand what's at stake, and we should also encourage them not to cross the line, whether they're taking over buildings and threatening their own students. >> what does it mean an entire generation doesn't believe in free speech anymore? >> i see that on both the left and right. i see that everywhere. >> selina, this is posing a challenge for the white house. >> it is, and i think the white house and i've heard democratic allies, they have brought up the harvard poll that show young people care more about the economy than any other issue including the war in gaza, but the reality is, this is going to be a very close race. this is very much animating young people, and i just want to push back a little on that. i have been speaking to arab and palestinian community leaders who say the vast majority of these students, they are against hate.

they are against bigotry. they are there to protest what's happening in gaza, the destruction and death of many of their family members, in fact, and their relatives, that it is being pulled into something that it's not for the vast majority of these students. >> this debate is being defined by the extremes. >> that's right, and this particular debate over gaza and israel is a big political peril for joe biden. you know, there's a new cnn poll out this morning that shows eight in ten voters under 35 disapprove of the job biden is doing in handling this issue. a majority of democratic voters disapprove of what he's doing and it raises the prospect of the protests we saw last night at the white house correspondents' dinner. think what we're going to see -- >> how serious was that protest? >> well, it was hundreds of people chanting. there wasn't any violence so in that way it's just the kind of protest we're accustomed in washington but watch out for the chicago convention and what happens on this issue. >> we will be watching. thank you all for a great discussion. we'll be right back.

it's a mystery. where will "gma" be this week? popping up live taking "gma" to five mystery cities with incredible live morning surprises you just have to see. >> robin: so, where will "gma" pop up? >> lara: maybe we'll be in your neighborhood. >> michael: where will we be? >> george: we're coming to you, america. get ready. >> announcer: all this week, where will we be? >> we're coming to you, america. >> we're coming to you, america. >> we're coming to you, america. >> get ready. >> get ready. >> get ready. that is all for us today. thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out "world news tonight" and i'll see you tomorrow on "gma."

neighbors want from oakland leaders instead of just arrest. >> good morning to you. what a gorgeous shot. this marine layer kind of just fractured there with a lot of sunshine, breezy winds. building 52 downtown, 56 in oakland, 58 in san jose.

average highs will explain what that means. and take a look at the beginning of may coming up next on you made a cow! actually it's a piggy bank. my inspiration to start saving. how about a more solid way to save? i'm listening. well, bmo helps get your savings habit into shape with a cash reward, every month you save. both: cash reward? and there's a cash bonus anything you can't do >> mugs people