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[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program today with Sait Onal, who is president of the Turkish Cultural Center of Pennsylvania.

Sait, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you, Steve, for inviting and showing interest in this tragedy that impacted millions of people.

- We're taping in the beginning of the spring of 2023.

Put in perspective the tragedy in Turkey, this earthquake, the damage that it's done, not just in terms of loss of life which you have experienced very personally, but to the country, please.

- Well, you know, (sighs) being away from home, it's always tough because you can't share the happiness and then of course, you're not there for them to share the pain and suffering when they have.

And when we find out about this, including my hometown, Antakya, this really impacted me and a lot of people around the world that looked at this situation how heavy the loss of human life.

This has been tough.

This has been tough to swallow this time.

- I'm gonna put up the website for Embrace Relief.

What is that organization, Sait?

And why is it so important that the organizations like this that are helping those who are suffering, struggling, who have lost, so many have lost so much, particularly when this issue, this tragedy is not quote, "in the news" in the way it was when the earthquake happened?

Please.

- Embrace Relief is one of the many organizations really are there to serve when there is a need around the world.

And I'm really appreciating their efforts.

The need is so huge in Turkey with this earthquake.

About 11 cities and all the towns around it has been destroyed.

Some of them destroyed completely.

So, Embrace Relief has started from day one, a relief effort to bring attention and collect donations to help the people in need.

As of today, it's almost 45 days after the earthquake there are still a lot of basic needs are not satisfied in the area.

So, there are people who are looking for a tent, food, clothes and other basic necessities, unfortunately in the area.

So, Embrace Relief has started this and is making a big impact.

I really appreciate what they do and all other organizations as well.

- Your personal loss is unimaginable.

I'm not even comfortable asking you this but I know you share this with our producers, so talk to us.

- You know, this is really tough to talk.

My sister, my brother-in-law and her son passed away in this earthquake.

I spoke to her Saturday the day before the earthquake.

It was just a God's gift, I guess, a way that God wanted me to say goodbye to her.

She dialed my phone at night when I was at sleep.

Saturday morning when I saw I missed a call, I called her back.

I said, "Is there something wrong?"

You called me in the middle of the night?

And she said, "No, it was just an accident, I must have."

And that was my goodbye to her.

And I still have a tough time to believe that she's gone.

You know, it is difficult for me, but this is what happened and I miss her a lot.

- You haven't been able to go back, have you?

- Yep, about two years ago during the COVID, I lost my brother, an older brother, and also I couldn't go.

And then my sister and her family, I can't go.

Because of what happened in Turkey, seven years ago, me and a lot of people like me who are, you know, criticizing the Turkish government for their U-turn from democracy and rule of law, now, we are not welcomed in Turkey.

So, I can't attend their funeral.

I can't attend to a wedding, I can't attend to any occasion or just a visit simply because I miss my country.

- Help people understand, Sait, the president of Turkey and the kind of leader that Erdogan is and what you just described is happening to so many.

- Well, you know, Turkey has been struggling to establish a real democracy over 100 years now.

About 25 years or so ago, these people in charge of country now, last 22, 23 years, they came with the big claim that they're gonna bring democracy and rule of law, and human rights, and European membership, and a better democracy.

And many people, including myself have supported them for this.

And they have done some to improve the country's democracy and the league that they belong to.

But the corruption really simply and poisoning by the power, for this, he has started a witch hunt to everyone around him that may be a danger for his future or make sure that he stays in power.

So with that corruption, he didn't want anyone to take him away for this or lose the power.

And he started taking everyone in opposition down and labeling people with one thing or another.

And now he is a dictator in Turkey, making sure that no one actually challenges him anymore.

- But how has he responded?

How's the government responded to the earthquake?

- It was terrible.

It was terrible.

My sister and family and a lot of people under the rubbles has waited almost three days before anyone showed up from the government.

Not only this was a terrible way of responding but it was a criminal because we hear that he has single-handed stopped the rescue efforts from international communities coming in.

He delayed them to arrive to the area or the Turkish organizations couldn't get there enough or they didn't have the tools or what they needed to save people.

People died in the cold weather under the rubbles, waiting for someone, screaming and yelling for help.

This is a criminal charge against this government.

(clears throat) Not only a neglect and bad management - Sait, I wanna thank you for joining us.

We are very sorry for your loss, a very personal loss, family members, the loss of so many people in Turkey that they've experienced.

But also just to remind folks, we're based in New Jersey.

There's a huge Turkish population in New Jersey.

Many of those folks, Sait included, have family there.

So one more time, the website Embrace Relief.

That organization is directly involved in providing direct support and relief to those struggling and suffering in Turkey since this earthquake.

Sait, we wish you all the best.

Thank you very much.

- Thank you, Steve, for your help and support.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're now joined by Carolyn Welsh, President and CEO of New Jersey Sharing Network.

Carolyn, good to see you.

- Good to see you, Steve.

- We also wanna thank our good friend, Joe Roth, who, for many years, was your predecessor at the Sharing Network and we've been involved in a longtime public awareness effort around organ and tissue donation.

Carolyn, as we are in the spring, moving into 2023, this will be seen a little bit after we're taping.

Where are we right now when it comes to organ and tissue donation?

- So what we like to say is Jersey generosity is knocking it out of the park right now.

So, in New Jersey right now, we are having an amazing year saving more lives than ever before.

We ended 2022 with a record year, a 21% increase in organ donors and increase in organs transplanted.

And then in 2023, we're actually doing even better than '22.

- So as we put up the website right now, we've, Jacqui Tricarico, my colleague and I are are actually gonna be at the, the 5k, which is a walk run and there'll be people who have received the Gift of Life, whose family members have given the Gift of Life to others.

It seems obvious, but it's called the Gift of Life.

Talk about that, Carolyn.

- Yeah.

So one organ donor can save up to eight lives and one tissue donor can enhance the lives of 75 people.

So when someone passes away they have the opportunity to say yes and give the generous and precious Gift of Life to someone else to give them a second chance to live.

- So again, as the website's up for the Sharing Network find out more if you want to consider being an organ donor.

And there's so much other important information there.

I wanna try this.

I'm curious about this.

We've asked in previous segments that we've done, Carolyn, we've talked about the misconceptions, the misperceptions or the perception, if you will, of what organ donation is about.

What confusion still exists in your mind that we need to clear up?

- So I think coming off of the last couple of years and healthcare in general and hospitals and visitors allowed in hospitals or not, it has changed a little bit of the dynamic with organ donation and what our role is to facilitate the gift.

And what that means is is that when someone's loved one passes away, we go to the hospital.

We're a separate organization.

So the team that's taking care of you in the hospital are separate from New Jersey Sharing Network.

We come to the hospital at the time of someone's death and we support the family to be able to make the decision for their loved one, if their loved one did not make the decision themselves.

So it's the, the myth, I think a misconception piece about you know, are you not gonna be cared for in the hospital?

We are a separate organization that comes in at the time to offer this unique opportunity because not everyone can be an organ donor.

So it's a very unique and specific way when someone is approached for organ donation that they can give the Gift of Life.

- Hmm.

I'm gonna ask about COVID but I'm gonna also disclose that Carolyn is a trustee of the Caucus Educational Corporation of our board.

Carolyn, let me ask you this.

The three years plus into the COVID pandemic, the most significant impact from your perspective in terms of the work, not just of your organization, but on the whole question of organ donation has been what?

- So, we never stopped, I think organ donation in a strange way was prepared for something like that because what we deal with every day is not something that's planned.

So COVID wasn't planned.

So organ donation is not planned.

No one sends their loved one off that day in the morning and think that they're not gonna return.

So everything that we routinely did up to that point, I think, prepared us to be the best we could during the pandemic.

Pivot.

Right.

We've talked about that before.

Bob and weave.

We've talked about, you know, changing your way.

Our job was to say how are we going to transplant and save people's lives?

Not, can we do it?

How are we gonna make this happen?

So that's really, I think we were prepared as best as we could and took on the challenges head on and we saved more people's lives than ever before.

- I'm gonna let everybody know there are a couple dates and this may be seen after in repeats but May 20th, Saturday, May 20th, 2023 in Ocean Grove.

What's happening there?

There's a Celebration of Life 5K there and also on June 11th, in New Providence where the headquarters is of the Sharing Network.

That's the 5K that I was saying that Jacqui Tricarico and I will be there interviewing people who are so connected to this movement.

What's happening in Ocean Grove?

- So Ocean Grove, it's our first time in Ocean Grove.

We're very excited for Ocean Grove to accept us in to and accept them into the Sharing Network family.

So we moved our site for the Monmouth County area to Ocean Grove, so May 20th we kick it off.

It's a large 5K where donor families, recipients, those that are waiting and anyone that is really an advocate for donation come together to bring awareness so that we can continue to share the message of this lifesaving gift.

- Okay.

There are two, two other items.

One is talk about the initiative #DonationNeedsDiversity This issue is an issue we've covered before.

- Yes.

- The, the problem, the challenge, the opportunity, if you will, in the minority community is huge in this regard.

There's an issue there.

Please talk about it, Carolyn.

- Yes.

So multicultural communities, we live in New Jersey.

It's why we all stay.

We love it.

The multicultural communities that we serve in New Jersey are impacted by donation and transplant.

So our job is to take the message to the communities that need it the most and make sure that we're bringing information to them in a way that they can accept it, feel comfortable and then share it with their loved ones so that if they were ever in the unique opportunity to say yes to donation they can and they feel comfortable doing that.

But also set the awareness about with disease and illnesses that would lead to transplant that they know the resources that they can get to in New Jersey at our transplant centers.

- Final question on this.

We talked about the fact that this is a longtime public awareness effort that we've been involved in supported by the Sharing Network.

How can people, if they choose to, if they want to or they're curious about signing up, my license says what it says and makes it clear that I'm an organ donor.

- Yes.

- How else can, is that the easiest way?

- So I would say that most people feel the easiest way is to go to our website, www.njsharingnetwork.org and you can register on our website.

It takes you to the National Donate Life registry so that no matter where you live, that registry can be accessed as opposed to motor vehicles where you're in New Jersey and it would be a New Jersey registry.

So that, for us, is what we share and say go to the website, sign up to be an organ donor there.

And the biggest message is to do that, but to share your decision with your family.

Talk to your family about what your wishes are and what you would like to do.

No one wants to be in a situation where they learn something new about their loved one at the time of their death.

So share your decision, share this lifesaving gift and share with your family that you want to be an organ donor.

- That's Carolyn Welsh, the new as we speak President and CEO of New Jersey's Sharing Network.

Carolyn, thanks so much for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

- You got it.

We'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- Back by popular demand, we have our good friend, Elie Honig, who is CNN Senior Legal Analyst, former federal and state prosecutor, and author of "Untouchable, How People Get Away with It".

Hey, Elie, thanks for joining us last minute, and I put that out there because we weren't planning on doing this.

We're taping on the 21st of March, a significant date.

We don't know what's gonna happen today, tomorrow, the next day, the next day.

Assume for a moment that former President Donald Trump is in fact indicted in New York City in Manhattan through the DA's office.

First of all, for those who argue, watching right now, hey, this is a political prosecution.

Trump puts out on social media, go out there, protest.

We don't know what's gonna happen or not happen.

We pray that January 6th does not happen again.

A political prosecution you say?

- Well, Steve, it's hard to know the subjective intent behind the DA here.

I should add right up front, I know Alvin Bragg, I'm friends with him, the Manhattan DA, I used to work with him.

We were federal prosecutors together at the Southern District of New York.

Let me sort of make the argument why I can see it both ways.

On the one hand, this is sort of part of the inherent problem whenever you have a local elected partisan, I don't mean that in a negative way, I just mean- - He'’s a Democrat.

- The person has an R or a D next to their name, prosecutor.

I was lucky I always got to work for federal prosecutors, and in New Jersey, for the AG, neither of whom are elected, they are appointed.

But whenever you have elected local county DAs bringing charges against former federal officials, there will be an easy claim to make that it's political, and people will reasonably think there may be some political motivation.

On the other hand, Alvin Bragg has a long record, I think, of playing it straight.

I've worked with him.

He's a good prosecutor.

And if you think back a year go, Steve, almost exactly a year ago now, news came out that Alvin Bragg was not interested or not willing to charge Donald Trump.

He didn't think the evidence was there to charge Trump with a different financial case.

- I'm sorry, Elie, to interrupt.

Let's be clear.

This has to do with, I believe, the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in connection with the 2016 campaign.

Michael Cohen, key witness here again.

Watch Elie talk about this on a daily basis on CNN.

This is a bigger picture discussion.

But that was considered "hush money" to keep Stormy Daniels quiet, which the DA in Manhattan says, hey, wait a minute, that's a campaign violation because you're using money to influence the campaign.

- Yeah, so this is the allegation that we're looking at now.

And look, I have been skeptical about the seriousness of these charges, I've been skeptical about the quality of the proof.

And the crime here is really important to understand, Steve.

The crime is not paying hush money.

You are allowed to pay hush money.

It's not great, I don't advise it, but it's not illegal.

- For a married man who wants to keep it from his wife, that's what some would argue on the Trump side.

That's what he did.

That's all he did.

And by the way, Michael Cohen, they say, did it on his own to help his friend, Donald Trump.

Go ahead.

- It's unseemly, but it's not necessarily illegal.

It's not a crime.

Also, other people say, well Trump- - Where's the legal criminal issue?

Where's the criminal issue?

- Well, here's the criminal under, and we're talking New York state law here.

The crime, under New York state law, is falsifying a business record.

So the allegation is that these hush money payments, by the way, I don't know what the proper way to categorize a hush money payment to a porn star would be, but they were categorized on the internal books of the Trump organization as legal fees.

They were not legal fees.

That is the entire basis for the case.

Now, if the Manhattan DA can prove that, and as to Donald Trump, if they can prove Donald Trump knew about how these entries were logged in the books, and there's a substantial question about that, that's only a misdemeanor, Steve, which is less serious than a felony.

The max penalty there is a year, but realistically, no one goes to prison on a misdemeanor, certainly of this nature.

If, however, they can take that next step that you've talked about and prove that the reason these documents were falsified was to make them a campaign contribution, was because this money was meant to cover up for Donald Trump politically or electorally, as opposed to spare Donald Trump and his family from embarrassment and humiliation, then it's a campaign contribution in excess of the legal limits.

Then it becomes a felony, but even then, it's what we call a class E felony, which is the least serious type of felony, four year maximum technically, but very unlikely.

Well, not very, I'll say quite likely that a judge does not sentence a person on a first time non-violent class E to prison.

- Okay, but also there's a case potentially that could be coming in Georgia having to do with trying to influence the election process in Georgia through the presidential election in 2020.

We'll see what the prosecutors down there do.

There's some other cases as well having to do with January 6th.

Here's my question, Elie.

It's a bigger picture question, because again, we're not here in this conversation to talk about what's happening just today.

It's the bigger, the larger, longer term implications.

Have we gotten to the point, Elie, where a vast majority of people in this country, a significant percentage of people believe that every prosecution, whether it's Trump, Biden, this one, that one, that it's all political and there are no facts and legitimate prosecutions going on?

Have we become that jaded?

- I think, I hate to be jaded, but I think whenever you're talking about an investigation or a prosecution of a high profile political figure, the former President, the current President.

- The former President of the United States, running again in 2024.

- Yeah, relatives of high profile politicians.

I think there is a huge percentage of the population who will say it's political, who can make that claim.

Ultimately it's gonna go back and forth, and it's hard to tell whether there's any truth to it.

To me, the best way to make that judgment is A, look at how serious is the crime, B, look at how strong the evidence is, and C, look at how similar cases have been handled.

And here, I think there's arguments, not to play everything both ways, but here I think it's a tricky call.

I mean, there are, on the one hand, there's an argument that by making these hush money payments Trump helped himself win the presidency in 2016.

On the other hand, Hillary Clinton's campaign actually was caught mis-characterizing fees that they used on the Steele dossier, they mis-characterized those also as legal fees, and all they got was an FEC fine, a Federal Election Commission fine.

So there's a fair question there as to is it fair that ... Look, they're not exactly identical conduct, but one side gets a fine, the other side gets potentially prosecuted for it.

- Let me shift gears for a second.

The role of social media, not just in politics, but from a legal point of view.

Donald Trump puts out on Truth Social, his site, I'm gonna be arrested on a certain date.

Again, we're taping on the 21st, we don't know.

By the way, being indicted is not exactly the same as being arrested in the way people view it, cuffed, walk, perp walk, the whole bit.

The role of social media in the judicial process.

Wreaking havoc, positive, what?

- Oh, it's a challenge, for sure.

Let's look at Donald Trump.

Look at January 6th.

I mean, a big reason why that riot happened is because of Donald Trump's use of social media.

Be there, we'll be wild, right?

He hyped up that rally.

I think it was 10 times January 6th.

That's how people knew to come to the rally on January 6th.

- What does that have to do with the criminal prosecutorial process, Elie?

- Well, what you don't want to see- - Can you use social media to influence a judicial, can you use social media to effectively, or ineffectively, impact the legal process?

- You can use social media to do the same things that you're allowed to do otherwise.

You are allowed to protest, you are allowed to criticize prosecutors, you are allowed to criticize judges.

What you cannot do is try to incite violence.

What you cannot do is threaten in some way a witness, a judge, a prosecutor, a party to a case.

So the same lines as ever existed still exist, but now with social media, it's much easier to speak and to disseminate your speech widely.

- Tell you what, there are a lot of moving parts to this.

While people say, oh, Elie's a legal expert on CNN, which he is.

To say that there's no political consideration is just not true, to say that it's totally political is just not true.

There is the confluence, if you will, of the legal process and the political process.

That's not commentary, that's just a fact.

But if you want to know more about it, go ahead Elie, last word before I let you go.

- I agree with you.

I mean, prosecutors love to say facts and law, facts and law, facts and law.

Every prosecutor ever has said facts and law to justify any conduct.

If you hate Bill Barr, he said facts and law all the time.

If you hate Merrick Garland, he says facts and law all the time.

Alvin Bragg says it.

Everyone says it on both sides of the ledger, and I think you're right.

I don't look at prosecutors as sort of in a vacuum or a bubble.

I think prosecutors are well aware, I know prosecutors are well aware of the political world around them, and I think it's fair to ask whether this case would be brought against Donald Trump if he was any normal person.

I've seen it argued both ways, and I think it's an interesting question.

- And remember, some attorneys general are elected in their state, some prosecutors are elected, U.S. attorney not elected, but appointed politically.

It's a question of whether you're appointed or elected.

Interesting stuff.

"Untouchable, How Powerful People Get Away With It".

Elie Honig.

It's a national best seller.

- Elie's one of our good friends, and check him out on CNN on a regular basis.

Thank you, my friend.

See you soon, Jersey guy.

- Thanks, Steve, take care.

- Another Jersey guy.

- Proud to be from Jersey.

Always glad to be with you.

- You got it.

See you next time folks.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato Is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let'’s be healthy together.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

NJM Insurance Group.

Prudential Financial.

The New Jersey Education Association.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And by PSC.

Promotional support provided by Meadowlands Chamber.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

NJM Insurance Group has been serving New Jersey businesses for over a century.

As part of the Garden State, we help companies keep their vehicles on the road, employees on the job and projects on track, working to protect employees from illness and injury, to keep goods and services moving across the state.

We're proud to be part of New Jersey.

NJM, we've got New Jersey covered.