tv Trump Trial Today CNN April 30, 2024 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT
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internationally, charlotte, north carolina police investigators are processing the scene of a horrific shooting, where four law enforcement officers were killed and four others were wounded on monday today, officials revealed a more than 100 rounds had been fired. >> the officers were shot while trying to serve a warrant three of the victims were members of the us marshals task force, including deputy us marshal thomas weeks sample, and alden elliott were also tragically killed. both were 14 year veterans of the state's department of adult correction the fourth victim died from his injuries after several hours of fighting for his life at the hospital this was the precession for officer joshua eyer last night he passed away with his wife and family by his side at the hospital our thoughts go out to all the families, friends, and coworkers of these four heroes. may their memories be a blessing? have you ever miss an episode of lead? you can listen to the show all two hours went to get your podcasts. the news continues on cnn with my friend wolf blitzer right next door in a place i like to call the
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situation room. i will see you tomorrow. got to transcript of today's but the adult film stars such money deal. and the prediction that if for affair allegations went public, it could be the final nail direct quote, your final nail in the coffin for trump just weeks before the 2016 election, the explosive testimony wrapping up shortly after trump was forced to take take down inflammatory post complying with the judge's ruling. that is violated. his gag order. trump. >> now, i noticed that he could be jailed. yes. jailed if he's found in contempt. again for the next hour, we'll take you inside the courtroom from gavel to gavel are reporters an experts are standing by to break down on today's most
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important developments and look ahead to what's next welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer with a special report in the situation room, the trump trial today donald trump's historic criminal trial is set to resume on thursday with more compelling and potentially crucial testimony by the former lawyer for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal turn on the witness stand, capping a jam-packed day inside the courtroom that included the judge finding trump in contempt for nine violations of his gag order. let's get to all of news right now cnn's kara scannell is outside the courthouse, was here. are we just got a new partial transcript of today's testimony. bring us up speed on everything that happened well well, keith davidson was on a
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stand for about three hours today and he took the jury inside the catch and kill deals involving karen mcdougal and stormy daniel's. >> the jury also saw a flurry of text messages between davidson and the publisher or the editor in chief of the national enquirer underscoring the urgency that they had in trying to execute these deals before the 2016 election davidson also testifying that he believed these deals were struck to help donald trump's campaign on the stand, the ex-lawyer for two women, a playboy model and adult film star at the center of former president donald trump's criminal hush money trial. attorney keith davidson testified on tuesday, revealing new details about the deal at the crux of the prosecution's case. a $130,000 payment to a adult film star stormy daniels to kill a story on an alleged affair with trump weeks before the 2016 election davidson represented daniel's in the arrangement selling the story to trump's former attorney, michael cohen. trump denies having an affair with daniels
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prosecutors have alleged that trump did not want to write the check, so cohen put up the money on his behalf after cohen confirmed trump would pay him back, davidson testified the release of the access hollywood tape and october 2016 spark tremendous interest in her story. the national enquirer editor, dylan howard, text davidson that our story would be the end for trump's campaign. davidson texts howard trump is eft wave the white flag. it's over people. howard responded to davidson's texts howard said in a text? yeah, but her talking and taking is the final nail in the coffin, but he's asked already after cohen miss the deadline to wire the money multiple times, davidson testified he believed cohen was stolen now on the deal, davidson said he told cohen, i don't believe a word really that you say cohen responded, god, it. what do you expect me to do? my guy is in five different states today and davidson told him of his clients and happiness, we're calling cohen told tim, god it i'll just do it myself.
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davidson told the jury, i thought he was trying to kick them you down the road until after the election earlier in the day, the jury heard from michael cohen's former banker, gary farro, who testified about cohen's scrambled to open and fund in account in late october 2016, pharaoh revealed he did not know coincident was being made to an adult film star or that it was related to political activity if he had he testified, it would have required a much longer review and potentially would not have opened the account. davidson also represented former playboy model karen mcdougal, who alleged in nearly year-long romantic affair with trump, which trump also denies prosecutors asked davidson about the agreement to sell mcdougal story to the enquirer, which was ultimately sold to the tabloids parent company for $150,000 and buried before the election, davidson texts howard in june 2016, i have a blockbuster trump story. howard text back, talk. first thing i will get you more than anyone. before it, you know why days later howard responded again
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asking, did he cheat on melania davidson testified there was an unspoken understanding that the enquirer vod her story to bury it because of a close affiliation between the tabloid publisher and trump. and that ami would not run this story or any story related to karen and donald trump trump because it would tend to hurt donald trump while davidson testified about mcdougal and daniels, trump's son, eric trump, sat in the front row of the gallery listening. he is the first family member of trump's to attend the trial in court began with judge juan merchan handing down a much-anticipated ruling saying donald trump violated the gag order that prevents him from discussing witnesses in the case. nine times. trump was fined $9,000 total $1,000 per violation now we'll trump was pretty doing your during the day he sat and most of the time with his it back in his chair, with his eyes closed as he listened to the testimony, he was joined, though, in addition to eric trump has sunday was also joined the texas attorney
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general, ken paxton as well says campaign adviser susie wiles. now when they were back in court on thursday, keith davidson we'll take the stand, but first, the judge will hear arguments over whether donald trump violated the gag order in additional four times, wolfe, she would happen. it's thursday. kara scannell. thank you very much. let's bring in our legal and political experts in elliot williams. you're getting a first look at this just really partial transcript. what stands out to you a few things do wolfe, sara, a central part of what prosecutors have to establish his some nexus to the 2016 campaign that this conduct was taken to protect the former president. and so this is joshua steinglass interviewing keith davidson or question keith davidson attorney to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. he asks is this another text exchange between you and dylan howard on october 8th and october 9th of 2016. this is right after the access hollywood tape. he said keith davidson says, yes, who sent the first text in this chain keith davidson. it's for me. and what did you say?
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>> trump is eft you wrote the whole word out f's in the text. >> he says, i did. what prompted you to say that trump was after the access hollywood tape? how to deal and howard respond, dylan howard over ami the national enquirer, he responded with waved the white flag. it's over people exclamation point. and how did you interpret that? i think he was second in my opinion he asks based on the access hollywood tape, answer yes. >> it was very well. let me get caitlin, who has been covering this very thoroughly. what did you make of this exchange? >> yeah. not only is this highlighting the nexus between the campaign and all of the folks dealing with the hush money stories, the catch and kill plans. >> but this access hollywood moment and the reactions to it, it is the central moment in the 2016 campaign for trump, where it becomes clear he has an issue potentially with female voters, and then it's the catalyst for the series of
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things that come after that are all central to to this trial. >> it's sets up not just this need or want for stormy daniels to tell her story publicly, then getting the national enquirer interested or involved in these conversations but also, it is the moment that then keith davidson, the attorney to stormy daniel's gets connected to michael cohen and everything flows from there for the rest of this case. and the rest of this trial? yeah. is caitlin pointed out, i mean, this is a sort of a key fact that the prosecutor is going to need to establish as part of its case. and it's a very helpful point for them to be introducing at this point, particularly because this, the predicate crime here, which is it's been subject to some debate his is a campaign finance violation of some sort. and so i think that we're seeing sort of the prosecutors add brick after break after break of evidence and isolation, maybe one each of these things that are going to make or break the case, but they're building pretty strong
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case. and so far so far as i can tell, we haven't heard anyone say that they heard from trump that any of this had to do with his family. >> interesting indeed, david urban does this all line up with what you remember during the trump campaign, i was there. >> i wasn't i wasn't there for this part, but i actually had the president for the first public event after the access hollywood tape was released in that october. and i remember it a little differently. obviously, there was a great deal of chaos when the taper is released and a great deal of concern. and at that first event, i was curious to see what a crowd if there was going to be a crowd where people going to show up how would the reaction going to be and a huge crowd showed up actually? >> and the reaction was very positive for the president, just like it had been prior to the access hollywood tape. >> and it was one of those moments where people i think it showed everyone they thought they thought they had trump this time they knocked him down and he kept moving forward you
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know, it was one of those moments that kept touting on the campaign. he's gonna be dead and he's not daddy's keeping he keeps moving and so whether this whether some of the he's eft language, whether that would have proven to be true. i'm not quite sure because he proved pretty resilient after the few things that did come out. he he bounced right get back up. >> there's another part of the transcript you're looking at, right? >> yeah. and so two things prosecutors often have to do as number one, manage the credibility of their witnesses. you can't pick the people who are testifying and sometimes they've got some baggage and then to establishing the human drama, the element of how the parties interact with each other. and one segment from today hey, came up, and this is again keith davidson speaking with joshua steinglass, the prosecutor. keith davidson says, in any event, gina and that's a communications person called me up to tell me that some jerk called me and was very, very aggressive and threatened to sue me and i would like you, keith, to call this jerk back prosecutor. i
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hate to ask it this way. but who was that jerk answer? it was michael cohen. >> so what happened when you call did you call michael cohen i did tell us about that. >> gina provided me the number that he left either with her ex are on the voicemail. it was for the trump org organization. i called i was transferred to michael cohen i introduced myself and before i could barely get my name out, i was just met with like a hustle barrage of insults and insinuation and allegations that went on for quite awhile. question, what was the gist of what he was accusing you of pots? i don't think he was accusing us of anything. he was just screaming answer. okay. what was the upset about? he was upset about the story that the story on the dirty.com got published and he believed that stormy daniel's was the source behind that story. >> interesting, kaitlan, what do you make of this exchange? >> yeah, well, we're going to here are very likely for
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michael cohen on the stand. so getting a flavor of his personality before the jury now is something that the prosecutors might want to be doing. but the other thing is they're painting the portrait of the reaction within the trump campaign. michael cohen already established it's by another witness was known to be working on behalf of donald trump, the candidate not just as an attorney for him. the jury hasn't seen the access hollywood tape and they're not going to see it in this trial. it's too prejudicial, but they're going to be seeing all of the blowback after it, including the urgency see the intensity, the things that michael cohen was saying and doing to really communicate that they believe there was a problem in the trump campaign that they needed keith davidson to take care of with stormy daniels did the prosecutors on cushing year former federal prosecutor, why do they prosecutors are in advanced payment? >> a pretty negative picture of michael cohen. >> so prosecutors often do this
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to try to preempt the argument on behalf of the defendant. so you kind of want to air out all the sort of dirty laundry so that you have an opportunity to frame the testimony yourself. put some context around it, and potentially sort of take the sting out of it before it. cohen himself has to take the stand but i'll just say this is not good testimony from michael cohen, variety of respect. there were several points at which the witness testified that he had effectively been misled by cohen. i think the quote that we saw earlier, i'll just do it myself. it would not be surprised if we see that in the defense closing as indicative of cohen's sort of freelancing in this area. so it's good for the prosecutors to get it out in this way when they can control it. but these are not great facts from michael cohen, david urban, i think that trump defense team is going to use all this information. >> yeah. i mean, i think this morning, if i recall correctly, the banker said that when michael cohen called 90% of the time that michael cohen called him, it was a crisis michael cohen was losing his mind about something. and so i think the picture is going to be paid and
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that michael cohen unhinged. an unhinged actor that was acting in his own capacity here and is still doing it every night. he's live streaming for eight hours, making heart symbol. i mean, there's a lot of stuff that he's doing right now that i'm sure you're going to see in this trial it's pretty unflattering for michael cohen there's another key part, les davidson's testimony, you're looking at right? >> again, back to this idea of the impact on the campaign you're going to keep hearing this throughout the trial. keith davidson says, at one point, i think i was at this point in time, karen, this is mcdougal was teetering between two competing deals and we'd requested a meeting where each entity could make a pitch as to why they were the correct avenue for karen to bring her story forward. >> okay how did you respond to that davidson? >> i'm good. throw in an ambassadorship for me. i'm thinking the isle of man question, what did you mean by that, mr. davidson it was sort of ingest, but it was just a joke. so they can question.
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i'm trying to think about how to phrase this question. why was that a joke? why was that funny? what was going on in your mind when you made that joke? answer from davidson? well, i don't think i don't even think the isle of man is as a country. >> steinglass laughs and i know they don't have an ambassador, but i think it was a reference to mr. trump's candidacy question. >> can you just explain that a little bit more answer from davidson that somehow if karen did this deal with ami, that it would help donald trump's candidacy. question at the time that you sent that text ingest. did you understand that ami was working with then candidate trump regarding your client answered, i don't know about that. i don't know that i had specific information that they were or not working with him. i knew they'd announced their support for mr. trump, but i don't know that they were working with him okay. is it safe to assume from your joke that you had an understanding that if you were to close your deal, that would somehow benefit the candidate donald trump answer from keith
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davidson? yes ankush, how much does this speak to the to the suggestion that the campaign the trump campaign was the driver for of all this cash transfer. well, it's clearly relevant to sort of establishing a motive. why would they were engaged in this? the one thing i will just say that diminishes the sort of the power of that testimony is his own view, right? he's not saying i heard this from trump or i heard this from the trump campaign. it's relevant, but it's not really sort of the nail in the coffin. >> what do you think? >> can i can say interestingly, well this is all about a campaign violation, federal campaign violation. but yet word state court. right. so somehow that the state prosecutors going to just try to bootstrap this into the charge that they're actually here for, right? because the federal government passed on this. they took a pass on this case. so it'll be interesting to see how the statement prosecutor lands this play. and there'll be a really narrow jury instruction that the judge will give saying prosecutors do not have to prove and convict the individual, the defendant
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of the federal offense. >> you just have to establish that a crime that they were doing it to cover up a crime. and it's a little bit of mental gymnastics to make the jury go through. yeah, there's a lot more coming up to be sure. >> for our guys. thank you. very, very much. i should note kaitlan, we'll be back with us later. this hour just ahead. insides inside judge juan merchan's gag order ruling against trump and his threat to jail him for any future violations. i'll talk to a former new york supreme court justice who knows judge merchan well and we'll tell you what we're learning about trump's lead defense attorney a bit new reporting that he's angered the former president every piece of evidence tells a story how would really happen? jesse? oh, martin sunday's at nine on cnn how far would you go? >> is that the ambiance of your
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trump did shortly before the deadline this afternoon now, judge juan, were sean is warning trump that he he risks jail time if he defies the gag order. again, quoting now from the judge's order, quote defendant is hereby warned that the court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders. and then if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incursion territories punishment joining us now someone who has worked with the judge version and knows him well, retired new york state supreme court justice michael lobe is justice oberth. thank you so much for joining us as you know, is all of us know jaylene trump would be an extraordinary step, you know, judge merchan, is that something you think he would actually go? we're through with i'm certain that he does not want to have to go through with it but i am also confident that if really pushed to the wall he will do what has to be done. >> but i think that's highly
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unlikely partly because it would interfere with the trial itself, which is the main show here. this is the sideshow. >> the jury doesn't even know about this. >> hopefully and if the judge were to incarcerate the defendant that runs the risk of spilling out into the jury and even risking and mistrial. i don't think he'll be pushed that far. and in the meantime i think the potential penalty which judge were sean is now specifically referred to, which i thought was interesting thing has had some bearing on what defendant trump has had to say. i did catch his speech after the court proceedings today where he carried on about the gag order itself and about all the judges. judge kaplan, judging goren, judge merchan, about the district attorney. he did not say a word about the witnesses. >> he's remove the offending posts and posts and i expect he'll pay the fines. so it'll
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be interesting to see what happens thursday morning, but i don't think judge marchand will be pushed to the wall on this interesting on trump's remarks after the trial today, i want to play a brief extra of what he said. listen to this order is not only munich, it's totally constitution totally unconstitutionally says, how do you respond to that? >> well first of all even the even a gag order that is unlawful is not to be contested by violating it you can appeal it. you can do all kinds of things which the defense attorneys already have. and the gag order has been upheld not only that, i'm confident that it would be upheld in the future, it's really quite limited as you can see, mr. trump is able to carry on about all kinds of things about the case about the gag order, about the judge, and all of that. and that's well within his rights. so his complaint about it
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that's what he's allowed to say. but he's not violating the gag order by saying it as i noted, your a former new york state supreme court justice, who knows judge merchan, take us inside a bit. >> justice, how we balance is some of the very, very difficult decisions he's facing in this case. >> well, i have to say, first of all, as to the contempt proceeding, that's very unusual and most of us have not even had to deal with that and i don't think, judge, were sean has ever had anything like that up until now he is a very careful judge. >> he smart. he's knowledgeable, he's calm. he's fit so i think he's handled this very well and all of the other matters that have been raised, people don't quite appreciate, as i do how difficult it can be when you're presiding over a highly contested matter. of course, you had the assistance of your law clerk and the court staff and all of that. but basically are out there on your own you
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have to make decisions in real time. some of the time or reserve decision and spend your evening's getting ready to make a decision the next morning, he has done amazingly well with that. and i think what has shown is not only that, it seems to me that defendant trump has now lining himself with the with the gag order, and i sure his lawyers are advising him to do so. but also that the trial is actually proceeding quite efficiently and fairly and i think his lawyers note let's not forget this is the first time in american history, a former president of the united states has faced a criminal trial. justice michael alba's. thank you so much for joining us thank you very much, sir and coming up a closer look at donald trump's lead attorney and why the former president is reportedly fuming about his performance assignment with potty cornish. >> listen wherever you get your podcasts higher shipping rates may be the cost of doing business. but at what cost
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gets to say what country? >> comey country beyond say a nashville's renaissance streaming exclusively on macs we're back with our special breaking news coverage of donald trump's historic hush money trial. >> the former president apparently turning his anger right now on his lead, lawyer todd blanche brian tatas, born this a brian, what do we know about todd blanche and a new report that trump isn't happy with his performance. well, if the pressure on him is enormous, todd blanche is the first attorney in american history to represent a former president in a criminal trial. it was considered a risky move for him to leave his previous practice to take on donald trump is a client, and it does look now like blanche is starting to feel some of that pressure wherever you may be, please. thank you. president trump, donald trump has reportedly held todd blanche in very high esteem. >> but according to the new york times, the former president has recently turned
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some of his anger over this trial toward his 49 year-old lead defense attorney the times citing four people familiar with the situation, reporting that behind closed doors, trump has complained that blanche hasn't been aggressive enough in the courtroom and hasn't followed his instructions closely, has to be extremely stressful. its foot, todd blanche, this is the case of his career. this is a case of a lifetime for him to handle in the public view where everyone knows his name. we're all eyes are on him. >> despite trump's reported criticism, blanches tone has been aggressive in court filings and so far in court, he's been limited to his opening statement and cross-examining witnesses, whom he didn't pick as for blanche's courtroom style, he knows how to talk to witnesses so talk to people who doesn't necessarily relate with any sort of talked to a jury and he also tried tough cases. so i think it's off basis todd is not tough enough. he's the type of where you would hire apparent jab todd blanche is known by friends for being humble and non-confrontation,
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but also competitive with a dog and work ethic we're going to fight it. we're going to fight that. >> he worked days as a paralegal and had to take night classes to graduate from brooklyn law school. then as a federal prosecutor, worked on violent crimes, like robberies, homicides, blanche is a long federal prosecutor in the southern district of new york very well-respected left. >> his white shoe law firm, cad wallet or wicker sherman taft in order to serve as the president's lawyer inside trump world, blanche represented trump's 2016 campaign chairman paul manafort on state fraud charges that were later dismissed. he's also defended rudy giuliani is former associate, igor freeman, and trump's legal and political advisor, boris epstein in this current case, it was blanches aggression that actually got him in trouble with judge1 were shot when he persisted in defending trump against a gag order violation charge. judge merchan told blanche, quote, your losing all
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credibility with the court. analysts say these are the pitfalls of representing donald trump. >> you have a client who is very strong headed, who expects things from his lawyers that they cannot deliver. >> who after his many decades of entanglement with the legal system often appears to believe he knows better than his lawyers what should happen a source close to the former president's legal team downplay the idea of possible tension with trump and the team telling cnn a criminal trial is an inherently stressful situation that the team is just fine and focused on the witnesses that matter wolff very interesting. bryan todd reporting brian could report. thank you very much and joining us now, the former federal prosecutor, sarah chris off, who worked with todd blanche at the manhattan us attorney's office. sarah, thanks so much for joining us. you know, todd blanche well how do you read his and trump's relationship, and how much of this tension that apparently is going on is
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natural in such a high stress criminal trial yet, i mean, todd ishee really excellent lawyer. >> he was my supervisor at the us attorney's office and was frankly a fantastic supervisor and attorney, i hold him in very hi regard. this is most certainly a high-stakes trial for him, but i'm confident, frankly, if anyone can handle the pressure, both from the press court and trump itself have trump himself todd, i think he's going to run this trial the way he wants to do it, the way he thinks is best for his client. he'll take into account input from trump, listened to him and make decisions himself on how to proceed strategically todd blanche appease trump's reported andrew that he's not being let's say, aggressive enough without potentially jeopardizing this entire case.
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yeah. i mean, aggression is really not the thing he wants to show in front of the jury here, right? this is a panel of jurors are looking at everything that todd does. they're looking at the foreign president. they are examining each one of these witnesses and the legal team for every the nuance, every emotion, every word aggression is really not the tack that tied wants to take here. so he's you know, that is a lot of client. there's a lot of client relations here that are going to be very difficult, particularly with trump and his personality. but hopefully todd ishee is managing all of that sir, why do you think todd blanche took this job on knowing the stakes nor stakes and trump's reputation as someone who was a difficult client, who even dodgers paying his lawyers i'm sure he spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not to proceed with this representation.
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>> both for financial reasons reputational reasons ultimately, he decided to forgo as partnership, but it really prestigious firm take this job, which i am sure for his is extremely stressful every day that is avoided. the cameras, i think as much as possible, he likes to be in the back. he let's trump speak. he let's other members of the team speak and he's doing sort of the the substantive work, writing the motions and appearing in court on trump's behalf. but he he decided that the benefits outweigh the costs here the point that sarah chris off thanks for your insight. >> we appreciate it very much. i'm just the had the trump criminal trial zeroes in on the money trail. we're breaking down more significant testimony. that's next from meat free monday to sizzle pans
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>> absolutely free text be raw to 369369. today i'm dr. sanjay gupta and this is cnn we're digging deeper into today's testimony in the trump criminal trial and what it revealed about the trail of money paid to keep stormy daniels quiet caitlin poland's is back with us, right? >> docx, caitlin, take us through some of the key witnesses and the key points made today.
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>> well, these are all for people who were on the stand today testifying. keith davidson, we've talked a lot about him, the attorney for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, these two people, robert browning and philip thompson, they both were bringing things into evidence that donald trump has said in the deposition. and then in cspan, one of them is the archivist. browning is the archivist for tse spans video archives. so we saw some of trump's statements about that time. gary farro though, is who i want to focus on. he really did a lot today to bring more evidence into this case. it's gonna be very important for the prosecutors to prove what they want to prove to sell it to the jury to make sure that paperwork is all shown to them. and what he did is he gave a snapshot of a two day period where the money move. this is all important in proving this transaction going to stormy daniel's ultimately from michael cohen, october 26, michael cohen opens an account with the bank and this is gary
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fair, the banker from first republic bank testifying to the opening of this account under the name essential consultants, a shell company ultimately, he then very quickly moves his $131,000 from his home equity line of credit into that bank account to make money available there. and then the very next day, transfers $130,000 to stormy daniel's lawyer, keith davidson, ultimately, for her to get that money to keep her quiet. all of this is very important and additionally, gary pharaoh had things to say about what the bank would have wanted to know about this transaction that moved so quickly. very unusually quickly he said in his transcript he was being asked by prosecutor becky mangled. so now we've looked at the account opening documents for a consultants in some detail, right? gary farro responded, yes. >> mangled said, we'll probably more detail than anybody wanted. >> so he laughed and then she continued. did any of the account opening paperwork
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indicate that the account would be used to make a payment on behalf of a political candidate gary farro? no mangled, would the banks process for opening the account be different if mr. cohen had indicated the account would be used to make a payment on behalf of a political candidate. he said there would be additional scrutiny the transcript then continued mangled. the prosecutor asked him, would that have delayed the opening of the account? quite possibly, the banker said, is it possible that the account wouldn't have been opened at all? >> it's possible. >> the transcript continued later. did any of the account opening paperwork indicate that the account would be used to pay an adult film star, the banker said no with the banks process for opening the account, be different if mr. cohen had indicated that the account would be used to pay an adult film star gary farro said, absolutely. mangles said, how would it be different? he said, well, we would certainly ask additional questions. it's not our money to determine where it goes. however, it is an industry that we do not work
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with. so there would be a determination made by the second and third line of defense if it was something that we would move forward on, the prosecutor asked him and that would have delayed the opening of the account. pharaoh, that would certainly have deleted mangled. and is it possible that the account wouldn't have been opened at all? >> gary farro said, yes, it is. >> so that crucial testimony very likely going to be something we're talking about again and again in 20 transfer happening just a few days before the presidential election in 2016. all right, thanks very much. katelyn polantz reporting coming up donald trump's see some friendly faces in the courtroom, including his son, eric what it means for him and his campaign, love details when we come down water would help us is dry spots. >> that's known disease but scott's healthy plus will cure lung disease going around. >> so like other people have it and it's not pick up with guts, dirt build a healthy plus
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house, shop, hundreds of projects now and get your discount code. >> and rafael romo, the georgia state capitol in atlanta. this is cnn for the first time in over two weeks, donald trump, i had the support of a family member inside the courtroom the son eric, was there today, seated in the first row along with a trump political ally, the texas attorney general, ken paxton. >> let's bring in former trump administration deputy press secretary, sarah mathews is with the in situation room as is cnn's national correspondent, kristin harmless, kristen, what's
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behind this notable change in support? in the courtroom? >> so i don't necessarily know if it was a noticeable change in support rather than just cycling people through for a couple of reasons. one, donald trump and his team want to show that they have a unity behind them of the republican party. so you're starting to see people wasn't just eric. you're all starting to see david macintosh runs foot club for growth, somebody who had been feuding with for roughly over a a year and now has come back into the fold. you saw him paxton there they are trying to show that he's got has the republican party behind them now of course, he wants to have one of his kids in there as well, but the other part of this is just the fact that it is a logistical challenge. they cannot have just trump's advisers in there every single day because they can't have access to their phones and they can't do any work when there in that courtroom. so part of this is the fact that they need to cycle people through because the same people can't sit there time and time again. >> what does that say to you, sarah, about the toll? this is apparently taking on trump? >> yeah, i think that this trial is taking a toll on him. he doesn't like not being in control. and so having to appear every day in this
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courtroom, we've heard them complain numerous chris times about how cold he is complaining about having to sit up straight and i think he wants to have some sense of control and have his people there. and it's a show of force as well. and so to have a family member there today, definitely, i think was good for him, but then i think too that he is having a hard time with not being control and sitting there every day because he's used to being at mar-a-lago where when he enters the room, they stand up and clap for him. and in this courtroom, he's being treated like every other american is because as we know in this country, no one is above the law, but it's definitely probably frustrating for him and it's taking a physical toll on him as well. i think to it his tiring having to sit there for hours on end just for any normal defendant, let alone an elderly defendant. and so i think that it's certainly taking a toll on him in that aspect to are very good point. a christian, it's, it's interesting that the trump strategy for tomorrow i'm very
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interested in that because there's no court session tomorrow. >> yeah. they're actually going on the campaign trail. i mean, as we've reported, they told us time and time again, both for president trump and his campaign that every off day, whether it be a wednesday or a saturday, hue be on the campaign trail. well, that hasn't really played get out we know that he did try to have one event, but it was canceled because of weather. but other than that, he's been hosting dinners at his at trump tower. he played golf at bedminster, not on the campaign trail despite saying that this trial was keeping him off the campaign trail. so tomorrow is going to be in both wisconsin and michigan. these are obviously two states that they believe are absolutely really critical to his pathway back to the white house. they are states that he won in 2016, almost shockingly, but then lost in 2020. and they believe that the only way they're calling the must-win state for them to go back to the white house as to when these two states does any of this sarah resonate with trump's base i think it does nothing except for harden, his support with his base. >> look, they're going to be with him no matter what we've seen that in the polling, they've said that if he's convicted, they're still going
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to support him no matter what and i think the thing that he's going to have to worry about him and his team is not his base in this trial. the court of public opinion, it's going to be particularly independence and women, because i think when you look at this trial, the optics of it aren't great. i mean, this wasn't a fair he had with a porn star shortly after his wife gave birth to their child. and for women who might be on the fence out, donald trump because they're unsure about his character. this is just another binder of the kind of man that he is. and so this is something that they might have to deal with with this trial, but also who knows, it's certainly could not have an impact at all when you look at 20:16, the access hollywood tape came out and he still went on to be successful. >> good point to a sarah mathews, kristen holmes, ladies. thank you very much coming up there's breaking news in the anti gaza worth on the anti gaza were demonstrations over at columbia university of new york air speaking out moments ago as students are occupying a campus building sunday story in one of
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even happened to serve pro can the riva support your brain health? mary janice, hey eddie, know, appraiser, franck. frank bred. how are you? >> fred fuel up to seven brain health indicators, including your memory, joined the neretva brain health challenge i'm lauren fox on capitol hill, and this is cnn then stay with cnn for much more of the trump trial. but right now, we're also following breaking news on the campus. campus unrest over at columbia university in new york. cnn, shimon prokupecz is just outside the columbia campus. shimon, we just heard from the new york mayor eric adams, give us the latest while wolf certainly in an escalation here from the nypd, the presence here is quite extensive. we have not seen this kind of police presence outside of columbia university the mayor warning the protesters that are inside the campus and around the campus that it's time to leave. and
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he is warning the families and the parents of these protesters to call their kids and tell them to leave. the problem here, according to the nypd and the mayor, is that the protests has been taken over by outside elements. >> and that there is now a security concern, a safety concern on the campus and around the area. >> the mayor was talking about the several hello individuals who stormed the building here, the hamilton building here at columbia, that has changed everything. and it appears that the nypd now has information which is concerning to them. and so look at what they have done here, what we have not seen, anything like this. broadway, you are familiar wolf with here. this area in morningside heights there's no traffic here. they have shut down this entire area. they have moved in. >> more police officers. they are using these metal barriers to sort of keep the street clothes. but certainly wolfe, there
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