legal expense. so michael cohen has to be the virtual entirety of this case to avoid a directed verdict. that's what we're waiting. we're getting to that point now. >> bill: we're waiting how they come off the pommel horse and the high bar and stick the landing. to jonathan, andy, jonna, john, byron, marc, charlie, whoever else and paul, thank you. paul mauro, who is 24/seven, we have to run. our coverage continues with harris in a moment here. i will head down to the courthouse. a tough ticket to get. i will get the opportunity to take advantage of it and let you know what i see and hear throughout the day and into the evening hours when that happens. >> dana: coverage all day. breaking news and "the five" this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. eastern. harris faulkner will take you through the next hour. here she is. >> harris: and we begin with this fox news alert. our continuing coverage, he was

so shady, michael cohen secretly recorded his client, donald trump. he has already been convicted of lying to congress and done prison. yet the michael dean cohen is the prosecution's star witness. in the new york versus trump trial. cohen used to be trump's lawyer and personal fixer as he was called. legal experts say his testimony could make or break this case. i'm harris faulkner and you are in "the faulkner focus." michael cohen says he was directed to falsify business records in order to conceal payments to sex film worker stormy daniels ahead of the 2016 election. those payments were in exchange for silence about her alleged affair with trump and while no witness -- this is perfect, we know that -- cohen is a special brand of liar like your pants are on fire. the judge in the case has refused to put a gag order on

cohen, who posted several hours on tiktok can't stop talking about trump and the trial. the judge said maybe he could talk a little less this weekend. he sid that on friday. yeah. gregg jarrett, an attorney himself, says manhattan district attorney alvin bragg is relying on a shaky star. >> he is what i call a pinocchio witness, disgraced, disbarred, convicted perjurer, went to prison lying. he is still lying. he recently admitted that he lied in court when he copped his guilty plea. the angry federal judge called him a serial perjurer, which he is. yet alvin bragg has invested his entire case on a guy with 0 credibility. you would have to be either desperate or deeply unethical to do that. >> harris: now he is face-to-face with the judge, jury and his former boss.

fox news senior correspondent eric shawn on the story in a great way outside the new york state supreme court keeping us up to date moment by moment, eric. >> hi, it is a tense and electric day here at manhattan criminal court. a few moments ago michael cohen it is fair to call him former president trump's fixer. he was the guy who the former president went to get things done and that trump was in the loop on every little detail in the trump organization. right now michael cohen still on the stand, haven't taken a break yet. he said his decade as trump's lawyer was fantastic. he felt like he was, quote, on top of the world. he did say he would renegotiate contracts, challenge bills from vendors, do whatever trump wanted, he said, that included lying for the former president at times. he tried to show he had a direct and constant line to the boss telling him repeatedly and talking to him every single day. he is trying to show that trump

is a micro manager, the inference the payments to stormy daniels and calling the checks to cohen as legal expenses not reimbursements that the former president signed, all of this would not have happened without trump's okay. cohen has been testifying about dealing with david pecker, the publisher of the "national enquirer" when karen mcdougal's story emerged about the alleged affair with the former president. trump told him she is really beautiful and make sure it doesn't get released. prosecutors are trying to show there was a concerted conspiracy between trump, cohen and others to hide claims from the public. the prosecutor did not ask a key question. why? was it to protect the former president's family and melania or as the prosecution claims was it all part of an effort to try to influence the presidential election?

the former president has been under a gag order. he doesn't like that at all and not able to talk about or attack michael cohen. he let loose on cohen at the last trial pointing out that cohen is a convicted felon and liar. >> we have records. the only thing is that we call a legal expense a legal expense. we don't call it a construction expense or concrete or electrical work. we paid a lawyer a legal expense. >> you think he would be saying the same thing now in court if the former president would be allowed to speak. he can't under that gag order. so harris, as far as the trial is concerned, we have no witness so far directly tying the former president into any of this. michael cohen is the one that prosecutors have put all their chips on. the question is, will they win

or crap out? back to you. >> harris: well, i don't gamble a lot. i wouldn't give them my money. good to see you, thank you. legal panel. a criminal defense attorney. matt whitaker former acting attorney general under donald trump. andrew stolteman, law professor at northwestern university. great to see you all. a little bit of what is coming out of the courtroom to get us started. they have asked michael cohen about the case involving karen mcdougal and she is a former playboy bunny, was paid off to quiet her story. and ami, which owns the "national enquirer" was involved in that. all right. in august of 2016 cohen learned, he says, that an agreement had been finalized between ami and karen mcdougal. david pecker and howard told cohen that she would get

$150,024 articles that would are her name and that she would be on two magazine covers. talk to me, katie, about this particular deal. it wasn't to quiet her necessarily but to give her some good p.r. and make her happy. why does this matter to this case? >> it really doesn't matter to this case and whether these deals, lawful deals. lawful to enter into ndas and hush money agreements, as we've been calling that. but the question about the intent of the payment is really what the prosecution is trying to get out here. ultimately michael cohen was involved with these deals. donald trump was his boss. so there is no question about the fact that these deals occurred. but whether they prove up to criminality we have not closed the loop whatsoever. to reason to think that because anybody was paid that the records indicate some sort of false statement, paying a lawyer legal fees even for

reimbursement has not shown to be unlawful unless it was an inappropriate designation for the payments. i don't see the relevance of that. >> harris: matt, i want to come to you on this same point. david pecker, who was tasked, i believe, with the coverage, if you will, for the "national enquirer" of these stories, told michael cohen, according to cohen, that the agreement was bullet proof. the one with karen mcdougal. cohen took this to mean they got it, they prevented the story from being released on abc news effectively the story has now been caught. cohen updated trump and said it was bullet proof. trump said fantastic, great job. again we're talking karen mcdougal. matt. >> well first of all, another day of trial, another witness and still no -- nowhere close to allegations or evidence of illegality. i think the jury is probably at

this point four weeks in very frustrated with the prosecution and the story they are telling and hoping or looking for something to hang their hat on. one of the things that, you know, as we get the read-outs here from people in the courtroom, that the jury has access to, the non-verbal. michael cohen's, the way he looks, the way he acts, the way he is testifying, and that's going to be worth as much as the words that are coming out of his mouth. you know, the prosecution is trying to build him up trying to give him softball questions to have the jury have some sympathy. they will destroy him on cross examination. >> harris: andrew, i want to make it clear, karen mcdougal also alleges having had an affair with donald trump and during the course of this, and matt has a great point, so we're only getting the words, not getting the texture of the non-verbal inside the courtroom, but this is from kerry urbahn.

cohen says trump said you handle it. she said that's vague. that doesn't necessarily mean buy the rights to a story. >> yeah, absolutely. look, it is just one of the many holes in this case for the prosecutors. i guess my question, harris, is how come they haven't called karen mcdougal yet? they know because they have a liar in michael cohen, a porn owe star in stormy daniels and they can't put another non-credible witness up there. the entire house of cards and the entire case will slowly collapse once mr. cohen has testified. first year law students are salivating at the opportunity to cross-examine him. he will come off as a liar in the great liars in the country like even pinocchio. >> harris: to double back for a moment how would you utilize

michael cohen in this case? obviously this is a guy who is willing to sur up tarpously to record his own client. who knows what he might say? >> that's it. there are two lawyers on this jury. the one thing that lawyers hold sacred is the duty of confidentiality. they will be particularly repulsed by mr. cohen. i think prosecutors do have to try to get all the bad news out there early, right? conspiracies crafted in hell don't have angels at witnesses. you have a lawyer, a member of the bar, a convicted liar. they have cataclysmic problems on their hands. >> harris: andrew brought this up. the case got shortened after stormy daniels took the stand. in fact, the notice that we got out of the trial on thursday was interesting the prosecution is no longer calling mcdougal could indicate they realize stormy daniels ended up on balance not

being good for their case. >> absolutely. i think the jury is losing patience with these largely irrelevant witnesses. mcdougal would add nothing whether donald trump engaged in criminal conduct by falsifying records. the prosecution is trying to get to that donald trump entered these payments as vague legal retainer which was covering up cohen's later federal offense which he pled guilty to. that's a very strange theory because alvin bragg doesn't have jurisdiction to enforce federal law. i don't know if cohen should have taken that deal. that was lumped in with the rest of his other federal offenses. that doesn't mean they could have proven that charge against him beyond a reasonable. that's my theory at least at this point. >> harris: now you are saying maybe he shouldn't have taken that deal. he didn't even have a good idea attorney. >> that was one of the many charges he was facing. that's probably their theory. it doesn't mean they can prove donald trump's intent even if

they had cohen on it. >> harris: they might be able to say if you can't defend yourself, would you hire this guy? probably not. >> harris: we'll follow everything going on and getting it moment by moment. our team is texting and email from inside. one difference today, remember last week the judge got very frustrated by a photographer who went to the wrong spot and saw people he wasn't supposed to with his camera and the judge said no more cameras in the courtroom. but today we did get a picture. that softened a little bit. as soon as the former president walks out to those what i call the baby gates of justice out front, when he gets there we'll take him live if he makes a comment. sometimes during the day the breaks are so short he will do a fist bump and wave. we are all over it straight

ahead more. stay close. there's an old saying in the navy that the toughest job in the navy is a navy wife. and if you've made the deployments and you've been the wife at home, or you've been the spouse at home, you understand what i'm talking about. your spouse has earned the right to apply for a va home loan. the newday 100 loan allows you to borrow up to 100% of your home's value. so if you're in a situation where you need some help financially, give us a call.

>> harris: we come in now with breaking news from the trial. that historic trial of a former president on trial in new york city. and just in, michael cohen has just testified about a conversation he secretly recorded. i told you client/attorney privilege out the window with this guy. they played that recording, according to our team inside the courtroom. it's remarkable, this is from one of our producers saying it is remarkable that a lawyer would tape his client and then take it to a magazine publisher to, according to cohen, prove trump would pay him and insure his loyalty. seems like an obvious violation

of the rules of professional responsibility, attorney/client privilege, etc. matt whitaker. they will hear these tapes. what do you make of it? >> well, obviously i agree with everything you just said about the attorney/client privilege and what michael cohen would do. he has talked a lot about this case. he talked a lot about the facts of this case and done interviews with magazines. he went in front of congress and lied and got convicted. so many times he told the story. now the prosecution really, i think, is expecting him to say more than he has ever said. it is very dangerous because the jury it will fall into the hands are you lying then or are you lying now? i just don't think he is going to be credible once they get done with him. this is distracting us from so many other important issues like the insecure border that the f.b.i. director has said has caused the most dangerous threat

environment since 9/11. it is despicable. >> harris: you tip a little bit to politics there. i want to bring in fox news contributor tammy bruce to join our attorneys here. this is a lot to take in. the fact that donald trump, tammy, had an actual representative in his orbit who would sur whip -- secretly record him is the height of betrayal. >> it is fascinating the democrats and left, people who hate trump, expected this to be really their campaign kind of highlighting what a bad guy trump is. and it just highlights the point for trump's candidacy and the reason he is successful and the reason people of america see him especially the 100,000 in new jersey a couple of days ago why they support trump. the corruption in general. people being relied upon, the

nature of the prosecution itself. people who betray and cheat and lie all brought together in a very bizarre ironic effort to try to point the finger at donald trump. and i think that this is why, when they thought this would be something that would suck support away from trump and his campaign, but this is the democratic campaign. americans don't like it. i don't think the jury will like it. i believe there are two lawyers on this jury who really do understand what they are attempting to do here. i also think it is quite cynical for the prosecution. i believe in part they thought that this jury would do as they are told. that's what they expect from leftists and what they expect from their own base at this point, that people will deliver what based on emotion, based on revenge or whatever else. and that, i think, is also unfortunate and reveals a kind of shallowness and corruption of the left of the democrat party,

of new york officials in general. so president trump is really highlighting here by sitting there and by being persecuted the entire point of what his argument was with the now both of his campaigns. >> harris: we're now getting a read-out of what is happening inside the courtroom. tammy, thank you. please stay with us. so these are exhibits 246 and 248. they are the recording of conversations and the transcript so you have 246 recording, 248 the transcript. i want to try to take you inside the courtroom as much as we can without video at this point and limited pictures. at least maybe might get another picture today. michael cohen confirms it is his voice. it is trump's voice and it is ronna graph's voice. he confirms he walked into trump's office. trump was on the phone. it recorded parts of the call.

a piece of property in charleston and divorce papers. the attorney then says play the recording. and you can hear trump say let me know what's happening, okay? this is on the recording. maybe because of this it would be better if you didn't go -- and then it must be an [inaudible] -- but the next words are such blank, blank, full blank and i think this goes away quickly. probably better than the charleston thing. you could then here cohen say great call. and then cohen says also we got served from "the new york times" and sealing divorce papers with ivana. i need a open a company regarding the transfer of all that information for our friend, david. maybe david pecker? i look at katie across the table. i've spoken to allen weisselberg. i'm all over that when it comes to the financing, trump says. what financing? so you have cohen telling him what he is going to do and trump

says what financing? cohen confirms the first two minutes were not related to karen mcdougal. replaying the call for the court, cohen says our friend david referred to pecker and they needed to open an llc to be the owner of what david was referencing in order to have separation. keeping it away from trump for privacy purpose and for the benefit of trump. katie. this is a lot to take in, too. >> well, i'm still unclear why that is criminal. michael cohen was his attorney at the time and handling many matters for president trump and in terms of the decisions about how things are paid and financed, these are all lawful deals. that has been established. at the end of the day we have to get back to the basic here. the charges against trump are that he falsified business records p an intent to aid or conceal the commission of another offense. how are these false? people are allowed to pay lawyers back later for something

they did. i'm really unclear what the purpose of that is aside from showing that michael cohen was doing some sort of work for donald trump. why would donald trump think it was unlawful at the time? they have to close the loop on that if they want to make that allegation. >> harris: andrew, i want to be careful not to call everybody shady. it is interesting. cohen just said they couldn't use pecker's full name. i guess in the phone conversation or the documents in this, because it wasn't necessary and trump knew who they were referencing. well, i also read a little bit earlier, maybe 10 minutes ago, that they didn't use david pecker as much by name in documents because he was trying to become the ceo of time, inc. i won't call everybody shady. it sounds a little shady. >> absolutely. there are so many land mines in this case. this is the reason why cyrus vance, the predecessor to alvin bragg, who is no fan of donald

trump decided not to bring these charges. you are introducing irrelevant stuff to try to make innocent things look nefarious. problem number 836 in this case. >> harris: look, we just saw the former president of the united states walk out, donald trump. he did not stop to speak. it is going to be ten or 15 minutes as the early ones usually are. we take a quick commercial break and come right back.

>> harris: all right. so remember the recording? we'll get them. uploading them into our system so we can play those out. what kind of an attorney records his client? what kind of an attorney records his client? so michael cohen's dirty work of recording his client, former president donald trump, we will play on the air momentarily. i want to bring in our lawyers

again, katie and matt and andrew and standing by tammy bruce is with us as well today. which is fabulous. we can get into the politics. moment by moment i want to play this. cohen says he handled matters the concerned trump, quote, end quote, whatever he wanted. cohen says he was presented with an opportunity that would -- he would bring it to trump immediately. tammy, we have talked about the loyalty that this former president ex acts from people around him. michael cohen didn't get that message. >> yes, what's interesting here, and i have not heard anybody speak about this. cohen's existence. almost like a perfect useful idiot when it comes to the government and f.b.i. he testified he did a variety of things for trump and that obviously it was before and after the election, etc. so this in and of itself shows

that this was -- if you are having to figure out or be psychic to figure out what the intention of donald trump was, you can see that this didn't just start to begin to happen during the election. that this was the way he did business. and again as your experts and lawyers have noted, this is -- none of this is illegal. so you have a man, his very existence and own testimony shows that the things that were happening because of women coming forward during an election, was the way that things were always handled regardless. when there is never an election before for president trump and yet he would handle things in a similar way because he had the means with which to do so. and i think people expected then to there be some kind of riches of a response. so i think that that is important and perhaps the jury sees that because there doesn't seem to be any other way to determine what was the intention of these actions? well, you can look at, i think as we do in legal cases, i'm

note a lawyer, but you look at the totality of the nature of the b behavior. is it just this or the nature of the business. >> harris: i want to get what the liberal mead are doing now. he played a role almost immediately after stormy daniels testified. even the liberal media, some in the legacy that have been here forever and call themselves fair but then reported the russia hoax and didn't apologize to sort of very quietly took it back kind of sort of. even the liberal media are admitting trump's new york criminal trial is lacking solid reasoning. watch this. >> what he did wrong and -- >> trials against him keep in the spotlight and his buys sees

him as a martyr and the sympathy of people who believe his prosecutors are politically motivated. this happens to be true in my opinion. i doubt the new york indictment would have been brought against a defendant whose name was not donald trump. >> harris: a little bit of honesty there. what is your take on that? >> i think it's very credible. it is clear to any attorneys or anybody through the criminal justice process that this case is baseless. they have not presented any evidence. alvin] and michael cohen said the case did not rely upon michael cohen but one of the last witnesses and he has to present some evidence of criminality. they don't have it. it is quite an embarrassment for the legal system. >> harris: the feds passed on this. why? >> the big question. not only the feds and sec there was no action to be taken for to alleged campaign violations. there is no criminality that they can prove.

we've seen that play out in realtime now and bragg is holding the bag. >> harris: matthew whitaker, i want to come to you with a point i was reading from the transcripts inside the courtroom today. so cohen says he reported directly to trump. and i also want to talk to you, matt, because you were in the trump orbit. you were acting director -- acting attorney general for our nation. you will know a little bit about maybe some people around the president and how thirsty some people can get. he wanted to have that be the case when he elected to take the position, it was clear he was reporting just to trump. so that's a bit of access to power there, i would imagine. cohen says that trump would ask him to renegotiate bills. for example, a law firm would send an invoice trump didn't believe the invoice was fair or justify and give cohen the task of renegotiating the bill. previous to the presidency. i would imagine you saw all sorts of people around the

president who might, you know, get drunk on some power. is there any way to know exactly what michael cohen was doing to hold the former president's feet to the fire? sounds like he had -- >> i think there are a couple of key points to your pointing all that point. one, michael cohen has said that he wanted to be attorney general or white house counsel and didn't get that and very disappointed and almost angry. not qualified, i might add, certainly angry. second, you know, when he didn't get a pardon that changed everything for michael cohen. so i think he has been -- had an axe to grind and that will come out. a lot of people are saying no crimes or no facts that allege a crime. it is not just showing that donald trump, you know, falsified business records. he had to do it intentionally to cover up another crime. not just have the effect of

covering up another crime. that's a place where the prosecution is not going to be able to get to. the southern district of new york who prosecuted michael cohen and added this fec violation that i disagreed with at the time when i was attorney general, you know, they are the ones that didn't prosecute donald trump and for good reason. michael cohen is your only witness that can give you the facts necessary to prove this and michael cohen has no credibility. >> harris: we just saw donald trump walk in and gave a thumbs up there. going back in. a short break. shortly from now they will resume the trial. michael cohen as far as we know is still on the stand and we have the recording. so we are going to tee that up next but i want you to finish your thought, matt. >> my only point was is this throwaway southern district charge against michael cohen was used to politically damage the president at the time.

it was done in sort of at the last second right before his plea was going to be made public and he wasing to go into court and plead and added nothing to his sentence. it was completely -- it really his frauds and lying michael cohen. >> harris: it set him up to be in a frenzy when he had to defend himself and finds him in a position today, it's interesting. i think tammy called him a useful idiot in the case by the prosecution. i do want to play exhibit 246 and it is the recording that michael cohen, shady as it was, it is a one-party state. he did not let his client know he was recording him. we have that recording. let's listen together. >> correct. so i'm all over that and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing. >> what financing?

>> we'll have to pay. >> pay cash? >> no, no, no. i got -- >> harris: andrew, that little bit we just heard. as we get it we'll play it. your thoughts. >> that creates an inference that trump really doesn't know what michael cohen is talking about, number one. number two it makes michael cohen looks more repugnant and the creature that he is. remember, harris, if this jury thinks that any payment was made to simply cover up his affair so his wife wouldn't get upset, that's game, set and match for donald trump and his defense team. that means no crime. so it is not just the lack of credibility, but you have to prove the intent. let's say this jury accepts what michael cohen says. i find that hard to believe. prosecutors still cannot prove the intent that donald trump had to commit this alleged crime. >> harris: andrew, i also get something else from that recording. can we hit it one more time?

it is relatively short the bit we've gotten so far. let's listen. >> correct. so i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it when it comes time for the financing, which will be >> what financing? >> we'll have to pay. >> pay cash? >> no, no, no. >> harris: so andrew, this is someone recording his client but also advising his client and getting paid to advise his client. when his client understand what are you talking about? no, no, no, we'll do it my way. he has an idea how they will take care of whatever this issue is and it will involve some money and i got this, i got this. in other words, he is his guy. remember, he wanted to report directly to donald trump. somebody trump obviously trusted. he told me that himself personally. i interviewed him at the white

house the day of michael cohen's sentencing when he was president. so i know for a fact he trusted him. >> absolutely. there is a sub issue in this case. that is i relied on my counsel. anything that was done was done by the criminal michael cohen and not by me. that's the big bull's eye the prosecutors are missing. they can't link this activity to donald trump. they can link it to cohen and i expect trump's lawyer to argue in closing statements that if any crime was committed, it was committed by cohen and not by donald trump and it is just another hole in the piece of cheese of this case that the prosecutors are presenting. >> harris: quickly, katie. they have asked for a mistrial twice. you do that to get on record, i would think. >> you have to preserve that issue for the appeal. in terms of stormy daniels' testimony it was require. the judge ruled most of that shouldn't have come in but it

was the judge's fault. a mistrial would have been the appropriate thing to ask for. >> harris: do they do it when he is done? >> they should object during the testimony and they have to -- >> harris: i just typed out a couple of questions for our team inside the courtroom about the thing. i want to know the texture, what we can't see what the objections are like and some of the body language is. we're working with the team. i'm outside, they're inside. we'll get it done for you. keep watching. stay close. fresh ap proach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmer's dog. made by vets and delivered right to your door precisely portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come. ♪

every day, veteran homeowners are calling newday to pay off credit card debt that's been piling up. many were shocked to learn they've been paying 22% on their credit card balances. and if payments were late, as much as 30%. that's over three times the interest rate on a newday 100 va home loan. pay off high rate credit cards and other debt with a lower rate newday home loan. save hundreds a month, thousands a year. isolated...depressed... and embarrassed. that's how it felt to live with bladder and bowel incontinence. but that changed when my urologist told me about axonics therapy. a long-lasting solution that has really changed my life. this is not another drug, and it works. visit findrealrelief.com to arrange an appointment with an expert physician to determine if axonics therapy is right for you. results and experiences may vary.

stop suffering in silence. (♪) with wet amd, i worry i'm not only losing my sight, but my time to enjoy it. but now, i can open up my world with vabysmo. (♪) vabysmo is the first fda-approved treatment for people with wet amd that improves vision and delivers a chance for up to 4 months between treatments, so i can do more of what i love. (♪) (♪)

vabysmo works differently, it's the only treatment designed to block 2 causes of wet amd. vabysmo is an eye injection. don't take it if you have an infection, active eye swelling, or are allergic to it. treatments like vabysmo can cause an eye infection or retinal detachment. vabysmo may cause a temporary increase in eye pressure after receiving the injection. there is an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots. severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye can occur. most common eye side effects were cataract and broken blood vessels. open up your world with vabysmo. a chance for up to 4 months between treatments with vabysmo. ask your doctor.

>> harris: all right, we're back with katie, matthew and andrew, along with for politics today the fabulous tammy bruce. we have a legal team able to handle any of this. i sent through another note asking for what it looks like in terms of the objections. katie, you brought up a good point. if they are sitting there taking this in, you wouldn't be doing that. you would be interjecting constantly. >> i think that's important for them especially some people don't want to look bad in front of a jury. it is important to preserve the issues and point out the inappropriate testimony coming in. >> harris: interesting to know. matt, i will come to you.

cohen's testimony is moving slowly. imagine that. it takes a moment to think of what the truth is, i would imagine. so far we are not getting a lot inside the courtroom on the intent to defraud element. where is trump's intent to influence the election? not hearing anything about that. in fact, we heard from cohen that it sounded like david pecker, ami, "national enquirer," you know, offered to catch and kill. that's pecker's intent, not trump's. this is the latest coming out of the courtroom after they got started after the short break. matt. >> yeah, and i would expect it will go slow. to your point, michael cohen has told the story many times and he has to be careful, even though he has been on all sides of the story. he has to pick a lane and stick with that today. if he makes up new testimony i think that's the most interesting thing that i'm watching. if he tries to prove this intent element, to your point, i think that is going to be not only an

interesting development, but highly likely he made it up in the moment today. so on the objections, harris, i've tried cases both as a prosecutor and defense lawyer. and art more than a signs. you have to be careful. the jury gets irritated. you have to pick your right places to observe your record but you can't object every question. >> harris: i will stay with you for a second because i want to further the same note that came out of the court room. next paragraph. prosecutors are spending a lot of time talking about the mcdougal deal. all i said previously, all of that about offering to catch and kill, that's pecker's intent, not trumps, all of that we're still on karen mcdougal, which is not charged in the indictment. now i'm really confused. they are giving a lot of time to a guy talking about an issue, a guy who lies talking about an issue that has nothing to do with the case against donald trump.

this courtroom, historic trial in new york. >> and not only has nothing to do with this case but it is not -- the fundamental case is the alleged falsification of business records. that donald trump intentionally did that. i guess what they are trying to do is score cheap political points. this case has always been political to me. there was never going to be a chance to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. they hoped a jury would go along with them. it is an out rage. >> harris: we have names of people. senator rick scott was there last week. now we have congressman j.d. vance. let's watch in support of trump outside that courthouse where trump is. >> so let me just say a few things, guys. i will wait for you, sorry. that works. guys, so let me just make a few

observations and i'll kick it over to cindra. i'll wait. >> harris: the congressman from ohio is still getting set up. trying to get a microphone on him. we knew there would be more lawmakers because senator rick scott of the great state of florida last week, when he spoke in support of trump outside the courthouse, said that he had been watching this trial. they do have a holding area. it is unclear where they are watching from. you saw to the side representative malliotakis as well. so we know there are lawmakers who are going to not only come to the former president's defense, but also comment on this trial. surrogates, if you will, for that purpose because of the intense gag order that has been put on trump. we understand that the names on the list are a couple of

attorneys general from alabama, iowa, senator tuberville and again congresswoman malliotakis is there and you saw j.d. vance. let's watch again. >> let me say something about what i have witnessed so far in my couple hours in there. first of all, michael cohen is the prosecution's star witness. this guy is a convicted felon who admitted that he secretly recorded his former employer, donnelley did it once and this was supposed to help donald trump. does any reasonable, sensible person believe thinking that michael cohen says? they shouldn't. i think his testimony will hurt with any reasonable jure or and hopefully we have a few of those. two other things here quickly. number one, the thing that the president is prevented from saying, which is a disgrace, is that every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a democratic

political operative. the judge inside, his daughter is making millions of dollars running against donald trump raising money for trump's political opponents. the number three person in the department of justice left to become a local prosecutor to go after donald trump and of course there is alvin bragg, a soros funded prosecutor who promised to go after donald trump and is doing that. whether you love donald trump or like him or whether you are a democrat or don't care about politics, what's going on inside that courtroom is a threat to american democracy, ladies and gentlemen. we cannot have a country where you get to prosecute your political opponents instead of persuading voters. joe biden's entire strategy is to try to distract from inflation at home and war overseas with this sham trial. i just want to live in a reasonable country where we try to persuade voters in our politics not try to throw our political opponents in jail.

this is a disgrace and i want to show support for my friend. here is senator tuberville. >> thanks, senator vance. i want to reiterate the same thing. first of all, i'm disappointed in the courtroom. i'm hearing mr. trump, mr. trump. he is former president trump. give him some respect. that's what that place is in there. it is no respect. here is what i'm seeing, too. it is depressing. this is new york city. the icon of our country and we have a courtroom that is the most depressing thing i've ever been in. mental anguish is trying to be pushed on republican candidate for the president of the united states. that's all this is. he has been here a month. a month. i am disappointed in looking at the supposedly american citizens in that courtroom that the d.a.

comes in and he acts like it is his super bowl. i guess it is, to be noticed. but that's what is happening in this country. republican candidate for president of the united states is going through mental anguish in a courtroom that's very depressing, very depressing. i'm glad to stand by president trump. i'm a friend of his and here more as a friend than a backing him as candidate as president. i'm sitting there listening to a guy on the stand that they had to get out of house arrest because he lied in another court to testify in this court. he is a convicted felon. this guy is up there giving an acting scene and all of a sudden he comes out and says oh, i have recorded president trump on my telephone. this guy worked for president trump. how can you be convinced by

somebody that is a serial liar? it should be no reason that anybody should listen to this guy. but at the end of the day the democrats -- the democrats are trying to beat president trump in the jury box because they can't beat him at the ballot box. that is the end of story. so i'm from the south. i'm here today to represent and to pay my respects to what president trump is going through. it is a tough time for him but you saw what happened this weekend. he has more support than ever because what they are putting him through in that courtroom. thank you. >> why do you think it's appropriate to talk about -- >> congresswoman nichole malliotakis. i'm also here to support president trump. the case is called the people of the state of new york versus donald trump. the people of the state of new

york know that this is a sham trial. the people of america know it is a sham trial and is based on a star witness that is a convicted, disbarred perjurer who lied to congress and admitted to lying before congress and convicted of lying. what i will say is the people of the state of new york would wish that alvin bragg, the district attorney who brought this case, would focus on the actual crime that is taking place and plaguing our city, all right? we have drug smugglers poisoning our children. we have illegal immigrant gang members wreaking havoc in our city. we see career criminals being released over and over again and we see a district attorney that reduces or drops charges against the criminals who are plaguing new york. and yet here you have a made-up charge for something that is not even within his jurisdiction,

that the fec says there is no crime, the d.o.j. has said there is no crime. >> you have been been listening to nicole malliotakis talking about crime in your state. she has the district in new york, talking about crime, the major issues plaguing the city, but nevertheless, alvin bragg's decision to go after former president donald trump. he also heard from tommy tuberville, senator from alabama, who said, look, president trump has more support than ever, and notably you also heard the name you've heard quite often, senator j.d. vance, a top contender for president trump for his vice presidential pick, listed in almost every reported article, and there he was outside of the courthouse here in manhattan defending former president trump, as the d.a. alvin bragg pursues him in a criminal case. well, that is a pivotal moment that is unfolding right now, not just in front of the courthouse, as you watch those defenders of th