inside america's school. where does this go if you get the second term? >> southlake revealed that the department of education found civil rights violations so the federal government might come in and impose some of the changes southlake rejected. if trump is in office that goes away. he's talking about abolishing the education department, has talked about ending enforcement of civil rights policies and sending them back to the states so i think there is a line in the book that you know, ron desantis ran, saying make america florida. in some ways we are talking about make america southlake. >> mike, congratulations. thank you so much. his new book, the came for the schools, is out now and available wherever you get your

books. that is all for me on this wednesday night. alex wagner starts right now. reporting from the front lines. everyone even if you don't have a child in school should be reading about what's happening down there. do you remember the times conspiracy of 2020? no? >> i want to make bigger windows into smaller window. as far as they're concerned if you hadar no window it would be lovely thing. this is the craziest plan anybody has ever seen. make your t to windows smaller. that was donald trump during the second presidential debate in 2020 attacking joe biden's climate change agenda. now, biden never proposed making america's windows smaller. that was one of those fever dreams from the mind of donald trump. 3 1/2 years into the biden administration, surprise, everybody's windows are exactly

the same size. here's what biden actually said about his climate plan in that same debate. >> we're going to invest in, for example, 500,000 -- excuse me -- 50,000 charging stations on our highways so we can own the electric car market in the future. >> investing in thousands of new ev charging stations, that was the plan. and that is more or less what joe biden did as president. hede passed a bipartisan infrastructure law with the support of republicans and democrats that invested $7.5 billion in charging stations, and the white house tells nbc news the country is currently on track to hit biden's charging station goal in 2026, which is, ahem, four years ahead of schedule. america's windows, though, still the same size. the debate that night was a forum where biden at least was complaining what he thought should happen and what he

thought was at stake in the 2020 election. the climate stuff was not the only instance of this. >> the president also is opposed to roe v. wade. that's on the ballot as well and in the court, and so that's also at stake right now. >> why is it in the ballot? >> it's on the ballot in the court. >> i don't think so. there's nothing happening there. >> there's nothing happening there. take away roe v. wade, the justices i w appointed would never. turns out two years later trump's appointees to the supreme court did exactly that just as president biden said they would. now, to be fair there were some moments in these debates trump also gave us a window, a very tiny window into what he was going to do like this one. >> are you willing tonight to condemn whiteig supremacists an

militia groups? >> what do you want to call them? give me a name. proud boys, stand back and standby. >> donald trump when asked to condemn racist hate d and milit groups instead told the right rng hate groups, proud bys to stand back and standby, and sure enough they did just that. the proud boys sell brayed trump's stand back and standby comments. they ended up leading the attack on january 6th, and the heads of that organization would eventually be charged and convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in coordinating and planning the january 6ndth attack. that wasn't the only foreshadowing of chaos that we got in these 2020 debates. remember trump was also asked how he would direct his supporters asir ballots were beg counted after the election. >> will you urge your supporters to stay calm during this

extended period, not to engage in any civil unrest, and will you pledge tonight that you will not declare victory until the election has been independently certified? president trump, you go first. >> i'm urging my supporters to gomy into the polls and watch vy carefully, because that's what has to happen. them to do it. >> trump was asked if he would urge hissk supporters to stay cm and not declare victory until all the votes were counted, and trump did not answer that question directly. we now know trump did not wait before all the votes were counted before declaring the election was rigged and he was the true winner. the answer trump did give that night, tell his supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully, that is now official republican party policy. last month the trump campaign and the rnc announced aplan to have ce100,000 attorneys and

volunteers monitor the 2024 vote count. what could go wrong? all of these things are things we learned about at the 2020 debate between biden and trump, which brings me to today. for months it's been an open question whether trump and biden would debate each other ahead of november. then just a few hours ago in a rapid public back and forth, biden andpu trump agreed to two debates, one on june 27th and one on september 10th with a vice presidential debate in july. all this started when president biden issued this challenge on social media. >> donald trump lost two debates to me since 2020 and since then he hasn't shown up for debate. now he's acting like he wants to debate me again. make my day, pal. i here you're free on wednesdays. >> that last bit being free on wednesdays isei a not so subtle reference about the former

president's trial schedule where court is not in session on wednesdays. he challenged biden during an appearance on conservative talk radio. >> are president biden just issued a debate challenge for june and september. will you accept. >> absolutely. probably should do it early so that he can, you know, because he's not going to get any better. >> but june and september is great. >> the campaigns are still hammering out all the details here, and look, anything could happen between now and then, but at this moment it looks like this thing is happening. joining me now is biden's 2024 campaign national20 cochair. it's great to see you, governor.

>> in the last campaign as you noted president biden beat donald trump twice in both the debates he's done. since that time, since people can't recall during the s entir republican primary process donald trump ran away from all the debates and started mouthing off like he always does. so president biden said bring it on, i'm fired up and ready to go. that's what he did today. the president is ready to stand nexten to donald trump and excid aboutdo it so the american peop can see a clear contrast between a guy already declared by a court to be a fraud, a guy who basically sat in g the white hoe after instigating an insurrection and watched a whole bunch of folks who i call traitors desecrate our halls of government andur literally neve did anything about it. this is a guy who when he said he wasn't going to do it, had roe v. wade overturned and basically put states ipcharge of monitoring women's pregnancies.

or a president or a guy who said he wants to be a dictator on day one and he thinks he ought to be able to hire seal team 6 to kill his opponents. i'm looking at a guy named joe biden who's spent his entire life trying to lift people up, and bring them together. >> i think we got a sneak preview what president biden might say in that debate. we hear these two debates are coming as a result of back channel negotiations between biden and trump camps. i wonder if that suggests everybody's on the same page about the stipulations here. it's bring itip on with a few caveats, the first is no live audience. do you think that's a settled matter at this point? >> first of all, i don't know about the back channel communications. i'm not in this loop. donald trump said a couple weeks ago, and of course he never means anything he says, which

makes me wonder if he's going to show up for the debate like he said he was going to testify add trial. or maybe he'll fall asleep during the debate like during his trial. i'm not sure. he said i'll meet you anytime anywhere, and joe biden said, fine, i'll meet you in two places. the fact of the matter is the debates we had in the past that didn't have audience, not some spectacle like wwe events, that's where youwe get the most and you understand what they're talking about. as you can see from all the debates donald trump has participated in, if his lips are moving most of the time he's lying. when he says he's going to hurts people, he goes out of his way to do it. by the way, just a couple weeks ago he did a "time" magazine article and someone asked him to think for a minute about how you were in your last presidency and something you'd correct. and the only thing this guy could think about is he was too nice. so he wants to be meaner and use

his policy for revenge. he's going to have to stand up in front a guy who took over for him and put this country back on track and now is doing an excellent job of rebuilding the country as you said earlier with 56,000 projects going on in the country, something donald trump promised but could never deliver. >> we're going to talk more about the sort of recognition that the president does not seem to be getting for those projects in key battleground states. we're going to talk about it later. i do wonder if it's borne of a certain frustration the american public isn't givingat the president and his administration credit for the infrastructure project, chips act, any number of job creation programs he's overseen in his time in office with as one-seat majority in t senate. do you -- is this the right venue to get that credit? there may not be a live audience but donald trump is still on the

stage. if his lips are moving as you say he's off the line. hehe moves his lips a lot. this is the kind of stuff that happened when trump is on the stage. let's refresh our audience for what happened in 2020 when he wasn't supposed to be02 talking. >> and it didn't happen. excuse me, he left me a mess. they left me a mess. north korea was a mess. like i did with criminal justice reform. >> i apologize to anybody from who that is triggering because i know it fragles my nerves to listen to it. mutt when fits oa whole bunch of that? >> first of all donald trump loves being in control and chaotic. he's full of trouble and causes chaos. that's what the american people want. they got more four years ago and

going to get twice as much next time. sam rayburn says it takes a smart person to build something, any jackass can kick down a barn. he was talking about what he inherited. when joe biden came into office he inherited one of the worst economies this country had ever seen. he inherited a public health threat that donald trump's solution to we should all drink some kind of clorox or something like that while our mother's and brothers and sisters were dying. he inherited a country moving so fast it was scaring everybody. and joe biden put a cabinet together, which is still there compared to donald trump who lost 17 cabinet members. 17 people he hired quit and are now begginghe the american peop not to put that guy anywhere back near the oval office. so honestly the people who know him best like him least. i'm looking forward to joe biden standing there shoulder to shoulder sodi the world can loo

at both of these men, and it's going to be clear they rather the guy that's fighting for the folks and not just their rich friends like donald trump has been doing for the past -- really his entire life. >> i do have to ask you donald trump has called president biden the worsts debater i have ever faced and accused biden of being unable to put two sentences together. what do you think of that as a matter of predebate strategy, literally lowering the bar about a couple centimeters off the ground? >> let me say this, if you haven't watched one of donald trump's rollicking, frolicking exposes during those what does he call those things people go to and yell at him? >>l rallies. >> i'm h looking forward to. standing there talking about the fact since he's been in office he's created 15 million jobs more than any president in the history of the country has produced in four years. i'm looking forward to the fact

he's building 56,000 projects right bnow, which by the way donald trump promised to build andse didn't build a damn things the presidentam said. so i mind just like to say to donald trump bring it on, the president's ready tong go. he's fired up and he's ready to have it, so let's get it on as he likes to say. >> maybe trump can borrow you for the debate plan. i know he won't do it, but might help the guy. >> thanks, looking forward to it. we have a lot to get to this evening. while donald trump is under that gag order, his minions are free to amplify his threats. and new reporting lays out what that means for the targets of their wrargt. and new bombshell polling, yes, i know but that's actually a thing. bob shell polling about the head to head matchup with trump and biden. you do not want to miss the next

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there are less than six months until election day, if you can believe it. i cannot. a new polling this week by battleground states shows if the presidential election was held tomorrow the likely winner would be donald trump. among the six crucial battleground states trump is

leading in five among registered voters in arizona, nevada, georgia, nevada, pennsylvania, and michigan. there are all states trump won in 2020. joining me now to discuss all this is mark leave vch, staff writer for the atlantic. i want to talk about the debates against this backdrop, but first the notion, mark, the numbers for biden have not really moved since the last time this poll was taken in november 2022. they're almost identical. >> they seem somewhat calciified. they seem similar and i will say it's one poll and it's a snapshot, but the truth is it's been going on for a while. there are some glimmers i wouldn't say hope, but certain things the biden campaign can hang their hat on, which is the

true states they do need, pennsylvania and wisconsin, they're competitive in. if you look georgia these are not states democrats traditionally have won. they are very competitive there. yes, it's still early and i think maybe this debate thing today is a response to that. >> jemele, how do you read what feels a little bit like a calcification of opinion? jeff says the reality is many voters are not paying close attention to the election and have not started making up their minds. the first part is maybe true, but i do think a lot of people have a pretty entrenched idea who they think donald trump is and who they think joe biden is. >> i'm actually not so sure that's the case. this has been what i find somewhat strange about this

election is at the same time, yes, we know who joe biden is, know who donald trump is. the typical voter doesn't have detailed knowledge beyond that, so critical things have happened over the last four years, so the end of roe v. wade and this wave of new abortion restrictions. a little about half of voters that means there's half who don't know and when you drill down into what people actually know and how people could divvy up responsibility, i think it's actually more fluid than you might think. i think the fact that we have the unusual situation of the current incumbent being the previous challenger and the current challenger being the previous incumbent also adds a new wrinkle to the mix. and so, you know, like mark, these numbers are quite bad for the biden campaign. you don't want to be here

generally. at the same time i do think the extent to which these polls are static might be underplaying how fluid this race might actually be just in terms of what people know and how people interpret that politically. >> i don't know, i am struck -- and jamelle has written so beautifully about this, the sort of usual amnesia that is granted to trump. the numbers on abortion are shocking to anybody that's paid attention to what's actually happened in the courts. registered voters who's responsible for overturning roe v. wade, trump 56, biden 17%. even among democrats, 12% of democrats, mark, believe biden is responsible for overturning roe v. wade. is that just people not understanding, people blaming biden for when the dobbs draft was initially leaked the white house was a little bit slow to

respond? that seems like excuse making actually. how do you understand that? >> yeah, it certainly indicates at base that the biden campaign has a lot of work to do here. i mean aborlgz has seemed to be -- has been the issue that has absolutely gotten democrats over the finish line over the last year and a half. and the fact that biden whose record to most abortion voters, people on abortion is much better i mean seems to be losing on this front, you know, is a red flashing light right here. the other thing is democracy is an issue that hadn't polled -- i don't think we know how these issues are polling. one thing we have seen over the last year and a half is these issues are not sort of clear to voters, and we're not sure how it's going to perform on election day. so i mean, look, we're going to see but obviously the biden campaign clearly knows especially on abortion and things like democracy. also if you look at mick

landrieu's appearance before, it was very referendum on donald trump. i mean 80% of what he was saying was going down the laundry list of why trump is really, really bad. that's i think where the biden campaign wants to be. >> yeah, exactly. in some ways, jamelle, the abortion stuff i've got to bring up arizona because the war on reproductive freedom has been in some ways ground zero. the polling between trump and biden in the state of arizona has not changed since november of 2023 to may of 2024. in fact, trump's lead has grown. what should the work be? is it just focusing on trump and his installation of a conservative majority on the supreme court? i mean how should, you know, democrats and progressives be thinking about this? >> yeah, i'm not a strategist, so please no one take my words that seriously. but my sense is that so much of

the work the biden campaign needs to do is going to be both touting the president's own record, especially his record of economic management. i think that it's important to recognize these voters are reacting to inflation of the past few years, and inflation in general is a terrible thing for incumbents even if it comes under control. the biden campaign touting its economic record but also in doing so reminding voters so much about how 2020 was. i do think there's been a profound amnesia as you said about the conditions of 2020, about the former president's just terrible mismanagement of the pandemic and everything that transpired that year. and so bringing that back into clear focus for voters, reminding people of what that looked like, i think it's going to be a critical part of this campaign. it's also i mean this is all --

this is entirely unscientific, but i do have a sense that as the follow approach is and more voters start to think about this seriously i have a sense these numbers are going to budge. i think we're in this place where trump represents just sort of like i don't like biden right now, and if not yet in the stage of this guy could actually be president again. and once we get to that stage, things might change. if they don't, we have biden. >> the debates, mark, you're holding out a glimmer of hope these can make sort of a dent in what feels like a status quo in terms of the polling and dynamics. the fact they're happening in june and september, is that a good thing? should they be happening later? >> the june thing is a bit of a change-up.

biden has shown he can perform to expectations and the trump campaign isn't doing any favors by coming out and saying he's the worst debater in history. yeah, biden should -- i think by the basis of that, he has the opportunity to do really, really well. i'm really curious to see what he's going to say to trump about his own vulnerabilities. how do you take the fight to trump when you yourself are the incumbent and when you have so much ammunition to work with against the other guy? because biden is not a natural attack dog in this setting especially against a guy like donald trump who's also been president. it'll be fascinating. i'm glad we'll see it sooner than later and maybe it'll all be over. >> i think we'll be talking about this for some time. thank you, gentlemen, for being here tonight. i appreciate you. we have much more to get to tonight. donald trump's beautiful friends -- his description not mine. his beautiful friends showed up

at the courthouse in matching suits auditioning to be his running mate, but also they may have helped put some public officials in real danger. that is next. c officials in real danger that is next

and they're all coming? those who are still with us, yes. grandpa! what's this? your wings. light 'em up! gentlemen, it's a beautiful... ...day to fly. i'm here for the simple reason to show support for a friend. >> president trump is a friend and i wanted to be here to support him. >> i'm here and all of us are here as friends of donald trump. >> that was republican senator j.d. vance, republican speaker of the house mike johnson, and former republican presidential

candidate vivek ramaswamy. they are all part of the gaggle of republican elected officials who showed up to donald trump's criminal trial in new york city this week all wearing matching outfits and claiming they were just there as friends. but this color coordinated group of friends wasn't just there in a display of moral support, they were there to hold press conferences and to say stuff like this to the american public. >> what's going on inside that courtroom is a threat to american democracy, ladies and gentlemen. >> this is a travesty of justice. this is misuse of the justice system. >> this is a sham. this is not the united states of america. this some third rate banana republic. the judicial system in our country has been weaponized against president trump. >> if any of that sounded familiar it's probably because everything those guys said this week parroted the same disparaging language their friend, donald trump, has been using to demonize the justice system for years now. and that's what makes this group

of republicans and what they did this week so upsetting because trump has already shown us what comments like this can do. trump demonized prosecutors. his followers threatened them with violence. trump attacked the fbi, his followers attacked fbi offices. he went after the judges and those judges saw an unprecedented wave of threats. back in february they put an comprehensive report. this week reuters followed up on that piece and a new reuters analysis of trump's social media post attacking judges showed us how those posts led to more than 150 calls for violence just since march. in one post trump called judge juan merchan, a highly conflicted overseer of a kangaroo court. trump's followers responded with death threats, posts like

"treason is a hangable offense," and "they should all be executed." as reuters points out experts on extremism say the constant reputation of threatening and menacing language can normalize the idea of violence and increase the risk of someone carrying it out. and now it's not just donald trump who's undermining the judicial system and menacing the people involved in this trial. >> every single person involved in this prosecution is practically a democratic political operative. >> what we've got here is a partisan democrat district attorney. we have a biden donor judge. the only crime that's happening here is this democrat judge and the democrat party prosecuting their political rival. >> the real bookkeeping we need accounting of is judge merchan's own family member collecting millions of dollars as a democratic operative. >> it's so corrupt. it's so corrupt and everyone knows it. >> it's so corrupt and everyone

knows it. we know trump saying stuff like this is dangerous. so what does it mean now he's backed by a chorus, a little chorus of republican party leaders amplifying his message? i'll talk about just that next. e i'll talk about just that next

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thing. it is a concrete process where there are people who work in the court system, and they have families, and there are people who have to serve as witnesses and jurors in this system. to have every leading light in the republican party leaning up and saying our judicial system doesn't count and our judicial system is a joke and our judicial system is just stacked against you and me, and we should disparage it here, this is an important moment for the rule of law in the united states of america because this is not donald trump inveighing against the judicial system which is holding him to account. this is the republican party, one of the two governing parties of the united states lining up and in unison saying our court system effectively ought to be dismantled. we're going to look at all these republican politicians showing up at the courthouse and denouncing injudicial branch of government as a crucial moment in the fall of american democracy if this proceeds to another trump presidency. >> joining me now are katie

benner and charles coleman. i had to replay that because i think rachel is absolutely right. i don't want to let that go who mike johnson are the republican speaker of the house is out there saying the whole system is rigged against donald trump. on a legal level it feels like we're kind of barrelling to a constitutional crisis where the legislative branch is going after the judicial branch. >> the first thing i want to know is where was all this vitriol around the justice department when it was around prosecuting or the need to prosecute hillary clinton for example? where is all this vitriol talking about the two tiered system of justice when talking about mass incarceration, and regular things people are affected by? these things in terms of a hypocrisy standpoint, i cannot even begin to touch. when you're talking about the gop as a political party, a party allegedly of law and order, we know that has long

since -- that train has left the station. when you're talking about a political party that's responsible for upholding american democratic institutions, for you to see aggressively attack one of the institutions that is the bedrock of american society is simply deplorable. not only does it speak to where you all are as a party, but it lessens the confidence of america's citizens in a way that is extremely dangerous for the future of democracy. >> to rachel's point is the beginning of the fall of dem augeracy if trump is elected for a second presidency. katie, up until this point the doj i feel has tolerated the attacks on it and the broader justice system in a way almost kind of -- i won't say cater to it, but countenanced in a way that has resulted in i don't know robert hurr getting

apoiptded special counsel. all of it feels of a piece of a justice system scared today go after conservatives. >> to attack one of the two political parties in the country is something the justice department is not supposed to do. and the department that was not built to withstand attacks from within the government. you know, the justice department and the rule of law in general work well if everybody wants to support the democracy. democracy is not a noun, it is a verb, you know, and we all make it together by looking at the rules and taking them seriously. so no department, no department in the government is going to be able to withstand people throwing out the rule book, which is what we're seeing here. the consequences for the justice department as you point out the credibility consequences are grave but also the consequences for us. >> yes, people. >> because some of the thingathize fbi and the national security division has have brought up again and again in

the last few years is the huge uptick in domestic violence extreme activity, and the number 2 category is certainly anti-government extremists, and so this is going to be a big problem, and we're going to see it more and more. >> the integrity of the system and the people inside the system who are tasked with protecting it and keeping it afloat which is to say judges, from a legal perspective as a lawyer, charles, when you see the attacks donald trump blows the whistle, merchan, engoron, kaplan, whoever is the presiding judge gets a flood of messages from points everywhere. what does that do to a legal system? >> it debilitates it in the sense that number one you have people who are going to be reticent to actually participate on both sides in terms of professionals who say i don't want to risk my life or my family's life to participate in this. it's only a job, if the job is

going to cost me my life, no matter how much i believe in law and justice and what order should look like, i'm not going to put my safety at risk for that. that's a very big concern. the other concern, alex, is that from the standpoint of the american people they can say why do we need to participate in this system, it's entirely corrupt, which leads to lawlessness, which leads to a space where instead of approaching things where we understand that we have systems we're supposed to use and relying on them to maintain order and law and justice in america, instead of accepting these results from the court, we have january 6th. we have a level of disruption and a level of disorder that allows for people who are not necessarily able to win the majority to still operate from places of power, and i think that big picture wise you have to step back and think about that. when you think about, for example, donald trump losing the popular vote twice in the past two elections and yet still being able to control a narrative that says, well, we're not going to accept that election, regardless of what the courts say now that you've sort

of denigrated the justice system as a whole, you have more and more and more of your followers who say i don't have to listen to the courts either, which leads to large senses of unlawfulness across the country and that's the problem. >> whether it doesn't have an effect on justices who are persuaded by trump's argument, and i am thinking of the supreme court, right? if donald trump seeks to overturn the 2020 election, the supreme court is going to play a role in that. we have seen a court that really has some justices on it that feel like partisan actors. are they emboldened to act again and again? >> we've heard some of those justices who are questioning the d.c. appeals court ruling on trump's immunity talk about how they were not ruling simply on this case but ruling on something bigger, which is actually the opposite of what you're supposed to do when ruling on a case, one. but, two it shows many members

on that court are cog niz want of not just the stakes before them but something larger. now, it's clear there's a big disagreement on the court about what the larger stakes are. you know, for some people it is the letter of the law and for others it seems to be a mor fs about democracy that we the people who listen to the argument couldn't quite get at it. and there was a lot of division, but it reflects the same division that's happening in the country as people say what are we to take away from the prosecution of a former president and what are we to believe? now the problem with the violence is that that will put an exclamation point on donald trump and what he represents. right now you're right, republicans skate through and make these statements and they can be his mouthpiece outside the court. they can say the things he's gagged from saying. but if there's violence and research has shown this kind of rhetoric often does lead to violence in many other

circumstances, certainly did to charles' point on january 6th, then we'll have to look at the republican party again and say are you so bought in you condone violence? >> it's like hopefully we don't get to that point, but it seems like the logical end point when you have gentlemen in the top echelons wearing matching red ties and spreading the same lies effectively. charles coleman, katie benner, great to see you discussing an topping an essential conversation. still ahead tonight it's back to court tomorrow for defendant candidate donald trump. what to expect on what could be the last day of testimony, that is next. the last day of testimo is next.

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and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for. it's wednesday, which means that today defendant donald trump had time to tend to his presidential campaign. today he traveled to ohio for a fund raidser in cincinnati with his ally and vice presidential contender senator j.d. vance. a few hours later he flew to lexington, kentucky, for another

fund-raising dinner. but it is back to court tomorrow. trump's former fixer, michael cohen, has been on the stand and tomorrow continue their cross examination. joining me now is nbc news correspondent vaughn hilliard taking a break outside the courthouse. >> i appreciate wednesdays, too. >> all right, we all do. is donald trump going to testify? i know you don't know. >> he had plenty of time on an airplane for prep. to bring their client into a trial to testify and ultimately to one in front of the jury that would be the loudest voice to determine whether he's guilty or not, you would think you'd spend substantial time prepping your clients here. donald trump, the one thing i would say about that is that he regretted not testifying in the first e. jean carroll trial when a jury not hearing his testimony

correctly believed he had sexually assaulted her. judge kaplan he was given only three minutes to directly respond to questions and he regretted not doing it the first time. if he's not happy with todt blanche and the defense team -- >> le talk about todd blanche and the defense team. we have some reporting tonight a source with direct knowledge what to expect tomorrow the continued cross-examination of michael cohen will focus on his prior lies under oath and repeated lies about what happened during 2016 and 2017. are there specific areas within that you're expecting to hear about? >> yes. because we didn't get there in the first afternoon of cross-examination. essentially he was trying to make money off of books and attacking trump.

but they didn't actually get to the heart of some moments including the fact he pleaded guilty to federal charges on tax evasion, which now he says, no, i actually perjured myself. i didn't actually mean what i said when i pled guilty, and that is actually what led to a federal judge not shortening his probation sentence just literally two months ago, so they haven't gotten to there, and of course their statements from 2017, 2018 -- in february 2018 michael cohen was still issuing statements saying the trump campaign nor the trump organization had anything to do with his reaction to stormy dan daniels, and he said he was being specific with his choice of words saying donald trump he specifically did not name but those are opening the door. >> that's meaningful. >> you continue to defend donald trump over and over so now suddenly why did you lie for him so long? and now suddenly you're telling us a different story inside this courtroom and the jury is supposed to believe you?

the cross-examination hasn't gotten to some of those key moments. >> maybe this would be a good time to do it given this is presumably the last witness from the prosecution as said. i have to ask because we've been playing this tape a lot and it's important to remind people what republican leadership is saying about this trial and the justice system, the surrogates in matching suits coming out in support of trump, presumably there will be more tomorrow but we can't actually know. the fact they're doing trump's bidding by launching attacks on judge merchan and his daughter, that's potentially an attack on the gag order. is that something the prosecution will flag as another violation of the gag order in the coming day -- days? >> i'm not sure what evidence they can go to say donald trump hired them to be his surrogate to say their words. they've been cute with their words and saying they came here as volunteers. at the same time you hear them attacking matthew, one of the

prosecutors. you hear them attacking the daughter of the judge, judge merchan. these are specific attacks most people do not know the names. >> we do, though. >> having the republican speaker of the house there yesterday it's a revolving door of trump loyalty. back in 2015 it was michael cohen by donald trump's side, can it was mike johnson who was questioning whether donald trump had morality to be president of the united states. fast forward eight years it's michael cohen on the stand testifying against donald trump, mike johnson outside as part of his cohort defending him from the american public. >> i'm eager to see if kristi nome and the ghost shows up tomorrow. we'll be talking to you soon. that is it for our show this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. i think it's important that we have debates. i think we should have more than two, but i've accepted the two.