>> andrew, the whole michael cohen and stormy daniels thing was discovered this $130,000 by you in the mueller investigation. and here is it turning into the southern district of new york case. the first thing they want to know is how did that happen? and you have this former southern district prosecutor coming in, telling him right away, you know, trying to find out what you know about trump? this was not me digging. i stayed late for two years, one night. but it was there and then, you know, that we referred it. i said what he's doing and even his advice on what he says is like his first meeting, which

is you're not the subject of this. i mean it was just a search of every possible location he's connected to. he says you're not the subject to this and what do you know about donald trump? and then there is a ton of documents to suggest what's going on where he's trying to find out information. then he says this could all go away in one week if you just give information, which we know that didn't happen. i mean to your point that he gives bad advice. and that is true that he said that. that's not what happened. it didn't go away in one week. >> we have to leave it there. thank you very much. we kept talking during the commercial break. we'll try to post the commercial conversations online. the 11th hour with stephanie ruhle starts now. tonight, dramatic moments as the defense will begin their case. why the judge cleared the

courtroom during the clash with the first witness. plus, iran's hard line president is confirmed dead in a helicopter crash. what it means in a region that is already on edge. and let's talk about the polls. why we shouldn't believe every number when it comes to joe biden and donald trump. as the 11th hour gets underway on this monday night. good evening once again, i'm stephanie ruhle. we are now 169 days away from the collection. today the state of new york rested its case. in the first criminal trial, i got to be in the courthouse today as michael cohen's testimony finally ended, and trump's team began to put on their case. here is my colleague, laura jared with more. >> reporter: tonight former president trump's defense team launched a fiery case taking direct aim at the credibility

of star prosecution witness, michael cohen. calling robert costello, a former federal prosecutor and attorney for rudy giuliani, who advised cohen of falling out. describing him as manic at a 2018 meeting after cohen's home and office were raided by the fbi. while cohen is now implicating mr. trump in an alleged crime, costello testifying cohen told him back then, i swear to god, bob, i don't have anything on donald trump. directly refuting his testimony that mr. trump directed him to pay off stormy daniels before the 2016 election. "michael cohen said numerous times that president trump knew nothing about those payments, and that he did this on his own." the judge sustaining prosecutions objections leading to a heated thing after muttering ridiculous and jeez. the judge at one point saying are you staring me down and clearing the courtroom. all of it after cohen earlier revealed he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his

former client. cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for mr. trump, today admitted he duped his own boss into reimbursing him more money than owed. he gave a tech company $20,000 in a brown paper bag and pocketed the rest. tens of thousands of dollars more for himself. trump attorney todd blanch saying you stole from the trump organization, right? cohen answering, yes, sir. cohen saying he stole the money because he had not received a large enough bonus. "i just felt it was almost like self-help," cohen said. suggesting he has propertied in other ways. his association with the former president. pointing to the fact he raked in over $4 million in consulting agreements, while also serving as mr. trump's personal attorney. and the defense says cohen is now cashing in as a top trump critic too, making over $3 million on two books, while cohen testified he's considering a potential tv show

and a third book. the defense calling it a motivation to lie. blanch asking, do you have a financial interest in the outcome of this case? cohen saying, yes, sir. though cohen insisted he would make more money if mr. trump were acquitted. he says it gives me more to talk about in the future. it's critical to the d.a.'s case who is the only witness that testified and had advanced knowledge to approve the scheme to decide how to pay people back, which mr. trump denies. >> i want to get back to campaigning, >> reporter: cohen in exchange with prosecutors today, do you can see you went to the bank. replying no doubt. >> the trial will resume tomorrow morning. one thing i took away from being in the courthouse today. it was a reminder when you were

sitting there upclose and personal. most real world trials are long and tedious days filled with document details and timeline verifications. these jurors who have been sitting there day in and day not do have an easy job to do. there's a few good men that will wrap up like an episode. but with that, let's get smarter with the help of the lead off panel now. political investigation reporter for the guardian. jeremy sullen, criminal defense attorney and former district attorney in the trial division of the manhattan da's office, and barbara, a federal prosecutor and former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. hugo, you were sitting right in front of me today, definitely taking better notes than i was. what is your biggest testify.

cohen testified and said he did not think the stormy daniels payment amounted to campaign contributions or campaign expenses. today on the stand, he walked that back and said actually in 2018 i knew full well they were campaign contributions. to me that was and prior to the testimony, he linked him to the campaign contributions, the violation. and that is the first time he has done that and the only time it has come out. and despite what you think about michael cohen's credibility when you take those two things together, i thought that was a great moment. >> huge important moment for hugo who covers this day if and day in and day out. and some of them were appearing restless. how hard is it for them? this point hugo brings up, it's

a hugely important mess. and the details and objecting that it is happening in that. >> many people including myself said there are the diminishing returns if you keep going at something. it doesn't need that continued attention. at some point, after you have made your point, you lose your jury, and you don't want to lose your jury. on top of that, you will become combative and that will make matters worse. but there was one point in this, part of me, the cross- examination that they were asking a question about the past that sank their entire cross-examination. that you've got to let it go and move on and that is the problem. they were not efficient. they didn't hit their points to go to the next one. >> they being blanch, the defense? >> absolutely. >> the judge is trying to make this whole process as clean and fair as possible. he made the decision today that

closing arguments would be after the long weekend, next tuesday. they're fatigue and their ability to get the facts in their minds start to fade away over time? >> yes. so i think what the judge is trying to do is to make sure the jury hears both closing arguments and in close proximity to the prosecution being closed on thursday and a day off as well as monday. it's not until next tuesday that they will hear the defense case, and then they begin deliberating four days after they heard the prosecution case when they may have forgotten some of the details. despite the fact it might be less efficient than it could be, it might add in an extra day on the back end. the thought is let's put these two closing arguments together, so the jury is able to assess them both. and kind of all at the same time.

i think that's a good move. it's a good move to get this long holiday weekend behind us, so the jury isn't trying to race to finish up in time over the weekend. sometimes you see that they often come back on fridays because they don't want to come back after the weekend. so i think by staying out at the outset, look, we're going to take the weekend off and we're all coming back. and they made it clear for what the game plan will be. >> hugo, i want to talk about language that we heard today. language around trump's businesses, right? phrases like friends in high places. we're going to stay strong. who is going down, right? ideas that someone is going to get grossed up, meaning the lawyer will be paid more or a salary employed possibly getting a retainer. not to use e-mail, text messages, or sending checks to a bodyguard. none of the things i just laid out are how good, honest businesses operate. yet donald trump ran in 2016

and 2020. still today claims to be this ceo president of a business that's clearly not being run on the up and up. >> the language -- all the way through the trial is all these guys that are involved in the various transactions and the hush money and the repayment. you know, even today, bob costello, the witness that the defense put on and they were suppose to support trump's case came across as a guy who was trying to cover it all up. he was kind of the clean up job. if that's the idea that the jury takes away for deliberation, then you've done 50% of the job for the prosecution because the prosecution only needs to show this was a cover up. >> but like a mob boss, didn't

sign his name and surrounded himself with hit men? >> i would take that theme even further. as a prosecution, you're going to go and say you don't like michael cohen. he's a bad actor. he's done some bad things, but who are you going to get to point to the worse guy? and i use this expression and this term before that he's the henry hill and sammy. he's the one who is getting them in and the bad guys, that mob thing, whether this is a new tough thing. we'll find out soon enough. but that's what you want to do. you don't want him to marry your sister or be your brother, but that's not what we're here about. we're here telling them what happened and telling it truthfully today. knowing full well, he was going to be ridiculed, torn down, ripped apart, but he still came and told you the truth. >> do you think the prosecution made their case? >> of course. the relevant decision maker here is the jury who have been in court every single day, listening to every word of

testimony. reviewing every exhibit. then we'll deliberate together. so it is difficult to predict what the jury will do. but if you look at what their task was, proving donald trump caused the purpose of concealing other crimes, the pieces are all there. evidence well beyond the testimony of michael cohen. we don't -- even without michael cohen and see if it makes sense. i think they've got the case there even without michael cohen. they've got the financial records. they've got david pecker explaining what the whole conspiracy was all about. being the eyes and the ears, and hope hicks was involved. the case has been made and the question will be whether that jury will see it that way and whether that government in their view has met that beyond

a reasonable doubt unanimously. >> and the court and the surrounding area, the entire neighborhood is locked down so tight that his supporters, who want to be there for him, they can't get near even the neighborhood? you and i were both there. we know that is an out and out. but i want to play some of trump's claim, side by side with the video that i took on my own little phone of what it looks like outside the courtroom. watch this. >> the outside looks like it is suppose to be fort knox. more police than i have ever seen anywhere because they don't want to have anybody come down and it is within three blocks of the courthouse. >> okay, for facts sake, we were there. >> you can see plenty of people milling about, directly across the street from the courthouse. people are sitting there eating their lunch. this are barricades up. and there are lines of people

waiting to get into the courthouse and where nip anyone in the world can show up and speak their peace. there were a handful of people there. >> it became a fight between two single protesters who were trying to carve out their individual and whether they were going to call trump to testify. these two people were having a fight amongst themselves on who should have more part of the park to protest, but it's a big part. the idea that people cannot come out to protest him is nonsense. a part of the reason why trump is saying that, according to our people inside his orbit. trump is personally offended that his supporters have not come to new york to protest him. as a result, this is why he's protected. >> okay. the crowds aren't the only thing he's misrepresenting. it's things that are more dangerous than that because trump and his surrogates, they

keep saying that donald trump, they want to testify, but they won't let him. right? his attorneys won't let him. i don't know, maybe the court won't let him, but gave him the chance to listen. but the court isn't preventing him from testifying. this is misinformation that he's pushing out there. i guarantee by the weekend when i see my parents and they say well isn't it too bad donald trump didn't get to make his case? what do you do with this kind of misrepresentation of facts? i.e., big fat lies? >> he is perpetrating fraud. the prosecution's job is not to fight what happens outside the courtroom or inside the courtroom. they will stick to the four corners. it's not about michael cohen or the bogus that's spewing out of the mouth of donald trump either, but about whether they will falsify it. at the end of the day, they want to look at the score board with that w and say we won, not because of what donald trump

misrepresented outside and because he's trying to tear down the whole system because he doesn't care about anything other than himself in the courtroom. and he can speak about the case. it's a limited gag order too and he is solely about donald trump outside the courtroom and he doesn't have it as i said before, to get in front of that jury because he will be talking about your -- fox news is freaking out over the revelation that cohen stole $30,000 from the trump organization, calling it a bomb shell. but donald trump is famous for not paying people who work for him. his own comptroller testified under oath in this trial that donald trump told them to never pay full price on an invoice. wait until they keep coming at

you, and renegotiate what you're going to pay. don't we need to put it into context, who he is working for and the way the business operated? >> absolutely. that'll be the strategy that the prosecution uses in closing arguments, no doubt. and this wasn't a bomb shell. i think that testimony in the eye of the beholder. that this actually came out in his direct the idea that it was not accurate. but it was a bombshell. i've seen defense attorneys do this from time to time, where they act like they're stunned and they discovered something amazing. and the jury knows better because they have been watching all along. that could make a mountain out of a mole hill and backfire on the defense attorney. but what i expect to hear from the prosecution and closing argument is to say things like

is michael cohen a despicable rat? you bet he is. you know who we work for? donald trump. he was the, it is donald trump's guy. so if you don't like him, you don't have to and that doesn't matter. what matters here is the facts. you heard them here in court. and does he story make common sense and line up with the rest of the evidence that you heard. that's the work they will need to find that michael cohen could do for them. >> all right, barb, hugo, jeremy. thank you so much. before we go to break, you know what time it is. it is time to check in with our djt tracker. donald trump's media stock finished the day down more than $2.5, that's 5%. might seem like a lot, but it's pennies. the company finally reported its first quarter earnings today after much delay. guess what we learned? a revenue, they brought in

about $770,000. you might think that's good. but they had a net loss of more than $300 million dollars. and so much for the idea that the markets are efficient. the stock is still trading at $48 a share. but the fact it did not tank to the absolute bottom says something. but we will keep watching trump media stock and make sure you know what's really going on every day. when we come back, some recent polls look pretty bad for president biden. but my next guest will explain why those polls do not paint a full picture or an accurate one. the 11th hour getting underway.

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please turn up the volume for this one. a poll found trump was leading biden on five out of six states. but i have two guests standing by who have serious questions about that polling. larry sa bato says he laughed when he read the results. in a state that has gone blue for two decades. he runs polling at the kennedy school is how he could be 24 points ahead and the wisconsin used et there are more questions for where those came thingenings and i have good news. walk us through those. people, excuse me, these polls carry the narrative for a good

week, week and a half until the next polls come along. a whole lot of people are not saying hold on a minute. now you said you laughed when you first saw this, why? >> because of the results are absurd. that's always a good test. i know john has looked at this too and you mentioned one, that it is true with young people and it is true with elderly voters. it is true with minorities, you know, 23% get real. and here is the problem, stephanie. it's not so much that this are polls being attacken because it's click wait and they make a lot of money on this or at least they claim they do. where they will get a lot of attention. but you're right. i'm not exaggerating. i personally saw 100 references to this poll and to print and

on tv, the panels. somehow that narrative changed overnight from a very close race to why it is just going to be a handful of votes in six states to biden losing, doing terrible. no, nothing major will change. it's i thought, when the time said the press is like a bunch of blackbirds on a telephone pole. when one moves, they all move. when one comes back, they all come back. safety in numbers, but boy is there a lot of group thinking about the press. i would love it. but apparently they can't argue with numbers pubbished by the great new york times. >> well, we're mixing it up right now, my friend. john, what makes you doubt this poll? >> well, many of the same things that harry mentioned in

terms of these internals. when something doesn't make sense, that gives me a pause to step back and the internal numbers, time after time after time. and not just that we would see 51-point differences between michigan and wisconsin. but similar in arizona and older voters. i don't see the variance from state to state to state. we have to remember, stephanie, polling is much more than just averaging a bunch of horse races. much more than informing budding markets. doing our job well is informing our democracy, giving voice to the people. my concern when we have inconsistency, state after state among the younger folks and the hispanic folks, the older folks that's not doing

our jobs in terms of public researcher. that's the message that's so important to recognize in conversation. >> , you wrote last week, if i misinterpret an x-ray or mri, it doesn't mean the medical imaging is broken. it means i don't know what i'm doing. same with polling. what do you mean? >> people on social media who are analytics experts. they believe by averaging horse races they can interpret public upon. they then say public opinion is broken. what i'm saying is i know how to fix it and the way in which you fix it, to develop the samples that are representing all of the subgroups that will make up the electorate. i'm not going to look at the x- rays and have an opinion on x- rays and say if i miss one that

all the imagery is broken. just like most of the people on twitter are not pollsters that they will do well and averaging numbers. it's about pulling the samples, making sure you have a consistent voice. >> well, polls are not the only way we will focus too much polls. i agree with the way john has phrased his concerns about this. i would add something far broader. john mentioned democracy. that's what worries me. it ought to be worrying everybody. all this money and energy and space divided by polls. instead of having say a front page article about the third term and the third term it,

the. but four terms or a few hours ago, trump posted on social media a couple of arguments that would talk about the third rank. the unity of the third right or maybe the fourth right, but it was the right. hey, this is significant, you know? we're listening to it. listen to it. he's telling us what it is and what he wants to do. i should poll showed overnight or nevada or wisconsin, which may or may not be accurate or which may or may not hold up even for three days. >> we're going to give you the final word with an answer like that, larry. john, thank you so much. larry, and larry, congratulations to the university of virginia men's lacrosse team. they had a huge win over the weekend heading into the semi finals next weekend. when we come back as trump fights for a second term, you heard larry just say it. he's already saying give us the

third. my goodness, he's got a big idea of how to extend his stay at the white house. reminder, he didn't win a second term. he lasted one so far. we'll have that and more at the 11th hour when we continue.

the former president returned to the campaign trial with the speech of the annual convention in dallas where he openly used about serving three terms as president. watch this. >> and almost 16 years. are we going to be considered? what do you think? are we three or two term? >> i mean who doesn't think of fdr with they would look at donald j. trump? and tay would need to roll back gun safety provisions that were brought by the biden

administration and hugely popular ones. here to discuss my friend, the former communication director for obama and host of the podcast and the former communication director for jed bush. but he told time magazine that it wasn't a consideration. what is going on here? what am i doing? >> yes. i think jeb is trying to be funny, but it's not funny. we've been down this road, you know, your viewers know this, you know this. but it's worth saying there was a big time in the lead up to the 2020 election with many of us. and who are saying we should be considered about the fact he won't say he's going to accept the results of the election if he loses. then he did these little games

like maybe i will accept it if it is good. and also that is where they led that people bought into their lies. they brought into their bs. they were taking him seriously. so i think that's pretty much here, in on some big joke, but unfortunately it's serious business. >> guess who might not accept the election results? marco rubio. when he was asked about this very thing. will you accept the election results no matter what happens, senator? >> no, it is an unfair election. >> senator, no matter who wins? >> you're asking the wrong person. the democrats are the ones opposing every republican victory since 2000. every single one. >> and hillary clinton conceded.

>> boy, what did you make of it? >> senator mitt romney tried to make that argument to me that they have not accepted result results. and they could see it on election night with the concession speech the next day and overturn the election. what's so disturbing about it is watching marco rubio, who you know he practiced for this moment. he wanted to make sure he had all the examples of when they stood up for the 2004 election to impress donald trump. because he wants a running mate. why? i could usually understand why people, why they are doing what they are doing, but why he would want to be the running mate and actually maybe even have to be trump's vice president. i don't.

i really can't fathom. >> little marco wants to be next. he's a big man. and little marco is donald trump's nickname for him. something that caught your attention this weekend in that speech at the nra, donald trump said he wants to roll back a number of gun provisions. the gun rules that were put in place during the biden administration. if anything, the bipartisan gun bill was probably not going to go far enough. it was good they achieved some things that it is a common sense reform, i remember this is a lot of solutions. the 20s or so ago.

it's a blood information that he passed some bill. these are 80% issued. things like making tour e, put criminals in jail if they are selling. these are the kinds of things that basically everybody is for. he wants to repeal all this. in the past he's tried to play it both ways. i do think it is a big vulnerability for him on abortion, gun rights, immigration. he's all in for the most extreme parts of the party. >> trump is holding a rally this week in the bronx. >> yeah. >> the bronx. instead of the state that he actually has a chance of winning. is that just proof this campaigning isn't about

campaigning, but about fund raising for him? >> and i think sometimes it is not that complicated. he's not going to battle ground states, he's focused on a new york trial. does he think going back to the bronx might somehow impact the jury if they see a lot of support for him. >> you can go to p.a. in an hour. a couple weeks ago he went to the jersey shore and they were saying well, it's the philadelphia media mark or he could go to philadelphia. it's not good for him that he's not going to these battleground states. depending on this is about raising money that be campaigning. >> you heard the polling conversation we had. what is your take?

>> i don't know. i hope they're right. i agree with their point about how the media should care more about democracy than filing other polls. i get a little bit ptsd. back on the other side as a republican, the general member in 2012, i was at the rnc during the romney and obama. and i was the guy in meetings saying i don't think so. i think the polls are right and we should take them seriously and adjust our strategy. we all saw the results. the polls were right. president obama won. maybe the polls are wrong, but it's not just the new york times. but every single poll has donald trump ahead. even if the things are accurate. >> all right, tim, jennifer, thank you both for joining. when we return, iran's

president is killed in a helicopter crash. what his death means for a country and a region in turmoil when the 11th hour continues. to help reverse the four signs of early gum disease. a new toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts.

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and its foreign minister. the hard line leader of america's long standing side dead and sud ply it seems by accident. today in the streets of tehran, men openly wept for president raisi, a successor to the supreme leader. but some embassies in the west, opponents celebrated. the u.s. tonight says there are no signs of outside interference. >> and we were not able to provide that system. >> raisi described today as a friend by fellow presidents putin and xi. hamas sending its sympathies. the proxies have launched multiple offensives, escalating the tension in the region. tonight from tehran, an adviser to the government, telling nbc

news not to expect policy changes despite the unexpected death. >> this is a big loss. when we are talking about the general direction of the state, it goes beyond any individual. >> reporter: raisi crushed internal decent, descent. >> and some occurred during the tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses in the women and girls of iran. with that said, we regret any loss of life. and ben rhodes joins me now, a former deputy security adviser for president obama. this is an intense moment for the region. how concerned are you that it could destabilize things even further? >> i actually agree with the point that was made during keir's report. i wouldn't expect to see any major shifts in policy out of iran. raisi was a hard liner. he'll be replaced by a vice

president who is a hard liner. so i think they will likely stay on the same direction they're on. they have more to do with the future of the politics. not only who the next president is and who is the next supreme leader? that is when you could have instability in iran as different factions, jockey for that ultimate power that will loom, giving it to the supreme leaders, 85 years old. >> and he was known for brutal blackdowns. his we are just getting more of the same. >> you know in the short term, think we're probably looking more for the same. you're right, raisi has long been a part of the infrastructure of iran. even dating back as his time of the judicial official. he's been a hard liner who cracked down on decent. however, the people of iran

increasingly have been looking at the situation which a lot of their dollars are spent on the regional conflicts with the economic problems not just because of sanctions, but mismanagement. and of course, there is enormous frustration with the impression of decent and the treatment of women and girls. this is all kind of simmering underneath the surface of iranian politics. as this elite gets older and more out of touch, you will have the potential in the medium term for reemergence in the protests and instabilities and even different factions of iran, again, jockey for power. >> he's a hard liner and he was certainly no friend of ours. yet today the state department sent their condolences to iran. does that surprise you? >> not particularly. i mean that's kind of a common courtesy if you have a head of state of another country die in these circumstances in unexpected circumstances. i think it is a way to frankly

deal with this kind of relationship. it is just the way of keeping most basic form of lines of communication open. we don't have an embassy there. we don't have a lot of diplomatic contact with iran. we need that contact with iran sometimes including the tension to avoid a war. so i think you have to see that contact in this context, right? it's both just kind of the common courtesy. but it is also a way of signaling hey, we disagree with just about everything. we were no friend of this guy. but we had this kind of baseline of communication that we need to use. >> before we go, i do want to ask you about this. the international criminal court, the icc recommended today warrants for both the leader of israel and hamas leaders. what is going on here? what is your thought? >> well, i think the icc has been doing this investigation for quite some time. and warning that something like

this is coming and now look, i think that we have seen over the course of the seven months since october 7, and the process in which that will be the genocide case. and it is a sign when you have conflicts like this with such enormous suffering and so much civilian harm on both sides that there is going to be a long tail for that and it is not going to be resolved. the judge has to review this request and they could issue those warrants. it's not like israel is going to cooperate. but this will shadow both hamas and the israeli officials going forward. i'm sure there will be a lot of contention about the united states. the icc, you know, they conduct these investigations and they view all the parties in the same manner in the sense of their constituents and the victims of the crimes. and that's who they are trying to represent here.

>> do you think it will impact their next move on gaza? >> i don't think so. i know some people say that. but the reality is israel is pretty much dug into their strategy and they have not changed that approach for netanyahu. he did not even change it when members were saying they would pull out of the war cabinet if they did not change course. so they will add to that background noise. i'm sure what they will try to do is use it to rally people to his side because i'm sure there is a lot of sympathy for israel and the notion that they shouldn't be charged like this. at the end of the day though, that's not the determining factor. this is another part of the background. what is your plan for the day after when they asked for from netanyahu, a plan for the future administration of gaza. ultimately that's going to be the determining factor, not whether or not there is an icc warrant or not. >> all right, ben, thank you so

much. you make us smarter every time you are here. i appreciate you joining us tonight. >> thanks. that's going to do it for us. my dear friend rachel maddow is up next. she was in the courthouse today as well. and remember, you can listen to every single episode of the 11th hour as a podcast for absolutely free. just grab your phone and scan the qr code that is right there on the bottom of your screen on the bottom right. and now that does it for us. on that note, i wish you a very, very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news. thanks for staying up late. i'll see you at the end of tomorrow.

we are rapidly approaching the conclusion of donald trump's clinic criminal trial

in new york. a lot happened today in lower manhattan. lucky for us, we have the perfect person to talk about it with. tonya perry has been serving as counsel to michael cohen during the trial. she has not given interview about his testimony before tonight. i will talk to her in just a moment. client, michael cohen is of course the star witness in the case, and he returned to the stand today for a third day of cross-examination. now, from the beginning, we have known that putting michael cohen on the witness stand was a high risk and high reward proposition for the prosecution. on one hand he is the central player. after all, he paid stormie daniels out of his own pocket. he said he did it at donald trump's direction and that donald trump was fully aware of the plan to cover it up because are key details. at the same time, cohen is a convicted felon who pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations, lying to congress, and making false statements to a bank. not to mention, he spent over