donald trump, alan weisselberg and keith schiller, they could of called keith schiller and alan weisselbergthe decision on the prosecution side when we have the picture, we have the phone records y don't we call schiller to say, did you walk stormy daniels to the hotel room? did you take a phone call to michael cohen and hand the phone to donald trump? i can imagine on the phone call thing, schiller could have a easy i don't remember, what is the calculation? are they going to hope that the defense calls so they can do cross instead of direct? >> if you have a witness like schiller and it is somebody that you think. >> former nypd. long time personal bodyguard to trump, as loyal as they get. >> oh, yes. and let's just say there is substantial issues beyond this case they would be aware of. so, here is the issue, one, they may have been spoken to his lawyer and said we want to speak to him and not necessarily put him in the grand jury. you don't have to come in for an interview but respond to a grand jury and he may of taken the fifth >> in the grand jury. >> or said i will so they don't bot

books, how the books were transmitted, what the tax benefits were by doing it this way. >> alan weisselberg'ss come up as recently as today. there are no plans to call weisselberg, at least not by the prosecution. he's in jail. what do you make of the fact that he's being spoken about, but will not be as part of the prosecution's witnesses? >> you can't talk about the finances about the trump organization without mentions its cfo alan weisselberg. why would prosecutors call him as a witness because he's a loyalist to trump? he's currently at riker's island because he lied for trump. >> cohen has lied and perjured himself and spent time in prison. the prosecution is calling him. he's a star witness. hope hicks who was not exactly anti-trump when she testified, yet was able to clarify a lot of things. why would you not have that as a prosecutor? >> he's a hostile witness for prosecutors. he's not going to help the state. hope hicks was helpful to the state. michael cohen has lied in the past, but came clean. the reason he lied in the past was to protect trump. weisselberg is a loyalist to his g

weisselberg. he just made reference to alan weissberg. they won't even call it. when i submit to you as you have a witness. the only witness the prosecution will present as far as linking trump to a crime and this witness has no credibility. i will tell you right on the air this testimony will last three or four or five days. expect the defense to have them up there on the witness stand for three days. up until right now there is not a single shred of evidence that president trump participated in a crime either falsifying records or to hide a campaign state or federal finance charge. >> sandra: i've been out for a few days. if you were to write the headline for this trial so far. up to just this past hour where they have taken this break. what would it be? you >> a big zero for the prosecution. judge, do the right thing. declare a mistrial and a verdict in favor of the defense. >> sandra: it has been something to watch. you look at the last to come out of the courtroom before they took this break. cohen asking trump how things are going upstairs meeting with mila

and of course the issue of alan weisselberg. the issue of keith schiller.these people are essential witnesses as far as i'm concerned and if i was the defense in this case and i don't know what the judge's charges, but you have to get an adverse witness charge, the fact that alan weisselberg was not called as a witness and was certainly relevant. everything pointed to alan weisselberg being involved in that part of the trump organization that was involved in the book keeping, data is something that should be used against the prosecution because number one he was within their control and number two he had relevant and material evidence. and the fact that case-shiller was not called when case-shiller would clearly say that the conversation was about a 14-year-old harassing michael cohen and not about his phone call with donal donald trump. all of the evidence was very clearly outlined for the jury and i have to tell you he had great lines. that michael cohen is mvp of liars. you've heard of the goat, the gloat. the greatest liar of all time. >> sandra: that i

alan weisselberg.and weisselberg at some point have done jail time because of donald trump. what do you make of the prosecution's handling of that and do you think that weisselberg's actions somehow could come back to bite the prosecution or be a problem for them? >> i'll answer first, i don't think it's going to be a problem because weisselberg is in jail and weisselberg is really a soldier, and kind of sticking with what we were just discussing, who was there outside of court, we have senators showing up, it's all about loyalty and we learned that donald trump puts first and foremost not necessarily ethics are not necessarily good business skill set, it's about loyalty. weisselberg is not going to come on that stand and sell out donald trump, true or not he wasn't going to say anything bad. that's why he's doing time. that's what he was accused and ultimately convicted of lying himself. i don't think that not having them there is going to adversely impact the case. i think if the prosecution does the

money peered not getting the story out in the big one as alan weisselberg.big part of these conversations with donald trump and michael cohen and is a big missing link to all of this. we will have to see what type of instruction the judge offers the jury on how to handle these missing witnesses. >> john: one more question to you. this comes from andy mccarthy who says steinglass makes the argument that is the reason that andy has described cohen as a double-edged sword for trump. prosecutors didn't choose didn't choose cohen. we didn't go to the witness store and pick him up. it was donald trump who chose him. the witness draws a line in the overflow room though he doesn't know what the reaction in the main courtroom was scared but does that argument carry any weight? donald trump hired him because he was effective for him when tasked to do certain things. but saying that we didn't pick michael cohen, donald trump dead. cohen did a lot of things by himself that trump was not aware of. does that restore its credibility in any way, shape, or form? >> that's ri

pecker, quien se encargaba de enterrar las historias negativas para trump y que habia hablado con alan weisselbergfinanzas de la organizacion trump para configurar todo. >> y es todo lo escucha cuando trump le ordena que use dinero en efectivo, a lo que cohen dijo no el expresidente esta acusado de falsificar registros comerciales tras presuntamente pagar para silenciar escandalos sexuales como parte de un supuesto esquema de interferencia electoral y el se ha declarado no culpable de los 34 cargos. >> su declaracion, cohen tambien dijo que cuando donald trump les anuncio que correria para la presidencia, tambien les adelanto que muchas mujeres saldrian a hablar. >> se espera que el dia de manana continue su testimonio. >> en nueva york, karla amezola, noticias telemundo. >> el avance del juicio criminal en contra de trump en una corte de manhattan parece no impactar sus aspiraciones de volver a la casa cinco de seis estados considerados clave, michigan, arizona, nevada, georgia y pensilvania, mientras que biden solo lidera en wisconsin, el sondeo revela la forma en la que el apoyo para el preside

michael cohen says that donald trump was present and knew that alan weisselberg, the cfo of the trumpsed in monthly instalments and that they would be labelled as �*legal expenses' in business documents and that michael cohen would be known as trump's personal lawyer. michael cohen directly tying donald trump to that knowledge that the reimbursement for the $130,000 payment would be marked in the trump organization books as legal retainer fees. michael cohen will be back on the stand tomorrow and no doubt the defence will try to paint him as a liar and someone who has a vengeance against donald trump. to discuss today's developments, i spoke to molly ball, senior political correspondent for the wall streetjournal and marcus childress, partner atjenner & block and the former investigative counsel to the house select committee on the 6 january attack. this was the main witness for the prosecution. what impact do you think the testimony today had? michael cohen today provided direct evidence of the former president, his knowledge of the hush money payments on october 2016 but otherwise h

pecker, quien se encargaba de enterrar las historias negativas para trump y que habia hablado con alan weisselbergde finanzas de la organizacion trump, para co configurary es todo lo todo. >> en la grabacion se escucha cuando trump le ordena que use dinero en efectivo, a lo que cohen dijo no. >> el expresidente esta acusado de falsificar registros c comerciales tras presuntamente pagar para silenciar escandalos sexuales como parte de un su supuesto esquema de interferencia electoral y el se ha declarado no culpable de los 34 cargos. >> corte de nueva york. >> carla, muy buenas tardes. >> tu has dentro de la corte. >> ¿como se veia cohen. >> ¿que tal, vanessa? >> muy buenas tardes. >> bueno, este fue un dia b bastante esperado, la corte e estaba completamente llena de viraba realmente se miraba realmente muy tranquilo, muy seguro, muy confiado en lo que estaba diciendo en el estrado en algunos momentos donald trump cerraba los ojos como acostumbra hacerlo. >> se hablo de algo que sabemos que molesta mucho a donald trump y es el tema de que mencionen a melania, su esposa. >> cohen dijo que supuestam

and even alan weisselberg is present. his testimony comes in the form of a handwritten document that, in no uncertain terms, was a fraud. you know, the problem with the defense that they've always had is that they do not have an alternative explanation for facts that are really fundamentally uncontested. yes, they can attack cohen's testimony. they can argue that maybe cohen misremembered one phone call, although the prosecution came back with evidence that, in fact, donald trump was standing right next to schiller when michael cohen called him on october 24th, 2016. and they don't have an alternative explanation for what alan weisselberg was writing on that sheet of paper. they have no alternative explanation, and all they could do is nitpick. frankly, that's what we saw in there, and their cross examinations, which were completely meandering, and not very cohesive. and the reason why they weren't cohesive in that way and didn't tell a counter narrative is because there is none. >> important to remember, for everything t

believe with respect to a key january 17th meeting in trump tower, he said he attended with alan weisselberg. >> that's the one with the stuff written on it. >> that's a pathway though. >> they have also asked to get the instructions read back. in new york, you don't get them printed out. so if you want them again, you have to get them read again. >> that's correct. the fact they are asking about the instructions this early. >> and the testimony. >> what it says is these are complicated. and they want to understand them. a lot of people thought going into this, oh, it is very straightforward. and i have been telling people repeatedly, it really isn't. particularly, the misdemeanor is very straightforward and easy to understand. but to get to that felony, that is where it gets complicated and that is where the jury is getting hung up. it also tells me they are going about, looking at this case. and their deliberations in an organized and serious fashion. we did not want a verdict on day one. that would have shown they didn't take this process seriously. the fact they are asking for the partic

and particularly, alan weisselberg is loyal. as a matter of fact, a value of loyalty above everything else. and then, as an example, people like alan are great and have proven themselves over many years. why is that important? we know already. and it really can't be disputed that he knew all about the hush money payments. he was the one who authorized the $130,000 payment times two. we have it in his own notes. so we would have to believe that he against trump organization rules, he did it on his own. he never told donald trump at the risk of fired, had nothing to gain, everything to lose and the scheme. the way he would have to pull this off involved sending donald trump the checks and the fake invoices and hope that for a year he doesn't ask the question. to, the idea that they were going to have to say he was disloyal is what they were trying to show that is a preposterous argument that he himself thought this was a loyal employee of his. >> lisa, one of the things that makes this a good trial to watch is that every witness tu

they have alan weisselberg's writing on them. he may not testify but it doesn't matter because the documents are there. >> you are both talking about the documents and how the trump defense or the doubt they want to instill really runs into that brick wall. that is why the da has had momentum. joe was trump's lawyer in the new york case until he left. but when we did speak with him, we asked about that. if your defense is oh, this was money for a lawyer, your defense is no fraud because it was true, the problem is the money didn't stay with the lawyer. the money passed through the lawyer, went to stormy daniels so it is not money for a lawyer. and then to add insult to injury, he writes his plot on paper and says let's gross it up, let's lie. let's commit tax fraud. >> is stormy daniels a lawyer? >> i don't think she is a lawyer. i would think the lawyer is a lawyer. >> okay. >> so she is not a lawyer. and these payments were made. and they were according to federal filings, classified on the trump's side as legal services. that

the trump lawyers on tuesday say where is alan weisselberg? yes or no, andrew? >> yes. they will say that. >> i want to get both of you. >> i think they will try that. >> both of your explanations and i don't do predictions. but i think it is reasonably likely they will hit that which will be an interesting piece. this is the phantom incarcerated for the second time. trump cfo. if you are thinking about working for the trump organization, you should know their cfo has been to jail twice the last couple of years but for the jury, first andrew and then christy. >> so it is a very tricky. you are allowed to say the following which is the defense doesn't have to do anything. they can sit back. but they did choose to put on a case. they do have subpoena power. they do have the ability to put forth witnesses. and if they thought those people would be helpful, they had the right. not an obligation, but they had the right to call them and frankly, alan weissman and keith schillar, the big missing witnesses are people very much aligned with them and in their control. so, no one

alan weisselberg wouldn't say that. he just keeps going to jail. >> but that's a different kind of loyalty. that's a very specific kind of loyalty that transcends anything that michael cohen brings to the table. >> is that loyalty that he's saying i'm at the end of my life, i want my family taken care of forever. >> it is that godfather seen. >> there you go. let's talk about what i know you're interested talk about -- samuel alito. if you haven't seen it yet, it was now released that the new york times had the photo in front of his house on an upside down american flag for a period of time was hanging, some january 6 participants did it. it sort of resembled a stop the steel. he's now saying no, it was my wife who did it. it wasn't me. what is your take on this? an awful lot of people think this is absolutely crazy and how could he possibly preside over anything that has to do now with the election interference and donald trump and immunity? >> two thoughts. one, the cover story of my wife did it and she did it in resp

on this missing witness question about whether they would be instructed about the absence of alan weisselbergtestify and yet his testimony indicates that he was a party to the plot to pull this off. the judge would say something like will or will not flag weisselberg's absence? >> this came up in the context of the judge basically saying to the prosecution, you can't tell the jurors that he is unavailable because technically, he's not. while he is in rikers, you have the right to subpoena him and bring him here. >> people testify from rikers all the time. >> and we can find out by bringing him here what he is or is not prepared to testify to and i'm prepared to examine him outside the presence of the jury so we can determine the bounds of his testimony if you were to call him. and unsurprisingly prosecution declined why, because he has a severance agreement through which the trump organization has agreed to pay him $2 million. he owes certain cooperation obligations to the trump's that include not voluntarily aiding anybody with a claim, civil or criminal against the trump organization or any

michael cohen saying he spoke to alan weisselberg about that payment and also notified the former president about the payment. what is the get here? what are they trying to get at with this kind of testimony and equally. >> it's very peculiar because what he is testifying about are things that are not in contention. trump as nate said might pushback about how much he knew about cohen fronting the money to stormy daniels but here's the thing. none of this is illegal, it's not a legal to purchase somebody's story with a nondisclosure agreement. the element that would make this illegal if they could establish it would be that the payment violated the campaign finance laws. what we aren't hearing is a single word of any kind of testimony that trump had the campaign-finance laws in his mind at all. i don't think these transactions are federal campaign expenditures and i am not alone in that. break is trying to suggest to the jury that they are by having his lawyers or his prosecutors tell the jury that cohen has led guilty to campaign-finance crimes and having pecker testified he entered into a

hugo i also want to talk about one of the other witnesses, rebecca, she was the assistant to alan weisselberghe thing that really stuck in my craw about her testimony, putting aside the fact that trump and weisselberg were thick as thieves, the checks went from the trump organization to keep the bodyguards personal address in washington, d.c. and that is how the checks made it to donald trump who went through madeleine to get them signed. why are the checks not going into a pouch to the white house like everything else would? >> we got a granular look at how the check signing process took place, madeleine westerhout also testified to this later, about how the checks go from new york , they would be put in a fedex package and then it would get fedex to d.c. and it would end up at schiller's house and then it would go to the white house. it's an interesting story and details that we haven't heard previously. it's not clear why they went through this process, susan necheles tried to suggest on cross that it was mainly because the way that the white house mail processing work, that the checks wou

want to get your sense of who that other witness will be other than cohen, but also this about alan weisselberg. the judge wanted to know if either side had subpoenaed him and neither had. trump's attorneys looked visibly upset at the judge saying he may bring weisselberg into the court. any sense of who the witness is? >> my former boss who has a spinal injury and can't be here, there is speculation that it could be a former trump body guard. i think that cohen is important because he is the connective tissue between david pecker, dylan howard, as they are doing the catch and kills and then with donald trump. we have his all laid out in forensic detail from both david pecker, the first witness, to keith davidson, and so on. but the person who can weave all of this detail together is michael cohen. and we had stormy daniels this past week in the court with everything thrown at her, the nuts, and she was calm. >> she was extraordinarily disciplined. >> if cohen can be as disciplined there, it will work. >> the if is doing a lot of work. >> the if is heavy in that sentence. i guess to take a look

she answered questions about invoices to michael cohen approved by former ceo alan weisselberg with checksigned by former president trump. she said if the payment is approved she cuts the check and sends it out but the approval needs to come from weisselberg or eric trump. trump maintains all payments to cohen were legitimate legal expenses. jeff mconey, the trump organization former comptroller testified today. he detailed the payments to cohen. he said he never knew what the payments before. he never spoke to president trump about the payments. he never connected president trump to any scheme related to a stormy daniels statement. this is all after you mentioned the judge merchan threatened to jail trump for future violations. he fined trump a thousand dollars for the 10th time. he said the fines are not a h deterrent for trump. he said, deft is put on notice further violation of law if you recall orders willed be punished by encore race encores race. trump said it feels like the judge has taken away his constitutional right to speak. he was in miami he accurate hi couldn't answer questi

mcconney said no, alan weisselberg said put retainer for january and february of 2017 in the descriptioninto the crux of falsifying business records. as we talked about star witnesses here, michael cohen taking the stand, stormy daniels. the star witness is going to be the documents. >> yasmin vossoughian, thank you for that update. our coverage will continue as we watch what's happening inside the courtroom. yasmin vossoughian and judge phyllis kotey, thank you for being part of this hour. that does it for me today. i'm ana cabrera reporting for new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage next after this. coverage next after this it's gotta be tide. with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley you know, i spend a lot of time thinking about dirt. at three in the morning. any time of the day. what people don't know is that not all dirt is the same. you need dirt with the r

where was alan weisselberg? they could have called him and didn't and his handwriting is all over the exhibits and may show this was a weisselberg and cohen production. thirdly, maybe not from the evidences we heard from witnesses but maybe what we heard in the charging conference. all of that arcane philosophical content. i think they make a argument beyond a reasonable doubt that trump had the requisite awareness he was committing a crime or however it's going to be phrased ultimately after the jury instructions are finalized. >> thank you both for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> a pleasure. >>> a land dog mark move overnight prompting israeli to lash out. what several u.s. allies say they are prepared to do that the u.s. says it won't. >>> plus, violent turbulence on board a singapore airlines flight and killing one and sending dozen to the hospital. >>> what we come back, 90 seconds, live to an iowa town almost leveled by a tornado and there are reports of multiple people killed. >> i've liv

i need to hear from alan weisselberg and the state chose not to call him. let me finish.d not to call him. he is still sitting in prison and the one who can complete the loop, true, false, good, bad. but it did not happen. i think the only witness during this entire trial who even talked about influencing election was michael cohen. no other witness even brought up the election. >> the important point here is you should get an adverse witness charge against the prosecution for not calling the witness weisselberg who you admit is so important and anyone else would admit that witness charge would be an adverse charge. you the jury are free to believe that had the prosecution called allen weisselberg that he would have testified against the prosecution. that is what should be done here. that's why jury instructions are so important. that is an adverse witness charge waiting to happen. i will bet you the judge won't do it. >> bill: the controller said three weeks ago we had a ledger, it was old school. it wasn't up to date but we had a ledger and we put each payment in its ca

alan weisselberg was willing to go to jail for donald trump because most likely, donald trump is taking care of him. >> he has a severodonetsk renders agreement. >> i will sit in jail for this period of time. he made that deal with donald trump. donald trump did not do that with michael cohen and alas, michael cohen. >> you raise the point. and i think it is important. that he has an insurance policy around him in the form of strong men and he didn't in this event. and that blanche interview on another cable news station is notable. because trump is involved in his defense intimately and it was not great defense. and i'm not a lawyer, but this position they adopted. trump never slept with stormy daniels. access hollywood wasn't a doomsday event. every campaign is a conspiracy. donald trump is innocent. they just took every argument to the nth degree. all they had to do was prove reasonable doubt. but it was very clear that trump was trying to litigate his sins in the court of public opinion. and that infiltrated their strategy as a defense team to little avail. >> that highlights the di

stand several weeks ago he casually talked about the reimbursement plan he was working out with alan weisselberg, the ceo at the time. you got the feeling from michael cohen sitting in the courtroom, he just wanted his money back and just wanted his christmas bonus. in fact we learn on cross-examination, that. david: that he stole it. >> he was padding his own pockets doing it, he was stealing. this is who the state of new york wants everyone to rely on, depend on to believe in order to imprison the president of the united states. that is remarkable when you think about it. david: what the jury relies on, i mentioned it before when i relied on a jury is the judge himself. my question, obviously michael cohen is a terrible witness. he is a proved liar, admitted to stealing in the cross-examination this week. you lie on the judge in this courtroom you can't. the reason why they haven't mentioned clearly what elevates the expired misdemeanor in 34 felonies because they have no right to ajude case a election interference that has to be fec or federal court. that is why they're not mentioning it, rig

the trump organization cfo alan weisselberg, spoke with trump directly that cohen would front the moneycohen said weisselberg promise him to pay him back. he eventually paid daniels using home line of equity, to conceal the payment from his wife. cohen said that trump was worried if the campaign came out at a time it was dealing with the aftermath of the leak of the "access hollywood" tape. cohen admitted trying to delay the payment to daniels and push it past the election maybe not paying it at all. for his part trump denies every having an affair with daniels and reiterated once again the trial is keeping him off the trail. >> i should be out campaigning instead of sitting in a very cold courthouse all day long this is a biden prosecution. it's election interference at a level that nobody in this country has ever seen before. >> reporter: lawyers for the former president have yet to cross-examine cohen but no doubt when they do they will try to paint cohen as an unreliable witness. he has after all been disbarred as an attorney and admit committed perjury, admitting to lying under oat

the american people to remember i way, has somehow randomly selected had bannon's case, had alan weisselberg's caseha, and put allen weisselbeg back in jail. this is what we're dealing.ts with. somehow he randomly also gets donald trump. that's not the way dd trump.at'm works. you assign a case randomly. that's the way it's supposedyoan to work. ra but in the new america, under the biden regime, we are sittinndom wg here in a ame politicization of all our judicial systems. he is intent finally obstructing the defense's case. there is no point in no pointa in us even putting on a defense. when you have a judgfence when e is sitting there telling the jury, don't listen to them, i'm going to scream. ngi'm going to even tell the press that they can't sit in there and god knowsere. the press is tough on me. but i had their back in this one. they had no businessd know kicking them out. and that judge is so crooked that he couldn't n stand that there was bad evidence being brought in by this d attorney who happened to work for the state. and why. let's not forget who had a great stella sdny. stelar,

y todas las cosas que tienen que ver con violar la ley fueron cometidas por michael cohen, alan w weisselbergalia ponga sobre la mesa las declaraciones de sus testigos estrella cohen y daniels que involucran a trump en los pagos. >> despues, el juez juan merchan explicara los cargos e instrucciones al jurado. >> ¿que como se determina c culpabilidad. >> ¿que es duda razonable, cuales son los elementos del crimen? >> un juicio historico donde los ojos del mundo estan puestos en esta corte porque por primera vez un expresidente es acusado criminalmente y podria ser e encarcelado sin importar las condiciones del clima la gente ha llegado desde un dia antes para poder ser parte de este juicio. >> aqui estan haciendo fila para lograr entrar el dia de manana al tribunal. >> bajo una fuerte tormenta que azota la gran manzana, algunos ac hampan para obtener un lugar dentro de la sala, como esta mujer, que dice quiere ver y escuchar los argumentos y el veredicto por ella misma. >> en nueva york, karla amezola, noticias telemundo. >> en medio de una disputa con otro migrante. >> argueris martinez, de v

knows that the calculation of how much he would be paid was based on a document handwritten by alan weisselberg that includes the $130,000 to stormy daniels. that has never been explained by the defense. not at any point did that get explained. and then the da made this point when he got up to speak saying you can't accuse michael cohen of stealing in the reimbursement scheme if you are also saying he was never reimbursed. and so, that is the central problem the defense has. it has theories crashing into each other. michael cohen was reimbursed. in the formula for the reimbursement, he managed to steal $30,000. so you cannot accuse him of stealing and then say he wasn't reimbursed. you can't have that both ways. so that was one of those things as a trial develops, you sit there and you wait. when there is something really tough for one side, you just should sit there and wait to hear that side address the most difficult thing they have. the most difficult thing the defense has is the number. $130,000 written in his handwriting on that document. the defense has never explained it. hate have neve

alan weisselberg notes. the jury doesn't have to take a huge leap of faith to believe michael cohen. it's like taking a couple of more steps on a straight line. >> in a nation 77 million americans voted for donald trump, what is the possibility that the prosecution is going to get 12 people finding him guilty? >> you know, juries are very different than public opinion. i'll say as polly annish as i think it sometimes founds, as a prosecutor, you're used to looking at 12 american citizens and asking them to do their job, to listen to the evidence, to understand the law, to set aside any external noise. >> you seen they take it seriously. >> they do it and do it in public corruption cases. i think the question we are struggling with whether there is something about donald trump that is different even in the context of this jury. >> do you think in the ends that michael cohen is crucial to this or this counterargument which is -- put michael cohen on. do you think he is important or not important? >> yeah, i'm

didn't hear any questioning ab the 201 meeting, three days before inauguration, where after alan weisselberg and michael cohen scratched down on paper how he was going to be reimbursed and that meeting that says took place in which donald trump aprued how the reimbursement checks were going to get back to hill. we didn't hear any questioning about that story. you also didn't hear any questioning about the february 8th, 2017 meeting in the oval office in which michael cohen says he talked to donald trump about getting the assurance he would get those 11 checks over the course of the year 2017. so there's much of the story that michael cohen told this jury on monday and tuesday that under cross-examination, he has yet to be questioned about. a lot is hanging on that october 24th phone call being called into question. and michael cohen when he was asked about how he could recollect the specific phone calls, when he had 1,400 calls a month at that period of time, these were really important phone calls. i have been telling the story for six years and for six years my story has not changed. it's

all were signed by alan weisselberg. some were signed by donald trump.34 felony counts. ha they establish is each one was an act of fraud. i thought that was dramatic saying who signed this one. >> eric trump who spent a lot of time liking down was very much looking up when that was going on. >> what do you think jurors thought of that? >> that's something we don't know. with can talk about what the first 45 minutes or what lands with us, but the jurors are 12 people who have just learning about each other. we don't know how this is landing with them. i just did jury duty last week. it's a weird place. lots of things happen. you become familiar. i wasn't picked. but even there you see these weird group dynamics. >> we're seeing seem to be pretty self-aware of the kind of tasks. you don't see them coming in and chatting or whatever. soldiers of justice marching in and marching back. i want to say one quick thing though in fairness out of sympathy for the defense. it goes with what we were saying, the big points they can score, he says these things and sou

howard: so david there is david perk, then the ceo of the national end quirer, alan is alan aisle -- weisselberg if o of the trump organization. so hearing the two of them talk about this, tomi, i don't know how much it proves, but it certainly sets the stage for the prosecution to argue that trump knew about all this. >> yeah. if that's their smoking gun, i hope they have another smoking gun. once again this has come town to the morality of donald trump and the affairs that he may or may not have had. it still doesn't go to the criminality of what donald trump did or what he knew. so if that's the smoking gun, they're going to have to come up with more than that. i think the it makes michael cohen look far worse. obviously, a known liar, convicted liar and somebody who desperately wanted to be a part of the trump administration. so i think once again as judge jeanine said the other day on "the five," fun -- none of this has touched donald trump that i think results in a conviction. we'll have to the wait and see. but i think michael cohen, if that's their star witness, again, this seems to be f

meeting, unclear whether that's the 2015meeting or perhaps a subsequent meeting in which alan wise wising -- weisselbergh they were discussing how they were going to a pay michael cohen back. the gist of all of these questions says to me, liz, that the jury is really trying to understand what this alleged catch is and kill scheme that the prosecution is alleging to have taken place. we're not seeing any questions about the actual documents in this case or where they've been falsified. and i will caution it's difficult to read a hot into what the questions are, who's actually asking the questions. are these questions on behalf of all 12 jurors or just 1 juror, but that's where wert at this juncture. they've been districting now since just around a little after a 11:30. the judge has said they'll go until 4:30, check in again and perhaps until 6 p.m. tonight and have a check-in again and this continue tomorrow. and this coming on the heels of that marathon day yesterday of closing arguments. so you can imagine the jurors might be a little tired and also hoping to get in some sleep from the midst of all of

one last thing, one other question he was asked by the prosecution, and did alan weisselberg, the former be like a retainer for services, talking about how michael cohen would get repaid? he said yes. this speaks to everything this trial is about, whether or not donald trump falsified legal documents in terms of how this money was given back to michael cohen. >> rehema ellis, we'll check back with you throughout the day. let's bring in correspondent ali vitali. we reported a little bit earlier that speaker mike johnson is, in fact, in lower manhattan standing shoulder to shoulder with former president trump. we're going to hear from him later today, i understand. >> reporter: we're going to hear from him in about 45 minutes or so. he's expected to speak outside of the courthouse. the media advisory about these remarks says they are remarks about the sham trial and the persecution of the former president. he joins an ever-growing train of trump allies who are there basically helping him get out the message that he thinks this is what the speaker calls a sham, and he's going to be one of a

january 17th, 2017, meeting in which michael cohen says he scratched down on a bank statement with alan weisselberghe testimony of hope hicks and michael cohen. you had hope hicks, a close ally of donald trump, testify about the role michael cohen was playing in order to silence the stormy daniels story in those closing days. this is the opportunity for them this morning to present to this jury essentially a wrap sheet of five weeks of testimony. the attorneys for donald trump will present their case first. they'll then turn it over to the prosecution. we could get jury instructions as early as this afternoon, though we could wait for them to come tomorrow morning. >> claire, the biden team to this point hasn't talked at all about these criminal trials. that will change once there is a verdict. president biden will first speak to the nation about the importance of respecting the legal system and the outcome no matter what the jury will come back with. if there is a verdict, his team will talk about it some, not a lot. it will be part of their argument that donald trump is not fit for office. what's

he worked with former trump ceo alan weisselberg. let me walk you through what he said. retainer for the months of january and february of 2017 in the description. so we talk about what this week is really going to be about. it is all about the fraudulent records. that is what this really comes down to. the last two weeks of testimony was really about setting up the timeline, creating this sense of a president of the united states running for election in the lead-up to november and how he was desperate to win that election. some of the testimony we heard from hope hicks. we are now moving to the point that they want to talk about the falsifying of the business records and how it all went down. it seems like this next witness that is taking the stand is going to speak to exactly that, the understanding that the former president knew what he was doing when he put in his business records that this was for legal expenses as he reimbursed michael cohen. we're going to hear the testimony from this individual now. then, of course, we have to look ahead to some of the star witne

if he set this whole thing in to motion, he caused alan weisselberg to struck them to make the businessords in a certain way, that will be enough, so long ago the jury instructions make clear to the jury that is what they can mean to falsify. >> interesting. lisa, i have a question for you but, first, i want to read from chuck's new opinion piece in "u.s. news and world report." it's entitled even if he is guilty, trump could be acquitted. justice would still be served. you write in part, this, chuck. to me as a former federal prosecutor, the evidence is compelling that trump directed a plot to conceal the tryst from voters during the 2016 presidential shp. no matter how you feel about his innocence or guilt that is okay. our justice system is imperfect. anything endeavor that includes human beings is imperfect. we ask jurors to list and deliberate and ask them to serve as the conscientious of our community and we empower them to determine whether a defendant is guilty as charged and we must live with that decision whether we agree or disagree with it. >> chuck, let's just take this one

. >> why can't alan like can't allen weisselberg justify a great question? jim trusty, why can't eat well, he probably could. >> i mean, it's it's really going to be an interesting moment here because there was this focus on the process of who actually approves of ledger entries, checks there wasn't much help for the prosecution from the controller, i guess he was. and from and from others, there's this overall flavor of president trump micromanagers, but there wasn't really direct testimony that came down to cohen. i think the problem for the government is why weisberg is basically a failed cooperator. i mean, they punished him because they didn't get what they wanted from this guy to flip on president trump. if he comes in now post fifth amendment he's going to come in and he's going to be a wildcard. he's got no interest in prepping with the government. so if they called them, most likely he backfires and he says, i did all this stuff. president trump didn't have anything to do with it. good to see you don and walks out while the prosecution scratches the

juror, your hearing, allen weisselberg, you talk about all the all the nodes, all the calculus since he's the one that made the nodes here. donald trump told him to talk to alan like who's this allen weisselberg, if i'm a juror, so i do think that's something that i don't know where you go from there. >> i just want to read one more exchange. this was indirect yesterday. welcome, cohen, still face question for prosecutors before todd blanche started swearing in front of the jury yesterday, and this was an exchange that gets to the heart of the case and clearly the prosecution wanted another bite at this apple, after their first de the prosecutor, susan hoffinger asks, why in fact, did you pay the money to stormy daniel's? it's michael cohen says to ensure that the story would not come out, would not affect mr. trump's chances of becoming president united states. hoffinger says, if not for the campaign, mr. cohen would you have paid that money to stormy daniels? cohen says, no, ma'am. todd blanche, the defense attorney says objection. the judge has overruled. you can answer cohen says no, ma'am. and then hop and your asked at who's direction? and on whose beha

he donald trump said all right, just make sure you deal with alan, meaning allen weisselberg, the cfo, in order to get those reimbursements which brings us to the documents michael cohen went through for the jury some key documents, including this page of handwritten notes by allen weisselberg that shows exactly how they calculated the amount that michael cohen would be reimbursed the $420,000 it breaks down into reimbursement for stormy daniel's another expense plus enough money to enable michael cohen to pay his taxes. and michael cohen talk the jury through one-by-one, the checks that he was then issued, some of them signed by donald trump for $35,000 each, one per month for about a year. now this is really important. prosecutors also walk michael cohen methodically through the invoices. and if you want to see the prosecution's case in one word, it's right here. retainer, these payments were not listed as hush money payments or anything like that. they were labeled as retainers, legal fees, and the prosecution's theory is that's the fraud right there. that's the falsification of bu

going to pay the $130,000, in the office with me was allen weisselberg the chief financial officer of the trump organization, he acknowledged to alan that he was going to pay the 130,000, and that allen and i should go back to his office and figure out how to do it. so yes, sir, i stand by the statement that i gave, but there was a history to it. >> in your testimony, you have -- you said you brought some checks, is that right? you said you brought some checks? >> yes, sir. >> let me ask you about one of these. this from the trump trust that holds the president's businesses, can you tell me who signed this check? >> i believe that the top signature is donald trump jr. and the bottom signature i believe is allen weisselberg's. >> can you tell me the date of that check? >> march 17th of 2017. >> now wait a minute. hold up. the date on the check is after president trump held his big press conference claiming that he gave up control of his businesses? how could the president have arranged for you to get this check if he was supposedly playing no role in his business? >> because the payments were designed to be paid over the course of 1

those business record entries and donald trump he invokes allen weisselberg during his direct testimony a couple hundred times. of course alan is nowhere to be found in this trial. see you have to believe cohen. the defense team todd blanche did a masterful job of really drawing out the stark contrast between his direct testimony and his cross-examination on direct he was an eddie haskell character. he p private were the only onesi know what i'm talking not want to talk about eddie haskell leave it to beaver era. he was very polite. he was calm, he was a d due vier they began the defense case on cross they played the pod gets a first on the jury saw and heard the real michael cohen followed up by some of the great cross bite blanche. eric: you look wonderful m mr. mrs. cleaver that will be the michael cole and the other side would be like his ranting and raving on his podcasts. you bring something up that is interesting about the falsified business records i want to show exactly with the law says code is the only witness a directly tied the president into the system of the law says you have to make her calls a false entry in

50,000 down on their on the bill calling well, for the previous year-and-a-half, i told alan, meaning allen weisselberg, the cfo. look, i laid it out. my hope was to get the money from alan onto it so that i can give it to them, but it never happened but i constantly reminded him because i did want him to receive the funds hoffinger, did you pay red finch less than 50,000? cohen i did. >> hoffinger. okay. and why did you then ask for $50,000 back? she's asking why did you ask for 50 gram back if you paid them less than $50,000, cohen because that's what was owed and i didn't feel mr. if you're trump deserve the benefit of the difference. hoffinger. >> and if you were going to get 50,000, but you paid out less than 50,000. >> were you going to keep the rest of it yourself, cohen? that's what i ended up doing. but that's it. and i have to say she does not. susan hoffinger in this direct testimony, she does not underlying laura coates, you did this and that's larceny. that's illegal. and so we should know that some of this memo includes an inflated bill, but we should not, use that to discount the rest of

weisselberg's handwriting because i saw him write it. that's about as good as handwriting i.d. gets. michael cohen explains that's my writing over there explaining to alan what i needed and allen crosses it appear. what we didn't know was the next thing that was going to happen in the testimony is allen weisselberg and michael cohen were going to take that document down the hall and we were going to be and donald trump's office and michael: was then telling us what donald trump said about this and how he approved it and as you put it it was all there. that's where the final elements of what become the criminal charges all get put together is in that room. >> it was elegant because the prosecution had done such an effective job of getting evidence entered in to the record because if it's not in the record it can't be used. to lawrence's point, we saw this exhibit before. it had import through the former controller of the trump organization, but to have the nuance added from michael cohen's testimony is what good trial lawyers do. you saw a well executed plan from the manhattan d.a.s office to allow the introduction of certain cell phone records, text mes

i've actually come up, i stopped me and i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up and i spoke to alan about it when it comes time for the final fancy, which will be what paton yourself getting old. i got no, no no, no check after court. >> trump address the gag order. he falsely claimed. it's the reason he won't testify in the trial well, i'm not allowed to testify. i'm under a gag idea i said i can know. we're gonna be appealing the games. >> i love to answer that question, but i'm not allowed to testify versus judge, it's totally conflicted has to be under a unconstitutional gag order. nobody has ever had that and we don't like it. and it's not fair all right. >> turn me now to discuss his stuff, kite politics reported for axios, steph. >> good morning. nice to see you. >> setting aside. he said this has never happened before. setting aside the fact that a criminal trial for a former president the united states is also never happened before trump. >> there basically trying to, and again, this is not true, right? he is free to testify in the trial in his own defense. it is up to him

>> is spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so what do we got -- >> -- funding. yes, it's all the stuff. i'm all over that. and i spoke to alan about a. when it comes time for the financing >> watch financing? >> will have to pay -- no, no. >> a check. pretty specific. the jury heard a recording between cohen and keith davidson regarding stormy daniels. in this recording we did not know about before today. >> nobody is thinking about michael. despite what, for example, the earlier conversation, you know, and who was with do that for somebody? who else? >> yeah. >> i did because i care about the guy. and i wasn't going to play penny wise and pound foolish. >> right. >> right. and i'm sitting there and i'm saying to myself, what about me? >> yeah. >> what about me? i can't tell you how many times he said to me, i hate the fact that we did it. and my comment to him was, every person you have spoken to told you it was the right move. >> right. >> that was a lot of michael cohen and a little bit of keith davidson. davidson said he understood that he referred to trump and we did it referred to the payment to daniels. couldn't be mo