i'm charles coleman jr. filling in for my friend and colleague ali velshi and we have a lot to talk about. it is not just talk to say that there is a very big week coming up. donald trump had a relatively light court schedule this week but that was just the calm before the storm. and about 48 hours from now, is going to get real. closing arguments will begin in the first-ever criminal trial of a former united states president. and after 20 days in court, that future more than 80 hours of testimony from a total of 22 different witnesses, a jury will deliberate whether the former president should be convicted of a crime. it is simply something that has never happened before and trump could face more trials in the future to come, and that is if he doesn't want a second term in the white house and shut down the remaining prosecutions against him. but this is all happening as questions continue to swirl about where things stand with his three other criminal cases. right now, none of them, none of them not a singl

george conway, charles coleman, and anna bauer. tank you for spending your friday memorial weekend eve with me and giving us the goods on what you think is going to happen. i really appreciate with your time. enjoy your weekends. >>> still ahead this evening, we know that the number of abortions rose in the year 2023 despite the proliferation of state bands. tonight, louisiana has become the first state to figure out a brand-new way to stop people

i'm charles coleman jr.illing in for my friend and i like ali velshi and we have a lot to talk about if you want a seat for the hottest event in new york city you better make your way downtown to manhattan and get in line right now. after 20 days in court that featured more than 80 hours of testimony from 22 different witnesses, donald trump's hush money trial will soon come to a closed. less than 48 hours from now, closing arguments will begin in the first ever criminal trial of a former president while some people are spending memorial day weekend at a barbecue or the beach, others are camping out in line right now outside the courthouse at 100 center street for a chance to be in the room where it all happens. there are folks who have been in line literally since court has adjourned on thursday. on the other hand, donald trump the candidate spent his day off on the campaign trail but it didn't turn as well as he hoped. last thursday, he held a modestly attended rally in the south bronx. yesterday, he was r

i am charles coleman jr.ween marjorie taylor greene and jasmine crockett spark debate, some of that has little more to do with our penchant for drama, it involved two women in attacks on physical appearance. in contrast, less attention has been paid to the republican silencing of democratic representative jim mcgovern that started when he denounced house republicans for flocking to manhattan to stand in solidarity with donald trump at his hush money trial. several prominent republicans made the trip to new york to deliver speeches outside the courthouse which is a move that is widely seen as helping trump innovating his own gag order which he has already violated 10 different times. donald trump was reportedly seen editing their speeches during the trial which, for me, is really dumb. on the house floor, jim mcgovern accuse republican lawmakers opposing as props to donald trump and was then reminded to avoid "personalities by the presiding chair." he recited a factual list of the criminal charges against the

. >> good evening, i'm charles coleman jr.hanie ruhle tonight and we have got a lot to talk about point we are now just 176 days away from the election .5 years ago we saw michael cohen publicly turn on his long-term boss, donald trump, and today, after years of buildup, cohen finally took the stand as a key witness in the first criminal trial of a former president. and just like us, he had a lot to say. nbc's laura jarrett has the details from a pivotal day in court. >> reporter: tonight a highly anticipated courtroom showdown. prosecutor's star witness michael cohen, former president trump's self-described fixer turned fierce critic telling the jury mr. trump directed him to pay off an adult film actress days before the 2016 election to protect his campaign. everything required mr. trump's sign off, cohen told the jury, testifying mr. trump was furious in 2016 when he learned stormy daniels was still trying to sell her story of sex with the former president, telling cohen, i thought you had this under control. cohen explaini

i'm charles coleman jr.my friend allie velshi. we've got a lot to talk about. >>> in the last seven days donald trump has reminded us of the many reasons why he remains a danger to the constitution and overall to democracy itself. let's start when the former president appeared in nra convention in texas. during his speech that presumptive presidential nominee asked the critical quote, are we going to be considered three- term or two-term? some can interpret that to mean just because trump continuously is delusional and believes he won the 2020 election, a possible victory this year could be considered in his eyes a third presidential term. for others, it raises concerns that trump might be floating the idea of serving more than two terms. which is something he also slightly suggested at a couple rallies during his presidential campaign four years ago. there are a lot of things i could say about this idea. aspirational, presumptive, even perhaps bizarre. but i will keep it pretty basic with two words. highly

charles coleman is here, civil rights attorney, former brooklyn prosecutor, msnbc legal analyst, and republican strategist and msnbc political analyst, susan del percio. in just a minute, charles, i'm going to get to the difference between, let's say all the salacious details about how catch and kill works, a glamorous witness, arguably in hope hicks. those are the things we saw last week. this is supposed to be the dry stuff. right? >> right. >> and in some ways, a bunch of documents, it's hard to make that turn. what was the connection made here that might have helped the jury get where the prosecution wants it to go. >> i think one of the things that helps the prosecution in terms of the jury grasping this case, chris, is just now making clear the understanding where the money came from with respect to donald trump and his organization. and it's very important that they understand that for one main reason, and the biggest reason is we've heard the sub text throughout this entire case, and before it that donald trump has been arguing, look, i was paying michael cohen back for legal

charles coleman is back with me. so we did this deep dive on hope hicks. her, let's zoom in for a moment. who else do you think has given the most important testimony? who has been the most important witness so far. >> i've got to go back to the beginning and start with the lead off witness for the prosecution, david pecker. he is someone who is unsullied despite his ridiculous past in terms of fake news, his credibility in front of the jury laying out the prosecution's case is solid. then on cross-examination, he did well. it's been basically untainted, so he's got to be my most important witness to this point. >> he was unapologetic, that's for sure. talk about what you think the most important piece of testimony has been. >> i don't think there's any one piece of evidence that has been the biggest block buster piece of evidence. any and everything, whether that's a time line, a conversation or recording that connects this entire scheme to the time line connected to the election is critical, and it's critical because ultimately what alvin bragg's office

joining us now, legal analyst charles coleman. charles, good to see you this morning.ith what we should expect from this cross-examination. it did begin on tuesday. it was fairly contentious. what should we look for today? >> well, the truth is, jonathan, i'm not quite sure. todd blanche has been all over the place. i do expect that there are going to be a myriad attacks on michael cohen's out of court statements and some of the things he's said under oath in court testifying, to congress and also the trial that left him go to jail. ultimately, those are the things the defense will try to zro in on to damage cohen's believability to the jury. >> cohen has done well so far? >> he's been composed, hasn't gotten into a space that's been overly combative. he's defended himself. for someone who seems to go all over the place, he's stuck to the script and done well on the stand. >> let's assess how the prosecution has faired to this point. this might be their last witness. there have been some talk of maybe having an expert come on one last time. we're not clear if that'll h

i am back with george conway, charles coleman, and anna bauer.utchered the quote, but i do wonder what you think of it. is this-- i mean, in some ways represents bookends of the trupification of the republican party in the speaker of the house coming to the aid of a potential felon outside of the republican courtroom. >> they always managed to sink lower. you have the speaker of the house of the united states of america, who is a conservative, evangelical christian, telling- - telling outright lies about a trial, in defense of a-- an adjudicated rapist, who he knows lies in almost everything he does. and is-- no, this isn't a sham trial. the evidence is there. the grand jury indicted him. what does he have to say about the evidence that involves, not really in dispute. the person he is lying for, this conservative christian evangelical, who paid off a porn star that he had sex with very briefly and covered it up with a payoff. i mean what-- what is he saying is the library? he is lying. and he is lying in defense of a pathological liar and crimin

. >> 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

charles coleman, thank you as always, my friend. lisa, we are not done with you yet.stick around. we will examine the catch and kill world that donald trump and michael cohen lived in with a guest who was there when it all went down, that is next. n. we're talking about cashbackin. not a game! we're talking about cashbacking. we're talking about... we're not talking about practice? no... cashbacking. word. we're talking about cashbacking. cashbacking. cashbacking. cashback like a pro with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback? when enamel is gone, you cannot get it back. but you can repair it with pronamel repair. it penetrates deep into the tooth to actively repair acid weakened enamel. i recommend pronamel repair. with new pronamel repair mouthwash you can enhance that repair beyond brushing. they work great together. summer. it's the hungriest time of year for kids across america. kids whose hardworking families are struggling to make ends meet. whether it's working the crazy hours so you can have enough money for food or, you know, just giving up things for

we are joined by charles coleman. lisa, you were in the hearing today. you agree of that characterization of the weight of the instructions? >> i agree about the weight of the instructions. i disagree about what will be easy and what will be difficult. i will give you an example from today. in order to find trump guilty of felony falsification of business records, the jury has to find that he made the false business records himself or caused someone else to make them. the meaning of the word, caused, is something on which this case hinges, because the prosecutors want a definition that is expansive. if based on your conduct you could foresee the business records would be falsified, you have caused the falsification. that is the instruction they wanted today and the instruction that the judge indicated he is not likely to give. so then the question is what will cause me nand how will it be defined for the jurors? if it means literally that i direct charles, here is how you're going to set up his general business ledger, that's not evidence that is in this

charles coleman, thanks so much. dasha, thank you. >>> convicted killer scott peterson is facing a judge again today as he fights for a new trial. >> his attorneys want new dna testing on pieces of evidence from the original murder investigation. he was convicted of killing his pregnant wife lacey back in 2002. nbc news correspondent liz kruetz is at the courthouse. you've been inside the courtroom per today's hearing, what have you heard? >> reporter: the hearing is going on right now, in fact it's slated for the fuel day, we have heard are the l.a. innocence project, they've laid out their case in a pretty compelling way for new dna testing. we've also now begun to hear from the prosecution, under way right now making the case against this new testing, that this has been well litigated. overwhelming evidence against scott peterson that got him convicted. he's joined via zoom from prison, he's taking notes, listening very closely, his attorneys are focusing right now on this burned-out orange van that was found in m

also here with us, charles coleman. vaughn, let's start with you outside there, the jury has heard a lot from the defense and the prosecution, what are the final points they're all trying to drive home right now in. >> reporter: right, for nearly three hours this morning, guys the defense team for donald trump, his lead attorney pressing the case to this jury they have reasonable doubts that donald trump is guilty of these 34 counts of falsifying business records. on one hand they make the case that there was no intent on the part of donald trump to defraud when he reimbursed michael cohen for that money, not only reimburse they make the case to the jury that there's no evidence that shows that donald trump was doing anything other than retaining michael cohen and they were calling into question the credibility of michael cohen as a whole, more than 45 different times they either called michael cohen a liar or implied that he lied to this jury during his several days' of testimony. the marquee witness to bring all 21 wi

congratulations to you. >> yours wasn't so bad either. >>> let's get back to charles coleman. they're taking another break, having technical difficulties. i imagine, charles, and you tell me what you think, is this the last moments of michael cohen on the stand? >> i think so. they have achieved and at the end of the day, i think both sides are aware there's a certain level of fatigue you don't want to lose the jury with. at some point, whoever seems like they're responsible for keeping the witness on the stand far too long, is exposing themselves by being punished by the jury. i think at the end of the day, all of the juice out of the michael cohen orange has been squeezed and everything is already out, and so, yes, we are nearing the end of his testimony, for both the prosecution and the defense. >> the defense is going to come out, and they might have one or two witnesses, maybe none. maybe one will be donald trump. probably not. i'm going to bet not. and i'm curious, catherine, as you think about the way you might present this case, what sort of witness would you want to co

joining me now are katie benner, "new york times" reporter covering the justice department, and charles colemanvil rights attorney. i had to replay that. i think rachel is right, charles. i don't want to let that moment go yesterday when mike johnson, the republican speaker of the house, is out that there saying the whole system is rigged based on donald trump. how do we reconcile this? >> so much to unpack here. the first thing i want to know is, where was all this vitriol around this justice department when it was around prosecuting or the need to prosecute hillary clinton, for example? where was the vitriol talking about the two-tiered justice with other social things regular people are affected by. >> sure. >> these things in terms of a hypocrisy standpoint, i cannot even begin to touch. but when you're talking about the gop, as a political party, a party allegedly of law and order, we know that that has long since -- that train has left the station. but when you're talking about a political party that's responsible for upholding american democratic institutions, for you to so aggressively

joining us now, former new york prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, charles coleman. always a pleasure to see you my friend, and i have a lot to ask you about, what your thoughts on this, and a whole lot more, but today, we saw a slate of a whole lot less, i guess, you know, i don't know how to even describe it, just more witnesses that are going in on details that maybe, you know, we don't understand why they're so important. a lot of evidence was put forward. what were your take aways? >> well, it's good to be with you, jose. i think that for people who may not necessarily have understood what was going on today, it is so important to know that this is the regular cadence of a trial. stormy daniels and a witness like her, these are not the witnesses that typically you see take place at the average trial. this cadence of it being relatively pedestrian, where you may have some exciting testimony at some point is much more akin to what you're going to find in a trial, particularly at the state level for a crime like this. this is not the crime of the century in that se

adam pollock, and charles coleman, an msnbc legal analyst. vaughn, i want to start with you. you have kind of lived all of this from the beginning to the end. as you watched what unfolded today, help us understand it, but also put all of that testimony by hope hicks which was pretty dramatic in the context of what we knew at the time. >> reporter: exactly, it's dramatic because hope hicks was somebody who testified today that she was intimately involved with donald trump in what was a very small campaign brass that included keith shiler and corey lewandowski and michael cohen, the outside personal lawyer voice who maintained a quasi role with the campaign, representing donald trump. in this, for hope hicks and for the jury here, is a key, crucial witness that knows donald trump so well, but also was a trusted adviser and aide, somebody whose words were never really highly scrutinized, somebody who donald trump has never publicly blasted or tried to undercut the reputation of. but what hope hicks ultimately testified today was two-fold, number one, she did not testify that she

charles coleman, thank you as always, my friend.ith you, please stick around. we will examine the catch and kill world donald trump and michael quinn lived in with a guest who was right there when it all went down. that is next. is next. not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪ i did it my way ♪ sup? -who are you? ask your provider for cologuard. i'm your inner child. get in. listen, what you really need in life is some freakin' torque. what? horsepower keeps you going, but torque gets you going. what happened to my inner child craving love and acceptance? how about you love and accept this? p-p-p-p-powershot! when can i drive? you already are! the dodge hornet r/t... the totally torqued-out crossover. you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and st

but velshi with charles coleman starting right now. take it away, charles. >> how is it going?with you on the three-piece , on the sunday. we are doing our sunday best. i appreciate it. you are looking great, my friends. >> i feel like -- this is what

. >>> a what to again meredith mcgraw and charles coleman. welcome to you both. charles, you posted yesterday that michael cohen is a nightmare for the prosecution with how much he has been speaking to the media. but then i heard you say on morning joe that he is the linchpin to connecting trumps everything in the case. how does the prosecution thread that needle? >> i think one of the things the prosecution has to be mindful of is using michael cohen to focus on the documents. his testimony, and expect he is going to have some extra testimony around his relationship with donald trump and how close they were and everything else, that will be challenged by the defense because of the number of out-of- court statements he has made, and the tweet about being a nightmare witness. prosecutors able to focus on the actual documents that michael cohen is responsible for connecting the dots on, that is where the real value of his testimony comes into play. what he's been doing out of court and the extemporaneous statements he's made, unsolicited to many outlets, ours being

our thanks to our good friend charles coleman for being in the house, joining us at the table this houre tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern. congressman jim clyburn will be here to discuss receiving the presidential medal of freedom. be sure to follow the show on social media. in the meantime, you know what is about to happen. yes, it is that time. "velshi" starts right now. take it away, ali, from the far, far lands of the west. may 4 be with you. >> thank you. it is nice to see charles with you. he always brings that walked off a magazine look. >> a big deal.

i am charles coleman jr.. thank you to velshi's team. stay right where you are, inside with jen psaki begins right now. >>> things can move very quickly this week in the donald trump criminal trial as the former president's former fixer , michael cohen , will be on the stand tomorrow and closing arguments could come after that andrew wiseman and lisa rubin are coming up first. a congressman will join me in a few minutes. >>> a supreme court justice and upside down flag, and the growing crisis of confidence in our highest court. >>> a deep dive into the gop relationship with putin is unlike you have any -- unlike anything you have seen before. a comedian is here with more. >> and a little more than a week, donald trump could be a convicted felon. not wishful thinking but a fact. it is hard to imagine that the 12 men and women who make up this jury don't know what is on the shoulders right now. tomorrow, they will watch michael cohen return to the stand for more cross- examination and on tuesday they could be watching closing arguments. im

i am charles coleman jr.. thank

and former prosecutor charles coleman joins us. hugo because you were in the room or at least in the courthouse, what stuck out q when you saw the judge look squarely at donald trump and schooled him like a schoolboy for violating the gag order, what was that like connect >> it is surreal when you see judges school dependence. it was very clear to say if you continue to violate the order, we are going to consider putting you in jail. it couldn't have been set in any more clear terms. the looks on -- were not pretty. the trial it was also significant. we had gone into testimony that moved the case on. >>> i wanted to stay with the morning and the gag order. the judge looked at him and said if you do that again, he knows he will violating him. is it that big of a threat? >> it is. you still have to consider that to go. donald trump doesn't have a lot of leeway. it is important that it is laid out this way. once you cross the threshold you don't go back. want to say i'm putting you in jail, every other offenses jail or more drill. the

editor and writer for msnbc.com, and charles coleman jr. has a new set of frames and brought them just for us. hayes, let's start with the supreme court. why is it so important when it comes to the right to vote for all americans? >> because, like you said in the intro, this decision makes it harder to bring these cases to the supreme court or the court in general to say this gerrymandering was done. justice alito is saying it's almost impossible to determine race versus poll sicks. this is only possible because of the shelby decision that gutted the voting rights act that made it so states like south carolina, they have to go to the department of justice to get approval for their districts when they were redrawn to say this is why this is not racial gerrymandering. in destroying that standard, it left the door open for alito to say there's no way to tell making it harder for these cases to be brought forward and prove that black americans are being disenfranchised in this way. >> charles, what do you think from a legal standpoint? >> they'

joining us now msnbc legal analyst charles coleman who of course has been following this case very closely. charles, thanks for starting us off this morning. let's just start with your reaction to stormy daniels testimony. were you surprised at the amount of detail she provided? and how effective do you think she was? >> well, good morning, jonathan. i do think this was the blockbuster moment that so many have been waiting for, and it lived up to everything of its building and then some. i was surprised prosecutors allowed stormy daniels to go into the level of detail she did regarding donald trump and at the same time i think it's in part donald trump's fault for number one creating a space where there was a question who she actually had relations with and trying to damage her credibility that away as opposed to conceding this actually happened in a way that would have allowed them to make more objections around the details of their encounter. then number 2 when she was testifying, i was a little bit more surprised they didn't launch objections. so it's not a surprise to me the mistrial w

a quick break with charles coleman filling in for ali. >> see you tomorrow.morr that's why i love my swiffer wetjet. it's a quick and easy way to get my floors clean. wetjet absorbs and locks grime deep inside. look at that! swiffer wetjet. ( ♪♪ ) i thought water would help with these dry spots. that's lawn disease. but scotts healthy plus will cure it! lawn disease? been going around. so like other people have it and it's not... pick up a bag of the new scotts turf builder healthy plus lawn food today. feed your lawn. feed it. ♪ music ♪ ♪ unnecessary action hero! ♪ scotts turf builder healthy plus lawn food today. ♪ unnecessary. ♪ was that necessary? no. neither is missing your daughter's competition to do payroll. with paycom, employees do their own payroll so you don't have to miss your daughter's big day. time to shine. get paycom and make the unnecessary unnecessary. nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acut

joins us now are lisa rubin, msnbc legal cormac upon dent and charles coleman, former new york prosecutoral defense and civil rights attorney. very good to have some legal minds weigh in on this. the idea that michael cohen was effectively a single white female like character in trump line. is the point of that from a defense point of view to suggest that cohen might have acted on his own to make the stormy daniels problem go away for trump? >> yes. >> did they do that? >> no. i'm being cross-examined now. see? no, i don't think they did, alex. i think they were trying to show he was motivated to do it alone and so obsessed with trump that having been spurned by him, he is engageing in a scorched earth strategy to make the man's life miserable i don't think they succeeded. i wrote down after reading the cross-examination all the different themes they floated and not a single one of them was a winner. he was media hungry and wealthy. he was before, too. he wouldn't take direction from the da. does that make him not credible? he was a leaker. they insinuated he was leaking information to th

attorney and fbi official, and charles coleman, former prosecutor in new york, and a white-collar defense attorney and a former federal prosecutor. charles, as you see, what blanche has been doing for more than an hour, an hour and a half, what is your takeaway? >> i am not surprised. i think that now we are seeing this play out, it makes sense. you have to admit when you can't deny and deny what you can't deny. you can't deny trump's signature are on the checks and the catch and kill scheme existed, but you have to prove the intent beyond a reasonable doubt. that's where todd blanche is focusing his actual attacks. of course, everything that speaks to the intent, for example, the testimony of michael cohen, you will attack that as well to make the argument the facts are what they are, and you have to deal with that. as far as intent, which is what the jury has to look at to make a decision, that intent is going to be something they are going to hammer home as not something the prosecution is going to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. that will be their roadmap, if you will, to get to a hu

joining us now is former prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, charles coleman.c day. this whole trial has been historic, but this is the defense and prosecution giving their final arguments. what do you suspect will be the key moments that either team, each team will bring up? >> well, i think from a prosecution standpoint, katy, they're going to want to focus on trying to emphasize the notion of michael cohen's testimony and its importance and relying on the framework that david pecker laid out early on. at some point they are going to have to bring in the conversation about michael cohen as he is for them the lynch pin that actually makes the connection between donald trump and the actual signed documents in this overall plot. i think people have to understand that while it may seem very straightforward, as far as the jury instructions are concerned, the notion of cause as a question, we didn't hear testimony about donald trump instructing, directing or ordering someone to do the things that were done in terms of the inappropriate markings or registering of th

our thanks to our good friend charles coleman for being in the house, joining us at the table this hour. we will see you back here tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. eastern. congressman jim clyburn will be here to discuss receiving the presidential medal of freedom. be sure to follow the show on social media. in the meantime, you know what is about to happen. yes, it is that time. "velshi" starts right now. take it away, ali, from the far, far lands of the west. may 4 be with you. >> thank you. it is nice to see charles with you. he always brings that walked off a magazine look. >> a big deal. >> i see it. so i tried to live up to that this morning because i knew i would be on the same screen as you. you are all wonderful, have yourselves a great day and i will see you tomorrow. thanks for joining us. >>> today on "velshi", inside donald trump strategy as defendant/candidate and why his inclination to over share his plans is more alarming than you think. >>> plus, movement on multiple fronts on the draconian crackdown on abortion in this country and worrying signs of what is coming next. >>> then,

joining us now msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos and charles coleman. danny, let's start with you here on set. what was your reaction to the verdict? >> any one, any lawyer, anyone who says they knew what was going to happen is making it up. it is really easy now to say i see how the jury had their path to a conviction, and i think a lot of people did say that prior to the verdict, but you never know. no lawyer ever knows, no regular citizen ever knows. you do not know until they render the verdict, and i suspect over the weeks and years as we perhaps hear from some of those jurors, i predict we will be surprised at some of the things they seized upon and some of the things that maybe weren't as important to them. so overall i mean the next big question is sentencing, what will happen at sentencing. and my big question is what will the prosecution seek given that they know that the odds are i think somewhat in favor of a nonincarceration sentence, what political decision will the manhattan d.a.'s office make in asking for an incarceration sentence or pr

charles coleman served as a prosecutor in brooklyn and they both join me here.ve you. let me start with you, judge. let's just start with the process that produces those instructions. so, judge merchan give instructions for about an hour this morning. an hour and a half, so 10:00 to 11:30 or somewhere around there. how does the sausage get made on those instructions? >> well, the judge invited both parties to submit proposed instructions. the defense got to submit proposed instructions. the d.a. got to submit proposed instructions and last friday there was a charging conference. about three hours long in the afternoon and both sides got to make certain points. the judge got to make certain points. the judge seemed to be leaning the defense way and in other areas he seemed to be leaning the d.a.s way. we were expecting to see the is instructions -- to see these instructions earlier. >> they were just read today and that's all we got. did you have an impression of them? >> i was caught by surprise by one particular instruction. when the judge laid out the pathway

joining me now is suzanne craig and charles coleman. here in studio we will start with you. you've been in the courtroom since the beginning of the trial. give me a sense of how you interpreted hope hicks's testimony. >> first of all we should just talk about the mountain lion. hope hicks was an interesting witness. part of the reason for that is the last two weeks we've been hearing a lot from the scoundrels of all of this. we've heard a lot from david pecker, the head of the inquiry and his relationship then we heard from keith davidson, a lawyer that brokered the deal between the payments between both stormy daniels and karen mcdougall. the details were very sordid. the backgrounds are pretty sordid. it felt like every day you are being pulled through the gutter. hope hicks came in and was a different witness. it's not to say that the other ones don't have it especially focusing on david pecker, who still has some affinity for donald trump. hope hicks is paying for her own lawyer but still has a lot of affinity for donald trump. and that since she was a powerful witness.

with charles coleman. another great legal analyst and i said donald trump stole the election. this is how we know he stole the election. now we know the extent of his election interference and the hush money phrase was catchy. but alvin bragg figured out how to make it matter because people didn't think hush money was such a big deal. but the person we heard from the least had the most important in this case and that was alvin bragg. he didn't try this case. a lot of jurisdictions, a lot of das and state attorneys want the limelight. they will try this case. alvin bragg showed up to support his lieutenants. to support the assistant district attorneys. you have only seen alvin bragg once in a while do a presser, it is how it is supposed to be. what is remarkable about this trial, it is really unremarkable. every single day there are verdicts rendered guilt or innocence, hung juries or not. but this is how the process plays out. >> can i ask you a question then? katie was laying out for us this original meeting with david pecker. donald trump has yet to go after david pecker. da

msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin and charles coleman, former prosecutor in brooklyn, new york, who is an msnbc legal analyst. so, blayne, what can you tell us about the move by the georgia court of appeals this morning? >> well, jose, i think the bottom line of this is that this kind of long almost side show that has been taking over the fulton county trial for the better part of the first half of the year is not over. it is now just entering round two. so what we learned is that the georgia court of appeals has agreed to hear an appeal on this. you'll remember, of course, just a reminder to our viewers, this was the issue we were talking about in fulton county, fulton county district attorney fani willis there on the screen was accused of financially benefiting from a personal relationship which she was having with her then special prosecutor nathan wade, who you see walking into the courtroom right there. well, at the end of -- in the middle of last month, basically, the judge rules that fani willis could stay on the case. she could continue her prosecution of the former presiden

here with us in new york, former brooklyn prosecutor charles coleman and criminal defense attorney dannyalos. >> here with me is paul butler, a markus childress. markus, let me ask you first, how important is this testimony as they are closing it out? how damaging is some of the admissions that michael cohen is making today? >> i think it's been impressive to see the prosecution draw the sting of what we know will come on cross examination. that's something you are trying to do so that when the defense does the hard cross, it's not the first time the jury is hearing it. it's going deeper during the cross-examination. i'm curious to see how michael cohen responds to more probing questions. but the government was able to draw the issues out in the first instance. it's not like they were trying to hide the ball when the defense asks michael cohen similar instances. >> there was talk they should keep the direct as short as possible, not to open up too many avenues for cross-examination. this is pretty extensive. he was on for more than four hours yesterday and again all morning. >> he is the

i -- andrew weissmann, charles coleman, and paul butler with andrea in washington.ve all been saying this is the star witness. this is the moment we've been waiting for. but the truth, andrew weissmann, is that this is the moment we've been waiting for. the cross-examination. some think that todd blanche, who has the trust of donald trump. how does he approach this? where does he start? >> so, the good news is, that i don't think you have to be particularly skilled to do this cross-examination. there's so much material. things you can go with are, all of the statements that have been made by michael cohen, in support of donald trump, denying all of this going on. in other words, before he cooperated, to say this is all just essentially a witch hunt. two, you can go vitriol saying he much he wants to see the result here. three, you can go to the fact that he took an oath, just like the oath he took before he testified today, and violated it. and bring that out. fourth, you can go to the fact that he taped his own boss. he taped donald trump without telling him. and s

i'm charles coleman jr.. ali velshi will be back next weekend and you can catch up every saturday and sunday morning from 10:00 a.m. to noon eastern and catch me as a legal analyst right here on msnbc all week as we join all things from trial. for now, stay tuned because "inside with jen psaki" begins right now. right now. strategist tim miller are standing by to tell us why she did it. and where the party goes from here. >>> we are reaching the beginning of the end for trump's criminal trial in york. the law firm -- for here into a deep dive into the closing c arguments. >>> judge juan merchan's instructions will be crucial for the 12 men and women who deliver the verdict. retired judge is going to tell us what to watch for and later, nbc's favorite son lou russert on the loss of his dad. he traveled around the world and why john baynard told him to get the heck out of washington. of washington. >>> so stop me if you've heard it before, republican speaks the truth about donald trump, donald trump smears, tag

joins us, editor and writer for msnbc.com, and formerly our prosecutor and civil rights attorney, charles coleman junior who has a new set of friends, he brought them just for us. case, let's start with the supreme court. why is it so important when it comes to the right to vote for all americans? >> because like you said in your intro, this decision makes it harder to bring cases to the supreme court, or to bring to courts in general, to say this gerrymandering was done on a regional basis. justice samuel alito is of the opinion that it is almost impossible to separate race from politics, when determining my a district has been drawn up that way. this is only really possible because of the shelby decision that chief justice john roberts authored, which made it so states like south carolina which were previously under prequalification, had to go to the department of justice to get approval from their districts when they were read john to say this is why this is not a racial gerrymandering and get approved for them. in destroying that standard, the door opened to justice alito being able to say, t

also legal analyst charles coleman.testified she had set up meetings with donald trump and michael cohen and a separate meeting between donald trump and david pecker in the white house in 2017, his first month in the white house. but under cross examination, she is facing questions about the extent of her understanding of the context and whether she knew that donald trump had reimbursed intentionally michael cohen for the checks made to stormy daniels before the 2016 election. of course, the marquee witness for the prosecution will be michael cohen. he could be the culmination of the case they lay out. just a few days ago they suggested they had just about two weeks of witnesses to bring forward. the expectation is michael cohen could be the last one. at that point in time, the defense would be able to call their own witnesses to the stand. of course, then we're looking at this end of this trial after several weeks here in which you've heard from stormy daniels, hope hicks and now soon to be michael cohen. we have he di

i want to welcome charles coleman also joining our legal panel, former new york prosecutor, just another thing i want to highlight from this cross examination, the prosecutor asking costello about email communications he had with michael cohen. hoffinger reads an email from costello sent to cohen that says michael, i just spoke to rudy giuliani and told him i was on your team. rudy was thrilled and said this could not be a better situation for the president or you. hoffinger, that was your email to michael cohen? costello, yes. hoffinger, email speaks for itself? costello, no, not quite. there were surrounding circumstances, but i would be delighted to tell you. hoffinger, sarcastically, no, that's all right, let's move on to the next one. so, here she is presenting him with his own communication, something that he said spoke for themselves yesterday, when the defense was asking the question, what do you make of how this is unfolding? >> ana, the defense team is held bent on snatching a mistrial from the jaws of a conviction. and what i mean by that is they're doing everything wrong at t

vaughn hillyard, robert gibbs, stephanie gresham, adam pollock, charles coleman, i cannot imagine a better group of folks i have had this journey with. that's going to do it for us this hour. joining us for "chris jansing reports" every weekday on msnbc. our coverage continues with "katy tur reports" right now. >>> good to be with you, i'm alex witt in for katy tur. let's go to the courthouse, joining us from outside the courtroom, nbc news national correspondent yasmin vossoughian, 3:00 p.m. eastern, catch us up on today's testimony and what is happening right now. >> reporter: hope hicks integral to the prosecution here, alex, connecting the dots, and i want to talk to you first about a moment that just took place regarding the article in january 2018 that came out, revealing the payoff to stormy daniels from michael cohen, and how hope hicks framed that payoff, and let me read the verbiage inside the courtroom. can you describe the conversation and hope hicks saying this, it was the day after michael told "the new york times" he made a payment without trump's knowledge and trump said he

. >> nbc's yasmin vossoughian is outside the courthouse, and here with us for the morning, charles coleman civil rights attorney and msnbc legal analyst, and teb die owe agone da williams, former senior investigative council for the house january 6th commission. take us inside that courtroom. what's happening right now? >> reporter: already pretty contentious to say the least. it seems as if stormy daniels is much more prepared this morning than she was tuesday at the start of her testimony, especially when it came to cross examination with susan necheles. it seemed as if it was as contentious as it was the first go-around. susan necheles asking repeatedly was this just about money, i'm paraphrasing here, and stormy daniels repeatedly saying, no, no i was not. stormy daniels wearing a green dress this morning with a black sweater going down to the floor, her hair is down, seeming more relaxed according to to some of our reporters that are inside the courtroom. there is a back and forth going on when it comes to for instance. the lead up to the payout of the $130,000, and susan necheles bri

. >> nbc's yasmin vossoughian is outside the courthouse, also with us kristen gibb against, charles coleman criminal defense attorney and former manhattan prosecutor jeremy salaam. thank you all for joining us. let's go to yasmin first. what is the latest inside that courtroom as michael cohen's testimony begins? >> reporter: we're getting some demeanor notes, guys, as to how michael cohen is interacting with the prosecution when answering his questions, also kind of some color from inside the courtroom when michael cohen was asked to identify the defendant, donald j. trump, which i've explained this before, they're unable to see -- when you are on the witness stand -- unable to see the defense table. so he had to stand up, peer around the defense, around kind of the two feet of wood lip that stands between him and the defense table to identify donald j. trump. we're hearing from inside the courtroom when it comes to his demeanor he's asking and answering these questions pretty -- pretty quickly, in that he's sticking with the points, he's not veering off of subjects. he is staying with kin

i'm charles coleman jr. and i want to thank you as well, and on that note, i wish you a very, very good night. ood nigh. f0 >>> the people of new york call michael cohen, tonight the michael cohen testimony begins. >> the guy we saw this morning was credible and calm if not a little freaked out. >> and trump's former fixer testifies that the candidate himself led the conspiracy. >> the most significant line was just take care of it. >> just take care of it. this is a total disaster, women will hate me. >> the most important thing that the jury heard today. it wasn't thinking about melania, this was all about the candidate. >> we go over the testimony, plus nicole wallace, chris haden, and katherine christian. as special coverage of trump on trial begins, now. >>> good evening and thanks for joining us for our msnbc trump trial. and i'm here with my panel, big night you guys. today's proceedings unexpectedly to me. were like that helpful moment in the old agatha christie style. you have been following along,

also former prosecutor charles coleman. we're going to start as we always do with msnbc's vaughn hillyard outside the courthouse for us. vaughn hillyard, let's start with what's right now. do you have any insights with what's being discussed with the judge? >> reporter: there's currently with the jury having already been dismissed. there's now a conversation, like one this morning that started for 20 minutes in private, where there was discussions over the extent to which previous trials, previous information about michael cohen could be brought before the jury. there's currently deliberation over the extent to which there are questions, as i'm trying to pull up in raem realtime, i got lost here for a moment. this is a little bit where we're getting into the weeds here. our own producer inside is noting that this is where we're at late points in this trial. and literally as we thought that maybe today would be the day that they would finish the cross-examination of michael cohen, you now have a moment here where there's las

george conway, charles coleman, and anna bauer.tank you for spending your friday memorial weekend eve with me and giving us the goods on what you think is going to happen. i really appreciate with your time. enjoy your weekends. >>> still ahead this evening, we know that the number of abortions rose in the year 2023 despite the proliferation of state bands. tonight, louisiana has become the first state to figure out a brand-new way to stop people from accessing reproductive choice. that is coming up next. we see you. athletes. investment bankers. doctors. business leaders. we see your ambition. your desire to succeed. which is why we are investing in your future. ...empowering the next generation to reach the c-suite and elevating women's golf. because you may not always see yourself in the world, but we see you. nice to meet ya. my name is david. i've been a pharmacist for 44 years. when i have customers come in and ask for something for memory, i recommend prevagen. number one, because it's effective. does not require a prescript