clearly the prosecution heard from hope hicks when she went from the grand jury. know that she has something to tell andthere's a reason they would be calling her back to the stand. >> hope being on the phone calls, irrespective of what contributed, the fact that she was a third party to the conversations situates her differently. one of the shortcomings of the d.a.'s case is that in many respects it will strike the public as a he said, he said. donald trump and michael cohen were alone and having conversations or in some cases were joined by allen weisselberg who is not likely to be a witness here. to the extent that hope hicks can say, this conversation happened, i was privy to it, that in and of it is a very big deal and a score for the manhattan d.a.'s office. >> donald trump is continuing his social media attacks against the judge and his daughter. and he posted a link to a "new york post" article over the weekend. it included photos, not just of the judge. we know what he looks like, but also of his daughter, and claims she's making money off the case, somet

as well.— hope hicks as well.hope hicks as well. some real celebrities testifying in - hope hicks as well. some real celebrities testifying in this i celebrities testifying in this trial and there's also some real opportunists and opportunities for the defence attorneys because a lot of these folks like michael coen and stormy daniels have spoken publicly about the issues many times so if they have prior statements that they can use to cross—examine the witnesses during the course of the trial, expected to be very heated in the courtroom.— expected to be very heated in the courtroom. always good to net our the courtroom. always good to get your thoughts _ the courtroom. always good to get your thoughts and - the courtroom. always good to get your thoughts and thanks l get your thoughts and thanks for being with us. thanks for your company, i will have more view on the top of the hour. join me then if you can. hello there. some turbulent weather ahead for the next day or two. low pressures driving in off the atlant

>> hope hicks. could conceivably have been threatened with a conspiracy charge because if the reports are true that she was in on these calls talking about the cover-up and how to book it and so forth, i mean, she was personally vulnerable. we'll find out. but she was like a daughter to donald trump. she traveled everywhere with him. she was on that campaign plane when it was like two of them and maybe kellyanne conway, and she knew where the bodies were buried. she knew the dirt on donald trump. i'd have to imagine if she takes that stand it will be scary and mortifying for trump to sit there knowing that he's muzzled, he can't say anything in response and he doesn't want to offend her, and yet he knows what she knows. that seems to be the biggest risk to him. >> jon, who do you think the next witness is going to be? >> they're going to call anybody who they think can corroborate michael cohen because michael cohen recently, a very respected federal judge judge furman wrote in an order that he thin

so is hope hicks. hope hicks though, we know from our reporting here to cnn, is likely to also testify, did you get a sense of what she might be? willing to maybe forced to disclose in that kind of testimony. and what is the relationship right now between trump and hope hicks, who at one time was somebody who was basically tied to him at the hip everywhere trump was hope hicks was two. that's no longer the case, but what's relationship life, i think that of all of the witnesses that the prosecution will bring in this trial who picks will probably hurt donald trump the most. i think she's the only witness who might actually get some sort of emotional reaction from trump sitting there in that courtroom. she was around all the time when i started covering donald trump in 2015. i mean, one of my first assignments was to profile hope picks for gq magazine. i've known her longtime a lot of members of the press have known or longtime. she is a very reasonable person, a very intelligent person. she has a photo

packer, hope hicks, and sarah huckabee sanders sara was the communications director or the press secretary, and hope x was a special assistant to the president. >> he talked pecker says with hicks and sanders about whether karen mcdougal's contract it should be extended. >> so just to remind people, karen mcdougal is 1998 playmate of the year, who alleged she had a long term affair and part of the catch and kill was to give her $150,000, david pecker did to have her not tell her story publicly it was not a script pecker said going on to confirm he wasn't surprised by any questions from the prosecutor. that's about the separate issue about whether they're not the defense or the rather the prosecution has coached him. in any case, karen mcdougal had this contract. she was she got $150,000. they bought the rights to her story, including her alleged a with donald trump and then david pecker calls the white house. and so should we, should we extend her contract? pecker said both of them hope and serous anderes said that they thought it was a good idea. >> now those are taxpayer funded employees

we're talking about hope hicks. don't go anywhere. t hope hicks don't go anywhere.course it stops loading at the best part. (tony hale) i wasn't eavesdropping, yes i was. you need verizon. get their crazy powerful network out here, and get six months of disney bundle on them! and it is all good. (vo) that's right, stream on the go, with six months of disney bundle on us. all your favorite content from hulu, disney plus and espn plus is all yours, and watch it all on the new galaxy s24+, also on us. only on verizon. ♪ i wanna hold you forever ♪ hey little bear bear. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm gonna love you forever ♪ ♪ ♪ c'mon, bear. ♪ ♪ ♪ you don't...you don't have to worry... ♪ ♪ be by your side... i'll be there... ♪ ♪ with my arms wrapped around... ♪ how do i get my raised beds looking so good? i do have a secret, a very special secret. it's organic soil from miracle-gro. you're great too, ryan. not as great as the soil, though. okay... you said it. [ryan laughs] >>> we are all back. vaughn hillyard just reporting that trump's criminal election interference hush money trial hz wra

hope hicks, of course, served as trump's campaign press secretary in 26 16. she was later the white house communications director. and what she testified behind closed doors to congress in 2019. she said multiple times that she was never present when trump and michael cohen talked about stormy daniels. but in documents from michael cohen's federal case prosecutors believed that trump had joined a call that cohen was on with hope pigs at the time that cohen was working to make stories about trump's alleged affairs, go away. in fact, phone records show that multiple calls between michael cohen and hope hicks, including the day that they learned stormy daniels wanted to be paid for her story when the karen mcdougal story, the other woman who said she had an affair with donald trump when that first went public, cohen texted hicks that it was getting little to no traction, and she responded to him, quote saying, keep praying, it's working. >> i want to >> bring in cnn, senior legal analyst and former assistant us attorney elie honig la i mean hope hicks has testif

that doesn't mean hope hicks didn't have ears and wasn't listening.t more than donald trump knows that she knows. so, that is why someone like hope hicks, the other reason why she's a solid witness, she doesn't have the credibility issues of michael cohen or david pecker. >> but let's talk about michael cohen. he was sold as the star witness, right, in all of this. talk about him as a witness, with credibility problems. >> so, a great example. michael cohen far and away will be the star witness and i use that in quotes because he's the one everybody is waiting to hear from. but ultimately when the smoke clears, is he the most critical witness to the people's case? yes, he is in the sense that he was at the center of this transaction. and, yes, the people have already said that he has credibility issues. they got on top of that in the front of the case. and you have to do that as prosecutors, prosecutors, michael cohen's credibility problems strt to fall away. when david pecker corroborates it. when gary corroborates the transaction and documents, now

what do we know about hope hicks and her potential testimony?katy, much of what we know about hope hicks and her potential testimony dates all the way back to 2019, because of an fbi affidavit that was filed in connection with michael cohen's prosecution by the federal government. in that affidavit, there are details about hope hicks' involvement in conversations between donald trump and michael cohen about the settlement with stormy daniels and the implication from the timing of those conversations is that hope hicks, then a communications adviser to then candidate donald trump was in the know about the payments to stormy daniels and understood why they were being made and the context in which that was happening, which as you know well more than anyone was the "access hollywood" tape. >> would she be a witness for the prosecution? >> she would be a witness for the prosecution. and the expectation is that she would show up, pursuant to a trial subpoena, not necessarily voluntarily, but would be forced to testify about what she understood during

>> yeah, so we know that hope hick was involved in these calls with trump and ami. she's going to be a super important witness because she doesn't have cohen's baggage, michael cohen's baggage. it's the opposite. hope hicks was team trump all the way during the period that's the subject of this indictment. so it makes her especially credible. she's going to be able to connect the hush money payments with trump's presidential ambitions. that's what prosecution also needed david pecker to do. to link the catch and kill agreement to the campaign, and that's exactly what he did. so, again, the defense tried to attack pecker's credibility in order to testify. they didn't score big points, and they're not going to be able to go there with hope hicks. she's going to be a strong witness for the prosecution. >> you know, jeremy, before the break, defense spent a lot of time grilling david pecker about a non-prosecution agreement, the jurors learned an awful lot about catch and kill. on one hand, it's pretty straightforward, right? catch and kill is you find out that there's

>> i think everybody is watching to see whether hope hicks takes the stand. if so, when, and what do we get from her testimony. i think everybody has been paying close attention to that, for the reason you outlined. david pecker's testimony laid out the ground work and the framework for how everything went down and hope hicks is someone who really has the glue that can connect all of these pieces together, and in such a way that the prosecution's case becomes much tighter than it is. and so there is going to be a lot of attention paid to her testimony, should she take the stand and when she takes the stand and then also how the defense, if they are at all, able to discredit her on cross examination. that's also going to be key moving forward. so, you're talking about two witnesses who are going to be able to add much more substance and much more context to the frame that david pecker put together when he was on the stand as the prosecution's first witness. pecker comes on the stand, his testimony gives you this framework that you understand big picture-wise a

element the state needs to prove. >> for the state is hope hicks will to show that michael comen is cohen full of it? it'll be hard is hope says michael is right. >> absolutely. i agree with what christy just said this is testimony. we don't know exactly how good or how strong it is but the fact of the matter is they brought hope hicks before the grand jury for a couple of days and they -- she -- her story is locked in. they know what she is going to say. they have asked her all the questions that they could -- anyone could expect to ask her and it must obviously -- it must go with their story and miracle cohen and the documents which i think are the most powerful evidence against trump. so i think -- her testimony may not be a bombshell in and of itself. i don't know. we will have to wait for the trial to see. you know it's what the prosecutors knee to get a verdict beyond a reasonable doubt. >> two mixed rulings today from the florida supreme court. they allowed a six week abortion ban to take effect soon but the court also cleared the way for voters to decide whether to enshrine

pecker, i think did a great job this week of setting the table, and having that backed up with hope hicksf those stormy daniels conversations with dylan howard, who was my editor, and michael cohen, as they were furiously trying to sort this situation out in the wake of the access hollywood tape. >> we talked about the importance of the white house journalist who covered the white house, huckabee sanders, obviously was the press secretary. donald trump himself lied on camera about this many times. who knows what sarah huckabee sanders, hope hicks and others within the press operation knew about this, and were concealing from the press, not only the press, the american people. >> we're going to continue this conversation after we take a quick break. next hour, mary mccord is going to be previewing what we're going to see this week at the trial. you're watching "the weekend." >>> i have to get back to new york, because i'm juror number 5 on a big trial. trump's lawyer took one look at me, and said he's going to be on our side. l ingredients no sulfates, no silicones, no dyes. dandruff prote

hope hicks. also, unwavering support from a staunch political ally for tron. >> if he is convicted you will still support him and vote for him? >> absolutely. i think what is going on with donald trump's weaponization of the law. he's being prosecuted in manhattan, one of the deepest blue cities in the country. >> we have reported as an analyst in place covering all these new developments. jake, where will things pick up when the trial starts again on tuesday? >> tuesday is going to kick off the third week of this criminal hussman trial for former president donald trump. this is the first time we are going to see this tight rope walk. the first time he's going to have a rally since he started this trial. it is going to be an otter week ink terms of -- in terms of corn in session. on wednesday he will head to michigan and also wisconsin. these are states trump won in 2016 and then lost about it in 2020. they will be pivotal states for both trump and biden to get electoral victory come this novembe

a source told nbc news that hope hicks will testify in the hush money trial. trump is accused of falsifying business records and paying the silence stormy daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign. one fbi agent said he believes that hope hicks was involved, but the attorney claims it is not true and she was not aware. testimony will begin april 15. trump has pleaded not guilty and repeatedly denies the charges. >>> the city of oakland offers a deal for the oakland a's to use the coliseum until the new ballpark is ready. but it comes with a hefty price tag. >>> pilots are being asked to take time off without pay. >>> what a nice way to start off the work we. warm temperatures and sunny >>> one day before the a's will meet with the city of oakley, we're learning how much it will cost them to stay in town. the details on a possible extension that could keep them playing here a little bit longer. >> reporter: a new five-year contract is in the works if the a's want to keep playing once the lease expires this year. the extension would keep them

this is a note from our colleague lisa rubin on sarah huckabee sanders and hope hicks' role after the interview after mcdougal is interviewed by anderson cooper. pecker said he conveyed to sarah huckabee sanders and hope hicks he wanted to extend mcdougal's contract. this is her catch and kill contract and both sarah huckabee sanders and hope hicks, white house communication staffers working for all of us, the taxpayers, thought it was a good idea to extend mcdougal's hush money contract. pecker testified he felt extending her contract would keep her from saying bad things about american media and trump. trump relented and said it's your business, telling pecker he could do what he wanted. the timing was muddied in the testimony but apparently happened before march 2018 when mcdougal sued ami resulting in a settlement through which mcdougal reclaimed her lifetime rights. the idea, vaughn, the white house press secretary, communications staffer, were involved in the details of a catch and kill scheme is extraordinary. >> rights. yet another detail we in the public were unaware of, sara

hope hicks also expected to testify, a wrap up of who could

and if history is a guide, hope hicks is an absolute expert at standing next to donald trump and saying absolutely nothing. >> that is true. the prosecution is calling her, so they have to think there is something of value that she adds to the case. one element in particular, she had a phone call that she was on with donald trump and with michael cohen right around -- maybe a day or so after the access hollywood tape. and so they may be calling her to say, donald trump was worried about how that access hollywood tape would affect the campaign. he cared about that. and so this idea that, you know, with donald trump's defenses is, these hush money payments really have nothing to do with the campaign. this was more about milani and protecting my family and reputation. but actually, he cared a lot about how these things would affect the campaign, and that's an important element that the state needs to approve of this trial. >> is hope hicks there to show that michael cohen is not full of it? because we know the donald trump's team is going to paint michael cohen in the worst light possible,

hope hicks is not going to be so lucky.on in donald trump's affection, unlike ivanka who said i don't remember what i exchanged in 2012. hope hicks has a situation credible to the setup of the stormy daniels payoff, it won't be credible for her to say, i don't remember that phone call. theoretically, her testimony thus far is a building block of the indictment itself. so i think you see a person walking into that courtroom still holds a place in donald trump's heart but i don't know she'll keep it once she walks out. >> i'm sorry you can never be too farle away from the table. we're grateful that you're here. >> thank you. >> lisa rubin, thank you, basil, thank you for the hour. it wasn't exactly the hour, but we got through it, right? >>> much more news ahead, what's being done to try to prevent those who subvert the world of 2020, after a very quick break. don't go anywhere. t go anywhere. ok y'all we got 10 orders coming in... big orders! starting a business is never easy, but starting it 8 months pregnant... that's a di

and what you have in front of you potentially as witnesses, i mean hope hicks, karen mcdougal, stormy. these are all women in different categories that he is intimate with in one way or another. hope is a close adviser known to steam his pants while he was wearing them. a very trusted consigliere. i think it is in the cory lewandowski's book. let me show you the way that karen mcdougal speaks tenderly and talking about hope hicks denying what she described as a love affair with donald trump. >> i guess, you know, some people seeing this are not going to believe that you had a relationship, hope hicks has said categorically you did not have a relationship, there is no truth to this. when you heard that denial, what did you think? >> well, i think someone is lying and i could tell you it is not me. it is a little hurtful but at the same time i have to understand, like, if he were to have told hope that he didn't do it, i guess i understand because he's trying to protect his family, his image, things like that. but it was definitely a little like, wow, you're going to lie about that. oka

there are reports his former spokeswoman hope hicks will be called to the stand.have the right person for this next. hi, i'm chris and i lost 57 pounds on golo. golo isn't complicated. i don't have to follow a restrictive diet, and i don't have to spend a lot of time making meals. using golo was truly transformative. it was easy, and inexpensive. (bobby) my store and my design business? we're exploding. but my old internet, was not letting me run the show. so, we switched to verizon business internet. they have business grade internet, nationwide. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. to me, harlem is home. but home is also your body. —last one everyone. i asked myself, why doesn't pilates exist in harlem? so i started my own studio. getting a brick—and—mortar in new york is not easy. chase ink has supported us from studio 1 to studio 3. when you start small you need some big help. and chase ink was that for me. earn up to 5% cash back on business essentials with the chase ink business cash card. - so this is pickleball? - pickle! ah, these

. >> what do you think hope hicks has to offer ?i don't want to go and what i believe is going to be the substance of the prosecutor's case. hope hicks is a corroborating witness, just like all the others just like david packer, just like -- >> do you know madeleine? >> i do. she was the gatekeeper to trump's office when he was president. >> the subtext is the democrats are coming after donald trump. these are all republicans who will be witnesses and speaking, people in his direct orbit. how does that, how does he manipulate that narrative so successfully ? what is it, saw that people are taking in that they think, some actually think this is all a set up by the joe biden white house, even though this began long before joe biden before joe became president prestwick >> the terminus donald deflection. that is what he does. he deflects. he knows that he baptized the department of justice against his critics, myself included, with an unconstitutional remand. what does he do? deflect it, put it off. it is the biden administration, they

weeks and feature testimony from cohen, daniels, members of trump's inner circles like former aide hope hicks and possibly mr. trump himself. >> i would testify, absolutely. >> reporter: the risk of cross examination, substantial. but the more immediate threat possible violations of the gag order, prohibiting mr. trump from attacking trial witnesses. >> and, laura, we've spoken a lot about the calendar here, this is just the first criminal case mr. trump faces this year. >> reporter: yes, lester, he faces three other criminal cases across three different jurisdictions but none of those given all of the delays and appeals is ready to go to trial, which means this one in manhattan may be the only one that proceeds to a jury before november. in the meantime, jury selection will continue for the next couple of days if not weeks here, lester. >> laura jarrett, thank you. i want to bring in hallie jackson, in addition to the legal risks there is the political risk for mr. trump as this trial plays out. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, lester, listen, he hopes to use this case to his political advan

we've also learned karen mcdougal and hope hicks may be witnesses for the prosecution as well.k to us about how these sessions might work and which of these testimonies will you be most anxious to watch? >> i'm really anxious to watch what i would call sort of the twin polls of trump world, which is michael cohen once rr close to donald trump and now his sworn enemy and hope hicks on the other. nobody was closer to donald trump, nobody channelled and calmed donald trump better than hope hicks. i'm interested in watching both of them. when we talk about evidence of what the d.a.'s office says happened here, right, we're not so interested, although they have to show that there was the payment to stormy daniels. the actual alleged crime here is the cover-up. it's the way in which the repayments to michael cohen were papered in 2017, not so much the settlement in the first instance. that said, i'm really interested in hearing both michael cohen and hope hicks talk about their conversations with the former president to illustrate that he knew full well why stormy daniels was being p

and he described a phone call where top white house officials hope hicks and sarah huckabee sanders encouraged him to keep paying mcdougal. >> mr. trump, do you still like pecker? >> reporter: and then there was stormy daniels, the porn star at the heart of this case. trump charged with falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment so voters wouldn't learn of their alleged affair. in the final weeks of the campaign, pecker said he told trump's fixer michael cohen daniels was shopping her story. he says cohen told him to buy it, but pecker refused, telling cohen, "i am not going to get involved with a porn star.

hope hicks is on the witness list. what the former white house aide has said in prior interviews that could come into play in this hush-money cover up case. plus the challenge we're authorities after protesters shut down parts of two major us cities stay with us tc my foot. dr. sanjay gupta, listen wherever you get your podcasts you have an excellent warranty. warranty blurring. she okay. got it go. >> you must have american home shield >> got you. now, >> i can tell you a appliances in home systems or protected covered repairs and replacements are taken care of one, she never lie cookie dough american homes yield, don't worry, be warranty. >> that's good day to cough. oh, no >> bob, i call later chest congestion hello 12 hours of relief. >> wow >> no offering up movie past acts, del coffee mucinex, dm, 12-hour doesn't just quiet coughs. it treats cough caused by excess mucus at the source and controls number 12 hours. it's come back season stubborn. jessica congestion, dry mucinex, 12-hour >> you've found that you're

michael cohen, stormy daniels, karen mcdougal, and hope hicks. also new today, unwavering support for trump from a staunch political ally. >> if he is convicted, you will still support him and vote for him? >> absolutely. i think what's going on with donald trump, he's been prosecuted in manhattan, one of the deepest blue cities in the country. >> msnbc legal analyst and cohost of the podcast hashtag sisters-in-law, and former bronx new york assistant district attorney, now reporter covering the civil and criminal cases against trump. she has been at that courthouse all this week. as i welcome you both, the trial resumes tuesday, we three of trump having to show up and sit quietly while his accusers are brought before him. the washington post today quotes a source close to trump saying, the phrase around here is the process is the punishment. you expect to see any attempt from trump to adjust to his new challenge? >> so it's a great question, alex, because the challenge ahead of donald trump is sitting through hours and hours of testimony as pros

and hope hicks is also scheduled to testify. cohen i think has been described to me most recently as the narrator. he's going to tell the story because he walked in both worlds. right? but the documents, the corroborating witnesses, people like pecker and hope hicks who haven't broken with trump will be the star witnesses. >> yeah. i mean, you can understand why the trump defense would focus on michael cohen. but the fact is as you point out there is so much other evidence. there are so many other witnesses. there's so much other documentary evidence. and the fact is that michael cohen actually went to prison for this. so it is -- he's going to have a story to tell. but look, i don't think there's any secret, any mystery of the fact that if you are donald trump's team, you know, this is the one wedge, this is the one thing that you're going to try to do to create doubt in the mind of at least one juror. just one sidebar, i would hope the prosecutors would get on the phone and tell michael cohen that perhaps he ought to stop twee

it's not surprising they would bring in hope hicks and people like her to testify. uncharted waters. the first sitting president and current nominee to be sitting for a criminal trial. he is doing so in two weeks. >> hard to believe. here we are. harry and jonathan, thank you both for your reporting and expertise. >>> coming up, salvage operation. an update on the massive undertaking to clear the river after last week's key bridge collapse. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. which ma different doctor. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com. ♪ that colonoscopy for getting screened ♪ ♪ is why i'm delaying ♪ ♪ i heard i had a choice ♪ ♪ i know the name, that's what i'm saying ♪ -cologuard®? -cologuard. cologuard! -screen for colon cancer. -at home, like you want. -you the man! -actually, he's a box. cologuard is a one-of-a-kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45+ at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪ i did it my way ♪ ava: i wa

i think hope hicks will be an important witness for the prosecution. >> it is interesting to see.o mariotti, thank you for joining us. >>> donald trump's new promises to the bigwigs the cantu's fundraiser last night. iser las. looking for a smarter way to mop? try the swiffer powermop. ♪♪ an all-in-one cleaning tool that gives you a mop and bucket clean in half the time ♪♪ our cleaning pad has hundreds of scrubbing strips that absorb and lock dirt away, ♪♪ and it has a 360-degree swivel head that goes places a regular mop just can't. so, you can clean your home, faster than ever. ♪♪ don't mop harder, mop smarter, with the swiffer powermop. ok y'all we got 10 orders coming in... big orders! starting a business is never easy, but starting it 8 months pregnant... that's a different story. i couldn't slow down. we were starting a business from the ground up. people were showing up left and right. and so did our business needs. the chase ink card made it easy. when you go for something big like this, your kids see that. and they believe they can do the same. earn unlimited 1.5% cash ba

remind our viewers who hope hicks is and the significance of her hope hicks was soccer says he knew hope hicks when she worked for ivanka is company and did pr before becoming trump's campaign communications is david for bio characters when it comes to donald trump she was his gatekeeper. she was his comms director. she was at his side, particularly during this period of time always always. and so she was very involved in everything that happened. and that was true during the first of all, with the beginning of his presidential campaign, it was basically her and kory lewandowski's and that his family and that was about it. and i should just say that since then many, many years later, she would say that she has become a strange, she's not in michael cohen territory. she's not in the territory of others who have very much turned on him, but she's not anywhere near as close to him by all accounts that she was she is the ultimate inner circle, right person. she was with him most of the time. she was on phone calls with him. she is known for steaming the wrinkles out of his pants on, playing

i think the imposition on hope hicks and sarah huckabee sanders is sad for them, because both of thoseople, and this is what donald trump does to people. he puts them in disloyalty trap. so, both of those people have high morals and they are good standing people, and then trump forces his nonsense onto them, and now they have a loyalty test, in terms of dealing with what he wants them to do. obviously, this is what happened to michael cohen. so, one thing mr. trump is very, very good at, alex, is moving the goal post on people. i think what was most interesting about the testimony of the last couple of days, is that david pecker has seen this movie before. so, he was not interested in having the goalposts moved on him. he was willing to do a few favors for mr. trump, and then he decided that that was going to be enough for him. he wasn't going to be mr. trump's bank. so, it is a frustrating thing because, listen, everybody is innocent until proven guilty, and this is a criminal case. so, i will just say, everybody is innocent until proven guilty. but, let's face it. people on that camp

in terms of hope hicks, hope hicks is alleged to have participated in a number of phone conversationsth with cohen and trump and potentially with them together in the lead-up to the november 2016 election. when hope hicks testified before the judiciary committee in 2019, she denied having any knowledge in advance of the repayments -- sorry, of the payment scheme to stormy daniels and also to karen mcdougle. but what she knew afterwards during her term of service in the white house was off limits during that testimony. she may have learned something then, or, possibly, she might have a different perspective on those events today and in future days in this court than she did before the house judiciary committee. mika, i'm looking to see those two women, hope and madeline, as the witnesses that might really bear some unrest for donald trump. >> so interesting. jonathan lemire, just from looking at this at the start, at the onset, we've been hearing donald trump already making himself the victim. he will continue to do that throughout this trial. i'm gagged. he keeps saying, "i've been ga

payoff happens but he of course will deny it until the day he dies and it's just who he is. >> hope hickss, what might the jury hear from her that could be damaging? >> a lot of people are hopeful she will drop some kind of a bombshell but my hopes are not up, i think she will not recall a lot or not remember a lot. she remains a loyalist with the trump family and this is definitely not something she would ever want to do so it makes me wonder behind the scenes she was not threatened but the prosecution said they had information that could hurt her so i'm surprised she's even testifying and i hope if she has information that she will do the right thing but my hopes are not up that she will. >> you told me that trump directed you to deny allegations related to e. jean carroll. how do you expect him to react to testimony in open court from stormy daniels? >> i cannot imagine and i think there will be a lot of shaking his head, muttering under his breath with disgusted looks and it will be a performance for the jury must certainly and anything that comes out of her mouth he will have a react

i hope the testimony of hope hicks is valuable. she was the campaign press secretary.nowledge about discussions going on between donald trump and allen weisselberg and the national enquirer about the hush money payments that were made two- story downloads -- to stormy daniels and the playboy playmate. she would be able to show the motive and intent that donald trump had to falsify the business records in order to cover up the payments that he made. because he did that allegedly to keep negative information away from the public. that is the point of it being election interference. you kept us away from the public so that you could successfully become president. >> i had to ask you about jury selection. usually people do not want to sit on juries. they can get creative. with this trial, it might be different. do you think they will be the usual creativity avoiding jury duty or will there be some jurors that want to set on the first trial for former president trump? >> you never want people to say they want to be on this. you're concerned about why they want to do that. d

you look, hope hicks is one that's definitely going to be powerful.id pecker was running the national inquirer and had an arrangement with donald trump. they were friends, and he had offered to be sort of the eyes and ears of the campaign. and how that works when you're sitting at the national inquirer is a lot of stories come into the national inquirer where somebody like stormy daniels wants a payment for their story. normally the national inquirer will buy it and run it. a lot of people know this term now, a catch and kill. he was in the middle of some of those payments, either in the case of one of them that made the payment and other ones was going back and forth with the trump organization. he's already paid a fine in this case regarding the karen mcdougal payment. he's cooperating, right? >> he's going to be one of the government witnesses. i think when you look at a lot of people talk about this case and they talk about michael cohen being the star witness, all of these people that are there are going to have -- they're corroborating witnesses

one other thing we don't >> know what hope hicks is going to say. in every case, there are potential surprises there are several people who are going to be called who like hope hicks were in the inner circle who heard things saw things that may very well support what michael cohen says, you agree? >> no, i absolutely do agree that more to the point he made, he repeatedly says i lied and did what i did at the direction of the defendant, mr. trump. now, there may be questions about whether he can get that statement in court because he's expressing an opinion and maybe the defense might try to strike it, but he says, no, look, yes. i have a lying perjury conviction and i did it because the guy that's on trial right now, that's could be very compelling evidence in a statement if he's allowed to make as you know, david david show you in this case is often seen as the least potentially important of the four criminal charges. charges, four criminal cases that trump is going to have to deal with in the coming months. we had a recent poll. we saw recent poll

hope hicks, the cast of characters giving their gloss on the situation. at the end of the day, honestly, jose, i think this is a documents case. the proof is in the pudding, and really documents don't lie. we're talking about the credibility issues with cohen. there are tape-recordings. there are documents. those things are difficult to rebut at trial. so i think that's really -- those are going to be the stars of the show. >> stay with us. we're really just getting started. so much more to dissect and discuss as we continue this special coverage. coming up, picking the jury for this trial, something donald trump is calling, quote, largely luck. is he right? we'll talk to a jury selection expert. >> stormy daniels, michael cohen, hope hicks, the key witnesses we could see on the stand. >>> we'll talk to former nypd commissioner bill bratton. much more special coverage when we're back in just 60 seconds. . 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? borin

the other thing about hope to hope hicks is she is still more or less in the trump camp. she has not a defector who has publicly turned on donald trump and earned his ire like a michael cohen. she remains in relatively good graces with donald trump and so she's a better witness for prosecutors there because she can't be attacked as some sort of angry anti-trump ideolog. she's still someone who's fairly close with them. so i think she could be quite a powerful witness. >> me really interesting when this gets underway in just a couple of weeks, it's good to see you. well, thank you. >> sarah all right. >> this is just coming into west israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. ease now responding to accusations and israeli military strike killed at least seven people working with the world central kitchen. we will have his response coming up. also, house speaker mike johnson is confident he'll survive threats to his speakership he's now fighting against congresswoman marjorie taylor greene's motion to oust him. and florida supreme court, paving the way for the state six abo

these are individuals hope hicks, she's not she's not working for him personally. these are folks are trying to get this demanded elected president. and that's a contact by which it's happening. and if after the election he no longer thinks he asked to follow through, he still married to bolonia, so if he was concerned a motivated by protecting information why would the fact that he's now president changed his views if it was really a family personal issue, he would still be as committed to protect information i would just simply say that maybe it's not maybe the store is not that interesting once he's elected a lot of other things coming down the pike, right? and it just kind of an adjunct to this, just were quickly to raise republicans look at this and saying, this seems awfully similar to what happened with 100 biden laptop pre the 20 election. you're hearing a lot of that from republicans so it doesn't take as it has enough, don't know with hunter biden? no, no, it does. hold on for a second. let me explain, right. so people will say the biden story was put put

one could be hope hicks, one of trump's most trusted aides in the white house, what would prosecutor is aimed to get out of putting hicks on the stand? >> well, she's the ultimate insider. first of all, and i think in that respect, she's potentially a very promising witness for the prosecution. i think the focus here is going to be on the fact that hope hicks was a participant in numerous phone calls with donald trump and michael cohen back in 2016, right at the key moments when these hush money payments were being done disgust and may it and i think the big question for prosecutors is just how much detailed is hope hicks give them about donald trump's knowledge of those payments and the purpose for those payments. >> all right. elie honig. thank you so much. appreciate it. a new idea from house republicans today. they want to rename a busy international airport, one that is already named after somebody after donald trump. how are democrats responding well with the naming proposal of their own will tell you about that next seven astronauts setting off on a scientific mission, columbi

hope hicks was on every call he was on. they discussed this strategically and that seems to be part of the story. >> the point of how important this was for the trump campaign. this issue was something that trump was trying to use against hillary clinton's candidacy because of her husband and so we'll recall that at the debates, it was donald trump who decided i'm going to invite women who have made accusations against bill clinton. that was his debate strategy. invite women as guests of the trump side of the debate. who have made accusations against bill clinton. that's how important donald trump and the trump campaign believed this issue was and he did that before, before they purchased stormy daniels' silence. so he's the guy who's brought these women. now stormy daniels might be coming out in the last couple of weeks in the campaign and telling her story. we have to stop that because that will destroy that debate strategy of bringing those women. >> i also think to circle back to where you started at the polling about h

an fbi interviews that there are a number of phone calls going on that michael cohen is hauling hope hicks and then maybe trump becomes part of that call or the call is transferred for the record, hope hooks hope hicks, sorry. has said that she did not know about stormy daniels until november, and she has said that repeatedly but she certainly was involved. she was inner circle. she was very close to trump personally. so they're going to be a lot of questions about did she know more than we've learned thus far, right. enlarge codes because the prosecution's theory of the case, and again, these are allegations. he says these are not established facts. the prosecution's theory of the case is that michael cohen made these payments to stormy daniels to keep her quiet, $130,000, i believe and that then there was a falsification of putting michael cohen on retainer so as to pay michael cohen back, that's the prosecution theory. hope hicks might have an insight into that if it were true, she could very well based on the campaign as to why they were doing it and why they were not also important to

there were a lot of profiles done about hope hicks during the first campaign and in one of them theres demeaning behavior. she was in and out of meetings after rumors of this tape that jim comey tells -- she was involved in everything minuscule and massive, and what does that mean for trump that she's on the witness list. >> she has more credibility than anything else. she was never charged with him. she was with him all of the time. like the body guy. and it is going to be quite remarkable to hear some of this testimony from her. we've never actually heard, i don't think we've heard her really say that much. although maybe there is some exits of january 6 committee hearings. but then to go back to pecker, the ami guy, didn't he come to the white house, didn't he come to the white house in like february of 2017 and donald trump thanked him for helping with the campaign. and that is going to be testimony. he's going to be -- that is evidence. what he whats doing. >> what does the line of questioning look like? he gets on stand and the prosecutor asks him what? >> remember, this starts

hope hicks has no personal knowledge of any misconduct of a criminal nature involving president trumpshe has not testified. and what you have heard is hearsay. nothing more than, nothing less. david pecker has no evidence of any criminal misconduct on the part of trump because he has no personal knowledge. all you have is a repeat of misconduct in the sense of embarrassment, trying to hurt president trump's reputation. i will tell you right now, where this case is going is michael cohen. michael cohen will be the key witness. you can expect a grilling of michael cohen by the prosecution -- by the defense team after he gets up there and basically in my opinion misrepresents his interactions with president trump. >> julie: all right, yeah. legal panel, thank you very much. we'll continue to watch as trump on trial continues. david pecker currently back on the stand after taking a short break. he is the former ceo of american media, publisher of the "national enquirer" and the center of it all whether this catch and kill was in fact a violation of multiple laws. so far the evidence just

people like hope hicks and how is he going to react to the women making the allegations?se of the body language, do you think he will be scribbling notes and trying to speak with his attorney or staring them down? >> some of that will defend on the instructions of todd blanche gives him and whether donald can follow them but certainly the prosecution will make a great deal on the fact that these are members of the other party or people close to trump the people in his inner circle with the no doubt the defense will try to paint michael cohen as a liar but the problem with that is everybody lies. you tell the four-year-old there really is a santa claus so he went to prison for this very crime and that is very difficult for the trump team to overcome. watching this go forward, pay attention to the effort here to dirty up the other witnesses to somehow denigrate them how heavily they go after stormy daniels because of her occupation but this is also a documents case, we have the checks and transmittals and there's no question that what took place and the only question will b

hope hick asks being called. hope hicks at one point provided cover for trump. or unwillingly, but she said what happened didn't happen. and it's interesting to me to watch whether or not she has had a crisis of confidence in herself as many people in trump's world do and uses this venue to come clean. i suspect trump suspects some of that is coming. >> all right. we will be watching. tim o'brien, thank you very, very much. >>> next, folks, we're turning back to the other top stories we're watching this story. we're going live to israel to get the latest on what's happening on the ground. this is "the weekend." ♪ ("good feeling" flo ri♪ this is a hot flash. (♪♪) this is a hot flash. (♪♪) but this is a not flash. (♪♪) for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms due to menopause... veozah is the first and only prescription treatment that directly blocks a source of hot flashes and night sweats. with 100% hormone—free veozah... you can have fewer hot flashes and more not flashes. veozah reduces the number and severity of hot flashes day and night. for some women, it

i think that you'll see other witnesses like hope hicks, like michael cohen just put on additional layers in filling out this picture of exactly how the scheme played out. >> now, pivoting right here to washington, as you heard me discuss with congressman thompson, the supreme court's conservative justices, many of whom were nominated by trump, appeared to at least considered his claim of total presidential immunity this week, some suggesting that such immunity was necessary for our democracy to function. the court's ruling is expected some time between now and july. what happens after that? >> well, it depends on what the court rules. rev, i was actually really surprised after this argument and during the argument. i thought that the supreme court would, perhaps, take its sweet time in issuing any ruling which would push off the possibility of a trial beyond the election, but i was really struck by the comments by some of the conservative justices who, as you said, really entertained this notion that a president would have immunity. not only that he would have it but that it would be nec