melania had chosen a pink number and wore polka dots in 2022, what is this about?p assistant treasury secretary, full disclosure, i'm in palm beach and i'm wearing black. whenever i see melania trump, i stay away from her, i don't want to be photographed wither had, she is so beautiful and smart, i step aside. the fashion editor, ended with melania trump getting ready to fight, question is against whom. monica, what is wrong with these people, please? >> laura, i am sitting in the palm beach area and i almost chose a black dress to join you tonight. you know the saying sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. sometimes a chic, gorgeous black suit and just a suit. mrs. trump looks beautiful in anything, highly accomplished, f fluent in five languages, they try to find something to b bludgeon her and hit her husband. mrs. trump is a real powerhouse in her own right, a literal super model, laura, for them to waste column in "new york times" when the world is aflame and the country is hanging by a thread, tells you their level desperation and level of jealousy about mrs. tru

we're talking about melania trump, next.dt family has always trusted bass pro shops for all of their outdoor needs, and i continue to be a proud customer. i grew up shopping here, and now i love bringing my family here to gear up for all of our adventures together. and now, bass pro shops club members enjoy special savings and earn points toward free gear, which is rewarding when buying what you need for your next adventure. spending time outdoors with the ones you love, sharing memories and making new ones... that's an earnhardt family tradition that i'm proud to carry on. shell renewable race fuel. reducing emissions by 60%. ♪♪ we're moving forward with indycar. because we're moving forward with everybody. shell. powering progress. shell renewable race fuel. reducing emissions by 60%. ♪♪ we're moving forward with indycar. because we're moving forward with everybody. shell. powering progress. ♪ >> laura: she's beautiful. she's smart. and she's married to donald trump. so, of course the miss creents on the left hate her and

. >> i do have to begin by wishing melania happy birthday. she's in florida. >> reporter: melania trump notably absent at trial. >> laura, does it appear prosecutors got what they needed from david pecker this week? >> lester, pecker is a useful witness for prosecutors to the extent he can testify about conversations about mr. trump that touch on his alleged scheme to influence the election, but what he can't offer, lester, is any evidence on the actual crime that the former president has been indicted for, which isn't a campaign finance violation. it's the way his payments to cohen were documented on his internal records. now, we'll see if other witnesses can speak more directly to that, lester. >> okay, laura, thank you. >>> president biden was also in new york today giving a rare interview to radio host howard stern and making news about whether he'll debate mr. trump. peter alexander joins us. what did he say? >> reporter: for months he refused to say whether he will agree to a faceoff with former president trump, but today he told howard

a source close to the former president tells cnn that melania dictates her involvement. she is very selective and methodical in what she wants to do and how she presents herself i think part of the beauty is that mystery. >> when donald trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign at mar-a-lago last year melania was there, but since then has mostly stayed out of the public eye leading up to the iowa caucuses, her absence inspire to sarcastic, where's millennia campaign? as her husband's legal troubles mounted, and trump traveled the country entering not guilty pleas last year. melannie wasn't at his side even on super tuesday, millennia was mia while her husband celebrated at their mar-a-lago estate i want to thank my family for being here >> millennia has been dealing with some personal matters such as her mother's illness. she passed away in january. a source who worked with the former first lady told cnn during the 2020 campaign that melania had never been comfortable in the public eye and campaign travel was not something she readily enjoys that you preferred to be

also tonight, almost as rare as an east east coast earthquake, melania trump set to make an appearance details ahead get your viewing glasses ready. >> it flips >> across america live monday at one, spirit >> nice going though. nothing like a little confidence boost to help ease you back into the dating scene that includes having a smile. you feel good about fortunately, aspen dental specializes and dentures and implants made just for you and with flexible financing, you don't need to sacrifice quality work for price that fits your budget at $0 down plus 0% interest if paid he didn't full 18 months helping our patients, but their best mile for it. it's one more way. aspen dental is in your corner >> i had to buy something. what it was supposed >> to hang it i don't know. >> in the attic >> enough room to keep your cargo and your secrets safe. >> introducing mandel, the whole body deodorant that i created with all body odor in mind. i'm dr. shannon clingan and i'm the inventor of whole body deodorant, like mondo mondo actually stops odor at this source. bacteria. you just apply mondo li

and next, melania trump back to selling jewelry. this time a necklace a couple of hundred dollars what's it four? plus the trump courtroom sketch artist who drew this sketch is next, and she's going to tell you why this moments so it out to her as so unusual i'll go good news is a murder welcome i'm sorry. what she watches a lot of true crime welcome to the family so much new stuff happening out there, just can't keep up it's too far to swim back now it's just amazing traumas shia are not let you down stream the best of british tv one on britbox, which we, the free trial at britbox.com. >> i won't let my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis symptoms define me emerge as you withdrawn via most people saw 90% clear your skin, eye for months and the majority stayed clearer at five years. >> cbs allergic reactions may occur, can fire, may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight that. tell your doctor if you have an infection symptoms or if you had a vaccine, no plan to emerge as you emerge trim phi it asked her do

meanwhile, former first lady melania trump, largely absent from her husband's campaign trail, is setke a rare appearance this month. sources tell cnn she will attend the april 20th fundraiser for the log cabin. republicans are conservative. lgbt groups. she won't have to travel very far. or the event is being held at mar-a-lago, seen as randi kaye has more today last month when former president donald trump cast his ballot in florida is primary, melania trump was at his side, a reporter asked about her plans to campaign for her husband and this was her response >> with your husband stay stay tuned. she said >> now the former first lady is set to return to the political arena, not at a campaign event for her husband, but at a fundraiser for the log cabin when republicans being held at mar-lago later this month, the former president has been teasing her return for months now, she's a private person, a great person, very confident person, and she loves our country very much. she'll be, she'll be at the appropriate time. she'll be out there while also trying to explain away her absence a

, oh poor melania. don't feel sorry for me don't feel sorry for me. i can handle everything. >> randi kaye cnn, palm beach county, florida randi. >> thank you so much for that. at least one man is dead after the heaviest rainfall in recorded history hit the uae wednesday, a man in his 70s was killed when his vehicle got caught in the flooding in dubai, a year's worth of rain fell in just 12 hours. major highways, the airport, homes, everything really underwater. video. we're showing you were going to show you this video is of a large jet at the dubai airport trying to navigate what is real flooding at that on the tarmac at the airport this morning, the world's second-largest airport is still warning of delays or reporters on the ground tell us this morning that the city has been brought to a grinding halt. john. >> so new this morning, the earth fund from jeff bezos just announced a major grant to look for climate change solutions. 100 million will go toward using artificial intelligence to come up with

and next, melania trump back to selling jewelry. this time a necklace a couple of hundred dollars what's it four? plus the trump courtroom sketch artist who drew this sketch is next, and she's going to tell you why this moment stood out to her so unusual everyone sees meanwhile at a vrbo when other vacation rentals are just for likes, try one, you'll actually like power ea trades easy to use tools like dynamic charting and risk reward analysis helped make trading feel effortless and it's customizable scans with social sentiment. hope you find and unlock opportunities in the market e-trade from morgan stanley with powerful, easy to use tools, power, e-trade makes complex trading easier. reactor fast moving markets with dynamic charting & futures ladder that lets you place latin or reverse orders. so you won't miss an opportunity e-trade from morgan stanley things that we're better together, like your workplace benefits and retire i've been saving lawyer provides tools that help you make the right investment and benefit choices. >> so

and next, melania trump back to selling jewelry.uple of hundred dollars what's it for plus the trump courtroom sketch artist who drew this sketch is next, and she's going to tell you why this moment stood out to her as so unusual we live our lives on our homes fabrics, and though we come and go, are odors stay, it's called odor transfer, left untreated. >> those odors get trapped inside fabrics and then really smells into your ehr. >> you need for breeze fabric refresher. its formula proven to deliver long-lasting odor fighting power. bi, you can enjoy ball, laughing, freshness, even hours after spraying the more everyone phrase the fresher your full home stays for breeze, fabric refresher imagine a future where plastic is not wasted, but instead we made over and over into the things that keep our food fresher our families safer, and our planet cleaner to help us get there america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars to create innovative products& new recycling technologies for sustainable change. >> because when you p

here it is. >> where's melania? >> where is melania? >> she's not with him.can say for certain. you know, i had dinner with donald and melania in mar-a-lago in 2005. and they were -- >> that's a year before the stormy daniels alleged -- >> yeah, and they were very affectionate. legitimately fond of one another. playful, affectionate. he took great pride in her. i think she loved everything he brought into her life. i think she also clearly knew the deal she was making when she hooked up with him. to see the two of them now, and trump in particular, just the complete sort of emotional and moral degradation. not that donald trump walked into it in 2005 as like a model, but he is visibly altered physically. he's aged severely over the last four years. and i think she made her deal with the devil. >> yeah. she knows what she's doing. she knows exactly what she's doing. >> the fact she's gotten to a place where she's not even going to show up in court. >> it would help him a lot if she was there. let me play this moment, the moment that allegedly triggered the hus

from trump, i'd love to be with melania on her birthday, but instead i'm stuck in court. the message went on to say, while i am away for my family,

do you this is who melania trump is in nutshell. i mean, her family and she have always had a meal ticket to donald through donald trump to this a great life in this country. she likes that life. she's private about that life. and i don't think she really cares that she doesn't have to be at that trial assuming that saying is true. yeah. i'm not necessarily agreeing with you, but even that is yet another unmitigated risk of having her in well. >> and a lot more guesser some opinions tonight people stick around, everyone. >> they say a picture is worth 1,000 words with no video cameras and sayyed trump's hush money trial. these might be worth all the much more. >> the photographer was snaps the former present in the court room joins us next every piece of evidence tells a story how it really happened jesse l. >> margin, sunday at nine on cnn looks like. allergy season is back time to start saving on your prescriptions. >> another good reason to check, good rx the future is not just going to happen. >> you have to make it and if you w

like oh, melania. oh poor melania. >> don't >> feel sorry for me don't feel sorry for me. i can handle everything >> randi kaye cnn, palm beach county, florida i'm, more. head >> tonight on this, including a fresh look at what voters make the charges across the country, but also in the single most trump-friendly county and the 2016 and 2020 election a conviction in this case change their view and their choice in november. and later tonight, the shape and israeli counter strike on iran could take, we'll hear from a former head of centcom ago potential targets and a ron's defense capabilities as are covered from israel continues plus more on the late word we got tonight from the white house, but i'll come in new sanctions on ron >> get >> from pep in their step to shine in their coats. and people switch their dogs food to the farmers dog. the effects can seem like magic but there's no magic involved it's just smarter, healthier pet food. >> it's >> amazing what real food can do >> disaster clean up and restoration. what do you make like it never even happened, happened all r

what did his wife melania do? she jumped on a plane and headed for mar-a-lago in palm beach away from all the drama that was january 2018, i spent a ton of time with her with a news was breaking about stormy daniels when those came out that he allegedly had these affairs she didn't take it lightly at all in the wake of the allegations, she broke tradition and drove separately from her husband to the us capital for his state of the union address later that month the white house at the time said the unusual move was so she could attend a reception with guests in the first lady's box but remember that state of the union was her first public event since the wall street journal first reported than an alleged hush money payment was made to stormy daniels before the 2016 election for her alleged affair with trump in 2006 that would have been just for months after millennia gave birth to the couple son baron. >> everybody. >> donald trump has denied the affair took place yet now finds himself in court fighting allegations

how might melania trump have viewed what's been said in court this week to have it happened. so publicly, so openly and very much in her face has to be very upsetting. >> pecker testified that before he ran for president whenever a negative story was coming out about him, quote, donald trump was always concerned about millennia, but that after the 2016 campaign began, quote, it was basically what would be the impact to the campaign or election. the new york times reported melania trump was furious when reports of a payoff emerged in 2018, but now now the times reports millennia shares her husband's opinion that this hush money trial is unfair, citing people familiar with her thinking quote, in private, she has called the proceedings a disgrace. ted, about two election interference. still melania trump has not shown up for one minute at the trial. >> i think it would just be more embarrassing for her. i think it would cause more of a meter media storm around her. all it does is make her look sad and week, we don't see her in his public times of wo standing by his sayyed like m

trump if he is not confessing it is because of melania and him not wanting to hurt her, make her angryer wrath, whatever we submit in the court of public opinion and also honestly with his family if he did just fess up and say, this was 15 years ago and i made a mistake and being humble about it it will go a long way but legally it probably would not be good because then he is saying that the payoff happens but he of course will deny it until the day he dies and it's just who he is. >> hope hicks is listed as a potential witness, 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

and, you know, not about melania.ad a question for sue on the cold record, it read like kind of dramatic because he was asked, you know, did this switch from being something where he would talk about his family to suddenly this was about the campaign, and once that happened, it was all about the election, the question from the prosecutor was, and did he ever, ever mention his wife melania? and the answer was no. >> right. >> and, you know, that's a courtroom and then the defendant sitting right there and that's the answer from his friend. those moments in trials can be pretty dramatic. >> and it's not like melania is sitting -- >> she's not there. >> no. >> sue, how did that land? >> well, it -- everybody heard it and it was like wow. it was -- there was no mention of melania. two things, the only time i think i heard or had any sort of -- there was melania came into the picture there was a fundraising note that went out because it's her birthday tomorrow and in the middle of this i looked at my e-mail and got a fundr

like, oh melania, oh poor melania don't feel sorry for me don't feel sorry for me. i can handle everything. >> randi kaye, cnn, palm beach county, florida or more head tonight on this, including a fresh look at what voters make the charges across the country, but also in the single most trump-friendly accounting and the 2016 and 2020 elections would a conviction in this case change their view and their choice in november? >> and later tonight, the shape and israeli counter strike on iran it could take, we'll hear from a former head of centcom ago potential targets. and iran's defense capabilities, those are covered from israel continues plus more on the late word we got tonight from the west white house, but upcoming new sanctions on iran to the world with my music. >> and now i want to focus on what's happening to our planet i'm going to visit coastal communities that have a new ally in the fight against climate change. >> this is blue car, is blue carbon he need to plant and we need to protect nature will do the rest. >> corbin plus cnn, field sunday at nine pain

that they were then emotional relationship with her husband we reached out to representatives for melania trump into the trump campaign to get her response to david pecker's testimony in court this week, and to ask why she has not attended the trial with her husband, we have not heard back. well, hi, brian. if you hear anything, let us know. bryan todd reporting into our viewers. thanks very much for watching i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. i'll see you monday, 11:00 eastern for cnn newsroom. until then. thanks very much. once again for watching. have a nice weekend erin burnett outfront starts right now all right. next breaking news, trump's gatekeeper testifies that she saw stormy daniels and trump tower. prosecutors also grilling cohen's banker >> helped the former president's fixer wire the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels. >> so did prosecutors make their case three witnesses today, plus trump and his allies targeting a top prosecutor in the new york case, accusing him of being a plant for the white house so who is he why is trump's so? obsessed with this one individual? an

melania was given the “child advocacy award” from trump's former director of i.c.e., which is not like award from r. kelly. i dont know why this was necessary. here's a tip: if you're making up an award in the first place? you can give it to the person whenever they can make it downstairs. you don't have to -- melania did make a rare appearance alongside her husband at a fundraiser saturday night. trump claims he raked in $50 million that night, which seems a bit high, but he is not one to exaggerate. at the fundraiser, trump said he wants immigrants to come from “nice” countries, like denmark, switzerland and norway. nice. whenever trump says nice, he means white. he is also working hard to reimagine his official stance on abortion. secretly, he's for it. he's very for it. and of course, he can't say that. after appointing enough supreme court justices to take away a woman's right to choose, a lot of americans are mad. even republicans. so, in an effort to have his cake and eat it too, he got a hot new spray tan and lined up in front of two enormous american flags. >> it must be remem

bringing people together to help america and melania in this interview is talking about the values of not equality of results but just america's equality and there's something good going on. >> the whole transgender thing and talking with the 5 and 6-year-old and things like national security and economic growth and they'd want to pay their bills and many americans in this country and not just the transgender and other things are borderline pedophilia and giving that speech for brinell and and the acting director of national intelligence and i think that this is a group of trump has addressed and there's a good number of gay americans voting republican this fall and the whole transgender americans are not very appealing at all. larry: brook one more thing and this is not a unity story and this is a in the wrong direction and running npr and the whistle blower and going for npr and let's see 87 democrats and republicans and she worked for the world economic forum and council and left winger and she's already said publicly she doesn't believe in free speech and they get about $250 milli

trump and stephanie, you told me that melania is watching this trial very close. it's late obviously today we heard from rhona graff, trump's longtime assistant, who had testified that she had contact information for both storming mcdaniels and karen mcdougal that she maintained for donald trump. >> and that stormy daniels had been in trump tower and we heard david pecker say that trump had asked him twice about mcdougal calling her, quote, unquote our girl referring to her as how is karen so how does all of this make melania trump feel? i mean, some of this most of this is new information for her yeah absolutely. i'm sure that, you know exactly what you just said. the fact that he asked about her in the white house, the fact that some white house staff got on the phone with david pecker to talk about keeping this secret even further, those were new details to me. and so i know they were new details to her and i'm sure she's not happy about it now. make no mistake. she's not sitting home crying over this, but like any woman would be any married woman are one in re

he didn't want to embarrass me -- melania.ore about the campaign. >> it's on two levels. legally it's important. to have the campaign finance why it's a felony, this is so called john edwards defense, i did this for my family, not the campaign. the principal with the agreement with the other principal, david becker, donald trump. to have him say this was about the campaign, not his personal family goes directly to the legal theory. on the emotional side, just imagine you're a juror, you're in court, donald trump is sitting there, somebody who he's friendly with is on the stand and is asked, did the defendant ever mention melania, and the answer, like, in the courtroom is no. i mean, just in terms of the jury's assessment of who this person is, that kind of tells you a lot. >> andrea, i think if you want to say if it ever was personal, clearly david pecker has made the point he believed it was all electoral. >> he made that point over and over. and especially right before the lunch break, it was so demonstrably all about politi

. >> un dia en el que el e expresidente ademas tuvo palabras para su esposa melania. >> rogelio moratama. >> fosa melania. >> hola, soy luis atencion. >> es el juicio criminal porque presuntamente oculto de manera ilegal los pagos a la actriz porno stormy daniels para que no revelara una relacion sexual que trump niega. >> hoy la defensa de trump, continuaba su ofensiva para restar credibilidad al testimonio de david pecker, editor de the national enquirer. >> ayer, pecker dijo que trump le dio las gracias por evitar que se publicaran historias negativas en su contra, como su presunta relacion intima con la modelo de playboy karen mcdougal. >> oye, el abogado milbo b. >> le cuestiono sobre una e entrevista que le hizo el fbi en fbi en 2018 y donde habria declarado que donald trump nunca le agradecio. >> las notas del fbi pueden ser erroneas. >> yo se lo que declare r respondio peker. >> ¿usted cree que es un error del fbi, insistio el abogado yo se cual es la verdad no se por que lo escribieron asi dijo pecker sobre fbi. >> este abogado no tiene relacion con el con el caso la defensa n

. >> i want to start by wishing my wife, melania, a very happy birthday.would be nice to be with her, but i'm in a courthouse for a weak trial, a weak trial. terrible. we're doing very well in this rigged trial. everybody knows it. yesterday was a big day, but i do have to begin by wishing melania happy birthday. >> jimmy: oh, how sweet, how sweet. you know, you could also call her on the phone. how oblivious do you have to be to wish your wife a happy birthday outside the courtroom where you're on trial for paying off a porn star? melania spent the day at home in florida quietly celebrating with her prenup. on friday. this can't be good for trump's mood. you know, he's been asking people to show up to protest outside of court and some of them actually have. >> new york hates you! new york hates you! new york hates you! new york hates you! >> jimmy: or maybe that was his building. i don't know. leave it to new yorkers to welcome their hometown hero back with open arms. trump was in miami yesterday for a little get-together with a favorite punching bag name

they thought they were delaying until after the election so that links it to the election melania and his family are going to be just as embarrassed after the election what's the one reason you stall until after the election? well, we've won or we've lost, we don't need it to pay anymore. >> so do you think it makes sense both of you and quickly if you could, to try to undermine the idea that these relationships happened or do you just move past it and just focus on did anyone really tell michael cohen is there any evidence anyone told michael cohen to do this? >> it's a terrible idea to try to undermine the relationships. the point is that should be irrelevant. the point is as bill saying, you want to focus on, make cohen do all the work and then you tack his credibility. >> absolutely. i mean, they've chosen to deny it, but it doesn't matter. wrap your arms around it. but the issue is what was it done for it wasn't done primarily for political purposes. it was out the window and i as jamie said, i don't think mutually exclusive if even if you do delay to avoid the embarrassment and

david pecker said melania was not even mentioned. this was all about helpingselection. finally, wanted to make this case about michael cohen, who has some problems because he was convicted of felonies, including lying, but he was lying for president donald . but here, you have david providing cooperation for what michael cohen is going to testify to. it is one thing to say you are a liar. it is another thing to say you are a liar, but everyone seems to cooperate your story. >> i got that hogan's hero analogy with the sergeant. one of the central themes of david testimony was the arrangement he made with president donald to have the parent company of the national mcdougal pay playboy model karen mcdougal $150,000 for her story, alleging she had a 10 month long affair with president donald , which began the year after he married melania. david pecker said that could be a campaign-finance violation, but that payment is not part of the criminal allegations against . why was it important? >> that was one of the more interesting parts, that you have david pecker saying he kne

even melania trump.here were questions about, would she do enough with her policy platform? was she supportive of her husband enough? did she not move to washington early enough? all of these women have to sort of make these trade offs and be a political spouse. at the end of the day, they're not housewives. they're partners and advisers to the most powerful person on the planet. laura: and you explore this idea of the different powers that first ladies can have, whether it's a campaigner like jill biden, but also diplomacy, like you mentioned with jacqueline kennedy. but when you're looking at these modern, first ladies, how does the role, how has the role been used to the president's advantage. katie: first of all, these women can go places the president can't easily. before president biden was able to get to ukraine, jill biden secretly went into the ukraine to meet with elena zelenska, the first lady of ukraine, to offer, america support and a promise that we were going to stand by them, and even dur

i'm not thinking about melania trump, i'm thinking i may not have to pay this money at all and i'm cheaphey are insisting the money get paid now. that is why the scheme had to happen on october 26th, when essential consulting is created by michael cohen. >> i want to hear you both on more legal reaction to todd blanche on two levels. one, todd blanche asserting that there was no sexual encounter with stormy daniels, in effect testifying for his client , his client who will never testifying, both technically, was not a wise move technically what does that provoke the prosecution in one direction or the other? and, the, what do you do with a criminal defense lawyer who obviously, this is not the last time he's going to try to testify for donald trump in this case. he will try to testify as much as he can for donald trump. what do you do if you are the judge ? >> one thing you have to recognize about todd blanche, he spent most of his time as a lawyer on the other side, he's a career prosecutor. is only had very limited experience as a defense lawyer. you saw some of that today because of t

today was also the birthday of donald trump's third and current wife, melania trump. she did not support her husband in court. instead she stayed in florida. she had seven other days of this trial that were not her birthday and neither she nor any other member of the trump family have set with donald trump in the trial so far, but melania's birthday was such a big deal to donald trump that he used his first moments walking into court to complain about having to sit in court, rather than to be with his third and current wife on her birthday. in this text message went out to trump supporters. from trump, i'd love to be with melania on her birthday, but instead i'm stuck in court. the message went on to say, while i am away for my family, i'm humbly asking you to please stand by my side today. stand by my side, in case you have not figured it out, is code for send cash. today donald trump also repeated the lie he has told over and over. i am at the heavily guarded courthouse. security is that of fort knox, also that maga will not be able to attend the trial. again that i

you see him there moments ago with former first lady melania trump making her first public appearance in months. a source familiar with the details as the event in palm beach has already raised $50 million for the former republican president and here's trump calling tonight's fundraiser a success >> everybody wants to be a very spectacular evening and people are just wanting rich people want poor people wanted everybody wants change. your country is really doing poorly were laughing stock all over the world and we're gonna get that change very quickly. this has been some incredible evening before it even starts, because people wanted to contribute to a cause of making america great again, again, and that's what's happened. we're going to make america great again >> is happening, is the biden campaign has announced it raised a whopping $90 in march. and that's on top of its $192 million cash on hand. joining me now is cnn senior political analyst and senior editor for the atlantic, ron brownstein, ron, always great to see you. thanks for joining us on a saturday evening or afternoon as

oz, intimate mar-a-lago fund-raiser with melania.t with him to support him on trial, but she's doing a fund-raiser >> this was like a closeted fundraiser. melania hasn't been anywhere and then they decided this was going to be her foray into the 2024 campaign. but, they didn't want to get the christian right alarm so they kept it quiet so reporters couldn't get any information about it before time about what was happening and in the couldn't get much afterward and then it turned out to be a pitiful timeout because what lgbtq people are going to be supporting donald trump, the most horrible president for lgbtq people? it turned out 60 people were there and i saw reports that 60% of the 60 were heterosexual women. i don't know. maybe there were 20 guys, republicans, i don't know, want jobs in the administration. >>> let's talk about another story. then, you are now the ceo of "the onion." we will pull up the new post. i'm kind of lucky i knew this was coming. i am a friend of ben. here it is. you guys used to post some hilarious pieces

melania. what are you doing? michael cohen and inquirer does a catch and kill where they buy her story and for a deal in $150,000, she will not talk about the affair during the campaign and this is what it means to be donald trump's fixer. >> a scheme to interfere with the 2016 election now the foundation of the first ever criminal trial of an american ex-president is where we begin today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. with me at the table, sue craig is back. tristan smell is also here, from new york state where he led the investigation and prosecution of trump university. also the author of "taking down trump," 12 rules of taking down donald trump. and also joining us, former rnc chairman and co host of the weekend, the only live interview with michael cohen this week, michael steele. and from "the new york times," jeremy peters is here, very familiar with all of that reporting that we've been discussing. sue craig, i want to start with you. and that tantalizing page full of

. >> i want to start with wishing my wife, melania, a very happybe birthday. nice to be with her.d night. cou >>rt for a recap, day eight of t the case for the crime democrats can't name. and the formermeocrats president even watch melania blow out her birthday candles. >> althougdlesh the former firsy lady seems like she skips dessert. >> but instead of baskinke sheg in the florida sun, trump's trapped in a baskin robbins. ns.he's freezing. >> so we have another dayit i of court in a freezing courthouse. it's very cold in therd in therr the court appearance. they don't seem to be ablee up to get the temperature up. it shouldn't be that complicateitd. >> but we have a freezing courthouse. while trump turned into an icicle, his lawyerp turneds were getting to work today. they poked major holes th bragg's casthey poks ine. daviavid pecker, who ran "the national enquirer", said he's been givind peckerg ta heads up about negative stories since the nine days.nineti was trump running for officees in the nineties? >> no. this proves the catch and kill a crore personal thas itn political

i'm asked as electrically the, is melania in northern guns. that is real, says his sons, what, how much the operatives on the target to the vehicle they were traveling in? the incident happened that they all shante refugee camp speaking to lounge a 0 and the yes or the killings would only hobbin. i'm asked as a result, they also said it would not affect the groups demands, and sees finally gets the actions that in for the product. they believe that if they kill or assess and they need is all their next of kin said we will abandon all people that we will abandon our resistance. they all mistaken this novel blood that is spelled, including my own children will hard. now results make us more defiant, more adamant to continue to march on this road, throat of struggle and resistance until we will not freedom. and the lawful rights of the palestinian peoples are restored for by some name is a senior member of how mouse is political bureau. he says the assassination of the smell and he has family members. it is an attempt by his relative derails. he'

trump sitting there, in court, as questions were asked about whether as they put it in court does melania know, quote, unquote, that he had an affair, did this happen, quote, unquote, during the marriage, referring to the texts, the tabloid, the senior publisher figure about the nature of the story. i think this was one of the most intense court days for the defendant and clearly from my view, to tell you in the room, i could see the side of the defendant's face as he watched it, he largely looked composed or nonplussed at times during what was obviously a striking or dramatic moment. i also had a view of the jury and careful about not strike them in detail as a general matter, the jury appeared very attentive, very focused on what was a very eventful set of facts or allegations put forward. and then we also had, of course, as i think you were covering, video of then candidate trump played so the jury could take that in. really it was quite an active couple hours. >> let me ask you, too, about the relationship as you viewed it, between todd blanche, his key lawyer, and donald trump, himse

and i gravitated toward melania trump pretty immediately because there was so much about her i thinkblic really didn't know, and there was so much about her that she wasn't willing to let the public know. so she was a really interesting figure to cover as a white house beat reporter. flash forward to the beginning of the biden administration. i was approached with an idea to do a jill biden book, as i had been approached before to do melania trump books, and i thought i would like to actually place them in sort of a lineup of women who've had this role since the turn of the century. laura: as you go across these first ladies in modern history, you write that the first lady's behavior is expected to -- quote -- "fit every prism of our kaleidoscope of expectations of american womanhood.” how do you find that the role of the first lady, particularly in the last 30 years, has changed? katie: they have all sort of struggled with this idea of whether they should work. hillary clinton told me even she said, "i considered it briefly, and then i quickly set it aside." she had a legal career.

newman's showing up for his court appearances. >> so i'm not surprised about melania trump not showing up because she typically never does. right? we don't see her in his public times of wo standing by his side like most political spouses do that sort of iconic image of the wife holding hands after some humiliating experience. but am a little surprised that we don't see donald trump jr. or eric trump or ivanka trump who was so prominent in the former president's life before you're not seeing him flanked by his children as he walks into court. they're not sitting there every day. they're really not even sort of actively social media championing their father so that is a little unusual, especially considering as you just said this is a case that they the defense's is pinning on protecting family. >> yeah. a bucket trump the other day was pushing on earth de i noticed 12 while he was in court. >> but on what we're about to hear on the witness stand, we're hearing from david pecker right now, but we know that we expect stormy daniels and karen mcdougal to get up there potentially. >> i jus

reporter: former first lady melania trump will step up her campaigning and melania headlined an event republicans, a pro lgbtq group and they're focused on getting gay voters to turn out in swing states. fox was told the event was sold out and raised more than $1 million. l trump told fox news, we must unit in our effort to establish a society of quality and every day experience and unifying principles and ultimately establishing our american way. new march fec filings show president biden's campaign has more than $85 million of cash on hand and february filings show trump has $33 million. all of this is in the new nbc national poll and registered voters finds trump's lead over biden is trump has a two point advantage of five point advantage in january and that same poll, mike, found that the number one issue for voters nationally is inflation and having spoke ton voters here in pennsylvania ahead of the primary on tuesday and it is in fact inflation. mike: brian, thank you very much. former president trump in a new york city courtroom on monday and opening statements are set to begin

"i take thee, melania, to be my lawful wedded next wife.or, well, we'll see what happens after that." today is a day off for donald trump's hush money trial, which is good. i'm sure he needs time to rest after all that napping. yesterday was a surprisingly productive court session, because they picked seven jurors. i was not one of them. and while their identities will be kept secret, we've learned a little about them, like juror number four who said of the ex-president, "i find him fascinating and mysterious." "like, when he says he wants to shoot protestors and jail his opponents, what does he mean? i can fix him." there's also juror number two, who seemed surprised to find herself in this situation, telling the court: "i didn't even know i was walking into this." okay, but at some point there must've been clues. "uh, honey? for some reason, this soul cycle has a bailiff." of course, most of the potential jurors were dismissed, including one who posted a video to social media of an ai-version of trump saying "i'm dumb as [bleep]." damn, i

brunch with melania? no. maybe catch with barron in the yard? no, no.anta claus got up bright and early to post 165 venomous words about yours truly. [ cheers and applause ] i'll read it to you. it begins "stupid jimmy kimmel." [ laughter ] we're off to a good start! [ laughter ] "who still hasn't recovered from his horrendous performance and big ratings drop as host of the academy awards, especially when he showed he suffered from tds, commonly known as trump derangement syndrome, to the entire world by reading on air my truth about how bad a job he was doing that night, right before he stumbled through announcing the biggest award of all, "picture of the year." it was a classic choke, one of the biggest ever in show business, and to top it off, he forgot to say the famous and mandatory line, "and the winner is." instead, he stammered around as he opened the envelope. supposedly his wife, and even management, begged him not to do it, "don't read his truth, jimmy, please don't do this," they said. he was made to look like a fool, which he is, and at the

. >> i do have to begin by wishing melania trump happy birthday. >> reporter: melania trump was notably absent at trial. >> court will not based on session monday so the trial resumes tuesday at 9:30. with that, let's bring in our leadoff panel, john allen, politics reporter for nbc. eugene scott, senior politics reporter fracks yes, and the former federal prosecutor and senior writer for political magazine. thank you for joining us. trump's former longtime executive assistant testified for half an hour. she was known as "the gatekeeper" and set a company directory and numbers for stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. she also said the trump organization was paying her legal bills. why, what did the prosecution gain from her testimony? >> they introduced a small fact, which is that the stormy daniels can't -- contact information is in the system. i suspect that was presented because we will see the prosecutor's attempt to establish that trump and stormy daniels did, in fact, have an intimate sexual encounter which trump has denied, and trump's lawyers denied in the opening statement. i thi

it doesn't matter that melania knows .at he doesn't know. you don't know how they were created. the clear things to point out the limits of his knowledge. if you have a smart jury, it gives you something to do that points out his limits. but this is a dangerous person to cross. because he knows him so well. and, the extent as you said, he put the knife in him now. if they do a hostile cross, it could get worse. >> and neil, as we sit here trying to think of defense angles and as they said on monday, it's the first time we heard anything from the defense. the opening statement was the first time that we heard anything from the defense. turns out they haven't come up with something that we didn't think of. it was not some interesting defense angle that makes us sit back and go okay. let's see how that plays out. didn't think about it. >> turning out when you commit a blatant crime, it is hard to come up with a defense. inside the courtroom, with regular evidence, and so on, and a regular procedure to get to the bottom, the t

>> i think of melania. anyone who's married. and dealing in the realm of pornography and this continuation of gross misogyny or worse? no. i don't think that's a message that that's how you succeed in politics, but trump rode a wave on his personality. he's continuing to really right now fight for july 15th, milwaukee. if he can jump around through all this noise, get to his convention, do the bombing trump speech, be on television, he hopes he can put whatever this verdict is behind him. >> just thinking how much of the world has dealt with leaders that they have in different times and for different reasons taken through the judicial process. this is a first for the united states. it has not been a first and we've seen it from you know, peru to brazil to italy. there are so many instances in which leaders have been taken but for this issue, very rare. >> you know the surprising part is what dr. king recognized when he was arrested in birmingham. where is the clergy of america? where are the people that have a moral standard in

do we seek melania trump there? is a balk at trump going to be there?oing to be there? if his family was there any defense attorney will tell you it can sway the jury at least understanding he has support for what he is saying sitting right behind him. >> from notes are but what is your prediction the traveled about six weeks or so. and with a potential verdict of some sort at the end of next month or in june. what do you think? >> eric, if i had that should be able to tell you i would be able to say this all might trump clients will retry their cases. my best trial experiences for judge kaplan in front of cordy said to meet which is what i would love to tell your audience. all i can tell you is i will run on estimate judge kaplan i have lived with that statement for end of time since i was a baby lawyer he said that to me. it really is up to chance. you will have to look to see what evidence gets in. there's a lot of moving parts or because there will be motions to forgo some of the evidence. who knows what witnesses will come forward and those that ma