mr. costello.as welcoming former deputy chief of the saw a shabby position i remember that the big position as chief of staff at the attorney general. i want to get right down to it, sir. you gave an interview earlier this morning. i have the text here with the bibillhemmer. i have gone through it and detail. i want to hone in on a few issues for a reason. you represented michael cohen during the period in which the fbi swat went into his properties to gather information and evidence, is that correct? >> we represent him after that. right after that >> he came to you? >> that is correct. see if what you got into privilege conversations with him i will get to that in a minute. the subject of donald trump came up and so forth and so on. can you concisely tell me what he told you about the nondisclosure agreement with stormy daniels and who is responsible for what? >> michael cohen set in reference to the nda the nondisclosure agreements which i pointed out to him were perfectly legal that it was his

mr costello said he only showed 6 but had access to all them.orary communication between the lawyer and his client for which mr costello got away with. it's a very, very big case and a very big matter so when that government witness is on the stand, that means the district attorney and government are vouching for the truth, integrity and testimony of that witness. that witness was put up their despite the fact the government knew from these e-mails mr costello's testimony that he is a liar. and even if it wasn't a brady violation you don't have humane witness as someone who is a complete -- he doesn't go to prison for a thousand different reasons he goes because he is a liar. supporting perjury out of been talking about this on radio and was brought up earlier. the u.s. attorney tolman brought it up. out to expand on this. we lawyers need to police what's going on here, we can just wring our hands and say its terrible. it is terrible these people need to be held to account. they knew it he was going to say and he prosecutor does that. they let h

mr. costello's testimony, among others. that's contradicted what his own attorney said and what others have said. and he still put him on that. >> and this is material information. this is their key witnesthis is look at the text. we don't know about the texts. well, that's an important issue, too. did this government not t have his texts? if they had the text, did they give it to the defense? text beee get the texts. >> and this isn't the firstis i time i remember when 30,000page pages of documents just showed up from the u.s. attorney's office documed u two or three ws before the case started. and the judge, that's fine. that's enough time to prepare or not. giving, it eno a up to the defee witnesses are going to be called, maybe they'lncl get aur five hour. that's a due process violation. what we have in mrhat'. bragg i lawless governmentis, a fisher, and i contend that he's violated the brady rulingsuprem of the supreme court. >> i contend that hee and hisd hi staff have been suborning perjury. fone other thing before m

mr. costello for on behalf of mr. trump as their only defense witness. >> really backfired. >> i don't think it had the intended effect that the defense thought it would have it really highlighted with email corroboration on redirect, especially, i'm sorry, on cross it especially really highlighted the pressure that michael cohen was under at the time to not cooperate and to not flip. >> and i think it actually corroborate michael cohen and the jury is going to wonder this is the person of everything you heard that you decided to call. of course, the defense doesn't have to call any witnesses, but they could have called. i think they're going to wonder where is the bodyguard mr. schiller, right? why didn't they call him? why didn't they call allen weisselberg to people who in their mind, i think they would think are favorable to mr. trump instead, he calls mr. costello, who really came across as a shady attorney in my opinion. so i think it backfired arthur, you're you're standing outside the courthouse. what did you

costello describing cohen as, h quote, manic. at a 2018 meeting after cohen'sn home and office were raided by the fbi. cohen is now implicating mrleged crime, costello testifying, cohen told him back then,fyin i swear to gr bob, i don't have anything on donald trump. directly refuing cohen's testimony that trump directed him to pay off daniels before the 2016 election. quote, "michael cohen said ch numerous times that president trump knew nothing about those i payments and that he did this on his own." costello testifying.lo the judge repeatedly sustaining prosecution objections, leading to a scolding of costello, who muttered, ridiculous and gee., the judge saying, are you staring me down?me clearing the courtroom. the all this after cohen revealed he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his former client.r cohen, who once said he'd take a bullet for mr. trump, admitting head duped his own boss to payi him t for than he was owed.s he gave a tech company $20,000 in a brown paper bag and a profited the rest, tens of thousands more for himself.re f todd blanche saying, you stole from the trump organization, right? cohen answeri

mr. costello ended up corroborating parts of cohen's testimony. estified i didn't trust him. meaning bob costello, i believed upon all our conversations he would immediately run back to mr. giuliani and that conversation would be divulged to president trump. multiple e-mails confirmed exactly that, showing that costello was indeed acting as a back channel to trump and giuliani precisely as michael cohen claimed he was. joining me now are kristi greenberg, former federal prosecutor and former sdny criminal deputy chief, and duncan levine, former district attorney for the eastern district of new york. there's a lot of legal stuff i want to get to, but first on the big picture, kristi, was it a good idea for the defense to end with bob costello? >> it was a bad idea. it chaep helped bolster michael cohen's credibility. anything that makes michael cohen smelling like a rose, you have to think that's a bad idea interest the defense, but these e-mails today oozing with slime. michael cohen testified this guy wanted to me by lawyer, but i didn't really tr

mr. costello. and this i told you so. but at the time i remember thinking that is an odd choice because what you have as a defense lawyer is the element of surprise. that's one of the few things you'll have. he won't prevent the grand jury from going forward. that seems highly unlikely. and so you are now laying out for the prosecution what this witness will say. i'm like well, they not only know what he says, but they have a year to prepare to cross examine him, and i was thinking there is no way they will call him because of that. sure enough they did and obviously the cross is still going on, so we can't make a final conclusion. we don't know how the jury will assess him. having said all of those caveats, your analysis of he is an exhibit to what michael cohen said seems clear. he's on paper doing what the jury could easily find to be sort of classic mob work, which is using a lawyer to find out whether someone is cooperating and report it back to the boss. he says that's not happen, and they could credit the written r

mr. costello was testing him. you don't think the theory is collateral? merchan says it goes to the credibility of mr. cohen. bove says, judge, for the government to be suggesting that through the tweet in 2017, they juxtapose, they elicited from cohen. and merchan is asking how can costello testify to what cohen felt. and bove is answering, he can't. but he can testify. excuse me, this is going more slowly than we would have thought. >> he can testify to what mr. cohen said and did. >> let me clean one thing up. in the mueller report, he was, at some point on page 146 that on or about april 17th, 2018, cohen began speaking with an attorney who had a close relationship with rudy giuliani, investigating presidents lawyers, and then costello told cohen he had a back channel communication to giuliani. giuliani had said the channel was crucial and must be maintained. "the new york times" published an article about the president's relationship and treatment of cohen. the president responded with a series of tweets predicting that cohen would not flip. >> i actu

mr. costello has a complete change, in terms of the way he behaves.be an exhibit of what michael cohen was telling the jury. >> we will take one final break and be back with the rest of the story. visionworks. see the difference. hey, everybody. w. kamau bell here. they say that america is the land of the free. but right now, people in the u.s. are seeing their freedoms taken away at an alarming rate. freedoms some of us take for granted. the right to vote. equal access to health care. book banning and other forms of censorship that threaten our right to learn. and here's something truly shocking, right now in our country hundreds of thousands of people are incarcerated simply because they couldn't afford bail. that's not free and it's not fair. but there is hope for change. it lives in people like you and in a great organization called the american civil liberties union. so please join me and other concerned americans in defending our civil liberties by joining the aclu as a guardian of liberty today. all it takes is just $19 a month, only $0.63 a da

mr. costello's testimony just moments away. next. -ugh. -here, i'll take that. woo hoo!n, 1 gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals. and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. (♪) >> when you're suicidal, isn't it easier to cooperate against donald trump than kill yourself? if he had truthful information, he would have given truthful information that day. he kept tells us he did this on his own. >> martha: so that was robert costello, former legal advisor to michael cohen who was just called by the defense to testify. and you see that judge marchand is asking the trump attorney if he thinks the pressure campaign theory is collateral, and he said not at all. essential, i would assume. so the importance of costello, andrew, let me start with you. we just heard a little bit of what he's going to say. which he believed michael cohen was desperate. that he was desperate to rebuild his construction to former president trump and that he -- meaning that he would be willing to handle the stormy daniels thing on his own so he could go back and say, look, i took care of this for you and

mr. costello. it was painful.it was so obvious that on this day they picked to assassinate the character of michael cohen. it was outrageous. everything he said. my testimony related to they have called this hearing a law fair weaponization of government. and honestly other than law fair blog i had to look up what law fair meant. using the institutions of government to take down an opponent. and to me, this hearing was actually law fair. they were doing it to hurt the on going trial, to interfere in this particular trial. my testimony was more about the fact that it used to be that facts matters and that the distinctions between the indictment decisions of the special counsel for mr. trump and for president biden are based on not a different standard, but on different facts. and that if anyone would pay attention to the facts, it was justified to make the decision that you would not indictment president trump. and it left you no decision except to indictment mr. trump because mr. trump not only concealed, he hid,

then things escalated further, after he accused mr costello of staring him down.this historic trial. the incident however will have little impact on the case itself, which is winding down. closing arguments will be next tuesday, may 28, after the long holiday weekend. the uk high court has ruled wikileaks founder julian assange can appeal his extradition order to stand trial in the us on espionage charges. assange is accused of releasing highly classified information about alleged us war crimes, and potentially faces life in prison if convicted on all charges. the decision allows assange to challenge the us' promises about the prospective trial, including the guarantees that he would not face the death penalty, and that his freedom of speech would be protected. if extradited, assange faces up to 175 years in prison. the us argues the leaks, which disclosed secrets about the wars in afghanistan and iraq, endangered lives. assange's lawyers argue the case against him is politically motivated. the wikileaks founder has spent more than a decade resisting deportation a

mr. costello to ask for advice, he said well, you could cooperate.you have anything on donald trump? and he said i have got nothing on donald trump. he was emphatic apparently a number of times. did the jury hear that before the judge blew his stack? >> yes. in fact, i think costello more than a dozen times, more than a dozen times michael cohen said and my mom doesn't like it when i say i swear to god. but it's not me saying it. it was the witness, quoting michael cohen as saying i swear to god i have nothing on donald trump. the problem is, in a courtroom, you are looking for flow. and you're looking for a certain cadence. and that cadence is disrupted when the judge is continually rebuking the witness. so, yes. that testimony is in the record. but, i'm afraid the take away, yesterday, was that the judge had to clear the courtroom to threaten to hold the witness in contempt. because he was, you know, allegedly giving the judge the side eye. look, i don't know if it was a failure to prep. look, lawyers don't make good witnesses. they don't even make

mr. costello, deal with bad. it testimony all about the fact that maclachlan yesterday now the mr. harry order is back which i have an awful lot of respect for. i'm not going to answer another question. you're just because i'm not under arrest and i'm going to walk out now, i, i should explain here exactly what the legal situation is. you are under the container and if i die, i form the chairman, instruct you to remain and ask the question. you are thereby become guilty of contempt of that senate committee. i in just a minute, mr. wells just asked about it. mr. costello, you don't mean that i will use every resource in our command to see that he's brought to contempt and that he was arrested by the united states senate. action worthy of gromyko, the alleged crime king dares the nation's highest elected body to do its worst. so, dan holt, we were watching some newsreel coverage of the kefauver committee in new york city who were some of the major crime figures in that city at the time. so the most important one that they were able to bring in for questioning was frank costello. he h

mr. costello to testify this week with. that is up to the judge to approve that.mr. costello just said in that clip that that you played because of the unconstitutional gag order that the judge has imposed on not only president trump in this case, but also our entire campaign team. we've been sitting in that courtroom for four weeks now, and maria, and the prosecution hasn't even come close to committing a -- to proving a crime because president trump never committed a crime. they've known that all along, this judge knows that. this case is only going forward because it's being pushed by a democrat judge, a democrat district attorney, and ultimately, joe biden as election interference in an attempt to weaken president trump ahead of the next election. but it's not working. if you look at the polls, the american public see this case for what a it is, it's a witch hunt, and they want joe biden focused on the issues such as inflation and immigration which he can't be trusted on. maria: you've been in that a courtroom most days. do you believe president trump will get

mr. costello. at the time i was thinking to myself, that is a really stupid, that is the technical legal term, move on the defense part. because one of the few things you have on the defense side is surprise. if this were a witness with impeaching evidence, the idea that the grand jury was not going to indict, that is far- fetched. you know this is not andy mccabe where there was really good reason for the grand jury not to indict. that was going to happen instead. mr. costello said he went to the grand jury and that means the d.a. heard his story, cross-examined him in the grand jury and they've had a year to figure out exactly what is wrong. in other words they know what he was going to say and they obviously thought that they could dispute it. the idea that he would take the stands now and there is not going to be any surprise, the d.a. is going to be aware of it. i'm not terribly concerned. also what has come out are the text messages that, let's put it this way. the state would have a very goo

mr. costello who is -- and i think it's fairly proven -- a weaker witness than mr. cohen. whatever his problems are that i've told you about. but they braukt up a weaker witness here who caused more antics today, why? because the defense is worried they're going to believe michael cohen. even if they believe he's a crook, a tax cheat, or a some time lawyer, even if they think those things, they might believe him on the core question. and that is why mr. costello, warts and all, antics and all, admonishments and all, was hauled into court today to say in one more way, don't believe what michael cohen says donald trump did in that sordid election scandal of 2016. now we have two special guests here to break down what is a momentous day. the d.a. resting its case, the defense beginning. we're back together in 90 seconds. nning. we're back together in 9 seconds. you've been waiting for. now there's an easier-to-use at home skin tag remover, clinically proven to remove skin tags safely in as little as one treatment. our biggest challenge? uncertainty. hidden fees, surcharges...

thank you very much mr costello. good to see you.come think you have a nice day. >> also with us former trump attorney jim trustee who is also been a federal prosecutor." get his take. that we're going to take a break but what is your reaction to that conversation with bob costello and i would love to know your thoughts whether you think the defence needs him or does it open them up to a cross-examination that could be problematic in any way in your assessment? >> like i had the fortunate meeting barges couple of days ago and we talked at length and i have to say i've gone from the camp on don't put on any defence to putting on just bob costello. look. i think he is kind of a rough just telling 51 year attorney from new york. he's going to have devastating information that conflicts cohen as well as opinion testimony which is fair game about honesty of michael cohen. is come to say cohen wouldn't know the truth if it hit him between the eyes. and he also turned the lens a little bit towards prosecuting office that he was trying to wa

mr. trump not signed off? no, ma'am. cohen replied costello, we'll be back on the stand tomorrow morning, and then both sides has said they will be down with their case, which suggests the former president does not intend to take the stand then the jury will be dismissed for a whole week before coming back to here closings and then begin. this historic deliberations. >> aaron. alright, paula, thank you very much. >> and are experts were all here with me now. all right. so i want to talk about a couple of crucial moments in the court. but first, just the drama terry, the defense, they only have one i'm very quick witness. and then costello and were what was it like how did he act in all my years of practice, over 30 plus, i've never seen a moment like this. >> the witness said, jeez, and ridiculous and response to some of the objections that were being sustained. >> and the first thing that judge said this was in front of the jury was excused me excuse me and everybody fell quiet because i've never heard the judge say anything like that. >> tha

mr. costello? that is hoffinger saying it to robert costello. damning testimony, guys, to say the least, from robert costello for the defense and their choice to choose to bring him to the witness stand here. wondering if they're regretting that today. >> thank you, yasmin, so much to discuss. i want to welcome charles coleman also joining our legal panel, former new york prosecutor, just another thing i want to highlight from this cross examination, the prosecutor asking costello about email communications he had with michael cohen. hoffinger reads an email from costello sent to cohen that says michael, i just spoke to rudy giuliani and told him i was on your team. rudy was thrilled and said this could not be a better situation for the president or you. hoffinger, that was your email to michael cohen? costello, yes. hoffinger, email speaks for itself? costello, no, not quite. there were surrounding circumstances, but i would be delighted to tell you. hoffinger, sarcastically, no, that's all right, let's move on to the next one. so, here she is

defense starting its case, putting former cohen legal adviser robert costello on the stand, who told the jury cohen had lied about what mr. trump knew about the reimbursement of hush money payments. but costello's behavior irking judge juan merchan, who briefly paused testimony to admonish the witness. laura jarrett with more on today's legal fireworks. >> reporter: tonight former president trump's defense team launching a fiery start to its case, taking direct aim at the credibility of star prosecution witness michael cohen, calling robert costello, a former federal prosecutor and attorney for rudy giuliani, who advised cohen before a falling out. costello describing cohen as, quote, manic at a 2018 meeting after cohen's home and office were raided by the fbi. while cohen is now implicating mr. trump in an alleged crime, costello testifying cohen told him back then, "i swear to god, bob, i don't have anything on donald trump." directly refuting cohen's testimony that mr. trump directed him to pay off stormy daniels before the 2016 election. "michael cohen said numerous times that president trump knew nothing about those

mr. costello, your to remain seated. the jury leaves. then costello, after another sustained. the objection. costello roles is eyes let's out an audible sigh. sayyed gland says that the judge the judge says, i want to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom. the judge says, you don't give me a sayyed, i and you don't roll your eye the judge says, when there's a witness on the stand, if you don't like my ruling, you don't say jeez, you don't say strike it. costello holds a long glare at the judge. judge merchan says, are you staring me down? then the judge says clear the courtroom there's yelling by security officers at the press to leave the video is cut. courts security says nobody can come back in. paula you have a jd, you've been covering court cases for quite some time. have you ever seen anything like this no, this is unbelievable and i know bob costello quite well. >> i've talked to him for for about a decade. the fact that he would allow this happen on the stand, it suggests in many ways that he is probably posturing for the defendant. remember it's the defendant that ov

mr. costello was acting was beyond the pale. and i got to say this primacy recency, you start off with a good argument and you end with a good argument. if that is their last witness kevin forbid. donald trump ended on the worst possible note only mr. costello could have rehabilitated michael cohen because what did michael cohen say? i didn't trust the guy. i thought essentially he was asleep ball and he was working for giuliani. and i didn't want to tell him what i didn't need to tell him. so what did castello do? he reinforced what cohen had said about costello. that's not a good way to end your case. >> i mean, look, we for not expecting castula to be the lats witness or a witness at all. frankly sources had been telling cnn he was unlikely to be, but then instead of taking this moment, robert, where as you pointed out, they catch michael cohen. >> the lie. i mean, it's not the first time we've heard this particular thing where he stole the money but it was a grand larceny. it's a theft it's not just about the fact that it's

[video clip] >> costello, did you hear the about mr. francis maclachlan yesterday?> all due respect to the senate, which i have a lot of respect for, i am not going to answer another question. i am not under arrest. i'm going to walk out. >> i should explain to you, that is what a legal situation as, you are under subpoena, assume, the chairman instructs you to remain in answer, you will thereby become guilty of contempt of the senate committee. >> just ae, just a minute mr. costello. >> you don't mean every resource in our command to see that he is brought to contempt and arrested. narrator: frank stella, they fob for hearings. was that the senator idea to bring camerafoit? he got a lot of press for it, he was convinced he was infiltration of organized crime thought the only way he could really educate the public was bring the hearings to television were almost in full con they became a bit of a television sensation. the newspaper headliscreaming things like, this major . it was a big success really in that way. it didn't do any harm to the his status rose and he b

mr. costello says. if we end this week a little bit early, he's going to give both sides a real opportunity to number one, make motions and number to really prepare their closing arguments in the case. >> how do you think jurors feel about this case getting dragged out a little bit longer with closing arguments happening next week well, i think they've been really attentive up until this point. i think they are a little bit tired especially because there's very long examination on michael cohen. but i think right now they sense that they're moving into the final stages. and especially the lawyers on this jury, really, i think are going to understand we're now in the final, so i think there's this anticipation. what ends up happening in the jury at this point is they are really formulating what do they think is the story of this case, taking both pieces from the prosecution's case and pieces from the defense's cross-examination so far in trying to create this this puzzle picture of exactly what happened

mr. costello. what the prosecution seemed to put into the record and supported with voluminous e-mails i think i remember was that costello very much wanted to represent cohen and cohen had sort of a spidey sense, i know it's not a legal term but a spidey sense that maybe he's not going to be all for me, that he was like a cutout basically through rudy to trump trying to get him to stay quiet. as they successfully did with paul manafort. you go back to 18 they were running this operation with people other than cohen. papadopoulos in '18, manafort, gates. gates and cohen in totally different criminal investigations gates with the mueller probe and cohen with sdny's election interference case, they cooperate. and at the time trump went on fox news i think and said i hate flippers, i've always hated them. always hated their guts. never mind that now he was president of the united states and on an org chart sat atop doj. was there latitude for the prosecution and do you think we'll see them go back to

mr. costello, who the committee for the burden of provings of the federal government had speak testify thislisten flies in the face of the michael cohen testimony in that trial, watch this. >> every time i voted up every time he answered i swear toed go excuse me -- i don't have anything on donald trump i said michael whatever you have, has to be truthful if you think you can go in there tell lies you are crazy it is going to backfire on you. you can't do that. maria: how important was that testimony as relates to this trial senator? >> well it was damning number one number two when your star witness is a liar went to jail for lying to congress one thing you know about michael cohen he has an ax to grind. he want to get back at donald trump. he is not looking to tell the truth he is not looking to bear his soul not looking for redemption he is looking for payback, more and more clear every single day of the trial the cross-examination devastating we hear how bad the case is not just for bragg but for democrats. they are desperate for trump to stay to have trial and to find a scintilla of ev

the claim from costello that cohen told him he didn't believe stormy daniels back in 2018 and that mr. trump had nothing to do with this deal to keep him quiet. costello appeared before the house judiciary subcommittee yesterday and ripped cohen's claims apart saying cohen admitted to him that trump did not know about the payments to the porn star and that cohen did this deal alone. in his written testimony he said this, quote, cohen decided while he didn't believe the allegation he thought the story would be embarrassing for trump and especially for melania and decided to take care of this himself. when asked if trump had any knowledge of this cohen told me no. the trump defense team could use costello's claims to try to impeach cohen and his credibility if it's allowed. cohen is facing a cross examination from todd blanche. he is trying to undermine cohen's claims that he told the jury on monday. we'll see if anything that costello claimed can be allowed and brought in. as far as mr. costello testifying for the defense he said he hasn't been subpoenaed by the defense. the defense ha

mr. costello? he says, that's not exactly what i said. bring up the e-mail. you said at one point i wanted michael cohen as a client, did you not? >> no, no, ma'am, i did not. bring up the e-mail. in front of his face, and used his own words against him saying this e-mail speaks for itself, does it not, sir, which is what he said at the beginning of his testimony, which i thought was an incredible moment for the prosecution. >> and like, in girth and vintage, he's sort of an avatar for trump. we don't know if the jurors will see it that way. i want to ask about someone else. hope hicks i think in some sways, maybe it was through the tears that are disorienting, but delivered the kill shot to donald trump. would michael cohen have paid the money out of his own heart? no, never, said hope hicks. was donald trump in charges of all messaging and communications for his own campaign in 2016? yes, because he was the best at it, the best. then the most devastating piece of testimony she offered to the jury was that donald trump looked at her and sighed, and said, tha

costello, no. mr. cohen hired guy, you lost control of michael cohen for the president.y against michael cohen. no. last week didn't you go to the house of representatives to testify about michael cohen? answer, i was asked to testify. and you went through to publicly vilify michael cohen while he was on then stand. she asks if costello knew his comments about michael cohen would be publicized in the press. costello says, no, he didn't know that. it was reasonable to expect they would be. we all saw the way he's covered on fox. question, and it was an effort by you to intimidate michael cohen while he was testifying here? costello, intimidate michael cohen? question, yes, that's my question. intimidate michael cohen, no. nothing further, your honor. >> essentially it laid out after the defense tried to make michael cohen try to sound like the ex-employee who didn't get the job he wanted. their star witness for the defense exactly just painted as that guy. but literally an e-mailed evidence form that robert costello acknowledged that michael cohen picked somebody that was

mr. costello? answer, yes, it does. >> it was clear that his interest in trying to become michael cohen's lawyer was to be on the team not of michael cohen, but the team of the man who costello thinks of as the most powerful man on the planet the man who was sitting across the room from robert costello in the defendant's chair. robert costello left the witness stand in disgrace at 10:11 a.m. this morning after 42 minutes on the witness stand this morning establishing absolutely nothing for donald trump's defense against the criminal larges of falsifying new york business records in order to illegally help his 2016 presidential campaign. the judge then explained the scheduling dilemma. he told the jury he likes to keep it by the defense and the prosecution together so that they are not separated by a day or a weekend and that he would need additional time to prepare his legal instructions for the jury. so, he pointed out that because they were already scheduled not to meet on wednesday this week that

mr. costello, thanks >> a gangster's life is a brutal calling i will one day. >> it's part of a grand design date with

e-mails show to the jury depicted mr costello as a bit of a back channel of comms for cohen while he under investigation. in effect somebody who can relay messages to than president trump by way of his attorney rudy giuliani. now costello today said he had recently received a call from mr trump's lead attorney to ask if he would be called as witness. he told cbs maybe. the plot thickens, trace. >> trace: it does thicken, kevin corke live in dc, thank you. let's bring in the former dod chief of staff under trump kash patel. great to have you on the show. as kevin was talking about bob costello, a former legal adviser to michael cohen, former federal prosecutor and he testified at a house hearing today about what cohen knew about trump. the soundbite is 31 seconds, a little long but it's worth a listen and i will get your take. >> the way this works is, if you have truthful information about donald trump, that's clearly what they are looking for, i can have all of your legal problems solved by the end of the week. 's response? i swear to god, bob, i don't have anything on donald trump.

mr. costello to mean by you are loved, by whom? >> by president trump."t is what michael cohen wanted. donald trump's respect, admiration, his love, but then, he probably knew that donald trump is incapable of love and luckily for michael cohen, his family was capable of love, even after the horror they experience of an fbi raid in their family home. his wife and his daughter, in college, and his son, in high school, did an intervention. he testified that it was a conversation with his family that made him decide that it was time to escape the trump cult. " by that time in late august, what, of anything, had you decided about whether you would continue to live for president trump? >> i made the decision based on the conversation that i had with my family, i would not live for president trump any longer. >> if not for the campaign, would you have paid that money to stormy daniels? >> no, ma'am." michael cohen say the day he pleaded guilty was " the worst day of my life." donald trump issued a tweet that day, aimed at michael cohen . he told the jury that w

mr. costello that i would love to ask him about that. we will be right back. schedule. ♪ trains that use the power of dell ai and intel. ♪ to see hundreds of miles of tracks. ♪ [vroom] [train horn] [buzz] clearing the way, [whoosh] so you arrive exactly where you belong. (♪♪) (♪♪) try dietary supplements from voltaren, for healthy joints. the virus that causes shingles is sleeping... in 99% of people over 50. it's lying dormant, waiting... and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. and it could wake at any time. think you're not at risk for shingles? it's time to wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about shingles prevention. these days everyone is staring at screens, and watching their spending. good vision is more important than ever, but so is saving. that's why america's best includes a free eye exam when you buy two pairs of glasses for just $79.95. book an exam online today. lowering bad cholesterol can be hard, even with a statin. diets and

mr. costello was in handling michael cohen while trump was president. to rudy, who is relaying it, rudy representing in the mueller probe. do the details fill in a period we knew about or were those disturbing? >> i don't think they're disturbing. i think, you know, again, it goes back to the mob boss thing somebody is, you know, directing traffic and really directing things and have other people run things for them. the fact of the problem here is that the people running things for him, like bob costello and so forth, were a little too cute and so ultimately the buffer they were supposed to be, proves to be not a buffer at all, but pretty transparent. >> stormy daniels' attorney said yesterday on cnn she wore a bulletproof vest, her home address has been publicized in right wing media. i wonder what you've done in the past or your thoughts are how you protect witnesses in high-profile cases like this? >> we have the witness protection program in mob cases where we send people away. security is always a tremendous issue, particularly, you know, dependin

mr. costello, i don't think that's fair. >> ainsley: she is talking about seeing ghosts and the specific s of her alleged affair, he will allow that in court. but then when it comes to costello telling him not to roll his eyes. and then you have michael cohen. did you steal from the trump organization? he says yes, sir. >> steve: that's a headline. that's something new. all right. so let's go from that criminal trial to the potential trial down in georgia. today is primary election day in five states across the country, including georgia. and it's interesting because voters there will decide whether two key players in the donald trump cases get to keep their job. one is fani willis, of course she is the one who brought the indictments against trump and 18 others. and the sorry superior judge scott mcafee randomly assigned to the case. they are both on the ballots, and it will be interesting to see if they survive primary day because if either are ousted, it could actually slow down the case, obviously. >> lawrence: so, ainsley, fanny is doing a media blitz and she went to hard news rachel

mr. costello's performance may be remembered, too. the trump election interference hush money trial is where we start. we've all been living together and what's been happening as we come on the air. today is the first day to exhale and kind of process what was happening and i have to say, every day, what we had sort of prepared to read and present to our viewers based on what happened, was not what we and covering because something twisted, something turned, something happened in a way no one expected it to. >> i was going to say i've never done a trial where something unexpected doesn't happen, you can prepare all you want, and something, some piece of evidence, something takes on a life of its own. the other thing, and i used to prepare witnesses this way when i had witnesses like michael cohen is i would say to them, look, no one can prepare you for everything. it's just not possible, something is going to be presented, and this is what you need to know. no matter what it is, just remember, just think in your head, think about what

mr. costello, who is the witness involved, was on a publicly reported record. >> so all of the years you're on the bench, zero of that? >> in terms of clearing out the courtroom to deal with a specific witness for me and to my personal knowledge, the number is zero. >> danny, let's talk about what we can expect in closing arguments next week. what do you think both sides have to do to strengthen and conclude their case? >> okay. prosecution's path is clear. they have established beyond a reasonable doubt the transactions. first from daniels and then from trump to cohen. the challenge they have is proving intent. not that they don't have it. they have evidence of trump's awareness of these payments. arguably beyond a reasonable doubt that trump may have been aware of these enough for a jury to find. the defense's argument is going to be legal. there is some factual element. number one, michael cohen is a liar. we knew that was coming. i expect you'll see an empty chair against. where was alan weisselberg? they could have called him and didn't and his handwriting is all over the exhibits and