a former legal advisor to michael cohen, robert costello speaking out about the star witness testifying before congress about a ton of things. he believes cohen is lying through his teeth. costello joins us in 30 minutes. a lot of questions for him. first mark your calendars, folks, biden and trump agree to hold two presidential debates to set the stage for showdowns that could make or break their run for the white house. good morning. we're in the red, white and blue today here in new york city. i'm bill hemmer. >> dana: i'm dana perino. it goes by fast. first debate happening june 27th, 131 days before the election. the second debate september 10th. >> bill: these debate developments happened on a lot of bad news for the president. the post putting the high stakes in perspective. joe's fail mary. while his rival sits in a courtroom for hours on end yet again today, dana. >> dana: kayleigh mcenany is here and we have fox team news coverage. eric shawn and william la jeunesse on my migrant numbers. mark meredith is at the white house where the lawn is green and nice. >> we try for you.

and then late today the 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

last week michael cohen testified about robert costello. is is what the jury has heard so far about this lawyer who helped michael cohen in the months after, in april 2018. michael cohen's home and a hotel were raided. as phones were taken and gone through, that he turned to him as sort of an outside counsel voice. what michael cohen said is that he was skeptical of robert costello's intentions, and particularly because robert costello had repeatedly told him that he was all but working as a back channel through his friend rudy giuliani to donald trump. and the way that michael cohen described it to the jury was that it was quote, all covert, all back channel, i spyish. there was a june e-mail entered into the record in which robert costello sent cohen an e-mail, rudy giuliani has communicated to me that he is meeting with his client, donald trump, this evening, and added if there was anything you wanted to convey, tell me, and my friend will bring it up for discussion this evening. this is where it gets at the prosecution is making the case

defence lawyers also called former legal adviser for mr cohen, robert costello, as a witness, promptingen and costello's testimony. this historic trial is winding down. prosecutors today rested their case, but before that the defence took another crack at trying to undermine michael cohen's credibility. the biggest blow they scored today was having michael cohen admit on the stand that he stole from his former boss, donald trump. michael cohen admitting he invoiced the trump organisation $50,000 for tech services from a company, but he then only pay the company $20,000 and pocketed the rest. he said he did that because he was angry about his bonus being cut. but when the prosecution came back and redirect they try to rehabilitate their star witness, refocusing jurors to the fact that michael cohen is not the one on trial and that michael cohen said he had no doubt that donald trump had authorised him to pay stormy daniels c100 $30,000 hush money payment over several conversations in october 2016. but that the most dramatic moment of this trial yet occurred when the defence began their c

. >> reporter: nyu professor robert cohen studies student activism. >> what is the challenge for universitiesng into a new school year next fall? >> if there is a cease-fire, then i think obviously this will dissipate. if it continues, i think the university needs to find a way to be able to engage the students rather than kind of exile them. >> reporter: until then at some schools a difficult year is coming to a difficult close. stephanie gosk, nbc news. >>> in 60 seconds, the dramatic explosion just carried out to bring parts of the collapsed bridge in baltimore up. right after this. ltimore up. right after this. will it get worse? how common is it? who can i talk to? can this be treated? stop typing. start talking to a specialized urologist. because it could be peyronie's disease, or pd. it's a medical condition where there is a curve in the erection, caused by a formation of scar tissue. and an estimated 1 in 10 men may have it. but pd can be treated even without surgery. say goodbye to searching online. find a specialized urologist who can diagnose pd and build a treatment plan with you.

a more on that been all joined by robert cohen is a professor of social studies education at new york university and n y u. a professor, you called this current wave of protest, the biggest student movement of the 21st century in the us. what spock this concern about the escalation of the war and gaza and the use of the american military age for this. as for the war and the depths of civilians, i think, particularly with social media, students have found out about this very quickly. and they're very concerned about the use of american military aid for, for bombing and killing of civilians. it's, you know, there's images of children that are dying, and i think that's the main reason why this, this burst out. and then the administration's response was initially to non violent protests, you know, slipping down and, and getting pressure from congress and donors on the ministrations of colleges to shut these down. that's like the initial columbia arrest the for the building occupation that, that was a really help to publicize this on to bring the city further, the mention of students acros

i spoke to robert cohen, a professor of social studies and history at new york university who has studieddent activism about how these protests compare to others in us history. the protests, initially, going on now were much more moderate in their tactics, whether it's 1960... actually, the greatest upsurges in active american history occurred in may 1970 after nixon authorised the invasion of cambodia. he had promised to end the war, and he was expanding it into cambodia. so that created a lot of fury that was compounded by the massacre at kent state, where four students were shot by, were killed by the national guard and nine were wounded. so that was much more confrontational. the war been dragging on forfive years. so, i mean, compared to that, the protests, for example, that started at columbia and then spread initially at nyu were very moderate — people staying outside of the class, on the grass or in a plaza. they weren't disrupting the university. and yet they were still evicted by the police. so to me, i think that there is a similarity in that students were both protesting again

cohen had. the last conversation. roberttello was then recommended to michael cohen to retain him as his attorney when they launched the investigation into michael cohen. robert costello is a good friend of giuliani. giuliani was acting as an attorney for donald trump at the time. hence why there were conversations from robert costello to michael cohen saying, for instance, i am having a meeting, a conversation -- i'm paraphrasing here -- with my friend. is there anything you would like me to communicate to his client? michael cohen testified to the fact that "my friend" was giuliani. his client was donald trump. he did not trust robert costello as a person and he didn't trust whatever he told him if he were to retain him as his attorney he would not communicate to giuliani who would tell donald trump. >> let me go back into the document. costello was a defense witness during the grand jury proceedings. trump trotted costello out to prove that if he never told costello that trump was involved in the falsification of records,

when the defence began their case and called it wild card witness — robert costello, an attorney who offered his services to michael cohenors were investigating him in 2018. now the prosecution has tried to paint robert costello as part of a pressure campaign to try to keep cohenin pressure campaign to try to keep cohen in donald trump's fold. robert costello testified that michael cohen told him he swore he had nothing on donald trump. costello also saying that he had cohen's interests in mind, not donald trump's. but things got heated as the judge sustained several of the prosecution's objections. robert costello exasperated remarked, "geez." the judge, costello exasperated remarked, "geez." thejudge, angry costello exasperated remarked, "geez." the judge, angry about that, took time to remind him about proper court decorum — but then he got extremely angry, accusing robert costello of staring him down in his own court. he cleared the entire courtroom and told robert costello again how to properly behave. court resumed, but nonetheless that was the most striking moment of today and perhaps many key moments of the trial

cohen might tell robert costello. he's obviously the contempt for the judge. probably would convince most of the jurors that michael cohen was right about the contemptuous robert costello. we'll consider all the evidence introduced at the trial today including on michael cohen's cross-examination with andrew weissmann, lisa reuben after this break. we'll show you how the defense, which claims donald trump's payments to michael cohen were not reimbursements. made the mistake today of repeatedly ineffect, identifying those payments as reimbursement of the defense. that's next. just another day on the job. we did this for love. see what we can do for your business. fedex. dangerous ladders. gutter muck. yuck. no wonder you hate cleaning your gutters. good thing there's leaffilter. our patented filter technology keeps leaves and debris out of your gutters forever. guaranteed. call 833- leaffilter to get started. and get the permanent gutter solution that ends clogs for good. they took the time to answer all of our question

a well-known and prominent new york lawyer who advised cohen, robert costello told a sub-committee cohen told him the former president did not have anything to do with this deal or know anything about it. >> every time i brought it up, every time he answered, i swear to god, excuse me, bob, 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 and tell these people lies, it is crazy, it will backfire on you, you can't do that. >> legal experts say trump defense could use costello's claims to say he committed perjury. cohen is on the stand today and will face cross-examination from trump lawyer who could ask cohen about what he todz robert costello, whether it is true or if he lied to the stand, they could call robert costello, too. we know the former president will likely address this issue. robert costello said that michael cohen basically lied about the whole stormy daniels deal. expect the former president to blast that when he arrives at court later this morning. >> brian: why would bob costello, not be a good witness

robert costello's credibility. we have talked a lot about how the defense was going to chip away at the credibility of michael cohen and witnesses like stormy daniels as well. in fact, the prosecution is doing that exact same thing as they did during cross examination of robert costello and i want to read you through some of what we heard from robert costello's testimony so far this morning because it is fascinating stuff. so hoffinger asks this, your first meeting with cohen at the regency, you discussed how connected you were to rudy giuliani, costello, not true, you're quoting from an email that was much later. hoffinger, you were very close to rudy giuliani and you have known him for 50 years. yes, known him for years and we went to a wedding. hoffinger, you sent this email two days later. i'm going to read it for the jury. i am sure you saw the news that rudy is joining the trump legal team. i told you that my relationship with rudy could be very, very useful to you. so, refuting what robert costello said on the stand a moment ago. again, they do it between, hoffinger, you continue to tell him you can provide

michael cohen testified to the jury he did not hire robert costello because he did not trust them. chael cohen said he believed that robert costello would tell rudy giuliani and donald trump everything michael cohen might tell robert costello. robert costello's obvious contempt for the judge probably convinced most of the jurors that michael cohen was right about the contemptuous robert costello. we will consider all the evidence introduced at the trial today, including on michael cohen's cross- examination with andrew wiessman after this break, and we will show you how the defense, which claims donald trump's payments were not reimbursements, made the mistake of repeatedly, in effect, identifying those payments as reimbursements as part of their theory of the defense. that is next. commend agen. number one, because it's effective. does not require a prescription. and i've been taking it quite a while myself and i know it works. and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me, "david, that really works so good for me." makes my day. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a

robert costello could be a credible witness if he were to come to the stand and testify that cohen in 2018 told him he did this himself, the $130,000 payment, not donald trump. the other part of this is there is some dispute over whether robert costello had an actual agreement to represent michael cohen than to what extent are their conversations privileged or not. and michael cohen is acknowledging that they did not have a formal retainer agreement but that he believed that it was privileged, which, again is hitting at kind of the heart of the greater part of the story of whether donald trump and michael cohen despite having no retainer agreement, whether he was formally representing him as legal counsel. this is getting weedsy, but if robert costello were to take the stand, this could be impactful. >> what is it telling you when the line of questioning is about him and their relationship? >> what i have been listening, when we were reading the testimony, i'm thinking to myself, is the defense going to call costello, and is a lot of eliciting this testimony laying the foundation for

represent him, a man deeply enmeshed in trump world and would ensure anything michael cohen said got back to trump. robert an email submitted as evidence in the right before the court today about a conversation he just had with rudy giuliani who said, "thank you for opening this back channel of communication." still here at the table, lisa rubin, msnbc legal correspondent, joining us, executive order editor to the national enquirer, now correspondent to the hollywood reporter. i thought the castillo stuff today was really wild and incriminating because it really felt almost like a mob boss parity. >> sleep well tonight, you have high places. it was just this line out of a mafioso movie. it wasn't for the fact that michael cohen had this look upon him was basically saying you are, there are positive comments being spoken about you in the white house. he's basically putting the screws on him to stay quiet. and, it was this moment that you are like never do crimes in writing. use the signal. it was kind of terrifying that this kind of language is being used by someone who clearly has his, he's just had his h

cohen said was at the direction of donald trump. under cross examination today it became clear that robert costello was eager to be michael cohen's lawyer, so eager he wrote a letter boasting how he was going to be the defense lawyer for the personal attorney to president donald j. trump. he told his son, quote, i will be on the team. the trouble is, his emails revealed that the team was bigger than michael cohen. cross-examination it became clear that michael cohen was not robert costello's primary interest. it is customary for lawyers to ask witnesses to read their own emails aloud as evidence. assistant district attorney tried that yesterday. on cross exam nation but costello could not do it. he could not read his own emails without constantly inserting comment on his own emails so, today, she read the emails herself. >> can you please blow up the last 11 paragraph, please in yellow. and then she read, robert costello's email to his law partner. quote, our issue is to get cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from giuliani or the president. in my opinion, this is the clear correc

michael cohen on the stand. roberttello in his interview with us said this guy is lying and the jury ought to hear about it. he wants to get out there and be a part of this -- he said if he were in todd blanche's shoes he would call himself as a witness. how are democrats digesting this? >> looking at the debate between biden and trump. i think it should be between costello and cohen. these guys don't like each other and have a lot to say against each other. democrats are watching it the same way republicans and americans are watching it. a former president of the united states is on trial. interesting when bill said a second ago the dow for if first time has broken 40,000. you have the two americas going at it. when i say this i will get jumped on by at least one of the three of you. the economy is doing well and getting better. i know. i was asking for it. but that's what america will have to decide on. whether we want to return to a time where we had a president that is all about himself and about what has been done

now the prosecution has tried to paint robert costello as part of a pressure campaign to try to keep cohenore he had nothing on donald trump. costello also saying that he had cohen's interests in mind, not donald trump's. but things got heated as the judge sustained several of the prosecution's objections. robert costello, exasperated, remarked, "geez." the judge, angry about that, took time to remind him about proper court decorum — but then he got extremely angry, accusing robert costello of staring him down in his own court. he cleared the entire courtroom and told robert costello again how to properly behave. court resumed, but nonetheless that was the most striking moment of today and perhaps many key moments of the trial. now prosecutors will resumed their questioning of robert costello when court resumes on tuesday, and then next week, closing statements are scheduled, and the jury will soon get this case and decide donald trump ultimate fate. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. president biden has condemned a request by a prosecutor at the international criminal c

former cohen advisor robert costello throwing cold water on michael cohen's testimony. he says cohen swore repeatedly that he had nothing incriminating against donald trump. >> i kept going back and suggesting to him listen, michael, if you have something truthful on donald trump, now is the time to cooperate. and he kept saying over and over again, 10 or 20 times, i swear to god bob i don't have anything on donald chuck. >> martha: but we'll the jury ever hears what robert costello is saying? that's 1 of the big questions. call leaffilter today. and never clean out clogged gutters again. leaffilter's technology keeps debris out of your gutters for good. guaranteed. call 833.leaf.filter today, or visit leaffilter.com. why would i use kayak to compare hundreds of travel sites at once? i like to do things myself. i can't trust anything else to do the job right. kayak... aaaaaaaahhhh kayak. search one and done. i've struggled with generalized myasthenia gravis. but the picture started changing when i started on vyvgart. ♪ vyvgart is for adults with generalized myasthenia g

cohen to admit under oath that he'd stolen $30,000 from the trump organization. and then, after the prosecution rested its case, the defense calling a surprise witness, ushering in an explosive courtroom confrontation. robert costello, a lawyer who advised cohen in the days after his hotel room and office were raided by the fbi in 2018. costello testified cohen was “manic,” and “suicidal,” quoting him saying, "my life is shattered, my family's life is shattered. i really want you to explain to me, what my options are? what's my escape route?" costello said he told cohen all his problems would go away if he just told the feds the truth about donald trump and the deal with stormy daniels. but he said cohen insisted “trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own.” saying, “i swear to god bob, i don't have anything on donald trump.” throughout costello's testimony, prosecutors objected. and when judge juan merchan upheld those objections, costello audibly reacting from the witness stand. "geez," he said one time. “ridiculous,” he mumbled under his breath. the judge, furious, sending the jury out of the room. addressing costello directly. “if you don't like my ruling, you don't give me si

cohen answered yes. so far robert costello's claims about what cohen told him in 2018 haven't been brought into the cross examination. that could still happen. costello told fox news he hasn't been subpoenaed by the defense. the defense witness list is not firmed up. they may call a witness who is an expert in federal election law and of course the former president has said he wants to testify but this news of a different story allegedly told by michael cohen that completely contradicts what he told the jury here is making big news here at court this morning. harris, back to you. >> harris: thank you. mercedes is on the mezz with me today and my guest jonna spilbor and both criminal defense attorneys and ari fleischer, former white house press secretary and fox news contributor. so glad to have you all here. this is a big day and feels like it just got bigger. jonna, i will come to you first about what eric was just reporting in terms of the defense putting together its witness list now. now prosecution said michael c

stuart: turn our attention to the trump trial, michael cohen's robert costello says cohen is on a revengeour. watch this. >> one thing you are not reporting yet is b-sides making that statement, i don't have anything on donald trump, he also said more times than that answer, guys, i want you to understand, i will do whatever i have to do. i will never spend the day in jail and slammed his hand on the conference room table. what does that mean to you? this guy is saying i will lie, cheat, steal, do whatever i have to do, i am not going to jail. he did go to jail. who do you think he blames for that? stuart: dramatic and clean-cut stuff. it should be in the trial, shouldn't it? >> it depends whether you are the defense or the prosecution. the more is a said, the more themes can be opened up. already i think the defense feels they are in a pretty good position in this regard. you want to open the door for more conversation in this regard. with what we just discussed, cohen is a useful idiot. you've got this dynamic but keeping donald trump off of the campaign trail, an incredible distraction

cohen, was it? -ii rudy giuliani, who of course went on to represent donald trump, he knows robert costello, what robert ten years and his firm and reach out to him if he needed the advice of robert costello, but nevertheless, robert costello understand said when he met with michael cohen, he told him" i swear to god, bob, i don't have anything on donald trump. what michael he said donald trump never knew about the statements, that was his testimony, but as questioning when broad, the prosecution objected to that line of questioning and the judge suspended because of his parameters that he sent out. robert costello said" geez, when the judge kept agreed with those objections, and the judge dressed them down, saying there was decorum in the courtroom and he cannot roll his eyes at him, and when robert costello seem to be staring him down, thejudge got costello seem to be staring him down, the judge got extremely angry, clearing the entire court and telling robert costello, are you staring me down, at that point we lost feet in the overflow courtroom, but court was suspended for a few minutes and it was o

when robert castillo got on the stand, he claimed michael cohen's word to him that he had nothing on mp and he refuted the prosecution's claims that robert costello had tried to represent michael cohen to keep him in donald trump's fold as part of a pressure campaign. michael cohen went with a different lawyer, but still low said he always -- costello always said -- said he always had michael cohen's interest at hand, not trump's. but when the prosecution objected numerous times and the judge sustained those objections, robert costello remarked "geez" in exasperation, and the judge was extremely angry, reminding him he need to follow proper decorum. at that point, the judge got even angrier, saying robert costello was staring him down. we could see, watching from the overflow room, all of this happening. the judge, who is very mild-mannered normally, known for that type of demeanor, ordered everybody out of the courtroom so he could dress down that witness. certainly one of the most dramatic moments we have had of this trial yet, but it will not have a significant impact on this case

i'm sure todd blanche will certainly confront michael cohen with what robert costello says. ay hear from the former president himself when he speaks about these stunning new claims that michael cohen said he had nothing on donald trump. back to you guys in the studio. >> steve: all right, eric shawn with an umbrella lower manhattan, lousy day in new york. >> brian: a lot against donald trump and tried to make that clear. bring in gregg jarrett fox news legal analyst. gregg, with this bob costello revel labor relations we knew . would would you do it? >> i think, brian, it is very tempting for the defense to call bob costello because can look into the faces of the jury and say this guy, michael cohen, he has been lying to you. he swore to me he kept trump in the dark about this stormy daniels payment, it was all his idea. he acted on his own. his client had nothing to do with it. the opposite of what cohen told the jury. and he also confessed to his then attorney that trump's only concern was protecting his wife, not the campaign. again, the opposite of cohen's testimony. it m

cohen's cross-examination wraps up. one person who says he's more than willing to testify is robert costello, cohen's former legal adviser whose name came up no less than 40 times during his testimony this week. let's bring in two people who attended trump's trial this week. tim o'brien, senior executive editor of bloomberg opinion, and msnbc legal correspondent, lisa rubin, who's here with me in the studio. welcome to you both. so let's start with robert costello, lisa, who is he? what is his role in this story? what has the jury learned about him so far? >> robert costello is a deputy chief of the federal district of new york. he is known for representing rudy giuliani and for representing steve bannon. both of whom owe him a bunch of money. in fact, in rudy giuliani's bankruptcy papers, one of his largest creditors, aside from ruby freeman and shaye moss is robert costello's law firm. in the context of this case. robert costello was introduced to michael cohen by a mutual friend and law partner, jeff si tron, and he wanted to represent michael cohen when it became clear michael cohen was in criminal jeopardy. bob cost

robert costello is a witness who michael cohen already testified on direct examination that he lied to because robert costello was going to talk to trump about whatever cohen said, so he's a witness that they really didn't need to call. to get off on this footing, particularly on their first and maybe their only witness, is just a misstep by the defense that was an unforced error. >> an unforced error probably because trump wanted them to do it. it seems like the defense, that seems to be the characterization every day, is they're waging a defense that probably if they had a more normal client, they wouldn't. they're just doing whatever trump wants and attacking the people he doesn't like. and sort of trying to belittle them on the stand. let's talk a little bit about this attempt to undermine cohen and literally try to accuse him essentially of perjury. there is this situation where michael cohen is trying to get to trump to get his money back. he's not getting the money back and he needs the money back. he reaches out to schiller who is donald trump's guy that's traveling with him, a

defence lawyers also called former legal adviser for mr cohen, robert costello, as a witness, promptingments. prosecutors rest ok. owen admits from from donald trump. a wildcard witness gets a dramatic dressing down by thejudge. ——rest their case trumps's lawyers got michael cohen to admit that he stole from his former boss. cohen billed the trump organization $50,000 to cover a $20,000 payment to an it company, and he pocketed the rest. he said because he was angry about his bonus being cut. prosecutor spent the end of their case rehabilitating their star witness, reminding the court he was not the one on trial and refocusing jurors' mind on parts of his testimony that mattered. cohen reiterated that donald trump gave him a final sign off to pay the adult film star stormy daniels. he said speaking out turned his entire life upside down. and then things got heated. the defence called attorney robert costello who offered to represent cohen when federal authorities were investigating him in 2018. when the judge sustained several of the prosecution's objections, the witness remarked, "geez

michael cohen was concerned that robert castillo , the lawyer who wanted to defend him, it would not esent his best interests. he testified that castillo, who used to work with rudy giuliani, wanted to establish a back channel, for michael cohen to robert castillo to rudy giuliani to donald trump in the white house. michael cohen wanted to be able to talk to his own defense lawyer without necessarily telling rudy giuliani and donald trump everything he told his lawyer. in an email to michael cohen, trying to convince him to maintain that back channel of communication, robert castillo wrote "you are loved," with the champion oddity of the word loved being in quotation marks. one of those odd uses of quotation marks you see from donald trump tweets and posts. "what did you understand mr. costello to mean by you are loved, by whom? >> by president trump." that 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

yes, said cohen. robertt lawyer, says he hasn't got a subpoena but trump's defense does call him, that would be interesting if he has a completely different story for michael cohen, and on monday and tuesday. back to you. neil: you stay cool under fire with sirens. eric sean at new york state supreme court. bob you sack, editorial board number, bush 43 speechwriter. administration likes to say left donald trump sit in the courthouse and deal with those illegal problems. we are looking at improving the economy and those problems are no longer our rounds. you might've heard the exchange of jared bernstein, they are saying the trend is there friend but depending who you talk to the american public simply isn't buying it. >> getting closer to the election and polls have shown over the last year plus that voters are sour on the economy. despite the administration's spin, it's not landing. it's a good strategy to say things are getting better but at the same time, biden has to lean into this is a painful time and

jurors left today hearing only from robert costello, a lawyer who briefly advised michael cohen. prosecutors today again trying to paint costello is a trump-allied emissary dispatched by rudy giuliani to prevent cohen from flipping on mr. trump. confronted with emails suggesting he was frustrated. cohen refused to hire him, including one where he wrote, quote, cohen, quote, continues to slow play us and the president. is he totally nuts? he is playing with the most powerful man on the planet. costello suggested monday cohen's entire story, that trump plotted to protect his stormy daniels to protect his campaign was all a lie. telling jurors that michael cohen said numerous times that president trump knew nothing about those payments, and that cohen said he did this on his own. costello only one of two witnesses called by the defense team. the testimony all told running just over 90 minutes. >> there is no crime. there is no crime. it's a kangaroo court. there has never been anything like this that i've ever seen. >> reporter: the judge working with both sides for hours today to h

. >> norah: and robert, still another highly anticipated witness. michael cohen.t do we expect there. >> reporter: all eyes on a long time trump fixer and trump lawyer. he will be the key witness for the prosecution in the coming days. expected to take the stand. if you thought today was rough

ex attorney michael cohen's former legal advisor robert costello will return to the witness stand formination today. yesterday costello confirmed that cohen told him trump did not know anything about a nondisclosure agreement payment to stormy daniels. cohen admitted he stole money from trump, he admitted to stealing $60,000 from the trump organization. joining me now is pennsylvania congressman dan meuser. congressman, thank you for being here. i know that this morning you're going to be going down to that courtroom, you're going to be there with former president trump to show support. have you spoken with him yet? can you tell us what you're expecting? >> hey, maria, great being with you. well, we're expecting a little bit more of a circus, i guess, right? i mean, what went on yesterday was -- in fact, that's an insult to some clowns. cohen just proved to be along with being a liar and being guilty of tax fraud, bank fraud, he's also a thief. he admits stealing tens of thousands of dollars. look, this whole trial is just really sad, if you really get down to it. i mean, talk about u

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. 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. quote, michael cohen said numerous times that president trump knew nothing about those payments and that he did their on his own, costello testifying. the judge sustaining prosecution objections, and costello was muttering. the judge at one point saying, are you staring me down, and clearing the courtroom after cohen revealed he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his performer client. cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for mr. trump admitting he duped his old boss into reimbursing him more money than he was owed. he gave a tech company $20,000 in a brown paper bag and pocketed the rest, tens of thousands of more for hi

and one of the reasons michael cohen basically gave is he didn't trust the guy. and now robert costello on the stand the jury saw some of it, not necessarily all of it, but gave them a reason, maybe not to trust him. oh, i can understand why michael cohen may not want to confide in this man who's giving side. to the judge. >> i mean, sides of the judge elie, i mean, there really weren't even words for it. maybe some four letter words to really describe just how chaotic it was inside that room la. but robert costello is about to get back on the stand. paula's write that he is kinda the sideshow, but he's not going to make or break the case here necessarily. but can you just put everything in context for us? of what we are expecting today? yeah. caitlin, the prosecution has rested and today we are going to hear from probably the last witness in this trial. >> that is the aforementioned bob costello. now, robert costello is a lawyer. he's called to the stand by donald trump as a defense witness, and he gave advice to michael cohen at a crucial moment in 2018 just after michael coh

all of this is build up to substantiate the argument that robert costello could make that michael cohen was looking for any way to get back. to ingratiate himself once again they talked about a pastor who he called and said could you please put a good word in for me with president trump? this is a man who has blanche established later today use to talk to five or six times a day. he loved the association with then donald trump president-elect donald trump but he felt himself slipping away and it's important he tried to portray here. that was his motivation is blanche's argument to make the stormy daniels situation go away. perhaps to put it back in the good graces. michael cohen thinks of himself as a fixer. the designated thug at times for donald trump that this may be not the kind of person the president wanted to be in the white house. i think that really struck a deep chord at least that's what blanche is trying to lay out here. how the jury is seeing all of this very, very difficult to tell by looking at the eyes and body language. i try to do all of this this morning. >> john: bac

august of 2018, so the prosecution will make the case to the jury that robert costello's words only mean so much, because michael cohen would lie and was lying to people like robert costello because he did not intend to ever ultimately flip on donald trump, but now this was the question of whether the prosecution would get the chance to ask questions of somebody like a robert costello and they are now having that opportunity. of course, we expect the courtroom to be dismissed here in a matter of minutes though, nicolle. >> so, i mean, what costello's testimony on direct was about was, sleep well tonight. you have friends in high places. it was the mobbiest part of the case. >> it was uncovered during the mueller investigation and was cited in volume 2 which was about -- >> obstruction. >> -- obstruction of justice and this was one of the allegations in there which was a series of emails which were used to be essentially telling michael cohen, you can sit tight and don't worry, the president of the united states has your back, and there's been -- there was a lot more around that. one of the things -- cross-examination

at best this is like michael cohen led robert costello on and robert costello wanted to be paid, so he continued to try to entice michael cohen to hire him. at the end of the day that never happened. i'm not sure what costello can do other than talk about conversations between the two of them that evolve into he said, he said. as andrew said, the emails and text messages between them and the kinds of messages that costello tried to transmit on behalf of rudy and other allies of trump are themselves devastating. i'm not sure it is in anyone's interest to hear from costello, least of all the defense. >> so no court tomorrow. monday we come back and you have michael cohen back on the stand. what are you expecting? >> maybe there are more surprises, but i think we will head toward the end of him on cross and then there will be some redirect and then we head into closing arguments, i think, next week. then the jury is going to be out. what did they say, half a day each for closing arguments? so we are looking at this going to the jury before the long weekend and if not, right after. >> can

was saying that cohen was up on the roof of the regency hotel and thinking about jumping off because he couldn't face the legal troubles ahead of him. but the fact that someone like robertows him well and is willing to testify under oath and congress to all of this comes up with something that is completely contradictory to what cohen has been saying, how does that strike you? pico well, that was his testimony to congress just yesterday. i would love to see castella appear as a defense witness saying my former client is lying yet again and has every motivation to do so's because he is enriching himself on podcasts and tv shows and networks and everywhere else. but cohen is a serial habitual liar is one thing, john, the thing that just continues to jump out to me as a judge who has no issue with his daughter making tons of money literally on this trial as a political operative that has democrat members of congress as her client but then himself that contributes to democrats. you contrast that in florida judges won't even take a photo with me or any other politician. i know a judge who is married to a county commissioner and won't even go to events with his wife because h

one option could be robert costello cohen's former legal advisor who told fox news cohen completed thes deal by himself to gain trump's favor. >> he said specifically and i cross-examine him on this. this was my idea. it was his idea to take care of the nda because he had been contacted by a lawyer for stormy daniels who said she was going to claim donald trump had sex with her. >> while former president donald trump has said he would like to testify during his trial his defense team has not committed to calling any witnesses. >> okc because an outside new york supreme court and lower manhattan thank you. fox news alert something of a surprise in washington. chuck schumer at the senate majority leader says he is going to bring back border security bill that died on the vine a short time ago back in january i believe it was. he is going to bring it back and hopes this time he says he be able to pass it. for more on the state at that bill and the presidential race let's bring south carolina congresswoman nancy mace. chuck schumer blamed republicans in the house for the death of that bord