she asks, on january 30th -- this was 2018 -- they've entered into evidence a statement that stormy danielssigned and on january 30th, you again denied you ever had a sexual relationship with president trump. daniels, yes. i am denying this affair because it never happened. i will have no further comment. daniels, that's what it says. and that's what you signed, right? daniels, correct. >> daniels via keith davidson who was her attorney, i never spoke to michael cohen directly daniels says. in 2018 president trump was denying this relationship, right? daniels, yes. necheles, and he wanted you to deny it as well, right? daniels, yes. necheles, he was already president, right? you understand trump has a brand, yes. you understood his concern about protecting his brand and he daukd taukd about creating an image that was successful, daniels yes. all these denials, temidayo is that going to be a problem for stormy daniels the fact that she initially denied having an affair with him? >> it's not good. if you're a defense lawyer what you're looking to do is create complexity and confusion. as char

it was a question to stormy daniels.e question because, again, if you're the defense and your whole thing is this didn't happen and he only talked to her once in a fleeting moment at a golf tournament, then why are you asking her whether or not they've had conversations where he expressed concern about his family? it was the wrong witness to make the point that you just said he does need to make for his defense that these hush money payments really had nothing to do with the election and it was really about concern for his reputation, his brand and his family. it was just the wrong witness to really try to make that point, the person that is accusing him of having a sexual encounter with her is not the person you pose that question to. >> and she said, no, he never mentioned -- >> she said, no, right. >> go ahead, harry. >> just you learn first day of law school, don't ask a question you don't know the answer to. she did it repeatedly and she paid for it. this is susan necheles. >> i didn't go to law school, but even i k

they tried to call stormy daniels.possible because they don't have a case and they wanted to bring in all this stuff. that allows them to do something, because to this point there is no counter narrative. there is nothing. as we all set here, there is one narrative consistent with the evidence. i'm not saying this is a bad strategy, but they have to do something. you will hear in summation, like look at the birdie over here. so that is why the district attorney knows this is what defense lawyers do. so they say it should not have come in, we are complaining, judge. you know they are going to use it. judge merchan sat through 1 million of these cases. he knows it. he is expecting slightly better from the lawyers and saying, i'm not going to listen to gamesmanship. you should have objected, you did not object. the rule on appeal, by the way, if you don't object you can appeal, but the standard is really hard. if you make the calculated decision not to object. >> lisa, what stood out to you today? i'm sorry, i know that i

custodial witnesses, stormy daniels, you were there in court , give us a sense of daniels' demeanor, the reactions from donald trump, and how engaged the jury was listening to stormy daniels as compared to other witness testimony. look, the salacious nature of her testimony cannot be ignored. >> she testified for two days and the first day was very informal, and that had an effect of humanizing her and making it accessible. on the flipside, it made it sound like it was a gossip session she was trying to trash donald trump. on the second day on the cross- examination, the lawyer for donald trump was so aggressive and try to poke holes in her story, almost as if her sympathy goes back to stormy daniels. she was pressing stormy daniels on, did you have dinner with donald trump? a long time on that. that had two effects, for the jury, it may stormy daniels more sympathetic. second, it opened the door for the district attorney to start questioning stormy daniels on things the defense was not expecting. >> interesting, katie, the prosecution got into these lurid details of stormy daniels a

stormy daniels, 21. hoffinger, did you work in the adult film industry? els, yes, we had contests in north america, the people who make the most were -- and then we're still typing here, so that's where we are in thi testimony from stormy daniels. danny, how critical is the testimony from stormy daniels to this case? >> there are two answers to that question. in terms of flashiness and in terms of name recognition, stormy daniels is near the top, up there with michael cohen. in terms of substantive evidence, not that important in my view. let me say it this way, there have been other witnesses that are far more important to the prosecution's case. arguably even today and yesterday, names that you haven't heard of before, people who are inside the trump organization who handled the finances, you could argue that yesterday a huge portion of the people's case was made with witnesses that most people have never heard of. and then you had someone like stormy daniels, which i took the position that they arguably didn't need to call her, i think they do for two m

attorney is the falsifying a business records that were used to conceal the payments to keep stormy daniels from telling her story publicly in the days leading up to the 2016 election election but today's fermi daniel's told her story under oath explaining how she met trump at a golf tournament in lake tahoe. then got a dinner invite where the meeting location turned out to be tom's hotel room. mr. trump allegedly greeted her at the door and sat and pyjamas and despair, you the details that you've revealed in court will just say one thing led to another another being the alleged sexual encounter, but the defense took major issue with much of the explicit content and moved for a miss trial. saying that all those details that she had been told that the prosecution ands permitting have been cautioned not not to tell had nothing to do with the case itself. and the defense attorney said that her testimony he had gone over the guardrails that the court had said, judge, one, we're sean has denied the motion for mistrial. stormy daniels right now is being questioned by trump's attorneys. let's get

>>> the people call stormy daniels.hose five words kicking off an almost unreal scene and some detailed and salacious testimony that's been unfolding today in a manhattan courtroom. the trial now on lunch break with the former adult film actress on the stand. stormy daniels face-to-face with donald trump describing their alleged sexual encounter, a story so explosive she said she felt it put her life in danger appearing nervous and speaking so quickly the judge at multiple points asked her to slow down. daniels gave a detailed borderline graphic account of what happened saying that after it was over, quote, i left as fast as i could. just like so much of this trial, it's the stuff of tabloids, it's embarrassing, potentially even humiliating for the former president and according to our team in court, it kept the jury happening on every word but does any of it prove he broke the law? i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. back with me is duncan levin, former senior staff at the manhattan d.a.'s of

donald trump who denies there was an encounter and stormy daniels who says there was. the people did not have to prove that a sexual encounter occurred. they have the right to rehabilitate ms. daniel's credibility and corroborate her story which was immediately attacked. the more specificity she can provide, the more the jury can weigh to determine whether the encounter did occur and if so, whether they choose to credit her story. judge merchan pointed out that he himself objected on behalf of the trump lawyers in instances when they failed to object. and on his own, he stopped lines of questioning. judge merchan explained that stormy daniels had explained in her interview with the district attorney that seeing the movie bombshell made her review her own thoughts and feelings. about what happened. in that room with donald trump. the movie bombshell was jay roach's brilliant film, and the horror story of roger ale's sexual assault and rape of women working at fox news while roger was running that poisoned workplace. the judge said quote, ms. daniels had watched this movi

she's being called stormy daniels. she is talking about all the things that she does and doesn't do. by going i'm doing this cross-examination in some ways, i think it can backfire because they're going to feel sorry for her. she owes this billionaire a half $1 look what he's done to her life. i mean, in some ways, yes, she made some money, but also her lawyer, michael avenatti, he's in prison for stealing from her. so this is what this is but who she is and what has happened to her. so i went no one point. daniel's tells trump's attorney you're trying to trick me into saying something that's not entirely true. she is not intimidated by she's holding her own. she is scrappy smart. >> that's the one thing about her background. she was very, very smart. she's this as maybe the role of a lifetime well i mean, look, i don't know that i didn't want to ascribe that to her because i think you are picking up on how much she in many ways didn't want to be in this situation, but she tried to to take what it was and make somethin

but in that courtroom, with jurors watching intently, stormy daniels pushing back. afterward, daniels seen leaving the courthouse. inside, trump's lawyers again trying to call for a mistrial. tonight here, what the judge said. aaron katersky at the courthouse. >> reporter: today, in court, donald trump watched in rapid attention as his lawyer susan nechless aggressively questioning stormy daniels. daniels pushed right back. it came after daniels testified in graphic detail about an alleged tryst with trump in a lake tahoe hotel suite back in 2006. an encounter trump denies. today, his lawyer challenging the porn star, "you have a lot of experience of making phony stories about sex appear to be real?" daniels firing back, "the sex in the films is very real, just like what happened to me in that room." she added that if she were to fictionalize her encounter with trump, "i would have written it to be a lot better." necheles portraying daniels as a scheming opportunist, insisting her story of her time with trump "generated a ton of publicity for you." "lots of bad publi

stormy daniels replied, negative.efiant stormy daniels on the stand on day 14 of the trump election interference hush money trial, is where we begin today with some of our most favorite reporters and friends. with us for the hour, "new york times" investigative reporter susan craig, joining us, msnbc legal analyst andrew weissmann, plus former executive editor with american media inc and special correspondent for the "hollywood reporter." lockland cartwright is back. we will start with nbc's von hillyard joining us from outside the courthouse. von, i read political threaters and i kind of hate them, but i kind of love them, but i hate when the tension is so much that reading them makes me feel sick and reading the transcript and the vitriol that was directed at stormy daniels at some points, i had that physical reaction to the aggressiveness with which i'll just say it, they tried to slut shame her and the slut shaming came in the form aren't all your adult films fake. i thought she -- i have no idea what the jurors w

here's a stormy daniels indictment, candle here is a stormy daniels team, stormy hashtags deemed teammy t-shirt. she takes off her clothes he makes pornographic movies, blah, blah, blah. you're even a median. what's this basically also like insinuating that you lie to people and pretend that you can talk to their dead relatives. you prey on people. she said that's something like everybody knows, it's just entertainment. but i mean, that was what it was going on. also, i think it was a backdoor for her to try to the first susan necklace to try to introduce this thing that the judge may shine and told her that she could not introduce was a stormy daniels had been arrested, i think in new orleans, i believe i'm not really up on her life, but i think there were some she actually split with her husband and there was an arrest at some point and judge shine, before the jury got there, said you can introduce it. and i think it might have taken place in this new orleans seance paranormal house, and i think she was trying to introduce it that way. that might have also been part big day for stor

stormy daniels came in on tuesday.re was the break in the testimony on wednesday which helped stormy daniels. she was not as rushed today. more composed, more measured. in terms of zingers, she delivered them today against the defense. at this point, you are moving on. the case proceeds. they told the court on tuesday, the prosecution said we would be done in two weeks. >> let me ask you if what you think is happening with the last question to stormy daniels, about how he called her horse face and sleaze bag. todd blanche tried to present donald trump as a husband, a father, just like you and me. in many ways, as least part of the basis of this defense, is this is a family man trying to protect the people he loves. it's not about someone who cooked the books to pay money for keeping quiet an affair that he to this day denies happened. is that sort of the subtext here? this is not a family guy whose motivation was to protect the family. this is a guy who had a sexual encounter with a porn star and called her sleaze bag

yeah with stormy daniels. so susan necklace questioning again, you don't know what he was indicted for in this case. you don't have any idea and stormy daniels said business records and susan nechele said you know, nothing about the business records, right? stormy daniels replied, i know knowing about his business records, no. why would i i know nothing about his business records and she said you know, nothing about what he does or does not know about the business records, right. and stormy daniels said, no, that shouldn't be sum total of their comments, right? hey, you should out and stormy daniels so that's it, guys. >> everybody standby. there's a lot more coming up just ahead. we'll have more on those major rulings during the trial today, the judge refusing to change the gag order on trump and again, denying his request for a mistrial. we'll talk about that more with a former judge standby urine the situation that trump hush money trial gavel to gavel coverage away only cnn can bring it to you. >> legal in

body towards stormy daniels. courtroom, you have the judge up there. you have stormy daniels. if i'm looking at the judge, you have stormy daniels to his left. you have donald trump to the right of the judge facing the judge. the prosecution on the other side facing the witness, stormy daniels, and then you have the jury to the right of the witness, stormy daniels and the prosecution, right, so they're all watching the q & a going back and forth. >> the jury can see all of the players, right? >> they can see all of the players. they can see donald trump's reactions, right? they can see what's happening at the prosecution table, and they can certainly see what's happening with stormy daniels as well. and there seemed to be a point where there was a certain shift. stormy daniels was kind of taking them through especially what happened back in 2016 when they allegedly met up for the celebrity golf tournament and how that night ensued and they were very tuned in. as the judge began to chide stormy daniels more and sa

donald trump shaking his head earlier as judge merchan ruled he would allow stormy daniels to testify. the defense team quickly renewing its objection to details of alleged sexual acts between the former president and the adult film actress. he has denied that they had sexual relations. when daniels took the stand, the former president looked at her, then looked down. for our special coverage on this, i'm joined by ashley parker, of course, and my colleague, chris jansing who is co-anchoring with us in new york. chris, you have there guests to talk about the legal aspects of all of this. >> yeah. there has been so much this morning. you and i are going to cover it the next couple of hours. joining me is duncan levin. with us this hour, vaughn hillyard, nyu law professor, andrew weissmann and former u.s. attorney and legal analyst, joyce vance. duncan, i will start here. while we were listening to the president, the testimony continued. there were some pretty detailed explanations by stormy daniels of what she says was a sexual encounter with the former president of the united states.

this is as court is about to resume with stormy daniels on the stand.er first couple of hours on the witness stand she testified that she met former president donald trump in 2,006 and an affair with him just before breaking for lunch she was starting to speak about the process of selling that story to michael cohen for $130,000 while trump ran for president. daniell's claim that she met him in lake tahoe shortly after she was invited to the penthouse and allegedly had an affair. she says she met him at trump tower and kept in contact because she wanted to be on "the apprentice" tv show and thought he could help her career. every blog post about their religion affair in 2011, daniels claims a man approached her in a parking lot and told her to stop telling the story about trump supporter stop telling the story about trump and daniels said telling the story to call hands was the best-case scenario because then husband or no one should be saved. during cross-examination the legal team could question daniels about revia statements she made also denying the

payments to stormy daniels laura at the center of the alleged crimes, and stormy daniels is about to take the stand. >> also, the opening bell on wall street is moments away. >> dow futures are looking flat. there. you can see dow futures are looking flattish after four straight days of gains, investors are viewing a slight uptick in the unemployment rate as a positive sign that the fed may finally start cutting interest rates this year. people are also keeping a close watch on disney after a better than expected affected earnings report was just released this morning and the company says, it expects its combined streaming businesses to be profitable in the fourth quarter of this year. >> before the bell brought to you by cfp professionals, find your cfp professional today, yet let's make a plan.org, then go to cnn.com slash before the bell to stay on top of markets and sign up for the de letter. he there. brenda. >> it's carol exactly. >> so which like are we operating on? >> you mean arm? >> it's all connected, asking the right question can greatly impact your future. >> you share

today we got stormy daniels story, and to the point lisa was making about the comment that stormy daniels said that trump was interested in business questions, she told that story before, in 2011. i am sure that that will come in on redirect once prosecutors get to it, and later, we've been talking about this, her remarks that he did not wear a condom. that testimony was much darker and it's a story she told before. she said, and here's the exchange, "was he wearing a condom? no. was that concerning to you? yes. did you say anything? no. why not? i didn't say anything at all. do you recall how it ended? yes. was it brief? yes. do you remember, at some point, getting dressed? can you tell us what you recall about getting dressed? this is the part i wanted to flag because it's the first time we've heard his pet name for her. honeybunch. sitting on the end of the bed, noticing it was completely dark outside and that it was really hard to get my shoes on, my hands were shaking so hard. i had tiny strapping gold heels with tiny buckles and my hands were shaking so hard, i was having a hard tim

stormy daniels second day on the stand she is done. the playboy model that is also at the centre of a lot of this investigation we'll not be called by the prosecution to testify again and we are waiting to hear from donald trump himself. but we've got john back with us, the decision on the part of the prosecution not to bring karen mcdougall i think, what do you make that? >> i think it shows even the prosecution realizes they went too far 2 days ago by eliciting this salacious testimony. i agree with andy a segment ago where the importance of the testimony improving the legal case is vary small but obviously terribly prejudicial in the sense that it ruined his character before the jury. it's like running a reality tv show before the jury so they will be fixated and will keep it in their minds when they vote on whether they hold him guilty or innocent. so saying they're not going to the next witness in a similar situation i thank the prosecution realizes they might have sparked a mistrial. don't push it at this point, maybe they can pr

answer, stormy daniels. in the next couple of minutes we learned she was born and raised in baton rouge, louisiana. quote, my parents split up when i was four years old. i was mostly raised by mom. a very low income family. she was a single working mom. i went to a private, very christian, very script -- very strict elementary school my dad paid for. i was in the journalist club. she was in a room filled with journalists, many of whom were probably editors of their high school newspapers, but there the similarity ended between her and anyone else in that room. she described the beginning of her career as what she called an exotic dancer and said, quote, the people who make the most for their appearances were the people, the girls, performers who had done adult films. so she acted in her first adult film along with a girlfriend of hers. quote, i will cut out all of the other details and five days later she got on a plane to fly back home and i got offered a contract at wicked pictures. prosecutor, and how old

the adult film star stormy daniels is on the stand she described her evening with trump back in 2006 in great detail, so much so that one point, judge merchan told the prosecution some of daniel's more sexually graphic testimony was unnecessary. he urged them to move things along more quickly. joining us now retired new york queens county supreme court judges, george grosso, judge. thank you so much for joining us i always appreciate your expertise, you were in court this morning in new york. what do you make of that? when the judge told the prosecutors to dial it down on the details well, i mean, it was some pretty intense testimony. >> she certainly did describe a rather vividly as sexual encounter. i think there was like a leyen, she's got to testify to this truth of what to the best of how recollection if it happens to be so late, salacious then happens to be salacious. so it was a bit of a tight wire act, but the judge did what he needed to do and the people did what they needed to do she was nervous though, and she was testifying for the most part, very quickly. she had to be re

rosenburg, they set the scene today as trump's lawyers cross-examined porn star and director stormy daniels. there clear objective. the defendant its attorneys, to demolish her credibility by suggesting the encounter never happened and she made it all up for money. trump reportedly was seething over daniels testimony from tuesday, according to cnn's kaitlan collins, the angles revealed embarrassing details tuesday about the alleged sexual encounter and it's hotel room at a lake tahoe golf tournament in 2006 the annulus on tuesday, even suggested that while the sex was consensual, she did not want to do it and she regretted it so trump wanted to undermine her today. and remember that the judge has threatened trump himself with jail time if he violates his gag order. again, not by talking about any of the witnesses. so his attorneys rather, we're the ones that went after her today before the judge leaves the bench today, we are expecting the defense to raise several issues she's including a renewed motion for mistrial and challenges to the gag order. cnn chief legal affairs correspondent paul

about this interaction they had at the golf tournament, as well as stormy daniels more recent tour oferica horny again tour. and necheles asks her, trump was the biggest star at that golf tournament? daniels says, depends on who you're a fan of. necheles, he did very well at that golf tourney, right? daniels, i don't remember. necheles, he was playing golf and you saw that where he went people recognized him. daniels, yes. necheles, when you went to the suite, the door was open and keith schiller was standing outside. daniels, it was cracked. necheles, when you went in, there was a door to the bedroom. when you went in it was far from keith schiller? daniels, i didn't know where he was at that point in time. necheles, the door to the bedroom was closed? daniels, no. the bedroom was very far from the door, from the front door you just said. daniels, it was off the living room, yes. necheles, you claimed you felt uncomfortable and could not walk out because keith schiller was outside the hotel suite and then there was an apparent objection. and daniels says absolutely i would have to pa

the court is in morning recess and stormy daniels stepped off the witness stand. ny, did you sense any red flags or concerns about being there in that hotel room with donald trump? daniels said no, and then they took a break. there's a sidebar that has been called as well. if you were to step back for a moment during this break, digesting what they heard in stormy daniels takeaway, what are the key takeaways? >> the jurors may not ordinarily identify with some, like the celebrities and alleged mistresses, and now an adult film star, and this is a probability that members of the jury have no familiarity with, and it's alien to them, and the question is how much is stormy daniels connecting? they are being educated on this world, and now they are learning about donald trump and how donald trump allegedly courts people, which is, as others have said, pretty icky so far. and it's just a brilliant way for the prosecution to introduce and run around character evidence and introduce evidence essentially of trump's bad character. he does not come off looking good. i said i

this whole case is about stormy daniels. it stormy day. it never met. donald trump, none of those would be here. and they're the ones who put this whole case. we're only here because of this woman and you kept believe it because she told this slide that leyen, this line, this line that like & have you can't believe any of those lines that you got to walk him right out of this courtroom? >> elie, i mean, there's no question after thermo daniel's testimony today, there's no way down. trump has testified oh, gosh. i mean, there wasn't before they went from 0.020, 0.0. yeah. i mean there's just no reason for him to testify strategically. i don't think you will find a rational defense lawyer or prosecutor on the planet who would say he should testify. he doesn't need to. this is a reasonable doubt defense. arthur just articulated it quite well and quite passionately, i can't wait by the way to see mike what you want michael cohen night when but i mean, basically the pitches they haven't proven their case and they're basing this on the word of two people, mic

probability that trump was not motivated by the "access hollywood" tape and signed the deal with stormy danielsther concern for his family. her testimony that there was a crisis every day, and trump just let it roll off his shoulders, so if that was the case, then stormy and "access hollywood" was another event which is no big deal, but the family mattered most. therefore, there is reasonable doubt as to the prosecution's theory of the case. >> michael and danny and katherine, thank you so much for being with me this hour. that's it for us today. "deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. ♪♪ >>> hi, everyone. happy thursday. it's 4:00 in new york. the woman with the story that led to that six figure hush money payment, a cover-up and ultimately the first ever criminal trial and an american ex-president came under fire from donald trump's defense team. composed and steely stormy daniels was on the stand for hours, what felt like days, of cross-examination, and then the rather brief redistrict when the prosecutors got to go back and talk to her again. the trial for donald trum

we can get the moment by moment what's going on inside the courthouse with stormy daniels on the stand. >> hello, harris, 18 years after they allegedly had a sexual encounter in a lake tahoe hotel room storm' daniels and former president donald trump are in the same room together face-to-face. she is right now testifying against him. as she took the stand in the last half hour or so, ms. daniels appearedn nervous. she is explaining her background saying she went into adult entertainment because she can make more money in two hours than shoveling manure eight hours a day. she just started getting to the point where she met the former president at that charity golf tournament in 2006 explaining that she thought he was old, as old as her father and did not at first want to go to dinner with him. the invitation coming from mr. trump's bodyguard. before she took the stand trump's lawyers tried to keep out the details of the alleged sexual encounter with trump but judge merchan said he will allow prosecutors to ask limited questions about that. she is expected to describe some of the details

but the story about the stormy daniels payment came in january of 2018.e cohen said he had been reimbursed. any reimbursements to cohen or in 2017 they began. that was a long time after, if there was, election inter interference. was there any need at that point to cover up election interference? if it came out in 2017 that prompted this in order to affect the election it would affect the president wouldn't have an effect on it. maybe it would affect his personal life but it wasn't like he would be on elected. >> right. they are saying you rigged an election or a race that was already run. that's what doesn't make sense to us. the hilarious aspect of the earlier clip with hillary clinton is that she actually makes the case for. it was like how dare you keep information from the public when they lied about the steele dossier. how did they hide it? they said it was legal expenses with mark elias. when they were facing a fine they litigated that and said no, it really is a legal expense. so her campaign did exactly what she is suggesting here, but they did i

on stormy daniels testimony. new york _ stormy daniels testimony. a gorgeous day in new york and _ stormy daniels testimony. a gorgeous day in new york and we _ stormy daniels testimony. a gorgeous day in new york and we recovered - day in new york and we recovered from a covid—19 world and their tourists everywhere in downtown, not on screen but is probably one of the most sordid days in american history for a former president to be sitting there listening to my new details, whether he used a condom, what pyjamas he was wearing, what happened in that room is beyond stormy daniels, beyond anything that defies the imagination i think many are in this country and glad it's not been covered live with cameras in the courtroom. but absolutely, the prosecutors needed to put this in to show how important it was to keep this story, whether it is true or not, to keep these details from the american people right before the 20 election the defence appeared to make real inroads today in terms of the stand was changing her st

the defense is trying to portray stormy daniels as a trump hating gold digger who would only tell her story if she got paid. ms. daniels on the stand denied that and said she wanted to get the truth out. right now the searing cross examination is continuing by trump attorney susan necheles. she is slamming stormy's mostives bringing up the money angle. showing the jury how she says the porn star has profited off her claims that she and trump had that tryst back in 2006. necheles showing the jury items that make fun of trump that stormy sells. she asked stormy if a large part of the livelihood comes from the money she makes off of trump. stormy said no, but did admit she has to find a way to pay her legal bills. at one point necheles act if stormy attacked her boyfriend and if he thought she was insane. prosecutions objection prevented stormy from answering those questions. then the trial ventured into stormy daniels saying she can speak with dead relatives and necheles stormy made money telling people she can talk to the dead. the former president, when he arrived, says his attorneys

today, his defense team targeted stormy daniels' credibility. >> after two and a half weeks, and i think'll see some very revealing things today. >> reporter: trump's attorney susan necheles ledge and often contentious cross-examination of daniels, who prosecutors say accepted a $130,000 payment from trump's former attorney michael cohen before the 2016 election. in exchange for keeping quiet about her story. necheles focus on daniels' high-profile appearances after news of her alleged sexual encounter with trump, which he denies, made headlines, and argued daniels tried to capitalize on her fame. necheles: you wanted to make more money, right? daniels: no. that's why i did 60 minutes for free. >> did you want to have sex with him? >> no. but i didn't say no. i'm not a victim. >> reporter: trump's attorney brought up daniels' career of writing, directing, and acting in adult films. necheles asked, "you have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex appear real." daniels disputed that. the sex in the films is very much real. just like what happened to me in that room. adding, if

stormy daniels, yes. and you want him to go to jail, right? daniels, i want him to be held accountable. necheles, you want him to go to jail, right? >> if he's found guilty, yes. >> if you are watching this program you probably made up your mind about stormy daniels some time ago, but how did the 12 jurors understand what they saw today? did the prosecution risk anything by putting stormy daniels on the stand? or did this all work to their advantage? joining me now is josh gerstein and christy greenberg, former federal prosecutor. both were in the courtroom today. the bigger picture of stormy daniels. we went into a lot of detail early in the show about what she divulged in terms of an affair with trump. but on the cross it was a pretty heated exchange between her and susan necheles, trump's attorney. >> it's still continuing and at the same time she opened by saying you rehearsed your testimony and so prepared and went through what you were supposed to say. she said, no, i didn't rehearse, and the you're allowed to prepare, the prosecutor goes

and this testimony from stormy daniels is really the pinnacle of that. her sharing these details, things that donald trump does not one out there that's why you're seeing him scowl in the courtroom, shake his head, talk to attorneys and one other thing that i found really interesting and of course this is according to our great reporters who have been inside the courtroom bringing us these details house is that donald trump has been at times not as engaged and other testimony he's closed his eyes as he's listened to other people on the stand. he has been very engaged when stormy daniels has been testified he's been paying very much attention. and as you mentioned, again, leaning over to talk to his reporters, cursing at times, shaking his head at times being admonished from judge merchan. so i think that really just speaks to how important this is and how really damaging this could be for his public image. >> yeah, and a lot of analysts said, look, this is kind of the run, the litter of all the cases that are facing on truck. but here's the thing. it is

stormy daniels says that's why it's funny. you don't get selected to go to jail. daniel says it's not because you think this is a typo. it's not because you think it's funny at all. so the necklace asks and then stormy daniels says, no. absolutely not. so that you get a sense of how tense it was. obviously, you get the part about stormy daniels hating are, but you also get the defense leaning in to the idea of the stormy daniels was laughing on the stand, you're not a rare it is to ask a witness on cross-examination. >> you hate the defendant and the witnesses say yes, i do. i mean, it's better that she is honest about her bias, but this is overwhelming. what lawyers called bias. she hates tim. >> again, if i'm the prosecutor, i'd rather have her just come out and admit what's obvious. >> but that's a big deal. the jury is allowed to take that into account. >> and that is very stark testimony. >> i think we'll stick with the defense will ask michael cohen, do you hey, all my goodness, henao, not the right word. i mean, it's his entire livelihood, its entire entire

stormy daniels continued. the prosecution went on to ask, why didn't you ask for more money? and daniels answered, because i didn't care about the money. testimony about their sexual encounter prompted team trump to move from mistrial this afternoon. trump's lawyer, todd blanche, said her comments about her safety were prejudice judicial. the woman at the heart of the hush money case on the stand, as we speak, is where we go inwith some of our favorite reporters and friends at the table for the hour. former executive editor, special correspondent for "the hollywood reporter," lochlin cartwright, andrew weissmann, and deputy chief for the southern district of new york, christie greenberg is back. with start with von hilliard outside the courthouse. there's so much to say, so much to relive. we have two hours and rachel maddow coming to do some with us later in the show. let's start with what is -- what trump is on trial for. let's live where you and i almost always do in stormy daniels' testimony about what happens to her story about her sexual encounter with donald trump from

>> look in, arthur talked about this specific moment where susan nechele less is going after stormy daniels for being involved in the porn industry. >> and she says, susan nechele, you have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real, right daniel says, wow, i'm, there's laughter. she says, that's not how i would put it. the sex and the film's it's very much real, just like what happened to me in the room than necklace says. all right. but you're making fictionalized stories about sex. you write those stories, daniel says, no, the sex is real. the character names might be different, but the sex is very real that a little bit later, necklace acid and you bragged about how good you are writing porn movies and writing really good stories and writing really good dialogue, right? daniel says, yes, nicholas and says, and now you have a story you have been telling you having sex with president trump, right? then daniel says, if that story was untrue, i would have written it to be a lot better and that the transcript notes laughter in the room. >> how do you think the de

the stormy daniels. so trump is telling stormy daniels that she reminds him of ivanka trump, the way he framed it. it did actually make perfect sense. do you want to comment on that? >> well, i mean, listen, i want to i want to be fair to him as well in a one-on-one setting. i certainly don't want them to return to the presidency for so many different reasons. but on one-on-one setting, he tries to be charming and he tries to melt the ice in the situation. so i could totally see him saying something like that and i think even people that he goes after because he's a little insecure when he meets them face-to-face. he turns up the charm. so all of that is indicative. two is personality. so again, what she's saying comes across very true to me. and i don't think you have makeup details like that. dana so anthony, let me ask you, what do you think of the case in general? >> do you think that prosecutors are doing an effective job of proving the actual crime that they're alleging forgot the encounter with st

trump was romantic." >> stormy daniels! >> reporter: but stormy daniels was done playing along. >> did you sign this letter that was released today? >> i don't know, did i? >> wait a minute, that you can say, right? >> that looks like my signature, doesn't it? >> reporter: davidson testified daniels was eager "to talk about her life and reinvigorate her career." and at that point, neither michael cohen nor donald trump could stop her. trump has repeatedly said he would testify in his own defense, but today, on his way out of court, he made this false claim. >> well, i'm not allowed to testify, i'm under a gag order. i guess, right? i can't even testify or nothing. >> reporter: the gag order does not prevent trump from testifying. as he has said on at least three different occasions he would. every criminal defendant has the right to testify in his or her

heir to see to get a sense of how was the jury responding to this tends cross-examination of stormy daniels certainly daniel's at times seemed more relaxed perhaps than she had been in her actual testimony the previous day, although it's hard to tell just from text messaging because but she seemed to be laughing more and i'm wondering, i want to get your taken older than earth because you were also there. what what was it like inside the courtroom well, how was the jury responding i mean, out of the gates, susan nechele, just with pounding her with questions and daniels was responding so quickly that twice the judge had to both tell them stop. >> you're talking over each other. the courtroom border can't take this down. so it was very combative, but daniels was holding her ground she would she was making some jokes. she made a joke about being pressed on how she's profited from this. and she said, will not unlike mr. trump over there, who's profited from his indictments this jury is very poker face. i have not seen any reaction from them reacting to testimony. they've just taken it all stra

stormy daniels on the stand going over the back and forth between trump's lawyers and stormy daniels trying to discern whether or not she wanted to get paid or whether or not she wanted to talk about it or have a press conference or keep her mouth shut. this is a bit of a ping-pong ball right now going back and forth. doesn't land a lot of things at the moment. it's early. >> dana: it is early but we're moving right along. jonathan turley, andy mccarthy, kerri urbahn and former counsel to the senate judiciary committee brett tolman. jonathan turley, we understand the cross examination is underway and stormy daniels might seem a little defensive. >> she has every reason to be defensive because much of what she has said in the past has been contradicted. and they are bringing out the settlement agreement that she reached with them. daniels was doing what many people view as a conventional form of celebrity extortion. she wanted to cash in on her story. but what's interesting is that donald trump was trying to kill false stories as well as stories that were allegedly true. there was a s

stormy daniels and donald trump. stormy and _ being? stormy daniels and donald trump. ls and donald trump. stormy and i saw - being? stormy daniels and donald trump. stormy and i saw each - being? stormy daniels and donald i trump. stormy and i saw each other earlier that they and we have been friends for some time and that night she repeatedly called me asking me to go with her to what i was told was a party, and earlier in the night i had agreed but as the cause continued and when she finally called me on speaker with former president trump that's when all of it became very real for me and i panicked and i turned off my phone and decided it was a better option to not tojoin and decided it was a better option to not to join them.— to not to 'oin them. basically she was to not to join them. basically she was asking _ to not to join them. basically she was asking you — to not to join them. basically she was asking you to _ to not to join them. basically she was asking you to join _ to not to join them. basically she was asking you to join them - to not to join them. basi

electric anticipation as we all wait for stormy daniels to take the stand. ms. daniels expected to be the second witness right after ms. franklin testifies and she is expected to describe her alleged affair with the former president in 2006 and why she was paid off by michael cohen. prosecutors say the deal to hide her claims was to protect mr. trump's presidential campaign. the defense says no, it was to protect melania, the trump family and trump brand. prosecutors say that trump arranged with cohen. they are marked as legal expenses. when he arrived the former president reiterated his defense that he was paying michael cohen as his lawyer. >> we didn't put it down as construction costs, the purchase of sheetrock, the electrical costs. the legal expense that we made we put down as legal expense. there is nothing else you can say. you don't have to put down anything, i guess, but we put down legal expense was a legal expense. >> yesterday the jury saw those trump checks made out to michael cohen. prosecutors say that they paid cohen back for the $130,000 he took

this moment reinforces what we heard from keith davidson, stormy daniels' attorney and stormy daniels as well, did you know the statement of stormy daniels was false. this was in 2018 after the revelation of "the wall street journal" article and subsequently stormy daniels going on jimmy kimmel. we have seen that now played many times in which she was asked by jimmy kimmel if she had a one-night stand or an affair with donald trump and she was kind of coy about that response and denied outright in her statement in 2018 of having an affair and/or a one night stand with donald trump. she addressed that in her testimony just the other day. did you know the statement stormy daniels was falls? cohen says yes and goes on to say wanted to get credit staying loyal so we could have this matter taken care of. reinforcing the moment when this all began in january 2018. leading up to michael cohen pleading guilty in august 2018 and that's when, of course, he then subsequently said it was donald trump who made me do it. it was donald trump who made me pay off stormy daniels. this testimony, michae

stormy daniels, honored 50 ish? yes defense counsel necklace. and there are naked men and naked women having sex, including yourself in those movies, right daniels? >> yes. necklace defense attorney, and bought according to you, seeing a man sitting on a bed in a t-shirt and boxer shorts was so upsetting that you got lightheaded blood left your hands and feet and you almost fainted, right daniels? >> yes. when you were not expecting a man twice your age to be in their underwear? i have seen my husband naked, almost every day. if i came out of the bathroom and it was not my husband and it was mr. trump on the bed. i would probably have the same reaction. defense council and necklace and that made you feel like you were going to faint, stormy daniels? absolutely. if i came out of the bathroom and i saw an older man and his underwear that i wasn't expecting seeing there. yeah. so the question becomes, abby, why have this contentious cross-examination? my argument is, is that the cross-examinati on was not for the jury. it was to satisfied mr. trump,

stormy daniels, yes. and you want him to go to jail, right? i want him to be held accountable. necklace. you want him to go to jail, am i correct? daniels if he is found guilty, absolutely. that was the defense doing its best to try and undercut the testimony of ms. daniels, suggesting her to be somebody motivated hatred of donald trump. if you were watching this program he probably made up your mind about stormy daniels some time ago, but how did the 12 jurors understand what they saw today? did the prosecution risk anything by putting stormy daniels on the stand, or did this work to their advantage? joining me now are josh, senior legal affairs for political, and christie, formal federal prosecutor, both were in the courthouse today. kristi? let's start with the bigger picture of daniels. we went into detail earlier in the show about what she divulged in terms of the affair with trump, but it was a fairly heated exchange between her and trump's attorney. >> it was, and look, it is still continuing. there is more to be had, but some of it see

>> stormy daniels -- i wanted the truth to come out. she kept going, telling daniels, quote, the better alternative was for you to make money, right? she responded, the better alternative was to get my story protected with a paper trail so my family didn't get hurt if the story was out. then, she wanted to show the jury that daniels was motivated by anger. isn't it correct you told him another motivation to go public was your anger about trump's newfound opposition to abortion and gay marriage? stormy daniels -- i don't remember saying that. was he opposed to abortion? i don't know. when that didn't really work, she went for the kill. smut shaming stormy daniels. asking her, quote, so you have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real, right? stormy daniels -- that's not how i would put it. the sex in the films is very much real. just like what happened to me in that room. this line of questioning went on for hours. and to many witnessing the cross-examination, it felt tedious, confusing, and downright vindi

this trial, do you think that there's reasonable doubt that trump committed these crimes and stormy daniels ready for a potential not guilty verdict? >> well, stormy is ready for whatever happens here. i mean, she is very resilient. she's a strong woman and she she's quite impressive in my view on how she used with these issues but you're asking if there's reasonable doubt the question as was he behind the nda, did he orchestrate that? did he cause cohen to pay her off and did they conceal in their way and the record keeping that particular the truth. and i don't think there's any doubt about that. is there? >> i mean, who else was doing it? i was it just something fun for michael cohen and why would it even be in trump's books if he didn't, he wasn't the one that was behind. i mean, it really there's no plausible, sensible conclusion that can be reached other than he did it he caused a colon to get it accomplished and they dealt with it from a bookkeeping matter in a way in which they thought they could conceal it further. >> but all trump needs this one dirt to disagree. so if he's not co