and trump's former fixer, michael cohen, to protect trump during the 2016 campaign. david pecker grinning widely as he pointed out trump in the courtroom, the former president smirking back. the two men had been friends for years. but pecker told the jury their relationship changed in 2015, after trump launched his run for president, pecker was summoned to trump tower that august, and in a 20-minute meeting, he said trump and cohen asked me, what can i do and what my magazines can do to help the campaign. pecker testified he pledged to run flattering stories about trump and hit jobs on his opponents, and he offered to be the campaign's eyes and ears to alert cohen if he caught wind of any potentially damaging stories. pecker said he told trump he'd try to kill those stories so they'd never see the light of day. as pecker described that trump tower meeting, jurors were rapt, taking constant notes. pecker laid out how he worked with trump and cohen to publish attacks on rival republican candidates. cohen would tell him who to go after, and the magazine would do it. pec

admiration for donald trump. listen to this. this is a quote. this is her it was a very stimulating, exciting, fascinating place to be. then she said, sometimes trump would peak has said in and say, go home to your family, which i thought was very thoughtful of him. i thought that was a nice extra touch that he would take time to do that trump's lawyer, susan nicholas asked her, quote you don't want to be here, do you? and she coronagraph said correct. what's your analysis them? >> the point there is that she's under subpoena. she's not voluntarily coming in to try to help out the prosecution i think that that's something that's consistent across these witnesses. is that the only one who really is dying to get in there is probably stormy daniels and michael so call it the others who are being brought in just to tell their stories was running graph is a prosecution witness and prosecution called her. but did she do a lot to humanize trump before the jury? >> i mean, i think that she probably did i mean, it sounds

trump walking into court today. prosecutors outlining their case, accusing trump of election fraud, pure and simple, they said today. trump's lawyers saying, quote, there is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election, it's called democracy, and that none of this was a crime. then prosecutors calling the first witness, david pecker, to the stand. the former publisher of the national inquirer, who was part of a scheme prosecutors say called catch and kill. abc's senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky leading us off from the courthouse again tonight. >> reporter: donald trump walking into the manhattan courtroom where today for the first time in history a jury heard testimony in a criminal case against a former american president. >> it's a very, very sad day in america. i can tell you that. >> reporter: with trump slouching in his seat and sometimes closing his eyes, prosecutor matthew colangelo began his opening statement charging trump "orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidenti

trump is a former president and they will always call him president trump. they will stress be on that that he right now is a presumptive republican nominee or as defense counsel called him, the republican nominee. not even presumptive. they will claim every aspect of this was an innocent act by trump. there was not and underlying sexual encoder to cover up come even though that would seem immaterial to the charges. they seem to be claiming that michael cohen, trump's lawyer, payday pornography store on his own accord and for his own reasons that trump only paid michael cohen for legal services, just like he always had but changed to a new weird way of paying him after the pornography star thing because they will think of something. if you were on this defense team, if in charge of coming up with a defense for mr. trump, here's a part of the prosecution case that would seem to be the most difficult thing to explain logically. if you are really going to mount a defense of trump did nothing wrong, there was no conspiracy to corrupt the election as the prosecut

trump. and i should note, obviously his legal team had a role in picking this jury. they actually felt like they did. they had a more favorable jury pool than they expected. >> not something that's likely to be considered today, but trump has also said it would be his quote, great honor to be jail for violating this gag order. so a very difficult position for the judge to be in. >> we got a shot from inside again, the courthouse right there, whether or not we see people move we shortly we will we will tell you when it happens, caitlin, after this hearing. >> of course, david gets back like up on the stand and i have to say i was glued to the tv all day yesterday to both of you out here discussing his testimony, watching it unfold, at least with the banners on the side of the screen reading out loud what was taking place. he says he engaged in checkbook journalism that sets the table for what today do you think? yeah. well, and just a reminder for everyone. obviously, we don't cameras it's in

trump added the part that read "in order to get on the trump jury." but within hours jesse waters corrected trump's mistake for him, posting trump's incorrect version of the quote to waters own twitter account in effect retroactively making his own words, words that trump wanted them to be. quite clearly and quite literally they are heeding trump's calls. they are taking his line edits. so what does a gag order mean when you have someone like this with a microphone? >> the guy needs exercise. he's usually golfing, and so you're going to put a man who's almost 80 sitting in a room like this on his butt all that time, it's unhealthy. he needs sunlight and needs activity. they're freezing him to death. he says it's like 45 degrees in there, and they're putting his life in danger. back with me lisa rubin. thank you both for being here tonight. i don't know, brian, i just -- what is the -- what's the point of a gag order honestly when you have a media industrial complex that is effectively acting as, you know, a public defense line for donald trump? >> i t

it comes as trump. trump's team is also attacking a key member of bragg's team, the da, with past ties to the biden administration, and jason carroll is out front with this special report before former president donald trump's criminal trial got underway, before jury was seated and before the judge's gag order prevented him from making statements it's about attorneys, court officials, their relatives, and potential witnesses. >> trump had already set his sights on this man, matthew colangelo senior counsel to the manhattan district attorney, and part of the prosecution team trying trump's criminal case. >> this is all from the doj welcome to washington they're coordinated with the district attorney and the water trump's pre gag order tirades against colangelo's center on baseless claims. trump's criminal trial is secretly controlled by president joe biden, the white house, and the justice department. >> his top person well and some. others have been placed into the da's office to make sure they do a goo

trump account. so the whole press conference was a bit of a i think a pr disaster because it's going to hurt him in court eventually. and so the jury and he came out, he does that eight minutes, jeremy talking, of course, in the courtroom what else did to you? i stopped you. i know you mentioned that he was passing notes to his attorneys at time that he was engaged you know, what we're what moore's interactions like with his team and with the jury yeah. >> it's interesting because when his attorney, todd blanche went to speak, trump's demeanor, it's shifted. he turned his chair, he faced he faced him, which made him faced the jury, and he watched plants as he went through his opening statement. i think the most interesting thing with trump today that was when david took the stand because trump, he was sitting very motionless expressionless, really watching david closely. and there was a light moment in his testimony where he was asked to recount the last four digits if a cell phone number it's for r

trump?at is critical. why is that critical? well, because in order for this particular crime to be a felony, they have to show that donald trump not only caused business records to be falsified, and with the intent to commit a crime, but the intent to commit that crime and to cover up kind of goes in with the election interference, with the state campaign violation, so that -- that meeting actually puts all of them together, right? and so what that meeting really does is it is going to corroborate cohen's testimony, and it is going to show that pecker's acts were on the benefit of the campaign. can a person go ahead and contribute and independently benefit a campaign? yes, they can. pecker could have caught and killed the stories, but he cannot do it, it is a violation of the law, and that there goes with the intent to commit the crime which raises the crime to a felony. he cannot do it if he is led or guided or instructed or directed by trump or his agents. trump himself was at that meeting

president trump: i'm doing good. how you doing, trump? president trump: i'm doing good. you having one? you have it, i'll sign it >> i don't got one, i'll need one. president trump: see if i can find one. that's a valuable one. grab one of these. thank you. that's great. your family's good, right? >> yes, sir. president trump: we are not letting them -- >> stop the steal. president trump: take that. make you good and healthy. who wants it? ok. you can afford to have t you know why? because you're thin. [laughter] >> who wants one? president trump: brian jack. does everybody know him? brian jack is running district 3. we have to vote for him. running for congress. >> i do. i put canvasses together. all these hbcu students you see here around here to meet you, mr. president. yes. we have also knocked doors for you in the past. and when you ran the first time. i was interning for the g.o.p. doing a lot for your tax credit reform bill. president trump: we took care of those colleges. >> sure did. much better than biden did. this is morehouse. i don't care what the media tell

all to protect trump's campaign. they led to a specific agreement to cook the books to hide their financial footprints. the da said this will be corroborated with evidence in trump's own words. trump's defense rebuts that saying there isn't even a actual conspiracy charge in this case, that's true. the word conspiracy has a legal meaning and a more could he loek which al meaning be. they're attacking the whole election theory that trump promoted an election by unlawful means. that would be needed to super size it into a felony case. so the trump defense has kind of said, well, maybe the da is just being alarmist about what amounts to, however dirty, politics as usual. that's how they argue it. trump's lawyers proclaiming there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. it's called democracy. the da has put up three witnesses with testimony this week. now the national enquirer chief david pecker was clearly the hottest unloading details, dishing on the original sorted meeting that formed the trump alliance

. >> tonight, trump on trial. x tabloid publisher david pecker telling jurors about a secret deal between him and donald trump to bury negative stories during the 2016 presidential campaign. and the former president blasted the judge and gag order. >> the unconstitutional gag order by a highly conflicted judge. >> president biden. >> the worst president in history of our country. >> and the courtroom. >> it's reason, by the way. >> the "cbs evening news" starts now. ♪ ♪ good evening, and thank you for being with us. i maurice dubois. norah is on assignment. we begin tonight with a 2 of testimony in the criminal trial of former president donal donald trump. former "national enquirer" publisher david pecker was back on the stand where he said he worked with trump and his longtime fixer michael cohen to heighten negative stories about him during the 2016 campaign. the prosecution claims it was all a part of a conspiracy to influence the election. before today's testimony, there was a tense hearing over whether trump

trump, many of them signed while trump was in the white house. and it wasp all an amazing spectacle, right? other presidents maybe get involved in a campaign finance scandal, but illegal hush money payments to not one but two mistresses for reimbursement checks signed in the white house, "a," gross. "b," not your typical scandal. we're already in unprecedented territory here. that'sde not the most important point. the michael cohen federal case revelations, michaelca cohen, pleading guilty, coming clean saying what happened, that left in itsed wake not just a slimy trail of, yuck, don't let the kids read the news anymore. it left in its wake one legitimately baffling question, which was who's going to get in trouble for thisto now? who's the one person getting in trouble for this crime? just michael cohen, really? he'soh going to federal prison r years ando he's the only one? why is that? why is he the only one? you know why that was? we now know why that was. and it's really bad. it's one's of the worst things learned about donald trump's behavi

trump.history's sake, the prosecution said social media has boasted in the past of how many people read his posts, and he was asked in 2021, he said, yeah, i think that's right. do you want me to say no? i retweet for a reason. they are currently in break here and about to reconvene, the court, in which david pecker, excuse me, will take the stand again. as to the gag order, josÉ, judge merchan said he will reserve his judgment on whether donald trump has violated it and it's not his timeline on when he will make the determination if donald trump is find and he could warn donald trump that he could serve jail time. >> unbelievable, charles, and this is in the morning before the first witness takes the stand. how would you describe the morning? >> this is not the start you want if you are donald trump, and i have been talking to a number of us on the panel, and i am surprised that todd blanche did not have a better explanation and response for some of the questions that judge merchan has thro

trump. it's about a united states citizen. >> you think it's a weak case. >> it's the case is the facts of the case. the fact that learned counsel don't know exactly what the other charge is is insanely agree that when that i didn't i it came out. i think i was sitting right here. i said, okay, the other crime they have to prove falsifying business records to commit and other crime is unclear and a mess and it remains that way until now because even now, the prosecutor said while there was federal election crimes, it was state electric episodes, tax crimes. i don't know where they're getting that from. they overpaid michael cohen so he could pay his taxes. but i think the primary theory here is that the other crime is a federal campaign finance violations and the theory is they falsified these records. it was a $130,000 payment. it campaign donation it campaign expenditure way over the limits. they falsified the records rather than calling them pay hush money payments, whatever white be an a

trump quiet. if anyone should buy it, pecker said, it should be donald trump and michael cohen, trump's former fixer. pecker says when he told cohen, quote, he was upset and responded that the boss, that's referring to trump, would be furious with me. pecker said today he believed mr. trump or his company had paid daniels until cohen told him in december of 2016 that he was the one who paid her. prosecutors are seeking to prove mr. trump doctored internal business records to cover up that payment. pecker also testified trump was aghast when he saw stormy daniels on "60 minutes." >> was it hush money to stay silent? >> yes. >> reporter: pecker says trump called him. he says we have an agreement with stormy daniels that she cannot mention my name. trump later denied knowledge of the arrangement. on cross-examination, mr. trump's lawyers challenging pecker's credibility and business practices. at a campaign event earlier in the day, mr. trump addressed the testimony of his long-time friend. >> david

well is trump.use of the pressure placed on the southern district of new york by main justice. all the while, folks were saying, doj, are you okay? not knowing that jeff berman was fighting to the last moment with folks very senior in trump's justice department to try to get the story to be told in as truthful a way as prosecutors wanted it to be. >> blinking in morse code. it didn't do much at the time. let the history books write it however they want. a lot of this, if there was not a criminal trial, it might never have been known to the public and the voters. >> another interesting thing if it come out, michael cohen for all of this period was a salaried employee of the trump organization. we learned that today it was mentioned in the openings, "the new york times" in 2020, a lot of tax information and employment records. and we could see he was a salaried employee. he was being paid a w-2. why did they need to pay him this extra money if he's already on staff? it's not unheard of. you can get a

vote biden and trump need.cond group that votes for him but doesn't like his character or personality, but they have decided to stick by him on this. i think it's always possible they get temporarily moved by this behavior, but i look at this third group of voters. the double haters, the people that don't like either biden or trump. our political system. that's where this can have an impact and if they move one or two points, it's the equivalent of the base moving ten points. so i also think you know we're going to be only seeing small movement but if it's among that group of voters that are the deciders, it's pretty significant. >> how surprised are you this is where we are at? when you look at the long history of this country and we're experiencing something so unprecedented. what kind of new standard, if anything, is this setting for future presidents? >> i would warn anybody wanting to run to office, don't do what donald trump did. you know, nobody wants to end up in courtrooms with the world watching you f

all we've heard for the last 80 years is trump, trump, trump.e need trump back in office to save our country. we are going down the tubes quick and trump is our guy to make it right. host: that is deborah in michigan. ithaca, new york, good morning. caller: good morning, john. i wanted to say something very quickly. i haven't called in a very long time. i have an art background and the new design for your office, the colors, it is just so stark and it is not attractive at all and i wish that you could redesign the office there. it is not appealing at all. host: what are your thoughts on the trial today? caller: i'm sorry, i just needed to say that. i can believe this has gone on for so long. i mean, trump is such a con artist. it is such an embarrassment to this country. it is so wrong. it is so wrong that this has been going on for so long. and i want to add that mitch mcconnell is the puppeteer behind all this. he is a horrible man who has changed the supreme court. it is just unbelievable that all this has happened. it is so criminal. host: w

that there was a 2015 meeting in trump tower where he, pecker and trump hatched a plan to protect trump and hurt his opponents in his campaign for president. today, pecker called it a quote agreement among friends saying i would run or post positive stories about mr. trump and publish negative stories about his opponents. so what will trump's lawyers do with pecker on cross-examination? he did give them at least one opening. and what about their client, the former president? what he did in court today and what he did outside of it that could put him in contempt. judge merchan appeared to be fed up this morning. what he said to todd blanche. joining us now, lisa rubin. so, lisa, i call it an explosive day in court because pecker goes into great detail about the relationship he had with michael cohen and what he believed michael cohen was doing. and also not to mention the relationship he had with donald trump and direct conversations he had with trump about what they were doing in the 2016 campaign. >> i think david pecker is a far more important witness that many people appreciate. not

quote trump corporation and trump payroll corp. convicted of 17 felony counts of scheming to defraud, conspiracy, ml tax fraud and falsifying this is records in connection with a scheme to pay unreported non-cash compensation to top executives including alan weisselberg and the district attorney would use another civil case against trump, one, by attorney general james, quote, defendant illegally allowed his 2016 presidential campaign to orchestrate a fundraiser for the donald j trump foundation direct distribution of the funds and use the fundraiser and distribution of the funds to further defendant's political campaign. court order defendant to pay $2 million for reach of fiduciary duty and waste defendant stipulated to the dissolution of the donald j trump foundation to resolve claims by the new york attorney general to reach fiduciary duty and waste failure to properly administer charitable assets improper political activity and repeated and willful self dealing transactions. donald trump's lawyers will surely oppose everyone o

there's dark trump's assistance talking about seeing stormy daniels at trump tower before trump ran for president, there's discussions about the bank arrangements for trump's so-called fixer, the time michael cohen. so but the question your alley have du is have prosecutors made the case that a crime was actually committed? they haven't made a case that a crime has actually committed, but they did what they needed to do in this first week of the trial, what they had to do was at least bring the jury in and start establishing the parameters of the of the crime that they're alleging. and the bigger thing and the bear point for prosecutors is that there were no forced errors. there was no witness that came up and said something that people didn't anticipate there was no witness that got eviscerated on cross-examination. so i think prosecutors are happy with how the week went, but trials are long and it's not over yet but there's also a difference. but what's happening? the courtroom and what's having the court of public opinion are new cnn poll talks about how 68% of p of voters nationally

the lack of trump -- pro-trump uprising around this, president trump today was trying to say it's because what do you make of how this is happening in new york? >> that's the story for me, the arc of donald trump in new york. the boy who grew up in queens who dreamt of being king of new york. think about the 1980s and every tabloid with donald trump in a limousine, trump tower, right in the middle of fifth avenue. now here he is, a criminal defendant, an old man sitting there slumped over, and even this idea he's got these scores of fans, and yeah, they might not live in lower manhattan but there must be 2 million in the tristate area in staten island, in new jersey, in long island. such a few number of people in the court outside court, protesting on his behalf today. >> almost really nobody. >> who wasn't inside court with him? a single member of his family. the argument that he was protecting his family, that's why this whole thing happened. he's a familyman. not a son, not a daughter, wife, cousin, uncle. no one. the whole thing is stunning. >> our friend susanne craig, "new york time

how trump's co-defendants are aiming to have their charges thrown out. >>> plus, the countdown to trump's hush money case. it starts on monday, and we got our hands on the list of potential prosecution witnesses. >>> also ahead, a meeting at mar-a-lago, why the house speaker is headed to florida to talk, of all things, election integrity with the former president. >>> and later, new fallout over a revived 1864 ban on abortion, as the vice president prepares to, quote, take the gloves off in arizona. ♪♪ >>> welcome to friday. it is 10:00 eastern. thanks for being here. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin in florida, and that hearing today in the mar-a-lago classified documents case. the judge will hear arguments from two of donald trump's co-defendants, walt nauta and carlos de oliveira on several motions including the bid to get the charges against them thrown out. ken dilanian is outside the courthouse in fort pierce, florida. also with us paul butler former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. ken, what else do we know about today's hearing and these two co-defendan

i was thinking about it last night walking past trump tower, you think new york city in the 80s, trump in a limo. this trial areas that image. >> i have written about this for a long time. i always thought if there is one kind of rosebud to understanding trumps psychology, it is his new york roots and his specific form of status anxiety he experienced as a young man. i say it seriously. if you look through the trump literature, the speeches he has given and the books he has written, he returns to this idea that as a young man growing up in a wealthy family he was ashamed his dad made his fortune in queens and brooklyn and he always wanted to go to manhattan. as soon as he could he helped expand the trump empire into manhattan and built his entire image around being this figure of manhattan. a tabloid titan, a guy riding in the limo at all of the fancy restaurants and clubs. even at the time among the cities aristocracy, he was treated as a outsider. that always ate at him and i think that outer borough status anxiety he experienced fueled his revenge marched to the white house. really

trump. when he said we i thought he was talking about himself and mr. trump. david and the national enquirer influencing the 2016 election at the direction of his lawyer. and there was what prosecutors allege was doing behind the scenes. prosecutors asked mr. exclusive rights to and then sat on so the accusations against trump would not come out before the election. a process that is now known colloquially as catch and kill. it was a story the inquirer determined untrue but bought anyway so it couldn't be sold to anyone else. then there was ken mcdougal the model and actress, who like stormy daniels, alleged she had an affair with donald trump. the inquirer also bought the rights to hurt stories so she could not go public with it. and what we learned in court today is that all this behind- the-scenes maneuvering much like those bombshell cover stories was for one express purpose, to help the trump campaign. your is prosecutor stein glass. the part of the deal where you notified them so they could buy negative information about mr. trump, that part, did that pa

trump. pecker detailing his decades long relationship with trump, and his frequent communications with michael cohen. testifying that in that now infamous 2015 meeting, pecker agreed to publish only positive stories about trump, promising to be trump's eyes and ears. pecker going on to say how, at the time, he told the "national enquirer" leadership he wanted that agreement to be "as quiet as possible." because they were going to try to help the trump campaign. this is a big deal. the prosecution alleging a conspiracy to help trump's campaign in order to influence the outcome of the presidential election. setting out to prove that trump violated new york state election law. at one point, david pecker admitting that he bought a false story about trump fathering a child out of wedlock because of the potential embarrassment to the campaign and mr. trump. the prosecution turned to the hush money payment to karen mcdougal, a model who says she had an affair with trump. pecker recalled during this

trump's. so i mean, that's the only reason that that matters. but the other thing i would just note, i mean, the karen mcdougal story is not over. this is just the beginning of what we will learn about this. karen mcdougal story. and when you look at the charges jeong documents here for trump, there are some hints about where this goes next david pecker ends up paying her, but at some point, he decides to not get reimbursed from trump wod and i'm curis as to why that happened. so ts is the opening salvo, but there's more to come. >> so again, you're not going to find the crime a to z found in any one paragraphf testimony, prosecutors have to build a case here. i think two things jump out at mfrom the transcriptone,his is a full nine alarm fire in trump wld & in the national enquirer in pecker'environment, they are i mean, they're pulling each other out of meetings. borderline panicking. the other thing is that a establishes a really important chain of communication because this is one of the r

trump. and so the prosecution is going to have to figure out a way to suggest that this is somehow different, that they is delete with their trump's, so to speak. and this is not a personal matter between a man trying to hide it from his wife. it was an intentional at trying to defraud people by having falsified business records that form these invoices and what not and prove it. there was actual criminal activity here. they cannot rely on a little bit of innuendo or suggestion, or maybe even a dislike for him and the political space they have to prove their case& they've got do it pretty quickly to head off or will be the opening from the fans which will surely try to show this as a political win. >> elie honig, what, what about the defense was expecting to hear from them? >> so first of all, they're going to argue they have to prove their case. the prosecution bears the burden of proof, not just probably not just more likely, but beyond a reasonable doubt. and the defense is going to argue

has a trump abortion ban.ific reality women face every single day now in our country because since roe was overturned, we all know the stories, and i'll tell you, i have met women who were refused care during a miscarriage. i met a woman who went to the emergency room and was turned away repeatedly because the doctors were afraid they might be put in jail for helping her. it was only until she developed sepsis. i visited a clinic where i met with courageous professionals who see clinics like theirs forced to close denying women across our country access to essential and life-saving care. breast cancer screenings. contraceptive care. paps. donald trump is the architect of this health care crisis. and that is not a fact, by the way, that he hides. in fact, he brags about it. just this week he said that he is, quote, proudly the person responsible for overturning roe. proudly responsible for the pain and suffering of millions of women and families. proudly responsible that he took your freedoms. and just minutes

trump? pecker responded on no. so how does that help bolster the case that this was potentially criminal interference in the presidential election. >> yeah. was that the timing of that? particular meeting helps do it because there'll be right around the time we would expect that trump would be contemplating his run gearing up for the run, worried about potential negative press and i completely agree with kaitlan here. this is the start of a story that it's really going to be extending throughout this trial. it's not actually the crux of the criminal case. the crux of the criminal case concerns how and why stormy daniels was paid through michael cohen. that's gonna be the main event for the jurors. with this is all crucial context with the jury's to understand all of everything that leads as three microbreweries with us as well. a former us attorney, michael, let's talk a little bit about pecker's testimony. he said trump was quote, frugal in his approach to money. frugal, a direct quote personally reviewing all exp

trump's attorneys are saying yes. but at the same time saying if you were to kill somebody he would be immune from that. i was struck by in the same week in two different courtrooms and different cases they are both fundamentally sort of at bottom and testing the legal system, a stress test for the country. >> you can almost hear michael steele who was away in bucharest, -- >> why has judge merchan not ruled on the gag order? >> i think he is concerned about this going up on appeal. ruled on the gag order? >> i think he is concerned about this going up on appeal. in. if you will stick around, we have much more to discuss. by the way, i wrote about how this trial, the election interference trial, seems to be diminishing donald trump and away we don't often see. it is in friday's edition of the msnbc daily newsletter. you can see online but also subscribe for free. right now. pull your phone out, get your phone, open up the camera, and scan the qr code on the screen. sign up and you can start reading. you are watching "

night event was all about, the trump campaign called it coming home to trump.rt eric levine highlighted he is disappointed in biden wrote the ad age of never say never a wise one due to democratic change in circumstances albeit reluctantly refshgs decided i will vote for trump in innovative are you seeing a lot of that. >> yeah, i am, i think that at the end of the day here, you know biden's job ratings are underwater i think a lot of people who said they were never coming back to trump on fundraising did come back to trump, after i think he convincingly won nomination i don't know whether suburban women voters come back as easily as you see donors have come back interesting from trump today going to let states decide abortion obviously, not push for a national abortion ban. we will see how that plays out that is not the most i think the critical vote. maria: chris, by the way, we have a new merit poll showing president biden former president trump statistically tried biden leading 50% to trump 48% the remaining % did he provided a poll shows latino voters spli

whether trump knew about it, whether trump knew at the time that his payments to michael cohen were, in fact, a reimbursement to michael cohen for fronting the hush money to stormy daniels. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> michael's my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> no, i don't know. >> what trump knew about that reimbursement system and when he knew it will also be central to the case, which is what makes these less recognizable names also very interesting, jeffrey mcconnie. he would have had access and maybe needed to approve the payments to michael cohen which were all classified as payments for legal services. westerhaut was the oval office secretary and because trump was doing all this reimbursing while he was in the white house as the president, she would have had a front row seat. that's not even the whole potential witness list. joining me now to discuss our msnbc legal correspondent lisa ruben and ankush khandori. you were more informed, lisa, given your following and dee

on trump's behalf by trumps appointees. so, that is this big gaping wound at the center of the trial. it is a constant reminder that it is bonkers that only michael cohen and nobody else ever paid a price for this criminal scheme. right? it is also a constant reminder, you know, of something else, bigger than this case, it is a big bright flashing warning light about what we, as a country, should expect in a second trump presidency. you know how scary it is, to think about bill barr doing this with ongoing investigations, reportedly, with cases that have already been pled to, with sentences that have already been recommended by the justice department after convictions, for him to go in there and just take apart all of those cases on trump's behalf, because trump told him to? they were able to do some of that. they would very much like to do a lot more of that, which could upend any citizens life in this country at the whim of donald trump. right? we do not talk nearly enough about what trump to see the succeeded in doing to

trump. we have not had him on the record, and the question is, would there come a day that david pecker would testify? and as we speak, that is what is currently happening. and michael -- david pecker, i want to read a couple specific quotes here. because he is explaining that trump tower meeting that is at the heart of this case here against donald trump. david pecker says that he told michael cohen and donald trump, quote, i said that i would also be the eyes and ears. i would notify michael cohen, and he would be able to kill, meaning kill these stories. the prosecutor from the district attorney's office asked, quote, how if at all did mr. trump react to your suggestion that you continue to do that? quote, pecker says, he was pleased. currently there is evidence being brought forward before this jury that includes those "national enquirer" headlines, the pro-trump headlines as well as the attacks on the likes of the clintons and other republican primary opponents like marco rubio and ted

and that in fact, they had been doing it for donald trump trump even 17 years before the 2016 election. this is after the prosecution spent more than six hours over the last couple of days questioning pecker about the inner workings of those catch and kill stories. and how many of them benefitted trump cross-examination of david pecker, got underway in the criminal case against donald trump 17 years of providing president trump with a heads-up about potentially negative publicity? yes. the former publisher of the national enquirer testified trump's lawyers trying to show that catch and kill schemes buying negative stories to make them disappear was not uncommon. we didn't want the story to embarrass mr. trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign one such scheme at the crux of the da's case against trump, stormy daniels months before the 2016 election, the adult film star and director tried to sell her story of a sexual relationship trump to the enquirer for $120,000, but pecker testified he wouldn't buy it. pecker said he later learned trump's then attorney and fixer, michael cohen paid d

, trump's team suggested the payments trump made to cohen. we're not a payback for funds paid to stormy daniels, but instead payments to his personal attorney trump defended himself against these charges after chord on monday puts an invoice or whatever and they paid nick or legal expense, i got indicted for that land shifted blame to cohen saying the reality is mr. trump is not on the hook, is not criminally responsible for something mr. cohen may have done years after the fact. >> blanche said the prosecution's outline of a supposed catch and kill deal with was not a scheme, but completely irrelevant and not illegal in the afternoon, as briefly took the stand, he did not look at trump, but trump look directly at him as he testified david was on the stand for about 20 minutes to de he was explaining to the jury how the national enquirer operate, saying that they did pay for certain stories he testified on the celebrity side of the magazine industry, at least on the tabloid side, we use checkbook journalism and we paid for stories. he also sa

trump's oval office secretary during the period when cohen was being reimbursed by trump. because trump was doing all this reimbursing when he was in the white house as president, she a front row seat. and that's not even the whole potential witness list. joining me now to discuss our msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin and kush kadori. lisa, i was interested in this potential witness list, and i'm sure you were interested and more informed in following this case and deep legal expertise. who among those names stuck out to youuc as being essential? >> people are going to be talking when this trial gets under wayia about madeleine. that's because there were multiple checks. he didn't repay him in one lump sum. he repaid him over a series of months. six of the checks at least that were sent to michael cohen were signed by donald j. trump in his distinctive sharpy scrawl and at a time when he was president of the united states. you havede to ask yourself wher was donald trump when he signed those checks? the way they were formulated you can see they were computerized, genera

the judge admonished trump at one point, trump, for muttering words aimed at a prospective juror. when she left the room, the judge scolding trump, telling his lawyers, speak to your client. tonight, the remarkable scene inside that courtroom today, and what we now know about the seven jurors already chosen tonight. one of them, already tapped to be jury foreperson. here's our senior investigative correspondent aaron katersky leading us off outside the courthouse again tonight. >> reporter: donald trump arriving today at the manhattan courthouse where for more than six hours he sat watching his lawyers and prosecutors grill potential jurors who could hold his fate in their hands. >> i should be right now in pennsylvania, in florida, in many other states, north carolina, georgia, campaigning. >> reporter: at the end of the day, seven jurors were chosen. three women, a teacher, a software employee at disney, and an oncology nurse who said, “i didn't know i was walking into this.” and there are four men, the foreperson, a man born in ireland who works in sales, two attorneys, and an

he was appointed by president trump. he worked on the trump campaign and the trump transition. but after jeff burman was fired from the trump administration, after he was fired at the u.s. attorney in sdny, he wrote a book about what happened to him in that job. and one of the things he described in detail was about the michael cohen case. according to jeffrey burman, who was running that u.s. attorneys office, after michael cohen pled guilty and was sentenced to three w years in prison for thi crime, president trump's appointees at the u.s. t department of justice in washington, the main justice, they started repeatedly reaching down into burman's office, into sdny to try to make the whole case m basically go away. this is from jeff burman's book. it's called "holding the line." he says, quote, while michael cohen had pled guilty, our office continued to pursue investigations related to other possible campaign finance violations. when bill barr took over as trump's attorney general in february 2019, six months after cohen's guilty plea, barr not only tried to kill the ongoing

please deny, david role in the criminal conspiracy to elect donald trump and the wild hearing on trump's gag order abuse. clearance, the judge is getting tough on trump's lawyer. >> saying to donald trump's attorneys, you are losing all credibility, you are losing all credibility with the court. >>> then why the biden campaign said they had a chance to win florida. >> he is out campaigning and i am sitting up all day long. >>> and r series continues, are you better off than you were four years ago? >> the disinfectant, it knocked it out in a minute and is there a way we can do something like that? by injection or cleaning. >> when all in starch right now. >>> good evening, from new york, i am chris hayes, day two of the criminal trial, donald trump, today we heard in great detail how trump and his gang conspired to hide all his worst secrets, at least some of them. trump and his lawyer continue to stretch the patience of judge merchan. the started with the hearing on the gag order the judge had already issued, which trump has her heatedly and freely been violating on social media and els

trump packer testified today that when donald trump heard that her story might come out, trump told packer, quote anytime you do anything like this it always gets out. okay? >> who knows what donald trump was thinking when mr. pecker testified all of this in court today, when the national enquirer endorse trump back in 2016, trump, after all, returned the favor i've always said, why didn't the national enquirer get the pulitzer prize for edwards and o j simpson and all of these things i think maybe we got an idea today why the national enquirer hasn't been awarded any policy prizes. >> cnn's kara scannell was in court for all this. kara, how attentive? >> word jurors, as all of this sleeves was displayed before them jake, it was a very short court session today. >> david pecker was on the and for just over two hours. and during his testimony, the jurors appear to be paying close attention. you could see when pecker was testifying, he often looked at the jury box when he was answering some of the questions. and you could see the jurors eyes following him back to the prosecutor, who would th

trump on trial. new york versus defendant donald trump. we are joined by district attorney joyce vance and jason johnson. both analysts for us, joyce, i went through some of what we got this opening week. it fair to say if you are on the jury, the da is up in the lead. i was careful to say it doesn't mean we know the outcome. what do they have to worry about? >> it is a great question. if you are the prosecution and you are not up after your first witness, you are in big trouble. right? but, the prosecution really did start off i think with an unexpected bang. no one knew what to expect out of david pecker. we knew he had been cooperating with prosecutors and brought trump into the election fraud conspiracy necessary to turn the misdemeanor into a felony. he today up well on testimony. they did not seem to come after him with a lot. they questioned some of the key pieces of evidence. but he was thoroughly rehabilitated on cross- examination. >> i don't want to be unkind to the defendant. and he is legally presumed innocent. but his family

trump? was cohen acting on his own as a sort free agent? >> i think the question is, why else would michael cohen viewing this? yeah, well, he's doing it for would be the motivation. otherwise, it's about his director or on his on his behalf or for trump. >> that's gonna be the parsing. or or or all of the above, right? i think at the defense, to your point, and i think we are making if the point if the defense is going to say hold on, you were doing a clique, thought it would help trump. >> but the defendant is trump and they have to prove that he had he intended for the behavior to actually occur direct correspondence that time michael cohen was still trump's fixer and lawyer. >> he was. but was he the fixer who make sure that you don't have to deal with the problem before it actually begins, are the one that took directly shouldn't because michael, here's the problem. go solve it and just remember the timing that we're talking about. i'm looking at these dates of these texts in july of 20

trump's lawyers. mr. trump is charged with falsifying records for allegedly covering up his as affair with porn star stormy daniels. he says he gave payments through michael cohen for legal expenses. the charges are usually misdemeanors, manhattan d.a. alvin bragg bumped them up to felonies. the president has attacked this trial, this is truth social this morning. why didn't they bring this lawsuit seven years ago? election interference. >> if i fly over a democrat state, they call it a blue state, i get subpoenaed before a grand jury. it is horrible. h honestly, they are ruining this country, destroying the country. not a thing he's done has been good. this is blatant manipulation of the law. >> here is the 42-page jury selection with the questions, question 32, do you have any feelings or opinions about how mr. trump is being treated in this case? one way to find this out if you look at election results in manhattan, jurors are only from new york city. in 2020, mr. trump got 12% of the vote, and in 2016