let's go back to vaughn hillyard. another witness has now taken the stand. looking at one more witness for today. the question is, who is that final witness? the expectation is that we're going to be able to wrap this up here by the 1:00 lunch period. i'm falling along with you as we go here. we do have one more witness. i'm not misstepping on that, am i? >> you are right. we can see that it looks like -- you are right there's a lull right now. jurors at this time we will stop is what judge merchan is telling them right now. he said, giving them the usual, don't discuss the case, keep an open mind. he is letting them go for the weekend. we are learning in real time, court is now about to wrap up for the day. the judge dismissing jurors. end of testimony. no more witnesses on this friday. giving them instructions as they head into the weekend to try to stay away from any kind of coverage related to this trial. when they come back, it's going to be michael cohen on the stand on monday. right, vaughn? >> reporter: right, michael cohen will come back. we will po

vaughn hillyard is outside of the courthouse, along with andrew weissmann and catherine christian who are still with us as well. so, vaughn, it's the top of the hour. i will let you top us off. >> reporter: we're looking at the 3:00 p.m. eastern hour, and michael cohen is still on the stand, and there were questions of whether michael cohen when we started the day would be off the stand by lunch hour. that's not the case as there has been of course the back and forth over potential witnesses, the back and forth over the c-span clip from october 24th. a video clip that was filmed just six minutes before that october 24th, 8:06 p.m. phone call that michael cohen testified to, that he called keith schiller with donald trump on the other end of the phone, and he has claimed that he had a conversation during that very phone call in which it was told by donald trump to go through with that $130,000 payment just in the last half hour now, they have entered that clip back into as evidence, with michael cohen testifying to keith schiller being present on that stage. but now you're looking at p

nbc's vaughn hillyard is at the courthouse. here with me in new york for the hour, danny cevallos, criminal defense attorney, catherine christian, former assistant manhattan district attorney and jeremy solan, former attorney in the manhattan d.a.'s office. vaughn, kick us off, we have a witness on the stand right now, who we'll get to in a moment, but, again, this morning we expect stormy daniels at some point today to take the stand and the judge before the jury was even called in already set some parameters around her expected testimony. fill us in. >> reporter: right. some could say this was a long time coming. this began all the way back in 2006, the celebrity golf tournament in lake tahoe, when donald trump met stormy daniels. adult film star. and that was when the alle alle one night stand took place. fast-forward to 2016, it has been chronicled by many people around the effort to silence stormy daniels' story with that $130,000 payment that she was prepared to come forward and share her story publicly in the weeks befor

vaughn hillyard reports on a sharp new warning from the judge. >> reporter: tonight former president trump facing a new threat of jail time at his hush money trial after his tenth violation of the judge's gag order. >> he's taken away my constitutional right to speak. >> reporter: the judge directly addressing the possibility of putting mr. trump behind bars over future violations. "the magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me. you are the former president of the united states and possibly the next president as well." adding "as much as i do not want to impose a jail sanction, i will if necessary and appropriate." >> frankly, you know what? our constitution is much more important than jail. it's not even close. i'll do that sacrifice any day. >> reporter: the judge fining mr. trump an additional $1,000 for complaining about the jury in deep blue manhattan saying "it's 95% democrat." the judge saying the former president wrongfully called into question the integrity of the jury. mr. trump has pleaded not guilty to low-level felony charges for allegedly disguising reimbursements

vaughn hillyard now with late details. >> reporter: she was one of former president trump's most trusted advisers. >> hope, we want hope. >> reporter: but today hope hicks walked into court as a prosecution witness in her old boss' hush money scheme trial. mr. trump without smiling stared on, first directly at her before turning his attention toward a monitor and papers in front of him. hicks today admitting she was nervous. at one point becoming emotional, tearing up and needing a break. hicks telling prosecutors, the release of the "access hollywood" tape weeks before the 2016 election was a crisis. "i was concerned, she said. "everyone was just absorbing the shock of it," hicks testified, adding "its impact on women voters was a major concern." prosecutors say the release of the tape helped propel the hush money scheme. >> hi. >> reporter: but mr. trump today arguing none of it is related to the charges he's facing, that he allegedly disguised reimbursements to michael cohen for hush money payments to stormy daniels as legal expenses in his company's internal books. mr. trump, who's p

vaughn hillyard, i want to go back to you. they were just talking about is this -- brings about this contrast. january 17, 2007, this is the second time that stormy daniels has met donald trump. she's asked very specifically whether or not he wanted to keep this a secret. she said, no. one of the things that was brought up -- there were a lot of people who wanted to be on the "apprentice." there were people who may have shown up at trump tower or any of the events that he was at. that's 2007. you fast forward to him running for president. then we are back at the point where it's clear, with an nda, basically we want to never know each other, they have gone into a different realm. >> reporter: exactly. look, we are talking about an 18-year period of time between 2006 and now. of course, even 2006 to 2015, things happen in people's lives. people's motives change. donald trump was somebody who was known around new york as calling up the new york new yor post" to plant stories about his womanizing around town. and then you have hi

vaughn hillyard, do we know anything? >> reporter: todd blanche has been covering up his mouth here. judge merchan is back in court. officially in session. the jury is now officially entering the courtroom. >> we are, as ari melber just said, the eyes -- it's not an overstatement to say the eyes of the world. we've had an opportunity to interview the foreign journalists over the last five weeks, susanne craig, all of my colleagues have made their way down to this line, to stand, to have the privilege to be inside, to hear the action. the jury has done its part. they asked for four specific pieces of testimony right back to them. they wanted some clarification on the instructions given to them by judge juan merchan. they entered a verdict and asked for 30 minutes to fill out the form. andrew weissmann, tell me about your paper, you got 34 lines. i can't even get into my computer. rachel maddow is here. are you ready? >> i'm ready. >> what are you thinking? >> well, this is an important moment, and we don't know, and we're

vaughn hillyard and amna nawaz, if you would, stay with us. if i could, before we go to a break, i'm going to once again clarify that network, telemundo network, the spanish language network did host a primary debate in the last season for both republicans and democrats. so, the invitation could be to telemundo, in espanol, and telemundo could have access here on msnbc and nbc. the invitation is out there. >>> up next, a second day of michael cohen's cross examination gets under way tomorrow in donald trump's criminal trial. we're going to break down what this tense exchange with the defense was all about. >>> plus, just blocks from trump's courtroom, senator bob menendez is facing his own trial. the jury selection stands in his corruption case. >>> and overnight, the massive weapons package that the biden administration is reportedly about to send to israel. we're back in 60 seconds. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. es you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. ♪ febreze man: i don't about y'all, but when it come

vaughn hillyard in new york tonight. thank you. >>> there is a new severe weather threat we're following tonight after that flooding emergency in texas led to more than 600 rescues in the houston area alone. officials say two people were killed including a 4-year-old boy. the flooding left homes submerged, cars floating and lives upended. bill karins is here. bill, conditions are really ripe for another tough night. >> lester, we only have these high-risk tornado days about one or two times a year. and the next 12 hours, that's the heart of it for this event. and we're really focusing in here on areas from oklahoma into southern kansas. that's where we have not only the chance of tornadoes but even strong tornadoes. and they could occur well after the sun sets too through the evening. so here's where we're watching for watches. now all the way from omaha southwards we have what we call a particularly dangerous situation, tornado watch till 11:00 p.m. that includes oklahoma city and wichita. already a couple tornado warni

lester. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. >>> across america new pro-palestinian demonstrations, and more people arrested on college campuses as more details emerge about just who took part in some of the protests. erin mclaughlin has late developments for us. >> reporter: tonight, the crackdowns on college campuses continue. in new york city, two more schools inviting the nypd to clear pro-palestinian encampments, at nyu and the new school where demonstrators turned their backs on police. >> who is in charge? anybody in charge here? >> reporter: more than 50 arrested. today police pointing to disturbing leaflets they say they found during both crackdowns, one of which included violent threats, and at portland state university in oregon, new video shows damage done during the occupation of its library, and today at columbia university, president minouche shafik releasing this video message. >> a group of protesters crossed a new line with the occupation of hamilton hall. it was a violent act that put our students at risk, as well as putting the protesters at risk. >> reporter: this week's

vaughn hillyard, you know that very well. vaughn? >> reporter: right. unusual character that is donald trump. you know, most people nowadays are using e-mails or text messages but donald trump, during his time in the white house, did not really leave much of a public record under his own writing so much of it is relying upon the testimony and statements made by others and that's what hits at the heart of this case here is direct acknowledgment by jeffrey mcconney, who worked for donald trump for 35 years, that he was approving of these invoices from michael cohen. yet at the same time here, we don't have donald trump, this would perhaps be easier for the prosecution if there was writing or if donald trump was copied in on a specific e-mail or any of these particular exchanges but that's not just the case with donald trump. >> andrew, let me switch gears and just ask you about the classified document case. because todd blanche, his defense lawyer, is also involved in that case. they're facing a thursday deadline to submit additional filings to disclose w

let's discuss more about all of this with nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, who is outside the courthouse in lower manhattan. also joining us, catherine christian, former manhattan assistant district attorney, who is an msnbc legal analyst. vaughn, break right now, but set the scene for what has happened so far this morning. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, ana. madeleine westerhout, the executive assistant to donald trump in the first two and a half years at the white house, she wrapped up her testimony, finishing questioning from the defense attorneys for donald trump and then since we have had an employee, an analyst from at&t as well as verizon who are used by the prosecution to enter into evidence phone records that show the communications, the phone calls that took place between michael cohen and others, it was not the contents of the calls, but it was the mere fact of how long phone calls took. and now we're currently in the morning recess here as we await the jury to re-enter the room, and an additional witness to be called before we anticipate michael cohen being that m

vaughn hillyard is back outside the courthouse. er fbi again counsel andrew weissmann, jeremy saland, former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade and former federal judge john jones, president of dickinson college. vaughn, walk us through the legal guidelines judge merchan gave the jury. what resources the jurors have. set the stage. >> reporter: judge merchan left these 12 jurors with meaty instructions about what they are tasked to determine. that starts with the felony counts that he is facing. that is whether donald trump caused the falsification of business records with the intent to defraud. for the purposes of breaking new york state election law by influencing the outcome of the 2016 election through unlawful means. these jurors were given several potential unlawful acts that they could determine that justified unlawful means, including tax violations, including breaking federal election law, including breaking other financial records violations. so for these jurors here, if they have questions about the law that they are being ask

. >> i want to bring in vaughn hillyard.m the googl doc she's being asked when she first heard about the "access hollywood" tape. pick it up from there. >> reporter: right. this is october 2nd, the chronicling of hope hicks about when she received that initial email about the exchange that donald trump had in 2005 with billy bush in which he, in very vulgar terms, described sexually abusing women. i want to be clear. hicks is describing she was on the 14th floor of trump tower when she received that email. october 2nd was five days before ultimately the article was published. she says that, i was very concerned. i was concerned about the contents of the email, lack of time to respond. had the transcript but not the tape. she sent it then to other campaign leadership, including jason miller, kellyanne conway and steve bannon. she goes on to describe the way in which the leadership roles the individuals held -- as we work through here. she went to go talk to the group of them on the 25th floor. she's now saying, jason miller,

nbc's vaughn hillyard is outside the courthouse for us. also with us our legal panel for the hour white collar defense attorney and former federal prosecutor sarah krisoff, and criminal defense attorney bernard via low na. vaughn, catch us up. what's happening inside that courtroom this morning? >> reporter: hey, good morning, ana. madeleine westerhout who was the trump executive assistant inside of the white house for his first two and a half years there is currently testifying under cross examination by susan necheles. they're currently looking at an email in which a former personnel aide, personal assistant to donald trump in the white house emailed with madeleine westerhout and rhona graff over the mailing of personal checks that donald trump would have sent to him from new york and the trump organization, and this individual, john mcentee requesting that they be sent to a personal address. this is part of madeleine westerhout here making it clear that in her role, in her capacity in which she was the one who was executing and bringing

nbc's vaughn hillyard is standing by for us outside the courthouse. also with us former u.s. rney, former state court judge carol lam, and state attorney for palm beach county, florida, dave aronberg. vaughn, start us off here. the judge started everything by pushing back on some of trump's comments yesterday about his potential testimony in this case. what can you tell us? >> reporter: right. trump has repeatedly bemoaned the fact that this gag order has been placed on him preventing him from speaking about witnesses as this pertains to this criminal proceeding, but also the jury. but donald trump notably when he walked out of the court yesterday took another step in what he claimed the gag order prevented him from doing. take a listen. >> i'm not allowed to testify because this judge, he's totally conflicted, has me under an unconstitutional gag order. nobody's ever had that before, and we don't like it, and it's not fair. >> does the gag order stop you from snefg. >> testifying? >> the gag order is not for testifying. the gag order stops me from talking about people and res

saved by the bell, if you will, vaughn hillyard. what do we know? >> reporter: to be clear, there is no distinction between a bell that goes into the courtroom for a verdict versus the bell that goes into the courtroom being rung over a note coming from the jury who is currently deliberating. so we do not know at this point in time. hopefully within a matter of minutes it is made clear. now, of course we should expect notes to be sent from the jury. this would be in very short order. only three and a half hours of deliberation so far. now, earlier today when they entered into the deliberation room, they were given a laptop that has the entirety of the evidence, every single exhibit, text message, phone call that was entered into the record. the entire testimony provided by those 22 witnesses. they've got it on their laptop, they can send a note for clarity to the evidence. they can send a note to the judge to have judge merchan re-read parts of the jury instruction that he delivered over the course of the first hour this morning, particularly as it

vaughn hillyard, lisa rubin. >>> we are following breaking news out of wisconsin, just getting this in. according to the mount horab area school district a middle school is on lockdown, there was an active shooter stopped outside of the school building there. but one mother described to our local affiliate the very intense moment when her children inside the school contacted her to talk about what was going on. >> my son marvin, he goes to the middle school, it was around like 11:00 where he called me crying saying they hear multiple shots and him and his friends took off running, and then my other son called me who goes to the high school, he left with his friends because they were evacuated fast. but one of my daughters are still inside of the middle school as we speak. but all we know is that there were some kids -- >> it's hard. >> yeah, it is. >> to get a call when you're at work from your babies crying saying that there's a shooting going on and we're scared, and you're 30 minutes away from them. >> i want to bring in nbc's emilie ikeda. what more do we know? >> you can imagine h

i want to bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard reporting from outside the courthouse in new york. also with us, robert gibbs, white house press secretary under president obama and msnbc political analyst. adam pollock, and charles coleman, an msnbc legal analyst. vaughn, i want to start with you. you have kind of lived all of this from the beginning to the end. as you watched what unfolded today, help us understand it, but also put all of that testimony by hope hicks which was pretty dramatic in the context of what we knew at the time. >> reporter: exactly, it's dramatic because hope hicks was somebody who testified today that she was intimately involved with donald trump in what was a very small campaign brass that included keith shiler and corey lewandowski and michael cohen, the outside personal lawyer voice who maintained a quasi role with the campaign, representing donald trump. in this, for hope hicks and for the jury here, is a key, crucial witness that knows donald trump so well, but also was a trusted adviser and aide, somebody whose words were never really highly scrutini

let's bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard outside court.we know more about this decision for trump not to testify? >> reporter: i think it is a really good question that we're going to be prodding with the allies of donald trump about here in the hours ahead. because alina habba, trump attorney who is not working directly on this case, but she said less than 24 hours ago that donald trump should listen to his legal counsel, but she also in the same breath said donald trump wanted to testify. so, clearly, if that statement is accurate and alina habba has been here at the courthouse with donald trump every day and remained close to the family, it would suggest that donald trump, in fact, listened to the legal team that is defending him in front of this jury. and for donald trump, there is a lot on the line. and clearly he was convinced to not take the stand because it was his decision, not the legal counsel, to determine whether you go on the stand or not here. and i can tell you from the e. jean carroll trials that donald trump regretted not

vaughn hillyard is outside the courthouse in manhattan. i'm going to start with you and the hope hicks of it all. we know she was in the room where it happened, when it happened, all the time, as it was happening and she was exactly as you describe, professional, courteous, managed to keep herself held in high regard regardless of the sort of gutter that trump dragged the country into. this was too much for her at a point today. talk about your reaction to watching this testimony. >> reporter: emotional, teared up literally within the first minute of her cross-examination from donald trump's attorney. the court had to take a pause as she was given the opportunity to regroup, collect herself there. then upon walking out, our team described her looking just solemn on her way out of the courthouse understanding this was an emotionally difficult day. what she described in the courthouse was a relationship that began with the trump family in 2014. this is is a decade long relationship. she testified it has been cold since 2022, at least cold to

joining us from outside the courthouse is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. so vaughn, talk to me about how donald trump has been holding up during these deliberations? >> reporter: right, and two of his close surrogates, north dakota governor doug burgum, as well as alina habba, one of his legal advisers, they appeared on newsmax within about an hour of each other here. so we can make some assumptions about what channels he was likely watching here today, but he has also been posting a flurry of social media posts and for donald trump, this is a waiting game. he is forced to be here at the courthouse, waiting for the jury to deliberate, and ultimately make its verdict known. i asked alina habba what it is like inside of this room, where donald trump is holding with his son eric and don jr., and other allies, take a listen to what she's saying. how is president trump viewing what is taking place? what are the conversations in the side room looking like right now? >> i'm not going to speak to privileged information, obviously, but the president is doing well. i

vaughn hillyard joins us from outside the courthouse. also joining us, phil rucker. hn, let's go through where this poll came from. i think it's an npr poll. what is the latest from inside the court from your conversations with trump people who are in there and coming out or have come out and before they went in? your reaction to this poll, their reaction to the poll, as someone who speaks to them all the time? >> reporter: right. it's a campaign operation that's been with him here. jason miller, a senior advisor, alina haba because he spent so much time focused on the legal work here. he has had these campaign hands beside him. when you look at the polling numbers, look, i don't think that anybody is ignorant or dismissive of the impact that these trials have. the trump team has consistently promoted the idea it only helps him because they make the argument he is being politically persecuted. that's why they have messaged around the events here. there's a fund-raising email that went out last night saying, i will go to jail tomorrow, from donald trump's campaign here

joining us from outside the courthouse is vaughn hillyard and ashley parker. , on tuesday, eric trump joined his father in court. other allies, including ken paxton was there as well. why have they not been there before? why are they there now? >> reporter: the first two weeks were quite lonesome for donald trump in the courtroom outside of his legal defense team. no family members, no political allies outside of one advisor a day. that's where tuesday was different with eric trump there as well as the texas attorney general. david mcinintosh, a conservativ group that donald trump had an icy relationship, but ultimately came back to donald trump when it was apparent he was going to become the nominee. both of those men spoke with reporters on behalf of donald trump and stoking the idea that this is a political persecution, being targeted at the presumptive republican nominee. today is different. there's no family member here. there are no apparent surrogates here. the question for donald trump is, who is going to be the one really running that pr campaign for h

. >> leading us off this hour is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard outside the courthouse in lower manhattan. also here with us, charles coleman. vaughn, let's start with you outside there, the jury has heard a lot from the defense and the prosecution, what are the final points they're all trying to drive home right now in. >> reporter: right, for nearly three hours this morning, guys the defense team for donald trump, his lead attorney pressing the case to this jury they have reasonable doubts that donald trump is guilty of these 34 counts of falsifying business records. on one hand they make the case that there was no intent on the part of donald trump to defraud when he reimbursed michael cohen for that money, not only reimburse they make the case to the jury that there's no evidence that shows that donald trump was doing anything other than retaining michael cohen and they were calling into question the credibility of michael cohen as a whole, more than 45 different times they either called michael cohen a liar or implied that he lied to this jury during his several days' of te

nbc's vaughn hillyard is outside the courthouse. with us our legal panel, carol lam, former u.s. rney and former judge, adam pollock, "the new yorker" new york assistant attorney general. vaughn, we have a new witness on the stand and action related to the gag order already this morning. walk us through it. >> reporter: jeffrey mcconney just took the stand. he was the former controller of the trump organization. he worked at the trump org for 35 years before leaving his post this last year. folks may recall that he testified for several days in the civil fraud trial in 2023 just two blocks down the road from here and is part of the decision from judge engoron, that he was found liable for insurance fraud. he was barred from ever serving in leadership for a corporate entity again. he and trump have a long-standing relationship. where does he fit into the fold as part of this trial? he was the individual who overseas the accounting department of the trump organization. michael cohen in february of 2017 sent his first invoice to be reimbursed upon donald trump taking the white house

. >> let's go to vaughn hillyard outside the courthouse. >> reporter: i actually stepped outside the courthouse after being in there in the first hour in todd blanche's closing argument, and he's emphasizing to the jury that michael cohen should not be the trusted source, that they make the determination on the 34 felony counts. it's sort of a shift between the way in which he talked about the falsification of the business records allegation and making the case that there was no intent to defraud on behalf of his client, saying that not only did he tweet in 2018 about this arrangement, but also he noted in a 2018 ethics report, financial disclosure report that there were reimbursements made and also that the trump organization, they denoted the payments were made to michael cohen. so it will be up to the jury to determine beyond a reasonable doubt donald trump had the intention to defraud by making these business records. then turning towards the election fraud, the underlying crime being alleged by the prosecution, todd blanche was more dismissive when he made that pivot, saying wha

joining our legal experts, nbc's vaughn hillyard and native arizonan, who's been following all this forvaughn, that nobody knows arizona as you do. you have followed every bit of it. and the fact that rudy giuliani was served his subpoena after apparently ducking it at his birthday party in palm beach is just one of the great crazy moments to say one of the moments in this case. >> you can't make this stuff up. >> exactly. >> vaughn? >> the 80th birthday party of rudy giuliani in palm beach, florida, to note at the home of one of kari lake's senior advisers in florida. so there's another little arizona twist to it. and just 48 hours later rudy giuliani appearing virtually for his arraignment. that took place just a matter of minutes ago. i think we have a little video of that virtual appearance. take a listen. >> i'm been sued about 20 to 25 times by a very similar movement to this one, which is the let's see what we can do to destroy donald trump -- >> okay. give me just a moment -- >> i do -- >> sir -- >> i do consider this indictment a complete eliminate r embarrassment to the americ

nbc's vaughn hillyard that has more on this for us. vaughn, explain what's going on here.ive us a fact check, if you will. >> reporter: right. for weeks now, chris, we have heard donald trump take on the entirety of this case and the criminal proceedings against him. on a myriad of points. and now, over the last 24 hours you have seen as the jury began deliberations, some of the key political allies on the right come to his defense, particularly taking aim at jury instructions. if you look at kristi noem, the south dakota governor, she's posting on social media, a defense of donald trump, suggesting that the jury instructions were a violation of federal law. but then you also had marco rubio, the florida senator come out with his own tweet in which he said, judge in trump case in new york city they told the jury, they don't have to unanimously agree on which crime was committed as long as they pick one. of course that is a misrepresentation of what judge merchan said as part of his jury instructions and what the actual crime that donald trump has been charged with is, and

democratic party, now director of the public policy program at the roosevelt house institute, vaughn hillyardnc executive committee member and co-founder of the lincoln project. vaughn, any reaction from trump or team trump to nikki haley's statement yesterday? >> no. not yet. >> really? >> we're waiting for word. this is somebody who donald trump repeatedly called bird brain for the better part of the year, called disloyal. i think this say moment that we'll be studying for generations to come, individuals posture toward authority, that authority being donald trump. just a couple of months ago in march, she dropped out of the presidential race, she said it would be up to donald trump to win over her and her supporters. it is not clear at this point in time if donald trump made any explicit outreach or efforts to try to win her over. and yesterday in her remarks there, she mentioned he still needs to do that, to win over those that voted for her in the republican primary, but at least on her own position here, over five months out from the general election, it looks like the former u.n. ambas

philip rucker of the washington post editor, and nbc's vaughn hillyard with me here in studio. , vaughn, donald trump has a history of never forgetting, but also sometimes seeming to forgive people who then come back, sometimes crawling into the fold, right? i understand you've got some new reporting about what's going on now. >> right, donald trump is always eager to welcome his old enemies back into his camp, and in a way, you know, that's where nikki haley last night in her announcement there at the hudson institute turned heads because along with our colleague ali vitali, we're reporting that trump adviser and nikki haley adviser are both telling us that the two individuals, nikki haley and donald trump, the old republican rivals have not spoken since she dropped out of the republican primary on march 6th of this year. she did this on her own accord. the trump camp has not heard from nikki haley directly and for donald trump's efforts, he has not tried to, you know, extend an olive branch and bring her on board. she did this all on her own. i want to let you listen a little

joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard outside the courthouse down in lower manhattan. also with us, nbc news legal analyst kristen gibbons fedden. vaughn, let's start with you. walk us through what else happened in court today. there's been testimony. >> reporter: right. this testimony here today has come from two people so far. both trump organization employees. one who worked there for 35 years as the controller overseeing the accounting department. jeffrey mcconney, who had a long-time close relationship with donald trump, was the one individual who's kind of working as the middle man when it came to the invoices from michael cohen, who was seeking repayment for the money that he paid to stormy daniels before the 2016 election and then ultimately what turned into checks personally signed by donald trump. and is sort of that middle man overseeing the accounting department. mcconney testified today that he was under the impression and was told that these were in fact reimbursement checks, not legal expenses as were suggested in the filings. of course this is importan

let's discuss with nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, christina greer, professor at city college of new york, and susan del percio, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst. so thank you all for being here. vaughn, explain to us why trump is campaigning in this extremely blue district today. >> so number one, he thought that he was going to have trial today in manhattan and so his campaign went forward with planning this south bronx event. donald trump has been obsessed with the idea that he can win the state of new york here in november, and we should note that back in 2020 he lost the state of new york by 23 percentage points. and so for donald trump he sees polling that indicates that he's able to make some inroads, particularly with black vote ers. he received a record number of 12% in the 2020 race, a record for republican nominees in recent decades. polls indicating up to 20% of black voters could vote for donald trump. this is where it's going to be difficult for him. there's a difference between dissatisfaction with joe biden now and a reality that five months fr

. >> let's go to vaughn hillyard who was standing, donald trump fired off a few heated posts on social media. tell us about that. >> reporter: right, chris. donald trump himself is waiting as well, and he is ordered to remain inside of the courthouse until the jury reaches its verdict, and for donald trump, meanwhile, he has his phone back, and on his social media posts, he has sent off a flurry of posts over the course of the last two hours since they began deliberating. i want to let you look at one of them. donald trump in this social media post claims that he does not know what the charges are that were filed against him. we should note, as yasmin articulated, during the course of jury instructions this morning, each of the statutes, the state statutes here in new york that the charges leveed against him were filed under were read aloud, and the exact wording of those laws were read to the entire courtroom of which donald trump was a part of there. it is not quite clear whether this was just a willful misrepresentation or an unwillful understanding of what he was listening to over

nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, maria teresa kuma and sara fagen.e start with you. you have been covering donald trump's criminal trial. you have been covering the vp-stakes. we have this incredible shot with him. where do you think things stand? what were your takeaways from listening to tim scott? >> he has a litany of names. there were two individuals he welcomed on stage. stefanik and rubio. i talked to two people in the room. they mentioned vance was welcomed up on stage and praised, but he made reference to the fact that vance had made past statements about him that were bad. if you go back to 2016, he said he would hold his nose and vote for hillary clinton because he called donald trump an idiot. it hits at the part that, eight years may go by, but donald trump doesn't forget. we talk about loyalty. he had mike pence, who was not loyal to him in his mind, that's why your question to tim scott about certifying the election results, despite him voting to certify, now is not committing. >> the world loyalty is really one of the if not the top f

joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. doing. vaughn, so donald trump is at a rally. what are people saying about these trials? >> number one, he's currently speaking, and he's been speaking for about an hour, and perhaps surprisingly he hasn't mentioned the trial once at this point in time. is this an effect of the gag order and the potential violations? i'm not sure. but what we do know is the fact is that he's got at least more of this speech, and he's got one more event in michigan. we've got sound that our friend shaquille brewster got. take a listen. >> definitely not enough to, you know, my dad will talk about it, but i kind of tune it out unfortunately, which i probably shouldn't. >> i guess i don't want somebody that has been through a trial for criminal offenses to be my president of the united states. >> i mean, it just looks like a roadblock. i assume if he were to get elected, he could do away with it. it's not too glaring that it would stop me from voting for him. >> americans have lived through four indictmen

vaughn hillyard covering this story for us. what's going on here? >> there's a lengthy list of individuals who were indicted three weeks ago, stemming from the alleged efforts to overturn arizona's 2020 election, and send a fake slate of electors to be counted on june 26th, 2021. one of the defendants, rudy giuliani, the former new york mayor. i'm told by an aide inside the arizona attorney general's office, they have been unable to serve rudy giuliani his indictment to appear for his arraignment hearing next week. this, again, was an indictment that came down three weeks ago, just in the last ten minutes, chris, i got off the phone with an aide to rudy giuliani himself who said he is one of the most famous men in america, how can they not find him. he's in florida, he's in new york, and if they want to claim they were able to count all of the ballots fairly in 2020 election, they should be able to track down rudy giuliani himself. of course next week is that arraignment hearing and they are still looking to issue him that indictment. chris. >> vaug

joining us now, vaughn hillyard, correspondent, dasha burns, and former manhattan assistant district attorney and new york law school professor, rebecca roiphe. judge aileen cannon is holding a hearing on a motion to dismiss this case. what's the latest? >> two motions to dismiss today. earlier this morning we had heard arguments on the first, which had to do with trump's body man walt nauta. that motion was alleging that jack smith, the special counsel, his decision to charge nauta was, quote, selective and vindictive, alleging it was a form of retaliation against nauta for not cooperating with the investigation. after nauta's attorney made those arguments, the prosecutors from the special counsel's office stood up, tried to refute those arguments and got pretty heated with judge cannon. at one point calling the arguments from the defense and their motion to dismiss garbage. at one point, cannon had to tell the prosecutor to calm down, so a lot of fiery stuff earlier today in the courtroom. now what we're hearing is arguments in the second motion to dismiss, which is concerning all

vaughn hillyard and ankush khardori, thanks for your time. we have a lot more to get to this evening, including how donald trump's 2024 campaign strategy is looking a lot like 2020. part one, undermine faith in elections. part two, take power no matter the results. plus, even though they are under criminal indictment, several of america's fake collectors are now being honored by their own party. more on that, coming up next. m like magic. but there's no magic involved. (dog bark) it's just smarter, healthier pet food. it's amazing what real food can do. ( ♪♪ ) i thought water would help with these dry spots. that's lawn disease. but scotts healthy plus will cure it! lawn disease? been going around. so like other people have it and it's not... pick up a bag of the new scotts turf builder healthy plus lawn food today. feed your lawn. feed it. hi, i'm greg. i live in bloomington, illinois. i'm not an actor. i'm just a regular person. some people say, "why should i take prevagen? i don't have a problem with my memory." memory loss is, is not some

mike memoli, vaughn hillyard, thank you very much. >>> let the veep stakes begin, the last guy faced a violent insurrection and rioters who wanted to hang him. what kind of person wants the job of donald trump's vp this time. >> and what president biden will not send to israel as it expands its offensive in rafah. >>> first, though, what will michael cohen be asked about tomorrow when his cross-examination continues and who the defense might call as their first witness if they call one at all. we're back in 90 seconds. secons think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it. (♪♪) [shaking] itchy pet? (♪♪) with chewy, save 20% on your first pharmacy order so you can put an end to the itch. get flea and tick medic

matt dowd is msnbc political contributor and vaughn hillyard joins me in studio. going to start with something brand new. stephanie ruhle sat down with mitt romney who knows about presidential debates, and she asked him about it. let's just take a listen. i won't try to describe it, let him do it. >> there's talk today about a presidential debate maybe as early as june. i know debates were important to you. they certainly got you a lot of momentum in 2012. do you think they matter today? in many ways we know a lot about the two people running. do you think it will impact votes, maybe even your vote? >> well, the image that comes to mind is those two old guys on the muppet. >> statler and waldorf. >> that's what comes to mind. i think there will be a huge audience for these be debates. i think they have low expectations about what president biden will do, i think they have higher expectations about president trump and his combativeness. >> what are your expectations? we'll see what happens. i've interacted with president biden and find that we've had good exchanges

joining us now nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, the atlantic staff writer and author of "thank for your servitude" mark leibovich, and political white house correspondent and msnbc political contributor, eugene daniels. all right, so mark, i'm going to start with you on this. talk to me about haley's voters. are they going to switch over to donald trump so easily? >> no, i don't think so. i mean, i think, look, she obviously has a lot of voters or a lot of people using her as a vehicle to vote for whatever it is they probably don't like about donald trump. you know, the question is does she have any control over them. i don't see any reason to think she does. i talked to a whole bunch of people during the campaign, none of them -- at haley rallies. none of them had much use for trump at all, although not a single one of them said to me i'm just going to wait to sort of see what nikki haley tells me to do. so it's very unclear if she controls any of the votes whatsoever. look, she's proven time and again and there's a whole bunch of video and a whole bunch of contradictory state

nbc's vaughn hillyard is reporting from outside the courthouse in new york city. also with us, deanna paul, defense attorney and former new york city prosecutor, kristy greenberg is a former sdny deputy chief, a former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst. adam pollock is former new york assistant attorney general. thank you all for being here. okay, vaughn, i want to hear what the latest is from court including that brand new nbc reporting that donald trump has managed to get a tv for his waiting room. >> reporter: right, chris, our laura jarrett, our colleague is reporting that television has been procured for the holding room where donald trump has been holding now for more than six hours between the last two days. exactly what is on that television, it is not quite clear, but i know from social media activity of donald trump that he has been routinely posting fox news clips over the course of the last hour, including from jeanine pirro, who is just a few yards down from where we're standing here outside of the courthouse, from fox news clips, but we also

>> more to come there, vaughn hillyard, thank you. >>> time for today's cnbc money minute.mart is recalling thousands of pounds of ground beef, and president biden lived up his glory days while testing his artificial intelligence. seema modi joins us now. >> let's start with the meat story. the usda has recalled over 16,000 pounds of ground beef for possible e. coli contamination, packaged in six different types of products on april 26th and 27th and sold in walmart stores across 12 states. so far, no illnesses reported. >>> the justice department lawyers, and google finished their closing arguments today in the biggest anti-trust trial in over 20 years. during the ten-week trial the justice department argued that google broke the law in maintaining a monopoly status as a default search engine. it argued its search dominance comes with its ability to give customers what they want. the judge is expected to deliver later this year. >>> in his first direct experience with artificial intelligence president biden asked chatgpt to write a bruce springsteen song. in an interview,

joining us now is vaughn hillyard, taking a break from outside the courthouse.studio. >> reporter: i appreciate wednesdays. >> we all do. is donald trump going to testify? i know you don't know, but do any signs suggested? >> reporter: look, he had plenty of time on an airplane today for prep. usually before a defense attorney brings the client into a trial to testify and ultimately be the one in front of a jury who would be the loudest voice to determine whether guilty or not, you would think you would spend substantial time prepping your client. donald trump, he regretted not testifying in the first e. jean carroll trial when a jury not hearing his testimony directly determined he had sexually assaulted e. jean carroll. months later at the second defamation suit he wanted to go and fight the allegations that he sexually assaulted her, but the judge said sorry, that has been litigated. you had the chance in the first trial and that is not what we are here to do. he was given three minutes to respond to questions not directly related to whether he sexually assau