a presidential historian and author john meacham joins me live to discuss the state of our democracy today. the beginning of the end, we will break down what we can expect from closing arguments and jury instructions and trumps hush money election interference trial this week. and the chances that trump will be the first former president convicted of a felony and a look at what happens when trump steps out of the magna bubble. the libertarian party should nominate trump for president of the united states. whoa! i am jonathan capehart, this is the sunday show. the tomorrow is memorial day , a day to remember our military service members who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. according to historian david blight, black americans were the first to honor fallen soldiers. black writes that in may, 1865, the black community in charleston, south carolina held a parade for a union soldiers killed in the war and, quote, converted confederate real men into their own
welcome to prime time weekend, let s get right to the week s top stories. 22 witnesses, 21 days of court, 80 hours of witness testimony later, the first-ever criminal trial of an american ex-president is coming to a close. the fate of the ex-president could be in the hands of 12 every day new yorkers from all walks of life. the prosecution has one last chance to hammer home it s case against trump and closing arguments, that happens tuesday, given that the defense put up just to witnesses, their eight hour cross-examination of michael cohen lasting four times longer than their entire presentation, only the manhattan da is wrestling with the challenge of reminding the jury about all of the testimony presented. all of the documentary evidence, bombshell after bombshell, after bombshell. here s just some of what the jury heard as told by the press covering it. jurors listening intently today as the former publisher of the inquire testified about the confidential arrangement
on mr. trump s potential vp short list. the gunman attacking the u.s. embassy in beirut. the 30-minute-long shootout in the street before he s captured. what we re learning. was it isis inspired? the deadly house explosion caught on camera. children playing in a nearby driveway running in terror. and 80 years after they helped turn the tide of war, we re with four american heroes as they return to normandy. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening, and welcome. the words, and liftoff packing plenty of meaning for boeing tonight as its long-delayed starliner capsule successfully carried two astronauts into space today. its third launch attempt in a month and a much-needed morale boost for boeing after a string of misfortunes. the launch also lifting nasa s hopes of making commercial vehicles its workhorses in space. tonight, the starliner is racing toward a rendezvous with the international space station, the first test flight of the cap
plus, senate republicans block a bill to protect access to birth control as the 11th hour gets underway on this wednesday night. good evening once again, i m stephanie ruhle. we are now 153 days away from the election, and it that means it is exactly five months from today. and as we get closer to that day, president biden is trying to show the sharp differences between him and donald trump. right now he s in france to mark tomorrow s 80th anniversary of d-day. and while he is there for a very important occasion, he is also trying to reassure our allies about america s place on the world stage. and what will happen when voters go to the polls in november. as our friend reports for the atlantic, quote, in capitals across the continent, leaders and diplomats express a sense of alarm bordering on panic at the prospect of donald trump s re-election. on friday, he is scheduled to give a major speech on democracy and the global struggle against authoritarianism. compare that
the future hopefully about good news. thank you for coming on today. great to have you and thank you all so much for joining us, seeing a news night with abby. the loop starts right now race, america, and a fiery debate over jim crow in the stalls yeah, that s tonight. on this time good evening. i m abby phillip in new york and i want to get right to it tonight. one of donald trump s vice presidential contenders, congressman byron donalds. he made some comments that has a lot of you take in a lot of democrats fired up. i m gonna speak with him, live in just a couple of minutes but here are the original remarks they were made as a part part of a pitch to black voters in philadelphia. and i want you to hear it in its full context. listen girl with my mom my dad about things don t work out as an adult i ll look at my father and i say grow i don t know what happened. when you want father and i love here. i don t know what happened. i wasn t what i m going to say it is gro