we re covering today s climatic closing arguments in donald trump s trial. the trial is still ongoing right now. the prosecutor continuing the closing arguments. we ll continue in our live coverage to bring you that as well as what i m going to do with you right now, which is try to summarize what is the most important day and likely the last day or two before this jury deliberates. the day began with trump s lawyers doing their closing arguments for the defendant. they finished. the scene outside court was more rauk cause than usual. there was trump family members, robert deniro. i was downtown with our team, reporters and lawyers at the court today. we were out there. i made some videos. we kept an eye on it. all working together. the closing arguments give jurors the pivotal final last material. it s the culmination of a trial that s featured 22 exhibits, 20 days, emails, hundreds of exhibits. now it s all going down today. critical day, former president trump s criminal
defense attorney punctuating the defense s last chance to convince the jury to acquit in the first criminal trial of a former president. i m chris jansing, anchoring along side my colleagues andrea mitchell and katy tur has made her way back from the courtroom. we re here at msnbc headquarters in new york city. and in that downtown courthouse, history is being written during closing arguments today. donald trump s attorney todd blanche just wrapped his closing argument, leaning into the word lie, using it 25 times as he tried to attach it to the prosecution s star witness, michael cohen. and the court just broke for lunch. after that the prosecution is expected to start their closing arguments for the jury. can they deliver a powerful argument as to why 12 citizens should make a historic decision to convict a former president of the united states. i want to bring in former fbi general counsel and former senior member of muller probe and msnbc legal analyst andrew weizma
A look at breaking news, politics and reports from around the world. Yeah. I think thats a good point. On Paul Manafort, the former Trump Campaign chairman convicted yesterday on eight felony counts, bank fraud, tax fraud, stealing literally millions of dollars from american taxpayers, not reporting income on tens of millions of dollars, is there a chance hell still cooperate with the Special Counsel Paul Manafort . He has another trial coming up next month. Right. Look. If youre Paul Manafort, i mean, youre looking at possibly some serious jail time. There is an incentive. But i think what you are seeing is the president telegraphing directly to Paul Manafort, if you stay put, if you do not as he said, if you refuse to break, if you see that tweet that he he contrasts Paul Manafort with Michael Cohen its very clear that hes telegraphing to Paul Manafort that if he doesnt break with him that perhaps theres a pardon in the offing and you can see, also, by the way, Paul Manaforts legal t
him questions, which was more focused on discrediting cohen as a liar, which has some validity to it, given he lied to congress once before, rather than putting ahead any positive defense of the president. it was all about discrediting cohen. that s the same message you heard from all of the talkers out of the white house in the days before the hearing. and that s what you saw. and the response to the rnc. and that was their m.o., as well. michael cohen was no doubt a problematic witness, but he did come with evidence. when you look back at the events of this week, is it the cohen testimony that sticks out to you, is it the kushner clearance, is it the warmbier moment, where he seemed to have no sympathy for otto warmbier and cozied up to the north korean dictator? for me, this was the week of cohen. this was the week where we got
it was all about discrediting cohen. that s the same message you heard from all of the talkers out of the white house in the days before the hearing. and that s what you saw. and the rapid responsibility to the rnc, that was their m.o. as well. michael cohen was no doubt a problematic witness, but he did come with receipts. he did come with evidence. when you look back at the events of this week, is it the cohen testimony that sticks out to you, is it the kushner clearance, is it the warmbier moment where he seemed to have no sympathy for otto warmbier and, again, cozied up to the north korean dictator? they re all just incredible moments. i think though, for me this was the week of cohen. this was the week where we got to see the guy, the villain, the liar, humanized in some respects. where you could see and judge for yourself. everything that s been said about him. and i think it was impactful. i think it s something that s