Welcome to The World Today an hour of International News from the bbc. The former lawyer and fixer for donald trump who once said hed take a bullet for the fomer president , today took the stand as a Star Witness For The Prosecution in mr trumps hush money trial. Michael cohen is testifying about his role in what prosecutors say was a cover up of payments to hide an affair with the adult film star stormy daniels. Mr trump denies falsifying Business Records to reimburse his then lawyer for the payment on the eve of the 2016 president ial election, when the story could have been politically damaging. Mr cohen a former close ally turned foe of mr trump pleaded guilty in 2018 to tax offences, fraud and Campaign Finance violations. The latter charge stemmed from the same payment at the heart of the current case. Earlier i spoke to our correspondent nada tawfik who has been in new york and staying across the trial for us. I asked her about the latest on what Michael Cohen has been saying at
Trump about to come facetoface with an attorney who flipped and him as Michael Cohen takes the sand. Happy mother eggs day. Im bill hemmer. Dana we worked together for four years, you never do this to me. I dont anticipate you testifying against me. It is weird if you think about it. Im dana perino. This is americas newsroom, glad to be with you for another week. Today cohen is the star witness in braggs case against trump. He served a three Year Prison Sentence for charges relation to hunt Money Payment and lying to congress. Disbarred lawyer and known as Donald Trumps fixer. Bill cohen will be sitting feet away from his former boss as he testifies on the payments he made teep president s behest. A huge crowd in new jersey. Telling the crowd this whole thing is a sham. Ive come here from new york where im being enforced to endure a biden show trial. Carried out by Radical Democrat District Attorney and a highly conflicted judge. He is corrupt and highly conflicted. So conflicted there
Theres no way to unring the bell in our view. Blanche also accused the prosecution of purposely trying to embarrass trump. And trying to enflame the jury following a conversation between the prosecution and Stormy Daniels. Her testimony has now been different after the lunch break. Shorter answers. Less narrative. Lets get right to it. Back with us, nbc news correspondent, Vaughn Hillyard and joining us for the hour, former fbi General Counsel and nyu law professor, andrew weissman, adam pollack and amy parnes. Okay, vaughn, catch us up on whats going inside right this very second. Reporter theyve been going back and forth over that period of time between august of, October Of 2016 when daniels entered into that 130,000 agreement to keep her story silent with cohen. She believed he was a party up until March Of 2018 when she appeared on 60 minutes and publicly detailed the encounter in 2006. It was not until the Wall Street Journal story by the Wall Street Journal in January Of 2018 in
Welcome to the beat. Im ari melber. And Today Is The Day actress Stormy Daniels taking the stand against donald trump in the trial today. Shes the key witness. So prosecutors had an important goal here today, showing the jury that shes believable, that shes telling the truth, that the facts are on her side. And while defendant trump is not on trial for lying about the underlying encounter. That itself would not be a crime and is not charged, they want to use the d. A. , this testimony to show this was the first of many lies by trump, trump of which if prosecuted are crimes. This is her chance to be heard in a Legal Process that has spanned years and often said has involved many claims about her at the center of this scandal. Donald trumps personal attorney paid a porn star named Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged relationship with the republican candidate for president. The former president accused of paying 100,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels. Stormy daniels became a H
Donald trumps criminal trial. The witnesses, the receipts, today, prosecutors began by actually arguing the defendant should be held in contempt again for new fresh Gag Order Violations even after he lost the last Gag Order Clash on tuesday. Prosecution looking at statements that trump put out about witnesses. As well as attacking the jury itself. Prosecutors say trumps violations are corrosive to the fair trial that he deserves and that the system requires. They also accuse them of creating an air of menace that could affect these jurors. Also denouncing persistent and escalating rhetoric. Now the judge found that trump lost his previous defense about this. Ruling that he did violate the gag order, fining him about 9,000. And that was just this week. Trump has clearly broken the rules. I say that again, not as a criticism, but based on what we have observed in the trial. What the judge has ruled. Here he was just last night. I dont think there has ever been a more conflicted judge. Cr