eastern. our thanks to you for let us into your home. we are so grateful. the beat with ari melber starts now. thank you. i ll see you tonight. i want to mention to viewers nicolle was just reporting on the new u.s. air strikes in syria. we have more on that later but we begin with the big political news right now in america. so tonight i say welcome to the beat with ari melber, and welcome to the beat with james carville, one of our special leadoff guests as we track what is clearly a political earthquake in america. democrats surging to victories as these results poured a win for conservative ohio that s upending politics across that state and the nation today. it puts pressure on the republicans who are squaring off in tonight s debate as nicolle just mentioned. this was a moment that was supposed to go different little you re looking at live shots where they re supposed to be talking. it was a moment the republicans were hoping to discuss better news. but right no
right now. we re watching these critical races in ohio, virginia, kentucky, and mississippi. at this hour polls now close in the eastern counties of kentucky. other states will be entering their final hours of voting in the next hour or two, and steve kornacki will be with us this hour to break down the key races, ballot measures, and what we re starting to learn. the president of planned parenthood here to discuss abortion rights, driving voters to the polls in states like ohio. i don t believe the government should be involved in any kind of choice that has to do with a person s body. i support anything that allows for an unborn life to be born. my number one is pro-life, and i m going to vote pro-life. i am absolutely concerned about voting for reproductive rights. some concern we hear from voters going in and out of the polls today. that s the big story. we have that through this hour and the evening broadcast on msnbc. first and top story is defendant trump bac
hi, everyone. it s 4:00 in new york. it is raining news. we start with trump on the stand. it was short on substance, short on decourt um, and very short on truth. yet overflowing with deflection and grgrievance. donald trump s testimony in the $250 million civil fraud lawsuit in new york, though historic, felt familiar in some ways. except for one key difference. the arena. it was not a fox news sit-down or a meandering political speech, but donald trump sat down in a courtroom. and in courtrooms, facts and the rule of law still matter. they reign supreme. in that domain today, trump was repeatedly admonished by the man who will determine the fate of his business empire and brand and the future of the size of his family s wealth. time and time again the judge has used his authority as a judge to interrupt donald trump s everyone is out to get me, to run out the clock on testimony that was limit 20d a single day. that was today. the question was andet me ask again, became fam
on the stand in new york today? so i increasingly feel, and you ll have to let me know at 7:00. i don t have the training to analyze donald trump anymore. i need a psychologist or a psychiatrist. i don t know how much of this was as some of the journalists suggested was performative deflection, and i don t know how much of this is actual holy you know what, they took my toys, right. i think that he cherishes his company more than democracy. i accept the journalism that supports this trial means more to him than some of the federal ones that are to come. i don t have a good enough answer for you about whether it is performance art or an actual meltdown. quickly, i have to ask, we ve got the political lens, and then we ve got the actual legal lens. i m not going to ask about the legal lens. there s tons to talk about that i ll be going over in the next hour. politically, do you think this was a successful strategy for the former president today? i think those are, you kno
don jr. and eric trump boast testified in the civil fraud case with the future of their family business at stake. today was eric trump s second day on the stand, and nbc reporters note that eric trump seemed more nervous today than in yesterday s testimony. they report that he was often leaning back and forth in his chair and fidgeting, and they also described him as agitated and defiant. the civil prosecutor spent part of today asking eric trump about allen weisselberg s severance package. weisselberg served three months at rikers island for tax fraud and was removed from cfo of the trump organization. when he left he was given a $2 million severance package with strings attached, including a provision specifying that weisselberg could not communicate with, provide information to, or otherwise cooperate in any way with any other person or entity. and weisselberg has been true to his word. he has never cooperated with manhattan prosecutors in donald trump s stormy daniels hus