Good evening from new york, im chris hayes. After five weeks, the first criminal trial of a former u. S. President is nearly over. The defense rested, this morning, it called only two witnesses. Despite all his bravado and insistence to the contrary, yeah, donald trump was not one of them. We knew that, right . Instead, we heard briefly from a paralegal, attorney Todd Blanches from about phone records, for a man by the name of Robert Castella took the stand. Costello is a former federal prosecutor, a very close associate of Rudy Giuliani, the twice indicted former mayor of new york city. More about him later in the show. And, also, Donald Trumps personal attorney while he was in the white house. I think it is fair to say that costellos testimony, this week, backfired on the defense. How much remains to be determined. But, trumps attorneys main reason to put that man, Robert Costello understand, was to directly contradict and impugn the credibility of the prosecution three witness key w
Donald trump did not take the stand. Closing arguments are now set for one week from today. Then the case will go to the jury. My colleague has all the details. Reporter tonight, the defense resting their case with former President Trump choosing not to take the stand in their first criminal trial. Jurors left today hearing only from robert costello, a lawyer who briefly advised Michael Cohen. Prosecutors trying to Paint Costello as a paint ally to prevent cohen from flipping on mr. Trump. Confronted with emails, suggesting he was frustrated. He refused to hire him including one where he wrote he continues to slow play us and the president. Is he totally nuts . Hes playing with the most powerful man on the planet. Costello suggested monday, cohens entire story, that former President Trump plotted to silence Stormy Daniels to protect his campaign was all a lie. Costello telling jurors that Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments and that