do it for us tonight. thanks very much for being with us. forgive me for having a weird husky voice, which comes from but i just want to thank you for that hour, that 40 minutes with e. jean and this amazing legal team. because roberta kaplan, sean crowley, when you get into reading the transcript of this case, as you know, they re even better than you think. it s like, this is going well, oh no, it s going much, much better, because they re so sharp in every twist and turn in those transcripts all the way through. and it s just an amazing legal team. so i m glad they re all here as a team, because they are three remarkable people there who made this happen. and we can see from the outside, like you said, looking at transcripts, seeing how unflappable and professional and disciplined and prepared they were. but to see e. jean grab both of their hands and call them indestructible, knowing what they ve been through together and the prep they went through with her and knowin
husky voice, which comes from being in the second week of the stupid cold. i promise next week i will be better. now it s time for the last word with lawrence o donnell. good evening, lawrence. good evening, lawrence. we have andrew weissmann and faith gay joining us to go over the legal aspects of this case. and lisa birnbach is going to join us, who as you know, is the person who e. jean carroll called on the day donald trump did that to her here in manhattan. and we are going to get that dimension of the story told here. but i just want to thank you for that hour, that 40 minutes with e. jean and this amazing legal team. because roberta kaplan, sean crowley, when you get into reading the transcript of this case, as you know, they re even better than you think. it s like, this is going well, oh no, it s going much, much better, because they re so sharp in every twist and turn in those transcripts all the way through. and it s just an amazing legal team. so i m glad they r
i m in for nicolle wallace. the final day of e. jean carroll versus donald trump with closing arguments focused on a high-stakes question. what is the price to pay for using one of the world s most powerful megaphones to defame someone. first up her attorney addressed the factor looming over the trial, that is, trump s continued attacks on e. jean carroll. she pointed out trump spent the entire trial continuing to engage in defamation, trump dramatically stormed out of the courtroom. the judge noted the incident and kaplan continued. cnn repts that she said, quote, the case is also about punishing donald trump for what he has done and what he continues to do. shd trump tries to, quote, normalize conduct that could hardly be more abnormal. she went on to say, quote, typically when someone is found liable for defamaon, they stop making those statemeven if they don t like t jury s verdict, even if you d t like the jury s decision you follow it. those are the this trial is also
he s testifying for for the first time. he could not say, for instance, that he never assaulted e. jean carroll when another court of law established that he did. you stand by it, trump, 100% yes, habba, do you deny the allegations. trump, i consider it a false accusation, he said. judge kaplan, that answer is stricken from the record. habba, did you ever instruct anyone to hurt ms. carroll. trump, i just wanted to defend myself, my family, and frankly, the presidency. joining us now, msnbc legal analyst, she was inside that courtroom, lisa rubin. nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard, and criminal defense attorney and msnbc legal analyst, danny cevallos. that was the defense asking donald trump all of three questions, one of which was stricken. it then went to the prosecution. tell me what happened then. reporter: katy, first of all, those three questions, two of the answers were partially stricken. i heard yeses and noes to those questions before donald trump attempted
before i get into it, this is exactly what we expected to happen before the former president was allowed to testify, whether or not he would be allowed to testify is kind of laying the ground rules, and the judge has said this repeatedly, over and over, that this was already litigated. the former president sexually assaulted e. jean carroll. this cannot be relitigated. let me read some of what you said. the jury unanimously concluded that you sexually assaulted her and his claim that he did not was false and defamatory. there are no do overs a prior action cannot be relitigated. trump sexually abused ms. carroll. and let me talk about the details to which he sexually abused her. i won t talk about that on television. and they said that the statements that were made in 2019 were false. carroll, in fact, did not make up those claims. this is a judge talking here as well. and he goes on. he s kind of laying out the ground rules to which there would be testimony allowed from the