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
To a Special Edition of news night. Im abby phillip alongside laura coates right here and Donald Trumps lawyers tried to pan fry Michael Cohen on the Witness Stand Today and perhaps the most important day of testimony so far, eight oh, tonight, Donald Rumsfeld . Yes. That Donald Rumsfeld gives us all a lens to view whats left in the Hush Money Trial. The known knowns, unknown knowns, and unknown unknowns. So first the known knowns all those bad fats. So the prosecution took painstaking care to get in front of the jury so that they did not hear them for the first time and crossexamination, that cohen was a jerk, that he was a bully, that cohen was designated a thug, that Michael Cohen cashed in on Donald Trumps name all of them facts that the governments attorney put on the record to make the cross case a little bit less of a rough and tumble affair. Second, you havent the unknown knowns how the j. Will actually choose to react to everything theyve seen and heard from cohen. Well crosse
was the president lang a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier, just a few moments ago at arlington national cemetery. are kevin lip tack is still with me right now. and as we were mentioning just a few moments ago before this guy i started a few minutes early, we should note we were talking about how this is very personal day for president biden, as well as son beau died at the age of 46 years old from cancer after serving in iraq with the delaware army national guard the president talks about this from time to time how this personal sacrifices obviously left a tremendous mark on his life. kevin, your thoughts? yeah, very much so in the ninth anniversary of that death, just coming up later this week, and i think for president biden then when he s standing there in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier, certainly thinking about the decisions that he has made, an office the very responsibility that he holds two men and women in uniform in this country, protecting fr
trump was talking about michael cohen lying, perhaps he was talking about something else he was aware of that cohen was telling prosecutors that isn t reflected in this agreement. let me get something that was in the middle of what donald trump said there, when he said even if he was right, it doesn t matter. and here are the key words, because i was allowed to do whatever i wanted during the campaign that apparently is the belief that has donald trump in all the legal jeopardy he s in now including unindicted coconspirator in the original michael cohen case for the illegal pay-off system to stormy daniels. donald trump believed even though he was a candidate for federal office whose behavior is controlled by all sorts of laws, he believed that i was allowed to do whatever i wanted during the campaign. spoken like a true narcissist, that whatever he wants is what he can do. and he s used that defense
but i m sure that robert mueller is not done yet. lawrence, can i point out one bizarre thing about donald trump s tribe today? he talked about michael cohen lying, well, the statements in his plea agreement are backed up by e-mails and documents. and i spoke to felix seder who was a partner in the trump tower deal and he says what michael cohen is now saying is accurate. so it was very strange donald trump was talking about michael cohen lying, perhaps he was talking about something else he was aware of that cohen was telling prosecutors that isn t reflected in this agreement. let me get something that was in the middle of what donald trump said there, when he said even if he was right, it doesn t matter. and here are the key words, because i was allowed to do whatever i wanted during the campaign that apparently is the belief that has donald trump in all the legal jeopardy he s in now including unindicted coconspirator in the original michael cohen case for the illegal pay-off