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
Freedom for everyone in our nation, from that experience, we know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority and the very foundation of our democracy. Moments like this, we have to put these principals that we are talking about into action. I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In america, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard. I understand thats america. But theres no place on any campus in america, any place in america, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind. [ applause ] whether against jews or anyone else. Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. Its against the law. We are not a lawless country. We are a civil society. We uphold the rule of law. No one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves. [ applause ] the jewish community, i want you to know, i see your f
that black spirit, that darkness. he just points the gun at my forehead. the first thing i started thinking of was my children. at first i was saying what does kidnap mean? my dad was stolen by bad guys. i lost everything that i knew just like that, gone. it was such a mystery, who was behind this. it was just tearing me apart. i was suffering so much. we if it takes everything we have, everything i can humanly do. i saw things that no 12 -year-old should see. i mean just the cruelty of incredible fear and agony. when is this going to end? and all the hell that we went through on all the pain has made us unbreakable. the green and white taxi parallel down the highway, something was wrong. why had the man paid ten times the fair for a simple package delivery? we can didn t pry open the alarm full of. the cabbie pried open the package. their terrifying story, more than a decade in the making was about to come to an astonishing climax. i was 12 years ol
happened this past week, which was really the last week of argument in this historic criminal trial of donald trump. the first ever for a former president, as you certainly know by now. this final week was a short one, but a lot happened. michael cohen was back on the stand finishing his four days of testimony, and trump s lawyers began and ended the case. in one week we saw the d.a. and the defense team both rest. and we saw the defense witnesses, who, at times, stumbled. here is how it played out. the defense wrapped up with michael cohen after three days of cross-examination. it was a grueling three days. the prosecution has now rested its case. the defense has also just now called its first witness. robert costello back on the stand later this morning after yesterday s fireworks. he was nearly tossed from the witness box and his entire testimony was nearly stricken from the record. an extraordinary moment. his whole attitude on the stand can have the defense
questions and got the information that i wanted they heard which was very important to save his life then i said, i change my tone and in came me. and i told him how much i loved him. and how much the kids missed him. [crying] and that i would do anything to get him back and that the money didn t matter, i would do everything i could. and i could hear his tone changed completely. it was the real him. he told me he loved me too and then i hung up on him.