authorities ramp up security. then, republicans quick to defend the twice impeached trump but some want to have their cake and eat it too. how will it all shake out in the 2024 race? and vladimir putin s visit with china s president just days after a warrant was issued for putin s arrest. what this relationship signals for the war in ukraine as the 11th hour gets underway on this monday night. good evening. i am mehdi hasan in for stephanie ruhle. we are in the midst of an extraordinary moment in our nation s history. the people of america are watching, waiting to find out whether manhattan district attorney alvin bragg will bring criminal charges against the former president, donald j trump, related to a hush money payment related to stormy daniels. it would mark the first indictment of a former president in u.s. history. the grand jury in the case heard from another witness today, attorney bob costello, robert costello, the new york times describing him as appearing, quote,
criminal charges against the former president, donald j trump, related to a hush money payment related to stormy daniels. it would mark the first indictment of a former president in u.s. history. the grand jury in the case heard from another witness today, attorney bob costello, robert costello, the new york times describing him as appearing, quote, at the request of the former president s lawyers providing testimony aimed at attacking the credibility of the prosecution style witness. that star witness is former trump lawyer and fixer, michael cohen. the times as that costello was once a legal adviser to cohen when he was facing a federal investigation into the hush money payment following his appearance. castilla s book about what he told of the grand jury. michael cohen told us that he was approached by stormy daniels lawyer. stormy daniels had negative information that she wanted to put in a lawsuit against trump. michael cohen decided, on his own, that s what he told us
beginning of trump s run for office about his conduct back then, the notion that a candidate for the presidency would pay someone off to keep them from talking about misconduct by that candidate on the eve of an election would seem really significant. in fact, john edwards, vice presidential candidate gets indicted on federal charges related to this same sort of conduct in a situation where the payoff that he makes is not related to the campaign, is not on the eve of the election, and nonetheless, it s seen as significant enough to indict. so this looks to me like the origin story for trump s election misconduct. it s important but most of all it s up to manhattan s district attorney to make the decision to charge. he s not accountable to congress. he s accountable to voters in manhattan. and of course there s the belief that no man is above the law, and if he committed a
with a letter of his first name on it? because i don t. [ screaming ] to the biggest fight of our lives. let s-a go. [ ominous music playing ] whoa! [ chuckles ] new york city is preparing for the possibility of former president trump being indicted. the nypd was seen erecting
today, attorney bob costello, robert costello, the new york times describing him as appearing, quote, at the request of the former president s lawyers providing testimony aimed at attacking the credibility of the prosecution style witness. that star witness is former trump lawyer and fixer, michael cohen. the times as that costello was once a legal adviser to cohen when he was facing a federal investigation into the hush money payment following his appearance. castilla s book about what he told of the grand jury. michael cohen told us that he was approached by stormy daniels lawyer. stormy daniels had negative information that she wanted to put in a lawsuit against trump. michael cohen decided, on his own, that s what he told us, on his own, to see if he could take care of. as he sat with the lawyer for stormy daniels, they negotiated a nondisclosure agreement for $130,000. he went to jail, and now he s on the revenge tour. if they want to go after donald