elbows are impossible to lick. i meant your own elbows. you don t settle for bad internet. that s why you have the xfinity 10g network, with ultra-low lag for better streaming. wish you would have been more specific about your elbow. only from xfinity. good afternoon. i m chris jansing reporting live from msnbc headquarters in new york city, and it is suddenly another wild day inside a manhattan courtroom. breaking news as we come on the air, former president trump addressing the court right now, part of the final chapter in the civil fraud trial that could bring down the empire that made donald trump a mogul and then arguably president. today there were dramatic closing arguments as the former president tried to argue his way out of a devastating blow to his business. lawyers putting their final mark on what has been an intense and important 11 weeks. i want to bring in new york times investigative reporter suzanne craig. also with us new york times chief white house c
engoron trying to limit that in terms of his rulings now around the closing arguments. as susannse was just saying trust that donald trump and his defense team are going to try to find as many ways as possible to appeal whatever the ultimate verdict is, and whatever the ultimate judge in this case that judge engoron issues. in terms of the money changing hands, we could literally be looking at years before there is an ultimate decision that determines what of the judgment that judge engoron enters, donald trump is going to actually be responsible for having to pay. so the ramifications of this in the immediate sense are much more reputational than they are practical. that won t come until several years later. let s bring in msnbc legal analyst lisa rubin. you were in the court and just moments after former trump former president trump spoke. you were able to come outside to
the steps. he s making the case to the broader public. he s making the case to his base days away from the iowa caucus, that he is a victim, that he is the persecuted candidate. therefore, they should not give credit to the ruling that this judge will make and has already made. the judge already determined that president trump committed fraud with these valuations of his property, and now the only question is how much he ll pay for that. donald trump is trying to explain that to the audience of voters who may only be paying attention now as the iowa caucuses near on monday and the new hampshire primary follows a week after that. charles, both by his lawyers during their can closing statements and now by donald trump, they are making an argument that fraud wasn t committed when, in fact, that has already been decided. so what is their strategy by doing that? bad lawyering. and i really know that may sound very simple, but at the end of the day, as you said, this is
that third-party presidential effort. you heard chris christie last night suggest he s going to do what he can over the next ten months to make sure donald trump is not president again, but we had a conversation with the campaign manager for chris christie who said he has not directly engaged in any conversation with no labels at this time, yet has not express lid ruled it out. it s been a busy 24 hours for him. that s a story we ll be watching in the days and weeks ahead. using the old at this time line. whatever he may decide to do and whether this is really the end of the presidential road for him, i was thinking last night as i was watching the debate and also reading the criticism this morning that they needed to go after trump, something we ve heard from the very first day that any of them announced, right? that s nothing new. but chris christie did that, and look where he ended up. so was it always going to be an exercise in futility, susan? well, to some extent, the
donald trump is facing. maybe they re wondering if he wants to give the closing argument at their trial. hunter biden is expected to appear in a california court where he faces nine tax related charges. the arraignment comes a day after the president s son made the surprise appearance on capitol hill walking in and out after what was already a chaotic hearing. mike memoli is live outside los angeles court. first lady, dr. jill biden appeared on morning joe earlier today. she spoke about the challenges hunter biden is facing. what did she say, and what s the latest from where you are on the ground? the comments from the first lady are so interesting because of what we haven t been hearing from the white house from the biden campaign, the political reasons, they want to keep the focus on the economy and the president s democracy message, and also they want to keep the fire wall between the president and the just department. they have been very reluctant to talk about the charges