Donald trumps former lawyer has taken the stand today at the former president s criminal trial in new york. Michael cohen is testifying about his role in what prosecutors say was a cover up of payments to hide an affair with the Adult Film Actress Stormy Daniels. Mr trump denies falsifying Business Records to reimburse his then lawyer and fixer for the payment on the eve of the 2016 president ial election prosecutors say his motive was to avoid political damage. Lets speak to our correspondent, nada tawfik, who is live for us in new york. He is the star witness in this trial. What has he said in the first hour or so . Trial. What has he said in the first hour orso . Prosecutors trial. What has he said in the first hour or so . Prosecutors have already covered a lot of ground, starting first with how Michael Cohen came to work for donald trump, and they are trying to establish that Michael Cohen, yes, wanted to please donald trump, that he was on Top Of The World when he took care of ma
Not happen . Initially i dont think theyre going to say, theyre going to know whether or not trump knew about this deal or not. They have gone all over the place. Trump, the ceo, too high, doesnt know whats going on and then something else. I think theyre undecided. As a defense lawyer, you do that at times. You dont have the burden of proof. The prosecution does. So when you stand up and close it, youre going to say, i dont even have to be here to stand up, the only person you have to hear from is them. If i did nothing and the judge would tell the jury and they didnt prove their case, my client needs to be acquitted and thats what the law requires, but i do think jurors as reasonable people expect a counternarrative that makes sense. Theyre here to bring the rational to judge and the prosecution put forward a documents heavy rational and this counterrational of attacking stormy and going on and on again and get morgue and more tangential is undermining their case. How much does the w
Reached with them. Daniels was doing what many people view as a conventional form of celebrity extortion. She wanted to cash in on her story. But whats interesting is that donald trump was trying to kill false stories as well as stories that were allegedly true. There was a story involving a door man who said he had an illegitimate child. She wanted to kill that, too. Thats not strange for celebrities or politicians. Indeed, many members of congress have engaged in ndas throughout the years. So this is a standard part of politics and entertainment. Now, what they are showing the jury now is that she had this economic motive all along. But also her credibility is in tatters. The real question here is going to be how more sort of narrow the scope of the testimony will be. It is obviously going to be narrower. It is a Cross Examination when it comes to trump. They have a lot of material involving her own conduct, her own life. And you may see the prosecutors start to object as to the scop
Radicalization. A figure with maximum street cred with extremists. Stokes fear based on racial stereotypes, accuses marginalized populations of being terrorists and then throws in more rhetorical bombs and thats where we findous today. Unchartered territory pap clear escalation in the specificity and repetition of Donald Trumps violent rhetoric in recent days. Donald trump has called for the countrys top Military Official to be executed. Donald trump targeted a court clerk with a baseless smear that throwed a gag order. Hes repeatedly gone after the prosecutors who charged him with 9 1 felony accounts in total and now attacks on White Supremacist rhetoric. On this program we try our hardest not to ever amplify his most dangerous comments but were going to play them for you here today right now, because we believe you should hear the comments from the man himself. Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from and we know they come from prisons, come from mental institutions ins
Where these come from. The podcast is grapevine. I have gone way over. Im sorry to deadline white house, which starts right now. Hi, everyone. A dramatic day in court after a judge stakes action on an issue that has loomed over the entire country since the expresident descended these escalators at trump tower eight years ago. That is his longstanding practice of threatening and wielding violent and dangerous rhetoric as a weapon. Against anyone who he perceives as standing in his way of anything. Inevitably, facing the potential for violence. Donald trump under a gag order. Back in court this morning fo he eventually left during a break. Nbc news reports, speaking outside the courtroom before the trial start, trump decried it as a political hit job against him as he repeated his ongoing atck against new York Attorney general Letitia James whom he accused of trying to interfere with his chances of another president ial term. In fact, trump returned to the cameras multiple Times Railing