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
everything else is noise. joining me now to discuss, our lead off panel, luke broadwater, pulitzer prize-winning congressional carol leonnig, investigative reporter with the washington post, and former u.s. attorney joyce white vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. thank you all. joyce, let s start with you. michael cohen is central to this case. do you think costello s testimony will have an impact? is cohen s credibility a problem for da brag? cohen s credibility is a central issue in this case. he s previously been convicted. he s written a book called revenge, certainly, trump s lawyers will suggest that s what he s trying to get through this testimony. the reality is, and cohen said this today on every melber show, the district attorney will have to meticulously corroborate cohen s testimony at trial. now, we re just talking about grand
is cohen s credibility a problem for da brag? g? cohen s credibility is a central issue in this case. he s previously been convicted. he s written a book called revenge, certainly, trump s lawyers will suggest that s what he s trying to get through this testimony. the reality is, and cohen said this today on every melber show, the district attorney will have to meticulously corroborate cohen s testimony at trial. now, we re just talking about grand jury proceedings, and putting costello in front of the grand jury s last-ditch effort by trump to avoid indictment, it seems unlikely that it works since the grand juries did not request to hear from michael cohen again, after hearing from costello, to indict the have to find there is probable cause to believe that crimes were committed. that is a relatively low threshold for them to reach. just to be clear, joyce, in