Right today at you core. Com im laura coates alongside abby, phillip, and our panel here in Washington For A Special Edition this in im laura codes live and were at the end of a very long week in the trump Hush Money Trial. Court is actually dark on monday, but theyll get what gland again on Tuesday Morning at 9 30. So just what exactly will juror is take away from what they heard in court today. And when they need to be thinking about over their long weekend while there were three witnesses, it took the stand today. It had david pecker who wrapped up more than ten hours or testimony over a period of four days, he was as also trumps former longtime assistant, rhona graff, who was only on the stand for what, a half an hour, then Michael Cohens former banker, gary farro, who is likely to continue testifying this coming tuesday the prosecution wants jurist remember, peckers testimony that his intention was to never publish Karen Mcdougal story of an alleged affair with trump from the transcript, he said, had you published a story about a playboy model having a year long sexual affair while he was married with a president ial candidate without that have sold magazines. See if think his answer. Yes, thatd be Like National enquirer gold. Yes. Going on to say and despite the fact that publishing that story would have helped your bottom line, you killed the story because it helped the candidate donald trump yes and then there was a rhona graff, trumps longtime gatekeeper over at the trump organization. Her desk was at one point just outside of Trumps Office from the defensive standpoint, she was there to show what you might call a kinder, gentler version of her boss she testified that sometimes if it was a long day in the office, i appreciated that. He joked, he poked his head in and would say go home to your family. It was very thoughtful of him. She also confirmed that he kept Contact Information for Karen Mcdougal and for Stormy Daniels whos said she saw at trump tower and assumed that she was being considered for Celebrity Apprentice from the transcript, am i correct that prior to starmer, Stormy Daniels coming up to the office at trump tower, you Recall HearingPresident Trump discuss whether Stormy Daniels would be a good contested answer . I vaguely the Recall Hearing him say that she was at one at one of the people who may be an interesting contestant on that show and then last step today you had Michael Cohens former banker, gary farro, a Connect The Dots kind of witness said that cohen coordinated with him to try to create an account for an llc that cohen would use to pay Stormy Daniels at 130,000 bucks. Now from the transcripts, they tell you what the new account would be four answer the same for real estate and did he express any type of urgency and opening the account answer every time moke Michael Cohen spoke to me, he gave a sense of urgency and this is one of those times answer, this is one of those times. Lets talk about it now apart, federal prosecutor jean rossi here presented keith davidson, who actually negotiated the ndas with Karen Mcdougal and also Stormy Daniels, former trump attorney tim parlatore, and cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, elliot williams, four republicans who your congressional advisor, reno shaw, and Law Enforcement reporter for the Washington Post devlin barrett. Hes the also the author of the coauthor of the trump trials newsletter. So i want to begin with this idea of of gary farro because his testimony in many respects was why i think that people may not have anticipated they were thinking about Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels are thinking about, of course, david pecker, maybe Karen Mcdougal talk to you about the decision to have this person testified, what was the weight of it well, number one, it was a friday and they did not know. I agree. I mean, that it it would not have been in the interest of the prosecutors to call a big splashy witness who they wouldve had an hour of testimony and then had to cut off and resume on tuesday, not even monday the number one. Number two, not all witnesses. A trials and you half of a sphere know this very well. Not all witnesses at trials are splashy fact witnesses. You need people to come and talk about business practices, documents, and so on. And someone like kim could do that. Not on like rhona graff did too. Today that. We can talk about her, but two, she was only up for less than an hour on just a very few specific points. And thats it. And thats not a bad thing and it kept the pacing of the trial right. Now, lets, talk about rhona graff. That was interesting to me in particular, because first of all, the experience of donald trump to be in this courtroom having longterm associates like david pecker, and then somebody who worked for him for 34 years. They were so close that she actually was on the platform for the inauguration. She talked about. Thats how close relationship was. And many identify her as the gatekeeper if you want to talk to him, talk to rode here, she is saying i dont want to be here. Shes there from a subpoena. What impacted her testimony, have i think she connected a couple of hours for the prosecution, but i think she was also very effective defense witness because you have to remember new yorkers, especially the new yorkers, who have been there for awhile now, these are people that chances are. Theyve voted for mayor giuliani. They know donald trump from back when he was a real estate guy, from back when he did this Celebrity Apprentice, she has the opportunity to humanize him in to remind people of those old days of when he was that Real Estate Developer humanizing part so important to talk about them as the he respected her intelligence, you wouldnt have been there for 30, four years had he hadnt he was a kind person. He was a a fair bas there was never a boring de, was a stimulating environment for her. What was the impact of her saying that about him given the context of this case . I think it goes to take the jurors and take a little bit of that prejudice out of it to remind them of what kind of person he was. And what type of new york or they remember him as to maybe take people back a little bit so i do think that they were quite effective at that obviously it was important to kind of explain why is Stormy Daniels in that in the context which again gives them an opportunity to go back and talk about the apprentice wasnt even there witness now. Yeah. I mean, but definitely affect the board, the prosecution though. I mean, what did she do for that . Well, i disagree a little bit with ellie and then i think a lot of prosecutors tried to have like a big hitter witness on the end of a friday because that stays with jurors and especially talking about long weekend, it saves them extra long. I think there was one really telling moment in the courtroom, width, rhona. Thats when she was leaving the witness stand. She trump tried to shake her hand and rhona is sort understood. This is not the time or place for that. And i think thats important to me because juror spend so much time and energy focused on this interactions of People Jurors cant be told the law, they dont know a lot of intricacies of whats going on but they really focused in on how everyone interacts with each other. And i think that moment in front of the jury says a lot about how trump is trying to humanize themselves, and about how the people around him, even people like rhona who are sympathetic to him, or like, hey man, this is picture where weve got to pantomime beds by roleplay so that will happened. So he reaches to shake her hand and she sort of acknowledges in, but shes not reaching back because she understands in that moment, like its not a big its not a big well, but she understands that moment like were not like hugging, but i think it out here. I feel like if i were the defense, id be like, oh, my god, why would you do that . Because it almost suggests that he is trying to kind of flutter her up, right they are remember jane, they arent. She tests. They are paying for her, counsel. Its just going to mention that ellie knows this jurors watch everything, everything in a courtroom day, i had a trial that was six weeks and we found out later jurors were talking about the hairdo of my lead agents Special Agent they look at everything and when they saw trump tried to shake her hand guaranteed if they do a poll or an interview, these jurors, half those jurors will see that moment and say that was reared and the reason its weird, hes paid for her attorney and what he did when he tried to shake her hand. Thats a subtle way of witness intimidation. If all mujer its not violence, but its kinda like, hey, i liked him. I see you. I dont know but i dont know about the witness intimidation. I do to agree that its a terabyte but influence, its definitely not something youd want to do. Its something that i would definitely counsel my clients never to do because every single thing from the moment you get up in the morning to the moment you get back into your apartment tonight, a juror can see you yeah and jurors have made decisions based on things they see on the street. And so the idea that this happens right in front of the jury is awful. I. Mean even if she had received him well, its not a good look. You know, i think either way its its better for you to self because he thinks he owns everyone . Yes. And that is always the look for him, but i got to show that ownership. And if its not ownership, its loyalty because lets not forget how much he demands loyalty of everybody thats ever been in his universe. And so that to me is sort of a moment of like, how much does that hitting the people on the jury each individuals consciousness, right . Of what is this moment between trump and former a person that was very close. It seems to everything that happened in his life, especially the salacious, very private moments. But i think when youre talking about the messaging of all this and how it really hits the average person looking at this trial, particularly those who are right of center they just see this as a further dissection of a price if it life that doesnt need to be dissected. And i find that highly problematic. Well, yeah, everyone stick around. We have a lot more to talk about on this because theres also an exclusive interview. Sayyed Kaitlan Collins on cnn, the former Attorney General, bill barr, saying that not only would he vote for trump but he also suggests mavi the point were talking about, maybe how jurors in the court of Public Opinion might see this. He thinks are very sympathetic towards trump will get our palettes react to that as well. And by the way, if you might recall bill barr. Yeah, hes the one who criticize trumps actions on january 6 and even ask the former president does it mocked him on social media earlier this week saying in part, quote, bill barr has just endorsed me for president despite the fact that i called him week slow moving, lethargic got less and lazy based on the fact that i greatly appreciate his wholehearted endorsement. I am removing the word lethargic from my statement listen to what bill barr said the Kaitlan Collins im very disappointed that this country is stuck with this choice between two people. I dont think either of them should be president of the united states, but given that Binary Choice i feel i have to choose trump. But hes mocking you its not about me. You said recently, which was that the conduct that was involved with donald trump, you said trying to subvert and prevent the progress, the execution of probably the most important process we have, which is the peaceful transfer of power after an election. Name one thing that biden has done thats worse than that i think its hollow administration is a disaster for the company is worse than subverting the peaceful transfer of power. It would did he succeed only because Vice President mike pence done the way and now the people who were lining up again say that they well not do what mike pence did. Look, i was very loud and saying i thought it was a whole the whole episode was shameful. And im very troubled by and thats why its not an easy this vision. But i think when you have a hobsons choice, you have to pick the lesser of two evils well, he was not lethargic in that. You could call it that theres some other things you could describe that i. Mean, it is Pretty Amazing that that we are here. Mean, we were just discussing this arena. I mean, bill barr continues to astounded the other interesting thing is that he doesnt actually ever have to come out and say these things and yet he does. He could keep it to himself after hes being mocked his way thats interesting that he does choose to come out. I mean, on television what the second or third time in a week, its like he doesnt have to do this, but hes hes he wants to show america that there is a step thats too far when you vote for joe biden. And i want to be honest when i say this, i think theres a real fear of a president harris and i think theres a massage one thats rooted there. I think theres a fear of the unknown because they just dont know what shell represent. Ive heard it in private conversations with Many Republican and love people say to me, well, what was it like working in the party for 15, 20 years growing up in it, you must have heard a lot misogyny and i said, wow, i dont look at it that way. But what ive heard in recent years, particularly in the past year, when we talk about bidens age being at the four is a deep hatred for kamala harris. And therefore Painting Biden Out to be the worst choice of the two. So again, coming out and saying that i am so sure about this choice is the lesser of two evils. It shows me that he doesnt really believe in the rule of law. He doesnt believe in a country in which we look at two candidates and we say one is for upholding what our founders wanted and the others for tearing it down. Its a Binary Choice. Hes not willing to make. Im curious what about the other part of this, which is actually about bill barr himself i mean, you cover doj. Bill barr was bought for a lot of liberals considered to be someone who would basically a rubber stamp donald trump. He had a moment toward the end there where he wouldnt do that, but now hes back. Hes come back around in this way think about what the next trump Attorney General could look like if its not a bill barr what is it . And our people inside the doj asking that question of themselves and wondering what it could mean for that agency, abby, i think about that a lot and i think a lot of people in doj have spent the last two plus years trying to build a system that could survive, or at least the things that they care the most about woods survive in sort of sort of whoever the next Attorney General bay, when bill barr was selected by trump originally, a lot of the republicans i spoke to in, the Legal Community said, well at least we didnt get Janine Pyrrho and i think that the next iteration of this should trump become president would not be bill barr. It wont be anyone with ties to the federal society or any of the sort of more traditional conservative legal circles it will be someone who is more of a rabblerousing, someone who is more intense and wants to break more china to put it mildly and so i think there is a lot of concern about that. There is a lot of effort within this Justice Department leadership to try and put a lot of bubble wrap around that china as much as they is that working . We know its transmit. This is a commentary. I think a lot of people criticize a notion of a two party system, right . That . The us, the idea the either, or that you could, you could be an appointee of donald trump in a position thats not an even obscure cabinet official. You were the Attorney General of the united states. Youve seen two different presence. Youve served under a different president s and you said he should be nowhere near the oval office . You dont believe in him. You have criticized him to no end about his policies about the his character and the office. And yet you see, well, what my only choices is a democrat or him. So i gotta go with the republican and there are a number of people agree. Ambassador bolton, who would say, famously, he wrote, he wrote in someone else or didnt want it say what he wanted to do because he was acknowledging that what he could not just hold one knows and swallow that just to me is a real criticism where it will exploratory notion of how closely we are tied to the idea of a two system. And having served under both republican, democratic presence in the justice marman, whats really interesting is that, yes and demos talking about this a little bit, there are shifts, a little bit in sort like the Civil Rights Division will prosecute different types of cases under different ministration. And thats fine. But the difference is both parties, at least the ones that i serve democratic and republican respected the institution a