>> tonight, donald trump jr. takes the stand, in new york civil fraud case against the former president. wait under earth about his family's business. then, house speaker mike johnson looking to tie aid for israel to cuts to the irs. a move that would add billions to the deficit and hookup rich tax evaders. and i go one-on-one with the funds himself, henry winkler breaks down the impact of his iconic character. you do not want to miss this as the 11th hour gets underway on this wednesday night. >> good evening once again, i am stephanie ruhle, live at nbc headquarters here at the rockefeller center. donald trump's eldest son goes under oath in the 250 million dollar civil fraud trial against the former president and his family business. donald trump junior took the stand late today in a new york courtroom, before he testified managed to do what he loves to do most. crack a joke. >> i should've won make of. >> today prosecutors focused on his job running the trump family business with his younger brother eric. a role his father announced before entering the white house back in 2017. >> my two sons who are right here, don and eric. they are going to be running the company, they are going to be running it in a very professional manner. they are not going to discuss it with me. these papers are just some of the many documents that i've signed turning over complete and total control to my sons. >> donald trump jr. is not just a witness in the case, he is also a defendant along with his brother and his that. and we see's laura jarred has more on today's testimony. >> tonight, the former presidents eldest son inside a manhattan courtroom. donald trump junior, the first of his siblings to testify in a 250 million dollar civil law fraud lawsuit against the family's real estate business. new york's attorney general accusing the republican front runner, his sons, and his company of inflating assets to get better terms on loans and insurance. pointing to don junior's signature on documents, certifying the accuracy of the company's financial statements. which include assets like mr. trump's apartment in manhattan. listed as 30,000 square feet, when it is actually a third of that size. today, he was pressed by the state about his role of executive vice president of the trump organization. don jr. saying he relied on outside accountants who prepare the financial statements. he said blasted the suit from the -- and the judge, also a democrat, as a partisan kangaroo court. >> it doesn't matter what general practices the business would be, it doesn't matter, they have a narrative, they have an end goal, and they will do whatever it takes to get there. >> the judge has already ruled in the states favor on the central fraud claim, much of the trial is to determine -- when, while the former president the much olin -- donald trump jr. is expected to return to the stand tomorrow. eric trump is also slated to testify on thursday. the former president is set to appear on monday. and right now his daughter ivanka is set to testify next wednesday. meanwhile, a federal judge in florida is considering giving trump exactly what hs, delaying his upcoming classified documents trial, it's supposed to begin on may 20th but trump no surprise wants it postponed until after the 2024 election. with, that let's get smart with the help of our leadoff panel. caroline ng is here, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter with the washington post, david fahrenthold, a new york times investigative reporter who won a pulitzer for the -- trump's terrible jahmai shuns. and former u.s. attorney joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. okay, choice. the judge here in new york has already ruled -- the judge ruled in advance of trial that the corporate fraud was established. that is no longer needed to be considered. but there is still six separate charges that involve false statements that were made one fraudulent statements were submitted to banks. so the judge is evaluating that. but remember, steph, he also has this overarching question of how much of their ill gotten gains the group will have to decipher -- attorney general asking for $250 million, and part of this testimony is evidence the judge can consider in arriving at the number. >> let's say the judge comes up with a number, when will donald trump actually have to write the check and paste? like i want to know, has he written e. jean carroll the check for $5 million? even though, whatever, $10, 000, thousand dollar fines he is getting tied to his gag order, to see actually writing these checks, is it happening? >> e. jean carroll first, that is an unusual situation because normally when someone who loses in the trial wants to take an appeal, they have to file an appeal bond. but for whatever reason, donald trump couldn't get one or didn't get one, and he actually wrote a check for that amount that is sitting in escrow, waiting for the outcome of the appeal. something that is similar that would happen, here if you wanted to appeal, this is of course understate procedures, not federal. it is a different bit. he would rather have to get an appeal bond or write a check for the entire amount. so in that sense, steph, there is some immediacy. but of, course in the e. jean carroll case, that money is not sitting in e. jean carroll's bank account yet. >> all right, david, you have covered the family business. but better than anyone i know. what did you think was the key part of junior's testimony today? besides his huge oak about makeup which he may have been wearing, we don't know. >> well, the only real substance they got to today was this question of what his input was into these financial statements that they had been found to be wrong and fraudulent. and what donald trump junior has said was, well, yeah, i find, them but i didn't know it was in, them i trust that there would be taken care of. that is important to me because there is sort of two totally divergent strands of argument that the trumps are making. on the one hand, donald trump is saying, look, yes, i provide these numbers to the accountants and they passed them on to lenders and other people. but there was a clause saying that they were just numbers and a should not go tragically themselves, often just. some donald trump jr.'s is saying the opposite. but it was the accountants, it was the other people he trusted to provide these numbers, and none of them came from him. i don't think you can argue that both ways, that is the accountants fault or the accountants do nothing for very long. that seems to be what they are. trying >>, okay i'm sorry, i'm gonna run a, time but i have to go back to joyce. joyce, isn't that the reason you sign a document. right? if you didn't decide, it then the accountants would just do their thing and they would mail it in. what the point of signing on the dotted line saying i agree that everything here is factually correct deny except the liability, isn't that the point of signing one's name? >> absolutely, they are trying to have it both ways here. this is not a judge who will let them get away with it. you, know steph, the thing that underlines this whole case is this notion that we have a financial system that works because banks can have confidence that when businesses submit these sorts of documents, they can be relied upon -- trump try to turn them on their, head everyone, doesn't have windows or numbers were bad so there's really no harm, no foul here. and that is just not how any of this works. >> there is harm there is foul, if they were lying about the value of their business to get more favorable terms from a bank's. yeah, there's arm. carol, prosecutors in this civil case revealed evidence that our colleague andrew weissmann said it could be hugely important to both jack smith and fani willis. what does it mean to their cases? what is he talking about? >> sorry, i couldn't read that fast enough. i think it had something to do with winning the election. try me again, stuff. >> andrew weissmann is saying that there is evidence that the prosecutor put forward that jack smith and fani willis are going to go crazy for. what could it be? >> i really have no idea other than -- >> basically he knew he didn't win the election? >> right, but i mean, so much other evidence. i usually agree with andrew about so many things. but there is so much information to let us know that donald trump knew that he didn't win the election. not least of which, great reporting by the washington post on the new york times, colleagues of mine including david. talking about how, you know, when he was speaking with some of his most important advisers after the election, he said, can you believe i didn't win pennsylvania? can you believe i didn't win georgia? i mean, he literally said that to kellyanne conway. so he had some instinct and some knowledge and some awareness when he was in private that this is not really the way it goes. of course, there is something else jacks mitt house, which is that every single person donald trump relied on to give him advice about, you know, as donald trump junior said, that is what we pay him for. that is why i have cpas, well donald trump paid a lot of people and hired a lot of people to advise him on his campaign. and indeed, every single one of them told him that he had lost. the only person that i can think of that didn't tell him or i should say that we don't have proof that he told him that he lost was mark meadows. that is the only person i can think of. his campaign lawyers over and over again told him, his attorney general who had work and precedent to investigate possible fraud of the election before the election was certified, so the department of justice never does that. his attorney general told, i'm sorry, sir, there's fraud that you are claiming didn't happen, if there was any election mistake or fraud, it's too small to have changed it in your favor. >> david, donald trump's image and his busyness are tied together, his children are involved in this case, what is at stake for all of them? >> well there's sort of two levels of what is at stake, on a practical, level we have been talking about potentially large fines, judge garland actually said he wants to cancel the business certificates of these businesses that trump owns in new york. that would be sort of not an immediate process, but it could lead to a process where he would lose control of trump trump tower. many other office buildings in new york, golf courses he owns in new york. so there is a very practical concern there that they could learn the heart of the reason us in new york. wouldn't be a fatal blow to the old trump organization, it would certainly change the law. this sort of other level is the psychological level, which is this idea that all along we saw trump build this career on the apprentice, you know, he even had a sort of iconic business savvy. but he was lying about a lot of it he was just making a lot of it up. certainly there has been a lot of evidence tonight that is commit already, but this would sort of be a legal judgment all in one place when you see how much of trump's empire was basically just imaginary. it was just imagine assets, imagine value that he threw out there and got people to believe for a long time. now we are able to see behind that. i think that is almost as damaging to him as whatever properties he might lose. >> carol, new topic, trump's classified documents case, judge aileen cannon, a trump appointed judge who many people believe is quite friendly to the former president. she is now weighing a delay in the trial, i mean, if that isn't a grand slam home run for him, i don't know what is? >> no, i think pretty much every lawyer who has been on your show, and i'm going to have to count joyce in this category, has basically pressed that this would happen. every single person who has been watching closely for what judge cannon would do, especially because she leaned so hard against the law, according to every appellate judge who looked at this. every prosecutor who looked at it. she leaned against the law, to basically stop a criminal investigation in progress involving classified records just to remind, when she did that, classified records are the property of the federal government. she has no role in deciding whether or not classified records should or shouldn't be reviewed by the government. that is their property, and so when she did that, she cast a huge shadow over her reputation as a basically a person who knows the law. does she know the law if she can go that far in donald trump's favor. and i think a lot of lawyers were hoping that she would be somewhat embarrassed by that moment. and that she would carefully think through whether or not her decisions lead, again, in donald trump's favor. yet here in this instance, we don't know her motive, we don't know her intention, but she is leaning hard in his favor. and pushing against the national security division lawyer today. basically saying, you know, we can do, this judge. we have all the records, we have got all the stuff, the defense for trump says that if so voluminous we can't do it. by may 2024 we can do it and she said i just don't really believe you. >> wow, all right, joyce, new topic. the new york times is reporting that if donald trump were to get the nomination, if he were to win, his allies want him to choose lawyers who will embrace a more radical agenda. and i want to remind our audience, here is what some of his former administration lawyers told the january 6th committee about his efforts to overturn the election. watch this. >> i made it clear that i did not agree with the idea of saying that the election was stolen and putting out the stuff, which i told the president was fake. and, i didn't want to be a part of it. and that is one of the reasons that i went into me deciding to leave when i did. it's fair to say that i agree with the attorney general, attorney general's conclusion on this. yes, i did. i supported that. >> what they were proposing, i thought it was nuts. he co-chevys and the venezuelan, they have an affidavit from somebody who says they -- and something with the philippines. just all over the radar. >> so if those lawyers, if those lawyers were not on board with trump, what kind of people could we see in a second trump white house? >> this is one of the most frightening stories that i've read, and as someone who teaches and works in the area of democracy and i think this is a foundational threat to the future of this country. because donald trump would impose a litmus test for lawyers. it would have -- even taking an oath to the constitution. this would be the question that he asked of jack comey before he fired him as director of the fbi. what a need for me was loyalty. that is what he would seek from every lawyer in the executive branch. and what this means is that the justice department, the power of prosecution would become a prerogative of president donald trump. he would exercise prosecutions as a way to punish his enemies. he would and prosecutions to reward his friends. nothing is more oppositional than to give over this power to donald trump it's really interesting that stephen miller, not a lawyer, who worked for jeff sessions, and when he fell out of favor with, trump mueller stayed with trump. that he is one of the reported masterminds behind this scheme. this is nothing to do with supporting good government or the constitution. and everything to do with installing an autocratic leader. >> it just takes me back to jim comey and his book, wanting to hide and camouflage himself into the curtains because he did not want to have to answer to trump being his lawyer, his guy. remember, trump and his generals? carol lanning, david -- great, great to see you all. when we come back, speaker mike johnson's israel aid bill includes cuts to the irs that would add billions to the deficit and hook up super wealthy tax evaders, you know elizabeth warren has a lot to say about th. and she is here next. later, the first civilians leave gaza, crossing the border into egypt. ben rhodes is here on that and what is next for israel's ground offensive. the 11th hour is just getting underway on a busy wednesday night. oh, hello! hi! do you know that every load of laundry could be worth as much as $300? really? and your clothes just keep getting more damaged the more times you wash them. downy protects fibers, doing more than detergent alone. see? this one looks brand new. saves me money? i'm starting to like downy. downy saves loads. when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... being me. keep being you... and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in many people whether you're 18 or 80. with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to undetectable—and stay there whether you're just starting or replacing your current treatment. research shows that taking h-i-v treatment as prescribed and getting to and staying undetectable prevents transmitting h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your healthcare provider. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. no matter where life takes you, biktarvy can go with you. talk to your healthcare provider today. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. biktarvy can go with you. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? 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