Today was day 12 of trumps criminal trial and it started with another hearing on his repeated and pretty flagrant at times violations of his gag order which is put in place because he cannot seem to help himself from attacking the judge, the jury, are potential witnesses. To date judge merchan city violated the order for the 10th time. For comments he made when he attacked the integrity of the jury that will determine his fate. The judge found trump in Contempt Of Court and fined the expresident another 1000 bringing the fines up to 10 grand. Judge merchan said he was prepared to go farther. He warmed of donald trump does not stop violating the order, he would be left with no choice but to consider jail time. He made it clear he does not take the threat lightly calling it a last resort. He also said, quote, mr. Trump, its important to understand that the last thing i want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. Despite that, you may be sitting at home thinking, finally, someone will put this guy in jail. You would not be alone feeling that way. Here is the thing. It may be what trump wants. His whole message is he is the victim. He is aggrieved in the victim of a twotiered system of justice. His campaigns fundraising of the possibility that he could be put in jail. In his mind, that would only keep him able to make the argument hes a victim of the system. For all of trumps whining about a socalled rigged system against him, its Worth Remembering that if he was any other criminal defendant who willfully violated an order from the judge 10 times, they would be sitting on a cell on rikers island. He is not. After the hearing, we heard testimony from a man named jeffrey mcconney. A long time comptroller of the Trump Organization, serving under the now incarcerated chief Financial Officer allen weisselberg. While the testimony may not have been quite as dramatic as some we have seen in recent days, it cut to the heart of what the case is about. The legal case. Donald trump is not on trial for allegedly having an affair with a pornography store. He is on trial for falsifying Business Records to cover up the 130,000 in hush money he paid her in order to prevent the news from getting out to the public in the weeks before an election. Mcconney later how they happen. The biggest question the defense raised in the cases, if Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels 130 grand to cover up the affair with trump, why was cohen reimbursed 400,000 in return . Thanks to financial documents presented as evidence today, we learned how that came to be the case. A quick word of advice would be felons, hopefully youre not watching, but if you are, if youre planning on taking part in a criminal conspiracy, i would suggest not taking handwritten notes outlining the entire plan but that seems to be what happened here. First up is this document. A Bank Statement for the 130,000 payment which was annotated by allen weisselberg. A man who is clearly not a mastermind since he sitting in jail as we speak. According to the notes, another 50,000 was added onto for repayments to accompany for tech services. That total was grossed up. A practice in which the Trump Organization overpaid cohen to cover his tax liabilities. Another 60 was added on top as a bonus, apparently for a Job Well Done for facilitating the payments. That brings us to 420,000 which was repaid to Michael Cohen and installments of 35,000 over the course of a year. Reimbursements that on paper claim to be a legal retainer. Good job buying a negative story that could have the election. For good measure, we have a separate document. This time written by mcconney in which he does the same math on the official trump letterhead, on the trump letterhead. It seems often times you simply cannot make this up. We have a number of email chains showing most of the Reimbursement Checks for cohen were sent directly to the white house so trump could sign them personally. All of this we learned before election day. Just before lunch. After the break, we heard from a woman named Deborah Tarasoff or worked in the Accounting Department entered mcconney and allen weisselberg. She labeled them as Legal Expenses and that was one day of testimony. Theres more to come in the case which prosecutors say they are halfway finished, at least for their part. With Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels yet to testify, its going to be an interesting couple of weeks. The former u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york relet hype Profile Prosecution of white collar criminals, and he joins me now. I am not a lawyer. I tried to summarize what we learned today. I talked to a lot of smart ones. I tried to summarize what we learned today. Did i get anything wrong . It was a pretty good summary. What you heard today was testimony that was not so dramatic. Not as salacious as some we have heard before. We are certain to here in coming days, but it goes to the Core The Basic Criminal Charge which is falsification of Business Records. I think, based on what happened today, and how uninspiring the crossexamination was because the documents largely speak for themselves, the prosecution has proven the basic case which is falsification of Business Records. People can argue that the crime of the century, its a misdemeanor. We can argue and see how the evidence comes in with respect to the next phase which is whether it could be accelerated into a felony if it was done for the purposes of concealing or furthering another crime. Election law crime or tax crime. The fundamental case, the elements of which were laid out In Crystallize Form today in court, think were made out. You have the representation that these things were legal fees based on a retainer and Legal Services. You do not have documentation, no detailed Business Records, as we were saying before we started recording, the existence of any Practicing Lawyer, and i am a Practicing Lawyer is to do detailed records of how you spend your time and why the client needs to pay you what you are charging. There is no detail of that. Every lawyer in america has to do that. Ive never worked on a matter where there was not a formalized agreement as to what you can pay for and why. You have none of that here. You have, as you mentioned, Michael Cohen was not just paid for the reimbursement. Lawyers we have photocopying fees and binding fees and other fees we have to reimburse for. We do not get paid double for that. Which is his tax rate. Michael cohen took a hit for the donald trump fraud team and paid out of his own money based on a homeequity line of credit money. The hush money for this person. That was after taxes. To make him whole, he had to be paid not just the Reimbursement Amount but am amount that was pretaxed, would put them in the same position he was in otherwise. Thats not how it goes. Thats important to remember. What struck me is the allen weisselberg. They wrote out how the reimbursement would work which presumably for the prosecution is pretty dampening. Its strong. At some point, we will get into the question of how formidable is the testimony of Michael Cohen going to be . I think the prosecution has done a great job of laying the foundation of cooperation before Michael Cohens testimony. He will come on the stan essay was not legal fees or a retainer. It was not Legal Services before this other purpose which prosecution alleges was illegal. Rather than cooperating after the fact, they cooperated before the fact. Is you when i and others have been talking about for months now, Michael Cohen has baggage. Every witness who is testified to knows Michael Cohen has asked the question, has set the bar so low for Michael Cohen, i dont know he has to do as much as we have anticipated he needs to do. Let me ask about the gag order. The judge threatened, if he violates his, he could put him in jail. What does that look like . It could be in our in jail . Something else . It could run the gamut. Its an interesting thing. The statutory basis in new york, the law is you can fine for 1000 per violation. It might strike some aside. It strikes me as odd but were not in the position to change the lot them,. The next step is not a 2000 or 5000 fine, it does separate duration from your liberty for up to 30 days. The judge is between a rock and a hard place. What you read before was absolutely stunning. You have a Sitting Judge who people understand that the judge in his position doesnt want to put donald trump in jail for a period of time. He doesnt want to be in the position but he said it. He was honest about it and forthright about it which to me means he is serious. If you are the judge, if he sent to jail for an hour, does he care . He may get something out of that. He may want that. We are in unchartered territory. Weve never had a former president who is a right to secret Service Protection and detail for the duration of his life with the president or not and in that circumstance, nobody, the judge least of all, wants to figure out how we do with that. I dont really know. I never have quibbles with you but i have one. You can quibble any time. Trump psychology question. Notwithstanding his bravado and his comparisons of himself to nelson mandela, he does not want to spend the night in prison. Its uncomfortable. Theres problems he would face personally and otherwise and aesthetically and grooming wise that i dont think he wants to get into. He likes to talk a good game and say i will be a martyr, but on the think he wants to go. He may want to go for an hour. He has been fundraising. Let me ask. They resume the trial tomorrow. There are big witnesses who we have not heard from yet. Michael cohen is a big one. Who else are you watching for . Stormy daniels testimony will be interesting. I will say and time at risk of being disabuse, the most important testimony has taken place. With these witnesses, david pecker was david pecker the most important one . In some ways yes. He told the story of how all these machinations were important to and relevant to and for the purpose of winning the election. You have holes here. Hope hicks testified in part. She got some hits from the defense. Saying part of the reason donald trump engaged in the conduct was he wanted to spare his wife humiliation. That doesnt help to prove the prosecutions case but you have them talking about the money, the documents, talking about the purpose of the documents, the lack of documentation of this being a retainer and legal fees. The overwhelming amount of evidence which is more play than Documentary Evidence but overwhelming evidence that this was done close in time to the election because donald trump cared about the election more than anything else and thats why he engaged in this behavior. The other it witnesses will be interesting and across from a Lawyerly Perspective will be fastening and popcorn eating event. I dont know it will be as important given the testimony this taken place so far. Preet, always interesting talking to you. Coming up, if these walls could talk. I will explain what the testimony revealed what was happening inside the white house as donald trump was signing the checks at the heart of the case. Claire mccaskill joins me in 60 seconds. Seconds. I think its fair to say that theres no place more symbolic of the dignity and prestige of the presidency than the oval office. It is where Franklin Roosevelt signed the Declaration Of War after pearl harbor. Where john f. Kennedy directed u. S. Response to the missile crisis. Is where george bush addressed a grieving nation on the night of 9 11. Its were donald trump began and Alyssa Scheme to repay the hush money used to silence a porn star. In a meeting with Michael Cohen in 2017, trump confirmed he would reimburse them by check on a monthly basis. As the Trump Organization former comptroller testified today, each check was drawn from trumps personal account which is not normal. Then, quote, we had to get it down to the white house for the president to sign it. Throughout the year of 2017, trump was managing this cover up, signing these checks while juggling his official responsibilities as president. Its a bizarre juxtaposition. One of the checks was dated september 12. A day trump was hosting the Prime Minister of malaysia at the white house. Another is dated the same day trump spoke with putin by phone discussing syria and north korea. One was from a day when he was abroad, meeting with israeli Prime Minister netanyahu in israel. Another from the day trump decided he would move the American Embassy in israel to jerusalem. I work for two presents another of them were juggling responsibilities of that office with the coverup of illicit payments to a porn star. Trump was. The trial has already revealed so much about that alleged criminal scheme. Its also revealing so much about the kind of President Trump was and the kind he would be if he returned to the oval office. Joining his former democratic senator claire mccaskill. Thank you for taking the time. We were looking up the dates and i was thinking to myself, like so many moments, we need to remind people this is not normal. You are former senator and former prosecutor. You were in the oval office. Talk what you have heard about what he was doing from the oval office while managing the presidency. How crazy is this to you . This goes under the categories we are too numb. We have taken in so much of not normal that all of a sudden we are focused as we should be is how he abused the solemnity of that office. If somebody when i would have time with my friend, the former president obama, we would go back into the dining room are sometimes into his smaller office if we were going to talk casually. There is such respect around the oval office. It was a symbol. It was a symbol. If i wouldve mentioned to president obama, imagined they will have an episode where the president is signing checks to pay off a lawyer who gave hush money to a porn star, you know what president Obama Wouldve said . Your imagination has gone crazy. That would never happen in the United States of america. I want to talk about january 11, 2017. Do you remember what happened that day . What happened as trump had a Press Conference with props. He had files. Had a lawyer from the trump office along with his kids. It was to unveil the American People how he was knocked going to be involved in his business. The paperwork and the files supposedly demonstrated that he was going to hand over everything to his sons and allen weisselberg. He was not going to have any executive decisions. This would be taken over by someone as. Now we find out a mere few months later that he was signing every check over 10,000. Some of them were to pay off a lawyer who was covering up a Porn Star Affair who to get in the oval office. Are reminding me. I worked for two president s, as you know, and for both of these president s, even if they were making political calls a political price calls, they would go to the residents across the other side of the building out of respect for the oval office. Thats important for people to remember. Let me ask you about this case. One of the things i have been surprised by is the storytelling from the prosecutors. It has told me and told the public a lot about what trump is capable of and his character. There is no cameras in there so its a challenge. You are a astute political mind. What is your take of the storytelling and what impact, if any, it could have about peoples understanding of the case and who trump is . Done a good job with the narrative. Explaining why paying off a porn star is not the issue. The issue is a simple straightforward new york statute that you cannot lie in Business Records. I overheard your conversation with preet who is a great lawyer and spent a lot of time in Criminal Court Room as have i. The star witnesses in the case are not the interesting ones. Its the documents. The documents are the star witnesses. And a Big One Today where you have notations that actually tie back to the president all of this about hiding it. That is what this case is about. False Business Records. It seems to me that set the table with reverting testimony about paying off stars and playing of Playboy Bunnies but they will bring this home on the strength of these docume