Hello again. It is 11 00 a. M. Eastern, 8 00 a. M. Pacific. Im Ana Cabrera Reporting in new york. Jose diazbalart should be with us in just a moment. Technical difficulties. But right now, want to bring you up to speed, the court is in Morning Recess in former president Donald Trumps hush money trial, which is now in its 15th day. Manhattan District Attorney alvin bragg is in the courtroom for todays proceedings and nbc news has learned through multiple sources that former president Donald TrumpsAttorney Michael Cohen will begin his testimony on monday. And is expected to be on the stand for several days. Lets discuss more about all of this with nbc news correspondent Vaughn Hillyard, who is outside the courthouse in lower manhattan. Also joining us, Catherine Christian, Former Manhattan assistant District Attorney, who is an msnbc legal analyst. Vaughn, break right now, but set the scene for what has happened so far this morning. Reporter yeah, good morning, ana. Madeleine westerhout, the executive assistant to donald trump in the first two and a half years at the white house, she wrapped up her testimony, finishing questioning from the Defense Attorneys for donald trump and then since we have had an employee, an analyst from at t as well as verizon who are used by the prosecution to enter into Evidence Phone records that show the communications, the phone calls that took place between Michael Cohen and others, it was not the contents of the calls, but it was the mere fact of how long phone calls took. And now were currently in the Morning Recess here as we await the jury to reenter the room, and an additional witness to be called before we anticipate Michael Cohen being that marquee witness to come next week here. Currently as you and i speak, ana, there is deliberation over a 1999 clip, donald trump interview on Larry King Live that is currently being deliberated on by judge merchan, that the Defense Attorneys for donald trump want to not allow the prosecution to bring before the jury. And it was a particular line from that interview in which donald trump, ill read it for you, said, quote, i think nobody knows more about Campaign Finance than i do because im the biggest contributor. The defense team saying this is irrelevant to the case, the prosecution making the case to judge merchan that it is completely relevant because it shows that donald trump understood that corporations are not able to finance and contribute directly to a president ial campaign. Judge merchan indicated that he will rule on that later today. Again, were waiting for the next witness to be called as well as the jury to be welcomed back into this courthouse on this friday, ana. Vaughn, stand by. Catherine, we have now heard from a couple of Witnesses Today about Phone Records including Michael Cohens Phone Records as well as allen weisselbergs. Why is the prosecution putting Michael Cohens Phone Records into evidence before he testifies. More corroboration. Who did he call, keith davidson. Who is he . Hes Stormy Daniels lawyer. He had contact with dylan howard. Text messages, emails. There will be no texts or emails from donald trump, we know that. But, again, before Michael Cohen testifies, they want basically almost everything that hes going to testify to corroborated. When he says i called so and so, they called me, theyll have those records there. And i text this person, they emailed me, they have those records there. So members of the jury, you dont have to take Michael Cohens word for it, we had a representative from verizon here to testify to that. So thats these are important witnesses. Boring but very important witnesses. Some different dynamics were seeing from both attorneys, teams, the prosecution was objecting a lot to some of the questions that trumps attorneys were asking Madeleine Westerhout, the former white house aide, different from what we saw from the defenses few objections during Stormy Daniels testimony. What do you make of this . Yeah, you know what, it is also style quite frankly. Every lawyer is different. And they the defense should have objected more during Stormy Daniels testimony. A lot of details came out where the judge had to basically say objection sustained because the judge is not a potted plant. The judge has a role there. And in this case, what the defense were doing for westerhout was trying to use her to basically corroborate that donald trump wasnt so hands on in that, you know, yes, he sent an email with a photo to weisselberg, but he did that to a lot of people. So they were trying to tamp down what her role was for the prosecution, which was to show that this is a hands on person and even after he got in the white house, he still had contact with weisselberg and cohen. Okay, catherine, vaughn, stand by. Jose diazbalart is in place, take it away, my friend. Thank you so very much. And we continue our analysis and our conversations. I want to bring in scott sundby, a jury researcher with us today. So, scott, i just want to start by asking i now that there is a break in the courtroom, on what is it that the jury sees when they go from a Stormy Daniels, and then westerhout to now an at t specialist to give you an understanding of what smsi means, how does the jury relate to that . I think most jurors are going to be looking at that as something that the lawyers are doing for the judges benefit in many ways. And as catherine was saying, this is setting the evidentiary foundation for the phone calls to come in, which are going to be essential to corroborating cohen. And, eventually, i think that theyll see how it ties back up. But im sure that theyre scratching their head, they may be enjoying a little bit of a break from having to listen to some far more entertaining details, but far more intensive, right . Catherine, the prosecution as we were just talking about this, they did object to a lot of questions of trumps attorneys were asking westerhout, Madeleine Westerhout different from how the defense acted and the objections that they did or did not bring up during Stormy Daniels testimony. What do you make of that . You know, the defense, in that case, was miss necheles should be been objecting more to the Stormy Daniels testimony. It is just when i say style, there are different prosecutors have different witnesses and different Defense Attorneys have different. So, there is nothing wrong with objecting. If you believe a question is irrelevant, or is going to bring out inadmissible testimony, you should object, whether youre the prosecution or the defense. I wouldnt take it like a tit for tat, who objected more. It really doesnt say much about, you know, what is going on. Catherine, how would you, i guess, rate the amount of objections that we have seen from the prosecution and then from the defense as far as visavis other kind of criminal trials. Is this are there less objections by the defense, something that even juan merchan, the judge, mentioned to the defense. Well, there were for just Stormy Daniels witness, they objected a lot before. So, i have to say, from different trials, different Defense Attorney Styles and different prosecution styles, my style as a prosecutor was to only object when something was clearly irrelevant and ined as Mible Inadmissible and over the line, because i didnt want the jury to think i was hiding something from them. If it is something the defense was trying to elicit, already ruled upon, you Better Believe i was standing up and objecting. There are different styles. I dont think you can say how many objections, how many from prosecution, and then rate that. I think this is case normal. People are upset. People are commenting on the Opening Statement that the prosecution objected and thats unheard of, you know, it is not unheard of. At least in new York State Court practice, and in that courthouse, Defense Attorneys will make openings and prosecutors will object because, you know, they go to the line. And there is nothing wrong with that. And the jury is not saying, oh, my goodness, the prosecution objected, the defense must have done something bad because if thats the case, then theyre going to be looking at the prosecution and saying, you know, when the defense objects, uhoh, the prosecution might be doing something bad. I think jurors are much more sophisticated, instructed on the law, and just to focus on the evidence, not, you know, counting the score card about how many objections each side has made. And so, scott, Madeleine Westerhout admitted to prosecutors she spoke with trumps lawyer, susan necheles, two nights ago. Is it unusual for a prosecution witness to meet with Defense Attorneys . Really depends on the state and the situation. In florida, we actually have depositions of witnesses that Defense Attorneys can take, so, you know, that would be in a much more formal setting. As far as i am aware, i think that is rather unusual, that someone who is a prosecution witness is meeting with the defense attorney, there is nothing that ethically keeps them from being able to do that. But usually each side sort of views their witnesses as their witnesses, right . And carefully instruct them that you dont have to talk to the other side, you can, if you want, but you dont have to. So, right now, we were hearing from Vaughn Hillyard just at the top of this hour how there was a discussion between the prosecution, defense and the judge about a cnn interview that trump did with larry king when talking about, you know, all kinds of issues of election issues and election law and merchan right now as a matter of fact is coming back and saying i understand what youre saying about the laws of 1999, compared to 2015, to 2017, so i will side with the defense on this. We have two more witnesses, the judge says, how long do you expect this to go . Mangold said, oh, about an hour. Merchan, so, we will work until a bit after 1 00, or 1 00, so we dont need to come back after lunch today. So, scott, lets take it to the jury. And the jury is hearing, as i say, from this catherine was talking about how boring, but important testimony and i think that somebody from at t explaining what, you know, a chip, a sim chip is, and how it works is certainly not of the interest to most people. What is it that you, as a prosecutor, keep in mind when youre bringing up these different witnesses who have peaks and valleys, i guess, of storytelling . Yeah, you know, storytelling is exactly right, jose. I mean, and the best attorneys, whether prosecutors or Defense Attorneys, are master storytellers. And one of the things that is so challenging as an attorney is we are used to giving a narrative, right . If we tell a story, certainly when i teach, right, im able to, you know, Weave Chronologically as it fits me. Lawyers have to call witnesses to tell their stories. They get the opening, they get the closing, but in between youre calling, like Calling Characters out of a novel an saying tell us what you know about this, and it doesnt necessarily flow real smoothly, and it can be very difficult to sort of construct that narrative in a way that the jury would understand. These less sexy witnesses, if we can put it that way, are, you know, theyre probably interspersing them in part because we had Stormy Daniels, which had, im sure, the jury riveted, we will have Michael Cohen as i understand it, which will have the jury riveted. So, for a half day on a friday, this is a chance to almost do some evidentiary book keeping, if you will, for the prosecution. We have to get this in, these are going to be important, you know, to tie up Michael Cohen had those phone numbers, and was calling them, but it is part of sort of the Background Story that the prosecution has to get in to get to the main story. And Catherine Christian and scott sundby, were going to take a short break as the judge is ordering the jury to come back in the courtroom. Well bring that to you right after a quick break. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. B. Youre watching jose diazbalart reports on msnbc. Nothing dims my light like a migraine. With nurtec odt, i found relief. The only Migraine Medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. To those with migraine, i see you. For the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of Episodic Migraine in adults. Dont take if allergic to nurtec odt. Allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. Most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. Its time we all shine. Talk to a Healthcare Provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. 15 past the hour. Right now in new york city, the court has returned for Morning Recess in trumps hush money trial. The prosecution just called the next witness, Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal for the manhattan District Attorneys office. To Yasmin Vossoughian outside the courthouse. This is a witness that was already called up by the prosecution just recently. Reporter yeah, she was called up last friday. She testified last friday before hope hicks took the stand. Georgia longstreet is a paralegal in the manhattan d. A. s office, much of her testimony the last time around, im expecting it to be similar this time around, of course, setting up for Michael Cohen. It seems like Georgia Longstreet, she takes the stand, setting up for major witnesses to come as we saw hope hicks to take the street after Georgia Longstreet with Stormy Daniels who took the stand throughout the week, this week. Georgia longstreet, her responsibilities inside of the manhattan d. A. s office is part of scouring social media, she talked about Scouring Thousands and thousands of Social Media Posts. We know much of Donald Trumps social media, some admitted for evidence, for instance, if you go after me, im going to go after you, we know for instance Georgia Longstreet could testify to the point of scouring social media once again. The way in which she came upon some of the Social Media Posts, specifically pertaining to Michael Cohen, this record keeping, book keeping, how we got stuff, setting up for some major testimony that were going to be getting from Michael Cohen starting next week, jose. Thank you very much, yasmin. I want to bring back with us former assistant manhattan District AttorneyCatherine Christian, law professor scott sundby, the university of miami, joining us Ashley Parker, Senior NationalPolitical Correspondent for the Washington Post and msnbc political analyst. So, im just wandering, ashley, this is now a paralegal who was brought back to talk about Social Media Posts and how they scour the internet. It is something that the former president is quite adept at. It is. And it is something that is frequently it is a doubleedged sword for him. In some ways his social Media Presence helped fuel his political rise, you know, especially when he was president , when he would tweet things. The media, i think, correctly took them as statements from the president , as press releases, as if they had come out from the White House Press office or th