after tense and dramatic testimony, filled with more than a few moments that would make any one of us blush, the trump election interference hush money trial today got down to brass tacks, a flood of evidence, phone call data, texts, tweets, documents, that cast new light on the mechanics of the scheme to silence stormy daniels and conceal the hush money payments. they set the stage for one star witness and possibly the appearance of another witness who is not on anyone's list to testify. read out loud in court today messages sent between stormy daniels' publicist, gina rodriguez, and the "national enquirer" editor dylan howard. these text messages show that those two were in talks for months about buying stormy daniels' story. on october 7th, 2016 -- april 7th, 2016, rodriguez text but stormy was his mistress. dylan howard texts back, i bet she was. can you e-mail me what you have on that? few months later this exchange from june 28th, 2016. gina rodriguez texts, she doesn't want to go on the record about it, but wants to tell the story through a source. she had sex with him. she wants 100,000. dylan howard at the "enquirer" once or ongoing relationship? >> gina rodriguez writes back, a couple times, and he promised her a condo and a spot on "celebrity apprentice." these text messages show that gina rodriguez was being bargained down from an initial ask of $250,000. but as david pecker testified, he reached the point with this deal where he said, quote, i'm not bank and refused to do it, which left these negotiations in the hands of michael cohen and donald trump. so on october 17th, 2016, gina rodriguez text, we're not doing the deal, the trump deal. dylan howard replies, keith gave me a heads up what happened. gina rodriguez, they didn't pay when they said they would and they keep trying to buy more time. "daily mail" wants it bad and we're doing it. the foot dragging by michael cohen and donald trump ends on october 7th the last text message from dylan howard the day before that says, quote, good news i hear. prosecutors today also got to the actual charges at hand, those 34 felony counts for falsifying business records for the first time in the trial. the d.a.'s office put each one of the allegedly false records on display for the jury. there were 11 invoices, 11 vouchers and 12 checks, all relating to the reimbursement of one of their next witnesses. multiple sources telling nbc that michael cohen will take the stand monday for what is expected to be several days of dramatic testimony. also brought up in court today, one person who looms over this case, former trump org cfo allen weisselberg. he signed off on the plan to reimburse michael cohen, also the amounts that he would be reimbursed. we saw his handwritten notes on documents entered into evidence this week. where is he? he's serving jail time at rikers for perjury. from nbc news reporting on this, the parties discussed whether weisselberg's severance agreement should come into evidence. under that agreement the trump organize is obligated to pay him three installments by the end of the year and in exchange he may not disparage any of its officers, director or employees. prosecutors say they want to use it to explain why allen weisselberg is not once. nbc news reports this, quote, as a solution, the judge notes that it would be helpful to him in resolving this if some efforts were made to secure weisselberg's appearance. a mountain of hard evidence in the amount of documents and pretty intriguing discussions over witnesses still to come, is a prelude to a potentially explosive week of testimony next week. it's where we start with our favorite reporters, all at the table today. "new york times" investigative reporter susan craig is back, msnbc legal analyst and a former criminal deputy chief at sdny christie greenberg is back. back from the cold, hard streets of lower manhattan, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard at the table and host of "politics nation" here on msnbc, the president of the national action network, the reverend al sharpton is here. i'll start with the question, this is -- how mad is trump? i mean you know him. >> he's furious. i mean, i think if you looked at his facial expression, believe me, let's put it this way, i don't think melania is going to have a great mother's day. he will be kicking walls all weekend because of -- he really -- really in a dangerous position he's in now. the time that i've known donald trump, whether we were fighting or whether he was trying to act like he was a democrat, he's delusional and the look i saw on his face today was, all of a sudden the delusions are kind of melting, and he realized this could be real trouble. i think he'll be putting a lot of pressure on those lawyers he'll be coming up with a different theory every second that they ought to try. it's going to be a very busy weekend for donald trump because he is, i think, a man sinking and he's seeing it and he's going to try every angle he can between now and when they reconvene next week. >> i feel like it's a smear to shake spear to describe cohen versus trump as shakespearean, but in this element it feels like it might be. what trump will want to do or say about cohen could put michael cohen spent time in prison. these two men connected, cohen took care of trump's dirtiest deed, did it with seeming enthusiasm for a while. he and weisselberg sort of two of the -- one we know is a witness, a coming attraction, the other a giant question mark, two of the not the only men but two men who have gone to prison for donald trump. >> imagine your frenemy, most folks have one of those. take it to the next level of the white house on the line, prison on the line, one man having served time in prison for the crimes that he pled guilty to committing on behalf of that other friend slash now enemy. that's what's on the line here. when donald trump is literally going inside the courthouse today he sees a tiktok last night from michael cohen that includes michael cohen wearing a shirt of donald trump behind bars which led to an irate donald trump and attorney todd blanche saying michael cohen should be directed to not speak about this trial at all because donald trump is currently has the gag order placed on top of him. he's already violated it ten times a couple of those for attacking michael cohen, but this is a moment here where he wants to go out and publicly defend himself and this is the same argument we saw at the end of court yesterday but about stormy daniels. todd blanche making the case for donald trump that donald trump should be able to attack her because she's a witness that is now off the stand but as stormy daniels tweeted last night, quote real men respond to testimony being sworn in and taking the stand in court. oh, wait, never mind. michael cohen could have that response back in return. that is an outstanding question, would donald trump take that opportunity to go on the attack against michael cohen in the place he would be able to do that in the courtroom. >> what's interesting about stormy daniels and michael cohen, in 2016, which is what this whole trial has brought me back to, in every way, 14 or 15 republicans failed to ever understand how to get under his skin. stormy daniels and michael cohen can do it as easily as the rest of us exhale. he's triggered by the two of them. what are you expecting as someone who has covered all these players on monday? >> i'm wondering when donald trump walks into that courtroom and michael cohen is there with him there, you know, this is a man who has already publicly testified up on capitol hill, whether it be on his tiktok, on his podcast, he has talked so extensively about him, but donald trump has struggled to respond. as you just said, he's struggled to respond to stormy daniels' allegations, right. it's not like he's coming fact for fact. the same thing with michael cohen, and for him, will he be able to manage over the course of the week knowing that testimony will be coming up monday, tuesday, thursday, will he be able to truly sit there and will his attorneys be able to get him to resist demanding that he take the stand whether it is legally calculated or not. >> his lack of impulse control in all of this is remarkable. he went out on twitter and said i'm not going to say anything else. and then has continued time after time -- >> which one are you talking about? >> michael cohen. yeah. it's hard sometimes to differentiate the two. >> frankly neither of them -- >> he was out on a tiktok live video with a shirt of donald trump behind bars that donald trump's lawyers were in court complaining about today, and there is this remarkable explaining about it. even the government lawyer joshua steinglass said we can't control the witnesses. we don't have the power to do it. the judge actually said to him, you should tell them, you need to talk to them. he understand he can't control them, but there are messages that have to go out enough is enough. donald trump he wants to respond in a political format. he's having to realize right now the constraints of this courtroom, but it's frustrating i think, particularly when you're seeing what michael cohen is doing, time and time again. after michael cohen saying he's not going to do it. he continues to poke the bear. and this is what's coming into court on monday. this is what -- it's going to be interesting because i saw michael cohen in the civil setting, and i actually thought in most respects he was a very good witness. but on monday what goes to the heart of this is what he's going to be testifying about. the hush money payment he paid, he has done time for this, and i think it's just a whole new ball game on monday as it how this unfolds. >> we should not forget that michael cohen, despite all of the baggage, is really emotionally very, very connected to seeing some justice here as he sees it. you may remember he called me and i had prayer with him before he went to jail. this man went to jail in part on these charges. >> rev, i agree with you but if he's that emotionally invested he has to show some restraint. >> you cannot blow it. >> right. >> he's going to get blamed for it. >> at the end of the road, that you wanted to see something, don't blow it. if i were to talk to him this weekend, i'm not calling him, he's called me, don't blow it. whatever you said, if it is true, you have an opportunity now for truth to become clear in front of a jury. >> right. >> don't blow it. i think that his emotions are tied up. i mean i talked to -- >> you can feel it. >> i talked to his son while he was in jail, don't make having suffered for nothing. now is times for you to see justice done as you tell us the story of what happened. >> i mean, i can feel your phone about to ring. but i mean, i think we've all talked and covered him. we've all covered him. long enough to know what he would say is that trump has literally savaged him and his people come up to michael cohen on the street and threaten his life and family, but it is a moment and i just wonder if you can go through legally what do the prosecutors need from michael cohen on monday? >> one, as you said, they need him to stop talking. the judge has -- >> outside of court. >> outside of court. save your voice from the testimony on monday. save it up. now it's not just the prose kultsers asking, the judge said today communicate to michael cohen that i am asking. it's coming from me, please stop. even in e. jean carroll when donald trump was saying things about e. jean carroll, defaming her during the trial, the punitive damages went up. like jurors take notice of both witnesses and defendants. their behavior during the trial. it's worse. but what can we expect from him? he's going to walk us through the story. most of the exhibits have been admitted into evidence, and so now that we have today we got the extraction from his phone, his e-mails, text messages, his contacts, and so really, he's going walk us through what were these exchanges. we know about a meeting at the white house. what happened in that meeting? he's going to tell us directly this is the one person who can tell us here's what i talked about with donald trump in the oval office about these hush money payments, in particular the hush money payment to stormy daniels. he will lead up to it with the karen mcdougal payment but what's charged is the stormy daniels' payment. we have evidenced already from david pecker about karen mcdougal and we have that audio recording which is fantastic with donald trump and michael cohen talking about the karen mcdougal payment. we need the conversation with donald trump where he has knowledge about this hush money payment. that's what michael cohen is going to have to do connect those dots and put it all together for us. >> what would the prosecutors have learned this week from a cross of stormy daniels that they could apply to final round of prep in michael cohen? >> well, they know it's going to be combative, right. i mean looking at how susan necheles came after stormy daniels, figure it's going to be amped up times ten. >> hard to imagine what that looks like, right. >> it's going to be very intense, very combative and i think for michael cohen don't get baited because they're going to try to bait you. we saw this in the text fraud trial where their whole argument was, we are here because of allen weisselberg's agreed and they had to make somebody the bad guy, right. here it's not going to be donald trump. it's going to be michael cohen is the bad guy. michael cohen did this because he's so obsessed, this was in the opening, he's so obsessed with donald trump, and he's such a sycophant that he did that without donald trump even knowing, donald trump was too busy being president and running for president to get in the weeds. ridiculous doesn't make sense but that's their argument. if you want to say that this was all michael cohen, michael cohen needs to focus on making sure to point where donald trump is involved and not make it about him. make it about the evidence. make it about donald trump and explaining this to the jury, and not about your own anger, which i understand he feels that, and he has every right to feel that, but that's not what this is about. >> trump telegraphed that upon leaving the courthouse today, telling the press down the hallway that michael cohen, he didn't do big deals for me, he did little deals. minimizing the role michael cohen played in his life. >> why did you pay him $400,000. you can't have it both ways. you say you were paying him for legal services over $420,000, but he only did little deals? i mean, show me another little lawyer that got almost half a million dollars from donald trump. >> at least he didn't say i don't know who michael cohen is. i'm putting that out there. >> that is true. >> that could be coming. i think the revenge narrative, which will be there, he wanted to go to washington and i did take him, sour grapes, will run against even more so than with stormy daniels all the documents and i want to go through, i think we have most of the exhibits, i want to go through what the jury will have seen before michael cohen takes -- i mean don't believe me, believe your eyes and ears and feels like this is the first real legal clash between the moment that trump told his supporters don't believe what you see, what you hear, read, just believe me, and whether a jury can trust their eyes and their -- the documentary evidence. i mean today i thought there was some real charisma in the data guy that was correcting i think todd blanche, actually got a digit wrong. these are unimpeachable data news, remind me about the pollsters. what about that. lost. you lost. data people know data. >> right. as the one guy from at&t said, i actually find this kind of enjoyable, and one of the attorneys for donald trump said, essentially god bless you, because that's -- >> tedious. >> i kind of enjoy it. >> i love it. >> i mean that's what -- it seems very strategic that cohen comes after those kinds of witnesses. >> right. you want to make sure all of that evidence is in so that he's just now there to tell the story. everybody else has been leading up to this, and he's so well corroborated by all of these other conversations that he's had. david pecker was a perfect setup to paint the picture. he's had the conversations directly with donald trump about hush money payments and catch and kill, and michael cohen to bat cleanup and explain how this worked with respect to stormy daniels. you have documents to your point about the fact that donald trump was saying this was a reimbursement, right. him admitting that in a civil lawsuit an you have an actual conflict of interest form signed by donald trump saying that you are reimbursing michael cohen. what would those be for other than the $420,000? is there another amount of money? no. so again, i think there is enough in the documents, but michael cohen needs to just take his time and walk the jury through it. >> who is the other witness? >> well, now you've asked me a question i don't know the answer to. >> that's okay. i mean explain the drama around this. >> oh, i think i have a couple more theorys. >> two more witnesses. michael cohen is one. he's important because he's going to walk us closer to the intent issue. the documents are really important, but we have to get intent to get a guilty. the jury's got to feel there was intent there. but the other witness, it could be an election expert, an election law expert could come forward, another custodian witness. i'm not sure. but that's sort of -- >> that's a mystery. >> speculating, we're talking about it at the end of court today and some of the speculation. >> do you think trump's team knows who it is? >> yes. >> they know who it is? >> for sure. >> like friday to monday is about how much notice they've been getting? >> that seems to be. they might not. i would think they do. >> the tea leaves. >> chit chat. >> we appreciate you pulling back the curtains. still to come more on this important but abbreviated day that ended at 1:00 p.m. that's why we have everybody at the table. nobody rushing in helping us talk through the first ever criminal trial of an american ex-president. what this parade of custodial documents and witnesses have been able to do to advance the prosecution's case against donald trump and trump defense lawyers have done if anything to impeach any of it. later in the broadcast, how triggered trump is by michael cohen. we'll show you what we've been talking about when "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. diabetes can serve up a lot of questions. like what is your glucose and can you have more carbs? before you decide with the freestyle libre 3 system know your glucose and where it's heading no fingersticks needed. now the world's smallest and thinnest sensor sends your glucose levels directly to your smartphone. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. the #1 cgm prescribed in the u.s. try it for free at freestylelibre.us her uncle's unhappy. the #1 cgm prescribed i'm sensing an underlying issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for. wow. -incredible, isn't it? -yeah. well, with your home, auto, boat and rv all bundled with progressive you've got the peace of mind to really wander. yeah. yeah, i just hope it stays this way. once word gets out about these places they tend to -- -are you done? -aaand there it is. well, at least your vehicles are protected. let's hit the road. hey fam! i'm just at this beautiful lake that i just discovered. practicing gratitude, manifesting abundance. as exhibit 5a to my testimony shows i am providing a copy of a $35,000 check that president trump personally signed from his personal bank account on august 1st of 2017. when he was president of the united states. pursuant to the cover-up which was the basis of my guilty plea to reimburse me, the word used by mr. trump's tv lawyer for the illegal hush money i paid on his behalf. this $35,000 check was one of 11 check installments that was paid throughout the year while he was president. other checks to reimburse me for the hush money payments were signed by donald trump jr. and allen weisselberg. you see for that example 5b. the president of the united states thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. >> michael cohen shouldn't be underestimated in terms of his capacity to do that, to be calm, to be restrained, and to tie his knowledge of trump's role to the documents in his possession. that's what he'll do at least on direct, on monday. >> i think what they're going to do and it's interesting that it sounds like they plan to be done, the government's case plans to be wrapped up by the end of the week. that is three days of testimony. that sounds tight to me, especially if that includes the cross and sounds like and i think they would be smart to do it very much to tie michael cohen to the documents now. >> like that. >> keep it tight. right. he knows about the checks. he can talk to the checks and continue to bring him back to things already in evidence, particularly the documents. that's where i sense it's going. and to keep it, you know, who knows what's going to happen on cross. that's going to be -- >> anyone's guess. >> and a wild time. but i think what the government is almost certainly what they're going to do. >> explain all the conversation about allen weisselberg and what is this severance agreement say and why is this important? >> there was a question today where is allen weisselberg? he's sort of this -- >> where in the world -- >> absent government witness at this point where in the world is allen weisselberg. of course he's -- the jury does not know he's at rikers island for perjury, his second trip out to rikers. the issue with allen weisselberg is he has this confidentiality agreement he signed with the trump organization and it's not fully paid through yet, and in the confidentiality agreement, it's a very strongly worded agreement, that the government has read that he cannot cooperate with the government investigation. they haven't called him, he's just a wild card, and he may take the fifth or he won't answer questions, so this became a whole thing today. i don't think donald trump's lawyers want him in the courtroom either because who knows thu cross is going to go. he's also the first -- one of the first things that will come up about him in the courtroom, is he's in jail for perjury and also been to rikers once before. so there was just this huge hubbub about him but the government wants to get this separation agreement into evidence. so the judge, in talking to the two parties today, he sort of suggested he might like to see him on the stand outside of the jury and ask him a few questions to see how it goes. that doesn't sound like great idea from the government's point of view, so they may withdraw the idea of getting his severance agreement in as a compromise. we don't know where this is going to go now, but we're waiting to see. that could still happen. and i should raise the other witness that may come in, we don't know, but he's on the list, is keith schiller, and he was trump's body plan for years and knows a lot and is one of these unnamed sort of witnesses we're hearing a lot about at trial. he saw a lot of stuff, and so far we haven't seen him either. i'm not sure if he's going to be there, but that's another possibility. so there's still some -- a few as we head into this important day on monday of michael cohen's testimony. >> legally, keith schiller, if he's subpoenaed he would have to testify, right, or a sense he wouldn't tell the truth? what's the -- and does allen weisselberg's severance agreement protect him from answering questions honestly or the prosecution doesn't think he would? >> the prosecution doesn't think he would. that clause in the contract seems like it would be legally unenforceable. you can't tell someone to obstruct a lawful federal investigation. that's a crime. he would have to answer truthfully, i think, with both of these witnesses there's a real question to whether they will. they are trump loyalists through and through. allen weisselberg has proven he's willing to go to jail not once but twice to lie for donald trump's benefit, not his own, he was the guy getting blamed in the fraud trial as being the guy who was greedy and doing things without donald trump's knowledge. he's proven time and again he will do it i guess for the right price. for keith schiller he would be an important witness if he were treuful. according to stormy daniels the bodyguard outside the door during that encounter which donald trump's lawyers said didn't happen. he could put the lie to that and say i was there. he's also -- from the trump organization, and then he would make sure those got madeleine westerhout for donald trump to sign the checks. he has the information, but i just am guessing the prosecution is not going to call him because they don't think he will tell the truth. >> there's such a stark difference and i wonder if this is appreciated or lost between how the witnesses whose lawyers are paid by trump stishlgs i think glass her's and those who probably help the district attorney build this case, michael cohen was down there 25 times, what do you make of this sort of push through stormy daniels and michael cohen and trump's, you know -- i take your word for it he's sort of a seething mess. but the terms of what is sort of out there again? what's being relived for the country in the political moment? >> i think that number one this is the difference between a paul manafort and an allen weisselberg. there is a tweet put into the record today in which he praised paul manafort for not breaking with him unlike michael cohen who flipped on him. >> flippers. >> there's a difference in the way that those two men approached their responsibility to donald trump. in this part of the tax scheme that allen weisselberg pled guilty to, he agreed to testify against the trump organization, but not specifically donald trump. there's that major distinction there. the country is now watching this to the extent that they are looking at the minutia of allen weisselberg and who he is testifying against or not, that donald trump and loyalty -- again, look all of us, we all believe in truth, wish we had a truth and wish people like allen weisselberg would walk into a courtroom and tell the truth. he's serving time in rikers because he per jurred himself just last fall. michael cohen in the january of 2019 testimony you played at the beginning of this segment here in that very testimony, michael cohen, before congress, under oath, said that the one other person who was there with him when he was directed to do $130 be,000 payment was none other than allen weisselberg. that's where trump directed us to go back to weisselberg's office and figure this out. allen weisselberg at the age he is now would be willing to go do that this story for the jury might be more concrete. >> i cannot articulate how broken our politics are when we're talking about the criminal trial of an exrepublican president and the key witnesses to the alleged crimes are not people that can go on the stand because no one thinks they would tell the truth. it's screwed up plittly that's where we are as a country. there was a piece yesterday, of all the criminal indictments trump faces, this is the trial, country is getting the trial it deserves for selecting donald trump. >> this is the really, in my opinion, important point a lot of people are missing. we're talking about an ex-president of the united states who may be president again, at least a 50-50 chance. he's talking about flippers like a mob boss because flippers mean they were doing a crime with you and flipped on you. if you are innocent, you're not worried about flippers because you weren't engaged in a crime. >> you're innocent. >> who talks about flippers other than a criminal. and for our having to sit here, seeing this man in some pose tied to be president and he's furious because people may get on the stand and tell the truth about him, we can't normalize this. this is bad for the country and it is beyond those of us that are opposed to donald trump. it is bad for the country what we're seeing unfold in downtown manhattan. >> it's a sickness that extends to the person who was in charge of donald trump's justice department is a vote in the donald trump column in 2024, as we sit here and talk about the two witnesses central to the facts stipulated being out of bounds for the state because they would lie, it's insane. it mean just politically it's bonkers. no one is going anywhere. i'll get myself together. up next for us, putting it together. how the prosecution over the past four years has linked all of the evidence they have shown to the jury and all of the witness testimony into what they believe is the strongest case possible. we'll look at how they've been able to do that next. out what te future looks like. for me. i may have trouble getting around, but i want to live in my home where i'm comfortable and my friends are nearby. i can do it with the help of a barber, personal shopper and exercise buddy. someone who can help me live right at home. life's good. when you have a plan. ♪ ♪ (vo) it's shrimp your way. choose three flavors for just $20*. when you have a plan. like new street corn shrimp. and our famous garlic shrimp scampi. it's time to grab some cheddar bays and get flavorfull. hurry in to try shrimp your way, only at red lobster. 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. life with afib can mean a lifetime of blood thinners. and if you're troubled by falls and bleeds, worry follows you everywhere. ♪♪ over 400,000 people have left blood thinners behind with watchman. watchman is a safe, minimally—invasive, one—time implant that reduces stroke risk and bleeding worry, for life. ♪♪ watchman. it's one time, for a lifetime. today's witness testimony in the criminal trial of the ex-president may not have had the firework factor and salacious details that other witnesses provided us this week, but the witnesses on the stand did provide key testimony for the manhattan d.a.'s case against donald trump. pair legals from bragg's office and a verizon executive called to enter crew shall evidence into the record. "new york times" points out their importance today was saying each of those witnesses has provided a link in the chain of custody of the 34 business documents at the heart of the case against donald trump. joining our coverage, former investigator for the january 6th select committee, tim heyby. i want your thoughts on proving the elements of the crime trump is charged with and i see an element to the witness testimony that you guys elicited from everyone around donald trump on that day, both that he knew he lost and knew that there wasn't any fraud. >> yeah. there's a lot that happens in criminal trials that's fairly mundane. you have these moments of great emotion, like the stormy daniels testimony, but then you have blocking and tackling that has to be done to lay a foundation, chain of custody for particular documents that matter, that particularly matters in a case that relies upon witnesses who have baggage, right. the flippers, as the defendant likes to call them, like michael cohen, the prosecutor has to corroborate him. they cannot go to the jury and say, you have to believe michael cohen in order to find him guilty. they want to say, michael cohen has been corroborated by all these other witnesses and documents. that shows that he's telling the truth. that is the central, most important factor for a prosecutor in a case where you're calling a co-conspirator as a witness. you're seeing a lot of that foundation being laid to prop up and corroborate the testimony of the central witness, michael cohen. >> i mean, it seems like the entire architecture was about precorroboration, so that by the time he takes the stand you would have to believe that all these people who still say on the stand that they like and revere and respect donald trump, pecker, hope hicks, madeleine westerhout, all these people who love him, who either have lawyers paid for by him or say they think he's so smart, hope kept talking about what a good message person he was, pecker kept talking about how he was the most eligible bachelor, he was married the whole time he was covering him, the people that have testified to the same facts that cohen will testify to on monday, are all very much in the trump camp. that feels like a strategy that you guys may have pioneered in the public hearings. >> absolutely. there's no question that witnesses providing that corroboration, who are close to, continue to be loyal to, have strong feelings about the defendant, are more credible. harder to argue that they have any sort of bias or any reason to do anything other than tell the truth. that's why the hope hicks and madeleine westerhout and ronna graphs are so important. prosecutors can call cohen first, because he's really the lynchpin that ties all of the, you know, the payoff to the business records, or they can lay the foundation first so that when the jury hears the lynchpin testimony of michael cohen, they're like, oh, yeah, that's what david pecker said. oh, that's right, that's what hope hicks said. so it maybe makes them more favorably inclined to believe cohen because the foundation has been laid before. this is art not science. there's no precise way to do it. but, it's clear that what the district attorney's office is doing, nicole, you're precisely right, is with largely republican trump loyalists are trying to corroborate their star witness, michael cohen. >> i mean, vaughn, i think that speaks to trigger trump and his political angst because the last time that happened was the very public january 6th hearings when that was on camera, that was on tv, and that did damage the republican brand ahead of the midterms. >> it absolutely did. there was a focus point and also a divide between the efforts of liz cheney and adam kinzinger in real-time through the january 6th select committee and what donald trump was trying to campaign around the country on and there was this weird vibe because in the republican primaries that existed it was the trump-backed candidates versus those who were not. first everybody angling for the trump endorsement so you could not say donald trump did any wrongdoing or acknowledge he had me a missteps or should have handled the events of january 6th differently. that was not allowed. donald trump effectively got rid of eight of the ten republicans in the house and voted to impeach them in -- that voted to impeach him in 2022. what happened with the trump backed be candidates, republicans get demolished and individuals who won the republican primaries lost general election races against democrats. this was the contrast here that yet again is playing out and you're looking at republican primaries again. this is yes de ja have you all over again. dave mccormick was annihilated. on a rainy day in pennsylvania at a campaign rally for donald trump at fairgrounds, and he was just attacking dave mccormick supporting dr. oz, and attacking him, look who's campaigning now with donald trump at mar-a-lago last weekend. dave mccormick. in that role and capacity, you must defend donald trump and all of his actions. so yesterday when rick scott was down at the courthouse i asked him, do you believe stormy daniels or donald trump? he didn't answer and said he said this is a records case, right. it's about -- >> okay. >> standing in solidarity with donald trump and this is the part that is politically difficult here for republicans is that their leading man up and down and going to campaign around the country, less than six months out until the general election and this case will be a factor. >> it's amazing. i want to come back to you on this allen weisselberg question and what may be ahead because of the strength of all of the documents. i have to sneak in a quick break. we'll be right back. t-mobile “savings”, take one. guys, focus. here's the line... “at t-mobile, you get tons of benefits, and you can still save versus the other guys.” focus! hello t-mobile... hold on... you might want to just... ok stop! just say it like this, “at t-mobile, you can save on every plan, and you get great benefits with magenta status." magenta status... yuh! i'll show you my magenta status. ok, i'll just do it. check out the t-mobile savings calculator to see how much you can save. and right now, we'll even pay off your phone when you switch! today, at america's beverage companies,... ...our bottles might still look the same... ...but they can be remade in a whole new way. thanks to you... we're getting bottles back... and we've developed a way to make new ones from 100% recycled plastic. new bottles - made using no new plastic. you'll be seeing more of these bottles in more places. and when we get more of them back... ...we can use less new plastic. see how our bottles are made to be remade. our biggest challenge? uncertainty. hidden fees, surcharges... who knows what to expect! turn shipping to your advantage. keep it simple...with clear, upfront pricing. with usps ground advantage®. ♪♪ disrupts my skin, night and day. despite treatment, it's still not under control. but now i have rinvoq. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that reduces the itch and helps clear the rash of eczema—fast. some rinvoq patients felt significant itch relief as early as 2 days. some achieved dramatic skin clearance as early as 2 weeks. and many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers, including lymphoma and skin; heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. help heal your painful skin— disrupt the itch & rash of eczema. talk to your doctor about rinvoq. learn how abbvie can help you save. i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing -- >> what financing. >> we'll have to pay -- >> no, no, no. >> what financing and pay with cash, what he contributed to the architecture of the hush money scheme. tell me what you are watching for in terms of cohen's testimony specifically about the role of they call him allen here, but twice imprisoned allen weisselberg. >> i think two important mentions of allen weisselberg today. we talked about one where it came up should he be testifying at all. but in the early morning session, madeleine westerhout was still testifying today and had about an hour on the stand and she, of course, was donald trump's assistant when he was at the white house. she had a seat right outside the oval office in the outer oval office and saw so much that was going on and she was also in charge of bringing him anything that was coming from trump tower, she would bring it in, and she talked about i guess we saw kind of contrasting two different portraits of donald trump. she first of all, yesterday, we talked about how he was so tight with money that donald trump wanted to frame a picture of his mother and the cost for the frame $650 and there was a lot of consternation about whether or not that money should be spent on this frame from tiffany. then she came in today and had a different view of donald trump which goes to something that i think we're going to be seeing with allen weisselberg that we've talked about at the table and that was all of a sudden he wasn't really paying a lot of attention. >> trump or weisselberg? >> donald trump was not a micro manager at all. in fact, the person she saw, she would bring the checks in, sometimes he would be on the phone signing checks, sometimes he would be in meetings with staff signing checks, that he really was not paying a lot of attention to what he was doing, which, of course, is the opposite of the donald trump that i think we all know and we've heard about. this guy is a micro manager, you know, that he's never paid a bill in full. he will try and get everything down to half and, you know, but she was portraying this other side of him. the other thing that she talked about and while she's talking about how he's now signing checks on the phone and not really paying attention, is that he didn't really have much contact with allen weisselberg in 2017. in fact, she said that donald trump would send out hundreds and hundreds of clippings to people he would sign them and that was one of his ways of connecting with people. he sent one to allen weisselberg. where we're seeing this train going, wait for it, allen weisselberg and michael cohen came up with a scheme on their own and we've gotten shades of that, but we really started to see it take shape today and i think we're going to continue the idea that cohen and weisselberg came up with it. i wonder, if we were to get allen weisselberg on the stand and but you wonder where allen weisselberg would land on that. part of the defense is that this was a scheme cooked up between the two of them, and donald trump was just busy doing a bunch of other stuff and had no idea that this payment was happening. >> i mean, what -- what westerhout requires is for you to impeach donald trump. it's trump's words that said i look at every check, it came in the testimony from his publisher and his ghost writer who talked about how hands on he was and ghost writing in his own words. the other piece is a jury would then -- i'm sure you're right, sue's always right -- but a jury would then be asked to swallow a story about two men who didn't have the sex with stormy daniels and didn't run for president and benefit from the sex being silenced. would that work? >> you not only would have to believe that michael cohen went rogue because he's so obsessed with donald trump and wanted to stay in his good graces and potentially get a seat -- some position, so he did this out of the goodness of his heart. you not only have to swallow that, you have to swallow that allen weisselberg was willing to write out checks and do this in the business records of the trump organization without ever telling the boss. and that's just not what we have heard about how the trump organization has been run. it's not consistent with the testimony thus far even from jeff mcconnie who said allen weisselberg, all of these notes that he took, that was based on conversations he had with donald trump. he said that. then you have other people that have testified from the organization talking about accounts payable, yes, donald trump looks at all these checks. donald trump is the one looking at all of these finances. he would ask questions. madeline westerhout said he's tenantive to details. he -- tenantive to details. he reads before he signs. the next day on cross she's asked basically the same questions and says something completely different. it was oh, now, she's asking the question, i know what she wants to say because i prepped with her, with the defense attorney for an hour, i'll say what she wants me to say. i don't know that she necessarily helps the defense all that much because it was so inconsistent. >> transparently so. we'll get last word on the other side. we'll get last word on the other side first psoriasis, then psoriatic arthritis. it was really holding me back. standing up... even walking was tough. my joints hurt. i was afraid things were going to get worse. i was always hiding and that's just not me. not being there for my family, that hurt. woo! i had to do something. i started cosentyx®. i'm feeling good. watch me. cosentyx helps people with psoriatic arthritis move, look, and feel better. it targets more than just joint pain and treats the multiple symptoms, like joint swelling and tenderness, back pain, helps clear skin, and helps stop further joint damage. serious allergic reactions, severe skin reactions that look like eczema, and an increased risk of infections, some fatal, have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to, or if ibd symptoms develop or worsen. it's good to be moving on. watch me. move, look, and feel better. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. kayak. no way. move, look, and feel better. why would i use kayak to compare hundreds of travel sites at once? kayak. i like to do things myself. i do my own searching. it isn't efficient. use kayak. i can't trust anything else to do the job right. aaaaaaaahhhh! kayak. search one and done. (woman) ugh, of course it stops loading at the best part. (tony hale) you need verizon. get their crazy powerful network out here, and get six months of disney bundle on them! (vo) stream with six months of disney bundle on us. and watch it all on the new samsung galaxy s24+, also on us. only on verizon. (♪♪) with chewy, it's never been easier to get their favorite toy delivered. (♪♪) again. come on, let go. (♪♪) and again. (♪♪) and again. (♪♪) good luck. get whatever they love delivered right on time. save 35% on your first autoship order. with chewy. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools, like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis, help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley we're back. you get the last word. >> well, my contention on the whole thing is you can say all you want about changing the testimony, but vaughn, we played the tape where donald trump himself is talking to cohen, and cohen says we've got to set up the -- what company, what financing? >> pay with cash -- >> paid in cash. so whether or not he read the checks that he signed or not, pay what in cash if you were not involved in this scheme? he didn't say what are you talking about, he's not saying why are we paying -- he's saying pay in cash. >> and donald trump today said that he only did small deals, not big deals. so if they're going to try to paint him as an insignificant figure, well then who was the one who told allen weisselberg to do this because allen weisselberg wasn't at the trump tower meeting in august of 2015. who is the one that directed allen weisselberg? was it donald trump or michael cohen? does michael cohen have that sort of power that allen weisselberg respects? if you go to may, 2018, when this started to unravel and became public, it was rudy giuliani who went on with sean hannity and came out and said that michael cohen took care of things like this for donald trump and had arrangements like this -- >> that funneled money -- let me ask this question -- how many legitimate legal costs are reimbursed with cash and funneled through to someone? >> how are you reimbursing if you're telling the guy that you claimed was your legal services pay it in cash, who is it if you're the one that's supposed to be the recipient? >> it's insane. it's insane. tim, thank you for joining us. see, kristi, vaughn, rev, thank you. ahead for us, one sure thing we've been expecting out of this criminal trial from the get-go. donald trump, michael cohen, face to face once again. we'll set up what could be a very, very combative day of testimony monday. ay bladder leaks were holding me back from doing the things i loved. until, i found a bladder specialist that offered me bulkamid - a life-changing and fda approved non-drug solution for my condition called stress incontinence it really works, and the relief can last for years. take the next step at findrealrelief.com to arrange an appointment with an expert physician to determine if bulkamid is right for you. results and experiences may vary. move beyond the leaks. (fisher investments) at fisher investments we may look like results and experiences may vary. other money managers, but we're different. (other money manager) you can't be that different. (fisher investments) we are. we have a team of specialists not only in investing, but also also in financial and estate planning and more. (other money manager) your clients rely on you for all that? (fisher investments) yes. and as a fiduciary, we always put their interests first. (other money manager) but you still sell commission -based products, right? (fisher investments) no. we have a simple management fee structured so we do better when our clients do better. (other money manager) huh, we're more different than i thought! (fisher investments) at fisher investments, we're clearly different. my daughter and i finally had that conversation. oh, no, not about that. about what comes next in life. for her. i may not be in perfect health, but i want to stay in my home, where my family visits often and where my memories are. i can do it with help from a prep cook, wardrobe assistant and stylist, someone to help me live right at home. life's good. when you have a plan. ♪ ♪ did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. you have to ask michael cohen. michael's my attorney. and you'll have to ask michael. >> you'll have to ask michael. well, they will on monday. hi, again, everyone, it's still friday. now 5:00 in new york. that will be the name of the game monday when the ex-president's former attorney and fixer, the man who made the $130,000 hush-money payment, michael cohen takes the witness stand. it's a moment this criminal trial of donald j. trump has been steadily building toward. michael cohen will be the star witness as the recipient of the reimbursements that donald trump wants indicted for. -- was indicted for. michael cohen is a star witness who comes with some baggage. a convicted felon, michael cohen has spent time in prison and admitted to lying under oath, which is why we've seen the prosecution tackle this case in the way that it has -- methodically, almost reverse engineering all of the evidence, setting up the timeline and the documents and the fact pattern with other witnesses, corroborating every bit of michael cohen's story before the jury, before he ever enters the courthouse. as we look ahead to cohen's explosive testimony next week, we'll take a trip down memory lane looking back at how michael cohen got here. cohen's relationship with donald trump was one that spanned over a decade. he started working at the trump organization in 2006. he was more than just a lawyer for trump. he was an attack dog for him. abc news reported back that 2011, quote, cohen, 44, is known around the office and around new york as donald trump's pit bull. in an interview with abc news, michael cohen said, quote, it means that if somebody does something mr. trump does not like, i do everything in my power to resolve it to whether trump's benefit. if you do something wrong, i'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck, and i'm not going to let you go until i'm finished. when it came time for cohen's then-boss to run for president, he brought that same fierce loyalty and combativeness. >> i'm obviously very loyal and very dedicated to mr. trump. i think he's going to be not just a good president, i think he's going to be a great president. he's going to be the president that ends up working with everybody. >> you guys are down, and it makes sense -- >> says who? says who? >> polls. most of them. all of them? >> says who? >> polls. i just told you. i answered your question. >> okay. which polls? >> all of them. >> okay. and your question is? >> as "the new york times" reported years ago, michael cohen's unflinching loyalty often went unreciprocated leaving them on perilous ground last april after the federal bureau of investigation raided michael cohen's home, office, and hotel room. the searches were part of an inquiry in the office of the united states attorney for the southern district of new york that grew out of robert mueller's examination of russian election meddling. michael cohen went to prison for the former president. he served 13 months plus time in home confinement, plus some time in solitary for eight counts including criminal tax evasion and campaign finance violations. since then he has repeated his wish that his former boss be held accountable, as well. >> he need to be held accountable, and do i believe if it was anyone else that that individual would already be in prison or jail? the answer is emphatically yes. my goal -- this is not revenge, right? what this is is accountability. this is not what so many people want to make it look like -- oh, it's michael cohen's vengeance against donald trump. that's what this is about. this is solely about accountability. i should not be held accountable for donald trump's dirty deeds. let him be held accountable. >> so we start the hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. lucky for us we have a full table. correspondent i can't say -- yasmin vossoughian is here, harry litman, homestead of "on brand" donnie deutsch, and "new york times" editorial member and political analyst mara gay is here. before i knew michael cohen, you were the person i asked about michael cohen. i now know michael cohen, as well. i've played some testimony from 2019. people shouldn't underestimate his ability to sort of pull it in and do something that he is committed to doing. he is committed to accountability for donald trump. the other part of the story of the price he's paid, bill barr sought to throw him back in prison for writing his book, telling his story. he sees himself as sorts of one of the first people trump weaponized his department of justice against, and all for telling the truth about trump's role. >> don't think he's not worried if trump gets in again that he'll come after him again as many others are. >> correct. >> let me use a word for michael cohen that you don't hear a lot. competent. how many lawyers has donald trump been through since he's been in the white house? dozens and dozens. this was his personal watchdog, call it fixer, for ten years, and he kept that job. he's very good at what he does. even the cnn interview which is funny on the one hand is clever. it was very trumpian. >> correct. >> the polls don't matter -- you're making it up. so he's very good at what he does, whether you like him or don't like him. he will be great on -- i spoke to him today. i can say to judge merchan it's working. tell me what's going on -- fine, good, everything will be okay. he was very -- >> still posting on tiktok. >> that was yesterday. >> got in trouble -- >> i feel good, i'm ready to go. this is his moment. and you know, as they say, let's get ready to rumble. that's what we're looking at there. and it's -- you know, there's an interesting mano mano thing with trump. what's going to get under his skin is when he's up against another guy -- i was starting to tell a joke off camera -- i used to rent one of his apartments. i was moving out and you have the security deposit -- no, wrong story. birthday video story. birthday video -- >> rewind. >> birthday, lot of people made a video. he's on the video and goes, donnie, you maybe have better hair, but i'm taller than you. that's like -- tell you that story before? >> that's incredible. you have good hair. >> thank you. it's a zero-sum game against another man, and michael will be up for it. i'm betting on michael on this one. >> we've got hair news. we'll get to that later in the broadcast. i know that you have been really i think the skeptic, right, at our table about michael cohen's credibility. what do you think of the job the prosecution has done to sort of pre-corroborate what we expect him to testify to? >> so first i don't know how much of a skeptic i am. i'll get back to that in a moment. but the short answer is excellent, although you said at the top, nicolle, that everything has been corroborated. there's one piece that hasn't been, and when weisselberg came up at the end of the day it really mattered. that is the statement of facts, and they're going to use cohen for this, is that trump tells weisselberg and cohen go off and take care of this. and that's what produces that very important writing from weisselberg. right now assuming weisselberg doesn't testify and you heard that whole drama at the end of the day, that's the one thing that michael cohen has to carry on his own. but i end to agree with donnie. and among other things, he's got a lot of baggage. but if he keeps his cool and doesn't let them get his goat, he now has the truth on his side. >> that's right. >> i think he's been telling his story -- and it's an accurate story for a few years now. so you know, that i think will come through, as it did with pecker, as it did i think with stormy daniels. flawed witnesses but truthful, credible witnesses. >> and what i think a jury will see -- and again, i have no idea how they'll experience it or what they'll ultimately decide or what judgment they'll render in the end -- but what they will see is that michael cohen's description of the facts as he knew them is the same as the description of facts testified to by people who still love trump very much. the variable isn't affinity or disgust with donald trump, it's what did you see. my sense is that -- is that there was reverse engineering, those 25 visits that cohen had to bragg's office. this was after the case had been looked at by pomerantz and others, were perhaps to do some of this reverse -- who else was in the room? hope hicks was there, she testifies that trump said glad that didn't get out. you've got all the documents, the text exchanges, who was in the room in 2015, pecker. they made the scheme, i was -- all of these people, and most of them come down on the other side of the love/hate trump legend than cohen does tell the same story. >> i would say a mountain. you heard today from a few witnesses with the prosecution, once, twice, you're exactly right, 25. they've gone over to every single comma, and they know what's coming. and they've also tried to coach him to kind of keep his cool which is going to matter a lot. but again, everything, you know, that -- i think their whole case has been about architecting what he will say and this gap that will matter, but i think he can carry it. i want to say he's the only infiddle -- infidel in the case. including shying away from people who had good things to say like weisselberg but they were scared of, and cohen is the only person who's truly betrayed trump. everyone else is either neutral or on his side to this day. >> and that has the result of triggering trump. i mean, i think many of his ten violations for which he's already paid fines for are about attacking michael cohen. >> right. and he's wanted the gag order released for michael cone, wanted it released for stormy daniels, as well. he wanted them amended so he could speak publicly about them. he felt like he was being attacked for -- on tiktok and/or by stormy daniels on twitter yesterday evening. there was a picture i guess tang of stormy daniels and her friend outside trump tower. he wanted to be able to attack that and come back on some of her testimony that he knows was out in the media. but he can not do that because of the gag order that's in place. i think what i'm hearing from sources is it's not going to necessarily come down from michael cohen to his anecdotal reselling of what took place in the -- retelling of what took place in the lead up to the payoff to stormy daniels and the alleged payback of donald trump to michael cohen. it's going to come down to the documents. that's why the witnesses even today that were oh, so boring, after the salacious testimony of stormy daniels is also so important, right. those text messages and the lead up between dylan howard and stormy daniels' manager, why those things are so important, right? stormy says she had sex with donald trump. stormy wants this type of money. let me get back to you. why is this taking so long? all of that being admitted into evidence because it's going to be that evidence that they're going to have michael cohen point to because they know -- i think todd blanch is likely going to go with the cross-examination. i imagine as a lead attorney he's going to be going with cross-examination. they know todd blanch is going to say you're a convicted felon, you lied under oath, why should anybody believe you, right? and then -- but then the prosecution -- >> you hate trump -- >> you hate trump and have an axe to grind just like stormy daniels does. then the prosecution's going to say but michael cohen's not telling the story, the tapes, are the text messages, the phones records are. >> when it was created they loved him very much. i wonder if you wouldn't see some evidence, documentary or electronic, of just how loyal he was to trump at the time that the crimes were committed. >> he put it in today -- it wasn't -- it was a boring day, but it's really important to understand they're setting up a really compelling summation. they went over those calls quickly. but you'll see them as an exhibit. here's how many times cohen talked to trump, here's how many times they talked to davidson. they just wanted them in evidence so they can use them to shape the story at summation which is coming. >> you put up "the new york times" article from august -- april, excuse me, 21st. they submitted a tweet from donald trump just around that date in which they said they're trying to flip michael cohen, he's a loyal man, a family man, he'll never do it he'll never go. you think about the timing of that, four months before michael cohen pled guilty in a court of law, and then he said donald trump made me do it, which launched this entire investigation. >> but even if he hadn't said donald trump made me do it, the southern district of new york found him and named him individual one. the only one -- >> he was the launch, right, of the investigation that started it. >> the mueller probe, the campaign. >> right. >> what do you -- i worry so much that we're down this rabbit hole of did he violate his gag order or didn't he? well, we're talking about the ex-president of the united states who is the nominee again treating witnesses worse than mobsters do when they're on trial. and so i worry that sometimes when i have my nose against the glass that miss the forest. we're talking to someone who wants to be president of the united states. can he or can't he restrain himself from attacking witnesses in a criminal trial? and most people's money is on he can't. >> well, he certainly can't. and that's another reason to hold him accountable. i think there's been especially in this case in particular some discussion about, well, it's not as serious as some of the other allegations against donald trump. you know, maybe this is -- you know, overreach by prosecutors. but then if you look at his actual behavior, he is essentially daring people to hold him accountable for anything. and i think michael cohen said it himself, if this was anybody else in michael cohen's estimation, he would have gone to jail, and michael cohen did go to jail. i think the other thing to look at here is in a case in which, you know, legally speaking it's going to be very difficult to connect donald trump to this crime, this alleged crime that occurred, and i think that is the goal of the prosecutors. but michael cohen's testimony, the way it can connect those dots is by establishing a set of business practices that donald trump kept at the time. i'm not a lawyer, but i can tell you from the perspective of a storyteller, the jury is going to be looking very closely at that. michael cohen is the person who can say, yeah, well, donald trump wouldn't have put this in writing, but this is how i know that because i worked for him for ten years. when he said this, he meant this. i think that can be extremely compelling in a case where there's overwhelming evidence that this payoff did occur. and so i do think that the jury is going to be looking at this not just from the legalese that we parse but from the overwhelm story here which is that this president has not been held accountable. people who worked for him have. the other thing about michael cohen that's interesting is he has paid his debt to society. >> uh-huh. >> so in a sense he is the most liberated one. he's not in donald trump's -- you know, he's not essentially in his pocket anymore. and he doesn't really owe anyone anything at this point. so i actually think that he is problematic but very credible at this point. >> what do you make of two men who went to jail for donald trump and one of them is so not trust worthy in the eyes of the government that they're not going to call him from rikers to testify? you talked about men and the sort of primal male tics that trump has. what is the primal male thing that trump gets men to go to jail for him? >> it's interesting. weisselberg and cohen are two different type of guys. co-send more of an alpha than weisselberg is. you and i have talked about this personally, michael is -- who he was is tied up in trump, very connected. it is shakespearean. it really is. he was in certain ways a father fog michael -- figure to michael but was disappointing. i know having visited him in jail and spoking to him, and awe mention he did solitary, this all lead up to this. the other reason he's going to be so good is that every moment he spent in jail he's been waiting for this moment. you know, jail sucks, even a federal prison. i went up there, it's dusty, it's -- you're in a uniform, you're told what to do. you know, i remember sitting in the waiting room and there was a vending machine, i got some crackers. but he wasn't allowed to eat any because it's not -- you're told what to eat and how you can eat and when you can eat. that's all leading up to this. as i said, he's going to be razor sharp. and as you -- it's the documents, stupid. like that's what -- they're going to take him through it. it's never going to be believe me, like said, look -- look, look, he becomes very incredible whistleblower there's a lot of black and -- credible when there's a lot of black and white ink. >> we found out today the government never even approached him. they were so certain he would be a kryptonite witness for them. and, you know, they knew they couldn't be able to talk to him in advance. >> because he's under contract to never -- the letter of the contract was entered into evidence today before the judge. >> no, that's the debate. they want -- >> debate in front of the judge ensued where the contract came up. >> that's right. that's why he was saying maybe we should have weisselberg first before we determine whether to enter that into evidence. >> what does that mean? >> it means they want to say, the da, this shows weisselberg's bias, and it gives an explanation for why he's not there. >> the fact that he went to jail twice shows weisselberg's bias? >> that's not necessarily coming in, right. but the agreement might, although it might not. and -- but it really struck me that they shied away from him so much. the name keith schiller kept ringing in my head because in general, when they've had tough witnesses, they've called a company like rona graff and westerhout, but they've had to play with the cards they've been dealt. and some of them -- and weisselberg's the number-one example. >> the da's office is going to have to make a decision as to whether or not they want to submit this separation into evidence and/or possibly bring weisselberg to put him on the stand even if a jury is not in the room which is likely to happen if they put weisselberg on the stand. the jury wouldn't be in the room. but the da would have to make a decision open it up the trial for the defense team. they may say forget it, we don't want to submit that separation agreement into evidence, let's move on. >> they said we're going to hear more about weisselberg, no matter what, through cohen or through the summation. he's an important figure here. >> we have to sneak in a break before they come and get me. but you just teased something else, keith schiller. i want to ask you about that today. when we come back, after days of salacious testimony, what the world thinks. us as a country. watching the first-ever criminal trial of an american ex-president and future candidate. that after a quick break. plus, a disgraced ex-president again turning to his pardoned former campaign manager, paul manafort. even as new reporting shows manafort's never before disclosed financial entanglements helping launch a chinese media venture. the grave counterintelligence threats of bringing manafort back into the innermost circle later in the broadcast. and "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. na if you're one of the millions of people with diabetes who suffer from low and high blood sugar, dexcom g7 is one of the easiest ways to take better control of your diabetes. my blood sugar would suddenly spike or really go low out of nowhere. it was really scary. (dr. swamy) this small wearable alerts you 20 minutes before you go too low or when you're high so you can take action in the moment. now we're talking a game changer! i'm back in control! (announcer) dexcom g7 helps protect against highs and lows. call now! right now you can get a free footlong at subway. just buy any footlong in the app and get one free. just scan the qr code and enter promo code flbogo it only works from the other side of the screen, buddy. you still got a land line in your house. order now in the subway app. today, at america's beverage companies,... ...our bottles might still look the same... ...but they can be remade in a whole new way. thanks to you... we're getting bottles back... and we've developed a way to make new ones from 100% recycled plastic. new bottles - made using no new plastic. you'll be seeing more of these bottles in more places. and when we get more of them back... ...we can use less new plastic. see how our bottles are made to be remade. and they're all coming? those who are still lewith us, yes.c. grandpa! what's this? your wings. light 'em up! gentlemen, it's a beautiful... ...day to fly. having to do with paying some stormy daniels woman $100,000 which is going to turn out to be perfectly legal. that money was not campaign money. sorry. i'm giving you a fact now that you don't know. it's not campaign money. no campaign finance violation. so -- >> they funneled it through the law firm. >> funneled through the law firm, and the president repaid it. >> oh, i didn't know he did. >> yep. >> you know the president didn't know about this? i believe that's what michael had said -- >> didn't know about the specifics of it as far as i know. but he did know about the general arrangement that michael would take care of things like this. >> i think non-lawyers might call that a confession. i mean, what -- the elements of the crime were a thing that his surrogates want to -- at the moment that rudy does that interview he's representing him -- he's repping him in the mueller trial. >> by the way, yesterday was a pretty big day. but something slipped in that i think a lot of people didn't quite notice which is trump's own admission in the stormy case that he repaid this. so you got to think about, you know, i'm a former prosecutor, but defense -- beyond a reasonable doubt, and the -- beyond a reasonable doubt, what is the reason now that you're going to attach? and i think it's what he says it has to be in combination of did it for melania, maybe, and got a shot in the arm from westerhout on that. he's signing checks, but he's so busy he doesn't know what they're about. i think that's the only reason that's left for them to argue. and if i can just say -- i think they've made a colossal mistake, and it's because trump's the client, of making this so much about whether he had sex with stormy daniels. because now, if -- first, there could be more evidence about that that would blow it out of the water, but if the jury basically believes her and disbelieves him, even though it's not essential to the elements of the crime, you know, he starts way in the hole. just unnecessary. >> you mean by the cross that they did of stormy daniels? >> well, the the -- the opening which, by the way, merchan was really tough on them yesterday saying you're the ones who put it in -- into contention here. and it's true. that's going to be a big focus for the jury. it wouldn't have to be. another defense lawyer would try the case as, yeah, he's a jerk, but he's not a criminal. but trump wouldn't let that line be maintained, and that's the hand they've been dealt. i mean, if the jury concludes there was something to what stormy said, even though there's still some more things they could say, i think, you know, they've basically are three quarters of the way there. >> and this is -- this happened in the dramatic fireworks that took place after the jury left yesterday. judge juan merchan says to todd blanch, whose repetition seems to be bigger than what we're seeing judge merchan evaluate in the transcripts i'm seeing, but what judge merchan says to todd blanch is that because you opened with trump did not have sex with this woman, stormy daniels' account of sex with this man is central. >> absolutely, yeah. that was todd blanch's opening. donald trump did not have sex with stormy daniels. hence the reason why even when they brought up objections to stormy daniels' testimony and they said some of this should not be allowed to be admitted, they had already opened the door. then they opened it again in cross-examination with susan necheles who repeatedly talked about the details. and so it's one of the reasons why i feel as if even with the instructions of what the jury will be allowed to review during deliberations, will also be in question because during cross-examination they got into those details, the very details which -- >> one sentence on that. the messy details says merchan go to her credibility now, the messy details that they were complaining about. sorry. >> so no, but why -- why did susan necheles want to relitigate the condom question with stormy daniels before the juri? >> so, you know, i think it was ill advised, but she was trying to push back on her for being such a -- portraying him as such an on -- an ogre. why not walk ten miles from that and stay with the basics? it didn't -- and right in front of trump it was a bad day for sure. >> if your position that the defense's team has landed on is he didn't have sex, why are you relitigating why the person who didn't have sex did or did not wear a condom? >> yes. >> we're talking about -- >> all i can think is if my kid walked by the tv. >> it's worse. >> i'm listening, and you go -- it's -- >> that's my point. >> it was -- it was about reminding people that stormy daniels is a former adult film actress, right? >> who wore a condom -- let's go with the facts as stlapted in the courthouse -- stipulated in the courthouse. part of her testimony was as an adult film actor, you wore a condom. why was that among the things that came up in cross? >> i don't know the answer to that. >> she led with this -- repeatedly. >> it's about getting at stormy daniels' critical over and -- credibility over and over again. it's what we talked about yesterday or the day before, i can't count what day it is now. i know it's friday because i'm really looking forward to the weekend. >> two days of not talking about trump -- >> it's what we talked about when susan necheles -- and i'll repeat it again -- when she said, you're an adult film actress, you've acted in 100-plus films, directed 100-plus films, you should be used to walking out of a bathroom and seeing a man in his boxer shorts and in a t-shirt on the bed, ie you brought this. >> colossal misstep. tis -- i think that's what the condom is about. >> you're relitigating this idea of being in this power structure situation, a sexual assault. the whole thing just seemed like it was going in the complete wrong direction by cross. >> how that works with the jury and -- >> how it helps. >> i was following it closely -- >> in a much stronger position than even she was in during direct which i think, again, not a lawyer, i think usually doesn't necessarily happen with a witness like stormy. >> like never. and she controlled the -- she coled the dynamic and the rhythm of it. it was the worst single examination of the trial. >> can i sort of -- associate myself with nonlawyer analysis here? my sense of what trump was trying to do was knock it out because it was too brutal, right? it was too damaging. the person who made it damaging to trump was susan necheles. i mean, the person who was weinstein-esque in her treatment of the person describing not rape but a sexual experience with donald trump. the person who treated her in a way that was damaging to trump was trump's defense lawyer. >> well and the mistake there -- and of course we don't really know these jurors individually, we do know this is a new york jury in a state that is even just a little bit of information, it's a solidly pro-choice state, okay? this is a state where i'm going to venture to guess as a former juror at some point myself, as a woman in the state, you know, there are going to be people on that jury, men and women, who are going to say hold up, are we going -- are we supposed to be examining the behavior of the former president, or is this just a woman being attacked? and that kind of -- that kind of device in a courtroom is such a turnoff that i could just see it putting a bad taste in jurors' mouth from the very start. and they're going to say that's the best defense you have, going after a woman for being a professional at what she does? that didn't sit right with me when i read the transcript. how is that going to sit with a jury -- we don't know yet. i think we don't want to lose the human element. >> the details, him standing there blacking the door -- that's the thing that hit a nerve with me. was the biggest ew, it was you mentioned, it was harvey weinstein-esque, and painted him beyond a sleaze bag as a sexual assault. >> she was trying to set up a mistrial motions which they made. that's what you say to the judge. in front of the jury it was a huge self-inflicted wound. >> i have to say, my point about the energy around all of the weinstein came from trump's defense lawyer. the way they talked to stormy was the closest anyone got to that era and those sensibilities and those sort of attacking and those descriptions. again, only a jury will decide if it worked or not. we have no idea. what she did was she sought to tell her story. i think to your point on, cross, she seemed much more comfortable defending herself under attack than she did telling her own story. >> yeah. >> i agree. >> it just is -- but i do think that was -- and the lawyer was a mistake. but it also -- donald trump has always run on his he's a woman -- he's -- women love him and he has power over women. this put him as an assaulter. than he did -- i'm saying that -- >> no one said he did that. >> no one said he did. but you looked at him like you -- >> the icky factor. >> such a -- wasn't just salacious, you looked at him as a real creep at this point. >> it wasn't -- what she testified to and what was elicited on cross, none of it had to do with any art of seduction. it was about -- which stormy testified to and what was not re-examined on cross was a power dynamic that was in stormy's view at that point in time -- >> there are also similarities to e. jean carroll's testimony, as well, especially during cross-examination. e. jean carroll, you had a sex column, you wrote about sex, you should know about things like this. oh, you were seeing this as an opportunistic moment in your life. it would be a story about donald trump. what about the details? why do you only remember certain details and not other details? if you know anything about people that are victims of sexual assault, oftentimes that is what they walk away with, right? remembering smaller -- larger details and not remembering kind of the smaller details. so many kind of parallels that i don't think anybody expected. we saw between stormy daniels' testimony, especially during cross, and e. jean carroll. >> quick lawyer point. this is the biggest issue on appeal they have so far. we're going to see this if he's convicted. >> her presence at all -- >> no, the specific details that made him look like an icky ogre. >> even if it came from his lawyers? >> 100%. well -- more complicated. i know we've got a commercial. but that's their best issue so far. >> all right. you're all leaving me. that's what happens after we talk about condoms on tv. thank you all so much for spending time with us today. when we come back, stop if you've heard this before, paul manafort, former trump campaign manager pardoned by the disgraced ex-president, is back in the trump fold and bringing a new set of entanglements with a foreign adversary. more reporting on that after a short break. oman) ugh, of course it stops loading at the best part. (tony hale) you need verizon. get their crazy powerful network out here, and get six months of disney bundle on them! (vo) stream with six months of disney bundle on us. and watch it all on the new samsung galaxy s24+, also on us. only on verizon. known as a loving parent. known for lessons that matter. known for lessons that matter. known for being a free spirit. no one wants to be known for cancer, but a treatment can be. keytruda is known to treat cancer, fda-approved for 16 types of cancer. one of those cancers is advanced nonsquamous, non-small cell lung cancer, where keytruda is approved to be used with certain chemotherapies as your first treatment if you do not have an abnormal "egfr" or "alk" gene. keytruda can cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body during or after treatment. this may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion, memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. there may be other side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, if you've had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, received chest radiation or have a nervous system problem. depending on the type of cancer, keytruda may be used alone or in combination with other treatments, and is also being studied in hundreds of clinical trials, exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see all the types of cancer keytruda is known for at keytruda.com and ask your doctor if keytruda could be right for you. (woman) ugh, of course it stops loading at the best part. (tony hale) you need verizon. get their crazy powerful network out here, and get six months of disney bundle on them! (vo) stream with six months of disney bundle on us. and watch it all on the new samsung galaxy s24+, also on us. only on verizon. i think the whole manafort trial is very sad. when you look at what's going on there, i think it's a very sad day for our country. he worked for me for a very short period of time, but you know what, he happens to be a very good person. and i think it's very sad what they've done to paul manafort. >> that was donald trump back in 2018 defending his former campaign chair paul manafort as he was standing trial on 18 felony counts related to his work for pro-russian authoritarian leader. trump has since become determined to bring paul manafort back into the fold with a job on his 2024 presidential campaign. not two months after that news broke, it has now come out that manafort is cozying up to more authoritarians. "washington post" reporting this, quote, manafort has been assisting an effort to launch a netflix-like mobile streaming and entertainment platform in china that according to corporate documents has the endorsement of the chinese government. paul manafort for his part denied the claims, quote, manafort said he was not involved with china and has had nothing to do with china including chinese businesses, government individuals, or anything else, but acknowledged that he was asked to make introductions to u.s. studios and potential u.s. partners in the venture. remains to be seen whether this puts a damper of any sort on trump's china rants on the campaign trail. joining us, reporter for "the washington post," bylined on the reporting we read from. also writer and editor for protect democracy, amanda carpenter is back. former assistant director for counterintelligence at the fbi, frank figlusi is here, author of the book "long haul: hunting the highway serial killers." take me through, isaac, what you guys are reporting. >> well, what we were able to learn here is that over the past couple of years after he earned a pardon from trump, paul manafort has reengaged in the kind of consulting work that made him a well-known figure in washington and really a household name. he has sought overseas campaign work in japan and south korea. he's met with figures in guatemala. and importantly, as you note, we obtained documents that show that he went to support an effort to create this streaming venture in china that people involved in the then -- had the endorsement of the highest levels of the chinese government. that, of course, is notable because mr. trump's party and mr. trump himself have presented themselves as foes of the grueling chinese communist party. and this creates interesting questions about how do people around the -- the candidate will balance these potential foreign interests and potential financial conflicts with their influence with mr. trump. >> frank, what could go wrong? >> oh, my gosh, just about everything. and we've seen just about everything from manafort. so first, it's great to see that trump has a second chance program going to employ convicted felons. that would be manafort. let's not forget manafort was indicted on a 12-count indictment that included being an illegal foreign agent, bank fraud, tax fraud, offshore accounts, lying to agents, lying under oath at grand juri. he was guilty of most of those, and he went to prison, sentenced to four years of prison, and then, of course, pardoned by trump. what are we to draw from this? first, let's go to the gop-controlled senate intelligence committee and a report authored and approved by none other than senator marco rubio who is rumored to be amongst vp candidate being considered by trump right now. what did they call manafort? they called him a grave counterintelligence threat. a grave counterintelligence threat. what did manafort do to get that grave label? he hired as his deputy in the 2016 trump campaign constantine kalemnic who the senate called a russian intelligence officer, and he shared internal data from the campaign with this russian intelligence officer. so it's gotten worse, as you've just heard, in his time since being released from prison. he appears to be deeply into the chinese government who has approved this kind of netflix-like thing that he's brokering introductions on. >> amanda, we're back to, you know, all the best people being in trump's innermost circle. this is that senate intelligence, republican-led senate intelligence committee report that frank is referring to, quote, the committee found that manafort's presence on the campaign in proximity to trump created opportunities for the russian intelligence services to exert influence over and acquire confidential information on the trump campaign. taken as a whole, manafort's high-level access and willing to share information with individuals closely affiliated with the russian intelligence services represented a grave counterintelligence threat. what's amazing is that the people around trump, they can sort of rotate their orientation from russia to china, but the -- the playbook seems to always be the same. >> yeah. you know, i know we've talked in previous segments about the danger of trump's past and pardon of abuse. but this reporting really illustrates why the point is that when pardons are corruptly issued, you can expect a lot more corruption. and as you point out, this has real national security, gee oh political implications. paul manafort was found guilty, convicted of all these money laundering charges. what makes him really attractsive to trump in my view -- attractive to trump in my view is his obstruction of justice. to bring it home to what's in the news today, trump himself tweeted during that time that he -- he lavished parades on paul manafort -- praise on paul manafort, contrasting him with michael cohen in that manafort didn't break, he didn't strike a deal like michael cohen and applauded his bravery. like i look at paul manafort being welcomed back to the fold. paul manafort being back in business. and given this gift to once again possibly take control of the republican national convention. i mean, this isn't just some like one-off party event. when you think about what a huge asset it is to an operator like manafort, you have the greatest concentration of republican officials, operatives, that week, and you are running the events. and you're in close proximity to probably what they hope to be the future president. and so this raises all kinds of flags. we know how this, all the stuff that -- how the republican party began changing in ukraine can be traced back to the 2016 convention when there was that strange change in the party platform to have language say that we would not arm ukraine in the event of russian aggression. and look at where we are today. and so all the pieces are here. we know what's going to happen, but because trump likes to surround himself with complete, pure loyalists, people who won't break if the face of a government investigation, you see he's installing his own family members at the rnc, making his own family members delegates from florida. this thing is completely being rigged for an operation to protect trump from any political or criminal accountability. >> it is pretty amazing. we have to sneak in a break. there is a deja vu feeling both to paul manafort and the ties to a foreign adversary. we'll see if the political story replays. no one's going anywhere. that conversation next. that cont since my citi custom cash® card automatically adjusts to earn me more cash back in my top eligible category... suddenly life's feeling a little more automatic. like doors opening wherever i go... [sound of airplane overhead] even the ground is moving for me! y'all seeing this? wild! and i don't even have to activate anything. oooooohhh... automatic sashimi! earn cash back that automatically adjusts to how you spend with the citi custom cash® card. [mind blown explosion noise] when anyone in this house wears white, it doesn't stay white for long. white? to art class? that's risky. art has no rules, mom. huh. white with coffee? a dangerous endeavor. white? to soccer? i'm not gonna slide tackle. he's gonna slide tackle. but now with tide oxi white, we can clean our white clothes without using bleach. it even works on colors. i slide tackled. i see that. keep your whites white even without bleach with tide oxi white. we got this. we are people living with afib. ♪♪ and over 400,000 of us have left blood thinners behind... ...for life. we've cut our stroke risk. and said goodbye to our bleeding worry with the watchman implant. ♪♪ we may be getting older. but we've never squeezed more out of life. and we are just getting started. join us at watchman.com. watchman. it's one time, for a lifetime. [introspective music] recipes. recipes written by hand and lost to time. are now being analyzed and restored using the power of dell ai. ♪ slowing my cancer from growing and living longer are two things i want from my metastatic breast cancer treatment. and with kisqali, i can have both. kisqali is a pill that when taken with an aromatase inhibitor helps delay cancer from growing and has been proven to help people live significantly longer across three separate clinical trials. so, i have the confidence to live my life. kisqali can cause lung problems or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. avoid grapefruit during treatment. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. long live life and long live you. ask your doctor about kisqali today. to a pro russia position. fool me once, shame on you. twice, shame on me. what should we watch for as it pertains to manafort's tie to china? >> it's great to recall that manafort did involve himself in a plan that would give eastern ukraine to the russians. that's something noteworthy. i'm equally concerned about his connections to russia as i am about china. and the question is why would trump do this? easy answer might be well no one's exactly lined up to work with trump these days. okay. i'll give you that. but manafort has told us who he is. he'll work with even adversaries to get the job done. it might be that trump actually believes that he needs that kind of help if he's going to win again and manafort offers that. this is going to pose a counterintelligence problem if they try to watch what manafort's doing. is he manipulating our foreign contacts? if i'm thinking from the viewpoint of foreign intelligence service, knowing how they operate, they're excited about this news today. about the possibility that there could be someone who is vulnerable or willing to do their bidding because let me assure you, our adversaries are trying to influence the next election and manafort presents that opportunity to them. >> amanda, it's just unbelieve that we're right back here again. i wonder if you think the united states national security apparatus is more or less willing to have eyes on a campaign that may or may not represent a national security threat? >> yeah, that's a really good question. i just get a bad feeling. we know what happened last time and you know, if paul manafort is really going to helm this convention, that is a signal for the world that we're open for business. that is pure and simple. given all the backlash that trump has put against the national security committee, i mean people talking about like defunding the fbi is a serious thing. in light of previous investigations. unfortunately, i think there is a hesitance to treat these in politics. >> thank you for the reporting. i feel like this conversation is to be continued. the book is fantastic. long haul, hunting the highway serial killers. it's coming up soon and we'll get to talk about it. another break for us and we'll be right back. t it another break for us and we'll be right back. so you can take all the pics! (vo) trade-in any iphone in any condition and get iphone 15 pro - on us. only on verizon [ cellphone ringing ] phone call from the boss? sorry. outdoor time is me time. i hear that. that's why we protect all your vehicles here. but hey...nothing wrong with sticking it to the boss. ooooh, flo, you gonna take that? why would that concern me? because you're...the... aren't you the..? huh...we never actually discussed hierarchy. ok, why don't we just stick to letting dave know how much he can save when he bundles his home or auto with his boat or rv. wait, i thought jamie was the boss. [ laughter ] it's funny because i'm not boss material! for moderate to severe crohn's disease skyrizi is the first il-23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. control of crohn's means everything to me. ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. ♪ control is everything to me ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save. right now you can get a free footlong at subway. just buy any footlong in the app and get one free. just scan the qr code and enter promo code flbogo it only works from the other side of the screen, buddy. you still got a land line in your house. order now in the subway app. in case you were looking for rudy giuliani today, lost his radio show for repeating election lies so many times that even the donor who owns wabc could not put up with it any longer, suspending him and canceling his show. that's according to new reporting in "the new york times." the owner made the decision after repeated warnings to the ex new york city mayor. quote, we're not going to talk about fallacies of the november 2020 election. we warned him once, twice. and i get a text from him last night and this morning that he refuses not to talk about it. in a comment to nbc news, he said he learned of his firing through the "new york times" reporting. other than being one of his biggest public platforms, wabc is one of his only remaining sources of income. an issue for rudy as he faces criminal charges, a number of lawsuits and the $148 million in damages he owes to ruby freeman and shaye moss. we thank you for letting us into your homes during these difficult and extraordinary times. the beat starts after a very short break. stay with msnbc. rts after a very short break. stay with msnbc. i'm on my way with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. nothing on my skin means everything! ♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. -dad, what's with your toenail? -oh, that...? i'm not sure... -it's a nail fungus infection. -...that's gross! -it's nothing, really... -it's contagious. you can even spread it to other people. -mom, come here! -don't worry about it. it'll go away on its own! -no, it won't go away on its own. it's an infection. you need a prescription. nail fungus is a contagious infection. at the first signs, show it to your doctor... ... and ask if jublia is right for you. jublia is a prescription medicine used to treat toenail fungus. its most common side effects include ingrown toenail, application site redness... ... itching, swelling, burning or stinging, blisters and pain. jublia is recognized by the apma. most commercially insured patients may pay as little as $0 copay. go to jubliarx.com now to get started. a slow network is no network for business. may pay as little as $0 copay. that's why more choose comcast business. and now, we're introducing ultimate speed for business —our fastest plans yet. we're up to 12 times faster than verizon, at&t, and t-mobile. and existing customers could even get up to triple the speeds... at no additional cost. it's ultimate speed for ultimate business. don't miss out on our fastest speed plans yet! switch to comcast business and get started for $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. call today!