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MSNBCW Ana July 3, 2024

And right now on ana cabrera reports, Breaking News, Extreme Weather turning deadly in texas. At least four People Killed after torrential rain and tornados rip through the lone star state. We have the latest from houston. Plus, Michael Cohen dueback on the stand monday. Has the defense delivered any knockouts to the prosecutions star witness. And desperately needed aid finally reaching gaza by sea. Why humanitarian groups warn its not nearly enough. We made it to friday. It is 10 00 eastern, im Ana Cabrera Reporting from new york. We begin with that Breaking News from texas where at least four people have been killed from a powerful storm system. It knocked out the lights to more than a million homes along the gulf coast, Spawning Tornados and floods, destroying property. Heres a look at some of the debris flying just outside the lobby. This is a houston skyscraper there, and then look at that, the Blownout Windows Leaving Gaping Holes all the way up the side of houstons downtown wells fargo tower. Take a look at this electrical line, just bent basically in half and pulled to the ground. Lets get right to nbcs Priscilla Thompson on the ground in houston. What a mess, and of course as this turned deadly, its tragic. Whats the latest . Yeah, ana, good morning. It was a scary night for folks across Southeast Texas as those severe thunderstorms moved through. Were here in downtown houston, parts of which look like a Disaster Zone this morning. Take a look at this building behind me. As you can see, the entire facade has just crumbled and this is just some of the damage that people are waking up to. Parts of texas and louisiana under water this morning after an intense night of storms left communities drenched and claimed the lives of at least four people in the houston area. In east texas, the river reached major flood stage, spilling into surrounding areas. High winds toppling trees and damaging Downtown Skyscrapers while knocking out power to more than 800,000 homes in houston. The rain even coming through the roof during an astro game at minute maid park. More than 20 Million People were impacted by the wet weather overnight, and with the soil saturated and rivers bursting in many areas, after weeks of relentless downpours, the latest rain has nowhere to go forcing some, like Angie Yarbrough to pack up the only home shes ever known. I cried and cried and cried about it. Its heartbreaking. 48 years ive been down here, and i cant i cant fight it anymore. I cant do it. Reporter the threat prompting a rare high risk excessive rainfall warning from the National Weather service. It was quick, but it had some heavy downpours. Reporter from east texas to western louisiana, houston mayor John Whitmire sending out this urgent plea. Stay at home tonight, stay at home tomorrow, so we have an opportunity to go into a full recovery mode. Reporter residents in hardhit communities now wondering what comes next. What do the next couple of months look like in terms of trying to get back on track . We dont know. Reporter and ana, unfortunately, the bad weather is not over yet. This storm is continuing to move east with millions potentially at risk across louisiana, alabama, and mississippi with parts of the gulf coast expected to get up to a foot of rain by saturday. Ana. Priscilla thompson, thank you so much for that reporting. Well be tracking it all closely. Thanks. Turning now to Donald Trumps Hush Money Trial. Court is dark today, so the former president can attend his sons High School Graduation leaving jurors with a threeday weekend now to think about that dramatic day of Cross Examination With Star Witness Michael Cohen where trumps Defense Attorney pressed cohen on his stream of lies, and what could be a huge inconsistency in his story. The defense says theyll finish their cross of cohen monday morning. And joining us now, New York Times Investigative Reporter Suzanne Craig whos been in the courthouse every day. Former manhattan assistant District Attorney catherine christian, and Trial Attorney terry austin who has also been in that courthouse. So suzanne, there was a moment yesterday that really stands out in the sevenplus hours of cross examination of cohen. That is when blanche pressed cohen about a key phone call that cohen said he had with trump about the Stormy Daniels payments in 2016. Blanche getting animated saying that was a lie. You did not talk to President Trump on that night. You talked to Keith Schiller. Cohen, im not certain that is accurate. Blanche goes on, were not asking for your belief. This jury does not want to hear what you think happened. You were watching this. How tense was that exchange . It was a moment no question. I mean, and what preceded it was hours laying the groundwork that Michael Cohen is a liar. Hes not a casual liar. Hes lied to congress. Hes lied on the stand, and they want you to believe hes now going to lie under oath. It went on for hours, and it really i was interested in it because it didnt really have a lot to do with the case, but the repetition was powerful that he was a liar, and then finally they land this questioning that had to do with the case, and i thought it was powerful because theyd really set the table for it. Im not sure in the end, though, ive thought a lot about it. You know, the call came in. You know, Michael Cohen was getting these prank calls from this alleged 14yearold, and he finally unmasks who the numbers because the person forgot to block it on one of these multiple calls that Michael Cohen had been getting, and he actually reached out to Keith Shiller and told him about it, and Keith Schiller said call me. So that call definitely was supposed to be about the prank calls. Michael wanted to report it to the secret service. He says in that call Keith Schiller also passed the phone to former President Donald Trump and told him about some of the details of the hush money case. Thats whats being called into question. Both could have happened, but i thought the defense was effective In Discrediting Michael On that one point. Does it undermine all of his testimony . I saw it more as a political blow. Its important that the jury believe michael. Theres a lot of documents and a lot of evidence in the case that has come in thats powerful, but michael is key to criminal intent, but im not sure it undermined everything he said. Were going to find out. For the most part i find that the defense still hasnt touched a lot of the actual case. Theyve got this one conversation that theyve now, you know, i think thrown some doubt on. They still theres so much else including phone conversations, recorded conversations between the former president and Michael Cohen about the hush money payment. Well, and that was specifically related to karen mcdougal. Let me get your take on that moment in court. I think it was a huge moment, no doubt about it. I think the defense has been sort of floundering a little bit asking about all these prior lies. Thats not the important point. One of the important things blanche did on this question is, listen, on direct examination, you didnt say anything about this. All you said was i talked to donald trump about Stormy Daniels. Why didnt you mention it on direct . Thats the key point. Its fine for the jurors to think, okay, he lied all these other times, home equity loan. He lied under oath for congress. Hes made up for all of that. But here, jury, he lied to you and i think thats what made it such a big point. I was watching those jurors, they absolutely were going back and forth, blanche and cohen, and cohen didnt respond well. One of the things he can was, hmm, well im not so sure and i think and i believe. And those things arent the type of responses you should say, and he did finally say, look i dont remember the exact day. I dont remember the exact time, but i remember the content. So he came back a little bit. I think he was caught out. They hadnt prepped him on it. I think it was sort of new. I felt like he was seeing it for the first time because i dont think he lied. It was sort of more he didnt bring it up. I think hed forgotten about it. How problematic is it if blanche convinces the jurors that cohen was wrong about this call. Does that blow up the whole case . Its a problem if on recent the prosecutors do not clear that up. You can say its maybe the prosecutors fault. It was their direct examination where he said this is the day i told former President Trump about what Stormy Daniels, the whole scenario. They probably should have found those texts too and said and i also talked about x, y, and z and about the 14yearold, and that didnt happen. So on cross examination, you may not get a Knockout Punch. Its about creating that reasonable doubt. And do you think they had a Knockout Punch . They didnt have a Knockout Punch, but you dont need it if you can just keep, you know, pecking away, getting little nuggets. I mean, Michael Cohen is a liar. The jury basically knew that and to keep hammering it, hammering it, hammering it, which is probably one of the reasons you dont want him to be your last witness, the prosecution decided to do that. That was their choice. Looking ahead here, we understand that the process is supposed to wrap up on monday and then what . Theyre still leaving the door open that donald trump could testify. Im not seeing that happen. I think thats more political posturing, but thats a possibility. There could be another witness that comes in from the government, but i think were really heading into Closing Arguments next week, and then into Jury Selection or sorry Jury Selection into deliberations, yeah. So terry, what do you think is going through the thinking of the defense team on whether to call any witnesses, an Expert Witness or even for donald trump himself to testify . Because, again, blanche, his attorney said they had not made a decision on trumps testimony yet. Exactly, and the judge was thinking about this Expert Witness. Weve already heard them talk about whether or not hes going to be able to talk about Campaign Finance law. One of the things the judge doesnt want is for someone else to give the law for the case. Thats judge merchans role. They talked about it, and if, in fact, this expert comes in on behalf of the defense, they can only talk about generalities. They can talk about wide definitions, but they cant say what the law is in this case, and they cant apply the facts to the law in this case. So i think if they call this Expert Witness, its going to be very little effect on the jury because hes just going to be talking about generalities. They could call someone else. They could call Keith Schiller. If they were to call Keith Schiller and Keith Schiller said that never happened, i never handed the phone to donald trump, and he never talked to donald trump about Stormy Daniels, that would be huge. Well have to see if they call a fact witness or any other Expert Witness. Michael cohen is supposed to be the last witness for the prosecution. At end of the day, was that the right call . Well, he is the last witness. I wouldnt have used him as the last witness, but they feel that theyre confident that theyve thoroughly corroborated him and have enough circumstantial evidence, why not him. I dont believe the defense is going to call any witnesses. Why call an Expert Witness who can just talk about generalities. Keith schiller, that opens the door to him being cross examined about a whole bunch of stuff involving donald trump. They would be wise not to call anyone, and i dont believe a snowballs chance in that dark place that donald trump is going to testify. And were not expecting to hear from Allen Weisselberg, but we kept hearing his name over and over again. He was like sort of this missing puzzle piece, the only other person who cohen says was part of these conversations. We saw his handwriting on some of these allegedly falsified documents, suzanne. How big of a deal is that . Neither side wants to see him. He is in rikers. Hes up for the jury probably wants to see him. What do i make of his absence. I think the jury would love to see him. I dont think either side is going to bring him in for Credibility Reasons and other reasons. I dont think Donald Trumps lawyers want him open to a cross. Hes the one, i think, Keith Schiller and Allen Weisselberg are the two that the jury would love to see that are just never going to make an appearance in the courtroom. Catherine, could it backfire on prosecutors not to of i was just thinking as suzanne was saying that, why didnt we hear from these two people. Theyre not going to hold that against the defense. Theyre going to hold it against the prosecution. Hopefully the prosecution says thats not what the jurors are thinking. Were missing this piece here. We need that person who came up with the scheme and has the notes and the hole in the accounting, thats Allen Weisselberg, and Michael Cohen and Allen Weisselberg were sort of acting on their own. Theres been pieces, you know, on various days that have really led jurors to think that, you know. Michael cohen was just hell bent on revenge, and he was freelancing all of this, and he was aided by Allen Weisselberg. Hes sort of a useful prop in that way. I dont think were going see him. Hes loomed large over this trial as Keith Schiller has. This whole trial is a big case study. Closing arguments could happen as soon as monday afternoon, tuesday more likely, right . How are both sides preparing for that . I think theyre going through all of their notes, obviously, and checking off where they made some good points. One of the things that i would advise the defense is make sure its chronological. Make sure you go through those points and its not disorganized. I think the cross examinations so far have been a bit disorganized. As for the prosecution, they have to hit home the 34 counts, those invoices, the ledger, the checks, they have to hit home. Here is all of the documentary evidence. You falsified these records, and you did it to influence the election. Theyre going to have to hit home on Closing Argument about those comments. Those conversations that donald trump did have when he said i dont care about my wife, melania. I care about what the women voters are going to do. Thats important. They have to show intent. This is an intent crime. Theyre going to have to focus on what donald trump was thinking, and theyre going to get that not just through the documents but what people have been saying, and those people, one of the main people, was Michael Cohen. Terry austin, catherine christian, and Suzanne Craig, thank you all so much. Really, really appreciate it. Youre doing really great work too as you report out this trial, and well dig deeper up next into how the jury reacted to Michael Cohens dramatic testimony on the stand with insight from a Trial Strategy Consultant who has worked on several high profile criminal cases from Martha Stewart to leona helmsly. And donald trump hits battleground, minnesota. And later the other criminal trial of senator bob menendez facing corruption charges. Court is back this morning in that case. What an fbi agent said about needing two cash counting machines. Were back in 90 seconds. G machines were back in 90 seconds re stir that nice catch. Were still going for that perfect pizza. And with higher stroke risk from afib not caused by a heart valve problem,. Were going for a bett

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