Formally recognized a palestinian state. Deadline white house starts right now. Hi there, everyone. 22 witnesses, 21 days of court, 80 hours of Witness Testimony later, the firstever criminal trail of an expresident is coming to a close. The prosecution has one last chance to hammer home its case in close answer on tuesday, given that the defense put up just two witnesses, lasting four times longer than their entire presentation, only the manhattan d. A. Is wrestling with the about the Testimony Bombshell after bombshell over four weeks. Jurors listens intendly, as they testified about the confidential arrangement made with trump in 2015. Hope hick telling the about the infame owls Access Hollywood tape. Jurors also saw the handwritten notes that worked out the monthly reimbursements. Stormy daniels was questioned in detail about an rattled Sexual Encounter . Michael cohen it was, mr. Trumps former fixer turned foe Michael Cohen taken the stand. So, all the testimony and all of the evidence was intended to drive home the point that the entire conspiracy to conceal Hush Money Payments that were made to suppress evidence was done at the behest of and at the direction of donald trump. During his opening statement, trumps attorney todd launche asked court this question, quote, think for a moment what a frugal businessman, a man who pinches pennies would repay a 130,000 debt to the tune of 420,000. To the Question Prosecutor said heck yes, and they brought a wealth of circumstantial evidence and such documents to make their place from jeff mcconney, now showing the do you want on how they got to the 420,000 figure, but how they sought to conceal the hush money, also revealing that donald trump is a boss who kept a close eye on every one of his pennies. To trumps own words from his own books that reveal he was a produce selfdescribed micromanager and cheapskate, making it all the more plausible he had to have known about a plan to conceal payments made to Stormy Daniels. As for trumps team, they will be coming off an attempt to discredit mike acohen that seemed to go awry. Trump attorney Robert Costello was literally undone by his own words, specifically emails he wrote and sent that he aimed to pressure Michael Cohen into protecting donald trump. New york times notes this the defense had hoped to damage mr. Cohen, mr. Costellos choppy performance may be remembered to, the trial in its final stages is where we start with some of our favorite reports and friends. With you at the table. Yasmin vossoughian, plus Msnbc Legal Weissmann is here with us. Today is the first day to sort of exhale and process what was happening. I have to say every day what we had sort of prepared to read and present to our viewers based on what had happened before 4 00 in the east was not what we ended up covering, because something twisted, something turned in a way that no one expected it to. So interesting, i was going to say, i have never done a trial where something unexpected doesnt happen. You can prepare all you want, and something, some piece of evidence, something takes on a life of its own. The other thing, and i used to prepare witnesses this way when i have had witses like Michael Cohen. I would say, somebody is going to be presented, and this is what you need to know no matter it is, just think about what you are remember and just say it. It doesnt matter if its really bad. It doesnt matter if youre saying i stole money from the defendant. Whatever it is, just your lone start at that moment is the truth. I think frankly the only point where the defense actually scored any sort of surprising point was on what i think now is just a lot of theater. I took it as a test of how Michael Cohen was prepared and how he did on the stand. I thought he answered with that lone star in mind, when he saiding that what i remember. When the photo came out, it was important, because i kept on thinking about, had you did not know what he was talking about a phone call with the report with Keith Shiller that that was going to be a time that donald trump was actually going to be there. When for a he said that and donald trump wasnt in a speech, and it turns out, no, i think thats when it happened. To me, it was something i would argue as she re corroborative. That is how trials work. We do know that the jury saw the courtroom cleared out on multiple occasions for only one witness, and that was Robert Costello. That was such a huge mistake. I dont know for a fact, but i just it has to be that that was Donald Trumps decision with a tin ear as to at least how it played to me. Im not speaking of the jurors. It cross rates Michael Cohen. It shows that donald trump was the leader, at the head of this. It showed an Obstruction Conspiracy of Michael Cohen being kept from being heard. The defendant did not want you to hear from that man on the witness stand. Thats because he knew he had the goods. Michael cohen is what we thought would behave lie bob costello, and costello behaved in a way theres no way the jury did not react to that. It was the most dispassionate, lovely judge with incredible judicial temperament, juries in general like judges and here they have every reason to like this particular judge. Theres no way they did not think this was highly inappropriate. And this was the defendants case. Again, we dont know if the jury is consuming the evidence in a Narrative Sweep. No. It was certainly presented as such, and in the Narrative Sweep that the prosecution presented, it was a story about a conspiracy that is conceived of in a meeting in trump tower, and the principals are david pecker and donald trump. The person who is sort of a mid Level Staffer in that conspiracy is Michael Cohen. Is the story concludes dramatically in the crocks of costello, and the prosecution gets to land on new evidence of the effort to suppress the miss Level Staffer, who in every mob movie is the guy who flips because he has the books or steals the books or copies the books. And trumps role as the person who would make sure that everyone that Michael Cohen could sleep well, because he had a friend in a high place. I think back too susans direct of cohen, without knowing at the time that Robert Costello would be called as a defense witness. For all intents and purposes, he was a late add. He said, ive not yet spoken to todd launche. Hoffer asked Michael Cohen as to whether or not he told the truth to Robert Costello, she said, did they have sex . And he said, no, he didnt tell him the truth. In fact, he didnt trust him. Thats why he didnt tell him the truth. I remember talking about it on television at the time as to why Michael Cohen said he did not retain this individual, who was a good friend of Rudy Giuliani, who emailed him, sleep well tonight, im meeting with my client or my friend who is meeting with his client, meaning roy Rudy Giuliani and the president of the United States at the time, and what do you want me to commune indicate . For costello to act the way he did in that courthouse, going to andrews point, Really CorroboratingMichael Cohens testimony, a lot of jurors walked away on that, what was it, monday . And instead of thinking about Michael Cohen and what may have come from that testimony, they likely walked away thinking about Robert Costello and the way he acted toward the judge. You and i saw it, this jury their energy feeds off the judge. If juan merchan is not into one of the witnesses or feeling theyre being disrespectful or not answers succinctly, he holds them to ask. I imagine they were feeding off the same energy, rolling his eyes at the judge, staring him down. To the degree, harry litman, theyll by asked to make relative judgments, yeah, there was a one question on one day about one call that made me wonder if Michael Cohen was telling the truth, but, you know, the defenses only person that came up and spoke for the defendants innocence, if you will, that was objective, its not even clear to me that it was. Hes much worse than anything they want about Michael Cohen on cross. I mean, how much do juries take into consideration the rely activity in terms of the credibility over the other . I think its the key question, and the short answer is quite a bit as you say, we trooped up every court day. Its not how the jury experienced it. They experienced it more as a Narrative Sweep. Its the way jurors are supposed to experience. They make overall judgments, who is telling the truth, and who isnt. I think in part because he was farley unperturbed, it wasnt a seismic moment for them when cohen was a little bit knocked off his feet, whereas costello, thats like the principal coming into the classroom in second grade. That is really memorable. They noticed it, and im sure they talked about it a lot in the back. The important point is that It Corroborates is general story, and i think, you know, 12 people, you any never, but my experience, i think andrew would substantiate this, jurors make general judgments about who is being straight and who isnt. Not just cohen, but Stormy Daniels and pecker have warts as witnesses, but you can tell they have gave a story that coheres with one ant, and i think thats the general impression on tuesday when they try to tie it together, and not the isolated dramatic points where hes knocked back a little bit. How does the prosecution close . I think The Big Picture for the prosecution is twofold. This is true for my trial. The prosecution needs to make sure the jury is going to consider all of the proof together. I think that say may like, andrew, of course, but the defense is constantly saying this piece doesnt prove the case, this does. But thats now hot a trial works. I always give this example when im summing up, the Police Arrive in an apartment. The defendant is there, theres a dead body on the floor, the defendant has a gun and theres a bullet in the dead body, and the person says, i did it, i did it, and the defense says theres nothing wrong with finding a dead body in your house, theres nong wrog with owning a gun, theres nothing wrong with saying, i did it. You want them to consider just the massive amounts of evidence when you put Together Pecke And Mcconnie and hicks, and the admissions you can talk about physical pieces of evidence, the handwritten notes, the telephone records. You want to say look at this entire picture. The idea that donald trump the Cheapskate Micromanager that is conceded by todd launche, there would be zero reason for him not to know and every reason for him to know. You can put that all together, and then turn to Michael Cohen. You can make an incredibly strong case and say, you dont even need that, and then talk about the way from the inside what was happening. Do you bring in costello and then absolutely. I would be using them in all sorts of ways, like stressing this is their case and this supports what we said. I would use it to completely corroborate Michael Cohen. He is an exit to you dont trust him . You saw him hes so into this convicted felon didnt trust him. He said, i thought he would go right back to donald trump. Its in black and white, but you use it to say, lets just talk about obstruction in this case. Lets talk about what was going on with what happens in these cases, and who is doing it, and who has put this person forward for you. They didnt have to do anything. They dont have any burden, but they chose to put this person on as their defense. You mentioned in your open about the emails, and two stand out to me, in which she said and im paraphrasing you said at one point Michael Cohen was playing you, did you not, mr. Costello . He says, thats not exactly what i said. Bring up the email. You said at one point i wanted Michael Cohen as a client, did you not . No, no, maam, i did not. Bring up the email. In front of his face, and used his own words against him saying this email speaks for itself, does it not, sir, which is what he said at the beginning of his testimony, which i thought was an incredible moment for the prosecution. And like, in girth and vintage, hes sort of an avatar for trump. We dont know if the jurors will see it that way. I want to ask about someone else. Hope hicks i think in some sways, maybe it was through the tears that are disorienting, but delivered the kill shot to donald trump. Would Michael Cohen have paid the money out of his own heart . No, never, said hope hicks. Was donald trump in charges of all messaging and communications for his own campaign in 2016 . Yes, because he was the best at it, the best. Then the most devastating piece of testimony she offered to the jury was that donald trump looked at her and sighed, and said, thank god this didnt come out in 2016. The date he made those comments was 2018. Do you think her testimony makes a Return Appearance in the closing arguments, harry . Completely. As you said, its singular. Everybody seems to potential have an ax to grind, but her testimony she basically said donald trump lied when he told me cohen did this out of goodness of his heart, came in a painful way, i think provoked the tears. Its as credible as anything gets even though brief. I want to amplify what andrew said. This is not a tying up of loose ends. This is a mini series. Eel see 340 to 50 exhibits, including things that a trial just glossed by a jury. Theyll be up on the jean, transcript quotes, emails and its going to be intentionally sort of visual and arresting. This is the height of the trial lawyers art. In many way, evidence comes in in stilted and artificial ways for many reasons. This is their one chance. Theyve been thinking about it well before the trial started, of having a seminar where they drive it home. Thats for the prosecution. The big challenge for the defense, weve been talking about this all these weeks, what is their narrative. What do they do other than take pot shots. They will ask them and the entire country not to believe them. But he never took the stand. At this point, im not sure what they have to work with. For all of your contributions over the last four weeks, thank you to all of you. Well be calling on you next week. Its not over. It aint over yet. [ laughter ] some of the most extreme plans to restrict Womens Health care are moving into the mainstream. Donald trump has opened the door to replacing more controls on Birth Control. Louisiana has moved another step closer to criminalizing Abortion Health care. Plus the classified documents case, yes, that one, how a rightwing campaign has taken hold, claiming wild and outlandish and frankly dangerous lies about the fbi. Well bring you that story as the judge in that case leaves the trial indefinitely postponed a year after the indictments. And later, jim comey will be here live on set, and well have that when deadline white house continues after a quick break. Dont go anywhere. Use continuek break. Dont go anywhere. I splurged a little because Liberty Mutual customized my Car Insurance and i saved hundreds. Thats great. I know, right . Ive been telling everyone. Baby liberty. Did you hear that . Ty just said her first word. Can you say mama . Baby liberty. Can you say auntie . Baby liberty. How many people did you tell . Only pay for what you need. Jingle liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Baby liberty. A lot of new dry eye patients in my office tell me about their frequent dry eyes, which may point to dry eye disease. 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