Situation room. The lead with jake tapper starts right now cnns Breaking News welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. We are following Breaking News out of Donald Trumps Hush Money Cover Up Trial in New York City were right, this i mean, it Michael Cohen is facing an incredibly aggressive crossexamination so far, trump attorney todd blanche has gotten cohen to confirm that he wants to see trump convicted in this case, that he makes money off of his antitrump social media posts and even sells merchandise showing trump in jail. Earlier today, prosecutors had cohen explained why he felt there was the Pressure Campaign to keep him from turning against trump. And how and why he eventually flipped from a loyal confidant to a cooperating witness. Prosecutors also tried to get ahead of the defense by having cohen admit to multiple lines. He has previously told including his plea of not guilty his plea of guilty to the tax charges the sent him to prison cohen also owned up to the fact that he lied
Blitzer in washington. Ill be back in two hours, 6 00 p. M. Eastern in the situation room. Starts right now cnns Breaking News. And welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper and we continue to follow the Breaking News out of manhattan and where the man at the center of the Hush Money Payments Scandal is testifying right now in Donald Trumps criminal trial, Michael Cohen is detailing exactly how he came to pay 130,000 to Adult Film Star In Director Stormy Daniels, who came forward about an alleged episode with donald trump in the days before the 2016 Election Cohen testified, not only did trump know about the uh, hundred 30,000 payment, but trump directly approved it and said that he would pay cohen back and the prosecution is using cohens testimony to present both an offensive and defensive case offensively by establishing the cohen was the man behind the payments, not just to Stormy Daniels, but also to 1998 playmate of the year, Karen Mcdougal and defensively by trying to establish that co
it s a brutally harsh regime. in terms of kenneth bae s case, it has taken them six months to put this american citizen on trial, but the trial itself only lasted two days. he was sentenced the very same day by the same court, the supreme court, to 15 months of that hard labor without any right of appeal. it appears kenneth bae may be a bargaining chip for north korea in its ever higher games stakes of bripgsmanship. there is curiously little information about kenneth bae online. just this facebook page started by friends to campaign for his release from the secret iive regime. the official news agency claiming his crimes were proved by evidence. a possible reference to material reportedly found on a hard drive, one of bae s friends
searches working more than 5,000 hours on the case. i ask and i plead that the person or persons who have young ayla keep her safe and return her safely. rick: authorities will continue to search outside the microscope of national media attention. trace. trace: hard story, rick, live from new york, thank you. iranian officials are putting an american citizen on trial, calling him a spy, and if they find him guilty it could cost him his life. an update on that next. ing a pat from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.
the middle of an island. they be they clean up and get ready to plant. rick reichmuth, along the red liver in morehead. avolcanic eruption in iceland. after 200 years of dorm nancy. the volcano blasted and could cause another explosion at a near volcano. scientists say that would be disastrous because it will release dangerous gas. because they re under sheets of ice, they usually erupt with very little warning. word in north korea is plans to put a 29-year-old american citizen on trial there for entering north korea. according to the state run media, the boston native was