hi, everybody. it s thursday. it s 4:00 in new york. it is also day 18 of the people of the state of new york vermont donald trump, the ex-president s former attorney michael cohen is just off the witness stand. the jury is done with their service for the day. prosecutors and attorneys for the ex-president are dealing with the all important question of what happens next. it s happening right now. a hearing over what the defense s case will look like and if they will make a case, if they have a case to present the updates from that hearing that is happening as we meet we ll bring them to you right away. all this is in the wake of a rather desperate and uneven attempt to undercut michael cohen s credibility. it was to be generous, hit and miss, defense attorney todd blanche had a second chance at cross examining michael cohen after a day of rest yesterday. he moved around from topic to topic so quickly that todd blanche decided that todd should apologize to the jurors who would
deadline: white house starts right now. hi, everyone, welcome to wednesday, a critical chapter in the trial of the ex-president is coming to a close. questions now swirl about what happens next n trump election interference trial. todd blanche failed to land any significant blows to michael cohen s credibility, something they re desperate to do after he was put in the center of the scheme to catch and kill negative stories that could have hurt donald trump s campaign. he told the jury that the president himself signed off on the plan to hide the expenses. todd blanche started this way, these are literally the first words out of the his mouth. you and i have never spoken or met, have we? to which cohen replied, we have not. todd blanche, but you know who i am? cohen answers, i do blanche asking, on april 23rd, so after the trial started in this case, you went on tiktok and called me a, quote, crying little cohen supplies that might be something i would say. blanche went
contentious cross examination, how the former fixer turned star witness is upending donald trump s hush money trial, and when this whole thing may drew draw to a close. and then the other big trial in new york city, senator bob menendez is arriving this morning for another day of jury selection. we ll have the latest on his criminal trial. good morning, it is 10:00 eastern. i m ana cabrera reporting from new york, and lots of news this morning. let s begin with the breaking news in the race for the white house. president biden announcing a short time ago he will not participate in the three traditional debates organized by the nonpartisan debate commission, instead challenging donald trump to two non-traditional matchups with this video. donald trump lost two debates to me in 2020. since then he hasn t shown up for a debate. now he s acting like he wants to debate me again. make my day, pal. i ll even do it twice. so let s pick the dates, donald. i hear you re free on w
good to be with you, i m katy tur. buckle up, because at 8:00 a.m. or so around this morning, president biden dared former president trump to two debates and by 11:40, both were officially on the schedule beyond the quick acceptance, though, what makes the june and september debates so remarkable is how different they are going to be. controlled by a news network. held in a tv studio without an audience and with microphones that shut off when a candidate automatically goes over time. and if you need a reminder for why these rules are needed right here is a refresher. vote now. make sure you, in fact, let people know you re senators. he won t answer the question. i m not going to answer the question. radical left will you shut up, man. who is on your list, man? this is gentlemen this is so unpresidential. that off button on the microphone is going to come in handy. a lot has happened since then. biden won, trump would not concede, as you know, and he go
starts now. welcome, everyone. it s a special two-hour edition of the beat. i m ari melber. this is the second day of convicted former trump lawyer michael cohen testifying. inside the courtroom where cohen was speaking against his former boss and by the afternoon the defense started their cross-examination. we ve been reporting on that. here s how it s been going. another pivotal day in donald trump s criminal trial in new york. the prosecution s star witness michael cohen back on the stand. trump s former fixer michael cohen taking the stand for a second day of testimony. it s a whole new game this afternoon. this is the moment we ve been waiting for, the cross-examination. the burning question, will cohen keep his cool when trump s lawyers begin an intense cross-examination. it s been an explosive last hour of testimony. it s getting testy. michael cohen is 45 minutes now into todd blanche s cross. donald trump s attorneys attempted to shred the t