hi everyone, it s 4:00 in new york as we come on the air, we are following breaking news. at this hour, one of the disgraced twice impeached ex-president s closest advisers, allen weisselberg is on route to the notorious rikers island. if he hasn t arrived already. he s been sentenced to five months behind bars for executing a tax scheme. he had been facing up to 15 years in prison but struck a deal with prosecutors pleading guilty to 15 felony counts including tax fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny, and agreeing to testify against the trump org, though notably not against the big boss, donald hymn or any of his family. weisselberg who is 75 years old has been with the trump org for 50 years. technically he was the chief financial officer, but cfo doesn t capture how central he is to the trump org and the shady transactions or how complicit he was in the dirty dealings of the ex-president. nobody knows that better than michael cohen who had and has and has shared the receipt
Us. Former new york assistant attorney general adam pollock joins the conversation, and Criminal Defense Attorney and former manhattan prosecutor, duel role, duncan levin is still with us. I want to call you a slashy in the immortal words of zoo lander, model and actor. Michael cohen on the stand for about four hours now. Vaughn hillyard, bring us up to speed. Reporter currently the line of questioning is around the actual execution of the Nondisclosure Agreement that Michael Cohen says that donald trump was party to with Stormy Daniels and her agent and attorney Keith Davidson, in the explicit question which gets at the heart of the falsification of Business Records arguments in charges against donald trump is currently playing before the jury as we speak. The question directed by the prosecution to Michael Cohen just one minute ago was very explicit. Was this Nondisclosure Agreement for the purposes of paying Michael Cohen as a legal retainer to which Michael Cohen said no and said t
Freedom for everyone in our nation, from that experience, we know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority and the very foundation of our democracy. Moments like this, we have to put these principals that we are talking about into action. I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world. In america, we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard. I understand thats america. But theres no place on any campus in america, any place in america, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind. [ applause ] whether against jews or anyone else. Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. Its against the law. We are not a lawless country. We are a civil society. We uphold the rule of law. No one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves. [ applause ] the jewish community, i want you to know, i see your f
The jury did seem to come to the conclusion that it wasn t just allen weisselberg in the middle of the night, going into a computer data base in trump tower, and squeezing out his schools for the grandchildren or to get that mercedes bend. i think what the prosecution presented, what the jury found here was most important is allen weisselberg, the colead prosecutor on this case mentioned it, that the jury did find that he was in that high managerial capacity. that s something you and i talked about when this trial first began. was he a principle, and was he somebody who was doing this on behalf of the corporation, not only that, but huffinger pointed out this was of benefit to the trump organization. that was a key component as well, that effectively the jury finding, the judge agreeing and the prosecutors also agreeing because they presented this case that there was a real benefit to the trump organization.