go on for just a second. judge schraeder taking a brief break here during the dramatic testimony of kyle rittenhouse. mr. rittenhouse just acknowledging the cross-examination from prosecutors began a moment ago, saying yes in the affirmative he used deadly force in kenosha but he says it was in self-defense. dramatic testimony first as he came up as a defense witness where he said, yes, i was involved in this horizontal violence but he says in self-defense and then the prosecutor got right to it. answering four times yes did you use deadly force. and that is the reason why, john, you almost never see witnesses take the stand in their own defense. it s a common sense matter most people think i m sorry, elliott. we re going back to the court. he s commenting on my client s right to remain silent. no, your honor, i m making the point after hearing everything in the case now he s tailoring his story to what has already been introduced. the problem is this is a grave
they just took a lunch break. okay, shimon, we ll check back with you and we ll obviously be watching closely for when court resumes. appreciate that. i want to get some legal expertise in here. legal analyst and former federal prosecutor laura coates with us as well as cnn legal analyst and civil rights attorney reeva martin. thank you for being with me. is rittenhouse helping or hurting his case? well, it was a risky move by the defense team to put him on the stand, it always is to put a defend on. but i think in this case given how the evidence has been presented by the prosecution that it is working for the defense. they presented a very different picture of a kyle rittenhouse than what we had seen in the media reports. this is kyle rittenhouse that went there to do good, to take graffiti off of a school, to render aid to help save a business. this was a very, you know, humanized kyle rittenhouse, and that s what the defense wanted to do. they wanted to paint him as a