Me. Welcome to the beat. Im ari melber and we have a packed show tonight. Michael cohen is here. You know the name. Lanny davis joins us later tonight as we track what could become a verdict that would hinge more than anything else on Michael Kahns testimony and by the end of the hour, al sharpton is here for a cultural moment unlike anything weve ever tried on the beat before. You see him there was james brown. The reverend is here joined by an artist making his big debut tonight, henry mack. Our top show story shows why verdict is on the way and trumps criminal trial, his Defense Lawyers resting their case today telling the judge theyve completed their mission without ever having to call trump to testify, as is their right. They finished after less than two days in control. Trumps lawyers call just two witnesses compared to the 19 witnesses the d. A. Called, some of whom you can see right here, the star witness cohen, former trump aid hicks, Stormy Daniels, a Tabloid Chief and an arr
Here. You know the name. Lanny davis joins us tonight as we track what could become a verdict that could hinge more than anything else on mierk call cohens testimony. Al sharpton is here more than anything else weve tried on the beat before. You see us with james brown. The rev is here. An artist making his beat debut harry mack. Our top story shows why a verdict is on the way in trumps criminal trial. His Defense Lawyers resting their case today telling the judge theyve completed their mission without ever having to call Defendant Trump to testify as is their right to call or not call. So they finished after less than two days in control. Trumps lawyers called two witnesses compared to the 19 witnesses the da called. Some of whom you can see right here. The star witness cohen, former trump aides like hope hicks, Stormy Daniels, tabloid chief and an array of many different important people. Now legally youre looking at the typical mismatch. The da the the prosecution calls more witness
Think theres a very interesting day fascinating. And i just want to thank well, the lawyers because theyve been really working hard well, if the goal today was to please the client, well, consider them. Pleased. Welcome to a special day. Mishnah lara codes live on day 18 of Donald Trumps criminal trial. A trial is that a lot of numbers to keep up with, right. I mean, 34, the number of felony counts, again, and trump for falsifying business records, 130,000. The amount of dollars Stormy Daniels was actually paid to keep quiet, but the number that might be sticking with the jury tonight is 96 than seconds of a critical october 2016 phone call it is now in question. On monday, cohen testified that he made that october call to trumps bodyguard man by the name of Keith Schiller to try to talk to trump. Whole point of that call to tell trump that he was planning to pay off Stormy Daniels now from tuesdays transcript here was the question, why did you need to speak with mr. Trump at that poin
Andrew weissmann, lisa rubin, and me, all of whom were in the courtroom today. That is what you were going to get. You will get the ride down the elevator but it will last an hour. I am holding the step the Elevator Button so we get the most out of all of you. This is a courthouse table, right here. Thank you. The first thing judge merchan did in the courtroom today before bringing the jury into the room are bringing a witness into the room was to rule in favor of donald trump on an evidentiary point. Donald trump pretends it never happens. He stands in the very hallway of the courthouse right outside the courtroom speaking to microphones every day, ranting about how unfair judge merchan is. He appears to hate judge merchan and is very convincing in delivering that feeling. But, he cannot hate the judge because the judge is unfair. He has to hate him for some other reason. Even donald trump knows the judge is fair. Today, half of the trump lawyer objections were sustained. There were n
Point out we still need prosecutors to connect donald trump to the actual actions that are taking place here. Donald trump did not say set up this llc. Its important to remember that Michael Cohens testimony has to be supported at some point to where did donald trump instruct you to do this specifically. Its time for us to hand it over. Thank you all for being with us. We appreciate all of you. Thats going to do it for us this hour. Andrea mitchell and katy tur will pick things up after a quick break. Ill see you back at 1 00 eastern time. Keep it here. Lots going on. Good day, everyone. The star witness takes the stand. Now the critical figure in the hush money case. Michael cohen, once Donald Trumps loyal attack dog, is now facetoface with his former boss for the first time in months. Cohen is the lynch pin of the prosecutions case. They argue cohen acted at trumps direction in an attempt to illegally influence the 2016 election. The defenses counter, once a liar, always a liar. Pain