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Trump continues to violate the gag order, citing a Radio Interview when the former president said the jurors were all democrats and had been chosen hastily. Hes not supposed to talk about the jurors. Well is a live report in a few moments. Also this hour, how the politics of the trial are playing out for both former President Trump and President Biden and their campaigns. Plus, striking comments from donald trump during a mass audition for Vice President at maralago over the weekend. And new details about a phone call between President Biden and netanyahu as israel is ordering residents to start moving out of rafah. Despite u. S. Warnings, it could end with a hostage deal and a cease fire. Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. In court this morning, the judge in new york is fining the president again for violating the gag order, putting him on notice that the next violation could lead to him being jailed. Judge merchan calling it a last resort saying hes fully aware of the magnitude of the decision if he were to jail a former president. The judge today found mr. Trump in contempt of only one. Pointing directly to Donald Trumps comments, which clearly mentioned the jury. Judge merchan Writing Former President Trump quote again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones. Mr. Trump paid his 9,000 Contempt Fines last week for the initial nine violations, which he paid via two checks. He now owes another 1,000 for the tenth. The prosecution is zeroing in on how he reimbursed Michael Cohen. Fridays testimony from White House Communications director, hope hicks, who broke down on the stand after detailing the 2016s fear when the access Hollywood Tape broke. We begin with vaughn hill yard, Andrew Weissman, and Catherine Christian. So, vaughn, first to you. Talk about the gag order or the order for the violation of the gag order and what was Donald Trumps reaction to the judge threatening him with jail time . Reporter this is yet again another violation by donald trump that judge merchan found him to have violated. Not only a 1,000 fine, but also the suggestion that prison time could be in order. Judge merchan being explicitly clear that quote, there are many reasons why incarceration is a last resort for you. Here, emphasizing the point that he would rather not have to put donald trump in jail, yet acknowledged the fact there are real implications, especially when it comes to the jury, which this violation was a specific mention of. Donald trump last week suggesting publicly that 95 of the jury is democrat, which number one, is not true. And number two, was a clear violation under the order issued by judge merchan to not intimidate the jury pool who is hearing this case and will be the one to determine whether he is guilty or not, andrea. And vaughn, talk about what else is happening today. The testimony is detailing the transactions. The way in which Michael Cohen was paid and why his taxes were grossed up on top. Explain all of that. Its bookkeeping details. Reporter exactly. Jeffrey mcconney may not be a Household Name like hope hicks or Stormy Daniels, but hes a 35year employee of the Trump Organization and hes hitting at the prosecution to prove the case to this jury that falsification of the Business Records in the checks that were provided to donald trump, provided to Michael Cohen by donald trump were done with the intent to conceal the Hush Money Payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Mcconney is important. He was working at the comptroller at the Trump Organization overseeing the accounting and the ledger and was the one who he testified today at the direction of the cfo, allen weisselberg, ultimately sent over the approval for the invoices for cohen to be reimbursed. This is at the charges being charged against donald trump. Because what was alleged here, and mcconney testified today, was that cohen was not only just being reimbursed for the daniels payment, but there was an apparent agreement to juice the amount, double the amount he was to be reimbursed for the purposes of him being able to consider the compensation as income in order to cover the taxes that would be associated with that reimbursement here and what the jury is currently looking at here not only invoices, but also the ledger with handwritten notes from mcconney himself, but also weisselberg, which just shows the extent to which there was such consideration over Michael Cohens, the money that was going to Michael Cohen. In the allegation that yes, he was receiving 35,000 every month to be considered as Legal Expense retainer, but in reality, it was actually for reimbursement of the Stormy Daniels payment. That is what we expect here this afternoon. The prosecution to ultimately go and asking mcconney about his understanding of the exact what that money, what that reimbursement was actually for, andrea. Andrew, why is this testimony so significant . Is it because the actual charge is the false bookkeeping . Recordkeeping . I would say its both. Because the first part of the case that really, that vaughn talked about, we heard so much about election fraud. Because this is charged as a felony, thats the sort of underlying crime. The intent to which the government has to prove. The people of the state of new york have to prove. Now were focusing on the false Business Records, which is the Cover Up Part of the case, which is covering up the Campaign Fraud that was talked about for the last week and a half basically. By david pecker. By keith davidson, and by hope hicks. So this is a critical piece but there are sort of two components. One was the election fraud. That has to be an intent to have committed that and now there has to be false Business Records. Here, though it may sound complicated, basically, these are records that instead of just reimbursing the 130,000 from trump to cohen, instead, they try and make it look like these are legal payments. Not just a reimbursement of the Hush Money Payments because they want to keep it under wraps. The cover up. So the problem is if youre going to have it be legal payments and not reimbursements, you need to actually give twice the amount of money because Michael Cohen has to pay taxes on it. And whats devastating, i think, this morning, is what vaughn referred to is that theres not just one set of notes. There are two sets of notes. Allen weisselberg handwriting and Jeff Mcconneys handwriting detailing exactly how this Reimbursement Scheme would work. If it was a simple one for one reimbursement, 130,000, you pay 130,000. But instead, they have to make these calculations because of the taxes. They took detailed notes about that part of the scheme so this is something that will be really interesting to see how the trump team is going to deal with this because youve got two full sets of notes detailing a scheme that doesnt make a lot of sense if its not what this d. A. Says it is. So catherine, lets drill down on that follow up with just how a jury reacts to this kind of testimony. Its perhaps boring, bookkeeping testimony. Especially coming after the drama of Hope Hicks On Friday and of a key witness, you know, breaking down at one point, crying. The emotion of that and how close she was to the former president and how involved she was. Now youve got the numbers. The green odd shape people. Is the importance of it that andrew has just outlined, is that going to get through to the jury . Well, it should because thats really the case. These 34 counts are falsifying Business Records. So they, the prosecutors, have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there are false entries in the Trump Organization Business Records and it was done with the Intent Of Defraud and with the intent to conceal or commit a crime. Thats what the law theyre going to be instructed on, the jurors by the judge, thats the law of falsifying Business Records. So this is very important testimony because if theyre not false entries, there is no charge. So boring, but very important. What we havent heard yet from this witness is trumps name. That donald trump, he has the defendant who is on trial so far, but of course the prosecution is going to argue because theres direct evidence, also circumstantial. Of course he knew. He was a detailed person. Thats what pecker said. He was a micro manager. He was very involved. Theyre also going to be instructed on the law of criminal liability of another. So donald trump, if he requested, if he solicited, commanded, or aided Michael Cohen, then he is as guilty as Michael Cohen would be. So its very important, boring, but very important testimony. So, vaughn, this is really important testimony, but it has to come back to donald trump. They have to bring him in. And presumably that would be through Michael Cohen. Michael cohen is the link that can identify him as the person who, you know, organized this. Wrote the checks. Right. Catherine and andrew are absolutely right. This is part of what were listening to from the testimony of mcconney and perhaps the prosecution just hasnt gotten here to this point. But were looking at to what extent was his understanding that this was in fact a reimbursement to cohen. He here has outwardly acknowledged inside of the courtroom that this was, in his mind, apparently not a normal legal retainer. Yet alone for Michael Cohen, somebody he described who had been somebody he had engaged with in conversation at the coffee counter inside of trump tower. But now instead, youre looking at Michael Cohens testimony becoming of paramount importance because weisselberg, the name giving reference inside of this courtroom, is unlikely to testify here. He is currently at rikers jail after having, after pleading guilty for perjury stemming from the civil fraud suit. Previously, he had already served prison time in which he pleaded guilty as part of a Tax Evasion Scheme through his work with the Trump Organization. So were hearing mcconney, who left after 35 years last year, himself having been found liable for insurance fraud, is part of that civil suit against the Trump Organization and donald trump himself, were hearing him testify that weisselberg had directed him to approve these payments to cohen. The problem here is that we, outside of his handwriting, weisselbergs handwriting on these ledgers and invoices, we are unlikely to hear, the jury is unlikely to hear from weisselberg. Some of the testimony being brought before the jury becomes all the more important knowing that. I think while you were talking, i think another piece of evidence has been permitted in by the judge. Despite objection. That objection was overruled. And Andrew Weissman, that is the president s, president of the United States annual ethics form to the Office Of Government Ethics where you have to list all your assets, liabilities, holdings in the Trump Organization. Presumably where theyre going with this, im going to look at the document that were reading from from the overflow room, is that it was falsely stated. The Cohen Payments were not properly recorded because this is a document that was signed by that chart, we may know the signature, but donald trump. Yes, so one of the things that people should know and i think theyve probably seen it so far is you have to be a little bit patient in trials because not all the evidence comes in at once. And so one of the things that youre going to hear after Jeff Mcconney finishes his testimony in the crossexamination is youre going to have a lot of statements by donald trump himself. Obviously, youre going to see his name on a bunch of checks that he is, he personally is issuing these checks so hed have to say he has no idea what theyre for. But also donald trump himself in various litigation and twitter, then called twitter, made admissions that he in fact reimbursed Michael Cohen for the 130,000. He made that admission on twitter. He made that admission in a california case brought by Stormy Daniels. So youre going to be hearing that he previously, prior to this criminal case coming up, actually admitted that these were Reimbursement Payments. That is going to be argued by the d. A. As directly contrary to his defense here which is he did not make Reimbursement Payments. So again, another piece of the puzzle that will fit with the testimony that were hearing right now from Jeff Mcconney about this very intracate repayment scheme. You can really see how the puzzle is coming together in the way the d. A. Is laying this case out. And catherine, jump in here on what youre seeing from the document were all reading on how this is lining up. Im sorry, i also agree with andrew. Its like Everyone Wants to get to the verdict. Its going to take time. The people, the prosecutors are being deliberate. This case is moving pretty fast and i think it will probably be over by june 3rd. So every document is important. Every text message thats being introduced. Every email. The tweets that donald trump, he may not have texted or emailed, but he tweeted. Forms hes filed as president. They are all connecting the dots for the prosecution to say we have Proven Guilty beyond a responsible doubt and also more importantly, theyve corroborated cohen. When the defense tried to cross examine him about how big a liar he is, the jury will remember that things that are coming out of his mouth, that hes testifying to, have been already corroborated. And im reading here also that in the 2017, in 2018 for his 2017 Office Of Government Ethics document, he had signed a statement for 2016 expenses, excuse me, that were incurred by one of Donald Trumps attorneys, Michael Cohen. That he sought reimbursement for those expenses. Mr. Trump fully reimbursed mr. Cohen in 2017. The value would be 101,000 to 150,000. The Interest Rate would be zero. So the two amounts owed were 130,000 to davidson and 50,000 to red finch. Is that consistent, hes asked, and thats the last of the questions. Prosecution has rested with this witness and camille is up. So, catherine, theyve created a chain of evidence as you and andrew have been pointing out, of the money that was paid to Michael Cohen was falsely declared on the government form and was much larger because it was filed as a legal payment rather than reimbursement. Thats the tax fraud. So 130,000 rebim was grossed up to 140,000. They knew he would have to claim it as income. He got a 60,000 bonus and that 50,000 fintech, red finch, an i. T. Form that did polling. So thats where 130,000 came to 420,000. So that was to disguise that 130,000 reimbursement. Or thats what the prosecution will argue and thats clearly what cohens going to testify to. Andrea, what the argument is with respect to the annual disclosure form that the president needed to sign is i think you will hear the d. A. Say that that form is accurate. Not inaccurate. That that form describes these payments as reimbursements. That is totally inconsistent with everything that Jeff Mcconney has just talked about, which is that the filings, the paper, the Business Records of the company that d. A. Says are false are describing these as legal fees but in the filing the president made as president where he had to file what are these, he said these are Reimbursement Payments so that is a very, that is a bad admission there are many other admissions the d. A. Can point to but thats going to be starting with that one to show that at one place he is saying these are just reimbursements but on the Business Records which the d. A. Has to prove are false in order to make this case, theyre listing them as legal fees. Thats part of the cover up. Thats such a good catch. Thank you very much. To show the different set of lawyers and accountants once he was president apparently or perhaps they were not aware of what had gone down. Stay with us. Vaughn hillyard and Andrew Weissman and Catherine Christian because well be back with a lot more. But first, the political fallout from all of this. How are the two campaigns handling this unprecedented case. The trial of a former president. Well be back in just 90 seconds. Dont go anywhere. Youre watching msnbc. Conds. Dont go anywhere. Youre watinchg msnbc. Nothing dims my light like a migraine. With nurtec odt, i found relief. The only Migraine Medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. To those with migraine, i see you. For the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of Episodic Migraine in adults. Dont take if allergic to nurtec odt. Allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. Most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. Its time we all shine. Talk to a Healthcare Provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. [ Cellphone Ringing ] phone call from the boss . Sorry. 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The white house is blasting donald trump for saying quote, these people are running a geiss tap O Administration comparing it to hitlers secret police. In response to trumps remarks over the weekend, the white house says President Biden is focused on bringing americans together. Instead of echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascist, lunching with neo nazis and fanning Conspiracy Theories that have cost Brave Police Officers their lives. Mr. Trumps potential picks were on stage. Including marco rubio, j. D. Vance and stefanic. Also, the governor of south dakota who was not invited to join the stage. The others on the stage perhaps because of that continuing controversy over her admitted decision to kill her own dog. Senator tim scott very much front and foremost as a potential running mate. He had voted to certify the 2020 election though. But on Meet The Press on sunday repeatedly dodged kristen welkers questions about whether he would challenge the outcome of the 2024 election. Yes or no. Will you accept the Election Results of 2024 . I look forward to President Trump being the 47th president. You can ask multiple times just a yes or no answer. The American People will make the decision but i dont hear you committing to the Election Results. Heres and it went on like that. The same answer. Repeated question. Joining us now, host of way too early and Politico White House bureau chief, jonathan lemire. And brendan buck joins us as well as Kimberly Atkins store. Jonathan, it appears that believing the big lie is a lit litmus test. Lets remember a year and a half or so back the rnc even adopted in its official language declaring january 6th was in their words, legitimate political discourse. Of course, january 6th was fueled by the big lie and its clear that for the vast majority of republicans, certainly all of those trying to be Donald Trumps Vice President , you have to endorse the big lie. Never admit donald trump lost in 2020 and we heard from senator scott, you suggest that the only way he could lose in 2024 would be if there were fraud. He wouldnt accept the idea of President Biden winning fair and square. This is dangerous rhetoric. We know the violence that inspired last time around and its clear. Its a warning to us all. That we should expect more of the same. And donald trump is saying he will make his Vice President ial choice closer to the Republican Convention two months from now. As someone whos worked for a former Vice President ial pick, paul ryan, what do you make of the contenders so far . Marco rubio, who ran against him, j. D. Vance, stefanic who replaced cheney. And governor nome, not sure if shes still in the running. I think donald trump is using a slightly different calculus than a traditional candidate would. Usually the first question you ask is is this person capable of serving as president if something were to happen to me . I dont know if thats how donald trump thinks. Perhaps he should given his age. He is probably much more thinking about will this person be absolutely loyal to me unendingly . I think he saw with mike pence he had that for a while, but didnt at the end. And that is first and foremost on his mind. And then secondly, hes probably looking for somebody whos going to do no harm. That is the consistent thing youre always looking for. Thats where maybe a nome is putting herself in trouble. You want to look for somebody who has Sound Judgment and is not going to undermine your candidacy. Now, donald trump has no real incentive for announcing anybody anytime soon. All of these people are so desperate to be his nominee that theyre willing to fund raise. Theyre willing to be his top surrogate and hes probably going to milk the most out of this as he can. He may know who hes going to pick but theres no real reason for him to name that person when theyre all willing to bend over backwards for him. Sort of an episode of the apprentice. J. D. Vance is ohio and ohio would be an important state. Nobodys won without winning ohio. No republican. Yeah. I dont know how much the vp actually matters having walked for paul ryan during that. I dont know that anybody votes based on vp, but donald trump is certainly going to make sure hes putting himself in the best position to win. I know that vance really adds anything to your campaign, but maybe he doesnt hurt you. Thats probably the primary thing they should be thinking about. Both vance and stefanic are two candidates, probably Vice President ial Running Mates who have changed almost completely their ideological, political stance since becoming part of trump world. Kimberly, the veepstakes, hush money trial. Overshadowing trumps comments to Time Magazine and he said he would let states monitor womens pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. Migrant detention camps. He talked about firing u. S. Attorneys if they dont follow what he wants. Instead of having an independent judiciary. And taking over the Federal Reserve and himself deciding whether or not to raise Interest Rates, which could have a really interesting effect on the dollar and inflation. Yeah. That last point is probably the only thing that there are actual legal guardrails in place to prevent him from doing. Of course, the fed operates independently, but i think we should take Everything Else that you listed there very seriously. I know on the campaign trial, on abortion for example, he said oh, ill leave it to the states and that was the headline for days that donald trump backs off of nationwide abortion ban. Well thats simply not true. He could usher in some of the most draconian policies that we have ever seen. From allowing states to literally monitor the status of womens bodies to having backers who want to use the comstock act that could make it hard not just for Abortion Meds to be mailed through the mail, but also contraception and medical equipment that is used in clinics across the country for general healthcare. It could be very serious. He is doubling down. He is, and recall, people kind of cast aside when he talked about banning all muslims from m coming into the country but he tried his to implement this policy. There will be guardrails when it comes to camps, but i believe everything in the article. The fed was created as an independent agency in 1913 under woodrow wilson, but that could all change if he controlled both houses of congress. It would take congressional action, yes. Thanks to all of you and back to the courtroom in a moment. Well be right back with more from lower manhattan. A string of new developments from the trump hush money trial. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports. This is msnbc. Watching andreal reports. This is msnbc. You can schedule in just a few clicks. And well come to you with a replacement you can trust. Vo schedule Free Mobile Service now at safelite. Com. Safelite repair, safelite replace. I am obsessed with olays retinol body wash. With olay retinol body wash, 95 of women had visibly renewed skin. It makes my skin feel so smooth and moisturized. See the difference with olay. ella fashion moves fast. Setting trends is our business. We need to scale with customer demand. In real time. jen so we partner with verizon. Their solution for us . A private 5g network. ella we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. marquis with a custom private 5g network. Our customers get what they want, when they want it. jen now were even smarter and ready for whats next. vo achieve enterprise intelligence. Its your vision, its your verizon. Her uncles unhappy. Im sensing an underlying issue. Its tmobile. It started when we tried to get him under a new plan. But they they unexpectedly unraveled their price lock guarantee. Which has made him, a bit. Unruly. You called yourself the uncarrier. You sing about price lock on those commercials. the price lock, the price lock. so, if you could change the price, change the name its not a lock, i know a lock. So how can we undo the damage . We could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. Their connection is unreal. And we could all unexperience this whole session. Okay, thats uncalled for. Testimony in Donald Trumps first criminal trial well underway in new york. Back with us, vaughn hillyard, Andrew Weissman and Catherine Christian. Trumps team is trying to show in cross that business in the Trump Organization drastically changed after he won the presidency and everyone was still adjusting in 2017. What did he miss in the last couple of minutes . Reporter right. And also acknowledging that Michael Cohen had formally left the Trump Organization and was working in an outside capacity as Donald Trumps personal attorney. Or at least thats what he testified his understanding of cohens role in 2017 to be, but also the defense team for donald trump right now under crossexamination with Jeffrey Mcconney is hitting at the heart of what he did not say under questioning from the prosecution. In one of those changes were explicitly quote, President Trump did not ask you to do any of the things you just described. Mcconney responded, quote, he did not. So this is where the, you know, for the prosecution, theyre using the handwriting in the ledger, the invoices, and the understanding of mcconney saying that he made and approved these payments to cohen at the behest of weisselberg, the cfos orders, did not go as far as to say he understood these Reimbursement Checks were to pay for the Stormy Daniels alleged cover up. Then number two, hes saying he was never made aware that explicitly these orders came at the direction of donald trump and that this was weisselberg and him going back and forth over how much money Michael Cohen was to be paid over the course of 2017, andrea. So catherine, in terms of how the d. A. Is as you point out, speeding through this. Is this a typical way of trying to establish the chain of what these Bookkeeping Transactions were like and do you think that its having an impact on the jury . Is there any way to tell . When i say speeding, i dont mean to theyre speeding evidence. I mean its moving quickly. Thats really the judge whos kept everyone on schedule. So what i said earlier about how the direct examination, there was no mention of Donald Trumps name out of this witness mouth and the crossexamination followed up on it. Their theory of cohen going rogue. That donald trump never directed mr. Mcconney to do any of the things he testified to. But your prosecution is going to argue, here in official filing when he was president , he called them reimbursements. So theres going to be direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, piece by piece that the prosecution is going to argue similar to, they wont use these words, a mob boss or something similar. They dont want to get their hands dirty so thats why you dont see Text Messages or emails from donald trump but you can piece together the testimony from the other people of how detail oriented, how hes a micro manager, how he was on top of everything. Then his statements. Hes not going to testify. I dont believe he will. But his truth social. His twitter statements. That will all be there for the prosecution to argue why they are proven beyond responsible doubt and the defense will argue no, they havent proven beyond responsible doubt. We know from covering donald trump, he never used emails. I know they can establish that from any of the people he worked with. Vaughn hillyard, you know that very well. Vaughn . Reporter right. This is sort of the unusual character that is donald trump. You know, most people nowadays are using emails or Text Messages but donald trump, during his time in the white house, did not really leave much of a Public Record under his own writing so much of it is relying upon the testimony and statements made by others and thats what hits at the heart of this case here is direct acknowledgment by Jeffrey Mcconney, who worked for donald trump for 35 years, that he was approving of these invoices from Michael Cohen. Yet at the same time here, we dont have donald trump, this would perhaps be easier for the prosecution if there was writing or if donald trump was copied in on a specific email or any of these particular exchanges but thats not just the case with donald trump. Andrew, let me switch gears and just ask you about the classified document case. Because todd blanche, his Defense Lawyer, is also involved in that case. Theyre facing a thursday deadline to submit additional filings to disclose what expert witnesses they want, which sensitive materials jack smiths team intends to use. What do we expect from that and whats been happening on that whole trial, all the pretrial issues while weve been focused here in new york . Well, i wish i could give anybody good news if theyre looking for a trial date, but there are many pending pretrial motions that have yet to be decided. Those are still bubbling along. Many of which are fully briefed and were waiting for a judges decision and were of course also waiting for a trial date. I think i join with many others thinking that the judge is not going to be scheduling a trial before the general election. Theres just a lot of things that still remain to happen and she doesnt seem to be, you know, in any sort of rush to actually deal with a trial date. And the closer it gets, the more that Defense Lawyers will have other things and use their calendar to say they cant be ready and obviously the closer it gets to the election, the more legitimacy there is in terms of not wanting to interfere with that process. And to take if donald trump is as expected is the nominee, not to take him off the Campaign Trail and to await the results of the election first. Its a very slow process. I also think its a case that unfortunately is one that is really not that complicated. It really could have been scheduled and tried much earlier than today. And just while weve been talking, i want to point out, andrew, to what we were talking about earlier, that in the courtroom, the crossexamination of mcconney has reached the point where he has said that he did not know why weisselberg wanted this reimbursement. He didnt know who it was going to. He says cohen needed some kind of reimbursement but weisselberg did not tell you what it was for. So he didnt know about the hush money. So what theyre trying to do in the defense is separate him from having any knowledge of it and also say as vaughn was saying, excuse me, that once he was in the white house, everything was very separated and he was, the president , was certainly less aware of all of the paperwork involved. Yeah. Absolutely. So the cross here is doing what they should be doing to say you know, that this particular functionary did not know the bigger picture. Didnt know why these payments were being made. What they were for. That wasnt his job. His job was to sort of carry out this scheme but he didnt know what the details were. He also was getting his orders from his immediate supervisor who was weisselberg. He couldnt go beyond that. Couldnt say donald trump knew or didnt know. He just knew what he knew. That is very typical. Whats sort of interesting to me is mcconney was a very problematic witness at the trump org tax trial. He is also somebody who has found civilly liable for fraud. So you know, whether he in fact knew or didnt know, its sort of speculation but what hes doing now is really just saying look, i am telling you what the piece i knew. Just to remember as in terms of a piece of the puzzle, while he doesnt have the whole picture, the particular piece he has and particularly the notes that he took and the notes that he identified as weisselbergs notes, are really devastating. Those notes just are totally inconsistent with this just being legal fees. In fact, as opposed to reimbursement for 130,000. So it really does end up proving the scheme even though this witness doesnt know the full picture. Hang in because were going to come back to you in a bit but whats just transpired is also the Defense Lawyer trying to put seeds of doubt about cohen, whether or not he, with the additional money he had received, paying his taxes. Saying to mcconney, you dont know whether he paid his taxes or how he handles his own taxes. So just planting that little seed of doubt and i guess the prosecutor will come back to that and redirect. As we continue to follow the trial, well be back with you on any major developments from the court. Meanwhile, the middle east on edge. New reporting about the Cease Fire Talks as israel tells residents of rafah to start moving out. And concerns rise that israel is going to ignore the u. S. And mount a larger operation in rafah. Netanyahu and President Biden did talk today and of course, rafah has been an unspoken red line for the u. S. , potentially putting thousands in harms way. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Of treating . Or push through the pain and symptoms . With ubrelvy, theres another option. One dose works fast to eliminate Migraine Pain treat it anytime, anywhere. Without worrying where you are or if its too late. Do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. 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I gotta get this deal. Thats like 20 a month per unlimited line. I dont want to miss that. Thats amazing doc. Mobile savings are calling. Visit xfinitymobile. Com to learn more. Doc . And we have breaking news from the middle east. Raf sanchez is in israel. The news is that at least one branch of hamas and its not the most important branch, the most militant, led by sinwar who is believed to be underground, but we have heard from the political leader of hamas in a statement to the officials in qatar and to the egyptian intelligence leader. They are saying they have tentatively accepting a cease fire, but we dont know if this is really speaking for hamas. Is that your understanding . Reporter really important distinction. The head of the political wing of hamas in just the last couple of minutes putting out a statement saying that he has informed the egyptians and the qataris that hamas has tentatively approved of the Cease Fire Proposal thats been on the table. Exactly as you say, the key Decision Maker inside hamas, the gaza chief. He is in charge on the military side. He is believed to be in the tunnels underneath Southern Gaza right now. We have not heard from him. We have not, at this point, heard from the Israeli Governments about this tentative proposal. What we saw with that last Cease Fire Deal, andrea, back in november, which feels like a very, very long time ago, was that the proposal had to be approved by israels war cabinet, by its security cabinet, and then by the full Israeli Government. So we, it is too early at this point to say that a Cease Fire Deal has been agreed, but this is a positive first sign hamas political wing indicating that it has tentatively agreed to this proposal. The most recent iteration of this deal was that hamas agreed to release 33 hostages from the humanitarian category. Women, children, elderly and those hostages with serious medical conditions. In exchange, israel said it would agree to a 40day ceasefire and the release of potentially thousands of palestinian prisoners. Israel also signaling it was prepared to allow some displaced Palestinian Civilians to return to their homes in northern gaza. Now, that was the most recent iteration of the deal, but there has been frenetic diplomacy over the weekend including and involving cia director bill burns who flew into egypt. He traveled to qatar, traveled here to israel, trying to keep these talks on track. We do not know the exact detail at this point of what hamas has agreed to. Its worth saying, andrea, these deals are often structured in terms of first an agreement on the broad framework, then an agreement on the specific details, and those details, the devil can be in them. So we should be cautious at this point that there is an initial indication from hamas political wing that they are open to approval of this deal. Now, this statement coming a little while after President Biden, Prime Minister netanyahu spoke earlier on today. They talked about the ceasefire negotiations, the president reiterating his opposition to an israeli largescale Ground Invasion in rafah. We did see first indications that that Ground Offensive may be imminent. Israel dropping leaflets from aircraft over eastern rafah, telling Palestinian Civilians in that area to evacuate, that israel is planning to move into that area. Its not clear whether this is the start of the full offensive against rafah which Prime Minister netanyahu has been threatening for months now or if this is potentially a more limited operation after hamas fired a number of rockets yesterday towards the area of carom shalom killing four Israeli Soldiers. There was a little news in the diplomatic readout of the call between President Biden and Prime Minister netanyahu, that the president secured an agreement from the Prime Minister to reopen the crossing. It has been closed since the hamas attack yesterday. Andrea. Let me just jump in. Senator blinken, and i was traveling with him, we were in carom shalom, he met with defense minister gallant, and they were talking about all of the above. At that point israel had committed to try to move more humanitarian aid through. They had just opened a Third Crossing in addition. That was a major part of the mission. For that crossing to be closed immediately after these Rocket Attacks and the death of four Israeli Soldiers was something of big concern to the u. S. Because of approaching famine and all the other problems. Theyve been focused on that. Raf, also, every time the president speaks to the Prime Minister, he is reiterating, and according to all my reporting from this trip from all sides, that the u. S. And a number of their allies do not feel that the plan for rafah, for moving all these people is add all adequate to the challenge, that israel is not ready should not be ready to begin moving into rafah. Maybe theres the possibility that this buildup and the threats to Go Into Rafah that we heard after the Cabinet Meeting yesterday is to pressure hamas to try to agree to the ceasefire and that theres a game of negotiation, of chicken going on here. In any case, if they do Go Into Rafah, it is without any kind of green light. In fact, it is in complete defiance, if you will, of the pleadings, repeated pleadings from the Secretary Of State Antony Blinken and the president of the United States to not do that while these people, 1. 4 million 1. 2 million displaced, are still in such jeopardy. As well, there was the Military Plan that is not yet in the kind of shape that the u. S. Thinks is reduced and organized the way they would like to see. They do have a Military Plan, and they have a very partial relocation plan. Neither of which are really acceptable to the white house, raf. Reporter thats right, andrea. The white house has been saying consistently it has not seen credible plans from the Israeli Government about how and where it would move those millionplus Palestinian Civilians to safety. They told us the morning the area of Eastern Rafahs the telling people to evacuate from, it estimates there are around 100,000 Palestinian Civilians in that area. Theyve been told to go north and west to an area called alma was si, a strip of the mediterranean coast in gaza. Theyre saying that a safer zone. I asked the military what guarantees can you give palestinians about their safety . Can you say they will not be bombed if they go there . They said it would be safer than eastern rafah where they anticipate active fighting, but israel reserves the right to strike inside this safe zone if hamas is operating there. We have seen repeatedly time and time in the past that israel has bombed inside of safe zones. It has hamas has used those zones to fire rockets, to carry out other military activities. At this point, andrea, we have not seen Israeli Forces move into this area, east of rafah. I spoke to an israel official earlier. They said the timing of the actual Ground Offensive will be determined, one, by when they get the order from israels government to move in, and two, how long it takes to evacuate those Palestinian Civilians from eastern rafah. Israel has said fairly consistently that, if there is a deal, it is prepared to at least delay an attack on rafah, and we are getting this indication from hms that from there side at least they are prepared to accept this proposal that has been on the table. This is obviously something well be covering very closely. Raf, let me let you get back to your reporting. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Remember, fellow us on social media, mitchellreports. You can rewatch the best parts of our show on youtube, go to msnbc. Com andrea. Chris jansing reports starts after a very short break. Is jans after a very short break introducing, neds plaque psoriasis. Ned, ned, who are you wearing . He thinks his flaky red patches are all people see. Otezla is the 1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. Ned . Otezla can help you get clearer skin, and reduce itching and flaking. With no routine blood tests required. Doctors have been prescribing otezla for over a decade. Otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. Dont use otezla if youre allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions can happen. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Audience ohhh. With clearer skin, movie night is a groovy night. live in the moment. Ask your doctor about otezla. President biden and israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu major making news from the middle east. Hamas has accepted a ceasefire proposal from egypt and qatar. Nbcs raf sanchez is following this for us. Nbcs Aaron Gilchrist is reporting from the white house. Raf, give us the outline of this. What do we know about this potential deal . Reporter chris, in just the last couple minutes hamas released a statement from the leader of its political wing, Ismaih Haniyeh who says theyve agreed to a ceasefire proposal by qatar and egypt, a prossal thats been on the table for more than a week, a proposal that the u. S. Has been urging hamas to take. Our understanding of the most recent iteration of