michael cohen cannot be trusted. michael cohen is the greatest liar of all time. the judges sharp rebuke to trump s attorney. he was livid, right? he was livid as he should be. and the prosecution tells the story of a conspiracy to corrupt the election. this meeting cannot be overstated. trump was overtly discussing purchasing the story to keep it from being published. this scheme could very well be what got president trump elected. tonight, rachel maddow recaps the closing arguments with lawrence o donnell, alex wagner, jen psaki, and katie phang, all inside the courthouse. plus nicolle wallace, chris hayes, joy reid, ari melber and stephanie ruhle as special coverage of trump on trial begins now. thank you for joining us tonight. we know you have every option in the world for where to follow the news of this remarkable moment in american history. it makes us all the more grout more glad you are with us. i am rachel maddow with chris hayes and nicolle wal
note, i wish you a very good night. from across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late with me and i ll see you at the end of tomorrow. tonight, the defense makes its case for reasonable doubt. the real argument was michael cohen cannot be trusted. michael cohen is the goat. the greatest liar of all time. the judge s sharp rebuke to trump s attorney. he was livid. he was livid as he should be. reporter: and the prosecution tells the story of a conspiracy to corrupt a presidential election. steinglass says the value of this corrupt bargain cannot be overstated. trump was overtly discussing the story to avoid it being published. this scheme could very well be what got president trump elected. tonight, rachel maddow recaps the closing arguments with lawrence o donnell, alex wagner, jen tsaki, and all in the courtroom. plus nicole wallace, chris hayes, ari melber, stephanie ruhle. as trump on trial begins. now. thank you for joining us tonight. w
the 11th hour with stephanie ruhle starts now. tonight s closing arguments in donald trump s new york criminal trial. the defense targets michael cohen as the prosecution point to a mountain of evidence against the former president. then the biden campaign brings star power outside the courthouse. robert de niro s blunt message about trump. plus, how aggressive will president biden get on the campaign trail once the trial is over? as the 11th hour gets underway on this tuesday night. good evening once again. i am stephanie ruhle. we are now 161 days away from the election and we are likely 13 hours away from the first case against a former president going to the jury. closing arguments in the case began this morning, lasted all day long, and wrapped up a few hours ago. both sides made their final pleas to the jury of 12 ordinary new yorkers who are taking on an extraordinary task. here is my colleague laura jarrett with more. reporter: tonight the first trial of an americ
defense attorney punctuating the defense s last chance to convince the jury to acquit in the first criminal trial of a former president. i m chris jansing, anchoring along side my colleagues andrea mitchell and katy tur has made her way back from the courtroom. we re here at msnbc headquarters in new york city. and in that downtown courthouse, history is being written during closing arguments today. donald trump s attorney todd blanche just wrapped his closing argument, leaning into the word lie, using it 25 times as he tried to attach it to the prosecution s star witness, michael cohen. and the court just broke for lunch. after that the prosecution is expected to start their closing arguments for the jury. can they deliver a powerful argument as to why 12 citizens should make a historic decision to convict a former president of the united states. i want to bring in former fbi general counsel and former senior member of muller probe and msnbc legal analyst andrew weizma
trayvon martin was reaching for the gun and trying to get the gun which is something george zimmerman claimed in that videotape. correct. and that s pretty implausible to me. when you look at where the gun was, when i look at the nature of their struggle, i think that s a pretty weak claim and it may be something that zimmerman came up with after the fact to try to justify the shooting. it doesn t mean he s guilty but i did think there was several good moments in the summation today where that claim is do you think that s the weakest claim the defense has? i think that s tough. the weakest part i think the prosecution made into a strength today. and that s george zimmerman s past. you could take a step back and the same facts sound very complementary. somebody who wants to be a police officer, somebody who starts their own neighborhood watch? i haven t started a neighborhood watch in my neighborhood.