On this. Thank you so much for joining us you always learn something clear. Fold belt. They dont want exact worth an all right. Thank you so much for joining us. This is Cnn News Central seen in special coverage of the donald trump Hush Money Trial continues. Big day today on the sand t intention all back on the stand. You are looking at live pictures of 100 Centre Street in downtown manhattan, where in just minutes, Michael Cohen will be back under oath and donald trump will be watching as his former fixer tries to stitch together the prosecutions case for a jury that could send the former president of the United States to jail welcome to our viewers. Im john berman in new york youre watching Cnn Special Live Coverage of Donald TrumpsHush Money Cover Up, try not jake tapper in washington dc today, prosecutors want Michael Cohen to say more about the last piece of that sentence the cover up, part. That is the crux of the governments case against the 45th president. I was following his directions. Cohen claimed in day one of this testimony the trump explicitly ordered him to pay Stormy Daniels, the adult film star and director, to keep quiet. And cohen also claimed that the reason was not to protect trumps family, but to prevent Voter Backlash just weeks ahead of the 2016 election today we anticipate the prosecution the dive deeper into the details about how trump repaid cohen, who fronted the money used to allegedly by Stormy Daniels, silence and then proceedings prominence to turn extremely thank needed with Cross Examination inside the court, expect Defense Attorneys to attempt to dismantle cohens credibility outside the court expected growing list of trump allies, including the republican Speaker Of The House, to do what trump cannot do. Attack the witnesses cnns reporters are inside the courtroom to bring you every important update from this historic hush money cover pro lets get right to cnns elie honig at the magic while elliott big day yesterday, another big daytoday. Yeah. Jake, A Full De Of Critical Testimony One Yesterday for Michael Cohen. Lets go through a couple of the Key Takeaways now, Michael Cohen took the jury back to the very start of Donald Trumps president ial campaign in 2015, when donald trump came down that escalate or trump tower, Michael Cohen was there and cohen told the jury that donald trump told him he said when this announcement comes out, that im going to be running for president , expect a lot of different women to come forward now that ended up being true in fact, in the months that followed, Michael Cohen work with donald trump and with various people, the National Enquirer to make Hush Money Payments to a doorman who had a false story about donald trump, 30,000 colors. They paid off Karen Mcdougal through the National Enquirer, 150,000 and finally, they paid off most importantly to this case, Stormy Daniels for 130,000. Now, Michael Cohen was at the center of the Stormy Daniels payment and he detailed for the jury exactly how it was structured first, Michael Cohen himself paid Stormy Daniels 130,000 and he told the jury exactly how that happened. He told the jury that donald trump said to him, he meaning Donald Trump Trump expressed to me just do it go meet up with Allen Weisselberg, the cfo of the trump org, and figure this whole thing out. Now, there was a really important example yesterday of the Prosecution Weaving in Corroboration Documents that backed up Michael Cohen about a very important specific de october 26, 2016. This is the day that Michael Cohen lined up the hundred 30,000 he was going to pay for Stormy Daniels prosecutors first showed to phone records 8 34 a. M. They showing that Michael Cohen had phone calls with donald trump. Cohen told the jury, i said them are you sure you want me to do this . Are you sure youre going to pay me back . He said yes and yes, halfhour later, prosecutors showed an email that Michael Cohen sent to something called the delaney corporation to line up the paperwork to get the money, then we know from bank records that Michael Cohen opened an account that day in the name of essential consultants. And then finally at 4 15, we saw an email confirming that the, uh, hundred 30,000 had been moved into the account next day, Michael Cohen wires that over to Stormy Daniels and her lawyer, and then the day after that, they have their nondisclosure agreement. So you see prosecutors, theyre using documents to try to support and bolster Michael Cohens testimony. Cohen also testified about the nondisclosure agreement. He confirmed peggy peterson, that Stormy Daniels thats her signature. David dennison, Michael Cohen testified thats donald trump, although trump did not sign, and cohen confirmed that this signature here, thats his scratch on the sheet. He said he signed on behalf of essential consultants. Now, the other part of the payment is that donald trump repaid Michael Cohen 420,000 by a series of checks issued over the following year. This is the most important testimony that Michael Cohen gave yesterday. He said that when it came to that reimbursement he was asked. By, the de Michael Cohen was asked did mr. Weisselbergs state in front of mr. Trump that you were going to receive 420,000 over the course of 12 months cohen responded, yes. And then the dis and what, if anything, did mr. Trump say that time . Michael cohen said he approved it, so jake, that is the most important piece of testimony that we heard yesterday Michael Cohen link donald trump directly to the payment and to the cover up the reimbursement. So when Michael Cohen picks up today, i think were going to hear more about that testimony and count on the defense team going back there during crossexamination probably later today, jake interesting stuff. Elie honig, thanks so much. Come join us at the panel here and lets talk about this with our panel. First of all, let me start to him again, go with you reportable vips there today include the house speaker, and we should know hes not the speaker of the republican party. Hes the speaker of the entire House Of Representatives , democrats and republicans. And yet he is, he is there to support President Trump. You can call this support, you can call vassal ij, whatever youd like. North dakota governor doug burgum, florida congressman Byron Donalds and cory mills, and then former republican president ial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. What do you make of this i dont know a look theyre doing this is like going to pay tribute at maralago, donald trump clearly wants them there and they are happy to oblige. I think of all of those i understand the vip stakes guys who think that theyd have to come to please him i do find it fascinating as i do everything about this case that we find ourselves on a day where the Speaker Of The House is going to 100 Centre Street for this, i know its not a hush money pouring case. Its a records case, but this is where we find ourselves lets also just interesting because its its very different from like theoretically there was a time when politicians, if there was a case going on politicians might say, just as a kneejerk looks, let the system play out and not have these demonstrations of support aid want to be as far away from well, there will be not just that, but also being criminally indited yes possible. Yes. That but thats the politics of it. I also just mean the respect for the system playing itself out. But there is something going on here. We know the important that donald trump pay feels about his, his definition of loyalty, which is loyalty to him, not necessarily a twoway street and casey, i want to play this moment from. 1990 to Donald Trumps hawking about the issue of loyalty that would have wiped the floor with the guys that werent loyal, which i will now do, which is great. I love getting even with people if given the opportunity, i will get even with some people that would just loyal to me. I mean, i had a group of people that would disloyal. But how do you define . And disloyalty . They didnt come to my aid how do you define disloyal . They didnt come to my aid. So what we have here as the ultimate display of loyalty by these vips, including the Speaker Of The House. And also in front of him, the witness, the ultimate display of disloyalty you do. And that really shows you how donald trump, the man was foraged many decades ago and has been true to this set of Personality Traits and tendencies. Now for, i mean, that was how old, 30 years old, right. And i was told there was not any math on them but its over 30 years old. I will say that and he is demanding loyalty from the people around him and then casting them out. I mean, when i talked to republicans who worked in the white house, theyll say with donald trump, loyalty is a oneway street. He expects loyalty from you. But the second that you are not useful him anymore, thats when its over. I mean, Michael Cohen had remained loyal to donald trump, i believe until donald trump basically cast him out, right. And then there was the fbi rate and they broke ranks at that point. The idea that im not sure that the idea that Michael Cohen turned on trump before trump turned on cohen is an accurate description of events but then yes, from a political perspective, youre seeing this just this parade of people that he is demanding someone described in a headline as the indignity of the trump beef steaks. And i really do think that is what it is they sort of have to prostrate themselves up for him because i mean, the reality is he if you are a politician in the republican party, 30 and donald trump turns on you, you will be cast out of the party that is just the reality of the situation right now. Lets talk about the case. So bill brynn one of the things that Michael Cohen tried to do the prosecution tried to do was to illustrate the idea that this cover this payment, the Hush Money Payment happened explicitly because of Donald Trumps fears of how voters would react and not out of fears of how melania, his wife, would react. This is according to Michael Cohen, im not saying its a fact. Im saying according to cohen. And in fact, cohen testified that he asked what to trump what melanias reaction would be . He when the stormy payment was made and trump said, according to cohen quote, dont worry, he goes how long do you think ill be on the market for not long. He wasnt thinking about melania. This was all about the campaign again, good evidence. If you consider Michael Cohen to be a credible witness, right . I agree j. And i think that any married individuals, especially married men, on that jury, will say that this just past the smell test. I mean i think there was another quote in there that cohen attributed to trump. Said sounds like its going to hurt me with women. So what are hurting with one particular woman . Milan 22, trump. And even if you take the Love And Marriage aspect out of it, theres a huge Financial Risks there, and i think its so long ago. I think his son was only a baby, so its ludicrous to say that for colon to say that there was no import to trump about the impact that would have on his marriage. These two things, jake, are not mutually exclusive, and i think thats where people are getting hung up. If that jury gets back there and says, well, he was worried about his marriage and his family, and he was worried about his president ial campaign and they dont think that the primary worry was the president ial campaign. I dont think it gets to the second crime and i dont think it gets into the felony. Important question to that point, how the judge will instruct the jury to handle how they weigh the question of was it primarily political or was it sort of personal, the judge will have to explain to the jury, you must convict or youve probably you can convince if you find that the defendant has done the following, but no one really knows and dont let anyone tell you otherwise, dont no one truly knows that its the balance of whether its political for personal. A lot of it because its an open source, nebulous gray area, legally. Yes. So the test more or less, was one of the substantial motivators the campaign and politics. There are often mixed motives and it makes perfect sense to me that donald trump would have been concerned about both the political end of this and the familial end of this. But as long as theyre both substantial, its not even a question of which is more prevalent in his mind as long as theyre both substantial, thats enough, but bill makes a good point. We are about to get into a dicey and elliott makes the same point dicey area of Campaign Finance law. And weve had reporting and maybe jamies report on this that both sides are considering calling Campaign Finance expert that would scare me as a prosecutor because, you know what the answer is to almost every hypothetical you pose to a Campaign Finance expert. Well, it depends. Its subjective. Youd have to look all the facts and as a prosecutor, thats poison. You dont want the jury going back. Theyre going i dont know. Its a rental. Its a mind bender, so im very interested to see how the prosecution is going to deal with that and try to explain to the jury, click clearly heres what Campaign Finance laws are. Heres how they were broken. And the quote that was just alluded to cohen testified about the Stormy Daniels story. Trump said, quote, women are going to hate me. That bill was talking about this. Guys may think its cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign. He said to me, this is a disaster after a total disaster. Yeah. Well, i mean, that was the impression at the time. I mean, when the access Hollywood Tape came out, youll remember it was one of the few times at donald trump was not one to apologize for things that he said that offended people i mean, he went after john mccain and he stood by that all the way along no matter how many people told him, hey, you should take that back, you should apologize, is a war hero. This was a time and i remember the day. I as im, sure, you guys do as well from covering it they were in this panic mode initially and then there was the statement from him. But the thing that mattered the most i we rewatch some of it earlier this morning on this network what mattered the most was melania going on tv in that moment and saying that this was just Locker Room Talk. She went in there and she vouched for him and that gave away for all these women who yeah, probably looked at that and look down trumps very good at understanding the political ramifications of what he does and what he says, what is going to play, whats not. This idea . Here that this would be really bad for women. It rings true for very obvious reasons. And what he needed was a woman to vouch for him and she did not. She stood by him at that moment. I do think that underscores why its noteworthy. Shes not there now, and i will also say, i mean, to your point sure i see what you mean about how yes. He couldnt and theres no way were going to know if Michael Cohen is telling the truth or if theres some other version of the truth in terms of what donald trump was saying. I will just say if you hear him talk about women, it does not ring untrue that he would Say Something like, are you kidding if my wife left me, id have another way . If right away, also, by the way, his public persona or that out. I mean, this is not your wife just quickly, the public knows who donald trump. Yes. They know him