Transcripts For CNNW The 20240703 : vimarsana.com

And theyre all coming . Those who are still with us, yes. Grandpa whats this . Your wings. Light em up gentlemen, its a beautiful. Day to fly. A pro painfree absorb been pro were how solomon in new york and this is cnn and it is just passed 9 00 p. M. Hours after an attorney for the former president did what he likely wishes he could but cannot because of again, gag order launch into a verbal assault on Michael Cohen, his motives and combustible pass the language was course from the start, prompting an immediate sidebar with the judge moments later, the defense returned to the colorful language cone is used on social media to describe his onetime boss painting, an image of him as a jolted former employee with dollar signs in his eyes also for the second day this week course of the former president s allies, some of whom were vp contender, showed up attacking the trial and cohen in ways once again, the former president cannot joining our team here tonight is korean ramy, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been following the trial from inside the courtroom. What stood out to you today i think that moment you just described that with todd blanche sort of coming straight out of the gates super aggressive at the beginning of cross very much stood out to me especially because of i think it was well, if the judge the answer is no or shawn shut it down quickly. And as we saw in the transcript, that sidebar, my sean said and dont make this about you for that perspective. No. But for the jury, i mean, i guess it did show that he was aggressive and his intention was to go after cohen, even if ultimately the rest of the cross are much of the rest of the cross was a little more toned down. You have a sense of what the reaction in the courtroom was or whether sure. How the jurors seem to interpret it throughout the jurors were quite engaged. They werent sort of captivated at the way that i think they were sometimes during the Stormy Daniels testimony, but they were engaged. They were taking notes. They seem to be taking it seriously. At times, i had a pretty good seat of like being able to see the jury today and lance would be asking about some of cohens Social Media Habits and hed be talking about a Chito Crusted Cartoon Villain or some such thing. And the jurors are like studiously writing notes. And wondering like they just write down Sciutto Crusted Cartoon Villain its very possible. Its robust. You said that you pointed out that cohens testimony is essential to prosecutors because hes the only witness who is tied to cover up a Hush Money Payment directly to trump do you think he was effective in doing so . And do you think in his testimony well, i think thats the big question here, is whether there are these moments that cohen talks about, that he is the only one who can tell that story, like prosecutors did the absolute best they could in having the phone records, having the pictures this morning when he was talking about the Oval Office Meeting prosecutors would flash things on the screen. There was a photo of cohen at a podium at a lectern and the white house, there was a calendar entry showing that he had recorded that he went to the white house on that certain day so i imagine theres no doubt in jurors minds that cohen was in the white house on that certain day but whether in that meeting trump had the conversation that cohen recalls having . I think thats something that jurors are going to be deciding over the next week of the trial. And for as much as as important as it is for Michael Cohen for the process the kitchen making their argument. Hes also the biggest witness for the defense and making their counterargument and saying that dlj i wasnt responsible for this there is so much writing on how Well Todd Blanche does handle that when Michael Cohen is back on the stand on thursday and what we heard from this afternoon is that trump was initially pleased with how this is the only thing todd blanche has really done in this case. He hasnt really crossexamined anyone else at length or taken much of a presence. Hes been there every day, but this is his entire job is to crossexamine Michael Cohen and to do so successfully, trump was initially happy with how todd blanche actually did today. Of course, trump judges everything that he really sees in his evaluation based on the perception and the coverage of it. So well see if that changes over the next. So just at that point elie, how did you think todd blanche did today . Well, i wasnt impressed with him with just based on the transcript and based on our feed, we had a cnn i thought he was a little bit all over the map and current im im interested in what you thought because weve been focused very much on what was Michael Cohens demeanor . How did he play in the courtroom . What was blanche like . Because i know him. I go back to the Southern District of new york with him. He was a pretty mild personality, like all of us. You can get more more jacked up for the courtroom. What was he like . After that initial aggressive questioning . Yeah, it was much more mild. I mean, it wasnt timid. It wasnt he wasnt afraid of cohen, but it was called it was he was clearly prepared. Hed clearly been practicing for this moments but he wasnt attacking cohen. Its interesting for the most part. Youve seen a lot of the trial up close. Do you feel that there is an explanation for this 420,000 other than what the prosecution has said that money is four. Whats the Defense Argument . For what this 420,000 is for it just because donald trump felt like giving it to Michael Cohen. I think prosecutors were trying to squash a few possible Defense Arguments today in their questioning, they talked about the legal work that cohen had done or even consulting work sort of post trumps election. And it was minimal like they were trying to make to say defense if youre going to argue that this is what cohens getting paid for. It will not cut it i think they made that case, but i think the question is not whether sort of what cohen was getting paid for or was this a legal retainer . It really is about whether trump himself directed these false Business Records that he is charged with and that is something that cohen is the one who can speak to that and michael, you dont think it took me nine think the prosecution is prove their case. You dont think that i dont think they have yet . I think theyre trying to with cohen. I think thats why weisselberg is such a big deal and it is absence from the trial is such a big deal. I think theyve gotten to the part of yeah, theres some false Business Records, but this next step of did they falsify the record with the intent of committing another crime . I think thats where you put trump in the room where you need somebody to to backup what gold . And as current said, i mean, i think the the main weakness in the governments case is the connection of donald trump not to the payments, but to the creation of the false Business Records. I mean, we heard about how those records were knowledge if he had knowledge that it was being knowledge is not enough. He has to have caused it. Now, he doesnt have to have done it himself. He doesnt have to have use the dropdown menu. He doesnt have to have put the words retainer on the on the check stub, but he has to have engaged in behavior that lead the people who did actually do the writing to have done that, but can you make the argument that his behavior if he slept for Stormy Daniels and he wanted to cover it up and he paid the such money that that caused the behavior. Well i think its got to be a little more direct than that. I mean it doesnt have to be him saying file this. No, it doesnt have to be an explicit instruction, but it does have to be behavior that led to this specific act of creating the false Business Record. And that is to me, still the weakest part of the governments case. Everything else i think is gone not into it is Michael Cohen saying that donald trump did approve it verbally when Allen Weisselberg showed it to him. That is really and its not clear theyre going to get much closer to that. So thats the question of truly it is up to the jury and if they view that as legitimate enough and far enough, the word the language in an indictment is crucial. And remember weve got two lawyers on this jury, which is unusual that might really look at the technical aspects of it and what it says is that the writing, the Business Record is done with the intent to defraud and the intent to commit another crime and aid and covering it up. So theyve got all of these things. Theyve got approved and im saying i dont think theyve gotten all the way across the finish line with them, but i think if im not mistaken, it may say antony dive in, but when the judge is going to instruct the jury on the law and its really going to be an or practically so its going to be enough for them to prove that it was done with the intention of concealing another crime. And i think all of us one thing they told the jury is that theres direct evidence and the circumstantial evidence but both are evidence. So we dont need necessarily that smoking gun moment where someone comes in and heres the video was something else. You could have certain Potential Evidence may think what the strength of the prosecutions case. Heres what weve been talking about, is gonna be this competing narratives we have a lot of evidence here and i think the idea that the prostate, but the jury is going to say yes, he did this for the campaign and yes, he he he on tape with Michael Cohen and yes. David pecker also met with him and yet he signed all these checks, did all that stuff. But the one thing he didnt know about was about the pacification of these documents. I dont think it really makes rational sense. I think if youre a Defense Lawyer, your case, your counter narrative has to make rational sense. I think here its not going to be enough to have these little next up credibility. Its not gonna be enough to say you really have a vendetta against the sky because for everything, theyve shown, Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels say about donald trump. They have another tweet, like you said, kaitlan, they have another more vitriol thats coming the other way. So really what were looking at, a lot of folks from the Defense Table to the cooperators who were all kind of dirty. And i think but those document mental working the prosecution, it tips over to having a pretty persuasive case current. I think oh, sorry. No good. I think the other thing the prosecution does is we have heard a lot the past couple of days about trump micromanaging, like they have really made a case that trump wasnt not only was trumping micromanager, but that cohen wanted that and really wanted trumps approval. Want to trumps attention and also check in with trump at every step of the way, every step of the way that cohen needed trumps approval, not just because trump wanted it, because cohen needed it. Let me ask you the former president has had a growing entourage and nonfamily members, but of various characters who are additional from Vice President and other things the group that was there today, what kind of an impact did that have in the i mean, were they noticeable . The courtroom, do they do doesnt change the dynamic in any way. The courtroom they were noticeable the sort of Courtroom Benches behind trump have at times been half empty, right . When i was there, like Boris Epshteyn was just there checking his phone and yet sometimes its like that and so theres this packed courtroom of reporters and like five people from the public in the back. And then these empty pews near where trump is sitting are behind where trump is sitting. But the past couple of days, its been packed that he has had all these supporters and its quite noticeable. And at one point today, some of these republican elected officials in the middle of cohens testimony, just walked in and it was so odd because theres a lot of rules in the courtroom that we cant just say go to the bathroom or have a snack or like do whatever you want or leave yeah. Eat in that courtroom. And it was in a moment with Michael Cohen was answering a question from the prosecution and the Morning Break had ended, they had all all trumps allies had gone outside to do a Press Conference because you can, we can still have our computers. You could see online they were outside speaking publicly. And only a few people came back in after the break. We assume they had just left because the bench was empty behind donald trump. And then while Michael Cohen is in the middle of a sentence in walks, byron donalds, vivek ramaswamy, governor burgum, and another campaign aide. I believe theres at least four people, maybe five, and they dont slip into the back and go to the back row. They walk all the way up to the front and they get in the second row. It wasnt clear from i was on the left side, so it wasnt clear how the jury if they looked if it distracted them, if it distracted Michael Cohen, but there was a moment where i saw the judge, Justice Marshall and ive been watching him throughout the case. He was essentially glaring at them. He looked noticeably annoyed at the fact that they just walked in and you just dont see that in that courtroom. It was the least i mean, its a very ordered proceeding. And that was the least order. But i think ive seen in the past couple of weeks you can use our binoculars if theyre in a sidebar. I mean, its that strict and theres multiple Court Officers Walking Around telling you you cant be talking, you cant be on your phone if youre a reporter the public. And it was just it was a kind of love. You have been oculars im going your binoculars really like those oculars actually more like special forces, things that like just thats important. Martas have them bring ramy. Do you wear glasses current . Do binoculars. You know, i dont have monocular is and i can borrow starting to think that i needed some. Now theyve been cracking thank you for having me. Everyone is going to stay here. We may not have video of Michael Cohens backandforth with the defense, but there is definitely heat than emanates off the transcripts. John berman joins us with that also ahead what was said in court today about with the former president would be testifying in this case were trying to save the planet with nuggets because we need the planet we also need nuggets impossible. Were setting the meat problem with more meat. But thinking im thinking about her honeymoon, about africa so far our Hot Air Balloon rides swim with elephants maintenance. Three, four to safari. Great question. Like everything takes a little planning for what the mind towards a down payment on a ranch in montana with horses. Lets take a look at those scenarios jpmorgan Wealth Management has advisors and chase branches and tools like wealth plan to help keep you on track when youre planning for it. All the answer is jpmorgan Wealth Management. Lets get the rest of these plants organic soil from miracle grow has grown me the best garden i have ever had, good soil and you get good results. This soil will blow you away its the Martha Stewart of soil youve got Better Things to do than clean out clog gutters, call me filter today, and never clean out clog gutters again, we filters Technology Keeps debris out of your gutters for good, guaranteed. Colleague the filter today, more physically filtered. Com from tried and true to try something new. So many ways to save ready wallet, happy. Thats 3605 by whole foods market. Youre calling. Some people find theres at an early age. Others later in life are calling was to build trucks and thats why trucks are what we do we put our everything and every truck so that when you find your call fallen nothing can stop you from answering during ram season, get 1,000 Cash Allowance on the purchase of most 2025 i am 1,500 trucks. Hurry, dont miss ramps Season Work Play Link Relief work Play Blinking really. The preferred better science, better results. How it really happened with jesse l. Martin. Sundays At Night On Cnn if one thing comes through loud and clear, the transcripts from todays trial and its something elie honig mentioned earlier. Theres no love lost between Michael Cohen and the former president and his, if we had any doubt about that at one point, the prosecution had cohen Reading Tweets from the president and the months after the fbi rated cohens office in 2018, trump had praised his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort and one for refusing to quote break. Cohen said he understood he was being told not to cooperate.