At accustoming. Com Closed Captioning brought to you by meso book. Com if you or a loved one have mesothelial, will send you a free book to answer questions you may have call now and well come to you 808 to one 4,000 tonight on three 60 Breaking News, new details and how the former president s Defense Team Plans to undermine Michael Cohens testimony in the criminal Hush Money Trial when court resumes tomorrow let me also tonight, President Biden and the former president agree on two debates with cnn and abc. Abc news, and George Stephanopoulos joins us ahead and more breakings this evening, the latest and the attempted assassination of slovakias Prime Minister caught on camera good evening. We start with our Breaking News about how the former president s attorneys expected to go after Michael Cohen. We can crossexamination in the new york criminal Hush Money Trial continues tomorrow, days after legal analyst criticized defense attorney todd blanche is initial approach and the New York Times noted that his questions produce now, gotcha, moment. Aside from a reprimand from the judge at the outset for making the cross about himself. Im joined now by johnny jones, the third former chief judge for the us middle district of pennsylvania, former federal prosecutor jeffrey thuban. Normal eyes and former counsel to House Democrats are in the former president s first impeachment. Hes also the author of trying trump, a guide to his first election interference Criminal Trial has been in the courtroom throughout, as has are correspondent kara scannell, who had tonights Breaking News. So what have you learned about whats going to happen tomorrow . So the Name Of The Game tomorrow is going to be to try to focus on Michael Cohens past statements and suggests to the jury that hes a liar and he cant be trusted. They just want to undercut his credibility. And one thing that theyre going to look at are some of the passing months hes made under oath, and that is because hes under oath now, so they want to say to the jury, he has lied before under oath, you shouldnt believe him now and they got into a little bit of it with his past admission that he has pleaded guilty before congress, but at the civil fraud trial, Michael Cohen, under crossexamination by hi trumps lawyers said that he had lied to federal judgment. He pled guilty to tax fraud, and he has said publicly that repeatedly. So that is an error. Theyre going to focus on because they want to suggest the jury that they cant believe the story so much of this could come down to whether the jury believes Michael Cohen. And so the Name Of The Game tomorrow is really to try to show that hes the liar who cant be trusted. Theyre also going to focus on the conversations that cohen says he had with donald trump because hes the only one that was involved in those conversations. And the only witness to testify that trump knew and approved this repayment scheme involving calling it a retainer. No other witnesses testified to that, so its a twofold thing. They want to say that he shouldnt be believed and to just raise questions about any of these recollections that hes have conversations with donald trump morning that seems like a reasonable defense is an excellent strategy. I wonder why they did do it on tuesday the problem is that the prosecution and mr. Cohen are laying in wait for these arguments. We talked when i was with you. Yesterday about drawing this thing the prosecution presenting details in advanced to the jury. So theres no surprise on this lying to a federal judge cohen explained on his direct that he doesnt disagree with the underlying facts that are alleged about his tax crimes, what he meant was he shouldnt have been prosecuted for such ticky tack issues as a firsttime offender. And he felt he had to plead guilty because his wife was placed under duress. They gave them a short fuse. Were going to charge your wife so the explanations are there. Well see who the jury believes it is a reasonable strategy. Attack his credibility and go after the substance. You know what, i just dont understand about this is sure i mean, it makes a certain amount of sense but why not use Michael Cohen as a witness for you for example, this is a case about donald trump ordering or creating or causing false documents. Why not ask Michael Cohen, did donald trump ever touch any of these documents . Did he ever process any of these checks . Did he know what the software was . Is see the bookkeeper at this company, all of those answers are helpful to the defense and you dont have to accuse him of lying for that. Why not use Michael Cohen for his knowledge of how the Trump Organization worked to undermine the idea that donald trump had anything to do with the preparation of the documents that are but this case or its about well, heres heres what im thinking about. You know, you have todd blanche who has the most difficult client in the United States. Now, think of a broadway show that opens its highly touted. Thats his crossexamination the other day. And reviews arent good theyre coming in and the producer that whats going on here. And you know, the former president is reading all these reviews. So this is a Momentum Shift blanche had the momentum or some momentum with him on tuesday tomorrow, the Momentum Shifts the pressure is on him. I think to be as incisive and as good as he could be. And hes got a witness to your point, whos prepped and ready for these arguments, and its gonna be a tough day for him. Hes feeling the weight of the world on its entering, judge, because so many people were High Expectations for blanche on his his first crossexamination the the expectations could not have been lower from Michael Cohen, which to your point, and he seemed to certainly surpass that and remain calm. And successfully deflect a lot of stuff with leinz seem to have been worked out in advance but like, you know, it sounds like something i would say do you think he can i were you were you surprised by his testimony . How i would not have started with the socalled Shock And Awe question. I just dont think that was a way to go. Good cross has been described as a box you built around the witness and then you play im the top shut at the end of the cross. I thought it was meandering. I didnt understand the purpose of it its tough when you have a witness whos ready for you and his game plan and prepare. I dont know what hes gonna do though, because hes got to shift gears quickly and he cant go too long because hes going to get hurt if he goes to war on its a tough, tough situation right now. Points go to, i think cohen, hes hes more credible theyve got work to do and credit where credit is due to the da because they very skillfully played the Expectation Game throughout the trial. They elicited criticism of cohen from every witness, so they suppress the jury is the ultimate audience for the expectations based suppress the jury and the judges expectations. And i was watching the jury and at different points in cohens testimony, you had the jury does always do this. I counted one of the things today. There was at 1. 6 jurors who were nodding or smiling, or agreeing with cohen at one point in his testimony, its like a president ial debate. Both sides want to suppress expectations. The de, did that brilliantly in setting this moment and you dont want, i dont know farm all this clairvoyance about what the jury is thinking i mean, well see moyers, lawyers and judges are the worst at trying to judge what youre for by the judge and the beginning of your crossexamination and told dont make this crossexamination about you bad. Look that the jury notices that sort of thing they do. I mean, they cant hear exactly whats going on at sidebar little here and there lets hear anything. But they know somebodys in the penalty box at that point takes you off your strike. You could see the judge berating blanche. It was now. You can understand. And then he ordered the questions struck from the record and the jury did here that care when do you anticipate the case . Could be in the hands of the jury . I mean, i think by next week because theres no other witness after cohen. So even if cross goes all day tomorrow, the prosecution will have redirect with him. And if this goes all day tomorrow, theyre going to want to spend some time with cohen if trumps team decides theyre not going to call this expert witness, then it comes down to does donald trump take the stand . And if he doesnt, then well move right into closing arguments. So this could be in the hands of the jury hey, next week. All right. Well be watching to everyone. Thank you. Coming up tonight. Bipartisanship may be dead, but occasionally, deals do get done. President biden and the former president today agree to two president ial debates. The first one will be on cnn, the second on abc. George stephanopoulos for maybe she knew to join us tonight also ahead more Breaking News, the latest and the attempted assassination of the Prime Minister slovakia. 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And now, on june 27th, six weeks from tomorrow night right here and cnn, the first president ial debate. Its the earliest debate in a president ial campaign and television history. Second debate was also announced this morning scheduled for september 10th, airing on abc news the flurry of activity began this morning when President Biden released this video donald trump lost two debates to me in 20 0. 20 said he hadnt shown up for debate. Now hes acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day pal. Ill even do it twice. So lets pick the dates. Donald, i hear youre free on wednesdays an animated President Biden dropping a reference to not only clint eastwood, but also the one de of the week the foreign president has always free from his new york Criminal Trial. Soon after the foreign president confirmed his participation in a series that equally combative post on social media, quote joe biden as the worst debater ive ever faced, he can put two sentences together. He ended the post by saying, quote, just tell me when ill be there. Lets get ready to rumble joined now by David Axelrod from your Senior Adviser and president obama, or senior data reporter harry enten and Kaitlan Collins recovered the Trump White House and anchors the source next hour on cnn david, is this a wise decision by the Biden Campaign and given trump is leading in many swing states, or you surprise, he appears so eager to debate and so early yeah, well, well, there are a couple of things there. I think he needs to debate. This is a close race everyones seen his pose, they have their own polls. He knows that he has to cross this hurdle. The whole predicate of the Trump Campaign and you sought reflected in that tweet, is that biden as old and feeble and incapable . Pool of being president and the debate is the hurdle that he has to cross. He needs to dispel that notion in that debate. And they know they need to take care of that, to take that opportunity, but they also i thought negotiated very, very wisely. Trump was eager for it. He kept saying, ill debate anytime, anywhere and they took him up on it. And now theyve got a debate thats not going to be a roman colosseum, but in a Television Studio without an audience, which disadvantages trump and its early which gives you a chance to recover if the debate is not not good some of us who are old enough to remember, remember 1980 when jimmy carter debated Ronald Reagan once and he did it a week before the election. The debate didnt go well for carter and the race was over. I think biden understands that history. So getting early debates and getting them out of the way is also very wise, i think caitlin, do you have any information or any field for how the trump team is sort of approaching this. And with the risk versus reward, well, i mean they really had no option but to take President Biden up on this offer when he posted this video today, because it every trump rally, an event that he does, and even chris lacivita, one of his campaign managers, they had this slogan it says anywhere, anytime, any place because theyve been kinda putting this off are out there seeming to bet on the idea that the biden team would be reluctant to debate. And so when President Biden issued this video, they can take them up when there was a time and a place after thats kinda what theyve been daring them to do. I think that when you speak to the people inside the Trump Campaign, they honestly believed that that trump will fare better against biden in these debates than he did in 2020. Obviously, they mocked bidens age and ability at every single turn of trumps campaign. He does it, you know, going into the courthouse even which was notable that biden referenced that there because he doesnt often talk about trumps legal cases. And for him to do that in this video was remarkable cobol. But they feel quite confident about it. I do think its a question though of sometimes trumps sets the the bar so low as he did with the State Of The Union as he did with the 2020 debates. And that when biden is able to come up there and debate him and perform, it shifts the expectations of what people believe bij be doing. Thats certainly the hope of the Biden White House indicator just like this. They were certainly pleased with the State Of The Union. Of course, the lower the bar, the easier it is to jump over those expectations. It was for the State Of The Union, it was for the first 2020 debates. So thats a big question that trump team feels confident though that for years have changed biden and therell