Designers that get your heart racing. Had inside a prices new every day, hurry. Theyll be gone in a Flash Designer Sales at up to 70 or so of guilt. Com today its friday, may 17, right now on cnn this morning, a break in the Trump Hush Money Trial after a tense confrontation in court between the defense and Michael Cohen, how badly damaged is cohens credibility in the eyes of the jury Hurricane Force winds and torrential rains lead having four dead in houston. Parts of the south now facing lifethreatening flooding and power outages. And the Defense Strategy in the Bribery Trial of both menendez coming into focus, the embattled senator, winning everything on his cancer stricken wife all right. 5 00 a. M. Here in washington im going to live look at New York City very early on this friday morning, the morning, everyone im kasie hunt. Wonderful to have you with us developing story right now in houston, texas this Hurricane Force winds cutting a deadly path through the area, leaving at least four people dead and nearly 1 Million People across the region without power wow, those wins taking down power, leinz tris, and residences in the city. Downtown houston hit hard. So you here the Wells Fargo Plaza where debris and remnants of buildings are still swirling. Were going to get much more coverage from our weather team coming up in just a few minutes, but stay safe out there this morning. If you are in the houston area all right lets turn now to law and politics because there was a pivotal de, for donald trump, and it might have honestly been his best day yet in the course of his hush money trial the prosecutions star witness, Michael Cohen faltering on the witness. And as trumps attorney Todd Blanche Needled Him over inconsistencies in his previous testimony earlier this week, cohen testified to an october 2016 phone call with trump on his Bodyguards Phone in which cohen said they discussed the Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels on thursday however, Defense Lawyer revealed Text Messages that cohen had sent to trumps bodyguard, Keith Schiller immediately before the call. Those texts asking for help with a teenager who had been prank calling Cohen Blanche then asked cohen, quote, on tuesday when you were under oath and testifying, you were certain it was accurate, you had a phone call to President Trump but now youre saying youre not certain it was accurate. Cohen responding i believe i also spoke to mr. Mr. President trump and told him everything regarding the Stormy Daniels matter was being worked on. And its going to be resolved Blanche Firing back. Were not asking for your belief. This jury doesnt want to hear what you think happened outside the courtroom. Trump was joined once again by a crew of republican allies, eager to defend him. This is a crooked sham trial to try to hurt the nominee whos going to be the president United States, whether or not they like it. This is a scam. It is a sham, it is a show. And we are here to expose every bit of it. Mr. President , we stand with you. Were here of our own volition because there are things we can say that President Trump is unjustly not allowed to say okay, joining me now, axios politics reporter steph. Steph. Good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here this really in some ways feels like it could have been a Turning Point yesterday in this trial as we were watching this unfold in real time. Here in the studio yesterday. It, it really did. I think show potentially that cohen may not have been consistent in this moment, right. The prosecution went out of their way to say yes, he has lied before. He has lied to all of these different aldis to congress to other places. But they were saying to the jury he is telling you the truth now, and todd blanche does seem to have exposed Michael Cohen here. How important do you think this is gonna be . Yeah, i mean, it goes to show how risky it is when you are resting most of your case on someone like Michael Cohen when someone who has a history of lying under oath and the jury is going to take that into account. And what we saw yesterday was a very aggressive effort by trumps attorneys to bring into question cohens credibility and poke holes in this anterior point and actually raise real questions about whether what hes saying whether what hes saying about trump being involved in knowing about these Hush Money Payments is actually true. And again, this is so reliant on cohens testimony. Everything about this, he is the one person connecting trump to the other evidence weve seen laid out so far in this trial and so to have any kind of questioning about his credibility could be a huge moment for trump moving forward. Yeah. I mean, its it seems like if theyre going to plant reasonable doubt, they only need one juror to potentially have this end in a hung jury so lets talk about the politics of this. We showed those Freedom Caucus members who were the ones we showed calling this a sham trial they said that they went up their of their own volition. That was matt gaetz is phrase. They were not the Trump Campaign didnt pay for them to be there, which we have seen in other instances, they have the Trump Campaign has brought people in. They did not do that. In this case. What, what do you think this particular crew doing . This says and isnt any sort of statement that the Trump Campaign didnt ask for these guys to go, that they just kinda showed up. I mean, i think this particular group of members is not surprising. These are some of trumps loudest advocates and have been for a long time. These are also many of the same members who are part of the Oversight Committee who have made attacking the justice system, attacking the Department Of JusticeCentral Focus of their efforts on that committee and so even the fact that they were in new york yesterday delayed so a hearing and a vote on holding and content attorney the Attorney General, over these over bidens classified documents case. So this particular group of people isnt surprising, but it is notable that we have now seen so many republicans make this move. We saw rick scott, weve seen other senators kind of make the voyage to show their salt, their solidarity with trump. This is clearly becoming a theme and something that republicans feel like they need to do to kind show that theyre on the former president s side. And this is all within the context of 2024 elections. Yeah, its worth noting that matt gaetz tweeted this photo of himself behind the president and he says, standing back and standing by mr. President , lets not lose sight of the fact that that is a reference to the proud boys and all of the White Nationalist themes that go with that stuff kite for us this morning, happy friday hi thank you. Very much for being here. All right. Just ahead here at least four people are dead as severe storms slam the houston area also developing this morning, Police Grants say they took down an armed man who was trying to attack a synagogue. Well have more details ahead. And arizona prosecutors are trying to indict Rudy Giuliani in their 20 in 20 Fake Electors case what they cant because they say they cant find him more than 500 million theres an art stolen. They saw what turned out to be the biggest archives in history. You cant help but wonder if this was some sort of inside job. How would really happen with jesse . Hello, martin, sunday at nine on cnn. The darkness of bipolar depression make me feel like i was losing interest in the things i love than i found it chants to let in the light, discover, capitalize unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar one, capital ada is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar one and two depression and in clinical trials, Movement Disorders and weight gain, were not common cap loyda can cause serious side effects. Call your dr. About sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away antidepressants may increase these risks and young adults, elderly Dementia Patients have increased risk of death or stroke, capitalize he does not approved for dementiarelated Psychosis Report Fever, confusion, or stiff muscles which may be lifethreatening or uncontrolled muscle movements which may be permanent. Common side effects included sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, and try mouth. These arent all the side effects in The Darkness Of Bipolar One and two, Depression Calculator can help you. Let in the light ask your doctor for about capillary, find savings and support a calculator. Com when we say it will be on time, they expect it to be on time. Turned shipping to your advantage, keep those expectations with reliable brown shipping thanks, brandon with usps Ground Advantage its coming i found. Another body, youre recognizing never seen him before. The obvious theory is an alkene hello, use the flood to cover their tracks by be careful if i were you for, moderate to severe Crohns Disease sky rosie is the first il23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improved dam to the intestinal lining serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms had a vaccine sener plan to Liver Problems may occur and Crohns Disease. Control of crohns means everything to me. Ask your gastroenterologist about sco rizzi learn how fv could help you save your 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 calling nothing can stop me from answering right now, during ram season, get 1,000 Cash Allowance on the purchase of most 2025 ram 1,500 trucks dont miss ram season. Hurry to your local ram dealer today. The all new temper padic Adapt Mattress was designed to help make aches and pains thing of the past because only temper material eases your Pressure Points in a way, no other mattress can limited time, save up to 500 on select temper padic Adjustable Mattress sets. I brought in a juror max protein with 30 grams of protein. Those who tried me felt more energy it just two weeks here, ill take that protein 30 grams protein one frame shift there are 25 vitamins, minerals, and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic a heart attack. Do they have Life Insurance . No but we have Life Insurance john, im trying to find something we can afford fortunately, it only a few minutes. Select pope found jon of 500,000 policy for only 29 a month and his wife and a 500,000 policy for only 21 a month. Go to select quote. Com now and get the insurance your family needs at a price you can afford. Select quote, we shop, you save more. Liebermann at the pentagon and this cnn welcome back. Weve got a developing story now out of northern france, Police Shooting and killing an armed man who was trying to set a synagogue on fire according to reports, the suspect was armed with a knife and an iron bar and was shot when he moved toward police fire damage inside the synagogue described as significant all right. Now to gaza where its just past noon and were desperately needed humanitarian aid is being delivered at this hour through the floating pier built by the us military. Central command says trucks have started moving ashore with International Aid and the maritime corridor is entirely humanitarian in, in nature. Part of an ongoing multinational effort to deliver more aid to palestinians. Official say, no, us troops went ashore in gaza. Cnns max foster joins us now, live from london at max. Good morning to you at this pure, a step in the direction that palestinians need, but still so that invasion of rafah is seems to be ongoing. If not escalating. Yeah. So youve got thousands and thousands of people leaving rafah going to wherever they can find really. And there arent many places to find where they can settled down. So its getting the keeping up with them, getting the aid to them but all the aid workers are suffering from the same problems of course as well because theyre having to move around. The big issue currently is ill see that the Rafah Crossing is closed and thats where much of the aid was coming through. Thats not possible, which is why this is seen a such a lifeline then just thinking about what you said that casey about. No us boots actually touching the beach there. They dont want to be seen to be going in or being involved in this invasion, but theyve managed to build a 300 here in stormy seas and actually get it connected to the land without actually touching the land. So all credit to the us forces involved here and theyre hoping to get 90 trucks a day into gaza. Its not enough and theyre going to struggle to get out to the people. But its positive news for palestinians, at least yeah, what i want an engineering project, those pictures are just absolutely remarkable, nice to have a little bit of good news on that front that that is underway. Max, i also have to ask you, we get the new edition of the economists lins on our desks on fridays and they ask, in this issue is america dictator proof and you and i have spent some time talking about this and the view from europe, especially on the possibility that donald trump may be reelected. And what that is going to mean . For the world and they write this. The answer is if americans believed their constitutional loan can safeguard the republic from caesar on the potomac than they are to sanguine, Preserving Democracy Depends today as it always has, on the courage and convictions of countless people all across america especially those charged with writing and upholding its laws. This just really struck me, especially as weve watched images of people who are charged with writing the laws going and criticizing standing behind donald trump criticizing the proceedings that are in theory is supposed to be up holding them yes. Theres that big debate in america. I mean, what were seeing this side is how a lot of those ideas really are translating into other countries. Youve seen in georgia, people in a lead is being accused of being dictators and also in other countries as well around the area, had this assassination didnt we . As well . This assassination attempt, theres this idea that to be a strong leader, to be in inspired by donald trump, you have to be autocratic im not im not trying to imply anything on donald trump here, but theres lehman that hes inspiring is seen by many protesters, at least to be undermining democracy the scene as undemocratic and dictator like im not sure thats how it intends it. Im not sure thats how you wants to be, but thats how its being interpreted in parts over here. Yeah. I mean, look, its clear his affinity for strong leaders is something that is a central piece of how donald trump led when he was president in United States and how he interacted with vladimir putin. She his affinity for Viktor Orban In Hungary in particular, or ban traveling here to a major conservative conference. It is all connected as you say, max foster for us in london, max, thank you very much. Have a great weekend. All right, still ahead here hurricaneforce winds leave four dead and a Path Of Destruction In Houston Plus The Corruption Trial of senator bob menendez off to an explosive start. Shady characters and a Defense Strategy that blames his cancer stricken wife ga the advanced form of dry agerelated Macular Degeneration can irreversibly damaged your vision. It can progress faster than you think. When ga threatens your eyes. Take a stand slow ga with saif every sayyed ovary is an Eye Injection that was proven to slow damaging lesion growth over two years with increasing effect over time its the only fda approved treatment to slow ga in his view is six doses per year dont take sides if you have an infection or active swelling in or around your eye that may include pain and redness safe over you can cause serious side effects such as Eye Infection and Retinal Detachment lets severe inflammation of vessels in