Than liebermann at the pentagon and this cnn welcome to cnn and Special Coverage. If former President Trumps Hush Money Criminal Trial, im wolf blitzer in washington, along with abby phillip. Whos just outside the courthouse in new york today, Michael Cohen, trumps former were fixer and lawyer is back on the Witness Stand. Prosecutors appear to have some work to do during their redirect of cohen after he made a purely stunning admission during crossexamination . Today, defense attorney todd blanche was able to get cohen to admit to stealing Tens Of Thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization. Abby, you were inside court today . Playing, how it all went down thats right. Wolf, earlier in the trial during the direct examination, cohen had actually said this, that he had pocketed monday money from the Trump Organization. That was meant for a technology company. But today, while he was being pressed by the defense attorney Todd Blanche Cohen agreed that it was essentially plants said, quote, so you stole from the Trump Organization cohen that answered, yes, sir. With me now, cnn chief Legal Affairs for paula reid, also with Cnn National Correspondent Kristen Holmes court just took a break for lunch they were just having a little bit of a sidebar with the judge about a few different issues before after the jury left the room, but this was really of all the moments this morning as someone whos sitting in, i was in the Overflow Room today this probably the one moment when something happened that everybodys ears perked up, right and to Michael Cohens credit, he didnt try to sugarcoat it but what do you think ultimately is the significance of this revelation that he received 100,000 essentially from the Trump Organization and only gave 20 20,000 of it to the person or the entity that it was intended for. The blame here really lies with the prosecution because on direct as you just noted, they did they walked up to the line. They acknowledged that he did take some money at the top and theres 50,000, but they didnt follow up with the important question which is how much did you take . You took Tens Of Thousands of dollars. You might have expected that, yeah. Maybe he took a couple of grand, but take 30,000 and then to allow todd blanche on crossexamination to get cohen to admit that he stole from the Trump Organization that allowed todd blanche to land a punch so the prosecutors really could have staved off if they had gotten out ahead of this. Now when they had a chance to go back at cohen he had a chance to explain it. He said, quote, i was angered because of the reduction in the bonus. He was upset about the amount of his bonus that year. And so i just felt like it was almost like selfhelp i wasnt going to let him have the benefit of this way as well. I wasnt going to correct that conversation i was having with Allen Weisselberg shes talking about when they sketched out those notes about how would be paid 420,000. I have not only protected him, trump to the best that i could, but it also laid out the money to red finch, a yearandahalf earlier ive had again 130,000 to have my bonus cut by twothirds was very upsetting to say the least. So not exactly a perfect english there, but what cohen seems to be saying is that he felt he was entitled to steal this money from the Trump Organization. Not a great moment for prosecutors. They should have gotten out ahead of this, whether this will sink their case. I mean, it just depends how the jury sees this. Yeah. I mean, it depends somehow the jury sees that and in and also the fact that Michael Cohen is not on hes not actually the defendant here, donald trump is but i want to just take a moment, kristen, because i i wonder and i think a lot of people wondered what on earth is red finch and what were they doing and we got an answer to that today. And the answer is, in some ways, its very trumpian, but it has to do with a pole yeah. And and it turns out that they actually didnt. It was a cnbc poll and they didnt end up running the pole. And this was all about what it was going to say and making sure that everything was favorable to the former president. I think i do just want to touch on one thing here because i know that during this redirect, we have seen over and over again that Michael Cohen, we hear the prosecutors say Michael Cohen, youre not on trial, but the one thing to point out here is the fact that he is the only linking witness that actually links donald trump to a crime. So the fact that hes not on trial. Yes. That is obviously true. But at the same time, the jury is going to make their decision based on whether or not they believe Michael Cohen. I cannot tell you the number of judges i have spoken to who have said that after a jury has found someone not guilty based on faulty witness, when they were asked about it, it was because they could not trust. They are judge asked them they said they could not trust this witness. So while the prosecution is technically right, that Michael Cohen is not on trial it is him that could determine the direction this case goes. On this and the reason i think the question of what is redfin to what they were doing is important is because it actually goes to a broader issue, which is that Michael Cohen and is a shady person. Okay and hes doing shady things on behalf of donald trump, one of the interesting things about the red finch thing is that cohen testifies trump didnt want to pay them at all. They did this work for him. The poll was discarded for whatever reason by cnbc and trump didnt want to pay them at all yeah, he wasnt happy with how it was ferrying in the poll. So therefore, he did not want to pay them and initially cohen suggested thats why he only gave them 20,000, but under more questioning from todd then he admitted that in fact, he stole it and he seems to feel that he was entitled this seems incredibly problematic, not just because hes saying that he stole from the Trump Organization but this number, the amount that he was reimbursed, this is central to the allegedly falsified Business Records. And when you look at that math, one of the only pieces of information that we have from the other person son, who was allegedly engaged in this conspiracy, Allen Weisselberg this math matters that have to Michael Cohen, who gave false information about how this money should come back to him. I mean, that doesnt help the prosecution cool what they needed from cohen was credible testimony that trump was directing all of this and instead, cohen undermined himself. This could potentially be a real problem for prosecutors im going to go to Kara Scannell she just got out of the courthouse as well. Kara, you were inside of the courtroom where all of this was unfolding will tell us so what youre big takeaways were from this morning of testimony at times, todd blanche was really slow going a little meandering until he got to this one mole comment in the testimony, how did that go down yeah, abby, so i mean, a lot of the crossexamination was a Bit Meandering and they were though trying to focus in on cohens memory of a variety of things, including the one phone call in October Of 2016, not the one that was the big blockbuster moment, but another one one where cohen had spoke with donald trump twice before he had gone to the bank and open up the bank account in order to transfer the money, the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels lawyer. And what todd blanche did in that moment was go through all the other things that Michael Cohen had on his plate, other things that he could have possibly been speaking with donald trump about at that time, again, to try to sow some doubt in the minds of the jury of what cohens recollection was on all of these phone calls and part of the reason gets to what the prosecution is now trying to address on redirect just before we broke for lunch, prosecutors are trying to get in photos taken from october 24, 2016 at a rally of Keith Schiller and donald trump. And thats because that does go to this moment that it happened on thursday where Michael Cohen was shown Text Messages with Keith Schiller, the body guard just before he got on the phone with shiller, who . Cohen had testified when asked by prosecutors that thats when he told donald trump that things were resolved with Stormy Daniels. They were moving ahead and then on crossexamination, he was shakier and was now confronted with these Text Messages that showed that cohen was texting the bodyguard about prankster, who was calling, harassing him. So the prosecutors want to get to this point right now, once weve returned from launch and they want to introduce photos from a Campaign Rally that were taken at 7 57 that show Keith Schiller and donald trump exiting the stage. So theyre hoping to get that in so that they can argue that he Keith Schiller was with donald trump, but even one of the prosecutors, they acknowledge that doesnt completely address the bigger question here about the content of that phone call and whether cohen did in fact speak with donald trump, but theyre trying to repair some of what cohen had got tangled up with last week on crossexamination and going to the issues of the of his memory and the strength of his memory to try to restore his credibility to the jury yeah. I mean, that is a critical moment from The Crossing Examination and a critical moment in the timelines that Michael Cohen is laid out about when and how he communicated with trump about this payment to Stormy Daniels, Kara Scannell. Thank you. Rematch of pollen, kristen, you guys will stay with me, wolf back to you all right. Abby, thank you. Lets bring in our panel of legal and political experts and elie, let me start with you, or what do you make of the redirect so far . Are they doing an effective job cleaning up some of Michael Cohens testimony, acknowledging, admitting that he actually stole money from the Trump Organization patient. While they are doing some measure of cleanup thats what you have to do on redirect and i do think there are succeeding to some extent in refocusing the jury on the fact that the charges here are about falsification of Business Records. You filled in donald trump on what was happening here, according to Michael Cohen. And therefore, hes guilty and they even asked Michael Cohen, but youre not the one on trial here, right . I mean, thats a standard then you ask and he said, no, donald trump is the one on trial. I think the revelation though this morning about the theft of 30,000, which was doubled because they covered his taxes. So 60,000 came out in a glancing unclear why on direct, it came out like a bomb earlier today i dont know how much they can do to fix that. It just at a certain point, it is the fact Michael Cohen did steal this money. And what makes that really so important wolf is, its not as if Michael Cohen was just stealing on the sayyed that would be bad enough the problem is he was stealing from the exact reimbursement at issue in this case. So the prosecutions Core Argument is donald trump do with that 420,000 was all about. He was totally read in on it. It turns out Michael Cohen was stealing from him within that 420,000. There is Michael CohensAcknowledgment Admission that external Tens Of Thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization potentially opened them up, opened him up to further criminal criminal process. Its a great question. The answer is not anymore, because the statute of limitations has run out, but its a very fair question to ask. Jay folks of the jury. They gave him a free pass. He committed larceny. Its a higher degree of a felony. Then what donald trump is charged with yet they gave Michael Cohen a free pass, even though hes now admitted that he stole what amounts to 60,000. It goes to his credibility, it goes to his relationship with the da Elliot Williams is with us as well. Elegant. Todd blanche to the attorney representing the former president , ended his testimony today, questioning cohens motives and there was this exchange. I want to read it to you question because, if President Trump is convicted, that would benefit you personally and financially, right . Cohen no, sir. Its better if hes not for me because it gives me more to talk about in the future how do you expect prosecutors to respond . In their redirect, not much. And it is an lea was touching on this a little bit. It is not always in the interest of prosecutors to keep hammering a point when it comes to trying to rehabilitate a witnesss credibility, they had 17 hours or however many was with him on the stab where they built up his credibility opened the door to some of the questions that weve been talking about today. They dont really benefit by getting into an extended backandforth with another hour of questioning tried to rebut everything that the defense put on. They can clean it up in their closing statement, maybe ask a question or two to this extent. Because look, the defense has already made the argument that or at least alleging that Michael Cohen it seeks to benefit financially and has an interest in seeing the president taken down. Thats nothing new to the jury. Three, at this point. And so for prosecutors to keep beating, it just doesnt it could actually tire and where the jury, gloria prosecutors are made the case that trump, as we all know, seems to be meticulous, meticulous with his business and personal finances. Does this testimony from cohen undercut that narrative . Well, in a way it does. I mean, i kept thinking all during this exchange how upset donald trump must be because hes a micromanager any cheap and certainly nobody likes to have any money stolen from their business. And the question that i have is when donald trump found out about this, and im sure he knew about it but for todays testimony, im sure whose lawyers informed him about it. There were some reporting that is shook his head today, and you must be furious about this because nobody steals 30,000 or six de thousand dollars from donald trump. I mean, if you if you buy the prosecutions argument that he knew about the Stormy Daniels payment, this mightve been one payment that he did not know about it. And he could be furious about it because it was thievery and from his own attorney whom he apparently trusted jeff zeleny is with us as well. Jeff as we all know, cohen had a lot of Credibility Problems long before his testimony in this trial. What does that say to you about trumps decision to keep hiring hiring him for years . Well, look, i mean, he was an essential part of the pre president version of donald trump. I mean, for years he worked for them theres a long list of people summer in jail. Some are thrown to the side who worked for donald trump before it was in the white house while theres no one house. And after who are not savory characters. So i think this is not that big of a surprise. The question is how does the jurys see all this . And we simply do not know the stealing this morning to me that rang slightly different. I mean, one, it was the surprise of it that we all knew and what gloria said, it is interesting in to know if donald trump knew that because hes been more engaged during this portion of the trial than any other because he has such a personal animus in relationship with donald trump and money is at the center of, i mean, he likes money more than virtually anything else, perhaps power as well. So i think that he seems to be guiding his attorneys so through this, but look at the end of the de we do not know how Michael Cohens credibility is going to impact this. I mean, it is going to be a challenge. Its probably the biggest challenge for prosecutors without it out, you could argue that the gyri knew who Michael Cohen was before this was revealed. And the question is, how much impact as this particular incident have. I mean, he said look, i thought i was deserving of this, so i just took it which sounds like a fiveyearolds explanation about why he took the extra piece of candy, right . I mean, i was deservi