Eastern. Sunday night, you can see the new feature documentary commitment to life. It takes a look back at the fight against hiv aids in los angeles and the community that changed the course of the epidemic. That is not 00 p. M. Eastern here on msnbc, also streaming on peacock. That is tonight last word. The 11th hour with Stephanie Ruhle starts right now. Tonight, new witnesses in Donald Trumps new york trial. Trumps longtime Personal Assistant and Michael Cohen baker take the stand as the first week of testimony comes to an end. Protests over the war in gaza spreading across Americas College campuses. With the growing unrest could mean for president bidens reelection campaign. Plus, from books online to ecommerce giant, how amazon became the retailer with everything, everywhere, all at once as the 11th hour gets underway on this friday night. Good evening, im Jonathan Capehart in for Stephanie Ruhle. We are 193 days away from the election. Today, attorneys for president ial candidate donald trump tried to poke holes in a tabloid publishers sworn testimony. After four days on the stand, david pecker wrapped up his testimony in trumps new york Criminal Trial that he helped the Trump Campaign for coming up true but damaging stories about him. Then, we heard from two more witnesses, a banker and trumps longtime Executive Assistant. Here is Laura Jarrett with more. Reporter tonight, the prosecution closing out the first week of testimony by offering the jury a peek inside the Inner Workings of the Trump Organization. This from one of the people who knows the former president best. The state briefly calling rhona graff, mr. Trumps longtime Executive Assistant to the stand this afternoon. Rhona graff confirming contacts were saved on the companys Computer System for Karen Mcdougal and , an apparent reference to Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say both women were Shopping Stories of with mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election, encounters he denies. At the heart of the case, a 130,000. 00 payment Michael Cohen made to daniels so she wouldnt go public and how prosecutors say that payment was disguised. But, rhona graff said no light on that, testifying even though she no longer works for the Trump Organization, the company is in her legal bills. The jury also hearing from gary farro, a former banker at First Republic bank, who helped facilitate the payment from Michael Cohen to daniels. The day began with the defense team seeking to undercut the testimony of david pecker, the former publisher of the national enquirer, and a key witness for prosecutors, testifying at length about how he helped simons people who could have hurt esther trumps election sentence. Mr. Trumps lawyer sought to raise questions about david memory and motives on cross examination. David pecker, defined at one point, saying, i have been truthful to the best of my recollection. The Tabloid Mobile undermining the idea mr. Trump wanted to bury stories about women to protect his family, a common refrain from the defense. Instead, david pecker city was all to protect his campaign. And have to begin by wishing melania happy birthday. She is in florida. Reporter Melania Trump notably absent at trial. Court will not be in session on monday. The trial will resume on tuesday at 9 30 a. M. With that, lets bring in our leadoff panel, john allen, Senior National politics reporter for nbc. Eugene scott, Senior Politics reporter for axios. Thank you all for being here. Trumps former longtime Executive Assistant testified for half an hour, she was known as the gatekeeper and said that a Company Directory had numbers for both Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal. She also said the Trump Organization was paying her legal bills. What did the Prosecution Gain from her testimony . Well, they introduced a small fact, which is that the Stormy Daniels has her Contact Information in the Trump Organization system. One of the reasons why i suspect that that was presented was we are going to see the prosecutors attempt to establish that trump and Stormy Daniels did in fact have an intimate sexual encounter, which trump has tonight and trumps lawyers tonight in the opening statement. I think this is the first piece of evidence. My guess is there will be more evidence along these lines. My guess is the prosecutors want to be able to say to the jurors, at the end of this, you dont have to just take Stormy Daniels word. We presented additional evidence because trump has said she is whining. That to me is the significance of this. Of the prosecutors can establish trump, to the extent prosecutors can establish trump is lying about anything, it is helpful to their case. This is a big point. He has tonight hes had this encounter with her but it appears it did in fact happen. John, Michael Cohens banker was briefly on the stand today. Seems like the prosecution is starting to dig into the records. We are talking dollars and cents. Who sunk what and specific dates on specific documents. How crucial is it that the prosecution nails this part, nails this part so they dont have to worry about whether the jury buys the testimony of say Michael Cohen . It is absolutely crucial. These are very highstakes. The witnesses we are hearing from now are people who, you know, have a greater record of credibility than Michael Cohen, who is going to be the star witness and the one that is easiest for the defense to undermine because he has pleaded guilty in the past to lien. When you see these figures, up, whether it is rhona graff, the gatekeeper to trump world or the anchor for Michael Cohen, and they are testifying to what seemed to be small, pedestrian things, like how Banking Transaction works or whose phone number is in the trump system, all of that is the prosecution laying a predicate for their story, laying out the details for the jury of each little piece and trying to build credibility in their case before they ultimately get to Michael Cohen and they will rely on Michael Cohen as a witness but they are also going to hope that, and try and make an attempt, that you have all of these other pieces stack up outside of what Michael Cohen says and point to what Michael Cohen says so what what he says has greater credibility than Michael Cohen himself. Ankush khardori, lets talk about the order of all of this. The prosecution starts with the blockbuster witness, david pecker. Now they are moving into the nittygritty. What kind of strategy goes into the sequence here . I think it is largely chronological, so far, as i can see it. They are just trying to lay out, tell the story in a simple chronological fashion, the best way to tell a story often is chronologically. But, i think that is what is happening here. I expect at some point, perhaps even next week, they are going to need to start to move into, okay, how are these records, how are these payments booked internally within the Trump Organization. Maybe next week or the following week, at some point, the trial needs to get there. That is the meat and potatoes of the actual charges against trump. Eugene, trump keeps complaining about the trial keeping him off the Campaign Trail and wednesday, when, you know, wednesday was his one day off from court this week, and he went golfing. Obviously, he doesnt want to be in court but is it fair to say he doesnt seem to care that much about campaigning either . It is very difficult to make the argument he is prioritizing getting his message to voters who arent already on board with him. He would use this time, if he was, to try to win over independent voters, swing voters, undecided voters, which, quite frankly, are still a larger percentage of the electorate and some people to communicate. Instead, he has prioritized one of his favorite pastimes, which shouldnt be a huge surprise to anyone paying attention to his presidency. He often went to golf during moments when people thought he could do a better job of connecting with americans who werent really sure that they had as much confidence in his ability to lead the country. John, on the other hand, you have president biden. He has been very busy out on the Campaign Trail. And, hes starting to talk about trumps trial, at least a bit. At one event last night, he says he hasnt had a chance to watch the proceedings because he has been campaigning, he has completely avoided talking about trumps legal trouble. What does it say that that is starting to change . I think that what it says is there are people around him who see Donald Trumps charges that he faces in four separate cases is Donald Trumps greatest memorability and if the Biden Campaign and biden himself are talking about that, they are missing an opportunity to do political damage to donald trump, who, by the way, is making an allegation not supported by facts or not supported by any evidence that biden is using the legal system against him, weaponizing the legal system against him for political gain. Biden is taking that hit but had not been hitting trump on these charges that he faces. We saw in the earlier case, biden played around with this a little bit and said, you know, donald trump might need a loan. I think what is going on here is biden trying to go as far as he can to hit trump on his biggest full ability without going so far as to support the argument that trump is making, that biden is weaponizing the Justice System against him. Eugene, the president sat for an incredibly revealing interview with howard stern this morning. For the first time, said he would be happy, thats a quote, happy to debate donald trump. His campaign had refused to commit to a debate for a while now. So, why say this now, do you think . I think he was getting quite a bit of criticism from those on the right that he was not able to talk about the Policy Issues that matter most to many voters, specifically those outside of his base and that gave trump a leg up and was using that on the Campaign Trail, suggesting the president was fearful of him. I think as we get closer to the election, what biden and his team realized it is going to have to adopt new strategies to communicate to voters why he is superior to the former president and one of the ways you can do that is by being on a stage and going for tat when it comes to Policy Issues. So, we might see this happen sooner than later where they are right now in terms of plans in bringing it to fruition, isnt clear yet. There has been a real shift because we do know this is not something or an approach that the president seemed very interested in taking before now. Anybody who thinks that joe biden doesnt want to debate donald trump doesnt know joe biden. Im just going to put that out there. During the howard stern interview, the president spoke very openly about how much he struggled with the tragic car crash that killed his first wife and oneyearold daughter in 1972. Listen to this. Never drank. I used to sit there and think to myself, im just going to take out a bottle of scotch. We always had liquor in the house, my house as well. I was going to just drink and then get drunk. I could never bring myself to do it. I thought about, you know, you dont have to be crazy to commit suicide. If you been to the top of the mountain, you think its never going to be there again. And, just a moment, i thought i go to the delaware Memorial Bridge and jump. To the incredible, john. The president went on to say he strongly urges anyone who is struggling with their Mental Health to seek help and go to therapy. But, how remarkable is it, john, to hear a president openly talk about contemplating suicide and what does it tell us about Biden The Human Being . It is remarkable is the right word. It might even be an understatement. President s of the United States in the past have never wanted to suggest that they struggled with any Mental Health issue. In the case hes talking about here, he doesnt even think it is a Mental Health issue, given where he had been and what had happened in his life to be in that place of contemplation. But, you know, this is not the kind of thing most candidates would talk about. I also believe it is something that is a unique biden strength and has been a strength for a long time, which is to be able to talk about loss, to be able to talk about pain and tragedy in a way that connects with his fellow americans, that connects with voters who have lost in their lives, who have experienced pain in their lives and the empathy and ability to emote and be so authentic in that moment with howard stern, that is a great strength of joe biden. It is probably not enough on its own to win him reelection but it certainly, when voters look at the candidates and stack them up, joe biden, the empathy they have for him and his ability to have empathy for them is one of those Character Traits that stands out. It is an hour and 15 minutes long, the interview. It is spectacular and how raw and human the president is and funny. As someone who has interviewed the president twice during his presidency, i have to say, howard stern was the best interview ive heard with president biden. Ankush khardori, i want to get back to the new york trial. We are a week into the testimony. How is the prosecution doing so far and what are you watching for in the coming days . The prosecution is doing fine so far. They are laying out, again, the early stages of the story. The catch and kill, Stormy Daniels really did have this relationship. The bankers on the stand talking about the mechanics of the payment, this and that. There is the common metaphor that prosecutors use as they are building a Case Brick By brick. They want a wall of evidence at the end. They are dropping picks. Pieces of evidence in isolation may not seem that fascinating to us but they are building a wall. Whether that leads up to conviction remains to be seen. But, you know, it is hard for me to render any serious verdict on this week because they havent really got to The Main Event yet, which is not just Michael Cohen, whenever he testifies, but also needs to be, theres going to need to be some evidence, ideally, that trump himself was aware the way the payments were booked may have been unlawful. Its not going to be enough to say, the Hush Money Payment is not illegal by itself, nor are all the machinations that Michael Cohen went through to pay her. What is illegal, what is allegedly illegal is how the payments were booked in the Trump Organization and we havent gotten to that yet. That is what im waiting for. If the evidence on that score about trumps knowledge of the legal implications is going to come exclusively from Michael Cohen, that will be a major achilles john, eugene, ankush khardori, thank you for being here tonight. When we come back, Campus Unrest ramping up around the country. We get into the politics of it all during an election year. Later, amazon has worked its way in all of our daily lives. The packages at your doorstep to your doctors office. We take a closer look at its road to domination and how it has changed our economy. The 11th hour just getting underway on a friday night. Ni but this is my story. and with oncedaily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. Because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flareups. Trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. Trelegy wont replace a Rescue Inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Tell your doctor if you have a Heart Condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. Trelegy may increase your risk of th