To hear are central players in this case. Talking Stormy Daniels, Karen Mcdougal and Michael Cohen. Karen mcdougal who had some instagram posts last night. The witness list has been kept under wraps because prosecutors fear donald trump might attack the witnesses and and pick their testimony. Donald trump has been held in contempt for violating his gag order. And the judge has four other potential violations to rule on. Joining to discuss it all is our msnbc legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Kristi Greenberg and is also the former deputy cheap at the Southern District of new york but also with us is the former january 6 investigator Marcus Childress. Greetings everyone. How to be look at it this week . We have three potential witnesses that could kick off the conversation this week. How are you assessing this . And those the order really matter at this point . I assume Michael Cohen will be the cherry on top. I think Karen Mcdougal and certainly stormy could land the plane as they say at the tail end of all of this. How do you see this week starting and potentially ending . I think the way they order the witnesses so far has been really masterful. We had davidpecker put donald trump right at center of it talking about his conversations with donald trump and about the fact that he did not want these stories with these women and these hush money payments. He wanted to make sure the payments were done so the women were not talking. Then you got to Keep Davidson talking about the mechanics of how that worked and then making clear that this was all for the campaign. Then you had hope hicks who again corroborated and some bombshell testimony yesterday. The same point that davidpecker made that after the election, donald trump was thanking davidpecker for making sure the damaging stories did not hit the process and also that hope hicks said he made the same point to her that this would have been really damaging had it come out sooner during the campaign. So where do we go looking forward . We are setting the stage for Michael Cohen to make that point. He has corroborated on the point so well that donald trump was at the center of it and this mattered for the Trump Campaign. And Michael Cohen makes those points. Even though the defense will attack his credibility, the foundation has been laid. We have heard this from multiple witnesses. Witnesses who were favorable to donald trump. Davidpecker said very favorable things about donald trump and so did hope hicks. They were from the witnesses to him. So when Michael Cohen comes on and they say that he has an ax to grind, it will fall flat with the jury. So there is a duality to what is happening here. The criminal trial is proceeding and then the conversation being had about the gag order. We know donald trump has paid a 9000 fine and there will be a hearing on four other potential violations of the gag order. At the same time, you have former President Trump on truth settled just on saturday with this. All the socalled evidence by the cricket joe biden fascist prosecutors has nothing to do with the phony crime case against me. Virtually, every great legal scholars says the crooked New York City d. A. Alvin bragg was allowing Violent Crime to run rampant in the sidewalks of new york and has no case against me. And all caps, Election Interference. Walking right up to the line and doing whatever his best is not to cross it. It just sows fear by even going on truth social and putting these statements out. Maybe im not a legal scholar and maybe kristi is not as well but i feel like the prosecution has been putting on a masterful case as well. If we take a step back, it is important for the prosecution to show there was concern see to influence election and there was a cover. Right now we are on the conspiracy side. That was supposed to be the harder part of the trial as kristi said. It has been a masterful performance. I want to point out one piece of evidence that Keep Davidson and davidpecker pointed out that on both sides of the agreement, the catch and kill scheme was to help the Trump Campaign before the election. Now when Michael Cohen says the same thing, you have three people who are all part of the agreement all saying the same thing. So it is really up to the prosecution to come in and show the Cover Up Phase which honestly is the easier part of the case to show the fraudulent Business Records. Im sure that will be leading into the closing arguments with whole conspiracy and the cover up and show one cohesive story. Was put up on the screen what marcus referenced. Family versus campaign concerns. The prosecution asks, did he ever say anything to you that made you think the concern was about these stories getting out, for his family rather than his campaign . And davidpecker said, i thought it was for the campaign. All we have are the transcripts. I was gone yesterday. I know you discussed hope hicks and all the things. Hope hicks will be back tomorrow on the stand at 9 30. She is the first witness because she will be cross examined. I think she is done. Is she done . No. It says that she takes the Witness Stand and the presuming will be monday morning at 9 30 a. M. She was crossexamined and the Cross Examination was completed and there was no redirect from the prosecution so i think we have concluded with hope hicks. This is why people in the courtroom make the difference. You cannot take a single day off. Always triple check the papers. We dont know who will come up next. It was a surprise for the reasons we noted. Concerns about donald trump. What do we think is happening next year . I was struck by everyone saying, hope hicks was part of this. She was complicit in. Made her work for donald trump. She knew who the people were and it is fortunate that she had to pull the rug out. That had nothing to do with Michael Cohen sitting in jail and how is this story unfolding as someone in the room . I think we will hear from Michael Cohen. I dont think they will save him for last. I would expect as marcus mentioned, to get into the falsification of Business Records. Some people from the Trump Organization can speak to that. I think you will put Michael Cohen in the middle and i expect the crossexamination is really going to hammer him on the credibility. You look at how he has already been corroborated. We have heard so much about Michael Cohen already from these of the witnesses. You heard from hope hicks that it didnt make any sense to her one donald trump lied to hope hicks and said donald trump had no knowledge of the payments and Michael Cohen did this out of the goodness of his heart. Because she did not find a particularly charitable person. Stepping back as a lawyer i can say, it is not charitable riding out checks for 130,000. Lawyers like to get paid. They are not the ones doing the payments. Is so Michael Cohen has already seen davidpecker an a mi get stepped because donald trump did not pay for Karen Mcdougal on the doorman stories. So you think Michael Cohen is in talking to donald trump and making sure he is going to get paid. There has been so much testimony about the fact that everything Michael Cohen did had to have authorization. He was talking about the boss. Keep davidson said at any moment, he will let you know. He is working for donald trump. This idea on hope hicks Cross Examination that Michael Cohen went rogue sometimes can give me a break. These are new yorkers with common sense. They would know he is laying out the money with the expectation to be paid and it is all for the benefit of donald trump. Nobody is taking out a Home Equity Line of credit on are house. Its not like he just had the money or he could just write out the check easily. He took out a Home Equity Line of credit on his house to help donald trump with the expectation that he would be paid for it. And with the knowledge of donald trump. There has also been so much testimony about how donald trump cared so much about Karen Mcdougal. The Stormy Daniels payment happens after the excess Hollywood Tape where we learned that this was a crisis in the campaign. So you would have to have the jury believed that donald trump had no knowledge about what was happening with the Stormy Daniels payoff and all of a sudden, he was just hands off and that is not what has been presented to the jury. I think Michael Cohen would make that clear. As he said during his plea, it is at the direction of and in coordination with donald trump. Setting up the conspiracy part of this is the, what have we done moment that was evidenced in Text Messages from Keep Davidson to the National Enquirer editor, dylan howard in which it was noted. What have we done . He said in a text on Election Night to the National Enquirer executive that helped him mediate the deal. Only god said the National Enquirers editorinchief at the time. He decided it was humor about their understanding on the activities may have in some way assisted the president ial campaign of donald trump. That is one of those that just puts it all in play. Only god. We actually did this. That has allowed President Trump to become President Trump because he did the catch and kill so successfully and all the webs that were woven together actually help. I think it is important that we show that text message. We talk a lot about testimony. But in trial, testimony is adding color to the documents, especially in a whitecollar case. This shows exactly what they were thinking at the time before the election of 2016. Which was that this was about the election. This catch and kill schemas about the election. And it is important from proving this up from a misdemeanor to felony site. A lot of people questioned about whether this was really an Election Interference case. They were questioning without seeing evidence. Out there and havent seen anything. Claiming the case will be a certain way. We have heard Election Interference from every single witness from all the Text Messages. The phone calls from donald trump to Michael Cohen about couple lets keep the story from coming out before the election. Lets push it out until after november. It is all about the election. And so i think the prosecution is in a good spot to argue that this was to conceal Election Interference and they are sitting pretty heading into the fraudulent Business Records side of the trial. We are not done with this conversation. When we come back in the moment, we will keep talking about it. Before break, lets go back to the breaking news at the university of Southern California where pro Palestinian Protesters set up an encampment after it had been cleared last week. It is daybreak in los angeles and the University Park campus has been closed as a result of significant activity at the center of campus. That is according to the University Public safety department. Our Camera Crew Set at an alumni park where most of the encampment has been set up. It has been largely cleared after warnings. These are images from the last hour taking by our affiliate. No rest have been reported thus far. Chopper over the campus said officers were dismantling tents in the park. We will continue to monitor the formation and bring you the latest throughout the morning. We will be right back. D The T Of Episodic Migraine in adults. Dont take if allergic to nurtec odt. Allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. Most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. Its time we all shine. Talk to a Healthcare Provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. Lets get to the top story of the morning. Donald trump began a donor been in florida last night with the recording of the National Anthem performed by Jailed January 6th defendants. With members of the National Republican committee and potential vp picks in the audience. How wacky is that trump called jack smith an evil thug and deranged and said that when he got indicted, he made the decision that the gloves have to come off. Kristi greenberg and Marcus Childress are back with us. We have the donald trump smack down going on, folks. How is he able to do this and it is okay . How . How can he continue to say and do these things and there are no consequences . As michael said yesterday, if he was anyone else, if donald trump was someone else, he would be under the jail. The fact that he is mad that he is being held accountable and is threatening to attack people just for trying to hold the institutions and hold him accountable. This is the same individual that tried to overturn a lawful election and said he wishes he could be dictator for a day and is continuing this theme of claiming the world is unfair against him and the Special Counsel is a fog. He is highlighting what he will do witches go after every person who was trying to hold him accountable including me and my former january 6 colleagues. This is something dangerous because he will do it. He is saying it and he will do it. He needs to be held accountable like the manhattan d. A. Is trying to do on the Special Counsel is trying to do. He has broken the law consistently throughout his time. Go ahead. I was going to say 4748 of American People want this. They seem to be okay with this narrative. Despite what we see unfolding in the courts and despite what we see unfolding in the campaign with the language about dictatorships and wanting to have exact retribution on the system that is, as marcus pointed out, holding him accountable, what do we take from this . How do we move through this moment when almost half of our american citizens, neighbors, friends, those we work with say, this is all good and we are fine with this . It is an important point. It is one reason why it would be wonderful if there were televisions in the courtroom or cameras that you could see what was transpiring and the American People could know that one donald trump goes outside the courtroom and says he is not allowed to testify under the gag order and then you have the judge saying in plain terms, i think there is a misunderstanding which of course he didnt misunderstand. He knew what he was saying was a lie but the judge tactfully making clear that yes you can text if i. But those exchanges should be televised so the American Public could see the lies this man is telling. Going back to the january 6 comments, when he is saying that he will pardon those that participated january 6th, it is an invitation for them to do this again in november. You look at the Supreme Court dealing with many of these january 6 cases and there has been all kinds of delay there. Can you imagine if that mob had gone to the Supreme Court with guns, Baseball Bats and pitchforks . And decide if there was an obstruction of a official proceeding would be quick. It seems like a simple question. But it takes a long time for the courts to answer these simple questions and hold donald trump accountable. When there is this absence of accountability, it sends a message somehow implicitly that what he is doing is okay and acceptable and it isnt. So the courts need to send the message to donald trump that he could be held accountable and therefore, if they do that, hopefully the people would come around and see that this is a convicted felon. This is someone who is not just running his mouth but has been held accountable and is not above the law. That has not happened yet. In the absence of the courts doing that, he will continue to run his mouth and people will believe him when he asked with no consequences. People might be tired