That is going to do it for me tonight. Now, it is time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. If i seem a little off my game tonight, it is because i made a mistake last night. I started to read jen psakis book before going to sleep, which means i almost didnt ever get to sleep. It is the cant put it down for me for a bunch of reasons. For example, can you imagine a white house Chief Of Staff changing a diaper in the white house on a baby that is not his baby . Lets start there. That took a real twist at the end. I thought i knew where you were going but then its like somebody elses baby. Now you got me. Guess whose baby it was . And then, okay, jen psaki has worked for the last three democratic nominees for president. You want to guess which one she was terrified of . You are doing a very good job at john kerry, barack obama, joe biden, but one was she terrified of . Enter will be coming later when jen psaki joins us. Which one gave her a bear hug after the Job Interview . Which one actually didnt hire her for the job she interviewed for . It is every one of these things. There are so many things in here that could have been great fictional scenes. Of the job i miss the most in the world is being in the writers room at the west wing, the nbc series about a fictional white house. There are so many things in here that we just go straight into the show if we knew that stuff then. It is just gems. Lawrence, if you are implicitly offering that you and i should write a screenplay based on jen psakis book and life where we lightly fictionalize her and make her into a west wing, style avatar for the top and pretend character in the west, the answer is yes. We dont have to fictionalize her or her father who has a fantastic reaction to the way reporters treat her in the White House Press briefing room. The details are just fantastic. Get to it, lawrence. Thank you, rachel. We will get to jen psaki later in this hour. The book is amazing. They wrote it down. The conspiracy was written out on paper. That is rare in criminal prosecutions. Prosecutors are usually left explaining to juries that, you know, Criminal Conspirators dont write it all down. But, that is what they did in the trump Office On Fifth Avenue and in the white house. Today, Donald Trumps injury was shown the handwritten conspiracy to payback Michael Cohen for paying 130,000. 00 to Stormy Daniels to purchase her silence before the president ial election about what she has since described as one of very quick sexual encounter with donald trump. Donald trumps financial mastermind, convicted felon Allen Weisselberg, but the conspiracy in his handwriting , on Michael Cohens Bank Statement, and then another Financial Officer in the trump shop the whole thing in his handwriting on pump company stationery. That handwritten description of the conspiracy called for Michael Cohen to be paid 35,000. 00 a month as reimbursement for his payments to Stormy Daniels and the final handwriting in the conspiracy presented to the jury today work Donald Trumps signatures on those 35,000. 00 checks to Michael Cohen. It didnt really matter much what todays witness, mcconney, told the jury because the handwriting told the story. Mcconney did confirm that that is Allen Weisselbergs handwriting on Michael Cohens Bank Statement. Question, do you recognize that document . Answer, yes. This is the Bank Statement that Allen Weisselberg gave me to put in the files. Question, is there handwriting on the statement . Answer, there are two sets of handwriting on the bottom of the document. Question, do you recognize the handwriting . Answer, recognize the handwriting on the left side of the page but not the right side of the page. Question, whose handwriting do you recognize on the left side of the bed . Answer, that belongs to Allen Weisselberg. Question, how do you recognize his handwriting . Answer, ive read his handwriting for about 35 years. The writing on the right side of the page is likely to turn out to be Michael Cohens writing showing Allen Weisselberg why he was owed 50,000. 00 more than the 130,000. 00 he paid to Stormy Daniels. The 50,000. 00 was for a previous expense he paid to a firm to rig online polling for donald trump. According to Allen Weisselbergs notes, he grossed up the 180,000. 00 to 360,000. 00. Question, what does grossed up mean . Answer, i dont know exact what it meant but he probably meant for so tax purposes, if michael recorded 360,000 a month income, he would not, assuming a 50 tax rate, 180,000. 00. To the 360,000. 00, Allen Weisselberg added in his handwriting, and annual bonus of 60,000. 00, bringing the total to be paid to Michael Cohen to 420,000. 00, which Allen Weisselbergs handwriting says would be paid at 35,000. 00 per month and then donald trump signed checks to Michael Cohen for 35,000. 00 per month were presented to the jury. On crossexamination, one of Donald TrumpsCriminal Defense Lawyers asked Jeffrey Mcconney if he ever spoke to donald trump about the schema. Question, you did not talk to him about those events in 2016, correct . Answer, i did not. You did not talk to them about the events in 2017, did you . Answer, i did not. And, you did not ask him about the events in 2018, either . Answer, i did not. Before any testimony was heard this morning, judge juan merchan once again held donald trump in Contempt Of Court for violating the gag order, which forbids donald trump from saying anything about the jury in this case. Judge juan merchan had about a five page written opinion , and order in which he responded to the prosecutions requested that donald trump be found in contempt for violating the gag order four more times. Judge juan merchan found only one of those alleged violations of the gag order was proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge wrote, the defendant violated the order by making public statements about the jury and how it was selected. In doing so, defendant not only called into question the integrity, and therefore the legitimacy, of these proceedings but, again, raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones. Because this is now the 10th time that this court has found defendant in Criminal Contempt, spanning three separate motions, it is apparent that monetary fines have not and will not suffice to determine defendant from violating this courts lawful orders. Therefore, defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and unwarranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration. Not trusting donald trump to actually read his order, the judge then spoke directly to donald trump when he handed out his Written Decision and looking directly at donald trump judge juan merchan said in open court, going forward, this court will have to consider a Jail Sanction if recommended. Mr. Trump, it is important to understand that the last thing i want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. There are many reasons why incarceration is truly a last resort for me. To take that step would be disruptive to these proceedings, which i imagine you want to end as quickly as possible. I also worry about the people who would have to execute that sanction, the court officers, the correction officers, the Secret Service detail, among others. I worry about them and about what would go into executing such a sanction. Of course, i am also aware of the broader implications of such a sanction. The magnitude of such a decision is not onesided. But, at the end of the day, i have a job to do and part of that job is to protect the dignity of the judicial system and to compel respect. Your continued violations of this courts lawful order threatened to interfere with the administration of justice and constant attacks, which constitute a direct attack on the rule of law. I cannot allow that to continue. As much as i do not want to impose a Jail Sanction, and i have done everything i can to avoid doing so, i want you to understand that i will if necessary and appropriate. Leading off our discussion tonight, adam klasfeld, who was in the courtroom today and will be there every day for us during the trump trial, he is a fellow at just security. Also with us, andrew weissman, former chief of the Criminal Division in the Eastern District of new york. Coauthor of the new the New York Times bestselling book The Trump Indictments , and former acting u. S. Solicitor general, who has argued over 50 cases before the United States supreme court, he is a professor at Georgetown Law and host of the podcast courtside. Andrew and neil are both msnbc legal analysts. Adam, i want to begin with the discussion of contempt. Begin where the judge began this morning. He hands out his opinion and then he speaks extemporaneously from the bench, addressing himself directly to donald trump. Did it seem to register on the defendant . Absolutely, lawrence. It is the fact that it registers is memorialized in the conferences that trump does every day, the reporters tried to, i dont think this is too strong a word, beat him again and again to violate the gag order, asking, and reading some of the questions here, is a Stormy Daniels a lawyer . Is Michael Cohen a liar, could you do a night at Rikers Island . Why did you pay Michael Cohen . They asked about the jury. Each time, nothing from trump. It is clear to see why. This is the first time judge juan merchan has vocalized that the threat of jail to trump. If he put it out loud in open court and if the prosecutors brought another alleged violation to his bench and he heard it, he found another violation, he threw down the gauntlet. If he doesnt throw trump in jail, he would look entirely like a paper tiger and trump got that message and it was evident in the Press Conferences during the proceedings and after the proceedings of the day. Andrew, when we hear jail, we are all thinking Rikers Island, sending a former president to Rikers Island with a Secret Service detail, we could hear and what the judge said from the bench that he is concerned with the things i have wondered about, which is how does the Secret Service do this . How do the local officials handle it, how do they interact, how does it work . In real, practical terms, what are the options that the judge has that could involve some measure of incarceration without necessarily it being Rikers Island . Leaving aside that he could just say, as judge engoron has suggested and ryan goodman has adjusted, i can consider this later, i can decide what sentence to impose later, if theres conviction, i can decide how it relates to the sentence i impose, on the Criminal Contempt, i can give the sentence afterwards. Lets say he wants to do something right now because he really wants to send a message now to stop. Can you go back a second on that . He could make an announcement in court to say theres going to be a sentence of incarceration, which im going to decide later. Yes, he could say i am going to sentence you later. You should know fines are no longer sufficient. What that sentence will be is going to wait. If theres conviction, i can also consider your continued conduct in deciding what sentence to impose. All of that, he could kick down the road. Lets assume he says i need to do something now that is more than that. And, that is not my idea, which is having sort of a babysitter monitoring his suites and to social. He can do a number of things. There is something called house arrest. He could be under lock and key at night. He could be just put in the back of the court. There is a holding pen and he could literally just say you are going to be in the holding pen in the courthouse. He could say, you know what, at lunchtime, that is where you will be kept. He could keep him there even some hours in the evening. There are ways to Fashion Incarceration without saying for 30 days you are going to be in jail and be brought back and forth from Rikers Island. There are ways for him to do incremental punishment. That either way is what judges do look to do is figure out what is the next step. I agree with adam. With how much bravado, this is not somebody who is thinking im going to have a really great time at Rikers Island. The new york court system, is a difficult place. Neal katyal, i have to say having seen donald trump in court for a couple of days, not today but last week, this idea of using the Jailing Capacity that they have to have at a courthouse for criminal defendants who are being held in jail at Rikers Island, when they bring them into the courthouse, theres a place to lock them up while they are there, to say to him you have to be here at 8 00 a. M. And we are going to lock you into that spot and then during the recesses, they have a recess in the morning, they have a lunch break for an hour and a half, they have a recess in the afternoon, we are going to lock you up for each one of those, you are going to be taken directly from the courtroom so you wont be stopping to talk to the reporters anymore. That would be pretty, for him, that would be severe stuff. It would be relatively severe, lawrence. I guess i just have to say, i have to call it, i think donald trump got a bit lucky with this judge. You dont see criminal defendants doing what donald trump has done repeatedly violate a gag order. Today was the 10th time this happened. You know, it is just another monday for donald trump. So, i was glad to see the judge personally address donald trump today, as you talked about, and the like. I do think trump is lucky he hasnt faced either the kind of sanctions that you and andrew just talked about, or my idea, which was, you know, to impose the criminal sentence right now and say you are guilty, im going to suspend the execution of it until after the trial is over and we are going to watch your behavior. But, you have now done more than what a 1000. 00 fine is worth. You have trampled on the court, you have trampled on the jury. I can promise you, there are a whole lot of defendants out there who wish they were given a fraction of the Leniency Judge juan merchan has given to donald trump , his repeated violations of the law. Adam, to the evidence, it seems like they got it all, the cost of the plot in writing on these two pieces of paper. The jurors will be able to hold these in their hands when they are in the jury room, ask for these exhibits. It seems to be all there. The point, if it is that, that them defense scored at the end of this testimony about what all these locations mean, is that donald trump never had a conversation about any of this with this witness today, who wrote, who himself wrote the version of the conspiracy on this piece of paper. That was addressed and redirected in examination at the very end, in this skillful exchange. I will read it to you, ive liked it. The prosecutor asked, have you come to learn since leaving the Trump Organization there were matters of that Allen Weisselberg kept you In The Dark About . Objection from trumps lawyer. Overruled. Trumps lawyer persists. Hearsay. Its overruled. Yes. So your answer is yes. This was happening above your head . Yes. Whatever, it was a blow saying that trump had no, that he did not have a conversation with trump mitigated by the Prosecutor Showing and eliciting this fairly damaged exchange that Jeffrey Mcconney was kept in the dark. We will squeeze in a break. When we come back, we will go over todays evidence and consider how far the prosecution of this case has come and how much further they have to go. We will be right back. The itch and rash of moderate to severe eczema disrupts my skin, night and day. Despite treatment, its still not under control. But now i have rinvoq. Rinvoq is a oncedaily pill that reduces the itch and helps clear the rash of eczema fast. 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