Brian tyler cohen, thank you for your time and insight into these important matters. That is our show this evening. Now it is time for the last word with ali velshi in for lawrence. I love to listen and what you did last on the show and offer you very legitimate and sincere comments on however the discussion went. We didnt have time tonight. I also wouldnt be able to do that if i was the last guest on the show, so i appreciate the strategic spacing. Alex, have a great weekend and see you next week. Have a good show. The third week of Donald Trumps historic criminal trial has come to a close, setting the stage for what could be the end of the Prosecution Case next week, but not before another highprofile witness, former trump fixer Michael Cohen. We saw dramatic testimony from Adult Film StarStormy Daniels who would not be intimidated by Donald Trumps lawyers out of telling her account of the alleged sexual encounter with donald trump and the subsequent scheme to buy her silence. Todays testimony did not include star witnesses, but it was important in setting the stage for next week. Nbc news reports that the trump lawyer turned enemy Michael Cohen will take the stand on monday. Cohen was the fixer of the 130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels before the president ial election of 2016. We began the trial today with continued testimony from madeleine westerhout, trumps former director of oval office operations. She remains loyal to trump despite being fired in 2019 after she reportedly told reporters she did not want to be photographed with trumps daughter tiffany because of her weight. She used her testimony to paint donald trump is a hardworking family man. A picture that was unrecognizable to pretty much anyone else who has ever heard of donald trump. Donald trumps lawyer, Susan Necheles, sought to establish that trumps concern about the story had to do with his family, but it backfired. Westerhout agreed that trump was concerned that the story would upset his family, but said he never told her that. I dont believe he specifically said that, but i could just tell that the whole situation was very unpleasant. The prosecution objected to the second part of her answer, which was stricken from the record. Donald trump has sat largely alone in Court Without most of his Family Members for 15 days. Eric trump has made appearances, but no one else from the family has set in court with trump at any point in this trial so far, including his wife to whom he was married when prosecutors say he slept with Stormy Daniels and a decade later when he paid her off to save his campaign. After testimony today, prosecutors spent the rest of the day calling a series of custodial witnesses to introduce records into evidence that have direct ties to Michael Cohen. Before the trial began prosecutors alleged that cohen spoke to trump on the phone on october 26, 2016, shortly before opening up a bank account for his shell company, Essential Consultants Llc, which seems to have been invented to funnel money to Stormy Daniels then attorney, keith davidson. Call logs presented to The Jury Show Donald Trump and Michael Cohen had to phone calls on the morning of october 26, 2016, hours before this bank account was created. Prosecutors also got to the actual charges at hand. 34 Felony Counts for falsifying records and for the first time the District Attorneys Office put each of the false records on display. 11 invoices, 11 vouchers and 12 checks all relating to the reimbursement of Michael Cohen. Michael cohen is the key witness in Donald Trumps criminal trial. Michael cohen did all of trumps dirty work before becoming his enemy, but the testimony is problematic for the prosecution because by his own admission Michael Cohen has lied in court and lied to the media and has pleaded guilty to lying to congress. But the paper trail is not lying and the prosecution already put forward Phone Records, Bank Statements and email exchanges to support Michael Cohens story about how and why he paid 130,000 to Stormy Daniels. Mr. Trump is a con man. He asked me to pay off an Adult Film Star with whom he had an affair and to lie about it to his wife, which i did. Mr. Trump directed me to use my own personal funds from a home equity line of credit to avoid any money being traced back to him. That could negatively impact his campaign. At the end of the Court Proceedings trumps attorney todd blanche asked the judge to impose a gag order on Michael Cohen. Judge merchan denied the request but pulled prosecutors to communicate that the judges asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case, about mr. Trump or about anything related to this case or the process. That comes from the bench. Leading off our discussion tonight, adam klasfeld, who has been in the courtroom today and will be there every day for us at the trump trial. And katie fang, attorney and host of the katie fang show saturdays on msnbc. If you like what she has to say she will be back at 11 00 p. M. Eastern tonight. Thank you for being here. Kitty, let me start with you as the prosecution gets closer to wrapping up its case, what is it looking like . Its looking like they got across the finish line, number one, a lot more quickly than we thought. Recall at the beginning we thought this trial would last six weeks or more so if you are sitting in that jury, you are happy to hear, well, they didnt hear, but you will be happy to hear when they say the state rests its case. Why is that important . Next week is only three days of court, monday, tuesday, and thursday. Reportedly friday for barron trumps graduation, but that is another story. If that is the case and you start with david pecker and end with Michael Cohen then you are adhering to a tried and true philosophy of pregnancy, recency, of primacy and recency. With Michael Cohen we know we have to take him warts and all, but he has testified in a way that has been corroborated by, as you say, the paper trail that doesnt lie. The prosecution promised in its opening a very clean, tight chronology supported by the evidence and what we have seen is the evidence that proves the case. A clean, tight chronology that follows the evidence, adam. That is important in any trial, but as it relates to Michael Cohen, here is the difficulty. He has been shown to have perjured himself. He has written books about a day and the point here is that because he has lied in the past does not necessarily mean he is lying. Absolutely and one thing said a lot about testimony and Michael Cohen in this case. People of pointed out that folks have denigrated Michael Cohen. That understates it. Michael cohen has been roasted for this moment and i would suggest that is not an accident. Lets review the testimony of hope hicks. When asked if it would be out of character for Michael Cohen to do a favor, to pay the money on trumps behalf, that would be out of character because i dont know michael to be a charitable or selfless person. He is the kind of person that seeks credit and one thing that has to be said about this line of testimony, it turns one of Michael Cohens vulnerabilities into an asset. You have to trust this guy because he is totally selfish and he would never do this on trumps behalf out of the goodness of his heart. Another quote that was said during the testimony of keith davidson. Gina called me up to tell me some jerk called me and was very, very aggressive and threatened to sue me and i would like to tell you to call this jerk back. The prosecutor said i hate to ask it this way, but who is that jerk . Michael cohen. Now i believe the prosecutor did not hate to ask it that way. It is a way to say yes, Michael Cohen has vulnerabilities, but it is these very vulnerabilities that shows you can trust him, along with the wealth of Corroborating Evidence. The Phone Records you showed and in addition to that there was another custodial witness showing trumps tweed, that this was the arrangement. One more thing that i want to quickly make a point of. At the beginning of the trial todd blanche made a strong bet in saying that the 420,000 were not reimbursements. We have a third piece of evidence, a third admission from trumps saying in the tweet that it was a reimbursement and he said that twice before in records that got into evidence. Katie phang, Michael Cohen is crucial to this case and the prosecution maintaining Michael Cohens integrity as a witness is crucial, for all the reasons we discussed. But the Big Star Of The Last week was Stormy Daniels. I am looking to get your evaluation of how she performed. Well, Stormy Daniels went in i think with a lot of people in America Making Big Assumptions and judgments about who she is because of the professional choices, right . Listen, if that is what you think, that is what you think, but in the court of law when you have a person who takes an oath to tell the truth and is in the witness stand, that oath is the same for every person regardless of what you choose as a job. I think what backfired for the defense was you thought maybe using a female lawyer like Susan Necheles would take the edge off. Ive done it in my career as a trial lawyer. Ive been the one who had to crossexamine a female witness, but in this instance it backfired. Shaming Stormy Daniels was a huge mistake. Why . It just further buttressed the idea that that is why donald trump wanted to hide it from america. It was interesting because to adams point, sometimes you take a weakness and pivot it. In the instance that there was this insinuation or outright suggestion by the defense that there was something wrong or flawed with Stormy Daniels because of what she does for a living, then of course that would be the reason somebody like donald trump would want to hide that. So it would not hurt his campaign. Whether you like them or not, whether you think they are flawed or not, they create those bridges necessary for the prosecution to link things to make the story makes sense. When both sides got up and they talked about bonuses made, you can make sure that the jury paid attention to the prosecution and defense. When you get to closing at both sites get to make arguments, the prosecution will leave it altogether and it will make more sense for the prosecution than the defense. The similarity is the degree to which the defense would like to undermine because of the character or past acts or because of what Stormy Daniels does for a living. She seems remarkably at ease. Whether you believe her or not or what you think about her, the demeanor in court seemed to support her credibility. Absolutely. She was cool and confident. When she started testimony one of the interesting things in the past, when she started her testimony she was a little bit nervous. She had to be told to slow down during the prosecutors direct examination. When it came to the fight time, when Susan Necheles got out there, that is when she was cool, confident, in her element. You can see her sliding back in her seat, quit after quit and very witty. I think if she got the experience, got the cool collected miss from experience, lookout for that with Michael Cohen, because he has been to this rodeo before. We talked before when he testified, so this is his second turn at it. He also shows up on our shows very often and will always fess up to what he has done. He has become very comfortable with that idea. No one is going to surprise Michael Cohen with you did this, you lied to congress. He knows what he did and is comfortable talking about it. And you know what . Look, for someone like Michael Cohen this is truly the end of it. There may be other issues that come up for him later on, but this is what he has been waiting for. This is what all of that testimony has been four. Everything he has done to make sure he has done his redemption tour. This is what it is for, but it does not mean the entire case rests on Michael Cohen. That is a huge fallacy that the defense will go into thinking as well as a lot of people in the american public. But the prosecution does not rely on Michael Cohen. It is not the linchpin for that case, because there is so much more independent, objective, Corroborating Evidence that has nothing to do with Michael Cohen. Innocuous witnesses like custodians of records you heard from today. Cell phone and banking records. Can you not get out of your mind the Essential Consultants LlcBank Statement with Allen Weisselbergs writing on it . I take it out unless you are doing it for trump . These documents, weve printed them out. They are actually documents. There is nothing i could trial with actual financial documents to help you understand the story. I am so much smarter as i always am from our conversations. Adam klasfeld and katie phang. Katie is back with more when she hosts the 11th hour. We will see you then. All this week defendant trump attacked the criminal Justice System of the nation he hopes to lead once again. His lies continue to be a threat to democracy. We will discuss that and much more with Yale History Professor tim snyder after this break. Break. With fasenra, an addon treatment for Eosinophilic Asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. Fasenra is not for sudden Breathing Problems or other eosinophilic conditions. Allergic reactions may occur. Dont stop your Asthma Treatments without talking with your doctor. Tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. Headache and sore throat may occur. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Step back out there with fasenra. Ask your doctor if its right for you. Did you know you can get 40 off a single pair of glasses at americas best . These savings wont last forever. Unlike your eternal elation. Ok, settle down. You know, for someone who doesnt wear glasses you sure are excited. 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Yesterday was the latest opportunity for the Supreme Court to issue its decision on whether donald trump is immune from prosecution for crimes he is accused of committing while president , including attempting to overturn a democratic election. It is an idea antithetical to the american ethos that no one, not even the president of the United States