Welcome to our new special. New york versus donald trump. Im ari melber here. We will bring you this brand new break down of the third week of the historic and first ever criminal trial of a former president and a current candidate as well. This was a tough week for the defendant that was gripping dramatic testimony from the woman at the center of the hush money plot of all the witnesses we have seen, she has become the most famous through her encounter with trump. And there was testimony and key days of testimony for witnesses who were in trumps orbit who could speak about what she said and corroborate some of the financials. For the jury, we have more on that as well. Prosecutors have been laying out the pieces of this scheme to influence the 2016 election and we can tell you as we recount why it was such a tough week for trump, we also know according to the public remarks here, we know we are near the end of this thing. We have two witnesses left. The star witness Michael Cohen will begin mend. One other witness and they will be ready to rest as soon as the coming week. Cohen is central to the das case and he has testified under oath before that trump was in on everything. He knew about everything. Everything had to go through mr. Trump and had to be approved by mr. Trump. That is what cohen sounded like last time. A lot of punishment if you are caught messing up. So we expect to hear a similar line from cohen when he takes The Stand Monday. Prosecutors say they will rest their case by the end of the week. Now that could change but it is a confident line. If something unexpected doesnt happen. They expect to have this thing done by thursday. The defense gets to respond and the jury gets to deliberate. Whether or not they can make the case, they are saying by thursday, they believe they will have legally set out all of the evidence, every element of the two crimes they Say Donald Trump committed. This week started with a bang. The team clashed with the judge over him getting caught, blatantly violating the binding gag order. That meant as this barrels forward, as the da only has a few days left, the judge had to tell him the defendant or the lawyer he could face a jail sanction if this continues. Future violations could be punishable by incarceration. We will get into this special. The witnesses matter because they bring everything to life but they dont do much without receipts and the da has some damning oning. The paperwork that shows how this was not just some random one off. But was a whole plot run through the Trump Organization and through Donald Trumps personal bank account. They have the checks that trump wrote to cohen. The jury saw those for the first time this week. Prosecutors then called actress Stormy Daniels to the stand where she testified and told the jury why she understood trump wanted her silenced. Stormy daniels. She is at the center of this entire case. Everybody wants to hear what Stormy Daniels says. Rivetting bomb shell. Sometimes icky testimony. You wanted money. That phrase repeated multiple times. It bordered on Susan Shaming A sex worker. I think that it is his motivation to really shame this woman and it is not working. She was not going to let her story be mischaracterized. As an observation, the judge had to patrol. On a legal level some of the details went beyond what the judge felt was necessary for the evidence to support the das case. Remember, this is not like an interview where you can jump around on different topics. The questions and topics are regulated by the judge. She testified that trump didnt appear concerned when they had their initial encounter about it going public. That bolstered the das issue that it was related to the campaign. They tried to use stigmas and discredit her. She accused daniels of extorting Trumpment Daniels replied false. That was an allegation in the form of the question. She raised the idea that daniels made the whole thing up. Not only did she deny, but that would be a tough pill for the your to swallow. She had some interaction with trump that made him so concerned about it he was willing to pay for her silence according to the receipts. Daniels said that sharing her story has negatively impacted her and there is a lot of corroboration of that. When daniel wrapped her testimony, she paved the way for other witnesses. They are not as exciting but there is proof that it was an intentional coverup. There was a bookkeeper from his company that said trump talked to his form convicted cfo daily. That testimony backed up by another Staff Assistant who said on thursday. Trump would pick up the phone and call weisselberg. She became emotional and cried on the stand and said she met with the defense earlier in the week to prepare as she was a prosecution witness. But that gives you some signal of her perspective. That is okay, by the way. The witnesses may have a mixed perspective no matter who they are called by. Their main obligation is supposed to be telling the truth and the jury assesses that. Now friday, the judge floated the idea of having the aforementioned Convicted Trump Money Man Weisselberg testify himself. Now that would be a big deal. Remember how i mentioned some unexpected things could add time . If you added a witness and had to arrange getting him out of jail, that would take a little time. He is in rikers after pleading to perjury for a different case. A related fraud case because the allegations of fraud have dogged trump in different courtrooms. That is the second time that he has gone in to jail for things he did that were basically related to and arguably or allegedly at the behest of his boss donald trump. At time trumps lawyers have looked visibly concerned at the suggestion he come in. They seem to think he is loyal but better off not heard from. Now we are also seeing the way that day by day, this process can yield different information. That staffer i mentioned when she received friday, she said trump would sign checks sometimes without even reviewing them. That goes to a clash among and across both witnesses in the da and defense arguments. The jurys job is not to root for one side and not to only take the first thing they hear as gospel. They will get instructions that you have to take it all holistic. Together, they have to kind of unspool all of these claims. The Busy Out Of The Loop Trump Claim is a fair defense. One he is allowed to lodge. You have heard me say this before. We are using the general standard like two sources in journalism. They would have trump, the defense dead to rights but it is a higher standard and deliberately so. It is not just two sources or what you think is most likely or what happened. It is a very High Standard on purpose for all defendants it is supposed to be. Beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it. He covered it up. And he did it with the campaign crime intent. A higher bar. That is why we will be watching this next week as well as the Da Brings In Cohen and then rests its case. The trial is barreling forward. Trumps efforts to delay this. And this courtroom, they have been failing. Now, our special will continue with two very special guests that we think will help us really wrap up what has been a bruising week for donald trump. We are back together in just 90 seconds. Together in just 90 seconds. Ious. Nope. Is. Last of the mohicans back to base. Is. Jason bourne nooo. Is. The weight of rock chung is that a movie . No. Ok, what is it . The fall guy. Oh. Thats what the poster said. This isnt what i want to be known for. As a matter of fact, i hid for quite a while and it is overwhelming and intimidating and downright scary a lot of times. Stormy daniels when she was speaking about this all the way back in 2018. Now, this week for the first time, people have heard from her under oath in this legally binding proceeding. We are join by former u. S. Attorney and nbc legal analyst joyce vance and melissa marie. Professor murray, when you look at this week, we are always looking for inflection points. It really felt like it barreled forward and in some ways for all of the excitement about Michael Cohen next week, if you were writing a Story Where The Da began to really congeal and focus its case, it almost felt like it came more this week than next. If they are winning, it might be from the combination of the receipts in daniels this week. Saying yes, what they said is true. It is really an interesting kind of rhythm that the prosecution established this week. There was a lot of forward momentum. And mundane and monotonous moment where witnesses had to corroborate the chain of custody for certain forms of evidence. There were the quieter moments but again, punctuated by explosive testimony. They will look back on the set of questions Stormy Daniels was given. The real star of this week i have to say was not any of these witnesses. But rather, the documents they were there to elaborate. The documents were the stars. The documents dont lie. They establish the prosecutions story. And, the witnesses were all there to basically elaborate and give context and color and give the jurors a story. Trials are Story Telling. And the prosecution using these Documentary Evidence decided to tell a broad story and use these witnesses to make that story come to life. Joyce . You know, ari, something that anyone has served on a jury understands is that judges judges admonish jurors to not deliberate until they are all in the room together. Now we are assessing each witness as they testify and every piece of evidence as it comes in. And sometimes that leads us to overfocus on one bit of the evidence or one facet of the case. Without seeing the Bigger Picture that the jury will have when they deliberate. So i find melissas assessment to be entirely appropriate when she talks about the trajectory of the case. The prosecution has had one overarching goal. Their goal is to buttress Michael Cohen before he took the stand. The idea is to show that trump knew, participated, concealed to commission other crimes. The way they have masterfully executed that goal. Whether it is the way Stormy Daniels held up beautifully on crossexamination. She comes across, you know, not just as a porn star the way she has been characterized far too many times. She comes across as a mom, a real person with real interests and with an important life story and someone who the jury may not approve of but who they can listen to and ultimately believe. But at the same time, melissa nails the key. It is the documents. The documents dont lie. They have alan weisselbergs writing on them. He may not testify but it doesnt matter because the documents are there. You are both talking about the documents and how the Trump Defense or the doubt they want to instill really runs into that brick wall. That is why the da has had momentum. Joe was trumps lawyer in the new york case until he left. But when we did speak with him, we asked about that. If your defense is oh, this was money for a lawyer, your defense is no fraud because it was true, the problem is the money didnt stay with the lawyer. The money passed through the lawyer, went to Stormy Daniels so it is not money for a lawyer. And then to add insult to injury, he writes his plot on paper and says lets gross it up, lets lie. Lets commit tax fraud. Is Stormy Daniels a lawyer . I dont think she is a lawyer. I would think the lawyer is a lawyer. Okay. So she is not a lawyer. And these payments were made. And they were according to federal filings, classified on the trumps side as legal services. That was false wasnt it . The payments were made to a lawyer. Not to Stormy Daniels. Joyce . Well, thats slicing pretty thinly there. But ultimately, it doesnt work. And in addition to the coding in the trump books where these payments to Michael Cohen are coded as legal fees, they were reimbursements to Stormy Daniels. We know in this California Litigation where Stormy Daniels, she says she didnt approve it but her lawyer sued trump for defamation. She loses that case and is ordered to pay trumps legal fees. As part of the filings in that case, trump concedes the 130,000 is reimbursement for the payment to Stormy Daniels. The prosecution can put that into evidence here. That may well be what happens with their last witness. We dont know who that will be yet. That is compelling evidence. Along with the trump tweet there was discussion about this afternoon. He talks about well my lawyer was handling a private agreement. It all adds up to knowledge. These were just legal payments to Michael Cohen who went off on a free agent and decided to spend trumps money for him in maybe the slim hope he would be reimbursed down the road. That story doesnt make sense and this jury will use their common sense when they deliberate. If that story doesnt make sense, that takes us to next week. Where there might be questions and issues for Michael Cohen on cross. But to believe the Trump Defense, you would have to believe after Everything Cohen has been through, he is now sticking to a new made up story. Perjuring himself in and taking on new liability and pulled other people into it. It is i hesitate to make a musical reference professor. Just kidding. But it is a bit like near the end of the Drake Kendrick lamar battle where he said oh, some of the things that Kendrick Lamar said about him, he had secretly previously planted. He planted he claimed negative information about himself. So Kendrick Lamar would say it so he could say got you. It is false and i tricked you into attacking me. If that sounds convoluted, you dont need to know all the details. It is so convoluted people question whether it is true. So i put all of that to you as well as for evidence the other issue with cohen is the judge was moved. He was moved to say i would direct the people, to communicate to mr. Cohen the judge is asking him to refrain from any more statements in this case. That is certainly not great. Your thoughts on any of the above . Well, certainly a Minor Deviation for mr. Cohen. And i know you will know what i mean by that given your knowledge of the Drake Kendrick lamar beef. But they got out a lot of the dirt on Michael Cohen before he came into the room. Honestly, the bar has been held for Michael Cohen. If he strings together some sentences that are articulate and stands up on cross examination, it will be a success. The strategy here was to minimize the import of Michael Cohen by making the documents actually do the work of corroborating his story. And i think they did a lot of work this week. Lining up documents, providing context and prebutting all of the claims they will make about Michael Cohen. When we watch Michael Cohen next week, we might be very surprised that he stands up. And that is because the prosecution has done so much work this week really airing out all of his dirty linen. Yeah, you both have given us and anyone listening a lot more insight on why this is going down the way it is. Why some of the negatives are coming out now. As we gear up for what is likely the final four days of, three, monday, tuesday, thursday, on the prosecutions side. Because they have that wednesday off per usual. I will tell both of you on behalf of msnbc, please stay near your phones, near your camera setups. Stay hydrated. Well be calling you a lot next week. Thank you guys. Thanks ari. Appreciate it. We have a lot more coming up including how the Oval Office Meetings could be haunting trump. He will certainly be Hearing Testimony about some of that next week. And when we do the specials, we broaden out. We have had some interesting people join us. An acclaimed long serving journalist Kirk Anderson is our special guest as we get later in the hour, but first, Michael Steele. Stay with us. Steele. Stay with us. look, things may seem fine down there, but you need to watch out for diseases. Ill be okay. Does this look ok . ugh. How do i protect myself . With the new Scotts Healthy Plus lawn food. Its the only product that prevents 27 diseases while feeding your grass to help keep your lawn healthy this season. Want me to show you how to put it on . No, i think i know how to use a spreader. Pick up a bag of the new Scotts Turf Builder healthy plus lawn food today. Feed your lawn. Feed it. Scotts turf builder healthy p welcome to the roots of our legacy. 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