Altercation. Prince harry and Meghan Markle are in the first visit to nigeria. They are promoting the Invictus Games which prince harry created. Why 2024 is looking like 2016 in maga land and the big party for Trump Supporters on The Jersey Shore. Why donald trump is campaigning in a very blue state. Good day to all of you from msnbc World Headquarters in new york. This is the scene on The Jersey Shore. Thousands of donald Trump Supporters gathered on the boardwalk in wildwood. This is ahead of the beachfront rally. The former president is set to hold it within hours. He will be back in a manhattan courtroom on monday when the most critical witness is set to testify in the hush money trial. Someone whose names shirley rings a bell. Michael cohen expected to take the stand. Trumps former fixer. Star witness Michael Cohen. Michael cohen might be Donald Trumps most dangerous higher. A 130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels on Donald Trumps behalf. The judge is instructing prosecutors to not make any statements about the case were about donald trump placing a gag order on the former trump loyalist. They could rest the case by the end of next week. He has denied making a sexual relationship with Stormy Daniels and has pled not guilty. Several reporters and analysts ready to go with the new developments. We will begin a wildwood, new jersey. Donald trumps out of the courtroom and is on the Campaign Trail in a blue state today. Why did he choose The Jersey Shore . Reporter a couple of reasons. This is an area where he held one of the biggest rallies of 2020 and will new jersey is a blue estate, this part of new jersey is pretty red tinged. We see a massive crowd here today. What we see behind me is a fraction of the crowd. Thousands more people in a very big area behind the press bench. They are going all out here. The former president has been out talking about how he is looking to win over some voters, even in leftleaning states like new jersey and new york. He has held a couple events around the court, around his trial in new york city as well. This is a pretty close to the allimportant philadelphia suburbs. There hoping to have an impact in that market as well. We have been talking to some of the voters and supporters here about what you were talking about earlier, the trial, the witness that we are going to hear from on monday. We are hearing a lot of folks echo the rhetoric of the former president. Take a listen. I could not care less what my president does. Run the country. What he does Behind Closed Doors what he did 18 years ago as a private citizen does not concern me or how he runs a country. They are trumping up charges to make them look bad and make him lose the election, but he is not going to lose. Hes going to win fair and share. They rigged the last election but this one will not lose. Reporter not surprising from a crowd of Trump Supporters, but monday is going to be critical. You have said it here. Michael cohen could be the linchpin that ties the former president more directly to that hush money payment. The repayment of Michael Cohen when. Weve heard testimony that has been pretty salacious from the likes of Stormy Daniels but Michael Cohen is that key witness. Not without his own baggage, though. That is where the Defense Table try to undermine him. We look forward to see your wrapup of what is happening in wildwood, new jersey. A what to again Meredith Mcgraw and charles coleman. Welcome to you both. Charles, you posted yesterday that Michael Cohen is a nightmare for the prosecution with how much he has been speaking to the media. But then i heard you say on morning joe that he is the linchpin to connecting trumps everything in the case. How does the Prosecution Thread that needle . I think one of the things the prosecution has to be mindful of is using Michael Cohen to focus on the documents. His testimony, and expect he is going to have some extra testimony around his relationship with donald trump and how close they were and everything else, that will be challenged by the defense because of the number of outof court statements he has made, and the tweet about being a nightmare witness. Prosecutors able to focus on the actual documents that Michael Cohen is responsible for connecting the dots on, that is where the real value of his testimony comes into play. What hes been doing out of court and the extemporaneous statements hes made, unsolicited to many outlets, ours being one of them, they do not help the prosecution. But they can rely on the documents and him to connect that which is where the dated july. Trump has been mostly mindful of the gag order but he has been speaking do reporters every day. Is he treating as a Campaign Stop . How much do you think Michael Cohen will ruffle his feathers next week . I think we are all going to wait to see how donald trump responds to Michael Cohen being facetoface with him in the courtroom next week. Trump has been using the cameras, the press attention outside of the courtroom to talk about President Biden and to complain about the case and to use some rhetorical gymnastics to go just as far as he can with the gag order without violating it after he was warned by the judge earlier this week about his violations of the gag order and the potential he could go to jail for violating them again. He has taken advantage of a lot of the press attention around the courtroom and an opportunity to try to make his case. Weve seen how some of trumps allies have come out to say the things that he is not allowed to say about the prosecution and about the judge and about the case. Exactly to that point, i will pick up on that with you. Even senator rick scott showing up to defend donald trump. He called judge merchans Daughter A Political operated. It could be strategy to get around the gag order by having his allies do this for him, but couldnt this backfire . Not necessarily. As long as it could be established that that he was not planting the statements in the thirdparty mouthpieces or that donald trump doesnt begin reach weeding or reposting or resharing them. He keeps a comfortable distance between himself and these statements and the people making them such that he does not violate the judges gag order which i think is why i anticipate this week even more so, you will see more and more gop spokespeople basically trying to kiss the ring of donald trump and say what they can, that donald trump cannot. That the no he cannot. He will take a hands off approach because he doesnt want to be in violation of judge merchans gag order. Again. Lets look at rick scott a little closer. He said that he had been the victim of political prosecution, referring to the doj investigation of his Hospital Chain in the early 2000s. The senator posthumous former company ultimately pled guilty to 14 felonies and was fined 1. 7 billion. At the time was the biggest Medicare Fraud case in u. S. History. He has won best respond very close margins. Hes in a very tight Reelection Race right now. Is it wise to remind voters of the Medicare Fraud case . Is this a person the trump team really wants defending him . Senator rick scott is very close to donald trump. From when he was the head from even back as governor of florida. He has a long personal relationship with donald trump. He was invited to appear by Trumps Campaign manager to come to court and he said that he was not instructed by donald trump to say anything, but as you said, rick scott is up for reelection. He is an ally of trump and wants to be seen as an ally of trump. In florida with Republican Voters there, and even though he is bringing up his own past legal issues, he is trying to draw this parallel that he and other of trumps political allies have made that trump is being unfairly targeted and prosecuted here by the justice system. So, for rick scott, this is a way for him to not only be a close ally of trump and a friend, but also, getting in front of his own voters. Lets move onto Stormy Daniels because as meredith has reported, the judge criticized the trump lawyer strategy and failure to object to parts of the testimony. What did you make of it . Was the prosecution or defense happier with the testimony . I think ultimately, that is going to depend on how they are used and it what i mean by that is, in the end, Stormy Daniels testimony only becomes as important as the need to rely on her case. The note because donald trump is not on trial for hush money. Hush money payments are not illegal. The relationship become the sexual relationship between donald trump and Stormy Daniels is not the heart of the case. I dont expect the prosecution is going to rely on it heavily. With respect to the defense they were able to effectively point out some inconsistencies with respect to Stormy Daniels but more portly, some questionable motives around the fact that donald trump has been a cash cow for Stormy Daniels ever since about it that golf tournament. They will rely heavily on that the prosecution does not use it, that it does not score any points with the jury. And as far as judge merchan, anderson what he was critical of the defense because the prosecution opened a ton of doors for Stormy Daniels testimony. The defense did pounce on that with respect to the cross examination, but to have it out there in the first place is just as unconscionable. I understand why judge merchan made his own objections before the defense of anything, or question why the defense did not object more and it will be interesting to see if they try to appeal everything that came out during Stormy Daniels testimony as being prejudicial. After being told off from the judge for cursing and shaking his head, he was much more stoic but a republican strategist told you that it is extremely challenging for donald trump to not be in control. What are your biggest takeaways from his reactions to all of this . I think, ive not been to the courtroom, but from what weve seen from reporters who have been in the room, this has been a grueling experience for donald trump, even some of my colleague said seeing there in the cold room on the wooden benches and having to squint to focus and Pay Attention to all of it, these trials, i am sure, theyre sucking up a lot of his energy and he would much rather be anywhere but in that courtroom. But you know, as somebody close to the campaign, close to trump told me, this is someone who has been in control of everything his whole life. He likes to control the lights. He likes to control the visuals. He likes to control everything about his whole world. These are moments in this courtroom where he has not been in control and he has had to sit back and let others make his case and that has been incredibly frustrating for him and something that he has made clear when he is talking to reporters and has talked to the public outside of the trial. Interesting on wednesday, had the day off from the trial. He did not Schedule Campaign events and was hosting a dinner at maralago for people about his nft trading cards. Why would he take any free moment to get out there to campaign . Is it because the coffers are hurting . Or might his team want to limit him from speaking so he cannot violate the gag order . Or do you think it is Something Else altogether . As much as trump has said that he wishes he could be out there campaigning, he has only held three rallies. Stirred will be tonight in new jersey in addition to rallies in michigan and wisconsin. He has had private dinners. The other private dinner with the nft owners. He has had fundraisers, he has gone to private Birthday Parties at maralago. He has played golf. He has not used all of his days off. All of the opportunities he has had to campaign and be out there. In front of the public and, these rallies are expensive. They do take a lot of money and effort to put on. Im sure we will see more of them this summer. It is notable that as much as trump has complained about his inability to campaign, this is only the third rally that he has held and the has been the past several weeks. The last question is the prosecution says it will rest his case at the end of the week, most likely. How long does the trial continue . Do you expect the defense to bring on witnesses . If so, do you have any idea who . I do expect that they will put on a case. Im unsure as to who they are going to put on the stand. I can tell you it is not going to the former president donald trump. I imagine that they are going to try and put on a case, but in terms of the list of witnesses, i am not necessarily sure. A large part of this is going to be determined by whatever damage they feel Michael Cohen does and so, my estimation is that after this, we probably have two more between the actual summations and jury deliberations. I would give it another week or a week and a half after that. Ultimately i think were looking at between 2 to 3 more weeks following the explosive testimony that we are anticipating from Michael Cohen this week. Okay. Thank you both so much. Stay right there. Former Assistant Director of Counter Intelligence at the fbi will talk about a new column he wrote about far rate extremist groups and how they are recruiting on social media at a pace not seen since before january 6. That is coming up later this hour. And a sense of urgency in this headline from the Washington Post directly related to what is happening at this hour. The latest from the region and the new report in 90 seconds. Breaking news. Thousands of displaced palestinians living in rafah are being forced to relocate after israel issued a new round of evacuation orders. It signals that netanyahu is moving forward with the invasion of the area despite the usa they would not support the incursion. A critical report from the State Department highlighting the reasons why israel might have violated International Laws in gaza. Lets go to our team of reporters were following the developments for us. Lets go to cairo. What are the People Living in gaza asking for in terms of u. S. Involvement . Reporter they really want a ceasefire because the people in gaza who are being asked to seek shelter in a humanitarian zone in coastal gaza have been displaced in some cases, many times and the idf has dropped leaflets and issued maps telling people to go to this expanded zone on the coast, but in the past, the Israeli Military has targeted areas that it had told civilians and the displaced to flee to and in this case, the Israeli Military is Ordering Hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate in anticipation of the strike on rafah and as you mentioned this means that the israeli Prime Minister , if indeed the government goes ahead with this, is openly defying President Biden who has publicly come out Time And Again against the assault on Southern Gaza and was used that diplomatic and strategic seldom used Pressure Tactic which is to withhold weapon rally from israel. There is a shipment last week of 2500 bombs that was withheld. In answer to your question, the people of Southern Gaza once there to beat the ceasefire. The family of the hostages want a ceased wire because they want the loved ones back. Very much so. Thank you from cairo. Joining us now is the former Deputy Assistant secretary of state from the Obama Administration and democratic strategist. Welcome to you. According to Washington Post report published just a short time ago today, the u. S. Is offering Israel Intelligence and supplies in an effort to avoid a fullscale invasion of rafah. What is your reaction to this . Do you think Benjamin Netanyahu will be open to this . Its great to be with you. Think this is consistent with what the biden team has been calling for for some time that for israel to be effective in getting at the hamas leadership which they believe is in or near rafah, they will need to be targeted in terms of the attacks and to be targeted means that use intelligence and going with these strikes. This is where