Welcome to our new special, new york versus donald trump im ari melber here. We will break it down for you on the first ever criminal trial of former president and current candidateace well. Tough for the defendant. Gripping, dramatic testimony from the woman of the center of the hush money plot. Of all of the witnesses she is the most famous with her encounter with trump. There was testimony and key days of testimony from witnesses who were in trumps orbit that can 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 and we can tell you as we recount why it was such a tough week for trump we know, according to the public remarks here, we are working off of the public evidence, we know we are near the end of this thing. We have two witnesses. The star witness Michael Cohen, he will begin on monday. One other witness and they will be able to rest as soon as the coming week. It is central to the das case. Testified under oath 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 he sounded like last time. Similarly legalbinding testimony under oath. So, we expect to hear a similar line from cohen when he takes the stand. They will rest it. If there is not an issue with the judge beyond their control they expect to have this thing done by thursday. There are, of course, steps, the jury gets to respond, closing arguments, if they get to make the case they are saying by thursday they believe they will have legally set out all of the evidence, all of the elements of the two crimes they say trump committed. It started with a bang. The clashing with the judge him getting caught violating the gag order. That meant even as it barrels forward, his da only has a few days left the judge had to tell him that he could face a Jail Sanction if it continue future violations could be punishable by incarceration. They make it clear. Follow the money, show the receipts. That is important as we mentioned. We will get into this with our experts as part of our commercial that the witnesses matter because they bring everything to life. They dont much without receipts. The da has damning ones, the checks you see, the signature from the defendant, the paperwork that shows it was not a random oneoff but 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 called actress Stormy Daniels to where she testified and told the jury where she understood she needed to be silenced. Stormy daniels came a Household Name for shaking. Stormy daniels at the center. Everyone wants to Stormy Daniels rivetting, bombshell, sometimes icky testimony. You wanted money . That phrase reported multiple times it borders on susan Necklace Shaming a sex worker i think it is his motivation on shame this woman. It is not working she was not going to let, you know, her story be mischaracterized. Daniels testified over two days. Her testimony was quite detailed at times graphic and as an observation there it can sound like an observation or an opinion when i say it was detailed and graphic that is what the judge had to control. At a legal level they had to determine what the judge felt was necessary for the evidence to support the das case. Remember, this is not an interview where you can jump around on different topics. The questions and topics are regulated. Testified that trump did not feel concerned when they had their initial encounter about it going public. That bolsters the das case that the only issue was the das Campaign Crime they say, not just a generalized you know, hush money. Daniels faced aggressive questioning from the attorney who we reported across the week tried to use stigmas or discredit her because of her job. Accusing daniels of extorting trump. Daniels replied false, that was an allegation in the form of a question. She raised the idea that she made it up. Not only did she deny but that would be a tough pill for the jury to swallow when they seen so much other cooberation. She had cooperation as he was willing to pay for her silence. Daniels said sharing her story negatively impacted her and a lot that supports that. It paved the way for other witnesses, some of them are not as exciting but they go to what we have to prove. Not just that it happened or the cover up but it was an intentional financial cover up that trump new about at the time. There was a bookkeeper from the company saying trump talked to weisselberg daily. That testimony backed up by another Staff Assistant who said on thursday that they remembered a couple times where there was a question about a check and trump would pick up the phone and call the now convicted cfo, she became emotional and tried on the stand. That was the second to have that emotion. Prepare she was a Cooperation Witness that gives you a 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 convicted Money Man Weisselberg testify himself that would be a big deal. Unexpected things could add time. If you add a witness and arrange him getting out of likers jail jail, he is in jail because of a related fraud case because the allegations of fraud evaded trump. That was the second time he has gone in, to jail, for things he did that were basically related to and arguably or allegedly at the request of his boss, trump. Trump lawyers looked visibly concerned at the suggestion in court that he come in. They seem to think that he is loyal but better off not heard from. Daybyday this trial can yield different things. The witness said he would sign things without reviewing them that goes to a clash among and across both witnesses and the da and defense arguments because, again, jurys job here is not to root for one side. Not hear the first thing they hear as gospel. You have to take it all not which lawyer got to finish or which witness went last. They have to unspool all of the claims. The Busy Out Of The Loop claim is a fair defense. One he is allowed to lodge. They have to look at all of the evidence, the hand signatures, the books, the bragging for how involved he is and that and talking about the payments in it all checks out or not. You heard me say this before. We were using a general standard like two sources in journalism, they would have trump dead to rights. Higher standard and deliberately so, not two sources or what you think is most likely or reasonable 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 cover today up, he did it with the Campaign Crime intent. Higher bar that is why we will be watching this next week as well as the Da Brings In Cohen and rests the case. The trial is barreling forward. Trumps efforts to delay this, unlike every other case he faces in this court they have been failing. We have two other guests wrapping up what is a bruising week. We are back together in just 90 seconds back together in just seconds its time. Yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. Everyday, more dog people are deciding its time to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmers dog. Made by vets and delivered right to your door precisely portioned for your dogs needs. Its an idea whose time has come. This is not what i want to be known for. I hid for awhile and it is is overwhemming and intimidating and downright scary a lot of times. Stormy daniels when she was speaking about this all of the way back in 2018. Now, this week, for the first time, people heard from her underneath this legally binding proceeding. They are joined by this attorney, joyce vance and the Law Professor and analyst for us as well. Professor murray, when you look at this week we are always looking for Inflection Points but it felt it barreled forward. For some ways all of the excitement for Michael Cohen next week if you were writing a Story Where The Da began to really congeal. If they are winning it might be from the combinations of the receipts in daniels this week before you get to cohen saying yes, what they said is true it is really an interesting kind of rhythm that the prosecution established this week. There is a lot of forward momentum. There are really kind moments where they have to corroborate the chain of custody. Again, really explosive testimony. I think people really are going to look back on the set of questions that Stormy Daniels judged. Both from the prosecution and Defense Lawyers susan necklace. A pattern here. But, the real star of this week, i have to say, was not any of these witnesses but, rather the document that they were there to elaborate. The documents were the stars. The documents do not lie. They establish the prosecutions story. The witnesses were all there to basically elaborate and give context and color for those documents and to give the jurors a story. Trials are Story Telling. And the prosecution using these documentary evidence, decided to tell a brood story and use these witnesses to make that story come to life. You know, something that anyone who served on a jury understands is that judges admonish jurors at the start of the trial that they must not dell iberate until all of the evidence is in until they are all in the room together. We are treating the case differently. We are assessing each witness as they testify and every piece of evidence as it comes in. Sometimes that leads us to over focus on one bit of the evidence or one facet of the case without seeing the Bigger Picture that the jury will have when they begin to dell iberate. To delliberate. They had one thing in mind throughout their entire release of the evidence, their goal is to Buck Cohen Reputation before he takes the stand. The tough part is knowing he knew, approved, participated wanted to use the false Business Records to conceal and aid in the commission of the crimes. Every step of the way they have executed that goal. Daniels comes across not just as a porn star the way she has been characterized many times in the media, she comes across as a mom, a real person with real interests and with an important life story. Someone who the jury may not approve of but they can listen to and ultimately believe. At the same time melisa nails it, it is the documents, the documents dont lie. They are in evidence now, they have Allen Weisselbergs writing on them. He may not testify. It does not 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 runses into that brick wall. Joe was trumps lawyer in the new york case until he left. When we did speak to him, asked about that. Defense said if it was money for the lawyer, defense, retainer, no fraud because it is true the problem is the money did not stay with the lawyer the money passed through the lawyer, went to Stormy Daniels t is not money for the lawyer, money for her, to add insult to injury from the legal perspective. Cfo going to jail and he writes down his plot on paper and says lets gross it up, lets lie, lets commit tax fraud. Here is the exchange with joe. Is Stormy Daniels a lawyer . I dont think her lawyer was a lawyer, either. Stormy daniels is not a lawyer. She is not a lawyer. These payments were made, they were, according to federal filings classified on the trump side as legal services. That was false, wasnt it . The payments were made to a lawyer not to Stormy Daniels. Joyce . Well, that is slicing it thinly there. Ultimately it does not work. In addition to the coding in the trump books where the payments to Michael Cohen are coded as legal fees and multiple witnesses say they were Reimbursement Payments to Stormy Daniels we know in this California Litigation where Stormy Daniels, she says she did not approve it but her lawyer sued trump for defamation, she loses the case and ordered to pay trumps legal fees and 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 the last witness. We dont know who that will be yet. But that is compelling evidence along with the trump tweet that there was discussion about this afternoon where he talks about well my lawyer was handling a private agreement. It all adds up to knowledge. It is all contrary to this defense that trump did not know and that these were just legal payments to Michael Cohen who went off as a free agent and decided to spend trumps money for him in maybe the slim hope that he would be reimbursed down the road. That story does not make sense and this jury will use their common sense when they deliberate. Right f that story does not make sense, that takes us to next week, professor, there might be questions and issues for Michael Cohen on cross. To believe the Trump Defense you would have to believe after Everything Cohen has been through, including prison, he is sticking to a new made up story perjuring himself again and pulling other people into it. It is a i hesitate to make a musical reference, just kidding, but it is a bit like near the end of the drake kendri ck, some of the things he bodies him he secretly planted he claims he planted things about himself so he can say it and say gotcha, it is false and i tricked you into attacking me. You dont need to know all of the details, people question if it is true. So i put all of that to you as well as, for evidence the other issue with cohen. The judge was moved and has not had to say t. I would direct the people to communicate to mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making anymore statements in this case. That certainly is not great. Your thoughts on any of the above . Reporter well, certainly a minor deviation mr. Michael cohen i know you would know that. I do. Reporter they got a lot of different out. We honestly, the bar is not held for Michael Cohen. If he even performs well, strings sentences together that are credible it will be a success. And, again the strategy here was to minimize the import of Michael Cohen by making the documents actually do the work of corroborating his story. I think they did a lot of work this week lining up the documents, providing context for the documents and also prebutting all of the claims that the defense will make about Michael Cohen and his credibility going forward. Again, when we watch Michael Cohen next week we might be surprised that he stands up. That is because the prosecution has done so much work airing out all of his dirty linen. You both soft of given us and anyone listening a lot more insight into why this is going down the way it is. Some of the negatives coming out and strategy to that as we gear up to what is likely the final four days of, or sorry, three, monday, tuesday, thursday. Because they have wednesday off. I will tell you please stay near your phones, camera set ups, stay hydrated we will call 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. We will hear testimony about that next week. When we do these specials we like to broaden out, we have interesting people tell us we are thrilled to tell you that an acclaimed long serving journalist that knows new york and trump inside and out. We dont always catch on the news is our special guest. But first, Michael Steele, stay with us r special guest. But first, Michael Steele, stay with us deep down, i knew something was wrong. Since my fatigue and lightheadedness would come and go, i figured it wasnt a big deal. Then i saw my doctor and found out i have afib, and that means theres about a 5 times greater risk of stroke. Symptoms like irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or Light Headedness can come and go. But if you have afib, the risk of stroke is always there. If you have one or more symptoms, get checked out. Holding off on seeing a doctor wont change whether or not you have afib. But if you do, making that appointment can help you get ahead of stroke risk. 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