Of this has just been one where there have been more vacuums created than information to fill those vacuums. Whether thats how the Democratic Party from the political arm sort of does the political narrative. Its because the republicans have been very good and very consistent about that, right . So they have made, they have stood by and defended their guy regardless and now theyve got the message they all need to show up. So what are they doing . Showing up. How are we reporting that . As if this is something oh, very important, transfixed, transactional certainly, but a transition for donald trump. No. Its part of the political narrative. Its part of the fact that yeah, were trying to create a different image here than the one of the man sitting in the courtroom by himself because his familys not there. So were going to give him his political family. And theyre all starting to line up. So all im just saying is how all this comes together does matter in how the voters in may are looking at this. It will be a very different conversation you and i will be having in august after the conventions and after much more head to head engagement between the two nominees for the presidency. Thats all im saying at this point. And michael steele, its also a situation where the white house did an event today on tariffs against china, for better for worse. That is drowned out because most people are, assuming the media, social media and cable and broadcast mostly covering this trial. Its a challenge for them as well. Thanks to you. Thanks very much, michael steele, from our Republican National chairman and to all of our guests. That does it for me. Ill be back tomorrow at 12 00 eastern here on msnbc. Dont go anywhere. Moments from now, the crossexamination begins for Michael Cohen. My colleagues, Chris Jansing and katy tur continue our special coverage of the donald trump Hush Money Trial coming up next. P Hush Money Trial coming up next. ella fashion moves fast. Setting trends is our business. We need to scale with customer demand. In real time. jen so we partner with verizon. Their solution for us . A private 5g network. ella we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. marquis with a custom private 5g network. Our customers get what they want, when they want it. jen now were even smarter and ready for whats next. vo achieve enterprise intelligence. Its your vision, its your verizon. This is davids look of joy. And this is his john deere z530m mower. That delivers precision, speed, comfort, and a feeling we couldnt possibly put into words. You just have to get in the seat. Liberty mutual customized my Car Insurance and i saved hundreds. Thats great. I know, ive bee telling everyone. Baby liberty. Oh baby liberty. How many people did you tell . Only pay for what you need. Jingle liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Baby liberty. And theyre all coming . Jingle liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Those who are still with us, yes. Grandpa whats this . Your wings. Light em up gentlemen, its a beautiful. Day to fly. Prosecutors, weve watched it all day long. Theyve tried to get ahead of Donald Trumps defense team by having cohen own up to his past lives and there are many. He told the jury today he was worried, nervous, looking for some kind of reassurance that donald trump still had his back once he became the target of a criminal investigation. But that his family were the ones who ultimately convinced him that his loyalty to trump wasnt worth it. That they should be loyal to them, his family. Not trump. Yasmin and andrew are still with us. Also joining the conversation, msnbc legal analyst and former manhattan assistant District Attorney, catherine christian. And Criminal Defense Attorney and former prosecutor and senior staffer in the manhattan d. A. s office, duncan levin. Im going to give you the first swing at the bat. Weve watched cohens testimony. Followed along today. The defense is going to get their first crack at him today. What will you be watching for . If he continues to be as composed as he was on the direct. This is a Michael Cohen we didnt really know from the Public Record so far. He was so composed and answered the questions in a very measured kind of way. Were going to see if they can get under his skin. Thats what theyre going to be trying to do all day with with the crossexamination. Theyre going to be trying to portray him as a liar. As somebody whos really trying to pin this on trump now. That this was something that donald trump had nothing to do with. That he and Allen Weisselberg were acting on their own. They had weisselbergs handwriting all over this. Literally. All over the Bank Statements and numbers. Theres not much they can do with it. Admit what they cant deny. Theyre going to be trying to get under Michael Cohens skin all day, showing him to be the liar that he is. That they tried to get out on the direct. The prosecutors did a good job of deflating some of that. Told us yesterday in prepping Michael Cohen for his congressional testimony, he would yell at him the way he expected republicans to yell at him. Do you expect hoffinger, spend a year prepping him for this. Yes, shes spent 20 years as a defense attorney. Longer than shes been a prosecutor so im sure she beat him up a little bit and took care of him. The one thing, sorry, susan, i would have leaned more into his hatred for trump. He talked about a moral compass but hes been acting a fool on tiktok and wearing tshirts. Theres nothing wrong with saying yes, i hate him, he ruined my life. Stormy daniels did that, too, and given the story they told and their relationship with donald trump and both believe he ruined their lives it would have been natural. Of course i hate him. Look what he did to me. It wasnt really an Attorney Client relationship. He was in many ways sorry, Michael Cohen, a lap dog for donald trump. He tried to please him then donald trump just tossed him away. So of course, he hates him. So i thought a little meaning into that, but other than that, i thought it was a very good direct. How do you get someone, andrew, under their skin. How do you prepare to do that . Has he watched every interview that cohen has ever done . Do you look over and over and over again at the congressional testimony . Do you just hammer . You can try to get under his skin but theres enough video of him to play to the jury of what he was like when he was working for donald trump. There are enough inconsistent statements including from like you know, essentially a new york minute ago as catherine has pointed out, of his saying all sorts of derogatory things about donald trump. So you can show the jury a very different side even if Michael Cohen doesnt show it himself. At the end of the day, this is all theatre. The closing is going to be did Michael Cohen and Allen Weisselberg keep this from donald trump . Pause there is dispositive evidence thats just not really plausible to think Michael Cohen and weisselberg did not do this. Michael cohen is saying he did this. Hes saying im bad. I did this. Theres tons of corroboration he did this. Weisselberg is on notes showing that he knew about this. So the issue is would they do this behiepd Donald Trumps back and thats where i think the state is going to flip the script on this, youre saying how awful and hes not somebody who is going to be doing something out of the goodness of his heart. That hes motivated by selfinterest. It would not make any sense for weisselberg and cohen to have done this behind Donald Trumps back. They would have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Donald trump just walked back into the courtroom joined by his son, eric. His wife, lara. Cochair of the rnc. Boris epstein is there. Haba is there. Who im not saying are the senators or the Speaker Mike Johnson or want to be vp Running Mates we saw today. They seem to have got their fill in the morning session of the court. Not sticking around, it seems, unless they come in a bit later for the crossexamination. We will wait and see to confirm that. One of the questions we had, we talked about this before break, during the break. Ending with Michael Cohen. Good idea, bad idea, risky . Im fascinating because you have a good panel of folks. I think its risky. Its not how i would end a case because you just dont know how crossexamination is going to go. We dont have the exact transcript, is there any wiggle room in the way this was represented to judge merchan in that it was the last witness. Its our intent that this will be our last witness. Steinglass told Merchan That Cohen will be the last. Its a partial transcript. It could have said we expect or perhaps. No, he didnt. He said Michael Cohen will be the final prosecution witness. Can they change their mind depending on it does suggest to me they think hes doing well. The way they presented him is, its almost like a mini summation. They wrapped all of the corroboration around his testimony, which you dont really have to do. There are other ways to have presented him. So it was sort of what a preview of kind of what youre going to hear in summation and talking about all the corroboration. This is such an experienced team that i hate to second guess it because i dont know all of the other choices they have. Its not typical to end with that witness. Normally, you have a sort of easy witness to presents documents. Things that are really cant be challenged. The documents dont lie. We want to squeeze in a break before we start this crossexamination, but i want to give you both a quick opportunity. Would you have ended with Michael Cohen . Does it make sense to you . I agree with andrew. I said to duncan, i thought they were going to call an expert in federal election law. So the jurys just supposed to figure it out on their own . Federal or state elections violation. I still think you need something for the jury so theyre not sitting back there saying what is that other crime he intended to commit or conceal . They talked about him pleading to federal. They didnt explain what it was, just that it was illegal. They made a strategic choice. Theyve said that the new york election day to promote election by unlawful means, that would be the crime earlier on merchan is back on the bench. He calls for the witness two minutes early so thats going to come in. The defense is going to make a big deal about all the witnesses we didnt hear from. Didnt hear from karen mcdougal, weisselberg. There are two ways you could call Michael Cohen. The First Narrater whos going to bring it forward. I think the question is who else were they going to call . I dont disagree. They need to supply something to the jury on this elections issue, but hes a good person to wrap it all up almost like a mini closing argument. And now were going to hear what todd blanche has to say. A source with knowledge of the situation is telling nbc news blanche has preparing for this cross for months. What does that look like . What does that preparation look like . The preparation is such a huge record. Michael cohen is an uncontrollable witness for the d. A. s office. Hes not a typical witness in a typical case the d. A. Says to a witness, keep your mouth shut and youll be heard at trial and dont say anything. This is a witness who like Stormy Daniels has been on podcasts. Hes been writing books. Hes been writing blogs. He is out there. He has congressional testimony. Theres a huge, rich collection of things they can cross examine him on. He has gone to jail. They are poring through not only the criminal record, they are really trying to get under his skin with facts and his background and they have a lot to work with. We want to take a quick break. Dont go anywhere. A quick break. Dont go anywhere. Its never a good time for migraine, especially when im on camera. Thats why my goto is nurtec odt. For the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of Episodic Migraine in adults. Its the only migraine medication that helps treat prevent, all in one. Dont take if allergic to nurtec odt. Allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. 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Seek help for fever, stiff muscles, problems thinking, or sweating. Common side effects include inflammation of the nose and throat, insomnia and sleepiness. As you go with austedo ask your doctor for austedo xr. Austedo xr ella fashion moves fast. Setting trends is our business. We need to scale with customer demand. In real time. jen so we partner with verizon. Their solution for us . A private 5g network. ella we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. marquis with a custom private 5g network. Our customers get what they want, when they want it. jen now were even smarter and ready for whats next. vo achieve enterprise intelligence. Its your vision, its your verizon. Mr. Cohen, my name is todd blanche and i have never met you. You went on tiktok and called me a crying little s word. We cant say it. Cohen says sounds like something i would say. Objection from the prosecution sustained from judge merchan. And theres a Bench Meeting already. Question stricken. I dont believe there was an answer, merchan says. Blanche is coming in hot. This is an interesting strategy. Yeah. Tell us about the strategy as we watch this update. It seems like a few good men a little bit. You ordered the code red, didnt you. Like hes there trying right out of the gate to get under his skin. Thats what they have to do. Look how composed. Cohen has got to be one of the most prepped witnesses ever. Hes been working at that direct. He was like a choir boy. Very polite, concise. Answer any question. They know theyve got to get under his skin today and they are out of the gate doing it. I dont know whether its going to work or not work. Whether he knows that he has to stay composed, but it is a very personal line of attack. And it puts the lawyer at play and its just a very risky strategy with, right out of the gate. In that line from few good men, you cant handle the truth. I thought he might come in, you cant tell the truth. After we did that Bench Meeting, todd blanche asks, you have been following whats happening. Whats happening in this trial, correct. To some extent, cohen says. Yes. Jury selection. Did you learn about the jury Selection Process . Cohen, ive made comments about, not asking if youve made comments. Asking if youve learned about jury selection. On april 23rd, you said you heard what the witness had testified about. There was an objection. Its overruled. You can answer. Michael cohen, its possible. Yes. On tiktok when pecker was on the stand, he was corroborated because you heard from the people . Yes, someone called me that pecker had corroborated what i had been saying for a long time. Wheres this going . By the way, heres color from vaughn. When blanche said you know, you called me a blank on tiktok, vaughn says two of the jurors seated next to each other gave grins and both sides were called up for a side bar. So i dont know what the grins were about, but it was definitely reaction from the jury. What do you think . Im not a fan of the choice that was made to open that way. I think Defense Lawyers have, its an honorable thing to be a criminal Defense Lawyer. Its an important role. In our system. Its important to hold the state to its burden. It struck me as one, entirely too personal for the Defense Lawyer to inject himself into the case and his credibility and demeanor. You dont want to start crossexamination with something the judge is going to sustain an objection to and side bar, i dont think thats a good look. Here, theres so much to wo