Has happen thirddegree past week. The arguments in this historic criminal trial of donald trump. The first ever for a former president as you certainly know by now. Now this final week was a short one, but a lot actually happened. Michael cohen was back on the stand finishing his four days of testimony. And trumps lawyers began and ended their case. So we basically in one case saw the da and the defense team both rest. And, we saw the Defense Witnesses who at times stumbled. The defense wrapped up with Michael Cohen after three days of crossexamination. It was a grueling three days. The prosecution has rested its case. The defense has also called its first witness. Robert costello back on the stand. He was tossed from the witness box and his entire testimony was nearly stricken from the record. His whole attitude on the stand. The defense has rested its case after calling just two witnesses. But, donald trump did not testify in his own defense. Thats how it went down and it was action packed. Michael cohens cross raised some doubts about him as a witness and we covered that. We dont know how the jury will take it. But it was not smooth sailing. The man on the Stand Alleging Business Fraud by his own boss donald trump had to admit under oath that he himself stole from the trump organization. Return to the bottom line, they basically said were you too busy to get trumps approval on this payment and he confirmed no he is not. But it mattered and he says he got the confirmation and the prosecutors are going to try to continue to turn this jury both in the last week we saw it in their Closing Argument to look back at why we are hearing from cohen. Not because he is a model citizen, but he was the person trump picked to be involved in all this stuff and he was the key witness. The jury heard this very simple statement you have seen in any trial, fictional, law in order, or real. Quote, your honor, the people rest. That is the only time we think any prosecutors anywhere in this country will be able to answer that about defendant donald trump. This is the only trial scheduled to conclude by the election. The evidence they have supplied means the people, thats the Da Representing the people of new york say they have proven every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. But that is their case. Trumps lawyers got to stand up and start their counterargument. They call thirddegree one lawyer linked to cohen, you saw in the highlight reel we showed you. This is someone giuliani and trump have tried to use to discredit cohen. His name is robert costello. He faced a grand jury and had a tough go of it this week. I told you, it is not what you hoped happened, what side you like is winning or losing though everyone is free to have strong feelings in this case. But well tell you what is really happening and for costello, the Trump Defense witness, the key longest witness they used, it is a disaster. He was rebuked by the judge for antics on the stand. The judge found him arrogant and contemptuous. You dont give me side eye or roll your eyes. I am going to show you how the judge put it. This judge who i have been in the courtroom has been very fair throughout. Even measured, kind of mellow at times. He said this witness above all others was quote contemptuous. That is a specific legal term. It means you could be held in contempt. Though the judge did not try to jail him that day. Probably because it would become too much of a distraction. Legal experts said the Trump Defense lawyers would have been better offer not calling this troubled witness. They have completed their mission and dont need trump to testify. And he has every right not the testify. They call those two witnesses. That is compared to 20 by the da, a mismatch that is normal. That is routine. Because the da, the prosecutors have the burden of providing witnesses. The defense doesnt have to do anything. The jury was sent home. And the lawyers have been hashing out toward the end of the week, the Jury Instructions. Testimony now complete, jurors were sent home. And the final phase of the trial got underway. The crucial hearing started about the nature of the Jury Instructions. What will be the last words to the jury before the 12 Men And Women decide the fate of donald trump in the hush money coverup trial . The final showdown between the prosecution and the defense set to take place next tuesday. When both sides present their summations before the jury. These Jury Instructions matter a lot. They might matter more than Closing Arguments. The last thing the jury hears on the rules matters a lot. It comes from the judge. It has that authority. And the lawyers here are clashing about exactly what goes in those instructions and all of this will go to guide how this jury considers what trump knew and what he intended. I told you this as fair as i can. Part of the allegations here, part of the crimes have effectively been proven. By which i mean when you have the paperwork and it is lying and you have Donald Trumps signature on it, you have proven the basic element of the fraud that this stuff is not what he says it was. And you have cohen and the paperwork showing that. You had to have trumps intent on that and the second issue about this campaign trial. Jumps lawyers wanted to take all of that that i just referred to in simple form and try to make it more complex with a higher kind of burden than the law might require. At times, they were asking for Special Treatment and i told you, they have the right to make the requests. The judge has been through this rodeo before. And, he is in charge. Thats a ridiculous request. They did make some ground on. So issues but when they ask the judge to consider the extraordinary issue of the case, hey, the judge said im not going to change the law. You cant just say hey, this guy is important in some generalized sense. Remember, no one is above the law. Trump had also been seen dozing off in court throughout the course of this trial. Which is a contrast to how he was during the Jury Instruction arguments. Again, sometimes donald trump and politics and in court, he plays a more disengaged and more aloof person than he actually is. He is a reality show star, an actor. He can perk up and pay a lot of attention. There was no napping during the debate over the Jury Instructions. This defendant knows how important they are. Tuesday, the jury hears the Closing Arguments and the judges told the jurors they may have to stay late. Everyone can go rest up and all that. He is hopeing to have them all hear the arguments perhaps finish them on tuesday. And turn the deliberations. Hour by hour, we will know nothing about what they are doing. But the vote might be. Ask for evidence. Or announce their decision. We dont know how long the deliberations will take. We dont know which parts of the case will matter the most to the jury. There are some big things we think will matter. Stormy daniels testifying about something trump says is a big deal. Michael cohen, when he was attacked on. Does he tell the truth . Those are the things we could infer the jury will care about. But we dont know. And i say that not as an exercise, not as an observation but the actual humility of how it is supposed to work. It what happens inside among the jury members. A jury of your peers, thats all that matters in this courtroom in the week ahead. And we have two legal experts that know all about that and how important that process is. We will get into this in 90 seconds. To this in 90 seconds. Smile you found it. The feeling of Finding Psoriasis cant filter out the real you. 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Our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law. No amount of money or power changes that enduring american principle. Da alvin bragg speaking. That one and only time that he addressed this case in public. Announcing those charges that now have become the only criminal trial this year of defense and president ial candidate donald trump. We are now joined by Andrew Weissman and christy greenberg. I want to ask you to broaden out we are in this day by day andrew. But this is our special. When we look at the entire case, what do you think has been proven and what fairly is the most clear and convincing evidence that the da has been able to bring and what if any reasonable doubts do you think could still be there . I think something that gets lost is one of the things that has been established beyond any question at all. And frankly isnt much of a battleground in this trial. Is something that is pretty shocking. Which is david testimony that he had an agreement with donald trump. One to one. Principle to principle, that there was not just a catch and kill scheme, but there was also a scheme to intentionally defame opponents. And so you had a media outlet that many people may view as a down market. But one that was in cahoots with a political candidate. Just from a political perspective. Just to me, it should still be shocking and to the jurors it will be one of the reasons why they may care about this case. Because that sort of one of the intents that informs why this is a felony. I think the area where there is going to be the most. Ill go back to you. On part two. But on part one, where you said im going to jump in. Moderators privilege. You make such an important point i want to underscore it andrew. Which is you said down market. Supermarket. This tabloid matters a lot and i want to echo what you are saying because you talk about the evidence as a lawyer. It is not for us to say what is better for the new york or the atlantic or this tabloid. This was an extraordinary secret agreement. It was unfair to the voters obviously. It was also unfair to all of Donald Trumps republican primary candidates. Some of whom complained there was something going on, but it wasnt exposed then. So we think about the law as a search for truth. I appreciate what you are saying because the case has exposed more truth. Unfair to the voters and the republican primary candidates. And yes, unfair to the democrat and we know all the politics about that. You make a great point. I give you back the ball for a second point. And christy, same point to you. Christy is a really good trial lawyer also. Really quickly, i think the area where i think there will be sort of Pitch Battles is about what did donald trump know about the false Business Records . You know, you obviously have Michael Cohen. But i think that you will hear a lot about putting together pecker, hope hicks. And just how unlikely it would be that Michael Cohen, why they would keep it from donald trump. So i think you will hear that is the main battleground. Substantiatively, that will be the main issue. I agree. To the piece of this proving there was an agreement to unlawfully influence the election, there is just so much evidence from so many different how the whole meeting in August Of 2015 was set up. Direct conversations not just between donald trump, also hearing about the fact that even after the election, not just david pecker but hope hicks or both having donald trump say if either of these stories whether it is Karen Mcdougal or Stormy Daniels got out, it would have been damaging to the campaign and i dont see any way that you would describe why for Stormy Daniels they were delaying the payments if the purpose was just to prevent embarrassment to his family or to himself and not to the campaign. The timing doesnt add up. Otherwise, you just made the payment at any point. I think that point is very strong and a lot of witnesses corroborate it. I agree with andrew, the evidence that donald trump caused these false Business Records to be made, it doesnt have to be direct. But there wasnt evidence that donald trump was directing or requesting anybody to make the false Business Records. So, where do you get this evidence . You know, i think ultimately, there is going to be an argument. Look, he was kind of working in concert with different people. He understood that there was going to be a reimbursement to Michael Cohen and donald trump knew there would be a reimbursement as well. There is a very important document that donald trump signed saying that Michael Cohen was going to be reimbursed for expenses in 2016. There is now, the burden of proof is not on the defense but the defense presented no theory when it put forth its case as to what those expenses were. They were 250,000. So if it is not these checks that are the reimbursements, what are the other payments for . So again, i think the evidence comes together really well that donald trump in fact knew that these payments of 35,000 were for the reimbursements to get you that piece. And christy, do you ever binge watch the shows like ozark where you have to catch up on the story . Yeah . My question is how will the da take that approach that everyone remembers in the first 30 seconds of episode 15. They dont try to cover everything that happened but they quickly tell you, they tell you when they hid the gun and found the gun and this person got killed and now they found the drugs. What will the prosecution in your view do . If they do it well, you have a lot of experience. It was 20 in total. How are they going to catch everything up . I think Michael Cohen being the prosecutions last witness, he really laid out the story and so i would use his testimony to lay it out again and continue to corroborate. You also heard, for example, the delaying of the payment to Stormy Daniels. Why did that happen . You heard from Michael Cohen why that happened because donald trump didnt want to make the payment until after the election. But you heard that from keith davidson. He understood the same thing to be true. And you saw in fact the emails about all the excuses Michael Cohen came up with. Kind of weave through all the evidence. Use michael to hen to tell the story. And use all the ways he has corroborated along the way as you take the jury through that narrative. Andrew . I do think you use a time line and you can use a power point or a physical chart. To try to create the timing here is so good for the government as christy said. And you sort of create this time line and you layer it with things that are hard evidence. Phone records. Emails. Things that cannot be disputed. That checks the signatures. Then you layer into that time line the things that are softer. There is no way to challenge her testimony. The jury is going to accept that. And so, either all these different pieces, the one thing i might do slightly differently than christy but im not sure, it will be interesting to see what happens. I might present everything and then focus on Michael Cohen. Talk about how strong the case is. Before you even get to him. And he is sort of icing. Because the defense i think is going to want to say he is indispensable to finding a conviction and the state will want to say he is not. He is additional. Yes, he is credible, and you know he is. But you will hear so much of the defense saying the prosecution has to have you rely on him and he is incredible. And obviously, christy is right. They will be shoring him up with all sorts of corroboration. Which he is. Some of the best corroboration for Michael Cohen. I think that is a fair point. The other big thing before i lose you both, something we havent heard about yet. First, yes or no. And we could talk about it. Yes or no, do we think we will hear the defense. The Trump Lawyers on tuesday say where is Alan Weisselberg . Yes or no, andrew . Yes. They will say that. I want to get both of you. I think they will try that. Both of your explanations and i dont do predictions. But i think it is reasonably likely they will hit that which will be an interesting piece. This is the phantom incarcerated for the second time. Trump cfo. If you are thinking about working for the trump organization, you should know their cfo has been to jail twice the last couple of years but for the jury, first andrew and then christy. So it is a very tricky. You are allowed to say the following which is the defense doesnt have to do anything. They can sit back. But they did choose to put on a case. They do have subpoena power. They do have the ability to put forth witnesses. And if they thought those people would be helpful, they had the right. Not an obligation, but they had the right to call them and frankly, Alan Weissman and keith schillar, the big missing witnesses are people very much aligned with th