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represented several senior executive branch officials with investigations from the office of government ethics military officers are only allowed to accept gifts up to $20. nypd cops, they get written up if they take a free cup of coffee yeah there are there are rules in place for federal judges that limit the gift that they can get. it $50. but it specifically exempts the supreme court in the states. it can be even worse. i once had a state supreme court justice that i was in front of the during the case had a third party come to me and asked for a campaign contribution for that, judge. any type of thing where they're taking these large gifts. it's an appearance of impropriety is something that does in my opinion it degrades the image of impartiality and i think that i agree with ellie, this is something that the congress should act and try and put in some reasonable regulations on elie we talked about the bianna
most known people in the world who obviously has a public background and factions who will development of a career in the public eye, not just as president, but even long before that in new york state, that there really is all that much that a judge would learn from any of those who took the time. and we're asked to write on his behalf but i've seen in many cases where even in situations where the facts are already known to the judge, someone who speaks from the heart about the merits the personal characteristics of the defendant, and the content of that. defendant's character to be meaningful, whether it comes from a family member or a colleague friend, a business associate, who knows what else. >> and i imagine that todd blanche will be looking for. >> those types of speakers who can communicate in writing. i don't think it's helpful to have a whole lot of them, but
gonna make any specific comparisons between these justices, but i agree if there's a case from bianna, say up at the supreme court? yes. that's that is something that will be an appearance of a conflict it'd be easier if congress simply putting a limit so that there are no gifts at all that you don't have to deal with that to begin with. hold the justices to the same standard that we hold every military officer that they can't take any type of gifts like this, every other executive branch employee, every congressional staffer why every judge from the lower courts, district and circuit courts. i don't see why the supreme court should be any different yeah. i mean, it's really flexing that 2.4 million is an eye-popping number. i mean, it's really extraordinary, but especially when compared to the other justices just the chief justice john roberts. i mean, he it has a role here why won't he take
>> i don't know if it explains the clearing of the courtroom and how dramatic it was to be in the room when the judge was so fired up. i thought he was going to throw him behind bars. so bob costello gets on the stand, and right away he is combative, he was aggressive, he is rolling his eyes. he's muttering audibly. >> could you hear it? >> i am in the courtroom lighting up the chat like, guys, this is going off the rails fast, okay? we had a sense it was going south. but i didn't know it was going to go as south as it did. >> when you're there, you're also communicating to your colleagues. >> we sort of have a bizarre pony express situation now where we're allowed to use some electronics. we can't use our phones, because there's a concern somebody's going to mess up and tape it, but we can use our laptops. we can send messages, but we can't use our phones. so in the chat we're all sending color about the courtroom about
fellow new yorker, i beg you, find somebody else who's not more new york than judge juan merchan. he is what a lot of new yorkers are. and i think that's an interesting theme when you think about donald trump having a jury of his peers in this trial but having a man like judge merchan who's overseeing just the personalities, right, and having to be able to manage that. he's done a fantastic job. i think it's not good we haven't been able to see that in terms of on video and on audio. >> i love your response, because donald trump has attacked this judge. it's not the first time he's attacked judges because of, as donald trump say, he's unfair because of where he comes from. that's a quote. we all know what that means. and your answer tells us exactly where this judge came from. and you know, there will be controversy on this trial with one side or the other in every trial. one side is disappointed or not as to what happened. and the fact that we were all there inside the court, i think
he wrote it long before the war on warriorg befo wars but s, bud on his wisdom in writing this book as well. matthew, thank you so much . >> thanks, pete. you got it. >>t. th >> we move on now to a fox newse alert. trump's lawyers and the prosecution justrt. receivedm th a letter from judge merchan alerting them to a post on facebook made before the verdict came out saying, quot te, my cousin is a juror and says trump is getting convicted. >> thank you, folks, for all your hard work, for exclamation points . the entire post, including the comment, has since been deletethe enng td. fox has not confirmed the commenters identity. we just know the judge sent out a letter. we don't know if this guy was d actually the cousin of of a jur a juror. >> this could easily be a prano. . trump's team told fox they are looking into it. trumy their investigating it. and we will have more forhave m you on mondaory. don't want to get ahead of our skis. hunter biden's daughter goes under oathghte.
said that he wanted the grand jurors to hear from and i thought well okay, that's a really stupid move because it's never going to stop the grand jury from indicting and you just revealed something to the prosecution and you know, as a defense lawyer, one of the things you have, sometimes almost the only thing you have, is surprise, so here it was flopped out to the prosecution a year ago, so obviously the record here does give some flavor to bob costello. >> a little bit. i don't know if it explains the clearing of the courtroom and how dramatic it was to be in the room when the judge was so fired up i thought he was going to throw him behind bars, so bob castillo gets on the standard right away he is combative, aggressive, rolling his eyes, muttering audibly. i am in the courtroom lighting up the chat line. guys, this is going off the rails fast. we had a sense it was going south, but i didn't know it was going to go south as it did.
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they can roll anybody. i'm struck by the fact that sam alito excuses away his insurrectionist flags by pointing at his wife and pointing out a dispute where the timetable doesn't check out. this is a judge in the court of law. they know how to make a sound argument in their own defense and they are not even trying to explain away millions of dollars in gifts he never accounted for. >> i think in some sense, this is the disspiritting part, it is because we have trained them with our own complacency about this. we have signaled time and time again that this seems kind of bad. but oh well. you know. they're the monarchs and we're the serfs so we tolerate it. once the court overturns roe on the most bogus premise and does so suffering years of precedent without explaining, once it does away with centuries of
and what was it like to witness the showdown between cohen and trump's defense lawyers during what turned out to be just a brutal cross examination. let's go back inside the courtroom with our msnbc and nbc colleagues. >> the jury has been waiting for this moment as long as we have. it's highly anticipated. they've come face to face before in the civil fraud trial, but this is criminal. this is different. and he is the only one who can tie donald trump directly to this crime. he is the lynch pin of the prosecutor's case and he's given up the goods. he's put him from trump tower the oval office in a way that nobody else can. >> there's a few moments that really stood out. the fist moment when trump's lawyer, todd blanche, gets up and asks cohen did you call me a little crying [ bleep ] or whatever it was, and the judge immediately instructs them to approach as the d.a.'s office raises an objection.