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after saying repeatedly he wanted to testify. trump did, however, stop for the cameras before going into court earlier today. and here is what he said. we re resting the case. i won t be resting. i don t rest. i like to rest sometimes, but i don t get to rest. he won t be resting. the main witness, the defense did call, was robert costello. and he was back on the stand trying to undercut michael cohen s testimony earlier today, a day after being admonished and warned by the judge that his behavior was contemptuous. even though testimony in this case appears to be over, a huge decision is now looming. will jurors be allowed to consider lesser charges, misdemeanors against the former president? or will felony charges be their only option? the charging conference that will decide that question and potentially go a long way toward deciding how this case ends is just one hour away. i want to bring in msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin remaining outside the courthou ....
israel. two more hostages have been released. two older women we re told, the family of yohevid confirms that she has been let go. they confirmed this just a couple of minutes ago. lipsitd was one of the founders of the kibbutz. a peace activist who the paper says regularly transported patients from gaza for medical treatment in israel. she is somebody that s been talked about a lot in the news over the past two weeks. joining us now from tel aviv is nbc news correspondent hala gorani. a lot is up in the air. walk us through what we are able to report right now? reporter: we heard from the brigade spokesperson, the military ring of hamas, announcing the release of two hostages, a source briefed on the talks confirmed to me as well about ten minutes ago that these two hostages were released. they were chosen for release because they were elderly, without confirming the names of the hostages, but you mentioned elderly women. one of the families confirming their release. ....
specifically those stills of a c-span video that proves donald trump and keith schiller were together, which has just been introduced into the redirection from cohen. so far, todd blanche has landed multiple punches against cohen. including cohen s admission that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from the trump organization and the question about how many more witnesses were left and who might the defense call. those are big questions. vaughn hillyard is outside of the courthouse, along with andrew weissmann and catherine christian who are still with us as well. so, vaughn, it s the top of the hour. i will let you top us off. reporter: we re looking at the 3:00 p.m. eastern hour, and michael cohen is still on the stand, and there were questions of whether michael cohen when we started the day would be off the stand by lunch hour. that s not the case as there has been of course the back and forth over potential witnesses, the back and forth over the c-span cl ....
to those words and admit he has a financial stake in how donald trump s hush money trial plays out. tons of details and memorable moments in his testimony today including an admission cohen stole from the trump organization and that he paid one client with cash stuffed in a brown paper bag. just before the trial broke for the lunch break, the prosecution started its redirect by focusing on the stormy daniels payments and pushing back on the defense s suggestion they were correctly labeled as legal work cohen did for donald trump. the question now, did multiple days of cross-examination destroy cohen s credibility in the eyes of the jury, and could that help donald trump s defense get the former president off the hook, or do they believe him? do they believe hissy kwens? a key thing that was raised out of the earshot of the jury when they went to lunch, chris, this whole issue of the c-span clip that showed keith schiller and donald trump were on a stage in a rally w ....
and katy tur pick up our special coverage, next. our special coverage, next good day, i m andrea mitchell in new york along with my colleague, katy tur. the prosecution is quickly wrapping up its case in the first criminal trial of a former american president. the state is gets its chance now to repair any damage done by the testimony of its star witness. moments ago, the defense wrapped up with michael cohen after three days of cross-examination. it was a grueling three days. the big wild card is donald trump himself. will he live up to his promise to take the stand or put his defense team rest without presenting a single witness? dramatically demonstrating their argument that the state has failed to meet the burden of proof. judge merchan has set a new schedule this week guaranteeing the case will not go to the jury until after the long memorial day holiday weekend. he announced this morning that closing arguments will not take place until next tuesday he says b ....