a very important case. i mean, maybe i've missed it. have you seen democrats out there talking about how important this is? i haven't i have not. >> so jeff zeleny would be the expert on this, but it seems to me that the biden white house and campaign is concerned about getting too into this, right? >> well, i get why they're not, but where are the but maybe they have said to their surrogates this really isn't going to help us just stay away from it until we see what if the more partisan democrats out there then democratic senator, just a few blocks from there, who's also beginning of trial today. so i don't think they want to talk about the whole law and justice that's a key, that's a key point though you don't hear the republican saying senator menendez, are congressman cuellar are being politically prosecuted by the biden administration. do you you don't hear that? i grew up in america. that's long forgotten or at least for the last five years forgotten, where politicians didn't talk about trials when they were ongoing. got your mouth and let the process play, gives me for reminding. i'm reticent to

pronounce a verdict about donald trump or to get on a political is a trout guy that i got interrupted. >> sorry, a courtroom break after michael cohen testified this morning the donald trump told him, take care of it. the it were claims being made by adult film star and director stormy daniels calling add it, cohen adding quote, this was all about the campaign get cnn special live coverage continues with markup today with us welcome to cnn special coverage of former president trump's hush money criminal trial. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. laura coates is outside court in new york. today, trump's former for fixer and lawyer michael cohen has taken the stand so far. the prosecution's star witness has testified about his work for trump zeroing in on two instances where he worked with the national enquirer's david

pecker to catch and kill negative stories about trump and that includes a false allegation from trump's former doorman about trump supposedly having fathered a love child. cohen testified, i'm quoting him now. trump told me to make sure that the story doesn't get out. you handle it. close quote laura over to you that's right. >> i mean, cohen also, we're kinda telling trump about former playboy model karen mcdougal shopping her story and a month long sequence get a fair. he also testified that trump told him to quote, make sure it doesn't get released. and just before court took a break prosecutors began questioning cohen about what is at the very heart of this case, the $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress stormy daniels, and the alleged disguised reimbursement with be a cnn legal analyst, if fares corresponded, the chief paula reid and cnn correspondent kristin it's an homes is also here. ladies, i guess actually got out of the courtroom and let me tell you, it was a kind of a surreal moment to see michael cohen inside this

courtroom with donald trump obviously, people have been anticipating that this is the star witness we've heard so much about him. but what struck me immediately was just how deferential he still seemed in the sense that he acknowledged it being an honor. he said we asked to work for him. he talked about his on top of the world when there was praised that was given from donald trump. >> and he was so paste in a way that he did not interrupt the prosecutor he was hoping to every question answered it directly. >> he was really, really prepared to have this moment. >> but i think that one of the most important things to remember about michael cohen is this kind of really unbalanced? let's relationship that he had with the former president. this idea that he really worship ten and some sort of ways. they never went back to his other job afterwards. you just had somebody from trump organism the station, pack up his stuff and then he was so thrilled to work for the former president. and this is really what you see a lot with the former president you, there's a lot of

questioning out there throughout the country of how these people stay with donald trump, given all of the potential legal hurdles they might eventually face. and this is because he somehow has a ability to bring people in to where they feel happy and they get some sort of praise by i'm looking for the ultimate kind of scrap of acknowledgment and that's really what you saw from michael cohen, the part of that also is the fact that he has to say that because we have already heard it from other witnesses. remember, all these other witnesses tests? two, five to the fact that michael cohen they were telling donald trump he would jump in front of a bus for you. you take a bullet for you. so part of that is also the prosecution has to remember, remind everyone that that's true. michael cohen did feel that way at one point and yet important part to thinking about from the prosecution's perspective is he's also been somebody who will scribe is very biased against trump right? >> having a vendetta again since i haven't his demeanor and said display some level of fond memories, his voice almost 20 african child when he would talk about that phrase that he was looking in wanted but there was a moment, paula,

everyone's wondering, waiting to hear about up till now, we've only ever heard about the intimations that trump would make. the word instruct has not come out told directed commanded none of these things come up. but then today, they began to come into the testimony about what michael cohen said. trump had them do. >> yeah. this is a really interesting place to stop right? that's intermission and i think things are going to get a lot more intense as we go into the afternoon because we're now getting into the heart of what is alleged here, right? this alleged conspiracy dorsey to falsify business records and michael cohen is the only one who can testify to trump's direct involvement because the only other person who could do it is allen weisselberg. he's in rikers, he's not going to be called so so far, i don't know if you've got this impression being inside court, but so far this seems to be the easy part of cohen's assignment. he's going through things because if people have already testified to michael cohen has already said publicly, now, it's going to get tricky because now they're getting into the heart of the criminal allegations. what did trump? direct you to

do vis-a-vis this hush money payment? how involved was he and in terms of falsifying these business records, getting him repaid, what were their conversations? one truck once trump was in the white house in 2017 because that is something so far, no one has been able to directly testify to. it's going to be huge. this afternoon. really, this is going to make or break the prosecution's case. you know, kara scannell just left the courtroom as well and qarrah, i want to bring you in here because paul is ripe. i mean, if this was the easy part as a day, when you talk about your bio and whether you are married and your resume and all those things that your memory up till now? well, now only will the cross-examination, if that occurs today? but also will be something that you'll think about how he will respond, what will his demeanor be like? you had a front row seat. i've got to understand from you what was the former president? and in doing when michael cohen would come into the room? what was his body language selling you well, michael cohen is on the stand, say, all morning and his

demeanor has been very measured, very even. >> he's mostly been looking at the prosecutor when he's answering these questions, you only looked over at donald trump when he was asking to identify him otherwise, he has been very focused on the prosecutor speaking very slowly, very in control of the message and the story that he is testifying to donald trump during his testimony for the most part has been leaning back in his chair, sitting back with his eyes closed at times when text messages were up on the screen, we saw donald trump lean-in to read some of them. and when michael cohen had testified about melania, because one of the questions that he was asked was about making this payment the access hollywood tape, the news of the storming of daniel story stormy daniels story about to become public. and cohen, it's said that trump didn't care what this meant for millennia it was focused on the campaign and trump had made a face kind of reacting to that, that is consistently the types of things we've seen him have more reflects so reactions to during this trial, he had it

then, but for the most part, he has been occasionally passing a note to his lawyer, but really sitting back of with his eyes closed dublin question that everyone is kind of joking about. it is meditating. how is he able to be so in control of himself while this testimony has been taking place throughout this trial. but with cohen and trump on the stand, there has not been a moment where it looks like they've made any eye contact cohen entering and leaving the courtroom has kept his face forward, his eyes looking a little bit around him, but not an all looking the direction of donald trump and trump when cohen is entering has often been talking to his attorney, someone's passing notes to them. so we haven't seen him lock eyes with michael cohen. right now. the mood in the courtroom is pretty calm. i mean, there were there's a lot of expectation that may be cohen would be more bombastic and his testimony, he has been very measured so far and has trump's reaction up until this? zero as we're getting now into the mechanics of this $130,000 payment and some of

the testimony that would be the most damaging to trump and most helpful to the prosecution's case because cohen is talking about how trump wanted him to delay making this payment until after the election, saying that if you drag it out but as long as possible, and if i when it's not relevant, if i lose, then i don't even care, but he wanted this payment either to be made to keep the story silent, or to drag it out he didn't have to make the payment at all and we're just getting to this point of tension here, getting into this book, cohen has already said several times, that donald trump was doing this for his campaign not assembly, which is what the prosecution has to prove in this case not only that it was falsified business records, but that trump was doing it to commit or conceal another crime which they say is related to the election. laura and qarrah it struck me as well to think about just how measured he was in terms of who's responsible he wouldn't interject you only answered the questions he was asked. >> you compare that to say a fermi daniel's, another blockbuster witness. we had

many objections trying to control the witnesses. she wouldn't meander in some ways, go down rabbit holes. that was not the case here, but you're absolutely right. we're getting right into the meat of the matter now of whether or not it's just him suggesting or whether as the skies very beginning, kara right. >> his job was to report to donald trump and his job was to ensure that his conference were first and foremost, no one else it'd be very, very foreshadowing down the line right right. i mean, what we've heard cohen say and that's why prosecutors had them begin by talking about the early today's working at the trump organization and cohen testified that he was kind of like a puppy running right back to donald trump's office to tell him what work he had done so that he could get credit for certain things that he did, and that was laying this pattern in place for the jury as now, michael cohen telling the jury that he was executing donald trump's orders, that he told me knew that donald trump wanted this taking care of, that he was taking care of it. and just this last bit at the end, again, they're showing an

email between cohen and keith david it's announced stormy daniels, attorney asking cohen, where is this payments giving a deadline for it and cohen telling the jury that he was dragging it out. he said i was following orders that's what i was doing. so trying to make clear during his testimony that he wasn't making any of these decisions on his own, but he was doing this after speaking with donald trump. and because he knew who that is what donald trump wanted him to do kara, thank you so much, paulo, chris and say with me, wolf, it strikes everyone that we've heard a lot of this before. >> why? because chronologically , we've seen other witnesses already by trusted credibility of michael cohen, by testifying before him back to you thank you, laura, the drama continues clearly want to bring in our panel of experts to assess what is going on. >> and elie, let me start with you. do you think cohen has done a good job so far? a bad job. how's he doing? well off so far so good from prosecutor's perspective, and that's all you can ask for at this point. >> and i based on a couple of

things. one, i think that michael cohen's testimony has been quite clear, even following it along with the updates from in-court, laura just said the same jurors can understand where he's going. number two, he has given various accounts of this in various forms in the past congressional testimony and testimony, he's given to investigators, and there's no obvious inconsistency yet at this point, no major inconsistency. and three, and this is a classic prosecutorial tactic. they're backing him up with texts, with checks, with documents, with recordings at every possible turn. now the real test, of course, will come on cross-examination and to that end, i think where they're going to attack michael cohen is say fine. no quiet, nobody questions. you had a series of texts with keith davidson. nobody questions. got a phone call with pecker but the key part of michael cohen's testimony, i was keeping donald trump informed that largely rides and falls solely on michael cohen's words. so i think that's where they're going to focus on the cross. very interesting elliott when he was asked whether trump expressed any concern about all

the negative stories on his personal life that potentially could affect his candidacy. this is what cohen said and i'm quoting him now. you know that when this comes out, meaning announcement, just be prepared, there's going to be a lot of women coming forward what do you make it that i make the fact that they're aware that this was a concern that the trump organization and the former president had. >> now, again whether there were other women number one, isn't really going to come up at trial. they're not going to be able to establish evidence that there were additional affair first it's not good for information like that to come in front of the jury because they are hearing all of this and they are drawing their conclusions about the defendant in these witnesses this isn't so on now, to ellie's points so far, michael cohen has been quite credible, at least in terms of what the prosecutors needed him to do up until this point. now, the rubber meets the road in the next portion of his testimony in that in

cross-examination in the next portion of his testimony, that's where it comes in. really happened with respect to stormy daniel's how the scheme was structured, what donald trump's intention was with respect to the payments and so on. and then was there can he provide any evidence of efforts to falsify business records? but that the aside about other women it's not helpful at all to the defendant, but doesn't really change. >> gloria. so for during the testimony this morning trump has largely had no reaction, at least visible reaction he's leaned back in his chair, closes his eyes sometimes. what do you make of trump's demeanor in court, at least so far today? >> well, i think he's been told not to react in any visible way to michael cohen? i think that he probably wants to run up there and ring his neck, but he's not going to he's not gonna do it. and i think in the same way that michael cohen is

very sort of subdued. today. he was told to act like that because in real life, if these two guys got together, i guarantee you it wouldn't be quiet. it would be it would be loud. >> the most remarkable thing to me though, was when michael cohen according to michael had a conversation with donald trump in which she asked about melania. >> how do you think melania's going to react to this? and donald trump's response, i'm still trying to get over it was how long do you think i'll be on the market? for which means if she were to leave me, i'm a hot commodity. i'm i'm a hot ticket here. that doesn't seem to me to give away any real concern. the donald trump had about whether melania heard about this or not? now again, it came from michael cohen. i'm sure it will be challenged, but it was quite a

striking comment. >> but that's something that has nothing to do with the heart of the matter except of course, the jury can. that's very personal thing. so i'm anxious to see if that's followed up. in cross-examinati on of our i mean, like la was saying, i mean without question most trials, but in this one particularly the most interesting is cross-examinatio n, not directing had to do with the heart the trial which is did they do this for the campaign and not melania that does go to the heart of the trust me, that's the most interesting thing he said this morning as well. michael cohen said that the candidate trump at the time candidate trump was worried about the impact on female voters. he was worried about the impact that the fallout of this would have on his election. so that is now we're getting to the heart of the matter here. again, we'll see what we here this afternoon and particularly on cross, when we come back, i'm gonna get to some new polling numbers that are just out today and we'll see what is happening on that front. everybody stick around a lot more coming up. court is on a quick break for lunch right

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with carbonic. >> today i'm on rajiv and capitol hill. this is sienna welcome back to our special breaking news coverage of the hush money criminal trial of former president donald trump. >> now court is in a break for lunch and duda resume about 40 minutes. i'm doing now by cnn's abby phillip, you were in court all morning today? hey, first of all, we were both there thinking this is going to be quite the moment, abby, we've all been waiting for him

to come testify. what would it be like when he finally came front to front face-to-face with donald trump, tell me what you felt inside the courtroom. >> yeah. i mean, michael cohen was very measured. he was really careful. i mean, remember he is actually technically an attorney even though what he was doing in this case was not necessarily legal work and you could tell that he was really trying to practice restraint brain answering questions carefully, yes or no answers. there were only a couple of moments when donald trump reacted and it wasn't a reaction in a broad sense. he would turn to his attorneys and say something to them from time to time. one of them was when michael cohen walked into the room and then add a couple of other junctures, but otherwise he was pretty stone-faced, really looking straight ahead. at times, leaning back. >> it was eyes closed the testimony was methodical oh, is how i would describe it. maybe even a little tedious in a way because so much of what he had

to share has already been out there. but there were also some moments where he added some color commentary talking about what he was doing at the direction of donald trump. i was very interested in his explanation for the recording okay yes. but he made i thought that was really important for him to answer because now everyone thought, well, why would an attorney film his client? why would this be out there? there were a lot of questions about the recording. questions are raised by the defense, but some questions just in general about why did he make it? he answered that. he said he wanted to make it for different pecker because david pecker was getting extremely angry and upset that he hadn't been repaid i've been true in the courtroom for authenticity. >> you know, it's a little hard to say the lead up to it was also another piece of information i thought was very interesting. >> the trove of information that ami had on donald trump was sitting in a drawer somewhere, and michael cohen had just sad under questioning that he was concerned about what what happened to that

information. david pecker was being considered for a higher job. he was worried that it would get out that it would be they would get lost. and then after he said that, that's when he he starts being asked about why he was so eager to placate david pecker, and he says, i wanted to make sure that david remained loyal and i thought that was telling because there was a power dynamic there, you know, where you have an angry david pecker who has known donald trump for a long time, but has a lot of power in the video world and michael cohen wanted him to remain on donald trump's sayyed and was concerned that the dispute over repayment for karen mcdougal's story jeopardize that we had moments and david pecker's testimony right. where he spoke about won this idea of him wanting trump, wanting all the documents. have you returned to him because in case you get hit by a bus, right? you had a little inkling of that and then of course, cohen explained more. well, it was the bus. it was if you move jobs and more importantly, if this trove

would get out, get out, it was a profound concern to them. it wasn't ever always just karen mcdougal. it was karen mcdougal plus the other pieces of information that ami had about trump. the other part about the call that was really critical was trump's you should use of the word cash. what he suggests that that michael cohen should pay for this and cash, what does that even mean? it seems obvious, look cool so clearly, cash means cash, right? but you could argue, perhaps the defense might have tried to argue that he just meant don't pay it don't finance it, don't you? use some kind of financing to pay it back just just transfer money so i said in artfully finance, i meant to explain that and it was really important gordon, because he said i used the word finance, but that's not what i meant. he said i meant handle the transaction essentially that he said when donald trump said cash, he using green's dollar bill, which michael cohen

testified that he believed trump wanted to do it with actual bills, so that there would not be a paper trail that's really important because it really signifies a trump wanted to keep this from being papered in any way, not just from being associated with the trump organization, but from there being any sort of physical records of these transactions occurring in some ways, he's very oppression. he mentioned that at one point when cohen's smirked smile about the idea of an email address, paper trails, and how prosecutors convention so you use it and you're all sitting in the courtroom realizing will prosecutors are looking at different aspects of it? i would really struck as well by the fact and how his demeanor was. i mean, he calls him mr. trump. if you've seen michael cohen on news anyway, it's time in the last several years, he has used less than flattering terms, describe them, people were wondering, would he be deferential? would he be respectful when you use the actual word trump are some odd colloquialism he topped out mr. trump. he almost had a wistfulness about them, didn't he yeah. >> he was reflective about his time because the whole

beginning of the the defense or sorry, the prosecution's questioning of michael cohen was about his upbringing, how he ended up in trump world, and one of the things about that was that my hello cohen talked about really thinking it was an amazing job. >> he left another law firm that he was a part of to go work for donald trump. he was doing work for donald trump even before he worked for the trump organization. and in some cases, not getting paid, michael cohen was working for trump without even necessarily getting paid in the beginning, which goes to show that there was a desire always to please trump to meet his expectations, to take care of these for him and he really described that motivation as being absolutely paramount one of the other things and you guys may have discussed this earlier in the program, but what he talked about not being hey by trump. another critical piece of information being brought out

by the prosecutors end of the day, they have to get to the point of michael cohen was repaid, not just what he paid for the stormy daniels story, but he was repaid that and then some he was paid for the taxes. he was paid over and above a bonus. oh, well, and what michael cohen established very early on was that that was not donald trump's practice. that from the very beginning, he had $100,000 bill for donald trump and he was told by people who worked for trump, unless you want to get fired on your first day, you might want to forget about it trump was not known to just pay bills just because they landed on his desk and he established at pretty early on in his testimony during a period of time, by the way, when he was not at odds with trump at all, he was perfectly satisfied, happy working for him willing to do this stuff without necessarily getting paid. what even he was owed at the time. >> it was fascinating and of course, also abbey, there were

others who were actually in the courtroom other than i mean, eric trump was their point. you had members of congress who were there. >> i mean, it was a very large group. i was talking to some of the other reporters who go almost every day, huge group he really wanted to show of force and he did and as they they're walking out, lead, most of the time by trump at the very front stone-faced as they are walking out out of the courthouse. >> fascinating to think, well for the people who were there and witnessing it. and of course, we have a front row seat to history here. back to you. >> thank you very much, laura, joining us now. george grosso, who was in new york criminal court judge for more than a decade. he's also been inside the courtroom today, judge grass or thanks. so much for joining us. what's the most powerful testimony you've heard so far today great to be with your wolf and i'm glad you asked me that because i can go all right into it. >> i thought that michael cohen overall presented the demeanor where he was cool, calm, collected, and believa-bull and

the most pertinent testimony to my to my reading of it and my seeing of it firsthand is michael cohen is bringing us to a place where in the immediate aftermath of the access hollywood tape breaking when he was in london on october on october 7, when that happened he gets back to new york on october ten. he's in a phone call with keith davidson on while he was still in london, a three-way phone call with keith davidson and another person intimately involved, dylan howard. and they're talking about the stormy daniel case resurrecting so he gets back to new york and on october 10th, he's working out the framework of a possible hush money deal. what we ultimately know now as a hush money deal to keep stormy daniel story out of the public, out of the public view. wild access hollywood is

breaking. so he brings us into a situation shin and this is brand new. what we saw as far as i'm concerned, he describes this meeting either a meeting or a phone call when he first briefs trump on the stormy daniels scenario, i believe it's honore about october 10th, three days after access hollywood. he describes angry trump confronting him, saying, i thought you took care of it. i thought you had this under control. and then trump going on to say according to michael cohen, this meaning the stormy daniels scenario breaking is a total disaster. women will hate me, guys will think it's cool. but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign that's almost glass. one of the last thing the jurors heard before the lunch break, and i can tell you, as i was keeping an eye on juries and making my notes they seem to me to be

riveted by this testimony. this is so crucial because one of the main goals for the prosecution there he called cohen has is to establish a motive in a tent directly on donald trump that would cause him to take the steps that ultimately people you to the $130,000 payment and be involved and be knowledgeable about it. so to me, by far wolf, that was the most compelling testimony if the debt so far he's been a strong witness for the prosecution. is that your bottom line absolutely he comes across boys cool, calm, and collected with all the trump team. >> trump yeah, go ahead i was going to say hey, at the break. trump came in with a huge entourage today about 23 individuals including senator jv dance center, the time tibur ville. when then left at the

break at about 11:30? that was one samba looking group. that was my i was sitting right in the ilc. so i don't think they're all too pleased about what they're seeing so far obviously hey, a lot more to go on direct and then cross-examination. but my report as of right now, that's what i see and that's how i'm proceeding. it. >> interesting interests the judge, george grass or thanks is usual for joining us my pleasure. >> well, thanks for having me thank you. >> and just ahead will have much more of our coverage of the criminal hush money trial of donald trump in the stanley cup flowers life is on the line right now two now if the distractions. >> goodness still feel high hi, hi. >> the all new temper p-adic adapt mattress was designed to help me aches and pains. a thing of the past because only

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30 billion in trust money has been set aside. you may be entitled to a portion of that money call when 8085920400. that's when 8085920400 welcome back to cnn special cover to donald trump's hush money criminal trial, paula reid and kristen holmes are back with me now court resumes is less than a half an hour or so. paul is at the scene for us right now. we've had michael cohen on the stand. he's been very measured and he's been very calm a lot of restraint will that continue? we do not know, but right now, we're nine. corey. >> look, i would not bet any money on their straight displayed by former president is it an ad michael cohen continuing through a direct and through cross main things are about to get a little more intense because they've just started telling the story of what happened, how what did michael cohen pay stormy daniels at $130,000, the lengths he went to taking out, he gets his own home, getting that home equity loan not telling his wife, but then more

importantly for the criminal case how he was reimbursed at any direct communication that he received from the defendant instructor thing him to falsify, write these business records. this is the meat of the case. now, i would expect they also at some point likely have to revisit some of the really negative stuff that is going to constitute the heart of the defense's cross-examination not only his previous convictions, four campaign related crimes, but also lying to congress slide to banks, and lying to the irs. and then also his six, seven year vendetta against the defendant making a living off a books podcasts, and public appearance this is where he attacks the defendant at some point, the prosecutors are going to want to get out in front of that. they touched on some of it, but they have to get out in front of it. so i think this afternoon, this is going to get a lot more comfortable they have to confront those, say they have take the wind out of the sails. otherwise, it's gonna be a cake walk for the defense to point out all those different aspects of it. but let me ask you, were talking about him this was praying cone, just train donald trump is not

looking at them. >> he's leaning over occasionally. >> i mean, that's shocking to the muttering. and cursing under his breath that we saw with stormy daniels. he was visibly upset i was told by his legal advisors that they have coached him on trying not to react. now, again, want to. be clear, we're dealing with too loose cannons and to people who don't usually have 100% control. so could it change? yes, of course. but part of this is that you don't want it to show michael cohen that donald trump, that it's getting under donald trump's skin. they worry that that will actually give him more energy, more who's he hasn't because as you noted, he has spent the last several years trying to bring down donald trump. they fear that if he shows his reacting that actually gives fuel to michael cohen instead they want him to remain calm, rain on engaged, he's in closing his eyes. he's looking around, he's basically been looking everywhere, but at michael cohen, but this is a very different risk father, we saw during that stormy daniels testimony. and just reminder

your michael cohen upsets him just as much or more so than stormy daniels does, but he is trying clear really to maintain some sort of calm looking forward, not engaging with a witness. >> it connected tissue of question the two of them is that they are able to both speak about him and he cannot risk swan both of them renamed as people when they went the judge and said, change the gag order of protection, they come at me all the time. we'll see what happens. paula kirsten say was written out. i want to bring in brian stelter for who i know has a lot to say and who recovering a lot special. he's also somebody who has had a big history. and now it was a correspondent at vanity fair, brian someone mike yourself who is sue knows so well about the role that each of these men had played. in the media attention and landscape. i wonder what you have made from this testimony. today i find it astonishing that we are still learning new pieces of this free laura, even though this is nearly a decade old, even though this has been litigated with cohen in the past, even

though we wrote a book and he has a podcast and all the rest, we are still hearing new information and maybe that's the power four of the criminal courts. >> maybe that's the power of being under oath and taking the stand and feeling all of that pressure certainly, cohen feels that pressure because he's acting unlike the michael cohen that we all know. >> last time i was talking to michael cohen on his podcast. he was the host and he said more than i did, he, he barely let me get a word and that's the kind the guy he is. he wants to give speeches, he wants to rant and rave. and the fact that he's been able to restrain himself so far today is breathtaking. laura i think he has been prepped and i don't mean as in told what to say, but i mean prac in the sense of i need to ask you a question. i need you then to answer that question. only not meander, no rabbits whole focus to help your credibility, but i do wonder how media in the medical world is treating this testimony because he has been catnip for the mega world i

think this is an important part of the story related to jd vance and tommy tebor bill being there today. it's related to donald trump finally, having some of his friends show up for the most difficult, most emotional days of testimony. this trial is his his pro-trump media has tried to ignore most of this but they can't ignore it anymore and michael cohen is in some ways catnip. he is, he is the villain for pro-trump media and he is of course, a convicted liar. he plays right into this narrative that this is a sham. the trump's narrative, but this is all a sham in a witch hunt it's frustrating. laura. it's kinda like the liar olympics you know, we're we're dealing with so many people in this story who are all untrustworthy and dishonest in the past it's funny because he talked about today at his testimony, the idea that he used to routinely lie to the media because he was serving donald trump, but that was the beneficiary of his lies. >> and so now you've got this discussion happening in front

of a jury. i've okay. well, he lives here there and everywhere, but we also have doing so as a person who was reporting directly to trump's, uh, how do you weigh that? and actually, you've noted that cohen mean he's a new yorker. he's speaking to a jury of new yorkers how is that at play here? >> i'm really interested in here from the jury, if any of them ever willing to talk about the experience weeks or months later. of course, the judge is going to urge them not to their safety concerns, but i wonder for these jurors who are men had knights who are new yorkers. >> they know guys like cohen, they know figures like cohen and so it my get play differently to a jury in another another state, another part of the country. >> but here are a bunch of new yorkers kind of all clashing and coming together. it's an interesting layer of this case. i think yeah. >> and of course they are new yorkers who likely known trump in a way that many people across the country may not have known that name prior to say apprentice so beyond, obviously the name carries a great deal of citizens here in manhattan for multiple generations at

this point. so i'm curious to see if and when they do speak of how their impressive oppressions are for now, we'll wait to the verdict actually speaks some in the next couple of weeks, brian selders. thank you so much thanks. we've got much more of our cover for each of the donald trump hush money trial ahead stay with us every piece of evidence tells a story how would really hundred jesse? oh, margaret, sunday's at night on cnn thinking i'm thinking about her honeymoon. but africa so far hot air balloon ride, swim with elephants weight, prefer to safari. >> great question. like everything takes a little planning for with a. mind towards the down payment on a ranch in montana with horses. >> let's take a look at those scenarios. >> jpmorgan wealth management has advisors in chase branches

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your cash and 5% apy well today, and get your burst 30 days free. >> i'm natasha bertrand at the pentagon. >> and this cnn welcome back to cnn special coverage of donald trump's historic hush money criminal trial moments have now testimony from michael cohen. will resume the star witness in this case. let's bring back our panel for some analysis right now, elie honig, what kind of conversations do you think the

prosecutors are having with michael cohen during this lunch break? well, i think little, if any, because any conversations that they do have become fair game for cross-examination, you don't want michael cohen? >> i'm crossing yeah. during the lunch break, they told me tweak this change that also think michael cohen was doing just fine, right now, i think they're probably perfectly satisfied with the testimony is giving it generally has been credible and corroborated as we said, the key point here is going to be cross-examination, also bigger picture one of the things that all the witnesses have been cross-examined on michael cohen certainly will be cross-examined on is how many times did you meet with prosecutors before coming in here to testify? the answer or michael cohen's instance is going to be probably dozens the judge will instruct the jury there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. it's quite common. in fact, it would be uncommon for prosecutors not to meet with a witness beforehand. you're allowed to consider that jury, but it doesn't necessarily mean evidence of some sort of conspiracy because he or something wrong, but they're going to hit on that. and in fact, prosecutors should probably ask michael that. how many times did we meet as a witness at the prosecutors have

decided to call, not necessarily the defense, right? right now. you're elliot williams cohen testified to how he would alert trump whenever he got worried about a possible negative story that might emerge. he said this, this is cohen. i spoke to him, i spoke, i went to him immediately to advise them that there was a story because it was a negative story for him to get his direction on what he wanted me to do he told me to make sure that the story doesn't get out. you handle it. that's what he said. how does that impact the prosecution's case? a couple of ways. number one, what direction he wanted me to go. it helps establish the defendant as the person running the operation and as an extension of that, once the prosecution makes the argument that that all of this activity was done to help the presidential campaign. you could draw a link between michael cohen getting a direct instruction from his boss and then the actions being taken to help the campaign. so it helps establish donald donald trump number two. this pattern of

suppressing stories and having them not get out also helps the prosecution here because of the fact that even whether we're talking about politics or personal stories or whatever else, donald trump had interest in seeing stories suppress. so this isn't smoking gun, great evidence that's going to be the case, is going to rise and fall on this sentence, but it does help establish a narrative and a pattern that prosecutors definitely want to be making to the jury glory. >> it's interesting. and i'm just curious if you think trump might be saying to his lawyers is personal lawyers during this lunch break well, about michael cohen's testimony, i think he might be i'm saying to them that, michael cohen wasn't telling the truth about the conversation about melania and might be giving them advice as he is on to do about how they should cross examine michael cohen. i'm sure he's got plenty of ideas about how to do that. but i think that so far michael cohen to echo what

elliott has said, has done a very good job of showing who was the boss they even called them the boss. and they went to donald trump when they wanted to find out what to do about something and you have all of these people in different places who were out to protect donald trump it was david pecker and dylan howard and, and michael cohen who worked together and their loyalty was unquestionable and it was all to donald trump. and trump knew that. i mean, he understood that they would do anything for him and he asked them to do anything for him according to according to michael cohen, i mean, we'll have to see whether if this was inspired by donald trump or donald trump's specifically asked them to do something and we know that it wasn't his habit to say you do

this and you do this to do that, that he was he didn't give directions to people. he just knew that he wanted things done and i don't know elliott whether and whether that an la whether that hurts the prosecution at all because he doesn't give direct orders. they just knew michael cohen went to him, said this is happening. what do you think? >> well, i'll just quickly i just wanted it doesn't help or hurt the prosecution. prosecutors have some established and up to the jury to believe that the insinuation was something that the defendant actually wanted but it's an insinuation. sure. it's certainly an insinuation. now, look, it's always better evidence to have the defendant have written down on a piece of paper. i want you to do this for this reason, but there are many ways to establish what someone intended, what was in their head. it's gonna be more creative. >> i'm just curious because just before the court, when the session today, some new poll numbers came out and trump was actually touting these polls in

new york times, sienna poll showing that trump is doing really well in several key battleground states despite this ongoing trial, he is, this is a reminder that we have, you can see the numbers right there that we have no idea at all. political fallout from this. if there is any from this trial, it's kind of remarkable to think that there wouldn't be. but if you look at these battleground states that are going to be central to this reelection the former president is beating the current president outside the margin of error in every state. but to pennsylvania and was scones and wisconsin actually is a bright spot on that board four president biden. but again, we will have to wait and see what this verdict is. and how voters are assessing. but as i talked to voters across the country in these battleground states, many of them aren't paying attention at all and are disgusted and tired with this but the numbers beyond the horse race are so interesting. the reason that president biden is having problems, it's because of young voters, voters of color inflation. that is the

issue on the minds of voters, not so again, we don't know what the political fallout is going to be for independent voters. that is something an interestingly this morning as we bring it sort of back to this conversation, michael cohen said that the former president was worried about a female voters that remains a worry inside the trump campaign. certainly the comment that you mentioned about melania trump's so we will just have to wait and see how voters digesta this at the end of the trial, but this is certainly a reminder. this race is actually pretty stable. and trump is ahead in most of these battleground states still the economy stupid, it's not to use. it seems to be inflation really is at the heart of so much this will see how much this is going to play a part. but as of now, it's actually helped donald trump it's not, it's not the hush money trial stupid. >> it's all right, everybody standby. much more coverage of donald trump's hush money, criminal trial just ahead. trial due due to resume in a few minutes right after this lunch break trump hush money

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quick lunch break for the court proceedings, prosecutes. we're at least getting the very heart of the matter, the $130,000 payment to adult film actress stormy daniel's and of course it disguised reimbursements to cohen, wolf thank you. >> laura cohen also described how in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election, trump told him that daniel story would be quote, a disaster for the campaign. and that trump told him to stop the story from getting out. cohen also testified, and i'm quoting him now, trump wasn't thinking about melania this was all about the campaign. and conan added this, don't worry, trump by goes on to say, how long do you think i'll be on the market for not long. close quote. that's going to see an as elie honig, he's over at the magic wall for sle, take us through more of today's very powerful, dramatic testimony. yeah. well, if barkat morning of testimony from michael cohen finally facing his former

client, donald trump, face-to-face in the courtroom a couple of things that prosecutors tried to do with michael cohen throughout his testimony. first of all, they've corroborated him at every possible instance, anytime possible, prosecutors have pointed to phone records, to text messages, to backup the story that michael cohen is telling to the jury. the other tactic that we saw prosecutors doing throughout the morning was fronting the bad stuff for michael cohen getting out there for the jury from the prosecution, side, for example, at one point, the de a asked michael cohen, would you sometimes lie for trump and michael cohen said, yes, ma'am, i would. now, michael cohen took the jury through his early days with donald trump, how he first came to trump's attention, and he did things like renegotiating invoices, meaning refused to pay them for the most part dealing with media relations, calling people to try to get more favorable news coverage and then helping donald trump with his early on political ambitions. you hear michael cohen called the fixer. will this all is why now? there was a very important moment when donald trump decides he's going to run for president in 2015, and michael cohen

testified that donald trump warranted at this point really important piece of testimony. donald trump said to michael cohen, according to cohen's testimony you know that when this comes out, meaning the announcement that he's running for office, just be prepared. there's going to be a lot of women coming forward and in the wake of that statement, there's this really important meeting, august 2015, and we heard about this before from prior witness, david pecker, from the national enquirer. now we've heard about the same thing from michael cohen. cohen said there was a meeting with the four of us where we discussed the fact that david pecker and i, michael cohen, we'd be on the look out for damaging stories about donald trump tried to make them go away. now to that end, michael cohen has walked the jury through three separate catch and kill schemes. one relating to a doorman the second one relating to karen mcdougal. and now when we left off, michael collins right in the middle of talking about the stormy daniel's pay off, which of course is the crux of the prime here now, there was a really important audio recording that the jury heard today of a

conversation that michael cohen recorded between him and donald trump back in 2016 when they were talking about the karen mcdougal payoffs. let's take a listen to that because it's a really important piece of evidence. >> correct. so i'm i'm all over that. and i spoke to alan about it when it comes time for the financing, which will be what will have to paid me getting old. i got no chance. >> argue that show is donald trump to do about these payoffs. but the defense team will argue it shows that donald trump was not in the details and the weeds. now a couple of really important pieces of testimony right before the break, michael cohen said that when the stormy daniel's allegations surfaced, he felt it was catastrophic. this is horrible for the campaign and that donald trump told michael cohen to work with david, meaning david pecker from the enquirer, work with david to get control over this, over the stormy daniel's allegations. and finally, wealth cohen testified that trump said it at the time. i want you to just

push it out as long as you can just get it past the election. because if i win, it i have no relevance because when i'm president and if i lose, i don't even care. and this goes to the central point wolf that the prosecution has been making throughout that donald trump's concern here was first and foremost with the campaign. so michael cohen left office testimony at a really important point and he will resume about ten minutes from now, wolf back to you. we'll kick it around at the desk here, the lunch recess does over the jury is back cohen is back. we're watch what's going on. very dramatic stuff indeed, elie honig, thank you very much, laura, back to you really important conversation happening with me now cnn's kristen holmes and also paula first of all, he's back on the stand we cannot overstate the importance of this particular witness. >> ladies. i mean, everyone's been waiting for this person nearly every single witness has talked about michael cohen. they've given a preview the jury, not all mostly not good. we tells you maybe why his actual maynor is all the more

important to establish rapport and credibility he will certainly be attacked right on the cross. i mean, this is kind of a lowing into a false sense of security. the way a horror movie is like, oh, what a pleasant neighborhood, this must be. the cross is not going to be this kind. yeah, he knows this is not going to be friendly turkey especially when it comes to the cross, the cross examine i'm an asian of vital colon is the trump defense. there are expected to call other a few witnesses, but this is how they're going to make their case on behalf of their client. they are going to try to paint michael cohen as a liar who is out for revenge against his former boss and they plan to do that not so much by focusing on his criminal record, but instead through a multimedia presentation using clips from his podcast, excerpts from his book and his many, many, many interviews over the past six years, where he has pretty much exclusively just attack the defendant. that is his brand. so that is going to be a large portion of the cross-examinatio n. and it's a challenge for todd blanche because of course, he wants to go at michael cohen but you have to be careful. you

don't want to go out him so hard that you throw sympathy to michael cohen. so this is a huge test, but this is effectively, this will be the defense's case, which is why you haven't seen todd blanche do many cross-examinations. he has been almost exclusively focus on michael cohen. >> isn't to taiwan and sympathy because he did really come across kristen as somebody in initially, we just hearing his testimony as how the defense wants to paint him a a sycophant, a somebody a people pleaser that he would do anything he could to make them happy that he said he thought on top of the world when he got praise. and that might countered idea of who he made the eventually became after all of this. but they're all people in the courtroom right now politicians who are hoping to be trump pleaser is as well who are making their presence known and they are some sitting members of congress and some who want to be on the vp shortlist. yes. >> some people who we think are on the vpu shortlist. we've been hold of is that ramaswamy is coming tomorrow. we know jd vance, a senator from ohio, was there today. these are people

who want to show donald trump that they are loyal to him because as we have heard michael cohen say, and as we have heard time and time again throughout this testimony, the most important thing to donald trump is actually having loyalty. now, what are the things i do want to point out is that trump had told some members of his team that he was upset, but they were not more people there to support him also, not more people. they're protesting on his behalf in front of the actual courthouse. part of the reason that they ended up making these campaign stops to various areas in new york trying to show there's all these people here supporting the jury is now seeing an email chain of davidson can see this, this is stormy's attorney and also karen mcdougal's attorney on october 12, 2006, were cohen used the holiday yom kippur war to continue need to try to delay the deal. go ahead and they had been trying to delay this past the election. one of the things also former daniels had testified to saying she thought that if this ended up getting pushed past the election, she wouldn't have any leverage at that point. so now they're all going through that as well. but to the point about him having his loyalists

there, it's interesting, of course, is being this display as michael cohen himself was on the stand it's important to think about how all this is getting kind. >> he's saying because after the election it would matter according to who is prosecutor, mr. trump. this goes back to the heart of it, right? there is not going to be one standard that says, okay, if it's at 20, it's a substantial standard meeting. this had to be for the alliance section for the campaign, but the juror will der think we talked about how there are mixed reasons here. that's part of the defense. this is more millennia then november. >> yeah, exactly. that's gonna be one of their defenses. one other defenses will be this wasn't done just for the election. this was to protect trump's family from for the defenses, you have multiple witnesses who have justify that he didn't really care about his family at all in this context. now you do have some witnesses who have said, generally speaking, he really loved and respected his wife. but that defense has been undercut. now, here at the prosecutor is showing jurors emails between cohen and gary farro, who's one of the earlier witnesses. we heard his bank or from october 13th 2016. this is

all about his efforts to open that llc where he funneled money to eventually pay stormy daniels this hush money payment. but i do think that on this on this question of michael cohen's credibility, they have a lot, they have a lot to work with here, but so far i do think he's come across as credible as we get into the real heart of the case and you know, it's obvious to say it could be politics, it could be his wife, but an angry wife is a political problem. well, that's what everyone says, right? if you're right, if your wife is angry, you have an issue on your hands regardless of anything. just kidding. i told you what exactly anything to be related to the campaign if your wife was involved, she has her fingers and everything, but i would just say that look, we've seen both sides of this. we've seen the hope hicks of it saying that it was about both of them, that it was in part about melania as well that she didn't want the paint. he didn't want the papers delivered to melania on that day we also heard madeleine westerhout talk about how he loved his family. he loved his wife, but as paula said i mean,

most of the arguments we have heard from these various witnesses was that it was about the campaign, the ultimate question being, how much about it was, it was about the campaign and how much about it was about his family. >> the other big question of course, is whether or not this was about michael cohen wanting to go rogue and deciding on his own how he anticipated his boston field biden issue and how much is him actually being instructed to do so you've got two tails here. one is that trump is a micromanager enhancer and everything. yeah, there is. i could know what he wanted me to do and do that. paula kristin say with me court reason just moments ago with michael cohen, right back on that witness and we're going to follow the testimony very closely. there's more on that after a quick break cnn news central brought to you by stanley steamer from carpet upholstery air toxin more. it's not clean until it's stanley steamer clean right now, pet dander skin cells, mold spores, pollen, and dirt

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plastic. you'll be seeing more of these bottles in more places. >> and when we get more of them back we can use less new plastic. >> bottles are made to be remade starting to feel like a back alleys a you telling me they're going to be like wow it's cavaliers thunder mavericks coverage begins tonight at 6:30 in the play i was presented by google pixel. >> woods conference semifinals coverage presented by wayne stop on tnt we're back with our breaking news coverage of donald trump's hush money, criminal trial, right now, trump's former lawyer and so-called fixer, michael cohen has returned to the stand after a brief lunch break. cohen is the prosecution's star witness by far. and before the break, he described always trying to delay the deal with stormy daniels until after the presidential election, because at that point, the story would no longer matter and mr. trump would no longer need to pay. he also just testified that he lied on paperwork in order to

open an account that was ultimately used to pay daniels. let's bring back our panel of experts, right now. so where do you think the prosecution is heading in this next round of questioning of michael cohen? right. so right now there right in the heart of the way michael cohen's set up the payment structure to stormy daniels and what they're doing right now is the first part of that, which is michael cohen is taking out a loan through his banker, gary farro, who we heard from earlier in the trial of $130,000 there's michael cohen's going to put that into a shell company this essential consultants, llc, and then that money is going to go over to stormy daniel's after this, they're going to get into really the heart of the charge here, which is the reimbursement mechanism where basically michael cohen and allen weisselberg and cohen will surely testify. donald trump come up with this plan to read he pay michael cohen $420,000 to cover that one, 30 to cover his taxes on it, and to cover a bonus and a couple of other smaller transactions.

so this is the heart of the matter. they're trying to show documents. they're trying to tie it to other testimony that the heard from gary farro. the other important thing that they're doing here, wolffian i just talked about this a moment ago, is they're fronting the bank add stuff and so they asked michael cohen straight up, did you lie on these bank dockets? yes, he did. he said, well, i wasn't going to write hush money. i just wrote vehicle to receive property rights or something like that. so every time that mike cohen lie, they need to front that prosecutors need to own that, so it doesn't hit as hard on cross how do you see it? >> i think the one thing i was going to lead off with was the fronting point, which is that and it's casual, it's subtle how they did it. they simply showed the documents that you knew would have been coming in already because of the fact that the testimony of gary farro, the banker who was behind these documents testified days ago. so we knew that michael cohen would eventually justifies the transactions. oh, and by the way, did you lie on that document? yes, i did. and boom, it's on the record and it's almost in a much softer way than it would have come out had come out when the defense was questioning michael cohen because just now testified that

when he learned stormy daniels was looking to sell her story about the alleged affair with trump. if released publicly, her story, cohen said would be quote, catastrophic. this is horrible for further campaign and that's a probably the single most important sentence he has said thus far because that's perhaps the most direct evidence there is some link to the campaign. now there's plenty of ties to the campaign and a sense, there's testimony on the first few days about how the national enquirer was aware of how they were helping the campaign and so on. this is direct evidence from michael cohen. now of course, it's subject to cross-examination and all of the points that we've spent talking about his credibility issues and so on. on. but you have the man who was there saying he heard it and saying that was his assessment at the time. so it's very valuable to us. >> cone is in kind of a pickle because he's been told delay, delay, delay, try and delay the payments and at the same time as we see, they're losing control of. the story. >> and he understands that

losing control of the story he believes would be catastrophic. >> but the boss has said, well, try and slow walk this a little bit because if i win the election, it's not going to matter. and if i lose the election, it's not going to matter. so let's, let's try and slow on going. >> recall just now on his testimony that at the time this was obviously incredibly stressful incredibly important. >> so imagine how stressful it was because he's trying to keep the banker at bay. >> he's trying to talk to the enquirer and he wants to get the deal done. michael wants to get the deal done, but he's got these instructions from the boss to slow walk things and how do you do both things at the same time? it's really difficult, if not impossible, and he's calling it to catastrophic. but this is someone who's assessing this and i think this will be interesting under under a cross-examination as well, michael cohen is not a political expert at the time no

one inside the orbit of donald trump in trump tower thought he was going to win. this was just about three weeks before the election. so michael cohen was obviously worried. i'm sure it was stressful. >> there's no doubt about it, but still, i think to your point of trump to delay lay this, but again, making the point about that this is going to have consequences for the election. >> that is, i think the most important testimony we've heard so far this morning from him, it sounds like so for chileans mandate to glorious question is try to string it out, try to delay it out until after the election but if you can't and he's getting to that point, he realized he wasn't going to be able to. then you gotta get her to also talked earlier about stuffing other people and one of the things was paying other vendors $0.20 on the dollar. so he perhaps didn't want to pay this bill or glory, i think was also significant that in another extreme james cohen testified, i'm quoting him now he wasn't thinking about melania. this was all about the campaign. that's pretty critical for the prosecution. yes, it's very critical for the prosecution. again, it comes from michael cohen, but

he is talking to donald trump, presumably daily about this and, and they both understand how disastrous it could be. i think trump used the word disaster if i'm not mistaken. so they and they're thinking about the campaign and trump makes a joke. how long do you think i'd be on the market for when melania's raised, that's that shows you how heartfelt he thought he was feeling about melania at that point. so i think that, you know michael keeps emphasizing in his testimony that this was really about the campaign and that's what governed his negotiations with keith with keith davidson, the attorney and also with the enquirer and they're fairly worried about this slipping away just as we've been talking here he are quotes. i mean, they're worried about losing control of this and that's what donald trump told michael cohen

to do, to take care of this, to fix it. so obviously they are losing it. but here he called a trumpet 5:00 p.m. and again, we're talking three weeks before the election. votes or are being cast. and last for eight seconds. >> political experts republican senators jd vance and tommy tebor rule, they showed up in court today with trump. what's that about? >> look, they want to be his security blanket. they want him to know that he is not on an island. he has support. i'm told that someone inside the campaign sort of send an all call two senators where are you? whereas my backup here. so a republican members of the attorney general's association have been coming up the attorney general from a texas alabama, iowa has been there within the last a couple of days and the senator's also as well. i'm surprised it's taken this long for a his supporters, so we know that he's been upset that his supporters had not been outside the courtroom, but he wants them inside. but the only family member i believe who is in there, donald trump jr. or

maybe eric trump. so that all so it's interesting, and we'll see if the jury pays attention to that. i don't know, but he definitely does. he knows who's there with. so can we just say i call mr. trump in order to advise him of the situation that because because i didn't forward the funds, she's now declared the agreement void and he's panels and he's banished. >> cone is panic because she might be going to the daily mail with this while he was trying to balance this and donald trump not wanting to spend the money is trying to slow walk it he's got a problem on his hands because he knows if the story is out, who's going to get blamed? the colon colon, we were not going to be in a position to delay past the election of the story would be made available to the daily mail, which would be a huge problem and then trump claimed michael cohen. how did you screw this up, right interesting. >> all right, everybody stand by much more coming up. michael cohen was once the man trump relied on to fix his problems. now the former president may

have no bigger problem than michael cohen himself. so how is trump reacting to what we're hearing in the courtroom will get reaction from his campaign that's next more than $500 million in art stolen they saw what turned out to be the biggest archivist in history. >> you can't help but wonder if this was some sort of fee inside job how would really happened with jesse l. martin sunday at nine on cnn, freeze, dryness, breakage, new dove, ten and ones serum hair mask with peptide complex fortifies hair bonds at a molecular level, helps reverse ten sin some damage in one minute keep living real key, preparing. >> you want to close out should i normally i'd hold but taking the gains as smart here, right feel more competent. what's doc ratings from jpmorgan analysts in the chase app, when you've got a decision to make, the answer is jpmorgan wealth management?

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tv i've hanako montgomery and tokyo and this is cnn welcome back as soon as he shall cover donald trump's hush money trial. we're learning right now that cohen this a is that

trump agreed to pay for daniels story saying he expressed to me, just do it, meet up with allen weisselberg and figure this whole thing out. this is really dramatic testimony has that cohen's that he spoke to allen weisselberg at the time. hang him that he had the ability to do so and ask of ami ben pay daniels is really the core of the entire issue here. he's made a series of damning statements about trump de that he was concerned only about the affair allegations hurting a 2016 campaign, not his family or his marriage at one point, allegedly asking cohen how long he be on the market if melania trump let them go for joining, joined now by david shown he's his former president, trump's attorney during a second impeachment trial, david, welcome. i wonder what you make of the fact that michael cohen is testifying today. he had lemon some punches, but the core, this is direct testimony knocked across and that's obviously going to be ahead. what has struck you from what you've learned today first of all, i think you're reporting on it is absolutely on the mark

and not surprisingly i think that thank you. >> it's all have been expected. michael cohen new donald trump. very well. i was around him a lot and the prosecution recognizes that i need to make or break their case with michael cohen. michael cohen on the other hand also not on the other hand of the same end as a savvy guy. he has a real agenda. he hates donald trump for a number of reasons and you can be sure that he really prepared for this as you said, it's direct testimony cross-examined examination by any halfway decent lawyer would be absolutely devastating. but i'm not sure it's enough just to make michael cohen a bad guy because is coming in with a lot of details. a problem for witnesses like michael cohen, one of the problems i think besides other prior inconsistent statements and other credibility credibility attacks, is he goes a little too far. hey don't know that the jury is going to believe when he says melania trump finding out about this wasn't a concern that donald trump. now, if they've already heard witnesses about a close

relationship, was standing in the window and waved to her and that sort of thing. so the problem is witnesses like this go a little too far, tried to make the case, and i'll wrap it up one second. i think that the prosecution feels in this case, given what's going on so far, that they really need michael cohen to make out the number of elements, elements of their case. and so i think he's going to address all of those things is it really important point you've raised the idea of not being hyperbolic because suggests that a wife would not have any concern. it was no concern as a husband whether or not his wife was bothered by any of the allegations. again, there's also political angle today, is they're not that unhappy wife or one that might be vogel about her unhappiness about the allegations, could pose a political problem. let me just focus on thing you said. >> i think people often are hearing about the animus and the bias and the hate isn't useful to the prosecution to try to compartmentalize and say, look yes. >> he hates him now. yes, there's the animus now. but at the time when this was done to

where we're actually looking at, here is the point they want the jury to look at. and this the time when he was the ultimate people pleaser. can ajuri separate those two things? >> you're a lawyer asking a lawyer like questions it i think i don't know if the jury can earn up to write that that's gotta be a prosecution agenda and they can do with a witness like this been caused of details and his intimate and both women at the time. the problem for them is the cross-examination. if it's skillful at all, we'll also focus on those details. so even if he's a bad guy with animus and that's not enough they will deal with him specifically on the statements he's making now, which is you well know, are contradictory to the statements on these exact subjects that he made, including the overall message about whether donald trump was even involved with this. >> but one other point i think has to be made here is and this is again the job of a lawyer is to keep the jury's eye on the ball is anything that michael cohen is going to say really

does it really make out the elements, even of the misdemeanor because they've already heard before about how the how the item was booked and we know now that part of it was for a bonus, so-called from michael cohen. so does it look like a crime if called legal expenses are legal fees. the lawyer is going to have to keep the jury's eyes on the technical parts of it. and as for the target drive, in other words, the misdemeanor, they have to prove falsifying business records with the intent to defraud and that that was done with the intent to commit or conceal another the crime. remember, the grand jury never identified that other crime. there's talk now about 17150 to promoting preventing an election unlawful means. but people i think also recognize candidates don't want i don't want to stop me, but i do i do want to highlight something that's happening in testimony right now. allen weisselberg is being discussed right now, as we know, he is actually in jail. he is serving and i think july of this year for really this case separately, this but he was talking about who should pay this money. weisselberg expressed some concern because

he had some locations for his grandchildren and beyond. and cohen said that he and weisselberg told trump that cohen was going to front the money for it to which he was appreciative and cohen said, trump stated to me, don't worry, you'll get the money back, so we're at the point in time. while we're talking about to your point, the larger issue, not whether there was in fact an alleged affair or whether the daniel is allegations were truthful, but whether there was a falsification of the business records and wake up before i let you go on this point i do wonder how you would approach a cross of say, a michael cohen compared to a firm we daniel's in both instances, the defense wants to prove them to be liars. if it comes to term and daniel's her being a liar means a wildcard that might incentivize you to pay her off for cohen know they're going to use the line to try to make their case. how do you approach differently? >> well, there is a part of common that one would approach about his general atomist not getting the job at the white house. all of those sorts of things and things that have

transpired since they'd color his testimony today. but with cohen, i think the focus really must be on the specifics of the prior inconsistent statement and not only that, he made those prior inconsistent statements when he had real incentive to hurt donald trump and to help himself if he could at the time. and notwithstanding that incentive, in other words, he was told by his lawyer if you have anything on donald trump, now is the time to do it. you've said you don't want to go to jail or even a day, give them donald trump to the fed's, for example, first up and he just couldn't do it because he said it wasn't true. and so i think they would go into that. that's what he said to his lawyer at the time. and then waive the privilege. but i think those kinds of things will be damning and make at least one juror thing what's going on here? >> similarly to how they tried to unravel testimony, stormy daniels, are you lying than or you're lying now? which document is true? david joan. thank you so much for joining us. there are so much more ahead and we're learning a lot. i keep glancing down at the screen here because we're showing you over over here, i

guess it would be different over wherever i'm not a weather person, it's somewhere in this area. but the idea of what's happening in the courtroom right now, the trump criminal hush money trial as a former wet member of trump's inner circle michael cohen, continue going to testify against him, will follow the story russia for trying to spy on us we were spying on them i saturday, friday this is a war but secret was secrets and spies, a nuclear game premier sunday, june 2 at ten on cnn. what if we don't get down at time to get a birthday gift for zoe, don't panic with etsy. we can find the perfect gift and center preview right away thanks guy don't panic, just easy with etsy. >> you want to close out. >> should i? normally i'd hold but taking the games as smart here dry feel more competent. >> what's doc ratings from

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$130,000 to silence stormy daniels saying and i'm quoting now, i was doing everything i could and more to protect my boss i would not lay out $130,000 for an nda non-disclosure agreement needed by somebody else. let's discuss what's going on. some of this testimony last few minutes has been pretty dramatic. yeah. this is really important. so michael cohen is sort of airdropping us right into the crucial moments where he has realized that we're not going to be able to slow play stormy daniels on top well, after the election, either we're going to pay her or she's going to go public. this is a week or so before the election. now, michael cohen is talking about how he went about getting the $130,000. he said he did it around his wife's back. he didn't want his wife to know. so he went to the home equity loan as opposed to writing a check from his personal bank account? in charge of those personal bank accounts, she would know if he was reading a check for $130,000. he wasn't about the tell her why exactly he wanted to keep that from his wife. and a really interesting and

important piece of testimony, michael cohen testified just a few minutes ago. he said, trump said, don't worry, you'll get the money back. now, that's not specific. we corroborated by a text or a phone record, but that's a really important piece of testimony, and that's an example where the jury is going to have to either decide, do we take michael cohen's word or not. but if the jury credits that it's a really important piece of testimony because it's showing that trump knows what's going on, and trump has promised michael cohen, don't worry, i'm gonna get you back to this later. >> and he also says just do it, just do it. yes. do you in weisselberg just yes. yes. do it right? exactly. get it done it's interesting how much longer before i let you go, elie, do you think the prosecution is going to keep michael cohen on the witness stand? >> this is moving really crisply so far here. he's been on the stand for about five hours. if i have yes, about four hours taking out the lunch break and they're already into the heart of the stormy daniels testimony. i think what remains ahead is there going to finish the stormy daniels testimony, which will take another hour or so, then they're going to have to get into michael cohen's

change of heart. michael cohen getting charged by the southern district of new york has guilty plea and all that's happened since then. so my sense is to their credit, prosecutors are moving this alone pretty efficiently. i get the sense there'll be done the direct exam of him sometime tomorrow, maybe mid day or morning is my best estimate. >> where do you think? >> i think that's accurate? i mean, something they probably have to get on the record is some of the bad information about him, the convictions and so on. just to deprive the defense of the opportunity and michael cohen's pardon me. deprive the defensive the opportunity to put that information out there. but again, if we're 456 hours and and are already on the bulk of the story that they called him to testify about. it's hard to see what else substantively he could really do over hours and hours and hours of testimony cohen said he checked in with davidson to ensure the deal was in order well, we just moved so he can tell trump the matter is under control. >> and i jurors are being shown a call record right now between allen weisselberg, the cfo of the trump organization, and michael cohen that evening,

october 23, you can just see the activity has picked up so much in the days leading up to october 23, 24, 20 fifths, so many calls back-and-forth. >> this is getting dire. this is getting urgent, as gloria said, the store was getting away from them. they would have gone somewhere else with it. so that's why this is important, but i think interesting similarly, for the first time they're tying the former president directly to it. and michael cohen said i had to get this done. this would be catastrophic to the campaigns. >> a few a few days before the election, it is just a couple of weeks and hundreds of thousands of people had already voted in key states and other states across the country. >> that's why it was urgent. he was already sort of a beleaguered candidate. and again, at the time, he was still a private citizen. he was not present in states. he was working out of trump tower. so there were very few guardrails, if any, at all? the extent there were later, but at that time there weren't any at all. so that's why this is all so interesting at that point, the reaction of the former president sitting in the courtroom. i'll be interested to hear what our colleagues are saying who are in the room. but he has been sleeping and not

paying attention. but during this period this was so critical to him and he also made one last effort to get the national enquirer to pay and a pecker said not a chance. >> we're not or was it i'm not sure who i think it was pecker who said not a chance. so he knew that he had to do it. he didn't want to do it out of his own pocket. but he knew that they couldn't tie it to donald trump directly. so he and weisselberg came up with this idea of how to do it. and they had to do it very quickly and they had to lie about why he needed the home equity loan columbia to phone calls with trump around 8:30 a.m. on october 26th, before cohen went across the street to the back to make the payment to davidson? >> right? you see how quickly you know, as jeff was saying, how quickly this was happening, he said cohen just testified i wanted to ensure that once

again, he approved what i was doing because i require approval from him. and all of this referring to trump. >> so this is a good example of corroboration because they have the records showing that there was that phone call at eight, whatever it wasn't eight 30 something in the morning. now it doesn't say what was said, but it helps michael cohen's testimony. you say, look, they did a conversation right before michael cohen goes into the bank to get this thing done. it's virtually impossible for trump or the defense to argue that trump had no knowledge of the payments it's really just the open question is, what was the purpose of the payment? >> of course of course, once he was president in 2018 on air force one is president trump was flying. >> he said he knew nothing about this he's lucy i lawyer of the associated press, asked michael cohen. so that's the first time that he lied in that case. but back in this moment, again, just days before the election, you can just see the urgency if only we could hear the urgency and michael cohen boys, sadly, we can't so relying on these quotes, but everything required mr. trump's sign-off on top top of that, i wanted the money back. so again, tying all of this,

that it was he was working at the direction of donald trump. >> i mean, what this shows is that michael cohen was on a short leash this was not somebody who could freelance right? i mean susan hoffinger asks whether cohen would have gone forward to the back without trump's approval. >> no cohen says he he's on a short leash even when he's laying out his own money, he wants to make sure that he's gonna get it back, but he's not doing anything without donald trump's approval. >> soda, elliott's point. i think it's going to be very hard to say. donald trump was somewhere in the clouds and knew nothing about this the $130,000 for cohen was clearly a lot of money that he wanted to be reimbursed by by trump for trump under $30,000 may not necessarily be all that much money, but but for michael cohen, it was a huge amount of money that he laid out to keep stormy daniels quiet. >> everybody standby. we have much more ahead as these developments are pouring in right now stay with us with

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>> with the oraa ring how we'd really happen with jesse l. >> martin. sunday's at nih on cnn well welcome back, to cnn special cover donald trump's hush money criminal trial. >> just moments ago, michael cohen said that he had to separate phone calls with donald trump around 8:30 a.m. on october 26, before he went across this free to the bank, make the payment to davidson. stormy's lawyer, paula reid and kristen holmes are back with me now. polo, that's pretty significant. i think he's been saying all along, but he did not go rogue. he is getting the buy-in from the big boss as he calls them. this seems to port that he in fact has had some communication with

them before that payment was handed over exactly. >> he's testifying that he needed trump's approval on this entire plan. exactly how he was going to set up this llc, how he was going to get this money deliver stormy daniels, that this required trump's sign off and that he was keeping him in the loop on all the details of his plan. >> now that it goes across the street to the bank and lies to the bank about the purpose are setting up this llc. >> so this is also something prosecutors have to get out of him. why did you lie? why didn't you? say what this was really for? you said it was for management consulting services and cohen's been pretty honest. he's like, well, if you reasons one, i didn't want my wife to know, first of all, but also, if i went in there and said it was her hush money payment for an adult film star the bank probably wouldn't have approved it. and his, his banking contact there has actually testified and said, yeah, that would have come under some scrutiny. >> that's an important part here because of course, they're going to try to paint him as the ultimate liar. and that he'll lie to every different entity. but jurors, you ought to believe him today and waste testifying that's going to be what they're going to try to

use against him. but from a political standpoint, again, it goes back to his statement about the campaign that might read root two jurors at this, of course, would have had an impact on the campaign. >> that's right look, this is all going to come down to what the jury actually believes or doesn't believe, as you said, maybe the answer what they're saying, i've lived all these other times, but today, these day believing he maybe that does play with them, maybe they believe that he's telling the truth that's part of why they do so much coaching and prepping to make him seem believable, to make sure that he is presenting himself in a way that is not the michael cohen that i would say. we knew from 2016 and the aggressive yellow, lots of expletives i do want to bring one thing up to you guys as lawyers, which is the idea that so much of what we've read, just not recent minutes here has involved allen weisselberg, who is not testifying in this trial and a lot of it is essentially michael cohen saying there were three people who knew about what was going on me, donald trump and i'm weisselberg, who was we know, is currently in jail and we believe the prosecution has no plans of bringing them up as a witness,

and i'm wondering as a lawyer, how does that end up playing with the jury when there is somebody out there? that seems to also possibly be able to answer questions about those. yeah. >> it was also i think when you read it to apala because you have cohen on why trump had not been included to date, saying that it was to protect him, to isolate him, which again to your point, if it's to protect and isolate him, paul, does it mean that he was so kept out of the loop as not to know our that contradicts what cohen was saying. he's saying kept him in the loop and then clearly they're trying to hide something, right? they all know that what they're doing is maybe not on the up and up. so there's clearly an app part to put distance between this payment and then candidate trump, defense attorneys again argued this is protect us family prosecutors arguing this is all done in an effort to help him win the white house, which is why falsifying business records, which has an hour even actually gotten to that part, yet it is being charged as a felony. but back to this point about allen weisselberg, it is something that prosecutors are going to have to address with the jury. there were three people

involved in this alleged conspiracy. why haven't we heard from one of them? and of course we know it's complicated now, cohen has said he sent an email to davidson, stormy daniels lawyer to show we're moving forward with the deal and to ensure that she gets paid. now, the jury is shown the wire transfer from cohen's essential consultants account to keith davidson's account. and this is the payment. and it really starts the story of the alleged criminal behavior here, which is how cohen gets reimbursed through the trump organization, through what prosecutors here's allege or falsified documents. so this this right here really starts the story of the 34 counts of falsifying business records. >> and yet, we've heard the start and restart many times now of this actual part of this, the first time you've heard of ways be chronologically going all the way to that point. up till now, witnesses have been able to tell you a little part of it, but when it comes to falsifications of business records, they don't necessarily have that information this is the person who has the chronology, the background has been a part of all the different aspects of it. and now gets those 34 counts. >> and yet, although we haven't heard from allen

weisselberg, we've heard from a number of people who would have had some control over what the documents look like. >> a whole lot more to get to paulette. kristen stayed with me giving a very close eye on developments here in new york where trump's longtime fixer, as he was called, it, testifying about the time timeline of events leading up. hush money payment of 130,000 to one for me, daniel's more of our special coverage after a quick break hey with priceline vip family, you can see you can unlock deals five times faster. you don't even have to be an actual family. >> i'd be the dad on the day he physically it's clear then i'm the dad. okay. so which data is pain you're you're calling some people find there's at an early age, other later in life no matter when you find it. instead of yourself lucky because it becomes your everything. >> are calling was to build drug and that's why trucks are what we do we put our

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8085920400. that's when 8085920400 welcome back to our special coverage. the former president trump's hush money criminal trial. >> right now, trump's former fixer and lawyer, michael cohen remains on the witness stand. he been describing how in the leadup to the 2016 presidential election, he was doing everything he could to protect his boss, donald trump. how he tried to delay the $130,000 payment to the adult film actress daniels until after the presidential election. and how we eventually fronted the payment to daniels through a home equity line of credit laura right to the heart of the matter here, wolf, and that is exactly right. i mean, cohen has recounted his combination with trump about ultimately paying for these deals. he testified, quote, there's no reason to keep this thing out there. so do it. he expressed to me just do it meet up with allen weisselberg and figure

this whole thing out with b now is cnn's paula reid and cnn's kristen holmes. we have an update as well. coleman saying the heat immediately let trump know that he had signed the agreement. it had it from daniel's. in fact, this is important here because of course, we know that there has bad at the very beginning of testimony today, there have been a conversation about how he sought out the approval and also so the confirmation that he was doing the right thing from donald trump, who assigned tasks, then he had to follow up with them and he knew that if you didn't follow up with them and give them progress on things, it was an unpleasant response that was given. he also says one, so he would know the mat of the task he gave to me was finished, accomplished, done. that goes back to this morning, doesn't apollo, but how he says, look, hey, i was assigned things all the time, and therefore, i knew i was doing the right thing by following up exactly. >> and it speaks to how he is described trump as a micromanager as many other witnesses, harb he was involved in everything, nothing happened without trump's knowledge and without trump's approval that speaking of approval, cohen

also wanted credit for the fact that he had taken care of a problem. now, this all goes to the prosecutor's case that trump was completely in the loop on exactly what was going on here. what i also want to go back to the in the testimony of geoff mcconney one of the top trump organization accounting officials just testified in this case. >> he testified, yes, trump was a micromanager who's fingers were in everything until 2017 until he went to the white house then two things happened. >> he was leader of the free world. so he's a little distracted and to the trump's defense attorneys going to argue that they tried to put up this wall between the trump organization and trump because there was so much scrutiny over whether he was profiting from the white house. so this is all good for prosecutors, but they're going to have to get her round as well. so again, cohen saying here, he kept dropping the loop because he wanted credit for the fact that the task was done. >> yeah, it's important to all showing an agreed between the david dennison and peggy. of course, pearson, this is the the pseudonyms that were used. i both people for donald trump, but we are talking about this

role in this structure. polo makes the point of course, in all these 35, 34 records are all dated after the inauguration. so it's a different trump world, essentially a trump organization which is sons were then heading up on weisselberg though he was still there, he was still a prior, but we know that trump's name was nowhere on the agreement and he did not sign it. so even if he'd been in the oval office at different times later on, it seems very clear that he did not want the fingerprints well, let's do and madeleine westerhout was saying that even though all these checks were coming in, she could not say exactly that he knew every single thing that he was sometimes signing checks when he was on the phone, sometimes during a meeting because with other people, there are a lot of gaps. >> i would say in terms of what the defense is trying to do, which is to say he didn't know exactly what he was paying, but i just want to go back to this part about allen weisselberg because going through michael cohen's testimony, one of the things he says is that it was allen weisselberg's idea. >> could we possibly pay this money through a gulf membership or through a donation or a gift for a baht mitzvah. then he

says, allen weisselberg ultimately settled on the idea that i should front the money and then we should go pass this. >> that again rises to the level of why is allen weisselberg? >> not here, wouldn't seems to be my cohen has testifying that there are three people who knew exactly what was going on. one of them according to cohen's testimony, was really driving some of the ideas behind this. but again, we know he is currently seeing in jail, not testify in this case. >> so just because someone's in jail, which is connected the system, you can still bring them to testify in an update here at cohen's had a initial he initials ec in the signature block for the essential consultants area there, but paula, the fact that he isn't rikers until july it's not as big of an issue as it would be. >> maybe people might think about this is that he likely would not be. >> no, you're not a cooperator, but a co-operative? witnesses yeah. >> i mean, the man has gone to record was twice to protect donald trump. there was an expectation prosecutors have said that if he did take the

stand, he would plead the fifth and that there wouldn't be a lot of balance while you in that way, we can bring them there just to do that is exactly i call them and i'm happy to testify. and the fifth exactly. and it's unclear that he was actually going to offer them anything of value which is why he hasn't been on the witness lists and defense attorneys, it look these on the list. we don't expect that he's going to be called. they're not going to call them because they don't have the burden of proof. >> so this is really a gift for the defense, but at some point they will have to explain to the jury why they didn't call him and today, the judge said he would not allow prosecutors to bring in allen weisselberg berg severance agreement, which lays out the terms that he had to agree to in order to get millions of dollars from the trump organization, including not willingly participating and then the adversary real proceedings like this. >> so it's a complicated situation for prosecutors. what do you do with a witness like allen weisselberg? but there were three people allegedly involved in this conspiracy. >> once the defendant ones and riker's and one is michael cohen, which is why this testimony and how they handle it, how he establishes credibility, and potentially how the defense under cuts it

really will decide this case. well, if the judge is cleared this morning on that very point that you could not bring in that agreement that weisselberg and sign just for the purpose of showing that he was not available hello. bowl. that's that can't cut it for the actual jurors. it would not move the needle according to the judge, paula kristen standby, wolf laura, thank you very much. i'd only months ago, michael cohen described setting up the company that would be used to pay stormy daniels is just one day later, he testified about appearing with me in the situation room. are show here on cnn and said he was acting as a surrogate for then candidate donald trump. i remember that interview with cone. i remember it. well, the accident does hollywood tape had recently been made public and multiple women had begun to come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against trump. much of our conversation was centered around trump's behavior toward the treatment of women. the accusations clearly having an impact on the presidential election today's

away. here's part of our conversation in the situation room ever heard of? >> never. have you ever had locker room talk boy talk as melania trump called it yesterday with him along those lines, i have never heard mr. trump say anything even remotely close to the statements that i heard when i first heard that there was a tape that was going to be coming out. >> i said it's got to be fake because an ice spend thousands of hours with mr. trump a year and i can tell you, i have never heard him say anything, anything even close to that in honest truthfully, mr. trump actually respects women very very much we now know that behind the scenes, donald trump and michael cohen were allegedly embroiled in a hush money scheme at that moment to buy stormy daniels silence our panel of experts is back with us right now. >> elie, what do you think? >> well, so that is an example of pre michael cohen of the old michael cohen. this is what

problem? prosecutors will say. this is the michael cohen who will tell you members of the jury that he used to lie for donald trump. he used to do whatever was necessary to protect donald trump. prosecutors are going to say, look at this guy here, he is lying to wolf blitzer is phase lag to the face of the american public. can you trust him now? can you put a verdict on this, guy's work? but there's going to be doesn't does, if not hundreds of examples of michael cohen on tape, on camera saying things back then that we now know are lies. the question is, is the jury going to be on board with this narrative that well, when he flipped, he made a clean break and now he's a truth teller because you heard of st. michael cohen that trump actually respects women very, very much. there's a reason why prosecutors painstakingly with every question they've asked michael cohen have been asking him questions in the context of evidence that has come up previously in the trial, in the context of phone messages, in the context of conversations with the banker, gary farro, who testified last week and what they've done is in effect pre corroborate his testimony for the reasons that

we're talking about here. there's some credibility issues. and memory issues and all of the above, and they're trying to use michael trying to make his testimony as airtight as possible, something that was said a few moments ago, these are these updates are coming very quickly, but one was i took credit for myself. i had to let mr. trump know that i'd done this. it was important that he knew that the task that he gave to me was finished. this he's establishing his conversations with donald trump how the prosecutor trying to make sure that it's zero but it's possible. yeah. i mean, testified this elie let me get your reaction. i wanted to ensure their once again, he approved what i was doing because i require approval from him on all of this, everything required, mr. trump's sign-off? yeah. so i think michael cohen has explained to the jury he had two worries, two motivations is there one is he didn't want to tick off the boss. you don't want to go and do something that the boss doesn't approve of until he's worried about whether he's gonna get his money back. i mean, michael cohen said the very first they one of the first things he ever did for donald trump was basically try

to reduce the amount of money that donald trump would pay two vendors. so that part of testimony, i think will ring true with the jury. the key is again, is the jury comfortable taking michael cohen at his word about the nature of those conversations, but frankly, it makes sense in the context of all the other testimony that we've heard. >> we'll talk about leading a double life. i mean, here he is on cnn talking to wolf blitzer about the access hollywood tape and saying, you know, i've never heard mr. trump say anything like that and he respects women, et cetera, et cetera? meantime in the real-world, he is negotiating this payment for stormy daniels and trying to come up with the $130,000 that he needs to keep her quiet and to get rid of her story at the same time, he's appearing on tv he saying mr. trump, it would never do anything like that. and by the way, at the same time, women and you remember this jeff are coming out of the woodwork saying, i had encounters with

donald trump that were that was similar to this. and so he's, he's like he's playing whack-a-mole here. >> you're going to understand, is there sting thing this afternoon also just two like think of in the room, donald trump is watching all this and our reporters in the room say, he's nodding and he's looking directly at michael cohen as they are talking about this very important period. but when you step back, it's easy to get sort of lost in the forest for the trees of this here. but one, he is linked donald trump directly to the payments. and two, he said that the former president was worried about the election about to this causing issues among female voters. so i think as of now, those are pretty big headlines in jeff. >> that's a really important point that you make there because of this whole idea that there are two different michael cohen's. one might be lying and over you might be telling the truth. will one of the stories is fully corroborated in the form of this evidence. we've been talking about with the checks and the financial records and other witnesses

testimony. now, again, the defensible certainly confront him with the fact that his story appears to have changed as we saw in that video, quite spectacularly, talking to wolff a few years ago but still half of the narrative is fully corroborated. it'll be interesting to see what they do with it to that end watch. the defense team make this argument. they're going to show a clip like the one of donald trump talking to you wealth and they're going to say, look how smoothly and easily and casually he just lies, right? to the face of cnn, let's look how easily he does this. he doesn't even blink. he's, he's pretty convincing if you just watch that clip and they're going to say this guy, this guy is a sneaky operator and you're going to trust him now, when he was just so easy about lying back then, that'll be a line of cross as well. >> so he's lying. they're going to say so he's lying here to you in court. but then of course you have the pecker testimony and the davidson testimony, which corroborates what michael cohen is saying. so that's question about, who they believe. >> that'll be. that'll be exactly the back-and-forth defense team will say, how can you trust this guy? prosecutors

go trust them because the corroboration let's not a crime to lie to a television reported. >> it is a crime to lie under oath during testimony, did you put them under all know. >> all right. guys, everybody standby just ahead. we'll have more from inside that new york courtroom as one of donald trump's one time closest confidence testifies against them as are special coverage continues this is a secret war secrets and spies premier sunday, june 2, attempt on cnn the ups stores, not just the ship and store where the shipping store, the leave the packing to us the we understand this is more than a package store where the packet she guaranteed store the peace of mind store, where the right around the corner go to we should get all store. the ups store, be unstoppable come in for a mailbox today, and good

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don't so here's two now did you know there's no p in skechers? >> what he told about robert v is always been scheduled. these sketches slippery is ten sketches fans. rob, i think it's always in sketchup from medium rare well done so many ways to save life ruddy while it happy, but three, by whole foods market close captioning is brought to you by skechers slip in pads looking for the most comfortable, stylish, easiest pants around dry new skechers, slip in pants, just slip in an experienced skechers innovative comfort technology fabrics, skechers slip in pants welcome back to our special live coverage of the hush money criminal trial of former president donald trump. it's another dramatic de in court to

say the least as the prosecution's star witness, the former trump so-called fixer, michael cohen, is being questioned on the witness stand. right now. prosecutors are zeroing in on the flurry of activity biggest surrounding the payment to stormy daniels at the core of all the falsified business records charges. now, when asked if he would have gone for without trump's approval, cohen simply said, no joining us now is pulling federal judge john e. jones, the third. now from this perspective of lavett years that you're here right now to help us unpack what's going on. so what are you made of, what michael cohen? it said this far, does it ring credible to you it brings credible, but i think laura, the larger point and then, you know, this as an attorney, is that when the prosecution rests that they will vary quickly the judge will hear motions council will engage on that. >> and of course, the defense will move for a judgment of

acquittal which they can do. and i read a pundit this morning, jonathan turley speculating that the judge awda directed verdict that went out the window this morning. there's plenty of evidence by which the jury could convict, which as you know, is the standard on that. so he's, he's been good enough based on everything that i've seen to carry the prosecution's case. that is if the jury believes that let's unpack that a little bit for the audience because at the end of the presentation of this case in chief, the prosecution's case was they have the burden. the defense never has to even call a single witness. but they do as a defense, have the ability to say, listen, they didn't connect the dots here with the elements of the crime and tend to defraud or intend to carb other crime to do it falsified business records to its cover another crime, et cetera, if they don't feel they've proven that it could go to the judge and say, you're honore. they didn't do enough here. we need not confuse even a jury before

this morning, you're saying with michael cohen's testimony, they could have entertained that motion, but now perhaps that should be sailed well, as you know, laura, they'll make the motion notwithstanding but i think it's going to be a quick a quick denial of the motion at this point. what they had prior to cohen's testimony this morning with circumstantial evidence, i think now he's been as one of your panelists said pre corroborated and that means something. and so, you know, if if the standard is which it is is there a sufficient sufficiently credible evidence by which the jury could convict? i can't imagine that justice merchan would, under any circumstances grant a motion for a directed verdict or of acquittal. and as you know, laura, that if he would grant that it has a preclusive effect jeopardy attaches means

that the former president couldn't be retried so it's a very significant moment in the trial or not as the case may be if if the presiding judge denies the motion it's asking difficult of course, as a motion to dismiss. right. they know that he's already said no, i'm not gonna do that very notion, but it strikes me that the instructions that jury is going to get weather visit the conclusion of the trial for the full jury verdict instructions, or it's the limiting instructors you've already heard so far, part of which we heard a little bit earlier today with the judge on his own said, listen, i haven't heard anyone asked for this instruction yet. but i wanted to tell the jury that the recording that they've heard is going to be treated not as the evidence, but it can be considered as part of something larger, unpack for us why the judge wanted to have and like that to the jury, and why it's so important well, because transcriptions can be inaccurate and so it's, it's what the jurors hear

themselves. that is in evidence and there'll be a fight over different words that were uttered during the tape. some of them are less clear than others. so that transcription is a person's interpretation they don't use ai unnecessary fairly to transcribe. so there's human error and frailties and you may argue over a word. so it's what the, what the juror is actually heard that controls not necessarily what they read, would is kind of an aid as they go through the testimony that's why he said it will be an aid for you all, but not necessarily you is to replace what you're thinking about. >> is there any world here? your honor, where a judge would not give a circumstantial evidence instruction. i mean, that's going to be having important as well, even this testimony, you routinely will tell the jury they can use their common sense and some aspects of that which is not directly said by the defendant, right? >> absolutely. it. oh, he'll

give the circumstantial evidence charge and you know, laura, when i would send a jury back to deliberate, one of the things i would say to them in my charge i'll. be. at, in federal court. was you don't check your good common sense and judgment when you go into the jury room and started to deliberate than i am. sure that justice mug shot will give us similar charge to the jury. i mean, they're going to patch this together as best they can you know, this cases like a mosaic coming together. now, they may find that michael cohen is not credible, but that remains to be seen. that's within the purview, as you know, of the finder of fact. and that's the jury in this case. >> yeah. they have been their powers decide whether someone's credible or not, who they believe and don't believe them, it's a gut check and they can't take their common sense the door, your honor, and their body language reading expertise and every human beings at a conversation will try to use as well, judge john

jones. >> all right. yes thanks, laura. great well, thank you. this just in the prosecution says that it expects to question the star witnesses, michael cohen into tomorrow. >> if you thought this would be a one de affair while you are mistaken much more on his testimony in the criminal trial of his former boss, donald trump feel a back alleys three are you telling me they're going to be like wow it's cavaliers thunder mavericks coverage begins tonight at 6:30. >> india play. i was presented by google pixel. what conference semifinals coverage presented by weighing stop on tnt whether you doing it yourself for hiring a pro today. >> let's paint mayberry exclusively at the home depot what tractor supply customer's experience is personalized service made possible by

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special coverage of donald trump's hush money criminal trial prosecutors have been asking michael cohen about a wall street journal article published on november fourth 2016, just days before election night in at the paper reveal trump's alleged affairs with playmate karen mcdougal and adult film star stormy daniels. >> cohen says trump was upset because and i'm quoting him now there was a negative story that once again impacts the campaign as a result of women. let's bring in our panel to discuss what's going on. what do you what's your initial thought? well, this is what happens when the story starts coming out and you can feel the panic inside the trump campaign. this is the whole point of paying off karen mcdougal and stormy daniels to keep her quiet before the election. so their purpose here has been frustrated and now there's this sort of frantic. what do we do? how do we walk this back? how do we minimize this that michael cohen i think is about to start testifying

about. once again, it goes to this point of the prosecution, which i think has been established quite clearly that the overarching goal is they were worried about what these revelations would do to the campaign, doesn't have to be the only goal legally has to be a substantial goal. and i think michael cohen is corroborated healthily in that by prior testimony, has great prosecution. elliott done a good job potentially convincing the jury that trump knew everything that was going on. i think they've made a very persuasive case about the fact that trump knew what was going on through some of these direct statements by michael cohen where he says that he was in effect acting too, please the boss, making sure that the boss new exhibit faculty what he wanted to do. >> and even if you take those out, forget michael cohen's testimony just and prosecutors will argue this at closing. just use your common sense. how was it humanly possible that in an organization that according to jeff mcconney, i believe that the controller of the

organization was run like a small business we're the boss was involved in major financial decisions where you heard from bankers and other individuals. it's strange logic to think that he would not have known that a pretty substantial payment even now may not have been a lot to trump's personal bottom line, but that a substantial payment was going out for a purpose that was embarrassing to him. it just defies reasons sort of. and so i think they're doing a good job, gaga quick legal question for you, ellie, according to michael cohen's testimony, allen weisselberg, go the chief financial officer for the trump organization, was looking to try to make the payment to stormy daniels looked like a golf course membership or a wedding, anything to distance trump from the actual payment? >> yeah, it just goes to the fact that they were trying to cover the payment up. they were not going to write. nobody really would there we're not going to write hush money payment or nda they were looking for any way that would work. could it be a payment for michael cohen that's why they use this shell company essential consulting. that's why they at one point considered could we make it look like a golf tournament? and i should say over for all

today has been a very good day for prosecutors. i think michael cohen's testimony has been low drama in a way you want as a prosecutor, largely corroborated clear to me and they've moved quite a far distance now, cross will tell the tale, but it's a good day so far for prosecutors, quickly for folks that are recall the hour and weiser weisselberg legal proceedings, something that came up a lot was this question of being paid for private school tuition and automobiles and so on. the trump organization dealt in these non-monetary forms of payments. so it's actually not surprising that they would have been batting around this question of a golf membership as a way of compensating sense wrote that his team are walking you back into the courtroom where gloria, right now, what do you make of trump's conduct as described by reporters who inside the courtroom throughout the day, passing notes whispering, exhaling closing his eyes from time to time. yeah. i think michael cohen's testimony, i think he's doing everything to keep from exploding. all right. i mean, that's just what he's doing. he's closing his eyes, his

passing notes. he just he just doesn't want to be demonstrative because he's been told not to be demonstrative. but now they're bringing up karen mcdougal and, you know, can you imagine michael cohen calling up keith davidson, who's a lawyer for stormy daniels, and karen mcdougal and don't forget the national enquirer paid karen mcdougal for the catch and kill her silence. and he is blaming them for leaking this story. can you imagine being at the other end of that line when michael cohen? >> is screaming at keith davidson and donald trump is mad because he thought michael cohen had all of this under control. >> so michael cohen is passing down donald trump's anger to keith davidson, who is saying, look, we didn't, we didn't leak this story and michael cohen is very suspect about

that. and so they're trying to plug this hole. >> they've got they've got so many issues that don't have anything thank to do with the campaign. judge brush on his back in the courtroom, on the bench, and he's asked for cohen to be brought back into court as well. cohen walked back to the witness stand and avoided looking at trump's table just now. >> it's so interesting. i mean, this is a candidate for president. this is something that is definitely affecting his psyche. we've heard from reporters who are in the remark, colleagues who are watching, he's been nodding and things, but we don't know how this is going to affect the former president. he's been able to blow off a lot of this, but he had michael cohen had a relationship and now all their secrets or being discussed. again, the question, what does voters think of this? perhaps nothing, we do not know if this will impact this presidential election at all. >> it could, on the margins, the voters, we talked two independent voters tired of chaos and other things. >> but interestingly the things that we've learned that donald

trump was so concerned in the final weeks, this was ten days before the election. he had a five-minute phone call with michael cohen he testified today he was worried about how it was going to impact a female voters. he had a debate will see, will the debate also came a slightly earlier than that, yeah, but that's what's happening. so perhaps for history, we are seeing an inside look at the just a scramble inside trump tower here as the clinton campaign was on its way to losing which they didn't know at the time. but in the here and now we do not know the political fallout of this with a conviction or not truck was reading a paper while cohen is being brought back into the courtroom right now, everybody standby we're going to continue our special coverage trump's former fixer and lawyer michael cohen back on the stand now, we're staying at of all of today's developments in new york are special coverage of donald trump's hush money trial continues after a quick break them spotlight it's 12th time in years changing the world

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a part in her husband's 2016 campaign because she's not really playing a part now. >> she's been to one single campaign events and it was his as laundry, his campaign where she lives at mar-a-lago. so she didn't really have to go that far to get there. but it will six here it was a different case and one of the things we heard from michael cohen that was really newsy was the fact that melania trump could actually come up with this idea, as you said, to cast the access hollywood tape as it was having it was rippling through the republicans, democrats, thinking it was going to impact the election to cast it as locker room talk. and i will say it was very effective. if you remember at the time, people the campaign trail kept saying, oh, my husband talks like that, that's just locker room talk. it started going around almost like wildfire that that's exactly what men say or boisei. now it turns out, according to michael cohen, but this came from melania trump. now one thing i want to keep in mind here is that people often don't understand the role that melania trump has when it comes to her current husband. >> they think that she is victim are trapped or that they are very different. they're very, very similar. if you talk to anyone who knows them, she is often giving him political

advice and often her political advice looks a lot like this. it is. have your backup, defend yourself. you need to defend, your honore, we know that she has said about this case, in particular, that she thinks that varus to his name and he has to be there to essentially clear his name in this case keep in mind what we're talking about here. we're talking about an alleged scheme to cover up an affair but he had with a porn star while she was pregnant with their son are just given birth to their son. >> but she's talking about how he needs to go out there and clear his name. >> and i think that's where people we will see the disconnect here is that she often still even to this day, i know even for big interviews she has given them a pep talk saying, get out there, do not leave no matter what, answer all of the questions and clear your name. >> i wonder though paula, if that will be advice to act to take the stand at all, i doubt that that would open with the attorneys must be saying which is do not take that stand an interior but the timeline is really important here. i mean, it was moving pretty quickly this morning in terms of testimony, we're now learning

from the prosecution. they're going to take up tomorrow, at least on the direct. >> then what i mean there's no court on wednesday. then we'll have a cross-examination. this is the defense case. so as i've said, a cross-examination of michael cohen is objected to take as long if not longer than the direct examination. so fair to say the rest of this week, this short three-day week, will be dominated by the testimony of cross of michael cohen. >> and it's short why? >> well, we have no court on wednesdays, that standard, but then we have off on friday because trump had requested off to attend his son, barron's high school graduation but once michael cohen is wrapped up, this could end pretty quickly because we know the defense case is pretty short. they're just expected to call a few witnesses one election expert, alan garten i'm from the trump organization there is that open question of whether their client will testify while they're not saying you can't do it there. we're certainly thinking it and leaving it to the client. if he testifies the whole the whole case rides on whatever comes out of his mouth. that would be a game changer. it's not expected that he will, but then you'll

have closings, you'll instruct the jury price and litigation over what they tell the jury. and then the der will have the case there's a world in which they could get it before memorial day, but i'll caution the next week is also a three-day week, but we're definitely in the home stretch here. it's important to think about. >> remember, the prosecution has the sole burden of proof, but defense can can if they choose to present a case. but again, look for that motion for a directed verdict or an acquittal, if they feel they have not met their burden at the end of the presentation, evans, i do think it will not actually succeed, but then there's the jury who will have to decide this case ultimately, the jury in the courtroom, andrey corridor public opinion, polo, kristen, thank you both so much. thanks we always speaking with a trial consultant about michael cohen's testimony and how it could possibly be landing with the jurors met courtroom as cnn special coverage of donald trump's hush money trial continues more than $500 million in art stolen mae sot well, it out to be the biggest

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to 908358 this is cnn the world's news network. >> welcome back to cnn's live coverage of trump's historic hush money trial. prosecutors, star witness michael cohen has been on the witness stand all day long. the big question. do jurors believe what they're hearing from michael cohen? i'm joined now by jury consultant richard gabriel. richard, thanks. for joining us based on what you know and what you've seen and heard as michael cohen been effective today, that's starting to establish some credibility with the jury well luckily, the prosecutors have done a pretty good job in terms of laying in a foundation for all the things that michael cohen is going to be testifying to today. >> so the real test is actually going to be when he's cross-examine, because right now he's just had to verify a lot of the documents, a lot of

the communications that he's had with donald trump with with stormy daniels and attorney. and so right now, it's really just sort this step-by-step putting those puzzle pieces together for the jury, he seems relaxed. he seems low key. that's what the prosecutors really do want what the jury is gonna be looking for on cross-examination is consistency. if all of a sudden he's defensive and he's angry and he really gets jarred by some of these cross-examination things. then they're looking at will really is credible because they're looking for, is this the same man as i saw on direct examination? >> still on the witness then trump's attorneys are expected to hammer on michael cohen under cross-examination about his past crimes, his history of lying is hatred of trump. did prosecutors do enough to bring up some of that trouble history and potentially blunt the impact from trump's attorneys well, i think they did a pretty

good job about talking about this stuff. what they haven't gotten too, which i think is going to be key. it's sort of how he feels about them now, because a lot of this is of interesting betrayal theme that really goes on. trump feels betrayed by cohen cohen feels betrayed by trump. and so there is that sort of real personality dynamic that's going on here. i think the prosecutors do need to go more into michael cohen's motivation to say what is now clearly he's not being portrayed as this noble, altruistic guy. and i think he has to be consistent with that, but they still need to say why are you here now? why did you testifying for the prosecution the dynamic all de has been very, very interesting he comes across, michael cohen is someone who really admired trump at one point, someone who wanted to please all of the time, how does that play into this? well, i think it's really interesting. this is the whole portrait that jurors are getting about sort of inside

the trump political campaign. the trump organization inside trump himself and this of notion that people really do caudal up to him. people want to use them, people want his favor for and then he uses them in somehow sometimes they feel betrayed and then they want to get back at him. so this whole dynamic is playing out in court with stormy daniel's with some of the other witnesses. you have clearly some of his employees that still really love the guy and really favor him and believe in him and. yet there's still that power dynamic that happens here about some people who do feel used from i think the jury is getting very interesting inside portrait of trump himself were told that trump has been stoic in court all day with his eyes closed through much of cohen's testimony. this in contrast to his more animated the action to some of the earlier witnesses. how much potentially does the jury how might the jury

interpret that? richard well, it's actually this is a good defense move on this part because if he's reacting strongly, it just highlights for the jury that he's being bothered by it, and that means it has more importance more gravity. you want your defendant in a criminal case to kinda thing this is not important testimony. >> this isn't insignificant. and so that demeanor kind of reinforces i really don't care about this. so that is the demeanor that you ostensibly do want from a defendant in this case? >> richard gabriel. thank you very much. and we'll be right back with more news trump hush money. >> trial gavel to gavel coverage. >> this is unprecedented to have a candidate for the white house as a criminal defendant. we've never ben here the weight only cnn can bring it to you because he never reporters are covering every angle of this trial. legal insight, expert analysis. let's go through some key takeaways. >> you'll time updates live

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continue to follow new developments in former president trump's hush money trial. >> one of the biggest takeaways today, i was involving michael cohen's testimony the biggest takeaway, the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels, he says was specifically about protecting trump politically. cohen described how trump was only worried about his 2016 presidential campaign not as wife melania, when he learned the stormy daniels was trying to sell her story about an alleged affair with trump cohen told the jury he was doing everything he could to protect trump. he also testified about are each about how he tried to delay the hush money payment until after the presidential election. he recounted his conversation with trump about ultimately paying stormy daniels cohen testified them quoting, now, there's no reason to keep this thing out. there. so do it. he expressed to be just do it, meet up with allen weisselberg and figure this whole thing out. thanks very