PRIMETIME RECAP OF THE CRIMINAL TRIAL OF FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP. I'M HERE TONIGHT ALONG WITH MY COLLEAGUES, LAWRENCE O'DONNELL AND KATIE PHANG AND NICOLLE WALLACE AND CHRIS HAYES. BIG NIGHT, YOU GUYS. TODAY'S PROCEEDINGS , EXPECTED LEE TO ME MORE LIKE THAT HELPFUL MOMENT IN THE OLD AGATHA CHRISTIE STYLE BRITISH DETECTIVE STORY. BEEN FOLLOWING ALONG, MORE OR LESS. YOU KNOW WHO MOST OF THE CHARACTERS ARE, YOU CAN AT LEAST REMEMBER MOST OF THEIR NAMES. YOU KNOW THE BASIC PLOT OF THIS MYSTERY. BUT, THEN, THERE IS THIS KINDNESS, THIS GREAT HELPFUL MOMENT IN THE STORY WHERE THE DETECTIVE SITS DOWN UNDER SOME STUPID PRETENDS WITH SOME OTHER CHARACTER AND IN THEIR CONVERSATION THEY GIVE YOU ALL THE ANSWERS. IT IS OKAY YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION ALL ALONG, THEY IN THIS CONVERSATION ARE GOING TO RECAP THE WHOLE STORY AND NOT ONLY WILL THEY GET TO THE BIG ANSWER, THE BIG WHODUNIT, THEY WILL ALSO GIVE YOU THE SOLUTIONS TO ALL OF THE OTHER LITTLE MYSTERIES AND RED HERRINGS THAT POPPED UP OVER THE COURSE OF THE STORY. THAT WAS MICHAEL "AGATHA CHRISTIE": TODAY. FOR EXAMPLE, WHY DID MICHAEL COHEN MAKE THE HUSH MONEY PAYMENTS TO STORMY DANIELS FROM HIS HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT RATHER THAN FROM, I DON'T KNOW, HIS BANK ACCOUNT? WILL AND TODAY IT IS BECAUSE THAT ACCOUNT WAS PAPERLESS. NO STATEMENTS RELATED TO THAT HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT WERE GOING TO BE MAILED TO HIS HOUSE. MICHAEL COHEN'S WIFE WAS NEVER GOING TO SEE SOME INEXTRICABLE $130,000.00 PAYMENT ON A STATEMENT AND QUESTION HIM AS TO WHAT HE WAS UP TO. NOW WE KNOW. ALSO, WHY, WHEN THE REIMBURSEMENT WAS MADE TO MICHAEL COHEN FOR CAMPAIGNING FOR STORMY DANIELS HUSH MONEY, WHY DID THAT INCLUDE NOT JUST THE STORMY DANIELS REIMBURSEMENT BUT A BUNCH OF MONEY FOR A BUNCH OF OTHER THINGS? WELL, WE LEARNED TODAY THAT THIS WAS GOING TO BE THE LAST MONEY MICHAEL COHEN EVER RECEIVED FROM THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION. IN THESE PAYMENTS, THEY INCLUDED EVERYTHING HE WAS OWED. THEY WERE ZEROING HIM OUT, HE WAS LEAVING THE COMPANY. WHY WAS HE DOING THAT? BECAUSE IF MICHAEL COHEN WAS STILL A TRUMP ORGANIZATION EMPLOYEE LIKE HE HAD BEEN, IT WOULDN'T MAKE SENSE FOR HIM TO BE GETTING CHECKS AS A RETAINER FOR LEGAL SERVICES. HE WOULD JUST BE GETTING A SALARY LIKE HE HAD BEEN FOUR YEARS BEFORE. SO, INSTEAD, MICHAEL COHEN LEAVES THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION, BECOMES THE PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO THE PRESIDENT, WHICH MAKES THE LEGAL RETAINER CHECKS LOOK LIKE THAT WAS HOW TRUMP WAS PAYING FOR SERVICES AS HIS PERSONAL ATTORNEY. IN REALITY, MICHAEL COHEN WAS NEVER PAID ANYTHING FOR BEING PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO THE PRESIDENT. THAT IS JUST WHAT THEY CALLED IT, THAT IS JUST WHAT THEY CALLED HIM SO IT WOULDN'T LOOK SO WEIRD THAT TRUMP WAS PAYING HIM $35,000 RESENT CHECKS EVERY MONTH. NOW THAT MAKES SENSE. ALSO, WHY DID PROSECUTORS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO POINT OUT THAT BEN ROETHLISBERGER, THE FORMER PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK HAD BEEN AT THE GOLF EVENT WITH DONALD TRUMP AT THE TIME OF THE TRUMP, STORMY DANIELS ENCOUNTER? NOW WE KNOW. CONTRARY TO TRUMP'S DENIALS THAT HE ENCOUNTERED STORMY DANIELS, MICHAEL COHEN TESTIFIED TODAY THAT WHEN HE ASKED DONALD TRUMP IF ANYTHING HAD HAPPENED BETWEEN HIM AND STORMY DANIELS, TRUMP BRAGGED TO MICHAEL COHEN THAT EVEN THOUGH HE WAS THERE AT THIS GOLF EVENT WITH BIG BEN ROETHLISBERGER FOR THE WOMEN THERE, LIKE STORMY DANIELS, THEY WANTED HIM MORE THAN THEY WANTED BIG BEN. ALL THE LITTLE MYSTERIES THAT HAVE POPPED UP OVER THE COURSE OF US LEARNING ABOUT THIS SCANDAL, ALL THE LITTLE MYSTERIES THAT HAVE POPPED UP OR INEXPLICABLE SIDEBARS AND DETOURS WE DIDN'T NECESSARILY UNDERSTAND AS THE PROSECUTION HAS LAID OUT ITS CASE THUS FAR, MICHAEL COHEN TODAY DIVIDED THE ALL IS REVEALED SEEN IN THIS DETECTIVE STORY, TYING UP THE LOOSE ENDS, FILLING IN THE GAPS IN THE STORY. AND, YES, BRINGING US TO THE MAIN EVENT, THE BIG WHODUNIT. MICHAEL COHEN, LONGTIME LAWYER, ENFORCER, BULLY, QUOTE UNQUOTE FIXER FOR FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, MEN WHO IN THE MOBILE ANALOGY WAS NOT SO MUCH A HITMAN AS HE WAS THE UNDERBOSS, THE MAN WHO TESTIFIED TODAY ABOUT, FOR EXAMPLE, TELLING SUPPLIERS AND CONTRACTORS AND VENDORS TO TRUMP UNIVERSITY THAT THEY WOULD GET 20% OF WHAT THEY INVOICED TRUMP UNIVERSITY FOR OR THEY WOULD GET NOTHING
