Trump on trial: New York vs. Donald Trump Day 11 Highlights

longtime Trump at ho pick taking the stand Friday and bringing jurors and the rest of us into these secret meetings and discussions as the access Hollywood tape broke as Trump and AIDS assessed its damage hope hick you see there with Donald Trump that is a coveted Post in any campaign and especially in his someone who is up on the stage and in his ear and on the plane and that is the role she had so this was important testimony including the deals to silence these women it matters because this is reliable testimony from a longtime Trump loyalist so that's hard for the jury to just ignore it is also from a person as a witness who has clearly decided to cooperate with these kind of probes to testify under oath that that's the better Co better course for Miss Hicks I want to mention that she did that today but we have some context leading up to Friday's testimony because she did that in testifying about January 6th in that high stakes probe there she was you may remember she cooperated she discussed what she knew under oath she talked to investigators she even discussed her own private text on that day January 6 where she told others she was so upset quote everything we worked for wiped away what you see on the screen is the way we experienced different probes January 6th they had the cameras on and we saw her actually talking under New York law it's transparent we have the sketches but we don't have video cameras in court but both times to be clear Hicks was a key witness she is cooperating and that itself has led to this reported falling out with Trump now the defendant and she said she was nervous today from the stand she answered the questions confirming she's under subpoena she's paying for her own lawyer and in a moment that does matter for a jury this is still a human exercise hope hick broke down crying on the stand at one point she was seen there crying this was reported and discussed it was apparently best we can tell and from the reporters in the room and the wider context we have uh genuine display of emotion for her as she felt the weight of this moment the raw pressure of testifying about her longtime boss who stood or I should say sat stood by or physically literally sat through her entire testimony watching her and maybe the details were tough for her to share in this manner remember Hicks went from a close a in the Trump business business to that position to campaign press secretary a key post for a candidate obsessed with press and while Trump has had his famous falling outs with many different AIDS a lot of people didn't last through the first year of the administration for example she kept his trust she eventually became White House communications director she witnessed every Trump Scandal as the Washington Post put it and her testimony here this week hurt Trump when she said that he had his hand in everything that he was very involved we were all just following his lead as she discussed the priorities of the campaign and Communications now why does that matter the point isn't whether he's some Apprentice style boss or not it's a much narrower point for the jury it undercuts one of the Trump defenses that I've told you about and he's entitled to his defenses but one of them is hey I was out of the loop I'm busy I'm running for president other people are getting the stuff done well this is Hope pick this is not just nobody and she's saying pretty much the opposite he was handson he set the lead they followed she also confirmed about what we heard from another witness this week The Rona graph the Trump assistant was basically crucial so that is corroboration if the Trump attorneys get up and say oh who's this who's that well the jury's got ho pcks they got the evidence they see how senior a position she held and she's the one corroborating these others and another blow to Trump's efforts to find some sort of distance from The Inquirer Hicks also confirmed with her own eyewitness account that she'd seen and heard Trump talking to The Inquirer Chief David pecker who was the witness earlier Trump congratulating on a phone call after the Tabloid went after then Trump rival Ben Carson here's what's interesting about that at the time in the in the room she knows more than most people but she might have still thought that Trump was just working the Press like usual you call the inquire one day you call Fox the next now however the jury is hearing this wider testimony and understanding this as a potential confirmation of how the Tabloid was carrying out Donald Trump's campaign edicts this wasn't like calling some someone and discussing them doing their independent reporting where you might share ideas and facts or a quote and then see what they report this was according to the DA more like him calling someone who was operating publicly commercially for financially as an arm of the campaign but doing it off the books that's part of the crime that da is trying to prove and why the Hicks testimony combined with what we heard this week was so significant I'll tell you there's more hope Hicks also took the jury inside Trump World in a very unusual way in the very private panck moments when the campaign was rocked by the video you see on your screen the bombshell Access Hollywood tape remember nobody knew this thing existed at the upper echelon of the campaign except for maybe Donald Trump might or might not remember what he said and this isn't just any witness as I emphasize prosecutors determined Hicks was actually the first person to bring the news of this impending video bombshell inside the campaign to the Campa aign manager to Trump and again you and I might remember hope Hicks part of the jury might not not everyone memorizes every Aid on every White House or campaign stat but boy are you going to think she's important if you determine that when the Washington Post had this bombshell the person they went to who they knew was a top Aid who would get right to Trump and the other leaders wasn't the campaign manager wasn't some other friend or family member they went to Hope Hicks The Washington Post reporter contacted Hicks with this impending bombshell scoop and a deadline for any campaign response they wanted to give she rushed it to the campaign leadership there was a pable panic and she testifies how the initial response was well you need to hear the tape to be sure but quote deny deny deny and she recounted how candidate Trump privately knew this was going to be a massive story she said this was a crisis now take that it and say okay what are we talking about we doing uh campaign memories we doing one of these documentaries where you go back and look at an old campaign no the point is not that hope Hicks has fascinating and sometimes never before heard details about that pivotal campaign moment although she does have those the point is that she was eyewitness to Donald Trump's apparent motivation which the prosecutors say is now part of the Criminal Intent in what they have indicted as this coverup and campaign felony Hicks testifying that Trump saw all of this as chiefly a problem for the campaign I'm going to read to you this key passage sometimes the key passages are just someone saying yes or no prosecutor says Trump was concerned these reports could hurt his standing with voters hope pick says quote yes so that's some of the strong testimony the jury heard here to end this week and a lot of folks probably remember where you were when you first heard about about this tape and it's raw admission of grabbing women by the and you might remember the Fallout Hicks recounting that very intense period describing to the jury how it dominated coverage leading up to the next big moment which is the presidential debate this was back with Clinton and Trump when a lot of people thought Trump was already down this was a body blow like no other this is legally relevant to whether Donald Trump was as his lawyers have suggested either not involved didn't know what was going on or to the extent he was involved it was like a personal thing or was it a campaign thing and so we've put together in the context of our reporting Beyond just what Miss hick said today some of that explosive period in the campaign home stretch Donald Trump's presidential campaign in turmoil tonight facing withering political Fallout house Speaker Paul Ryan released this statement cancelling Trump's event I am sickened by what I heard today for Republican Presidential nominee Senator John McCain pulled his endorsement when the tape comes out he drops from 41 to 38 then on the weekend after everybody's seen the tape he falls through the floor that's why they are driving the Republican party and Donald Trump off a cliff and into the political Abyss Mitch McConnell called Trump's comments repugnant and unacceptable you do not recover from this this election ended all it can say is I am sorry now it didn't end but that was the mood Republicans did turn on Trump in that 2016 home stretch that kind of reaction might be a little bit politically unrecognizable today in the last few years we've seen entire crimes and convicted sedition and Insurrection dismissed by Republican Party leaders reminder how how much has changed once Trump did get out from under that October Scandal to go on to win the electoral college this all matters in the trial because it speaks to the campaign motivations that I keep mentioning to you and Hicks was damning on that point telling the jury that Republicans who ran Congress or had the nomination in past Cycles had particularly sharply worded statements against Trump over this issue over what he said on the tape and whether that's how he dealt with women she mentioned for example Romney Paul Ryan Mitch McConnell prosecutors view Hicks accounting as key to what they're still trying to prove to the jury why Donald Trump would in October take such extreme they alleg criminal acts in the campaigns waning weeks he was losing Party leaders his whole campaign was panicked his own top loyal AIDS saw the problem he was losing the narrative he was losing the press a lot of the mainstream press and while Trump still thought and by the way let's be clear politically this was true he thought at the time that he did have a narrow path left to the Electoral College and to winning he also perceived that one One More Story or allegation that linked up with this tape Scandal would certainly do him in the guy who has all this Bluster in public a guy who never admits to losing in private well according to his own AIDS under oath he's a bit of a different guy might be why he's effective got to remember when you're dealing with someone like this that they do play different roles and in private he thought yeah I'm losing for sure and I'm toast if one of these stories comes out that prosecutor say is how he and his campaign leadership viewed the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall stories hick confirming the DA's argument with evidence with her eyewitness testimony that Michael Cohen and The Inquirer had to bury both those stories and do it as a campaign plot for Trump to keep that narrow path even possibly open Hicks asking Michael Cohen for example to get the Tabloid Publishers number on November 5th remember I told you about the receipts doesn't matter what the jury thinks of either the two people in this communication or even what doing what matters is whether they think people have told the truth and what they've said about what happened matches the other documentation and this is bad news for Trump because these texts are in the evidence for the jury and this is as good a confirmation as you can get a writing between key people who were both Trump loyalists at the time going back to the Tabloid Chief David pcker Hicks testifying she asked because Trump wanted to speak with him and so she connected the two of them but she did more than that she also connected the dots back with me Lisa ruin and George Conway Lisa let's talk about some of the demeanor in the courtroom according to the great Lawrence O'Donnell who was in court today when uh hope pix left for the lunch break uh and passed Donald Trump down that that long aisle in the middle neither She nor Trump attempted to acknowledge each other or make eye contact there is some reporting going back ways that New York time uh in the New York Times that they their relationship soured since 2022 cuz she came back in 2020 and stayed till the uh Insurrection when text messages emerged during a house investigation into his efforts to stay in power past his re-election the messages showed she had been critical of him uh and trying to overthrow the government uh does that matter because I mean what they've established seeming here I mean she busts out crying when the defense starts talking to her about her relationship with Trump like it seems to me that the closeness between the two of them is going to be hard for the defense to sort of undo and mess with her credibility you know no I think that's absolutely right and I think the defense had to recalculate their strategy with her once she did start crying what might have been intended as a more difficult cross became a very mild mannered and short one after that because they didn't want to be the people who provoked her to be even more emotional after she had very credibly told some other stories and part of what made her credible Joy is that even though she and Donald Trump weren't acknowledging each other in the present she clearly still has residual past affection for him that she is trying to reconcile with her experiences of him she talked about for example How Deeply involved he was in his communication strategy and that they were all following his lead but the reason she felt that they were following his lead was because as she described him he was sort of a marketing and media Mastermind who knew so much already that they couldn't help but just all fall into line she was very complimentary of how respectful he was of her she had a lot of nice things to say about him even though the stories that she told based on her Recollections will do a lot of damage to him overall in this case so I think the interaction was a complicated one for her and an emotional one because on one hand this is a HX who hasn't spoken to the former president since the summer of 2022 before she testified to the January 6 committee and the things that she told that committee were jaw-dropping she basically said that she had told the former president she didn't believe in his claims of election fraud that they had sort of agreed to disagree but that there was really nothing more for them to say to each other and nothing more for her to do in the white house she didn't even show up to work on January 6th and so that distance is really there and yet her memory of what was between the two of them and how that accompanied both of their meteoric rises in American politics I think was very much on her mind today yeah all the uh in all of his cases everyone testifying against him they're all his people they're all Republicans they're all his own people George con let me play you something that was very unusual and you would know this even better than I would that Donald Trump did on October 7 2016 here's the tape I've never said I'm a perfect person nor pretended to be someone that I'm not I've said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am I said it I was wrong and I apologize George Conway that Donald Trump has never apologized that he's been on TV since I you know most of my life uh he's never done that but he did it because not because he was afraid Melania would be upset he did it for the campaign absolutely absolutely I mean he you never heard him say that again he doesn't apologize for anything they that that was how bad this was that he actually made a public apology and admitted wrong he never does that I mean he's been asked if you you know do you ask for forgiveness from Jesus Christ he says no why why would I why would I do that and then I mean I if I mean this is this is something that I I can't believe that my brain still remembers but in December he actually told the United States Senator this was reported by Maggie ha of New York Times that the Access Hollywood tape we think that was faked he actually said that I mean you know that was absolutely 100% fake remorse it's the one time that I you know I I've written about him being a narcissistic sociopath who you know as consistent with that has never shown any remorse and I when I wrote that article about it five years ago I was like this was the only time I ever I ever found any evidence that he apologized or said he felt bad about something he' done and he didn't mean it yeah and the Access Hollywood tape was made contemporaneously to the time when he was messing around with uh stormy dangels and and k dugall um last question to you Lisa ruin the judge judge marshan is actually pretty dope I actually like him a lot his voice is actually very soothing uh and he's very firm in responding to things whether they happened in his courtroom or not Donald Trump went out and did a thing where he said I'm not allowed to testify because I'm under a gag order uh what did the judge do today to say no no that that ain't true man the judge started today Joy by very calmly addressing Trump almost as if he was a misinformed child as opposed to a petulant defendant and essentially said to him sir I think you might be under some misimpressions with respect to the impact of my gag order it absolutely has no effect on your ability to testify in fact it only addresses extrajudicial statements extrajudicial meaning out of court so you have a constitutional right to testify in this courtroom in your own defense if you so choose in consultation with your lawyers as well as a constitutional right not to testify if you so choose and I just wanted to make that perfectly clear to you sir and doing that he's showing Donald Trump he's watching oh Lord let him testify please I pray please same same we all are in agreeance let's touch and agree on that Lisa Ruben and George Conway testify Donald uh thank you don't be chicken don't be scared do it Olivia nutti is a correspondent for New York Magazine where she has extensively covered hope Hicks over the years WR a great profile of her Christie Greenberg is a former deputy chief of the Criminal Division for the US attorney's office in the southern district of New York she was at the courthouse today and they both join me now it's great to have you here um let me start with you because you were at the courthouse and you walked in and got on said and you're were like whoa what a day it felt again we're reading this in real time from people that are in the room we don't have cameras we don't have transcript but it felt that way just getting the little text dispatches what was it like in that in thatb building it was incredibly powerful testimony from hpix because before she even got to kind of the meat of it she had said so many nice things about Donald Trump just to start you know he's a master at branding he knows Communications and like a lot of really kind of obsequious comments um you know in showing that she still cares for the guy so then when she starts making these statements that are damning to the defense's case it has that much more power he she's not like the SLE ball lawyer who's got these sleazy tabloid clients or the Tabloid journalist like she's somebody who cared about him and yet she is just you know there was the nail in the coffin moment where in 2018 there's a conversation that it's just her and Trump right he's president of United States at this point she's working for him in the White House yes and Michael Cohen says has gone to the New York Times and said out of the goodness of my heart right I made this payment to Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump says well you know this would have been really damaging if it had come out during the campaign and it's good that it's coming out now and not then and that was the last question from the prosecutor and it was just a mic drop Moment Like jawdropping moment that she had said that so I it it was incredibly powerful just to follow up on that and she started crying after she said that right like there all the sort of tension in her gets released at that moment exactly like at that point she the cross-examination starts there's like a question or two about like when did you start working at the Trump organization and that's when she starts crying I don't at least watching it it did not seem like that was the question that made her cry I think it was the fact that she had just she knew she dropped this bomb uh and that the weight of that really in that release as you say you could just see it in in her expression Ley you've covered hopix for a long time how how Central was she to the operation how crucial a witness is she in this Cas she was in proximity and and uh in every other way as close as you could get to that family without having the last name Trump I think arguably she was much closer to Donald Trump than a lot of his own children um she was out Tiffany probably yeah she was a lot lot closer than than a lot of the children she was around all the time uh she started at the Trump organization and became very close to Ivanka and sort of built her reputation there in the family and then found herself um it's sort of this comical almost like dark sitcom uh Donald Trump said we're going to Iowa and she said what do people wear in Iowa uh you know she did not intend to work on a presidential campaign uh and did not intend to work in a white house it was not her dream and yet she ended up there um in this incredibly toxic ultimately violent uh environment and saw a lot and has a near photographic memory even if that did not always come through in her testimony um and I I think it was probably very hard for Trump if he has emotions to see her in that position she's not Michael Cohen yeah there was report I mean Lawrence said this and we played that in the open that there was sort of avoid avoidance of eye contact she said she hadn't talked to him since 2022 um it seems to me like there are two key parts of the prosecution's case that that hicks helps the prosecution with one is was this about the campaign right because that's key to the motive and the other was was this being done by other people or did Trump have a role and my understanding is the testimony spoke to both of those but on the second you talked about the first one on the second one like it's pretty clear from her testimony at least according to her that he was involved this was not an off book operation freelan by Michael con exactly right and so she talks about the fact that when the inquiry first comes in before the Wall Street Journal publishes that the national inquir is trying to you know squash this uh story about Karen McDougall when that inquiry first comes in Donald Trump goes to hopix and says what did David pecker tell you right and that's significant because he wants to make sure that David pecker is sticking to the story this was a legitimate business contract with Karen McDougle we wanted her on the magazine covers we wanted to make sure that you know that he wanted to make sure that the contract which just says that this was a legitimate business opportunity promotional opportunity that pecker was telling that story because hope hick is in the dark and then after the article is published this the Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal after it's published this is now a few days before the election November 4th 2016 after the article is published what does Donald Trump say to Hope pix how's it playing and that's what he would say whenever he wanted to find out how something was being received in the Press again related to the election now she also testified as you mentioned in the opening that you know he said maybe make sure the newspaper doesn't go to Melania and that's also fine like you can have both purposes so long as the campaign is front and center which it clearly was and which hopix testified that it was but again like his Focus was also on getting David Pecker's phone number after the article came out he asked Co asked hope piix give me Pecker's phone number and then afterwards says it's all good like we talked it's all fine good which is what pecker testif how's our girl again yes this corroboration of what we've already heard from from pecker again showing Donald Trump is right in the center of this and and Hicks part of what was fascinating me again as I was sort of reading this through our internal slack channel is that again it was a reminder of the sheer chaos and crisis and almost Tipping Point moment of the axis Hollywood tape and the fact that that article that does come out before the election ultimately ends up spaced out enough that it wouldn't like if if that had come out the day after Planet Access Hollywood or two days after or three days like that could have been it right I mean you were there covering it that could have lucky yeah they got sort of Lucky with the timing of that and also remember at that time it's easy to forget now I think I've repressed a lot of it I think most Americans have it was one allegation after another it was two more than two dozen allegations in the end of some sort of sexual misconduct or impropriety um and it was just one thing after another they're running against Hillary Clinton it's not like they think that they're going to do well with Women Voters overall but it's just this sort of uh torrent of negative information and this is yet another thing let me ask you about the moment when hopix uh uh cried I understand you've been doing some reporting about that uh I mean my understanding was look she did not want to testify she was compelled to testify it's not as though she raised her hand and said yes I want to help ruin Donald Trump's life right this is someone who's been very important to her even if she does maintain very complicated conflicted feelings about him and my understanding was up being asked about the opportunities that that he had given her in her life sort of brought all of that back and and made her very emotional that it was not a direct response uh to the realization that's how that's how the cross started yes which is sort of a kind of like twisting of the knife yeah right like this guy that gave you everything you're up here testifying against him buckle up witness number nine in the people of the state of New York versus Donald J Trump was unlike any moment of this trial we've seen so far unlike any witness in this trial we have seen so far and this is a trial that has already seen its fair share of twists and turns and drama but on the stand today hope hick the consumate silent Trump Insider who was by Donald Trump's side for years from before he descended down the escalators at Trump Tower and announced his first run for the White House all the way through his final days after the January 6th Insurrection as the Washington Post put it today she witnessed every Trump Scandal today a visibly nervous and distraught hope Hicks who began to cry as cross-examination began before that though she pulled the curtain back on Donald Trump's innermost Circle hope Hicks described the Meltdown inside Trump World over the release of the Access Hollywood tape she was the first person in the campaign to know about it when she got an email from David farenthold he was them with the Washington Post he's now at the New York Times David fenthol was seeking comment from her Hicks sent the email email to other staffers on the campaign including kellyan Conway and Steve Bannon and she wrote this flagging one need to hear the tape to be sure to deny deny deny hope hick said quote there was consensus among us all that the tape was damaging and that this was going to be a crisis so what was Trump's first reaction well that it was not something he would say but later Trump said that it was quote not anything to be so upset over and he said it was quote pretty standard stuff for two guys nonetheless hope Hicks recalled the intense reaction enough to completely overwhelm press coverage of a category 4 hurricane bearing down on the United States the Trump campaign battered by criticism from within the highest ranks of the Republican party and then in the coming few weeks campaign had to contend with allegations of more inappropriate behavior on Trump's part from various women and that Trump was indeed concerned about how all these stories would impact his standing with female voters now when it comes to the two women at the heart of the Criminal Case Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall hope hick said that she first heard of Karen McDougall on November 4th 2016 that's four days before election day when she received an email from a Wall Street Journal reporter also now at the New York Times she had heard of Stormy Daniels a year before as NBC news reports when quote guys on a plane were telling a story about Stormy Daniels attending a celebrity golf tournament with a participant who played with Donald Trump hick said the Trump campaign hoped that the story would simply blow over and then prosecutors began to ask hopix about her time serving in the Trump White House hopix said that Donald Trump told her that Michael Cohen had paid stormmy Daniels out of the goodness of his own heart Trump said that actually to protect Donald Trump from false allegations hope Hicks told prosecutors at Trump's story was inconsistent with the Michael Cohen she' come to know quote he is a kind of person who seeks credit hope testified to an insiders Insider bringing the highest levels of Trump World to light today in Donald Trump's first criminal trial it's where we start with some of our most favorite reporters and friends just back from the courthouse both Christy Greenberg she's an MSNBC legal analyst and a former criminal division deputy chief at the southern district of New York and Sue Craig has joined us as well from Court she's of course New York Times investigative reporter and an MSNBC contributor lucky for us a regular at this table at this hour plus Democratic strategist and director of the public policy program at Hunter College basil Michel joins us for the hour my friend and colleague NBC News correspondent Von hilard is outside the cous for us in lower Manhattan Von I am going to start with you and just the the hopix of it all we were looking we we know that she was in the room where it happened when it happened all the time as it was happening and she was exactly as you described professional courteous managed to keep herself held in high regard regardless of the sort of gutter that Trump dragged the country into um this was too much for her at a point today talk about your reaction to watching this testimony emotional teared up in literally within the first minute of her cross-examination from Donald Trump's attorney the court had to take a pause as she was given an opportunity to regroup collect herself there and then upon walking out out our team described her looking just solemn on her way out of the courthouse understanding that this was an emotionally difficult day what she described upon walking into the courthouse this morning was a relationship that began with the Trump family back in 2014 this is a decade long relationship now one we should note that she testified has been cold since since 2022 or at least C to the extent that she hasn't talked to her former boss since the middle of 2022 after the tapes of her testifying to the January 6 committee came out in which she described on January 6 warning Donald Trump that his legacy was on the line because of the attack that day and so for Hope Hicks to come in here though and publicly testify just short distance from Donald Trump somebody who gave her not only a terrific job at a mega J Corporation but then ultimately led her to become the campaign press secretary for the presidential campaign that would go on to win the presidency and then give her a job as comm's director inside of The White House all by the age of 30 years old in no small part the Donald Trump have an impact on her life and what you heard here to her today to describe was what the prosecution knew from her what she had previously told Congressional investigators about her experiences in 2015 and 2016 but then she did provide some insight there particularly when it turned into 2018 initially after the Wall Street Journal reported about the Stormy Daniels $130,000 payment for Michael Cohen in which she says that Donald Trump explained to her that boy Michael Cohen was s so such a charitable act on his part to do that for me there and you could see here you know almost by testifying to this providing an insight into one may be able to imply it skepticism but then others you know to a certain degree for somebody as she described herself to be so in the know about the campaign and the Trump organization clearly there was a lot that she from her own testimony did not know that she was not privy to that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen kept away from her in so much of this bearing out for the public through this criminal trial that she was asked to take the stand and be a part of today you two were both in the room where it happened tell me about it then it it was a remarkable moment and we let's go right to 2018 and the Wall Street Journal has got a story where they've got more details on the Stormy Daniels payment they had mentioned it in the 2016 story with Karen McDougall but they they are surfacing a lot more information about it and as as a result of that Michael Cohen issues a statement to the New York Times he's doing a story on it saying he's just disavowing he's saying that he did it on his own he made this payment on his own and then he goes to tell hope hick about this and hope hick is pretty skeptical because it doesn't sound like the Michael Cohen that she knows he's not a very charitable person and she's very skeptical about it and then the next day we don't know where it is but she has a conversation with Donald Trump about it and this is the moment that was just sort of the whole courtroom was like Wow cuz she's talking to Donald Trump and it was relaying the conversation that she had with Michael Cohen and Donald Trump says well better to be dealing with it now it would have been bad if it had come out during the election just I mean the courtroom was just quiet and then the government ends their their questioning of her and the cross starts Donald Trump's lawyers get up and they ask a pretty basic question ever they said they you know just tell us what what month you started what year you started working at the Trump organization and then suddenly I thought she just lost her voice cuz she wanted I thought she was reaching for water and she just started crying she had the tissues came out and the court the the judge said we'll take a break it was just unbelievable like I think this we're never going to we can kind of put together what happened I don't think it was the government's question about when she started working at the Trump organization that triggered it I think Trump's lawyers asked that when Trump's lawyers asked that I don't think it was that I think it was just just overwhelming sort of it felt like a confession that she had come forward and said this that I mean that's the heart of their case by 18 He says yeah I paid for it but thank God it didn't than God it didn't come out and influence the election and it was just this moment and then she was very kept tearing up as as as the uh cross-examination of her continued it was just such an emotional moment today yeah and what I would say is you cannot overstate just how significant this testimony was because there is no document there is no other corroborating witness it's just hopix and Donald Trump having this conversation she didn't have to share it and she clearly didn't want to share it that was obvious and yet she went up there and she told the truth and she said yeah this clearly mattered to him he on it was about the campaign as you said that is the whole ball game here and it's interesting because leading up to this she was being very careful with her answers there were a lot of I do not recall she was asked about a a conversation she had with Michael Cohen I don't remember she's refreshed a few times with other grand jury testimony oh well sitting here I don't remember it today but back then yes I suppose she's being very very careful and I'm thinking oh is she playing games here what are we doing and then it leads up to this and this was like the mic drop moment that that the prosecution ended with and then she really you know says yes you know he he understood this mattered this was about the campaign and she didn't have to do it and she did and it I think is so damaging in his case you can attack David pecker as being a SLE ball from the national Inquirer you can attack Keith Davidson for having all these sleazy clients like there was nothing to attack here she was just a young woman who got on his campaign just four years out of college and clearly looked up to him and cared about him she had many moments in her testimony where she was saying really wonderful things about him right and then this he so good multitasking he's so good at message he's so good I mean that's how it started right and you really felt her affinity for him and I have to say she was a little bit nervous when she first started her testimony but then I thought really did a good job she was even she was I thought the jury very personable but then as we're leading up to this moment where she starts to cry and makes this I felt like it was a confession she became very anxious on the stand as if she knew what she was going to say we never going to know but you could feel something building as she got to this moment

Channel: MSNBC

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Length: 37min 51sec (2271 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2024