altered my brain chemistry, new hands-free sketcher slip ends. >> it's likes lipids have an invisible built-in shoehorn, so my foot slides into place its mind blown gregory news in the trump trial, the biggest name witness yet, longtime trump aid hope hicks, testifies about the stormy daniels hush let me payment at the center of this criminal case, describing a crisis or word, a crisis within the 2016 trump campaign and shedding tears on the witness stand. >> stand-by for new firsthand accounts of the trial, as donald trump watched his former employee and trusted confidant get very emotional while testifying against him for the next hour, we'll take you inside the courtroom from gavel to gavel break down all of today's most it's important developments and look ahead to what's next. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer with a special report in this room the

trump trial today close relationship with little and emotional turn today as she appeared on, the, witness stand in this criminal trial. that's good. all the breaking news on her testimony, very dramatic testimony today. and what it means for the case going forward. cnn's kara scannell is outside the courthouse in new york. take us through hicks. his testimony and what broader to tears at one point well, we'll hope hicks was on the stand for about three hours today and then entire time, she avoided looking over in donald trump's direction, but she told the jury how donald trump reacted when the access hollywood tape became public also, how he'd reacted when the hush money deals that are at the center of this case also became public for emotional breaking point came moments after she told the jury that donald trump said to

her that it would have been bad if those stories had surface before the election hope hicks, once one of trump's closest aides took the stand friday, in emotional day of testimony at one point, even tearing up on day 11 of trump's criminal trial so i'm not allowed to comment on any of that. >> as you know, i'm under a gag. i was very interested in what took place today. >> hicks, who was trump's campaign spokesperson in 2016, and later served as white house communications director, looked visibly uncomfortable before testifying, saying she was really helene purvis. prosecutors quickly brought up the access hollywood tape, which was released just one month before the 2016 election. >> when you're a star, they let you do it. >> hicks recalled trump being upset. she said there was a consensus among campaign leadership that the tape was damaging to the campaign. and it was a crisis she said media coverage of the tape was so intense, it literally knocked a

category four hurricane out of the news cycle hope said it was all trump all the time for the next 36 hours, hicks testified that trump was involved in the campaigns response prosecutors played his video apology for the jury. >> anyone who knows me knows because these words don't reflect who i am. >> i said it. i was wrong and i apologize prosecutors tried to show that catastrophic impact the access hollywood tape had on trump's campaign, demonstrating the urgency to kill another bombshell story from being released just weeks before the election, hicks testified she was sitting on the plane when she learned that the wall street journal plans to publish a piece about the national enquirer's catch-and-kill deal involving trump's alleged affair with an x playboy model, karen mcdougal, and adult film star stormy daniel's trump denies the affairs. >> hicks said she spoke with trump who was concerned about the story, and he instructed her to deny it. she is quoted in the journal saying daniel's

a fair allegation is absolutely unequivocally untrue. hicks said trump's was concerned with how the article would be viewed by his wife saying he wanted me to make sure that the newspapers warrant delivered to his residents that morning. prosecutors aztecs about trump's former lawyer, michael cohen's one $130,000 payment to daniels to buy and kill her story of an alleged affair with trump cohen told the new york times in 2018 that he made the payment from his own pocket hicks said she was skeptical about cohen's motives saying, i didn't know michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person. higgs described trump's assessment the story saying it was mr. trump's opinion is that it was better to be dealing with it now, and that it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election as trump's attorney, emile bove, you went to take over questioning. hicks began to cry after a break, bogey focused on cohen trying to show he had no role in the campaign and would act on his own hicks testified cohen was not supposed to be on the campaign in an official

capacity but would try to insert himself at certain moments. she said cohen often did things that were unauthorized by the campaign. and that is sometimes went rogue now we'll if a court source tells me that donald trump has paid the $9,000 fine that the judge ordered him to for violating the gag order in the case. he made that payment yesterday, according to the source. now hope hicks testimony caps two weeks of witnesses testifying in this case, the jury has heard a lot about these cachin killed deals the next phase, the alleged cover up wealth. >> kara scannell oxide, the courthouse in new york for us. thank you, kara very much. cnn's kaitlan, poland's is here with us along with other legal and political experts to break down all these dramatic developments that unfolded today, kaitlan, first of all, take us through some of the key tests testimony today by hope hicks. yeah. what hope hicks said? and today, there was drama around it, but what she said did a lot of things for the prosecution as a witness forming a piece of the bigger picture of the puzzle. so one

of the things she did was she read some texts about what she and michael cohen were discussing in reacting to these stories coming out about women on the campaign, donald trump. >> she's establishing the link between her role as a campaign official, someone in the in that world of donald trump talking to michael cohen repeatedly and being aware of these things bubbling up as there was public testimony about it. >> and then near the end of her testimony, she gives the prosecutor something to work with about michael cohen, who's going to be the focus of much of the coming days of this trial. she says, i didn't know michael to be in especially charitable person or selfless person. he's the kind i've person who seeks credit. >> put that into the bigger narrative here. >> michael cohen wiring $130,000 of his own home equity line of credit to pay off stormy daniels to pay off karen mcdougal and other contexts

that is going to be something that matters. who is michael cohen? why would he wire money toward women to keep them quiet let's see what happens on norm eisen, how significant is this admission it's very significant wealth and the testimony at the very end of the direct that hope hicks donald trump's trusted aides so close to him that she didn't believe his story that michael cohen was doing this on his own and that she felt that the statement by donald trump that it was better that this come out after the election, that before was so impactful that she broke down in tears, i believe because she was throwing her former boss under the bus. i was in court for the first part of the testimony

today, and she absolutely riveted that jury, even the ones who many of them have no pads, they're writing a times. they put down their writing materials and they were intently focused on her. they were listed turning to her and i think this was a powerful step forward for the prosecution's case. so how difficult jim trusty does this make it to argue that trump was not even involved in all of this well, it certainly hurts. i mean, there's a couple of tactical things i would just point it out to start with first is when you're at the end of a week of a multi-week trial and error prosecutor, i did this for years 27 years. you'd like to end strong. you'd like to end with something where the jury goes home thinking that was pretty important stuff, so they certainly began to cross over from just kind of tawdry to president trump's intent, which will drive whether they can make the felony charge. the other thing i would say on a pure advocacy level sometimes, really really reluctant witnesses become the most powerful ones. and you can just

read it. it's just human psychology. you see a person that is clearly uncomfortable with being there doesn't want to hurt anybody, doesn't want to be a part of it, but they end up giving devastating, very entertaining, and interesting information. so yeah, i think it's early to do a parade or to say it's over i think the real battle that shaping up aside from everything about cohen and the cross is redirecting the jury back to cohen's lack of credibility but the jury instructions, which is really a boring thing for non-lawyers, that's watching paint dry. but does this, judge tell the jury that president trump to be convicted has to have an exclusive plea personal motivation, or can it fix mixed hope gave mixed. she said at one point, he's worried about politics, not the point i'm worried about the wife. >> it could be if the judge wants to put the finger on the scale here, the judge says, any element of political preservation is enough to support the conviction. >> so the instructions to the jury gets at the end of the case hey, sir. absolutely. a nuclear moment as to guilt or if you have a wild to go before we hear those couple years,

probably but several weeks. how much kristen holmes does this potentially bolster the prosecution case? >> well, it was clear that the prosecution did what they set out to do here with hope hicks. i mean, they made it very clear. they walked everybody through a lot of the missing pieces that we hadn't had so far. michael cohen acting on behalf of the campaign, talking to donald trump, his inner workings, the fact that there was so much communication around this, the fact that donald trump was micro-managing these crises situations running, the fact that hope hicks put her statements through michael cohen at one point, even though he was a rogue actor, but i do want to say part of what we saw there with the defense as well, and even some in the prosecution. they also she also painted michael cohen has a pretty unsavory character. we've seen that time and time again now how this plays out when he's on the stand has yet to be seen. but one thing that almost everyone who has had a first-hand experience with donald trump with the situation has in common is that they all

dislike michael cohen or have nothing positive to say about hadn't interesting you, caitlin, there's an i understand there's another key part of hope hicks is testimony that you're looking at. yeah. well, if i actually want to read two different quotes from her back-to-back because they're the quotes that i think we may see when the prosecution closes and then when the defense closes, we may be hearing them again because hope hicks was serving as such a valuable and valuable narrator and someone that the jury was so clearly invested in listening to the first thing she says direct quote, this is on the direct examination of prosecutors asking her about the crisis after the access hollywood tape comes out and the stories are emerging. she says everything we talked about in the context of this time period and this time frame was about whether or not there was an impact on the campaign. so that clearly is playing exactly into what the prosecution narrative is. but then as mr. trustees saying, on the other

side, there are things she said, even in direct examination that could be used by the trump defense, this quote, he was concerned about the story donald trump. he was concerned about how it would be viewed by his wife, and he wanted me to make sure that the newspaper warrant delivered to his residence that morning. that's regarding the story, the wall street journal was going to print about karen mcdougal that he picks was asked for comment on so what normal is and what do you think does this all get to the heart of the prosecution's basic case? i think it does wealth and to pick up on a theme of this entire trial, it is corroboration of the key witness michael cohen. he was the first person i talked to when we did the first trump impeachment, i spent days with him and i believe he will present well to a jury. he's at colorful new yorker and people are going to be surprised when

they actually meet him because e is not very buried in the story that he told me in january 2019, one jot and everything he said, including today by hope hicks is being corroborated. so it's setting things up for the star turn of the prosecution's star witness. >> i want to play yeah. hope hicks was a witness during the january 6 congressional committee special investigation. i want to play a key moment of her deposition. listen to this evidence of fraud on a scale that would have impacted the outcome of the election. and i was becoming increasingly concerned that we were damaging we were damaging his legacy. >> what did the president say in response to what you've just described? >> he said something along the lines of you know, nobody will

care about my legacy if i lose so that won't matter. the only thing that matters is is winning those interesting kristen the theme of trump thinking certain things could damage how people would view him was a major part of her testimony back yeah. >> it was back then and obviously it was let's today as well, talking about how whether or not the campaign or whether or not it's his wife, his family, it's also what we've heard from david pecker as well, trump brought it up a lot first, it was the fact that he was worried about what ivanka or meloni would think of him if these stories had gotten out in the national enquirer, then it moved to what would happen with the campaign. >> and that's holds true today. >> donald trump cares what other people well, think about him. that's why he has to react when somebody says he's sleeping in court because he has to show that he was not sleeping in court. he believes that everything impacts his image. he wants to control the media narrative if something

negative comes out, he wants to take control of that. so it's not surprising that someone who is literally part of almost every conversation at the time would have such to deep knowledge of the fact that donald trump is really obsessed with how people view him. >> good point that jim trusty, how do you see it differently? >> i mean, look, anyone that's running for national office is certainly going to be a little introspective to use. >> maybe the kindest word about what's happening in their lives and what the focus this is i think when we throw around phrases of obsession and he's obsessed with getting different media treatment. he has demonstrably gotten bad media treatment. i mean, we can think of them what we want, but i'd say there's, there's a leap to judgment in both directions, but in the mainstream media, that's typically again it's president trump. they can every article. i mean, it's like, you know, he gets he gets blamed for bad weather in new york. so look, it doesn't mean that he's a saint or that he is somebody that's not above

criticism, but it's not surprising that anybody would get sick of hearing that he's asleep in court or that he's glaring at witnesses when there's no real evidence of that so i'm sympathetic to any defendant going through a unique creative trial that is getting the scrutiny that he gets every second of the day. what about those reporters who were inside the courtroom and testified and say he was sleeping testify, i heard people say his eyes were closed. >> i didn't hear people say that he was conked out, so i'll say that was today for the better part of the trial. he was asleep including in a critical portion of whole books testimony when she was saying how she first learned of the stormy daniels situation, i watched him closely. he was in mobile and then the judge broke for lunch and he his eyes popped open, a woke up. it's pretty clear that her look, you've also gone out on a limb to vouch for the star witness, michael cohen. i'll take that battlefield any de as litigator that cohen is going to be the

superstar of the prosecution's case is going to be a fun i would say moment, but it'll be a fun number of days of cross-examination of your former friend let's see what happens then. >> our it guys. thank you very, very much. i will have much more on the impact of hope hicks is testimony on the jurors that trump himself, vocal trump critic george conway, standing by to join us live. that's next greetings happen yeah. that's not good happened huge things happen happen. be there with three, learn more at rnc dot critics and audiences are raving about them. number one, get america when they come talk to you in good guadagnino's challengers. >> nothing short of miraculous. it's pure filmmaking booleans challengers, we are now playing in theaters everywhere time for growth funding from bus due credit makes it possible, are

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captioning brought to you by meso book.com if you or a loved one have mesothelial will send you a free book to answer questions you may have call now and we'll come to you 808 to one 4,000 longtime trump aid hope hicks. >> very high-profile witness for the prosecution and the trump trial today, potentially helping them as well during are sometimes very emotional testimony. >> joining us dark conservative lawyer, george conway, a vocal trump critic, who is now also a major donor to the biden campaign. now george, thanks very much for joining us. what stood out to you from her testimony? >> well, that dramatic moment where she testified that donald trump knew about the payments and he lied to her about she didn't obviously, she didn't believe him, but at that michael cohen had done that out of the goodness of his heart. but she she put in donald trump's mouth the fact that he understood that those payments

were made on his behalf before the election by michael cohen. >> and that's just, you know, that's devastating testimony. >> it it absolutely corroborates michael cohen story which has been corroborated in numerous respect and it shows that he knew that when he was signing those checks with the backup that said and he was doing this at the at the resolute desk for goodness sake. the when you saw the backup, the backup said leo retainers, he knew that wasn't true and that goes let's do is intent it falsified business records and even if you accepted the lie, i mean, the obvious lie that trump told to hope that she didn't believe that michael just did this on his own. it was still a campaign finance violation because what he was essentially michael cohen, at least temporarily was giving $130,000 well, just for the benefit of donald trump's campaign. and that would be a campaign contribution that's over the limit. and what have to be disclosed. and so the fact that he then signs these documents

too cloak cover up the fact that this was done on his behalf to silence women or even over whatever. i mean, it was that was clearly michael cohen's intent he's covering up campaign finance violation and that means that he committed a falsifying business records in the first-degree under new york law. and it's the major charged correct. is facing right now. >> i want to get your reaction to this part of hope x's testimony today about the discussions on that wall street journal story. >> she said this so the quoting now everything we talked about in the context of this time period and this timeframe was about whether or not there was an impact on the campaign, how damaging was that? yeah. >> i mean, look, it was obviously her testimony was that this was just a major major event. and if we all all remember that weekend of when the access hollywood tape dropped, i mean, as hope hicks testified, there was a hurricane that weekend and nobody covered the hurricane.

and there was absolutely every reason to believe that any further stories about trump's behavior with respect to women would be harmful to trump and that's the reason why. and frankly, it's the reason why they cook this stuff. stuff. this holes conspiracy back to 2015 with pecker that's why they paid off mcdougal and they pay it off stormy daniels says, as we all know by now started to cry shortly after the start of the defenses cross examination, what did you make of that? >> and how do you think the jury will interpret that? >> well, i mean, you can't really get into the mind of her without explaining having her tell us what she was feeling. but she clearly well, as i as i think jim trusty well said in the last segment i'm reluctant witness. she did not want to be there. she did not want to deliver this this devastating hammer blow and that adds to her credibility. i mean, if you

were writing a law and order episode or a or a movie script about a trial of a politician. and you have this witness who was so close. and so loyal and so beloved in that family, the trump family crying on the stand when she's delivering evidence that could put her former boss in prison in state prison in new york. i mean, it's just it's it's a incredibly dramatic moment. the jury is never going to forget and the jury is going to believe every word that she said good point. >> are george conway is usual. we always appreciate your expertise. thanks very, very much. and coming up a deeper look at hope hicks and how she found herself in the inner circle of the most powerful man in the world, at least at one point now they're shooting

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three-to-one, three-to-one today. >> i'm melanie zanona in washington and this is cnn we're back with our situation room special report on the trump trial. >> jurors now have a full weekend to digest today's blockbuster testimony by longtime trump aid and com i hope hicks and the tears she appeared to shed on the witness stand bryan todd is joining us now with more on the breaking story for bryan. this was clearly a very emotional moment for hope hicks. >> absolutely wolfe, you know, today, hope hicks was once again reluctantly dragged into one of donald trump's legal storms and uncomfortable position for someone who the set to be not overtly political and who's known for being outright shy hope hicks was visibly nervous during her testimony. cnn's reporters inside the courtroom said, teared up at one point and

rarely looked at her former boss. observers say taking the stand for the prosecution had to have been difficult for the 35 holt who said to be fiercely loyal to donald trump. >> let's, she's not a political operative by nature. this is more of a personal situation for her, so there's got to be really hard for her to go out there and and make her case. >> hope charlotte hicks, a former teenage model, first worked in the world of media and communications after graduating from southern methodist university, she did not come up in politics. she came up in pr, in new york, working with ivanka trump and then was brought onto the campaign. and in many ways, she was seen as like an extension of the trump family in testimony hicks said of working with ivanka trump. i was enjoying it so much that i was offered a position at the trump organization and jumped at the opportunity to join the company full time. hicks says that when donald trump told her she'd be the 2016 campaign press secretary, she thought it was a joke because she had no experience. >> i said, what do you know about politics? she said,

absolutely nothing. i say congratulations, you're into the world of thought, right at that event, trump teased hicks about her shyness say a couple of christmas, everyone and thank you, donald trump hicks, rose. >> to become white house communications director and was a consummate insider, known as a staunch defender and gatekeeper for the president. >> hope was someone that in the west wing, if you needed to get through to trump and you are struggling to, you would go to but it came at a cost during the russia investigation, hicks told a house committee she occasionally had to tell white lies on trump's behalf according to a source with direct knowledge of her 2018 and he custom one after the 2020 election, according to multiple books about that period, hicks was criticized by trump loyalists for not believing the election had been stolen. >> i lose. she said this to the house committee investigating january 6, about had a

conversation she had with trump about his baseless claims of election fraud. i was becoming increasingly concerned that we were damaging we were damaging his legacy pixels relationship with trump is said to have cooled after reports of texts hicks sent to another white house aide about trump's actions on january 6, quote, all of us that didn't have jobs lined up will be perpetually unemployed. i'm so mad and upset. we all look like domestic terrorists now prosecutors have not accused hope hicks of taking part in trump's alleged scheme to influence the election and to cover up the hush money payments, politico has reported that since leaving politics, hicks has been running a small communications consulting firm with a variety of clients, including the fashion retailing company, shim wolfe hi brian time. thanks very much for that update. i want to bring back cnn's kara scannell, right now. she was in the courtroom earlier today. she's outside, right now. see in an anchor kaitlan collins, who attended

the trump trial earlier this week is also joining us. carole, let me start with you. you were inside the courtroom as hope hicks took the stand today what was your overall demeanor? for like as she gave testimony against potentially her former boss, donald trump well, she was visibly uncomfortable when she walked to the witness stand. >> she had one of her hands bald into a fist as she sat down almost immediately, she turned to for the jury and told them, i'm very nervous today. and then as she was giving it to have so many answering a question, she interrupted herself surprise by the sound of her own voice and the microphone. so clearly uncomfortable with this testimony, even when she provided favorable testimony complements, does donald trump's she never appeared to look over and his direction, keeping her eyes locked on the prosecutor or trump's attorney asking the questions or turning to face the jury to explain things and testify to them. so she did seem very uncomfortable. and then there was the moment after the prosecution had finished asking her questions. and as trump's legal team was beginning, they're crossing examination

that she just appeared to become overwhelmed with emotion, broke down in tears on the stand. the judge excuse the jury, and everyone took a break. she came back in and finish the testimony, but clearly, a tough day for her. she looked pretty eager to leave the courtroom. >> very tough day for her. indeed, kaitlan, hope hicks was intimately involved in the trump campaign during this alleged illegal activity in this case. what stood out to you from her testimony today? >> well, rolfe, she was really able to provide a window into that campaign. i mean, she kinda took everyone in the courtroom back to 2016. and what those final days and weeks inside the trump campaign were like, but also the first year and said the white house as the wall street journal was learning more about what trump had done and other outlets were reporting on it. and so i think she was able to do something that no other witness really has done so far first-hand knowledge of donald trump, but also of what it was like inside the trump campaign and inside the trump white house and i think there are parts of her testimony that that could be seen as helpful to both the

prosecution and the defense. clearly, the prosecution as coming out of this feeling a lot stronger today because there were for those two moments, one, where she was skeptical that michael cohen would ever do anything out of the goodness of his own heart to pay this six-figure sum to a porn star. but secondly, wolfe and importantly, she said that trump is said to her that it was much better that the story came out once he was already inside the white house instead of during the campaign it was a mic drop moment for the prosecution, you notice they ended their questioning there because they felt that she had delivered what they needed. the one thing that defense thought that she did say that was helpful, wolfe, as she said, that trump did care what melania trump thought about this story and that he did respond in part out of consideration of how she was going to react including asking hope hicks to remove the newspapers from outside of their apartment the day after this story broke, wolfe very interesting, kaitlan as you well know, you've covered the white house, hope hicks and trump are not as close now as

they once were, but she teared up testifying against him today. >> how important has that relationship been over the years? >> well, one, on her reaction, i mean, this is a really high profile hearing. there have been other witnesses who have no relationship to donald trump that have come forward and said they were very nervous. i mean, this is someone who was one of his most trusted aides, so i don't think it's a surprise that that she was kind overcome with emotion on the stand, but but it is notable that there has been a real break in there relationship and trump was angry with her about those texts that bryan todd just read, the ones that she sent on january 6 and her concerns about what trump had done to his legacy that day. he doesn't like anyone who doesn't view that de is favorably as he does. and so there certainly has been a chill on the relationship and it also i think when trump left the white house, a lot of people we're done and with him and just did not want to speak to him, especially those who had been inside the white house. and we're really frustrated by that period after the election. >> good point. kara hope hicks was questioned about how she and the campaign learned about that access hollywood video

tape. what was the atmosphere like in the courtroom today? and you were there inside? for that. and how did trump react? could you see him yeah. >> well, so she has she's describing this that she gets the email from the washington post reporter, then travels up a few floors at trump tower to go, we're donald trump is in debate prac session, and a glass enclosed conference room, and how she initially summoned all the senior her campaign leadership out in outside of the conference room to talk to her so they could discuss this and that's when she said it was agreed that they all view this as a crisis and then trump's some enter inside and she continued to describe how they were going to handle it during this testimony. trump was often watching her or he was watching her on a monitor and he was passing notes to his attorneys, but there was no other kind of visible. he didn't otherwise react in any he kind of way to what she was saying. he's been fairly composed in the courtroom using his energy to at least pass notes to his attorneys and watching the testimony at times for certain witnesses very

carefully. >> i'm glad you were inside kara scannell and kaitlan collins to both of you. thank you very much. and kaitlan and of course, we'll be back later tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern, along with anderson cooper for more special coverage of the trump trial. and just ahead, we're one-on-one with hope hicks counterpart on the 2016 campaign mark lottery who served as press secretary for donald trump, running mate, mike pence. he's here with us live riyadh says new album is breaking records get to say what country is comey country beyond, say a nashville's renaissance streaming exclusively on macs while i'm a paid actor. and this isn't a real company. there's no way to fake how upwork can help your business. upwork has half the cost of our old recruiter and they have talked to your talent and everything from pr to project management, because this is how we work now consumer cellular, this is sam

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slash shave to claim your $7 trial. >> i'm josh campbell on the ucla campus in los angeles. this is cnn we're now in the very dramatic testimony today from former trump aid hope hicks, a major witness for the prosecution in donald trump's hush money criminal trial, or central role of the 2016 presidential campaign. >> a key focus in court today joining us now to discuss six is a joining us now to discuss what's going on, hicks his counterpart on the 2016 campaign, mark lauder, former press secretary for vice

president, then vice president mike pence. mark, thanks very much for joining us. hicks told the jury as you well know today, that cohen made $130,000 payment, the controversial direct payment on his own. she said that would be quote, out of character for him. do you think that damages the defense's case? >> well, i don't i don't know if it damages the case. i mean, i what we still haven't figured out is what crime they're actually choosing that he actually violated because it nda's are not against the law and, this is not a campaign finance violation according to the federal government. so we've been three weeks through this and i still haven't figured out what or had any evidence of a crime that's actually occurred. >> well, lying about official documents is a crime lying about official document. the bookkeeping error of whether he listed legal services and a payment to these were legal services as opposed to a campaign contribution. >> well, it's a misdemeanor in new york. it's actually the way past the statute of limitations. and so i mean, everything look, is a former campaign spoke press person.

i've done this for 20 years. everything worries campaign craftspeople. we worry about the weather as we get close to election day. so whether, whether or not it all felonies that he's charged with right now in this particular case. well, i mean, not misdemeanors. >> well, the bookkeeping issue would be a misdemeanor, but they raised because they're trying to figure out secretion is accused them of all these felonies are a lot of felonies in this particular case with the misleading of all the campaign contribution funds but that's not actually a federal violation. >> the federal, the federal government, the new york state case, right? we haven't figured out how they have raised this to a felony because again, campaign finance violations or a federal issue yeah. >> but in this particular case, there's a new york case two, because if he was making up false stories about where this money was going, why was going and if it had something to do with the campaign, $130,000 to keep her quiet. that's a campaign violation well, it's actually not campaign violation because he can give as much money to his campaign as he wants to and the federal

government investigated this and actually found it and to not be a campaign finance violence. but the state of new york decided, decided this was a felony and a campaign violation, and that's where they're going after him and they seem to have a pretty strong case and she seemed to backup a lot of their arguments. i think seltzer very, very strong cases for the defense that a2 when she talked about how concerned donald trump was about how this would look to mrs. trump you actually even had some of the other lawyers earlier this week that we're on the stand and they were basically saying that there was this thing was nothing more than to scheme but she did make the case during her sworn testimony today that if all of this came out before the election, that would hurt trump and his chances of winning the election. >> every story you look at, every story that comes up to an election on whether it's going to help, whether it's going to hurt these were these were comments that were made apparently in 2017 well after the election when they were in the white house, i can go back and probably if every campaign i've ever worked on and said if this story came out then vs then it change. it may change things, it may not may help may

hurt. i mean, we all do that in hindsight. >> what do you think? she spoke highly of trump at some points during the course of her testimony, do you think that actually both holstered his case? >> i think there were a lot of things that she said that probably bolstered his case, especially the stuff about how this would impact mrs. trump, because that's obviously one of the key pillars of the defenses that this was not about the campaign. this was about him not having to have to mrs. trump finding out about this. and so i think that bolsters that. and when you only need one on the jury to believe that that's the narrative and then that's a win for him. but the point she was making, he was mostly concerned about how this would impact the presidential campaign. well, i don't know. i mean, again, it's when she when you're asking that the newspapers be taken away and not brought up to the residents. that seems to me to be a very strong or he was concerned about that two, but he was also concerned about the presidential campaign. >> i mean, at that point, you're coming out of your, coming out of access hollywood, you're making a rebounds are weeks away. again, every story i worried about everything, every width of a story. and those final days of 2016, terms

of what it would have affected the lawn or thanks for coming in. thank you very much. >> just ahead. today's testimony by hope hicks is her latest involvement and go legal case against donald trump will speak with a member of congress who talked with her as part of the january 6 select committee investigation in the furniture business, things move fast. >> ziprecruiter helps us hire qualified candidates who can kippah, we needed a project manager yesterday we posted a job on ziprecruiter and had our guy on-site and five days he was qualified and everyone zip recruiter finds the best candidates for all our jobs may help us build a dream team when they did it fast is it too fast for you out of five employers who post on ziprecruiter data quality candidate within the first day, try for free at ziprecruiter.com slash, we handle grabbed every stones and foster using the finest materials like indulgent memory foam and ultra conforming and telecoil for a beautiful

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>> absolutely free text. hello? e to three-to-one, three-to-one today five good things. >> listen wherever you get your podcasts hope hicks, a key witness for the prosecution now and in the past, when she was deposed by the january 6 house select committee joining us now former member of that committee, congressman jamie when you raskin democrat of maryland, congressman, thanks for joining us. >> as you know, hope hicks testified against her former boss today, what stood out to you from what you told the jury? >> well how how commonsensical her testimony was. there was a mad scramble within the trump campaign to try to bury this story, especially in the wake of the access hollywood revelations. and they were going to do everything in their power to make it go away. hey four obviously political purposes. now that's got to be corroborated by the timing of

the payments, things that were being said about the payments and also what donald trump was thinking and doing at the time. i mean, was he someone who had visually tried to pay off mistresses in order to prevent his wives from finding out about affairs or did it happen primarily within the campaign season? so you've got to look at it in terms of the complete factual record. >> and if it happened during the campaign season that protect actually it could be a violation of the law, right well, yeah, the whole case is built around the idea that well, it's not illegal to pay hush money, but it's illegal to pay hush money. >> four campaign purposes, then to put it on a corporate account, and then to falsely describe it as legal services when you're using your lawyer essentially as a go-between to pass the money to pay off

someone you don't want going public with an affair in the middle of a campaign and so a common sense approach to this is what we'll get the jury through the thicket of evidence. you're january 6 select committee spoke to picks during your investigation as you will remember, i want to play a clip from her deposition. >> listen to this guy was becoming increasingly concerned that we were damaging we were damaging his legacy what did the president say in response to what you just described? he said something along the lines of you know, nobody will care about my legacy if i lose so that won't matter. the only thing that matters is is winning how did you find her credibility congressman and that probe and how do you

expect a jury will view her now? everything that she said they're rang true with the common sense public understanding of who donald trump is. i mean, he would be much happier with a legacy of victory accomplished by fraud and violence and political coup then a legacy of actually standing for a program and principles and not winning. so for him it was all about power and seizing power. and that's all it is today. and his affairs with various porn stars and other women were just considered an obstacle to him getting power and they needed to be shut up is quickly as possible. so i think that a jury will again, use common sense to understand what took place here. >> congress would jamie raskin thanks so much for joining us you bet.

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happened be there were three, learn more at rnc.com. >> i'm kevin lived ttac at the white house and this is cnn tonight president biden is honoring 19 americans were the nation's highest civilian honor. the presidential medal of freedom. those on the list includes civil rights leaders celebrities, and key biden, political allies, such as former house speaker nancy pelosi and congressman jim library other high-profile figures include us superstar swimmer katie ledecky academy award-winner michelle yeoh, former new york city mayor michael bloomberg, talk show host phil donahue, and oh, paulie known as the grandmother of juneteenth to our viewers. thanks very much for watching i, wolf blitzer in this room erin burnett outfront starts right now