Trump's Attorneys Question Michael Cohen About Profiting From Trump Legal Cases

Good evening and welcome to the Capitol Report on NTD television. I'm Steve Lance. Here's a look at what's coming up. Members of Congress coming to the defense of former President Trump. This is he's appearing in a New York courtroom for the fifth consecutive week. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was on location. And how the prosecution's star witness Michael Cohen held up under Trump's defense. Lawyers cross-examination. Several members of Congress are in Manhattan today coming to the defense of former President Trump. This is his criminal trial is becoming a rallying point for his supporters. NTD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley has more. House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican members of Congress joined Trump and his allies in Manhattan today coming to his defense in the so-called hush money trial. They call this case and the others against Trump a form of election interference. They are doing this intentionally to keep him here and keep him off of the campaign trail. This is draining down assets and resources that can be utilized by the president to continue to forge ahead to build a stronger economy to secure our border and to get our nation back on track. The only crime that's happening here is this Democrat judge and the Democrat party prosecuting their political rival right in the middle of a presidential election. The politicization of the legal system is not working. It's actually failing and when you have a prosecutor who campaigned on the pledge of going after Trump and then keeps his campaign pledge, when you have a judge whose kids are collecting money from Democratic operatives by fundraising off the very trial that that judge is presiding over and then telling the U.S. president that he's subject to a gag order. The prosecution's case hinges on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's testimony. Now in 2016, Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her from going public about an alleged affair that she had with Trump. Trump denies all allegations and says the payment to Cohen was a legal expense, but prosecutors allege Trump falsified these records. In 2018, Cohen pled guilty to tax fraud and lying under oath to Congress. Now outside of the courtroom, Cohen has been antagonizing and taunting Trump, but Trump is unable to respond in kind due to a gag order. The gag order has to come off. So when you ask me a question about the people that we're talking about, I'm not allowed to answer. We're five weeks into the hush money trial and the hearing portion of it is expected to wrap up later this month. Now this is the only major trial against Trump that's expected to wrap up before the November election. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Jack Bradley, NTD News. At today's trial, the prosecution's star witness, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen made some startling admissions and faced a difficult cross-examination. Joining me now to assess the highlights and the implications from Cohen's testimony is Paul Danz, the director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project at the Heritage Foundation. Paul Danz, thank you so much for joining. My pleasure. Paul, you know, I want to ask you, Michael Cohen, former attorney for the former president, testifying that he violated his own moral compass. Given his admitted history of perjury and tax evasion, how credible do you think his claim of compromising his ethics for Trump will be in the court? Sure. Well, you know, I think there's a famous movie called Witness for the Prosecution, but Michael Cohen's starring role is now witness for the persecution. That is, he's a witness who has no grounding credibility whatsoever and will say anything. And he's said anything to pretty much everybody in his professional life. So I think putting him up for your star witness is going to be a terrible mistake. That said, you know, what's going on in the courtroom is really not a criminal trial. It's a campaign event for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign. And to your point, Cohen admitted to financially benefiting from podcasts, merchandise, books, excuse me, that he's made these provocative comments on social media suggesting Trump belongs in a cage like an animal, the big house, not the White House. Do these actions suggest bias? Obviously they do. But how might they affect the credibility of him as a witness? Sure. Well, you know, I've practiced in those courts for about 20 years and I've also served on those juries. You know, as a normally composed jury in a normally composed court with a reasonable judge, you'd say to yourself, well, this guy's completely patently unbelievable and everyone's going to see right through him. The reality of what's going down there is almost a farce. And, you know, we've gotten everything from the judge's known conflicts he should recuse and he hasn't, to the way they impound the jury. You can't give Americans, unfortunately, great faith. You know, the reality is that President Trump is going to, he could win just based on the voice of the people. So the Biden administration has two choices. They can run the basement campaign or they can run a courthouse campaign. In 2024, that's what they're doing for re-election. Paul, now you mentioned that you've spent time in those courthouses, both as an attorney. You lived in New York City for decades. I did, yes. I want to get your thoughts on this particular jury. Right now it's reported that there's at least two jurors with some type of legal background, whether or not they're lawyers. How do you think this might factor into their, the way they're analyzing this? Does it help or hurt Trump's case? Sure. You know, the reality is in New York County, that is Manhattan, there are so few jurors that when the courts have to actually select lawyers, which traditionally in most criminal trials, you wouldn't take a lawyer because that person could kind of override the jury and the judge when they get into deliberations. Here, you know, I myself was selected not once but twice for those juries. And, you know, they were under different circumstances to be sure. But, you know, it all comes down to the reality of are those people going to put their faith in those traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, which I hope all of us went to law school for. You know, I also worked in the big firms in New York and I can't be Pollyanna-ish about the likelihood that most of my co-workers were very liberal. And I hope that they, you know, not withstand their political inclinations would be able to see justice. I just don't know if it's possible. Paul, speaking of the inner workings of the court, there's been a lot of concern over whether or not the judge may be leading the jury. Talk to us about how you think that he's handling some of these concerns thus far. Sure. Well, the notion that the judge is the gatekeeper and he or she should determine what the jury's hearing. The jury obviously gets out of earshot and they have sidebars and they even sometimes recuse the jury to have conferences in front of the judge. That said, in this case, from what the reporting is, that we see the judge letting the prosecution go very far afield. They're letting very prejudicial, spurious claims, things that have absolutely nothing to do with establishing the criminal intent or, you know, the actual to make the criminal charge. That is extremely prejudicial. And a first year law student would say that should never be let in. But all indications are that the, you know, the gloves are off and no one's even pretending this is legal right now. This is an extra legal sideshow. So, Paul, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson made a rare trip to New York City today to make some comments outside of the courthouse. He wasn't allowed in the courthouse to basically claiming that, you know, the justice system is being weaponized against the former president. What kind of measures do you expect the speaker and also the chairman of the judiciary and oversight to take to stop this and put a put a halt to it? Sure. Well, it's week five of the trial and the speaker has been speaker for six months, so I'm glad he finally made it up there. But the reality is he needs to take action and Congress needs to use its oversight powers. This this Jack Smith engineered oppression of the president has been going on now for two years and that's being run out of the White House and the DOJ. They have oversight responsibility. They need to get back to Washington and start firing off subpoenas. For that matter, you know, I personally would say that the RNC needs to step up. This is time to fight for Trump. They can speak on behalf of those forty nine other states where Americans are actually having their civil rights abused in the sense that they don't get to listen to their candidate for president nor interact with them or go to fundraisers and the like. Paul, lastly, what would you say were some of the most compelling arguments from Trump's attorneys thus far? Well, you know, the actual construction of the crime has never been put forth in the in the indictment. The basis of our rule of our justice system is due process of law, which involves a notice and an opportunity to be heard. There has been no notice of what the crime, the underlying crime in this case is. So there's no way a defendant can defend himself. Now, they know that they know that this case will be ultimately overturned on appeal. But that's not the point. The point here is malicious persecution, prosecution of the president and to take him off the campaign trail. And right now they're succeeding. Paul Dance, really appreciate perspective. Thank you so much. My pleasure. And in Trump's New York criminal trial, Michael Cohn taking the stand, as we just mentioned, for the second day of testimony. This is the prosecution finishes Trump's defense beginning their cross examination. Our legal correspondent Arlene Richards has the details. After weeks of testimony about former President Trump's involvement in paying off a former adult film actress, the prosecution in the Trump New York criminal case on Tuesday focused on the charges in the indictment, falsification of business records. Their star witness, Michael Cohen, returned to the stand for a second day of testimony. He testified that Trump created false business records to hide that he was reimbursing Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Cohen said he sent invoices in 2017 to the Trump organization and falsely wrote retainer agreement. He explained that there wasn't any retainer agreement in 2017 because he only did less than 10 hours of work for Trump that year. But he said Trump signed 11 checks containing the retainer agreement notation, even though the payments were actually reimbursements. Will the jury assume that Trump falsified business records? If they do, the prosecution will also have to convince them that Trump paid false invoices in furtherance of a second crime. And that crime seems to be a campaign finance violation. Cohen testified that he was very loyal to Trump and would often lie to protect his boss, even lying to the Federal Election Commission about that $130,000 payment. Cohen said he told the FEC that neither the Trump organization nor the Trump campaign was involved in that Daniels payment. And it wasn't a campaign donation, he said. But it was all a lie, he said, to protect Trump. While the judge cautioned the jury to disregard Cohen's testimony about lying to the FEC to protect Trump, the jury can't unhear it. Cohen is expected to be cross-examined by the defense on Thursday. Marlene Richards reporting from the criminal courthouse in Manhattan. And coming up, punishing China for cheating. That's what President Biden says he's why he's hiking tariffs on a wide range of Chinese imports, though former President Trump says it's too little too late. What's Biden's new warning to Beijing and what it means for American workers? That and more when we return. Hello. Today we are talking about Medicare Advantage plans, also known as Medicare Part C. If you have original Medicare, you have Medicare Part A and Part B. Part A covers hospital stays, while Part B covers medical visits like seeing the doctor. A Medicare Part C plan covers everything in Parts A and B and could save you money or include additional benefits you may not be receiving with your current plan. If you're new to Medicare, moving or losing coverage for any reason, call now to see if you're eligible to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan that could include additional benefits. All you have to do to find out if you could enroll in a plan that could save you money or include additional benefits is follow these steps. One, call the number on your screen. Two, give your zip code to the licensed insurance agent. And three, find a plan best for you and your needs. Part C plans can change every year. Call now even if you called in the past because you could be eligible for 2024 plans with additional benefits that may have previously been unavailable to you. So call today and find out the plan options available to you in your zip code. Just call 800-693-6549. You do not automatically get enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan that saves money or includes additional benefits. So you should call to find out what plans are available to you. Insurance companies offer different plans in different zip codes. Call today and find out what plans are available to you in your zip code. Call 800-693-6549. If you're new to Medicare, moving or losing coverage for any reason, call now to see if eligible to enroll in a Part C plan that could save you money and include additional benefits. All you have to do is follow these steps. One, call the number on your screen. Two, give your zip code to the licensed insurance agent. And three, find a plan best for you and your needs. Remember, you do not automatically get a Part C plan. Call now for your free 2024 No Obligation Medicare Benefits Review. Call 800-693-6549. 800-693-6549. 800-693-6549. There's always a searching process for beauty. You know it when you see it. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance. Now, who's tougher on China? President Biden hiking tariffs on Chinese imports today, while Trump says he's the one who started it. The two, however, differ in their exact approaches to protecting American industry. Joining us now live is NTV's White House correspondent Iris Tao from the White House. Good evening, Iris. So, what's in President Biden's latest announcement today? Good evening to you, Steve. President Biden on Tuesday announced that he's raising tariffs on an array of Chinese imports in particular in strategic industries. And that includes tripling tariffs on steel and aluminum to 25 percent, doubling the rate on semiconductors to 50 percent, and quadrupling tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100 percent. And President Biden says that's to punish China for its unfair trade practices that hurt American businesses. Watch. China heavily subsidized all these products, pushing Chinese companies to produce far more than the rest of the world can absorb, and then dumping the excess products onto the market at unfairly low prices, driving other manufacturers around the world out of business. It's not competition, it's cheating. The Biden administration also announced that it's now officially keeping the over 300 billion dollars worth of tariffs imposed on China by Trump. It comes as both Biden and Trump are trying to appeal to voters as the tougher-on-China candidates, sometimes using strikingly similar rhetoric. Watch. But Europe is being flooded with Chinese cars. But I'm not going to allow it to happen in our car and truck industry. They're driving manufacturing companies out of business in Europe. But we won't let that happen here in America. The White House says Trump's tariffs are too broad, while Biden's are effective and targeted and will not raise prices on American consumers. But former President Trump this morning says Biden's new tariffs are too little, too late. Let's listen. I guess they should have done it a long time ago. But they've also got to do it on other vehicles and they have to do it on a lot of other products because China's eating our lunch right now. And Trump's vowed to go even further if he's re-elected, vowing to impose an over 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods. Steve. Well, it certainly seems like Beijing is getting bad news from both candidates. Perhaps the walls are starting to close in on the communist country. So Iris, President Biden also pointing out difficult problems in China's economy. What would these new tariffs ultimately mean for the CCP? Right. So the Chinese regime has been trying to rely on a surge of exports to really revive its slumping economic growth. But so these new tariffs are going to not only do a blow to China's global ambitions and strategic industries, but also really store that means of revival for the Chinese economy. Steve. And today's Iris Tao live from the North Lawn of the White House. Thank you, Iris. In its National Police Week, thousands from across the country flocking to the nation's capital. This to pay tribute to the brave men and women who've lost their lives in the line of duty. NT's Sam Wong has the story. In the nation's capital today, law enforcement officers from all across the country are gathering for the annual National Police Week. They're here to honor and remember those who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. It's very unfortunate that each year we bust in survivors, literally bust multiple buses every year. The show of support, the amount of people that come out and take the time to honor our fallen is very overwhelming. It's an honor to be a part of that. This commemoration comes amid a surge in police deaths across the country. So far in the U.S. this year, 58 law enforcement officers reportedly died at their post, 22 of them killed by gunfire. According to the Officer Down Memorial page, this number is significantly higher compared to the same time last year. When an officer, when a member of law enforcement, when a service member is killed on the battlefield or in the line of duty, we all lose a piece of ourselves in the United States. These are individuals that are out there every single day, visiting evil where it is and protecting the people that can't protect themselves. And on Monday night, an emotional candlelight vigil took place on the National Mall. Top U.S. officials joined the crowd of thousands, paying tribute to the fallen officers. Over on Capitol Hill, House Republicans are rounding up a string of pro-law enforcement bills in the coming days, some of which include more protections for police officers, as well as curtail illegal immigration at the southern border. House Speaker Mike Johnson is slated to hold a vigil on the steps of the Capitol on Tuesday night. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Sam Wong, NTD News. And for around-the-clock original news coverage, please visit us at ntd.com and download our NTD mobile app. That's all we have for you this evening on The Capitol Report. Thank you for watching. From the nation's Capitol, I'm Steve Lance. Have a nice evening. See you back here tomorrow.