all right, that's going to do it for us for right now. do not go anywhere, though. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is up next. what's going on inside that courtroom is a threat to american democracy, ladies and gentlemen. we cannot have a country where you get to prosecute your political opponents instead of persuading voters. >> this guy worked for president trump. i mean how you can be convinced

by somebody that is a serial liar? i mean there should be no reason that anybody should listen to this guy. >> some of donald trump's allies showing their loyalty by saying what the former president can't say because of the gag order in his hush money trial. meanwhile, in the courtroom itself, trump's former fixer took the stand for blockbuster testimony. we'll have expert legal analysis for you on what michael cohen had to say. also ahead we'll have the latest out of ukraine on a surprise visit from u.s. secretary of state antony blinken. this as russian president vladimir putin will now make a two-day state visit to china later this week. and we'll go through the new developments in gaza where israeli troops appear to be ready to invade the densely populated areas of rafah.

good morning, and welcome to "way too early" on this tuesday, may 14th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. we've got a jam-packed show, and we'll begin here in manhattan where in just hours michael cohen, the most pivotal witness in the donald trump hush money criminal trial will return to the witness stand for the second day of questioning. the ex-attorney and fixer for trump testified for more than six hours yesterday and directly implicated the former president in hush money schemes, telling jurors that trump approved hefty payouts to stop stories about sexual encounters that he feared could hurt his 2016 presidential campaign. sitting just 10 feet from trump in a drudramatic showdown in the courtroom cohen testified about his former boss wanting to silence adult film star's stormy daniels claims about a 2006 sexual encounter.

he recalled trump saying this, this is a disaster, total disaster. women are going to hate me because this is really a disaster, women will hate me. guys might think it's cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign. cohen said the effort to silence daniels took on added urgency following the release of the "access hollywood" tape that october with the daniels payment being finalized several weeks after that revelation. in late october of 2016 cohen said trump told him to just do it when it eventually came to paying daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about the alleged encounter. cohen then detailed the steps he took to mask the payments to stormy daniels, telling trumpuct the actions he was taking and that trump had prompted to reimburse him. cohen testified how the two men discussed how the reimbursements would be paid in legal services over monthly installments over

former trump information chief financial officer allen weisselberg. and despite saying their client acted to protect his family from salacious stories, cohen contended trump was preoccupied instead solely by the impact they would have on his presidential run. cohen added specifically trump was not thinking about his wife melania when the daniels story threatened to become public saying, quote, this was all about the campaign. now, following that day in court, an irate trump complained once again to reporters about the judge in the case. >> we have a corrupt judge, and we have a judge who's highly conflicted, and he's keeping me from campaigning. he's an appointed new york judge. he's appointed. you know who appointed him? democrat politicians. he's appointed. he's a corrupt judge, and he's a conflicted judge and he ought to

let us go out and campaign and get rid of this scam. >> joining us now here on set in new york, msnbc legal contributor and host of msnbc's the katie phang show, katie phang. good to see you. let's start with your overall take-aways. how did michael cohen do yesterday? >> he did a fantastic job for the prosecution. there was the question everybody said which version of michael cohen is going to show up. we've seen a bombastic side of him. we've heard almost bullying side of michael cohen, but the michael cohen that took the stand yesterday was every prosecutor's dream. why? he was measured, he was calm. he said yes, ma'am and no, ma'am to the prosecutor. more importantly he showed if he needs to on cross-examination he can keep his cool, but he drove the narrative forward. and that's exactly what you want to have if you're the prosecution. you want your case ipchief if

it's riding on the success of testimony on someone like michael cohen you want someone competent to relay on the historical facts and evidence in this case. >> cohen returns to the stand today. there's a sense cross-examination could begin as early as this afternoon. you just hinted that. cohen has real credibility issues. how do you see the defense trying to poke holes in them? >> you have early as this afternoon. you just hinted that. cohen has real credibility issues. how do you see the defense trying to poke holes in them? >> you have to hope the jury will wholesale discount his testimony simply because he either has pleaded guilty to perjury or he's been confirmed today be a liar. but what's remarkable is if you look at the orbit of donald trump, lying is not actually a disqualifying factor usually for somebody like donald trump. i mean allen weisselberg, someone who's not been sent into the wilderness and still in the

fold is currently in rikers and he won't be testifying because he's doing jail time for perjury. so, again, lying is not a disqualifier usually, but in this instance, though, that's all the defense can do. why? because michael cohen's credibility september at issue if you consider the fact there's so much documentary evidence. there's audiotapes of donald trump with his own voice agreeing to the payment of $150,000 through a business entity to get the life rights of karen mcdougal. nobody made up trump's voice, right? you have all this independent corroborating evidence that should completely take away in terms of the juror's minds credibility. the prosecution did an excellent job in advance of cohen's testimony of getting evidence entered into the record that was allowed today be used in his testimony. so they had prior bank statements, for example, that could enter through jeff mcconnie, the former controller

at trump organization, the famous consultant bank statement that was entered previously, and of course that's michael cohen's bank account. you have him on the stand and he walks the jury through the hand written entries by allen weisselberg. >> terrific analysis as always msnbc legal contributor katie phang, thank you so much. we'll be following your coverage throughout the week on msnbc and have more on michael cohen's appearance in court all day on the network. doug bergman played coy yesterday when asked if he would be donald trump's running mate or part of his cabinet if trump is re-elected this november. it came after burgum.

>> are you talking with the president about being his partner and vice presidential ticket? >> not at all. the focus here is on president trump winning that election, and i feel blessed to be among a large group of people that every day are getting up and whether they're in the private sector, whether they're elected officials, whether there are other surrogates, the people out there helping president trump as he's tied up in these sham trials in new york. >> are you expecting to be part of trump's cab isn't? >> i have no expectation, and of course i spent my career in the private sector, and there's so many opportunities to go back in the private sector. i'll be done being governor in december 15th, being governor of north dakota, one of the greatest jobs in the world, love that job and still loving every day of it. but i have no expectations about that. >> meanwhile republican senator marco rubio of florida down-played speculation yesterday he could be trump's running mate. rubio says he has yet to speak to trump himself and also

complicate the electoral college because both men are from florida. >> never. i've never talked to anybody in the campaign about it. i'm not trying to be coy. the reason i don't spend a lot of time thinking about it or talking about it is because, frankly, there's only person on the planet who knows that's going to be, and that's donald trump, not his advisor, not people with inside knowledge of the campaign. he's the only one. hearing it from anybody other than him is really not something i would put a lot of credence in. just to be mentioned i guess is an honor in and of itself. >> and while trump was in court yesterday, president joe biden took his 2024 opponent to task for his response to the covid-19 pandemic. at a white house event celebrating asian american, native hawaiian, and pacific islander heritage month, biden called trump out for publicly down-playing the severity of

coronavirus in early 2020 even as health officials were sounding the alarms elsewhere within the west wing. >> we're lowering costs, expanding opportunities, and protecting freedoms. that's in stark contrast to my predecessor's view of america and his view of all of you. i'll never forget him lying about the pandemic, never forget the rise of anti-asian hate crimes during the pandemic. i'm proud to have signed this covid-19 hate crimes act with your support. >> another powerful split screen there on display for our 2024 contenders for the white house. still ahead here on "way too early," we'll bring you the latest from the middle east as troop movements suggest israel could soon expand operations in rafah despite international warnings. plus, crews in baltimore carry out a controlled demolition on a massive piece of the collapsed francis scott key bridge. what that means for cleanup efforts.

those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back as the sun begins to rise here in midtown manhattan. n it's a beautiful... ...day to fly. wooooo! oh, yeah, man. take it from your inner child. what you really need in life is some freakin' torque. what? the dodge hornet r/t... the totally torqued-out crossover. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools, and paper trading to help sharpen your skills,

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welcome back as we turn to some of the morning's other top headlines now. the arizona supreme court granted a request to delay enforcement of the state's 1864 near total abortion ban. the court granted a 90-day stay of the civil war era law, preventing it from taking effect for the next several months. without that ruling, the law could have become fully enforced on june 27th. the stay is in effect now until september 26th and gives state attorney general chris mayes time to potentially appeal the case all the way to the u.s. supreme court. the action came after governor katie hobbs signed the repeal of the state's legislature. that repeal does not take effect

until 90 days after the state's legislative session ends. yesterday's order essentially narrows the window in which the ban could be enforced. meanwhile, jury selection in a federal corruption trial of democratic senator bob munenz dez of new jersey is now under way. that process began yesterday morning in a manhattan federal court after menendez lost a bid to have the case moved to his home state. no jurors have been seated yet. when the trial gets under way, prosecutors say they expect to take up to six weeks to present their case. senator menendez is accused of being the center of an international bribery scheme. his wife, also charged, she'll be tried separately in july. the senator said he would be exonerated at trial and has left the door open to run for re-election in november as an independent, no official word there just yet. and crews in baltimore, maryland, carried out a controlled explosion yesterday to remove some of the largest

remaining sections of the collapsed francis scott key bridge, that major thoroughfare there. nbc news correspondent george solis has more on the ongoing cleanup efforts. >> reporter: with a reverberating boom, a major section of the collapsed francis scott key bridge disappeared in a cloud of smoke. the controlled demolition comes after weeks of careful planning to remove a massive piece of the bridge that's sitting on top of the 984-foot container ship. did everything go according to plan? >> yes, so we did the blast. the section separated, so it wept according to plan. >> reporter: demolition crews made small cuts into the steel then placed small charges to ensure accuracy of the blasts. the dalhi has been sitting essentially frozen in time since it rammed the bridge on march 26. new camera footage shows the shock of first responders that night. six people were killed, all

latino immigrants who were filling potholes when the collision occurred. the body of the final victim was found just last week. the ship's 21-member crew has remained onboard and sheltered in place during the controlled explosion. federal investigators are still looking into how and why the ship lost power, but the governor said the port of baltimore is close to reopening and vowing to rebuild. >> rebuilding the francis scott key bridge is not about nostalgia, it's about necessity. this is critical artery. >> our thanks to nbc emphasis george solis for that report. next up here we'll turp to sports andbri you last night's action in both the nba and nhl playoffs. plus we'll show you the simply improbable night for one very lucky baseball fan. all of that and a check on the forecast when we come right back. the forecast when we come right back if you have heart disease and struggle with ldl-c...

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jumper, it's off. a chance to tie or take the lead depending on shot selection. that's ridiculous. doncic grabbing his right knee, kick. >> powered the thunders rally from a 14-point first half deficit. we saw him pull his team even the dallas mavericks on that tough fourth quarter jumper before clutched three and gave oklahoma city its biggest lead of the night. sga led by 38 points, and the thunder stole game four to tie up that second round playoff series at two games apiece. the series now shifts back to

oklahoma for game five tomorrow night. in the eastern conference another pretty strong performance from jason tatum helped the top seated boston celtics push the shorthanded cleveland cavaliers to the brink of elimination. tatum scored a game high 33. jaylen brown 37, and the celtics take the victory. the celtics let's be clear didn't play all that well, but they get a win, and they can now closeout cleveland with a win in game five tomorrow night back in boston. we turn now to the east stanley cup playoffs and start in madison square garden where the carolina hurricanes cut deeper into the new york rangers lead. this as they staved off elimination for the second straight game last night. the canes used a four goal third period to stun the rangers 4-1. and suddenly the rangers up three games to zip now have to play in a game six thursday

night in raleigh. the dallas stars got a commanding lead over the avalanche scoring just one goal in last night'sedesy 5-1 win. dallas can advance to conference finals with a win at home in game five tomorrow. we turn now to major league baseball and what appeared to be the best seat in all of sports. it was last night in seattle. watch this. one lucky mariners fan seated along the aisle right next to left field took home a pair of souvenirs from the game. get this he got two foul balls on consecutive pitches in the first inning. look, he's got them both there. he caught the first one clean, the second one rattled him around but he was the first one to pick it up. i've never seen that before, one fan, two pitches, two foul balls. that guy, he also saw his team win as the mariners went onto beat the kansas city royals 62.

i hope that guy played the lottery as soon as he left the stadium. >> you took the words right out of my mouth. some luck there. we've had exciting weather. the severe weather has been crazy for the start of spring and another round of it today. we do have tornado watches in effect for florida and parts of georgia. that lasts until 9:00 a.m. today. a really robust line has been hugging and moving to the gulf coast. that is where we'll watch for the strongest of the storms to be focused today. inching into southern portions of of georgia as well. our biggest threat today looks like wind gusts, but not going to rule out a tornado or two. likely brief but could happen here in places like gainesville, jacksonville, tampa and orlando all in that threat area as we go into the afternoon and evening hours tonight. you can see what a mess this forecast is with the setup. showers across parts of the midatlantic, the north east some of that rain too as we get into later parts of today and again

scattered showers settled across parts of the great lakes and stretching down into the tennessee valley. so that's today. as we get into tomorrow rain lingers across the north east and midatlantic. we may see a couple of strong storms cross the carolina coast and watch for that tomorrow. we've had quite a good amount of rain so no surprise we've got the flood watches up. tallahassee is right in the center of that and flooding concern will be there with additional rainfall expected over the next couple of days. how much, we could see 1 to 2 inches in some spots but localized amounts up to 5 inches across the sunshine state. >> so much rain ahead for a lot of us. angie lassman, thank you so much. next up here on "way too early," secretary of state antony blinken makes a previously announced trip to ukraine to tout america's support for the war-torn nation. but it comes as russia makes some significant advances on the battlefield. we'll bring you the very latest when we come right back. the ver when we come right back.

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welcome back to "way too early." it is just about 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this tuesday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. we turnover seas now, and secretary of state antony blinken is in kyiv today for a previously unannounced trip meant to reaffirm america's support for ukraine. this marks the first visit by a biden administration official to

the war torn country since the president signed that long awaited aid package finally passed by congress last month. blinken met with volodymyr zelenskyy just a short time ago, and later he'll deliver remarks focusing on kyiv's strategic success in the war. but this visit comes as russia makes gains in the north eastern part of ukraine. nearly 6,000 ukrainian civilians evacuated from kharkiv where president zelenskyy has warned that nearby villages are being turned into combat zones. meanwhile, u.s. and european officials say moscow is trying to further undermine western support for ukraine. russian president vladimir putin is reportedly conducting a sabotage campaign across europe, seeking to damage railways, military bases, and other sites used to supply arms to kyiv. joining us now one of the reporters of that piece, he's a national security and global

affairs reporter for the nbc news investigative unit. he's in the united kingdom right now for a global cyber security conference, and we're certainly glad to see him. so, dan, tell us more about this russian sabotage campaign. where is this happening? in nato countries, which is obviously a very provocative act. and if so, how's the west trying to counter it? >> reporter: it is incredibly brazen and it's happening across europe. there were arrests in germany recently of suspects who were accused of basically casing targets, military bases and factories, which they were planning to they believe torch or commit an arson attack or blow up. and just friday there was a court hearing here in the u.k. in london for a suspect who's accused of masterminding a whole arson attack on warehouses here in the u.k. that are linked today a ukraine aid

organization. and that also was seen to be this russian -- really much more brazen approach where it's not just cyber espionage now or cyber attack but actual physical sabotage, trying to undermine any kind of western support for ukraine. >> this comes in a moment whereas noted russia does seem to have some momentum, making some progress in the north east, an announcement just a few minutes ago, in fact, vladimir putin will be visiting beijing to meet with chinese leader xi jinping, trying to shore up some support there. give us a sense as you talk to officials at the security conference how are they feeling the war is going right now? the u.s. aid starting to arrive, but are we looking at a lengthy stalemate? >> it is a really difficult moment. we have the secretary of state as you said blinken there now in ukraine on his visit, and there are really worrisome

developments in the north. north of kharkiv on the border with russia and ukraine, you have russian troops making advances there in the north along the border, and that is really a cause of concern for nato and ukraine. and as far as this conference you have u.s. officials here and british officials, intelligence officials all warning in their speeches this morning about this acute threat posed by russia, and it's this multi-pronged threat. it's cyber espionage, it's cyber attacks, and it's also the sabotage. and really what they're calling this axis of authoritarian states, china, russia, iran, north korea. and there's concern here, of course, about what happens to u.s. policy after the presidential election in november if donald trump is elected. what happens to the u.s. position on this, and will there still be this kind of u.s. support for ukraine? and really this bond with and intelligence sharing with

allies. >> a lot of globes of autocracies waiting to see if trump will make his return. coming to us live from the united kingdom, nbc's dan de luce, thank you for your reporting this morning. we appreciate it. still ahead here on "way too early," we'll go live to cnbc for a look what's driving the day on wall street as investors await a key inflation report. plus shares of game stop surge once again. you remember this. this time they jumped by more than 70%. we'll dig into what's behind the rally and the nearly $1 billion in losses that it caused. "way too early" will be right back with that. "way too early" will be right back with that it's a beautiful... ...day to fly.

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of the year was snapped yesterday, so tell us how are the markets shaping up this morning as investors are eyeing fresh inflation data that's due out in just a few hours. >> yeah, look, john, the one and two year i guess it was a bit of momentum that tried to carry the dow significantly higher, eight days in a row significant gains then. but that falling away unfortunately on the ninth day. i guess a lot of that is because the market is really in a holding pattern or pretty much wait and see despite the earnings calender we're currently in. it's all about inflation, in fact the interest rate environment is what the market is pretty much looking towards. we expect to hear from fed chair jerome powell later today and we have the ppi but all about the earnings data the earnings news simply doesn't matter from the looks of it. the markets are focus more on the rate cycle and taking away a bit of the greenery we saw in

the markets, so hold and see -- wait and see is pretty much what you're seeing out of the market so far. >> arabile, we teased before the break gamestop in the headlines again. tell us just what is going on here? >> yeah, actually, so back in 2021 i mean a lot of this game stop or meme stop furor we kind of saw was really on the back of one account all of this, that roaring kitty having come out then. he's sort of come back to social media and speaking out again as well. that meant the likes of game stop, the likes of amc managed to move significantly higher. you saw around ten stops within the trading of an hour then for game stop just yesterday. so massive, massive moves even in premarket trade. so before the market opens today, you're seeing around 40% increases then in the share price then on both game stop and amc.

so the question mark again for the market is three years on, is the meme stock revolution coming back? and what does that mean for short sellers? so people who are hoping the price will actually go down? well, yesterday all of those lost at least $1 billion. will there be more losses at play? >> and lastly, arabile, the company behind chatgpt says it'll release an advanced version of its flagship artificial intelligence model. what can you tell us about that? >> they'll continue to keep this for continuous updates as well to that initial chatgpt. so gpt coming here. and this will allow language models to then be used simull simulltaneously. the ability to translate from one language to another seamlessly from one

conversation, teaching math, teaching people even how to flirt. this is going to be interesting to note. again open a.i. saying this is aimed at being free-for-all consumer tuesday be able to use. >> chatgpt has a long way to go to replicate the conversation you and i share during thig segment. thank you as always. still ahead here there's new troop movement that suggests israel may be close to launching it's ground offensive in rafah. we'll have the latest on the war in gaza as congressman jake -- joins us next on "way too early." joins us next on "way too early. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue.

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. welcome back. we turn to news overseas where the u.s. has seen troop movement that indicates that israel could soon expand its operation in rafah. that's according to two u.s. officials. they say the idf has amassed enough personnel on the edge of

their city to go ahead with their plan. but it's not known if the invasion is days or weeks away. meanwhile palestinians are following israel's evacuation orders. the u.n. says about 450,000 people have fled rafah over the past week. more than a million people had sought refuge in that city. joining us now here on set, democratic congressman jake auchincloss of massachusetts. congressman, good to see you again. so let's start here with what we may be seeing in rauf wraush potentially an all out operation. do you think that's the right course for israel? and we should note it comes as curt campbell, the u.s. nato deputy secretary of state said he does not believe the current strategy could lead to a, quote, total victory over hamas? >> i agree with it deputy secretary. hamas right now is hunkered down in rafah, it's holding hostages in rafah.

it is going to use the rafah crossing to resupply and equip those four battalions in rafah to launch further attacks on israel. and that is simwar himself promising that, that they'll break further cease-fires if they're agreed to, which is why israel deserves the military latitude to defeat hamas' senior commanders and its battalions. however, that requires an integrated plan. as jake sullivan said yesterday a holistic integrated approach that pairs military operations with governance so that the palestinian population is not just face would the elimination of hamas as a governing entity but also with an alternative that can provide government aid and security. >> and prime minister netanyahu backed away from the u.s. help for a two-state solution. this comes as president biden has taken a lot of heat from both republicaness and democrats alike about saying he will not supply lethal offensive aid to

israel for a rafah invasion even as the u.s. still provides defense operations. talk about your thoughts on that the president's decision and what happens next. >> i think the takes from both the left and the right are unfair. the right is saying ojoe biden is letting domestic politics wag the dog. from the left we're hearing it's too little too late, israel is going to commit to war crimes. the administration rejects claims of genocide against israel as do i i supports the reality has in its mandate the murder of jews worldwide and any permanent cease-fire requires the elimination of hamas. joe biden as he has for the last several months is walking a tightrope in the middle east. he's saying to prime minister netanyahu and the war cabiate, yes, hamas cannot be a part of the future, but if you're

fighting a counter intelligence operation that requires both military and governance options on the table and right now the war cabinet has provided only a military one. >> let's turn to ukraine. we mentioned a few minutes ago the secretary of state made a surprise visit to kyiv. this comes in a moment of russian sabotage across europe and advances on the battlefield. that u.s. aid that finally got passed is starting to arrive, but it's a difficult moment in the conflict. >> it is and four months of delay caused by senate and house republicans have caused action in north eastern ukraine. there's no question about it we have to surge material to provide ukraine the munitions they need to hold the line there. but more fundamentally policy makers arguing we cannot give ukraine long-range surface to surface or air to surface weaponry because it risks escalation with russia have it backwards. the escalation they need to be

worried about is russia takes kyiv and goes into war saw or moldova or lithuania. we're already seeing what they're doing with sabotage of nato infrastructure throughout the nato bloc. we have to equip ukraine with the weapons it needs. >> lastly what's your level of briefing to see. >> we have to architect global alliances not just nato, not just in the indo-pacific but globally to counteract it. >> democratic congressman jake auchincloss, thank you, congressman, for being with us this morning. we'll talk to you again soon. up next here on "way too early" donald trump is barred from talking about his hush money trial witnesses, but that doesn't mean his republican allies can't say anything. and there's been a steady parade of his pals showing up. parade of his pals showing up

plus a member of the house oversight committee, democratic congressman dan goldman of new york will join the conversation here in live in studio. "morning joe" just a few moments away. few moments away

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i'm here for the reason to show support for a friend. the president's supporters should know he is in great spirits despite the circumstances of this. >> i'm here today to represent and to pay my respects to what president trump is going through. it's a tough time for him. that courtroom is depressing. this is new york city. icon of our country. we've got a courtroom that's the most depressing thing i've ever been in. mental anguish is trying to be pushed on the republican kand candidate for the president of the united states this year. that's all this is. the republican candidate for the

president of the united states is going through mental anguish in a courtroom that is very depressing. >> well, there you go. some of donald trump's allies joined him in new york for his criminal hush money kriel. outside of court, they said what trump can't because of the gag order in place on the former president. you just saw both senator jd vance of ohio and senator tommy tuberville of alabama, said they're just there to support a friend. both then criticized trump's former fixer michael cohen. vance also attacked the judge's daughter, repeating unfounding claims made by the former president. joining us now to talk about this spectacle, senior columnist for "the daily beast," matt lewis. let's talk about this. it was noted early in the first days of the trial trump didn't have any supporters at all, not even members of his family. eric trump has been there a few times now. now, bold-faced political names have started to show up in recent days. what do you think? is this, you know, doing him --

why are they there? are they just trying to further curry favor with the man who, i guess, could be president again? >> it is making the best out of a bad situation. as you noted, donald trump was able to launder his attacks on the judge, the witnesses, so that he doesn't directly violate the gag order. that's one reason for them to be there. i also think it shows action, activity. joe biden right now is not doing great in the polls. meanwhile, donald trump, people are coming to new york to kind of curry favor with him and to pay homage to him and kiss the ring. some of these people are hoping to be ambassadors or maybe even a running mate for vice president. he's stuck in new york. it is probably a smart move for him. >> let's talk more about the

trial. you have a piece, "michael cohen is no hero." the former fixer who testified yesterday back to the stand in a few hours' time. tell us about what you wrote. >> obviously, michael cohen is the star witness in this trial. there is even a potential that this may be the only trial we get before the election. maybe it'll be the one that takes donald trump down. if you don't like donald trump, that's all good news. i just want to caution my friends in the media and the never trump movement and the quote, unquote, resistance, however they've defined themselves, that michael cohen is not a good guy. this is someone who worked for over a decade for donald trump. according to the testimony he gave to congress, he attacked something like 500 people on behalf of donald trump. now, it seems that michael cohen is on some sort of a rehabilitation tour. he's got a podcast. he's got books. he's pitching a reality show.

this is maybe his opportunity to parlay his 15 minutes into something bigger. look, if he can be helpful to this cause, by all means, cheer him on. if you are rooting for donald trump to finally be taken down. i don't think we should make michael cohen into a hero, and that would be the one outcome of this that i think would be negative. he's not a hero. he is a bad guy. i think he'd still be working for donald trump as his fixer if things had gone differently. >> yeah, he has more or less said as much, and, certainly, he has real credibility issues which the defense will try to take advantage of in the days ahead. let's talk about the race. you mentioned the polls. there were battleground states yesterday that were pretty favorable for trump, although, certainly, those in the blue wall states, a very close race, margin of error. depending on other surveys, biden up in a few. we are seeing a trend here that, you know, the margins are a little fluid. down in the sun belt, georgia,

arizona, even nevada, trump is showing real strength, biden weakness. give us your sense of the overall picture here. >> the sun belt is gloomy if you are joe biden. jonathan, i think what is really concerning here is that if you look at some of the senate races, the democrats running for the u.s. senate are running ahead of joe biden. that suggests this isn't a polling error, you know, some sort of a structural problem with this sampling. this is a joe biden problem. it's too late now to change horses in the middle of the stream or whatever the old cliche is. democrats, it is going to be joe biden. i don't know how they turn it around. this is a joe biden problem. i guess acceptance is the first step. democrats, be aware, this is not a poll problem. it's not a democrat problem. it is a joe biden problem.

>> let's link these topics together. as you said, maybe this is the only trial between now and the election. let's say trump is convicted. maybe this trial is not as serious, quote, unquote, as some of the other legal problems he faces, but it is still a conviction. do you think it'll matter at all? >> i do think it would matter. look, i think if you are joe biden and if you are democrats, you shouldn't bank on that outcome. we have no idea actually. all it's going to take is one juror for a hung jury. but i do think it would matter. you know, i say pray as if it all depends on god. work as if it all depends on you. this shouldn't factor into the strategy of democrats, but if there is a conviction, then that's good news for you. >> democrats not banking on it. even if it moves the race at margins, a point or two, that might make the difference. senior columnist for "the daily beast," matt lewis, thank you so much. we'll talk soon. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too