It's reasonable to conclude that there are instances where Israel
has acted in ways that are not consistent with internationally
Mediterranean law.
There is no evidence that Israel is violating international law.
All civilian casualties in Gaza are solely the responsibility of
Hamas,
of Israel. The bombs they need to end the war,
they can't afford to lose.
I think the president is absolutely right
to withhold these
big, big bombs. President Biden makes waves with his warning
to Israel.
The political fallout is well underway.
More on that in a moment.
But first, the star witness takes the stand.
Former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen testifying this morning at
the Manhattan hush money trial,
a major moment in the former
president's legal proceedings. Here to discuss that and more is
Julia Manchester,
national politics reporter with The Hill.
Julia, my friend, thanks so much for joining us.
Hey, Michael, good to see you.
So let's start there in Manhattan with that hush money
trial,
a really major moment this morning with Michael Cohen taking
the stand to start.
Julia, walk us through why this was such an important
moment.
Michael Cohen, Trump used to be such close allies.
Then they had that very public break.
Yeah, well, you hit the nail on the head.
This is someone who was once a very close ally
to Donald Trump,
someone who once said that he would literally take a
bullet for his former boss,
Trump. But then we saw in
2018-2019, Michael Cohen very much flip on Donald Trump.
And the two have been very public enemies since then,
trading a number of barbs and the press and the
media and so on.
So right now this is,
you know, Michael Cohen. It's also so important because he
is literally the center figure at this hush money trial.
He is the one who coordinated these payments or these
alleged payments from Donald Trump to Stormy Daniels.
So he is very much bearing all and telling what
he knows took place or what he allegedly knows.
Now that being said, while the prosecution might think he's
a key witness,
there's also the argument in that he's one of the
weaker witnesses or one of the weakest witnesses because of,
you know, his untrustworthiness in the past.
He's past. He's someone who's very much flipped back and
forth,
and I think you're going to see Trump's team paint
him as someone who is not reliable and really try
to get that picture across for the jury.
Now, is this a make or break moment for the
prosecution?
Because we're not at the beginning of the trial,
right? We've already heard from David Pecker.
We've already heard from Stormy Daniels herself.
But there's been so much said and so much anticipation
ahead of the Michael Cohen testimony looking at the political
ramifications for this case,
this may be one that folks say is the weakest
of the four indictments against the former president,
but this may be the only one where we actually
see a verdict before the November election.
So is this a make or break moment for the
prosecution?
Yeah, I do think it is a make or break
moment for those,
you know, reasons that you just laid outlook.
This is seen as the weakest of the cases.
And I think part of the reason why it's seen
as a weak case is because Michael Cohen is someone
who is unreliable.
Just think about this. I mean,
we've seen that the judge issued this gag order against
Donald Trump,
telling him not to talk about the witnesses or the
trial publicly as much as he can.
Whereas Cohen has also gotten a bit of a slap
on the wrist by Judge Juan Merchant because Cohen's been
talking about this case as well
in the media and on social media.
So Cohen is seen as someone who's a wild card
and it could be easy for the prosecution to point
at someone like Cohen and say,
or excuse me, the defence to point at him and
say he's not reliable.
Additionally, Cohen is someone who already has a public persona
look during jury selection, one of the jurors that's currently
on the jury now admitted to following Michael Cohen on
Twitter.
So people might already have these preconceived notions of Michael
Cohen
as they do about Donald Trump.
So you know, this is going to be a difficult
hurdle for the prosecution to really cross because we know
what the defense is going to do and painting him
as unreliable. So sticking with the hush money trial but
moving more into the political ramifications.
There's a new report on
thehill.com right now about some Republican senators seeing warning signs
for Trump ahead of the November elections,
a with this ongoing testimony in Manhattan for the hush
money trial.
But B, because of the Indiana primary results last week,
Nikki Haley bringing in a pretty sizable amount of the
vote there among Republican voters,
especially considering she dropped out so far,
so far, a long ago,
actually, tell us about this report and what some of
these warning signs are.
Yeah, so I actually don't think the hush money case
is going to play that big of a role in
the election because we've seen poll after poll that shows
most Americans are concerned about kitchen table issues,
the economy, crime, the situation at the southern border,
abortion, healthcare, the list goes on,
whether you're Republican, Democrat or independent,
this isn't registering. We rarely hear Democrats and President Biden
attacking Trump on this,
which I think is very telling.
Now, if Trump is convicted,
we'll see. There's been a mix of polling on that
that would suggest that maybe some voters sour on him.
It doesn't, or some voters,
it really doesn't make a difference for them.
But I think the Indiana primary certainly does
have more warning signs for Trump.
I mean, we have to preface this that that was
an open primary.
You could have Democrats and independents vote,
but we saw that Nikki Haley,
who dropped out of the race in March,
we're now in May. She's still getting,
what, roughly 17% of the vote in that primary?
So really shows that there might be Democrats and independents,
sure, who are, you know,
voting for her in these primaries.
But also she's continuing to be somewhat of a force
with Republican primary voters.
So the big question is what does Donald Trump do
to appeal to those voters?
Now there's some Republicans, Haley asked.
Republicans who are, you know,
urging Trump to embrace those voters to really,
you know, go after them.
But then a lot of Trump's allies and other Republicans
say,
well, once Trump is officially the nominee after the election,
it will be set in stone.
It will be Biden versus Trump.
And the majority of people,
Republicans, who might have supported Nikki Haley in the primary,
they're not necessarily going to look at Biden and say
I'm going to vote for him.
So there's some confidence on the part of Trump supporters
and Republicans that these primaries that Haley is doing relatively
well and despite not being in the race,
you have to Asterix them with the fact that they're
open primaries and that they're not necessarily a clear reflection
of the GOP primary electorate.
Still, though, a big block of voters right now,
and especially with the polls showing that the States and
nationally this race is so close,
those voters can very easily make or break it.
But look, Julia, the reason why we're talking so much
about the hush money trial is because that's how former
President Trump spends the most of his time these days.
He has to be in court for four days a
week.
But over the weekend, he spent one of those precious
days not in the Manhattan courtroom holding a rally in
New Jersey.
A beachside rally in New Jersey.
And it was during that event that he had some
praise for a fictional character from Silence of the Lambs.
Let's take a quick listen.
Has anyone ever seen The Silence of the Lambs?
The late, great Hannibal Lecter?
He's a wonderful man. He's the late,
great Hannibal Lecter. We have people that are being released
into our country that we don't want in our country,
and they're coming in totally unchecked,
totally unvetted. And we can't let this happen.
So that was a moment right there that's gotten a
lot of buzz from the rally.
But I want to take a step back.
Julia Trump is spending again one of his few days
not in the courtroom rallying voters in New Jersey.
And he sounded bullish on his chances of winning the
Garden State,
saying, quote, we're going to win New Jersey.
But you and I both know that historically,
that's going to be an uphill climb.
So why is Trump so bullish about this?
And tell us why it's going to be difficult for
a Republican to actually win that state.
Well, look, we know that New Jersey has had Republican
governors in the past.
Obviously former Governor Chris Christie.
Back in 2021, there was a gubernatorial race with incumbent
Governor Phil Murphy that might have been a bit too
close for comfort for Republicans,
but in, you know, obviously some swing house districts that
you've covered,
Michael. But for the most part,
that's very much a, you know,
a Democratic state. I'm curious as to whether there was
a media strategy.
Look, New Jersey's obviously a part of a very big,
you know, two big media markets,
Philadelphia and the greater New York City media market.
So, you know, there could be some play in that.
But what I really thought was interesting during this was
that
the former president was talking about the trial.
And you know when we say this trial isn't top
of mind for voters,
that's a two way St.
I mean when we say that voters aren't paying attention
to the trial,
they're paying attention more to the economy,
crime, healthcare, etcetera. Well Donald Trump has to take keep
that in mind as well and not constantly vent about
this.
If he really wants to connect with voters,
this is something that was clearly red meat to his
base.
You know he's in a big populated area.
He wants to get his message out.
But, you know, I think a lot of us,
after that rally and after a lot of what was
said at the rally with the Hannibal Lecter stuff and
all that,
a lot of us were left scratching our heads.
But we'll see. You know,
there could be a, a message to this,
all of this. There could be.
There could be. We'll have to wait and keep watching
on that.
Switching gears now, Julia, to the Israel Hamas war,
President Biden last week warned that if Israel,
Israeli forces go forward with an invasion of Rafa,
the US will stop weapon shipments to Israel.
Already, the US has held back some shipments of large
bombs to Israel.
Now, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made the rounds on
the Sunday shows yesterday,
defending the administration's current posture on the war.
Explain to us exactly what
Blinken's argument was yesterday. Well,
look, essentially Blanken is trying to walk a very fine
line between,
you know, obviously supporting Israel and wanting to eradicate Hamas,
you know, in the Gaza Strip,
but at the same time wanting to hold firm against
Israel in terms of the civilian casualties that are in
the 10s of thousands at this point,
what, 34,000, you know, over over that number have been
killed,
many of them women and children in Gaza.
So we see that the Biden administration is walking this
very fine line.
And when you have this invasion of Rafa,
this offensive, this Israeli offensive in Rafa,
that risk for starvation, for civilian casualties,
etcetera, it only grows. So I think right now you
just have the United States just walking this incredibly fine
line with trying to,
you know, voice their support for Israel,
a longtime ally, but at the same time hold them
accountable while,
quite frankly, a lot of public opinion for Biden.
And I I understand that
this is a foreign policy story,
but there are political implications for the president in this
back home.
So it's a difficult situation for him.
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because I want
to zero in on those political ramifications right now.
We know that the issue of the Israel Hamas war
has been a difficult one for President Biden to navigate.
We there have been progressives,
lawmakers, voters who have been urging him to change his
policy on the war,
raising concerns about the mounting humanitarian deaths in Gaza.
We saw that protest vote in the Michigan Democratic primary.
But talk about how this may play out on the
campaign trail right now because while Biden may be appeasing
those progressive voices,
Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, for example,
praised this move, he's also getting accusations,
particularly from Republicans, that he's abandoning Israel in their time
of need.
So talk about what the strategy is here and how
you think it'll play out on the campaign trail.
Yeah. I mean, look, the strategy is,
you know, essentially what I said before him trying to
placate,
you know, the, the progressive base of his party,
younger voters, Arab American voters,
voters who aren't happy with how Israel has conducted this
war and how Israel,
you know, the US has supported Israel.
You know, I think it's certainly,
you heard that praise from progressives,
but Republicans very much, and I'm sure,
you know, this is very predictable,
They're attacking President Biden on this and some Democrats have
as well for not standing as firmly with Israel.
So, you know, in terms of the Republican criticism,
that's one thing. But I think Joe Biden right now
in this strategy is much more focused sort of on
the rift within his own party on this.
Yeah, for sure. Julia, let's hit the campaign trail quickly.
There is a big Democratic primary tomorrow in Maryland for
the next person who's going to represent the old line
state in the Senate.
We have Angela also Brooks David Trone give us the
state of that race heading into tomorrow's primary.
Yeah, look, David Tron for a while was the clear
front runner.
He has the most money.
He's, you know, sitting member of Congress,
a somewhat national name, a big name in Maryland.
But we've seen also Brooks very much,
even though she doesn't have as much money,
she's been able to close that gap.
And in some polls, including the latest Emerson College The
Hill DC News Now poll,
she's leading him within the margin of error.
Now this primary is very important because whoever wins this
will go up against former former Maryland governor Larry Hogan
and Larry Hogan,
even though it's AI would say Maryland is a blue
state.
Larry Hogan is a pretty strong candidate and you have
David Trone making the the case that he's better equipped
than Angela also Brooks to take on Larry Hogan.
But also Brooks has certainly,
you know, very much put up a big fight against
Trone despite having less money,
less resources than him. So it'll be a very closely
watched primary we're watching tomorrow.
Stole my last question for me right there.
But this has been such a bitter Democratic primary.
But whoever comes out victorious tomorrow,
that's not even going to be the start of this
competitive campaign,
because then whoever wins is going to have to take
on Larry Hogan,
who is one of Mitch
McConnell's top recruits. Republicans rejoiced when he finally decided to
jump into the race.
So just quickly touch on that.
Whoever wins this primary, how difficult is that race going
to be against somebody like Larry Hogan,
who was a very popular governor of the state?
Look, I think it's going to be
difficult for the winner of this primary,
but also Larry Hogan. Look,
Maryland is a blue state.
And you, even though Larry Hogan has proven himself,
proven himself to be, you know,
one of the most vocal Trump critics,
you already see ads with Democrats tying him to Trump
and tying him to,
you know, national Republican abortion bans,
for example, or abortion bans that Republicans have gotten behind
in other states.
So that's Larry Hogan's going to have his own challenges.
You know, I think at first,
first this was seen, you know,
similar to how Florida's being seen.
You know, Republican, like Democrats are sort of making a
play in Florida.
That's an uphill climb. Similar situation happening in Maryland.
But like you said, Larry Hogan,
very popular former governor. It's going to be tough.
Absolutely. That is, you know,
an understatement right there. Julia Manchester,
national politics reporter with The Hill,
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks, Michael.