Laura Coates Live

The jury in Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial finished its first day of deliberations Wednesday without reaching a verdict after meeting for more than four-and-a-half hours. The 12 men and women will also again hear from Judge Juan Merchan. The jurors requested four pieces of testimony: Pecker’s testimony about his phone conversation with Trump in June 2016, his testimony about not finalizing Trump’s payment to AMI for Karen McDougal’s life rights, his testimony about the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting, and Cohen’s testimony about the Trump Tower meeting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Prosecutors told jurors on Tuesday they’ve seen a “mountain of evidence” to prove that Donald Trump falsified business records in order to cover up a damaging story about an alleged affair at the end of the 2016 election. Trump’s attorneys told the jury that the prosecution’s criminal case against the former president is wholly reliant on the testimony of Michael Cohen – the “MVP of liars” who is out to get Trump. Which narrative the jury believes could ultimately decide Trump’s legal fate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Special counsel’s office prosecutors have asked a federal judge in Florida to place a gag order on Donald Trump that would limit his ability to comment about law enforcement that searched his Mar-a-Lago resort. The request – a first in the classified documents mishandling case – comes after the former president has repeatedly and falsely criticized the FBI for having a policy in place around the use of deadly force during the search and seizure of government records at his resort in August 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former President Donald Trump held a rally Thursday in the Bronx as his campaign looks to make inroads with Hispanic and Black voters ahead of November’s election. The event in one of the most Democratic counties in the country comes days ahead of closing arguments in Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial. Trump faces 34 felony counts and has pleaded not guilty. Ben Carson joins to answer why he thinks the support of Black voters for Trump has increased since 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During a marathon day of proceedings in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, a morning hearing in front of Judge Aileen Cannon devolved into a shouting match amongst the attorneys, and the afternoon series of arguments prompted the judge to wonder if the legal nuances of the case may be too difficult for jurors to understand. Plus, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley plans to vote for Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who is prosecuting Trump, is projected to win her Democratic primary rematch with attorney and author Christian Wise Smith. And Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the former president’s case, is projected to win his nonpartisan election for Fulton County Superior Court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The prosecution rested their case against Donald Trump on Monday in the former president’s hush money trial, which is barreling toward a conclusion as soon as next week. Michael Cohen’s testimony finally wrapped up Monday after four days on the witness stand as the final witness in the prosecution’s case alleging that Trump falsified business records when he reimbursed Cohen for the hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A 2016 surveillance video obtained exclusively by CNN shows Sean “Diddy” Combs grab, shove, drag and kick his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura during an altercation that matches allegations in a now-settled federal lawsuit filed by Ventura in November. The footage, compiled from multiple camera angles dated March 5, 2016, appears to show the rapper, producer and business mogul during an incident that, according to Ventura’s complaint, occurred at a hotel in Los Angeles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump attorney Todd Blanche raised his voice and flailed his arms at Michael Cohen, accusing the prosecution’s star witness of making up a phone conversation with Trump just before he sent $130,000 to Stormy Daniels’ attorney in October 2016. Blanche confronted Cohen with text messages he sent with Keith Schiller – whom Cohen had said put Trump on the phone – which were unrelated to anything having to do with Trump or Daniels. It was the most dramatic moment of the cross-examination of the key witness in the hush money case, and the clearest example yet of the defense’s effort to cast doubt on Cohen’s memory of phone calls and other significant interactions with Trump in 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump agreed on this: they needed to debate. After months of speculation over the traditional pre-election face-offs – when they would happen, what they would look like and whether the candidates would actually show up – the 2024 showdowns were quickly announced Wednesday morning after Biden’s campaign laid out its criteria for participating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the New York hush money cover up trial, Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche began his confrontation with Michael Cohen on Tuesday by throwing the former fixer’s language back in his face. For roughly two hours, Blanche began a cross-examination to try to discredit Cohen’s allegations against Trump. Over two days, Cohen has detailed the hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, walked the jury through the $130,000 he paid at Trump’s direction and described his fallout with the former president. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Just do it.” With three short words, more famous for selling sports gear than exposing conspiracies, star witness Michael Cohen on Monday depicted Donald Trump’s order of a hush money payoff to an adult film star to allegedly save his 2016 campaign. Prosecutors will seek to build on his testimony when he returns to the stand Tuesday to nail down their case that the ex-president broke the law by falsifying financial records to hide the pay-off in the culmination of a scheme to mislead voters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers continued their attack on the credibility of Stormy Daniels for several hours on Thursday, with defense attorney Susan Necheles accusing the adult film star of making up the story of having sex with Trump to make money. Daniels pushed back on claims she was untruthful about her sexual encounter with Trump, saying that the story was true, even as she was confronted with inconsistencies in some of the small details of her account. Plus, a Florida sheriff publicly released bodycam footage from a deputy who fatally shot a Black airman in his home last week – and disputed claims from the victim’s family that the deputy had gone to the wrong apartment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Joe Biden said for the first time he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah. “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said referring to 2,000-pound bombs that he paused shipments of last week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adult film star Stormy Daniels dished out salacious details of her alleged sexual encounter with former President Donald Trump in 2006 from the witness stand. She described how they met at a celebrity golf tournament and what she says happened when she went to Trump’s Lake Tahoe hotel room. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial dove into the paper trail at the heart of their case on Monday, revealing to jurors exactly how Michael Cohen was repaid by Trump’s trust and personal accounts in 2017 after he paid hush money to Stormy Daniels. Judge Merchan began the session by announcing he found Trump in contempt for violating his gag order a 10th time, after fining him last week for nine violations cited by prosecutors. Each violation came with a $1,000 fine, the maximum allowed under New York law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump’s former campaign press secretary and White House communications director Hope Hicks took the stand Friday, sitting feet away from her former boss as she described the fallout from the “Access Hollywood” tape and the Trump White House response to stories about hush money payments. Hicks was visibly nervous, and she mostly avoided eye contact with Trump while answering questions from prosecutors for more than two hours. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump’s attorneys on Thursday sought to paint one of the witnesses at the heart of the hush money deal with Stormy Daniels as someone with a long history of extracting money from celebrities while going “up to the line without committing extortion.” Plus, at Tuesday’s pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University and The City College of New York, 282 people were arrested, according to the New York Police Department. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Police are at UCLA and have declared the pro-Palestinian protest on campus an unlawful assembly, a source told CNN. About 300 protesters were arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York on Tuesday night, and at least a dozen people were arrested at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Wednesday. While the demands among protesters vary at each university, the majority of demonstrations have called for the divestment from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over 100 protesters were arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York — most at Columbia — according to a law enforcement official. Columbia University property, including Hamilton Hall, was cleared two hours after officers entered the campus to remove people protesting Israel's war in Gaza. The university has asked NYPD to maintain its presence on campus until May 17. Columbia has been the epicenter, but protests have been roiling universities across the country, with administrations taking different approaches to the encampments that have sprouted up in support of the Palestinian cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Four officers were killed in a shooting while attempting to serve a warrant at a home in Charlotte, North Carolina, including one deputy US marshal and two local task force officers, authorities say. A total of eight law enforcement officers were shot during the incident, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Pecker finally stepped down from the witness stand after more than 10 hours of testimony across four days, where the former American Media Inc. chief described in detail how he helped Donald Trump suppress negative stories and pummel Trump’s rivals in the National Enquirer during the 2016 campaign. The back-and-forth over Pecker’s story set the stage for the further brawls ahead when witnesses such as adult film star Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, take the stand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The former president was the epicenter of attention Thursday during key testimony from media magnate David Pecker at his first criminal trial in New York. Plus, the Supreme Court appeared ready to reject former President Donald Trump’s claims of sweeping immunity and the broad protections he has sought to shut down his federal election subversion case, but also reluctant to give special counsel Jack Smith carte blanche to pursue those charges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Justices will be hearing oral arguments in his sweeping immunity case that could have profound implications for his legal fate and poses never-before-resolved questions about the powers of the presidency. Plus, a grand jury in Arizona has handed up an indictment against former President Donald Trump’s allies over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, including the fake electors from that state and several individuals connected to his campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Judge Juan Merchan appeared poised on Tuesday to sanction Donald Trump for violating the gag order in his criminal hush money case after peppering the former president’s lawyers with questions about why Trump’s social media posts were acceptable. Tuesday began with a hearing on Trump’s 10 alleged violations of the gag order. The day ended with former American Media Inc. chief David Pecker talking about how he vetted allegations of an alleged affair between Trump and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal in 2016 while in constant communication with Trump’s then-fixer, Michael Cohen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The very different story as a jury is being asked to believe in Donald Trump's hush money trial. Plus, new revelations in the classified documents case. What a top Oval Office insider warned Donald Trump and who allegedly got promised a pardon. And police intervening during pro-Palestinian protest at New York University after intimidating chants and anti- Semitic incidents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tonight’s show begins with Laura reflecting on an unbelievably disturbing moment after seeing a man lit himself on fire in front of the New York City courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money coverup trial is underway. Pus, we explore the question: how does the prosecution prove Trump paid hush money to win the election? Also, Speaker Mike Johnson risks the wrath of GOP members with a foreign aid bill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If Donald Trump opts to testify at his New York criminal trial, Manhattan prosecutors want to use his past legal run-ins to discredit him to the jury. In a filing released Wednesday, prosecutors for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office say they’ll ask the former president about the recent verdicts against him, including the recent civil fraud trial with the New York attorney general, where a judge found Trump and his company liable for committing persistent and repeated fraud by inflating the value of his assets to get better loan rates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On day two of the Trump hush money trial seven jurors were placed on the panel that will decide former President Donald Trump’s guilt or innocence. So far four men and three women have been selected to serve on the jury that will ultimately consider 34 counts of falsifying business records against Trump. Trump’s courtroom conduct got him once again – briefly – in hot water with a judge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After day one of Trump’s hush money trail, more than half of first batch of prospective jurors say they can’t be fair and impartial, the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape can’t be played, but Karen McDougal, an actress and model who alleged she also had an affair with Trump, will be allowed to testify. Plus, the world awaits Israel’s response to Iran’s retaliatory strikes from over the weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Judge Juan Merchan has rejected yet another attempt by former President Trump to delay his criminal hush money trial set to begin in New York on Monday. Merchan issued an order denying a motion from Trump’s attorneys to delay the trial due to excessive pretrial publicity. Plus, a roundtable discussion on DEI and why it is dividing America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

O.J. Simpson, the former NFL star and broadcaster whose athletic achievements and fame were eclipsed by his 1995 trial in the brutal killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, has died of cancer, his family announced Thursday on X. He was 76. Murder trial witness, Kato Kaelin, a friend of Nicole Simpson, joins to discuss the impact and legacy of the trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sen. Raphael Warnock joins to discuss the hot-button issue of abortion after Trump and Biden both weigh-in. Plus, for the third time in three days, a New York appellate judge has denied an attempt by former President Donald Trump to delay his hush money trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The parents of the teenager who killed four students in the 2021 school shooting in Oxford, Michigan, were each sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 15 years in prison, weeks after being convicted of manslaughter. Plus, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday the state must adhere to a 160-year-old law barring all abortions except in cases when “it is necessary to save” a pregnant person’s life – a significant ruling that will make a Civil War-era abortion law enforceable in the state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CNN has obtained the jury questionnaire in Trump’s New York hush case. Prospective jurors will be quizzed on their feelings about Trump and asked if they or anyone in their circle have ever been to a Trump rally or worked or volunteered for a Trump presidential campaign, the Trump presidential administration, or any other political entity affiliated with Trump. But they won’t be asked explicitly what political party they belong to, who they’ve voted for or who they have made political contributions to. Plus, Donald Trump elaborated on his position on abortion, saying it should be left to individual states to determine abortion legislation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former President Donald Trump was dealt two major setbacks Thursday in his efforts to derail the criminal cases against him, with judges in the Georgia election interference case and in the federal classified documents case both rejecting bids by the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee to have those cases thrown out. Plus, musician Ne-Yo joins to discuss AI and music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Biden faces a red line moment and a high-stakes call over the deadly strike against aid workers in Gaza. Will it change anything? Plus, new footage from inside the raid on Diddy’s home and new reporting on the interviews federal agents are now conducting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wisconsin is sending a message to President Biden that could very well spell trouble come the November election. Plus, the strongest earthquake in Taiwan in nearly a quarter of a century strikes the country. Also, Trump seeks to remove the judge with 13 days left until the hush money trial in New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The judge in the New York Trump hush money trial expands the gag order on the former president after his attacks on the judge’s daughter. Plus, former Trump aide Hope Hicks is expected to be called as a witness in the hush money case. Also, for now, Trump has avoided the seizure of his assets after posting his $175 million bond. Trump’s stock falls 21% after reporting it lost $58 million in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case are appealing a judge’s ruling that let Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis remain on the election subversion case. Plus, on Friday, Evan Gershkovich marked the grim milestone of one year in Russian detention. Shortly after his arrest, the Wall Street Journal reporter was charged with espionage — an accusation vehemently denied by Gershkovich, his employer and the US government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

President Joe Biden on Thursday joined Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, the only living two-term Democratic presidents, aiming to use their star power to woo big-pocketed donors as Biden tries to join their ranks. Obama and Clinton weren’t the only former presidents in New York tonight, Donald Trump attended the wake of an NYPD officer in Long Island. The officer was killed during a traffic stop in Queens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An American tragedy deepens as more people have been confirmed dead in Baltimore after the Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed when it was struck by a cargo ship. More families have been left with so many questions and so much pain. Also, former vice presidential candidate and senator Joe Lieberman has died at the age of 82. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The US Coast Guard has ended the rescue operation for the six workers, who were on the Baltimore bridge when it collapsed. “We do not believe that we are going to find any of these individuals still alive,” Commander Shannon Gilreath said. Plus, authorities searched musician and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs’ homes on Monday because he is a target of a federal investigation carried out by a Department of Homeland Security team that handles human trafficking crimes, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A New York judge says Donald Trump will be the first United States president to stand for a criminal trial and face a jury of his peers as his trial is set to start in only weeks. Plus, Donald Trump gets a lifeline as a New York appeals court reduces his bond from $454 million to $175 million. Also, the son of the founder of the Oath Keepers is running for office as a Democrat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Princess of Wales reveals her cancer diagnosis amidst weeks of widespread speculation. Plus, co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, joins to discus the antitrust lawsuit that may change the way one billion people use their iPhones. Also, a deal has been reached to avoid a government shutdown with a Senate vote expected shortly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We look at what the New York attorney general may do if Donald Trump does not come up with half one billion dollars by Monday. Democrats are also warning this could be a huge national security risk. Plus, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis is pushing to revive the Trump case with a summer trial request before the November election. Also, a look at threats and controversy amid the sports gambling gold rush. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cruel and unusual is the new defense from the Trump world to have him avoid paying his half billion dollar bond. A former Trump attorney joins to make the case. Plus, the DNC prepares for a war with third-party candidates and one of them joins the program to discus the 2024 presidential election. Plus, rap artist Glorilla joins to discuss meeting Biden and Harris at the White House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The lawyer who fought to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case joins to discuss why she pursued the motion to remove Ms. Willis, if there was any racial motivation in the filing, and to react to the judge’s ruling allowing Ms. Willis to stay on the case. Plus, a federal appeals court late Tuesday night put Texas’ controversial immigration law back on hold, hours after the Supreme Court had cleared the way for the state to begin enforcing the measure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former President Donald Trump can’t find an insurance company to underwrite his bond to cover the massive judgment against him in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud case, his lawyers told a New York appeals court. Trump’s attorneys said he has approached 30 underwriters to back the bond, which is due by the end of this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We finally find an answer to the question we’ve been waiting months to find out: Fani Willis is not disqualified from prosecuting Donald Trump and his codefendants. But, the judge ordered an ultimatum that either Ms. Willis leaves the case or the top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, goes. So, Mr. Wade resigned from the case. Judge Glenda Hatchett joins to discuss the developments in the case. Plus, the prosector who oversaw the trails of Ethan Crumbley’s parents speaks out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices