simmons, thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. >> thanks, joe. thank you all. >> that does it for us this morning, ana cabrera picks up the coverage. mika? how long when does she? >> in just 30 seconds. we'll see you tomorrow, everybody. >> we could be on the stage. we're very good at stepping on each other's lines. >> are we live? each other's lins >> are we live n this be treated? stop typing. start talking to a specialized urologist. because it could be peyronie's disease, or pd. it's a medical condition where there is a curve in the erection, caused by a formation of scar tissue. and an estimated 1 in 10 men may have it. but pd can be treated even without surgery. say goodbye to searching online. find a specialized urologist who can diagnose pd and build a treatment plan with you. visit makeapdplan.com today. right now on "ana cabrera reports," breaking news of georgia, an appeals court taking

up the decision to allow fani willis to stay on that election interference case. also ahead, new revelations about donald trump's anger spilling out in the new york courtroom prompting reaction from the judge as stormy daniels prepares to return to the stand tomorrow. plus, breaking news, the aftermath of a tornado touching down in michigan. take a look at the devastation here. the governor declaring a state of emergency. and happening right now on capitol hill, the same panel that grilled university presidents on anti-semitism about to tackle the issue in k through 12 schools. ♪♪ it is 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. let's get right to the breaking news out of georgia and donald trump's election interference case there. an appeals court has just announced it will review the judge's ruling to let prosecutor fani willis stay on this case. trump and his co-defendants want

to remove her from the case because of her personal relationship with the former top prosecutor. and joining us now former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst joyce vance. joyce, this is the appeals court now reviewing the judge's decision to let willis stay on the case. what does this really mean? what's the process going to be now? >> right, so this is what's called an interlocutory appeal, ana, an appeal that takes place before trail, and the court of appeals wasn't obligated to hear this appeal, the decision this morning is that they will, in fact, take the case. it's taken them weeks to make the decision simply to hear the case. that means we're more likely and for months before they decide whether the trial judge got it right when he said fani willis could stay on the case. if that decision happens months out, whichever party loses is likely to take an appeal to georgia's supreme court and that effectively means that this trial will not take place before

the election. >> joyce, nathan wade, the person who was a special prosecutor she had brought on who she had this relationship with, he just gave an interview to abc news over the weekend, and i want to play part of what he said. >> workplace romances are as american as apple pie. it happens to everyone. >> do you think that you've done any kind of damage to this case? >> none at all. >> even the public perception of it? >> there again, this takes me back to the initial statement that i made. my private life became the focal point of the case. my private life has nothing to do with the merits of that prosecution. >> joyce, will the appeals court agree? >>. >> well, look, mr. wade is entitled to his opinion, but prosecutors are held to and have to hold themselves to a higher standard of conduct. the decision here, you know, may

well be that there is some problem, but the trial judge saw fit to cure any issues by saying that willis could stay on the case as long as wade didn't. that was a good split the baby solution, and it wouldn't be unexpected if the court of appeals affirms the trial judge here. >> and just the fact that the appeals court decided to take this didn't just swat it away. what does that tell you about where this could be headed? >> yeah, i don't read any substantive into this decision. i think this case is high profile. it's political. georgia has elected state appellate courts. it's not surprising that they would feel obligated to hear this case rather than just let it ride. >> joyce vance, thank you so much. stay with us, we'll bring you back. let's turn to donald trump's hush money trial and stormy daniels's anticipated return to the stand tomorrow where court resumes, and that's when she'll face additional cross examination by trump's defense team. her first day of testimony was

salacious, at times graphic. apparently provoking trump into unleashing an expletive-laced reaction in court and prompting a quiet admonishment from the judge. let's bring in our reporters and analysts who have been inside the courthouse this week. nbc news correspondent yasmin vossoughian, msnbc legal correspondent, lisa rubin and former federal prosecutor and former sdny criminal division deputy chief kristy greenberg. so yasmin. >> yes. >> let's talk about where we left off and your top takeaways from her testimony so far. >> so you mentioned they're going to pick up cross examination tomorrow and then likely redirect after that. it was i think all of us can agree, a stunning day in court yesterday morning as it was revealed that stormy daniels was going to be the second witness on that stand called just after90 minutes after court began. what was incredible about the cross examination is kind of how susan necheles was going after

stormy daniels, and some of the questions she asked, are you just trying to extort donald trump, right? are you just lying about every story that you're telling here on this stand? stormy daniels at that moment was standing up for herself, right? the first time she felt she could publicly with donald trump sitting eight feet away from her. no, i am not. this is not about money. i wanted to get the story out there. i felt unsafe. kind of painting this picture of stormy daniels that she had really an axe to grind. if i can paint for you a picture, ana, of what that courtroom was like, right? stormy daniels walking in behind donald trump, behind the defense table, her hair up in a banana clip, she had a black hoodie on. not the stormy daniels that we have all come to know very well publicly. this was not the person that we saw on the stand. she told story after story, and she was chided as you mentioned oftentimes by judge juan merchan to stick to the answers. listen to the questions and give us succinct answers and the jury

was kind of picking up on the energy as well. the thing is, though, we have seen interviews of stormy daniels repeatedly on, for instance, "60 minutes" with anderson cooper, and she has this tendency to drone on. whether or not she was nervous was in question. i think also what was stunning was how they finished direct and it was a tweet from the former president of the united states and saying i don't know this woman. this never happened. she's out to get me. and it was a direct contradiction to the detailed -- the detailed account that stormy daniels took us through that entire morning. it was a stunning day. >> so, lisa, did we really learn anything new from stormy daniels's testimony and how do you think the prosecution is feeling about calling her to the stand? >> look, if you're a stormy daniels junky, and you've read her book and you watched the documentary and you've seen the "60 minutes" interview that yasmin was referring to, much of yesterday was not new to you at all, but that's not where prosecutors find this jury. remember, most of these people

were selected because against the backdrop of other people who could have been chosen they appeared to know less or at least be less invested emotionally in the facts of this case. as many people in the public are familiar with, then other people that could have been chosen. i felt like i learned something new because the cast on the story that stormy daniels told yesterday was not this light hearted romp that we've come to understand it as but a march -- a much darker tale of predatory conduct by the former president that fits neatly on and maps onto that access hollywood tape. this is a person who is entitled, who had schemed out the whole thing, who answers the door to his hotel penthouse in tahoe in satin pajamas, until she says to him go change. she thinks they are literally going to have dinner. two plus hours later, all she's had is a glass of water. at which point she excuses herself to go to the bathroom,

and when she comes back, she finds the former president literally lying in wait for her on the bedroom bed, and so i thought that the feeling i walked away with yesterday was a different one than we've all come to understand as a culture about stormy daniels. this is a person who felt preyed upon, even if she might not characterize it as a sexual assault, a person who disassociated from the experience in her head as it was happening, i can't help but think that the jurors would be impacted by that and on closing argument, if the prosecutors can tie that neatly together with what was happening in the campaign day by day starting october 7th with the release of the access hollywood tape, i think the jurors will really be impacted by what the world would have looked like had stormy daniels told the story she told yesterday in october of 2016, ana. >> so her testimony, it was riveting but this is a crime, kristy, about financial documents, not infidelity.

so why do you think the prosecution needed stormy daniels' testimony, did they, and what do you think they accomplished? >> so i think they needed her testimony to show this is what donald trump paid for. this is the story he paid for the american people not to hear before the election. so some of those details were necessary. it was that feeling we're in the overflow room so you can have more of an audible -- there are moments of ick. there were a lot of like make america gag again would have been his campaign slogan if this had come out. it was disgusting. yeah, the images of the hugh hefner pajamas and him saying don't worry about melania because we don't sleep in the same room anyway, and then talking to this woman who he wanted to sleep with and saying that she reminded him of his daughter and using a spot on a reality show to try and induce her to sleep with him, so all of that was cringe, but i think that was the point -- because that would have been highly

embarrassing to trump -- where i think the prosecution overreached a bit is what lisa's talking about which is this darker moment where there was testimony about their height differential, that he blocked the door and was bigger than her. so it sort of indicated she didn't say she couldn't leave, but there was that sort of undercurrent that maybe she couldn't. >> and that could be problematic for the prosecution? >> yes, yes, because he is not on trial for sexual assault, and sexual assault is much more serious than falsified business records, which on its own is a misdemeanor. so when you have damaging testimony that's highly inflammatory, that could be far more prejudicial to the jury than probative of this story. some of those details i'm surprised that the state elicited those. it didn't seem necessary to tell the story. i do think in order to cure this and make sure there's not a hung jury, there needs to be a limiting instruction here that this factual dispute. there's no factual dispute about

whether the sexual assault was consensual. i also think the state could do some work on redirect to clean some of that so it's very clear that she's not being threatened. they got some of that, but then it was undercut in other parts. it needs to be cleaner. >> can i just add on to what kristy said, i think also what was so interesting about yesterday was the testimony from the publisher earlier in the day using donald trump's words against him and connecting back the testimony that we got from stormy daniels and saying, look, this is what happened, right, and then the prosecution wanting to say to itself, okay, this is what happened. if we believe this is what happened, then why would a man who has coached millions of people how to be a billionaire who was incredibly frugal, down to the paper clip who signs every check, right, why would he pay out this money and then gross up michael cohen, his

attorney, right? why would he pay $420,000 give him double if he is so incredibly frugal. if you believe her, that's what the prosecution wants you to do, then you believe donald trump's words and you take them for what they mean, right? >> and you realize how damaging those details could have been had the voters had access to that information. of course donald trump was there listening to this as you point out, yasmin, just eight feet away. we're learning from the transcripts that trump at one point was reacting strongly to her testimony. swearing in court apparently. the judge calling a side bar, so jurors couldn't hear people who were in the courtroom couldn't hear what he was saying. but we're learning he told trump's attorney, quote, i understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly and he is shaking his head visually, and that's contemptuous. it has the potential into intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.

lisa, were you able to hear any of the apparent comments that trump was making or see his face or reaction? >> no, i didn't. it was obvious by that point he was upset. i didn't see him mouth the words that he is alleged to have spoken, the cursing, and i didn't obviously hear it. that having been said, it's totally consistent with how l trump behaved at the second of the e. jean carroll trial where he had a similar skirmish with judge lou kaplan. banging on the table saying visibly not true. also taking pains to exaggerate those words coming out of his mouth so that he could be seen by the jury mouthing not true, never happened, never happened, i don't even know the woman. those kind of mumblings, that also provoked sharked indignation from judge lou kaplan there. the issue here, it's not a gag order problem. these are in-court statements,

not extrajudicial. as judge merchan reminded the defense at the beginning of the case, trump has a right to be in court unless and until his behavior becomes so disruptive it interferes with the administration of justice. judge merchan has the right to eject him from the courtroom. this is a warning that that could come if this kind of behavior continues, particularly as directed towards witnesses. >> how problematic is it, then, kristy if the jury is seeing this and hearing this? >> i mean, it's hard to say because they could hold it against him and say you're just not -- you're not playing by the rules, you're not kind of following the decorum one would expect. there were two lawyers on that jury. they know how this is supposed to go. they know defendants aren't supposed to act that way. it could actually hurt donald trump or it could play the other way and jurors could say, look, he feels that somebody's up there lying against him. it's a natural -- it's natural to have a reaction. really hard to say. i'm in the overflow room. i can't see the jurors' faces to

see how they're reacting to it or if they're even noticing it. we know the jurors are paying attention. they're taking notes, but all of those things, any motions, any facial reactions, any statements from that table, you know the jury is paying attention to it. >> it's all fascinating, wish we had some more time to talk about it. yasmin, you'll be back with us momentarily. wheel we've been laser focused on this hush money trial, a big win for trump in another case, his classified documents trial now indefinitely delayed, so who are jack smith's options now. right now a house hearing on anti-semitism in schools is just about to get started. who's in the hot seat this time? terrifying scenes of tornados touching down from oklahoma to michiga, where this weather threat is headed next. the biden administration stopping a delivery of bombs to israel over concerns they'll drop them on civilians, will that slow the rafah invasion? no)

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rules surrounding the use of classified documents in a public criminal trial. back with us msnbc legal analyst joyce vance. how do you make sense of this move by judge cannon? a trump appointee? is this a sign of incompetent, bias, is it necessary she put this on hold? >> she's certainly not in a hurry to wrap up the motions that are necessary before this case can go to trial. look, aileen cannon was a federal prosecutor before she went on the bench. she served in the appellate division in the miami office, the southern district of florida. that's an office that's known for its high towards and its good lawyers. so i think it's a little bit too simplistic to dismiss this as a judge who's not up to the task. she's young. she's new on the bench. perhaps there's some experience issues. federal judges are used to mentoring other judges, and i think we're left with the conclusion she's simply not in a hurry to let this case go to

trial. >> so what are the special counsel jack smith's options here? >> this is something you sometimes deal with as a prosecutor, a judge who isn't in a hurry, and you don't have a lot of good options. smith could have tried to recuse her early on when the case was assigned to her. he chose not to and now his next best option is to wait until she rules on classified discovery issues. if trump wants to use classified information at trial, he's entitled to take an immediate expedited appeal to the 11th circuit court of appeals. but that's one of the rulings she's slow walking at this point. for now he's in a holding position. >> and we do have some dates for pretrial motions that are due, and they go into july meaning this is -- this trial is very unlikely to start before the election, right? meanwhile we've got trump's federal election interference case on hold pending that supreme court decision on presidential immunity. as we just talked about earlier,

georgia's supreme court reviewing the decision to let fani willis stay on the case. do you expect the hush money case to be the only one to go to trial before election day? >> you know, i think we're now at the point where we have to act on that assumption. it's not entirely impossible that another case could get to trial, but it would take sort of a moon shot. there are all sorts of delays that happen as cases get closer to trial. we saw that in manhattan where there was the temporary delay that pushed this trial back a little bit. there are appellate issues here, and this is not, i think, evidence of bad faith on anyone's part. these issues experienced prosecutors know take time to resolve. trials don't go as scheduled. in the florida case, what's unfortunate is that this is a case that should have been ready for trial last december, and this is a judge who has continued to delay it far beyond what was necessary. >> joyce vance, as always,

appreciate your expertise. thank you for being with us. up next, a fresh rebuke of israel from the white house. why president biden stopped a key arms shipment to israeli forces and what it could mean for gaza. plus, right now the same house panel that has grilled college presidents about anti-semitism is questioning the leaders of three major k through 12 school districts. we'll get the latest from this hearing room straight ahead. t f hearing room straight ahead. to , but he was busy working from home... ...so he scheduled with safelite in just a few clicks. we came to his house... then we got to work. we replaced his windshield... ...and installed new wipers to protect his new glass. >> customer: looks great. thank you. >> tech: my pleasure. >> vo: we come to you for free. schedule now for free mobile service at safelite.com. ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ - it's apparent. not me. - yeah. nice going lou! nothing like a little confidence boost to help ease you back in to the dating scene.

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right now on capitol hill, house lawmakers are questioning the leaders of three k through 12 school districts about anti-semitism in schools. they're appearing before the same panel that has grilled university leaders in similar hearings recently. this hearing just getting underway just hours after d.c. police cleared a pro-palestinian student encampment at george washington university just three miles down the road from capitol hill. nbc's ryan nobles joins us now

there on the hill. ryan, who's in the hot seat today, and what kinds of questions do you expect them to face? >> reporter: well, ana, what leaders in the house are going to hear from today, who they're going to hear from today i should say are three leaders of public schools in different part of the country. the chancellor of the new york city public schools, the head of the berkeley schools and the head of the montgomery county public schools. and in each one of these instances, the republican lawmakers in particular are citing instances having to do with the way students are being taught lessons as it relates to jewish people, to the state of israel, and the concerns that they have that some of these lessons may be anti-semitic. in the case of the situation in new york city, that was a case where there was a map that was used as part of the curriculum in which israel was not a part of that map. leaders think that that's an issue. they want to ask the chancellor about that, and in each one of

these cases it's different than the questioning of college presidents. it was about specific groups, protests, the rhetoric of some of the college professors on campus. in some cases, the case of the montgomery school chief it was an instance of a swastika found on campus and how that was dealt with in the aftermath. to draw attention to the issue of anti-semitism in education and on campuses around the country, this is something we don't expect to end anytime soon. ana. >> ryan nobles, keep us posted. from capitol hill to the middle east where any chance of peace between israel and hamas is balancing on the edge of a knife right now. overnight we learned the white house stopped a large arms shipment to israel last week over concerns that they would be used where civilians are sheltering in gaza, and this morning israel is continuing to

bombard rafah after israeli forces seized a key border crossing. hala gorani is joining us. let's start with rafah. is this the beginning of israel's ground operation and what's the impact of the u.s. halting this arms shipment? >> reporter: well, we're hearing from our crew inside of gaza on the ground that there's been nonstop bombing, ana, across a rafah with tank activity and artillery fire in eastern rafah. this is the zone that the israeli military told civilians to evacuate from. our crews saying that everywhere is being bombed right now, and you'll remember of course and our viewers who have been following this story, will remember that the israeli military took control of the rafah border crossing on the palestinian side. this is the crossing between egypt and gaza and this is where

many of the humanitarian aid vehicles were crossing through including the car am shalom crossing that the israelis are saying is open but palestinians are disputing. that is not true, they're not seeing shipment come through. you mentioned before coming to me, the suspension of u.s. arms shipments. the israeli government has told nbc news sources telling nbc news, that it is, quote, deeply frustrated by this american move, which can be seen as a way to perhaps put pressure on the government of benjamin netanyahu, not to go through with a full-scale invasion of rafah. >> meantime, you're there in cairo where negotiators from the u.s., from israel, qatar, egypt, they're all trying to get to a cease fire and hostage deal. this after earlier this week, hamas said it agreed to a deal, but then israel said that wasn't the deal they had signed off on, so where do things stand now?

>> reporter: right, that's a good summary. hamas, you'll remember, a few days ago announced it was signing onto a deal. the israeli government then said not so fast. this was a softened deal with softer terms we did not agree to. they even said they were blind sided, though it's difficult to understand how bill burns, the head of the cia would not have completely approved every single word in that proposal hamas signed onto. either way, it is all hanging in the balance here in the egyptian capital. we understand talks are still ongoing. the question is going to be if this is the last day and no agreement is found, where does that leave us and more importantly, where does that leave the civilians who are not getting any aid and who are suffering as a result of these intensified bombings inside of southern gaza. we understand that 35 people have been killed over the last 24 hours in gaza, ana. >> hala gorani, thank you very

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we're back with more scary scenes of extreme weather overnight. michigan's governor declaring the state's first ever state of emergency due to a tornado after a string of twisters ripped through that state. there were tornados in arkansas, indiana, ohio, and west virginia yesterday. today more than 56 million people face new storm threats from texas to the northeast. nbc's maggie vespa has the latest from hard hit portage, michigan. maggie. >> reporter: hey there from

portage, michigan, we've been covering a lot of tornado damage, especially recently, and this behind me is intense, but i have never seen anything like this. i mean, look at this house. this is completely upside down. it was flipped entirely off its foundation. we're still waiting for information as to whether anyone was inside when this happened. local officials only saying that close to a dozen people were treated at local hospitals for injuries in this latest round of severe spring weather. >> it was mayhem in the midwest, after yet another round of disruptive storms tore through the region. >> that's a tornado, large tornado right here in view. >> reporter: multiple reported tornados touching down in michigan late tuesday sending terrified residents fleeing for cover. >> we need to go to the basement, grab the dogs. >> reporter: in portage, michigan, a fast-moving funnel ripping apart this fedex shipment center trapping close to 50 people inside for hours. the company telling nbc news no

one was seriously hurt. >> the city's been decimated by the tornado. >> reporter: nearby in another part of the city, mobile homes obliterated. >> anybody in here? >> reporter: one house completely flipped off its foundation. neighbors rushing to help neighbors. >> you okay? >> yeah, i'm okay. >> reporter: as rescue crews assess the damage here, more nighttime storms spawned across the midwest, all of it less than 24 hours after more than two dozen tornados pounded the plains on monday. this massive twister now rated an ef-4 taking a fatal turn in barnsdale, oklahoma. >> it's a war zone. it's all gone. >> reporter: the intense system completely flattening houses and toppling trucks in the small community. in nearby bartlesville, visitors forced to hunker down in hotel rooms. >> we all just went running and the windows popped out of the hallways. >> now as the cleanup gets underway, the devastating storms are barrelling east with

millions more in their path. >> back here in michigan, once again no reports of any serious injuries or deaths at this time. a major concern here on the ground is downed power lines and downed gas lines. authorities are basically asking anyone who's not in imminent danger to stay inside their house so crews can get to those in need, and given that they're seeing damage like this here in this commune, they clearly need all the help they can get. i'll send it back to you. >> maggie vespa, thank you. our hearts are with those communities. tiktok is now suing the u.s. government. it's an effort to stop enforcement of that bill, which passed last month, which would force the app's chinese owner to sell or face the platform being banned. the lawsuit calls the law unprecedented violation of the first amendment. no response just yet from the justice department. taking notes, listening attentively, even trying to stifle laughs. up next, i'll talk to a jury consultant about the reaction to

stormy daniels' shocking testimony yesterday. plus, from the courtroom to mar-a-lago, trump takes a day off from court and campaigning apparently as president biden hits the trail today.

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alleged sexual encounter with trump and her negotiations with trump's team to keep quiet about it. but the big open question is what did the jurors think? yasmin vossoughian who was in the courtroom is back with us now. and joining us jury consultant alan tuerkheimer. good to see you both. yasmin, when you were there yesterday we all heard or read about the prosecutor questioning stormy daniels, that jurors, you said, were watching like a tennis match. >> yes. >> describe more of what you observed. >> if you've ever been to a tennis match, you know that your head kind of swivels back and forth. you're just watching that ball. it's as if the ball was question and answer going back and forth. at one point, especially when stormy daniels took the stand, you could see the jurors visibly turn their body towards stormy daniels. if i can paint a picture of the courtroom, you have the judge up there. you have stormy daniels. if i'm looking at the judge, you have stormy daniels to his left. you have donald trump to the right of the judge facing the

judge. the prosecution on the other side facing the witness, stormy daniels, and then you have the jury to the right of the witness, stormy daniels and the prosecution, right, so they're all watching the q & a going back and forth. >> the jury can see all of the players, right? >> they can see all of the players. they can see donald trump's reactions, right? they can see what's happening at the prosecution table, and they can certainly see what's happening with stormy daniels as well. and there seemed to be a point where there was a certain shift. stormy daniels was kind of taking them through especially what happened back in 2016 when they allegedly met up for the celebrity golf tournament and how that night ensued and they were very tuned in. as the judge began to chide stormy daniels more and say to her listen to the questions, right? answer the questions, just stick to the questions because she had a tendency to add kind of more extraneous details that were not necessarily asked about. the jury seemed to kind of lose focus a little bit. they seemed to kind of grow a little bit frustrated it seemed with stormy daniels.

>> what gave you that impression? >> because they turned their bodies away from her. they were looking down more, they seemed less concentrated on her. one observation i had is stormmy was continuously playing to the jury, right? she was kind of telling jokes. she seems like a light hearted individual. >> like looking at them. >> making jokes about, for instance, what she does for a living, right? as she was asked details about what she does, details about that evening, for instance, she would look at the jury like you know what i mean, right? you know, elbow, elbow, and the jury didn't seem to be taking to that. she was certainly -- she was doing it. >> alan, what's going through your mind as you're listening to this? >> i think some of it can be effective and the jury was entertained. it sounds like they were interested in it. but at some point the jury starts to check out. they're giving up so much of their time, they're sacrificing time with their family, their jobs, and they're here to get the evidence and make a decision. so when i talk to jurors, one of the things they dislike about trial the most is when they feel like the lawyers or witnesses

are taking too much time or it's not efficient. they get the story, i think they understand what her role is in the case, but i think when she went on and on, i think they probably started to check out a little bit and maybe it back fired a little bit. a lot of that is on her. it's hard to ascribe that to the lawyers involved, but at some point you can't want levity in the courtroom, and joking in the courtroom is never acceptable. jurors do not like that. the prosecution this their opening used stark language. they said this is about a cover-up. this is a conspiracy and there's scheming going on. the defense got up and said there's nothing here. these shouldn't be charges. this is just about pieces of paper. when you have witnesses that are making light of things, it plays in favor of the defense. so i still think the prosecution is in good shape. they're getting their story out. i think jurors probably would give her a free pass on some of this stuff. very entertaining for everybody in the courtroom it sounds like. >> jonathan alter who writes in "the new york times" that he was in the courtroom when the stormy

daniels' testimony was underway, and he asked several women in the courtroom how they thought women on the jury would react, and opinion was divided, he says with some saying daniels came across as self-regarding and untrustworthy. goes on to say what we all agree on is juries typically respond to real and assumed messages from the judge. do you agree with that? >> i think that's true. jurors do look to the judge. if the judge tried to rein her in a little bit, they appreciated that. i think what's also at play is this contrast between direct and cross. witnesses tend to lose credibility, whatever they're saying, if you have a witness that is one way on direct and completely different on cross, jurors tend to think you're less believable, less credible, less likable. to your question, jurors like judges. it's very rare when i've heard a juror say anything bad about a judge. the judge in this case is trying to make things go smoothly and

to try to keep things focused. >> yasmin, were there moments yesterday where you felt the jurors were really glued in based on body language, based on notes? we know we've been talking about -- >> in 2006, the meeting at the celebrity golf tournament, they were super tuned in, and then during the defense cross examination, they were very tuned in because if you remember, susan necheles kind of went for her from the very get-go. she really went after her. what was interesting to me was that it kind of seemed as if stormy daniels as i mentioned earlier was kind of on her heels a little bit, more in the defensive posture, right? and they took somewhat of an interesting approach in which they attacked stormy daniels' credibility, which we all expected her to do. stormy daniels and michael cohen have major credibility issues. they also started to go after her social media posts and the things she's written in her book. what i think is problematic about that type of -- that type of, you know, posture is that the same thing can be applied to their -- to donald trump, right? the same thing can be applied to

the man that they are, in fact, defending that i imagine could happen in redirect and/or if donald trump decides to take the stand. they were super tuned in during that night in 2016 and going through that encounter, that sexual encounter and super tuned in during the cross examination. >> thank you so much for sharing with us, yasmin vossoughian, and appreciate you being here allen tuerkheimer as well. donald trump has railed against the judge in his hush money case. why is he at home today while court is dark? the

welcome back. donald trump has repeatedly complained that his trial is keeping him off the trail. so, you think he would be campaigning today, right? while court is not in session. well, he's not. trump is at his golf resort at home, mar-a-lago, for today. meanwhile, president biden is traveling to the battleground state of wisconsin. joining us now, democratic strategist basil smikle and republican strategist susan del percio. he's been complaining for weeks, he should be on the campaign trail. watch this. >> the government just said they want to do three more weeks. that means they want to keep me off the trail for three more weeks. this is what i got indicted over. this is what took me off and

takes me off the campaign trail, because i should be in georgia now. i should be in florida now. i should be in a lot of different places right now campaigning and i'm sitting here. i'm going to go into this trial and i'm going to sit there in the freezing cold ice box for eight hours, nine hours or so, and they took me off the campaign trail. >> today, court's dark, he's not on the campaign trail. so, what gives? >> trump is a candidate of grievance. we said he's been complaining for the last few weeks. he's been complaining for the last few years. so, it is not unusual to hear him make this statement. he says it for his base. but we know it's not true. where is he today? he could be somewhere, but, no, he's at mar-a-lago, maybe he'll end up on the golf course, i don't know. or at least doing a fund-raiser or something with his time. but donald trump is only going to go on the road and say the same things he says that the court has, frankly i don't think it matters much. >> how do you interpret that,

his choice to not go on the road. is it just taking the votes for granted? is it something else? >> i think when he goes out to campaign, he does it in these big rallies, that frankly only appeal to his base. he's getting the same exposure by doing these press conferences at the -- outside of the courthouse and saving a fortune at the end of the day, which we know he's very concerned about money in his campaign. >> i want to read you something from the new york times this morning. peter baker writes this, these were the images americans were presented on tuesday about their two choices for president. one taking his grandchildren to daccau to bear witness to the horrors of nazi death camps, the other sitting on a hotel bed in his boxer shorts waiting for sex with a porn star. >> to susan's point, what donald trump is doing in my view is just taking a day to sort of get himself back to his reality. and that means that he has this one day to relax, but every

other day is going to be in court, trying to respond to these allegations. he will do what he can to campaign on the courthouse steps, in the hallway, but that split screen as i always say is incredibly important. it is joe biden actually doing things that look presidential, that sound presidential, that actually engage where he can engage with voters and by the way, he's got a vice president and a cabinet that can do this as surrogates for him. while again, donald trump is sort of mired in this -- in what we're seeing. i'll just say very quickly, that split screen becomes really important because of what susan said, even the rallies that he does may not expand to anyone beyond his base. but joe biden has got to be intentional about expanding his base. >> you raise such a good point, basil, maybe donald trump needs this time to decompress. he's saying that the jury -- the trial is taking a lot out of

him, he's there from 9:30 to 5:00, maybe he's not used to those long days and he's exhausted. plus, he has other legal cases he has to deal with. so, the man doesn't have a lot of free time, he's right. but i don't think it is affecting his campaigning. maybe it is affecting his health and legal troubles. >> i feel like we have been asking a lot what these legal troubles mean for him, if, you know, the vote is today, so to speak. so we are looking at this new polling and this caught my eye, pbs found 55% of those polled were not following the new york hush money trial. much or at all. what does that tell you in terms of the potential impact that these cases have on the vote? >> i expect that to some extent. the average voter is going to work, got their lunch break in, two 15-minute breaks a day, they're not so concerned about what's happening until he's found guilty. you'll start saying, what happened there? what is also interesting is the reporting today that the georgia

appeals court is looking at fani willis to make a decision as to whether or not she can continue as d.a., which is likely going to delay the trial more. so, what we're going to see is -- >> we have the other cases -- >> in florida. >> right. so -- >> also delayed. so the trump tactic of delay, delay, delay is sort of working, so, you know, all eyes might not be on this until perhaps we have a verdict, but ultimately if he's found guilty, voters will take attention. >> what is interesting in this polling, more independents say they worry about president biden weakening democracy than trump, 53% to 42%. what do you make of this? >> i find it shocking, honestly. i can't -- i can't, you know, make sense of that number. i wish i could. i wish i had some really great insight to it. but i don't know if it is an outlier or not because the other numbers with independents and biden are going in the right direction. so, that may be it, but also one

thing i wanted to add on to what basil said, this trial is not on tv. you guys do a great job reporting what is happening, but if there aren't those images coming out of the courthouse, people feel like they know this story. we kind of -- we heard of that for a long time. so it doesn't surprise me that they're not interested. >> well, thank you, both, so much for being here. that does it for us today. i'll be back here tomorrow, same time, same place, for special coverage once again as stormy daniels takes the stand and gets the cross examination under way once more. don't forget, you can catch our show online around the clock on youtube and other platforms anytime. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. and good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin with breaking news on the legal drama surrounding former president donald trump. the georgia court of