Law professor Alan Dershowitz reportedly exchanged angry words with CNN commentator Norm Eisen at Donald Trump's hush money trial.
NBC reported an "audible exchange" between Eisen and Dershowitz in the courtroom Monday afternoon.
"Dershowitz could be heard saying that he was not attending the trial for political reasons," NBC noted. "Court security gently asked Dershowitz to return to his seat."
Alina Habba, Donald Trump's spokesperson, reacted to the cross-examination of Michael Cohen in her client's hush money trial by saying she was pleasantly "surprised."
During a Monday trial break, Fox News host Sandra Smith asked Habba if the defense had damaged Cohen's credibility enough.
"I don't know how many more holes they could possibly poke," Habba replied. "Yeah, I think that that it went as planned."
"I'm very proud of what the team did in there, and I think you know, obviously, I'm limited to what I can say," she continued, referring to Justice Juan Merchan's gag order. "He is under oath still, and obviously, I'm an attorney for the president, but I think we did. We did a pretty good job, and quite honestly, I was surprised myself by how well it went."
Habba was Trump's attorney, but is acting as a spokesperson during the hush money trial. Trump is facing 34 charges of business fraud relating to payments made to an adult movie star he allegedly had a sexual relationship with.
Habba also told Smith that Trump wanted to take the stand and testify in his own defense.
"Well he's got to listen to his attorneys," she explained. "It's not as much what he wants to do. We know he wants to testify. He is willing. He is able."
"He has nothing to hide at all. He's absolutely ready to tell the truth," Habba added. "So the real question is one that would be discussed within the legal team, and of course, we'll discuss it with our clients."
Donald Trump Jr. explained why a delay in a New York hush money trial was terrible news for his father and will likely "make sure [Donald] Trump doesn't get off."
During a Monday appearance on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, Donald Trump Jr. began by noting that Justice Juan Merchan had announced the trial's closing arguments would begin next week instead of by the end of this week.
"I think the whole thing's crazy," he said. "They're going to delay the thing for a week. I was about to literally go to the airport to fly up to New York to be in court tomorrow, thinking that tomorrow was going to be closing arguments."
"Now they want to delay it a week. And that's the purpose," he continued. "They understand that Donald Trump on the campaign trail is a positive thing for conservatism, for Donald Trump, and a really bad thing for Joe Biden."
The former president's son complained that Stormy Daniels' testimony was unnecessary and "was clearly just designed to hold Trump up and to try to embarrass him."
"The whole thing is a sham," Donald Trump Jr. opined. "The whole thing is ridiculous."
He also suggested the delay in the trial's closing was a plot to influence the jury.
"Again, they're hoping that in a New York court with a stacked jury, a biased judge, and a long holiday weekend where I'm sure the media will be hounding them and putting pressure on them to make sure that Trump doesn't get off as he should, that's what's going on right now, and that's what it's designed to do," he said.
The trial delay also gives Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, less time to prepare for his June 27 debate with President Joe Biden.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) complained over the weekend because the U.S. Secret Service has not put additional restrictions on protests at the Republican National Convention.
In a Sunday interview on News Nation, Johnson told host Chris Stirewalt that he had spoken with the Secret Service about the convention that will be held in his state this summer.
"This is the same security plan that was developed before the summer of 2020, before the BLM Antifa riots, okay?" Johnson said. "So the Secret Service, they use their criteria, they set this plan, and now the Director of the Secret Service is saying, well, they have the authority to set the plan, but they don't have the authority to change it, they put the protest zone a block away from the actual convention site."
"You know, there's no control over that park, there's no fences around it, so it's a gathering site for all kinds of potential mayhem," he continued. "So this is a very obvious concern, it ought to be corrected, and if the Secret Service doesn't, I mean, I'll just be baffled by why they wouldn't want to provide that additional protection now that it's a different time and place."
Johnson referenced "the riots of 2020" but was silent about Donald Trump's role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"You know, we see the inflamed situation, the division being caused and pushed by, for example, President Biden," the senator opined. "This is a serious security concern that could be addressed."
CBS host Margaret Brennan called out Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) after he claimed former President Donald Trump had brought manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. when he was president.
On Sunday's edition of Face the Nation, Brennan questioned Vance, a vice presidential contender, about how Trump's proposed tariffs would make American products more affordable.
"So how is the Trump-Vance idea here going to help make things more affordable for people if you're putting taxes on goods they're purchasing from overseas?" she asked.
"Well, I don't necessarily buy the premise there, Margaret," Vance replied. "If you apply tariffs, really what it is is you're saying that we're going to penalize you for using slave labor in China and importing that stuff in the United States."
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) lashed out at Fox News host Shannon Bream, who pointed out that the lawmaker had reportedly called former President Donald Trump a "whack job."
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Bream asked Stefanik about her chances as a vice presidential candidate after a New York Times report quoted her saying negative things about the former president.
"They say you called him a whack job at one point," Bream noted, reading from the Times: "She told a New York radio station that he was insulting to women and that his candidacy would hurt the party's efforts to attract female voters. According to her former friends, they continue, she thought Mr. Trump was too awful and ridiculous to be taken seriously."
"So the question is when, more importantly, why did you change your mind about President Trump?" the Fox News host asked.
"Well, Shannon, it's a disgrace that you would quote the New York Times with nameless, faceless but they're quoting your sources," Stefanik complained.
Bream tried to clarify her question, but Stefanik refused to let the host speak.
"No, no, no, no, Shannon, Shannon, Shannon!" the lawmaker exclaimed. "They're not quoting my friends. Those names are not included because they are false smears."
"Just to be fair, there are a number of names of people who are quoted in the article," Bream said.
"Shannon, let me correct you," Stefanik replied angrily. "This is a false smear and let me tell you, let me tell you a fact, Shannon."
"In 2016, I was attacked as the only elected Republican from the Northeast who voted for President Trump," she added. "And I'm proud to be one of his strongest allies in Congress."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reacted with laughter Sunday after Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked him if President Joe Biden should take a drug test before the 2024 presidential debates.
Bartiromo's question came during her Sunday Morning Futures program on Fox News.
"Let me get your take on this," she told Kennedy. "Mr. Kennedy, do you believe that President Biden should take a drug test before the debate?"
"I, you know, I just want to — I just think that he should have to debate," he replied. "I think that you know I don't think it's good for democracy if we don't have presidential debates."
"They ought to debate the people, you know, all the people who are — who meet the criteria," he added.
"And so you don't want to even touch that," Bartiromo pressed. "You're not going to touch that in terms of a drug test."
"No, I'm not going to go there," Kennedy confirmed.
An animated Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) raised his voice and refused to say he would accept the outcome of the 2024 election on Sunday.
During an interview on
Meet the Press, host Kristen Welker asked the senator if he would accept a loss by former President Donald Trump in this year's presidential election.
"Will you accept the election results of 2024, no matter what happens, Senator?" Welker asked.
"No matter what happens? No," Rubio insisted.
"No matter who wins?" Welker pressed.
"Well, why don't you, I think you're asking the wrong person," Rubio shot back. "The Democrats are the ones that have opposed every Republican victory since 2000."
Welker pointed out that "no Democrat has refused to concede," including Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton said the election was stolen from her and that Trump was illegitimate," Rubio asserted.
"Senator, she conceded the election," Welker noted again.
But Rubio raised his voice as he talked over the host.
"She said that the election had been stolen. Kamala Harris agreed," the senator argued. "And you have Democrats now saying they won't certify 2024 because Trump is an insurrectionist and ineligible to hold office."
"So you need to ask them," he complained. "I think you've never asked the Democrats this question on your show. I bet you you've never asked the Democrat that question."
Welker reminded the lawmaker what he had said after certifying the 2020 election.
"Democracy is held together by people's confidence in the election and their willingness to abide by its results," Welker recalled. "So by your own definition, are Donald Trump's claims undermining Americans' confidence in democracy, given that he has not conceded the last election?"
Rubio, a possible vice presidential nominee, refused to condemn Trump.
"I think what undermines people's confidence in the election is when you have places like Wisconsin with over 500 illegal dropbox locations, when you have places like Georgia where liberal groups are [paying] people, $10 a per vote," he complained. "You couldn't even talk about it on social media. They would deplatform you."
"I have to jump in here, Senator," Welker interrupted. "You voted to certify the election. Nothing has been censored on this program."
Rubio griped about coverage of a laptop belonging to President Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
"We covered the laptop," Welker said.
"You couldn't even talk about it on social media," Rubio replied.
"And just to note that Chris Krebs, who was a top election official, called it the safest and most secure election in recent history," Welker added.
"But I'm telling you that if it's unfair, we are going to do the same thing Democrats do," Rubio pouted. "We're going to use lawyers to go to court and point out the fact that states are not following their own election laws."
Newsmax host Sarah Williamson claimed Sunday that pro-Palestinian protesters beat her boyfriend after he tried to steal an Israeli flag they were burning.
"Before we do head into the discussions, I would just like to talk about something personal," Williams began. "Last night, my partner and I were walking home when we came across a large group of protesters."
The host said her partner was "unfazed by the whole pro-Palestine movement" and "continued to walk through the mob."
"But it was then that we noticed them burning the Israeli flag," she continued. "Now my partner, a proud, patriotic Israeli, walked over and snatched that flag, as I'm sure many of you at home would have done had it been an American one."
Williamson said the group reacted to her boyfriend by "attacking him, punching him, throwing him to the ground and kicking him."
"But he kept getting back up and wouldn't let them have their way," she insisted. "And as this incident unfolded, they continued to claim that they were peaceful to the police who stood by watching, telling them that they just tried to get back their stolen property."
"Now, I will not deny that my partner took the flag, but burning a nation's flag is an act of violence in itself," Williamson added. "These people are not peaceful."
The host did not offer any photos of her boyfriend or other evidence of the encounter.
Fox News host Bill Hemmer questioned the narrative about Donald Trump's hush money trial that Robert Costello, Michael Cohen's former lawyer, has been peddling in support of the former president.
Costello spoke to Fox News after telling a House "weaponization" committee that Cohen was lying about Trump's involvement in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The attorney claimed Cohen told him six years ago that he had no damaging information about Trump.
Hemmer challenged Costello and suggested Cohen "flipped" and is telling the truth now but was lying six years ago.
"If you think Michael Cohen was telling the truth in 2018, maybe he was lying six years ago," Hemmer told Costello. "Maybe he's flipped."
Hemmer recalled being in the courtroom for Cohen's Tuesday testimony.
"He could almost anticipate the question," the Fox News host recalled. "So he was very well rehearsed."
"But if you're saying he's lying now, who's to say he wasn't lying then, when you first came across him?" he asked.
Costello stuck to his position and said that Cohen was lying now.
"I'll tell you why I believe that what he told us in 2018 was the truth," Costello said. "Number one, as I said, he was suicidal. He was desperately looking for a way out."
Costello is considered a possible witness for the defense in Trump's hush money trial.
A caller on C-SPAN's morning show explained that she had left the Republican Party because its lawmakers "do nothing but interfere" and "endorse everything [Donald] Trump does."
During Wednesday's Washington Journal program, a caller from Maryland named Mary said she used to be a Republican but changed her party affiliation to Independent.
"The reason I'm calling is to just say that anybody voting for a Republican is voting against their best interest," the caller announced. "Republicans are threatening Social Security and Medicare, which is going to affect millions of people, including us, who are seniors and who have been getting Social Security and dependent upon Social Security for paying our bills and taxes and everything."
Mary then pointed to Trump as a reason for leaving the party.
"I can't imagine anybody in their right mind knowing what Trump is like," she said. "Trump is only for Trump. Nobody, nothing, nobody is more important than Trump. He works only for what is beneficial to him."
She spoke briefly about Maryland politics before returning her focus to the Republican Party.
"I used to be a Republican, then I moved because I realized Republicans do nothing but interfere," she explained. "They don't care for the middle class."
"All they want to do is endorse everything Trump does, and by that, I mean, he wants to give the biggest tax breaks to the richest."
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell expressed rage Wednesday over a recently adopted flag in Minnesota that he believes is a secret plot to implement Islamic law in the state. He called the flag "an atrocity."
"What they've done with this flag is absolutely outrageous," Lindell told right-wing podcast host Steve Bannon.
"Is the population up there enraged?" Bannon asked. "You've got an Islamist flag flying across, above your state capitol. What in the hell's going on?"
"It's an atrocity! Everybody's going, what is this?" Lindell replied. "Is this a takeover? This is like a Trojan horse here in Minnesota, Steve. When they started pouring in, they don't love our country."
"They hate our country," Bannon interrupted. "They hate the Judeo-Christian West. They're, they're Sharia supremacists."
For his part, Lindell lamented that he could not leave Minnesota because his company was based there.
"We're sitting here, and it's all, all different races, but you know, like you just heard there, we're 80% Christian in Minnesota. One percent of these Islamics comes in here, and then they get to have this flag," the pillow executive opined. "It's like we're getting just attacked from every direction."
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough went on an extended rant on Wednesday morning over a recent questionable — according to analysts— New York Times/Siena poll that showed Donald Trump with unusually huge leads in battleground states, with the "Morning Joe" host accusing the venerable newspaper of publishing "garbage" to create news.
According to the NYT poll, President Joe Biden is struggling with young voters and voters of color. However, as co-host Mika Brzezinski pointed out, polling experts have taken to social media to rip the pollsters' methodology apart saying the final results have been "skewed" in Trump's favor.
According to Scarborough, he truly believes the Times has been pushing sketchy polls showing Trump leading because it allows them to get multiple stories out to drive the news cycle.
Scarborough pointed out, "We do this every time when this poll comes. It's always an outlier and the New York Times" always gets 15 or 16 articles out of them that everybody rushes to because it says: 'Earth ends at five o'clock. Hit link,' New York Times, fifteen times and they keep writing articles about it."
"Morning Joe" regular John Heilemann contributed, "I understand your level of sophistication reading the media, why you think that is true. What I'm trying to say is I agree with you. The best bulwark against any polls, outliers or anything else for people who are actually consumers of this information is to not let these — any given news outlet or any given poll shape your perception of the race unduly."
"But John, that is not realistic. And I'll tell you why," Scarborough interrupted. "I know people come up to you after every New York Times/Sienna poll comes out — it completely changes the political battlefield out there for about a week, week and a half. It distorts the questions that are asked of the White House. It distorts the questions that are asked of Donald Trump. It distorts all of the opinion, it distorts everything."
"That keeps happening every month when this comes out and then about two weeks later after the residue of the New York Times/Siena poll leaves, people go, 'Oh, I think Joe Biden is on a winning streak,'" he continued. "And then two weeks later it comes out again and it's garbage. It's an outlier. And yes, the New York Times, when they have all of these experts questioning the methodology, when they are calling 20 percent of the people likely voters who had never voted before or didn't vote in the last two primaries or never voted before, when they are even quoting people who say they are switching their vote from Joe Biden who have never voted before? I'm sorry! The New York Times has to know what they are doing!"
