problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. >> side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain the tig headache, don't receive botox if there's a skin infection, tell your doctor your medical history muscle or nerve conditions and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side-effects. >> in a survey, 92% of current users. so they wish they talk to their doctor and started botox sooner. so ask your doctor if botox is right for you. learn how adds he could help you save on botox this situation with wolf blitzer next one, cnn good day on state of the union republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina, independent senator bernie sanders of vermont, virginia as republican governor glenn youngkin and los angeles mayor karen bass. it's a packed sunday that sunday morning at nine eastern. and again at noon here on cnn. you can file the show on x at the lead cnn, if you ever miss an episode or lead, you can listen to the show went get your podcasts or coverage continues now, with wolf blitzer in the situation

room, i will see you soon for two full weeks in the courtroom, the hush money case the payoff to adult film star stormy daniels with testimony from michael cohen's banker. also on the stand, trump's longtime assistant, rhona graff, known for her appearances on the apprentice. why hur testimony left her former boss smiling all of this after tabloid executive david pecker wrapped up his pivotal testimony for the next hour for will take you inside the courtroom from gavel to gavel. are reporters and experts are all standing by to break down all of today's most important developments and to look ahead to what's next welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i will blitzer with

a special report in this room that trump trial today and let's get right to the breaking news, the trump trial gets closer to the heart of the criminal charges against the former president, michael cohen's bank are starting to testify on the arrangements for the hush money payments to stormy daniels cnn's kara scannell is outside the courthouse in new york for us. cara court wrapped up by for the week just a little while ago, give us the latest yeah. >> well, if david pecker, the tabloid king, has testified for ten hours this week, he is off the stand, but he helped narrate the jury through the catch and kill scheme that prosecutors say donald trump was involved in to help his campaign. then they took the jury inside the inside trump tower and give them an insight through the eyes of trump's former longtime assistant a new witness, former president

donald trump's assistant of 34 years took the stand on friday, shedding light on the inner workings of the trump organization in trump's hush money trial or rhona, let me add to cost rhona graff, whose office was next door to trump's on the 26th floor, tower said she was in control of his calories lender and maintaining his contact list at the organization graff confirmed to contact she maintained were for former playboy model karen mcdougal and adult film star stormy daniels to women who alleged affairs with trump, both of which he denies. mcdougal's contact entry included a phone number, email, and two addresses. daniels contact listed herself phone she testified as far as she can remember, trump never used email to communicate prosecutor susan hoffinger, ask graph if she had seen daniels at trump tower graph responded that she vaguely recalled one seeing daniels in reception on the 26th floor then it was trump's attorneys turn to cross-examine graph. susan nicholas, ask graph about trump's interest

and casting stars and celebrity apprentice suggesting that was the reason daniels was spotted at trump tower. graph responded, that's what she assumed testifying. i vaguely recall hearing him say that she was one of the people that may be an interesting contestant. since on the show. >> thank you. good job as trump's assistant, ghraieb often appeared on the apprentice trump profit. >> he asked me to call you and tell you to meet him tomorrow morning at the new york stock exchange. >> grabs said in her testimony that she felt the apprenticed elevated trump to rockstar status nicholas also focused on demonstrating trump and graph had a good working relationship. she asked if trump was a good boss. graph responded, i think that he was fair and respectful boss to me she added, sometimes it would peak is headed and say go home to your family, which i thought was very thoughtful of him. as graph testified, trump sat with a closed lips smile, tilting his head to get a better view of his former assistant, trump's team made clear graph was testifying under subpoena

with nicholas asking you don't want to be here, do you? correct. graph replied earlier, trump's attorneys worked hard to undermine a foundational witness for the prosecution. ex-tabloid executive, david pecker, who is back on the stand for his fourth day of testimony during trump's attorney, emile bove as questioning of the former national enquirer publisher. he attempted to discredit one of the prosecution's key witnesses, trump's x personal attorney, michael cohen. he asked pecker if he felt cohen was prone to exaggeration pecker agreed he was after court, trump weighed in on the trial eight days that we sitting in this courthouse. >> i just want to thank everybody for being here you have to separate through this hey, everybody else michael cohen's banker would then took the witness stand in the afternoon and he was describing how he helped michael cohen's setup the bank account that he ultimately used for the shell company that transferred that

$130,000 payment to stormy daniels. >> there's no court on monday, but this banker will be back on the stand tuesday for more questioning by prosecutors before trump's lawyers will get a turn at him. >> wolf, kara scannell outside the courthouse in new york. thanks very much. i want to bring in our legal experts right now, cnn's katelyn polantz and norm eisen are here and former trump attorney tim parlatore is here as well. and caitlin, let me start with you. i want to read an interesting line from michael cohen's banker, gary pharaoh. this is what gary farro testifying. every time michael cohen's spoke to me, he gave a sense of urgency and this was one of those times breakdown the significance of the bankers testimony today that is set to continue. we're told next week yeah, when michael cohen says that to gary farro as he's testifying, it's a moment where michael cohen wants to set up an account with this private bank in 2016 where gary farro works. >> this is the bank through which the payment ultimately is going to be set up to be paid to stormy daniels from michael cohen, $130,000 to keep her

story quiet. >> and what he's doing is piecing in new parts of the puzzle. the prosecutors want to be able to show the jury every step of the money and the effort toward paying off stormy daniels from donald trump's sphere. >> gary pharaoh is one of the people that can do that both with his testimony and with his evidence, he can help them show the documents, the emails, the exchanges, and a crucial document from him that we ended the day with is him testifying that when michael cohen was setting up this account through this bag, there's a box to check that says if this is related to political funds, check it. >> michael cohen did not check it according to his testimony. >> interesting. so what did you make you were there norm the court courtroom all day today or what do you make of how the prosecution has weaved together their first three witnesses well, i think it's been very effective. >> david pecker, a surprise first witness turned out to be

a star witness. and he moved us through the entire narrative that prosecutors are trying to tell here, not a hush money case, but a case of campaign finance and election violations. corporate and personal contributions over the limit being used to influence the 2016 election. and pecker took us through that narrative starting with the august 2015 meeting at trump tower, where prosecutors say and now they have evidence to back it up. trump's intent to influence the election was formed. and then he took us all the way to the brink of the stormy daniels story, said he wanted no part of it setting up witnesses like gary farro, banker for that fifth and final act of the drama. i thought it was very effective and i thought a cross-examination didn't really rough him up. there were some mistakes in the defense cross-examination first thing you want to read some moments,

some comments from rhona graphs cross examination. she was a longtime executive assistant to trump at the trump organization, the defense played up her admiration for donald trump. listen to this. this is a quote. this is her it was a very stimulating, exciting, fascinating place to be. then she said, sometimes trump would peak has said in and say, go home to your family, which i thought was very thoughtful of him. i thought that was a nice extra touch that he would take time to do that trump's lawyer, susan nicholas asked her, quote you don't want to be here, do you? and she coronagraph said correct. what's your analysis them? >> the point there is that she's under subpoena. she's not voluntarily coming in to try to help out the prosecution i think that that's something that's consistent across these witnesses. is that the only one who really is dying to get in there is probably stormy daniels and michael so call it the others who are being brought in just to tell their stories was running graph is a prosecution witness and prosecution called her. but did

she do a lot to humanize trump before the jury? >> i mean, i think that she probably did i mean, it sounds like she certainly did i mean, you got to remember before he decided to run for office, a lot of people loved him all of its employees loved him. >> a lot of new yorkers loved him, although a lot of them to change now and so i think that it does bring people back to an particularly in a new york jury longtime new yorkers that remember him from when he was a real estate executive, brings them back to the apprentice days as far as he's concerned, the good old days exactly what prosecutors game caitlin from rhona graphs testimony. >> yeah. we'll even if run a graph has an unwilling witness, someone paid still to have or she's not paid, but her lawyers are being paid by the trump team. the process of organization? yes. the she's still being used as a witness who can connect the dots in this case. >> we heard from david pecker earlier this week that he was

there witnessing donald trump signing a check and reviewing an invoice that rhona graff presented to him. and so in her testimony, she's one of the people who can build out the idea of how these payments were made and how closely donald trump had control over not just the payments, but also that the trump organization was in contact with stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. another point that she testified to, britain point, you're their norm inside the courtroom during the entire testimony today, give us a sense of trump's energy today compared to yesterday and earlier in the week well thought trials are long and the former president has nodded off on a number of the trial days where you say not enough, fell asleep, fall asleep, not fast asleep. >> he's not laying his head down, his eyes on the table. he closes his eyes, he slumps and it's understandable, but that did happen again today. his

energy has varied when he has worst days one day this week, i've observed he was kind of hunched over as he left the court. there was as if there were a heavy weight on him. i thought his energy was better today and in fact, he spotted me on the aisle and made eye contact a couple of times, pointed his finger. i knew who you were. he's yes. yes. i've i've had prior engagements with the former president including the first impeachment. so he certainly was alert and aware sure of his courtroom surroundings and nor i think more engaged today, particularly doing portions of the cross-examination by his lawyer of pecker because that's so important. and of course, when his longtime assistant rhona graff was on the stand quite animated to immuno trump. well his lawyer, you understand where he's coming from. give us a little

bit of a sense of how he's processing this week, this past week of testimony, and what he's thinking in doing to prepare for next week well, and i think just to norms point, when you have a long direct examination of a witness, it can get boring and so when the, cross-examination starts, that is going to be when he's going to wake up and it certainly it's something we saw when he walked out of the courtroom yesterday, where he said that was really great. >> what happened and today he seemed to be much more upbeat because there was a lot more cross-examination. and so i think that that certainly affects his mood is being able to see his own sayyed up. they're fighting back, has opposed to just sitting back and listening to a long drawn-out surf the prosecution. i assuming the coming days we'll see a lot more that absolutely. >> and that's that's what happens in trial. >> it's you it's up and down and the more that the prosecution and bore them and the defense can dazzle them, the better things turn out for you see what happens. i guys. thank you very, very much. just ahead. a closer look. some of the key evidence presented in court this week and why it's likely to be seen throughout

the trial. but first, parts of the official transcript from today's court proceedings, just coming out right now and our team has the biggest takeaway stay with us. you're in the situation every piece of evidence tells a story. how it really happy with jesse l. martin sunday at nine on cnn sunglasses lactate brands we're

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gabe cohen in baltimore, and this is cnn closed captioning is brought, to you by you, cora, help maintain a healthy urinary tract with you cora, i can having utis for ten years at you, cora, we make uti relief products. we also make proactive urinary tract health products. >> you cora is a lifesaver tried today at your core.com we're back with barb breaking news and the trump criminal trial, digging deeper right now and to the newly released transcript of what happened today, katelyn polantz is back with us. >> she's been going through the testimony, so caitlin, what stood out to you? >> well, wolf defense attorney emile beauvais, questioning david pecker on the cross-examination about the negative articles national enquirer was printing about donald trump's rivals. so the clintons, here's some of that transcript from the testimony in court. the defense attorney, let's talk a little bit about what with said during the august 2015 meeting you set on your direct that there was discussion about bill and hillary clinton, correct? yes.

>> and at the time of this meeting, august 2015, the national enquirer was already running stories about bill and hillary clinton, correct? yes. >> that was going on before the meeting, right? >> that's correct. >> and that was because you had made a business decision that it was good for the national enquirer to run those stories, correct? >> i did beauvais then goes on to ask him so before the august 2015 meeting, you made a decision that it made sense for ami to run articles about bill and hillary clinton, right? yes. and those articles were negative, right? yes. so it was easy for you to say during the august 2015 meeting that you would continue to do that, right? >> yes. that was no issue for you? >> no. >> so that's that piece of testimony. there's another piece of testimony that also stood out similarly about these negative articles, national enquirer was running related to gop rivals of donald trump. >> emile beauvais asking more questions of david pecker on the cross. >> now, you testified on

tuesday that during this august 2015 meeting, there was also so a about running negative articles about president trump's opponents, right? that's correct. >> and you testified that there was discussion of that topic during the august 2015 meeting. do you remember that yes. and three specific opponents, preliminary opponents came up, right? yes. ben carson, correct? >> yes. marco rubio, right? >> right. and ted cruz correct? >> yes. >> and you were shown some exhibits by the government that related to stories the national enquirer ran about those three men, correct? that's correct. >> there wasn't much new content in those stories, was there? i would have to reread the stories to answer that question. >> emil bove then continues down this line of questioning, asking david pecker, the witness. it was standard operating procedure for the national enquirer or two sort of recycled content from other publications and frame it's slightly differently correct? correct. that's cost-effective. correct.

>> information from the public domain goes into the national enquirer. it's quick and easy, correct? yes. good for business? yes. >> beauvais then asks, there was already negative information in the public domain about ben carson. and so you ran it in the national enquirer, right? yes. and because that was quick and efficient and cost-effective, you would have done that whether or not you had discussed it with president trump, correct? >> yes. >> wolf very interesting testimony, indeed. thanks for bringing that to our attention. i'm glad you're going through that whole transcript now. very important indeed, let's get to him, alice this and what's going on? i'm lead counsel for special counsel, robert mueller's investigation of donald trump, andrew weisman is joining us. he's now coauthored a brand-new book entitled the trump indictments. the historic charging documents with commentary and thank you so much for joining us once again, that transcript that we just heard some excerpts from gave us a window how the defense was trying to undercut the david pecker's testimony. do you think they were effective well, i think that i

don't fault the defense lawyer for pursuing that line of questioning to say what you say was this agreement was kind of snow so in winter because you would do it anyway the problem with that theory is that there in fact, was new content with respect to, let's just take ted cruz they famously ran stories that david pecker had already talked about regarding an alleged affair, which they said it was false. >> they ran a story which they said was false about his father and his relationship to the jfk assassination and you also don't see any negative stories about donald trump so this is i think sort of taking pot shots, which is a fair thing to do. >> but one of the things that i think jurors look for at the

end of the day is who's narrative sort of holds together and i think that these are sort of disparate points that the defendant this has made. but when you think about it logically, it i think it doesn't really hold up, but obviously it'll be called for the jury and we will find out how they decide you spent years andrew investigating trump and you closely annotated this manhattan hush money case in your excellent brand new book, what are you learn during this week of testing? good one that actually surprised you well, i think the details from david pecker were quite fascinating. >> first of all, he was presented as a real principle. so that i had been thinking about michael cohen as sort of a main play. player. but in many ways, he is a staffer. the main players here, the principles are according to the da's case, david pecker and the defendant, donald trump,

with michael cohen having important role. but as somebody who is carrying out that's the scheme that they put together. i think the other thing is that david pecker really explained the insides of the scheme. in other words, he explained that why it is that the national enquirer was paying money for the doorman scheme. he was paying money for the karen mcdougal scheme but at some point they said, you we're done being the bank. we are no longer sort of your bank for paying off these people in the caching kill& that explains why it is that michael cohen had to take out this home equity loan that we were hearing about just as the testimony was ending today and explain that difference. now, there's why it is that the national enquirer wasn't paying for this third and final scheme with respect to stormy daniels, but it had to be paid for by michael cohen. so i think that is a very important new detail that we heard that helped flesh out

the scheme that we, the basics of which we knew about your book breaks down the very colorful cast of characters in this specific case, but not necessarily trump's assisted rhona graff and michael cohen's banker, gary farro. these lower profile voices set up the record keeping in the accounting that are clearly crucial to this overall case. but how to prosecutors make those rather dry details that we were hearing? very compelling for the jury not every witness in a trial is sort of media friendly that's not what when you're a prosecutor, that's not sort of what you're aiming for. >> there are certain witnesses like a david pecker, who have lots and lots of detailed information and we're for all fascinated by it. and yuki is a colorful character and it gives us insight into the scheme. but the way you stitch or as you mentioned, we'll weave together a case is with all sorts of people that are like david pecker's and michael

cohen's and hope hicks. but then you use pieces that are definitely dryer, that are telephone records emails, texts, bank records to help put together, corroborating details. it also helps you with a timeline. so that the jury knows exactly when things happen, when we're payments made, you can put together and i'm sure you will see a timeline that the state uses in its summation and it's a combination of those things. many people say it's like building a wall and you have many, many different bricks. some are very colorful, some are dropped. so certainly gary farro, who is the banker, is one of the dryer witnesses, but you know, some of that dry stuff can be very compelling because it shows some, sometimes some very damaging evidence. for instance, rhona graff had in her contacts for donald trump information about karen mcdougal and about stormy

daniels? yeah. >> she certainly did enter weisman. thanks. is usual for joining us. appreciate do you have a very much andrew is new book is entitled the trump indictments. there's a book cover right there coming out. president biden today making his most direct comments to date, and whether you'll actually be ready to debate donald trump ahead of election day and now trump is responding there's other breaking news we're following this time on a tornado emergency unfolding in the heartland right now sunday the rise of misinformation don't o'sullivan reports from the front lines. >> pharaoh knows taylor swift as a government cya you don't really tell us i don't know what to believe the whole story with anderson cooper sunday at eight on cnn before planning the wedding you're bad hip was really acting up then you heard about maiko robotic assisted hip replacement it starts with a ct scan to pinpoint the

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following some other important breaking news have dangerous severe weather emergency unfolding right now in the heartland, including a huge and violent tornado cited in nebraska, tornado emergency, the highest level of tornado warning has just been issued for eastern nebraska in the cities of bennington, elkhorn, west of omaha right now, the omar omar airport is closed because of the storms and the faa is warning fliers to expect major airline delays from douglas county emergency management officials there say they are working to compiler report of the storm damage and are asking residents to report damage to their homes, were monitoring this breaking situation will get back to us. >> we'll get back to the board and i want to bring in our meteorologist, chad myers right now. he's tracking the storm over the cnn weather center. chad give us the very latest that update i think we've lost our connection with chad. we'll check back with him later, but

it's obviously a very, very dangerous situation unfolding there in nebraska standby for more on that. in the meantime, the other breaking news we're following this hour as donald trump exited the the courthouse just a little while ago, he responded to president biden saying earlier the de he'd be happy to debate trump before the 2024 election. cnn's kristen holmes and mj lee are covering the campaign for us. kristin first to you, what exactly is trump's saying? >> now what we heard from donald trump again, challenging bite into a debate anytime, anywhere while also still acknowledging that there are serious schedule restrictions, given the fact that trump himself is sitting through a criminal trial right now in new york. here's what he said when leaving that trial today. >> biden biden debate anytime you want to flooding tonight, ready? the courthouse that he has tied up. we're willing to do monday night, tuesday night, wednesday night, thursday

night, or friday night on national television? just tell me where i will do it at the white house that we be very comfortable now, obviously this was trump being very trump, but we have seen a full court press from the trump campaign, as well as from republicans trying to get these debates to happen& to happen quickly. >> the trump campaign actually sending a letter earlier this month to the commission of prejudice central debates, asking them to hold them before the scheduled september debates that they were going to have saying that it was early voting before that, they thought that two candidates should be on the stage before early voting started. the other part of this being the donald trump's team thinks that he will be very successful on the debate stage. so they want him there as soon as possible. but what what's the other thing to note here is just where donald trump said these remarks. he said them leaving the courthouse. he has been using that courtroom has podium usually to air his grievances, but we've seen lately and this is after conversations with senior advisers. he's really turning that into a campaign stop. actually campaigning, talking

about the economy, electric vehicles as well hello, as these presidential debates wolf, good point. >> mj lee is over at the white house for a sub j. first of all, tell us more about president biden's remarks earlier of the de about potentially being willing to debate trump in biden was speaking and are very rare live interview yeah. >> well, if this was the first time that we've heard the president give a definitive answer on the question of whether he is willing to debate donald trump. >> this was the unequivocal answer that he gave when howard stern brought up the possibility ability of a trump versus biden debate i don't know if you're going to debate. >> your your opponent. >> i am somewhere i don't know why. i'm happy to that sound bite, of course was the nuzi as political headlines to come out of this interview. >> but wolfe, this interview is more than an hour, was incredibly wide ranging. the president talking about a lot a personal issues including his childhood, his stutter, his parents, and when he talked

about the loss of his first wife and baby daughter, he said that he had briefly contemplated suicide. he said just a brief moment. i thought maybe i just go to the delaware memorial bridge and jump, but i had two kids. i think it's worth noting, wolf that howard stern, of course, is known for being a really skilled interviewer. he is good at getting people to sometimes even over-share and really share their personal stories and himself, of course, is known for making vulgar and direct comments. so i think it's noteworthy that the biden team decided that the president was going to ben this kind of time for this interview at a moment when they're trying to find non-traditional ways to really reach voters out there addressing mj lee. thank you very much. i want to go back to our meteorologist, chad myers. he's monitoring the very severe weather situation right in the heart of the country. so chad gives us the latest yes will this storm this tornado you're seeing right here now, this was just to the east of

the city of lincoln and between lincoln and waverley, nebraska, this tornado went directly over the interstate high at even knocking over a semi, but it remained very, very violent. >> this times was well over a half of a mile wide as it moves on the ground for what appears to be at least 50 mile. think about how much square footage that is if he moves a violent tornado like this for a 50 mile long swath you have now moved just to the north of ethylene airport appellee was actually hit by a separate storm and it's closed at ford. this is the airport in omaha. but the storm that you see here is still going even though it's lost some rotation, it's moved into iowa at this point, but we have crews rolling to the scenes right now looking at this damage, this was a violet at least ef three and possibly the first ef four we've seen in a very long time. >> it's a very dangerous situation. are chad will stay in close touch with you. thank

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hundreds of projects now and get your discount code. >> i'm zachary cohen and washington. and this is cnn reporters, inside the manhattan criminal courthouse are paying very close attention to donald trump's body language during the hush money trial testimony want to go back to cnn's kara scannell. >> qarrah, you were inside that room. give us a sense how it's trump in reacting to the ups and downs of this testimony wolf, in the morning when david pecker was on the san as trump's former are longtime friend, but also the publisher who's been a narrator for the prosecution's case. >> trump was sitting back in his chair with his head slightly then the direction of pecker, who was on the witness stand, but he was in that same position four hours today. just watching as his lawyers tried to find some inconsistencies and pecker's testimony, it was relatively tedious kinds of

questioning back-and-forth and trump appeared to be somewhat disinterested, but also looking and watching pecker. but when his assistant, rhona graff, who had been trump's assistant for 34 years up until 2021, when she was on the stand. she was testifying more favorably about the former president. she was brought on as a prosecution witness to get some rest. records in, but she was also asked by trump's lawyer what it was like working for him and she said, every day was different. she said it was fascinating and interesting.& at that point, trump was smiling and he had shifted his body in his chair to actually so he could get a better view of her as who's watching her testify about him. she said that she found him respectful towards toward her and that she thought that he was very thoughtful. he would sometimes peak is headed to her office and tell her that she should go home to her family. so he seemed to be enjoying and appreciating that favorable testimony that he was hearing. and when she was leaving the witness stand, was just at the end of a break and trump had stood up. it was unclear if they had had any communications or contact, but he did seem to be pleased to see her in the

courtroom and hear her testimony today. >> very interesting. indeed, kara scannell. thank you very much. i want to take a closer look now at the critical evidence that potentially could shape the trial going forward. cnn's kaitlan poets is back with us once again, caitlin take us through some of the key exhibits that juror saw during the course of this week and how they fit into this case there are two ways that the prosecutors can get evidenced in before the jury and they need to to prove their case if they want to prove it, they can get testimony and they can get exhibits. >> and they're using both of those tools polls to try and show exactly how this alleged business falsification of records happens. so one of the witnesses we saw today that was rhona graff. she is one of the people that was working at the trump organization with donald trump. and the things she's testifying to, our bot going to become building blocks that other witnesses will probably share similar information about or underline what she had witnessed and is telling the

jury about the trump was signing checks often, and then it wasn't unusual for donald trump to sign checks when he was on the phone or had people in this office. so he she is the person that is putting trump. they're looking at the paperwork that we're going to see as evidence in this case as well. >> then on top of that, we're starting to see the things that really need to be shown to the jury to establish that this catch and kill scheme happened, that there were agreements with these people that were coming to sell stories either to the national enquirer or stories that donald trump and michael hello, in wanted to have buried one of those things. >> is this american media incorporated national enquirer's agreement with karen mcdougal. here's her signature. that's quite important. the fact that she's signing this, the fact that it spells out the $150,000 that the national enquirer did pay to her and expected that trump organization might pay them back, although they ultimately didn't and then we also see

the prosecutors finding ways over and over again to tie this all to donald trump's campaign that, that being the key motivation here's an example of that. you're going to hear that from witnesses on the stand, but you're also going to see emails potentially text messages, other communications in this michael cohen, the personal attorney to donald trump, who trump's team is going to want a pin a lot on and the distance trump from and say he was just my attorney, michael cohen here king specifically about the campaign. there's a lot of people coming through the line who's going to corroborate some of these things? michael cohen, keith davidson hope hicks from the campaign to underline that point. and then finally, wolfe the falx themselves who were presenting these stories and trying to have their story told catch and kill. they will be testifying very likely as well. >> lot going on indeed, caitlin pullbacks. thank you very much. i want to get more on donald

trump's response today, the president biden saying he'd be happy to debate trump before the 2024 election? trump daring biden to debate them outside the courthouse that de, let's get some analysis joining us now cnn political commentators, s. e. cupp and jamal simmons and sc, who do you think would have board gain from a debate? would it be trump or biden? definitely donald trump. >> and he knows that i think he's banking on the fact that he will look more robust, more energetic and he is not held to standards by his own voters like standards like telling the truth, knowing stuff, having policies that he's going to explain, they don't care about any of that. >> so he'll win with his crowd no matter what. he knows. biden's voters have very high standards. they want to ask questions about policy gaza, what he would do in xyz situation so i think trump is probably right that it benefits him. that's why he's been pushing this for a very long

time and actually i think he's outplayed biden a bit he's going to say, okay, great, i'm ready to go tonight monday. >> tuesday, you heard him say that when biden says no, we'll probably do it as scheduled after the conventions. trump's going to say, look, he's scared, he's unprepared. >> i'm ready to go now. >> i think trump has the upper hand here. reload jamal away and do you think the biden campaign actually worked? once the president to debate trump i think they probably think like i do, which is, i'll believe it when i see it. >> all right. >> donald trump says he wants to debate just like donald trump said he would testify. >> i'll believe it when he takes the stand. >> i'll believe it when he shows up at the theater, there is no evidence that donald trump will actually follow through on any of the things that he says. >> and one of the things i've seen in some of these debate negotiations way back in the 90s when i was a kid, i worked for a guy named mickey kantor who was the chief debate negotiator for president bill clinton during the reelect & one of the things you knows, there's a lot of kabuki dance that's going on around debate negotiations, and nothing is final until everything is

final, we will see when they debate and if they debate how do you think trump asieh his balancing? all the stuff going on in the criminal trial, the courtroom, as opposed to what he wants to do. he says campaign. >> i don't believe that he wants to campaign, and i know that republicans are actually relieved that he's here in the courtroom now because they don't have to talk about anti-abortion bills, which was really dragging the party down trump is using these court trials as a campaign stop. the question is, this race is baked in so many ways. the question is, will independence? look at this and say my god, this guy is always in court they must really be out to get him, or will they say my god, this guy is always in court look at how much he has done wrong and how could anyone in this much legal jeopardy be president? that's the question. how those people are going to see all of this. >> i see cup jamal simmons, guys. thank you very, very much. and coming up more news right after this the white

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titanic, how would really happen in special to our premier sunday at nine on cnn back to our coverage of donald trump's criminal trial in just a moment, but we're also following the very severe weather emergency in the heartland right now, three people were injured after a tornado& lancaster county, nebraska struck a business with 70 people inside. >> our meteorologist chad myers is back with us right now. can update our viewers. what's the latest? >> this was a very large and dangerous, violent tornado. you have three or ef four. we'll have to figure that out. the weather service has to go out there and look at the damage. but i've seen homes that don't exist. all you see are the foundation, so that are still left. so this was an extremely dangerous to tornado that started near lincoln, nebraska. and moved all the way up just to the west it's the omaha, nebraska. now i've driven that omaha i at corridor because i went to school in lincoln and i know how long that is. that was a 50 mile track of a tornado that was on the ground and it was a violent

tornado. all along, tornado watches are still posted more tornadoes will happen tonight. now the tornadoes that were in nebraska have moved into iowa so you need to watch this also, more storms into kansas, even tornado warnings still going on here in the southeastern portion of kansas. and we have wind damage likely also large hail likely into parts of texas, a violent de and a violet night. and you need to pay attention and know where you're gonna go. no, you're safe spot and listened your noaa weather radio or even your iphone. it will alert you if can turn that on or chaired virus. thank you very, very much. chad myers reporting before i let you go one quick follow-up. the severe weather threat. where is it heading next? in addition to the places you mentioned, how worried should folks in the heartland be? >> i think we have tornadoes on the ground likely for the next three to four hours in places. but then it cools down when it cools down, we start to lose the effect and the lift of that warm air. and so you lose the twist, you lose the violence of the tornadoes itself and of the

thunderstorms. but tomorrow, guess what? the sun's going to come back out again and we're going to get storms back again in the parts of western kansas all the way into nebraska, down through oklahoma and into texas. these are the days that we know are coming. we don't want them to come, but when we have a trough of low pressure, a trough, it looks like a trough getting food to a cattle. there you go to the trough of low pressure when it's over the rocky mountains? >> get this and that's exactly the setup that we have now, there were so many tornado chasers on the storms today. >> we knew where they were going to be. >> we just need people to get out of the way when they are there. >> there were so many people in the way today and there'll be more people in the way tomorrow, millions, millions of people in the way of tornadoes, i think tomorrow just hope it doesn't hit your area. we're talking only half a mile wide compared to a county which has maybe 40 miles wide. so not everybody, but certainly people will be affected. yeah, i'm very worried. will. stay in close touch with you. thank you

very much for that update. right now, i want to get back to our top story tonight. donald trump's hush money israel, and the testimony about stormy daniels is likely to revive some painful memories for melania trump. justice. she's barkat, her 54th birthday today. bryan todd is joining us right now, brian, it's no secret that the stormy daniels saga is a sore subject for the former first lady. no question about it. well, if you don't, melania trump it has not come to the trial at all so far, but are former chief of staff said this week she believes the former first lady is watching a lot of the coverage. if she is, analysts say much of this has likely been uncomfortable, if not outright painful for her the former president, didn't want to let the moment go by without acknowledging his wife on her 54th birthday i want to start by wishing my life three happy birthday. you guys be with her, but i'm going to courthouse considering the facts of the case in front of him and accusations that have been made.

>> it is a little bit jarring tone deaf, and he was not particularly elegant in the way that he did it for more than ten hours, over four days this week, former national enquirer publisher david pecker, testified about hush money he payments to cover up alleged affairs donald trump had with karen mcdougal and stormy daniels. trump has denied the affairs. how might melania trump have viewed what's been said in court this week to have it happened. so publicly, so openly and very much in her face has to be very upsetting. >> pecker testified that before he ran for president whenever a negative story was coming out about him, quote, donald trump was always concerned about millennia, but that after the 2016 campaign began, quote, it was basically what would be the impact to the campaign or election. the new york times reported melania trump was furious when reports of a payoff emerged in 2018, but now now the times reports millennia shares her husband's opinion that this hush money trial is unfair, citing people familiar with her thinking quote, in

private, she has called the proceedings a disgrace. ted, about two election interference. still melania trump has not shown up for one minute at the trial. >> i think it would just be more embarrassing for her. i think it would cause more of a meter media storm around her. all it does is make her look sad and week, we don't see her in his public times of wo standing by his sayyed like most political spouses do, that sort of iconic image of the wife holding hands after some humiliating experience. the former first lady has also not shown up much on the campaign trail either after giving a cryptic hint last month, are you going to meet with your husband state to the only campaign events she's done is an appearance with log cabin republicans at mar-a-lago last saturday, karen mcdougal, the former playboy model, whose name has come up several times in the trial this week, once told cnn's anderson cooper she was in love with donald trump and did donald trump ever say to you that he loved you all the time? >> he always told me he loved me yeah. of course millennia

biographer kate bennett believes that was more painful for the former first lady that donald trump's alleged encounter with stormy daniels. it is far more challenging emotionally for her to have someone who's saying that they were then emotional relationship with her husband we reached out to representatives for melania trump into the trump campaign to get her response to david pecker's testimony in court this week, and to ask why she has not attended the trial with her husband, we have not heard back. well, hi, brian. if you hear anything, let us know. bryan todd reporting into our viewers. thanks very much for watching i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. i'll see you monday, 11:00 eastern for cnn newsroom. until then. thanks very much. once again for watching. have a nice weekend erin burnett outfront starts right now all right. next breaking news, trump's gatekeeper testies