Welcome to the beat, I'm Ari Melber, and tonight the news

driving this Trump trial is simple.

You don't need to be a news junkie or a lawyer or a psychologist

to grasp what's driving the trial of defendant Trump

and why prosecutors, according to many headlines have

made headway with the jury in this case. The reason, and we saw this in court

yesterday, is receipts. This trial which is about many different

issues and questions about witness credibility and political intrigue and

all kinds of stuff is currently working against Trump as a defendant because there are just so many receipts.

The receipts include the onslaught of emails and secret texts and NDA's, and, as I mentioned last night I was inside the courtroom yesterday in one of the rare

coveted reporter seats and I can tell you we also saw along with the jury

actual literal receipts the legal

kind written contracts of this whole sorted scheme to buy silence of women who

had allegations against Trump during the campaign season and the allegations

that he and allies directly tried to hide in that campaign year.

It's a pile of paperwork that is essentially burying defendant Trump's main defenses.

Now remember, in the first week, Trump's lawyers detailed these certain Trump defenses.

They were basically factual denials and I'm reminding you what they said.

It's very simple. The first two are these type of factual denials that nothing happened.

He didn't do it.

Or if anything happened, his lawyer Cohen did it well these

receipts are shredding that kind of denial and that really helps the DA's case

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