hear president tweet rump in th tweets. >> my five thougnal thought i h someone will speak up today about the portrait of greed and corruption with giuliani sitting down begging for a contract while he is working for the president of the united states. >> it's unbelievable. all right, thank you so much, mike and everybody else on "morning joe" this morning. we greatly appreciate it. stick around though. right now, stephanie ruhle has the news. stephanie. >> good morning, everyone, i'm stephanie ruhle with a lot to cover today. starting with all the president's men. president trump's former lawyer michael cohen sentenced to three years in prison and fined millions of dollars. his organization's cfo and a publisher with a history of covering up stories about trump both strike deals with the government. now an nbc news exclusive report reveals despite his public

bravado, the president has told some closest to him he fears impeachment could be coming zbr. >> the pieces are coming into place and the walls are closing in on donald trump. >> deal maker nancy pelosi reaches an agreement with rebellious democrats putting her one step closer to regaining the speaker's gavel. all right. we're going to begin with the old saying live by the sword, die by the sword or in the president's case the national inquirer. the tabloid that dedicated cover after cover to promoting trump's build for the white house may now play a significant role in putting his president p presidency in uneven shackier ground. it may be the most consequential story of the day. after trump's former attorney got three years behind bars. i think back to that michael cohen tweets lock her up.

i have a great team to break all of it down. this morning, nobs nebc news is reporting that the president is telling people chose to him he's increasingly concerned about impeachment. he's venting about lack of support in congress and in his own white house. and there might be good reason for it. all week long, the president has been trying to explain away payments made to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, two women who allegedly had extra marital affairs with donald trump. we should mention that the president has explicitly denied the affair with stormy daniels. all this is particularly relevant when it comes to michael cohen who prosecutors say coordinated payments to those women at the correction of then candidate trump. on wednesday, cohen went even further. he told the judge, quote, time and again, i felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than listen to my own

inner voice and my moral campus. my weakness can be characterized as a blind littlety to donald trump and i was weak for not having the strength to question and to refuse his demands. cohen was sentenced to three years behind bars. hush money specifically designed to prevent it from coming out. this led to charges that cohen violated campaign finance law and appears to implicate the president in a felony. before yesterday, he could have conceivably argued the payments were to protect his reputation, not to influence the campaign. on wednesday, the u.s. attorney's office for the southern district of new york confirmed to the media the parent company of the national inquirer backs up parts of cohen's story. the company admits it paid mcdougal 150 grand to ensure she

did not publicize damaging allegations about candidate trump before the 2016 presidential election and influence that election. they bought the story and made sure it never saw the light of day. the longtime associate of donald trump will be charged in their role for the payment. by the way, they have known one another for years. they have been allies for years. and think about this, david pecker's tabloids routinely praised trump and criminal sized his opponents. we're going to have to look at many, many back issues. cohen and pecker both say the payments were designed to keep the women quiet and keep the campaign on track. the president has tweeted that even the payments were a, quote, mistake, even if that's the case, it was cohen's fault, not trump's. we know the president was aware of the payments because he had a conversation about it on tape.

>> i need to open up the company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. i've spoken to allen about how to set the whole thing up. with funding. yes. it's all the stuff. correct. i'm all over that. i've spoken to allen about it. >> financing. >> we'll have to pay -- >> we won't pay with cash? >> no, no. we've already talked about trump. we talked about cohen. did you hear the last person mentioned, allen? allen weisselberg who couss co d he spoke to. he has served as chief financial

officer for the trump organization for decades. over the summer, he was granted immunity by federal prosecutors so he could help them with the cohen investigation. "vanity fair" describes him as the most senior person in the organization. that is not trump. overseeing many of his bosses an personal financial dealings, has prepared trump's tax return, and is the one guy people have said this over and over who knows where all the bodies are buried. how does all this fit together? the entire question about whether the president committed an impeachable offense now hinges on the testimony of two guy, david pecker and allen weisselberg who are both cooperating witnesses. that is a wow. i want to go right to the white house where nbc's kristen welker who co-wrote that article is standing by. tell us more about how things are playing out inside the west

wing. >> president trump up and tweeting today on defense. let me read you the key parts of these tweets. they underscore the point you are making. which is that president trump is arguing this is all the work of his former attorney, has nothing to do with him. he says, i never directed michael cohen to break the law. he was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. the called advice of counsel. a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. despite that, many campaign finance lawyers have strongly stated i did nothing wrong. this was not campaign finance. cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me but he pled two campaign charges which were not criminal and which he probably was not guilty even on a civil basis. he ends by saying as a lawyer michael has great liability to me.

they're very carefully written, that's for sure. this comes as we've been reporting that despite the president saying publicly he's not concerned about impeachment, he's telling some friends and allies he is, in fact, concerned about it, in part because he's seen establishment republicans start to get a little shaky. thing about what marco rubio said over the weekend when he said, look, no one is above the law. add to that, the president has yet to acquire a team to combat the inspected influx of congressional investigations and continued fallout from multiple federal investigations of his associations. he's been calling around to his friends outside the white house and allies to vent and get the input. on wednesday, the president was in the oval office until noon. so there's a clear sense that the president is getting increasingly concerned about these investigations.

we did reach out to the white house about all of this. they declined to comment. >> amazing piece. i want to bring my panel in. ken dilanian, intelligence and national security for nbc news. matt miller, former chief spokesperson for the justice department. cynthia oxny, former federal prosecutor. daniel goldman, district of new york and tom winter, nbc news investigations reporter. i got a full house of big brains. dan, i want to start with you. if ami says it was hush money and cohen said it was hush money, is that enough cooperating evidence or is trump cleared when he says cohen was a lawyer? >> i assuming they both say donald trump was in on it and knew it was hush money payments and he knew that, it is enough. he has been searching around for a workable defense for months now. first, it was i didn't know about it at all. now it's, well, michael cohen is

my lawyer and this is advice of counsel. it has some curb appeal. it is a failure from a legal perspective. in order to assert an advice of counsel defense, you have to affirmably seek legal advice about whether something is legal or not. i'm quite confident there's no way and michael cohen would testify to this, at no point did donald trump say, michael, can i make these hush money payments under the campaign finance laws? which effectively, he would have to do and he would have to reasonably rely on it. this is why defense lawyers tell their clients to shut up. even if it was a colorable defense, the fact he made other offenses completely undermines it. i would point out all the difference defenses they have. >> i could have been a defense attorney, i say shut up all the

time. the president says he didn't know about any of this. he says, i never directed michael cohen to break the law. it is called advice of counsel. you think that's a viable defense? >> no. we have a meeting before the campaign starts in august of 2015 with david pecker who will testify to it and a mystery campaign staffer. that poor person ought to be getting counsel. that's how they set this up as an ericment. we're going to learn more about that in the coming days. do we know if the payment was one time or there were lots? could we learn there's more than daniels and mcdougal? are there lots of other people that other republicans for

example that david pecker could have been protecting or president trump could be holding something over? >> it's certainly possible that could be the case. i think as far as specific to campaign finance fraud, my sense of it is these were the only two women that this would fall under. whether or not the president made other payments in the past, it's possible he did, but it's possible those haven't run afoul of campaign finance laws. we know from the agreement that came up yesterday that david pecker was certainly very helpful in this case. as far as allen weisselberg is concerned, my understanding of that is he has not been cooperative at all. he had it was kind of a use immunity agreement. >> what a what? >> that means he would come in and talk about could not be used against him at a further date. so if he said yes, i can tell you we made these invoices or we doctored up bills in order to cover up for this, that wouldn't

be used against him at another point. my understanding is he's not coming in often and saying yes, this is how this worked. >> why give him immunity? >> well, in order to -- >> former prosecutor. >> in order to compel his testimony. it's a distinction between a cooperating witness who is incentivized to volunteer information and someone given immunity. therefore is just trying not to lie. you have to draw that distinction. i would not call weisselberg a cooperating witness at all. >> could they convince him to be one? >> he has to tell the truth. >> and know the questions. >> they have to know the answers. and the right questions where he has to answer truthfully and it could be helpful but he's not trying to help the investigation. >> okay, matt, we know this is major headlines. it's very scandalous. there are some who say campaign finance violations, they're not big crimes, they're small. but i want to share what the

former acting solicitor general said on this network last night. >> it's one thing unrelated crimes to being in office, you know, some land deal, whatever, you name it, whatever it is, doesn't matter. but, you know, here this goes to how he became president in the first place. i don't think we want to turn our american political system into a kind of winner takes all where people cheat and lie during the campaign. and they really hope if they cheat and lie enough, then they can become president. that turns our constitutional system upside down. >> what do you make of that argument? >> watching this, watching the president, a little bit watching someone in a flood always retreating to higher ground. first the argument was we didn't do it. then the argument was we did it but it was to protect my family. now you see the argument, well, we did it but it wasn't a crime. then the other argument, which

you haven't seen the president make yet, is, well, it was not an important crime. two things about that. one, if the president is ever in a position where he's indicted, which i don't think would happen while he's in office, that is obviously not a legal defense. second, it is geared towards an impeachment defense. if the president has committed a crime and the justice department finds that he committed a crime and because they can't indict him makes that information public somehow, either referral to congress or indictment of the trump organization that listed all the evidence, this is how they will make that defense. the problem is if you build a defense on public opinion, which is basically what this is, it's because they think that's where their base is. the argument built in shifted sand. if public opinion shifts, that argument will collapse. they're gambling that the public will back that argument up.

i think it is a dangerous gamble to make. >> the president needs republicans to back him up. and he might not have the support he once did, especially come january when democrats have a whole lot more control. i want to show what republican senator bill cassidy said. >> am i concerned the president might be involved in a crime? of course. the question is whether this so-called hush money is a crime. john edwards obviously was prosecuted for the same thing and the justice department failed. >> if it becomes clear the president did break the law and even if it's just campaign finance laws, is that a red line for republicans? we may have heard that from bill cassidy but we heard orrin hatch say listen, with the current laws, we could all be criminals.

>> many republican senators have shrugged this off. when it was explained trump was implicated in a crime, said, okay, i don't care. it really seems like the political wins are suggesting that this alone, even if trump is implicated, it's not enough. i was speaking to a watergate historian last night who was making that point. he also made the point richard nixon was chugging along and he had the support of a majority of republicans until one day he didn't. it was an accumulation of evidence over time. the other thing people say about this, you never just make one hush money payment. there are surely other things related to this matter that we have yet to learn, steph. >> walk me through if this would matter to prosecutors in any way. he's a horse trader of information. let's say time winter is a super famous movie star and he's got

incriminating stuff on tom. instead of publishing it, he horse trades and tom says yes, i will agree to be on the cover of men's fitness for you in exchange for you not publishing this. if david pecker was engaging on that, with information from other republicans whose support he sought, is that the kind of thing that could come out and could damage donald trump? i think of so many republicans who didn't support the president in early days and then they had a pretty dramatic about-face and continued to stand by him. even at trying times. >> right, something of value. first the building block, which is the agreement between pecker and cohen and the campaign, not to embarrass the president and to exchange this information. then you have the second building block, in fact, pecker paid mcdougal $125,000. that's a violation of the

campaign law because it's a clear corporate contribution, no question about it. originally they had a plan that cohen was going to reimburse. but pecker said no, we're not going to reimburse. so you have those two building blocks. if you add something of value, that's just more and more building brolocks. i want to say one thing about this constant john edwards defense thing. in the john edwards case, the poor prosecutors didn't have any witnesses. they had cohen-like. a guy who lie and told different stories. the people who paid the money were dead or too sick to come. that's why the ami thing is so important. because now there's live witnesses to back up cohen's statement. >> it is important. they've been allies for years. when pecker doesn't stand up for

you, it's distressing. up next, another big day in court for the russia investigation, not a trump association. but in less than an hour, accused russian operative maria butina will be in court. where she'll plead guilty as part of a deal. before we go, michael cohen's guilty plea. as stephen colbert points out, in his plea, he confessed to the biggest crime of all. >> beared his tortured soul, saying my weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to trump. his only real crime was being loyal to donald trump. which we now know is a felony.

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would be one hour from now, accused russian agent butina is expected to plead guilty after an agreement with federal prosecutors. what exactly is she pleading to? what kind of help is she expected to give prosecutors? >> in some ways, we're cheating a little bit because nbc news got a copy of the plea agreement before she's coming in today. but she will be pleading guilty to conspiracy. that is really something she could have done if she'd been forthcoming about her ties. she was here in the united

states, a graduate student at american university. when she applied for the student visa, she didn't say she was actually working under the direction of alexander torsion, who's a russian official, and she's a pro-gun activist and was going to use that position to try to, within the nra, infiltrate unofficially the republican party. it's unclear whether or not she was directed to do that by russia or if she sort of pitched herself to russia using her capacity in the gun rights community to kind of facilitate these unofficial ties within the republican party. >> so we're going to hear about this an hour from now. do we think she's going to speak? we expect her to plead guilty. one of the things that's interesting is see how the judge reacts today. earlier, her lawyers tried to argue she should be freed during the proceedings.

they said no, absolutely not, they should be incoarse raarcer. this isn't mueller's team. this is coming from the u.s. attorney in d.c. the charges first came out said she was using sex as a tool to trade in order to influence these republican operatives. that doesn't seem to be the case in the plea agreement, it's now much tamer because the prosecution got slapped on the wrist for going too far. >> we will be paying attention. we'll check in with you in a bit. coming up, another hectic day on wall street. the last thing investors want just before christmas. markets up massively before settling down. if the stock market roller coaster will continue. opening in less than four. so get ready. before we go, we spoke a lot about how legislators in michigan and wisconsin were imposing new restrictions on incoming democratic restrictions. yesterday, hundreds of protesters descended on the

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you know what i'm doing avenue d every day at 9:30, thinking about markets. the volatility continued yesterday with at one point being up over 450 points before settling down to finish up 130 points. it does not show any sign of coming down. right now markets just opened and in just a minute, already up 70 this morning. i want to bring in super star steve liesman. i feel like we need to say it over and over again. the markets are not the economy. but the markets do predict the future or that is what they try to do. >> right. >> they could have an effect on public sentiment and feelings about the economy. i know you're out with a new all-american economic survey. so tell us what the big headlines were. >> well, the first one is we have this huge plunge in

confidence and optimism. it's the biggest decline we've seen in the 12-year history of the survey. you have to know it's down to a relatively -- to still a pretty high level. that went down. also optimism about the stock market declined pretty markedly as well. the biggest decline we've seen in the 12-year history. still remains at a high level. i don't know where you stand on this spectrum, but americans, despite being a little bit less optimistic, plan to go out and spend a lot for the holidays. >> listen, even when i'm pessimistic. it's sort of like -- >> especially when you're pessimistic. >> walk me through the market volatility. now they're up in a big way. what in the world is going on here? it's not like the issues have gone away. >> we're up 96, 101. who knows where we'll be in the next hour. the volatility has really spiked up. you have a president who likes to tweet a lot. >> he does?

>> those tweets -- he does. i'm sure you noticed that. >> you're breaking some news here. >> it's what i try to do every day. the idea is a lot of those tweets moved the market. then the stories out there, for example, stories that say trade tensions are diminished. the market spikes. a president who goes on air and says he's going to shut down the government. we had a strong rally going before that little escapade, whatever you want to call it, in the oval office. markets tanked after the president threatened to shut down the office. it's day to day, hour to hour. sometimes minute to minute. >> has the president created so much confusion or chaos that it's worked in his favor? we know how angry he's been with j. powell. we know he doesn't want a rate hike. is the president going to get his way? >> you know, there are many on the market, and i know you covered the federal reserve for a long time. who think the president's comments will work against him

and the idea that j. powell has to go out there and the federal reserve and show their independence. they think that's a very critical aspect of monetary policy that they're not seen bending to the political wind. so the idea that the president pushes against the rate hike, it may end up giving the fed, you know, basically raising the bar for them not to hike. the expectation for them now next week is the federal will hike another quarter point in december but probably will go into some sort of extended pause as we sort out the impacts of trade tension, weakening global economy. and the economy is supposed -- is expected to weaken. and we're supposed to get slower growth. so far, the expectation is not for necessarily slow growth. >> the president may not be aware but it's common knowledge. you cannot bully an economist. >> there you go. >> thank you so much. up next pelosi striking a deal to essentially secure her speakership for the new congress. before we go, apple announcing a

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live to capitol hill. nbc's garrett haake. what can you tell us about this deal? clearly nancy pelosi has some good mojo working after she left the white house two days ago. >> this is the last in a series of deals that pelosi has made with her own caucus to lock up the speaker's gavel starting in january. this deal involves putting term limits on the top members of the democratic leadership structure. the deal is they would be limited to three terms. a fourth term if they're able to get a super majority of the democratic caucus. this is not actually guaranteed to pass within the democratic caucus. but pelosi promised the folks on the other side of the deal, the anti-pelosi forces, if you will, that she herself would abide by this, even if it doesn't pass. that's liable to get her seven votes. we see this pretty well locked up. some of the anti-pelosi folks

have now come out and said they will support her. seth moulten and tim ryan of ohio who of course challenged pelosi last time for the speaker's gavel, have now come out among those seven saying they're on board. that's not every vote in the democratic caucus. but it will be enough votes. >> ginni injoining me now, prof princeton university, eddie glaut. from reason magazine, matt welch. a fair deal? >> sure. democrats need to fight donald trump for the next two years. you don't necessarily go into a fight with someone who doesn't know how to throw a punch.

>> maybe she's even smarter than throwing a punch. she didn't actually. she outwitted him. >> it landed like a punch a couple of days ago. didn't have another alternate theory of the case of who else would be a legitimate contender. >> and she did make some compromises. eddie who stands to make the most? >> i think the younger members of the house, they stand to gain. the democrats generally stand to gain. we need experience in this moment. we don't need anyone who doesn't know how to throw punches. or how to count votes. >> be careful of that we business. >> exactly. i think this is a great moment for us. it seems to me the democrats need to be very deliberate about succession, right, who's going to take the mantle of leadership. this is setting the stage for that i think. >> this one certainly caught me off guard.

it's another big thing happening in congress. they could pass an historic resolution demanding the end for saudi arabia's war in yemen. you know about this war and if you don't, please pay attention. it is a war that's caused a humanitarian crisis in that country. but that vote, it might not even matter. because yesterday, this happened. speaker paul ryan, stuck this thing in there, into the farm bill of all things, that suspends the house from debating whether it should cut off aid to saudi arabia. it is now not even an option until the new congress takes power in january. while the farm bill passed with overwhelming support, that provision passed much more narrowly, 206 to 203 with 18 republicans voting against it. one republican even called it despicable. i need to get your thoughts on this. explain to me, what is paul ryan doing? >> doing what he's done best in his ig nomious role as speaker

of the house, which is to block -- >> write that down, ig thnamino. >> what's his motivation? >> republicans only care about declaring war or not declaring war when there's a democratic president. that's it. that is the rule, it's ironclad since 1980 or since richard nixon. they cared about it during libya. they were right to. there's a legitimate role for congress to have. should we declare war in libya? should you go to congress? they busted obama's chops on this. correctly so. as soon as they have one of their own in there, they're not interested. there's only a handful of people. thomas massey who you pointed out who do care about the constitution, but right now there is no consistent principle about constitutional powers in the republican caucus. >> there's a constitutional question and then there's saudi

arabia. there's the fact that they don't want -- this is just the latest incident of folks not wanting to alienate saudi arabia. they can kill a u.s. resident and journalist. they can engage -- >> why does paul ryan -- we know the president -- >> i think this is consistent. i think this is consistent across the board. 85,000 babies are dead. 12 million people are starving. and they're starving in part and they're dead in part because of what we're doing. because of what the united states is doing. >> and has been. >> and has been doing. >> for two administrations now. >> so paul ryan is revealing that he's an immoral monster. five democrats that support this bill, they're revealing their own monstrous souls. what the stakes are, we could talk about constitutionality, we can talk about support in saudi arabia. what we know is babies are dead. and people are starving because of ufs. >> the senate is debating this.

they're likely to vote to end aid to yemen. this is happening right now in the senate. that's really good news. the democrats when they take over in january, they are leikey to vote. this isn't over. this is tabled for two months because of paul ryan and a lot of cowardly republicans. >> those are babies. they're not foreigners. they don't choose where they're born. children are our collective responsibility and they're starving to death. up next, flint michigan has been through a lot over the last few years. now since star power, venture capitalized are intervining as an investment opportunity. we're going to explain next in money, power, politics. i just got my cashback match,

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turn up the volume, this is a good one. it is time for money, power, politics. flint, michigan, once known as vehicle city, the birthplace of gm, america's decline in manufacturing and industry left that town high and dry. you probably know flint for what happened in 2014, the polluting of its tap water from the contaminated flint river. but there's something new coming

to that town. an effort to change the narrative and boost the economy. newly formed accelerator for start-ups in early stage companies has launched in this very michigan town 100-k ventures, will100k ve ventures will assess new business ideas. once they get the go ahead, those start-ups will receive funding, advice and mentoring to bring their ideas to fruition. i love this kind of stuff. joining me now, ceo of consultant firm of 32 advisers, robert wolf and founding members, and former nfl superstar and super bowl champion victor cruz. also a superb dancer. roberto, you took the bus tour through the midwest, looking for new spots to put these venture dollars. >> i went with two of your friends, congressman rokana and congressman tim ryan. we went to ohio, indiana and

michigan. when we went into flint, the vibrancy and the excitement of how these people want to really rebuild it is just amazing. and i know that you and i have been on wall street for a long time. everything thinks everything happens in new york city and silicon valley. you're wrong. there are great, smart people everywhere. we're so excited. we're teaming up with phil hagerman who literally started the ferris wheel, 100k ideas. we're going to be an accelerator group. i spent the last six months hand picking what i think is an amazing founder members group that includes victor but also draymond green from michigan state. >> obviously golden state warrior. >> golden state warriors, christina lorre and mina harri., and we are going to capitalism for good. >> love that, conscience

capitalism. this kind of leadership. i think about the people in flint and how poorly they've been treated -- not just forgott forgotten, but wronged. >> it's huge. especially for an underserved community such as flint, similar to paterson, new jersey, where i grew up. you want to have a place to have these resources and help these entrepreneur efforts. these people we met with, they're inspiring, the things that they're doing. they're passionate about it. that passion led us to be part of this. we watch them. we're sitting there, watching them talk to us about their dreams and things they put forward in flint, michigan, which is, as we said, an underserved community. for us to go in there, help these people out, it's a tremendous thing. >> why did you get involved? >> you know, every day at girls who code, i csee girls who can build facebook or the future companies of the world and often times no one is giving them a chance.

no one is investing in them. no one is giving them the knowledge and the experience. and i want to change that at girls who code and i saw that at flint. these are people who are tremendous. their businesses are tremendous. robert says it's not just about doing good. it's also about making money. these future entrepreneurs have a shot at the american dream and i want to help them. >> are you going to make money there? >> yes. this is not a foundation. >> this is not a community service. >> this is not a community service. we're going to be an accelerator. we're going to invest, but at the right pricing and give them our expertise, help them whether it's with credit lines, fashion, or use our network for industrial america or how to get a bank line. this is kind of a localized shark tank. we're starting in flint because we have great local partners. sorry, go ahead. >> if they have the talent, if they have the skills, is this about getting alcoh intin intin? >> absolutely. you have people from all walks

of life, whether it's the fashion industry, michael strahan and the things he does, mina harris, who is fphenomenal. all these different people who you can pick our brains, get to know us and use our resources for good and i feel like that will help these entrepreneurs advance themselves faster than they would have without. >> is it just the first city? >> definitely. there are tremendous entrepreneurs across the country. we want to prove this model in flint, do good and see what's next. >> the american dream is alive. >> if we are only in flint then we probably didn't do a great job. hopefully we did a good job in flint but that means we didn't grow a platform that can go to other underserved areas. victor said he was getting calls from everyone like why not me? we have cities to go to. if they're willing to put in the time. this is not about putting a group of people together that can give money. it's about time, money and

experience. if we don't have the expertise, they won't be successful. if they're not successful, then we failed. >> support extraordinary entrepreneurs, extraordinary investment. this is amazing. thank you all for this work. thank you for caring. i absolutely love this story. the american dream is alive and well, and this group is kicking it up. >> "good news ruhles" is next. yeah!? i switched to geico and got more! more savings on car insurance!? they helped with homeowners, too! ok! plus motorcycle, boat and rv insurance! geico's got you covered! like a blanket! houston? you seeing this? geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. geico. i was thinking...d clot could there be another around the corner? or could it turn out differently? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis.

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all right. you know how we end this show, no matter what, there's always good news somewhere and we think good news ruhles. with the help of his namesake foundation, retired nba player flew this little boy all the way across the world to california to have the life-threatening tumor on his face removed. the osbourne head and neck institute in lncht a. will do the surgery free of charge. mutombo is known for saying, not today. but today he has done a great thing for that little boy and we wish him the best of health. stay tuned tomorrow when you at home are going to get the chance to choose what good news story you want to hear. your vote will be on twitter. you better get ready. that wraps us up this hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. you can find me all day long on tw twitter. more news with my dear friend and colleague, hallie jackson.

>> you know who he played for, steph. >> philadelphia 76ers? >> very much. there you go. >> do you know the 76ers, hallie jackson, have the largest t-shirt canon of any team in the nba? >> i expect a demo. appreciate it. i'm hallie jackson in washington. we're kicking off the show, talking about how morale is are turning into enemies. admitting, yeah, they paid women to keep quiet about alleged affairs all to try to help donald trump win as michael cohen is sentenced but not silenced. his former attorney says we haven't heard the last of him. we have questions. let's see if lanny davis has answers for us. we're talking to him live. with friends like those who wouldn't be worried about impeachment? our new reporting on what the president is saying privately. spoiler alert, it's not the same as what he's saying publicly. on capitol hill, nancy pelosi is saying she'sne