stormy daniels now suing michael cohen for defamation. does she have a case? >> well, let me say this, like millions of americans, karen watched ms. daniels on "60 minutes" and believed her just like millions of americans last week watched karen's conversation with anderson and believed her and i think it's important as a starting point -- and i tweeted about this for that reason -- to make sure that these women are not pitted against one another, particularly at this public moment. because to do that is to do a tremendous disservice to any other women that nave signed similar contracts and frankly a tremendous disservice to our democracy. >> so you think stormy daniels had a case against michael cohen? >> from our perspective, the most important thing is that people in a circumstance like this are able to tell their story. i don't mean to dodge that question at all. i've been focused 24/7 almost on my client karen mcdougal and i know she has a case and the reason is simple. she was tricked into signing a bogus contract with a quarter billion dollar company th

and then on top of that, you bring in michael cohen. michael cohen could wind up being squeezed like a lemon to flip, just to get information. so this is a whole new wrinkle in this very complicated russia investigation that could go into stormy daniels. and when we talk about michael cohen, remember this, no lawyer worth his salt or worth his degree will actually do what he did. $130,000 equity line of credit for his friend/client to give to -- to pay off to someone, to keep her quiet, just days before an election. and no one has done this. and there could be a complaint to the bar about what he did. so this has got a lot of tentacles that could still continue to unfurl in the middle of this. the president is being smart by being quiet. >> well, you know, sometimes he'll walk over to the rope line when he's getting off the plane or the helicopter and come over and talk. >> but he hasn't. >> he really hasn't had a full press conference, let's see, in how long? 404 days since the president, his last real -- >> over a year. >> -- his last

i think my first choice of a witness at a public hearing would be michael cohen because michael cohen is the president's go-to money man. of course we've heard a lot of rumors over the last few days about his involvements with various people that the american people are pretty curious about. but the bottom line for me is the key issues are what are called the "follow the money" questions, and the republican leadership in neither the house nor the senate are getting into it. that's why i put michael cohen as my first public witness in the senate. >> "the new york times" happens to be reporting tonight -- actually it's "the washington post." i'm getting my big breaking news confused here because there is so much of it. "the washington post" is reporting that the special counsel is now asking questions about michael cohen, specifically some deals having to do with russia, one that happened just after the campaign and one that happened before the campaign. what specifically do you want to ask michael cohen? >> i want to ask him about a host of issues. as you know, there are published repo

michael cohen, trump organization employee. he said neater the trump according anization were a party to the transaction and neater reimbursed me either directly or indirectly. it was not a campaign expenditure by anyone. $130,000, 11 days before the election in exchange for daniels silence about the affair she said she had back in 2006. today he said he raised from a home equity credit line. nothing he told the candidate about. just his own money from his own pocket. >> lawyers don't do that. they don't do that with their own money. it's not ethical. it's not proper to do that without talking to the client. it also doesn't make any sense. you know, it's one thing if he was such a billionaire he had $130,000 sitting around. the idea dthat he goes into a home equity line and it goes out of the goodness of his own house, it's not believable. >> also the claims not to have actually have informed his client about it at all. even if everything he claims is true that he borrowed money, how do you explain he was -- the question is rei

the truth is it's the handling of michael cohen. first he came out refused to deny anything, say anything happened. then casually said he set up an entity in delaware for the payoff. and now we're seeing documents that call it out from start to finish. until michael cohen gets his story straight we'll be asking questions. >> we didn't get to ask the questions about people getting fired or quitting the white house -- >> you have a porn star scandal. >> i have a feeling if michael cohen was a white house staffer he would be on rachel's big board of getting kicked out. thank you very much. >> thank you. >>. >>> they said it couldn't be done. but the kids have done it. on the first day back the kids of marjory stoneman douglas high school won a victory on the guns in the overwhelmingly republican florida legislature. that story is next. mike and i are both veterans, both served in the navy. i do outrank my husband, not just being in the military, but at home. she thinks she's the boss. she only had me by one grade. we bought our first h

cohen file their motion to compel arbitration. as soon as we do that, or as soon as they do that, we can refile this motion. that's exactly what we're going to do. we expect that could be filed today, it could be filed in the next couple days. all indications are they're going to file that motion. then we will in turn refile this motion, and then the court is going to make a determination. but wolf, there is language in this order that i am very, very pleased with, because the court appears to agree with our assessment of the law, and it shows that what david schwartz and others have said, that this motion had no merit, that that is baseless. they're in a lot of trouble, wolf. this is not good for the president, it is not good for mr. cohen. >> it's at least a temporary gain for them, although, as you pointed out, you're going to refile and see what happens down the road. as you know, michael cohen's attorney and his friend david schwartz, he was on cnn last night with erin burnett. he said that michael cohen was acting independen

cohen -- yeah, the campaign or mr. cohen can address anything with respect to their actions. with respect to that interview i would say the president strongly, clearly and has consistently denied the underlying claims. the only person inconsistent is the one making the claims. >> when he said he doesn't believe stormy, it's got to be frustrating for you because as you said before you heard him on the phone that night? >> absolutely. and it's funny the words that they're using that he doesn't believe stormy. it is find of funny for someone to say they don't believe someone's story when they were there. i think that he is being careful in the words that he uses but he still lying. >> what do you think he should just say it didn't happen instead of saying i don't believe her story? you think there's some nuance there? >> what i think the president should do is own up to what he did, own up to the relationships, own up to the affairs, apologize to his wife and to the american people, myself, to stormy, to karen and all the other women from there and go from there. i think a lot o

cohen: thank you. i'm not sure if the group is in the chamber today. i'm looking for representative from willie brown. okay. make yourself known, sir. this afternoon, i want to present this beautiful stack of commendations to a group of young people that we're honoring that are incredible advocates and very important change agents. they have rolled up their sleeves and worked toward a solution. students were upset about the unfair reality of their environment. particularly about healthy food choices. 8th grade students said, "we're in a food desert. that means we have liquor stores around and not grocery stores." this reality is the outcome of assumptions that certain communities don't like to eat fresh foods. this manifests in food retail red lining, which is the oversaturation of liquor stores and fast food. the six members of the black student union researches the effects of junk food in their community. they won first place and a cash prize at the statewide black minds matter competition. their rep

did cohen illegally use campaign funds to keep daniels quiet? >> the exact sentence used was, they can make your life hell in many different ways. >> they being? >> i'm not sure who they were. >> i'm not exactly sure who they were. i believe it to be michael cohen. >> we'll do what's necessary to protect him and the office of the presidency. >> reporter: avenatti said he wants to question both president trump and michael cohen for no more than two hours. he says their testimony is vital for him to determine if the president knew about the $130,000 and if he approved the payment. a hearing is set for april 30th. in the newsroom, jackie ward, kpix 5. >>> time now 6:32. let's head outside take a look. golden gate bridge some of the traffic coming in from the north bay, not looking too bad right now. and on the left, we have this beautiful shot from alamo square looking towards downtown as it zooms out. it's going to be sunny and warm. last check you sent out a twitter poll about whether people are going to like the warm weather. >> mm-hm. >> it's 6

cohen. >> an attorney for mike it cohen. this is the attorney for the president's attorney. a lawyer friend from new york has called the motion a reckless use of the legal system. >> can you say unwe quiverically that the president was never in any way unaware of the agreement itself. >> the president was not aware of the agreement. michael cohen never told him about the agreement. >> what about the money? >> he was not aware about any of it. >> we should note cohen has satd the $130,000 payment came from his own personal funds, a line of credit and not the trump organization or traump campaign. he was chosen by ken star to conduct the questioning of bill clinton among other note able cases in the light and in the law. if mr. schwartz is arguing mr. trump had no realtime knowledge of this payment to stormy daniels then her attorney says thank you for helping to prove my case so the nondisclosure agreement is not binding on my client. does anyone have a case here that you can hear? >> oh, my gosh. there are so many different aspects to this. first of all, yes. this is somethi

cohen denies that and says his cohen has only tried to protect the president. cohen is famous for his loyalty to the president, but it is that loyalty that is now possibly exposed him to an fec violation and it's what's put him in robert mueller's sights. >> the exact sentenced used was, they can make your life hell in many different ways. >> they being? >> i'm not exactly sure who they were. i believe it to be michael cohen. >> reporter: for the last decade attorney michael cohen has been part of the president's inner circle providing legal council and serving as a fixer, a jack-of-all-trades who seemingly can make unpleasant situations go away. >> we will do what is necessary to protect him and the office of the presidency. >> reporter: he has a reputation for using aggressive tactics. in 2015, cohen allegedly threatened a "the daily beast" reporter, the publication was working on a story surrounding ivana trump's rape allegation against her then husband which she has since recanted. you write a story that has mr. trump in it with the word rape and i'm going

cohen. they are now attempting to remove this case to federal court in order to increase their chances that the matter will be decided in private arbitration, thus hiding the truth from the public. he goes on to say, the fact that a sitting president is pursuing over $20 million in bogus damages against a private citizen who is only trying to tell the public what really happened is remarkable, likely unprecedented in our history. we are not going away, and we will not be intimidated. basta basta, by the way, italian for enough. mr. avenatti goes on, quote, how can president donald trump seek $20 million in damages against my client based on an agreement that he and mr. cohen claim mr. trump never was a party to and knew nothing about? #notwellthoughtout. #sloppy. #checkmate. back with the panel including paul callan. that's callan, not callahan as i said earlier. paul, i apologize for that. >> no problem. >> paul, first of all, why try to get this moved to a federal court? >> it's a fascinat

michael cohen says the money came from him. he facilitated the payment directly, didn't come from the trump organization, didn't come from the trump campaign, but to negotiate the deal, he used his trump organization e-mail account. >> really, it's unbelievable the way that this, one, the hush agreement is the one that won't shut up, and also how sloppily this has been done and executed. to have this paper trail is completely nonsen sirknonsensic. the whole purpose of having a nondisclosure agreement is to not have a paper trail. talking about finance distribution and expenditure laws. it doesn't matter that it didn't come from trump directly. most of the time when you have a campaign contribution, it's not coming from the candidate, it's coming from other people, and you have to report that as well. for him to try and say -- not a trump organization, because if it did come from my pocket, that's not the requirement for reporting and distribution. what is a requirement, if there is something made in furtherance of the campaign,

and on top of that, you bring in michael cohen. michael cohen could wind up being squeezed like a lemon to flip, just to get information. so this is a whole new wrinkle in this very complicated russia investigation that could go into stormy daniels. and when we talk about michael cohen, remember this. no lawyer worth his salt or worth his degree will actually do what he did. $130,000 equity line of credit for his friend/client to give to -- to pay off to someone, to keep her quiet, just days before an election. and no one has done this. and there could be a complaint to the bar about what he did. so this has got a lot of tentacles that could still continue to unfurl in the middle of this. the president is being smart by being quiet. >> well, you know, sometimes he'll walk over to the rope line when he's getting off the plane or the helicopter and come over and talk. >> but he hasn't. >> he really hasn't had a full press conference in how long? 404 days since the president, his last real -- >> over a year. >> -- his last real press

. >> chair cohen: thank you very much, other public speakers? >> hi, we work for united players and the soma youth collaborative and we want to say in one voice that clean streets are so important for our youth and our children and we are in support of this measure because it has reached the level of an emergency and it has to be acted on now. >> yeah, it's definitely a priority and it's not okay that our kids walk in the streets and are used to seeing needles and landmines of feces that are not from dogs every day and so we thank you, supervisor kim for prioritizing this. >> if you need more information can you connect with the fix it team and she's seen the level of crises and how it is across multiple neighborhoods so she can address this issue now and in the future. thank you so much. >> thank you, next speaker, please. >> good morning, supervisors, and my name is mary claire and this is -- >> jay k. >> and paul berrerra. >> i'm here to represent the program and they couldn't be here because they're in school and we're in support of supervis

cohen. >> an attorney for michael cohen. so this is the attorney for the attorney. a lawyer friend from new york has called the motion a reckless use of the legal system. he also said president trump was not aware of cohen's agreement with stormy daniels. >> can you say unequivocally that the president was never aware of the agreement about the money? >> the president was not aware of the agreement. michael cohen never told him about the agreement. >> what about the money? >> he was not aware about any of it. >> we should note cohen has satd the $130,000 payment came from his own personal funds, a line of credit and not the trump organization or trump campaign. he was chosen by ken starr to conduct the questioning of bill clinton among other notable cases in the light and in the law. if mr. schwartz is arguing mr. trump had no realtime knowledge of this payment to stormy daniels, mr. avenatti says thank you for helping to prove my case. so the nondisclosure agreement is not binding on my client. does anyone have a case here that you can hear? >> oh, my gosh, brian.

what is behind this move by the team to go after cohen? >> first they've alleged a non-contract claim in the form of defamation. defamation is what we call a tort. it's got nothing to do with the contract claim. and consequently, there's no arbitration possibility when you allege that somebody has defamed you because the only way that cohen and ec consulting get into arbitration is through the arbitration clause contained in the contract. so this is a very clever strategic move because cohen will not be able to force the defamation claim into arbitration. and that is where cohen and ec and trump need this case to be. arbitration out of the public eye, private proceeding without public filings. that is their only path to victory. >> and you reported the last place michael cohen wants to be is in a courtroom. why do you say that? >> because a courtroom is by nature public. courtroom filings are public. and they're something we can nowadays just log on and pull directly off of the website or anything else. and that means anything public for c

senator john thune calling cohen the voice of reason. thune continuing, i'm concerned that who will be in the president's ear. thist points of the cavalcade of departures that we've seen almost cynic donald trump took office. it is not just the number of departures that is so jarring. although this is quite astounding. it is also the reasoning behind the exits. highlighting substantive issues, related to ethics or lack there of, or the russia issues. reasons that explain why the presidential approval rating is historically low. flynn was fired after he lied to the fbi about his contacts to the russian ambassador. the fired fbi director james comey who said the president asked him for his personal loyalty and to take it easy on flynn. the president deny that had but did say he was thinking of the russian investigation when he decided to send comey packing. katie mcnine was the deputy after mcmaster came on board. mcfarland was nominated to be on board sing more. but she had asked about communications between the russian ambassador and her

trump or from cohen. cohen has said he paid daniels out of his own pocket. his attorney called the motion a reckless use of the legal system and politically motivated. we asked the white house for comment, but have not heard back. >> cbs news legal analyst rikki klieman is with us. good morning. >> good morning. >> how likely do you think it is a judge will grant the motion for the expedited discovery? >> i think that expedited discovery is the bigger question than whether or not ultimately the president gets deposed because i think the president may well get deposed at some point. expedited discovery, the question is why do we need it so fast? is there something happening out there that we have to know this within 120 days, which is what you might usually think of. he has been asking, he says he wants 21 days for each deposition. very short notice. 90 days he wants the entire thing to go to a jury trial. that is not happening that fast. by why can't it last six months or one year. >> a judge could say that's fine. >> what do you think of this motion on its

michael cohen has been called president trump's fixer, his right-hand man, his pitbull. he is the man that trump relies on when he needs to get things done. at the center of the scandal after admit iting to paying skoy dani -- stormy daniels $130,000 days before the election. >> a porn star accepts a payoff to keep quiet about her affair with donald trump, there's got to be a guy who gets it done. >> where is michael cohen? where is this guy? where is this guy? >> standing behind donald trump or closer in his back pocket. >> michael was, i like to say, ray donovan of the office. he took care of what had to be taken care of. i don't know what had to be taken care of. i know that michael was taking care of it. >> he is the guy you can call at 3:00 in the morning when you have a problem. >> do you know of stories of him calling at 3:00 in the morning? >> all hours of the night. every dinner i've been at with michael, the boss has called. >> cohen did not call the boss, he says, when he decided to pay stormy daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket 11 days before the election.

the lawsuit claims after cohen tried to stop daniels from coming forward before the election, cohen has kept trying to silence daniels, even as recently as last week following "a bogus arbitration meeting." >> cohen admitted to making a $130,000 payment to daniels before the election but denies the trump administration or campaign was involved or that the campaign violated campaign finance law. he says the president vehemently denies any encounter with daniels. >>> now to a different kind of storm. far more dangerous in some respects. for the second time in a week, a powerful nor'easter threatening more than 50 million people from philadelphia to boston, all of them facing winter storm watches or warnings. and remember, crews are still working to restore power to more than 100,000 customers after last weekend's storm. about 1,900 flights canceled today. if you're traveling, folks, check with your airline before leaving home. for the latest, we'll turn to meteorologist ivan ka bravery a. good morning to you -- cabrera. good morning to this time around -- good morning, everyone -- it's go

cohen. the president touted the strength of the markets. there's been volatility today. the u.s. markets opened down, the asian markets. is he concerned about the volatility in the markets? ms. sanders: the president is focused on long-term economic goals. the economy is still infinitely stronger today than it was when the president took office. we're going to continue to fight for strock economicpolicy. job growth, wage growth, and certainly an increased number of people that are working in this country, again, specifically some of the action that is you're going to see through the announcement later this week. reporter: isn't the message from the market they are concerned about gary cohen's departure what it might mean for the stability of the white house and u.s. economy? ms. sanders: if you look at the overall message of the markets if that were doing much better under president trump before he took office. reporter: he called him a rare talent. does that mean he's opened to having him c

cohen and trump. major garrett is at the white house, which has said nothing about the "60 minutes" story, major, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. stormy daniels discussed in some detail the alleged affair with mr. trump, one she had previously denied. she also made mention of an alleged threat against her and her daughter. now, on the eve of the "60 minutes" broadcast, where all of this was discussed, the president had dinner with michael cohen. the two of them at the center of this ongoing political and legal drama. >> i was in a parking lot. going to a fitness class with my infant daughter and a guy walked up on me and said to me, leave trump alone, forget the story. and then he lean around and looked at my daughter and said "a beautiful little girl, it would be a shame if something happened to her mom." >> reporter: in an interview with "60 minutes" daniels says she was first threatened to stay silent in 2011. >> you took it as a direct threat? >> absolutely. my hands were shaking so much,

cohen. >> an attorney for mike it cohen. this is the attorney for the president's attorney. a lawyer friend from new york has called the motion a reckless use of the legal system. >> can you say unwe quiverically that the president was never in any way unaware of the agreement itself. >> the president was not aware of the agreement. michael cohen never told him about the agreement. >> what about the money? >> he was not aware about any of it. >> we should note cohen has satd the $130,000 payment came from his own personal funds, a line of credit and not the trump organization or trump campaign. he was chosen by ken star to conduct the questioning of bill clinton among other notable cases in the light and in the law. if mr. schwartz is arguing mr. trump had no realtime knowledge of this payment to stormy daniels then her attorney says thank you for helping to prove my case so the nondisclosure agreement is not binding on my client. does anyone have a case here that you can hear? >> oh, my gosh. there are so many different aspects to this. first of all, yes. this is something

. >> but michael cohen faces criticism for his handling of the stormy daniels case. daniels attorney says the agreement michael cohen drew up was quote sloppy. >> the way this was handled and the documentation, quite honestly, this was amateur hour. >> michael cohen recently said he used own personal funds to, quote, facilitate payment to the porn star before the 2016 election something without his knowledge, which some people say is unheard of. >> i would say 99.9 lawyers in america would never even contemplate doing this. >> in response, cohen tells cnn legal arguments and documents in the daniels case are air tight. and that he believes it's daniels liable for millions in damages based on her conduct. but cohen being criticized from pure public relations standpoint. >> i think the entire thing was reckless, naive, or completely incompetent. >> crisis specialist was a bad idea to pay off would make her go away. >> what would he should have told trump? >> tell him it won't work work. so dealing with it honestly only choice they have. >> thanks for that report. story

cohen's attorneys, michael cohen's attorneys responding with a cease and desist letter denying cohen was involved. they didn't say anything specifically about 2016. what are the questions that you have about the issue of threats and intimidation in this case. >> you know, i think if threats and intimidation occurred, depending upon the wording of the threats and intimidation, that could be criminal activity. and if it was done by an agent of the president, and michael cohen certainly has been his personal attorney for a long time, this could cause serious problems for the president. but you have to remember that lawyers when they're talking to somebody who has breached allegedly a contract, they can use what sounds like very harsh words which sound like threats, which are really just saying, listen, we have a contract, and we're going to enforce the contract, and we're going to come down really hard on you with the contract. now, do you feel threatened? well, maybe you would from that kind of language. but what i said just then is perfectly legal. >> that is a real gly good poin paul

because michael cohen has so much knowledge about the president's dealings, if michael cohen was placed in legal jeopardy himself, then the legal and political effects could be, what else might michael cohen know about and if he became one of the targets of this investigation, what could he say about it. jeremy is right that what we see here now is not particularly politically important. the president's poll numbers have actually been improving a little bit through this story. but there could be any number of unknown unknowns here, and then who knows what effects those could have. >> which means you guys will have to come back and help interpret it all for us to figure out what those unknowns are. good to see you both, thanks for joining me. >>> coming up next, how a new autopsy in the police shooting of an unarmed back man in california is raising questions. more than a thousand workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. today we're bringing you america's number one shave at lower prices every day. putting money back in th

supervisor cohen? >> supervisor cohen: thank you. i'm pleased to have this before us today to ask that you join me in support. this is a unique request. it's for a victor application, as you heard, from cav y-- cafe en envy. there's a cap on the number of liquor license applications due to an historic proliferation of liquor retailers. type 87 licenses are now a new type of liquor licenses reek endend ly -- recently adopted by the legislature in 2018. the goal is to help restaurants who help their surrounding neighborhoods and they help them in various ways of supplying jobs, reducing blight, bringing foot traffic to the neighborhood and keep dollars circulating in the community. i hope that you will join me in supporting the license application. >> supervisor breed: thank you. can we take these same house, same howl kaul? -- same call? without objection, approved unanimously. >> clerk: campaign and government conduct code failure to file forms 700s and to modify the ethics commissions reporting requirements regarding the filing of f

cohen, surreptitiously initiated a bogus arbitration proceeding against ms. clifford in los angeles, the lawsuit says, in an attempt to intimidate ms. clifford into silence and shut her up. clifford's lawyer included this so-called hush agreement in the lawsuit saying it was written by michael cohen. it refers to donald trump under an alias, david dennison and clifford under the name peggy peterson. according to the hush agreement, stephanie clifford came into possession of confidential information pertaining to d.d., trump's alias, which includes certain still images and/or text messages. michael cohen says, included in those are images donald trump presented to his counsel to exist, ie., text messages between p.p. and d.d. in other words, the pressure being applied to clifford could explain her recent bizarre talk show appearance. >> did you have a sexual relationship with donald trump? >> reporter: clifford is now eager to talk and explains why she claims she was coerced into signing a false statement that the affair didn't happen. according to the lawsuit

michael cohen is saying it was his personal money. lots of people doubt it. michael cohen -- people are also saying, look, the president didn't know about this. it's hard to believe that 11 days before the election, the president did not know what his close friend and personal attorney was doing on his behalf. >> and if the president or his attorney did, indeed, laura, break the law here, that is really the important question. some people may not care about a tawdry affair with a porn star. that's their business. others will. especially someone who is running for president and his personal attorney broke the law, that is indeed a big question. >> it's huge here. and remember, not only did sarah huckabee sanders expose the arbitration happening in court, she also confirmed for the first time that david denison was donald trump, and he was actually a party to all this. that's why it's trending about david denison. but you're right, don, the large story here is not about whether a porn star was involved in the then-private citizen after the birth of his child. t

. >> right, michael cohen does not. if there's delay getting the president to be deposed, you can always get michael cohen deposed, assuming he can get anyone deposed in this case. >> in both cases, think about it, in some ways michael cohen is a more potentially damage is witness in the sense that, as harry points out the facts of the stormy daniels case alone the politics are not particularly damaging to trump. as everybody believes trump had an affair with an adult film actress. people believe bill clinton had affairs with multiple women. the american people are forgiving of extra plarlgts affairs among politicians, especially presidents. his support will not diminish by admitting that. the question of how many of these documents are out there how much is this a form nda, when you start to widen and have questions about the pattern of behavior here, you start to get out into the very deep weeds. and michael cohen will be suddenly find himself, if he's not -- to avoid perjury, will find himself telling stories that wi

michael cohen tweeted. this thank you, brian todd, cnn for your accurate depiction of me for our potus. >> it is true that he is incredibly loyal to donald trump and always has been. in part because of the closeness of that relationship, it is just not plausible that he would have made this payment of his own volition and not notified trump. first of all, that's not what you do. you don't not notify your client, in part to protect him. special will i when he is running for the highest office of the land. and trump would have had to sign it. either it is void because trump didn't sign it or potentially, it is a finance violation because he would have had to disclose that payment during the course of the campaign. >> we should also point pout michael cohen was in mar-a-lago over the weekend when the president was there. which is incredibly unusual. he is not a member and he is not spotted there very often. so it is very unusual for him to be there. especially in the middle of it. >> in palm beach. not west pa

cohen to answer the tough questions. >> we've invited mr. cohen and so far he's declined. hopefully at some point he will come out. the lawyer did say the $130,000 payment was not hush money. it was legal extortion. your reaction. >> well, wolf, there $130,000 payment story, it continues to evolve. it makes no sense. if you buy into their story, and you buy into the white house explanation to the extent that they provided one, you have to believe the following. in the two weeks prior to the campaign, michael cohen gets a call from my client or one of the representatives. they couldn't clued that she has no basis in reality. there is no truth to the statement. there never was an affair. et cetera, et cetera. how do they respond? they promptly pay her $130,000. it doesn't make any sense, wolf. it doesn't add up. the american people are smarter than this. the american people know that neither michael cohen nor donald trump would pay somebody that just came out of wood work. $130,000 unless there was some validity to what she said. >> why did she deny there was an affair in th

cohen demanded that she sign that. and as alleged, we say it was done through force and intimidation. >> reporter: still, stormy daniels has remained silence. she did reveal this in a recent search chat on flirt for free.com. >> i've been working on a book for several years. the book i'm working on is a collection of really funny but completely true short stories of funny things that have happened on the road. >> reporter: now about, that arbitration proceeding that you heard jim acosta reporting, sarah sanders said it had been won in arbitration. we got ahold of stormy daniels' attorney. he said this, yeah, and he also won the popular vote referring to donald trump, which we know he did not win. that's all he would say. we'll certainly hear more from him this evening. >> joining us now, the ranking member of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff of california. thank you for joining us ufrlt a lawyer. you're also a former federal prosecutor. do you believe it is possible president trump was in the gark this $13

i believe it to be michael cohen. >> michael cohen. october, michael cohen denies that. before the "60 minutes" interview, stormy daniels' attorney tweet add picture of a cd indicating they had the evidence to prove the affair. this morning the attorney said why was the information not released. watch this. >> does she or doesn't she have this evidence? >> we're not going to get into the details of everything we have. we're in the early stages of this case. we understand the american people want all of the information right now, immediately. it would make no sense for us to play our hand as to this issue and we're not going to do it. >> why not? >> and america does want it. significant social media push back on why the evidence has not yet been released. shep? >> shepard: what more do we know about this cease and desist letter? >> we know it was sent by michael cohen's attorney in relation to stormy daniels' comments about being threatened in the parking lot. the letter reads, regard manager cohen, namely he was responsible for an alleged thug that visited mrs. clifford

cohen, saying she was intimidated and coerced into signing this. i mean, these are really strong allegations. now, that is, by the way, a copy of the nondisclosure agreement that has been in the news for a very long time, since "the wall street journal" broke the story. you'll notice there. what do you see? dd, the acronym for mr. trump's alias, and then pp, the acronym for stephanie daniels' alias. but that's her signature there. it says stephanie clifford. and you'll notice one of the lines is blank, that's where donald trump's signature is supposed to go. >> and apparently his pseudonym is david dennison, left blank. >> reporter: and that's what she's saying. she's saying he didn't sign it. even though they paid the money, he never signed the agreement, so it's not valid and she can tell her story. and she's said through a representative she plans to tell her story. >> this is like an '80s nighttime soap opera. i don't know if it's "dallas." like "dynasty" anyway, thank you, appreciate it. i want to bring in cnn political analyst, josh dawsey of

cohen, agres fbly sought to silence ms. clifford as part of an effort to avoid telling the truth, thus helping ensure he won the election. michael cohen drafted an nda as part of the hush agreement and end of 2016 -- we're now getting very close to election day, stormy daniels and michael cohen signed this agreement and he arounded to have $130,000 wired to stormy's attorney at the time. but a key part of this is that the lawsuit alleges that donald trump himself did not sign this agreement. and that is what they are using to try to make the case now that the agreement should be null and void. and now, i just want to be very clear about very important part of this and the takeaway from this, this lawsuit is basically alleging that donald trump in fact knew about these efforts to try to silence stormy daniels about this alleged affair. but michael cohen acted in consultation with donald trump. obviously, if this ends up being true, this could be hugely, hugely important, brianna. >> and daniels says that michael cohen has co

cohen and the president have a significant problem. relating to this $130,000 and the agreement. >> they say you and your client have a significant problem as well, already liable for $20 million in damages. aren't you concerned at all this is going to lead to financial ruin for stormy daniels? >> not at all. >> michael, thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you, george. >>> let's talk about it now with our chief legal analyst dan abrams and senior white house correspondent cecilia vega. let's start off where we left right there. how vulnerable is stormy daniels to the charges of damages? >> somewhat vulnerable. i think that for him to just dismiss them as if it's just never going to happen is a reach. the bottom line is, the agreement is likely enforceable. they have an argument about why it's not enforceable. but it's likely enforceable. >> because she took the money? >> because she took the money. this claim that trump didn't sign it, when you're talking about contracts, actions often speaking louder than what is in writing

cohen. they're now attempting to remove this case to federal court in order to increase their chances that the matter will be decided in private arbitration, thus hiding the truth from the public. he goes on to say the fact that a sitting president is pursuing over $20 million in bogus damages against a private citizen who is only trying to tell the public what really happened is remarkable, likely unprecedented in our history. we are not going away and we will not be intimidated, basta italian for aenough. he goes on, how can president trump seek $20 million in damages against my client based on agreement that he claims mr. trump never was a party to and knew nothing about. back with the panel including pal callen, that's callen, not callahan as i said earlier. paul, first of all, why try to get this moved to a federal court? >> it's a fas natsing move. federal judges tend to be very friendly to arbitration. remember, that's what this is all about, whether an arbitrator can decide this as o

michael cohen also tells "vanity fair" this. "people are mistaking this for a thing about the campaign. what i did defensively for my personal client and my friend is what attorneys do for their high-profile candidates. i would have done it in 2006, i would have done it in 2011. i truly care about him and the family more than just an employee and an attorney." does that make sense? >> well, no. the reason it doesn't make sense, there's no real question as to why we are questioning about the timing. 11 days before a presidential general election. it wasn't just a defensive measure for a friend, it was someone involved in a campaign. and there were corresponding requirements under campaign finance law. the reason it wasn't an issue in 2011 in because he wasn't running for president, therefore tlnltd there wouldn't be a campaign finance violation. but when you think about the reasoning behind this and the motivati motivation, you can't be so dismissive, mr. cohen, about why he did it, his own personal reasons and his love for the f

i find this explanation from attorney cohen to be laughable. i've run out of superlatives to describe this explanation that we've heard from mr. cohen, who now expects the american people to believe that he took a home equity loan out on one of his homes in order to pay $130,000 on behalf of a billionaire running for president. >> okay, so let me ask you this. and i want to be clear. was there a sexual relationship between donald trump and miss clifford? >> yes. >> there was? >> yes. >> and you have proof of that and so does she? >> well, i think the american people, if she's permitted to talk, if they don't restrain her from speaking, and again, this is remarkable to me that now we have reports that perhaps they are considering bringing an injunction and a motion for an injunction against "60 minutes" to prevent an american citizen from coming forward and exercising her first amendment rights to talk about her recollection of events. our position, don, has been very simple and very straightforward. and it's not complicated. we want her to be a

fine, it was michael cohen. but he was acting at president trump's behest. regardless whether you think stormy daniels has credibility issues or she has some sort of agenda, the fact is that she is alleging conduct. the white house cannot rule out that conduct. she said not to my knowledge. not just with the fact that he may or may not have had an affair with her, but about the cover up and the fact that he is alleged to have and still to this day as recently as a week ago, been acting -- he's a sitting president who is using legal machineations to try to shut up a witness. that is making allegations l >> michael cohen wouldn't do something like this without donald trump, you don't know michael cohen. >> it would be unethical. >> understood, i get that. i'm not a lawyer. i do know that he's extremely loyal to -- >> that is actually fraud. >> we're going to have more with the panel and breaking news in the investigation reporting in "the new york times" the president hasn't been able to resist talking to witnesse

this is michael cohen february 13. in a private transaction in 2016, i used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to ms. stephanie clifford neither the trump organization, and it goes on. >> now, what i assume jill martin would say was i wasn't really involved in the litigation. she uses the phrase pro hoc which refers to, the act of allowing an out of town lawyer to appear in your state. she will say, and that is implied in her statement, i wasn't involved in the litigation. i was helping mr. rosen the real lawyer appear here because he is not a california lawyer. and out of all the lawyers in california to help you get your point across, why too you pick someone in the trump organization unless this is a trump organization initiative. >> i suppose mr. cohen could also say and again we reached out to him and not heard back, that because he wanted this to remain confidential, that is why he did it. >> maintain the confidences of those clients. so the idea that this was the only attorney in the entir

if michael cohen, why after michael cohen releases a statement saying the trump organization had nothing to do with this, i did this solely, you know, in my -- you know, because i'm a friend of donald trump, would he reach out to a trump organization attorney in los angeles to get involved in the arbitration? >> right. i mean, we have to make very clear the timeline here. so the timeline, as you said, was before the 2016 election when this whole contract was signed. the jill marten arbitration came way after. so this is -- this is a year, you know, more than a year later. so it doesn't matter what -- >> was it smart to reach out to a trump organization attorney if you're saying it has nothing to do with trump organization, there are plenty of lawyers in l.a. >> you know what, so what, though. so they reached out to jill martin because they needed a local attorney. so they reached out to jill martin. you know, it's a -- also the e-mails, anderson, michael cohen used that e-mail address for every single thing he did. now, a lot of people do that. a lot of people don't realize. on hindsight

had no idea about the agreement or others that cohen arranged. >> michael cohen signed the deal. donald trump didn't. you are claiming that michael cohen, the president's fixer, ray donovan character, never, ever told donald trump about it. >> never told him. >> michael cohen dispensed $130,000 of his own money and never sought reimbursement from donald trump? >> 100%. >> come on. no one believes that. >> it is rare to see one tech titan go after another in public. >> this morning, apple's ceo tim cook taking aim after facebook ceo mark zuckerberg, whin an interrue inte interview. >> mark zuckerberg, what would you do? >> i wouldn't be in this situation. >> let's start with president trump's white house doctor, now a cabinet nominee. in what's been a rapid lineup of firings and hirings. va secretary david shulkin is out. he, himself, president trump, made the announcement on twitter. shulkin is not going quietly, with a "new york times" op-ed this morning on why he believes he was fired. quote, the advocates within the administration for privatizing v.a. health services saw me as

i mean, trump's lawyers multiple cohen cohen and now miss martin, the white house spokesperson they contradict each other constantly. it's -- they are opening up a box that's never getting closed. this should have been wrapped up a monthing a when he said, yeah i did, so what. this wasn't taking him down. if the stuff in the last year wasn't taking him down this wouldn't. but this could lead to things like campaign finance issues. because don't forget, michael cohen said something which is incredible publicly which is, i fade for this with my own money. my client didn't know about it. and i made the agreement myself. that's unethical. you're not allowed to do that. you can't pay a client settlement with your own money. you can't make a settlement to bind the client without him knowing about it. so how could he say that? now if that's true he has problems. and the agreement is a fraud and null and void. if it's not true, then where did the money come from? mr. cohen was not being honest. where did the money come from? if it leads back to the trump campaign funding that's a big problem. this is

cohen individually and the trump organization or mr. cohen individually and donald trump, it's nonsense. >> josh, does their story hold up in light of any of this? >> look, there's a lot that is very difficult for mr. cohen and his client, mr. trump, to explain about what he did and why he did it. and i think as long as those questions are lingering out there, this is a story and people will continue to ask. >> rick? >> i think that's right. from a legal sense, the president may be in trouble. from a political sense, i'm not so sure. his base is just -- they're not going to believe this. they're going to say this is made up and she's making it up. i agree with josh. i find her to be credible. she seems credible. she tells a story. she comes across convincingly. i think it will go on and on. in terms of affecting elections, i'm not sure it's going to have an impact with everything else going on. >> josh, do you think it has a bigger impact on -- i don't want to say the institution of the presidency. but in many ways the office and our pe

cohen. now mr. cohen is relying on his friend, an attorney. and, frankly, anderson, where is michael cohen? i mean, where is this guy? this guy prides himself on being a fixer. he ends tweets with #raydonovan. he actually refers to himself as radoy donovan. where is he? why won't he come on your show or any other show and sit here like i do and answer simple questions? where is this guy? >> i should also just point out for full disclosure for viewers who don't know, i have sat down with stormy daniels for an upcoming "60 minutes" interview. cohen's arguments according to schwartz is the nondisclosure agreement is valid and binding because of the use of the word "and/or" that donald trump, aka, denison, didn't have to sign it, as long as michael cohen signed it for the llc. explain to people who aren't lawyers why you think that's not true. >> well, there's a number of reasons why that's not true, anderson. first of all, there are a number of portions of that contract, if wasn't just about the money, there are a number of portions of that contr

>> they did ask about that. >> people can make up their own minds about cohen's actions, but as this story escalates, there is a focus on the law. and it's important to be accurate about the law in question. cohen may have done a shady thing, even a dumb thing, but based on the legal history, this $130,000 payment itself was probably not a crime. and there are two reasons why. the first reason is something called the irrespective test and the second reason is john edwards. so let's start with a legal rule that goes by this ungainly name, irrespective test. here's how the federal election commission decides if a person is paying for a campaign item. the law, you cannot use campaign funds for personal use like vacations or personal loans. if the expense would exist even in the absence of the candidacy, then the personal use ban applies. so if this is a candidate's paying an expense for running for office. so even though cohen arranged this payment during the campaign, this rule gives him a legal defense that trump was making hush payments irrespective of being a candidate. and of cours