and we're focusing tonight on cohen. after the fbi searched his home and office a year ago according to mueller, after the searches trump called cohen and told him to hang in there and stay strong. cohen said he also heard from individuals who were in touch with the president. the report reads this way. quote, cohen recalled that redacted, a friend of the president's reached out to say he was with the boss in mar-a-lago and the president had said he loves you and not to worry. cohen recalled that redacted for the trump organization told him the boss loves you. and cohen said that redacted, a friend of the president's told him everyone knows the boss has your back. with that we bring in emily jane fox, national correspondent for vanity fair. also happens to be the author of, born trump. emily jane fox, what have we learned here other than number one if cor sasse comes to you and says no i have better dialogue and tell him he's crazy. and number two if tom arnold calls you just know anything you say could end up on the fro

i mean, the reality is michael cohen's trying -- there's some shenanigans from cohen, i think it's pretty transparent. >> garrett, listen, can we just talk about all the investigative threads that have come out because of michael cohen? you have the hush money payments, campaign finance violations where the president inflated his assets, his tax returns. and it's congress, it's new york, there are a lot of loose ends here. and just remember, in the questioning, remember when alexandria ocasio-cortez asked him those questions and really set in motion people going after that information and michael cohen turning it over? i mean, what gives here? what do you think of that, garrett? >> this is one of the most newsy things in that cohen letter tonight is he says that he has been approached since his congressional testimony by at least six different investigative entities, both criminal prosecutors, federal and new york state officials as well as congressional committees. and that that's -- that's a sign of the ongoing legal problems that the president faces, that, you know, we've sort of treat

i mean, the reality is michael cohen's trying -- there's some shenanigans from cohen, it's pretty transparent. >> garrett, listen, can we just talk about all the investigative threads that have come out because of michael cohen? you have the hush money payments, campaign finance violations where the president inflated his assets, his tax returns. and it's congress, it's new york, there are a lot of loose ends here. and just remember, in the questioning, remember when alexandria ocasio-cortez asked him those questions and set in motion people going after that information and michael cohen turning it over. what do you think of that, garrett? >> this is one of the most newsy things in that cohen letter tonight is he says that he has been approached since his congressional testimony by at least six different investigative entities, both criminal prosecutors, federal and new york state officials as well as congressional committees. and that that's -- that's a sign of the ongoing legal problems that the president faces, that, you know, we've sort of treated the mueller report and the end of the mue

that includes michael cohen's case. is michael cohen aware of helping with any of the other 12 redacted investigations? >> yes, he's helping -- i can't say 12 and i can't say redacted, because he's the one person who can see what's redacted and isn't redacted based upon mr. mueller. >> can you give us specifics, though? >> i can't give you specifics but he has shared information with the southern district of new york. he's spent a lot of time with the tax authorities of new york and a lot of time with the senate and house intelligence committee. the one person who's been fully cooperative who you would think having john dean on, he never went to prison, he was kept available. you would think that congress and the prosecutors would want michael cohen around given all that he knows to help create this obstruction case that i think is there and should be brought -- >> one more question. are we going to hear from michael cohen before he reports to prison on may 6th? >> so at some point he has a family and personal affairs t

michael cohen out with a new pitch to congress. he says he has more dirt on trump and he'll give to it democrats but he wants their help keeping him out of prison. cohen's lawyers say he just got access to his files back after the fed seized them last year and he's just started going through 14 million files including e-mails, voicemail messages and recordings. and guess what. he needs more time. with 30 days left before he surrenders to prison, time is no longer a luxury that escapable of. the lawyers submitting a memo summarizing, including his claim trump encouraged him to lie to congress by using code language. cohen's team hoping the democrats will tell new york prosecutors how helpful he has been. so they've either cut his jail time or postponed the date he has to report to jail so he can keep helping investigators. donald trump said he's not worried about anything that michael cohen has. >> no, they've already got it. old news. he lied numerous times during his last testimony. they've had that for many months. >> with me are

and we're focusing tonight on cohen. after the fbi searched his home and office a year ago according to mueller, after the searches trump called cohen and told him to hang in there and stay strong. cohen said he also heard from individuals who were in touch with the president. the report reads this way. quote, cohen recalled that redacted, a friend of the president's reached out to say he was with the boss in mar-a-lago and the president had said he loves you and not to worry. cohen recalled that redacted for the trump organization told him the boss loves you. and cohen said that redacted, a friend of the president's told him everyone knows the boss has your back. with that we bring in emily jane fox, national correspondent for vanity fair. also happens to be the author of, born trump. inside america's first family. emily jane fox, what have we learned here other than number one if cor sasse comes to you and says no i have better dialogue than the real thing, tell him he's crazy. and number two if tom arnold calls you ju

michael cohen out with a new pitch to congress. he says he has more dirt on trump and he'll give it to democrats, but he wants their help keeping him out of prison. cohen's lawyers say he just got access to his files back after the feds seized them last year, and he's just started going through the 14 million files, including e-mails, voice mail messages and recordings, and, guess what? he needs more time. but with 30 days left before the surrender to prison, time is no longer a luxury that he is capable of. the lawyers also submitting a memo summarizing the evidence cohen's already provided including his claim that trump encouraged him to lie to congress by using "code" language. cohen's team hoping the democrats will tell prosecutors how helpful he's been so they either cut his jail time or postpone the date he has to report to jail so that he can keep helping investigators. but donald trump today said he's not worried about anything that michael cohen has. >> no, they've already got it. it's old news. he lied numerous times duri

we have reached out to davis and cohen to ask when cohen plans to address the american people again. we have not heard back but will pass along when we get that response, shep. >> shepard: thanks, laura. we have a little more. fox urgent. ellison barber with new information on this subject. she just spoke with a source close to michael cohen. as a result, she's going to give us new details. what we've been waiting to hear is, when will michael cohen speak what will michael cohen speak about and what format and all the rest. so what have we learned? ellison barber, what about it? >> yes, for now we're waiting on figuring out when michael cohen might speak. a source close to the president's former fixer is pretty much laughing an what we're hearing from the white house, pushing back specifically on the white house's claims that the mueller report vindicates president trump or exonerating him. the source close to michael cohen told me this. since the repeated claim there was no pro trump intervention. he said that mueller states that trump was not exonerated from the charge of obstructi

cohen, but i would say since mr. cohen has pled guilty to a crime that prosecutors says was directed and controlled by the now president of the united states, who just wrote a hush money payment on national television we saw his signature from his personal account. i would say that mr. barr has a question he should answer. why hasn't mr. trump's son and his chief financial officer been indicted for writing those hush money payments and the cover-up scheme that had michael cohen writing the check for hush money for miss daniels rather than mr. trump. >> you raise a big question, i suppose like a good lawyer, the question you raise is burning heernl, given the financial documentary evidence that you mention mentioned. if it was a crime mr. cohen confessed and fdney charged, what is the role? they would be misleading the funds for the beneficiary then candidate trump? >> well, that is a question that mystifys me that the american main stream media isn't asking. we put up a check. a president of the united states committ

>> because cohen himself made a terrible miscalculation. he sort of agreed to cooperate with the southern district of new york's investigation, but he didn't fully cooperate. the southern district like a lot of u.s. attorneys offices has a rule that if you are going to cooperate, you have to agree to talk about anything they want to talk about. you have to spill your guts about everything, and cohen wouldn't do that. he said i will cooperate about some things and not others. >> what did he he want to talk about? >> it's not entirely clear and frankly michael wasn't entirely clear to me about that, but in any event he didn't and so when it came for sentencing the southern district did not give him the sort of glowing recommendation that cooperators generally do. interestingly, mueller's office did say that cohen cooperated successfully and if you read the mueller report, the mueller team adopts cohen's version of just about everything he is involved with and, in fact, one of the things rudy giuliani said to me when i was working on this piec

tom arnold told michael cohen he is a hero and is not alone. shannon: what is the deal with tom arnold being involved with all this? >> tom arnold is a major critic of donald trump, once said he was working with michael cohen to take down the president that walked that back when cohen denied it but the actor comedian has been on a years long search for honored footage of mister trump on the apprentice and elsewhere that might be damaging to the president. tom arnold had a limited series called the hunt for the trump tapes, the show ended, no tapes were ever found but arnold is not done, quote, i am not quitting until i get all the tapes or trump re-signed, whichever happens first, tom arnold thanks mark burnett, hiding secret tapes. he tweeted that arnold tried to ambush her husband. >> i did not know there was a tv show looking for the tapes. thank you. and international fight over who will take out the trash tops tonight's where in the world. canada erroneously sent them to municipal trash labeled as recyclable plastic to manila more than 5 y

that was michael cohen. there is more to come out there and hopefully michael cohen can contribute to that story after sater testifies, but i think there is a way for him to do that and prove the sentence should be reduced even if he goes to jail. >> joy, the president in his walk by he does with the press, he deigns to answer questions on the south lawn. he said it's old news. that's one of the biggest tropes in politics. been there, done that. forget about it. or this one. on my shoulder. but the fact is we know trump and often the path to his truth is the opposite of what he says. >> yeah. >> if cohen has been working with the guy, tom hagin, all these years, he knows all the skunky stuff, he's done. he knows it all. every time he heard the word russia, he's got it. even if prison, he has nothing else to do except dig for dirt to get him out sooner. i'd be afraid of him. >> donald trump should be. he was the person closest to him and knew most. given the fact that we have seen so many people caught up in

>> this recording is now surfacing as cohen -- he goes in may 6th. paul cal lan is with me, and kara scandnell. why is tom arnold involved? tell me about the circumstances around this call. >> well, those too became chummy when staying at the same hotel last year. tom arnold recorded this conversation without his knowledge on march 25th. it's about a 30-minute-long conversation, and over the conversation you hear michael cohen saying essential he didn't commit these crimes. they call the him on the campaign o -- why is he the zonal person being prosecutored here. he's a man alone as this realization he's going to prison. he's tried multiple times to get that delayed. he went around and had a -- who he testified before to reach out and ask for, you know, an extension, an another delay before he who go and record to prison. he already had a 60-day delay. you know, but it seems don't cohen's innermost thoughts of why is he the only person. he pleaded guilty to nine crimes. you know, three of them had to do with president trump, you know, five had to do

cohen's. mr. cohen told them mr. weisselberg had a deeper involvement in the hush money payment to ms. daniels than mr. weisselberg has indicated. >> the biggest mistake you can make if you're in allen weisselberg's shoes is to lie and get caught in it. allen weisselberg got lucky to get immunity because from the sound of it he could have been charged. that decision was made let's have him be a witness. if it turns out he lied to them that agreement gets ripped up and he is right back in the soup. he could end up getting charged, too, if they have definitive proof that he was dishonest. >> about keith schiller investigators were aware he had spoken by phone to mr. pecker and wanted to know if schiller ever handed the phone to mr. trump. journal could not determine whether investigators ever learned the answer to that question. >> if he did then that's going to go right to the president's knowledge of this whole scheme. >> elie, thank you for helping us digest in article. just crossing us right now, a much bigger inve

the president wanted his own roy cohen and apparently he has got one. we have an independent basis to want the counterintelligence information and after all this began as a counterintelligence investigation determined to find out whether the president or people in his campaign had been compromised in any way by a foreign power. >> reporter: but republicans, of course, have said that he's doing what he's supposed to, bill barr, doing what the regulations call for. so you expect that split on this panel here on the senate side today as we saw yesterday in the house. >> manu, thanks very much. we know you will be in there and update us. >>> our experts with back. elie, the question, of the course, with this investigate the investigators thing, is this a criminal investigation or is it a please the president investigation? because we've seen both, i mean, saw saw it, for instance, were there 3 million fake voters in the election? was it inaugural crowd size billinger or smaller than obama's? can we tell now whether this is going to go down a serious path or

take us inside the cohen story yesterday. >> so cohen was mentioned, i think, more than 65 times in the report, which is a stunning thing. the thing that struck me that i kept coming back to was the obstruction part of the cohen stuff because it wasn't -- we know that cohen met with the special counsel's office for more than 70 hours, right? and he told them a lot of things, and a lot of them were enumerated in the report. but what was in there about obstruction had nothing to do with what cohen told him. it was what happened in plain sight. it was the tweets calling a cohen a rat, basically saying, paul manafort's not a rat because he's not flipping, but cohen's a rate because he -- rat because he is flipping. from my reporting, conversations i was having yesterday, it seemed like cohen was fairly happy that he played a part in this and that his testimony was taken seriously and that the special counsel's office seemed to find him to be credible. but at the end of the day, in 17 days, he is reporting to federal prison, and he is the only one who was involved in the hush money scheme wh

cohen then responds, tapes of what? the sender responds, not sure of the content, but person in moscow was bragging had tapes from russia trip. next message. we'll try to dial you tomorrow, but wanted to be aware. next message, i'm sure it's not a big deal, but there are lots of stupid people. bloomberg then reports that the next two checks in the chain are michael cohen saying you have no idea and the initial sender replying back to him, i do, trust me. so you know what that's about, right? i did not see this coming. specifically, in the most immediate sense, what this is about is a very provocative little tiny piece of mueller's redacted report. a little piece of mueller's report which raises eyebrows for everybody who looks at it, but nobody really knows what to do with it. it's from the part of the mueller report where mueller is describing trump's interact was former fbi director james comey, and james comey's contemporaneous notes and memos and all their interactions. this part of the report explains how during th

and michael cohen saying when he was originally drafting his testimony to congress, he believed that he needed to go all the way back to 2015 when donald trump repeatedly tried to get a meeting with vladimir putin during the u.n. general assembly meeting when putin was in new york and cohen had spoken with a russian official about a possible meeting and recall that had trump asked him for multiple updates on the proposed meeting. and when cohen called the russian official a second time, she told him it would not follow proper protocol to meet with trump. and so all the way in 2015, when putin came to the general assembly, michael cohen was trying to arrange this meeting. the continual interest of donald trump with vladimir putin and then of course he gets that message, the message come to hope hicks at 3:00 in the morning the morning after the election, he has just been certified as the president-elect and that is when putin sends the message and hope hicks tries to confirm through jared kushner because of his prior contacts with russians during the campaign and leading up to the ele

cohen's lawyer lanny davis says his client didn't mean it. "michael has taken responsibility for his actions and will serve her sentence. well he cannot change the past companies making every effort to reclaim his life and to do right by his family and country. he meant no offense by his statements." during the phone conversation, michael cohen also took a few more digs at the president and went after stormy daniels' former attorney michael avenatti, saying avenatti is getting what he deserves. tom arnold told michael cohen, he's a hero and that he's not alone. shannon? >> shannon: what is the deal with tom arnold being involved in all this? >> welcome a tom arnold, as you may or may not know, as a major critic of president trump and once said he was working with michael cohen to take down the president come with every kind of walk that back when cohen denied it. but the actor-comedian has been on a year's worth long search for on aired footage of mr. trump on the apprentice and elsewhere that might be damaging to the president. term arnold e

>> that we dangled a pardon in front of cohen. we did not dangle a pardon in front of cohen. his lawyer is willing to testify that we didn't. they didn't bore to incluther t that in the report. nor did they list all the things that go to cohen's credibility that would cast a doubt on what he was saying. it was not a fair report. it wasn't like the normal prosecutor, when you find the person did not commit the crime, you look at the hypothesis of how did it come out, how did it start, no examination of how could the fbi have started an investigation of a presidential candidate based on those ten words said to papadopoulos. don't indicate any involvement by the candidate. normally what the fbi would do is warn the candidate, like she did with feinstein. no delving into that. it's clear that they tried very, very hard to create a case that the president was involved in russian whatever. couldn't do it. they tried 100 different ways. they put manafort in jail, put him in solitary confinement, questioned him 13 times. he wouldn't give them the information 13 times. they tried to c

that was michael cohen. there is more to come out there and hopefully michael cohen can contribute to that story after sader testifies, but i think there is a way for him to do that and prove the sentence should be redeased even if he goes to jail. >> the president in his walk by he does with the press, he dans to answer questions on the south lawn. he said it's aas r old news. that's one of the biggest jokes. been there, done that. forget about it. or this one. on my shoulder. the fact is we know trump and often the path to his truth is the opposite of what he says. if cohen has been working with the guy to use the godfather reference all these years, he knows the skunky stuff he's done. every time he heard the word russia, he's got it. even if prison, he has nothing else to do except dig for dirt to get him out sooner. i'd be afraid of him. >> donald trump should be. he was the person closest to him. given the fact that we have seen so many people caught up in this scandal we can all call russia gate give

cohen, the president's long time personal lawyer. outgoing message to him says quote, stopped flow of some tapes from russia but not sure if there's anything else, just so you know. cohen then responds, tapes of what. the sender responds. not sure of the content but person in moscow was bragging had tapes from russia trip. next message, we'll try to dial you tomorrow but wanted to be aware. next message, i'm sure it's not a big deal, but there are lots of stupid people. bloomberg then reports that the next two texts in the chain are michael cohen saying you have no idea and then the initial sender relying back to him, i do, trust me. >> so you know what that's about, right? i did not see this coming. specifically in the most immediate sense what this is about is a very provocative little tiny piece of mueller's redacted report. a little piece of mueller's report which raises eyebrows for everybody that looks at it but nobody knows what to do with it. it's from the part of the mueller report where mueller is describing trump's interac

democratic congressman steve cohen of tennessee is joining us, member of the judiciary committee. congressman, thanks for joining us. i want to begin with the attorney general's stunning admission today that he believes spying, spying, he used that word, did occur on the trump campaign back in 2016, although he wouldn't say whether or not that surveillance was improper. do you see any evidence of impropriety in the way the fbi or cia or when they were involved in the russia investigation? >> i have not seen improprieties with the fbi or cia, i see impropriety by the attorney general, even suggesting there was spying without knowledge and without proof. unless he has proof, he shouldn't put out any information or thought like that that could lessen the public's respect for our fbi or justice department and our judicial processes. he is head of the department of justice and is putting it into a light that's not favorable in the public's eyes, saying somebody in that area might have done spying. that's wrong. >> the inspector general at the department of justice is already conducting

cohen claimed that he had never asked president trump for a pardon. his attorney, lanny davis, later conceding that cohen did direct his attorney to seek a presidential pardon. davis said the comments were inaccurate but not a lie. house democrats have referred cohen to the doj for potential perjury charges. dagen, what i love about this is when he was getting ready to testify again, republicans said, "why would you put somebody up there who has lied before? they are going to like again. he's just trying to help himself out in his prison sentence." and democrats said, he wouldn't dare lie again, because the penalty would be so stiff. and there was nothing that democrats are lawmakers could do to reduce his sentence. "he's coming because he finally wants to come clean about someone who is awful." it turns out both things were inaccurate. >> dagen: you also love the expression on my face when i was trying to stifle a laugh. "in front of congress, i'm coming clean! i never asked for or entertained a presidential pardon!" whoops. this is a play to stay ou

this all pertains to cohen. and we read, "there is evidence described below that the president knew cohen provided false testimony to congress about the trump tower moscow project." so that's not a cooperative president. that's a president saying, i have knowledge that someone's provided false testimony, my attorney has provided false testimony to congress and i'm not doing anything about it. we have to ask ourselves whether that's acceptable and whether that's cooperation. next page, the president's personal counsel declined to provide us with his account of his conversation with cohen." i think that's far less than cooperation. as has been characterized by the attorney general. and then the very next page, "there is evidence that could support the inference that the president intended to discourage cohen from cooperating with the government because cohen's information would shed adverse light on the president's campaign-period conduct and statements." so we have to ask ourselves, is this cooperation as charact

has damaging information. >> cohen has already spilled his guts. he has nothing at all incriminating on the president. here is the disappointing thing for jerry nadler and all the democrats, the president did nothing wrong. they are chasing him, harassing him. this is a total political endeavor now. if we put out that whole report or almost all of it and it clears the president, they should not be continuing this investigation. it's a political witch hunt. >> brennan: all right. mr. mayor, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> brennan: we'll be back in a minute with the latest democrat to enter the presidential race, ohio congressman tim ryan. bioti. it hydrates and softens skin. so it looks like this... and you feel like this. aveeno® daily moisturizer get skin happy™ a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. neutrogena® >> brennan: we're back with ohio congressman tim ryan who officially announced his presid

the same case against michael cohen is the united states of america versus michael cohen. the phrase poetic justice has never had more meaning than it would have if, after the voters of the united states of america reject president trump's re-election, the first thing that happens to him as a private citizen is that he is criminally charged in a case entitled the united states of america versus donald j. trump. but this is the one thing that we can be virtually certain won't happen if donald trump becomes a private citizen again on the afternoon of january 20, 2021. and the reason it won't happen is on the morning of the january 20th or late at night on january 19th, donald trump will become the first president of the united states to pardon himself. the president's pardon power is absolute. donald trump was thrilled when he discovered that. there is nothing in the constitution that says the president cannot pardon himself, so along with pardoning trump associates or family members who he feels like pardoning, before he leaves office, donald trump would very specifically p

also the conduct involving michael cohen. one piece on michael cohen i need to dive in more. but they explain that michael cohen was someone who was mistold about the moscow tapes. in fact, he has been lied to about the contents of them. so lots to dig into. you're asking the right questions. they lay out a legal analysis. they get into whether or not the president had to have corrupt intent and know what he was doing. in the end, it does appear to come down to that. this does not exonerate the president on the issue of obstruction. another thing i'll point out is the volume there. this is obstruction, much thicker than what we have here on collusion. it's a thinner thing. the amount of information we have on obstruction is far larger. >> i'm stunned by this language here about the inconclusiveness. this would show the limits and how hindered they were by not having a interview by the president. they were not able to reach a conclusion as to whether donald trump knew about mike flynn's conversations with the ambassad ambassador. this is a pull from mueller's report. some sugg

>> well a lot of what cohen, they recite what cohen says. as if it's the truth. cohen is incapable of telling the truth. >> what is specifically in the report? >> i'll tell you what's specifically in the report that cohen, that we dangled a pardon in front of cohen. we did not dangle a pardon in front of cohen, and his lawyer is willing to testify that we didn't. they didn't bother to include that in the report. which is clear refutation of what he said. nor do they list all of the things that go to cohen's credibility that would cast a doubt on everything he's saying. it was not a fair report. it wasn't like the normal prosecutor. when you find that a person didn't commit the crime, you then go look at the hypothesis of how did it come about, how did it start? no examination of how could the fbi have started an investigation of a presidential candidate based on those ten words that were said to papadopoulos, don't indicate any involvement by the candidate. normally the fbi would warn the candidate like with feinstein when she had a communist spy on her staff, no

attorney for the southern district of new york help michael cohen in those two objectives? >> one but not the other. i think that there is realistic possibility that the sentence could be delayed. lots of people sentenced to prison manage to put off their sentences f sentenc sentences for several months. a reduction in the sentence is a different story and that is something that would absolutely have to come from the southern dwrikts of new yo district of new york and not from congress. so that is the audience that he needs tos to persuade on reduc. >> all right. we'll see what happens. and there is other breaking news we're following this time on the boeing 737 max disasters. the company's ceo now admitting that an automated flight system known as mcas played a role in the crashes. the chief says that it is the aerospace's giant responsibility to eliminate it. and they say 346 were killed and our senior correspondent drew griffin is just outside seattle where max outliners are being built. what else are you learning? >> reporter: the admission came after the ethiopian prel

they have information from sources that support what cohen said. and i think, you know, i think we should be watching this very carefully. >> the president obviously is already known as individual one. you know, in this case, which michael cohen we should point out is going to prison, federal prison for. the president's essentially an unindicted coconspirator. do people seem to care much about that? in a typical administration, that would probably be a big deal. >> well, yeah, now you're asking a political question and there are lots and lots of things that this president has done that seem to be not such a big deal because we've defined deviance down. just with respect to the mueller report, about which, you know, through which donald trump says he's been exonerated over and over again, even though the mueller report says no such thing with respect to obstruction, in an ordinary administration the fact that a special counsel seems to have found sufficient evidence of obstruction of justice by a sitting president that it's too close a question for

cohen and mr. trump at that period did not want to do to share the full extent of that financial empire that he has in real estate, in his different holdings, you do see, though, inside the white house tonight a sense that this is actually a welcome development for them. they would like to run against the democrats in the house. as overstepping on issues of personal finance. you could see them rally behind this tax issue in the coming days against chairman neil. from massachusetts. it's different than the other aspects of oversight from house democrats on issues like security clearances, which does alarm many white house officials privately because it raises questions about the president's conduct. >> robert costa, is there any concern, though, that with questions still looming about conflicts of interest, about jared kushner's background check as you just mentioned that knowing where the president's money is coming from and the size of his wealth which is something very near and dear to him, that

investigators reportedly have a recording of a phone conversation between michael cohen, president's former lawyer and a lawyer who respected macdougall as well as stormy daniels. cohen pleaded guilty to charges that included campaign violations and testified before congress about payments he says he made on the president's behalf to both women, nicole hahn is one of the reporters behind the story. you can walk us through what investigators learned from the interviews? >> sure. we don't know the full scope of what the southern district asked them but we know at the very least they were interested in both hope hicks and keith shiler's communications with david pecker, who is the ceo of "the national enquirer's" publisher. >> and a close friend of the president. >> exactly. >> a long relationship. >> what this tells us is that the investigation went much deep near trump's inner circle than we realized. hope hicks and keith schiller worked with him for a long time so it shows us the lengths prosecutors went to build this case. >> is it clear whether any of the information provided in th

there was a text sent to michael cohen. later, they spoke to the businessman who said he was told the tapes were fake but that he did not communicate that. that little moment in the history of all of this, where they were clearly people in russia who were trying to softep michael cohen when an sentiment summation. and perhaps lure him in. we know from that line, today, and from the original barr letter, that they found no collusion and no participation on the part of americans. but that there were concerted efforts on the part of russians to try and poke holes and find people who would be receptive to this kind of information and blew them into some kind of relationship. i think that's a pretty interesting indication that that's what was happening there with regard to michael cohen. >> bill: i would contribute this, martha -- looking at the questions and answers submitted on the behalf of the president, and rudy giuliani and jay sekulow are part of this, too -- he was not aware of can medications with tom jr., paul manafort

cohen and mr. trump it did not want to do to share the full exit tent of that financial empire that he has in real estate and his different holdings. you see inside the white house tonight they would like the run against the democrats in the house as over stepping. and oversight on issues like security clearances which does alarm many white house officials privately because it rauzs questions about the president's conduct. >> is there any concern that with questions still looming about conflingts of interest, about jared kushner's background check that knowing where the president's money is coming from and the suz of his wealth, that those questions may be viewed as central to his presidency? >> and it's central to learn more about how our elected leaders -- it gives contxt. if someone talks multiple meetings with a certain ambassador or a major industry in a certain count era. i hear this from voters we talk to on the campaign trail whether it's democrat or republican. what is it the financial sta

. >>> the president's former fixer michael cohen ask house democrats to help him stay out of prison. >> the white house is pushing back as democrats demand to see president trump's tax returns. we'll show you what the president has to say about that next. back in a moment. in a momentol. tell your doctor if you have a history of scarring or are taking medicines that decrease the body's immune response or that can prolong bleeding. common side effects include injection-site redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, firmness, lumps/ bumps, bruising, discoloration, or itching. as with all fillers, there is a rare risk of unintentional injection into a blood vessel, which can cause vision abnormalities, blindness, stroke, temporary scabs or scarring. juvÉderm it. ♪ lets go! i'm missing out on our family outings everything was too loose. but depend® fit-flex feels tailored to me. with a range of sizes for all body types. depend® fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. but in my mind i'm still 35. that's why i take osteo bi-flex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. it no

cohen and mr. trump it did not want to do to share the full exit tent of that financial empire that he has in real estate and his different holdings. you see inside the white house tonight they would like the run against the democrats in the house as over stepping. and oversight on issues like security clearances which does alarm many white house officials privately because it rauzs questions about the president's conduct. >> is there any concern that with questions still looming about conflingts of interest, about jared kushner's background check that knowing where the president's money is coming from and the suz of his wealth, that those questions may be viewed as centr central to his presidency? >> and it's central to learn more about how our elected leaders -- it gives contxt. if someone talks multiple meetings with a certain ambassador or a major industry in a certain count era. i hear this from voters we talk to on the campaign trail whether it's democrat or republican. what is it the financi

in the call michael cohen is disavowing the crimes he pleaded guilty to. he pleaded guilty to two hush money payments on behalf of the president and pleaded guilty to five tax fraud counts, one count of lying to a bank and another count of lying to congress. as you will hear in this sound byte, michael cohen is now saying he didn't commit any of those crimes. let's listen. >> i lost my business. i lost everything, my insurance, my bank accounts all for what? all for what? because trump had an affair with a porn star? that is really what this is about. there is no tax evasion. i have 18% loan to value on my home. >> that's right. >> it's a lie. >> michael cohen here goes on during the conversation which seemed to last for quite some time where he talks about the president and saying that this was really just the acts of the president and he is critical of him here. let's listen. >> you take it, but i had a mission that i needed to fulfill. and i needed to get the truth out there. and very hard when you know you spent ten years taking care of somebody and th

and cohen has kept the receipts on this one. specifically, two 2018 emails from giuliani's buddy, robert costello, who wrote cohen could "sleep well tonight" because he had "friends in high places." first of all, the phrase "sleep well" is never reassuring, not even in the mob-themed children's book: "sleep well, moon." ( laughter ) but that "you've got friends in high places" sure sounds like a pardon dangle to me. but costello, who wrote that email, called cohen's story "utter nonsense," explaining, "this statement, 'sleep well tonight, you have friends in high places,' was a tongue-in- cheek reference to a garth brooks song." what? that song is called "friends in low places," which is already a tongue-in-cheek reference to the actual expression, "friends in high places." it's like costello is saying, "i've written a parody of the weird al song, 'i love rocky road.' it's called 'i love rock and roll.' ( laughter ) it's tongue-in-cheek." costello-- ( cheers and applause ) thank you. weird al fans. big weird al fans here tonight

cohen said he has missing pieces. he will just get himself further criminal referrals, i think. >> who cares. the guy has the credibility of o.j. simpson, right, she scummier than kid rock's hot tub. kennedy: oh. >> who cares what he has to say her his prove, go away, go back to that pry motor -- use that you came from get out. kennedy: if he has this information why not give to somewhere council or southern district of new york to sieve ts hide. >> he traded t tried to sell the president out. he sold him out for a better deal, he is going to prison for lying, bank fraud attack tax fraud, a parade of horribles. kennedy: i can't imagine what he has offer to at-this-point. feels that democrats would sour on any deals that he would try to put forward this thea point because you know, 1 yo once youe bargain basement, mark down, no one really wants to buy what he is selling. >> you know, kennedy, you are right, if you think about it all mr. cohen was about was a campaign finance related violation. which mueller barely touc

." >> yeah. [ laughter ]my >> jimwe're here to see ben cohen, not andy cohen. >> the doorman said, "yeah, they used to come for andy." right? [ laughter ] >> jimmy: yeah, people used to come for andy. >> y>>h, yeah. immy: not any more. >> yeah, exactly. no, not any more. >> jimmy: now you're ben's dad. >> it's so great, man. it's been such a journey. and it's been so interesting trying to just figure out how ev to dything. like, i -- even take him outside, i'm like, okay, how do i do this? how do i take him outside. and i was putting him in the babybjorn at first. >> jimmy: yeah. >> and it was great and then, you knowthis stroller was sitting there, kind of, t taunting me in corner of the room. cause i was kind of freaked out about the stroller. i didn't know -- i thought, i'm going to look so weird pushing a stroller.ke liwhat do i look like pushing a stroller. it just seemed odd to me, and i was scared to take it out. >> jimmy: so, it seemed less odd to have a baby hanging off your chest? >> yes, yes. >> jimmy: like that? >> no, cause he just fell asleep every time. it seemed kind of p

mocks avenatti saying you might just get to share a cell with michael cohen. "politico," avenatti crashes and burns. have you crashed and burned? >> no, i don't think i've crashed and burned at all. this is a rough and tumble business. there is no question about it. we operate now in an environment that is more toxic politically than we have ever experienced in the history of the united states. >> haven't you contributed to that? >> largely due to social media. >> have i contributed to that? >> to the toxic nature of politics? >> i don't think so, because i don't think i've trafficked in nonsense, in personal attacks for the most part. >> he has also made clear why he thinks he is facing his own legal battles now. >> i've made a lot of powerful enemies over the years. especially over the last 18 months. >> you are alluding to a conspiracy against you. >> i'm not alluding to a conspiracy. >> you are. >> what i'm saying is the facts are the facts. >> the irs says the fact is, they have been investigating him for two years. long before avenatti ever met stormy da

." >> yeah. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: we're here to see ben cohen, not andy cohen. >> the doorman said, "yeah, they used to come for andy." right? [ laughter ] >> jimmy: yeah, people used to come for andy. >> yeah, yeah. >> jimmy: not any more. >> yeah, exactly. no, not any more. >> jimmy: now you're ben's dad. >> it's so great, man. it's been such a journey. and it's been so interesting trying to just figure out how to do everything. like, i -- even take him outside, i'm like, okay, how do i do this? how do i take him outside. and i was putting him in the babybjorn at first. >> jimmy: yeah. >> and it was great and then, you know, this stroller was sitting there, kind of, taunting me in the corner of the room. cause i was kind of freaked out about the stroller. i didn't know -- i thought, i'm going to look so weird pushing a stroller. like, what do i look like pushing a stroller. it just seemed odd to me, and i was scared to take it out. >> jimmy: so, it seemed less odd to have a baby hanging off your chest? >> yes, yes. >> jimmy: like that? >> no, cause he just fell asleep every time.

if there was no truth. >> you have to ask michael cohen. michael's my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> no, i don't know. >> here is what cohen told congress back in february about that payment scheme. >> mr. trump directed me to use my own personal funds from the home equity line of credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that can negatively impact his campaign. the president of the united states thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. let's bring in our lead-off panel, matthew miller, katherine lucy, white house reporter from the associated press and eliot williams, appointee during the obama administration. he was also counsel to chuck schumer on the senate judiciary committee. thank you all for being with us. katherine, let me start with you and ask you to take us inside the white house in your sense of how they view these last two weeks. we lay out the major events since muell

they have cell site information about where cohen was when the payments was made. so they have mounting evidence, and whether or not that evidence leads to additional charges we'll have to see. it's hard to imagine if they go beyond cohen they have a strong case about others, including trump's criminality, that they would just let that sit. >> mimi rocah, this sounds like a conversation we'll have at least a few more times. >>> after the break, peak dysfunction. what "the washington post" today is calling 12 days of chaos. that's next. 12 days of chaos. that's next. >>> today a remarkable peek behind the curtain at what's been going on at the white house after a particularly wild even standards. he's apparently consumed of what to do at the boarder from "the washington post" reporting, quote, trump's increasingly erratic behavior over the past 12 days, since he threatened seal the border alarmed business leaders who fear his emotional response might exacerbate problems at the border, harm the u.s. economy and degrade national security. and that volatile attitude en

cohen? giorgi: it was important for me and the trump brand and the republicans. andad a license agreement we were attached to the trump band. the last thing you want is to have any kind of damage to the brand. that was one thing i realized i had to do that in terms of concern about the brand. i knew that michael cohen was working for the trump organization and there were some rumors out there he should have known. david: was there any follow-up with mr. cohen or people in russia with those tapes, what was on them, whether they were being sent over, anything about it? giorgi: a couple different things in the footnote. the reason i am here is to make it clear to everyone it was so shocking to me that i found out i was the guy out there destroying tapes. people that know me said is this you? that is where everything started. i realized i had no knowledge of the tapes, i had no knowledge of the concept of the tapes, and the most important part about all of that is i had no knowledge of any dossier which is unverified, by the way, as we now know. has not beenction fol

>> you have to ask michael cohen. >> he was my attorney. you have to ask michael cohen. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> no, i don't know. >> here is what cohen told congress back in february about that post-gaayment scheme. >> mr. trump directed me to use my fund to avoid any money being traced back to him that can negatively impact his campaign. the president of the united states thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. let's bring in our lead-off panel, matthew miller, katherine lu lucy, white house reporter from the associate press and eliot williams, appointee during the obama administration. thank you all for being with us. katherine, let me start with you and ask you to take us inside the white house in your sense of how they view these last two weeks. with we lay out the major events since mueller turn in that report to the attorney general. we have seen the polling and we talked about this and despite those initial headline