michael avenatti's name is not there. the president certainly has the time to tweet attacks against both of them, but he now knows that if he publicly calls stormy daniels a liar, michael avenatti has a defamation lawsuit ready to go against the president of the united states. and michael avenatti will have yet another legal avenue for getting the president of the united states under oath in a legal deposition about what he really did with stormy daniels. but there is a way to make all of this go away. an easy way the make us all stop covering the stormy daniels story. donald trump could simply drop the litigation he has brought against stormy daniels. he could drop the case. he could order michael cohen to just rip up the confidentiality agreement completely release stormy daniels from the agreement and then stormy daniels goes away, because after all, the confidentiality agreement prevents her from saying what she has already said twice. once in an extensive interview in touch magnificent and once on "60 minutes." donal

michael avenatti's name is not there. the president certainly has the time to tweet attacks against both of them, but he now knows that if he publicly calls stormy daniels a liar, michael avenatti has a defamation lawsuit ready to go against the president of the united states. and michael avenatti will have yet another legal avenue for getting the president of the united states under oath in a legal deposition about what he really did with stormy daniels. but there is a way to make all of this go away. an easy way the make us all stop covering the stormy daniels story. donald trump could simply drop the litigation he has brought against stormy daniels. he could drop the case. he could order michael cohen to just rip up the cafeteriaial agreement completely release stormy daniels from the agreement and then stormy daniels goes away, because after all, the confidentiality agreement prevents her from saying what she has already said twice. once in an extensive interview in touch magnificent and once on "60 minutes." donald t

avenatti's also asking for is that he wants michael cohen to be deposed. michael cohen does not have the claim, oh, i'm too busy. president of the united states has an argument -- not. if there's delay getting the president to be deposed, you can >> and john, what michael avenatti's also asking for is that he wants michael cohen to be deposed. michael cohen does not have the claim, oh, i'm too busy. president of the united states has an argument -- >> or too important. >> 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. suddenly find himself, if he's not -- to avoid perjury, will find himself telling stories that will lead to other questions. those other questions as you've been pointing out are thou

michael avenatti is stormy daniels' lawyer. each day he has been representing stormy daniels he has made life more difficult for donald trump and donald trump's lawyers. and today he has no doubt created sheer panic in donald trump's very fragile mind and in the week and fragile mind of michael cohen because of what michael avenatti said on msnbc tonight. you will hear that in a moment but here's what he tweeted late last night. it was a photograph of a dvd if a picture is worth a thousand words, what's this worth? i was one of many a bit confused by that tweet. and then they said it must have prove a relationship with stormy daniels and donald trump. and then tonight he clarified what his tweet meant in the most painful, possible terms for donald trump. >> let me tell you this, chris, that dvd contains evidence of this relationship. let me tell you why i sent the tweet. i sent the tweet as a warning shot to michael cohen and any other supporter to the president and the president himself to the extent they plan on disparaging m

what do you make of michael avenat avenatti's approach? he did everything you're supposed to do when you're asking to get the president under oath. he said it would be very time limited, it would be very precise, he made it very narrow what he's asking for. >> yeah, he has really outmaneuvered them completely. they're now all of a sudden in the open field facing incoming from everywhere and really don't know what to do. on john's point, this is a perjury trap, yeah, it's not a perjury trap, it's not simply that trump is a pathological liar, which he is. but it's that the facts here are i think everybody, including trump supporters, pretty much understand, he had an affair with stormy daniels. so if he's put under oath and asked about that, he either lies, commits perjury, or he cops to something that shows him to have been a public liar to the american people. though he's been very careful, very careful here, not to say it express expressly. but you're right, he's now got three or four different individual courts where he could have this d

it could vel be michael avenatti. here is the distinction. we talk about whether or not donald trump with go in the mueller investigation and testify? it's a criminal proceeding. you have a fifth amendment right not to say anything, which his lawyers are advising him to do. avenatti is saying you say the agreement provides for arbitration, before we get to that, we're going to have a hearing on whether the agreement legitimate itself. in order to get to that hearing, you have something called discovery. discovery provides for people being deposed. as avenatti said, the president is not above that. you have clinton, you referenced that, m.j., the clinton case involving paula jones where the supreme court said you can sit for a deposition even if you're president. it relates to unofficial acts. you have no immunity. what he's going to get specifically to your question is, number one, to determine whether you had a valid agreement. was it with essential consultants or was it with you, mr. trump. what did you know about the payment? did you direc

michael avenatti thank you for joining us. tim o'brien, jennifer rubin, thank you. >>> by all accounts robert mueller has acquired an a team to work on his investigation. and the president of the united states as of tonight does not have a criminal defense lawyer. >>> and breaking news, president trump reportedly hopes that rob porter can come back to work at the white house. remember he was pushed out of the white house after both of his former wives publically accused him of spousal abuse. i'm a fighter. always have been. when i found out i had age-related macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. my doctor and i came up with a plan. it includes preservision. only preservision areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. that's why i fight. because it's my vision. preservision. try areds 2 + multivitamin. you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's gi

michael avenatti thank you for joining us. tim o'brien, jennifer rubin, thank you. >>> by all accounts robert mueller has acquired an a team to work on his investigation. and the president of the united states as of tonight does not have a criminal defense lawyer. >>> and breaking news, president trump reportedly hopes that rob porter can come back to work at the white house. remember he was pushed out of the white house after both of his former wives publically accused him of spousal abuse. whoooo. looking for a hotel that fits... ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. ...with its high-tech cameras and radar... ...contemporary cockpit... ...three hundred and sixty degree network of driver-assist technologies... ...and sporty performance... ...what's most impressive about the glc? all depends on your point of view. lease the glc300 for just $449 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-

michael avenatti said there is more to come. josh, is stormy daniels going to be a thorn in the president's side for weeks to come, or are there bigger ram fissions here? >> i think both are true. i think she will stick around. that seems to be her plan and avenatti's plan. but there are potential bigger ram tpheubification ramifications. they stem from the $130,000 payout michael cohen paid. that is not in dispute. the danger to trump is that could constitute an illegal campaign contribution. and one of the interesting things about the "60 minutes" interview to me last night was that avenatti, the lawyer, produced evidence showing that that payment went to michael cohen at his trump tower address and that the communications were conducted through trump organization e-mails which potentially brings donald trump himself into this case of potential illegal campaign contribution. and we know from the example of john edwards that these kinds of things can be prosecuted. >> right. >> so certainly that represents a legal threat. >> i

call today. >>> back with stormy daniels' attorney michael avenatti and trump lawyer, michael cohen's attorney and friend, david schwartz. as we talked about one of the things michael cohen said, i did this personally, out of loyalty to my friend, i would do anything for him, nothing to do with the trump organization, nothing to do with the campaign, michael has produced a number of documents that, a bank notice sent to michael cohen at his trump organization e-mail address which he then cut and paste on to his private e-mail address, to then send an e-mail to then-attorney for stormy daniels, other documentation, and the hiring of a trump organization attorney to take part and help set up this arbitration in los angeles. >> well, okay. the trump attorney, that's after the fact. that's not during -- >> that's what's even weirder to me, that two weeks after the fact of michael cohen making the statement saying nothing to do with the trump organization, he hires a trump organization attorney. >> that's after the fact. maybe they could have picked a better attorney. who knows. i think th

but last night on cnn, stormy's lawyer michael avenatti and trump's lawyer's lawyer, david schwartz went after each other like two lawyers fighting over a tv camera. >> let's talk about michael cohen, what kind of man this is? this is a legal genius. completely false. the guy doesn't even know the law. he's a thug. >> right, right. >> your friend is a thug. >> well, thank you. >> he's a thug. >> that's a million dollars. >> no, that's 3 million. >> a million dollars. >> thug. thug. >> a million dollars. >> thug. thug. >> you know what? you're a thug. >> thug, thug, thug. he's a thug. >> by the way-- >> he's a thug. >> stephen: gentleman, please, you're both thugs.

for more, i'm joined by michael avenatti, attorney for stormy daniels. i think you're a match for the president, sir. i've been watching you do it quite so well. this is a picture, i assume, a tape of her taking the lie detector test? would that be a good yes? >> no, that would not be a good guess. appreciate the compliment. >> we're getting close it. it is a dvd? >> let me tell you this, chris. that dvd contains evidence of this relationship and let me tell you why i sent the tweet. i sent the tweet as a warning shot to michael cohen and any other supporter of the president and to the president himself. to the extent that they plan on disparaging my client, lying about what happened, or spinning facts that have no basis in reality after this "60 minutes" interview, let that tweet be a warning to them. it's time for the non-sense to end. they need to come clean about what happened. they need to come clean about the $130,000 payment. they need to come clean with the american people. it's just that simple. >> so it's a dvd. some people thought it was a cd

turning to michael avenatti, who filed that motion for stormy daniels. michael, let's discuss. i've heard this motion described as brilliant, brazen, and frankly, crazy. what exactly are you looking for here? >> the motion is not crazy. we're relying on u.s. supreme court precedent and a whole line of cases in the ninth circuit court of appeals. it is well-founded. it was well-thought-out. it's incredibly documented. >> what do you want? >> what we want is we want the truth. we want to know the truth about what the president knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it. as it relates to this agreement, we're going to test the veracity or the truthfulness of mr. cohen, his attorney's statements. we're confident, gayle, we'll prove to the american people they have been told a bucket of lies. >> the motion references a meeting on march 21st. what happened at that meeting? >> we had what's called a meet and confer were both sides confer about pending motions. we raised this motion with the other side. i think one of the things that was significant during that meeting was we aske

you were sitting between michael avenatti and an attorney who is a friend of michael cohen. >> let's talk about michael cohen, what kind of a man this is. this is the kind of guy who claimed in connection with that story that there's no such thing as spousal rape. this is a legal genius. he doesn't even know the law. he's a thug. your friend is a thug. >> thank you. that's a million dollars? a million dollars, a million dollars. >> you're a thug. >> thug, thug, thug. >> it was kind of high brow. it was more like a c-span thing happening. >> aside from making you look exceedingly rational by comparison, does either side get anything out of that in this legal and political and public debate right now? >> it's very hard for me to say what the public opinion is about that particular aspect, but i do think michael avenatti is focusing on the peculiar role of michael cohen here. remember, michael cohen claims that when it came to stormy daniels he paid out of his own pocket, out of the line of credit in his house, $130,000. that is still -- >> you keep asking about that. why do you think t

this is what michael avenatti wanted to do. he wanted to depose michael cohen, he wanted to depose donald trump. >> this was the big news from yesterday, the desire to depose michael cohen and president trump. this motion has been denied for an expedited trial and expedited discovery which essentially means that there is a temporary halt in michael avenatti's efforts to depose donald trump and michael cohen. just to walk you through this a little bit, a federal judge in california, this is where this motion was filed overnight yesterday, if you recall. this judge said this motion was essentially premature. what he says is that trump and essential consultants -- this is a company, you remember, that michael cohen set up in 2016 to make the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels. that neither trump nor essential consultants has had enough time to file a petition to compel arbitration, which is what is expected. now, if you look more closely, as a part of his decision, the judge also notes that he will discourage folks from making req

this time michael avenatti is asking do question president trump. stormy daniels's lawyer, michael avenatti, wants to know what president trump knew about the $130,000 payment to his client days before the 2016 election. avenatti asking the federal judge in california for permission to question the president under oath forum to two hours. >> we're going to prove that mr. co help's statements to the american people are false. that at all times mr. trump knew about this, knew about the $130,000, was fully aware of it, and with the assistance of mr. cohen, sought to intimidate and put my client under his the thumb. >> reporter: the president's lawyer, michael cohen, said he paid daniels out of his own pocket and that the president knew nothing about the agreement. >> the president strongly, clearly, and consistently denied these underlying claims. and the only person who has been inconsistent is the one making the claims. >> reporter: it comes as president trump remains silent about the alleged affair. >> the president has addressed this. we've address

michael avenatti clearly understands how to operate in the world of politics. the way he's brought this information out surgically is of note. errol louis, it will conclude or culminate on march 25th where we believe "60 minutes" will air this interview that anderson did. that's going to be now a very interesting moment. >> sure. it was going to be an interesting interview anyway. as we know, anderson cooper is a great interviewer. i think we're reaching a point where the nda that binds stormy daniels is getting chipped at from different angles. the buzzfeed angle as part of a defamation lawsuit that michael cohen launched against buzzfeed, they think they'll depose her and drag information into that unrelated case. i think we'll have to expect the white house should be preparing a vat gee for whatever it is that stormy daniels wants to say. she's going to probably figure out a way to say it. we've already seen in one of these interviews that she's bursting at the seams with explosive information. >> this is just one thing hanging over the white house. toluse,

earlier today daniels attorney, michael avenatti, talked to nicolle wallace about the case. >> we're suing him for telling effectively a lie about my client. and his lie was that the affair did not happen effectively. we're going to prove it did happen and his denial was inaccurate. and if not more important, we are now seeking to invalidate the agreement, not just because it wasn't signed but on a host of other grounds, the most significant of which for purposes of our discussion right now and this goes hand in hand with what mr. potter said on "60 minutes" because we are contending that this agreement was designed to basically further a campaign finance violation. >> michael cohen has said $130,000 payment came from his own personal account, line of credit actually, and not the trump campaign or the trump organization. in her "60 minutes" interview, daniels went on to say she was threatened to keep her silence about the alleged relationship with trump. the threat came back in 2011. >> i was in a parking lot going to a fitness class with my infant daughter, the seat facing backwards

i was talking to michael avenatti earlier and asked about the meeting he had with charles harter. he says in the meeting he asked him is your client, donald trump is a party to this agreement, the agreement being the nda with stormy daniels and harter responded by saying we don't know yet, we're still researching it. unclear whether harter was unwilling to answer the question or didn't know the answer. it's all a little bit confusing. the final thing i want to quickly mention too, when i asked avenatti whether stormy daniels will be willing to accept a settlement, this is what he said. we would never consider any settlement that does not include everyone coming 100% clean with the american people. kind of sending a strong message to president trump. >> indeed. mj lee, thank you. president trump released a new burst of tweets on china, north korea and gun rights but so far another day of uncharacter silence on the stormy daniels story. abby phillip is at the white house. what are you hearing about trump's silence on these allegations? >> reporter: good morning, brianna. it is unusu

. >> michael avenatti is stormy daniels' attorney. he's a los angeles trial lawyer who's suing the president in a california court seeking to have stormy daniels' nondisclosure agreement or nda declared invalid. in part because the president never signed it on the lines provided for his alias, d.d. david denson. michael cohen has said this has nothing to do with the election. he would have made this agreement months before. >> so why didn't he? it just slipped his mind? it's just a coincidence in the waiting days of the campaign he thought to himself, you know, i've been thigtsds for years, perhaps now is a good time to get that executed with stormy daniels. >> >> he has found documents that shows michael cohen used his trump organization e-mail address in setting up the payments. he also says the nondisclosure agreement stormy daniels signed in 2016 when she was represented by a different lawyer was fedexed to cohen at his trump organization office in trump tower in new york. >> that is a copy of the federal express confirmation. >>

>> well, i don't think it needs to be touched because michael avenatti seems to be moving this along very well on his own. i imagine that this is not the last trick he has up his sleeve. so without being a lawyer and knowing what's next, i know there's a next. and he will not stop until he has moved his client's case forward to a point where he is putting pressure on the president to appear in court or a deposition. >> temporary win for the president. this issue has loomed over the president. the president got shouted questions about it today. the white house wants to turn the page. it goes without saying. >> right. >> does this give them a little reprieve? >> temporarily. in the long term, when you think about michael avenatti, he's more than likely going to file another motion. there's precedent to have a sitting president sit before counsel and answer questions, ie, bill clinton. the excuse that the president is too busy to do that is inexcusable at this point. i think at some point in time, they're doing a masterful job of baiting trump. and though trump has done a good job of no

michael avenatti on the "today's show" pontd pointing the finger at president trump. cohn says some of the comments was defamatory and had fog to do with the alleged threat. what's the president having to say about this? nothing but he sent out this tweet earlier so much fake news, through it all our country is doing great. no specific reference of stormy daniels. a lot of people have taken note of that, of course he tweets about even. we will have a briefing throe so we'll get to ask about all this. >> kristen welker there in the front lawn thank you. with us is katy feng and on sit or panel for the next 57 minutes. senior editor of business insider josh barrel and erin delmar. katy let me start with you, kristen referenced what may be one of the most notable pieces coming out with stormy daniels. she felt threatened by someone related to donald trump or michael cohn. i want to play what she had to say. >> i was in a parking lot going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. i was facing back ward in the back seat, diaper baguetting the stuff out. and a guy walked

. >> 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 69% saying they love this warm weather. >> yes the some people miss fog. some people want the rain. . we'll have high pressure for seven days so a lot of sun. this is our mount vaca cam view just a few little light clouds way off in the distance. that's going to be our story for the next few days. expect clear skies. hopefully you will have your trusty sunblock ready to go becaus

>> -- from michael avenatti. i mean, when have we ever seen the president be this disciplined to not speak out? we've seen avenatti going on every single network of choice that this president follows and continues to throw punches. and you can see that he's hoping that the president will finally take the bite. now the president has thus far not said anything, but it appears to be that he's acting sort of as oz behind the curtain, continuing to tweet about other things. but we haven't seen him before the media. and you could say that this is smart on avenatti's part from a strategic standpoint. you don't see him giving many interviews to specific law publications, right? he specifically talks, you can see, almost, to the president through these television interviews that he continues to give. and at some point, you've got to say, avenatti is the one that keeps this story going. >> and he's doing a pretty good job at that. i assume you agree, joey? >> i really do. and you know, there's a question about this whole e

but with michael avenatti, since michael avenatti has come on the scene, what we have seen is the president has met his match, and so that interview that stormy daniels taped -- >> -- with "60 minutes" won't air for another week and yet we're going to be talking about stormy daniels. we're going to be talking about her for at least another week and going forward. >> and it's going get higher ratings, i think we'll get that. >> i can't wait for that tweet. >> we've had richard nixon have his legal issues and bill clinton. this is a president fighting a two-front war. he has a set of lawyers fighting the mueller probe, a separate set of lawyers trying to deal with somebody he claims he has no relationship with, but for some reason his personal lawyer paid $100,000 to because he felt like giving her money. which of these two has the greater peril for him. you talked earlier in the show about the discovery being sort of the death knell. which of these two cases. >> the stormy daniels matter quietly -- i guess i shouldn't say quietly -- has the potential to be the most devastating and possibly t

still, cohen's lawyer sent a cease and di cyst lawyer to michael avenatti after the airing of the "60 minutes" interview accusing him and his client of making defamatory statements about cohen and saying cohen had nothing do with any such person or incident and does not believe such person exists or ever occurred. the letter calls on avenatti and daniels to retract their statements, to apologize and make clear they have no evidence to back up their claims. >> michael cohen needs to stop hiding behind pieces of paper and come clean with the american public. >> daniels acknowledged he signed two statements denying the affair, one set by cohen, the other by daniels' former manager gina rodriguez saying i am not denying this affair because of hush money. i am denying it because it never happened. daniels telling anderson cooper she was pressured by her manager and attorney. her former lawyer deny this is. >> you signed a statement saying i'm not denying this affair because i was paid in hush money, i'm denying it because it never happened. that's a lie? >> yes. >> if it was untruthful why

michael avenatti says that's a threat. i don't know where he's from that that's a threat by enforcing a damages clause in a contract. that's not a threat. >> didn't seem concerned about your cease and desist letter. he said he believes that this threat could have only come there someone connected to donald trump. >> right. again. speculation. guess work. that's what this is all about. 12 years ago, somebody approaches her in a parking lot. okay, and what does she do? she doesn't go to the police. she goes to her pilates class. this is ridiculous. that's the first thing you think of doing, when someone threatens you and your daughter, you go to your pilates class and not to the police? >> he believes he'll be able to show there was some kind of reimbursement or promise from president trump or someone connected to him to michael cohen. >> well, i don't see how that's possible. because, first of all, it's been clear. the president didn't know about this. michael cohen was acting on behalf of the llc created. his job was, and

michael avenatti, thanks very much. i want to thank our panel as well. >>> coming up next, something i never thought i would be talking to christiane amanpour about. sex and love around the world. it is the focus of her new series debuting this weekend on cnn. it's fascinating. i'll talk to christiane in just a moment. up to 24 hour wear. for a super flawless look. maybelline's super stay foundation. only from maybelline new york. i thought i was managing my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. but i realized something was missing... me. the thought of my symptoms returning was keeping me from being there for the people and things i love most. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira can help get, and keep,uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts so you could experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happe

michael avenatti, thanks very much. i want to thank our panel as well. >>> coming up next, something i never thought i would be talking to christiane amanpour about. sex and love around the world. it is the focus of her new series debuting this weekend on cnn. it's fascinating. i'll talk to christiane in just a moment. ♪ who's the fun one now? made with real cream. reddi-wip. instant greatification. made with real cream. your plaques are always there at the worst times. constantly interrupting you with itching, burning and stinging. being this uncomfortable is unacceptable. i'm ready. tremfya® works differently for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. with tremfya®, you can get clearer and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks... stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections, and may increase your risk of infections.

plus, the attorney for stormy daniels michael avenatti will be our guest. "morning joe" is coming right back. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night. hold on dad... liberty did what? yeah, liberty mutual 24-hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad. is this a lug wrench? maybe? you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. spring clearance event'. the dual adjustability of the sleep number bed allows each of you to adjust to your ideal level of firmness, comfort and support... your sleep number setting... for your best. sleep. ever. in the morning, you'll discover the amazing effects the bed is having on your sleep quality... your sleepiq score. and snoring? does your bed do that? only at a sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $899. and, it's the last chance for clearance savings up to $600. plus

i want to get to what michael avenatti wants out of this deposition. do you think he'll get it? do you think a judge will let it get to that point? >> i think there's a bigger issue, john and that's the issue of the validity of the nondisclosure agreement. because according to that agreement, the entire matter should be resolved by a private arbitrator -- and not in a federal court. that's what trump and his team have been pushing for is to remove this entire matter from a court and put it back into private arbitration. they don't want this litigated publicly. they want this to be a very private matter and what michael avenatti is doing by filing these motions, consistently filing in federal and state court, he's essentially telling the american public all of the information of the nondisclosure agreement is supposed to keep private and confidential. not clear if a deposition will go forward because i think the court has to first decide if this matter should be in federal court in the first place. >> and that may be with what this april 30th court date is about. i'm trying to fi

stormy daniels' attorney michael avenatti filing a motion in federal court seeking permission to depose the president and his personal lawyer, michael cohen. just days after daniels' "60 minut minutes" interview after an encounter with mr. trump. mr. avenatti made a case for putting the president under oath for public consumption. >> we're going to test the veracity or truthfulness of mr. cohen's, his attorney's, statement. we're confident, gayle -- when we get to the bottom of this we'll prove to the american people they've been told a bucket of lies. the other side is intending to endorse this case into a private ashization hidden from the public where the public doesn't really learn what happened. >> nbc news national correspondent, my friend and colleague, peter alexander at the white house right now. we've been tracking this story for quite some time. there's been no reaction from the president this week. still no reaction from the white house to these latest developments as you and i both know, they want to turn the page on this whole controversy. what's the mood there? what are y

we'll see what michael avenatti does going forward. he is getting to the point of jumping the shark. he's got to start showing evidence and not just trying to tease it out. at some point people are going to lose interest. >> mark preston, thank you very much for your bottom line. >>> what's today? >> i have no idea. is it wednesday? >> we have columbia students in the house. it is wednesday. i knew it. how about good stuff for hump day next. i don't want to lie down. i refuse to lie down. why suffer? stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. botox® is the only treatment for chronic migraine shown to actually prevent headaches and migraines before they even start. botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. it's injected by a doctor once every 12 weeks. and is covered by most insurance. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle

. >> this is an aggressive move by michael avenatti, the attorney for stormy daniels. now add go michael cohen by name in the suit. not just michael cohen, as the owner of the business that ended up being put together to pay stormy daniels. he is saying that michael cohen defamed his client back in february. just hours after the world watched, the white house today once again denying the allegations. >> the president himself hasn't directly talked about the daniels scandal. instead taking to twitter to decry what he called fake news. cryptically tweeting. so fake news. never more voluminous or more inaccurate. through it all our country is doing great. daniels' attorney michael avenatti making a vigorous defense. >> if she's not telling the truth, let the president take to the podium and call her a liar. >> one of the more troubling things she said was something that she said occurred in 2011 in las vegas. a short time after she gave an interview to in touch weekly. >> i was in a parking lot. going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. and a guy walked up on me a

i spoke with stormy daniels' lawyer, michael avenatti, he insists this is just a temporary setback. this round apparently goes to the president. >> reporter: hi, wolf, that's right. the president and his personal attorney, michael cohen, won a legal victory in federal court today. a judge ruling they will not have to sit and answer questions under oath from stormy daniels' attorney, michael avenatti, at least not yet. a federal judge in california is denying a move by stormy daniels' lawyer, michael avenatti, to question president trump and his personal attorney, michael cohen, under oath about a $130,000 deal reached with daniels before the 2016 election to keep her quiet. the judge calling the request premature. avenatti playing down the ruling. >> this is just a procedural ruling. it really means nothing. basically what the court has said is that we have to wait until the president and mr. cohen file their motion to compel arbitration, and 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. >> reporter: avenatti also

danny cevallos, when michael avenatti, if he gets to sit down and depose the president, what sort of questions will he be asking him? >> better believe that ec and president trump's team will limit the scope of the discovery because in this case this is not a typical trial. the issues are narrow, it's whether or not the parties agreed to arbitrate in this connection. they need to limit the scope of discovery and once they get into a deposition, even though the ruflz discovery are somewhere broad, expect trump's attorney to stop the questioning if it gets even close to anything to do with russia. they will stick their arm out to the client and say, jonathan, don't answer that question. and even if it's arguably a question that should be answered, his attorneys have to be mindful. they have o air on the side of you saying because a wrong answer may not be admissible in trial but it may destroy his mexico. >> is this an important aspect of the story or it's the violation? >> the part of about this case that's been interesting is that it's always gone down two paths. on one level, maybe

i know he also told you, michael, avenatti that stormy daniels didn't go to the police to talk about her threat, but she did tell some friends so there are clearly some people out there that could corroborate her story about the threat in 2011. meantime stormy daniels has added michael cohen to her lawsuit. for a president who tweets about almost everything, donald trump remains silent on porn star stormy daniels' accusations of an affair and alleged threats against her. >> sometimes he chooses to specifically engage and punch back and sometimes he doesn't. >> reporter: instead press secretary sarah huckabee sanders sticking with the denial the president himself hasn't given. >> the president's denied the allegations. >> reporter: the white house continuing to say daniels has been inconsistent and the claims she made during sunday's "60 minutes" interview with anderson cooper are inaccurate. >> how do we know you're telling the truth? >> because i have no reason to lie. i'm opening myself up for, you know, possible danger and definitely a whole lot of [ bleep ]. >> reporter: now dani

. >> her attorney, michael avenatti, telling msnbc, they're getting closer to determining who made that threat. >> in light of the "60 minutes" interview we've received a handful of leads a couple which are promising. >> the porn star is suing donald trump's personal lawyer michael cohen for defamation. >> we're suing him for telling effectively a lie about my client and his lie was that the affair did not happen effectively. we're going to prove, in fact, it did happen and, therefore, his denial was inaccurate. >> if you have an android phone and you use facebook messenger you may have unwittingly given facebook permission to track every call, every message you've sent. that's just the most recent privacy concern that has the company on the defensive. at least 37 state attorneys general demanding answers and the federal trade commission launching an investigation into what it calls substantial concerns about the privacy practices of facebook. >> this morning the commerce department is getting sclamlamm for its decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. the state o

michael avenatti. he put this out on twitter. he says to address the rumor we do not have a monica lewinsky type dress. thus there is no dress to be tested for dna. but we're making progress on the stocking that occurred around the same time that mr. cohen threatened in touch weekly magazine in may 2011. i don't think we need to analyze this tweet, but i am curious what you think of the lawyering and the politicking now that michael avenatti is doing. do you think he's pushing this admirably or going too far here? >> through all of this, and i saw that interview last night, anderson cooper did with the two lawyers and poor jeffrey toobin stuck in the middle, through all of it, my heart goes out to melania. having worked for the first lady hillary clinton during the '90s, during the clinton scandals, it is very, very difficult, i know, to get up every day, put a smile on your face, and face the cameras, face reporters, face constituencies, when you're under public humiliation. and so my heart goes out to her, my heart goes out to

stormy daniels' attorney michael avenatti tweeted out this last night. he said, if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many is this worth? the tweet had a photo of a disk and a safe. wolf asked avenatti today what that meant, and here's what he said. >> the tweet is a warning shot. i want to be really clear about this. it's a warning shot. and it's a warning shot to michael cohen and anyone else associated with president trump that they better be very, very careful after sunday night relating to what they say about my client and what spin or lies they attempt to tell the american people. but make no mistake about it, it is a warning shot. >> what do you think he meant by warning shot, and what do you think could be on that dvd, ana? >> honestly, i don't even want to speculate what could be on that dvd because it might require me then having to bleach my mind's eye. look, obviously what can be on a dvd? images. you know, i think that's what he's obviously alluding to and, you know, making a veiled reference to -- not so veiled reference to. look, i t

most of that will be a determination based on who the judge is. >> michael avenatti has claimed that there are six additional women who have come forward. he said he hasn't fully vetted what their stories are. he says he believes two have ndas. is it possible they could all use the same legal argument to try to get out of them, or would that all sort of ride on how similar the contracts were to the one that stormy daniels signed, if they're similar at all? >> it's the latter. what he is trying to do is get the claim of stormy daniels to the court of public opinion. that can work if you are following the news but not as much to a judge. if a judge is looking at the central issue here, number one, can stormy daniels, not the other six women who haven't been fully vetted and two of which may or may not have similar non-disclosure agreements, is there anything that allows stormy daniels to speak. what it seems as though they're trying to do here is, listen, if there is an overall theme where the court is never going to try to enforce a contract that is against public policy that includes

one is michael avenatti is a very savvy, sharp attorney. and he came to the set not to make this point. he came with some things on his agenda. i think he wanted to get out the notion that there are these other six women who have come forward. he then did the savvy lawyer thing of saying, we haven't vetted them. i have no idea. he wants it in the public there are more claimants, even though they have not examined the veracity of the claims. he also wanted to distance himself from this buzzfeed suit which i think he thinks is not helpful to their cause and is kind of a piggybacking on what his client is doing. but this was not on his agenda. he was caught off guard when mika brzezinski i think anywhere asked him the question, it was at the end of the interview. he had not brought that to the table. he answered honestly. he answered -- i don't know whether he answered honestly, but he answered in the moment, he did not try to no comment it. he came forward and made a forthright claim. let's put it that way. crucially, when i asked him later i

. >> michael avenatti is stormy daniels' attorney. he is suing the president in a california court seeking to have stormy daniels' nondisclosure order invalid. michael cohn has said this has nothing to do with the election. he would have made this agreement months before. >> so why didn't he? it slipped his mind? he thought to himself, you know i have been thinking about this for years, perhaps now is a good time. >> he has found documents that shows michael cohn used his trump organization e-mail address in setting up the payments. also found that her agreement was f was fedexed to cohn. >> the cover letter also identifies who he thought michael cohn was working for. >> to mr. cohn as executive vice president to donald j. trump. listing the fifth avenue address. this idea that there is a separation between mr. cohn and the trump organization is nonsense. >> there are people who argue this is much to do about nothing. >> this is about the cover up. this is about the extent that mr. cohn and the president have gone to intimidate this w

one is michael avenatti is a very savvy, sharp attorney. and he came to the set not to make this point. he came with some things on his agenda. i think he wanted to get out the notion that there are these other six women who have come forward. he then did the savvy lawyer thing of saying, we haven't vetted them. i have no idea. he wants it in the public there are more claimants, even though they have not examined the veracity of the claims. he also wanted to distance himself from this buzzfeed suit which i think he thinks is not helpful to their cause and is kind of a piggybacking on what his client is doing. but this was not on his agenda. he was caught off guard when mika brzezinski i think anywhere asked him the question, it was at the end of the interview. he had not brought that to the table. he was caught off guard. he answered honestly. he answered -- i don't know whether he answered honestly, but he answered in the moment, he did not try to no comment it. he came forward and made a forthright claim. let's put it that way. crucially,

. >> stormy daniels hired michael avenatti and filed the lawsuit about a week and a half ago. it signals we're not going to sit back and take a lot of punches here. >> at the state level, if i understand, this would move it to the federal level. what would change as a result of this being found in the way that it was? >> it seems that the president's lawyers feel they have a better shot in federal court of getting this into arbitration, which is where they want it, as opposed to playing out in public courtroom in california where michael avenatti is practicing. they're hoping to keep everything behind closed doors. >> we heard from him there and heard from him an awful lot over these recent days. what do you mac of the change and the representation that she has had provided for her here? he has been very outspoken, in the way that he can be, about what's gone on. >> she changed lawyers because the old lawyer she had, keith davidson, had made the deal with michael cohen, president trump's personal lawyer, to have this nondisclosure agreement. when she wanted to get out of it, s

in the documents, michael avenatti said he was seeking to find out whether mr. trump was aware of a nondisclosure agreement that the porn actress said she signed to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the president. avenatti requested a hearing next month and if successful, the motion would require the president to explain under oath what he knew about the secrecy agreement and when. >>> once again, protestors took to the streets in sacramento last night over the police shooting of stephon clark. they blocked fans trying to get into the kings game after shutting down the council. steve large reports. >> reporter: stephon clark's brother took over the sacramento city council meeting in dramatic fashion chanting stephon clark's name then jumping on the mayor's council desk demanding those in attendance chant his name loud her. [ screaming ] >> reporter: the wild scene erupted into more chaos from there. others joined clark at the council table, the mayor trying to restore order offered clark a microphone. >> do you want to take the microphone, sir? >> yes. >>

stormy daniels' attorney, michael avenatti, has filed a motion asking permission to depose president trump and his lawyer, michael cohen. it's not known if these depositions will ever actually happen. if they did, trump would likely have to address stormy daniels' allegations under oath. president trump has repeatedly denied stormy daniels' claims through white house officials. as "the washington post" points out, in the motion avenatti said he "intends to prove that the hush agreement did not have a lawful object or purpose, rather, the agreement and the $130,000 payment made pursuant to the agreement was for the purpose of influencing the 2016 presidential election." michael cohen has said the payment came from his own personal funds, a line of credit, in fact. and not the trump campaign or the trump organization. earlier today, avenatti defended his move on cbs news. >> you mentioned clinton versus paula jones in your motion. why is that relevant? >> it's the supreme court precedent. the supreme court already decided that a sitting president can be deposed in connection with a civ

that is really what the larger goal is here for michael avenatti. to get them under oath and get them to tell the truth or perhaps lie about whether michael cohen used his own money to pay this damage award. which no lawyer that i'm aware of has ever done. and whether donald trump knew about it. those are, i think, the key political issues here. and filing this lawsuit gives avenatti another opportunity, perhaps, to get cohen and perhaps trump under oath. >> by the way, cnn has matched this reporting, not just the "washington post." does a suit like this have any likelihood of success? i suppose it doesn't matter ultimately if a judge rules defamed or not. by success, does it get to a courtroom? >> i would have to look at precisely what he is charging, what stormy daniels is charging was false and defamatory. parse the words carefully. that's what is involved in defamation cases. it is possible she will at least get to discovery out of it. >> and that may be what he wants. robert mueller was brought up last night in the 60 minutes piece, that ultima