and convicted on 34 felony counts and is facing 54 more counts in his three other pending cases. on his third campaign for president, he has only one thing on his mind. retribution. in early 2023, i sat down with an extensive interview with michael cohen, star witness for the prosecution in trump's criminal trial in new york. at the time of our interview, the former president had not been indicted yet and his third presidential campaign had not officially kicked off. his latest book had just come out around that time as well called "revenge how donald trump weaponized the department of justice against his critics." it is partially mmr, partially a warning about how trump would abuse the powers of presidency if you were to get a second term. term. second term. michael cohen explained it to me in stark terms. >> in the event that michael -- trump would come back, it is

not just me who has to be concerned about what he intends to do, what he knows that he is capable of doing because the first run whether it will was the insurrection, the unconstitutional, what this is for him, this is a practice run, the second time around. he will make a more sophisticated game plan to achieve what he wants and that is total control. >> not just me, what do you mean by that? >> you, too, anyone who is critical. >> just a few weeks after, trump gave the keynote speech at seatac and proclaimed for the first time, quote, i am your retribution. that has become the guiding mantra of his bid to return to the white house. in june of last year, shortly after he was indicted for the second time, he took to social and vowed that he would, quote, appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most

corrupt president in the history of the united states, joe biden, the entire biden crime family and all others involved with the destruction of our elections, borders and country, itself,". it should surprise no one that the man who campaigned on locking up his political opponent as first president is vowing again to prosecute his political opponent. he ultimately did not prosecute hillary clinton but it was not from lack of trying. there were people in his administration who prevented him from acting on his impulses at least some of the time but this time around, his campaign has made it clear that only true loyalists willing to carry out trump's agenda will be considered for jobs in his next administration. signs of trump disregard for the rule of law have been evidenced in his latest run especially as he has repeatedly aligned himself with people who have been criminally convicted or indicted.

he has opened many of his rallies with the rendition of the national anthem sung by a group made up of people who have been convicted of taking part in the insurrection. he has also floated the possibility of pardoning many of those january 6th convicts if he wins the election this november and brought on stage a pair of robbers currently facing felony charges including one who has been indicted for conspiracy to commit murder. in the weeks since his own conviction, he has been talking about retribution, again, this time that he is not the only one who wants vengeance. other opponents do, too. >> a lot of republicans want retribution. we will wait and see what happens and hopefully everything works out. staff and number of trump allies in and out of the government have been mimicking calls for retribution. in a post on x, the florida senator, marco rubio, used emojis to suggest, quote, it is time to fight fire with fire.

meanwhile, the former chief white house strategist who was just order to return to prison by july 1st told that alvin bragg should, quote, should be and will be jailed, and also says he wants investigations to include democrats, media allies , an idea that has been floated by other allies. there should be no doubt that trump and his allies will follow through on their threats. jim jordan has already called for bragg to testify before the subcommittee and republicans have already spent 18 months trying to find a reason to indict president biden. if trump returns to power, they will not need a reason. joining me now is michael cohen who appeared as a key witness in the former president's first trial in new york and is the author of the book, revenge. michael is also the host of the podcast with michael cohen and

political be down. good to see you, my friend. thank you for being with us. you and i have been talking about this particular topic foru a long time and it relates to you very specifically. at one point, you have been in otis bell and you are imprisoned, there. you were let out? and you were called in to administrative --? >> i was called in in order to sign what is called the federal location monitoring agreement which is in order to have either an ankle monitor or a telephone placed upon me. >> the dose that is this? >> it contains a specific federal id number in the top right-hand corner. >> but this is not what you were brought to sign but this is, a separate document which has something the official fi

document does not have. it commits you to saying you will have no engagement of any kind with the media including print, tv, film, books or any other form of news, no posting on social media and requirement that you can medicate with friends and family to exercise discretion in not posting any information about the purpose is to avoid glamorizing or bringing publicity to your status as a sentence serving a custodial turn in your community. that is highly specific to you, michael cohen. this is not what other people sign. >> the whole document is for me and i don't think there are any similar paragraphs as it relates to counterfeit. my refusal to sign the counterfeit document resulted in approximately one hour later, after appearingat at 500 pearl street before two members of the bureau prison, part of the department of justice, i was

then met by three marshals who provided my lawyer who is with me, none of this seemed to make any sense at all. and i was remanded back to prison for another 15 days of solitary confinement. >> you did not sign this, a thing that says you will not communicate and i want to understand because this was adjudicated in court and in the decision, the judge said the court finds that the respondent, that is you, the respondent -- i'm sorry, the respondent is the government -- for release on furlough and re back to custody was retaliatory in response to the desire to exercise his first amendment rights to publish a book critical of the president and to discuss the book on social media. accordingly, respondents are hereby rejoined from any

continuing future retaliation against michael cohen for exercising his first amendment right so you were vindicated? >> i was vindicated in the facti that i was released after another 15 days of solitary confinement15 making it 51 days in total. that to me is authentication. that, to me, was -- i was thankful for it. i shouldn't have been there in the first place. the vindication is to put a stop once and for all to what i know what donald trump is behind. there is no way that either or a guy named patrick mcfarland you will see in the remand order, there is no way these three concocted this. this came right from the top. and the only way to be vindicated is to make sure that they don't use this process on people like you! on other people who they deem to be critics whether it is members of congress, the media, supreme court judges or district people.

everybody! jurors, witnesses, no matter. anyone that donald trump deems to be a critic, he will be able to use this. i said it and we did that over a year ago -- that this is a test run and now he knows exactly what he can get away with. and he has advanced this and he has already dictated and he is already projecting what he intends to do. i have said it 1 million times -- if he ends up becoming president -- >> your point is that they have a list, they say it and they go on tv and say we are going after media, critics, the january 6th committee should be jailed, alvin bragg should be jailed. what is this about? this is not a country where you go around saying people should be jailed like they did with hillary clinton, lock her up. >> well, in my opinion -- there

is no opinion. the documents speak for themselves. it is plain and simple. what he has done, he intends to do, again. and he is telling you in advance what he intends to do. you are not safe. guys like elon musk, they think they are safe. no. trump wants total power over the united states of america including the wealth. th he will do exactly what mohammed did when he jailed all of his relatives. donald will take their wealth, he will take their power, he will take everything. no member of congress is saved, no one is safe because, again, the documents speak for themselves. why do people not acknowledge that this happened to me and if it happened to me, it will happen to you. >> because you are full of donald trump secrets and you

are actually endanger. >> which is why they do this. at the end of the day, he was right for trying to get me to do this. look at what happened as a result of my 20, 19 testimony before the house committee. that was one of seven. look what happened with the new york attorney general case, the civil, $500 million. look at what happened with the manhattan district attorney case , he knew i would be an issue to him so what did he decide to do? lock them up and that is exactly -- >> the more important thing then locking you up, it was an effort to silence you. i understand. i but that is the goal, right? if you like a few people up, the rest of us will take the lesson. hold on, there. i want to take a quick break and pay the bills. michael cohen. stay with me. e.

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michael cohen is back with me. an interesting point you make, we have brand-new graphics and the studio looks really nice. we are allowed to say anything. i criticize governments all over the world including here in america which is what we do and what we are protected in doing by the first amendment. you are making the case that all of that kind of stuff is in peril. we could be in a situation if donald trump is president in which the news is censored, -- >> state-sponsored news just like what you have in russia and their station which is called proper and means truth which is ironic, right? all of this goes away under a donald trump administration. why? because he doesn't want to hear anything negative being said about him.

the fact that you have this television show, the fact that you have the ability to speak truth to power, all of that goes away if in fact this man into becoming president and the part that i am most offended by our those members of congress and others who are supporting this type of conduct, this rhetoric, this behavior because the only reason that they even have the positions that they have is because of the first amendment. which donald trump does not believe in and how do we -- >> explained to me. people should have faith in their own power to get elected and say their constituents represent you well so tell me what the calculus is. i am going to support donald trump even though i think some of the stuff he says is outlandish and somewhat crazy because i will be more empowered if he gets reelected? >> all of these people whether it is marco rubio, mark johnson, marco -- mark meadows have all said disparaging

things about donald trump at one point in time. they believe that if donald trump wins and they are shoulder to shoulder with him, that they will have unlimited power which would of course give them the ability to have unlimited resources and assets. one mistake that they are making , donald trump doesn't share. it is all about him. not about his kids, not about his family, it is all about him so they think that they are going to hitch themselves to his wagon in hopes that they are going to elevate themselves whether it is in power, through money, through connections and so forth, it does not work that way. he will not allow that and just like vladimir putin, once you start to get too big for your own britches, people will start flying out of windows, they will end up in gulags. as donald says all the time, send them to gitmo, send them to guantanamo bay. >> you talk about mark meadow

being executed, at some point, it sounds exaggerated and i don't want my viewers thinking we lose our heads over these things. what happens when he comes into power and he puts these loyalists into office and they start to do these things? what happens to you? because they tried everything to get to you and you have now been a key witness in a criminal conviction of the president of the united states for the first time ever for a former sitting president of the united states. what do you think about it if donald trump wins? you are thinking about your canadian family members? >> absolutely and family in other parts of the country that i won't disclose. he has already said that he intends to use seal team six to start rounding up his political limiting these -- political enemies. there is no doubt in my mind that i am somewhere at the top

of that list. you are certainly on that list, as well. as is the president of msnbc, hillary clinton, the entire biden family. this is not a joke and the fact that he is even considered to be the republican nominee, one of our typical -- two political parties, it should be so offensive to everyone in this country, a man who doesn't believe in the very first amendment of the constitution and, by the way, all of these folks that think donald trump is the key to the second amendment, he is our second amendment guy, what do dictators do on day number one when they become the autographed, the féhrer, the supreme leader? you round up all of the weapons because you don't want a militia. you don't want civilians to get together and create a militia against you. these do not have free-flowing weapons like we have in america.

>> let's talk about the rich folks who have been lining up behind donald trump. first of all, he has gone out and basically said, you donate to me and i get elected and i will deregulate and you guys can do what you want. it has been a shakedown but a lot of them including the founder of a major financial firm have said they want to support him. yet, i go back to your russian example in the rich folks supported putin because he would make them richer and tell it stopped. it was a great gravy chain until it stopped. >> when it stops, there is only one way to make it stop. either incarceration like what we saw with -- or some of the oligarchs. things are so bad for them, the guys are 28, 30, $40 billion and it is not easy being worth that sort of money. and so they all decided to jump out of windows. i mean, the whole thing is preposterous. americans have to take a look

at what is going on because donald trump is a copycat. he wants to be. it is why he is so attracted to autocrats, to vladimir putin, to mohammed, to the queue -- kim jong un and he wants to convert america, destroy our democratic republic and turn it into an autocracy for his benefit. it is so crystal clear and the fact that members of congress, many members of congress have seen these documents. i have spoken to them about it. in fact, four years ago, at king jeffries and ted lieu wrote a letter to the ig asking for an investigation to be opened in regarding the unconstitutional -- the unconstitutional remand of the united states citizens to prison because he failed to waive the constitutional right.

this is so apparent and why even this biden administration? y merrick garland? why this is not right and center to expose and to counter narrative. what donald is saying every single day which is why the biden administration has weaponized the justice department against him -- >> these documents are the trump administration. president biden was not the president of the united states. >> these are all under the trump administration and the worst part is that he is telling everyone what he intends to do. what he intends to do is this as a repeat. >> thank you for being with us. that was a lot. you and i have been talking about this for a long time and people say you are blowing it out of proportion. exhibit a, michael cohen. michael cohen's former attorney of donald trump.

still ahead, we are following the breaking news out of the middle east where israeli forces rescue hostages from gaza, this morning. you are looking at the emotional reunion of one of the released hostages. noa argamani's mother had pleaded for the release of her daughter. smile! you found it. the feeling of finding psoriasis can't filter out the real you. so go ahead, live unfiltered with the one and only sotyktu, a once-daily pill for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding you're so ready for your close-up. or finding you don't have to hide your skin just your background. once-daily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma,

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to a medical center inside of israel. this is the group arriving back in israel just a while ago. this video released by the israeli prime minister's office shows her being reunited with her father. you may remember noa argamani from an abduction on a motorbike on october the seventh. at least 210 people have been killed at the nuseirat camp in central gaza not far from where the hostages were rescued. we don't know if the two incidents were related. elsewhere, military activity is threatening to escalate into a wider conflict. iranian proxies in syria killed several people in aleppo including an iranian military advisor. a report on thursday that the biden administration has been warning israel that any limited war against the lebanese militant group, hezbollah, would push iran to intervene. hezbollah and iran have

escalated over the last weeks with both parties string deeper and deeper into one another's territories. matt bradley, you have spoken about this a lot. you have a deep understanding of probably the deepest of anyone in our network. i think in people's minds, they have been completed, two groups that are at odds with israel. hezbollah is a very different group in terms of its military capabilities and power. >> reporter: that is right and thank you for saying that. they are lumped in together and there is one reason, because both benefit from iran and that makes them very similar. when we look at all of these groups, the so-called access of resistance that iran has cultivated over the last decades , in the middle east, all of them, israel, the united states influence and sunni led regimes and kingdoms like saudi arabia, some of these money gulf

states, they are pledging as iran has done ever since its 1979 revolution to export iranian revolution and that is one of the reasons why iran chooses to have these proxies throughout the region. hezbollah is very different because it really is much closer to iran than hamas. it is religiously like-minded and populated by shiite muslims. the shiite strain of ideology which is specific to iran and its leadership in the hierarchy , there. unlike hamas, it really benefits from that in the lebanese parliament, in the lebanese government, top senior officials enjoy a much larger freedom of movement that anyone does and hamas in terms of traveling and at the same time, they really do function more like a military that a militant group. the cia and other groups have

speculated that they may have as many as 150,000 or more rockets in their enormous stockpile and many of those are sophisticated weapons, not the kind that can be just lobbed over the border but the kind that are targeted and can hit targets with great specificity and are hidden throughout lebanon and that is one of the reasons why the israelis take the hezbollah threat so seriously even though relatively speaking, the violence that has been going on between lebanon and israel has paled in comparison to what we are seeing between israel and the gaza strip. the potential for a much more fierce war is much more present in the north of israel and southern lebanon and also, the potential for a regionwide war, one that would bring in iran, the united states and other american israeli allies throughout the region and all of iran's proxy groups as i mentioned and you mentioned, syria, iraq, yemen, hezbollah, lebanon, hamas in the gazan -- gaza strip, these are groups

that are highly trained and battle tested. hezbollah dropping the regime for much of the past decades, they have seen combat in a way that other groups that are backed by the iranians maybe haven't. they really run a military and that is why they are such -- that is why the israelis are already diverting and recruiting more forces to be posted up northward. again, the battle is not as fierce as it is in the gaza strip but it is the potential that worry so many people throughout the region. >> let's think about this. today as you said is a good day not just for israelis but for benjamin netanyahu where hostages have been rescued by the idf. but, israel and hamas is not the only war. there is a lot of stuff going on . it has been going on for almost 2 years and that is an unsettled area. there is stuff going on with hezbollah and israel has said they have conducted an attack

in syria, an attack against iranians and there is iran, itself. there is a danger that this remains a powder keg that could become an original war. how do you fit it into the calculus of this current deal that biden and antony blinken are trying to get done between israel and hamas? >> reporter: so there is the current deal between israel and hamas to free the house just, to try to come up with eventually a permanent cease- fire to free palestinians who are in prison, many of them women and children and to try to bring some sort of temporary reprieve to the fighting in the gaza strip. that is one part of the negotiations but also biden and blinken are pursuing in parallel another more ambitious plan and that would be saudi arabia recognizing israel diplomatically, it would see the americans recognize the palestinians diplomatically, recognize a palestinian state,

it would involve transfers of technology to saudi arabia. this is something that could knit up some of the fixing problems that have been brought into all of the region and it could provide more of a platform, more of a future for a palestinian state going forward so there are lots of negotiations going on in parallel to the one we see where the hostages freed from the gaza strip and at the same time, one of the top people in the biden administration traveling to ensure diplomacy throughout the region and trying to shore up american allies to keep them or to make sure that they fall in line against what could be an axis of resistance. nations and groups who are supported by and ran and could not come to bear in a big way in any regionwide war if the situation in the gaza strip continues to deteriorate. that is the reason why hezbollah says they are continuing to fight against israel and they

have said repeatedly that they are trying to distract israeli forces from the gaza strip and so far, it looks as though they are doing that but it will be tough for benjamin netanyahu and the israelis to resist the temptation to take out two birds with one stone and finally take out hezbollah once and for all. >> a lot has happened over the last weekend my first thought is that i need to talk to my friend, matt bradley, and i am glad that i have. thank you, sir. still ahead, the jobs report for may was a blowout. we will talk about what that good news could mean for interest rates. for interest rates.

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despite what you may continue to hear, the u.s. economy is still going strong. yesterday, the bureau of labor statistics reported that the labor market at 272,000 net jobs , 82,000 more than expected. the bulk of the new jobs came from as they always do, healthcare. that is always the biggest grower in the economy, government and leisure and hospitality segments which are very important. that means people are out spending money and going to restaurants. meanwhile, wages rose 4% from april to may. wages are currently outpacing inflation up 4.1% compared to last year, more than inflation.

well job inflation and wage growth are green funds, the federal unemployment rate did take up from 3.9% to 4% and overall at an historically low level. we have been below 5% -- i think i had here the last time we were about 5%. with strong numbers, it seems unlikely that the federal reserve will cut interest rates anytime soon. currently set at 5.5% which is to curb inflation while the stock market is not a barometer , markets have been doing spectacularly well. all three major indices are up at record levels since the beginning of this year. hopefully, that trend continues, as well. we will have more velshi after the break. k. but no matter what business i'm in... my network and my tech need to keep up. thank you verizon business.

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turning to the supreme court, after facing backlash for lavish vacations paid for by a political donor, justice clarence thomas is publicly disclosing them for the first time amid growing ethics concerns at the high court. gabe gutierrez reports. >> reporter: supreme court justice, clarence thomas, is officially disclosing a controversial trip to bali with billionaire harmon grove. the acknowledgment out today in his annual financial disclosure report after a report last year that detailed his secret lavish vacations paid for by the top republican donor who is a longtime friend of the justice. thomas is also disclosing another trip that same year. the report only includes lodging expenses and not travel costs. thomas had flown on the private jet, a stark contrast of the more modest image.

>> i prefer parking lots to the beaches and things like that. there is something normal. >> reporter: at the time, thomas said the trips were a form of hospitality that justices did not have to report and now the disclosure says the two trips had been inadvertently omitted from the 2019 report. as for his colleagues, jackson reportedly receiving a $900,000 book advance plus four concert tickets worth $3700 from pop superstar, beyonci. just as soda my your disclosing $86,000 in book royalties. gabe gutierrez reporting. reading as resistance. understanding powerful ideas that have been passed down. one in the battle to free america and the other for mobilization. the velshi book club is next. needs to

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we've got a motto in the velshi book club, reading as resistance which means when you open a well-worn copy of the handmaid's tale, you are preserving the ideologies and the concepts integral to a free society by reading and understanding these books, you can resist injustice, oppression and maintain democracy but we need

mobilization off the page, too. one of the groups safeguarding other censorship is the national coalition against censorship, a nonpartisan alliance of more than 50 organizations dedicated to protecting free speech. in almost any context and not just writing books. the group has been doing this book for decades even if members of the book club don't recognize the and cac name, they know it is work. i frequently reference letters in support of works of literature facing calls. it has a new initiative called kids right to read network which fights book bands at the local level by providing legal support and resources to authors, libraries or public schools. coupled with the 50 years of fighting censorship, the kids right to read network has underscored what many americans and voters are seeing, the true nature of this fight against censorship and for the fight

for the freedom to read, one positive is that the courts largely agree with the ncac book club . the fifth circuit court of appeals struck down one texas counties decision to remove several books from its schools in order -- and ordered a to be reinstated and libraries. the court called the ban a violation of the first amendment which it is. the court of public opinion disagrees with restricting access to books, too. a survey conducted on behalf of the american library association found that 71% of those surveyed opposed efforts to have books removed from their local public libraries and book banning has not slowed down! or even plateaued! it has increased in the nearly three years since we started the velshi book club. more than 3400 titles were

banned across the country in just the last half of the school year of 2023. the ncac is grassroots movement has made something abundantly clear. book banning is a powerful weapon in the arsenal to degrade democracy and as i stand here today, three years into the book club, i fear that it might be working. joining me now is lee rowland, executive director of the national coalition against censorship. thank you for being here. the national coalition against censorship is celebrating its 50th anniversary and it was born in response to a supreme court case that limited protections of, quote, obscene speech. we are seeing the exact same arguments occurring, today. books are only banned for the same four or five reasons that they have been banned for the last years. where are we in this fight?

>> well, it has metastasize but it is fundamentally the fight we have seen for these 50 years. i find it remarkable as i sit here that it was formed in part in resistance to the supreme court opening up the doorway for obscenity prosecution. groups of literary, you know, advocates and civil libertarians and unions and people of faith, why would you -- completely nonpartisan, we support free speech, free inquiry and free thought regardless of what thoughts you have in your head. it is human rights. as you know, grapple with ideas of service and democracy but the groups that organize in response saw that when you take one of the areas like obscenity , what that is is unprotected speech, and the area where the first amendment doesn't protect. when you start to lower the bar, you can see bad faith

actors trying to reduce what we can think and what we can say. >> you have to think of this as a right. a number of librarians tell me that the book may not be good, you may not like the book and you may not want the book read by your children but please give me the right to make -- >> absolutely and that is what is wild about offering cooking themselves and the mantra parental rights, a parental right is the right to decide what you and your family can read. they want that decision made. it is anti-liberty and it is an encouraging on your family's right and it mistakes a fundamental premise which is that reading and education is only in service of giving you things that you already agree with. it is a baffling conception of

what education is. >> and americans get theirs. polling shows that americans get this so where is this coming from? it has always been there in the 50 years you guys have been around. they did not want people interpreting the bible. it is that impulse doesn't go away. the impulse to control what people consume does not go away. >> it doesn't and that is why i think we are lucky to have a first amendment and you say first and foremost, the government should not be in our heads and dictating what we are to read but after that decision 50 years ago, there are lots of folks who would like to label a lot of things obscenity and remove it. and a lot of the folks who have been a part of this well organized, well-funded effort to ban books not just at the local level but now the state laws have worked that and now we see the term obscenity being applied basically.

>> that is exactly right. i would say the majority of books we cover that are banned and there are people talking about sexual assault and the obscenity with rape or obscenity with same-sex relations. this is not something you don't know but the kind of thing that used to happen. >> you've asked where is this coming from and as you have eloquently set up, we are winning with the first amendment, thank goodness. that remains a robust protection and we are waiting for the court of public opinion so where is the problem? the problem i mentioned is this is part of a well-funded, well organized national effort to not just ban books but to limit our freedoms and our access to public institutions like libraries, schools. >> you went to a meeting recently? >> i did, yes. i will give them credit, i am a

free speech advocate and they have every right to their views but what is clear is that book banning is just one piece of a broader agenda for them to cut back protect the children and really comes hand-in-hand with trans rhetoric as well as a full frontal attack on public institution, schools, libraries and places where to diverse knowledge and freedom to read so that is really in their sites. and what we need as people who fight the sensors and this is about principle and not politics, for us. it should not be a partisan issue and it is a shame that it is that we need a counterbalance, a well-funded organized effort to fight for liberty, real liberty and that is the freedom for families to access books for kids to read and what they need to be good learners and we at the national coalition against censorship have started this network, the right to read network to bring people together to resource

them and make sure they are up to date on the latest actions and encourages on the freedom to read and arm them with the tools to stand up for our democracy in the local communities and in november, hopefully. >> i have another hour of questions but i only have 40 seconds left in the show. thank you for the important work you are doing. the executive director of the national coalition against censorship. i want to let everyone know that i will be traveling to canada to talk about my new book, small acts of courage, the legacy of endurance and the fight for democracy. i will be in toronto on the 24th and vancouver on the 27th. tickets are available. follow me on social media for all of the details and i hope to see you there. that does it for me. does it f.