virginia, donald trump did not say don't vote for blankenship because he says offensive things, he just says he don't want you to vote for him because he doesn't think he can win. >> that is trump. it is transactional, about wins and losses. thanks for joining us. ac 360 starts now. thanks for joining us. it is primary night. waiting for returns. we will bring you results as they come in. a dramatic development in the mueller investigation and the investigation into michael cohen. cnn has learned that mueller's investigations have questions a russian oligarch. hundreds of thousands from this oligarch's u.s. affiliate was

made after the election. the purpose of the affiliate is unclear at this hour. cnn has not independently authenticated the documents. trying to acquire cnn and its parent company time warner. avenatti revealed earlier saying at&t paid. another company pharmaceutical called novartis just entered this. also bolsters the validity. victor vezelberg.

tonight avenatti posted a summary of his findings. and i quote, within approximately 75 days a payment to miss clifford, caused substantial funds to be deposited. it went to say from october 2016. totaling $4,425,000 and some change. chief among these suspicious financial transactions are approximately 500,000 in payment received from vikt tor vexelberg

and his cousin. avenatti's report also refers to elliott broidy. here is what mr. avenatti revealed earlier. as detailed below, mr. company hen received at least -- that originated from an account held into mr. broidy's name. so obviously a lot to go over. and as i said, we reveiewed the documents. the fact that at&t has come out and saying the documents related to at&t are correct bolsters the

authenticity of the documents. i know you are not going to say what your information is based on. but confident in the information you released earlier. >> 100%. we would not have released this if we were not 100% confident. right before we went live, the new york times issued an article. there is no question this is accurate. we have been working on this for some time. we have been on this case for a number of months. a team of individuals working on the case back in california and highly confident in the information we released. >> let's again with the $500,000 paid to michael cohen llc. is it clear to you why this company would have paid michael cohen after the election

payments up to $500,000. >> it is not clear to us yet. but what we do know is there was about a half a million payments that took place between january of 2017 so after the election that occurred in november 2016 and up through approximately august of 2017. so about an eight-month time period of payments totallying approximately half a million dollars. yet to hear an explanation from michael cohen as to why a personal attorney to the president of the united states who at the time was employed by the trump organization would be accepting payments from a russian oligarch to a tune of half a million dollars. >> columbusnova which is an affiliate of this russian company. this oligarch did not have any

involvement with the transaction. do you have evidence to the contrary? >> we do have evidence of the contrary. also we have the ceo, who is the cousin of the oligarch. and what is the explanation for the half a million dollars worth of payments? michael cohen should not have been accepting money especially under the circumstance at this time from anyone with russian ties. >> this american company gave money for the inauguration funds and gave money to the rnc and for some campaign stuff all of which is legal. at the very least, there may be no nefarious reason. they could have been hiring him. >> for what? his legal skill and acumen?

>> at the very least, it is moronic for michael cohen who is representing the president of the united states to be publicly seen as accepting money from a company which has such deep ties to a russian company with ties to putin. >> no question about that. you said he may have the ear of the president. michael cohen should not be selling access to the president of the united states. i mean, this is a big deal. >> do you believe that is what may have happened here? >> well, from the series of payments and of course there is a lot of talk about the revolution in our report about the payments made by the oligarch or through the u.s. entity of the oligarch. and other payments that have been exposed. at&t and novartis. and it appears that this may be your typical pay to play type

scenario. where you have someone close to a politician in this case, close to the president of the united states which is highly unusual selling access, potential access to the president of the united states. i don't believe that michael cohen is registered as a lobbyist or registered in order to be able to represent any foreign agents. this is a big deal. we had to have been receiving this money for something and unclear as to what the excuse is. and let us remember this, up until at least april of this year, michael cohen continues to serve as the personal attorney of the president of the united states. we saw the president on air force one refer to michael cohen his attorney. you have to speak to michael, he is my attorney. >> you said this $500,000 paid from this u.s. affiliate of a russian company which you believe was sent over by this russian oligarch or ordered by

vexelberg, it was received i believe some 75 days after the payment of your client stormy daniels. you haven't said this was repaying michael cohen for that payment. you said this did essentially replenish the potential consultant's account. are you making a connection? is this some sort of repayment made to michael cohen or 75 days later the first money that came in and replenished the coffers. >> this is what i said in the tweet. i was very clear. it may constitute the repayment of the $130,000. the first payment from the russiano russian oligarch. we are not aware of any other

deposits that came in during that time period. there may have been more but we are not aware of any and it appears, through rudy giuliani, although that is a never ending circle. no one can figure out the truth at least at the white house relating to what happened. according to rudy giuliani. president's reimbursement scheme, relating to the retainer invoices didn't start until much after this. >> do you have any evidence that any of these companies that were giving money into this account were aware this was the same account used to pay off stormy daniels? i would imagine any legitimate company or corporation would be very concerned that the money they are paying to this man, michael cohen for whatever services he is allegedly rendering or offering that it is

going to the same account that is being used to do hush agreements. >> we don't know if they knew or did not know. here is what we know for certain, essential consultants was formed. there is no question in my view that the purpose of the formation of that entity was to further shield that payment from scrutiny by not having michael cohen's name directly on it or donald trump. there is no question of that in my view. second, the bank account that was set up for the routing of the number was set up in the name of essential consultants llc and i raised this sometime on your show, potential charges that could be brought against michael cohen, i think i referenced on your show the kyc process, know your client. when they established this

account the bank would have asked michael cohen about its purpose, what the expected transaction flow was et cetera. we detail in the report now specific information that michael cohen gave to the bank when this account was opened which has proven to be false. >> a person can change the nature of their business. >> they can change the nature of the business but the nature of the business was ever real estate or anything else what michael cohen told the bank. >> we talked about at and t, this company according to your report, novartis paid him. do you know why these payment where is made? >> no. what we do know is that the president took a dinner with the ceo of novartis shortly after this payment.

and what is interesting about those payments frankly is the amount of those payments. they appear to be made in sums that are meant to avoid detection of some sort. >> $99,000 payment below the $100,000 amount. >> right. a small amount of being a round number. perfectly structured in that way to avoid detection or to avoid reporting requirement. >> i want to read the statement that columbus nova has put out. they said after the inauguration the firm hired michael cohen as a business consultant. reports today that vexelberg used as a cond wit are false. or provided funding for is engagement. >> columbus nova is owned by

100% owned by this russian national firm number one. >> they say it is an modern company, american ceo, american board. >> well, look, mr. intertar is the ceo. and of all of the people that could be hired for consulting advice on real estate and the like here in new york and there is a lot of real estate consultants, they just happened to hire the personal attorney of the united states. took a half a million dollars at the time period -- >> that's what i don't understand. >> you don't understand it, i don't understand it and anybody with any common sense in america shouldn't understand it. and look, there is an easy solution to all of this. and i am going to call for it tonight. michael cohen should turn over

all of his bank records from this account from its inception and through today. just release them. if there is nothing to hide he should release the bank records and i am sure it will all be sorted out and everyone will come to the conclusion that there is nothing untoward or popular here. this doesn't pass the smell test. >> the government would also have information on this that if they wanted to make public, they could make public. >> you are absolutely right. we have called for the release of the suspicious activity report relating to this account. we demanded its release. he did not respond. we have tried to make this a front and center issue without great success. and hopefully at this point, now, with the release of this information, there will be a call for the release of this information the suspicious activity report or reports

relating to this account so the american people can see exactly what happened here. and whether additional russian money was taken and in addition where the money went. did all the money go to michael cohen. did some of it go to the trump organization. did some of it go to the president. if additional moneys were received in a play to pay scheme, then another ball game. >> you are raising that michael cohen is receiving money to get access to the president of the united states and the president might be receiving some of that money? >> i am stating that is certainly a possibility because we don't know where all of this money went and we need to get to the bottom of it. the american people deserve to know where the money went. >> we will take a quick break. more with michael after the break. the mueller team has questioned a russian oligarch.

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cnn has learned that mueller has questioned a russian oligarch. so shimon, what can you tell us?

>> so investigators have questioned this russian man he is an oligarch, his name is viktor vekselberg. and you and michael talked about this. they questioned him about hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments that were made to president trump's personal attorney michael cohen in 2017. and also questions about other money that perhaps went into people affiliated with the trump campaign and inauguration. those questions were asked of viktor vekselberg when he was stopped by fbi agents. we are told that vekselberg has not been cooperative with authorities and didn't answer many of their questions and all of these issues that you have been discussing at least in part with avenatti have come up as concerns. >> let's talk about what the fbi wanted to know from him. >> viktor vekselberg is one of

the most prominent businessman in russia. spent $100 million to buy fabberge eggs to bring them home. he was also asked about questions payments to his cousin. his cousin had donated to the trump inauguration fund, totaling over $300,000. that is an issue and questions that authorities have asked vekselberg. columbus nova have given us a statement. we reached out to them and they have given us a statement in which i will read part of it to you. after the inauguration the firm hired michael cohen as a

business consultant regarding potential sources. reports that viktor vekselberg used columbus nova as a continue wi for payments to michael cohen are false. neither viktor vekselberg nor anyone else other than doll lum bus nova's owners were involved in the decision to hire company hen or provided funding for his engagem. we know mueller's investigators did question vekselberg about this. >> it is hard to believe that they just happened to pick, just the point that mr. avenatti made earlier, that they happened to pick michael cohen for real estate advice and nothing to do with his relationship with the president of the united states. to our knowledge, it is not known that there is anything illegal about these payments. >> there isn't. and nothing from at least what we have been told by our sources

specifically by one source who has knowledge of this investigation. there are suspicions as you raised. concerns that he was sanctioned by the united states for interfering in the u.s. election and linked to this company in new york that was paying michael cohen money. so certainly those are questions that investigators are going to have. that is why they stopped viktor vekselberg on a plane when he came to the new york area. also why they have questioned the man behind columbus nova. to see if there is any way, any kind of financial influence into the president's circle. so certainly these questions, these coincidences would be something investigators would want to look at. >> and it is his relative who is running the american arm of the

company. >> that is correct. and we confirmed that with at least three sources. there was this business relationship. this was a cousin. some folks have said he didn't know. there is lots of different takes on this. but nonetheless as we have said, there was concern from u.s. investigators. >> where do things stand with the criminal investigation. >> this judge appointed a special master to weed through this difficult issue of what should be covered by attorney/client privilege. as they continue in the investigation of cohen's personal financial dealings. the special master is going to set a time line. by the end of the week, the government has handed over already eight boxes of digitized documents as well as the contents of over a dozen electronic devices.

expecting a hearing in this case in about two weeks and at that point, we will have greater clarity of how big an argument this is going to be. how much of the documents have been seized or going to be subject to attorney/client privilege. >> right. to say he only had three clients. there are all these other companies. you know, between, that raises questions. i appreciate it. we are going to have more now from reporter m.j. lee. so avenatti, he is talking about these number of other payments what are you learning about those? >> according to avenatti, compacohen received significant amount of money. calls into question cohen's business practice. let's take a look at this one more time. in addition to the $500, we have

$400 from novartis. and $200,000 from at&t. and $150,000 from korea aerospace industries. >> what about response from the companies? is. >> essential consulting was one of several firms we engaged in to provide insights into understanding the new administration. they did no legal or lobbying work for us and the contract ended in december 2017. so at&t is confirming that they paid cohen for his services. and at&t is trying to acquire time warner and the justice department sued to prevent that merger from happening in november of last year. and two of the payments from

at&t to cohen were made before the justice department sued to block the merger. the pharmaceutical company also sent us this statement. any agreements with essential consu consultants entered before our current ceo taking office in february of this year and have expired. all of the money we are talking about has been paid to a bank account to pay off stormy daniels. this is the hush payment of $130,000. so it is certainly intriguing to coarse to avenatti that bank account was also used to receive significant sums of money after the election. we shouldn't lose sight of the big picture is that michael cohen is donald trump's fixer. the president's right-hand man.

so any payment is potentially important. cohen and his attorney have not responded to our request for comment. >> i seem to recall early on when you first came on. it was easy to trace essential consultants to michael cohen is because michael cohen did not do a good job of covering his tracks when he set this company up. >> he signed as the incorporator which is absurd. if you are trying to shield your involvement in the particular entity. >> at and t states they paid $200,000 to betterened t unders the physician. >> to get those insights. you shouldn't have to pay $200,000 to get insights into the administration. we know what that means.

that is first of all. second of all, it is interesting that at and t comes out and they issue their statement that they pay $200,000 for insights, and at the same time you have the entity tied to the oligarch stating they were purchasing real estate consulting services. you know, it is odd to me. >> and business opportunities i think they said. >> and capital opportunities or business opportunities. those are different things. so i doubt that michael cohen is a one stop shop for all of these services. this guy is like a renaissance man. he is a lawyer, a business consultant, business consultant. is there anything this man can't do? >> if you are looking for some form of expertise from michael cohen, understanding of president of the united state

president trump, access, would be his biggest calling card. >> that seems to be his only legitimate calling card. he shouldn't be selling access to the president of the united states, the peoples' president. if he is selling that access, it begs the question as to where this money went once it made its way into the account. >> there is also this payment of $180,000 from elliott broidy. and broidy alleged had. he is paying cohen, i don't know if that is for services rendered. and these transactions from others. some of these seem to go back and forth and curve around themselves. this to michael cohen is very suspicious. his represented parties on both

sides of settlement agreements. normally when you represent a defe defendant or potential defendant, you would be paid on an hourly basis. so you would be paid whatever your hourly rate times however many hours it is. in this case you would not expect michael cohen spent a considerable amount of time. certainly not 187,500 which is a round number. why mr. broidy over a number of months would be making regular level payments to michael cohen in connection to that. it doesn't make any sense. >> what is next for you in all of this? do you have a clear next step?

i mean, you put this stuff out here, i guess the ripple effects you don't know where it ends up. >> correct. we don't know what the ripple effects are. but we have shown flexibility and malleable. we are going to continue to do that. the timing of those, a fluid situation as you might imagine. we are going to see what the reaction is from the other side. i hope the president goes on fox and friends tomorrow and i hope that rudy giuliani makes the round on fox as well. and i am sure that is going to provide a lot of fodder for us. >> is it fair to, the reporting that mueller talked to the oligarch, that mr. mueller has all of this information, or close to this information that you released earlier. >> we don't know what mueller

has. he is an expert prosecutor, an expert attorney. we have a lot of confidence in his ability and his team. >> do you expect michael cohen to come forward and say anything about this? i mean, he is under criminal investigation, it is highly unlikely that he would make some sort of a comment. >> i think he made a comment either yesterday or the day before by way of twitter took exception to the "new york times" article which i was amazed at. i had to make sure it was him that posted it because it was so stupid. but who knows with this guy. they should release the bank records and the american people should demand the release of the suspicious activity report. >> the treasury department has them, they could do that? >> they could do it to want.

they could publish the sars. no reason why they shouldn't. publish them for the american people and let the american people look at the facts and the evidence. and if there is nothing nefarious here and all above board. and i don't believe it is for a moment. rudy giuliani should tell the president release the information so we can be over with this thing. >> why would michael cohen create this entity essential consultants seemingly with the purpose immediately the first thing it seemed to have done was to pay off stormy daniels before the election and use that same entity to collect other moneys from legitimate companies. >> i have no idea. >> from a business standpoint, there are other llcs, you set up

a a shingle and you want people to know you are working with these companies. >> it looks like it appears that he didn't want this known. again, in november, december of 2016, michael cohen does not appear to have any of these clients, novartis, at&t, it was only after the president was elected president that all of a sudden michael cohen, i guess on election night, michael cohen became an expert in business, real estate investing. and all of a sudden the guy is paid millions of dollars. >> it is the kind of thing that lob lobbyist are paid a lot of money

for, access. >> they are registered and they have to disclose things and there are rules and regulations. mr. trump when he ran for president, he said he was going to drain the swamp and wasn't going to take money. everyone remembers the rhetoric. and meanwhile, the guy's right hand attorney who had an office next to his office in trump tower, we find out immediately after the election he has his hand out and accepting all of this money. >> you tweeted that you are just getting started is that hyperbole? >> if anybody is paying attention, they know there is not a lot of hyperbole. we make a statement and back them up. we under promise and over deliver. there is more bomb shells, more

information. there has been some criticism about how our media strategy, and how often i am on cnn, and how often i am on your show and other networks. and it is all a bunch of nonsense, because it is working in spades. one of the reasons, one of the ways that it is working is because we are so out front on this, people send us information. people want to help our cause. people contact us with information. >> when you talk about your cause, what is your cause? what is the end. >> our cause is having the nda invalidated for stormy daniels. holding michael cohen responsible for his defamatory statements and holding mr. trump responsible for his defamatory. laid out for the american people to they can decide what to do. >> thanks very much. more reaction on that payment

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we heard from avenatti about a payment. joining me now for his take is preet bharara. i want to ask you about this information that avenatti released today. we reviewed the documents that appear to show these payments. we haven't been able to independently verify or authenticate the documents but we have viewed them and it does appear to show these payments. does it make sense to you that a russian oligarch would be depositing some $500,000 to

michael cohen -- >> no. it makes no sense at all. if you look at the timing of the allegations about collusions which is the thing the president likes to say no evidence of. and specifically by that word not a crime. then there is an election and in 2017, these payments that you folks have looked at. and i haven't looked at the document independently look like payments are made from a russian oligarch with relationship to putin. >> u.s. subsidiary to this company. >> yes, and then in 2018, that same oligarch is put on the sanctions list. so the turn of events from '16, '17, 'and 18, it is odd. at a minimum, it is a strange look for the president's personal lawyer knowing that any

connection certainly from folks that have ties to putin. maybe there was no crime and nothing untoward about it, but it looked fishy. >> just from an outsider looking in and maybe there is not untoward about it, but it does seem moronic for the president's personal attorney to be accepting half a million dollars from this russian oligarch. >> yes. >> moronic is the only word that comes to mind or nefarious. >> they are not mutually exclusive. i think that people are going to want to ask and understand what the reason for the payments was. and so if michael cohen gets charged or not cooperating already, this may be the thing that everybody is talking about. what information will he have that is of use to southern

district and their investigation of michael cohen or special counsel office in connection with their investigation of collusion. it is all speculation, we should say. maybe michael cohen will give the true reason, and maybe it is nefarious, and maybe he will lie. >> according to the documents which michael avenatti is referencing documents that we have seen but haven't been independently authenticate, there was $4 million, plus $4 million put into account over time. at&t put in $200,000. and we should say at&t is trying to acquire time warner cnn apparent company. there is a pharmaceutical

company, novartis as well as other smaller amounts of money. and if this is why would a russian aoligarch and south korean company put in money into an llc -- why wouldn't it be a public company? is. >> i don't know. it is also could be true that there are innocent explanations and maybe poor judgment to be engaged in a business transaction like this oligarch. or those transactions are nefarious. there are people who are unable to get confirmed in positions in the government because they represented at some point some russian company and this dates back to the campaign. the thing that makes the president upset.

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. we're dealing with a lot of breaking news tonight. reports of cash payments to president trump's personal attorney michael cohen. we're also keeping an eye on that west virginia senate primary tonight. it's been awhile since we've heard from "new york times" correspondent maggie haberman. first of all, let me just ask you about these -- the story today about the payments. does it -- i mean, just in terms of the optics, in nothing else, from michael cohen to be in business with even if it's an american affiliate of a -- run by a guy who is the cousin or relative of a russian oligarch whose company is a parent company of this affiliate with close ties to putin. >> i think the argument that cohen and his folks would make is that this was all legal. there was no reason not to make it. nothing prohibiting it. that may be true, but the optics are not good. at a moment when it was already clear that there were

investigations -- >> this is after the election. >> correct. it was after the election. clear there were already investigations going on into russian influence on the 2016 election. at minimum, as the president's personal attorney you could predict this was going to become a headache down the road. >> rudy giuliani's pushing back on this idea that the president -- that president trump is unhappy with his performance. what are you hearing from people? >> what i'm hearing is the president is doing what the president often does because he didn't like interpersonal conflict. he is basically okay with giuliani a little teasing about certain aspects of his performance, but hardly the stern voice we've heard he's had with other people talking about rudy giuliani. so he's fine to giuliani's face, more or less, and less fine after the fact. look, rudy giuliani has become essentially another staffer to donald trump and donald trump is famously up and down on his staff. i don't think giuliani was ever going to be an exception. i also think what trump was hoping giuliani would do, two things, one, he wanted him as a big name, a big splash.

no one's ever heard of these other people, the raskens, the new main lawyers to his team working on his case. he wanted somebody who could make a headline. he also liked the fact he thought giuliani could go on tv. he hoped, i think, to some extent, he would believe what giuliani was saying, we can make this go away. it's just dragged it out and gotten worse and giuliani is getting a lot of attention, which the president never likes somebody doing. >> giuliani started out when he was first named giving those interviews saying two weeks, the timeframe that we'll get this decided on and talking about his personal relationship with mueller, which i can't imagine would go down well with robert mueller, the idea he's influenced by a personal relationship. >> right. there have been a lot of saying the inside part out loud, right? we well aware ty cobb who has now left the team. said by several people to have had a good relationship with mueller, bud you did not hear ty

cobb talk openly about that or float it around. cobb gave a couple of interviews but nothing like what we've seen giuliani do. what giuliani has done that has bothered a lot of people around the president is he's talked about the conditions of an interview. this is an interview most peep on the president's legal team do not think he should be doing, period. the president, despite the -- is well aware of the danger. giuliani has created this condition where, you know, it's not clear whether mueller will exercise the subpoena power that he has to try to compel the president to talk. but he might almost feel like he has to based on what giuliani has been pushing him toward. >> you had reported that the president was feeling -- i can't remember if it was a month ago. >> or just an hour. >> it doesn't seem to exist for me any more. that the president was feeling more confident in his ability to be president. >> that was months ago. >> he's got this. >> yes. >> i'm wondering these days, do

you know is he still feeling that? >> he is still feeling that. it's funny you mentioned that. i had someone close to him bring up that piece to me in the last couple of days, saying that was correct. he is more emboldened. he does feel as if he's got this. as a colleague reminded me, is not dissimilar for any president entering his second year, but much more pronounced for trump for a couple of reasons. at the same time, he is very aware that there is a pending threat and is that threat has only gotten bigger in terms of the investigation into michael cohen. he is worried about it. he's not consumed but it is always there. >> he had had a dinner with michael cohen at mar-a-lago weeks ago. i guess it was on a saturday, if i remember. >> that's right. >> there was the phone call to michael cohen, which i believe was right after the raid. do we know are there any more connections? >> my understanding is no. i've heard from a couple of people that the president asks people, you know, how -- who know michael cohen how is he holding up, how is he doing?

you know, i have to imagine that that is said in part to get back to cohen. i don't know of any other direct contact, but what has existed has been enough. >> just in terms of, you know, the chief of staff kelly, kind of feeling within the white house -- is it as -- i mean, i guess with giuliani out there sort of making gaffe after gaffe, that's got to have been a concern. >> i mean, it's frustrating -- look, you've seen the stories about how trump is really frustrated. the reality is that, yes, trump is frustrate bod i soy what som giuliani has said. it was predictable he wasn't going to like some of what jounl's said. it makes the staff's job much harder. this untethered cooperate answering his phone during dinners. they don't really need two donald trumps. that is, i think, what they're concerned about. i think giuliani is having a lot of fun. i think he is enjoying theis. >> he's having a lot of fun? >> i do think he is having fun.

>> because he's back in front and center. >> yeah. i think this is -- he's a former prosecutor and i think he's got a long legal resume and i think there is an aspect of this that is enjoyable for him. >> maggie haberman, thanks very much. much more ahead on today's breaking news on michael cohen and payments linked to a russian oligarch. we'll also get on the updates going on in four states. west virginia, the controversial candidate says either way he's a winner because probation ends at midnight. he was in prison. that's not the strangest thing he's said during this campaign. details ahead. ♪ ♪

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only one candidate for governor when students were stuck in failing schools, led the fight to turn them around. as mayor of l.a., antonio villaraigosa invested in classrooms and security. graduation rates soared. antonio for governor. we're watching elections in four states tonight. primaries are happening in indiana, ohio, north carolina and west virginia. right now we can bring you these results from west virginia. cnn projects mike pence's brother greg pence has won the congre congressional bid. we're also keeping a close eye on an election in west virginia. i want to get the l