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leader, donald trump the president of the united states at the moment breathing a bit easier. remember, they had intervened to try to stop this man, don blankenship, a convicted coal. there was word he was surging. as of now with 30% of the vote in he is running third. we'll still count the votes as we go through. but right now the republican establishment fine with either attorney general battery morrissey or evan jenkins. they were worried about don blankenship if he won the nomination that democrat joe manchin would likely win and keep in that scenario in democratic hands a seat. the republicans very much think they can pick up this year. despite all the talk of a blue wave, donald trump won west virginia by more than 40 points. so they got very worried about blankenship. he is at only 23% right now. a lot of votes to count, but if you watch this play out, you see some of the morrissey votes up here in the northern part of the state. i point this out. he is running first. this is where he lives. actually, he's originally from new york but lived in west virginia for some time. you see his support tends to be in the northern part of the state.

again, he's running 35% statewide. jenkins, this is his congressional district. he's a congressman and this congressional district forms a belt around the southern part of the state. that's where he's winning, all these counties down here. only a couple of counties where you see don blankenship winning. only 40 votes here. you see it's only 40 votes here. so far blankenship getting votes everywhere but only leading in a couple of tiny counties. again, anderson, we'll count them to the end. the republican establishment, especially mitch mcconnell, mocked in this race, the china people ads, racist ads were aimed at mitch mcconnell's asian american wife. he is breathing easier tonight. they think either one of these two candidates will be very competitive, potentially being able to take this away come november. had it been blankenship, you would see the republican party as early as tomorrow pull out on national money. again, we'll keep counting then. it looks like one of the establishment candidates will win the race in west virginia tonight. >> all right. john king, appreciate it. we'll keep checking the results of the races.

to tonight's other breaking news. cnn has learned that mueller investigators have questioned a russian oligarch about hundreds of thousands of dollars of payments from his company's u.s. affiliate paid to michael cohen after the election. the purpose of those payments is unclear tonight, but michael avenatti, the attorney for adult film star stormy daniels, is alleging that cohen received a transfer of half a million dollars from a u.s. company affiliated with the oligarch, viktor vekselberg after the presidential election. cnn has reviewed documents that appear to show the payments. what we have not independently authenticated those documents. i spoke with michael avenatti earlier tonight. >> we reviewed the documents that appear to show the payments you revealed earlier today. we haven't independently verified them. the fact that at&t has come out and said the documents, at least related to at&t, are correct obviously bolsters the authenticity of the documents. i know you're not going to say what your information is based on but you're obviously very confident in the information you released earlier. >> 100%, anderson. 100% confident. we would not have released this

if we were not 100% confident in the accuracy of the information. i believe right before we went live "the new york times" issued an article where they verified the accuracy of what we've released based on their independent review of other documents. no question that this is accurate. it took a lot of work. we've been working on this for some time. we've been in this case for a number of months. we've been spending a lot of time on the case. we've got a whole team of individuals working on the case back in california. we're highly confident in the information we've released. >> let's begin with the $500,000 paid to michael cohen's llc, from in company, columbus nova, which is this u.s. company affiliated with a russian company with ties to oligarch with ties to putin. is it clear to you why this company would have paid michael cohen after the election payments up to $500,000? >> it's not clear to us yet, but what we do know is that there were about $500,000 worth of payments that took place between

january 2017, so this is after the election that occurred in november 2016. and then up through approximately august of 2017. so about an eight-month time period of payments totalling approximately $500,000. we have yet to hear an explanation from michael cohen to why the personal attorney to the president of the united states, who at the time, at least for a portion of that time was employed by the trump organization would be accepting payments from a russian oligarch to the tune of a half a million dollars. >> we should point out that the attorney for the american company, columbus nova, an affiliate of this russian company, they say the company made the payment. that this russian oligarch vekselberg had -- did not have any involvement with the transaction or any involvement with the decision to hire michael cohen. do you have evidence to the contrary? >> we do have evidence to the contrary. and also you have the ceo, mr. intrater, who is the cousin of the russian oligarch, who is also russian, obviously.

mr. intrater is. and, look, what's the explanation for the $500,000 worth of payments? michael cohen should not have been accepting money, especially under the circumstances at this time from anyone with russian ties, quite frankly. >> this american company, they gave money for the -- for the inauguration funds. they also gave money, i believe, for -- to the rnc and to -- for some campaign stuff. all of which is legal. at the very least, there may be no nefarious reason here at all that this company would have given $500,000 to michael cohen. they could have been hiring him for any number of consulting work. >> for what? his legal skill and acumen? i doubt that. >> well, you know, he does have the ear of the president. so a company might want -- but 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 vladimir putin. >> anderson, there is no question about that, but let's back up a minute. 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 that is what may have happened here? >> well, from the series of payments, and, of course, there is a lot of talk about the revelation in our report about the payments made by the oligarch or through the u.s. entity of the oligarch, but there are also other payments that have been disclosed. you referenced a couple of them. at&t, novartis. there are others disclosed within the report. it appears 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.

i don't believe he's registered as he should be in order to represent any foreign agents or foreign interests. this is a big deal. he had to have been receiving this money for something. it's unclear as to what the excuse is, as to why he was receiving this money, and let us remember this, up until at least april of this year, michael cohen continued to serve as the personal attorney to the president of the united states. we saw the president the first week of april on air force one refer to michael cohen as his attorney. in the present sense. you have to speak to michael. he is my attorney. >> more now on this from cnn national politics reporter mj lee. she joins me. mj, what are you learning about the allegations avenatti is making a number of other payments made into this account held by cohen? >> anderson, there is a lot of to digest here. according to avenatti, cohen received significant amounts of money from a number of entities, payments avenatti says call into question cohen's business tactics. take a look here.

we have $500,000 from columbus nova, a u.s. company linked to a russian oligarch. we also have $400,000 from novartis, which is a pharmaceutical company. there is also $200,000 from at&t and $150,000 from korea aerospace industries. so that is a significant inflow of money into the bank account of trump's personal lawyer that we are learning about for the first time tonight. >> has there been a response from these companies? i know there has been from some of them. >> that's right. we are starting to hear back from some of these companies. here is a statement from at&t. it says essential consulting was one of several firms we engaged in in early 2017 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 here is acknowledging they did pay cohen for his services and what they wanted from him was insights into president trump. as you know, at&t is trying to acquire cnn's parent company, time warner. the justice department sued to prevent that merger last year. according to avenatti, two of

the payments from at&t to cohen were made before the justice department sued to block that merger. also novartis, the pharmaceutical company, sent us this statement. any agreements with essential consultants were entered before our current ceo taking office in february of this year and have expired. >> so just to be clear, this is the same account. this is what is baffling to me, it's the same account that avenatti says was used to pay off stormy daniels, essential consultants llc? >> you're absolutely right. all of the money we've just been talking about tonight was sent to a bank account that cohen created in 2016 to pay off stormy daniels. remember, cohen paid stormy daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with trump. so it is intriguing. according to avenatti, that bank account was also used to receive money after the election. i think it's also worth emphasizing why michael cohen is such an important figure in all of this. he is donald trump's fixer. he was the president's

right-hand man for many years. he constantly talked to the president. so any payment to cohen during this presidency is potentially important. i will note on a final note that cohen and his attorney have not responded to our request for comment tonight. anderson? >>, many jr. lee, still a lot to learn. we're going to dig deeper into the legal implications for michael cohen and the criminal investigations surrounding him. also ahead, the very latest from primary voting in four states tonight. ( ♪ )

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again, the breaking news, cnn has learned that mueller's investigators questioned a russian oligarch about hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from his company's u.s. affiliate paid to the president's attorney michael cohen after the election. with me now, former federal prosecutors anne milgram and jennifer rogers and cnn national security analyst and retired cia chief of operations steve hall. jennifer, there is a lot we don't know about this, but -- we've seen the documents. we haven't been able to independently verify the authenticity of them. although they do seem to indicate the payments that michael avenatti has been talking about. does it make sense to you that michael cohen would accept $500,000 in payments from a company -- an american company whose head, american head is related to a russian oligarch whose -- who runs the parent company back -- and is very close with vladimir putin after the election at a time when the -- his client, the president of the united states, is under, you know, suspicion and a cloud of collusion or cooperation with russia?

>> well, i don't know that it makes sense in terms of is that the smartest thing to do at that period of time. maybe not. this is a period of time that, as reported, he has not been invited to join the president at the white house. he's kind of trying to scramble and figure out what he's going to do. maybe he just sets up this consulting shop and starts taking in money from wherever he can get it. i do think the fact of that money coming into him is of great interest to the prosecutors who i think have had this information for a long time. i'm sure they've already been chasing down where that money came from and more importantly what michael cohen did for that money. >> it's also interesting, anne, he would use the same essential consultants llc, which was clearly set up to facilitate the stormy daniels payment, that he would just continue to use that to take money from at&t -- >> yes. >> from a pharmaceutical company, from this russian oligarch through his american subsidiary. >> it's strange. remember, the company, essential consultants, is set up as a real estate consulting company. >> poorly set up.

llcs or usually set up to mask who the person is behind it. he actually signed the formation documents himself as opposed to having another attorney do it. >> right. that's true. to the point about what he's doing and why he's doing it. also, one of the things that i think is interesting is the russian oligarch who is pushing in this $500,000 is also someone recently sanctioned by the american government for having been involved in the election influencing. so the question of really where that money is coming from and why seems to be -- it feels to us that there is something more that we want to know. >> we should point out that the american subsidiary says the russian oligarch had nothing to do with it, nothing to do with the payment, nothing to do with michael cohen being hired for any purposes. but, again, we don't know what that money was used for. you know, michael avenatti has raised the specter that why are companies now suddenly in the wake of mr. trump's election suddenly now coming to michael cohen and giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars for his

real estate acumen or for, i mean, you know, the american company for this russian company said that it was, you know, possible real estate or other capital investments. >> well, i do think that there are so many people who want influence. i mean, there are lobbyists who get paid, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars because they're close to people who are important. i'm not that surprised he could make some money off of this. i just think the question of what this money was for, especially given the connections to other russian oligarchs who have shown up in the mueller investigation. that's what we really need to find out here. >> steve, what do you make of the alleged involvement of this russian oligarch? >> you know, anderson, sometimes the best counterintelligence work is simply looking at patterns and then using good focused common sense, and i think if we do that in this case, things become more clear. the oligarch you're talking about, mr. vekselberg, is worth $13 billion. he's not the only oligarch who has shown up.

we've seen -- deripaska has shown up when paul manafort was the campaign manager of the trump campaign offered a private briefing to him as to how things were going up. we've seen other oligarchs pop up in connection with donald trump jr. and others. there is a pattern, despite what the administration says, about russian oligarchs and russians in general sort of inserting themselves into this story. this idea that the american arm of this -- of this company that is owned by the oligarch has nothing to do with russia is, of course, ludicrous, but common sensically, is it just pay to play? that's one sort of political answer to this. the darker counterintelligence question i would ask is, you know, the russians we know were trying to get as many vectors as they could into the trump campaign, into the trump team. this is an opportunity to get trump's personal lawyer potentially, someone who would be a great access agent to provide information back to the russians or an agent of influence to try to get the president to do what his

personal lawyer wants him to do. there are a lot of counterintelligence questions remain to be worked on. and i think mueller's team is probably doing just that right now. >> steve, you discount the american affiliate of this russian company is independent of it. what makes you discount that out of hand? >> well, this -- this is something that the russians are expert at doing, which is taking quaint western and specifically american views about law and order, rule of law, how companies work, corporate responsibility, you know, anything that's connected to vekselberg, again, a $13 billion, you know, net worth kind of guy. especially when it's a family member of his that is running this thing. the fact that they have an american arm is designed to make us do exactly what you just did, anderson. say, wait a second, is there that kind of connectivity. in the west, that's a -- in that's a valid question. in russia, that's not the way it works. it's sort of all one big mafia family, if you will. >> what's interesting about this

american arm they gave publicly hundreds of thousands of dollars to the inauguration, to the rnc at one point. they were spreading around publicly. the idea this was also done on a more private track is also interesting. the payment wouldn't just be of interest to mueller's investigation. it would also be of interest to prosecutors in the southern district. >> yeah, absolutely. i think it's of interest on both sides. for mueller's team, there is this connection to russia and questions about, what is that money for? what are they getting from michael cohen in exchange for what is really a large amount of money? for the michael cohen prosecutors in the southern district, absolutely. and keep in mind, and jennifer said it, they've been going for months, they've seen all his bank records. they will have understood every single financial transaction that was made. it's news to us but probably not news to them. >> jennifer, it's also interesting, michael avenatti has made the point that the money was paid, you know, essential consultants is set up $130,000 is facilitated, in his words funneled -- in cohen's words, funneled to stormy

daniels, her attorney and representative. and then 75 days later, this $500,000 comes in several payments from the american affiliate of this russian company and refills the coffers. avenatti's not connecting this as a, you know, reimbursement for the stormy daniels payment, but essentially this is the first amount of money that he knows about that comes in in the wake of $130,000. >> yeah, that's the big question, you know, what's going in, what's coming out, how are these things connected if at all? is he really just setting up one company because he can't be bothered to set up more? he is doing all this consulting this way? or is this something, as you say, money goes out, money has to come in to replenish it and they're connected somehow. this is what everyone wants to know and the prosecutors are looking into. >> you would think a legitimate company -- these legitimate companies giving the money would be upset to know, oh, i'm actually paying this essential consultants, which was used to pay hush money to stormy daniels. that's not the kind of thing you put on your business, you know, perspective. on your business card. thank you.

jennifer rodgers as well. steve hall as well. our political panel weighs in on all of this. we'll get their reaction in a moment. also get an update on the the west virginia gop senate primary. looking right now at don blankenship's headquarters. the former coal company ceo president trump does not want to win.

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what we heard from michael avenatti seems to fall into that category. he's talking about a payment of half a million dollars from a company linked to a russian oligarch to president trump's personal attorney michael cohen made after the election. here to help me unwind this is is kerstin powers, robby mook and alice stewart. kerstin, do you find it strange that michael cohen used the same essential consultants llc setup to pay stormy daniels to take in all of this other money, more than $4.4 million? >> yeah, think it's definitely strange and i think there has been a question of how that money was repaid. so this could be one potential answer. at the same time, there is just so much information we don't have. it's not inconceivable that someone also would pay him money just to find out information about donald trump or to get access to donald trump. as much as michael avenatti was saying that shouldn't happen, it unfortunately does happen a lot. so that's what i would say, even

if it's not illegal, it's very swampy. this is the swampiest of swampy behavior. exactly what donald trump said was not going to be happening. even best case scenario, which is he got this money to influence donald trump, getting $500,000 in one case to do what this is exactly what donald trump said he was not going to do. >> this is the deepest underwater cave inside the swamp if it all bears out. >> exactly. >> this isn't even the first time we've had some kind of mysterious connection between cohen and russia. remember, the dossier, which is an unproven allegation in the dossier denied by cohen, but it did allege -- the steele dossier alleged that cohen was in prague meeting with a russian official tied to putin. then we have the real estate deal that felix sater and michael cohen were trying to put together in moscow, all through 2015, even into the beginning of 2016, and michael cohen, remember, e-mails putin's press secretary trying to get this real estate deal unstuck in

january of 2016 on the edge of the republican primaries and caucuses. fast forward to early 2017, donald trump is now president. cohen takes $500,000 from this oligarch-linked company. within weeks of that, i think another thing that has been forgotten here is cohen and sater then show up at the white house and present this bizarre peace plan, this pro-russia peace plan to solve the ukraine crisis to michael flynn, the national security adviser. so there is this two-year trail of cohen and sometimes involving felix sater of relationships with russians and now we have this big payment in the middle of it. maybe it's, you know -- i think it's beyond swampy and there is a lot for mueller to dig into there. >> even if there is nothing nefarious, just from a political, you know, protecting your client, the president of the united states, it just seems like not a good idea to take $500,000.

>> none of this is a good idea, but this is the way they've operated in business for decades. this is, you know -- there is a lot of swampiness that goes on in new york business, unfortunately, and i just don't think that they realized -- old habits die hard, let's just say that. michael cohen isn't exactly the most upstanding businessman as we've seen in a number of instances. there is more on top of what ryan just laid out that makes this even more questionable. this russian oligarch, vekselberg, he has -- the ties in here are really interesting. so this american company, columbus nova, that paid cohen $500,000. they're saying, well, it's an american company. yes, but it's run by the cousin of this billionaire oligarch. this guy also was the single biggest shareholder at the bank of cyprus. at a time where -- and everyone knows that cyprus is a known location for a lot of --

>> wilbur ross. >> wilbur ross was the vice president of the bank at the time while this billionaire was the single largest investor in the bank of cyprus. he's also attended the inauguration. who did he get the ticket for the inauguration from? his cousin. the same person who runs this company that we just found out gave $500,000 to michael cohen last year. >> that company gave $250,000 for the inauguration. >> for the inauguration as well, yes. so you can't sit here and tell me this is not some kind of sophisticated operation for influence. they know what's going on. these are not people who don't understand how our political system works. so the fact that there is -- if anyone's looking for collusion, these are the kinds of things that are, i would say, point directly to collusion. one other thing, this same gentleman was sitting at that rt dinner famously, the december 15th, 2015 dinner where michael flynn was when he went to rt and got that money and putin was there. this gentleman was there with michael flynn sitting next to putin. it's very incestuous. >> manafort's accused of laundering money through cyprus,

being investigated for that. >> that's correct. >> the optics here are obviously pretty terrible. i mean, again, we don't know if michael cohen did anything illegal. >> right. >> certainly we don't know if anything extended anywhere near the president, but on its face, the optics of this and all of these different funds being jumbled into one pot doesn't look good at all. to the point, tara, you did a very good job of laying this out, but it's very confusing. there is no idea where this is going. i think this whole post election collusion argument tends to be approaching. i think most people look at it and say, wait, what does this have to do with donald trump? we're pushing up on a year that this investigation's been going. nothing proven that there has been any sort of collusion between the campaign and a foreign entity. i think that's where a lot of people shrug their shoulders. >> this comes the closest. this comes the closest. a billionaire went to the inauguration. donald trump's fixer, his personal attorney. >> let him finish. >> we see the president withdrawn from this iran deal.

seen the good economy. the president has his best poll numbers of his entire presidency right now. >> both can be true. >> a lot of people hear these things and kind of shrug. this is confusing -- it doesn't seem to deal with the president. >> it's confusing in general, but it's less confusing, i mean, just the president's attorney took $500,000 from russian oligarchs, american subsidiary. that's pretty -- >> who is -- who went to the inauguration -- >> as you say, the optics are not good. >> the optics are terrible and michael's going to have a lot of explaining to do. it sounds like he's getting quite the visit, whether it's the southern district or the mueller team. again, there is a difference between that -- clearly it looked like he had other business interests. and he was trying to make some money from some other entities. big difference between that and the president. >> alice? >> i think the problem is while the russia oligarch organization was very sophisticated, i think they found someone very unsophisticated to target in order to gain access to the president. what it looks like, michael cohen clearly didn't cross all

of his ts and dot all of his is. we know he used funds from russian people to potentially pay off stormy daniels and for other purposes. here is what i think a lots of people watching this are wondering, what does this have to do with me? what does it have to do with the american people? does it indicate some kind of collusion? i think we have to wait and see. this russian oligarch was questioned by robert mueller. it will be interesting to see what came out of that. we also have michael cohen was obviously raided by the feds. he's facing mail fraud and potential campaign -- bank fraud and campaign finance violations. this is so in the weeds it gets curiouser and curiouser. i think the people at home are wondering is this more down the road of russian collusion or does this just look really bad and potentially there is no illegal activity? >> first of all, let it just be said this is further evidence that there were not just relational ties between the trump organization and russia, but now financial ties.

that's not less evidence of collusion, it's more. but to your point -- actually, the points both of you guys made, i think there is an important nugget here. first of all, there are two kinds of accomplices that the russians can cultivate here in the u.s., witting and unwitting. this may be an example of a witting accomplice or unwitting. >> useful idiot. >> willing idiot, whatever you want to call it. i think this absolutely affects the american people. the president just withdrew from the iran agreement today. that's exactly what the russians wanted. the sanctions were not -- >> well, as did israel and saudi arabia. they both wanted it, too. >> the sanctions were not put into place until months after congress said they had to be. that's absolutely what the russians wanted. get what? the republican party's platform was mysteriously changed in summer of 2016 to withdraw sections that addressed what russia had done in the ukraine. that matters. >> there is still an investigation into russian hacking.

>> that's right. >> let's take a quick break. we're going to continue this discussion. more on the other side. we'll also check in with the west virginia gop senate race where the candidate has done prison time and used racial slurs in his campaign ad is trying to pull out a win tonight. ritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection.

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the american subsidiary of this russian company says, look, we were hiring him for business opportunities and real estate opportunities. i'm paraphrasing. the at&t statement was basically, look, we were looking for, you know, again, i don't have the words in front of me -- >> insight. >> insight into -- >> the administration. >> that, to me, makes sense. i feel like that's pretty spelled out. yeah, they wanted to figure out this administration. this idea that this american-linked russian company, he was the guy they would go to for real estate advice seems ludicrous on its face, all the potential experts in real estate and business opportunities, you just happen to pick the president's attorney? that just seems like -- >> that does not seem so credible. >> also that company, columbus nova, they're an investment management firm and their number one client is the russian billionaire oligarch's

conglomerate. for anyone to say this is a separate company, it's not don mifflin in scranton. this is a company clearly running the operations and the money of a russian oligarch worth $13 billion very close to putin. >> if michael cohen was just, you know, promising access, promising insights, there is nothing illegal about that, is there? >> there are lobbying laws that could be triggered. >> if he actually did take something, you know, on their behest to the president of the united states, he would need to have registered under the foreign -- what is it? >> the foreign agency -- >> registration act. so you can't -- it's even -- in which you have to actually -- >> although, if it was for an american company officially. >> lobbying disclosure act. >> that would mean him having -- we would know that. it would be public. >> if in some way the oligarch was using this american company as a way to launder money to cohen to evade the foreign -- >> yeah. >> the fara act, that could potentially have legal

implications. remember, manafort, a lot of the indictment against manafort was involved with fara registration violations. >> if there is any chance you're representing a foreign government, that's how strict it is -- >> he did deliver this plan through the white house to flynn -- >> there is also elliot broidy who michael cohen supposedly sort of facilitated the hush money agreement he made to somebody he allegedly had an affair with. but there is now a payment from broidy of i think 180 something thousand dollars made to michael cohen in this. >> it seems like a mixed use company. we have, like, three different things here. we have just, like, classic rain making, okay, at&t giving some money. we'll teach you about trump. the payments to women. >> there are many shingles. >> but this is actually important, though, when we think about elections and what the political implications. you guys were saying this is confusing to people. we have big pharma, a major

cable communications company trying to acquire somebody. you know, donald trump ran on trying to clean up and straighten up washington. when it comes to election time, the more of this stuff that starts to come out, the more there is really going to be a case for corruption. it's why i'm surprised he's kept scott pruitt around so long. we're seeing the same thing coming up, wasting taxpayer money, lying about it, covering it up. that i think from an electoral standpoint -- is going to come home at some point. >> at the end of the day, though, i think we're going to find out -- we're at the very beginning of this. we're going to find someone, michael cohen, who wanted to work in the white house, wanted to have an office in the west wing, did not get that. his next option, well, i'm going to stay on the outside and make all the money i could from the people i can get it from. he didn't know the rules. if he did know them, he appears to not be following them. when we get to the end of the road, i believe that's who we're going to find. somebody who didn't get in so he's making all the money. >> it's corruption.

>> or the president never offered him a job. >> no wonder. would you offer a guy a job in the white house? you have to report everything, you don't want this guy in the white house. >> let's give the president credit where credit is due. he didn't offer him a job. >> he didn't hire the best people for the government, right? >> he kept him out of there. i think that was good. >> the question on the table is this standard pay for play or something far more nefarious? >> he also did have him on retainer. he was paying him a monthly retainer, whether or not he was in the white house or not -- all right -- >> i don't know why stormy's lawyer is talking about it. i have no idea. >> he's proven pretty accurate so far. thanks, everyone. coming up, the latest from the west virginia primary race and the controversial candidate who has hurled nicknames at his fellow republicans and spent time in prison to boot.

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votes are still being counted in that west virginia senate primary tonight.

for republicans, it is a very big deal. we talked to john king earlier in the hour. he referenced some racist, at the very least race baiting remarks in don blankenship's ads. note that as you watch this, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, no friend to blankenship, is married to elaine chao, who is asian american. >> swamp captain mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china. while doing so, mitch has gotten rich. his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. mitch's swamp people are now running false negative ads against me. they are also childishly calling me despicable and mentally ill. the war to drain the swamp and create jobs for west virginia people has begun. i will beat joe manchin and ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. >> yeah, he said china family and china people there. he also said cocaine mitch, which seems to be a reference from an allegation years ago that drugs were found on a cargo ship on the other hand by chao's family. it's worth noting blankenship

spent a year in jail because when he was the owner of a company called massey, one of the mines clapped. >> anderson, if don blankenship is saying provocative things tomorrow, it will not be as a candidate for the united states senate. cnn can now project he is going to run third in the republican primary. you see the results right in here. don blankenship just shy of 21%. the state attorney general patrick morrissey currently leading at 33%. congressman evan jenkins at 30. we're not sure of the leader yet. we're not ready to call the winner yet. but based on our math, based on the analysis that don blankenship is going to run third. meaning a nightmare scenario for the republican establishment is over. president trump certain to take some credit for this tomorrow. remember, he tweeted on election eve, republicans don't vote for don blankenship. if he wins the nomination we will lose this seat in november. it is a held by joe manchin. it is considered one of the most promising target for republicans in an otherwise difficult year.

we played that ad. he was viewed as a race baiter, he attacked the republican establishment. ewas a disaster the deaths at the massey coal mine that all the republicans assumed would be used against him in the fall. he also told cnn tonight if he runs third, he will not follow through on a threat to perhaps run as a write-in candidate. it appears that don blankenship's political career, at least in this cycle is over, anderson. we'll continue to count the votes to see who the winner is. ask republicans who they favor of these two, they're fine with either one. they believe joe manchin is one of the most vulnerable democrats in the country. they believe the president's popularity will help them here. he has visited west virginia several times already. and they think either one of these two establishment republicans, the attorney general and a republican congressman will be very competitive against joe manchin. most of all, anderson, they are happy. don blankenship when we're completely done with the votes will be done. >> thank you very much. joining me is dana bash and our political director.

how do you see the race playing out tonight and the significance of it? >> the significance, first of all, is according to what john just said, that we are projecting right now is that the man that republican leaders here in washington were most worried about is not going to be their nominee. i mean, that's the headline. and the other two, depending on who wins, they're fine with. because this is a senate seat that they feel that there is no reason they should not win the incumbent. joe manchin has been in politics in west virginia for a very long time. he was governor before he has been senator. but he is also somebody who endorsed hillary clinton in 2016. and in west virginia, that is about as bad politically as it gets. it's a state where donald trump won by 42%. so what it means is that republicans are breathing a sigh of relief that this is still in play politically.

but also sort of morally, frankly, they're also very happy that they don't have to deal with the fact that don blankenship has been using what they consider and many consider and what just is racially insensitive language and continuing to double and triple down on it, aiming it at the republican leader mitch mcconnell. >> and david, the president tweeted his support at john manchin yesterday for the other two gop candidates in virginia. there was certainly a concern among many establishment republicans they could split the anti-blank blankenship vote. the president probably deservedly is going to take some credit for defeating don blankenship. >> he does deserve some credit. this is different than what we saw in the alabama primary where he backed luther strange, the establishment guy. and nonetheless roy moore went on to win that primary. here donald trump is showing some sway inside the party that is taking shape in the mold of

donald trump in many ways throughout this campaign season, anderson. and so with him weighing in, remember, because mitch mcconnell and his allies and the establishment wanted him to do so, they -- as dana was just saying, they were so fearful of a blankenship nomination that they really asked the president to weigh in here. so he will take some credit. now, he will note in that tweet, he didn't make anything about the moral argument or the racist statements that don blankenship said. he made a purely practical political pragmatic statement saying this guy can't win. so please don't be with him. >> dana, administration official told cnn that blankenship is, quote, roy moore on steroids. you know, he said racist, disparaging comments about mitch mcconnell's family and should point oz his probation after serving only a year in prison ends oddly enough at 12:01 tonight. >> you know, i think what these people here in washington, what republicans have meant by talking about don blankenship as

roy moore is what david was just saying about the message and the argument that the president made at the 11th hour about don blankenship, that he is unelectable. there are certainly republicans like jeff flake who is leaving who argued today it's not just about don blankenship not being able to win, it is about don blankenship shouldn't be able to win. he shouldn't be a senator. so i think that there is some of that there as well. >> dave, just moving beyond west virginia, i know we have a projection in ohio. >> cnn can now project in the ohio republican senate primary there that jim renacci will take on sherrod brown, the democrat. he's got 45.7% of the vote. so renacci will move on to take on sherrod brown. again, one of the democrats running for reelection in a state that donald trump won in 2016. renacci started this year actually in the governor's race,

but the republican candidate has dropped out and renacci came in at the end to be the republican nominee there. >> all right, davwe'll be right back. with the power of 335 turbo-charged horses the lincoln mkx, more horsepower than the lexus rx350 and a quiet interior from which to admire them. the lincoln spring sales event is here. for a limited time get 0% apr on the lincoln mkx. plus get $1000 bonus cash.

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