supporters seem proud. >> nobody kicks omarosa out of the white house. >> i just have this flashback to one time when then donald trump said to me, what do you think of omarosa. people hate her and i kind of love her. i think they love watching her. and guess what, they do. >> "ac360" starts now. good evening. it's been nearly 48 hours since the secret recording made by michael cohen of donald trump was made public, nearly 48 hours the campaign lied about his knowledge of the deal to buy the silence of a playboy model who alleges a 10 month affair. no one has owned up to the lie. the silence is deafening. the president is feeling the heat and one official saying it's getting closer and closer

to his inner circle, how do you think he feels. according to the "wall street journal," allen, long term part of the white house, you may recognize him he was for a time a judge on "the apprentice." the former employee telling cnn he knows every deal the president has been involved with quote every sale anything and everything done and including the deal candidate trump and michael cohen talked about in 2016 and team trump has lied about from the moment this story first came to light. the deal was to buy the rights of karen mcdougal's story, the playboy model who was alleging a 10 month affair before and it was purchased by david from a magazine that bought the rights.

here is michael trump talking about starting the deal. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david, i will do that right away. >> give it to me. >> i've spoken to allen about how to set the whole thing up. >> i've spoken to allen weiselberg to set the whole thing up. so much for saying this was something he did on his own and not with the organization. he spoke to how to set it up with the trump organization. said to be the most powerful non-family member in the company and suggesting he knows about this $150,000 payoff for the media, pretty standard financial stuff, happens in every company, right. the deal was to make sure mr. trump controlled the story in case the american media, david

p -- gets hit by a trump. american bought the rights in august and just days before americans voted, campaign spokesperson, hope hicks, said, we have no knowledge of any of this. maybe she didn't and was lied to as well. nevertheless it's hard to think allen would and he's been at the organization since his father was there and he would know if his old boss was lying or concealing something when he said this in january 2017. >> i tweeted out i have no dealings with russia. i have no deals in russia. i have no deals that could happen in russia. because we stayed away. i have no loans with russia. as a real estate developer i have very little debt. people found out how big the company is.

little debt. i have no loans with russia at all. that was important to put out. i certify that. i have no deals, no loans and no dealings. >> as chief financial officer of the trump organization allen would know if that's true and had plenty to say about this press conference which seems like so long ago. >> what i am going to be doing my two sons here, don and eric, are going to be running the company, they are going to be running it in a very professional manner. they won't discuss it with me. again, i don't have to do this. they won't discuss it with me. and with that i will bring upshurry dillon. these papers are some of the many documents i've signed turning over complete and total control to my sons. sherry dillon. >> the stack of folders

president trump did not let anyone look inside of. he turned over the company not to a blind trust but his sons and allen weisselberg would certainly know whether this was a lie. >> i'm under a routine audit and it will be released and as soon as the audit is finished it will be released. >> the president has yet to this day to show he is being audited, breaking with tradition. in fact he considers his personal finances off-limits to investigators. he might not have a choice in that matter. we have new reporting tonight. let's start off with jeff at the white house. the president, i should say, is due any minute now returning from joint air base andrews. what are you learning about this stuff with weisselberg. >> reporter: the president will be returning and we know he left

still fuming over secret recordings with michael cohen. as he was visiting arizona, his mood turned even angrier learning about the report. there is no one who knows more about the trump finances of anyone on the planet, this cfo of the trump organization. the president, when he came to washington, he left the organization in mr. weisselberg's hands. i am told by a white house official who said it's getting closer and closer to his inner circle. how do you think he feels? to point out, no sense of wrongdoing by mr. weisselberg, but knows a lot and prosecutors want to know more about finances and other matters, tax returns, you name it. if you want to subpoena someone, this is someone who knows where a lot of the information is. i can just hear right now the

president landing on the south lawn of the white house momentarily. we will see if he says anything in a while about these questions. >> how did he find out weisselberg was subpoenaed? >> reporter: i'm told he was given a heads-up by his lawyers and did see it play out in television in real-time doing his campaign style events this afternoon watching that coverage. this was not surprising it necessarily happened. we do know the michael cohen prosecutors are looking at all of this and his name was mentioned on a recording we heard on cnn this week and he did learn about it this afternoon. and one aide pointed to his mood at the second event in granite city in illinois outside st. louis listing a long list of grievances, he seemed a bit agitated, his mood and mindset come back tonight. we'll see if he talks about it.

>> what are your sources telling you about the clout weisselberg has in the organization? >> reporter: we have been talking those who understand it and there are few people that understand the finances of the company better than this man. he is the man who overseas every dollar that goes in and out of the company and gives trump personal updates to financial matters and as you can guess privy to sensitive information over the years. one employee says the weisselberg subpoena is an ultimate nightmare of donald trump because of how much he knows. allen knows where all the financial bodies are buried and knows every deal and dealership and he knows every sale. he knows every membership, anything you can think of. this person wasn't saying there are any bodies at the trump

organization, making the point, if there are any, weisselberg would know. >> when we heard the name on the trump tape -- michael cohen said i did this on my own, nobody in the trump organization had anything to do with it. clearly, this is not the case in the macdougall matter. >> reporter: sure. it seems he could answer questions about his conduct and you heard his name mentioned in the recording and tells trump he consulted on the issue of payment to karen mcdougal, the woman who says she had an affair with donald trump. and he should know how exactly cohen planned to make this hush payment to macdougall. did he plan on using cash or was

it a check? beyond that, weisselberg may have known of other people cohen may have paid or tried to paid on president trump's behalf like karen mcdougal or stormy daniels. it's not hard to imagine why he would be a key piece in the cohen investigation. >> someone who has all kinds of questions for the president and people close to him, richard blo blumenthal. there is so much we don't know about the finances and taxes the president has paid. how important do you think this is? >> it is a potential bombshell, not only because allen weisselberg has the keys to the kingdom, he knows where all the bodies are buried. it shows the prosecutors-hour following the money. that is key, whether it's the

deals, dealings and loans in russia that may provide a motive, what does putin have on trump has been one of the most common questions asked in the wake of helsinki, also, it shows they are in fact knocking on the white house door. >> the sympathies by the southern district, whatever is revealed would be of interest to the mueller investigation? >> that is the key part and there is one department of justice here. everybody reports to rod rosenstein. the effort to impeach rod rosenstein shows again folks are becoming increasingly worried and desperate about how the department of justice is in fact closing in on the trump financial matters, and that information will go back and forth. grand jury information can be shared among offices. in fact, the irs information the

mueller investigation obtained will also go to the southern district of new york. >> would the mueller investigation even know if donald trump is being audited by the irs? would they have that information? >> they could well have access to that information. there has to be a showing to get irs information. it certainly could be made available. >> it is fascinating at this point there is still so much, the president despite during the campaign said when this alleged audit is finished i will release it, so much to do with finances and as he told the "new york times" he views that as a red line for the mueller investigation. >> to your point, it shows he is becoming increasingly concerned, i think is the right word to describe it, certainly the evidence of his statement of grievances recounted here. also keep in mind, there are other ways we can get at that financial information. i have led two of my colleagues

in a lawsuit under the constitutional provision that forbids his taking payments and benefits from foreign governments. what we want to know is the entire universe of payments and benefits he received without consent of congress and we're hoping the court will give us the standing to move ahead with that lawsuit, which could be very very important. other lawsuits are going forward as well. as you said, he has never surrendered ownership of the trump organization. what allen weisselberg has to say about the ongoing affairs of that organization can be imputed as the owner. >> in response to a sympathy to testify, he can be asked anything. >> he can be asked anything. from there is no limit to what he can be asked about a shell

company about the fact donald trump and michael cohen were in a conspiracy to violate the campaign finance laws. that evidence is powerful in implicating trump and cohen in a criminal conspiracy. >> when you say criminal conspiracy, you're talking about a violation of federal election campaign laws? >> a potential fraud investigation, other kinds of fraud investigations, the agreement to work and concealing together the potential deception of the government is certainly a violation of campaign finance laws, if proven by other evidence and confirmedsa and implicates allen weisselberg as well. and anything else about the financial dealings involving russia and deutsche bank, acknowledged in fact money laundering for russia. it's also donald trump's main

bank. there are a lot of ties here allen weisselberg would know. >> a lot to talk about now. gloria borger and john dean and jeffrey toobin. jeff, everybody kind of knows michael cohen. this guy, weisselberg has been there longer and involved in a lot more aspects of the trump organization than michael cohen does. >> absolutely. he goes back to donald trump's father, how longs he's been with the company. if you were talking about financial crimes, the chief financial officer, which is what he was, is not only the person whose testimony you want but you want to get the records he has access to. white collar cases are almost always made not just on testimony but on financial records. he's the one who will know where all the financial records are. those are the records they will

subpoena and that is the key to any case if there is one. >> gloria, as jeff said, he's been working for the organization decades and knows more than anyone outside the president's own kids and probably more than the president's own kids. >> i think he does. he has the trust of donald trump. when donald trump became president, he left the trump organization -- weisselberg was in charge, along with his own kids. imagine that. that's how much he trusts him. the fact they're interviewing weisselberg as a witness has to make donald trump very nervous. he knows everything. he's the bookkeeper essentially and cohen had to go to him. it should make the president uncomfortable. >> stormy daniels and his supporters claims was that was something michael cohen did. there was already evidence back then there were connections to

the trump organization and used a trump lawyer for arbitration. he is saying regarding karen mcdougal he is using someone from the trump organization to set up this company. you know better than most it is about following the money. >> absolutely, anderson. they're right on the money with this witness. he clearly crossed the red line but this is the southern district crossing the red line. i don't think they will pay any attention and go where the money leads them. this is the witness that will take them there. >> this is the witness that will take them there. much more to talk about with our guests including the "new york times" reporting robert mueller is looking at twitter posts and obstruction of justice. and the compliance of a judge's order to reunite children with their parents.

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as we're reminded daily and almost hourly, president on twitter and we're reminded about the fbi and james comey. it turns out james comey lied and leaked and totally protected hillary clinton. he was the best thing that ever happened to her. where are dnc server and intel leakers. the reporting from the "new york times" mueller is looking at the president's tweets, how big a deal is that? >> it's a very big deal. the issue with any sort of white collar crime is criminal intent.

was there criminal intent? how do you determine if there was criminal intent? the voice and words of the would-be defendant. what's bizarre in watergate we had to wait until the white house tapes corroborated what john dean said went on in the oval office. here, you have the president himself essentially confessing to obstruction of justice. the fact that they're looking at this is simply what responsible prosecutors would do. >> john, never before in the history of the presidency have we had a real-time look into what the president's thinking is. >> that's exactly right. the tweets are a very unique source. i happened to take a look after the announcement about looking at the tweets came out, at the bill of impeachment. i noticed that article i, the obstruction article for nixon really draws heavily on his

public statements and not so much his private statements or the tapes. they used the tape after they had written a report after they said this kind of confirms what we already figured out. >> in fairness to the president here, their argument is, how can it be criminal intent if he's just broadcasting it to the world? how can he think he's doing something wrong if he is telling everyone in a tweet? you can be a brazen criminal, that's the response, but that is a legitimate point, that his defenders say. >> the team is dismissing this argument the president is within his rights to defend himself on social media. >> they're saying he can use social media, rudy guiliani is making the case jeffrey is talking about. if he was trying to obstruct justice, why would he do it in plain view. you can look at some of these tweets and say this is kind of witness tampering. i went back and looked at the 40 plus questions that teemu ler gave to trump's attorneys months

ago saying, these are some of the things we'd be interested in. one of them was, for example, what was the purpose of your may 12th, 2017 tweet? that was the tweet in which he said to comey, you better hope there are no tapes. so they're already interested in tapes. then he said, what was the purpose of your september and october statements including tweets, regarding james comey? what was the purpose of your july 17 tweet regarding mr. sessions? it's very clear that if they're going to make an obstruction argument and we don't know that they will, they have to piece together, it's tough, you guys are the lawyers, it's tough, they'd have to piece together some kind of mosaic that went to trump's intent, which is what they want to ask him about if they ever get to sit down for an interview with him. >> remember, too, this is not a conventional criminal case. under department of justice policy, mueller cannot charge

the president with a crime. if this is a further investigation it is an impeachment investigation and that's as much a political enterprise as a legal one. >> john, guiliani said if you're going to do a criminal enterprise you do it in secret and not in public. this is a president that does a lot of things publicly. for an obstructions case, does there have to be one big thing or could there be multiple little efforts to kind of -- according to prosecutors, amount to some obstruction? >> when you look at the bill of impeachment for nixon, the article i, you see they drew heavily on many of his public activities, the fact he had misled the public as part of his scheme to obstruct and dangling to witnesses, sometimes privately and sometimes not so privately. particularly with trump, his use

of the pardon has appeared to be rather blatant in signaling to witnesses what they might get if they hang in. it's a combination of public and private. i think that's what we will see in the case they build. i'm almost positive that mueller is building an obstruction case. >> you think so, really? >> i do. >> what is it that makes you so convinced? >> not only they're now looking at the tweet, the conspicuousness of his actions, it would be almost malpractice to not address that because trump has clearly been obstructing this investigation since he won the presidency. >> remember, too, it was the firing of james comey that prompted the hiring of mueller. that potential act of obstruction is the birth of this investigation. >> gloria borger, john dean, jeff toobin, thank you very

much. >> more now on the deafening silence and behind the decision to put that tape out there.

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the president just returned

to the white house. he's said to be angrier than when he left as investigators get closer and closer to his inner circle and so-called red lines. the heat he's feeling is heat of his own making and the woman said to be lying about the affair she said she had with him and now that the lies have been yield to be lies, the silence is deafening. the reporters on the south lawn just moments ago. >> mr. president, are you concerned about -- >> mr. president, do you have any response to michael cohen? mr. president? allen weisselberg's subpoena? will you respond to allen weisselberg's subpoena? >> no answers there, none this

morning, no answer yesterday either. when kaitlyn collins asked the question at a white house event, actually there was an answer. serving as a pool reporter for all the networks was then barred from the following event. more on that shortly. i want to check in on cnn abbey phillips at the white house. you asked the white house today about this. what happened? >> reporter: we've gotten nothing but silence on this all day today. and all week. this is a white house that has only had three white house press briefings all month and only one this week and the president on the lawn refusing to answer questions from the reporters about a number of topics that have come up about this issue. the reason we continue to ask the white house about this because hope hicks, the president's spokesperson during the campaign denied any knowledge of this payment to karen mcdougal during the campaign. now, that's known to be untrue

and the president used to stopping with reporters and not giving comments and a stern look and wave as he walks back into the white house. >> is the white house telling us why they aren't saying anything or silent on that, too? >> reporter: they are pretty silent on that, too. this afternoon on air force one, deputy secretary hogan got questions on this and all he did was refer questions to the outside attorneys. that's the move they are making to deflect some of these questions. we had a chance to ask bill shine, deputy chief of staff of communications responsible for disinviting kaitlyn collins and he also declined to answer any questions about this or why the white house made that move. one saying what i think was revealing, was it the decision to punish a reporter for asking about the cohen tapes yesterday.

he didn't deny it, he said, you know how strong the president feels about this issue. we normally do. the president is not normally one shy to answer questions but not interested in all engaging on this subject. >> except he was fine engaging with michael cohen when he didn't know it was recorded and his own campaign went on record with this why it's totally fair to ask this question and totally hypocritical for the administration to say we're referring it to outside counsel. they weren't referring it to outside counsel when hope hicks was lying or being lied to and giving the lie to the american people. for what's more what could be motivating. i'm not going to be a punching bag anymore, inside michael cohen's break with trump. a fascinating article. what drove michael cohen to release this recording? >> michael cohen, famously loyal

to the point where he said he would take a bullet for donald trump, has become increasingly disenchanted and felt abandoned by the president he served -- by the man he served so loyally so many years. there were a couple of things apparently people close to him tell us put him over the edge. one was rudy guiliani's public statements describing michael cohen's role and what happened in some of these discussions involving stormy daniels and others. secondly, there was a report that the trump organization balked at some point at paying some of cohen's legal bills after his office and residences were searched by the fbi. that put michael cohen over the top. it made him feel abandoned. one friend of his described it as he's lost in the wilderness. he hires lanny davis. as cnn reported, released lanny davis, his lawyer and counselor

released the transcript, sorry, the audio of his conversation with donald trump. >> based on people you talk to, is cohen no longer hoping for a pardon from the president if he is charged? is he angling for a plea deal? >> what motivates michael cohen is a parlor game here lanny davis said michael cohen is not angling for a pardon. that's not what this is about. we haven't heard from michael cohen directly. it would seem leasing unilaterally the audio released by lanny davis might not endear him to prosecutors. might upset the prosecutors. >> might upset the prosecutors and might upset although you could argue have the other effect to a president in a position to pardon or not. >> you're reporting the government seized more than 100 recordings cohen made of his

conversations. at this point, do you have any sense of what might or might not be on them or how significant they might be? i believe you said there were others with mr. trump. >> our understanding is there are other recordings with mr. trump and michael cohen but they're not substantive. they may be brief conversations and don't point to a specific drama like the tape cnn broadcast lanny davis released. other of the 100, many of them, apparently, are michael cohen conversations with reporters. lanny davis explained to us yesterday michael habitually taped his conversations. it was -- he didn't like to take notes and this was a more effective and accurate way of doing it. as a result, there is a repository of over 100 conversations recorded prosecutors are now wading through. >> interesting.

a fascinating article. in terms of how the president has been responding to all of this, what are your sources telling you? >> it matches what your white house folks are hearing as well, his mood was very stern. he was not amused this morning when he took off for the midwest. very angry at michael cohen and the release of this taped conversation publicly. and now the news report by the "wall street journal" his long time financial officer has been subpoenaed in this case would further sour the mood and you can see from the tape just rolled as the president landed at the white house, he does not seem amused. >> tom, thanks very much. fascinating. just ahead, more on the reporter prevented from doing her job at the white house and word games being used to justify it.

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this may look and sound a little strange because it is. the new white house deputy of communications was asked why he prevented collins from attending

a rose garden event. they told her the questions she was asking were inappropriate for that venue and she was shouting. we know that. when asked today, bill shine started saying word games over a single word, "ban." >> would you ask her if we ever used the word "ban?" >> what word would you say? >> would you ask her if we ever used the word "ban." >> you prohibited her? >> you ask her -- focus now -- you ask her if we ever used the word "ban." >> i would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today. that's ridiculous. when bill shine, who used to work at fox news and one of the guys that ran it, called her and said she was disinvited from the rose garden event. when she said it, she said she

was not welcome. they want to focus on the word "ban" and ask other questions we never quoted as anyone saying ban. it's almost like they want to distract from the real issue. can you imagine that, from the fact no one in the white house has tried to give an answer to kaitlyn's questions, ban, block, disinvited. it would be laughable if it weren't serious. with us is david gergen at the nixon white house when he wanted to ban or disinvite, whatever you want to call it. it is word games they're playing about the word "ban". >> absolutely. sand in your eyes so you can't see clearly what's going on. they're trying to manipulate the press, what questions they can ask and not ask. if you push too hard, they will disinvite you quote from other events. that's a destruction of all the traditions grown up over the years. every president in the old days

has had trouble with the press and frustrations. this administration has taken it to a whole new level. we haven't seen this level of suppression of critics, discrediting of the press on a regular basis, using a network like fox almost like a state-owned media company. >> something said about bill shein and when he worked at fox -- >> sure. it looks like if you're around trump you need to prove your manhood, show to the president you will do something, stick it to the opponents. >> hogan did ask if the decision to ask shine to bar kaitlyn collins from the event or if it was the president. he said, we issued a statement

on this. i commented on here. you know our position. the president does feel strongly about this. i don't know what that means. about what? he lied about not knowing anything about this deal with karen mcdougal? >> angry at the press in general. i think they're taking out the anger in the way they are. bottom line is we live in increasingly dangerous times. this administration has gone so far beyond what previous administrations have done in all sorts of ways in attacking and undermining the rules of the road that kept the press there. i don't think people fully appreciate, when you describe the press and threaten press reporters, you threaten the first amendment and puts you in never-neverland what's true and not true. one has a sense on how the

questions close in on the inner circle ratcheting up the price you pay for a free press. >> you and in talked about this earlier in the week this extraordinary statement the president said about the world wars who died for the first and second amendment in our system, don't believe what you see and what you hear. >> they have a very strong commitment to the second amendment. the commitment to the first amendment is very weak. >> i want to play something from the nixon tapes, always fascinated about it. this is ron ziegler talking about the "washington post" at the time. >> i can't it clearly understood that from now on, ever, no reporter from the "washington post" is ever to be in the white house. is that clear? >> absolutely. >> unless it's press conference. >> yes, sir. >> not a briefing, never in the white house, no church service, nothing with mrs. nixon.

you teleconny don't tell mrs. nixon because she'll approve it. no reporter from the "washington post" is ever to be in the white house again, and no photographer either. no photographer, is that clear? >> yes, sir. >> none ever to be in. that is a total order. if necessary, i'll fire you. do you understand? >> i do understand. >> okay. all right. good. thank you. > love those tapes. ziegler was the press secretary at the time. i think the kerr fluff full over that was party with his daughter. not something earth shaking. >> it's no compliment to the trump administration to be compared to the nixon administration. >> they were willing to have the press go to a briefing or event. >> nixon said terrible things about the press. usually, they were said in private. it's rare you would heard anything like what you heard on that tape said in public. in private he fumed on a regular

basis. i've seen other presidents do that. they almost all want to overthrow the sullivan case, protection against libel. they don't take it public. in nixon's case, i was on that staff. what you did was let him blow off and tell you horrible things and you file it away and see if he ever brought it up again. if he didn't bring >> that's pretty gutsy. >> blow the brookings -- >> did he actually say blow? >> yeah. >> i've got to get that tape. >> there's some juicy ones out there. thank you. want to check in with chris cuomo to see what he's working on for "cuomo prime time" at the top of the hour. chris? >> i like our men in black thing going except you would be the guy that makes this look good. >> i don't have a pocket square. >> tonight is going to be a big

night, my friend. we have breaking news. a scoop that could change the perspective on the mueller probe. what somebody who is very close to the president is willing to tell mueller about a material aspect of the investigation. i'm being vague for a reason. >> wow. >> you will get the news right at the top of the show. >> so i've got to stay tuned for it? you're not even going to commercial break tell me? >> damn straight. especially you. of all people, i'll tell you l. last. wearing the same outfit and looking better than me. >> if i have to come back by the way at midnight to do a broadcast because of what you're report, i'm going to be annoyed. up next, more breaking news tonight. upwards of 700 kids separated at the border still without their parents tonight. so why is the government claiming it met today's deadline to reunite all families? this is the case of yet more word games? i'll talk about it with a member of the congressional hispanic caucus who was briefed by the

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more breaking news tonight. the trump administration claiming it has met today's deadline for reuniting families split up at the border. in a court filing it says 1,442 children have been reunited. here's the catch. one in three children or about 711 kids have not been reunited. the government says that's either because they have red flags that prevent reunification or because they could not be located in time for the deadline. in other words, the trump administration missed the deadline and is claiming success on its own terms. i talked about all this with democratic congressman reuben ga eye go, a member of the congressional hispanic caucus. congressman, to the government's declaration that the reunifications are now complete, you say what? >> well, absolutely not. i mean we spoke to secretary nielsen yesterday.

we told her the idea that they believe that they're going to get this done by the deadline is impossible, and she kept insisting they were going to do it. and, again, she didn't. they lied. they had no plan how to get out of this. they still have no plan to get out of this. she doesn't personally have the leadership capability to do it, nor does the president have the focus on doing it. unfortunately, we can now say that this country has created orphans because of bad policy. >> so i mean you're saying flat out she was lying when she said to you that they're on track to complete this? >> absolutely. yesterday in front of at least 15 members of congress, she said, we are on track to meet the deadline. we clearly said to her, no, you're not. it's impossible for you to actually hit the deadline. she was insistent that we hit the deadline. now we're here. we now know that, of course, that we're not able to hit the deadline. we now know there are many family who's are still separated. and more importantly, we know that there are some families that may never be reunited, and all because this administration does not know how to function, and they have no leadership in

terms of secretary of homeland security, nor at the white house. >> the government is saying that 711 children were ineligible for reuniificati reuniification. amort of those are kids whose parents are outside the united states. it doesn't seem the government has any plan for how to reunite those kids with their parents because when those parents are sent back, they're not sent to where they kamt from. they're just dropped off somewhere else and they have to figure out how to get back to their homes. >> absolutely. we're not sure they're dropped off in the country they resided from, and that could be a bigger problem. we know there are children that actually got sent back to their home country but their parents are still in the united states going through the immigration process. that is the problem with this administration. they have no plan. all they're trying to do is get out of the political problem they created for themselves. they know this policy has been extremely unpopular with the american public, and they're just trying to basically fix the political problem but not actually fix the physical

problem that they separated these families and they have no way to get them together. >> so what does happen to the kids who they still haven't rekwlu nighted with their parents? what happens. >> those kids in the united states, at some point if they're never going to be able to reunite these parents, they're going to end up entering the information ter care adoption system in the united states depending on what state they're in and what judicial process that could be. maybe they're lucky enough to find a family member that is related to that kid, to those children here in the united states. but if not they will essentially become wards of the state. again, this country created orphans because this administration, the trump administration, secretary nielsen, you know, basically tried to create a deter erns by separating family and had no plan of how to end this problem, except again to focus on the political problem. >> thank you for your time. before i hand it over to chris, i want to remind you about our daily interactive newscast on facebook. it's brand-new. you can watch full circle week nights 6:25 eastern. go to facebook.com/anderson

cooper full circle. rolls off the tongue. the news continues though as it always does. w "cuomo prime time" starts now. chris? thank you, anderson. i am chris cuomo. we have a "cuomo prime time" exclusive tonight. a claim that goes to the truth of what the president knew and when he knew about an event that is central to the special counsel's russia investigation. let's get after it. w have cnn political analyst carl bernstein and jim sciutto, our chief national security correspondent for cnn. jimmy, what do we know now? >> reporter: well, chris, tonight sources with knowledge tell myself and carl that michael cohen claims that then-candidate donald trump knew in advance about the june 26 meeting in trump tower in which russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on hillary clinton. crucially, these sources tell us that cohen is willing to make that assertion to the special counsel, robert mueller. cohen alleges as well that he was present, along with several