02/28/19 02/28/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: frorom pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: we always have to be prepared to walk. i could have signed an agreement today, and then you people would've said, oh, what a terrible deal, what a terrible thing you did. amy: a historical summit to denuclearize the korean peninsula inns w without an agreement. president trump walked away from the deal after kim jong-un demanded the u.s. lift sanctions

on his country. we will go to vietnam for the latest. then president trump's former fixeral attorney and michael cohen testifies on capitol hill for more than five hours, directly accusing trump of committing crimes before and after he became president. chose toshamed that i take part in concealing mr. trump's illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. i am ashamed because i know what mr. trump is. he is a a racist. he is a con man. he is a cheat. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in the vietnamese capital hanoi, talks between president trump and north korean leader kim jong-un came to an abrupt end

thursday after the leaders -- trump walked out of the talks. their second summit fell apart over kim jong-un's demand that the u.s. lift all sanctions on north korea in e exchange for te ososure of o one nuclear facaci. thisis is prpresident trump speg at a press conference. pres. trump: basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety and we could not do that. denuke a willing to large portion, but we cannot give up all of the sanctions so we continue to work that we will see. we had to walk away from that particular suggestion. we had to walk away from that. amy: the summit's collapse comes just days after house democrats introduced a resolution to formrmally end the koreaean war after nearly 70 years of conflict. after r headlines, we'll go to hanoi to speak with christine ahn, founder and executive director of women cross dmz, a

global movement of women mobilizing to end the korean war. on capitol hill, president trump's former personal attorney michael cohen accused his ex-boss of committing multiple criminal acts before and after he became president, during more than five hours of explosive public testimony before the house oversight committee wednesday. cohen testified that trump had asked him to pay $130,000 in hush money -- in violation of campaign finance laws -- to adult film star stormy daniels just weeks before the 2016 election, offering as evidence a copy of a $35,000 reimbursement check he said trump wrote to him in 2017, after trump became president. cohen also claimed that trump had advanced knowledge that wikileaks was preparing to publish a trove of emails to hurt hillary clinton's campaign. cohen also confirmed the president repeatedly checked in about the status of a proposed trump tower moscow project well

into the 2016 campaign, despite his public claims to the contrary. cohen's testimony came two months before he is scheduled to begin a three-year prison sentence for lying to congress, a serieses of financial crcrime, and campaign violations. cohen told congress he was ashamed of his own failings. >> i am ashamed that i chose to take part in concealing mr. trump's illicit acts rather than listenening to my own conscienc. i am ashamed because i know what mr. trump is. he is a racist. he is a con man. he is a cheat. amy: cohen is scheduled to testify behindnd closed doors today to the house intelligence committee. it will be the third day of his testimony him a public and private. we'll have much more on michael cohen's historic testimony to congress later in the broadcast.

pakistani prime minister imran khan said thursday he will return a captured fighter pilot to india after pakistan's military shot down two fighter jets that entered into its airspace. khan's geststure is aimed at deescalating tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors after india carried out airstrikes inside pakistan tuesday for the first time since 1971. the fighting has stoked fears of a nuclear exchange and has stranded thousands of travelers after pakistanan closed its airspace to all domestic and international flights. russia warned wednesday it is prepared to build a new generation of nuclear-capable missiles if the u.s. deploys similar weapons in europe. this is russia's deputy representative for disarmament speaking at a united nations forum in geneva on wednesday. >> what is important here is in its tactical and technical features, in particular, the flight time from the command

center, our weapons would correspond to the threat directed against russia. we know how to do this, and w we wouldld implement these plans immediately as soon as such a threat would become a reality. this month, the trump admininistration formalllly announunced it is withdrawing fm the e intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty, the inf, the landmark 1987 treaty banning all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges. negotiated between reaeagan and gorbachev. venezuelan opposition leader juan guaido has arrived in brasilia for talks with brazil's far-right president jair bolsonaro. last month, bolsonaro join president trump in many latin american heads of state in recognizing guaido as venezuela's interim leader. and as well as president maduro has called bull's and aro in modern-day hitler's and accused him of plotting a military intervention in venezuela. tripo oppressed this guaido's trip to brazil came as -- guaido's trip to brazil came as venezuela's foreign minister

told a u.n. body wednesday the united states is trying to -- plotting to overthrow the government. speaking at the u.n. human rights council, jorge arreaza accused the trump administration of weaponizing humanitarian aid, even as the u.s. has frozen tens of billions of dollars worth of venezuelan assets. arreaza also said president donald trump should negotiate directly with president maduro. are calling for dialogue. dialogue with the united states. yes, why not? between president maduro and president trump. why shouldn't they meet so t thy could try to find common ground and explain the differences. amy: to see our recent interviews with venezuelan foreign minister jorge arreaza, visit our website at democracynow.org. president trump's son-in-law and senior whihite house adviser jad kushner met with saudi arabian crown prince mohammed bin salman tuesday for the first time since the assassination of "washington

post" columnist jamal khashoggi. a white house statement on kushner's closed-door meeting with the prince in the saudi capital riyadh made no mention of khashoggi, nor of the u.s.-backed saudi-led war in yemen, which has sparked the world's worst humanitarian crisis in a half-c-centuryry. the white house said the talks were aimed at increasing cooperation between the u.s. and saudi arabia. the state department has said it will not intervene in the case of a saudi man accused of killing a 15-year-old american student in a hit-and-run in portland, oregon. the suspect, abdulrahman sameer noorah, is said to have fled the united states back to saudi arabia with the help of saudi officials, who reportedly helped him obtain a fake passport in order to fly him out of the u.s. it is believed to be one of similar cases of saudi nationals accused of crimes being spirited out of the u.s.. to see our interview with shane dixon kavanaugh, the oregonian reporter who broke the story, go to democracynow.org.

back on capitol hill, the house of representatives approved a bill wednesday that would expand a federal system of background checks on firearms purchases. the bill passed on a vote of 240-190 with the support of just eight republicans. the house is poised to vote on a second bill today that would extend the review period for background checks from three days to 10. the bills are the first major pieces of gun control legislation to advance on capitol hill since before the sandy hook school massacre in 2012, but they appear unlikely to advance in the republican-controlled senate, and the white house has signaled it would veto ththe bills. house democrats unveiled a bill wednesday to dramatically revamp the u.s. healthcare system. this is the bill's chief sponsor, congrgressmember prpraa jayapal ofof washington. >> i it is time to ensure that health care is a right and not a privilegege guauaranteed to e ey

personon in our cotrtry. its titime f medicicarfor all. amy: conessmemebeber japal's memedicare for a all bill has sr 100 0 co-sponsors.s. it would expxpand medirere to include e dental, vision, andnd long-term carehihile making g te fedelllly-run althth program avavailable to all americansns. it wouldldliminate health insusurance premiuiums, co-payms and d deductibles,s, while chang how w healthcare p providers are paid. rorobert weimaman, presidentnt f publblic citizen, , says the lelegislation would eliminatate nearly $50bibillion w waste spent annual o on burecrcracy, inefficiency, and excessive cocorporate profofits. in north carolina, a formemer pd consultant for republican congressional candidate mark harris was arresested wednesday, chcharged with ordrdering workeo illegally fill out and mail in other people's absentee ballots ahead of last november's congressional election. leslie mccrae dowless also faces felony charges of obstruction of justice. he is accused of rigging the election in north carolina's 9th district to tilt the vote in

favor of harris, who was initially declared the winner in that close congressional race in november. last week, the north carolina state board of elections vacated the results and ordered a new election. on tuesday, mark harris said he will not run in a new election for the seat, citing his ailing health, not voter fraud, for his decision. his former opponent democrat dan mccready says he will run again. prosecutors say mark harris could still face criminal charges over the vote-rigging scandal. in texas, a federal judge has barred state election officials from carrying out a purge of voting rolls that could have seen thousands of naturalized citizens wrongfully barred from voting in the next election. wednesday's order by the u.s. district court for the western district of texas comes a month after texas's secretary of state flagged the names of nearly 100,000 registered voters who

declared they were not u.s. citizens when obtaining a driver's license. civil rights groups say most, if not all, of those flagged were later naturalized, and that the republican-led effort to purge voter rolls was aimed at suppressing the vote of latinos in texas. the senate has ended debate on whether to confirm andrew wheeler as head of the environmental protection agency, setting up a final vote on the former coal industry lobbyist today. on wednesday, maine republican senator susan collins said she would vote "no" on wheeler's confirmation, citing his efforts to roll back greenhouse gas emissions standards and his assault on regulations limiting mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. wheeler appears to have the support of the remaining 52 senators who comprise the republican majority. wheeler has been the acting head of the epa since scott pruitt resigned in july amid an onslaught of f financial and ethics scandals. and in london, police arrested

nine climate activists wednesday as they nonviolently blocked the entrance to a hotel where a petroleum industry conference was underway. some of the activists superglued themselves to the hotel's windows and doors, forcing police to spend about two hours removing them as the international petroleum week conference met inside. in a statement, activist s sam knights of the group extinction rebellion said -- "these companies are destroying our planet. we have to start talking about that. we have to start pointing out, again and again, that their business model is based on the mass murder of hundreds and millions of people." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in hanoi, vietnam, where talks between president t trump and north korn leader kim jong-un came to an abrupt end thursday after the leaders failed to reach a denuclearization agreement.

their second summit meeting fell apart over kim jong-un's demand the u.s. lift all sanctions on north korea. this is president trump speaking at a press conference. pres. trtrump: i could have dona deal today, but itit would not haveve been a deal -- it would'e been something i would not have been happy about. michael would not have been happy about. with some pretty big options, but we just felt it was not appropriate. we really want to do it right. amy: trump said that kim had demanded sanctions be lifted in exchange for dismantling the yongbyon enrichment facility, an important nonorth korean nuclear site.. during a press conference trump was questioned by david sanger of "the new york times."." >> can you give us a little more detail? did you get into the question of actual dismantling the complex? seem willinges he to take all of that out? pres. trump: he sure does. he would do that, but he was the

sanctions for that. there is plenty left after that. and i just felt it was not good. mike and i spent a long time negotiating and talking about it to ourselves. i felt that particular -- as you know, that facility, while very big, it wasn't enough to do what we were doing. >> he was willing to do yongbyon but you wanted more than that? pres. trump: we had a have more than that because there other things that you haven't talked about, that you haven't written about that we found. thatat was done a long titime a, but the people did not know about. second uraniume enrichment plant. pres. trump: e exactly. we brought many points of that i think they were surprised we knew. we had to do more than just the one level. if we did the one level and gave up all of that leverage -- it has taken a long time to build -- and i want -- >> you're not willing to take out -- trumka i want that c country to grow. a country is got such potential,

but they have to give up more. we could've done the deal. amy: the working watch was canceled between the two leaders. the summits collapse comes just days after house democrats introduced a resolution to end the korean war after nearly 70 years of conflict. democratic congressmember ro khanna, who introduced the resolution, said in a statement -- "historic engagement between south and north korea has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to formally end this war. president trump must not squander this rare chance for peace." well, for more, we turn to christine ahn, founder and executive director of women cross dmz, a global movement of women mobilizing to end the korean war. she is in hanoi, vietnam, for the summit. welcome to democracy now! christine, can you respond to the collapse of the summit? >> hi,i, amy. well, it is obviously a very sad day for 80 million korean people

around the wororld, especially n the peninsula, as we have been long waiting -- 67 years -- for the u.s. and north korea to declare an end to the korean war. many p people, many pundits, thg president moon come a were ,xpecting a breakthrough today including things such as the establishment of opening liaison offices in washington and in pyongyang. so the sudden decision to cut short the meeeeting, you know, o basically shut down the talks, it came as a sudden surprise. in the mood, which started out celebratory, was soon overshadowed by the said decision. in the announcement that trump made that north korea was demanding the full lifting of sanctions. i want to first start by saying we don't knknow what the full picture is. in fact, there have been some

reports coming out, especially from south korea, the former minister of unification, suggesting bolton, of course --- once we saw w the picture of the table and we saw pompeo and we saw bolton, i mean, that was a red flag. something was going to be derailed. what we understand from the south korean side is that bolton was insisting that biological and chemical weapons were to be part of the package. and so north korea shifted their position and called for full lifting of sanctions. we don't know with a full picture is. we have to hear from the north korean side, but i would not line thatke trump's north korea was asking for something that is -- was unreasonable because clearly, a lot of work had been done. i think the special representative and envoy clearly spent a lot of time. he gave a speech at stanford a few weeks ago. it was perhaps one of the most thououghtful, comprehehensive,

understandining of the situatio. it seemed as if we were on n the brink k of a diplomatic breakthrough. amy: let's go back to president trump speaking earlier today. pres. trump: the inspections on north korea will take place -- if we do something with them, we have a schedule set up that is very good. we know things, as david was asking about, certain places and certain sisites. there are sites peopople don't know about that we know about. we would be able to do inspections. we think very, very successfully. amy: intnteresting, chchristine. president trump was not extremely critical of the north korean leader. he was not being defiant. he got some help from sean hannity who was in the audience, almost reminding him, saying something along the lines of, president trump, of course, presidenteagan walklked away and that was just a strategy, he said. but your thoughts on where you think this will head? president trump saying they

would they will meet soon or maybe it will bebe a very lolong time from now. >> well, there are two things that give me hope in this current moment. actually, the rp, if you see the rapport that trump and kim have established, you need the leaders of the two countries to have good rapport. clearly, there is something there. and the fact that trump said two things in this press conference release surprised me. one was that he put a dollar bill, the amount, a price tag on the u.s. war drills. he said they cost $100 million. it is he huge waste of money. the other thing he said was the sanctions harm the people of north korea and that he would not be adding more new sanctions. i think that is a great outcome. it is a great foundation, but we need to continue to build on it and push for it. the other thing that gives me hope is the historic peace has taken place between north korea and south korea.

the korean people want an end to this war. nine out of 10 koreans want a declaration to the end of the war. one of the key outcomes that we were hoping for was the lifting of sanctions that are definitely getting in the way of inter-korean economic progress. ithink that we have to take to the international court. we have to take it to the world of public opinion. sanctions is not some kind of sterile ththing. ththis is something that is havg a daily impact on the lives of north kokorean people. 60,000 north korean children could start as a result of sanctions. we're the special record for say the sanctions are impacting the day-toto-day life of north koren peopople. this is not a game of politics. this is a game of people's lives. this is not a game. i think there is an urgency, not just for t the people that are living in north korea, but think about the people of the korean penininsula, w where they have d for 70 years, of a constant

threat of war breaking out. intentionally, or accidentally. this is not a game. this is a moment where the international community must put pressure, whether at the u.n. level and put pressure on the countries that have been siding with the u.s. and saying, this is enough. korea once these. the international community has a responsibility to support it. amy: can you talk about the role of south korea's president moon jae-in in facilitating the north korea-u.s. negotiations? h he has been absolutelely essential. the good news is thahat trump asked his support after he left today, that he really wanted his support and continuing to play this facilitating rolele. we wouould not be in this place for it not being incredibly effective diplomacy by moon. we have to take a hard look at what is a true alliance, and is

it an alliance of the military? of the corporations acacor of the peoplele? if the people of south kororea e askiki the amerirican people to support this historic piece that won't happen for ananother lifetime, and the stars are aligned right now and s so i spk with having worked on this issue for most of my adult life. we're not going to have this opportunity. that is why another thing that gives me hope is congressman ro khanna, and the first korean democrat kim, and several women congress woman, including alexandria cortez, jan schakowsky, they have stepped forte to reduce this congressional resolution calling for an end to the korean war and urging the president to establish a process toward the signing of a peace agreement. we're not going to get to denuclearization or the improvement of human rights until we get to please. declaring an end to the korean

war was going to be a first step, but it is not enough. it is not a legally a binding agreement and we need to pushh for this. as i wrote in an op-ed with gloriaia steinem in "the wawashingtonon post," the korear is america's oldest war. thenaugurated military-industrial complex. as set forth the u.s. for a policy to be the worlds military police. i don't think americans want that anymore. we have this historic opportunity to end america's oldest war. we have the u.s. congress thee most representatives ever of the american population and we have the greatest number of women in congress right now. this is the moment now to push for this. it is not just a symbolic thing. i live in hawaii where there is the u.s. pacific command. think of how much is invested in preparation for war with north korea. china behinde's that. i think about what we can do. we will never be able to achievable vision for medicarere for all or f free college tuitin or green new deal unless we

tackle the $700 billion budget that is currently being invested. north korea isis the greatest -- allegegedly the greatest u.s. foreign-policy challenge. we have a golden opportunity. the korean people want peace. it is time for the american people to stand up with them and urge the president -- and a president trump is not movable, then we have to try the u.s. government, and that is where congress has a role to play. nonot just to authororize war, t they have a role to declare peace. amy: christine ahn, you were among hundreds of women who wrote a letter jointly to donald ,rump and two kim jong-un calling for peace and saying peace womomen should be at the tatable. can you explain?n? >> absolutely. i think right now the fragility of the talks shows that we have to democratize this process. we cannot leave it just in the

hands of donald trump and kim jong-un. , a seven just a war year w war between the two countries. we have generations of propaganda. we have always the north korea as a prism of war. we need to have people to people engagement. and we know when women are included in the peace process, it leads to a peace agreement. and not just a peace agreement, but a durable one. when half the world population is not part of shaping a peace agreement that reflects the desire o of half t the world''s population, it is not going to be a just and sustainable one. we are demanding there is a process of inclusive society including women's rights groups. we esteem the record. in all but one case, when women screws were involved in the peace process, it led to a piece agreement. we want to see denuclearization. we want to see peace and the

improvement of human rights. we will never get there until there is a true peace, to worse taken off the table. amy: i would ask about the americans student prison for more than 17 mononths for r tryg to stitill a propagandaa sign in north korean hotel. in june 2017, we got a wawas released f from the north korean prison and returned to the u.s. in a coma. when trump was a asked if he discussed otto warmbier at the news conference witith kim,, trp said "he tells me he did not know about it and i will take a minute his word. those prisons are rougugh. that things happen, but i don't think he knew about it." your response? that it isselieve very p possible ththat kim jongn would not know and that perhaps those that were overseeing otto warmbier's condition did not know what to do, what they're saying is he fell into a coma and they did not have the proper medical ability to treat him.

but what we do know is that when he returned, when his body was returned back to the united states, the doctor that received him conducted -- basically, did a full examination. she basically held a press confnference after the warm beer -- warmbiers and said there was no sign of torture. wasact, his condition, he very well taking care of. and that, and for flight, thehee was a really great piece, i bececause the author could not find another publication, but people should read that. it is incredibly insightful view into the complexity of what to place. but i i think that is a really important point that is obscured in the media and defefitely hidden is that the doctor that received 10 said -- had a completely differerent narrative about the condition when he

returned to the united states. amy: although there was a question of why he was held at all for that length of time. >> absolutely. i mean, you know, it is an absurd thing. north korea should have released him. there was no reason to do that. but it is back to the issue of north korea and the situation on the korean peninsula is onone oa state of war. north korea is a garrison state. if we want to see progress toward that, isolating them, doing military exercises, conducting sanctions that prevent the develelopment of the economy -- i mean, you look at u.n. the security council sanctions, for example. it bans exports of textiles. who do think wororks of these factories but women? we know when women have access to the resources, they control the purse, conditions of their family and communities improve. so how are we not seeing this

context ofpolitical conditions in north korea? we have to say we have some culpability in this. amy: christine ahn,, thank you for being with us founder and , executive director of women cross dmz, a global movement of women mobilizing to end the korean war. speaking to us from hanoi, vietnam, where the u.s.-north korea summit has broken down. president trump has left. we will continue to cover this story. we will link to the joint letter to both leaders from hundreds of women around the world calling war.n end to the korean when we come back, highlights from the testimony on capitol hill yesterday of michael cohen. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is d democracy now!, democracacynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump's former personal attorney and fixer

michael cohen accused his old boss of committing multiple criminal acts before and after he became president. cohen made the charge during more than five hours of explosive public testimony on capitol hill on wednesday. he provided evidence that trump had violated campaign finance laws by paying hush money to women. he accused the trump foundation of committing fraud by using the tax-exempt organization for personal purposes. cohen said trump lied when he said he couldn't release his tax returns because they were being audited. he said trump routinely deflated his assets to reduce his taxes while inflating them in order to win bank loans. cohen also claimed that trump had advanced knowledge that wikileaks was preparing to publish a trove of emails to hurt hillary clinton's campaign. cohen also confirmed the president repeatedly checked in about the status of a proposed trump tower moscow project well into the 2016 campaign, despite his publicic claims to the contrary. but michael cohen said he had seen no direct evidence that

trump had colluded with russia during the 2016 campaign. cohen also s said he fears t the would not be a peaceful transition of power if trump loses the 2020 election. michael cohen's testimony came two months before he is scheduled to begin a three-year prison sentence for lying to congress, a series of financial crimes, and campaign violations. cohen told congress he was ashamed of his own failings. >> never in a million years did i imagine when i accepted a job trump7 to work for donald that he would one day run for , to launch ay campaign on a platform of hate and intolerance, and actively win. i regret the day i said yes to mr. trump. i regret all of the help and support i gave him a long the way. i am ashamed of my own failings and publicly accept responsibility for them by

pleading guilty y in the southen district of new york. i am ashamed of my weakness and my m misplaced loyalty, of the things i did for mr. trump in an effort to protectct and promote him. i am ashamed that i chose to take part in concealing mr. trump's illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience. i am ashamed because i know what mr. trump is. he is a racist. he is a con man. he is a cheat. was a presidential candidate who knew that roger stone was talking with julian assange about a wikileaks drop on dedemocratic nationanal committe emails. amy: michael cohen accused trump of repeatedly lying during the 2016 campaign when he said he had no dealings with russia. >> there were at least half a

dozen times between the iowa caucus in january 2016 and the end of june when he would ask me, how is it going in russia? referring to the moscow tower project. you need to know that mr. trump's personal lawyers reviewed and edited my statement to congress about the timing of the moscow tower negotiations before i gave it. so to be clear, mr. trump knenew of and directed the trump-moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. he lied about it because he never expected to win. he also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the moscow real estate project. and so i lied about it, too. because mr. trump had made clear to me through his personal

statements to me that wee both knew to be false, and through his lies to the country that he wanted me to lie. and he made it clear to me because his pepersonal attorneys reviewed my statement before i gave it to congress. amy: michahael cohen also revead new details about how president trump, as well as his son don jr., signed checks to him to reimburse him for the hush money he paid to adult film star stormy daniels who alleged she had an affair with trump. >> as exhibit 5a to my testimony shows, i am providing a copy of the $35,000 check their president trump personally signed from his personal bank , whent on august 1, 2017 he was president of the united cover-upursuant to the which was the basis of my guilty plea, to reimburse me, the words

used by mr. trump's tv lawyer for the illegal hush money i paid on his behalf. this $35,000 check was one of 11 check installments that was paid throughout the year while he was president. other checks to reimburse me for the hush money payments were signed by donald trump, jr. and alan weisel burke. see that example, 5b. of the united states thus wrote a personal check for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. and you can find the details of that scheme directed by mr. trump in the pleadinings in the u.s. district court for the southern district of new york. amy: that was trump's former lawyer michael cohen testifying

a front of congress wednesday. for more, we're joined by marcy wheeler independent journalist , who covers national security and civil liberties. she runs the website emptywheel.net. welcome to democracy now! overall, respond as you tweeted up a storm yesterday following every line, what you thought was most important about this explosive five hours before the house oversight and reform committee. >> it is kind of overwhelming because there are additional thatls of financial fraud you are not even able to hit on because the was so much there. i think what was most surprising is cohen came off more credibly than certainly the republicans who are trying to damage his credibility. yeah, is he still a thuggish l iar? we all know what kind of a creepy was in 2016? yeah. but did he come off at least credibly enough to make what he was saying about trump generally

seseem true? anand i think he did. amy: what was most significant, do you think, about what he revealed? , inident trump pointed out vietnam at his news conference, clearly, very engaged in this -- i don't know if that is why he butd the summit abruptly, said, the important thing to bring out, he said, although he considers him a liar, is that he said there was no collusion. iswhat cohen actually said he himself did not have direct evidence. a lot of people note this means the entire dossier is debunked, which is not surprising. i have been challenging that for a long time. what he said was he suspected it and talked particularly about a weird interchange between don, j r. and his father sometime in 2016 were don jr. walked behind trump's desk and said, block,

block, the meeting, and trump -- amy: let's go to michael cohen is a donald trump knew about the wikileaks releasase of hillary clinton theme out before it happened. >> a lot of people have asked me about whether mr. trump knew about the release of the hacked documents, democratic national committee emails, at of time. anand the ananswer is yes. as i earlier stated, mr. trump knew from roger stone in advance about the wikileaks drop of emails. days before the democratic national convention, i was a mr. trump's office when his secretary announced the roger stone was on the phone. mr. stone on the speakerphone, mr. stone t told mr. trump p the had just gotten off the phone with julian assange and that he told mr. stone that within a couple of days, there would be a

massive dump of females that would damage hillary clinton's campaign. mr. trump responded by stating to the effect, wouldn't that be great? hearing,r in the thomas massie of kentucky questioned michael cohen. >> you said -- and this is also in your testimony -- in the days before the democratic national convention, you became privy to a conversation that some of hillary clinton e mills would be leaked. is that correct? >> correct. >> do you know the exact day? >> i believe it was either the it would be19 and on the 19th. >> but it was definitely july? >> i believe so. >> did you know that was public knowledge in june? i would like to submit this for the record. mr. assange reported to the media on june 12 that those emails would be leaked, so i'm not saying you have fake news,

i'm saying you have old news and there's really not much to that. amy: marcy wheeler, , he is sayg a lot of people knew that julian assange had said it publicly. >> julian assange said publicly he had material on hillary clinton. what he never set publicly is "i am going to drop it at the beginning of the dnc." what is interesting about cohen's story -- and to be clear, it is unlikely he really did speak directly with julian assange. we know from a bunch of stone's other claims, when you claim to be speaking directly with assange, he was speaking with a cutout. ist it appears happened preciselyrmed trump when the males were going to be dropped. as far as i know, that is not been made public with the public before. if the call happen on july 19,

stone was meeting with nigel farage at the rnc that day. he is one of the people that it was clear mueller seemed interested in finding weather was a go-between people in the u.k. who knew about the emails and roger stone. so it is new information. it is consistent with roger indictment -- although, a means in the indictment dollar is referring to the president himself as a senior campaign official. it is more specific than we have ever known before. amy: we're going to go to a break for 30 seconds and come back in here alexandria ocasio-cortez's questioning for michael cohen thing. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we go now to new yorkrk democratic congressmember alexandria cortez questioning michael cohen a yesterday's house hearing. >> my colleague from vermont had asked you several questions about a month, the parent company of the natitional enquirer. you mentioned a treasure trove of documents and david packer's

office relating to information assembled from all of these catch and kill operations. potentiallyle who had damaging information on the president. you mentioned the president was very concerned about the whereabouts of these documents and who possessed them. does that treasure trove of documents still exist? >> i don't know. i asked david geithner for them. >> you say the person who knows the whereabouts would be david packer. >> or barry levine or dylan howard. >> secondly, i want to ask a bit about your conversation with my colleague from missouri about acid inflation. to your knowledge, did the president provide inflated assets to insurance company? >> yes. >> who else knows the president did this? and to weisel burke others. >> where would the committee find more information on this? do you think we need to review his financial statements and his

tax returns in order to compare them? yes, and you would find it at the trump or post up >> and would ask about the assertion the president may have improperly inflated his assets to working taxes. "theding to a r report by washington post," will the president claimed in financial disclosure forms that trump national golf club in jupiter, florida, it was worth more than $50 million, he had reported otherwise to local tax authorities that the course was worth "no more than $5 million." mr. cohen, do you know whether this specific report is accurate? >> it is identical to what he did at trump national golf club at briarcliff manor. >> to your knowledge, was the president interested in reducing his local real estate bills, tax bills? >> yes. >> how did he do that? >> you deflate the value of the asset in the new put in a request to the tax department for a deduction.

>> thank you. october 2018, "the new york times" revealed "president trump participated in dubious tax gamester in the 1990's, including instances of outright fraud that greatly increase the fortune he received from his parents." if further stated for mr. trump "he also helped formulate a strategy to undervalue his parents real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns, sharply reducing his tax bonus properties were transferred to him and to his siblings." mr. cohen, do you know whether that specific report is accurate? >> i don't. i was not there in the 1990's. >> who would know the answer? >> alan weisel burke. >> would help for the committee to obtain federal and state tax returns from his company to address that discrepancy? >> i believe so. amy: alexandria ocasio-cortez

questioning michael cohen and. the significance of what she was asking, marcy wheeler? >> it is one of those examples that i talked about where there is evidence of other kinds of criminal activity that did not make the headline, did not make michael cohen opening statement. aoc laid the groundwork for this committee or any other congressional committee, to get his tax returns, to get the tax records from these golf courses, to get -- to pull in ami, national enquirer, to ask if there is compromising information that held out over donald trump. in five minutes, this freshman congresswoman just laid out a whole investigative plan for three more topics into donald trump's potential he criminal activities. amy: and this issue of the treasure trove in the safe over theational enquirer, ami,

parent company? what is in this? knowledge about what exactly trump was concerned about and who had this treasure trove e right now? and kill, soatch for years, anytime some embarrassing or scandalous story would sort of float out there about donald trump's conduct him at national enquirer would hear about it or often get offered wouldory, and then they get the person's story right, pay for them. and basically, kill the story. they had done that with a couple of the accusations of affairs. we would assume the stories are similar kinds of things come accusations of affairs, you know, the love child story was one e of those was the amy: that he said was false. >> of trump potential of fathering a child.

amy: that michael cohen said they said was false. >> right. he said he never found that story. those are the kinds of stories -- john amy: but they paid $15,000 to kill it anyway. >> right. that's true. it was election season. and a lot of people have noted that one was not named in his charging documents as one of the hush money stories. the, there are all of these inquirerhe national has been doing for all of these years and it is a legitimate about where they are, were they legally are, and whether national enquirer has any kind of leverage over the president because they have all of his secrets. amy: race was an undercurrent of this whole hearing. you had michael cohen starting off by calling president trump a racist. i want to turn to north carolina republican congressmember mark meadows, who heads up the freedom caucus, who introduced department of housing and urban

development appointee lynn patton, an african-american woman, in an attempt to disprove cohen rcs claims that donald trump is a racist. >> mr. cohen, do you know lynn patton? >> yes, i do. today ind linda come her personal capacity to actually shed some light. how long have you known her? >> i'm responsible for her joining the trump organization and the job that she currently holds. >> well, i'm glad you acknowledge e that because you made some very demeaning comments about the president does not agree with. in fact, it has to do with your claim of racist. she says, as a daughter of a man born in birmingham, alabama, that there is no way she would work for an individual who was racist. how do you reconcile the two of those?

>> as neither should i as the son of a holocaust survivor. but, mr. cohen, i guess what i'm saying is, i have talked to the president over 300 times. i have not heard one time a racist comment out of his mouth in private, so howow do you reconcile it? do you have proof of those conversations? amy: congresswoman r rashida tlb of michigan laterr responded to congressman meadows. >> just to make a note, mr. chairman, just because someone has a person of color, a black person working for them, does not mean they are not racist. it is insensitive that some would even say -- the fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in his committee -- in itself.cist amy: since yesterday's hearing, a video has resurfaced of north carolina republican congressmember mark meadows

making a r racist joke aboutut president obama in 2012. >> g good to be hehere with you today. i thank you so much for allowing me just a few minutes to talkk wiwith you a and sharere a few . when the morestingng we find out,t, the more we reale hohow wrong the direction we are going -- what w we're going to o .s take back o our countntry 2012 i is the titime we going to send mr. o obama home to kenya r wherever it is. we're going to do it. amy: "ascend obama to kenya or wherever it is," marcy wheeler? >> right. there was a big to do at the end of the hearing about whether or not congress woman to leave had stepped over bounds over congressional rules on insulting a colleague. and elijah cummings said something interesting, the chapter house oversight committee. he said, people may not know but mark meadows does she said, "my best friend."

>> that was one of the craziest peopl pieces of news out of the whole thing. another thing that meadows to death in of the hearing was cummings said, hold off on submitting all of these articles until we are done. there were just a few members of congress left. one was aoc, one was congress woman pressley and the other was congresswoman to leave. you had three women of color waiting their turns, having waited all day, and mark meadows did not follow cummings' request and basically try to stall rashida tlaib just minutes before she said that was a racist act, then he threw his hissy fit. amy: and it was amazing. ayanna pressley called out the racism. the freshman congresswoman, first african-american congresswoman to represent massachusetts. you had burned a lawrence, also detroit and michigan, talking about the racism of prpresident

trump.p. >> right. and cohen said one of the reasons he started thinking differently about trump was charlottesville. i think his response was right on. -- that was an example where meadows and the president's defenders really did not expect cohen to be a sharp as he was. he is the child of a holocaust survivor, and that, too, should make it beyond the pale, beyond common rationality to work for trump for so many years while he coddled these racist. amy: i want to go to representative ro con of california questioning michael cohen about a check payment he received from the trump revocable trust. >> prosecutors laid out in the criminal charges, payments like this check resulted in numerous false statements in the books and records of the trump organization. it has nothing to do with

collusion. this is financial fraud, garden-variety financial fraud. it was disguised as a payment for legal l services to you. but this was not a payment for legal services, was it? >> no, sir. >> you told representative kelly the president was available -- aware of this scheme. >> correct. >> i with a mac in public to understand explosive nature of your testimony in this document. are you telling us, mr. cohen, that the president directed transactions in conspiracy with alan russell byrd and his son --alan weisel burke and his son donald trump, jr. as part of a civil criminal -- criminal conspiracy of financial fraud? is that yoyour testimony today? >> yes. amy: i also want to go to exchange between michael cohen and california democrat. >> over the years, president trump was asked how many times he is right with convicted russian mobster felix sater.

in 2013, president trump testified "not many. if you were sitting in the rumor now, i would really not know what you look like." mr. cohen come as you previously testified, isn't it true that president trump new convicted russian mobster felix sater in 2013 when he made that statement? >> yes. of mr.t it true because seder's relationship that he had an office in the trump tower? >> and on the 26thth floor. close and that is important why? >> because it is mr. trump's floor. >> he had an office on the same floors mr. trump? >> in fact, his office when he left, became my office. >> isn't it also true that felixted russian mobster sater even have business cards indicating that he was a senior advisor to donald trump as

reported by "the washington post"? >> yes. >> to conviction russian mobster felix sater pay rent for his office? >> no, he did not. >> so based on those facts, isn't it true that president worst,isled, at best, or light under oath? >> yes. amy: 10 seconds, marcy wheeler, the significance of this? guy broke green the tower deal all through the election and trump made similar commenents during the election about not knowing felix sater, when in fact, he was negotiating a $300 million real estate deal russians forced of immigrant elijah cummings at the end of the hearing. do believe the president committed crime while in office? looking at the text anand l listening to mr. cohen,t

appears that he did. amy: "it appears he committed a crime," said the house committee chair elijah cummings. that does it for our coverage today.