twitter feed. he will make it hard to put together a coherent argument why. they need to be there. not be a source of distraction. typically, the minority party. a challenge for the majority. >> final data point. poll out of texas, showed, up three points on beto o'rourke. interesting race. to watch as it unfold. thank you all. that is all. good evening. >> good evening. thanks my friend. thank you for joining us this hour. happy wednesday. we lead tonight with an exclusive interview, exclusive interview with the lawyer we have never talked to on the show before. someone who will likely be new to you as a character in this ongoing national drama, we are all living through as americans. but our exclusive guest tonight, is somebody who is right in the middle of what appear to be the president's legal troubles. right now. or at least used to be in the

middle of the president's legal troubles until this story took a sharp, surprise turn this evening. one that i will admit to you right now, i don't get. i do not yet totally understand it. but, i am hoping that the one guy on earth, who can actually explain it, because he did it. i am hoping he will explain it to me and to you. live on this show in just a minute. okay. here is the story. all right. as you know, federal prosecutors in the southern district of new york, have announced in open court, the president's long time personal attorney former trump organization executive, michael cohen is under federal criminal investigation right now. this in itself is an interesting to know. interesting thing to know in the life and fate of michael cohen who has been associated with this president for a very long time. but though we the public have not seen all that much detail about the criminal case, prosecutors are pursuing against michael cohen, the exact charges

he is being investigated for. for example are redacted in the court filings thus far. prosecutors have explained in publicly available court filings that they obtained previously secret search warrants, month as the go, to start reading and searching all of the communications that michael cohen engaged in on multiple e-mail accounts. most of the information about, what they learned from that surveillance, and, what, what in that surveillance helped them obtain another search warrant that sent federal agents to go physically raid michael cohen's home and office and safe depotz -- depotz it box last week. all the specifics are redact ed. we know he is under investigation. we know something about what the criminal investigation is about. but a lot of it we are not allowed to see. we haven't seen for example, the search warrants themselves. that allowed the raid on michael cohen or surveillance of e-mail accounts. haven't seen law enforcement affidavits that may have been used to persuade a judge to sign

off on one or both warrants. but just because that stuff is secret to us doesn't mean secret to everybody. the judge and the lawyers involved in michael cohen's criminal case, they have seen all that stuff. nothing is redacted for them. they have seen all of the supporting documents that have been put to the court thus far. and as we reported last night, in what appeared to be a moment of maybe confusion, definitely a moment where, where some of michael cohen lawyers seemed flustered in court. there was a moment in, in open court, couple days ago, when, when one of mike cam toen's attorneys said -- that, in a nonpublic document, which we the public haven't seen, the lawyers involved in the case and judge have seen it. in something called attachment a. related to michael cohen's case. according to one of michael cohen's lawyers, there are five paragraphs within that attachment a that deal directly with seeking the papers of the president of the united states. papers that are in possession of

my client. so, that's the, that's the basis of why this is a national story. right? the president's personal lawyer had his home and office raided by the fbi the president's personal lawyer is the subject of act of criminal investigation. and the president's personal lawyer has lawyers, who have admit the in open court, that that criminal case involving michael cohen is directly related to the president. when the fbi came tiin to seize documents from michael cohen. looking for documents related to president trump. we got that from open court. now, since the fbi raid on cohen, since the criminal case against cohen became matter of public record. there have been a bunch of news organizations who have reported on what federal agents were looking for. bunch of different news agencies reported among documents and materials that fbi agents were looking for, among the stuff that was spelled out in the search warrant for them to go grab, from cohen, were materials

related to the "access hollywood" tape. tape made public in october 2016 before the election. a tape in which the president, future president, bragged in crude terms about what he was able to get away with in terms of man handling and assaulting women without getting in trouble for it. also been reported that, as spelled out in the search warrant related to michael cohen, federal agents were also looking for material in his office, in his home, related to -- a payment. money that was paid to adult film actress, stormy daniel. right before the election to keep her from talking about her alleged sexual affair with donald trump. also reportedly spelled out in the search warrant, therefore a target for fbi agents when they raided michael cohen last week. was, information related to money that was paid to former playboy model karen mcdougal. the payment effectively to keep her from telling her story what was an ongoing, 10 months long,

sexual relationship with donald trump. again to be perfectly clear about this. and to be, to be honest about what we know what we don't know. what has been reported versus what we have seen. we the public haven't seen the search warrants. oenlt so only some is public. a lot its opaque. bunch of news sources reported. documents they were seeking and building the case against the lawyer, include stuff that relates to how trump and his lawyer may have reacted to women claiming sexual contact or interactions with the president. even with all of that reporting though, what none of us know is why that would be the basis for a criminal investigation into any one? i believe whole heartedly in the sacred nature of our campaign finance laws in the country. it may be that making a large payment to a woman so she won't talk about an affair, so as to help the dude she allegedly was having the affair with win an upcoming election. i concede that might be a violation of america's campaign finance laws. but it is still hard to imagine

that being the basis for a federal judge signing out a search warrant for fbi agents to raid a lawyer's office. to obtain t. campaign violation, the remedy, worst case, fine in alternate universe where he enforce campaign finance laws in this country. huh? i don't, it doesn't seem -- so, we know what we know, we know what we don't know. right? we have this sort of mix of information. mix of ingredients doesn't quite bake into a single cake. we have the president's lawyer being raided. we have an admission in open court that the raid definitely relates to the president. we have multiple sourced, solid reporting the raid in part relates to the payoffs to women. we have a blunt assertion from the government that this is a federal criminal investigation. and all of the details are fascinating. i have no idea how they all fit together. and now we can add to that,

this. whether or not the payoffs to women before the 2016 presidential election are being construed by prosecutors, as, as criminal matters. those payoffs have been the subject of some civil lawsuits. right? a criminal case is when the government is bringing a case against a person, it is, the people versus defendant. civil lawsuit. lawsuit between two parties. there are civil lauf suiw suits. most high profile. stormy daniels. and $130,000 payment to her before the election. this pursued in most high profile way. ms. daniels herself and attorney, physically, personally in court this week in the michael cohen case. stormy daniels and lawyer have done media appearances around the lawsuit. around the allege add fair with the president. their lawsuit against the president about this agreement, has produced a side bar, separate lawsuit. defamation suit. another civil lawsuit.

brought by ms. daniels and lawyer against michael cohen. that separate lawsuit against cohen said he defamed stormy daniels in the way he talked about the payment and scandal. even just today the stormy daniels matter led to the president making online statement attempting to undercut stormy daniels' credibility. related to her claim she was once threatened by a man who told her to leave trump alone. the president's online statement attacking stormy daniels on the matter led to stormy daniels and her attorney threatening yet another lawsuit in this case. now they're threatening to sue the president again not just over the initial agreement, but now for defaming stormy daniels today. based on the president's online tweet. the stormy daniels part is high profile. lots of new stuff happening in that every day. tons of media coverage. lawsuits. spawning law suits. the president himself being sued already once in that matter. maybe soon it will be twice.

but if you, you look at that, sort of step back from all of the, media noise around that. when you drill down and look at that substan tich tively. the stormy daniels matter is small. tech technical. sued trump specifically because of this. because, see where that is highlighted. see her -- her signature there. but that's highlighted line there, see, no signature. the president didn't sign the agreement. that's the basis for the whole stormy daniels lawsuit. the conflict between stormy daniels and the president is he didn't sign on the yellow highlighted line there. the deal its not valid. thatali is the stormy daniels. >> lawsuit. a lot of is not. small matter. didn't sign it. also a civil case about the payment that happened before the election. even though this one has been much lower profile. a much more substantive legal

case. the case involving karen mcdougal. playboy model. said she had a ten month long relationship with the president. she brought a civil law suit. didn't soup the president directly. she sued the business that paid her for her story. effectively paid her to not talk about her alleged affair. that its american media incorporated. the basis for karen mcdougal's civil lawsuit against the media company. was not somebody forgot to sign some where, technical problem with the legal document. the law suit claimed fraud. claimed serious fraud. american media entered into an agreement under false pretenses. ami promised to feature her in their publications, publish stuff by her. says they never made good. and sort of seemed like they never intended to. more importantly, and, of way more interest, sort of way,

national interest of those who now have donald trump as our president. karen mcdougal's civil case said this agreement was basically a scam by trump's lawyer. she said the legal representation, that she had, that led to her signing that deal in the first place. that, that was a fraudulent arrangement. she alleged in her lawsuit that she basically believed she was working with an attorney, who had her best interest, at heart. who was working at the deal on her behalf. the lawsuit says in fact the guy who she thought was her lawyer was secretly working on the trump side of the deal. michael cohen, the president's lawyer, was secretly involved in the arrangements about the deal. basically secretly in cahoots with karen mcdougal's lawyer, depriving her of representation. she got tricked. when that same lawyer who allegedly tricked karen mcdougal turned up in payment deelds, --

deals, it looked like a pattern. michael cohen, rigging against claims to be brought against the president. interesting case. serious contention. serious case. just days ago, ami, publisher of the enquirer on a tear about fighting the case. went to court. demanded the case be thrown out on first amendment ground. signaling they would fight aggressively. but now a couple things have changed. couple things have surprised everybody. prosecutors announced michael cohen is under federal criminal investigation. we don't know how the payoffs to these women may factor into the criminal investigation. but we believe that they are related. that this was part of what the search warrant authorized federal agents to seize from michael cohen's home and office. and, we have learned in the past few days federal prosecutors picked michael cohen clean.

for months, while cohen was presumably using the accounts. not knowing they were being surve surveilled. "the new york times" reports that among the materials seized by the fbi, are e-mail communications, audio recordings. and, other documentation, related to, to ami. and karen mcdougal's civil lawsuit. it appears, i may be wrong. it appears that that news may have had a salutary effect on ami. they appear to have changed legal course over the last few days. they aper to hapear to have cha their mind. tonight both sides announced they settled it. it's over. stormy daniels civil stuff goes on. the criminal case, presumably

goes on. but the civil lawsuit about karen mcdougal and, ami, it poofed tonight. why is that? why is that? second question, why now? why did this case get settled now when it is right in the middle of what we are just learning is an ongoing active criminal investigation being carried out by federal prosecutors serious as a heart attack. how does it affect the criminal case against the president's lawyer? and indeed the president's own legal jeopardy that may attend to that case. now that the civil case at the heart of the matter has gone away. but also satisfy my curiosity here. according to reporter, jim rittenberg at "the new york times." had the case not been settled this evening. karen mcdougal's lawyer was prepared to start pretrial discovery. sound like a ride at disneyland. in law, it is a very scary roller coaster. pretrial discovery in this case, might conceivably have forced

ami to hand over e-mails, communications, any records they have got that relate to this case. the fbi has got michael cohen's stuff. they don't have ami stuff. not that we know of. according to karen mcdougal's lawyer. pretrial discovery would have included submission of written questions, to president trump. and a request to him that he should hand over any internal documents related to this matter. so the president being forced by the discovery process in this lawsuit to answer question as but and hand over materials related to the settlement. that might have happened. but now the lawsuit has been suddenly settled this evening. so that discovery process will not go forward. one might expect in a case like this that that discovery process would be a freaking nightmare scenario. for american media, for ami, but also for the white house itself. because of that, if you are karen mcdougal, and that tool is

available in your substantive lawsuit about this matter that relates to the president which is now in the middle of what you know is a criminal investigation, you would think you have got all the leverage in the world, right? you would think you can get the world in exchange for making that threat of discovery going away. you could probably get anything to make your lawsuit go away at this point. but they have published the settlement tonight. it does not look like karen mcdougal the world. ami isn't covering her legal fees. she does get the rights to tell her story about her allege add fair with donald trump. you might remember a recent hour of cnn in which she has done that fully already. presumably now can do it for money. but even if she does that, the first $75,000 she gets paid, has to pay to ami. so, why did this case get settled now? why did she get what she got? at what looks from the outside like a point of maximum

leverage. at least maximum concern from the president. whose lawyer is under federal criminal investigation on matters related to this. i am not a lawyer. what am i not seeing here? joining us exclusively, the attorney representing karen mcdougal in the case. thank you for joining us >> thank you for having me. >> i have explained with every word available to me what is interesting to me and also what doesn't make sense to me about this. i look at this from the outside. and see your client having leverage to get anything at this point. because of the threat that this civil case posed to the president and his lawyer in the middle. this investigati i don't feel like she got that much? >> this is probably the most rewarding result i have ever gotten in my career. and we are a firm that does serious cases. i came this morning from d.c., there because my partner was arguing a case before the u.s. supreme court. and what, what is so rewarding about this case is it shows the what makeles the cys the system. one brave woman with competent

counsel can get a quarter billion dollar company to dupe the right thing. we said from day one. you started your piece saying, people haven't seen us on tv. that's deliberate. we have said from day one our mantra has been they're going to void the contract or face the music. as far as i'm concerned. i was indifferent. i studied composition, a music major before i went to law school. i like music. but what karen mcdougal wants, always wanted was to get out of the contract. let me tell you why. this is critical to what happened. this contract was being used by ami, to control what she did. when reporters contacted her, and they wanted to do a story, they wrote information about what she was supposed to say. she doesn't want to be on a reality show. doesn't want to make a movie. she wanted to do what she did recently go on cnn and, and tell her story. >> that's the thing that is hard for me to understand.

because, ronan farrow had a piece, publishing handwritten notes about her alleged affair with donald trump. getting her to comment. she did this long, long interview on cnn talking about it. if this agreement was so restrictive to her, why, and, sunny wants to be able to do things lie s like that, under t agreement. before the settlement. she was able to do that sort of media. >> that's actually not true. karen is standing on the shoulders of other people. it is because of reporting by ronan far? row, people like stormy have come forward. she actually had the strength to file this lawsuit. before we filed the law suit. ami was telling her if you get information, do things like this you are going to be sued to the tune of millions of dollars. she was unbelievably frightened. she wanted to get out of the contract. >> she was still under the contract when sheep did the cnn interview? >> right. >> how was the contract

preventing her from doing the cnn interview. >> the things ami was saying privately are very different than what they said publicly. make no mistake if we hadn't filed this lawsuit, she wouldn't have been able to do that interview. they took this contract for a year. and said, if you provide information. if you tell your story in your words, your reputation is going to be destroyed or you are going to be sued. this is all she wanted. you say, maximum leverage. >> yeah. >> we were prepared to take the deposition of david pecker, to take the deaf six finition of executives, get the documents. recordings you mention the, this correspondence. nothing would have made me personally happier. that's not what karen wanted. what karen wanted was to not be beholden to the company. doesn't want to be on their magazine, work with them. she was tricked into a catch and kill contract. >> the settlement, reported, the settlement will include a

magazine cover from ami. reported but not accurate? >> not accurate. it makes me upset. we worked hard to negotiate this. and we made it clear she didn't want money. she just didn't want to deal with these people. >> does sunny want he want to g? >> none of her material published in the publications. >> hear me out. important to understand what happened. ami insist they'd have the right to repurpose old pictures and articles because they want to save face. they want to put her on their magazine, and say, oh, thirtz nothirtz -- there is noth going on here. a commercial relationship. it is a fraud. she was tricked into a deal. so that her lawyer who was working with michael cohen, and ami, could kill a story. that's what happened. they can spin it any way they want. >> the thing that is difficult for me to understand. she was able to tell the story while under contract if under dispute because of the lawsuit. when she gets out of this, she is not getting her legal fees

paid, got to come up with money to pay you. >> no, no, no. we donated hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> ami isn't paying her fees? >> no. >> if she sells ter storher sto. if she sells her story. she has to pay $75,000 to ami. >> it doesn't feel like a total victory. >> answer me this. if this contract had been voided she would have to pay them $150,000, give the money back and be done. here she got out of every obligation under the contract. she doesn't have to do articles. doesn't have to take pictures. they gave her her life rights back immediately. >> minus $75 t. >> minus $75,000 if she happens to sell it. she doesn't want to. that is the maximum, 10% up to $75,000. that's basically the best that we could have gotten had we litigated this to the end. >> do, did you get any pressure from, any body, in political circles, that this should be

settled rather than getting, moving forward alongside the criminal matter and the president's lawyer. >> the opposite. what made this so difficult its -- people want to see a fight. people want to see this used to, to essentially expose the things that are going on. and, you know, rachel, i think the most important thing is, when you are a lawyer, you represent a client, the, reason people like michael cohen and keith davidson are creating all of this mischief is because they're not faithfully representing people. we have a client who had an objective. that on joke tiff, if peop-- ob. i have never been as proud of anything as this. karen came to us. i want out of the contract. i've don't care what people are going to say. i don't want money. i want to be able to correct the lies that people are telling. i don't want to be affiliated with that company. she was panicked when i said we could sue. she said they will sue me. stormy daniels, $20 million

lawsuit. what she thought was going to happen to her. >> she wanted this to go away. >> she wanted hiss to go away. she has the right. we see a pattern, powerful men. often happens to be the same ones, michael cohen, keith davidson doing the deals. if people can't appreciate the fact that someone who is caught up in that hals the right to hae their voice and someone representative them to get them out of it i have no tolerance for that. that, that its how the system should work. >> well, certainly having an advocate gets you what you want. the thing is hard to see bringing the lawsuit in the first place. ending it this way at this point of maximum leverage. i hear you she is getting what she wants out of this. you are her representative. i would love off to speak to her about this. i realize she was not available tonight. i am talking to you about it. the serious allegation that was raised here i thought was substantive matter in the civil lawsuit, the case that you made that michael cohen and mr. davidson, keith davidson were colluding to create a legal fraud here.

do you think they did that in other case sns? >> yes. let me be clear. keith davidson and, michael cohen are carved out of this lawsuit. so, we'll see where things. >> that matter of it may still be live? >> yeah. karen wants to enjoy her privacy. but, we'll see where things go. there is a lot of information that i have learned, over time, and i am very confident that michael cohen and keith davidson and others will have to account for the things that they have done. >> peter straus, thank you for fighting with me about this tonight. thank you for being with mere. tell ms. mcdougal, if she would love to talk about it. i do not pay. but would love to have a full conversation about it. thank you. amanda's mom's appointment just got rescheduled - for today. amanda needs right at home. our customized care plans provide as much - or as little help - as her mom requires. whether it's a ride to the doctor or help around the house.

oh, of course! tom, i am really sorry. i've gotta go. look, call right at home. get the right care. right at home.

i am baffled. a surprise settlement of the civil lawsuit brought by one woman paid off before the election to not talk about her affair with donald trump.

the media company and karen mcdougal settled the civil lawsuit. gone away. interesting on its own terms. also the fact that, that the terms of that, payoff to her. as part of the criminal investigation into the president's lawyer by prosecutors in the southern district of new york. we heard from the lawyer. i heard his take on it. i have legal questions that remain. if the criminal investigation and this civil lawsuit were about the same thing. if it -- is it important that the civil lawsuit went away. a strainening thing. does it matter for the criminal investigation here. particularly because the it looks like the criminal investigation here, is a, serious thing. for the president's lawyer and president himself. joining us, chuck rosenberg, former fbi official. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me.

>> you saw my interview there with mr. striss. the fbi raided mr. cohen's home and office. ami said that it would fight karen mcdougal's lawsuit up until today. when they settled. this follows the raid. this follows -- threats that there would be, they would start to enter into discovery in this civil suit. what do you make of the timing and this dynamic and the two cases? >> can i answer in the abstract? >> a bank gets robbed. you find a guy down the street handing money and covered in dye pack ink. coincidence? maybe, probably not. probably the bank robber. is this a coincidence they would dismiss or settle the suit right after cohen's office got raided. i don't think so. not a big believer in, coincidences. >> what about the raid would have pushed this to settlement? >> couple of things. but probably first and foremost, whatever is going to come out in the civil suit is going to be

influenced by the fact there is a parallel ongoing criminal investigation. and so, folks who might have been deposed or inclined to speak in connection with the civil suit may be taking the fifth for instance. plead the fifth. they don't face exposure in the other thing that matters a lot more. that's ongoing. it also just comb ply k complic of attorneys in the civil matter. i don't know what ms. mcdougal's goals were. not for us to decide. but from mr. cohen's vantage point, from the folks at ami, boy they just want this whole thing to go away. they can't do that. can't make the federal prosecutors go away. but they can make this piece of it go away. >> when, thinking about what, you know what might be the explosive evidence in this case? worst case scenario for the people involved. there is this prospect that with discovery in the civil lawsuit, that could have resulted, and

would have been litigated. would have resulted in the media company having to hand over their own communication and documents that led to this agreement with ms. mcdougal. if this payment to ms. mcdougal is of interest to prosecutors pursuing this as a criminal matter? >> no reason at all they're going to get all the stuff. probably more than would have come out in civil discovery. so nothing abut th aing abou ai undercuts the work federal prosecutors will do. they get this stuff. put people on the grand jury. we have seen from indictments in the mueller case, for instance, how good federal prosecutors are of following the money. they will follow the money. >> that's the key issue here i guess for me. on this issue of the criminal case, i haven't had a chance yet to ask you what you make of -- the jurisdiction issues here. obviously this is described as -- this matter with involving

cohen, started with a referral from the special counsel office off to the prosecutors in new york. i am not, i get that is how it happened. still not quite sure how unusual that is or important that is. what is your take on the dynamic? >> not that unusual. there is 94 u.s. attorneys offices around the country. but we are all part of the same system. we rely on the fbi, dea to bring us cases. wen wh when we are working well. we are working together. i am working in the district, in minnesota or oklahoma. me in eastern virginia, federal prosecutor would hand the piece off. doesn't preclude it from coming back. if folks in southern district of new york say, hey, you know what we found three things. two seem to be ours. but one seems like it would fit with bob mumm ermueller is doin. >> they can kick it back. >> former u.s. attorney, former senior fbi official.

invaluable asset to us. thank you, chuck. >> proosh iappreciate it. >> much more ahead tonight. stay with us. ♪go your own way copd tries to say, "go this way." i say, "i'll go my own way" with anoro. ♪go your own way once-daily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that work together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. anoro is not for asthma . it contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. the risk is unknown in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. these may worsen with anoro. call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. ask your doctor about anoro. ♪go your own way get your first prescription

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now we learned cia director, mike pompeo had a secret meeting over the easter weekend with the dictator of north korea. hey, director pompeo, how did it go? >> director, what did you learn from your conversations with kim jong-un? >> i am just here today working. >> just here today.

working. turns out, that answer was actually directly related to that question. sounded like a non sequitur, it was not a non sequitur. i will explain ahead. stay with us. need a change of scenery?

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common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. ready to let go of hep c? ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. it has been all most four years now, exactly, since, flint, michigan switched from clean, predictable, detroit water, to drinking from the flint river instead. that decision not made by locally elect owed officials in flint. locally elected officials in flint. stripped of their power by the state government. who game in, installed state appointed, emergency managers, to run the town and instead of local people. those state appointed emergency managers, put in place not by the people of flint, directly by the governor, that is who made that fatal terrible decision in flint. which became an unforgettable national disaster four years ago. the state switched the water without proper precautions or, proper treatment of the new

supply. the new not properly treated water ate the pipes. the pipes leached toxic lead into the water. people of flint drank the toxic lead filled walter fter for mon. and they were poisoned by it. and now the name flint has become shorthand for that city's water disaster. but whthe who done iunwhodunnit it. the state made an overt, dumb, terrible decision that resulted in the poisoning of the population of the city of flint. with lead. from the very oldest people in flint to the very youngest. anyone who drank the water was exposed to the potent neurotoxin, irreversibly. now over the years we have spent following what happened in flint, michigan, few things have stood out. for starters, it is the obvious, visceral suffering and fear and, and trauma and displacement of the people who live in flint.

the loss of faith in government. the sheer epic ongoing hassle and expence and inconvenience that goes along with living in flint now. thouz sta thousands of people faced search for clean water, they can trust, without second guessing. their city is going through a serial construction job. flint is halfway done replacing thousand of lead pipes. new pipes will be an improvement. meantime, construct, itself, raises fears that old lead scale will get dislodged and, and sent down the pipes, and into household faucets. the city started the construction work up again today after a break for, for the winter weather. expect to be at this through at least 2019. that's one thing that stand out in flint. how difficult this lead crisis has been for the people who live there. also, standing out in flint, is the way that the governor, governor snyder has sometimes need to be dragged into dealing with it.

admitting a crisis at all. acknowledging the extent of it or how much help he should offer. despite being the governor who was in charge when flint got poisoned the governor whose appointees made the decision that did it. or maybe because of all of that, governor snyder has not had the smoothest relationship to the recovery effort. and now governor snyder has just announced, no more bottled water for flint. governor snyder says time for the state to stop sending bottled waltter to flint. things are better enough now. he turned off the shipments of bottled walteter. let the distribution centerers run dry. last week closed them. the reaction in flint to the governor's decision was immedia immediate. from a hero pediatrician in flint, quote, this is wrong. until all lead pipes are replaced the state should make available bottled walter and filters to flint residents. from the state attorney general prosecuting snyder

administration officials over the lead poisoning. quote, bottled water distribution in flint should continue until lead pipes have been replaced and trust in government has been restored." and from flint, mayor karen weaver, allegation that the governor laid on an extra layer of callusness in telling her that flint needs to get over it. and move on. also an announcement she is ready to take the government there to court to sue him for what happened to her town and what she says needs to happen there now. joining us now is, the mayor of flint, michigan. karen weaver. mad am m mayor, nice to see you. thank you for being here. >> thank you, i am still fighting. >> i know. i know. did you know this was going to be the next fight? did you know the governor was about to shut off the water supplies for flint? >> you know what, i am not surprised. he has been trying to shut it off since september. we have been fight since september to keep the water pods in place. september, when he tried to do that, we said, no.

we are not there yet. we are still removing the lead service lines. that was the word that it had been given to us. was we will see you through the lead service line replacement. and water pods will stay in place. so people could get, get, have the access to clean water. that they needed and deserved. >> that's not an infinite timeline. when you say that you were told, that, that, until the lead, lead, service line replacement, project is done. you will still be able to get bottled water. that's a project that you have been working on, fast, that, that, is far as i understand it. possibility that will take you into next year. possibly into the year after. this is not something that has an infinite time horizon. >> exactly right. it was supposed to be done over three years. you got the numbers exactly right, rachel. we are, you know, we have, gone ahead of schedule. we have looked at or changed almost 9,000 lead service lines. we started back up today. so, we had this year next year to complete the project. we are ahead of schedule.

so to take that from the residents, you know, like, pulling the scab off of a healing wound. >> when the governor says -- that as far as he is concerned. the state is concerned. the city's water system has recovered enough to, to not need this continued support from the state. what do you say to that? in a way he tried to make it sound look, a compliment. like flint has come so far. we are no longer needed. >> you know what? it is not true. what is true is we have come a long way. but we are not where we need to be. that's why the fight is continuing. we know that, with all of this construction going on in our city, we still have a public healther to. -- health issue. we have to protect ourselves while lead service lines are being replaced. we had concerns about testing in the school. the other thing, an issue of trust. you gave your word that these would stay in place. and then you take it from us. >> madam mayor, last question for you. i know it is not an easy decision to, to, threaten a

lawsuit against the state. obviously, you need to work cooperatively with the state in a way thatcity has in u.s. history, because do who caused this crisis in the first place, what are you hoping from from this lawsuit? >> you know what, this lawsuit is about more than water pods staying open. in addition to that we talked about things we need, we need fixtures in the home, we need in home plumbing, hot water heaters, these things have been damaged. we talked about the reputation and how this impacted the reputation of our cities. there was a loss of property values, they went down. we've had civil liabilities that have happened as a result of this, we've had permanent loss of residents so the money we would have been collecting is gone. so this is about much more than water pods. it's about justice for the city of flint. >> karen weaver, the mayor of

flint, michigan. thank you for talking to us tonight. you're welcome back any time, keep us apprised. >> thank you. >> thank you. stay with us, we'll be right back. but if it feels like a lot of effort for a little gain, change that. start with something that makes a big difference... ...your student loans. refinancing with sofi could save you $30,000. it's an easier way to reach your life goal sooner. we've helped over 195,000 people. we want to help you too. find out how much you can save in just two minutes at sofi.com/save. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. but their nutritional needs remain instinctual. that's why there's purina one true instinct. real meat #1. a different breed of natural nutrition. purina one true instinct.

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director pompeo, what did you learn from your conversations with kim jong-un. >> i'm just here today. >> can you say anything about what you learned from your meeting with kim jong-un of north korea? director, do you think they're committed to denuclearization? >> how did your meeting with senator warner go?

>> great day. i'm enjoying my time here. >> cia director mike pompeo on capitol hill today chased by report ers asking about his recent trip to north korea. also being asked about his shaky chances of being confirmed as secretary of state. those things as it turns out are related. this is fascinating. politico.com reporting that last night when it leaked that mike pompeo had gone to north korea and met the dictator, that was on purpose. they're trying to shore him up to get confirmed as secretary of state. he's due for a committee vote, very soon, as soon as monday perhaps, but doesn't appear to have the votes. it looks like mike pompeo will

be the first nominee for secretary of state to not be able to get a vote out of committee in over 90 years p p if he fails the vote in committee, senate rubbepublican say they plan to put it on the floor any way, but they don't know if they'll have the votes to get him confirmed. it's not just him. this afternoon trump's pick to lead nasa barely advanced. arizona senator jeff flake initially voted against him, which resulted in a 49-49 tie. that usually would have been brought in mike pence to break the tie, but mike pence was nowhere to be found, so everybody leaned on flake to switch his original no vote to a yes, which allowed the nomination to proceed, if not jeff flake's dignity. today we also learned that the confirmation hearing for trump's next cia director has been

pushed off. the nominee to lead the va, drdr. dr. ronny jackson will take place but he faces lots of skepticism, including by republicans, about whether he has anything near the experience to lead that agency. so a bunch of the president's cap cash net picks are having trouble. mike pompeo, is the worst of all. he's had the white house leak details of the north korea trip to try to save himself. but he has a mountain to climb. more ahead. stay with us. the revolutionary 1 solution for weak lawns. with a soil improver to strengthen roots! seed to fill in gaps! and fertilizer to feed! the result, up to a 50% thicker lawn after just one application.

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try alka seltzer... ultra strength heartburn relief chews. with more acid-fighting power than tums chewy bites. mmmmm...amazing. i have heartburn. heartburn relief from alka-seltzer. enjoy the relief. kyle, we talked about this. there's no monsters. but you said they'd be watching us all the time. no, no. no, honey, we meant that progressive would be protecting us 24/7. we just bundled home and auto and saved money. that's nothing to be afraid of. -but -- -good night, kyle. [ switch clicks, door closes ] ♪ i told you i was just checking the wiring in here, kyle. he's never like this. i think something's going on at school. -[ sighs ] -he's not engaging. last night former fbi director james comey was a guest on the late show with stephen colbert, talking about his book and his experience being fired by president trump while overseeing the russia

investigation into president. at the colbert show, he was fortunate enough to run into two members of the wu tang clan backstage. that's him with method man and ghost face killer. tomorrow night james comey will be here live with me. we have no members of the wu tang clan booked at all. which is an unfortunate oversight on my part. i do have a lot of questions and tomorrow night james comey will be right here live. that does it for us tonight, i'll see you tomorrow, now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell" good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. james comey is going to be disappointed by who he runs into backstage tomorrow night when it's just me. >> lawrence, you underestimate the effect you have on people. i get asked about you in the strangest places my friend. >> i'm going to be taking notes tomorrow, rach