staffs who are paid with taxpayer dollars. that's our broadcast tonight. thank you so much very, as always, for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. yeah, one of those days. just another previously unimaginable tuesday in today's news, right? enough going on for you? have you been able to keep up with each bombshell in today's news? do you have a colleague that you -- a beloved colleague you can run into in the halls at work when each news story breaks so you can say what does this one mean? remarkable day today. the president today announced that the united states is blowing up the nuclear deal that iran signed in 2015 with not just us but with us, alongside the uk and france and germany and russia and china and the european union. we're going toe have expert help tonight to talk about why our

country's allies are so rattled by this decision, what they're likely to do in response and why this is such a banner accomplishment for the american hardliners who have been hoping for and working for an actual new u.s. war with iran, ever since they started the last new u.s. war in iraq 15 years ago. and speaking of 15 years ago, in march 2003, while the george w. bush administration was ordering the invasion of iraq, this man was captured in pakistan, he was soon named as the master many mind of the 9/11 attacks. in cia custody, he was tortured for weeks over 15 different sessions. he was water boarded 183 times. he was forcibly fed through his rectum instead of being given food as food. he was kept awake for a week. kept awake for a week while they kept him standing with his hands chained to the ceiling. we remember the bush

administration's complicity and facilitation of the torture program because officials like vice president dick cheney cheered for it at the time, and because bush administration lawyers wrote memos saying all the laws makes torture illegal didn't really make torture illegal, not if you squinted at it the right way and listened to the vice president. in the secret prisons the cia maintained at this time, the cia went beyond even what they got that fake lawyerly permission to do. the cia did things to their undeclared prisoners in these black site prisons things that weren't even purportedly cleared by the memos that the government later disavowed. the cia reportedly told white house they were getting tons of good intel by torturing people. turns out what they were actu actually getting was the kind of gibberish and say anything to make it stop nonsense that you

get when you torture people to the point of death or just this side of it. in the case of the so-called 9/11 mastermind, he told the cia folks who were beating the hell out of him and drowning him that he had recruited black american muslims in montana to carry out homegrown terrorist attacks on behalf of al qaeda in america. he had done so such thing. he was only saying he had done that because he was trying to make them stop torturing him. well, tomorrow a veteran cia officer who ran one of the secret cia prisons where the cia tortured people, she's going to have her confirmation hearing tomorrow to be the director of the cia. we do not know if she helped torture anyone or if she oversaw officers who carried out that torture. we know she personally oversaw one of the torture sites and that she played a key role in the cia destroying the videotaped evidence of those torture sessions, even though the cia had been ordered to preserve those tapes.

but get this. just talk about a news day today. that confirmation hearing for gina haskell to run the cia, charlie savage is reporting at "the new york times" that supposed 9/11 mastermind guy, he has now filed an emergency request with the military commission that is trying him at guantanamo. he is asking for emergency permission from the judge in his case -- he wants the judge to allow him to provide information to the senate committee in time for the confirmation hearing tomorrow. he wants to give them a statement about gina haspel. again, we know that this guy was tortured by the cia. we know that gina haspel ran one of the torture sites at the time that he was in custody. we don't know if she tortured him. and we don't know exactly what the information is that he wants

to provide to the senate. but he has asked permission to give the senate something, it is reportedly six paragraphs of written information that he wants to hand over to the senate committee considering her confirmation. we don't know what's in those six paragraphs and we don't know what the judge will say, we don't know if the judge will allow it to go to the senate in time for tomorrow's hearing. but this is obviously just a remarkable turn of events. this is the kind of long poisonous tail for the torture policies of the bush administration that everybody who lived through that era knew we would be living with for the rest of our lives. like i said, just another previously unimaginable day in the news. happy tuesday. but it is also election night tonight. four states have been watching returns over the course of this evening, and about a half dozen or so races that are seen to have national implications. there are senate primaries for the republican hair by tonight.

republicans are choosing their nominees to run against senator joe manchin in west virginia and against senator joe donnelly in indiana. vice president mike pence's brother, greg, tonight has won a republican congressional primary in indiana. that's already happened. ohio governor john kasich has hit his term limit. there are primaries for the governor's race in ohio. in both parties tonight. we're going to have coverage of those races ahead tonight. the great steve core knack can i will be here to walk us through the important ones. but yet there's more. the story that has been breaking tonight, including into this tour, is this document. this seven-page document that's just been released by the attorney for adult film actress stormy daniels, michael avenatti. i should tell you that after releasing this document tonight, mr. avenatti will be on "the last word" next hour here on msnbc, and you should probably watch that. i know what you are thinking. you are thinking, i know that handsome lawyer. i have seen a lot of michael avenatti on tv. there he is.

why would i make sure to watch this guy tonight? well, it's because of this document that he has just released. mr. avenatti put this out this afternoon, posted it online. and it was this standalone set of sort of jaw-dropping allegations about financial transactions involving the president's lawyer, michael cohen. mr. avenatti did not release any supporting documentation or information to go along with this thing that he posted online, and so, initially, i'm not sure anybody in the news business knew exactly what to make of sort of wild and surprising allegations he's making here. it's hard to know what to do with it without any backup, but now, over the course of the last couple of hours, both "the new york times" and nbc news have reported that they, too, have obtained and reviewed original financial documents that substantiate what michael avenatti is saying. and so now we've got some actual news here. it's about the company that michael cohen used, the president's lawyer used to pay off stormy daniels.

right before the election, so she would not speak publicly about her alleged affair with the president. we learned a few months ago from reporting first in "the wall street journal" that michael cohen didn't just pay stormy daniels directly. he created a company called essential consultants, and then essential consultants was the entity that paid $130,000 to ms. daniels. what we learned tonight from this document that was first released by mr. avenatti, been reported out by "the new york times" and other news organizations, is that this little company that michael cohen set up to pay stormy daniels, essential consultants, it appears to have been used for a whole lot more than just paying $130,000 to stormy daniels. essential consultants also appears to have paid michael cohen more than a million dollars. oh. according to mr. avenatti's document, three checks from essential consultants, two for a quarter million dollars, one for

$505,000, were deposited in mr. cohen's own bank account last summer. the summer of 2017. what that looks like is this little company he set up paying michael cohen more than a million bucks. that's what it looks like. of course, that raises more questions. first, was michael cohen ultimately the recipient of that million bucks or was he depositing those checks and getting that money for someone else? we don't exactly know what happened to the money ultimately. we just know that michael cohen put it in one of his own bank accounts. but also, where did that money come from? where did essential consultants get a million bucks? michael cohen, didn't he say he needed to take out a home equity line of credit to scratch up the $130,000 that that company was going to pay stormy daniels a few months before? he had to take a home equity line to get 130 grand? well, where did that same company get a million bucks to pay michael cohen just a few months later last summer?

well, that's where we get to the juicy part. according to these documents released by mr. avenatti tonight, the same company that michael cohen used to pay stormy daniels, essential consultants llc, they took in a lot of money from a lot of surprising places. they got paid $150,000 by korea aerospace industries last november. november 2017. okay. essential consultants reportedly got paid $200,000 in four installments, four separate payments of 50 grand each in late 2017 and early 2018. that $200,000 in four separate payments came from a little company you might have heard of -- at&t. essential consultants got paid $400,000 by novartis, the global pharmaceutical company. according to the documents, the way they paid -- this is interesting -- was four separate payments to essential consultants, to this little company michael cohen set up, which paid off the porn star,

which paid $20 less than $100,000. they paid $99,980 on october 5, again on november 3, december 1 and again on january 5, 2018 this year. so, four payments, each for just under $100,000. almost as if there was a $20 wire fee that novartis was deducting from what mr. cohen got to take. and as -- mr. avenatti notes, and it's true, right after that last payment from novartis in january 2018, president trump did have dinner with the ceo of novartis, before his speech at the world economic forum in davos. what was novartis paying for? but there's one more payment, and the other payment is the one that gets the front page headline in "the new york times" tonight. firm tied to russian oligarch made payments to michael cohen. all right. here's how it's presented in

avenatti's documents. chief among the financial transactions are approximately $500,000 in payments received from mr. viktor vekselberg, a russian oligarch with an estimated net worth of $13 billion. he and his cousin routed eight payments to michael cohen to essential consultants llc through a company called columbus nova, beginning in january 2017 and continuing until at least august 2017. columbus nova is a private equity firm with over $2 billion in assets. columbus nova is the u.s. investment vehicle for renova group, which is a multinational company controlled by viktor vekselberg. okay. so, michael cohen, president's lawyer, with a background in, like, the taxi business, sets up this little delaware shell company as a way of paying the

porn star, paying stormy daniels that $130,000 right before the election. he says publicly to come up with that $130,000 to pay stormy daniels, he had to take out a home equity line of credit. a new lawyer for the president, rudy giuliani, says that ultimately that $130,000 was slowly reimbursed to mr. cohen over a period of months when the president paid michael cohen $35,000 a month over time during 2017. well, we now find out that that little company that paid out the 130 grand to stormy daniels apparently causing significant financial hardship to michael cohen that little company also paid michael cohen over a million bucks and tons more money was being paid into that company. not by michael cohen's home equity loan, but by at&t. at&t, korea aerospace and an investment tied to one of the richest men in russia.

viktor vekselberg is one of the richest men in russia. he is considered to be close to vladimir putin. he was sanctioned last month by the u.s. government because of his linked to putin. as was his company, renova. now, the firm that apparently paid michael cohen $500,000 and landed itself on the front page of "the new york times" right now, it's a private equity firm that used to call itself on its website, the u.s. investment vehicle for the renova group. they have since dropped that description on their website, now that renova group and its founder have been sanctioned by the u.s. government. it's now illegal for anybody in the u.s. to do business with viktor vekselberg or the renova group, so, nobody would want to advertise themselves as the u.s. investment vehicle for that group. right? we learned last week that vekselberg was stopped by agents working for robert mueller as he landed in a private plane at a new york area airport some time in the past couple of months. mueller's team questioned mr.

vekselberg, including, it's being reported tonight, about these payments to michael cohen. it's also been reported that investigators asked to search his electronic devices, but we don't know if they actually did so. we only know they asked. tonight, we're getting statements from some of the companies mentioned in this document, allegedly giving funds to michael cohen, paying into essential consultants llc. a spokesman for columbus nova, the u.s. affiliate of renova, had this to say, quote, columbus nova is a management company solely owned and controlled by americans. after the inauguration, the firm hired michael cohen as a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures. reports today that viktor vekselberg used columbus nova as a conduit for payments is false.

neither he nor anyone else was involved in the decision to hire michael cohen or provided funding for his engagement. now, i mentioned that giant telecom company, at&t, also reportedly paid $200,000 to essential consultants llc. they released this statement tonight. quote, essential consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration. a couple of things interesting about that. at&t is hiring essential consult i

ing, but that's essentially just michael cohen. at&t is saying they needed to hire this firm, michael cohen's weird little shell company that pays porn stars, they needed to hire them for multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars to get insights. now, why would at&t want to put michael cohen on the payroll in 2017? well, i mean, they've got important government business, right? they're trying to go dlu this big merger with time warner? they are -- had very strong interest in the net neutrality matter? finally, we got what i consider to be a surprising statement from novartis, from the pharmaceutical company. a spokesperson did not take the same tack as at&t and columbus nova took here, saying, no, no, nothing to see here, nothing is weird here, this was a normal business/not really lobbying relationship. this is what novartis saying, any agreements with essential consultants were entered before

our current ceo taking office in february of this year and have expired. oh. different kind of statement. not a denial that any such agreement was entered into, not a defense of any such agreement, just throwing their former ceo under the bus, saying, wasn't us, it was definitely the people here before us. noting for the record any such payments were made not by its current leadership. i have to say, you know, the other thing that we should tell you right now in terms of the russia investigation is that alex van der zwaan, the lawyer, the dutch lawyer working in britainbehalf of the -- he is the first person who has been convicted, or has pled guilty in the mueller investigation, who has gone to prison, he reported to federal prison yesterday to start serving his 30-day sentence. question is, with these new revelations about michael cohen, the linking of the stormy

daniels payment through this shell company to somebody who has been questioned in the mueller investigation and indeed is a sanctions russian individual running a big sanctioned russian company, raises the question if there's new criminal liability here in these revelations about michael cohen, or if this is just decorative financial information that fleshes out the picture more than we knew. joining us now is joyce vance. a former u.s. attorney. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> i never know what i'm going to end up talking to you. we book you to talk about something and the news changes. >> unpredictable. >> looking at information like this about these previously unknown uses of the shell company used to funnel this payment to this adult film actress, how would you read this with a prosecutor's mind? >> so, the first thing that i want to know, when i see this document, is a lot more about the facts. because the minute details of the facts will determine whether any of this conduct was criminal.

we immediately -- you know, it's so easy to leap to conclusions in these situations, and this just stinks of influence pedaling of, what prosecutors call pay to play, or what federal statute calls bribery. but without knowing more details about who was paid, when they were paid, what circumstances surrounded the payments, did money actually reach trump ever or were these perhaps just the sort of payments people make that smell bad but aren't really illegal? we can't tell without more factual determination. >> when you say money reaching trump, i mean, obviously that's one of the first things that leaps to mind. at least the partial story that's been told about the payment to stormy daniels is that this company, essential consultants llc, was used to funnel mr. trump's money through a sort of roundabout way to ms. daniels. if money is also flowing into this company, that does raise the question as to whether or not the ultimate recipient of that money is not just michael

cohen, who is the person that registered the company, but could potentially be the president itself? >> it raises that. but it's so dangerous to leap to those conclusions. bob mueller and his team are certainly five or ten steps ahead of everyone else on these issues. and it actually worries me a little bit, my prosecutor dna doesn't like to see these sort of details that should be held closely within an investigation, leaking out into the public. they could certainly, if the mueller investigation is still in progress on some of these fronts, particularly involving the russians, they could trigger awareness on the part of people who are under investigation. and these sort of banking details, it's really very surprising to seeing them become public. these are details that prosecutors would subpoena. i've not seen this sort of information be public domain before. so, there are a lot of questions in my mind about, where does this information come from, is it accurate, what conclusions

can we reach? but at the end of the day, like waterga watergate, this is, follow the money. >> on that issue of where this information is coming from, we've seen, initially from "the wall street journal" and from some other news outlets, there has been interesting reports about the finances surrounding mr. cohen, stuff that i've been surprised to see make it into the public domain, before "the new york times" and nbc news confirmed they had seen financial documents that backed this stuff up. i would have had no idea to do with these assertions from mr. avenatti. because i have no idea how he would obtain this kind of information. >> it seems like there's someone on the inside putting it forward, even details like wire transfers. usually just come with a number attached to them. you don't usually identify who the individual making the transfer is. so, knowing that this is novartis and at&t and other companies seems really unusual. >> just unusual to see those big name companies in the middle of

a story that at times has seemed so small and so tawdry and personal. joyce vance, thank you so much. great to have you here, my friend. >> thanks for having me. >> i moved the desk. sorry. the earth moved. we'll be right back. feel the clarity of non-drowsy claritin and relief from symptoms caused by over 200 allergens. like those from buddy. because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. feel the clarity. and live claritin clear. ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun♪ ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun

transitions™ light under control™ this one's below market price and has bluetooth. same here, but this one has leather seats!

use the cars.com app to compare price, features and value. roundup for lawns has arrived to put unwelcome lawn weeds to rest. so draw the line. roundup for lawns is formulated to kill lawn weeds to the root without harming a single blade of grass. roundup, trusted for over forty years.

a whole bunch of interesting results already. tonight is election night in a bunch of states. in indiana, mike pence's older brother, greg, see, he's got the family hair-do, he won the republican primary race for mike pence's old congressional seat. that seat is filled by republican congressman luke messer. luke messer left the seat, though, because he wanted to try to run for senate, instead. he wanted to be the republican candidate, trying to unseat democratic senator joe donnelly in indiana. luke messer is one of two indiana congressmen who gave up his seat in congress to try to run for senate instead against donnelly. congressman who gave up his seat to run for senate instead. both of them had to face off against a third republican candidate, a former state rep and local businessman in

indiana named mike braun. mike braun has been poking fun at messer for being too hard to tell apart, and he does have a little bit of a point. nbc news projects tonight that mike braun, not the guy who looks just like the other guy, well, depending, has, in fact, won this primary in the indiana senate race tonight. that means rokita and messer gave up their seats in congress to run for senate instead and neither of them will be the republican candidate for senate this november. in ohio, republican governor john kasich is being term limited out. there was a primary race in both parties tonight to see who will vie in november to face him. there has been a brutal months-long campaign, and the lieutenant governor has lost. mike dewine is the projected winner.

the former head of the consumer protection brur roe, who has elizabeth warren's powerful endorsement for that race, he was facing off against former u.s. congressman and presidential candidate dennis cue skucinic kucinich. he had tried to assert his progressive positions by calling for assault weapons ban in ohio, touting his f-rating from the nra. he endorsed on medicare for all, single payer health plan for ohio. nbc news projects tonight the democrats have not picked him, they have chosen richard cordray as their nominee for ohio governor. cordray versus dewine in november, running to succeed ohio governor john kasich. now, the big race we're watching tonight in west virginia is the senate race there. republicans are hoping to unseat democratic senator john manchin. west virginia congressman evan jenkins and west virginia attorney general patrick

morrissey have been upstaged in the republican primary for that senate race by a former coal company ceo named don blankenship. he was in charge of massey energy when in april 2010 and explosion at one of his coal mines took the lives of 29 people. blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison. he is less than a year out of prison. he has been hoping to win the republican nomination to unseat joe manchin. he has ticked off the republican party in part by making really overtly, proudly racist comments about republican majority leader mitch mcconnell's wife and her family. president trump weighed in in this race. it was interesting. he told people not to vote for don blankenship. he said, "don blankenship can't win the general election in your state."

he said, instead, vote for one of the other two guys. which means republicans have no one guy who can stop them from don blankenship. the president literally advising republicans to split their vote against don blankenship to keep him from winning. according to nbc's models, blankenship appears to be in third place right now. behind morrissey and jenkins. nbc is noted that blankenship is not currently leading in any geographical regions of west virginia, but he's still getting a lot of national attention for obvious reasons. what should we look for in that race and other races tonight? let's consult our in-house expert and yours, joins us now is steve core knack can i. >> yeah, and rachel, it's official now. don blankenship has finished in third place. he has lost this primary for the u.s. senate. he will not be the republican senate nominee against joe manchin. republicans in washington who

were panicked about the prospect of his nomination, who sounded the alarm in the last few days, said, hey, we've seen polls that show blankenship surging, well, they get there way. was there really a surge, we'll never know. we never had any public polls in this race in the final few days. we only had reports of internal polls that republicans were using to sound the alarm. what we know is blankenship finishes third. he did not, as you just heard, lead in any major region of the state. didn't have a clear big base of support. so, what are we left with? patrick morrissey, he's the republican nominee. and he will face off against joe manchin. manchin had an activist he had to beat in the democratic primary tonight, he did that handily, he gets the renomination. what can we expect? this is going to be one of the most closely contested senate races in the country. donald trump won this state by 42 points in 2016. 42 points. not a single democrat in the country up in 2018 has to run in a state more pro-trump than joe

manchin. patrick morrissey, the west virginia attorney general, what will manchin do to go after him? a couple of things you can expect. number one, morrissey has a past as a lobbyist. number two, he has a past in new jersey. he ran for congress there 18 years ago in a republican primary in new jersey. i got a feeling the manchin folks will be mentioning that in the fall. so, you got that race to look forward to, and by the way, we had a big upset in another race tonight. we weren't talking much about this before, we will be going forward, a republican member of congress, bob pittenger lost his seat tonight. he was defeated in a republican primary in north carolina, mark harris. this is a charlotte area district. thing to keep in mind here, donald trump won this district in north carolina with 54% of the vote. if there's some kind of a wave this november, like democrats have been talking about, hoping for, if there's a wave, this is the kind of district that could be in trouble for them. and what you see is not the

incumbent, but the insurgent. democrats like their nominee, so, you can put new mexico's ninth district on your watch list. let's see if that makes that, if that makings it a competitive race, but again, the headline tonight, if i can get it up there, the headline tonight, don blankenship, not going to be the republican nominee from west virginia, patrick morrissey is. that is the big news. rachel maddow back right after this. but when you experience sudden, frequent, uncontrollable episodes of laughing or crying that are exaggerated or simply don't match how you feel, it can often lead to feeling misunderstood this is called pseudobulbar affect, or pba. a condition that can occur from brain injury... or certain neurologic conditions like stroke or dementia. nuedexta can make a difference by significantly... ...reducing pseudobulbar affect episodes. tell your doctor about medicines you take. some can't be taken with nuedexta. nuedexta is not for people with certain heart conditions. serious side effects may occur. don't take with maois

or if you are allergic to dextromethorphan or quinidine. tell your doctor if you have bleeding or bruising. stop if muscle twitching... ...confusion, fever, or shivering occurs with antidepressants. side effects may... ...include diarrhea, dizziness, cough, vomiting, weakness or ankle swelling. ask your doctor about the only... ...fda approved treatment proven to reduce pba episodes. nuedexta. the blade quality you'd expect from gillette... affordability you might not. the new gillette3 & gillette5. available now. gillette. the best a man can get.

♪ tired of wrestling with seemingly impossible cleaning tasks? using wipes in the kitchen, and sprays in the bathroom can be ineffective. try mr. clean magic eraser with durafoam. simply add water, and use in your kitchen for burnt on food, in your bathroom to remove soap scum, and on walls to remove scuffs and marks. it erases 4x more permanent marker per swipe. for tough kitchen and bath messes, use mr. clean magic eraser with durafoam. brand power. helping you buy better. with dell small businessout your technology advisors you get the one-on-one partnership you need to grow your business. the dell vostro 15 laptop. contact a dell advisor today.

as unattractive as the use

of military force against iran's nuclear program would be, it's eve more unattractive to consider an iran with nuclear weapons. i have been very clear on my view of the regime in tehran for quite some time. i believe it should be the declared policy of the united states to overthrow the regime. >> it's an eye catcher. to stop iran's bomb, bomb iran. what do you mean? >> just as israel twice before has struck nuclear weapons programs in the hands of hostile states, i'm afraid, given the circumstances, that's the only real option open to us now. and that's why, before 2019, we here will celebrate in tehran. thank you very much. >> before 2019. iran, once upon a time, was on its way to building a nuclear weapon. you can build a nuclear weapon using highly enriched uranium or using plutonium.

at its apex, iran appeared to be denying it wanted to build any nuclear weapons at all, but it appeared to be proceeding to try to get itself to a bomb. nobody outside iran wants iran to have a nuclear bomb. during the obama administration, a negotiated solution was arrived at that would result in them not getting the bomb and nobody having to go to war with iran or bomb them to make sure they didn't. it took years of negotiations. but in 2015, the deal was signed. it was not an american deal with iran, it was signed by the u.s. and iran, but also the uk and france and germany and russia and china and the eu. there was a deal. a unanimous u.n. security council backing for the deal. now today, the u.s. government has announced that we are breaking the deal. again, it's not a two-party agreement between us and iran. everybody else, at least for the moment, is staying in. but this is sort of turning out to be one of the repeated tests of the trump era. what happens to all these areas

of international concern and conflict where the u.s. used to take a leading role and now we don't, or worse? when it comes to the u.s. breaking the iran deal, expert opinion seems to be that it might technically be possible for the deal to stay together with everybody else minus us. but not really. effectively, we are grabbing the ball off the field, popping it and telling everybody we're about to tear gas the pitch. and so, it seems unlikely that this game will keep going for long. if and when the whole deal now collapses because of president trum breaking it today, bottom line, that will end up putting an end to international inspections of iran's nuclear facilities. because of the deal, international nuclear inspectors are in iran testing and inspecting their potential nuclear sites every single day of the year. when the deal ends, that will end. iran will likely get back on the path to start making nuclear fuel again, which is the main thing they're going to need to do if they're going to build a bomb. in the short-term, this announcement today puts the u.s. in the position of trying to

unilaterally enact sanctions against iran. sanctions that nobody else is part of. in terms of our capacity to do that, you should know rex tillerson actually closed the sanctions office at the state department while he was secretary of state. the director of the sanctions office at the treasury department just quit last week. his last day was friday. nobody is running that office. so, in us against the world unilateral new sanctions regime against iran, where, in fact, most of the people we're going to end up sanctioning are our closest allies who are still in a deal with iran, that's going to be awkward and difficult and sensitive. i have no idea who could even work on that or which office could try to handle it. but that's what starts in the short-te short-term by program practical.

i guess in good news, john bolton is getting the war he has always wanted. took him less than a month as national security adviser before he started us down the path for his beloved iran war that he missed by that much in the business administration. my question with this remarkable announcement today is pretty simple, i guess. is there some silver lining here that's not initially obvious, please? is there a secret plan b that we don't know about? does the trump administration have some idea of what they're going to do instead of this deal? but also, in practical terms, for people who understand this stuff, how long's the runway here? i mean, the u.s. broke this deal today. the other countries in the deal say they're going toe try to keep it going, but how long does that really last? with us out of it? and if and when the deal finally breaks, because of what trump did today, how long will it take iran to start building toward a bomb again? how long before bolton gets his war? hold that thought.

the sun is shining so why binge in here, when you can do it out there. with this clever little app called audible. you can listen to the stories you love while doing the things you love, outside. everyone's doing it she's binging... they're binging... and... so is he. so put on your headphones, turn on audible and binge better.

say you're north korea, and you're about to have a summit with the president of the united states for the first time in history, you're about to have this sum milt because you're supposedly about to start talking about a deal, a negotiated deal to stop your nuclear program in exchange for something from the united states. what does it say to you that the united states just today unilaterally broke the last deal that it did with another country to try to stop a nuclear program? right on the precipice of the north korea summit, the united states announces we're breaking the iran deal, we're out. that's like telling somebody, my neighbor took out a restraining order on me, would you like to hire me to house sit for you? joe, it nice to see you. >> thank you. >> i know you think that this was a bad decision by the president. how seriously bad a decision is this? is there a possibility this deal might stay together with everybody else except us?

>> this is the most devastating and destructive act of trump's presidency. it's impossible to overstate the seriousness of what he just did. it isn't just that he destroyed a key national security arrangement for the united states. it isn't just that he betrayed our allies. it isn't just that he damaged the credibility of the united states on the world stage. it's that he doesn't have a plan for how to replace this. i read the transcript for the state department background briefing today. the reporters were all over these briefers. it was a mess. it's clear they have no idea how to put back sanctions that they claim will now force iran to come crawling back for a better deal. it's clear that we have lost our allies, we've lost our credibility, so, that gets to the point you were raising in your opening segment on this. what is the real plan here? and the fear is that it's john bolton's plan.

it's a plan to actually go to war with iran. i wouldn't say that bolton is manipulating the president, but john bolton operationalizes trump's worst impulses. and that could get us into the biggest conflict yet in the middle east. >> joe, on this point of what we're going to do instead of this -- instead of the deal, instead of the plan, now that we have broken out of the plan, ostensibly, what they're saying is that the united states is going to embark on a sanctions regime against iran and we're going to do it alone, without our allies, and we're going to do it after the state departmen after the head of the sanctions office of the treasury department just left. i have question, even if you take them at their word and they do have some plan at what's going to replace what we just got out of, i have concerns that the u.s. government couldn't just, as a capability, couldn't institute some complex new sanctions plan against our allies even if we wanted to.

>> i think that's right. the state department officials had a great deal of difficulty of explaining how this would work. remember, we don't do -- the united states doesn't do business with iran, so, you can't sanction our companies, so, that means you have to sanction european companies, japanese companies, chiz knnese companies, people who are doing business. really? you think our allies are going to put up with that? that that's your plan? and even if you did have a plan to do this, how are you going to operationalize it? which is why you're so worried about where this path leads. as you increase tensions in the region, and just today, israel had new strikes against iranian positions in syria, you're worried that donald trump has in effect poured gasoline on these conflicts, that whether he wants to or not, the u.s. will be drawn into the conflicts that saudi arabia and israel are having with iran. >> joe, msnbc nuclear security analyst, president of the plow shares fund, i know that we knew this day was coming, it is --

it's still hard to get your head around it now that it's here. thanks for helping us understand. nice to see you. >> thank you, rachel. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. every chip will cr. these friends were on a trip when their windshield got chipped. so they scheduled at safelite.com. they didn't have to change their plans or worry about a thing. i'll see you all in a little bit. and i fixed it right away with a strong repair they can trust. plus, with most insurance a safelite repair is no cost to you. >> customer: really?! >> tech: being there whenever you need us that's another safelite advantage. >> singers: safelite repair, safelite replace. this is bill's yard. and bill has a "no-weeds, not in my yard" policy. but with scotts turf builder weed & feed, bill has nothing to worry about. it kills weeds and greens grass, guaranteed. this is a scotts yard.

♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun♪ ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun transitions™ light under control™

the kayak explore tool shows you the places you can fly on your budget. so you can be confident you're getting the most bang for your buck. alo-ha. kayak. search one and done. i thought after sandy hook, where 20 six and seven year olds were slain,

this would never happen again. it has happened more than 200 times in 5 years. dianne feinstein and a new generation are leading the fight to pass a new assault weapons ban. say no to the nra and yes to common-sense gun laws. california values senator dianne feinstein friday, prosecutors working for robert mueller and the special counsel's office went to federal court in d.c. to get a continuance, basically an extension in the case against 13 russian individuals and three russian businesses who were all hit with felony charges by robert mueller in february. none of the russian individuals who were charged by mueller have

responded formally to the fact that they've been hit with these felony charges, but one of the corporate entities that was charged, a company that is owned by a russian oligarch, that company actually hired american lawyers, who did file a response to the indictment. what these american lawyers have filed for is tons and tons of discovery, which is legal speak for oh, okay, if you're going to prosecute our client, you have to show us your evidence. you have to show us what you've got. well, the first hearing in this case is scheduled for tomorrow. the basis of the mueller filing trying to delay tomorrow's hearing was basically twofold. mueller's prosecutors were saying, we're not sure that these lawyers are even going to show up, we're not really totally sure that these lawyers actually represent this russian company, but meanwhile, you should know that what they've asked for in terms of discovery is seven decades of sensitive american foreign policy and intelligence information about russia. seriously. quoting from the discovery request to prosecutors, this is

what they're demanding. quote, the government has requested to turn over to defense counsel and to disclose from 1945 to present each and every instance where any officer, employee, and/or agent of the u.s. government engaged in operations to interfere with elections and political processes in any foreign country, including but not limited to information relating to whether any such activity utilized propaganda in any format, including but not limited to the use of social media. this disclosure should include any and all information regarding the use of computer infrastructure inside and outside the united states, false foreign identity, goals to sow discord in a foreign political system, assistant to a foreign elected official or candidate, attacks on a foreign elected official or candidate, assassination or conspiracy to assassinate a foreign elected official or candidate, big political advertisements, posing as foreign persons or failure to honestly identify to forney employee or agent of the united states government. from 1945 to the present. oh, is that all? prosecutors in that filing on

friday said, basically, to the court, we'd rather not hand all that over, at least until we're sure that this is actually an issue of legal representation for this defendant and not just the russian government using our courts to extract sensitive information that's going to go to the russian government for their our purposes. we'd like a little more time, please, to make sure we've sorted this all on. well, the judge who is hearing this case said no to mueller's prosecutors. oh. the judge said actually, the first hearing in this case is going ahead as scheduled tomorrow. discovery can proceed. presumably, mueller's team knew what they were doing when they decided to bring criminal charges against russian individuals and entities in this case. but one of the things it has now done is it has made russia a stakeholder and a legal combatant in this fight now. and so now we're seeing what they want to do with the access that that gives them in our legal system. that court hearing tomorrow should be fascinating. watch this space. if you feel like you spend too much time in the bathroom

with recurring constipation and belly pain talk to your doctor and say yesss! to linzess. ♪ yesss! linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. linzess can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. linzess is not a laxative. it works differently to help you get ahead of your recurring constipation and belly pain. do not give linzess to children less than 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18. it may harm them.

do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach area pain, and swelling. so say yesss! to help for recurring constipation. yesss! to help for belly pain. talk to your doctor and say yesss! linzess.

those we love is an act of mutuality. we can help with the financial ones. learn more or find an advisor at massmutual.com in what is easily the most surprising news on a day of very big news, today, the lawyer for stormy daniels, michael avenatti, released a seven-page document in which he alleges that the shell company used by michael cohen to pay off porn star stormy daniels for the president, that company was used much more extensively than has been previously reported. almost $4.5 million appears to have passed through that account after the 2016 election, including hundreds of thousands of dollars paid into that

company from at&t, from the novartis pharmaceutical company, from a korean aviation company, and half a million dollars from an american company linked to a russian oligarch who was close to vladimir putin and is now sanctioned by the u.s. government. these same payments have now been pored by msnbc news and "the new york times." tonight the lawyer, michael avenatti says, quote, we are just getting started. curious to know what he means by that. my curiosity is about to be satisfied because mr. avenatti is lawrence's guest coming up now on "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening. >> good evening, rachel. we heard michael avenatti say "we're just getting started" several times in the past. and each time there was something more that came out in the case that he has been pursuing. and that one is really a rabbit out of the hat, because i'm not aware of any actual formal