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tv   First Look  MSNBC  August 23, 2018 2:00am-3:00am PDT

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thank you so very much for being here with us. good night from the nbc news led quarters here in new york. just because michael cohen made a plea deal doesn't mean that implicates the president on anything. he did nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. he did nothing wrong. there are no charges against him in this. he did nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. all he knows, that he did nothing wrong and that there was no collusion. the president did nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. there is no collusion. just because you continue to ask the same questions over and over, i'm not going to give you a different answer. the president has done nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. there is no collusion. all right. so the white house press secretary on message in the wake of the cohen guilty plea, but did the president just blow his own cover? and could a pardon be on the
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way for paul manafort. the president says he is open to it, but the question is whether republicans will defend it. and the man charged in the murder of iowa college student mollie tibbetts appears in court as republicans seize on illegal immigration. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, august 23rd. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside frances rivera. president trump is mulling a potential pardon for paul manafort following his conviction on bank and tax fraud charges. according to "fox news", the president said in an interview set to air today that he would consider pardoning manafort, the former head of the trump campaign who was convicted tuesday on eight counts of bank and tax fraud as well as failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. the president spent part of yesterday railing against the outcome of manafort's trial, and the jury being unable to reach a
quote
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verdict on ten of the other counts against him. he wrote on twitter, a large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the paul manafort case. witch hunt. he added, i feel very badly for paul manafort and his wonderful family. justice took a 12-year-old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him, and unlike michael cohen he refused to break, make up stories in order to get a deal. such respect for a brave man. now, following the president's tweets the white house disputed that he was planning on pardoning manafort. >> the manafort case doesn't have anything to do with the president. it doesn't have anything to do with his campaign. it doesn't have anything to do with the white house. >> even if it has nothing to do with the white house, he still could have the power to pardon mr. manafort. is that something he has begun discussing with the team? has he ruled it out? has it come up? >> i'm not aware of any conversations regarding that at all. >> thanks. the question -- >> other than actually when he was asked by a news outlet
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earlier this week and he said that he hadn't been thinking about that at all. yesterday, president trump appeared to acknowledge the campaign violation and walked it back in an interview, all while maintaining it was not a crime. he said he blamed attorney general jeff sessions for his lawyer's conviction. president obama had a big campaign violation and it was easily settled. trump was referring to a late filing on small dollar donations by the obama campaign which resulted in a large fine given the scale of the operation, but is differently than knowingly concealing campaign spending as pleaded to by cohen and which is routinely prosecuted in criminal cart as with the fraud case. president trump said it had to do with who was leading the doj. >> my first question when i heard about it was did they come out of the campaign because that
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could be a little dicey, and they didn't come out of the campaign and that's big. but they weren't -- it is not even a campaign violation. if you look at president obama, he had a massive campaign violation, but he had a different attorney general and they viewed it a lot differently. >> michael cohen was an executive vice president at the trump organization and the president's personal lawyer upon taking office, but along with a tweet that said he does not recommend hiring him, trump told "fox news" that they were not as close as people think. >> he was a lawyer for me for -- one of many, you know. they would say the lawyer and they like to add "the fixer." i don't know if he was a fixer. i don't know where that team came from, but he has been a lawyer for me. didn't do big deals, small deals. not somebody that was with me that much. they make it sound like i didn't live without him. i understood michael cohen very well. it turned out he wasn't a very
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good lawyer, frankly, but he was somebody that was probably with me for about ten years and i would see him sometimes. >> so michael cohen's lawyers have already released an audio tape of him discussing with then-candidate trump an arrangement to pay one of the women, but that's not all according to federal prosecutors who say they have more hard evidence about the payments to those women. assistant u.s. attorney andrea griswold said it includes records from the april search on cohen's premises including hard-copy documents, seized electronic devices along with text messages sent over encrypted applications, phone records and e-mails. she said they would submit various records produced via subpoena including records from the shell corporation cohen formed and records from the media company. this as the "wall street journal" reports that the chairman of american media inc. provided prosecutors with
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details about payments mr. cohen arranged with woman who alleged sexual encounters with president trump, including mr. trump's knowledge of those deals. the journal report which cited people close to cohen and others familiar with prosecutors' discussions posted late last night. it preceded a tweet from the president at 1:10 in the morning washington time, trump writing in all caps, no collusion, rigged witch hunt. >> and republican leaders remain silent but the rank and file did weigh in. former presidential candidate mitt romney tweeted yesterday, the events of the last 24 hours confirm that conduct by high-placed individuals was both dishonorable and illegal. also confirmed is my faith is our justice system and my conviction that we are a nation committed to the rule of law. senator ben sasse released a statement writing, quote, paul manafort is a founding member of the dc swamp and michael cohen is the goth am version of the
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same. neither one of these felons should have been anywhere another the presidency. on the hill, senate republicans were left stunned by tuesday's developments. take a listen to them. >> there's no good news in what is happening obviously. this is very, very unfortunate. it is very serious. i want to see this go through our judicial system. that's what's been happening and, you noticknow, we'll see i through. >> i can't imagine people who are familiar with what's been going on at the white house are particularly surprised. i've been here 11 1/2 years, and this is -- i don't think i have witnessed anything like i've witnessed over the last year and a half. probably the american people haven't in modern times. >> i want to bring in now from washington, capitol hill reporter for "the hill" molly hooper. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> nbc is reporting that the president for now is remaining
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calm, but the white house allies who are really dreading that a meltdown could happen here. what are you hearing about the legal pressure for the president and how the white house is being impacted? >> reporter: well, you know, i have been up there on capitol hill and, you know, senators kind of worry that there may be a meltdown, but they haven't seen it yet. again, you know, going back to the republicans yesterday just trying to get them the talk about what had happened, it was very difficult. normally they're more -- you know, they embrace the issues that are facing the administration and, you know, tackle them head-on when you are staking out senators, just as we saw the clips a few minutes ago. they're usually apt to talk, but yesterday it was very difficult to get republicans to stop and chat and respond to tuesday's developments because it does put them in a very difficult position and they don't know what the president's going to do. and to the issue of pardoning
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manafort, well, that's an issue that they are concerned about. >> all right. we'll delve into the pardon issue in just a second. but as far as the president when it comes to this level of calm or this uncertainty of what he'll do, what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, again, since -- i mean i primarily cover capitol hill, so i get -- i have a better perspective of their response to what the president's thinking. but, again, sometimes one person mentioned to me this could be kind of the calm in the eye of the storm. and, again, once that eye moves forward, you know, the storm erupts and, you know, just seeing the tweet last night at 1:00 in the morning, i wasn't even awake at 1:00 in the morning and he usually gets up really early and tweets early in the morning. >> it was a late night for the president. let me ask you really quickly, molly, about some of the reaction on capitol hill in terms of potentially pardoning paul manafort. is there an appetite for republicans to defend a
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presidential pardon of paul manafort? what are you hearing? >> reporter: no. no, no, no. in fact, republicans tell us they're warning the president against doing something like that. even jeff flake, who is a long-time critic of the president who has often, you know, criticized by himself by the president at rallies and what not, he said, listen, that would be a major mistake. even if paul manafort was pardoned by the president, there still could be state charges so it is hard to see how he would avoid prison time. again, that's one thing the republicans are saying, listen, we don't want to delve into the other issues. you know, from the charges seen yesterday or on tuesday, we don't see russian collusion and that's what the senate intelligence committee and the senate republicans are focusing on. however, pardoning manafort or cohen would just be a step too far is what lindsey graham said. for lindsey graham to say that, that's a big deal. >> yeah, lindsey graham, john
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cornyn and collins among those who have expressed support in washington. thank you. to the latest in the mollie tibbetts case, the suspect charged in the death of the iowa college student, made his first appearance in court. he was ordered held on $5 million bond as controversy erupts over his legal status. >> reporter: do you have anything to say for yourself? >> 24-year-old immigrant christhian rivera appearing in court. >> you have been charged with murder in the first degree. >> reporter: authorities say he is from mexico and was in the country illegally. he worked for four years at a small family-run dairy farm owned by a prominent republican family. they said they checked his documentation in a government system but learned he gave a
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false name. >> what we learned in the last 24 hours is our employee was not who he said he was. >> reporter: lang said he noticed no changes in his behavior and he continued to show up after mollie's disappearance. >> this guy stayed around for 35 days and nobody noticed anything different. >> reporter: he said his client was working in the country legal. in a facebook book, her aunt wrote, remember that evil comes in every color. >> they should be back in their own country. >> i don't think him being in an illegal immigrant had anything to do with what he did. >> our thanks to nbc's ron mott for that report. president trump is weighing in on the case at his rally on monday night and in a video he posted on his official twitter page. >> and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman. should have never happened. illegally in our country. we've had a huge impact, but the
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laws are so bad, the immigration laws are such a disgrace. we are getting them changed but we have to get more republicans. mollie tibbetts, an incredible young woman is now permanently separated from her family. we need the wall. we need our immigration laws changed. we need our border laws changed. we need republicans to do it because the democrats aren't going to do it. >> now, the lawyer for tibbetts' accused murderer says his client was in iowa illegal but employers say he gave a false name when checked on a government system. still ahead, china retaliates as a new round of u.s. tariffs kick in overnight. we're going live to beijing for reaction. plus, investigators in new york come calling after michael cohen's lawyer says his client has a story to tell. this time it involves the trump
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welcome back. the trade battle between the world's two largest economies continues to escalate as the latest round of u.s. tariffs on chinese goods kicked in at midnight earlier today. >> the 25% tax impacts $16 billion worth of chinese goods, and as beijing promised china retaliated with reciprocal tariffs of equal value. janis mackey frayer joining us live from beijing. good to have you with us. what is the latest? there was optimism that talks would alleviate or walk-back this cliffhanger, but it seals it has not happened. >> no, the trade war continues to escalate and china is upping the ante. neither side appears willing to compromise or back down. china says it is retaliating by filing a lawsuit with the world trade organization, claiming that these new u.s. tariffs
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violate wto rules. it is a 25% u.s. levy on $16 billion worth of goods, 279 goods, things like farm equipment, semi conductors, motorcycles. as well, china is saying it will slap tariffs on $16 billion worth of u.s. goods, specifically cars, buses and coal. there have been trade talks happening with both sides in washington, but so far there's been very little progress and american companies and industry groups have been complaining to trade representatives saying, look, this is hurting our companies, this is hurting the economy, it is impacting the global supply chain, and ultimately it is going to be the u.s. consumer that is going to pay the higher price. meanwhile, we are seeing it play out in state media here. the newspapers are carrying story how the u.s. auto industry is fearful and auto companies are, quote, losing sleep at night in michigan. president trump though doesn't appear to be listening to the concerns. he said in july that if need be
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he will put tariffs on every chinese items that comes into the united states. we are talking half a trillion dollars worth of goods. ayman. >> incredible. janis mackey frayer for us live in beijing. thanks. let's get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, major concern for all of our friends out there in hawaii as hurricane lane makes its way closer. >> we are about to see proof, louis, you don't need direct landfall from a hurricane to have a billion dollar weather disaster. i would be shocked if it doesn't turn into a billion dollar weather disaster because of the rain falling in the mountains. you will get water in places it is not supposed to be and a lot of damage from it. the storm is starting to make its mark. one area near hilo has reported a foot of rain overnight. a foot, already. the storm is 200 miles away from the big island. you can see it has lost a little bit of definition of the eye. we do expect it to do some weakening over the next 72
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hours. right now it is still 145-miles-per-hour winds. the forecast from the hurricane center hasn't hanged much so it is not going to get closer to the islands. it is still going to go to the north and make a turn away from the areas like honolulu. but the right side of the storm is the rainy side. you can already see on the radar here. here is the eye of the storm. you can still see the well-defined eye. this is already a flash flood warning for the eastern half of the big island of hawaii where eight to twelve inches have been widespread. the rainfall forecast is 10 to 20 inches, not just on the big island but through maui. every island has a chance to get hit. maybe numerous, maybe all of them will need help in the days ahead. in the lower 48 is a nice, quiet day. mid atlantic, northeast beautiful. showers and thunderstorms in florida. hot in texas, but all of our thoughts and eyes will be on our
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hawaiian island friend. >> it will be a tough go for them. still ahead, as "the washington post" notes the president tweeted about africa for the first time as president, defending whites in south africa. it appears he got the idea after watching "fox news" last night. tell you all about it when we come back. smuggled booze and dodged the law. even when they brought you in, they could never hold you down. when i built my family tree and found you, i found my sense of adventure. i set off on a new life, a million miles away. i'm heidi choiniere, and this is my ancestry story. now with over 10 billion historical records, discover your story. get started for free at ancestry.com discover your story. the first survivor of alzis out there.ase and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association.
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trustees. they announced, however, he will be suspended for the first three games of the season and without pay and will not be permitted to take part in the buckeyes opening. he will be suspended through september 16th. he was placed on paid administrative leave after questions were made about his handling of domestic abuse allegations. the investigation launched by the school were outlined in a statement last night saying in part, although neither urban meyer nor gene smith condoned or covered up the alleged domestic abuse by zach smith, they failed to take sufficient management action relating to zach smith's misconduct and retained an assistant coach who was not acting as an appropriate model for the student-athletes. >> i want to apologize to buckeye nation. i followed my heart, not my
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head. i fell short in pursuing full information because at each juncture i gave zach smith the benefit of the doubt. i did not know everything about zach smith, which is what he was doing and i'm pleased that the report made this very clear. however, i should have demanded more from him and recognized red flags. >> turning now to major league baseball where the red sox won't let the indians threaten the sweep in what could be a preview of the american league playoff, notching a win in the third of a four-game series in boston, 10-4 last night. the victory was highlighted by the red tox five-run fourth inning including xander bogaerts two home runs -- oh, think we have the wrong tape there. we switched it around. that is seattle. following a home run hit in the top of the ninth inning. the players looking at the camera, staring it down as they take the win in that one, guys. a little mixup there
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unfortunately with our sports tape. >> i like that synchronized stare that the houston astros were -- i think it was the houston astros doing that. seems they got the coordination down. >> they have it down. we should practice it here. >> it will take a lot of time to get it. >> nice stare there. >> thanks a lot. still ahead, a look at the morning's top talkers including how the white house is responding to the legal pressure after the president's former lawyer pleaded guilty and his campaign chair was found guilty. >> plus, donald trump calls it a witch hunt but it seems more and more americans are supporting bob mueller as confidence in his investigation grows. we'll bring you the numbers.
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good to be back with you. i'm frances rivera in for yasmin alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis bergdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. let's get the morning started with top stories. president trump and the white house are working to down play the legal troubles that the president's former lawyer and former campaign chief. >> the president took to twitter yesterday to defend paul manafort and he is now changing his story over what he knew about hush money payments to women by michael cohen. nbc new chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: after a double blow from two confidantes turned criminals, president trump is defending what he knew and when about the payments his former lawyer made, meant to keep two women quiet about alleged affairs. >> did you know about the payments? >> later on i knew, later on. and they weren't taken out of campaign finance. that's a big thing. that's a much bigger thing. did they come out of the campaign? they didn't come out of the campaign. they came from me.
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>> reporter: here is the president in april. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> solicitation is a crime of directing someone else to commit a crime, that's true even if the person doesn't follow through with the act. so here, if they can find additional evidence to support what michael cohen says, i think you could very well have a criminal violation against president trump. >> reporter: michael cohen says he broke the law at the direction of his then-boss, but the press secretary said the president is not in trouble. >> he did nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. >> reporter: the press secretary pushing back. >> he did nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. he did nothing wrong. there are no charges against him. >> reporter: as for cohen, his attorney says he is ready to share whatever he knows with whoever wants to know it. >> is he hoping for a pardon from president trump? >> not only is he not hoping for it, he would not accept a pardon. he considers a pardon from somebody who has acted so corruptly as president to be something he would never accept. >> reporter: but the white house is not ruling out a pardon for
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paul manafort, now convicted of tax and bank fraud. the president, seeming sympathetic, praised his former campaign chair, unlike cohen, he tweeted, manafort refused to break, make up stories in order to get a deal. such respect for a brave man. the developments exposing a series of contradictions in a scandal that surfaced in january when the "wall street journal" reported on a payment to porn star stormy daniels 11 days before the direction. a month later cohen acknowledged he used his own money, saying neither the trump campaign or the trump organization was involved. that wasn't true. he admitted in his plea deal to submitting phoney invoices to the company. >> those invoices were a shame. >> reporter: though sources familiar with the straight ji is to discredit cohen, that pits the president against federal prosecutors who have reams of evidence that make it more than he said/he said. >> reporter: sources close to the president tell nbc news some of donald trump's allies were
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bracing for a political meltdown today, adding some are concerned about the political ramifications for the convictions for 2020 and the mid terms. ayman. >> thanks to hallie jackson for that report. new overnight, "fox news" says president is considering a pardon of manafort with the president describing the crimes as business as usual for washington lobbyists. here is ainsley earhart who did the interview and then the president. >> he mentioned pardoning manafort and then you have michael cohen's attorney lanny davis -- >> he did mentioning. >> he did, he did. >> i have great respect for what he has done, in terms of what he has gone through. you know, he worked for ronald reagan for years. he worked for bob dole. he worked, i guess his firm worked for mccain. he worked for many, many people. many, many years. i would say what he did, some of the charges they threw against him, every consultant, every lobbyist in washington probably does.
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>> reporter: now to new york state that has subpoenaed mike 'cohen on the heels of his guilty plea. the subpoena is part of the relation into the trump foundation. it comes after cohen's attorney, lanny davis, claimed that his client had information that federal and state investigators would like to know. the attorney general of new york is currently suing the trump foundation, claiming donald trump illegally used his foundation to settle legal disputes, help his campaign for president and pay for personal and business expenses. when the lawsuit was announced in june, the president vowed not to settle the case. the current investigation is being conducted by new york's tax department and could be referred to the attorney general for prosecution. now, it is important to note the president does not have the power to pardon in state cases. >> white house counsel don mcgahn was the campaign finance lawyer for the 2016 trump operation, and the report in bloomberg says trump did not consult with him about payments that were made days before the election and are now the center of a criminal case. a person familiar with the matter has said, citing a person
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close to mcgahn they say his absence could be a key piece of evidence in any criminal prosecution, and that prosecutors could argue it shows that trump knew the payments were illegal and hid them. however, trump's lawyers could counter that by saying it is a sign that trump didn't realize that payments were related to the campaign. the source close to mcgahn said he expects to be questioned by federal prosecutors in new york about his knowledge of the payments. and a growing number of americans are standing by special counsel robert mueller and the russia probe according to a new "fox news" poll conducted earlier this week. 59% of those asked approve of mueller's investigation of the trump campaign's ties with russia and potential obstruction of justice charges against members of the trump administration. that's up 11% from last month. 37% disapprove of the probe, a drop of 3%. meanwhile, 40% of those polled say it is extremely or very likely that mueller's investigation will find
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president trump committed either criminal or impeachable offenses. that's up 5% from april. 53% say it is somewhat or not likely mueller will find the president committed a crime, a drop of 5% in that one. all right. joining us once again from washington, d.c., capitol hill reporter for "the hill" molly hooper. good to have you back with us. let's pick up on the last poll that louis was talking about, the growing public support for the mueller probe. couldn't we see trump's railing against it having an impact on the mid terms? he has really gone after bob mueller specifically by name and trying to discredit it, but according to the poll it doesn't seem to be working. >> reporter: you know, regardless of whether he rails against it, clearly people's minds are changing. that's even true if you look up on capitol hill and talk to senate republicans who say, you know, these -- these recent -- you know, the conviction and the guilty plea, that's not good for republicans going into the mid terms when they want to be talking about the tax reform laws and other things that the president has done in the first
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few years as president with the republican congress. they don't want to be talking about these legal troubles, and now that the manafort -- now that manafort has been convicted and michael cohen has pled guilty, both associates close to the president, you know, at one time, that's not good for them, you know, for their position when they want to go on offense as opposed to playing defense. >> all right. looking ahead for the next couple of weeks we have brett kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, but we know that the democrats are looking, trying to dig into whether kavanaugh overstepped bounds when investigating clinton back in the '90s. so will their push for a delay be successful here? >> well, talked to judiciary chairman chuck grassley and that is not going to happen. there will not be a delay. in fact, the judiciary committee chairman took to the floor last night and said as much, noting that when bill clinton was president he was under investigation most of his presidency, under investigation
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by an independent counsel, was then impeached but it did not stop the senate from moving his lifetime nominees, you know, through the senate. so this is just a delaying tactic on the part of democrats. he said, you know, some of the democrats who are calling for this delay because of the recent legal woes are democrats who said from the beginning they weren't going to support brett kavanaugh. again, he said -- this is chuck grassley who controls the schedule, said it is all green, all lights are go for a september 4th brett kavanaugh hearing, will happen. >> so when it comes the that confirmation, when it comes to the mid terms, also when it comes to these, you know, two convicted, guilty guys we are talking about still, molly, what are you hearing from those on the hill as far as what they're wanting to hear from the president when it is reported that he's kind of taking it all in, being calm, calculating before some fear that he'll just kind of lose it? >> they want him to keep doing that, say nothing, just stay
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away, quit talking about it. because the more that the president talks about it, the more attention that he draws to it, the less -- again, the less likely it is for the message from republicans, you know, the tax reform package has been passed, all of these things that they've done since the president has been in office, all of those messages get displaced by the news of president trump going off, you know, on legal woes. that's just, again, something that he doesn't want to -- they don't want to contend with. they want to be on offense when they're running for reelection and, frankly, the less the president says about this the better. >> and something tells me the interview that's coming out later today with "fox news" is going to drive the headlines, especially about what the president knew about those two payments that have become such a source of this problem. molly hooper, thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you. and congressman duncan hunter called the indictment filed against him and his wife over the allegations of misuse of campaign funds by a federal grand jury a witch hunt. the california republican issued a statement yesterday writing in part, quote, all the while there
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has been a constant barrage of misinformation and salacious headlines in our media regarding this matter, i purposely choose to remain silent, not to feed into this witch hunt and trust the process. he also compared the couple's treatment to that of president trump. hunter told the local california abc affiliate, quote, this is the democrat's arm of law enforcement. that's what is happening right now. it is happening with president trump. it is happening with me. we're going to fight through it and win, and the people get to vote in november. i think they've used every dirty trick in the book so it will go to court when they want it to. the congressman and his wife allegedly used $250,000 in campaign funds on family vacations, school tuition, groceries and flights. >> all right. still ahead, president trump wading in political matters but not here at home. what the president is saying about a racially-charged debate in south africa and what the country's leaders have to say about his two cents on the
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matter. plus, bill karins is back with us. he will have the latest on hurricane lane as it heads towards hawaii. stay with us. oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? (vo) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? (vo) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events
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prevagen. healthier brain. better life. welcome back, everyone. amid all that is going on, president trump has decided to wade into south african race politics, believe it or not. while evidently watching cable news last night, the president tweeted at one network, quote, i have asked secretary of state pompeo to closely study the south africa land and farm seizures and ex propose rations and the large-scale killing of farmers. south africa is seizing land from white farmers. they considering to allow land seizures without compensation as a way to address old apartheid. this is per the south african mail & guardian, all part of a racist conspiracy theory that has long been a rallying cry among white nationalists and the
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roots of it can be traced back to an extremist far-right wing group that describes itself as preparing for a coming revolution. that group has met with far right groups and media contacts in the u.s. in an effort to garner support. the south african government responded to the tweet saying, quote, south africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and remind us of our colonial past. let's switch gears and get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. you have an up tate on hurricane lane that is approaching hawaii? >> yes, we got the 5:00 a.m. update from the pacific center. they are still 145 miles per hour winds, but we lost the eye a little bit. about 200 miles away from the big island. already a highway is closed. already eight to twelve inches of rain has fallen on the big island of hawaii. it is 200 miles away and that much has fallen.
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can you imagine what the rainfall totals will be done by the time we're down? maybe three or four feet in some areas. here is the new forecast path. notice by the time it gets up here towards honolulu and oahu -- by the way, honolulu is under a hurricane warning for the first time in 26 years, so it is a rare event. it is not like the core of the winds will cause a lot of damage at all, maybe some power outages from tropical storm force gusts but don't expect a lot of wind damage. this a rain story with 10 to 20 inches for everybody, isolated totals getting up there three, four feet in some cases, and every single island is going to get that much rainfall, especially any of the mountainous areas. the forecast, very quiet, gorgeous day. as we head towards the weekend forecast we will see strong storms on saturday and into sunday in areas of the great lakes, but the east coast is looking for a fantastic saturday/sunday, guys.
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looks like a very nice weekend, ayman, especially if your sunday is off. it should be perfect. >> you know that's not true. so thanks for rubbing that in. i appreciate it. kind of you. >> more pressure on bill. >> yeah, like 12 hours off on saturday. still ahead, china retaliates against the u.s. as washington rolls out a new series of tariffs. >> how the latest move in the back and forth between the global leaders could hinder finding a solution in the ongoing trade war. st to you. and we're committed to improving every ride. starting with features designed to make it easy for your driver to find you... taking the stress out of pickups. ♪ we're putting safety at the heart of everything we do... by making it easy to verify your car, and driver. uber has new leadership, a new vision, and is moving in a new direction... forward
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let's turn to business. a new round of u.s. tariffs on $16 billion worth of chinese goods kicked in this morning, as officials from the two countries meet to try to end the trade standoff. cnbc's how might these new tariffs impact the upcoming talks? >> ironic timing, isn't it? 25% tariffs on an extra $16 billion worth of goods from china chemical products and china responded equally on another $16 billion worth of american goods that include chemical products and diesel fuel, as well. that brings the total to $50 million on both sides. but, of course, the u.s. considering an extra $200 billion worth of tariffs on chinese goods. to be honest, not a solid backdrop for the talks this week because earlier in the week president trump said he's not anticipating the talks to be that productive. but other big news, as well.
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reuters reporting that the saudi oil company looking to shelve their plans for an ipo. planning to be one of the biggest ipo ever to come to the market demanding up to $2 trillion. but the interior minister is saying they're not scrapping it entirely, but just thinking of delaying it. the price of oil is three times where it was in 2016 when they a or originally announced the ipo. >> two u.s. airlines cut routes between the u.s. and china. what is the reasoning behind that move? >> absolutely. so, american airlines are cutting some of their international flights and also reducing the service of the chicago to tokyo unit, as well. the vice president of planning said that the two china routes were a colossal lossmaker for the company and, again, this is on the back of the higher fuel
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costs associated with that. united airline shares are down more than 22% this year. >> always great to have you with us, thanks so much. all right. still to come, axios mike allen has a look at this morning's one big thing. is paul manafort pardon on the table. he is considering the move for his freshly convicted campaign chairman. the president tries to distance himself from his former lawyer michael cohen as he looks to shift the blame over his hush money payments over allege affairs. senator dick durbin will discuss how democrats plan to address these scandals and more. "morning joe," everyone, just moments away. rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave.
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upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. all right. joining us now from a washington, d.c., with a look at axios am mike allen. good to have you with us this morning. what is the one big thing for us? >> what michael cohen told
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congress about that trump tower meeting about russia. so, guess who has won himself a trip to that big building right here behind me. michael cohen it looks like is going back to capitol hill. the senate intelligence committee is saying they want to reengage with him, like when your dad wants to reengage with you after you fail to do something. michael cohen, jonathan swann is reporting told the house and senate that he had no idea whether or not president trump knew in advance about the meeting. a number of news reports saying that michael cohen was prepared to tell mueller that the president did, in fact, know early and know in advance about that meeting about getting dirt on hillary clinton's campaign. so, a vital difference there. michael cohen's lawyer tells us that there's been no change in
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his testimony. he told them that he didn't know himself and he didn't know whether or not president trump knew. >> i know yesterday chuck todd asked that specific question, michael cohen back to d.c.? has he been cleared by the federal prosecutors of new york to go back? >> we are going to see him back. >> what will that do as far as his credibilities if there is discrepancies with that? >> exactly a great point. the other thing that this does is this keeps michael developments in the news almost every day, which is terrible if you're a republican campaign. when there's a scandal. like what feeds it? one of the things is new facts. one of the facts about the manafort/cohen situation, constant new facts. you have senanci ansentencing c
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for both of them. michael cohen back in congress. if you're a republican running for congress, you hate the fact that there is going to be continued new facts and that's not saying about what could come in, too. >> you are talking about how the facts could feed all of this ahead of the elections, how are democrats planning on cashing in politically speaking on all of the recent news involving manafort and cohen? >> they are licking their chops. if you're looking at house minority leader nancy pelosi twitter feed. she hopes she will be house speaker. she is using the #cultureofcorruption. you could expect to hear a lot about that from democrats. they're not going to talk about impeachment. they know impeachment could backfire and the president will seize on that, but democrats will have the corruption issue
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and it's not just everything that's going on around the white house. the number one, number two members of congress who endorsed the president have been indi indicted. insider trading charges in new york and the night, you can't make it up, the night of the cohen manafort revelations you had duncan hunter also charged. and, so, one top republican said to me, the republican party, if you're a regular voter out there, is starting to look like a criminal organization. >> culture of corruption, interesting term. we'll hear more of that. >> mike allen, we thank you. chris will be reading axios am in just a little while. just sign up at si signup.axios.com. that does it for us. "morning joe," everyone, starts right now.
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>> senator, do you have any reaction to the cohen/manafort new s from yesterday? you still support mueller, right? well, granted mitch mcconnell doesn't often answer questions on the go but the silence and silence of house speaker paul ryan hang heavy in the air. what will republicans do if the president makes a move against the special counsel? 59% of americans now back. the mueller probe and that number is growing. another number on the rise, the percentage of people who think there is a strong chance the president of the united states committed a criminal or impeachment offense. and that polling is from fox

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