tick off the trump people and they don't come out and then you're nowhere near. and there are some of those people in your district, thank you both for being with me. when robert mueller and the special counsel's office that he runs, when they indicted the internet research agency, when they indicted that russian government controlled propaganda and disinformation mill that was being run out of st. petersburg in russia, that indictment was initially brought under the auspices of the special counsel's office. but fairly quickly, the special counsel handed it off so that case against all those employees of the internet research agency and the russian oligarch close to putin who ran that entity, that case is now mostly being

handled by the office in washington, d.c., the security division. the special counsel occasionally turns up in relevant filings and stuff but it seems like the heavy lifting is being done by the u.s. attorney. a few months later, robert mueller brought another indictment against a whole different set of russians. his indictment of a dozen russian military intelligence officers, that was again brought initially tunneled auspices of the special counsel's office. but that one right away, day one, they hand that had one off so that ongoing prosecution is not being handled by these work directly for robert mueller. it is instead being handled by career office here's work at the national security division at the main justice department in washington, d.c. the prosecution of michael cohen was also handed off. the inquiry into michael cohen including into his finances, that was begun initially by the special counsel's office, by

prosecutors working for mueller. then mueller handed that one off, too. he handed it off to the u.s. attorney's office in the southern district of new york. and then there is the maria butina case. the alleged russian agent is said to have infiltrated the nra, the american conservative movement, to a certain extent, the trump campaign, in order to influence the 2016 presidential election on russia's office. it is being handled in the national security division at main justice. at least if we can decode all the titles of the prosecutors there as well as we think we can. the same pattern also holds in the open criminal investigation of this guy. "washington post" reported last weekend, the story that got a little bit swamped in all the other big news about legal troubles for the president. according to the "washington

post's" reporting, there is an open ongoing investigation of this trump fund-raiser, who until recently was the finance chairman. his name is elliott brady. he has been named in conjunction with some of the same sort of payoff dynamics with women that have now turned so toxic for the president and michael count's criminal case. but in addition he has been named in connection to shady connections to different middle eastern countries and middle eastern entities. what appears to be lobbying for those countries and entities. also, a still obscure business relationship he appears to have been involved in with a convicted pedophile, pictured here with donald trump, who was apparently granted immunity in exchange with his cooperation with the special counsel's office and who with elliott brady was apparently involved in some sort of operation to

influence the white house on behalf of the united arab emirates and saudi arabia. all the best people, right? the "washington post," again, that got a little bit swamped. the "washington post" reported that elliott brady, the former deputy chairman, it is being run interestingly out of the republican integrity section at the main justice department in washington, d.c. so all of these things, at least almost all of these things, appear to have started with the special counsel's investigation, the special counsel's office. but they've all been handed off. the michael cohen prosecution, the special counsel appears to have handed all of these off to other justice department prosecutors. quick pop quiz. ready? what is the one open ongoing case that the special counsel definitely has not handed off?

setting aside all the cases brought by mueller where people have already pled guilty and flipped and cooperated? out of all the cases he's brought where they're actually prosecuting people and trying to bring them on trial, what is the one that mueller hasn't handed off? paul manafort. neither the first paul manafort trial, nor the second paul manafort trial have been handed off. both of those are being handled directly by the special counsel's office and by the prosecutors who are working directly for robert mueller. why are they holding on to that one? in the order that appointed robert mueller to run the special investigation, they are charged with the special election, whether the donald trump campaign, meant of matters

have arisen from that. and as these matters, these related matters have arisen and they have turned into criminal cases, they turned into indictments and prosecutions, the special counsel's office, the mueller team, has basically to a one, put those cases off to other offices, other people in the justice department. but for some reason they're hanging on to the manafort case themselves. now that paul manafort has been convicted in his first trial on eight felony counts, he is looking at a very real possibility according to the sentencing guidelines, that he could see his 80th birthday sitting in federal prison. with that prison time already basically assured from his conviction on those eight felonies this week, with lots more felony charges coming down the pike from the same prosecutors who just got him convicted in a neighboring jurisdiction, it is a really

important question where he might change his mind. he might see what best to face and that might focus his mind differently from before the jury came back. we don't know what he's thinking. we don't know what he's going to do. we can see in public the fact pores might affect his thinking. today, for example, that court in virginia unsealed the actual verdict. the hand written verdict as it was handed in by the jury that heard manafort's case in virginia. this remarkable document to be able to lay your eyes on. this it is an incredible thing. we get handwriting of the foreperson of the jury. you see the check marks where the foreperson notes charges on which they found him guilty. then for the ten charges where they didn't come to a verdict. the ten charges on which there was a hung jury and therefore a mistrial, the foreperson of the jury did this very unusual thing and didn't just write down no

concensus, didn't just leave it blank. the foreperson wrote down no concensus and then 11-1 and labeled the 11 g for guilty and the one n for not guilty to specifically spell out for the judge that it was not like they were split down the middle on any of those remaining ten counts where they said they couldn't come to a consensus. this is the foreperson making it clear. it was just the one person holding it up. the prosecutor we talked to said they instruct jurors to not do anything like that. to not give the numbers decided versus undecided jurors. but for whatever reason, this foreperson decided to spell it out. because that happened, we all know on those ten counts, it was close. it was 11-1. and now the prosecutors in the special counsel's office know that, too. and knowing how close they got

to getting manafort convicted, not just on eight felonies but on 18 felonies, that presumably factors into the prosecutor's decision about whether or not to try again. whether or not they will retry paul manafort on those ten coun counts. the prosecutors have less than a week before they have to make decision on whether to retry him on those ten counts. the announcement is due next wednesday. now, on the other side of the ledger, of course, manafort's defense team, they have a decision to make as to whether or not they'll file an appeal on the eight counts for which manafort was convicted. the defense has a longer amount of time to make the decision about whether or not to appeal the eight guilty counts. the judge is apparently giving them 30 days. they get 30 days to respond. one of the consequences is by

the time the legal team has to make a decision as to whether they'll appeal, by that time, paul manafort's second trial will already be underway in federal court in washington, d.c. and here's the thing that i think is important for us all to know about that second trial. it is important for us to know about the second trial to anticipate what will be happening in the news over the end of the summer and the fall. i think it is important in terms of the president and his own legal jeopardy and how he may be thinking about that. paul manafort's first trial, the one that ended this week, of course that, of course, about bank fraud and tax evasion. and the president has made a stream of public statements now. both during the trial and after the trial about basically what a tragedy it is that paul manafort was convicted on bank fraud and tax fraud. but in the next trial, manafort is going on trial for being a

unregistered agent of a foreign power. his co-defendant is his long time business partner who the fbi says is linked to russian intelligence and believed by prosecutors to have fled to moscow ahead of him being charged with some of the felony charges that have led to this next trial. running a presidential campaign and committing felonies with your russian speaking partner as recently as this year? that will be a different kind of case. and we don't know if the president has anything to worry about in terms of what may come out in that second trial of paul manafort, or if the president has anything to worry about if

manafort in fact decides to change his mind and start cooperating with prosecutors to lessen his prison time and the pending charges against him. we do not know if the president has anything to worry about. but the manafort case is the one case actually being tried by the special counsel's office. the special counsel's office has hold to prosecute it southwesterly its own personnel. and the president today and his lawyers stopped just hinting around the idea that the president might pardon paul manafort to get him off the sxhook instead started floating the idea to reporters as they do that the president maybe has already had discussions with his legal team about how exactly he would pardon paul manafort. if you are thinking about that prospect today, and i think we should all start thinking about that prospect today in terms of what the national response will be. if you want to get your head around the potential risks for the president. like what kinds of things paul manafort might be able to say about donald trump and the way

he might say them if he ends up -- well, there is a reason that this 12-second clip from the campaign has been circulating online over the last few days. i think it helps to focus the mind when you think about what paul manafort might have to say and how he might say it about donald trump. >> so to be clear, mr. trump has no financial relationships with any russian oligarchs? >> that's what he said. that's what i said. that's obviously what our position is. >> that was how good paul manafort was at answering russia-related questions concerning donald trump when he was still donald trump's presidential campaign chairman. i generally treat white house including this president and his lawyers as kind of a silent movie where i try mostly ignore what they say and watch what they do. i find it is more efficient. in this case, i think they have

said enough about paul manafort that they are perhaps actually signaling what they are going to do. at least, floating the possibility, to see what the reaction will be. a pardon for paul manafort is worth thinking through before it happens, if it happens. it is worth watching the white house. my sense is that they are going very wobbly on this question. i think it matters on the importance of the paul manafort case to note for the record that the special counsel's office has held this paul manafort case very close. even as it has let all of these other cases be at arm's length sxfrlt then we got the big news today. which is about this unfamiliar character. i guess he's probably familiar by now. if you know who he is, i know what you're thinking. i know you're giggling. his name is pecker. his last name is pecker. it makes every news story about

him a little giggly and distracting. i'm 45 years old. as far as that means i'm just 9 years old times five. it's funny. his name is pecker. that's funny. when it comes to the pickle that mr. pecker has put the president in, it is sort of worth letting it out. giggle through it. let that happen. acknowledge that it's funny. then you do still have to kind of soberly grapple with the fact this guy, mr. pecker, has long been a really central part of donald trump's life. particularly mr. trump's carefully managed public image. during the presidential campaign it became desperately unsubtle. it became impossible not to notice. you could not buy a quart of milk without being confronted with the unsubtlety of this relationship because his empire includes the "national enquirer." and you can watch the progression of donald trump's quest for the presidency over the course of the covers of the

"national enquirer." when it came to the end of the presidential primary where the last man standing against him was ted cruz, this was the "national enquirer" cover. ted cruz father linked to jfk assassination. that's crazy in the middle of a presidential campaign to see a "national enquirer" trying to help out their favorite candidate for president, putting out something looney tune thing. this was not an unwelcome intrusion into the campaign by this publication. the candidate himself was totally on board with this. >> there was a picture on the front page of the "national enquirer" which does have credibility. and on the cover of the "national enquirer" there is a picture of him and crazy lee harvey oswald having breakfast. this was a magazine that frankly, in many almosts, should be very respected.

i mean, if that was "the new york times," they would have gotten pulitzer prizes for their reporting. i've always. why didn't the "national enquirer" get pulitzer prize? >> that's my favorite photographic imagery of mike pension as he is absorbing what donald trump is saying about the -- the lee harvey -- he said pulitzer prize again! donald trump perfectly in his element talking about the "national enquirer." and mike pence swallowing his tongue thinking, wow, that will be my new life. so thus ends the republican presidential primary campaign in 2016. on that high note. and this starts the election. their main story, the bread and butter, exploitation stuff. dying cher broke and alone. and then you see many politics.

there's trump. how i will save america from terror. following week, this is very subtle. hillary clinton, corrupt! on the take. fraud and bribes. crooked hillary. where have i heard that phrase? two weeks later, hillary failed secret lie detector. new e-mail scandal. damning report. shocking bribe. here's august 15. 2016. donald trump's revenge on hillary and her puppets. who are her puppets? barack obama is one of her puppets. that's interesting. mob connection. shady billion-dollar deals. gay double life. it's weird how they put the mob connections right under donald trump's face. but throws thing you're supposed to attribute to hillary clinton. here's the following week. very subtle. clinton's secret health crisis. mental breakdown. eating herself to death.

and bill clinton has alzheimer's and parkinson's. by mid semi, the "national enquirer" obtained that they have gotten her full medical file. they got that nice picture of her. in her medical file, there's news of her violent rages, her liver damage from booze. three strokes, and also, alzheimer's. then down at the bottom, not sure if this is directly derive from the medical file but jail clinton now. also there on the front page. right before the election, this was "national enquirer's" halloween special. 24 years of cover-ups. hide her sleazy affairsful pay hush money to hookers? who now can the -- this was the following week. part two of clinton's hitman explosive tell-all. hillary hooked on narcotics?

also, gay sex sting. something involving hillary being gay in a motel. hillary black mailed the fbi. not black mailed by the fbi. but she black mailed the fbi. that's a number. then there was their election special. this was their master piece. this was on the news stands in every grocery store in america when america went to the polls for election day. they really boiled it down for the final push. hillary, corrupt, racist, criminal. look at the middle section on the bottom. hillary uses the "n" word and hates black people. that's in every grocery store in america. right? and even if you don't buy it, that's the cover. and then trump wins the election and the enquirer's cover takes remarkably sunny turn. this was their first post election cover. we told you so. donald trump, my first 100 days. my plan to ensure world peace. and then week after week, more of the same. illegals caught invading

america. construction plants and blueprints inside. because trump must build the wall. trump was able to and foes muslim spies in obama's cia. they were infesting obama's craft. still before he was even sworn. in merry christmas, christmas eve, trumpeting that bill clinton was down to 117 pounds and dying. one of the obama daughters is dying. and trump has taken charge. this is during transition. he has taken charge and he's tearing up dangerous deals. he's arranged peace between israel and its enemies. he slapped down arrogant china. and this is how they started the new year in 2017. a glamour shot of the first family. this is not just a pro donald trump publication. this is like fox news on drugs. but david peck here runs the

"national enquirer," who runs the media end, he has been on this train for a long time. in the late 1990s, he ran a magazine literally called trump style. a whole magazine about trump and style and trump stylishness. as long as as 2010, the associated press reports that david peck her promoted a possible trump presidency. and you know, maybe david pecker just loves donald trump. that is no crime. but if that's what it is, it is a very deep is that longstanding love. "washington post" reports that during the 2016 campaign, pecker allowed donald trump to personally direct and select stories like these ones. hillary, six months to live and hillary's full medical file for the cover of the enquirer. trump got to pick those. in a remarkable series of reporting, piecing together, buying up exclusive it is true damaging stories about donald

trump's sex life so those stories would be kept quiet before the campaign. scandal turned up in that reporting, has now turned into criminal consequences guilty pleas from michael cohen this week. he pled guilty in conjunction with david pecker and pecker's company, american media. they said that as early as the summer of 2015, pecker coordinated with sxoen with one or more members of the donald trump campaign. to develop a system in which pecker and the "national enquirer" would assist in identifying and neutralizing negative stories about trump. so they've been named as a participant in the conspiracy. lots of interesting questions that the trump organization, the trump business, having been involved. people on the trump campaign having been involved.

the president described as directing and participating in that criminal scheme. today, the first "vanity fair" and then "wall street journal" reported that david pecker and his chief content officer, a man named dylan howard, they have both now flipped and are cooperating with the special counsel's office. pecker is said to have immunity in exchange for his cooperation. david pecker is not a random or prifrt figure in the president's life. this is probably the president's greatest ally in building his public image over the last couple of decades. this is the guy, the company that specifically has managed the public image, in part by aggressively managing secrets that trump believed would be most damaging to anymore they were publicly exposed. and now that is who is talking on federal prosecutors. once you're cooperating with federal prosecutors, you don't just get to tell tales about michael cohen. you don't get to choose any one

they know that you'll cooperate about. once you're cooperating, particularly if you've been given immunity in exchange for your cooperation, you're cooperating on everything. in this case it may turn out to be fascinating. once elected, the national enquirer and american media took few strange turns including this spring when they published this. this is a big glossy publication that has no advertisements. it is priced at $13.99. it was put on the shelves at walmarts around america. it is declaring the awesomeness of saudi arabia. it literally describes saudi arabia as the magic kingdom thufltout the book, that's how it is describe. disney might have something to say about that. this ami publication from earlier this year includes this photo of this odd duck guy in the oval office posing with donald trump behind the resolute desk. this guy is an adviser to the

saudi crown princest reportedly got into the oval office at the invitation of david pecker from america media. what the heck is the "national enquirer" doing promoting saudi arabia to unsuspecting walmart shoppers all over america on something they must have lost a gazillion dollars? and what does that have to do with them getting saudi interests into the oval office to meet with the president? again, once you are cooperating with federal prosecutors, you don't get to pick and choose what it is you're cooperating about. it is everything. and now tonight, the associated press has just reported that at the "national enquirer," at american media, it turns out they kept all their best stuff, including all their best trump stuff, locked up in a safe that everybody knew about. that story has just broken. we've got the reporter who broke it, next. duced you to my parents.

psst! craig and sheila broke up. what, really? craig and shelia broke up!? no, craig!? what happened? i don't know. is she okay? ♪ craig and sheila broke up! craig and sheila!? ♪ as long as office gossip travels fast, you can count on geico saving folks money. craig and sheila broke up! what!? fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ito take care of anyct messy situations.. and put irritation in its place. and if i can get comfortable keeping this tookus safe and protected... you can get comfortable doing the same with yours. preparation h. get comfortable with it. lojust use priceline.ls on travel? you can save up to 60% on hotels. that's like $120 a night back in your pocket. go to priceline to get deals you won't find anywhere else.

you wouldn't accept from any one else. why accept it from an allergy pill? flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which most pills don't. it's more complete allergy relief. flonase. it's the ford summer sales event and now is the best time to buy. you ready for this, junior? yeah, i think i can handle it.

no pressure... ...that's just my favorite boat. boom. (laughs) make summer go right with ford, america's best-selling brand. and get our best deal of the summer: zero percent financing for sixty months on f-150. get zero percent financing for 60 months- plus $2,800 bonus cash on a 2018 f-150 xlt equipped with 2.7l ecoboost. this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know!

i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. so this is just out from the associated press. "national enquirer" kept safe with damaging trump stories.

here's the lead. the "national enquirer" kept a safe containing documents on hush money payments and other damaging stories it killed as part of its cozy relationship with donald trump leading up to the 2016 presidential election. people familiar with the arrangement told the a.p. it was reported that federal prosecutors had granted immunity to "national enquirer" chief david pecker, potentially laying bare his efforts to protect his long time fremd donald trump. court, court payments in the cohen case say pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about trump's relationships with women by among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they would be purchased and their publication avoided. several people familiar with the parent company, american media inc., they said the safe was a great source of power for david pecker, the company's ceo.

but after the "wall street journal" initially published the first details of playboy model karen mcdougal's catch and kill deal shortly before the 2016 election, those assets became a liability. fearful the documents might be used against a.m.i., pecker and dylan howard removed the documents from the safe in the weeks before trump's inauguration. according to one person directly familiar with the events. quote, the a.p. cannot say whether the documents were destroyed or simply removed to a location known to fewer people. joining us now is the reporter who broke the story. thanks very much for being with us. i appreciate you joining us on short notice. >> no problem. >> so is this a safe that only contained damaging and or suppressed information about donald trump? or was this a safe where they kept all the company treasures? >> no. this was sort of the high value

ca catch and kill stuff. there may have been other things but when they wanted to have the story and trade on the influence it gained by having suppressed the story, that's where the documents would apparently go. this was a longstanding process. we're talking a literal vault with a combination lock on it. that was where both trump stuff and things about other celebrities that the "national enquirer" had bought dirt on and then buried it. that's where it went. >> from your story, it is clear a number of people knew about this. obviously, i don't know if they had it hidden behind a fake bookcase or something but it sounds like something people could see and they knew about. you describe it as a source of power for the a.m.i. chief executive, david pecker. how was it a source of power for him? did he lord the existence of it over other people? is that how others knew it existed? >> wasn't so much the safe as what was in it. in particular, the way the catch

and kill worked, and many a.m.i. employees told us, the "wall street journal" and other outlets that did ground breaking work on this. this catch and kill was about getting an advantage for the national enquirer and other a.m.i. publications. wasn't just that you were buying up dirt on a celebrity or a presidential candidate out of the goodness of your heart. you were buying it up because that person would know that you had some material sitting in a safe somewhere. and as a consequence, they might be pretty nice to you. this is how it worked with bill cosby, for example. a.m.i. paid for some dirt on bill cosby and for his sexual assault history, and the company basically then sort of got bill cosby to appear on a lot of magazine covers, shall we say. so. it was blackmail but a very friendly relationship based on

having done someone a solid already. that's the power. >> now that david pecker is reported to not only be cooperating with prosecutors but to have been granted immunity in conjunction with doing so, and the type of leverage you're describing here relates to the serving president of the united states, it raises all sorts of very big questions that are more than about the enquirer's competitive advantage in the marketplace. one of the things i'm wondering, whether there is a financial element, a business element here. i mean, i find it hard to tell whether or not a.m.i. is in good shape as a company. i don't understand who owns them. i don't understand if there might be some serious money issues that could be associated with this in terms of of this being part of their business practices. >> because a.m.i. and the "national enquirer," some are as ridiculous as you pointed out,

people in the press, the a.p. and other outlets, we didn't take seriously the a.m.i. as a business and one that was capable of making bad stories about the president go away. and to answer your question, the ownership and all that, they're owned by a hedge fund out of new jersey. while david pecker is held out as the king of a.m.i., he makes all the decisions. these guys are owned by a company called chatham asset management. it is a hedge fund in chatham, new jersey. that company is close to chris christie. got a lot of public pension money during the chris christie administration and actually, anthony, the head of chatham, attended the white house with david pecker at one point. so the question as to what chatham, what interests they would have had in this, and whether they would have had any curiosity about how the

editorial process was being run in terms of the political slant is a really interesting one. and i don't know what exactly the benefit would be bust they're the money behind a.m.i. >> if that ends up being relevant to this story, that story will be told to federal prosecutors if in fact mr. pecker is operating under immunity. a really interesting scoop tonight, jeff, thanks for being here. congratulations on this. >> you're welcome. >> and while i was talking to him, we have more breaking news. concerning a new potential prosecution. it is kind of a big stack. we've just had some news broken in the "new york times." we'll have it for you right after this break. we'll be right back. and tank. and tiny. and this is laura's mobile dog grooming palace. laura can clean up a retriever that rolled in foxtails, but she's not much on "articles of organization." articles of what? so, she turned to legalzoom. they helped me out.

she means we helped with her llc, trademark, and a lot of other legal stuff that's a part of running a business. so laura can get back to the dogs. would you sit still? this is laura's mobile dog grooming palace and this is where life meets legal.

but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost.

unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?

so this has just broken in the "new york times" with the president's lawyer pleading guilty this week on federal felony charges, naming the president and others as participating in the crimes with him. we have been wondering since that plea if there will be other people or entities actually prosecuted in conjunction with those crimes or anything related to them. you can see the new headline as of moments ago. manhattan d.a. eyes criminal charges against trump organization. here's the lead. the manhattan district attorney's office is considering pursuing criminal charges against the trump organization. and two senior company officials

with michael d. cohen's hush money payment -- excuse me. considering pursuing criminal charges and two senior company officials in question, michael d. cohen's hush money payment to an adult film actress. the "times" goes on to say that would it center on how the trump organization accounted for its reimbursement for the $130,000 that mr. cohen paid to stormy daniels during the campaign. there is actually a second story that is in here as well. about halfway through the story, the "times," the reporter says. this as the manhattan district attorney cyrus vance considers opening the investigation i just described, in addition to that, the new york state attorney general's office has moved to open a criminal investigation into whether michael cohen has violated state tax law. that's an inquiry that would be

unrelate to the federal tax evasion charges he pled guilty to on tuesday. according to a bern that state matter, they sought a referral from the state taxation department in new york which is needed to conduct such an inquiry and to violate any tax law it might recover. such requests are seldom denied. so the "new york times" breaking news that the manhattan district attorney's office is considering criminal charges against the trump organization in terms of how they dealt with what michael cohen said was an illegal campaign contribution that effectuated that, one which of was reimbursed through trump organization. and in a related matter, the they may be pursuing cohen on state tax charges. joining us, with the southern district of new york, a former federal prosecutor in the new

york jurisdiction. thank you for joining us on very, very short notice. i appreciate you being here. >> thanks for having me. >> we're all becoming amateur lawyers. i think of us as jail house lawyers on the loose. we don't have a law degree but we're trying follow the contours of the legal jeopardy. these two inquiries described tonight by the "new york times," neither would be federal inquiries. it seems like they seem the touch on or derive from what we've just learned in the federal case with cohen this week. is that fair? >> that's right. and there were a couple things that have happened in the cohen case that lead one to believe that this is natural and a normal outflow from that. the first was, there was a lot of detail in the michael cohen and criminal information about the fact that his invoices to the trump organization were sham

invoices. that actually was unrelated to the crime that he was charged with, the campaign finance fraud violation. so it struck me as interesting that they would include such detail. and then the second thing is that we know the taxi king, freeman, is cooperating with the state court in the manhattan d.a.'s office. and he is obviously very connected could cohen and is likely also cooperating with federal prosecutors in connection with the income tax, the federal income tax fraud and the loan fraud that cohen pled guilty to. so there's a lot of intertwining allegations. so it is not surprising that we would see state prosecutors looking is that this criminal activity. >> again, as a nonlawyer, i know

about famous court cases involving business entities. bing the enron case, the arthur anderson case, i know about big environmental cases about oil companies and stuff like that. i don't know that much about what it means for there to be a criminal charge against a business like the trump organization. if their that happens, if they do write charges against the business, does that mean the people who are the principals of that business, to have answer for the business's behavior? if things go prosecutors' way? and that kind of prosecution is brought? and the business entity gets in a lot of trouble? do the people associated with that business get in trouble? or does the business just go out of business? >> the corporate officers, the ones who have a fiduciary duty, can get in trouble.

you don't see it very often because there's a trickle down effect. so generally, at least in my experience in the federal court in the southern district of new york, often you work out agreements where companies agree to pay significant, it can be in the billions of dollars of fines, to avoid prosecution. because prosecutors are wary of making people lose their jobs. i would suspect that this would also be an investigation into particular individuals who are responsible for the accounting at the trump organization. and specifically, executive one and executive two who are mentioned in the michael cohen information and who were involved in covering up the reimbursements to cohen as legal expenses which cohen has now admitted was a complete sham. so this is a low level accounting fraud. where the trump organization did

not properly account for dispersements that it made. in federal court, in order to have accounting fraud, you need to have materiality. you need to show that it would make a difference to an investor. the trump organization is private so there are different laws that would apply to it. that's what we're getting at. what is akin to accounting fraud. in state law where you have different felonies and misdemeanors. there's a whole series of crimes that can be charged. >> daniel goldman, thank you for joining to us help sort this out tonight as we just got this breaking news. it helps to have you here. thanks a lot. >> i will say, one of the other things because the president has been mulling, talking about pardons and stuff at the federal level. you should know if a president does issue a pardon to anybody, throws only for federal crimes. the prospect of state level crimes being prosecuted against

people associated with the president, his business entities, his family members, even himself, there is no federal pardon that gets you out of that when you are prosecuted at the state level. breaking news from "the new york times," manhattan d.a., eyeing criminal charges against the trump organization. the new york state attorney general eyeing criminal charges against michael cohen. ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ uhp. i didn't believe it. again. ♪ ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? ♪

i want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ♪ ooh i'm not hearing the confidence. okay, hold the name your price tool. power of options based on your budget! and! ♪ we'll make heaven a place on earth ♪ yeah! oh, my angels! ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ [ sobs quietly ] ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ at priceline, to save you money.ways like mixing and matching airlines to get lower prices on flights. oh, that's how i saved on my trip! oh, for your wedding?! no, my ex-boyfriend's wedding, he's confused. jason! mix and match airlines to save more.

joining us now is congressman eric swalwell. we are absorbing another night of breaking legal news related to the president and his businesses and his campaigns. it is really nice for you to be here with us. thanks for being here. >> thank you, rachel. >> we just heard just announced in "the new york times" that state level criminal charges are being weighed against the president's business in new york, the trump organization. also state level charges being weighed against the president's lawyer, michael cohen, who has

already this week pled guilty to eight felonies in federal court. let me get your reaction. >> the president right now is facing legal liability on multiple fronts and not just criminally, but also civilly. and now tonight this news shows that much of the liability is also pardon proof. and with investigators closing in on his family, on his businesses, on his campaign and his administration officials, the best thing the president could do is just come clean with the american people, to sit down with bob mueller because a lying president, an obstructing president, a witness tampering president is a weak president. i don't think he could continue to lead with all these clouds circling around his private businesses and the white house. >> some of the clouds as you described them, do seem centered on his business in a way that we have not seen as intensely as we have seen right now and business associates of him, including

michael cohen. but what's your feeling about the seriousness of the campaign specific charges in which the president has been implicated? mr. cohen pled guilty to two campaign finance charges. he said the president directed him to commit those crimes. the president responded by saying they aren't a big deal. nobody would get prosecuted for them if i weren't getting witch hunted for them. do you think those are serious charges? >> as a former prosecutor, i don't see how you can separate michael cohen's allocution and what he pled to and the person that directed and cooperated with michael cohen. i believe that if donald trump was not the president of the united states, he also would have been indicted earlier this week. and also there is a theory in the law called corpus delecti which is you can't take a guilty plea from the defendant unless there is some other evidence. so that means that the prosecutors had other evidence. we're seeing that right now with

mr. pecker's evidence. i think a lot of people are asking what's in that safe and how do we crack it so we know what else is out there? >> with so many people close to the president talking with prosecutors, not only his former lawyer, michael cohen who obviously is in a different position with regard to prosecutors, with his representatives saying he'd be happy to talk to robert mueller, with this report we have cooperation and maybe immunity for mr. pecker, i find myself just as a citizen worried that the president may feel very squeezed. that doesn't give me any pleasure because i don't want to think of him either as having done anything he feels worried about being exposed, nor do i want to think about how he may lash out. are you worried the president may take extreme action or do

something unwise? >> yes. and last night we saw him stoking racist beliefs, trying to bring up things that are just not true going on in south africa. he received a sharp rebuke from the south african government. who knows who else he could lash out at. but right now he sees he will not be held accountable for anything he does because he has a republican congress completely unwilling to stand up to him. i think the best thing we could do for the american people is to unearth the investigations that the republicans have buried and not tomorrow when the judiciary committee and the house meets go back and look at hillary clinton's e-mails, which is what we will do tomorrow, but to look at the conduct so alarming from this president and the people around him. >> literally, the meeting tomorrow is on hillary clinton's e-mails? >> they are bringing in someone who investigated the hillary clinton e-mail case, and that was scheduled the day after that michael cohen pled. so they knew what was on the line and what the american people cared about, and they chose to go in that direction.

>> congressman, member of the house intelligence and judiciary committees, thank you, sir. it is great to have you here. much appreciated. seriously? we'll be right back. (ford chime) it's the ford summer sales event and now is the best time to buy. you ready for this, junior? yeah, i think i can handle it. no pressure... ...that's just my favorite boat. boom. (laughs) make summer go right with ford, america's best-selling brand. and get our best deal of the summer: zero percent financing for sixty months on f-150.

get zero percent financing for 60 months- plus $2,800 bonus cash on a 2018 f-150 xlt equipped with 2.7l ecoboost. i'm all about my bed. this mattress is dangerously comfortable. when i get in, i literally say ahh. introducing the leesa mattress. a better place to sleep. this bed hugs my body. i'm now a morning person. the leesa mattress is designed to provide strong support, relieve pressure and optimize airflow to keep you cool. hello bed of my dreams. order online, we'll build it, box it and ship it to your door for you to enjoy. sleep on it for up to 100 nights and love it or you'll get a full refund. returns are free

and easy. i love my leesa. today is gonna be great. read our reviews, then try the leesa mattress in your own home. order during our pre-labor day mattress sale and save. for a limited time get 150 dollars off and free shipping too. sale prices are available right now. go to buyleesa.com today. you need this bed. liberty mutual accident forgiveness means they won't hike your rates over one mistake. see, liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ cameras on the international space station caught this video yesterday. see that monster mass on the right side yesterday? look at this. this is a hurricane called hurricane lane. it is a category three storm

closed in on the hawaii islands tonight. this hurricane may not make land fall on the islands, but it's already come close to make itself known. more than 20 inches of rain falling on the big islands already. landslides blocking one major highway. we are warned the most damage could come from dangerous winds and flooding. but the worst of it will come in the next 48 hours. hurricanes have only made land fall on the hawaii islands twice since the 1950s. this is a rare thing, but obviously this is serious. we will be keeping eyes on this overnight and into tomorrow. that does it for us tonight. now it is time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening, rachel. i wanted you to do another minute on the hurricane, so i could speed read this story about a manhattan d.a. it is all there, rachel, as you know, in what the federal prosecutors released on tuesday. it says in their documents that