mitch mcconnell blocked in 2009 -- >> yeah. >> any real votes on the floor -- >> yeah. >> on these issue, we're ready to have a political showdown on climate change. >> we'll see. thank you for your time tonight. really appreciate it. that is "all in" this evening." now. i need a nap. >> this is one of those days, what we train for kind of days. >> why you watch. >> thanks, my friend. >> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. joy is right. this is one of those days. sometimes, some nights everything just happens all at once and when that happens, it's impossible to absorb it and in circumstances like these, the only way to understand the importance of what happened in today's news is not get overwhelmed by it and get it all at once but instead, piece by

piece. one step at a time. so that's what we're going to do tonight because enter related stories had really important developments this afternoon and tonight. we're going to go through it piece by piece. we'll start in federal court in the southern district of new york right before christmas in mid december, this past december. that's the day that the president's long-time personal lawyer michael cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison. it was a dramatic day. he wept in court. his family wept. cohen and his defense team and family all clearly thought he was going to get a much lighter sentence and recognition of his cooperation with prosecutors from the special counsel's office and for their part, robert mueller, the special counsel and the prosecutors in his office, they did recommend to the judge sentencing michael cohen that cohen should be treated leniently because he had been so helpful to him in his -- in the special counsel investigation in cohen's cooperation with them.

but the prosecutors from the special counsel's office weren't the only prosecutors making their case to the judge that day. there were prosecutors from the southern district of new york that obtained guilty pleadings on michael cohen from a bunch of felonies and they told the judge sentencing michael cohen that cohen really should do serious time so he's going to do three years. he's about to start the three-year prison sentence a month from today but on the day he was sentenced back in mid december, that exact same day within about an hour or so of when we learned that michael cohen was going to do that serious time, that same day we also got surprise, a new anything we weren't expecting. that day that michael cohen got sentenced, we got this from the federal prosecutors office in the southern district of new

york. it's a non-prosecution agreement that those prosecutors entered into with an entity called ami, american media incorporated. their publishers of the supermarket tabloid national inquirer and that non-prosecution agreement with ami was unsealed, made available to the public. basically upon michael cohen being sentenced for his crimes. it's interesting, you can see from the date on it that it had actually been entered into several months before. we learned about it that day in mid december when cohen was going to be sentenced by the date is september 20th. it was in force since the fall, since september. and you remember, of course, what michael cohen plead guilty to and sentenced to prison for. tax evasion, bank fraud, all these things related to his personal business interests, his own real estate transactions, something weird about him selling an expensive purse, which i never totally understood. his business work on the shady side of the tax medallion indus.

the headline with huge political residence ever since. the two campaign finance felonies that he pled to and those felony campaign finance charges were the ones that derived not from his personal business life, they derived from paying about a quarter million in hush money to these two women otherwise going to go public ahead of the presidential election in 2016 with their allegations that they had had extra march 'tital affairs with candidate trump. prosecutors prosecutor's descriptions of the crimes made clear that he wasn't the only one involved in the commission of those crimes. prosecutors and cohen himself made clear that the president himself was implicated in the felonies. cohen himself said trump directed him to commit the

felonies and the president was described as individual one in the charging documents, spelling out the commission of the crimes. what was also clear in those charging documents about the felonies is there was yet another party to the campaign finance felonies besides cohen and president trump. another party that played a knowing role in that transact n transaction. but like individual one, like the president, that entity was also not prosecuted. right? so in the description of that crime, we get the description of a number of people involved in the felony. cohen gets prosecuted. he's going to prison for it in a month. individual one, the president, does not get prosecuted for that felony despite his alleged role in it and that may be in part because he's the president and there is legal am bquestions whr he can be indicted. the other party that did not get prosecuted for his role in that felony transaction was a.m.i.,

the publisher of "the national inquirer" and learned in december when cohen got sentenced, we learned ami was not prosecuted for their role in the crime because they entered into an ocvert non-prosecution agreement that designated the president as individual one. in that non-prosecution agreement, prosecutors committed that they wouldn't prosecute a.m.i. for roles in the crimes and they would agree not to prosecute a.m.i., essentially as a reward for a.m.i. cooperating. for a.m.i. helping prosecutors in their inquiries into that matter. now, that surprise revelation about that non-prosecution agreement that prosecutors entered into with a.m.i. bolstered reporting from "the new york times." last summer the no"the new york" reported that the ceo of america

media, the president's long-time friend had himself personally done immunity deals with prosecutors in exchange for his cooperation. that was born out when we got to see the non-prosecution agreement unveiled by the court in december. now, as i said, sometimes like nights like this, sometimes everything happens all at once. we got that background, right? we've all absorbed that stuff about cohen, that crime, the implication the president is involved in it and the implication a.m.i. was involved and had a deal not to get prosecuted. that p hahappened before tonigh but tonight, a lot of the things initially raised by that set of circumstances now seem to be coming to ahead. first of all, there is the question of the ultimate dispensation of michael cohen and on goi in in ing wran gling

is something important going on with his coast and role in the larger russia investigation because of that wran gling and the house intelligence committee announce that michael cohen's planned testimony tomorrow is being delayed quote in the interests of the investigation, and they won't say what exactly they mean but they rescheduled him to testify february 28th. by deduction, we can tell that means they think something is going to happen between now and february 28th. something that needs to be done and out of the way before they take michael cohen's testimony at the intelligence committee. we don't know what that thing is, what's going to happen between now and february 28th that will make it possible for him to testify but presumably, we have to wait and see. ticktock. there is also further evidence today that something else is going on with michael cohen and his case and his case's connection to the larger russia investigation because today we got this court ruling from a federal judge in new york. this is a judge considering

legal action by a bunch of media outlets who have been trying to make public a whole bunch of material related to the cohen case. these media organizations want search wants and law affidavits related to the michael cohen case, they want that unsealed and made available to the public in the public interest. so this judge today was considering that request from media organizations, and the judge ruled that in fact, some of the material that has previously been sealed in cohen's case can be unsealed. it will be unsealed. it will be released to the public and shortly. namely, what we should expect to be unsealed is the stuff about cohen's tax fraud and bank fraud and the taxing medallion business stuff and other stuff that didn't get the lion's share of attention when michael cohen first pled guilty. but what it comes to the really high profile stuff he pled to, when it comes to the felonies that cohen pled to that

purportedly involved the president, that put porportedly involved a.m.i. and the campaign finance felonies, the judge today said actually those materials can't be unredacted and can't be shown to the public any time soon because those are still live legal issues that pertain to on going investigations. so here is a little bit, this court concludes redthat disclos of materials with redax to the counter, in particular the government represents aspects of its investigation remain on going including those pertaining to or arising from cohen's campaign finance crimes. indeed, the search warrant applications and affidavits catalog an assortment of

uncharged individuals and detail their involvement in communications and transactions connected to the campaign finance charges to which cohen pled guilty. according to the submissions, these individuals include those cooperating with the government, those who have provided information to the government, and other subjects of the investigation. at this stage, whole sale disclosure of the materials would reveal the scope and direction of the government's on going investigation and would also unveil subjects of the investigation and the potential conduct under scrutiny. the disclosure of such information may enable uncharged individuals to coordinate or taylor their testimony and interactions with the government and the judge says, if the past is any prologue, unmasking those cooperating with the government's investigation or provide ind formation to the

government could deter harassment or retaliation. the judge says the portions of the materials relate the to the campaign finance crimes shall be redacted. ruling today from a federal judge. so michael cohen's bank fraud, tax fraud, the expensive purse thing, fine. that can come out and will all come out but the stuff about the hush money payments to benefit the president, the stuff that involved the president's campaign and the president's and that's a live issue. and there are witnesses and subjects and that on going investigation and live legal issue. that stuff won't be unsealed any time soon.

and they implicate the president as the person that benefitted from the scheme and allegedly directed it, the trump organization also appears to be implicated as the entity that effectively laundered those illegal complications and this company participated in the hush money scheme. right? it's their gigantic illegal corporate contribution, their help with this hush money plan. and they skated and they didn't get in trouble for it because they entered into a non-prosecution agreement. i mean, remember, a.m.i.'s involve mtd ment is they effect during the campaign entered into a deal with donald trump they could contribute to his campaign as a cooperation and help him materially by making adverse stories go away by extend resources that would never be declared as campaign contributions but be ex pended

by paying off or otherwise disappearing material that might hurt trump's political chances. in the non-prosecution agreement that a.m.i. entered into with prosecutors we learned a.m.i. is told explicitly by prosecutors in the southern district of new york that they won't be prosecuted for their role in the campaign finance felony scheme that cohen is going to prison for. they won't be prosecuted for their role as long as a.m.i. truthfully and completely discloses all information with the respect to its activities and itself and its officers. those activities as they pertain to the company, officers, agents and employees. a.m.i. pledges to cooperate fully with the district of new york and law enforcement agency designated by that office. a.m.i. agrees to provide all records and turn up at all meetings and it's kind of a

throw away line at the end but a.m.i. also in that agreement commits for a period of three years to quote commit no crimes whatsoever. oh. quote, it is under stood that should a.m.i. commit any crimes subsequent pto signing the agreement or knowingly given false testimony or information or should a.m.i. violate any provision of this agreement, a.m.i. shall therefore be subject to prosecution for any federal criminal violation of which this office has knowledge. oh. the agreement goes on to say that if a.m.i. commits any crimes after signing this agreement, any statement made by a.m.i. or by any of its representatives to prosecutors or any other law enforcement agents or grand jury proceedings, any such statement quote shall be admissible in evidence in any criminal proceeding brought against a.m.i.

think about the situation that a.m.i. is in right now. they had to come completely clean with federal prosecutors about their role in those campaign finance felonies during the 2016 election in order to get this felony prosecutinon-po agreement. their role in the crime, uh-uh, they are okay because they got this agreement. they had to come totally clean about their involvement in the crime to get the agreement. but for a period of three years, if they violate this agreement by, say, jaywalking and anything is fair game including the

crimes they have confessed to. and so now here we are tonight when everything is coming together, when everything is happening all at once. this is jeff bazos, the founder of amazon. today we checked and today technically he is the richest man on the face of the earth. he's also the owner of one of the greatest newspapers on the face of the earth, "the washington post." the president has made no secret of the fact that he does not like "the washington post", he does not like the way "the washington post" and it's reporters cover him and his administration and also been remarkably unsubtle in connecting his complaints about the journalism of the washington post to jeff bazos personally and to his ownership role of the washington post and amazon. in may of last year, for example, you might remember we learned that the president had personally, personally,

individually directed the postmaster general of the united states that the post office should financially stick it to amazon, that they should hurt the company and by extension, jeff bazos' personal bottom line by doubling the postal rates that the u.s. post office charges amazon to ship its packages. the president personally giving that directive to the postmaster general in order to hurt alson, in ordina -- amazon and jeff bazos and "the washington post." that would be the biggest scandal in modern presidencies or any other president. for this president, that was like, you know, an average friday morning, maybe it will make the front page kind of thing but like honestly, but again, there is no subtlety about the president's empathy for "the washington post" and jeff bezos. it's out in the open. last month, the national inquiry, the flag ship publication published private

intimate text messages that were exchanged with jeff bezos and a woman he was romantically involved. mr. bezos and his wife of 25 years upon that publication of that story announced the disillusionimpending divorce an president reacted to that with glee. the president said so sorry to hear the news about jeff bozo being taken down by a competitor whose reporting is more accurate than the reporting in his newspaper, the amazon washington post. hopefully the paper will be placed in better and more responsible hands. so it's the president delighting in mr. bezos' divorce of 25 years and delighting in the role of the nation"national inquirer saying he is losing the paper. "the washington post" shouldn't be in his hands.

look what "the national inquirer" turned up about him and signs perhaps this story existed on more than one level at once. report that bezos himself launched a private investigation what was behind this "national inquirer" story and his private text messages. yesterday "the washington post" had this headline, was tabloid expo just juicy gossip or a political hit job? if it many was a political hit job, one implication would be it was perhaps carried out by a.m.i. to help president trump politically, once again by hurting or trying to take out of the equation somebody who trump perceives to be doing him political harm. i will tell you there is also a saudi arabia component to this. we'll get to that in a different part of tonight's show.

but now tonight, this is how this all came together. mr. bezos tonight published this ten-page post online. and it is titled, as you can see, no thank you mr. pecker. it's not an insult to somebody, it's the name of the c.e.o. of american media, david pecker. no thank you, mr. pecker. in this post tonight, mr. bezos push accomplishes what he says is the full unredacted recent correspondence he's had with the "national inquirer" he describes as an extortion and blackmail effort. nbc has not independently verified these. rather to capitulate. i decided to publish exactly what they sent me despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threatened. a few weeks ago when intimate text messages were published, i

got investigators to determine the motives or the actions taken by the "inquirer" there are several independent investigations looking into this matter. several days ago a leader advised us, meaning him and his lawyers and this guy he's hired to lead an investigation for him, several days ago an a.m.i. leader advised us david pecker, the ce, oco of america media is apoplectic about our investigation and we were approached verbally at first with an offer. they said they had more text messages and photos they would publish if we did not stop our investigation. i guess we, me, my lawyers, the investigator we hired did not react to the generalized threat with enough fear so then they sent this. and then bezos publishes what he says is the full letter he received describing in graphic detail ten different personal and embarrassing photos that the

inquirer obtained and threatening to publish in order to hurt jeff bezos. quote with the washington post to publish unsubstantiated report, i wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our news gathering. ami according to bezos said he quote has no knowledge or basis suggesting. unless bezos says that, they will publish them that they obtained. right? the bottom jeff bezos, the man on the face of the earth with the washington post. he has blown this up. by publishing this extortion

this panic button stuff by the "national inquirer" don't you say what they are doing is politically and any reason other than embarrassing you and nuclear. whoa, why? i should tell you a.m.i. declined to comment tonight since and there is questions, why is a.m.i. freaking out? they exposed his affair and already said his gors specifically they appear to be panicked about him turning up any evidence and making any credible allegation they may have acted once again with political intentions. and we know because we follow

the news when a.m.i. panics about that, we know they are doing so in the context of their still active prosecution agreement with the southern district. it is still in force. a.m.i.'s obligation continues until a period of three years from the signing of the agreement which would be or the date on which prosecution is arising out of conduct described in the agreement are final, whichever is the least all of 2021 and the prosecution we know from a judge ruling on the michael cohen case it sounds like the prosecutions might not be over when it comes to campaign finance felonies that they have fully opened with prosecutors already under the protective prosecution agreement. they are currently benefitting from this non-prosecution agreement as long as they are still holding to it.

the wheels do appear to be coming off here a bit. one of the parties to the two felonies in which prosecutors may have violated the terms of the prosecution agreement while the judge today let slip the on going law enforcement matter. and by the way, the acting attorney general who the president appointed to oversee the mueller investigation and ignored ethics advice and said he had to recuse, he's going to appear in congress tomorrow to answer questions in open session. and the saudi arabia part of this blew up, too, and some nights everything happens at once but you get through it one step at a time. stay with us. more to get to. e step at a time stay with us more to get to after months of wearing only a tiger costume, we're finally going on the trip i've been promising. because with expedia, i saved when i added a hotel to our flight. ♪

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tomorrow the acting attorney general matthew whitaker is going to testify. this was not at all certain for the rest of the day today over whether whitaker would appear voluntary and end of the line,

ju fidiciary chairman will be te at 9:30 and explains why the local ran out of jiffy pop tonight. this should be incredible. there is wrangling as reportedly at lot of conser nation how whitaker might do at the hearing because of the back and forth and questions as to whether or not he would be able to appear and i mean able in a number of ways, whitaker has been advised about a lot of things he'll be asked about. questions about the firing of former attorney general jeff sessions and whether white house officials and the president himself contacted whitaker about replacing sessions. whether those discussions included the possibility of whether whitaker would recuse from overseeing the mueller investigation. questions about whether whitaker consulted with the white house if he would recuse despite the fact they said he needed to and questions about the advisers who whitaker consulted who said it's okay if he doesn't recuse and

whether he was briefed on the mueller investigation and shared information from those briefings with anybody at the white house or president himself or the president's legal team. questions about reports that trump lashed out at whitaker, and pled guilty and which cohen pled and contacted or after the president was identified as individual one. and pressed concerns or anger or frustration with the southern district of new york, the prosecutor's office that handled the case and whether the president discussed the possibility of firing or reassigning anyone from the prosecutor's office in reaction to what happened there with michael cohen and the individual one designation for the president in conjunction with those felonies. now whether or not acting attorney general matt whitaker is going to answer the questions

or how he's going to try to not answer them once he's in that seat, that remains to be seen tomorrow morning, all we know that as of right now, he is expected to show up. joining us now is congressman er eric. i have lots of questions to ask you about the whitaker thing. i want to ask about news that just crossed since i've been talking, which is that former michigan congressman, long-time, long-time michigan congressman and beloved figure in the dell c -- democratic dingell died at the age of 92. his wife is democratic congresswoman debbie dingell. he served in congress for 59 years, longest serving member of the house. he has just passed at the age of 92. i don't know if you personally knew congressman dingell or if

you had reaction to the news of his passing tonight, sir. >> it's crushing news, rachel. thank you for bringing it up to tribute his service. i was a freshman member during his final two years. he was a giant of the congress and set an example for us new incoming members how congressional oversight was to be conducted. he was famous for making every witness raise their right hand and go under oath because he deeply believe in congressional oversight of the executive branch. i remember the first time i met him, i went up and introduced myself to him. he was in a wheelchair on the floor and i kneeled down next to him to introduce myself and he looked at me and said you can stand up when you talk to me. he didn't want to be treated any differently just because he was in a wheelchair but the character of this man, his integrity will last for many, many years throughout his wife debbie who serves now but also in the next generation who has come to know him through hick

si -- sick burns on twitter. we'll miss him. >> i had the opportunity to meet with him around the time he was leaving congress just personally to chat and talk about the news and talk about his time in congress, not anything that he wanted to do on camera. just wanted to meet and talk human to human and i was -- just an incredibly impressive career but just an incredibly impressive person to be with. >> you remember he was seated next to president obama when president obama signed into law the affordable care act because of the work chairman dingell had done. >> the clean air act and clean water act and endangered species act. thank you for willing to divert from news of the day and talk to us about that as we get that news in, congressman. let me ask you about what you are expecting tomorrow. there is a lot of uncertainty today in particular but also in

vent d recent days whether or not the acting attorney general would turn up to answer questions. what are you actually expecting to happen tomorrow? >> yes, this is about one individual acting attorney general whitaker but it's actually about something larger than that and a damage assessment of the rule of law as in is it still standing after two years of a wrecking ball and very little congressional oversight on the rule of law and so we want to know is it still standing. is the mueller investigation, does it have the freedom of movement to follow the evidence. then also just looking at the three way points of mr. whitaker's tenure so far. the way he got the job by auditioning for it through his opinions of the mueller investigation. the fishy way he recused the opinions and went out there and announced the investigation was nearly complete. was that his wish and donald trump's wish or was that something contrary to what was

going on with the special counsel's office. there is a lot of questions for him but a damage assessment in the rule of law. >> after given the wrangling today whether or not he would be appearing voluntarily or under the implicit threat of a subpoena if he decided not to turn up, do you expect he will answer questions or do you expect tomorrow will be a big fight over what he can say and what he uses to try to evade answering some of the questions that have already been put to him in writing in advance of tomorrow's sitdown? >> we expect him to be there and answer questions and we'll be ready if he does not. rachel, in what country does an executive tell elected representatives they are not going to come in if they are subpoenaed? it's china, russia, iran but not the united states of america and so the days of presidential immunity are over and we'll be ready today. we authorized a subpoena in case we needed to use it. we actually sent over last week the questions that we wanted to ask him just to know if he was

going to be obstructing or invoking executive privilege so we could be ready. they never responded. that's why we wanted to be ready with the subpoena in case that's necessary. i hope it doesn't come to that. i hope the take away is the rule of law still stands and he is honoring the mueller investigation and just letting it follow the evidence. >> congressman from the great state of california, thanks for being here. much more to get to tonight. busy night. stay with us. get to tonight. busy night stay with us erve pain these feet raised a bouncing boy and climbed the ladder in the hardware business. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects: dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica.

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jeff bezos, the owner of amazon and "the washington post" had his private text messages published by "the national inkwi inquir inquirer" and led to the disillusion of his marriage of 25 years. they said they will publish more and intimate embarrassing photos if he doesn't call off his investigation of the inquirer and it's parent company ami. he's been investigating the question of whether their actions against him were politically motivated. because of ami's involvement during the hush money scheme against the president's lawyer michael cohen and federal prosecutors implicating the president in those felonies, the immediate implication is any political motivation might have been to help president trump who has declared bezos essentially to be the sworn enemy.

that said, bezos writes about the potential political motivation quote for reasons still to be better understood, the saudi angle seems to have hit a particular licensetive nerve, meaning a sensitive nerve with ami. he's referring to some of what you can see here. what appears to be a strange relationship that ami and chief executive david pecker had with the government of pseudosaudi a. you might remember this celebrates the beauty and awesomeness of saudi arabia and specifically the crowned prince. also, there was pecker's oval office visits with advisors to the saudi crowned prince while pecker was reportedly trying to drum up business in saudi arabia. jeff bezos says the saudi connection may be the reason they were targeted by the

"inquirer" in the first place. he writes as the owner of the washington post, it's unavoidable certain people will wrongly conclude i am their enemy. quote, "the post's" murder of it's columnist jamal khashoggi is unpopular in certain places. he was murdered in install bu i. they have been furious and want justice because of the prospect he was killed from mbs, the saudi crown prince and the saudi government denied and the trump administration has emphatically ignored. tonight, we have the latest damming evidence tieing the saudi crowned prince mbs to jamal khashoggi's murder and detailed reporting on intelligence intercepts of mbs

of the saudi crown prince, the material we rarely get to hear about as members of the public while the president has shown little interest finding out who is responsible for murdering jamal khashoggi. "thetimes" reports they are sifting through years of the text communications that the national security agency routinely intercepted and stored. included in that material was reportedly a phone conversation the year before jamal khashoggi was murdered in which the crown prince told an aid that if jamal khashoggi could not be brought to saudi arabia but enticement or force he personally would go after khashoggi quote with a bullet. questi yes, that's the same guy on the cover and every page of the special issue, the new transformative leader of the

magic kingdom. tonight, "the washington post" says "the inquirer" is threatening to publish his private and embarrassing photos unless he says publicly the parent company a.m.i. definitely totally has not been influenced in any way by political forces as they launched this hit piece and additional threats against jeff bezos. why are they so concerned about that? hold that thought. y whare they that hold that thought. alright, i brought in ensure max protein... to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. (straining) i'll take that. (cheers) 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. in two great flavors.

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the story is so nuts but boils down to a very simple question. i mean, not so long ago, just back in the fall the owner of "the national inquirer" admitted to paying hush money. federal prosecutors waited until december to reveal it, the day the president's lawyer michael cohen was sentenced. in part for his role in that scheme. because of his role in the scheme, michael cohen is headed to prison next month but despite a.m.i. having a role in the crimes, a.m.i. appears to be off the hook because they cooperated with prosecutors and been keeping up their end of a non-prosecution agreement the prosecutors gave them. that agreement that they made with prosecutors includes this line. it's understaood should a.m.i. commit any crimes, they shall thereafter be subject to prosecution for any criminal

violation for which this office has knowledge including perjury and obstruction of justice. so the deal for a.m.i. not getting prosecuted was only as good as a.m.i.'s behavior signet agreement. tonight amazon ceo and washington post owner has publically accused ami of blackmailing him when they were threatening to publish private text messages and embarrassing photos of him. ami declined to comment tonight, but that accusation against ami raises one kind of simple question, right? i mean, does the behavior that bezos describes and published evidence tonight, in a legal sense does that amount to blackmail or extortion. ami is in really big trouble if they have committed crimes while

they are still bound by a nonprosecution agreement that requires them not to commit any crimes. are they potentially on the hook here legally? is that what's driving their, what appears to be, panic toward jeff bezos. joining us now is elliot williams. a former deputy attorney general in the obama administration. thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, rachel. >> so jeff bezos says in his statement tonight that they are attempting to blackmail or extort him. i don't know legally what the threshold is for something being considered blackmail or extortion. does he have a case to make this is criminal behavior. >> there is no question this is an act of sexual violence. it is this increasingly common act of sort of sex-tortion is the term that's used. you know, can you charge this as

extortion? extortion is the big umbrella over a bunch of conduct that includes blackmail. it usually involves violence. so you have some nice legs there. it would be a shame if one of them had to break. give me some money for that. that's the kind of thing you get for extortion. blackmail is trickier because what you have is, you know, if the -- with respect to, say, you can't do something -- i'm trying to think of the simplest way to put this. you know, deriving a benefit from someone not doing something, right? so the question here is is that transfer of information, is this making him make a statement a benefit to the "national enquirer"? that's really complicated. usually it is money. usually it is give me money or i will embarrass you or give me money or i will not post these

pictures. does making a statement count as the thing of value? it is not a slam dunk. there is no question that it's bad. it is ugly conduct and, like i said, sexual violence. but, again, can you charge it? i just don't know. >> the thing that strikes me is what bezos is laying out is that this activity by ami may essentially mirror what they got caught up in when it came to those campaign finance felonies with michael cohen and the hush money payments to people that would link it to donald trump. obviously this is not happening in a campaign. but ami does seem to be panicking here. they already inflicting great harm on jeff bezos. they are now threatening nuclear level harm on jeff bezos if he comes to some sort of public, you know, supported allegation that ami is targeting him for political reasons.

and i guess the question is whether or not that is the sort of thing that they might have to worry about when it comes to this non-prosecution agreement they have with sdny, whether this might open up their prosecution. >> there's no question about that. again, ami exists in a world of testing the bounds of where the first amendment and criminal law will allow you to go. the concept of catch and kill, which is this practice of paying people off to not tell their stories which was at the heart of this cohen, mcdougal story. it really steps up to the line of what is permissible under the first amendment. what you are seeing again here is testing the limits of what they can get away with. now, again, he's an individual who perhaps to some, including the president of the united states is less sympathetic than many others. at the end of the day, this is very bad, very threatening, very ugly conduct that steps right up to the line and probably offer

the line of legal conduct. so there is -- maybe they can't charge it federally. now, once they click that e-mail, it becomes more of a federal offense. but it might be a state offense. it's not going to be good for them, no question. >> the way i read the agreement, they don't need to commit a crime for which they are going to be prosecuted here. >> correct. >> if prosecutors believe they have committed a crime, they could simply use that as an opportunity to open up everything else they know that ami has already confessed they have done. elliot williams, thank you for being with us tonight. all right. we'll be right back. stay with us. l be right back. stay with us ♪ doctor dave. see ya. ♪ here's your order. ♪

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but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. let's say you live in northe northern. the news from across the border in canada doesn't necessarily feel like international news to you. it can feel like news from your own backyard.

same goes if you live in southern arizona or el paso. what happens across the border in near by mexico is local to you in your part of the u.s. so when president clinton ordered the clearing of an old mine field at an american military base in cuba, the editors of the nearby miami herald saw that as a local story and they sent a reporter to follow the story. by june 1999, the mine field had been cleared and the miami herald had a reporter on staff with experience at the american military base . because she had covered that sort of extended background, she was the natural choice to send back there when news broke there again. in january 2002, a few months into america's post-911 wars, that prison camp is still there

today, 18 years later. it is still in american legal imbow. through it all for 17 plus years, carol rosenberg has been covering this secretive corner of american justice. scrapping for information so all of us can better understand this strange prison where we keep people indefinitely without any due process. in a speech a few years ago, she explained she does this work precisely because the u.s. doesn't have an exit plan. she says we are stuck and we've got her stuck with it, too. and for that, carol rosenberg is a national journalistic treasure. she's been covering this from the beginning intensively. she's the only one. she's a legend. and carol rosenberg tonight is on the brink of losing her job. they have put 450 staffers on a

list for voluntary buy-outs or volunteering to take a lump sum and go home. on that list so happens to be this nation's sole full-time reporter on america's forever prison at guantanamo, the one reporter that understands it better than anyone on earth and who knows where to dig. carol told the washington post, quote, i don't want to stop covering this story. she has just under two weeks. she can take her chances, decline the buyout. stay at the paper for now. maybe she won't get laid off. maybe another paper would pick her up. meanwhile carol rosenberg keeps reports. she keeps filing. just in the past day she has delivered the news that hundreds of suspected isis fighters could find themselves at guantanamo. nobody is better equipped to follow that story for