that is our broadcast on this thursday night. thank you so very much for being here with us and good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. prison time for paul manafort. a federal judge sentenced trump's former campaign manager to just under four years in prison. far less than the roughly 20 years he faced. michael cohen sues the trump organization. he claims the company broke a contract after failing to pay his work related expenses, including nearly $2 million in legal fees. >> house lawmakers overwhelmingly pass a resolution to reject hate and racism after comments by a freshman lawmaker divide divided congress this week. good morning. it's friday, march 8th.

i'm david gura alongside louis burgdorf. new reaction this morning, prison time out for paul manafort, four years for president trump's former campaign chairman who is facing between 19 and a half to 24 years in prison according to federal guidelines. senior judge of virginia called that range excessive and sentenced manafort to 47 months on tax and bank fraud charges declaring the 69-year-old manafort has lived an otherwise blameless life his words. in a short statement before his sentencing manafort did not apologize, nor did he express remorse but said quote i have felt punishment during these proceedings. judge ellis took note of the statement saying i was surprised i did not hear you express regret. the judge ordered manafort to pay $25 million in restitution and a $50,000 fine while crediting him the nine months in jail with release in three

years. he's to be sentenced next week on two conspiracy counts. outside the courthouse paul manafort's attorney had this short statement. >> mr. manafort finally got to speak for himself. he made clear he accepts responsibility for his conduct. and i think most importantly what you saw today is the same thing that we had said from day one. there is absolutely no evidence that paul manafort was involved with any collusion, with any government official from russia. thank you. >> and while judge ellis also said russian collusion was not a topic of yesterday's charges there are lingering questions about manafort and russia, including his multi-million dollar debt to a russian oligarch. and his sharing of campaign polling data with his russian

aide in august of 2016. special counsel robert mueller's office broke off a cooperation agreement with manafort because he lied about his relationship with that aide. in an e-mail to the "wall street journal" last week, konstantin kilimnik wrote i have never had anything to do with any intelligence service of russia adding the accusation has been pushed out to make me a missing link in a story that has flawed foundation. prosecutors said manafort told them of little value. in an interview with the associated press yesterday president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani reacted to yesterday's sentence, quote i feel terrible about the way manafort has been treated. i think it's not american to keep a man in solitary confinement to try to crack him. he's not a terrorist or organized crime he's a white collar criminal. the man was treated this way

because he wouldn't lie. it was not like anything i've ever seen before because they wanted him to say things that were not true. this is characteristic of andrew weisman, a reference to the chief of the criminal fraud division working for the special counsel's office. joining us now danny cevalos. you predicted we would see a sentence underneath those guidelines that were laid out. you look back at what the prosecution asked for is not a specific number. just cited the guidance. what do you make of what happened yesterday >> this sentence was way below even what i predicted even though it was going to be below the sentencing guidelines. there are a couple of possible factors. one of those is the defendant's age. you know defendants lose about two years of life expect ancy fr every year incarcerated.

almost all defendant 69 years of age or older get sentences across the board of five years or less. so, even though this was dramatically below the sentencing guidelines, the sentencing guidelines don't represent any statistical data they just represent guidelines. defendants who are similarly situated get sentences below the guidelines. >> you consider the factor here we have no apologies. no statement of remorse here. he's sitting there with gray hair in a wheelchair looking ahead for next week in d.c. do you think you'll get that same sympathy from that judge? >> i don't. here's why. this is a different case in d.c. where the sentencing guidelines are even higher than the statutory max. when that happens the sentencing guidelines simply become the statutory max. the maximum there is ten years in prison. that becomes what the sentencing guidelines are in this case in d.c. you'll see a sentence closer to

that statutory max. >> there's been a lot of focus on the judge, the senior judge there in virginia. what more can you tell us about the way he's approached cases like these in the past. >> in this particular case it could be said that he gave the prosecution a hard time, but i have to tell you as a defense attorney and this is my bias take on it, most of the time our complaint is the judges are essentially prosecutors in robes. now that's not really a fair indictment and really it's just something that defense attorneys say when we get frustrated. but, yes, you could argue that in this case this is a judge that gave the prosecution a hard time during trial and perhaps this sentence reflects that. but the judge was empowered to do so. of this not a case with any mandatory minimums and sentencing guidelines are advisory and the judge is free to go below them as long as he calculates them and takes them into consideration. >> we'll see what happens next

week. stick around. we'll see you on "morning joe". now to the president. his former fixer michael cohen has filed a lawsuit against the trump organization. cohen claims trump's business broke a promise to pay his legal bills. nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker brings us the latest. >> reporter: michael cohen once again going after his former client, now suing the trump organization for $1.9 million in legal fees after cohen says the organization broke its promise and stopped paying his legal bills once he started cooperating with prosecutors and speaking out against the president. >> he's a cheat. >> reporter: but it's also cohen on defense amid new scrutiny over this comment he made during that same appearance talking to congress about whether he would accept a presidential pardon. >> i have never asked for nor would i accept a pardon from president trump. >> reporter: but cohen's lawyer lanny davis acknowledging to nbc news cohen did at one point direct his former attorney to

explore possibilities of a pardon with president trump's lawyer. davis insists that doe not conflict with cohen's congressional testimony because cohen is no longer cooperating with the president's legal team. mr. trump's attorney rudy giuliani firing back never means never. cohen is heading to prison in part for pleading guilty for lying to congress. >> just furthers the narrative that maybe he's not the best conveyor of the truth. >> michael cohen lies like a dog. that's what he did. >> reporter: the white house's defense is consistent that michael cohen is a liar. it's been challenging for the past two weeks for president trump. >> our thanks to kristen welker for that report. i want to bring in our white house reporter for politico. gaby, as we get started with michael cohen and that lawsuit, where does it go as he prepares

to head to prison and talk about the level of legitimacy he has? >> reporter: i suppose this is a legitimate case. the lawsuit alleges up until may of 2018 when cohen started to sort of distance himself from trump organization and signal that he would be willing to cooperate with the special counsel organization and with federal prosecutors in new york, that the trump organization just suddenly stopped paying his legal bills and they had agreed earlier on in july of 2017 to enter into this joint defense through which all of cohen's legal bills would have been paid by the trump organization which he spent more than a decade working for. if that isn't the case then, you know, he does have an opportunity here legally to get those funds not only covered but also the fine, the $1.9 million fine that's a part of his sentence also paid for by the trump organization as well.

i'm not a lawyer, i don't know exactly where this is going to go but i do think that the trump organization is scared if you look at the statement they put out yesterday. they said he's not owed one penny, he's a convicted felon and they are prepared to take this to court. >> i want to go back to paul manafort. that sentence, that less than four years sentence is resonating with lawmakers on capitol hill? >> reporter: if you look at some of what the democrats said yesterday, i mean they are furious about the sentence. manafort was facing up to 25 years. he instead got 47 months in prison. alexandria occasio-cortez said that this is a prime example of sentencing discrepancies between white collar individuals and low-income individuals. senator blumenthal from connecticut said this was a case of judge ellis, the individual overseeing the sentencing yesterday, being hostile towards special counsel and thus giving paul manafort a lower sentence

than would have otherwise been expected. but it is important to remember, of course, he's going to face another sentencing in the district of columbia next week and that is likely to be a heavier sentence just because of the judge who is presiding over that case. >> we'll talk to you just a little bit later. coming up out it started as a vote to condemn anti-semitism but included much more. all the details on a resolution which followed one lawmakers controversial comments. >> sherrod brown said he won't run for the white house in 2020. joe biden is inching closer to entering the race. and a check of our weather when we come back. come back

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natur[ sighing ] ♪ oh my momma she gave me ♪ these feathered breaths ♪ ♪ oh my momma check in from afar with remote access. and have professional monitoring backing you up with xfinity home. demo in an xfinity store, call, or go online today. the house passed a resolution condemning various forms of hate including anti-semitism. it follows days of back and forth within the democratic party in the wake of congresswoman ilhan omar's

recent comments about israel which started as a vote to condemn anti-semitism quickly evolved into a broad resolution adding islam phobia, white supremacy and other forms of bigotry against minorities. the official vote came in at 407 with three against. all the no votes were cast by republicans with steve king who was stripped of his committee assignments this year voting present. republicans who voted no argued the resolution didn't go far enough to specifically condemn congresswoman omar for her comments. speaker pelosi who appears on the latest "rolling stone" covered weighed in after the vote. >> i don't think that the congresswoman is, perhaps, appreciating the full weight how it was heard by other people, although i don't believe it was intended in an anti-semitic way.

if it was interpreted that way we have to remove doubt as we have done over and over again. >> she hasn't apologized. does she need to apologize. >> she needs to explain -- it's up to her to explain. >> ohio senator sherrod brown has become the second high-profile the democrat to announce he won't run for president in 2020. he said he and his wife spent the last few months traveling around the country to make the dignity of work a centerpiece of the democrats 20 campaign adding he would continue fighting for all workers across the country and will do everything he could to elect a democratic president and a democratic senate in 2020. brown joins former new york city mayor michael bloomberg as the latest potential 2020 candidate to decide not to run. former vice president joe biden gets ready to announce his own decision. his strategist has called a handful of potential 2020 candidates to signal that the former vice president is likely to enter the race.

recently he's been telling democrats biden is 95% committed to running according to officials directly familiar with those discussions. another presidential contender elizabeth warren joins ari tonight. let's get a check on your weekend forecast with meteorologist michele grossman. >> we have a lot going on. today it will be the calm day. it will be the cold before the storm. then a very busy saturday. so once again we cannot quit this winter weather. you need the layers this morning. don't pack away the winter coat. we're looking at temperatures, many temperatures below freezing and we're looking at wind chills even lower than that. temperatures right now 18 in detroit, 7 in buffalo. 3 in burlington, 21 in boston. this is down to the south. nashville coming in at 41 degrees. layer up. things will change this week. it will create some issues. we're turning warmer. this warmer weather will create severe weather on saturday.

that's a big story for saturday. that cold air stays to the north today. the warm up doesn't come today, doesn't come tomorrow, gets better but by sunday we'll be much, much better in term of the temperatures. for today 36 in toledo, memphis 62. that's above-normal. philadelphia still so cold at 39. that's 12 degrees below where we're usually are. saturday a little bit better, 46 in washington. and then by sunday that's when we're closer to normal. lots of 70s on the map. this warm humid air will help to spur some severe weather this weekend. first we have winter advisories so to the north on the cold side of the storm we're looking at blizzard-like conditions for some parts on saturday. winter watches, winter weather advisories, in your pink winter storm warnings. northern plains into the upper midwest we could see six to 12 inches of snow and then, of course, blizzard-like conditions in some spots. low pressure is moving to the

west. on the warm side we have the rain, cold side snow. we could see an outbreak on saturday. purple is where we could see some hail. the south where we saw those severe storms last saturday see it once again tomorrow. so this is going to be a big story tomorrow. we'll keep our eye on it. by sun it moves off to taste. we'll go to frances. >> still new photos show north korea's long range rocket site appears to be back up and running. for the second consecutive day president trump said sees disappointed. >> february jobs report comes out this morning. we'll talk about what kind of numbers we can expect.

welcome back. one week after the second trump-kim summit collapsed, north korea's rocket site is back to normal operating status according to a new analysis of commercial satellite images taken on wednesday. comes on the heels of a report from earlier in the week which revealed pyongyang was pursuing the rapid rebuilding of the long range rocket facility and recent activity at the site including the rebuilding of a rocket engine test stand and a structure to move rockets is consistent with preparations for a new test. >> after last december's singapore summit president trump said kim promised he would close that facility. north korea did begin to disassemble the site. work was never completed. researchers say the new images

speak to tez which north korea can reverse steps it might take towards denuclearization and its missile programs with little hesitation. here's how the president has addressed the situation over the past seven days. >> kim promised me last night, regardless he's not going to do testing of rockets and nuclear, not going to do testing. so, you know, i trust him. i take him at his word. >> we're going see. it's too early to see. the relationship is good. i would be very disappointed if that were happening. it's very early report. we're the ones that put it out. but i would be very, very disappointed in chairman kim and i don't think i will be. >> a senior statement department official says the government is

quote watching in real-time the developments at the facility and has asked north korea for clarification on their intent. house democrats launch sweeping investigations of president trump and his administration, party leaders are reportedly torn over how aggressively to investigate first daughter ivanka trump and the president's other children. according to "the washington post" senior democratic investigators have discussed opening an oversight probe into whether ivanka personally benefitted from her position as white house senior adviser, including through chinese regulators approval of trade marks for her apparel company. president trump has warned democrats against scrutinizing his family so party leaders are proceeding with caution on this. the internal deliberations highlight the concern among some party members about the political optics of questioning the president's adult children even though they insist the president's family especially those serving in government should not be immune from accountability.

house speaker nancy pelosi argued yesterday trump's children are not off limits to investigations telling reporters quote whom ever falls into the net falls into the net. she added quote they are advisors to the president, they have security clearances. this is not their children at home. >> still ahead the senate is expected to vote next week on a resolution blocking the president's emergency declaration for a border wall and the white house is turning up the pressure on republicans. we have new reporting on that. >> much more from paul manafort's sentencing. the president's former campaign manager learned his fate in one case but still awaiting sentencing in another. we'll be right back. right back.

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good to have you back with us. i'm frances rivera along with david gura and louis burgdorf. president donald trump's former lawyer and fixer michael cohen is suing the trump organization over unpaid legal bills. the lawsuit accuses donald trump's real estate business for breaking the promise to cover the cost and claims the organization owes him $1.9 million. the trump organization initially made good on its commitment but stopped after cohen started to cooperate with federal prosecutors. michael cohen is standing by his testimony to the house oversight committee last week that he never asked president trump for a pardon. the contradiction came when lanny davis said cohen did actually direct his former attorney to discuss a pardon

with the president's attorneys. now davis is trying to clear things up claiming cohen's position changed once his attorneys stopped working with the president's legal team. in a statement davis writes prior to michael cohen's decision to leave the joint defense group and tell the truth on july 2nd, 2018, michael was open to ongoing dangling of a possible pardon by trump representatives privately and in the media. during that time period he directed his attorney to explore possibilities of a pardon at one point with trump lawyer rudy giuliani as well as with other lawyers advising president trump. >> after july 2nd, 2018 mr. cohen advised me as a lawyer to say publicly mr. cohen would never accept a pardon from president trump even offered. that continues to be the case. the statement in the oversight hearing was true. the president's attorney rudy giuliani respond with this tweet saying the defense now to cohen saying under oath he never asked

for a pardon is a familiar one. what's the meaning of never? serial liars try the same deception too often. let's hope congress and doj are outraged atco hen's disrespecting them by perjuring himself. >> paul manafort has been formally sentenced to just under four years in prison over tax and bank fraud charges. a far cry from the 19 to 24 years president trump's former campaign chairman faced but his legal troubles are far from over. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: paul manafort in a wheelchair wearing a green jump suit appeared before a virginia judge, a dramatic conclusion to his year and a half long court battle. he's been convicted of financial crimes including tax and bank fraud, crimes for which he did not apologize though he asked for compassion. manafort told the judge the last two years have been the most difficult years for him and his family, adding in his first public comments since november 2017 to say i have been

humiliated and shamed would be a gross under statement. manafort was the political veteran brought on by the upstart trump campaign in the spring of 2016 thierd help prevent a rebellion at the republican convention and promoted to lead the campaign. even then his ties to russia haunted him. he stepped down that summer because of growing questions about his business dealings overseas. since then the president has tried to distance himself. >> paul manafort is a nice guy but he worked for me for a very short period of time. like a couple of months. >> reporter: more recently he's praised manafort for not flipping on him. >> i have a great respect for what he's done in term of what he's gone through. >> reporter: it could get worse for manafort. he faces more prison time separate case in washington. president trump says he has not offered a pardon but is not taking it off the table either. for his former campaign chair a possible lifeline in a stunning fall from grace. keep in mind paul manafort will

have to go through all of this again next week when he's sentenced in that d.c. case. for him, david, it's not over yet. back to you. hallie jackson with that report from the white house. as the senate prepares to vote on a resolution that would block president trump's emergency declaration for a border wall the white house is privately ramping up pressure on undecided republicans. two senate republicans tell "the washington post" the white house has increased its efforts to count votes and persuade fence sitting gop senators even though the administration hasn't made clear which military projects could be tapped to pay for the wall. one republican lawmaker told the paper that undecided senators have received calls from the white house and the message has been clear. trump is taking names and noticing who opposes him particularly if you're running for re-election next year. four republican senators have publicly said they will vote for the resolution overturning the president's emergency declaration. that vote is expected to take place next week.

the department of homeland security and congress launched investigations in a u.s. border agent allegedly targeting select reporters, lawyers and activists at the southern border. george to documents obtained by nbc news customs and border protection has compiled a list of 59 people mostly american citizens who are to be stopped when crossing the u.s.-mexican border at checkpoints in san diego. the documents show the agents have already questioned and arrested 21 of the people on that list. the names on the list were people present during violence that broke out at the border in november and being questioned so the agency can learn more about what happened. house homeland security security chairman has asked the commissioner of the cbp to provide a copy of the list, a copy of any dossiers on the individuals and an explanation why each person was include on the list. cbp which falls under the department of homeland security says the department's inspector general is investigating the matter.

house homeland security committee member ellis anesthesia slotkin will have more coming up on "morning joe". joining us again, gaby. this is chilling to see this database and those numbers blurred out that people find out they are in this document. seems like an infringement of journalist's rights. >> reporter: if you read the details of the report chilling is the right word. there are incidents where journalists were detained at the border and questioned. individuals had information such as their social security number, the car that they drive, their mother's maiden name and then to determine how that was used in this questioning is perhaps even more concerning. the report indicates there were journalists asked to turn over their cell phones to these law enforcement authorities. that could obviously raise some privacy issues. this is definitely an instance where under the guise of a

national security investigation you have journalists, activists, and other volunteers being questioned by federal law enforcement authorities, perhaps in a way that they shouldn't be and i think there are a lot of lawmakers in the coming days who will talk more about this and want to investigate this further. >> when it comes to the wall, also this emergency declaration, the fight with the president and republicans, up for re-election in 2020, talk about what's at stake when it comes to those lawmakers and also the president himself with this fight. >> reporter: out of the four senate republicans who have already said they plan to vote for this resolution, two of them are up for re-election in 20. susan collins of maine and thom tillis of north carolina. both of them are likely to face some significant consequences. the white house has indicated as much in recent days. they are signalling to republicans who are still on the fence determining whether or not they want to vote against this national emergency declaration that they could face primary

challenges in 2020 if they choose to reprimand the president. and that they could also face other consequences as well. it seems as though president trump is watching this very closely as you mentioned earlier, he's taking down names. he's paying close attention to who participates in this rebuke of him and is acknowledging that he's prepared to either campaign against them directly, or at least get involved in their re-election efforts in 2020. >> walk us through what the president has plans for weekend. i know he's leaving washington, d.c. >> reporter: he's heading down to mar-a-lago this weekend where he'll speak twice to a gathering of republican donors. these are high dollar donors who are participating in the republican national committee's annual spring retreat down in wet palm beach, florida. they will be bussed over to mar-a-lago for dinner tonight, friday night and again on sunday morning for a breakfast and this is really the first opportunity of the 2020 cycle for the

president to kick off the fundraising he'll need to be a successful competitor in re-election. >> thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it. still ahead on this friday morning formering attorney erik holder gives advice on democrats,000 crease their power. two lawmakers take on a dakt that's dividing this country whether nickelback is a good band. another check on your weekend forecast when we come back. d forecast when we come back .

he may not be running for the white house in 2020, former attorney general eric holder has suggested the next democratic president should consider expanding the supreme court to counter republican efforts expand its power. according to reports holder made the comments yesterday while speaking at yale law school.

he told the crowd the next democratic president should consider adding additional seats to the high court should they be elected alongside a democratic majority in senate. calls for democrats to use this kind of tactic have increased in response to house senate republicans have handled the supreme court nomination process in recent years including the stalling of former president obama's last nominee merritt garland. in a statement holder's spokesman said the information ag given one fairness and disregard of historical precedent by mitch mcconnell and senate republicans when democrats retake the majority they should consider expanding the supreme court to restore adherence to previously accepted norms for judicial nominations. >> on this friday morning i'm sure you're finalizing weekend plans. let's get a check on the weather. >> i know your weekend plans. we're looking at a cold day today. we're looking at a very, very busy saturday in terms of

whether one little glance of this map tells us we'll be very busy. we have strong spring-like storm with cold air to the north. it will bring on interstate wind, blizzard conditions in some spots. then on the warm side we're going to see potential for another round of severe storms like we saw last weekend. we'll go through that. by sunday all that moves off to the east and new england could see six to 12 inches of snow. this is very important to know for tomorrow if you live in these areas. look at these warnings. listen to twarngs. this is from the storm prediction center. we have an enhanced risk of severe weather. where you see the green that includes memphis. to north heavy rain. embedded thunderstorms. hail. also the possibility once again of some tornadoes so 17 million at risk. we're seeing severe weather once again on a weekend. by sunday this moves off to the east. again we'll keep that in place and see the severe weather to the east in parts of florida,

also parts of alabama. now the rainfall forecast that's a lot too. we're looking at very heavy rainfall. a lot of moisture. coming off the gulf of mexico. a lot of water could be dropped in a short amount of time. we could see up to six is of rain in some spots and generally up to six. the cold part of the system is part in the plains moving off to the east. blaze-like conditions where you see that winter storm warning and tricky travel there. a tough day tomorrow also into sunday. louis? >> now to perhaps what might be the most important story of the morning, congress has become increasingly divide on a number of topics in recent years and we can add one more, whether or not nickelback is a good band. during a debate over voting rights provision on the house floor yesterday democratic congressman invoked the canadian rock group to illustrate his point about the measures low popularity. that didn't sit well with a republican colleague and

admitted that randy davis mick el back and then the gloves took off. >> i would add in 2016 when census in the federal register asked for comment, 77,000 people did comment. only four wanted to keep this provision. everyone else wanted to change this. out of 77,000, that's probably about the percent of people who think nickelback is their favorite band. if nickel sbak your favorite band i apologize to the gentleman. >> why would you criticize one of the greatest bands of the '90s. >> one more reason why there's a difference between democrats and republicans clearly found on the floor of congress today. >> my colleague from wisconsin, i know he did not mean to offend the many thousands upon thousands of nickelback fans in his district in wisconsin. i'll stand here to save you from doing that and have to face the

political consequences at the ballot box. i enjoyed debating back and forth and always good to have some good humor on the floor of the house. yes i do have a nickelback song on my running play list that i listen to on a regular basis. >> it's clear that nickelback might be the most hated band of all time. >> are you a fan, louis? >> you know, not really. >> i'm there with you. >> it's hard not to listen to their songs. >> it's a money making juggernaut. >> if they put up foreigner, journey and stix that's a full on board right there. >> lack of bipartisanship. still ahead we're hours away from the release of one of the most important economic reports. we'll preview what to expect with the monthly job reports. >> tim cook embraces president

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call today. comcast business. beyond fast. welcome back. we're about three hours away from the release of the monthly jobs report. this comes after january's surprises reading where 300,000 jobs were added. >> reporter: well, louis, we're not expecting a report that will be quite as robust as what we

saw in january. as you mentioned january saw 304,000 jobs added for february, dow jones estimated the u.s. economy added 180,000 180,000 jobs. in terms of the unemployment rate, analysts are looking for a fall from 4% in january to 3.9% in february. then on average hourly earnings, the other key metric for investors today, that number is expected to rise, 0.3% compared to the previous month. all eyes on that from the market's perspective today. another metric worth highlighting came overnight and that was in the form of chinese trade data. we saw chinese exports plummet in february amid ongoing u.s.-china trade tensions. exports fell 20.7%. expectations were for a 4.8% fall, so quite a big change relative to what we were expecting. imports much weaker.

>> tim cook taking the president's flub of his name and having some fun with it. i've seen it on twitter. >> you may recall president trump called tim cook, the ceo of apple, to tim apple. he has changed his last name to an apple logo. >> tim apple, i guess whee'll te that. it would be nice just to go put that apple in there. >> it's going to become a thing. >> coming up on "morning joe", the president's former campaign manager is formformally sentenc. >> what it could mean for the

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joining us from washington with a look at axios am, jonathan swann. let's start with what the "1 big thing" is this morning. >> the white house has refused to provide -- leaks that boston jared kushner and ivanka trump received clearance from the white house. >> there seems to be a twist. explain that. >> the documents do not have the detail that we've seen reported

recently, that john kelly wrote a membo at trump's instruction. we have a detailed timeline which oversight have received, which have from the spring of '17 to spring of 2018 of how these security clearances were granted and there's a note saying that jared kushner was downgraded at the chief of staff instruction. an aide who broke the story said it's very helpful to have these documents up front so they're actually -- you're seeing now house oversight benefiting from a very leaky white house. >> jonathan, we've seen such keen interest from congressional investigators as to what's been going on in the white house. when you look at this story in particular, what does it tell you about congress's investigations in relationship to the white house more broadly?

>> well, the white house has already made very clear that they're going to be quite aggressive in fighting some of congress's attempts to investigate them, but, as you said, the twist, the extra wrinkle is congress has other avenues to get information and you've already seen through throu reporting on axios, the "new york times" and "washington post" and others that this white house is leaky and that others have ways of getting material to capitol hill. >> when it comes to other investigations democrats are looking at doing, it runs the gamut, so many areas but also looking into whether the white house has been interfering with recent media mergers as well. what more can you tell us about that? >> this stems from the "new yorker"'s jane mayer in which she reported the president asked gary cohn, the top economic

adviser, to meddle with the justice department in their review of the time warner/at&t merger. according to meillea mayer's re they sent a letter to william barr to investigate that and also vet whether the justice department or trump or anyone in the white house had any role in expediting the acquisition because that went through very quickly. >> one more question about jared kushner and his past life and kushner companies. there's a focus on the infusion of cash in august of 2018. what have we learned about that? >> my colleague, alaina treene spoke to maxine water's finances

chairwoman and other democratic house members, all of this many told her they're interested in vetti v investigating this major cash infusion into the dead ridden, struggling property that received a huge cash infusion last summer. the wrinkle is that the firm that put the money in is from a qat qat qatari sovereign wealth fund. we don't know whether they're going to follow through on that but they're discussing it. >> very quickly, as we all d die -- digest, the paul manafort sentencing, shy of four years. talk about what's ahead of that. >> we have to see what the

sentencing tells us. a trump administration said we're looking forward to manafort getting out of prison in time to lobby trump. >> wow. we'll be reading axios am in just a little while. >> i'm david gura alongside francfra frances rivera and louis burgdorf. "morning joe" starts now. if trump abides by anything, it's this -- never apologize. well, paul manafort didn't apologize either. for all of his crimes yesterday putting this exchange from november back into focus. >> it