and that is our thursday evening effort. thank you so very much for being here with us. on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. super happy to have you here. there is so much going on today and tonight. we've got a packed hour planned. but i want to start with this. we just got in this transcript, and i want you to hear this. so the background here is a story that you know the general contours of. the president's longtime personal lawyer pleads guilty to multiple felonies and goes to federal prison. among other things, he pleads to making large illegal payments to benefit the president's campaign when he paid more than a quarter million dollars just before the election to stop two women from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had with the president. the federal prosecutors in that

case named the president as individual 1, as the person who directed the commission of those felonies and on whose behalf those crimes were committed. michael cohen, the guy going to prison for those felonies, he went further in court when he was being sentenced and just flat-out said that he committed those crimes at the direction of the president. while the federal department of justice has concluded that it can't bring a felony indictment against somebody while they are actively serving as president. two things. first, he's not going to be serving as president forever. and, second, new york state prosecutors are not bound by the same rule. and new york state prosecutors are right now seeking to execute subpoenas for the president's personal and business financial records in a case that is believed to be, at least in part, about the president directing the commission of those crimes for which michael cohen went to federal prison. also specifically using his business, the trump organization, to basically

launder those illegal payments in an attempt to cover up the crime. so this is a live case. this is a live criminal case that directly involves the president of the united states in very uncomfortable ways. the supreme court just ruled that the subpoenas from those new york state prosecutors can be executed against the prison just as if he was a normal citizen. and that is under way. that is actively in motion. also, as you know, the coronavirus crisis has devastated federal prisons. one texas federal prison now reports more than 1,200 prisoners positive. just getting that news that week out of one federal prison in texas. texas has actually the worst of it in terms of the three largest outbreaks in federal prisons nationwide right now. but federal prisons generally have done a very poor job with covid, and the prison where the president's lawyer, michael cohen, has been locked up, a

prison called otisville, otisville has had its fair share of cases too. and because of that, because of the, you know, collision of these crises that we're living through, the scandal-ridden challenge to the rule of law that is the trump administration and this global pandemic and the worst epidemic on earth in any country here, our american coronavirus epidemic, those things coming together produced this strange result in which michael cohen, the president's personal lawyer, along with a fair number of other white-collar, nonviolent prisoners, he got out of prison before his sentence was up. he got out on a furlough because specifically of covid. after his one-month furlough, the rest of his sentence was going to convert into home confinement, basically house arrest, which was how he was due to spend the rest of the sentence he would have otherwise spent in otisville were it not

for covid. so he's been out because of the coronavirus crisis, and a couple of weeks ago, just days after he had tweeted that his new book about president trump was coming along nicely and he was looking forward to it being released shortly before this year's november election, just days after he made that public statement about what he's doing with all the time he has on his hands now, michael cohen and one of his lawyers turned up for a visit with probation services. and to his and his lawyer's surprise, they asked mr. cohen to sign a form that said he's not allowed to write a book anymore. he's also not allowed to communicate with the media or to use social media of any kind, and they told him if he didn't sign off on that, back to prison he would go. mr. cohen and his lawyer admit that they questioned that provision, but then they say before mr. cohen even had a chance to sign it or not, a chance to decide whether those concerns about those provisions were big enough that he might

not -- before he even had a chance to decide whether or not he would sign it, boom, federal marshals arrived, shackled him and took him back to prison, back to otisville, where he has been in solitary confinement ever since. whatever you think of michael cohen, where did this rule come from that he can't write a book? it's not like prisoners aren't allowed to write books. this is not a rule that applies generally in the bureau of prisons. did they invent this new rule just for him? in which case, how is it kosher for justice department to invent a new rule that says, hey, you'll be locked up in prison if you try to write a book about the president. the only way you can stay out at home and not be locked up is if you agree to not write a book about the president. and then you can't even argue with it, or they'll lock you up. really? seriously in this country? well, in the trump administration, in the justice department under attorney general william barr, that's

apparently how they want things to go now. but today a federal judge said, no, that's not how we do things in this country. and we just got the transcript of how that went today. and i can tell you that frankly he seemed kind of mad about the whole thing. all right. i'm going to start here with the prosecutor, whose name in this case is alison ravener. so here's the prosecutor. quote, i think it's important to note that home confinement means that mr. cohen was still in the custody of the bureau of prisons. it was just a different location that he was within custody, meaning a different location at his home. the judge says in response, quote, we're not talking about locations. that's a false issue. we are talking about the issue of retaliation. he was put on furlough with no conditions other than hang around your house and be in your neighborhood. the only condition. and when it came time for the furlough period to end, he was allowed to stay outside without any conditions other than that.

all of a sudden when the bureau of prisons understands that cohen is writing a book and will likely finish before the election time, he is imposed with conditions. the probation officer doesn't give him a form, the form for home confinement that typically is used by probation. the judge says, quote, what purpose would there be in a paragraph one of this agreement, preventing engagement with the media, tv, print, film, books, prohibiting social media platforms, no posting on social media, communications with friends, not to do certain things about publication. the prosecutor says in response, quote, the probation officer is just trying -- he never drafted an agreement like this. the judge: i have never seen such a clause. in 21 years of being a judge and sentencing people and looking at the terms and conditions of supervised release, i have never seen such a clause. have you, ms. rovner ever seen such a clause? >> i have never seen a location

monitoring agreement your honor. >> the court, why would the probation officer ask for something like this unless there was a retaliatory purpose to it? we are not going to negotiate about it because if you negotiate, we're going to send you to jail and call you intransigent. how can i take any other inference other than it was retaliatory? the prosecutor: the officer had no knowledge about mr. cohen's book. the judge: it's impossible to take that inference. and then new character in the scene. mr. mckay, who is a different prosecutor, gets into the mix here. your honor, this is thomas mckay. can i just jump in with a factual point on the timeline? the judge: mr. mckay, is ms ms. rovner not capable of answering my questions? mr. mckay: she certainly is, your honor. the judge: you will keep quiet and if ms. rovner wants to consult you, she may.

one person speaks on a side. the judge then says, quote, there is no purpose i can discern from this paragraph one that i can find in any term or condition of a supervised release that i have seen in 21 years of being a judge, nor is it feasible to believe that the probation officer wasn't asking for something like this because he had some instruction about something like this. i cannot believe fairly that there was not a purpose in paragraph one of the location monitoring agreement to stop his exercise of his first amendment rights. and that's my finding. okay. then there's a long discussion about covid protocols at otisville and whether michael cohen has been quarantined adequately for covid purposes and whether solitary confinement counts as quarantine. and then we get down to brass tacks. the judge: let him be tested tomorrow morning. ms. rovner, let him be tested tomorrow morning, and he should be released by 2:00 p.m.

ms. perry -- he then turns to cohen's defense attorney. ms. perry, tell me, who's going to be the custodian? will his wife be the custodian? yes your honor. the judge the judge: and she will be taken care of shopping and everything else? mr. cohen will be confined to his home except subject to conditions stated in the agreement. ms. perry: yes, your honor. the judge: i think we have it. i make the finding that the purpose of transferring mr. cohen from furlough and home confinement to jail was retaliatory, and it's retaliatory because of his desire to exercise his first amendment rights to publish a book and to discuss anything about the book or anything else he wants on social media and with others. that is my essential finding. and the injunction is against continuing retaliation against mr. cohen by keeping him in jail when he should be confined, as he was before the retaliation,

at home. the judge says, quote, i will issue a written decision further explaining my reasoning, but this decision is a final decision. so the judge ruling orally in this hearing today for which we got the transcript. we're not allowed to take recordings or play recordings of it, but getting the transcripts means i can tell you exactly what happened. and the judge giving that oral ruling telling the trump administration that they need to let michael cohen out of prison tomorrow because the judge has concluded that they only put him back in prison to try to stop him from writing a book criticizing the president, to retaliate against him for the work he's already done on this book criticizing the president. and that's not a thing you can do in this country. the judge has just tonight since issued his written ruling making the same declaration. so this is official, and michael cohen should be out of jail again as of tomorrow after he

gets his covid test. but that was just a remarkable thing that happened today. we're having kind of a rule of law sort of national round of bumper cars in the trump administration. and to have a federal judge in this case -- i know it's just one case among many. but to have a federal judge come in and say, what are you doing? like i know what you're trying to do here, but no, you can't do that here. we get these brush-backs infrequently. when they happen and they're this clear and when the judge, i think, in particular takes care to kind of show his disgust with what the government has tried to get away with, it's a signpost, i think, for us as citizens. it's a civic signpost for us in terms of who we are as a country. i will tell you in just a few minutes tonight, we're going to have live the first exclusive interview with ms. perry, with michael cohen's lawyer, the

person who i just read some from the transcript. she represented michael cohen in this hearing. she's the one who got the justice department to release him tomorrow after they tried to lock him up for criticizing the president. so we've got that interview ahead tonight. i'm really looking forward to that. we also tonight are going to be speaking with stacey abrams, former democratic leader in the georgia legislature. she's very nearly elected governor of georgia two years ago. she has a big national profile in the democratic party. she's reported to be in contention as a potential vice presidential running mate for joe biden. we're going to be talking to her tonight in part because she is fired up about something the president has just done that the courts are likely to stop, but he is trying to get away with it anyway. stacey abrams runs organizations trying to secure fair access to the vote and fair access to our small "d" democracy. she's going to join us live in just a few minutes live to talk about that as well. so like i said, big day. big show tonight.

this is just one of those news days that has been kind of full of surprises, though. i mean in the news business, full of surprises is not a good thing, and today is not an exception there. there was, for example, the odd sort of spectacle earlier tonight when the president announced that the republican party actually won't be holding its convention next month in jacksonville, florida after all. remember initially the republican convention this summer was going to be in north carolina. then when north carolina said they wanted it know what the plan was for, like, you know, infection control given the epidemic, the white house balked at that. the republican party balked at that, and they made this big show of announcing that north carolina was terrible for even asking, and so they pull out of north carolina and move the convention to jacksonville, florida, instead like there's no covid there to worry about. it was always fairly insane, the whole thing. but now the jacksonville convention is officially off. the president weirdly going on and on at the podium today at

the white house about how great the jacksonville convention was or was going to be or how great he imagined it to be in his mind. he literally said tonight, quote, the pageantry, the signs, the excitement. we' were really, really top of the line. he's talking about an event that didn't happen, a future event that's been called off. they were really top of the line. what does that mean? he said, quote, we have great enthusiasm, incredible enthusiasm. even the polls say about the most enthusiasm they've ever seen. enthusiasm for the event that hasn't happened yet that you're imagining has beautiful pageantry? what are you talking about? but then he announced they are canceling the jacksonville event that went so well, but which there was so much enthusiasm, and that had beautiful pageantry, it was top of the line. and with them canceling jacksonville, they're now going

back to the north carolina idea. but is north carolina really still available? i mean nobody knows what they're going to do there either. this thing is a month away. i mean democrats have planned to basically not hold an in-person convention and do lots of online stuff instead. but they've been rolling that out and making sort of orderly decisions about that. nobody knows what the republicans are even going to try to do, not in jacksonville and back in north carolina after they already insulted and canceled on north carolina. that said, this thing that -- i still don't exactly know what he was talking about with the polls showing all the enthusiasm. but he was talking about enthusiasm for him in florida. there is a new florida poll in the presidential race that's out today, the quinnipiac poll, which doesn't say that. look at this. this is the quinnipiac poll out today about the presidential race in florida. it shows joe biden with a 13-point lead over the president in florida.

51% support for biden versus only 38% for the president. is that what you meant when you said enthusiasm? i mean this is a very big margin. i mean quinnipiac are great pollsters. they have a very good reputation, but 13 is a big lead. most recent polls do show biden beating trump in florida. the realclearpolitics average has biden up, i think, seven overall if you lump together all the recent polls. so quinnipiac is saying 13 points. that's a big lead, but again they're a respected pollster, and that does honestly track roughly with the other big swing state polling that was just released tonight by fox news. the new fox news poll tonight showing joe biden leading president trump in michigan by nine points, 49-40. the new fox poll showing biden leading trump in pennsylvania as well by 11 points. biden 50, trump 39 in pennsylvania. the new fox poll also showing biden beating trump in minnesota by 13 points.

same margin as that florida poll from quinnipiac. biden 51, trump 38. so, yeah, those numbers all coming in today, all big important swing states. the president in all of those polls losing by between 9 and 13 points to joe biden. in minnesota, florida, michigan, pennsylvania. and that comes on the day the president has to announce the cancellation of the republican national convention, after a ham-handed, botched, and half-hearted failed attempt to move it somewhere new at the last minute. that has now collapsed. they've got their tail between their legs crawling back to north carolina. it's only a month ago. nobody knows what they're going to be able to pull off, if anything. i mean as days go in politics, you combine all of those things, this was a very bad day for the president politically speaking. but, you know, with all of the simultaneous crises going on right now in our country, why

privilege politics when you're talking about a bad day? it's a bad day pretty much every day no matter who you are or whether you're involved in politics. florida which just lost the republican convention they almost stole from north carolina, florida has big problems. they're one of a whole bunch of states that have set a new single-day death record from the coronavirus. yesterday and today we've seen new death records set in florida and in california and in texas and in idaho and in alabama, and i probably missed some. south carolina hit a record both for hospitalizations and for ventilators in use today. georgia set its hospitalization record earlier this week, and then they almost topped that again in the last 24 hours. the daily death toll in the whole united states is back up now at levels it was at almost two months ago. in texas, the new daily case

numbers are flattening a little bit in some of the big cities in texas, like for example in dallas. but the statewide texas numbers are still really bad, death records and hospitalization records set this week statewide in texas. but i'm going to stick a flag here and do what i can to try to bring as much national attention as i can to what's going on in south texas. i think it really ought to be bigger national news right now that the situation in the rio grande valley in texas right now is well and truly dire. and over the last few days this week, we have reported on hidalgo county specifically. hidalgo county is the home of mcallen, texas. according to the top elected official, there is now a two-week waiting list to get a body into a crematorium in hidalgo county. that means the bodies are piling up. the county is now using five refrigerated trucks to store

bodies and each of those trucks hold 50 bodies. we had the judge here the other day talking about all their hospitalizations being full and the projections those numbers are going to double and they do not know where to put people. but 3wr5 the next county over from hidalgo, the next county west from them is star county, texas. and star county, texas, the county seat there, is a town called rio grande city. they have one single and now overwhelmed hospital there. in star county, texas, today, the head of the county health authority says they are forming an ethics committee and a triage committee, two new committees they are forming at that hospital in rio grande city to review all coronavirus patients as they come to the hospital basically to decide if they will even try to take that person in. committees to decide if there's anything that hospital will be able to do to help a patient anyway before they try to admit

them because maybe it would be more kind to send them home. the county health authority telling local reporters last night, quote, there is nowhere to put these patients. the whole state of texas and neighboring states have no icu beds to spare for us. among other things, that hospital says they are short of oxygen right now. i mean, yes, ventilators and more complicated icu as well, but also the basics. they do not have oxygen tanks or tubing to send people home with. they've got an eight-bed covid unit in star county, texas. they've got 28 people in it. they are now saying they're going to screen patients for survival potential before they're even going to try to cram them into their last remaining overwhelmed hospital. local officials in starr county are also calling for an emergency shelter at home order for the whole county just like local officials are next door in hidalgo county. but texas republican governor greg abbott is blocking those counties from doing it, saying

they can't enforce anything like that. this situation in south texas in the rio grande valley is now bad enough that it should be seen, in my opinion, as a national emergency. the rio grande valley is a blariblar blaring red siren right now. the worst-case scenarios are active right now in the rio grande valley in texas, and it is a story of national significance that requires a national response. nationwide, today marked the 18th straight week in which more than 1 million americans applied for unemployment benefits. the number actually went up this week compared with last week. the white house and republicans in congress do not seem ready to extend the unemployment benefits boost, the $600 boosts that americans have been receiving during the pandemic. that boost is due to expire legally next week.

for practical purposes that means people are about to get their last check with that money in it. they are really not moving fast enough in washington right now for it to seem like that is going to get extended in time. the president is taking the lead with congress, though, taking a hard line on not that, but on retaining confederate names for u.s. military bases. this is what he's prioritizing right now. this is what he's picking a big fight with congress about. the house and the senate have now both passed the big pentagon funding bill, which in both the house version and the senate version includes a provision that would take confederate names off u.s. military bases. the president says that's so awful, he will veto all funding for the u.s. military over that issue alone. but the margins by which this bill passed both the house and the senate, the margins by which it passed are so great, if the president made good on that threat to veto military funding in order to retain confederate names on military bases, if he

made good on that threat, it would almost assuredly result in him having his veto overridden by congress for the first time ever, over the issue of keeping confederate names in place that the military doesn't even want anymore. if that veto -- if he vetoes it over that issue and that veto is overridden, that would be one of the first times his veto is overridden, and the vote would likely coincide with the lying in state at the state capitol rotunda of john lewis. john lewis passed away last week at the age of 80. we have learned on monday and tuesday of next week, he will lie in state in the state capitol as the american hero he is while the congress, we believe, simultaneously will be batting down this president as he tries to hold on to symbols and honors of the confederacy. the news gods are cruel these days, but they are also

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this weekend msnbc is going to start special programming to mark 100 days until the november election. 2016 and 2020 thus far have taught us anything, though, it's that a heck of a lot can happen in 100 days, and nobody should count their chickens before they're hatched. but in a big feature at plit co plitco.com today, democrats in the state of georgia -- should be seen as in reach for democratic candidate joe biden this year against president trump. they're urging joe biden to put a georgia democrat on the ticket with him in the hopes that would put him over the edge, tip the state into their column and go some distance toward making a democratic candidate unbeatable in november. it helps georgia democrats that two of the state's highest profile leaders, atlanta mayor

keisha lance bottoms, and stacey abrams have already been part of the month-long conversation about joe biden's potential pick. on the other side of the ticket, republicans do seem worried they might lose georgia this cycle. for example, earlier this year, the georgia secretary of state, a republican, sent out millions of absentee ballot applications for the primary election. that initiative ended up being wildly successful as the "atlanta journal constitution" put it, quote, absentee voting rates skyrocketed from 6% of all ballots cast in 2018 to over half the votes cast in the june primary. a record 1.1 million voters cast absentee ballots in the primary, thus avoiding human contact during the covid pandemic. apparently that experiment, as successful as it was in georgia, that was maybe seen by georgia republicans as being too successful because now that same secretary of state, despite that incredible success in the primary earlier this year, that

same secretary of state has now decided it would be impractical and too expensive to repeat the effort this fall. so they're not going to send people ballots. i mean despite the huge popularity of absentee voting, despite its successes, despite the ongoing and in fact increasing need in georgia because of the coronavirus epidemic, they're not going to do it. election shenanigans are nothing new in georgia. they may be why democrat stacey abrams didn't win the georgia governor's race in 2018. she called her opponent famously the architect of voter suppression, saying he had used his authority as secretary of state at the time, his authority over the election, to tilt it in its favor, to enact policies that made it harder for democratic-leaning voters, particularly black and minority voters to cast their ballots in georgia. well, since then, stacey abrams has formed a couple of organizations to right those wrongs, fair fight and fair count, efforts to combat voter

suppression and to help protect the vote and the democratic rights of margeinlized communities. those refrtss are among the many reasons she is potentially being considered as a rining mate for joe biden. joining us is stace sy abrams, fair fight and fair count, which is working right now to ensure an accurate count in the census. thank you so much for making time for us tonight. >> absolutely. thank you. >> let me just ask you as i'm sort of painting that portrait about what's going on in georgia, if you think that's the way we ought to be thinking about it, if that comports with the way you're thinking about it this year and about what's important and what's in reach for georgia democrats this year. >> georgia is absolutely a swing state. we have the highest percentage of african-american voters of any battleground state at 33%, and we saw that level of turnout in the primaries. we had a record primary turnout

of more than 1.2 million voters, exceeding republican turnout by a quarter of a million votes. let's take a step back. in 2018, my election netted 1.9 million votes, the largest number of democrats to vote in the state's history. since that time, 750,000 georgians who were not eligible to vote for me in '18 have now registered to vote in our state. 45% are under the age of 30. in addition, when you look at the trajectory of elections, president obama lost georgia by eight points. hillary clinton, the secretary, lost georgia by five points. in 2018, the margin was 1.4% and that was with the secretary of state running his own election. we know that the mitigation of voter suppression that fair fight has been pushing as well as the expansion of access to absentee ballots and the encouragement of registration

means that georgia can turn out 16 electoral votes, pick up two senate seats, flip another house seat, and flip a state legislature, flip the house so that we can actually be at the table for redistricting. georgia is a battleground state. the numbers say it's so, and the math works. >> when you talk about efforts to mitigate voter suppression efforts in georgia, what do you make about the current status of the controversy in georgia over sending out absentee ballot applications? we saw that was very successful in the primary earlier this year. we then saw republicans in the legislature try to block, try to pass legislation that would block the secretary of state from being able to mail out proactively absentee ballot applications. that legislation did not get signed into law, but the secretary of state, the republican secretary of state appears to have received that message, and now he's decided on his own he's not going to send out those ballot applications. what do you make of those

implications, and if this part of the fight settled this. >> of course it's not settled because until we have the election, we know the shenanigans, and incompetence will continue. what we do know during that legislation post june 9th, fair fight was at the table and was able to block legislation that would have made it more difficult for voters to use absentee ballots. we knew that the republican secretary of state was going to bow to the pressure from president trump, and he would rescind the smart decision he made to expand access to every georgian who is eligible to vote. so we are working right now to make certain those applications get to the voters who need to have it. it's wonderful when the state actually serves its people, but we've lived here long enough to know we can't count on that from ratsenberger. what we know is we saw an incredible a of participation from communities that normally don't use absentee ballots. part of that is driven by covid-19, but part of it was also driven by the education and the work that we did in 2018 to expand access to absentee

ballots. we know that absentee ballots will be one of the ways democrats can show up in this election. but let's remember voting by mail is as much about safety as it is about winning an election. and we don't want in the state of georgia where we have a governor who is doing his level best to ensure the spread of infection in a state where we already have 156,000 people who have this disease in the first wave. we know that absentee ballots can be one of the few ways we can protect our people so they can participate in the democracy without risking their lives. >> you've been fighting this fight at the state level in georgia. you've just laid out those terms, basically the terms of that battle in very stark terms. but i know there is a presidential initiative that is going to affect the small "d" democratic rights of georgia voters that you've taken a very strong stand on. if you don't mind, stacey, i'd like to take a quick break, come back and talk with you about that because this is something the president does. i believe the courts are going to block him, but i want to talk

with you about why you think he's doing it if you don't mind sticking with us. >> absolutely. happy to. >> we'll be right back. >> we'll be right back liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ bibill assumed his mayo was the best choice. assume nothing. just like the leading brand, kraft real mayo is made with high quality ingredients at a price you can feel good about.

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joining us once again for the interview is stacey abrams, the founder of both fair fight, which works to fight voter suppression, and fair counter, which works to ensure an accurate count in the census. thanks again for being back with us. one of the reasons 2020 is such a hugely important year is that it's a scensus year. census is how we get congressional districts. two days ago the president signed a memorandum stating that we should change how we apportion congressional districts out of the census. we should make it citizenship-dependent, which is not what the constitution says. this strikes me as something that the president has both tried to do before that's blatantly unconstitutional, that he's not likely to get away with. how important is this as a sort of structural effort to try to entrench republican power?

>> well, as you pointed out numerous times, sometimes it's what he does, and sometimes it's what's behind what he's doing. i agree with you that the legality of his executive memo is likely going to fail in the courts. but what he's really trying to do at the same time is discourage communities of color, immigrants, refugees, and writ large communities of color from participating in the census. right now we're about 4% behind the response rate where we were in 2010. but for black and latino and native american communities, they're behind by 10%. using this as a threat to say to immigrants, do in the complete this, you heighten the likelihood that the census will look whiter, which tends to mean the voting power is more republican. and he is trying to scare people out of participation. but we have to understand that if the census is not accurate, the cost is spread across communities. it doesn't just hurt communities of color. it could decimate budgets, especially in the midst of covid

recovery. >> stacey abrams, one of the things that i feel like is sometimes missed when people do national profiles of you and write about you in terms of your political potential and your political leadership is that people don't get what a good teacher and explainer you are, which is absolutely the heart and soul of persuasion. it's part of the reason i always enjoy talking to you, especially about complicated stuff. thank you so much for being here tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thank you so much for having me, rachel. >> all right. we've got much more ahead here tonight. stay with us. h us alike and cusr insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ in a highly capable lexus suv at the golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2020 nx 300 for $339 a month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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the judge in the michael cohen case issued this ruling today in print. quote, the court finds that respondent purpose in transferring cohen from release on furlough and home confinement back to custody was retaliatory in response to cohen exercising

his first amendment rights to publish a book critical of the president. accordingly, respond ends are hereby enjoined. the judge in the cohen case today basically is putting the justice department on notice, right? do not try that again. you are enjoined from doing any more of this. for all of the multiple crises afflicting the country right now, the rule of law stuff is churning alongside everything else. from the effort to literally lock up michael cohen for the crime of writing a book criticizing the president to the ongoing deployment of federal officers in, you know, portland, oregon, and apparently soon to albuquerque, new mexico, over the objections of local officials, using tear gas and brute violence against american civilians in the streets and seeing what they can get away with. i mean we're dealing with rule of law challenges that were dystopian fiction as recently as a year ago, and the worst

predictions of how bad it could get under this president before he actually took power. but sometimes things go back in the other direction, and the aclu in actually joining michael cohen's side in this fight against what the bureau of prisons and the justice department did to him for the crime of writing a book about the president, the aclu said in its pleading to the court on cohen's behalf that this was -- this case sat at the zenith of first amendment protections. today what the judge said on behalf of michael cohen is that that's true, and in this case the first amendment should win. joining us now is danya perry. she is the attorney for michael cohen who represented him in this matter. i really appreciate you making time to be here tonight. i know this is the first interview you've done since representing mr. cohen in these matters. i appreciate the guts it takes to be here. >> i'm thrilled to be here, rachel. thank you so much. thrilled with the judge's decision today. thrilled that michael cohen will be home tomorrow with his

family. >> i read some from the transcript of how the proceeding went today including some of the back and forth with the judge. i also just read some from the ruling. let me ask if i got any of that wrong. what do you think is the most important thing that people should understand about this case and why michael cohen is about to get back out? >> you got it exactly right. it was a resounding victory. it was a strong ruling by the judge. he was very clear. he could have made a more narrow finding. he actually made essentially a finding of credibility against the department of justice and the bureau of prisons. he did not credit their pretextual rationale for the determine that it made. he found that in fact they had acted in a retaliatory fashion for the exercise of michael cohen's constitutional rights to free speech. so it was a great victory not just for michael cohen, but not

to be overly dramatic, but for the rule of law. this was a larger ruling, i think, and we're seeing, as you said earlier in the show, we've seen a slouching towards autocracy, and it's good every once in a while to see that checked. so today the dod was checked, and that felt very good. >> we heard the judge today -- well, we read it in the transcript and his written ruling this evening. he's saying this is his final judgment, his final ruling. even after the judge declared his finding today, though, the bureau of prisons continued to try to make a case against michael cohen, releasing a statement where they're still holding to what you described as their pretext, that there wasn't a first amendment defying retaliatory campaign against mr. cohen, that this wasn't the reason they were seeking to lock him back up. do they have the right to appeal

this ruling? is mr. cohen potentially still looking at the bureau of prisons showing up again and trying to rescind his furlough or his home confinement if they continue to fight this? >> they absolutely have the right to appeal it. i think they'd be well counseled not to appeal it. the judge was strong, and he's on solid ground. so i agree that was a defiant statement. they found that their statement essentially was that the judge was wrong and that his finding was incorrect. and so it might bespeak an interest in appealing it. but, you know, i also think, you know, they will be watching michael when he gets home, and i think he should be fearful frankly. and i think he's going to be watching his back.

>> in terms of the book that he says he's writing about the president, "the new york times" has reported on the tentative title for the book. mr. cohen himself has described some of the things that he is going to say in the book that will be by all accounts highly cr critical of the president. is there any legal leg for the trump administration to stand on in terms of stopping him from publishing that book or from speaking about it either in advance of or upon its publication? >> not with this ruling, no. thankfully i think that should be the end of this fight. there are still some details that need to be arranged over the next week or so about what the contours of his ability to interact with the media will be, but it will surely include his ability to finish the book and to publish the book. so that story will be told. mr. cohen has an absolute right to tell it, and the public has an absolute right to hear it.

>> this is me talking out of school, but if the terms of mr. cohen's agreement, as you negotiate with bop in terms of what his media contact is to be, if the terms of his agreement allow him to speak to somebody about the contents of his book, you have my number. >> you'll be our first call. >> thank you very much. danya perry is an attorney for michael cohen. congratulations on this ruling on behalf of your client today. thanks for helping us understand it. >> thanks, rachel. >> all right. we've got one more story for you here tonight. stay with us. here tonight stay with us think about how you'll get there. and now that you can lease or buy a new lincoln remotely or in person... discovering that feeling has never been more effortless. accept our summer invitation to get 0% apr on all 2020 lincoln vehicles. only at your lincoln dealer.

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there is a new truck-mounted roving billboard that made its debut in portland, oregon today. it says, quote, dear department of homeland security. great job protecting buildings instead of the constitution. enjoy your new life in argentina. when you're exiled, presumably. here's one addressed to the homeland security director. director chad wolf is trading citizens' constitutional rights worth the belly rubs you get from your racist boss? that's one way the citizens of portland are reacting to the influx of unidentified federal officers who have been beating up americans nightly at protests in that city. last night, portland's mayor was among the protesters who were teargassed by federal officers. he called it an unprovoked, and quote, egregious overreaction. he said right after being gassed, i am not afraid, but i am pissed off. today the inspector general for

the justice department announced he's opening an investigation into the actions of justice department personnel in portland, including allegations that officers have concealed their identities and used force improperly. the ig also says his office will investigate the actions of department personnel in lafayette square op. it's intriguing news that someone will investigate what federal officers are doing beating up protesters while moving in unidentified badges. but i will also say bear many mind that the attorney general bill barr is scheduled next week to give his first ever testimony to the house. how much will you bet bill bar will be unable to comment on portland or lafayette square because now they are under active investigation so he couldn't possibly remark. yeah, watch for that. that's going to do it for us tonight. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell.