heavy favorite. markey comes out, though, a ten-point victor, the first ever loss for a kennedy in a massachusetts democratic primary. they say if you live long enough, you'll see everything. we saw that tonight. that's our broadcast. on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. there is a lot going on in the news tonight and we do have a really big guest. let me tell you first the news breaking on the front page of "the washington post" tonight is this. justice department zeroing in on longtime gop fund-raiser. here's the lede in this "washington post" story. quote, federal prosecutors are preparing to charge longtime republican party fund-raiser el united states broidy in connection with efforts to influence the u.s. government on behalf of foreign interests. broidy helped raise millions for donald trump's election and the republican party. he has been in discussions with the justice department and could

ultimately reach a plea deal. if elliott broidy does reach a plea deal, if he agrees to testify about other people's crimes that he knows about in order to get lenience for himself, i have to tell you this could get fairly nutty fairly quickly because of all the different things that elliott broidy has been involved in in the trump era. and this news from "the washington post" tonight comes at a remarkable time. i mean we are two months out from the election now. in less than five months, we're going to be inaugurating either a new president, joe biden, or inaugurating the current one again. but meanwhile tonight, we're apparently awaiting an indictment of one of the members of this president's last inaugural committee, who has been investigated by multiple prosecutors for allegedly using the first trump inaugural as the basis for a massive alleged criminal foreign influence scheme. and we have been seeing this slowly unspool for months now,

building scandal around the unexplained financials really regarding the president's first inaugural. august 2018, republican operative sam patten pled guilty to steering foreign money. february last year, there was news that sdny prosecutors were looking at allegations of more illegal foreign money sloshing into the trump inaugural. april 2019, april last year. news that edny prosecutors, eastern district of new york, federal prosecutors in brooklyn were looking at whether there wasn't just foreign money sloshing into the trump inaugural but whether inaugural officials like elliott broidy might have been using trump's inaugural to illegally sell access to foreign governments. yesterday in federal court in hawaii of all places, there was a guilty plea from somebody allegedly involved in this scheme with elliott broidy. she pled guilty. she is apparently helping

prosecutors. her name first appeared on subpoenas that were sent to the trump inaugural committee from those federal prosecutors in the eastern district of new york last summer. now as of yesterday, she has pled guilty. she's got a plea deal. "the washington post" tonight is reporting that elliott broidy himself is next. elliott broidy was a major fund-raiser for the trump inaugural. he was the vice chair of fund-raising for the trump inaugural. he was also deputy finance chairman of the national republican party, named to that position after trump was elected president. the finance chairman of the rnc at the time was disgraced casino mogul steve wynn, who "the washington post" reports tonight may have been in on this alleged illegal influence peddling scheme with elliott broidy. steve wynn's lawyers telling "the washington post" tonight that mr. wynn is cooperating with investigators. you might remember that both steve wynn and elliott broidy had to give up their senior roles in the republican party not long after they were named

to those senior jobs. mr. wynn had to give it up because of the huge sexual harassment scandal that also removed him as president of his casino company. elliott broidy had to be removed from his post at the rnc. he stepped down from that post after he admitted that just like president trump, lawyer michael cohen had also set him up in an expensive hush money deal in which he apparently paid a whole bunch of money to a woman in order to keep her quiet about an affair with him. they apparently used the same template and the same fake names as were set up for the rush money deals that cohen did for president trump. all the best people. all of them. since the trump inaugural, i will say the reports, the public reporting about this guy elliott broidy have actually been a little bit hard to keep up with. there have been so many of them, and they have been so disparate. i mean just putting aside the hush money deal, which is

astonishing for all the wrong reasons, we have seen reports over the past months of elliott broidy being investigated for using his role in the trump inaugural and his connections to the trump administration to advance alleged illegal foreign influence schemes involving the government of malaysia and the government of china and the united arab emirates and romania and angola, and, and, and. if any of those has stuck out for you over the past few months and years, it might have been the united arab emirates reporting about broidy. that has stuck out over time because it's apparent intermediary in the middle east, his apparent intermediary with the emirates in particular was this guy, george nader, who you see standing with the president, a man who set up meetings for the upper echelons of the trump campaign throughout the transition, including meetings in trump tower. george nader is now in federal

prison on serious and almost indescribably disgusting child pornography charges. but he is one of the key people who elliott broidy was allegedly working with on this alleged illegal scheme to sell foreign access to the trump inaugural and his trump administration contacts. all the best people. all of them. now, we of course don't know for sure if elliott broidy is going to be charged after all of these months and indeed years of reports of him being under federal investigation. "the washington post" again is reporting on their front page tonight that he is about to be indicted. one other thing to watch here, i can tell you that elliott broidy's previous lawyer had given reporters an on the record statement that broidy had never met with president trump himself as part of any of these alleged illegal influence schemes for which he's now reportedly facing indictment. that's what had been the on the record statement from broidy's lawyer in the past. but that lawyer who gave that on the record statement saying the

president wasn't involved in any of this, that lawyer no longer represents elliott broidy. his current representation is making no such claims, and the charging documents filed in conjunction with this guilty plea that just happened yesterday, broidy's alleged accomplice in those crimes, those documents say explicitly that president trump was involved in this scheme. that elliott broidy did meet with president trump directly on this stuff. so per "the washington post," that is coming. that is coming down the pike. eyes open, right? with william barr at the helm of the justice department right now and with us less than 65 days out from the election, frankly anything could happen, but that indictment, that federal indictment, is reportedly imminent. at the same time, though, this has also just happened. this book, which is just out today, i'll tell you it's the latest in a string of four or five books that are coming out this week and next week, which are to say the least, highly anticipated. we talked with michael schmidt

about his book "the united states v. donald trump" out last night. this book is quite a different angle but also making a ton of news. it's out today. it's titled "melania and me: the rise and fall of my friendship with the first lady." it's written by stephanie winston wolkoff. for a first lady who is the subject of as much public interest and fascination as any other, this book is going to have a lot of stuff about first lady melania trump that people will be very interested in. everything from why the first lady wore that jacket that said "i don't really care, do u" when she went to visit the border shelters holding little kids. if you want to know why she wore that jabltcket, it's in this bo. also that weird moment at the 2017 inaugural where the first lady dramatically wiped that smile off her face and scowled as soon as the president turned

around, that is explained in this new book from stephanie winston wolkoff. ms. wolkoff also tells the story of how she and the first lady launched what they called "operation block ivanka" specifically to try to keep the president's eldest daughter, ivanka, out of the iconic imagery of the president being sworn in on inauguration day. they called it "operation block ivanka" and the whole plan was to make sure ivanka wasn't in this picture. mission accomplished. if you're interested in that kind of thing, this book will also shed some light perhaps on this sort of insane moment from the republican national convention this week. this moment between the first lady and the president and ivanka, the president's eldest daughter onstage at the white house at the rnc last week. this moment, which is transfixing, i will admit, has been viewed tens of millions of times on twitter since it happened. this book may give you some

insight into what was behind that look. this is also the book for you if you want to know why the first lady's signature anti-bullying campaign is called "be best." why "be best"? what does that mean? why not "be the best"? or "be your best"? what does "be best" mean? page 266 and 267 have your answer to that. you can also learn, for example, how it is that the first lady's sister, ines, got herself a u.s. visa that's reserved for people with extraordinary abilities of benefit to the united states. how did she get that visa? that's in here too. if you are one of the many people who wondered if there was some kind of coded message from first lady melania trump when she wore a suffragette special pant suit. stephanie winston wolkoff is here to report to you what the first lady meant by wearing that and if it had a specific

political message. vaurz ms. wolkoff also reports that first lady melania trump insisted that a brand-new toilet be installed in the white house for her use before she would even consider moving in. it had to be a new toilet, not one that had been used by anybody else, including any previous first lady. okay? if you want to know, that's there. i will also tell you there's a long sort of disturbing quote in the book, what is allegedly a direct quote of the first lady talking about kids being ripped away from their parents at the border. we're going to talk about that in a few minutes. if it is actually what the first lady said about those kids, if is a verbatim quote, i think that will be a significant scandal in its own right? we will get to that in a moment when we are joined live by ms. cole coums. ms. wolkoff. but you should know big picture that the plot of this book overall is the story that's in the title "melania and me." it is the story of what first lady melania trump is like as a

friend and why her best friend, ms. wolkoff, now says she regrets the entire friendship. she says it in terms that stark, in black and white, on page 311. she says, quote, in fact, i wish i had never met her. so that human drama is there, and that relationship drama is there. and first ladies, all of them, are objects of public fascination. mrs. trump included. there will be lots here in this book for people who have that fascination or who want to know more about her, including the various controversies from her tenure as first lady. i get that, and we will talk with ms. wolkoff about that in just a moment. but if you have watched this show over the past couple of years, and if you know how my brain works and how my news sense works, you might at this point be surprised that i want to feature this book. but it's because of something else entirely that is in this book that is nowhere else. what i'm really interested in in here is that this book is the

first explanation at any length that we have ever had of what went so haywire in the trump inauguration, which is newly relevant given that one of the major figures in the trump inauguration is reportedly about to be indicted. it's newly relevant because within five months we're going to have another inauguration, and if it's another one like the one, we should probably have some legal aid lawyers on standby. it's also relevant right now because multiple prosecutors' offices have apparently opened cases related to alleged criminal financial wrongdoing having to do with the trump inauguration in 2017. stephanie winston wolkoff was intimately involved in planning that inauguration. and in this book, she explains that she is cooperating with three different prosecutors' offices on three different open cases related to the trump inaugural right now. and you remember the basic issue here, right? we covered this extensively, perhaps more than any other national news outlet. the obama inauguration after he was elected in 2008, that was

for lots of reasons the largest ever presidential inauguration in u.s. history. they raised the most money for that as well, more than $50 million. that was a huge sum. no inaugural had ever been that big or that expensive, but it was the biggest ever. the trump inauguration, after he was elected in 2016, was not on the same scale, not by a long shot. it was just smaller. it was -- it was inevitably going to be smaller, and there were fewer events. even the performances were just on a smaller scale and for smaller numbers of people. i mean instead of like, you know, bruce spreingsteen and beyonce, they had the piano guy and, no offense, not the same type of thing. it's fine. i don't say that to cast aspersions. but the much smaller trump inauguration with fewer events, with much smaller crowds, and with events that were all at

sort of a lower register, there's just no way that it cost more than double what the obama inaugural cost in 2009. there's no way it was more than twice as expensive as the most expensive inauguration in history. but that's what they have said about it. i mean obama raised and spent 50-something million dollars in 2009. trump's inaugural raised over $107 million, and nobody knows what they spent it on. nobody's ever been able to say where exactly all that money went because it does not seem to have gone into just paying for that event. and when you look at who was in charge of the financials, maybe in retrospect it shouldn't be all that surprising that there seems to be a little bit of a financial black box there. i mean the treasurer of the trump inaugural is someone who was named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in a major tax

fraud case on wall street. the vice chair of fund-raising was the aforementioned elliott broidy. the deputy chairman of the inaugural committee was rick gates, who pled guilty to multiple felonies and became a cooperating witness in the mueller investigation. you might remember him admitting in open court under oath that it's possible he did steal some of the trump inaugural money when he was the deputy chairman of it. tom barrack was the inaugural chairman. mr. barrack has also reportedly been looked at by federal investigators on potential influence peddling charges, though i should say that he has not been charged. but with that -- what looks now in retrospect like this rogues' gallery, particularly the financial side of the inaugural, when it came to people trying to track down what appears to be tens of millions of dollars missing from the inaugural's balance sheet, somehow all the public blame was directed at none of those guys.

all the public blame was instead directed at melania trump's friend, stephanie. not on any of those guys with their deeply checkered backgrounds who had actually handled all the money. stephanie winston wolkoff was friends with melania trump for years. she had organized the met gala in new york and fashion week events in new york. she was an experienced event planner at the highest levels. she did form a company that did work on the inaugural after being asked to do so by mrs. trump. her company that she formed for the inaugural was paid $26 million-ish, but she says that $25 million of that ish, was money she passed on to other companies that handled the broadcast production for some of the inaugurate's major events. never theless, she got headlines like that one, and she got all the public blame. and the question remains, where is all the money anyway? let me read you something from her book.

the inaugural committee's budget director, heather martin, reported that the inaugural committee had filed several filing extensions which had delayed releasing the committee's public-facing tax form. it's form 990, for nearly a year. heather stated her mission in bringing us all together. we want to be prepared to mitigate any negative press that form 990 release might generate for the first lady. ms. wolkoff said, i was on the edge of my chair with anticipation. i had known this day would come, but why was this about melania. heather walked us through the year long process of preparing the form 990. she told us she'd been working with tom bare as, temporariurer douglas ammerman, and also rick gates on the preparation of this tax form. despite rick gates' indictment, he was still involved in the filing of the 990 form. my speeidey senses were going fl tilt. i was practically a tarantula by

now. apparently tom barrack and ammerman were having a rough time preparing the form because the actual numbers didn't add up. that set off a sudden headache for me. the numbers were the numbers. why didn't they add up? ultimately about a year after the inaugural, after some public scrutiny about how they could have possibly spent all of that money that they said they raised, the inaugural did file this public-facing document, the form 990, the tax form, and in fact its numbers don't add up. in terms of what they released publicly, there's like $40 million that they just don't account for, that just don't appear on the balance sheet. and sure enough, as i mentioned, it's the first lady's friend, ms. winston wolkoff, who gets blamed in the press. and subsequently she gets basically disinvited from her ongoing white house job advising the first lady, a job that she had been doing anyway for free. having been scapegoated for this and having all the major

questions about what happened with those tens of millions of dollars still unanswered, six months after she was thrown out on her ear, ms. wolkoff says she got a visit from michael cohen, from the president's lawyer, who days later would go on to plead guilty to multiple felonies. he and ms. wolkoff knew each other. they had seen each other months earlier. he had dropped by her apartment to check in on her when the whole inaugural scandal thing was melting down in early 2018. but then he checked back in with her six months later in august, and this is just -- this is remarkable. check this out. on august 18th, 2018, michael cohen called me. hello steph, he said. the fbi and sdny have the recording i made of our conversation. what are you talking about, i asked. a recording of what? michael said, i recorded our conversation to use for contemporaneous notes. i was stunned. he continued, you need to have your lawyer get in touch with my lawyer to talk about whether the conversation is privileged or

not. privileg privileged, i asked. what do you mean? which conversation? he replied, the one where you were crying. wait a second. i needed to digest what michael had just told me. he had a recording of our conversation, the tape that was seized in the fbi raid? when did he tape me? he came to my house that one time. he was wearing a trench coat. oh, my god. if that tape went public, michael, why the f did you tape our conversation, i asked, beside myself. i had asked michael for his legal opinion, not to record our conversation without telling me. he explained, i couldn't sit down with a notepad. i wanted to make a memo in order to strategize to exonerate you and clear your name. they destroyed you for no effing reason at all other than someone else took a lot of money and buried it in their pockets and you had to be the fall guy. same way i'm the fall guy for donald getting his bleep licked by a porn star. sorry. he continued, i wanted to help donald so melania wouldn't kill

him. for what? i'm being turned upside. i didn't tape you for a gotcha. it shouldn't be you. the fact that you were crying really bothered me. the trumps are not crying, and you are. i said, they'll get away with it. he said, what they did on the inauguration was criminal. when i saw your binders, meaning the binders of receipts and communications and paperwork and documents stephanie saved from her time working on the inaugural, when i saw your binders, cohen says, i said to myself, this is not someone who is doing something wrong. the level of precision, it's beyond anal. i'm super anal. you're beyond. i laughed. michael cohen warned me that because of what i'd said on our recording, i might be called to testify in the investigation. which investigation, i asked. take your pick, he said. they might subpoena your binders. there has to be an end to all of the b.s. everyone can't be a fall guy for their malfeasance and corruption.

donald is the worst version of himself i've ever seen. coming from michael, who had worked for trump for over a decade, that was saying a lot. i broke into a cold sweat at the thought of being involved in an investigation. he said, you should take solace in knowing that if the fbi or the southern district really thought you stole money from the inauguration, would you have gotten a phone call. michael said, i asked people for money every day for the naurgs. friends of mine. and for what? so they could walk away with $80 million? it's disgusting. wolkoff says, quote, i actually had to leave the house to go to my lawyer's office to listen to the cohen recording. we sat in his office with a couple of other associates to listen to it. she then said how embarrassed she is there's a lot of swear words in the tape. she says, quote, the lawyers heard melania's and my nicknames for some of the biggest players like dopey and tuberculosis. she doesn't explain who dopey and tuberculosis are. i'm going to ask her. she says, quote, i wanted

nothing more in the whole wide world than the human right of being allowed to defend myself against the false accusations that had tarred my name and reputation. but i was muzzled by an ironclad nondisclosure agreement. the contents of the tape were not made public. i was not allowed to comment on it in the press or discuss it. as michael had predicted, the recording did catch the attention of some interested parties in the media and law enforcement, and one excerpt about the trumps complaining about charging too much for a hotel venue did surface. melania and i were in loose touch during september. the summer went too fast melania texted me on september 5. wishing you a successful year. on september 12th, she wrote, hope you're well. i guess you were at fashion week. did she seriously think i was going to fashion week? i was barely functioning. i wrote back, no fashion week for me. i'm dealing with back to school and doctors and paperwork. the paperwork in question was me collating and compiling a complete record of every email, text, and phone log from the day i joined the inaugural committee until now. i was compiling it for the u.s.

district court for the southern district of new york. i told melania, quote, i'm always thinking of you, my dear, sweet friend. i miss you. on october 2nd, 2018, i received a grand jury subpoena from the u.s. attorney's office for the southern district of new york. i also received a sealed order issued by the u.s. district court for the southern district that prohibited me from disclosing among other things the fact of my subpoena for 180 days. i couldn't breathe a word to anyone for months because this had to be kept confidential from the inaugural committee and from the white house. the investigations were under way, and they couldn't know. i wasn't allowed to tell anyone, and that included melania. on december 13th, 2018, the news came out that manhattan federal prosecutors had opened a criminal probe into the inauguration spending and into whether some of the committee's top donors had traded cash for access to the trump administration. the accounting didn't del iniate where and how the donations had come in. investigators were looking into whether extravagant gant donation packages offered

facetime with officials and if selling access explained the trump inauguration's record-shattering $107 million cost, $50 million more than any other inaugural ever. she says, quote, my second subpoena came from the house permanent select committee on intelligence. the third subpoena came from the district of columbia. i cooperated fully with both. these investigations are still under way. on january 22nd, 2020, the d.c. attorney general's office filed suit against the inaugural committee and the trump international hotel. the charge was misuse of nonprofit funds, which they'd used to pay outrageous fees to the family's own business. d.c.'s attorney general, carl racine, stated district law requires nonprofits to use their funds for the stated public purpose, not to benefit private individuals or companies. the suit cited emails between me and rick gates. the details are stomach churning. the hotel wanted to charge the inaugural committee $3.6 million for event space, food, and

drinks over eight days. the inaugural events only spanned four days. the amount of $450,000 per day was, quote, significantly more than the trump hotel's internlt pricing guidelines for use of this event space per the lawsuit. the trump organization called the lawsuit a p.r. stunt and vigorously denied any wrongdoing. there was no comment publicly from team tom barrack, but stephanie winston wolkoff writes in her new book, quote, i can say now that my official comment is, you go, d.c. attorney general karl racine. she says, quote, i wish i could say cooperating with three different investigations is empowering. it isn't. it keeps me involved in something i want to have nothing to do with. my family would love for me to wake up one morning and say, i'm over it. time to move on. so would i, which is why i had to write this book. i know there's a lot of personal stuff in here about the first lady and that important relationship with her best

friend, but this stuff about the inaugural is red-hot and live. stephanie winston wolkoff joins us live next. itching for a treat. itching for an outing... or itching for some cuddle time. but you may not know when he's itching for help... licking for help... or rubbing for help. if your dog does these frequently. they may be signs of an allergic skin condition

that needs treatment. don't wait. talk to your veterinarian and learn more at itchingforhelp.com.

it's totally not the same without you. we miss your "let's do this" look,

the sound of your laugh cry screams, and how you make every day here the best day ever. we can't wait to get you back so we've added temp checks, face coverings, social distancing and extra sanitizing to get the good times going again. we're finally back... and can't wait until you are too. buy now and get two days free at the parks. restrictions apply.

this is from page 111 of stephanie winston wolkoff's new book "melanie and me." this is 35 days before the inaugural. she says, back in new york, i attended a meeting with president-elect trump in his office. the space was packed with boxes, trinkets, and piles of paper, and i thought i was a hoarder. his office looked like a garage sale. stephanie, donald said, tell me what's going on with the inauguration planning. ivanka joined donald and me for the meeting. i presented to the two of them. i grabbed my binder, went over to donald's side of the desk, and sat with my knees on the floor. he sat in his red leather chair, leaning back, clasping his hands, ready for me to proceed. ivanka hovered over me. i went through hundreds of pages covering all 18 events. ivanka made comments and asked questions. will there be a red carpet? where do we walk during the parade? what about seating at the

swearing in, after party? after the parade on pennsylvania avenue, donald said, quote, i don't want floats. i said, okay. the president continued, quote, i want tanks and choppers. make it look like north korea. there was no way. he really wanted goose stepping troops and armored tanks. that would break tradition and terrify half the country. when ivanka heard north korea, she didn't bat an eye. i walked out of the meeting ruffled and worried. i texted a close friend and colleague. quote, north korea-style military parade. bad idea? that's just one of the anecdotes written in the new book by stephanie winston wolkoff, a former friend and adviser to first lady melania trump. ms. wolkoff of course also played a key role in organizing the trump inauguration in 2017 that has led to so much consternation and so much legal trouble ever since. she has written the most detailed account of all of this in her new book which is called

"melania and me: the rise and fall of my friendship with the first lady." joining us for the interview is stephanie winston wolkoff. i really appreciate the trust it takes to be here. i know you could be anywhere talking about this. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me so much, rachel. it's really -- i wouldn't rather be anywhere else. >> that's nice of you to say that. obviously there's a lot here. there's a lot that's very raw here, particularly about the distress about the dissolution of your friendship with the first lady, the circumstances on which you left the white house. i want to talk first of all, though, about some of what you describe about the inaugural, which has really never been publicly described by anybody involved in it before. you're pretty frank about the idea that there's a lot of missing money, unaccounted for money in terms of what was raised for the inaugural versus what was spent. do you feel like you have a general grasp of how much money that might be, and do you have a theory or any knowledge of where it might have gone? >> well, i do know that at the

time that i questioned where the money was going or how much everything cost, i was asked to not attend any more budget meetings. so it took me a few years to figure everything out, but it's just, you know, people need to just follow the money. >> in terms of who is following the money, it's remarkable that you describe the difficulty and the decision that you made to cooperate with these multiple ongoing investigations, including the d.c. attorney general and having received a subpoena from southern district of new york. i know that those are ongoing proceedings and you're limited to what you can say. but do you feel like the people who are investigating this at various levels know what happened to the money? do you feel like the investigations are on the right track in terms of them figuring out what happened to these tens of millions of unaccounted for dollars? >> rachel, unfortunately with our justice department right now, i don't really know entirely what's going on with some of these investigations, and that's a really sad and

challenging place to be, especially since this election is right around the corner. i do know that attorney general karl racine is still investigating it and it is still open. but as far as the southern district, i don't know where that stands as well as the intelligence committee. >> have you been -- has the white house contacted you since your book was on track to publish and since people started to realize what was going to be in this book? has either the justice department or the white house, anybody else in the trump administration contacted you? >> i've actually been contacted by both the white house and the justice department. >> can you tell us anything about either of those communications, starting with the white house, in terms of what they wanted to communicate to you or what they asked of you? >> a couple months ago, i had a cease and desist as well as, you know, again, the last thing that

any of these people want is for the truth to be told. i have lived with this on my shoulders for the last several years, trying to make sense of it all, trying to understand what happened while i was working at the inauguration, but also what happened while the pressure was building and mounting around the, you know, the 990 and the releasing of where $107 million was spent. this is -- you know, it's like donald trump, you know, his best game is three card monty, right? everything's a shell and everything's going in different directions. chaos is just part of the game, and as you said earlier -- and i love it -- you know, only the best. and it's quite a bit of -- quite a bit of the best. >> you describe in the book -- sorry. i didn't mean to interrupt. please carry on.

>> no, no. i apologize. >> this delay is very awkward. the satellite delay is made all the worse by all the covid driven gremlins in terms of remote studios. that was my fault. i'm sorry. let me just ask you to say whatever you wanted to finish in terms of your thought. and i'll just ask another question which is, if the white house was telling the truth when they put out public statements denying that first lady melania trump and the president had no role in planning the inaugural and that when the white house -- when the white house said they didn't know about any concerns about budgeting or how much things would cost or how things would be carried out during the inaugural, your book would seem to give lie to those statements and make clear that when the white house said those things, that those weren't accurate. >> the machine of the false narrative that gets created by the white house is so overwhelming and so powerful and

the fact that people really believe when you look around of the people that were actually involved in planning the inauguration, that they're going to pin it on me because i was melania's friend, it worked, right? it's a shiny object. right in the corner, melania's friend, the only person willing to help her, and, you know, that spotlight shown right on me without even calling me and asking me if it was the truth. so my integrity, my reputation, everything was destroyed in a matter of seconds. and it was as if no big deal. just flick it off and move on. and i wasn't prepared to do that. but i did -- sorry. >> having the opportunity to tell your side of the story and to explain what happened during the inaugural, to explain even what you could tell was happening with the financials of the inaugural and being able to put it in this book, does it make you feel not -- i guess not protected in any way, but at

least does it make you feel like you're in a stronger position because at least now you can articulate what you saw, where you came from, and what your side of it is? it feels like a lot of the frustration that led to this book is feeling like you weren't allowed to defend yourself. >> and i'm still relying on first amendment counsel. i'm still not allowed to say everything. so i am saying as much as i can within the law. i think that being muzzled with an nda for all these years has been claustrophobic to say the least. i mean i stopped living a regular life. i have three incredible children, a husband. i've really sort of locked myself in, and it's amazing to me that, you know, i'm part of three different investigations, yet i'm a witness to all of them, and it really is a charade of shenanigans, and i feel that the trump presidency is just flee fleecing our country. and i had no choice to not tell

this story. hi i had to be here. and do i feel more protected? i actually do feel more protected because now everyone knows the truth, and i've been able to share my life story with what happened because it took over my life. and am i -- you know, it's complicated. >> it is complicated. if you don't mind staying with us while we take one quick break, there's one other element of your book that struck me. a long quote that you attribute to the first ladies that i think is potentially a really important news story. i'd like to ask you about that specific part of your book if you can hold on with us for one more minute. >> absolutely. thank you. >> we'll be right back with stephanie winston wolkoff. her book is out today. it's called "melania and me: the rise and fall of my friendship with the firstlet." we'll be right back. had a/c. we'll be right back. let." we'll be right back. alet." we'll be right back. dlet." we'll be right back. ylet." we'll be right back. et." we'll be right back.

or psoriatic arthritis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring.

don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. which is why when it comes to his dentures only poligrip cushion and comfort will do. the first and only formula with adaptagrip cushioning technology. choose poligrip cushion and comfort.

tide power pods one up the cleaning power of liquid. can it one up whatever they're doing? hioning technology. for sure. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide power pods. - ( phone ringing )es offers - big button,lized phones... and volume-enhanced phones.nes. get details on this state program. visit right now or call during business hours.

and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. one of the indelible images we have of melania trump's time as first lady was the day when she boarded a plane to go visit

immigrant kids who had been separated from their parents at the texas border and she wore this green jacket that said on the back "i really don't care, do u." after that visit, stephanie winston wolkoff recalls in her new book what she says was a 70-minute phone call she says she had with the first lady about that trip to the border. ms. winston wolkoff says, quoting the first lady here, they all went crazy about the zero-tolerance policy at the border. but they don't know what's going on. the kids i met were brought in by coyotes, the bad people who are trafficking, and that's why the kids are put in shelters. they're not with their parents and it's sad, but the patrols told me the kids say, wow, i get a bad? i will have a cabinet for my clothes? it's more than they have in their own country where they sleep on the floor. they are taking care nicely there. and the mothers, they teach their kids to say, i'm going to be killed by gangs so they are allowed to stay. they're using that line, and it's not true.

reading that quote from the first lady aloud is a gut punch all of its own. but stephanie winston wolkoff quotes this correctly and says these are the words of the first lady. back with us once more for the interview is stephanie winston wolkoff, a former senior adviser to first lady melania trump. her new book is called "melania and me." ms. winston wolkoff, thanks again for being here. i just have to ask you should we understand this to be a verbatim quote from the first lady? these are seemingly pretty insensitive comments she made about the kids she met at the border. >> reachinachel, there's no way fabricate any of my story. and the only way to tell my story is to say it exactly as it was. the fact that the white house is trying to disparage me and claim my character is anything but what i know -- again, as a

respectful person, it's only going to have me discuss more and more the truth, the facts, and they're all either in some type of, you know, a semblance that has 100% backing. i would never do that otherwise. >> there's been some reporting, public sourced reporting around your book that says that part of the way that you can back up some of these verbatim quotes and some of these extensive detailed anecdotes is that you do have some recordings of some of these conversations. can you comment on that at all? >> so, reaching, i haven't commented on the past, and one of the reasons i'm going to share this with you this evening is because i've been accused of taping my friend as the white house said and how horrible of a human being i am for doing that. and they're right. if she was my friend, it would be horrible. but melania and the white house

had accused me of criminal activity, had publicly shamed and fired me and made me their scapegoat. at that moment in time, that's when i pressed record. she was no longer my friend, and she was willing to let them take me down, and she told me herself that is -- this is the way it has to be. she was advised by the attorneys at the white house that there was no other choice because there was a possible investigation into the presidential inauguration committee. and that's not how you treat a friend. so i was going to do anything in my power to make sure that i was protected. and at first i really did think maybe she would come to my aid. maybe she would tell the truth. she turned her back. she did. she pulled like a deck of cards, and i was shocked when she did it. >> are you saying, ms. wolkoff, that at that point you decided in order to protect yourself

that you -- that you would make recordings of some of your conversations with the first lady or that you did? >> i did, rachel. i did. and it's, again, to have to admit that, it is disgraceful in any other context. but who would believe any of this otherwise? you can't make this up. but, again, i need the evidence. i needed the evidence. >> if the white house continues to call you a liar and say that you've made up these conversations and that these things that you're attributing to the first lady or the president are things that didn't happen, do you have plans to release those tapes to the public or to show them -- play them for reporters so that other people can validate what you're saying? >> there is a report coming out. again, full disclosure, i'm not going to lie, but i just can't rachel, so i'm going to tell you. i have admitted there is a

report coming out that i did play it privately because -- to justify that i actually did have it and what it did say in her own voice. again, the more they continue to come after me and, again, the more they continue to lie about what they've said, done, and do, the more i will continue to, you know, prove their claims false. the last thing they should be doing is coming after me. i wanted to just write this book and move on. i didn't actually even expect them to say -- i mean of course they're going to -- i expected them to just say, oh, she's a this and she's that. but they've gone on way too long, and i'm not going to let them take my integrity away anymore. >> stephanie winston wolkoff, former senior adviser to first lady melania trump, key, key figure in the trump inaugural. the new book is called "melania and me." ms. wolkoff, i know this is hard

stuff to talk about, and i know this book was hard to write. i know because i read every word of it. i was very moved by your take on it. thanks for the trust for being here tonight and good luck to you. come back anytime. we'd be happy to have you any time you want to talk. >> i'm honored. thank you, rachel. >> all right. we've got more ahead here tonight. stay with us.

if your adventure... keeps turning into unexpected bathroom trips. you may have overactive bladder, or oab. not again! we're seeing a doctor when we get home. myrbetriq treats oab symptoms of urgency, frequency, and leakage. it's the first and only oab treatment in its class. myrbetriq may increase blood pressure. tell your doctor right away if you have trouble

emptying your bladder or have a weak urine stream. myrbetriq may cause serious allergic reactions, like swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, or trouble breathing. if experienced, stop taking and tell your doctor right away. myrbetriq may interact with other medicines. tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold or flu symptoms, sinus irritation, dry mouth, urinary tract infection, bladder inflammation, back or joint pain, constipation, dizziness, and headache. looking for a destination that isn't always the bathroom? ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you. and visit myrbetriq.com. can leave you holding your breath. ♪ but bristol myers squibb is working to change things. by researching new kinds of medicines that could help you live longer. including options that are chemo-free. because we're committed to bringing new hope into lung cancer care.

because we're committed to bringing new hope for bathroom odors that linger try febreze small spaces. just press firmly and it continuously eliminates odors in the air and on soft surfaces. for 45 days. the winston wolkoff book out today about which there's also apparently some tapes we're going to get, michael schmidt's book which is out today, there's a couple more books coming out that are going to blow your mind, 'tis the season. but last night here on the show when we had michael schmidt here, we told you about a startling piece of news in his new book about an unscheduled and still unexplained trip that the president made to walter reed medical center late last year in november. schmidt says in his books, quote, in the hours leading up to trump's trip to the hospital,

word went out in the west wing for the vice president to be on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if trump had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthesiaed. the white house has tried to pass this off as his normal physical. you do not have to be anesthetized for any part of your normal physical. so we have that from mike schmi schmidt's book from last night. this morning the president said this on twitter out of the blue. he just wanted everybody to know that he had never suffered a series of mini strokes. never happened. now, nobody said stroke. why are you worried that people think you had a stroke? the president then got his doctor at the white house to release a statement repeating the same thing, that he had never had a mini stroke or a stroke. again, nobody reported that. michael schmidt did not report that in his book. no media outlet reported that. the white house didn't give any further details, but this walter reed trip is now even more

intriguing than it was before. we know it was not planned because it was not on the president's schedule. we know doctors at walter reed were not notified. we know that trump stayed at walter reed for a couple of hours and didn't hold another public event until three days later. but honestly other than that, we know very little other than now the president is insistently and repeatedly tweeting that it definitely wasn't about him having a stroke. in his words today on twitter, quote, not even a minor one. okay. you're the one who brought that up. keep an eye on this. still many open questions here. >> tech: we'll fix it right with no-contact service you can trust. >> tech: so if you have auto glass damage, stay safe with safelite. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

that is going to do it that is going to do it for us tonight. i'm sorry to be a few seconds into my neighbor's real estate here. now it is time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, lawrence. >> take as much time as you want when you're breaking news like that. the melania tapes apparently are going to be heard. >> you know, lawrence, the -- if you read stephanie's book, there is a ton of new information in there about the inaugural, which is one of the trump scandals i've been obsessed with for a long time. because it's never good, even in a sober presidency, for there to be tens of millions of dollars washing around in a slush fund. but the personal stuff involved