remember, mike the cohen has pled guilty lying to congress about that. the "buzzfeed" reporting is that trump directed cohen to make those false statements. "buzzfeed" reports that, quote, the special counsel's office learned about trump's directive for cohen to lie to congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the trump organization and internal company e-mails, text messages and a cache of other documents, and "buzzfeed" further reports that cohen then confirmed this to mueller's team. again, that the president directed him to lie to congress to cover up at least some aspect of the trump tower moscow project. that's what the week has been like. now tonight just as we were getting on the air, after a day in which multiple members of congress described the "buzzfeed" report as if true the most serious allegations against trump yet. if true definitely the grounds for impeachment. if true, an inflection point in the entire scandal surrounding this presidency from the outset. that "if true" caveat tonight itself blew up when the special counsel

remember michael cohen has pled guilty to lying to congress about that. buzzfeed reporting that trump directed cohen to make those false statements. buzzfeed reports the special counsel's office learned about the directive for cohen to lie to congress through interviews with multiple witness from the trump organization and internal company e-mails and a cache of other documents and buzzfeed further reports that cohen confirmed this to mueller's team. again, that the president directed him to lie to congress to cover up at least some aspect of the trump tower moscow project. aft are a day in which multiple members of congress described the buzzfeed report as, if true, the most serious allegations against trump yet. if true, the grounds for impeachment. if true, the inflection point in the entire scandal. that if true caveat tonight itself blew up when the special counsel's office made this exceedingly rare public statement in response to the buzzfeed reporting. quote, buzzfeed's description of special statements, excuse me, buzzfeed's description of specifi

congress cohen had been due to testify early next month while yours cited threats against cohen's family by president trump as the reason for the delay. turkey's president rajapaksa battle one says that he and russia's president vladimir putin are on the same page regarding a planned safe zone in northern syria that safe zone would be a buffer between turkey and kurdish fighters who after one considers terrorists at the talks in moscow the pair are valid to coordinate their actions more closely on syria. well germany's chancellor angela merkel has told the world economic forum that global institutions need to be reformed not downgraded to avoid what she calls the fragmentation of the multilateral world now merkel's hold a gathering of political and business leaders in davos switzerland that compromise must not be seen as a dirty word. she's been held by some of the leader of the free world. today at the world economic forum in davos german chancellor i'm going to michael appear to live up to the title a subpoena for cooperation among nations. so i think we should understand our national

>> so, mudd, if donald trump pressured or suborned, as the word is, michael cohen to lie to congress, that's a federal crime and it's an impeachable offense. and you have always told us that mueller would never go on the word of michael cohen and donald trump. >> i think there's a couple other pieces here that are significant. i heard michael cohen, who would believe him? rudy giuliani among others and it's a rare moment i would be with giuliani has trashed him left and right. you read down the story, i thought the critical piece was there's a lot of other information including, for example, e-mails, other interviews that corroborate the story. remember when we had paul manafort on trial, rick gates his former deputy is going to testify, he's going to trash manafort. the jurors came out rick gates we didn't pay attention to him. it was the documentation that got manafort. that's part of the story here. it's not cohen. cohen is not credible, it's the stuff behind the story that says maybe he's right. >> and just to reiterate it, suborning perjury is a crime and it is also impeachable,

so there wasn't be much e-mail between trump and cohen discussing lying for congress. could be from cohen and other people in the trump organization saying donald trump told me to say this, he told me to put this in my testimony. the president's legal team is going to make cohen out to be a liar and the president's allies on cable news, even on the hill, have already been saying cohen's a liar, why should we believe? but if there's written proof it gets hard to look the other way. >> he may be both of those things but he may not be the smoking gun. we played earlier senator amy c clobuchar's questions to barr. take a look. >> if there's some reason to believe the president tried to coach somebody not to testify or testify falsely, that could be obstruction of justice? >> yes, under obstruction, yes. >> if there's evidence the president tried to conceal evidence, that would be obstruction of justice potentially, right? >> if this is true, could we see republicans turn on the president? >> i think you will. it will be a slow process though. it's not an meeld yacht, ok imm

break down this buzz feed reporting that president trump directed michael cohen to lie to congress about the trump tower moscow project. there are sources of federal law officials. this is what the president said just this past november after cohen admitted he lied about that project. here it is. >> there would be nothing wrong if i did do it. i was running my business while i was campaigning. there was a good chance that i could have won and in which case i would have gotten back into the business and why should i lose the opportunity. cnn has not yet independently confirm this reporting. josh campbell and phillip mud is back with us. welcome to the program. it is the same thing that rudy giuliani did. collusion is not a crime and even if he did it is a long time ago. he said even if i did it, it was not illegal. what the hell is going on here? >> i have no reason to doubt this when it comes to buzzfeed. if you are directing someone to lie to congress, that's a crime. what's interesting here, it is stunning. i had two reactions, first as an person american, you think the president of th

the fact that the president wanted michael cohen to lie to members of congress. the other thing, and this is also usually significant, is that buzz feed says that michael cohen and the president met some ten times, ten times over this deal over the moscow project. hugely significant because obviously the president has sought to down-play any role he may have had in this project. now, timing in all of this is potentially the next attorney general just testifying days ago here on capitol hill was asked about this issue, if the president would suborn perjury or if he was involved in any kind of obstruction, what could potentially and what should potentially happen. here's that sound. >> so if there was some reason to believe that the president tried to coach somebody not to testify or testify falsely, that could be obstruction of justice? >> yes, under that -- under an obstruction statute, yes. >> so if there's some evidence that the president tried to conceal evidence, that would be obstruction of justice potentially, right? >> right. >> so the other thing in the bu

cohen tell his story. now that's happening. democratically elected congress saying michael cohen come tell us what you have to tell us. what do you make of it? >> we're ten days into 2019 and already possibly the marquise event of the year is happening. this could be a full blown hearing before the oversight committee but could also be just the beginning of several different days of testimony before other committees of congress. and this could be absolutely devastating. we may have a john dean moment come fast approaching in the next month. john dean famously testified after pleading guilty to a felony and there are some strange similarities here between michael cohen and it seems that history does repeat itself. the thing that's really, really compelling about this is that we knew michael cohen was willing to cooperate. the government didn't exactly think he cooperated 100%. but michael cohen appears to want to tell his story. he's tweeted or made statements about wanting to tell his story and now finally assuming robert mueller allows him to do so he may be

so it does make sense that michael cohen was making a statement that was misleading to congress in a way that benefited president trump and that now we hear from giuliani that president trump and michael cohen may have talked before michael cohen made these misleading statements. the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together and the last piece would be whether r not president trump was aware or whether or not he directed michael cohen to steer congress away from whether or not he knew michael cohen was having these conversations up until the election actually happened. the timeline that michael cohen put forward in misleading congress was to trump's benefit and whether or not the president knew that in advance or directed that is the question we might have to wait when mueller wraps up his investigation before we know that. >> and you wonder if that's a question he will face just next month. giuliani said he never claimed there was collusion between trump and russia. here he is, moving the goal post again on this issue. listen. >> the collusion part, we're pretty comfortable

president donald trump directed his former personal attorney michael cohen to lying to congress about his business ties to russia the report cites. two unnamed law enforcement officers president reportedly ordered cohen to lie about plans to build a trump tower in moscow and supported a plan for cohen to meet with russian president vladimir putin to jumpstart that projects now you may remember last year michael cohen pleaded guilty to lying to congress about the russian real estate plan president trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with russia. or at least take the story out of the u.s. capitol i'm joined by our correspondent all oversoul in washington good evening to you oliver if these reports this report by buzz feed news if it proves to be true what will it mean for donald trump or brand it will be another puzzle piece but this time it could really mean a shift in tides for donald trump the reports says that donald trump told some michael cohen to lie in front of congress about the direct duration of these negotiations for this mosque trump tower project michael cohen said t

and then, of course, the biggest bombshell, that the president directed michael cohen to lie to congress about the negotiations to build trump tower moscow and the fact that those talks stretched well into the campaign. and while the president has repeatedly pointed to michael cohen as a liar, including in tweets this morning, it does appear that mueller's office isn't just relying on cohen's words. buzzfeed putting it this way, saying the special counsel's office learned about trump's directive for cohen to lie to congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the trump organization and internal company e-mails, text messages and a cache of other documents. and that fact is prompting a huge democratic outcry, some even resurfacing the idea of impeachment and democratic senator sheldon whitehouse, brianna, saying an indictment shouldn't necessarily be off the table. >> jessica schneider, thank you for walking us through that. the president's attorney, rudy giuliani, sboresponded to the report by attacking michael cohen's credibility. this was a statement that was released just

. >>> president trump's former lawyer michael cohen is postponing his public testimony to congress. cohen's attorneys say its because of on going threats against cohen's family from president trump and his lawyer rudy. so democrats might subpoena him before he reports to prison for a three year sentence in march. it is not clear when cohen will reschedule his appearance. they deny threatening cohen saying he's quote only been threatened by the truth. >>> in phoenix, arizona, a nurse has now been arrested on suspicion of impregnating a woman who was severely incapacitated for decades. 36-year-old nathan made his first appearance in court today. he was taken into custody after a woman gave birth. clinic staff members were unaware that she was pregnant until she began moaning shortly before going into labor. police say dna links him to the crime and the newborn. >> he's a licensed practical nurse who was responsible for providing care to the victim during this time the sexual assault occurred. >> the 29-year-old victim had not received a physical at the clinic since april. meanwhile he has bee

quote, the special counsel's office learned about trump's directive for cohen to lie to congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the trump organization. and internal company e-mails, text messages and a cache of other documents. cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office. nbc news has not confirmed the buzzfeed report. democratic reaction to the report? unsurprisingly fast and furious. ad adam schiff tweeting we'll do what is needed. that is obstruction of justice. congressman castro, if the story is true, president trump must resign or be impeached. the president's tv attorney, rudy guiliani told nbc news, if you believe cohen i can get you a great deal on the brooklyn bridge. jeff, what are you hearing from the white house? >> hey, craig. the strategy from the white house appears to be a simple one. they're making the case that michael cohen is a convicted liar, therefore you can't believe anything he says. and to give you a sense of it, here's a tweet the president fired off earlier this morning. he quotes a fox news reporter at t

buzzfeed reporting that the person told michael cohen to lie to congress about the trump tower moscow project. the white house issued a firm denial. mr. trump has been slamming cohen's credibility. cnn and other news organizations have not confirmed the story. if true, it certainly could give mueller and democrats a powerful argument that the president obstructed justice. mr. trump's reaction to all this apparently is making michael cohen nervous. his adviser says cohen fears trump supporters in this country and maybe abroad could harm him or his family. i will get reaction from a democratic congressman. our correspondents and analysts are standing by. first, our justice correspondent jessica is schneider. you have been going over court documents. what are you learning? >> reporter: if you read between the lines of the court filings, buzzfeed's reporting fits. mueller's team said that michael cohen clued them in about how he prepared for what turned out to be false congressional testimony. now buzzfeed is saying, it's the president who coached cohen and directed him to lie. the revela

cohen. he's delaying his testimony before congress indefinitely. >> he was supposed to testify before a house committee in two weeks, but now he's postponing his appearance citing threats from the president. a friend of cohen tells abc news, quote, michael feels like the president is acting like a mob boss. this is purposeful intimidation and bullying. our cecilia vega has more. >> reporter: the president's longtime attorney and fixer michael cohen abruptly pulling the plug on his much anticipated testimony to congress. cohen's lawyer citing ongoing threats against his family from president trump and mr. giuliani adding, this is a time where mr. cohen had to put his family and their safety first. the president today denied making any threats. >> i would say he's been threatened by the truth. he's only been threatened by the >> reporter: but he has called for cohen's father-in-law to be investigated even though he is not currently accused of any crime. >> he should give information maybe on his father-in-law because that's the one that people want to look at. >> reporter: and just this weekend

you had a write-up months before michael cohen pleaded guilty to lying to congress about it that basically laid out exactly what happened. in this story overnight, not only do you report that the president instructed michael cohen to lie to congress. you also have new details about all of these events that took place including multiple discussions between the president and michael cohen about the trump tower moscow deal and the involvement of ivanka trump and donald trump, jr. explain. ♪ ♪ wel >> our sources say there were at least ten face to face meetings between the president about granular updates about the state of the project. our sources tell us that mr. president not only knew mr. cohen was attempting to set up a meeting overseas with the russian president but he was actively encouraging it which also tells us that both ivanka trump and donald trump, jr., were, again, read in to details of the project and were encouraging mr. cohen to move it forward. i think it is instructive to look at our initial trump tower moscow story which i believe he broke in may. no one was able to match

buzzfeed is saying from this directive trump gave to cohen to lie to congress that investigators pieced together other information. they have text messages, a cache of other documents and say cohen acknowledged the instructions during his interviews with the special counsel. basically saying, yeah, you know, this is what the president told me to do. the significant thing in this part of the story obviously is there is other information. the other thing they are saying, you know, that michael cohen had basically told the special counsel that trump directed him to lie to congress and that also he had provided details of the conversations about the project with the president and ivanka and donald trump, jr. that's significant because don jr. and ivanka have always denied any substantial participation, anything that has to do with the project. >> listen, there is a lot going on in this story here. we have seen a response now from ivanka at least to this. >> this is coming from the spokesperson for her attorney. essentially they are denying she had any big role in the project because the buz

michael cohen, the president's former lawyer, as you mentioned, his fixer, a man who knew all of donald trump's secrets, some would argue, certainly during some periods, and that's what congress want to learn about, as it is, michael cohen is saying iéfiéiéééiiiééaééfifé'fé2;22:"' ' " ,. father—in—law‘s business dealings, so for the minute, that congressional hearing seems to have been called off. but there are suggestions that some in congress would like to subpoena michael cohen and force him to testify.

cohen's lawyer michael congress.before karnow. lawrence karnow. lawrence (pam) president trump's former personal attorney .. has called off his testimony before congress. michael cohen's lawyer says, the president has made threats against his former "fixer". (ken) a new vision for an old ballpark. we'll show you the plans for what will unfold after the a's leave the oakland coliseum. (pam) and up next: the bay area stepping up big time to help federal workers. from free food to fuel ... the things local businesses are doing to help those not getting paid. [music playing] (sashimi) psst. hey, you! the one with the designer dog collar. wondering how i upgraded to this sweet pad? a 1,200-square-foot bathroom, and my very own spa. all i had to do was give my human "the look". with wells fargo's 3% down payment on a fixed-rate loan and a simpler online application, getting into my dream home was easier than ever. get your human to visit wellsfargo.com/woof. (2-shot/ken) more help appears to be in the offing for some of those goverbment workers still on the job, working without pay. (2-shot/pam) as kron four's rob fladeboe reports now, the city of san jose

cohen lie to congress about mr. ent in a deal with russia to build his hotel there in moscow? what motivation would he have? similarly, what motivation would cohen have to lie about his involvement in hush money payments made to two individuals at least who claim to have had sexual relations with mr. trump? so in a jury situation, you would always ask about the motivation to determine who is lying and whether to credit the testimony of a government witness such as cohen. >> you mentioned the logic and the evidence which can be two very different things. when you look at the evidence and buzz feed saying there is documentation and documents and text messages, what you need to see in terms of evidence, would there need to be an e-mail from donald trump himself to michael cohen? would it need to be that clear in terms of evidence for you? >> that is so unlikely that you would have that. but this whole two-year period has raised anyone's crujewelity for what might be and what might not be. the circumstantial evidence is

cohen reportedly telling special counsel robert mueller the president personally instructed him to lie to congress saying the negotiations ended months earlier than they did to hide president trump's involvement. overnight cohen's lawyer saying in a statement out of respect for mr. mueller's and the office of special counsel's investigation, mr. cohen declined to respond to the questions asked by the reporters and so do i. >>> with us now is one of the buzz feed journalists who broke the story. jason leopold gejoining us on t phone. >> let me start with rudy giuliani's reaction. he's telling nbc news this morning if you believe michael cohen, i can get you a great deal on the brooklyn bridge. what's your response? >> sure. i'm not surprised by mr. giuliani's reaction to the report. however, i'll say that the information that we've obtained and spent months investigating related to this go beyond simply michael cohen. and his statements. and as we reported, the information or that is in the hands of the fbi and special counsel include other documents and interviews with people. >> now, your colleag

michael cohen's testimony before congress delayed indefinitely. cohen saying he and his family are in fear over what he calls threats from president trump. >>> not in my house. that's the word from speaker nancy pelosi after president trump told her he's coming anyway. >> the state of the union speech has been canceled by nancy pelosi because she doesn't want to hear the truth. >> an unprecedented fight in modern american history. 48 hours till government workers miss another paycheck. >>> a major crisis unfolding in venezuela. a leader the u.s. calls illegitimate, his election a sham. american diplomats given 72 hours to get out of the country. >>> a nurse under arrest after that shocking case, an incapacitated patient unable to move or speak suddenly giving birth when no one knew she was pregnant. how authorities found their suspect. >>> explosive new allegations against a top hollywood director behind box office hits like "bohemian rhapsody." >>> a family's home security camera scare. a stranger's voice suddenly talking to them with a terrifying

trump directed cohen to lie to congress. cohen also arranged hush money to two women just before the 2016 election. democratic committee chairman elijah cummings has warned the president about intimidating witnesses. >> i promise you that we will hear from mr. cohen. >> democrats are considering whether to subpoena cohen to compel his testimony before he reports to prison in march for federal crimes. >>> an arizona nurse suspected of raping and impregnating an incapacitated woman at a long-term care health facility is now in custody. >> nathan sutherland -- >> date of birth -- >> police announced the arrest of nathan sutherland yesterday. he's charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of vulnerable adult abuse at the hacienda health care facility in phoenix. the 29-year-old patient had been in long-term care since the age of 3 and gave birth at the facility last month. >>> ahead on "cbs this morning," more on the suspect, nathan sutherland. >>> 35-year-old juan guaido thet new leader of the country. venezuela has been

congress. cohen is now a convicted fell listen. giuliani went on to say if the pair did talk it's, quote, perfectly normal. we have it all covered for you this morning. let's start with lauren fox who is live on capitol hill. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the president of course trying to mix up the shutdown over the weekend saying on saturday that he wanted $5.7 billion for that border wall and he was willing to make a deal. he would extend daca protections for three years as well as protections for temporary protected status immigrants. now, democrats saying it's a nonstarter. nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, she rejected it immediately and the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer, had had this to say about the president's plan. >> it was the president who single handedly took away daca and tps protections in the first place. offering some of those protections that he took away back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but hostage taking. >> reporter: now, what's goin

and fixer michael cohen today abruptly pulling the plug on his much-anticipated testimony to congress. cohen's lawyer citing "ongoing threats against his family from president trump and mr. giuliani." adding, "this is a time where mr. cohen had to put his family and their safety first." the president today denied making any threats. >> i would say he's been threatened by the truth. he's only been threatened by the truth. >> reporter: but he has called for cohen's father-in-law to be investigated, even though he is not currently accused of any crime. >> he should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that's the one that people want to look at. >> reporter: and just this weekend, another unfounded allegation from rudy giuliani. >> so, it's okay to go after the father-in-law? >> of course it is. if the father-in-law is a criminal, we talked about ukrainians. his father-in-law is a ukrainian. >> that's not a crime. >> his father-in-law has millions and millions -- of course it's not. i'm telling you, he comes from the ukraine. this reason that is important is, he may have ties to so

the headline president trump directed his attorney michael cohen to lie to congress about the moscow tower project. "buzzfeed" citing two law enforcement officials involved in the cohen investigation. they said the president personally instructed cohen to lie about when negotiations on the trump tower moscow project ended. "buzzfeed" reports that attorneys close to the administration helped cohen prepare that false testimony. "buzzfeed" goes on to say that cohen gave the president and the president's children, donald trump jr. and ivanka, quote, what to say. cnn has been unable to independently corroborate the "buzzfeed" accounts, but some of the details do follow the contour of court documents from the special counsel. the president said today, quote, unquote, he's lying to reduce his jail time. make note the president did not deny the specifics of the report, nor did the white house spokesman hogan gidley. >> you're saying the president did not tell michael cohen to do that. >> i'm telling you right now this is exactly why the president refuses to give any credence or credibility to

congress. cohen had been due to testify early next month.awyers cited threats against his family by president trump as the reason for the delay. the acclaimed zimbabwe musician oliver mtukudzi has died at the age of 66. in a career that spanned 40 years and 67 albums, he became the most successful artist to emerge from zimbabwe. tuku, as he was known, had been suffering from diabetes. zimbabwe is facing fresh unrest after government employees said they would go on strike beginning friday. the council representing half a million civil servants announced the action would take place after pay negotiations failed. it follows president emmerson mnangagwa's pledge to investigate what he calls unacceptable violence by security forces during a crackdown on protests against an increase in fuel tax. 12 people were killed, hundreds injured, but medical sources say the published death toll may be just a fraction of the real figure. reporter: victims of the army crackdown are being treated in hospitals in the capital harare. this man was shot in the leg.

so interesting that bad lawyer michael cohen who would not be testifying before congress is using ther of crooked hillary to represent him. gee how did that happen? blah, blah, blah. again, that tweet from the president related to michael cohen now just a few moments ago michael cohen has been subpoenaed to testify before the senate intel community. this changes things in a few major ways. michael cohen is set to report to prison in march. we don't know when he's set to appear before the senate intel committee. i want to bring in michael steele now, former senior advisor to jeb bush. jason johnson is also with me, politics editor at the root.com. i'll start with you, michael steele. how big of a deal? >> it's a huge deal. i mean, i think it was inevitable that at some point cohen would appear before congress. i think it's important that senate intelligence is going first. i think it's a good reminder, too, there are concerns in both parties. senate intelligence is a bipartisan investigation. they are continuing to look at the question about the president and his campaign, what ties th

the present‘s lawyer, cohen, told conress that michael cohen, told congress that plan was scrapped injanuarytrue, and according to a report by buzzfeed the president personally instructed him, michael cohen, to live by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than actually did, in order to obscure donald trump's involvement. the white house flatly denied the claim. look, that's absolutely ridiculous. i think that the president's outside council addressed this best and set it in a statement earlier today it is categorically false. and later it emerged that the special counsel who was investigating allegations of collusion between the trump campaign and russia didn't buy it either. buzzfeed's description of specific state m e nts buzzfeed's description of specific statements to the special counsel's office and characterisation of documents are not accurate, read a statement. president trump is clearly ecstatic. in the past, he has taken to calling michael cohen a liar and has taken to calling michael cohen a liarand a has taken to calling michael cohen a liar and a rat. last night he tw

an article in buzzfeed says the president ordered ex-lawyer michael cohen to perjure himself before congress. house democrats are vowing a new investigation. the president and his advisers responded saying cohen, who was sentenced to three years in toson in part for lying to congress, is lying again. here's paula reid. >> reporter: it's the most dmaging legal allegation against the president to date. buzzfeed news reports that president trump directed his former personal attorney, michael cohen, to lie to congress. mr. trump has previously denied ordering cohen to commit wrongdoing. ea reporter: at issue: a real estate deal to build a trump tower in moscow that michael cohen was negotiating during the 2016 campaign. the deal never went through, and cohen told congress talks ended 2 january 2016, shortly before hee iowa caucuses. he has since admitted that was a lie and that negotiations continued until mid-2016. in november, he pleaded guilty to lying to congress. according to buzzfeed, special counsel robert mueller has evidence it was president trump who told cohen to lie about the timelin

congress cohen had been due to testify early next month lawyers cited threats against his family by president trump as the reason for the delay the acclaimed zimbabwean musician oliver m two could sing has died at the age of sixty six now in a career that spanned forty years and sixty seven albums he became the most successful artist to emerge from zimbabwe. as he was known had been suffering from diabetes. was in bubbly is facing fresh unrest after government employees said they would go on strike beginning friday the council representing half a million civil servants announced that the action would take place after paying to go she agents failed in follows president emerson and then god was pledged to investigate what he called unacceptable violence by security forces during a crackdown on protests against an increase in fuel tax twelve people were killed hundreds injured but medical sources say the published death toll may be just a fraction of the real figure. victims of the army crackdown are being treated in hospitals in the capital harare. this man was shot in the leg. he says he doesn

cohen gave credible and helpful information about how he put together the letters and his testimony to congress appears that in the sentencing memo i think it was last month the special counsel was leaving at least a bread crumb clue. he was suggesting publicly there was something in here about michael cohen preparing his testimony to congress that was of interest and of use to the special counsel. so it was sort of sitting out there and perhaps hidden in plain sight. >> and reading from your reporting, anthony, saying that the special counsel's office learned about trump's directive for cohen to lie to congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the trump organization and internal company e-mails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interview with that office. and this brings us back to the extensive criminal investigative discovery that the prosecutors have been doing inside the trump organization, inside the trump company. i know they have to some degree the cooperation from the chief financial officer in there. do

it's nice that michael cohen said that the president directed him to lie to congress. okay. what is the proof of that? the fact that there's texts that prove that michael cohen lied doesn't tell you a single thing about how you corroborate the fact that he's claiming that the president directed him to lie to congress. i don't know whether the buzz feed report is accurate. michael cohen's statements to congress occur in august of 2017 at a time when the president is the president. he's not the candidate any longer. he's the president of the united states. so is michael cohen's contention that the president of the united states while president is directing him to lie to congress? i don't know whether that is the report or not. it wasn't clear to me. seemed to make some argument about the fact that it was then candidate trump. i can't imagine someone being so clairvoyant to anticipate during the campaign that michael cohen might be asked about this by congress when and if donald trump was elected president, became president and then this was the subject of the inquiry? i mean, s

we do know uncontroverted, michael cohen lied to congress. now the trump administration prepared michael cohen for his testimony. so what haven't we heard today other than president trump expressing sympathy and empathy towards 800,000 workers, he didn't hear him ever once say since this article came out yesterday it's not true. he just said the article was a disgrace to the national country. ironically he then said, thank you, robert mueller, for being such a standup guy and saying there's pushback on it >> you covered the hill as well as anybody. is it unusual to you that you have not heard as katie just said, a flat denial of the actual allegation that cohen and him engaged in this type of conversation and this directive? is this out of character for the president and his team? >> it's not out of character. this is what we know about donald trump. he still always been able to to manipulate the weak-minded. this is very consistent with who he was on the campaign trail, to who he is today in 2019. i know for those of us who are paid to consum

of the story which is that there is evidence corroborating the president directed michael cohen to lie to congressbout trump tower moscow. >> we should point out that terms of the time line from the white house response in the morning, i think it was kellyanne conway, hogan gidly who were on attacking michael cohen as a liar, raising questions about the reporting, but not denying it categorically. it wasn't until the president's attorney rudy giuliani later in the day said that it was categorically untrue. then sarah sanders echoed that and citing rudy giuliani. into that was significant for rudy giuliani. in the same way -- we rarely have categorical denials from rudy giuliani at this stage in the investigation. i did find that to be telling. i was not surprised by the, we're not going to dignify this with a response approach that the white house took. going back to something i said earlier, this is a president who has a history of not tell the truth. i don't think anybody wanted to put themselves out on a limb. the way that they have at other times. >> the past there were senators that said thin

confirm, claims two law enforcement sources said the president directed his long-time lawyer cohen to lie to congress about plans to build a trump tower in moscow. cohen pleaded guilty to lying to lawmakers when he testified the moscow project was abandoned in january 2016. in fact, negotiations to build the tower continued until that june, deep into the campaign. according to "buzzfeed," their sources say the special counsel has "interviews with multiple witnesses from the trump organization, internal company e-mails, text messages and a cache of other documents." but now, the special counsel taking the extraordinary step to refute key points in the story. "'buzzfeed's' description of specific statements to the special counsel's office and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office regarding michael cohen's congressional testimony are not accurate." "buzzfeed" is standing by their story tonight, saying they reconfirmed their reporting and found "no indication that any specific aspect is inaccurate." the president firing back. >> i think that the "buzzfeed" piece was a disgra

we know that michael cohen lied to congress about it. we know that michael cohen tried to align his story with the false narrative the president was telling. the idea that the president did nothing wrong here or bears no responsibility for michael cohen's false testimony, i think it's something that members of congress are going to significantly challenge. annie karni, quickly, in terms of what was going on at the white house today, i know this story went up at 10:00 last night. there was a very quick reaction from rudy giuliani that just simply said don't trust michael cohen. that left the question of what about this supposed evidence. it seemed today it took them a while to get a formal response. they were caught off guard. what was going on at the white house? take us inside there. >> you can see what happened. the first responses were from a spokesman on fox news this morning saying -- a nondenial denial. saying we're not calling it absurd and not going to get into it. sarah sanders followed that, so did kellyanne conway. and the pres

why michael cohen's bestimony re congress just took on new urgency. and why one of his aers tells nbc news cohen is living in fear for his fami >> the president of the united states in trying to intimidate a witness that is trying to tell the truth --

rudy giuliani refuting reports the president instructed michael cohen to lie to congress but also admitting the president may have talked with cohen in detail about what exactly he was planning to say in the testimony. giuliani spoke at length with our jake tapper on cnn's "state of the union." >> did president trump or anyone on the trump team talk to michael cohen about his congressional testimony before he gave congressional testimony or after he gave congressional testimony? >> i can tell you -- first of all, i wasn't the lawyer at the time. >> right. >> michael cohen's lawyers reviewed his testimony with him. >> but did president trump or anyone -- >> no, let me answer the question. >> okay. >> as far as i know president trump did not have discussions with him, certainly had no discussions with him in which he told him or counseled him to lie. if he had any discussions with him, they'd be about the version of the events that michael cohen gave then, which they all believe was true. i believed it was true. i still believe it may be true because unlike these people who want to just belie

mean a shift in tides for donald trump the report says that donald trump told smikle cohen to lie in front of congress about the direct duration of these negotiations for this mosque trump tower project michael cohen set the negotiations were over by the time that all trump was actually officially announced being the candidate of the republican party for u.s. presidency but in fact these negotiations lasted a lot longer and they lasted until the summer of two thousand and sixteen and that being just a few months ahead of the actual u.s. elections now if this turns out to be true if these allegations that donald trump told michael cohen to lie in front of congress this would certainly mean that we're witnessing here the strongest piece of evidence yet of donald trump being guilty struction of justice and it comes at a time when you have the democrats who are now in control of the u.s. house of representatives meaning that they can subpoena people as they wish what kind of reactions are we getting from both sides of the political divide today. well the democrats can certainly be happy about all this and

cohen to testify. mr. trump's former fixer and lawyer agrees to appear before congress and publically give answers to the american people. how damaging could michael cohen's testimony be to the president he turned against? >>> keeping it secret. white house is lawyering up before the release of mueller's report exploring claims of executive privilege to hide chunks of the findings. would the strategy work? >>> basis for obstruction. we're learning that mueller's team is focusing in on mr. trump's conflicting public statements, including his tweets that could be seen as part of an effort to influence witnesses and obstruct justice. stand by for the exclusive details. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >>> we're following a lot of breaking news. president trump is on his way back to washington from the south eern border. he seems poised to declare a national emergency to get the wall funding he has been demanding. the white house is prepping a legal defense of the move as we have learned mr. trump

congress. mr. trump instructed michael cohen to lie about lance to build a trump tower in moscow.l spokesman dismissed the claims as ludicrous. democrats say the legations ne to be investigated and if true, could constitute obstruction of justice and rjury. the subject us -- that just won't go away. the president and russia and the most serious allegations today to hide the efforts the organization was makinto build a trump tower in moscow just before the election. becameonald trump saesident, michael cohen went before congress anid that the plan was scrapped in january e.16. that was not tru it is a lie that turd him time in jail. according a detailed buzz feed report, the light was not his idea. -- the lie was not his idea. internal company emails, text messages, and a cash of other documents. the report goes on. the president personally instructed him to lie by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than ey actually did in order to obscure personaldent's current attorney, rudy giuliani, has categorically denied this. the white house has been most circumspect. >> this i

president donald trump directed his longtime attorney michael cohen to lie to congress according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter and even as trump told the public he had no business deals with russia the sources said trump and his children if the and donald trump jr received regular detailed updates about the real estate development from cohen whom they put in charge of the project a michael cohen is the former lawyer of donald trump he was sentenced to thirty six months in prison after he pleaded guilty to lying to congress about the trump tower plan he's also admitted to campaign finance violations tax evasions and fake fraud and of course he's a key figure in the moeller investigation where the so-called russian collusion probe this report is being treated as a bombshell president trump is facing new scrutiny today over a report that he told his personal attorney to lie to congress about his business dealings with russia we have breaking news tonight on the russia investigation here's what buzz feed news is reporting that ice bombsh

if the president didn't necessarily direct cohen to lie to congress, but knew that cohen was going toie to congress, then that could still be a problem for the president. >> i think that's right. you know, some may disagree with me. but i think if you have two people who are conspiring or agreeing or coordinating with one another, and one says, look, i'm going to give false testimony, the other one says, you know, cool, that's all right, go for it, that will protect both of us, that, i think, is criminal. as i said, we don't have the factual predicate for it. but it doesn't have to be a direct order, go lie, for it to implicate legal liability for the two parties. >> okay. and what about guiliani's admission that trump tower talks with russia may have lasted up until trump took office? is that problematic? >> well, i mean, politically, it's problematic, because the president said he had no dealings with russia during a time period when he was in contractual negotiations with them. so you could be very lawyerly and say no dealings means i don't have a signed contract. but i think to th