trump jr. id, if it's what you say, i love it. >> his reaction to that is not to say, is this all right? should i call the fbi? >> it's potentially criminal. it's embarrassing. it's a scandal. >> this meeting in some ways goes to sort of the heart of what robert mueller has been looking at. he was appointed to look at any connections that existed between the trump campaign and russia. >> there wasn't anybody higher in the trump campaign except donald trump himself at this meeting. >> so how did a celebrity publicist wind up as a central player in that trump tower conference room? and later as a witness in mueller's grand jury room? his background is far removed from politics. >> he was at one point in time a reporter. he got his first job for his local newspaper at the age of 16. he then became a radio reporter focusing on the entertainment industry. at some point he realized that he kind of had a knack for promotion. >> rob goldstone grew up in manchester, england, in public housing, but he wou

based on your testimony today, donald trump jr. and allen weisselberg directed this payment to you and approved this payment, is that right? >> mr. trump initially acknowledged the obligation, the debt, myself and allen weisselberg went back to his office, and i was instructed by allen at the time that they were going to do this over 12 installments. and what he decided to do then was to have me send an invoice, in which case they can have a check cut. and then, yes, the answer would be yes to your followup question. >> and donald trump jr. obviously signed off on this. >> it would either be eric trump, donald trump jr. and/oral an weisselberg. but always allen weisselberg on the check. >> and you think the executive was donald trump jr. >> yes. >> you knew that the payments were false and illegal, correct? >> i can make that conclusion. >> you told representative kelly that the president was aware of this scheme, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> i just want the american public to understand the explosive nature of your testim

so donald trump jr. democrats who have long suspected publicly that the blocked numbers belonged to donald trump. and those democrats, anderson, did have some reason to believe it, because they were told in congressional testimony by corey lewandowski that donald trump's number was a blocked number at the time. but this new information coming to light now puts that specific suspicion to rest, though it's unclear if that means investigators are done with the matter, anderson. >> apparently donald trump jr. believes this reporting. so, i guess cherry picking which reporting he believes, but there you go. pamela brown, thanks very much. joining me now is democratic congressman eric swalwell, member of the house intelligence and judiciary committee. congressman, do you believe this news? this is certainly good news for donald trump jr., you could say for president trump, that there's no evidence, or, at least in these phone calls, there's no evidence that he was communicating with his father about the trump

he's probably cooperating and maybe implicating donald trump jr. and trump's assistant should testify. here's the point that your question raises. this is not about michael cohen's credibility. michael cohen didn't just come and offer a witness account. he offered corroborating evidence. he offered documents and pointed to other people who could corroborate his account. the committee needs to hear from them so that we're not just relying on michael cohen. we actually have compelling evidence independent of michael cohen. >> what about david pecker, the head of ami, the parent company of the "national enquirer." cohen indicated there were other stories the national enquirer helped cover up. he's also received limited immunity. >> i thought peter welch did a great job getting that admission. pecker was covering up other sensational allegations about the president and then michael cohen almost said that the president and he were trying to buy out pecker's organization because they are concerned about what salacious material may be out there. and the fi

cohen also implied that donald trump jr. may have kept his father in the loop on the trump tower meeting in manhattan with russians promising dirt on hillary clinton. but most haunting for this president and for this white house has to be cohen's testimony that he's in constant contact with the prosecutors working out of the southern district of new york. >> so the committee understands you've been in contact with the southern district of new york, is that true? >> i am in constant contact with the southern district of new york regarding ongoing investigations. >> is there any other wrongdoing or illegal act what you're aware of regarding donald trump that we haven't yet discussed today? >> yes, and again, those are part of the investigation that's currently being looked at by the southern district of new york. >> you don't say. that's where we start with some of our favorite reporters and friends. former federal prosecutor paul butler. with us in new york, former u.s. attorney joyce vance and one of two people here who knew

based on your testimony today, donald trump jr. and allen weisselberg directed this payment to you and approved this payment. is that right? >> mr. trump initially acknowledged the obligation, the debt. myself and allen weisselberg went back to his office, and i was instructed by allen at the time that they were going to do this over 12 installments. and what he decided to do then was to have me send an invoice in which case they could have a check cut, and then, yes, the answer would be yes to your follow-up question. >> and donald trump jr. obviously signed off on this? >> yes. it would either be eric trump, donald trump jr., and/or allen weisselberg. but always allen weisselberg on the check. >> i just want the american public to understand the explosive nature of your testimony on this document. are you telling us, mr. cohen, that the president directed transactions in conspiracy with allen weisselberg and his son, donald trump jr., as part of a civil criminal -- as part of a criminal conspiracy of financial fraud? is that your

based on your testimony today, donald trump jr. and allen weisselberg directed this payment to you and approved this payment, is that right? >> mr. trump initially acknowledged the obligation, the debt, myself and allen weisselberg went back to his office, and i was instructed by allen at the time that they were going to do this over 12 installments. and what he decided to do then was to have me send an invoice, in which case they can have a check cut. and then, yes, the answer would be yes to your followup question. >> and donald trump jr. obviously signed off on this. >> it would either be eric trump, donald trump jr. and/oral an weisselberg. but always allen weisselberg on the check. >> and you think the executive was donald trump jr. >> yes. >> you knew that the payments were false and illegal, correct? >> i can make that conclusion. >> you told representative kelly that the president was aware of this scheme, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> i just want the american public to understand the explosive nature of your testim

>> donald trump jr. and ivanka trump. >> okay, were these in the regular course of business or did the president or family request the briefings. >> this is in the regular course of business. >> do you recall a question on the number of briefings. do you recall how many there might have been? >> i'm sorry, sir. >> do you recall how many briefings there might have been in. >> approximately ten in total. >> all right. ten in total. that is -- well, let's be honest, that is a complete contradiction of what ivanka trump said she knew literally almost nothing about the project and don jr. who told congress that he was only peripherally aware of it and neither of those go with ten briefings and you went on until the president took office. up front now john dean who came up several times due to comments on his program and evan perez and from april ryan and barrett burger, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york harry sandic and author "of the making of donald trump" david k. johnson

cnn learning tonight that donald trump, jr.'ree mysterious phone calls before and after that infamous 2016 trump tower meeting were not with his father. now, this is according to new information obtained by senate investigators which show that the blocked calls were between trump junior and two of his business associates. manu, how significant is this development? >> this has been a lingering question for investigators over the past year or so in the aftermath of the revelation of this meeting with donald trump junior was seeking dirt from the russians and set up this meeting. there were records that were initially turned over to investigators that included these blocked phone calls. there were two phone calls that occurred just three days before the meeting with blocked phone numbers. those were sandwiched in between phone calls that donald trump jr. had with a russian pop star and set up that meeting. there was a third phone call that occurred just two hours after the june 9, 2016, trump tower meeting where donald trump jr. wa

based on your testimony today, donald trump jr. and allen wiseelberg directed this payment to you. >> mr. trump acknowledged the obligation that mysel we went bo his office. i was instructed by alan at the time, we were going to do this over 12 installments. what he decided to do was have me send an invoice, which they can have a check cut. yes, the answer would be yes to your question. >> donald trump jr. signed off. >> eric trump, donald trump jr. or alan weisselberg. >> they knew this payment was false and illegal? >> i can't make that conclusion. >> you told representative kelly that the president was aware of this scheme. >> that's correct. grip the american public to understand the explosive nature of your testimony in this document. are you telling us mr. cohen, that the president directed transactions in conspiracy with alan weisselberg and his son, donald trump jr., part of criminal conspiracy of financial fraud? >> yes. >> do you know with this criminal financial scheme that the president, alan weisselberg and donald trump

based on your testimony today, donald trump jr. and allen weisselberg directed this payment to you and approved this payment, is that right? >> mr. trump initially acknowledged the obligation, the debt, myself and allen weisselberg went back to his office, and i was instructed by allen at the time that they were going to do this over 12 installments. and what he decided to do then was to have me send an invoice, in which case they can have a check cut. and then, yes, the answer would be yes to your followup question. >> and donald trump jr. obviously signed off on this. >> it would either be eric trump, donald trump jr. and/oral an weisselberg. but always allen weisselberg on the check. >> and you think the executive was donald trump jr. >> yes. >> you knew that the payments were false and illegal, correct? >> i can make that conclusion. >> you told representative kelly that the president was aware of this scheme, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> i just want the american public to understand the explosive nature of your testim

>> i want to hear from abbey lowell, from donald trump jr. ck. roger stone should probably come back. all of the very intense innercircle of donald trump needs to come before the house intelligence committee. this is a very small universe of people involved in his campaign. and when coloradoen said trump saw this as a big, fat infomrlgs that was going to help him with his business in the future, i think that was very enlightening. >> and up next today's hearing was explosive. what effect will it have on the president and his standing with it the voters? n the president and his standing with it the voters? you know, i used to be good at this. then you turn 40 and everything goes. tell me about it. you know, it's made me think, i'm closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. hm. i'm thinking... will i have enough? should i change something? well, you're asking the right questions. i just want to know, am i gonna be okay? i know people who specialize in "am i going to be okay." i like that. you may need glasses though. yeah. schedule

trump's desk to talk to him. i recall don jr. leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which i could clearly hear and saying, the meeting is all set and i remember mr. trump saying, okay, good. let me know. >> for many republicans at the hearing there's a clear line of attack. cohen's tenuous relationship with the truth, his financial troubles and perhaps, perhaps even a little sour grapes. >> mr. cohen, how long did you work in the white house? >> i never worked in the white house. >> and that's the point, isn't it, mr. cohen? >> no, sir. >> yes, it is. >> no, sir. >> you wanted to work in the white house. you didn't get brought to the dance and now -- >> i was extremely proud to be personal attorney to the president of the united states of america. i did not want to go to the white house. >> i see a guy work for ten years and trashing the guy he worked for for ten years, didn't get a job in the white house and now, and now you're behaving just like everyone else who's got fired or didn't get the job they wanted li

also tonight, cnn has exclusive reporting that donald trump, jr.'s three mysterious phone calls before and after the now infamous 2016 trump tower meeting were not with his father. this is according to new information obtained by senate investigators showing the blocked calls were between don junior and two of his business associates. president trump seizing on the news tonight tweeting, "just out, the big deal very mysterious don junior telephone calls after the innocent trump tower meeting that the media and dems said were made to his father, me, were just conclusively found not to be made to me. they were made to friends and business associates of don. really sad." didn't credit us with the reporting because that's where it came from exclusively, from cnn. but it's clearly a positive development for the trump family. but let's not forget that trump jr. did meet with russians about getting dirt on hillary clinton. let's discuss now all of this. shimon prokupecz, susan glasser, phil mudd and harry litman. good evening to all of you. i just think it

based on your testimony today donald trump jr. directed this payment to you and approved this. >> mr. trump initially acknowledged the obligation. i was instructed by allen at the time that we were going to do this over 12 installments. >> and donald trump jr. signed off on this. >> it would be them but always allen on the check. >> you think executive too is donald trump jr.? >> yes. >> they knew this payment were false and illegal, correct? >> i can make that conclusion. >> you told representative kelly that the president was aware of this scheme, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> i want the pleamerican publio understand the nature of this testimony. are you telling us that the president directed in conspiracy with allen and his son, donald trump jr. as part of a civil criminal -- part of a criminal conspiracy of financial fraud. is that your testimony today? >> yes. >> and do you flow if this criminal financial scheme that the president and donald trump jr. are involved in by the southern district of new york? >> i would ra

>> don trump jr. and ivanka trump. >> now, were these in the regular course of business or did the president or family request the briefings? >> this is in the regular course of business. >> chuck rosenberg, picking up also on what pete just referred to, what do we know more about what the southern district in new york prosecutors are looking at? >> sure. they're going to want to speak to the people with whom cohen spoke, that makes sense. investigations ripple out. imagine throwing a rock into a pond, where that rock lands of course creates ripples. those ripples are witnesses and documents and e-mails and phone calls that extend out from that inner core. so if cohen spoke with the trump children about the trump tower meeting or spoke with them about hush money payments to stormy daniels, prosecutors and agents would want to speak with them too. recall in cohen's testimony yesterday he mentioned donald trump jr., as i recall, in two respects. one, with respect to the trump tower meeting, and the other

liberty. ♪ >> harris: fox news alert, donald trump jr. hairman adam schiff after reports appeared to undermine the democrat suspicions that donald jr. made phone calls to his father, the president, around the time of the trump tower meeting. tweeting this. "has anyone heard from adam schiff? "chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel has more from capitol hill. >> president trump jumped on the news, writing on twitter last night, "just outcome of the big deal mysterious donald jr. telephone calls after the meeting that the media and dems said were made to his father, me, were conclusively found not to be made to me. they're made to friends and business associates of don. really sad." he taunted the house intelligence chair on twitter, asking, if any has heard from him. there is no love lost between the president's son and schiff. that is leaking things change the subject. he said the calls were between trump jr. and his father when he was a presidential candidate during the 2016 campaign, regarding a meeting with russians offering dir

this one to him for reimbursement for the stormy daniels payments, but this one signed by donald trump jrand also alan weisselberg who was the cfo of the trump organization. we have one check. this one we have a picture of signed by donald trump when he was president of the united states in august of 2017. and now we're length that cohen will also produce a second check signed by among others, donald trump jr., the president's son. the significance of that. >> let's just step back and talk about why this all matters at all. as you've been pointing out, one of the things that michael cohen pleaded guilty to was making an unlawful campaign contribution by paying off stormy daniels on the eve of the election. keeping her quiet to benefit donald trump's campaign. so the question is, did michael cohen have coconspirators in that enterprise, this criminal enterprise of the unlawful campaign contributions? that races the question of, well, where did he get the non pay off stormy daniels? and was he reimbursed for the money he paid off stormy daniels to? these two checks, the one check we've seen

and later when cohen said all he wanted was to be the president's personal attorney, trump jr. eeted laughter, michael cohen begged to work at the white house and everybody knows it. still thinking about that sweatshirt. >> yeah, i don't understand the analogy. >> trump organization chief financial officer allen weisselberger was mentioned several times. media outlets reported he received immunity to testify before a grand jury in new york during the course of the investigation into the hush money payments. three people with knowledge of that matter tell nbc news that weisselberg is not cooperating and has never been a cooperating witness and has proved limited details in the course of his testimony. a person close to the trump organization telling nbc news that weisselberg is still with the trump organization and defends trump and the company. >> michael cohen was grilled about president trump's alleged history of tax fraud and offered up names of who he believes would have access to that information. >> to your knowledge did the president ever provide inflated assets to an ins

so we had reporting, new reporting, significant reporting regarding donald trump, jr., in the trump towerg with a russian lawyer eliminating speculation that house democrats said they wanted to investigate. tell us what we know. >> reporter: the house democrats have been focused on a series of phone calls that took place before the trump tower meeting in june of 2016 when donald trump, jr., was talking with a russian about setting up the meeting. there was a phone call in between two calls he had with the russian that initiated the meeting with the russian lawyer. there was a phone call that took place with a blocked number. democrats have long speculated publicly that donald trump, jr., must have talked to his father at that point. the president who was then the candidate. what we have learned according to multiple sources is donald trump, jr., talked to two business associates in the blocked phone calls and he didn't speak to his father. that eliminates a lot of speculation the house democrats had that he tipped off his father about the meeting. when donald trump, jr., was before congre

he will say he thinks donald trump was briefed by donald jr. trump tower meeting but has no direct evidence of collusion, and he will repeatedly talk about president trump lying about his wealth. we will see what evidence he brings to the table. michael cohen today is the subject of president trump's tweets as this president meets in vietnam with kim jong un. willie geist, we just walked through this moment in history trying to cover all the facts. >> i'm thinking as i'm reading this opening statement, his quote to george stephanopoulos in december, will not be the villain in this story. he's ready to step out. heidi, you have information on how democrats will try to get more information and more out of the top lines we've seen in this opening statement from cohen. >> that's right, willie. i've been talking to democrats in on the preparations for this hearing. they say, this is their opportunity to talk to someone who intimately understands how the trump organization and trump foundation operated. specifically, they have great concerns about a

trump's desk to talk to hem. i recall don jr. over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which i could clearly hear and saying, "the meeting is all set," i remember mr. trump saying okay, good, let me know. mr. trump had frequently told me and others that his son don jr. had the worse judgment of any one in the world. also that jodon jr. would never set up any meetings alone. >> don retweeted dozens of tweets disputing what michael cohen had to say. >> this is reporting back in the early days of the administration, suggests that cohen did want to work in the white house. but, donald trump jr.'s defense on everything else, so fierce that it had been offense. it would be believable had he not lie about the trump tower meeting. trump says it was about adopt n adoptio adoptions, but his e-mail revealed it was set up because russia wanted to deliver dirt on hillary clinton which brings it to the biggest liar of all is president trump. he made 8,000 false claims. one of those claims he knew nothing about the payment of stormy danie

again, but you would ask your chair to put donald trump jr.you'd like to see before your committee? >> i'm sure he's on the list already. >> i want to ask you something interesting. if i read this correctly, you wrote a proposal or nominated professor kristine blahs decide ford to receive the profiles award in massachusetts. she of course came forward with an accusation against brett kavanaugh who is now on the supreme court. she told her story in front of the american people. now there's a different professor, professor vanessa tyson who is telling her story to the "washington post" saying she was assaulted by the lieutenant-governor the of virginia justin fairfax. do you feel that she deserves the same recognition for coming forward with her story? >> i do. i think that we have got to get to the point in this country where we appreciate that only a very small percentage of persons who are sexually assaulted come forward. and the reason they don't come forward is because they are trashed in the media and it is incumbent on us to believe the w

. >>> those suspicions that donald trump jr. called his dad after the trump tower meeting were wrong, the blocked call was not his father. >>> one more brutal day of cold before a weekend warm-up relatively speaking. >> after football i'm going to play baseball. and then after baseball, i'm going to play hamlet. >> alas, a million -- >> yes, almost time to play football. excitement building ahead of super bowl liii on sunday. and guess who is there? dave briggs is there. is there anything tom brady can't do? good morning, it is 4:00 a.m. in the east. welcome to "early start." >> and you are a bit under the weather, my friend. i'm dave briggs here in atlanta, just outside this beautiful mercedes-benz stadium, right now it is time to head home for on folks in atlanta because during super bowl week they allow the bars to stay open until 4:00 a.m. rams and patriots hopefully getting a new night's rest though. this is a new routine for most rams players, only four have super bowl experience. patriots however this is old hat here for t

>> don trump jr. >> if donald trump and son donald junior are involved in the russia deal, is it possible the whole family is compromised with a foreign adversary in the months before the election? >> yes. >> did that sound to you like house members are teeing up to call the kids in? >> they're certainly interested in the kids. i think they are a little bit concerned and worried about doing it knowing that it will cross that red line that donald trump long ago said involved his family. so as they look and see whether to begin calling the kids or do they start with some of the business associates of donald trump first, i think they work their way up to the kids. both donald trump jr., eric, and ivanka, ivanka being in the white house raises other issues of executive privilege. if they want to talk about the campaign period, executive privilege doesn't go that far. we know elijah cummings, the chairman of the committee, has told reporters he's interested in talking to everyone in the trump administration

cnn learned new details about those mysterious blocked calls with donald trump jr. the trump tower meeting during the election. >> this was a big mystery. who is donald trump calling around this trump tower meeting that he had with russians in 2016 t. was supposed to be to get dirt on hillary clinton. he made the calls to blocked numbers. there was a theory that maybe he was calling his father. now we learn senate investigators have information that that is not who donald trump jr. was calling. he was not calling his father. he was calling a couple of business associates it seems like one of the mysteries may be coming to an end. >> one singular question settled in the russia probe. can't count them. thanks. >>> joining me now is cnn legal analyst jack quin who served under president bill clinton. thanks for coming in. on this phone calls have long been a source of speculation. who were these calls to? and now we know that senate investigators have information that is not to president trump or with president trump. reports are it is with the business associates. the

, as for the statement by this powerful chairman, follow the transcript, well, we did. >> donald trump jr. and ivanka trump. it would either be eric trump. rhona graff is the -- mr. trump's executive assistant. david pecker, dylan howard, barry levine, of ami, as well. allen weisselberg. alan garten of the trump organization, as well. >> who else knows that the president did this? >> allen weisselberg, ron lieberman, and matthew calamari. >> would don jr. or mr. weisselberg have more information about that? >> mr. weisselberg, for sure. >> "for sure." now, donald trump jr. and ivanka trump name checked by cohen. our cameras caught don junior at a conservative conference today, where he was basically trying to dodge any of those questions that many people have about what cohen said. you can dodge, you know, cameras, but you can't ignore investigators in the house when they have subpoenas. the house intel committee planning to call allen weisselberg, donald trump's cfo in, to testify. so this is what we are seeing and hearing from congress today. what we don't know is what else is happening

donald trump, jr. came into the room and walked behind his father's desk, which in and of itself was unusual. people just didn't walk behind mr. trump's desk to talk to him. i recall don junior leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice, which i could clearly hear, and saying, the meeting is all set and i remember mr. trump saying, okay, good. let me know. what struck me as i looked back and thought about the exchange between don junior and his father was first, that mr. trump had frequently told me and others that his son don junior had the worst judgment of anyone in the world. and also, that don junior would never set up any meeting of significance alone, and certainly not without checking with his father. i also knew that nothing went on in trump world, especially the campaign, without mr. trump's knowledge and approval. so i concluded that don junior was referring to that june 2016 trump tower meeting about dirt on hillary with the russian representatives when he walked behind his dad's

you know donald trump jr. well. allen weisselberg whose names are now drawn in by mike cohen in his public testimony. >> right. michael cohen is doing sort of an epic troll. donald trump right now. donald trump is hanoi and can't do anything about it. i imagine he's crawling up the walls. this is the power of television right now. we've had two years of print reports and legal filings and chatter among folks like us what all this means and we follow it in a very granular level. but i think the larger points of some of this gets lost on a lot of people. i think what you're seeing now with michael cohen testifying on television under oath before well informed people is the first sort of coming home of the trump scandals into people's living rooms. i think that's a big sea change in all of this. >> eddie, we keep hearing from the president and his allies. they going after cohen, his character, calling him a rat. even some of his congressional allies are suggesting that michael cohen's wife is going to step out on him wh

. >>> sources tell cnn senate investigators have information that the phone calls donald trump, jr., to a blocked number ahead of the june 2016 trump tower meeting with russians weren't to his father. democrats have long questioned whether donald trump, jr., informed him of the meeting giving him advanced knowledge that the russians were offering dirt on hillary clinton. joining us now, a member of the senate judiciary committee, maisey honona. the russians promised dirt on trump and the calls were not to his father. does that answer questions to you? >> no. >> why not? >> there is a lot that needs to be investigated. this is why the democrats focus so much on the need to make sure the mueller investigation goes forward unfettered and unrestrained. there is a lot going on that we probably still don't know. we need to have the dots connected. >> it is a question that house democrats were asking which is did donald trump, jr., call his father and tell him not then, not those phone calls, that is new information, correct? >> that may be new information. i don't know. surrounding this is

ainsley: we had his son on, donald trump, jr. as you saw, i was reading his tweet. it was funny. twitter says, oscars, see the barriers around it to keep those dangerous fans out. hmmm. i thought they don't work. a lot of that on social media. all the walls around the ceremony for the rich folks. brian: tim wrote, i will use a male voice, anyone who wasted time to watch the oscars needs to reevaluate their life watching slam our country, movies that most americans never seen or heard off. that is ludicrous. ainsley: i was hoping we could have a tweet from female. brian: you're out of luck, you're out of luck today. pete: moving on, deadly protests growing in venezuela as people fight for much-needed aid blocked by nicolas maduro. rachel campos duffy says people like bernie sanders need to stop blocking that aid. p you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy. neighbors...loved ones. living with diseases like cancer, epilepsy, mental health conditions and hiv. maybe you're one of them. but new medicare rules

world especially the campaign without mr trump's knowledge and approval so i concluded that don jr was referring to that june twenty sixth team trump tower meeting about dirt on hillary with the russian representatives when he walked behind his dad's desk that day and that mr trump knew that was the meeting john jr was talking about when he said that's good let me know over the past year or so. i have done some real soul searching and i see now that my ambition and the intoxication of trump power had much to do with the bad decisions in part that i made and to you chairman cummings ranking member jordan and the other members of this committee and the members of the house and senate i am sorry for my lies and for lying to congress and to our nation i am sorry for actively working to hide from you the truth about mr trump when you needed it most for those who question my motives for being here today i understand i have lied but i am not a liar and i have done bad things i am not a bad man i have fixed things but i am no longer your fixer mr trump. and i'm going to prison and have sha

one check co-signed by trump's son donald trump jr. and the cfo of the trump organization allan weisselberg. the other signed by donald trump himself. months after he had already become president. cohen was asked about his public explanations concerning that payment. >> mr. cohen, you sent a statement to the reporters that said, "i used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to miss stephanie clifford and neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was party to the transaction with ms. clifford and neither reimbursed me for the payment either directly or indirectly." was the statement false? >> the statement is not false. i purpose lly left out mr. trum from that statement. that was what was discussed to do between mr. trump, myself, and allan weisselberg. >> did the president call you to coordinate on public messaging about the payments to ms. clifford in or around february 2018? >> yes. >> congresswoman katie hill, california democrat you just saw there questioning cohen, will join us later in this hour. t

>> don trump jr. rump. >> were these in the regular course of business or did the president or family request the briefings? >> this was in the regular course of business. >> in his senate before the senate judiciary committee committee, trump jr. was asked did you have any involvement in this potential deal in moss skou cow? trump responded, like i said, i was peripherally aware of it but most of my knowledge has been gand since as it relates to hearing about it over the last few weeks. did he get into some more peril yesterday based on the allegations and again, they are allegations made by michael cohen? >> cohen certainly pointed his finger in donald jr.'s direction. he really got to the surface of what my light underneath and what we might find out further in what we we do have access to the mule are findings. there's also that conversation that he relates of don jr. whispering in his father's ear. there's a lot of quiet around donltd jr.'s precise involvement but there's every reason to see him a

donald presence on donald trump jr was promised damaging information about hillary and allegation like to see the investigation stick the troops did the trump card. with russia did you at any time of the former f.b.i. director james call me in any way shape or form to close or to back down the investigation into michael flynn and also as you will know. next question bottle field washington on al-jazeera. hello again the top stories on al-jazeera donald transform a person a lawyer michael cohen has told congress he believes the u.s. president is a racist a con man and that cohen says he's telling the truth about trump's contacts with russia and other accusations of criminal conduct in his public testimony on capitol hill meanwhile the u.s. president donald trump and the north korean leader kim jong un have started their second summit in vietnam's capital the two had a short meeting before dinner the summit continues on thursday. pakistan's prime minister imran khan is calling for talks with india after both countries shot down each other's fighter jets during an increasingly dramatic co

don trump jr. came into the room and walkbed hind his father's desk, which in and of itself was an illusion. people didn't just walk behind mr. trump's desk and i recalled don jr. leaning over to his father and saying in a low vous, which i could clearly hear, and saying the meeting is all set and i remember mr. trump saying okay good. let me know. so i concluded that don jr. was referring to the 2016 trump tower meeting about dirt on hillary with the russian representatives when he walked behind that desk that day. >> michael cohen under oath said he thinks donald trump knew ahead of time about the trump tower meeting and his campaign expected a russian representative to share dirt on hillary clinton as part of the kremlin's efforts to get elected. >> mr. trump knew from roger stone in advance about the wikileaks drop of emalls. in july of 2016, days before the democratic convention, i was in mr. trump's office when his secretary announced mr. stone was on the phone. mr. trump put mr. stone on the

the phone calls that donald trump jr. d the day that he was in conversations about having the meeting at trump tower where he was promised dirt from the russians on hillary clinton, we knew at the time they were to blocked numbers. house democrats had said, oh, did donald trump jr. call his father? were those called the blocked numbers to his father? cnn was the first to report yesterday, carrie, that, no, they were to business associates of donald trump jr., not to his father. so we now he could not have at least in those phone calls told him or informed him about the trump tower meeting. it's an interesting received the fac set of facts and one that supports donald trump jr. and the president's claims. >> it supports them to the extent it's one data point. it's a data point that says that those specific calls were not between don junior and don senior. it shows the difficulty of us being on the outside trying to extrapolate or folks on the hill who are not involved in the investigations trying to extrapolate from specifi

don trump jr. and ivanka trump. >> were these are the regular course of business or did they request the briefing? >> this is the regular course of business. >> do you recall how many of these briefings there might have been? >> approximately ten in total. >> you also wrote, i quote, there are at least a half dozen times between the iowa caucus the end of 2016 and the end of june when mr. trump would ask me, how is it going in russia? how did the president communicate those questions to you? was it verbally or over the phone? >> verbally mostly all of the time. he would say, michael, come walk with me. he was heading to a rally or a car. as i would walk him to the elevator, he would ask me questions quickly regarding the series of issues. >> any doubt what he was referring to about the project in russia? >> no. this would be it. otherwise there would have been no reason to ask it of me. >> you wrote, quote, mr. trump new of and directed the negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it, clo

who did donald trump jr. call before and after that now infamous trump tower meeting? cnn is being told that trump jr. had records of calling family friends and business associates, not his father. it debunks the democratic theory pushed by many, now including the house chairman committee, adam schiff. but the special counsel's paper trail leaves us still with a lot of big unknowns. let's go through some of the big questions in this investigation. let's start with rick gates. he was the deputy campaign chairman. he pleaded guilty to lying to the special counsel and conspiracy. the big point here is he is now cooperating, and his sentencing has been delayed because he continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing operations. the big question, what? mr. gates was involved in the campaign, involved in the transition. what has he told special counsel? paul manafort was convicted in a court in virginia. he gave polling data to a russian business associate known to have contact with lots of business associates. could the russians have used it in their forms? then yo

jr. after this infamous trump tower meeting, right? t what they won't tell you is what is already on the record is the two russians that showed up did have meetings after the don jr. trump tower meeting. one of them met with fusion gps who prepared the notes and the other one went out to dinner with a lawyer who is a close friend to the clintons whose wife was a higher up in the clinton administration. but don't worry, nothing to see here, folks. don't worry. we're only concerned about the blocked number phone call. >> tucker: how could a floor rid conspiracy nut, a russia truther wind up as the chairman of the house intelligence committee? how does that happen in a normal country? >> and, tucker, receive no serious push back. if you and i were to go on the air with a widely debunked, what you thought to be a fact that he called his dad and he didn't, it's not in dispute anymore, we would never hear the end of it from anyone. conspiracy theory. the title would be thrown out forever. this is now the fourth or fifth time we have seen a pr

some of them were signed by donald trump jr. and by allen weissleberg, the chief financial officer of the trump businesses. the smoking gun check, the one with donald trump's bold signature, will now take its place in popular culture. you will be seeing it in tweets forever. you will be seeing it on t-shirts. it will be imprinted on toilet paper, on coffee mugs and it will take its place in history as the most important check donald trump has ever written because it is the check that could end his presidency. and so the trump loyalists in that hearing today hat one jd o to do, and that was attack that check, attack michael cohen's explanation of the crime that check is part of and not one republican member of the committee dared to do that. not one of them went after that check. not one republican member of the committee tried to defuse that bomb for donald trump. they left the smoking gun untouched in thursday cross-examination of michael cohen. instead of attacking that evidence, instead of attacking that check, they attacked m

"newsweek" writes, "democrats have claimed that trump jr.'r of russia collusion in the 2016 presidential campaign." >> mike: what was the genesis of the whole thing? the accusation was that donald trump was colluding with the kremlin to steal the election for miller clinton. give me some evidence of that. >> harris: but the so-called epicenter is wiped away. until the so called, as they might come epicenter of the theory about russia collusion with the campaign -- what do you do when that is at least challenged by the facts? >> mike: what are the facts? >> harris: it was donald jr. talking to two of the people. not instead. >> jessica: i think then adam schiff will still want those phone records, and he will want to talk to the people that donald jr. did call, and say, "we have a kremlin lawyered coming in to talk to us about opposition research." that's where we go from there. but we have to leave this succession. the president says they are all good. his true of unity, whether for media bliss out of proportion. we'll talk about it next. ♪ e

>> don trump jr. and ivanka trump. >> do you recall how many briefings there might have been?> approximately ten. in total. >> cohen also claims that his testimony to congress about the trump tower project in 2017 was changed by white house lawyers at the last minute. >> which specific lawyers edited your statement to congress on the moscow tower negotiations and did they make any changes to your statement? >> there were changes, additions. jay sekulow for one. >> were there changes about the timing? >> there were several changes that were made including how we were going to handle that message. >> jay sekulow denies the claim. he says, quote, today's testimony by michael cohen that attorneys for the president he had it i had -- edited or changed his statement to congress to alter the duration of the trump tower moscow negotiations is completely false. >>> we're expecting an important report on the american economy, that's next. >>> and plus beto o'rourke maki making a decision about his political future. lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of illness- causing bacteria deterge

his conversation he talked about with donald trump jr. sort of overheard a conversation behind the desk as he acknowledged it was very vague. he thought it might have been about the trump tower meeting. but it was not something i think you could say was incriminating. you know, it's all well and good to say, well, it was just -- it was just the campaign finance violation. a, that's a crime. b, it's a crime that the southern district has already said is a crime. and c, it may have tipped the election in the final days. >> the only reason the southern district got that conviction, they could have gotten him to plead guilty to far worse things than a campaign finance violation. the only reason they got him to the that is so they could bring in trump. let's be honest about this. that's the only reason they wanted to the this. >> not being guilty of a crime. >> i can tell you every campaign finance violation i've ever heard of, and i'm wear of a lot of them get fines. you don't get indicted for a campaign finance violation. you get a little fi

maybe donald trump jr. didn't have a conversation with his father immediately going into that meeting. that doesn't mean he didn't have a person to person conversation with donald trump. also doesn't help donald trump jr. he lied. he lied about the purpose of the meeting. people like jared kushner were there, paul manafort was there. really we know initially donald trump participated in a statement that said it was about russian adoption of children but later on we found out through evidence, through emails that it was actually going to be about getting dirt on hillary clinton so let's wait. let's wait and see what the served before everybody rushes to judgment one way or another. >> thank you. more on that racist snapshot from the virginia governor' past that have many calling for his immediate resignation. >>> fear and loathing texas. why republicans are worried he could lose the lone start state in 2020. now that i've got you here for a minute, or two actually, i've got to tell you something. with the cap