so the first one i'm seeing is amy cohen. and this is a good one because amy helped -- helped us start the cbd's in the castro and noe valley. it was 19 years ago, but when she came into the work for the newsom administration, she was working in a bank branch on sbsan bruno avenue says you are crazy in working in that neighborhood. why are you opening up something on san bruno and portal? and now, it's a busy neighborhood. and that was one of the best things that you did personally to help me out in my business. but right now, so amy, come on up, and for your vision and commitment and investment in economic and neighborhood workforce. [applause] >> angel's not here, but angel's an angel. no, you've got to say that about him. mr. angel, you know, a lot of businesses that i've referred to angel who have -- need to be -- who are losing their lease, need to move, need help, sbdc, he's amazing, and he's come up with some ways to help small business owners actually buy their building. not many places do that, so he's great. angeliqu

then, to talk about some of the recommendations we wanted to discuss with you, i wanted to bring amy cohen back up to talk about those. >> so we've broken recommendations into a couple of categories, and these are very preliminary. the study is the study. it has a lot of findings and some implications, but we've been working with planning and departments and want to engage with you on what some of the programs going forward with be. we are interested in looking at our small business assistance to figure out are we doing everything that we can to help small businesses individually adjust to the changes that are out there, so that's something that we can do with the sbdc and you guys. we're going to look at our commercial district management programs and commissioner adams, i think you said, renew all the cbd's. that would be one of those kinds of goals that how can we continue to grow the capacity in our commercial districts to sort of manage the whole public realm and to promote the area and help the small businesses. that's work that we plan to continue. we didn't talk today or come with

the civic center ebd, i want to thank our city administrator, naomi kelley, and the very special amy cohenll of our civic center comments where amy has been very much of a driver in getting numerous city agencies and nonprofit partners to work together to make this a happier and healthier place, and amy, i'd like to recognize you as one of us as well. also, my profound thanks to jorge arias and the whole team from bossman construction, and to the amazing andy cochran for such an inspired design. but our most important guest tonight, and she's so modest, and doesn't like taking credit, and she's sitting in the back. she's my hero, and my dear, dear, dear friend, jackie. this is for you; and now is the time for us to actually flip the switch. so why don't you and our three friends lead us in a count down. >> right on. >> all right. we're going to count down from ten. all right. here we go. ready, everybody! ten. nine. eight. seven, six. five. four. three. two. one. if everybody can turnaround and look in the square right here, and there's a tv camera. all right. the helen diller playground c

i am amy cohen, the state election directors in all 50 states. the district of columbia, samoa, guam, puerto rico, and the u.s. virgin islands. our members are the professionals that implement policies, procedures and technologies and the mission is to promote transparent elections in the best practices. since elections were detonated, -- were designated our efforts have been more important than ever before. in 40 states, the secretary of state is the chief official and in the remainder, this is the executive correct director of a border commission. beyond differences in leadership and policies, the states differ in the way elections are conducted. in eight states, they're at the township instead of the county level. wisconsin has local clerks responsible for conducting elections in addition to the state election offices. i highlight these differences with how complex they really are. every state election official is a planner. they spent every day since the 2016 election learning how to improve for the future and the designation has given us acc

so at the top of the document are the recommendations, programmatic recommendations that amy cohen provided just to review. and below are the commissioner recommendations. and i just bulleted them out based on the commissioner that proposed them. they are similar things. so before sending onto the office of economic and workforce development, the recommendations that you provided them, to amy and to joaquin last week, or last meeting, i wanted to just take an opportunity to just review them and if there was any -- and allow you the opportunity if there was anything in addition that you might want to add and affirm what your recommendations are. >> the one item, and commissioner zouzounis did bring it up in our last presentation, you know, it seems like we do these one-offs on each districts on the n.c.d.'s with changes. and the one thing they need to do citywide is to relook at the city n.c.d.'s that are named and are specific. i know castro upper market, we have been wanting a vet in our neighborhood. and in the commercial zone, the 1988 plan says you can't have a vet hospital in upper mar

. >> commissioners, hearing some of the presentation and thinking about, first, what amy cohen said about the 40% of the retail sales are on-line and thinking about some of the legislation that you've recently heard and provided comment on is that much of the regulatory environment that we have is around the brick and mortar, and if we have more on-line, more revenue -- more sales going on-line, you've had discussions about equally applying those regulatory requirements to align. so i don't know if there's a recommendation that goes into their final report that if we're going to be putting sort of land restrictions on our brick and mortar businesses or developing taxes and/or licenses and fees, if -- [ inaudible ] >> so since you've had that discussion, i just wanted to mention, you know, in terms of sort of doing the level playing field between our brick and mortars and on-line retailers. >> absolutely. commissioner riley? >> yes. this commission has been working on streamlining some of the permit process and eliminating some of the unnecessary or outdated permits so -- to make it easier

i am amy cohen, the state election directors in all 50 states. the district of columbia, samoa, guam, puerto rico, and the u.s. virgin islands. our members are the professionals that implement policies, procedures and technologies and the mission is to promote transparent elections in the best practices. since elections were detonated, -- were designated our efforts have been more important than ever before. in 40 states, the secretary of state is the chief official and in the remainder, this is the executive correct director of a border commission. beyond differences in leadership and policies, the states differ in the way elections are conducted. in eight states, they're at the township instead of the county level. wisconsin has local clerks responsible for conducting elections in addition to the state election offices. i highlight these differences with how complex they really are. every state election official is a planner. they spent every day since the 2016 election learning how to improve for the future and the designation has given us acc

. >> amy cohen from the national state directors and eric rosen back, codirector of the harvard school for science and international affairs. i might add for the record that we also invited a representative of the federal bureau of investigation to participate in today's hearing, but the committee's request was declined. you are the experts on cyber security in elections and while we just received the big picture assessment, we are going to rely on you to provide us a great deal more fidelity. jeanette, i would like you to provide details on the services dhs is providing to states and local officials and what a service dhs may need to provide the services comprehensively. jim and amy, i hope you will provide a view from the states and those on the ground who actually run elections. it's critical to har what states need and all of the help from d.c. is proving to be valuable. we have done an indepth look at posture and run table top exercises and look forward to hearing your outside assessment of how the partnership between dhs and the states is working. in the interest of time, i'll en

he was talking to michael cohen to leverage a deal. with ami. d not blessed it i'm sure ami was never going to pay her the money in the first place. so. >> she wants the life rights back from ami. that that's essentially what they own in that contract. is that something she can actually sue to get back? >> yes. she can sue to get that back. when you say you want your life rights back and you're not in this for the money, that's another thing this is perplexing. i don't understand what the end game is. it's probably above my pay grade. but it doesn't make a lot of sense. unless she's just out there and wants to increase her fame kwoegs. or figures this is a good way to get her out there and reinvigorate the career because they promised her that. that might be the case. in terms of a legal case, most judges that i know are going to rule that she violated this. she got what she was supposed to get. 150 grand. there maybe something where they would have had a better case if she hadn't violated. if she said i was supposed to get these appearances and

reporter: mcdougal's lawyer says his client didn't know cohen, the president's longtime personal attorney, was secretly involved in her deal. amiart of the deal and cohen says he doesn't remember e-mails from the company, according to "the new york times." meantime, the president has denied all of the women's allegations. >> where is this guy? why won't he come and say -- >> oh, he'll -- >> because, obviously -- >> wait a minute, let me finish. >> believe me, he can't wait to come here and talk about this. >> can't wait? >> a federal judge has been assigned to stormy daniels' case. now. the president's attorneys say they are now appealing the summer zervos case. and on the mcdougal case, ami has responded to mcdougal's comments on television today, her suggestion that mcdougal knew they were never going to publish her alleged story of an extramarital relationship with president trump. this is not true. at this time, says ami, no editorial decision had been made, finalized, when it comes to that, or thaud never toey'd her how her story may be published. the story is more valuable today, ami, says than it was two years ago and ou

. >> trump, cohen and ami have all disputed the affairs. he says he doesn't remember any e-mails coming from ami to him in mcdougal's case and denies intimidating anyone. ami denied the allegation there was a coordinated campaign to convince mcdougal that she would be sued her reputation would be besmirched if she told the truth. they say that's not true. in fact, shoe sued us. now that keith davidson, we heard from a spokesperson, he was the attorney back then for stormy daniels and the attorney for karen mcdougal unbeknownst to mcdougal as well. we heard from a spokesperson saying he would like to talk because of attorney privilege. and we should mention stormy daniels has said publicly now on her twitter feed she was lied to, lied about and that she was bullied, and she was talking about president trump. wolf? >> all right, sarah, thank you. sarah snyder reporting. joining us now stormy daniels' attorney, michael avenatti. >> thanks for having me. >> you put up this tweet, a picture is worth a thousand words. how many words is this worth

there will be financial ruin. >> reporter: trump, cohen, and the parent company of the "national enquirer," amive all disputed various claims. cohen says trump denies the affairs ever took place and knew nothing of the deals. he says he doesn't remember any e-mails coming from ami to him in mcdougal's case and denies intimidating anyone. ami denies any coordinated campaign to convince mcdougal that she would be sued or that her reputation would be besmirched if she told the truth. now, the attorney that once represented stormy daniels and karen mcdougal in 2016 says he would like to talk about what mcdougal has said about him, but that he can't because of attorney-client privilege. don? >> sara sidner, thank you very much. i want to bring in know conservative commentator carrie sheffie sheffield, ana navarro, also a conservative. >> i'm a republican. >> all righty. >> i think there are some nuances. >> we'll talk about that, but let's get to the nuances of this story because we don't have a ton of time. stormy daniels' attorney michael avenatti tweeted out this last night. he said, if a picture

whole new world of potential discovery because if her lawyer was involved in cahoots with michael cohen and ami, that's not going to go to arbitration from what we can see. finally, summer zervos, her lawsuit is a defamation lawsuit and no binding arbitration there. the discovery process is open to the public. but, of course, there's an ap l appellaappe appellate process summer's case is going to take. as you also mentioned, chris, mueller is snokknocking at his , too. he's got a lot of problems. he being donald trump. >> as i mentioned nbc news confirmed the news former playboy model karen mcdougal fought a lawsuit against ami, parent company of the "national enquirer." said in a statement ""ami lied o me, repeatedly manipulated, intimidated me. i want the opportunity to set the record straight, move on with my life free from this company, its executives and lawyer." jonathan capehart, a couple compelling arguments here. one, you can argue zmd zchstorm daniels and the president deserve each other. i don't think there's any hero in that particular story. the mcdougal story, she tried to sell he

but in the mcdougal lawsuit, the "new york times" reported that ami has denied koenl was part of the deal is that cohen't remember e-mails from the company. in a statement tuesday, ami said the contract with miss mcdougal was valid and it looked forward to receiving an amicable resolution. it add that had while she had given editorial discretion, she had been free to respond to press inquiries about her relationship with president trump since 2016. >> and the columnist thinks trump might have met his match with stormy daniels. the saga of the adult film star and the juvenile president has become a rollicking affair th that. >> do you think he's met his match? >> it is certainly, an unorthodox manner. she is very media savvy. very social media savvy. she knows how to deal with publicity. hell, she spells better than he does on twitter. and it is all fascinating. it is like, can you imagine this? a porn star, a playboy bunny, a reality star and a guy named pecker walk into a bar. really. it is the beginning of a raunchy joke, isn't it? and look. if michael wolff's "fire and fury" sold over 2 million copi

that suit implicates trump and hiss lawyer michael cohen, it's technically against ami, the publisher of the "national enquirer," then you look to the right side of your screen, the news breaks today, a judge ruling that summer zervo s's suit is not frivolous and it will also go forward and go to court. gloria allred who represents summer zervos. i wanting to turn to you, liz, because you said something on this show a while ago that got some attention, that it might be an adult film actress who ultimately outsmarts donald trump. how do you take that point and extend it to these other stories that all just happen to be breaking tonight? >> it's only fitting that a president who spends so much of his time in office trying to control women's bodies that he might go down because he isn't able to control his body. and that is honestly the best case scenario, right, in all of these stories, but the two involving adult film stars is that he had affairs with these women, that he's a cheating pig. that's the best-case scenario right now. the worst-case scenario, is that we don't nknow what don

. >> trump, cohen and the parent company, ami, have all disputed various claims. trump denies the affairs never took place and knew nothing of the deals. he said he doesn't remember any e-mails coming to him in mcdougal's case and denies it. ami denies any coordinated campaign to convince mcdoing a pal she would be sued or her reputation would be besmirched if she told the truth. now, keith davidson, the lawyer for both stormy at one time and the lawyer for mcdougal at one time has put out a statement saying he has reviewed the lawsuit where his name appears. that is mcdougal aets lawsuit. and he would like the talk but he cannot talk because of attorney-client privilege. >> all right. thank you. >>> what did the first lady to have say at her public appearance since the karen mcdougal's interview? that's next. ♪ [cheers] that's all it takes? guess i'll bring a can of this stuff everywhere. yeah! then i'll become the world's best dad. made with real cream. reddi-wip. instant greatification. dugard. >>> moments ago the president departed the white house. he was not

was talking to my lawyer she is trying to imply that cohen may have somehow been part of this deal with amiich gets to the central intrigue, league or otherwise, which is did a friend of donald trump pay somebody money to shut somebody up and squash their story. >> i read a profile and asked and he said, yeah, we paid her because we wanted to help trump. >> he said we paid her because i friend donald trump. ory for my >> absolutely. >> areva, what might that mean? >> that is one of the arguments that karen is making, she wasn't aware of the back room dealings that were happening with regards to the contract that she signed. and she expressed anger even last night in the interview by not knowing, she said, that michael cohen was talking with her lawyer. and part of her lawsuit is that she was fraudulently induced into signing this contract without having full knowledge of pe pecker's relationship with trump and his potential involvement in killing the story. she is not only suing ami. she is also saying her lawyer -- her former lawyer is at fault and should be held accountable for what she c

trump's attorney, michael cohen were working together to secure her silence. in a statement, ami said, karen mcdougal has been free to respond to press inkwir rear as but her relationship with president trump since 2016. thus the suggestion, ami silenced her is without merit. mcdougal, the late woes man to take legal action over an agreement allege lead restricting her from speak outing about president trump before his time in office. adult film actress, stormy dan yemz has the also taken the president and his personal attorney to court, and in an attempt to end a nondisclosure agreeme agreement. the white house has dismissed her claims. >> he denied all these allegations. >> cbs news obtained a report from a polygraph daniels took in 2011 at the request of a media outlet that wanted to publish her story. the examiner found a more than 99% probability she told the truth. when she said that she and mr. trump had unprotected sex in 2006. bumt h but her claim he offered her a job on apprentice was judged inconclue sieve. the story never ran. she took to twitter to say she believes t

. >> trump, cohen and the parent company of the national enquirer ami have all disputed various claimstrump denies the affairs ever took place, and knew nothing of the deals, he says he doesn't remember any e-mails coming from ami to him in mcdougal's case and denies intimidating anyone. ami denies any coordinated campaign to convince mcdougal that she would be sued or that her reputation would besmurched if she told the truth. the attorney who represented the women in 2016, says he would like to talk about what mcdougal has said about him, but he can't because of attorney client privilege. >>> i want to bring in carrie sheffield anna a navarro. let's go to the story. just because we don't have a ton of time. a picture is worth 1,000 words how many words is this worth. 60 minutes, please deny it. a photo of a disk in a safe. wolf blitzer asked him today what that meant. here's what he said. >> the tweet is a warning shot, i want to be clear about this, it's a warning shot to michael cohen and anyone else else that they better be very careful after sunday night relating to what they say

cohen was in contact with american media during these negotiations, we already hat the times had previously reported that ami did talk to her during the course of the reporting. we lost learned that there was some outreach between the lawyer and michael cohen. but where this goes from now, we'll see, like the stormy daniels case, the question is does it get into open court? like stephanie clifford, there was an agreement to have this hashed out in confidential arbitration, in secret proceedings, she's taking it to open court, to the question is will the court hear this. >> what does this all mean for the president? ari melber, msnbc's chief legal corporate and the host of "the beat with ari melber and i know you were on tv when all this broke so i know you have chewed on some of this. talk to me about what you think this means. the president, does he have to respond to this? does this start to unfold -- >> the supreme court ruled that presidents do have to respond to civil cases even while in office, and that was part of the scandal that bedeviled bill clinton. so he does have to response and he also entered

amy: before we go, i would ask by the resignation of president trump's top economic advisor gary cohenho oppose the president went to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. can you talk about the significance of his leaving? it is very unfortunate, but not surprising perhaps. gary condit not choose to leave after charlottesville, although he tried to get some media attention saying he was thinking about leaving. -- to not choose after leave after the muslim ban or after president trump endeddaca. wallose to leave after street profits were being threatened. that is the culture of wall street. you are pure credit for trying to say, oh, we support the dreamers, but when the rubber the road, wall street banker not lobbying for a clean dream act, their lobbying for once like we just discussed. amy: i want to thank you alexis goldstein for joining us, senior policy analyst at americans for financial reform, a nonpartisan coalition of over 200 organizations working for a safe and ethical financial system. former occupy wall street activist who was moving for that, a wall street banker. in this

a guy named peter strisz sent an e-mail accusing ami of a multi-faceted effort to silence karen mcdebc l mcdougal. your reaction? >> it's michael cohen. why is michael cohen -- why is his paw prints on everything? and so what ends up happening is, if you want to have a binding contract, chris, you have to look at the intent of the parties. and if you look at the intent of the parties, you can look at things like e-mails, correspondence, letters in order to prove the intent of the parties to enter into a binding contract. that contract would be that nondisclosure agreement that karen mcdougal is challenging right now and the fact that she's bringing a lawsuit means she want the opportunity to be able to have that discovery process occur so things like interrogatories and depositions, things that could help provide the information that she can use to prove exactly what she's alleging in her complaint can be provided, but i'll bet you that there's -- i bet you there's an arbitration provision there. i bet you'll we'll hear that argument. >> torhe other piece, in many ways, the legal odds for this brand-new lawsuit breaking right now for

ami silenced her is complete without merit. the white house says president trump denies this affair. attorney michael cohenot answer our request for comment. peter strauss is karen mcdougal's current lawyer. i'm assuming you're ready to answer all the questions. >> i'm ready. >> first of all, peter, what did she think she was signing and why did she sign it? >> american media ink not only owned "national enquirer" but six fitness magazines. she thought she was signing a legitimate writing and modeling contract. to be clear she knew they were buying her story and she knew that the "national even requirer" was not going to publish it. but she had no idea she wasn't going to be able to respond to press inquiries. ami takes the position she can and we're thrilled, but the reality is their private position is very different and for over a year, they've made her terrified. >> how so? >> so after "the new yorker" ronan farrow story came out, any disclosures will lead to breach of contract and will lead to significant monetary damages. we all know what that means. you get sued for $20 million. >> if they're saying

cohen. >> let's talk more about the developments in washington, d.c. involving the president. many things to discuss. amyresearcher at u.s. political science and author of america after obama. she is live for us in paris. thanks for being with us. you're a political scientist. i don't know where this issue comes up in your professional career, but we'll talk about the two women who say that they had affairs with donald trump many years ago and they are giving interviews on the record this week. will this be an issue that catches up with him in any significant way do you think? >> stormy daniels and karen mcdoogm mcdougal is a slow burning issue for the president. we've been talking about the fact that this just won't go away. clearly stormy daniels is not going away. she is not threatened by the president. she is not threatened buyer the non-disclosure agreement which many experts have questioned the authority of it suggesting that it amounts effectively to a gag order. and so essentially you have this person who is absolutely not afraid to persist to continue to fight this battle in court taking the ris

cohen has long said donald trump has denied the affairs took place and knew nothing of the deals. ami says they deny any coordinated campaign to convince mcdougal she would be sued. >> i think somebody is lying and to it's not me. >> he knows i'm telling truth. >> reporter: there is one difference. stormy daniels said she did not find the president attractive and it was a business dealing. he certainly never loved him. mcdougal said something different. she said she loved the president and said that the president told her he loved her too. erin. >> thank you very much. >> outfront now gloria alred. good to have you back. let me start with you. the stories sound a lot alike and some rather unsettling ways. does that make them more or less believable to you? >> i find them to be credible but there are stark differences. while both appeared to be consensual. it's interesting that karen mcdougal suggested there was a romantic relationship. they said they loved each other and she had nothing negative at all to say about president trump. on the other hand, in reference to stormy daniels, th

hedge fund insider trader stephen cohen, who is try to set up an alternative mental health system to compete with the v.a. this is a very serious moment for the v.a. amy: i want to turn to david shulkin who appeared last night on msnbc. >>>> there w was clear evidence, though, the polical l appointees inside v.a.. were working againt leadership team because they felt that we were trying to strengthen the v.a. rather than move it towards privatization. amy: and then i want to turn to the man that president trump is nominating to replace dr. david shulkin posted yes, donald trump has tapppped white house physicn ronny jackson to head the department of veteran's affairs. dr. jackson, a naval officer, served as white house physician under presidents george w. bush and barack obama. he received some criticism for his enthusiastic report about trump's physical condition after trump's exam in january. health is his excellent. his cardiac performance was very good. he continues to enjoy the significant, long-term cardiac in overall health benefits that come from a lifetime of abstinence from tobacco i now call. all clinical data indicates the president is ver

cohen, to keep her from undermining trump's presidential campaign. >> you know, one thing i can say for sure is that a wide circle of sources at this company, ami, whichnquirer," say that this was a de facto process. that they were aware that this was happening and that it was happening specifically to appease donald trump. >> reporter: in a statement, american media tells cnn that mcdougal has not been silenced, saying she can respond to media inquiries about her alleged affair. now, the president, through his attorneys, have denied that there were ever affairs with either of these women. wolf? >> all right. sara, thank you. sara sidner reporting. let's bring in anderson cooper right now to share his exclusive interview with the former playmate, karen mcdougal. anderson, what did she tell you, just a little while ago, about her encounter with mr. trump? >> well, far more than just one encounter. she says this was a relationship that went on for well over a year. i think she said, about 15 months or so. she has diaries in which she marked the days that she spent or saw or the evenings that she spent with donald trump. she would put a dt at the bottom

cohen, was secretly involved in the deal making. >> i feel like the contract is illegal. i feel like i wasn't presented correctly. >> reporter: ami responded to the suit saying mcdougal has been free to respond to press inquiries about her relationship with president trump since 2016. adult film star stormy daniels says she also had an affair with the president. cbs news obtained a letter her lawyer sent to the trump organization on thursday. it demands the company preserve its records relating to a $130,000 payment daniels received as part of a nondisclosure agreement that cohen negotiated. daniel's attorney cites unmistakable links that mr. trump's company was involved in the transaction before the 2016 presidential election. a lawyer for michael cohen calls this lawyer, quote, more posturing, but he's confident that this frivolous lawsuit will be thrown out soon. the white house and cohen continues to deny that the president had relationships with either one of these women but a watchdog group has asked the scc and the justice department to look into what that $150,000 payment to mcdougal was possibly an illegal campaign contr