jonathan lemire, robert costa, barbara mcquade. thank you. >>> coming up, a prom nept member of congress who went big for trump early arrested and charged by a trump appointee at the justice department for something he might have been photographed doing at the white house on the lawn. >>> and later, the president says he's five for five. others in his own party, however, are scoring the situation a bit differently with the midterms 90 days away. "the 11th hour" just getting started on wednesday night. are you ready to take your wifi to the next level? then you need xfinity xfi. a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. >>> he was quite notably at the time the fist member of congress to support donald trump for president. today he was arrested. republican congressman chris collins is facing charges of insider trading

bring back my impressive female legal counsel, former new york congresswoman liz holtzman and barbara mcquade, a former u.s. attorney in michigan. barbara, can i start with you on judge ellis. he seems to have emerged as a very interesting character in the course of this trial and it sounds like he was back to pressing the prosecution. should we read in anything into that? do you think that he thinks they are making mistakes? >> well, i don't think his behavior is unique to this case. i've talked to people who practice in front of judge ellis and it seems to be his m.o. that he pushes cases. you know, this is the district knowns athe rocket docket so he's constantly hurrying people along. the thing that would frustrate me as a prosecutor is the extent to which he involves himself in the case. he asks questions of witnesses, he makes statements, and that can really disrupt the strategy of a prosecutor when they're trying to put on their case. he's also very reluck tangt cta allow the prosecutors to show exhibits while they're telling their story. in a complex case like this, i think it's reall

also with us is barbara mcquade. before i get into the crux of where we stand right now, barbara, i have to address one matter we just heard president trump talk about in his interview. this allegation that he makes that president obama did this, they are completely separate matters. the $375,000 fine that was paid by the obama administration were about campaign filing irregularities. this is about a conspiracy, a felony conspiracy to keep something of public interest out of the way of the american people to influence the election. the idea that the president is conflating those is ridiculous. >> yeah, this is just another example of what aboutism. it's a game he likes to play and a lot of people fall for it. if you look at the facts of what happened in the obama situation and happens in many campaigns, a civil penalty filed for technical violations and paperwork violations and that happens from time to time in this highly complex world of campaign finance. >> missing filing deadlines for filing large donations during

i now want to bring in barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in michigan.well since the trial starteded. barb, it's great to have you. thanks for being here. >> thanks, rachel. i bring greetings from all of your fans in the courtroom. >> oh, that is hard to believe. but thank you. let me ask you a legal question that i don't know wholesale to ask but i know you've been there. we have been looking at the transcript and we have been hearing reports from people in the courtroom about the judge really riding the prosecutors. criticizing their facial expressions, which direction they're looking, controlling words they might want to ask, cutting them off in their questions. it seems like the judge is being much harder on the prosecutors than he's being on the defense attorneys. what's your impression of that, and should those of us who aren't lawyers and don't necessarily know how trials usually go, should we see this as unusual or important? >> i do think it's unusual. it's not unusual that a judge wants to take command of a courtroom. he wants to make everyone

with us for more, barbara mcquade, u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. she was in the courtroom for the proceedings. barbara, gave us the note you gave us privately about what we're not paying enough attention to. >> one of the things that i think concerns me a little bit is that the judge, in an effort to move things along quickly, which most people do appreciate, and out of concern that some of the evidence of paul manafort's lavish lifestyle might cause resentment among the jury is limiting the amount of evidence that the prosecution is being allowed to present in court. it concerns me that the jury may have difficulty understanding the significance of some of the things that are coming in. there's a lot of documents here. booking a flight at the last minute doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. it was always our singular focus, a distinct determination. to do whatever it takes, use

with us tonight, barbara mcquade, former u.s.for the eastern district of michigan, who was inside court for today's testimony. she's at the end of a long day for herself. eli hoening is with us, former assistant attorney general for the state of new jersey. peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times." good evening too you all, i apologize for the late hour. barbara, i have to hear about the parts of this that we are not allowed to see, cameras are not allowed in the court. what were the atmospherics like, especially between gates and mueller? >> it was very interesting to see gates testify. he never made contact with paul manafort. he would look at the prosecutoring and tprosecutoor or at the jury. i thought gates did fairly well on his direct examination. they used a lot of documents that he connected the dots. a lot of it was corroborated with e-mail and other documents. i thought he didn't do well on cross-examination, he seemed evasive and argumentative. i think he admitted to a lot of fraud and a lo

back with us is barbara mcquade, who not only is a former u.s. . we can't thank her enough for staying late to talk about it with us. barbara, what does the jury make of this thing thus far? we've gone from are ostrich jackets to mention of four extramarital affairs to a man they know is the star witness. >> one of the things today i thought was a great recovery day for the government. after sort of this roller coaster ride of rick gates on the stand, they had sort of a stomach soothing day with these two experts. the forensic accountant and the irs revenue agent who did a very nice job, rather tedious presentation, but went through charts that they had compiled that showed very meticulously thats it was paul manafort who controlled these accounts overseas, that wire transfers went from the accounts to buy his luxury goods, the suits, the rugs, the car, the homes, and all of those things, and that this income did not show up on his income tax return. so i thought that was very methodical. it was exactly what they needed after hearing from rick gat

anyway from outside the court in virginia where paul manafort is barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney plus another former u.s. attorney, the great joyce vance, assistant watergate prosecutor and jill wine-banks. in addition to the power house panel of lady lawyers we have phil rucker, white house bureau chief for the washington post. all of them, each and every one msnbc analyst and/or contributor. great to have them here. phil, i want to start with you because you're in new york city. you get pride of place. i want to spend some time, if i had my way, we'd spend some time talking about the weirdness of donald trump talking about anyone else's hair, his hair getting whiter and whiter sort of blows my mind. his is not changing at all. if anything it is getting more and more orange. the thing i want to ask you about is donald trump's anxiety. he did not talk about paul manafort last night. he has started talking about paul manafort on twitter this week. how freaked out by paul manafort is donald trump? >> he's bothered by the paul manafort trial. he's bothered by the media cove

barbara mcquade is a former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. and matthew miller is the former chief spokesman for the justice department. all four are msnbc analysts. thank you for joining us here on a thursday. barbara, let me start with you. the president said -- you heard him say just moments ago, if this doesn't straighten out soon i'll have to get involved. that's ominous talk because we don't know what if this doesn't straighten out soon looks like. >> yeah, injecting politics into the department of justice is so incredibly damaging. you know, the department of justice has a history of acting with independence. and from day one president trump has tried to politicize it. if they don't do what he likes then he's going to have to get involved. i think it really undermines the credibility of the department and insults the wonderful public servants who work there, who dedicate their careers to serving the public. i think it's very harmful and has a harmful effect long-term to suggest that there's a political agenda there and he needs to strai

joining me now is barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in michigan and msnbc contributor, who has been in the courtroom for some of these dramatic exchanges especially between the prosecutor and the judge. and barbara, i gather today there was somewhat of an apology from judge ellis. >> he did. yesterday he yelled at the lawyers in open court, in front of the jury, when he learned that their expert witness had been in the courtroom throughout the duration of the trial. now, the prosecutors had asked permission for that, it's actually fairly common to have an expert witness in the courtroom, because they're not testifying about fact or giving an opinion, and they need to know what has been said so they can give an opinion about it. the judge said it's not his policy and he scolded them in open court yesterday in front of the jury. overnight the government filed a motion for a curative instruction. they supported it with the part of the transcript where the judge said they had permission to do that. and so today the judge did say to

attorney, barbara mcquade. all right, barbara, that's my simple first question here. i know that u.s. attorneys, sometimes you want to use the press, sometimes you don't. bob mueller is a man who does not want to use the press at all. but it's a one-sided fight right now. if it is a pr battle, does bob mueller need to rethink his strategy? >> well, i think it is his m.o. certainly to stay out of the press. he has been known for saying that the press is -- can be your friend at times but at other times not, so he prefers to keep his head down and to do his work. so i doubt he's going to change his ways. although you make a good point, which is he's used to working in a world where the ultimate decision maker is a judge or a jury and it doesn't matter what the press has to say and doesn't matter what public opinion says. in this scenario where it could come down to a report for impeachment consideration, it very much is a political situation and up for public debate so is he out of his comfort zone here where he's dealing with something where the political stakes are so

with us for more, barbara mcquade, u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. room for the proceedings. barbara, gave us the note you gave us privately about what we're not paying enough attention to. >> one of the things that i think concerns me a little bit is that the judge, in an effort to move things along quickly, which most people do appreciate, and out of concern that some of the evidence of paul manafort's lavish lifestyle might cause resentment among the jury is limiting the amount of evidence that the prosecution is being allowed to present in court. it concerns me that the jury may have difficulty understanding the significance of some of the things that are coming in. there's a lot of documents here. today we had the bookkeeper testifying about a lot of documents. and the judge does not allow the prosecution to publish the documents to the jury so they can see it in real time. he says they can read those things later. and same thing with photographs of some of the lavish luxury items that paul manafort bought, you know, things like luxury cars and c

and so with that i want to bring in barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in michigan and a msnbc contributor. i know you've been tracking this. what's the latest, what's happening there, barbara? >> kind of an unusual day today. ordinarily the judge keeps a tight ship and starts promptly at 9:30. today when court began at 9:30, the judge came out, asked for a sidebar with the lawyers, that is a private conversation that the rest of us couldn't hear. they talked for a while. he took a recess. he came back and talked further. finally he dismissed the jury until 1:45. it has left the group speculating, everyone here, what is going on. one thing that he did that might provide some clue is he really went out of his way to admonish the jury, as he does a little bit every day, but today it seemed very pointed, where he told the jury that they are not to discuss the case, they are to presume the defendant innocent, that they should keep open minds about the evidence until they've heard the whole case. and so there's some speculation that perhaps there is s

attorney barbara mcquade. she's been inside the court throughout this entire trial. barbara, what is going on? >> well, as you say, we finally resumed. we were scheduled to go back at 1:45, yet another delay occurred when the lawyers all went back into the judge's chambers for about another half hour. at 2:15 the judge said you may call your next witness and we proceeded as if nothing had happened. so the mystery remains a mystery, but the trial is back rolling along. >> there was some -- there were questions about the jury and whether or not this halt in these proceedings had to do with improper conduct by a juror. after all, the judge came back in and reminded them, again, you're not allowed to talk about this case with anybody when you leave. you've got to keep an open mind. any indication that one of the jurors was dismissed and an alternate is now sitting in? what have you seen? >> no, the jury appears to all bow back. you're right, this morning the judge gave an extra long admonition to the jury. he always reminds them not to talk about the case, but today it wa

joining me now, jill former assistant watergate special prosecutor and msnbc contributor barbara mcquade former district attorney for the eastern district of michigan and also an msnbc contributor. barbara, let me start with you. what do crow make of this latest depu development? it can't be underscored that the didn't you u country didn't know the name of weisselberg, first got familiar with that name when the recording was released in which he talked to donald trump about consulting with weisselberg. what do you make of the fact that he now has some sort of an ex-munt agreement? >> i think it's very significant when immunity agreements are granted, they are not usually specific to one particular target like michael cohen in this instance. it's usually for any and all crimes that you have knowledge of. and so my guess is that weisselberg is talking about who his executive two, who else in the trump organization might have been involved in these payments, and could even incriminate the trump organization itself. so the fact that he thought he needed immunity suggests that he believed he

so i think we might see that. >> barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in michigan.e you here tonight. >> thanks, rachel. >> what a day. that does it for us for right this second. see you again tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. and i was so struck by your interview with lanny davis which is making news in that last hour. not only did he tell you that michael cohen has information that as he said should be of interest to the special counsel, there's this specificity he got into at the end of that answer where he said it includes knowledge about the computer crime of hacking and whether or not mr. trump knew ahead of time about that crime and even cheered it on. we know he publicly cheered it on but did he also do that in private and did he have private information? and that was as far as lanny davis was willing to go tonight. but that sounds like the tip of an iceberg. >> he did literally make the offer on tv right here live that

so i think we might see that. >> barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in michigan.ood to have you here tonight. >> thanks, rachel. >> what a day. that does it for us for right this second. see you again tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. and i was so struck by your interview with lanny davis which is making news in that last hour. not only did he tell you that michael cohen has information that as he said should be of interest to the special un

i'm joined by barbara mcquade at the trial today and josh gerstein reporting as politico's correspondent and covering the manafort case since the we beginning. barbara, i will you the that question to you. >> yeah about, whether gates will testify? interesting moment in the trial. and there was sort of a sudden hush in the courtroom. and then a sudden scurrying when a number of people ran out the back. in fact, judge ellis himself said that's a surprise to me. and apparently to about 25 other people in the courtroom who just ran out of here like ras fleeing a singing ship. presumably reporters who were going to report back there statement. and if you think about it, it may very well be that they decide not to call rick gates. in my view, the case is.coming in very well. they've gotten in lots of documents. this is primarily a paper case which if you're a prosecutor is a dream because paper doesn't lie. paper doesn't forget. paper doesn't admit to biases and so if you can problem your case with paper, you may not need a live wit fles who can go sideways in a lot of ways. it sounds like th

. >>> barbara mcquade is back with us. you explained every inch of this manafort journey with us. out the idea even if trump pardons him, he's not safe for what manafort could reveal about him and mr. gates who is manafort's deputy who is already a cooperating witness. there is probably nowhere to hide from what manafort and gates know. >> yeah, you know, it's interesting. you'd have to sort of game this out how it would work with a pardon. if manafort were pardoned, that means he is no longer able to be convicted of a crime and so that means he doesn't have a 5th amendment right not to testify. that means that a prosecutor could compel him to testify and make him answer questions. a couple of wrinkles with that. number one, when you compel a witness as opposed to having a witness cooperate, they're a lot less likely to volunteer and tell the fulgt story. they may answer yes and no truthfully but they're not going to volunteer the information you really need to tell a compelling narrative. they're not quite as useful as a cooperator. the other thing is i'm not so sure you could ge

washer joining us is eugene robinson and barbara mcquade in alexandria. i heard you tell someone how strange it is chiming in helping the defense make its case. tell us what happened and how do you recover from that if there is an impression in the jurors' mind that the judge may have a preference? >> yeah, i don't know that i would go so far as to accuse the judge of trying to help one side or the other, but he is a very hands-on judge. he makes a lot of editorial comments and he sometimes asks his own questions. and you know, when it is the government that has the burden of proof in a case like this, you could be concerned he could be affecting the outcome. for example, yesterday rick gates testified that paul manafort paid very close attention to the finances. and the judge interjected, well, obviously not close enough because he didn't notice that you were stealing from him. that is the absolute theory that the defense is trying to explain to the jury. that's their argument. and so when the judge makes that point, you can't help but think that the jur

barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan.ering the supreme court. if you had not had a chance to read his last article, you should. it's good reading. >>> still ahead, sometimes the most urgent alarm makes no sound at all. that story ahead. stay with us. i didn't believe it. again. ♪ ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? ♪ i want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ♪ ooh i'm not hearing the confidence. okay, hold the name your price tool. power of options based on your budget! and! ♪ we'll make heaven a place on earth ♪ yeah! oh, my angels! ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ [ sobs quietly ] until i held her.a place managing my type 2 diabetes wasn't my top priority. i found my tresiba® reason. now i'm doing more to lower my a1c. i take tresiba® once a day. tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction. (woman) we'd been counting down to his retirement. it was our tresiba® reason. he needs insulin to control his high blood sugar and, at his age, he's at greater risk for low blood sugar. tresiba® releas

co-founder and ceo of axios jim vandehei and msnbc contributor barbara mcquade. mika has the morning off. so, john, first of all, got so much to talk about. first of all, john heilemann, hold up the tabloids this morning, because they basically say what i knew they were going to say. which is, you know whoever is in charge of writing headlines for the tabloids, we're like, you know what? i'm going to get in a little late tonight, because we can just -- we can recycle all the anthony weiner headlines and -- and go that direction. >> yesterday was kind of christmas, if you're, if you work on what they like to call "the wood" at the new york tabloids. first one i like. right to the "new york post." see it here. what's in the safe? inquiring minds what to know. reference to reporting we'll talk about today from the associated press that there is a safe in david picker of the "national enquirer" from that office. yesterday david picker flipped the thing donald trump would like to outlaw. >> what's in the -- by the way, john heilemann, interesting, looks a little like

danny savalas, barbara mcquade and go through each of you. jonathan turley, scale of one to ten, how bad is this for the president and what are the possibilities? >> well, it couldn't be worse, and i have to say, i'm not as convinced about this new morality play featuring michael cohen. this idea that he's suddenly liberated in the sense he's going to tell the truth. it doesn't fit with the indictment. look at the first six counts. he's a felon, and he has a reputation in new york of being something of a thug. so he's not that credible of a witness. i mean, if everything that was said yesterday is true, then most of the things he said for the entire year before were lies. and so that means that -- >> right. >> -- his use as a witness will require corroboration. having said that, he just did implicate the president in a crime. the president is effectively an unindicted co-conspirator, if you believe everything that was in this filing. that makes this campaign finance case a difficult thing usually to prosecute, stronger than the john edwards c

joinsing us now barbara mcquad. good morning. walking out of the courtroom yesterday? >> i think my headline was that gates got beat up a little bit on cross-examination and may have been damaged but i don't think so much so that it's going to lose the case for the prosecution. >> and what about this relationship with calk? who exactly is he? how does he figure into this big picture for paul manafort? >> yeah, he's an interesting name. he is this person who is a lender from a chicago bank, lent paul manafort during a time when he lost his job, lost his money, was really broke. lent him something like $16 million. and his name then shows up on the counsel of economic advisers for president trump. paul manafort, as you said, wants him to be considered for secretary of the army. he shows up at the inauguration. he's an interesting figure. we have not heard a lot of evidence about this particular loan yet. i imagine that gates was put into the middle of the trial by prosecutors, so that if he were to stumble, they started strong, the

seth waxon, barbara mcquade. thank you, i want to start with the legal questions right now. it seems to me, seth, that the only thing protecting this president from a criminal indictment is the fact that he is president right now and he will be for the rest of his four-year term. who knows what comes later. >> i agree. if this were an average citizen engaging in this kind of conduct, you would think he would be a co-conspirator. many people hold the opinion that he can't be indicted as a sitting president. i tend to fall under that category, but yet to see how that plays out. >> barbara, they say no one is above the law. that is part of our national belief system. in this case, it seems like the president is above the law until he is not president. how do you read it? >> i agree with seth, i think a president cannot be indicted. but he can be impreaeached and later indicted. >> you agree with brett kavanaugh that the president shouldn't be harbored or bothered by criminal investigation or indictment. he said not even investigation. >> i agree that is doj policy, and i believ

joining me, barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney and msnbc contributor.and security analyst matt miller, former justice department chief spokesman and msnbc political analyst rick tyler, former spokesman for newt gingrich and ted cruz and all around good guy. thank you very much, rick. i mean, want to talk to you about the polls also. you are the polling maven here. what is happening with the republican base? first, barbara, how can the justice department continue to operate this way when jeff sessions is under not only constant attack but now you see the first cracks in the republican senate support for him. other than senator cornyn and some of the others, you have grassley and lindsey graham now saying, well, you know, we could hold hearings and replace him and maybe his time is limited. >> the relationship between president trump and attorney general sessions is really unusual. but many of us, former doj employees were actually cheering attorney general sessions for finally defending the department because we see it not as just a battle between the pr

the mounting legal consequences facing manafort after this week, i'm joined by legal analyst barbara mcquade and msnbc legal analyst nick akerman. barbara, you've been following this trial closely and i think you've actually been in the room for a few days. i'm an amateur, i'm just watching this and reading the coverage and talking to people who were there. it does not look good for him. this was not a great week for paul manafort. >> yeah, i think the evidence is coming in and it seems to me very persuasive. you never know exactly how much of it the jury is absorbing, but they seem very engaged, they're taking notes, they're listening. i think they provided very substantial evidence that paul manafort was using these offshore accounts to fund his lavish lifestyle and failed to report them on his income taxes. he failed to disclose these foreign bank accounts. today we saw evidence of bank fraud. in fact so well that it makes me wonder whether they'll have to call rick gates to testify as the cooperator. as we've discussed before, paper cases are a lot safer. you don't have to worry about a

joining me in alexandria, barbara mcquade. she is also an msnbc contributor.u have been sitting in on this trial. i'm just curious, what's going on with judge ellis? is it normal the way he is going after the prosecution? >> reporter: well, it's not something you see in most cases. i am told it is normal for this judge, that he is cranky. he is extremely hands on. he has a very set idea in his mind about how a case should be tried. and if the prosecution does anything other than what's in his mind, he works hard to shut them down. it's been frustrating at times. although i sense that he is softening a little bit. early in the trial he was not allowing the prosecutors to publish or display in open court admitted exhibits, which is a routine thing to do. he accused them of trying to gild the lily by showing photos of the fancy suits that paul manafort bought and the luxury cars and the like. now that we are into financial documents and tax records he is allowing them to show the jury, which i think important. to be able to go back later and look at the things wo

barbara mcquade, thanks so much. we'll be looking to hear from you next on the trial itself when it resumes today. >>> coming up -- out of bounds? president trump lashing out at lebron james. continuing his troubling pattern of criticizing prominent african-americans. the inside scoop is next. stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed? let's say it in a really low voice. carl? lowest price, guaranteed. just stick with badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com >>> what i notice over the last few months, that he's kind of used sport to kind of divide us and that's something

. >> joining me now, nbc white house correspondent criticize ten will kerr, msnbc contributor barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney. and bloomberg news correspondent sharon petty piece, welcome all. first, kristen, the president in that fox interview seems to be getting himself more into the thick of the whole issue of the payments that were described in court as a crime, a federal crime. >> he is, andrea. he says he knew about the payment afterward. that contradicts what he initial said on air force one, which is that he didn't know about the payment at all. you have to ask michael cohen about it. so this story continues to shift and evolve. andrea, the president also indicating, by the way, it wouldn't be a crime because this didn't come the campaign coffers. that's not exactly accurate as well, because a lot of legal analysts say, bottom line is, if it were a contribution that went toward the campaign, and if that is deemed to be accurate, then it would be a contribution that wasn't reported, and that's not legal. so there's a lot to unpack here. sarah huckabee sanders digging into that pr

barbara mcquade, danny cevallos, john heilman, thank you for starting us off tonight. coming up in an extraordinary moment in the senate today not a single member of the trump administration today said a single word in defense of the president's zero tolerance policy on the southern border. the policy that has still left over 600 children in federal custody separated from their parents. when george takei was 5 years old, he was seized by the federal government and held in federal custody. he will join us later in the hour with his feelings about what children in federal custody are now experiencing. >>> and it was day one in the manafort trial today. $21,000 watches, $15,000 jackets, and $60 million in hidden income from ukraine all in one day. still nervous about finding a new apartment? yeah... but popping these things really helps me...relax. please don't, i'm saving those for later. at least you don't have to worry about renters insurance. just go to geico.com. geico helps with renters insurance? good to know. been doing it for years. that's really good to know. i'

. >> barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in michigan. thank you, barb. really good to have you here tonight. >> thanks, rachel. >> what a day. that does it for us for right this second. see you again tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. and i was so struck by your interview with lanny davis which is making news in that last hour. not only did he tell you that michael cohen has information that as he said should be of interest to the special counsel, there's this specificity he got into at the end of that answer where he said it includes knowledge about the computer crime of hacking and whether or not mr. trump knew ahead of time about that crime and even cheered it on. we know he publicly cheered it on but did he also do that in private and did he have private information? and that was as far as lanny davis was willing to go tonight. but that sounds like the tip of an iceberg. >> he did literally make the offer on tv right here live that his client would be happy to talk to

barbara mcquade, danny cevallos, john heilman, thank you for starting us off tonight. coming up in an extraordinary moment in the senate today not a single member of the trump administration today said a single word in defense of the president's zero tolerance policy on the southern border. the policy that has still left over 600 children in federal custody separated from their parents. when george takei was 5 years old, he was seized by the federal government and held in federal custody. he will join us later in the hour with his feelings about what children in federal custody are now experiencing. >>> and it was day one in the manafort trial today. $21,000 watches, $15,000 jackets, and $60 million in hidden income from ukraine all in one day. lligence, covering virtually every part of your manufacturing business. & so this won't happen. because you've made sure this sensor and this machine are integrated. & she can talk to him, & yes... atta, boy. some people assign genders to machines. and you can be sure you won't have any problems. except for the daily theft of yo

as i've been suggesting to your colleagues in week, the fact that they're not sequestered, barbara mcquade and others have tell us in federal cases they're usually not sequestered unless there's a threat to a juror. but this case involves so much attention, so much political conversation about it. daniel goldman is now with you outside the court and was just inside listening to this sidebar. what did the judge have to say, if anything? >> so the judge gave the jury what is commonly referred to as an allen charge, which is basically to tell them to continue to deliberate, to reconsider the opposing views, basically the gist of it, it was about a four or five-minute recitation of a charge that's commonly given when a jury comes out and says they're hung, which is to say go back in and keep trying, listen to other people, reconsider their views. i think as ken just said, and as chuck relayed to ken, this is very common. what is interesting, as i think you've been talking about, is that the jury used the term "a single count," that they are unable to reach agreement on. but it was unclear from

joining us now is adam liptack, court reporter for the "new york times" and barbara mcquade, former u.sstrict of michigan. thank you for being with us on a friday night. adam, let me ask you about the gravity of what happened this week because for those of us who are in it all the time it does feel like something different happened, something about the way we have to look at and refer to and treat this presidency. >> we've crossed a significant step here. the president's former lawyer said the president directed him to commit campaign finance violations in order to influence an election, to say nothing of the fact that the concerned affairs with playboy models and porn stars. it's an extraordinary thing to have your lawyer say that and there is next step it would be an indictment of the client directing the lawyer to do these acts. >> barbara, the legal liability faced by the president has widened and deepened substantially this week. the legal liability of the president is no longer an abstraction. you may believe it or not but it is now on the doorstep of the president. and that has m

a small law firm of legal experts, msnbc legal analyst danny savalas, john thnathan tu and barbara mcquade

my thanks to chuck rosenberg, joyce vance, barbara mcquade, eugene robinson, michael avenatti, elyse jordan. that does it for us. "mtp daily" starts right now. hi, chuck. >> hi, nicolle. it's a seamless hand-off. >> it's a hot potato. lu take it? >> this could be the most consequential day of the trump presidency yet. it's all happening. good evening. i'm chuck todd here in washington, and welcome to "mtp daily." we begin tonight with breaking news, and it's all crumbling on top of the president's head. mine'll cohen,'s the president's fixer and personal attorney, is an admitted felon who says he admitted campaign violations at the direction of the candidate who cohen technically did not name in court. and paul

barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in meche mitch. thank you so much, barb. i really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. i even got to ride in an elevator with brandon van grek. >> did you really in the counterespionage prosecutor guy? >> i did. >> did you say hi to him? >> i did. it's been great fun. >> i love your life. thanks, barb. that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow. may we all someday have the opportunity to ride in an elevator with a veteran counterespionage prosecutor when we're in a position to know who that is. imagine the thrill. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. and imagine the thrill for rachel maddow viewers who finally have you back. i have a message from your fans, rachel, from coast to coast, from massachusetts to california. please don't ever take a vacation again. that's doable. right? >> that seems both kind and hostile. >> it's love, rachel. it's a love thing. and i'm so glad you focused on what the judge has been doing in this trial. som

joining us now, contributor barbara mcquade inside the courtroom most days this week.od to have you with us. get us caught up on day two. how important is this bookkeeper to the story the prosecution wants to tell? >> critically important to the case, because the defense really has been that it was all rick gates. that paul manafort was a very busy man running his business. he didn't have time to attend to the business side of things and it was rick gates who was doing these things that committed these crimes, but when we heard from the bookkeeper, she made it very clear that paul manafort was paying very close attention to the details, and that he approved every penny of expenses and was involved in the revenues and so i think most of what she said undercut that defense strategy. >> so barbara, you've handled prosecutions, many of them, some like this. it feels from the outside and looks like prosecutors have a pretty strong hand. if you are prosecuting this case, how would you be feeling right now? >> well, i think prosecutors are by nature pessimists and careful and