he cannot use cohen as a witness. that would be unethical because of the testimony that costello game. he can say i have to drop the case. he may not make it without cohen. if he can't make it without cohen, he can't make it no ethical prosecutor is allowed to put on as a witness somebody who has told the lies and contradicted himself so much. so i think that bob costello is a game changer. i think maybe that's the reason for the delay here. i think ethical experts are now telling bragg, wait a minute. you cannot use cohen. so if you can make it through some of the other people, okay. go ahead. if you can't make it without cohen, you cannot bring this charge. >> that's a powerful statement. you agree, greg? >> oh, i agree 100%. you know, i mentioned it yesterday. i think when bob costello cut in to the grand jury room and told them, wait a minute. you don't have the hundreds of pages i happeneded over to alvin bragg over here. you only have six cherry-picked documents hiding from grand juries. exculpatory information

s office that i had a lot of information on michael cohen, none of which was good for michael cohen. i saw him on tv making statements that donald trump directed this and donald trump directed that. that statement that you put up on the screen earlier and read from, from february of 2018, that is very similar to what michael cohen told myself and my law partner. it's not just one onone with me. it's two-on-one and we took notes. that statement from february of 2018 that you just read is very, very similar. except for the fact that in april of 2018 when we met with him, he was suicidal. the mine was beside himself. his apartment and his law office had been searched pursuant to a warrant by the fbi. he said to us that his world is over. his family life is destroyed, his business life is destroyed. he was absolutely destroyed. he looked like he hadn't slept in a couple days. then he told us, by the way, i was up on the roof, the weekend before, which i think was one or two days before, seriously considering jumping off the roof. when i heard that, i didn't know whether he was being a dr

but he's talking about conversations that he had with michael cohen soon after cohen was, his officeion is that cohen had enlisted costello because costello had a good relationship with rudy giuliani. and michael cohen wanted a pardon from donald trump, and was toeing the line, the trump line as a good soldier that he was at the time to try to get that pardon. one that did not happen, obviously, michael cohen came clean. and admitted that, in fact, that donald trump had instructed him to pay the hush money to stormy daniels. and if there was any doubt about that, there's a recording. so, you know, this is not, this doesn't really seem to impact the case one way or another. because these conversations between cohen and costello happened well before michael cohen pleaded guilty to this charge and admitted, ultimately, what happened. >> so, let me get the straight. he -- he said this, what we did some say, was outside the grand jury on monday. and he mentions a conversation with dan goldman, who's now a congressman. and you're telling us that the conversation he mentioned had absolutely

the reporting coming fro michael cohen himself. nbc news not able to independently confirm whethe or not he actually will be going back again that's what we're hearing only from michael cohen himself thank you so much, my friend new today, north korea has launched a short range ballistic missile for the thir day in a row according to both japan an south korea. but the united states and sout korea did not let this lates provocative actions stop previously scheduled joint military drills there. south korea fischel saying quote, the primary goal of thi exercise is sort of spla ironclad combined defens posture as well as to show the extent of deterrence and action this is not the only news from overseas we're tracking for yo right now. in a matter of hours, russia president vladimir putin is se to host chinese president xi jinping who is traveling t moscow but not before puti made his first visit int occupied ukraine, visiting the city of mariupol and even going over plans fo bill the city he's responsible for nearly decimating. let's

cohen is appearing here tonight.f and rebut any of it, as is only fair. but as you mentioned there's a legally valid part of this which is that taken together especially if there's other evidence that the office you used to work in, you were civil at sdny, they had this and thought this complicate it, that according to mr. costello the current grand jury is not seeing all that. nor need they legally. but sooner or later that's the stuff that comes out. all of that may lead to undercutting mr. cohen. also, this is the thing about litigating deliberate secrecy agreements. it's also possible that the very underlying secrecy that mr. cohen was executing on behalf of mr. trump meant as mr. tack pooeno said to me last week, of course it's not true. it meant that sometimes you keep secret or mislead about items because that's the nature of the agreement. so mr. cohen -- again, i'm going to ask him about all of this. but mr. cohen might very well have said yeah, no, those steps were taken precisely because it was that purpos

why make sure that cohen is there? >> because whatever it is that costello offers, if they want to present michael cohen's testimony to clarify, to set the record straight, to, in essence, rebut or meet any accusations that costello may make to the grand jury about cohen's credibility or conduct, i would do the same thing. chris, the grand jury investigation is a prosecutor's blueprint for trial. i want every witness that i can get a subpoena on to come in, to lay out their testimony so that i now know what my trial presentation would look like. i would do the same thing. i would have michael cohen on standby to rebut anything that costello tells the grand jury. >> take us inside the room. a grand jury isn't necessarily the same as a jury would be at trial. what extent are prosecutors watching the jury reaction, how much attention they pay to certain parts of the case, and ultimately is alvin bragg making this decision or is it the grand jury? >> that's a great question. technically it is the grand jury's decision. we'

well first off if i was michael cohen's attorney, or if i was michael cohen himself, you know, maybethere's a different decision as opposed to pleading guilty and going to prison if you feel like you're being wrongfully accused, while then you fight that charge and you have your day in court. i don't know what else was. you know? i don't know what we don't know about the michael cohen case, but what we know is that he pled guilty to those charges, and he went to prison for that. donald trump. president trump is deciding that he is going to fight these charges and he'll have his day in court and have the prosecution will have to prove their case. i think one of the other flaws in this situation is that with alvin bragg, he he's not someone who is a consistent law and order guy who is enforcing laws across the board. as a matter of fact, what he's received. a lot of criticism for is that his first day that he was in office, he put out a memo that said all these different laws across the board. prosecutors are not allowed to prosecute and all of these other offenses you have to charge.

well first off if i was michael cohen's attorney, or if i was michael cohen himself, you know, maybethere's a different decision as opposed to pleading guilty and going to prison if you feel like you're being wrongfully accused. well, then you fight that charge. and you have your day in court. i don't know what else was. you know? i don't know what we don't know about the michael cohen case, but what we know is that he pled guilty to those charges, and he went to prison for that. donald trump president trump is deciding that he is going to fight these charges and he'll have his day in court and have the prosecution will have to prove their case. i think one of the other flaws in this situation is that with alvin bragg, he he's not someone who is a consistent law and order guy who is enforcing laws across the board. as a matter of fact, what he's received. a lot of criticism for is that his first day that he was in office, he put out a memo that said all these different laws across the board. prosecutors are not allowed to prosecute and all of these other offenses you have to charge.

castella says that he met with michael cohen in 2018 after michael cohen's home and office was subject to a search warrant by the fbi, when michael cohen was shopping for a criminal defense lawyer and that michael cohen was in a legal panic at the time. >>ic a he was really files old, hethee looked like he hadn't slept in four or five days, and he just suddenly stopped in the middle of talking to someone pointed at us and said i want you guys to know, i will do whatever the f it takes, i will never spend one day in jail. he must have said that close to 20 times. this was his mantra, all day long. do you think a guy who has his mindset at that time, i -- shoot somebody, whatever it takes i am not going to jail? we went to jail. and now he is on the revenge tour. understand it, but i don't condone it. and that is why i went in there today to tell these people the truth about who the real michael cohen's, and what he was actually saying at that moment. >> mr. cartel stella said that michael cohen had signed a waiver with attorney client privilege in 2018 that allows him to now testify abo

cohen. you know, these are prosecutors who are used to putting on difficult witnesses, you know, who is going to be doing this kind of scheme a criminal so, the main thing that they have to focus on is making sure that every single thing that he is going to tell that grand jury is truthful. they have got to have said repeatedly to him that the worst possible thing he could do is not own up to any bad act he has committed. even if it's very embarrassing and then the second piece is, you corroborate, you know, up one side and down the other, you have to croporroborate him, becs he is going to be attacked very, very hard, and frankly, for good reason, that's what defense lawyers are supposed to do at a trial, and so, they're going to corroborate him and, you know that's the piece that we don't know is exactly how, you know, what are the pieces that kellyanne conway gives, hope hicks gives, mr. pecker, all sorts of people, you want to know, are they going to be inconsistent or consistent, so the

michael cohen. sure. the zombie case we it at times the zombie case, because it was a theory of prosecution and some potential crimes that were investigated put aside because legal or factual problems reinvestigated. so they were exhumed a and put aside for a variety of reasons, reexamined yet again and it kept returning from the grave so often that we started to it as the zombie theory. what it involved was the concealment of the reimbursement to michael cohen of the hush money that he had paid to stormy daniels. most people who have have followed the trump saga recall that it became public years ago, that michael cohen on, trump's behalf, had paid $130,000 to stormy daniels and her lawyer right before the election in. 2016. and at a time when she was threatening to expose her allegation that she had had an affair with donald trump, that was let's put i don't mean to interrupt. sure, but let's pause. you use the word threat. that's key to understanding your perception, the zombie case, because you

cohen was not needed. once again, we repeat the fact the documents speak for themselves, facts do matter. what do you make of the fact while he was available, the grand jury did not call him or the prosecutor did not call him as a rebuttal witness? >> well, it sounds like the grand jurors were not as impressed with mr. costello's testimony as mr. costello was. to hear him speak, he had completely just eviscerated michael cohen's veracity, his truthfulness. if that was the case, you might expect the grand jurors would have quested as they're entitled to, to hear again from mr. cohen. the fact that they didn't suggests that there weren't major concerns. of course, we don't know for certain how that went, but the reality is the grand jury will be asked by the d.a.'s office to vote on returning an indictment, and they are authorized to do that if there's probable cause to believe a crime was committed. so it seems that this stunt that trump pulled today with costello didn't ring the bell they hoped it would ri

justice departmen then, and cohen went to jail for. it that was not the merric garland justice department, it was not the bronco boma justic department, it was the donal trump justice department tha made that filing so every time you hear thi thing about this hush mone thing is political, remember it was trump's own justice department that called this crime back in 2018 >> we will be speaking t michael cohen's lawyer, lonnie davis a little later in th hour and neil, just so you know earlier this evening i spoke t her lawyer stephanie clifford no longer goes by that name, it is onl stormy daniels she was actually horseback riding when the news broke when she went inside her, much like many othe people, trump and his lega team included her phone wa blowing up, she is completel surprised by the news today. glenwood do you think? >> you know steph, i have to believe that alvin bragg's team, if they saw fit to bring thi indictment, they have got th goods. they believe that they have tribal case. they probably believe that the have a winnabl

michael cohen as well as mr. costello coming up for you also major breaking news, story that ubs will be takin over credit suisse bank. we will have more on that. and in a matter of hours russia's vladimir putin an china's xi jinping will meet for the first time since kremlin troops invaded ukraine we will get into that. democratic congressman set moulton will join us to talk growing concerns over the tw leaders relationship and wha that could mean for us a family of long island brewers. harvests their own ingredients, on their own turf. there's a story in every piece of land. run with us on a john deere mower and start telling yours. family is just very important. she's my sister and, we depend on each other a lot. she's the rock of the family. she's the person who holds everything together. ♪♪ it's a battle, you know i'm going to be there. keytruda and chemotherapy meant treating my cancer with two different types of medicine. in a clinical trial, keytruda and chemotherapy was proven to help people live longer

cohen? is the mueller report because the mueller report laid out a witness tampering plot by donald trump, basically to keep michael in line with donald trump. >> through whom? >> through -- through rudy giuliani and bob costello. >> bob costello i know, we were in the u.s. attorney's office and he's a good guy and it seems like he was wittingly or unwittingly part of a plot to keep michael cohen in line. >> how many years did you overlap with him? >> a couple of years. >> all of these new york lawyers, michael. >> i'll have you break it down. he's right here. >> it's simple. let me put the headline up, nick. >> yep. >> the headline was that mr. costello among other things contacted one of mr. trump's lawyers trying to see, allegedly, if he could arrange a pardon for mr. cohen. this came up in the mueller report, we have some of the evidence. why does that matter? >> well, that's all part of the story. it really starts on april 9th when the search warrant is executed and only a few days afte

joining me now for his first interview since michael cohen completed his grand jury testimony is cohen's attorney, lanny davis. >> nice to see you in person >> a new thing we're kind of in normalish world again. let's go through this. the attacks on your client have been pretty vicious for now. i'm assuming they'll get worse donald trump called him a rat multiple times his lawyer, joe tacopina, attacked him and said he's a fraud, he's a liar, he's a convicted perjurer in trump world and outside of trump world. that's the preview of what we're going to see, but when people say he would have a credibility problem in front of a jury, he would be a liability to the prosecution, they're talking about him pleading guilty to crimes i want to go through what the crimes are it begs the question, what did he plead guilty to he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a federally insured bank causing an unlawful corporate contribution, making an excessive campaign contribution and making false statements to congress let's talk about the tax evasion case he pleaded guilty to it so h

cohen went to jail for it. now it's time for accountability. >> the charge does come, it could come as early as this week. it's monday, so maybe soon. donald trump says he's preparing for it. he's asking for his supporters to protest it. and now the gop is finding itself in the same position it did after the 2020 election. defend donald trump after another violent incident or don't defend him and face getting voted out of office. senior legal correspondent, laura jarrett, and nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west palm beach near former president donald trump's mar-a-lago home. how is robert costello, i was going to say corcoran, so many c names. robert costello, relevant? >> the idea is we expect him to attack cohen's credibility. you might wonder why is that necessary given that cohen pled guilty. the credibility issues there are basically well known at this point. >> they have been talking about it in court papers repeatedly. >> exactly. and you would think that the prosecution has laid that out for

y cohen testifica en contra de su ex jefe.ntras un jurado investiga la nueva evidencia, trump sorprendiÓ al paÍs el fin de semana asegurando que podrÍa ser arrestado el martes. serÍa la primera vez en la historia de estados unidos que un expresidente y posible candidato sea arrestado. luis: abogados de trump piden a la fiscalÍa que desestimen las acusaciones en su contra. ilia: hoy se conocen nuevos detalles de la masacre en uvalde donde fueron asesinados 19 niÑos y dos maestras. varios agentes aceptan que se sentÍan en una situaciÓn deinferioridad. reportera: salen a la luz declaraciones que indican lo que intimidÓ a los uniformados y lo que detuvo a los policÍas en actuar rÁpidamente, y esto fue el rifle del tirador. [habla en inglÉs] reportera: una cÁmara de seguridad captÓ como las balas traspasaban las paredes. [habla en inglÉs] reportera: el temor se apoderÓ de los policÍas que estaban dentro de los pasillos, pensando que tambiÉn acabarÍa con ellos. desde un principio sintieron que estaban en desventaja por no tener el a

donald trump wrote to michael cohen to cover up that payoff. and you imagine putting your client, donald trump, on the witness stand in manhattan, in his own defense. and then you hear him say to an audience of a few thousand trump fanatics in texas, that wouldn't be the one. meaning, i, donald trump, an expert on donald trump having a an affair, insisted you that's not a person donald trump would have an affair with. and then, as donald trump's criminal defense lawyer, you listen, hoping that your client donald trump can find a way of saying i love my wife. and he's never been under more public pressure in his life to say, i love my wife. and he cannot bring himself to say it. those words do not cross his mind. if you're donald trump's lawyers, and he is indicted in the stormy daniels case in manhattan, you know that your only chance of getting a not guilty with donald trump to put him on the witness stand to try to convince that jury that the only reason he participated in the stormy granules payoff scheme was not to hide stormy daniels story

called cohen for two minutes. -- pm, cohen called trump for eight minutes. 8:39 pm, howard called cohen for four minutes. a 50 7 pm, howard called cohen for six minutes. 9:13 pm, howard texted cohen, keith will do it. let's reconvene tomorrow. keith was then stormy daniels lawyer, working to arrange the payoff. hope hicks has met with the manhattan prosecutors. david pecker testified to the manhattan grand jury twice. including on monday of this week. michael cohen has testified to the manhattan grand jury. and the plot, as the plot began to unravel publicly, the payoff plot, two years after the payoff to stormy daniels, where donald trump was president, donald trump denied any knowledge of it. >> mister president, did you know about that $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> why did michael cohen make it if there is no truth to her allegations? >> you have to ask michael cohen. michael's my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where you got the money to make that payment? >> no, i don't know. >> of course, he denied knowing anything about the michael cohen pa

and that is what michael cohen to jail.so that's my answer district about okay, but the southern district passed , right. i mean, they said that this was trivial, according to elie honig book and he broke it . they passed on taking that alvin bragg is gonna now prosecute. elie honig is inaccurate. he's making that up. there was no quote. then why didn't the then why didn't the feds why i have to ask this? why didn't the feds prosecute for these same facts? trump because he was an incumbent president. let me repeat that. how about when he got out? how about when he got out? prosecutors never once suggested that they didn't have a case against mr trump. in fact, they declared they had the same case against trump they did against cohen. they said that trump instructed cohen to pay hush money, but they couldn't prosecute that he was incumbent president. in fact, they called him and he he's not. he's not the president. now he's not the president. now. surely they took a look at him when he got out of office. so you're absolutely

because i want to know what corroboration there is from michael cohen. that's key, and we know that there is david pecker who will give corroboration i imagine for why these payments were made to stormy daniels and to karen macdougal because david pecker was part of conversations about them being part of campaign expenditures to help donald trump in his campaign, so david pecker is going to be critical people from the trump campaign like kellyanne conway and hope hicks will also be critical if they were involved in communications about those payments and can testify that they were to further donald trump's campaign interests. but i also want to know who from the trump organization has testimony and documents that will reflect how those payments were reflected in the business records of the trump organization, and for what purposes those records were used. john so a lot of things happening today. there will be a meeting today with the new york state court officers, the nypd that secret service to go through the mechanics of tuesday . there will also be a

that cohen had said that he was unaware of trump having done anything wrong and that cohen had made these payments on his own. cohen was called back to the district attorney's office today. he was here for a couple of hours standing by to see if he would be a rebuttal witness, someone who would be brought before the grand jury after costello's testimony. he said he does not think he's going to be called back. we've seen a number of these witnesses, everyone that has some kind of tangential piece to this hush money payment and the timing of it coming to go before the grand jury. so there are few witnesses left that could possibly come in. you also get the feeling that the security is ramping up, people are preparing for a decision. they have security cameras installed on light poles. they removed all of the trash cans. and they put up barricades all along the courthouse and the perimeter of the buildings around it. >> cara, thank you very much. let's go now to the former trump white house lawyer. ty, you've been watching all of this here, in these final moments, the drama, costello b

cohen who has met with the d.a.'s office 20 times, and appeared before the same grand jury twice is a key witness in this case, which centers around a $130,000 payment to adult film star stormy daniels to silence her about an alleged affair with trump. he was paid by cohen in the final days of the 2016 campaign. now, almost seven years later, the grand jury is looking at crimes that include whether trump falsified business records when reimbursing cohen for that payment. cohen was sentenced to jail time after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges stemming from his involvement in the payments. >> this case is not going to be predicated on any one individual but rather it's going to be predicated on the documents, the evidence, the text messages, the e-mails. >> reporter: on truth social over the weekend, trump predicted he would be arrested tuesday and in an echo of january 6th called for his supporters to protest. but his spokesperson said they have received no indication from the d.a. that he will be arrested

there's not just up to cohen. they were in communication with donald trump directly about the hush money payment in its first stage with karen macdougal before it became a story. mcdonald's just things like that could be happening just to finish it off by closing and closing the case. in that sense, i mean, it is amazing this moment that we're in. but van, you know, obviously the politics of this even as a democrat. i know you've been extremely cautious on and now this this is messy, messy, okay, and this whole thing happening tomorrow. i mean, this is this isn't just a clean as karen. said. clean bare bones go about it. you've been cautious. this isn't kind of what you wanted to go first. well, no. first of all, i mean, it seems like you know when you're coming down to michael cohen, the fate of the whole thing comes down to michael cohen, who, you know, flip flops in his flip flops and lies about his lies. it's just it's just scary, and there's so many better things to go after trump on. what about the election

michael cohen is far from solid evidence. >> well, michael cohen was also at the court today on standby in case he needed to respond to costello. he was never called, but he did tell my colleague that costello's claims were false. >> it's absolutely not true. i don't know what conversations he is referring to. he is making up so many stories here because he is playing to a party of one. he is doing what everybody does. as all of this plays out, new york authorities are preparing for the possibility of an indictment. a source tells nbc news that secret service would accompany trump throughout that process and do everything possible to keep him out of public view. house republicans are watching this closely, and half, of course, rallied to defend trump, while tearing him to manhattan da, alvin bragg. congressman jim jordan implied without any evidence whatsoever that there were political motives for brags investigation. >> president trump announced he was going to run for president again, and suddenly, here they go, now they're coming after him for some alleged bookkeeping error. you've g

he believes cohen's not credible.'s why the d.a. has cohen essentially in his back pocket able to respond to costello today and defend the testimony that he's already given this grand jury including over five hours just last week. so i think what this tells us is we're very near to the end of this process. trump's attorneys are going to take one last swing at undermining the prosecution's primary witness behind closed doors today, and frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if costello also can repeat some of what he says behind closed doors out in public. if anybody knows about kind of waging your legal battles in public, it's donald trump and his attorneys. that's what we're likely to see play out behind closed doors today and in the court of public opinion as this case continues to move forward. >> vaughn, give us a reminder of what this specific case is all about in the first place. >> right, this all comes down to a payment made to stormy daniels for $130,000 in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election. of course

costello says during those talks cohen told him that it was cohen's idea to do the hush money payments directly contradicts cohen's subsequent statements about how this all went down. now, after he testified, costello gave a little press conference of sorts. he addressed reporters. let's take a listen to what he said and how it contrasts with what michael cohen says. >> the only thing i'm doing is trying to tell the truth to the grand jurors. listen, if they want to go after donald trump and they have solid evidence, so be it. but michael cohen is far from solid evidence. this guy, by any prosecutor standard, i used to be deputy chief of the criminal division in the southern district of new york, i wouldn't have touched a guy like michael cohen, especially if he's a convicted perjurer. >> i have truth. i have the documentation. let me rephrase that, the district attorney has the documentation in order to validate every single statement that i've made. >> so filing their closing arguments in the court of public opinion, the grand jury, at that point, don, we don't know if they have any

i always say, you have nothing m michael cohen. >> michael cohen got screwed out. >> got screwed thescrewed worse? and the question i want you to joining usçó on the law, do you think any of these other people ñe1 tune :e managed to keep people largely onboard even at their own personal legal peril?lp >> i think michael got au completely raw deal ultimately working foru worked for him for many, many years. donald did not give him a position in the white house that would have been -- i don't think staff, but some senior type ofjf position, and he ultimately ended up infá jail. so from my experience of anyone that i worked with,e1 worked wi during that time, michael was certainly screwed over by donald very badly.e1e1 >>çó yeah. hang with me. former u.s. attorney joyce vance is here. joyce, similar question to you. can these cases in new york or elsewhere proceed if they don't get more cooperating witnesses? and i mentioned the, quote, unquote, loyalty, i put that in quotes. manafort, stone, who got a pardon, flynn, e1lpbannon, who multiple legal cases but got his pardon, weisselb( quo

former legal adviser to cohen, costello, testified for over two hours yesterday and slammed cohen. >> if they want to go after donald trump and have solid evidence, so be it, but michael cohen is far from solid evidence. >> here on msnbc, cohen responded to costello's comments and defended his testimony. >> the beauty that i have is i have facts, i have truth, i have the documentation. let me rephrase that, the district attorney has the documentation in order to validate every single statement that i have made. >> we should note that donald trump denied any wrong doing in the case. joining me now, vaughn hilliard live from mar-a-lago, and gabe gutierrez, and an assistant u.s. attorney and president of the leadership conference on civil and human rights. gabe, what do we know about robert costello and the significance of his testimony? >> hi, josÉ. good morning. he could potentially be the final witness but we don't know that for sure. as you said, he was brought on by the defense to try and blow a hole in the prosecution's case by trying to undermine the credibility of the prosecution

cohen -- he called it the michael cohen revenge tour. he has lied about several things associated with this case in the past. but what benefit would it be to cohen to lie to the grand jury now? >> well, you know, michael cohen has primarily in the past relied on his flexibility when it comes to morals and ethics. that has been his primary advantage for clients. and so he has a rather checkered history, including, of course, a conviction and a disbarment. that's not exactly a witness most prosecutors would relish putting on the stand. this is someone who threatened everyone from journalists to law students while he was a thug essentially for donald trump. >> john: he does know where the bodies are buried. >> here, john, is the problem with that exchange. cohen is going public with this, which is not what the prosecutors would necessarily want. it is rare to have a lawyer get into these types of questions but costello insisted he had a waiver of attorney/client privilege. cohen went on another network and said i don't remember any waiver a

michael cohen is he said that donald trump knew what he was paying for and knew that michael cohen, his lawyer, was doing it on his behalf we'll get into the evidence he could be presenting to the jury in a moment. we also have an answer from donald trump's lawyers about whether he, donald trump, will accept his own invitation from da alvin bragg to also sit for the grand jury. >> we have no plans on participating in that proceeding it's a decision that needs to be made still, no deadline has been set so we'll wait and see. >> whether he speaks or not is almost secondary right now, the fact he got the invitation at all signals to some lawyers a decision on charges, a decision on charges, is likely coming so if he is charged, what happens next not just logistically like what are the charges and does he turn himself in but politically. do charges help him or hurt him with gop voters? trump will be in iowa today, are the crowds still showing up to see him? we have a reporter on the ground, and donald trump's opponents are watching closely as well. including former vice president mike pence

those can include falsifying business records that cohen sent and how they william reimbursed by cohenthat would be a misdemeanor. and also making a felony case here to commit or conceal another crime. there's also the possibility they have some other legal theory up their leave. but we're kind of, you know, reaching the end game of this, because we've seen a number of major witnesses, people that had inside knowledge about the hush money payments already come in and meet with prosecutors before the grand jury. so, we expect a decision in the case be made in the near term. now, of course, trump going public over the weekend making this claim that he thought he was going to be arrested. the office saying in an email tole employees they will not be intimidated, john. >> cara, even before the president's weekend post saying he wants his supporters to protest, there have been conversations among city officials and federal officials here in d.c. about the possibility of stepping up security. what do we know about that? >> reporter: we've already seen signs this morning. our team spotted the

cohen has admitted to that.o they will bring in cohen, possibly, if costello needs to be rebutted to say, yes, i wasn't candid before i cooperated, i've been candid since. i've analyzed cohen's statements since he began cooperating and they have been rock solid. he's told the same account about the president's hush money to influence the 2016 election. >> so based on what we're seeing here then with costello coming in today, potentially cohen coming ba to rebut, what does this do to a timeline in your view? >> erica, we have always thought once things started accelerating that we would see charges before the end of march and i believe we're still on that track, and that we could see them as soon as this week. this really is the end game at the very term news of the grand jury proceedings, the defendant is sometimes invited as trump was. i lived through all of this in the impeachment of president trump, investigating the hush money, inviting the president to come testify before the house judiciary committee and t

not only did costello destroy the credibility of the state's power witness, cohen, cohen himself completely contradicts the state's case, look at this annually uncovered document. this is from 2018. this is from michael cohen's own lawyer to the fec. "in a private transaction in 2016 before the u.s. presidential election, mr. cohen used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to ms. stephanie clifford, neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction with ms. clifford. is cohen lying under oath now or during that statement to the fec? now of course at the very center of the case is a completely legal, what's called an nda, over an alleged affair from 2007. there is zero evidence whatsoever that the trump campaign paid for this nda as a matter of fact, cohen says they did not. no evidence they played a role in the nda. in fact, there is no evidence that the affair in question ever took place. people can believe what they want, there is no evidence of it. according to the washington post of all places, stormy daniels denied the affair mul

cohen's testimony, reports broke that a g james had opened a civil investigation into cohen's claims that trump and the trump fraudulently inflated and deflated his assets to obtain favorable loans and reduce the tax -- respectively. it wasn't just the hush money payments anymore, the scope of the inquiry at widened. for his part, the manhattan da five vance, he brought a note his criminal investigation beyond those hush money payments as well. he is not going to include those same allegations of fraud. michael cohen went to federal prison for the hush money payment, vyvanse made the trump organizations broader in shorts and bank fraud the central focus of his investigation. and according to reports, the men had included that there was enough evidence to obtain an indictment and conviction on trump's fraudulent business practices. on january 1st, 2022, a new district attorney took office unnamed alvin bragg, mr. brag decided to refocus his offices efforts on the stormy daniels hush money payment. the investigation into trump's alleged fraudulent business practices, was reportedly pus

michael cohen, author of revenge, and the host of the political beatdown thank you.agg delivers a blistering rebuke to the house republicans trying to meddle in his investigation. we'll be right back. hi, i'm tony hawk, and like many of you, i take a statin to reduce cholesterol, but statins can also deplete coq10 levels. that's why my doctor recommended qunol coq10. qunol has the number one cardiologist recommended form of coq10. qunol. the brand i trust. - this is our premium platinum coverage map and this is consumer cellular's map. - i don't see the difference, do you? - well, that one's purple. - [announcer] get the exact same coverage as the nation's leading carrier. starting at $20. consumer cellular. why are 93% of sleep number sleepers very satisfied with their bed? maybe it's because you can gently raise your partner's head to help relieve snoring. so you can both stay comfortable all night. save $1,200 on the sleep number 360 i10 smart bed. ends monday. i had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. c call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be

i think it's clear he needs michael cohen and he's going to rely on michael cohen.i said, john, that's a risky proposition. regardless of whether one may think michael cohen has turned himself around and i believe he has we heard earlier a clip of his lawyer saying this was entirely a personal payment and had nothing to do with contribution. you know who else who said that, michael cohen to the ftc. he'll have to explain why hut he said back then was a lie and why he should be believed. difficult jury to put in front of a witness of 12 average citizens. >> how likely is an indictment here? >> it seems very likely given the stage ware at, given michael cohen seems tuesday be one of the final witnesses and the d.a. has given donald trump now essentially his last chance to go into the grand jury. so i do think it's quite likely bordering uncertain we'll see an indictment soon. but i'll stress this every time i talk about the possibility of an indictment of donald trump, an indictment and conviction are two very important things. >> and one book related question because

but cohen is telling a different story. do you trust michael cohen then or now? he admitted he lied in a court of law and pled guilty. that is what the bragg jury will have to answer. it's baffling right now when you consider that alvin bragg is famous for handing out plea deals like candy including reduced charges for rapists and robbers. he reduced 52% of every felony case to a misdemeanor including many that were caught on tape on camera. in other words, a slam dunk conviction. if trump is charged it would be the first and only case that bragg ramped up from misdemeanor to a felony that we know of. this seems risky for mr. bragg given he only gets a conviction in about half of the felony cases he tries. 49% of the time he charges somebody and has a trial, he loses 49% of the time. one of the lowest convictions rates in the entire u.s. and 17 points lower than the last d.a. bragg must like to lose. and campaign finance violations are typically charged at the federal level. the doj declined to bring any charges against trump. in 2018 a lawyer representing michae

and michael cohen, michael cohen, michael cohen is that guy. but we've all known for about a long time that if there's a prosecution, the defense will stand on the idea that michael cohen as a liar and a fraudster. and of course, the prosecution will use michael cohen likely do while cooperating with witnesses, and say, okay he may be a criminal, but it takes a criminal to catch a criminal. but beyond michael cohen, this case will be a document case. and it's true there are checks made out to michael cohen, but they are made out to michael cohen, which may bolster trump's argument that in fact it was just doing what his lawyer told him to do and paid his lawyer directly. and joe tacopina is right and that michael cohen did go in and plead guilty, and did testify to the state that the payments were made to save trump and his family harm. and he is right, under federal election law, as long as that one reason is there, he may not even matter that there are additional reasons -- helping the campaign. so, if you had family embarrassment, that trump

, with michael cohen's -- his other lawyers that hav been involved.ot sure that she would be the one to come in i think she can add a lot to the trial. i think they called he initially just see what sh would say. and previously she has met wit attorneys from the distric attorney's office. but i think they've called i the main people that they want to have that i think the wanted the grand jury to hea already. >> all right, panels, th ground we have a lot more to brea down our coverage continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. the more times you wash them. downy protects fibers, doing more than detergent alone. see? this one looks brand new. saves me money? i'm starting to like downy. downy saves loads. research shows people remember ads with a catchy song. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a little number you'll never forget. did you know that liberty mutual custo— ♪ liberty mutual. ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ ♪ custom home insurance created for you all. ♪ ♪

cohen ba for that. this all begins with a porn star who's angry about not getting a cameo onó[■ ñ3[■"appuq can you take me back to what was happening? how this dynamic was ⌝%q■ worked its way over national enquirer between stormy daniels and donald trump.u >> sure, yes, i think it does.a■ stormy daniels is a porn star,Ñ was a Ñiporn star,xd but she aspirations. she appeared in w3mainstream Ñi movies. when donald trumpçóçó invites h they meet by chance. help invites her to his room an she sleeps with him, but this perhaps toñrñ put her on apprene is meaningful to her, it's sort of anxd opportunity and then wh he -- she said9■ shet(qu >> he liked her. he gavelpt( her beu e■ pageant tickets. he invited her to trumpw3 vodka partya5■ launch. ére. maintaining these various relationshipsñre1 according to i women's stories which he w3deni. but sheçó -- they kept talking about thee1lp apprentice andxd eventually heçóq didçó tell her wasn't going to getq her on. i believe therei]t( was anothÑrn actress who may ha

, michael cohen's the star witness. people can decide the jury will decide if they believe him. trump's team going to is going to point out that michael cohen has been convicted of perjury and fraud. personal animosity. i mean, to say the least, michael cohen despises donald trump, and they're going to argue that he's made inconsistent prior statements. but michael come with the prosecutors are going to argue he's backed up by other evidence, and you can believe him or other people which brags team may need. okay ellie. thank you so helpful, don. all right, ellie poppy, new york city ramping up security this morning they have been for a while. but yesterday and even the weeks before they're preparing for possible protests in the wake of the former president's unprecedented indictment, the nypd coordinating with federal law enforcement and the secret service, to be ready for whatever might happen. seeing his brand jen grass live near the manhattan courthouse for us this morning. good morning, bren police, other security

his former lawyer and fixer, michael cohen. cohen himself will be joinin me in just a moment. remember, he has already don time for that very crime in october of 2016, just day before the presidentia election, cohen made the 130,000 dollar payment t stormy daniels to prevent he from going public with the story of her affair with trump a decade earlier she alleges that she met trump at a golf tournament in 2006 four months after melania trum gave birth to their son baron. later michael cohen pleade guilty to eight criminal charges including campaign finance violations and bag fraud. he told the court, as he tol congress later, who was really behind it all. >> i pled guilty in federa court to felonies for th benefit of, at the direction of, and in coordination with individual number one. and for the record, individual number one is president donald j trump. >> michael cohen was sentenced to three years for his crimes. he spent more than a year in federal prison and a year and half in home confinement after the outbreak of covid. but at least up until now th person who cohen says