i mean, according to that former executive he said david pecker is out for david pecker first and foremost. but which one stands to do more damage in your assess mts to the president? >> i think pecker's safe is going to be a very big sort of question mark, but i would caution, although many journalists, almost every journalist doesn't regard the national enquirer as a real journalistic sort of enterprise, it is very cautious road to go down when prosecutors are going to a news organization or something that purports to be a news organization and asking them about information that they decided not to publish. i no ethe national enquirer, it's mocked. it's not a journalistic effort, but the prosecutors can show they were more in the habit of collecting information and doling it out for specific purposes they may have an easier time. but this is a slippery slope to go down. >> julia, is there a sense from within the white house, that inner circle of what they fear most? is there any way to gauge that? >> yeah, i mean, i think very certainly is worry at this point and we can look at the presi

david pecker is the chairman of american media incorporated. that's the company that publishes "the national enquirer." the journal says pecker gave prosecutors details on the payments made by michael cohen to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. payments michael cohen says were directed and coordinated by the then-presidential candidate donald trump. today the president talked about cohen's deal. listen to this. >> it's called flipping, and it almost ought to be illegal. you get ten years in jail, but if you say bad things about somebody, in other words make up stories if you don't know, they just make up lies. alan dershowitz stayed composed. i've seen it many times. they go from ten years to a national hero. they have a statue erected in their honor. it's not a fair thing. but that's why he did it. he made a very good deal. >> all right. let's immediately go to our white house correspondent kaitlan collins at the white house. this is a big deal that a long-time friend and associate of the president of the united states, david pecker of american

what exactly did david pecker want out of donald trump? >> well, first he wanted the acce access of being with trump. that's where he sees himself. when they became friends in the '80s, they were both powerful players. trump was in real estate. he got things that he wouldn't get, brush a fame. david likes to have a brush with fame. as trump's reputation grew through "the apprentice" and he became a celebrity. they bonded. >> donald trump running for president, deal started i guess in 2015, but going well, and him leading in the polls and him winning primaries as time went on, it seemed like the more that they could do to help donald trump, the better it would be for david pecker. in fact, if we can put this up on our giant screen here, david pecker and "the national enquirer" released story after story about hillary clinton. negative story after story about hillary clinton. she failed a secret fbi lie detector. she gained 103 pounds. it just goes on and on. she is corrupt, racist, criminal. they did donald trump's dirty work for him, it se

what does david pecker know? whether or not there are other people involved in making these payments to these women to keep them silent about the affairs that they say they had with the president, or if he knows of other women that similar payments like this were made to. what we do know, poppy, is that david pecker the in a very similar position that michael cohen was in. close to the president, knows embarrassing, potentially compromising information about them. and now he seems to be ready to put that information into the hands of prosecutors. poppy? >> he does, indeed. kaitlan, thank you for the reporting. "outfront" now, scarrie cordero former counsel to the u.s. assistant attorney general for national security. april ryan is also with us, white house correspondent for american urban radio networks. thank you, one and all. sue, let me begin with you, you worked hand in hand with david pecker. we know how close he was to the president for so long. i mean, he would even, you know, rent out mar-a-lago for ami b

david pecker has been given immunity. >> you're saying there is a safe? >> there is a safe and we need to find out what is it in it, and you coined the term yesterday, pecker problem. you called it. i was going to say the pecker problem has only grown bigger, but i won't. >> it is a problem. another stealthy problem. they want to know how the company made these payments. >>> and the attorney general says he will not be improperly influenced by political considerations, but for the first time, some senate republicans are saying maybe it is about time for sessions to go. let's start with ab by phillby t the white house for us. >> it has been a damaging week at the white house, but more damage could be coming. the president and the first lady are expected to make their first appearances today after michael cohen coming out about the affairs. >>> the "nation nal enquire naat a safe of the payments made and the stories that they bought to kill. >> why didn't the "national enquirer" get the pulitzer prize? >> just hours after the president vented his frustratio

david pecker runs a media empire.dia people not have some things that they can stand behind when the law comes after you by saying we've got the fifth amendment, i have a right to be friends with whomever i wish to, i have the right to write whatever i want, and if i wanted to buy a story about karen mcdougal and not publish it, you have a right protected by the constitution? what could possibly pressure david pecker into making a deal with the feds? >> well, they do and is this going to be i think an interesting collateral part of the investigation. this may be the death of the "national enquirer" in some way. because they have been hiding behind this first amendment privilege, but in fact they have not been acting as a true first amendment operation, but rather as a media shell. even if this were the "new york times" or "usa today," if he is separately having conversations and criminal conspiracies with trump, he has criminal exposure and we know that he is a very important part of the information with cohen is in 2

because at the end of the day what is more important to david pecker is david pecker.hip loyalty go by the wayside. he's a businessman and this is hurting his business. he will take care of what he's always done, take care of himself. at the end of the day, the guy is a survivor, always lands on his feet and it's probably going to happen this time as well. >> and jerry george, as this goes on, what is it that you -- what do you imagine donald trump is thinking tonight? because donald trump is the other person who knows what david pecker has, what was in that safe. and so donald trump knows what he's hoping won't emerge from that pile in the safe and i guess you would tell the president that if -- if david pecker knows it, he's going to tell it to the fbi. >> well, i think david pecker has always relished the image of this maverick ceo that had the goods on, you know, important people. and his friendship with president trump goes back probably 20 years. but i agree with stu, when push comes to shove, david pecker will look after himself first and i think the friendship

david pecker who runs a national inquire and his long time friend of trump's worked with the michael cohen's investigation prior to the 2016 elections. details of pecker immunity deal coming out hours after trump complaints to fox news of people flipping. >> everything is wonderful and they get ten years in jail and they flip of whoever the next highest one is or as high as you could go. it is almost should be outlawed. make up stories if you don't know, so they just make up lies. >> reporter: pecker was subpoenaed by the feds in april shortly after the raid of michael cohen's office and hotel room. cohen told investigators the president knew of post-gaayment of the alleged affair with trump. and pecker's system to investigators is supported by documents and audio recordings seized from the raid according to the journal. court paper shows investigators found one conversation regarding to pay out to porn star stormy daniels on an encrypted app. it could look awfully bad for everybody. president trump has denied knowing of the hush money payments at the time but cohen alleges that trump

>> i can't get into david peckerer's state of mind. but i think it's safe to assume he was facing some criminal exposure. you can tell from the charging documents he and cohen were closely coordinating on these payments so if it was a crime for cohen it's likely that pecker would have faced it, too. >> obviously magazine cans support whomever they want and they do but when it comes to money, when it comes to silencing a source about a story and during a campaign it gets dicey. >> that's right. the key here is that it was done to influence the 2016 election. that's when it becomes a campaign contribution, corporations are not allowed to make direct campaign contributions and that's where american media and david pecker could get into trouble. >> the associated press is reporting there was a safe that kept dirt, that kept documents and evidence. do you know anything about that? >> i think we can safely assume that obviously pecker has had a very long relationship with trump. even in august, 2015, long before the election he went to the t

we know david pecker is in trouble tonight, and we have ever reason to believe that david pecker, like michael cohen, will do nothing to protect donald trump when he has to choose between telling the fbi the truth or protecting donald trump. that's an easy choice. and it is an easy choice for hope hicks or kellyanne conway or whoever the members of the trump campaign are who helped michael cohen commit those crimes. they are not going to take any chances now trying to protect donald trump now that the man who once boasted he would take a bullet for donald trump has delivered the smoking gun in the investigation of donald trump. how many other smoking guns are there? and who can give them to the special prosecutor? that discussion is next. >>> and we have more breaking it's absolute confidence in 30,000 precision parts, or it isn't. it's inspected by mercedes-benz factory-trained technicians, or it isn't. it's backed by an unlimited mileage warranty, or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned, or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned

david pecker knows about him. and last night at 1:10 a.m., the sleepless president tweeted this primal scream. no collusion-rigged witch hunt! there is the president of the united states, three hours after we first reported on this program that david pecker had flipped and the president is rage tweeting no collusion-rigged witch hunt. when the special prosecutor was closing in on richard nixon, he wandered the halls of the white house at all hours of the night. but he didn't have twitter. so we didn't know the next day what he had been thinking at 1:10 a.m. tonight is going to be worse. because tonight donald trump knows not only that david pecker is cooperating but that he's been granted immunity and now there is more new york prosecution -- investigation going on of the president that might lead to new york city and new york state prosecutions. and the president knows that his power of persuasion over even his own voters doesn't work when they take an oath as jurors. the president discovered last night watching

conversation about buying, quote, stuff from the man who was leading the "national enquirer" at the time, david pecker i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. so i'm going to do that right away. >> give it to me and -- >> and i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so what are we going to do? >> funding -- yes. it's all the stuff. all the stuff. because, you never know where that company -- correct, so i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. >> joining me now here on set is stew zako, vice president for american media, the parent company of the "national enquirer," stew, great to have you. >> thanks for having me. >> lots to talk about here. let me start off by asking you, from your position, your experience, to what extent can you confirm or deny that these files, in fact, existed and that the "national enquirer," whether it was david pecker or anyone else, maintained these files on the president? >> let's look at journalism as a whole, you guys and nbc news maintain files on famous people in case a

that would be david pecker. getting immunity from prosecutors to flip on the president and immunity is not an easy thing to get. let's listen to what a man who worked with pecker high up at ami said to me last night when i asked him, you know, are you surprised that he would flip on the president. listen. we don't have it. he said to me, i'm stunned. but he also said to me, steve, that essentially david pecker puts himself and his business before everything else. what does it tell you that prosecutors were willing to give him immunity? >> i think it tells you what the prosecutor's goal is here. the goal seems making sure they can build as strong a case as possible if not against the president, then against those around him, his business enterprises, the trump organization. all other considerations, including the potential liability of mr. pecker himself, perhaps even ami, really were secondary. if i'm president trump, that's an awfully ominous sign. >> what's your read, david? in terms of the legal line that pec

gentlemen, when it comes to david pecker, you were a media reporter for 25 years, he and the president were so close. "vanity fair" quotes one of the presidents saying "holy s, i thought pecker would be the last one to turn." and last night i spoke with stu zakim who used to run communications for his company, here's what he told me. >> you never thought he would turn? >> never, but when it comes to david pecker the most important thing to him is business. it supersedes friendship and loyalty. >> how worried should the president be? >> we don't know the things he has covered up for the president. he was courted by trump. trump enjoyed being in tabloids and used them to build his own reputation in new york. we don't know the things he used pecker to bury. we know he has a safe full of things. pecker may have vulnerability in this case and he may want to give evidence that will protect him and that's what caused michael cohen to turn. >> the safe thing is like wow. if there is a physical safe out there as the associated press is reporting, investigators have to be looking for it right no

david. >> okay. do we have the rest of it? where he talks about pecker? it. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david, so that i'm going to do that right away. i've actually -- >> give it to me -- >> and i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so what are we -- >> -- funding -- yes. and it's all the stuff -- >> you're thinking about that. >> because you never know -- >> he gets hit by a truck. >> correct. so i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> what financing? >> well, i have to pay. >> we'll pay cash. >> no, no, no. >> by the way, that doesn't sound like after the fact. that sounds like before. the president having knowledge of it before it happened. regardless of what he said in that interview with fox news. but laura, you were making the point. go on. >> making the point that of course he mentions david pecker in that conversation and used the phrase "all of them." up to that point we believ

you have david pecker granted immunity. these are one-time allies of the president who have now turned on him, who are doing the opposite of what a friend would do. >> we know one of the things about donald trump is he prides loyalty, among other qualities. he surround himself with people he believes are trustworthy and owe him something and are beholden to him. we're seeing here, like dominos, all the people at various stages in his business, political, personal career, who he thought were on his side, are now proving to be not so loyal now that he's in the political environment. >> political environment or the legal environment? >> both. >> he's been in the political environment for a while. >> this is also ultimately a political context. >> yeah. >> certainly, talking to prosecutors and things like that. we're also seeing political allies turn on him. it is an issue for him. >> zeke and tamara, ellie, tom, thank you. kelly o'donnell, thank you, as well. we have much more to discuss coming up in the show. >>> specifically

where's david pecker? come on.eams are made of -- david pecker's safe of secrets. we have taken the liberty of the designing the cover for you, mr. pecker. no one asked us. we took the liberty any way. the other tabloids are having a field day. here's the new york post mocking it -- what's in the safe? a space alien elvis haunts my toaster. not bad. weld like to suggest our own suggestion. again, your welcome. mom: okay we need to get all your school supplies today. school... grade... done. done. hit the snooze button and get low prices on school supplies all summer long. like these for only $2 or less at office depot officemax. introducing zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. we have fidelity mutual funds with zero minimum investment. and now, only fidelity offers two zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. because when you invest with fidelity, all those zeros really add up. ♪ so maybe i'll win, saved by zero ♪ >>> welcome back. president trump furtherer as

he pled guilty in conjunction with david pecker and pecker's company, american media. they said that as early as the summer of 2015, pecker coordinated with sxoen with one or more members of the donald trump campaign. to develop a system in which pecker and the "national enquirer" would assist in identifying and neutralizing negative stories about trump. so they've been named as a participant in the conspiracy. lots of interesting questions that the trump organization, the trump business, having been involved. people on the trump campaign having been involved. the president described as directing and participating in that criminal scheme. today, the first "vanity fair" and then "wall street journal" reported that david pecker and his chief content officer, a man named dylan howard, they have both now flipped and are cooperating with the special counsel's office. pecker is said to have immunity in exchange for his cooperation. david pecker is not a random or prifrt figure in the president's life. this is probably the president's greatest ally in building his public imag

day after the "wall street journal" reported another trump ally, "national enquirer" publisher david pecker granted immunity to tell what he knew. so you've got two longtime trump allies, pecker and weisselberg granted immunity and three other former trump associates cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. is it any wonder that this is what president trump has to stay about people "flipping." >> if somebody defraud add bank and he's going to get ten years in yale or 20 years in jail, but if you say something bad about donald trump and you go down to two or three years it's called flipping and almost ought to be illegal. ten years in jail, but if you say bad things about somebody, in other words, make up stories, if you don't know, make up -- they just make up lies. >> and f"outfront," could weisselberg be the most damages yet? >> he could. depends on the terms of the immunity deal struck with the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan and the bretadth or hw narrow it is. we know weisselberg's deal was struck a couple weeks ago. he went in, talked to investigators at the time. a source

the "the wall street journal" is now reporting that a longtime crony of the president, david pecker, s granted immunity in that case against cohen. now, pecker is the chief of the publishing company that owns the "national enquirer" and cohen told a judge he worked with pecker in paying off a former playboy playmate to silence her about her alleged affair with trump. an offense cohen said he committed at the direction and in coordination with trump in order to influence the 2016 election. now, remember, that secret audio of cohen and trump's conversation, david pecker is at the center of it. listen. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. >> my analysts are back with me and also joining us now, cnn's kara, you reported david pecker was subpoenaed by the southern district of new york. do we know what he told investigators? >> well, sources tell myself and my colleague that david pecker was subpoenaed and when he testified he told prosecutors about these payments that he had arranged with michael cohen and he also said that trump

, the fact that prosecutors gave him immunity, david pecker, again, according to the "the wall street journal," what does that tell you? that he got immunity. does it tell you that he has some kind of smoking gun? >> doesn't necessarily tell you he's got a smoking gun, but it does tell you that he has potential liability. which is motnot surprising givi the scope of the offenses and the way michael cohen and the government described hem in the documents and in macourt proceedings. the scope of liability here especially when you add in aiding and abetting and conspiracy is pretty broad and he was pretty clearly involved in important aspects of it. and i totally agree with asha that this is quite significant because it's going to add a second witness who can corroborate the documents and cohen's statements in any subsequent investigation or prosecution. cohen's got tremendous access, but a lot of baggage. pecker, i think, may have not quite the same level of access although he appears to have a good deal of it and much less baggage. >> asha, are we going to see m

they had the cooperation of david pecker. we don't know what more that means, how much and what other information pecker has that cohen wasn't aware of. >> a trump friend reportedly told "vanity fair" quote holy s, i thought pecker would be the last one to turn. i have to say this is a powerful guy and the fact that he is cooperating with authorities i find it is hard to believe he is doing it out of the goodness of his heart. >> it almost makes you think they put their pressure on david pecker. he is a powerful guy. he is covered as a media organization. you could put up a big fight and decline to cooperate and turn it into a battle if you want. it is safe to bet the president would bet on his side on that. it is telling to see people who are so friendly to the president over so many years turning on him like this. it does make you wonder -- this is a slice forward and a small slice of what the people are willing to share with investigators. we don't know what they are not cooperating about or what investigators have agreed t

you also describe it as a source of power for the ami chief executive david pecker. how was it a source of power for him and how -- did can he sort of lord the existence of the safe over other people? is that how other people knew it existed. >> it wasn't so much the safe as what was it in it. the way catch and kill worked an many employees told us this and "the wall street journal" and other outlets that did ground breaking work on this, that this catch and kill was about getting an advantage for the "national enquirer" and other ami publications. so it wasn't just that you were happening to buy up dirt on a celebrity or presidential candidate out of the goodness of your heart. you were buying it up because that person would know that you had some damaging material sitting in a safe somewhere. and as a consequence, they might be pretty nice to you. this is how it worked with bill cosby. ami paid for some dirt related to bill cosby and in terms of his sexual assault history. and the company basically then sort of got bill cosby to appear on a lot of magazine covers s

they recognize that there's some need for immunity for david pecker and david pecker perceives he hasems prosecutors have made the assessment that david pecker was potentially involved in a crime. whether that's president trump or someone else remains to be seen, but they will sit down with him for many hours, probe the depth of his knowledge and ask him to produce any documents that would tend to support what he has to say and to identify any other witnesses. and there often are other witnesses. just assistance in the organization who can also tell the same story, the people who prepared the paperwork. so it could be that he reveals a series of additional witnesses. >> barbara mcquade, thank you so much for your insights, as always. we greatly appreciate it. >>> coming up on "morning joe" -- >> when i went to iraq in 2003, the first time i gave her power of attorney and she handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when i got into congress. i'm gone for five days a week, i'm home for two. and she was the campaign manager. so whatever she did on th

michael cohen knows, david pecker knows. mr. wisingbering maybe knows. >> do you think he should be impeach s impeached? >> it's not my call to make. do you think we should tell the truth to the american people -- do you think he should tell the truth to the american people? >> yes, i think you should, too. >> do you think he should be impeached for being shown to lie to the american people consistently -- is he going there before or after he goes to south africa to help out those white farmers that the president mistakenly told people they're being humtnted down and killed d having their land stolen. >> i'm not perched, telling everyone and pontificating to them. i go out and talk to people. >> and they say we don't care if the president lies to us about criminal conduct? >> no, what they care about is the president is doing everything he promised to do. >> did he promise to drain the swamp? >> we were told that everything, the economy, would never be the same, it would be a huge disaster and it went in the opposite direction.

this time it will be david pecker. who's he? he's the head of the company that publishes the "national enquirer." and according to the "wall street journal," he was granted immunity in the federal investigation into trump's former attorney michael cohen in exchange for providing information on hush money deals. now, according to sources pecker told federal prosecutors what seems obvious to most of us. trump knew all along of cohen's payments to women who had alleged sexual encounters with him. pecker also provided investigators with details about the payments that cohen made for the women. so let's get the white house reaction to this and a lot more. counselor to the president, kellyanne conway, good to have you back. >> welcome to washington. hi. >> you literally just whisked in here as the show started. >> the president sends his greetings. >> send him my best. i hope he's watching. >> and he said he always liked your mother and she liked him. >> well, i've got that going for me. >> don't embarrass her tonight. >> i'll try. sh

david pecker, it now seems clear is the david on the tape that michael cohen made just before the electioncussing the possibility of getting the rights to karen mcdougal story already bought in a catch and kill deal right before the election. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. i will do that right away. i've spoken to allen about how to set the whole thing up with funding. yes. it's all the stuff -- all the stuff, you never know where that company -- he gets hit by a truck -- i'm all over that. i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for financing -- >> what financing? >> i have to -- >> pay with cash? >> no, no. >> allen wiseleberg is the trump organization's chief financial officer, david pecker and talking about the karen mcdougal catch and kill arrangement. there is a report that they kept a safe on other damaging stories it killed, as part of its relationship with donald trump. here to talk about it, jeffrey toobin. you wrote a lengthy piece in "the new yorker," i recall, about david pecker. >> i did. >> what do you t

we've seen david pecker get this immunity from prosecutors.s still very much a focus of attention here. you've talked about these three pillars propping up president trump. the pr pillar. how does it change its role when we look at it as a de facto arm of the president? >> from a legal perspective, i think his comment was right that ami worked as an arm of the donald trump campaign. i think they're look at them from a narrow perspective. what role did they play in hush payments? we all know now these hush payments are implicated in campaign violation laws. it's very specific. i know we really want to know that treasure trove, but it's not necessarily relevant to anything other than was a law broken. so i think one of the reasons that i think they'll look very closely at them is what role did they play in hush payments, are there any other hush payments around the time of the campaign, are there any other women or men, for whatever other reason, doesn't have to be about sex, it could be about business deals, it could be about a whole bunch of t

tablo tabloid hancho david pecker granted immunity to provide information in the federal investigationael cohen. pecker who heads america media in inc. corroborating details. >> michael cohen pled guilty to eight felony charges. >> reporter: trump's former personal lawyer and long time fixing pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws admitting he worked with pecker on the $150,000 deal with karen mcdugal for the rights to her story of an alleged 2006 affair with trump. >> do you think he was in love with you? >> he was. >> reporter: and he paid $130,000 in hush money to porn star stormy daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged 2006 -- the president denies both affairs. according to cohen's plea agreement beginning around august 2015 pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about trump by helping identify such stories so they could be bought and killed. pecker has a long history of squashing unflattering stories about the real estate mogul according to a senior editor who said pecker racked up a favor bank. trump has praised pecker as brilliant tweeting he should leave

because on the one hand, this is a friend, this is david pecker. the payments in the campaign in 2016 have sort of been presented as, this was pecker, going to keep it from going to the press. he would buy up the story, that would do the trump team a favor. this, though, reads more like, is trump being held up here, essentially? like, hey, we got these goods, it would be a shame if they came out. >> no, i really don't think so. i think they absolutely knew they could trust david pecker, they absolutely did. but there were also some rumors going around that michael cohen apparently was hearing that mr. pecker could leave and try to go -- there was a rumor that he would buy a "time" maybe separately from ami, that was the rumor they were hearing. >> i guess the question that occurs to me just looking at it, if pecker is a friend, why doesn't he say, hey, guys, i don't want your money, here's everything, go take it and burn it in a field somewhere. >> it's still a business, right? a lot of resources went into that material, long before david pecker was

trump was a source for david pecker. he knew a lot of gossip. and so he would give them tips and so he played that game. he is not the only one who does that, but one that did that and he had a relationship with them that was valuable. so this was a long standing there. any negative stories even back to the dates on the apprentice didn't surface. >> and you've looked at the transcripts of that plea hearing in new york. what surprised you about the level of coordination? >> the thing that blew me away was the fact that michael cohen was charged with a campaign guy nantz violation because until that moment, america was guided between people who said that is a serious crime and other people who said, yeah, it is technically a crime, but i don't know that the spk wouecial coun would care about that. and i learn that had they care about that crime. and it is something that they care about and they are willing to prosecute it. john edouard wards was a differ kind of case. and this demonstrates that this is something that federal prosecutors are going

david pecker flipping on the president, pretty big news?he is flipping, but he is granted immunity. they were allies for a long time. he knows a lot of secrets. it seems like the walls are closing in on this president, katy. >> ken dilanian, elie hoenig. thank you very much. >>> and the silence of mitch mcconnell. the sounds of silence coming up next. you're turning onto the street when you barely clip a passing car. minor accident - no big deal, right? wrong. your insurance company is gonna raise your rate after the other car got a scratch so small you coulda fixed it with a pen. maybe you should take that pen and use it to sign up with a different insurance company. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ i'm not really a, i thought wall street guy.ns. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this

you've got david pecker, michael cohen, donald trump.re these three the only people who knew about this? there was a lot of people who sort of put their political careers on the line for the trump presidency who are outs of the loop on what exactly happened. i think that's gotten to really concerns. >> and under the theme, there's a trump tweet for everything. here he is in july of 2013 saying "time" magazine should definitely pick david pecker to run things over there. he'd make it exciting and win awards. >> it would be exciting. >> it would be exciting indeed. it might be a lot like "the national enquirer." we'll have to wait seen ae whth reaction here. file this under the theme of nobody knows. trump certainly doesn't know. you can tell from the white house there's a lot of nervousness. as much as you might hear rudy giuliani, for instance, say, oh, no, everything is fine. >> there's anxiety. people are almost a little bit numb to sort of story after story after story and are trying to soldier through this. but there's certainly anxi

robert: when i mentioned david pecker, head of a.m.i. which runs the "national enquirer" which has had a cozy relationship with trump for dedes how much vulnerable is trump with david pecker getting immunity, allen weisselrg, the c.f.o. of the trumping orny sarkse getting immunity? it's more than just campaign finance. dan: i think that's the big question. is the grant of immunity to the two of the mostly aimed at shoring up what michael cohen has pleaded to, or does it open up every areas for the special counsel to investigate, to explore, and perhaps to find other things were trump o the trump organization have committed crimes or have you know, done shady things? we don't know the answer to that. but i think that one thing we see, as molly suggested, is that this case continues to build and it builds up and builds out. and all of that surrounds donald trump at this point. and so we -- you know, we have to wait for the conclusion but these two men know a heck of a lot of stuff that could be problematic for trump. >> and molly you know

book now at lq.com >>> what's more important to david pecker is david pecker.sman and this is hurting his business. he's going to take care of himse himself. at the end of the day, the guy's a survivor. >> that was a former executive with the national enquirer on nbc last night. in light of david pecker cutting an immunity deal. it's one of several legal bombshells hitting close to the president. one after the other this week. joining me now, denny heck, a member of the intelligence community. always good to see you, long distance once again. whenever you come on, i think back to the several and often profound predictions you've made about the investigation. you said that people are going to be going to jail. how do you process what transpired this week from the manafort conviction, the cohen plea deal. immunity deals for wieselberg and peck el and this mystery safe now. >> it's the beginning of the end is how i would characterize it. as i said to you last month, the walls are closing in. this week will be the watershed week. i didn't know that it would be poss

now the publisher of the "national enquirer," david pecker, a long time friend of the president, a friendow. the "wall street journal" and "vanity fair" report federal prosecutors have granted pecker immunity. sources say he has told prosecutors that the president knew about the hush money payments and provided details. >> joining us now is "wall street journal" reporter nicole wong who has

>> well, this is just more evidence, wolf, of the relationship that existed between david pecker and donald trump for years. it appears over a decade. what's amazing to me frankly, this is another example of someone close to trump, and didn't trust him. you have michael cohen who was at the right hand of donald trump for the better part of 10 to 12 years, felt it necessary to tape their conversations, maintain evidence against donald trump in the event it was needed. now we find out that it appears david pecker did the same thing at the same time he was supposedly friends with donald trump, he knew better than to trust him entirely. in fact, it appears he knew he could not trust him and that's why he maintained this information, and this process or standard will ultimately be the down fall of donald trump. here's a guy that demands 100% loyalty from everyone around him but gives loyalty to no one. ultimately it is going to come back and bite him. >> the president apparently never followed through on the plan to purchase all of that so-called dirt. if he did, is there anything illegal

at the end of the day, what's important to david pecker is david pecker. >> details and insight joining me now, jeff bennett. cnbc editor at large. john hardwood. former federal prosecutor. with the welcome to you all, i'm going start with you. pretty bad week for the president. also with the inspector of cohen cooperating. the mystery national enquirer safe. all these stories about the president allegedly. can you give us a gauge of the president and the staff's mood because we know he's gone on a tweet storm this morning. >> that's true, alex, great to be with you. look, president trump, people close to president trump describe his mood as calm for now, but they say they're certainly bracing for the president to melt down and lash out. as you mentioned, we're getting a view of what's on the president's mind as we often do on saturday's like this based on his twitter feed. apparently up early watching fox news. he tweeted his reaction to a segment about hillary clinton's e-mail investigation. he's also suggesting a new tad deal in the works with mexico. negotiators for mexico and u.s.

david pecker, c.e.o. of a.m.i., the publisher of "the "national enquirer" and trump organization chief financial a officerm weisselberg. >> noining me, mollyla ball, p reid, abby phillip, white house correspondent for cnn andan balz. dan, you wrote that what took plac tuesday will ratchet up pressure on the president,bo en his critics and no doubt inflame and rally his supporters. in so many ways it feels like we'veeen here before. a crisis moment. for president trump, candidate trump. what makes this week different? dan: two things. first on the manafort conviction, what that did, it would have -- the it had nothing too with donald trump is it strengthened the hand of bob mule around thenvestigative team. that jury deliberated a long time. and on 10 counts they could not ach a verdict because of one lone holdout but the eight quicks were very, very important. it sent a signal that this is a real investigation that has real power. so that's the first thing the second is, with michael cohen, to see him mak

david pecker, ceo of the company that own, "the national enquirer." cutting an immunity deal in the michael cohen case. a source telling abc news he helped prosecutors investigating cohen and hush money payments for two women during the campaign. cohen pleading guilty to campaign finance allegations. abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas leads us off. >> reporter: he's been friends with president trump for more than a decade. but david pecker, publisher of "the national enquirer," has now been granted immunity inthe sild to have had affairs with trump. and that trump knew about the deals. cohen pleaded guilty earlier this week, admitting his role in the scheme, which he claims was directed by the president himself. prosecutors say the plan to protect trump began in 2015, just after the billionaire launched his campaign. they say pecker in coordination with cohen and one or more members of the campaign offered to help deal with negative stories about trump's relationship with women, specifically assisting the campaign in identifying such stor

david pecker, the head of a.m.i. s now cooperating with federal prosecutors in exchange for immunity. donald trump's week from hell took another dramatic turn today with news that pecker has provided evidence related to the investigation into president trump's hush money payments during the 2016 campaign. that's according to

what i thought was so fascinating about maggie's story was how, as long as david pecker was there, everything they could keep -- that certainly is what pecker said to me in very explicit terms, we bought karen mcdougal's story because we wanted to protect our friend, the president. that apparently was the guiding principle for all of the editorial decisions at "the national enquirer." what's so fascinating about this story, they were so concerned pecker might leave they wanted to get their hands on all the dirt so that pecker, even if he was gone, they'd still be protected. >> not like you're speculating about that. we heard it on the tape. >> they say it. >> they said it out loud. >> what did he say, if you get hit by a truck, a very new york way of putting it. >> we're guessing it's a euphemism. >> if you're listening, i am remembering the senator santorum who, perhaps, would have been deeply concerned about decades of dirt and maybe scurrilous dirt on a presidential candidate now president, i'm guessing at this point that the president supporters, doesn't move them at all, i imagine, this

she spoke with david pecker tonight. "the enquirer" kept that information inside of a locked safe, but do we know what happened to that safe? >> reporter: well, it's still a bit of a mystery. the ap has reported that pecker emptied that safe just prior to inauguration, but it's still unclear, did he keep the documents, did he destroy them, are they in the hands of federal investigators? when ingot him on his cell phone, he said no comment. i tried. >> david pecker with no comment tonight. all right, thank you. >>> next tonight, the fbi arresting a suspect accused of threatening to kill employees at "the boston globe." federal agents raiding robert chain's home in california, accusing him of making more than a dozen threats to "the globe." chain allegedly calling employees the enemy of the people. the same phrase auoften used by president trump to attack the media. the threats coming immediately after "the globe" launched a nationwide newspaper campaign in support of the first amendment and news organizations. >>> we turn

that report came just hours after the news of david pecker agreeing to spill what he knows. listen to this conversation between the president and michael cohen. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all that info regarding our friend david. you know where he's going to be? correct. so i'm all over that. >> so the david referred to, david pecker, chairman of american media. pecker's tabloid, the national enquirer, is definitely one of trump's strongest allies. just check out these big cover stories leading up to the campaign. heavily anti-hillary. but it wasn't just during the election. for years, pecker has reportedly bought damaging stories about mr. trump but never published them. it's a practice known as catch and kill. this effort ramped up before the 2016 election and according to the associated press, pecker even kept a safe in his office filled with documents related to these damaging stories. on thursday, pecker was granted immunity in the case against michael cohen, leading him to share what he knows about hush money payments that cohen made leading up t

did you find that with david pecker as well? >> absolutely.e can be the most charming man in the world. he's done that for years with finance people, with advertisers, with editors. he can charm the pants off anybody when he wants to. >> and we've also been concerned about the president when he gets backed into a corner and see the way he behaves, and he comes lashing out. we can say he does that through his tweet storms. what about david pecker when he is backed into a corner? >> he does very similar. he fights back -- i don't know what it's like for him now. after making a deal for immunity, there is probably some relaxation. he has tools at his disposal that he can use that other people don't. you have to imagine they have health and fitness magazines and they really own the celebrity category right now. >> okay. what is it with this safe? can you tell us about this where the trump secrets were reportedly kept? did you ever get a look inside of it? it seems like other employees have been pretty curious, too. >> i must say, i did not get a l