cannot vote, because of felon disenfranchisement laws. it varies state-by-state. some people cannot vote when they are on parole, probation, outstanding fines. there are a few states, most notably florida, which prevent ex-felons from voting altogether. even after you have served your debt to society, you cannot vote. one of the most interesting campaigns in 2018 will be about this issue of overturning the felon disenfranchisement law and -- law in florida. it is critical, because 1.5 million people in florida cannot vote. just think of margins, 537 votes in 2000. and the last election, donald trump only beat hillary clinton by 112,000 votes. 10% of the adult population in florida cannot vote including one in five african-americans. that is staggering to me, and in one of the most important swing states in the country, one in five african-americans is disenfranchised, even after they have paid their debt to society. so, this amendment is one of the most interesting things i am following in 2018. one thing i forgot to say about the courts

so they sent these lists of suppose it -- supposed ex-felons to be purged. but first off, the purge was discriminatory. african americans were 44% of the voter purge list, even though they were only 11% of the population in florida. the second problem was that the purge was inaccurate. what happened was, people showed up to vote on election day in florida in 2000, they were wrongly told they were felons and could not vote. after the election, the naacp sued the state of florida and the state showed that 12,000 voters were wrongly deemed as felons and purged from the voting rolls. that was 22 times the margin of election victory for george bush in the state. some people learned one lesson after florida, which is that this can never happen again. other people learned a different lesson, which is that maybe this benefits us politically. maybe there is a benefit in preventing people from voting. maybe it will help one party and hurt the other. so fast-forward to 2008. i think what is really interesting about 2008 is not only is the first black president elected,

convicted felon now. what about your personal attorney? convicted felon. now, it is true, as rick points out, they weren't convicted felons when he hired them. but what does it say about your judgment that these are the people you choose to surround yourself with? >> i don't think it says anything good. >> well, first off, number one, general flynn was -- is not a smarmy character. general flynn served this country terrifically as a military officer. >> but he did lie to a federal investigator. >> you know, he made a mistake, and he committed a crime, and he took the hit for it. but to suggest that that's a bad guy to surround yourself with, i think is overstating the case. paul manafort has been employed by republicans all over the map. for a long, long time before donald trump. but agreed. >> with flynn, he did amazing stuff in afghanistan and in his military career, but if you're leading chants of lock her up, and then you're the one who actually gets locked up, you're a hypocrite. >> look, general flynn -- >> i mean, yeah? >> i don't know if you're a h

trump has his block of felons. he surrounds himself with what turns out to be felons.here's never been anything like this in american history. watergate in the mid 1970s is the closest thing we've had. watergate, it consisted of drims of americans committing crimes against americans. at the core of this investigation, which we're not nearly at the end, is a foreign power trying to affect and possibly affect our election. >> i've heard the term criminal enterprise a lot, special when i michael cohen and paul manafort. do you think that's beif itting with what happened? >> i wouldn't use the phrase myself but i can't argue with anyone who does. look at how many people have pled guilty or in manafort's case, been found guilty. so we are in an ocean the likes of which no one has been on. the head winds are against donald trump. i know his former aide omarosa thinks he is crazy as a bull bat. i don't subscribe to that. i don't think he's crazy at all. i do think that he is increasingly cornered and people who get in a corner frequently can't think as straight as they would

another felon is a pretty extraordinary piece of news. >> it's truly extraordinary.ichael cohen says he made that payment, facilitated that payment to karen mcdougal, quote, for the purpose of influencing the election. that was all done through american media. the parent company of the national enquirer. and cohen says president trump repaid him for the stormy daniels $130,000 payment, as well. those comments from inside this federal courtroom today about the president of the united states. go ahead and give us your reaction. >> well, and remember, who has benefited from all of this? who benefited from the fact that these two women were silenced? wasn't michael cohen. michael cohen wasn't the one who was running for president. it was donald trump. so if you wanted to look at the way prosecutors generally view culpability, they look at who benefits. who made the money. who was at the top of the pyramid. here, there's not even close to a debate about that. this was something done for the benefit of donald trump, who, according to michael cohen, directed the entire ille

i'm not ready. >> reporter: nationwide, an estimated 6.1 million felons are restricted from voting. of them are in texas. in 13 states, felons lose the right to vote indefinitely. >> people, indeed, in the american democracy are being punished for voting. >> reporter: the university of service criminal co-wrote the book on felony voting laws which date back to the 1870s in there the united states is among the nations that disenfranchise everybody for committing felony-level crimes. >> reporter: union says these laws are more of a moral punishment than a legal one. florida has a ban that could be overturned through a ballot methisem hat is thee, more n peop could . as for crystal mason, she heads back to prison next month. "cbs news," ft. worth, texas. . coming up, john dickerson reflects on the selfless actions of former president jimmy carter and john mccain can inspire us all. a former college dean takes action after she grows concerned about her school ripping off students and the government. that's the cbs "morning news" for this friday. thanks for watching. i'm anne marie green

tprrgs he's also a mob-linked felon and fbi informant. sader told the tphrbg that he lines up up from bank partially owned by the kremlin and under u.s. sanctions at the time. sater bragged. he told cohen that putin would say great things about trump if the deal for trump tower went through. again all of this happening during the primary. one email between cohen and sater offers one of the earliest publicly known symbols. he said buddy, our boy can become president of the united states and we can engineer it. i will get all of putin's team. i will manage this process. again quote. we can engineer. so felix sater said he andpute pfpbs team could work to make donald trump president of the united states. he denighed any effort and he also said that he didn't have connections to putin's government but felt confident he could find others who knew putin who could help. he reached out direct 3 discan custhe project. hesent a message to it it it president -- and he says he received a message and didn't respond. they were closely working together

and yes, the oth stuff matts, too.al his personawyers an admitted felon, campaign manager a xwiked felon all happened on the same day. if you're to say of all this mess courthouse to ,courthou what is the mark left? it is the fact that the president of the united states was acced of committing a crime. yes, it's a campaign finance cr'se. but that that could be the beginningf what i think is a long nightmare for the president involving all things michael cohen. the paul manafort stuff is serious. it shows it you mueller's got plenty to g on here and it isn't a witch hunt. if you're the prenident t, it's the michael cohen news that has it you absolutely petrified. >> there is a lot more to unwrap on this story tonight. look for continuing coverage tomorrow morning on the "today" show a on news for today starting at 4:00 a.m. >>> switching gears a bit and headingoutside, record rainfall today and it is still coming down this evening. check out the scene on northwest.t avenue in this is around 9:00 tonight. if you were caught without an umbrella, you were soaked in fconds. androm our white h

his personal lawyers and admitted felon. former campaign manager is a convicted felon and that all happened on the same day. if you're to say of all this mess, courthouse to courthouse up and down the eastern seaborne today, what is the mark left, the fact that the president of the united states was accused of committing a crime. yes, a campaign finance crime. that could be the beginning what i think is a long nightmare for the president all things involving michael cohen. paul manafort is serious and shows mueller has more to go on here. it isn't a witch hunt. if you're the president tonight, the michael cohen news ab lutely petrified. >> chuck todd tonight, thank you. >>> more breaking news following the tragic discovery of the university of iowa student, mollie tibbetts, who vanished a month ago after she went for an evening jog. late today, officials said they found her body and charged a suspect with first degree murder. authorities say he was in the country illegally. the latest from nbc ron mott. >> reporter: tonight,

sources say about the reaction in the white house after a pair of top trump aides become convicted felon, michael cohen, the president's former lawyer pleaded guilty in new york. he admitted he coordinated with mr. trump to keep a scandal quiet during the campaign at nearly the same moment a jury returned guilty investigators against foreman campaign chairman paul manafort. eight counts of financial crimes. >> a source close to the white house says cohen's plea deal sounds terrible for the president. a congressional source saying top party leaders are quote trying to catch their breath. even the president's supporters call it trump hell hour. the attorney for michael cohen says the president's long-time fixer is no longer in his court. >> patriotism and love of country caused him to recognize the danger of this particular president, his lack of suitability to be president of the united states. his decision as he said to me late one nato hit the reset button on his life and his previous loyalty to such a man that he considered especially after helsinki to be a danger to our country. >> th

paul manafort is a convicted felon, an eight-time loser, a felon, serial lawmaker, taxpayer who cheatedut of millions of dollars. the president says he is a friend of ours, as they used to stay in the mob. jim acosta joins us. i understand you're learning more about the advice the president is getting about issuing pardons related to the russian investigation. >> reporter: that's right, anderson. i have been told by a source inside the president's legal team he has been advised for months now to avoid any pardons in the russia investigation including paul manafort. interesting to point out earlier this evening "the washington post" was reporting rudy guiliani told them in just the last several weeks, rudy guiliani had to talk the president out of pardoning paul manafort until it is over. what's interesting here about all of that is that at the white house secretary, sarah sanders, apparently was giving us a false or incomplete information that did not add up when she said that a pardon was not under discussion, has not been under discussion. this evening, she put out a statement saying

. >> reporter: here felons can't vote until they have completed their full sentence. now, mason faces five years in state prison for voter fraud and today was given ten months in federal prison for violating the terms of her supervised release. are you mentally ready for that? >> not at all. i'm not ready. >> reporter: nationwide, an estimated 6.1-million felons are restricted from voting. nearly 500,000 of them are in texas. in 13 states, felons lose the right to vote indefinitely. >> people indeed in the american democracy are being punished for voting. >> reporter: university of minnesota criminologist chris tegen co-wrote the book on felony voting laws, which date back to the 1870s. st the united states is perhaps among the very few nations that disenfranchise everybody for committing a felony-level crime. >> reporter: uggen says these laws are meant to be more of a moral punishment than a legal one. now, florida has a ban that could be overturned on a ballot measure this november. and if that's the case, more anan one-million people could igt their voting rights

his former lawyer is an admitted felon. his former campaign chief is a convicted felon. and those revelations seemingly change nobody's opinion of the commander in chief. his job approval right now according to our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll taken after those bombshells is 44% approve, 52% disapprove. here's where those numbers were before the president of the united states was implicated in a campaign felony. you can see they haven't budged. there will certainly be more bombshells to come and politicians of all stripes will have some daunting choices to make about this presidency and what is best for our country. and while that bipartisan truth-seeking country first, principled brand of republican politics that john mccain embodied is gone, it does not have to die with him. let's bring in tonight's panel. nick confessore is an msnbc political analyst and reporter with "the new york times." susan del percio is a republican analyst and jonathan alter is a "daily beast" columnist. there was also a farewell statement, guys, from mccain that was read by a long-t

because it's not fair and people who stay silent and fight and go through trial and get convicted as felon, they're stand-up people. >> i think, anderson, all four of us agree tonight it's deeply offensive to have a president who is the guardian of the justice system, protector of the law in our country so blatantly disagree what we believe, undermine much of what we agree. i agree very much with dan's analysis the dynamics have been changed. donald trump is a control freak in many ways. he wants to control everything he controlled this epic battle month after month. he alone had the platform and mueller couldn't speak. we talked about that before. mueller had a chance to speak in courtrooms. trump is losing control of the narrative and mueller is taking it away from him. you can see it in a fox poll fascinating. in july, you ask americans if they approve or disapprove. in fox poll, 48 approve, 40 disapprove. today, this week, 59% approve, it's gone from 48 to 59. the disapprove has gone from 30 to 47. i think you can see the power of the courtroom can change the

friends, felons and the fallout.trump sits down with fox news and unleashes jaw-dropping remarks on threats to his administration, both real and imagined. distancing himself from michael cohen, the former fixer, his one-time attorney. the man who joined the trump organization in 2006 and the same man who now says the president violated campaign finance laws.

the community. >> and in north carolina blacks represent a disproportionate share of the district felonsecially barring people that looked like us from strovoting. whitley, i will get your take. what's your take? do you think that's an over simp simplification? >> absolutely, it is no secret that people who are charged with this are african-americans and there is also a law that's originated in 1901 of distinct purpose of people disfranchising. the only law that made in 1931 which was changed the word infamous crime to felonies. since then the laws remained the same and other laws that were meant to keep people back in disenfranchise. >> go ahead. >> sorry, i didn't mean to leave you off. >> didn't the state mail you a voter registration card? >> yes, sir, i received one and i looked over and much pride of being charged and also at the time i was in barber school and i sat in the class with my in instructor and i had somebody in the room and i raised my hand and i said i was already registered. i remember being registered and i remember looking at the card and remembering receiving it bu

. >>> two of the president's top men now convicted felons. we're going to get the bottom line with carl bernstein next. >>> we have breaking news. the first reaction from president trump to the guilty plea from his one time lawyer michael cohen. >> read it. >> this is interesting. this is donald trump writing. if anyone is looking for a good lawyer i would strongly suggest you don't retain the services of michael cohen. >> are you sure that's donald trump writing? >> there are no spelling error there is, strongly suggest doesn't sound like the president. i guess it's a somewhat amusing response to a very serious moment in this presidency. michael cohen stood in an open courtroom yesterday under oath and basically said the president directed me to break the law. let's get the bottom line on all of this. carl bernstein was part of the "washington post" report team reporting on watergate. carl, look, this happened yesterday when michael cohen stood up and said the president directed me to break the law, people said not since watergate have we se

two of the president's right hand men this morning are felons.ut this morning one very clear message from the president, tweeting moments ago, quote, i feel very badly for paul manafort and his wonderful family. justice took a 12-year-old tax case and, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him. and unlike michael cohen, he refused to break and make up stories in order to get a deal. such respect for a brave man. a brave man? keep in mind, the president's former campaign chairman was just convicted on eight counts -- eight felony counts -- in his federal fraud trial. now compare that to what the president said about his former attorney, michael cohen, m

it's admitted felon and convicted felon on the same day. >> it's very rattling to the staff. in particular anybody who in the campaign may zhsomehow have interacted with michael cohen or had a working relationship with paul manafort. paul was largely tried on his own former business dealings. his next trial of course is going to be more aligned with what's been talked about in this russian investigation. i think if you're a staffer who's been active in this campaign during this period where cohen was active and manafort was active you're wondering what particularly cohen, what does this mean for me. >> we've got live pictures here, we're seeing -- this appears to be new york city. we're i think preparing to see michael cohen leave the building. yooij, i know we're going to get an official statement from the trump legal team. but i think the big question, is he going to defend manafort? does he end up trying to dangle a pardon and does that matter? >> i think he'll defend manafort if he believes manafort's still going to protect him. we have new supporting that cohen said that

. >> reporter: here felons can't vote until they have completed their full sentence. now mace son faces five years in state prison for voter fraud and today was given ten months in federal prison for violating the terms of her supervised release. >>> are you mentally ready for that? >> not at all. i'm not ready. >> reporter: nationwide, an estimated 6.1 million felons are restricted from voting. nearly half a million of them are in texas. in 13 states felons lose the right to vote indefinitely. >> people indeed in the american democracy are being punished for voting. >> reporter: he could wrote the book on felony voting laws which date back to the 1870s. >> the united states is perhaps among the very few nations that disenfranchise everybody for committing a felony-level crime. >> reporter: he says the laws are meant to be more of a moral punishment, not a legal one. florida has one that could be overturned. more than 1 million people could get their voting rights back. as for crystal mason, she's headed back to federal prison next month. john? >> omar villafranca. th

a felon a felon who cheated the american taxpayers out of tense of millions of dollars. chief white house correspondent john roberts at the white house. >> we're hearing from the white house and the president as you pointed out earlier, relax to the cohen plea deal. the president's outside attorneys tried to portray michael cohen as a liar. but on many occasions in the past he has been very emphatic and saying that the president had nothing to do with the payments. and now he's suddenly changing his story with his back against the wall to say well, no, i was directed by the president to do this and i was directed by the tonight do it on two occasions. as you might well imagine, that was the first question at the preefing this afternoon. here's how sarah huckabee sanders responded to it. >> are you saying the president has never lied to the american people? so many people look at the tape of him on air force one saying he knew nothing about these payments. when in fact we now know he knew everything about these payments. has he lied? >> secretary sanders: look, again, tha

--s whole issue of felons felon disenfranchisement across the country. you saying at the national level any move to refeform these policies? and also this selective prosecution, are using any of that as may be happening here in fort worth? >> right, well we have record numbers of people who can't vote a felony, but the encouraging news is over the past two decades, a good number of states have begun to reconsider these laws. in many cases, they have been on the books for 100, even 200 years with very little scrutiny. so several states in receipt years have cut back the ban on voting after you complete your sentence. other states, maryland, connecticut, rhode island, no permit people on probation and/or parole to vote, too. tothere's a growing movement reconsider these to reconsider these policies, to scale back. nonetheless, because of the rise of mass incarceration, the number of people with felony convictions, we still have this record six many people who cannot vote. in terms of prosecutions, we hear stories from around the country -- i don't think th

president is expressing clear disdain for the criminal justice system, lavishing praise on convicted felon paul manafort. he has now criticism, the president does, for the attorney general jeff sessions for not stopping these prosecutions and as for michael cohen, the president has expressed no concern over the laws that michael cohen has admitted to breaking. instead, the president says the real crime is that michael cohen is flipping. listen. >> 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, make up stories -- they just make up lies. alan dershowitz said, compose, right? they make up lies -- i've seen it many times. they make up things, and now they go from ten years to they're a national hero. they have a statue erected in their honor. it's not -- it's not a fair thing, but, uh, that's why he did it. he made a very good deal. >> so flipping's the crime, not the actual crime. incidentally, the president also said the markets would crash if he were impeached. >

both men now convicted felons. that legal experts say could pose the greatest threat to the president, the guilty plea of his former lawyer and fixer michael cohen. among the eight counts against him are two for campaign finance violations by directly implicate donald trump. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: that bombshell plea deal means the man who used to fix donald trump's problems has now become one for the president. michael cohen implicating his former boss after pleading guilty to eight felony charges of tax fraud, bank fraud and notably campaign finance violations. paying out hush money, telling a judge he broke the law because a candidate told him to. he doesn't name the person, but he only worked for one, donald trump. >> he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign and to the candidate and the campaign. >> reporter: that includes $130,000 payment cohen made just days before the election to porn star stormy daniels to keep

. >> the president also praising convicted felon pl manafort for quote refusing to break. tonight our look at the candidate who said he'd have -- >> the best people. >> and now has five former top aides facing possible prison time. >>> chilling new details about the man accused of killing mollie tibbetts. what he was doing as so many others desperately searched to find her. >>> a monster hurricane barreling dangerously close to hawaii, bracing for catastrophic floods. the latest from the hurricane hunter in the eye of the storm. >>> new twists in the saga of the prominent "me too" movement accuser who finds herself accused. tonight alleged text messages surface that bring her denials into question. >>> and a breathtaking moment captured on video. whale watchers hope to catch a glimpse and get a spectacular surprise. >>> good evening. president trump did his best today to downplay his own potential legal jeopardy a day after his former lawyer, michael cohen, admitted to campaign finance violations and an open court fingered the president as a partner in crime. mr. trump tod

two former associates are now convicted felons.he's here in the coun od charged wi the muof college stu tibbetts. he is here in the country illegally which renews the immigration debate on a national level. you could generate your own energy, at home. or to save energy, unplug unused appliances. do your thing, with energy upgrade california. individual, and so we are saddened for the family." now at five: a missing college student with ties to the bay area is found dead. a susp >>> she was a phenomenal individual and so we are saddened for the family. >> a missing college student with ties to the bay area is found dead, a suspect under arrest. now the case is igniting the debate over immigration. >> a bay area fire chief makes a shocking claim about verizon! he says the company slowed down his crew's wireless data in the middle of battling the state's largest wildfire. >> and president trump's former personal attorney pleads guilty to crimes. what michael cohen says mr. trump told him to do. it is wednesday, august 22nd. good morni

two former members of president trump's inner circle are now convicted felons, and the world is reacting. tonight,roe are projecting messages like these on the trump hotel in and criminal and felons welcome here. this was aer in presidentialstioto now, how will this impact mr. trump. the feds are closing in and tonight the president is firing back. here's nbc bay area's jean elle i in san francisco. >> reporter: a jury finds president trump's former campaign manager paul manafort guilty of bank and tax fraud for his work before the presidential campaign. all of which pertain to manafort's career before trying to help russia supported people to win elections in the ooh crain. >> reporter: it is the first conviction stemming from mull mueller's conviction. hadar says it does in the implicate president trump but says michael cohen's guilty pleas do. pleaded guiy nt's former lawyer violations and tax au money to two women be detrimental to the 2016 campaign. >> in court, cohen said a federal candidate instructed him to pay hush money to karen mcdougal and stormy daniels. >> he's now stabbed

size fits all approach and there is a massive different and fact between an individual with a violent felonous gang member and an individual that came here 20 years ago with their child to found a better life and has never committed a crime and now his u.s. citizen children, and you can't treat them equally and when you divert resources to focus on the gardener who has been here 15 years and now children, that means that some criminal or gang member is getting free. i worry that the president is selling the american people a bill of goods suggesting you can have your cake and eat it, too, and that's just not a fact. >> and talking about public safety because there is the heart of it. the president cites this as a national security issue and yet we talked to a republican mayor of el paso when all of this started in june and this is what he told us about the state of security and safety in his area. >> el paso is the safest city in the united states by any fbi or other measurement that you have and we have been in the top three for many years. we are the safest city in the united states. we d

blindsided, some of what our sources say, reaction after a pair of top trump aides became convicted felons. cohen, the president's former lawyer pleaded guilty, admitting he coordinated with mr. trump to keep quiet during the campaign, at the same moment the jury held paul manafort on eight counts of crime. top party leaders are quote trying to catch their breath. even the president's supporters see the significance of these convictions. the dredge report calling it trump hell hour the attorney for michael consuggest the president's long-time fixer could have damaging information for the russia investigation. >> michael cohen has information that would be of interest to mr. mueller in his probe of a conspiracy to corrupt american democracy very similar to the indictment of russians. i believe mr. cohen would be able provide information useful to the special count sell. >> the pea deal means cohen likely faces three-to-five years in prison at his sentencing december 12th. the president's legal team going after what they call cohen's lice and dishonesty. we have more on cohen's plea deal. >>

news" this tuesday, two former associates of the president are now convicted felons. one pleaded guilty, the other found guilty in separate fraud heses. and a stunning turn of events in iowa after the discovery of mollie tibbetts' body. all of that tonight, starting with the headlines in 60 seconds. >> the jury has found president idump's former campaign chairman paul manafort guilty of eight counts of fraud. >> reporter: this is the first conviction secured by special counsel robert mueller in his investigation. >> paul manafort is a good man. this has nothing to do with russian collusion. it's a witch hunt and it's a disgrace. >> reporter: the manafort verdict and the michael cohen apea deal were happening onmultaneously. >> trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer, michael cohen, pleading guilty to eight counts. an charges of campaign finance k aud, bank fraud, and tax evasion. >> mr. cohen decided that he was above the law, and for that, he is going to pay a very, very eprious price. >> reporter: a colorado man accused of killing his pregnant afe and two childre

friends, felons and the fallout. president trump sits down with fox news and unleashes jaw-dropping remarks on threats to his administration, both real and imagined. distancing himself from michael cohen, the former fixer, his one-time attorney. the man who joined the trump organization in 2006 and the same man who now says the president violated campaign finance laws. >> he has been a lawyer for me. did small deals. not somebody that was with me that much. they make it sound like i didn't live without him. >> what about paul manafort? will the president pardon his former campaign chair? >> i have great respect for what he has done in terms of what he has gone through. you know, he worked for ronald reagan for years. he worked for bob dole. >> the president also launching new attacks on his embattled attorney general jeff sessions. >> he took the job and then he said, i'm going to recuse myself. i said, what kind of a man is this? >> as you saw, we have a lot to sort through. jeremy diamond is at the white house. the

up first, a tale of two felons.resident trump praises paul manafort, his former campaign chairman, now convicted on eight federal counts of tax and bank fraud. the president tweeted this, i feel very badly for paul manafort and his wonderful family. justice, and he puts the word justice in quotes took a 12-year-old tax case among other things applied tremendous pressure on him and unlike michael cohen, he refused to break. make up stories in order to get a deal. such respect for a brave man. the president took another swipe at michael cohen, his former lawyer and personal fixer for more than a decade who pleaded guilty to eight charges and implicated the president of the united states in a hush money scheme. the president tweeted this. quote, if anyone is looking for a good lawyer, i would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of michael cohen." let's bring in our white house correspondent abby phillip. is this part the president's plan to discredit michael cohen and possibly set the stage for pardonin

no. >> who did something wrong. >> who became a convicted felon? no.er the fact that they defrauded the american people, they're a good person. >> they can be a good person who did a bad thing. we can make that distinction. >> eight counts. >> yeah. you know how many people commit fraud who evade taxes? i'm not saying it's the right thing. >> i do not -- >> poppy, let me get this straight. it is not a good thing and he should go to jail for what he did. >> you're down -- okay, jen psaki, your take? >> i think there's a really dangerous lowering of the bar here of what's acceptable. people have served in governments for the white house and for the federal government for hundreds of years and we have trump supporters >>> what is happening in this country? of course, paul manafort is a bad guy and trump is trying to keep him in his corner. we all know what's happening there. i don't think it's an easy thing for him to explain especially for his recorders. >> every time a president issues a pardon, it's somebody who did a bad thing. they're paying their de

paul manafort's now a convicted felon with two trials to go. and these leaks that he might plea. michael cohen's a convicted felon, as a lawyer for trump, he knowingly helped trump break the law to influence an election. roger stone has darkly predicted both his own indictment and that of donald trump jr. now this week. it's a lot. >>> but tonight, exactly one week out from that cohen plea deal we still don't know why cohen pled guilty this particular way. we don't know if he'll ever cooperate with the feds in new york, or bob mueller. and when you think about it that's remarkable. unlike, say, stone who just resists cooperation, or manafort who faced down a whole trial before any conversations about a plea, michael cohen had been openly auditioning for cooperation. he was leaking that he had a story to tell. his new lawyer lanny davis was telling everyone who would listen, including my colleague rachel maddow, that cohen knew things of interest to bob mueller, and still knows them, a trumpian way to communicate with mueller, basically yelling on tv come interview us. and yet the

still he is now a convicted felon. one of several in president trump's orbit.udes michael cohen, his long-time lawyer and fixer who the president is suddenly saying was only a part-time employee who he barely saw. joining me now national security reporter kennedy dylan and former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, elie hoenig. welcome. so the president is trying to push back here. he doesn't want to be associated with paul manafort. now he doesn't want to be associated with michael cohen. he is saying paul manafort is a great guy. he is really walking a fine line, ken, when it comes to what can get attached to him. >> i don't think there is anything fine about that interview he gave disparaging the justice department. that was incredible to me. he basically said that he believes prosecutors are regularly putting on witnesses who lie when he was talking about flippers and how people shouldn't be allowed to flip and make up stories. he was accusing his own justice department of unethical behavior. he puts the word justice in quotes and

his campaign manager, his personal attorney admitted or convicted felons. by the company you keep. we know that expression, and now trump waving away the manafort verdict as bogus makes it worse. why? because he's accusing the citizens who took the time away from work and family and spend all that time considering the mountain of evidence and delivering a very nuanced verdict, guilty on some counts and mistrial or hung on others, that they are part of a witch-hunt, shame on him and thank you to those jurors for their service. the silence on cohen by donald trump. that speaks volumes as the saying goes. the a president's personal attorney pleading guilty, admitting to the judge that crimes he committed were committed at the direction of trump. now, the president's supporters will say cohen is an admitted liar but you heard lanny davis. he made a good point. the president's current counsel said he directed cohen to do what he did and that's okay. now they are felonies. about trump's involvement or anything else that was said today you have to look at it for w

much-needed debate to have about whether and to what extent we restore voting rights to convicted felons after they have been released and paid their debt to society, but that is a totally separate conversation from this one. not sure there's going to be any relationship between ex-cons voting and the crime problem in places like chicago and baltimore and st. louis. there's definitely an important conversation to have. i know in new york, andrew cuomo has undertaken an initiative to help restore voting rights for convicted felons, but again, i am not really sure what role that will play in helping crime in the city's. guest: host: you probably heard about the comparisons between gun violence in our country, what happens in other countries, europe and australia where they have stricter laws, lower levels of crimes. what do you think about those comparisons? guest: i think it reflects a problem of thinking about crime on a national scale. when we aggregate crime, we ignore the fact that crime is not experienced in the aggregate. most of the crime in the united states, especially gun crime,

the president is paining his former campaign chairman turned convicted felon. is he laying groundwork to give paul manafort a get out of jail free card? and russians attacking again. facebook shuts down hundreds of sites linked to moscow as the democratic national committee uncovers a sophisticated new attempt to hack into voter information. we're following the growing threat to the 2018 midterm election. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> we're following breaking news. president trump trying to confuse, downplay, and distract from the fact that his former lawyer implicated him in a federal crime. tonight, the president is changing his story again, claiming that he learned about michael cohen's hush money payments to women later on. his words, "later on." that contradicts the evidence and cohen's assertion under oath that he was acting on the directions of mr. trump. the white house insists the president has done nothing wrong. b

here you have a now convicted felon michael cohen, admitted felon, saying that his co-conspirator and or his aider and abettor was the president of the united states. i mean, that is something that is i think basically without precedent in american history. i don't think that happened during the watergate. that someone pled guilty and said the sitting president was a co-conspirator. now, it is true that there are justice department guidelines that say a president cannot be indicted. that's -- that is -- i mean, that is something that robert mueller has certainly apparently agreed to follow. but this crime could be prosecuted after donald trump leaves office. this crime could be referred to congress as a high crime and misdemeanor but the fact that we have an admitted felon saying that the sitting president of the united states was his co-con superior or t -- co-conspirator. that is stunning news. >> this does become as jeffrey and preet suggested a political matter which would mean that the current congress or the next congress which may, in fact, be a democratic house, we don't know,

problematic solutions to all those issues on the table there will be meeting at the guest house and also a felon which means that there will be a much more private atmosphere than if they were to meet here in berlin for example they'll sit down for a couple of hours and we don't even know whether there will be other people there experts so whether it will be just the two of you know you mentioned one of the talks topics they'll be discussing which is the north stream to pipeline that will supply russian natural gas directly to germany and there's a number of parties that are not very happy about this pipeline ukraine being one of them and also the united states president donald trump complaining not too long ago that this is the way that germany is going to be totally controlled by. russia does donald trump have a point all donald trump is even threatening this gas pipeline while he's threatening sanctions all the companies involved that involved in building the gas pipeline and so germany and russia will try and find solutions to make concessions in some ways of course donald trump has also cla

>>etom onng b convicted felons? >> yes. >> came all the way right here, dropped my window. started shooting at them. when they both fell, i knew i hit them. >> you guys are about the most unlikely running buddies in the country. you have a judge, someone once convicted of murder. how do you guys get together? >> i had to appear before parole board hearings. he was the deputy district attorney there. >> i was convinced rafael was not the same person who committed the crime that put him in prison. >> when i got out, i came to this courthouse, came to visit him. i came to give him a handshake and he gas been going on for well over 12 years and it just grows. >> you can watch more in common on facebook watch. new episods come out to come he mornings -- >> he really touched my heart. >> reporter: a bay area mother's memory of john mccain. how he helped calm her in some of her darkest ♪ find a world of inspiration. find something you love today. ever changing selection. ever amazing prices. homegoods. go finding. >>> good morning, north bay. let's get up and get going. >>> welcom

if this gentleman convicted of aggravated the law, aggravated felons are almost always going to standupil is set at a million dollars. if convicted ((ken))new tonight at ten... new tonight at ((ken))new tonight at ten...john cox...the republican candidate for governor in california is reacting to the news of mollie campaign released this his statement today.the mollie tibbetts case is one more tragic example of a senseless loss that never should have happened, similar to kate steinle's heartbreaking death in san francisco (ken)coming up all new at ten: a car stolen with a child inside leads to an arrest in santa rosa. tonight: police have a warning for neighbors. . (pam) plus: a hurricane warning has been issued for hawaii's big island. lawrence will explain more about how high the winds speeds could reach.. (ken)and next: the alameda county sheriff's office is coming under scrutiny tonight... after it was revealed one of its deputies violated a suspect's attorney client privilege.privilege. client you know when you're at ross shopping for backpacks... ...and mom also gets a back-to-sch