jerry falwell's racy personal photographs. then the following january, just ahead of the iowa caucuses, cohen helped persuade falwell to issue his endorsement of trump's presidential candidacy at a critical moment just before the iowa caucuses. might have been helpful to have that one racy, terrible, photograph in reserve when it came to being persuasive about when to issue that endorsement. reuters says it has no evidence that falwell's endorsement of trump was related to cohen's handling of that photo matter, but what they're reporting is that crucial and otherwise utterly inexplicable endorsement followed basically immediately michael cohen taking care of a naked pictures problem for the guy who did the endorsing and michael cohen says he retained one of the photographs. ahem. asking for a friend, is an endorsement intended to influence the outcome of a federal election a thing of value? and are you allowed to arrange for such a thing of value to be contributed to a campaign by quashing naked picture blackmail efforts for te

also, according to reuters, at least, cohen claimed to have helped jerry falwell jr. and his wife with a racy photo problem and helped make it go away, just months before falwell endorsed trump. that's according to a recorded conversation reviewed by reuters. nbc news i should note what not had a chance to review a record ogg after that phone call. in a source from reuters the phone call were separate issues 67 in a carefully worded while the falwells have a long-standing friendship with michael cohen, they never paid or engaged cohen to represent them in any legal or professional capacity, and cohen did not ever resolve any legal matter on their behalf. you'll note the reuters story does not claim that cohen claimed to be legally representing the falwells or getting paid so, that part is a little weird. also, another thing that is kind of weird is this other separate story that came out more than a year ago about the friendship between jerry falwell jr., his wife and a one-time miami beach pool attendant. the falwells met him and befriended him and took him under her

he'll retweet like he did there to jerry falwell jr. about potentially extending his term two years which is obviously not at all a realistic idea. we'll talk about maybe mueller shouldn't testify because i want this to be over. we know from our sources at the ap that the president is concerned about the optics of what a mueller hearing would look like healthcheck doesn't like the idea of all this attention being put on mueller, of everyone relitigating the details of the mueller report. the idea of this person who is very well respected standing up there giving extra gravitas to the details in the report and rehashing them. from all indications it does sound like he will eventually be allowed to go. >> and sam, to the politics of all this, our new poll we came out in the last 24 to 36 hours, trump's approval rating as all of this swirls in our poll, up to 36%. it had been 43% the last time we polled it. gallup a few days ago measured trump at 46%, suggesting here for at the very least the for the president the bottom not falling out. h

often times are members of the religious rights go back to jerry falwell and not much before that. there has been attention to segregation and racism at the segregation of those being formative but also the fight over sex education was critically important and would continue to be after the early decades. look at one of the most critical issues dividing us today, an issue that has split much of the nation today and it is in the news day after day, and that is sexual harassment. you will remember from december 2017 -- again, that was the month my book came out, that when al franken resigned from the senate, and this was after eight women accused him of making unwanted sexual advances, and at that time he resigned right away, but he bitterly noted and this is a quote "the irony in the fact that i am leaving while a man who has bright on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the oval office." and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the senate with the full support of the party. that was roy moore at the time. indeed, donald trump remains the preside

what do you make -- i'm astounded at the friendship between jerry falwell jr.donald trump told them perhaps that michael cohen's a good fixer. and they had a personal problem -- i think they've parsed the issue neatly by saying it didn't involve a legal matter. >> he flew down to florida to talk. >> yeah. there's no indication that there was a legal matter. there seemed to be personal embarrassment involved. i don't want to think about what might be in the photo. >> they're terrible. they are terrible. >> yes. you know, the evangelical community's support for trump has always been a curiosity at best. here's a president -- >> confounding. >> it's confounding. he's consorted with porn stars, cheated in a serial fashion on his spouses. he is not a moral paragon. he's never going to church on a regular basis. he is not somebody who's a bible thumper, but he understands the uses and abuse of power. and i think the fact that the evangelical community has come behind someone who doesn't really embrace most of their values, there's two things here -- either he's a use

jerry falwell jr.cohen describes as racy, quote, personal photos being leaked months before his 2016 of donald trump. falwell approached cohen in 2015 after someone attempted to blackmail him with photos normally kept between husband and wife. according to a source familiar with cohen's thinking, cohen then met with an attorney for the person making the demands and arranged for the photos to be destroyed. but cohen claims to have kept one of the racy pictures which he reportedly described as, quote, terrible in the recorded conversation. nbc news has not had an opportunity to hear the audiotaped phone call. months after resolving the incident, cohen repeatedly reached out to falwell ahead of the crucial aisle of caucuses and pleaded with him to back trump. falwell did that. reuters claims to have no evidence that the two matters are directly related. jerry falwell jr. denied the report yesterday and told fox radio that he's never solicited cohen's legal or professional time. >>> still ahead, markets su

then you see reverend jerry falwell, billy graham, powerful evangelical leaders who were blaming gay people for the aids crisis. again, a setback for the community because these powerful spokesman of faith were pushing back against there is rights. next week come to the section about the historic ruling that led to same sex marriage being made legal across the country. the first amendment gives every american the power to petition the government for change. if there are policies or loss or things that are happening that they don't like. that is evidenced throughout the exhibit. this man had been planning to marry his longtime partner but in their home state of ohio, it was illegal for two men to marry. mr. arthur was dying of an urological disease at the time. he died a few months later -- he was dying of a near n eurological disease at the time. he died a few months later. they joined 14 other couples in a supreme court case in 2015 that made same-sex marriage legal across the country. year you can see the jacket and bowtie he wore on his wedding day and on announcement day. and the

the president retweeted that jerry falwell jr. should get an extra two years tacked on his term. you can dismiss it as constitutional nonsense. but the sitting president of the united states retweeted it and referred to two wasted years in a tweet of his own. this comes hours after speaker of the house nancy pelosi told the "new york times" she was concerned the president would not leave if he were defeat indeed 2020 unless it were by a wide margin. the peaceful transition of power is a hallmark of american democracy in both the speaker and the president are calling it into question. live pictures from a camera outside michael cohen's home in new york city. michael cohen heading to prison. the attorney for the southern district named president trump individual one in that investigation as well. a live look at the market futures. the bets traders are making on the markets. tough after after they said he would increase tariffs no later than friday. that's not all. today is the day of the treasury tent is supposed to turn over the pr

presidency, collusion, delusion that we'll never be able to get back and he re-tweeted this from jerry falwell. i now support reparations. trump should have two years added to his first term as payback for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup. does that sound like bluster to you, or are you actually worried? >> speaking of delusions, that sounds like the delusions of a king or someone who thinks he's a king. you know, the president is -- donald trump is not a king. he's a president. he's accountable to the american people and to their representatives, namely the u.s. congress, and -- and right now we're kind of in a situation where we are staring at a challenge right in our face which is do we do nothing and allow these subpoenas and various tools of our oversight to go uncomplied with, or do we try to enforce them, and i say we have to enforce them to the hill, and we have to make sure that the american people are able to conduct oversight, not only of donald trump but of future presidents as well. this is not a partisan issue. >> speaking of oversight, what we were just talking about, con

kennedy, what about jerry falwell saying we owe president trump and after two years.ke someone is trying to lay the groundwork. >> kennedy: no. no one owes anyone anything and everyone knows that's not how the system works. hillary clinton i believe in st. louis talked about her greatest fear is that president trump, then candidate trump, wouldn't concede the election when she won and that our elections have consequences. i wish she would go back and read some of those words. instead every once in a while, she will sprout a -- they're out to "i take full responsibility." then she goes through the laundry list. the russians, james comey, macedonian hackers. >> brian: barack obama had to convince her to concede. >> kennedy: de peter baker book, he's written a book about how disgusted president obama was. blames her and her soulless, scripted campaign. >> juan: nancy pelosi saying if we hadn't won overwhelmingly 40-plus seats in the 2010 midterms, a slighter amount, four seats, president trump one of said not true. would've challenged the results of the election. >> jess

it started with a tweet by evangelist jerry falwell jr.ations two additional years added to president trump's first term because of a time stolen by this corrupt failed coup. the president echoed that sentiment on twitter about an hour later. quote, despite the tremendous success that i've had as president, including perhaps the greatest economy and most successful two years of any president in history, they have stolen two years of my/our presidency, collusion delusion that we'll never be able to get back. the word stolen certainly raised eyebrows after house speaker pelosi said should he narrowly lose if there is a close contest, pelosi said he would poison the public mind and challenge the races and say you can't seat these people. we had to win, imagine if we hadn't won, oh, don't even imagine so as we go forward, we have to have the same approach. with me now is cnn political commentator steve cortez and analyst kirsten powers. do you think there is any valid concern from speaker pelosi that the president might try to challenge the el

the election were close that the president wouldn't accept the result and on the heels of that jerry falwell jr., a is a supporter tweeted he was owed another two year because the first two were stolen from him. the president repeated it and amplified on it. do these things concern you? do you take them seriously? >> they better concern you when you hear people in high offices in the land wanting democratic norms and saber rattling threatening what makes us distinguished on the planet earth. we are a nation of laws and traditions that peaceful transition of power we almost take for granted others have the same constitutions, these documents are ultimately worth what they're written, the ideals because of american and women hold them to be true. when men and women betray those documents, these institutions will fall. i don't think that that's going to happen. but when i hear that coming from the president of the united states, i take it seriously and frankly it makes me want to double down and in speaking out against that and work even harder to replace him in 2020. >>> coming up on "the axe

this came after the president retweeted jerry falwell jr.ho said trump should have two more years added to his first term as payback for sometime stolen by this corrupt failed coup. who are these people anyway? >> wants a do-over. >> anyway, as politico described it, trump floated the idea of extending his constitutionally limited time in office himself. what do we make of this? trump's claim that he somehow deserves some sort of compensation, some restitution for investigating his russian deals? >> i think it shows that he realizes that the mueller investigation, even when it's over, is actually something that really plays to his base. i think that's part of the reason for reversing course on the tweets. it might not be some sort of order to his attorney general not to let mueller testify, but instead he wants to keep bringing this up. he wants to see -- he wants his base to see him facing off against robert mueller. he's someone who tried to bring them down. that's why he said they shouldn't have a do-over. they've already done round one o

of his friends may be owed more time as president, the conservative religious leader and ally jerry falwellr the best week ever for @real donald trump, no obstruction, no collusion. "new york times" admits barack obama did spy on his campaign. i now support reparations, trump should have two years as time stolen by this corrupt, failed coup. and who do you think retweeted? of course, president trump. >>> then sent a tweet of his own, two years of his presidency was stolen. lamere, i ask you, honest to god it seems psychotic to ask this question. do you think trump in his mind somewhere thinks he is owed two more years around he might somehow be able to get it? nancy pelosi thinks he may not leave? >> i saw that, mr. speaker, i don't think the president is taking steps beyond running for election to extend his term. certainly i know there are people who are concerned if he were to lose in a year-and-a-half or so that there might be some resistance, if not from him, the president, himself, from his supporters, we saw what he did before 2016, suggesting the outcome is rigged, he might not peac

. >> of course he said all that standing next to jerry falwell jr. really? really?embarrassed what you're doing. jerry falwell jr. and donald trump? and you're trying to sound like billy graham there? it doesn't work. context is so important. >> with us, reverend al sharpton and the author and founder of women for women and also member of the ways and means committee, bill pascal of new jersey. reverend al, i of course watched "politics nation" last night. how do you not watch in a? it like tuning in and having james brown like singing and moving across the stage. i'm just saying that because you got to write that book on the godfather of soul. you said you're going to, right? >> i tweeted you back. i am going to do it and you're going to run the foreward and we're going to go to one of your sets one night and do a book signing together. >> yeah, it's not quite the same ning as them singing "sugar sugar." the way you signed off last night, what a wonderful tribute to your mother. i'm wondering for some of our frnds that were busy last night and downsidn't see that,

this about-face comes as the president was tweeting various things including a retweet by jerry falwell jr., suggesting he should get two more years in office because the mueller investigation stole those first two years. we're seeing different kinds of tweets from the president but clearly the mueller probe front and center on his mind and i think the president is very cognizant of all of this playing out in front of 2020. it's ironic that a lot of political observers keep slamming democrats from bringing up the mueller probe. however, the president is doing that ahead of 2020. it won't just damage democrats ahead of that race but the president as well. hearing a lot of different things, as to how both sides can really proceed on this, but this is something that's playing front and center in the president's mind right now. >> julie, democrats had been eyeing may 15th. democratic caucus told me on the hill if they couldn't get may 15th and wanted mueller to testify before that committee before the end of the month. what do you see as the next steps for these lawmakers, not just on the i

. >> he's got a jerry falwell jr.nd julia ansley will join us as well. >>> plus, i sat down with dr. jill biden in philadelphia yesterday. we'll show you that including that amazing story meeting a student while her house burned down. and responding to critics who say her husband is too old for another presidential run. that is all ahead on "morning joe." hey allergy muddlers... achoo! ...do your sneezes turn heads? try zyrtec... ...it starts working hard at hour one... and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec muddle no more. noso let's promote ourke summer travel deal on choicehotels.com like this: surf's up. earn a fifty-dollar gift card when you stay just twice this summer. or.. badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com this and even this.hark, i deep clean messes like this. but i don't have to clean this, because the self-cleaning brush roll removes hair, while i clean. - [announcer] shark, the vacuum that deep cleans, now cleans itself. on a john deere x300 series mower. beca

jerry falwell, as senior pathors of thomas road baptiffs church. he was founder of liberty university, one of the largest christian universities in the united states. in addition to his role as senior pastor at thomas road, he also serves as executive vice president of spiritual affairs at liberty. on this national day of prayer i extend my thanks to jonathan falwell for his devotion to christ, his family, and community. madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to five further requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, last year was an abject failure in addressing the climate crisis in both policy and real world emission reductions in the u.s. and globally, we fell short. we can cannot afford a