pecker to pay the $150,000 to karen mcdougal to keep her quiet? 2016 then candidate trump met with him and asked him to help with the campaign. he used his tabloid and he wanted to help quash the story. when karen mcdougal started to come forward, donald trump asked mr. pecker to step in. >> had immunity and testified with federal prosecutors in manhatt manhattan. >> he got immunity. you and your team have done an excellent job in this report. thank you very much. >> let's get analysis. joining us is a cnn legal analyst and former prosecutor. what's your reaction? >> it's not a shocker that mr. trump would be involved. it's unlikely that michael cohen would dip into his own pocket and not expect to be reimbursed and the relationship with mr. pecker seemed to be established over years that he was acting in mr. trump's behalf to catch and kill these articles. >> and the argument is where the illegality potentially is. it could be an illegal campaign contribution. that was not disclosed to the federal authorities. >> absolutely and would have been so

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in that deal was a provision for karen mcdougal to contribute to articles about fitness in the national sources told "the wall street journal" that the additional provisions of the deal were there if they needed to mount a legal defense against a crime of an illegal campaign contribution to the trump campaign. the $150,000 payment to karen mcdougal benefitted the trump campaign by keeping her quiet about an affair with the candidate. donald trump was supposed to reimburse the national enquirer according to everyone involved. but david pecker was ultimately afraid that the reimbursement part of the deal would be even more evidence of a crime. "the wall street journal" reports mr. trump called off the deal on the advice from his lawyer. the executive worried it had undermine any argument. he told mr. cohen to tear up the reimbursement agreement but mr. cohen kept a copy. federal agents found it in a search of mr. cohen's office earlier this year. it reports donald trump was fully aware of the payment to buy her silence. the journal reports michael cohen had to make the payment using his o

white house and the president was involved every step of the way in paying off stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. also news on the tight race in florida that has the president tweeting up a storm and beginning with recounts. >>> two days ago the president named matt whitaker for that position after he fired jeff sessions. today after two days of stories about matt whitaker's past involvement and apparently shady company and his numerous past comments about how to slow down or end the mueller investigation, now the president is saying he doesn't even know matt whitaker, which is sort of surprising because previously he'd said he did know him and he said it on television. it was actually live. many human beings with ears that worked actually heard it. we're actually going to play it for you in a moment because it's been recorded. but first setting aside the lodging of why the president would appoint someone he allegedly doesn't even know, it's also demonstratively false. whitaker has met with the president and they've spoken on the phone several times according to cnn's reporting. and the presiden

trump, karen mcdougal and stormy daniels.he journal says the president was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the payments. contrast that with the president's comments last april when he claimed he didn't know about money going to daniels. >> you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no, no. >> reporter: as he was leaving for paris, the president was pressed on the other big legal mess hanging over him, the russia investigation, specifically his decision to make matt whittaker his acting attorney general, a move that puts a critic of the probe in charge of it. >> i didn't know matt whittaker. he worked for attorney general sessions. he was very, very highly thought of and still is highly thought of, but this only comes up because anybody that works for me, they do a number on them. >> reporter: the president repeatedly claimed he didn't know whittaker. >> i don't know matt whittaker. >> reporter: but that's not true if you believe what mr. trump told "fox news" last month. >> i never talk about tha

the following june, karen mcdougal the play mate of the year 1998 was looking to sell her story. and her lawyer contacted dillen howard. of american media and howard called cohen. trump called pecker and said can you help me with this. there were negotiations. they didn't immediately buy it. after she started talking to the news. investigative reporters. ami went back and paid $150,000 in coordination with cohen. and with trump. to buy her story and silence her. >> you learned about where the money came from to pay stormy daniels. >> that's right. the we know the money came from michael cohens home equity line. there was a discussion among cohen and trump. and allen weiss el berg. about how to route the money to daniels without having trumps fingerprints on it. and discussed routing it through a trump owned property. but they couldn't figure it out. that's why as we previously reported cohen missed deadlines to pay her. she nearly backed out and he was just like all right i have to pay it myself. >> cohen made money off the deal? is that right? ? >> he did. he was reimbursed by t

journal" is reporting president trump was involved in hush-money payments on stormy daniels and karen mcdougal know who allegedly had affairs with him. >> acting attorney general matt whitaker has ties to a florida company being investigated by the fbi. the same agency he oversees. >>> i want to show new pictures of president trump and president macron there in france where in a few minutes they're going to have lunch with each other, french president macron there with president trump. and cnn's international correspondent, melissa bell, outside the palace there. melissa, talk to us about what the two said publicly there before they sit down privately. >> reporter: this is in the context, of course, of the tweet sent out by donald trump. two minutes after air force one had landed in paris here last night talking about the insult that -- the idea that emmanuel macron should be seeking to bolster european defense forces represented to the united states. so this was clearly going to be a subject when the american president, was welcomed moments ago, they're inside having the bilateral meeting. th

included in that deal was a provision for karen mcdougal to contribute to articles about fitness in thenquirer." sources told "the wall street journal" that the additional provisions of the deal were there if they needed to mount a legal defense against the crime of an illegal campaign contribution to the trump campaign. the $150,000 payment to mcdougal benefited the trump campaign by keeping her quiet about an affair with the candidate. donald trump was supposed to reimburse the "national enquirer" according to everyone involved, but david pecker was ultimately afraid that the reimbursement part of the deal would be even more evidence of a crime. "the wall street journal" reports mr. pecker called off the trump reimbursement deal in october 2016 on the advice of his lawyer, accepting reimbursement from mr. trump, the executive worried, could undermine any argument that the mcdougal payment was made for editorial and business reasons rather than as an in-kind campaign contribution. mr. pecker told mr. cohen to tear up the reimbursement agreement, but mr. cohen kept a copy. federal agent

alleged participation in hush money payments, that is plural, to both porn star stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. "the wall street journal" has just put this piece out. they're reporting federal prosecutors have evidence showing that trump allegedly played a central role in those payments, which means trump might have violated federal campaign finance laws, if proven. this is big. i want to bring in senior reporting eric ordin, gloria borger and former assistant attorney general of the new jersey division of criminal justice. let's get right to it. this is an extraordinary nine pages of reporting through t"th wall street journal" that i just blew through a second ago. they said they interviewed three dozen people. they do such a nice piece of just crafting the chronology of following the money and connecting the dots. so lay it out for us, if people haven't read it. >> sure. the story does a very good job, as you said, at sort of piecing together some activity that was known prior to michael cohen being charged in august about, as the journal had previously reported, cohen's participation in the

hush money to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal during the 2016 campaign. >> cnn's m.j.s the details on his alleged role in the scheme. >> reporter: new details implicating the president in two infamous hush payments. the "wall street journal" reporting that during the 2016 campaign, donald trump closely coordinated with american media, inc., chairman, david pecker, to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with trump. federal prosecutors, according to the "journal" had enough evidence to outline trump's role without naming him in an indictment of michael cohen. trump reportedly asked pecker to kill a story involving "playboy" model karen mcdougal. she claims to have had a long-running affair with trump. >> maybe if he weren't married, i wouldn't have regret because he treated me very viend. he was respectful -- very kind. he was respectful. it was a good relationship. it i known at the time there were supposedly all these other women, no, i wouldn't have been in the relationship. >> reporter: trump was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the agreement

the porn star stormy daniels and the former playmate for playboy, karen mcdougal.ccording to the reporting of the "wall street journal." the "wall street journal" and fox news share common ownership. the journal is citing documents and interviews with more than three dozen people. this report contradicts denials from president trump and the white house. according to the reporting of the journal, the white house referred questions on this to president trump's outside counsel who refused to comment. there are a number of by-lines on this story. many reporters for the "wall street journal" joining us on settle. the point of this whether there was the possibility of campaign finance violations and the possibility of obstruction. >> correct. in august when michael cohen, donald trump's former lawyer, pleaded guilty, he said that he committed these two campaign finance violations at the direction of the candidate. that candidate was donald trump at the time. our question or one of our questions was, what does the direction look like and can we describe that more clearly

in or briefed on nearly every step of the hush money payments made to former playboy playmate karen mcdougal and porn actress stormy daniels that may have violated campaign finance laws. t sound clarity and life-like color. experience dell cinema on the xps 13. get up to $200 off select xps 13 laptops at dell.com (intel chime) (music throughout) at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your finance business. and so if someone tries to breach your firewall in london & you start to panic... don't. because your cto says we've got allies on the outside... ...& security algorithms on the inside... ...& that way you can focus on expanding into eastern europe... ...& that makes the branch managers happy & yes, that's the branch managers happy. at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence. it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. that's the power of &. & when this happens you'll know how to quickly react... but before you do that, you should meet our newest team member, tecky. i'm tecky. i can do it all. go ahead, ask it a question. tecky, can you off

have played a central role in hush money payments both to porn star stormy daniels and playmate karen mcdougal, which means president trump may have violat violated campaign finance laws. first, you read this come h thi comprehensive piece. it's a perfect chronology of following the money. >> there was a 22-page indictment filed against cohen, we knew that donald trump, who had been a candidate for president had directed and been involved in these two payments, one to stormy daniels and another from ami, the parent company of the national enquirer to karen mcdougal. what this does is shed light on the depth for donald trump's involvement. it tabs a closer look at the start of the agreement between donald trump and david pecker, the chief executive of a.m.i. to have a.m.i. operate in service of the trump campaign and help suppress negative stories about donald trump during the campa n campaign. that started with this august 25th meeting that the journal talks about. >> there is a huge difference, paul, between something as it reads, you know, mighty shady and actually illegal. >> well, that's v

trump reportedly asked pecker to kill a story involving a playboy model karen mcdougal. >> if he weren'tldn't have any regrets because he treated me very kind, he was very respectful. it was a good relationship while it happened. had i known at the time there were supposedly all these other women, no, i wouldn't have been in the relationship. >> reporter: trump was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the greet according to the journal. he directed meetings with the self-described fixer michael cohen and others. >> reporter: cohen told the court it was at trump's direction he facilitated the secret payments. prosecutors said cohen coordinated with one or more members of the campaign. there's this secret recording or trained by cnn in july. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all that info recording our friend david. i'm going to do that right away. i've spoken to alan weisselberg about how to set the whole thick up with funding. yes. it's all the stuff. all the stuff. here, you -- >> gets it by -- >> correct. i'm over that. when it comes time for the financing. >

president trump's role in silencing stormy daniels and karen mcdougal is shaping up to be the top targetouse dems. applebee's bigger, bolder grill combos are back. now that's eatin good in the neighborhood. your insurance rates skyrocket you could fix it with a pen. applebee's bigger, bolder grill combos are back. how about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >>> top house and senate democrats say acting attorney general matt whitaker must recuse himself from robert mueller's russia investigation. whitaker has criticized the investigation and said looking into president trump's finances should be a red line and a former trump adviser chris christie is right and there is good reason for the democrats's concern. >> i think he is really there to land the mueller investigation. to get it done. what the president is

campaign, then candidate donald trump directed payments to adult film star stormy daniels and karen mcdougaldicts the previous denials and resurrects concerns he violated campaign finance laws. trump was involved in or was briefed on nearly every step of the plan meant to silence the two women about their alleged affairs with trump. this information on trump's central role was laid out in an 80 page draft indictment meant for long time trump fixer michael cohen before he flipped. stormy daniels lawyer always eager to inject himself into a story had this to say. for over eight months, we have been battling donald trump and the lies he has told about his payment to my client. this is further vindication we were right. i think the president should be indicted consistent with what i said in my "new york times" op-ed. we'll be back in two minutes. cal: we saved our money and now, we get to spend it - our way. ♪ valerie: but we worry if we have enough to last. ♪ cal: ellen, our certified financial planner™ professional, helps us manage our cash flow and plan for the unexpected. valerie: her experi

trump asked pecker to kill a story involving karen mcdougal.claims to have had a long running affair with trump. >> if he weren't married, i wouldn't have regrets, he treated me very kind and was respectful, it was a good relationship while it happened. had i known at the time there were supposedly all of these other women, no, i wouldn't have been in a relationship. >> reporter: trump was involved in or briefed on every step of agreements according to the journal. he directed deals and phone calls and meetings with a self described fixer michael cohen and others. >> i am obviously very loyal, very dedicated to mr. trump. >> reporter: cohen pled guilty to 8 criminal counts in august, including two counts of campaign finance violations. cohen told the court it was at trump's direction he facilitated secret payments. prosecutors said cohen coordinated with one or more members of the campaign and there's this secret recording obtained by cnn in july. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. so

pecker's company soon paid $150,000 to the model, karen mcdougal, to keep her from speaking to the media later thanked mr. pecker for his assistance. >> it's not entirely clear that what trump has done is illegal without one additional element which was actually mentioned in that wall street journal story. under campaign finance law, for it to be a crime, you have to know what you're doing is illegal. it's quite possible that trump did know that but that's another element that trump did need to show, that he knew what he was doing was not just shady but in violation of campaign finance law. >> it's also quite possible that pecker has been involved in even shadier things with trump. as with harvey weinstein, there have been stories that pecker has made catch-and-kill agreements to kill stories where weinstein was accused of sexual assaulting people. we don't know whether trump has done anything of that sort, though there was one woman who accused him of kissing her against her will and later signed an nda, a woman named jessica drake. if there was anything there, pecker might very well be

cohen admitted he arranged i'm not sure if two women, presumably stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. "the journal" also reports cohen has, quote, met with investigators for mr. mueller and with federal prosecutors in new york seeking to provide information that could mitigate his punishment. his sentencing hearing, by the way, is december 12th. in april you will recall president trump told reporters on board air force one that he did not know about the payments to stormy daniels. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? then why did michael cohen make it if there was no truth to the allegations? >> you have to ask michael cohen. michael's been my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> no. >> then in august after michael cohen implicated the president, trump said he learned about both payments later on. >> did you know about the payments? >> later on i knew. later on. but you have to understand, what he did -- they weren't taken out of campaign finance. that's a big thing. that's a much bigger thing.

the latest headline donald trump played central role in hush pay offs to stormy daniels and karen mcdougaloes onto deals --

the latest headline donald trump played central role in hush pay offs to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. he goes onto deals -- the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan gathered mr. trump's participation in the transaction. back in april, the president denied knowing of the payments made by his personal attorney and a month later he walked that back telling fox news that he learned about the hush money payments later on. >> later on i knew, later on. you have to understand, what he did and they were not taking out of campaign finance. that's a big thing. did they come out of the campaign? they did not come out of the campaign. they came from me. >> all right, joining me now, one of the reporters who broke that story, nicole hahn, the wall street journal had been out on this story from the beginning. this story is 76 news cycles ago. bring us up to speed on what's new in this. >> michael cohen in august, the fixer and personal attorney of trump pleaded guilty in federal court to among other things campaign finance violations. he got up in open court and he i am pli -- he said i did these o

street journal" tonight with new details on trump's central role in payoffs to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, which includes an ad with david trump meeting in trump tower. guess what he did? he said he needed help. not just any help, but help for the campaign. pecker said in response they could use the national enquirer to buy the silence of women that made sayings against trump. they emerge as his guilty lawyer michael cohen arranged those deals is cooperating with bob mueller. you see on the screen the efforts to protect mueller from trump's new pick at the doj. thousands marching in cities all over the country. a big story you may not have heard about. newly empowered democrats promising to hold donald trump accountable. >> he should recuse himself. to be track with you, i'm shocked that he has not already recused himself. he is the absolute wrong person to have in this position. >> this person does not, should not be there because of the statements he's made already. >> if there is any effort to obstruct or subvert justice here, we will find out about it. >> trump today down playing any

> up next, trump said he had nothing to do with the hush money payments to stormy daniels and karen mcdougalght shows he played a central role. of course he did. now it's reported. he was approving that spending by his buddy at the newspaper. you're watching "hardball." bud. you're watching "hardball. - learning from him is great... when i can keep up! - anncr: thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. - dad's got all the answers. - anncr: prevagen is now the number-one-selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. - she outsmarts me every single time. - checkmate! you wanna play again? - anncr: prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ that's gillette clear gel. it goes on clear and keeps you fresh all day. and it doesn't leave white marks on your shirt. gillette clear gel antiperspirant. you're in the business of helping people. we're in the business of helping you. business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. whenshe was pregna

the feds have evidence that president trump was directly involved in paying off stormy daniels, karen mcdougal. do you get the sense that campaign finance laws were violated here? >> it certainly would appear that way. as i read that "wall street journal" story, i could just envision the indictment that could come out of all that, a conspiracy to violate the federal campaign laws. whether that will happen or not since michael cohen has pled is a good question. i doubt there will be much further litigation on this in the sense of a prosecution. but david pecker was also mentioned prominently in that story. and he appears that he might have had a an immunity deal as wisenberg from the trump organization clearly got an immunity deal. so i don't know that that case is going to go much further. but it is a certainly evidence of a conspiracy. >> so this is according to the "journal," john barrett, trump met in august 2015 with david pecker ceo of the company that owns the "national enquirer." pecker offered to pay the silence of women who might publicize sexual affairs. the bottom line here this sto

and he's doing the same thing with the accusations about hush payments and stormy daniels and karen mcdougalaway with, how often you change the subject, how often you can contradict yourself, because then you get two headlines, three headlines, four headlines. that's how he likes to run it. >> picking up on that point, joyce, does this new report implicate the president in a significantly legal way? how often is something like this or would something like this even be prosecuted? how provable is this? >> here's the linchpin of this issue. for a campaign finance violation to be criminal, you have to be able to prove as a prosecutor that your defendants took action intending to violeate campaign finance law. that was the issue in the john edwards case. he was trying to concealed the issue of his mistress from his wife. this new reporting tends to suggest both that trump did this with an effort to violate campaign finance law and he knew that the folks at american media, that david pecker and his corporate allies were corned about corporate finance issues. if that sort of knowledge existed in t

that tape in which michael cohen and donald trump were discussing the payments, or buying the karen mcdougal story. and since the plea, michael cohen, as we report, has been speaking to them and presumably opening up a little bit more, you know, as we reported, telling a little bit more about the background of those payments. >> let me play, to remind people, about the tape. the interaction shows they're talking about this. take a listen to the tape. >> i need to ep up a company for the transfer of all of that infi regarding our friend david, you know, so that -- i'm going to do that right away. i've actually come up -- >> give it to me. >> i've spoken to allen wise weisselberg, how to set the whole thing up. when it comes to financing --se >> what financing? >> well, i have to pay -- >> pay with cash? >> no, no, no. >> that's a discussion. final point here, important for legal purposes, michael cohen, m one of the things he pleaded guilty to in federal court was d criminal violation of campaign finance law, that was an illegal donation essentially made to the trump campaign. >> it's in kind

president trump played a central role in those hush money payments to former play ball model karen mcdougal adult film actress stormy daniels. "the journal" has new details about trump's involvement in trying to prevent both women's stories of affairs with him from becoming public. quote, "the wall street journal" found that mr. trump was involved in every step of the agreements. he directed deals in phone calls with michael cohen and others. the u.s. attorneys office in manhattan has gathered evidence of mr. trump's participation in the transactions. in august, michael cohen pled guilty to campaign finance violations, admitting he arranged payments to two women, presumably stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, quote, at the direction of a candidate for federal office, meaning his client donald trump. "the journal" also reports cohen has, quote, met with investigators for mr. mueller and with federal prosecutors in new york seeking to provide information that could mitigate his punishment. his sentencing hearing, by the way, is december 12th. in april, you will recall, president trump told rep

trump reportedly asked pecker to kill a story involving karen mcdougal.aims to have had a long-running affair with donald trump. >> maybe if he weren't married, i wouldn't have any regrets because he treated me very kind. it was a good relationship while it happened. now had i known at the time there were supposedly all these other women, no, i wouldn't have been in the relationship. >> reporter: trump was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the agreements, according to the "journal." he directed deals and phone calls and meetings with a self-described fixer, michael cohen, and others. >> i'm obviously very loyal and very dedicated to mr. trump. >> reporter: cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts in august, including two counts of campaign finance violations. cohen told the court that it was at trump's direction that he facilitated the secret payments. prosecutors said cohen coordinated with one or more members of the campaign, and there's this secret recording obtained by cnn in july. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of a

journal reveals that trump played a central role in the hush payoffs to both stormy daniels and karen mcdougal and crucially that federal prosecutors have gathered evidence in the president's participation in transactions that violated campaign finance laws. remember, one of the crimes that michael cohen pleaded guilty to in federal court was making those hush money payments in violation of federal campaign law. he said under oath, in that court, that the president himself directed those illegal payments. and now we know the prosecutors have evidence to back him up. and that crime, that's what it was, it was a crime, it's already been pleaded to, guilty, it was material to the president's victory. in fact, crucially, it was one of two different criminal conspiracies designed to get president trump elected. one involving russia, which has resulted in at least 28 guilty pleas or indictments so far, and the one involving the hush money payoffs in which the president is now directly implicated. with me now, one of the reporters who broke the payoff news, wall street journal reporter rebecca davis

money payments made to silence porn star, stormy daniels and 1998 "playboy" playmate of the year, karen mcdougal. clear indication president trump and his team have been lying to the american people for years and he may, in fact, have also broken federal election laws. the "the journal" reporting federal prosecutors have evidence of trump's direct participation in those mampayme, finding trump was involved in or briefed on the payments nearly every step of the way. "the journal" also laying out connections including he intervened to suppress stories about his alleged sexual encounters with women, according to interviews with three dozen people who have direct knowledge of the events, or who have been briefed on them, as well as court papers, corporate records and other documents, unquote. president trump, of course, infamously said he knew nothing about the payments. that was clearly a lie, according to this story. and one incident newly revealed today, the president allegedly told his former fixer, michael cohen, quote, get it done. after trump learned of stormy daniels' plans to talk publicly

next, trump has said he had nothing to do with those hush money payments to stormy daniels and karen mcdougalreporting out tonight shows he actually played a central -- of course he did. now it's reported. he was approving that spending by his buddy at that newspaper. you're watching "hardball." "flight of the bumblebee?" ♪ no, you goof. i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my car insurance with geico. nice. i know, right? ♪ [nose plays a jazzy saxophone tune] believe it. geico could save you 15% or more on car insurance. in them therr hills on your guarantevacation.find gold but we can guarantee the best price on this rental cabin. or any accomodation from hotels to yurts. booking.com, booking.yeah discover.o. i like your card, but i'm absolutely not paying an annual fee. discover has no annual fees. really? yeah. we just don't believe in them. oh nice. you would not believe how long i've been rehearsing that. no annual fee on any card. only from discover. >>> welcome back to "hardball." while president trump appears to be trying to protect himself from mueller's in

including his possible role in facilitatin payments to porn star stormy daniels and former playmate karen mcdougal. democrats also say they want to work with repubcans on a hos of issues. for a look at what to expect, let's bring in nbc's tracie potts. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. let's start with the leadership question because there will be me turnover obviously between the parties, but maybe even within the parties. nancy pelosi not necessarily assuming the house speakership. eit looks l she and other top democrats may face some challenges from fresh faces who want to provide new leadership. they're sortinghat all t. meantime, there are some familiar faces we expect to see like ranking democrat adam schiff onge the intele committee. he is expected to assume the chairmanship of that committee, looking into both hush money payments to women who say that they had affairs with mr. trump, but also lking into protecting the russia investigation and whether the new acting attorney general, matt whitaker, should step back. >> if he has any involvement whatsoever in this russia probe, we are goi

those payments were made to stormy daniels and the playboy bunny karen mcdougal. both claim they had affairs with the president, and a democratic aide on capitol hill says democrats will use their subpoena power to look into those payments when they take control of the house next year. >>> breaking overnight, a navy fighter jet has crashed into the pacific. the faa team hornet went down northeast of the philippines. two crew members were safely rescued. the fighter was based on the aircraft carrier "uss ronald reagan," the cause of the crash is under investigation. it's the second crash from the reagan in less than a month. >>> and a new sign of diplomacy on the korean peninsula. south korea has begun the so-called tangerine air lift. military planes full of the fruit were flown to north korea today, fulfilling a promise made during a recent summit. it's one of the many agreements aimed at lowering tensions between the countries. >>> back in this country, time now for a look at your weather for this monday morning. >> good morning. the problem in the west, we have

that tape in which michael cohen and donald trump were discussing the payments or buying the karen mcdougal story and since the plea, michael cohen has we report has been speaking to them and presumably opening up a little bit more as we reported, telling a little bit more about the background of those payments. >> let me just play to remind people about the tape because the interaction shows they're talking about this. take a listen to the tape. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david, you know, so that -- i'm going to do that right away. i've actually come up. >> give it to me. >> i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up, when it comes to the financing -- >> what financing? >> we'll have to pay -- >> pay with cash -- >> no, no, no. >> that's the discussion. i think its important for legal purposes, one of the things michael cohen pleaded guilty to in federal court was a criminal violation of campaign law because that was an illegal donation made to the trump campaign, correct? >> in kind campaign contributi

they plan to further investigate the president's role in hush payments to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. they both claim to have had affairs with trump. michael cohen pled guilty to campaign finance violations, and claims he made the payments at the direction of then-candidate donald trump. president trump has claimed that cohen has no credibility and has long denied having any knowledge of the payments. tom? >> tara, thank you. >>> also tonight, president trump and the first lady are returning to washington after an historic visit to paris. the president joining world leaders today marking the 100th anniversary of armistice day, the end of world war i. but remarks by emmanuel macron about nationalism are believed to be an open attack on his american counterpart. here's terry moran. >> reporter: the bells of paris tolled and more than 60 world leaders walked through a cold rain down the champs elysee, one hundred years to the hour after the end of world war i. president trump arrived by motorcade, apparently for security reasons. vladimir putin, arriving late, exchanged a quick handshak

trump - karen mcdougal and stormy daniels. it says the president was involved in...fed on... nearly every step of the payments.contrast that with the president's comments last april, when he claimed he didn't know about money going to daniels. also -- as he was leaving for paris today, the president was pressed on the other big legal mess hanging over him - the russia investigation, specifically his decision to make matt whitaker his acting attorney general - a move that puts a critic of the mueller probe... in charge of it. <"i didn't know matt whitaker. he worked for attorney general sessions. he was very, very highly thought of and still is highly thought of, but this only comes up because anybody that works for me, they do a number on them."> the president repeatedly claimed he didn't know whitaker. (grant) just last month the president told fox news in an interview that he knew matt whitaker. democrats who are about to take control in the house are vowing to protect any effort to fire or limit the scope of special counsel robert mueller's investigation.(grant) e

hostility and hush money payments that were made for his knowledge and input to stormy daniels and karen mcdougalwhat should get the first look? what is the most egregious or the biggest priority? >> if you look at what you get the first look, it seems to me frankly it wouldn't even be oversight notion. because there are so many. it would probably be stabilizing the aca, the affordable health care act. we have to look at that as a matter of oversight. the reason i say that -- >> the for the committee, if the oversight committee were to look at something, what is the priority. >> for the oversight committee were to look at something, we would have to look at what the president means to do with respect to this appointee. we couldn't avoid it. >> to whitaker. >> whitaker would have to come first. i caution and think we understand that we have got to try to legislate at the same time. the reason i mentioned the aca is we saved it. they tried their best to kill it. they even ran on preexisting conditions near the end. why can't we legislate and do oversight at the same time? if all we do is oversight,

he was involved in a briefed on nearly every step of the agreement to keep story daniels and karen mcdougall quiet about their alleged affairs with the president is a lot of this is coming from former self-described fixer michael cohen who has pled guilty to campaign-finance violations which he told federal prosecutors candidate trump ordered him to, quote, get it done in regards to paying off story daniels. donald trump has acknowledged the payments but he said in august they came from his personal bank accounts and not the campaign's account. >> didn't come out of became, it came from me. i don't know if you know but i tweeted about the payments but they didn't come out of campaign. my first question when i heard about it was did they come out of the campaign? because that could be a little dicey. they didn't come out of the campaign. >> if that money did come out of the campaign donald trump would have had to use $2700 worth in order to be convicted of a federal campaign finance crime according to the journal. being involved in payments without meeting that threshold perhaps would not be

basically, helping to cover up the payments to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. and the timing of it and how it relates to the election itself. all of that important, significant, possible campaign finance violations. but here you are talking about the heart of the robert muller investigation, talking about russia. talking about the president, potentially the president's knowledge about what he knew, when he knew it connected to russia, totally different game here. >> and this is voluntary cooperation by michael cohen. expected to get a letter detailing his full measure of cooperation and the value of the cooperation. it could be very significant to cohen. >> absolutely. when you point out the voluntary nature of this. facing 46 to 63 months behind bars in connection with that case. but, you know, it wasn't a true deem. it was a guilty plea. and that's what made it so powerful. and so i think that that further becomes an issue here as well because it is clear now that he is cooperating with muller's team. >> not only is cooperating but we are learning he will tom

involved in the coordination of the hush payments made by michael cohen to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal because michael cohen said that under oath. we might get more on that. let's go to the next one. taxes. he's the only president who has not released his tax returns and the oenltd candidate. he's continued to say they're under audit, you wouldn't understand. my guess is the democrats would like to at least look at them to understand. let's go to the next one. family business over here. with know there's a very complicated clause. the issue is donald trump benefiting from the fact that his name is still on four hotels. is he reaping some kind of benefit there? we don't know. but, again, worth investigating. let's go to the next one. cabinet chaos. this puts it lightly. we have had a lot of controversy created. you have ryan zinke, the current interior secretary currently under fire. wilbur ross right there. this will be an attempt by the democrats to say, what do we know about this? will these people misusing the public office? will it's go to the next one. hurricane maria. president t

cohen admitted he arranged payments to two women, presumably stormy daniels and karen mcdougal, quoteirection of a candidate for federal office, meaning his client and friend donald trump. the next day president trump was asked during an interview with fox news if he knew about the payments. >> did you know about the payments? >> later on i knew. later on, but you have to understand, what he did -- and they weren't taken out of campaign finance. that's a big thing. that's a much bigger thing. did they come out of the campaign? they didn't come out of the campaign. they came from me. >> cohen has been talking to robert mueller's team, and back in april the "new york times" reported quote, trump's advisers have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation into his personal lawyer poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel's investigation according to several people close to mr. trump. back with us tonight philip rucker, tamara keith, michael steele and eugene robinson. tamara, what has it been like to just observe this michael cohen

briefed on nearly every step of the hush money payments made to adult film star stormy daniels and karen mcdougalphone calls and meetings with michael cohen and others. the "wall street journal" reports that as a presidential candidate in august of 2015, donald trump huddled with a long time friend and media executive david pecker in his trump tower office and made a request. according to people familiar with the meeting, he asked what can you do to help my campaign? mr. pecker offered to use his national enquirer tack llo e ery the silence of women. he worried that accepting reb e reimbursement from trump. in a sear >>> yesterday video surfaced of a republican senator from mississippi cheerfully saying that she would attend a public hanging if a supporter invited her. cindy hyde-smith made the comment while praising a supporter in tupelo on november 2nd. >> as you can imagine, the video footage went viral and hyde-smith said, in a comment i referred to accepting an invitation to a speaking engagement. in referencing the one who invited me, i used an exaggerated expression of regard and any attem

president trump violated campaign finance law with his hush money payouts to stormy daniels and karen mcdougale on the week that was, i'm joined by charlie savage, "new york times" washington correspondent and msnbc contributor, kimberly at kins and also an msnbc contributor, jay newton small, time magazine contributor. let's talk about this chronologically, starting with the house and senate candidates endorsed by president trump versus president obama. we have president obama's endorsement that had more success, so how much of the events of this week do you see in part due to the midterm results? >> i do think that president trump has been kind of holding it in, leading up to the midterm, to the extent that that's possible for him, and you really saw an eruption of wildness starting with that press conference after the midterm results on wednesday with the banning of the cnn reporter, clearly something that he has been wanting to do for a long time. by calling on jim acosta and tussling with him, he was setting up for what he probably wanted to end up doing, which was finally ban him from th