. >> we have laura coats, a former federal prosecutor, and john avlon, a cnn senior political analyst. john, i do want to start with the picks here, because let me read down what this investigation entails as stated by the house intelligence committee. the scope and scale of russian intervention in 2016, the extent of any links and/or coordination between russians and trump associates, whether foreign actors have sought to hold leverage over trump and whether they have any investigation. this seems intentionally broad and i would be wrong to think it is so broad because it wants to send a message to the president? >> this is a message. this is a two by four congression ail accountability to president of likes he's never faced before. and unlike the mueller probe, he doesn't have any possible claim that he can constrain it because it's under his aus papices. there's been talk there may be investigation, but this is saying there is no red line, mr. president, we're looking to see if you may be compromised by foreign actors via the money trail. follow the money, that's what they're doing

let's bring back michael isikoff, laura coates, and garrett graf.alking about there. i didn't even really understand the point of the warning, but after listening to higgins and listening to lynch and understanding where their heads are on this, what do you see, michael, as the chance of what happens going forward? >> well, i do think the democrats have to be careful here. because, you know, cohen's testimony was kind of scatter shot. you know, it was all over the map. and i think if you want to build a case against the president, you've got to focus on exactly what you -- that case is. and, you know, if it's the campaign finance, that's fine. you know, we've been -- although for the last two years, it's been russia. so, i think that they have to sort of, you know, work through what it is. but can i say, there were a couple of nuggets in cohen's testimony that nobody has talked about yet. >> please! >> which i want to bring up. first, the trump foundation. you know, he has this testimony, amazing testimony, about this $60,000 painting that trump wan

michael isikoff, laura coates, and gareth graff. mike, let me start with you and we'll go down the line. what was there today and what was not there today? >> riveting testimony. it's hard to remember a witness for congress who just was laying out a case against a sitting president of the united states. you'd have to go back to john dean, of course. when you go through, certainly, the testimony about the campaign finance violations, the payoffs to stormy daniels, that's the one clear federal crime that president trump has been implicated in. but, does it go all the way? no, because cohen did not, when he described his conversations with trump about this, did not say that it was explicitly about the campaign, which would -- which you would need to prove a campaign finance violation. the timing is helpful, but if you want to make a case against the president, you need that direct testimony. and i thought what was interesting in chairman cummings' opening statement, in his opening questioning, he wanted to craft it not as a campaign fi

joining us to discuss this is laura coats. laura, he put cross harshairs o the judge in his case's head in the is beyond harassment. this is an overt threat. why didn't she revoke his bond and send him to jail? >> well, unlike roger stone she didn't make it about herself. she tried to make it about the underlying case. i think she was trying to balance the first amendment and also balance the idea of him being able to publicly speak about her and other cases. but also about the idea of it was a threat. but i think by not making it about herself, she really just made sure that the people understood and roger stone in particular, this is not about me, this is about making threats and impeding justice and this is a probable. >> i think that's laudable. but what about sending a message to other people that you can't threaten a judge? i mean, he claims that this -- he thought this was a celtic cross, which she basically suggested was laughable. >> and it is laughable and think you're right, it is laudable. it's not the course many o

laura coats, thank ywyeura coat. >>> election fraud was uncovered. republican candidate, you see him there, is now for this. i'm going to speak live with his democratic opponent. >>> also a rapidly escalating situation in venezuela. we have new details about u.s. reconnaisance flights off the u.s. coast. this as vice president mike pence is meeting with self-declared interim president ron guaido. i switched to miralax for my constipation. stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate the nerves in your colon. miralax works with the water in your body to unblock your system naturally. and it doesn't cause bloating, cramping, gas, or sudden urgency. miralax. look for the pink cap. >>> north carolina's ninth congressional district race part 2. the state board elections overturning the outcome because it determined that mcgray dallas, a political operative working on behalf of mark harris, the race's republican candidate, illegally collected absentee ballots in a voter fraud conspiracy. the democrat in the race, dan mccready, ran against harris in this race.

. >> laura coates is a former federal prosecutor, dana bash chief correspondent with us as well. this was one of the more interesting parts -- there was so many, honestly, r i thought wait you than talking with a former fixer of the president of the united states. because of those kind of answers, and also more importantly, beyonded way he communicated closely to him, but the allegations michael cohen was moving forward. we have been so. especially with things percolating in the southern district of new york. insurance fraud, obstruction. it's almost hard for the committee to even ginl. there's so much, the volume is so high. >> how do you see the president's legal ex inspection. think about it. even if he went for, oh, sex, some role even aside from mueller's. this is kind of that bookend. you had the rock and the hard place. ly. you're always grappling with was cohen a yes man, or was he a people pleaseer which i gleaned from a public pause. if you're an approximate if -- i have a legendary hook to. so it's a harder case. to your point, though, mob trials are often tried on tha

laura coates, thank you so much. thank you to our producer sonia mogi as well. >>> we have other breaking news. president trump finally responds to the bipartisan border deal and he says he's not happy. i'll be speaking ahead to the executive deputy at i.c.e. does he think the president should take this deal? if you're turning 65, you may be learning about medicare and supplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything ...only about 80% of your part b medicare costs. a medicare supplement insurance plan may help cover some of the rest. learn how an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company might be the right choice for you. a free decision guide is a great place to start. call today to request yours. so what makes an aarp medicare supplement plan unique? these are the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp because they meet aarp's high standards of quality and service. you're also getting the great features that any medicare supplement plan

laura coates.oming up this hour, a federal judge ruled ex-trump campaign manager paul manafort intentionally lied to the special counsel, bob mueller, about his russia contacts. that's the latest. >> so many lies about the investigation. plus, we are just hours away from a vote on the spending package to avoid another government shutdown. the big question today, of course, will the president then sign it. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respirato

let's bring in former federal prosecutor laura coates. attorney general to conduct himself? >> absolutely not. first of all, they should probably know that the actual chairman wouldn't have the same time limits if they had been prepping for this actual hearing. but also the idea of being so flippant, especially in answer to a question that is about what way if any you put your thumb on the scale involving this very consequential collusion probe. that's not the time to point out that you would like not to answer the question, that you want them to maybe go on to the next person. that's an odd moment in time to try to flex this nonexistent muscle. >> we've outlined the presidential harassment claim. is it more than politics on display, laura, or do you see these as fair investigative inquir inquiries? >> they're fair investigative inquiries. bullies are always the most sensitive of all, they go home and cry after being so rude and antagonistic. in this case, the idea of the head of the executive branch of government, which is the people who

. >>> legal reporter laura jarrett, laura coates. let me start with you.ke cohen at his word -- that's a big if. that's a big if. but if you do, he gave lawmakers a lot to examine. one day removed now here are a few of the potential crimes that he's alleging the president committed. perjury, bank fraud, insurance fraud, election fraud, witness tampering, making false statements and there are a lot more. what do you think is most potentially legally problematic for president trump? >> first of all all of those are problematic. the one that was very problematic to me was the idea of the campaign finance violations. the reason for that is because you already have a u.s. attorneys office in new york who has said that this person, donald trump, is essentially an unindicted co-conspiratorer. they've already signed on past investigations. now an actual offense. it was a felony related to it. we know from cohen's testimony that he identified the person as individual one is president donald trump. at first we thought it was just donald trump the citizen, perhaps ev

let's bring in now manu raju, laura coates, and matthew rosenberg.ing. >> good evening. >> wow. seriously, the reason i say "wow" is, we all have someone who knows our secrets, right? imagine that person who knows your secrets about everything turning on you and revealing those secrets to the rest of the world and that's what we're expected to hear from michael cohen tomorrow. his ex-attorney, the person who complicated him in a crime testifying publicly, you have some new reporting. >> it's about what the parameters of tomorrow's hearing is going to be about. elijah cummings is the chairman of the house oversight committee. they sent a memo to democratic members on the committee, making it clear that they don't want them to deviate from the lines of questioning that they have agreed ton and discussed tomorrow. those are the president's alleged complicates of interest, of course, the hush money payments to silence those stories about women making those allegations of affairs during the run-up to the 2016 campaign, the trump organization and the like.

we have boston globe cnn writer ben bowlen and former prosecutor laura coates with us. anthony, this was part of a police sting, so there was a number of people netted in this. tell us more about it. >> reporter: really, this stems from a months-long investigation here in south florida that stemmed back, actually, over the summer. in total there are about five spas that are related, a handful of suspects, females who are accused of leading this prostitution human trafficking type of sting, and then hundreds of what police are calling johns, men who participated in these sexual acts, essentially paying for sex with now just the latest development a few moments ago, citing that robert kraft of the patriots is actually part of that. we understand he was involved not just once, but twice, soliciting sex at a local spa here in jupiter, florida. it is a misdemeanor here in florida. so the way this generally works is that if -- the police department, rather, would send a mail notice, and those folks who were accused would appear in court. because robert kraft does not live her

back with me now, laura coates, max boot.e're joined now by brian care am, who was at the president's event today. was that -- i mean, when he said that, were you all like, what did he just say? that he didn't need to do it? that means it's not an emergency. brian, let's talk about this. welcome to the conversation. i just want to play this moment from today's presser in the rose garden. you tried to pin the president down on his facts or where he get his information. >> where he got them. >> yeah. here's this. >> i'm asking you to clarify where you get your numbers because most of the dea crime reporting statistics that we see show that drugs are coming across at the ports of entry, that illegal immigration is down, and the violence is down. so what do you base your facts on? >> come on, let's go. no, no. you get one. you get one. >> well, the second question. >> sit down. sit down. you get one question. i get my numbers from a lot of sources, like homeland security primarily. and the numbers that i have from homeland securi

john avalon and host of the wonderful laura coats show. , let me begin with you, wow, can we put on the screen what prosecutors are looking for in terms of potential crime. conspiracy against the united states. wire fraud, money laundering, disclosure violations and potential contributions by foreign nations. wow. they have reason to believe one or all of these crimes may have been committed here. what's your read? >> well -- and they have reason to believe proof of that crime or documents of support evidence of those crimes exist with the inaugural committee. it's one of those things you look at and say, if the entire discussion about who would have contributed and gotten their just reserves for going to the naulg committee and pass a loop haul throu hole through a straw donor. i am not able to give contributions. i'm a foreign national, i will give it to you, could you please do me a solid and do it for me. the inaugural committee raised an inordinate amount of money compared to the modest events they had. where did the money go? where di

let's bring in our political and legal experts and laura, we have two laura coats here.we watch all of this unfold pretty outrageous tweet coming in from one of the president's closest supporters up on capitol hill of florida. he tweeted this. he said hey, michael cohen, do your wife and father-in-law now about your girlfriends? i wonder if she will remain faithful when you're in prison. she is about to learn a lot. you're a legal expert. is that witness intimidation? >> yes. it is also grossly inappropriate. you're knowingly influencing or trying to harass or trying to some how influence testimony either to with hold information or to some how influence the way it is presented. the idea of somebody doing this is really odd to me given the consequence and that you're very well versed of what intimidation looks like. there have been discussions about using tweeter as a median to do so. they said i will try to harass you. i haven't proposed physical requirements. i haven't threatened you there some way. i haven't said if you don't do x this will happen. harassment is part

let's bring in laura coates, former federal prosecutor and cnn legal analyst. laura, when you hear -- first off, what do you expect the judge to do here? what would the basis be for this? would you be surprised if he said, look, you're not going to be talking about this? >> no. frankly, if you're roger stone, why would you want to talk about it? you have false statement accusations, witness tampering. every time you speak there is an opportunity for someone to interpret your actions as further tampering. remember, a judge not too long ago talked about a gag order with paul manafort and saying, hey, you have to be quiet because you don't want to mislead the public or someone who may testify in this case. it really is in the interest of the people who are the actual parties in the case. it's frustrating in the media to have a gag order but it actually helps the litigants in the case to say, let's stop talking before it may behoove you in testimony and nothing else. >> so the president has said that he never asked roger stone about wikileaks. he talked about that a

. >> laura coates, very interesting. thank you very much. john. >>> new details of michael cohen's testimony leaking out this morning. overnight, paul manafort's attorneys make a plea for leniency. is this really a public call for a pardon? i'm a little bit country. and i'm a little bit rock 'n' roll. i'm a little bit of memphis and nashville. with a little bit of motown in my soul. i don't know if it's good or bad. but i know i love it so. with a little bit of country. and a little bit of rock 'n' roll. the all new chevy silverado. it's a little bit country, and it's a little bit rock 'n' roll. ♪ ways to lose stubborn belly fat: metal vibration therapy. ( ♪ ) (glass breaking) (gasp) not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort, and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com t

it's determined "the enquirer's" story on jeff bezos involved blackmail, the former prosecutor laura coatesays, ami could be in real trouble. >> if ami has violated the cooperation agreement, they are exposed to great legal jeopardy for crimes that were not pursued initially because there was a cooperator involved. the sdny would be within its rights to prosecute ami for forever conduct they committed that was part of this cooperation agreement. >> according to "the daily beast," the private consultant finished the source of the leaks and turned it over to private lawyers. it's unclear if that happened or if the parties involved now just want this to go away. drew griffin, cnn, atlanta. >> rapper 21 savage is set to be released on monday wednesday. he was born in london and raised in atlanta. immigration officials say he had been in the u.s. illegally since 2006, when his parents failed to renew his visa. he was nominated for two grammys and was scheduled to perform at the show this past sunday before his arrest. >>> prison life seems to agree with comedian bill cosby, who calls it an amazi

laura coates, you're one of our legal experts. what did you make of the judge's ruling? epitome of you give somebody an inch, they take a mile i gave you the opportunity to make a living and what do you do? you have this crosshairs behind my head, implying somehow somebody should take care of me, you don't agree with my rulings, opinion or position. now roger stone is seeing the trend. the same judge was involved in the manafort case. she has said i've put you on notice, you're already being charged with cases that show you have no respect and are flouting the law in general, take heed. she may have cut off his livelihood but it may save himself in the long run to compromise his defense. >> she just said shut up. stone clearly struggled to defend himself before the judge earlier in the day. are you surprised that his lawyer lawyers let him make that statement. he started out apologetic, there was no defense for this. the more she questioned him, the more he seemed -- to the point where she was saying who gave you this picture and who posted it? he said i don't know who g

assistant harry and former federal prosecutor laura coats.what do you think mueller's team is looking for? >> i think they're looking for communications with or about wikileaks. they're looking for communications that he's had with the other people named in the -- they're not named, but identified as individuals one and two, horsey and randy, and some of these they probably have already seen. we also know they've executed search warrants and to the extent stone communicated using encrypted apps as he may well have, that information is now also going to be available. so it's a lot of data. a lot of this data like the michael co hhen case has no relevance to the law at all. it could be photos of friends and family, but there will be evidence in there too. >> could this mean for more charges for stone, right? because they've done process crime, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, lying, but there could be more charges, or could there be charges coming for others that we have not yet heard of yet? >> yes and yes, erin. here's why. what's i

if it's determined the enquirer's story on jeff bezos involved blackmail, former prosecutor laura coatesle. >> if ami has violated the cooperation agreement, it means that they are now exposed to great legal jeopardy for crimes that the fdny chose not to prosecute initially, because there was a cooperator involved. the fdny would be well within its rights to prosecute ami for whatever conduct they committed that was a part of this cooperation agreement. >> and erin, according to the daily beast, bezos' private security consultant finished this increasing the leaks, turned it all over to private lawyers, who would make a decision whether to involve law enforcement. it is still unclear if that happened or if the parties involved now just want this all to go away. erin? >> all right. thank you very much, drew griffin, after a lot of insinuation at the very least was put out there. >>> all right, "outfront" next, jeanne moos on what's up with the president and people's best friend. ♪ introducing e*trade personalized investments professionally managed portfolios customized to help meet your f

want to bring in jeff zeleny, nia malik henderson, laura coates, and joe lockhart former clinton whitedon't think there's any question, joe, that this was a moment. my question is, what happened in terms of who comes out looking better? who comes out feeling good this morning? >> well, i think where it goes, and i think that's where congresswoman casio cortez did a great job of laying out the committee. now we'll have to bring in people from the trump organization, bring in people with the foundation. what i think the democrats are trying to do is stop short of saying we're going to impeach this president, but we're sure going to drag out every piece of information we can before we make that decision. they don't have control of the mueller report, that will come when it comes. and that will have a big impact. but i think they want to spend time on lots of issues that are important to them, but this is -- this is a big one. so, you know, on who wins, who loses, you know, i think michael cohen did a good job of getting some things off his chest, raising issues about trump. i think he did

"outfront" now, harry sandik, laura coates, former federal prosecutor, and david gergen, former adviserfour presidents. harry, here's what i know. it's a subpoena, they're waiting for it. it's for documents. and we know that some of this is related to who may have paid for services. >> that makes total sense. if i were conducting this investigation, i would be interested to know whether they payments were made by foreign businesses or foreign individuals. and whether the idea of having the payments made directly by these outside people was a way of essentially trying to skirt the reporting requirements that exist, that the committee has to keep track of who its donors are. some people aren't allowed to makes donations, such as foreign individuals and businesses, and maybe this is a way around it. that's what a prosecutor is probably wondering about. >> right. because, laura, obviously, just to make the point clear, foreign donors are not allowed to be doing this. so if it happened, that would be a violation. what's the significance, laura, of the fact that this is a subpoena now? that t

"outfront" now, laura coates, former assistant u.s. attorney with the southern district of new york, harry sandig, and our chief correspondent, dana bash. really, harry, we may not see it? that's one thing to say, it's another to actually say that after one year and eight or nine months, we might not see it? >> it's hard to believe that we wouldn't see anything. but i think what the deputy attorney general said today, what it really relates to is there are doj policies, there are federal laws involving grand jury secrecy, involving classified information. and these are good reasons why sometimes things are not made completely transparent by the department of justice. it's still hard for me to believe that there won't be some public version, some public rendition or even some private rendition made available to members of congress, who, after all, have a duty to consider the possibility of impeachment or removal, if they -- if doj concludes that there were crimes committed. >> right. and i guess, laura, that's the thing, if there were c

laura, back over to you. >> thanks, frank. >>> coming up on "today in the bay," kari tracking the frigid temperatures out there. >> you need a heavier coat before you head out the door. here is a live look in fremont, and our temperatures start out in the mid-30s, and then go only into the upper 40s today. we'll get a look at all of our microclimates, and what's ahead, coming up next. >>> kari, a smooth drive from fremont where you are on the nimitz up to oakland. the nimitz itself is fine and in between it's the san mateo bridge. if you are making that transition, we have a problem which could mean an issue for the morning commute. when you make a pb&j with smucker's and jif, thand exquisitely delicious in an everyday sort of way. >>> a very good wednesday morning to you. very cold wednesday morning, in fact. taking a live look outside, it's clear out there. no cloud cover to keep us warm this morning. freezing in some parts. when will the warmup happen? in july. no. we'll have the full forecast coming up with kari in a bit. >>> this is what everyone was talking about yesterday here, and you saw it all live here on "today in the bay" ye

coat before you head out the door, maybe put the heater on. >> yep. i had to. >> i did, too. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. it's winter. >> it is winter. and wintertime we also get rain, so we are looking at a fewer as get ready to head out mostly for the peninsula as you drive up and down 280. rain moving through woodside and redwood city and the south city area. light rain is starting to creep into the south bay so we're going to be watching that over the next few minutes. i'll have more updates on that. >>> mike, you're starting out in oakland. >> that's right. as you talk about the rain, we'll watch for that effect, we see that green highlighting, the damper roadways definitely along the peninsula and south oakland earlier traffic alert which got cleared a few minutes ago, eastbound 980 getting away from the nimitz and headed up toward 580. there was a big rig involved across all lanes. it has been cleared but we saw a little slowing and there may be a tree down in the area, that's the rumor. you see how light the traffic is through oakland. we're okay. >> some com

coat before you head out the door, maybe put the heater on. >> yep. i had to. >> i did, too. good morning to you. thanks for joining us. i'm laurat's winter. >> it is winter. and wintertime we also get rain, so we are looking at a fewer as get ready to head out mostly for the peninsula as you drive up and down 280. rain moving through

laura: brian do you feel a little perclumped about this whole socialist thing? you were kind of a man ahead of your time back in 2008. now everyone is trying to ride on your coat, including bernie sanders i might add >>> well they're really not socialists they're just reformers of the capitalist system but they're still within the traditional capitalist system. their incremental entitlements from the government may help temporarily, but it's not gonna be the systemic economic system change that we need. >> laura: wait a minute. so brian if i get this straight, i want to make sure i get it straight, they're not socialist enough for the real socialists? is that where this is headed? >>> that is correct. >> laura: so you're talking about nationalizing entire industries beyond health care? >>> correct. >> laura: just nationalizing it and do the thing that marx really wanted, the true anti capitalist stance. monica that's probably the best news they've heard all day. brian is kind of putting them in the middle. this is why i'm glad brian is on to be the. there is a new sense of affection is there not for this -- ideas like universal healthcare. it sounds so nice, i

laura garcia. >> and i'm marcus washington. mike will have a look at the commute in a sec. and kari hall is getting us started with the day. cold temperatures bring out the coats. >> another morning for heavier coats. they're getting worn out this season as we start out again with some 30s across parts of the bay area. i've also seen a couple of spotty showers. as we take a live look in san francisco, things are looking good here but you'll notice that it is very cold with some low 40s there and some freezing temperatures in our inland valleys. fairfield now at 30 and it's 32 in livermore. as we check out our seven-day forecast, there is some heavy rain headed our way midweek and again for the weekend. i'll have more details on that in just a few minutes. mike, you're getting us out there on the roads. so far it seems calm. >> calm for almost all of the bay. i want to point out one spot where you have to plan on a slower drive and that's the at the top of the screen. the incident at the bottom of the screen 280 in san jose we'll get more details. chp should arrive in the next couple of minutes but over here, they've been on scene, westbound 80, your commute di