michael avenatti's name is not there. the president certainly has the time to tweet attacks against both of them, but he now knows that if he publicly calls stormy daniels a liar, michael avenatti has a defamation lawsuit ready to go against the president of the united states. and michael avenatti will have yet another legal avenue for getting the president of the united states under oath in a legal deposition about what he really did with stormy daniels. but there is a way to make all of this go away. an easy way the make us all stop covering the stormy daniels story. donald trump could simply drop the litigation he has brought against stormy daniels. he could drop the case. he could order michael cohen to just rip up the cafeteriaial agreement completely release stormy daniels from the agreement and then stormy daniels goes away, because after all, the confidentiality agreement prevents her from saying what she has already said twice. once in an extensive interview in touch magnificent and once on "60 minutes." donald t

if there's delay getting the president to be deposed, you can >> and john, what michael avenatti's also for is that he wants michael cohen to be deposed. michael cohen does not have the claim, oh, i'm too busy. president of the united states has an argument -- >> or too important. >> right, michael cohen does not. if there's delay getting the president to be deposed, you can always get michael cohen deposed, assuming he can get anyone deposed in this case. >> in both cases, think about it, in some ways michael cohen is a more potentially damage is witness in the sense that, as harry points out the facts of the stormy daniels case alone the politics are not particularly damaging to trump. suddenly find himself, if he's not -- to avoid perjury, will find himself telling stories that will lead to other questions. those other questions as you've been pointing out are though he's been very careful, very careful here, not to say it expressly. but you're right, he's now got three or four different individual courts where he could have this dreaded appointment with an actual testimony. and the

and how interesting is the way michael avenatti has played all of this. really perilous for donald trump is the self-inflicted wound that he created with his fixer, michael cohen, by trying to shut this down in his typical way. because now the problem -- potential problem, very serious potential problem for president trump is where did the money come from to try to pay the hush money to stormy daniels? what money was paid through american media to karen mcdougal? and what kind of threat was there? and that is much more dangerous to him than extramarital dalliance because let's be serious at this point, the evangelicals don't care, the trump supporters don't care. that's not what's doing to bring him down. >> we all remember the trump reaction and public statement about if mueller goes -- wants to know about my business that's crossing a line. michael avenatti has sent letters to the trump business crossing that line saying he wants to preserve all documents because he intends to subpoena documents from the trump organization about where that $130,000 came

michael avenatti asked for two hours to question president trump, two hours to question president trump'sssociate, michael cohen, and ten targeted requests for production of documents. michael avenatti said this after filing the new documents. >> the motion is not crazy. we're relying on u.s. supreme court precedent and a long line of casing, it was well founded, thought out, it's documented -- >> what do you want? >> we want the truth. we want to know the truth about what the president knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it. as it relates to the agreement we're going to test the truthfulness of mr. cohen's, his attorney's, statements. and we're confident when we get to the bottom of this we're going to prove to the american people they have been told a bucket of lies. >> a representative for trump associate, michael cohen has released a statement calling michael avenatti's motion a reckless use of the legal system in order to con flaet michael avenatti's deplaited ego and keep himself relevant. there was not a single legal point in michael cohen's associate's comments. michael a

>> michael avenatti, stormy daniels' lawyer filing a motion overnight to depose donald trump and michael cohen, each for no more than two hours about this $130,000 payment and this so-called hush payment with stormy daniels dating back to 2016. the hearing date has now been set for april 30th to discuss all this. this is, of course, significant because it is an effort to get trump's sworn testimony under oath about what exactly he knew about all of this and whether or not this is realistic, michael avenatti is saying there is precedence and he is pointing to a supreme court ruling that relates to former president bill clinton. here is avenatti from this morning. >> you mentioned clinton versus paula jones in your motion. why is that relevant? >> well, it's the supreme court precedent. the supreme court already decided a sitting president can be deposed in connection with a civil matter. if that was the law then, it certainly is the law now. it hasn't been overturned. >> we have not heard from michael cohen this morning, but we are hearing from david schwartz, this is michael cohen's lawy

michael avenatti thank you for joining us. tim o'brien, jennifer rubin, thank you. >>> by all accounts robert mueller has acquired an a team to work on his investigation. and the president of the united states as of tonight does not have a criminal defense lawyer. >>> and breaking news, president trump reportedly hopes that rob porter can come back to work at the white house. remember he was pushed out of the white house after both of his former wives publically accused him of spousal abuse. i'm a fighter. always have been. when i found out i had age-related macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. my doctor and i came up with a plan. it includes preservision. only preservision areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. that's why i fight. because it's my vision. preservision. try areds 2 + multivitamin. you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's gi

michael avenatti thank you for joining us. tim o'brien, jennifer rubin, thank you. >>> by all accounts robert mueller has acquired an a team to work on his investigation. and the president of the united states as of tonight does not have a criminal defense lawyer. >>> and breaking news, president trump reportedly hopes that rob porter can come back to work at the white house. remember he was pushed out of the white house after both of his former wives publically accused him of spousal abuse. whoooo. looking for a hotel that fits... ...your budget? tripadvisor now searches over... ...200 sites to find you the... ...hotel you want at the lowest price. grazi, gino! find a price that fits. tripadvisor. ...with its high-tech cameras and radar... ...contemporary cockpit... ...three hundred and sixty degree network of driver-assist technologies... ...and sporty performance... ...what's most impressive about the glc? all depends on your point of view. lease the glc300 for just $449 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-

michael avenatti said there is more to come.h, is stormy daniels going to be a thorn in the president's side for weeks to come, or are there bigger ram fissions here? >> i think both are true. i think she will stick around. that seems to be her plan and avenatti's plan. but there are potential bigger ram tpheubification ramifications. they stem from the $130,000 payout michael cohen paid. that is not in dispute. the danger to trump is that could constitute an illegal campaign contribution. and one of the interesting things about the "60 minutes" interview to me last night was that avenatti, the lawyer, produced evidence showing that that payment went to michael cohen at his trump tower address and that the communications were conducted through trump organization e-mails which potentially brings donald trump himself into this case of potential illegal campaign contribution. and we know from the example of john edwards that these kinds of things can be prosecuted. >> right. >> so certainly that represents a legal threat. >> i know

that of course is stormy daniels, the client of michael avenatti who is back with us along with trumpyer michael cohen's attorney and friend, david schwartz. so michael, you mentioned section 8.6, says the agreement has to be signed by all parties to be enforceable. david points to this clause right before the line on the nda in which the pseudonym for donald trump is used and it says and/or, meaning what i guess from your interpretation meaning not only does stormy daniels have to sign it, her pseudonym, michael cohen, but and/or donald trump. that line is not signed. and/or would seem to indicate either he can sign it or not. >> and/or is a term of art, anderson, under california law, and it's actually in the conjunctive, in the plural. even if it wasn't, if the intent was to actually allow for the or, then mr. cohen reversed it. the ec should have been second, not first. that's actually the proper interpretation in the english language. i want to go back to this argument. in a nutshell, here's the argument. their argument is, a deal is a deal. that's the argument. a deal is only a

for more, i'm joined by michael avenatti, attorney for stormy daniels. you're a match for the president, sir. i've been watching you do it quite so well. this is a picture, i assume, a tape of her taking the lie detector test? would that be a good yes? >> no, that would not be a good guess. appreciate the compliment. >> we're getting close it. it is a dvd? >> let me tell you this, chris. that dvd contains evidence of this relationship and let me tell you why i sent the tweet. i sent the tweet as a warning shot to michael cohen and any other supporter of the president and to the president himself. to the extent that they plan on disparaging my client, lying about what happened, or spinning facts that have no basis in reality after this "60 minutes" interview, let that tweet be a warning to them. it's time for the non-sense to end. they need to come clean about what happened. they need to come clean about the $130,000 payment. they need to come clean with the american people. it's just that simple. >> so it's a dvd. some people thought it was a cd but than

daniels' attorney michael avenatti is in studio 57 to tell us what he's looking for. >>> north korea's dictator confirms he is ready to meet with president trump. we're in beijing with new revelations about kim jong-un's secret trip to china. >>> breaking news from facebook. the social media giant announces changes to help you protect your personal information while ceo mark zuckerberg indicates he'll likely answer questions from congress. >>> plus kendra scott started a jewelry company in her spare bedroom with $500. now it's worth $1 billion. she tells us how she did it and why struggle can be a gift. >>> we begin this morning with a look at today's "eye opener." your world in 90 seconds. >>> i think it's pretty clear. he is scared of my client and perhaps of me. and he should be. >> stormy daniels' lawyer seeks to depose the president. >> there's nothing else to add. we've addressed it extensively and there is nothing new to add to this conversation. >> concern that the north korean leader kim jong-un has carried out an unannounced visit to beijing. >> the president got him to the t

but last night on cnn, stormy's lawyer michael avenatti and trump's lawyer's lawyer, david schwartz went after each other like two lawyers fighting over a tv camera. >> let's talk about michael cohen, what kind of man this is? this is a legal genius. completely false. the guy doesn't even know the law. he's a thug. >> right, right. >> your friend is a thug. >> well, thank you. >> he's a thug. >> that's a million dollars. >> no, that's 3 million. >> a million dollars. >> thug. thug. >> a million dollars. >> thug. thug. >> you know what? you're a thug. >> thug, thug, thug. he's a thug. >> by the way-- >> he's a thug. >> stephen: gentleman, please, you're both thugs.

this is what michael avenatti wanted to do. d to depose michael cohen, he wanted to depose donald trump. >> this was the big news from yesterday, the desire to depose michael cohen and president trump. this motion has been denied for an expedited trial and expedited discovery which essentially means that there is a temporary halt in michael avenatti's efforts to depose donald trump and michael cohen. just to walk you through this a little bit, a federal judge in california, this is where this motion was filed overnight yesterday, if you recall. this judge said this motion was essentially premature. what he says is that trump and essential consultants -- this is a company, you remember, that michael cohen set up in 2016 to make the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels. that neither trump nor essential consultants has had enough time to file a petition to compel arbitration, which is what is expected. now, if you look more closely, as a part of his decision, the judge also notes that he will discourage folks from making requests for

. >> on the subject of lawyering, michael avenatti, the attorney for stormy daniels, has filed a new defamation suit against michael cohen, the president's personal lawyer here. you say that all of avenatti's actions are now designed to achieve one goal. >> right. which is to get discovery, which is to get donald trump in particular but also michael cohen to have to submit to a deposition, to answer questions under oath about their relations, not just with stormy daniels but with karen mcdougal and all the other women who have been linked to the president. of course, the precedent here is the paula jones case. the peril to the president is not so much the liability that he may face in these lawsuits, it's the process of giving depositions under oath about embarrassing facts which, of course, bill clinton, it led to his impeachment. >> what do stormy daniels and michael avenatti get out of that, and what's the likelihood they do get there? >> i think anyone who has seen michael avenatti during his many television appearances on cnn and elsewhere, recognize he is reveling in this proces

earlier today daniels attorney, michael avenatti, talked to nicolle wallace about the case. >> we're suing him for telling effectively a lie about my client. and his lie was that the affair did not happen effectively. we're going to prove it did happen and his denial was inaccurate. and if not more important, we are now seeking to invalidate the agreement, not just because it wasn't signed but on a host of other grounds, the most significant of which for purposes of our discussion right now and this goes hand in hand with what mr. potter said on "60 minutes" because we are contending that this agreement was designed to basically further a campaign finance violation. >> michael cohen has said $130,000 payment came from his own personal account, line of credit actually, and not the trump campaign or the trump organization. in her "60 minutes" interview, daniels went on to say she was threatened to keep her silence about the alleged relationship with trump. the threat came back in 2011. >> i was in a parking lot going to a fitness class with my infant daughter, the seat facing backwards

stormy daniels's lawyer, michael avenatti, wants to know what president trump knew about the $130,000 payment to his client days before the 2016 election. avenatti asking the federal judge in california for permission to question the president under oath forum to two hours. >> we're going to prove that mr. co help's statements to the american people are false. that at all times mr. trump knew about this, knew about the $130,000, was fully aware of it, and with the assistance of mr. cohen, sought to intimidate and put my client under his the thumb. >> reporter: the president's lawyer, michael cohen, said he paid daniels out of his own pocket and that the president knew nothing about the agreement. >> the president strongly, clearly, and consistently denied these underlying claims. and the only person who has been inconsistent is the one making the claims. >> reporter: it comes as president trump remains silent about the alleged affair. >> the president has addressed this. we've addressed it extensively. there's nothing else to add. sometimes he chooses to engage and punch back and some

the lawyer, michael avenatti did not say who these physical threats came from. however, the only people we know in the efforts to keep stormy daniels silent are michael cohen, the president's personal attorney. he was the one who set up the llc, paid the hush money he claims out of his own pocket way back before 2016 and tried to file the restraining order. again, it's people within the president's orbit that have been directly tied to this. >> reporter: that's right. i think we only know about a couple of people within the president's orbit tied to this. it's already enough to be a damaging story for the president. there's a reason that stormy daniels or stephanie clifford wants to be released from her non-disclosure agreement. it's clearly because there's more to the story that she wants to tell. at this point, i'm honestly somewhat puzzled why the president and his attorneys don't simply release her from this non-disclosure agreement. it's hard for me to imagine that whatever she has to say could be more damaging than the slow drip of this story which seems to

we're going to blow it out of the water. >> when we come back, more from michael avenatti, also we'lled by michael cohen's attorney, david schwartz, and our jeff toobin. we'll be right back. crohn's disease. you're more than just a bathroom disease. you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop any new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion, and vision problems. these

deal with the legal action of the president and michael cohen concerning their efforts to break the $130,000 contract for the nondisclosure agreement. avenatti is tweeting that the court has said his request is premature for the deposition of the president and michael cohen. and he goes on to sicite some o the language of the court's ruling on this. suggesting, it's only from his side at this point, that the issue of whether this will end up in arbitration, which is what the president and michael cohen would prefer, because that's the way the nondisclosure agreement was originally crafted, any dispute would be handled in arbitration which, by its nature, is not public. the attorney and stormy daniels are trying to break that so she can more fully explain her story in public, in a court setting and for the power of the deposition to get michael cohen to speak and perhaps the president, if that's granted. that would be questions about did he know about the $130,000 payment, was cohen reimbursed, those sorts of issues that are around this case. avenatti is saying he intends to refile after cohen and the limited liability corporation, which was

i was talking to michael avenatti earlier and asked about the meeting he had with charles harter. he says in the meeting he asked him is your client, donald trump is a party to this agreement, the agreement being the nda with stormy daniels and harter responded by saying we don't know yet, we're still researching it. unclear whether harter was unwilling to answer the question or didn't know the answer. it's all a little bit confusing. the final thing i want to quickly mention too, when i asked avenatti whether stormy daniels will be willing to accept a settlement, this is what he said. we would never consider any settlement that does not include everyone coming 100% clean with the american people. kind of sending a strong message to president trump. >> indeed. mj lee, thank you. president trump released a new burst of tweets on china, north korea and gun rights but so far another day of uncharacter silence on the stormy daniels story. abby phillip is at the white house. what are you hearing about trump's silence on these allegations? >> reporter: good morning, brianna. it is unusu

daniels' attorney michael avenatti requested a deposition from both the president and his personal attorney michael cohen. cohen said he is the one who paid daniels $130,000 of his own money without president trump's knowledge. of course, now cohen has a lawyer of his own david swartz who insists daniels was paid for reasons other than this issue. >> mr. cohen paid the $130,000 but the reason is to protect business, protect reputation, and to protect family. payment only 11 days before he the election is what is raising red flags as a possible violation of federal campaign law. the last president deposed was president bill clinton. jackie ward, kpix 5. >>> france says any talks with north korean leaders must be to end the nuclear weapons. japan is interested in what happened when north korea's kim jong-un and his wife met the president of china. china reported that during the discussions, kim pledged to denuclearize north korea and said that he is willing to hold a summit with the united states. a meeting between kim and president trump is planned for may. some experts in the region say tha

>> -- from michael avenatti. i mean, when have we ever seen the president be this disciplined to not speak out? we've seen avenatti going on every single network of choice that this president follows and continues to throw punches. and you can see that he's hoping that the president will finally take the bite. now the president has thus far not said anything, but it appears to be that he's acting sort of as oz behind the curtain, continuing to tweet about other things. but we haven't seen him before the media. and you could say that this is smart on avenatti's part from a strategic standpoint. you don't see him giving many interviews to specific law publications, right? he specifically talks, you can see, almost, to the president through these television interviews that he continues to give. and at some point, you've got to say, avenatti is the one that keeps this story going. >> and he's doing a pretty good job at that. i assume you agree, joey? >> i really do. and you know, there's a question about this whole ex

again, i want to stress michael avenatti has not said michael cohen has had anything to do with the threatsgainst his client. that's not what we're saying. separate from that, tell me your experience with michael cohen. >> i've had a long relationship with him. i've profiled michael cohen, but when trump was running for the election in 2016, some old allegations of rape against him came up. >> by his former wife. >> by his former wife, ivan na trump. and so we were writing about that, me and my colleague tim mack. and so we called like you do, called his attorney and he really let loose. he threatened to sue us, of course, like we would expect from a lawyer, but then he said some things with very never heard from a lawyer. i've never had a lawyer speak to me like this. i will take you into court, ruin you, do things that are effing disgusting to you. i will ruin your life. it was said in a way that not only those words the effing disgusting but the tone -- it just another world and michael cohen has admitted he revels that he's the ray donovan of mr. trump's world. he is the roy cohn. roy c

michael avenatti on the "today's show" pontd pointing the finger at president trump. cohn says some of the comments was defamatory and had fog to do with the alleged threat. what's the president having to say about this? nothing but he sent out this tweet earlier so much fake news, through it all our country is doing great. no specific reference of stormy daniels. a lot of people have taken note of that, of course he tweets about even. we will have a briefing throe so we'll get to ask about all this. >> kristen welker there in the front lawn thank you. with us is katy feng and on sit or panel for the next 57 minutes. senior editor of business insider josh barrel and erin delmar. katy let me start with you, kristen referenced what may be one of the most notable pieces coming out with stormy daniels. she felt threatened by someone related to donald trump or michael cohn. i want to play what she had to say. >> i was in a parking lot going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. i was facing back ward in the back seat, diaper baguetting the stuff out. and a guy walked

everything michael avenatti has done has been geared toward getting this out of arbitration and into federal court where he can take depositions. where he can take a deposition of michael cohen and us specially of president trump and this lawsuit today is another attempt to get out of arbitration, filing a definition lawsuit is something that can only be tried in court and if he gets past a motion to dismiss -- which he may, he is very likely to be able to take at least michael cohen's deaf sigs so all of his efforts from focused that way and initially he seems to be doing well. >> gloria, give us your analysis of the political and legal impact of all of this. >> i'm not a lawyer but i can play one on tv. in a defamation suit -- and correct me if i'm wrong, jeffrey -- but in a defamation suit the issue is the truth. it's not about the arbitration agreement. a defamation suit is about you maligned me and what is the truth here? so you're moving the field a little bit and you're changing the conversation, am i right about that? >> you're right. it's about whether stormy daniels is telli

daniels' attorney, michael avenatti, said earlier on "gma," he has a litany of evidence he's not releasedw to that march for our lives. hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets to demand action on gun violence. the big question, what comes next? mary bruce is back with that answer this morning. good morning again, mary. >> good morning, again. those passionate pleas that we heard from across the country and around the world, young activists and survivors sending a clear message to lawmakers demanding gun control. now, of course, what comes next is up to congress. republican leaders have little appetite to act on this issue. it's unlikely we will see them take up sweeping new gun legislation. republicans like florida senator marco rubio note that despite these demonstrations many americans don't support gun restrictions. but these protesters are playing the long game, looking ahead, determined to make gun control a central issue in the upcoming mid-term elections. they're registering people to vote. again and again, we heard them warning lawmakers, watch out, the voters are co

michael avenatti, thanks very much.thank our panel as well. >>> coming up next, something i never thought i would be talking to christiane amanpour about. sex and love around the world. it is the focus of her new series debuting this weekend on cnn. it's fascinating. i'll talk to christiane in just a moment. ♪ who's the fun one now? made with real cream. reddi-wip. instant greatification. made with real cream. your plaques are always there at the worst times. constantly interrupting you with itching, burning and stinging. being this uncomfortable is unacceptable. i'm ready. tremfya® works differently for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. with tremfya®, you can get clearer and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks... stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections, and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment,

said yes. >> and do those two answers, it doesn't leave any wiggle room a attorney specifically michael avenattiithout documentation or proof? >> well, i can't speak to any attorney, but the michael i know would not make that allegation without having proof. it is a very serious allegation. you know, i suppose it was inevitable it was the one area of the criminal code we haven't triggered yet. >> i was going to -- >> that just -- dangerous species violations is the only thing not alleged. >> how does this change the dynamic? >> it changes it a great deal. a lot of this will depend on details. first of all, when the threat was made. if it was made before she signed the agreement, that would seriously undermine the agreement. there would be an argument of coercion or on threat. those are classic reasons why courts will toss out contracts or agreements of this kind. if it occurred after she signed, many courts would say, well, that doesn't necessarily mean that the agreement is invalid. but there is also another element here that as you have an agreement that is highly questionable, i mean this is

i want to get to what michael avenatti wants out of this deposition. do you think he'll get it? do you think a judge will let it get to that point? >> i think there's a bigger issue, john and that's the issue of the validity of the nondisclosure agreement. because according to that agreement, the entire matter should be resolved by a private arbitrator -- and not in a federal court. that's what trump and his team have been pushing for is to remove this entire matter from a court and put it back into private arbitration. they don't want this litigated publicly. they want this to be a very private matter and what michael avenatti is doing by filing these motions, consistently filing in federal and state court, he's essentially telling the american public all of the information of the nondisclosure agreement is supposed to keep private and confidential. not clear if a deposition will go forward because i think the court has to first decide if this matter should be in federal court in the first place. >> and that may be with what this april 30th court date is about. i'm trying to fi

michael avenatti, thanks very much.ing up next, something i never thought i would be talking to christiane amanpour about. sex and love around the world. it is the focus of her new series debuting this weekend on cnn. it's fascinating. i'll talk to christiane in just a moment. up to 24 hour wear. for a super flawless look. maybelline's super stay foundation. only from maybelline new york. i thought i was managing my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. but i realized something was missing... me. the thought of my symptoms returning was keeping me from being there for the people and things i love most. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira can help get, and keep,uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. and it helps people achieve control that lasts so you could experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous syst

we'll see what michael avenatti does going forward.f jumping the shark. he's got to start showing evidence and not just trying to tease it out. at some point people are going to lose interest. >> mark preston, thank you very much for your bottom line. >>> what's today? >> i have no idea. is it wednesday? >> we have columbia students in the house. it is wednesday. i knew it. how about good stuff for hump day next. i don't want to lie down. i refuse to lie down. why suffer? stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. botox® is the only treatment for chronic migraine shown to actually prevent headaches and migraines before they even start. botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. it's injected by a doctor once every 12 weeks. and is covered by most insurance. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life

protecting the president from discovery. >> when they do that, will we see the potential for michael avenatti to depose the president? >> absolutely because ec will ask the court to send this court to arbitration, then that triggers avenatti's ability to file for a jury trial and discovery and depositions. and it appears likely that they are entitled to that discovery. i believe the court could deny it if they thought there was no issue whatsoever, but they may very likely get a deposition. and the issue of whether or not a president can be deposed in a situation like this for nonofficial action was resolved decades ago. >> with bill clinton. >> that is correct. >> john if the president has to be deposed for stormy daniels, i don't know, what does that look like? what does that sound like? what is the white house reaction? >> that's trouble. there's a trump adviser who told me once if president trump was to be deposed he would purger himself 30 times in the first 90 seconds. >> i think i also heard that from a trump adviser. >> he's had trouble in the past and has plenty of deposition experie

stormy daniels' attorney michael avenatti filing a motion in federal court seeking permission to depose the president and his personal lawyer, michael cohen. just days after daniels' "60 minut minutes" interview after an encounter with mr. trump. mr. avenatti made a case for putting the president under oath for public consumption. >> we're going to test the veracity or truthfulness of mr. cohen's, his attorney's, statement. we're confident, gayle -- when we get to the bottom of this we'll prove to the american people they've been told a bucket of lies. the other side is intending to endorse this case into a private ashization hidden from the public where the public doesn't really learn what happened. >> nbc news national correspondent, my friend and colleague, peter alexander at the white house right now. we've been tracking this story for quite some time. there's been no reaction from the president this week. still no reaction from the white house to these latest developments as you and i both know, they want to turn the page on this whole controversy. what's the mood there? what are y

i spoke with stormy daniels' lawyer, michael avenatti, he insists this is just a temporary setback. this round apparently goes to the president. >> reporter: hi, wolf, that's right. the president and his personal attorney, michael cohen, won a legal victory in federal court today. a judge ruling they will not have to sit and answer questions under oath from stormy daniels' attorney, michael avenatti, at least not yet. a federal judge in california is denying a move by stormy daniels' lawyer, michael avenatti, to question president trump and his personal attorney, michael cohen, under oath about a $130,000 deal reached with daniels before the 2016 election to keep her quiet. the judge calling the request premature. avenatti playing down the ruling. >> this is just a procedural ruling. it really means nothing. basically what the court has said is that we have to wait until the president and mr. cohen file their motion to compel arbitration, and as soon as we do that or as soon as they do that, we can refile this motion. that's exactly what we're going to do. >> reporter: avenatti also

michael avenatti. he put this out on twitter. he says to address the rumor we do not have a monica lewinsky type dress. thus there is no dress to be tested for dna. but we're making progress on the stocking that occurred around the same time that mr. cohen threatened in touch weekly magazine in may 2011. i don't think we need to analyze this tweet, but i am curious what you think of the lawyering and the politicking now that michael avenatti is doing. do you think he's pushing this admirably or going too far here? >> through all of this, and i saw that interview last night, anderson cooper did with the two lawyers and poor jeffrey toobin stuck in the middle, through all of it, my heart goes out to melania. having worked for the first lady hillary clinton during the '90s, during the clinton scandals, it is very, very difficult, i know, to get up every day, put a smile on your face, and face the cameras, face reporters, face constituencies, when you're under public humiliation. and so my heart goes out to her, my heart goes out to

. >> this is an aggressive move by michael avenatti, the attorney for stormy daniels. add go michael cohen by name in the suit. not just michael cohen, as the owner of the business that ended up being put together to pay stormy daniels. he is saying that michael cohen defamed his client back in february. just hours after the world watched, the white house today once again denying the allegations. >> the president himself hasn't directly talked about the daniels scandal. instead taking to twitter to decry what he called fake news. cryptically tweeting. so fake news. never more voluminous or more inaccurate. through it all our country is doing great. daniels' attorney michael avenatti making a vigorous defense. >> if she's not telling the truth, let the president take to the podium and call her a liar. >> one of the more troubling things she said was something that she said occurred in 2011 in las vegas. a short time after she gave an interview to in touch weekly. >> i was in a parking lot. going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. and a guy walked up on me and sa

i know he also told you, michael, avenatti that stormy daniels didn't go to the police to talk abouter threat, but she did tell some friends so there are clearly some people out there that could corroborate her story about the threat in 2011. meantime stormy daniels has added michael cohen to her lawsuit. for a president who tweets about almost everything, donald trump remains silent on porn star stormy daniels' accusations of an affair and alleged threats against her. >> sometimes he chooses to specifically engage and punch back and sometimes he doesn't. >> reporter: instead press secretary sarah huckabee sanders sticking with the denial the president himself hasn't given. >> the president's denied the allegations. >> reporter: the white house continuing to say daniels has been inconsistent and the claims she made during sunday's "60 minutes" interview with anderson cooper are inaccurate. >> how do we know you're telling the truth? >> because i have no reason to lie. i'm opening myself up for, you know, possible danger and definitely a whole lot of [ bleep ]. >> reporter: now daniel

. >> michael avenatti is stormy daniels' attorney. the president in a california court seeking to have stormy daniels' nondisclosure order invalid. michael cohn has said this has nothing to do with the election. he would have made this agreement months before. >> so why didn't he? it slipped his mind? he thought to himself, you know i have been thinking about this for years, perhaps now is a good time. >> he has found documents that shows michael cohn used his trump organization e-mail address in setting up the payments. also found that her agreement was f was fedexed to cohn. >> the cover letter also identifies who he thought michael cohn was working for. >> to mr. cohn as executive vice president to donald j. trump. listing the fifth avenue address. this idea that there is a separation between mr. cohn and the trump organization is nonsense. >> there are people who argue this is much to do about nothing. >> this is about the cover up. this is about the extent that mr. cohn and the president have gone to intimidate this woman. to sile

most of that will be a determination based on who the judge is. >> michael avenatti has claimed thatx additional women who have come forward. he said he hasn't fully vetted what their stories are. he says he believes two have ndas. is it possible they could all use the same legal argument to try to get out of them, or would that all sort of ride on how similar the contracts were to the one that stormy daniels signed, if they're similar at all? >> it's the latter. what he is trying to do is get the claim of stormy daniels to the court of public opinion. that can work if you are following the news but not as much to a judge. if a judge is looking at the central issue here, number one, can stormy daniels, not the other six women who haven't been fully vetted and two of which may or may not have similar non-disclosure agreements, is there anything that allows stormy daniels to speak. what it seems as though they're trying to do here is, listen, if there is an overall theme where the court is never going to try to enforce a contract that is against public policy that includes whether or n

stormy daniels' attorney michael avenatti tweeted out this last night.said, if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many is this worth? the tweet had a photo of a disk and a safe. wolf asked avenatti today what that meant, and here's what he said. >> the tweet is a warning shot. i want to be really clear about this. it's a warning shot. and it's a warning shot to michael cohen and anyone else associated with president trump that they better be very, very careful after sunday night relating to what they say about my client and what spin or lies they attempt to tell the american people. but make no mistake about it, it is a warning shot. >> what do you think he meant by warning shot, and what do you think could be on that dvd, ana? >> honestly, i don't even want to speculate what could be on that dvd because it might require me then having to bleach my mind's eye. look, obviously what can be on a dvd? images. you know, i think that's what he's obviously alluding to and, you know, making a veiled reference to -- not so veiled reference to. look, i think

. >> her attorney, michael avenatti, telling msnbc, they're getting closer to determining who made that threat. >> in light of the "60 minutes" interview we've received a handful of leads a couple which are promising. >> the porn star is suing donald trump's personal lawyer michael cohen for defamation. >> we're suing him for telling effectively a lie about my client and his lie was that the affair did not happen effectively. we're going to prove, in fact, it did happen and, therefore, his denial was inaccurate. >> if you have an android phone and you use facebook messenger you may have unwittingly given facebook permission to track every call, every message you've sent. that's just the most recent privacy concern that has the company on the defensive. at least 37 state attorneys general demanding answers and the federal trade commission launching an investigation into what it calls substantial concerns about the privacy practices of facebook. >> this morning the commerce department is getting sclamlamm for its decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. the state o

one is michael avenatti is a very savvy, sharp attorney. he came to the set not to make this point. he came with some things on his agenda. i think he wanted to get out the notion that there are these other six women who have come forward. he then did the savvy lawyer thing of saying, we haven't vetted them. i have no idea. he wants it in the public there are more claimants, even though they have not examined the veracity of the claims. he also wanted to distance himself from this buzzfeed suit which i think he thinks is not helpful to their cause and is kind of a piggybacking on what his client is doing. but this was not on his agenda. he was caught off guard when mika brzezinski i think anywhere asked him the question, it was at the end of the interview. he had not brought that to the table. he answered honestly. he answered -- i don't know whether he answered honestly, but he answered in the moment, he did not try to no comment it. he came forward and made a forthright claim. let's put it that way. crucially, when i asked him later in th

. >> stormy daniels hired michael avenatti and filed the lawsuit about a week and a half ago.signals we're not going to sit back and take a lot of punches here. >> at the state level, if i understand, this would move it to the federal level. what would change as a result of this being found in the way that it was? >> it seems that the president's lawyers feel they have a better shot in federal court of getting this into arbitration, which is where they want it, as opposed to playing out in public courtroom in california where michael avenatti is practicing. they're hoping to keep everything behind closed doors. >> we heard from him there and heard from him an awful lot over these recent days. what do you mac of the change and the representation that she has had provided for her here? he has been very outspoken, in the way that he can be, about what's gone on. >> she changed lawyers because the old lawyer she had, keith davidson, had made the deal with michael cohen, president trump's personal lawyer, to have this nondisclosure agreement. when she wanted to get out of it, she h

in the documents, michael avenatti said he was seeking to find out whether mr. trump was aware of a nondisclosure agreement that the porn actress said she signed to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the president. avenatti requested a hearing next month and if successful, the motion would require the president to explain under oath what he knew about the secrecy agreement and when. >>> once again, protestors took to the streets in sacramento last night over the police shooting of stephon clark. they blocked fans trying to get into the kings game after shutting down the council. steve large reports. >> reporter: stephon clark's brother took over the sacramento city council meeting in dramatic fashion chanting stephon clark's name then jumping on the mayor's council desk demanding those in attendance chant his name loud her. [ screaming ] >> reporter: the wild scene erupted into more chaos from there. others joined clark at the council table, the mayor trying to restore order offered clark a microphone. >> do you want to take the microphone, sir? >> yes. >>

stormy daniels' attorney, michael avenatti, has filed a motion asking permission to depose president and his lawyer, michael cohen. it's not known if these depositions will ever actually happen. if they did, trump would likely have to address stormy daniels' allegations under oath. president trump has repeatedly denied stormy daniels' claims through white house officials. as "the washington post" points out, in the motion avenatti said he "intends to prove that the hush agreement did not have a lawful object or purpose, rather, the agreement and the $130,000 payment made pursuant to the agreement was for the purpose of influencing the 2016 presidential election." michael cohen has said the payment came from his own personal funds, a line of credit, in fact. and not the trump campaign or the trump organization. earlier today, avenatti defended his move on cbs news. >> you mentioned clinton versus paula jones in your motion. why is that relevant? >> it's the supreme court precedent. the supreme court already decided that a sitting president can be deposed in connection with a civil matt

that is really what the larger goal is here for michael avenatti. et them under oath and get them to tell the truth or perhaps lie about whether michael cohen used his own money to pay this damage award. which no lawyer that i'm aware of has ever done. and whether donald trump knew about it. those are, i think, the key political issues here. and filing this lawsuit gives avenatti another opportunity, perhaps, to get cohen and perhaps trump under oath. >> by the way, cnn has matched this reporting, not just the "washington post." does a suit like this have any likelihood of success? i suppose it doesn't matter ultimately if a judge rules defamed or not. by success, does it get to a courtroom? >> i would have to look at precisely what he is charging, what stormy daniels is charging was false and defamatory. parse the words carefully. that's what is involved in defamation cases. it is possible she will at least get to discovery out of it. >> and that may be what he wants. robert mueller was brought up last night in the 60 minutes piece, that ultimately