michael cohen thought that put him in the clear legally.d his statement with his loyalty pledge to donald trump, i will always protect mr. trump. in 2011 stormy daniels gave an interview with in touch weekly. in that interview she describes her sexual relationship with donald trump who was then married to his current wife. there's talk about it possibly being a violation of campaign law, but it might also be a violation of tax law, and that could allow special prosecutor robert mueller to test just how much michael cohen is willing to protect donald trump. if michael cohen is facing jail time in a tax fraud case because of this $130,000, donald trump will have a lot to worry about. our next guest is a former irs agent who will guide us through the possible tax fraud case against michael cohen and possibly donald trump. looks nothing like yesterday. trails are covered. paths aren't what they used to be. roads nowhere to be found. ( ♪ ) and it's exactly what you're looking for. ( ♪ ) which means everyone has access to our real reviews that we

michael cohen said it came from his wallet. but it doesn't settle l a couple other questions here. number one being while cohen specifically says that neither the trump organization or the trump campaign were a party to this expenditure, there's still a question of if anybody else, any family member was perhaps involved or had any interactions with cohen on this. that's one of the questions we have for cohen and the white house. the other piece is you have some organizations, so i think of common cause, now saying that the fec should investigate this. this was an illegal campaign expenditure. they say because of the timing here, it happens just before weeks before the election, and even though it it was not used in order to influence the election, he doesn't say the reason it was he paid this money. some are saying somebody should look into this more. there's a lot on this. but there's another piece to this. cohen saying he's going to write a book. he's been offered a book deal. but he's saying it's not going to be a tell all is and not going to talk about stormy daniels and dish on

i'm actually texting with michael cohen now. i want to ask you this while i get this together. michael, i want you to talk to me about this off the record west wing meeting. you were there after the "daily mail" published a picture of rob porter's ex-wife. rob porter took questions to, what, deny the allegations? >> i don't want to interrupt your texting with michael cohen, but i'm not going to talk about the content of an off the record meeting. you know, i will say that this is a common occurrence at the who is and at capitol hill. you know, government officials want to have off-the-record comments in order top flauns or shape a story without their comments becoming a story. reporters usually want to hear more information than less information. what's interesting about this meeting is that it was really at the nexus of where the white house's story began to turn. it was on -- as of -- it was, what, wednesday morning, as of wednesday morning, the white house was defending the rob porter and not pushing back on our reporting that kelly was trying to save porter's job. by that ni

and that is what a source is telling michael cohen is saying right now.iscuss that in the next block. thank you, gentlemen. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ i'm jimmy, this is my definition of fresh since 1983. ♪ >>> the white house insisting that president trump's support -- supports victims of domestic violence, even though he has not publicly expressed sympathy for the ex-wives of former top aide, rob porter. they allege porter abused them. the scandal and how the white house has mishandled it with conflicting explanations has some staffers facing some awkward changes. -- questions. i want you to take a look at this exchange today. it was between my colleague, jeff zeleny, and press secretary sarah sanders. >> in an op-ed this morning in "the washington post," the first wife of rob porter said specifically of you, i expected a woman to do better. based on what you know, do you believe you were personally misled and do you have any regret for how you have explained this to the american people? >> look, as i said, we do the very best job we can, every single day

daniels' manager saying the adult film star believes michael cohen invalidated their nondisclosure agreement by publicly discussing a secret agreement. comes after a watchdog group filed a federal election complaint alleging the payment could qualify as an in-kind contribution violating campaign finance law if it was intended to keep daniels quiet. >> if michael cohen paid this settlement to try to keep a story out of the news in the closing days of the election, that tees up an investigation from the federal election commission or the department of justice. >> reporter: the white house and cohen always denied mr. trump had any sexual encounter with daniels. tonight, no comment from the first lady who spent part of this valentine's day visiting six children. left unanswered tonight, why pay stormy daniels anything? michael cohen describes it as an act of loyalty telling nbc news of those allegations just because something isn't true doesn't mean it can't cause you a harm or damage, adding "i will always protect mr. trump." lester? >> peter alexander at the white house tonight, thanks. >>> he

>> michael cohen is a bulldog attorney. he's someone you want on your team. i know michael and can say that very truthfully. the fact is, though, if you were being sued, don, you're a friend of mine, i go out and receive a confidentiality statement from the person suing you or threatening to sue you and i pay that person out of my pocket, i'm giving you as a client something very tangible, i'm paying you. you can't do that. that is crossing an ethical line. the question of the connection to the campaign or the family or any of these other things, they raise questions of laundering. i'm not accusing him of that, but he has now put himself into the eye of criminality and he's going to have to answer those questions. i have no doubt it's unethical. everything they do is unethical. >> does the proximity to the election date, kaitlan, make a difference in this case, do you think? >> that's a question a lot of people raised when this came up originally, that this payment had been made, this affair allegedly happened. don, it goes to show you what kind of white house

a person called michael cohen who was the attorney, it has been revealed he facilitated a payment tos alleged had a sexual liaison with the president in 2006. that has been bubbling away and there was a nondisclosure. the nondisclosure was signed in the campaign? it was, before it really kicked off in 2016. it was beforehand. it has come out is that michael cohen, the attorney, has acknowledged that the trump campaign didn't reimburse the $130,000 trump campaign didn't reimburse the $130 , 000 that trump campaign didn't reimburse the $130,000 that he paid to stormy daniels, but has refused to deny that president trump himself personally didn't reimburse him and experts are haggling over whether that means president trump did personally reimburse her. that is the essence of the story right now. does it count as campaign contributions? absolutely. it is whether donald trump did personally reimburse him or not. it seems pretty clear that if money was exchanged to hush something up, it was done for at least partial political reasons. democrats are trying very much to try this, the john d

michael cohen doesn't appear to be one of the official respondents in that case. tch dog common cause. they genuinely seemed surprised that cohen volunteered this information unprompted and we reached out to michael cohen and asked him why he volunteered this information if he didn't need to. he told us, quote, "i am the respondent. you really need to get your facts straight." he then told us to take this matter up with his attorney, who never got back to us. is michael cohen saying definitively that he is john doe, that he is the ultimate source of funds? he didn't just facilitate the payment? there's still a lot to sort out here, including this still central question of whether this now acknowledged payment violated campaign finance laws. well, i'm very happy to say joining us now is the vice chair of the fec, ellen weintraub. i should point out she cannot discuss this specific case in detail but she has more knowledge about these issues that anyone alive. i appreciate appreciate your time tonight. thank you for being here. >> thanks, rachel. i'm not talking abou

michael cohen was the man behind those payments. e "times" tonight that it may have been some campaign contributions. cohen is now reporting it was his own personal money that he paid. the 2016 payment made to the actre actress, mr. cohen says he was not reimbursed for the payment. nor the trump's campaign was a party to the transaction of miss stormy daniels, the payment was lawful and it was not a campaign expenditure by anyone. what the motivation was for the payment or whether he had made similar payments to other people over the years? so again, -- you know you never expect that your news job is going to make you talk about stuff like this. there has been several weeks reporting of the alleged relationship that mr. cohen has denied and between stormy daniels. the only question was who paid that money. now we got the account of who did it. the president's personal lawyer said he paid it personally and nobody reimbursed him out of his own pocket. we'll be right back. some rare side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort an

so michael cohen, what are you protecting him from? listen, i would love a cool check written to me for 130 grand. why did you pay her that money? today, innovation in the finger lakes is helping build the new new york. once home to the world's image center, new york state is now a leader in optics, photonics and imaging. fueled by strong university partnerships, providing the world's best talent. and supported with workforce development to create even more opportunities. all across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd.ny.gov. with a $500,000 life insurance policy. how much do you think it cost him? $100 a month? $75? $50? actually,duncan got his $500,000 for under $28 a month. less than a dollar a day. his secret? selectquote. in just minutes, a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highly-rated life insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. duncans wife cassie got a $750,000 policy for under $22 a month. give your family

. >>> breaking overnight, president trump's personal lawyer, michael cohen says he paid $130,000 out his own pocket, he says, to adult film actress stormy daniels weeks before the 2016 election. daniels once claimed she had an affair with donald trump. cohen says he made the payment totally on his own, was not reimbursed by the trump campaign or the trump organization. let's get to our m.j. lee in washington. michael cohen says there was no affair between donald trump and stormy daniels. so why make the payoff? >> reporter: this remains one of the strangest stories out of the 2016. just to recap, it's that trump and stormy daniels had some kind of affair in 2006. and at some point his lawyer set up an llc and paid $130,000 to stormy daniels to keep her quiet about this affair. now, both cohen and stormy daniels have denied that such an affair took place, but they have been less forthcoming when it comes to the issue of this payment, but now michael cohen is saying that he did make this payment of $130,000 and that it was his own money. he says in a statement to cnn that the trump org

he goes to michael cohen and michael cohen blows up and threatens him and says if you publish those i'll and the conversation turned to david at america media and he steers this guy in his photos to national inquirer, to david pecker at american media. >> am i wrong, you can't answer definitively, like how often did this happen? >> that is a really great yes and important to note while in these several cases we're talking about people who claim to have consensual sexual encounters with trump. trump is also somebody that has during the course of the campaign basically been subject to multiple allegations of sexual misconduct about unwanted sexual advances and groping and assaultive behavior. what is significant about this story is if there was a machinery in process to try to cover up things that could be damaging for trump, you know, when it came to even allegedly consensual affairs, were there things done to silence other damaging stories that were much more significant and much more grave? >> we should note that the women that have come forward, we know those women but it's possible th

well, now the president's long-time personal lawyer michael cohen has told "the new york times" in a out of his own pocket. neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was party to the transaction. mr. cohen is not answering whether mr. trump himself was aware of the payment, what the motivation was for the payment. mr. cohen is also not saying whether he made similar payments to other people over the years. that story has just broken. this happens at a time when all of washington son the edge of their seats wondering if the president is about to lose another chief of staff in the rob porter scandal. the staff secretary who was just pushed out last week amid domestic violence charges and now serious questions as to how the white house handled those questions. that scandal is raising serious questions about the future of chief of staff john kelly. also about the future of whoo white house counsel don mcgahn. joining us to try to make sense of this milieu in which we now live is andrea mitchell, the anchor of "andrea mitchell reports." and the one person i know i'm fortunate t

mj, then the question did he say way he paid stormy daniels. >> michael cohen is saying he did make this payment of 130,000 and it happened sometime in 2016. clearly there was a motivation related to the campaign, but keep in mind, both cohen and stormy daniels have previously very adamantly denied there was an affair between stormy daniels and trump, this alleged affair in 2006. so if there was no affair, then why did michael cohen pay stormy daniels this money this is his explanation, he says just because something isn't true doesn't mean it can't cause you harm or damage. i will always protect mr. trump. he's staying outs of loyalty and wanting to protect him, he used his own money, $130,000 to pay stormy daniels. this is not normal the idea of a lawyer using this much money because they are loyal and wanting to protect a client? that's just not normal. >> no, i think that you are on firm ground to say that. we have a legal expert that will probably advise right after you. what's the white house saying about the payment? >> the white house hasn't said anything officially this morning

michael cohen pays everything. the law firm of michael cohen & associates.ld's dumbest slash most generous lawyers. call that 1-800-dum-ass-4. >> jimmy: because trump's lawyer admits paid stormy daniels she might not be bound by her non-disclosure agreement in the first place. her manager said everything's off now and stormy's going to tell her story. hopefully to me. this has to be handled sensitively. [ cheers and applause ] i feel like i'm nothing if not that. if you're a dog lover you may be interested to know which animal won top honors at the westminster kennel club dog show this year. >> best in show at the 142 nds annual westminster kennel club will be the bichon frise. >> jimmy: i was hoping it would be that one. i think it's nice they let a stuffed animal win for a change. [ laughter ] flynn was the underdog at the event. it's refreshing when the underdog is actually a dog. a bichon frise hasn't won best in show in more than 15 years. flynn really wanted this. for those of you who are unfamiliar, the bichon frise is a breed that's typically owned b

michael cohen is well aware that on paper this is hard to believe. this is something you need to hear somebody say and own and answer the questions about it. but, you know, they say they have paperwork that shows which account the money came out of. >> okay. >> that it was his. that this was transacted not because she had an affair with the president but because regardless of the truth, the story would have hurt trump. it was right around the "access hollywood" tape time. and he did this to help mr. trump without mr. trump's knowledge. >> out of the goodness of his own heart. >> no. he protects trump. that's what he says. he does this. he's done other things like this. karo karoun? >> the shrewdness of his wallet, not out of the goodness of his heart. this is the least troubling thing we're talking about this week right now and we are focusing on the details, for good reasons. he is threading the needle. >> we saw the rent roll things. if this is true, that was just bad reporting and highly suggestive of an outcome that wasn't true. again, this is hi

i said this a moment ago, but if you look up loyalty in the trump dictionary, you'll see michael cohen'sface. cohen east been extremely loyal to the president over the years. extremely loyal to him during the campaign. one of his biggest and most vocal defenders. he no longer works for the trump organization and is now a private lawyer. what's going on with the two of them? >> well, as far as we know, they remain in good stead and good friends. michael cohen continues to speak out on a number of issues and seems to be very friendly towards the president. whether that means the president had some knowledge or the then-candidate had knowledge of this payment, it's hard to tell. it's all shrouded within this attorney-client privilege. to even get into it, you might have to pierce that attorney-client relationship, which in and of itself is a difficult thing to do. >> josh ger stein thank you very much. >>> ann milligram is joining me now. attorney-client privilege, does michael cohen still enjoy that in this scenario? >> there are a number of facts we don't know, but the one thing that's cl

president trump's long-term personal lawyer michael cohen says he paid foreign star stormi daniels 130,000 out of his own pocket. crowen says he was never reimbursed and he says the trump campaign was not involved. stormi daniels once claimed she had an affair with donald trump. i want to bring in cnn white house reporter, katlyn collins, political commentator, jack kingston, a senior adviser to the trump campaign. and bakari sellers. katlyn i'm starting with you. what is the reporting tonight coming out of the white house about the chief of staff kelly. >> well there are a lot of questions about whether or not john kelly will last in this white house much longer. because obviously you have seen the reporting the last few days. the white house completely botched in re response to the fallout from the rob porter scandal, who is accused of beating two of his ex-wives we have seen the white house double down john it will telling the "wall street journal" he wonder change the way he responded. we saw the shifting narrative blown up by the fbi director christopher wray whenever he said the fbi

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those spiralled as the campaign went on. >> what is michael cohen saying? this is legal? >> there are questions about this. it goes beyond. the photos are one example of several we were able to identify. you know, in the case of -- obviously he has admitted to making a direct payment to the former porn star who said she had a sexual relationship with trump in 2006. we learned karen macdougall, the playboy playmate. when she was basically getting ready to go public with her story in about october of -- excuse me, in the summer of 2016 that she actually ended up striking a deal with american media in which she received a payment to not go public with her story. michael cohen was collecting the details of that settlement through american media and through her attorney. that's just another example in which we see all of the ways in which there did seem to be a machinery to keep quiet what could be potentially damaging stories. >> as i read your piece and all five of you on this mega by line i thought back to the different press briefings, white house press brie

i think you probably saw her letter that was presented by michael cohen, suggesting it was all untruenothing like that ever happened and later she said i never wrote that. >> her tha bizarre interview on kimmel. >> i think people are cureios abo -- curious about it all. >> you're wearing red. i am not. i'm wearing blue because i'm blew blu that we're having to have this discussion about the president and payments made to a porn star specifically -- i'm going to be personal here this incident allegedly happened when barron was about 4 months old. i went to the same ob/gyn. i was having a baby at the same time melania was. we were sharing an ob/gyn. so this connects. i had a 4-month-old old at that time, too. this is such an ugly, ugly story. >> i'm just sitting here, totally -- >> very blue. >> -- nodding my head, agreeing with you. rick wilson, i don't even know what to say. who -- what happens here? if she dauks does she, i don't know, flood the zone, talk all over, get her 15 minutes of fame? who does she talk to? what does she say? >> stormy daniels will start a media bidding war a

the $130,000 payment that his attorney michael cohen made to porn star stormy daniels after he attempted to shut down the rumors that the president had an affair with her about a decade ago. cohen only told the president about it recently, although that may not be worth a whole lot as the scandal continues. all of this news isover shadowing the push the white house has been trying to make. >> abby, stop giving us so much to talk about. narrow the reporting. thank you very much for all of that. let's bring in politics reporter chris cillizza and david gregory. let's start with the fallout that continues. it was interesting to hear fbi director chris wray talk about how many separate times the fbi alerted the white house about rob porter's background, what they learned in the background checks. the ex-wives came forward with their stories of violence that he allegedly perpetrated against them. so it may be technically true that it was the office of presidential personnel that had the decision about whether or not he would get security clearance. but they knew. they could have gotten rid of

what michael cohen is now telling nbc. you don't want to miss that, after the break. >>> if you're heard about this, president trump's long time lawyer admitting he paid big money to a porn star who reportedly said she add sexual encounter with the president when he was married years ago. michael cohen first said to "the new york times" that $130,000 came out of his own pocket. so he never denied the payment. but this is the first time cohen says it was his own money he gave to stormy daniels. whose real name by the way, is stephanie clifford. here is what cohen says. neither the trump organization or trump campaign was party to the transaction with ms. clifford and neither reimbursed me for the payment. either directly or indirectly. it was lawful and not a campaign contribution or expenditure by anyone. but the nonpartisan government watch dog common cause is filing a complaint with the federal election commission claiming this violated campaign finance laws. in statement the common cause lawyer said there should be a fu

incidentally, the michael cohen story which is also very interesting. people are saying and i myself said originally, cohen paid the $130,000. cohen's statement says he facilitated the personally the payment of $130,000. it makes me wonder, orwin kerr, a very smart lawyer, caught this on a blog post. it makes me wonder if he's parsing his words. he don't know it was cohen. maybe it was donald trump, obviously. so really, what this white house -- i'm not telling you anything you don't know. you have to be super suspicious of everything -- >> that's the sad part. >> and then they just lie. >> there's just too much lying. >> "the washington post" had it earlier -- had it last night and it pblew my mind. where a white house insider said, when asked about john kelly being untruthful or could be more transparent with the public, they said, it's not in this administration's dna. this is our white house. and we mentioned it the other day, the $130,000 to stormy daniels. well, kellyanne conway said the president privately has given a lot of aide to women. i guess

michael cohen got screwed the most i saw by anyone, by donald trump. d what i worry about is what michael is going to say when he's called in by somebody like andrew weissman. >> joining us now is harry litman. the last thing that sam nunberg was saying was he was worried about what michael cohen is going to say when he's called in by somebody like andrew weissman about the payouts. that sounds like he's talking about the stormy daniels payout to not say anything about her sexual relationship with donald trump and possibly other payouts, and there's been speculation that robert mueller would be interested in that. what's your reading of that? >> why wouldn't he be. there does seem to be a series of them. sam nunberg is kind of a charming rogue here and he's on record saying it's a den of thieves, everybody lies about everything, but cohen obviously everything he has said about stormy daniels and others has had a fishy smell to high heaven. and he's going to be very hard pressed. you know, mueller just remember indicted a lawyer, alex van der zwaan for l

now the president's lawyer, michael cohen, admitted to paying the porn star using $130,000 of his own money, cohen said in a statement, neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was aparty to the transaction and neither reimbursed me for the payment drae directly or indirectly. the payment was lawful and not a campaign controversial or campaign expendture by anyone. cohen did not say whether mr. trump knew he made the payments. reports of an alleged affair between daniels and president trump resurfaced after a "wall street journal" report alleged she was paid $130,000 before the election to prevent publicly speaking about the relationship with president trump during the campaign, and there was a transcript of a 2011 saying she was invited to the suite where they later had sex. daniels did not confirm or deny details. >> is any of that true? >> define true. >> reporter: the admission comes after the government asked the federal elections commission to investigate whether the payment was an illegal use of campaign funds. abc news, washington. >>> following breaking news from

i know michael cohen's office building very well because it's also this building where i work.k neighbors a few floors apart. what happened here we don't know. on the one hand, it looks like the trump campaign could be paying the russia scandal legal bills for the president's lawyer, making their campaign donors pay for that even though he wasn't part of the campaign. on the other hand it looks like somebody maybe just fat-fingered the wrong button. so much of this, from how the legal defense fund is going to work to what will happen to the inaugural committee money to this weird thing with the lawyer's address being wrong, so much of it could be cleared up if anyone involved would be willing to go on the record and talk about it. the silence is not helping anybody understand what is going on and what is going on looks super weird. growing up, we were german. we danced in a german dance group. i wore lederhosen. when i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasn't finding all of these germans in my tree. i decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. the big

former trump aid michael cohen says he's writing a new book to rebut "fire and fourury."are awaiting a turn call there. this is news that is leaking because cohen sent this book proposal around pledging a tell all saying no issue, too big, too sticky or too odd ball for him to handle, an inside scoop on the dossier and then he takes a shot at steve bannon and others and says they're six feet under politically. >> you say it's not a shake up, but you guys are down. and it makes sense -- >> says who? >> polls, most of them, all of them? >> says who? >> polls. i just told you, i answered your question. >> okay, which polls? >> all of them. >> okay. >> that exchange was ridiculed at the time. but you can see why cohen wants to focus on it now. he did get the last laugh. political insiders, reporters and others thought that those national polls reflected that trump was losing, well the polls reflect that trump was unpopular, and he did win where it matters, not the polls, but the electoral college. jim moray, correspondent for "inside edition," he questions stormy daniels in h

daniels' manager told the associated press that trump's lawyer michael cohen invalidated a nondisclosure agreement by discussing the payment. cohen insisted in a specifically worded statement, quote, and we note stormy daniels real name is stephanie clifford. neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was party to the transaction with ms. clifford and neither reimbursed me for the payment. stormy daniels is reported to have had a sexual encounter with trump in '06 something they have both denied. somethi still with us for our conversation, jonathan, remind the good folks at home why mr. cohen would have gone public and give this story the first fresh lead of what may be many more? >> let's back up a quick second and say he's been the president's long time lawyer, lawyer for the trump organization. he doesn't want to run afoul of any regulations that could be used to payoff ms. daniels in this scenario. so, he is saying the thought would be it is my personal money and therefore it is not under the orders of then candidate trump or the trump campaign to make this payment to stor

>> wolf, first of all, it's really important to keep in mind that both michael cohen and stormy danielsntly denied allegations of this affair having taken place back in 2006, and they also really have not engaged questions about the issue of this payment. so it is a big deal that michael cohen is now saying that he did make this payment of $130,000 to stormy daniels in 2016, but what he is emphasizes is he did it on his own, that it was his own money. here's a statement in which he explains who was not involved in making that payment. he says neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction with miss clifford and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly. so he's clearly wanting to emphasize here that the campaign was not involved because some questions have been raised about whether this may have violated some campaign finance rules. but the question you ask, wolf, about why he would have made this payment if there was no affair, well, here's how cohen answers that question. he says, quote, just because something isn't true

"the wall street journal" had been reporting othis last month, but michael cohen came out and said he made the payments. what he didn't say was why he made the payments. "wall stre journal" said it was in exchange for stormy daniels signing a nondisclosureg ement that would prevent her from talking about an affair she says she had with donald trump in 2006. after the payment went out, she essentially went mum on the subject and didn't talk about it until the stories surfacedast week. now, however, although she has not said anything yet, her manager says that by cohen talking to "the new york times," that essentially renders the nondisclosure agreement null and void and she could s talking. jane: our north america reporter anthony zurcher. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, this valentine's day, we get tips from the experts on how to make love last. the actress emma watson has been speaking about her shock system in was no place to help people in the film industry who have been sexual interest. she is one of a number of women in the industry

they seem surprised cohen admitted this information and also reached out to michael co-hin aco cohenhy he volunteered this information if he didn't need to? he said i am the respondent, you really need to get your facts straight. she th he then told us to take this matter up with his attorney that never got back to us. is he john doe in the complaint? he is the ultimate source of funds? he didn't just facilitate the payment? did this violate campaign finance laws? joining us is the vice chair of the fec. i should point out she can't discuss this specific case in detail but she has more knowledge about these issues than anybody alive. thanks for being here. >> i'm not talking about any cases that may or may not be before the agency but if you want to talk about the law, i'm here for you. >> i want to talk about nothing pending before the commissioner that might go by the commission. can you give us a sense of how long it usually takes for the commission to decide whether it's going to take up a complaint such as this one? >> it really varies. whenever we get complaints, our lawyers wi

does it make sense that michael cohen would pay out of his own pocket?ll, the reason he's coming forward and saying this is because there was an allegation that perhaps the campaign made the payment. >> and thereby violating -- >> apparently you're not allowed to use campaign funds for -- it's a non-standard use of campaign funds. so that's what this is in response to. i imagine if the litigation goes forward, he's going to have to go beyond making a statement. he's going to have to show some documentation that it was indeed his permanence funds, that he wasn't reimbursed by the trump organization or the campaign. >> but you think there would be obviously documentation -- >> they apparently set up an llc to make the payment. >> but why would he do that if he didn't need to? clearly he needed to. and i guess that's the big question. unless he hired her for some work he owed her money for? >> he's obviously tacitly conceding that this happened and there was a payment. >> well, of course. but the question is, what was the payment for? i mean, this is all so

charge and because of it a stunning admission from president trump's longtime personal attorney michael cohenis own money to stephanie clifford, publicly known as stormy daniels. the woman who claims she had an affair with him in late 2006. the incident allegedly happened years before he became president but just months after melania trump had given birth to their son barron. cohen said neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction with ms. clifford and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly, the payment to ms. clifford was lawful and was not a campaign contribution or campaign expenditure by anyone. what he didn't say whether trump knew he had made that payment. they will look into whether the payment was an unreported gift to the campaign and if the campaign reimbursed cohen and failed to report it. this is very, very frustrating. >> a lot of questions ahead. the white house not saying anything. >> okay, tom llamas. thanks very much. want to go to pierre thomas. we're just getting reports of a shooting near the nsa in mary

i didn't know michael cohen was on the campaign. is the trump campaign paying michael cohen's legal fees related to russia? is that what they're doing with the donors' money? the trump campaign should be able to answer that. so far they're not. that does it for us. now it's time for the "last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> here we are on memo eve. tomorrow could be memo day. possibly two, the 10-page democratic memo is due out a week later according to what the committee kind of agreed to. >> unless the president blocks it. >> yeah it has to get through that same stage. the presidential filter. and what are the odds that one memo gets treated one way and the other memo gets treated another way by the trump white house? >> a bet i would not take. >> paul ryan says he agrees with devin nunes that said the democratic memo should get out there, too. so we'll see in a week who agrees. >>> if you can remember one threatening about all of the investigations under way about the president of the united states and his presidential campaign

i didn't know michael cohen was on the campaign.campaign paying michael cohen's legal fees related to russia? is that what they're doing with the donors' money? the trump campaign should be able to answer that. so far they're not. that does it for us. now it's time for the "last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> here we are on memo eve. tomorrow could be memo day.

we saw that with michael cohen that he used his own money.sk, and did not expect to get reimbursed. and as we heard, we have this media executive doing the same exact thing. >> did you take any notice of the white house response to this story adding the phrase the president says it didn't happen whereas in the past it has been a straight up denial. here, quoting the president as denying it. is there any meaning to that? >> when sarah said i am giving you the best facts that i have at the time. and that is the first time we have heard that from her. in some ways inoculating herself from having to go in front of the media and speaking to the world with inaccurate at the time. regarding president trump and the first lady was the first thing. >> final question here, quickly. the personal issue is one thing. and voters can make their own opinion over that. but when is it illegal from a payment like this to be made? >> if it was done like we saw with the michael cohen situation, done to help get president trump elected. michael cohen, his statement

let me ask you about michael cohen, who is by all accounts very loyal to donald trump. from a "new york times" quote, tools of trump's ficker, payouts, intimidation and the tabloids. >> i worry about michael. that's all i want to say. i worry about michael. >> the question is do you worry -- let me ask you the question, and then you get to answer it. do you worry that michael cohen in his loyalty could end up lying for trump in a way that hurts him. >> i worry about michael, i'm not going to say michael's going to lie. i worry about michael. let me tell you something, whenever i hear anybody who calls me up and says i've been screwed by 2ru6rdonald trump, a the way, he's screwed a lot of people. i'm a supporter of his too, so that's a separate issue. donald trump is a personable guy, he screws everyone. you have nothing better to listen to michael cohen, he got screwed more than anybody i have ever seen by donald trump. and what i worry about is what michael's going to say when he's called in by somebody like andrew weisman. >> it was a mueller investigation and he's cha

was told by cohen at the time of this transaction, now the strategy here seems clear that both michael cohend stormy daniels are now saying that there was little involvement actually no involvement by the trump campaign and that essentially cohen was acting alone. the question of course still remains, what did trump know at the time and what is he aware of right now and what is his reaction to all of this? >> those are very important questions right there. $130,000 a lot of money to be exchanged on his behalf without him knowing just a couple of weeks before the election. mj lee, thank you very much. live pictures from capitol hill right now where congressional leadership answering questions, kevin mccarthy, the house majority leader rumored as a possible replacement to john kelly. much more ahead, stick around. ♪ vibranium secured. well done my king. is my ride ready? of course, big brother. but you have to hurry. ♪ show off! experience luxury performance that takes the crown. presenting the all-new lexus ls 500. long live the king. which is breast cancer metastatthat has spreadr, to other

i didn't know michael cohen was on the campaign.trump campaign paying michael cohen's legal fees related to russia? is that what they're doing with the donors' money? the trump campaign should be able to answerha

was this an illegal contribution from michael cohen.ay donald trump personally didn't provide the payoff. there are interesting questions. if you're looking for something that's lethal politically for donald trump, incredibly, this does not seem to be that. >> fundamentally is one of the people pressing the white house on a daily basis in the briefing room, it feels like there's so many, i dare say, bigger things, from russia to all sorts of other allegations about domestic abuse inside the white house that these are questions that get buried bonit so many other elements of the news siegal. is essential to the health of our communities. which is why we're helping to replenish the mighty rio grande as well as over 30 watersheds across the country. we're also leading water projects in more than 100 communities. and for every drop we use... we're working to give one back. because our products rely on the same thing as we all do... clean water. and we care about it like our business depends on it. introducing walit's a great days. for a gre

michael cohen is president trump's long time personally attorney and one of his staunchest defenders.ast month he denied that president trump ever had an affair with stormy daniels but hasn't addressed the payment until now. >> did you have a sexual relationship with donald trump? you can't answer that? >> reporter: stormy daniels has been coy in television interviews about her relationship with president trump. after allegations first surfaced in "the wall street journal," attorney michael cohen gave cbs news a statement from daniels calling claims of a sexual and/or romantic affair with mr. trump, quote, absolutely false. rumors that i have received hush money from donald trump are completely false. after "the journal"'s report, "in touch" magazine published an interview with daniels from 2011 where she admitted to the affair. in an appearance on "jimmy kimmel live," she did not admit to signing a nondisclosure agreement. >> if you didn't have a nondisclosure agreement, you most personal could say i don't have a nondisclosure agreement, yes? >> you're so masmart, jimmy. >> reporter: