she ha michael cohen, it's michael cohen.told rachel about how michael cohen is feeling. >> the president has done nothing in order to make michael cohen feel like he has michael cohen's back. and that has been a problem. you forget the president went on fox news and basicallyd i barely know the guy, he's a coffee boy, he did a small and rudy giuliani has gone on television repeatedly making this harder for michael cohen. and the reaction from michael cohen, from everything i know from my reporting, has been these guys don't have my back. now a man who is frustrated, isolg alone and feeling very, very angry at the trump family in general and at the president. >> angry at the trump family in general and the president. and he has information about the trump family and the president. >> and lawrence, i think what's going to happen, look, nothing lasts forever. i know people think things last forever, they don't. so what's going to happen is the narcissism of this president, his arrogance, his stupidity is going toch up to him b

trump and michael cohen were talking about that day. and michael avenatti also believes, along with stormy daniels, that michael cohen and keith davidson were colluding to deny stormy daniels proper legal representation in her case against donald trump. that keith davidson was working for donald trump's benefit and not the benefit of his client. stormy daniels and michael cohen was a crucial part of that violation of the attorney/client relationship that stormy daniels was supposed to be able to have with her lawyer, so michael avenatti has filed a lawsuit today for stormy daniels against michael cohen and keith davidson. charging keith davidson for not supporting stormy daniels and colluding with michael cohen against his client. michael, thank you for joining us tonight. i want to begin with the last part of the text sequence in which michael cohen says he's with flotus on that day in early march. you believe you know what they would have been talking about on that day. what do you think that is? >> well, lawrence, thanks for having me

it came out t ivanka trump sent russian contacts to michael cohen. michae cohen is at the center of this not as a lawyer but a business partner and a fixer for donald trump and that evidence is something donald trump should worry about. >> before we switch topic, the president tng what happened in singapore as a big victory and now you know political speaking this overshadows that to some extent. >> i think that investigation overshadows his presidency. it did last week. it will this week and the week after and the week after. trumpather than shying s to audiocassette about it. he brings it into the political dialogue. i think that also magnifies the political impact. >> the other thing he's tng about, the upset for republican congressman ousted by his challenger. president trump slammed sanford in a tweet taking aim at his highly extramarital affair. that was back in 2009. sanford a vocal critic of the president. the move unscoring the critical test for republican candidates in the fall. cross president trump at your own peril. >> every cycle we use

well, michael cohen has just tweeted. he's just tweeted that he has not been hanging around with tom arnold. so what's going on here? tom arnold will explain it all, i hope, coming up in this hour. >>> and we will also be joined once again tonight by attorney peter schey, who is the president's strongest, most effective opponent of the president's new policy, which is the president is now trying to reverse that policy of keeping children in federal custody at the southern border. the reason peter schey is the president's strongest opponent is that he is one of the lawyers handling the flores case. and the flores case is a class action lawsuit that for decades now has been controlling the rules for holding children in custody at the border. the president cannot make those rules because peter schey's lawsuit does not allow the president to make those rules. as we come to the end of another week of chaos that president trump has created by arresting babies and children on our southern border, let's remember that, that we sti

as you know, michael cohen ask the a federal judge to prevent michael avenotti from ever coming on this program again. he cited in his pleadings things that michael avenotti has said on this show that should never be said publicly and asked the judge msure that michael avenatti can never, ever come on this show again. you knew about that? >> i knew. i assume it made mr. avenatti agree right away he would never come on your show again and apologize? >> no. >> yeah. >> so this is the weird thing. this is the first time i pers i booked him last night on twitter as soon as i saw that happen. he immediately accepted on twitter. so michael avenatti is going to be on this show tonight. >> gag order. smag order. >> turns out there's reason to suspect that when michael cohen was in law school he was not taking notes during the first amendment discussion. it might just be that. i don't know. >> or he forgot since. you know, he's been under pressure. >> yeah. >> all right. >> who needs canoe time? michael cohen needs canoe time. >> that's true. but mine's occupied. >> thank you, rachel. >> thank y

and unlike herb kalmbach, michael cohen has never even technically been part of the trump campaign. so what is the trump campaign doing paying his legal bills all this time? it's never been exactly clear what michael cohe personal legal liability is about, or what he could potentially tell prosecutors about if, like herb kalmbach he decides to go state's evidence and cooperate with psecutors in exchange for lenience in his own case. the single most worrying possibility for the white house is probably what was reported by buzzfeed several weeks ago concerning cohen's involvement in the secret pursuit of a trump tower moscow real estate project during the presidential campaign. during the campaign, you'll recall that candidate trump said that he had no dealings in russia. we later lrned that tt was a lie. in fact, in the midst of the campaign, he had secretly signed a letter of intent to build what would have been the largest real esct of his career, a trump tower in moscow, which would require not just significant russian financing, it would require high level approval and assistance

that firm could have bn representing people other than michael cohen. what kind of work was that? it something completely unrelated to mr. cohen? was it just a coincidence? we then found in the fec filings they actually sent the check for those payments to the law firm to michael cohen's office in 30 rock, which to us gave away that any ambiguity there. they were not just paying that firm for some other reason. they really were paying for cohen that itself is atle bit of a question, right? because cohen was never part of the campaign. >> he was absolutely left off of the trump campaign for the express reason, so that he could handle matters like this. but he was acting as in his capacity for the trump organization. >> okay. >> so the issue of why the trump organization may or may not have to pay for these legal fees right now has to do with the fact of if michael cohen is in trouble because of what he had to do as part of the trump organization or if he's under investigation because of his outside business activities. and i think from people -- two people who i spoke with who were

well, michael cohen is the whole ham so if they want to indict michael cohen, they'll indict him. he wasolved inge times of donald trump's life, he's a key, key witness in this case. >> reporter: and the president knows it. we know the president has been on this kind of pardoning spree, right, maybe sending out messages to the likes of m cohen like ie got you. but if michael cohen is switching lawyers because of the bizarre chapters of their past, could he be sending a signal right back? >> he could but he doesn't need to do that in the way that this is being done. his lawyer president's lawyers and say whatever it is he wants to say. to me, lawyers, you do tt for t purpose. you switch lawyers because you need orant to switch lawyers. i don't think it's about the messaging. i think that might be a separate channel going on here but probably not the lawyer. >> we d talk about this pardonpardon thing and a lot of people want a pardon from trump. i think if he's going to pardon witnesses, he's going to wait until very late in the game. if you pardon michael cohen now hierks cnow, he

for michael cohen and possibly for the president too. they're getting 98%, 99%, 99 1/2% of the documents that were seized from cohen's home and office and hotel room and safety deposit box. it's not working to try to shield those documents from prosecutors with this attorney-client privilege claim. and prosecutors are going to get all of those documents by the end of next week. as that has come into focus just over the past few days, the president has started talki about pardoning people willy-nilly. he issued this deliberately outrageous i believe partisan-inflected pardon. also somehow a previously secret argument from his legal team was released to the press. which makes clear that they think the president can use his pardon power to make this whole investigation go away. and that is obviously a very radical assertion by the president. but there's one way in which i'm not sure if they have thought this through. just like they thought be enough withohe wod case, they thought that would be their get out of jail free card in terms of thvi

when you read michael cohen it just isn't the same. i tried it too. i can't do michael cohen. that's why these tapes are an amazing window. we'll hear more. there are more tapes out there. they will emerge. we are going to hear more of these things. >> i will say, lawrence, between you or i trying to do the best michael cohen. you technically can act. >> i'm just a tiny bit closer to michael cohen -- my michael cohen is a tiny bit closer than yours. but as my audience will hear during my hour as they heard during yours -- >> no substitute for the real thing. >> you have to get the best hollywood guys to do michael cohen. >> hollywood or somewhere. >> thank you, rachel. >> good night, lawrence. >> today the president of the united states began his day by getting in a fight with the president of the united states. and the president publically toyed with the one absolute power of the presidency, the pardon power in order to pardon, dinesh d'souza a republican racist and convicted criminal. we will have more on the president's feverish approach to pardons with lawrence tribe, but

michael cohen for years was an executive at the trump organization. mr. cohen was involved directly in everything from threatening reporters who were writing unfavorable news articles about mr. trump to organizing secret payments to women who said they had affairs with mr. trump. he was involved in secretly trying to develop a trump tower moscow during the presidential campaign including personally reaching out to the kremlin for assistance with that project. he was involved during the presidential transition in a secret effort involving a pro-russian ukrainian lawmaker to pitch a secret plan to drop u.s. sanctions on russia. he brought a russian oligarch to the inauguration. and then appears to have received a million-dollar contract and hundreds of thousands of dollars in unexplained payments from interests related to that ruch starting around the time that trump took office. and we don't know exactly why mr. cohen has now become the subject of a federal criminal investigation led by prosecutors in the southern district of new york, but he has. and we kn

some of them are in jail now. >> michael cohen is out and about facing cameras every day. en earlier today. watch this. >> michael, are you concerned at all? >> i wonder what the best he can hope for, and if i mean seeing paul manafort -- >> that's a chilling scene. that really brings it home. but the thing to remember about michael cohen he's an incredibly self-confident man who saw himself very much the right-hand of donald trump for years. worked in power circles, moved in power circles with a confident fixer to donald trump to solve this guy's problems for years. so seeing him out and about he's not the kind of guy who would sort of stay home and cry into his kleenex. that's not who he is. but the reality is there's so much that's hanging over him now. and the pressure that he's under, you've got to wonder when donald trump and rudy giuliani start playing like the "wheel of fortune" about pardons. like you never know if pardons are going to come around to you, you wonder what that does to a perp's thinking. >> patrick, i don't know we feels the pressure that everyone el

this is michael cohen's week in review. michael cohen just drop a hint about flipping on trump? cohen quits rnc gig. michael cohen wants trump to pay his legal fees. and the publisher of the national enquirer in probe. his legal problems are mounting as i understand from family and friends to do some sort of deal to avoid jail time. >> there's never been any doubt in my mind how this was going to end up. if you look at the southern district doing what they did, this extraordinary and incredible thing. we have to go back to the beginning. the raid itself on the personal attorney of the president of the united states. what the standard was to get that warrant was off the charts high. they knew he committed crimes before they walked in the door. they almost had to prove that to get the warrant. so they now are engaged in this broad wide ranging criminal investigation that is going to yield indictments and probably going to present michael cohen with a choice of spending the rest of his life in jail or cooperating. there is almost no one given that choice and someone who everyone who

this is a strange and pivotal time for michael cohen. what he does could literally impact the entire trump presidency. we are going to turn first live tonight to the lawyer who tangled with cohen from the start and predicted part of his demise. michael avenatti is my live guest tonight. i have big questions for michael. that is in a moment. here is the context. tom arnold is a trump critic who is now spending part of his career trying to either catch n get tajjing tapes on trump. cohen deciding to share this provocative photo. >>> don't worry. tom arnold is on it. and i'm tom arnold. >> arnold saying tonight that cohen did talk to him for his new show, hunting trump. and he adds, quote this dude has all the tapes. this dude has everything and it's on. i hope trump sees the picture of me and michael cohen and it haunts his dreams. moments ago nicolle wallace asked arnold if cohen had given him any tapes. >> we know what was seized from his offices included audio and recordings. did he promise to share those with you? >> to share with me? o

i hope trump sees the picture of me and michael cohen and it haunts his dreams. moments ago nicolle wallace asked arnold if cohen had given him any tapes. >> we know what was seized from his offices included audio and recordings. did he promise to share those with you? >> to share with me? oh, michael cohen first of all does not work for vice. i want to make that clear. he is not getting any money. he is probably broke. i shouldn't even say that. michael cohen did not make any promises with me. >> but you are working on it? >> oh, i would love it. >> they are working on it. now the pressure is building on cohen, which goes to why he may be engaging in any of this. new reporting that the national enquirer tabloid would actually send cohen's stories about trump in advance of publication. that's something no news outlet is supposed to do. this was during the height of the 2016 campaign and would change them on cohen's request. this includes stories that would hammer clinton like getting stories about her health before they were published. the enquirer denies this. me

that's been true of michael cohen. that's been true of paul manafort. it's also been true of michael flynn, the president's former national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is now cooperating. the president has said, some of this publically, but also more privately, that he feels like the only reason these people are in this mess is because they came to work for his campaign or they have served for president trump in the case of michael cohen over the long-term and they now feel like this is anam people can dig into the past decade and that it's all part of this vendetta against the president. these are the president's personal feelings here. obviously, law enforcement has a different view of this. it's not a personal vendetta. they're doing their job, investigating what comes up in the course of the mueller investigation. >> the president's pardon power, according to the constitution, is very, very powerful. you are suggesting if he dangles a pardon, there could be obstruction of justice? >> certainly, there would be members

i can report for you on never before seen messages from michael cohen because they just leaked. in a brand new lawsuit filed by michael avenatti in los angeles. this alleges that cohen secretly plotted with avenatti's own p d predecessor to work against her and help trump lie about their relationship. that's one new case. there's another development in another case from another woman former aapprentice with a judge setting a schedule that could force donald trump to be deposed there. all this as bob mueller pursues paul manafort. it's not just an allegation that michael cohen got stormy daniels to coordinate with him for trump, which we'll get into. there's also new material here. new leaked evidence that shows cohen and daniels lawyer, at the time, worked together. this is while he was stormy daniel's lawyer. >> keith davidson instead of representing stormy daniels was more interested in colluding with his quote, pal. keith davidson was supposed to be representing stormy daniels at all times. not supposed to be interested in helping out michael cohen and donald trump. >> the min

president trump's personal lawyer michael cohen is splitting with his own legal team as prosecutors focus on his financial dealings including the payment to the porn star stormy daniels, there is now growing pressure on cohen said to be looking for lawyers experienced with the fed southern district of new york and a source said cohen has not yet met with prosecutors to discuss a deal but trump allies say they worried he could flip at any moment. i'll speak with senator james langford of the intelligence committee and our correspondents are standing by with full coverage. our top story, the president's personal lawyer michael cohen is breaking with his legal team as he faces a federal investigation in new york. our national correspondent is joining us from new york with theest. brin, what is the latest? >> reporter: wolf, what we know is that this is a legal team that has been by the side of michael cohen ever since early april after the raid by the fbi of his home and his hotel room and his office. and we know they've also been by his side through the legal proceed gz and several court pr

first, michael cohen, the president is silent so far at least on twitter. the white house isn't commenting. officials previously tried to create distance between cohen and the president for all of the obvious reasons. look, in the paz past president trump signalled that he underseriousness o cohen's legal exposure. you remember the in april, the president cabinet room surrounded by his military generals was asked about the raids on cohen's properties athe time. the president described that as an attack on the nation, said it was a disgraceful situation. so there is that. e other we are tracking here at the white house today of co is rea. the president trying to sell this agreement to the public to a skeptical congress. you heard the president at least on twitter earlier today say that north korea no longer pose as nuclear threat even though kim coming out of that summit did not dpre to timetable as to when or whether he might hand over his nuclear weapons. but president is trying to sell this as a victory for a couple of reas one he thinks it's the a comp co

why did michael cohen make that if there was no -- >> you'll have to ask michael cohen. >> do you knowhere he got the money to make that payment? >> i don't know. >> and it claims president trump knew about the conversation between davidson and cohen because of this text. cohen wrote, the wise men all believe the story is dying and don't think it's smart for her to do any interviews. davidson writes, 100%. so which cohen replies, thanks, pal. cohen and davidson kept in communication according to the lawsuit, with cohen getting a heads-up that daniels was going to get a new attorney, michael avenatti and they were going public with a lawsuit. cohen went to mar-a-lago to meet with melania trump in order to get out in front of the approaching lawsuit and publicity. days before that first lawsuit was filed, michael cohen was at mar-a-lago when he texted davidson, we should speak. when davidson asked, you calling? he said with flotus, give me a minute. keith davidson's spokesman issued a statement tonight saying this outrageous lly frivolous lout is another desperate attempt by michael aven

also reports that witnesses told the paper, quote, i realize that michael cohen is a target of special interest to mueller. rudy jewel janney, the defacto spokesn for the trump legal team in the russia matter is speaking out about cohen tonight. he first told nbc news kristen welker, quote, i have no information ggesting cohens going to flip. and there's nothing involving the president, even if he did, and therefore i'm not concerned. and then here is what giuliani said to laura ingraham on fox news in just the past hour. >> we don't think he's cooperating, no doe we care because the presid nog. michael cohen, i think he would tell you, has nothing incriminating with the president. and really, they should stop going after him. they're torturing the guy. they're trying to frighten him. >> he handled delicate matters in trump's personal and professional life. here is cohen on the subject of his client prior to the inauguration. >> i'll do anything to protect mr. trump, the family. fortunately mr. trump has a ke to hat t number of people. little circle of extremely loyal people. and we wi

star stormy daniels files a new this time claiming her former attorney andtrump's personal lawyer michael cohen colluded to manipulate her to benefit cohen and president trump. daniels current attorney michael avenatti said there was a cover-up to, quote, deceive the american people and mrs. trump. i'll speak with jim himes of the intelligence committee and our correspondents and specialists are standing by with full coverage. let's begin with the breaking news. our national reporter -- political reporter m.j. lee is joining us. a new lawsuit from stormy daniels. so what is this all about? >> that is right, wolf. yet anoer lawsuitm theadult fil daniels. this time against michael cohen as well as her former lawyer keith davidson. now what she is aleithing in th -- sho -- she's alleging that they colluded to help trump and there is a series of texts allegedy between the two attorneys from january 2018 to march of 2018. let me read you some of the texts that appear to show, according to the lawsuit, an attempt by the two men to get stormy daniels on the sean hannity show on fox news. here is the f

there is new pressure on the president's long-time personal attorney and so-called fixer, michael cohen of new york tonight. and by extension on the president himself. cohen is currently the subject of a criminal investigation into his business dealings. the case was referred, you may recall, to the feds in new york from the mueller team in washington. sources close to cohen tell nbc news he's now looking for a new legal team, or lawyer, to represent him. one report even raises the possibility that cohen may. more likely to flip and start cooperating as a highly valuable witness for the government. nbc news reports that cohen has not yet spoken with prosecutors, but the possibility of him flipping has rattled trump's allies, who see the potential legal jeopardy for the president. in large part, because remember, the president knows the kinds of things that would be seized during a raid of cohen's home and office. >>> also tonight, "the washington post" has brand-new reporting on robert mueller's continued focus on michael cohen. quote, cohen is under intensifying scrutiny from mueller w

with michael cohen. when did they happen? >> when exactly? re was the one with don jr. at trump tower. >> when was that. >> and paul manafort. come on. >> i know but ask michael, he reminded me of it. can you call in? zpl the last week, the last month, six months? >> it's in the last again, michael reminded me of that. and it's been, we have a history. one of my best friends is steve tisch, the god father to his son who is michael's son's age is something michael didn't want me to mention again and steve owns the regency. >> where michael ko help is is staying. >> so those meetings were within the last how many months? >> i was at the regency -- >> all after the fbi raid. all six have been after the fbi went into his armt. >> they went into his hotel room. >> and apartment. >> and -- wait, say hypothetical that i -- >> let's ta away from hypothetical. unfortunately i have to get commercial breaks in. i want to stay away from hypotheticals. >> i bet you do. do you know how good he is? he's very good. >> i want to get the specifics and facts. wh

they are just two different versions that michael cohen wants out there. >> then whene're talking about cohen and the smoke signals he could be sending to the president, why would those close to cohen, those who have spoke with cohen directly and those who know him ll, why would they believe that this idea that could cooperate being floated out there in the press and abc news report, why would t believe that that could be a smoke signal to the president? >> well, clearly, what learned in talking toeople at the white house and around them is that the russia investigation they feel has been sort of contained. trump's twitt attacks have sort of delegitimized t threat that mueller poses, at least ins but wild card tohem what michael cohen knows. it's been reported he tape recorded a lot of phone conversations. he was involved in the president's personal life and his professional life. and that to me is the wild card. so the cohen threat and smoke signal that he might flip and talk to prosecutors is designed, my sense, to get the president's attention. >> the other news we have today is paul

michael cohen and donald trump.el cohen hired a new lawyer signaling cooperating with the prosecuter. and he put out a call for trump to pay his legal fees. you put michael cohen speaking out against the internment of children at the border as he resigns his seat from the rnc. a seat previously held by elliot brody, and steve wynn who was guilty of sexual harassment before that. the moral of -- authority of that position. this is an effort to bargain with trump, and trump, i think all he can say back is too goof ball. i don't know where this is headed. >> maya, rudy giuliani is now admitting he was interviewed by fbi agents. he says they interviewed him in his hotel room at the trump hotel in washington d.c. asking about his comments during the presidential campaign indicating that a big surprise was coming and that was right before the russian hack of the dnc. >> well, that's right. and remember, rudy giuliani can't hold himself out as an attorney and ask for attorney/client privilege. he was simply a campaign supp

so it's a key moment for michael cohen. we also know that obviously the pressure from prosecutors here is something that there is this pressure to perhaps make a deal and provide whatever information prosecutors believe they need as part of their investigation, brooke. >> do we know on that last point, do we know if he has potential of any kind of deal? p >> we're told he has not yet been told by prosecutors about this. we don't even know where the prosecutors want him to come in and do a plea agreement because they may well have enough evidence. they may think that they have enough evidence that they don't need his cooperation and that they're just going to go ahead and indict him. they certainly suggested in court documents that they believe that an indictment is very, very near in the offing. as a matter of fact, the only reason why it hasn't happened, it appears, is because they've been fighting over the access to these documents. for michael cohen, this is a key time. at the end of this, the split with this law firm, i

growing concern among president trump's all his personal attorney michael cohen could flip on the president at any moment. that fear ramping up as cohen under criminal investigation is now splitting from his own legal team. we'll talk about it with congressman eric swalwell. and our specialists and analysts are all standing by. let's go to sarah murray. she has details on the breaking news. you're getting new information from your sources tonight. >> that's right, wolf. michael cohen is preparing to make this switch with his legal team. and in many ways it makes a lot of sense. they're reaching the end of this very complicated fight over can see the documents that were collected in the raid on his home office and other places. but this is also a move in its uncertainty that's causing a new wave of concern amongst some of the president's allies. michael cohen splitting with his legal team amid a high profile criminal investigation that's likely to lead to charges against president trump's long time lawyer, a source tells cnn. sources familiar with hen'ss sa new legal team with experience in

there are signs tonight that trump's long-time attorney and personal fixer michael cohen may be closer to flipping on the president. under federal investigation in southern district of new york, cohen is suspecteded of possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campai finance violations. today george stephanopoulos of abc news was first to report the law firming cohen will not continue to represent him after friday of this week. most explosive is abc's reporting that "cohen now with no legal representation is likely to cooperate with federal prosecutors in new york," sources said." this development will likely hit the white house, family members, staffers and staffers hard. nbc news has not confirmed that cohen intends to cooperate but verified cohen is parting ways with his legal team. that rift according to "the new york times" concerns the payment of legal bills to his lawyers and their relative lack of experience with the federal prosecutor's office in new york. the times" also reports that mr. trump research himself has told people he is angry at mr. cohen over the messiness of the situa

michael cohen here in this hour and the worries within trump world about michael cohen. but rachel, you know, people have said, some observers have said that donald trump sometimes makes a mess of things, but the mess you were talking about earlier in your hour is actually a criminal mess. the federal record act says you cannot create a federal record and do that to it. can't do that. it's a crime. that's a crime, if you're the president or white house chief of staff and you write down notes of a meeting you've just had and you rip them up, that's a violation of federal records act. >> and i love that they've tried to mitigate that criminal act by having other people grab stuff off the floor and out of his trash can and piece it back together as if he never tore it up in the first place. maybe no one will notice. that's been the operative plan involving many, many staffers of the federal government getting paid a lot of money t do that full time for months now. >> and so is it -- is it a violation if you rip it up and someone else tapes it back together? the courts have

michael cohen is unhappy.confused, was the word that was used to me. because the relationship with donald trump is not what it once was. he's not happy also with what rudy giuliani has been saying. so -- so this is somebody's whose family is under stress and this is costing him a lot of money and looking to hire a new attorney once the document review is done, who is very familiar with the southern district of new york. he's not met with prosecutors yet. but if you are hiring an attorney who could go in and sort of chat with southern district of new york and talk to them about what potential charges might be and you would assume that they would also be chatting about the potential for cooperation. >> good point. nia, the president is basking in the glow of the summit with the north korean leader kim jong-un and continues to praise the young dictator. listen to what he had to say about kim jong-un earlier today. >> he's the head of a country and i mean he's the strong head. don't let anyone think anything diffe

michael cohen's week in review. he talks about flipping on trump, slams imfrags policy, he wants trump to pay legal fees. and lawyer subpoenaed in michael cohen probe. his legal pressures are mounts as i understand it. >> there has never been any doubt in my mind how this will end up. doing what they did, we have to go back from the beginning, the raid on the personal attorney of the president of the united states, the standard to get that warrant was off of the charts high. they knew he committed crimes before they could even get a warrant. now they will probably present him with a choice of spending his life in jail or cooperating. everyone who knows michael cohen says for all of his many defects, he loves his family and has been treated like crap -- he was systematically crapped all over by donald trump. that guy, given the way he has been repaid for his loyalty, his dirty business, now facing decades in jail, how does he not end up cooperating with prosecutors. >> so we're going to talk to tom airtom ayr -- tom

she alleges davidson became a puppet, her word, for donald trump and for michael cohen. cohen, remember, paid daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about allegations that she had an affair with the president, which he has consistently denied. what we are talking about here specifically are text messages that tom winter went thrgh a momentago, text messages between michael cohen and between keith davidson trying to coordinate an appearance for stormy daniels on sean y's show, presumably where she would deny having an affair with the president. this is back from january. we're going to stay on this story and bring you updates as we get them. do stay with us for that. but tom winter and danny cevallos, thank you very much. >>> in california, while senator dianne feinstein may have cr place, her bid for a fifth mid-term will not go unchallenged. democrats will face off on november 6th. li state senator kevin deleone joins me now. >> good morning, preciate i congratulations on your and f moving on. thank you. >> why do you think that you can ultimately beat senator feinstein? she's -

attorney's office. >> kim, emily jane fox from "vanity fair" has extensively covered michael cohen. she spoke about what cohen's current situation is like. where his head is at. >> his general feeling right now besides his feeling of betrayal from the trump camp is that his life has been collateral damage in order to get to the president, so his business has been destroyed, his family has been destroyed. he is a pawn in this game. and so he is just waiting for a next phase. >> so his wife, his kids, they feel like he's a pawn. i guess no problem with having years of paying off porn stars. that wasn't embarrassing. but this, this it sounds like it's possibly ruining their life. >> if you're talking about years in years in prison. to get these warrant, there has to be a lot of what's called probable cause. a lot of information that is going to go before a judge to justify this. and we have his business partner who's cooperating with respect to state charges. we have potential problems with respect to, you know, campaign finance violations. we have tax fraud, bank fraud. there's a lot p

the trump organization have been paying some of michael cohen's legal bills. some are speculating this could be a cry for help. cohen suggesting that pay my bills or i will flip. there are some reporting that his flip is a result over dispute over massive legal fees as lawyers have to sift through 3.7 million documents that prosecutors seized from michael cohen's home and office. >> thank you for that update. with us now a federal criminal defense attorney along with david corn who has written about this a lot. to the heart of it the new yorker has this headline today. what can michael cohen tell robert mueller? >> how long do you have? i think it is important to remember in this case that this was a referal by the special counsel's office by robert mueller to the southern district of new york. it is now before a judge there. that doesn't mean if cohen does decide to cooperate with the government you have to provide substantial assistance in all aspects of any criminal prosecutions ongoing. i think robert mueller will be interested in talking with michael cohen

get to that. >>> we start with breaking news in the michael cohen case. nbc news has learned cohen is expected to split with his attorneys and get new lawyers. we do not know whether this signals a change in legal strategy or, perhaps, future cooperation. cohen, of course, president trump's former personal attorney, and "vanity fair" reports that cohen could soon be indicted. we have details this afternoon from "vanity fai gabe sherman, also an msnbc contributor. daniel goldman, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, and msnbc legal analyst danny is a vauv loe -- savalas is standing by. >> cohen says he feels the legal news closing in around him. yesterday indicated he thought he might be arrested at any moment and we know from today he is worried about the prospect of an indictment coming as early as tomorrow, and what he has told people is that he is considering making a deal with the sdny. my reporting, he has no officially flipped. reports earlier today he that. my reporting says she in the process of contemplating that.

but there are clearly signs of distress from michael cohen. the president's lawyer who was behind the hush money payment to stormy daniels and who knows what else. cnn has learned that cohen has split from his legal team acourciliar with his actions. whether that is him leaving the legal team or them leaving him is unclear. the source tells cnn that cohen has yet to meet with prosecutors to talk about a potential deal and he wants a legal team one with experience with the u.s. attorney's office with the southern district of new york. the office leading the criminal investigation of cohen including when the fbi raided his home, hotel room and office back in april. now as cohen tries to limit what seized prosecutors can see from that cache of information, there are reports that suggest cohen might be more inclined to cooperate with the u.s. attorney's office but as of now there is no indication the u.s. attorney wantsr needs his cooperation. prosecutors have made it clear in court and from documents submitted to the judge they feel arges are like

>> i estimate it's $2 million michael cohen has burned. here's the thing, of all the people on the face of it planet that donald trump should have brought inside the tent, given love should have been -- not only because he was so loyal but just from a machiavellian perspective this is guy who knew the president for 10 or 12 years. the problem is you have a president that values loyalty when it comes to him but he's not willing to give any loyalty in exchange. and wave seen that in a whole host of context. but here's the problem, nothing lasts forever. and this is going to come back and bite him and i that for two and a half months. >> you've been very adamant you think aces some serious charges. do you think this is a sign charges are imminent when it comes to michael cohen? >> there's no question in my mind charges are imminent. i don't think he's going to be arrested tomorrow or even next week. i think some of those reports are overblown. there's no question in my mind, michael cohen is going to be indicted and he's going to attempt to f

it's fantasy to think that anything that donald trump did that michael cohen didn't know about. if i was donald trump and this is mechael cohen, i would be very worried right new. >> now almost sound like someone who knows something. >> i'm just an analytical kind of guy. we like to think about things and analyze things. everything i know about the universe and everything i believe about humanity and i would be -- i would be surprised if michael cohen doesn't end up being a pivotal character in u.s. history. >> you're able to match your glasses to your tie and not everyone knows how to do that. >> i was getting spifed up and i was look like at that. i thought it was so cool. >> it's match. >> the fashion police. notices. >> man who has known donald trump for decades says trumps is pushing boundaries on the morality of hurting children on purpose. (vo) we came here for the friends. and we got to know the friends of our friends. and we found others just like us. and just like that we felt a little less alone. but then something happened. we had to deal with spam, fake news, and dat

because if michael cohen is headed in the direction of cooperating with them, they don't want tom arnoldalking about what cohen is also telling them out on television, and they don't want cohen then, you know, on twitter saying, no, that's not true, and arnold saying, no, what you're saying isn't true. you know, it's hurting -- it could potentially hurt the credibility of what may be a very important witness if you start getting into this twitter-fest about what someone did or didn't say and what someone is or isn't doing. cooperation is meant to be a confidential process. even if someone isn't cooperating proactively. so i know at least, you know, cohen's attorney is probably counseling cohen to not do this, especially given the attorney that he now has, guy petrillo, former prosecutor. i know him. you know, a very honorable, good lawyer, upstanding person, well thought of, well respected. he would not, i don't think, be in favor of this. so, you know, it's hard to know what to make of arnold saying all of this. i think all that said, though, cohen has a lot of incentive to cooperate. s

davidson is communicating with michael cohen in late february and early march? what's his explanation for that. >> you'll have to ask him that, and i'll ask him if i see him, but the wise man comment there, are you saying -- didn't you say you believe one of the wise men is the president? >> yes, we have evidence that suggests one of the wise men referenced in that text message was, in fact, mr. trump. and i think it makes sense, don. michael cohen is not deciding unilaterally to put stormy daniels on shawn hannity. stormy daniels who allegedly had a relationship with the president, do you honestly think -- does anyone really think that michael cohen who can barely add two plus two to equal four is making that decision on his own, to put stormy daniels on shawn hannity? nobody believes that. just like nobody believes michael cohen is unilaterally deciding he's going to meet with the first lady of the united states and talk about stormy daniels. >> what's your evidence? >> well, i'm not ready to disclose that, but if i'm wrong about it let michael cohen or mr. da