how do you feel but michael cohen? >> guest: so, i think that we were speaking easterlyyear about with regards to the kushner family. it's very easy, especially in these partisan times to just dry to see people as paper cutout dolls and i wanted to present real human characters that have failings and good points and bad points and flaws. me and my colleague at the trump inc. podcast did some very hard hitting reporting on michael cohen before he was indicted or raided. were out in the field the day at that time mike michael cohen's office and home were raised by the fbi. and i covered the trajectory of his court cases, and what became interesting to me over the course of those court cases, and also all the testimony that he gave, the public testimony he gave, the closed door testimony he gave, is he talked about a situation which was very familiar know as someone who has spoken to a lot of people who work for the trump organization, where he went to work for donald trump trump and it felt so thrilling thrilling and fig

stopping for his lawyers, called michael cohen are rats, and michael cohen went into the courtroom and said i did this crime but i did this crime to help the political campaign of someone else. and what he said, and i'm paraphrasing now, was why isn't that person also being called into account? and he gets up in court on this day in december, any stars to say to the judge i'm sorry. and his daughter, who is sitting just feet from me in the courthouse starts to sob. i look over at her, she's not that much older than my own daughter, and i hand her a packet of tissues. and she sort of looks at it, and she wipes her eyes, and michael cohen can hear her crying and he starts to stop practically. >> host: it's a very said see no matter what your politics are, it's a very sad scene. >> guest: he says i don't want to be the victim and his history. i think it's something we see over and over again with people who have been very close to donald trump and would do anything for donald trump. michael cohen said he would take a bullet for donald trump. but when they veer from that path or before the

obstruction case would have been probably a difficult case to bring because in one respect you had michael cohenfo at the trump organization who he said was involved with the stormy daniels deal, although it was his word and cohen's credibility, it was very poor because he had lied about a number of things. so it could have been a he said, she said, a tough prosecution. now in hindsight, so we have another layer, we have barr coming in and questioning the legal theory that the justice department had signed off on when they charged michael cohen in the first place saying maybe this should have been a civil case instead of a criminal case. so, you know, that's undermining of the case that was brought. >> yeah. >> we don't have any knowledge that he or anyone else at main justice said "close the case" but it certainly sends a message when your boss says, huh, maybe you should have done something this way, it sends a message it's a more subtle way of handling something. is that why they closed the case? i mean, like i said, i think that probably would have been a tough case to bring. >> right. to me

michael cohen said he would take a bullet for donald trump. but when they veer from that path or before they veer from that path donald trump for some reason rejects them and lets them faces the consequences. it's something we have seen over and over again in donald trump's career. >> host: with five minutes or so i've a couple more questions. you and i both spend a lot of time reporting on conflict of interest and concerns about conflicts of interest between president trump's company and his administration the government. which he and his family said they would keep very separate when they were elected. but now he travels to his properties all the time and there's problems with this hotel, there court cases about all this. but the president donates presidential salary, and it still remains unclear to me whether the president is actually making more money because he is president or is making less money while he is president. what you think about that? >> guest: i agree with you. i think it's sort of a mystery and it's an uncomfortable mystery.

michael cohen is donald trump's long time through a lawyer and fixer is the city present the sewer and he has the ball as the keys to the kingdom he knows all the secrets about donald trump. card with. the f.b.i. search cohens office at the request of a local prosecutor on charges of financial fraud. the move initiated by bob muller as a direct challenge to the president himself. so i just heard that they broke into the office 'd of one of my personal attorneys a good man i said that it's really valid a whole. new level of unfair that. cohen is someone who might know about alleged real estate dealings in russia that was fairly common knowledge in the real estate community and the international finance community in the political community the russians were funding in various ways many major trunk real estate projects cohen my also know if the president lie a few months earlier he denied having anything to do with russia i know nothing in russia i have no loans in russia i don't have any deals in russian the lack of financial transparency of the trump organization and the extent to which

arrested right there to convicted aides michael flynn, allegedly getting softer treatment, and michael cohened. he pled guilty to campaign violation for payments he arranged for stormy daniels on trump's behalf. a problem that drew far more attention with the new lawyer michael avenatti who debated cohen and his string of press conferences, articles, tv appearances and earned a following. the charges ranged from domestic violence and fraud and stealing money and hiding it from authorities. not all of those have been resolved in court but he was just convicted for extorting nike. avenatti was jailed in new york in solitary confinement during his trial. all of this raising the prospect that he and cohen, two tv lawyers who clashed, will both be pardoned. raising questions about the politics and law in trump's america. here's how fast avenatti rose and fell. >> with the new lawsuit centering on a mysterious $130,000 payment, daniels' lawyer said it is hush money. >> michael cohen was extensioned today. trump is next. michael cohen is neither a hero nor a patriot. he lied for months on end about

she looks at it and wipes her eyes and michael cohen can hear her crying -- >> host: it is a very sad scene i think it is something we've seen over and over again with people that have been close to donald trump and would do anything or donald trump but when they veer from the path, donald trump one reason or another projects done we spend a lot of time reporting on the conflicts of interest and concern about the conflict of interest between the company and of the administration which he and his family said they would keep separate when he was elected but now they travel all the time to the various problems with this hotel etc.. but, you know, the president's salarsalary still remains uncleo me whether the president is making more money because he is president or making less money while he's president. what do you think of that? >> guest: i agree. i'd like to know if the president is profiting from the presidency. what i think is clear to all of us is the president has brought in a certain way of being. if you use the government for the resources as their businesses and in some ways i

crime. >> it is not true at all. >> because there was no crime -- >> michael cohen - i am talking the president is corrupt. if you think it is a coincidence do you really think it is a coincidence that he has a campaign manager in jail, can deputy campaign manager in jail, another advisor getting ready to send to jail. you think it is a coincidence that their associated with the president, he is corrupt and let me say this. >> things that are not true before congress to investigators and get those people are on the other side of the island they haven't faced similar punishment. do you think 7 to 9 years is too much? >> you are the legal expert. i am not a legal expert. i don't necessarily think it is. i think roger stone is corrupt and has been corrupt and is probably more. >> the problem is there is no interest of justice here. justice means to be objective, should not be targeted against trump associates and should not be lenient against people like hillary clinton, james comey, the fisa court. >> you are saying hillary clinton should be in jail. there is none. >> he should be i

let's go to michael cohen, former donald trump fixer. michael cohen makes up stories.volved in a proceeding. paul manafort, former campaign chief charged in ukraine, donald trump's chairman in 2016, he called manafort a brave man and supported him. manafort was one of the few people who did not flip on donald trump. michael flynn, national security advisor, war hero. he sent that when there were rumors flynn would cooperate with the mueller investigation which he did. this is eddie gallagher, we have been talking about pardons of late, former navy seal. the process should move quickly with eddie gallagher, talking about the president of the united states wading directly into a military proceeding. we could put 100 of the department of justice and fbi. donald trump said, remember at that celebration press event that he had after he was acquitted, he called them top scum. there's maria yovanovitch. everywhere maria yovanovitch went turned bad. no evidence of that. this is bill barr appears to be taking a spot here. i'm not well-versed enough to question his motive. i wil

. >> thank you, michael cohen. >> whatever you do, call me anything other than michael cohen. >> juan prediction from avenatti getting a lot of attention after what happened today. >> i'm going to say it again. mr. trump will not serve out his term. no way, know-how, you'll be forced to ultimately resign. >> juan: i know it's like ribs on a friday night for you. you are chomping at this. go for it. >> lawrence: >> greg: i felt like we should've gone for it. "the five" saw him for what he was, but the clowns from the montage, they couldn't, because they had a good range filter. all they saw when they look at this -- they are lined up to kiss the bozos ring. this is a piece of evidence that shows you the corporate media cannot be trusted. this would be people who consider themselves more sophisticated than all of us but they are credulous. they are a tribe looking for a savior and that's what they saw and this guy. my point is all those people in the montage, i know they watch "the five," it's a positive thing to admit you are wrong, but it's more positive to figure out why you were wro

acted too fast in saying i was guilty. >> remember he did it early on even before people like michael cohen, before the impeachment trial, i believe it was before we had the peter struck and excerpts of the i.g. report. >> first the white house reaction, the president's reaction to the mccabe news. >> sources say the president had no idea this was coming, so he was blind-sided by it, apparently furious and had to be calmed down by his attorneys who basically had to explain to him why mccabe couldn't be charged. the president we're told was adamant mccabe was a deep state operator and should be locked up as we've heard the president say about many different characters who he find reasons to criticize. the president didn't enjoy hearing that. we're told he left to mar-a-lago with a bad taste in his mouth not happy to hear mccabe would not face criminal charges. >> you have to wonder about all the timing of all this. >> it certainly feels like a consolation prize coming from the attorney general, right? this news coming on a friday afternoon before trump is headed to mar-a-lago to take part in

from the very first meeting that i had with stormy daniels. >> if michael cohen is such a stand-up guyatti spared no time flooding the air waves. >> this is a cover-up. >> reporter: boasting his message. >> this is a president that demands and values loyalty but provides none. >> reporter: more clients and headline grabbing cases followed involving then brett kavanaugh and singer r. kelly. for as fast as his celebrity skyrocketed, it fell even faster with the arrest last year on the new york charges and also in los angeles. >> mr. avenatti then used his clients' money. >> reporter: they accuse him of cheating his own clients out of their money, including a paraplegic man. >> a corrupt lawyer who instead fights for his own selfish interests. >> we're going to let the system play out. >> reporter: similar allegations are being made in a separate new york case by the woman who helped make avenatti a household name, stormy daniels. who has since dropped him as her attorney. avenatti's denied all charges against him. and jurors deliberated for five hours wednesday. they'll return to the roo

michael cohen is donald trump's longtime friend the lawyer and fixer is this is the president and he has as the keys to the kingdom you know all the secrets about donald trump. cards with. the f.b.i. search going on. we're going to present reject type now he's in his stand bowl this is after syrian government shelling has killed 4 turkish soldiers in the province was directed through defenses. and warplanes this is for the sake of all our brothers and ad libbed. and i believe. the new concept will be established for peace and security in this city. today heading to ukraine. in order to take part in a very important and. a number of meetings. on the grounds of turkish ukrainian cooperation during 22 out of 2030 and a number of meetings were held throughout the years before. we are going to continue with our meetings to mend our strategic cooperation in the bilateral. strategic cooperation between our respective countries turkey and ukraine. i would be accompanied by a delegation comprised of a number of professionals. and experts. many domains. including economic and business people.

michael cohen had some receipts and michael cohen's in prison, donald trump is not. see whether or not it is teflon don or not. >> there's a different between receipts and insurance. >> maybe his insurance are the receipts. >> true enough. katie fang, thank you. >> it is officially super bowl sunday and while most people will be watching for the match-up between the niners and kansas city chiefs and that j. lo/shakira halftime show, there's the political match-up. >> some of the wealthiest men in politics. msnbc's stephanie ruhle has more. >> reporter: sunday's super bowl will be the ultimate face-off pitting the 49ers against the chiefs and president trump against democratic presidential candidate michael bloomberg. both men shelling out 10 million bucks each for political ads that will air during the big game. >> it's a big deal? >> it's a big deal. we have not seen presidential ads really in the super bowl ever. this is sort of unprecedented. >> super bowl ads are pricey say advertising insiders, but they just might be worth the investment. >> we have a president

lifeline for ukraine unfortunately it's not you're doing it now into eyes on the people who asked michael cohen phil rightly a sad at n.p.r. host. and care about our gentlemen that's all the time we have here many thanks to my guest here in moscow athens and in london and thanks to our viewers for watching us here on r.t.c. see you next time and remember. no longer you know nor. no free shipping. 100 fishy free cell and. you know they have and it's not so for the moment on a plot on a response and i'm going to have to have done what i mean that's a big part of. the product which i think. this is the only thing that we do music and it's really really good it was amazing because everybody gets a. wake. up and i mean i was going to die is the mcconnell so when you're both successes. 5 that still small victory that i'd have to watch in this way got to dog so hard luck nothing and the love to dissipate the same film of the walk like they are one.

correct larry it actually starts with the stories of each of the president's hand men you know michael cohen george papadopoulos. rick gates' metaphor that cetera and then what i did was i devoted a large part of the book to summarizing the moeller report in the rush of last a geisha and frankly because americans won't read 483 pages of dense material so i felt that it was a very. important piece of our history that should not be forgotten that the president has not been held accountable for even my congress as we sit here today and yet it's a terrible precedent for future presidents as a lawyer how would you assess the case made by the by the prosecution for the house in the trial 1000 democrats you know i think there's a lot of should haves and could have been dead ends when it comes to the house democrats the idea that for example they didn't charge the president in a separate article for bribery and that gave a lot of the republicans. leeway to argue well where's the crime even alan dershowitz saying there is no crime while article 2 of the constitution does not require crime to impeach

life line for ukraine unfortunately it's not you doing it now in 2 eyes on the people who asked michael cohen phil rightness said at n.p.r. host of ukraine and care about our gentlemen that's all the time we have here many thanks to my guest here in moscow athens and in london and thanks to our viewers for watching us here in r.t.c. see you next time and remember. you know world of big partisan movies lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that made history media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the back and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. and in another one. way or both the food. bank itself movie theater. plus we've got to dog it so hard not to think of the mother disappeared this moment the look ahead and i know it's not going to be. this is the only thing that we do is music because everybody fights his way to. the floor to confront the feet out of his mouth historian and

real life line for ukraine unfortunately it's not doing it now in 2 eyes on the people who asked michael cohen phil rightly said at n.p.r. do n.p.r. host. and care about our gentlemen that's all the time we have here many thanks to my guest here in moscow athens and in london and thanks to our viewers for watching us here in our d.c. see you next time and remember. tough and the full entire system accounts huevos to subsume. baloch itself mukti about. closing this way got to dog so hard not to think of the mother disappeared just look at them look like they cower and an empty stomach and if. this is the only thing that we do is music because everybody fights in his way. through our you can call the fee on this bill frist woody allen you have all the ability to put a hold on the. what i think is this is the fans that is a constant. through. so the politicians have basically stuck the american public with the delegate to negotiate for drugs and both parties who are financed very heavily by the pharmaceutical industry have done this so when your own people vote they should look at how much does t

finger, it's just important to remember, plea agreements or jury verdicts from ro roger stone, michael cohen, michael flynn, paul manafort, rick gates. we could go on. >>> how a tweet from the former president barack obama set off what president trump calls, quote, the latest con job. come on. no. no. n... ni ni, no no! only discover has no annual fee on any card. i need all the breaks, that i can get. n... ni ni, no no! at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding? memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. i learned about myuse grandfather's life. on ancestry and it was a remarkable twentieth-century transformation. he did a lot of living before i knew him. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com >>> topping our political radar, john bolton

colin michael cohen, he lies 7 times, goodbye:.ing the whistleblower in, now they can't produce the whistleblower because they produced was a blow, going to turn out was a was there at the beginning concocting a scheme to prevent him from being president and taken out after he is president of matter what false charge you need. that is what is going to happen. that is why adam schiff is hiring him. >> and he is still hiding him and -- >> a conspirator, not a whistleblower. lou: he is in no way under the legal definition, a was a blower even if you were - you know what has happened? no one can speak his name. he has been vanished. >> my podcast on this i got him, i got him cold, got the records, got everything. lou: the question. >> i don't see any reason i can't do it at my lawyer said no, better just keep it -- >> this is frozen, free speech in america, this person is known to every one of us. >> to know his name would give you critical information about how this frame up began and what the basis for it was. it is not as if we are

. >> one of the favorite thing on - - themes of the book is when you are in court and michael cohen who is trump's personal lawyer he was his fixer to go solve problems but he would pay people off and paid off stormy daniels to make sure that story did not become public. he is in prison right now and with the family members his daughter. i'm sorry. and then that you would have sympathy for michael :-colon even though he has committed crimes and campaign fraud. >> i think we were saying earlier about the kushner family especially in these partisan times to see people as paper cutout dolls to present real human characters that have flaws and bad points me and my colleagues of the podcast have some very hard-hitting reporting of michael :-colon before he was indicted. we were out on the field the day the office was raided by the fbi. and i covered the trajectory of the court cases and that became interesting to me over the case that all the testimony he gave the public testimony, closed-door testimony he talks about a situation that was very familiar to me and the trump organization he wen

michael cohen received 7 and a half years conviction of bank and trump fraud. michael flynn is awaiting sentencing. he lied and later cooperated with investigators. and rick gates lied to investigators. he served 12 days. and finally today, roger stone getting 40 months in prison. let's discuss this with michael zeldin. we have julie hirschfeld davis with the "new york times," and we have shimon prokupecz as well. additionally the prosecution recommended seven to nine years. some folks said that seemed too long. when you go add up all the things he's been convicted of, this is exactly by the book. this is how it all adds up. but in the end she went with 40 months. why so little compared to what the original sentencing guideline was? >> i think she felt in her mind, obviously, that this was fair and this was the just sentence based on everything that she ticked off and that occurred in this case. she kind of felt that seven to nine was a little much. but it is standard. this is what prosecutors do. it's ultimately up to the judge. there are guidelines. she took i

trump's foe michael cohen went on the attack saying putin's puppet is at it again, he knows he can't win without it and we can't let it happen. the president has repeatedly questioned the intelligence committee 's conclusion that russia interfered in 2016. his xhicomments at the helsinki summit -- >> i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> reporter: this just days after dan coats warned u.s. elections are at risk. >> here we are nearly two decades later, and i'm here to say that the warning lights are blinking red again. all right with the ru . >> reporter: with the russians eyeing the 2020 election, the president appears to be struggling to find a new permanent dni. doug collins says he doesn't want the position. >> to mention my name and among others to be this position, but let me tell you, i know the problems in our intelligence community, but this is not a job that interests me at this time. it is not one that i would accept. >> reporter: former acting attorney general m

stone, there's a difference between what roger stone is convicted of and what paul manafort or michael cohen or hillary clinton is that they were accused of actual crimes that were voluntary -- roger stone's charges stem from a year's worth long failed political pursuit of the president in which none of the underlying crimes were found. in any other sort of case -- >> harris: with the exception of the allegation of witness tampering. if they take a look at the case, they will decide whether or not that actually happened. we had to wait the sea. all of this is completely avoidable. there's nothing wrong with that, presidents pardon people all the time. also, big mistake from roger stone but that's important to look at. a s.w.a.t. team showed up at his house and somehow cnn had the exclusive for that, hello. i just think this is an absolutely absurd -- people are jumping over the scum of the filing, the amendment was filed before president trump even tweeted, there is no evidence that there was any sort of coordination whatsoever. attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer. >> melis

cnn misled about lanny davis being a source for a story about michael cohen and the trump tower meeting that donald trump, jr. was offered advanced access to the wikileaks email archive. anthony scaramucci was involved in a russian hedge fund under senate investigation. here is the story. look at that "new york times" right there. "the times" itself is backtracking on its own story saying house democrats either misheard or mistenterred a key part of the intelligence, that russians are intervening in the election to help trump. did not mean to say that. is jim acosta reading the times? >> you know, as you bring this up, one of the biggest concerns i have here, liz, is that, you know, jim is exposing this on the world stage, as the president of the united states and commander-in-chief is deployed in india and representing us there, to have the tit-for-tat there is very problematic and i got to tell you the history of who is reporting the truth i will let you defer to the fact-checking because you're the reporter. he should just stay in his lane, just report the facts and leave it at that.

as michael cohen testified, the president's well versed in the art of subtlety.he doesn't give direct orders. plus, he gets to communicate to the world and to barr through his twitter account and through tv statements, his press conferences by the helicopter. it is not unusual for higher up s to make alternate decisions. what doesn't make sense, that goes on before you go to the judge and tell them the position. that's odd -- >> i got you. i want to move on quickly to the harvey weinstein trial because it appears the jury may be deadlocked on two of the charges that he's facing. the jurors were sent home last night after four days of deliberations. remember, he's facing ten charges. a net from jurors, though, suggests they were deadlocked on two of the most serious charges, the predatory sexual assault. each count punishable by up to life in prison. i know a source on his team has told cnn that weinstein is, quote, cautiously optimistic but nervous. which of those do you think he should be more? >> he should remain nervous. for prosecutors, the fact that the juro

. >> reporter: and it is worth recalling what his personal attorney michael cohen once told congress that trump rarely gives direct orders. >> he does not give you orders, but he speaks in a code. i understand the code, because i have been around him for a decade. >> reporter: as for the current personal attorney rudy giuliani the president is now admitting that he sent him to ukraine to dig up dirt on joe biden. >> was it strange to send rudy giuliani to ukraine your personal lawyer, and are you sorry that you did that? >> not at all. rudy is a great crime fighter and you know that better than anybody. >> reporter: and something he disputed last year. >> no. rudy is a warer ywarrior, and p he went. >> reporter: and all in all, the public will see him on a win streak as he continues the win streak. and as one adviser said that if mr. trump drank champagne, he would be sipping some this weekend. >>> and now, joining us is the fbi director and the former acting fbi director andrew mccabe who is a cnn contributor, and this is a big day for you, and thank you for joining us. >> thank you

we saw this with michael cohen. we saw this with the mueller report.e scandal in terms of how he uses these auxiliaries, subordinates, these helpers to do things and he has plausible deniability. so i believe he would do this, but take this with heaping massfuls of salt until we see something besides assange's lawyer's statement to believe this is what happened in as clear a way as it has been described. >> so, listen, john, the judge in the case ruled that the allegation will be allowed in court. so, we'll likely learn more in the coming days. if it does turn out to be true, right, is it another example of president trump's using -- president trump using his executive powers to undermine the russia investigation? he's trying to, you know, reverse what mueller did? >> i would think he would not want assange to be extradited to the united states where heed face multiple charges. i think there are 18-count indictment against him that's sitting under seal or barely revealed. and i just don't think trump wants that to come over. and so what he's doing with

it is like michael cohen says he let i don't say i know what he wants and you just sort of know what he wants and you now have roger stone, because donald trump is actively tweeting about his conviction now he's saying i want a new trial. he's filed a motion saying i want a new trial so there are ways in which donald trump is manipulating the legal system and getting people to poke their head up saying i want a new trial. he may not serve any prison time because donald trump is packing him up. >> he's tampered with all thens withes and he's going to continue to do it. i don't care what he tweets at who or what barr said it's all theater, they're all liars, i do not care what they say. what i care about is what we're going to do about it. everybody here knows that what barr is going is immoral, illegal and unjust. we've known that since he was appointed. we've known that since november when he gave a speech announcing his view of executive power. we know what barr is. so what are we going to do about it? i aflaud the prosecutors who have resigned over the stone case. that's four guys.

th that came up with michael cohen. >> he got stuck into this rule 35 posture.ed has been corroborated by the facts. the evidence he had was clearly valuable to the impeachment inquiry. maybe the southern district is launching now or moving into high gear with their investigation or even the bringing of charges against people like mr. giuliani. maybe they have a plan to reserve lev -- >> but this goes to the heart of it. is it fair to say that having not secured their interests in your private negotiations, you're now trying to make them more interested in public? >> not really. you know, what we tried to do is pretty simple. we're dealing with a very low what we call sentencing guideline case. we're facing prosecutors that didn't want to hear what we had to say. we were up against a time crunch with something of incredible importance, the impeachment inquiry that's not every day that there is an impeachment inquiry and then a trial. and we believe that if we could get our message to congress, that lev would be able to make the most profound impact. >> we're ove

trump's former personal attorney michael cohen is serving a three-year sentence for lying to the fbi. former national security adviser michael flynn still is waiting for his sentencing, although he is also contesting his guilty plea for lying to the fbi, and one of the men who testified against roger stone, rick gates was trump's former deputy campaign chair. he got 45 days in prison and three years probation for conspiracy and lying to the fbi, and finally, there is former campaign adviser george papadopoulos who played a key role in setting off the entire russia investigation, and he served 12 days for lying to investigators. so now for the deep dive, harry litman once served as deputy assistant attorney general and cnn legal analyst elie honig is a former federal prosecutor. harry, let me start with you. i'm going to give elie credit and say he called roughly four years, so we know roger stone got three years four months, what's your read on the sentence? >> besides how smart elie is? i think all in all, it's really creditable. she's a good judge. she was procedurally impeccable. s

. >> reporter: it is worth recalling what michael cohen once told congress, that mr. trump rarely gives you had direct orders. >> he doesn't give you orders. he speaks in code and i understand the code. are the and as f >> reporter: and the president is now admitting that he sent rudy giuliani to ukraine to dig up dirt on joe biden. >> was it strange to send rudy giuliani to ukraine, your personal lawyer? are you serious you did that? >> not at all. rudy was a great crime fighter. you know that maybe better than anybody. >> reporter: something he denied last year. >> no, i didn't direct him. but he is a warrior. rudy is a warrior. rudy went -- >> reporter: all in all trump advisers seem to be on a win streak as he continues this apparent revenge tour. as one adviser put to me, if mr. trump drank champagne, he'd be sipping some this weekend. jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >>> back to that high profile case of president trump's long time adviser roger stone, he is again requesting a new trial. this comes despite a judge denying a previous request. earlier this week,

financial records of the president to potentially legislate in that area and to otherwise see when michael cohend the president is involved in financial fraud deflating his assets, depending on his goal. congress is digging in and looking into that. all three cases have been consolidated into one and that is what we are going to hear arguments about before the supreme court in late march. >> glenn, one of the arguments during this impeachment trial was even though what the president did was wrong, it should be up to the voters to decide in november whether he stays in office. what is the likelihood that any of these other investigations would bear a different result? >> you know, that's a great question. i would say in recent weeks, it hasn't been a really strong run for justice. i could make the argument that in the last few years, it hasn't been a strong run for justice. and here is my concern with how the supreme court might handle these financial cases. first of all, you know, we have a president who is above the criminal law because bill barr's department of justice through the legal counse

remember michael cohen when he was asked how do you know the president wants something done a certain way? did he tell you verbally? and he says no, you just know after spending time with him, he gives you a head nod. so when he says i did this all by myself. nonsense. i'm not buying that. have a culture of eroding the rule of law and kowtowing foothis president. pompeo knows it, barr knows it >> you want to see the barr clip and react. let's watch. >> statements and tweets made about the department, about people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department and about judges before whom we have cases make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors and the department that we're doing our work with integrity. >> mr. barr, the president does not like to be told what to do. he may not like what you're saying. are you prepared for those ramifications? >> of course. as i said during my conformation i came in to serve as attorney general. i am responsible for everything that happens in the department but the thing i have

michael cohen said the same thing when he testified under oath a couple years ago before he went to jail that trump gives signals and everybody knows how to read the signals. and if they don't read the signals they don't stay around trump very long. well, that's what george is saying here that he's throwing the signals, barr reads them well. he has been trump's roy cohen. and if trump stops tweeting he will make his life easier. >> the doj announced friday it's dropping its criminal investigation of former fbi director andrew mccabe who is a cnn contributor now. but here's how mccabe reacted. >> i don't think i'll ever be free of this president and his maniacal rage that he's directed towards me and my wife since october of 2016. he's made it pretty clear in the way that he's conducted himself over the last week that he's, you know, high and mighty on the tour of retaliation against everyone who had anything to do with his impeachment inquiry. so he's a vindictive guy and i fully expect that he'll continue to hound me and my family. >> john, in your assessment, are we seeing the departme

you have michael cohen, trump's former personal attorney, former fixer. he's serving a three-year sentence for among other crimes lying to the fbi. former national security adviser michael flynn is waiting his sentencing, although he's also contesting his guilty plea for lying to the fbi, and then other guilty trump associates include rick gates, former deputy campaign chair who got 45 days and three years probation for conspiracy and lying to the fbi, gates testified against roger stone, and finally there's former campaign adviser george papadopoulos who played that key role in setting off the russia investigation. r remember he lied to investigators and he served 12 days. let's discuss all things roger stone, with me now codirector of the netflix documentary get me roger stone, melissa murray, a professor at nyu law school. and so let's just dive in. first just on the sentence, three years, four months. what's your read on that? >> so it was much shorter than the initial memo had recommended. the thing is the memo is never mandatory. it's advisory. it's

was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison goes all the way down to 40 months for stone, 3 years nor michael cohen. papadopoulos 40 days. if the sentence seem relatively light, in this case far less than the 7 to 9 years, on the other hand i wonder if any average black or brown kid sentenced as a non-violent drug offender could get even a seven and a half year sentence? that leniency is for the rich and well connected. >> the criminal defense bar across the country i imagine are going to be filing motions in just those cases of young people swept up in the criminal justice system and asking the court to ask d.o.j. is the barr sentencing recommendation for a sentence that is far less than the sentencing guidelines that barr personally authorized in the roger stone case, is that department-wide policy? is there a new leniency policy in the department of justice? i hope that the answer to that is yes, for two reasons. one, we should have more lenient sentences in this country, and second it would mean that at least the stone memo represents equal justice for all. but if those d.o.j. lawyers answer no