repaid michael cohen $130,000 after cohen paid out whatever it is he paid out to stormy daniels, isively straightforward. i think the notion of michael cohen's testimony as a witness however is where the d.a. may have some problems. and that's why you hear about the new witness from the enquirer potentially being the linchpin in someone put before the grand jury after having spoken to bragg's office with additional information. i think that's important to understand. michael cohen, as someone who has been to jail, as someone woo was fired from the trump organization, is going to be painted as a witness with credibility issues and an ax to grind. whatever it is trump's story is going to be about the $130,000 that he paid to michael cohen and its purpose is going to have to be validated somewhere other than michael cohen's testimony, so that's where the importance of the witness from the enquirer comes into play. yes, the paper trail is clear, but you still need credible witnesses to substantiate what it is in the paper trail. >> and just to be clear, the amount he reimbursed him was

>> no. >> then why did michael cohen make it if there was no -- >> you would have to ask michael cohen>> trump's former personal attorney michael cohen joins me now. he is the author of the book, "revenge." you can buy it now and he is here to discuss what is going on. thank you very much. i really appreciate you joining us. i want to get your reaction to this. >> it's expected. donald cannot keep track of the lies that he tells, so what better way to stop a fool from being deposed and hurting himself further than telling him to plead the fifth at least 400 times. >> so, listen, this new -- i shouldn't say new investigation, but would you call it a revamped investigation now? how would you describe it? >> let's say, reinvigorated. >> so let's say, your role in the stormy daniels payments, right, you call it the hush money payment. remind our viewers what your role was. >> i was contacted by david pecker in regard to stormy daniels. she then -- and that goes back into early, the 2011 period. but then again, right before the election. i was then asked by donald to handle it with allen we

joining me now this morning, is michael cohen. or of the recent bestselling book, revenge, and he's also the host of two podcast, mea culpa, and the newest one, political beat down. michael, those two titles alone, plus your titles of your books alone, you know they're setting the table. but i have to ask you, already, you are scheduled to meet again with alvin bragg in its office this coming tuesday, is the third time now since he took over this case from cy vance. i know you can't give a lot, but can you give us some sense of what it -- what it entails when you sit down with his office. and why are so confident now that the manhattan da office will finally bring a case against donald trump? >> well again, they're bringing me in for the 16th time, three times as you rightfully stated with alvin bragg's team. at the end of the day, they're not bringing me in because there is nothing to talk about. or because they enjoy my company. they are bringing me in because we are going through loads and loads of data. i mean they have a lot o

michael cohen went on to say he believes this should lead to an indictment.rk on the team that was on the program yesterday. the da is ready do what needs to be done. >> what do you see here? >> i don't know if that's the case. i wonder about the political implications if there were to be an indictment pertaining to the stormy daniels case. you about the time such an indictment is brought, it will be seven or eight years after the facts. i guess the whied in totalling the statute of limitations is you can't indict a sitting president and, therefore, the statute of limitations is told during that time period. i don't think that is a slam dunk. i think there is a legitimate legal issue to be explored. i wonder the political impact if this is the only indictment. as you know, there are looking at this. you have the mar-a-lago documents. you have the fulton county investigation. if in the end it's only the stormy daniel case that leads to an indictment, i don't think it harms him politically at all. >> that could be taken down potentially to a misdemeanor. >> the

it's the second such meeting between the da's office and michael cohen since the grand jury was convened

s office is where we begin the hour with michael cohen.a and also the author of the book "revenge." also joining us is investigative report, msnbc contributor. she's covered the finance and tax patterns of trump for many years. barbara mcquade is also here, an msnbc legal analyst who we also always turn to understand this. tell me what happened today. >> oh, i arrived first thing in the morning again requested by the district attorney -- >> and this is a meeting set after your last visit. >> that's correct. and i will sort of do the same thing again this time. i will be going back again for the 17th time next week. >> when you come out and talk, if you're the public facing piece of the iceberg, where do you draw the line in terms of what we don't know underneath? >> well, i think there's a lot that you don't know. a lot of the information you've read about, you've heard about over the course of how many years that donald has been entangled in all of these various investigations. but what the d.a. is currently doing is they are -- they're r

michael cohen and mr.written settlement between david dennison and peggy peterson. who is that? >> dave dennison was the pseudonym for donald trump and peggy peterson was stormy daniels. >> okay. in exchange for payment of $130,000 for a company called essential consultants. that would release her claims against dennison and agree not to disclose her claims to anyone. o anyone >> now, seems like rudy googled the federal finance laws that night after cocktails and before leave tv, and is trying to carve out where the money came from. but that's no really the point, right? the federal -- and i know this wasn't -- the federal -- that is a violation of -- >> violation of federal campaign finance laws. paying hush money is not a crime under fed rar or state law. so the crime we were looking at, as a state prosecutor, has no jurisdiction to bring federal election law violations. the state crime we were looking at had to do with the falsification of business records relating to the hush money. when michael cohen

michael cohen wrote about them in his book. he testified about them, stormy daniels wrote a book. stormy daniels appeared on michael cohen's podcast to talk about it and the federal prosecutors brought their own prosecution based on those facts, so i'm not letting any cats out of the bag, if you will. those cats have been running all over the place literally for years. >> but the reasoning about whether or not to bring charges based on those facts, is that potentially helpful to any defense counsel? >> i don't think so. the legal issue that i've notedi in the book is an issue that appears on the face of the statute. it's already been written about, was britain about before my book has come out. on the financial statement side of the coin, we don't know -- i certainly don't know what investigation is taking place, if any. i don't know whether charges will ultimately be brought. what i do know is that the evidence underlying the charges we intended to bring is all out there in the public record in the civil case that the attorney general in the state of new york letitia james brough

think -- of all of the things in trump's orbit that have ended up in prison -- allen weisselberg, michael cohenople like michael flynn who lied to the fbi -- people who have worked to him, roger stone, paul manafort -- there is this frustration that it is always the people around him that take the fall for him. and i think that is -- >> here is what i think. i agree with all of that. and many of us don't think donald trump has escaped accountability throughout this. but i think what is happening in the end. i don't know if donald trump will ever end up in an orange jumpsuit. i hope he does. because i think he's guilty of so many different things. but the worst thing is that -- it's happening to donald trump. he is branded a loser. and people are starting to abandon him in what he thinks is his party. and so, does he belong in jail? i hope a court can finally determine that in the course of this. but in my mind, trump is already getting branded the worst thing possible for donald trump, which is a loser. >> matthew and cynthia, thank you so much. i really appreciate. it coming up, congresswoman

book, and the publicly available information from the federal prosecution of michael cohen.. item two -- >> let me stop you there, though. >> yeah. >> in fairness, you know what was in that grand jury testimony, though, so you know what -- you can't unknow that information, so even though you're using the public record, what you choose to excerpt is -- is it not influenced by what took place in the grand jury? >> everything that went into the book with regard to the stormy daniels investigation, the financial statements investigation, was in the public domain, and, if there was a detail that wasn't, as soon as there's an indictment, if there is an indictment -- we don't know whether or not there will be a prosecution -- if there is a prosecution, on day one, under new york's discovery law, which is among the most liberal in the united states, the defendant, in this case donald trump, will get everything that the d.a. has way of witness statements, documents, facts, and so on. so there's nothing -- >> in theory, anything in this book, what you're saying is he's going to get d

it's the second such meeting between the da's office and michael cohen since the grand jury was convened. cohen is also the only person to have ever faced charges in connection to the payments to daniels, even though trumps was implicated in the case by the federal government. back in 2018 in a sentencing memo for michael cohen, federal prosecutors said that trump, quote, acted in coordination with and at the direction of individual one. individual win is none other than the ex-president himself. the meeting today is also taking place at a time when discussions of the criminal culpability is being royaled by allegations of the veteran prosecutor mark pom rans who said the question of criminal culpability over hush money payments is one of many significant unanswered questions about the multiple state, local and federal investigations into the ex-president. watch that. >> i am myself at a loss to understand what happened at the conclusion of the hush money investigation or for that matter why there was no federal investigation of trump's business finances, husband tax returns, his financi

and it's falsified business records relating to the reimbursement that is paid to michael cohen, for the hush money that was paid. >> so cohen paid out the hush money, he was paid back by the trump organization, and i came up with all sorts of false ways to describe what that payment -- describe an account for that payment in their books. >> that's right, the repayment cohen was disguised as the payment for legal services rendered on a monthly basis, pursuant to a retainer agreement. except there was no retainer agreement, there were no legal services rendered, and he's just been repaid for the money that had been paid on donald trump's behalf, to stormy daniels, and some other money as well. so, in order to disguise the manner, the mechanism for the repayment. false business records were created, and that was the crime what we are looking at. >> in technical terms, you described, it there's a problem with that. because unless those false business records were created to conceal another crime, that would just be a misdemeanor, it's sort of wouldn't be worth bringing against trump, in

the reality, how powerful people get away with it. >> if you look at michael cohen's case, the simplenly person who's ever been held meaningfully accountable in a criminal context is this guy, who is essentially a bagman, a pass through for the checks. is indefensible and outrageous, and in that book, i have reporting from really the flipside of michael's book. michael tells what it was like to be prosecuted for the hush money payments. i have the story of what was happening in my former office, the southern district of new york when they prosecuted michael. there's this interesting moment when it comes to january 2021. trump is leaving office and the southern district of new york has to decide, what do we do? now we can indict him. michael has already been in jail. we know what they decided. they said no. the reasons i think are going to be disturbing to some people. the reasons were not directly related to the evidence. the team felt they did have evidence of trump's involvement. michael said it. i mean, the southern district of new york did not fully credit michael. he disagrees wi

michael cohen turns over his phone. he has his own history now you're bringing in the bookkeeper, the guy who knows where the money goes. what's the significance? >> the manhattan d.a., a state-level prosecutor is essentially recreating the investigation that the feds, my former office, did three years ago which i get into in this book. as to the people you mentioned, michael cohen, the southern district of new york, the justice department did not find michael cohen credible. they put that in the sentencing memo. they said while he gave us some information, he was not fully forthcoming. they rejected him. is the d.a. going to look at him years later and reach a different conclusion? could there be -- i spoke to several people involved with mcconnie at doj. they were mixed reviews of jeffrey mcconnie. some people felt he was more or less truthful. a very important person, essentially the number two financial person. but others at the south even district of new york had real questions about whether he was being fully trut

time to time opinion columnist ellzey -- and former assistant special prosecutor nick akerman and michael cohen, donald trump's former fixer. guys, great to have you here. oh, i have to talk about your book, michael. you're also the author of revenge, how donald trump weaponize the u.s. department of justice against his critics. he's also the host of the podcast mea culpa. okay, we're pasture accomplishments, michael. now we can get to the segment. so lying to the grand jury. that sounds serious. >> it's absolutely serious. >> so now what? >> i think is gonna be an indictment coming out fairly shortly. >> i think you're going to see donald trump indicted. you're going to see a number of other people indicted that are involved in this whole plot in georgia. >> really? you think donald trump is going to be indicted? what clued into having? they're >> looking at the judge's opinion that came out, at least his first one, he talked about the fact that he wasn't going to release it because of due process problems. a number of these defendants are people who were in this report, didn't have, they had

this morning, michael cohen met with the manhattan district attorney again who asked michael about that5th meeting with the office. he told reporters he sat for two hours of questioning. at a briefing yesterday, d.a. alvin bragg didn't say much about the case but he did have a lot to say about the release of an unauthorized book from one of his former prosecutors, mark pomerantz, "the people versus donald trump," saying he had the evidence in the case, but he stalled. >> i bring hard cases when they are ready and came to the same conclusion that multiple senior prosecutors in my office independently came to and that's that the case simply was not ready. >> joining me is investigations correspondent, tom winter. what do we know about what mark pomeranz is alleging and why alvin bragg say it just wasn't enough. >> a significant portion of this book is about the findings of the investigation, and some of the things he says they uncovered. when he addressed in his resignation letter and what he's talked about in his book and several interviews including msnbc about what he thought was a cas

this week, you had michael cohen meeting this week. meet with them for about the 16-time about trump's payout. here's how cohen responded to concerns about his credibility. take a listen. >> what was the michael cohen big lie? the big lie was the number of times that i alleged to have spoken to donald about the failed trump tower moscow project. i stated three. when the true answer was ten. donald wanted it to be at the minimum number. so, i changed it from 10 to 3. if that's the big lie that's going to impeach my credibility, good luck to council. >> putting aside speaking about oneself in the third person, would you put trump's foreign fixture on the stand? >> i absolutely would. keep in mind, i have been adored earnest crime prosecutor and prosecutor watergate where the witnesses are always going to be codefendants, coconspirators. if you don't have that, it's not like a bank robbery, where you might have someone who happens to be making a deposit at the bank witness a robbery and can testify i saw the defendant. you are going to ha

hence the offer. >> but michael, what about the fact that we have michael cohen with tapes of donaldeisselberg in person, in trump's office, talking about making these payments to stormy daniels. you don't think that would be enough? there is that old saying that you and i are very familiar with us all former prosecutors, that a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich. >> right, and it might if you had the wrong prosecutor presenting the evidence. but if you have a witness like colin, who has pled guilty to perjury essentially, and you have documents that are not all that clear on their face, then in my view, as a prosecutor, i'd want someone who's a more substantial witness, one who's really non easily impeached on cross examination. and that's weisselberg, so i'm gonna do everything i can to try and get weisselberg, he's yet to cooperate, except as to the organization. now the dispensed on time and rikers island, and with the prospect that he may spend more time there, he may be more vulnerable to the pressure of the campaign. >> and michael, what about people who are critical about

they indicted michael cohen for this. to this date he's the only person who has been charged.nald trump or anyone else never be held accountable? what i found is that the feds considered charging donald trump. they thought they had the evidence but they were frayed for political reasons as prudential concerns. so i think it is an example of where you have this result that is not complete justice where michael cohen goes to jail. donald trump slips through completely untouched. and i give the reasons why in the book. >> it sounds as though the old expression, no one is above the law, is not true, based on what you were describing in your book at times. maybe that's too much of an overstatement. feel free to correct me. but much of your book focuses on trump and you know that trump was protected by the justice department policy that said a sitting president cannot be indicted even though there was substantial evidence against him for campaign finance violations. you write, it simply doesn't feel american to slap handcuffs on a president. but what about, no one is supposed to be

>>> new this morning michael cohen trump's former lawyer and fixer tells cnn he has handed over cellprosecutors, this part of their ongoing probe into the trump organization's involvement in hush money to adult film star stormy daniels. >> kara scannell joins us now. we know that a grand jury has been convened to go over a case similar to this. what do we know specifically here in new york? >> we remember this investigation began in 2019, started with the hush money payments, the financial statements and the focus has returned to the hush money payments. michael cohen went in and met with prosecutors two weeks ago, as he said, they asked for his phone and he said it in the interview this morning they wanted the recordings that he had on his phone with stormy daniels' attorney keith davidson. he is someone that the prosecutors have reached out to as someone that they want to talk to again. this week david pecker the former publisher of the "national enquirer" were involved in these catch and kill deals, he was talking to prosecutors. we know from sources that the grand jury will hear

and so i would not say that having only michael cohen would stop me, i would agree with barbara i wouldadditional, allen weisselberg has always been the most likely person with the most knowledge, i before he was convicted of tax fraud, he had a clean record. now he's not in that much better shape than michael cohen perjury, tax fraud, both make you on reliable. but he does have the documents. he has the inside scoop. so he would be a great witness to this particular crime. >> he certainly has a lot of information, i want to stick with you, because we also saw an informal adviser to former president, trump in a conservative activist, call tom fenton. he was seen walking into the federal d.c. courthouse, the same courthouse that housing the grand jury is overseeing the special counsels, that are -- jack smith, i wonder what you make of the fact that this person wasn't informal possible is not walking into this courthouse where we know a lot of stuff is going down. >> it certainly looks like he was probably testifying, the same day we saw someone from jack smith steam entering the courtho

>> what was the michael cohen big lie?f times that i alleged to have spoken to donald about the failed trump tower moscow project. i stated three. the true answer was ten, and mcdonald wanted it to be this number, and so i changed it from 10 to 3. if that's the big lie going to impeach the credibility good luck to the defense council -- putting aside, do you put his former fixture on the stand? >> i absolutely would. i've been an organized crime prosecutor, where the witnesses are always going to be codefendants, coconspirators. if you don't have them, it's not like a bank robbery. you might have somebody who happens to me making a deposit at the bank, witnessing a robbery and you saw the defendant. you have to have people cooperate in the conduct of the crime. you are used to that. honestly, michael cohen's slide, not only a minimalist, comparing multiple lies by the defendant who would be challenging him, but he was somebody that, rightfully stormy daniels seems more credible to me than don trump. when you're in that sit

and two weeks ago, michael cohen, the man at the center of this, met again with prosecutors.r the current district attorney alvin bragg, a real sign that this is picking up. >> kara, thank you so much. let's talk about trump's legal problems. he has a brand new book out this week called "untouchable: how powerful people get away with it." congratulations on the book, i know the last one was a best seller. wishing nothing but the best for this one. what do you make of the manhattan d.a. taking up this alleged hush money scheme again after it looked like they had dropped it, now they're bringing it up. do you think this will go anywhere? and is this trump executive a credible wit snns. >> so, what's remarkable to me, jake, is that two years ago right now, the federal prosecutors across the street, my former office, the southern district of new york, was considering this same question. donald trump was getting ready to leave the presidency and they were considering, do we now charge him on this hush money scheme? i have the reporting in this book of exactly what happened behind

a and the main character michael cohen is individual number one. he is described as an unindicted co-conspirator. so new york looked a the hush money already. why do you think sdny didn't do anything? >> that's hard to say. i've seen some reporting that sdny, that at some point in time they sat down and looked am some potential charges and recognized yes, when it came to trump, this sat the end of the trump's administration, that will there were potential charges there, but they seemed almost de minimis. their jump, their idea was if they were to bring these charges, it would be sort of so small that faced with the gravity of charging a former president of the united states, that in their opinion, they didn't think they should do it. so i think there is a sense of, one, it's hard to do. there is a sense whichever prosecutorial team you talk to understanding that if you're going to be the first person to charge a former president of the united states, you best do it well, and you best do it right. and i think that leads to a little bit more con temp

it had to be intentional, which is what michael cohen told us.at financial documents provide to a man and how he has conducted himself are undeniable, right? >> absolutely. and this is where we do have the benefit of the very, very detailed civil complaint that was brought by the new york attorney general that is letitia james. that's a civil case, not a criminal case. but that lays out in detail, nicole, exactly what you are talking about, which is these wildly inflated valuations over and over again, including donald trump's own home where he, you know, says it's over 30,000 square feet when it's actually over -- it's under 11,000 square feet. and the valuation is over $300 million. when he becomes president and people are looking at what he is saying, he slashes that valuations by hundreds of millions of dollars. so there is just this pattern of inflating assets when you are trying to get loans from banks, but deflating all of that when you're trying to figure out how to pay less taxes. so that's sort of repeated scheme a something that appare

number two michael cohen, trump's lawyer and former fixer.hen, he has a perjury conviction and sort of for lack of a better term dirty witness, and he would get beaten up. what you have in the stormy daniels case, a number of checks, hush payments, i believe with the former president himself. you have evidence tying him to the actual crime that might have been more complicated in a vast real estate valuation scheme, but it's hard to know if none of us have seen sort of the case by all these prosecutors have. it's hard to know exactly why one case is -- seems to be moving forward and one isn't. >> it's a fascinating dispute playing out in public, not typical to see something like that happen. elliott williams, thank you. >>> still to come, ukraine soldiers start to train on german made leopard tanks and cnn gets a close up look at ha those weapons can do. that's next. right? uhuhh...nope. intuit quickbooks helps you manage your payroll taxes, cheers! with 100% accurate tatax calculations guaranteed. so it's decided, we'll park even deeper into

you can go back to the michael cohen paying stormy daniels for trump and yet it is michael cohen who goes to prison. so i think when you look at cases like that, i think that is the reason for some skepticism that some folks might have that even fani willis or even a jack smith may not go there with trump himself. >> joy, i would double down on that and say in the case of matt gaetz, where we're also talking about is the politicization of justice. we know about the two-tiered justice system in america, and you alluded to that, but when you're talking about matt gaetz, particularly in the decision by the doj whether to charge him, you have to consider also the politically charged environment in which matt gaetz is almost part of a nucleus or at least one of the protons sort of circulating in that nucleus around that atom. what i mean by that is we have seen and heard the rhetoric around the weaponization of the doj, and so i think merrick garland, even though he is a prosecution, even though he is the attorney general, is mindful of how that can look. so when you're talking about thes

the federal government brought the case against michael cohen.he information was out there for everyone to see. and my discussing it in the book and expressing my views and my conclusions does not get in the way of any case that might be brought. >> we said at the top, it's a totally riveting read. we learn a lot. we didn't know. about what happened inside. so thank you very much. >> thank you. thank you very much for having me. >> former president to the current president biden making the pitch for police reform. revealing a conversation he had with the mother of tyre nichols, the man brutally killed by the memphis police. >> she said her son was, quote, a beautiful soul and something good will come of this. it's up to us, all of us. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it's designed to help make aches and pains a thing of the past. by relieving pressure points and supporting your body in a way no other mattress can. for a limited time, save up to $500 on select tempur-pedic adjustable mattress sets. - custom ink helps us celebrate and drive our students' achievements wit

the issue has banned whether michael cohen was a credible witness, because he committed perjury.ar crimes, the only way you can prove, it's unlike a bank robbery where you could be innocent victim who just happens to see the robbery, in these kinds of cases it takes a coconspirator to testify against you. so having someone who is guilty of either perjury or, in the case of weisselberg, talks fraud is what you are going to get us where this is against the person. i think the evidence is strong and credible. it is hard to believe that stormy daniels seems more credible than donald trump. but that is how it appears, to me. >> speaking of the issue of credibility, what do you make of pomerantz writing this book, now? and, also what do you make of the timing of its release? >> somebody came up through the justice department, as i. did writing a book about a pending investigation was really poor form. i think it threatens to undermine the case itself. when you reveal what is going on behind the, scenes and even some of the evidence. it can make it difficult for prosecutors to bring tha

. >> we learned today that the former attorney for donald trump, michael cohen, a man who went to jailsecute. >> what i learned that's so interesting is that prosecutors there, federal prosecutors considered whether they should charge donald trump criminally for the hush money scheme and ultimately decided not to. but the main reason wasn't because of the evidence. they actually believe they had sufficient evidence. they were weary of some of the political factors that would come with an indictment of donald trump. they also believe that because donald trump had done so many other things since the hush money payments including january 6th, they ultimately decided not to charge it. and it's fascinating to me that now in 2023 the manhattan d.a. is looking at the exact same evidence including talking to michael cohen who, the southern district decided they did not want to bank a case on him. >> let's talk for a second about your brand-new book entitled "untouchable." >> i was a prosecutor for a long time. i think people are fascinated with the criminal justice system. and thinking back to

i talked to michael cohen, his former attorney. you mentioned him at the top, who said, donald will just use this for his fund raising drift, he'll use it and weaponize it to his advantage, but i don't know who to believe, but there are a lot of republican officials who are afraid that an indictment will actually be the salvation in the republican primary. >> sara, what do you think? >> yeah, i think the problem with this is that it creates this rally around trump effect, where voters start to observe -- observe his grievance, and attack on trump's an attack on them. so they come to his defense, and it lasts him to do some of his biggest hits which are deep state, corruption then it puts him back -- right now, one of the thing that desantis has as an edge as an outsider, where trump is becoming maga establishment. when he's being persecuted by the enemies of the entire republican party, that puts him back in sort of the fighting position. it's weird to say, but it is the sort of funny position that he likes because it makes and bri

nbc news has confirmed that the grand jury has been convened for this but former trump lawyer michael cohennt to federal prison for his role in the hush money payments, is now playing witness in this latest case >> seth: wait, they're investigating the stormy daniels case again man, they really are bringing back storylines from 2016. if they arrest trump, i hope the fbi agent who puts him in cuffs rips off his mask and says, "hello, donald, it's me. jeb. [ laughter ] it's too bad you're handcuffed, or i'd tell you to - >> please clap [ laughter ] >> seth: "did someone say 'please clap'? [ laughter ] well, you know, i think that's the last time we're going to use the clip of mike pence running and clapping unless -- would it be fun to see what it would look like if the tarmac lights were hooked up to a clapper? [ light laughter ] i think it was a little bit of fun. lhloh now you might be asking, why are manhattan prosecutors diving back into the stormy daniels case now? well, for one thing, it was always very weird that the only guy who did any jail time was trump's ex-fixer michael cohen, e

those illegal payoffs were enough to get donald trump's former lawyer, michael cohen's death sentencel prosecutor said that his crimes were committed, quote, at the direction of donald trump. joining us now is andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel. former chief of the criminal division in the eastern district of new york. he is the professor of practice at nyu law school, and an msnbc legal analyst. andrew, as we sit here tonight, which of the cases, criminal investigations of donald trump seem most likely to lead to donald trump being the criminal defendant trump. >> lawrence, the question is remarkable. it's worth stepping back. this is a former president of the united states, and you're saying which of the many criminal investigations is most likely to lead to the prosecution of a former president of the united states. that's worth taking a moment just two realize the breathtaking nature of that inquiry. unfortunately, the answer is quite a few. the caveat is, we actually don't know everything that the prosecutors know. we're making educated guesses. we've got quite a bit of

because he was named in the indictment of michael cohen, as the person number one.t of person number one. and that was clearly him. so i think that it is just sort of cleaning up the statute of limitations on that is more than likely to run quickly and so it will get more attention now, because of the statute of limitations. it should not in any way interfere with all the other things that are going on. >> it is really amazing, the multiple avenues leading to accountability here. speaking of that, former vice president pence is still resisting the special counsel subpoena. i want you to take a listen at what he told nbc about january 6th. >> president trump was wrong. i have said, and i have written repeatedly that i thought his words that they were reckless, and endangered my family and people who were at the capitol. but i am not convinced that taking got advice from lawyers is a crime. >> talk to me about the political calculation he is making here. >> i think that mike pence, like a lot of these republican candidates in this new gop 2024 field have decided it so

the key witness in that case, the one telling us publicly he's ready to testify is michael cohen. he entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to three years for criminal activity including the payment of hush money to stormy daniels and so he no doubt would be a key witness in this case. if you're a prosecutor, you don't want to build your entire case around michael cohen because he's a convicted perjurer. it's also good to corroborate with live testimony. allen weisselberg likely has that information. i can understand why prosecutors might want to explore his cooperation. >> you would imagine they put quite a bit of pressure on him in the fraud trial for -- against the trump organization. how much more pressure can they put on him realistically to get him to say something different? he's already said he has no information against donald trump. >> yeah, i don't know. it may be that this does not come up as a fruitful exercise as you said in the prior case, the tax case against the trump organization and allen weisselberg himself, he did agree to provide information and testify agai

consider the case off michael cohen the president's former lawyer and confidant for many years. august 2018 he pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations over large hush money payments he arranged for the 2016 election to keep pouring start stormy daniels and to talk about sexual affairs have donald trump you guys member this one. after barb became attorney general february 2019 he worked to kill further investigations related to those payoffs. and suggested mr. cohen's conviction on campaign finance charges itself be reversed. even though six months had passed since cohen entered a guilty plea. amazingly, after cohen was in t prison for a year and then being transferred out of prison to home confinement during covid-19. they intervened to block his transfer because cohen would not admit it except the condition of his ankle bracelet home confinement not to engage in first amendment activities. specifically writing and publishing a book about donald trump. or saying anything in public on tv or social media about donald trump. cohen had already been home for two weeks and's unc

in the run-up to the 2016 election, the former president's lawyer, michael cohen, paid stormy danielssh agreement to not discuss their alleged affair. affair, really? isn't "affair" kind of a fancy word for a three-minute spank n' boink? it's kind of like calling a meth lab, "maison du crank." then, the former president, who was a candidate for federal office, recorded the payment as "legal fees." that is, to use technical legal jargon, illegal. in new york, it's called fraud, so if the jury indicts, he could face up to four years in prison. (cheering and applause) >> stephen: i never thought i would say this about that man but -- four more years! four more years! four more years! (applause) >> stephen: the former president is on the defense, truthing last night, "the radical-left manhattan d.a. just leaked that they are still going after the stormy 'horseface' daniels bull. they long ago missed the statute of limitations. never had an affair! this is old news!" that's a bit of a scattershot defense. "i'm innocent! plus, i committed that crime years ago, it didn't happen, and you'll n

pecker was in the middle of what the former president's former lawyer michael cohen says was a 2016 scheme to pay daniels $130,000 to stop her from going public about the alleged affair. cohen providing an alleged reir reimbursement from trump. sgle th >> he thought he escaped prosecution and now they are deciding whether to charge him. >> reporter: and donald trump has denied involvement in any payments to stormy daniels and denied ever having an affair with her. a spokesperson declined to comment on the new acceleration of the daniels case and an attorney for david pecker also would not comment. brian todd, cnn, washington. >>> now to the latest in the show of support for palestinians. secretary of state antony blinken met with mahmoud abbas on tuesday calling for an end to the recent violence. he also reaffirmed u.s. support for a two state solution to the israeli/palestinian conflict. and benjamin netanyahu says that he plans to prioritize peace with israel's arab neighbors before pursuing talks with the palestinians. he spoke with cnn's jake tapper. and we also asked will imabout t hi

will bragg put michael cohen before a grand jury, and when? that's an open question. be right back. ♪ breeze driftin' on... ♪ [coughing] ♪ ...by, you know how i feel. ♪ if you're tired of staring down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, ♪ ♪ it's a new day... ♪ ...stop settling. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy makes breathing easier for a full 24 hours, improves lung function, and helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand, and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy, and save at trelegy.co

and it seems they already have other witnesses in the form of michael cohen, the controller of the trump organization. maybe they cane do it without him, but i suppose it's worth exploegserring to determine whether allen weisselberg has information that could be valuable in that investigation. >> allen weisselberg 74 years old on rikers island as we speak. thanks for your time tonight. we have lots to get to this evening including the truly unbelievable first days of the republican led 118th congress and how democrats should conduct themselves for the next two years at least. >>> speaking of which house republicans voted today to strip congresswoman ilhan omar of a house committee seat decrying anti-semitism while totally ignoring the same problematic language and behavior from members of their own party. that is next. their own party that is next if you have diabetes, then getting on the dexcom g6 is the single most important thing you can do. it eliminates painful fingersticks, helps lower a1c, and it's covered by medicare. before dexcom g6, i was frustrated. all of that finger-prickin

the trump administration, you know, you listen to michael cohen's testimony really does seem like an organized crimes syndicate. the more information we have, the election fraud piece of this seems much more complicated to prove in terms of rico charges. and how much of an uphill climb would this be for someone like faunae willis if it was too much for alan bragg and his d.a.s? >> it is complicated. can you help a jury under this kind of case because it does have a lot of moving parts, but there are ways to explain it to a jury, and i think that it doesn't necessarily require additional man power from the prosecutors. it does require a level of complexity and understanding these things, so i'm not sure i fully credit mark pomrantz assessment there. i think thore capable and faunae willis is capable of bringing this case as she's shown in other cases. but it's the perfect tool in a case maybe what she has here where you've got somebody who's calling the shots but allowing other people to be engaged on the ground so you can bring in all of those things and allow the jury to hear the fu