but he's talking about conversations that he had with michael cohen soon after cohen was, his officeion is that cohen had enlisted costello because costello had a good relationship with rudy giuliani. and michael cohen wanted a pardon from donald trump, and was toeing the line, the trump line as a good soldier that he was at the time to try to get that pardon. one that did not happen, obviously, michael cohen came clean. and admitted that, in fact, that donald trump had instructed him to pay the hush money to stormy daniels. and if there was any doubt about that, there's a recording. so, you know, this is not, this doesn't really seem to impact the case one way or another. because these conversations between cohen and costello happened well before michael cohen pleaded guilty to this charge and admitted, ultimately, what happened. >> so, let me get the straight. he -- he said this, what we did some say, was outside the grand jury on monday. and he mentions a conversation with dan goldman, who's now a congressman. and you're telling us that the conversation he mentioned had absolutely

s office that i had a lot of information on michael cohen, none of which was good for michael cohen. i saw him on tv making statements that donald trump directed this and donald trump directed that. that statement that you put up on the screen earlier and read from, from february of 2018, that is very similar to what michael cohen told myself and my law partner. it's not just one onone with me. it's two-on-one and we took notes. that statement from february of 2018 that you just read is very, very similar. except for the fact that in april of 2018 when we met with him, he was suicidal. the mine was beside himself. his apartment and his law office had been searched pursuant to a warrant by the fbi. he said to us that his world is over. his family life is destroyed, his business life is destroyed. he was absolutely destroyed. he looked like he hadn't slept in a couple days. then he told us, by the way, i was up on the roof, the weekend before, which i think was one or two days before, seriously considering jumping off the roof. when i heard that, i didn't know whether he was being a dr

thank you very much we do want to bring in michael cohen. michael. thank you so much for being here with us. don and i obviously have a lot of questions for you. as do the american people have you back together? we appreciate you joining us. what a day. it is for you today. and so this took a lot of people by surprise, including the amount of charges against former president so this is expected to be a 34 count indictment. 34 felony charges. do you understand why so many? yes i understand. i can't go in and i can't discuss it. however 34 is a pretty significant number. it certainly goes well past the stormy daniels. hush money payments are some of these because you received multiple payments again. i can't go into any of the specifics of this case. it's just not right to due to the prosecutors. this is their case, one of the things that i continues to say is that at the end of the day, there is a presumption of innocence. since and you know we do have to respect the due process clause and this case will ultimately be known to all of us. we will have

thank you very much we do want to bring in michael cohen. michael thank you so much for being here with us. don and i obviously have a lot of questions for you, as do the american people to of you back together. we appreciate you joining us. what a day it is for you today. and so this took a lot of people by surprise, including the amount of charges against former president so this is expected to be a 34 count indictment. 34 felony charges. do you understand why so many? yes i understand. i can't go in and i can't discuss it. however 34 is a pretty significant number. it certainly goes well past the stormy daniels. hush money payments are some of these because you received multiple payments again. i can't go into any of the specifics of this case. it's just not right to due to the prosecutors. this is their case, one of the things that i continues to say is that at the end of the day, there is a since and you know, we do have to respect the do was and this case will ultimately be known to all of us. we will have the entire set of documents be

ask your doctor about jardiance. >> -- robert costello claims he met with michael cohen when michael shopping for a criminal defense attorney to represent him in the stormy daniels case. and michael cohen told him that he paid off stormy daniels on his own without involving donald trump. here is attorney robert costello after he testified to the manhattan grand jury monday, claiming he contradicted michael cohen's testimony to that grandeur. >> and i listen to michael cohen standard from the courthouse and say things that are directly contrary to what he said to us. my obligation is to bring the truth to both the district attorney and to trump's lawyers. that's exactly what i did. i sent of all of this material that i talked about before. i have 330 emails in chronological order. i have a memo of a contemporaneous memo of the first meeting at the regency hotel. i have a memo of the two hour meeting i had to assistant united states attorneys and two fbi agents in april of 2019. but i have a memo of a meeting that i had in may of 2019, with the house intelligence committee. through thei

coming up in the next hour breaking news, former trum fixer michael cohen announcing on msnbc he willa witness i addition to him that is forcin cohen back into court. on everything with just one card. chase freedom unlimited. so, if you're off the racking... ...or crab cracking, you're cashbacking. cashback on flapjacks, baby backs, or tacos at the taco shack. nah, i'm working on my six pack. switch to a king suite- or book a silent retreat. silent retreat? hold up - yeeerp? i can't talk right now, i'm at a silent retreat. cashback on everything you buy with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. y'all wayfair's got just what you need for your home. how do you cashback? do they have stylish beds at great prices? whoo, this bed is dreamy. you're kelly clarkson? yes. and you're in our bed? yes. what about five star dining sets? sorry i didn't have a reservation. you're kelly clarkson. i love your work. thank you. find just what you need at wayfair! even a personal sauna. oh! can we do the wayfair song? yes you can. wayfair! ♪ w

>> because whatever it is that costello offers, if they want to present michael cohen's testimony to clarify, to set the record straight, to, in essence, rebut or meet any accusations that costello may make to the grand jury about cohen's credibility or conduct, i would do the same thing. chris, the grand jury investigation is a prosecutor's blueprint for trial. i want every witness that i can get a subpoena on to come in, to lay out their testimony so that i now know what my trial presentation would look like. i would do the same thing. i would have michael cohen on standby to rebut anything that costello tells the grand jury. >> take us inside the room. a grand jury isn't necessarily the same as a jury would be at trial. what extent are prosecutors watching the jury reaction, how much attention they pay to certain parts of the case, and ultimately is alvin bragg making this decision or is it the grand jury? >> that's a great question. technically it is the grand jury's decision. we've all heard the phrase that a prosecutor can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if he or she w

castella says that he met with michael cohen in 2018 after michael cohen's home and office was subject to a search warrant by the fbi, when michael cohen was shopping for a criminal defense lawyer and that michael cohen was in a legal panic at the time. >>ic a he was really files old, hethee looked like he hadn't slept in four or five days, and he just suddenly stopped in the middle of talking to someone pointed at us and said i want you guys to know, i will do whatever the f it takes, i will never spend one day in jail. he must have said that close to 20 times. this was his mantra, all day long. do you think a guy who has his mindset at that time, i -- shoot somebody, whatever it takes i am not going to jail? we went to jail. and now he is on the revenge tour. understand it, but i don't condone it. and that is why i went in there today to tell these people the truth about who the real michael cohen's, and what he was actually saying at that moment. >> mr. cartel stella said that michael cohen had signed a waiver with attorney client privilege in 2018 that allows him to now testify abo

michael cohen. sure. the zombie case we it at times the zombie case, because it was a theory of prosecution and some potential crimes that were investigated put aside because legal or factual problems reinvestigated. so they were exhumed a and put aside for a variety of reasons, reexamined yet again and it kept returning from the grave so often that we started to it as the zombie theory. what it involved was the concealment of the reimbursement to michael cohen of the hush money that he had paid to stormy daniels. most people who have have followed the trump saga recall that it became public years ago, that michael cohen on, trump's behalf, had paid $130,000 to stormy daniels and her lawyer right before the election in. 2016. and at a time when she was threatening to expose her allegation that she had had an affair with donald trump, that was let's put i don't mean to interrupt. sure, but let's pause. you use the word threat. that's key to understanding your perception, the zombie case, because you b

such a severe crime that i sent a person to jail, michael cohen, who is trump's lawyer when the u.s. justic department sent michael cohe jail, it said that cohen acted not on his own, it's not lik he came up with his plot on hi own. they said that cohen acted a the direction of donald trump. that trump ordered him to do it now, that was what they called a crime. the u.s. justice departmen then, and cohen went to jail for. it that was not the merric garland justice department, it was not the bronco boma justic department, it was the donal trump justice department tha made that filing so every time you hear thi thing about this hush mone thing is political, remember it was trump's own justice department that called this crime back in 2018 >> we will be speaking t michael cohen's lawyer, lonnie davis a little later in th hour and neil, just so you know earlier this evening i spoke t her lawyer stephanie clifford no longer goes by that name, it is onl stormy daniels she was actually horseback riding when the news broke when she went inside her, much like many othe people, trump and his le

witnesses involved in the payment of the hush money, like another crime called karen macdougal, which michael cohen was forced to plead guilty to as a politically motivated payment to keep her quiet. so there's a two crimes that michael played guilty to that donald trump with another witness will be corroborating this, so that's what you don't know. is it substantial volume of these documents of witnesses? is of emails, text messages that corroborate the crime of politically motivated hush money. okay that my colleague john miller is coming up shortly here. he has been reporting since yesterday that it's 34 criminal counts. okay do you know anything about what the charges will be lanny? i don't know what in the number 34 i know that donald trump committed financial fraud by not booking and writing checks as a sitting president. i'm just imagining another sitting president had written checks on his personal checking account while in the oval office. that's a fact to michael cohen and called them legal fees, knowing that they were reimbursements. his own lawyer, rudy giuliani, contradicted trump has

testimonies, a testimony that basically sends michael cohen to jail and calling that credible i think is a weird strategy. , remember cohen goes to jail and he goes to jail for these campaign contributions, effectively that would pay off to miss daniels. and i think the striking thing about that is that when cohen went to jail it was the justice department, the federal justice department that said that cohen was acting at the behest of someone called individual number. one which we now know not to be donald trump. and, so, that is why the testimony today of pecker is probably significant because pecker is the guy in the room with cohen and with the goal effectively with stormy daniels. and, he cannot only place trump as possibly being in that room, which is alluded to by federal justice department, sentencing memo. but also, he may be able to speak to the motive. why was trump paying off miss daniels and we know it's falsification of the records. that's a misdemeanor. the question is, was a felony committed? was he doing it to benefit this campaign? pecker is someone in the, ro

donald trump picked michael cohen as the key witness. donald trump hired michael cohen. used him tactics, and that ultimately is the picture that the jury will see. >> and what he got convicted of was all stuff for donald trump. really quickly, i want to ask you, glenn, about this attempt to quash the georgia investigation. donald trump's folks, they released this brief in which they're trying to claim based on the fifth and 14th amendments that fani willis in georgia should not be able to prosecute him. your thoughts? >> yeah, usually we see a motion to quash when a subpoena has been served and the witness that has been subpoenaed wants to argue the prosecutor doesn't really have a lawful basis to issue the subpoena. so the witness will file or the attorney will file a motion to quash the subpoena. asking the judge to rule that the subpoena is unenforceable. so a motion to quash a grand jury report recommending that certain indictments be handed down doesn't really feel like a procedural thing. i recognize we're in sort of uncharted waters here. but when you look -- i h

we met with michael cohen for the first time at the regency hotel at his request. us that he had contemplated suicide, that he had been up on the roof of the regency hotel the weekend before, seriously considering jumping off because he couldn't face the enormity of the legal problems he knew were coming his way. his office had been searched. his home had been searched by the fbi pursuant to a search warrant. and he was imagining the worst for himself. although at that moment in time he still hadn't been charged with any crimes. so michael cohen in that state of high anxiety, when he said to us numerous times i'm looking for a way out, i need an escape hatch, how do i do this, i need to know what my options are, and his options were as he mentioned, he said do i have a chance for a pardon? do i have a chance for commutation? i'm not sure he understood what that term actually meant. do i have a chance for a cooperation agreement? he said i don't understand why they did this to me because i was already cooperating with the house and with the fbi. of course he forgot t

i think it's clear he needs michael cohen and he's going to rely on michael cohen.i said, john, that's a risky proposition. regardless of whether one may think michael cohen has turned himself around and i believe he has we heard earlier a clip of his lawyer saying this was entirely a personal payment and had nothing to do with contribution. you know who else who said that, michael cohen to the ftc. he'll have to explain why hut he said back then was a lie and why he should be believed. difficult jury to put in front of a witness of 12 average citizens. >> how likely is an indictment here? >> it seems very likely given the stage ware at, given michael cohen seems tuesday be one of the final witnesses and the d.a. has given donald trump now essentially his last chance to go into the grand jury. so i do think it's quite likely bordering uncertain we'll see an indictment soon. but i'll stress this every time i talk about the possibility of an indictment of donald trump, an indictment and conviction are two very important things. >> and one book related question because

michael cohen is he said that donald trump knew what he was paying for and knew that michael cohen, his lawyer, was doing it on his behalf we'll get into the evidence he could be presenting to the jury in a moment. we also have an answer from donald trump's lawyers about whether he, donald trump, will accept his own invitation from da alvin bragg to also sit for the grand jury. >> we have no plans on participating in that proceeding it's a decision that needs to be made still, no deadline has been set so we'll wait and see. >> whether he speaks or not is almost secondary right now, the fact he got the invitation at all signals to some lawyers a decision on charges, a decision on charges, is likely coming so if he is charged, what happens next not just logistically like what are the charges and does he turn himself in but politically. do charges help him or hurt him with gop voters? trump will be in iowa today, are the crowds still showing up to see him? we have a reporter on the ground, and donald trump's opponents are watching closely as well. including former vice president mike pence

stories and thereby prevent them from influencing the election with respect to both payments, michael cohen acted with the intent to influence the 2016 presidential election. cohen coordinated his actions with one or more members of the campaign, including through meetings and phone calls about the fact, nature of the payments in particular, as cohen himself has now admitted, with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of individual one, donald trump the federal government investigated and already found that michael cohen coordinated his actions with one or more members of the campaign, maybe that's kellyanne and hope hicks. but the feds are the ones that created the playbook to prosecuting donald trump for these crimes >> well, i think, you know, i think the feds had to line up with they felt were their best cases, and i think they chose not to elevate this particular case but in terms of corroboration, you know, one of the things that has fallen out of some of the analysis is that there is also a tape michael cohen either turned on his iphone in an of

and michael cohen, michael cohen, michael cohen is that guy. but we've all known for about a long time that if there's a prosecution, the defense will stand on the idea that michael cohen as a liar and a fraudster. and of course, the prosecution will use michael cohen likely do while cooperating with witnesses, and say, okay he may be a criminal, but it takes a criminal to catch a criminal. but beyond michael cohen, this case will be a document case. and it's true there are checks made out to michael cohen, but they are made out to michael cohen, which may bolster trump's argument that in fact it was just doing what his lawyer told him to do and paid his lawyer directly. and joe tacopina is right and that michael cohen did go in and plead guilty, and did testify to the state that the payments were made to save trump and his family harm. and he is right, under federal election law, as long as that one reason is there, he may not even matter that there are additional reasons -- helping the campaign. so, if you had family embarrassment, that trump

michael cohen joins me next. pre michael cohen joins me next. one prilosec otc each morning blocks appreciate you being here, sir. >> always. you being here, sir. >> always. ng heartburn before it starts. one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. when you have chronic kidney disease. there are places you'd like to be. like here. and here. and here. not so much here. if you've been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease farxiga reduces the risk of kidney failure which can lead to dialysis. farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections in women and men, and low blood sugar. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may lead to death. a rare life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. and don't take it if you are on dialysis. put yourself in the driver's seat. make an appointment to ask your doctor for farxiga for chron

and that is what michael cohen to jail.so that's my answer district about okay, but the southern district passed , right. i mean, they said that this was trivial, according to elie honig book and he broke it . they passed on taking that alvin bragg is gonna now prosecute. elie honig is inaccurate. he's making that up. there was no quote. then why didn't the then why didn't the feds why i have to ask this? why didn't the feds prosecute for these same facts? trump because he was an incumbent president. let me repeat that. how about when he got out? how about when he got out? prosecutors never once suggested that they didn't have a case against mr trump. in fact, they declared they had the same case against trump they did against cohen. they said that trump instructed cohen to pay hush money, but they couldn't prosecute that he was incumbent president. in fact, they called him and he he's not. he's not the president. now he's not the president. now. surely they took a look at him when he got out of office. so you're absolutely

joining me now for his first interview since michael cohen completed his grand jury testimony is cohen's attorney, lanny davis. >> nice to see you in person >> a new thing we're kind of in normalish world again. let's go through this. the attacks on your client have been pretty vicious for now. i'm assuming they'll get worse donald trump called him a rat multiple times his lawyer, joe tacopina, attacked him and said he's a fraud, he's a liar, he's a convicted perjurer in trump world and outside of trump world. that's the preview of what we're going to see, but when people say he would have a credibility problem in front of a jury, he would be a liability to the prosecution, they're talking about him pleading guilty to crimes i want to go through what the crimes are it begs the question, what did he plead guilty to he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a federally insured bank causing an unlawful corporate contribution, making an excessive campaign contribution and making false statements to congress let's talk about the tax evasion case he pleaded guilty to it so h

costello as a former legal advisory to cohen is expected to testify about michael cohen and about whyelieves cohen's not credible. that's why the d.a. has cohen essentially in his back pocket able to respond to costello today and defend the testimony that he's already given this grand jury including over five hours just last week. so i think what this tells us is we're very near to the end of this process. trump's attorneys are going to take one last swing at undermining the prosecution's primary witness behind closed doors today, and frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if costello also can repeat some of what he says behind closed doors out in public. if anybody knows about kind of waging your legal battles in public, it's donald trump and his attorneys. that's what we're likely to see play out behind closed doors today and in the court of public opinion as this case continues to move forward. >> vaughn, give us a reminder of what this specific case is all about in the first place. >> right, this all comes down to a payment made to stormy daniels for $130,000 in the weeks before the 201

trump's lawyer michael■cohen bought the story, he caught it andi] killedÑiÑi it. .q&%uuu allegedly paidhead of us, whether this all begins with a porn star who's angry about not getting a cameo onó[■ ñ3[■"appuq can you take me back to what was happening? how this dynamic was ⌝%q■ worked its way over national enquirer between stormy daniels and donald trump.u >> sure, yes, i think it does.a■ stormy daniels is a porn star,Ñ was a Ñiporn star,xd but she aspirations. she appeared in w3mainstream Ñi movies. when donald trumpçóçó invites h they meet by chance. help invites her to his room an she sleeps with him, but this perhaps toñrñ put her on apprene is meaningful to her, it's sort of anxd opportunity and then wh he -- she said9■ shet(qu >> he liked her. he gavelpt( her beu e■ pageant tickets. he invited her to trumpw3 vodka partya5■ launch. ére. maintaining these various relationshipsñre1 according to i women's stories which he w3deni. but sheçó -- they kept talking about thee1lp apprentice andxd eventually heçóq didçó tell her wasn't going to getq her on. i believe therei]t( was anothÑrn

costello said that michael cohen is a liar who can't be trusted.o they were probably taken aback by the fact that bragg was hiding hundreds of documents and emails from them. that's evidence. they have a right to see that. he is having trouble convincing the grand jury to indict. >> sean: all right. predictions, will they vote to indict donald trump yes or no? >> [audio breaking up]. in the grand jury revolted and said we won't indict a ham sandwich, we are fighting back. we have seen the evidence. we won't take orders. we are an independent body. we have to look at ourselves in the mirror. >> sean: you are breaking up a little lit. -- will they indict? >> it's about 50-50. >> sean: i agree with you. straight ahead. the fed hiked interest rates again today to combat biden's out of control inflation? kevin o'leary when we come back. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. pain used t

of michael cohen. does it help michael cohen stha says he's the guy that knows about it. >> it helps the case. that's a valuable piece of evidence for prosecutors because you show a jury. here's donald trump. he's lying right here. he's saying he does thot know about these payments. we know for sure that he knows about them. there's a separate question to criminal intent, but it shows he's trying to cover something up. i want to be clear. i do not think the prosecution's case is overwhelming or a slam dunk or a smoking gun, but they have a case. i did some reporting on the deliberations behind the scenes at the southern district of new york. two years ago they were considering this same pattern trying to decide whether to charge donald trump. the consensus among prosecutors was that there was enough evidence to charge. some felt it was close to the line. others felt it was beyond that. this case does have some proof issues. it's scouring president trump's personal for years. in search for crime needs t

the $130,000 and that allen and i should go back to his office and figure out how to do it >> michael cohenny accountability for that so-called catch and kill scheme. he went to prison for his role federal prosecutors in new york infamously noted cohen himself has now admitted he acted in coordination with and at the direction of individual one. well, individual one is expected to be arraigned in a manhattan court on tuesday and joining me now is michael cohen, former trump personal attorney, principal of crisis exand host of the political beatdown and mea culpa podcast his new book is called revenge, how donald trump weaponized the department of justice against his critics. thank you as always for be here. always appreciate you coming on. good to see you. let's start with that, the testimony that you gave is about this catch and kill scheme we know, and we just talked in the previous block about ami, the company, american media, admitting to the fec that this catch and kill scheme existed for karen mcdougal that it existed and it was designed to help trump's campaign. now i want to play fo

, michael cohen's the star witness. people can decide the jury will decide if they believe him. trump's team going to is going to point out that michael cohen has been convicted of perjury and fraud. personal animosity. i mean, to say the least, michael cohen despises donald trump, and they're going to argue that he's made inconsistent prior statements. but michael come with the prosecutors are going to argue he's backed up by other evidence, and you can believe him or other people which brags team may need. okay ellie. thank you so helpful, don. all right, ellie poppy, new york city ramping up security this morning they have been for a while. but yesterday and even the weeks before they're preparing for possible protests in the wake of the former president's unprecedented indictment, the nypd coordinating with federal law enforcement and the secret service, to be ready for whatever might happen. seeing his brand jen grass live near the manhattan courthouse for us this morning. good morning, bren police, other security

from michael cohen. i want to add that his attorney, uh, lanny davis just issued a statement as well, saying that cohen made the brave decision to speak truth to power and accept the consequences. and he has done so ever since. i'm proud to be his lawyer and his friend, and so you know, this has been a long journey for michael cohen. he did go to jail. ah as an attorney. he's talking here about presumption of innocence. um, which you know, michael cohen does not like donald trump in any way, shape or form. so you know, i think he's trying to say look, you know he's got to go through what i went through. he's he's got a he's got to go to a trial. he's got to be convicted or not convicted and, you know, i think from michael cohen, um this is a certain amount of vindication. i would have to say, but again, we don't know what the indictment is. we don't know what it says. and of course, donald trump has been denying this affair was stormy daniels so we'll have to see what what his response is and how he make

, with michael cohen's -- his other lawyers that hav been involved.ot sure that she would be the one to come in i think she can add a lot to the trial. i think they called he initially just see what sh would say. and previously she has met wit attorneys from the distric attorney's office. but i think they've called i the main people that they want to have that i think the wanted the grand jury to hea already. >> all right, panels, th ground we have a lot more to brea down our coverage continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. the more times you wash them. downy protects fibers, doing more than detergent alone. see? this one looks brand new. saves me money? i'm starting to like downy. downy saves loads. research shows people remember ads with a catchy song. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a little number you'll never forget. did you know that liberty mutual custo— ♪ liberty mutual. ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ ♪ custom home insurance created for you all. ♪ ♪

first, earlier today, i spoke with lanny davis, the attorney for michael cohen. cohen is a central witness to say the least, and the manhattan da of an briggs of estimation of trump's hush money payments. here's our conversation. >> the a bragg has received at least one death threat that we know of, on thursday, the former president referred to him as an animal. i don't have to tell you about what that means, alvin bragg is the first -- black district attorneys, a black touch of kearney of manhattan. the president is also sending violence if he is in fact indicted. are you concerned? >> of course. and i quote my client, michael cohen, when he began his testimony, one of the first thing he said to me when we discussed my representing him. donald trump is a liar. michael cohen did his dirty deeds, and lied for him, for ten years. and he predicted, in front of elijah cummings, that mr. trump if he's defeated for reelection, would not accept the election results. and that is a dangerous man. so what is now doing, with mr. brag, is just consistent with what we've seen.

we're also watching for michael cohen who says he's been asked to rebut costello to the grand jury if need be. here's some of what cohen would likely say from his own attorney who just spoke with wnbc. >> donald trump must be treated like any other citizen, and there aren't two systems of justice. no person is above the law. that's what we're facing now. we have indisputable evidence from the southern district of new york after an investigation that donald trump instructed michael cohen to commit a crime. cohen went to jail for it. now it's time for accountability. >> the charge does come, it could come as early as this week. it's monday, so maybe soon. donald trump says he's preparing for it. he's asking for his supporters to protest it. and now the gop is finding itself in the same position it did after the 2020 election. defend donald trump after another violent incident or don't defend him and face getting voted out of office. senior legal correspondent, laura jarrett, and nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west palm beach near former president donald trump's mar-a-lago hom

now costello was a legal advisor to the d a star witness, michael cohen. and after testifying, costello said this. i've listened to michael cohen stand in front of the courthouse and say things that are directly contrary to what he said to us. my obligation is to bring the truth to both the district attorney and to trump's lawyers. that's exactly what i did. now we know that costello's testimony was so important that district attorney alvin bragg is considering bringing michael cohen there's a dueling doing witnesses here back for a third time to testify before that same grand jury, so costello's conversation with our polarized is important and you're going to hear much more from her in just a moment because this all comes as again tonight. the entire country is waiting to see whether trump is about to be charged and arrested or not, right. it's been this waiting game. so why is the d a not moving ahead yet? the grand jury did meet again today, but this is really interesting. sources tell cnn that they didn't even discuss trump. and the d. a alvin bragg to

he said you have to ask michael cohen.p reimbursed michael cohen for this payment. trump does not part ways with money. i think that is such an important part here. >> but didn't the attorney -- the attorney, the whoun is representing him at least speaking for him on television, people don't like to be called that on tv attorneys, i thought it was a compliment. apparently someone took issue with saying that. but didn't he admit sort of that donald trump knew about it and that in this interview on another network and in a sense lied about it because he didn't want to break the agreement? >> yeah. kaitlan is right. that's a good piece of evidence for the prosecution. the fact that on air force one he denied he knew about it. we know he knew about it. the response from the lawyer is he felt like he was bound by this nondisclosure agreement. the better answer there is he denied making this payment for the same reason he made the payment in the first place. he was trying to avoid personal embarrassment to him and his family. >>

you'd have to ask michael cohen. of course, we've seen how that saga google look at his body language. he wasn't telling the truth. everybody knew that. thank you so much. thank sarah. we will continue obviously to follow this historic indictment of former president trump. but first newly released audio reveals some of the chilling 911 calls from the elementary school shooting in nashville as funerals for the victims begin. also russia has arrested an american reporter and accused him of being a spy. how the white house says it is responding. that's next. s spot, does it? obediently. o oh, boy. wonderful pistachios get cracking. this is my coffee shop. and that's mend my custom shirt from custom inc this week, we moved into a new, bigger spa and brought on anotr employee to celebrate. i ordered new branded gear for the whole team. everything was so easy to make with custom design lab. i just chose my products, added our logo and placed my order. our new gear really helps us look and feel like a team. bring your own t

they need to know about the universe of crimes michael cohen committed. we know he was involved in this conspiracy with donald trump to violate campaign finance laws to make these hush money payments we know he lied to congress. but that may just scratch the surface. and more importantly before a prosecutor can ever know whether to put somebody on the stand as a witness at trial, we need to know their fullback story and their misdeeds why? because you can bet, chris, donald trump's defense team come trial time will go scorched earth after michael cohen trying to expose all of his misdeeds and all of his warts of so there's a lot for the prosecutors to cover before they make the decision to, one, present michael cohen to the grand jury and, two, can they rely on his testimony as such that they're comfortable presenting him to a trial jury in the event of an indictment. >> based on what we know, glen, and i feel like we know a lot, we've talked about this a lot. when you weigh what he knows, the access he had, all of the information that maybe in some cases

what you make of michael cohen as a key witness in all of this? a problematic witness because he has lied. he lied to congress about a trump hotel in moscow that he was trying to build, he pleaded guilty to that. he committed these crimes and then admitted to them, although he is recanting some of the stuff. so he hasn't been 100 percent truthful. that is something that trump's lawyers are going to be able to, assuming he's indicted, if there ever come to trial, they will absolutely be able to attack michael cohen's credibility and have concrete examples. does that mean he's not telling the truth now? no. it doesn't mean that. there is a lot of supporting evidence. there is the picture of them together. there is the fact that he did all of those things on trump's behalf. so there is some corroborating behavior that could show michael cohen to be telling the truth. and bob crystal also, he is the giuliani -- so he is basically trumps surrogate in that situation. so i wouldn't take him if he's value either. >> after askew. how speaker kevin riccardi

so they refer to michael cohen. the fixer.o -- >> which is just three days after his story is broken. >> so this timing, the fact that she had tried to sell it for all these years and couldn't, but only now three days after access hollywood, a month before the election, trump now is willing to buy this story. that's what prosecutors will argue makes it a campaign finance violation because that shows that it was related to his campaign and not just to protect his wife or something like that. >> but was her assumption that they were going to publish this story? she didn't know at the time, her and her agent, they were buying the story to kill it to not let it be published? >> stormy knew what she was doing. >> she knew they were buying it and wasn't going to become public. >> she basically wanted to make money off this, at least to get some benefit because she felt she had been cheated after he promised her to put her on "the apprentice" and never did. >> what's at the heart of this? cohen pays her the $130,000. he has a signed

, federal prosecutors said individual one, donald trump, directed michael cohen. o the suggestion out of the documents was federal prosecutors believed they had evidence that donald trump told cohen to make the payment to stormy daniels, and now costello is making the case that cohen did it on his own, and once an indictment were to come out and once we see exactly what prosecutors have in their hands, we will have a better understanding of a potential guiltiness of donald trump in a criminal proceeding. >> gabe, what more are we hearing about the timeline of this investigation? where are things going next? >> well, that is a big question at this point, josÉ. according to several sources familiar with the matter, no new developments are expected in the grand jury today, and we don't expect trump to be arrested at this point. the next grand jury date is tomorrow, and that's the earliest that we might know what comes next in this grand jury investigation and whether we might see a potential indictment. i should mention, josÉ, law enforcement officials here in new yor

so you're saying there will be no charge here that will rely on michael cohen's work? none michael collins. word will be corroborated by others, so that will be one exception to my saying none if michael cohen says something happened. there will be many ways of corroborating that microphone is telling the truth and by the way, michael cohen on september excuse me, uh, march february, 28th 2019 in front of congress said what i did for 10 years for donald trump was wrong. i'm ashamed. and now for my country and my family, i'm going to tell the truth. so at least we should remember that michael cohen's credibility in front of a jury will take that into account that he turned the corner and told the truth. all right, lenny. thank you very much good to speak to you. thank you, all right. and meanwhile, the manhattan d a. alvin bragg was not answering any questions about trump's indictment as he left his office tonight. quiet but brag, is lashing out against house republicans in washington in defense of his decision as a d a to indict he's accusing them of collaborating with

allen weisselberg, paul manafort, michael cohen. you know this man, there's a lot of bravado coming out of his social media now and out of his son, but how do you think he really will react to the idea that he is going to be booked. he has been indicted >> well, i think first of all, a lot of us are forgetting donald trump just a couple days ago said this case was over. they were not going to go forward. and he predicted that this is not going to happen. well, it's happening so to the last minute, he was delusional that he was still above the law and that no one could get him after saying some very bigoted and anti-semitic statements against alvin bragg, saying he was a soros funded animal this is what he called this man, an animal. the irony of this is twofold there may be cases that legal experts say appear to them more serious if he in fact is indicted in georgia and by the feds but this is by far the most humiliating indictment because he's going to be booked and charged in new york. and he always would say, he's said to me, i'm

as legal fees to michael cohen. that is some of what the manhattan grand jury is studying, they may have more evidence than we know about, in today's reports indicate, possibly, possibly because of a previously scheduled holiday break for passover and easter in the work schedule of that manhattan grand jury, the grand jury might not be meeting again until april. and to address whatever confusion you've been feeling about that news today, we are very lucky tonight to have the best available expert to talk about that. no one currently working in the district attorney's office is, of course, available to us. but we are going to start off our discussion tonight with dan horowitz, former manhattan assistant district attorney who was a top prosecutor of the white-collar crimes unit, like the possible crime is being investigated by the trump grand jury. also with us, neal katyal, former acting us solicitor general, msnbc legal analyst. neil, let me begin with you in what is the latest news of the day, that is, donald trump

robert costello is a trump-connected attorney who once represented michael cohen. stello asked to speak to the manhattan grand jury he said he has records and other records that undermine cohen's credibility. cohen says he's on stand-by as a rebuttal witness, camped out right now with manhattan prosecutors. the long island d.a. said he communicated nothing about his decision or timing. but the president over the weekend foreshadowed a tuesday arrest. and one of his supporters urging to protest. kara spinel live for us. a lot of dust flying here. what do we actually know? >> reporter: well, john, we are expecting bob costello, that trump-connected attorney to appear the next hour or so and go before the grand jury. sources tell us he reached out to the district attorney's office saying he had statements that would contradict michael cohen's previous statements. at the time he made the payments in coordination with and at the direction of former president trump. now costello has already turned over hundreds of documents and emails to prosecutor tols support his positi

so you have to cooperate absolutely everything michael cohen says, but michael cohen also provides as donald trump picked michael cohen donald trump used michael cohen and michael cohen says he wrote the book on how to do these criminal schemes that lawyers and others are doing with donald trump so that is who donald trump picked at somebody like that and as a prosecutor you have to live with whoever it is that the defendant brings in as to the witness and the person in the room is going to have the evidence but i think alvin bragg had all of that cooperation lined up knowing you would have to cooperate him and he knew who michael cohen was exactly exactly let's talk a little bit about the strength of this case because we did have an amount of we treated everyone with the john edwards on this and how do you see this case as meaningfully different -- is it legally sound, right, so in this case has both of those issues which the john edwards case, i think is it necessarily have those issues right? the john edwards case, you know, was much more about the facts than whether that was for

this is from michael cohen's own lawyer to the fec. "in a private transaction in 2016 before the u.s. presidential election, mr. cohen used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to ms. stephanie clifford, neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction with ms. clifford. is cohen lying under oath now or during that statement to the fec? now of course at the very center of the case is a completely legal, what's called an nda, over an alleged affair from 2007. there is zero evidence whatsoever that the trump campaign paid for this nda as a matter of fact, cohen says they did not. no evidence they played a role in the nda. in fact, there is no evidence that the affair in question ever took place. people can believe what they want, there is no evidence of it. according to the washington post of all places, stormy daniels denied the affair multiple times including in writing on january 30th, 2018. this is a letter obtained by tmz. take a look at your screen., "i am not denying this af

the chief witness, michael cohen, is .a convicted felon. his own lawyer calls a unreliably dirt bag. so what's behind all this hatred? they tried to destroy cavanaugh triedbecause they wanted to kep the supreme court seat open. they're trying to destroy donald trump because they fear a him at the ballot box to the conservatives out there, maket sure you vote . if you got friends, make suret e they vote. if you don't have ands maky fri. go make some friends. but yobut you need to help this. donald j. trump, they're trying to drain him dry. he's spent more moneyspent n on lawyers than mostlarcen peope spend on campaigns. they're trying to bleed him drty . donald j. trump .com go to night, give the president some money to fight this. t this this bul is going to destroy dest america. we're going to fight back atame the ballotfi box. we're not going to give in. ho how does this end, sean?end? trump win in court and trump wins in court and he wins the election. that's how this wins. ends and how do you get to thirty four counts on this, in your v