michael cohen joins us now. he is the host of the michael cohen show on youtube, the podcast mea culpa, and the co-host of the podcast political beatdown. he's also the author of disloyal a memoir and revenge how donald trump weaponized the u.s. department of justice against his critics. welcome, michael. good to see you, buddy. it's good to see you, too. so who's going to? so how? i don't know where to actually begin on on this one, because there's so many places to start. but this all has come to a to a head. it's now concluded donald trump is a convicted felon. he will be sworn in as the next president of the united states. you've played a major role in taking the country inside donald trump's world in that space. you've paid the price for doing that. what's what's your take right now? how do you look at his response at the sentencing, where he's won everything bent the system to his will if you if you if you will, and yet still lashes out, still petty in those in those moments before judge merchan. >> well,

his attorney, michael cohen, michael cohen waived attorney client privilege, allong his attorney, bobostello to testify, he testified before congress, and according to michael cohen -- bob costello, michael cohen was still pounding the desk, swearing, saying i will do anything to stay out of jail, and costello said, well, i will see in a couple of weeks because they really are not after you, thereafter donald trump. and cohen, i don't have anything on trump, and then bob casillas and what about stormy daniels? he said that michael cohen told that stormy daniels, he said, i handle that on his own. he said i never told trump about it. he never told trump about it, he did not believe trump had anything to do with stormy daniels. he was just protecting wallonia -- melania. bob chris taylor was called to testify under judge merchan, the prosecutors cap interrupting all his testimony saying objection, objection and the judge said sustain, sustained, and when costello looked at him out of the corner of his eye at the judge -- chris taylor was a very experienced attorney, he was a prosecutor

he's also host of the mea culpa podcast and the host of the michael cohen show on youtube. you can find all of those where you get your podcasts and your youtube. he joins me now. well, michael, i thought of you today because you did. you know, you pled to in federal court the very, you know, facilitating the very things that the former president and incoming president was convicted for before a jury of his peers. it was part of the sentence to which you agreed that you had to serve. donald trump was afforded these extraordinary protections, as the judge said, because he was elected the president. how are you feeling about it all? >> look, i'm obviously very torn between what i would have liked to have seen happen. >> don't forget, i received a six year sentence, three years of incarceration, three years of supervised release. in my entire legal career. i've never even heard of an unconditional discharge. i was so confused about it. i actually went to chatgpt, despite the fact that judge furman doesn't think anybody should go through chatgpt. right. and i looked it up and i

he's also the host of the mea culpa podcast and youtube channel, the michael cohen show. michael, good to see you again. thanks for coming on. really appreciate it. there's a lot to talk about. we were covering. yeah, we were covering some of this at the top of the program. but let's talk about greenland. trump has repeatedly suggested that the u.s. should buy the danish territory. have you ever heard him talking about doing something like this? has this come up in the past? what's with this fixation on greenland and canada and the panama canal and so on? >> yes. let's also not forget that mexico is not out of play as well. basically, you won't need walls anymore. you'll have the shoreline. greenland is a little bit different. yeah, it's a strategic location, but other pas of theorld as ons in well. ke we have an airce we're goio takever or mean annex qatar? the awer is no. we have talked abo thing like this, but this is something, again, that's new. you know, i want to sort of bring up a point which is correlated to this, which is we as democrats have to start living in r

. >> i, michael cohen, who served time for this crime.iend chris hayes earlier at 8 p.m. and he brought i actually want to just play some sound from that interview because he makes a pretty strong argument. well, let's let michael cohen say it in his own words. let's take a listen. >> i hate to say this. i agree with todd blanche, and i agree with donald trump in this. if there's no accountability and there's no deterrence factor because there is no repercussion for the 34 criminal counts, i don't see the point in having the conviction. they probably could have and should have just dismissed the case. >> what do you think of that, andrea? i have a lot to say about that. yeah, please. >> so first of all, i do think it's meaningful to have this felony conviction. >> it would have been worse if it was sort of frozen in amber and unsettled forever, which is sort of what the alternative seemed until last night was going to be. >> but this courtroom, the testimony unveiled before us, truths that we never knew about donald trump's white house, a

so look, i understand michael cohen being concerned. i get it.utomatically going to be on the hit list once trump takes office. there's a lot of steps that could be really problematic. he would have to trump would have to direct the attorney general to go after cohen, and then that attorney general would have a lot of accountability. maybe that's exactly who he's appointed for the job. who knows? >> do you know much about pam bondi? i mean, i will say that we had an indication about matt gaetz. of course, he was up for the job. gone now, pam bondi, what do you think? >> yeah, it's possible. and i think i often i thought that the original suggestion of gates or the desire to appoint gates, i was concerned that that might be trump appointing to cabinet positions people who he may not have had a direct conversation with, but instead there's just an understanding that this is the kind of justice department i want. this is who i want you to go after. this is who i don't want you to go after. so, sure. that's you're exactly right. that's something to b

we saw that in testimony from hope hicks, from michael cohen.y put out a statement there right before the 2016 election that there was no knowledge of the payments to karen mcdougal or stormy daniels. of course, we know that's false. so we know on the public record now that donald trump is willing to lie in order for his personal gain. but in terms of the threats made to district attorney, bragg made to judge merchan made to these others. jack smith i think that a moving back to washington, d.c, next week and we'll be covering all of this up close from down there. and i think that we have seen a willingness over the last two years for donald trump. effectively, we should note, effectively be able to go and undermine the credibility of politicians. liz cheney, jack smith, district attorney bragg, fani willis. and that's not to say that there are some legitimate questions sometimes about individuals. that's how this process plays out. but i think donald trump in these last two years was successful in many cases in smearing the names of some of the

i wish michael cohen had gotten it. were other people who i think are being threatened by the new administration. that's a completely different thing from taking a mob of people who were convicted for violently assaulting police officers and then pardoning them en masse. >> who else do you think that he should have pardoned? >> well, for example, lev parnas is another person who was in trump world who decided to come forward to tell the truth. just like michael cohen came forward to tell the truth. which is why donald trump was convicted on multiple felony counts in new york because of the testimony of michael cohen. that's someone who could be threatened by retaliation by the trump justice department. they certainly did it to him before. so there's other people in that category and we'll just have to see that people are protected against fraudulent, political prosecutions by the new attorney general and by the new fbi director. both of whom are election also january 6th deniers. so the real statement of this mass pardo

michael cohen went to prison for some of those same crimes. he joins us at the table. also here, andrew weissmann and mark eliason. what accountability looks like for trump's second term. an overnight in california authorities ordering new evacuations as the palisades fire continues to grow. we will have live updates throughout the show. so grab your coffee, settle in. it is a very busy saturday morning. welcome to the weekend. >> and just nine days. donald trump will return to the white house as a convicted felon. and frankly, i mean, there's nothing wrong with that. if there were other convicted felons in this country who would have the same opportunities that he would. judge juan merchan sentenced the president elect yesterday in new york, but trump's sentence of unconditional release comes without a penalty. no prison time or probation, or even a fine after a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, a new york times review found no other case where a felon who committed the same crime received a, quote, unconditional discharge. thes

stormy daniels, michael avenatti, michael cohen. i am really curious to what they feel today, knowing what they endeavored a jury finding him guilty and now essentially in like a lion out like a lamb or a president. >> yeah. all right. laura coates, thank you so much for that. and keep that hat on. it's cold out there in lower manhattan. i do want to go to kara scannell. she is just coming out of the courthouse. kara, if you can help us out for a moment, we were just looking at these images of trump and his attorney on that flat screen in the courtroom. and at one point, you could see trump pointing his finger at the camera. can you tell us what was going on there? can you give us sort of a ringside view of what was taking place? >> so that photo was taken by the photographers just before the proceeding got underway. they were allowed to come in to take photos of the defendant. so at that point, it was a lighter moment before the seriousness of today's events got underway. but as you could see, that is what the judge saw when he was

michael cohen accept the responsibility and trump has been in contempt of the gag order several times. this is something you would expect, if you are not going to be president in 17 days, he would have gone to jail. i expect, if it's not donald trump but his lawyers will go after judge merchan. their filings have been replete with statements of how he is acting unlawfully. acting unconstitutionally. you don't normally see that. you can say you are wrong and we will go to appeal but you don't hear you are breaking the law. i think you will see fireworks. 100%. >> maybe he will say things about the judge's daughter. literally. he may do that. he got her address. i don't know. >> he mischaracterizes the gag order constantly. the part he has generally about abayas apart where he's not allowed to talk about family members of the judge, district attorney or anybody else involved in the case. he has abided because i think he understands the consequences are severe. guests when the gag order ends? tomorrow when he is sentenced. >> in terms of this technical thing we said in the intro, there's

it made michael cohen file a false tax return. made the trump company file a false tax return to the federal government. it was sent to the irs as a 1099 for michael cohen and the trump company for the transfer of that money. it was a tax document, it was a false document generated by the company, and i can't remember what the third count was, but it met that, too. as far as trump saying that it was all legal, it wasn't. $130,000 went to pay hush money. if he had written a check to stormy daniels from his own checking account for $130,000, he might have gotten away with it. there is no law against that. but when he is running for president, he has to abide by the rules that have been sat down for elections. that's why mr. packer from the national enquirer realized that he had made a mistake in paying off the other girl. once trump ran for president he was getting into campaign finance. so, those laws were broken. this conspiracy lasted for years and years and years. it was before he even ever decided to run. he was in conspiracy w

it made michael cohen file a false tax return. made the trump company file a false tax return to the federal government. it was sent to the irs as a 1099 for michael cohen and the trump company for the transfer of that money. it was a tax document, it was a false document generated by the company, and i can't remember what the third count was, but it met that, too. as far as trump saying that it was all legal, it wasn't. $130,000 went to pay hush money. if he had written a check to stormy daniels from his own checking account for $130,000, he might have gotten away with it. there is no law against that. but when he is running for president, he has to abide by the rules that have been sat down for elections. that's why mr. packer from the national enquirer realized that he had made a mistake in paying off the other girl. once trump ran for president he was getting into campaign finance. so, those laws were broken. this conspiracy lasted for years and years and years. it was before he even ever decided to run. he was in conspiracy w

michael cohen accepted responsibility. donald trump has been in contempt of the gag order several times. so like, this is something that you would expect if he were not going to be president in 17 days, he would have gone to jail for. so i expect also donald trump -- if it's not donald trump, certainly his lawyers are going to go after judge merchan. their filings have been replete with statements about how he's acting unlawfully, acting unconstitutionally. you don't normally see that. you can say to the judge you got it wrong and we're going to appeal, but you don't usually hear, hey, you're breaking the law. >> fireworks over zoom. >> 100%. >> maybe he'll just start saying things about the judge's daughter like e has been. he may do that. or read out her address. i don't know. >> as much as he complains about the gag order and he mischaracterizes it constantly, the one part he has generally abided by is the part where he's not allowed to talk about the family members of the judge, the district attorney, or anybody else i

he is also talking about michael cohen, notes he has been disbarred for other reasons yet allowed to talk like he was george washington. trump is not holding back here. >> neither would most of us when we know we aren't going to jail no matter what we say. there is a certain safety net when you know that you aren't going to get probation, you feel a little bit liberated. i think andy and i both used the word victory when you win the battle and lose the war. alvin bragg you spent months convicting donald trump and got absolutely nothing for it except putting him in the history books as the first republican since george bush to win the popular vote and electoral college. if you wanted to mount him to mount rushmore, bragg and merchan, you were successful. when you know you are not going to jail you can tell the judge exactly what you think. >> dana: also, andy, steinglass with the prosecution, he said this morning that this sentencing will bring this case to its finale. but that's not true if it's going to then be appealed to the supreme court. this is not the last word. >> no, but the

we're joined now in the studio by michael cohen, former attorney for donald trump. he hosts two podcasts called mia culpa and political beatdown. he's also author of disloyal, a memoir and revenge how donald trump weaponized the u.s. justice department against his critics. mr. cohen, thank you for being here with us tonight. before we get into the trump sentencing, i must ask you some breaking news we got today. special counsel jack smith has officially resigned. smith has indicated in november he would be leaving before trump took office. we learned of his resignation in a court filing to judge aileen cannon, the trump appointed judge who dismissed the classified documents case against him. cannon is at the center of a legal fight over the release of smith's final report on his trump investigation, which has been delivered to attorney general merrick garland. should the public see this full report, will they see it? and should president biden himself consider making the whole thing public before it's too late? i don't think so. i know a lot of people are going to s

it was overpayments to his then lawyer michael cohen to reimburse a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star stormy daniels. trump denies that affair. >>> when we come back, president biden announces a sweeping ban on offshore oil drilling, something president-elect trump said he will immediately reverse. we will hear from an expert when that is even possible. >> to pay or not to pay is the question surrounding 49ers quarterback brock purdy, what he said about next season and sticking around for the foreseeable future. >>> millions of digging out after one of the worst storms in years. i'm ian lee with how some are enjoying the wild weather. >>> wild weather of a different sort on our side of the country, gusty winds, wind advisory around the bay area, but all of those (♪♪) a single touch can say a thousand words. it says... i see you. i feel you. i got you. and i'm never letting go. (♪♪) ever. (♪♪) say it all with irresistibly touchable skin. get in touch. gold bond. >>> a louisiana man has become the first american to die of the bird flu. the man was the first to be hospitalized

the president is arguing his tweets about michael cohen, his communications with hope hicks and otherthe white house, they were introduced as evidence in that hush money trial and that was unconstitutional. the appellate courts are going to have to weigh those arguments. caitriona: a lot of road still to run. thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. caitriona: staying with issues pertaining to the u.s. supreme court, justice is there today have signaled that they are minded to uphold a law that would ban tick-tock in the united states if it is not sold by its chinese parent company. the u.s. government argues that without a sale, tiktok could be used by china as a tool for spying and political manipulation. tiktok says it is being unfairly targeted and that the measure violates free speech. representatives of the social media platform appeared before the court on friday in a last-ditch effort to overturn a ban. president-elect donald trump has also argued against the ban. let's speak to our north american technology correspondent, who has been following this. what was said i

for example, donald trump tweeted repeatedly from his time in the white house about michael cohen. that was evidence that the prosecution used at trial and evidence that the supreme court said has a presumption of immunity attached to it. because most presidential communications can be characterized as within the scope of your duties. but that having been said, merchan considered those arguments, as you noted in a motion to vacate the jury's verdict, and what he said was there was enough left over. even if you were to scrape all of that off the table. the jury had so much evidence to show that donald trump participated in this falsification of business records with an intent to commit or conceal another felony, that being of a conspiracy, essentially to promote his own election, that it wouldn't have mattered if hope hicks and madeleine westerhout hadn't testified that neither their testimony nor these tweets, nor a few other pieces of evidence were so crucial that the jury couldn't have reached its verdict without it. and i have to say, having sat through the trial every day, i ac

, that his reimbursement to michael cohen was for the hush money payment, and not just simply for legal counsel, the president elect avoided addressing that head on in front of that courtroom here today, instead focusing on the argument that these charges should have never been brought against him by district attorney alvin bragg. he also made mention not by name, but in reference to matthew colangelo having come over from the department of justice suggesting that this was political persecution. to note, donald trump was not cut off during his remarks inside of that courtroom. that gag order is now lifted. he did lament that the fact that the gag order was ever placed on him, even though in these last seven months, that was essentially a gag order that only kept him from attacking court staff and family members and giving any identifying information about the jurors here. but for donald trump, let's be clear he will go on to inauguration day as a convicted felon. and for him, so much of the frustration was with how this played out in the new york state court. he had the opportunit

michael cohen, who was donald trump's lawyer who came forward to tell the truth about the crimes that were created by the hush money payoff scheme with stormy daniels, rudy giuliani's man said there was nothing there, we were trying to concoct stories about joe biden. he's somebody who could be threatened. people in that category need our assistance and our solidarity and i would hope that there are some things at that could bring us together where we could work together in bipartisan ways. for example, i know that president-elect trump seems to be proud of the fact that he won in the popular vote he did this time. he didn't win in the popular vote in 2016, but won by more than three million votes. joe biden was proud he won by more than seven million votes in 2020. how about we get everybody together and say it's time to elect the president of the united states the way that we elect representatives, senators, governors, mayors, everybody else. whoever gets the most votes wins, let's get an opportunity to get beyond the problems with the electoral college which is an accident waiting

michael cohen, donald trump's lawyers looking forward to tell the truth about the crimes that were createdy the hush money payoff game with stormy daniels, left parnas was rudy giuliani's right-hand man came forward he said it was nothing there, we were trying to concoct stories about joe biden. he simply just to threatened. so i think people in that category need our assistance and our solidarity, and i would hope that there are some things that could bring us together where we can work together in a bipartisan way. for example, i know that president-elect donald trump seems to be very proud of the fact that he won the popular vote this time. he didn't win the popular vote in 2016, but he won it by more than 3 million votes i know joe biden was proud that he won by more than 7 million votes in 2020. how about we get everybody together and say it's time for us to start electing the president of the united states the way we elect representatives, senators, governors, mayors, everybody else, whoever gets the most votes wins? let's use this as an opportunity to get beyond all of the problems

so the jury found the trunk directed michael cohen, his fixer, who did serve time for it, but partially for his role on this to pay stormy daniels, a $130000.00. they found trump guilty of that and also falsifying records to try and keep it quiet. so there are a couple of options for the judge going into today. he could have sentenced them to 4 years in jail, obviously, very unlikely parole a fine. but now he chose just basically clear the convictions. so what does that mean? it means that he's a felon won't be punished for. busy but he is now a convicted felon. so where does this leave donald trump now then going forward? he's going to appeal. he couldn't appeal until this happens was going to appeal the appeals. how and sometimes cases get overturn, but it's very unlikely the judge would have had to made an egregious mistake. and most legal scholar said he didn't. so the president you might be asking, we can president's pardon people. well, it's never been tested as presidents can pardon themselves, but you can't pardon themselves in this case cuz it's not a federal case. that's the o

so the jury found the trump directed michael cohen, his fixer, who did serve time for it, but partially for his role on this to pay stormy daniels a $130000.00. they found from guilty of that and also falsifying records to try and keep it quiet. so there are a couple of options for the judge going into today. he could have sentenced him to 4 years in jail, obviously, very unlikely parole a fine. but now he chose just basically clear the conviction. so what does that mean? it means that he's a felon, won't be punished for it, but he is now a convicted felon. from vitamin is a professor emeritus at the university of missouri, a school of low. he's also a former federal and state prosecutor. he says the ruling was no surprise. i think that had he not been elected president, i think one might have expected. he would have gotten some jail time. not so much for the severity of the offense, which was always based on the conviction was always based on something of an imaginative legal theory. but his behavior before, during, and after the case was extraordinarily contemptuous. up the judge of t

now the jury found the trump did, in fact order his fix, or michael cohen, who also went to jail, who did go to jail uh, to pay her a $130000.00 to show it to basically squash the story. and at the same time, use the jury so that he falsified records to try and cover that up. so months ago, jerry unanimously found him guilty. 34 felony counts that the judge had a couple of options. you could have given him probation a fine, he could have faced for years in jail. the judge said if he had been anyone but the incoming president, there would have been punishment. but instead he said, because of the office of the presidency, he will be protected for what they call unconditional discharge, which basically means you did it, you're guilty, but you don't have to pay a price for it. so if i say, where does this leave? donald trump now then going forward. well, he was scowling over that virtual appearance, talking for about 6 minutes calling this a in justice that he is innocent. and he talked about other subject as well, like the wildfires. but it is a clear that this is under his skin. he was

michael cohen said they had multiple conversations about the payoff to stormy daniels at a time the fbihe relationship frayed . michael cohen stood out as someone who unlike so many who worked with donald trump, he ended up effectively flipping on donald trump and coming here to this lower manhattan courtroom and testifying about the relationship and acknowledging he did it as a means of protecting, in his words, donald trump. we have seen donald trump turn on others in his political time in office and of course we are looking at someone here entering the white house just 10 days from now and will be known as a convicted felon with that label on it. at the same time, those seven weeks should not be forgotten from the public record because so many individuals close to donald trump came here and publicly testified to a jury about the power dynamic trump has undoubtedly reeled in his power of influence whether it be the trump administration or political campaigns, or inside his white house. >> this is undeniably now part of donald trump's story. so, dave aronberg, let's go back to you and

we saw that in testimony from hope hicks, from michael cohen. they put out a statement there right before the 2016 election that there was no knowledge about the payments to karen mcdougal or stormy daniels. of course, we know that's false. so we know on the public record now that donald trump is willing to lie in order for his personal gain. but in terms of the threats made to district attorney, bragg made to judge merchan made to these others. jack smith i think that a moving back to washington, d.c. next week and i'll be covering all of this up close from down there. and i think that we have seen a willingness over the last two years for donald trump. effectively, we should note, effectively be able to go and undermine the credibility of politicians. liz cheney, jack smith, district attorney bragg, fani willis. and that's not to say that there's some legitimate questions sometimes about individuals. that's how this process plays out. but i think donald trump in these last two years was successful in many cases in smearing the names of some of

that trial, including the communications with hope hicks when he was president, his tweets with michael cohenas a new argument that sentencing him will interfere with performance of his duties as president—elect. he does have some arguments on appeal to the appellate division of the new york court. what do you make of that argument, trump's legal team saying there won't be any sentencing at all, because it will get in the way of the transition of power. what do you make of that?— transition of power. what do you make of that? that's a new argument _ you make of that? that's a new argument i _ you make of that? that's a new argument. i think _ you make of that? that's a new argument. i think what - you make of that? that's a new argument. i think what judge i argument. i think whatjudge juan merchan says, you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. the reason the sentence was delayed past the november general election is because trump and his lawyers said it was election interference. they didn't want the sentence to interfere with the sentence to interfere with the election. now that trum

williams: trump's former personal lawyer, michael cohen, will give public testimony before the houseat'll be televised live. jamie raskin: in his opening statement, which we got last night, he said the president was a racist, a con-man and a cheat. and my reaction was, tell us something we don't know. (laughing) so, you know, i'm basically looking at him like a renegade refugee from a organized crime family and he's gonna tell us sort of the internal dynamics of the trump operation. (people chattering) jamie raskin: the big story in my mind is that we have a president who has turned the government of the united states of america into a money-making operation for himself, for his family, for his business, and for his friends. and so, we wanna try to get the best, most fine-grained portrait we can of what's taking place within the trump operation. and then we've got to start to ask the question about whether this is a president who is an actual threat to the character of our republic. oh my god, look at all those people! woman: they all want to get a seat. (people chattering) (cameras

so where to do the payments to stormy daniels and the repayment of michael cohen fall in that parameter i think we're talking about two different aspects of immunity, john. with respect to one aspect of it, it is what should a president -- regardless of whether his actions are private or public, should a president be forced in a position to face criminal proceedings while he's a sitting president and should that be extended to president-elect? that's the thing had a has to be decided immediately. they're not supposed to be able to use official acts of the president as evidence to prove misconduct that's essentially private. and that's really what happened in this case. i think gratuitously put in evidence, including two witnesses who were on trump's white house staff, about evidence about trump's activities while he was in the white house which is exactly the stuff the supreme court said prosecutors shouldn't do. so that's a separate question. but i think if trump is going to prevail, it's going to be because he persuades the supreme court that the same concerns about the gravity of the

federal election law was violated about note federal election law was even involved while allowing michael cohene convicted felon to give all of the opinion he wanted the violations of federal election law which she is no expert by the way the business entries were not false they were actually accurate and they were not made public. the nondisclosure agreements were not unlawful federal campaign laws were not violated in fact they were not triggered. indeed the nondisclosure agreements were entered as business expenses in 2016. reports were not followed to 2017 to how could they affect the 2006 election? they didn't rely on the judge filing after filing and i say this with the greatest amount of respect, relying on this judge who did this purposefully who created this entire scenario. who abuse the rule of law at the federal and state level like we've never seen before. to keep filing motions with him in the hopes he will dismiss his own baby, his own frankenstein was absurd from day one. he orchestrated this travesty. he is a conflicted judge. to go to him, to get help from him was never going

and by the way, you attacking all the witnesses, you saying michael cohen perjured himself.hat. this evidence supported this difficult verdict and in this motion he said you are asking me to weigh in on your character and i am doing that. you are asking me to weigh in on your character and i will do it. it is very restrained but he is clear, he talks about trump's disdain for the third branch of government. and that is a public record. the lengths donald trump has gone through to attack judges and juries and the system as a whole. so the defendants' character here, i can't say that weighs in his favor. this is an extraordinary thing for a judge to say about someone skeptical to take the oval office. i thought part of what judge merchan was trying to do even if the sentencing does not happen is be clear about the fact that this case was a legitimate and serious case he presided over. the jury's verdict was one that should not be questioned. the jury did its job and he is going to defend it. >> lisa, one of the things we understand with donald trump and court cases, nothing is

i mean, michael cohen, right? >> yes. >> exactly.'s friday sentencing in the new york hush money case, judge merchan signaled no jail time. but you seem even more pessimistic because yesterday you said you are not sure there will even be a sentencing hearing. will trump get away with his typical delay tactic again or will merchan say enough is enough? >> i think he will get away with it, not because judge merchan has anything to do with it. i think donald trump is going to do what he has done time and again, which is appeal and see if he can find a higher court that will help him out. we are talking this opinion from judge merchan was issued seven days from when the sentencing is set to occur, and ten days before donald trump is set to take office. so that's not a lot of time here. even judge merchan in his opinion acknowledges the possibility that this sentencing may not happen as he scheduled it. so all trump needs is a ten-day delay of his sentencing and then he can't be sentenced until his term ends. if then. so i think you can s

wants to continue by using governmental process to go after people like liz cheney or perhaps michael cohen or lev lev parnass. these are all people who need to be protected against the retaliation that donald trump and his entourage have promised to exact against people who dared to stand up for the truth and dared to stand up for the officers and for the rule of law. >> so we have a collective responsibility now, if we are going to be foot soldiers for democracy. some of us will be targeted, some of us will not be targeted. what do the rest of us, what do people watching this who are not likely to be targeted by the trump administration for prosecution or harassed by this administration, what do they do to support those who will be? how do we sort of say that we are all equally in in fight for democracy together, whether you are a specific target or you are not? >> well, it begins precisely with what you just said, ali, it's the acknowledgment that we are all in this fight together. solidarity will be the watch word. if you look at people who have struggled against authoritarian tyrants,

. >> dana: former trump attorney michael cohen begging president biden to pardon him before he leavesen gave list son hunter claiming biden has an obligation to protect him and other critics from president-elect trump and his efforts to reach out to the biden administration. that's curious. >> bill: uh-huh, it is. >> dana: an l.a. based humanitarian organization is on the ground near the burn zone to help the community. i thought it was strange. what am i reading here? i'm looking at myself and kaylee talking about the wildfires that we'll get back to in a moment. let's take a second to talk about a week from today is the inauguration of president-elect trump. they are planning a little shock and awe, which i think is probably an apt term. how do you see their planning in order to overwhelm everybody with their preparedness? >> i think the motto is go big or go home this time. trump has had four years to think about this and given it a lot of thought in pure numbers. they've indicated 100 executive actions. biden holds the record for the most executive orders on day one. he had 15 and

case he was at great pains to disclaim any micromanagement and all of this he does with love to michael cohen apparently here he's doing it himself. for justice alito, maybe the petition hadn't yet been filed. everybody knew that this petition was coming to at this point, the optics of it just look incredibly poor, particularly for a justice who has been embroiled in a fair amount of controversy regarding two agents who have been before the court and donald trump is at least someone who now has business before the court and will likely as president have business before the court. >> this in many ways is a honey badger conservative majority. they don't seem to care how things look so i would just love you to walk us through the kind of court. >> [ inaudible ]. >> amen. i think that's a good way to put it. walk is how they are going to save us because it's very clear that john roberts and friends are going to figure out a way to make trump happy. making from happy apparently is their most important job as far as they are concerned. are they just going to stall and say we're going to need to do

trump was convicted last may of falsifying records related to hush money that his then-attorney michael cohen adult film actress stormy daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential election. >>> staying on it legal beat, former new york city mayor and trump attorney, rudy giuliani, was found in contempt of court yesterday. a federal judge ruled giuliani has not complied with orders to turn over information and assets to former election workers shea moss and ruby freeman. that as part of a nearly $150 million defamation judgment against him. in 2023 giuliani was found to have repeatedly defamed the two election workers while trying to overturn joe biden's 2020 election victory in the state. a court ruled giuliani promoted false conspiracy theories about moss and freeman. the judge said the defendant has attempted to run the clock by stall. discovery is not supposed to be a shell game where the hidden ball is moved around and around. giuliani testified at the hearing from his home in florida. he argued he tried to comply with the court's orders and blamed any failure to do so on his pre

trump was convicted in may of falsifying records related to hush money that his then attorney michael cohenilm actress stormy daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 presidential campaign. trump now becomes the first convicted felon elected president in u.s. history. >>> still ahead, as of last night, the senate has one less republican lawmaker, at least for now. we'll explain what happened. >>> plus, a moment of bipartisanship on capitol hill as some democrats voice support for a gop-led bill that would crack down on illegal immigration. those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. check on sports and weather when we come right back many remedies you take for chest congestion only mask the symptoms. hey... how you doing? this mucus won't move out. you're gonna love this property. the guy's congestion remedy? harmless. try this. mucinex 12 hour treats the mucus that causes chest congestion for all-day relief. don't leave! it's fine! ugh! i was worried about this side of town! mucinex in, mucus out! don't mask symptoms, treat the cause. for more than a decade far

he was convicted of falsifying business records regarding money that michael cohen gave to a porn staresident-elect spoke before the sentence was handed down. >> it's been a political witch hunt. it was done to damage my reputation so i would lose the election. obviously that didn't work. the fact is that i'm totally innocent. i did nothing wrong. i got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense. it's called a legal expense. >> joining us now nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard and legal analyst danny cevallos. trump's inauguration is just in ten days. he's the first u.s. president to be convicted of a crime. what are the implications here politically of this sentencing? >> he'll formally be a convicted felon when he's inaugurated. americans voted for him understanding that he was found guilty back in may on these 34 felony counts. donald trump maintained in the courtroom this morning and a social media post after he left the courthouse virtually -- he was at his mar-a-lago estate and appeared via computer into the courtroom for this. he has maintained he intends to appea

he learned it with michael cohen, too. paid the people who did the work for you in the first place, it's a lot easier. you might have spared yourself a lot of pain. well, but it does raise a question if it's, you know, because he's the incoming president. sure. just from an ethics standpoint, it opens up a whole can of worms about like who is trying to do trump a favor by saying saving rudy? right. setting even rudy and his utility for an outside actor. there's you know, this is something the president, the incoming president wants. i could curry favor with the incoming president by bailing out his former lawyer. we're unlikely to ever know where the money came from, though we are probably unlikely to know. but as you and stef and tim were talking about earlier in your show, there is no shortage of american oligarchs who are trying to curry favor with donald trump, even as we speak. and many of them might be interested in helping to pay for a settlement with ruby, freeman and moss to make this long standing problem just go