michael: so nice to meet you, marcus. lemonis: nice to meet you. michael: michael woods.emonis: michael, do you dress like this every day? michael: every day. ramona: every day. lemonis: you look like a million bucks. michael: thank you. lemonis: so, tell me about ashtae. ramona: we are a multicultural hair-care company. we only sell directly to beauty salons. lemonis: okay. you're not in any retail? ramona: right. michael: we service salons door to door. lemonis: and when you say "door to door," go to a salon, meet somebody for the first time, shake their hand. michael: correct. lemonis: and what region do you do business in? michael: south carolina. that's where the bulk comes in. lemonis: if michael's going door to door, and that's how he's generating his revenue, it's kind of obvious to me why they haven't broken outside of the carolinas. door-to-door selling is wildly inefficient. taylore, what do you do here? taylore: a little bit of everything. lemonis: well, what is your actual job title? ramona: well, right now, taylore is a little in limbo. lemonis: what does th

>> that was michael avenatti talking about michael cohen with rachel in the last hour.former chief of staff and a former senior aid. barbara mcquade, former federal prosecutor, and deanna fill la pain co, a form investigator. ron klain, the speculation continues of where michael avenatti got this information. there's one expert quoted in one report saying that this is the kind of information that could be obtained from one of those suspicious activity reports or from a series of suspicious activity reports about bank transactions but so far it's michael avenatti leading the way on this. >> it is. and, you know, he will, i imagine that judge wood will order him to disclose the source of this information and he'll have to do so. if indeed it did come from an illegally disclosed sar, the person who disclosed it will be in trouble. as you said earlier the fundamental point from the broader perspective here is the information he put forward turned out to be 99.6% accurate. who could have imagined just a few days ago that the single least slimy transaction would be paying a f

that is something that michael cohen apparently did very well. >> before michael cohen became entangled in a presidential scandal, he was the kid from the suburbs who revered donald trump. >> michael was drawn to him, his personality, his brashness, his approach to life. >> i think they both defined themselves by what they wear, drive, what they can buy and sell. >> will that admiration and loyalty be enough to protect the president? >> i just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, good man. >> attorney/client privilege is not a magic wind. if he is helping you commit a crime. it's a story with one explosive revelation after another. >> raising all sorts of new questions. >> >> he said he would take a bullet for the president. when he said it, he sounded like he meant it. >>> hello. welcome to a special edition of "headliners." in a political landscape full of colorful characters michael cohen stands out. he leapt to the front page with plot twists worthy of a legal thriller. how did he get here? >> breaking news. it's a bombshell. >> tonight, a dramatic

trying to defend michael cohen's financial arrangements for the money that was paid to michael cohen by giant corporate interests trying to buy access to the president of the united states. rudy giuliani was willing to say anything when it came to defending michael cohen for what michael cohen said was using his own money to pay off stormy daniels to buy her silence about her sexual relationship with donald trump. ruud sai rudy giuliani said it's the kind of thing he did all the time for his clients. >> that was money that was paid by -- by his lawyer, the way i would do out of his law firm fund or whatever fund, it doesn't matter, the president reimbursed that. michael could take care of things like this, like i take care of things like this for my clients. is it the kind of thing i've settled for celebrities and famous people. every lawyer that has done that kind of work has. >> that kind of admission to a disbarable offense was a little much to bear from the giant law firm from which rudy giuliani took a leave of absence from to become donald trump's defender. the firm announced t

and michael cohen and mr.is attack on us earlier tonight, they can clear all of this up. all they have to do is submit the bank statements, provide the bank statements on this account for 16 or 18 months. >> let's say that michael cohen is marketing himself as a business consultant. he told the court in the sdny case that he has business consulting clients. and let's just say he is good at talking people into giving him money. yeah, sure i can help you out with your tax problems. i can help you out with your regulatory issues, and he is a good salesman, and he is convincing these companies to hire him because he is a business consultant who can solve their problems. doesn't that just show that he is a good talker? there is nothing necessarily nefarious in him getting business consulting gigs for which he is unqualified. it doesn't necessarily mean that the money is being passed through him for some other nefarious purpose. it just means that those companies didn't do their due diligence, right? >> it could mea

he was speaking for michael cohen, chosen by michael cohen, as michael avenatti says. what happened to him? >> my sense is that everyone in cohen land is not getting on television right now. that that is part of their legal strategy -- >> does michael cohen know that guy he did send out on television was the worst failure he could have possibly sent on tv as a tv lawyer? >> i don't know that he knows that. >> does he think rudy giuliani is hurting him on tv? >> from my reporting from people familiar with it, he thought rudy giuliani getting on television and making things more complicated for him was incredibly frustrating and he could not understand why he got on not only once, but two, three, four times and made things more complicated for him. >> now me and michael cohen have an area of agreement. i knew it was about to happen. emily jane fox, thank you for joining us. really appreciate it. and michael avenatti, hang around because rudy giuliani can't stop talking about you. even when he's asked questions that have nothing to do with you, he can't stop talking about

oligarch to michael cohen. us now is preet bharara. >> we've reviewed the documents that appear to show these payments. we haven't been able to independently verify or authenticate the documents, but we have viewed them and it does appear to show these payments. does it make sense that a russian oligarch would be depositing some $500,000 to michael cohen? >> no. it makes no sense at all. if you look at the timing of the allegations about collusion, which is the thing that the president likes to say there's no evidence of and not specifically by that word a crime. conspiracy is, collusion is not. that's all happening in 2016. then there's an election. and in 2017, these payments that you folks have looked at, and i haven't looked at the doms independently. looks like the payments are being made by a russian oligarch with close ties to putin. then in 2018 -- >> being made through a u.s. subsidiary of his company. >> y yes, of the oligarch's company. and then in 2018, that same oligarch is put on the sanction list

he was then asked why michael cohen made the statement. he said, you'll have to ask michael cohen. so the fox hosts asked rudy giuliani, why? why this morning? michael cohen why he now said -- why he said he was not reimbursed if he really was reimbursed? >> i remember when michael cohen was interviewed about it, and it seemed like he was saying that he was never reintercontinental ballistic missile -- reimbursed that $130,000, now it sounds like the story is changing. >> he was definitely reimbursed. no doubt about it. >> why did he say he wasn't? >> maybe -- maybe -- first of all, if we had to defend this, it's not being a campaign contribution, i think we can do that. this was for personal reasons. the president had been hurt personally, not politically. personally so much. and the first lady by some of the false allegations. >> so rudy giuliani has no answer about why the reimbursement story has changed. and we should watch for that particular technique in answering a question when he begins with maybe, maybe, and then just changes the subject. his technique when he has no answ

michael's case is no big deal compared to an impeachment offense that rises to that level. >> michael ava naty, can i get you to weigh in here, as we reset, because we have of course been talking so much about what giuliani has had to say about payments to your client and what unfolds next. based on new information from this report, what's your next move in that case? >> well, there's been a lot of information to come down the pike in the last 18 hours. >> just a little bit. >> and we're going to be incredibly -- yes, the pace of this is rather staggering. we're not going to be reactionary. we're going to be thoughtful and methodical and smart about the way we approach this. i think we've done this over last two months. i will say this, i think our case has gotten exponentially better over last 24 hours. i think that mr. giuliani's statements clearly are at odds with a number of things that have been said in the past. it's clear to us that the american people were lied to by the president on air force one and there's been a number of other statements that are inconsistent with those.

michael's my attorney, and you'll have to ask michael. >> michael, of course, the famous answer was that one word no when he was asked did you know that michael cohen made this payment? so if he didn't know michael cohen made a payment to benefit his campaign, they are in trouble on the campaign finance law. >> well, lawrence, i would agree with that. look, we've seen a lot of conduct by the president and by mr. trump when he was running for office. and a lot of people laugh a lot of things off and they give him a pass on things. i sincerely hope that we have not reached a place in this nation, and i don't think this can be overstated. i really hope that we have not reached a place where it's okay for the president of the united states to stand aboard air force one, on video and audio, and lie to the american people. i hope that we have not reached a place where that is accepted. >> rudy giuliani said tonight that that is irrelevant. that the -- everything about the stormy daniels case is irreleva irrelevant. he kept using the word irrelevant. >> well, if he thinks it's irrelevant, he sh

forget about michael cohen.hael cohen is a guy who trades taxi medallions in redhook, brooklyn, and yet he is getting these payments from two global corporations. they have a lot of explaining to do. and we haven't even gotten to the fact that now after months and months, maybe a year plus of asking the question was there a direct link, more direct than russians showing up in the president's son's office, more direct than russians reaching out to papadopoulos and others, was there actually money that changed hands? we don't know all the facts, but now it appears that perhaps money changed hands. and that's profoundly -- let me put it this way. that races profoundly serious questions that we have not considered to date. >> and michael avenatti, that's why the biggest headline coming out of your report today is the $500,000 from that company that has the backing of the russian oligarch. that's what congressman himes is talking about. >> yes, lawrence. but, again, i think we've only scratched the surface on this. i

in a follow-up tweet michael avenatti said, why was amed al-rumaihi meeting with michael cohen and michael flynn in december of 2016 and why did mr. al-rumaihi later brag about bribing administration officials according to a sworn declaration filed in court? joining us now with what we hope is the answer to his own question, michael avenatti the attorney for stormy daniels. also with us john heilman, national affairs analyst for nbc and msnbc, and joyce vance is with us, former federal prosecutor, a professor at the university of alabama school of law and an msnbc contributor. michael avenatti so do you have the answer to your question about what michael cohen was up to there in the lobby of trump tower? >> we have the answer, lawrence, but we're not going to disclose it tonight. let me say this, i tweeted this out moments ago. i think when the truth relating to this meeting comes out shortly, it's going to redefine the word ugly. when the truth comes out relating to what michael cohen was doing there that day in connection with these two individuals in this elevator at trump tower, we kno

it was easy to trace essential consultants to michael cohen is because michael cohen did not do a goodcovering his tracks when he set this company up. >> he signed as the incorporator which is absurd. if you are trying to shield your involvement in the particular entity. >> at and t states they paid $200,000 to betterened t unders the physician. >> to get those insights. you shouldn't have to pay $200,000 to get insights into the administration. we know what that means. that is first of all. second of all, it is interesting that at and t comes out and they issue their statement that they pay $200,000 for insights, and at the same time you have the entity tied to the oligarch stating they were purchasing real estate consulting services. you know, it is odd to me. >> and business opportunities i think they said. >> and capital opportunities or business opportunities. those are different things. so i doubt that michael cohen is a one stop shop for all of these services. this guy is like a renaissance man. he is a lawyer, a business consultant, business consultant. is there anything this m

all of the information that michael avenatti first made public about michael cohen's bank accounts comes from one of three suspicious activity reports that banks filed on michael cohen. that suspicious activity report refers to two previous suspicious activity reports that the official who leaked the report says are now missing. the two previous reports do not appear on the treasury department's financial crimes enforcement network. the official told ronan farrow, i have never seen something pulled off the system when something's not there, that should be -- that should be, i immediately became concerned. that's why i came forward. this is a permanent record. they should be there. and there is nothing there. the suspicious activity report that has been released shows bank compliance officers repeatedly trying to figure out what michael cohen was up to, morgan stanley smith barnny filed a report saying that the transactions in michael cohen's account there showed signs of, quote, bribery or gratuity. previous reports have indicated that the fbi raid on michael cohen's home and office and

this is michael cohen.ou know, a guy whose legal skills have been cast in some considerable doesn't recently. why would somebody be paying him anybody, an american company, somebody from russia. they're paying him for access to the president. they're paying him for information that will help them influence the united states policy on things like sanctions, iran, and other things in which they have a big, big state. i don't think there is any doubt about that. i'm not here saying that any of this is illegal at this moment. it is very confusing. but as confused as many of us may be, you can be sure that robert mueller and his team are not so confused. and i think that, you know, you're going to see an awful lot of people if this is legal calling for reform or the foreign agents registration act provisions that allow things like this to happen. >> you're leading me to my next question, then. because, again, there is no indication at this point that there is anything illegal about this. if the -- is it unusual

for the last 12, 13 years, it's been all about michael sena, michael sena, michael sena.er said a word about that. >> oh, it's a one-way street. >> no, but i really think that's what the problem is. i've done a lot of [bleep] for you. >> you talk too much. >> and you know what? this is--no, and this is what-- >> you're talking too much. >> you never let me talk. >> this is what-- >> you're always talking. >> this is what i was worried about, though, when he did make the deal. >> oh, yeah. >> that i was gonna--no. >> i saw your eyes going, ching, ching! >> no. like, you think that's all that matters to me? >> but since we got married, that you're always worried about your own identity. you've only been making this-- and now-- >> but everybody has their own identity. >> you already have your own identity. >> if something good's happening to me, then something good's happening to you and to us. that's how it should be viewed. this shouldn't be a bad thing, and i certainly don't want it to cause a rift. >> it's already caused a rift. >> well-- >> and i gotta swallow it. >> bu

so, that was michael's point of view. michael is okay. he's more worried about his family than anything else. we forget when somebody is going through this they're a person and they have children and their children are affected. he told me his daughter was graduating college looking for a job. that's what he's concerned about. whatever happens with this, he's more concerned about his kids and his wife and that's where people are looking out. he's waiting to tell the story. >> i know you're not his spokesperson. let me push back on a couple of those points. one, avenatti's report wasn't taken at face value. that's why i asked jim route enberg. they went out and corroborated it. half a dozen news organizations including yours corroborated. there were records that prove -- >> we will let michael answer that. >> and the other -- is he preparing for the worst? is he prepared to do a deal with prosecutors? >> look, i will answer it this way. i think you have to put yourself in his shoes. and i think it looks like there is a storm coming to him.

what has michael cohen said? he sent a statement out when the complaint was put in place and there it is. he says in a private tran action in 2016 i used my own personal fund to facilitate a payment to ms. stephanie clifford, stormy daniels' legal name. neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction with ms. clifford. the question is when did that happen, i think that's really important. when did that happen, but ultimately common cause says all of it is a legal problem. >> i want to get to the news. i want everybody to standby because michael is here, and you're about to jump out of your seat. what do you think of this? when you heard this you were listening to rudy giuliani just moments ago when we played that sound bite and what was going through your mind? >> it's an absolute disgrace, don. and i'm disgusted by it. in every american regardless of their political persuasion, i don't care if you're on the left, i don't care if you're on the far right, i don't care where you

>> no. >> why did michael cohen make it. >> michael's my attorney, and you have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money? >> no. >> the last statement, press statement vonn sieger says another lie is no longer operative. the morning the president fired of off a spring string of tweets, which sounded lawyerly a lot of commas, not an explaim claimation mark in sight. mr. cohen, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or nda. these agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth. in this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in arbitration for damages against ms. clifford daniels and her attorney. the alleged tweet continues, the agreement was used to stop the false accusations about an alleged affair. this was a private agreement. money from the campaign or campaign contributions played no role in this transaction. so there it is, in addition to saying that this

michaels. i'll go to r eva so i'm not confused. you say he's a civil lawyer violating a civil agreement. >> i love avenatti and that he's exposing all this information about donald trump and his relationship with michael cohen. i agree with him 100% when he says the american people have a right to know this information. i just don't want anything that michael avenatti is doing to interfere with the special counsel's investigation. and because he's not the federal prosecutor designated to investigate donald trump, i want to make sure. i'd like to make sure he's not in any way damaging either of those investigations. his lawsuit against donald trump to void the nondisclosure agreement is solid. i think he is a repository, as he calls himself, of information, and he shares it. we do know how the media works, and this could backfire and he could soon find himself a subject of criticism, our ideals will be challenged. >> if you watch the media, he's criticized all the time, and there are others that

i should point out, i did talk to michael cohen, his arch nemesis, michael avenatti, in all of this, just a short while ago and he said he would like to see the president's legal team, perhaps rudy giuliani, in the briefing room. the president does have a new member of his legal team inside the white house, emmet flood, who is an official of the white house, sarah sanders said giuliani could not appear in the briefing room, because he's not an official at the white house. but flood could. they're going to have to sort out an arrangement at some point to answer these questions, because the stonewalling is just not working. >> one possibility is they're refusing to answer more questions because so much has to do with the president's legal matters. or, another possibility is they're refusing to answer questions because they don't want to, jim. >> and i think that's exactly right. i think, you know, the questions that are being asked about michael cohen and the potential for selling access to the president through all these companies is not just swamp-like behavior, when the president pr

michael. and said look, there's one thing about this guy, this president, and he says that just if you're a company doing -- this is michael -- if you're a company doing business with him, nobody knows how he's going to react. nobody understands the mind of donald trump. his kids do and i'm probably next in line and he believes that's valuable to companies. that's michael's point of view. whether that money was going to trump, all i can say is this and clearly i have no knowledge of that, is that every time i think why would this guy who is worth $1 billion, he says 10, be getting involved in trump university to get an extra $100 in his pocket. could this president possibly say, wow, maybe i can make an extra few hundred grand by getting these -- you go that's not possible. but then you go of course it's possible. clearly none of us know the answer to that. michael, as i said, he, when i spoke to him yesterday, he said i'm still in a fighting mood, he said corey lewandoski got $2 million. whet

confused with the actual michael cohen? is that what happened? >> we didn't get confused, wolf, we here in the process of running into ground what happened there. it's a total of $25,000 worth of transactions out $306 million and if you add up the additional $800,000 that came to light when novartis made their announcement, we were aware of that before we drafted our report, we didn't including for strategic reasons. we were aware of the $400,000 for at&t. that's about a 99.5% accuracy rate, i've taken a lot of tests, i'll take that on any exam. >> michael avenatti, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >>> just ahead, the corporate payments president trump's personal lawyer, what if the president did know about michael cohen's schemes? stay with us. >>> plus, breaking news, president trump speaking soon about the return of three americans from north korea, we'll take you live to his rally in indiana. we had long deployments in iraq. i'm really grateful that usaa was able to take care of my family while i was o

not by michael cohen's home equity loan but by at&t. at&t, korea aerospace, novartis and an investment fund tied to one of the richest men in russia. he is an oligarch. he is one of the original. he is one of the richest men in russia. he is considered to be close to vladimir putin. he was sanctioned last month by the u.s. government because of his links to putin as was his company. the firm that apparently paid michael cohen $500,000 and landed itself on the front page of the "new york times" right now, it's a private equity firm that used to call itself on its website the u.s. investment vehicle for the renova group. they have dropped that description on their website now that renova group and its founder have been sanctioned by the u.s. government. it's illegal to do business with him or the renova group. we learned last week that victor was stopped by federal agents working for robert mueller and his investigators as he landed in a private plane at a new york area airport in the past couple of months. mueller's team reportedly quest

michael cohen's lawyers make a great point on one thing which is we should not be looking at michaelank records. they were clearly gotten either through a government subpoena or civil litigation and they would have been protected because that is private personal information. in truth, none of us should be looking at michael cohen's personal banking information. anne milgram, thank you very much. >> randi kaye has been looking for him. she is outside the hotel. >> reporter: we think he is inside on this hotel in park avenue. we saw him returning. that was the last we have seen of him and earlier in the day we did catch up with him and able to ask him how he is doing and he said doing great and he thanked us for asking. we wanted to take a closer look at how much contact michael cohen has had with donald trump since trump became president. >> mr. trump's pit bull, i am his right hand man. >> reporter: but if you ask the white house what michael cohen is, they are already down-playing his role as just another lawyer. >> i am not aware of specific places where he is representing the pres

affiliate made to michael cohen after the election. >> stormy daniels's lawyer michael avenatti has brought out a lot of this new information. cnn has its own reporting as well and what we're dealing with is evidence of a series of payments to michael cohen's consulting company, the same one he used to payoff stormy daniels to stay silent about her alleged affair with donald trump. michael avenatti will join us here on "new day" in just minutes. let begin our coverage with abby phillips live at the white house. >> reporter: we're learning some new details today about michael cohen, the president's personal lawyer and his finances. his ties to a company that's linked to a russian oligarch who was sanctioned by the u.s. for election meddling. that oligarch cnn has learned has been questioned by the mueller investigative team and we also have some new details about what the investigators asked him about. cnn has learned that special counsel robert mueller's investigators questioned russian oligarch viktor vekselberg about hundreds of thousands of dollars his company's u.s. affiliate columbus n

michael was my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> so, he said he didn't know and michael cohen has said all along that he did not -- that the president did not pay him back, sara. >> that's right. and there was another question, and the tape didn't go that long, that they asked the president on air force one that day, they asked him do you know where michael cohen got the money to make that poimt? and president trump says no, i don't know. there's no mention of this notion that he repaid him. michael cohen as you pointed out has said he's done this on his own. the striking thing about this is rudy giuliani new to the president's team but the president and his allies felt like is this would bring much-needed star power to their team and firepower, that he could be someone out there defending the president and take a harder line when it came to the mueller investigation but he seemed to have created another mess. the notion that you would have this attorney come on and not know the details of this arrangement or what his client has publicly said about this arrangement when we jus

you just saw, that is michael cohen's opponent or maybe at this point nemesis michael aven photo. he's behind these leaks. he has been pushing the case. as we always emphasize, we want to give you the context. he has his own perspective in this. you will note what that company saided is same thing michael avenotti said, two different courses saying cohen was trying to sell access. >> that would be a separate crime. to the company that said this novartis got a pulled into a potential scheme. it would have a legal and fiduciary duty to tell the feds about it. as i mentioned they're saying tonight this was something cohen said for access to donald trump, for the government. i can tell you. i think you might agree, this is the kind of thing bob mueller would want to know. well, we have more for you tonight. the news that had not leaked when this all came out last night. >> that company's staff has already told bob mueller about all of this over half a year ago. that's according to novartis officials speaking out today emphasizing their cooperation. up until last night, there were no p

you have to speak to michael. he is my attorney. >> more now on this from cnn national politics reporter mj lee. she joins me. mj, what are you learning about the allegations avenatti is making a number of other payments made into this account held by cohen? >> anderson, there is a lot of to digest here. according to avenatti, cohen received significant amounts of money from a number of entities, payments avenatti says call into question cohen's business tactics. take a look here. we have $500,000 from columbus nova, a u.s. company linked to a russian oligarch. we also have $400,000 from novartis, which is a pharmaceutical company. there is also $200,000 from at&t and $150,000 from korea aerospace industries. so that is a significant inflow of money into the bank account of trump's personal lawyer that we are learning about for the first time tonight. >> has there been a response from these companies? i know there has been from some of them. >> that's right. we are starting to hear back from some of these companie

michael was my attorney and he -- >> so, he said he didn't know and michael cohen has said all alonghat he did not -- that the president did not pay him back, sara. >> that's right. and there was another question, and the tape didn't go that long, that they asked the president on air force one that day, they asked whether you know where michael cohen got the money that day to make the payment. the president said no. michael cohen said he's done this on his own. the striking thing about this is rudy giuliani knew to the president's team but the president and his allies felt like this was pretty much needed fire power to their team and thought he could be someone out there publicly defending the president and someone who would take a harder line when it came to the mueller investigation. he seem to have created another mess. the notion you'd have the torn come on and not know the details of this arrangement, when we just saw michael cohen's home and office raided is stunning. >> cue the giuliani bite, i think the question was did he know about the payment. i forget the question that wa

we do know that michael cohen does have, this is one more reason michael cohen has to be concerned. another question that reporters are starting to ask -- question about the tens of millions of dollars that michael cohen made swapping apartments. and yet he was so strapped for money that he had to take out home loan credit extension on his in-laws' home loan to pay $120,000, $130,000 pay-off. so more and more stories are rising that suggest at least that investigators need to see, if michael cohen was just setting up shell corporations and money was flowing through those corporations and going to donald trump or the trump organization. >> michael is in deeper than we knew. we thought essential consulting llc was set up as it was, two weeks before the election just to make this pay-off to stormy daniels if you read through the documents that nbc has independently looked through, it's clear that there was a lot more going on here. what was going on was payment for access to the president through michael cohen, who was merely an attorney and a friend to the president. was not working i

>> you'd have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> okay. three weeks after that, on april the 26th, trump spoke again about the issue. this time he called fox&friends and he revealed this important detail. >> as a percentage of my overall legal work, a tiny, tiny little frakt fraction. but michael would represent me and represent me on some things. he represents me like with this crazy stormy daniels deal, he represented me. >> he represents me like with this crazy stormy daniels deal. which brings us to last night. when former new york mayor rudy giuliani told fox news host sean hannity that trump reimbursed cohen for that payment. >> that money was not campaign money. sorry. i'm giving you a fact now that you don't know. it's not campaign money. no campaign finance violation. >> so they funneled it through the law firm? >> funneled through the law firm and the president repaid it. >> oh. i didn't know -- he did? >> yep. >> but do you know the president didn't know about this? i believe that's what -- >> didn't know about the specifics of

that comes from michael cohen's opponent, michael avenatti. breaking right now he's released information, seven pages which i'm going to walk through and this tweet where he talks about the allegation that michael cohen received half a million dollars in the months after the 2016 election from a company controlled by russian oligarch who has been sanctioned by the united states and linked to putin. this is breaking allegation. nbc news has not been able to confirm this material. we don't have the underlying documents from the bank and we don't have a full response from mr. cohen. i promise to bring it to you as soon as we get it. i do know and i can tell you that the very oligarch mentioned here in this material was in the only sanctioned by the u.s. treasury in april under the trump administration but he was also contacted by mueller's investigators who reportedly questioned him two months ago according to new york times. they snagged him as he flew into a new york area airport. he's not been identified as a suspect in connection with the mue

michael, attorneys for michael cohen firing back at michael avenotti, accusing him of releasing privatecords of a different man named michael cohen. so help us sort this out. does this take away from avenotti's credibility? >> i think it's always hard to come and try to litigate your case and put your evidence out in the media. it makes for good news stories. it gives us a lot to talk about the bottom line is if you do get into a situation, you have book and forth and people question the validity of the documents. we heard about the suspicious activity rarts dealing with the bank records. those are typically very secretive. they go to a financial crimes unit. the u.s. attorneys office usually has a representative looking over those do you means to find out have there, in fact, been suspicious activities with financial activities and banking accounts, it would be unusual and unheard of for someone outside of that investigative loop to have access to those sars reports. >> michael avenotti for his part fired back on 26th. he's saying mr. reince admission on behalf of mr. cohen is baseless

trump about michael flynn.xample, what efforts were made to michael flynn about seeking possibly immunity or possible pardon. now robert mueller already has information about that from michael flynn, doesn't he. >> absolutely. there was a lot of stories of john dowd having discussed pardons. so it's going to be hard to deny these things when the evidence is clear. i can't remember how long ago it was that rudy giuliani said i'll get this taken care of in a week or two, it'll be all wrapped up. i don't think we're anywhere near that, though. i want to be part of your law firm of rubin, kline and marcus. >> you're the senior partner. jill wine-banks thank you for joining us, i appreciate it. >>> we're now joined by phone by congressman eric swalwell. congressman you're a former prosecutor, you had a chance to look at these questions. i want to ask you as a tactician in a legal practice, i think a lot of people watching tonight will think this gives the president a great advantage to be able to get these questions

but i like michael cohen. >> i know you do. >> michael cohen is a friend of mine.e said to you on this network and other networks, frankly, i'm not going to run from my friends when they're in trouble. >> i fully understand that. that's why i'm having you on. i want some clarity. it does raise a lot of questions. he could have stopped and talked to reporters today. he could very well release the banking records that show here's where this money went to or -- >> unfortunately, because he is a potential defendant -- okay -- he hasn't been charged yet. he's innocent until proven guilty in our country. >> 100%. >> he hasn't been charged yet. he is between a rock and a hard place. they pinch you on this side because what your lawyers are going to tell you, white collar or criminal lawyers, can't say a word to the press. >> can you tell me confidently that none of that money that went into that company went to donald trump or the trump organization? >> look. good news for me and you, you know i'm a straight shooter. i honestly can't say that one way or the other because

my client did not approach michael cohen. did not have anyone approach michael cohen.hael cohen approached my client and her counsel in an effort to shut her up in the days before the election. >> and you can prove that? >> yeah, absolutely. 100%. i wouldn't be sitting here on television if i couldn't, george. all you have to do is look at what just happened in that interview to know that they're attempting to snow the american people. and when the facts and the evidence come out, this is going to be a disaster for michael cohen, the president, and now rudy giuliani. it's time for rudy giuliani to be put out to pasture. >> do you have any evidence that president trump knew in real time about the this agreement, about this payment? >> george, we have evidence that the president knew in the months at least following the campaign of this payment. certainly knew it long before his statement on air force one. in april of this year. where he -- effectively stood there and lied to the american people. about not knowing anything about this payment. and then, of course, rudy gi