mr. cohen remained a key grand jury witness in a case that donald trump now says will lead to donald trump's indictment. so what you're about to see tonight in all seriousness not because it's on msnbc and not because it's "the beat," because quite frankly because of the people involved, mr. cohen, will be a part of this legal history and a part of the path that donald trump himself claims will lead to his own indictment. that is just moment away. we always want to give you the context here, the reporting and the legal facts, and i want to chart for you before we bring in our guest, how the president of what comes next hit like a bombshell over this weekend. >> we have breaking news just now, former president donald trump posting on truth social that he will be arrested tuesday. >> protest. take our nation back. >> he's hoping to create fear that there will be another january 6th-type event or his followers will shoot up another fbi office. >> local and federal law enforcement are on alert as d

mr. cohen arrived just this afternoon at the manhattan criminal court. he did not speak to what was a growing group of reporters that we've seen assemble outside. cohen is scheduled to join me tonight as a live guest on "the beat" in the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. all of this amidst a fluid and fast-moving investigation. and it comes as trump's lawyers fire a separate salvo in the criminal probe in georgia. new today, which we will cover later in this program, right now, i want to bring in our guest but i want to begin with a few question questions as we deal with this very serious, very intense moment that has been reverberating, i think, these questions until at least since trump's saturday post. why would he be previewing his own possible arrest? what is the hard evidence at least in new york where all of this is coming to a head? and how should a nation committed to the rule of law respond to a former president now running for president who is, again, quite clearly undermining it? let's bring in the guests as promised, garrett haake outside the manhattan

costello wa representing mr. cohen, or vic versa. they are both lawyers. it's not clear they had an attorney client relationship even if they did, mr. cohe could waive that privilege there is some reason to thin that he has done that. mr. costello could be talkin about statements that were mad to mr. costello by mr. cohen that could happen. it is also, as noted, the case that mr. costello seems to hav close ties to rudy giuliani, steve bannon, and to the forme president himself. and, so he is aligned with people on the defense side i this matter. it is still very much an ope question as to what it is that donald trump and his tea thinks that mr. costello can say that would avoid a grand jury finding probable cause. it's a relatively low standard but, again, maybe there is som information that is strong tha would give people second thoughts about whether t believe mr. cohen, and maybe it's worth reporting that mr cohen, even if you disbelieved him, there seems to be so much other evidence about the so-called hush money payment that mr. cohen has been very co

they are going to provide any and all information about mr. cohen and mr.ery expeditious manner. >> they did provide information. mr. pecker, who cut previous deals for trump, appeared to cut one against trump. pecker's company helped the federal prosecutors, avoidede1 w%'secution for the company or mr. pecker and provided what appeared evidence]. about howe1t media company was collaborating with trump's campaign on plots, some executed, some onlyq attempted, that were all designedxd to secretly bury stories and buy thee1 silence o those women or find ways to do so, even if they didn't directly buy the stories. now, mr. pecker has every reason to are truthful to this juryd6■ today. continue to try to pute1 all th behind him. we know he wants to because of these prior deals he cut. that may be different from other fact witñ:qááqjok like allen weisselberg, who didn't cooperate and was convicted, but has never in any of this legale process coughed up muchok information directly negative or averse for donald trump. legally, that's one reason he is at rikers and

is mr. cohent if he is key to this >> this happens all the time mr. cohen is basically what's known as an accomplice witness, which means he was an accomplice to the defendant who committed the crime. i have used accomplice witnesses as a prosecutor numerous times i have one guy who within five minutes of his direct testimony i had him admit to 12 murders that he personally committed and yet i convicted everybody with this guy he was -- >> because you got the jury to see it didn't matter if he was bad in the eyes of the law, he was saying something provably true about seasoomebody else th was bad. >> i asked the jury look at the other evidence, the other witnesses who testified. listen to the tapes. listen -- look at the documents that - >> i am going to push you along. i am not going to treat you like you are a current lawyer for a former president you know, there are different levels i am going to push you there is another issue facing at least the history in the d.a.'s office mr. pom ranerantz

>> oh, he knew about everything, yes. >> thank you, mr. cohen. n four years after michael cohen made those

i'll tell you what else we learned, listening to mr. cohen, he rebutted what mr. costello said. all of this leaves us following what trump started on saturday, a conversation about whether he'll be indicted but we have no reportable information that it would be tomorrow. that's the president's claim. as for the process, we'll keep following. if you want to connect with me, i'll remind you here, you can always connect with me on arimelber.com or @arimelber on social media. you can tell us what you thought of the dueling accounts from mr. costello and mr. cohen on this big case. thanks for spending time with "the beat" with ari melber. "the reidout" with joy reid is up next. >>> tonight on "the reidout" -- >> folks, honestly, she's guilty as hell. she's guilty as hell. i will say this. hillary clinton has to go to jail. okay. she has to go to jail. >> the party that has campaigned for more than six years on their plans to lock up their political opponents, well now they're crying foul now that one of their own, donald trump, is facing possible indictments for actual crimes. >>> an

two hours before his testimony to the grand jury said when he was working with mr. cohen, mr. ld him that cohen had paid off stormy daniels to protect melania, who had just had a baby and called mr. cohen completely unreliable. and here's the research that things won't happen today. the grand jury doesn't meet today. tuesday they are off. so, tomorrow, if they do hear from another witness, that would take place at that point at which time they might decide whether or not all right, we ready to vote? let's vote. >> katie: people have acted like michael cohen was the only one that knew what was going on with the grand jury and alvin bragg working with donald trump. clearly costello knows the facts of the case. pushing back on cohen saying is he a serial liar. a history of not being honest or truthful. we will see. we know alvin bragg is ideological person came into office wanting to take down donald trump. the fate here lies in the hands of the members of the grand jury. see if they're just as ideological as alvin bragg. >> steve: it is new york. >> katie: not to be the best plac

mr. cohen pleaded guilty. t as far as influencing and making payments in connection with the election, that's a violation. but here, mr. bragg should listen to those who are saying you may have the right person, it's the wrong case. maria: well, and i guess that's why there was such disarray in his office. now republicans want to know about what went on. they want to hear from two new york city prosecutors who left bragg's office in protest over his handling of the trump case. jim jordan writes this. last year you resigned from the office of bragg's initial reluctance to move forward with charges. shaming bragg in your resignation letter, we request your cooperation with our oversite. randy, where is this going? >> unfortunately, we cannot get lost in the politicalization, it's politicizing, i'll do it easier, the politicizing, weaponizing of prosecutorial resources for political gain. this is not a republican thing. this is not a democrat thing. this is a crime thing, a law and order thing. either the law was

mr. cohenw3chuck, what are the possib outcomes here for donald trump? >> well, if he is indicted, i think it's -- ite1 seems likely andrea, he is going to have to go before a judge, be arraigned. he willy1 have to be processed. that required photographs and fingerprints.xd those are all rather predictable and flow organically from an indictment. i want to touch on one thing barbara said. a grand jury's role is morefáñr limited. they only need to find probable cause. it's a relatively low standard and appropriately so. it's not the standard you need to convict someone at trial, which is proof beyond a reasonable doubt.t(e1 probably felt it didn't nee rebut everything mr. costello said in the grand jury about mr. cohen. criminals often testify at the trial of other accused w3 criminals. it happens all the time. if you want to know how a crime was committed, talk to a criminal. if you want to know how a library works, talk to a librå9ñ the governmentw3 won't build it case solely on the testimony o

mr. cohen went to prison. the new lawyers are attacking mr. en blaming him for everything that happened in new york. mr. corcoran is now where, in the middle stage of the transition mr. cohen went through. they both share a client who very clearly lies in public. if he lied about classified documents order lied about the taxes or payments in new york, both coos indictable. we could learn about all that have relatively soon. i want to bring in lawyers who know all about this to former federal prosecutors, david kelly, former chief of the southern district of new york, my former boss, and joyce vance, former u.s. attorney as well. it's a tie in rank. you both have held that top post, but given the intrigue in new york, david, i will start with you. when you take it all together, i mentioned they have donald trump in common. sometimes i ask questions that are very, hopefully, very sophisticated. that one was very simple, david, for the simple point it's rare to see this many lawyers in this much heat. first, i want to know what you think about new

mr. costello's y÷dehw?Ñ mcdougal because michael cohen had a tape recording of a conversation with donald trump talking finance will be9 any. what we do know is if charges are brought, it's becausedta7 is --Ñ there's nottha÷■ to be charges brought without it.zmjs÷ whether or not there's a conviction. but if you're going to run for public office and you already have a public record of this kind of behavior and you're going to run for office, you definitely want Ñb+■>%+ja do evg in your"u@r po credibility of anyruzeg3j v mviacquitted, mviacquitted, butizsk?éña' i would argue he d acquitted. no lawyer would say this is a smart strategy. >> you want to kind of hypotheticalize it, if you really thought you could win. if it was a video game and you wf it was a video game and you %9 speedy trial, whichhn=bvq:■Ñao■ do, and beat the case, you c look how good i÷ the reality tv thing we all know about, and the other idea of/a g■ do t person who said this. we hadÑhs÷cbq] guest on y=Ñ tha■ said, yeah, rung circlesoa÷■ ar mueller when you always had checkmate because it was a federal case, is different than getting indicted

mr. cohen's claim a challenge for the prosecution. mrs. daniels will be portrayed for a person of unbelief because of her statements and trump will say she's been paid to tell different stories and why should she be paid now in a circus like trump trial. eric, independent, good morning. go ahead. yeah, thank god for c-span. it's a bad day for america. this is a bad precedent. i remember back when the supreme court nominees were brought in with respect and as long as they were all a fight, they came in and they were not right or left and now it's almost a war every time. this is unprecedented. criminally charged political enemies especially former president's, the bob guy had it right. he's a crook but they don't know why, they just want him in jail. i washed my hands of trump after january 6. but now, i'm back on board. host: because of these charges? caller: yeah, he was in idiot on january 6. he let his ego get out of control in my opinion. he needs to keep his mouth shut and let the lawyers do the work and is no way he's going to get 12

his one time fixer michael cohen will testify that mr. trump directed them to pay off stormy daniels and that the former president reimbursed mr. cohen and helped cover the whole thing up. but salacious details alone do not make a case. prosecutors must also work within the law, and the district attorney, alvin bragg, may have to pull off a difficult maneuver connecting the hush money cover-up, the potential violation of state law, to a federal election. the indictment is sealed for now, meaning its contents are not yet known. mr. bragg could have charged any number of -- but there is a possibility that the case relies on a legal theory that has never been evaluated by a judge. the new york times reviews and interviews with election law experts strongly suggest that new york state prosecutors have never before filed an election law case involving a federal campaign. bringing an untested case against anyone, let alone a former president, -- a court co;uld throw out or narrow the case. the case could hinge on the way that mr. trump and his

is mr. cohen seeking revenge here? given what you just said, i'm interested, what if the manhattan da decides not to indict mr. trump? then what? -- >> we will respect what the case is about, with the facts are about. let's just talk about mr. costello. i can't comment to you on what happened in that grand jury room, when he testified. i can only say we came and waited for two hours, and case michael cohen was needed to contradict mr. costello. and we were told, he was not needed. secondly, in today's daily beast, mr. costello's emails speak for themselves. one email says, in an email to his partner, we need to keep up the appearance that we're trying to help mr. cohen. when mr. giuliani and the president don't want us to let on that what we really know is to keep him in the tenth. so, mr. costello is simply doing what trump always does, to deflect from the merits of the case, did trump commit a crime by instructing michael cohen to commit -- to pay the hush money. and then he wrote checks as a sitting president, for $

thinking back to mr cohen's testimony in congress. ah we know that mr cohen, at least, has what he thinks is evidence of a lot of financial fraud that this was not a one off that this is more part and parcel allegedly of the way the trump organization did business, all right, so if he appears before the judge next week, the judge could place restrictions. we know that that the former president is active on social media. he voiced some opinion about this right after the indictment came down. what can we expect in that regard of what do you what will you be looking for? well, i think it will be interesting. to see if the judge immediately imposes some sort of a gag order on the lawyers on both sides as well as mr trump and maybe people working at the direction of mr trump's that usual or unusual could go with that. i would say it's unusual, but under certain circumstances , it does come up. same bank been freed, which is another prominent case. maybe he's watching today because he's in house arrest in palo alto. he has restrictions seve

he was invoiced by cohen for legal fees. >> i want to button up on mr. pomeranz if you are correct, what you say to the d.a. defense an ever view that he no longer works there, they got rid of him -- >> he resigned. >> he did. what do you say of your view, whatever you think of him, even if you're right he made chargeable mistakes, that doesn't vieduate and destroy this case against your client. >> i would say according to alvin bragg it caused a problem, because alvin bragg said this compromises their grand jury investigation. that was the d.a. saying that regardless of that -- regardless of that, just foecus on these facts these facts do not make up a crime. they don't they just don't. there is nothing criminal about what happened in the stormy daniels payments >> you make your point there i'm not going to ask you to answer for everything donald trump has said, but you are his lawyer here's what he's saying on the legal front, new from his most recent speech at cpac. take a look. >> if you put me back in the white house, their reign is over i am your w

from tennessee mr. cohen per. >> thank you mr. gerry first mrs. rockwell, i was hearing you testified and i'm very sorry about your son and the circumstances of your husband as well. to the university of wisconsin milwaukee after son's overdose, do anything to start to inform students about drugs and give some type of public interest public information? >> i'm sorry to be question collected wisconsin, milwaukee do anything? >> university? >> yes, ma'am. >> they did after we respectfully push them and continue to push them. we were able to get boxes installed across the campus. and then we were also able to have them instill a freshman program so the students were aware of what to do and the signs, et cetera, posters up and all those kinds of things. >> thank you for what you did. you know if that's been done in other colleges? >> in wisconsin specifically 90% of the university of wisconsin system does have the boxes and they are following suit with that. but every school is different. there's not a unified approach at this point. >> they have like

this group of prosecutors developed this case , and i would also remind mr trump's lawyers that mr cohen and myself regard mr trump innocent until proven guilty. he's entitled to the protection of the very constitution that he was ready to repudiate. and he's innocent until proven guilty. so that's at least start with that note. so just to be clear that you're saying you think from what you understand your exposure to the grand jury, your client, michael cohen, obviously central to this testifying in front of that grand jury that you believe that there is going to be an indictment for multiple crimes because of the evidence that that you're aware of one correction. i was not in the grand jury room next door next door and consulting with michael every so often, but yes, i have no doubt. after months and months and months of being exposed to this case, and mr cohen being questioned about the case and observing this group of professional meticulous, careful , very discreet prosecutors that this is about facts, documents, text messages, other witnesses, not just mr cohen. it's a very strong

clifford and neither reimburses mr. cohen and this they go on to say neither cohen or llc made in kind contributions to you. your campaign per president or any presidential campaign committee. and that he was not a government employee at the time. and the payment in question does not constitute a campaign contribution that is your star witness j. he probably did this to ingrateiate thoimg me that would be may be mart to do but probably did that to ingrateiate himself. if you electric at the letter it is perfect. you have others that this say it would not have mattered there was no campaign contribution, et cetera. the you look at that letter and spells it morek ritly the fac looked at this and turned it down >> fac, doj, previous man at that time an da and alvin brag originally yoochl he turn today down >> you know who else bob mueller. this is history y. i will be clear you did not post the picture of you with i baseball bat in the oval on whiches next to the picture with brag? >> i posted a positive article and whatever pic

presidential election, mr. cohenlitate a payment of $130,000 to stormy daniels. neither the trump organization or campaign was a party to the transaction and neither reimbursed mr. cohen for the payment directly or indirectly. was that the lie or was everything that he told other investigators the lie? which is it? >> well, that's the problem, of course, when you are trying to establish ultimately when you get to trial proof beyond a reasonable doubt. this creates a reasonable doubt as to what the intention was in the payment of this money and also what donald trump may have been thinking when this was done. that's the reason that the prosecution of people like john edwards collapsed. there are various reasons why a celebrity or well-known person would pay hush money. you have to establish here that it was the sole purpose to evade election laws. that's a very difficult proposition and why the department of justice likely refused to bring this case. so bragg is trying to do something that may be unprecedented. trying

clifford, and neither reimbursed mr. cohen. once again, mr. cohen, the star witness, unraveling the case, good luck, alvin bragg. >> the way you laid it out is exactly right. congress does have a keen interest in what's going on there. the congress can pretty much investigate anything at anytime. it suggests they can't do it because it's an ongoing investigation, hogwash. that's never slowed down congress ever. there's zero precedence for that. what jim jordan is saying is right. the key are the two prosecutors who quit. think about it. they quit and then wrote a book. they've essentially been campaigning on this, promising they were going to get trump, all about trump, the fact he's running for president, that he's been successful, that his policies were working. they can't afford, as the progressive democratic movement, to allow donald trump back into the political arena because he disrupts them. that disruption is just totally counter to what they want to accomplish. >> if i could say one sentence, if a congressional committee can get my soc

mr. cohen is someone who practiced law. many cohen met with prosecutors 20 times what's different between today and wednesday, if you're saying, why is tonight different from all other nights these are presentations to the grand jury itself, best as we can tell, which means this is kind of the final closing bit of evidence and then decisions are made we don't know what those decisions will be "the new york times" used the word likely, and we quoted that a lot, because that's pretty striking but no one can tell you beyond an estimation what comes next. that's why it's a process. the grand jury system has to have its say but this is near the end of what would be the presentation of that trump's confidants have also gone under oath. the ex wife of trump convicted cfo weisselberg testified today. we here at msnbc has not been able to confirm that, but it's striking who's going in as they wrap this up we know insiders like kellyanne conway and hope kicks, a long time trump confidant before the political era and when donald trump

mr. cohen's federal case the fbi noted that she participated in a phone call with mr. trump and mr. for her story. ms. hicks also spoke with mr. cohen the day after he wired the $130,000 to ms. daniels' lawyer. prosecutors are likely to want to know whether she was privy to any conversations or other information about mr. cohen's dealings with ms. daniels' representatives or how the hush money payment was arranged. hicks, however, has testified before congress that she was not present for any conversation in which cohen and trump discussed the hush money. she has also said that she was unaware of the deal with ms. daniels at the time it was arranged. an interesting tightrope i guess, that she was the fixer but wasn't aware of any of those conversations. what does she say to you as a witness? >> well, first, to back up pete, they know already, the watch-word as a prosecutor, you don't put her in until you know exactly what she's going to say and exactly how she's going to help. she's a little bit akin to cassidy hutchinson i'd say, nicolle, in that she is a solid witness with really

clifford, and neither reimbursed mr. cohen for payment directly or indirectly and that they go on to say that neither cohen or llc made any incoming contributions to you, your campaign for president, or any presidential campaign committee, and that he was not a government employee at the time, and the payment in question does not constitute a campaign contribution. that's their star witness. >> he probably did that to ingreatate himself to me. because that would be maybe smart to do, from his standpoint. >> so, it was smart, donald trump say it's was smart for michael cohen to pay off stormy daniels to ingratiate himself to me. everything sean hannity presented in defense of donald trump is from michael cohen before michael cohen flipped and became a witness for the government against donald trump, and before michael cohen pleaded guilty to his crimes in the stormy daniels payoff in the federal case. sean hannity also tried to testify for donald trump about the government documents including top-secret documents found at donal

she was the person mr. cohen alerted after making the payment, he wrote in his 2020 memoir. i called trump to confirm that the transaction was completed, and the documentation all in place, but he didn't take my call. obviously a very bad sign, in hindsight, he wrote. instead, he wrote, ms. conway called and said she'd pass along the good news. joining us now, glenn kershner, former federal crown prosecutor and host of the justice matters podcast. then, great to see. what do you make of this news, and doesn't seem the manhattan investigation is escalating, and if so, to what? >> yes, jonathan, the kellyanne conway plea piece is really interesting and potentially really important as a piece of evidence that provides some additional support to the notion that there was a campaign finance conspiracy going on between michael cohen and donald trump, because if you recall michael cohen paid off stormy daniels $130, 000, really to very deeply damaging information about donald trump, hide that from the american voters. and we now know that when he, michael cohen, called donald trump

so, for example, are these really separate offenses or my understanding is that mr cohen got a number of checks from mr trump, allegedly to cover the money that mr cohen had fronted . now each one of those checks be considered a separate charge. we don't know. will there be other charges? that really we don't know about? and will it seem as if there are 30 separate offenses or whether we're kind of chopping up? the same offenses into different charges . certainly there will be some will be felonies. some will be misdemeanors, but we'll get a much better idea on tuesday, so i assume that the entire document will be released on tuesday to the public will see well, considering the gravity of the situation, president indicted and how unusual that is, right. do you think the judge will permit cameras in the courtroom? because i would thank mr trump would like that. i'll bet he would. uh i don't think that they do that in new york. i just don't know, but i don't think so. that's a really good question whether that will be allowed or not. certainly reporters will be in the room. there'll be

mr. cohen has recordings which i played for the benefit of mr.opina -- >> they're murky though. >> they're murky and about the tabloid being involved for the trial, it's going to be quite specific the fall guy here we know is mr. cohen. that part is not a mystery. >> he already fell he already served time. >> the fall guy fell so the fall guy is on the ground they're saying the guy on the ground did all this. that for a jury becomes a question of why. why would someone take a risk and go to prison for the benefit of donald trump? that's a convicted case. why would he do all that to believe part of their defense is to believe that someone went out of their way to deceive then president trump about those later payments. >> we're waiting to see michael cohen come out of the grand jury room he'll talk to reporters. we'll wait to see whether a decision on charges comes today or tomorrow. ari, thank you very much. >>> more breaking news this time from capitol hill. former los angeles eric garcetti was finally confirmed to be the ambassador to indiana i

cohen? >> is there any independent evidence that mr. trump said to mr. cohen you need to do this, i don't want to do this? that may come down to mr. cohen's word versus mr. trump's. liz: could be he said he said, sol. >> yes. but not only that, remember, like hans started to point out, the statute of limitations for a misdemeanor in new york for this misdemeanor falseification of business records is two years. they can only up that to a felony which has a longer statute of limitations if they can say that the falseification was carried out in order to commit a felony. as hans pointed out the federal government declined to prosecute the case was so weak. i think there will be some real legal difficulties, forget about anything else. again you ask yourself the question, would anybody else be prosecuted for this, not only given the time-lapse, seriousness, lack of seriousness of the offense, the problems with prosecuting it? liz: hans, given what sol just said, reportedly cohen said he is being asked to be available to be called in as a rebuttal witness. if

and neither reimbursed mr. cohen for the payment directly or indirectly. wow.ell, here now is former acting attorney general during the trump administration, matthew whitaker. matt . now, is this an exculpatory document that could change the debate here and perhaps change where this case is going? >> yeah, it's good to be with you tonight. i think it does two things. first of all, it gives monday's witness, robert costello, a lot of credibility because that's what he's saying. it has been consistent throughout. and now michael cohen has been on both sides. and as you know, prosecutors love to ask, were you telling the truth then? or are you telling the truth now? i think it really is giving the prosecution team pause when they think about putting this not only in front of the grand jury or trying to get them to vote to indict president trump. but ultimately, in front of a jury trial. and what those 12 citizens will think with this evidence. >> now, the sense is that if something happens, it will happen early next week. in this build up, i think is also working

caller: mr. cohen, i wanted to know, the last time that i remember that they were talking about the budget, it was $73 billion to educate the illegal aliens coming into our country. i wanted to know because that was from kindergarten to college. i want to know that's part of the budget as well and can't you cut some of that? guest: i cannot speak to that program. if you look at the question of education funding that's a state issue. i think public schools are available to any resident of the united states. host: to the larger issue of the southern border, what is the plan generally for republicans as far as legislation or hearings out of these committees? what is the status? guest: there has been some disagreement. this is the issue within the republican conference which is causing the most consternation. more conservative house republicans and moderate republicans are battling in the group led by tony gonzales is pushing back against what some of the harder -- higher ranking republicans are opposing w

trump at th time mr. cohen went to jail. his replacement, mr. saka peÑa trying to blame the thrust o any crime that did occur on th former lawyer, mr. cohen it is what legally, alex, we would call a total mess. >> yeah, to say the. lisa thank you for that lisa has struggled on that so we will go to you now were you surprised by th announcement, lisa and from of legal perspective, what does it mean for trump to say that he will be arrested would somebody who's potentially being charged in a case like this, would that person be informed and kno beforehand >> they would likely know, alex, to some degree beforehand. particularly if they are ragin for a voluntary surrender. that having been said, whe trump uses the word arrest, he intends it in an incendiary way, and it doesn't necessarily mean, as ranking confirm, that the defendant is handcuffed an perp walked. it can mean what happened with allen weisselberg where yo make arrangements to show up a new york criminal court and be books. that processing includes fingerprinting and photographing or a

corcoran, mr. cohen, mr. costello. >> make attorneys get attorneys, and you also are in the situation where attorneys may be the key witnesses in cases against donald trump where you are mr. cohen, mr. costello, may have mr. cipollone, a whole series of lawyers testifying to what happened in the same way related to my own life, don mcghan was so central to our report in terms of what he was asked to do by the former president, and refused to do, so i think you're going to see a lot of lawyers, sort of the tip of the iceberg, i think, in terms of what we're going to be covering in the next few months. >> jackie, zoom out for us, where does this go from here? >> another great question that's still a moving target. i mean, we know that the special counsel has been pressing to call in witnesses as quickly as possible. that mandate was given to prosecutors to get people in front of the grand jury and pick up the pace, and you can see that just in the publicly reported subpoenas that have been issued to a number of

they met some 20 times or so with mr. cohen and they didn't know that he had spoken don with bob costello, that bob costello had done a debriefing with the us attorney's office. this opens all kinds of floodgates. they must demand notes fm th nom the u.s. attorney's office. bob costello is the former deputy chief of the southern district of new york u.s. attorney's office. he was represented ihenn in t debriefings by the former chiefe of the criminal division irnn d the southern district.ibility, he's entitled to great credibility and they only heard frofrom begrudgingly. they only let the grand jury hear six of his three hundred thirty emails. and he had to continually keep telling the story about what hed knew . they had eight prosecutors in there. they didn't want the grandn'nt y to hear the case. >> they didn't they didn't wante to hear from him at all.ry. this he volunteered to go into the grand jury.t th prd this is whate 11 this was at the 11th hour, apparently. going i mean, first it was formerre president trump is goin

mr cohen acted in coordination with and at the direction of donald trump.so in common went to prison where he belongs right? he committed a crime. we have short memories in washington, but the system i think it can hold up for this, and the question of two systems of justice is going to be the center of this. so you lock up one guy because he's not powerful and rich and well connected. the way trump is, but we're just gonna take a pass on mr trump again. i'd rather the cases moved to the more consequential places than the new york case. i'm not very interested in this right. that's that's not how it works. right individual prosecutors in each case they make their decisions are just quick thought. before we go quickly. you know, from a political standpoint, we're all looking forward to 2021 talking about real issues that real americans care about. um, this is certainly not one of them, but i truly believe, and it appears this will help donald trump in the republican primary because he is rallying the base like never before, but this is not what general elect

w what the charge is expected dealing with the hush money payment made by mr. cohenthe behest he says of mr. trump to buy her silence in order to have it not come out on the eve of the 2016 election. the difficulties with this case, andone would say ce is easy, isak misdemr chargorfalsying busines because the payments back to michael cohen are written off as legal fees against retainer, take those as falsifying business records, you couple them with a federal election violation, in order to up the misdemeanor to a felony. that's a unique theory. it is novel. it has not been tested before. but alvin bragg certainly feels that it will pass muster under the law. ultimately, will the case go to trial? i believe so, if there is an indictment. will the case be won while a jury in manhattan may want to convict donald trump on the evidence presented, the question may be for a judge as to whether or not the facts constitute a crime under the laws of new york. keep in mind one other thing, margaret, this may not be the only charge. there may be tax evasion charges and may be o

cod be very, very problematic.fá >> it really could, because wha only been born on the since cohen shifted. mrrshowe1 + voice, in that to try to use the tabloid to bury the story. a lot changed. cohen wentñrw3çó to w3prison. avenatti was convicted of defrauding clients like stormyx daniels and convicted of an q what is not even as some of these individuals have run into their own legalxdt( problems. then you have alvin bragg who i÷ now obviously in the sights of donald trump. i have a report on that later c he has becomeçóçó famous to man people to viewers or trumpe1 fa learning about him asq an public enemy or many other peoplew3 seeing him as someone o might do what other prosecutors haven't done, w.tict donald çóçó trump/ before he became a nationalok name, he was running for this job, and here's what he heard from him right here. >> you mentionedxdi=$tájjt afte mayors, but an ex-president is different. it is more !u■pressure. t thatxd thisjfp,■ offi, the d.a. has the lege■ authoj to indict the next president ifq warranted? >> okcertainly.lpÑie1 i actually haven't heard any argument to the

documents text messages, other witnesses, not just mr cohen. it's a very strong factual case . trump denies having an affair with both women. stormy daniels reacted to the indictment tweeting. i have so many messages coming in that i can't respond and don't want to spill my champagne. meanwhile donald trump jr coming to his father's defense, calling the charges communist level, this is stuff that would make mows. stalin. pol pot. it would make them blush. according to politico, the d a wanted trump to surrender today, but his lawyer said the secret service needs more time to prepare. let's turn now to a bcs morgan norwood outside of that courthouse here in new york city, where security is being ramped up. morning. good morning. good morning to you, ryan and here in lower manhattan. after more than a week of preparations, the nypd is deploying all across the city to tighten security. this morning police on high alert on the heels of trump's indictment . what's important now is to keep an eye on certain areas which people will gather the nypd out in full force today, with all off

trump would beg to differ, but the argument is that mr. cohen wrote a check out or gave a $130000.00 to this stormy name as hush money as they call it. as an n d a, which is very common to keep quiet, to go away. and that later president trump in his office or his team reimbursed michael cohen phase for this. now, is there anything wrong with that? no. is it against the law? no. so what's the big deal? the predecessor district attorney cyrus vance said this case go stinks. i don't want to have anything to do with it. later mr. brian came along and he initially said, this case smells even worse because over time, cases don't get better. i want nothing to do with this, get the federal government who would be handling cedric elections. type of offences wanted nothing to do with it. albany did. and all of a sudden, scotty, all of a sudden alvin brag. who is a beneficiary of the sorrows machine says, i'm going to em paddle a grand jury. and we're going to do the following. we're going to claim that under this rather obscure new york statute that trump falsified business records are docume

and they're going to ask mr. cohen, were you lying then? or are you lying? now? how do we know when you're telling the truth? this is going and then you're going to bring stormy daniels. this is her of professional name. you're going to bring her just think about this cavalcade of witnesses, and your 1st witness, the main witness for alvin brag. the district attorney here in new york is a convicted felon. but i mean, this is your, this is your, your lead off. going to be. it's gotta be incredibly, lionel we so appreciate coming in the program on giving us your view on all that. i'm sure we'll be speaking in the near future again on any, on all developments line, all legal on media analyst on r t. thank you. thank you, sir. ah, the european union sage relations with china are dependent on the country stumps into ukrainian conflicts suggesting beijing should follow the western lead agenda. however, that does not fit with the principles of a multi polar world order that china is pushing for something that's concerning brussels. any piece plan which, what in effect,

trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction and neither reimbursed mr. cohens matthew whitaker. could this change where this case is going? >> michael cohen has been on both side. prosecutors love to ask were you telling the truth then or now? it's giving the prosecution team pause putting this this front of a grand jury and trying to get them to vote president trump and ultimately a jury trial and ha those 12 citizens will think about this evidence. >> laura: the build-up is working in donald trump's favor in the court of public opinion. i had a couple of democrat friends of mine from college who are going the democrats are going to screw this up. they take it a step too far. we saw it with mueller and now seeing it again. i think in the end this is not a smart move. forget the case is ridiculous. politically, i don't think this plays well at all. >> no, this plays into the way that donald trump has been portrayed as a victim of the left's pursuit of him. it makes him stronger in his base. i think you're absolutely right. the left will overplay this. this cas

towards daniels $ 130,000 so that she would not tell anyone about their affair in 2006 for many years, mr. cohen as if he was above the law, he considered himself and openly called the decisive trump. he played by his own rules. more precisely, in general, the entire rules of the lawyer michael cohen, through whom the bribe was made in 2018 detained. true, he was imprisoned on other charges and he testified against his ex. if we discard the moral side, then everything that trump is suspected of is only an administrative violation of financial reports . a bribe to a porn actress was carried out as the provision of legal services, but the manhattan prosecutor believes that this is the case. it may well become a criminal and hara dispute. ballista democrats, these terrible investigations that left-wing radicals and democrats are conducting against your most popular president, me, this is the continuation of the most disgusting hunt for witches in the history of our country, the republicans demanded an explanation from the prosecutor of manhattan, how it happened that the case of a bribe, which is a

week, grand jurors hearing dueling accounts former trump fixer turned fierce critic michael cohen allening mr. trump gave him $130,000 in 2016 to buy daniels' silence >> in is about donald trump being held accountable for his own dirty deeds, plain and simple >> reporter: while tonight cohen's former legal adviser robert costello asked to testify at the request of mr. trump's legal team, blasting cohen's credibility. >> if they want to go after donald trump and the have solid evidence, so be it, but michael cohen is far from solid evidence >> reporter: mr. trump making hleadlines, saying he'd be arrested and calling for protests but house republicans vowing to question alvin bragg before congress >> trump announced was running for president again and now they're coming after him for an alleged bookkeeping error? you got to be kidding me >> that's an example of pursuing a political agenda >> reporter: but also a veiled shot at the former president >> i don't mow what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair i just, i can't speak to that. >>