intent is something that only is within mr trump's head it's not something that mr cohen would know about for certain but it may well be that in the discussions cohen had with mr trump mr trump said i can't let this information out about my affairs it will damage my campaign and if he testifies to that that is direct evidence of intent and this is not a novel i remember john edwards who was a presidential candidate two thousand and eight he also was charged and prosecuted is ultimately acquitted for money to his mistress to silence information about having a baby so this is not stretching the law here and i do think it places mr trump in great jeopardy and it also it discredits his idea that all of this is a witch hunt or whatever you want to parse with regard to legal terminology the fact is the public's going to see guilty pleas and guilty pleas for wrongdoing that aren't pioneering and it discredits the idea that somehow the prosecutors are out of control when juries who have no political bias when they enter the jury box are coming back with verdicts that are unanimous the reali

i met mr. trump only once at trump tower in early january 2017 when we briefed him on russian interference election. i have been outspoken and i'm sure that my outspokenness and some of the things that i have said have, you know, irritated him. i wish i didn't have to say these things. and it's one thing to have policy differences or substantive differences with presidents and i had them in the past with previous presidents. what really gets under my skin is mr. trump's lack of integrity, honesty and his lack of commitment to this country's well being and national security. mr. trump is motivated by whatever is in the best interest of mr. trump. that has been for many decades. i was hoping that he was going to change once he assumed the solemn responsibilities of the office of presidency. that's why for my first year i sometimes spoke out when he was in front of the agency's memorial wall and spoke about the size of his inauguration crowd and i did it very, very selectively. i gave him a year. i said

mr. trump has done. this is an egregious act that flies in the face of traditional practice, as well as common sense and national security. i think that is why there has been such an out-cry from many intelligence professionals. want to support me, but to support the principle that security clearances are something that very, very slm and sacred and never ever should be used for political purposes, either to grant friends clearances or to revoke your critics. >> of all of your government service, clearly, are you familiar with the processes and procedures, including the processes that exist for revoking them for cause. when the president signalled that he may go after your security clearance, did you expect that cia would then be put through paces in terms of the normal procedures for how these things go? evaluate if you behaved in any way to justify this action? did you expect that it would go through channels? >> i would have expected it. these are not normal times, quite frankly, very fright

for mr. trump to stand on that stage in helsinki with all the world's eyes upon him and he basically said he doesn't understand why would the russians interfere in the election. he's given them a pass time after time after time and keeps referring to this whole investigation as a witch hunt and bogus and to me, this was an attack against the foundational principle of our republic which is the right of all-americans to choose their elected leaders. for mr. trump to so cavalierly just dismiss that, yes, sometimes my irish comes out in my tweets and i did say that it rises to and exceeds the level of high crimes and misdemeanors and is nothing short of treasonous because he had the opportunity there to be able to say to the world that this is something that happened. it should never, ever happen, again. if russia tries at all to do it, they're going to pay serious price for it. i don't expect mr. putin to acknowledge it. he is going to deny, deny, deny. but for the president of the united states to co

knew about and indeed rudy giuliani admitted even after mr. trump lied about it on air force one when he said "i don't know anything about it." giuliani said mr. cohen was reimbursed for what turned out to be a loan. >> but was there any other person who heard, directly heard the president coordinate direct michael cohen to go ahead with these payments to these two women? >> well, the information filed by the -- the answer is not explicitly named in the information filed by the prosecutors but the prosecutors leave anonymous the individuals from the campaign and the individuals from the organization who would have been aware of mr. trump's knowledge if not direction and making it illegal, his distinction between personal and campaign funds. somebody's given him bad legal advice, maybe it's rudy giuliani. >> but who are those individuals that you suggest knew about all of this that could back up what michael cohen said in court yesterday? >> we don't know because the prosecutors chose to name them individual 1, individual 2. and i assume that those n

. >> the russians, i think, have had long experience with mr. trump and may have things that they could expose. >>> donald trump says nice things about mr. putin and continues to deal with the russia investigation i think in a very questionable manner. >>> i think mr. putin and others in the kremlin right now are unfortunately very satisfied with some of the things that have happened over the last 14 months. >>> i think he's afraid of the president of russia. >> the practice of retaliating against a former intelligence official being critical of a president's foreign policy is unprecedented. according to two former senior intelligence officials it is also dangerous. here to discuss the state of play, some of our favorite reporters, friends and experts, frank figliuzzi, former fbi assistant director of counter intelligence, john cifer who ran the cia russia operations. joining us at the table jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the associated press and msnbc analyst, and eddy, princeton university professor and msnbc contributor. let me start wit

i think mr. trump i letting millions of americans down. >> you were a sitting cia director at one point. if you worked for a president that did this, what would you do in this situation? >> if i worked -- >> if you were currently the ad of the cia and the president revoked the security clearance of a former cia head, at would you do as sitting cia director under that d rcumstance? at advice would you give to gina haspel, the current head of the cia? >> i admire and respgit haspel and i want her to stay a taa director. i think it's imp that the institution of the cia and the professionals be protected from this veryy abusive white house and mr. trump. >> if you were here in this position that she is in and you just outlined you have your own concernsbout this president and you trust gina haspel, if you were in her position would you go along with saying, fine, revoke it, i'll keep my mouth shut because it's more important for me to stay on the job? is that what you would do as cia director? >> we have t

mr. trump directed personally him to mr. 00 and it's all documented by the prosecutors in new york -- >> i understand that, but do they have evidence on one specific charge, this idea that president trump, then candidate trump, directed michael cohen to do this? other than michael cohen's word that the president directed him to do this, do they have other physical evidence that the president directed michael cohen. i understand the physical evidence of the money transfers and all of that. but does he have evidence -- is it more taped conversations? is that the evidence? >> well, the prosecutors may have evidence they haven't revealed. all i've read is the criminal information in which they state that there are individuals from the trump campaign and from the trump organization who were involved and mr. giuliani said, yes, mr. trump knew that he had to reimburse mr. cohen for the advance made for this payment. 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

to mr trump's campaign.eached over that is the question people were asking. as far as that word impeachment being thrown out there, we have not heard it coming across our airwaves any time so it's really, i think it's going to happen to be further down the line whether or not that will happen. we can now talk to ian loveland, professor of law at city law school and a us constitutional expert. they can choose who those focal prosecutors will be. at the moment, his attorney generaljeff sessions is showing some degree of autonomy in resisting the president's pressures but it is open to the president to dismiss mr sessions with a new attorney general put into place. 0rfurther down with a new attorney general put into place. 0r further down the line he could simply appoint prosecutors further down the line, to decide the case is not worth pursuing. impeachment is much more problematic i would think as well. although we might regard that as in the sense a legal process, the way the constitution is designed makes i

mr. trump top accountant has been granted immunity by federal prosecutors, the man you see here, allen weisselberg, the chief financial officer of theied all of mr. tr money for many years. this follows the deal given to david pecker. pecker used his position on to kill negative stories about mr. trump and knows all of the worst secrets about the president's life. jim acosta kicks off our coverage. >> reporter: president trump remained silent as he left with the first lady for a speech in ohio with a growing list of legal worries hot on his tail. >> my chief financial officer, allen weisselberg. >> reporter: the latest concern, federal prosecutors granted immunity to allen weisselberg. he is the long time chief financial officer of the trump organization. the president's private company whose secrecy. a source on the president's legal team down played weisselberg's cooperation which could be crucial for prosecutors. the attorney for one of the women, stormy daniels, michael avenatti, believes t

so has mrtrump. criticising mr trump. -- no. so has mr trump.adian perspective, as a nafta partner, it is important to be able to speak out against future towers that the us administration is imposing. that is one of the key reasons why of canada has not really signed up to the seat. —— tariffs. will watch this space for me get the detail on it, so really interesting to get your take on this. you are from germany and this is the local newspaper in chemnitz looking at the difficulties there. talk us through, from your perspective, what is happening placemat, howard being handled, there are so many different opinions on how it is all being handled. this particular article talks about the police being overwhelmed. yeah, ithink talks about the police being overwhelmed. yeah, i think that is one of the things that i find most striking. —— how it is all being handled. after the death of this as—year—old, it is supposed to be a syrian and an iraqi citizen that are being investigated so far, we do not really know whether they were investigated in the st

as usual, mr. trump doesn'tar eitherabout the facts or what the law is, but i'm telling you what the law is. as to what mr. cohen is saying, he is simply saying that, along with the u.s. attorney prosecutors, that he decided to plead guilty to these offenses. the woosen collaboratively were that mr. trump, without b naming himut we know it's mr. trump, directed and coordinated e payment of that money by mr. cohen, not by mr. trump because he was hiding, so there's a coverup qualityhe , paid that money for principle reasons, political purposes, that makes it a felony. it's the purpose of the money, having an effect on the election that makes ate crime, and we noh havee spectacle that hasn't happened much in h ouristory where we have, under oath, somebody who is a lawyer saying that the client, the president of the unitestates, committed a grenl, and that's where we are as a country, a president wit evidence of felony criminal behavior. >> woodruff: let's move to sevel comments you have been making. you've

also whether they violated campaign finance laws by trying to pay off women that had affairs with mr. trumplaura is here in new york with the details. good morning, laura. >> good morning. that multifaceted investigation maybe wrapping up soon. cbs news learned if charges are warranted they could be filed by mr. cohen by the end of the month. federal prosecutors are in the final stages of their investigation into michael cohen, president trump's former personal attorney. they're looking into whether he created bank or tax fraud with his financial or business dealings. they're also examining whether he violated campaign finance or other laws by arranging payments to secure the silence of women that claim they had affairs with mr. trump. that includes a $130,000 payment to adult film star stormy daniels. cbs news learned prosecutors could file charges against cohen by the end of the month. the investigation began under special counsel robert mueller that then referred the potential evidence to the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan. mueller is investigating any coordination between the trump

so again, if mr. trump believes this is going to lead me to go away and be quiet, he is very badly mistaken. >> let me ask you an uncomfortable question, the president describes your conduct as erratic. he is trying to diminish your credibility. what do you know that you haven't shared yet that he would want to take your credibility down a notch. you are highly regarded by democrats and republicans. but as he has done with jim comey, and rob mueller, your credibility is something that he sees is important to diminish. what do you know that he is afraid of? >> well, i think he is concerned about the criticisms that i am voicing publicly. i think he hears those types of criticisms. he fears individuals who could damage him, could damage his standing. they look at the way he is referring to bob mueller. a national treasure, an icon within the law enforcement and justice communities who is doing his level best to investigate russian interference in the election. and the denigration of bob mueller as well as his

for mr. trump to -- what they did. for mr. trump to stand on that stage in hello sisinki with the world's eyes upon him and saying he doesn't not understand why the russians interfere in the election, he's given mr. putin and the russians a pass time after time after time. he refers to as a witch hunt, as bogus. to me, this was a -- an attack against the foundational principle of our great republic which is the right of all americans to choose their elected leaders. and for mr. trump to so cavalierly just dismiss that, yes, sometimes my irish comes out. and in my tweets, i did say that it rises to and exceeds the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. and is nothing short of treasonous because he had the opportunity there to be able to say to the world that this is something that happened, it should never, ever happen again, and if russia tries at all to do it, they're going to pay serious price for it. i don't expect mr. putin to acknowledge it. he is -- he's going to deny, deny, deny. but for the president of the united state

mueller that suggests -- i'm not sure itov -- that mr. trump was aware of russian government agents hacking illegally, committing computer crimes, to the detriment of the candidate who was running against hillary clinton, and as to whether or not that can be decisivein mr. mueller is thinking about whether mr. trump did anything wrong not, i have toleave to mr. mueller. >> woodruff: if mr. cohen hason this informawhy wasn't there some sort of coopetion agreement with the prosecutor why was mr. cohen -- why was he pleading guilty when a lot of people looking at this would say, well, he has information the government would consider of value, they would want to cooperate with him? >> so it's tilt to anwer the question because cooperation agreement is defined by people in so many different ways. i can tell you that he pled guilty because he thought that was the best choice his family and he was willing tore takeponsibility and he's going to go to prison as a result of his decision. however, he's als said and authorized me to say he will fully, cons

in an interview, mr. trump cited mr. brannan as among those he held responsible for the russia investigation. brannan was director of the cia and the democratic administration of former president obama and one of those who prepped evidence to trump shortly before his inauguration that russia had interfered in the 2016 election. mr. trump said in the interview "i call it the rigged witch hunt. it is a sham. and these people led it," he added. so i think it's something that had to be done. reading this in the "wall street journal," i feel like michael chai, like okay, so we got him, right. >> this is all over, right? no? nothing matters anymore? john brennan was white house homeland security adviser, he ran the national counterterrorism center under george w. bush, he spent 25 years at the cia, rising to become cia director in 2013. in his capacity as director, he was directly involved, personally involved with the

mr donald dewer trump! —— mr donald] trump!not connected to the period he worked for donald trump's campaign. but michael cohen claims some of the offences he committed were committed under the orders of the president. specifically, trying to influence the vote. congratulations! he says mr trump told him to pay tens of thousands of dollars to stop the porn star stormy daniels from making allegations about a sexual relationship, and to silence the former playboy model karen mcdougal from going public with claims about an affair. mr cohen pled guilty to two campaign finance charges. both for the purpose of influencing the 2016 election. in addition... what he did was he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign. would be detrimental in front of his supporters in west virginia, mr trump avoided talking about his former lawyer. but he made no effort to hide his purity with the investigation and the many media reports. fake news and the russian which hunt!

if mr. trump or mr. cohen funneled campaign contributions to miss daniels or anyone else despite what they may do for a , career and how much money they are making office, the justice department will take cases and make charges where there is law and facts to support it. do you think michael avenatti is a good attorney for stormy daniels? guest: he is certainly a strong advocate, and his case is unique. he is fighting fire with fire. it is not my style so much, but he's being effective. host: charles in north carolina , republican. go ahead. caller: good morning. it seems like a sign of desperation to go back and look at white-collar crimes that happened many years before the campaign to go after. it looks like mueller is squeezing anybody has any connection with the trump campaign on unrelated charges. we are talking about taxing and -- taxi medallions, and payments to playboy models, but there is no russian collusion after two years. we keep looking for something. i think that if we had squeezed the cl

mr donald] trump!es were not connected to the period he worked for donald trump's campaign. but michael cohen claims some of the offences he committed were committed under the orders of the president. specifically, trying to influence the vote. congratulations! he says mr trump told him to pay tens of thousands of dollars to stop the porn star stormy daniels from making allegations about a sexual relationship, and to silence the former playboy model karen mcdougal from going public with claims about an affair. mr cohen pled guilty to two campaign finance charges. both for the purpose of influencing the 2016 election. in addition... what he did was he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign. in front of his supporters in west virginia, mr trump avoided talking about his former lawyer. but he made no effort to hide his fury with the investigation and the many media reports. fake news and the russian witch hunt! we got a big c

speaking to the reuters news agency, mr trump said he would consider it if russia "did something thatould be good for us" but he added he wouldn't consider it without that. in the same interview mr trump once again raised doubts about whether russia did actually meddle in the 2016 election. even though all us intelligence agencies say they did. in regard to russian involvement in the mid—term elections, we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by

mr. trump may fire sessions right after the midterm elections which could pave the way for firing the special counsel robert mueller. also breaking reports a t the national inquire publisher was granted immunity in exchange of information of michael cohen, the president and hush money payments to women. this hour i will talk to stormy daniels's lawyer, michael avenatti and david sisolini. let's go to jim acosta today. we heard mr. trump slamming sessions and assaul sessions. >> that's not the only big news today. sarah sanders told reporters there had not been any discussions pardoning paul manafort and now the washington post is reporting yes, the president did bring it up with his legal team in recent weeks and he was advised to wait until after the investigation of the russia conclusion. i have been told the president had been advised against pardon for months including manafort. the most surprising moment came when the president found one republican in washington is willing to push back, je

mr. trump's attorneys had when they talked about mr. trump providing direction to mr.ohen who was his attorney. >> i don't have an opinion on whether or not the president directed michael cohen to do so or not. what i do have is an opinion about what michael cohen said out loud in court. he said he was directed by the president of the united states. i have also read the "wall street journal" today which says david pecker, a friend of the president, chairman of ami has told prosecutors under oath about the nature of these deals, including mr. trump's knowledge of them. so i'm just basing my opinion of what was said on what i'm reading here. i don't know whether it's true or not and i'm not sure you do, either. the question is, should congress try to find out? if the president did direct this action in order to win the election, which he won, aren't there more questions 20 ask? >> if mr. michael cohen's attorney was correct in stating that they believed that they were stating the same facts that mr. trump's attorneys were stating earlier then there doesn't seem to be a d

and steel to ten and fifty percent respectively on turkish imports of those key industrial metals mr trump's tweet also referenced the turkish lira slide the lear is a value on currency trading markets fell over eighteen percent as measured against the dollar after president said quote we are facing economic attacks today and we need to defend our country prompting mr trump's tariff raising tweet bloomberg reported this morning that the turkish lira is now the worst performing currency of twenty eight team edging out the argentine peso and it may have farther to fall as the end of the easy credit era continues to deflate the turkish economy mr trius latest international confrontation was prompted by the white house imposition of sanctions on turkish officials over the case of a u.s. pastor who has been charged with complicity in a coup attempt against mr heir to watch. and other currency and sanctions news in the region next door to turkey the value of the russian ruble is seguing has hit

and what about mr. trump himself? why the back and forth about whether he will hit down with the mueller team? >> because trump's lawyers are worried that he'll commit perjury when he speaks to mueller, as simple as that. this is a president who according to the washington post fact checker has given out 4,000 misleading statements since january 2017, almost 1,000 in the past two months. if you make even one false statement to special counselor robert mueller, that's a possible criminal charge and political charge. that's why trump's team is saying if he meets mueller, it has to be limited in duration, they have to have the questions in advance, and that's why the special counsel is saying absolutely not, no restrictions on this interview if we have it. >> i want to ask you, we know that president trump just came from ohio, which is big election there, the last special election before the midterms. it is like no matter what -- what the washington reports about the mistruths of this president, et cetera, et cetera, ther

trump. we've got questions for mr. olvement in the proposed trump tower and moscow, a lot of unanswered questions there. so, we would welcome his appearance. >> if democrats retake the house, a lot of them, you know, talking about the idea of possibly impeaching the president. is that something that democrats should pursue, if, in fact, they do retake the house? >> i'm not going to get down the line. i still -- we've still got work to do before we reach our c conclusi conclusion. we're the last standing bipartisan committee that's looking into this investigation. we're still trying to follow the pacts. >> lanny davis says that michael cohen wants to tell the whole truth to the american people, that he's maybe even willing to do it, speak without any immunity guarantees and that he know longer has this cloud, this legal cloud hanging over him. what i don't understand is, if michael cohen wants to tell the truth so badly, what's preventing him right now? i mean, couldn't he just hold a press conference right now -- >> he

pore mr. trump, it is -- for mr. trump, it is a continuation of assaults on the former prisoner of war. >> he is a war hear ee -- hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured. >> reporter: he referred to the bone spurs that kept the president out of vietnam. >> one aspect of the conflict i will never, ever count is that we drafted the lowest income level of america and highest level, found a doctor would say they had a bone spur. that is wrong. >> reporter: the president nursed a grudge for voting against the gop effort to repeal obamacare, a memorable thumb's down. >> we had a gentleman late into the morning hours go thumb's down. that was not a good thing he did. that was not a good thing for our people, for our country, whether you're democrat or republican. >> reporter: in stark contrast with her father, ivanka praised him in a speech, calling him a hero. >> the nation is united in its grief and the world mourns the loss of a true hero and a great statesman. >> reporter: even as trump loyalist

james had criticised mr trump, calling him "divisive".

mrs. trump, secretary azar, academic and private sector partners welcome to the federal partners in bullying prevention summit on cyberbullying. administrator of the resource and service administration. cyberbullying is an ongoing issue for today's youth. this summit is a great opportunity to learn from one another and collaborate on innovative ways to address the issue. today'sorward to discussions, as well as the continued dialogue and partnership following the event. i now serve the distinct honor of introducing the 24th secretary of the united states department of health and human services. please welcome secretary alex azar. [applause] thank you so much for that introduction. it is so great to be here today for this important gathering. the federal partners in bullying prevention serve as a wonderful way to bring departments and agencies together to protect children across our country from bullying. bullying has a profound effect on our kids and their mental health. it is a topic that doesn

for mr. trump to stand on that stage in helsinki with all of the world's eyes upon him and say that he doesn't understand why would the russians interfere in the election, he gives them a pass time after time after time. he refers to it as a witch hunt, as bogus, and to me this was an attack against the foundational principal of our great republic. the right of all americans to choose their elected leaders. and for mr. trump to cavalierly just dismiss that, yes. sometimes my irish comes out in my tweets and i did say that it rises to and exceeds the level of high crimes and misdemeanors and is nothing short of treasonous. it should not happen, and if russia tries to do it they will pay a serious price for it. i don't expect mr. putin to acknowledge it. but for the president of the united states to continue on this issue i think does a great injustice and a disservice to the men and women of the law enforcement community and a great disservice to the citizens of the united states. that's why i said

just one month before the 2016 election to keep her from going public about an alleged affair with mr. trump a statement, cohen called the allegation about the affair outlandish. then, on february 13th, cohen told "the new york times" he used his own personal funds to pay off daniels saying neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction and neither reimbursed me for the payment. on march 5th, "the wall street journal" reported cohen wired the money to daniels' lawyer just 12 days before the election. cohen responded with a two-word e-mail statement, fake news. two days later, the white house weighed in. >> i've had conversations with the president about this. there was no knowledge of any payments from the president, and he's denied all of these allegations. >> on april 5th, president trump broke his silence on the stormy daniels payments, denying involvement. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no, no. >> why did michael cohen make this if there was no truth? >> michael is my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> a few

i think mr trump's statements their show he is in desperation. —— the religious right vote to mr trumpt who pled guilty earlier in the week to a number of financial charges. your point that those payments to women we re point that those payments to women were specifically about the campaign, that's a crucial point. to explain to a british audience, that goes to the heart, am i right in saying, as to whether there is anything there that is impeachable? that's correct. the law is, the expenditure has to b to influence the outcome of a campaign. if this was not intended to influence the outcome of a campaign, why was ten yea rs outcome of a campaign, why was ten years permitted to lapse? these affairs with these two women were 2006, early 2007. why nothing happens for ten years and only when mrtrump isa happens for ten years and only when mr trump is a candidate and the election is approaching, suddenly 200 is paid for silence. —— suddenly £280,000 is paid, the purpose of this was to influence the election and that makes this a crime, not least an impeachable offence. he is violating the

. >> then mr. trump said you're -- i love that part. >> it works great in the primaries, but will candidates pay a price in november? i'll ask long time republican adman mike murphy. joining me for insight and analysis are robert costa, moderator of washington week on pbs. helenen cooper. and al cars that and elia ya johnson. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> good sunday morning. one of the questions that emerged during the campaign was this. should we take donald trump seriously or literally? well, now he's president of the united states. so are we supposed to take him seriously or literally when he says that the mueller investigation that his attorney general should stop what he calls this rigged witch-hunt right now. are we supposed to take him seriously or literally when hours after his intelligence and security chiefs say that the u.s. election integrity for 2018 is st

none of them relate to the time he was campaign managerfor mr trump.e safe and dignified return of ethnic rohingyas who've fled to bangladesh. she defended the government's handling of the crisis. now on bbc news, hardtalk.

fixer and if what he was fixing for mr trump was illegal and was done with mr trump's knowledge mr trump is in big trouble cohen's name came across the desk of special counsel robert muller during his investigation into alleged collusion between the trump campaign and russia he referred what he found to prosecutors in new york and in april they instructed the f.b.i. to raid cohen's home and office in new york they seized boxes of documents including communications between donald trump and his attorney as well as devices and a dozen audio recordings including one discussing payment to a playboy model karen mcdougal who also claims she had an affair with trump a decade ago and it's not clear from the tape of trump suggested paying in cash or by check the president's current legal advisers rudy giuliani has gone from describing cohen as an honest honorable man to slamming him. land rights activists has been.

mr. trump's first two years in office is indicative of the approach that donald trump takes to hiring in general, which is that people don't necessarily have to have commensurate relevant experience to the job he's giving them and that was certainly true with him as president. it also is indicative of this president's view of how the media intersects with almost everything. his presidency has done so at the highest levels and has often used bill shine, network for getting news out. if you follow news you're away that the 45th president of the united states called the media the real enemy of the state and it's not the first time he has said that. he's appropriated the term fake news which was used to talk about false or misleading or twisted headlines that have spread around social media during the campaign, that he has used it to describe not just reporters or stories, but entire outlets that cover things he would rather not have in the headlines. his press secretary briefings were once held da

manafort has information about mr. trump that would be helpful to mr. mueller. so there are a lot of ope questions. but certainly i think that the mueller team must feel ndicated this evening. >> woodruff: a lot of open questions, but we did get someer antoday. former federal prosecutor jessica roth roth, now a professor at shiva university, and william brangham, who has been covering the manafort trial.bo thank yo. >> you're welcome. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the trump administration veiled its plan to reverse president obama's coal pollution rules. the environmental protection agency's new proposal would weak restrictions on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants andive states more control over regulations. we'll have more on the impact of the e.p.a.'s rollback right after the summary. microsoft said it had iled the latest attempt by russian hackers to infiltrate u.s. politics ahead of november's midterm elections. the tech giant announced that it had removed fake versions of the websites of the u.s. senate and two conservative

mr donald] trump!ere not connected to the period he worked for donald trump's campaign. but michael cohen claims some of the offences he admitted were committed under the orders of the president. specifically, trying to influence the vote. congratulations! he says mr trump told him to pay tens of thousands of dollars to stop the porn star stormy daniels from making allegations about a sexual relationship. and to silence the former playboy model karen mcdougal from going public with claims about an affair. mr cohen pled guilty to two campaign finance charges. both for the purpose of influencing the 2016 election. in addition, what he did was he worked to pay money to silence two women who had information that he believed would be detrimental to the 2016 campaign. in front of his supporters in west virginia, mr trump avoided talking about his former lawyer. but he made no effort to hide his fury with the special counsel's investigation and the many media reports. fake news and the russian witch—hunt! we

when i see what mr. trump is doing, trashing the reputation of this country, and the way he's treated fellow americans, how he refers to him, the divisiveness, the incitement, the fueling of hatred and polarization, this is not what this country is about. >> malcolm, what do you make of brent en's comments there, that the president is severalally trashing the country? >> he's absolutely right, and he's doing it in such a way he's going after the fundamental defenders, the u.s. intelligence community, u.s. federal law enforcement, and essential anyone who criticizes him in any way, shape or form. it's not just an attack on john brennan, it's an attack on anyone who has anything to say about donald trump that is critical of donald trump. he is now weaponized government to punish those people, and that we'll find out in the long run may end up being a crime. >> matt, i want to read for you part of senator burr's statement, the top republican on the intelligence committee. he said, quote -- director brennan's rece

yeah, so does that create a bit of a gulf in rhetoric between mr trump's advisers and is the trump himselfover the last year or so? it certainly does. that wasn't lost on anyone, in fact, questions were asked at this news conference again about president trump and president putin and their meeting last month and whether president trump put any pressure at all on the russian president over it this issue. in fact, the question was asked and dan coats, the director of national intelligence said, quite a striking quote, he "wasn't in a position to either understand fully, or talk about what happened in helsinki." so it seems to me that still, some weeks later, no one really knows the details of what happened in that meeting. and peter, in a separate but not unrelated story, claims tonight that a russian spy had been working undetected in the embassy in moscow. yes. a united nations special rapporteur has described president trump's attacks on the media as a violation of basic norms on press freedom. david kaye, along with the head of the inter—american commission on human rights, said mr trump

mr. trump to suppress freedom of speech. it should gravely worry all americans about the cost of speaking out. my principals are worth far more than clearances. i will not relent. john brennan's first interview was by phone with nicole wallace. >> revoking my security clearances is his way of trying to get back at me. but i think i have tried to voice the concerns of millions of americans about mr. trump's failures in terms of fulfilling the responsibilities of that sacred and sol lum office of the presidency. and this is not going to deter me at all. i'm going to continue to speak out. but i am very worried about the message that it appears that mr. trump is trying to send to others, including those that currently hold security clearances within the government. i have seen this type of behavior and actions on the part of foreign tyrants and december pits and auto cats for many, many years during my cia and security career. i never ever thought i would see it here in the united states. >> leadi

participate writing that the first amendment does not say that the government cannot criticize the press mr trump enjoys free speech just as his media adversaries do. trump has responded to the nationwide wave of editorials saying the press is free to write and say anything it wants. but he has shown no interest in making amends. ok let's talk now to alex kingsbury the deputy ideas editor at the boston globe the paper that launched in coordinated today's action alex thanks for joining us perhaps you could start out by telling us how the idea for today's coordinated defense of press freedom emerged what prompted this. what prompted this was this alarming departure of mr trump's past rhetoric about the press is big news and running on his sort of brand is as being an agitator against the media in general to this idea that the enemy as are the press is somehow the enemy of the people that's a phrase that really runs some alarm bells among the members of the boston globe but it's horrible and across newsrooms around the country. this is a marked departure from the way that any president has talked ab

mr. trump's personal lawyer. the white house is its own person. mr. mcgahn represents the office of the white house, but the point is -- think about it. if mr. mcgahn had said something incriminating or something that was really harmful to mr. trump do we think he would still have a job in the white house? >> the president doesn't know exactly what mr. mcgahn said to the special counsel's team. >> perhaps he would have resigned. >> the "new york times" says based on what they are hearing from the many people they had been talking to that mcgahn told mueller's teams about actions and trump's obsession with pull precipitation -- putting a loyalist in charge. how does this help the president? >> this is not -- we keep talking about fake news. this is really old news. there was nothing new in the "new york times" article. there was nothing news breaking about it. there was no secret that don mcgahn and a number of other white house officials were interviewed by mueller's team. part of that was that it was sanctioned as part of the president's legal team.