and paul manafort responds to that note, quote, tuesday is best. and then indeed tuesday there is konstantin kilimnik in new york city. specifically at jared kushner's family building, 666 fifth avenue, he and manafort at a cigar bar and delivering whatever the russian oligarch's messages were for trump's campaign chairman. it has to do about the future of his country. and the future of ours presumably. two weeks later, ken vogel ran his konstantin kilimnik profile in politico.com. the very next day manafort resigned from the trump campaign. when we got the sentencing of the surprise character in the mueller investigation, alexa cappa vander zwaan, he gets convicted. he will soon go to prison for lying to prosecutors. one of the things he lied about was his contact with konstantin kilimn kilimnik. the special counsel's office gave us more detail on kilimnik in court, asserting in the alexa cappa van der zwaan case, that not only is konstantin kilimnik known to have a previous association with russian military intelligence, but in 2016, the fbi, stil

but then remember, paul manafort was actually indicted twice. he was indicted again. there was a superseding indictment earlier this year in february, and in that superseding indictment against manafort, we got new detailed allegations from the special counsel's office about what appeared to be a mad scramble for cash by manafort during the time he was running trump's campaign and thereafter. that superseding indictment alleged all sorts of apparently desperate, at least clumsy maneuvers by manafort to allegedly inflate his income, to fake profit and loss statements, to fake insurance documents, all to allegedly defraud banks into giving him loans under false circumstances. loans for millions and millions and millions of dollars. and those loans he was scrambling for were mostly loans made against his real estate holdings. and paul manafort's real estate deals in this time period in many instances were made in conjunction with his son-in-law, jeffrey yohai, who is no longer manafort's son-in-law because there was a divorce in the family last year, which is always a sad

and even more interestingly, why did paul manafort all of a sudden need all that cash so quickly? it's not like at the end of all of it we learned he bought something that cost $20 million. when manafort was indicted late last year we got a bunch of detailed allegations from the special counsel's office about manafort getting paid by pro-russian interests in the former soviet union where he worked as a political consultant. there were a lot of detailed allegations about how prosecutors say he laundered that money and evaded paying taxes on it. but then remember, paul manafort was actually indicted twice. he was indicted again. there was a superseding indictment earlier this year in february, and in that superseding indictment against february we got new detailed allegations from the special counsel's office about what appeared to be a mad scramble for cash by man frtd during the time he was running trump's campaign and thereafter. that superseding indictment alleged all sorts of apparently desperate, at least clumsy maneuvers by manafort to allegedly inflate his income, to fake pro

or it's at least a little strange in part because this website that they launched today, this paul manafort defense fund, kind of feels like it was cheaply translated from some other language. quote, let's band together and allow paul's position to be fully expressed and create an even playing field. in english, playing field is two

that memo was requested by the judge overseeing paul manafort's trial in virginia. he is weighing a request for manafort to throw out charges. what's your analysis of this disclosure? >> couple things happened the last few weeks. first you recall and viewers recall there was a court proceeding eastern district of virginia judge, that you're referring to, excoriated the special counsel's office, said no one is above the law, general statement most agree with, no one has unfettered power. didn't seem to understand the facts of the case and understand that rod rosenstein was overseeing the matter and was not recused, but was unhappy with all of the information he was getting, so he sought more information. meantime, as people might appreciate and remember, there's another case pending against paul manafort in the district of columbia. two different cases pending. the judge in that case rejected similar claims for dismissal of the indictment on the ground that they do have the power, things they're investigating, things they charged paul manafort with arose from the inve

i want paul manafort. there were three people in that meeting, kushner, don jr. and paul manafort. they are trying to get someone on the inside of that meeting to cooperate and roll them up on don jr., kushner, and potentially the president. be it an indictment in d.c., an additional indictment in virginia. which as i understand it, is about 300-plus years, and now they've flipped his son-in-law. >> let me go to the secret thing. i mean, it's hard to be afraid of a concealed weapon if you can't see it. so why secret if the goal is pressure? >> i don't know that they didn't tell paul manafort this was going on. i suspect they had. why secret? it could be they have pro active cooperation going on. in other words, they flipped him, and it could be the case -- >> talking about a wire? >> talking about a wire. that they wired him up and got him into conversations. paul manafort's on house arrest. so in theery, he could still have phone calls and meetings. whether that happened or not, there's a whole host of things that a prosecutor and fbi agent team would use to use a cooperator proac

paul manafort says no such thing. part of the -- that peculiar odor emanating from richard sea cord's legal defense fund in the contra days was the lack of any identifying information that accompanied those gigantic donations to sea cord from swiss bank accounts where he and his coconspirators in that international scheme had stashed some of their ill gotten gains. i don't know who set up the do not say paul manafort legal defense fund irrevocable trust and started soliciting donations for it today with this my space website. but it really does appear to be a pretty slop dash effort. a lot of the i had i don't me a lot of the idiom is super weird. there is no reason to think we would have any disclosure as to who set up this anonymous legal defense fund and who fills it up with money for paul manafort's use. they do take credit cards, they take checks, they take money orders. presumably you can drop off some jewelry you want to pawn. >>> and the new mysterious manafort legal defense fund has opened up today on a day w

anti—corruption agency later stopped its investigation into mr trumps former campaign manager, paul manafortmr cohen denies taking the payment. there were also denials from the two men named as intermediaries, and from a lawyer for mr cohen's alleged partner, felix sater. in the past few minutes, petro poroshenko's administration has described the claims of a secret payment as a "flagrant lie". this report from our producer in new york suzanne kianpour and correspondent paul wood in kiev. donald trump's run for the us presidency was watched with alarm by ukraine's government, dismayed by his apparently pro—russian rhetoric. then trump had a setback. his campaign manager, paul manafort, was forced to resign, accused of getting millions of dollars from russian interests in ukraine. the leak that brought manafort down came from the very top of the ukrainian government, according to sources

a federal judge here in washington has just rejected former trump campaign chairman paul manafort's attempt to dismiss special counsel robert mueller's criminal case against him. our justice correspondent evan perez has been working this story for us. manafort says mueller's probe has overstepped its legal authority, the judge disagrees. >> that's right. the federal judge says manafort's claim that the special counsel's overstepped his bounds are completely without merit. she says that paul manafort should prepare to go on trial in september here in washington. he's facing charges both here and in northern virginia. let me read to you a little bit of what the judge had to say about this. she said, who had connections to the russian government, who attended meetings on behalf of the campaign? given the combination of his prominence within the campaign and his ties to ukrainian officials supported by an operating out of russia as well as to russian oligarchs, manafort was an obvious person of interest. the special counsel would have been remiss to ignore such an obvious potential link between

washington journal" is reporting that can jeffrey yohai who until last year was married to one of paul manafort's daughters pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in in the central district of california, which includes los angeles, relating to real estate loans on properties in new york and california. he invested with mr. manafort on real estate deals in both states public records show. the "the washington journal" says he has met with special prosecutors from robert mueller's office. and he has already spoken with officials from the special counsel's office and the new york attorney general's office in addition to the u.s. attorney's office in los angeles. and last night "the washington post" confirmed that michael cohen attempted to make another deal for himself during the presidential transition. he solicited a payment from the government of qatar in 2016 in exchain for access to and advice about the then incoming administration. the offer with qatar declined came on the margins of a december 12 meeting at the trump tower, cohen did not participate in the official meetings but spoke separately

where do you get the authority to charge paul manafort. your authority comes from the trump collusion and any matters that arise from the investigation. the manafort investigation doesn't arise from the investigation. mueller went in to the archives at the department of justice tax division and appropriated an old case against manafort that was cleared and he's used that. and the timing is unbelievable. bras remember sarah, it was july 26th, the morning raid, guns drawn and paul manafort's home and all he had to do is call the attorney and he would have surrennered. and august 22nd. approval came. and that means the special counsel had to be investigating beyond the man date and then the raid and then man date permission for the raid. >> judge ellis is not going to be bullied and made it clear in court today. that's why he said. i want that memo redakted. the one that you gave to me i want it unredakted. he wants to know the scope of what rosenstein gave authority to to mueller and he want its now. and they said this has nothing to do with

mueller and the special counsel's office, they were dually and specifically authorized to go after paul manafortafort ultimately got charged with. so, we got that last month. shortly after that turned up in the docket, shortly after mueller filed that document in court, pro-trump republican members of congress, who are very bothered by the mueller investigation, they insisted that they actually needed to see that whole memo with no redactions. they needed to see all of the other specific information about who mueller is cleared to investigate and what exactly he is investigating them for.d we need to see that -- this is -- this is part of the strategy that they've been pursuing in congress, right, to demand more and more information about the mueller investigation, about this live open investigation, while it is still live and open. i mean, we all know, can't comment on an ongoing investigation, right? by rule, and in some cases by law, the justice department really can't share materials with anyone like that, including congress, in the middle of an ongoing investigation, but it seems among pro-

campaign manager paul manafort is already wearing two ankle mom you called? oh hi sweetie, i just want to show you something. xfinity mobile: find my phone. [ phone rings ] look at you. this tech stuff is easy. [ whirring sound ] you want a cookie? it's a drone! i know. find your phone easily with the xfinity voice remote. one more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. campaign manager paul manafort is already wearing two ankle bracelets as he face twos different indictments. and now, his former son-in-law and business partner just cut a plea deal with the justice department. reuters breaking the news tonight that jeffrey yohai pled guilty to charges in los angeles stemming from a federal investigation into his real estate dealings requiring him to cooperate with the other criminal probes twoebs people familiar with the matter said. he has not been told how he will be called on to cooperate as part of the plea agreement. the two people say it consider it a possibility he will be asked to assist with the mueller's prosecution

paul manafort's trial is scheduled to begin in july. g us, my guests, danny, what should we make of what we heard in that transcript from the judge? >> manafort's been indicted, he filed a motion saying that the special counsel in indicting him exceeded his authority and you the appointment order. this was not related to russia. this did not even arise from the investigation. all the stuff that manafort's indicted for the government already knew about years ago and it can't possibly have to do with russia because it was so many years ago. it's a clever argument. however, the judge's questions related to the government's ultimate goal. hey, this isn't really about bank fraud, this is about you want to try and turn him. that's not really what the motion is about but when you're a federal judge, you're appointed to life, so if you want to veer off to the side during oral argument, no problem, can you do that. i don't know that that colloquy will find its way into the ultimate opinion or order. that kind of questioning if i'm a defense attor

you may recall paul manafort is facing indictments brought by mueller in federal courts in both washington, d.c. and the commonwealth of virginia. the charges range from tax evasion to bank fraud. manafort has pleaded notably not guilty. he's slated to be tried later this year. jeffrey yohai was once a manafort business partner, was divorced from manafort's daughter last august. both reuters and nbc news are reporting mueller has been focusing on yohai for the past six months, and reuters says mueller's team has already interviewed him. meanwhile, there are also developments in robert mueller's fight to keep the judge in paul manafort's virginia case from tossing out some of the charges. today mueller's team gave the judge a full, unedited version of the justice department memo that lays out the scope of this inquiry and what crimes he is authorized to pursue. as we mentioned, the president weighed in today on twitter on the russia inquiry. here it is. congratulations, america. we are now into the second year of the greatest witch hunt in american history. there is still no collusion and n

according to my sources, they intervened, they leaked material harmful to paul manafort paul manafort had to resign. if that is what happened, it was a disastrous miscalculation, and that l to the scramble to ge a proper sitdown with mr. trump. the ukrainian presidency, while initially refusing to comment onhis, has now responded to a local journalist, calling it a blatant lie. it.cohen himself deni and we should stress that there is no suggestion that trump knew of or took money from this arrangement. jane: paulnk wood, tfor joining me. president trump offered a teaser regarding his planned summit with north korea's jong-un, saying that we will know next week whether the june 12 meeting will take place. just a day ago, the president w said the a substantial chance it wouldn't happen after pyongyang balked at u.s. plan demands for denuclearization. secretary of state mike pompeo says the summit is still on track. secretary pompeo: wea generational opportunity to resoe a major national security challenge. our eyes are wide open to the lessons of history, but we are optimistice can achi

paul manafort has been trying to make this point for a long time.ause if you look at the original charging document for the mueller investigation, mueller was assigned to look into any possible coordination between russia and the trump campaign. manafort has been saying, look, if i'm accused of laundering money in ukraine in 2006, it doesn't have anything to do with this. so far he's gotten nowhere but he seems to have gotten somewhere with judge le ellis. lou: and the fact of the matter is, this makes no sense. manafort owed sins if there are sins at all, and have nothing to do with the special counsel mandate or charter or scope memo, an appointment memo back in may of last year, two years of investigation and all they've got a bolder dash. balderdash. this is a sick, sick joke being per pecperpetuated by the deparf justice that is corrupt in its leadership, the fbi that is both inept and rancidly corrupt in its leadership. >> another thing manafort has been saying, which is, you know, mueller is allowed to look into this possible coordination or

he actually introduced donald trump to paul manafort, so he knows the two men well. further, barrack was asked to join the administration in a senior role, but he reportedly turned that down. also, the source indicates that barrack was not asked about his role on the inaugural committee. he was not asked about any financial issues, and further, he was told that he is not a target of their investigation. still, it's notable because it shows you just how broad the special counsel's investigation has become. >> and meantime, "the new york times" is reporting on a separate issue about the president and the stormy daniels hush money. president apparently denying when he may have actually known about that payment. give us the update. >> reporter: right. "the new york times" indicating that president trump was aware of the arrangement between his attorney, michael cohen, and stephanie clifford, aka stormy daniels, well before he denied knowing about it on air force one. the president has had multiple opportunities to explain that denial and to respond to this report. howeve

he said paul manafort was interested in it. there's a lot in that one little dialogue for saying is this the predicate for the russia social media campaign? does this link to wikileaks? >> and paul manafort, he should have known this was a problem that the russians were reaching out. some of the inexperience level in the campaign with don jr. and kushner bu kushner, but he's a veteran. >> i think the thing that has former campaign aides scratching their heads and they see don jr. and jared kushner were novices but paul manafort has been in politics for a long time. they direct inquiries to their counsel of the campaign and on ward to the fbi. when other campaign aides look at this, they're just aghast that none of these normal protocols were followed, particularly by somebody like paul manafort. >> paul manafort was completely bored by this meeting. and the other people in the meeting, they said he generally seemed bored, uninterested. because once this went from being about dirt to what this really was about, which was adoptio

now paul manafort is a nice guy. but he worked for me for a very short period of time. literally like, what, a couple of months. >> on cnn they have a headline, judge in manafort case said mueller's aim is to hurt trump. do you believe that? this is what we're up -- it is called the witch hunt. >> and of course the president has been attacking judges for most of his presidency. so he's finally found a judge, jim, that he seems to like and he also seemed to like a cnn story for once. >> he cited cnn as he was attacking cnn. imagine that. can we read anything evident in the judge's tough admonishment of the government? is it simply strong words on a judge on any given day or does this potentially mean anything down the road. >> this is a judge known for doing things like that so it is hard to think he will rule in a particular way. in my years of covering a federal court, you see judges rough up the government and then do what the government wants them to do but there is no doubt that paul manafort felt good about what happened today in court because as i said, he's been g

they have no authority to go after paul manafort. in response the special counsel's office asserted that they did have very clear authority to do what they did when it came to charging paul manafort. in order to make that case, in court, they filed this document. they filed in an unsealed way so we could all see it. it's a memo that was written just a few months after the special counsel, robert mueller, was appointed, was given his assignment. it's a memo from rod rosenstein who both appointed robert mueller and oversees the mueller investigation. in the memo dated august 2nd, 2017, the deputy attorney general spells out in detail what exactly mueller and his team are cleared to investigate within the realm established. the may 17th, 2017 order that established the special counsel, that order was worded categorically in order to perfect its public release without confirming specific investigations involving specific individuals. this provides a more specific sdripgs of your authority. the following allegations were within the scope

let's start with the question about -- i'll get to the question about paul manafort in a question. what of these questions stick out to you. >> the manafort question is a big one. obviously that one goes to the heart of collusion. we have done a lot of reporting concerning manafort and outreach. there is information in the intelligence world that manafort or someone was trying to either communicate with manafort or manafort was communicating with someone about potentially help in the campaign, russians, helping the campaign. in the 49 questions, there is a lot of little ones kind of that really paint a bigger picture of exactly what mueller has here and what he's looking at. certainly it goes to the question of obstruction, right. and that has to do with comey and the firing of the former fbi director. but specifically what mueller is asking for here is regarding the decision to fire mr. comey, when was it made, why and who played a role in it. that is an important part because it was over a weekend in new jersey, the weekend before he was fired, the fbi director, and people were th

and also, the the special counsel robert mueller's team was challenged in a court appearance by paul manafort friday seeking to have the federal bank and tax fraud charges against him dismissed. the u.s. district court ts ellis said that you don't care about the bank fraud, but what information mr. manafort can give you that could reflect to mr. trump to lead to the prosecution, or tim peachment or whatever, andt president trump reacted to the comments right after. >> i have been saying for it a long time. it is a witch hunt. and then, none of that information has to do with information related to russian government coordination and the campaign of donald trump. it doesn't have anything to do. it is from years before. >> and the judge ellis did not i issue a ruling on the defense's ruling to toss out the charge, and paul manafort's trial is slated to begin in july. joining us now former white house counsel jack quinn, and nbc national security analyst ned webb. and so now, tom barrack is a long time friend of donald trump and certainly a role here in bringing rick gates on into the campaign a

and all of the charges that have resulted against paul manafort. so he said this, he said you don't care about mr. manafort's bank fraud and the judge continued saying this was really a way for the special counsel to get at the president himself. going forward saying that you want to know what could provide and lead to trump's prosecution or impeachment? that's what you're really interested in. this is the first time we heard a federal judge really kind of lash out and maybe slap the special counsel's team on the wrist here. this is all emanating from many charges that paul manafort is facing. he's facing dual indictments. what is interesting here is that this hearing today was all about this motion to dismiss. paul manafort's team said, look, the special counsel has been overreaching here. they had a mandate to look into potential meddling of the russians in the 2016 election and all of these charges are not even anything to do with the campaign. you can see paul manafort here, leaving court, no doubt his legal team has to be feeling a little bit

and i believe that paul manafort, at least i think robert mueller believes paul manafort has more information that could lead to the information -- lead to disclosures about russian collusion with the trump campaign, with whomever else. that's important that that process needs to go forward. >> so noel, given the judge is, you know, a reagan appointee. >> right. >> that he expresses his opinion in the manner in which it happened, does that in any way jeopardize this case or influence this case or the outcome? >> well, you know, keith has a good point. i agree with this. i think that the judge is irritated and, finally, there has been a judge that has been a little irritated about the way this investigation is going. you know, i do think that manafort's been a pawn, to get to the bigger fish, so to speak. i think that, you know, a lot of people have felt this way. and it was refreshing to see a judge get a little irritated about it, about how they feel like it's kind of a one-sided deal. >> but does that mean that there isn't merit? does that mean that there isn't merit for this case to procee

so the judge echoed some of paul manafort's lawyers concerns. this in part while on the bench today in federal court. he said you don't really care about mr. manafort's bank fraud, the judge told michael dreeben. he said they were only interested in manafort because what he could provide that would lead to the president's, quote, prosecution or impeachment. that's what you're really interested in. the judge said we don't want anyone in this country with unfettered power. it's unlikely you're going to persuade me the special prosecutor can do anything he wants. this was a hearing on paul manafort's motion to dismiss the entirety of the virginia case. he contends the special counsel went too far in charging him with crimes that don't directly relate to the campaign. the judge will rule on that in a later date. in the meantime, the judge will get access in this case to that unredacted august 17 memo that spells out the special counsel's authority. the judge will be getting this. however, the memo will remain sealed so only the judge will be able to

paul manafort did that. it may have been over a brief period of time. >> not at all. listen. am not diminishing paul's role because i don't believe the president would have been nominated ed at the convention without him there. there was a lot of cha canary going on. and if it weren't for manafort, that convention would have been hairy. and ipg the president stood a chance of actually getting brokered right out of it and paul took charge of it. you know, basically put a rope around it during the committee week. and during the convention, we had a few hours of problems at the beginning of the convention, but it went straight from there. that was all paul's doing. the election was later won by another team. you have the one team that brought him in position for the con veng. >> nomination. >> paul brought him through the convention. >> for the nomination. >> at the convention? >> yep. >> paul took him through the convention then kellyanne, david and that team, steve bannon brought him to victory in november. whatever it takes. i don't think was a pro in this. >> all right. that'

>> more trouble for paul manafort. because yes, these are two separate investigations. manafort's son-in-law has been accused of running a ponzi scheme in los angeles, but it's very clear from public records that paul manafort lent him millions of dollars and traveled to los angeles to help him reorganize his business. to the extent that paul manafort is implicated in any illegal activity out there, it will add to his crushing list of legal woes. even if he isn't, ali, the fact that his son-in-law has flipped and is now cooperating with rt thoughs raises questions about what secrets the son-in-law may know about paul manafort he's now telling potentially los angeles prosecutors or even bob mueller. >> ken, it is hard for folks who have other things to do to concentrate on exactly where the mueller investigation is right now, but i know you do this for a living, so tell us, where is the manafort investigation now? >> it's looking into obstruction of justice and collusion with the russians. we believe mueller's largely wrapped up his obstruction of justice. the collusion p

well that's that's your job i guess. ♪ >>> donald trump campaign chairman paul manafort was in courtinia. he's due to be tried there this summer on bank and tax fraud charges alongside another trial that he's expecting in the neighboring jurisdiction of washington, d.c. but at today's virginia hearing manafort's lawyers argued that the charges against him should be dropped because the special counsel is basically out on a limb. the argument for manafort and his team is that the mueller prosecutors don't have the right to bring these charges against manafort, it's not within their legal authority. we expected that argument from manafort and his lawyers. they made this argument before in d.c. they argued -- they brought a civil lawsuit saying the whole case against manafort should be thrown out and the special counsel's office should basically be burned down. that case was dismissed last week. so we sort of expected these remarks -- these arguments from manafort and his lawyers today in virginia. but then there was a weird turn. because then a party to this hearing today who doesn't us

the judge pretty much said, look, you just want to squeeze paul manafort to flip on donald trump. which is manifestly true. but the mueller team didn't want to admit that in court, ari. >> you have the ability to squeeze people, the jurisdictional question is more narrow, which is should this get farmed out to another office and mueller has shown that when he thinks that's warranted in the michael cohen says he did it. the other amazing thing which i'm going to hold up in the hearing today is i'm holding up this now infamous redacted memo, the judge was asking david corn to get the unredacted version of this, i'm sure you and everyone interested in this case would also love that, the judge has maybe a better argument than the rest of us, but this is the redacted secret authorization that rosenstein gave mueller to go after extra stuff. we don't know exactly what because it's a black box. what did you think of this -- this memo being raised in that hearing today? >> well, you know, the judge kind of was suspicious of bob mueller's office when they said everything that's redacted th

now paul manafort's a nice guy but you know he worked for me for a very short period of time, like a couple months. on cnn they have a headline, judge in manafort case says mueller's aim is to hurt trump. do you believe that? it's called the witch hunt. >> and so there you go there quoting the cnn story which we posted on line shortly after the judge made these remarks. really a lot of people expected this, jim, that this was going to help the president seizing on those comments and a lot of people were caught by surprise with these comments by the judge. >> what should we read into the judge's comments? he strongly criticized the special counsel's office, not something we hear all the time, is he saying, listen, you can't do what you want? >> yes. legally there doesn't appear to be any issues with what the special counsel office is doing. but the judge had opinions, editorializing what the special counsel was doing here, but beyond that there doesn't appear to be any legal issues with what the special counsel was doing. >> the issue of the memo that rod rosenstein wrote in all of thi

of course people are focused on paul manafort.nd what we do know is during the campaign he offered inside assistance to the russian campaign to a russian oligarch who is close to putin and did it through an intelligence officer named constantine. that may be what mueller's looking at as well. but this question really applies far more widely than just to manafort. >> well, david, the book is called "russian roulette." it could easily be crossword puzzles in 2016 with all the names. jessica, i don't know if you want to buy a vowel but bottom line how would this questioning work if you were sitting there and you did not see the questions being leaked? >> one, they start with very open ended questions. and i think part of it is the initial question really is important in the sense what you want to do as a prosecutor is just get donald trump talking. because we know that will basically be an unequivocal good thing for the special counsel and i think an unequivocally bad thing for donald trump. but then i also think what we've heard is

breaking news paul manafort's former son-in-law cut a deal with federal investigators. what that means from the mueller investigation in two minutes. ♪ you can be sure ♪ that it will only get better ♪ you and me together ♪ through the days and nights. ♪ i don't worry 'cause ♪ everything's gonna be all right. ♪ ♪ no one, no one, no one ♪ can get in the way of what i'm feeling. ♪ ♪ no one, no one, no one ♪ can get in the way of what i feel for you. ♪ ♪ you, you ♪ get in the way of what i feel for you. ♪ campaign manager paul manafort is already wearing two ankle bracelets as he face twos different indictments. and now, his former son-in-law and business partner just cut a plea deal with the justice department. reuters breaking the news tonight that jeffrey yohai pled guilty to charges in los angeles stemming from a federal investigation into his real estate dealings requiring him to cooperate with the other criminal probes twoebs people familiar with the matter said. he has not been told how he will be called on to cooperate as part of the plea agreement. the two people s

a spokesman for paul manafort put out a statement today saying paul manafort maintains his innocencend looks forward to prevailing in this matter. and as you pointed out, this is just one of the courts where manafort is arguing. >> so explain that, because it is a little bit confusing, as i talked about. the ruling comes on the heels of the other judge earlier this month questioning mueller's authority to bring these charges. so there's two different courtrooms going on? >> reporter: that's right. there are two different courtrooms where this sort of theater is playing out. this one was in d.c. and previously earlier this month, manafort was making a similar argument in virginia, again saying that mueller has overstepped his authority. and in this case, the judge seemed much more sympathetic to manafort's argument, essentially going to prosecutors and saying, look, i think that you guys are just using this to go after president trump, potentially to try to impeach him. i don't think you really care that paul manafort committed bank fraud, if that -- if that's what you're alleging her

against paul manafort all arises from that work he did for the government of ukraine with associates with russia and oligarchs. so even if they don't have concrete proof that this is about russian interference with the election, looking at the flow of money is important to understand motives and leverage and extortion and blackmail and other things i think they see it as being intertwined with the russia investigation. >> barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney in michigan. thank you, barb. much appreciated. >> thanks, rachel. >> we'll be right back. stay with us. ♪[upbeat music] ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun♪ ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun transitions™ light under control™ let your inner light loose with one a day women's. transitions™ ♪ a complete multivitamin specially formulated with key nutrients plus vitamin d for bone health support. your one a day is showing. >>> happy friday night. thank you for being with us tonight i hope you have a wonder weekend. now it's time for the last word wit

paul manafort and now his son-in-law pleading guilty.nd his son-in-law jared kushner and his son donald trump, jr. you've got jim comey talking about sort of how the family sounded and acted like a mob family. and you've got men, the three on the top, try not to swear in front of my son. you have men and their sons in law in potentially criminal enterprises. >> boy, nicolle, the thanksgiving table is not going to be a pleasant conversation in those families. it does, it does showcase that obviously people's judgment can get clouded when they're dealing in family enterprises. it is a word of caution. but, look, all the people on the bottom rung of that chart are adults and i think the way prosecutors and law enforcement officials view things is that if you are an adult and you know what you're doing, then you have to pay the consequence. and the fact that you have a familial relationship shouldn't make it worse for you and it shouldn't make it better for you. i think it does put the guys on the top rung, the dads, in a very uncomfortable

but this case, as i see it, is bigger than paul manafort.than -- i think almost half a dozen guilty pleas including the president's former national security adviser, michael flynn. so of course they have to prove the case. they're not above the law. and, you know, i expect that the judge, you know, will rule, you know, according to the law. but i see that there's a lot of evidence relating to paul manafort and whether the president had knowledge or candidate trump had knowledge of paul manafort's dealings with the russians and whether that made him more qualified for the job because there's so many people who were on the team that had prior relationships with the russians that would have been disqualifying in most campaigns, but it looks like to this candidate that helped them get the job. >> the president today talked about a lot of subjects in dallas but the setting was the convention for the nra. he did talk about guns. you made news this week on the subject of guns. i want to read from an op-ed that you wrote in that appeared in "usa tod

> friday wasn't great for the mueller investigation because of what was said by a judge in the paul manafort bank fraud case. manafort was on mr. trump's campaign team. judge t.s. ellis said this to a prosecutor in court. we don't want anyone in this country with unfettered power. it's unlikely you're going to persuade me the special prosecutor has power to do anything he or she wants. he told the prosecutor there. the american people he said feel pretty strongly no one has unfettered power. what does that signal? this was a very angry judge. apparently lost his temper over it in court. >> it does sound so. and this -- let's be clear. this is a piece of good news for the trump team who have not received so many pieces of good courtroom news lately. it may not be the final word on this. there is an entire different legal proceeding against manafort that's going on in washington, d.c., while judge ellis sits in virginia. and they are focusing on different parts. the ukraine stuff is mostly in washington, and other things are in virginia. so, yes, the government was admoni admonished. mueller w

i do need to add anything i say about the paul manafort case, i'm not basing it on any inside information, just looking at it from the outside -- >> because you represented rick gates who was indicted with manafort. >> right. i will say that this does perhaps sound one of the first victories for the manafort team in that they, as everyone knows elected to take their case to virginia rather than stay in d.c., and sounds like they may have found perhaps a more sympathetic court. >> yeah. shan wu, appreciate the legal expertise, thank you. >> you're welcome. >>> still to come, a lot ahead this hour. the chairman of the house intelligence committee threatening to subpoena the president's attorney general, jeff sessions. we're talking to a member of that committee ahead. >>> senator mccain, known as the maverick, as he continues that spirit while battling cancer. much more on his plans, regrets and hopes. >>> and toxic gas is threatening residents on the big island of hawaii after this volcano erupted and is continuing to spew lava, wiping out dozens of homes. you might take something for your

the associated press, they questioned barack focusing many questions on former campaign manager paul manafort and business associate rick gates. joining me natasha ber tran, msnbc analyst paul butler. natasha, if you could, just walk us through the relationship, the enter relationships between trump, manafort and rick gates. >> tom barrack is an interesting figure because he has the confidence of both paul manafort and donald trump and, of course, rick gates. he's known him for about four decades, met in beirut 40 years ago. he's known trump for almost as long, almost three decades. when the president needed or the then candidate donald trump needed someone to wrangle delegates for him at the convention, paul manafort stepped in and said i really want to work for this campaign. he told tom barrack, please connect me with the president. he said, okay,ly write you a glowing cover letter. in that letter he mentioned that paul manafort would be willing to work for free. this was a really interesting anything. tom barrack's importance is that he serves as a nexus between the president and paul man

he had a tortured relationship with paul manafort. he hired him as a political consultant, wasn't happy. gave him some money for a investment. they had a falling out. said he stole my money and took it into the united states. the guy they go to is an enemy of paul manafort. and said could you help us -- he laughs. he breaks out in laughter saying it's preposterous. is to take this seriously and he said i don't like the guy. there's no chance they're using paul manafort to coordinate an election and that's important for two reasons. it's two months before the election. it's before the fisa application and here is something that the fbi trusted previously to give them reliable information. spent his own money doing fbi work and now they're telling him no collusion. does the fisa court know this? i bet not. >> laura: so our viewers understand this. we have a situation with three fbi agents go to this russian billionaire's apartment, who only can come to the united states because he is supposedly a bad guy, which by all indications he was