we all know trump and pecker are friends, they go way back. pecker has been buying up stories trying to bury them to protect his friend donald trump for many years. this is called catch and kill. we know they were trying to catch and kill the karen mcdougal story. but what else was pecker catching and killing? on the tape you hear cohen say all of the info. we need to buy up all the info, all of the stuff. it is a mystery, don, about what else pecker could have been buying up and what else trump and cohen wanted to buy from pecker because you hear trump say there, what if it gets hit by a truck. he seems to be saying what if my friend david pecker gets hit by a truck. that's my interpretation of what trump is saying there. we he need to buy up the secrets so that they don't get out. that's how it sounds. and of course i've asked american media about this. i was able to reach the spoelks man tonight right as cuomo was airing the tape. ever since then they're not responding to requests for comment. >> i talked to chris about the same thing that

, david pecker, the head of ami. listen. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david so that i'm going to do that right away. have i spoken to allen weiselberg about how to set the whole thing up funding. >> so what are we -- >> yes. and it's all the stuff -- all the stuff. because you never know wra that company. >> maybe -- >> correct. so i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time pour the financing -- >> what financing? >> we'll have to pay. no, no, no. i got it. >> so that recording released to cnn by cohen's attorney lanny davis last night is muffled in places. some have suggested that when they're saying "our friend david" it may not refer to their friend david pecker of american media. some suggest it could mean david dennison, the pseudonym in the stormy daniels hush agreement. but that idea doesn't make any sense because they're voicing concern that their friend david could get hit by a truck, in the president's words, or something

pecker. here are some of the collaborations. 2011 former apprentice star threatened to sue ami after mr. cohen's intervention they hired her as editor. 2015, ami execs contacted cohen after paying a apartment doorman for the rights to his story alleging donald trump had fathered a child with one of the employees. 2016, talked to cohn while negotiating a $150,000 deal with a former playboy model karen mcdougal for the rights to her story of an alleged affair with mr. trump. so no money was paid for this, but there are going to be questions surrounding what sort of promises david pecker may have made to donald trump to keep this story silent and whether that is a problem with campaign violations, finance violations. >> that's right. look, if david pecker is not running a magazine but acting as an agent for a presidential candidate, then he stops having the protections that media people like us do and he can be indicted under campaign finance violations. i think what's as important is that what'

the wood pecker's gone and you're like oh, i wonder what scared it off.re as that is to get on camera, this is also pretty weird as well. this i credible stag red deer which they say is unlikely to catch on camera just strolls on by looking fantastic and marvelous. >> you feel like the wood pecker was like hey, is anybody looking, we've got a big red deer coming, anybody? >> thanks for the heads up. >>> banana gentleman mania is the queen of the canvass as we've learned on this show. her latest challenge includes a candle. >> this feels really fun, actual. >> i she wants to see what it's like or how difficult it would be to do an entire painting with just the light from a canned. >> all right. so she's experiencing what it was like in the renna assistance >> is it it does kind of mess with your sense because the colors don't necessarily look like what she thinks is she looking for red or blue? wait, is this blue or green because the colors do look different. >> but you know what, whatever it is, it will be fabulous. >> she's decided a pooch. and look at t

it in here, which proves he wasn't paying pecker back, which means pecker wasn't doing a donation foro help his campaign. assess. >> well, it's hard to know in a vacuum. but i would say is this clearly shows at some point in the process he was aware of the payment. the question is when was he aware, and what did he do at that point? so it's really hard to say from one limited conversation. it strikes me that this is, you know, we're essentially seeing one -- like one sentence in a conversation. what i would say is, you know, if i was trump's lawyer, what would concern me is, you know, what was his knowledge of what cohen had done regarding the payment. what was his knowledge about potential false statements that cohen may have made to a financial institution or to others? what did trump know when he signed disclosure forms to the fec because he's got potential liability for making a false statement there? that's what i would be zeroing in on, and i suspect that in the weeks to come, we're going to find out about these other -- supposed other tapes and other information. >> right. >> y

surrounding a payment to former playboy playmate karen mcdougal that was made by a third party, david pecker, as head of the "national enquirer." this all happened in the months before the election. now, this is not a great quality recording, and that will be relevant to its analysis. so first i want to play you the entire recording, not all of which is relevant to the payment. so listen for yourself. >> let me know what's happening, okay? oh. oh. maybe because of this, it would be better if you didn't go, you know? maybe because of this, for that one -- you know -- get rid of this because it's so false what they're saying. it's such bullshit. um -- i think -- i think this goes away quickly. i think what -- i think it's probably better do the charleston thing just this time. yeah. in two weeks, it's fine. i think right now it's better, you know? okay, honey. you take care of yourself. thanks. yep. i'm proud of you. so long. bye. what's up, mike? >> great poll by the way. >> making progress. >> big time. >> and your guy's a good guy. >> pastor scott? >> what's happening? >> oh, no. >> can we

first, let's get into david pecker.r not we like tabloids, he's had a long and successful career. right now, he's being dragged through the mud, and i'm not sure where david wins in any of this. does all of this -- does all of this attention incentivize him to speak up and maybe flip. >> no. no but it does about enfbenefit. he's got a portfolio as you alluded to that control an amazing amount of eyeballs. so if he can utilize them to advance a friend's agenda, as he's doing here, he benefits by increased news stand sales, more views on his websites. higher ad sales. because people are talking about him, and more importantly they're positioning him as a mogul. he has this kind of influence. for david pecker who for years hated the tabloid label and people used to refer to him as a used car salesman, this takes care of that. n >> he's also being positioned as somebody who knows a lot about this catch and kill idea, and maybe engaged in it with karen mccdougal. was that a common practice? >> you have to remember how they o

they are worried about having it in their files and david pecker getting hit by a bus or a truck. that may not be illegal but it sure seems sleazy and the campaign lied about it. doesn't it seem sleazy to you? >> the big picture is we shouldn't know all of this conversation. it is a lawyer and a client talking to each other about whether to pay by cash or check or whether to make the deal or not make the deal. that's the conversation i have every day. i don't tape the conversations and i certainly don't leak them. i think the big question is who leaked this tape and whose advantage was it to have this tape -- >> you don't think the big answer is why did hope hicks lie about it and why did the president lie about it? >> those are political questions. >> no. those are human decency questions. >> and people have a right to judge those questions. you asked me to talk about the legal implications. the legal implications are conversations like this should never be disclosed to the public. do you want your conversation with your priest, doctor, wife, psychiatrist to be disclosed because

and it seems like there was a collection of things that they wanted back from david pecker. that's why i'm asking you. i know you won't answer, but i want that to be in people's minds that this may not have been just about karen mcdougal. >> let me try to answer that. michael cohen is an authentic, sincere man, hurting because the power of the presidency, rudy giuliani, and all the henchmen are now after michael cohen. and he's living in a hotel because his apartment was drenched, and he's forced to live in a hotel with family that's being attacked by a president. and the end result here is what they were talking about was paying money in order to keep something quiet. >> mm-hmm. >> and that's what donald trump has been up to for a long time and lying about many subjects, and this is the one time, which is why i seem to be smiling so much, because it's a serious moment, where there's no disputing the sound that you hear with your own ears. and i invite everybody, listen to this tape, and you decide. >> lanny davis, thank you for making the tape available. appreciate you goin

and talking about embarrassing information that our friend, david pecker has. of course david pecker is the ceo of ami, the publisher of the "national enquirer." and has damaging information that might come out before the election. and cohen is proposing to the president, then, the gop nominee that they buy the rights from david pecker just to be on the safe side. just to have this material certainly in his hands rather than ami's hands. one month after karen mcdougal who claims she had a ten-month affair. she can't talk anything about it. and interestingly that trump friendly publisher sits on the story and does not with it either. here is what is weird to me. what it appears is the claim about the context of this, is it is not about stormy daniels, it is about karen mcdougal. and they did open some kind of shell company to make the payment, but that shell company never does make the payment and then have to open another shell company to do the other paying, is that right? >> we don't know what happens with the creation of that company other than we know they

they are talking about david pecker, the head of ami. it is all that stuff that's at question this morning. >> obviously the implication is that ami, which is, you said is the parent company to many publications, not just the "national enquirer," that they have more information beyond the karen mcdougle story, that there may have been a pattern or practice here on the part of ami to use this catch-and-kill practice, which there is nothing illegal about in theory. but when you get to using it in a pattern or practice for the purpose of influencing the campaign, now that could become a legal issue. so it sounds like there is more to the story here. >> we know of these 12 tapes that michael cohen reported, only one of them has the president on it. and that's what we just heard. thank you, both. >>> still to come, much more on that tape. we'll take a closer look at the politics, potential political fallout, what this is actually going to mean for the president. >>> but first, the attorney for the accused russian spy, maria butina, says this

he is concerned about what happens to the information if pecker loses control of it. >> that is exactly right, the biggest issue is rises is that trump is not unfamiliar sounding with this transaction. there was a lot of things that giuliani said about this that were unnecessary. there are questions, there are things that are not clear, but he doesn't say michael, what are you talking about? our friend david? what do you mean? very obviously that he knows what this is about and it indicates that he knew about it before. ami paid karen mcdoogle, they paid her in august. this conversation was taped on september 6th. again, it is not clear cut as to who said what about how it should be dealt with welcome be there is other stuff there. >> on the bigger picture about reality. i'm curious what you think about people around the president, they're deleting things that we have seen. they're delightieting the porti that vladimir putin confirmed that he wanted president trump to win. they deleted that so that you don't exactly know what he is saying when he says yes, i did, yes, i did. so the peop

david pecker. pecker-- ( cheers and applause ) the pecker, as no he already has the rights to mcdougal's story at this point, and trump and cohen want to buy those rights from him asap because you never know what might happen. >> stephen: yeah, getting hit by a truck is a real risk. have you seen the idiots they let drive those things? ( laughter ) ( cheers and applause ) i can't believe that's an accurate impression of the president i just did. ( laughter ) but the juiciest part of the tape, and the most difficult to hear, is this section where they discuss exactly how they're going to pay pecker. >> stephen: it's hard to hear because the only thing that michael cohen is worse at than lawyering is sound recording. ( laughter ) in fact, we have an exclusive preview of the next trump tape to be released. >> stephen: both sides-- they're an endangered species. it was very nice of michael cohen. ( applause ) stop it. both sides are rushing to put theiroin spin on this tape, especially trump attorney a

he connected pecker to things that pecker was interested in. and in turn pecker gave him fawning coverage. >> i have the question, if the "national enquirer" had this story and there was a discussion potentially about paying, and then there was no payment, why wouldn't there be? if you are running for president and you are worried about it. and this is what it is going to take to get if buried, why wouldn't the payment happen? >> i can't speak to why the president didn't pay, or no agreement reached for a payment. but one of the most interesting aspects of what happened today, is the fact that michael cohen taping his client which is totally unethical and completely unheard of. undermines this narrative that we have been talking about for months about cohen's loyalty to his client. somebody who tapes his client and exposes them to this. is he really upholding his responsibility to his client, maybe he was not the kind of ride or die side kick that we thought he was. >> have you heard about that before? a lawyer taping your client? >> you can do

ibturn pecker gave him coverage. that's the quid pro quos. >> if the national inquirer had this story and there was a discussion potentially about paying and then there was no payment, why wouldn't there be? if you're running for president, you're worried about it and this is what it's going to take to get it buried, why wouldn't the payment then happen? >> i can't speak to why the president didn't pay or there was no agreement reached for the payment, but i do think one of the most interesting aspects of what happened today is the fact that michael cohen taping his client, which formal federal prosecutors i spoke to today is totally unethical and almost completely unheard of. really undermines this narrative we've been talking about for months is cohen's loyalty to their client. someone who tapes their client and potentially exposes them to this, do they really have that client's interests at heart? is he really up holding his responsibility to his client? maybe he was not the kind of ride or die sidekick we all tho

pecker, not that he did anything wrong. and at sthe assertion on the ta- and the second one is the idea of what was going on with his intentionality. did he want this done on the up and up the way his legal term asserts that he did, or was he saying pay with cash and not do not pay with cash? then the trump organization argument talking about financing terms, why did he then mention a check? >> what does that mean? i'm glad you said that. one more time. i want people in the back to hear this. then chris and i will talk. >> i've spoken to alan wieselberg about how to set the whole thing up with funding -- yes. it's all the stuff. you never know where that company, you never know where he's going to be -- >> you never know if he'll get hit by a truck. >> correct. i talked about all of that. we talked about the financing -- >> what financing? >> i have to pay -- >> cash? >> no, no, no, no, no. >> check? >> it sounds like what he's saying, i think he's saying it's ina inaed -- inaudible in case pecker or who they work with gets

. >> this next one also funny, full of peckers. >> oh? >> oh. >> ow. >> excuse you. >> mom out here just trying clean the chicken coop. these peckers keep pecking her. >> well, maybe they don't want her taking their eggs. >> getting her feet, trying to shoe the chickens away. >> stop. >> it's like you know what? i provide you with a nice place to live area you always got food, sometimes you get a piece of fruit that you like and that is how you pay me back? >> that's how it goes. >>> so what the fluff trend continues. but. >> this dog is about to get a double surprise. >> the special twist hiding behind this big internet challenge. >>> and take a look at some sweet digs. >> this is the swankiest of swanky. >> tour the stunning pad that could be all yours for a cool chunk of change. >> i'm totally riding it off for now. or fresh signature salad and a basket of our famous never ending breadsticks. followed by plentiful portions of your favorite dishes. so many choices you'll love at everyday great prices you won't want to miss. don't wait a

if something happens to david pecker where does the knowledge go.we would deal with this through the company. it sounds clear to me. remember the business of michael cohen paying for this personally. like no no no, you're not going to pay, i'm going to take care of it. maybe it's not accurate, but it is something i heard. you lay all of that out there, and the other thing we can't lose iegt of -- sight of is they claimed no knowledge of the payments, and this is saying something different. when he says you cannot believe what you hear or see, and he has been contradicted. this is the president of the united states and how he is not being truthful with the american people. so we can't lose sight of all of that. >> no, and the danger of course is that it is baked in the cake. you clearly have a president among other things that is lying. he seems very comfortable suggesting payouts for violence. >> he is like wait, what financing. he is more used to cash payouts. he doesn't want the finance plan. >> and it almost goesout s with saying these were payme

pecker and you said to him, do you mind selling us this, i think he would say no, he'd say there's no trail away from me. this appears to be a judicial -- excuse me, appears to be a newsman's decision not to run the story. if you come in and buy it, then you reveal exactly your role in the entire event. he might have wanted to be paid. that's hypothetical. >> to use a legal term, hs the funkiest part of the whole story. what is a self-declared tabloid media publication doing in the middle of all this? it doesn't mean donald trump did something wrong, although he could have, but it does mean this tabloid is here doing what, political favors for a presidential campaign. i want to play and get your response, this is her lawyer on that question when we discussed it. >> all right. >> if your client made this deal with the "national enquirer," why was michael cohen involved? >> it's the $64 million question. >> or is it the $130,000 question depending on the case? >> 150 in ours. >> you don't know? >> we don't know. >> do you think it's nefarious. >> of course it's nefarious. >> i think it'

pecker was during october of 2001, when we had the tragedy, the first anthrax murder in u.s.ry at ami headquarters in boca raton, florida, and we had an opportunity to talk to mr. pecker and say, sir, we're going to go into the anthrax building, have an opportunity to pull out the most valuable possessions you want us to take from the building, what do you want us to grab? and he said, there's a framed photo of elvis in his coffin and a photo of back boy, you need to grab those. that's who we're dealing with. >> frank, thank you very much for that especially. katie phang, thanks to you, as well. >>> not the right time to maintain control of congress this election year, to hold back that blue wave, and with the 2020 election right around the corner after that, one of the loudest voices on the left calling for president trump's impeachment. make a run for the white house himself. i'm going to ask tom steyer that when he returns after the break. 2018 ford f-150. with best in-class towing best in-class payload and best in-class torque the f-150 lineup has the capability to get bi

plans to set up a company to purchase the story rights from american media run by trump ally david pecker. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david, you know, so that i'm going to do that right away. i've actually come up -- >> give it to me -- >> and i've spoken to allen wieselberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so, what are we going to -- >> -- funding -- yes. and it's all the stuff -- >> thinking about it -- >> all the stuff, because you never know what that company, where he's going to be -- >> who gets it -- >> correct. so, i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> listen, what financing? >> we'll have to pay -- >> don't pay with cash. >> no, no, no. i've got -- no, no, no. >> the audio at the end is muddled and it's unclear whether mr. trump suggests paying with cash or not paying. the president's attorney, rudy giuliani, has said no payment ever came from his client. giuliani tells the "washington post" it sounds to him like cohen is explaining so

i might point out that when i represented donald actively he referred david pecker to me. so the relationship between the inquirer and trump is extremely close. but make no mistake, michael cohen was concerned about his own position. he wanted to stay in the good graces of trump because trump was essentially his only client, but he had the presence of mind to know that he was treading on shaky ground, and he had to have something that he could sell to a prosecutor should the matter explode. >> do you think david pecker who oversees this media empire, do you think he has any potential exposure for doing things that weren't really under his obligations to that company but really some sort of scheme or plot? >> i think he has some fudishiary duty to shareholders and he too has exposure. but i'm concerned about michael cohen. if you spend five minutes with michael cohen you know he's not strong. he's weak. it's odd to say this but when he said he would stand up for the president, i knew from talking with him for less than five minutes that he was sufficiently weak, that he wou

which is owned by the president's close friend, david pecker. pecker's company apparently bought mcdougal's story in order to bury it, a practice known as catch-and-kill. in that recorded conversation, trump and cohen discuss a plan for them to buy the rights to the story from ami, also for about $150,000. sources familiar with the tape say trump can be heard telling cohen to make sure any payment is properly documented in order to have a record of it. but sources say the payment never happened. the recording was discovered by the fbi when they raided cohen's home, office and hotel back in april. he is under investigation for potential campaign finance violations, for allegedly arranging hush money payments to women who claim to have had sexual relationships with trump. >> i will do anything to protect mr. trump. >> reporter: cohen once said he would take a bullet for his number one client. >> i'm obviously very loyal and very dedicated to mr. trump. >> reporter: and the president has told me his former fixer would never turn against him. >> i j

that was their regular practice, david pecker.at said, we don't really know if this is analogous to the john edwards -- and john edwards was clear of it. the edwards case was through an intermediary, it wasn't direct, and it was months and months before the election. so not two weeks before the election. it's not that easy to make the case that this is a campaign contribution. this is all notional. >> reporter: i think you're exactly right, that's the point that rudy giuliani and the president's team is making. the president, you remember, just a couple of days ago tweeting, the good news is your favorite president has done nothing wrong here. but the reason it's important, as i indicated at the start, it really does escalate this. indications there are other recordings that are out there, as many have suggested, if you tape one conversation, who knows what other conversations have been taped. this is more fuel to a fire that's been burning at the feet of, frankly, this white house, this president, that he's tried to stomp out for

pecker. so it wasn't just one thing. what other things do they have? >> we have to put up a response, so here's what the trump team is saying of what he said on tape. >> this is their version of the transcript. they said, this is the transcript. >> they're saying he said, well, are you going to pay him with something? then donald trump said, don't pay him with cash, check. and he says, no, no, no, i got it. nowhere in there does it say michael cohen says cash. >> michael cohen never says cash in what i hear -- >> check, rather. you hear him say check. >> i never hear michael cohen say cash or check. i hear donald trump say cash and check. the trump organization has this argument that he was talking about a way to pay for things and not green money. then why did he mention a check if he was talking about a full payment or prorated or staggered payments, he wouldn't have said check. >> so, listen, i spoke with some of michael cohen's friends. i just want to read it specifically. his friends say it certainly looks like he wants to tell the tuth to the mos

pecker to get the goods so they can have them in case he gets hit by a truck.hat's the elephant in the room here is that, to me, this shows that the stories are true. i don't know if people care about that given the president's reputation in this area. but i don't see, based on what we have, anything close to a crime. even if it was a crime, the campaign finance violation, it's minor. none of that ever happened apparently, so i think he goes -- he skates on this. >> let's talk more about the cult purp using the term rat. what kind of attorney would do this? this attorney was somebody in his employ, not for a couple days or weeks but for years and years doing this thing. you are a veteran. you've been on both sides of the law. what does it tell you about michael cohen that he felt to compel his client who, at that point, was the republican nominee for president? >> probably his own insurance policy. i agree with most of the commentators who believe it was terible to do that, probably unethical for him to do that. keep in mind, again, according to stories from a

is that david pecker of a.m.i., the publisher of the "national enquirer"? or is that david i think dennison, the pseudonym that trump used to mask his role in some of these payments? i don't know. >> it sounds like in these comments it's probably david pecker because he's talking about setting up a company to deliver money to cover the story that dafvid pecker ended up delivering money to buy and then kill at the "national enquirer." >> i think what's significant here, lawrence, is that i don't know how much legal exposure donald trump will get because of what michael cohen has done. but michael cohen is exposing donald trump to all sorts of legal peril. and in this particular conversation they reference alan weisselberg i think at least twice and they refer to the fact that alan knows about the structure of these llcs they're using to manage payments. alan weiss'llberg was fred trump's accountant, the cfo of the trump organization for years. he knows far more about the finances of the trump organization than michael cohen ever did. and to the extent that a

pecker, and mr. trump, and in which they have helped each other from time to time, and both favoring mr. trump and killing other stories. what they did with the mcdougal story was they paid her 150,000 and then kill it had story and tried to tie her down with that contract. that's an abusive situation in which they said this is a story that's going to run. you don't pay $150,000 for a dog and then they didn't run it. the only person who profits from that is candidate trump. and so these conversations -- they did that in august. so these conversations in september only a month later seem to fit naturally with an ongoing scheme. should we now pay her directly? should we buy the rights to the story from ami or the enquirer? that shows a continuing knowledge of what's going on. all the denials by trump are after that. >> and megan speak to the point that michael cohen may have had some inkling that he had exposure on this, if he kept the tapes secret from donald trump, he wasn't making the tape for donal

pecker is a long-time friend of donald trump and jared kushner. michael cohen did set up a company, essential consultants, just a month or so after the tape was made. that is the company reportedly used to pay off stormy daniels. so let's get back to the tape. a key point of contention this morning surrounds what trump is heard saying at the end when he mentions financing. according to cohen's attorney, lanny davis, it sounds like he's asking whether to pay with cash, while trump's attorney, rudy giuliani, claims the president is saying don't pay with cash. why is that significant? if the president was talking about reimbursing american media with cash, it could indicate an intent to hide the payment. giuliani says the truth is just the opposite, that the president encouraged any payment to be made by check, specifically so there would be a paper trail. quote, it shows the president wanted it done in a way that was memorialized. they also talked about doing it through a corporation, which would indicate they did not want it done by cash. you're no

so i actually talked with david pecker. i was the on-scene commander of the first anthrax murder in the united states that happened at boca raton, florida, at ami headquarters. i told him we had a team suited up. we had one shot at getting his most valuable possessions out of that building. what can we get for you? he said the framed photograph of elvis in his coffin and the photo of bat boy. >> i'm going to spend the rest of the night wanting to unhear that. phil rucker, let me give you the last word on whether the white house has got its arms around the fact this is still unfolding for them, questions about the "national enquirer" and the relationship to the trump campaign and trump organization. >> the white house officials are really flying blind in part because they just don't know, you know, where this is headed. they don't know what the feds in new york have. they don't know what michael cohen is willing to talk about and how loudly he's willing to sing, so to speak. it has them quite worried. there's a great deal of

i'm going to do that >> reporter: david is a possible reference to david pecker, mr.mp's friend and president of national enquirer's parent company american media incorporated. trump's personal friend and >> reporter: the conversation came after american media incorporated reached a $150,000 deal to pay former playboy model karen mcdougal for her story about an alleged affair with mr. trump in 2006. the president denies the affair. mr. trump's lawyer rudy giuliani fired back, saying the recording only proves the president's claims that he did not know about the transaction and provided this white house transcript of the recording, which claims that mr. trump says, don't pay with cash, check. >> everybody heard just now donald trump say the word cash. >> reporter: on monday, the white house deviated from its previous blanket denials of mcdougal's alleged affair with mr. trump. >> once again, the president maintains he's done nothing wrong. i would refer you to rudy giuliani. >> there's no question that michael cohen has the goods on the president. >> reporter: michael

, or buy something from david pecker. that's david pecker from "the national enquirer." >> actually it's the most damning evidence against donald trump so far. by the way, when you listen to that tape, you clearly hear michael cohen speaking of people with a sense that this is a tape that he's going to probably or might want to use at some point. >> he did make some clarifying remarks along the way. >> there was a great deal of clarification you wouldn't expect among old friends. so this is the most damning part of this. donald trump was in on the game of trying to suppress information that had it emerged in that timeline, september, october of 2016 might have been decisive in synciinking his cha to be president. >> the white house told us of a 9:30 press conference with the president. apparently not starting at 9:30, but we will let you know as it happens. the curiosity here, of course, is that the president -- we have lots of questions. the things that bret and ron and i are talking about, we have a lot of questions. we

david pecker says, no, no, no this was not about a nondisclosure agreement but burying her story and they say they were paying her for photo shoots, not to keep secrets. >> your documentary, the trump show looks at how the trump presidency is changing television. watch this. >> in the trump era last minute script change are the new reality for scripted tv. >> we will see what we will see. >> there's this impulse to be relevant and to comment on what's going on. >> alex gaunza is the cocreator of homeland. >> when a big story breaks do you all talk about how to incorporate that? >> it's the first thing we discuss especially now when the news stories are so crazy. >> breaking news, defending putin. >> breaking news tonight, a shakeup at the white house. >> foreign star and another staff departure. just another day in the trump white house. >> we are all utterly blown away. we're all trying to adapt to trump's america. >> is it fair to say america is a hubub of the so-called resistance. >> it's no secret that hollywood leans progressive and there's a certain dangerous presumption that e

david pecker was head of the km that owns and publishes the international inquirer. lanny davis supplied the tape to cnn tonight. you'll hear at first, the president, who appears to be finishing up a phone call. we do not know if there had been any editing or altaring. heaters in its entirety. >> we know what's happening, ok? oh. oh! maybe because of this it would be better if you didn't go. you know. maybe because of this for that one, you know -- to get rid of this, because it's so false what they're saying and sexual [ bleep ]. i think i did -- this goes away quickly. i think what -- it's better to do the charleston thing, just this time. yeah, in two weeks it's fine. i think right now it's better you know? ok. honey, you take care of yourself. thanks. talking to you. great poll, by the way. great poll. >> hello. >> what's -- >> i don't know. >> can we use him anymore? >> no -- oh, yeah. mark burns. >> can we use him? >> no. >> we had a chance to hear from you tonight. [ inaudible ] >> we got served from the new york times. i told you. unsealed divorce papers with

is a chief david a-m-i -- whose chief david pecker is a close friend of trump's -- never ran the storyetly taking part in the ami deal. trump's campaign denied any knowledge of the ami deal in a november 2016 wall street journal report on the agreement.(nats)the fbi seized the mcdougal tape -- and others -- during an april raid of cohen's office -- part of the southern district of new york's criminal investigation into his business dealings -- including the 130-thousand dollar payment he made to porn star stormy daniels -- days before the 2016 election -- to keep her quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with trump that trump also denies.anderson cooper/ cnn: "and you had sex with him?" stormy daniels: "yes."anderson cooper/ cnn: "you were 27 and he was 60, were you physically attracted to him?"stormy daniels: "no."anderson cooper/ cnn: "not at all."stormy daniels: "no."the secret recordings may provide an answer to one of the biggest questions facing the president -- just what does cohen have on him?trump's former fixer -- michael cohen/2011: "i protect mr. trump."has sent sign

. >> someone's making muse skblik wood pecker on a tin roof. >> no, the right answer was sausages.l about crunchy we will-done sausages, but that's ridiculous. >> those sausages or on the grill and the grill master passed out from all the beer? >> i have no idea. similar situation from the last video, i want you to try to identify what food this was. they open it up and with. >> brilo pad. >> i have no idea how many weeks they're cooking it at 200 degrees. i suppose if you might compress it you knight might get a diamond but, no. just don't do any of that and it will be great. >>> people aren't the only ones getting down with the get down on the fourth of july to taste their patriotic food. >> wave that flag. >> well, should we follow the instructions in waving the flag in it helps that there's something there for chewy to chew. >> good zbloi it's like a fresh breezy day. >> all right. we've got some flags, now for the fireworks, or sparklers. >> oh, no. this dog goes by oli the indy -- oli, you got to move back a bit. but, i mean, they're shine j. >> this isn't the garden hose. >>

was to ensure plump controlled the story in case as he quaintly puts it american company ceo david pecker gets hits by a truck or something. american media bought the rights of the mcdougal story in august. yet in november just days before america voted campaign person hope hicks said i i quote we have no knowledge of any of this. look, maybe she didn't know as well. he would know, for example, whether his own boss is lying or shading the truth or concealing something when he said this back in january of 2016. >> so i tweeted out that i have no dealings with russia, i have no deals in russia. i have no deals that could happen in russia because we've stayed away. and i have no loans with russia. as a real estate developer i have very little debt. i have assets and now people have found out how big the company is. but i have no loans with russia at all, and i thought that was important to point out. i have no deals, i have no loans and i have no dealings. >> chief financial officer of the organization allen weisselberg would know if that's true. >> and what i'm going to be doing is my two s

the payment was eventually made, we know now, by trump friend david pecker, head of the company that owns and publishes the national enquirer. cohen attorney lanny davis supplied the tape you're about to hear to cnn tonight. you're going to hear at first the president who appears to be finishing up a phone call. we do not know if there's been any editing or altering of the original recording. here it is now in its entirety. >> you know what's happening, okay? oh, oh. maybe because of this it would be better if you didn't go. maybe because of this, get rid of this because it's so false what they're saying. it's such [ bleep ]. i think -- i think this goes away quickly. i think it's probably better to do the charleston thing just this time. in two weeks it's fine. i think right now it's better. okay, honey. you take care of yourself. thanks. i'm proud of you. >> great poll, by the way. big time. >> mark burns, can we use him? >> no. >> we got served from "the new york times" seal the divorce papers with ivana. we're fighting it. kasowitz is going to -- they don't have a legitimate purp

, that's michael cohen saying that and maybe they would buy it back from american media and david pecker. here is what giuliani told "the new york times." the men discussed a piemt from trump to ms. mcgoogle. later he said that mr. trump and mr. cohen had actually discussed buying the rights to her story from the even quirer, a move that would have reimbursed the newspaper for its payments to her. are there problems for her. if so, what are they? >> these tapes will speak for themselves. once prosecutors looked at them, prosecutors will know what they say and what they mean. and that's really all that matters here. we're seeing rudy giuliani coming out again in public like he has with many other developments in this case, trying to put a public spin on this, hoping perhaps to persuade the public so that if impeachment proceedings begin, they won't go very far. prosecutors don't care about any of that. they just care about the hard enough. and these tapes which have already been made say whatever they say. at some point the government will evaluate whether that is part of the evidence tha

>> it does because you're talking about what type of asset do they believe david pecker was? do they believe he was their boy? they had to capitalize on his existence there for as long as he would be there to kill any other stories or impress institutional knowledge about a pattern of behavior that would suggest he tried this a continuous amount of times? what they're trying to suggest there and what they're actually alluding to, which needs to be pointed out, is the idea this is not an isolated one-off. the president wasn't shocked by the conversation. he wasn't asking about why a corporation, what story are you talking about? this is part of an overall pattern and the idea they had to try to secure the silence on a wide variety of issues, and based on their presumed asset tells you that perhaps ami was acting as more of an in kind contributor which should be covered under campaign finance. >> and just to capitalize on laura's observation, the president has answered his own question as given in the tweet this morning when he says, what kind of lawyer would tape his client? t

but others seem to think it's david pecker. so. >> interesting. >> so if it is -- no matter who the david is, the one thing that jumps out is the way michael cohen inex pertly using these code words. that's another sobering reality they're going to have to face is that the government is very good as calling laypersons to testify as to what code words mean. more you use a code word, the more the government will seize on that and call their own witnesses to say, in my years of experience in law enforcement, this is what they were talking about. so it's a double enged sword. >> mine is bald eagle. i think the government calls me chubby bald eagle. thank you. very good to see you. >>> the walls are closing in on the russian investigation. president trump. now the cfo of the trump organization we've just been talking about reportedly called to testify in michael cohen's case. we're going to tell you all about this man. we've just told you a little bit about. allen wieselberg, including his very long history with the trump family and

basically the chairman of the company that owns the "national enquire" is a trump friend named david pecker a real name and not surprisingly, a nickname trump gave him. [ laughter ] "i'm going to call you david pecker." [ light laughter ] "yeah, that's my name." ig"a rllht." [ laughter ] the "enquire" bought mcdougal's story so they could bury it. it's a practice known as catch and kill. and on the tape, trump and cohen are talking about buying the story from the "enquire." now remember, trump denied this affair happened during the campaign and although the tape is muffled, it really sounds like he's telling cohen to keep the whole thing secret and off the books by paying in cash. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. >> so that -- >> i'm going to do that right away. so i'm all over that. and i spoke to alan about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> listen, what financing? >> we'll have to pay -- >> pay with cash. >> no, no, no, i got -- no, no, no -- >> seth: so obviously it sounds like trump is saying the

no allegation or suggestion that pecker did anything wrong. okay? sometimes people get? stink on them from being part of this conversation. that is not a point of proof for us on this show. but we do believe that's who they're talking about. and for every reason of common sense and fact that is who they were talking about. all right? now, the second name is allen weisselberg. he is the cfo of the trump organization. why does his name matter? well, cohen said it. and in the context it implied that trump's company could have been involved in cohen's hush money efforts. we don't know for sure. but it seems like he was talking to him about it. the legalities. it would be all about money movements on one level. and we know of no transaction that ever actually happened. they're talking about doing it, but we don't believe it was done. the company was set up. and then it was closed down and another one was set up. and that second one was done for stormy daniels. that was a different corporation. but it was set up with the same kind of dynamic, which is why we care about this dy