pecker's lawyers and ami. so i don't think we quigt know enough publicly about what the scope of that immunity agreement is. in other words, whether he has agreed to provide information discreetly about these two particular women and their cases that are described in the cohen documents or whether his immunity agreement is much more broad. but the -- one other point. the important piece about what he has potentially to provide with respect to the cohen document -- what's in the cohen documents about the two women is whether or not donald trump knew that the purposes of the payments was to affect the election. the timing is certainly suspicious. >> sure. >> as it was october and close to the election. but whether or not mr. pecker actually can give prosecutors that information would be very important. >> very prorimportant. so, april, as we all remember, last june, msnbc host joe scarborough and mike nicco, they claimed -- they went on the air and they claim, look, we were threatened by the white house, they sa

we know that pecker was aware of the stormy daniels' case. one one in the case of mcdougal of trump and one in the case of of -- in both of those cases, this is a company paying money to silence stories. this is a pattern of behavior that could get this company in legal trouble. we talk to election law experts who says that's dicey territory especially in such a close recissio relationship. >> are you surprise that pecker returning on the president considering their long stand personal relationship? >> we knew from the beginning that this was potentially risky behavior from a legal standpoint. we had legal analysts saying this looks like an attempt to influence elections that could lead to problems. any law enforcement officials looking at this case may have a lot on pecker. this is a company where multiple employees of the company allege various kinds of activities. i would imagine that conversation really back david pecker into a corner. >> the associate press reporting that the national inquire kept a safe containing documents on hush mone

pecker might give them. that could include certainly a safe of secrets but most importantly i think they want evidence of the payments. prosecutors would be very eager for that. >> and if you believe "the wall street journal" reporting, david pecker is saying that the president knew about the payments. that says that the president and kellyanne conway who spoke last night, are lying. these are people close to the president who are now to an extent turning on him. that is a big deal. >> when these stories unfolded, what if the american people knew about the developments at the time they were occurring in the critical days right before the 2016 election. the consequences of this behavior and actions, i don't think can't be overstated in an election overstated by votes in three midwestern states. if it is correct that they are offering these payments, we are deeper into these uncharted waters. the evidence that the justice department eluded to in their documents, it seems clear that if this was anyone else, the

pecker's cooperation may come back to harm mr. trump and reveal additional crimes. >> thank you, keep it sunny in chicago, i'll be there later today. i don't want any delays into o'hare. >> i'll take care of. >> it thanks for joining me. >> one of the most powerful republicans in congress says his party needs to do more when it comes to bringing minorities, african-americans into the fold. what is his plan and does he think the president is helping or hurting? you might take something for your heart... or joints. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on is boost®. delicious boost® high protein nuritional drink now has 33% more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals boost® high protein. be up for life. boost® high protein. the first survivor of alzis out there.ase and the alzheimer's association is

david pecker runs a media empire.dia people not have some things that they can stand behind when the law comes after you by saying we've got the fifth amendment, i have a right to be friends with whomever i wish to, i have the right to write whatever i want, and if i wanted to buy a story about karen mcdougal and not publish it, you have a right protected by the constitution? what could possibly pressure david pecker into making a deal with the feds? >> well, they do and is this going to be i think an interesting collateral part of the investigation. this may be the death of the "national enquirer" in some way. because they have been hiding behind this first amendment privilege, but in fact they have not been acting as a true first amendment operation, but rather as a media shell. even if this were the "new york times" or "usa today," if he is separately having conversations and criminal conspiracies with trump, he has criminal exposure and we know that he is a very important part of the information with cohen is in 2

his name is pecker. his last name is pecker. it makes every news story about him a little giggly and distracting. i'm 45 years old. as far as that means i'm just 9 years old times five. it's funny. his name is pecker. that's funny. when it comes to the pickle that mr. pecker has put the president in, it is sort of worth letting it out. giggle through it. let that happen. acknowledge that it's funny. then you do still have to kind of soberly grapple with the fact this guy, mr. pecker, has long been a really central part of donald trump's life. particularly mr. trump's carefully managed public image. during the presidential campaign it became desperately unsubtle. it became impossible not to notice. you could not buy a quart of milk without being confronted with the unsubtlety of this relationship because his empire includes the "national enquirer." and you can watch the progression of donald trump's quest for the presidency over the course of the covers of the "national enquirer." when it came to the end of the presidential prima

pecker. pecker's apparent decision to corroborate cohen's account and implicate trump in a federal crime is another vivid example of how isolated trump is becoming as the walls close in and his former friends look for ways out. holy bleep, i thought pecker would be the last one to turn a trump friend told me when he brought up the news. trump and pecker have been friends for years. according to the trump friend, pecker regularly flew on trump's plane to florida. pecker should become ceo of time magazine. he'd make it exciting and win awards. just how isolated is this president and what are the public facing signs of that, jill? >> this is arguably the most isolated that this president has been. he is somebody who really puts a premium on loyalty. he expects it from the people who are around him. and again and again he's had people who are close to him now turning on him. take michael cohen as the prime example. this is a guy who said he would take a bullet for trump. he would do anything to p

>> no, i'm not at all because at the end of the day what's more important to david pecker is david pecker. >> joining me now, a reporter with the hill.com and journalist and hope of the faqnyc pod cast. >> you covered new york. you know all of these characters. what surprised you more? was it the m community deal for david pecker, the knowledge of this safe or the immunity deal for allen weisselberg, the cfo of the organization and why did you choose either one. >> i'm not surprised that anyone around trump chooses to protect themselves. trump demands loyalty but doesn't inspire it. he's a very transactional karktkarkt character. he very much wants things in exchange for something else real estate often revolves on those terms. new york politics very much and politics in many places interacts that way and trump has learned these lessons over years. what was surprising to me was that federal prosecutors were able to quickly to get david pecker publisher of ami to sort of come forrd what and cooperate. usually someone in trump's position is able to offer something sort of in exchange to pre

what exactly did david pecker want out of donald trump? >> well, first he wanted the acce access of being with trump. that's where he sees himself. when they became friends in the '80s, they were both powerful players. trump was in real estate. he got things that he wouldn't get, brush a fame. david likes to have a brush with fame. as trump's reputation grew through "the apprentice" and he became a celebrity. they bonded. >> donald trump running for president, deal started i guess in 2015, but going well, and him leading in the polls and him winning primaries as time went on, it seemed like the more that they could do to help donald trump, the better it would be for david pecker. in fact, if we can put this up on our giant screen here, david pecker and "the national enquirer" released story after story about hillary clinton. negative story after story about hillary clinton. she failed a secret fbi lie detector. she gained 103 pounds. it just goes on and on. she is corrupt, racist, criminal. they did donald trump's dirty work for him, it se

we heard from sue zakim who said pecker doesn't have friends. >> he's all about david pecker. >> if he's not selling it, maybe he doesn't have loyalty to the president. we know president trump says he cares very much ant the idea of loyalty. i think we have sound to prove that. >> we could use more loyalty. i love loyalty. loyalty can be a wonderful thing. loyalty is very important. i'm loyal to a fault i'm loyal. loyalty. some of these people have like a 10% loyalty meaning if they sneeze in the wrong direction they're gone. >> so chris the president says he values loyalty. michael cohen hasn't shown much in the last week, omarosa hasn't should be much in the last couple weeks and it appears david pecker hasn't, either. >> i think donald trump's loyalty is situational as it fits his interests. remember he told fox that the only reason he hired jeff sessions to be one of the most important members in his cabinet was because jeff sessions had been loyal to him during the campaign. i think loyalty only goes so far. remember, donald trump is regularly redefining the goalpost for almost ever

they had the cooperation of david pecker. we don't know what more that means, how much and what other information pecker has that cohen wasn't aware of. >> a trump friend reportedly told "vanity fair" quote holy s, i thought pecker would be the last one to turn. i have to say this is a powerful guy and the fact that he is cooperating with authorities i find it is hard to believe he is doing it out of the goodness of his heart. >> it almost makes you think they put their pressure on david pecker. he is a powerful guy. he is covered as a media organization. you could put up a big fight and decline to cooperate and turn it into a battle if you want. it is safe to bet the president would bet on his side on that. it is telling to see people who are so friendly to the president over so many years turning on him like this. it does make you wonder -- this is a slice forward and a small slice of what the people are willing to share with investigators. we don't know what they are not cooperating about or what investigators have agreed

where he talks about pecker?y it. >> 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. i've actually -- >> give it to me -- >> and i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so what are we -- >> -- funding -- yes. and it's all the stuff -- >> you're thinking about that. >> because you never know -- >> he gets hit by a truck. >> correct. so i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> what financing? >> well, i have to pay. >> we'll pay cash. >> no, no, no. >> by the way, that doesn't sound like after the fact. that sounds like before. the president having knowledge of it before it happened. regardless of what he said in that interview with fox news. but laura, you were making the point. go on. >> making the point that of course he mentions david pecker in that conversation and used the phrase "all of them." up to that point we belie

david pecker is the chairman of american media incorporated. that's the company that publishes "the national enquirer." the journal says pecker gave prosecutors details on the payments made by michael cohen to stormy daniels and karen mcdougal. payments michael cohen says were directed and coordinated by the then-presidential candidate donald trump. today the president talked about cohen's deal. listen to this. >> it's called flipping, and it almost ought to be illegal. you get ten years in jail, but if you say bad things about somebody, in other words make up stories if you don't know, they just make up lies. alan dershowitz stayed composed. i've seen it many times. they go from ten years to a national hero. they have a statue erected in their honor. it's not a fair thing. but that's why he did it. he made a very good deal. >> all right. let's immediately go to our white house correspondent kaitlan collins at the white house. this is a big deal that a long-time friend and associate of the president of the united states, david pecker of america

because at the end of the day what is more important to david pecker is david pecker.hip loyalty go by the wayside. he's a businessman and this is hurting his business. he will take care of what he's always done, take care of himself. at the end of the day, the guy is a survivor, always lands on his feet and it's probably going to happen this time as well. >> and jerry george, as this goes on, what is it that you -- what do you imagine donald trump is thinking tonight? because donald trump is the other person who knows what david pecker has, what was in that safe. and so donald trump knows what he's hoping won't emerge from that pile in the safe and i guess you would tell the president that if -- if david pecker knows it, he's going to tell it to the fbi. >> well, i think david pecker has always relished the image of this maverick ceo that had the goods on, you know, important people. and his friendship with president trump goes back probably 20 years. but i agree with stu, when push comes to shove, david pecker will look after himself first and i think the friendship

that would be david pecker. getting immunity from prosecutors to flip on the president and immunity is not an easy thing to get. let's listen to what a man who worked with pecker high up at ami said to me last night when i asked him, you know, are you surprised that he would flip on the president. listen. we don't have it. he said to me, i'm stunned. but he also said to me, steve, that essentially david pecker puts himself and his business before everything else. what does it tell you that prosecutors were willing to give him immunity? >> i think it tells you what the prosecutor's goal is here. the goal seems making sure they can build as strong a case as possible if not against the president, then against those around him, his business enterprises, the trump organization. all other considerations, including the potential liability of mr. pecker himself, perhaps even ami, really were secondary. if i'm president trump, that's an awfully ominous sign. >> what's your read, david? in terms of the legal line that pec

we know david pecker is in trouble tonight, and we have ever reason to believe that david pecker, like michael cohen, will do nothing to protect donald trump when he has to choose between telling the fbi the truth or protecting donald trump. that's an easy choice. and it is an easy choice for hope hicks or kellyanne conway or whoever the members of the trump campaign are who helped michael cohen commit those crimes. they are not going to take any chances now trying to protect donald trump now that the man who once boasted he would take a bullet for donald trump has delivered the smoking gun in the investigation of donald trump. how many other smoking guns are there? and who can give them to the special prosecutor? that discussion is next. >>> and we have more breaking it's absolute confidence in 30,000 precision parts, or it isn't. it's inspected by mercedes-benz factory-trained technicians, or it isn't. it's backed by an unlimited mileage warranty, or it isn't. for those who never settle, it's either mercedes-benz certified pre-owned, or it isn't. the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned

pecker who heads america media in inc.rating details. >> michael cohen pled guilty to eight felony charges. >> reporter: trump's former personal lawyer and long time fixing pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance laws admitting he worked with pecker on the $150,000 deal with karen mcdugal for the rights to her story of an alleged 2006 affair with trump. >> do you think he was in love with you? >> he was. >> reporter: and he paid $130,000 in hush money to porn star stormy daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged 2006 -- the president denies both affairs. according to cohen's plea agreement beginning around august 2015 pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about trump by helping identify such stories so they could be bought and killed. pecker has a long history of squashing unflattering stories about the real estate mogul according to a senior editor who said pecker racked up a favor bank. trump has praised pecker as brilliant tweeting he should leave "time" magazine. deals trump claimed to know nothing abo

certainly if pecker is cooperating and the criminal information in the cohen case made it seem like pecker did provide information, that he was in on it. then president trump might have another rat to contend with in his word. >> there is another piece of this, too. i want to bring tom winter back. the "new york times" is reporting overnight, and you and i, confession to the viewers, i called you at 6:00 this morning and this broke and i was doing the "today" show. reporting that the manhattan district attorney's office is considering possibly bringing criminal charges against the trump organizorganization. there is a caveat. if it were to happen, we're talking early days. this thing is down the road, right? put this into context. >> sure, hallie. couple things, count 7, the one i referenced earlier, provides a road map for the manhattan d.a. to say -- because within the conversation, there are trump organization executives that are talking about how to account for -- sorry -- count 8 -- how to account for the pay back for cohen to stormy daniels. they also talk about how they should accou

david pecker knows about him. and last night at 1:10 a.m., the sleepless president tweeted this primal scream. no collusion-rigged witch hunt! there is the president of the united states, three hours after we first reported on this program that david pecker had flipped and the president is rage tweeting no collusion-rigged witch hunt. when the special prosecutor was closing in on richard nixon, he wandered the halls of the white house at all hours of the night. but he didn't have twitter. so we didn't know the next day what he had been thinking at 1:10 a.m. tonight is going to be worse. because tonight donald trump knows not only that david pecker is cooperating but that he's been granted immunity and now there is more new york prosecution -- investigation going on of the president that might lead to new york city and new york state prosecutions. and the president knows that his power of persuasion over even his own voters doesn't work when they take an oath as jurors. the president discovered last night watching

where's david pecker? come on.eams are made of -- david pecker's safe of secrets. we have taken the liberty of the designing the cover for you, mr. pecker. no one asked us. we took the liberty any way. the other tabloids are having a field day. here's the new york post mocking it -- what's in the safe? a space alien elvis haunts my toaster. not bad. weld like to suggest our own suggestion. again, your welcome. mom: okay we need to get all your school supplies today. school... grade... done. done. hit the snooze button and get low prices on school supplies all summer long. like these for only $2 or less at office depot officemax. introducing zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. we have fidelity mutual funds with zero minimum investment. and now, only fidelity offers two zero expense ratio index funds directly to investors. because when you invest with fidelity, all those zeros really add up. ♪ so maybe i'll win, saved by zero ♪ >>> welcome back. president trump furtherer as

and pierre, i want to go back to that immunity deal with david pecker. we know prosecutors already have documents from the publisher of "the national enquirer?" >> reporter: that's right, tom. tonight, the associated press is reporting that "the enquirer" had a safe full of documents related to trump. the question tonight is whether those documents are in the hands of federal investigators. >> pierre thomas with that stunning headline tonight. pierre, thank you. >>> tonight's other breaking story, the extraordinary public feud exploding between president trump and attorney general jeff sessions. the president angry with sessions ever since he recused himself from the russia investigation. now, lashing out, claiming he never took control of the justice department and questioning his loyalty. sessions pushing back, saying the department will not be improperly influenced. the two face-to-face in the white house this afternoon. here's abc's senior national correspondent terry moran. >> reporter: after months of denouncing his own attorney general, president

david pecker, ceo of the company that own, "the national enquirer." cutting an immunity deal in the michael cohen case. a source telling abc news he helped prosecutors investigating cohen and hush money payments for two women during the campaign. cohen pleading guilty to campaign finance allegations. abc's chief justice correspondent pierre thomas leads us off. >> reporter: he's been friends with president trump for more than a decade. but david pecker, publisher of "the national enquirer," has now been granted immunity inthe sild to have had affairs with trump. and that trump knew about the deals. cohen pleaded guilty earlier this week, admitting his role in the scheme, which he claims was directed by the president himself. prosecutors say the plan to protect trump began in 2015, just after the billionaire launched his campaign. they say pecker in coordination with cohen and one or more members of the campaign offered to help deal with negative stories about trump's relationship with women, specifically assisting the campaign in identifying such stor

>> no one has control over the enquirer but david pecker.thing they did was with his knowledge and his help. the covers you showed, you have to remember the enquirer is really the father of fake news. there's no rule that says what you put on that cover has to be true. or what you put inside. yet the value of that cover is immeasurable. no matter what goes on, if you see that cover, that's making recognition in your brain in whether you believe that image or not it's affecting how people think. >> do you think david pecker is being honest now, that he'll be truthful? >> david pecker will be as truthful as he needs to be to be able to survive this. >> which is -- no way to quantify that, right? >> exactly. >> nera, quickly, would you trust a tabloid during a presidential campaign? >> no, i wouldn't. but i would note the "national enquirer" is just in grocery stores across the country, millions of people saw those covers. the fact that they, you know, kind of -- even though they made up excuses about hillary's health, and lied about hillary's

much more on david pecker's deal with the feds and the impact this could have on trump. next, our legal analysts will weigh in. >>> also a juror in the paul manafort trial is now speaking out. revealing what happened behind the scenes during those intense deliberations including how one holdout juror prevented guilty charges on all the counts. >>> and president trump now making the case against his own impeachment. warning, quote, everybody would be poor, if he were forced out. is this governing by fear? we'll discuss. pah! that will never work. no, no, no, nah. a bulb of light?!? aha ha ha! a flying machine? impossible! a personal' computer?! ha! smart neighborhoods running on a microgrid. a stadium powered with solar. a hospital that doesn't lose power. amazing. i like it. never gonna happen. on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. and now, all beds are on sale. save 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, free home delivery. ends saturday. >>> let's get back to our

pecker in a vise.ment, other than just to say, well, "pecker in a vise." >> we have some interesting polling out. then we're going to get into all that's happening around donald trump. and it's interesting, in the backdrop of one of the tumultuous weeks in the trump administration so far, you look at the polling. we showed the poll ing on, of course, robert mueller. very good news for the investigation, very bad news for donald trump. about a month ago, we showed some horrible re-elect numbers out of the states we would have to win. he's down 20, 29%, 30%. his approvalal rating in pennsylvania, 37%. disapproval at 53%. dismal, dismal numbers, especially going into the fall that he is that unpopular. pennsylvania, write it down now. put that in the democrats territory because that's one state where he's not getting the philly suburbs back. donald trump and the republican party are in for some stuff sledding in pennsylvania. >> there are two things to say about this that jump to mind right away. the firs

book now at lq.com >>> what's more important to david pecker is david pecker.sman and this is hurting his business. he's going to take care of himse himself. at the end of the day, the guy's a survivor. >> that was a former executive with the national enquirer on nbc last night. in light of david pecker cutting an immunity deal. it's one of several legal bombshells hitting close to the president. one after the other this week. joining me now, denny heck, a member of the intelligence community. always good to see you, long distance once again. whenever you come on, i think back to the several and often profound predictions you've made about the investigation. you said that people are going to be going to jail. how do you process what transpired this week from the manafort conviction, the cohen plea deal. immunity deals for wieselberg and peck el and this mystery safe now. >> it's the beginning of the end is how i would characterize it. as i said to you last month, the walls are closing in. this week will be the watershed week. i didn't know that it would be poss

>> a lot of information that donald trump has maybe gotten through pecker by having pecker allegedlyo bury them and pecker may have put things in the safe to protect himself if this day comes. you have to remember, nicole, you have omarosa, you have michael cohen, you have pecker. all of them seem to have taped donald trump or put things in saves because anyone who dealt with trump didn't trust trump so they all played defense. very few people in the world do you meet in the world that everyone around them is taping them and putting things in saves. that's the kind of character he is. when you look at pecker and his cfo, he can call them any names he wants, everyone knows he would not take a fall for them. whatever it is they're looking for was to his benefit. it's not that he was doing something for someone else. this was all for donald trump. it reminds me of guys when i was hanging out with james brown. he sounds like a mobster calling people a rat and calling people flippers. this is the president of the united states. when someone i think you said in the opening saying it sounds

now this david pecker thing is very, very interesting because pecker, of course, was the deal that hesed to do with trump was he would have these catch and kill arrangements. where if somebody like one of the playboy playmates had a bad story about trump, that trump wanted to kill, the "national enquirer" would go to the person and say we're going to put you on as a columnist for "x" amount of money but we're going to buy your story. so that they could never tell the tale of a relationship with trump. it's called a catch and kill arrangement. but federal prosecutors have now come up with a theory that this really is kind of a campaign contribution. it's aiding and abetting a gift in kind to prevent embarrassing information from being disclosed. the same theory that they're using against cohen. so they're being -- they're being very thorough in this investigation. and now it's really gone to another level when they're starting to look -- >> it begs the question, too, as we learn more and more, i'm recalling there were more than a dozen women who came out and had allegations against the

pecker has been granted immunity. president trump continues to uncyst he's done nothing wrg. >> kyra phillips joining us now in studio. she spoke with david pecker tonight. and "the enquirer" kept that information inside of a locked safe, but do we know what happened to that safe? >> reporter: well, it's still a bit of a mystery. the ap has reported that pecker emptied that safe just prior to inauguration, but it's still unclear, did he keep the documents, did he destroy them, are they in the hands of federal investigators? when ingot him on his cell phone, he said no comment. i tried. >> david pecker with no comment tonight. all right, thank you. >>> next tonight, the fbi arresting a suspect accused of threatening to kill employees at "the boston globe." federal agents raiding robert chain's home in california, accusing him of making more than a dozen threats to "the globe." chain allegedly calling employees the enemy of the people. the same phrase auoften used by president trump to attack the media. the threats comi

could testimony from david pecker a pecker and allen weisselberg implicate the president further? what else could they know bts president's personal dealings? joining me now is lucas albert and danny cevallos. i want to ask about the institution. we talked a lot about david pecker. tell me about the institution here. the condition it is in. written about the debt burden that it is under. set contrast for us. >> the bigger company is the american media inc., it encompasses the "national inquirer," us magazine, life and style, "in touch." they actually own the news stand the stand itself, they own a lot of those as well. so yes, this is neis newstand d, it is print. a very fast declining segment of the media industry. they have been in bad shape financially. they have a very large debt load, they are close to a billion dollars in debt, they just acquired new publications. and they are in the middle of a big refinancing. right now they are actually on the market trying to raise more debt to pay off some of the old dead and roll the ball along. this is what david pecker is really good

it was essentially he had a deal with ami and david pecker, who was the person who ran that company, where they would routinely grab stories like this that could be potentially damaging to donald trump or the donald trump organization, and pay off the sources in order to keep them quiet and also associate with that agreement a stiff penalty if someone were to speak out. now, in this particular case, the doorman, a man by the name of dino sajudin, went into this agreement back in 2015. he has a salacious story that he claims the president was involved in an extramarital affair that led to the birth of a child. he was paid $30,000 to keep quiet. now, other news organizations have investigated this story and have not found it credible, but the big takeaway here is, is that now sajudin has been released from this contract, that ami has told him he no longer has to keep quiet and that's why he's coming forward with the story. what we don't know is the reason behind why ami made this decision, and could it mean there are other stories like this that they have squashed on behalf of donald t

pecker and it is a real problem for the president. >> very quickly, david pecker, the owner, ceo, chairman of american media, the parent company of national enquirer, he received immunity in exchange for his testimony. what about dylan howard, chief content officer of american media. "the wall street journal" says he is also cooperating, received immunity. what do you know? >> i'm not aware whether he received immunity or not. if you look at the events or reporting in the last week alone, last 8, 9 days, you have michael cohen, david pecker, mr. weisselberg, this is not looking good at all for donald trump. the walls are closing in and it is only a matter of time before additional information surfaces and none of it is going to be good for mr. trump. >> michael avenatti, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >>> just ahead, will president trump fight a subpoena from robert mueller if it comes to that. we'll talk about mr. trump's new remarks about the russia probe. >>> and we're also digging deeper now. new reporting that the trump administration is refusing to give passports to perhaps tho

(pam) david pecker is the c-e-o of american media inc.he told investigators ...hat donald trump had knowledge of michael cohen's payments. c-n-n's brin gingras has the details. --another trump ally cooperating with investigators... and this one's gaining immunity for doing so.the wall street journal reporting david pecker -- who runs the national enquirer and is a long-time friend of trump's -- worked with federal prosecutors in their michael cohen investigation and discussed the deals the two men brokered to quash bad press about the president prior to the 2016 election.details of pecker's immunity deal coming out just hours after trump complained to fox news about people flipping.president donald trump:"everything is wonderful and then they get 10 they flip the next highest one is or as high as you can go. it almost ought to be outlawed. it's not about somebody, in other words make up stories if you don't know, they just make up lies." pecker was subpoenaed by the feds in april, shortly after the raid of michael cohen's home, office and hotel room. and like coh

so david pecker is known to be a businessman. he is. he's not going to put friendship over business to that degree. so, it looked like an arrangement could have possibly happened. it didn't. but again, those prosecutors will maybe find out a little bit more about what was behind it. >> and jim was alluding to this, but last week, david pecker, of course, was granted immunity by federal prosecutors in order to provide information about michael cohen and president trump's hush money payments to various women. allen weisselberg, the chief financial officer for the trump organization was also granted immunity by federal prosecutors in manhattan. weisselberg has been close to the trump family since the '70s. bloomberg news asked the president about his cooperation. the president told bloomberg that he 100% didn't feel betrayed, because weisselberg's cooperation was related to a, quote, very limited period of time. that has been my understanding from what the legal experts are saying, the weisselberg cooperation different than the term we nor

dachd pe david pecker, dillon howard.ls me the prosecutors are intent prosecuting violations, that's a good thing. our democracy depends op upholding the laws. for the president of the united states to be implicated in two of these felonies is a major deal and why congress needs to hold hearings on the issue as soon as we come back from recess, and the house of representatives. >> appreciate your time. >> thank you, erica. >>> "outfront" next, reports of a safe at the "national enquirer" used to store stories that could be embarrassing to president trump. is there really a safe? we're going to ask a top official who worked at the "enquirer" for decades. >>> plus, hurricane lane pummelling hawaii. hundreds evacuated. we are live for you in honolulu. our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition... for strength and energy! whoo-hoo! great-tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein and twenty-six vitamins and minerals. ensure. now up to 30 grams of protein for strength and energy! now that we have your attention...

pecker said i didn't see that. the matter was dropped. so the implication is that he was killing stories that might be negative about the president and promoting stories that were harsh of his opponent. >> shepard: now he's flipped and cooperating. >> we don't know what he said or his knowledge or the president's knowledge. he did apparently cooperate. >> shepard: david pecker, the porn star and the playmate. >> a lot of ps. >> shepard: it is. the war between the attorney general of the united states and the president of the united states is hitting fresh heights. jeff sessions left the white house after a meeting before but he showed up, he put out one heck of a statement. hours after the president said jeff sessions has never taken the reins of the department, the attorney general responded. he said i took control the day i was sworn in which is way we've had success with the president's agenda. there's more. john roberts is live on the north lawn. john? >> shep, good afternoon to you. jeff sessions was with the president on prison refo

remember, former "national enquirer" editor said pecker kept a safe of story files and do some of theude more dirt on donald trump? this suggests so. maggie joins us in a moment. this is the money quote. he and his lawyer at the time, michael d. cohen, devised a plan to buy up all the dirt on mr. trump the "national enquirer" collected on him dating back to the 1980s according to several of his associates. this includes older stories and his marital woes and lawsuits and tips about marital affairs and golf and the purchase plan was never finalized. now, we know there could be a whole lot more about his private life the president wants to conceal. but, "keeping them honest," wait a minute, haven't he and his surrogates been saying there is absolutely nothing to conceal? no truth to any of this? why, yes, yes, they have. >> the president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true. >> did he know about the payment at the time? >> not that i'm aware of. as i just said, as we have addressed on a number of times, the president has denied th

this time it will be david pecker. who's he? he's the head of the company that publishes the "national enquirer." and according to the "wall street journal," he was granted immunity in the federal investigation into trump's former attorney michael cohen in exchange for providing information on hush money deals. now, according to sources pecker told federal prosecutors what seems obvious to most of us. trump knew all along of cohen's payments to women who had alleged sexual encounters with him. pecker also provided investigators with details about the payments that cohen made for the women. so let's get the white house reaction to this and a lot more. counselor to the president, kellyanne conway, good to have you back. >> welcome to washington. hi. >> you literally just whisked in here as the show started. >> the president sends his greetings. >> send him my best. i hope he's watching. >> and he said he always liked your mother and she liked him. >> well, i've got that going for me. >> don't embarrass her tonight. >> i'll try. sh

michael cohen knows, david pecker knows. mr. wisingbering maybe knows. >> do you think he should be impeach s impeached? >> it's not my call to make. do you think we should tell the truth to the american people -- do you think he should tell the truth to the american people? >> yes, i think you should, too. >> do you think he should be impeached for being shown to lie to the american people consistently -- is he going there before or after he goes to south africa to help out those white farmers that the president mistakenly told people they're being humtnted down and killed d having their land stolen. >> i'm not perched, telling everyone and pontificating to them. i go out and talk to people. >> and they say we don't care if the president lies to us about criminal conduct? >> no, what they care about is the president is doing everything he promised to do. >> did he promise to drain the swamp? >> we were told that everything, the economy, would never be the same, it would be a huge disaster and it went in the opposite direction.

at the end of the day, what's important to david pecker is david pecker. >> details and insight joining me now, jeff bennett. cnbc editor at large. john hardwood. former federal prosecutor. with the welcome to you all, i'm going start with you. pretty bad week for the president. also with the inspector of cohen cooperating. the mystery national enquirer safe. all these stories about the president allegedly. can you give us a gauge of the president and the staff's mood because we know he's gone on a tweet storm this morning. >> that's true, alex, great to be with you. look, president trump, people close to president trump describe his mood as calm for now, but they say they're certainly bracing for the president to melt down and lash out. as you mentioned, we're getting a view of what's on the president's mind as we often do on saturday's like this based on his twitter feed. apparently up early watching fox news. he tweeted his reaction to a segment about hillary clinton's e-mail investigation. he's also suggesting a new tad deal in the works with mexico. negotiators for mexico and u.s.

on the flip side, pecker's supermarket tabloids tore into hillary clinton. headline after headline, "hillary's failed secret lie detector test!" "hillary's two secret strokes!" "hillary: six months to live!" but that wasn't all. a source telling abc news pecker told prosecutors he bought negative stories about trump and buried them, a practice known as catch and kill. the "enquirer" stored documents about those deals in a safe. shortly before the election, pecker's company paid for the story of former "playboy" playmate karen mcdougal but never ran it. >> we're you in love with him? >> i was, yes. >> do you think he was in love with you? >> he was, yes. >> reporter: in a secretly recorded conversation, cohen and trump seem to discuss a plan to buy the rights to mcdougal's story from the "enquirer" publisher themselves. cohen saying he'd already discussed the matter with that top trump executive, allen weisselberg. >> i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with funding. >> so, what do you we got to pay for this, 150 -- >> yes. >>

david pecker, the head of the company that publishes the "national enquirer" was granted immunity.says, i am the ceo of the company and they squelched stories implicating trump himself. david pecker, it now seems clear is the david on the tape that michael cohen made just before the election discussing the possibility of getting the rights to karen mcdougal story already bought in a catch and kill deal right before the election. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. i will do that right away. i've spoken to allen about how to set the whole thing up with funding. yes. it's all the stuff -- all the stuff, you never know where that company -- he gets hit by a truck -- i'm all over that. i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for financing -- >> what financing? >> i have to -- >> pay with cash? >> no, no. >> allen wiseleberg is the trump organization's chief financial officer, david pecker and talking about the karen mcdougal catch and kill arrangement. there is a report that they kept a safe on other damaging stories it

court documents allege it was pecker who told cohen daniels was trying to sell her story and pecker alsoped during the campaign by showering the president with positive news coverage. "the national enquirer" endorsing him, a first for the tabloid while trashing his opponents including the baseless claim that senator ted cruz's father was involved in the jfk assassination, then candidate trump promoting that story. >> they got o.j. they got edwards. they got this. i mean, if that was "the new york times" they would have gotten pulitzer prizes for their reporting. >> reporter: but now the president slamming those who turned on him. >> everything is wonderful. then get ten years in jail and flip on the next highest one is or as high as you can go. it almost ought to be outlawed. it's not fair. >> reporter: and we've now learned the relationship between the president and david pecker so close that sources tell us "the national enquirer" actually kept a safe containing trump-related documents. >> and, tom, the manhattan district attorney, there are reports already that they are considering ch

both pecker and the other person mentioned on the tape. allen weisselberg have been granted some gref immunity by federal prosecutors in new york on compel their testimony. we don't know what kind of dirt the "national enquirer" may have collected over the many years as a tabloid fixture. it mostly holds old stories about his marital woes, rumors that he cheats at golf and affairs. there was an agreement signed earlier in the campaign buying the rights to, and i quote it, information regarding donald trump's ill lemming it mat child. the claim that the president fathered a child out of wedlock has not been substantiated. the president never went through with the plans to buy the safe and now we don't know where all that trump dirt ended up. the ap reported it was removed from the safe in the moments before the inauguration but it is unclear whether they were destroyed or simply moved to a more secret location. we do know that prosecutors, a fact that they noted last week, and this is important. according to the "new york times." their inve

i thought pecker would be the last one to turn. trump's "national enquirer"le a lies are the latest to detect. >> it's surprising he had to be granted immunity. i am not sure the crime he would have committed is. >> campaign finance violation. >> but what kind? >> in kind contribution, right? >> an excessive campaign contribution by a corporation in excess of $25,000. since the payment is $150,000 to karen mcdougal, since that was at the direction of a candidate -- >> in order to help him get elected? >> to influence the election, exactly right. >> look, this goes to i don't understand why michael cohen had to structure these agreements like this. >> you are saying this is michael cohen's problem? michael cohen said the president directed him to do this. here is what i want from you, whether you want to blame it on michael cohen. to have "the national enquirer," david pecker, the president's long-time friend, a man he made a deal with, to say i am going to catch and kill these stories to help you along, somebody on his side for yea