they talked about it together with david pecker. and this notion somehow prosecutors are trying to embarrass the president, keeping him honest, prosecutors didn't force the president to have extra marital affairs with a porn star and model. then deny it and pay them to keep them quiet before the election, then lie about knowing about that, then call it a simple private transaction that wasn't wrong anyway. are you following? the president did get one thing right. it is, indeed, embarrassing. when it was all being cooked up, he was in the room where it happened. joining us now is our chief white house correspondent jim accosta. so, the president's stories about these payments, it's just -- it's shifted. it's been all over the place over the last several months. >> that's right, anderson. incredibly, this has nothing really to do with the russia investigation. it has to do with the scheme to payoff these alleged mistresses and just this evening sarah sanders, the white house press secretary, briefly talked to reporters and she said th

cohen and pecker. we don't know who, but in 2015, there weren't a lot of people working on the trump campaign who would have been called into a meeting like that. and in what could only be a pretty ominous sign for this president, the agreement required the company to continue cooperating in the future. you know who else is continuing to cooperate? michael cohen is. the prosecutor from mueller's team said today he is continuing to give the special counsel credible information, and cohen's adviser -- you know him. he's the attorney, lanny davis. lanny davis says trump's former attorney is open to testifying publicly before the house after democrats take over in a matter of weeks. talk about must-see tv. can you imagine that? i think it will probably happen. people have said that the biggest risk to exposure that this president has is michael cohen. i don't disagree with that. imagine him testifying in public in front of congress for the world to see. he's got to answer all the questions too. the preside

prosecutors say david pecker met with cohen and pecker helped him come up with negative stories about then candidate donald trump and women. prosecutors said the purpose of making that payment to karen mcdougal was to suppress her story to, keep it from influencing the election. earlier this year, cohen's team leaked an audio recording of a meeting michael cohen had with the president back in 2016. they appear to be discussing this payment to david pecker for mcdougal's story and other potentially damaging stories. >> 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. >> givi >> give it to me. >> i've spoken with allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with funding. it's all the stuff. because you never know what that company -- >> maybe he gets hit by a truck. >> correct. i'm all over that. i spoke to alan about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> what financing? >> i have to pay them. no, no, no. >> for those following at home, the tally so far is 33 people ch

so david pecker, they met back when david pecker was the head -- was the ceo of a magazine publisherthe u.s. or the u.s. arm that much magazine publisher. he launched "trump style," which was a sort of dedicated magazine that would be distributed in trump hotels so they both got something out of that from a business perspective. david pecker would do events at mar-a-lago. donald trump spoke about pecker when he received an honorary doctorate at pace university. they do these things for each other. i don't think they spent a tremendous amount of time just sort of on the porch at mar-a-lago hanging out and having -- not a beer because donald trump doesn't drink but the point is they have been in close contact for a long, long, long time. so i do think he's useful. the way it was described to me by former staffers at ami was that pecker really understands on an institutional level how michael cohen and donald trump operated, particularly in this sphere. and it's one that, you know, you talked about on your previous segment but it's really significant to say that in august 2015 they sat

that would mean then candidate trump was aware that pecker offered to assist his campaign by buying the silence of women who said they had affairs with mr. trump, payments that violated campaign finance laws. also break moments ago, a major "wall street journal" report saying the president's inauguration spending is now under criminal investigation. i'll talk about all of that have with senator jack reid of the senate intelligence and armed services committee and our special correspondents and analysts are standing by. let's got to our cnn white house correspondent pamela brown and our legal analyst jeffrey toobin. pamela, we'll get to the new reporting from twurnl in a moment, but let's start with the new information about the hush money payment. what are you learning? >> reporter: well, wolf, tonight, just as donald trump tries to distance himself from the hush payments to these two women during the campaign, in an interview with fox news, we're learning more about central role that he played in the hush money, a source telling cnn tonight that donald trump was part of the august 20 i

let's talk about the relationship between kushner and david pecker.me so important in all of this? >> well, because of all the legal news that happened earlier this week regarding a.m.i., david pecker and of course michael cohen and president trump. it's also been firmly established that for the period of time before donald trump entered the white house, in the heat of the 2016 campaign, michael cohen as an envoy of donald trump worked closely with a.m.i. to run a behind the scenes hush money organization that cohen and pecker say it was at its core about the trump campaign. trump and his lawyers vociferously depute that, but that's to be expected when the transition rolled around and it became clear to pecker and his associates that michael cohen would not be landing a plumb job in the trump administration even though michael cohen was telling people close to him he might get something as senior as chief of staff in the white house -- that didn't happen for a multitude of reasons -- pecker went searching for someone who could be his new michael cohen

david pecker was interviewed by prosecutors and mr.ker and donald trump have been friends since the 1990s. just like that the so-called simple and private transaction, it gets a whole lot less simple and certainly a whole lot less private. one of many, many interesting things today, the president who famously calls himself a counterpuncher has so far not punched back, neither to the press nor on his twitter machine, but there is late reporting about how he's taking it all. our chief white house correspondent jim acosta joins us with that. what are you learning about the president's response today in the bake of cohen's sentencing? >> reporter: anderson, the white house is just giving us the best information they have at this time and this hour, anderson, it's silence. the white house hasn't really responded to this. the president was given an opportunity to respond to this. he didn't earlier today. we're told behind the scenes he's seething about this, referring to michael cohen as a liar. it seems, anderson, at this hour, he's more up

cohen and pecker are cooperating with the feds. kushner is loyal son-in-law and has played a pivotal role in trump's administration. >> jared, i want to thank jared for what's happening on prison reform because you've really been leading it. it's something very close to your heart. to have jared in our family with all of his relatives and all of our friends is a great thing. i'm proud of him. i'm very proud of jared. jared's actually become much more famous than me. >> joining me now is a white house reporter for the daily beast. he broke the exclusive reporting on kushner's relationship with david pecker. and back with us once again maya wily. let's talk about the relationship between kushner and pecker. >> because of all the legal news that happened earlier this week regarding ami, david pecker and of course michael cohen and president donald trump. it's obviously been firmly established that for the period of time before donald trump entered the white house and particularly in the heat of the 2016 campaign michael cohen as an en

that's not true about pecker or weisselberg. they aren't as complicated a witness as michael cohen would be. so when you look at the legal jeopardy the president is now in, you can see the prosecutors at the southern district building a deliberate case where you now have two significant cooperating witnesses. we have another witness who has been into the grand jury, allen weisselberg, and liability for the trump organization which, of course, reimbursed michael cohen for this payment. seems to have been a fraudulent act and also an illegal corporate contribution when they did that. you have an executive still unnamed at he company that authorized that payment that can't be the president itself because it was after the inauguration. it would most likely be one of his sons. who has their own legal jeopardy. you see them putting together this case. the question is, what comes next? the department of justice policy isn't that they won't indict a sitting president but that inherent in that policy is there has to be some other mechani

david pecker looks out for david pecker.he signs were saying to him time to take care of yourself and it's not unnatural for him to throw people under the bus for his own benefit. david is a survivor. he lands on his feet no matter what has happened to his career. this is an example of him figuring out how to make that happened begun. >> do you see if he was waiting to see what happened with cohen? >> if you look at the information, these conversations happened in august. i don't think he knew what cohen was doing. they were operating separately but trying to save their own skins. one did and one didn't. >> what is ami have on president trump? what do you think they have? >> you have to look back at the length of the friendship president not just ami but decker and trump. it goes back a couple of decades. i'm sure there's a lot of information where there's in that infamous safe or other things that pecker has got. neverthele nevertheless, i believe there's a lot of good information that will come out when he does testify. s

pecker immunity. people who spoke to the ap on the condition of anonymity said the safe was a great source of power for pecker. the president spoke moments ago on fox news about cohen's sentencing. this is breaking news. let's listen. >> they put that on to embarrass me. they put those two charges on to embarrass me. either cohen or the prosecutors, in order to embarrass me, said listen, i'm making this deal for reduced time and everything else. do me a favor, put these two charges on. >> joining me live, nbc news investigations reporter tom winter, nbc reporter cara lee and nbc legal analyst glen ke kerrshner. respond to what we just heard from president trump about cohen's sentencing. >> he can claim that prosecutors did this to embarrass him, but i didn't hear him claim that the judge in the southern district of new york who not only accepted this plea as being sort of factually supported by the evidence and then who himself announced that he credits this evidence that maybe the judge is trying to

pecker signed a nonprosecution agreement. >> and needed to. otherwise he -- >> would have been prosecuted. >> criminal culpability. so it does seem to me that whereas in the past there are bombs going off but there is also -- the republicans for the first time it seems to me are really flailing. even trying to avoid questions because now it's been put to them that there's a changed posture. the posture is now, we have a president who has committed crimes and maybe there are more to come. and that's -- just can't be a matter of indifference in a democracy. >> let me just ask you about sort of prosecuting corruption cases. i mean, i'm just thinking of acts and billions. he's less corrupt than the way donald trump talks about rats. there is something so dirty about the things he tweets about the federal government's cooperating witnesses. >> because he is the leader of the federal government and he has no confidence in his department of justice or the fbi. so i don't think we've ever had a situation like this. we have had many presidents under cr

we knew that donald trump was close with david pecker the ceo of ami.t does today's revelation tell you? >> well, i think first and foremost, it tells you they are no longer friends. the reason is david pecker entered into an immunity agreement and now is going to continue working with prosecutors as they try to determine how far these hush payments went. but the acknowledgment there was a $150,000 payment means there is new pressure, new scrutiny on what role the president, himself and his aides paid in terms of the payments. obviously, michael cohen has been sentenced to 36 months. this really is bad news, every -- all of these people who used to be so close to the president open his side are now turning on him and working with prosecutors. if i'm president trump, you know, i'm sweating this. >> it's more than close the case about michael cohen and david pecker. these are people who had in one case, at least, michael cohen's case, recordings. in the case of dividend pecker said to have a safe full of information on everybody. he would engage in this s

and david pecker's counsel. >> david pecker is the ceo of ami.i told the wall street journal about the payments back in 2016 right before the election. quote, ami has not paid people to kill damaging stories about mr. trump. except that's not what they told federal prosecutors when they struck a cooperation deal. quote, ami admitted that it did make the $150,000 payment in concert with the candidate's presidential campaign and in order to ensure that the women did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate. there was another lie solidi solidified. back in 2016 he laughed off the idea of trump campaign having ties to russia. >> are there any ties between mr. trump, you or your campaign and putin and his regime? >> there are not. it's absurd. it's no basis to it. >> that was proven untrue almost immediately after the president took office and it keeps getting more flagrant. they have told lies about the russian ties multiple times. the number of trump associates or family members who interacted with russians is now up to 14 individuals,

pecker would be there with trump.e many times ami would use mar a-lago for board of directors meetings. >> do you have any regrets about the role of tabloid journalist and the national enquirer as it related to the rise of donald trump? the new yorker has a piece out about donald trump's tabloid reckoning. >> ami has 26 companies. i did corporate for all of them. the especial i think that there was a lot of back and forth over the years of stories that he might want out there. he used it to advance his platform which he continued to do for the campaign. this relationship isn't just then. it's been going on for quite a while. >> what do you think is the next shoe to drop? >> i think every one is focused on this. there's plenty of other interesting stories to tell about what they do there but nothing as interesting and commanding the attention this does. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >>> we are still 690 days out from the 2020 presidential election but already you have plenty of co

when pecker doesn't stand up for you, it's distressing. up next, another big day in court for the russia investigation, not a trump association. but in less than an hour, accused russian operative maria butina will be in court. where she'll plead guilty as part of a deal. before we go, michael cohen's guilty plea. as stephen colbert points out, in his plea, he confessed to the biggest crime of all. >> beared his tortured soul, saying my weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to trump. his only real crime was being loyal to donald trump. which we now know is a felony. i'm ken jacobus, i'm the owner of good start packaging. we distribute environmentally-friendly packaging for restaurants. and we've grown substantially. so i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. that's right, $36,000. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. my unlimited 2% cash back is more than just a perk, it's our healthcare. can i say it?

what lengths would pecker go to protect trump?, erin, i think, you know, over the years david pecker has proven his friendship but there were, you know, obviously there were limits, and obviously david pecker became aware that he was getting in over his head with this guy. you know, as larry said, the bombshell today is that he was in the room. regardless of rudy giuliani saying that, you know, this was just a civil matter or the president's denial, the president's finally conceding that, okay, i was in the room, you know, up until weeks ago, he had no knowledge of any of this. >> right. >> it's just -- it's just he's just burying himself further. >> well, and he keeps moving the goal posts. first he knew nothing about it, then, okay, then, well, maybe if i was -- but not -- they're saying he's in the room and he's saying michael cohen did it without him knowing about it or not being directed, which obviously makes no sense at all, given the relationship. larry, let's be clear here. american media, which is david pecker, you know,

what are we looking at here, david pecker? so, one, i think that's going to be important to see where things go with that. two, you know, in the criminal information that michael cohen has already pled guilty to that we've talked about here on this show before, we've all talked about at length at this point, and also in subsequent filings, we now know that there was definitely a back and forth with the trump organization. and that's something that's very much within the southern district's purview. the company is based here in new york. >> final question on that. it's like this -- i don't know if i'm reading too much, but sdny seems to be going hard. like the adjectives they use in their filings, the way they talked today, they're projecting that this was serious. >> right. i mean how everyone keeps saying, wow, mueller takes lying to the fbi and lying to mueller seriously, well, the southern district takes these kinds of crimes seriously too. their mission is broader than mueller's. the southern district is looking at a whole

including the one with mcdougal, which was really between him and david pecker, and then david pecker's counsel. i just reviewed the documents. in order to protect him. i gave loyalty to someone who truthfully does not deserve loyalty. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? >> correct. >> and he knew it was wrong? >> of course. >> and he was doing that to help his election? >> you have to remember at what point in time that this matter came about. two weeks or so before the election, post the billy bush comments. so yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> to help his campaign. >> to help him and the campaign. >> now, honestly, that's not only jarring to hear from a man who once said he would take a bullet for donald trump, but it's also directly contradicting what the president says. here's president trump just yesterday. >> let me tell you, i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he's a lawyer. a lawyer who represents a client is supposed to do the right thing. that's why you pay them a lot of money,

being prosecuted. >> is there question about pecker's a.e obviously the government and the prosecutors feel he was very credible. they wouldn't just give this on a lark. he had to prove to them -- imagi imagine, we weren't there to prove everything he was saying, but he validated everything they were saying or he wouldn't given this deal. >> you had the l.a. times saying today that trump seemed to defy gravity by insisting, relying, but now nearly two years after he entered the white house, trump's lies appear to be catching up with him. >> p. >> that's really an interesting the campaign. we definitely know it can blow up in his face because many times we saw him on a montage of covers that go across there. i don't know the answer to the question, to be honest with you. >> steve, i'm going to remind you that you were not there at ami during 2016, but were you privy to the kind of relationship that donald trump and david pecker had? can you speak to how lengthy it was they spoke, whether an important one went back to the lat 8. there was def

court papers state that two months after trump announced his candidacy he and cohen met with pecker where they agreed his company a.m.i. would, quote,

and so the feeling was david pecker has a lot of dirt on trump.t's make sure we can get all of that to get this -- to make sure that this never goes public. >> so the relationship between trump and pecker, i mean, is your sense that it was purely a mercenary one? was there ever kind of a real friendship of any kind or loyalty or was it strictly a business relationship? >> well, look, i mean, they were friends for a long time. i guess when i talk to folks who know them, for instance, i was talking to a former executive at the "national enquirer." he said look, these guys were friends, but they were friends with benefits. and his sense about what might be in that safe is that a lot of it has to do with trump's relationship with women. with affairs with women. the part of the investigation that pertains to foreign influence campaigns and things like that, that's probably not what the long-time head of national inquirer has in the safe. he has more catch and kill stories probably, involving would be accusers of the president. >> going to be some inter

pecker and mr. cohen have said about the president. >> shepard: the number of different stories coming from the same person and the president must give pause to some on capitol hill. >> yes. at this point some folks are beginning to get more concerns about what this might mean politically going to 2020. let's put aside discussion of possible impeachment proceedings. that is a fraught road to walk down. with this hanging over the president and as each day goes by, another rather remarkable disclosure being made about these arrangements that were made and possible, we don't know for sure yet, ill legality on the part of the campaign. this is creating a political concern in the republican party. you don't really hear it yet voiced by senators and congress people aligned with the president, but this is going to be a burden as they head now into the 2020 election process. >> shepard: john bussey from the "wall street journal." thank you. all of this as we're getting word that federal prosecutors now in a

david pecker, the head of ami, has been granted immunity. he's saying the same thing. if you think about when this came, this was in august of 2015, a couple of months after donald trump announces that he's going to run. the debates are starting to happen. also, as he's leading in polls as well. it also contradicts almost everything he initially said publicly about this, this idea that he didn't know anything about it, that this was all michael cohen, he didn't know where the money came from. now we know that he was in that august 2015 meeting with those two other gentlemen. it's not a good day for him and fills in a piece of the puzzle we've been wondering about. >> the president has said this is all based on advice of counsel, i took michael cohen's word for it. when you have to look at when you're looking at someone's intent is how do they behave? do they suggest consciousness of guilt? did he lie about this payment, yes, he did. did he do it openly, no, he didn't. so, he doesn't have to know what part of the federal code he's violating to have criminal intent. he h

the esident has been silent about david pecker.e has a cooperation agreement, an immunity agreement. it corroborates this story. that we learned this week, confirmed this week that mr. trump was in the room, candidate trump, was in the room during those conversations. that's why this week, ihink, different than other weeks. that's why this week matters more, because you see so many friends of the president who now are agreeing, cooperating with prosecutors, and that has to get to the president. you can see it i his demeanor. you can see it in his actions. you talk to people behind the scenes. it bothers him in that respect. we've seen so many times the president has dismissed aids. that's somhat true. not this week. michael cohen, david pecker, longtime friends of president. >> you brought up that president trump wasmn the r the summer of 2015. does that point to the justdent's conduct, n during the closing days of the campaign but for two years now, being undercriny from prosecutors? >> it points to his deepening involvement in th

>> tremendously, because here is the thing about david pecker.e have heard a lot about david pecker, the chairman of ami and he is close. he was close to donald trump. they were good friends. so he knows a lot, right. there's a lot of information out there that david pecker knows a lot of secrets. there's a vault that apparently contained all sorts of information, and as far as now based on what the sdny released today, david pecker is cooperating in this investigation. there's potentially a lot that he has shared with the sdny and it is clear that the sdny and the department of justice and fbi agents and other law enforcement officials are believing their story, are believing david pecker, are believing ami, are believing what michael cohen is saying. now you have all of these people just mounting, mounting, mounting of information, lots of evidence, and there's other evidence. there's e-mails. there's a recorded conversation. all of this against what the president has simply been saying is not true. so clearly the law enforcement community, the

david pecker says he was there. it is incontrovertible, that is why prosecutors believe it. >> whoa! it is not. you're way offline, you're showing partisan stripes, respectfully. you cannot say it's incontrovertible when it is -- >> that he knew? incontrovertib incontrovertible. >> hold on. that's not true. when the president said -- let me speak, please. don't invite me on. i'm the only person in the white house that will come on. >> that is their mistake. they should not be cowards. >> the president said in april -- they are not cowards. they're wonderful people. the president doesn't like to be interrupted at 9:00 at night. the president said in april on air force one. did you know about the payments? he said no. i asked the president, what did you mean by that? by april of 2018 the whole world, based on the stormy daniels revelation. >> good point, why did he lie. >> he wasn't talking about what he knew in april. he did not lie. he's talking about when the payment was made. i asked him that, and i said it on a c

pecker. pecker is protecting himself and ami and cooperating and saying donald trump directed this. as you pointed out, it's in the court documents. the president finds himself -- he can talk about michael cohen all he wants and say that he's a liar and all the rest, but pecker has been protecting donald trump and cooperating on these stories and his tabloid for years. now what is he going to say about david pecker? >> you look at all the negative coverage of hillary clinton on the "national enquirer" throughout the campaign. how significant is this cooperation? >> very significant and the key point here is if trump had an understanding and intent that involved the campaign and he was doing this for campaign and political purpose as opposed to avoiding embarrassment with his family, that is a potential legal distinction. there is debate about where that line is and how you define it. there was murky precedent set a few years ago. it's worth stressing although there was no conviction, the evidence was quite weak. the distinction in which trump is doing this and remember, cohen said t

david pecker was a friend of donald trump's. mean, you know, there was -- you know, in some case, they said, what, donald trump was the silent editor of the "national enquirer." >> that's true. david pecker had given the trump organization free reign to dictate the coverage, and of course, you know, cover up any unflattering stories about the candidate during the election. >> so, let's just, again, the summary here, right, is the "national enquirer" pays a "playboy" model for her story, so she's happy, she thinks they're going to publish it but the whole point is they're never going to publish it because david pecker is going to help trump. how common was that? i mean, what i'm trying to get at, jerry is, could there be more of these sorts of payments? how common was this catch and release? >> there are other instances of this involving other women. and there's also the saudi connection that david pecker has obtained through president trump. >> and just give everyone a little bit more of a sense of that, what you're referring to

"the wall street journal" has even report that had ami ceo david pecker called off the reimbursement deal on the advice of his lawyer worried that it would be viewed as an in-kind campaign contribution. "the journal" also reporting that pecker asked cohen to tear up that reimbursement agreement, but cohen did not do so, and federal agents found it when they raided his office. president trump is, however, on tape discussing that payment with michael cohen. beyond in a spin, there were some odd and false claims made by the president today such as that cohen flowed two campaign charges which were not criminal, unquote, which is a bizarro world interpretation given that cohen is going to prison for those criminal charges and others. the president also complained today that those two felony counts were simply added to cohen's docket embarrass him, the president. cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house. president trump seems to be throwing out all the defense options and seeing what sticks. >> reporter: jake, he does. he also has, of course, repeatedly referred to all these legal charges a

it's david pecker and ami. >> that's why david pecker got immunity. he won't get immunity because he won't say what they want him to say. i don't know. i don't know how true that is. you've got a serial liar who taped his own client and lied about it and deceived him and taped about ten reporters and lied to them and deceived them. an you've got a guy who has been given complete immunity. >> you just said you ran that office. you know how the southern district is run. >> i don't know how the southern district is run. i'm disgusted with the southern district. >> they wouldn't -- >> see what we're talking about. it's not a crime. it's not a crime, george. paying $130,000 to stormy whatever and the other one is not a crime. the edwards case determined that -- she was paid $1.1 million to be a no show in that campaign. >> you know the edwards case is quite different. the judge said -- >> it's not the judge. it's the f.e.c. the f.e.c. ruled no violation of the campaign finance law. the justice department prosecuted anyway. they were embarrassed. >> the jud

included the one with mcdougall which was really between him and david pecker and david pecker's lawyers. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? >> correct. >> and he knew it was wrong? >> of course. >> and he was doing that to help his election? >> you have to remember at what point in time that this matter came about, two weeks or so before the election, post the billy bush comments. so yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> and for everybody watching, that is what is so key. this is happening post access hollywood tape. donald trump knew at that point that the possibility of his victory was fading. if something else came out at the very end, he knew that his chances, any outside chances of getting elected were finished. that is why sam stein, the cover up, the hush money, the -- and now you have david pecker with ami saying yes, we did it to help him win the election. we did it to help his campaign. that is just devastating and it would be devastating for any republican or any democrat to hide that significant of a payment from the fede

, and pecker's counsel. i just reviewed the documents. i gave loyalty to somebody who does not deserve loyalty. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing? >> correct. >> and he knew it was wrong? >> of course. >> and he did that to help his election? >> you have to remember at what point in time this came about, post the billy bush comments, yes, he was concerned about how this would affect the election. >> to help his campaign? >> to help him and the campaign. >> michael cohen in his own words, the first time we have heard from him since his sentence. that interview with george stephanopoulos a lot to discuss because it hits on the major legal issues. let's bring informer house secretary, joe lockhart, and what michael cohen just said has a lot of legal importance. number one, he says the president directed me to make the hush money payments to stormy daniels and the payments to mcdoiugal, and he knew it wa wrong. >> we have the accusations, the suspicion the president did exactly what michael cohen said

also in the room michael cohen, along with david pecker, all discussing ways that pecker could help navy relationship between donald trump and mr. pecker. how far back does that relationship go? >> david pecker and donald trump go back many years, more than 20 years, socially and later when david assumed the mantle at american media, their friendship became even closer. >> according to a non-prosecution agreement that nbc news obtained on tuesday, as part of that agreement disclosed on wednesday, america media inc. admitted that pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about the candidate's relationship with women's, so they could be purchased. we know that mike at cohen arranged two such payments as well -- but according to the book "fire and fury" if you can think back to the michael wolfe book, there were hundreds of women. marked ko the book, kasowitz has gotten him out of the all kinds of jams. is there any evidence, to your knowledge, that the enquirer hushed up dozens, maybe hundreds? >> you know, certainly, you know, david pecker kept a pretty long inventory of president

pecker, a long-time media executive, was also a long-time pal of trump's. but not any more.he inquirer finally confessed to the practice of catch and kill. buying up bad stories and burying them. and the inquirer has finally broken off ties with trump. i want to show you a time line we put together of all of the magazine's cover involving trump, starting in january 2017. on these covers, trump is the hero! and his enemies are numerous from obama to the fbi to the deep state. but these covers were selling trump. they were promoting trump, right up until then. right there. april and may of this year. when the subpoenas arrived at the office of the american media inc. they went back to the typical celebrity covers the inquirer is known for. all of a sudden, as soon as cohen was being investigated, the pro trump covers stopped. so what does that mean from a media perspective? it means that president trump has lost one of his biggest backers in the media. think about it this way. millions of people see the "national enquirer" on the newsstand every week but now they don't see the

the press release explains that the prosecutor's agreement with david pecker and ami was because ami provided, quote, substantial and important assistance in this investigation and its agreement to provide cooperation in the future. cooperation in the future. the only future that this investigation has about these campaign law violations, the only future it has is a future prosecution of the person referred to as individual one in the prosecutor's case, the president of the united states. the prosecutors have repeatedly described michael cohen's election crimes as having been committed in coordination and at direction of individual one. and individual one is of course donald trump. so michael cohen was sentenced to federal prison today for doing what donald trump told him to do. that makes donald trump as guilty of exactly the same crimes as michael cohen, and that is why david pecker and ami's quote, cooperation in the future was announced publicly today outside of the courtroom, outside of any legal filings by federal prosecutors in new york. the judge in michael cohen's sentencing

remember, the company is owned by one of donald trump's long-time friend david pecker but pecker apparentlynald trump's. >> thank you very much. we are following to big breaking stories. michael cohen sentenced to three years in jail. meanwhile in london and we have some live pictures here, a secret vote that is under way that will not only decide theresa may's fate but will have global implications. stay with us. your insurance rates skyrocket after a scratch so small you could fix it with a pen. how about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying con

including the one with macdougal, which was really between him and david pecker, and then david pecker's counsel. i just reviewed the documents in order to protect him. you have to remember at what point in time that this matter came about two weeks or so before the election, post billy bush comments. so, yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> do you think that donald trump and jared kushner, to the extent he was involved, would be act thing that way knowingly? >> i think it would be hard to make an argument that jared would have no exposure or knowledge of what was happening, particularly if he was managing that relationship directly. who else on the trump team would have nope about it? cohen wasn't going to be chief of staff at that point. that's the entire reason why jared ended up being the conduit at the white house. so i think it's strange to make an argument that jared would have had no knowledge of that transaction. >> jerry, what do you think? >> i definitely think that once michael stepped aside, there was foot traffic between people in the trum

. >> and pecker is cooperating. you told me you never thought he would flip.ld stand by the president, but at the same time, he looks out for himself. >> and proof positive, look what's happening here. him or trump. and in any situation, he will always win. that's what he's done. >> let me ask you this, because the president's essential argument here of many arguments and some of them contradictory, is basically cohen did it, or cohen as the lawyer should have known. there have been multiple lies going back to april where the president denied any knowledge of these payments. in terms of the coordination between cohen and pecker, his involvement, could they have taken place without the president knowing, knowing the way that relationship worked? >> i don't see how that could have happened. look how hands-on he is in everything that happens during his presidency. in his business before that. so in my mind, not having been in the room, but clearly, i can't imagine any way that these guys would have pulled this out without trump's support and interaction. >> jerry

mcdougal, which was really between him and david pecker, and david pecker's counsel. i just reviewed the documents in order to protect him. i gave loyalty to somebody who truthly does not deserve loyalty. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? >> correct. >> he knew it was wrong? >> of course. >> and it was to help his election? >> you have to remember at what point in time this matter came about, two weeks or so before the election, post the billy bush comments, so yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> to help his campaign? >> to help him and the campaign. >> president trump, of course, denied directing cohen. let's discuss all of this with maggie haberman. maggie, we are waiting for more sound from cohen. he was always at the president's right hand. what do you see when you see michael cohen this morning? >> i think that michael cohen is certainly telling the version of reality of his experience with trump that i witnessed over years, and i think you did, too. i think he was donald trump's right-hand man. i think don

or david pecker. what is the rest?on't know so we're speculating. >> right. >> what we do know is that cohen has said in his plea agreement that he coordinated his activities with senior officials of the campaign. presumably a.m.i. was in those discussions as well because part of the deal here is that a.m.i. would purchase the story, front the money, which is itself a campaign violation because it's corporate funds, it can't be used for this, would be reimbursed. there was an agreement all drawn up, a phony invoice that was going to say it was for services rendered. >> trump said he never paid them back. you can't prove that he knew that this was money that his campaign was supposed to pay but didn't. he relied on his lawyer for that. and you have to show that in his head he knew that he was doing this in violation of that law and you have none of that. >> so, you start with the question with what does ami say about that, we know -- we're in some of the meetings with trump because going all the way back to 2014, there

including the one with mcdougal which is really between him and david pecker and then david pecker's counsel. i just reviewed the documents in order to protect him. i gave loyalty to someone who truthfully does not deserve loyalty. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? >> correct. >> and he knew it was wrong? >> of course. >> and he was doing that to help his election? >> you have to remember at what point in time that this matter came about, two weeks or so before the election, post the billy bush comments. so, yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> to help his campaign? >> to help him and the campaign. >> he's talking to george stephanopoulos. this is as nbc news confirms trump was in the room during the august 25th meeting with cohen and "national enquirer" chief executive and close trump friend david pecker during the hush money discussions. cohen said he is done being loyal to trump and done lying but the president is not done lying. let's listen. >> the special counsel did say that you were doing your best to tell the truth abou