so, in early 2017, president poroshenko was desperate to get talks with donald trump.g offered little more than a white house photo opp. according to a senior official here, who has direct knowledge of what happened, poroshenko instructed two close associates to open a back channel. that back channel, our source says, was president trump's personal lawyer and trusted fixer, michael cohen. the senior official says cohen was paid $400,000. a second source says it was more. there is no suggestion that trump knew of this. we are told that cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business with trump. cohen is under investigation for paying hush money to porn actress stormy daniels on trump's behalf. her lawyers says cohen's bank records show he took money from us companies for access to the president. i think it's pretty obvious at this point that michael cohen took substantial amounts of money, and was selling access to the highest office in the land, namely to the us president. we have every reason to believe there are additional payments that h

cohen by intermediaries u acting fainian leader petro poroshenko. the ukrainian government has denied the claims. mr. cohen, his partner felix ster, and two intermediar also deny involvement. paul wood's reports. paul: donald trump's run for the u.s. presidency was watched with alarm by the ukraine government, dismayed by his pro-russian rhetoric. then trump had a setba m. his campaiager, paul manafort, was forced to resi, accused of getting millions of dollars from russian interests in the ukraine. the leak that brought manafortwn ame from the top of the ukrainian government , according to sources here and. outside ukra if that is true, the ukrainians badly miscalculated, backing the losing side in the u.s. election. in early 2017, president poroshenko was desperate to get talks with donald trump, but hee was being oflittle more than a white house photo op. according to a senior official here who has direct knowledgof what happened, poroshenko instructed two close associates to open a backchannel. that backchannel, our source p'ss, was president tr

president poroshenko's of refused to respond . ,. . . to ,. . . j that report. they allegations in that report. they haveissued allegations in that report. they have issued a furious statement the reports fake news and an calling the reports fake news and an attempt to undermine american 51153111 21; uggélg§§ ggglgg relations. 51153111 11 ”egglggg ggglgg relations. it is ukrainian relations. it is to look at how those interesting to look at how those relations have changed since an election when our sources say the ukrainians tried to help president trump's opponent, to today, when the us has promised to send 210 anti—tank missiles to ukraine, something never done under president 0bama. that, sources insist, is part ofa 0bama. that, sources insist, is part of a process that began with the opening of a back channel to the trump administration through the president's lawyer. paul woodward that exclusive story in washington. a brief look at some of the day's other other news stories. berlinah wallace, who left her former boyfriend with horr

poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump — and before russia's vladimir putin.tes he'd get was still being negotiated as he flew from kiev. but this was more than just a photo op, and after poroshenko went home, ukraine's inquiry into trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, was steadily wound down. "there was never a direct order to stop the manafort inquiry", the special prosecutor in kiev tells me. "but", he says, "from the way the investigation progressed, it was clear that our superiors were trying to create obstacles." did president trump's lawyer ask the ukrainians to stall their inquiry? perhaps he didn't need to — poroshenko knew that to do otherwise, said one source, would be like spitting in trump's face. the us is continuing its own investigation into paul manafort and russian influence in the american election — but without help from ukraine. paul wood with that exclusive report. yulia skripal, one of the two russians targeted in a chemical attack in england in march, says she's "lucky to be alive". she and her father sergei, a former russian

according to a senior official here who has direct knowledge of what happened, poroshenko t instruct close associates to open a backchannel.

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

mr poroshenko could portray as a success.any suggestion that any of this money made its way to mrtrump, orthat that any of this money made its way to mr trump, or that he indeed knew of these alleged payments? no. our sources are not saying that he knew of the payments, still less that he received the payments, and that was the story too last week when cohen was accused of taking money from us companies for access to the oval 0ffice. no—one is putting mr trump in the frame for this at the moment. president trump is sometimes accused by his critics of being too friendly to russia. so what is he doing, apparently, helping ukraine? well, you have got to think back to the election campaign, and back then mr trump indeed was using a lot of rhetoric which the ukrainians, for one, thought was, in their view, worryingly pro—russia, it was at war with russia then as it is now, and according to our sources in kiev, poroshenko decided to intervene in the us election, and did so by leaking damaging in on paul manafort, as we heard in the

petro poroshenko has responded, saying the allegations are a flagrant lie. yulia skripal who along with herfather sergei was poisoned by a nerve agent in salisbury, says she feels lucky to be alive, but would one day like to return home to russia. translation: we are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. i don't want to describe the details, but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful, and depressing. italy finally gets a new prime minister two months after elections there: he's giuseppe conte, a little—known lawyer with questions over his cv. and the american couple who won their legal battle to evict their thirty—year—old sun from their house after he refused to leave. we hear what he has to say about that. this is donald trump's personal lawyer, michael cohen. he received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to arrange a meeting between the ukrainian president and president trump. that is the claim made by sources with direct knowledge of the matter who have spoken to the bbc. they say the payment was sent to mr cohen by inter

poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump — and before russia's vladimir putin.any minutes he'd get was still being negotiated as he flew from kiev. but this was more than just a photo op, and after poroshenko went home, ukraine's inquiry into trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, was steadily wound down. "there was never a direct order to stop the manafort inquiry," the special prosecutor in kiev tells me. "but," he says, "from the way the investigation progressed, it was clear that our superiors were trying to create obstacles." did president trump's lawyer ask the ukrainians to stall the inquiry? perhaps he didn't need to — poroshenko knew that to do otherwise, said one source, would be like spitting in trump's face. the us is continuing its own investigation into paul manafort and russian influence in the american election — but without help from ukraine. paulwood, bbc news, kiev. let's talk more about this. the bbc‘s paul wood joins me now. this is not the first time that michael cohen has been accused of taking money in order to arrange access of

petro poroshenko has responded, saying the allegations are a flagrant lie.live, but would one day like to return home to russia. translation: we are so lucky to have both survived this attempted assassination. i don't want to describe the details, but the clinical treatment was invasive, painful, and depressing. italy finally gets a new prime minister two months after elections there: he's giuseppe conte, a little—known lawyer with questions over his cv.

>> reporter: ukraine's president petro poroshenko wants more weapons from the u.s., and u.n. peacekeepers. he told us his country is the frontline in a new cold war with iassia. >> they want to have soviet union back. >> reporter: so you think that vladimir putin wants to re- conquer ukraine? >> re-conquer ukraine or rebuild russian empire. whatever you want. >> reporter: ukraine says thousands of russians are fighting in the east, while moscow has repeatedly denied it's involved. colonel dennis deeley, who's g ading the american trainers, is also reminded of the cold war. the ukrainians use old soviet- era tanks, the type the russian enemy used when he served in europe in the 1980s. a when you come around the corner and you see a tank, a russian tank, a t-64 tank, its ntrrel pointed at you, it makes you hesitate for a second as you come around the corner in your vehicle. he reporter: the cold war ended in 1991, but now ukraine's dangerous conflict once again pits russia against the west.

example of ukraine having found its own way having its security services strengthening picture poroshenko saying yesterday that this was a sign that ukraine has passed its sovereignty test and that its state security services had to go reach a new level were able to protect journalists and what about. one gendered reaction to make do paper share the government's position that this was a successful and clever operation. the approval is rather extraordinary even journalists people who we unwittingly pulled into this like we all who reported on this murder seem to bear extraordinarily little grudges for them this is an example they say of the government showing it cares about journalist safety something they weren't necessary always confident all of their all some voices saying that this was cruel to his family saying that this was a stunt but the kind of voices you're hearing to nationally the kind of concerns about fake news about the believability the credibility of ukrainians ukrainian government officials you have to remember here the foreign minister was in new york at the u.n. talking

talks between the ukrainian and us presidents. talks between the ukrainian but ukraine's president poroshenko's office has called the claims a flagrant lie, adding that they are part of a campaign to discredit relations between the two countries. with doubt still surrounding president trump's summit with kimjong un, china tells the us that "now is the time" to make a peace deal with north korea. and this story is trending on bbc.com... a new york couple have won their bid to have their 30—year—old son evicted from their home. michael rotondo has been living with his parents for eight years after he lost his job but they say he had not contributed to household expenses or with doing the chores. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk... yulia skripal, who — together with her father — was poisoned by a nerve agent in salisbury — has said she believes they were the victims of an assassination attempt. now on bbc news, all the latest business news — live from singapore. german chancellor angela merkel heads to china to strengthen relations, as trade tensions

poroshenko needed to build bridges and we are told by sources in ukraine that he asked two associatesally found michael cohen. they said he was paid $400,000. another source says it may be more. there is no suggestion that trump knew about this or benefited from the money. there has been a furious statement saying that this is fake news, allegations designed to damage american ukrainian allegations. michael cohen deny it and so do those in the back channel. there has been a furious statement saying that this is fake news, allegations designed to damage american ukrainian allegations. michael cohen deny it and so do those in the back channel. basically, in this story, everybody denies everything. thank you forjoining us. "i'd like to have one big final idea", said philip roth. "i'd like to have one big book to work on until the day i die. then i won't ever have to start a new book again". the death of the great american novelist was announced today. roth wrote of america and he wrote ofjudaism, but perhaps more than anything else, he wrote of what it was like to be a sexual male. he cr

but ukraine's president poroshenko's office has called the claims a flagrant lie, adding that they are part of a campaign to discredit relations between the two countries. with doubt still surrounding president trump's summit with kimjong un, china tells the us that "now is the time" to make a peace deal with north korea. and this story is trending on bbc.com... a new york couple have won their bid to have their 30—year—old son evicted from their home. michael rotondo has been living with his parents for eight years after he lost his job but they say he had not contributed to household expenses or with doing the chores. that is a warning there. stay with us on that is a warning there. stay with us on bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, with me, zeinab badawi. my guest is a pioneer in so many ways. she has been described as the arab world's leading feminist, she is a leading doctor, writer, activist and outspoken political critic. she is dr nawal el saadawi, banned from speaking in the egyptian media and imprisoned under the government of president sad

ukraine's president petro poroshenko has announced a change in the military operation in the east ofthe country control of the battle with separatists in the donbass region will move from the security services to the armed forces it comes as ukraine receives antitank missiles from the u.s. in the first part of a forty seven million dollars military aid package we continue to work on strengthening our defense capability in order to repel russian aggression i am sincerely grateful for the fair decision of donald j. trump in support of ukraine and in defense of freedom and democracy. ukraine has been pushing for western countries to provide more military equipment the u.s. says it will also supply elements of logistics and program support well after the coup in twenty fourteen ukraine began the campaign against separatists in the pro russian east more than ten thousand people have been killed in the ongoing conflict international affairs commentator marco gases thinks the operational change may lead to further escalation we could well see an increase a ratcheting up of the military stak

. >> it's a great honor to be, president poroshenko of the ukraine, a place we've all been very much involved in and you've been seeing it and of's been reading about it. >> to understand what the president's people are up to, i'm joined by jennifer ruben, legal analyst nick akerman, former watergate prosecutor. jennifer, this seems to me what is coming into view, the america first presidency actually guided by perhaps the monetary interests are of the people around the president's inner circle. >> that's right. they had their hand out from the beginning. some people were contacting them. they had michael cohen reaching out to other people. this included corporate america and not just foreign interests but certainly foreign interests, as well. this went on during the campaign, during the transition and we still have it going on. we still have the president's son-in-law meeting with banking interests and then the next day receiving loans for a troubled property. we still see that uae and the saudis are interested in leveraging jared's interests, financial interests. so it has been one

. —— poroshenko. murder two years ago of a journalist. -- poroshenko.ly clear least, how faking an assassination helps catch a real assassin. it is not clear and i think the onus will be on the administration to provide more evidence of what exactly happens. look, it, publicity yesterday when another journalist was apparently killed, but it is also very bad publicity for the government to be accused of spreading false information. and if it turns out that he was played, they are going to have a very dirty pr mess on their hands. a feel very badly for arkady babchenko, i feel very badly for all the journalists who wrote his obituary. i think it is going to cause a lot of problems up the road. some difficulties with the communications there that thank you very much for persevering. thank you for talking to us. more discussions have been held in rome to try to avoid another italian general election. it's reported the country's prime minister—designate carlo cotta relli has abandoned efforts to form his own interim administration, to focus instead on a rene

wind of this payoff from a source in kiev, and the ukrainians agree, ukranian president petro poroshenko'ser circle were shocked by how dirty this whole arrangement with cohen was. come on. ukraine. it takes two to "tropotianka." ( laughter ) one assumes that that is a traditional dance of some sort. don't play high and mighty. it's like telling your mistress, "i can't believe you'd sleep with me, a married man." ( laughter ) but most disgusting of all was that this seems to have worked. the meeting between poroshenko and trump was held at the white house last june, and shortly after, ukraine's anti-corruption agency stopped its investigation into trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort. ( audience reacts ) now, to save manafort, all cohen has to do is arrange a meeting between the ukrainian president and robert mueller. ( laughter ) we've got a great show for you tonight. anne hathaway is here. but when we come back, the senate race in arizona is heating up. but it's a dry heat. stick around! ( cheers and applause ) ( band playing ) ♪ ♪ ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

they say the money was sent to mr cohen by intermediaries acting for the ukrainian leader, petro poroshenko and the two intermediaries. train services continue to be disrupted following the introduction of a new timetable a few days ago, with hundreds of services cancelled by northern, govia and thameslink. one in ten trains due to run by northern have been cancelled since sunday, with many more delayed. fiona trott is in victoria station in manchester for us. the frustration continues for commuters? it does. passengers here this afternoon at victoria station saying you don't want to be a commuter in the north of england at the moment. they are tailoring us about cancellations, delays, trained skipping stations because the carriages are twofold. whilst we we re carriages are twofold. whilst we were here we heard announcements about disruption because there were no train crews available. since the new timetables were introduced on sunday in the uk, one in every ten trains due to be run by the company northern have been complaints, leading to customers using the hashtag northern file rather t

he was shot this is ridiculous so yes moscow should come down because this is ridiculous but mr poroshenko should avoid tweeting of this he should forget it many thanks for your time and for giving as your take on this story independent journalist my guest for. donald trump has appointed a new commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan in two thousand and one shortly after the nine eleven attacks washington said it was intervening to get rid of terrorists there never left. intelligence general austin miller becomes the eighteenth commander in the seventeen year campaign despite the constant turnover of commanders the latest us watchdog report says the campaign has brought little good though to afghanistan . its good. and some in afghanistan who would hope to america's presence would assure in a new period of peace and stability will they paid a heavy price american explains back in august twenty sixth seen an afghan man named his son after donald trump but that was before truckstop television for the white house now after being inspired by trump's business achievements outlined his b

. >> it's a great honor to be with president poroshenko of the ukraine. >> did ukraine stop cooperating with the mueller probe in exchange for american missiles? plus, the vice president's controversial visit tough arizona. >> sheriff joe arpaio, i'm honored to have you here. >> and just what is happening in the west virginia senate race. >> in fact, your probation officer is in nevada. you're running for u.s. senate in west virginia. >> when "all in" starts right now. >>> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. the president of the united states is taking right now concrete steps towards a major high stakes confrontation with his own justice department. the strongest advocate for cooperating with special counsel mueller is now leaving the president's legal team. the administration confirming that ty cobb who represents the white house in the mueller probe is stepping down at the end of the month. according to one report, cobb has been clashing with the president over trump's combative prostour towards the investigation. "ty was uncomfortable with the mueller tweets. he was not goi

interesting thing that happened this week, the c reported michael cohen received $400,000 from victor poroshenko, the premier of ukraine. michael cohen and his team and friends of his aggressively pushed back. that's a lie. that's not true. and they have not done that with these other allegations including some very disturbing allegations about michael cohen's relationship with other oligarchs. it makes me think this is true. >> that's an interesting point. i wonder about that ukraine story which has not been confirmed by other outlets. i want to bring in the attorney for stormy daniels, michael avenatti. you will recall was the first person to disclose the financial records relating to the oligarch do met with michael cohen at trump tower during the transition. welcome. you immediately highlighted the columbus nova part of the transaction. what is your understanding of its significance? >> there was a series of payments that began in approximately january of 2017. oh it would have coincided with this meeting that took place at trump tower. and that those payments continued for some time. my und

. >> it's a great honor to be with president poroshenko of the ukraine. >> did ukraine stop

interesting thing that happened this week, the bbc reported michael cohen received $400,000 from viktor poroshenko, the premier of ukraine. michael cohen and his team and friends of his aggressively pushed back. that's a lie. that's not true. that's not true. and they have not done that with these other allegations including some very disturbing allegations about michael cohen's relationship with other oligarchs. it makes me think this is true. >> that's an interesting point. i wonder about that ukraine story which has not been confirmed by other outlets. i want to bring in the attorney for stormy daniels, michael avenatti. you will recall was the first person to disclose the financial records relating to the oligarch who met with michael cohen at trump tower during the transition. welcome. you immediately highlighted the columbus nova part of the transaction. what is your understanding of its significance? >> there was a series of payments that began in approximately january of 2017. it would have coincided with this meeting that took place at trump tower. and that those payments continued for so

michael cohen received $400,000 for setting up a meeting with president trump and the ukrainian press poroshenkorified that report. faced with the evidence on trump's web of eastern promises, the president himself is s

meeting that was reportedly secretly bought with a large payment to michael cohen, quote, president poroshenko had given trump a gift, making sure that ukraine would find no more evidence to give the u.s. inquiry into whether the trump campaign colluded with russia. this is obviously a firecracker of a story, right? for obvious reasons. both the ukrainian president and lawyers for michael cohen are denying it categorically. it's interesting, though. president trump's lead lawyer on the russia matter didn't exactly deny it. he had, instead, a sort of strange response to this story being published today by the bbc. rudy giuliani was asked to respond to this bbc report, and this is how he answered today. quote, payments can be proved pretty easily. so, it would be silly to deny if it happened. oh. and speaking about michael cohen, he said, quote, he never registered as a foreign agent, and as far as i know, he never acted as one. michael cohen, the president's long-time personal attorney, is already the subject of an ongoing federal criminal investigation in new york. prosecutors and federal agen

. >> it's a great honor to be with president poroshenko of the ukraine. >> did ukraine stop cooperatingeller probe in exchange for american missiles? plus, the vice president's controversial visit tough arizona. >> sheriff joe arpaio, i'm honored to have you here. >> and just what is happening in the west virginia senate race. >> in fact, your probation officer is in nevada. you're running for u.s. senate in west virginia.

as we know, he is alive, he's well, and everybody in ukraine like the ukrainian president, petro poroshenkois praising the ukrainian security services, who could prevent this plot from being committed, and the journalist from being killed. so this is rather surreal, and there are so many details which are questionable, so many details of how it could been organised and how all the details could have been worked out. but what we see, there is a person well and alive, and many people say that is the only thing which matters now. thank you. we will go live to moscow and talk to steve rosenberg. what are people saying about this turn of events today? there is total surprise here. the russian foreign ministry has said that it is glad that arkady babchenko is alive, but they said the ukrainian authorities used this story from propaganda. the head of the foreign affairs committee, the upper house of the russian parliament, he said this was a crazy provocation by the ukrainian authorities. and the chief editor of the newspaper where mr babchenko once worked, he said this was a provocation not only

michael cohen received $400,000 for setting up a meeting with president trump and the ukrainian press poroshenko. we have not verified that report. faced with the evidence on trump's web of eastern promises, the president himself is setting up what appears to be a fifth amendment strategy not answering robert mueller's questions on the ground his answers would tend to incriminate him and claim that as justification for taking the fifth which trump himself associated with gangsters but also on the political ground now that the mueller investigation is out to get him. indeed, president trump is going to new extremes in his attempts to put the fbi on trial by alleging now that he, the subject of a federal investigation, is somehow the victim of fbi spying, that's his word. the president's eketively staged a crisis to convince the country that mueller's not being fair to him and therefore, he donald trump has a right not to answer his questions. it's an excuse the president is setting is up to justify a number of escape routes. pleading the fifth with special counsel mueller or in a most extreme mov