and rudy giuliani was just warming up. just getting started in his attack on james comey and on special prosecutor robert mueller's investigation and everyone working for robert mueller, and everything they're doing in the investigation of the president. when rudy giuliani joined the trump legal team just two weeks ago, he said that it would take him a week or two to resolve the entire case. and tonight rudy giuliani said that he is now just trying to keep an open mind about whether president trump should sub mimio an interview with robert mueller. that's how rudy giuliani began his extraordinary interview tonight with sean hannity on fox news. and rudy giuliani sounded professional and judicious for about the first 90 seconds of his interview, and then he went off the rails. he said that he would not allow the president to submit to an interview if rudy giuliani concludes that robert mueller and his staff are not being fair. giuliani then went on a rambling interview calling the mueller investigation a witch hunt, a perju

but rudy, rudy understands this better than anybody. but when he made certain statements, he just started yesterday. so that's it. so, bottom line is, bottom line is i want to talk to the people in charge, if they can prove that it is a fair situation. the problem we have is that you have 13 people, they're all democrats, and they're real democrats, they're angry democrats. and that's not a fair situation. thank you very much. we have a chance to bring in -- we have a chance -- we're doing very well with the hostages. we're in constant contact with the leadership. we are in constant contact with north korea. we have actually worked out a time and a place which will be announced shortly. and -- i figured you would ask that question. wait a minute. at some point into the future, i would like to save the money. we have 32,000 troops there. but i think a lot of great things will happen. but troops are not on the table. absolutely. thank you very much. >> when did you first learn about the -- >> president trump there, he's now boarding air f

and in this case rudy got ahead of the president. >> i would say so. >> rudy giuliani sort of made the news and made the news cycle, and, you know, the president may think that he's not going to fire rudy now. and maybe he's not going to fire rudy. >> i've got to get everyone. >> robert costa is a great reporter. he's reporting what he hears, but the idea the president signed off on this, this is all part of a plan is ridiculous, don. the president is in the white house right now saying where is my roy cohn? i need a fixer. i need someone to fix this. he called the president a liar. he basically called michael cohen a liar. so the notion this is basically some strategy to get out ahead of the investigation that is not the truth. the idea the president signed off on this, that is not the truth. >> larry, i want to ask you this. one of the big talks points he wasn't under investigation. watch this. >> he fired comey because comey would not among other things say that he wasn't a target of the investigation. he's entitled to that. hillary clinton got that. and he couldn't get that. so he

what rudy giuliani said last night was such an unexpected bombshell. he seemed to contradict both what michael cohen and donald trump have said in the past and now begging so many more questions about the stormy daniels question and the payment including what did donald trump know, when did he know it and why did he say what he said about this payment? >> reporter: rudy giuliani admitting president trump repaid michael cohen for the hush money given to porn star stormy daniels just days before the 2016 election. >> i'm giving you a fact now that you don't know, it's not campaign money, no campaign finance violation -- they funneled it through the law firm and the president repaid it. >> reporter: his remarks greatly contradicting president trump's own words last month. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no, no. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> no. >> reporter: in march, sarah huabee sanders also said the president was unaware of the payment. >> i've had the conversation there was no knowledge

they're battling with rudy giuliani. there was a phone call this morning that rudy giuliani said i'm not giving you any information. so maybe that could be some of it. but what i will say to you is that for her to say -- for sarah huckabee-sanders, the mouthpiece of the president of the united states to say you don't know me, in certain quarters of this nation, that starts a physical fight. i was very shocked. it was street. i will even go beyond that. it was gutter. and there is no room, no place for that in that white house briefing room. and you know what, she can be mad at what i say right now, tough. i'm a reporter who's going to continue to ask questions. and there was nothing wrong with that question. am i a little upset about it? yes. yes, i am. i am. i am. >> well, phil, you know, you saw the exchange with april there. you heard what jim said. i've seen jim. he's been a bit contentious with him at times. lie after lie after lie. it's a pattern. and it's deliberate, is it? >> it is. let's cut to the chase, don. t

but that's not rudy is there for.t's to be on television and trump to have rudy on television for him. so it's devolved into a mess, and he may beat the mooch record, which was about two weeks. i think rudy maybe just passed that, but not by much. >> i think he's already beaten the scaramucci record. maggie haberman is tweeting one person close to white house sums up trump legal strategy right now as two teams, there's the trump-rudy team and then there's the lawyers. that might not be a successful combination. >> none of the white house lawyers, none of the lawyers on trump's team can be happy with what they've seen from rudy giuliani. midway through this media barrage you had to wonder whether rudy was the president's lawyer or a plant from the opposition. it really was a misstep at every step along the way. so i would imagine, emmet flood can't be happy about what he's seeing and there will have to be some sort of meeting of the minds before they can move forward. >> you had a close look at candidate trump and trum

and rudy, we love rudy, he's a special guy. what he really understandings is that this is a witch hunt. he understands that probably better than anybody. excuse me. excuse me. that rudy, rudy understands this better than anybody. but what he made certain statements, he just started yesterday, so that's it. so, bottom line is, bottom line is, i want to talk to the people in charge, if they can prove that it's a fair situation. the problem we have is that you have 13 -- people that are all democrats and they're real democrats. they're angry democrats. and that's not a fair situation. thank you very much. we have a chance to bring in -- we're doing very well with the hostages. we're in constant contact with the leadership. we in constant contact with north korea. we've actually worked out a time and a place which will be announced shortly. >> where? >> and -- very soon. i figured you would ask that question. but, wait a minute. >> fair to -- [ inaudible question ] >> not really, not at this table. certainly not. >> you're not plan

he shares the same sensibility with rudy. rudy has been extraordinarily loyal to the president. but what does it signal? i mean, having president trump's reckless sensibilities, does that put the president in a better place? >> here's the thought i had. emmett flood came on around the same time as giuliani. i don't see giuliani traveling to review terabytes worth of documents in a warehouse somewhere. that's what emmitt flood and his team of absolute stellar associates is going to do. i have no relationship to this firm -- >> but rudy's the media guy? >> rudy's the media guy, exactly. goes in front of fox news and trump trusts him implicitly. believes in his power as america's mayor. as a former u.s. attorney. and trusts him on air. on the other hand, and even rudy said in the interview last night, look, he's my friend. he trusts me. then behind the scenes you've got emmett flood. who really in many ways should have been the first choice. >> maybe it's a strategy then. >> maybe it is. except for the fact that little problem that the words of an attorney combined his or her clien

rudy said yeah. but they were talking about something else. >> rudy is getting paid not to make that mistake. >> that's true. >> he is getting paid not to have a slip of the tongue or have his client go to greater exposure. he got comfortable. look at him. he was leaning back. even if the president co signed the installment it wasn't for the client to is the the strategy. it was for him to be prudent. >> i agree with both you, chris and alisyn is, in that i don't think sean hannity was necessarily expecting big news on stormy daniels. as you pointed out, he wasn't actually talking about stormy daniels when rudy giuliani brought up this news and made news on this topic. alisyn, what you were saying, you completely believe this was not an accident that giuliani decided to talk about this issue. at the very least, the indication we have gotten is at least the lawyers, at least giuliani has gone through documents and has talked through has at lea got through what kinds of documentation might be about the

rudy forgot to lie. in the facts, so he doesn't really know the party line, and the party line was that this was for the good of the family, but of course this is a sexual encounter that took place in 2006, ten years earlier. it was reported in the tab roid pre -- tabloid press in 2011. out of all dates in the world, decide to give her money in october of 2016, and anyone could possibly think it wasn't a campaign related expenditure? of course it was. but rudy forgot what the party line was and made the mistake of telling the truth. >> so what do you think then about considering that, what do you think about his contributions then as the lead lawyer on this team? >> they were a fiasco, but we haven't even gotten into the other fiascos of his interview. coming up with explanation of the firing of james comey more incriminating than the other ones. rudy has been out to pasture quite some time as a lawyer. the guy needs some practice. >> we will have full on other fiasco exploration. the panel sticks around

. >>> beyond the call of rudy. the president and his new lawyer walking back the bombshell statements about the stormy daniels case that have the legal team unrealing and can they undo the damage. >>> if it is fair. president would like to robert mueller about the russia investigation only if, quote, they could prove it is a fair situation. talks to arrange an interview continue as a decision coming soon. >>> and doing really well. the president is upbeat about north korea ahead of his summit with kim jong-un as his administration works with the release of three americans held by the kim regime but his criticizing previous administrations for what he calls a policy of silence on north korea. wolf blitzer is on assignment. i'm jim acosta. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> and we are following breaking news. new fallout in a blistering critique of rudy giuliani's first interview as the trump's new lawyer. a source used an expletive to see how the legal team reviewed his perfo

rudy giuliani says the president paid rudy back as a normal course of events because he was his lawyer. how does when parse this? >> i think rudy's statement this morning, you know, alluding to the debate and can you imagine if this had come out during the middle of the campaign, that's really the final nail in the coffin. the timing of the payment already so strongly suggested that it was made to influence the campaign. coming just 11 or 12 days before election day. but with this statement this morning that can you imagine if this came out in the middle of the campaign, cohen did his job and made it go away. >> that's exactly the can you imagine, lisa. that's the can you imagine everybody is thinking about. >> there's a second mole. it's almost whack a mole. if he's able to tamp down fec violations, and it's unclear, remember the defamation part. he's racing back to his laptop to amend his defamation complaint. calling something extortion in my estimation is a far more defamatory thing. >> what if defamation of character and an fec violation is small potatoes. while rudy giuliani migh

i will tell you this, i will tell you this, when rudy made the statements -- rudy's great -- but rudy had just started and wasn't totally familiar with everything. and rudy, we love rudy, he's a special guy, what he really understands is that this is a witch hunt, he understands that probably better than anybody. >> so much love for rudy but it's unclear which facts the president believes giuliani doesn't have straight. the president's comments become as a political repercussions from gilani's stunning admission wednesday night that donald trump repaid his fixer, michael cohen, the hush money for stormy daniels continue to royal his white house and muddy serious legal concerns about campaign finance violations and the firing of comey. giuliani's blitz night back forwarded given new leads and evidence to chase potential crimes. in an effort to calm the waters, giuliani told nbc confidently you're not going to see any daylight between the president and me, we're going to work hard to have a consistent strategy. even that clean-up message had to be clarified today with a statement that m

joining me now, so you know rudy giuliani.ed rudy giuliani's first day in office. >> no kidding. >> i was a film producer for fox 5 news here in new york city and i watched him become mayor and covered his first day in office. >> '94. >> he's not the same guy i knew back then. you worked with him a long time. >> i was his chief speechwriter in his second term and went with him through 9/11 and remained incredibly proud working with him and the work he did to say new york city. even before 9/11 i think transformed the city. and i think folks who are fired up about this stage and his defense of trump, look we're in a family feud as a country right now. and good people can disagree. but also you've got to see the guy's career and everyone's career in full context. and whut at he did oas mayor wa extraordinary. >> when i look at him i just wonder, like, what is he doing? you can be a supporter of the president and still go on television and not, you know, say the wrong things. >> i don't think anybody -- maybe it's easier for me t

obviously this morning there's all of this rudy giuliani/stormy daniels news. what do you make of it? >> it's discouraging to me. we are seeing the norms that underpin our democracy being eroded at all levels. things that we used to take for granted that we didn't have people who lied to us, that we would get full information and disclosure, that we did have a standard that separated for instance, cabinet officials from lobbyists who do business with their agency. if you see it over and over again and i just worry about the message that its sending to young people for epa, for instance. i worry about this denigration of science. young people are looking at what their future holds. i'm not going to go into government. they don't care about science if that's what i'm interested in. maybe i shouldn't be. maybe i should find another avenue and that's bad, but it's more the assembling of fact and this attack on the freedom of the press. be sceptical of the press, absolutely, with all due respect, you should be sceptical of stories. read both sides and to see both si

rudy giuliani dropping a bombshell. he is saying that president trump repaid michael cohen for that $130,000 hush money, that money to stormy daniels. he also talked about what the parameters would be for an interview with the special counsel. as a control enthusiast, i'm all-business when i travel... even when i travel... for leisure. so i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade in the aisle - without starting any conversations- -or paying any upcharges. what can i say? control suits me. go national. go like a pro. "i have antivirus, but my computer's still slow..." "i think it's time for the fixmestick." fixmestick is a plug-in virus removal device. it's the smart, simple way to clean an infected computer, with a whole lot going on inside the stick... [computers sound] "this one got around the antivirus software!" "not a problem." "we're on it." and because it connects to the internet, fixmestick it's always up to date. no one thought much of itm at all.l people said it just made a mess until exxonmobil

>> this is rudy being rudy. who has covered him or written about him or known him for any period of time. in some ways this is no different than he was 20 years ago. other ways, a lot of people who are close to him say that he's being a little bit different of late. maybe not as sharp as he used to be. i want to be very careful. he's a very smart man. but i've got to say that this is someone who brings a lot of experience. he was a prosecutor. he ran new york city. everybody loved him, hated him. he was a pretty strong figure. he was known as america's mayor. and to see that performance was really disheartening in so many ways. it's not clear, you know, that he was intentional in what he said. it came off as kind of -- it came off as not necessary -- kind of free ranging i think somebody said. we don't really know. i'm so disappointed just watching him. and i just -- what he said about -- what he said about ivanka trump, just to narrow in for a second, this is still a democracy. so, you know, there's no protecti

you heard rudy giuliani say as much. imagine if this has come out in october how problematic that would have been. a lot of legal analysts pouncing on those specific remarks and saying that in and of it suggest this payment could have been made to make sure there wasn't damage to the trump campaign. >> well, perfectly teed up our next guest. thank you so much. michael avenatti represents stormy daniels. your reaction to, let's take it from from what we were talking about. rudy giuliani's statement they were trying to make it go away and the timing was october 16th. can you manl what if this had come out around that time. does that make it, in your mind, a campaign contribution? >> well, our position has been the same and that's been it's clearly a campaign contribution. it was made to influence the election. any claim to the contrary is bogus. i'm very disappointed because i had a lot of respect for rudy giuliani, 15, 16 years ago. i thought that the way he handled 9/11 was admirable but he's well past his prime. he's no

rudy giuliani insulted michael avenatti. we will show you what rudy giuliani had to say.we'll show you his attacks on michael avenatti. and michael avenatti is here to respond.t ve got an idea sir. get domo. it'll connect us to everything that's going on in the company. get it for jean who's always cold. for the sales team, it and the warehouse crew. give us the data we need. in one place, anywhere we need it. help us do our jobs better. with domo we can run this place together. well that's that's your job i guess. ♪ let your inner light loose with one a day women's. ♪ a complete multivitamin specially formulated with key nutrients plus vitamin d for bone health support. your one a day is showing. >>> this morning rudy giuliani had a few things to say about my next guest. >> so i got to bring michael avenatti who represents stormy daniels to -- he wants to get a tv show or something. >> yeah. >> he watched your interview -- >> the tv show he can get is ambulance chaser. he's trying to make up for what he thinks -- he's trying to make money. turned out, when you looked at

and rudy joins him in that. i don't think rudy is afraid. he says comey is my friend. >> they worked together. >> we're colleagues and all this stuff. but when it comes down to it, rudy will do whatever will ingratiate him with donald trump. >> michael daly, appreciate you being here today. for more on giuliani's relationship with the president and what this means for michael cohen, i'm joined by pulitzer prize winning reporter david creigh kay johnson, what the trump administration is doing to america and contributor emily jane fox, senior reporter at "vanity fair" who has a new book "born trump, inside america's first family." emily, i'm going to come to you first. it is perplexing what it is that tracts rudy guiliani to donald trump and makes him so loyal. he wanted to be secretary of state. he didn't get that. people thought maybe he'll get attorney general. he didn't. they have a long friendship and relationship. let's talk about the other way around. you did a biography coming out about donald trump. why would he turn to somebody like

so the rudy appearance was so undisciplined. the new lawyer who's coming in, emmitt flood is discipline and precision and care. a single mistake like this, if this, for example, leads to jared now being nervous, it can be catastrophic, and rudy made a boat load of them. i do agree with one thing, however, it is very problematic. if there's one person that the president cares about, it's ivanka. so the special counsel had been tread very lightly. but knowing bob mueller, if he feels he needs to -- >> i have to cut in here. sarah sanders has just come to the podium. >> the president encourages people of all faiths across the country to join together and pray for our nation. in that same light, president trump extends his thoughts and prayers to the nine victims and their families of yesterday's military plane crash in savannah, georgia. the nine members of the puerto rico national guard who had a combined 167 years of service were on an official mission. the president has been briefed on the incident and will work with the departm

rudy has made a liar out of his client.hat's my first initial reaction. >> so, on-john -- so, now what? >> well, now what will be how trump respond to this, how he deals with it. we'll see what kind of relationship trump has are rudy as to how this will be very telling. i don't think lawyers really belong on television talking about what they're doing with their clients. it's very unusual. that looks like one of the shifts they're making in this operation now is to be much more political and much more public. apparently rudy's going to be the face of this. >> okay, mark preston you wanted to jump in? >> yeah, quickly. all through the trump campaign we heard trump saying i release my tacks, i release my taxes, i'll release my tacks once the audit is over. we heard him say 100% i'll sit down for an interview. let me tell you right now, i was fooled. he never had any any any desire to sit down for an interview. we're seeing the legal team take the shift. what we've seen what drum has done is he had laid out reasonabli reasonin

rudy giuliani is getting the president in hot water. >> rudy giuliani quoted in an interview with the huffington post saying the president denied the merger. five simple words that have a significant meaning. they contradict everything we have been told up until now about why at&t and time warner were sued to stop this deal. let's go back 18 months. the deal is announced during the campaign. president trump, then candidate trump, opposed the deal. when he came into office, there were questions whether he would try to interfere. the white house denied that. so did the justice department. when the government did sue to block the deal, the doj said, no way trump was involved. this was a decision made by career officials working for what was best for consumers. there's been a denial trump was involved. now rudy giuliani comes along and tells huffington post, the president denied the merger. why is he doing that? he is trying to say, michael cohen, got money from companies, but cohen didn't do anything. he wasn't able to influence the president because the president denied the merger. that

rudy giuliani insulted michael avenatti. we will show you what rudy giuliani had to say.we'll show you his attacks on michael avenatti. and michael avenatti is here to respond. an idea sir. get domo. it'll connect us to everything that's going on in the company. get it for jean who's always cold. for the sales team, it and the warehouse crew. give us the data we need. in one place, anywhere we need it. help us do our jobs better. with domo we can run this place together. well that's that's your job i guess. ♪ this time, it's his turn. you have 4.3 minutes to yourself. this calls for a taste of cheesecake. philadelphia cheesecake cups. rich, creamy cheesecake with real strawberries. find them with the refrigerated desserts. ...nausea, heartburn, when indigestion, rries. upset stomach, diarrhea! nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea! here's pepto bismol! ah. nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. if you have a garden, you know... weeds are low-down little scoundrels. with roundup's sure shot wand, you don't need to stoop to their level. d

sources say rudy giuliani blind sided them revealing that mr.eimbursed michael cohen for the hush money that cohen paid to porn star stormy daniels and giuliani said the president knew about the payment contradicting the president and the white house. cnn national correspondent sarah sidener with the latest for us. he went way off what's been the white house script. >> this is a huge development. everyone gasped when they were listening to what rudy giuliani was saying. he's part of their legal team because for months we have been hearing from the white house, denying there was any affair and then heard of donald trump himself that he knew nothing about this supposed deal for $130,000 he says this was all michael cohen. tonight, the white house is struggling to explain a startling admission of rudy giuliani, the newest member of president trump's legal team, telling fox news that the president did repay the $130,000 in hush money to his personal attorney michael cohen after cohen paid off porn star stormy daniels. >> that money not campaign mone

rudy giuliani changed all of that last night in just one interview. he unexpectedly revealed that michael cohen was paid back by donald trump for the $130,000 payment that cohen made to stormy daniels. and he said that this was not a campaign violation. here is giuliani talking about why he did not violate any laws. >> they funneled it through the law firm. funneled through the law firm and the president repaid it. >> i didn't know he did. >> there is no campaign finance law. >> zero. >> the reason this was so staggering is because donald trump, remember, was asked about the payment on air force one last month and he said he didn't know anything about this. let me just remind you, this is what he said last month. >> reporte >> do you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? then why did michael cohen make it if there was no truth -- >> you have to ask michael. michael is my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money? >> no, i don't know. >> so the legal explanation that giuliani seems to be making is that

said about isa about it. -- rudy guiliani said about iab it. -- rudy guiliani said about iit. -- rudy guiliani said about it. -- rudy guiliani said about i- guiliani said about iguiliani said about i>> michael avenotti. said about isaid about it. >>> as the special counsel's investigation continues, there is a name that hasn't come up much, which is ivanka trump. she's not just the president's daughter, she's his adviser and played a key role in the investigation the mueller team may be holding back on calling her in for questioning for now because they're waiting for the last possible moment, knowing the president will not take it well if they called her in as a witness. rudy gel aguiliani was about about targeting her in anyway. here's what he said. >> if they do, do ivanka, which i well, they will turn on him. >> what about his son-in-law? they talked about him? >> jared is a fine man. you know that. but men are you know disposable. but a fine woman like ivanka, c'mon. >> with me is jennifer rogers and michael the antonio. do you think hearing rudy guiliani saying that, do you thin

rudy giuliani needs the same treatment. if you're going to wire tap somebody, it's not the fbi and the department of justice alone. you realize they're going to a federal judge and getting authorization based on evidence to wire tap somebody. he said something else outrageous. he suggested that attorney/client privilege should protect this. let me get this straight. if there's evidence that mr. cohen committed a crime, does that mean as an american citizen he's outside the law and shouldn't be investigated? if there's evidence of a crime, i don't care if you're the president's lawyer. you get the same treatment as i do. the most deadly thing in america is getting between him and a microphone. he's wrong. >> wow. chris, as you follow that, in all seriousness, when we look at the point we have gotten to here and to phil's point, you can't just pop up one day and say i want a wire tap, and they say, oh, sure, we'll put that on for you. there's a process for there and there's a process for very important reasons. >> and to phil

-- you know, with everything and rudy, we love rudy, he is a special guy. what he really understands is this is a witch hunt. he understands that probably better than anybody. >> so the president of the united states sent out his lawyer who didn't have the facts straight, who had just started, to clean up the mess with full confidence. he did not say exactly about what rudy giuliani did not have his facts straight about and giuliani did not clarify matters with a statement late today. quote, there is no campaign violation, it reads. "the payment was made to resolve a personal and false allegation in order to protect the president's family. it would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not. my references to timing were not describing my understanding of the president's knowledge but instead my understanding of these matters." now, maybe it's because i did not go to law school, but i have no idea what that last sentence means. quote, "my references to timing were not describing my understanding of the president's knowledge, but instead m

he did go to yale. >> you know, and he knew that rudy giuliani would be there, and he knew that rudy giuliani is someone who on the campaign trail said that he didn't think obama loved america, and he thought that hillary clinton had some sort of secret health problem that the press was hiding. i mean there was a lot going on here before he walked in, and i think that he had to have known that and made his own calculation to join. but i think lawmakers are still making their own calculations, especially as the midterms loom, how they're going to deal with this. >> rudy did memorably say to chris matthews that he had seen hillary lifted on to planes. clint, you're our reaction guy. i'm going to play a little bit more of rudy giuliani, and i need you to react to this. >> i think i would get on my charger and go right into the partners' offices with a lance if they go after ivanka. if they do ivanka, which i doubt they will, the whole country will turn on her. they're going after his daughter. >> they talked about his son-in-law. they talked about him. >> jared is a fine man. you know t

that's the rudy giuliani i know. that's the rudy giuliani i miss.i mean even when you look at that -- >> he's gone. >> he used to give a state of the city, lay out something, lay out what his vision, deliver it without notes. he was fantastic. this interview we saw the other night was disjointed. he went into fisa warrants -- he should be doing his job. which is to prep the president. not be his pr guy, but be his lawyer. and seeing him take this tack. now i think knowing rudy, he has reason for it. i just don't see how it turned out to his best interests. >> i can't imagine what that would be. >> as we talked about yesterday, the people he is calling stormtroopers is the same fbi he relied on in the days after 9/11, he walked through the streets with a mask on his face, the southern district of new york that issued the subpoena, is where he worked himself. he was the u.s. attorney in the southern district. these are people he knowed, has respected and worked with. >> he was able to sell himself out in this way so quickly. rudy said it would be wrap

number one, the rudy factor. since the hannity interview, it strikes us tonight he's been all or part of our lead story every night since. so there's that. and, secondly, a serious question we don't get to see you in new york that often. by percentage, how -- you cover this white house for "the new york times." how much of the trump presidency do you end up covering every day, and how much of this, the moving parts, the machinations? >> it's a great question. look, there was talk just last summer about trying to separate these things, right? to have somebody who just dealt with these things so that the white house could get on with the business of governing the country. we've got a big decision on iran coming tomorrow. we've got an upcoming summit with north korea. we've got the embassy moving in jerusalem. this is in the next few days alone. we've got tariffs, a uk visit, all kinds of things. and instead the president of the united states and his team are focused on hush payments to a porn star. not the way this

the president frustrated with rudy giuliani as rudy tells nbc news tonight the president isn't frustrated at all. >>> plus a look inside what's reported to be a practice session for the president to prepare for robert mueller's questioning. >>> and on the eve of election day, the president weighs in on the ex-con running for senate in west virginia. james carville here to talk politics tonight. jon meacham is here to save the american soul. all of it as "the 11th hour" gets under way. >>> good evening once again as we start a new week from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 473 of the trump administration, and there is new reporting from "the wall street journal" tonight on the possibility of an interview between president trump and special counsel mueller. the journal reports trump's attorneys in the russia investigation, quote, hope to decide whether he should testify by may 17, the one-year anniversary of the appointment of special counsel robert mueller, trump attorney rudy giuliani said monday. mr. trump's legal team has long been divided on whether he should agree to a

with rudy giuliani. because he seems to be freelancing. he is consulting with the president, so it's the president and rudy giuliani and the rest of the legal team. rest of the legal team is new. you've got the raskins who are just starting out, you've got emmet flood who hasn't gotten his security clearance yet, hasn't even started yet. and you have rudy giuliani setting deadlines and saying, okay, we want this -- we want to make this decision by may 17th. so, what i've been told, what my colleagues at the white house have been told, is that, you know, this really is a goal and not so much a deadline. >> it's aspirational. >> let's call it aspirational. and so the legal team is kind of like herding cats right now, and the person in charge is the president of the united states whom as we all know loves chaos. so that's what he's got. >> it's hard to believe, the rudy giuliani interview with sean hannity was last wednesday night, not even a full week since that happened. it went the way it did and the next day it went even worse then he was

and rudy -- we love rudy. he is a special guy. what he really understands is that this is a witch hunt. he understands that probably better than anybody. >> so we heard a lot about a witch hunt. what we saw there is undermining. the president was essentially throwing rudy giuliani under the bus for what he did not like obviously was the media coverage, the president initially praised rudy giuliani's defense of him. but then as we have seen so many times before he sees how this plays out, sees the white house is you know accused of changing stories which in fact they did. he didn't appreciate that at all. so essentially throws rudy giuliani under the bus. the credibility crisis is ratted in the president and the oval office not his new lawyer. >> jeff, thanks very much i want to bring in the pan. kirsten power was gloria borger laura coates. gloria be the "wall street journal" report, all along michael cohen said i got a home equity line of credit to pay stormy daniels. i did it because i'm a loyal guy to mr. trump. he didn't even

so rudy giuliani here trying to clear this up. also trying to make clear this was not a campaign finance violation. of course that has been the central question about this ever since michael cohen did first admit to making that payment. also he's referencing that other bombshell from that interview where he said that the president fired james comey because james comey wouldn't make a public statement that the president wasn't under investigation, something that james comey says he private lily told the presid but didn't want to say publicly. so really rudy giuliani just two weeks on the job here, erika, since he's been announced as the p president's latest lawyer already having to issue a statement clearing up himself comments. >> or making them clear as mud as you pointed out. i want to bring in our analysts. paul, i want to start with you on this. just to go back to what we just got from rudy giuliani, the counsel to the president, right? so counselor, that second part, which i have to say stuck out to me as well as it did to ka

. >> is he throwing rudy giuliani under the bus? >> rudy knows it's a witch hunt. he started yesterday. he'll get his facts straight. he's a great guy. >> plus a public embrace for the president's embattled chief of staff. >> i would love to speak. i would love to go. nothing i want to do more. we did nothing wrong. >>> president trump is sending yet another message to robert mueller. let's talk. >> i would love to speak. i would love to. nobody wants to speak more than me. against my lawyers because most lawyers never speak on anything. i would love to speak. >> want to revise rudy giuliani two-day media tour. the president stopped not once but twice to stop before leaving for the nra convention in dallas during which he endorsed his chief of staff and signalled a new willingness to talk to mueller. his newly white house lawyer emett flood wants him to take a hard line. peter, you have new reporting that rudy giuliani will issue some sort of correction to the various legal points that he has been making for the last 4 8 hours. >> reporter: that's right. the presid

when rudy made the statements -- rudy's great, but rudy just started and he wasn't totally familiar with everything. and rudy, we love rudy. he's a special guy. what he really understand, this is a witch hunt. he understands that probably better than anybody. >> so much love for rudy. but it's unclear which facts the president believes giuliani doesn't have straight. the president's comments come as the political and legal repercussions from rudy giuliani's stunning admission wednesday night that donald trump repaid his fixer, michael cohen, the hush money for porn star stormy daniels continue to roil his white house and muddy serious legal concerns about campaign finance violations and the firing of jim comey. legal experts telling the washington post, giuliani's media blitz might have back fired giving investigators new leads to chase and new evidence of potential crimes. in an effort to calm the waters, giuliani told nbc confidently, you're not going to see any daylight between the president and me. we're going to work hard to have a consistent strategy. but even that clean up message

and rudy is knocking on the door again.believe that he's doing a disservice to his client. i wouldn't hire rudy giuliani to represent me if i got pulled over for speeding at this point. he's doing a disservice to the president of the united states. >> that's a little harsh, i will say. however, to your point about the cabinet position he wanted, steve, he really wanted to get secretary of state. do you think that is why he does not hold back speaking about matters he should not be speaking about, particularly if he's doing so incorrectly, like north korea. >> that is exactly what is going on and why it is so dangerous. rudy giuliani knows that he is auditioning. this is "the apprentice" all over again. >> we just got a new secretary of state. he was just confirmed. >> look, no moss grows under a secretary of state or any cabinet seat in this administration. and rudy giuliani knows it. he wanted that position. he wants it again. and he knows it doesn't matter what foreign leaders think about him. it matters what his potentia

rudy giuliani knows i'm real lawyer. the only person that seems to be ignorant as to the law right now is rudy giuliani in two respects. number one, he suggest that is the only way you can have a campaign finance violation if you use campaign funds for the $130,000. that's not even close to being the law and then secondly he seems to suggest recently in the last hour or two relatting to these wiretap allegation that is the president should have been informed that mr. cohen being wiretapped. not only is that not permitted but that's illegal had anyone done it so i'm confident in my abilities and confident in my client. >> i don't know if you saw but george conway, a noted conservative lawyer in washington, d.c., he was talked about as a possible solicitor general candidate for president trump, his wife happened to be kellyanne conway, he tweeted the description of violation might have been occurred with this quote/unquote loan. if president trump, if michael cohen paid this $130,000 to stormy daniels for election purposes