president trump's lawyer, rudy guilliani had this to say. >> i expected something like this from cohenhe has been lying all week, for two -- he has been lying for years. i don't see how he has any credibility. if you had a trial, which you won't have a trial here, but you would say, which lie do you want to on pick, the second lie or maybe a new lie? there's nobody that knows him that hasn't warned me if his back is up against the wall he will lie like crazy because he has lied all of his life. >> michael cohen's relationship with president trump stretches back nearly two decades. with this week's developments nbc news sought to clarify cohen's position towards the investigation of the president, which cohen had described as a witch-hunt in the past. asked by kristin welker if cohen would cooperate with prosecutors or flip against his former boss, his lawyer, lanny davis said, i klein to endorse the word flip but will only say he's committed to telling the truth. a reminder in april president trump tweeted about cohen saying, most people will flip if the government lets them out of tro

trump's torrey, rudy guilliani has told nbc news, quote, it was already out there so seemed no pointn objecting except on principle. well, the president tweeted over the weekend, quote, inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer's office early in the morning, almost unheard of, even more inconceivable that a lawyer would take a client. totally unheard of and perhaps illegal. the good news is your favorite president did nothing wrong. joining me here from philadelphia, msnbc legal analyst danny savalos. good to have you with us. it was a busy weekend, seeing you all over the network talking about this and other things. let's talk with a fact check here. is it illegal for cohen to have recorded his conversation with the president? >> trump's statement was partially correct, partially incorrect. he's right in that it is essentially unheard of for lawyers to -- plenty of colleagues, i have never heard of that happening anywhere any time. any attorney will tell you, there's definitely clients they have had had they wouldn't mind having on record because maybe they waffle

trump is lashing out against robert mueller, claiming conflicts of interest while his lawyer, rudy guillianialls former fixer michael cohen a liar. >> plus, president trump is once again threatening to shut down the government or immigration, demanding that democrats back his administration proposals, including a border wall with mexico. >>> and at least six people have been killed in a massive wildfire tearing across northern california. hundreds of homes have been destroyed and thousands of people have been forced to evacuate. >>> good morning, everyone. it is monday, july 30th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis bergdorf. president trump spent part of his weekend lashing out and questioning the credibility of robert mueller's ongoing investigation. in a series of tweets yesterday, trump claimed there was no collusion and called mueller's probe a witch-hunt and an illegal school. he went on to right, is robert mueller ever going to release his conflict of interest with respect to president trump, including the fact that we had a very nasty and contentious business r

♪ >>> this morning, rudy guilliani mulledying the walters.irst he made a public claim about a previously-unknown meeting between trump associates and russians and then denied it happened in a series of statements. >> plus, jury selection begins today in the case against paul manafort. he is first to face trial in the ongoing russia probe. >>> and just a week after threatening iran on twitter, president trump now says he would meet with the country's president with no preconditions. ♪ >>> good morning. it is tuesday, july 31st. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside whereas mind vossoughian and louis bergdorf. rudy guilliani is not ruling out the possibility of a second 2016 meeting about russians peddling dirt to the trump campaign, something he raised and denied in numerous television appearances yesterday. he told the daily beast last night that he was heading off a story from "the new york times" quoting from the report, guilliani said that journalists included magg included maggie haberman. he said he and jay sekulow spent a great deal of sunday t

rudy guilliani is back on tv. >> oh, my goodness. >> which is incredible.s are unraveling. thousands of parents still have no idea what the u.s. government did with their children. just let that sit for a second. that happened in this country. it is still happening. >>> let's start with the nuclear deal with north korea, the deal that is easier to talk about, which donald trump loves to do, than actually getting done. >> can't be executed. >> it was just over three weeks ago when donald trump tweeted, "there's no longer a nuclear threat from north korea." let me repeat that, donald trump telling americans there's no longer a nuclear threat from north korea adding, quote, "sleep well tonight." >> all right. well, following meetings with secretary of state mike pompeo, north korean state media called the talks, quote, regrettable. while accusing the u.s. of making, quote, gangster-like demands and calling for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. pompeo, who did not meet with kim jong-un during his latest trip to the country, hit back at the

so rudy guilliani, honest -- >> what to we do with this character?n 20 years already. i don't know how long it was. >> not quite that long, but yeah, a while. >> still, you want a guy around you who is honest and honorable, so it makes sense that rudy would -- and trump would say that cohen is an honest lawyer. >> of course. >> he's your fixer. you don't want a scum bag as your fixer, a guy who is honest enough you can relax. >> and loyal. >> and loyal. >> fast forward to yesterday and here is what guilliani had to say. >> what? >> now i listened unfortunately, fortunately for my client's point of view, to many, many hours of tapes, and the man is a pathological manipulator, liar. i didn't know that. i didn't know him well, but i knew nothing bad about michael cohen until all of this started to happen in the last couple of weeks. >> until he stopped covering up for donald trump. >> joining us, former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense, now an nbc national security analyst, jeremy bash. also here with us onset, nbc foreign corresponde

the significance of this tape, it struck me that lanny davis actually gave a sucker punch to rudy guilliani. rud rudy wanted so badly to speak about this tape he waived a privilege to it. on the one hand he said there wasn't any privilege and then said it was a professional conversation. by doing so he may have waived privilege to the communication and may or may not have put him back behind when the publication was denied, that is, when they made the deal with mcdougle in august in 2016 and in september of 2016 and last week how they could strengthen their hold on her disclosing anything further. >> there's a piece in "the new yorker" why this is a real thing even when you put aside questions of how it came out. new revelations suggest the trump campaign was lying when it denied trump had any knowledge of it with mcdougle and knowledge of developing a deal and ukraine and hiring someone as a consultant. it's hard to remember how many significant things this tape could provide evidence on. >> and how much michael cohen could testify as, how much information he has. the tapes are important f

let's go. >> numerous television appearances yesterday by rudy guilliani.m "the new york times." quoting from the report, guilliani said that journalists included maggie haberman who reached out to the alleged premeeting meeting. guilliani said he and trump attorney jay sekulow spent a great deal of time on sunday trying to run the story down. he says he believes they managed to, quote, shut it down and helped kill the story, yet speculated the journalists found other reasons not to run the item. for her part, maggie haberman said we don't talk about source but i have lost the thread of what the mayor is talking about. yet in his third and final interview yesterday. >> it was like a trilogy. >> guilliani rambled on and out without much follow-up at all. he backed off his flatout denials that senior trump aides discussed the russian's offer in an earlier meeting. >> there was another meeting that has been leaked but hasn't been public yet. >> okay. >> that was a meeting, an alleged meeting three days before according to cohen or according to the leak. he say

another story we're covering, former trump lawyer, michael cohen battling with former trump lawyer, rudy guillianiit's confusing. cohen made waves hiring former clinton aide, lanny davis. and in political lawyering, lanny davis is roasting and baiting his opponent on twitter and next to the word guiliani, the word truth is an oxymoron and stay tuned. guiliani clapping back alleging davis lied for president clinton and the original barb to guiliani that cohen should just tell the truth. >> are you concerned michael cohen will start cooperating with the feds? >> no. in fact, if he wants to cooperate, i think it's great. >> you have no concerns at all about anything michael cohen might tell you? >> as long as he tells the truth, we're home free. >> if he believes it's in his best interests to cooperate, god bless him, he should cooperate. >> davis not tipping anything about cooperating, there are reports cohen is ready to talk and kick off the lanny davis era, a coming in of one of those all important defense agreements. i'm joined by a. scott bolland and a fort lauderdale prosecutor. what does this

coming up, rudy guilliani has -- >> and you can't put that on your kid's socks. >> rudy has been bus but not too busy apparently to give up foreign clients. we will break down that new reporting from "the washington post." >>> first, of all of brett kavanaugh's legal theories, there's one in particular that may have piqued donald trump's interest. a 2009 article arguing that presidents cannot be prosecuted. "morning joe" is coming right back. until her laptop crashed this morning. you never know what the day's going to bring when you're running a small business, it might even bring a blue screen of death. having it problems? ask a business advisor how to get virus and spyware removal, and 24/7 tech support. office depot now offers on demand tech support for as little as $15 a month. ♪ right now, save $300 on our hp 2-in-1 laptop bundle at office depot officemax - anncr: as you grow older, -your brain naturally begins to change which may cause trouble with recall. - learning from him is great... when i can keep up! - anncr: thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. -

there's more bad news from trump but comes from his own current lawyer, rudy guilliani. to think about how tonight is so revealing about the mood at the white house, quite dark. if you're accused of murder, the best defense is usually denial, i didn't do it. if that becomes impossible to claim because there is strong evidence that you did kill someone, then the next offense typically in law becomes justification. i did it, but it's not a crime, because the killing was in self-defense, for example, and then it's not a crime, killing a terrorist on 9/11 is not a crime, in fact, it's her roism. keep those defenses in mind. when you hear guiliani's new defense, he's not saying no collusion, he's saying collusion is not a crime. >> i have been sitting here looking under the federal code. collusion is not a crime. >> i'm not sure that's a crime. the hacking is the crime. >> guiliani may not always sound that cogent or coordinated. look, he is on this media blitz for the white house from the past strategy, avoiding mentioning bob mueller by name, donald trump saying bob mueller

trump is lashing out against robert mueller, claiming conflicts of interest while his lawyer, rudy guillianialls former fixer michael cohen a liar. >> plus, president trump is once again threatening to shut down the government or immigration, demanding that democrats back his administration proposals, including a border wall with mexico. >>> and at least six people have been killed in a massive wildfire tearing across northern california. hundreds of homes have been destroyed and thousands of people have been forced to evacuate.

. ♪ >>> this morning, rudy guilliani mulledying the walters.st he made a public claim about a previously-unknown meeting between trump associates and russians and then denied it happened in a series of statements. >> plus, jury selection begins today in the case against paul manafort. he is first to face trial in the ongoing russia probe. >>> and just a week after threatening iran on twitter, president trump now says he would meet with the country's president with no preconditions. ♪ >>> good morning. it is tuesday, july 31s

trump lawyer rudy guilliani admits mueller likely will not agree to the conditions but highlights thecus of the legal team, discrediting the investigation and swaying public opinion. joining me to discuss it cnn political coordinator david swerdlick and shan wu. i want to start with you, shan. how significant is it from a legal perspective. what is the bar here that is set? mueller doesn't really have to even abide about any of these conditions, does he? >> right. it is a high and ambiguous legal par, which is being set by trump's team so they can define when the elements are met. so, for example, saying that mueller has to prove that there's evidence of trump committing a crime, the question is who decides if that evidence really is there or not? certainly trump's people are not going to agree no matter what mueller puts out. there's a second point which lays out a foundation, if they put forth evidence about the possible criminality of it, later trump's folks can argue there's a fifth amendment concern here, which might be another argument for not letting trump testify. >> david, we

. >> yeah, i think this is a point where we cue rudy guilliani to make an appearance an iranian oppositionegime change. the white house is taking on top-level security officials who have been critical of president trump. the list includes james brennan and others accused of politicizing their access. hallie jackson has more on the potential white house plan to p pull security clearances. >> reporter: it is an unprecedented threat aimed at critics of the commander in chief, the white house considering stripping security clearances of six former officials. >> they politicized and in some cases mon tiesed their security clearances. >> reporter: they have worked for democrats and republicans and have been tough on president trump publicly. >> isn't the president doing what he said he doesn't want them doing? >> no, he is not making baseless accusations of improper contact with a foreign government and accusing the president of the united states of treason us activity. >> reporter: that may be a reference to john brennan who called last week's meeting with vladimir putin nothing short of treaso

there's more bad news from trump but comes from his own current lawyer, rudy guilliani.mood at the white house, quite dark. if you're accused of murder, the best defense is usually

rudy guilliani told "the new york times", quote, if they can come to us and show us the basis and that legitimate and that they have uncovered something, we can go from there and assess their object ift. guilliani urged the special counsel to wrap up his inquiry and write an investigative report. he said mr. trump's lawyers plan to write their own summary of the case. he addressed the subject again yesterday. >> have you simply determined that the president is not going to sit down for -- >> we have not. we're close to determining that. george, he wants to testify. he believes like -- >> it is hard to believe that, mr. mayor. >> it is hard to believe given all of the things showed about how tainted this investigation is. this is the most corrupt investigation i have ever seen, that the justice department is allowing to go forward. >> all right. let's head overseas once again. a woman in the uk has died after being exposed to the same nerve agent used against a former russian spy and his daughter. according to london police, dawn sturgess died at the hospital yesterday. police believe b

between what the president has done and what rudy guilliani has done in the lead-up to all of this, ithe pr campaign is actually working. >> and that's uniquely russian strategy is to exhaust people about what the truth is. >> that's an interesting point. thank you, heidi. good seeing you. >>> all right. everybody, the woman accused of being a secret russian agent is actually behind bars after facing a federal judge yesterday, and now we are learning new details about the allegations against her. prosecutors say she took orders from a russian official close to vladimir putin and tried to trade sex for political access. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more on this. >> reporter: the fbi says during the two years mariia butina was making a name for herself as a washington, d.c. college student and gun enthusiast hoping to further relations with russia, she had a dark secret. prosecutors say her every move was directed by a russian government officials, aleksandr torshin, close ally of vladimir putin. investigators say she hid in plain sight, joining the nra to get close to i

michael cohen's relationship with the president is eroding thanks in part to jared kushner and rudy guillianiat reporting just ahead on "morning joe." how do you win at business? stay at laquinta. where we're changing with contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. >> the trial for paul manafort was set to begin tomorrow but it has been delayed until next tuesday to give the defense more time to prepare. the judge also granted immunity to five potential witnesses whom prosecutors may call to testify. prosecutors wanted to withhold their names until trial in case they did not testify, but the judge ordered the names be made public now. all five potential witnesses appear to work in various financial institutions that have been linked to manafort either in court filings or publish heed reports. none of them have been charged with a crime and it is unclear if they would be. the president's former campaign chair is accused of hiding at least $30 million he made whil