however, just a month later trump professed not to know sater even though sater was coordinating the deal. as trump said to the "associated press," felix sater, boy, i have to even think about it. i'm not that familiar with him. i'm sorry, jill, what do you mean i'm not that familiar with it? that's when you admit when you say you know somebody. >> you're right. you're right. and, of course, he may be very sorry he said that because it apparently really angered sater who is now seems to be cooperating with mueller. and he may be doing that because exactly of that point was that trump said i don't even know him. so he may have made a mistake in underestimating what the connections that sater had were and he seems to have had some pretty high up connections. so this may not have been a good thing for him. >> let me go back to my rant, if you will, because i have a few rants once dick cheney got us into a bad war. one of rant is the russiaphilia. we have known politics all our lives, covered them, never realized they had close russian friends or associates because they didn't have any.

are you, felix sater? >> i guess complex, to say the least. you know, i'm an immigrant that came to this country at the age of 7, grew up here, went to school. >> right. >> went on to work on wall street. i had a very successful career on wall street as a young man. unfortunately, one night in a drunken bar brawl, one guy went for a beer bottle. i went for a margarita glass. and that changed the trajectory of my life. >> you did a year for that? >> i went to jail and i did a year for that bar fight. when i came out, i had no money, a young child, had no money. and in a moment of weakness, nothing that i am proud of then or now or have i ever been got involved in the stock scam, which is the shady side of wall street, which is something that was devastating to me because i had planned to have a very successful wall street creek, and i did that for less than two years. left voluntarily on my own, got out of it, and because i just hated it. i despised every day and every minute of it. and when i used to go to

the next day felix sater told michael cohen that dmitry peskov, putin's spokesman cohen had written tonuary, "he would like to invite you as his guest to an economic forum in russia. peskov wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you, michael cohen, to either vladimir putin or dimitri medvedev." as far as we know, that trip by michael cohen to the st. petersburg economic forum and all this to go meet putin -- as far as we know that trip never happened and trump tower moscow obviously didn't get built. but donald trump's business associates were trying really hard actively to make it happen. right up, right up through the presidential nominating conventions in the summer of 2016. and there's one more explosive new bit of reporting in this buzzfeed -- in this buzzfeed report today about all the hustling that michael cohen was doing to try to get this deal done. check this out. "even before the appointment of mueller as special counsel in may 2017, fbi agents investigating russia's interference in the election learned that michael cohen was in frequent contact with foreign ind

from the two men named as intermediaries, and from a lawyer for mr cohen's alleged partner, felix saterin 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

what kind of man are you, felix sater? >> i guess complex to say the least.you know, i'm an immigrant that came to this country at the age of 7, grew up here, went to school. >> right. >> went on to work on wall street. had a very successful career on wall street as a young man. unfortunately one night in a drunken bar brawl, one guy went for a beer bottle. i went for a margarita glass, and that changed the trajectory of my life. >> you did a year for that. >> i went to jail and i did a year for that bar fight. when i came out, i had no money. young child. had no money. and in a moment of weakness, nothing that i am proud of then or now or have i ever been, got involved in the stock scam, which is the shady side of wall street, which was something that was devastating to me because i had planned to have a very successful wall street career. and i did that for less than two years, left voluntarily on my own, got out of it because i just hated it. i despised every day and every minute of it. and when i used to go to sleep, i used to hate it. >> let me ask you t

cohen, his partner felix sater, and two intermediaries enalso dy 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 setback. his campaign manager, paul manafort, was forced to resign, accused of getting millions of dollars from russianests in the ukraine. the leak that brought manafort down came from the top of the rainian government. , according to sources here and outside ukraine. ukrainianstrue, t badly miscalculated, backing the losing side in the u.s. election. in early 2017, president poroshenko was desperate to get talks with donald trum but he was being offered little more than a white house photo op. according to a senior official here who has direct knowledge of what happened, poroshenko t instruct close associates to open a backchannel. that backchannel, our source says, was president trump's personal lawyer and trusted fixer, michael cohen. the senior official ohen was paid $400,000. a second source says it was more. ere is no suggesti

we are told that cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business with trumpnder 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 have not been reported yet from those with ukrainian interests. poroshenko could not hide his delight at meeting trump, and before russia's vladimir putin. how many minutes he would get was still being negotiated as he flew from kiev. but this was more than just a photo opp. after poroshenko went home, ukraine's enquiry into trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, was steadily wound down. "there was never a direct order to stop the manafort enquiry," a special prosecutor in kiev tells me. "but," he says, "from the way the investigation progre

mr cohen, his partner felix sater and the two intermediaries also deny involvement, as our correspondentwood reports. 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 the ukraine. the leak that brought manafort down came from the very top of the ukrainian government, according to sources here and outside the ukraine. if that's true, the ukrainians badly miscalculated backing the losing side in the us election. so, in early 2017, president poroshenko was desperate to get talks with donald trump. he was being 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 $400,00

within weeks of that, think another thing that has been forgotten here is cohen and sater then show upd present this bizarre piece plan, this pro-russia peace plan to solve the ukraine crisis to michael flynn, the national security adviser. so there is this two-year trail of cohen and sometimes involving felix sater of relationships with russians and now we have this big payment in the middle of it. maybe it's, you know -- i think it's beyond swampy and there is a lot for mueller to dilg into there. >> even if there is nothing nefarious, just from a political, you know, protecting your client, the president of the united states, it just seems like not a good idea to take $500,000. >> none of this is a good idea, but this is the way they've operated in business for decades. this is, you know -- there is a lot of swampiness that goes on in new york business, unfortunately, and i just don't think that they realized -- old habits diehard, let's just say that. michael cohen isn't exactly the most upstanding businessman as we've seen in a number of instances. there is more on top of what rya

mr cohen, his partner felix sater and the two intermediaries, deny involvement, as our correspondentfor 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 the ukraine. the leak that brought manafort down came from the very top of the ukrainian government, according to sources here and outside the ukraine. if that's true, the ukrainians badly miscalculated backing the losing side in the us election. so, in early 2017, president poroshenko was desperate to get talks with donald trump. he was being offered little more than a white house photo opp. according to a senior official here, who has direct knowledge of what happened, poroshenko instructed close associates to open a back channel. that back channel, our source says, was president trump's personal lawyer and trusted fixture, michael cohen. —— fixer. the senior official says cohen was paid $400,000. a second source says i

remember, it was sater and cohen be who were trying to do that second trump tower business deal whilewas running for president. they were pursuing this business arrangement to build a trump tower in moscow. something the american voters knew nothing about but we learned well after the election. and also, remember, this is february 2017. this is during a period when the -- when the trump white house is pursuing the idea of lifting sanctions on russia without any concession on the russians' part. and you know, the fact that that came right after the election after everything that happened during the election, clearly mueller is trying to connect those dots. >> all right. mimi rocah and michael isikoff, thank you both. why the president is calling members of his staff apparently traitors and cowards. a fine tuned machine of the white house next. needed to apologize to senator olympic cane. >> senator mccain apology, mr. president? >> senate republicans are reportedly furious and openly seething over the white house's treatment of john mccain. today's closed door meeting with the presiden

and i want to go now to cnn weather meteorologist tom sater. so, tom, first, let's talk about maryland. how high did these water levels get? >> the patapsco river, brianna, reached over 24 feet. that's an all-time record crest. flood stage is at 15. that was a concern on the patapsco river. but ellicott city, just outside of baltimore, just to the west, was established in 1766. they've had 15 catastrophic floods, but all of them, except for last night's and the one two years ago, were different. they're surrounded by rivers. so the others were the rivers rising. this one and the one two years ago was just a freak of nature with the amount of rain that fell from the skies. some indications, some say a one in -- a one in 1,000-year event. but you can see just how much rain fell in ellicott city in about a three-hour time procedure. downtown didn't have that much in over three. you're getting ten inches, that is a freak of nature. and the patapsco river rising 18 feet in about two hours. that was a big, bug concern. and it continues now as the nex

tom sater thank you for your update. we'll continue to keep a close eye on this and attempt to get in contact with folks who are dealing with this to get their perspective as well as we continue to follow the breaking news of a flash flooding in maryland. now back to the white house, and tonight concessions and contradictions. the president's lawyer rudy giuliani speaking out to cnn about the special counsel probe. first calling it legitimate and then questioning whether it was. this all had been in the same interview. he also admitted there's a strategy to undermine bob mueller's work and that -- and that -- and that there's one interview topic that has worried him. if the president does sit down for an interview. well, take a listen. >> mr. mayor, i want to just ask point blank. will the president sit down with robert mueller even if the white house legal team or you, anybody on his legal team doesn't get a briefing about this confidential source? >> well, if he wasn't thinking about it and it wasn't an active possibil

cohen, felix sater and others including foreign nationals about russian real estate developments duringhat question given what we know about all the evidence the fbi seized from michael cohen? >> my reaction is clearly they know the answer to that question. they know the predicate, namely that there were such communications. now they're trying to get at the extent of those communications, trying to test the evidence or the veracity, i should say of mr. trump. i've been saying this for a while, the amount of evidence obtained by those significant, a a mountain of evidence. it's pervasive. it's electronic. it's hard copy. and when michael cohen flips on the president, he's going to flip on the president not only relating to the stormy daniels situation, not only relating to a host of things we've never even talked about because we don't even know about, there's no question about that. but clearly also as it relates to the ukraine and russia situation from these questions. >> here's what's so striking about this question also, jonathan capehart, is that this question was provided to john d

"the new york times" rorred in february 2017 that felix sater a guess on the show, a long-time business associate of mr. trump's with connections in russia was willing to help mr. artemenko's proposal reach the white house. sater put him in contact with michael cohen, the president's personal lawyer and fixer and cohen according to the "times" said he would deliver the plan to the white house. cohen told the newspaper he left the plan in flynn's white house office about a week before michael flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser. say thor to cohen to flynn an interesting chain. cohen would later call the "times" story fake news but mueller's interests suggest otherwise as does his focus on two long-time aides to another t confidant, roger stone. and that story is next. but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪ >>> not one but two associates of long-time trump whisperer roger stone have reportedly been subpoenaed by special counsel robert muell

"the new york times" rorred in february 2017 that felix sater a guess on the show, a long-time businessth connections in russia was willing to help mr. artemenko's proposal reach the white house. sater put him in contact with michael cohen, the president's personal lawyer and fixer and cohen according to the "times" said he would deliver the plan to the white house. cohen told the newspaper he left the plan in flynn's white house office about a week before michael flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser. say thor to cohen to flynn an interesting chain. cohen would later call the "times" story fake news but mueller's interests suggest otherwise as does his focus on two long-time aides to another p confidant, roger stone. and that story is next. ng trimmr with powerload™ technology. feed the line. push the button. and get back to work. with an industry first, carbon-fiber shaft... lawn care has never been this easy... ...or this powerful. the new ego power+ string trimmer with powerload™ technology. exclusively at the home depot and ego authorized dealers. californians are

we're told cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business with trump.en is under investigation for paying hush money to a porn actress, stormy daniels, on trump's behalf. her lawyer says cohen's bank records show he took money from us companies for access to the president. well, i think it's pretty obvious at this point that michael cohen took substantial sums 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 have not been reported yet from those with ukrainian interests. poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump — and before russia's vladimir putin. how many minutes he'd get was still being negotiated as he flew from there. 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, "in the way the investig

we're told cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business with trump.s under investigation for paying hush money to a porn actress, stormy daniels, on trump's behalf. her lawyer says cohen's bank records show he took money from us companies for access to the president. well, i think it's pretty obvious at this point that michael cohen took substantial sums 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 have not been reported yet from those with ukrainian interests. poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump, and before russia's vladimir putin. how many 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, "in the way the investigation

the "new york times" reported that felix sater, a long time business associate with mr.h the white house. sater in turn put him in contact with none other than michael cohen, the president's personal lawyer and fixer, and cohen according to the "times" said he would deliver the plan to the white house. cohen told the newspaper he left the plan in flynn's white house office about a week before michael flynn was forced to resign as national security adviser. cohen later called the times story, quote, fake news, but mueller's interest suggests otherwise as does his focus on two, two longtime aides to another trump confidant, roger stone. and that story is next. ♪ ♪ no matter when you retire, ensure you still have income every month of your retirement, guaranteed. see how lincoln can help. like nothing you, ncy or she, has ever seen. filets of 100% real natural chicken or seafood. handcrafted, and served any way she wants. purely fancy feast filets. love is in the details. ♪ ♪ i want some more of it. ♪ i try so hard, ♪ i can't rise above it ♪ don't know what it is 'bout that

in the information that you and your fellow democrats released on friday was an e-mail from felix saterrump organization associate for some time that was about the financing for trump tower moscow, which is being the financing being arranged, being in process with vtb bang second largest bank in russia. a sanctioned bank that u.s. businesses and persons shouldn't be legally able to do business with. when i read that in your report, that struck me as new and important. has that been previously reported or is that released for the first time. >> i don't think that is first reported. yes, here's an effort with felix sader this long elusive product of a trump tower in moscow and they're going to get the financing from a bank under sanctions. in the same e-mail they talk about getting financing from this bank, felix sader says we'll be working on the letter of intent which comes the following month. so other parts of what he is relating in that e-mail are proven out within the next month. so it seems very credible this is what's going on. it's also part of the questions i know that were on t

t we ad that cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business tith trump cohen is under invtion for paying hush money to porn actress stormy daniels on trump's behalf. 's bankyer sats chris: records -- cohen's bank records show shows he took money from companies for t.cess to the presid >> i think it is obvious that michael cohen took substantial sums of money and was selling access to the highest office in the land, namely to the u. president. we have every reason to believe that there are additional payments that have not been reported yet from those withra ian interests. paul poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump, and before russia's vladimir tin. how many minutes he would get was still being negotiated as he flew from kiev. this w more than a photo op. after poroshenko went home, ukraine's inquiry into trump's former campaign manager paul manafort was steadily wound down. "trre was never a direct or to stop the manafort inquiry," a special prosecutor in kiev tells me. but he says that from the way the investigation progressed, it "was c

we're told cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business with trump.igation for paying hush money to a porn actress, stormy daniels, on trump's behalf. her lawyer says cohen's bank records show he took money from us companies for access to the president. well, i think it's pretty obvious at this point that michael cohen took substantial sums 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 have not been reported yet from those with ukrainian interests. poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump, and before russia's vladimir putin. how many 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, "in the way the investigation progressed, it

we're told cohen got help from felix sater, a convicted former mobster once in business with trump.en is under investigation for paying hush money to a porn actress, stormy daniels, on trump's behalf. her lawyer says cohen's bank records show he took money from us companies for access to the president. well, i think it's pretty obvious at this point that michael cohen took substantial sums 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 have not been reported yet from those with ukrainian interests. poroshenko couldn't hide his delight at meeting trump — and before russia's vladimir putin. how many 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 investi

sater said trump was being briefed through the election.omplicate add story and one that is in keeping with everything we know about donald trump. he's trying to get a deal done, he's going out of his way not to offend his partner in the deal. it also explains, i think, in a way the deal then falls apart, trump has been surprisingly willing to confront russia over the last several months, people who are looking for the -- looking at him as a puppet of vladimir putin in some linear way have struggled to explain tough sanctions that were imposed recently and you say the deal fell apart and his need to please putin waned through the -- after he entered the white house. it's a simple story and wrurn that fits everything we know. >> joyce, i've lost count on how many stories there have been about michael cohen that put him in some trouble and this is another where he told a story and then a different story later. put your prosecutor's hat back on if you would. how soon or how likely i'll start with and how soon is it that michael cohen turns and

. >>> meteorologist tom sater joining me now from the weather center, so tom, tell us about the science behind this. it's fascinating. >> it really is, and frightening, too. concerns about a violent eruption are there. it doesn't mean it's going to take place, but the volcanologists that are monitoring this says all the ingredients are there, just how massive will it be when it happens. 20, 25 miles away on that east rift, we're still seeing a lot of activity, even in the last couple of hours. this is where that latest fissure of the last three, actually, two yesterday and one today, have been firing up revealing themselves. so you have the rift and the zone here where we've seen fissures release not only gas and carbon dioxide, but it's the lava. where is the lava coming from? it's coming from the main chamber. that's a big deal, because as the fissures release that lava, that lava lake is dropping in that main chamber. there is no rhyme or reason for this, fredricka. last week we had a couple in the northeast on the same day, but again it tells us we're trying to relieve pressure. thi

sater has already cooperated.ald's knee jerk reaction is to push people away and treat them like garbage, he needs to be careful what he does. >> seems to me like you think people need to be worried. >> by the way, i think mueller is actually maybe doing a favor to the president by going outside and going after people like michael or manafort. >> great to have you here. thank you. >>> after president trump berated kirstjen nielsen, reportedly ready to quit. the details when we continue. >>> the homeland secretary what's critical thinking like? a basketball costs $14. what's team spirit worth? (cheers) what's it worth to talk to your mom? what's the value of a walk in the woods? the value of capital is to create, not just wealth, but things that matter. morgan stanley so allstate is giving us money back on our bill. well, that seems fair. we didn't use it. wish we got money back on gym memberships. get money back hilarious. with claim-free rewards. switching to allstate is worth it. pah! thano, no, no, nah.k. a bul

let's bring in meteorologist tom sater in the cnn weather center. tom, how disconcerting are these cracks? >> it's trying to release pressure, but the kind of pressure it's releasing, of course, is in the form of toxic flames and lava. it's still a very active volcano, kilowea not only with steam, but look at the tremor activity. 24 or 25 miles away is that east rift. now, the fissures have been really kind of in no organized pattern. they've been opening some to the southwest, some to the northeast. today was mentioned but it's more to the northeast, so you have these two areas of activity. the lava inside the crater is actually feeding the lava underground, so when the fissure is open, it's draining the crater of the lava. why this is so important, and it's concerning, because the more lava released in these fissures means the lake is dropping. when you look at the fissures, there is no random concerning kind of methodology here, they're all over the place. but it's the northeast further away that seems to be showing the lava. what you're looking

what communication did the president have with michael cohen, felix sater and others, including foreignnals, about russian real estate developments during the campaign? the national enquirer attacks him in a cover story, and no one knows better than cohen this tabloid is owned by a close friend of the president, who often uses its pages to help the president. jim acosta asked the president if the flattering cover you just saw was a deliberate message. this is michael cohen. quote, what do you think? what do you think? >> i think the national enquirer has often been used as a vehicle for trump oe o's own opinions o things. we've seen that during the campaign. i would say if i was michael cohen i would be fairly worried about the posture of the national enquirer. >> i think if there's one thing we've all learned in the last 15 months that can include the campaign as well is that everything ends up connected to one another, like bizarrely. you think one random figure that comes out in a story three months ago will somehow be connected to a story moving this one day. so when the connection

he built the trump soho hotel with felix sater, a career criminal. this isn't new territory for him. i think one of the reasons in recent weeks you've seen him amp up attack mode on institutions and civil servant who are roundly involved with the rule of law and civil procedure that we all sort of commonly used to respect is because he's afraid. i think he's afraid he's going to get implicated. i'm projecting that. i don't know. but generally when trump gets in a corner, he lashes out. not someone to sit on his hands. it's significant this past weekend as all of these things coalesced around him, he decided he was going to depend the justice department interfere with an investigation that was possibly targeting him, his children and his associates. >> and at the same time, you've got his lawyer like rudy guiliani who is both sort of trying to prosecute the prosecutor, relaying all sorts of conversations he had, and he just said this about the new stance on russian collusion. he said it was sort of like a gift of the campaign material stolen by russia

don't really have much visibility to mueller's investigation except to say that this contact with sater to build a trump tower in moscow is all part of this of what mueller is looking into. so these kinds of dealings, these kinds of business overtures, this kinds of outreach is all fair game as far and the special counsel sees it. >> the president fired up this morning about trade with china. president xi and i are, woulding together to get massive giant phone company gte a way to get back into business fast. too many jobs in china lost. commerce department has been instructed to get it done. what's it mean, this trading relationship with china, this big mission that went to beijing. larry kudlow was on that trip. how much certainty is there about u.s. economic policy toward china? what is this tweet emblematic of? >> i don't think there is a lot of certainty. i find this tweet very strapg for strange for a couple of reasons. why does donald trump care about this company? he says many jobs lost in china. this is obviously more china's problem than it is our problem. the other thing is e

an explosion could happen at any time and our meteorologist tom sater has been identifying the warning signs. what have scientists been saying that has them so concerned. >> besides the fissures that they are expecting will most likely continue. it's a drop in the lava lake in the main caldron, the main chamber. if that lava drops all the way down to the ground table it could create a steam-driven massive and violent eruption, just like this picture in 1924. ironically it was in the month of may. this weighs eight tons. it was tossed over a mile. some reports that many so of the boulders were about 14 tons, so, i mean, you're talking semi-tractor trailers. let's break it down. the main chamber, where we've had a lot of the activity, where they are watching the lava levels is a good 20, 25 miles away from some of the fissures that have been erupting. now, we've had a lot of earthquakes and tremors in the region. they continue. most around the summit and then on the east rift, and that's where we're seeing the pressure just can't handle it anymore and the lava going from the chamber unde

the story -- which has not gotten nearly enough attention, by the way -- is they report that felix sater russian side, was dealing with somebody he knew to be a former russian military intelligence officer and that he has specifically said that he was aware that once you're a russian intelligence officer you're always a russian intelligence officer. in other words, the trump organization was doing business with somebody who their own broker knew to be a russian spy. and i do not know how to read this story as anything other than another example of a sustained russian attempt to -- you know, to infiltrate the trump organization and the group of people around it. one of the other things that anthony and jason report in the story, that i think is just stunning, is that these negotiations went on much longer than anybody has acknowledged and that as late as may and june of 2016, the trump organization, in the person of michael cohen, is still negotiating the possibility of a trump visit to moscow for this purposes of inking the deal on this tower after the republican convention. >> right. an

cohen told the "times" sater gave him the appeal in a sealed envelope and cohen said he left the proposalchael flynn's office. days after the "times" report, cohen told feebs he met with artemenko but denied delivering the document. artemenko, who was later stripped of ukrainian citizenship and accused of treason told politico he assumes investigators will ask him about it. >>> joining us now former u.s. attorney barbara mcquaid and white house bureau chief at the "washington post" and political analyst for msnbc and nbc news, philip rucker. he was part of the reporti inin piece "buckle up, as mueller probe enters second year, trump and allies go on war footing." barbara, i'll start with you and ask you about the cohen/artemenko exchange. is that bad? >> it could be. >> it depends on what information was being shared and what was being asked for in exchange but it raises the question as to whether cohen was acting as an agent of a foreign government and that requires registration with the federal government. that was the crime with which manafort and richard gates were charged so that cou