he was the one who got the money to stormy daniels. that, you know, as -- as, you know, the four words that seem to define the trump presidency for me are, you know, shorkiare shocking but not surprising. all of this makes perfect sense. the story has an internal logic that this was the eve of the election. this was a very close election. this would have been deeply embarrassing to candidate donald trump had it come out. so he paid the money to make the problem go away. to bury the problem for the current -- for the period leading up to the election. how did he do it? he used michael cohen. and he did it through the subterfuge of cohen laying out the money in the first place. but why would michael cohen do that unless the president told him to do it. it doesn't make sense otherwise. >> do you see new legal jeopardy for president trump in terms of what michael cohen will testify to in a couple of hours? >> absolutely. there are a panoply of legal problems that arise from this opening statement. and we should just say this is the opening

it does not say on memo line of the check to pay off stormy daniels or does not say contribution.hard evidence that donald trump knew about the payoffs, he authorized the payoffs. we have donald trump's signature on a check. so this is really concrete evidence that frankly supports the narrative. one of the things that you have going on here is a narrative about what happened, why did this happen? and michael cohen is telling a story about what happened here. and what supports the story is these checks. he can explain why these checks were paid and the fact that this went on through the presidency is also significant because it shows that this is something that donald trump kept involved with and it's something that he felt was important to make sure that this all stayed silent. there's also another issue that i wondered about listening to the testimony, is cohen says that trump which explaining why the checks were late coming to michael cohen said something about it was hard to get through or took time to get it through the white house. i'm not sure how much they used government

we don't know if the check is going to be marked for stormy daniels. in fact thexpect that it woul not be marked that way. we don't know if he's going to talk about any conversations he had with the president about that reimbursement while he was in office. something like that would make the difference in terms of making the point that the president was aware of this stormy daniels payment in 2017, which the president has said he was not. >> if the president's business was used essentially to try to cover up and hide the existence of this illegal campaign contribution, right, i'm describing it as an illegal campaign contribution because that's what michael cohen has pled guilty to when this set of facts was described in relation to his charging documents when he pled guilty to these two campaign finance felonies. if this was all done, if this was all covered up through the president's business, what's the significance of the president as an officer of that business versus allen weissleberg who is the chief financial officer at the trump organization, h

and he even made him lie to the first lady about paying off on stuff stormy daniels. trump meanwhile is in vietnam meeting with the north korean leader kim jong in. us president is under pressure to get came to commits to scrapping nuclear weapons little progress has been made since they lost wheezing incidental. and world powers urged india and pakistan to show restraint of aa cacash m met for the f first tin history the two sides have noticed s. strikes with both shooting down. on the stool planes . president trump is a con man ally and a racist the lawyer who once said he would take a bullet for his former boss has been testifying before lawmakers in washington. michael cullen claims it trump reinvest him for paying off one of the president's former mistresses. in violation of election campaign rules knew in advance about a wikileaks d dump of hacd emails from the democrats. anand planned and directed a project for trump tower in moscow president trump denies having any business dealings in russia. on the i issue of alleged cocollusion free thought had his suspicio

reporting tonight from the "wall street journal" and again, this hush money stuff is not like the stormy daniels story. this is not just a story about the president and ms. daniels and whether or not the president allegedly had an affair or a sexual encounter with her. separate and apart from sexual content of this story, the play-off element of this story makes this a criminal matter this is a felony and excited to go to prison and in which the president and prosecutors say the president is personally implicated. right? prosecutors have described the president as directing michael cohen to commit this felony. they have described that in court filings. they have described that through michael cohen's allocution in open court before a federal judge. if michael cohen is going to provide documentary evidence tomorrow to that effect, if michael cohen is going to give congress evidence tomorrow that implicates the president in having committed financial crimes while he has been serving as president, what is congress supposed to do with that? i mean, what is supposed to happen next after hypotheticall

you can ask stormy daniels. when did you get checks and do they correspond with when michael cohen did? is there verifying information? >> he said the check was fedexed to me. >> let's see the fedex records. real investigators do that kind of work. and there is lots of surrounding evidence that if you were going to research this, you could get. >> but it also means, wolf, that everything that came out of his mouth today is not only, obviously, issues that the special counsel and the southern district of new york already know about, but that that piece of the investigation is no longer under investigation. and at least for all intents and purposes closed because he was very clear about the issues he couldn't talk about and he again, for the first time today,ry re veals that after he gets raided in april, he has another conversation with the president, and he says he can't talk about that. we don't know what the subject is but it's part of the southern district of new york's investigation. and there's another piec

president, did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> then why did michael cohen -- >> you'd have to ask michael cohen. michael's my attorney and you'll have to ask michael. >> do you know where he got the money to make that payment? >> no, i don't. >> so joyce vance, that's the guy who congressman gaetz is trying to defend by calling michael cohen some who lies to his own family -- the trouble is his client there, in effect donald trump, is right there on video lying to everyone in america when he says, no, he didn't know about the payments to stormy daniels. and that's what we're going to be hearing about in the hearing tomorrow. >> donald trump has definitely flunked the matt gaetz test, right, for honesty and integrity. >> right there on air force one. >> the most interesting thing about this, and this happened so often for prosecutors in trials and it's true here, too, nothing that cohen is going to testify to tomorrow will come as a surprise to the president. the president lived through these experiences with cohen. none

when she says the president didn't know about the payments to stormy daniels. we have the signed check that michael cohen is going to provide to congress today. michael cohen testifies the president knew and was directing the russia deals. well, the president throughout the campaign says i have no business with russia. this is where the collection of lies comes back and where credibility, you've got to hold them up against each other. >> absolutely. and remember the justice department and michael cohen's own lawyers have a vested interest in ensuring that he remains a credible witness for cooperation going forward both on capitol hill and with the justice department in the special counsel and the prosecutors in the southern direct distric district. they're very much paying attention to what he's saying and make sure he's not saying today that they're not comfortable with him saying. just to sort of emphasize one thing that mj touched on there that i think is important in the trump tower moscow deal -- >> i can jump in here? >> go ahead, jim. >> oh, sorry. go ah

i received a phone call regarding both karen mcdougal as well as stormy daniels. obviously, at different times, stating that there were issues that were going to be damaging to mr. trump. with the stormy daniels it started in 2011 when she wanted to have something removed from a website and that was the first time i met -- i spoke with keith davidson, her then acting attorney, and we were successful in having it taken down from the website. it wasn't until years later by around the time of the campaign did they come back and they ask what -- what are you going to do now because she's back on the trail trying to sell the story, at which point in time david pecker, on behalf of the national enquirer, reached out to her and her attorney in order to go take a look at the lie detector test that would prove that she's telling the truth. they then contacted me and told me that she was telling the truth, at which point -- >> she took a lie detector test. >> she allegedly took a lie detector test and was seen as an employee of the national enquirer, at which point in time

one count of campaign finance violation for stormy daniels, as well as lying to congress.? i didn't have one. intraday's testimony you said you weren't looking intraday's testimony you said you we ren't looking to intraday's testimony you said you weren't looking to work in the white house. the southern district of new york, in their statement, their sentencing, says this" mr cohen violations was stirred by his own ambition and greed. he privately told friends, colleagues, including seized text messages, he expected to be givena seized text messages, he expected to be given a prominent role in the new administration. when that didn't materialise he found a way to monetise his relationship and access with the president. " were they lying? i'm not saying it is a lie, it is not accurate. i didn't want to go to the white house. i brought an attorney in and i sat with mr trump, with him, for well over an hour, explaining the importance of having a personal attorney, and every president has had one, in order to handle matters, like the matters i was dealing with, which included

which he says is for reimbursement for the hush money payment to stormy daniels. we also have, again, his word, but his statement that in june of 2016 he was in the room -- in trump's office at the trump tower -- when donald jr. came and whispered something about the meeting being set up. and the president said, "good, let me know what happens." he surmises, he doesn't say he knew for sure, but he surmises that it was the trump tower meeting between don jr. and some of their top people in the trump campaign. and that russian lawyer who had close ties with the kremlin. >> harris: chris, you talk about the suspicions, the surmising by michael cohen. how does it us any closer to the truth? you saw a ranking member jim jordan go after the fact that there was bank fraud and so much in his background that happened before he was working for donald trump. and had nothing to do with donald trump. and how much of a history of lying and crimes that there where. does any of that discredit a man who doesn't have proof of russia collusion? who doesn't have proof of the tower me

trump reimburse me for the money that was spent to pay stormy daniels. >> and did you tell chris cuomo that you had no access to mr. trump during october and november of 2016? >> i don't know what you're referring to. >> your interview with chris cuomo. >> i would need to see the document. >> did you also tell chris cuomo that you made these payments without telling mr. trump because you wanted to protect mr. trump? >> and i was protecting mr. trump. >> and you told him you made these payments without telling him? >> if i that's what i said to chris cuomo, yes, that was my line. >> and if this unsupported claim was true, then it would be part of an ongoing investigation as evidence of a crime and the department of justice would not let you discuss it during your testimony here today, is that correct? >> i don't know. >> gentleman's time is expired. did you answer the question? >> i did want to say one last thing. not only did i lie to the american people, i lied to the first lady when the president called me and i was sitting in a car with a friend of mine and he had me speak to her an

i sent it to the interest lawyers account to stormy daniels's attorneys.ld it until such time i receive the executed nondisclosure agreement. did mrtrump executed nondisclosure agreement. did mr trump know you are going through this process i the payment? yes. why not use mr trump is my personal account to make the payment? why was the destruction so important, besides your not wanting your wife to know? his concern was there was a cheque that has his very distinct signature on it. even after she cashed the check, all you need to do is make a photocopy of it and it is proof positive on exactly what took place. so the goal was to keep him far away from it as possible. can anyone corroborate what you have shared? absolutely. and that is? keith davidson, president trump dodd this is coverage of michael cohen, the former lawyer of donald trump, giving testimony to a us congressional committee. he is isa congressional committee. he is is a racist, lie and a cheat, that he knew in advance about e—mails that would be damaging to hillary clinton's campaign, that h

him in 2017 by president trump and they were installments, part of the hush money payments to stormy daniels after she alleged an affair with the president. the president denied having an affair with daniels. here's his exchange with the chairman, elijah cummings. >> donald trump wrote you a check out of his personal account while he was serving as president of the united states of america to reimburse you for hush money payments to miss clifford. is that what you are telling the american people today? >> yes, mr. chairman. >> reporter: so on russia collusion, what michael cohen has testified is that he had a lot of suspicions but no direct evidence of coordination between the trump campaign and russian officials. cohen testified his suspicions surrounded the 2016 trump tower meeting in new york as well as the wikileaks and the hacked e-mails. in this piece of testimony, cohen talks about witnessing a conference call with the president and political operative roger stone. >> mr. trump, mr. stone on the speaker phone. mr. stone told mr. trump that he had just gotten off the phone with julian

one is a personal check that cohen says is partial reimbursement of hush money for stormy daniels days before the election. through it all, the president is of course half a world away, 12 hours away, holding a summit that at other time would claim the world's undivided tension. the president is expected to watch the cohen's testimony live. cnn's raju manchu, set the scene for us. >> reporter: members of congress should arrive shortly. each member will have five minutes to ask questions. democrats are trying to get him to lay out his story and details and allegations against the president and allegations of the president involved in criminal scheme to silence women who made allegations that they had an affair as well as new information about what the president may have known about that effort to obtain wikileaks hacked e-mails that the president himself denied. republicans are going to go after him graggressively. the question is credibility and character. expect a lot of fireworks and hearing and it is going to take all day long just to hear on capitol hill. the one that's public and

in 2017 to cover payments to silence stormy daniels, who claimed an affair with the president. >> designed to be paid over the course of 12 months. >> was there a retainer agreement? >> there was no retainer agreement. >> cohen acknowledged >> mr. assange called mr. stone for there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage hillary clinton's campaign. >> cohen claim that the president was guilty with other in the aggressions. >> you're a pathological liar. you do not know truth from falsehood -- bigger i'm sorry. are you referring to the president? >> this is my time. >> and i'm going to prison. i'm going to be away for my wife and family. >> rebuttal clinton's not convinced, suspecting that he has a lot to gain. >> i'm not sure how my appearance here today is providing substantial information that the southern district can use. >> today, republican congressman mark meadows took the initial step to make a criminal referra referral, acknowledging cohen had violated the foreign also pointed to discrepancies in his testimony today. cohen will be back for a 30 hearing for a closed-doo

weisselberg who would know about the stormy daniels' payment? do they try to bring in more documentation? do they try to build on this? was this just for the drama? to the politics of it, donald trump jr. tweeting tells you he's involved in this. we'll see if and when we get a reaction from the president. what the republicans are trying to do, they're not defending the president but they're trying to keep everybody in their box. all of this has become so polarized. robert mueller is either doing the lord's work or he's god or satan. >> the democrats saying -- some of the democrats acting as if the greatest redemption story in thousands of years. >> yeah. one of the most fascinating parts of this testimony was the one time that the republicans did try to defend donald trump and that was on the issue of race, right? you had cohen come out and say that donald trump has said some pretty terrible things about african-americans, said they were too dumb to vote for him and only they would live like this he said of african-americans living in chicago. s

one count of campaign finance violation for stormy daniels. as well as lying to congress. >> thank you. can you state what your official title with the campaign was? >> i did not have a campaign title. >> and your position in the trump administration? >> i did not have one. >> in today's testimony you said that you were not looking to work in the white house. the southern district of new york in their statement, their sentencing memo, says this. cohen's criminal violations in the federal election laws were also stirred, like other crimes, by his own ambition and agreed. cohen told other friends and colleagues that he expected to be given a prominent role in the new information. when that did not materialize, cohen found a way to monetize his relationship and access with the president. were they lying or were you lying today? >> i'm not saying it's a lie. i'm just saying it's not accurate. i did not want to go to the white house. i retained -- and i brought an attorney in and i sat with mr. trump with him for well over an hour, explaining the i

president had directed him to break campaign finance laws with hush money payments to porn star stormy daniels. i am providing a copy of a thirty five thousand dollars check that president trump personally signed from his personal bank account on august first of twenty seventeen when he was president of the united states pursuant to the coverup which was the basis of my guilty plea to reimburse me cohen also painted a portrait of a candidate who encouraged associates to do anything to get him elected that included communicating with wiki leaks about e-mails stolen from his opponent hillary clinton and stone told mr trump that he had just gotten off the phone with julian a song and that mr stange told mr stone that within a couple of days there would be a massive dump of e-mails that would damage hillary clinton's campaign. mr trump responded by stating to the effect without the great drums personal financial cohen provided no smoking gun of the trump campaign's collusion with russia he suspects it he said but he has no concrete evidence but if wednesday's hearing is any indication the rest of

and he even made him lie to the first lady about paying off on stuff stormy daniels. trump meanwhile is in vietnam meeting with the north korean leader kim jong in. us president is under pressure to get came to commits to scrapping nuclear weapons little progress has been made since they lost wheezing incidental

sixteen presidential campaign cohen also says trump ordered him to pay hush money to porn actress stormy daniels who says she had an affair with trump cohen says he was then ordered to lie about that to the first lady white house denies all the claims collins already pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and lying to congress and will soon begin a three year prison sentence. well our washington correspondent helen humphrey has been following the testimony and she joins us now so helena we have seen a copy of cohen's prepared testimony and now of course we've heard him speak and deliver that testimony he's also been answering questions what stood out for you. right now if we thought that statement seemed inflammatory when we received it head of the hearing less than twenty four hours ago when mr cohen delivered it in congress it seemed explosive essentially what we're seeing from mr cohen is a pincer action on one hand the character assassination against the president saying that this man is more bad than good he only wanted to be president for his own self enrichment essentially but he h

him to pay hush money to paul entrust stormy daniels she claims she had an affair with mr trump is the current says he was ordered to lie about it to the first lady the white house denies the claims by who cohen has already pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and lying to congress and will soon begin a three year prison sentence. now they'd only correspondent helen humphrey and washington has been following the hearing welcome helena how important is michael coming to testimony. people here in the united states are glued to their televisions chuen din watching this testimony people are saying that this is a moment of history there during parallels to the testimony of another presidential lawyer that being john dean on the testimony he delivered in one nine hundred seventy three in the watergate scandal that investigation then being the turning point and president nixon resigned within the year so why now is mr cohen's testimony today it's so explosive well i wouldn't say that it is the character assassination against mr trump that he's delivered it's more the three big accusa

trump reimbursed me for the money that was spent to pay stormy daniels. >> did you tell chris cuomo you had no access to mr. trump october and november of 2016? >> i don't know what you're referring to. >> your interview with chris cuomo. >> i would need to see the document. >> did you also tell him that you made the payments without telling mr. trump? >> i was protecting mr. trump. >> and you told him that you made these payments without telling him? >> when i said that, if i that's what i said to chris cuomo, yes, that was my line. >> and if this unsupported claim was true it's part of an ongoing investigation of evidence of a crime and department of justice would not let you discuss it here today. is that correct? >> i don't know. >> gentleman's time expired. did you answer? >> yes. not only did i lie to the american people, i lied to the first lady when the president called me and i was sitting in a car with a friend of mine and he had me speak to her and explain to the first lady. so the answer is, you're not accurate. i don't feel good about any of this and this was not my intenti

sixteen presidential campaign cohen also says trump ordered him to pay hush money to porn actress stormy daniels who says she had an affair with trump and then to lie about it to the first lady of the white house denies all the claims and trump has called cohen a liar. cohen has already pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and lying to congress and he'll soon begin a three year prison sentence he had some very harsh words about the u.s. president i'm ashamed because i know what mr trump is. he's a racist he's a con man. and he used to cheat all right joining us now from washington is our correspondent helen humphrey who's been following the testimony hello to helena so the media did have a copy of cohen's prepared testimony but now of course we've heard the man speak to lawmakers what set out for you. all right mariano well this statement as you point out was delivered to media less than twenty four hours before the hearing already it was an explosive statement with a string of allegations remember that this statement was coming from a man who wants said that he would take a bullet for

i received a phone call regarding both karen mcdougal as well as stormy daniels, obviously, different times, indicating that there were issues that were going to be damaging to mr. trump with the stormy daniels it started in 2011 when he wanted to have something removed from a website and that was the first time i met keith -- i spoke with keith davidson, her then acting attorney, and we were successful in having it taken down from the website. it wasn't until years later around the time of the campaign did they come back and they ask what -- what are you going to do now because she's back on the trail trying to sell the story? at which point in time david pecker on behalf of the "national enquirer" reached out to her and her attorney to take a look at lie director tests that would prove that she was telling the truth. they contacted me and told me that she was telling the truth, at which point -- >> she took a lie detector test. >> she did. at which point in time i explained why this time it's different than another time. >> when you say different than another time, were there other

there's reference to a paymentoff check for stormy daniels.formation that relates to roger stone being in communication with julian assange on the wikileaks investigation. >> the strongest case, dave, is made out with that check on the hush money violations. i went through and saw six or seven years if proven would make out criminal liability by the president. the one where the proof is the strongest is the hush payment obligations. cohen already pled guilty to this. we know doj signed on to that. now, we have financial documents and a check not just from the president's organization or foundation, but a personal check from the president while he was president in 2017. so, i think that's the most strongly supportive of the criminal conduct outlined in this statement. >> so glad to you have walk through this testimony with us. in just a few hours, these 20 pages certainly a bombshell. let's bring in jim sciutto our international correspondent traveling with the president in hanoi. clearly, while this is on the president's mind if you look at hi

cohen was given reimbursement for payments to porn star, stormy daniels, to try and quiet her, at the very end of the campaign. michael cohen, in the draft of his opening testimony, is going to apologize to melania for lying to her. he also is going to say that as a candidate, mr. trump wanted michael cohen to write letters to his high school, college and other entities, threatening them not to release his transcripts. this all happening today side by side with this incredible summit once again, the president meeting in vietnam for the second time with kim jong un. willie. >> extraordinary pictures, we're watching them combine. joining us, former undersecretary of state and policy coordinator for north korea, ambassador sherman. great to have you with us this morning. the president of the united states saying it's an honor to be with chairman kim, calling their first summit last june a great success, there's been a lot of progress and our relationship is a really good one. what's the best case scenario? you know north korea well. you've watched how the country behaves, you know what i

president, did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels?no, no. >> then why did michael cohen make this, if there was no truth to her allegations? >> you'll have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney and you'll have to ask michael cohen. >> cohen will tell the house committee he paid. and he says, quote, he asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair and to lie to his wife about it which i did. lying to first lady is one of my biggest regrets. she is a kind, good person. i respect her greatly. she did not deserve that. as for the discussion of collusion with russia, cohen said he has no direct evidence but has his suspicions. cohen will say this today. i remember being in the room with mr. trump probably early in june 2016 which something peculiar happened. don junior came into the room and walked behind his father's desk which ask usual in itself. people didn't just walk behind mr. trump's desk to talk to him. i recalled don junior leaning over to his father and speaking in a low voice which i could clearly hea

part in criminal scheme while he was president, connected to the hush money payment to porn star stormy daniels. and prosecutors are investigating the president for other possible crimes. cohen also claims the president knew in advance about a wikileaks dump of democratic e-mails and indirectly suggested cohen should lie to congress about plans do build a trump to youer in moscow. details on that and more in a moment. a word we heard a lot today from both cohen and the lawmakers questioning him, lying. michael cohen says that was and still is a requirement for working for president trump. >> everybody's job at the trump organization is to protect mr. trump. every day, most of us knew we were coming in and we were going to lie for him on something. and that became the norm. and that's exactly what is happening right now, in this country, and it's exactly what is happening here in government, sir. >> dana: president trump says michael cohen did bad things unrelated to trump and is lying to reduce his prison time. cohen of course pleaded guilty to lying to congress and other crimes, sentenced to t

he also said that he signed the cheques used to pay off stormy daniels.this story is trending on the bbc news website. a five—month—old baby has left hospital after six months in intensive care. when he was first born, he could be held injust two cupped hands, that he is doing well

michael cohen also claims mr trump told him to pay hush money to the porn star stormy daniels to cover the billionaire, in violation of campaign finance laws. he showed the committee the personally signed cheque the president had sent him in reimbursement. the president of the united states thus wrote a personal cheque for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. so what of the burning question of whether there was collusion between the trump campaign and the kremlin? questions have been raised about whether i know of direct evidence that mr trump or his campaign colluded with russia. i do not, and i want to be clear. but i have my suspicions. he's going to be an amazing president... on the eve of the hearing, the republicans released video showing michael cohen lavishing praise on donald trump. the words the media should be using to describe mr trump are generous, compassionate, principled... and today they tried to trash the reputation of this convicted fraudster found guilty of lying to congress, even displaying visual aids to make the

we are also probably going to hear more about those payments to stormy daniels.hile many of us may think, ah, we have been talking about this for months and months, who even cares? this isn't a bomb shell. >> that doesn't matter, last summer, michael cohen stood up in a district courthouse and said i committed a crime when i paid off these women and donald trump knew about it. >> one, the individual one. >> individual one. right. donald trump knew about it. >> cohen is identified trump specifically in his testimony? >> that's right. not long after michael cohen said that in open court. the doj filed documents saying that's what we believe, too. since last year we know the doj believes essentially that donald trump directed a crime by michael cohen. while that seems like so 2018 and so long ago, it remains really the strongest evidence of a crime committed by donald trump. >> so let me get your thoughts quickly on what the strategy for republicans here has been. you got matt gaetz witness testing and apologizing, what does it say about the mindset of approaching m

cohen also showed a president wrote after taking office that cohen says repayment for the stormy daniels hush money and he also said the president inflated or deflated his net worth for things like the forbes list or taxes. this hearing started on a contentious note. >> the days of this committee protecting the president at all costs are over. >> first announc witness f the 116th congress is a guy going to prison in two months for lying to akngress. >> i responsibility for my mistakes. i am remorseful. >> our colleagues are not upset because you lied to congress for the president, they're upset lying toou stopped congress for the president. >> any other wrongdoing or illegal act that you are aware of regarding donald trump that we haven't yet discussed today? >> ayes, andin those are part of the investigation that's currently beingked at. >> how many times did mr. trump ask you to threaten anal indivir entity on his behalf? >> quite a few times. >> 50 times? >> more. >> 100 times? >> more. >> 200 times? >> more. >> 500 times >> probably. >> if it's that s bad i can ou working for him for

clifford, for stormy daniels. and after several rounds of conversations with him about purchasing per life rights for $130,000, what i did each and every time is go straight into mr. trump's office and discuss the issue with him. when it was ultimately determined -- this was days before the election, that mr. trump was going to pay the $130,000. in the office with me was the chief official officer of the trump organization. he acknowledged to allen that he was going to pay the $130,000 and that allen and i should go back to his office and figure out how to do it. so, yes, sir, i stand by the statement that i gave, but there was a history to it. >> in your testimony, you said you brought some checks, is that right? you said you brought some checks. >> yes, sir. >> let me ask you about one of these. this -- from the trump trust that holds the president's businesses. can you tell me who signed this check? >> i believe that the top signature is donald trump, jr. and at the bottom signature, i believe it's allen weisel

he then produced the cheque that he said was used to pay off the porn star stormy daniels.sident of the united states thus wrote a personal cheque for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance. iam sharanjit scheme to violate campaign finance. i am sharanjit leyl in hanoi, which is where president trump is right now for his second summit with a leader of north korea. president trump osmo promising north korea a bright future if he and kim jong—un can reach a deal ——is promising. and after every formal dinner on wednesday, the main business of the summit gets under way in a few hours time. and tensions over the disputed region of kashmir run high as india demands the return of a captured fighter pilot shot down by pakistani. hello and welcome to the programme, it is midnight here in london, atm in the morning in singapore and 7pm in the evening in washington, where michael cohen has a short time ago given the explosive testimony to the house of representatives oversight committee, michael cohen, who is to prison for various offences i

it's pretty clear the president lied about payments to stormy daniels.ying and emily jane fox said it, too, if that happened donald trump was telling michael cohen to lie. >> right. >> but lying to the public and lying to the press, not illegal. >> right. but the actual payments, the fact that the payments happened while he was president of the united states is the commission of campaign finance law violations. that's the real kicker. that's the piece we have not seen evidence of until this point including the check with his signature from his personal bank account. now we have to take that further. we have to look at corroborating evidence that shows, you know, he knowingly did this, tried to commit fraud or the finance law violation. and see if there is anything we can do to kind of contradict the claim that they are going to try to make which is that it was a retainer. >> you are talking about the check and i have a copy in my hand. people have seen it. it's dated august 1, 2017 while donald trump was in office. if you get more corroborating evidence

to adult actress stormy daniels. and said he also knew in advance ..bout an email hack into the democratic national committee in 2016. our washington d.c. bureau reporter mark meredith has the latest from capitol hill. "he is a racist, he is a a con man and he is a cheat."michael cohen held nothing back...as lawmakers pressed him about his actions as the president's personal lawyer."i am ashamed that i chose to take part in concealing mr. trump's illicit acts"cohen told lawmakers the president knew all about hush money payments to adult film star stormy daniels."is there any doubt in your mind...that president trump knew what he was paying for...""there is no doubt in my mind..."cohen showed lawmakers a check written by the president that cohen claims is proof of a cover up...cohen also told lawmakers candidate trump, knew in advance about the email hack of the democratic national committee."mr. trump knew from roger stone in advance about the wikileak emails"cohen is scheduled to report to prison in may.the 52 year old pleaded guilty last year to tax

doesn't say i wrote this to pay michael cohen to pay stormy daniels.that check. >> you're absolutely right about that, although rudy giuliani did tell us, and i believe rudy giuliani as you do on almost all things, senator. rudy giuliani told us the president reimbursed michael cohen for the payments and isn't it fair to assume the copy of this check is a copy of the reimbursement? >> that's fine, but it makes the point that donald trump, quote, paying indirectly, but paying someone not to tell their story, number one, is not illegal under campaign finance law. what is illegal is -- what they are saying is illegal is not reporting it. the john edwards case says it is not illegal. >> that's not true. you are just misstating the facts here. the edwards case didn't say it was not legal. edwards was charged for breaking campaign finance. it was different. he was acquitted on a charge. it was a hung jury on several others. one of the differences there is the payoffs began a lot before the campaign. in this case the payment was made immediately before the el

he also produced the cheque he says was used to pay off the porn star stormy daniels.p meanwhile, is in hanoi where he is about to begin talks with the north korean leader kim jong—un. about to begin talks with the north korean leader kimjong—un. it is thought that they will talk about a roadmap for getting the nuclear weapons on the green peninsula. and this video is trending on bbc .com. it is thought to be the world's tiniest surviving baby who has just left hospital after five months in intensive care. he was so small that could be held a fitted between two hands. that is all from me. stay with us on bbc news. just after half past midnight. it is now time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm sarah montague. my guest today made her name as a journalist on one of russia's leading news websites. galina timchenko was editor of lenta.ru until she was fired, she claims as a result of pressure from the kremlin. she left russia and with some of her former colleagues, set up a new organisation, meduza, in exile, in latvia. it too reaches millions of russians. but what doe

who's the executive, one of the trump kid that signed off on payments to stormy daniels. >> david? >> i say trump taxes. why don't we see them, what is he hiding, why is he afraid to release them. >> here's the evidence that he avoided taxes, committed fraud. >> all interesting lines much inquiry. we'll see what he does tomorrow. matt, david, juanita. thanks. >>> coming up, we have the house voting on what's expected to be condemnation of donald trump's claimed, quote, national emergency. i have a congressman that oversees foreign affairs on that. aoc hitting back against ivanka trump as they debate the wealth gap. kamala harris asks about trump and racism. but first, our panel on the mueller probe you won't see anywhere. these are insiders in the mueller probe. we're going to speak together live tonight. you're watching "the beat" with ari melber. g "the beat" with ari melber 300 miles an hour, that's where i feel normal. having an annuity tells me my retirement is protected. learn more at retire your risk dot org. i'm a dancer, casting directors will send me a video of choreograp

among them are claims about trump directing hush money payments to adult film star stormy daniels.s would release emails damaging to hillary clinton's 2016 campaign. however ... republicans are questioning cohen's credibility. the now disbarred lawyer pleaded guilty to tax crimes -- campaign finance violations -- and lying to congress. he will go to prison in may for three years. in he will go congress. and lying to violations -- finance campaign to tax crimes -- pleaded guilty lawyer disbarred the now credibility.cohen's questioning are republicans are questioning cohen's credibility. the now disbarred lawyer pleaded guilty to tax crimes -- campaign finance violations -- and lying to congress. he will go to prison in may for three years. (áábreakáá) (áábreakáá)(ácommercialá) years. years. i switched to liberty mutual because they let me customize my insurance, and as a fitness junkie, i customize everything. like my bike and my calves. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ everyone wants to be (cthe

"daily beast" is preporting he is prepared to sign his stormy daniels cover up checks.oined by democratic congressman of washington who sits on the house intelligence committee. he'll be hearing behind closed doors from cohen this week. michael steel is the former chairman of the nrc and anita cue mar and assocative editor at "politico." congressman, let me start with you. the public phase. the public leg of michael cohen's tour of washington takes place tomorrow. as we say it starts at 10:00 a.m. how will what you hear tomorrow from him at this open public hearing effect your approach to him behind closed doors? >> i guess that depends to some degree on what he actually says. we've actually got divided up jurisdiction. obviously it's going to be more focussed on matters related to the russian interference and counterintelligence matters. it will depend on part on what he actuallyicize. i think the world is going to learn new things tomorrow and i'm convinced the intel committee members will learn something new. >> we shared some of the reporting from folks around the s

i received a phone call regarding both karen mcdougal as well as stormy daniels, obviously, different times, indicating that there were issues that were going to be damaging to mr. trump with the stormy daniels it started in 2011 when he wanted to have something removed from a website and that was the first time i met keith -- i spoke with keith davidson, her then acting attorney, and we were successful in having it taken down from the website. it wasn't until years later around the time of the campaign did they come back and they ask what -- what are you going to do now because she's back on the trail trying to sell the story? at which point in time david pecker on behalf of the "national enquirer" reached out to her and her attorney to take a look at lie director tests that would prove that she was telling the truth. they contacted me and told me that she was telling the truth, at which point -- >> she took a lie detector test. >> she did. at which point in time i explained why this time it's different than another time. >> when you say different than another time, were there other

before congress, a house committee asking him publicly for the first time about everything from stormy daniels to trump tower moscow to a whole bunch of other issues. my question is will the president keep his focus on chairman kim, or will he be furious about what's happening here in d.c.? >> i think there is no doubt he'll be watching what's happening in d.c. in the middle of the night in hanoi. we suspect he'll have a full day with kim on thursday, but perhaps something on wednesday as well. so this could be right in the middle of two delicate meetings. certainly michael cohen's situation has really infuriated the president. this is someone who, despite what he says publicly about cohen being level-headed, this is someone really central to his business. >> for decades. >> for decades. what he has full insight into is trump's businesses and that is part of trump's identity, and his children are also tied up in the businesses presently. it's hard to imagine he'll not be paying attention to what's happening back here. >> chairman of the house committee now. democrats are in charge of the house

reimbursing cohen for a $130,000 hush payment to stormy daniels, a claim backed up with physical evidenceersonal check signed by the president. >> mr. trump broke frwrote from personal bank account after he became president to reimburse me for the hush money payments i made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and to prevent damage to his campaign. >> do you believe that the president committed a crime while in office? >> based on what -- looking at the text, and listening to mr. cohen, it appears that he did. >> michael cohen also implied president trump has committed other crimes, crimes we apparently don't already know about. crimes that are under investigation by federal prosecutors in manhattan. cohen told the panel he last spoke to mr. trump a couple months after the fbi executed warrants on his home, hotel room and office. but he said he couldn't say anything more because it was the subject of a criminal investigation. and then there was this follow up question. >> any other illegal act that you are aware of regarding donald trump that we haven't yet discussed today? >> y

he used michael cohen to verify a lie that stormy daniels didn't exist, for all intents and purposes. not that there was a mountain of new revelations that came out yesterday. i think what was most important, we saw a man as close to the president as you could be, telling us that essentially the president was in on exactly these lies. for example, the check that he produced, the stormy daniels check, that that was overtally between cohen and the president. the president has had to admit that since, after disclaiming it all together. so i think that the intelligence committee ought to listen hard to michael cohen because he was as close to the president doing his dirty deeds or not, as anybody you're going to hear from. >> you also just heard that felix sater, former business associate of donald trump, will testify in open session before the house intelligence committee march 14th. what light do you think he could shed on this overall investigation into the moscow potential trump tower being built there? >> it's according to what he's really free to say. i mean, remember, we've had peo

he knew nothing about the hush money payments. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. no. >> reporter: cohen claims the president even told him to lie to the first lady. >> i lied to the first lady when the president called me and i was sitting in a car with a friend of mine and he had me speak to her and explain to the first lady. >> reporter: cohen says it's all typical in the world of donald trump, and that for ten years, he used lies and pressure tactics to protect the mogul. >> how many times did mr. trump ask you to threaten an individual our entity on his behalf? >> quite a few times. >> 50 times? >> more. >> a hundred times? >> more. >> 200 times? >> more. >> 500 times? >> probably. >> reporter: and knowing full well that the president was likely watching in vietnam, cohen made this claim. >> mr. trump tasked me to handle the negative press surrounding his medical deferment from the vietnam draft. he told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters, but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment. he finished the conversat