with trump, by which i mean, fighting trump with trump's own words, not with trump's vulgarity, not with trump's ugly brawling style, but with trump's own words. but nancy pelosi and chuck schumer have been in washington too long and have become far too professional to see how easy and clarifying it is to fight trump with trump's own words. they make the mistake of approaching oval office meetings with this president the way they would with any president. they put a serious proposal together for funding the government, and they brought it in to the office to discuss it seriously with a man who has no capacity to discuss anything seriously -- nothing. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer have not yet figured out how to publicly deal with the unserious man who is the president of the united states. and so they did not force donald trump to wrestle with his own words in the oval office today. they did not force him to say, mexico is not going to pay for the wall, and so i need ten democrats in the senate. instead, the president lied and said he could easily pass a bill through the republican

even as trump locked up the republican nomination, reality trump casually dismisses now. >> i decided do it. there would have been nothing wrong if i did do it. >> reporter: the dossier says the kremlin was in contact with trump associates with dines on feeding them help for the campaign. trump has always insisted. >> there was no collusion. >> reporter: we don't know about that yet but do know donald trump jr., jared kushner and paul manafort all met with russians at trump tower after being promised campaign dirt on hillary clinton. this along with 13 others in the president's orbit had contact with russians during the election and transition. other items in the dossier remain unresolved. among them the idea that the russians have some evidence of improper or illegal activity by trump himself which might give them leverage over him. and the notion that any communications between team trump and the russians were explicitly tied to influencing the election but listen once more to what trump has said of the whole thing time and again. >> well, i think it's very sad what they've done wit

plus the trump organization. the now shuttered trump foundation. and his inaugural committee as well. let's discuss. michael d'antonio is here. he's the author "the truth about trump." david cay johnston is here as well. he's the author of "it's even worse than you think: what the trump administration is doing to america." it's very positive, david. thank you very much. i appreciate it. that was sarcasm, everyone. good evening, gentlemen. good to have you on. michael, there are now so many questions into president trump. you say that trump believed that the real estate business in new york was corrupt and deceptive and he acted accordingly. explain. >> right. he did believe it was and he did act accordingly. when donald trump's dad was coming up in the '30s and the '40s, it was a profoundly corrupt business. you had to pay off the unions. a lot of what you purchased had a big markup because you were also paying off people there. politicians were greased. donald's father actually went around and gave federal housing authority people television sets

and three times visited the elder trump at trump tower.it, not long before donald trump declared his candidacy, goldstone says trump was there listening to a rap song. >> he said look, 90 million views. a rapper called matt miller, who recently passed away. has recorded this song. it has 90 million views. and it is about me ♪ take over the world. >> and i said to him, do you think you maybe should listen to the words and what they're saying about you perhaps, just an idea. ♪ look at all this money. >> and he went, it doesn't matter. 90 million views. and then the third time we went, we said to emin, maybe next time i see you, i will be hosting you at the white house. >> but before there was trump in the white house, there was trump the candidate. and the next time goldstone set foot in trump tower would be when he arrived for the meeting. coming up -- >> i get a phone call and he said to me initially i would like you to set up a meeting with the trumps. ke you to set ug with the trumps. the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. on

trump. he directed me as i said in my elocution and i said as well smt plea, he directed me to make the payments. he directed me to become involved in these meters. >> he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? >> correct. >> and he knew it was wrong? >> of course. >> and he was doing that to help his election? >> yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. >> to help his campaign. >> to help him and the campaign. >> all right, so you heard it there, cohen making it absolutely clear. two key claims. one, trump directed the payments. it builds on nbc reporting that trump was in fact in the room with cohen and the national enquirer david pecker discussing those hush money payments during the campaign. and the second cohen claim is that trump knew it was illegal. and here's the potentially damaging news for trump today. new audio emerging from 2012 showing that trump was indeed familiar with the relevant campaign financial laws. specifically it features trump d

in problems related to the trump business and the trump campaign and the trump presidency.ut now this is different because the special counsel is telling a court that the family's involvement is relevant to at least one indictment, as michael cohen discussed his status and progress of that moskow project with individual one, donald trump, and quote, briefed family members of individual one within the company about the project. shortly after this plea deal was revealed then reported multiple sources asserting that ivanka trump and donald trump, jr. were also working to make donald trump moskow a reality. another source saying that questions have been asked on trump tower moscow. joining me now a former district attorney for the southern district of new york, and joyce vance, a former northern district attorney. what do you see as legally important for the family? >> i think you can put it into three different tran were -- tranches, ari. you've got the big unknown, which is what their role was in what we've been calling collusion. and your right to point out that michael cohe

and remember donald trump, jr. is now the one responsible for the trump organization. so all the real estate deals that they are doing around the world where other foreign governments are trying to put money in, don junior is the one who was aware of all of that and supposed to be keeping the business afloat. so his representations he's only peripherally involved seems at odds with the role of head of the trump organizations business operations. >>> and when we come back, some republican senators are finally joining democrats to challenge president trump, and it is about saudi arabia and the assassination of journalist jamal khashoggi. if you're 65 or older, even if you're healthy, you may be at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia - a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that can disrupt your life for weeks. in severe cases, pneumococcal pneumonia can put you in the hospital. it may take weeks to recover making you miss out on the things you enjoy most. just one dose of the prevnar 13® vaccine can help protect you from pneumococcal pneumonia. it's not a yea

the trump tax cut, would you repeal the trump tax cuts? >> i would repeal the trump tax cut, yeah.clear that that tax cut was intended to benefit super wealthy folks and also corporations. it doesn't do anything for the middle class. what we see now are jobs that the president promised would come to the united states. in fact, we're losing jobs i think in part because of that tax cut and also because the president has played a reckless game and engaging in trade wars with different countries without thinking it through. so yes, i would repeal that tax cut and i also believe that we need an approach that is more sensible when it comes to making sure that we protect american jobs. >> on the trade war that you just referred to, the trump tariff, these are actually illegal tariffs that the president is using a clause in tariff law that says for national security reasons only the president can unilaterally change tariffs. he is using that against canada for which there's obviously no national security issue, and so what would you do about the trump tariffs? >> well, i think folks can ag

president trump: i will take it. will say yes, if we don't get what we want one way or the other, whether it's through you, or military or anything you want to call, i will shut down the government. >> he got outplayed by pelosi and schumer. he was cutting them off. holding off pieces of paper. nancy, nancy, nancy. there was an extraordinary physical performance. howie: a deep divide. those 17 minutes. the consensus was the two democrats had the president. jim: president trump put out his red line. he said it's so important i am willing to shut down the government. this feels like the was a year ago it was one of the better moments for the president kind of overtaken by the michael cohen interview and the chief of extra drama. howie: it happens every week. but look, donald trump proudly said he would shut down the government to get the $5 billion in funding he wants for that border wall. and even straight news stories point out usually you try to pin the shutdown on the other guys. >> usually you don't want to be the

trump. moments after cohen's sentencing, prosecutors revealed an agreement with the parent company of the national enquirer, which admits it took part in one payment with cohen and in concert with, quote, a presidential campaign. i'll talk about the breaking news with congressman adam schiff. he's the top democrat on the intelligence committee. and our correspondents, analysts and specialists are also standing by. first, let's get right to the breaking news. our national correspondent, athena jones. michael cohen is the fourth person sentenced and his by far the longest. >> hi, wolf. that's right. that sentence is the longest. michael cohen said today, i take full responsibility for each act that i pled guilty to. the personal ones to me and those involving the president of the united states of america. so once again, he implicated president trump in two felonies. but when it comes to taking full responsibility, cohen tried to have it both ways, painting himself as a victim of trump, while a

trump and candidate trump. he and mary pat have been friends of the trump's for almost two decades. you will see governor christie operating at a outside advisor to the president. they still speak on regular basis that there also may come a time when governor christie decides he wants to serve his country once again in government service. i'm sure if that is the case, president trump will accommodate them and bring into the administration. >> you among the stories you told. third on about the advice president trump was getting gid who he was getting it from, not having plowed this ground before, you talk about speaker paul ryan come in and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, the thule republicans republicans in the congress, which also talk to msnbc host joe scarborough, or congressman within the republican party and mika brzezinski, cohost who by the were used to work with me at cbs, they were giving president trump advice. this is before i guess things went completely wrong between them because now they speak as mortal enemies. can you explain that? what was the advice were ge

of donald trump's defenses. his lawyer rudy giuliani struggling to answer questions in two sunday show appearances. and the president himself sounding more like a jilted mob boss than the commander in chief. "the washington post" with this insight on the impact of the half dozen investigations on donald trump's psyche. quote, there has been one immediate impact on a president accustomed to dictating the country's news cycles but who now struggles to keep up with them. trump has been forced to spend his political capital and that of his party on his defense. the president with some remarkable tweets over the weekend like this one. quote, remember michael cohen only became a rat after the fbi did something which was absolutely unthinkable and unheard of until the witch hunt was illegally started. they broke into an attorney's office. why didn't they break into the dnc to get the server or crooked's office? and this one slamming his former attorney general jeff sessions. jeff sessions should be ashamd of himself fo

trump? >> you know, i really can't, and it's been my policy not to discuss personal conversations with him otherwise they'll end in all honesty. >> charlie, he's been doing this striptease for years. i'm really close to the guy, we're very intimate, we talk at all hours of the night but i'm not talking to you about what we're talking about. he always wants to be seen as tight with the guy. >> what a bunch of misfit toys. for donald trump, if you boil down to the essence of trumpism, you have roger stone, who is the notorious dirty trickster, chronic liar at the center of american politics. now donald trump who's surrounded himself with all of these bad actors, people like roger stone, is going to become enmeshed in all of their lives. what's really striking is just the momentum of this investigation. all the elements, all of the threads seem to be coming together whether it is -- whether it is -- >> i like that fact because i thought the "access hollywood" quote was trump. >> sure. >> and he

such is the dementia of a typical trump tweet, and so trump tweets are not taken seriously. but are they not taken seriously to the point that donald trump can commit a crime on twitter and it will be ignored? ignored by the special prosecutor who is investigating donald trump? here is the most criminal trump tweet of the day. i will never testify against trump, this statement was recently made by roger stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about president trump. nice to know that some people still have guts. article i of the impeachment articles adopted by the house committee against president nixon said in his conduct of the office of the president of the united states richard m. nixon in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed has prevented, obstructed and impeded the administratio

to the trump world. there was lots of contact with russia even before this document. and what we're seeing is there is a lot more that we did not know about. we know there is going to be a continued investigation to it, that is clear both from the michael flynn filing. in terms of the southern district, it is kind of quite clear. what they are saying quite frankly is look, this guy didn't do the right thing. and by the way, he was a lawyer, his obligation to do the right thing was heightened and he came in and he was not really, he didn't formulate a cooperation agreement, he didn't agree to talk to us about things that may be crimes that he was not already pleading guilty to. and that should bring us right back around to the trump organization investigation that they are still conducting. >> nancy, i am thrilled that we have the benefit of your expertise to want because this is now going right into judge lane. how does a judge take these two very different recommendations, mueller saying basically, he l

we talked about the trump foundation, trump organization. not forget what happened right before trump went into office. he had to pay $25 million for defrauding people for trump u. what he did basically he took this criminal enterprise, the way he was running his business, nobody paid attention to it before until now, he's president, now everyone is paying attention to him because he's being vetted now, not before. and we're seeing how that is all playing out. >> he's being vetted now. >> we're doing vetting and so have the reporters at the table. let me ask you, there's a new, equally aggressive, some might say more aggressive, attorney general in the united states. what's on the horizon for the trump organization, trump foundation, all of the trump entities from her perspective? >> it's really interesting. letisha james is the newly elected new york attorney general. she told nbc the other day she has a really ambitious plan to investigate trump's businesses, which are all located in new york state. that includes the trump foundation but a

trump, he and mary pat have been a trump stir for two decades.i think you'll see him as an outside advisor, he'll speak on a regular basis but they are, there may come a time when he decides he wants to serve this country again. i'm sure if that is the case, president trump will accommodate him and bring him in for the administration. >> he told fairly early on, president trump was getting advice, and who he was getting it from, we talked about speaker paul ryan coming in and geordie leader mitch mcconnell, you still talked about msnbc host, former congressman and republican party, he -- cohost who by the way used to work with me at cbs, they were giving president trump advice, this is before things went completely wrong between them. now they speak as mortal enemies. can you ask. [speaking in foreign language] what was the advice they were giving president trump? how did that relationship go from being one, from the advisors to perhaps more contentious relationship. >> right after donald trump became elect donald trump, the called advice and rec

and trump just accepted the blame.ot going to be popular if it actually happens, which i doubt it will. out maneuvered him. >> when she said trump shutdown he was like -- >> he was like what? >> can we talk about mike pence, the vice president? he's got a lot of mockery and scorn what people call that wax like demeanor -- should he intervene? >> to say what? they're going at it. and what would he have added at that point, really? it was between the president -- and all three came out winners. i really believe that. trump is standing firm for something that was very important for him for the election and his base but also the nation. this immigration and the lack of a border basically is really big issue. you see it in the polls, too. >> we do have a border. we have a very strong border. >> well, we've got a very porous border right now. schumer was protersing this brick listen outside of his house. his base. screaming and yelling. and for all three they got to play to their crowd. in a perfect setting. >> >> i don't di

donald trump.rs because if it's true, it could prove trump was seeking business with russia while moscow was secretly working to get him elected. and speaking of hotels, attorneys general for maryland and d.c. have filed a lawsuit and subpoenaed financial records from the trump organization and the trump international hotel in d.c. >> this is the most coveted piece of real estate in washington, d.c., the best location. >> reporter: the hotel plays host to foreign officials and leaders from around the world. the lawsuit suggests the president breached the emoluments clause of the constitution, which prohibits the president from accepting payments from foreign powers while in office. all said, at least five committees in congress now poised to probe the trump organization on everything trump's touched, including his yet to be released tax returns. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >>> joining me now to discuss this is richard painter, former white house ethics lawyer for president george w. bush. richard, w

that would be trump organization. that would be donald trump. and he is the one who, i'm reading here, would have conferred with cohen about reaching out to the russian government. then when you talk about the payments to the women, the individual one goes on to become the president of the united states. pretty clear that's donald trump. and that he also worked with him, talked to him about the payments to those women. so, in a lot of ways, it cannot be underscored that these memos really aren't about cohen. i mean, they are about cohen, but they really point to the president in a way we hadn't seen before and point to this administration, not just the campaign, but what's going on inside the white house. >> let me go to barb on this, because i think the language was very strong. i was really impressed by the spirit of the prosecutors' language. they talk about how people go door to door in politics, they lick envelopes, they do all of the work of politics in an open, transparent way because that's what the law and our democracy is all about, is

trump need tenants. tenants in some cases were in trump buildings and trump branned building, which were overwhelmingly russians. we did a look at multiple trump towers that opened in florida on the north of miami. all of them opening between 2006, 37, '6, '7, '8? the guy said the russians saved our butts. >> did they have so much money they can buy them in london and everywhere else? the river era? >> again, we have to be careful, this particular yeah, sunny isles florida is actually a little hub of russian activity and in some of the lobbies of trump buildings there, depending on who is staying in the building, at any given time, you will hear russian spoken in the lobby and elevators, yes, russians are living in those buildings from trump returned to the trump capital in 2016, bringing his miss universe panel ent. in a series of tweets, trump promoted the event as a quote big deal that will bring our countries together. trump wrote, do you think putin will be going to the miss universe panel exhibit i

>> it's not run by a trump appointee buzz the trump appointee recused himself. it's run by a career person. we have no idea the background of that person. the bottom line is here, i think the greatest damage that's been done is donald trump doing what you just said, out there spinning different story after different story, not telling the truth. and that to me is doing the most political damage right now. i don't believe, particularly the stormy daniels piece, is problematic at all from the standpoint of the law. the a.m.i. thing might be a little bit more because the stormy daniels contribution is not -- is not a violation of itself. the violation is he didn't report it. the contribution itself is not illegal. but the fact he didn't report it is illegal. on the other case, a.m.i., it's a corporate contribute beiion, somebody else, if he directed it you have a different story. that is an illegal contribution. so i think they're two different things. i don't know all the facts of the a.m.i. i don't think we know that yet. but to me the most damaging thing is the

trump in a rare. howie: melania trump rarely doesn't views.ut she made news with sean hannity by take on her critics. sean: what is the worst you have to deal with. >> the opportunists and comedians, journalists, performers, book writers. sean: does it hurt? >> it doesn't hurt. the problem is they are writing history, and it's not correct. howie: does she have a point even though she calls media opportunists peddling bogus stuff about her? emily: oh, yes. when you watch the full interview. people pulled some of the moments. she talked about when she met the president and what it's like having come from her childhood to where she is now. it was a good interview. she comes across very well. she deserves better coverage. howie: don't they weigh in on every first lady. susan: michelle was on the front of a magazine cover 12 times by this point. january 2017, standing in the aisle of the grocery store in did you see melania? from everything that comes out of her mouth to comparing her and write being her as an accomplice to the president who the me

trump is an isolationist. he does not want to project american power anywhere and of course, that's extremely dangerous for the country. we're in an arena in which there's a multitude of threats around the world, both to us and to our allies and any situation in which vladimir putin says you're doing a good job, you're doing the right thing, in the case, we're doing the wrong thing. these are dangerous times and extremely dangerous decisions for these dangerous times. terrible thing. >> and malcolm, back to you on this. russia said the following. russian columnist said trump is god's gift that keeps on giving. trump implements russia's negative agenda by default. and credibility as a partererned ally on his own. russia can just relax and watch and root for trump, which putin does at every tv appearance. sarah huckabee sanders tried to claim that putin is not happy about these withdrawals but obviously, he is. >> no, donald trump, again, donald trump does not believe in what america has been and what we've done

trump is doing. they will reduce their a tariffs -- >> veronique: i think they're going to do the minimum they have to do. >> stephen: probably. >> veronique: the problems like the metal taxes will be there for the long haul. >> stephen: steel and aluminum. those are hurting america because they're making american manufacturessers more expensive. >> veronique: i'm not the head of the country just an economist. >> stephen: i think there's truth to what you say i'm a free-trade guy but china is a different case, china is so problematic. >> veronique: people used to say this about russia. >> stephen: we didn't have free-trade with the soviet union. >> veronique: it's a recurring fear, and i don't think punishing ourselves is the way to go. that being said i am so glad we had that conversation because it's a really interesting perspective. >> stephen: larry carvel, the silent partner in this book with laffer and he's fighting for zero tariffs. every country he's basically saying -- you know any country t

it's going to be donald trump.oever he picks, they're going to get a nice corner office, they're going to get the title. but he is his own chief of staff. he makes those decisions. all we have to do is ask john kelly and reince priebus. it is going to be donald trump who wants to have that role. >> he's a communicator in chief, just like -- communications director. >> but people talked to you about that job before, david, and you have not taken it. it's a -- >> nobody has talked to me seriously about it. >> he would rather talk with me here more. >> i would rather be in a fight with jen every day. >> it is a challenging job. and ultimately, you have to be able to protect the president from his own worst impulses. you had a statement from speaker paul ryan saying that john kelly did do that, which makes, you know -- and brought a sense of order to the white house, which does make one wonder, what would the last year-and-a-half have looked like without john kelly. >> it certainly does. i don't think we should give jo

and later, the man trump just picked to run the white house, he called donald trump a "terrible human being." we have a report on why trump's hiring process looks to be getting desperate. let's get right into the top story tonight. these investigations bearing down on president trump, with new indictments today, as well as a new report on russian interference and some bizarre denials from donald trump's lawyers. now, everything depends on how you count, but let's start here. how many investigations does donald trump face right now? 17 into his links to russia, according to a account from wired magazine. and consider just how unusual this is tonight. my colleague, rachel maddow, put this situation quite well by noting it doesn't matter how old you are, you haven't seen anything like this. >> i mean, i don't know who you know or how old they are, but nobody else has ever lived through the american presidency like this. we're the first. >> we're the first, and most people haven't seen a sitting president publicly turn on the fbi in order to try to apparently save himself. that's exactly

trump himself.it ends up that's the way that robert mueller's team looking at corsi and stone, what piece of the puzzle would that fit into? >> that's the theory that stone and corsi were a conduit between wikileaks and the trump campaign. that plea agreement suggested that corsi had advance knowledge that john podesta's e-mails had been hacked. he knew that before the world. he's denied that. a lot of people say if robert mule eller has to rest a case f collusion for the trump campaign on the likes of roger stone and jerome corsi, that's not a strong case. presumably he's got more than that. the other thing hanging out there is obstruction of justice. james comewas interviy was inte friday and an fbi lawyer let it slip that comey is a witness in mueller's obstruction of justice. this was the first official confirmation of that be. that was not in any filing on friday but it is something we'll hear more about. >> should we expect to see all of these threads come together at some point in we have jer

if you look at where the trump properties are, there is no trump hotel in london, there is no trump hotelor berlin. why? because he doesn't do business in places where there are legitimate dmom raeemocracies a legitimate processes. in these places where he's able to deal with strong men who don't necessarily deal on board. that is a glorified branding agency which we know to be the trump organization. there is no special sauce there. let's go deal in places where we have illegitimate puntas of regimes, and let's deal in a very under the board way. that has certainly pervaded the trump organization and now we know it. we're starting to see pieces of evidence. we also know that donald trump rules his organization with a very tight fist, so there is no reasonable argument among thinking adults to think he hasn't had contact with russia or intimate knowledge of his top executives' contact with russia. the walls are closing in, it's just a matter of time until we see it laid out on the table. >> i want to get to a question we've seen raised by representative jerry nadler. he just spoke about t

trump. is that why we're hearing about this now today as the president was making his way for travel. >> i don't know object today because we've been hearing for months and months that the people around trump, especially his daughter and son-in-law resented and started treating them more like staffers and more recently there's been some tensions over melania as well. but it's certainly the case that this is a president who can only be managed as much as he's willing to be managed and the reason his family has so much policy influence in the white house is because he wants them to and no professional manager can stop the boss if that's the way the boss wants to run the government. >> and somebody who knows a lot about the check and balance that works between the ceo or the president in this case, and the coo and in this case, the chief of staff, chris whipple. as an msnbc contributor as well, what does this say then about how the white house is being run because you are writing a book directl

because he worked for donald trump even though he said should trump run was independent of donald trump>> but in 2011, the fec ruled in cohen's favor. for michael cohen, the win was another way of proving his loyalty. >> the way he initially described it to me was a father/son relationship and when i asked him why he has blind loyalty, he also threw the question back to me as, would you do this for your father? >> the end of the day, the only people donald trump really considers as family are his own family. anyone who considers himself to be almost a trump family member, should really take a reality check. because they tend not to stay around very long. >> but michael cohen did stay and proved his willingness to fight for his boss by aggressively attacking donald trump's enemies, real or perceived. >> now to a war of words between a beauty queen and organizers of the miss usa pageant. pennsylvania's representative claims that competition is rigged. >> just after the 2012 miss usa pageant, which was co-owned by donald trump contestant sheena mown claimed the pageant's finalists were pre

, candidate donald trump. left on the outside, when he became donald trump, being sentenced to three years in prison. again, nine federal crimes he's being sentenced for eight of them, really, little or nothing to do with donald trump but personal financial crimes. the judge saying he may have taken advantage of his reputation, working for donald trump, high profile in manhattan working for donald trump for these greedy and also, lying to congress about trump tower business dealings in moscow, trying to sell a trump tower idea in moscow during the presidential campaign. that has ramifications so we'll keep our eyes on the pictures to see if michael cohen coels out. some of the attorneys here. here he is. let's see if he speaks. there you see michael cohen getting into the black car with his wife, his son and his daughter and driving off, choosing not to speak. that in and of itself, a big development in the sense that for years, for years, michael cohen threw punches for donald trump. no other way to put it. h

in trump world. step one, the flat-out denial. >> did you know about the $130,000 payment to stormy daniels? >> no. >> then why -- why did michael cohen make it if there was no truth to the allegations? >> you have to ask michael cohen. michael is my attorney, and you'll have to ask michael. >> step two, the partial admission followed by the insistence that whatever the bad act was it definitely was not a crime. >> it's not campaign money. no campaign finance violation. so -- >> they funneled it through a law firm. >> funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it. >> oh, i didn't know -- >> he did. >> i always love that video. it's awesome. step three comes next. that was the bad act was a crime but donald trump didn't do it. >> i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he's a lawyer. a lawyer who represents a client is supposed to do the right thing. that's why you pay them a lot of money, et cetera, et cetera. >> finally, step four, where we are now wh

that person is donald trump. that means that donald trump also committed two felonies.hird, with the michael cohen filing from robert mueller, there's a very telling line in there where special counsel mueller says that essentially michael cohen should get some leniency because he gave russia-related information core to the special counsel's investigation. that means mueller's very aware that his core mission is russia collusion, that these other crimes, whether it is campaign finance or obstruction of justice or perjury, those are tangential. he would not have said this if he did not intend to deliver on his core investigation. >> do you believe paul manafort was lying to protect the president? >> i believe he was lying to actually protect himself and maybe he was trying to protect the president, but i think he was mainly trying to protect himself. it is also really astounding that paul manafort could think he could lie and get away with it, knowing that the full resources of the prosecution in terms of what they have with not just electronic surveillance but also just

it didn't just try to protect trump. it also went negative on trump's rivals, right?er 2015, cover story claimed hillary clinton had just six months to live, literally, that was -- that was obviously three years ago. august 2016, right before the election, cover story about hillary clinton saying she gained 103 pounds and was eating herself to death. april of that year, let's remember, wasn't just hillary clinton, right? remember the whole ted cruz' father killed jfk or linked to the assassination. obviously, no proof of that. was all of this done with trump's knowledge, explicit blessing, in your opinion, jerry? >> certainly his fine hand can be seen. virtually the "enquirer" turned donald trump's opponents into cartoon characters with, you know, the more bizarre the story, the more laughs, i'm sure, that the president and david had. it became bizarre. i mean, you know, hillary gaining 162 pounds and 12 weeks from death. hillary and barack obama wiring, you know, the trump penthouse. it was -- the stories became ludicrous. >> thank you both very much. obviously much

that is donald trump. i'm thrilled as part of our special coverage neal katyal joins us and he argues as a legal matter prosecutors have concluded donald trump is on the hook for that felony. our viewers may recognize you. they've served in high parts of the justice department. i know when you speak about a felony, you don't do so lightly. >> to me the big news tonight is not about michael cohen, it's not about paul manafort, it's about one person, donald trump, and this filing that you just started to highlight that was made today in the michael cohen case really does for the first time you have federal prosecutors essentially saying that donald trump committed a felony. this is not a document by mueller. that filed by trump's own justice department, by the southern district prosecutors in new york and there are three pieces to the claim. the first piece is the one you just read which is from page 11 of the filing which says that cohen made these campaign finance payments at the direction of trump and we'

>> president trump: i know what i'm doing.body ever went to china and said "listen, you're stealing our intellectual property. you are doing also also to this that are wrong. you are taking $500 billion a year. not million. you can't do it. you can't take $500 billion out of our -- >> harris: you aren't worried about that? >> president trump: what happened is the disparity is so great, we did $25 billion with them, they do hundred billion with us. it's more than that. we charge them very low in tax. the me tell you what happened. they lowered the tariffs on the car from 40% to 15%. it's not acceptable. 15% is still too high. yesterday. by the way, you know who charge them? 2.5%. now you know who charge them. 25%. >> harris: i want to do a few rapid fires. can i do one? >> president trump: just one. >> harris: what you love about being president? >> i love getting things done for the people. it's a nasty job because i get hit so hard, so unfairly by so many. really, unfairly. when you look at what we have done with taxes, what

donald trump wanted to build trump tower moscow. michael cohen was working on that into the general election campaign in 2016. will we, perhaps, learn something about why michael l flynn lied about conversations with russian ambassador sergey kislyak ostensibly about the lifting of sanctions? >> we very well might. i think what we'll see from this agreement is obviously we'll see kind of a description of the significance of this cooperation. the extent of its cooperation. we'll see some description of the crimes. i think the question of how much detail we'll see about the involvement of others. whether mueller makes that public in this report or whether he holds it off for a future indictment or a future guilty plea or holds it off because it's still a very live part of his investigation. and i think it's such a critical question because flynn really is at the central of kind of both threads of the mueller investigation. both the collusion side and the obstruction side. on the collusion side as you said, it wasn't just his phone cal

motivation for donald trump. but i think anyone that works with the trump organization knows that all you have to do is show up with a sack of cash and plop it on his desk and he'd do business with you. that's how trump university got started, how he got soho built. clearly one of the pieces of information for prosecutors is felix seder. nonetheless, these sort of statements in that document get to the kind of horse trading that people are curious about. why did donald trump treat vladimir putin with kid gloves in helsinki? what did they talk about when they met alone in helsinki? what was trump going to get beyond, you know, just getting elected president if he was going to try to engineer the lifting of sanctions against russia? money is an obvious answer. and i think it's even more important in the context of what we know about the run-up to the general election, which is that trump didn't think he was going to win. and none of the people around him thought they were going to win. everybody in the trump univer

plus, president trump's pick for u.n.rt, is getting sharp criticism and how will trump's pick to replace attorney general jeff sessions potentially influence the russia investigation. we will unpack all of that for you next. ♪ carla is living with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. she's also taking prescription ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus letrozole. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell and low platelet counts, infections, ti

do you see president trump, do you anticipate at that point president trump gives in? does he change his mind? what do you think would happen then? >> i think two things would happen. number one, the senate won't take up a bill until the president says he will sign it because what happened was not supposed to happen. the senate only put that bill on the floor because the white house said that the president would sign it. then the president changed his mind after the fact. the second thing i would say there is that i don't see a scenario where no matter what happens the president will say he got money for the wall. let's be real blunt about it. it doesn't matter if there's money for a wall or not, he is going to say there is, and some supporters will say fine, the president got his money, everything is good. that's the world we're living in right now. >> not just democrats going after the president for his handling of the shutdown. here's what some fellow republicans have also been saying. >> i'll just remind the president, the republicans are in charge and so the shutd

trump tower. goldstone would bring the russian lawyer. >> trump jr.ld bring the candidate's son-in-law, jared kushner and campaign chair, paul manafort. before joining the trump campaign, manafort worked as a political consultant for oligarchs and pro-russia clients. >> first it was of interest to me, frankly is mr. manafort. he has been in russia. he has been in ukraine. if donald trump jr., and jared kushner, took this meeting innocently, and ignorantly, and sort of stepped into it, you know, it is possible, but mr. manafort, we have clearly known what the russians were up to. >> two nights before the meeting, on june 7, trump greeted supporters with what now sounds like a curious promise. >> we are going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the clintons. i think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting. >> we just don't know if the speech that donald trump made is a coincidence or not. and so the timing seems awfully strange. >> for all of the attention the trump tower meeting would later get, gol

trump and russia. to the extent it is not pursuing these matters, the department -- meaning the department of justice -- is abdicating its responsibility? how does that sit with you? he seems to be echoing the message of donald trump. it's basically a lock her up conversation. >> i would say a cup you will things to attorney designate barr. one is have at it. if you want to vehicle uranium one or e-mail or what i had for lunch, what secretary clinton war a year ago, fine, that's your call. i don't see how it's an either/or proposition. if you want to investigate hillary clinton for her e-mails, let's throw jared and ivanka in. he keeps making the same mistake over and over again, putting people into jobs he thinks are going to be his shill. i'm not defending barr. barr has said things in television and in print about the mueller probe and how it's going too far. when this guy takes the oath of office with his hand up in the air and sits in the room with career prosecutors, i think six months from now,

trump. but she also cheered the fact that schumer and pelosi during that meeting got the president to say he will own a shutdown if it happens. not something that republicans on capitol hill wanted to hear today. >> all right, kaitlan collins at the white house, thank you so much. let's talk about this with my experts. bill, you have worked in the white house, you alone at this table. have you ever seen anything like that play out with cameras there, or without cameras there? >> certainly not with cameras there. and not very often without, actually. i mean, it reminded me of -- you go to a could haveffee shop som and there are senior citizens at the next table having lunch or breakfast or something for 20 years and love arguing with each other. it's like you overhear it, and it's like, could you guys keep it down a little bit? i'm actually having a pleasant conversation here and you guys have been regurgitating this argument for the 25th time. that's what it was like. three people in their

you know, the trump organization, the trump family, the trump inauguration, the trump transition, the white house, the trump foundation are all being investigated for various shades of wrongdoing. you know, even though this stuff has been known for a long time, the value of david art reporting in all this reminds us of how remarkably craven the president has been in these various walks of life that he's inhabited. you know, let's not forget that one of the events that the attorney general pointed to was an alleged fund-raiser, a purported fund-raiser that trump held in iowa in 2016 in which he had military veterans on the stage with him. he was raising funds ostensibly to help out vets. and he staged that event as an alternative to appearing at a debate in 2016. one of the presidential debates. and we have yet to get a full accounting for how the money was spent that trump raised during that event, and that ostensibly went into the trump foundation. >> and what did donald trump tweet when the new york state attorney general first started moving on this case? he tweeted, i won't settle

should trump run.l us more about the relationship, which i think to your point a second ago speaks volumes as to why it's so significant that ami is now cooperating. >> well, i think this is one of the things where david pecker could be on an ongoing basis beneficial and helpful to the sdny. they have had -- it seems to me they do have a friendship. people close to pecker and to donald trump have both described it to me as more transactional. so david pecker, they met back when david pecker was the head -- was the ceo of a magazine publisher in the u.s. or the u.s. arm that much magazine publisher. he launched "trump style," which was a sort of dedicated magazine that would be distributed in trump hotels so they both got something out of that from a business perspective. david pecker would do events at mar-a-lago. donald trump spoke about pecker when he received an honorary doctorate at pace university. they do these things for each other. i don't think they spent a tremendous amount of time just sort

the feed back loop between trump and fox, trump and talk radio is as strong as ever because as he playse and more, that's his way of knowing what the base apparently cares about. >> yeah, and so every lawmaker i have had on who's been confident, right, about the shut down, i'm like are you sure, the president. i ask, oh, yeah, we're sure. i'm like, okay. because we know. and you say the same thing. you have been saying that. you said it on this show, didn't you. >> i said it on the show, donald trump could have his head turned by conservative media. donald trump said he was going to step up and sign the bill, there was huge backlash, saying he shouldn't do this, and at that point in time, he said i'm never doing this again, i hate this bill. what we saw this week, it's not only ann coulter and lithe probm is that as brian says, there is this universe that talks to itself, which fox news has been at the center of, and donald trump is the first time there's been a prominent republican elected official who comes from that world. donald trump used to be on contract on fox news. he was on ev

it was this year trump lost all the remaining charity money at the trump foundation. that's the last thing the trump foundation gets to do. this month new york prosecutors formally shutting it down. then there's the law which still matters in the trump era. mueller indicting 33 people involved with obstruction and more. rules do matter inside the white house because they help trump's request to fire mueller. his lawyer stopping that effort, and then his own lawyer blocking trump from trying to order illegal investigations of hillary clinton and james comey. trump was blocked from an illegal request to where journalists investigated. an attack on reporters to revoke a press attack. we've seen facts matter in how the u.s. handles bigger problems abroad. sanctioning russia over the occupation of crimea, and then there's how you're showing us things mattered. if you voted this year, you were part of a surge that was a 50-year high for midterm voter turnout. that's not nothing. and that was despite the message that yes, maybe nothing matters, and many efforts to try to sup

president trump's son and executive vice president at the trump organization eric trump fired back atrge conway's criticism tweeting, of all the ugliness in politics, the utter disrespect george conway shows toward his wife, her career, place of work and everything she has fought so hard to achieve might top them all. kellyanne conway is a great person and frankly his actions are horrible. in response, george conway retweeted authored resa aslan who wrote, wait, did i miss something.? did george conway pay to have money with a porn star right after his wife gave birth? yeah. it's really, at this point at least, jordan, i don't know -- i don't know where they get -- and i mean this monot to be anythin more than i'm absolutely intrigued by this, where they get their confidence that they could lash out at george conway for stepping up for what he believes in given what this president is accused of doing and what he has already admitted or has proven he has done especially with porn stars and playboy bunnies while his wife was pregnant. >> yeah. i don't think that eric trump wants to get