The latest news from around the world with hosts John Berman and Poppy Harlow. The latest news from around the world with hosts John Berman and Poppy Harlow. Has gone through. You know, he worked for Ronald Reagan for years. He worked for bob dole. His firm worked for mccain. He worked for many, many people, many, many years. And i would say what he did, some of the charges they threw against him, every consultant, every lobbyist in washington probably does. We are a long way from drain the swamp, unless you are Paul Manafort and you do what everybody else also does. The president was asked about Michael Cohen, his longtime attorney, somebody who worked for him for more than a decade. He is trying to distance himself now from Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to eight Felony Charges and implicated the president in the Campaign Finance violations to which he pled guilty. This comes, of course, as the specter of Michael Cohen and what he could possibly say to prosecutors further, if he could talk additionally with the special counsel robert mueller,
that is still looming. It was notable the president made very few disparaging comments about Michael Cohen in this interview, trying to be perhaps a little bit nice to a man who could flip on him as the president is saying. Its an interesting point. Jere jeremy, thanks for the reporting. Lets talk about the legal aspe aspects. Good morning to you guys. Ann, let me begin with you. According to the president this morning, Michael Cohens admitted crimes, felonies, werent crimes. First of all, theres no question they are crimes. No federal judge would take a guilty plea unless they were pleading guilty to a crime. The bottom line is we know they are crimes. Theres no question here that there are Campaign Finance violations. What makes these Campaign Finance violations very clear is that cohen is saying that the president intended do this to protect himself in the political campaign. Thats what matters. For the president to say theres
nothing wrong is just its beyond absurd. Shan, he is downplaying the crime of Campaign Finance violations. Right . But theres actually a bigger crime that Michael Cohen is alleging here in what he said in court, and thats a crime of conspiracy against the president. Thats right. The president is now what we call an unindicted coconspirator. Its perfectly clear that its him and that cohen was acting at his direction. So he is completely implicated in the crime. What about Paul Manafort . Your read on the language, shan, that the president used to describe Paul Manafort in this interview this morning, echoing what he was tweeting right after . Yeah. The language is striking, particularly in conjunction with his later talk about flipping. I mean, he is using the language of mafia mob prosecutions. Its one thing to express
sympathy but he is saying its an unjust prosecution, even though he has been convicted. Clearly, a continuing signal he is trying to dangle the Pardon Possibility in front of him. You think a pardon is likely . Its hard for me to imagine we could talk about a pardon. Even the language he is using, its stunning to me that we now have manafort convicted as a felon of stealing millions of dollars essentially from the American People and donald trump is out there saying, but he is a great guy. Its really its hard for me to imagine that we could be talking about a pardon. That said, i think its possible the president does it. Lets listen also to the explanation on the payments here, shan. Because the president wants to have it always not one way or two ways, always. The issue is, he says such contrasting things on tape. So lets listen first to the cohen payments to pay off, you know, Stormy Daniels and also
karen mcdougal, to keep stories of an alleged affair with the president silent. Here is what he said this morning. Did you know about the payment s payments . Later on. You have to understand, what he did they werent taken out of Campaign Finance. Thats a big thing. Thats a much bigger thing. Did they come out of the campaign . They didnt come out of the campaign. They came from me. Okay. Well, here is what he said on tape with Michael Cohen about arranging a deal to pay 150,000 to keep Karen Mcdougals story of an alleged affair with the president , to keep that silent. Here is the president. When it comes time for the financing what financing . We will have to pay. Pay with cash . No, no, no, no. What is he trying to do here . Shan . Thats a good question. Its all there. Its all right there. He is trying to deflect as is usual. I gotta say, i think anne will agree, he needs to consult with lawyers before he talks about this stuff. It makes no sense. He is talking about it wasnt campaign resources. Thats not what the crime is here. Its completely off base with that. Then his statement that he didnt know about it until later or something, i mean, that is collaborated because what is the later there . He is aware of it before its paid. I dont see how this helps him at all besides opening up to more false statement. Do you think, anne who or what do you think is putting the president in the most jeopardy right now . By that cohen and, you negotiation the very likely possibility of a potentially very consequential Plea Agreement and Cooperation Agreement or manafort who also could reach a deal with
muellers team . I would be skeptical that manafort will reach a deal. He should have done it earlier. Its a strange thing to do at this point. Again, its possible. The cohen piece, the two biggest issues are Michael Cohens guilty plea and the Mueller Investigation into whether he conspired with russia. And manafort is out there as well. He has a is cohens problematic issue with the truth and credibility going to be a factor that could be helpful to the president . Sure. Look, the president surrounded himself with people who are not truthful. The kind of lawyer that would tape someone, the kind of people that would steal millions of dollars from the u. S. Government and steal from the transition and inauguration. The president surrounded he did not surround himself with mother theresa, lets say that. The people all have issues. Theyre all going to be found to have lied and cheat and stolen. You have the president of the United States saying that Paul Manafort was stealing money and doing these things but everybody in washington does it, so its okay. How is that possible . From the drain of swamp president. The political side of that next. Thank you. Shan, nice to have you as well. President trump also taking another shot at his own Attorney General this morning. He says there is only one reason that he gave Jeff Sessions that job. What is it . You will hear from the president next. Also, facing legal battles back here at home, the president sends a latenight tweet about South African land reform. South africa is firing back this morning. Was this really about policy or just a Distraction Tactic . John bolton moments ago saying he and his russian counterpart did not see eye to eye on election meddling. So what now . Countries that we traveled what is your nationality . And i would always answer, hispanic. So, when i got my ancestrydna results
it was a shocker im everything, im from all nations. I would look at forms now and wonder, what do i mark . Because im everything. And i marked other. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com
for drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Yet again, the president of the United States is ripping into his own Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions, saying he gave sessions the job based on loyalty, solely loyalty. Apparently, instead of qualification. Listen to the president. He took the job and then he said, im going to recuse myself. I said, what kind of a man is this . By the way, he was on the campaign. You know, the only reason i gave him the job because i felt loyalty. He was an original supporter. He was on the campaign. All right, david gergin is with me and jackie kasinich. Theres so much to parse through from this interview this morning. Lets begin on this, the Attorney General, only hired
because of loyalty. Loyalty above all else. A theme for this president. For a man who has paid for and works for the american taxpayer. Absolutely. Its important to go back to fundamentals here. The president of the United States is the ultimate guardian of our rule of law in the United States. The Attorney General is the appointee of the president to carry that out. And to protect the rule of law. Donald trump now has been on a tear to violate all the norms that we normally associate with protecting the rule of law, going after his Attorney General like this is one more example. But also, the way he has praised now a convicted felon, Paul Manafort, for essentially resisting any cooperation with the justice department, with various investigations. And at the same time, he attacked his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, who agreed to cooperate and tell the truth
under oath. Yes, it didnt reflect well on the president , it implicated him. But you know, he, the president , is our guardian. If we cant if we cant expect protection from the guardian, where can we turn . We have become a nation without a rule of law. You can turn to the coequal branch of government, you can turn to congress, because thats a big part of their mandate is to check the executive branch. You know, we heard from republicans this morning. Its mum, pretty silent from House Speaker paul ryans team, from Mitch Mcconnells team. Where is the check . Its a really good question. You are right, it should be with congress. But theyre being quiet because they dont want this election to be about President Trump. He is very good about turning the entire functions of the government into being all about
him. He just said that with the justice department. Its all about loyalty, its all about him, its all about protecting him. Thats what you heard from senator rounds. Thats what you heard from people on the hill this week, saying that he is the president. What do you want us to do . You could launch investigations. You could do this. You could do that. We are ahead of a midterm. They want to talk about the economy. They want to talk about taxes. Right now, all theyre doing is spending their time talking about President Trump. And that in a lot particularly talking about house congressional districts, could be very problematic. David, let me ask you about the voter, right, and what this is going to do to the republican voter and the staunch trump voter. A guy that i have interviewed for years, made a ton of money in the oil boom, a big republican donor, fascinating because he stood so closely with
the president on everything, until now. Here is what he says. This cohen stuff is an earthquake. Cohen is admitting trump told him to commit a crime. A lot of people in trump world have been spinning and spinning. How do you spin a fact . This is a hard fact in a formal setting thats unavoidable. Is he an anomaly . Are we going to see more of that in. I think thats one of the big, big questions. If people like that begin to turn, you will see the numbers begin to crumble, support for trump begin to crumble. I think he is more protected in rural parts of the country where his base is very strong. But i think a danger part is in the suburbs. You have a lot of people in the suburbs are still open minded and havent made up their mind necessarily. They like what trump has done for the economy. But theyre probably aghast by all the rest. Which way will they go . The republicans, after
of all of these scandals unfolding. Now we bring us to the midterms. If they lose the house, if they lose seats, sure, the president will blame it on other things. He will be a very large presence of that. That will be a real live consequence. We will have to see if that happens. If not, you will see a very emboldened president , if the republicans keep control. David . I think thats absolutely right. I come back to this, republicans, by tieing themselves as tightly as they have to donald trump, are going to face more and more problems unless they change course. From my Point Of View i know they wont do this. I know they will be against it. I think they ought to draw three red lines for the president. Do not shut down the Mueller Investigation. Second red line is, do not start pardoning people like Paul Manafort. Third red line is, when and if Mueller Subpoenas you, go and testify. Talk. This morning, south africa wants clarification for what it is calling, quote, hysterical comments from President Trump. What were those comments . Let me read you what the president wrote last night. I have asked Secretary Of State mike pompeo to study the south africa land and farm seizures and largescale killing of farmers. They claimed they were seizing land from white farmers. David mckenzie joins me this morning. What is the president talking about . Reporter he is talking about a fox news report and a Lightning Rod often for white nationalists around the world. Let me start off by saying there are two factual inaccuracies in the tweet and then the report. There are no farms being seized by the government. The other being that while there are there is a broad issue
with crime, of course, in south africa, there isnt some high level of farm murders specifically right now. In fact, one Farm Organization saying its at a 20year low. The issue broadly is this issue of land in south africa, which is a deeply emotional issue in this country with a racist past. 70 of people owning private land here are white South Africans. You look at the demographics. Thats something the government and others are trying to change. Here is the response from the South Africans. South africa rejects this narrow perception which only seems to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past. A very swift response, because of that tweet, which mentions the Secretary Of State. It takes on a whole official kind of air about it, even beyond the fact that it was the president of the United States wading into this issue. No response yet back to the South African Government from the white house on it this
morning. We will keep an eye on that. Thank you for the fact check this morning. Meantime, National Security adviser john bolton talking tough with his russian counterpart on election meddling. They just met. Listen to this. We werent able to Reach Agreement on that. We decided to go ahead and we will each speak individually, which is what im doing now. On the whole, i would say we made considerable progress. I made it clear that we wouldnt tolerate meddling in 2018 and that we were prepared to take necessary steps to prevent it from happening. This meeting that just happened today was a followup to the held sisinki summit. Lets go to michelle kosinski. I mean, these two men not on the same page. Bolton made that very clear. It was so difficult than with a we saw in helsinki. The u. S. And russia are it seems never going to be on the same page, at least any time soon, on election meddling. Russia denies it, calls it fake news, say its a big hoax, sounds a lot like language we hear in other ways relating to russia on the part of the u. S. On election meddling, National Security adviser john bolton has been tough on russia. Some consider him to be a russia hawk. He has spoken out harshly against russian bad behavior many, many times in the past. When you get him in this kind of scenario, they are in geneva, he is with his russian counterpart, you feel certain he is going to raise it, he is going to Say Something like that. And he made it pretty clear that he said, its not going to be tolerated. Were going to do something about it. Do not mess in our elections. Of course not. Thats a silly question. I just spoke to him literally a few minutes ago. We have performed here in exactly the way i think the two leaders would have expected us to. You know, honestly, have a little faith in the American People who elected him president. Reporter that sound was in response to a question from a bbc journalist at this Press Conference where they asked if President Trump is a security risk. You heard john bolton there say, you know, no, have faith in the American People, they know how to pick a president. Thats a silly question. With that, the Press Conference ended. Okay. Michelle, thank you for walking us through all of it this morning. Up next for us, its called catch and kill. This morning, were learning new details about just how far Michael Cohen went to protect his client when trump was running for president. Like this washer and dryer for 539. 99 each. And this refrigerator for 899. 99. Hurry in to sears today. Not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . Now thats cool coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. And no surgery. Results and Patient Experience may vary. Some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort,and swelling. Ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting. Com today for your chance to win a free treatment. But i am a simple farmer. Bas my life is here. [telephone ring] ahoyhoy. Alexander graham bell here. No, no, my number is one, you must want two two, i say like my father before. [telephone ring] like my father before. Ahoyhoy as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Facial wipes may be convenient for removing makeup, but they dont always leave your skin completely clean. Try olay daily facials. Simply add water to activate the dry cloth and release a unique 5in1 cleansing formula, which works deeply to exfoliate, tone, and soften the skins surface, while restoring hydration. Plus, each wipe provides a more complete clean, than the 1 Makeup Remover wipe without leaving behind residue. For a more complete clean, try olay daily facials. Brand power. Helping you buy better. Little things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not a cream. Its a pill that treats moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. It may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Otezla is associated with. An increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts,. Or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines
and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Welcome back. With Michael Cohens guilty plea, new details about the National Enquirers relationship with the Trump Campaign has come to light. Cohen admits he worked with american media, they owned the National Enquirer. He worked with them to bury stories that made then candidate trump look bad. It could have hurt him in winning the president ial election. We have learned that this socalled Catch And Kill Strategy was conjured up just after then candidate trump
entered the race, back in 2015. Brian stelter is with me. He is our senior media correspondent. This is your reporting. Walk us through how extensively we now know Michael Cohen worked with ami to bury this stuff. We heard about catch and kill for several months. It had been based on media reports. Now for the first time, Michael Cohen in his own words is admitting to this behavior. Thats part of the guilty plea. Theres so much detail in these Government Court filings. Some of the detail does involve this Media Company that was acting more like a Political Advocacy Group than a newsroom. The National Enquirer, everyone knows it. Its a supermarket tablet. It does enplmploy journalists. Its incredible to think that behind the scenes, it was hearing about bad news for trump and burying it with the help of Michael Cohen. This was a partnership behind the scenes where they were weaponized to help trump and
hurt his enemies. What about the guy at the helm of this . It appears from the Wall Street Journal reporting, he is cooperating with prosecutors. Thats the new development that i think make u. S. Wonder about the friendship between trump pecker. He provided details, including trumps knowledge of the deals. When pecker was subpoenaed earlier this year, he cooperated. He handed over a lot of information to prosecutors. That would indicate thats one of the reasons why the government was able to get cohen to plead guilty. The government had a lot of evidence. We know the president loves, i think is a fair word, loves the National Enquirer. Lets jog peoples memory about what he has said over the years. The National Enquirer did a story. They have a very good record of
being right. I have always said, why didnt the National Enquirer get the Pulitzer Prize for edwards and o. J. Simpson . You cant knock the National Enquirer. It has brought many things to light, not all of them pleasant. Yes, thats true. Especially about trumps enemies and opponents. Just flatly untrue things. Ted cruzs father and this pecker and trump friendship, in the past he said pecker should run time. Theres all these tweets about his friend david pecker. They are palm beach buddies. Now that we know he cooperated, it makes you wonder, is trump going to turn against pecker. I know one other new development from Michael Cohens information is that there could be more people within the Trump Campaign that were involved in squashing these stories. This is still the mystery. This is the part we dont know. Court filings say cohen and pecker worked with one or more members of the Trump Campaign in this partnership to keep bad news out of the news. We dont know how many of those Campaign Members were involved and who they were. That is an unknown. We do know this started just two months after Trumps Campaign started. According to the government, this collaboration started in august 2015. It make u. S you think when trums bashing the fake news, attacking real journalists, think about his record. He had a Media Company in his pocket helping him during the campaign. He seems to have an interesting relationship with this particular source of news. Thinking, i did it then, why cant i do it now. Duncan hunter set to be in court later today on charges he and his wife misused a quarter of a Million Dollars in Campaign Finances. To buy big things, nice trips to
hawaii and italy, luxurious vacations and an Airline Ticket for the family pet rabbit. Hunter maintains he is innocent. He calls the charges dirty tricks brought on by democrats. Sources tell cnn that the decision was made by a u. S. Attorney appointed by Republican Attorney general Jeff Sessions. The president says the stock market would crash if he were impeached. One of trumps former economic advisers weighs in on that next. Hey allergy muddlers. Are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec®. Its starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. That would only be if democrats take the house back in november. The president warns, dont go down that road. Here is how he explains it. Listen. You know, i guess its Something Like high crimes and i dont know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job. I will tell you what, if i ever got impeached, i think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor. Because without this thinking, you would see you would see numbers that you wouldnt believe in reverse. Lets talk about that. With me now is steven moore, Senior Economics Analysts for cnn. He advised the president on all things economy during the campaign. Good to have you here. Were going to get to China Tariffs in a moment. I had to get to you to ask you to weigh in on that statement. Can i just read it again . If he were impeached, the market would crash and a lot of people would be very poor. Really . Look, this is a president who has phenomenal economic record since the day he was elected. Theres no question. The stock market is up 40 since the election of donald trump. The economy is firing on all cylinders. I think that if trump were removed from office, i dont think thats going to happen, but if it did, i think it would cause a lot of problems for the stock market. Mike pence would be president then. Thats a great point. With the same policies. Thats a fair point. Im going to make another point thats related to this. I made this point a couple months ago on cnn and got a lot of blow back. Richard nixon probably would not have been impeached or had to leave office if he had been presiding under a strong economy. Im not excusing anything about what Richard Nixon did with respect to watergate. President nixon could not withstand the political heat
because americans felt like the direction the economy and the direction of the country was going in the wrong direction at that time. Would you extend that analogy then to president clinton and the economy then in. Yes. Exactly. The economy was doing wonderfully. The stock market was through the roof. Americans said, we dont care about this stuff. As long as the country is going in the right direction, as it is now, people look at thats essentially you saying the coequal branch of government, Congress Doesnt Care at all about its responsibility to check the executive branch. Im not saying that. Im just saying you are saying as long as the Chi Is Go Economy The when the economy is doing really well, as it is doing right now, and look whats happened to Donald TrumpsApproval Rating with the American People. Even as these the russia story and the story with manafort and cohen have evolved, Donald TrumpsApproval Rating has gone up. How do you explain that . Its 42 . Im going with our poll. Were going to use our polling. I can speak to the methodology there. Its above where president s clinton, reagan and carter were at this point in their presidency. He would shall see. Let me get to you on this, thats whats happening right now, midnight overnight the new tariffs, 25 taxes on chinese goods kicked in. China retaliated. This transpired in the last few hours. The Federal Reserve warned yesterday that if this escalates, its going to depress the economy, its going to hurt the soaring economy. Has the president miscalculated on this one . I think actually trump is winning on this trade war with china. I think you are seeing china starting to show signs of real
panic. Your general point is right that if this escalates, its bad for the economy. Theres no doubt about this. If trump wins and gets real concessions and capitulation from china, which i predict is going to happen before the end of the year, then i think the economy is even stronger. Yes, this is a risky strategy. Its a highstakes game of poker trump is playing. I think he will win. Can you help me understand why . You are saying this. My guest last hour who is a businessowner, supportive of the tariffs about to testify before Congress Tomorrow said this. You are predicting. Can you point me to one piece of evidence that shows you that xi is bending . Well, look at whats happened to the chinese stock market. Its down 20 this year. You are seeing a lot of disinvestment in china. The growth rate has been cut in half. My sources i do have sources who follow the chinese economy, tell me theres a real sense of
panic. Thats not just me. The Wall Street Journal reported this, the Washington Post reported it, theres a real sense of panic. They dont know how to deal with donald trump. They cant withstand a trade war. I made this point before and i will make it again. If we cant trade with china, would it hurt the u. S. Economy . Absolutely it would hurt us. If China Cant Trade with the United States, it throws their economy into a recession. They cant withstand this trade war. I think they will back down. I really do. I think all American People, regardless of their politics, hope you are right and hope this does not depress the economy. We gotta see. Steven moore, its nice to have you on. Thanks for being with me. Thank you. Ohio state has Sis Speuspens Head Football Coach urban meyer for mishandling Abuse Allegations regarding a former Assistant Coach under him. You will hear from meyer next. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job
from any one else. Why accept it from an allergy pill . Flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Its more complete allergy relief. Flonase. Rewards me basically aeverywhere. Om so why am i sliding into this ski lodge with my mini horse . Because hotels. Com lets me do me. Sorry, the cold makes him a little horse. Hotels. Com. You do you and get rewarded. On the built ford tough f150. So hurry and save big on ford, americas bestselling brand. Get zero percent financing for sixty months plus twentyeight hundred bonus cash on a 2018 f150 xlt equipped with 2. 7 liter ecoboost. Welcome back. Ohio state has suspended their head football coach urban meyer for first three games of the season. Some people blasting this this morning saying, thats it . This is a partial suspension. The final two weeks of the suspension, he is able to coach during the week. He is not allowed to coach the game. This Bleacher Report brought to you by ford, going further so
you can. It took the Board Of Trustees 11 hours of discussion to come to this conclusion. The main topic they were discussing, meyers response or lack thereof. He failed to take sufficient management action. Meyer offered this response. What message do you have for Courtney Smith . I have a message for everyone involved in this. Im sorry were in this situation. Im just sorry were in this situation. Failure to acknowledge her directly has also gained heat for him. Meyer admitted he knew about a 2009 abuse allegation made by smiths exwife but he was not aware of a 2015 incident until last month. Zach smith denied the Abuse Allegations. He was fired from the team in
july. Smiths attorney told cnn his client should not have married Courtney Smith adding vengeance against her exhusband resulted in Collateral Damage to urban meyer, gene smith and the ohio state university. A federal investigation is being pursued into ohio states response to allegations of sexual abuse against a former athletic doctor. The long awaited, much anticipated head to head Match Play Showdown between tiger woods and Phil Mickelson is on. Its for high stakes. The grand prize is for a whopping 9 million. Winner taking all. They are billing this like a heavyweight title fight in boxing. You know theres going to be trash talking involved. Theres also cool opportunities. Bleacher report will be at the forefront giving access, live coverage will be available on