Dupree. Former assistant attorney general under president george w. Bush. Boy, we have a lot of legal issues to get to today. We need your Expert Opinion and your smile and laugh. Tom absolutely. Ready to get to it. Melissa Michael Cohen could learn his fate today. Reports from inside the courtroom are that cohen says he takes full responsibility for crimes including Campaign Finance violations and lying to congress. Prosecutors claim that the president directed cohen to pay off two women who alleged that they had affairs with the president. Earlier, President Trump distancing himself from any alleged involvement in the Campaign Finance violations, telling reuters Michael Cohen is a lawyer. I assume you would know what he was doing. Number one, it wasnt a campaign contribution, as it were. Its only civil. Even as it is only civil, there is no violation based on what we did. But democrats like Eric Swalwell blasted the president s defense. Lets go back to april 5th when the president was aboard air force one and said he had no knowledge of any of these payments. So now here we are, hes acknowledging the payments. He is a lying president and a lying president is a week president. I dont think we should hang our hats on these payoffs to Stormy Daniels and others, but i think they show that he is a shadowy operator and its probably more important to look at how he has conducted himself as it relates to russia. Melissa live at the u. S. District court in new york city with more. Laura . Good afternoon. It has certainly been a very busy morning and a lot of people have spoken in front of the judge. We understand that the sentencing is happening in just mere moments. Both defense attorneys, prosecutors, and now Michael Cohen have all spoken in front of judge William Holly the third to express their view of who Michael Cohen really is. Michael cohen is kind of the lead right now because he got up and was able to speak directly. This is the the most that we have heard from him in regards all the charges against him. He did address the court, saying it is a getting my freedom back. Ive been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business is that i deeply admired. He said hes dated they are here for one reason, that he takes voice runs ability for each act that he pleaded guilty to, including those indicating the president of the United States. There was one moment our producers tell us that he did tear up in court, apologizing to the public, saying he deserved to know the truth and a lying se was unjust. He said he had a Blind Loyalty to the president. He mentioned the president s tweet on calling him weak. He added that his weakness was a Blind Loyalty to donald trump, saying he felt it was his duty to cover up his dirty deeds. As we heard from the others who spoke in front of the judge, and remember, everybodys trying to get in front of the judge to give him their side. The prosecutor, the Southern District of new york, they want a harsh sentence for Michael Cohen. Robert muellers team was here today, the prosecutor, who talks to the judge about the cooperation Michael Cohen has given their office in terms of the russia probe. No cameras or cell phones allowed, still waiting for so many to run out and tell us what the sentence will be. We understand there is a federal sentencing guideline that can go between 42 and 63 months. We hear it might be somewhere in between but really nobody knows until the moment the judge gives his sentence, which we are expecting at any moment. Melissa . Melissa laura, thank you for that. Tom, i will bring it out to the couch to start. I think everybody watching this is wondering, what is the significance of what happens today for the president . Tom right. The first question, of course, the significance as far as Michael Cohen goes. Weve been speculate about where the sentence will go. My prediction is that he will go low 40s in terms of the month that cohen is sentenced to jail. The fact is, today will be a tough day for Michael Cohen. Its a day of reckoning for him. It has been a long time coming. We know that the president doesnt like Michael Cohen treatment of the prosecutors dont like Michael Cohen. It remains to be seen whether the judge likes him. My guess is the answer is probably not. As far as the significance of the president , i dont think todays hearing is going to have any direct impact. Todays hearing is largely but what Michael Cohen noble doing for the next several years. I dont think we will learn anything new today, factually, that we dont already know or wasnt already spelled out in the plea agreement or in the sentencing brief that have already been filed till. Melissa what about people are focused on this, what does it mean . Is the president implicated in something criminal as you had Michael Cohen sit down and say that he is pleading guilty to, among other things, tax evasion, Campaign Finance, and lying to congress . Certainly come of those three, the Campaign Finance would have to do with the president. The tom i think thats the one that comes the closest. We know that Campaign Finance lot is one of the greatest areas of law there is. There are very few clearcut lines. It seems to me that the present has a defense, assuming that it wasnt a violation of Campaign Finance law. This is the same issue that entrapped senator john edwards, you may remember. He was ultimately acquitted at trial, he was missed tried on various counts. So the president has a theoretical defense. In the court of public opinion, its not a defense necessarily that is going to resonate with a lot of people. I think thats issue the present will have to navigate. Marie i agree, theres the legal piece and the court of public opinion. Going back to something that was in the intro, they are, we should care about the president lying about this. Even if its not criminal. He has said repeatedly on record melissa we will get back to that and once i can. Have to pause right now and let the rest of our stations join us. Fox stations. Melissa i Melissa Francis in new york. Former attorney to President Trump, Michael Cohen, learning his fate today as a federal judge has announced his sentence and it is 36 months. 36 months right now for Michael Cohen. Thats what we are learning. At this time you want to go back to laura, who is standing outside the courthouse and has more details on that. Laura . Yes, the judge just announcing that sentence moments ago. 36 months for Michael Cohen. As the reports coming from the courthouse right now. We are waiting for the producers to come outside to verify that. By all intents and purposes, we have that word coming from inside of the courthouse. This was a timeline that was to be debated in front of that edge today, which it was. With prosecutors from the Southern District of new york arguing that this crime of tax evasion and corruption were very serious and deserved to have this type of sentence, while Robert Muellers team argued that he, in fact Michael Cohen had cooperated with them. Not basically asking for leniency, but letting the court know exactly how much she has helped them in recent months. Michael cohen first saying in his memo, his lawyer saying that they wanted no prison time at all. Michael cohen falling on the sword in front of the judge today, talking about the mistakes that utterly he has done but that he said he has helped to cover up for the pres. Those are his wares. We will get more as the attorneys come out. Again, this is unfolding behind us right now. We are waiting to find out if these attorneys are going to come out and speak to us. We understand that cohens team may give us a prepared statement at any moment. Back to you. Melissa we will stand by for that. In the meantime, we want to bring in bret baier who is chief anchor and host a special report. Brett, some have speculated it could be as much as four years question at 48 months . And said he got three years. What he think direction will be . Listen, this is the lower end of the sentencing guideline. It is too significant, three years. Some reporting out of the courtroom, as the judge read the sentence, judge pauley, cohen apparently closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as if in disbelief. In addition to the 36 months, he has two months concurrent for lying to congress as well as a forfeiture of 500,000 restitution and a fine of 50,000. This is significant. We can talk about the pressure that has been put on cohen, and the pressure that continued to be put on cohen. This actually could be relooked at, this sentencing, for up to a year if he provides additional cooperation to the special counsel. A lot of people are looking at this as more of the effort to put the screws on cohen because he didnt provide everything that they thought he should provide in his cooperation with the special counsel and the Southern District of new york. Melissa but there are others who take the flip side of that and say that you dont sit down and sentence someone until you are done with the whole procedure. That you wouldnt rely on their testimony after the point that they have sat down and been sentenced. You can kind of argue the other side of it. That he has already given it up. Definitely. But hes not a great witness to begin with, melissa. He obviously doesnt have a great track record with the truth and he is obviously pleading guilty to lying multiple times. This could be part of and this is speculation part of the prosecutors efforts to increase the pressure on him, perhaps. Maybe not. But, in the filings, the u. S. Southern district of new york clearly had a problem with how he acted and really wanted to not give him a break even though he did cooperate with the special counsel. Melissa as people look at at this sentence and they look at three years, you dont want to just look at it through the lens of this is about those Campaign Finance violations. There are a lot of things you learned about along the way, including tax division for thats a big deal and carries a big punishment with it, right . Yes. The hearing just ended, so we should see the people come out and the lawyers perhaps give a statement. But, that is true. There are a number of different elements to this. Many of them deal with Michael Cohens businesses, we should point out. The other thing is, to take a bigger perspective on this, candidate trumps personal lawyer. He came to reporters and said he is ready to take a bullet for donald trump and handling everything in his businesses. And at the beginning of the campaign, really interacted with a lot of us. The fall from grace is pretty strong. You wonder exactly what he has told special counsel and the other prosecutors here. Harris hey, bret. Its harris. I want to get this and quickly because youre talking about the relationship the president had with his former attorney. Apparently, before it wrapped up, Michael Cohen we have reporters in the courtroom and they been coming out of telling us whats going on cohen told the judge that he felt it was his duty to cover up the president s dirty deeds. There is some reporting, too, that he also said he had Blind Loyalty. I know you and melissa were just talking about that relationship with the present. Which led me to take a path of darkness instead of light. To be learned much about Michael Cohen today . [laughs] well, hes not a good lawyer. We learned that. I think thats fair to say. His statement that he was referencing the president s tweet, saying that he called him weak, and it was correct. But he said, for different reason then he was implying. The bees because time and again i felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds. He doesnt get into specifics there about what hes talking about. I would venture a guess that we will hear from the president on twitter or someplace today in reaction to all of this. Obviously, this is a serious thing. Three years in prison is not anything to joke about. Melissa you made the point that hes not a terrific lawyer, and this is something that we have heard other people say along the way, especially recently. We know that we are just seeing now that he has a forfeiture of half a Million Dollars restitution of 1. 4 million, and a fine of 50,000. A lot of the punishment that has been focused on him, and the criticism, is the fact that hes an officer of the court. So he is supposed to be upholding the law and he is supposed to be representing the law. Was that a big component of this, do you think . I think so. It seemed like the prosecutors, the way they were these findings and recommendations, they were pretty mad. They were pretty angry that cohen answered the way he did, took him on the right at the beginning. Clearly, they wanted to see some significant sentences. Thats how they wrote it. We are told the judge would allow cohen to voluntarily surrender on march 6th. So he is getting some time, here. He didnt have to bring his toothbrush to court to go right to jail. So he is going to have some time. Again, that could fit into this talking to the prosecutors one more time, to see if theres anything else he may want to tell Robert Mueller. Melissa all right, bret baier. Thank you so much. Harris we want to go back outside now to the courtroom and that area where you see the brass door spending. We have a reporters. Laura is going to join us, and Rick Leventhal. Laura was in the courtroom. We are going to listen in as you depose our own reporter. I was giving a little bit of color of things that were coming out of the courtroom. Now lets get closer to first person from rick. Rick, i need you to come in. Weve got Rick Leventhal here joining us, he was inside the courtroom today. We hear its the 36 months, three years, but i have the details you can tell us about the money. 36 months and three years, supervised release probation on the first group of charges. Then another two months on the second, plus a few thousand dollar fines on each. So 100,000 in fines. The sentences would be served concurrently and he is going to be allowed to voluntarily surrender. That will happen on march 6th. He has almost three months of freedom left before he goes in. Its less than the recommended sentence from prosecutors. Right. This is an interesting situation that we have outside the courthouse. We have done this before, harris, the reporters are out here and we have to divide and conquer. Weve got producers inside. Im glad you are able to be in there today. It was fascinating. I was inside the courtroom, and Michael Cohen is obviously theyre flanked by his attorneys. In the end, after his attorney spoken both sets of attorneys from the government spoke, he was allowed to get up and speak. We have rumors this morning that the dont like it might happen, and he was very serious when he walked in. He was prepared. His demeanor was serious the entire time. He was finkels attention to what was being said the court in paris when it was his chance to get up, he said that before your honor come humbly, painfully aware that we are here for my actions. He said that Blind Loyalty to donald trump let me to choose a path of darkness over light. Time and again i felt it necessary to cover up for his dirty deeds rather than listen to my own moral compass. This is Michael Cohen telling that to the judge. In the end, his voice broke when he talked about his family. His entire family was in the courtroom. His father, his mother, his motherinlaw, his fatherinlaw, his wife, his children, his brother and sister, his cousins. He talked about how much support hes gotten from his family. He said i know i have with them all down, and it will become my lifes work to be the best version of myself. Thats when his voice broke. He said im truly sorry and i promise i will do better. What was the reaction from the family . Oftentimes who will hear gasps, see tears. None of that. I didnt see any of that. I just saw them listening intently. I didnt see anyone wiping a tear. Everyone just focus very much on what he was saying and listening to see what the judge would say. Stormy daniels Attorney Michael Avenatti was there. Did you see him . He was in the back of the courtroom listening. Just calm. There was a lot of very strict decorum in there. Everybody was in their seats, paying close attention. I think the headlines where that cohen spoke, apologized to the court, apologized to his family and friends, and hes going to prison. Melissa laura, if you could ask rick where is Michael Cohen right now close to we know he doesnt have to report until march 6th, that he has some time to organize his things. We should have gotten you and your peace. Where is Michael Cohen right now . We know that he has time for the march 6th. When i left, ran out of the courtroom to come down here, he was flanked by his two attorneys and we expect that he will, once he has some sort of postsentencing consultation, will come back out the front doors of the courthouse and get into a vehicle and go home. Because he does have some freedom. Legal experts have told us he will probably have about 60 days to get his affairs in order, to turn himself in. So it sounds like thats what they will do. The judge asked his attorney if you had a date in mind for this voluntary turning himself in. The attorney said not really, and the judge said okay, march 6th. And that was it. Melissa laura and rick, thanks to both of you. I know you will stay right on top of the story right there. Thank you to both of you. Joining us now is jonathan turley, constitutional law professor at George Washington university. He is also a fox news contributor. Sir, thank you for joining us. What is your reaction to the sentence in the fine . I think you got a good sentence from his perspective. I wouldnt have been that generous if i were the judge. He had two aggravating conditions, or criteria, that the prosecutors raised that i think probably should just negate any cooperation he gave. He also had divided prosecutors. Some said he wasnt very cooperative, mueller says he is. But the judge gave him as good a sentence as he could possibly have hoped for. For those of us who have been longtime critics of Michael Cohen and i certainly am among them this is not a fall from grace. Because i cant remember a time when he was in a state of grace. Cohen had a dreadful reputation as a lawyer. He was a heavy, he would threaten reporters, he threatened even students that he viewed as standing in opposition to President Trump. The prosecutors in the Southern District relayed some of those threats that he made, to reveal what they felt was the true character or lack thereof of Michael Cohen. Melissa does that extend to the president . If you say that this was the first malady of the person who was representing him and was characterized as his fixer how much of that then rubs off on the president , or is it like the president said this is my lawyer and i was listening to his advice . No, the president does bear responsibility, here. He picked Michael Cohen. Michael cohen never had a good legal repetition. He never had a reputation as someone who was a particularly good lawyer. He was a bit of a thug and the president hired him. So there is no escaping that. Last year i wrote a column saying the president needed to sever Michael Cohen as fast as he could before this mcdermitt and daniels things are in the white house. Instead, the president brought him closer. He had a very famous dinner with him at maralago. Those were mistakes. Harris jonathan, its harris. Im actually joined by another legal mind, tom dupree. I wanted to get the two of you talking, because we talked before the show about a prison sentence and signals its end. Then we heard from a reporters who said hey, there might be room for renegotiation in the year. Jonathan, what do you think . Im going to ask tom take over. I do think that there is a real possibility of the prosecutors coming back. Mueller claims that hes not done with , and there is some lingering questions that some of us have. Mueller has suggested that cohen has been in contact with people in the white house during the period where he lied to congress. If thats true, and cohen is saying that his perjury to congress was known in advance, this can get even more serious for the administration. Tom i generally agree with that. When you look at the sentencing memorandum from prosecutors, they were clearly setting a very strong signal that they hadnt gotten everything they thought they might be able to get from Michael Cohen. I suspect this is not the last chapter in the Michael Cohen saga. All that said, its my view that, if Michael Cohen has valuable information that he wanted to turn over to the prosecutors, now is the time for him to have done it. The prosecutors, i think, have been generous in giving him the option to come back. Harris two generous . To hear you saying, jonathan. That maybe there is moral dont make too much leeway. Do you think its too generous question works because i do. I wrote a column saying that this was his last hustle. He has hustled everyone throughout his career. Even after you turned on the president , it came out later that he had basically sold access to Companies Like at t. He then created a site to get donors to give him hundreds of thousands of dollars so that he could testify against the president. He hustles. I think the judge, here, was slightly hustled. I think he put it too low. Melissa i would ask you, then that sound like a terrible witness. If hes a known hustler and huckster, its obviously bad for the presse because the president hired that person to represent him. But how can you believe anything he says from here on out, whether its to his benefit or against the president or whatever . Tom i think Michael Cohen to be an absolute the atrocious witness for the reasons you mention. I think people will doubt his word. He has obviously admitted to lies and that sort of thing. To the extent he has values come i think its in the form of information that he could turn over. But we will see what happens. I think he got a good deal today from that judge. Melissa okay. Yeah, jonathan, what do you think about that . Well, i agree with it. I think if Michael Cohen was disappointed he might have been disappointed on the fines. As far as we know, he made 4 million selling access and influence after the election. He also made hundreds of thousands on a go fund me site. They may have bitten a little deeper than he anticipated. If he was disappointed with 30 months, he is wildly out of sync with reality. They initially asked the judge for zero jail time, which was perfect lunacy. Melissa we are watching the front of the courthouse right now because were waiting for Michael Cohen to emerge after the sentencing. Well bring that to you soon as it happens. In the meantime we are joined on the couch by katie pavlik and marie harf. We can see some people coming out right now. We are waiting for people to come over to the mikes. Katie, i will ask for your reaction. Katie at Michael Cohens families walking out front and operate tom, i had a question for you. Now that the Michael Cohen saga somewhat over with the sentencing, although hes not reporting to federal prison until march, my question is about the applications here for President Trump. To prosecutors, that the president , while a candidate directed them to violet Campaign Finance laws. What does that mean for the president about kind of evidence would Michael Cohen have to show for prosecutors to move forward with that, with a commander in chief . Melissa before you answer it, we want to let our viewers know that the group really saw walk out on the camera followed him that was his daughter and his son, also his wife coming out ahead of him pizza be expected shortly. Go ahead. Tom katie, to your question provides a great question. You cant spin his testimony as a victory for the president. Its harmful. That said, to make a stronger case against the president , they will need something more than the word of Michael Cohen. Some evidence, some smoking gun. An admission from the present. Traffic prayed something along those lines. If youre going to federal court in trying to convict the president of the United States based on the word of Michael Cohen, thats a tough one. Katie what about the question about indicting a sitting president . There been questions in the last week about sentencing, that may be the present will be indicted while hes in the oval office but they could wait it out and he could face these kinds of charges on the other end as a private citizen. Tom i think the president is in no danger of indictment during his time in office, because they will respect those guidelines. Once he leaves office, if he gets an open question prayed i will say this thats probably at least two years. Melissa we can see marco cohen right now emerging from the courtroom. It looks like he is going directly to departure. We had thought he might say something, but looking at that camera angle, im not sure we just got the back of that car. Can you tell me . It looks like he is pulling away. He did not talk to the press. We saw his family come out shortly before that. Marie . Marie it so interesting when you look at the downfall of Michael Cohen, as bret was talking about a few minutes ago, he said in his remarks today today is the day that im getting my freedom back. I have been living in a personal and mental incarceration ever since the day that i accepted the offer to work for a real estate mogul whose business acumen i deeply admired. This is Michael Cohen, he feels very emotional. It feels like hes having some sort of moment of clarity and he wanted to tell the truth, as he says come he wanted to bear it all. Turning on his longtime boss. This is like a shakespearean downfall in some ways. Its interesting watching him and hearing what he said in the courtroom. The other point i would mention is that Congress Also wants to still talk to him. They may do that before march. Melissa that would be a big win. One of the things he planned to was long before congress. So, that was Michael Cohen prayed the president s former attorney, who pled guilty today and was sentenced to among other things, tax evasion campaign fid a number of crimes. He was sentenced to 36 months. Hes also turning over at least a hundred thousand dollars in fines. Please stay tuned to Fox News Channel and this fox nation for continuing coverage of this story. I met Melissa Francis in new york we will bring it up to the couch i get a broader reaction. Almost everybody agrees that this seems like a pretty lenient sentence at this point. What does that tell you but the future and whats next . Tom the first thing i would say is that Michael Cohen got a break today. To be sure, his lawyers asked for zero jail time. That was never in the cards. The fact that the reporter was saying that his family didnt audibly gasp with 36 months was spoken tells me that this was on the lighter end of what they anticipated. As far as where he goes from here, first question is whether he has any more to give to the prosecutors. That remains an open question. Its possible he will come back now that hes been sentence and try to offer more information in exchange for a lighter sentence, although i dont see that happening in the near future at least. I think you have a question Going Forward is, where do we go from here as far as the larger mule investigation goes . Today this closes the chapter. It was a long chapter, it was a sordid chapter come but i think it closes this chapter in large part as to Michael Cohen. I dont know where we will go from here as far as mueller goes because honestly he has not shown his cards in terms of whatever evidence he has, in terms of what other witnesses he has to talk with. Whether he is satisfied with the answers he has already gone from the president. I think although we can put a period on this part of the investigation, there is still a lot of stuff to come. Melissa and that period is Michael Cohen, attorney from the president , former fixer from the president , now sentenced to 36 months. We know that thats that sentel begin in march. We would be back with this and the other big stories of the day. Dont go away newday va home loan for veterans. It lets you borrow up to 100 percent of your homes value. Not just 80 percent like other loans. And that can mean a lot more money for you and your family. With our military service, veterans like us have earned a valuable va benefit. The right to apply for a va home loan. 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Harris we have just seen the sentencing at a federal level of the president s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. That was moments ago when he walked out of the courtroom. It took a short 30 seconds for him to get into the vehicle that was awaiting. He and his team left the courthouse pretty quickly here in new york city. There were some things shouted at him, he didnt say anything going in or out. Bret baier, chief political anchor and host of special report, his back with us now. You know, the constellation around the president years ago, past and recent present, is whats being looked at now. How much does today tell us about the relationships of the people and the in the presidens inner circle . I think it tells us that he made the wrong choice of Michael Cohen. Clearly this is turning around. Moments ago, lenny davis cohens attorney released a statement saying hes no longer going to be as the his attorney. At the appropriate time, after the investigation is complete and mueller gives a report. I assist him in saying all he knows about mr. Term, that includes the community searching for to come and the difference between facts and lies. Mr. Trumps repeated lies cannot contradict stubborn facts. There is the billboard that lenny davis puts out for democratic control committees to ask him to testify, which im sure will happen. To my earlier points, harris, i think this march 6th time may be another bite at the apple for the special counsel to go talk to cohen again. Just to give one more thing in perspective, there are some very unsavory characters and all of this. Think about it. Michael avenatti is in the back of that room. Year presented Stormy Daniels, who just had a ruling from a judge saying she had to pay for Donald Trumps lawyers fees, 300,000, for a defamation suit that was not the judge said it was not appropriate. Michael avenatti has got his own problems. Then you have the filing last night for Michael Flynn, also charged with lying to federal investigators. But the fbi Deputy Director told him to talk to fbi agents without a lawyer and they didnt give him any warning. And mccabe himself is now being looked at and prosecuted potentially for lying to federal investigators. So, there are so many unsavory elements to all of this. Michael cohen is just one of them. Harris im due to sit down with the president at the white house tomorrow for outnumbered over time. For all of this news breaking, bret, and you weighing out what you call unsavory characters, our legal experts this hour say that he got a break in the sentencing. Im wondering how that affects the president , because there has been talk of pardons of people in the circle, so on, so forth. What reporting a hearing in the capital area . Not that he is in the list of pardons. The look of the president s tweets, that is pretty much kind of evidence. Paul manafort is still on the list, obviously the present has said that publicly is a possibility. I think a lot will depend on what goes forth in the next few weeks. It doesnt seem like Robert Mueller is finished. It doesnt seem like they are done, and if they wear, i think we would have seen the big shoe drop already. Harris bret, always great to have you have a program, especially when we have breaking news. Special report, we know where we will be. Thank you. Joining us and we want to bring a jonathan turley, he is constitutional law professor at George Washington university, a fox news contributor. You have told us that you thought this was a pretty light sentence. Does that tell you something new . Is there something more that he sure that we dont know about . What does that tell you . No, i think that the judge followed the lead of mueller on this and said that he was cooperating and gave him this downward departure toward the dash you know, to the 36 month mark. I think thats pretty light considering what this individual has done. Cohen refers to wanting to be the better version of me, but weve never really seen that. Im not sure that would look like. I know what the better version for mueller would look like. I think that mueller has already alluded to cohen acting not alone. He has already said that he was directed, in violating federal election law, by the president. But he also said that he had communications with people at the white house. This is where cohen can still be quite damaging. He lacks credibility, he is perfectly radioactive, but he is given names tubular of people ws and create a false narrative, that will metastasize this further. The question is whether the legal team will make the mistake of bringing him inside the white house where those type of allegations could compromise existing lawyers within the white house. Melissa tom, do we know anything about that . Tom the point that jonathan just made, my sense is that todays sentence really reflects primarily that the federal judge, in this case, is issuing the sentence. Its one of the most subjective things that a judge does, is decide the length of time that somebody will spend in jail. He really gave bob muellers statements a little more weight, may be, then he did to the prosecutors in new york. You will recall that bob mueller was emphasizing the extent to which cohen has cooperated and has been helpful, whereas the prosecutors in new york were in as friendly toward cohen. It sounds like the judge, in looking at all the somewhat conflicting reports, gave may be a little more weight to what mueller was saying possibly. Possibly with an eye toward information that cohen might provide in the future. Katie can make a comment about the political implications of this . Michael cohen now has this legal problem. However, lanny davis lets not forget who he is hes a clinton operative who wants revenge for 2016. In this statement, he says were going to give Michael Cohen the biggest public platform we can over the next couple months before he goes in the prison to talk about the facts surrounding what donald trump wanted him to do during the 2016 election. 2020 is happening now. Democrats want revenge for 2016, Michael Cohen feel slighted by the president after dedicating most of his career for working for him, saying, as bret pointed out to him he would take a boat for the president. This is about palooka power, bolstering Michael Cohen, using in front and center for Public Relations campaigns going into 2020 to try and pay the president as someone with corrupt people around him who they dont want to put back in the white house. Melissa jonathan, before we go, lift us up in one more with jonathan. Marie had said earlier that she felt this was a moment when he was coming forward and having an epiphany. That he wanted to be truthful about what has going down not gone on his life. I would ask for your reaction. Im sorry, but i just dont buy the redemptive sin or take. I wouldnt if i was a judge. This is an individual who has a horrendous record and reputation. He ripped off the public and the government for millions. He got companies to give him 4 million, to sell access and influence. He has tended to go with whatever person he thought would be better for him. I think this was his last hustle. It came out fairly good for him. He will go to jail, but i also think this is the legal version of scratch a lover, find a foe. He is now all in against the president. He is now going to try to damage him in the months to come, and i think mueller is going to try and help them do that. Harris jonathan, i want to what he had for breakfast. Melissa i love that one prayed left and asked me what you have a lot going on. Melissa we are going to let you go, thank you for your time. We have a lot more to discuss on this topic, after the speak. Dont go away. Ok everyone our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition. For strength and energy whoohoo greattasting ensure. With nine grams of protein and twentysix vitamins and minerals. Ensure. Now up to 30 grams of protein for strength and energy [narrator] this is an urgent message from the International Fellowship of christians and jews. There is an emergency food crisis for elderly Holocaust Survivors in the former soviet union. This is a fight against time. What were dealing with is coming out, meeting someone who is 85, 90 years old, cant get around, has no food, has no water, and just wants to give up and die. And thats where we come in. We are called to comfort these people, to be a blessing to their lives. 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Thats because your home is filled with soft surfaces that trap odors and release them back into the room. So, try febreze fabric refresher. Febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics and cleans them away as it dries. Use febreze every time you tidy up to keep your whole house smelling fresh air clean. Fabric refresher even works for clothes you want to wear another day. Make febreze part of your clean routine for whole home freshness. Harris and now we know the sentencing for Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney to the president of the United States. You see this from this hour, as were watching outnumbered. Michael cohen walking after his sentencing today. His family preceded him. One of the things i wanted to ask about today was the fact that you know his family wasnt brought in as much as Michael Flynn. I see you nodding, marie. Marie yes, i figure its interesting Michael Flynns family has been public in a different way, even during the campaign. His son was very active on twitter and such. Michael cohen says one of the reasons for this change in hearts and i still believe there is a little bit of that in their because of how dramatic this has been is his family at his children. If you are a democrat and you are looking today at the president watching this coverage, the president has his former fixer now sentence. His Campaign Manager is said to be sentence. His National Security advisor is said to be sentence. They are cooperating at Different Levels with bob mueller, and if you have a president , i think that makes you nervous. If you are democrats, who are about to take over the house and you say there is a pattern of lying from the president and his team on all of these issues. And we have to get to the bottom of some of them. Harris so your speculation is that the president should be worried, is what you are saying. But it has nothing to do with the court case that bob mueller has put forth, katie. Katie s, russian collusion prayed i would point out that james comey and his testimony last week said that the word collusion isnt a crime, and hes not exactly sure why media people like me keep using it. But its true. You look at the indictments and the sentencing that happened today with Michael Cohen. Paul manafort, they are all personal crimes. I would ask tom the question about whether the president should be nervous. It does feel like the sharks are circling. From a political perspective, it doesnt look good to have people who worked here despite the serious double standard between the way Michael Flynn was treated and the way Hillary Clinton was treated, for example, by fbi agents. It still doesnt look great when it comes to the public view of whats happening. Marie in the cohen sentencing memo, mentions contact with russians. Tom it does. Theres no question the president has made bad hiring decisions in surrounding himself with some of these people. I think from the president s perspective, the thing that has to concern is that with anyone in the situation when you have a prosecutor with an immense leverage against people who had been in the inner sanctum, for the last few years, there is an inevitable coercive force to get them to cooperate. To tell things. Im not saying we would lie under oath and make stories up, but, inevitably, there is going to be this oneway ratchet they get people to say let me figure out how i can wheel and deal and cut a good deal for myself if it means melissa i wouldnt give the president the out that he hired a terrible lawyer. He hired someone as a fixer who was a thug and who roughs people up. Both from whether it was reporters are all the other things that bret baier mention, that was intentional and for a reason prayed thats what he had that guy in his intersectoral. I think it, tragically come all these people we talk about in politics are not great people. You look at the clintons, you look at the president , we just went through George George h. Wh and what a great person he was. Hes the last effective politician, may be because he was a good guy. I think this is all a statement about what it takes to win tom the other thing i would add is that you dont need a fixer if youre not getting yourself into situations that need to be fixed. Melissa the people powerful and politics have fixers because they arent great people. Harris i want to get back to the politics of this. We look at the gap between now and when michael who michael co a prison situation. We were talking off camera and you described it as like a dormitory, more like a club. We have heard that language. 36 months out of the much more time close to 60 months that he could have gotten, we are seeing a softening bear. But what that does is it communicates that there is some time for you to cooperate in some way. What does that mean for democrats . What do you think that they will look for between now and march . Katie . Katie i would caution democrats to hitch their wagon survival , someone who has proo work and be in the salacious situations. Whether democrats want to use Michael Cohen, who has been a proven liar, as someone they want to use politically gives the president. I think they will. Lanny davis, as i already said, is a democratic operative. There is a reason why he took on cohens case, and he said in a statement that they are going to provide the platform to in to talk about everything he can between now and march. Harris is that risky, though . Youve got somebody that the president was actually paying and he couldnt trust them. Tom it is. Melissa good point [laughs] tom the democrats run the risk of bundling this whole thing treat if they use these months to give a forum to the Michael Cohen redemption two, i think thats going to backfired. Harris we will be back. Stay close, everybody. 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Tom, what do you think happens during that time . Is there anything he can do to change his feet . Tom what happens during that time depends on a number of things. One, depends what happens in congress. If the folks in Congress Want to bring him back to answer followup questions now that he and that sort of thing grade on the other hand, i think the American People probably have a bit of coinfo at this point. Harris or analogy to lying tom that, too. I dont think its in their interest particular to bring him back for a two or three months farewell to her before he marie i dont think democrats will. The democrats attacked you, for my own point of view, the bigger questions are what flynn has given up. What metaphor manafort has giv. Cohen is indicative of how donald trump ran his personal life, but the big kahuna is what bob mueller has, what flynn and manafort gave on russia. Thats what they will focus on in the next few months. Melissa katie, i heard of the people talking about us today with respect to flynn that he was never going to get sentenced and this idea that they stand up and say that he cooperated a whole lot that there isnt actually that much evidence for that. We could find out that he didnt cooperate very much, that that sort of a katie i think we dont know. We dont know how much any of these witnesses in the mueller case have cooperated or not. Bob mueller we keep hearing that hes wrapping up his investigation, its ramping up from hes closing down, hes continuing we just dont know how much information or the quality of information any of these players have given. You can kind of gas, based on Michael Cohens history of not being straight with based on anybody, about how credible that information is. Politically come over the next three months, democrats and leadership may want to put cohen to bed but i could tell you the media will be very interested in what he has to say whether its in front of congress or in front of the cameras where lanny davis is going to put in. Melissa on that note, we will be right back for the good. And not so good. For the mundane. The aweinspiring. The heart racing. The heart breaking. Thats what life is all about. Showing up. Unless migraine steals your chance to say i am here. Thats why, we created aimovig. A preventive treatment for migraine in adults. One dose, once a month. Aimovig is proven to reduce the number of monthly migraine days. For some, that number can be cut in half or more. The most common side effects are pain, redness, or swelling at the injection site and constipation. These are your days what will each one bring . Doesnt matter, as long as you can say. I am here. Talk to your doctor about preventing migraine with aimovig. And be there more. Melissa thanks to tom to prepare the final word . Tom i think these events pose a limited chapter to the whole saga. But the one person who knows where this investigation will go is bob mueller. Hes not showing his cards were talking so we will have to see. Katie predictions on how much longer he has to go . Tom i would say the early part of next year. Melissa thats a long time pay thats a lot to talk about. Well be back on noon eastern tomorrow. Heres harris. Harris we continue our coverage they pray the president s former personal lawyer has found out his punishment. We go outnumbered over time paid im harris faulkner. Of all of the associates and allies who have been either investigated or charged, none has been closer to the president of than Michael Cohen. A federal judge has now sentenced cohen to 36 months. That happened in the short little while, three years after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges included lying to congress and paying off the president s alleged mistresses in violation of Campaign Finance law. His attorney