Achieve denuclearization. Hallie jackson joins us live from the white house. How did this come about . Reporter quickly and as a surprise to a lot of folks even inside the west wing. Let me take you into the evening. The policy implications are real. As you mentioned we have now learned that the white house, the president has accepted the invitation to meet kim jongun. We expect to know more in the next couple of minutes. We could talk more perhaps later in the hour with new details from the white house. We will be bringing that to you when it happens. Let me start sort of where the picture picked up. President trump in the Briefing Room about half a shoulder and half a head to say there is going to be a big announcement. I have never seen the president come out of the Briefing Room door like that. He wanted to talk and share information with the reporters. That set off roughly a 90 minute scramble to figure out who would be president this briefing by the south korean security adviser. Presumably they knew what would be said. Nbc news confirmed there was a letter that kim jongun wrote to President Trump delivered via south koreans to the president. And we now know that presumably that letter indicated a desire to meet with donald trump. The white house is going to make that happen. As this announcement was happening yet a number of aides were standing outside when the south korean adviser said the president would be meeting in may. We dont know exactly when. We dont know where this is going to happen. And we dont know sort of who knew about this. In ethiopia you had the secretary of state Rex Tillerson who was asked and said it was a long way off. We are first week of march here. From a policy perspective you just had the south korean delegation come back from pyongyang in which they got facetoface with kim jongun coming over to debrief h. R. Mcmaster and others about what had happened. That is where we learn the news. It has been a roller coaster three hours here at the white house. I expect its not over just yet. Hallie jackson, appreciate that. Joining me now Christopher Hill chief u. S. Negotiator with north korea now at the university of denver. Well, ambassador, what do you make of this . It is in a word extraordinary. First of all, its not extraordinary that the North Koreans invite the u. S. Head of state. What is amazing, of course, is the u. S. Head of state apparently has said yes. And its also kind of noteworthy that the North Koreans said dont worry about those annual military exercises. Were fine with that. This is quite a change, hard to know what to make of it. Certainly for regular members of the Republican Party it must be pretty shocking because when george w. Bush had me doing this he took a lot of grief on the subject of actually talking to the North Koreans and everyone else was quite upset on the republican side. This is quite a change. Needless to say its not at all clear where we are with this. So far north korea has talked about a moratorium. That is not going to cut it. We have to see whether they really will get to denuclearization and there are several steps to that process including Getting International people in there to take the material out. I dont think we are anywhere near there. There has to be a lot of diplomatic state work before this happens. Where will this happen . That seems like the first issue to negotiate if there is going to be a facetoface meeting in which the president of the United States and kim jongun for the First Time Ever in the history of north korea and the United States, where is it going to happen . What is the answer to that . Reporte my advice would be the president should not go to pyongyang nor should he invite kim jongun to washington. We have had ship summits with gorbach gorbachev. One of the reasons we had the balkan deliberations in dayton, ohio was that no one wanted them to come to washington and see the whole process blowup. Maybe we can do it in some out of the way place in the u. S. Or a third country. Its kind of i think no one has really given that thought. Im sure they can come up with something that will work for both parties. That wouldnt be china. I think the North Koreans want to show they can deal with the u. S. And not through china. What im hearing in your voice is someone who is a veteran of this difficult problem for many years is you seem genuinely pleased, pleasantly surprised by this. Am i characterizing that correctly . Yeah. I wouldnt go that far. But i would say that no one has had any really good ideas about how to solve this problem. But if the North Koreans really want to do away with their nuclear weapons, if that is really what is going to happen at the end of this process i think a president ial meeting is appropriate to be part of that. But i think were a long way away from just a declaration that they want to get rid of things because they made declarations before. The question is whether they would agree to have International People take their weapons away. Let me follow up on that. Typically in these kind of International Diplomatic talks there is sort of a kind of ratcheting up of confidence Building Measures on both sides, each side sort of showing the other they are serious and culminating in head of state summit. Are you saying there has to be steps taken before these two heads of state get together . I think we may have lost the ambassador or he may have lost his phone. Either one. Thank you, ambassador Christopher Hill for taking time with us tonight. Turning to the latest in the mueller probe. Paul manafort will face two separate trials. The former Trump Campaign chairman appeared this morning in federal court today in virginia where he pleaded not guilty to tax and bank fraud charges. A judge set trial date for july 10. That is a separate case from the one in washington, d. C. Involving Money Laundering and work in ukraine. Manafort refused the opportunity to merge the sets of charges which means he will have to face a separate criminal trial in washington. That was set to start in september. It means that manafort who is under house arrest has to wear two ankle monitors, one for each jurisdiction. Were not sure what the protocol is for that . Do you stack them both on one ankle. A protester trying to see for himself. Show us your bracelet. Here is your flag. Traitor. Traitor. Youre selling out america to the russians. Manaforts predecessor on the Trump Campaign was on capitol hill to testify before the committee whose russia probe the top democrat told reporters he was not satisfied with the testimony. We requested he be subpoenaed to return to answer certain sets of questions he was unwilling to answer that were pertinent to the investigation. Whether that will be granted by the majority i cannot say. We feel it is very important not only to getting to the truth in terms of our investigation but also in terms of the broader precedent that it sets that we not allow witnesses tell us what they are willing to answer. He wants to bring another witness before the committee eric prince, brother of education secretary and unofficial adviser to the Trump Administration. Mueller gathered evidence that a meeting prince attended in the seychelles islands, prince insisted the facetoface with dmitriev was merely a chance encounter. Happened to be there and met a russian. Who did you meet . Some fund manager. I cant remember his name. We didnt exchange cards. How long was it . The meeting, do you remember . Probably lasted as long as one beer. Thats also what he told investigators last fall. There is an interesting guy from russia you should meet if you have business in the commodities space. I look at minerals and oil and gas so i met him at the bar and had a drink. An associate of those who set up the meeting is now cooperating with the investigation and he is telling them Something Different apparently. We talked before about george nadir who has testified before the grand jury and told investigators that the meeting was set up in advance so that a representative of the trump transition could meet with someone from moscow to discuss future relations, a back channel, in other words. If you look at the timeline what has been reported it seems consistent with that account. Remember, this was all happening during the transition. The same period when Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner were Holding Secret meetings and phone calls. We know that the ambassador meets with flynn and kushner at trump tower, reporting back to moscow that kushner proposed a secret back channel to the kremlin. It has been reported that two weeks later george nater shows up for a meeting at trump tower along with the growned prince of united arab emirates. Within weeks sometime in january came the meeting set up by none other than george nader and attended by erik prince apparently representing the Trump Campaign and the fund manager for the kremlin representing the kremlin. A senior fellow at Brookings Institute center who has known george nader for two decades. What do you make of this story . Let me say i have not heard from george nader since 2002. Certainly when he was very active in washington in the 1990s he published middle east insight magazine in which i was a contributing editor. I contributed perhaps to the last edition of it in 2002. I didnt know the magazine went out of business. Nobody sent me an email. And then he disappeared and i havent heard from mr. Nadir since then. I heard rumors he was in iraq until he appeared again in this particular case. I can tell you about what we know of him. He is an incredibly effective. He makes himself useful. He is nonthreatening, very discrete and keeps things to himself. He is not a back stabber. People liked him and liked to work with him. In the 1990s people didnt really know if he was just in it to make money or if he had a political agenda or if he was on the pay of someone. No one cared because he was useful at a time in the 1990s when it looked like there was a prospect for middle east peace and bringing syria and israelis together. It looks like his core influence was with syria. If you look at the entire process that led to his influence it all started having connections with the syrian regime, the assad regime and leveraging that to build relations and build influence even with iran he went to iran in the late 1980s and then when he came back to washington he leveraged that relationship at a time when israelis were trying to make peace with the syrians and behind the scenes he helped broker certain deals like for the media and then joined with the american billionaire who was very close to then Prime Minister netanyahu in 1998 who went to damascus about 16 tiemds. A times. And he joined in that effort. He has had links but all these links seem to emminate initially from influence in syria which he leveraged and built independent relations. Even in the case of the uae we dont know how he started his relationship with the uae and the crowned prince. In fact, it looks like he had an independent relationship with russia. Today monitor reports that he may have helped broker an agreement between the Prime Minister of iraq and russians, an arms deal agreement in 2012. What is in common between Iraqi Government and russia is again they both have good relations with syria. It is hard to know how he connected ultimately with the uae and we know that he connected with companies that did business with the uae. Frankly, what is interesting about the meeting is that they dont need him for trump. They have cultivated very close relations with trump people. Their ambassador in washington is well connected, possibly one of the most affected. Was he there as sort of to run errands rather than the bring the meeting together. Its not clear. Thanks for your time tonight. Natasha covers the Trump Administration and ned price under president obama. Ned, what do crow make of this bizarre triangle . I think you have to remember the key point that you raised in your introduction. We heard about the strange summit. This was not the first attempt at a back channel on the part of the incoming Trump Administration. You have to remember Jared Kushner talking with kislyak proposed that the trump team use the cystal housed within the Russian Embassy in moscow. The question is why . You only pursue back channels when front chan lds anels aren enough. You know who has the best systems . The United States. Why was washingtons systems not good enough or not secure enough or not proper for the trump team . That is the question. There are very few charitable explanations that explain this persistence. There is a line of reasoning that says if they were setting up a back channel they didnt have a back channel then they couldnt have been colluding. What do you make of that . Its an interesting argument. We dont know whether this was just the beginning of a back channel that they were trying to establish or if it was just part of broader set of communications they have been having. I think one thing to remember that is really important is that erik prince had long standing ties with the emrates. He has known george nader and runs a private military source on behalf of crowned prince. He obviously had to travel there for another reason. What that reason was from everything that we have seen is that he they were trying to arrange this meeting with the russian fund manager. Whether or not that was actually the first instance of a back channel that they were trying to establish is very unlikely given all of the other contacts we have seen between trumps associates and various russians but it does raise questions about what aspect of that back channel they were trying to further develop. How anomalous is Something Like this for an Incoming Administration in transition . Its entirely anomalous for a very simple reason. The state department avails itself to Incoming Administrations during the transition period. They make their secure Communications Systems available. They make their analysts available. The Intelligence Community makes its products available so that Incoming Administration team members dont go into these meetings or phone calls entirely blind that they can actually leverage assets of the bureaucracy. The question is why did they pursue this . To go back to the original point there is one other similarity here, chris, between the two attempts at back channels. Mueller i think has more insight into both because he has sources into both. He, of course, has george nader into the meeting and then you have to remember that Michael Flynn was involved in the december meeting between Jared Kushner where the other back channel attempts came up and Michael Flynn has at least pledged to tell all he knows. Presumably much more is known about this on the inside than we know today. There is also just the problem of the pattern deception emission or outright loying if the reporting on george nader testimony in terms of Jared Kushner leaving the meeting off this seems like there was a lot dissemabled about in that period of time. The question is why did all of these associates of the president feel the need to deceive investigators about the nature of their contacts with the russians during the campaign, the transition and even during the administration . It is also going back to what this back channel may have been about. The Trump Administration tried to lift sanctions on russia at least twice in the first couple months of trumps inauguration. The idea that perhaps this was just maybe the beginning of something between erik prince who they did think was representing the Trump Campaign and the trump white house, the idea that that was just the beginning of a back channel doesnt make much sense giving everything we have seen with the meetings and it really kind of makes you wonder whether or not this was just another part of a back channel that had already been established well prior. Great to have you both. Next, after sticking with the president for over a year republicans have apparently found their breaking point after this two minute break. In a brand new world. When i built my ancestry family tree, i found your story. Then, my dna test helped me reclaim the portuguese citizenship you lost. Im joshua berry, and this is my ancestry story. Combine ancestrys dna test and Historical Records to discover your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. I thank you for the opportunity for what you do. Well, your father is looking down. He is very proud of you right now. He is still alive. Then he is even more proud of you. With steel and alumium workers on one side and a few surviving members of Economic TeamPresident Trump followed through on the vow on imported aluminum. The tariffs dont go effective for at least another 15 days and were going to see who is treating us fairly and who is not treating us fairly. Trump said he was immediately exempting mexico and canada from tariffs at least temporarily. Many are sharply criticizing the decision concerned about a potential trade war that damages the u. S. Economy. Joining me here Heather Mcgee and former iron worker randy bryce, democrat who is in the district challenging paul ryan though he does have a primary before he gets to that. Good to have you both here. I want to read for you paul ryans statement on tariffs and get your response. I disagree with this action, fear unintended consequences. I am pleased the president is listening to those who share my concerns but should go further. We continue to narrow the policy so focussed only on those countries and practices that violate trade law. Pretty amazing that finally paul ryan comes to speak out against donald trump for anything. He didnt do it when we were talking about mighty fine people on both sides in charlottesville. He wasnt calling out when talking about sexually assau assaulting women on a bus. It tells me that theyre worried about their donor base and the tax scam will go up in smoke. It is remarkable to watch them get a conscience now about this. I dont think it is personally particularly good policy but in the scope of what donald trump has done like they are really worked up about this. I think randy said it really well. Follow the money with all of these issues. The donor base has not been that upset about racism and sexism. They know it worked for him politically at least with the majority sadly of white voters in this country. So they sort of are okay with that dog whistle strategy. They are not okay with him bucking the conservative economic orthodoxy. I actually think that we shouldnt say the sky is going to fall because of these tariffs. I think it is a bad move for progressives to not understand that something needs to be done to stand up for American Manufacturing. I think it is kind of a trap for democrats to follow republicans into the sky is falling. It seems there is a trap on the other side which is to sort of decide that if Grover Norquist doesnt like something you must. I am all in on this deal on aluminum tariffs. Progressives have been championing us having a real industrial policy for a long time. Democrats put out a Real Infrastructure plan this week that would actually strengthen america provisions and close loopholes that were blown wide open in the gop tax scam, that encourage companies to offshore their jobs and profits. There is a progressive vision for restoring some of American Manufacturing and even more importantly for making jobs that are here good jobs the same way that manufacturing jobs are good jobs. I think that is what we need to make an important point. Who is this being done for . Is it for the American Worker . No because the American Worker, the way it is set up now we will be the ones paying more for this tariff. If you are serious about having some kind of help with the Steel Industry we should have done something a long time ago when bethlehem steel was really doing something good. Now we are talking about reopening some shops. It will take months to get that started. While the ceo of that company does he really put his trust in donald trump to go and hire a factory full of people to come and work only to have to lay them off in a couple of months. Does it play in your district . To an extent it does. The First District used to have car jobs. Those are gone. Now we are retirees that are ticked off that their jobs are gone. What about i want to ask one more follow up which Harley Davidson is in your district. The eu basically said in response to this we will go after bourbon from kentucky and Harley Davidson from paul ryans district. It that were to happen, what would that mean for you and what would it mean in terms of how they understand what is happening . Just the fact that we cant imagine Harley Davidson davidson being gone. That is just another aspect of American Workforce that is being neglected like a poker chip in this big grand scheme that they are playing. We have had too much time where the American Worker has been neglected. Do you worry about where the Economic Policy of this administration goes now . Now he does this. It is really anyones guess. Or maybe not. I think it is a good question. There has always been the faux populism and yet he committed to a couple of big things. He said i will do a big infrastructure policy which it was actually an infrastructure plan instead of an excuse to sell off americas assets to the highest bidder which is what he unveiled a month or so ago then you would actually see potentially a Major Political realignment to where you could say that a republican president did more to invest in our economy and our infrastructure than a democrat was allowed to with Republican Congress for six years. I actually think that this little gesture is a weak gesture, something much more powerful would be something he doesnt want to do which is let the dollar fall back into alignment because thats not a strong dollar. He doesnt like things that arent strong and so you are not going to get sort of a rational effective Economic Policy out of this president. Thats a great point about if you are planning on this who knows if it goes away in two weeks once the last person in the room talks him out of it. It relates back to the north korea meeting. Who knows in two weeks about any of this. Thank you both for being here. Thank you. Coming up, a former russian spy is poisoned with a nerve agent, an attack that left another 20 people hospitalized. That unbelievable story next. Hello. Lets go for a ride on a peloton. Lets go grab a couple thousand friends and chase each other up a hill. Lets go make a personal best, then beat it with your personal better than best. Lets go bring the worlds best instructors right to you. Better yet, lets go bring the entire new york studio live. Lets go anytime, anywhere, with anyone whos willing. And lets go do it all right here. Ready to go . Peloton. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. Here is a quote. He was actually a british spy working for mi 6, the shocking tweet from Russian Embassy after a russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned in broad day light. He has been living 90 miles west of london. Last week he and his daughter were poisoned and found unconscious on a public bench frozen in place. 19 other people needed medical treatment including a Police Officer who remains hospitalized in stable condition. Russian government denies any involvement although they are widely suspected to be behind the attack. There have been at least 14 deaths on british soil all potentially connected to the russian state. Ben smith is the editor in chief of buzz feed. Nina is professor of international affairs. Let me ask you first, what do you make of this story . The prince of the russian government is all over it. My concern is that it is very strange timing because russian elections are coming in ten days. Im wondering who would need that story before the elections because you kind of want to go quietly into the sunset and get elected. On the other hand, there are opportunities for showing what russia can do if somebody or someone goes against the state even if the man already has been in england for a long, long time. We should be clear here this was someone apprehended from russian authorities because he was there is crazy wink, wink, nudge, nudge. It seems to me that like both the method by which this individual was attacked and that tweet this was not intended to be quiet. Its interesting the series of suspicious deaths and a guy whose body is found in a bath tub zipped in a bag and the police say maybe he zipped himself therein and couldnt find the lock and you have a healthy guy who betrayed the russian state just kind of drop dead. The British Government had been potentially covering up these murders for reasons that are not totally clear. It is almost like they became increasingly brazen almost like taking of credit. The thing that was so striking about the great investigative reporting you did was that it really did seem like the British State was trying to keep this quiet. Partly understand because this action if it was the russians feels like an unbelievably provocative action. I think that also makes it possibly not the russian state but somebody wants to set up the russian state or it is really very much in a sense of putin doing i got away with all of these other things and you reported on 14 people but i started looking at all of the spies so there have been eight people that are either in prison in russia or has been exchanged for somebody. Four of them died. You have four people who died. It cannot be not connected to the russian state. It is way too many people dead. If you look more broadly at the larger russian story and i dont think putin feels that has been a pr disaster. I think he looks strong. Our obsession with him is the best that ever happened. Do you think putin cares about getting caught . If he did it he did do it. The question is, how public like there is this sort of wink, wink, nudge, nudge way is that they havent totally covered finger prints and havent claimed public credit. Does he want people to know . I think what i see regardless whether he did it or not lets say regardless of whether they have it what really works for him and he is a kgb man is he has this amazing reputation. His hand, his finger tips are everywhere. That really gives him strength as somebody who is not just going to the future but also the man who can organize World Affairs to the small thing like leaving these people on a bench or helping american elections and allegedly bringing the president that serves the russians. It plays brilliantly domestically because if you go across russia and ask people and they say i may not be so particularly happy about the sanctions that were done against russia, however, if something happens putin is behind me. Putin is going to protect me. We are a great country. For russians being a great country often matters more than individual lives. That he plays incredibly well to. There is a lot of satisfaction. I talked to folks, people who are russian here living in the u. S. About this sort of hall of mirrors like you about the hall of mirrors where it feels like finally this is going in both directions because russians have been thinking a lot about america for a long time and following american politics and now someone is saying turn on the news and talk about why would you know it is incredible working class quality. We are seeing this distorted version. There was a report that putin had watched house of cards and basically taken it for documentary. Thank you both for being here. Ahead, why democrats arent going near the Stormy Daniels scandal. And the power of the pen. Originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Were all under one roof now. Congratulations. Thank you. How many kids . My two. His three. Along with two dogs and jake, our new parrot. That is quite the family. Quite a lot of colleges to pay for though. A lot of colleges. 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Because its made differently. The super absorbent core quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection thats a lot less bulky than poise. Looks like good things really do come in small packages. Always discreet. For bladder leaks. Thing one tonight the Stormy Daniels lawsuit against the president of the United States centers around her claim that donald trump never signed the nondisclosure agreement presented to the adult film star in 2016 so she is asking the court to declare it invalid. The lawsuit alleges that daniels signed the doctor and trump never did. It is an allegation that seems implausible. Who would have a document prepared for them and all ready to sign and just forget to sign it . We know such a person. That is thing two in 60 seconds. , you want your denture to be stain free. Did you know theres a specialty cleanser thats gentle enough for everyday use and cleans better than regular toothpaste . Try polident cleanser. It has a four in one cleaning system that kills ten times more odor causing bacteria than regular toothpaste, deep cleans where brushing may miss, helps remove tough stains, and maintains the original color of your dentures when used daily. For a cleaner, fresher, brighter denture, use polident every day. Adult film star Stormy Daniels alleging that the nondisclosure agreement was null and void because trump never signed it. If true it would not be the first time the president failed to sign something he was supposed to. Today at the signing ceremony for trumps order on tariffs Steve Mnuchin had to remind the president he had to sign the order on tariffs. You like to take a picture. I assume you have been many times into the oval office. Lets go and do that. Well go into the oval office and sign this up and have a picture. And thats not an anomaly. The most recent time that trump forgot to sign the document that everyone showed up to watch him sign. Mr. President , was that your intention . He did not sign. Thank you, everybody. Most important thing. Thank you. Mr. President , how do you respond to they like me to sign the bill here instead of outside so i think well do that. Imagine if the things you bought every day. Earned you miles to get to the places you really want to go. With the united mileageplus explorer card, youll get a free checked bag. Two united club passes. Priority boarding. And earn fifty thousand bonus miles after you spend three thousand dollars on purchases in the first three months from account opening plus, zerodollar intro annual fee for the first year, then ninetyfive dollars. Learn more at theexplorercard. Com let your inner light loose with one a day womens. A complete multivitamin specially formulated with key Nutrients Plus vitamin d for bone health support. Your one a day is showing. Democrats are staying far away from the Stormy Daniels story. The reason it matter, it gives us a window into the cover up machine and unclear how much it might have been covered up with this payment when Stormy Daniels new lawsuit offering new clues and more importantly, are there other hush agreements and more people who like Stormy Daniels may have dirt and therefore leverage on this president. Shannon and paul butler and tara dowde dowdell. I want to start on the law. One thought i had was someone raised this today, how many people get blackmail information on the president . Thats a lot of potential payments. The president of the United States is willing to have witnesses paid off to prevent them from telling the truth. Hes willing to engage in intimidation tactics for what is particularly preventing them from coming forward and the president is willing to use his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to do fish things. I think its important to know a little bit about Michael Cohen and who he is. He fancies himself a god father character. There was an abc interview in 2012 where he says if you dont do what i like, ill strangle you and not let go until youre done. Hes not your jones day partner material. He got his start in malpractice law. People can get into shady stuff as we saw with the folks white shoe law firm have an attorney having pled guilty in this. I take your point. Yeah, so i mean, there could be more to come. We watched a story unravel and the affair didnt happen but there is a line i keep thinking about and how many women did you do that with . Must have been 100. There has to be tons of stuff out there. Trump has been sleazy for four decades. It was the main ststay of th gossip pages. He prided himself on getting an std was his personal vietnam and so avoiding it. Avoiding it. Well, according to him avoiding it. According to him. No, in all seriousness, he has had a long track record and a notion that there arent more people out there, even when i was on the apprentice other women on the show that they refuse to go public with just is like a small window into his behavior. You want to say this is an issue between the president and the first lady mainly except for the ways that it shows something about this character and willingness to do anything to prevent people from saying bad stuff about them. Right. Or locking up secrets behind the walls of the i know. Then getting into the politics of it because is this a surprise to anyone . No. You were saying donald trump, we knew who he was from the 1980s and tabloids. Is this a surprise . People will say we know what we were getting. He was a hollywood guy working the new york club scene. We voted for him anyway. Give me your theory. Number one, trump got elected after the access hollywood tape. The problem is there are a number of people in this countr tape. The problem is there are a number of people in this countr tape. The problem is there are a number of people in this country that will overlook anything and trump has two to three scandals a day. Right. If you make an impact from a political standpoint, you cant chase every single trump scandal down the rabbit hole. Here is the thing i dont get, i understand why democrats are like we have bigger fish to fry. The white house is squirrely about it. Michael cohen, 130,000 is nothing. The guy hasnt paid the contractors that paint his casinos. No credibility. Who could believe anything Sarah Sanders says . She said hes not a party to the agreement and today said he won the arbitration. Its a tabloid scandal about an affair and two, its a legal issue. If there were contributions made, was there a Campaign Finance violation where did the funds come from . He may have access to some of these emails from Michael Cohen depending whether he can argue privilege if hes not acting on the best of his client, that is not Attorney Client privilege. Its a violation of legal ethics. You cannot settle a case without a client you cannot do that as a lawyer. You should not talk about a lawyer spending 130,000 of his own pmoney, we dont do that. Daniels has to keep this under wraps, all intangible private information including things she knows, Business Information or alleged sexual partners, sexual elections, conduct related matters or paternity information. Standard language . Ive never heard of that. You dont draw these contracts daily. You can contract away a lot of rights you have. Sometimes if a judge thinks the contri contractual agreements are too much, the judge can rollback the contract. Part of this is california contract law, you know, do you have to sign it. Part of that will be resolved by a state judge. Legally, trump really doesnt have much to gain even if he wins this, you know, if he wins the story is already out. Thats why i think the white this is my theory on why the white house is squirrely. The president of the United States is married and we can all say well, its priced in, whatever. He has a spouse. Melania trump, the first lady of the United States. I dont think shes siked about this story every day. There are actual tangible cause, there may be contractual. He has a young son. Yeah, and again, swap out any other president s name and, you know, you can do the game all day long but barack obama paid a porn star and cheated on michelle obama. Its not even a plausible counter factual because the kind of individual that would do that would have never been elected as the first black president. The white house is scheming about this because it has the ability to go on for a very long time. Look at Stormy Daniels. She has, her career choice means she has nothing to lose and everything to gain and look at the publicity and even knows when you get this level of publicity, you get appearance fees at nightclubs in las vegas. Technically, she has 1 million to lose. The penalty. She can make that up. What is fascinating about the power play, they brought it out and made it public for a reason, which is basically a very crafty legal move, right . Like ultimately does the law matter . No, what matters is the revlatie costs and benefits of fighting over this and its a dare to say president of the United States, please come sue me for breach of contract. And bad lawyers. Thats the other thing, michael cow hhen. Who is giving him advice on this. Who would want to represent the president . I would represent anybody as long as they listen to me. The president does not listen. Sometimes you have to make a settlement without consulting. Tonight ill be a guest on the late show with Stephen Colbe colbert. We taped it earlier today. One of the things i find enduring about President Trump. The thing tillerson figured out, a man that became famous on a show in which he said youre fired as a catch phrase is he doesnt like to fire people. Hes a wimp about firing people. All the things he turned out to be terrible about is firing people. Its one of the few things i find positive about donald trump. I find it relatable. Hes too much of a wimp to say youre fired. Not even a wimp. If you like firing people youre an [ bleep ]. You can catch the whole interview tonight 11 35 eastern on cbs. I got to meet mindy. Check it out. The Rachel Maddow show starts now. Some day well have shows with swears, you and i. Some day. Some day. I was swearing at 7 57 when i had to redo the show again. It didnt go on air but. Eventually, life and culture will devolve where were expected of a clean and unclean version of our show. I look forward to that. Me, too. Thanks to you at home for joining us. Its been a surreal news day that continued into tonight. Today at the same time we had one Trump Campaign manager refusing to answer questions at the house intelligence come mmie while the guy that replaced him at the same moment was arraigned on 18 felony counts in a federal courtroom in virginia. That w