David Gura hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Believes the now released tape that Michael Cohen captured between himself and the president was tampered with. Giuliani offering really no evidence to back that up. He also said that there are some 183 such cohen tapes, but that the one that we have now heard is the only one that the president , trump, can be heard on. Really what he is doing is keeping up his rapidfire Character Attacks on Michael Cohen. It would seep that this is all really designed to remove the sting of cohens latest assertion that President Trump knew about this june 2016 trump tower meeting between members of his own campaign and the russian lawyer and russian advocates with this promise of the ex change of damaging information on hillary clinton. Caitlyn, let me turn to you and ask you about this latest attack Casting Doubt on the recording. You feel a bit whipsawed after that recording was out. We heard it. We had reaction to it. What do you make of what his legal team is trying to do, Casting Doubt on it while there are reports of there being more
campaign was talking, right, in that room with russian agents. On that point, we can put up a list of the participants in that meeting. It is something of still acute focus for investigators, certainly for special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team. Right now lawmakers are on recess, at least members of the house are. This is something we have seen in statements. They are upset with what donald trump jr. May have said about that meeting during that investigation as it squares with what we now know might be the case from Michael Cohen who reportedly is willing to testify that donald trump, the president of the United States, knew about that meeting before it happened. Give us the scuttlebutt there in washington, d. C. About what happens next with regard to that meeting. Well, you certainly have at least two members, two democrats on the Senate Judiciary committee, the panel that donald trump jr. Testified to in December 2017 when he said clearly he did not tell his father in advance about this meeting. These two democrats are calling on donald trump jr. To come back to the committee to testify under oath in public about what
he knew. Now, it could be that if cohens claims are corroborated, that donald trump jr. Could be charged with lying to congress. Thats a huge if. And it would, of course, bring a huge many legal and political troubles to President Trump because what it would suggest, looking at the full picture, is that the president conspired with a foreign adversary, in this case russia, to tip the balance of the 2016 election in his favor. Caitlyn, it can be a fools game to try to figure out why the president is tweeting what he is tweeting about when he does it. You look this morning. There is some curious tweets. One about this meeting he had with the publisher of the New York Times that took place on the 20th july. Its not like it happened before he left for this weekend in new jersey. He also tweeted about immigration and the prospects for a Government Shutdown. He said i would be willing to shut down the government if the democrats do not give us the votes for border security, which includes the wall. Must get of lottery, catch and release, and finally go to system of immigration based on
merit. We need great people coming into our country. This is something weve seen from him before. Yes. We have seen members of his own party react strongly to this rhetoric. Ill put a flag down. We are 100 days away from the midterm elections. How are members of his own party going to process what he tweeted this morning about his willingness to take us to the brink once again . There are few republicans in congress who want to shut down the government ahead of the critical midterm elections where they risk losing the house and potentially the senate. The president wants to fire up the rhetoric heading into the midterm. No doubt about it. You look at the way in which he endorses candidates. He talks about tough on crime and tough on the border. Never mind the economy and the good numbers that came out last week that many republicans want the president to be talking about day in and day out. There is also this big Question Mark about whether people show up to support the party in charge if the economy is good, or whether they can kind of have the capacity to think about other things. And so the president and
republicans strategist that i talked to say that talking about things like immigration and the border and some of the more cultural issues are things that really rile up the base to get them to actually turn out down the ballot for republicans because thats also a big Question Mark, whether republicans turn out for other candidates not named donald trump. Thank you very much. Great to see you. Thanks to geoff bennett. And i want to continue. More on that threat from President Trump that he is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get enough votes from democrats for border security. Lets go to a border state now, to california. Congressman Maxine Waters represents the 43rd district there. She is the top democratic on the House Financial Services committee. Great to speak with you. There is an old truism that a Government Shutdown isnt good for either party. Nobody looks good when one happens. How did you react to what the president tweeted this morning . How real a threat do you think it is we could be facing a Government Shutdown in the fall . You know, this president is a
bully and he will try to intimidate all of us. He is not going to shut down anything. As a matter of fact, people will remember that he said he was going to build this wall and he was going to make mexico pay for the wall. They said they werent going to pay for anything. Now he wants the american citizens to pay for this bomb. American citizens are not going to pay for this wall, he is not going to shut down the government and we are not going to be intimidated by his bluffing and bullying. I want to ask you about his speech friday before he took off for new jersey. He talked about growth. He went through data point after data point after data point as he sees them, as he processes them about what they say about the health of the u. S. Economy today. How in sync is he on his perspective of it than yours . Of course, the economy has improved, and of course he would like to take credit for all of that. But in the final analysis, when this country understands and feels what has been done with the tax scam and what thats going to do for our deficit in
this country, its going to be reversed. A combination of the tax scam and the tariffs will undermine all that has been done in the economy that was started by obama. He is going to make this a campaign issue. He said to sean hannity a couple days ago he is going to be campaigning six, seven days out of the week in about two dozen Districts Hammering on the economy. I how do you respond to that . How are you and other democrats going to respond to this message, we have this latest gdp print. We will get one a couple days before the next election. This is the one thats going to stick . Let me say this. There is so much going on with this president and his allies and with giuliani and all of this. With the judge having decided that they can go forward with the emoluments claim with what is happening on the border, with these children that cannot and will not apparently be connected with their parents because this
government does not have the records, they dont know whats going on, and the fact that they are talking about having deported parents leaving their children in the United States and we not knowing what all of that means, when you couple that with the fact that his son has lied, he has lied about that meeting that took place at the tower, at the trump tower, all of that is going to help, you know, obscure the message that he is trying to bring on the economy. This president is Wreaking Havoc on this country. And so while there is some improvement in the economy, we have all of this other mess that we have to take a look at and what is, you know, in the forefront of what is being talked about in the media. And so let him try it. Let him go out there. As a matter of fact, i dont think that thats going to be so powerful that people can overlook how hes dividing this country, how he is upsetting our democracy, how he is aligned with putin, how he is in bed
with the kremlin. Its all about money making and its all about putin wanting to lift these sanctions and all of his allies wanting to make money out of this russia deal, et cetera, until, you know, he can talk about the economy and people are appreciative when they are benefiting from the economy. But when you are as messy as this president , all of these liars giuliani and junior and the president himself i want to tell you, the American People are getting fed up with this president and his leadership. So i dont think he can get away with just talking about gdp or anything like that. I think he is going to have to answer some real questions about the fact that he lied, that he knew that the meeting was going to take place. All of the planning that had to go into that meeting by his son, and the fact that he talks with his daddy every day. Who talks with your parent in a situation like this and you dont even mention a meeting
like this . And so i just dont believe that he can just take credit for the economy and all of this other stuff will get lost in the media. Lets make our way through that mess as you describe it. I want to ask you about how you react today that tape. I imagine you have heard it the same way i did. It was broadcast on television. You heard what he said on that tape. Im sure you have heard what Rudy Giuliani said since, Casting Doubt on the authenticity of that tape, what Michael Cohen might say the relationship he had with the president. In your estimation how pivotal is that tape, is the release of that tape, is the prospect we could have dozens, maybe more, tapes we could be listening to in the future . Well, i certainly that i that giuliani is lying. When he says that they have already determined that the tape has been tampered with, he cannot prove that. If he is called on right now, he has no way of justifying that lie. Those tapes are not proven to have been tampered with, and i
think extremely important, this president knows about all of the monies that he has offered not only to karen, the playboy model, but to stormy, to all of these other women who will be coming forward with the fact that they have had sexual relationships with him. They can lie all they want to. Its all going to come out in the wash. I am convinced that in the final analysis they are not going to be able to be successful with the kind of lying that they are doing. It is obvious. And, no, we dont have any documentation that that tape has been tampered with. I hope that the other tapes that are in position of mr. Cohen will be revealed and well find out more about this president , his schemes, his lying, his payoffs, all of that because i certainly believe that the president of the United States is not only divisive and dangerous, but he does not need to be in that office. Congresswoman, something
extraordinary happened this week. Conservative members of the Republican Party in the house used the i word. They talked about impeachment. They were using it to talk about Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein. We saw that fall apart the end of this week. Your reaction to this effort from conservative members of the Republican Caucus in the house to impeach Rod Rosenstein . Well, i think they were using that as leverage. They could have done that before we left. If they had introduced a correct resolution to do that, which would have been a privileged resolution. They did not do that. And they wanted the space in between here to intimidate, to leverage so they can try to get information that they should not have access to. They are trying to choose rosenstein would not produce the kind of documents that they have asked for. But the fact of the matter is, they want the strategy. They want to know what mueller is doing and how he is doing it
so they can get it into the hands of certain members of the congress of the United States so that they can try and continue to Attack Mueller and to persuade the people of this country that somehow this investigation is notley legitimate. We know whats going on. Last question here. Lets turn to the midterms. They are 100 days away. I want to ask you about what james comey has been saying. He has been wading into politics on twitter. He talked about the democratic nominee in new york state. He is urging voters to vote democratic. You are have had a checkered history with the former director of the fbi. What do you make of the role he is playing here as a political pundit going to the elections in 100 days . I absolutely do not know everything about him that is causing him to turn to the democrats and to urge people to vote for the democrats, but maybe he has learned an awful lot, having worked in the
position that he was in, and maybe even he wished he had not, in the last days before the primary campaign, literally created another investigation on hillary clinton. I dont know whats causing him to speak in the way that he is doing and to advise in the way that he is advising, but i do know this. Democrats are working very hard. We have a lot of enthusiasm. We have good candidates. We have raised an awful lot of money. And i think were in good position not only to take back the house, but i believe even possibly the senate. Of course, if we do that, look out, president. Youre in trouble. On that note, my thanks to you as always. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, i appreciate it. Still ahead, President Trump tweet being a meeting he had with the New York Times publisher. Much more on president s testy
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welcome back. Im david gura. President trump is targeting journalists again tweeting this today. Had a very good and interesting meeting at the white house with a. G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times. President trump continuing, quote, spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News Being put out by the media and how that fake news has morphed into the phrase enemy of the people. Sad. President trumps aides asked for that meeting, which was at the president s request, to be off the record, but obviously that changed with President Trumps tweet. So the publisher of the times gave us his readout of what they discussed. Quote, i told him although the Phrase Fake News is untrue and harmful, i am far more concerned about his labeling journalists the enemy of the people. I warned that inflammatory language is condition
contributing to a rise in threats to journalists. Since that meeting which the times says took place july 20th, President Trump said this. Just stick with us. Dont believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. I saw a piece on nbc today. Nbc. It was heartthrobing. Just remember what you are seeing and what you are reading is not whats happening. Well, joining me now on msnbc is philip rucker, the White House Bureau chief for the Washington Post. He is with the president this weekend in new jersey. His latest piece looks at the president s efforts to punish reporters. He is also an msnbc political analyst. Phil, lets dive into your piece here. We played a bit from the speech he gave to the Veterans Of Foreign Wars this week. There was an incident involving a correspondent for cnn who was asked not to attend an elent later in the day. She was banned from covering that event. Put all of this together for us. What might have led to that tweet this morning from the president about a meeting that took place now more than a week ago . Well, the president , as you know, has not been shy about critiquing his media coverage. He consumes it daily, and he is bothered daily by what he views as a negative slant in the media. He complains about it. He rages about it privately inside the white house. What we reported at the Washington Post over the weekend is that there have been numerous incidents since the beginning of the presidency where trump has been so upset with press coverage, with specifically the questions that reporters ask him in the oval office and other settings he directed his staff to revoke their credentials, ban them from ru future events. The staff, including Sarah Huckabee sanders, have pushed back on the president. They have argued why it would not make sense to go to war with the media in that way, but the president is still pushing this
issue. He is very bothered with the news coverage. How much of this, what we saw this week, do you attribute to bill shine in this Deputy Chief Of Staff overseeing the com at the white house. He, of course, comes from fox news. He has a media background. Is he enabling this dined kind behavior from the president that you describe as being suppressed over the first 18, 19 months of the administration . He has certainly enablds it with regard indicate Lin Collins Last week. He told her that she could not attend that events, who executed the president s wishes to not attend. I know from reporting inside the west wing that bill shine has been telling colleagues he wants to have a better relationship with the press corps. He is looking for ways to smooth things over. Clearly, the last few days have
not been productive if the president is hoping to turn down the temperature. He has only turned it up. I want to ask you about some of the other tweets we saw from the president today. Lets focus on bone here about polling. Wow, highest poll numbers in the history of the Republican Party. That includes honest abe lincoln and ronald reagan. There must be something wrong. Plees reche please recheck that poll. I dont have my hands on the springfield illinois poll from the 19th century. This is not something i believe was done in the 19th century. What do you make of what the president is tweet being regard to republican prospects in the midterm . Just 100 days away. Well, clearly, Public Opinion research is new. Its not something that existed back in the lincoln administration. But the president s boasting about his poll numbers. Actually, some of the credible polls in recent weeks have shown his Approval Rating ticking upward even after that helsinki summit with president Vladimir Putin. The reality remains that he is underwater. More americans disapprove of his performance in office than approve of it according to most polls, and that could potentially be a Drag On Republicans in the midterm elections and its one of the reasons why democrats feel buoyed about the prospects of taking back the house of representatives. Clearly, trump is focused on his poll numbers. He has been this way since before he was a candidate. He likes for his aides to bring him the latest data every day and hes not very discriminatory when it comes to which polls he will read. Hell boast about the unscientific ones and the ones that are more that we should be skeptical about just as much as he does the more credible polling. Steven douglas great regret he didnt check the exit polls on election day. Let me ask you about the Prosing Spebts for a Government Shutdown. He said on the seventh day he will rest, but six days a week he will be stumping for republican candidates. He talked about the economy. Thats very clearly something
that he and i imagine many much his republican colleagues want him to hit on while he is on the campaign trail. Square that with what we saw from him today. This threat that weve seen before about shutting down the government, if he doesnt get the money that he wants to better fortify the u. S. mexico border. How does that square with what the party wants the president to be talking about as we approach november . Well, it doesnt square. This threat is not entirely new. President trump has issued similar threats throughout his presidency to shut down the government over the border funding. In each case, he has backed away. He hasnt gotten the full funding he wants for that border wall, and usually he has sort of given in when the negotiations get tougher. But, look, the Republican Leadership on capitol hill very much wants to figure out a Funding Solution and to do it quietly and quickly and smoothly before that September 30th deadline. The last thing they want one month before the midterm elections is a government
shutdown and a sort of brinksmanship situation over funding the federal government. That would be a problem. It would underscore sort of the difficulty that the republican majority, including President Trump, have had simply governing and funding the operations of the government. So mitchell mitchell, paul ryan, both of them met with President Trump last week at the white house. I think they came away from the meeting believing the president would go along with their plans to pass these bills before September 30th and the tweet threat this morning from the president , who is here in new jersey, came as a surprise to a lot of lawmakers. Its worth noting i think it came as a surprise to some of his own administration. I am going to go out on a limb and bet you have some down time in bedminster while the president is out there. You might pick up your competing colleagues newspaper. Read what they wrote about the president. A piece in tthe New York Times about ivanka trump and Jared Kushner. I want to ask you about one
theme there, and that is the relationship that they have had with john kelly, the white house Chief Of Staff. There has been some tension there. He has restrained them. He has tried to keep them away from the president , keep them from making policy moves as they might want to make. We were talking about bill shine a moment ago. Whats your sense of how diminish a role john kelly is playing in this administration now . Give us a sense as you look at the orbit surrounding President Trump where he falls and where the president s daughter and soninlaw fall. Yeah. Well, david, this weekend is the oneyear anniversary for john kelly as the Chief Of Staff in the white house, and his power has been diminished somewhat from those early months of his tenure when he really tightly controlled who came in and out of the oval office, who got access to the president , who had his ear. Kelly is much more now in an operational role, but the president is much more empowered than he was in the early months under kelly. There is not any indication that
kelly is heading out the door immediately. People around him say he is here to stay. We have not heard the same rumblings and rumors in the last few weeks we heard about this spring. That said, the tension remains with Jared Kushner and ivanka trump. They will be here for a while, i think. All the indications are that they are firmly entlenched in washington, want to be at the president s side, want to be in the white house working there, but they have limited their authority to really their policy areas. For Jared Kushner, middle east peace and a few other issues. For ivanka trump, focus on work force development, on womens issues and so forth. But they are not these sort of wideranging advisors that they were early on, and thats in farther part because of the influence of kelly, who didnt see a need for them to be as involved as they were. Phil, looking here, you have two by lines already today. I know a busy day for you up
there in new jersey. Phil ruch, always great to speak with you. Be our guest. What to make of Vladimir Putins invitation to President Trump to visit him in moscow. Were in a small room. What . welcome. [ gasps ] a bigger room . how many of you use Car Insurance . Oh. Well, what if i showed you this . [ laughing ] hohoho wow. Its a computer. We compare rates to help you get the price and coverage thats right for you. Thats amazing the only thing that would make this better is if my mom were here. What . an unexpected ending the Kayak Explore Tool shows you the places you can fly on your budget. So you can be confident youre getting the most bang for your buck. Aloha. Kayak. Search one and done. Just for a shot. With Neulasta Onpro patients get their dayr back to be with family, or just to sleep in. With you. Strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. In a key study neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17 to 1 , a 94 decrease. Neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. Neulasta is for certain Cancer Patients receiving strong chemotherapy. Do not take neulasta if youre allergic to it or Neupogen Filgrastim . An incomplete dose could increase infection risk. Ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious Lung Problems allergic reactions, Kidney Injuries and Capillary Leak Syndrome have occurred. Report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, Trouble Breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. In patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. The most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. The Kenya Tea Development agency is an organization that is owned by tea farmers. Every week we sell this tea, we get paid in multiple accounts. We were looking for a bank to provide a safe and Efficient Technology platform to pay our farmers. Citi was the only one that was able to ensure that this was done seamlessly. And today, at the touch of a button, all the farmers are able to get their money, Pay School Fees and improve their standard of living. With citi, we see a Bright Future for our farmers and their families. Welcome back. The relationship between President Trump and President Putin has been characterized as a bromance. Concern continues to grow about what they said behind closed at their summit in helsinki. We know about one proposal put forward by President Putin. President trump called it an incredible offer. Russia would allow american investigators to witness the investigation of russian investigators if the United States would allow russia to interrogate a dozen persons of interest, including the former u. S. Ambassador to russia michael mcfaul. Ambassador mcfaul wants to know why on earth the president of the United States would call such an arrangement incredible. He is an msnbc National Affairs analyst. A couple of weeks have passed since this summit. I wonder what conclusions you have come to as you try to answer that question. I should say there has been a trip to washington, d. C. During which you had an audience with some members of this administration. You spoke to members of congress and their staff as well. Are you any closer to coming to a conclusion to understanding why the president would have reacted the way that he did . Well, david, i dont think the president understood what putin was proposing. I honestly dont. He is new to this international diplomacy. Im sure he doesnt know what an emlat treaty is. I think that underscores why it was a bad idea for him to spend two hours with putin with nobody else in the room. If the advisors were there, they could have told him what was going on. It took him a while to get back on the record to say why this was a bad idea. It took two more statements from the white house. And even a third statement, they went out of their way to call putins gesture sincere. I want you to understand, it was not sincere in the least. It was a what aboutism, creating moral equivalency between 11 indicted Russia MilitaryIntelligence Officers who influenced our election in 2016 with a dozen of us innocent
american u. S. Government officials. I being the most prominent, but there were 12 others there. The good news is that nobody is going to put any pressure on us to be interrogated by the russians. I feel very comfortable about that from what i heard publicly and privately from the trump administration. The bad news is that i fear, and my lawyers fear and others fear, that putin might seek to abuse the interpoll system and put out red notices on me and others to detain us, arrest us, and in the worst of all worlds, extradite us to russia to face criminal charges. So what i wanted to is for the trump administration, in whatever means they deem most effective, to make sure that that never happens and to Preemptively Act so it never happens. You wrote, if the United States fails to protect its own citizens, it will send a message of weakness and per missability to moscow and everywhere else. That will not help trump obtain
his negotiations with russia or anyone else. Putin and the world will be watching. You had that meeting with fiona hill, an advisor on russia. Issues i noted when it was announced, made out of courtesy to you. Is this a message that needs to come from President Trump . How loud and what does that message need to be to russia and how optimistic are you that its going to be delivered . I met with several members of the trump administration, not just the white house, and my message to everyone was clear. Say under no certain terms should you go after these former Government Officials through in ent interpol. This is not just about me personally. I want to underscore that. One of the people on this list is a former Senior Administration official for president bush. This is about protecting americans to allow them to do
their jobs while they are serving the u. S. Government. And if they dont send this signal strongly, that means that every ambassador around the world that works in an auto crat i can regime, every diple mat, every soldier, every usaid official can be hounded by autocrats abusing the rule of law to try to silence us and in the worst of worlds try to arrest. Thats not in americas interest and in Donald Trumps interest to look weak before President Putin. Included in this conversation has been bill browder. President putin mentioned him during that News Conference. Used to be an american citizen, now a british citizen. I spoke with him last week on the program. I asked him to respond to something that you tweeted. You said to your critics you werent trying to sell books. You were worried about what this means for you traveling and doing your work, how this is going to make your life difficult. I put that tweet to him to ask
how his life has been made more difficult. They tried to arrest him in spain six or seven weeks ago. Help us understand how your life is going to change, how it might have changed already as a result of this happening at this News Conference in helsinki. Well, first, my life has already changed. You know, im talking to you from stanford university. I am a professor. I have been a professor for almost three decades. Almost all of my research has been about russia. I cant do research on russia anymore. There is no way i could dare to go there. I am on the sanctions list right now. If i were lifted from that sanctions list, i could never go to russia. My academic career about writing and doing research, real research, by the way, you know, with data, is over. My life has changed dramatically as a result of being on this putin enemy list. The second thing, i travel All Over The World for my work. I travel too countries in the nato alliance. I can tell you My Travel Schedule in the next two months
includes britain, you know. That seems okay. Mexico. Maybe that seems okay. But it also countries like ukraine and belarus. Thats what i do for a living. As a result of this, i now have to reconsider whether i can go to those countries. And so all i want is clarity. I want clarify at the highest levels. To me that message ideally would come from President Trump directly to President Putin in a lesser world maybe from secretary pompeo to secretary to Foreign Minister lavrov or maybe through the National Security advisors. I want my government to say never go after mcfaul, here are the consequences and i want a signal back from the russian government that this is much ado about nothing. If they say it on the record and they say, of course we would never go after somebody for work he did at the white house or when he was ambassador with
diplomatic immunities, because that would break all kinds of international conventions, that would be fantastic. I look forward to Foreign Minister lavrov saying that on the record and then i can go about my business and be done with this rather unnerving chapter that i have had to suffer through for the last coupling of weeks. The ambassador talks about his research of being unable to travel to russia. He writes about that in his new book. Ambassador michael mcfaul, thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Dozens of secret recordings that include conversations with celebrities and President Trump himself, that is what some claim former trump attorney Michael Cohen has. Up next, a look at how dangerous the former fixer can be to the president of the United States. Its easy to think that all Money Managers are pretty much the same. But while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. And while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, Fisher Investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other Money Managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Welcome back. Im david gura at msnbc headquarters in new york. To flip or not to flip with apologies to bill shakespeare, thats the question we assume Michael Cohen is asking him self day after day. The president s long time lawyer who once said he would take a bullet for donald trump. Rudy giuliani is attacking Michael Cohens credibility again today. Its amazing how his opinion of Michael Cohen has changed over these recent months. I expect he is going to cooperate with them. I dont think they will be happy because he doesnt have any incriminating evidence about the president or himself. The man is an honest, honorable lawyer. I expected Something Like this from cohen. He has been lying all week, or for two weeks. Lying for years. There is nobody that i know that knows him, he will lie like crazy. Joyce vance is with me. She is an msnbc contributor and former u. S. Attorney. Joyce, let me start with you. Lets get in the mind of Michael Cohen here a little bit. So much has changed over the course of the last week. There was the specter of there being tapes. Tuesday we heard the tape. Wednesday there was the first
report here that Michael Cohen might be willing to say to his Special Counsel investigator that, in fact, donald trump now about the meeting at trump tower before it occurred. Give us your sense of what he is thinking about, what he is weighing, what the options are for Michael Cohen if he were to played. Cohen has sent a lot of signals this week that he is interested in cooperating with prosecutors. We dont know if he has had formal conversations or, frankly, even if prosecutors in Southern District of new york are interested in taking a look at what cohen has to offer. But if they, in fact, are, it seems likely that cohen, who spent at least a decade of time with trump, watching the daily in and outs of his life, would be able to provide not just testimony to prosecutors, which there has been a lot of talk about this week, but really a roadmap to the kind of deals trump has been involved in, to the way that he conducted those deals, and to what sort of entanglements he might have that
would interest prosecutors. A lot of danger here for the trump camp. Thats why weve seen giuliani come out so strongly. I will read a tweet from him. Press saying today that lanny davis is getting ready to leak more of his cloointients surreptitiously recorded tapes. Get some competent legal advice. I want you to weigh in on this as well. You have probably heard what Rudy Giuliani has been saying today, Casting Doubt on the authenticity of the tape, Casting Doubt on Michael Cohens competence. I want your perspective as somebody who worked for the fbi about what these tapes mean and how they might be used as this legal case advances. To be fair to Michael Cohen, he might have said he was going to take a bullet for trump, but he never said he would go to jail. Jail is a strong motivator for people to do things, and i think the fbi sort of has cohen dead to rights. Look, you dont have to be a lawyer, you dont have to be a
double agent to understand that there is something to the fact that russias public attacks, the fact that they released certain things at certain times and where they align with what donald trump is saying, it is more than likely that russia was in some way coordinating with americans. And they were coordinating this take, this operation, with americans. Michael cohen probably has a lot to say about that, even if he didnt meet with the russians or doesnt have direct knowledge of the russians. I am sure he can lay out what many believe is, in fact, collaboration between americans and the russians to carry out this attack on our democracy. Joyce, what are the perils of the way this is playing out . You have lawyers fighting lawyers. That is something that often happens inside a courtroom. Its happening here on cable television, on twitter, its happening in the public square. What are the perils of that for the principals involved in all of this . None of this should be playing out in the public square. Its bad for cohen, frankly, if he is looking for a Cooperation Deal with prosecutors. He and his lawyers want everything to be done quietly. They want it to be done in oneonone meetings with the prosecutors rather than having the public privy to the entire spectacle. And the same is, frankly, true for the president. No one who is under investigation, whether its the president himself or other members of his administration, should have that investigation carried out publicly. Rather, we should wait until prosecutors have gone through all of the evidence and are able to make prosecutorive decisions, decided who has committed criminal conduct that should be charged. We have as strong an interest here in protecting potential defendants as we do in protecting potential witnesses. And because we want ultimate decisions to be made by juries who hear only the evidence thats presented to them in a courtroom, this whole idea that its happening in public is really a little bit distressing from a prosecutors point of view. I see you nodding as joyce is
talking. I just want to say, i think people forget that on october 31st, 2016, president obama called Vladimir Putin on the red phone and essentially warned him that russian interference on election day would constitute an act of war. And i think when we have a president who coddles and refuses to condemn russia, who has some weird affliction and affinity towards Vladimir Putin, it sends mixed messages. And while were doing things in public, while were worrying about Michael Cohen and what it means for the mueller investigation, which is hugely important, its important to understand that Vladimir Putin doesnt care what Michael Cohen says. That Vladimir Putins ideology and russian ideology will remain the same. That is to say, they view the United States as their main adversary, and unless the man or woman who inhabits the white house, who happens to be the president is strong against russia, as president obama was on that october 31st day, we are going to see more of the same. And it is disturbing me that we dont seem to have the strength and that resolve to call out russia. Great conversation. Thanks to both of you. Najib jamal and joyce vance. Tonight, the awardwinning true story of two Washington Post reporters whose Investigation Led to the down fall of president richard knini. Watch tonight right here on msnbc. And well be right back. Ive been Making Blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the Essilor Ultimate Lens Package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Heres a trip tip when you Search Hotels on tripadvisor. Enter your destination and the dates of your stay. Tripadvisor searches over 200 Booking Sites. To find the best deal on the right hotel for you. Tripadvisor. If your adventure. Keeps turning into unexpected bathroom trips. You may have overactive bladder, or oab. Ohhhh. Enough already we need to see a doctor. Ask your doctor about myrbetriq® mirabegron . It treats oab symptoms of urgency, frequency, and leakage. Its the first and only Oab Treatment in its class. Myrbetriq may increase blood pressure. Tell your doctor right away if you have trouble emptying your bladder or have a weak urine stream. Myrbetriq may cause serious allergic reactions. Like swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, or Trouble Breathing. If experienced, stop taking and tell your doctor right away. Myrbetriq may interact with other medicines. Tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. Common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold or flu symptoms,. Sinus irritation, dry mouth, urinary tract infection, bladder inflammation,. Back or joint pain, constipation, dizziness, and headache. Need some help managing your oab symptoms along the way . Ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you, and visit myrbetriq. Com to learn more. Welcome back. Im david gura. With this update. A medical emergency has sent
civil rights icon and democratic congressman, john lewis, to the hospital. The 78yearold fell ill on a plane while flying home to atlanta on saturday. The congressmans Office Released this statement, saying, the visit was for routine observation and Congressman Lewis is resting comfortably. Hes expected to be released later today. And ahead in our next hour, tale of the tapes. What impact did Michael Cohens secret recordings have on the russia investigation . And can we expect more conversations to become public in the coming weeks . Plus, will President Trumps celebratory speech after fridays economic report be a Mission Accomplished moment . Im a fighter. Always have been. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Also, in a greattasting chewable. honking when your craving strikes, you need your wing nut. no one can totally satisfy a craving, quite like your wing nut. Brahms lullaby, or wiegenlied. When will it end . [ ding ] not today, ron