To focus more on her work inside the white house as an assistant to her father. If you thought jared and ivanka were going home, youre wrong. We begin today with a tape that appears to show the president discussing hush money payments with his lawyer just weeks before voters headed to the polls in 2016. I have a great team here to break all of it down. Its a lot. First, i want to play the tape for you. To set the stage, the recording was made secretly in september of 2016. Thats two months before the president ial election. It was one month after the National EnquirersPublishing Company bought the rights to Karen Mcdougals story about an extramarital affair she claims to have had with the president. It was bought for 150 grand, a number that comes up in the conversation with trump and cohen. What you will hear is donald trump talking to his attorney, Michael Cohen, but i want you to listen closely. There is some dispute over what is being said. We will not put words on the screen. I want yo uh u to just listen t this. Heads up, no surprise, theres a little cursing in there. Let me know whats happening, okay . Oh, oh. Maybe because of this, it would be better if you didnt go, you know. Maybe because of this. Its so false what theyre saying and such bullshit. I think this goes away quickly. I think its probably better, do the charleston thing, just this time. In two weeks its fine. I think right now its better, you know . Okay. You take care of yourself. Thanks. Great poll. Big time. Whats happening . Can we use him anymore . Yeah. Im sorry. He said we have a chance. We got served from the new york times, i told you this, regarding unsealing the divorce tapers with ivana. Were fighting it. Should never be able to get that. Never. They dont have a get me a coke, please youve been handling it . Yes, for about two, three weeks now. Just delay it. Even after that, its not ever going to be opened. Theres no purpose. Told you about charleston. I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. Im going to do that right away. Ive spoken to alan about how to set the whole thing up with funding. All the stuff. You never know where that company. Im all over that. I spoke to alan about it. When it comes time for the financing, which will be what financing . Well have to pay. Cash . No, no, no. As you could tell, this is part of a conversation about campaignrelated issues, which is an important piece of context. Michael cohen talks about setting up a company to handle information from, quote, our friend david. That appears to be a reference to david pecker, the head of American Media and the man who paid mcdougal for the rights to her story. American media owns the national enquirer. Pecker is a longtime friend of donald trump and jared kushner. Michael cohen did set up a company, essential consultants, just a month or so after the tape was made. That is the Company Reportedly used to pay off Stormy Daniels. So lets get back to the tape. A key point of contention this morning surrounds what trump is heard saying at the end when he mentions financing. According to cohens attorney, lanny davis, it sounds like hes asking whether to pay with cash, while trumps attorney, Rudy Giuliani, claims the president is saying dont pay with cash. Why is that significant . If the president was talking about reimbursing American Media with cash, it could indicate an intent to hide the payment. Giuliani says the truth is just the opposite, that the president encouraged any payment to be made by check, specifically so there would be a paper trail. Quote, it shows the president wanted it done in a way that was memorialized. They also talked about doing it through a corporation, which would indicate they did not want it done by cash. Youre not going to do a cash transaction through a corporation. Either way, giuliani says the payment was never actually made. Before we go on, i want to make a couple things clear. First of all, nbc has authenticated the tape through cohens attorney lanny davis, who also told nbc it has not been edited. Nbc has not independently confirmed that. One thing the tape does appear to suggest, that the president or at least his spokesperson, hope hicks, was wrong in november, lied, thats another way to put it, when she said there was no relationship between the two. As far as having any knowledge of this, cohens attorney, lanny davis, told abcs Good Morning America theres a much Bigger Picture here as well. Its about lies and truth. Giuliani cant make up the words dont pay. I say to everybody who voted for donald trump, dont believe me, im a democrat. Listen to the tape. The words dont pay are not heard. The word cash. So its not about cash versus not cash. Its about truth, and the power of the truth is what Michael Cohen now has no matter what giuliani invents or mayor giuliani invents for a president whos been known to lie. Dont believe me, listen to the tape. Thats very important. To all americans out there who deserve a president whos telling the truth, everybody goes out there and votes because they want to live in a country led by people who represent our values. Listen to the tape. And if you thought the president would stay out of this, you were wrong. Just about 30 minutes ago, he took to twitter and said, what kind of lawyer would tape a client . So sad. Is this a first, never heard of it before . Why was the tape so abruptly terminated, cut, while i was presumably saying positive things . I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped. Can this be so . Too bad. We have a lot to get through. I want to bring in my panel. It is an excellent one. A former federal prosecutor. Robert costa is a reporter for the washington post. And ken delaney. Glen, i have to go to you first. The American People, the media might be very interested in this. Political junkies love it. The American People want to be socially free, physically safe, financially secure. But they care a lot about a crime and if our president committed one. Is there evidence of one . Stephanie, i would say this tape is probably evidence of a crime minus one. What does that mean . Well, it means if Michael Cohen comes on board, hes going to provide the plus one information that the prosecutors will need to decipher what was being said here. As a career prosecutor, we would never just introduce a tape into evidence and say, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, conclusive proof. It is but one piece of the puzzle. Its a pretty important piece, a powerful piece. If we take a step back from debating who said cash, who said check, what it all means, and we kind of figure out what is the larger context, well, the larger context here is that Michael Cohen is plainly a political fixer because this is very close in time to the election. Theyre talking about poll numbers and damaging information in divorce agreements that are perhaps not yet publicly available. And then theyre talking about setting up shell and sham corporations to make hush money payments to playboy models to further conceal damaging evidence to a president ial candidate. So if we kind of look at the context and not get so immersed in the words themselves, i think its a really troubling picture that emerges, particularly when, as you mentioned, stephanie, hope hicks is announcing on behalf of the president that he has no knowledge of this and no relationship with karen mcdougal. I think in the larger sense, this is extremely damaging. Okay. A fixer whos created a great big mess. I want to stay on that point. Bob, hope hicks in 2016 clearly said the president doesnt know this woman, knows nothing about it, and the president denied that. Here we are, fast forward, thats clearly a lie. Clearly the president was aware of Michael Cohens activities. They have this discussion. There doesnt seem to be any sort of surprise on behalf of thencandidate trump. Its interesting this morning mayor giuliani was texting me. He continues to insist that the president was just being informed about ms. Mcdougal during that conversation. But when youre responding to him on text i had dinner with bob kosta last night. Im not looking at my phone. Im enjoying the appetizer, entree, and dessert. This guy is working overtime talking to lanny davis and Rudy Giuliani. What are you saying back to him . When hes saying the president had no nothing, you know and giuliani knows thats a flatout lie. He had an affair with her. I asked mayor giuliani, could he put the president in contact with reporters . We need some clarity about what he knew at that time. Hes speculating in many respects. He says hes spoken to the president , but hes not providing the factual clarity we need at this time. All right. Ken, cohens attorney compared this case to former Vice President ial nominee john edwards indictment in 2011. Walk us through the significance. I think this is more important than the debate about whether they paid cash or check and what trump was saying. John edwards was charged with crimes because his wealthy benefactors were making payments to conceal an affair with his mistress. He was charged with Illegal Campaign finance violations and conspiracy. What lanny davis is saying is that Michael Cohen is prepared to testify that there was a conspiracy to conceal these payments. These payments were made to help dpru Donald Trumps election. If Michael Cohen goes into court and says that, thats a crime. The question is whether Robert Mueller or some other prosecutor is going to take that case against a sitting president who cant be indicted. Okay. I want to bring in the one and only michael avenatti. You know him, Stormy Daniels attorney. He joins us on the phone. You took to twitter talking about cohen and his lawyer. Quote, mr. Davis is a good lawyer but his client mr. Cohen is not innocent nor is he a victim. He is a coconspirator, dishonest thug who continues to refuse to come clean and do the right thing. They are playing you and aiming for a pardon. Where is the rest of the evidence and tapes . Now, davis says cohen is not seeking a pardon, and you dont buy that. Michael, i got to walk through a few things. A, give you credit because you said theres not one tape, theres tapes. You were right. But a week ago, didnt you go out to dinner with Michael Cohen . They said you ran into him in a restaurant. I have to tell you, we got 14,000 restaurants in new york city. I personally dont buy that you just ran into one another. And i think you said that you could actually see yourself working with cohen at some point. So lets get through the noise and tell us whats really going on here. Well, stephanie, i happened to run into Michael Cohen at 61st and 3rd. I decided last minute to go to that restaurant. I was with a friend of mine. I walked into the restaurant. I was seated. My friend said to me, youre not going to believe whos here. Of all the gin joints. Im sorry . Im sorry, continue. You ran into Michael Cohen. I ran into Michael Cohen by happenstance. You know, stephanie, that was not the first communication id had related to potentially sitting down with Michael Cohen and resolving things. This has been in the works for a number of weeks. But it was contingent on Michael Cohen coming 100 clean and disclosing what he knew about the president and the president s culpability as it relates to potential criminal conduct. On sunday, we had a meeting actually set up on monday, meaning two days ago, 4 00 p. M. In new york. I canceled that meeting on sunday because it became clear to me after speaking with lanny davis that morning that michael was not prepared to do the right thing and wanted to basically have it both ways. Were not going to participate in Something Like that. So my issue is as follows. Our issues is as follows. Theres a number of other tapes. Theres a lot of additional damaging information, and Michael Cohen doesnt want to provide that information to the American Public and doesnt want to come clean. Hes playing, and lanny davis is playing, the American Public right now. Were not going to participate in that. Were going to continue to hammer away at this guy. How are they playing us . You think theyre putting forth a front where theyre saying im trying to do the right thing, im releasing this tape to show im a good guy . Thats exactly what theyre doing, stephanie. Again, this is one of many tapes. This is not even the tip of the iceberg. Look, if lanny davis is to be believed, his comments this morning that Michael Cohen is not seeking a pardon, Michael Cohen should issue a written statement this morning stating that he will not accept a pardon from donald trump regardless of the circumstances. You know hes not going to do that. No one would do that. Why not . Anyone whos facing prison time is not going to sign a document that says, i will not accept a pardon. Theres no way. Would you do that . I wouldnt. Stephanie, i absolutely would do that if i went on National Television or had my attorney go on National Television and say he was not seeking a pardon. I dont get it. If thats the truth, he should have no problem issuing that statement. And if he refuses to issue that statement, that should tell you something. Mainly that hes trying to have it both ways, which is exactly what theyre doing right now. Theres nothing stopping Michael Cohen and lanny davis from releasing the balance of the tapes. Theres over a dozen. Theres nothing stopping them from coming clean and doing the right thing. There just isnt. Glen, whats the rationale behind lanny davis, mike come hen, and even giuliani being okay with even releasing this tape . How does it serve any of them . So heres why i think mr. Giuliani opted to waive the privilege on this end, if reporting is accurate. Some dozen other tapes. If they continue to try to keep these tapes under wraps, what would happen . There would probably be litigation in court in new york about whether these tapes would constitute crime fraud, such that ultimately if you had a judge announce at the end of that litigation that, you know what, yes, what were hearing on these tapes constitute crime, fraud, therefore, they cannot be kept under wraps. And that litigation could be accomplished fairly quickly. Literally within a matter of weeks. Then you would have a federal judge announcing to the world that donald trump committed fraud in these undercover recorded conversations, and that would be, i think, politically and potentially even legally damaging to the president. So i think this is another instance of mr. Giuliani trying to get in front of bad information, getting it out there, being able to spin it so well all now spend our time talking about who said cash, who said check, and what does it mean. I just dont think thats the import of these tapes. Somebody here, michael, i turn to you. Why does that not matter . Today youre watching Rudy Giuliani split hairs between cash, check. He didnt add money order, but you can throw that in there. Why is that irrelevant . Stephanie, the reason why its irrelevant, because it goes to the bigger issue. It doesnt really matter whether it was cash or financing. By the way, when Michael Cohen speaks of financing, i dont think hes speaking of financing as it relates to, you know, are they going to go get a loan or something. I think what hes speaking to is how are they going to make the payment. The bigger issue in my mind is that this does not appear to be the first time that these two guys have sat down and engaged in conversations about how payments like this were going to be made. More importantly than that, and this goes back to my first point, Michael Cohen could easily fill in the gaps on what were talking about. He could provide the context. He could provide a twoparagraph or threeparagraph written statement. He doesnt even have to go on television and talk about the circumstances of what happened here. This goes to my point. Theyre trying to have it both ways. That doesnt work. All right. Mr. Costa, heres a name that stood out to me. In this tape, you hear them reference alan weiselberg. This guy is deep in the weeds. If this guy is now caught in the crosshairs of all of this, this could crack wide open, much wider than if you paid cash or check or if hope hicks lied. It could have consequences for the trump organization, not just some transaction between Michael Cohen and candidate trump. This was something that other people were aware of. Its going to come back to kens point. If the federal government decides to make a case on election law and misuse of election law and paying people off without reporting it, then other players involved could be called to testify or could be in legal hot water. Whats the punishment for Something Like this . In the tape, Michael Cohen talks about setting up a company to transfer it to our friend david. Hes talking about david pecker, who runs American Media, who owns the national enquirer, who paid miss mcdougal 150 grand. Lets say theres Campaign Finance violations. Whats the actual punishment . If were sitting here saying, oh, my goodness, the president lied about sleeping with a playboy playmate, guess what, with e knwe knew that and a whole lot worse before he was elected. Its a good point. Ive talked to a lot of legal experts about this. A lot of them dont have much confidence this is a strong case. By the way, im not saying its a good thing he slept with a playmate when he was married to melania trump, but the American People for whatever reason seem to brush that off. Many legal experts think it would be unwise to bring this Campaign Finance case against donald trump, but there may be other issues here. There may be bank fraud, tax fraud, Money Laundering issues. Those kind of issues in the end could be more dangerous and damaging than the Campaign Finance issue. All right. Michael, how does all of this fit into your case with Stormy Daniels . Well, stephanie, how it fits into our case is theres multiple tapes, like ive said previously. We have sufficient reason to believe that some of those tapes relate to my client. You may or may not recall that months ago i demanded in writing to mr. Ryan, Michael Cohens attorney at the time, and Michael Cohen that they immediately provide us with tapes related to my client, especially including tapes between heath davisson, my clients former lawyer, and Michael Cohen discussing my client and the payoff. They have refused to provide that information. Theyve continued to refuse to provide it, which is another example of why i dont think theyre doing the right thing right now. Were going to continue to press forward. We want all of the tapes released. We especially want all of the tapes relating to my client released immediately. Im just confused at this point, michael. What is your current goal . What is Stormy Daniels goal . What are we waiting to see happen . The truth. I get it. The truth. That certainly serves the American People. From your perspective and getting paid for this for representing Stormy Daniels and for her, what do you want at this point . Well, again, we want the truth, stephanie. Weve always wanted the truth. We want her freed from the nda in its entirety. We want it invalidated. We want Michael Cohen held responsible for his conduct relating to what happened to her, including the defamatory statements that hes made about her. We want the president held responsible for the defamatory statements hes made about her. Thats ultimately what we want. But in the interim, we need and deserve, and America Needs and deserves the truth about what happened. That is 100 true. It doesnt matter what your political affiliation is or your priorities. America certainly deserves the truth. We deserve it from our elected officials. Michael, glen, robert, ken, awesome conversation. So much to go through. Were going to leave it there and take a quick break. Coming up, becoming more and more like a soviet type of economy. That is how gop listen to me gop republican senator ron johnson is describing President Trumps aid package to farmers. Caught in the middle of this trade war, farmers are suffering, and trump is trying to help out, but isnt this just a bandaid for a problem that the president created . But first, Stephen Colbert on the growing controversy surrounding President Trump as he considers revoking the security clearances of former intelligence officials who have criticized him. So the only people who should have security clearance are people who always agree with the president . Well, then, please welcome new cia director don and eric stacked on top of each other in a trench coat. Or is it . This farmers morning starts in outer space. Where satellites feed infrared images of his land into a system built with ai. He uses watson to analyze his data with millions of weather forecasts from the cloud, and iot sensors down here, for precise monitoring of irrigation. Its a smart way to help increase yields, all before the rest of us get out of bed. Tired of constantly battling lingering smells in your home, like pet, shoe, and body odors . For longlasting, continuous freshness, try febreze plug. Febreze plug provides 45 days of freshness, with a unique dual Chamber Design that alternates between harmonized scents for a continuous renewal of fragrance. Plus, febreze plug is formulated with odorclear technology, which cleans away odors instead of just masking them. For freshness youll notice week after week, try febreze plug. [sfx mouse click] two, down and back up. Our phones are more than just phones. They are pocket sized personal trainers. Last minute gift finders. Siri destination ahead. And discoverers of new places. Its the internet in your hand. Thats why Xfinity Mobile can be included with xfinity internet. Which could save you hunreds of dollars a year. Plus get 150 when you bring in your own phone. Its a new kind of network designed to save you money. Click, call or visit a store today. Welcome back. Im stephanie ruhle. The president s latest move in his trade war has republicans fuming. They really do not like this 12 billion in emergency aid for farmers who are hurt by the tariffs, a solution to a problem created by the president himself. When you choose a war of choice, which is what this trade war is, and then you say afterwards, lets just solve it by buying people goldplated crutches, the farmers and ranchers of america dont want crutches. They want to work. This is a bad deal all the way around. Bad for the taxpayers, horrible for farmers. It just you know, its just a bad deal. Give me trade, not aid. Weve spent decades developing these markets. Let us have access to them. End the trade war now. The president responding this morning on twitter. Quote, every time i see a weak politician asking to stop trade talks or the use of tariffs to counter unfair tariffs, i wonder, what can they be thinking . Let me just make something clear before i move on, i dont think theres anyone saying please stop trade talks. People are saying please stop with unnecessary tariffs that make no sense. Those are two different things, and the president is conflating two issues and those tariffs are hurting the American People. This is coming as he gets ready to meet with the president of the european commission. On the table, tariffs on european car imports that could jeopardize a trilliondollar trade relationship with 15 million jobs at stake on both sides of the atlantic. Remember, states like south carolina, you know what they do . Have auto manufacturing plants for some of those overseas companies. Joining me now, fred kemp, ceo and president of the atlantic council. Msnbc contributor jason johnson. And chris wilson, who is a republican pollster. Fred, ive got to go to you first. I was anxious to see larry kudlow this morning. Before he joined the administration, he wrote a piece just a few weeks before urging the president not to move forward with tariffs. Hes been a true free markets guy for decades. Yet, this morning he claims that this problem was not of the president s own making. Please take a listen. Past president s in both Political Parties have tried to fix the broken World Trading system. China is the worst. All im saying is this is not of mr. Trumps own making. This is something that mr. Trump inherited. Very unfair trading practices. This is a very difficult task. Reform always is. Theres a swamp for the World Trading system, and hes trying to drain it. Larry kudlow is right. Unfair trading practices exist. Credit to the president for taking them head on. But larry kudlow is not answering the question. The issue that were facing today is the impact of these tariffs. By putting these tariffs forward, hes gone around congress, and hes creating 12 billion in emergency aid for farmers, using a tactic that was created during the depression. So while the president and his administration claim the economy is stronger than ever, theyre now using depressionera vessels to save trump voters, i. E. Farmers, and by the way, not all of them. Look, first and foremost, this farm issue just underscores that his trade approach isnt working. Its not working in a huge, broad sense, and then a narrow sense. The broader sense is we are losing or could lose the ability to guide and shape the rulesbased order of institutions and practices that we created with our allies after world war ii. And whos going to step in to do that . Well, its going to be just the people that larry kudlow is saying our biggest problem is. Thats the chinese. In the narrower sense with the Eu Commission president in town this week, you have two things hes trying to achieve. The first hes trying to achieve is to diffuse the crisis before it gets to auto tariffs. That would be the worst direction. And none of the advisers around the president actually want it to go in that direction, but the president may want to. The best possibility is you could actually turn this around, reverse the aluminum and steel tariffs, and there is a potential for a transatlantic trade deal based on something close to zero tariffs. The president himself talked about it at the g7 in canada. There is a possibility that some sort of deal will be brought to the table, even if its just starting with the car industry. That would be great, but in the meantime, gm announced today a billion dollars worth of losses. Theyre citing rising commodity costs. Thats aluminum and steel. Youve got ron johnson saying our behavior is similar to a soviet republic where theyre doling out favors and aid to industries they choose. Lisa murkowski is saying, fine, just the farmers, but what about other industries . Oil and gas, seafood, manufacturing, theyre all suffering too. Well, what i dont understand about President Trump, he has his name on golf courses, he has his name on hotels. So far what hes been doing is dismantling things. The iranian trade deal. The worst additidecision of his administration in terms of china and trade was getting out of the transpacific partnership. Since he got out of that, the japanese put it together with 11 countries. Last week the eu and japan signed the biggest trade deal in history, and were on the sidelines. So what he has to do right now is he talks about getting leverage by being tough on trade. In many respects, that could be true. But now is the time to cash in that leverage, to close nafta, to get a deal on nafta, to get a deal to reverse what weve been doing with the eu, and then get a better trade deal to show he can get a better trade deal by being tough in the outset. But he hasnt yet shown that he can turn these trade threats into better deals. Now is the time he has to start doing that. Kevin told us just a couple days ago, its no tt a trade wa were in a trade negotiation. We have to remind our audience, the president made a Campaign Promise to tear up tpp and give us something better. He tore it up. Hes given us nothing. Tpp continues on without us. Chris, lets go back to the farmers. We already subsidize farmers. How unusual is this . And to do it without the support of congress. Well, i dont think it is all that unusual. If you look at it, to say this isnt working yet is sort of like saying your game plan isnt working before youve had a chance to touch the ball. President trump was consistent during the campaign, really over the last 20 years of his life, is he feels like the u. S. Has been tied up and getting the wrong side of the deal on negotiations. But i grew up on a farm in oklahoma. The complex system of ag credit and contracts and lending makes it a different type of scenario than it is with the commodities you mentioned earlier, where they had to be bailed out earlier to be given time to be successful. Look, President Trump, donald trump, has always been a hi highstakes gambler. In the real estate world, President Trump has gone bankrupt over four times. In the branding and marketing world, hes made a mint. Hes been a business and genius. In getting elected, hes been fantastic on taking on issues where americans have been hurt, saying im going to solve them. That plays to the American People, and it should. He said, im going to solve income inequality when no one else had the audacity to do it. When you look at the policies hes putting in place, hes hurting those people who believed him at what he does best, selling. Well, right now, as policies are given time to take hold, i think it is a matter of giving it time to see whos going to blink first. Any republican senator, like a ron johnson or ben sass, who believes trump is going to blink first and relieve these tariffs before the other side i think was mistaken. This is a chance that if he was successful, it could solve a lot of the problems that you mentioned earlier. If hes not, to the point youre making, it could also put us into a global trade war that could be very damaging to these markets. Okay. Then im going to be sassy and cynical, jason. One could say this is a political move ahead of the 2018 midterms when youve got people in farm states, trumps base, who are i isaying, uhoh, im getting screwed here, sir. I love when people gamble with everybody elses money. Thats essentially what hes doing. Hes always said thats what he likes to do. He said, were betting with the banks money, forgetting that the money inside of banks are the deposits from hardworking americans. Regular people in ohio, in indiana, in nebraska, all places ive grown up and lived. Heres the other issue. What this demonstrates, its just like tpp and everything else. The guy never has a plan b. If you look at the plan, this 12 billion, part of that is supposed to be spent on opening up new markets for the farmers to sell in. Why didnt you have that in advance . Why didnt you say, im throwing down these tariffs because ive already cut four or five deals with these other countries . I dont know if im a farmer if i necessarily want to be negotiating with the u. S. Government for prices. I dont know if thats necessarily going to be better for me and my product than i was able to do with mexico and china. Theres no longterm planning. Its totally about 2018. Okay. Fred, lets bring you in. As it relates to china, you know, with president obama he was very predictable. So if you are lets call china a trading adversary. Given how predictable obama was, they knew exactly what they wanted to do. Could the unpredictability or r irrationality of trump work in his favor here . I dont see it, but walk me through it. I think it could. Heres the narrative of a pivot to the positive with our allies that could actually end up addressing china. Larry kudlow said china is the worst. Well, if you want to go after china, then you want to have your allies on your side. You dont want to have your allies against us. Tpp. Exactly. So you should have done tpp, that way you get the asia allies on your side. We dont have that, but we could still dock on it. There are more than 20 parts of the tpp agreement, the japanese and others kept open because they were in our interest. We should negotiate our way back into that. The first step we have to do is we have to get nafta done. To get nafta done, youre going to have to take aluminum and steel tariffs off of mexico and canada, among other things. If youre going to do that, youre going to have to do that for your allies as well in europe. So im watching this week as a truly important week. Will he start pivoting to the positive this week . Or will he double down with auto tariffs . If hes doubling down, we have some ways to go. But i do agree that you could get more. Part of the reason that trump is very popular with his constituency is hes saying things that are true. We have bad trade deals with china. We could have better trade deals with europe. Now is the time he has to pivot to the positive with the allies and use the leverage to get a better deal out of china. It really has to start this week. We have not seen much pivoting from the president across the board, but do you think on some level this is its so crazy, it just might work . We talk about how farmers are getting hurt, but our own colleague has been throughout the country, visiting with farmers, and many have said lets see how this goes. I voted for the guy, lets give him some time. I think thats really the point. The high stakes approach of going after this and seeing whos going to blink first. From everything we know about donald trump, it doesnt look like thats going to be him. Now, at what point does that reach the line of demarcation, where it begins to hurt people in a way you cant pull back. I think thats moving into 2018 and planning for it. I think there are concerns in the white house that if this does go too far and our constituency is hurting, its going to cost Us Senate Seats in north dakota, west virginia, pennsylvania, and indiana. Thats why you see them taking action now. I think from a standpoint itll be interesting to see what comes out of these meetings. If there is the opportunity to cut a deal and trump comes out of this with a successful renegotiation, all bets are off in terms of what could happen in 2018. It really creates a positive environment for republicans. Right now you dont know which way its going to go. The economy is doing very well. The issue, though, in the waitandsee, one of the problems is the president of the United States lies every single day. And he lies unnecessarily. When he talks about the stock market, which has done beautifully well, and its up 30 since he won, he lies and says its up 40 . So its hard for me to get my head around this. The people who voted for him wanted something different, and they wanted a better life. And he lies every day. I cant figure out why. Those people support him. Because he provides something sort of symbolic and emotional. Hes fighting back. Thats what people have always wanted. It didnt feel like george bush and barack obama were fighting for them. Heres the other thing to remember. Were talking about the midterms. These other World Leaders have elections too. They have reasons to not blink as well. So when were talking about, yeah, trumps going to stand up to these guys and stare them in the eye, there are other world lead who are are like, im not going to bend to you because ill look bad with my own constituency. Not only is the president gambling with other peoples savings and finances, and it is harvesting season. Thats what we have going on during the midterms. You have elections in other countries where other leaders dont want to make him look good. Looking like youre weak against donald trump is poison for you in europe. It is poison for you in south america. If he thinks he can bully people, hes forgetting they got jobs too. Fred, before we go, can you think of an example of a policy in this administration where the president is fighting back, is talking tough, and actually winning . At the moment, there isnt a really good sign of that. The people in the administration i talk to say, look, this is normal. First two years of an administration, you set the table. Last two years of the administration do you agree with that . I think he has to start now because this is an administration that seems to be on acceleration in many ways. He has to understand this is about whos going to be the leader of the world. The russians are trying to replace us or displace us. Excuse me, disrupt us. The chinese are trying to replace us or displace us. You see the chinese stepping in with the eu in the same week hes negotiating with trump to make a statement. You then see the eu going off to japan. The world doesnt say in the st same place. There are large strategic stakes here that i dont think the president entirely gets. For the white house to say this is what any administration looks like in the first two years is absolutely untrue. Thats the white house simply talking their book. All right. Fred, chris, jason, thank you so much. Were going to leave it there. Next, President Trump is now expressing new concerns that russia will attempt to interfere in the midterm elections. But not in a way that you might think. Wait until you hear this one. 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. President trump has big worries ahead of novembers midterms involving russian interference in the elections. In a complete aboutface, he tweeted this. Im very concerned that russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming election. Based on the fact that no president has been tougher on russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the democrats. They definitely dont want trump. This, of course, comes a week after russian president Vladimir Putin said this when talking about the 2016 election. Did you want President Trump to win the election, and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that . Translator yes, i did. Yes, i did, because he talked about bringing the u. S. russia relationship back to normal. Okay. Joining me to discuss, ned price, a former National SecurityCouncil Spokesperson and special assistant to president obama. Okay. What do you make of this . The president is now saying russia doesnt want trump. Theyre going to help the democrats here. We have to remind our audience it was eu and american sanctions after the annexation of crimea that caused the ruble to crumble. We all know that President Trump has not been super tough on russia. It was congress that forced his hand on the sanctions to begin with. Well, thats exactly right, stephanie. Look, donald trump is half right, which for donald trump is a pretty good thing. Its pretty startling, in fact. Hes right in the sense that we know the russians are coming back to us. We, in fact, know the russians are already here. We learned from a senior microsoft executive last week that three candidates for the midterms have already had their systems attacked by the russians. We know moscow has continued to be active in the social media space, including twitter, spreading disinformation and misinformation. But look, heres the other reality. We have to cast aside what President Trump has said about the russians trying to help the democrats in this election cycle. They made an investment in donald trump in 2016, and the return they have garnered on that investment has probably surpassed even putins wildest dreams. But what we know to be true, stephanie, is that one day, perhaps in 2020, perhaps beyond, the russians could, in fact, be trying to go for a democratic candidate. They are not staunchly for republicans. Theyre not staunchly for democrats. They are opportunistic. Theyll do whatever is in their best interest. So our efforts, what we need to be Congress Efforts to fortify our election systems cannot be seen through a partisan lens. We have to understand this is about our National Security. It is not about partisanship. All right. The president i mentioned he was in kansas city, missouri, yesterday. I want to share what he told the audience about handling news reports or what he calls fake news. Just stick with us. Dont believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. What youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. Walk us through this. I mean, its fair to say that people are very hard on the president , but how dangerous is his rhetoric . Its as though it was straight out of the book 1984. If you say dont believe what youre saying, you could watch the president in that press conference with putin unedited, and he created that disaster all on his own. What is he doing here . And the people in that audience are actually people who love and support him. Thats exactly the issue. Theres a concept in 1984 called the memory hole where the ruling party, they try and recreate history and try and create it in their own image. That is precisely what we have seen. Youre exactly right that this is not something that anyone but donald trump has created, but the problem is trump is trying to create this alternate reality. He is trying to create an alternate reality where an alternate reality where he is tough on russia, where putin respects him, where america is respected and has credibility in the world. In fact, weve seen the opposite in all of these spheres and then some. The problem though is that he has been successful. His core Political Base lives in a reality that is separate from the reality in which the rest of us all live. Unfortunately, in many cases, it is not predicated on fact. It is predicated upon what trump what comes out of his mouth, what he tries to create as this alternate reality. Unfortunately, he has an apparatus behind him, stephanie. An apparatus that has proven quite successful over the past 18 months. He has an an tat ruspparatua. He is the president of the United States. Everyone who votes wants to live a better life. The question is, are they getting the opportunity to do that . Ned, thank you. Coming up, why is ivanka trump shutting down her fashion label, and why now . Rthritis. Before you and your rheumatologist move to another treatment, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. Ayep, and my teeth are yellow. . Dont let another morning go by without talking to time for whitestrips. Crest glamorous White Whitestrips are the only adaaccepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. And they whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste. Crest. Healthy, beautiful smiles for life. Time for money power politics. Ivanka trump shutting down her namesake fashion brand, saying, my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work im doing in washington. Making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners. My panel back with me. Im going to take this at face value. Every day, we say, shes completely conflicted with this business. Now, shes still involved and makes tons of money off other trump businesses, but her namesake brand, we said, how can you sit next to xiapprovals, ma off your company, and sit in the white house. She shut it down. I think it is a positive. You have to look at it has an American Company, 100 million in revenues last year, employed 18 people, and it goes away. It is unfortunate. It is a representation of the polarization of politics. People said, were not going to buy this because her name is on it. No, no, no. Every person who joins the administration leaves their business behind and they cant be conflicted. Yes, 18 people worked there. You can say, nordstrin ordenord want to carry her. The subject of massive boycotts because of her name being on it. Lots of defendant stores in the southeast, in trump country, picked her up. Right. She did get licenses overseas a lot pafaster than some of her peers. Was it losing money or is she doing the right thing because shes getting criticism . We dont know. It is an American Company that wont exist tomorrow. It is unfortunate and not something to celebrate. It is not something to celebrate. So gary cohn should have stayed on as president of goldman . Rex tillerson should have represented exxon . They didnt shut down when they left either. Garys wife and children and rexs wife and children arent getting the big income theyd get if they worked at the companies. It is nonsense. Right. Im not talking about her as an individual. Im talking about the 18 people that worked there, the fact it is an American Company. The fact she made a big deal out of the working women and trying to represent them. I think that is that in and of itself actually, she said shes not at all focused on women. When we asked her about the reunification of the migrant children, she said, im focused on work force development. Okay. Just a practical level, and i actually ran by some of our fashion people, the clothes werent that good. Thats the thing. I cant debate that. But i think that matters. Again, i dont think it is boycott. If she wants to leave the business, it is fine. Im more concerned about the idea that she left a business and now wants to get involved in policy. That goes back to the whole swamp idea that was supposedly being countered by the administration in the beginning. People can leave, move businesses, whatever. It was a good or bad business. If he wants to move to policy, if thats where she wants to go, upless runni le unless shs rshe is running for office, i think it is problematic. My take away is jared and ivanka are staying in washington. They seem to be staying in washington for the time being. This was a problem from the start because shes a Senior Adviser to the president of the United States. Can you imagine if karl rove had a sport jacket business, David Axelrod was selling ties . He didnt shut down his company. Still produced ads for democratic candidates. Any kind of business relationship with a senior official for the u. S. Government, i think, raises questions, and deserves scrutiny about whether their federal role is having any benefit for the corporation. She, more than a year and a half into the administration, made the decision to move away. Kellyanne conway on television promoted ivankas brand and said, you should buy her stuff. Ivankas team, the night she was on 60 emails to me, saying the bracelet was from her fine jewelry collection. Nonsense. Doesnt take away from the fact it is still a company. There have been multiple people who have gone to the administration, continue their company i dont outside, and used their position for the purposes. Again, to take the axelrod example, you believe, if you hired his firm, that somehow youd get his benefit and his expertise, and also his exacts would help your campaign. And the president s brand is to drain the swamp. Exactly. If that swampy behavior existed beforehand, it is time to get rid of it. It is different in terms of running a Clothing Company and running exam pacampaigns. No matter what wait, thank you all very much. Thank you. We always end this show believing there is good news somewhere, and it rules. Officer carlson did not know he was being recorded when he encountered a homeless man outside the gas station. The man was having trouble with his razor and said he needed to be clean shaven in order to land a Job Interview at the mcdonalds next door. The officer helped the guy by shaving his beard for the interview. Officer carlson said he was just doing his job. I would say, he, right there, was being a great american. That wraps up this hour. Im stephanie ruhle. Ill see you again at 11 00 a. M. Now my dear friend and colleague, hallie jackson. Get me a coke, please, because we will need all the caffeine we can get for the next 60 minutes. Starting with the president s response to the nowreleased recording. So sad. Too bad, he says. Asking what kind of lawyer would tape a client. Turns out, the kind he hired. For Michael Cohen, there is no turning back, with signs he may be getting ready to testify against his former boss. What his lawyer is saying this morning. And the tape isnt the only thing the president is teeing off on today. He is talking trade and tariffs with a testy conversation on the agenda with an eu leader today after the 12 billion package to farmers some call a bailout and others call a up and down aid. The other showdown on capitol hill happening with secretary of state mike pompeo later on this afternoon. Hes going in front of senators for the closed door helsinki summit talk. That tweet on iran. The update with north korea. All on the minds of the Foreign Relations committee. The top democrat on the committee, senator menendez, will be with me live later on this hour. We have a lot to get to. Good thing our