Doover, but now, finally, we are hearing about potential criminal charges in that case as well. The District Attorney in North Carolina today said she is planning to bring the case to a grand jury. She says she is receiving information that was obtained over the course of the elections board investigation into this matter. She says that she expects to be convening a grand jury to bring potential charges on this matter within the next month. No rush. That does it for us tonight. Well see you again on monday. Im joy reid in for lawrence odonnell. Well, it looks like the Southern District of new yorks investigation into donald trump may be a whole lot bigger than just hush money payments to a porn star. A new report tonight in the New York Times says the president s former Attorney Michael Cohen has met with prosecutors in the Southern District to offer them information about possible irregularities within the president s family business. Including information about Insurance Claims the company had filed over the years. Last week we learned that prosecutors in that office have already begun conducting interviews with members of the Trump Organization. This is the first time that were learning about what the times is calling irregularities and any alleged issues involving Insurance Claims. The times also reports that cohen has offered prosecutors information about trumps inaugural committee, something we know prosecutors in that office have been looking into. Specifically prosecutors questioned cohen about a donor to the committee named imaad zuberi, a venture capitalist from california who donated 900,000 to the committee and attempted to hire Michael Cohen as a political consultant. The times report doesnt say why cohen is giving the information to prosecutors or what it all means. But lucky for us, we might not have to wait that long to find out. Thats because Michael Cohen is set to testify publicly before the House Oversight committee next wednesday. And we now have a list of topics that cohen has agreed to talk about in that hearing. That list includes the president s debts and payments related to efforts to influence the 2016 election. Things like hush money payments to stormy daniels, for example, and any potential violations of Campaign Finance law or Financial Disclosure law the president may have committed in making those payments. And also includes a range of other topics from the president s compliance with tax laws, his conflicts of interest, his Business Practices, his d. C. Hotel, the accuracy or inaccuracy of his statements to the public, potentially fraud and inappropriate practices by the Trump Foundation and public efforts by the president and his attorney to try to use intimidation to keep witnesses like Michael Cohen from testifying. Those are the issues that House OversightCommittee ChairmanElijah Cummings will be questioning Michael Cohen about along with some of the committees newest members like massachusetts congresswoman ayanna presley, Rashida Tlaib and a congresswoman you may have heard of named alexandria ocasiocortez. Joining us now are three people who can help us understand what to make of this new reporting and what to expect from cohens upcoming testimony. Ken dilanian is the intelligence and National Security reporter for nbc news. Hes closely following the Mueller Investigation. Nelson cunningham is a former u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york. He was also general counsel of the Senate Judiciary committee under then senator joe biden. And david k. Johnson is a veteran investigative journalist who has covered trumps businesses for decades and also founded dcreport. Org. Hes also the auger of its even worse than you think what the Trump Administration is doing to america. Gentlemen, thank you for being here. Ken, let me go to you first. Robert mueller has a way of keeping us waiting. What are we expecting to get from that and whats the timeline we might see it . Well, joy, technically its due by midnight, but im told there are some technical glitches involving redactions, so the document may have been filed but the judge still needs to approve muellerproposed redactions so we may not see it in the file tonight. In terms of the Michael Cohen reporting, im pleased to tell you nbc news has confirmed much of that reporting tonight, joy. Multiple sources tell us that cohen did in fact meet with Southern District prosecutors. Hes providing them information relevant to their investigations into the Trump Organization and the trauma inaugural committee and hes doing it, joy, because hes looking for a sentencing break. Dont forget hes already been sentenced to three years in prison. Hes due to report in a couple of months and but the prosecutors can still ask a judge to reduce that sentence if they decide that he has cooperated. And thats what hes trying to do now. And we have learned that in fact he did have a consulting arrangement with this donor, imaad zuberi, who gave 900,000 to the inaugural committee. There was actually an 100,000 check that zuberi gave to cohen that cohen never cashed. They apparently had a falling out. Prosecutors are interested in zuberi and cohen is providing information about him, joy. And so, nelson, is this a smart strategy on the part obviously he wants a lower sentence, Michael Cohen. He doesnt have a deal that requires him to tell all that manafort did and apparently violated. Is this going to work . He seems to be providing a lot of detailed information, this Insurance Claim which a lot of people are speculating is a donald trump claim about hurricane damage, a 17 million Insurance Payment that he got for 2005 for hurricane damage to maralago in which the Associated Press was able to find much evidence of damage and the aforementioned imaad zuberi potential donation to the inaugural committee. If hes giving them fresh leads, could we in fact see Michael Cohen get a much lighter sentence than what we were expecting . Well, its theoretically possible, but, remember, he really starts behind the eight ball. Flash back a little bit. He pleaded guilty last summer without entering into a Cooperation Agreement with the Southern District. These were on the tax fraud charges and on the hush money charges. Pleaded guilty with no Cooperation Agreement, but he said he would cooperate voluntarily in any event. Then in december it was revealed he also had been offering evidence to mueller. At that point he pleaded guilty to separate charges in front of the special counsels Office Related to lying to congress. Now each of those, the Southern District and mueller, then filed sentencing memos. Mueller said, yeah, it was fine, he gave fine evidence. He got sentenced two months there. The Southern District wrote a scatheth sentencing memo saying not only were his criming incredibly serious but the cooperation he offered them was not helpful, it was not forthcoming and they rejected the cooperation he offered. He got three years on those charges. So what Michael Cohen is trying to do now is an after the fact redo of his sentencing, to try to come back and give the prosecutors more so that they will go ahead and relent and write the judge a better letter. I can tell you, thats not a very good strategy for a defendant to try to redo the deal that he already did badly. And, you know, to that point, david k. Johnson, it feels like Michael Cohen is kind of shopping for a way to get himself less time by seemingly willing to give up whatever it is on donald trump. And i think back to the to the articles about how poorly he was treated by donald trump, that his Blind Loyalty saying hed take a bullet for donald trump, he called him mr. Trump, and that donald trump let that guy get away. Meanwhile, he seems to be much more solicitous of Paul Manafort, who even if he somehow were not facing life in prison in the federal charges, there are now state charges, too. Manafort cant help donald trump. Do you find it odd as somebody who has covered donald trump for so long that it was cohen who seems to have so much knowledge about his business that he essentially didnt seem to care what happened to him. Well, remember that Michael Cohen has a problem here. Hes undoubtedly committed other crimes that he wants to avoid implicating himself in, where hes acted on donalds behalf. Donald has a long history of, you know, faking documents, making unjustified claims. Hes lost two different civil tax fraud trials. And so cohens hes trying to get the prosecutors to alter their position and to come forward and say, gee, he really did cooperate. Lets reduce that sentence, which is entirely in their hands, he also has to be careful that he doesnt put himself in more jeopardy because of the things that hes done on donalds behalf. Yeah. And, you know, ken, to go back for just a moment, there is the cohen of it and the manafort of it. Manafort facing significant amounts of jail time for actually lying to prosecutors while he i was supposed to be in the midst of an agreement. Hunter walker asked today whether donald trump was concerned about Michael Cohens upcoming testimony. Is there any evidence that the white house is concerned about Paul Manafort essentially breaking and deciding to be as forthcoming as cohen . Thats not clear, joy, but i think its looking increasingly like the Southern District investigation poses more of a danger to donald trump Going Forward than anything that manafort has to say in the russia investigation. And a lot of it has to do and we may get a preview of some of those issues when Michael Cohen testifies before congress in an open hearing on wednesday because hes not allowed to talk about russia, but hes going to talk about the hush money payment. Hes going to tell im told some very troubling stories about how donald trump has conducted himself behind the scenes in his Business Practices and tax issues and alleged fraud at the Trump Foundation. So regardless of what Paul Manafort has to say, and, you know, we still dont know whats going to happen with the Mueller Report and the Mueller Investigation. This Southern District case is not going away. Its goingo persist and it looks like theyre going in very dangerous directions and they are not bound as Robert Mueller is by a strict mandate. They can investigate any crime that happens in their jurisdiction and they can go back as far as they need to. It looks like theyre doing that. And so lets go to nelson then, former sdny prosecutor. Because ken makes a really good point. You know, the Mueller Probe and what people have thought about the Mueller Investigation is that its about russia. Its about the russian interference. And donald trump even said its a red line if they go beyond that. There is no such red line for the sdny. They can go back into tax evasion. They can go back into alleged Money Laundering anything they want. Any direction they want. Is it the case then that because sdny is incredibly aggressive prosecutors, theyre incredibly aggressive prosecutors that thats actually where the greatest jeopardy for donald trump lies legally . Actually, it turns out that it truly is. Even though the Southern District of new york is fully a part of the justice department, theyre not protected by special counsel regulations that give them nominal independence the way that mueller is. They dont have some of the protections that mueller has to be able to proceed unimpeded by interference. What were seeing now is the Southern District at its very best, which is looking at the crimes that are right before them and running straight at them to investigate them as hard as they can. It doesnt matter to them that jeffrey burman, the head of the office, was appointed by donald trump. In fact, burman has recused himself formally and put the put these decisions in the hands of his deputy. Trump is not really able to criticize the Southern District in the same way he can go after mueller because the Southern District brings that reputation of running it straight down the middle. I agree completely with ken. There is much more danger to trump from an investigation of his decades of finances and taxes and borrowings and misstatements and lies in manhattan by the prosecutors who base just at the lower end of the island. And david k. Johnson, do you think donald trump understands that . Oh, sure. Donald knows that hes in trouble and hes trying to figure out every way he can to discredit other people, to attack them, but donald knows perfectly well that hes in trouble. One of the things hes always used in the past to get out of things is either ratting out other people or having records destroyed. One of the interesting things we may see very soon is what records he thought were destroyed as opposed to those that actually exist and can come back to bite him. And he also relied on people like Michael Cohen to run interference for him and now Michael Cohen is on the other side trying to get a deal. Not wise. Ken dilanian, nelson cunningham, david k. Johnson, thank you all very much. Coming up, every president ial campaign was asked whether they would commit to not using hacked materials in the 2020 election. Every Single Campaign agreed. Except one. Guess who refused. And next, since the day that donald trump declared a National Emergency to extract the money from taxpayers for his border wall that he promised mexico would pay for, democrats have vowed to stop him. Now theyre making good on that promise. And everywhere i go theres always something to remind me of another place and time of another place and time the only network to win in all four major awards is the one more people rely on. Choose americas most Reliable Network on the best device, iphone. Now get 300 off the latest iphone. And then theres the best. We like cage free, and which ones just taste fresher and more flavorful . Only egglands best. We prefer organic, and which ones have 6 times more vitamin d and 25 less saturated fat . Only egglands best. My family deserves the best, and which egg is the best in so many ways . Only egglands best. Better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. Want more from your entejust say teach me more. Into your xfinice remote to discover all sorts of tips and tricks in x1. Can i find my wifi password . Just ask. [ ding ] show me my wifi password. Hey now [ ding ] you can even troubleshoot, learn new voice commands and much more. Clean my daughters room. [ ding ] oh, it wont do that. Welp, someone should. Just say teach me more into your voice remote and see how you can have an even better x1 experience. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Donald trump finally broke his silence on the coast guard lieutenant and selfidentified White Nationalist who was arrested for allegedly plotting the mass murder of democratic politicians and members of the media. Were you briefed, sir, on the coast guard members who were arrested for threatening democrats and other members of the media. Im actually getting a very final briefing and a very complete briefing in about two hours. Do you have any thoughts on this i think its a shame. Yeah, i think its a very sad thing when a thing like that happens. Ive expressed that. Im actually getting a very complete briefing in about two hours. Do you think you bear any responsibility for moderating your language when it comes to that . No, i dont. I think my language is very nice. Those answers to nbcs Hallie Jackson and not a proactive president ial statement were trumps first comments on the plot by a domestic terrorist, which was revealed on wednesday. If donald trump had not been asked those questions, we dont know if he ever would have spoken publicly about the plot to kill some of the frequent targets of his public vitreal. Trumps comments came after the White House Press secretary was asked if the president has any plans to tone down his rhetoric. And she said this. I certainly dont think that the president at any point has done anything but condemn violence, against journalists or anyone else. Of course thats not true. Donald trump praised a republican congressman Greg Gianforte after he body slammed a reporter. Who tried to ask him a question. I want to talk to you about that later. Theres not going to be time. Im just curious speak with shane, please. Im sick and tired of you guys. The last guy that came in here you did the same thing. Get the hell out of here. Get the hell out of here. The last guy did the same thing. Are you with the guardian . Yes. You just broke my glasses. The last guy did the same damn thing. You just body slammed me and broke my glasses. Get the hell out of here. Greg gianforte pleaded guilty to assault for his actions that were recorded on that tape. And then donald trump literally applauded gianforte for his assault. Greg is smart. By the way, never wrestle him. You understand that . Never. Any guy that can do a body slam, hes my kind of hes my guy. Meanwhile on capitol hill today, House Democrats are moving forward with plans to block Donald Trumps lastditch strategy to please the farright and get money for a border wall, a resolution to terminate trumps Emergency Declaration at the southern border was introduced by congressman joaquin castro. With more than 220 cosponsors, including one republican. The house will vote on the measure next week and republican leader mitch mcconnell, well, he cannot block the senate from voting on it soon after that. Which is the scenario that mcconnell warned the president about earlier this month when he privately cautioned trump, according to the Washington Post, that a vote on the National Emergency could divide gop senators and force the president to contemplate issuing his first veto ever in the face of opposition from his own party. But donald trump is brushing off the coming vote on his unprecedented use of a National Emergency declaration to solve a political standoff with congress. Do you think that Congressional Republicans will stick with you on the on your Emergency Declaration and vote against i think theyll stick with it. Everybody knows we need border security. We need a wall. I think its a very bad subject for the democrats. Will you definitively veto that resolution that was introduced today that would block your National Emergency if it passes. On the wall . Yes. Will i veto it . 100 . 100 . I dont think it survives a veto. We have too many smart people that want border security. So i cant imagine it could survive a veto, but i will veto it, yes. All right. Were joined now by two conservative critics of the president , Jennifer Rubin is an opinion writer at the Washington Post and an msnbc contributor. And charlie sykes, editorinchief of the bulwark and msnbc political analyst. Thank you both for being here. Charlie, im going to starting with you. Im going to play nancy pelosi responding to what you just heard a minute ago, and thats Donald Trumps threat to veto any bill that comes to his desk overturning his Emergency Declaration