Show planned for tonight. Well do it tomorrow. Things happen. You know, bead up, roll off. Im trying to be a duck about this. Im trying to be a zen duck. Bead up, roll off. Just let it go. All right. Were going to start tonight with an important thing to know about the fbi raids on the home office and hotel room of the president s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Since Robert Mueller was appointed to be special counsel investigating the russian attack on our president ial election and the question of whether any americans were in on that crime, from the very start Robert Mueller has been willing to use fairly aggressive tactics to get his hands on information and evidence and even people that he and his team think are relevant to their investigation. There was famously the noknock search warrant that the mueller team kuyted orrin former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manaforts house in virginia. That was in the wee hours of the morning last summer. They picked the lock, they stormed in, they took binders full of documents and computer files. Paul manafortion first notice that they were there was when they knocked on his bedroom door. Because they didnt knock on the front door. And then once they knocked on the bedroom door they came in and photographed his expensive suits in his closet for evidence. The special counsels team also got a search warrant in may of last year for a storage locker that belonged to Paul Manafort. Accord informing a new court filing from manaforts lawyer, the way the fbi got access to that storage locker in the first place is they got a former employee of Paul Manaforts who had a key to that storage facility, they got that employee to open up the storage locker for them. Then once muellers agents saw what was in that storage locker, they went to a judge, got a search warrant, and then carted it all away. We dont know if thats actually how that went down. Thats how manaforts lawyers say it went down in their new court filing. Manaforts lawyers are actually asking the judge in that case to suppress the evidence that was taken from that storage locker because they say that former employee had no right to open it up in the first place, and so thats something that judge is going to have to rule on. But clearly muellers team has been aggressive in executing warrants and conducting searches when it comes to Paul Manafort and others. Just on friday we learned that the special counsel has kept on executing new search warrants relating to manafort right up until just a few weeks ago. Even though manaforts already standing trial in two federal jurisdictions on dozens of felony charges. As of last month they were still executing new warrants against him. That said, when mueller first charged manafort he did allow him to turn himself in at the local fbi office and then walk right back out again. Trump Campaign Foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was not so lucky. Muellers team stopped him and arrested him, right after he got off a plane at Dulles Airport in washington. They held him overnight in a cell. They took him to court the next morning. Then there was also george nader, a frequent Trump White House visitor, an excon on child porn charges, a reported adviser to the united arab emirates, now reportedly a cooperating witness for the Mueller Investigation. He too was stopped by fbi agents working for muellers team. They reportedly stopped him at the airport, at Dulles Airport, searched his electronics, served him with a subpoena to testify to the grand jury. Eventually he became a cooperator. Also an australian businessman who reportedly knows george nader, he also was reportedly stopped by muellers team at an airport and had his electronics seized. A rightwing writer guy who once lobbied for a job in the Trump Administration said just within the last two weeks that he too was detained by muellers team, in his case at Logan Airport in boston. There are also apparently several russian oligarchs who have been stopped and questioned by fbi agents working with muellers Team Including at least one oligarch who had his plane and his personal electronics searched when he landed at a new yorkarea airport in his private jet. Just last week muellers investigators showed up unnounsed on the doorstep of some unnamed business associate of the Trump Organization. They were reportedly armed with subpoenas compelling electronic records and sworn testimony from that business associate of the Trump Organization. So we know that Robert Muellers office, special counsels office, has done all of these things, right . A noknock predawn search warrant, arresting people as they step off of planes, showing up at peoples private planes and their houses and their offices with subpoenas to seize their phones and seize their computers and seize their records. And thats what weve seen from them so far before today. That does not appear to be what just happened today with Michael Cohen. The president s longtime personal Attorney Michael Cohen did have his new york Office Raided today along with a hotel room that was apparently his temporary home. Hes staying at a hotel while his apartment is being renovated i think. New york times was first to report today that the fbi raided choeps office, seizing business records, emails and documents relating to several topics including payments to a pornographic film actress. That would be the 130,000 that cohen says he paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election in order to keep her quiet about an dpra ma extramarital affair she says she had with donald trump. Now, as to why cohens office got rauded the Washington Post was first to report tonight that cohen is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud, and Campaign Finance violations. Investigators took cohens computer, phone, and personal financial records as part of the search of his office at Rockefeller Center in new york city, which incidentally is where i sit right this second. The broad seizure collected communications between cohen and his clients, including some with trump. So in this case, while we know that muellers team has been happy in the past, happy since the start of this investigation, to execute warrants and searches anywhere, even at very inconvenient times and at very unexpected places, this doesnt appear to be that same thing. This doesnt fit that pattern. Because what happened today to Michael Cohen doesnt appear to have been done by muellers team. These raids today on these premises controlled by Michael Cohen appear to have come about thanks to a referral from Robert Muellers team, a referral from muellers team to the u. S. Attorneys office in manhattan, in the Southern District of new york. So it appears that muellers prosecutors may have come across something in the course of their investigation, they may either have concluded themselves or more likely been told that that something was outside the scope of their investigation in the special counsels office, but that matter still deserved to be pursued as a potential criminal issue. And so they passed it on to the federal prosecutor in the jurisdiction where Michael Cohen lives and works and presumably where he banks. So this wasnt muellers team. This was a referral from muellers team to a local prosecutor. The federal prosecutor in the locality where cohen is. We think we know of only one other instance in which the Mueller Investigation has led to Something Like this. That time it was about Paul Manafort. It related to some unusual loans that extended to Paul Manafort right after he left the Trump Campaign, over 15 million in loans to Paul Manafort from a small Regional Bank in chicago that seemed to have no business making those kind of loans. That bank in chicago was set up. Muellers Team Reportedly started looking at those loans again themselves. So that one thing involving that little bank and those loans to manafort right after the election, thats the only other time we know of on a particular matter muellers prosecutors came across something they thought was potentially criminal but not with their agreement with the special counsels office so they kicked it out to a part of the Justice Department outside the special counsels office for them to pursue. That appears to have happened for a second time today with Michael Cohen. That seems important. At least in terms of understanding the importance of what happened it seems like a helpful distinction to grasp. Because there are definitely things Michael Cohen is known to have been involved in that could conceivably be within the Mueller Investigation. Convicted felon named felix sater. According to emails obtained by the nrkts nshlths last year sater wrote to Michael Cohen about the project, our boy could become president of the usa and we can engineer it. Ill get all of putins team to buy in on this. I will manage this process. Ill get putin on this program and we will get donald elected. Two months later in january 2016 Michael Cohen, not kidding, wrote directly to Vladimir Putins office, seeking Vladimir Putins help with the trump tower moscow project. Dont know if he ever heard back. Theres that involving Michael Cohen. There was also the russia sanctions relief plan that Michael Cohen appears to have hatched with felix sater and a prorussia ukrainian lawmaker, a plan to try to get rid of american sanctions on russia while russia also got to keep crimea, which would be a great deal for russia. Depending on what day you asked Michael Cohen about that russian sanctions plan that he helped cook up, he either delivered that incredibly evenhanded ploepd to then National Security adviser mike flynn at his desk in the white house or maybe Michael Cohen just delivered that plan right to his home trash can. Depending what angle you ask him from you might get a different answer on what became of that russiarelated plan he was involved with. So the fbi has now raided Michael Cohen. There are a couple of russiarelated things you could imagine Michael Cohen under the special counsels purview if he looks into the russia matter. But this raid could be anything. Reports on the raids of cohens office and hotel room today are careful to point out that while it appears to be related to the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels it could involve other matters as well. Michael cohen pops up in all sorts of trump stuff that might conceivably have implxs the Southern District of new york might want to execute an office raid for. Yeah, theres that 130,000 paid to the porn star that set off all kinds of red flags at the Financial Institution it was routed through. And it also raises questions about potential Campaign Finance violations if that payment was made to try to influence the election. Then theres the matter of a playboy model, not Stormy Daniels, different lady, who also claimed to have had an adulterous relationship with trump. She also got paid 150 grand for not speaking about her story. She now contends that contract she signed in that matter was fraudulent because the guy who she thought was her lawyer in that matter secretly behind the scenes was working with Michael Cohen. There was also that time Michael Cohen threatened a reporter who was digging into different allegations against trump telling the reporter, i will make sure that you and i meet one day, and i will take you for every penny you still dont have. And i will come after your daily beast and everybody else you that possibly know so im warning you tread very fing lightly because what im going to do to you is going to be fing disgusting. Im going to mess up your life for as long as youre on this fricking planet. End quote. While eyre going on the rundown, i should tell you back in the day Michael Cohen also lied to me, lied to us at the show about an environmental cleanup legal matter at a place that don jr. Used to own. I mean, it really could be anything. But what we know tonight is that Michael Cohens office and his hotel room have been raided by the fbi under the direction of prosecutors in the Southern District of new york, working on a case referred to them from the special counsels office. Its a big deal for a couple of reasons. First, noknock search warrants are carried out when prosecutors have reason to believe other less intrusive methods wont work. So prosecutors in this case presumably had to convince a judge that just subpoenaing these records that they want wouldnt be enough, they had to go grab them, had to go get them with a search warrant. This is also important because this appears to have been a referral from the special counsels office. Were hearing tonight that if thats the way this went down a lot of people at various levels of the Justice Department would have had to sign off on this. Up to and including the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein. Stick a pin in that. We will come back to it. Its important. Third, seizing records from a Lawyers Office is really complicated. Lots of things are covered by attorneyclient privilege including perhaps records in cohens office relating to his service as president trumps personal lawyer. So the fbi and prosecutors have to proceed with a lot of caution here. Michael cohens lawyer this evening issued a statement that read in part, the decision by the u. S. Attorneys office in new york to conduct their investigation using search warrants is completely inappropriate and unnecessary. It resulted in unnecessary seizure of plerotected attorneyclient communications between a lawyer and his clients. So there are all sorts of reasons this raid is fascinating and important today. But of course the primary reason this is such a big deal is the president of the United States just had the office of his personal lawyer raided by federal agents. And that doesnt happen every day. That doesnt even happen every lifetime. That doesnt even happen once a country. But tonight the president surrounded by his Senior Military Leadership called these raids by his own Justice Department a breakin. He said, i just heard they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man. Its a disgraceful situation. And then he openly mused about the possibility of firing special counsel Robert Mueller. Joining us now is tom winter, reporter with the nbc news Investigations Unit whos been following this all day. Tom, appreciate your time tonight. Thank you. Thank you. So the first thing that i thought when i heard about this today was what, this is in the building and we didnt see it . The building we are, in Rockefeller Center, we got no footage of that raid under way. No. Kudos to the fbi. They did not call up ahead of time and say hey, you guys may want to get a camera over here. So no, we did not know about this when the agents first showed up here at the building today and presumably they were able to enter and leave and conduct their business without us noticing here. And nobody else had a picture of it. So yeah, they were able to do their job. And in terms of what in terms of the way this was executed, weve been advised today that and cohens lawyers making the case, you could have just asked. You could have asked for these documents, you could have subpoenaed these documents, weve been cooperating all along. Why a search warrant . Do we have any indication of why a search warrant, why it was done this way . Well, sure. And acourting to the u. S. Attorneys manual the first thing youre supposed to do is ask. The first thing youre supposed to do when it iflds an attorney is say hey, can we get these documents, maybe follow it up with a subpoena. But at some point if youre a federal investigator, federal prosecutor you say you know, we may not be getting the full story here or based on documents theyve received in other parts of this investigation they may have said were not getting everything from Michael Cohen that we know that he has and so we need to go to a judge, present some probable cause here and say hey, were not getting everything that we need and we have reason to believe that he has files, communications, media, something on his computer or computers that we need to have a look at because otherwise were not going to get that material through a lawful subpoena. At that point they have to go get a search warrant. Does it send a message a lot of people like to look at the theater of this. I think anytime you have somebody come into your property or to wherever is your realm and say were physically fataking se of your stuff and you cant say anything about it because the zpun allows us to get this warrant and the material the judge approves, yeah, that probably sends a message. But the fact is its prosecutors that are very good. The public corruption unit thats involved in this with the new york Fbi Field Office, this particular Fbi Field Office which has prosecuted both democrats and republicans, is an office that is known for being very thorough, and if they went in this was an effort to get all the documents that they think they can get their hands on, they can help them with this investigation. There is the mat of the fact this was a Lawyers Office. Some logistics on that. Thats a big deal. Sure. Michael cohen for a long time was a Trump Organization employee. He is no longer a Trump Organization employee as far as we know. He had an office still operating as essentially a solo practitioner. He had an office in another law firm that was located in this building. They described their relationship with Michael Cohen as a strategic partnership. Some sort of Strategic Alliance where he was working in an office in their firm without being part of their firm. Today that law firm announced that relationship has come to an end. They say theyre in touch with prosecutors and theyre cooperating in this matter. Presumably theres presumably you dont want anybody working in your office thats getting raided by the fbi. Exactly. Its just inconvenient. But prosecutors have to take incredible incredibly specific steps to make sure theyre not infringing on attorneyclient privilege when they do Something Like this. They absolutely do. First off youve got this right here, this is just a portion, three or four pages from the u. S. Attorneys manual. This is just a portion of what they have to do. Premises of subject attorneys. Subject attorneys. Exactly. Thats just a little bit of what they have to in order to get approval to it. They actually have to submit this form. I redacted the information. But they have to submit this form to the Justice Department, to their headquarters in washington, d. C. , or main justice as the saying goes. So theyve got to get all sorts of aprofessional, all sorts of signoffs to be able to do this. And then when they get those communications, or they get the results of todays search, then they have to set up a team, and its going to be an entirely separate team thats going to look at these communications and say okay, guys, we know the scope, what the judge has approved here, we know the scope of what you can get. And then theyll hand over those communications to the actual trial team because what they need to protect in this case is for the people actually going to bring this potential case to trial, should he be prosecuted. That team cant be aware of any sort of communications that occurred as it related to attorneyclient privilege. But if there were communications, and this is where this whole attorneyclient privilege thing goes right out the window, if there were communications that were some sort of a favoring of a fraud or covering up of a crime, those communications are not privileged and those are the Type Communications that would be made available to prosecutors, federal agents, for them to continue their investigation, to possibly continue their case and one day possibly bring charges. So theyll have a team look at material that cohen might say is privileged exactly. And they may say some of that you think its privileged but thats you negotiating a crime with your client, were going to exactly. Thats going to the other side of the wall, some of that other communication that may relate to Trumps Communications on all sorts of matters, most of which youve just discussed, those are going to stay on the other side of the wall. Tom winter, reporter anybody vexes unit, thank you for helping us understand. Can i keep this . Yes. Thank you very much. Much more ahead. Stay with us. Commanded armies. Yielded to no one. When i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. My name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. Now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests. Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com hello. Lets go for a ride on a peloton. Lets go grab a couple thousand friends and chase each other up a hill. Lets go make a personal best, then beat it with your personal better than best. Lets go bring the worlds best instructors right to you. Better yet, lets go bring the entire new york studio live. Lets go anytime, anywhere, with anyone whos willing. And lets go do it all right here. Ready to go . Peloton. [ doorbell rings ] janice, mom told me you bought a house. Okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. Quiet. Im blasting my quads. Janice, look. Im in a meeting. Janice, look. [ chuckles ] look, look. Im looking. Its easy. You just answer some simple questions online, and you get Coverage Options to choose from. Youre ruining my workout. Cycling is my passion. Yobut prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Did the president and Michael Cohen talk about this payment at any time during the campaign or thereafter . Not that im aware of. And id refer you to michael on that. Ill have Michael Cohen address any specifics regarding this. You have to ask Michael Cohen about the specifics. Once again i would refer you to the president s outside counsel. I would refer you to Michael Cohen. Youll have to ask michael. Its cohen. Call michael. When it comes to questions about the president s alleged relationship with adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the 130,000 payment Michael Cohen says he made to her right before the election, the white house response, the president s response personally has been to tell reporters they need to talk to the president s lawyer, call Michael Cohen. Were not answering, ask him. Well, today as cohens office and hotel room were raided by the fbi carol linnic, tom hamburger, and doug barrett at the Washington Post were first to report that what the fbi did today, seize records related to that payment to Stormy Daniels, what the fbi was after appears to be much broader than that. Michael cohen, the longtime attorney of president trump, is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud, and Campaign Finance violations. Fbi agents today raided cohens Manhattan Office home and hotel room seizing records about cohens clients and personal finances. Investigators took cohens computer, phone, and personal financial records including tax returns, tax returns, as part of the search of his office. One person familiar with the probe said investigators have been gathering material on Michael Cohen for weeks including his bank records. Two of the potential crimes being investigated, bank fraud and wire fraud, suggest prosecutors have some reason to think cohen may have misled bankers about why he was using particular funds or may sl improperly used banks if the transfer of funds quoefrmt joining us now is tom hamburger, an Investigative Reporter with the Washington Post who helped break this story. Mr. Hamburger, its nice to see you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Im not sure i understand all of what bank fraud and wire fraud and tax fraud means, what those all mean in these circumstances. Is the implication of your reporting that Michael Cohen might potentially be on the hook for all of those things, all of them related to the Stormy Daniels payment, or the Stormy Daniels payment and a lot of other things are all being rounded up together by the investigators who called for these raids today . So rachel, thanks for the question. One of the first things we should do probably is acknowledge what we dont know, and that is we dont have the specific answers to precisely what investigators were looking for in this massive and surprising search of Michael Cohens law offices, personal residence and hotel room. So we dont foe precisely. One of the things we do know from multiple sources is federal investigators have been looking at Michael Cohen, as you said, in connection with bank fraud, wire fraud, and Campaign Finance violations and we know also that some of the materials seized today had to do with the Stormy Daniels case, the payment to the adult industry star just 12 days before the election. So its possible, its possible but we dont know for sure, that all three of those areas under which cohen is under investigation could be connected with that Stormy Daniels payment, and if so heres how it might work. If there were payments that were made to a bank account, that were made under false pretenses, or in which Michael Cohen did not provide honest answers when asked about the source of funds, for example, that could be a problem. The Campaign Violation could kick in if the payment to Stormy Daniels 12 days before the election was seen as in effect a campaign contribution, something that was done in order to benefit the trump president ial campaign. Michael cohen has denied to us and to others in the past that there is any connection with the campaign. But if there was some documentation or some reason to believe that in effect this money was somehow used to support the Trump Campaign or benefit donald trump as a candidate it could fall under Campaign Finance laws. Tom, late last week we saw the president for the first time personally entertain questions about the Stormy Daniels matter and specifically the payment. The president told reporters last week on tape that he didnt know anything about the payment. Is there any indication that that might have been a catalyst for these raids going ahead . Is that such a legally significant admission from the president that that might have kicked this into action . Again, rachel, i think i have to come back to acknowledge what we dont know. What we do know is there is this coincidence in which the president just a couple of days ago, just last friday, end of last week, acknowledges that he was unaware of this arrangement, this deal now subject to private arbitration, that he was unaware of the deal that was negotiated on his behalf by his Attorney Michael Cohen. It was a stunning revelation by the president , speaking out about that. And then what we find is just a few days later theres this raid of Michael Cohens legal office, private home, and hotel room. Yeah. I mean, im not a lawyer, and i shouldnt do armchair lawyering on these things and probably nobody should. But to have the president saying he didnt know about that deal to have the deal purportedly being something that Michael Cohen negotiated in his interest, obviously theres at least tension there. Whether or not it was significant to set this off story remains to be told. Tom hamburger, Investigative Reporter for the Washington Post, its always a pleasure to have you here. Thanks for helping us understand. Appreciate it. Lots of ground left to cover tonight. Stay with us. Applebees to go. Order online and get 10 off 30. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Todays fbi raid on the office of the president s personal attorney was carried out by fbi agents under the supervision of federal prosecutors in the u. S. Attorneys office for the Southern District of new york. So the manhattan federal prosecutors office. But that raid came after a referral from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller. Several Law Enforcement officials confirmed to nbc news that the search of cohens office was not the work of muellers prosecutors. It involves a matter that the mueller team came across which the team concluded did not fall under its mandate and they passed it on to the u. S. Attorneys office in manhattan. That decision, though, theyre of whether or not this whatever they came across was within the mandate of the special counsels office, that decision was not ultimately made by Robert Mueller himself. The person who appears to have signed off on that decision is Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein. Attorney general Jeff Sessions has recused himself from all matters related to the russia investigation. Rod rosenstein is the number 2 at the department. And hes in charge of all matters pertaining to the special counsels office and the russia matter more broadly. As bloomberg reported today, mueller brought information involving cohen to Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein decided that the inquiry should be handled by federal prosecutors in new york. So thats what we believe was the structure of this happening today. But that exact issue, what falls under muellers mandate, what can mueller do himself and what does he have to give to other people to pursue, the process of deciding what gets wrapped into his investigation and what has to be pursued by other prosecutors, you know, its interesting. This exact issue came up when rosenstein testified before congress this december. Watch this. Its my understanding that under the order appointing him mr. Mueller has the authority to investigate matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation, which would include crimes uncovered while he is investigating the main mission. So for example, if he is looking at the russia investigation and he finds out the person hes looking at committed a bank robbery, he isnt required to ignore a bank robbery. Would that be a Fair Assessment of his sporesponsibilities . Its a Fair Assessment the time of the gentleman has expired. Mr. Rosenstein may answer the question. Its important to recognize because its a special counsel, not an independent counsel, those issues are worked out with the department. So in the event that he came across evidence that was not appropriate for him to prosecute he could refer it to other components of the department. So we wouldnt allow Something Like that to slip through the cracks but we would make sure to route it to the appropriate prosecutor. We wouldnt allow Something Like that to slip through the cracks. We would route it to the appropriate prosecutor. Well, in this instance rosenstein apparently decided that the appropriate prosecutor was the federal prosecutor in manhattan. And thats not only an interesting and important decision for Rod Rosenstein to have made. It also means that rosenstein found himself in the spotlight when the president reacted to this news tonight. Why dont i just fire mueller . Well, i think its a disgrace whats going on. Well see what happens. But i think its really a sad situation when you look at what happened. Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing. And in finding nothing thats a big statement. If you you know the person whos in charge of the investigation, you know all about that. Deputy rosenstein. Rod rosenstein. He wrote the letter, very critical, of comey. One of the things i said i fired comey, well, i turned out to dot right thing because you look at all of the things that hes done and the lies and you look at whats gone on at the fbi with the insurance policy and all of the things that happened. Turned out i did the right thing. But he signed as you know, he also signed the fisa warrant. So Rod Rosenstein, whos in charge of this, signed a fisa warrant and he also he also signed a letter that was essentially saying to fire james comey. And he was right about that. He was absolutely right. So well see what happens. I think its disgraceful, and so does a lot of other people. This is a pure and simple witch hunt. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please. Will Rod Rosenstein keep his job . Thank you. Will Rod Rosenstein keep his job . Thank you all very much. You can hear the reporters asking very clearly at the end there, will Rod Rosenstein keep his job . Thank you very much. No answer from the president. Whatever the answer is to that question is now suddenly very, very important. And weve got more on that ahead. Stay with us. For adults with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer, previously treated with platinumbased chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk or egfr gene whove tried an fdaapproved targeted therapy, who wouldnt want a chance for another. . Whod say no to a. . Who wouldnt want a chance to live longer. Opdivo nivolumab . Over 40,000 patients have been prescribed opdivo immunotherapy. Opdivo can cause your immune system to attack normal organs and tissues in your body and affect how they work. This may happen during or after treatment has ended, and may become serious and lead to death. See your doctor right away if you experience new or worsening cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; diarrhea; severe stomach pain or tenderness; severe nausea or vomiting; extreme fatigue; constipation; excessive thirst or urine; swollen ankles; loss of appetite; rash; itching; headache; confusion; hallucinations; muscle or joint pain; flushing; fever; or weakness, as this may keep these problems from becoming more serious. These are not all the possible side effect of opdivo. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if youve had an organ transplant, or lung, breathing, or liver problems. A chance to live longer. Because who wouldnt want. That . Ask your doctor about opdivo. Thank you to all involved in opdivo clinical trials. Overwhelming air fresheners can send you running. So try febreze one. With no aerosols and no heavy perfumes. So you can spray and stay. Febreze one. While its design was meant to be seen. Experience the 2018 lexus nx and the nx hybrid. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Will Rod Rosenstein keep his job . Thank you. Will Rod Rosenstein keep his job . Thank you all very much. We werent asking to be thanked. We were asking will Rod Rosenstein keep his that question directed at the president today after Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein apparently signed off on sending this investigation to federal prosecutors in new york who have now raided the office and the hotel room of the president s personal lawyer. No answer from the president tonight on the fate of Rod Rosenstein, but clearly thats an important next thing for our country to understand. Joining us now is barbara mcquaid, former u. S. Attorney for the great state of michigan. Barbara, thank you for being here in person. Oh, my pleasure. Thanks. Let me ask first about this happening in the first place. Is this a weird thing . Weve got a determination by mueller apparently under advice from rosenstein that this isnt within the special counsels agreement and should be handled by the special prosecutor. Is that an unusual process . The whole special counsel situation is a little unusual, a little different in the way we normally say cases are held. But because of the mandate that Robert Muellers to come back to Rod Rosenstein anytime he wants to expand the scope of his investigation, he probably thought it was necessary to have a conversation with him. I dont know whether Robert Mueller advocated to keep this piece of the case or advocated it should go elsewhere but nonetheless Robert Mueller said this is a valid investigation i should pursue but i see it as beyond the scope of your job so well farm it out to the special Attorneys Office for the Southern District of new york. Zplt president s remarks and the way he talked about rosenstein are putting a hot spotlight on rosenstein. Is there anything about what we understand to be his behavior in this matter which would suggest he acted inappropriately or even controversially . Absolutely not. Hes doing his job. From time to time u. S. Attorneys office will compete for the same case. Theyll have various stakes in the case. Maybe its a company that is located in michigan but trades on the Stock Exchange in new york. So each of those offices has an interest in pursuing those cases. In those instances it is the deputy teenager or even attorney general himself who will make a decision that the equities of this case make it more appropriate to be handled in one jurisdiction versus another. I dont think theres anything other than Rod Rosenstein doing his job and make this decision. When youre serving as u. S. Attorney, as you did in michigan, youre making a decision as to how to secure and obtain evidence and information you that think is relevant to a case, how do you decide whether youre going to get it by search warrant warrant versus subpoena versus just requesting it . Cohens lawyer complaining today this was unnecessary, is the word he used, saying you didnt need to come raid this guys office and hotel room and home, you could have justped asked, were happy to cooperate. If you look at the language of the u. S. Attorneys manual, which governs the process in these cases, and the actual practices, you go with the least intrusive method for obtaining what you need in an investigation. So youll sit down and have a conversation, do we think we can get this just by asking them or sending them a letter and thats what you do because it takes fewer resources and you can get what you need. Do we need to do something a little more severe by using a grand jury subpoena which has a little more teeth in it in case they dont comply and you can charge them with obstruction of justice . Or if you dont trust them to give everything they have, if you think they will hold something back, its then you use a search warrant. And for an attorney its a very High Standard you have to get arolf from the department of justice explaining weve gone through this process and he with think its necessary to get what we need in this case. And when they elect to go with a same warrant does that usually mean theres some sort of time sensitivity on, this that they think they have to act with the element of surprise is it. It could be. Theres usually the element of surprise and there could be some concern about destruction of evidence. It could just be were not convinced that if we ask for this stuff that the persons going to turn it over for us. But when you get a search warrant you get ten days to execute it. Im going to stalk with Michael Beschloss, president ial historian, in just a minute in part about the risk of Rod Rosenstein being targeted by the president. The president talking about him by name in a sort of rambling way. The president also talking about mueller by name in a way he didnt used to. Whats your feeling, whats your sense about the risk, of what it would mean for the country or whether it would mean anything significant for the country if the president took that kind of action . I think it would be very damaging to our institutions of government. Rod rosenstein has shown himself i think to be a career professional whos made these calls as hes seen them. And to be fired simply for authorizing a lawful search of someone who happens to be the president s private attorney seems like such a nakedly political decision that i think it would be politically disastrous for the president. And so i hope it doesnt happen but i think if it did it would have serious ramifications for the rule of law. Political disaster no longer is an outcome that predetermines peoples actions. Barbara mcquade, former u. S. Attorney for michigan, its really good to have you here. Thanks for coming in. Thanks, rachel. As i mentioned, Michael Beschloss still ahead tonight. Lots more to get to. Stay with us. Hi leaving a career to follow a calling takes courage. A personalized Financial Strategy can give you confidence to take the next step. Hi guys aw yeah see how access to j. P. Morgan investment expertise can help you. Chase. Make more of whats yours. Chase. You wouldnt accept from any one else. Why accept it from your allergy pills . Flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. Flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. Most pills only block one. Flonase. You know whats not awesome . Gigspeed internet. When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids, and these guys, him, ah. Oh hello. That lady, these houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh, sure. Still yes xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. Now you can get it, too. Welcome to the party. Michael cohen is president trumps personal lawyer, he doesnt work in the white house, did not work on the campaign, doesnt even work for the Trump Organization anymore. Yet the president himself had a bit of an oncamera melt down on cohens behalf describing it as disgrateful th disgraceful that his hotel and home were raided by the fbi. In this case the president attacking the fbi and Justice Department saying their actions in this case were a disgrace. Joining us now is msnbc news president ial historian Michael Beschloss. Thank you for being with us. Im sure when you saw the news you knew i was going to call. I thought that might somehow happen. Let me just ask the question as i set it up there. Mr. Cohen has an unusual relationship with the president. Hes a personal attorney, he does not represent the white house, doesnt work for the administration, doesnt work for the Trump Organization anymore. But the president tonight going way out on a limb attacking the Justice Department and the fbi for what he says was a disgraceful move on their part to raid mr. Cohens office. He did. And you sort of wonder what he is worried about that Michael Cohen knows or may have records of. And you know, what we saw tonight, rachel, that was something we have not seen from a president. To go back to Richard Nixon during watergate, he was angry at Archibald Cox but he didnt in public say this is a bad man, he is surrounded by democrats. In private nixon was irritated by the fax that cox had worked for john f. Kennedy and had democrats on his staff. But he didnt try to do the thing that the president did today. It didnt really sound like a president. It sounded to me as i was listening as if a martian came and heard donald trump speaking it sounded like an angry political boss in some city machine going against the prosecutor. We just heard from barbara mcquade, former u. S. Attorney from michigan, shes an even keeled speaker. I asked her for her reaction to the process that the president might take action against Rod Rosenstein, Jeff Sessions, Robert Mueller, some other thing he might try to do in order to shut this down, she described that as potentially disastrous for the rule of law and also something that would have politically disastrous consequences. I dont know how to assess what a political disaster is anymore. Right. I guess i ask you to put that in historical context. What you think the response would be. Well, it did sound like an echo of the saturday night massacre in which Richard Nixon said to Archibald Cox stop coming after me and asking for my tapes or ill fire you, which he did. With donald trump he was going further, did you hear the phrase witch hunt, that was out of nixon. Thats a term nixon used. But what donald trump was suggesting tonight, i think he was suggesting that rosenstein was a demon, or potential demon, the same thing with mueller. Hes setting out the predicate for a huge war which he has the possibility of firing mueller and then trying to wage a political war. Hes living in a different environment than Richard Nixon did, and it might be easier for him to do that. There may be a political crisis here, but we cant predict. Michael beschloss, msnbc president ial historian leaving us out on a limb. Sorry about that. Thats where we are. Thanks, michael appreciate it. Thanks, rachel. Be well. Talk soon. Well be right back. In the modern world, it pays to switch things up. You can switch and save time. [cars honking] [car accelerating] you can switch and save worry. You can switch and save hassle. [vacuuming sound] and when you switch to esurance, you can save time, worry, hassle and yup, money. In fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved hundreds. So you might want to think about pulling the ol switcheroo. Thats auto and Home Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. Are made with smarttrack®igners material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. See how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50 faster today at invisalign. Com epa administrator scott pruitt has stepped in a hornets nest of scandals recently. Two of them were kicked up tonight. He claimed he had no idea they used a legal provision to give two of his staffers raises. But the atlantic reports tonight, one of the staffers who got one of the raises wrote to hr in an attempt to confirm that her pay raise of over 56,000 was being processed. She stated that scott pruitt approves and was supportive of her getting a raise. So scott pruitt said he had no idea. She said he did. And then one of his senior staffers quit last week shortly after a letter was sent to the epa asking the Inspector General to investigate reports that ms. Davis had not shown up for work for three months all while getting paid full time. This was during the time when scott pruitt took davis and six other staffers on the trip to morocco by way of paris. So she didnt make it to work for three months but did make it to paris. To want he got an answer. After analyzing your question, we have decided to conduct the requested review. The issues raised in your letter are within the authority of the oiu to review, we will inform you and your staff when we complete the review. And ill inform you once i hear about it. That does it for us tonight well see you tomorrow. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening. Like you had things in mind to talk about which i wont be talking about. Because the news has hit us. And Michael Avenatti is going to be my