Client without guarantee of a repayment. Well hear about notes that Allen Weisselberg took in documenting the repayment. I think those notes also have Michael Cohens handwriting on it. I think youll hear more about those notes. Those notes, its exhibit 35 the reason i remember it, incredibly strong proof for the prosecution. Mary mcchord and i theres an episode of our podcast talking about just that exhibit and why it is so devastating. And then finally well be taken into the oval office, where Michael Cohen has a conversation with donald trump about the repayment scheme. So, those are the remaining pieces. Finally the jury will hear about all of the things that Michael Cohen has pleaded guilty to, and hell have to explain why he pled guilty to something he now says he is not guilty of. That might be a bit of a difficult part of the testimony, and then well get to Cross Examination. That for Michael Cohen is kind of the ball game. The direct should go swimmingly, it is going swimmingly
Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Presidency took a giant step toward impeachment. It happened in a courtroom in manhattan when these words were spoken. At the direction of, meaning at the direction of the president of the United States. And when a defendant is Pleading Guilty in court, it is very difficult for the defendant to Say Something more important than the word guilty. Thats usually the most important word a defendant speaks during a guilty plea session. But today in Federal Court in manhattan Michael Cohen said guilty, your honor eight times and hes also said at the direction of twice. And both times he meant at the direction of the president of the United States. And so today donald trump made history by becoming the first president of the United States to be accused under oath in Federal Court of ordering someone to commit a federal crime to win a president ial election. At the direction of. Have to be illegally pu
Sentence in this case and you agree to cooperate. And i think from Robert Muellers perspective it would be worth it because even if Paul Manafort doesnt have anything incriminating i think Robert Muellers quest is to get to the truth and Paul Manafort certainly knows a lot of what happened. He was present at that june 2016 meeting at trump tower. He has all the connections with the russians and the ukrainians and so it seems that hes in a position to know a lot of what was happening with regard to any connections with russia. So i think we might see that. Barbara mcquade, former u. S. Attorney in michigan. Thank you, barb. Really good to have you here tonight. Thanks, rachel. What a day. That does it for us for right this second. See you again tomorrow. Now its time for The Last Word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. And i was so struck by your interview with lanny davis which is making news in that last hour. Not only did he tell you that Michael Co
Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Daniels and other women during the campaign. It was always so clear to him that he did something wrong that he lied about it when he was asked about it on Air Force One, which became the next question in the briefing. So many people now look back at that tape of him on Air Force One saying he knew nothing about these payments, when in fact we now know he knew everything about those payment, so has he lied. Thats a ridiculous accusation. The president has done nothing wrong and there are no charges against him. So now it is a ridiculous accusation if you ask the question has the president lied after the whole world has watched the president lie on Air Force One. Mr. President , did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . Then why did makele cohen make that. You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney and youll have to ask michael. Do you know where he got the money to m
Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. There could be a slow down in the production of these kind of things like Exhibit Lists because Paul Manafort maybe has begun a conversation with the prosecutors about what happens next . I dont know how much a, i dont know how much transparency we would have in that process. And, b, i dont know what to expect in terms of timing from this court. With the previous Paul Manafort trial, it was in the Eastern District of virginia, which is not only known for being fast, it is famous for being fast. It is the rocket docket. Theyre the originals. We knew to expect things to go fast and we knew to notice any delay as interesting and potentially suspicious in virginia. In d. C. , we dont have those kind of cues to set baseline expectations. So its really hard to know. It is remarkable that prosecutors have more than double the number of pieces of evidence in d. C. Than they did in virginia. But i dont