arraignment wraps inside that manhattan courtroom. as i said, that image you see on the right-hand side of your screens with the president and his attorneys as he sits at the defendant s table in the courtroom just moments ago. so obviously as we have said quite a bit today, but it s worth repeating, this is a historic moment. we have never seen this before in the united states of america. a former president under indictment, under arrest and now being charged with 34 counts of felonies. former attorney general bill barr is standing by with us, brit hume is also here to weigh-in momentarily. first we go to bryan llenas who is live at the courthouse where we expect shortly the president will be exiting soon. hi, bryan. hi, martha. that s exactly right. two big questions right now ahead of us. when will the former president come out. should be any moment. will he say anything to the cameras. what will he say now that he knows the charges. the second question is, knowing more
2016 campaign. Those words were in a text message sent from Keith Davidson, hes the attorney for both of the women at the heart of the story. Playboy playmate Karen Mcdougal and porn star Stormy Daniels. It was a text sent to the National Enquirer, dylan howard. And davidson is on the stand right now on day nine of the donald trump Election Interference hush money trial. With Explosive Testimony being given right now about his dealings with ami and Donald Trumps inner most circle. Earlier today, he told the court and the jury that dylan howard texted him back a response, quote, talk first thing. I will get you por than anyone for it. You know why. Davidson said that he understood even back then that the owner of the National Enquirer, that david pecker and donald trump were good friends. Two weeks after the texts were exchanged, Karen Mcdougal met with howard, where she alleged that she had an affair with donald trump that went on for several weeks to months. And ami declined to pick u
Manafort faces. The judge told them to get back to work though. So could it mean we are any closer to a verdict. But we start with some Breaking News. An nbc news exclusive. Former trump personal Attorney Michael Cohen is discussing a plea deal with federal prosecutors. One that could come as early as this afternoon. Thats according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke with nbc news. Tom winter is the nbc news investigations reporter who helped break the story. Our guest is a former u. S. District attorney for the Southern District of new york which is conducting the cohen investigation. Let me begin with you, tom, lay this out. What else did the sources say . How close the possibility of seeing some kind of deal emerge today . Sure. So ayman, as ellie can probably well tell you, no prosecutor counts their chickens and counts a plea deal until they have it. Then insigned. And the person is in court. I think were still a little a ways away from that, based upon
Coverage of nati
president, there should be clear evidence of a real crime. shouldn t be a debatable crime. the evidence should be strong. also, this is not just by virtue of his prior office, but he s a candidate in the current election. this is a charging decision that affects our current national politics. judgment there it seems to me many prosecutorial discretion should commend caution in this circumstance. as i ve said, this appears to be a pathetically weak case. i think demonsterabily weak. the justice department never pursued this campaign finance problem. it was brought on by the certain district of northern and passed on by the federal elections commission. you talk about prosecutorial discretion. look like the next opportunity
allegation. i don t care. all i can say is he s doing a good job. the shift is taking us beyond to go forward and say there s an impeachable offense because of a campaign finance problem. there s a lot of members in congress who would have to leave for that same place. i don t know if he should have said that out loud. it s more than a campaign finance problem. it s a campaign finance crime. american media incorporated, the publisher of national inquirer admits they paid $150,000 in hush money to influence the election in favor of a candidate, presumably donald trump which is what michael cohen has confessed to. in response the president is saying none of this is his fault. i have one last question. michael cohen says that he lied in order to protect you. what s your response to that? i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he s lawyer.