administration was using to help the secret donors. you re going to see more of that. even the republicans in the senate, who did okay in this last election, know that they ve got to chart a little different path if they want to survive in 2020. you mentioned that campaign finance vote that has to do with an irs rule, dark money groups going back to a status quo before, before the irs can peer into that donor list. there s another campaign finance story in the news, the president s lawyer is going to go to prison for violating the l law. how significant is that? listen, mueller is starting to show his cards, and they re significant cards. the president was involved in at least two felonies. he s an unindicted co-conspirator. this goes beyond the set of facts that led to the impeachment of bill clinton. i think it s important for congress to see the underlying evidence at some point. i m more willing to trust
mueller than my republican colleagues are. but even i want to see what he has, whether it s from cohen or the national enquirer, that leads him to be so sure about his findings. part of the problem with that respectfully is that s all true of the mueller investigation, but the southern district of new york and the u.s. department of justice is now on the record saying the president directed a felony to be committed that was material to his own election. and there s a guy who said it, and now there s a news organization that says they helped him do it. that s the prima fasha of illegality? yeah, and you haven t yet put the president s name on the block yet, and there s a question whether you can do that or not. i think all of this is happening in coordination with mueller s investigation, and i get it. that s unsatisfactory to people. but i do think having empowered mueller, having spent two years saying that we want him to get to the truth, i think it s appropriate for us to ask hi
that led me to choose a path of darkness over light. he added, time and time again i felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds rather than listen to my own inner voice and my moral compass. my weakness can be characterized as a blind loyalty to donald trump, and i was weak for not having the strength to question and to refuse his demands. lanny davis, who calls himself an adviser to cohen, told nbc news that trump s longtime lawyer still has a lot more to say, adding that, quote, chapter two begins today. at some point, probably the end of chapter two, michael cohen testifying publicly after robert mueller has completed his report in front of some congressional committee to tell the full truth about donald trump. joining me now to break down the legal implications of today s news, law professor and supreme court lawyer neal katyal, who was acting solicitor general under president obama. neal, the legal significance, political significance, constitutional significance of the sente
is going to look much further, much deeper, and await the filing of the mueller report. but then build upon whatever is in there or not in there and try to then establish just how deep the complicity goes within the realm of the trump organization. i wanted to get your reaction to what some of the republicans have been saying on capitol hill. this is orrin hatch. orrin hatch, who has had a long and colorful career in the united states senate. he s a sort of elder statesman in many regards, at least in terms of his tenure. and this is what he had to say today about this news. take a listen. is he concerned about what the federal government is alleging here? well, i think the democrats will do anything to hurt this president, anything. but this is not the democrats. this is the southern district of new york, the u.s. attorney. i mean that s who s making this allegation. you think he s a republican, do you? well, he s appointed by the
david pecker? so, one, i think that s going to be important to see where things go with that. two, you know, in the criminal information that michael cohen has already pled guilty to that we ve talked about here on this show before, we ve all talked about at length at this point, and also in subsequent filings, we now know that there was definitely a back and forth with the trump organization. and that s something that s very much within the southern district s purview. the company is based here in new york. final question on that. it s like this i don t know if i m reading too much, but sdny seems to be going hard. like the adjectives they use in their filings, the way they talked today, they re projecting that this was serious. right. i mean how everyone keeps saying, wow, mueller takes lying to the fbi and lying to mueller seriously, well, the southern district takes these kinds of crimes seriously too. their mission is broader than mueller s. the southern district is looking