of the president s command through interviews with multiple witnesses from the trump organization plus internal company e-mails and other documents. court documents from michael cohen s plea deal provide clues to the evidence the report may be referencing. in mueller s sentencing memo, prosecutors revealed how cohen described the circumstances of preparing and circulating his response to the congressional inquiries while continuing to accept responsibility for the false statements contained within it. while buzzfeed details the president s ten face to face meetings with cohen and his directive to, quote, make it happen when it came to an in-person meeting between candidate trump and vladimir putin during the campaign, the court papers said much of the same, recounting how cohen took steps in contemplation of individual one s possible travel to russia. the president has pinned cohen as a liar. he is a weak person. he is lying very simply to get a
get more from the courtroom. in a related subject, fresh tweets from the president saying an investigation laying down a new legal marker. why should i be held responsible if my lawyer gives me bad advice. i never directed michael cohen to break the law, the president tweeted this morning. the president said michael cohen should have known better and if he knew something was illegal, cohen should have told trump to stop. that s why they get paid. a quote from the president. a judge sentenced cohen to serve three years in prison. one of the crimes is painted as a wide ranging experience to funnel hush money payments with the cooperation of a tabloid. a judge, prosecutors, cohen, and now american media, the parent company of the national enquirer say it was directed by individual one. that would be the president of the united states. with me to share the reporting and insights, kaitlan collins and the washington post and
guidelines to begin with are only 0-6 months, plus cooperation that s the kind of rare defendant in the federal system who can get a straight probation sentence because of the sentencing guidelines for a relatively lower level crime and his pure cooperation. when you see how a case is being built against the president for campaign finance violations, you look at michael cohen and what he has done, you look at the ami announcement yesterday, is there an argument to be made from a legal perspective that both of these are building up to a possible campaign finance charge against the president? yes. the first indicator was this summer when michael cohen stood up in court and said, i committed a campaign finance law violation. then last week the federal government for the first time in their papers said that, yes, this is our position, that he committed a campaign finance law violation and it was corrected by individual one, who is the president. now you have ami and the
about this. as the fact pattern became public and we have been able to see the facts on this, the president has moved his language to say even if it did, no big deal. it is a big deal. the timing of this is critical, as well. this was happening right before the election, clearly the intent here was to protect donald trump from a negative electoral impact if the stories from the women were being told. and then, of course, hearing michael cohen backed up by prosecutors saying that this all happened at the direction of donald trump named as individual one. that is why this is very precarious for the president. there is no doubt about that. he can try to be dismissive of it. i think that we are not done today when michael cohen gets sentenced and gets his punishment for his wrong doing here. he has pled guilty, obviously. i don t think we are done with
president ability to engaged with president putin, critical issues like this. thank you, david sanger, for sharing al your reporting with us. great to see you. great to be with you. john? on the subject of russia, let s get to our big story. he may the first president to face the real prospect of jail time. mischaracter of justice. we shouldn t have prosecutors going after one person. the key phrase is directed by individual one. directed by implicates the president in a felony. no one is above the law. we deserve the truth. it s been a long two years for general kelly. perhaps it is time for a rest. senior staff went beyond ayers reluctance to take the job for the long haul. president trump feels comfortable with meadows. whether the political chemistry is there, it s hard to tell right now. this is new day with alisyn camerota and john berman.