today that cohen even had a 20-minute phone conversation with an assistant to long-time putin lieutenant after requesting help in getting trump tower in moscow built. he denied he responded to cohen s appeal, a lie, it means the russian official told the same lie michael cohen did. in other words, think about this, the president s bag man and putin s deputy were both working on the same coverup. confronted with cohen s testimony today trump displayed one of his truly distinct skills, which is to pretend like he has not been caught when he so obviously has been. there would have been nothing wrong if i did do it. if i did do it, there would have been nothing wrong. when i run for president that doesn t mean i m not allowed to do business. i was doing a lot of different things when i was running. even if he was right, it doesn t matter. because i was allowed to do whatever i wanted during the campaign. joining me now, latest nbc news investigation reporter, tom
dead in the bar of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound. today there was an honor procession for ron helus, a 29-year veteran of the ventura county sheriff s office and a hero. he was one of the first officers who within three minutes of first reports of gunfire rushed into the bar. he was shot multiple times before he died at the hospital. he was about a year away from retirement, leaving behind a wife and a son. the white house has ordered the u.s. flag be flown at half-staff in honor of the victims until sunset on saturday. with that, let s start the hour with the latest on what we know so far. joining me now is nbc news ron mott. he s outside one of the local hospitals in thousand oaks. also with us, nbc news investigation reporter, tom winter. ron, let s start with you and the latest from the scene. hi, there, ali. good afternoon to you. this is the second mass shooting i ve covered here in the past 12 days, 23 people have lost their lives in just unspeakable horror. and wh