It took place. Did you know at the time about that meet something. No, i didnt know anything about it. It must have been a very important meeting, because i never even heard that. No one told you a word, nothing . I know we talked about this on the plane a bit. No, nobody told me. Sounded like a very unimportant meeting. Deep cuts there from haberman and schmidt. Thats not what Michael Cohen claims, alleging that he and several others were present when thencandidate donald trump gave his nod of approval for the meeting to move forward. That contradicts repeated denials from donald trump jr. And others in Donald Trumps orbit. Did you tell your father anything about this . No. It was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell. I wouldnt have even remembered it until you start scouring through the stuff. The president said he became aware of it very recently, right before this came out, and thats when he was notified. Joining me now is jeff
bennett, msnbcs white house correspondent, natash
Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Asking you questions about this criminal matter, you dont have to be sworn under oath. The second that you talk to them and that you lie to them and they can prove that you lied to them, in other words, that you knew what you were telling them was in fact a lie, then they can charge you with that. So thats something thats also been included here in this case. Overall, a 30page indictment, this is a pretty significant step forward in a criminal prosecution. Tom winter, always on top of these developments with the fbi for us. Thanks very much. To help me break down the charges, im joined by liz holtzman, a longtime congresswoman who voted to impeach president nixon. Im also joined by Barbara Mcquade whos also a legal contributor for us an is outside the alexandria courthouse because she has been following very closely the Paul Manafort trial which we are going to get to here in a few minutes. So, liz, i want to star
Alex Witt hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. You cant on its face determine whether its unlawful or its within the law. Thats for prosecutors and factgatherers to decide, but, boy, it is something people will be looking at seriously. David . Kelly, very quickly. Youve been in contact with Rudy Guiliani over these last many weeks, talking to him about the grounds by which he might agree to have the president sit down for an interview. And we saw Rudy Guiliani. We saw the president s legal team and the White House Communications team this week talking about the president s tweets. What they signify to them. They talked about them as opinions versus orders when we got that extraordinary tweet earlier this week. It seemed to address the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, directly. Lets take that and apply it to this. I am sure that we will hear from the president s legal team. This is the president spouting off. Its him offering an opinion. Over th
Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Potential payment to Kathleen Mcdougal before it took place. So that is obviously at odds with the president saying that he learned about it later. Still lots of questions here, lots of unresolved issues, and the white house, a stressful day at the lectern for sarah sanders, i think, given the number of questions which she really did not have anything that she could go to beyond the prepared statement of he has done nothing wrong, there are no charges against him. Kelly, thanks very much for that. Kelly odonnell at the white house. Michael cohens guilty plea sheds light on the timeline of Hush Money Payments made to women who President Trump is accused of having affairs with before the campaign. This Isnt The Salacious Gossip it once was, this is part of a pattern of trump. According to the new yorker, Playboy Model Karen Mcdougal signed a Nondisclosure Agreement with American Media incorporated, the parent compan
Attorney. The person trump jr. Was emailing was this fellow here. Music publicist Rob Goldstone. He said an attorney had quote, information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father. Talking about Hillary Clinton and donald trump. And more than that, the emails indicate that donald trump jr. Was told in advance that this attorney was with or representing the russian government. As for that attorney, he met with my colleague, keir simmons, who tracked her down in moscow, in an exclusive interview she denied any connection with the kremlin but in an apparent contradiction to what donald trump jr. Has said, the Attorney Says the premise for the meeting was to discuss sanctions. Reporter what was the purpose of that meeting . Translator i never knew who else would be attending the meeting. All i knew that mr. Donald trump jr. Was willing to meet with me. I could recognize the young gentleman who was only present in the meeting for p