got to get somebody else in there. but what else rudy does bring to this, not only his knowledge of the southern district of new york and understanding of how these prosecutions move forward, but he does give a sense of comfort to donald trump. look around donald trump right now. he doesn t have very many people surrounding him that he can trust. he has his daughter ivanka, his son-in-law i guess to some extent, his two sons. but there isn t very many other people that donald trump can trust. right. and rudy giuliani is one. harry, this also comes, you know, we re learning, the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who had referred this michael cohen matter to the southern district of new york. right. told the president at a recent meeting that he is not a target in the investigation of michael cohen. now, obviously the southern district of new york had been looking into this in a very serious way for months before mueller referred whatever mueller referred to them that hap
raising the regular flood. i mentioned him jay goldberg, he has known him for decades. in fact, he helped negotiate trump s go divorces decades ago. he is predicting cohen could end up cooperating with the feds. we re going to talk to jay in just a moment. i want to go to jeff zeleny outfront first in west palm beach. jeff, how concerned is the president tonight? well, erin, it s interesting, because so much focus had been on james comey. but i was talking to a white house official who said he has weathered james comey. it is michael cohen that is consuming him. and the key point, erin, is this. michael cohen is viewed in the west wing at least as a wild card, someone who never came in the administration, although he wanted to, but he was blocked for a variety of reasons. so he never came inside the administration. and frankly, the white house officials have no control over him. so i am told the president has been asking multiple people what he should do about this, if he thinks th
could be something criminal here. you won t be worried about jail otherwise. but you don t think he would have the goods on the president. he would simply say what they wanted to hear to get out of his own prison which you believe he could very fairly have deserved? i don t say that the government has importuned him to say certain things that are not true. but a witness in michael s position is able to glean what it would take to get a letter of cooperation from the government and thereby avoid a lengthy prison term. the record is clear. it corrupts the system, said one important federal judge that witnesses under a threat of going to jail for a long period of time generally try to conform their conduct in such a way that they can earn what s known as a 5k-1 letter. leniency. that s what the president is worried about. so what did he say when you told him this?
and erin, we have pointed out again and again how different michael cohen is than all the other advisers, the other people mentioned. it s probably confusing to some viewers here. but michael cohen is as close to the president as it gets here. so that s why the president is concerned. all this coming as the president is adding new lawyers to his legal team. a familiar name rudy giuliani. he was here in florida meeting with the president in palm beach for some 30 minutes or so at mar-a-lago at least the other night, talking about this. rudy giuliani being brought on board here. but it is those questions about michael cohen, what he might do that i m told is worrying the president tonight. erin? all right, jeff zeleny, thank you very much. and a very fair concern. outfront now, jay goldberg, long-time attorney, personal friend of president who represented him in both of his divorce cases. and you spoke to the president about michael cohen. you re also a former federal prosecutor. y
did he share your curb about michael cohen? he said he understood. i said to him that the southern district of all the dribs in the united states, some 96 districts, engages in body recordings. wires essentially? wires. that doesn t require any judicial oversight. that just is the prosecutor s decision. they educate the witness to say certain things and then the witness can say something that would possibly jeopardize his position. this is a case you run the risk of a perjury trap. calling a witness, calling donald to testify, and knowing that you have a couple of witnesses who can contradict him that would be a perjury trap. the government does that. so so when you told him,