jillian: donald trump s former campaign chairman is due in court today, the special counsel accusing him of breaking his plea deal by lying about his contacts with russia. manafort s lawyers claim robert mueller s team used unusual methods to question manafort, insisting he did not lie. he can wear a suit instead of his prison uniform to the hearing. michael cohen will comply with a subpoena from the sudden intelligence committee. lawmakers once donald trump s former lawyer to address a number of unanswered questions before he heads to prison in march. the subpoena comes one day after testimony in front of the house oversight committee. : s attorney says his family is threatened, he blamed donald trump and his current attorney, rudy giuliani. rob: been away the venezuela s economic stability and its most honorable state yet and oil could be the tipping point. here to break it down is university of maryland business professor peter morici.
this. so it s not a small thing and it s not unreasonable for michael cohen to be concerned that when he goes to prison in march that his family or he could face some danger. so i think that s also at the top of michael cohen s mind, as he made the decision. evan, thank you very much. i want to go to john dean and the counsel for national security kerry core dhar ro. john kerry cordaro. john, did he repeatedly threaten him by brigg up his father-in-law? at least that s the case, they have stated because of the president and his statements. he hasn t said he will start a department of justice investigation against the father or the wife, but what he is doing is he is poking a hornet s nest. i think that s what s troubling cohen and his wife. he is obviously trying to prevent this testimony. right. certainly trying to get somebody
president related to michael cohen now just a few moments ago michael cohen has been subpoenaed to testify before the senate intel community. this changes things in a few major ways. michael cohen is set to report to prison in march. we don t know when he s set to appear before the senate intel committee. i want to bring in michael steele now, former senior advisor to jeb bush. jason johnson is also with me, politics editor at the root.com. i ll start with you, michael steele. how big of a deal? it s a huge deal. i mean, i think it was inevitable that at some point cohen would appear before congress. i think it s important that senate intelligence is going first. i think it s a good reminder, too, there are concerns in both parties. senate intelligence is a bipartisan investigation. they are continuing to look at the question about the president and his campaign, what ties they may have had to russia.
every reporting i ve done on the president, he doesn t text, he doesn t e-mail. so it wouldn t have been an electronic communication. i don t know what the document is, but there is documentation. now, this what i will say about cohen. he has pleaded guilty to lying about things. there have been things in the past that he has lied to me as a reporter about, other reporters about, that he has lied about publicly. cohen pleaded guilty to lying to congress. that is part of the reason why he is going to prison in march. mmm-hmm. it would seem incomprehensible to me and against any better judgement for him to go to congress again and lie. he s already going to pr is fisr this. so this is the kind of thing, this document and what he is saying about the president directing him or the president s knowledge about this payment ahead of time is the exact kind of thing i m sure he ll be asked about on february 7th when he goes to capitol hill. this is the whole reason why he s going. there
there must be some evidence that michael cohen has about misconduct by donald trump and that explains mr. trump president trump s behavior. otherwise, he could leave this person, who s set to go to prison in march, and not respond or overreact to all of it, and so i think what we just heard from the congresswoman and what we re going to hear, i think, through the process is how does congress pull on these threads. one more point, before you let me go, as they say, i thought it was very notable that mr. davis today said he can t speak to this because it s the heart of the mueller probe. that tells you that we are learning, in a few leaks, about the type of things that mueller may have a lot more evidence on. all right, ari melber, we appreciate your time on your night off. as i said, any time you want, it s your show, my friend. you can call in any time. thank you, amon, and thanks for your work. and with me now is former federal prosecutor glen and richard painter, chief white