island. he even divulged that he met the victim. so far he had not confessed to the crime. it was time for the detectives to try to rattle him. were they putting someone else s life in danger? then came a question investigators thought would certainly get jim s attention. does that surprise you when i brought up that name? yes. why? uh, because you re from whidbey island? would it surprise you that i ve been talking to him almost daily for the last week and a half?
reassurance if you stick by us we ll have your back. and that s sort of the insinuation through these e-mails. but the problem i think for cohen is that when he testified he didn t sort of lay out the timing in terms of the conversations that were going on between lawyers whether or not he was involved, lawyers on his behalf in seeking out a pardon while there was still a joint defense agreement. so there s a question of timing that i think is important for him. you have friends in high places, carrie, very quickly, is it more garth brooks or tony soprano? that s the question investigators have to ask themselves. clearly there was an open line of communication, that s what we know. and it would have been this communication was with rudy giuliani, the president s lawyer. it would have been in the president s interests, and so rudy giuliani was trying to understand where michael cohen s head was, what was he think something was he still sort of being friendly to them? and i would t
committee raised twice what president obama s did. 1$107 million. president obama in 2008, the big one, $53 million. and they had major celebrities and acts. this was a huge inauguration for president obama that was much better attended, had a-list talent. donald trump had jugglers and tractor pulls and stuff. no offense to jugglers and tr t tractor pulls, but i m not sure it s worth 1$107 million. i think they have a significant problem. that s a question investigators will try to get. the trump inaugural committee raised twice as much money as the first obama inaugural committee did and held significantly fewer events. you ask what happened, were they spending too much at the events? that seems to be the case based on the story. was there money being funneled
specifically people from middle eastern nations including qatar, saudi arabia and the emirates. raised a record amount of money. look how that all compares to what his predecessors brought in the for their inaugurations. george w. bush raced $40 million then $42. barack obama a record $53 million and $43 million and donald trump shaltered that record, raising $107 million. almost double. a huge question investigators are trying to answer is where did that money go? which made me think of an interview i did back when i was at bloomberg with businessman tom barrack who headed up trump s inaugural committee. my advisory role now is napkins and plates and galas. i m the senior party planner. he took all the brilliant people and put them in great positions and i m the concierge and event planner. somebody mentioned in the reporting by the wall street
the murder of russel douglas. then came a question investigators thought would certainly get jim s attention interrogator: who s bill hill? he s a friend of mine who lives here. bass player. interrogator: mm. does that surprise you, that i brought up that name? ye yes. interrogator: why? because you re from whidbey island? interrogator: would it surprise you that i ve been talking to him almost daily for the last week and a half? yeah, it would surprise me. i just wanted to see a reaction. up until that point, he was playing it pretty cool. and i think i got the reaction i was hoping for. it kind of deflated him a bit. so we re at truth or dare time, jim. yeah. you know what you ve told bill. he s your best friend in the whole world. the guy s falling apart over this literally, falling apart over the guilt