why did he do it? president trump s former lawyer secretly records a conversation about money. it s showed it was paid before the election to influence the outcome and that s not legal. what did michael cohen suspect about his boss two years ago and how many more secret recordings might he have? also ahead the madam and mr. mueller. why does he want to talk to her and what does it have to do with the russia election. why the president hasn t told americans about closed doors meeting with putin. hi, everyone. i m alex witt. let s get to what s happening there. we begin with reaction from my colleague al sharpton about a face-to-face conversation he had with michael cohen yesterday just two hours before we learned about the secret recording. here is what the rev told me
board? it s really hard to know. it seems like it s more the latter than the former but we don t have enough information right now. the crime itself acting as a russian agent without registering is one thing. what all was she doing? who was she speaking to and about what? there s a lot of unanswered questions here. she is the first russian indicted on measure soil. do you see significance to, that steven? does it signal the mueller investigation is now in a new phase? i think so. i think that s probably correct. it does have effects, ramification for the mueller s ability to tie active russian involvement to the trump campaign potentially and, as you suggested, leverage with respect to the russian government itself. okay. regarding michael cohen specifically, i m sure you ve seen the president s tweet, we ll put it up again. inconceivable the government break into a lawyer s office unheard of, more inconceivable
can i ask you quickly about kristen davis, who is known as the manhattan madam and the fact she s been subpoenaed now by mueller s team. what would they be looking for with this woman who has long ties with roger cohen roger stone. another excellent question. i don t think we have enough information to know for sure what s behind that attempt to interview miss davis. she does have a lot of long-standing ties to roger stone, who was a key player in the campaign. roger stone had a hot of contacts with russian agents during the campaign and wikileaks. perhaps they want to know did he mention anything to her about that. or it might be something different. obviously they are after something mr. stone might have said to her that would indicate some sort of admission or knowledge. how far it goes, i don t think
vocally that he does not want bob mueller looking at his finances. this seems directly into that. and we know that obviously this wasn t mueller that did it. this is outside of russia and someone else did it. the department of justice essentially going past that red line that the president tried to create. mike the schmidt of the new york times, thanks for being with me. you don t get to unilaterally create red line investigations when you re not the president. everyone else who gets investigated by prosecutors finds themselves blown around in the wind. pete williams, you ve been following the justice department reaction to all of there. what is it like in that building right now? well, you know, these are stressful jobs under the best conditions. they re difficult. they re complicated. and that s when you feel that you have your bosses at your back. so that is not the situation today. many of the senior people at the justice department come to work pre morning wondering if this
of my closest business associate and lawyer, i would be bummed. yeah, look remember the president has said very openly vocally that he does not want bob mueller looking at his finances. this seems directly into that. and we know that obviously this wasn t mueller that did it. this is outside of russia and someone else did it. the department of justice essentially going past that red line that the president tried to create. mike the schmidt of the new york times, thanks for being with me. you don t get to unilaterally create red line investigations when you re not the president. everyone else who gets investigated by prosecutors finds themselves blown around in the wind. pete williams, you ve been following the justice department reaction to all of there. what is it like in that building right now? well, you know, these are stressful jobs under the best conditions. they re difficult. they re complicated. and that s when you feel that you have your bosses at your back. so that is