and yet the president himself tonight had a bit of an on camera meltdown on cohen's behalf, describing it as disgraceful that cohen's office and hotel room were raided today by the fbi. have we ever seen a president make such a public pronouncement to shield a personal connection, in this case the president attacking the fbi and the justice department saying their actions in this case were a disgrace. joining us now is nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss. mr. beschloss, thank you so much for being with us tonight. i'm sure when you saw the news, you knew i was going to call. >> i thought that might somehow happen. >> let me just ask the question as i set it up there. mr. cohen has an unusual relationship with the president. he is a personal attorney. he does not represent the white house. he doesn't work for the administration. he doesn't work for the trump organization anymore. but the president tonight going out, way out on a limb,