Were going to bring you results as they come in from West Virginia. But breaking news in the Mueller Investigation and the investigation into Michael Cohen. Cnn learned that Mueller Investigations have questioned a Russian Oligarch about hundreds of thousands of dollars deposited into essential consultants llc, the company set up by Michael Cohen that was used to pay off Stormy Daniels. Hundreds of thousands of dollars from the u. S. Affiliate were made after the election. The purpose of the payments by the u. S. Affiliate is unclear at this hour. Cnn has reviewed documents that appear to show the payments but cnn has not authenticated the documents. Their authenticity has already been bolstered by a Statement Issued by another company tonight, at t, which is trying to acquire cnn and its Parent Company time warn per. The information that Michael Avenatti revealed earl yer said that at t had paid several hundred thousands of dollars to Michael Cohens essential con l consultants llc. At t released a statement confirming that. Another company, a Pharmaceutical Company just issued this statement saying any agreement with essential consultants were before its current ceo took office and has expired. As for why central consultants received 500,000 from a u. S. Affiliate of a Company Owned by a Russian Oligarch named vikt viktorvekselberg, we have reached out to Michael Cohen and his attorney and neither have responded. Within aapproximately 75 day with the payment of mr. Clifford, Viktor Vekselberg caused substantial funds to be deposited into the bank account from which mr. Cohen made the payment. These funds may have replenished the account. On october 2016 through january 2018, mr. Cohen used his First Republic account to engage in suspicion Financial Transactions totaling 4,425,000 and some change. Chief among the suspicious Financial Transactions is 500,000 in payments received by mr. Viktor vekselberg. He and his cousin routed eight payments to mr. Cohens Group Company named Columbus Nova llc beginning in january 2017 and continuing until at least august 2017. Michael avenattis report also refers to former rnc official elliott broidy. It came out last month that he facilitated a 1. 6 million payment to a playboy model that broidy said he got pregnant pz dill tad below, mr. Cohen received 785 thouks from mr. Elliott broidy that originated from an account in broidys name at bank of america. Michael avenatti joins us tonight. A lot to go over. We reviewed the doms that appear to show the payments you revealed earlier today. We havent independently verified this em. But the fact that at t has now come out saying that the documents at least related to at t are correct, obviously bolsters the authenticity of the documents. I know youre not going to say what your information is based on, but you are obviously very confident in the information that you released earlier. 100 , anderson. 100 confident. We would not have released this if we were not 100 confident in the accuracy of the information. I believe right before we went live, the New York Times issued an article where they verified the accuracy of what we released based on their independent review of other documents. Theres no question that this is accurate. It took a lot of work. Weve been work on this for some time. Weve been in this case for a number of months. Weve been spending a lot of time on the case. Weve got a whole team of individuals that are working on the case back in california. And were highly confident in the information we released. Lets begin with the 500,000 paid to Michael Cohens llc from this company Columbus Nova, this u. S. Company related to a Russian Oligarch tied to putin. Is it clear why he would have paid up to 500,000 . Its not clear yet. But what we do know is theres 500,000 of payments that took place between january of 2017 so this is after the election it occurred in november of 2016 and then up through approximately august of 2017. So about an eightmonth time period of payments totally 500,000. We have yet to hear an explanation from Michael Cohen as to why the personal attorney to the president of the United States, who at the time at least for a portion of that time was employed by the Trump Organization would be accepting payments from a Russian Oligarch to the tune of 500,000. The attorney for columbia nova said the company made the payment, that this russian oligar oligarch, vekselberg did not have any involvement in the transaction or any involvement with the decision to hire Michael Cohen. Do you have any evidence to the contrary . We do have evidence to the contrary, and also you have the ceo, mr. Intrater. This American Company gave money for the inauguration funds. They also gave money, i believe, to the rnc and for some campaign stuff, all of which is legal. At the very least, there may be no nefarious reason here at all is that that this company would have given 500,000 for Michael Cohen. They could have been hiring him for any number of consulting for what . His legal skill and acumen, i doubt that. But he does have the ear of the president , so a Company Might want but at the very least, it is moronic for Michael Cohen, who is representing the president of the United States to be publicly seen as accepting money from a company which has such deep ties to a Russian Company with ties to vladimir putin. Anderson, theres no question about that. But you said he may have the ear of the president. Michael cohen should not be selling access to the president of the United States. I mean, this is a big deal. Do you believe that is what may have happen heerd . Well, from the series of payments and of course theres a lot of talk about the revelation in our report about the payments made by the oligarch, or through the u. S. Entity of the oligarch, but theres also other payments that have been disclosed. You referenced at t, others disclosed within the report and it appears that this may be your typical pay to play type of scenario. Where you have someone close to a politician in this case the president of the United States, which is highly unusual, selling po sensual access to the president of the United States. I dont believe that Michael Cohen is registered as a lobbyist. I dont believe hes registered as he should be in order to represent any foreign agents or foreign interests. I mean, this is a big deal. I mean, he had to be receiving this money for something. And its unclear as to what the excuse is as to why he was receiving this money. And let us remember this. Up until at least april of this year, Michael Cohen continued to serve as the personal attorney to the president of the United States. We saw the president on april 1 refer to Michael Cohen return to his his attorney, in the presence sense. You have to speak to michael, he is my attorney. Something along those lines. You also said this 500,000 paid from this u. S. Affiliate of a Russian Company, which you believe ultimately was vent over by this Russian Oligarch, or ordered by vekselberg, it was received, i believe, some 75 days after the payment was made to your client Stormy Daniels. You said you havent said that this was repaying Michael Cohen for that payment, but you said that this did essentially replenish the essential consultants account. Are you making a connection between this payment and the payment to Stormy Daniels . Do you believe this was some sort of repayment to Michael Cohen . Or is this just 75 days after, its the first money that came in and it replenished the coffers. This is what i said in the tweet. I think i was very clear. That it may, in fact, reconstitute the repayment of the 130,000. We dont know yet. But what we do know is the payment to my client was paid on october 27th, 2016. And the first payment from the Russian Oligarch through the u. S. Entity occurred in january of 2017. Were not aware of any other deposits that came in during that interim time period. Now there may have been other deposits, but were not aware of any. And it appears from what Rudy Giuliani has said most recently although that is a neverending circle as it relates to what mr. Giuliani may oer may not say on any gaichb day on this. Because no one can figure out the truth, at least from the white house on what happened. According to mr. Giuliani, the president s reimbursement scheme of this 130,000, the reimbursement scheme with the retainer invoices didnt start until much after this. Do you have any evidence that any of these companies that were giving money into this account were aware that this was the same account used to pay off Stormy Daniels . Because i would imagine any legitimate company or corporation would be very concerned that the money they are paying to this man, Michael Cohen for whatever services he is allegedly rendering or offering, that its going to the same account used to do hush agreements. We dont know if they knew or they did not know. But heres what we do know for certain. Essential consultants was formed approximately two weeks before the payment to my client of 130,000, okay . Theres no question in my view the purpose of the formation of that entity was to further shield that payment by scrutiny by not having Michael Cohen or Donald Trumps name on it. Secondly, the bank account that was set up for the routing of this money, this 130,000 was set up in the name of essential consultants llc. An in connection with that and i think i raised this some time ago on your show. We talked about potential charges that could be brought against Michael Cohen, depending on his financial activity or the activity that occurred at the bank. And i think i referenced on your show the kyc process, which is know your client. And i think i referenced the fact that when they went to establish this account for the llc, the bank would have asked Michael Cohen questions about what his purpose was, what the expected transaction flow was, et cetera. And we detail in the report now specific information that Michael Cohen gave to the bank when this account was opened which has proven to be absolutely false. But a person can change the nature of their business, can they not . They can change the nature of their business, but the nature of this business was never, from all indications, Real Estate Consulting or anything else that Michael Cohen told the bank. As we said, there are other companies that gave money. We talked about at t. This company according to your report, Pharmaceutical Company paid Michael Cohen 399,920 in four separate payments from late 17 to 18. Do you know why these payments were made . No. But what we do know is that the president took a dinner with the ceo of novartis. They appear to be paid in sums that were avoided to avoid connection. 999,000, just below the 100,000 mark. It looks like they were purposefully structured in that way to avoid some reporting requirement. I want to read a statement that Columbus Nova has put out, the american arm of this affiliate of a Russian Company. They said after the inauguration, the firm hired Michael Cohen regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other skren ventures. Reports today that Viktor Vekselberg used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Michael Cohen are false. He was not hired by cohen or provided funding for his engagement. Well, Columbus Nova is owned by 100 to my knowledge is owned by this Russian National firm number one. They say its purely an American Company, an american ceo, american board. Well look, mr. Intrater is a cousin of the oligarch. Of all the people that could be i hired for consulting on real estate an and the like here in new york and elsewhere theres a lot of real estate consultants. They just happened to hire the personal attorney of the president of the United States who takes 500,000 at the same time period when the president is under intense scrutiny related to his ties to russia . Thats what i dont understand. You dont understand it, i dont understand it and anybody with any common sense in america shouldnt understand it. And look, theres a very easy solution to all of this. Im going to call for it tonight. Michael cohen should turn over all of his bank records from this account for essential consultants from its inception through today. Just release them. If theres nothing to hide he should release the bank records and im sure it will all be sorted out a eneveryone will come to the conclusion that theres nothing untoward or improper here. I guarantee you that is not what would happen if these bank records were released. Additional questions would result, because this doesnt pass the smell test. The government would also have information on this, that if they wanted to make public they could make public, wouldnt they . Youre absolutely right. And we have called for the release of the suspicious activity report or reports relating to this account. We wrote a letter to the treasury secretary, we demanded their release, or its release. He did not respond. We have tried to make this a front and center issue without great success. And hopefully at this point now with the release of information, there will be a call for the release of this information, the suspicious activity report or reports relawsuiting to this account so the American People can see exactly what happened here. And whether additional russian money was taken. And in addition, where the money went. Did all the money go to Michael Cohen . Did some of it go to the Trump Organization . Did some of it go to the president . Because if additional monies were received in a pay to play type scheme. And if those monies made their wie either directly or indirectly to the president , then weve got a whole different ball game. Wait a minute. Youre raising the specter that Michael Cohen is receiving money to get access to the president of the United States and that the president might be receiving some of that money . Naseems that seems im stating this is a possibility. We dont know where all of this money went. And we need to get to the bottom of it. The American People deserve to know where this money went. Were going to take a quick break. Were going to have more with michael after this break. Well also get the latest with the breaking news tonight. The mueller team has questioned a Russian Oligarch about hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to Michael Cohen. And the races tonight including the West Virginia trade where a candidate served time in prison and described himself as trumpier than trump. Theres nothing small about your business. With Dell Small Business Technology Advisors you get the oneonone partnership you need to grow your business. The dell vostro 15 laptop. Contact a dell advisor today. You wont find relief here. Congestion and pressure . Go to the pharmacy counter for powerful claritind. While the leading allergy spray relieves 6 symptoms. Claritind relieves 8, including sinus congestion and pressure. Claritind relieves more. Adviswres to investigatored questioned this russian man. Hes an oeg gark. His name