And slow down or end the Mueller Investigation. Now the president saying he doesnt even know mat whittaker. Which is surprise egg. Previously he said he did know him. And said it on television. It was actually a lie. People heard it. Well play it for you in a moment. Because its recorded. First just setting aside the logic of why the president would appoint someone he doesnt know to a position that could have close to over sight on the Mueller Investigation. Its also just false. Whittaker has been to the white house dozens of types. Met with the president and spoken on the phone several times. And again keeping him honest the president a month ago admitted he knew mat whittaker. He said it on fox news when asked about speculation he would replace sessions. I never talk about that. Hes a great guy. I know whisker. Okay. So clear. He was appointed theres been whid spread criticism of his past comments against the Mueller Investigation and recusing himself. Whisker i dont know him. He worked for Jeff Sessions. He was always extremely highly thought of. He still is. I didnt know whittaker. He worked for attorney general sessions. He was very highly thought of. And still is. But this only comes up because anybody that works for me, they do a number of them. Mat whittaker is a smart man. Just to review. The president claims not to know his own choice for acting tone general and didnt just say it once either. I dont know mat whittaker. I didnt know him. I didnt speak to whittaker about it. I dont know mat whittaker. In all fairness to mat whittaker who i didnt know. Okay. Of course the president knows him. It stands to reason the he knows he has spoken out against the Mueller Investigation. He watches tv. He didnt know his entire history. That would require a white house staff that researched him. A little bit. Thats what Senior Investigative correspondent has been doing. He reported on his ties to a company the federal trade commission shut down because it was running a sdam. Tonight more about his past and time in iowa. When fired attorney general walked out of the department of justice and shook hands with the man who would take over at least temporarily. This iowa state senator was agast. Initially i thought i cant think of a more ill qualified person to assume that role. Based upon my experience with him. Mat mccoy has a history with President Trumps new acting attorney general. And it is not a good one. In 2007, mccoy was a young, gay rising star. In iowas democratic party. Whittaker was the young conservative republican u. S. Attorney. For the Southern District of iowa. At the time you were in indicted, you were openly gay. The only openly gay legislator in the state of iowa. A democrat. You were a considered a rising star. Do you think thats why you were targeted . Absolutely. I believe thats why i was targeted. The federal indictment was brief. The u. S. Attorney was accusing mccoy of attempted extortion by a public official. Mccoy says it was a 2,000 business dispute with a private client who wouldnt pay a bill. Those facts didnt matter to whittaker. Who brought the full weight of the federal government against him. I believe it was a political prosecution. Theres no doubt in my mind. 100 certain it was. Heres all you need to know about the case. The Attorney Office under his direction spent two years going after mccoy. Using the fbi. A paid informant. Secret recordings. A special prosecutor. And after two years, it took a jury minutes to reach a verdict. Not guilty. Thats correct. Tifs acquitted within 20 minutes. Whittaker was criticized heavily. Reports asking why was mccoy prosecuted. Asked sf the u. S. Attorney case was misplaced or partisan politicking. This for most u. S. Attorneys decision in court would have been embarrassing. Yes. Did he apologize to you. No. He never reached out to me. I have applied to be on the Supreme Court. His career sputtered after he left the u. S. Attorney office in 2009. He tried and failed to become a Iowa Supreme Court justice. Tried and failed in a run for senate. Limited success in private practice. Then in 2014, using the legal system as a political weapon. He found an entirely new career. Backed by conservative republican donors. Whittaker became director of the foundation for accountability and civic trust. Fact. The nonprofit claims it is dedicated to promoting accountability, ethics and transparency in government by demandsing the truth. It became a tool to attack democrats through the legal system. Fact went after dozens of democrats. Democrat organizations. And especially hillary clinton. Filing ethics complaints. Federal Election Commission complaints. Anything it could do to legally hamstring democrats. I think when youre looking at an organization that is focussed almost exclusively on investigating individuals of one part and one political persuasion, that the head of the organization is now going to be installed as attorney general of the entire United States. That sets off a number of alarm bells. Mccoy doesnt need an alarm bell. He is frightened by the prospect of whittaker in a position of power. Its frightening. I know how pliable he is. You need an attorney general that will do whatever the boss wants. Absolutely. Without question. The department of justice did get back to us concerning the questions about the case and said in the case of u. S. Versus mccoy. U. S. Attorney whittaker had a responsibility to pursue the case because of credible allegations of illegal activity. The department of justice says the entire case was signed off by superiors and the jury verdict doesnt negate the obligation. To pursue and open cases when its believed laws have been broe broken. Now in case of mccoy. He was found not guilty in 20 minutes. How much damage did that do to his career . And how much money he must have spent defending himself. Yeah. The financially he said he is still suffering. He took a beating. Hes paying off his legal bills. Politically it didnt seem to hurt him that much. Had stayed in the Iowa State Senate and just this week with a vote he got 80 . He was elected to the poke county commission. Have you gotten a response from the department of justice or whittaker . Surprisingly they did respond. I read that in the report. They told us that it was his responsibility to pursue the allegations. Because they were credible allegations. And despite the fact the jury didnt believe any of it, it doesnt negate the obligation to open cases when laws may have been broken. All right. I appreciate the reporting. With me cnn legal analyst. You hear the reporting. Its ironic whittaker cast doubt on the validity of the Mueller Probe when he himself led at least a politically motivated case and a special prosecutor and the fbi and two year investigation. The report duck tails into the issue. As to whether or not whittaker at the lead of the Justice Department would use the department in the president s interest for political purposes. With know over the president s term he expressed a desire and interest in the Justice Department use as an arm of political retribution. Attorney general Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein have been keeping the barbarians at the gate. Now with a political operative somebody who has expressed a desire and interest that the special counsel could be fired. He said that publicly. I think the president has somebody in place who will use the department in a political way. He talked in the past about a bible cal, the right phrase. A biblical view of justice. What does that actually mean to you . What does that exactly entail . It means he misconstrues and doesnt adhere to the first amendment. The government shouldnt endorse in religion. And we have a secular purpose for Judicial Branch and government. To take the viewpoint shows that frankly theres no way to describe this as being asinine and idiot statement to make. To have a biblical view eliminates a lot of people who religious viewpoints or the existence of absence of viewpoints wouldnt be fit to serve on the bench. Which is not how society is run. Not the reason why we have a separation of church and state. Hes grasping for straws and theres nothing there to support it. For those of you who Forget High School civics. What does it mean for the top Law Enforcement official to disagree. Which is a pretty big deal. Its a Constitutional Foundation case. And it says the Supreme Court is the final ash tor in determining what the law is. This is a foundational case. And all of the issues his views on whether or not there is a biblical requirement for judges. His views on madison. His use of potentially his office when he was the u. S. Attorney in bringing a politically motivated case. Those are the types of issues that would be an explorer in a confirmation hearing if he would have gone through a hearing. For a senior position in the Justice Department. And thats why in part youre seeing so many lawyers across the political spectrum over the last 24 hours raise concerns about the fact he has been elevated to attorney general. Having not gone through the process. For service in this administration. Its interesting to hear. You heard the president on fox. A month or so ago saying he knows whittaker. And praising him. Now today saying he doesnt know him. Remind me of when carter page was announced by the president on Conference Call during campaign being a an adviser. Praised by the president and later on they never met. The president didnt know anything about him. Same thing with the president claiming relationship with vladimir putin. And turns out they never met until he had become president. So, its just odd the president whether the reporting is he had met whittaker. Either way hes lying. Convenient amnesia is the president. He could have inclupded george papadopoulos. Or Michael Cohen. Who he had a famed absence of recollection of who he was and why he was important in his life. Michael did you say in some way. This trying to establish a ten foot pole between himself and people who are controversial. Now the irony is that the reason whittaker is now controversial is by the president s own actions. The fact that Matthew Whittaker has leapfrogged. Out of respect for people who were more senior than him. But also the rank and file and out of the chain of command out of the line of succession is the president s own doing. Think about this. This was the equal if the president himself were incapacitated. Instead of the Vice President taking the reigns of the ship. He said ill have Steven Miller do it. Ill have general kelly be the person in charge of the country instead. There was an order. He went around it. And hes saying i dont know why anyone is blaming me. I hardly know the person. Thats the point. Thats the argument people are making and the people and the senate do not know who the person is. And shouldnt be in the role. Until they do. Appreciate it. Up next more lies from the president. New reporting from the wall street journal about how involved the president was in the hush money payments to st m Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal. And the lathes on wild fires roaring through california. Thousands are fleeing. Prays as they drive away through the flames. Please help us. Help us to be safe. Im thankful. Ways to lose stubborn belly fat. The roasted core wrap. 2, 1. Not cool. 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For the toughest jobs on planet earth. New reporting tonight said despite years of denial. The president was involved nearly every step of the way in payments to Karen Mcdougal and Stormy Daniels to keep them quiet about alleged sexual encounters with trump. Evidence the president violated campaign laws. And well hear from a reporter about what they found. First. Keeping him honest about the denial. The president himself spoken on camera once about the 130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. On air force one in april. Did you know about the payment to Stormy Daniels . No. No. You have to ask Michael Cohen. Hes my attorney. And youll have to ask michael. Do you know where he got the money . By the way. He has down played Michael Cohens relationship be him and the fact he was his attorney. Saying he didnt know about the payment. After Sarah Sanders said the president didnt know. There was no knowledge of any payment from the president. And hes denied these allegations. And for the next couple months sanders kept up the same line about the payment. Up until rude giuliani admitted. Did the president approve of the payment that was made in october of 2016 by the long time lawyer and adviser Michael Cohen . The president addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of the allegations are true. I have addressed this as far as i can go. Did he know about the payment . Not that im aware of. The subsequent question about what the president was aware of the 130,000 payment made. Under agreement. In which he is named to keep Stormy Daniels silent. Are you aware now . The president denied the allegation. We have spoken about this issue. And i dont have anything else to add. Beyond that i would refer you to the outside counsel. You said march 7, there was no knowledge of payment from the president. He denied all allegations. Were you lying to us at the time or in the dark . The president continues to deny the under lying claim. And again given the best information i had at the time sfwl the best information she at the time. Wasnt very good information. Keeping him honest in august. Cohen admitted he made payments at the direction of a candidate to influence the election. The president was involved in or briefed on nearly every step of the hush money agreements. Wall street journal has one of the by lines on the reporting. He joins us now. Extraordinary reporting. According to it this goes back to august of 2015. A meeting between trump tower and david pecker. The company that Owners National enquirer and others. When cohen pleaded guilty in august the prosecutors had mentioned there was an agreement in august 2015. What we report the agreement happened when pecker went to Trumps Office and trump said to him the campaign was two months old what can you do to help. If stories come out about women from the past, allegations of affairs. I can help you kill them. As i have done for others in the past. By buying their story. Ill alert cohen and take care of it. Based on all the reporting. Thats exactly what the National Enquirer did. Thats right. The following june, Karen Mcdougal the play mate of the year 1998 was looking to sell her story. And her lawyer contacted dillen howard. Of American Media and howard called cohen. Trump called pecker and said can you help me with this. There were negotiations. They didnt immediately buy it. After she started talking to the news. Investigative reporters. Ami went back and paid 150,000 in coordination with cohen. And with trump. To buy her story and silence her. You learned about where the money came from to pay Stormy Daniels. Thats right. The we know the money came from Michael Cohens home equity line. There was a discussion among cohen and trump. And allen weiss el berg. About how to route the money to daniels without having trumps fingerprints on it. And discussed routing it through a trump owned property. But they couldnt figure it out. Thats why as we previously reported cohen missed deadlines to pay her. She nearly backed out and he was just like all right i have to pay it myself. Cohen made money off the deal . Is that right . . He did. He was reimbursed by the Trump Organization. By through the Trump Organization cfo. From trump. But he did get a 60,000 bonus. For doing this. And the money was grossed to take care of the income taxes because they characterize it as legal fees. The past essentially two years of denial from the president. Knowledge of paying murn to the women. And the surrogates and sanders. Is a