The latest news from around the world with host Brooke Baldwin. Meeting with Labor Leaders this afternoon in the Roosevelt Room outside of the oval office when this story was breaking. No statement of any kind from the white house. Hes scheduled to leave here at about 4 00 to head to a rally in West Virginia in support of patrick morsi. The president usually doesnt hold back in these rallies. He may speak to reporters as he leaves the white house. White house not reacting to plea deal from a Top Associate in Michael Cohen but the fact that Paul Manafort jury could come back at any moment. President connected to all of these but so far not commenting. Let me turn to my four brilliant people sitting to my right. You have been out front in this cohen reporting. Hes going to plead guilty to x, y, and z. What will you be listening for . I think this is really going to be something to listen to because the judge is going to say to cohen i want to hear in your own words what crime you committed. In that allocution, how detailed does cohen get as it relates to Campaign Finance charges . Does he say he did it at the direction of anyone . Is that person the president . Does he say that more vaguely and does the judge accept it . The judge could say i want to know that what you did was a crime and i want to hear in your words every step you took that was an element of that crime. I think thats going to be the wild card. What does cohen say about the Campaign Finance charge. Who told him to do it . Did he do it on his own . I think well learn a lot from that which may help understand is he going to cooperate in some way. Our reporting is this deal is not including that. I think an element of that is also the Justice Department says you cant indict a sitting president and the u. S. Attorneys office follows those guidelines. So in the instance of where you would flip, you have to kind of
range of felonies in many different areas suggest that donald trump placed his trust in someone who was a very elaborately a very extensively credentialed criminal. The question we all want to know is will he cooperate in a way that is at all damaging to donald trump and i wouldnt want to presume that one way or the other. You know, given the breath of these crimes hes apparently Pleading Guilty to, the question of what was the president s involvement in any of them is certainly one that were all going to want to know the answer to. So what about the point in terms of president s involvement. When Michael Cohen is standing there today before this judge Pleading Guilty to the Campaign Finance piece of this whole equation and there is that possibility that he could be specific and say, again, a possibility we dont know but he
could say he was asked to do this by the now president of the united states. Wh that is a direct connection. Right. And the process of Pleading Guilty varies somewhat by judge. Judges sometimes ask defendants to say in your own words what did you do . And because they dont want to be just tools in plea bargain. These judges want to know that someone is Pleading Guilty to something that is general wuine crime. I have been before a judge that says tell me in your own words what did you do. Sometimes they ask questions. Sometimes they ask who asked you to do it and who did you do it with . The act of Pleading Guilty is not just a legal formality. The act of Pleading Guilty often involves some actual explanation
especially in white collar cases of what happened here, and so it will be very important to hear what goes on in this courtroom. It will also be important to hear when the spokesman for the u. S. Attorneys office talks about what sort of cooperation is agreed to. Were mostly getting spin here it sounds like, that there is no cooperation. Id like to hear what the government thinks about that. Id like to hear a more specific is it possible theyre keeping that close to the vest, the cooperation piece, and theyre doing that on purpose . I actually dont really think thats possible. There will be a document filed in court in connection with the guilty plea called a Cooperation Agreement if there is one, and thats a Public Document so well see that. I dont believe you can keep a secret at this point about
whether someone is cooperating. I think we will know. I think its very hard to believe that the government would agree to a scenario where Michael Cohen walks into court today, pleads guilty, and then never speaks to prosecutors. I suppose thats possible legally, but it just seems like something that is not likely to be agreeable to prosecutors. Jeffrey toobin, thanks for calling in and lending your voice here to what has been a wild past hour. Again, we are now less than an hour away from seeing the man who once said he would take a bullet for this president now Pleading Guilty to Campaign Finance, tax fraud, bank fraud, depending on how the judge feels could face up to three years behind bars. Were told a lot of what he was concerned about was money and his family in making these
decisions. How does he describe this to this judge inside the Federal Courthouse . So much to happen in the next hour. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Well continue the breaking News Coverage after this quick commercial break. E year on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. And now, all beds are on sale. Save 50 on the new sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, free home delivery. Ends saturday. Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the Essilor Ultimate Lens Package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Anncr as you grow older, your brain naturally begins to change which may cause trouble with recall. Learning from him is great. When i can keep up anncr thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. Dads got all the answers. Anncr prevagen is now the numberoneselling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. She outsmarts me every single time. Checkmate you wanna play again . Anncr prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. To tax fraud charges officially there. Well be listening to the language and if at all he specifically mentions President Trump. As we wait for that, the political reaction is pouring in from democratic lawmakers, congre saying the clouds around the white house are darkening telling the president to come clean. Thats a tweet from a congressman. And one by one all of the president s men are going down. Thats the connection to the campaign. From everything weve learned to this point and Michael Cohen and Michael Avenatti and stormy
daniels. I do think youre right. When you look at this, you cant look at it as a singular event. We cant look at the 4 00 event with Michael Cohen in solitude. You have to look at whats going on all around us right now. You have Paul Manafort, the Campaign Chairman for President Trump, the man with him for four and a half months and got him through a difficult time during the convention, you have him facing 18 counts in virginia. You have President Trumps personal lawyer right now copping a plea right now within the next 45 minutes up in new york. That has got to cause some concern and raise some red flags even amongst supporters of President Trump. Unfortunately i dont think well see those red flags. But this really is a moment in history i think that well look back on and it will be a very dark day. We havent heard a peep from this white house in the wake of this news. Not surprised, right. They only seem to come out when they have to come out or they come out on the offensive or they have to come out when President Trump comes out and actually says something without them knowing. Thats when we hear from sara huckab Huckabee Sanders and others. Back to my lawyers with me here in new york. John, welcome to you. You know, youve been listening to all these conversations. I want to hear your voice for the first time. Your key question is on cooperation. I try cases in this courtroom. Its shocking to me that theres not a Cooperation Agreement in place because for mueller, cohen is the gold standard. He wanted cohens cooperation and the fact that theres not a Cooperation Agreement apparently as part of this plea deal is very surprising. It can only mean one of two things. Either he didnt have something to give the prosecutor or they
werent convinced that he was completely honest with them. Its unusual not to have a Cooperation Agreement. Lets take three steps back. For people just joining us trying to wrap their head around whats going on with Michael Cohen. Hes in fbi custody right now. Fingerprinted, processed, et cetera. He goes into this courthouse and stands before a judge saying, yes, i did it to counts of Campaign Finance violations, bank fraud and tax fraud, right . Thats the reporting we have so far. Connect the dots for me on this is what hes doing and we still dont know whether or not hes cooperating. Were going to find out about it very soon because the judge is going to ask him what did you do to bring yourself into my courtroom and under the agreement, which the judge is going to read in open court, theres going to be cooperation or not cooperation and thats the key story today. And its this judge were making the point that in Southern District of new york
the judge is going to want to make sure he hears from Michael Cohen himself. Absolutely. Hes not going to hear through the lawyer. Hes going to ask cohen, the defendant, what did you do and he has to through his admissions indicate to the judge that he committed the crime hes Pleading Guilty with and only then does the court accept the plea. On the issue of sentencing, thats not going to happen. You wont see a commitment from the court on that today. That will get put off to a future type after more reports are done on cohens background for the court. Jennifer, over to you. As a former federal prosecutor, how big of a day is this . Its a huge day. I mean, if you take Michael Cohen on one hand and Paul Manafort jury reaching agreement on most of the counts, its an enormous day. Theres a lot to be said about it. I dont want to count my chickens on the manafort side, but to me this is a huge day for
justice and huge day for the rule of law. It shows that when youre inside the courtroom, thats what matters, evidence, facts and truth and jurors in the Manafort Trial Will Show us they havent been paying attention to whats going on outside. Theyve been paying attention to the inside. Similarly, Michael Cohen is going to go in there and swear under oath what he did to commit the crimes that hes charged with, swear to tell the truth, and hell do it under oath. Then well have something tangible we can rely on instead of the noise and nonsense weve been hearing for months and months. We should see Michael Cohen any moment now walk through those doors presumably front door, gentlemen . Front door. With fbi agents. That will be quite the show. Hell walk through those doors with the fbi agents in toe and have that conversation with the judge, plead guilty to those counts, and well be listening to the language he uses and if he name checks the president at all or anyone in the campaign so well wait for that. Thats happening momentarily
also as jennifer just mentioned, Paul Manafort, his tax fraud, bank fraud, thats been going on. Day four for this jury deliberating. Theyve had a couple questions for this judge. Theyve been back hold up for the last couple hours. What about that verdict . Might the judge accept a partial verdict there . Well take you to that courthouse next coming up next. Stay with me. Youre watching cnn. As we await the arrival of former trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen who is expected to announce his plea deal in that Federal Court in new york, also breaking this hour, the jury is deciding the fate of trumps former Campaign Chairman paul mania f manafort. They could be close to a verdict after asking the judge this question today. Ill read the question for you. If we cannot come to a consensus for a single count, how can we fill in the Verdict Sheet . The judge in this trial instructed the jurors to give deference to each other but to keep deliberating. Jessica schneider is outside of that Federal Courthouse in alexandria. Whats the word . Reporter no word, brooke. The jury has been silent for about three and a half hours now after since they went back into the Deliberation Room. So, you know, its assumed that theyre working through this, that if they had one count or others theyre working and
taking the judges instruction to heart here. Maybe working with each other more showing more deference, listening to each other, those were all things the judge said they should do. So they went back into that jury Deliberation Room at 11 58 after asking the judge that question what should we do if we cannot come to a consensus on a single count, how should we fill out the verdict form . The judge said to them essentially go back, try this, try it again, try some more. You know, thats standard what a judge does in these cases. Its often referred to as an alan charge in District Court in virginia its saucalled a sayer charge. Thats something the judge gave to them. We havent heard from the jury since. Presumably whether theyre working on one count or working on several counts, they have gone back to the Deliberation Room to continue here. Yesterday we got word as to when we could expect to wrap up the proceedings for the day. Yesterday it was 6 15. No word yet from the jury as to whether they might wrap up today, whether we could see a verdict, whether there might be more questions. We have all been left lingering out here wondering how this jury is progressing. The judge telling them, look, go back in there. Keep trying. So well see what happens next. Brooke . Jessica, thank you. Hang tight. Im sure with everyone else wondering with bated breath what this jury brings back. Paige, if you are that jury is back in there. Deliberating day four. Several more hours. If you are the prosecutor, are you starting to worry . I dont think so. All we know is theyre having trouble with one count. It would be safe to assume the other counts they were able to reach a verdict on and given the amount of evidence in the case, i think we can say theres certainly a good chance that thats a guilty verdict on all those other counts. So you cant really tell
obviously at this point where they are on that remaining count. I expect well hear something today because by the phone of that note, it indicates to me that they were having some difficulty and they were just trying to figure out what do we write if we cant come to agreement on this one count. It may have prompted them to try to reach an agreement but at the end of the day well either have a verdict or theyll report back and say, look, we just cant agree on this one count and then the judge has the option of taking a partial verdict or simply declaring a mistrial. Page, thank you. Paul, go ahead. I agree with page that this sort of indicates probably theyve already reached guilty verdicts on 17 of the 18 counts. But, let me just be a contrarian as i look closely at the wording. The Jury Question its hard to read the tea leaves in Jury Questions. The question was we cant come to a consensus. How do we fill out the jury
Verdict Sheet if we cant come to a consensus on a single count. Let me phrase that a different way. If we cant find him guilty on any count, what do we do then . Is that a variation on that . I mean, you could read this if you want to be a manafort optimist that they cant reach a consensus on any count and because the jury Verdict Sheet doesnt have a box you check for hung jury, its just going to have guilty or not guilty as you go down to the counts. It doesnt have a section that says hung jury. So i suppose that could be an inartfully worded question that could suggest maybe theyre hung up on more than one count. Its been a long time since they went back. Usually when you have a jury thats reached verdicts on so many counts and theyre hung on
one, they either go back in and they come back quickly or sometimes they come back with a note saying we cant reach a verdict on that remaining count. Theyve been out for a few hours since they came back with that question. As a Defense Lawyer, my heart is in my throat right now. What this signals to me is its a pretty cohesive jury. Theyve looked through a lot of documents. 400 exhibits. Theyve come to a determination on 17 out of 18 counts. Maybe they cant Reach Agreement on the 18th. Im really worried as a Defense Lawyer right now. I think a verdict is coming very shortly. Okay. Were ready for it if in fact it comes when it comes. Back over to Michael Cohen. The president s long time fixer, personal attorney, will walk into Federal Court in new york. Hes expected to make a plea deal. Were told hell spend time in jail for charges relating to Campaign Finance fraud, bank fraud and well talk about what
it means for this president and the special investigation. Well be right back. What will you discover with a lens made by essilor . Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the Essilor Ultimate Lens Package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Listening. Thats Michael Cohen. We have greg now, former fbi Assistant Director at the fbi office of congressional affairs. Take me behind the scenes of when Michael Cohen is first taken into custody by the fbi, just in the last hour or two, what that even looks like. Hi, brooke. I just left court myself and so im not up to speed on all of the details of the reporting. I understand that cohen does plan on entering a guilty plea although according to reporting ive seen, theres not a Cooperation Agreement per se. Thats somewhat unique in and of itself. Well see if that changes over time. Needless to say, the process that cohen is about to undergo is a sobering one. He will be brought into the courthouse, processed. If this is a typical sort of initial Appearance Type of proceeding today, hell appear
before a magistrate judge. The government will put on the record that theyve entered into a Plea Agreement with cohen. Cohen will affirm that and it will go from there. And that walk into that Federal Courthouse, will he be on either side of him fbi agents walking him in . It depends. It also may be the case that hes allowed with counsel to enter through the back and not have to go through the gauntlet up into the front door of the courthouse. I dont know whats been arranged in this case. Clearly if he was appearing pursuant to a Cooperation Agreement of some sort all due courtesy would be afforded him and his counsel to avoid the spectacle that might otherwise be waiting for him there or might otherwise be created by his appearance. I dont know enough about the terms of this appearance today to give you specifics. Needless to say, again, this will be a very, very sobering experience for cohen. We were just talking to our reporter camped out outside of that Federal Courthouse in alexandria on the trial of Paul Manafort. Thats happening in one orbit down in virginia and then here in new york you have what you just described involving Michael Cohen, two former fixtures in trumps world. Just how extraordinary is it that these two stories are colliding at the very same time . It is extraordinary. And, of course, we should all be reminded that neither the manafort charges nor the cohen charges are aimed at the president or others in the president s inner circle themselves specifically. It is an incredible confluence
of events that we have what appears we dont know for sure yet. Ill go with conventional wisdom out there. It appears well have a guilty verdict at least on most counts in the manafort case today. Manafort being at least for a time the campaign the president ial campaigns Senior Adviser and then at the same time we have the president s longtime closest lawyer Pleading Guilty to federal charges in another federal district. Its not good for the president and his team any way you look at it. Speaking of the president s team, let play sound. This is Rudy Giuliani talking about Michael Cohen just a couple weeks ago. A moment that really sort of shows how this story, how this relationship between cohen and trump started to take a turn. Watch. I expected Something Like this from cohen. Hes been lying all week or for
two weeks or lying for years. The tapes that we have demonstrate any number of very serious lies by him back a year and a half ago including his fooling people, hiding tape recordings, telling them they werent recorded, lying to their face, taping his client, which is a disbarable offense. I dont see how he has any credibility. Jennifer, let me go to you for this just as a legal mind listening to him. This was really the moment when open war broke out between this administration and the guy who once said hed sake a butake a r the president. Thats right. Rudy on behalf of his client is trying to distant him from Michael Cohen and maybe thats the reason why theres no Cooperation Agreement. The problem is this is the
president s playbook. He has people close. Trusts them. Everything is great. Theyre Truth Tellers until theyre not. Until something happens when they have something bad to say about the president and then its all over. So giulianis comments certainly no one should give any credence at this point. Clearly the president is going to continue to distance himself from cohen with this guilty plea today. Jennifer, thank you. John, over to you on our reporting that with cohen it would be he would serve up to three years. Dependent on a judge. You were say, whoa, thats way less time than what bank fraud you were saying 10 to 12 . Reports are that hes Pleading Guilty to a 20 Million Bank Fraud which under Sentencing Guidelines puts him at 10 to 12 years at jail. Hes looking at the abyss right now. The only way you get out of that situation in the federal system is by cooperation. Thats why its so significant. Is that whats implied here . The only way that you get a significant reduction is if the
government goes to the judge and says this guy really helped me with another case. Otherwise hes looking at a long time in jail. Thats why i keep going back to the cooperation piece. It doesnt make sense. Page pate, does it make sense to you . Are you befuddled a tad as well. Befuddled is a good word for it. Thats the first question i had in my mind when i came to the bureau and realized theres a plea deal in the works. Its easy for the u. S. Attorney to put Cooperation Language in a Plea Agreement. It doesnt require the defendant to cooperate and it doesnt require the government to give the person credit for cooperation. It just leaves the door open. Its extraordinary that its not in there unless the government wanted to send a clear message that this plea deal has nothing to do with Michael Cohen being a snitch. If they wanted to send that message, i think theyve done that. We come back to the question how does he get three years on a
bank fraud case . Its extraordinary. I want to see the Plea Agreement and when we read the language, well know more about the details. Gentlemen, stand by. We should be seeing according to this schedule i have should see Michael Cohen walk through the doors in about ten minutes from now. Well talk to a former Watergate Special prosecutor on all things Michael Cohen. Stay with me. Breaking news. Et older. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Tap one little bumper and up go your rates. What good is your insurance if you get punished for using it . News flash nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Save 50 on the new sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, 24month financing and free home delivery. Ends saturday. Sleep number. Proven, quality sleep. Things Michael Cohen. Laura, what do you have . Well, brooke, we are getting a little bit of Inside Baseball, if you will, how some of this came about, including how the Southern District of new york worked with the Justice Department to make all of this happen. And as it turns out, the tax division at the Justice Department, you dont hear from often, as well as the irs, had to sign off on the deal. Its Plea Agreement but related to tax related issues. We also have learned that the Public Integrity section which typically investigates Campaign Finance issues and the criminal section as well as the Deputy Attorney Generals Office were also consulted on the charges so a lot of look cooks in the kitchen on this one but coming down to the nittygritty, the timing of the Plea Agreement, today of all days, im told by a source thats negotiation between the prosecutors there in new york and Michael Cohens
defense attorneys. But im also told that jeffrey berman, the u. S. Attorney there in new york is recused and seeing the deputy make the presentation after cohens Plea Agreement in new york. Brooke . Right. Hes set to speak for five minutes were told after we hear from Michael Cohen inside the courthouse. Laura, thank you so much for your Inside Baseball knowledge. It is important. Thank you. I have with me now former Watergate Special prosecutor just weighing in on all of this. Richard, my goodness, big picture, this is the man who has gone back years and years with this president. Who is now going to walk in to we dont know what door. Front, side, what have you, in front of the judge and he is going to say, yes, i did it. How big of a deal is that . Of course, it is a big deal. This is a man who is very, very close to donald trump for any number of years. He was the person to whom trump turned normally when he got into hot water in one way or another. We know with respect to his sexual adventures that cohen was did guy he turned to to enter into Nondisclosure Agreements and various other things. And perhaps including things russian. We may look to Michael Cohen to provide information. And theres no question in my mind but that it behooves him to cooperate once he has decided not to contest the charges against him. And to plead guilty. Yeah. Explain that. You know, for people watching, thinking, what is it exactly hes Pleading Guilty to . According to our reporting, Campaign Violations and could be that direct connection to the trump campaign. And bank fraud and tax fraud. But to the point of cooperation,
what hes doing today doesnt preclude that he couldnt cooperate. Of course, it doesnt, brooke. And youre quite right about that. Its likely that he will cooperate. He will be debriefed and he will look to the prosecutors this ento make a recommendation so that he doesnt do the full extent of time for the various criminal statutes to which he will be Pleading Guilty. Richard, stay with me. Paul callahan, we were talking earlier and you were saying how it strikes you as bizarre. Whats the bizarre part to you . Well, just the fact that there was no Cooperation Agreement in place because for a long time we have gotten signals from the Cohen Defense Camp that he was looking to make a deal. That he was thinking about his family now. Not about the president. And hes got a politically connected lawyer representing him. So everything pointed to a deal
being made. And for him now to go in and take a plea without a deal is very, very surprising. In truth, this happens sometimes. As i mentioned earlier, rick gates, a codefendant with Paul Manafort made a deal with the prosecutors after he was indicted. So, its quite possible that cohen can still strike a deal with prosecutors somewhere down the road. But its not the usual thing that you see. Usually its the deal up front, the plea and then the case moves forward. And the Southern District has a very rigorous cooperation arrangement. You dont say i want to cooperate. They put you through loops questioning you for a long time an they expect you to be totally credible and totally honest and give them something that matters. What this signals to me is he doesnt have something to give them or hasnt said in it a way they believe hes credible. Maybe down the line he cooperates but not cooperating now, this is a very, very significant turn of events. Jennifer, do you agree with that . I do, actually. I think that theres been plenty of time for him to cooperate. Theres no question that the debriefings are extensive but he wouldnt plead guilty if he was going to cooperate in my view because a defendant loses leverage doing that. The prosecutor want him to plead guilty and then when he does, thats kind of where the defendant loses a little bit of the grip there. If this is a Plea Agreement, straight Plea Agreement, no cooperation, i think its unlikely then that Michael Cohen ends up cooperating unless something changes factually. I have to imagine special counsel r counsel bob mueller watching today very closely. Of course hes been briefed on all of this through the u. S. Attorneys office. My alma mater. I spent five years there before watergate. You know, ive seen any number of variations and ways in which you get to the point where an individual eventually provides
information to the best of his ability. I can tell you that it was unusual to see an individual spending as much time through his Attorney Spinning as we have seen here. The Southern District of new york Doesnt Cotton to that and that could be one of the reasons why there hasnt as yet perhaps been a meeting of the minds but theyll get to that point eventually given the arithmetic and the number of counts to which we hear a plea will be entered. Gentlemen, what if when hes talking with this judge as you point out because you know this district an how this works, specifically when he is talking about the Campaign Finance violation charge he is going to plead guilty to, again, we dont know yet until it happens but if it involves those payments which would then involve the president , could the president be implicated here . Presumably, yes. But thats we go back to the
cooperation. Theyll need somebody to come and say what the deal was. These are crimes that go to intent. Its not a bank robbery. What a prosecutor has to prove is somebody had criminal intent, corrupt intent, and usually requires a cooperating witness saying we were on the same page and knew what was going on. Its clear as day, though, if you have a Campaign Finance violation, Michael Cohen wasnt running for office. Donald trump was running for office. And if a contribution was engineered by Michael Cohen and was unreported its a contribution probably to the trump campaign. So i would say its very likely that the president s going to get pulled into this. Paige, i have 25 seconds. Could the president be deposed . Deposed . While president he could be deposed. If he has real criminal exposure, i wouldnt think his
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