The latest news from around the world with host Brooke Baldwin. Associate independent counsel for the Watergate Investigation and the clintons, and former ethics czar, belongs to a Watchdog Organization that filed multiple lawsuits against the trump administration, and also with us cnn legal and political commentator, former Virginia Attorney general. Ill start with you. The president in his own words admits to making the payment. Your reaction . Kim or ken . Kim, go ahead. Ken, well go to you next. All right. Sorry, i misheard. Go ahead, ken. Who do you want to start . I think this is going to come down to whether or not this is deemed campaign efforts. The president long before his campaign had been in negotiation periodically with a couple of these women without keeping
as you talk about credibility though, you do bring up a good point. Michael cohen has said a lot of Different Things about this payment. But i also want you to take what we just heard from the president admitting he knew of the payments, and what he said months ago. Listen. Did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . No. No. What else . Why did Michael Cohen make this if there was no truth to the allegations. He is my attorney and you have to ask Michael Cohen. Do you know where he got the money to make that payment . I dont know. Ken, back to you, does that lie after lie after lie not concern you . Oh, theres no question that the evolution of the story on this is harmful to the president. My point about Michael Cohen is that Michael Cohen does not sit
across this line from the president and look like a credible witness. He gave an interview this summer where he said my top priority is saving my tail and protecting my family and how you structure a plea deal can be part of doing exactly that just as Alan Dershowitz wrote about earlier this week. Kim, if a sitting president cant be indicted, what are the options . Charges after office . I think theres ambiguity whether a sitting president cant be indicted. It is not clear one way or the other in the constitution, there are competing experts on this. I view the constitution is about accountability, theres no one branch Above The Law, including the president of the United States. One possibility theoretically would be indictment under seal that would hold. On one hand, the president gets a pass because of the question on indictment in terms of criminal liability. On the other hand, he should be held to a higher standard, for purposes of impeachment, you dont need a crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt before a jury to justify impeachment. Theres a political judgment. I think that the American People need to start keeping an eye now, putting some real pressure on congress to start looking into this because at a minimum were at that red line where these are really, really serious charges here and things that have come out of the president s own mouth that implicate him, not only in crimes but in lies to the American Public. That undermines the rule of law and integrity of our democracy, a more important issue than politics now. Theres also the question about what trump might do next, whether pardons could come into play at any point. Cohens attorney lanny davis this morning said he doesnt believe cohen would accept a
pardon, but Paul Manafort who was just convicted on 8 charges yesterday around the same time cohen was pleading guilty, his situation could be a different story. Trump tweeting about manafort this morning, praising him for not breaking. If trump pardons manafort, b ambassador eisen, is that Obstruction Of Justice . Here at brookings, we published the second edition of Obstruction Of Justice report. We explain in there as we go through the incredible amount of substantial evidence of obstruction that yes, if the president issues a pardon with Corrupt Intent, if it is part of a pattern we saw, starting with demanding comeys loyalty, firing comey, Urging Sessions to do his legal obligations, not to recuse, dictating false statement at trump tower, all these tweets attacking mueller and the investigation, and now issuing pardons to block
justice, to objestruct justice,f you use a power, american law, many cases have held and we go through them. If you use legal power as an american official with Corrupt Intent to try to impede an investigation for wrongful reason, like by issuing a corrupt pardon, yes. That is part of Obstruction Of Justice. And that is as we study what happened yesterday, the one, two punch, two bomb shells of cohen and manafort, the question is what comes next. We know mueller is focusing on Obstruction Of Justice. I think these hints of pardons hold more peril for the president. Everyone stand by. Thank you. Much more to discuss as we await a white house briefing, scheduled to get under way within the next few minutes really. And just in, reaction from members of congress. What Republican Leadership are saying and not saying about Michael Cohens plea, including his offer to testify before lawmakers without immunity. Ill talk with a member of the judiciary committee. And moments from now, what we believe will be Sarah Sanders 100th white house briefing. Should be a notable one, no doubt. Well bring it to you live. No, i dont. I dont think he can be indicted while sitting in office. Joining us now, a democrat who is speaking out about what can be next for President Trump. A member of the house judiciary committee. Thank you for being with us. First, your reaction to the president just saying that hush money for two women with alleged affairs came directly from him and it is not a campaign violation. Well, i think ambassad ambassador eisen is right, he may have admitted to another crime on air. The president changed the story several occasions. First denied knowing about it, knowing where the money came from, then indicated he provided the money. It is a sad day for the country. The president has now been basically an unindicted coconspirator in a criminal offense. Michael cohen testified under oath at his plea hearing, he was directed to do this by a candidate. Obviously that was the president of the United States, to commit a federal offense. It is very serious. Theres conviction of Paul Manafort, his campaign chair. Theres now 35 indictments, pleas or convictions related to this investigation. I think this is a very, very serious development. As you know, congress has important responsibility in terms of oversite of the executive branch. Let me read House Speaker paul ryans statement, reacting to the Michael Cohen news. We are aware of mr. Cohens guilty plea to serious charges. We will need more information than is currently available at this point. How do you respond to not only that statement but relative silence from many other members of your committee, judiciary committee, republicans like trey gowdy, jim jordan. It is very disappointing. We tried on the democratic side to really press the committee, the chairman and the republicans on the committee to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities. We have very serious oversight
functions we should be performing. We have written letters, motions in the committee to try to force the committee to do oversight, and in a disappointing way republicans on the committee often act like Donald Trumps defense team than individuals that are constitutionally required to provide meaningful oversight against this president and his administration. I think we have a lot of work to do to bring members of the administration before the committee to do our oversight, but unfortunately have had no cooperation from our republican colleagues. It is very sad. This should be an american priority. It shouldnt matter if youre a democrat, republican, independent. We need to get to the bottom of this. The president needs to come clean. Americans have the right to know the truth. We have to protect Robert Mueller and his investigation because the president has been engaged in a campaign to undermine the department of justice, the fbi, the special counsel. We have legislation pending to protect mr. Mueller from being fired without cause. We need to move forward on that. The president , it is closing in. I think the president is feeling the pressure. We need to protect the investigation so the American People can finally hear the truth to know exactly what happened. Let me put the question this way. If this were a Hillary Clinton presidency or any other democratic presidency for that matter, how would your republican colleagues be reacting now . As someone said, we would have to peel them off the ceiling at this point. Look how they behaved on an investigation relating to Hillary Clintons email that went on for months and months and months and there was nothing there. You can only imagine how they were behaving. Look, i understand he is there, it is their team. I understand they support the president. But you ought to be able to do whats right for the country, put your country over your political party, and this is serious. It is a very sad day when the president is implicated in a crime, lied about it to the American People, when his Campaign Chairman has been convicted, and part of that case related to a relationship with russian oligarchs. We all ought to be concerned about an adversary of the United States, a foreign adversary, we saw the president in helsinki, he sided with those that attacked our democracy. It was disgraceful. We need republicans to add their voices, put the interest of our country and preservation of our democracy ahead of their own political ambitions or political preservation. I hope well see some republicans speak out. I know there are good men and women in that party, we need them to speak out in this moment. Their country needs them to do that. We are all trying to figure out the truth. Michael cohens Attorney Says cohen is willing to testify before Congress Without immunity. Is your Committee Going to act on that . I hope Michael Cohen will come before the judiciary committee. Well certainly press the chairman to invite him. Michael cohen is prepared to testify truthfully and share what he knows. He hasnt gotten a deal. He is not getting anything for it. I take him at his word he wants to put his family and Country First and tell the truth. He has a lot to tell as counsel has said. He has information that would be valuable to the special counsel. I know this is uncomfortable for some people, but we need to get to the facts. We need to understand exactly what happened and make sure it never happens again and to be sure those responsible for this attack on our democracy are held accountable. There is a little bit of who is to be believed, whose credibility is better than the other, congressman. If you didnt find Michael Cohen credible back in january when he had a different story regarding payments to Stormy Daniels and to ami for Karen Mcdougal, why is he now credible . I think Michael Cohen is not getting anything for his admission. Hes pleaded guilty without an agreement so hes acknowledged that. He also has a tape recording. We listened to it, of a conversation he had with the president in which they discussed the payments. The president said he didnt know about them, he didnt provide the money. We know theres actually evidence to corroborate mr. Cohens story, and he doesnt really have incentive to makeup a story to land him in jail, so i think we need to examine the facts, allow mr. Mueller to finish his investigation and present his report to congress, and then we need to take appropriate action. What we need to hear from republican colleagues is some commitment to the rule of law. These are serious offenses committed against the United States. These are serious convictions of trumps inner circle. And they ought to be expressing disappointment and concern rather than trying to act like their responsibility is to put a good spin on it or say nothing in order to protect their own pli political future or the president s. Thank you for being with us. Thanks for having me. All eyes on the white house
press room as we await the first Briefing Since yesterdays two bomb shells, Michael Cohens guilty plea, Paul Manaforts conviction. Well take you there the second it starts. Happening now, the man accused in the murder of mollie tibbetts, facing a judge the first time. We will monitor what the suspect has to say. Back in a moment. Mom okay we need to get all your School Supplies today. School. Grade. Done. Done. Hit the Snooze Button and get low prices on School Supplies all summer long. Like these for only 2 or less at office depot officemax. Like these for only 2 or less stop fearing your alarm clock. With new zzzquil pure zzzs. A drugfree blend of botanicals with melatonin. That supports your Natural Sleep cycle. So you can seize the morning. New zzzquil pure zzzs. Lets take you straight to the briefing and Sarah Sanders. And as soon as she gets to the podium, we will do just that. A new attempted attack on voter database. Learning the Democratic National committee contacted the fbi after detecting what it believes was the beginning of a sophisticated hacking effort. Here is Sarah Sanders. Category four storm expected to have a Significant Impact on the state of hawaii. Homeland security secretary briefed the president on the hurricane this morning. We encourage all those in the path of the storm to listen to the instruction of state and local authorities as relates to Evacuation Orders and shelter locations. The president is concerned for the wellbeing of all hawaiians, fema will stay in close coordination with hawaii and
stand to support them in whatever they need. Also, the president had a phone call with Prime Minister abe from japan. They committed to maintaining strong sanctions on north korea. The two also expressed they look forward to seeing each other later this year. And to continue the important conversations with allies. Lastly, on behalf of our entire administration i want to extend prayers to the family, friends, loved ones of mollie tibbetts. The nation has watched over 30 days as local, state, federal officials searched for mollie. Sadly, the individual believed to be responsible for the murder is an illegal i am granmmigrant. The bible tells us the lord heals the broken hard and binds up their wounds. The tibbetts family are grieving and we are all grieving with them. Michael cohen under oath
pleaded guilty to among things paying Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal during the campaign, said he did it at the direction of the president of the United States. Did President Trump commit a crime . As the president said, we stated many times, he did Nothing Wrong. There are no charges against him and we have commented on this extensively. Why not report the payments . Again, im not getting into the back and forth details. I can tell you as the president has stated on numerous occasions, he did Nothing Wrong. There are no charges against him in this. Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal doesnt mean that implicates the president on anything. Can you say the president has never lied to the American People . So many look back at the tape of him on Air Force One saying he knew nothing about the payments, when in fact we now know he knew everything about the payments. So has he lied . I think thats a ridiculous accusation. The president in this matter has done Nothing Wrong. There are no charges against
him. John . The president said to fox news in an interview this morning this could not have been an Illegal Campaign contribution because he paid the money for it. He put more than 60 million of his own money into the campaign. So how do you