Directed Michael Cohen to break the law. Cohen is guilty on many charng said unrelated to me, the president writes, then falsely claims cohens campaign fnls offenses which do relate to him are not crimes at all. They stem from sixfigure payoffs to women whose claims they had affairs with trump could have impacted the president ial campaign. The payments coming just weeks before the election. Prosecutors do not just have cohens word that the future president was involved. They also have among other things audio recordings of trump and cohen speaking about buying off Karen Mcdougals story from the National Enquirer. Have a listen. Correct. So im all over that. And i spoke to allen about it, when it comes time to the financing which will be what financing . Well have to pay. No. No, no, i got it. No, no, no. All right. Lets get to Kaitlan Collins at the white house this morning. The president is making a number of legal arguments here, and one we havent heard before, but were hearing this morning from the president , you wonder what his legal team thinks about it. Look, look, look, nothing to see. I did nothing, this was all on, quote, advice of counsel. Aides around the president had been happy he hadnt commented on Michael Cohen yet, but this morning we get the threepart tweet that doesnt exactly sound like it was written by President Trump himself. It raises all these questions, and the legal argument that the president is now making, essentially not disputing the fact that he directed Michael Cohen to make these payments but saying he didnt direct him to make them in an illegal manner. Thats what the president is essentially arguing on twitter this morning. But of course, that comes, and we have video of President Trump on air force one denying he ever knew about that payment to Stormy Daniels and saying that they would have to ask Michael Cohen about it. Obviously, the president did know about that payment, as we have now learned. And he obviously clearly knew about the payment to Karen Mcdougal as well, as jim showed in that audio, that discussion between President Trump and Michael Cohen. Now, heres the thing. People close to the president are worried there could be more audio that Michael Cohen has of his conversations with the president , including showing the president was well aware of how Michael Cohen was making these payments and how that was going down. But in the president s twitter feed, hes saying these are not against the law, and it raises the question, why did the president say he didnt know about the payments if he truly believes there was nothing wrong with making these payments and that they are not illegal . Now, jim and poppy, one thing President Trump did not reference in his tweets this morning are two things actually. One, the prosecution agreement with the ami company, the publisher of the National Enquirer. They have agreed not to prosecutor them now that theyre cooperating and will let them know what their deals are. Also, he does not mention the special counsel and Michael Cohen cooperating together. Michael cohen cooperating with them, which they said yesterday in court he had provided them with very valuable information that they found to be reliable. And its a good point there, because its not just about the payments. Hes cooperating on the core russia related issues. Meanwhile, key lawmakers on capitol hill say they want to talk to cohen before he goes to prison, both democrats and republicans. He goes to prison in march. They have some months to do it. This is not just democrats on the hill coming into power on the house side. This is republicans like richard burr on the Senate Intelligence committee who want to her from cohen. Richard burr has said he wants to hear from cohen as well as other people cooperating with muellers team. It doesnt sound like the russia investigation is wrapping up in any way, especially on the hill. But then you also have the democrats with adam schiff who is going to be leading the house Intelligence Committee saying he also wants to hear from cohen. Theres a lot they could talk to cohen about. Its just not limited to the payments that we have been talking about this morning, but it also relates to the trump tower meetings, the projects potentially building trump tower. It sounds like at least in congress, theyre going to reinterview Michael Cohen and try to mine him for more information. Yeah, i mean, he says he lied to them. He was up there last time, so i bet they have a host of questions for him. Thanks for the reporting. Joining us now, chief Political Correspondent dana bash, Jeffrey Toobin. A lot of chiefs in the house. Thank you guys. Who do i begin with . Let me start with you, jeffrey, on the legal argument here that the president is making. I didnt do anything wrong. It was advice of counsel, oh, and by the way, Campaign Finance violations arent even violations and arent against the law. What . The first part of that is really a potential defense. Now, obviously, it all depends on the facts. But it is a defense to most criminal conduct, including Something Like this, that if you simply were relying on a lawyer whom you expect to give you good legal advice, thats a legitimate defense to a criminal charge. Now, whether he in fact did rely on Michael Cohens legal advice is a separate question. As for the second part, whether its not a crime or not, thats really wrong. I mean, thats just not the case. It is true that some Campaign Violations are not usually treated criminally, but some are. And this is one. And there was a guilty plea. So its the usual mix and match of legitimate and absurd arguments from the president , but you know, its not all wrong. Dana bash, i thought the president and his camp were saying Michael Cohen was a bad lawyer and a liar. But theyre saying that the president who employed him for many years as a fixer and a lawyer, that he was entirely dependent on his sage legal advice here . Well, i refer you to the comments that we just heard from our esteemed colleague Jeffrey Toobin which is you often get a mix and match, what is makes sense and what is reasonable and what is not. However, i do think that what the president was trying to get across here in what was clearly very carefully written by somebody who was trying to put him on the right legal track with this tweet, was that he relied on Michael Cohen. Michael cohen as a lawyer is supposed to follow the law. He didnt do that. And in retrospect, he was wrong. I think thats how i read the way that he put it. But youre right, it does fly in the face of many other things the president and his team said, you know, months ago about Michael Cohen when they were hoping it wouldnt come down to Michael Cohen trying to flip on the president. It also, of course, flies in the face of the president s lie in april on air force one when he said, and we have video, that he said he had no knowledge of the payments. Of course, he had knowledge and theres 1,000 pieces of evidence to the contrary. Good point. What about this key line, jeffrey, from muellers team of prosecutors, as it relates to cohen beyond any Campaign Finance violation. I quote, cohen has provided muellers team, their office, with credible and reliable information about core russia related issues under investigation. Should that actually be more worrisome, troublesome to the president this morning than anything related to Campaign Finance violation by itself . I do, because i dont think anything related to the payments to Stormy Daniels or Karen Mcdougal provides an existential threat to the presidency of donald trump. But russia may. And i. If you remember, the charge he pleaded guilty to in the Mueller Investigation as opposed to the Southern District was his lie about when the negotiations were going on between russian interests and the Trump Organization about the trump tower in moscow. Earlier, he said it was all over by january 2016, as he acknowledged, all throughout the beginning of 2016, while the republican primaries were going on, the Trump Organization was negotiating with moscow, was trying to get trump tower built. And when you compare that and put it alongside the president s or candidate trumps extremely solicitous behavior towards putin and russia, that is really questionable. That really raises the question of was donald trump and is donald trump working for the United States . Was he working for russia . Was he working for his own money . Or was he working in the National Interests . That is potentially really very troublesome. Of course, dana, a lot of what happens, virtually everything that happens with the special counsel, happens behind closed doors. You have republicans in the senate, you have democrats in the house who are going to control the house, of course, the key committees, saying they want to bring Michael Cohen to the hill. Theyre going to ask him about the payments and also the russia side of this. Paint a picture of what that means for this president politically because that will be playing out very much more in the open. Thats a great point. I think it might be an open question whether or not theyll be successful given where Michael Cohen they meaning the democrats will be successful in getting Michael Cohen to the hill. Maybe they will be because cohen is so tied up with the special counsel, with the Southern District of new york, on active legal issues. But it poses to a very big Political Risk because even before we really get a sense of what else Michael Cohen has told the special counsels office, perhaps well get more real time from democrats who will probe on a whole host of things. The question, though, is when youre talking about, because this will really be raw politics, if and when the democrats can bring him back to the hill. Is whether or not the president will have legitimate reason to poke holes in his credibility because a big part of why Michael Cohen is in trouble in the first place is because he lied to congress. Many months ago. So hes not exactly pure to say the least when it comes to his credibility in talking to congress, especially since then he was trying to protect the president. Now his back is against the wall. Right. Thank you, chiefs dana bash, Jeffrey Toobin. We appreciate it. Nice to have you both. Another part of this story, and important and intriguing, the National Enquirer element, the publisher of the National Enquirer now admits its role in paying off a woman who allegedly had an affair with the president , Karen Mcdougal, buying her story only to kill her story. Well talk to a former Senior Vice President at the company about this flip, what it means. Plus, were just days from a possible partial shutdown of the government. Right before christmas. All eyes now on house republicans. They plan to move forward. And a bipartisan push to do something that the president will not, hold saudi arabia accountable, both for the saudiled war in yemen and the brutal murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi. Opportunity is everywhere. Like here. Where nothing stands between you and your best friends. New listerine® ready tabs™ arent gum, mints, or marbles. Seriously, what is this . 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Serious allergic reactions can occur. For all the things that move you. Ask your doctor about taltz. Just look at those two. Happy. In love. And saving so much money on their Car Insurance by switching to geico. Well, just look at this setting. Do you have the ring . Oh, helzberg diamonds. Another beautiful setting. Im not crying. Ive just got a bit of sand in my eyes, thats all. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance. Federal prosecutors say that President Trumps former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, along with the publisher of the National Enquirer acted at the direction of the president to bury the story of a former playmate who claims she had an affair with trump and they did so just weeks before the election. This is after the tabloids Parent Company ami admitted to its role in the coverup close to the president ial vote. Take a moment and listen to this tape from september of 2016 right before the election. Its a recording where Michael Cohen and then candidate trump discuss dealings with david picker. David picker, pictured there, the head of ami, which owns National Enquirer. The president tells cohen, quote, get rid of this, referring to the Karen Mcdougal story. Then says, in two weeks its fine. Then this. I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david, because here, you never know where the company, where hes going to be. Im all over that. Joining us now, former ami he ran the communication shop at that company for years. Thank you for being with us. I think last time you were with me, it was in august. And this is right when all of this news broke, but now we know ami is cooperating. Yes, they are. And pecker is cooperating. You told me you never thought he would flip. You thought he would stand by the president , but at the same time, he looks out for himself. And proof positive, look whats happening here. Him or trump. And in any situation, he will always win. Thats what hes done. Let me ask you this, because the president s essential argument here of many arguments and some of them contradictory, is basically cohen did it, or cohen as the lawyer should have known. There have been multiple lies going back to april where the president denied any knowledge of these payments. In terms of the coordination between cohen and pecker, his involvement, could they have taken place without the president knowing, knowing the way that relationship worked . I dont see how that could have happened. Look how handson he is in everything that happens during his presidency. In his business before that. So in my mind, not having been in the room, but clearly, i cant imagine any way that these guys would have pulled this out without trumps support and interaction. Jerry george, who is the former Los Angeles Bureau chief for National Enquirer i think for like 28 years, you know him. You worked together there. He was on with erin burnett last night, and this was really interesting. Listen to what he said. David pecker had given the Trump Organization free reign to dictate the coverage, and of course, you know, cover up any unflattering stories about the candidate during the election. What struck me in that was his argument that pecker gave the Trump Organization, quote, free reign to dictate coverage. Did you witness that at all . Not in that situation, but in any situation where he was dealing with someone he wanted to have influence with pecker . Yeah. He would open up the store. What can we do, what kind of photos . Is there a reporter we have you would like to work with . Anything to make it as easy as possibility because