Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20181130 : co

And more troubles for former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort who they say lied to him and doubledealing with the Trump Administration after signing a a plea agreement. And brothers in a arms, two of the the president s favorite strongmen have a connection today. They are both pariahs at the g20. Goodday, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in new york. The president at a world summit in argentina, but judging from the tweets theday, he started the day thinking of the dramatic events in the russia probe. Sworn testimony indicating an active coverup by former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen about the trump organizations effort to get a trump tower in moscow well into the 2016 campaign. The president tweeting this morning that he had quote only lightly looked at a business deal while frequently denying it on 2 campaign trail, and Sarah Sanders is is now referring to the Mueller Investigation as the russian witch hunt hoax at an ish statement she issued from the summit. And now joining us is Peter Alexander and ben wallace. And peter, lets talk about the dissonance and we saw the bilateral with the Prime Minister of japan abe shinzo, and they are saying that they hope they can work it out with Vladimir Putin, and where does that stand . Andrea, an interesting point. Be clear here the man representing the United States at this global summit the g20 is individual one, and that tweet from the president , and the fir first the thing that he communicated on twit ther morning reinforced that point that the challenge for any leader, any american leader is to not allow domestic troubles impact some tof the Foreign Policy interests here, but that is the backdrop for this. As we heard from the president a short time ago trying to insist that the reason for the las lastminute cancellation of the scheduled sit down and the marquee meeting of the summit for Vladimir Putin saturday was because of russias aggression toward ukraine and the seizure of the ship and the sailors and the last point to the reinforce here is that nothing changed on that issue since sunday when it took place, and on tuesday, the president said that he had been briefed and the only thing that changed in that period of time is the fact that the president s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen we learned of the guilty plea that he had lied to congress, a there is great suspicion that this is the reason that he called it off, but there in the visit with shinzo abe, it is the issue of ukraine and we hope that it can be resolved quickly. Sarah sanders insisted a short time the ago among other things that the russian witch hunt hoax is hopefully near the end, but it is doing very well. Apparently sarcastically, and again, emphasizing the point that it is impacting americas ability, and its relationship with russia here. And what is notable here a short time ago as there is to be some reaction of the bilateral meeting that is not to take place, they have a din wer other leader where is it is likely they will encounter one another, and the russian spokesperson told the russian media, there would be something on the sidelines and impromptu meeting on the sidelines and an american official saying no scheduled meetings, but we will be watching for interaction between the two men certainly given the events over the last 24 hours. As you referenced h he did mention the Putin Meeting and claiming it is ukraine. We will play a little bit of that for you and ben rhodes from the bilateral just now. You crane. We dont li ukraine, and we a happy about what happened, and with respect to what took place with the ships and the sailors, and that is the sole reason. So ben rhodes, as you and peter both know, president obama had some complicated relationships and in mexico where Vladimir Putin and president obama were facing off against each other, and the difference of that and the way that President Trump has treated Vladimir Putin, and so the sudden cancellation of this summit by the white house without any prior notice to the kremlin, the kremlin claimed is the so different from the way the president has dealt with so many relationships, and so if they were talking and if there is a summit, and this is the first time that the kremlin was caught off guard. But andrea, an important point here is do the words of the president and the spokespeople have any credibility whatsoever . Because if you are going to lay down a marker about an issue like ukraine, you have to make the world believe that you believe what you are talking about, and i dont believe that anybody at that summit believes for one second that the reason that dr. Canceled this meeting is out of some principled stand. And it is believed obviously that he gave putin a pass, and also that putin has had compromising information on trump for the last two years, because he would have been aware of the trump tower relationship in moscow, and which he denied and so i dont believe that nobody believes donald trump cares about ukraine and that is dramatically going to the undercut the credibility of the United States. And andrea, as you mentioned, i have been to is um mitts and there are dinners and a leaders lounge, and i will bet you that trump will have an interaction with putin, but he did not want it to be in front of the cameras, because of the awkwardness because of the recent revelations by Michael Cohen. And other awkwardness, peter, because he does not have a whole lot on the schedule, and he has the president with president xi and that is saturday night, and huge trade issue, and he has signed the new nafta agreement with canada and mexico today, but usually, when the president of the United States, the leader of the free world goes to these meetings as what happened in paris when he was in paris recent recently, he did not have any bilateral meetings and he stayed in the hotel room and he did not go to the scheduled scemetery visit and not as if they are knocking down the doors to meet with the president. And to the emphasize that, we saw the president sitting at that large round table waiting for g20 liters there waiting for others to arrive and not communicating with anybody else, and one of the flashpoints and the focal points this week, the t the crown prince of saudi arabia and mohammad bin salman would with be here, and john bolton, the National Security adviser and not time for the two to meet, and even though he was telling me and others that i would make an effort to see him, and john bolton said that the schedule was full to overflowing and not time for that, and there was an interesting meeting of mohammad bin salman in room today earlier, and the remarkable handshake and grabbing hands and mohammad bin salman grabbing the hand of Vladimir Putin, as they greeted each other all of that in the backdrop of the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, and the president has effectively said, i will look past the cias asse assessment with high confidence that the crown prince was effectively behind that, and that he ordered that killing. President trump would have an opportunity to stand up to him side by side in front of the world stage and Say Something critical and similarly, having that with Vladimir Putin if he chose to meet with him in front of the cameras, because President Trump was critical of barack obama blaming him for the annexation of ukraine and yet for f forfeiting an opportunity here to call him out to his face in this forum. And in response to the statement from Sarah Huckaby sanders, and given the timing of the Michael Cohen guilty plea yesterday, but she put out a written statement calling it the russian witch hunt hoax, and why do that at a world gathering . Well, andrea, it is going to show that they dont care about the actual responsibilities of the office of the u. S. Presidency. Take a step back here. At this g20, we have a lot of issues on the table. We have that crisis between russia and ukraine, and a trade war between russia and the United States that threat ens te Global Economy and the crown prince of saudi arabia showing up weeks after he reportedly ordered a brutal murder in a third country of a journalist, and lot of business to do, and what is happening with our president . He is tweeting out right wing book recommendations, and juvenile tweets on the investigation of american democracy and referring it to as a witch hunt and hoax, and that is the degradation of the presidency, and they are not issuing with people that deal with the American People of global prosperity and security, and the leader of the free world is vacant and when you see that chilling handshake between putin and salm maman and two dissiden you see two people who have immunity and something on trump. So you are seeing two countries on widespread reports of potential quid pro quo and financial interests from saudi arabia and from russia in trumps businesses, and so to make all americans worried about who is representing us. And ben, to put a bow on, that and that is a really bad metaph metaphor, but the fact is that the human rights folks and the prosecutors in argentina are taking steps towards action and not that it would be taken while he is there, but action against mohammad bin salman and very much in the press, and in the conversations downb there in argentina since he arrived. Yeah, and what is remarkable, andrea, and you have been to is um mitts for a long time, and others are having to step up to fill the void that was led by the United States, and look to argentina and other countries to step up about basic human rights for journalists to report from the fear of being brutally murdered from another country, and so we are looking at what happens when the president of the United States vacates that moral leadership and others have to fill the void. Thank you, ben rhodes, and former National Security adviser and Peter Alexander, thank you both. And what other charges . What could be in store for former president s Campaign Chair Paul Manafort. We will break it down. Stay with us on Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Plaque psoriasis. With tremfya®, you can get clearer. And stay clearer. In fact, most patients who saw 90 clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. 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And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. In fed ra ral cou. In federal court this morning, prs coutures did not rule out more charges to be leveled against Paul Manafort with the judge tentatively setting the sentencing date in march. The Michael Cohen guilty plea is raising questions of what other evidence he may have given Robert Mueller in more than 70 hours of testimony. Joining me is Pete Williams and msnbc legal Analyst Daniel goldman, a former u. S. Zorn in the Southern District of new york and emily jane fox, a writer for vanity fair. And welcome all. And pete, tell us about the plea deal that is blown up, and there are accusations back and forth as to what the feds are claiming that he lied and he claiming that it is not true, and manafort, and now, how vulnerable is he to being recharged . Well, the question is how blown sup the deal . The government said yes, he has lied and the lawyer, and manaforts lawyers said no sh, has not, and they did not get into the specifics of it, but the judge did order the government to file by next week a document explaining in detail what it was that manafort said and why the government says that was not true. And as they were leaving today, the lawyers for Paul Manafort said they look forward to litigating this in court. And so, you know, a plea agreement is like a contract and so i guess that the judge is going to be deciding if the contract is now null and void or whether the government is stuck wit if he was telling the truth, and that is first question to be decided. And also, the government putting a club over his head saying they reserved the right to put him on trial again, and it would be surprising because they have and conviction and i dont know the advantage of pitting him on trial again, but i think they want to make it clear that they are holding the cards on this, but the judge did set the sentencing date not for january or february as we thought, but march. So, that at least this part of the special counsel is still going to be going when we get to march. And so, we also, one more question, pete. We also dont know about this communication. Did the government know that he was back channeling the white house after the plea deal . Well, so what we are talking about here is the joint Defense Agreement that was structured by probably 30 or so people who were under investigation by mueller who are all sharing information and the agreements are basically going to allow the lawyers to tell other people what their clients are telling them without violating Attorney Client privilege. And whether the prosecutors knew about that, we dont know, but i think that there is a very good chance that when they found out about it, they were not too happy with it, and that may be one of the provisions under which they say that he didnt, and was not truthful with them, and especially if he denied it, but we dont know the details of it yet. And of course, the drama yesterday before we get to manafort today was yesterday the Michael Cohen e plea, andmly jane, you were in court with him yesterday and we know him well. He was at ease and went out the dinner last night, and presumably, he is not a man in the grips of, you know, all sorts of hamletlike turmoil of what he has done, but he is totally cooperating, clearly with mueller. Sure. I think that he feels resolute in what he has done over the last few months, and this is coming after several years of doing things that were we now know were illegal. And so he is feeling like he is now doing things that are the right thing to do, and that could potentially lessen his sentence in two weeks bu, but hs facing sentencing on december 12th, and perhaps as relieved as he was yesterday to stand up there and say, this is what i did wrong and i did it because of my loyalty and because of the political messaging that President Trump set forth, he still is facing what could be a sentencing that would be harm ful for him and his family. And so, 70 hours of time that he has spent, he could be doing a lot of damage and a lot more than we could imagine to the trump circle and the organization and the president himself. Right. I mean, we believe that 70 hours is split among the special counsel, the Southern District of new york, and the attorney generals office, but what it means is that there is a lott more information that he has provided them the details of the trump organizations foray into trump tower moscow, and that is the beginning of it, and it may be the one thing that they, Michael Cohen really lied to congress about, but you can be sure that they are asking him everything from the trump tower meeting of june of 2016 and whether he knew about it and a what he heard about it, and anything else related to russian financial interests and russias involvement in the campaign and in cord nation with the campaign. So there is a lot more than what we learned yesterday about what cohen has told the special ko couns counsel. And we are also told that Matt Whitaker was told in advance by the mueller team about the Michael Cohen guilty plea, and what do we know about that . Would he have shared that with the white house . Well, two parts. We know, andrea, from our own reporting th