Whether trump has been on the hook the powerful features in the russian government. The very essence of the mueller investigation. Avenotti posted an executive summary of his research late today. His report lists a number of allegations abc news has not yet been able to verify. The oligarch in question, he deposited the money into an account used to repeat to pay off Stormy Daniels. He was sanctioned last mont by trumps treasury department. Just four days ago, the New York Times reported according to people close to the agency, federal agents spopd mr mr. Vekselberg, searched his Electronic Devices ap questioned him. They confront him after he stepped off a private plane about two months ago. The russian billionaire has not been identified as a suspect in the investigation. But the New York Times report thad vekselberg was present for the President Trump inauguration and that 2017 dinner where Michael Flynn was amongst the guests of honor. Nbc could not reach connor comment tonight. We have joined my julia ainsley, justice reporter for abc news, Barbara Mcquaid former u. S. Attorney for the eastern of michigan and a staff writer and msnbc contributor. Its from avenotti, but its a bombshell. Because it connects a Russian Oligarch paying 500,000 into a bank account, basically, which Michael Cohen was using to pay off hush money to Stormy Daniels. This the an amazing connection. Your thoughts. Its an amazing revelation. Chris. When we first started poking around on this i can remember a year or more than a year ago, asking people in counterintelligence, what should we be looking for . They said, follow the money. Thats exactly what this document does. It shows a string, that trumps personal attorney paying hush money then having those Bank Accounts replenished by foreign governments in is this case russia. The government at the heart of the mueller investigation. I just didnt expect it to come from the attorney for an adult film actress who had an alleged affair with the president. Thats not where i saw this going. It makes it really difficult. We have to piece all of this apart now. Physical out what exactly is true. Where this information came from. When were not seeing the raw document those reports that Michael Avenotti is pulling all of this from. We will be doing that in the coming days. What it makes me want to see now is Donald Trumps tax returns and more o information on the trump organization. Of course, we are able to see a sliver of the way trump did business by getting into his attorneys bank account. What about other Bank Accounts . Other people who did business with trump . People who are loyal inside his circle, are they being resnad are they doing this kind of business . We can be sure that michael, Robert Mueller knew about this payment before we did and possibly even before those raids. Because that oligarch that you point out, chris, at the top of the show. He was stopped at some point this year. That could have well been before this early raid on Michael Cohens apartment. We can be sure that this is something Robert Mueller knows a lot more about than we do. Natasha, i have been watching this case like all of us for so many months. I keep seeing the macroeconomic facts here the russians with all their cash. They can buy houses always over europe, they got so much cash, these oligarchs. Have you all that supply of money out there. Have you Donald Trumps insatiable desire for more money. Not just to expand his business and his sons businesses and to pay up debts. All this demand for cash and his own personal problems, where he has to have this regular supply of 35k to pay off his problems. Supply and demand. Trump needs cash. The russians have it. As president he hads a a candidate it seems to flow into each other in a classic economic modem. Your thoughts. And julias point about this being very surprising the fact that this revelation came from Stormy Daniels attorney general it is shocking. There are two stories at play, Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenotti seems to be implying the payments from this oligarch were going to cohen in order to reimburse him to pay Stormy Daniels off before the election. In that way the russians were trying to make sure the stormy agreement would not come out before the election, therefore in keeping that quiet . To allow trump to win. Its a part of the whole pattern . Possibly. Thats what avenotti is asserting. There is another angle to this, which is that this was simply cash for access. Vekselberg was doing business. A play of money 13 billion. He has a few bucks and change for the american president is clearly what he got for him. Let me go to barbara on this question of the law. We have been hearing about bank fraud, mail fraud, all kind of stuff. Big time stuff. We know about the raid on Michael Cohens everything, his office, his accounts, his apartment, temporary hotel room, etching, his laptop. Were they looking for a russian connection there . Reporter you know, i dont know if they were looking for a russian connection. But this is a really Interesting Development and certainly one that Robert Mueller likely knew about before we found out today. But you mentioned that interview visit at the airport when the oligarch came to new york city. It seems, perhaps, a possibility that some of the information they gathered from that visit including looking at his Electronic Devices is what developed the probably cause to search Michael Cohens office. If thats a connection there. Possible crimes, with sun a Campaign Finance allegations, because its illegal to accept funds from any foreign national. So if those funds were paid to Stormy Daniels to help trump when the election, that could be a Campaign Finance violation. But weve also seen now is this troubling pattern of lots and lots of money coming into trump and Michael Cohen from russian sources in cash. If they know that that is the proceeds of criminal activity, then reinvesting that money could also be the basis for Money Laundering charges. Lets get back to the way people look at this case. People are so hardened to the fact that the president of the United States has had this rocky sex life, whatever you call it. August these relationships. Even according to guiliani they had a regular slush fund on a regular basis to pay off these hush money cases. Now you have, it seems to me, a connection with russia. If he needed to refill his bank account with mon from russia, that puts him on the hook. 83, im thinking back to the Washington Post story from last week about how the president was able to buy all these properties with cash. Remember at the time the press, the reporter open our air tries to say does that mean this money is coming from russia, from places where it shouldnt be . They didnt know that at that time. Now being able to see, if all of this is correct, the way this bank account was repalestinianished, not just by russia but from other governments and u. S. Companies who wanted to pay for that access. I think what natasha points out is really key. Whether or not this money was a direct correlation to payment to Stormy Daniels or other people who trump wanted to keep quiet is a little harder to prove. What seems to be really clear is that there are governments who are able to buy influence over this president and perhaps they have been doing so for a long team. Well, natasha and everybody, this is the big popper of a question, you know, Vladimir Putin must have known all about this and has known about it for months. His oligarch over there, they all know each other, everybody with connections to america. Every russian has an american an heres this guy Victor Vekselberg who apparently had the money to write a check for a half Million Dollars to this fixer for President Trump. Thats who he is. The fixer, gets a half million bucks from this oligarch. You have to wonder vladimir is chuckling on this president. The reason why vekselberg was flying in and out of the occupation, he was trying to get deals ap he was sanctioned and stopped on one of the trip by muellers agents and mueller asked him about these payments that he made to Michael Cohen. So mueller knows. The questions is, were these payments related to the election in terms of keeping Stormy Daniels quiet or were they related to a Broader Campaign for access in weve seen previous indications the Trump Campaign was trying to reassure the russians they would be lifting the sanction on russia when trump was inaugurated. So was this a part of, during the year, it was so unclear, whether they were going to impose new sanctions. Was this an effort by vekselberg who has interest in the occupation, clearly that didnt work. The sanctions now keep him off u. S. Soil and the part away from mueller. People just joining us, we have a bombshell story from Michael Avenotti. Hes got his story out tonight, apparently a solid one that Russian Oligarch, Victor Vekselberg watched by our government has been given a half a malto his fixer used to pay off Stormy Daniels. Barbara, how would he get this information . It seems he may have gotten it from mule early. I dont know if he got it from mueller. Second question as a prosecutor, why would he put it out . Why would it be in avenottis interest to throw this bombshell out now . How is guiliani, second question, go on Television One more time . Because there is a big question in the paper, wouldnt guiliani be shut up by trump . Because he isnt doing the job very well. How can he go on tv on this media tour and answer any of these questions . How can he explain an oligarch was playing for trumps girl problem, to put it bluntly, its a girl problem. What is it in your thoughts . Well, first, i would be highly doubtful Robert Mueller would share this information with Michael Avenotti. It is not in his interest to do so. It is not his style to disclose those kind of things, who would . Michael avenotti would be very public in his crusade against President Trump. Anyone who has this information. People who work in banks, people have access to this information. See what Michael Avenotti is doing, support his cause, may have shared this information with him. My guess is as we said earlier a sheriff of what Robert Mueller knows. Why is Michael Avenotti doing it . It seems he is putting as much pressure as he can on President Trump in his efforts to resolve his dispute between him and Stormy Daniels, so Stormy Daniels can be free to tell her story without fear of sanctions pursuant to the contract that may or may not be enforceable. Finally, should Rudy Guiliani be out there talking about these things . He said the other day he has been on this media tour. Yet hes only made it about halfway through learning the facts of the case. You know, its really important to learn the facts. When he learns this one today, thanks to the media, hes going to choke on it. There is no way he can explain it. How can you disentangle the russians paying a half million bucks to shut up to be blunt about to it. Hush up somebody who has a story to tell about their relationship with the president of the United States . This is collusion. This is a collision of stories. I didnt expect to get tonight in the midst of this iranian deal. The fact that hes killed the iranian deal the fact that he is now facing the charge that his problem, his sexual relationship he was trying to keep quiet has been paid off by a Russian Oligarch. Chris, if i can take a guess how guiliani might try to explain this him he might get back to the talking point we heard over the weekend that 130,000 is no big deal to someone like donald trump and hell say why in the world would he need foreign money to pay that off . And hell also be to keep it quiet out of his checkbook that way. Thats one reason. So they used it to replenish the funds. Its not exactly clear why exact will i that coiffure was replenished at that time. What he will have a hard time explaining away, a, why wasnt trump aware of it until media reports came out . That wouldnt make sense. Why wouldnt the president elect be made of allegations like the stoerpdz affair and he will have a hard time if not to keep Stormy Daniels quiet for what purpose . Why would all of this money be coming into Michael Cohens account, especially at the time when donald trump is taking Public Office . That i dont know how you can explain away. We believe Michael Cohen didnt notify his client a fixer for a buddy in moscow come through with a check for a half Million Dollars . He wouldnt tell him that . Its quite unbelievable. When i spoke to Michael Cohens client, he told me he understands what i was talking about. I asked him about the avenotti report. He knew about snit. He did know about it. He said it was not a payment. When i spoke to avenotti, he said it is absolutely incorrect to say this is not a payment. Whats an alternative way to describe a half Million Dollars given from one party to another . I dont know. He hung up on me and told him never to talk to me again. I love to hear your trade craft. Thank you all for being here tonight. Coming up, President Trump pulls america out of the Iran Nuclear Deal. We thought this was the big story all afternoon. Its a move contradiction say makes us less safe. I think. So it could lead to war. Remember when Trump Campaigned on no more stupid wars in the middle east . Now the neocounts have his ear. Thats over with. So much about stupid wars. He is now heading towards un, programs. Plus, real worry in the Republican Party that Don Blankenship will win tonight in West Virginia. That primary could be a boost to senator joe manchin in the general this november. Polls close at 7 30 eastern. Well be on the air. Its 15 minutes from now. Well give you the latest. A stunning fall of a hot shot long been mr. Trumps number one nemesis. What happened to new York Attorney general Eric Schneiderman . What happens now in the investigation that schneiderman was leading . Let me finish with trump watch. This is a big one. This is hardball where the action is. More news on the russian investigation. On monday, Rudy Guiliani tells cbs news mueller rejected a proposal to allow the president to answer questions in writing. Guiliani told the wall street journal trumps legal team hopes to decide by may 17th whether trump should testify at all. One person close to the president s legal preparations told the journal in an informal fourhour practice session, mr. Trumps lawyers were only able to walk through two questions. Given the frequent interruptions along with many mr. Trumps lo if lo kwashsness loquacousness. Mr. Elliot, whats your wifi password . Wifi . Wifis ordinary. Basic. Do i look basic . Nope which is why i have xfinity xfi. Its super fast and you can control every device in the house. [ child offscreen ] hey lets basement. And thanks to these xfi pods, the signal reaches down here, too. So sophie, i have an xfi password, and its daditude. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Xfinity. The future of awesome. Welcome blacome back to ha in his biggest Foreign Policy move to date, President Trump today announced he was withdrawing the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal and reinstateing sanctions related to their