Alex Witt hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. He was indicted for payments made to a mistress, how much stronger would an Election Fraud kbas in this instance if you throw in cohens testimony . They tell me it would be much stronger for the following reasons. They say these were not made to the campaign, they were made to keep them from john edwards wife. Michael cohen prepared to go into court and say yes, these payments were related to the campaign. Motherover the payments from john edwards were two years before he ran for president. These happened just a few months before the election, and there is a tape now where it is being made clear to him that this
Alex Witt hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Tower in 2016. This contradicts the president and juniors accounts, so if this is a true, how damaging could this be . Im not sure how big of a deal it would be when it comes legally i think there could be implications if anyone Didnt Tell The Truth under oath, but i think politically this would be a bilge deal. People say that President Trump is untouchable in a tense, but i think to tell such a if it turns out to be true to tell up a bold lie about your conduct and so say you didnt know something about such a pivotal meeting, to do that, i think it would affect President Trump. I think this would be something that would be hard for him to defend and hard for this administration to defend. Speaking of lying, jonathan, Rudy Giuliani is claiming that
payment to a play mate for a story, and you look at the fw t tweets, its clear theyre no longer close. Theyre at odds, and what does it mean for the president and his mind set going forward, how does he deal with someone that was in his inner circle, that he expected to be loyal, how does he react to that . Will he retaliate in some way . We know he gets very upset when he talks about the mueller investigation. We here that mueller is examining trumps tweets as part of the investigation. Do you have any idea which tweets . I think there is a broad set including the witch hunt aspect
of the tweeting from President Trump. Anything that he said that might tie into an obstruction of justice finding or charge. Speaking of the president s tweets, just yesterday hi tweeted that he was not informed ahead of time about the meeting at trump tower with the russian emb meeting. He thinks it would have been bad to have known about it ahead of time, and he is throwing his own son under the bus. If you look at what jonathan is saying, the president tweeting about an Ongoing Investigation into his own campaign, that that would be risky for his administration, was it just a matter of time
before they would say we have to look at the tweets. Over and over again experts have said the president s tweets could come up in legal cases, they have come up in court cases before, and him constantly, threatening, or seeming to threaten Jeff Sessions and complaining about him recusing and all of these things, the president has had so much commentary on this investigation, are it would be unthinkable for him not to look at it. How about allen weisselberg, what roll does he play now . He can explain the books, payments going back and forth between the is trump
organization and other payments for Hush Payments for people that say they had affairs with donald trump. That and the larger question of dealings overtime. And it is development projects. Really, you sort of think back to the movie, The Untouchables where the key person in that in taking down al capone, is the guy that keeps his books. Up next, soundproof. What matters most in that recording. Ive been Making Blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. The Kayak Explore Tool shows you the places you can fly on your budget. So you can be confident youre getting the most bang for your buck. Aloha. Kayak. Search one and done. Uhp. I didnt believe it. Again. Ooh, baby, do you know what thats worth . I want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ooh im not hearing the confidence. Okay, hold the name your price tool. Power of options based on your budget and well make heaven a place on earth yeah oh, my angels ooh, heaven is a place on earth [ sobs quietly ]
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is your take on the potential legal strategy here . You dont always get to pick your witnesses, but when you have a. Flipping in your case. There is two nfrgss going on. Mueller has his own. He handed off this Michael Cohen thing to the Southern District of new york. Some of the best cases as a prosecutor can be built on circumstantial evidence. You will not always have a
smoking gun. Saying that donald trump knew about this june 2016 meeting can be just as powerful and credible as the fact that we know that trump a participated in that haye hasty cover up after that Trump Tower Meeting occurred in 2016. Here is what the president tweets, i did not know of the meeting with my son, don junior. Sounds like someone is making up stories to get himself out of an unrelated jam. Can this come back to jeopardize the president . Absolutely. The tweet is being made by the president and it can be imputed to him. And specifically this tweet is once again having him deny any too many of cobehavior that sho
things like roger san antonio being approached with dirt on Hillary Clinton. And don junior had someone coming forward with dirt on Hillary Clinton. What about at the New York Times report that says mueller has a wide ranging investigation. Looking towards a possible Obstruction Inquiry here. Can they be used as evidence in a weighty fashion . Giuliani says there is no possibility that you can obstruct because you dont do it in public. I know he went to lawsuit. You can obstruct in public and in private. Were looking at the tweets of donald trump, what did he say about comby and sessions in public, and combining it with what we know comey testified about and what has revealed. Was trump behind the scenes and out in public trying to influence what happened in the comey case and what sessions did for keeping Comey On Board or not keeping Comey On Board and would they get Rod Rosenstein involved. Lets play part of this recorded conversation released earlier this week, and what lanny davis has to say about the case. I need to open up a company for the transfer of the info for our friend, david, and the financing what financing i have to pay cash . No, i dont. He has answerer an answer why he taped conversations, he will have to reveal that for himself. But he has turned a corner in his life and he is now dedicated to telling the truth. If this payment was related to the election, in what fashion . Because of the timing . And does it make a Strong Campaign fraud case . Yes, violations are looming large in this case because if the timing flgs that the payment was made to Karen Mckodoogle an others, prior to the 2016 election to keep them quite about their affairs with trump, one of which was allegedly pregnant. That suggests they were being made so silence people, to influence that election, should could constitute Campaign Contribution violations. What about the other people. It is too early to tell, if it is typical avanati, he leaks information, he gives us tidbits here and there. There is a number of women ready to come forward and say they had relations with trump. Would that have affected it . I dont know the trump base may have affected this no matter what. Was Michael Cohen involved . It was suggested now they probably did. Why the case of a russian conspiracy just got stronger. That is next. Its easy to think that all Money Managers are pretty much the same. But while some push High Commission investment products, Fisher Investments avoids them. Some advisers have hidden and layered fees. Fisher investments never does. And while some advisers are happy to earn commissions from you whether you do well or not, Fisher Investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. Maybe thats why most of our clients come from other Money Managers. Fisher investments. Clearly better money management. Proven to work. Vascepa is not right for everyone. Do not take vascepa if you are allergic to icosapent ethyl or any inactive ingredient in vascepa. Tell your doctor if you are allergic to fish, have liver problems. Or other medical conditions and about any medications you take, especially those that may affect blood clotting. 2. 3 of patients reported joint pain. Its clear. Theres only one vascepa. Ask your doctor about pure epa prescription vascepa. California had the worst Wildfire Season on record. Scientists say, our weather is becoming more extreme and we all have to be better prepared. Thats why pg e is adopting new and additional safety precautions to help us monitor and respond to dangerous weather. Hi, im allison bagley, a meteorologist with pg es Community Wildfire Safety Program. Were working now, to enhance our Weather Forecasting capabilities, building a network of new Weather Stations to identify when and where extreme Wildfire Conditions may occur, so we can respond faster and better. Were installing Cutting Edge Technology to provide realtime mapping and tracking of weather patterns. And we use this information in partnership with First Responders and californias Emergency Response systems. To learn more about the Community Wildfire Safety Program and how you can help keep your home and community safe, visit pge. Com wildfiresafety he duntt have any incriminating evidence. I have been expecting Something Like this all week. There is nobody i know that knows him that if he is backed up against a wall, he will lie
to get himself out. This week, ko is willing to tell mueller that trump knew about the meeting before it happened in trump tour. Your article says the case for a trump russian conspiracy just got ament little stronger, how so. They said now that it is clear that we have to take cohens word with a Grain Of Salt here, but assuming he can corroborate his claim that he knew about or approved of this meeting, it shows there is intent there, a willingness to coordinate with the russians during the election and place himself at the center of the broader experience of a foreign power attempting to interfere in our election. When you look at that, you have to zoom out and see if you can
look at the whole mosaic. The time line here is very interesting as many people pointed out to me yesterday. They want to have the meeting. Three days later the president is on stage says he is going to have a big damaging speech to Hillary Clinton. And then one day before the Trump Tower Meeting, they are creating leaks that Decision Seminatt hacked emails. All of these things happening at that moment are very interesting to prosecutors. By that point, the campaign, or at least george poppadopulous
they had dirt on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. Did he want those emails . It remains to be seen. You say it is not clear whether or not cohens word would stand up in Court Without corroboration. If there was recordings of anything out there, doesnt that help his case . Absolutely if there is a recording of the meeting, that is a slam dunk for prosecutors. But without that evidence, it will be very, very difficult for them to trot Michael Cohen out. He is such an incredible witness. He is going to probablyly face charges, so he is not impact the perfect witness, but cohen apparently said there was other people in the room with him who heard donald trump junior tell
his father about this offer from the russians, and if that is true. It is probably true, people like hope picks, Kellyanne Conway probably would have been present. If that is true, mueller has other witnesses that may or may not be willing to testify to this fact. But were told by a person who has knowledge of the white house strategy that this person did not think trump and company were even capable of colluding with russia in a proactive sense. I heard this a lot from People Associated with the campaign. This is not something that trump did in a proactive way. In terms of thinking im going to conspire to undermine clinton. He told me that if a Foreign National were to offer dirt like this on an opponent, they would have called the fbi. One of the things he did say that was interesting, you do not tell the candidate about the offer, but these guys were all amateurs. It is more likely they did tell the president about the meeting so they could approve it and he would obtain that dirt on Hillary Clinton. There is chat within the family ranks as well. Can i ask you about the fallout from the meeting with vladimir putin. Here is what jeff flake said about it. It was better than super russias top diplomat said. The summit was fabulous, i think that was lavrov. Another said a quiet modest
trump has paled in comparison with vladimir putin, its clear he has out maneuvered the u. S. President. That is the russian read out. There is no sign that we will ever know, just last week we saw that the president is still running circles around the president. He said maybe we will meet on the sidelines of argentina, and we saw that putin said why dont you just come to moscow which is a major power move that putting trump on his turf. There is no independent media
in russia. So we will see if he goes to moscow to play in those ways. Coming up next, how americaning feel about the russia probe at this point and what concerns exist about it on capitol hill. Before the break, reports of the p president s marital infidelities are a late night one liner. What if she leaves him while in the white house, does she get the white house . Ive been Making Blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. Count down to the midterms, the battle for control of capitol hill, 101 days from today. Voters are going to flock to the polls in a fight to reserve the majority. They say they will funnel money to 100 republicans in house and nat races. It comes after 50 democrats raised more money than their competitors. And a blue wave, democrats hold a 51 to 32 lead over republicans. The difference is women. Meanwhile new insight hon now they feel about the mueller investigation. Joining me now is debby dingle. Lets get right to your reaction to the poll. Do you think it bolsters arguments that the whole Russian Investigation is legitimate . Good morning, it is great to sue you on a beautiful saturday morning. I dont think polls legitimatize anything. What i think it is reflective of is the fact that i think we need to let mueller do his job. As im wandering the country and the district, people we need it to be a fair investigation. I think we should not let et media or others run the investigation, but we need to do the job. But i think trying to impeach the Deputy Attorney general to try to interfere with this investigation, even republicans would not go along with that. I think you would see human outcry like none you have seen
yet. You used the word impeachment there, but i know you and some leaders have been reluctant to use it on the president , but does this Fuel Impeachment talk if the democrats regain control of the house in novel . I think it would be a mace take to do anything until we have the facts. An impeachment would define this country and tear it apart. If there are grounds for impeachment we need to proceed we need to get the facts and i think people are supportive of a nonpartisan objective, thorough investigation which is what i believe is going on right now. I believe the majority of americans do. What about your reaction to the Michael Cohen allegation that the president knew about that Trump Tower Meeting, that he knew in advance. No proof of this, the president
denied this accusation, but im curious about your take aways. In order for the American Public to believe it there has to be collaboration if is part of this mueller investigation. We need the facts. I think we have to be careful to we would all love to speculate. We need a impartial investigation, getting the facts, which will hold people accountable. I think every american is accountable for their actions. So the president we know met with his National Security council yesterday, it was a mere 30 minute long meeting, but that said it was about safeguarding the election. Then ken delanian said there is no effort by the Trump Administration to protect the midterms, and then they vote down the extra protection for the midterms, what will it take to get them to take this
seriously. You know what im most worried about, there is nobody, except maybe the president , and it just depends on who is talking, that doesnt acknowledge, know, or admit. They are trying to destabilize our democracy. We need to Pay Attention to this, this is not idol accurater. I was really stop signed that the republicans were unwilling to put more money into our election security. We know, dan coats who is the head of Homeland Security said im going to provide you with factual information. Theyre not only trying to tap our databases, our secretary of state databases, but they have been tapping into our utilities. They have been attatapping into it is a new reppized nejd. We need to be worried about it and conscious of it as a nation. I want to get your take on the status of unifications. Do you think that this hearing is going to give answers to the questions that we all have about why hundreds of children are still separated from their parents . I wish i could say that i could say they would, but we sent a letter from all of the women and the house just asking questions and we got a letter back yesterday that didnt answer any questions. I between the a briefing with the top hhs and custom and Border Security and i. C. E. , and were not getting answers. Many of the children have been reunified, but many have not. And if they are ever going to be, we dont know, but we want to make sure the children are safe, we want to make sure theyre being reunified with parents and not subject to smuggling or human trafficking, but they didnt know they had no plan when this started and they really dont know where the parents are. They deported some of the kids, and the whole thing is very heartbreaking. There are parents that want to leave their children here and are not going back home because they think that have a better life dealing with this very difficult morning issue. The motivations reports on what is driving him as he helps the president s one time oilist, that is coming up. Higher risk oe
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recordings that have been seized, and i want to go back to something said earlier. This information on the Trump Tower Meeting is not the best information that Michael Cohen has, i can assure you of that. Lets bring in selena m maxwell, joe watkins, and rick tyler. Good saturday morning to all three of you, rick, im going to start with you here and this Audio Recording that cohens lawyer released earlier this morning. Lets listen to a portion of that audio. I need to open up company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. Im all over that. And i spoke to allen about it. When it comes time for the financing what financing. Well i have to pay
pay cash . No no no, i got no no no. So we heard different virgersio of what is happening, we have not determined whether or not that recording camp. We cant found out what this is. How did you discover that exchange . Michael cohen was telling then donald trump he was going it pay off not pay off. Buy the rights to a story his Frent David Pe friend david picker, owns National Enquirer purchased from her and refused to tell the story. Look, we dont know if the tape was doctored, and we dont know if the entire tape was even released. What is happening here, Michael Cohen has put the president on notice. The president Now Doesnt Know what conversations Michael Cohen has recorded. Seems as if theres over 100 tapes. We dont know how many of the president is on there and dont
know if he has a tape of the meeting at which he said he attended or was prepared to tell prosecutor mueller he was at the meeting where the president approved meeting with the russians in trump tower with don junior, Paul Manafort and his soninlaw jared kushner. Uhhuh. So your interpretation of the tape, joe . Do you agree with rick . I do. I agree with rick that obviously the tape doesnt help the president s case, but, again, we dont know if the tape was doctored. If it was doctored, obviously, that casts it in a completely different light but clearly doesnt help the president s case, with this revelation. At the same time im not sure disclosing the tape that cohen has helped himself with the prosecutor. Especially if the tape has been doctored. But nonetheless, i mean what we hear on the tape isnt helpful to the president s case. Selena, doctoring potential
aside, is there any way to have a different takeaway from this tape living to it than what joe and rick have said . I dont think so. Weve been watching a year and a half. The president doing peculiar things as relates to the Trump Tower Meeting. Lying about the reason for the meeting. Dictating a statement that turned out to be false. Having hope hicks come out and lie to the press about the meeting happening, and what was talked about at the meeting. I think the tape, it allows us to look at all of his actions since he took office, and now it makes sense. Because it looks to me, now that we see what he said on the tape that hes covering something up, and i think that weve learned a lot this week, that moves the ball forward. That moves the story forward in terms of russia, and were learning a lot of new details that make the president look pretty bad when all the facts are put together. But the, why, for a release
of this tape, joe. The Washington Post saying prosecutors were surprised by its release. Whats your read on lanny davis and why he did it . I think lanny davis is trying to help his client, of course. They want to avoid jail, do a deal with the prosecutors, obviously, and get it out in the Public Domain their client has this information and their client is willing to play this way. I dont know it helps. Again, if this tape was doctored, because i havent heard that the tape, the whole tape, but i do understand it cuts off at a certain point. Yes. If at any point it was doctored that hurts them, hurts their credibility and their ability to do a deal with the prosecutor. An interesting article headline on politico. On lanny davis and it reads, Clinton Fixer Engineers Michael Cohens turn against trump. Davis reputation, known as a former clinton ally, and representing clinton. More in hurting President Trump than helping Michael Cohen . Lanny davis as an attorney does have to follow certainly all the rules of professional responsibility in advocating for his client in this case Michael Cohen. What youve seen this week is obviously, very media savvy. He went to cnn. He released the tape in large part, or excuse me. He did not release the tape. Actually put ot a statement tuesday night saying it was not the cohen camp that released the tape that perhaps could have been the trump folks that put it out, but from his perspective, what hes trying to do, obviously hes not a trump fan. Hes saying to the american people. Looked directly into the camera, made a direct appeal saying, listen to the tape. You have donald trump, the same day saying, dont believe what you hear. I think that in this context, lanny davis is simply trying to be a good american. Because at the bottom, the bottom line is, that a foreign adversary attacked our democracy and we need to get to the bottom whether or not the president was a part of that conspiracy and lanny davis, i think, cares about this country and certainly
has a complicated past, but this story has a number of different characters, alex. Mike the avenattis of the world. A cast of characters here weve gotten to know over the course of the past year and a half and are just going to see where the Mueller Probe takes us. Rick, i know that you were smiling through all of this. A cast of characters . Why are you smiling here . Lanny davis is very close to the clintons and makes it all interesting. Look, his strategy to me is simple. Right . He has a flawed client. A client with no credibility. Michael cohen, giulianis right. Michael cohen lies. Hes a liar. So is giuliani. So is the president. Lanny davis looking at the tape, listening to the tape, you cant believe any of these people. Cant believe the president , giuliani, my client, but you can believe the tape. Hes getting people to shift their attention from all of these people who are professional prevaricators saying, look at the evidence and then decide. Its simple and in that respect
pretty smart. Can i ask quickly about the 2016 Trump Tower Meeting with the source telling nbc news cohen is willing to tell special counsel mueller then candidate trump knew about that meeting. Of course, the president responded denying this, blasting Michael Cohen on twitter. How does this change the equation for the president . Politically . Uhhuh. Not a lot. Look, its all baked in. His supporters are baked in. The problem with trumps future candidacy in the Republican Party in 2018 is is that trump has failed to expand his base in any meaningful way whatsoever. Looking at a poll earlier beforal segment started that women are leaving the president in droves. He cant afford to have that happen in the 2018 election other perspectively the 2020 election. Thank you all. Thank you so much. Thanks. Coming up, the formula for defeating President Trump at the ballot box. May it may have little to do with the russia probe. During and after harvoni treatment. Tell your doctor if youve ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. Taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. Common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. Ready to let go of hep c . Ask your hep c specialist about harvoni
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