Event as steve mentioned a few minutes ago, in which he did not answer any questions about Michael Cohen and what he has revealed. Now Investigative Reporter tom winter also at the courthouse today, tom, lets just one u run through what exactly relearned today from Michael Cohen that we didnt know. As far as Michael Cohen, one of the things we didnt know is his state of mind. Which is essentially saying ever since he worked for donald trump, he was in a mental incarceration. Today would be the first day of his freedom. That was something new to garner to him. An insight into his process, the thing that we learned today, we didnt know before, back in july. There was formal conversations that occurred and at first he was not truthful with them. It wasnt until he disclosed information that they deemed to be credible and truthful. As far as some Additional Information as far as how he may have cooperated with them. We didnt hear much more than that, other than agreen, the reiteration that his cooperation was to their core mission of looking into russias efforts to interfere in the 2016 election as well as to see if there was coordination between the Trump Campaign and that russian effort. The other bit of news we received about an hourandahalf after we got outside of court, excuse me, an hour after we got out of court is American Media incorporated, that was the company that oversees the National Enquirer and was involved with the contributions to Karen Mcdougal, they entered into a nonprosecuted unit. They provided significant assistance. One thing i think is dwigquite important, they admitted for the principle purpose of making that donation was to suppress her story and prevent it from influencing the election. As i said before, one of the u. S. Attorneys office in a press release is they had substantial resistance into those two payments, which, of course, Michael Cohen pled guilty to and has been sentenced to. Danny, there were nine charges. Most of them were from the u. S. Attorneys office for the Southern District of new york. One was related to the mueller investigation. Cohen going to jail three years, 36 months, what is he going to jail for . The bulk of the charges were from the Southern District of new york. Those included Campaign Finance violations, tax evasion and then just a couple weeks ago, Michael Cohen rushes into the Southern District and pleads guilty to the first case filed against him by the special counsels office, that was for false statements to congress. Not perjury, but, in fact, section 1001 false statements to congress unsworn. So in asking what he was sentenced to today, what theyd i made this case particularly curious the special counsels office filed a memorandum saying Michael Cohen gave us some help. He koormted somewhat. Not as that term is understood to mean in the Southern District, which is complete, full cooperation on every issue and every question the Southern District has to ask you. So, the sentencing guideline range for the special counsels case was zero to six months. Meanwhile the Southern District of new york, to give an idea how serious those charges were. The sentencing guideline range was 51 to 63 months. Now the ultimate sentence he got was well below that range. Thats not that uncommon, since over a decade ago, the sentencing guidelines became advisories. The courts are generally, the national trend, is going lower and lower as long as the defendant doesnt have serious issues or mandatory minimums. Got it. I want to bring ne mimi into this. We have been talking about it a couple hours as it all settles in. What do you think the implications are of what we saw this afternoon. Reporter well, look, as to Michael Cohen, too his case, you know, he got some credit, not as much credit as he could have gotten. No one has said that hes been untruthful. I heard some reports and you know people saying that he didnt get credit because Southern District thought he lied. That does not seem to be the case. It seems to me the Southern District did not sign him up as a cooperator and did not want him to get full credit because he refused to talk about certain areas, that is not the the way it works in the Southern District. As to the Bigger Picture here, what were looking at is a response, not intentionally. I they response to trump and guilianis attempts to belittle this crime. To call it a civil matter. To talk about, you know, its just a hush money payment to some women, a private matter. Now, you have the Southern District of new york and a federal judge talk about the seriousness of this crime. Its not the only crime Michael Cohen was sentenced for. The drug called it at sophisticated crime. Because this was not just any ordinary Campaign Finance crime. It was done in an elaborate way, with an intent to deceive the public or investigators that might be looking into it to try to. They did not succeed so i think what we have here is in combination with the ami noncooperation, nonprosecution agreement. What you have there is a response to the belittling of this crime and the response to the john edwards defense. The idea that this was not done to influence the election. It clearly was. Did they say yes reporter theyre saying that as well . Two of the four parties, daniel goldman, you remember that recording that came out Michael Cohen made of him talking to donald trump, in which he refers to david pecker of ami and Alan Weiselberg, the ceo of the Trump Organization. Of the four people mentioned in that thing. Two have said these payments were made, whether the payment made to Stormy Daniels or American Media to pay Karen Mcdougal were made with the purpose of influencing the election or as ami says it to prevent Karen Mcdougal from influencing the election. At some point, it becomes obvious that the president s story is the standout. Hes the one whose story is not corroborated by the other two. We dont know what alan weasel berg is saying. Which story . The president s story changed many, many times. I didnt know about the payments. You know, i didnt direct him to make the payments. And the payments were made. Its okay in it was a private agreement i had my lawyers advice. You know, it wasnt related to to the election. He was throwing mud to the wall hoping something would stick. This is a really significant announcement. The subtext, having been in the courtroom today the subtext of what was going on is clearly Michael Cohen was and the special counsels office were speaking to the public. Its a very unusual situation where Michael Cohen has significant criminal conduct that was charged in the Southern District of new york. But what is really relevant to his historical legacy and to whats going on, is what hes doing with the special counsels office, thats with who he was speaking ability and to. And the special counsel, his representative got up and said, one of the things we value about Michael Cohen is that he told us the truth and he told us he didnt embellish. What we are trying to do is get to the truths, jeanie reed, the special counsels Office Actually said that. That was clearly a message to trump. Then on the other hand, you have the Southern District case. What we are starting to see with this announcement with ami, is theyre building potentially a really strong case against donald trump for Campaign Finance fraud. The lynchpin, though, to that case is going to have to be Michael Cohens cooperation. And at this point, he has not jail, though, is probably more than what he hoped to get and his cooperation could still be forthcoming. Up until a year after sentencing, to still be able to negotiate something, right . There is a rule you can file within a year to further reduce your sentence. It is possible he can go in and fully and completely cooperate with the Southern District. The trick here, though, is that he has been willing to cooperate with the special counsel really as it relates to other people. As it relates to the president , to the campaign. He obviously and the president are at odds of so many years of being together. The question is why hasnt he fully cooperated with the Southern District, where he will have to not only admit to wrongdoing that he did but the wrongdoing of others, some of whom may be close to him. He may have made the calculated decision that i may wait a couple years than cooperate to people close to me. You heard what we heard from the American Media eliminates the john edward defense. What do you mean by that . So john ed bafrd wards went edwards went to trial, his defense was essentially, no, i was trying to hide the affair, which is what the payment was for, paying off someone to keep quiet about an affair, i was trying to hide that from my wife and my family. He was not convicted at trial. That defense worked, in essence. So you had guiliani and trump in some ways sort of making that defense at least on twitter, you know, that this wasnt about the election. This was a private, civil matter. You have settling a lawsuit. That kind of thing and the defence that is coming you know were he to be charged i would think in part i didnt do it and no, no, i was trying to keep this out of my family from finding out about it. Now that you have ami, according to this nonprosecution agreement explicitly saying this was done in coordination with a candidates campaign, which is obviously trump and it was done to make sure that these womens stories did not come out before the election so as to influence the election. You know, again, thats not going to be trumps story. Hes not going to necessarily admit that. You now have Michael Cohen saying that ami saying that, as you said, those are two of the four parties we know of that were involved in this transaction. Thats very compelling. Stay with us. We have more to discuss, ill come back to you in a few minutes. The legal troubles for the trump family do not stop here. Coming up next, the incoming newly elected attorney general is vowing to launch extensive probes into trumps real estate action, government subsidies and shes recruiting a former u. S. Attorney general the help her jump start her investigations. More on her plans after the break. You are watching msnbc. K. Based on an inspirational true story. They knocked me down, but ive created a world where i can heal. Hey, hey. Lookin good. Welcome to marwen. I got dreams in my head and they wont go welcome to healing. You need to face those jerks who beat you up. Welcome to hope. I have my friends, and they cant take that away from me. Hell yeah. Woo unstopand its strengthenedting place, the by xfi pods,gateway. Which plug in to extend the wifi even farther, past anything that stands in its way. Well almost anything. Leave no room behind with xfi pods. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Click or visit a retail store today. President trumps legal troubles in new york are not over. In an exclusive interview with nbc news, letittia james, the incoming state attorney general explains her plans to launch more investigations into president trump, his family and anyone in his inner circle. Among the schemes she intends to pursue are trumps Real Estate Holdings in new york. That infamous june 2016 trump tower meeting with a russian official. Any government subsidies trump received, also the subject of that times investigation and whether his new york businesses violate the emollient clause. Back with my, mimi, what do you make of this . Whats this is this whats the implication and import of the fact that the incoming new York State Attorney general wants to do this . Reporter well, i think, its an expansion of what is already going on in the sense that trump is facing legal problems on so many different fronts. Now you have an attorney general in new york will come in with her office, which is broader in the civil area than it is criminal. The new York Attorney general has somewhat limited power on their own without a referral from the governor as to certain criminal matters, but there are. They can look at tax matters, securities matters. They certainly can, as they already are, look civilly at different areas as theyre doing with the trump foundation. So i think really this is going to expand and create a bigger front, if you will, for trump to have to worry about and likely, you know, the more investigators that you have digging into somebody like trump, the more you will find. And i know there will be people saying he is being targeted because hes president. People come across the table or in the sights of prosecutors and zrer investigators for reason. Once you are in their sights, you look for behavior. The more with trump, the more you find. There are a list she says she will look into. Feels like the kitchen sink. Is there anything there that stand out that is particularly useful the state tomorrow will be looking into that the Southern District of new york or u. S. Attorneys havent looked into or arent moving forward to or the special counsels office . I find it a little odd she is looking into the june, 2016 tower. That doesnt seem so connected. So clearly connected. That appears to be more to be the idea of part and proof, if there are pardons by family members or the like. A state charge would not be pardonable. Thats correct. A pardon from the president is to federal crimes. As mimi points out, this happens a lot of times, a lot is predicated on the extensive report of the New York Times. Thats how we would open investigations all the time. We would read about a company doing something wrong, an accounting fraud. So in response to those criticisms its a witch hunt, et cetera, this is how it is often done. It happens to be theyre in the glare. I think the people that need to worry if this is the case. If she goes after this, are trumps children, two are involved in the foundation. Who are very involved in Trump Organizations. Thats a good point. The foundation and the Trump Organization are not major companies. They are tightly held with very few people involved, including the family. In that New York Times report and the wwc reporting as well about the International Work the Trump Organization does, there was extensive explanations of fraudulent activity that ivanka and don jr. Engaged in, related to a Hotel Development here in new york city called the trump soho. They ended up settling that. It was investigated. They settled it civilly the investors were essentially made whole. But this is ripe for official investigation now that what the da didnt know is this may be a pattern and practice by this organization, by this company in many places. That would influence whether or not you bring criminal charges or settle it civilly. Mimi is right. I dont know whether these investigations will be criminal or civil. Its a little more difficult for the ags office, they could team up and do a joint investigation as well. So mimi, to the extent that we think of lawyers as prosecutors, there is a lot of investigations that goes on, is it likely possible that the incoming attorney general can do or investigate as what has been investigated by the special counsel or the Southern District of new york . Well, i think it certainly can be very different than the special counsel were doing. As you and dan were discussing, that conduct related to russia and the trump tower. Its hard to imagine what those state crimes would include. But the part of the way to answer this question is, i dont know. I dont know exactly what the Southern District is looking into. It seems like they are looking more broadly into the Trump Organization and you know we dont know how broad in scope that is beyond its involvement in the Campaign Finance crimes that Michael Cohen pled to. It seems its broader than that. If thats the case the new York Attorney general, looking at some of the things shes talked about looking into will overlap. And that can be a good thing for prosecutors. Again, as dan mentioned, you have sort of coordination and you have more resources and more people on Different Levels with different expertise looking into the same areas. It can