suppose, in this administration, during that campaign, that i think you can see that. you look at some of the great reporting by the new york times on the june 2016 trump tower meeting where first said, no, we didn t know anything about it, then later it emerges that oh, by the way, yeah, we did. i think that sort of thing is happening here right where the story s changing and it s slowly changing over time. well, we didn t have anything to do with it, and then it s, well, the negotiations ended in january, and then, oh, bunch of different documents and, yeah, they were negotiating through june and now, you know, we re beginning to learn that the family, or at least the president and ivanka and donald junior, were read in, right, they knew, they knew it was happening, they knew it was going on. they were aware of the progress here. the story keeps changing could be the tagline of this administration. the there was a piece in your story that caught my attention, and that was that
documents and other pieces of evidence as you were just you and the guests were just explaining a few minutes ago. but clearly, the white house, or the president s legal team, rather, is trying to downplay the significance of this but it s a very important development, and it directly, you know, if it s true, it directly implicates the president in a crime. barbara, let s talk about that particular part of things. there are a few things happening here, because michael cohen, according to this reporting, did things and had conversations that are contrary to what he actually testified about in congress in terms of the number of times he discussed the moscow project with donald trump, in terms of what, if anything, the trump administration or donald trump contributed to his testimony. it continues to look very serious for michael cohen. what does this look like to you for donald trump? i think if this report is true, it s very serious for donald trump as well. as we heard, this is n
the project. we ll have more with our panel in just a moment. first i m joined by one of the two reporters on this story, anthony cormier, investigative reporter with buzzfeed news. anthony, very strong reporting here by you and your colleagues. tell me where you how you came about this information and what you ve learned tonight. so we spoke with two federal law enforcement officials who are wed into the inner workers of the trump tower moscow investigation and they relayed this story to us as it emerged in the last couple weeks that michael cohen was directed by the president of the united states to lie to congress. they re not basing this on, solely on michael cohen s statement to the office of special counsel, but they are basing it on reams of documenty
to decide what bills, if any, are paid. and now, these latest significant developments in the ongoing russia investigation. with me now, doris kearns goodwin, president ial historia and author. she s written the best books around. bestsellers about both roosevelts, about the kennedys, lbj and lincoln. her latest work is leadership in turbulent times and it s been on the new york times bestseller list for 17 weeks. doris, the things that have been going on on capitol hill between nancy pelosi suggesting that donald trump either delay the state of the union address until after the shutdown, or submit it as a letter or deliver it from his office, and the president canceling nancy pelosi s trip on a military aircraft to afghanistan, both exist within the historic norms and authority of both of their offices. yeah, i think this will be a moment that history will remember as one of those never-ending moments in the
yeah. the shutdown is certainly weighing on his approval, and it s coming from some people who have been his most loyal supporters including white men, suburban men and also women without college degrees. those are sort of key elements of the trump base, and his numbers are slipping. there s been some erosion among those people in addition to the broader public. he s having trouble with independents in a big way. but other polling, not our polling, but indicates that the public wants compromise. they want republicans and democrats and the president to come together somehow but the definition of compromise, now that s another thing because their idea generally speaking, people s idea of