michael cohen's -- the documents that were seized from him under search warrant that there may be as many as a dozen of these tapes. michael avenatti, your guest tonight, has been very, very prescient about the fact there were tapes and there would be more than one of them. he's tender out to be right all along. so i'm really looking forward to what he says about this tonight. >> goerring right to the tape, rachel. >> thank you. thanks, lawrence. >> tonight america and the world are hearing for the very first time donald trump's voice on a tape made by his former lawyer michael cohen which was released to cnn tonight by michael cohen's lawyer lanny davis. we will now play you that audio recording in full so you can listen to it and judge for yourself what is said. when michael cohen brings up the subject of creating a company in order to make payments to silence a former "playboy" model who says she had a year-long sexual relationship with then candidate donald trump. >> let me know what's happening. okay? oh. oh. maybe because of this it would be better if you didn't go. you know? m

saying michael cohen is not credible. he cannot be believed until it is corroborated five times. i don't know what book of the bible the five times comes here from, but this is -- this is important breaking news tonight. our coverage continues now where it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening. >> we have been watching this unfold and michael cohen is apparently prepared to tell robert mueller that donald trump knew about the meeting in trump tower with the russians during the campaign before the meeting. to say -- to even say that donald trump knew about the meeting would have been very big news. donald trump always denying that he knew about the meeting before or knew about the meeting after until it became a public controversy. >> yeah. according to the reporting tonight, cohen is claiming that trump was informed about the offer of the meeting, not only in front of him but in front of several other people, which would mean several potential other witnesses. according to this reporti ining tonight, it was donald trump jr. michael cohen says that he and all the

it. this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. the big headline, cnn reports michael cohen is prepared to tell robert mueller that donald trump knew and approved of that infamous trump tower meeting with russians in june of 2016. his attorney, rudy giuliani, you just saw him on with chris, challenging cohen's credibility in that interview a short time ago. thank you for that, my friend. let's talk about credibility. who does the special prosecutor believe? mueller and his team? for all these years, michael cohen has been a fixer for donald trump. he has his issues with credibility, as have some folks. and the president has his issue with credibility and truth. so who do you believe? it's important, though, and you keyed in on it, there are other people who were in the room who can corroborate it, correct? >> if the meeting is anything like what michael cohen, through sources, suggested, that he was at a meeting where others were present, then yes, you're right, and the key will be in the corroboration. >> so with rudy giuliani saying, again, i got the -- this was my assessment of the i

michael cohen made it. why is this news breaking right now as this legal pressure builds across the board on trump's lawyer and fixer michael cohen and the white house has continued to battle back a scandal of putin proportions? i can tell you i'm very excited to learn the answers because we have several key people who can shed light on this question. michael cohen taped donald trump two months before the election and they discussed secret payments to be made to karen mcdougal. she has since prevailed in a suit with a media outlet related to all those allegations. we'll get to that. what else do you need to know? investigators have this tape. the fbi seizing it from cohen's office in april. after that raid cohen's opponent in the case, michael avenatti, made some news on this show by declaring he knew for a fact this type of tape existed. >> i know for a fact donald trump is on at least one of these recordings already. >> how do you know that? >> i'm not going to get into the details -- >> would you say that in court? >> absolutely. >> donald trump is on one of the recordings, at least on

prosecutor believe? mueller and his team? for all these years, michael cohen has been a fixer for donald trump. he has his issues with credibility, as have some folks. and the president has his issue with credibility and truth. so who do you believe? it's important, though, and you keyed in on it, there are other people who were in the room who can corroborate it, correct? >> if the meeting is anything like what michael cohen, through sources, suggested, that he was at a meeting where others were present, then yes, you're right, and the key will be in the corroboration. >> so with rudy giuliani saying, again, i got the -- this was my assessment of the interview, by the way very good interview with rudy giuliani. >> thank you. >> again, don't believe what you see and hear, this is the correct version, our version is the correct version. >> that's rudy's job. rudy is a very capable counsel. he has done well for the president on this story more often than not. and he's right to focus in on credibility. and he is exposed and vulnerable to his client's credibility. and the idea that the presi

, attorney michael cohen, about how they would buy the rights to a play boy model story about an alleged affair with trump years earlier. hear for yourself what they said. >> quick poll by the way. great poll. big time. >> your guy is a good guy. what's happening? can we use any more? >> we told him -- >> i don't mean that. mark berns, can we use him? >> no. >> richard just called. >> we got served from "the new york times." i told you this. unseal the divorce papers with ivana. we're fighting it. cas wits is going to -- >> he'll never be able to get that done. >> no, never. >> and it's all -- >> all you have to do is delay it. >> even after that it's never going to be opened. there's no purpose for it. told you about charleston. i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david. i've spoken to allen about how to set the whole thing up, funding -- >> yes. and it's -- all the stuff, because here you never know that company -- correct. i'm all over that. i spoke to alan about it. when it comes time for the financing -- >> listen, what finan

you want to hear, this is a tricky one. you and i both know michael cohen. that was trump's guy. he had a lot of depth with the trump base. will they just not believe him out of allegiance to trump when this is someone they also used to believe? >> i think that's a very good position. good questions to ask because you asked a number of questions there. will his base believe this? the "access hollywood" tape happened, he still became president. air force one, no, you'll have to ask my attorney, i didn't know about it. weeks later he admitted he knew about it. will it make a difference with the people who support him, who have believed him, or the people he's lied to, which is the american people? or what does that mean for him legally? you said you don't think we should focus on the legal part, but if you'll just indulge me for a moment here, it's not illegal to tape someone. >> in new york, it is a one-party consent state, but it could be unethical for an attorney vis-a-vis the bar association. that's a separate consideration. >> even if they gave up the privilege and they said, you

is that a big part of michael cohen legal story is wrapping up. on april 9, federal agents working in conjunction with federal prosecutors from the u.s. office in new york, they executed search warrants and seized millions in documents from michael cohen, from the president's long time personal attorney who is also a long time trump organization executive. when they executed those search warrants and seized the millions documents and files from michael cohen, the president lost his mind. as soon as he found bout that raid on cohen's office, he said it is a disgrace, it is frankly a real disgrace, an attack on our country in a true sense. it's an attack on what we all stand for. the president said, attorney client privilege is dead. as prosecutors confirm michael cohen, the president's lawyer was the subject of a federal criminal investigation, michael cohen did try on build this legal strategy around the idea that federal prosecutors actually weren't allowed to look at all the stuff they had seized from his home and his office because he is a lawyer. so all his documents, all of hi

that's "all in" for this evening. >> chris, congratulations on your multiple emmy nominations. my single one, your double one. come organization, come organizati on, big guy. >> any excuse to send anybody tacos when it comes down to it. all right. thank you for joining us at home this hour. i thought today was going to be kind of a sleepy news day, right? at last. it started off as kind of a sleepy news day. then all h-e-double hockey sticks broke out this evening and tonight and now it has turned into another totally nuts news day. as of about 7:00 p.m. eastern tonight, buzz feed news was first to report that the chief strategist for the bernie sanders for president campaign in 2016, bernie sanders's chief strategist todd divine will be a witness for the prosecution in the federal criminal case against trump campaign chairman paul manafort. or if he's not going to actually appear at trial as a witness, he now says he is they know prosecutors in rob mueller's office in their case against paul manafort. his consulting firm putting out this statement. the special counsel has asked tad devine to assist in the prosecution of the case against paul manafort regarding his firm's media consulting on past political campaigns in ukraine. we readily provided information. they said they have been, quote, assured by the special counsel's office that we have no legal exposure and did not act unlawfully. in some american electoral politics ways, it is jarring to see the guy are the bernie sanders campaign caught up in the manafort case brought by the special counsel, right? but it's not a huge surprise if you have been following the evidence in that case and you know something about manafort's history. up through 2012, we have known that tad devine like paul manafort, he did do overseas political consulting work in ukraine. he worked alongside manafort. and tad devine's name is all over the evidence list submitted just this past week. so that was when the prosecutors were basically notifying court that things related to tad devine, e-mails and documents with tad devine's name on them, they would be cited in court in the part of case. similarly, part of's lawyers filed hundreds of pages of documents in federal court, exhibits basically, in support of their defense of paul manafort. in those exhibits you find tad devine's name and e-mail address all over those as well. so it is not that surprising that he is going to turn up somehow in the paul manafort case. now we know how exactly he is going to turn up. so far the bernie sanders campaign has factored into the russia scandal in a very specific way, right? russian messaging, about the theft and the staged dissemination of stolen documents from the democratic party. we know that the bernie sanders campaign factored in because a significant part of those efforts was aimed at boosting the, boosting the sanders campaign against clinton, stoking resendment among the supporters and ultimately trying to prevent bernie sanders supporters from turning up against trump and for clinton. we know it was part of russia's strategy in trying to elect trump. now we will see it laid out in court. the relationship between bernie sanders' senior strategist and donald trump's indicted campaign chairman. we will see whatever it is that tad devine is offering prosecutors about his work alongside paul manafort in the former soviet union which has led to this litany of charges. the manafort trial is due to start early next week. wow. that just happened tonight. that came on top of a report that a man has been subpoenaed in the southern district of new york. the federal grand jury considering the criminal investigation into the long time personal attorney michael cohen. the michael cohen case, big picture, it is still basically one big open question in terms of what kind of legal trouble might lie ahead for the president himself if his long time attorney who apparently timed his conversations with president trump among other things, whether he is criminally charged by federal prosecutors in new york. we don't know if that will be an issue for the president himself. we don't know how that will play out. serve bank very closely. with you if this guy has been subpoenaed, if this is right, that honestly has way bigger implications than just the case against michael cohen. allen wicelberg isn't a household name. he has been at the trump organization since its inception. he is known to be not only a very senior figure in the trump organization. he's been directly involved in a number of financial dealings related to the president and his business that has since come under scrutiny. for example, he is. to have been personally involved in the payments to women who alleged that they had afwars president trump. according to the "wall street journal," he was also close enough to the president and his family that he was the one who handled their household expenditures. personal expenditures and purchases for mr. trump and his family including mr. trump's dealings with various banks. he is the president of the donald j. trump foundation which has just come under very aggressive scrutiny in new york state. he is such an important and senior figure in the president's business empire, when the president announced he was handing off day to day control of his business, now that he's president, the common short hand we use for that transaction is to say he handed over control of his business to his two sons, don jr. and eric. but actually, the group he handed over control of his business to is his two sons, don jr. and eric, but also, allen weisselberg. he is the lynchpin of all trump financial matters. not incidentally, he is also reported to have been personally responsible for preparing donald trump's tax returns for years. if he has now been subpoenaed in the southern district of new york, that is a potentially very big deal. we know the president has been particularly sensitive, even particularly emotional around investigators and even the press pushing too hard when it comes to his personal finances and the financials around his business. allen weisselberg has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in new york. that is the kind of thing likely to push the president's but the onlies. but oh, wait, there's more. brews beyond that from the daily beast. this is an important story. tomorrow there will be a little bit of a strange scene at the white house. they are apparently planning tomorrow on bringing in the president himself to make big a show of him personally chairing a national security council meeting about election security. a meeting about keeping the mid-term elections safe from any external meddling. that is rich given that it is unanimous everywhere else outside the kremlin that russia interfered in and cast doubt on our last election. but they'll trot out the president about keeping our next election safe, to run it himself. so that should be fascinating. mid-term elections only about 100 days away. democrats have been really stamping their beat the the security of. election. they've been scamping their feet with increasing fervor and even desperation over the past few days and weeks. you might have seen a few days ago -- this was democrats in the house shouting, usa, usa, on the floor of congress as they stopped republicans from zeroing out. democrats lost that fight to get that funding for the states, but they made a huge show of it. they went down swinging. soon there after, 20 states attorney general asked to protect the elections in mid terms this year. even a former senior trump administration official, trump's white house homeland security director said today that trump's decision to eliminate the jock of the cyber security chief in april, he tells isikoff that was a dangerous decision. he said it leaves no one, quote, minding the store when it comes to stopping efforts by foreign adversaries to hack into the mid materials like they did in the election if 2016. so on the issue of security from this election, from which we're 100 days out, a lot of people have been throwing red flags about this. dan coats gave this on the us in speech. he said about cyber attacks in the upcoming mid-term election, he said the warning lights are blinking red. he said he was choosing that language because it was then language used by craft george tenet to warn about the impenaltying 9/11 attack in the summer of 2001. dan coats said he is deliberately choosing that same language to talk about the threat we are facing, including from russia going into our next election. after dan coats made those sort of alarming remarks two fridays ago, a vice president at microsoft gave an interview at the aspen security forum, he announce that had even just his one company, just microsoft, they had already found at least three congressional campaigns for this year's mid terms already being attacked by russian state sponsors. >> we did discover that a fake microsoft domain had been established as the landing page for phishing attacks and we saw a meta data that suggested the attacks were being directed at three candidates who are all standing for election in the mid-term elections. >> in this year's election. phishing attacks. >> of three candidates for election. >> can you tell houston they were? >> we can't disclose that information because we maintain our customers' privacy so we won't go there but i can tell that you they were all people, because of their positions, might have been interesting targets from an espionage standpoint as well as an election disruption standpoint. >> so the staff of three congressional candidates being attacked by russian hackers using the same techniques we saw used to such great effect against clinton campaign and the democratic party in 2016. that was a microsoft vice president saying a few days ago that his company has caught efforts by russia to attack at least three specific candidates in this year's mid terms. but he wouldn't say who they were. now tonight, thanks to new investigative reporting from the daily beast, we know who at least one of those candidates is. and surprise, it is the number one most wanted democratic senator being targeted by republicans in u.s. senate elections this year. here's the report from daily beast. quote, senator claire mccaskill is a top target for republicans. it turns out russia's fancy bear hackers are going after her staff, too. that makes the missouri democrat the first identified target of the election interference. the attempt against her office was a varant of the password stealing technique against clinton campaign chairman in 2016. they sent forged notification e-mails claiming the target's microsoft exchange password had expired and instructing the target to change it. if they clicked on the link, they would be tina login page, a single sign-on point for e-mail and other services. each one had a different link coded with the recipient's e-mail address. that's important because that allowed the fake password change website, the fake one, to display the e-mail whaeds the target arrived at that address, making the site appear all the more convincing. the daily beast reporters explained how they investigated which congressional candidates might have been targeted following the announcement from microsoft that microsoft had spotted three targeted campaigns. the daily beast reporters explained, a snap shot of a deep link on the phishing site taken by a website security scanner showed the fake password change page with the senate e-mail address of a claire mccaskill policy aide on display. that's how they figured out the first known target of russian mid material election this year is claire mccaskill. joining us now, the senior national security correspondent for the daily beast. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> so this is impressive detective work. at least as far as i can tell. >> how did you figure this out? did you start this reporting twral that announcement from microsoft? did they give you enough to go on to piece this together? >> they did. if you actually watched the full presentation, the microsoft vp is talking about a legal case that microsoft brought that gave them ultimately the try it grab these website addresses once they identified them as being the russian hackers and that's what led to them discovering this. with that information, i had enough to go on. >> actually, it is a reporting point. it is also, i think, a big, sort of a citizenship point. one of the things i think regular citizens have been our hands with, it is the question of defense. what defenses we have against them doing this stuff. marchly because we knew they did it before. it does seem like it was a federal court ruling that helped microsoft catch this attack in action and that in turn helped you figure out who one of the targets was. >> yeah. it was a real interesting case, microsoft going into court and suing these hackers as john doe defendants because they didn't know the names and of course, they didn't show up so microsoft won by default and that puts them that a position to actively interfere. >> without getting too much into the technicalities here, as far as i understand it, and i understand it from your writing about the ruling, microsoft noticed that these hackers, which it seems like according to the recent indictments from the special counsel's office. one of the things they did was they used pages that were designed to look like microsoft properties to lure them into them. they engaged with microsoft and their products because it was a kind of infringement on microsoft's trademarks. microsoft was able to seize control of the fake websites, the fake dmans that they were using and watch them commit crimes using the fake microsoft sites. >> exactly. and now gru is koofg and they're using microsoft themed web addresses less and less. it is pretty rare now. >> fascinating. >> it definitely gave microsoft an advantage for a while. >> i want to ask but senator mccaskill specifically. she said while this attack was not successful, it is outrageous that they think they can get away with this. i will not be intimidated. i've said it before and i will say it again. putin is a thug and a bully. she said this attack was not successful. is it absolutely clear to you from your reporting that this attack definitely was not successful? is there a way to know if this was just one attack on claire mccaskill? is there a way fong there are other variants of them getting what they wanted? >> i'll take microsoft at their word that this attack was thwarted but there could be other vectors that the gru used to try to get into this candidate's files. we know nothing parallels with other candidates. we know there are at least two more. so there's a lot yet to be known about the activity out there. >> senior national security correspondent for the daily beast. one of the reporters who broke this news tonight. that senator mccaskill has been targeted by russians. thank you for your work. you make this stuff make sense to those of houston don't necessarily always get the technicalities. >> thank you. much more ahead including what i'm told is more breaking news. we'll be right back. it's 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 that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. i love you, basement guest bathroom. your privacy makes you my number 1 place to go number 2. i love you, but sometimes you stink. febreze air effects doesn't just mask, it cleans away odors. because the things you love the most can stink. and try febreze small spaces to clean away odors for up to 30 days. breathe happy with febreze. where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. >>> not kidding. legitimate breaking news. since we've been on the air accident cnn is reporting that michael cohen, the president's long time lawyer and quote/unquote fixer, is prepared to tell special counsel robert mueller that donald trump as a then presidential candidate, he knew in advance about the infamous trump tower meeting in june 2016. this, of course, was the meeting where mr. trump's son donald trump jr., his son-in-law jared kushner, his now indicted campaign chairman paul manafort, they all met with a slew of russians. it is a meeting we know was pitched to deliver political girt hillary clinton to the trump campaign from the russian government. that is part of a russian government effort to help trump win the election. now cnn is reporting that donald trump senior, according to michael cohen, not only knew about this meeting in advance but he approved of the meeting in advance. this was a meeting explicitly pitched as a delivery of dirt about his possibly in the election. this meeting was with a russian lawyer who has always claimed to be a private lawyer who happens to be russian with no ties to the russian government. that said, according to e-mails and documents under covered by our own richard engel a few months ago, and more evidence just published tonight, natalia is in fact deeply tied to the russian government. since the 2016 trump tower meeting came to height last summer, president trump and his eldest son have repeatedly depend donald trump sr. knew anything about that meeting before it happened or after it happen. after it happen has turned into, it has turned into its own scandal. you might remember that donald trump jr. release what had turned out to be a very misleading statement about the purpose of the meeting and what happened at that meeting. it has been reported that president trump himself was directly, personally involved in drafting that false statement. that false statement has been a focus for robert mueller's investigation. but now again tonight, cnn reporting is that michael cohen claims, and should i tell you, there started out as cnn reporting, nbc news has now confirmed michael cohen claims that donald trump the president knew in advance about the trump tower meeting with those russians offering clinton dirt. now, what we're told is that cohen is willing to make that assertion to the special counsel robert mueller. michael cohen apparently alleges that he was present along with several other people when donald trump was informed about the offer and according to mr. cohen's account, trump approved going ahead with that meeting with the russians. in terms of the origins of the story, nbc is confirming the same lines of reporting that cnn first broke this evening. there is question as to where this is coming from. right? michael cohen is reportedly the subject of, actually, i can say he is the subject of an open criminal investigation in the southern district of new york. we know of multiple subpoenas that have been issued to people the testify. as far as we know no, charges have been brought against mr. cohen. nor do we have any indication that he has entered into any formal discussion about prosecutors about whether he might cooperate in further operations, up to and including the president. that said, while a special master has been going through the evidence that was seized from michael cohen, from his home, his office, from a hotel room in which this he was hifg, while he's been through through to decide if it can be handed over to prosecutions in the case they're trying to build, we know about haurs for the president and lawyers for mr. cohen have been getting access to those documents. they've been able to see when the fbi seized. since that started happening, there have been at least a couple of leaks of hugely inflammatory information in the possession of michael cohen that has nevertheless not been proffered. it has instead been floated to reporters. the question overriding all of this strategically, legally and in terms of the president's legal jeopardy, and michael cohen's legal future, is whether or not the president's lawyers have been selectively leaking the worst stuff that has been seized in order to get ahead of that story. to put the same spin on it. and to sap the value of those items of evidence in case michael cohen wanted to trade his own fate with prosecutors in exchange for providing that evidence and fwefg that evidence against the president. nbc news white house correspondent hallie jackson has just confirmed this. thank you very much. much appreciated. >> reporter: one of those nights, rachel. glad to be with you. this is what we can share based on our reporting. that is from myself, from my colleagues, a knowledgeable source says michael cohen asserts says he knew donald trump knew, he was told specifically by his son of this trump tower meeting. this now infamous trump tower meeting before it happened which is obviously significant that he would be willing to tell special counsel robert mueller that. this comes, i can tell you in the last few minutes. i was with the attorney for michael skoeb declining to comment. he reached out to giuliani for more. it comes after davis told kristin welker that, signaling, they are ready to be more and more aggressive on this. this is ramping up in a serious way, rachel. we knew, michael cohen, long time fixer for donald trump. his right hand man, would take a bullet for him. you know this. now it appears, and he didn't say it ultimately, but he all but said that cohen is ready to flip. they specifically declined to endorse the word flip, that he is only willing to tell the truth but cohen has truth on his side and that's all he'll do is tell the truthful it is just signal upon signal from team cohen that they are ready to be very aggressive on this. i will tell that you about an hour and a half ago, we were standing on the white house blaun this. he is ready to answer questions ever since quled the reporting came out from his rival from the midwest. right around 8:50, 8:30 eastern time. he has tweeted about it but other than that, no response from the president himself in person on all of these developments related to somebody who was by his side for years and years. so it is certainly very interesting developments here. >> let me ask you the objection strategic questions here. you're quoting michael cohen's lawyer talking about the fact they're ready to be more and more aggressive. he is declining, we don't have any indication that he's open to prosecutors but they are senting these signals that michael cohen is open to doing that. if michael cohen has information that prosecutors might use in a politically potent way in some sort of case involving the president, indication, for example, that the president was tape-recorded talking about a payment to a woman had a alleged she had an affair with the president when the pleasant publicly said that he had no knowledge of that. or for example, if the president was said to have advance knowledge of the trump power meeting that was an offer dirt from the russian government to help him in his election. that would seem to be incredibly valuable for prosecutors to have if they were involved. if michael cohen wanted to with prosecutors. he would not be giving this to reporters. in fact, giving to it reporters might lessen its value to prosecutors. if that is the way it is going, that would steeem to indicate i is not from michael cohen. >> reporter: i don't know if i can figure out what the sourcing is, only that the information is now out there. it being public knowledge now, confirmed by us about, what the president knew and when. that has for a year and change almost been a central question to all of this. did the president know that his son was meeting with these russians who were offering dirt on his political possibly, specifically people linked to russia. so this is giving a significant new twist on that story. one would imagine it is certainly of interest. the timing is interest because you know what happens at the white house tomorrow. the national security meeting with all officials about russian interference in the election just as we are learning now from senator mccaskill's office that in fact russians tried to hack into her system, she is now talking about this publicly after the daily beast broke it today. inning and that meeting will be held by the president himself who hack the denialist in chief. thank you very much. i know you're continuing to report on this. i'll let you get back to your sources. >> i can actually advance this story a little bit right now and we should put this, i know have be been, if we can, in the lower third. even if you're not a lawyer, you can understand the basic strategic question here. if michael cohn considering negotiating with prosecutors to cooperate with them in their inquiries about the president and anybody else, one might expect that poet enpotential evidence like this is what he would give on prosecutors. he wouldn't give it to the press. now we have an on tthis. lanny davis says in general, i cannot comment. he also then says, but i have to wonder why the trump people would put that out. it was not from us. so according to michael cohen's lawyer, michael cohen is not the one who leaked this story. and cnn and nbc news now confirming the claim donald trump knew in advance of the trump tower meeting and in fact that he approved going ahead with that meeting, knowing it was an offer of dirt on hillary clinton from the russian government to help him in his campaign. michael cohen claims that, according to this reporting, and is willing to discuss that with the special counsel, but that claim is not being leaked by michael cohen. it is being leaked by michael cohen. joining me now, the reporter from vand"vanity fair." >> let me ask you, i've been reporting this as breaking news, as it is coming across, as i'm getting little pieces of payment across my desk on this. have i said anything that does not comport with your understanding? >> reporter: no. and i will say cynic the time was released on friday, people in cohen's camp had believed exactly as you were saying right now. that part of these leaks were coming from somewhere in trump's orbit. whether it was from his personal attorneys or something else related to the president in order to hinter him. a big threat if michael cohen cooperates, for exactly the reason that we learned this week. that he knows a lot and he is potentially and increasingly likely to share what he knows. that someone close to the president would leak and it know that it is true. and just because micha, just be rudolph giuliani said they didn't leak it doesn't mean it. it is hard to get to the truth but if you look at this from a logical standpoint, it doesn't seem it benefited michael cohen. and i reported on monday that he is privy to information. and three people over the weekend told me that part of that is related to what he knew about the trump tower meeting. we're getting more details about it. this is something that people who know what michael cohen knows have been telling me for days now. >> and let me ask but the clear logic of this. and that is, obviously, this claim that the president knew in advance about that trump tower meeting, obviously, on its face, it is bad for the president. he has told an opposite story of that in public. he said he didn't know anything about it before the meeting happened. he didn't know anything until it was disclosed in the press until a year later. it is also bad for the president, both politically and potentially legally if he as a candidate for federal office, knowingly semied this offer of help from a foreign government to try to hurt his opponent. so the facts of this look bad for the president. you're saying logically it might make sense that the president's side has leaked this. specifically so they can do it on their own time for their own purposes and potentially to hurt michael cohen's ability to testify. how would it work that this would hurt his ability to testify? >> reporter: again, i don't know where this came from and i don't think that really anyone exempt for, whoever leaked this out would know it. i will tell you, what this does is it takes card out of michael cohen's deck. if he is going to cooperate with investigators, if things that are incredibly valuable as the information is that you just described, are already out there, and there is a public domain, it takes something away from his ability to bring something to the table when he sits down with investigators. >> you imagine the converse story. maybe michael cohen does have a story to tell. he enters into plea negotiations the government. the first thing they say what do you have to offer us? we have x, y and z against you. what do you have to offer us if you want to escape liability for these sorts of charges? he might offer them this information. the idea that he would clear it is insane. to use in it ongoing investigations, they wouldn't want it leaked to the press. now that it has leaked to the press, it has to lose its value. at least that's how it appears. >> reporter: that's how it was suggested to me by a number of people who are familiar with it. just in terms of the recordings last week, having that out there, people were already feeling that way. this was a big fat hand in michael cohen's deck. and it is something that i can't imagine michael cohen is particularly happy about right now but again, i don't know that that is true. just looking at the logic of it right now. >> thank you for your work on the story and for joining us on zero notice. i really appreciate it. i'm going to take a quick break here but i'll tell that you there are three legal questions that off the top of my head arise from this stunning revelation. the first one is if this is true, if michael cohen can convincingly testify to this fact, or if he can provide supporting evidence, if he can prove it, what kind of liability does this represent for the president of the united states? if in fact as michael cohen reportedly claims, he has evidence that the president, then as a candidate, knew in advance that the russian government was sending people to trump tower to meet with his campaign torsion offer the campaign negative information on his point, as part of the russian effort to help him win the election. if the president was notified of that, if he was asked if he was okay about it, if there are witnesses who heard him say yeah, do it, go ahead, what liability is that for the president? we know the patriotic thing in that moment is to say who offered you what? give never number for the fbi! if you don't do that, is there legal liability for the president? my other question is if there is evidence that the president tried sap the impact of the public revelation of this fact, if this is the product of the special masters, if this is designed from trying to prevent michael cohen give anything to prosecutors, can he do something to stop it? it devolved from a search warrant legally served that was used to stop the public leaking of evidence that was seized by the fbi in those raids? if that's what's going on here? and is emily jane fox right? is my supposition here right? that this is designed to and it may take a card out of michael cohen. does the public disclosure of this, if cohen was holding this and potentially planning to give it to prosecutors, to give it as something of value. does this hurt the ability of prosecutors to use this information? three legal, the only person i know of who could potentially answered all three of those questions has just agreed to join us but we have to take a quick break first. that's next. ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ uhp. i didn't believe it. again. ♪ ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? ♪ i want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ♪ ooh i'm not hearing the confidence. okay, hold the name your price tool. power of options based on your budget! and! ♪ we'll make heaven a place on earth ♪ yeah! oh, my angels! ♪ ooh, heaven is a place on earth ♪ [ sobs quietly ] need a change of scenery? the kayak price forecast tool tells you whether to wait or book your flight now. so you can be confident you're getting the best price. giddyup! kayak. search one and done. man: we hold these truths to be self-evident. woman: that all of us are created equal. woman: until we became one nation under trump. man: these truths are self-evident. woman: brett kavanaugh on the supreme court endangers protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. woman: puts a woman's right to choose gravely at risk. man: and threatens to continue selling out america to powerful corporate interests. woman: we hold these truths to be self-evident. man: and we will hold our senators accountable. end citizens united is responsible for the content of this advertising. >>> continuing to cover the stunning breaking news, now confirmed by nbc news that michael cohen, the long time attorney for president donald trump, claims that president trump then as a candidate knew in advance of the trump tower meeting that was held in the summer of 2016, june 2016, in which emissaries from the russian government offered to meet with senior members of the trump campaign to deliver to them what they described as a russian government dirt on hillary clinton. it was described overtly, an e-mail setting pup meeting as a meeting to help donald trump in his election effort against hillary clinton. michael cohen is reportedly prepared to tell robert mueller, the special counsel, that trump knew of and approved of the trump tower meeting before it happened. cohen is apparently willing to tell special counsel he's alleging, according to this reporting, that mr. cohen alleges that he was present i know what several other people when donald trump sr. was informed about this offer of the meeting. he was informed of that by donald trump jr. and by mr. cohen's account, donald trump sr. heard the pitch basically, and overtly approved going ahead with that meeting with the russians. i have questions about the implications of this revelation tonight. joining us now, chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney, thank you for joining us on zero notice. i appreciate it. >> it's my pleasure, rachel. >> you've heard my efforts to sum this up. let me ask you about your first reactions. >> extraordinarily important. at the same time, not terribly surprising. >> in terms of legal liability for the president here, putting aside how this came to light, if the president knew overtly, if he was advised in front of other people this was the russian government offering negative information on his point in order to help him in the election, he weighed that, approved taking meeting and accepting the information, directly on that matter, are there legal implications? >> absolutely. a really important question is, did 10:00 russians were coming, did he know they were coming with dirt, and if he knew they were coming with dirt, did he know where they got it from? the answer to each of those questions would probably open up a different theory of liability. if he knew they were russians coming with dirt, that they had stolen from hacked computers, that means he might have joined their conspiracy. if he simply covered up the fact afterwards, maybe he is an accessory after the fact. so all of these are highly fact dependent on, i hate to be so cliched, what he knew and when he knew it. >> and you put emphasis on whether the president was advised or learn that had the supposed dirt on hillary clinton was obtained by legal means. whether it was stolen or hacked information. what if that wasn't part of the equation? what it was that the russian government had dirt on hillary clinton, full stop. he didn't know where it came from. would that change it? >> it might. but i can think of another theory. prosecutors ten to be creative. i can recall the president's son, donald trump jr., testified before the senate judiciary committee and. his near absolute floy knowledge of the meeting before it happens. if that turns out to be true, did the father counsel his son to lie? did they conspire for the son to commit perjury or obstruct justice. prosecutors are quite creative, and they will have a lot of facts to work with here. >> i want to ask you about how we came to know this information. we got a statement tonight from lanny davis, who told us i have to wonder why the trump people would put that out. it was not from us. that's mr. davis' statement. you take it for what it's worth. if he's right, and this was the trump people, the trump side, mr. trump's lawyers putting this out, presumably because they want to get ahead of this story. obviously, this story doesn't look good for the president, so they would want to get out ahead of this. there is a lot of discussion as to whether or not the president's lawyers may have done that in part to undermine the ability of mr. cohen to provide this information to prosecutors in a way that would be a benefit for mr. cohen, but also so that they could use it for that are ongoing investigations and other related investigations. what do you make of those factors? >> so a couple of thoughts. let's assume for the purposes of my answer, rachel, that mr. cohen is cooperating. they made the decision he is going to tell prosecutors what he knows and they are going to do that honestly. he signed up. he's on the team. if that's true, there is no way in the world that mr. cohen would leak this information. it just doesn't make any sense. on the other hand, i don't really think the leak, if it came from the trump team, undermines cohen's value as a witness. here's why. the government still needs to prove it. they still need to have somebody who can get on the stand and testify to it. they need to corroborate it. so the fact that it's already out there is not good for the government because they don't want details of their investigation made public before they choose to make it public. but they still need mr. cohen as a witness. somebody has to put meat on that bone. and an anonymous leak from an unknown source, that's not going to cut it from a prosecutorial standpoint. that's information, but not evidence. if they are trying to undermine mr. cohen's value as a witness, i think that fails. >> you say that, a, that's a crucial point and thank you for making it and being so clear. but you mentioned that, of course, this isn't good for prosecutors. it means a potentially important part of their investigation is now out in public. if this was made public after being obtained by the president's lawyers during that process of that special master sorting out all the evidence seized from michael cohen under a legally executed search warrant in april, it is my guess that that might be where the president's lawyers got this information, if that is, in fact, where this information has come from tonight. it would seem to me that's also where the president's lawyers may have obtained the tape or the transcript of the tape that was released earlier this week to such fanfare. if they're taking evidence from that process, as the special master is going through stuff, all this stuff that was seized from the fbi, if they are taking that evidence and putting it out in the public domain, does michael cohen or anybody have a way to stop that. is it illegal to be doing that with evidence seized in that way? >> again, possibility. i hate to give you so many possiblies, but if it was under a protective order, than anybody who leaks it could be violating that order. that could be a contempt of court. could michael cohen enforce that? probably not. in fact, off the top of my head, i can't think of a way that he could enforce it. but the government can enforce it. and they could do it by charging people with a whole variety of crimes. from the ones you and i have already discussed to possibly obstruction of justice if they can show the reason for these leaks were to hinder the investigation, undermine the prosecution or try. and again i think it would only be a try, not a success. try to undermine the value of michael cohen as a witness. look, if he really knows this stuff, rachel, he's a valuable witness. leaking the information is not ideal, but they're still going to need mr. cohen. >> former u.s. attorney, former senior fbi and justice department official ringing clear as a bell tonight. che thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> it is five minutes before the top of the hour. we will have more on this breaking news in a minute. there is another story that is unfolding over the course of this evening. at midnight tonight the trump administration is going to hit a court ordered deadline for giving 2,500 kids back to their parents after the trump administration took them away from their parents at the border. that deadline is about two hours away. it hits tonight at midnight. there is a lot of uncertainty as to whether or not those kids are, in fact, going to be returned and in what numbers. joining us how is the deputy director of the immigrants rights project. thank you for joining us. i know this is a crucial time for you and your team tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> so tonight is the deadline for kids ages 5 and older. and there has been a lot of discussion about the actual numbers and what the government is claiming in terms of their success rate at reuniting these kids with their parents. when we hit the deadline, how many kids that were taken away by this government at the border will not be reunited with their parents? >> i think we're looking at between 700 and 900 kids who will not be reunified. the government is going to claim they made the deadline, but that's only because they took out those 700 to 900 kids and said we can't reunify them by the deadline. so we're going to define who is eligible to meet the deadline. people should understand that there are hundreds and hundreds of kids who will still be sitting alone tomorrow without their parents. >> and, lee, part of the reason i'm sort of desperate to talk to you about this tonight is because i think that a lot of people on a lot of different fronts are putting a lot of faith in the article three courts in this country, into the judicial branch being governed by the rule of law and being orderly and making stuff right when nothing else can. in this case, your lawsuit brought by the aclu brought about these deadlines that this judge sen forcing with the government. what do you expect the judge to do when this deadline passes? the government is still saying, yeah, we're done but never mind these seven to nine hundred other kids. >> without the courts, i think we would be in real trouble, given that congress has not stepped in and the president is obviously trying to take each step with the immigration policy more draconian. i think without -- let me be clear. we are thrilled that this judge has gotten 1,600 kids reunified and these children will be with their parents. i think what the judge is going to say to the government tomorrow you are absolutely not done. i want these reunifications to continue promptly. i think he's going to set additional deadlines for the remainder of the kids and i think eventually we will get these kids reunified. it will come way too late. these kids have been traumatized probably permanently. and the last time we were in court the government seemed to be wanting applause for having reunified even this many kids. you know, the government hasn't rushed in to deal with a natural disaster. they created this disaster. they shouldn't be looking for applause for having reunified some of the kids. and yet it seems like the government wants to have applause for doing even this much. >> the way that this is getting fixed, piece by piece, too slow piece by too slow piece is because of the legal work that's being done to force the government's hand here, and a good deal of it is being done by the deputy director of the aclu immigrant's rights project. i know this deadline is crucial. please keep us appraised. we will be desperate to know the next steps. >> thank you. >> thank you, rachel. >> again want to bring us back to the breaking news that we started covering a few minutes into our show tonight. again, cnn was first to break this. nbc news confirmed that michael cohen, the president's lawyer, is apparently prepared to tell special counsel robert mueller that donald trump, then presidential candidate donald trump was aware in advance of the trump tower meeting that took place on june 2016 in which emissaries from the russian government came to trump tower with the overt intention, the overt advance spelled out intention of delivering to the trump campaign adverse information about hillary clinton that they thought could help trump win the presidential election. now, this is important because the president has said publically that he had no idea that that meeting was happening. if michael cohen's claims are true, that would mean that the president has been caught in a lie. as we spoke about with chuck rosenberg, former cia justice official moments ago, if the president has been caught in a lie here and he did have advanced knowledge and he knew that the russian government was bringing information to him about hillary clinton that was potentially stolen information, information that had been obtained by means of a crime, that could potentially put the president right in the heart of their criminal conspiracy as a coconspirator if he didn't even know that in advance but knew about it after the fact and helped cover it up, that might put him in the possession of having aided and abetted the conspiracy. there is criminal liability here from the president on the horizon with these claims. i s

president's long-time personal attorney michael cohen. now, the michael cohen case big picture, it's still beak one big open question. in terms of what kind of legal trouble might lie ahead for the president himself if his long-time attorney michael cohen who apparently taped his conversations with president trump among other things, whether he's ultimately criminally charged by federal prosecutors in new york. we don't know if that's going to be an issue for the president himself. we still don't know how that is all going to play out. everybody's watching that very closely. but with this guy, if alan weiselberg has been subpoenaed, if this report in the journal is right, that honestly has way bigger implications than just the case against michael cohen. allen weisselberg is not a household name but he is in the trump household. he's in his 70s. he's worked for the trump family his entire adult life. he started off working for the president's father i believe in the 1970s. he has been at the trump organization apparently since its inception. he's known to be not only a very trusted very se

personal attorney's word. to summarize what michael cohen says he's prepared to tell the special counsel robert mueller is a number of things. one, that the president did know in advance of that 2016 trump tower meeting of russians offering dirt on hillary clinton. michael cohen says he knows this because he was present montana room when don junior, the president's son, let the president know or then candidate trump know about this meeting. we're told michael cohen is also prepared to testify the that the president when told of this upcoming meeting approved of the meeting coming forward. the final detail, and this is an important one, is that we're told michael cohen says there were other people in the room besides then candidate trump and his son and michael cohen, providing investigators if they are interested in this line of inquiry other witnesses to question to if possible corroborate cohen's versions of events. >> jeffrey toobin, legally speaking what does this mean? >> it's highly significant at many levels. first of all, it's relevant to the question of what was the relationship

shell. sources tell cnn that michael cohen is prepared to tell robert mueller that candidate donald trump approved of the infamous tower meeting with russian in june of 2016. the one were the russians were to expect to offer the campaign dirt on hillary clinton. jim sciutto is here and our national security and jack quinn. good evening to all of you. jin, tell us about what. what are you learn sing. >> michael cohen claims that candidate trump knew of the 2016 meeting, russians were offered campaign dirt on hillary clinton. cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel robert mueller. cohen alleges that he was present when trump was informed of the russian's offer by donald trump jr. trump approved going ahead with that meeting with the russians. >> we should note this that our sources said cohen did not have evidence and it is audio recording to corroborate his claims. that before the house intelligence committee earlier this year said that he did not testify this there that trump had advance knowledge. cohen's claims were not menti mentioned on effort reports. i shoul

the president's former attorney michael cohen is ready to talk to special counsel robert mueller and deliver a potential bombshell in the russia investigation. cnn's jeff zeleny is at the white house. this has been a whirlwind 24 hours. start with the latest, this new invitation from president putin. >> reporter: no question. good morning. the fallout from the helsinki summit is continuing with the back and forth between washington and moscow over will there be a second meeting. we are learning a few moments ago, sarah sanders said that president trump is open to going to moscow if he has a formal invitation. they say they still look forward to having vladimir putin here in the u.s. after the first of the year. of course, this is a walk back when he invited him here in the fall which many republicans were saying should not happen during or right after the midterm elections. this is all coming on the heels of the strong economic news. as you said, we saw the president in the south lawn of the white house really talking about this economic growth. 4.1% growth of gdp in the second q

from the "new york times" reporting that michael cohen secretly recorded the conversation with president trump two months before the election, and "the wall street journal" reveals the payment before the election and at that time hope hicks for the campaign said we have no knowledge of any of this. a lot more breaking news coming with this. we're going to have much more on this breaking news and inside politics with john king right now. >>> welcome back to inside politics, i'm john king, a very big breaking news friday. just moments ago, the "new york times" posting a blockbuster report, michael cohen, the president's long time personal attorney and fixer, secretly taped then candidate donald trump in september 2016, in talking about paying hush money to a playboy model who claims she had an affair with trump. the fbi seized this tape in a raid on michael cohen's office earlier this year. this is a remarkable story, give us the biggest egest elements the biggest questions now for the president. >> reporter: the biggest question right now for the president is why the campaign sa

turned wanna be cooperating witness michael cohen. cohen now offering to tell special counsel robert mueller that the president knew about the trump tower meeting between his son and campaign leadership and russians with ties to the kremlin who promised dirt on hillary clinton. in light of the tape released earlier this week, in which cohen and trump appear to discuss the minutiae of how to funnel hush money to a former playboy playmate, it is certainly in line with the nature of donald trump's interest in matters big and small to have known about a meeting like this. what we now know about trump and cohen's relationship and what we've now heard with our own ears is that trump was not at au walled off from the seedier aspects of being donald trump. in fact, he was very much hands on. if cohen's account proves true, donald trump's daily collusion denial may undergo an extreme make over and his supporters may soon be conditioned to accept that collusion isn't a crime instead of there was no collusion at all, and that is just the p.r. battle front. the legal problems for the president m

donald trump is on it, and michael cohen made it. why is this breaking right now. as legal pressure builds, and white house finished to battle back a scandal of putin proportions, i am excited we have key people and reporters to shed light on this question. the new york times. karen mcdougal said she had a relationship in 2006. we will get to that what else do you need to know? investigators have this tape, the fbi seized it in april. and news on this show, declaring that he knew for a fact that this tich tape existed. >> i know for a fact that donald trump is on at least one of these recordings. >> i am not going to get in to details. >> would you say that in court? >> absolutely. >> donald trump is on one of the records, at least one of them. i stand behind it. >> stands behind it. today, that fact reported. michael joins me with more. and the white house is making it clear, it doesn't like this news at all. it was caught off guard. trump didn't know he was being recorded a source says. and they are trying to put word out, that any other recordings that may exist are not substanti

tape of candidate donald trump talking with his fixer, attorney michael cohen , about how they would buy the rights to a play boy model story about an alleged affair with trump years earlier. hear for yourself what they said. >> quick poll by the way. big time. >> your guy is a good guy. what's happening? can we use any more? >> we told him -- >> i don't mean that. black burn, can we use -- >> no. >> richard just called. we had a chance. >> we got served from "the new york times." i told you this. unseal the divorce papers with ivana. we're fighting it. kasowitz is going to donna brazile >> he'll never be able to get that done. >> kasowitz said they'll never be able -- they don't have a legitimate purpose. >> a woman that doesn't -- >> correct. >> how long? >> two, three weeks. >> all you have to do is delay it. >> even after that, it's never going to be opened. there's no purpose for it. told but charleston. i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david so that -- i'm going to do that right away. >> give it to me. >> i've spoken to

michael cohen escalates. new remarks from both sides. >> this information on the trump tower meeting is not the best information michael cohen has. i assure you of that. >> what did he know, when did he know it and how much more to tell? suggestions by the stormy daniels attorney that michael cohen's biggest bombshells are yet to be revealed. >>> awkward coincidence. what are the chances two of the main actors in the russia investigation share the same airport terminal? sir spective on this snapshot. >>> trouble with twitter. details why robert mueller may be looking into all the president's tweets coming up next on msnbc live. >>> beginning with a new reaction from one of the democrats on the house intelligence committee following the bombshell accusation by michael cohen that the president knew about the trump tower meeting in advance. congressman swalwell said on nbc news the president's actions regardless when he found out about the meeting adds to the collusion argument. >> it's not about what donald trump did with that meeting. i think what is significant is what he did not do.

the ones that got too close. but, you know, frankly, nicolle, when i hear michael cohen through these sources say that donald trump knew about the meeting, that's like telling us that the sun sets in the west. we always knew that donald trump knew about the meeting because all of the evidence suggested that. he was very close with the family that had asked donald trump, jr., to set up the meeting. he was one floor above where the meeting took place. donald trump, jr., and his father talked about donald trump, jr.'s work on behalf of the campaign throughout the pendency of the campaign. and of course there were the actions donald trump took after the meeting was exposed in his efforts to try and cover up the meeting by trying to dictate the statement that donald trump, jr., gave to the press. it's not really a surprise, but now is the time for michael cohen to cooperate with bob mueller. and if this was a real investigation on the house side, we would be bringing michael cohen and donald trump, jr., back in. but unfortunately the republicans prematurely and irresponsibly ended ou

michael cohen is prepared to tell the special counsel that then candidate donald trump approved the infamous trump tower meeting with russians in june of 2016. the one where the russians were expected to offer the trump campaign dirt on hillary clinton. jim is here. and juliette and jack quinn. white house council to president clinton. good evening to you. jim, tell us about it. >> this is what we're learning. sources telling myself and karl bernstein michael cohen claims that then candidate trump knew in advance about the june 2016 meeting at trump tower in which russians were offering his campaign dirt on hillary clinton. cohen is willing to make that assertion to robert mull. he alleges hef present along with others when trump was informed by the offer by donald trump jr. he approved going ahead with the meeting with the russians. we should note the sources said that cohen doesn't have evidence such as audio recordings to corroborate the claim. a source from the house testimony earlier this year said he didn't testify there. that trump had advance knowledge. cohen claims wouldn't

michael cohen secretly recorded a conversation with then-candidate donald trump months before the 2016 election regarding payments to a former play b playboy model. joining me now by phone, matt apuz apuzzo, one of the reporters who broke the story in "the new york times," and our kristen welker at the white house. matt? >> thank you, and amazing work out of aspen. >> thank you. >> what we know is that michael cohen who had a propensity for secretly taping conversations with his adversaries, also taped a conversation with donald trump about whether or not to make a payment to this former playboy model who claimed an affair. and this payment is super important because ultimately she sold her story about her affair with donald trump to "the national inquirer" and they never ran the story, it was what's known as a kill and capture operation. the entire organization of "the national inquirer" are long time allies of president trump. by keeping this story out of public view, it made sure that then-candidate trump didn't have to answer questions about an affair in the final weeks and mo

about, michael cohen, tonight i can tell you has hired lanny davis, a name you may recognize. he was a former top lawyer in the clinton white house, a long-time friend and adviser to hillary clinton, you see there one of many times they have come together. and he was a public surrogate for her campaign. this move is the latest in michael cohen's very public evolution from a die-hard trump loyalist who kept all secrets and fixed all problems to what he's done lately, telling george steph monopolies this week that his first loyalty is to his family. david is confirming to us at nbc news that he has been following this case, that he read michael cohen's words in that interview and, quote, recognized cohen's sincerity. michael cohen deserves to tell his side of the story. and in a moment i can tell you we'll have an exclusive live interview with donald trump's long-time personal lawyer jay goldberg who had michael cohen's job before michael cohen. first, let's get into what this all means. daniel goldman is a former federal prosecutor who worked in the actual office that is investigating c

, breaking news. secret tape. former fixer michael cohen secretly recorded a conversation with donald trump. a source quotes the president saying, quote, i can't believe michael would do this to me. cnn learns the fbi has more recordings. >>> boosting mueller. the president's legal team is worried that the disastrous summit performance with vladimir putin could strengthen the hand of robert mueller. could this be a turning point in the special counsel's investigation? >>> attack warning. microsoft says three, three 2018 campaigns have been targeted by russian hackers linked to the group which attacked the democratic national committee. that comes as secretary of state mike pompeo warns the russians will continue to undermine western democracy for years to come. >>> and putin's power. in russia, vladimir putin is taunting the u.s. after his meeting with president trump revealing new, high-tech nuclear weapons while hosts on state-run russian tv say president trump, quote, smells like he is a kremlin agent. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> breaking news. the

, former personal attorney michael cohen when they discussed payment to a former playboy model who says that she had an affair with then private citizen donald trump. the president's new attorney, rudy guiliani, says president trump had no idea he was being recorded. a source says when he was told about the tape, trump said, quote, i can't believe michael would do this to me. the white house has denied macdougal's claims of an affair, and this tape was seized in that massive fbi raid. sources say cohen kept a trove of recordings. with me now, mj lee and jim acosta. mj, let's start with you. tell me more about what was said in this recording? >> well brooke, if only we had a transcript or the actual recording so we could listen to exactly what was said between michael cohen and donald trump at this time. we do know this was a secret tape, according to rudy guiliani. in that donald trump claims he didn't know at the time he was being recorded. michael cohen did this without donald trump's knowledge. and we also know that this was a recording that was taken in by the fbi as part of it

rudy giuliani says the president said, don't pay with cash. no turning back now for michael cohen. this is a big, glaring split. we want to bring in cnn political analyst david gregory, attorney michael avenatti. david, i want to go with you first. i want to talk about the legal implications here. what legal questions, if any, does this raise? >> well, michael cohen is under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in new york for a number of things, but one of those things is the potential campaign finance violations. when you are receiving money for a campaign, you need to report it to the fcc. in fact, the president signed a form that actually it is a crime to lie on in which he said, you know, this is a list of the contribution to the campaign and expenditures and so on. so i don't think it was in the part we just played, but there was actually discussion about timing related to certain news about how we need to delay it past a certain point, suggesting that there is an importance of having some of this news delayed until after the election. that, i think, is a very important p

>>> the top of the show, i showed this new report from the court today related to michael cohen and the 1.3 million documents that they were -- that were seized from him that went to prosecutors today. i then wondered out loud on tv. never wonder outloud on tv. what are those initials? thank you, internet. now we know. kmw. it is the initials of the judge. thank you, internet. thank you, esquire rob. much obliged. i shouldn't ever wonder outloud on tv. see you tomorrow. >>> wait a minute. isn't that a story about the power of wondering outloud on tv and how quickly we get an answer from our community of viewers, and it is a kind of interactive joy? why isn't that a story? >> it is. it is, in fact, a story. but i feel like this is a power we should use sparingly and intentionally. i literally was like, oh, i wonder what that is. i don't know. it should occur to me if i say something like that on television, our viewers and the internet will answer. like you can't just idly wonder about something. >> so one of the answers that i don't feel like i have is what is michael cohen up to? i

zeleny, thank you very much. >>> now to michael cohen, speaking out, declaring his loyalty to his country and his family come before president trump. a well-connected source tells me cohen is trying to publicly explain and justify why he will turn against the president. the white house is refusing to comment on cohen's plans saying those questions should go to an outside attorney. also refusing to talk about that interview on abc. let's go to cnn's national correspondent brin gingras. he's dropped multiple hints he's ready to flip. >> friends of michael cohen's say they've been encouraging him to speak up to get his side of the story out there. while in this abc interview he doesn't give details about the information he has that may help investigators, he's pretty clear that he's willing to help. he'll do it for his family, and he wants to restore his reputation. >> how your with the new lawyers? are you hope? >> reporter: michael cohen breaking his silence. in an interview with abc, trump's self-proclaimed fxer, a man who has said he'd take a bullet for donald trump -- >> i'll do

. donald trump and michael cohen on a recording seized by the fbi. the specific conversation about the arrangement surrounding a payment that had been made to a former playboy playmate. here's that portion. >> what's up, mike? >> great poll by the way. >> making progress. >> big time. >> and your guy's a good guy. >> pastor scott? >> i can't believe. no. >> oh, no. >> can we use him anymore? >> oh, yeah. no, you're talking mark burns. woe teld him to -- >> i don't mean that. mark burns, can we use him? >> no. >> richard just called. he said he had an idea for you. >> so we got served from "the new york times." i told you this regarding to unseal the divorce papers with ivana. we're fighting it. kasowitz is going to -- >> they should never be able to get that. >> never. they don't have a -- they don't have a legitimate purpose. >> a woman that doesn't want -- >> correct. >> you've been handling it. that's been going on for a while. >> about two, three weeks. >> all you have to do is delay it -- >> even after that, it's not going to be opened. there's no purpose for it. i told you about

michael cohen and his lawyers release a secret tape, the president is now responding with a blistering attack on his longtime former fixer. >>> plus, does this tape show the president and his team violated campaign finance law? we have expert analysis on what this all means. and moments from now, the president has face-to-face negotiations with the european union as he defends his trade wars and a new bailout plan from republican criticism. all that coming up. but up first, he once said he'd take a bullet for donald trump. now michael cohen has fired the first shot in what's likely to be an all-out war between trump and his longtime attorney and fixer. the president is lashing out over a secret audio recording of him and cohen obtained exclusively by cnn from cohen's attorney. on the tape, trump and cohen discuss a potential payoff stemming from allegations by a former playboy model of an affair with trump. the goal was to keep the story from coming out. >> i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with funding -- >> [ inaudible ]. >> yes. and it's

>>> this sunday, turning against trump. the president's long-time personal attorney, michael cohen, is apparently prepared to say the president knew in advance about the infamous trump tower meeting with russians. >> it appears the president's former attorney and confidant is ready to talk. >> and cohenry leases a tape discussing buying the story of a former playmate who says she had an affair with mr. trump. >> what financing? >> we'll have to pay something. >> and we'll pay with cash. >> no, no, no, no, no. >> rudy giuliani attacks cohen. >> the man is a liar, a proven liar. >> not long after praising him. >> the man is an honest, honorable lawyer. >> just how big a threat does cohen pose to president trump? my guests this morning, former trump political advisor sam nunberg and republican senator rob portman of ohio. >>> plus guns and poses. maria butina loves guns, cultivated conservatives and is now in jail, arrested as a russian agent. does she hold the key to an nra/russia connection? >>> and base politics. today marks 100 days until election day. it's democratic enthusiasm versu

reporting here? >> this was the stuff that was seized by michael cohen's office. the feds went in and took stuff from his office. this is one of those things. michael helcohen did this secre two months before the election. they're discussing what would be a second payment to the model. the second payment that would ensure her silence going forward. this was after the nationa national -- this was another payment and a second payment. >> do you we know why michael cohen would be recording donald trump secretly. >> no, that's an interesting question. why would a lawyer be recording a conversation with someone. that could be seized. we know michael cohen had a history recording a lot of different conversations to a lot of different people but why on such a sensitive thing would he secretly do this. was he doing it as a way to have leverage on the president later or was he doing it in a way of protecting himself as a lawyer saying look, i have done the work that i am supposed to do and here is the evidence client telling me that. cohen is under a tricky spot here of all sorts of invest

time. i'm sure you can imagine what that must do to a mother who is separated for a month or two months. >> but gang violence is a form of persecution, why would they deny that? >> they're not giving any reasons for deny, they're just checking off boxes, and there is no reason for the denial. when we went to the court proceeding, he failed to give a reason, he just said i'm denying your case. >> we really appreciate you giving us a reality check of what is happening with these kids, their parents, and how the trump administration has not not lived up to the court ordered mandate. please keep us updated on that situation and the others that are yet to be reunited. for u.s. viewers "new day" continues now. >>> welcome to your new day. we begin with a major development that could, i repeat, could, change the course of the russia investigation. sources tell cnn that michael cohen is ready to tell special council robert mueller that then candidate donald trump was aware and approved of the trump tower meeting in june 2016 where they promised the campaign dirt on hillary clinton. the president, his team and family, repeatedly deny that he knew anything about that meeting. >> now p president's current lawyer, rudy juligiuliani was v quick to attack michael cohen. saying he has been a liar for years, but remember he has been donald trump's fixer and attorney for many years. give us all of the nice, jim. >> thank you, alisyn, a lot of headlines in this story. one, cohen is saying the president, then candidate trump, knew in advance of this meeting about dirt for hillary clinton, and cohen says he was present for a meeting in person when candidate trump was informed about the meeting by trump junior, and said let's go forward. cohen says he is willing to tell this store are to robert mueller. >> sources tell myself and carl burnstein that long time lawyer michael cohen is willing to tell robert mueller that donald trump knew in advance about the meeting with russians for dirt on hillary clinton. >> did you know about the meeting. >> he was not aware of the meeting and was only informed of the e-mails recently about. >> sources say cohen was there when donald trump junior told his father about the meeting but business not have evidence to corroborate the claim. rudy giuliani denied cohen's accounta account. >> >> he did not know about it. i know in detail, i spoke to the witnesses, there is no way you're going to bring down the president of the kwm of an uncrop rated liar. >> he says donald trump did not have advanced knowledge of the meeting and donald trump junior said he would not have wasted his father's time with it. they're saying they're confident in the accuracy and reliability of the nafinformation that provided. the trump tower meeting has been at the center of claims of collusion. trump junior released e-mails saying it was to provide the trump campaign with official documents and information that would incriminate hillary. trump junior replied to the e-mail witness minutes saying "if it's what you say, i love it." a few days before the trump tower meeting, trump said he would be revealing information about clinton. >> i'm going to give a major speech on probably monday of next week, and we're going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the clintons. i think you're going to find it very informative and very, very interesting. >> that speech never happened. >> the other important detail in our reporting is that michael cohen is prepared to say there was others present in that meeting when he said he was there and trump senior was told by trump junior about that meeting with the russians. we know the trump tower meeting has been of special interest in two lines of inquiry. number one if there was cooperation or collusion, and two obstruction of justice. the misleading statements. claiming that it was initially about adoptions when we know what russians were really offering when they came in the room. >> stay with us, jim. we have chief legal analyst jeffrey tubin ready to go, and special agent josh campbell. this is your first appearance since hearing the news. for people that think this has been drip drip drip, this is a good time to tune in. >> this is gush. >> let's pause it that his credibility is in question. but if cohen is telling the truth about this, it completely changes our understanding of what donald trump's role was. donald trump senior, president of the united states, in the relationship between his campaign and russia. this meeting in trump tower is the clearest example we have so far of a direct connection between the russian government and the trump campaign. the party line has been, as jim's report said, that donald trump did not know about the e-mail. that has always been suspect. donald trump junior saying, if it's true, that is an offer of help from the russian government, i love it. would he really not have told hil his father about that? would he have announced a major speech about hillary clinton if he had not known this information was coming. would he have canceled the speech if the meeting had not turned out to be a bust? cohen squares that saying of course donald trump knew. is michael cohen lying? this raises a lot of questions. is there any corroboration? >> on another larger issue, michael cohen knows everything. he is the long time fixer. he has been at the president's side. so the idea that he is ready, he says, through sources to cooperate with robert mueller, is it a game changer? >> it could be, it depends on in michael cohen is telling the truth, and whether or not he has any corroboration, any other witnesses, any tape recordings, any e-mails or texts that corroborate what he is saying. >> all right special agent, someone that has investigated matters before, this information comes out overnight, michael cohen making this public revelation, cnn reporting michael cohen's mind-set on this. what happens now. if you're robert mueller, what do you do? >> i think at the outset, what this tells us is that for a group that is so tight knit, they're terrible at colluding if there was collusion. if you think about it, it doesn't look like they got information from the russians, they have not been able to keep hush panlts quite, or ko men quiet. i think now that he is out there singing like a canary, the fact that cohen mentioned in our reported that there was othered in the room is a key fact that stood out to me in this report. first, as jeffrey mentioned, his credibility is not golden, right? it is in question right now. the fact to me as an investigator he came out and said i met one on one with the president and we discussed this russian meeting, the fact that he opened this now to other people to say there was other witnesses, why would he do that if it was not the truth. next issue here, what does mueller do with this? what does the southern district do with this? they're going to start figuring out who these witnesses are. if they have already been interviewed, if they locked in their testimony and said the president didn't know and cohen or someone else can come up with one shred of corroborating evidence -- >> do you have any more reporting on who else may have been in the room? >> we don't know yet. that's a key question. it would provide an opportunity if the special council is interested to find someone willing to corroborate what is michael cohen's version of ltt story h the story here. it has been two years now and very early on a source said to me that a lot of the evidence is hiding in plain sight. a lot of the evidence is in public, or the clues are in public. when you think of president trump's officer of that speesh, then canceled, you think of the reporting yield from, i don't know if was the new york times or the wall street journal. you have to wed what has been said in public, the timing of what was said in public in and around this trump tower meeting, tweets, et cetera. it is what folks call open source information, that stuff is out there. we know that investigators as they look into this they try to connect the dots here. u a. >>> we heard already from rudy giuliani that cohen is a liar. >> and we're talking about credibility about this meeting. surrounding the president, they have spread lies about it purely and simply they spread lies. we know that he dictated a response to "new york times," we now know that was not true. so their credibility on this is also very much in question. >> and john, on that point, i said this an essential part of the defense of the trump tower meeting. you listen to donald trump junior's response, it's not that taking the meeting was wrong, but that the russians didn't deliver that investigation. he says it was a big nothing and therefore it was a waste of time. not that listen, we would never consider sitting down with foreign nationals offering our campaign help, just that they didn't bring to the table what they said they would bring to the table. that has always struck me, not that they should not have taken the meeting, but that they didn't bring what they thought. >> michael cohen has felt hung out to dry, he sent out flares for help, and they were met with silence or a diminishment of his role publicly. but what really could trump, who is a subject of the mueller investigation, what lifeline could he have thrown to michael cohen. >> before anything, he could have pardoned him. >> absolutely. gerald ford mar don-- pardoned nixon. cohen is operating at several levels here. he is afraid of being charged himself. he has davis, the famously outspoken clinton defender doing the public game, and davis is talking about cohen's reputation, trying to show his independence. it is certainly the case that prosecutors and fbi agents prefer that the people involved in their investigations don't say anything to the press. that is not what michael cohen is doing, but she is also protecting his reputation. >> i have so many more questions. >> luckily we have two more hours here. what is michael cohen claiming, what does all of this mean to sdpl capitol hill, we're going to speak to a republican congressman, next. i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. on the flip side, this is the kind of information that is consistent with those who have been critical of the president and who have raised concerns about the mueller investigation and russian interfer u e. >> since we know that the trump campaign was open for business for dirt on hillary clinton, if donald trump knew that as michael cohen is alleging, did that change republicans on chill and how they look at this and what action they were taking? >> look, i'm not running for reelection. most of my colleagues are, they're going to focus on the fact that we have historically low unemployment, slow economic growth, tough foreign policy, there are a lot of good things happening in this country, but if we talk about trade there are serious concerns about what is going on in trade and tariff aspects. by and large, this is an independent investigation and franly, republicans and democrats really should step back and just -- it is tough to do, but let the investigation take it's course. that is why many supported a special council. those on capitol hill cannot be viewed and will not be viewed as objective as it relates to any investigation. >> yes, i think we have seen with the house intel committee that objectivity, the tariffs, the byproduct, and the ramifications are being felt by some voters. you're not a fan, here is what the president says to you and anyone not a fan of his tariff plan. every time i see a weak politician asking to stop trade talks or the use of tariffs, i wonder what can they be thinking? are we just going to continue to let our farmers and country be ripped off? lost $817 billion on trade last year. no weakness. are you weak on trade? >> no. many of us have consistently said tariffs amount to a tax on the american consumer. and when we export more, and the president categorizes that as a trade deficit, we're getting more of our product into marketplaces around the globe. let me also say this in the president's defense. i want to strike fairly here. if the president is trying to renegotiate trade deals to lower barriers, that's a good thing. understandably there will be short-term pain, but it is for us as members of congress to point out what that short-term pain is. listen to our constituents, and say there is oo better way of going about trying to lower trade barriers. if you look at the statement by -- coming out of the eu, they promise they will now try to buy more soy beans. so while they're going to now continue to negotiate, nothing has changed. and that is a deep concern, because if you look across the midwest, particularly, it will be felt in pennsylvania as well. our sector is not in in a good position right now. >> what are you going to do next? >> i'm going to continue to try to make my voice heard, but i don't know yet. i don't know what my future plans will be yet at this point. >> thank you, we appreciate you being on new day. >> what do you think the legal fallout will be of michael cohen's claim that president trump knew and approved of the trump tower meeting. we'll debate. two will answer, one will leave. - why are drivers 50 and over switching to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford? let's take a ride with some actual customers and find out. - well, tell me about your experience when you switched to the hartford. - when i switched to the hartford, i'm sitting there thinking, "man, i should have "turned 50 years ago." they saved me a bunch of money. you can't beat that. - what blows me away about the hartford is their lifetime renewability benefit. now this is their promise not to drop you even if you have an accident. - i know when i'm driving, i'm covered. - [narrator] drivers 50 and over can save hundreds of dollars when they switch to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford and get other incredible benefits like lifetime renewability. not an aarp member? 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(buzzer sound) holiday inn express. be the readiest. >>> sources tell cnn that donald trump knew about a meeting before it happened. will his word be enough to create legal trump for donald trump? here to discuss it with me? jeffrey toou bin. the case against impeaching trump, gentleman, between us we have two law degrees. professor, let me start with you. i want to pause for a second on michael cohen's creditability. >> i take this issue on has a hypothetical in my book, even if the president sought different that was obtain illegally, and used it in his campaign that would be no different. the first amendment protects the use of information legally on taned as long as you don't tell the source go get more. if someone hands you an envelope, dirt that was obtained illegally. there is a statute that prohibits obtaining things of value from a foreign government during a campaign, but that has to be construed to be constitutional. it deals primarily with money and other material facts. if it were to be construed to cover information, it would run afoul of the first amendment. i think this is a political stint, but not a federal crime. the question here is what was the relationship? if he did just reconceive an envelope, i agree that is not a crime. if there was dealings, negotiations, if there was collusion then i think that could be construed as a crime, a conspiracy to defraud the united states. all of that would come into play as usual, the facts matter more than the law. what actually happened is what we all want to know and then question figure out what legal implications are. >> but the law matters too and it is not against the law to collude. donald trump calls vladimir putin and he says hey, do i have a deal for you. i want to be president, i know you want to get rid of the sanctions, you know i don't like those sanctions, and if we work together, and you help me become president, how is that different from atalking with expanded portion rights. if i help you get elected to congress. if it is done without exchange of money and without expolice sis proemss is not a federal government. you can't just target people, and that is what he is trying to do, he is trying to find a crime. i think allen it s wrong about that. if that hypothetical is true, it is very similar to the kacase tt mueller already charges with the social media, the violation that says foreign governments cannot be involvemented, foreign enemies cannot be involved. i think that is a crime and that would be a crime if the trump campaign was -- >> let me jump in here. >> it doesn't say involved. it doesn't say involved. that would be unconstitutional. it is much more specific. >> professor, let me jump in here and talk about another aspect of this. if what michael cohen says is true, than the president's team lied publicly, and i'm talking about the president itself, i'm talking about anyone that knows what this meeting was or was not about, they lied publicly. it would be a problem. >> first of all, we don't know that they knew anything. jay is a very decent and ethical lawyer. i can't imagine he would knowingly lie. lawyers only know what they were told by their clients. it is always possible he was told something not true and he just repeated it. remember this was apparently a vague meeting, nobody knew for sure what was subject was going to be, it could be date of birth on likt, but did he make a tape recording of what he saw. so there will be credibility issues, specific fact issues, let's not rush to judgment. you asked if it is evidence, it might be but it is not, initself, critical behavior. >> but to respond to your question, if michael cohen is telling the truth about trump senior's knowledge of this meeting, that does call into question the denial by donald trump junior under oath that that took place, and anyone else that was interviewed under oath or informally by the fbi. this is why the fbi and u.s. attorneys often charge false statements rather than the un r underlying crime. allen doesn't like that, but that is how the fbi operating frequently. >> and that is why the president is unlikely to sit down and have a meeting. when you have a meeting with prosecutors, bad things happen. they're not meeting with you because they want to help you. they're meeting with you because they want to give you an opportunity to commit perjury. it is rare, i have not in 53 years advised a client to go to a prosecutor. you only do that when you have no option. they will have you hard questions in a darkroom. >> so 15 seconds each on the issue of michael cohen's credibility, professor, you first, then jeffrey. >> i have no idea. michael cohen was trusted by president trump for a long period of time. i'm sure he often tells the truth. he kept recordings of a lot of conversations and corroborations, but when you're squeezing someone sometimes you not only make them sing, but you make them exaggerate the story. that's the risk involved here. >> to me the big issue is corroboration. are there e-mails? texts? recordings that corroborate what he says. are there other people rent at these meetings where donald trump senior knew about the purpose of this meeting. what do they say? gentleman, thank you very much for being with us and it it was an illuminating discussion. >> we have a update on the massive wild fire. it has turned deadly. it is live where neighborhoods are being evacuated. -meg! there you are. did you take a picture of the cake to put on our website? i mean i would have but i'm a commercial vehicle so i don't have hands... or a camera...or a website. should we franchise? is the market ready for that? can we franchise? how do you do that? meg! oh meg! we should do that thing where you put the business cards in the fishbowl and somebody wins something. -meg: hi. i'm here for... i'm here for the evans' wedding. -we've got the cake in the back, so, yeah. -meg: thank you. -progressive knows small business makes big demands. -you're not gonna make it, you're not gonna make it! ask her if we can do her next wedding too! -so we'll design the insurance solution that fits your business. -on second thought, don't...ask that. that fits your business. does your business internet provider promise a lot? let's see who delivers more. comcast business gives you gig-speed in more places. the others don't. we offer up to 6 hours of 4g wireless network backup. everyone else, no way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go online today. >>> okay, we are following breaking news right now. we now know what caused that fast moving wildfire. it jumped the sacramento river overnight and it threatens people and homes in redding california. cnn is there live right now, what's the status. >> what a terrible situation, the fire destroyed many homes. we can't tell you how many homes have bsh r been destroyed. it is going to go up significantly once they have a chance to assess the area. it advanced to quickly that residents had no warning, just a few minutes to get out. we know one person died as a result of this fire. he was a private bulldozer operator who was trying to combat the fire. we know some babies that were at the near by hospital, they were evacuated as a verz of precaution. in terms of getting it under control, it will be hot and windy today. we know that it stayed in the o outskirts of town. so a really difficult situation and hopefully firefighters can make some progress but the weather is not looking good. >> thank you, i know you will be careful with that fire burning. >>> roseanne barr making a statement in an interview with sean hannity last night. >> i was so sad that people thought it was racist. and then i went into the whole thing about the whole discussion of racism and that blew my mind because it's like what my show was about, and then i got messed up thinking that it seems like words matter more than actions, but what broke my heart the most is i have african-american children in my family, and in my immediate family, but i felt so bad for those kids, because i love them, and i didn't want them to think of me like that, you know? >> it didn't really seem like barr gave a full apology in that interview, she called it an misinteremi misunderstanding, she says the tweet was political and not racial in any way. >> that is fascinating, and in your personal life you love your neighbors and your colleagues and your family members, but in your language and in your bigger life, you still feel that people are others and you could still have hateful rhetoric toward others, that is what she is saying. her personal life she is one person, and on twitter and on you tube, she a different horrible rants and raving person, and why they're not disparity, i don't know? >> and it is hard to imagine someone as intelligent as she is, did not know that what she was saying was racist, hard to believe that if you read the words. >> we'll have much more ahead on what president trump knew about the infamous trump tower meeting and what michael cohen, someone that knows him extremely well says donald trump knew, and we have van jones to discuss that as well. as well as what are the democrats doing? 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>> i think it's a big deal. part of it, though, is democrats have to not be distracted by this. we spend so much time talking about bob mueller, and bob mueller is not harry potter. he's not the guy who's going to make it all better tomorrow and give us the country we want. we have to stay focused on the mid-term election. when i'm out there in red states and red districts they're not talking about this stuff. they're talking about jobs and price of gas. sometimes i think democrats get so gleefullyrump is disqualifying himself, but we're not qualifying ourselves. >> you don't want democrats to make russia the central theme of investigation, but i talked to some who say we should make trump the central theme of this campaign. >> listen, if you haven't figured out by now you like trump a lot or udon't like trump a lot, the people voting in the mid-term election who matter, that's really where the action plays out. they are still trying to figure out who is going to help me with the health care bills, the education bills. we got more jobs, i got two or three of them and i still can't get the health care. that's the situation i want the democrats to stay on top of. you've also got to let people know he's bad for you, but here's why i'm good for you. i'm not hearing that from democrats. >> there's some interesting polls that have come out that basically showing the blue wall that trump managed to hurdle over, interesting things are happening. in michigan, minnesota, and wisconsin basically his job approval numbers are under water. 36% approve of the job president trump is doing in michigan and wisconsin, 38% in minnesota, 54 percent disapprove. but, van, to your point, isn't all you need to know the quote, is the economy stupid. >> i think a lot of times democrats forget, listen, if president obama had come out and said i've got 3% unemployment, the stock market is up, everyone's got a tax cut, democrats would have had a parade on those numbers. and so the economy is coming up. the problem is society is coming apart at the same time based on the leadership. so how you square that, you've got to acknowledge some of the stuff is positive, a lot of continuation of obama, but your life may not be getting better and your community may be coming apart. if you think just saying trm is bad, trump is bad is going to win in these swing districts you're not paying attention. >> so-called democratic socials are a big part of that discussion. the discussion basically is are they pushing the party too far to the left? is that what you're seeing in some areas? >> listen, on the van jones show this weekend, tomorrow 7:00 p.m. eastern, we're going to have three democratic socialist women, young women who are running for congress in pennsylvania. and we're going to have the conversation. we're also going to have someone who's running in west virginia on a much more moderate ticket, actually a democratic who voted for trump running. listen, you should run as a democratic socialist if that's what people in your district want. but you should run as a blue and anything else if that's what your people want. we're generalizing concerns we moe might have in indiana or ohio, and saying listen no one should run the way they're running in brooklyn or the bronx. they deserve a voice in congress. but if you're a democrats and your base you're running for doesn't like that stuff and they want something more moderate, they should have a voice in that. not to the right, not to the left but towards the people. >> that's interesting. so you're saying the party is big enough for all these different permutations. >> look at the republican party. the republican party has people in there like lindsey graham, and we have some those hard core right wing libertarian and others and they somehow make it work. i think in the mid-term elections let's figure out who can win and what arguments work and what don't and then you can figure who can win on a national basis. >> but what you see are democrats who come out and try to use it, and then you have the republican party saying, look whereby if you let the democrats get the power this is what will happen. >> both parties have the tendency to say, listen, i'm going to run against nancy pelosi and socialism, but in that district, the grocery store, in that laundromat, in that same grocery store people may not care about that as much. i just think in a mid-term election you better be talking to people at the bus stop and in those community centers. and if they care about democratic socialism, great. and if they don't, don't worry about it. make sure you're representing your district. >> talk to us about your show. >> oh, my show is going to be amazing. we're also going to have carmelo anthony, the legendry basketball player. he's not just a hero on the court. he's got gold medals from the olympics. he's not just a hero on the court. he's a hero off the court. he's actually doing stuff in south africa, puerto rico, baltimore, helping people. nobody cares when these guys are doing good. it's going to be great. >> all right, since you made him sound so heroic for those things i won't bring up the stuff. >> about the real house wive snz. >> defensive passing. van, the show sounds fantasticmism. >> be sure to tune into the van jones show at 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. >>> there is some breaking news, the president just responded to the news michael cohen might want to tell the special counsel. a lot of news, so let's get to it. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> all right, good morning, everyone. welcome to your new day. it is friday, july 27, 8:00 in the east. there is new breaking news because sources tell cnn the president's long time former personal fixer, michael cohen has begun spilling the beans. cohen claims that then candidate donald trump knew in advance and approved of that june 2016 trump tower meeting in which russians promised dirt on hillary clinton. and sources say that cohen is prepared to tell this to special counsel robert mueller. >> all right, let me tell you what the president just wrote about this. again, this is breaking news. it just crossed, a statement from the president of the united states. i did not know of the meeting with my son don junior. sounds to me someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam, taxicabs, maybe, question mark. he even retained bill and cracked hillary's lawyer. gee, i wonder if they helped him make the choice. how did we get to that point? jim sciutto, jeffrey toobin, and cnn law enforcement analyst josh campbell. jim, let me start with you. we have the statement from the president. remind us what cohen now is willing to say? >> so in effect it's the president's word against his former long time personal attorney's word. to summarize what michael cohen says he's prepared to tell the special counsel robert mueller is a number of things. one, that the president did know in advance of that 2016 trump tower meeting of russians offering dirt on hillary clinton. michael cohen says he knows this because he was present montana room when don junior, the president's son, let the president know or then candidate trump know about this meeting. we're told michael cohen is also prepared to testify the that the president when told of this upcoming meeting approved of the meeting coming forward. the final detail, and this is an important one, is that we're told michael cohen says there were other people in the room besides then candida

the michael cohen tapes. the secret recording of president trump back in 2016 made by cohen in which he and then-candidate trump discuss arrangements surrounding a payment to former playboy playmate karen mcdougal that was made by a third party, david pecker, as head of the "national enquirer." this all happened in the months before the election. now, this is not a great quality recording, and that will be relevant to its analysis. so, first, i want to play you the entire recording, not all of which is relevant to the payment. so listen for yourself. >> let me know what's happening, okay? oh. oh. maybe because of this, it would be better if you didn't go, you know? maybe because of this, for that one -- you know -- get rid of this because it's so false what they're saying. it's such bullshit. i think -- i think this goes away quickly. i think what -- i think it's probably better, do the charleston thing just this time. yeah. in two weeks, it's fine. i think right now it's better, you know? okay, honey. you take care of yourself. thanks. yup. i'm proud of you. so long. bye. what's up,

tapes that michael cohen made of his conversations with people discussing matters that could relate to donald trump and his businesses, including with trump himself talking to michael cohen on the tapes. i want to go to sleep and wake up when the tape story is over. is there a snooze alarm for that? that does it for us tonight. i'll see you again tomorrow. now it is time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. >> you are lucky because i love the tapes. i'll take all the tapes they can send me. 100, so that's, let's say, i'd go for one every other day. >> yeah. i don't know why it makes me so crazy. part of it is we only have access to them because they are being leaked to us by people who want us to think and conclude and have feelings about them in certain ways that they think is to their advantage, which i am just allergic to anyway. but the other part is like, you taped your client. gross. i don't want to live in your world. >> having grown up in courtrooms where i was listening to wiretaps run by the government and then living through watergate where information did come out

insists michael cohen is not to be trusted. >> the man is a pathological, manipulator, liar. these tapes are completely demonstrate the president did nothing wrong. it seems to me his default position is to lie. he's bad liar. >> for the first time rudy giuliani is saying how many more recordings there could be and what is on them. >>> the president versus the press. trump calls the media the enemy of the people and new york times is fighting back. >>> not going anywhere. new reporting on what's next for jared and ivanka coming up knicks here on msnbc limsnbc li. >>> here is rudy giuliani, president trump's attorney in an interview this morning. >> we know of something like 183 unique conversations. that are on tape. one involving the president. there are 12 others, maybe 11 or 12 others out of 183 in which the president is discussed at any length by cohen, mostly with reporters. all clearly corroborating what the president has said in detail on many of those tweets. he didn't know about the payments to either one. he only found out later. cohen made them not for the kpa campaign. he say

trump's fixer michael cohen. shortly after trump's son baron was born. this is not about stormy daniels. it is a different alleged affair with a different adult performer involving a different hush money payment. in august 2016, shortly before election day. the parent company of "national enquirer," ami, paid mcdougal $150,000. and had her sign a disclosure agreements. the deal appears to be a so-called catch and kill. that brings us to today's revelation which was broken by the "new york times" and confirmed by rudy giuliani. federal investigators seized a recording of a conversation made. the two men discussed the payment of mcdougal. the president was unaware that he was being recorded and cnn is reporting tonight that when informed about the recording, trump said i can't believe michael would do this to me. federal investigators have more tape. the "washington post" reported that cohen sometimes taped conversations with associates. the white house is not commenting on the mcdougal tapes. i want to bring in one of the reporters who broke the story. reporter with the "new york

i'm a healthy 5'10". is this a little better? >> now you look like you're in a high chair. >> where's my mapo. >> if you could lower your chair. and michael schmidt, senior reporter of "vanity fair," and with us from washington, national political reporter heidi przybyla and white house bureau chief and political analyst for msnbc and "nbc news at sunrise," phillip rucker. joe and mika are off. they'll be back monday. and reported on michael cone extensively, wired into that world better than anybody, donny deutsch knows michael well. >> it's like the michael cohen friends, family and tormentoring table. >> michael cohen reportedly has a story to tell. nbc news confirmed cohen is willing to inform robert mueller that donald trump as a candidate knew about that 201 meeting between russians and his top campaign aides at trump tower. a knowledgeable source says the president's former attorney is willing to tell special counsel donald trump jr. told his father in advance of the meeting. cohen's plames first rors erepoy cnn, cohen doesn't have evidence to back up his story and cnn reporting a source familiar with cone's testimony to the house intelligence committee says cohen did not testify that trump had advance knowledge, nor does that claim appear in either of the committee's reports. delining comment, his attorney, lanny davis. i have to wonder why the trump people put that story out. it was not from us. rudy giuliani had this to say. >> i expected something from this from cohen. lying a week, two weeks. lying for years. i don't see how he has any credibility. if he had a trial, and there won't be, which lie do you want to pick? the first lie, second lie or maybe some new lie. there's nobody i know that knows him that hasn't warned me that if his back is up against the wall he'll lie like crazy, because he's lied all his life. >> emily jane fox. >> doesn't it sound like he was talking about donald trump? if you took those words and applied them to the president of the united states, sounds like -- >> talk about what he's talking about. talking about michael cohen there. it is true michael cohen does not have evidence of his claim it is true it does not appear in either of the reports that came out. cohen testified before the senate intel committee and didn't bring up this allegation there either. according to your reporting is he willing to present some evidence that he knew donald trump knew in advance about this meeting? >> i roberted monday people in cohen world said he had information that robert mueller and his investigation would be interested in, and three people at that time told me that some of that had to do with that trump tower meeting. this is something that has been in the air and in the orbit and talked about in cohen world. it is my sense there is not necessarily a smoking gun, a piece of evidence that the government collected from his apartment, hotel room and office, but that doesn't mean he's not able to provide context in respect were other people in the room. rudy giuliani denied last night on cnn the other people in the room said that, but the real issue here is that there are credibility issues on both sides. we know rudy giuliani was untruthful on friday when describing the audio recording that was released. said it was completely exculpatory, the president brought up paying with a check. clear from the audio recording that we've heard now that that is not what michael cohen and the president had talked about in that conversation and so it's hard to know who is telling the truth but i think what is clear is that michael cohen believes he has a lot to offer prosecutors, but the fact that this came out limits his ability to do so. this is not a great day for michael cohen and people in his orbit are frustrated and furious and feel like this is not what they wanted to have happen and now how they wanted this to play out t. is it true, michael smith, the report comes out at a time cohen feels his back is up against the wall, has taken a more aggressive stance, hiring lanny davis, putting him on tv, providing tapes to cnn, of course, and perhaps this information cohen is willing to provide to robert mueller would get him out of trouble elsewhere. >> had e has two problems with the justice department. a new york problem and a washington problem. what he wants to do is, he wants to use anything he has to offer to solve both of them. so could he make a global deal with the justice department? could he sit down and say, look, i know mueller's interested in this. i know the guys in new york want to know this. here's my exposure. can i do that? you need a very skilled lawyer to do that, and the justice department is going to frown, i think, upon this continued public discussion that has gone on with these lawyers, with lanny out there discussing things the way he has. i'm not sure how this has helped michael cohen. i'm just not sure. >> clear, donny, we're a long way from, i would take a bullet for donald trump in terms of where michael cohen's head is right now. >> yeah. >> and his stance towards the president of the united states. >> we're about as far away from that as you could possibly get. jumping off emily's point also. micha michael, and my past conversations with michael, michael's made clear to mere, number one a man he worked for over a decade. nothing went on in this business without donald knowing about it, and he had led me to believe that he could bring trump back to russia. that he -- what came out yesterday to me was not a surprised based on conversations michael and i had had. that without a specific piece of paper, that he -- not exact words, but that everything going on, trump knew about. >> did he reference this meeting in particular when you talked to him? >> yes, he did. this was several months ago and maybe somebody else was even in the room when that discussion happened. so i -- this is what it's going to come down to, and i think michael to emily's point also is frustrated, because other than one or two of the statements he's made, he really, by his lawyer's advice and friends advice, has understood, it's time to be quiet. what's happening, he's being pulled out and very caught in between, i know i have to lay low. got wait for my day in court figuratively but i got to punch back once in a while and a constant battle, frankly, between lanny and his attorneys, obviously, saying nothing. a kind of emotional daily coaster how he does it. the piggest story of yesterday, last month, the cfo that emily also -- >> the trump organization cfo, yes. >> that, and i've said it from the beginning. this is going to come back to 15, 20, 30 years of slimy, dishonest, underhanded business dealings. dhaect wi connect that with russia and other things we haven't even talked about. >> john? >> this isn't the first time we've heard assertion from michael cohen. steve bannon acknowledged -- he wasn't in the trump campaign at the time, but formed speculation and retroactive informed speculation, another person super close to donald trump basically has direct knowledge, claims to have direct knowledge or believes what a lot of us believe, that a meeting of this importance held by don junior would not be something not reported to this father. that rings true to a lot of people. the question for you, emily, is this -- you were early, ahead of everybody, on the notion that when the information came out there was a tape that it was not michael cohen that would have put that out but the trump side. you hit that head-on. the suggestion, that's happening now. not michael cohen but somehow put out by donald trump's side. i understood in the first instance why the trump people would have wanted to get ahead of a tape and try to contextualize it, spin it, set it up that they knew it would come out anyway. what is, a., do you think this is the trump people for sure who put it out. number one. and two, the new information, this is different. there's not a tape to contextualize. no factual basis, why would the trump people do this? >> it's hard to understand anyone's motivation. you could argue both sides. in cohen world, the discussion, how does this serve us? absolutely no benefit for michael cohen. he is not seeking a pardon. not something he's interested in or looking for. not sending a smoke signal there. it would hinder his ability to cooperate with prosecutors if they feel a card has been taken from his deck and he doesn't have as much to offer him now. the trump motivation -- look, michael cohen was very vocal in his step knhanopoulos interview abc. two things stood out. stephanopoulos knew to ask about payments to women, came out in the recording and to ask about the tower meeting. at the time, interesting those two things were asked about. i don't think it was an accident. rudy giuliani and the legal team had a preview of two cards in michael cohen's deck. so it's possible because they knew those were two things on michael cohen's mind, because there was maybe this meeting that happened and people in trump's orbit maybe were in that meeting in trump tower, they're trying to get ahead of two things michael cohen signaled he was willing to talk to investigators about. >> if the reported claims are true, no evidence yet presented to that effect, donald trump told his father in advance of the 2016 meeting with russians it would contradict claims from trump and his son after the "new york times" broke the story one year ago. >> a lot of people are going to want to know this about your father. did you tell your father anything about this? >> no. it was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell. i mean, i wouldn't even have remembered it, until you start scouring through the stuff. >> did you know at the time that they had the meeting? >> no, i didn't know anything about the meeting. you know, it must have been a very unimportant meeting because i never even heard that. >> no one told you a word? nothing? >> nobody told me. no. nobody told me. i didn't know. it's a very -- sounded like a very unimportant meeting there we have a piece of michael schmidts conversation with the conversation and maggie haberman his colleague. heidi przybyla, go to you first on the congressional side of this, because they're saying that, you know, this never came up in the house intelligence meetings. is it possible that donald trump jr. lied to congress? >> reporter: it's possible. we don't know exactly, because we don't have those transcripts, but i will note a very important timeline in this in terms of who's going to be able -- who's going to be questioned additionally about this. in terms of don junior, what he knew and also paul manafort and what he knew. what we know is that don junior made two calls around this meeting to a blocked number, which was the modem operandi for him calling his father to a blocked number. one before, one after. we know from movements outside and inside trump tower trump was physically present during that meeting and we know that within hours afterwards, he was meeting up with paul manafort at a luncheon just down the street. so there would have been every opportunity for the president to have been briefed and, again, to take you back to steve bannon's remarks in the book it is incredulous to believe that the president hadn't been debriefed. so i think where this becomes important if they're going to try to discredit michael cohen is to look for corroboration from others who would have known, and, of course, if don junior told fox news, that may be -- you know, come out as a lie. >> i want to go back to the line john heilemann quoted from steve bannon in the michael wolfe book "fire and fury." called it treasonous, did bannon. went on to say the chance don junior did not walk the russians up to his father's office on the 26th floor is zero. doesn't suggest he knew about it beforehand but may have known about it is what it suggests. >>> the man known at the gatekeeper ordered before a federal grand jury. the "wall street journal" reports allen weisselberg, chief financial officer and executive vice president of the trump organization subpoenaed by the southern district of new york in the michael cohen investigation. sources familiar with the probe told the journal weiselberg is considered a witness. last year he arranged for the trump organization to pay cohen after he made a $130,000 payment to stephanie clifford, known as stormy daniels, to keep quiet about an alleged affair. one of the president's closest and oldest business associates weiselberg worked with trump since the 1980s and even featured on "the apprentice." days before inaugurated turned over his business to two grown sons under weiselberg's guidance. neither he nor the trump administration responded for comments. e got this yesterday. just got off the phone. echoed the subpoena. allen knows anything and everything about all financials, every dollar that goes in and every dollar that leaves. he knows where all the bodies are buried. what's the significance of this specific story? we know who he is as a character in trump's world but on the specifics here, what's the significance? >> it shows that there's real interest on the mueller team and to the finances of the trump organization, which first of all is going to bother the president intensely. he, i think, is going to view this as an incrouchment. going beyond sort of the russia mandate of thisinvestigation, but troubling for the president so many financials of his company are kept secret, kept from the public. he has not released his tax returns like other presidential candidates and other presidents have. there's a great interest learning more about his finances. where does he make his money? how does he invest his money and how much is coming in and out of the organization, and weiselberg is the one character who knows all of that. he has kind of full visibility into the financial portrait of the trump organization and of donald trump personally, and has had that visibility for decades now. so he has a lot of value to the mueller team, you know, if, in fact, he is questioned on this. >> michael schmidt, you've been reporting on this, too, and we know this has been the president's kind of red line as concerns of the mueller investigation broadly, but what is your reporting telling you what exactly it is they want from weiselberg? >> weiselberg knows about -- as we heard from the tape recording, how the payment was going to be made to ami to buy the story from the model. >> that's karen mcdougal. >> correct. he knows how that money was moving. so if you're investigating michael cohen, trying to figure out what that was all about and what the intent was for the payment and whether it violated campaign finance laws, you're going to need to talk to him. the question is, how much broader does it go than that? as you said, we tried to pin the president down on this. we spoke to him last july in what i called the faulty red line. most red lines are. looking at finances does that violate the red line? he basically says that. we're talking about mueller at that point. now we're talking about prosecutors in the southern district of new york looking at his finances. his same justice departmepresid. does that violate the president's red line? did michael cohen's home, offices and hotel room months ago and the president has done nothing about that. i can't believe the president will look at them talking to, you know, to weiselberg as a great thing, and i'll be very interested to see what his reactions are. a lot of stories yesterday about a lot of different legal things about the president, and i can't imagine he's going to be happy about it. >> clarify one legal thing. there is no ittant client privileg not an accountant client privilege? right? >> no. >> and did bob mueller, does he have donald trump's tax returns? would he have access to those? a question that swirled around sd? does he have full -- >> never been able to answer that in a reporting way. no one has been able to in any way. talk to folks, prosecutors, current and former doj types they say there's no way you would do a big, white collar investigation without starting with the tax returns. >> no bar to him, given the kind of prosecutorial power he has, no way he would be prohibited from those returns? >> a request he has to make and has a lot more powers. >> this weiselberg thing. everybody talking about cohen being a john dean. i think this is your john dean. wherever it starts -- if a cfo is complicit, they're as guilty as the person doing it. whatever he's called in for, end of the day, in any kind of trouble what else does he have? he has everything. i ran a company for many, many years. >> donny has a lot of familiarity with corrupt accountants. >> yes, and a cfo, everything he does, executes every dollar in, dollar out, every business -- if donald trump ever did anything dishonest and i'm not accusing him. weiselberg was the financial executor of that. when i read that yesterday, i was like, whoa. you know, rome is really burning, and to say that donald trump is not happy about that, i think to him this is even scarier than michael cohen. >> isn't itny you hear over and over, a lot of people saying where the bodies are buried. how many bodies, and where do you bury them? >> the cfo, by your side -- >> running a certain kind of operation? >> yes. any body burrier whisperers those are the people. >> and phil, the president's financial ties, his relationships and business terms with russia and other places have always been in the background of this investigation, always in the background of people's suspicions about how he dealt with russia over the course of the campaign. how his campaign did. this guy might be the key to answering some of those questions? >> that's right, and it's also suspicious, because the president has sought to keep this information secret for so many years from the public. >> right. >> despite the protocols and practices of presidential campaigns in the past. and so that's why there's been such intense public interest in his finances and the tax returns. you know, we simply don't know what the investigators have at this point but weiselberg could be a very key piece in their investigation. >> as always, on a reporting spree. the other big story in the "times" yesterday, robert mueller reportedly examining president trump's tweets as part of his probe into the obstruction of justice, or potential obstruction of justice. surprising mueller would look at these? it's public information. i assume he would look at all the tweets. >> the way to look at the tweets is, what if we found out he said these things in private? what would our reactions have been? we would say, wow. i can't believe the president was doing this. i can't believe the president was trying to influence these folks in this way. and because the president has done it publicly, we kind of lose sight of that. >> right. >> if you're looking at trying to understand the president's intei inte intent, by do these things? different actions with sessions, comey and his own lawyers at the white house, you have to look at the things he said himself. these statements that give an insight into his thoughts. most lawyers tell you if you're under investigation don't talk about it. especially under investigation for obstruction, you really shouldn't talk about it, but he has continued to do that. if you look at the 49 questions mueller wants to ask trump about, several of them are just about his public statements. what was he saying publicly? >> we talk about this case. funny, somebody said on the set several months ago watergate had to comb clue fithrough and find tapes, with president trump, an interview with lester holt broadcast to 10 million people. >> right. makes potential for the appreciate tapes to be that much more salacious. willing to say these things in public, imagine what he's said in private? >> and not to do with tweets in the context of the president's campaign on the basis of all reporting that i did at that time. every single donald trump tweet was preceded by him saying the same thing to people around him 100 times. 50 times 12shgs ti s 12 times, . the thing he would obsess over and say to hoke hicks, campaign staffer, over and over and pop out of the tweet, or the tweet was the first thing on this mind. tweeted it and repeated to everyone around him with more profanity or emphasis. never isolated things that trump comes up with once. these are the things on his mind at that moment and this is the way he vents it. again, i can't speak to specific tweet but the pattern of trump is that the twitter thing is, is one expression of the mental echo chamber that is what's going on in that head of his at any given moment. >> emily before we let e go, what do we look for next with michael cohen? frustrated about this latest story. what's the next move with lanny davis by his side? >> i think the sentiment is they feel like they've been kicked with steel toed boots by rudy giuliani and going forward if they feel they're kicked they're going to kick back and kick back harder. who know what is to come. >> phil rucker what are you looking at today? >> i want to see how the president reacts to this. heading to bedminster, new jersey, to his golf course over the weekend. tends to visit with a lot of new york friends there, let's loose on the golf course. see if there's a tweet storm tomorrow morning as there often is on saturday mornings. >> and rainy weather here in new york. important to point out. indoors. plenty of time to tweet. >> thank you so much. >> you know what schmidt's doing today? >> looking to see where all the bodies are buried on you. >> i've seen his work. i don't want him doing that. >>> and still ahead, ahead of midterm elections, "daily beast" reporting the story, and sam stein joins the table with what the "beast" found out. >>> plus, former chairman of the rnc michael steele joins us or sean spicer calls him in his new book, the author of that infamous trump dossier. what? we'll clear that up next on "morning joe." are you ready to take your wifi to the next level? then you need xfinity xfi. a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. >>> former white house press secretary sean spicer's new pook reportedly full of mistakes and errors. white house correspondent jonathan karl wrote in a recent review for the "wall street journal" spicer's memoir is much like this tenuous press secretary. short littered with inaccuracies offering one consistent theme. mr. trump can do no wrong. here's one example. john carl points it out to us. "mr. spice hear not been well served by the fact checkers and copy editors referring to the anger of the infamous trump dossier and michael steele who is in truth the former chairman of the republican national committee and not the british ex-spy christopher steele. >> although possibly one of the co-authors of the dossier. >> michael steele was an mi-6 agent for a time. michael, good morning. what hand did you have in the dossier and why have you kept it quiet so long? >> i just have, only thick -- thing i have to say is steele. michael steele tlrchlts . >> there it is. >> and mr. stein, welcome. >> thank you. donny the suit is greater than your entire -- >> probably. >> even when i show the proper respect for the show and dress wa is a torial splendor i still guess abused. >> i'm not abusing you. that was a compliment. >> thank you. >> nobody wants to see that baby gap t-shirt, donny. >> brendan fraser? >> a good movie. yeah. all right. let's get to the "daily beast" big scoop. democratic senator claire mccaskill of missouri first identified candidate targeted by russian hackers ahead of the campaign elections. >> they don't know what they're get toing into. >> the first to report the hack attempt. president trump was in missouri chastising mccaskill and asking the crowd to vote her our office. we first learned of russia's midterm hacking attempts last week during a security forum. >> earlier this year we did discover that a fake microsoft domain had been established as the landing page for phishing attacks and saw metadata suggesting those attacks were being directed at three candidates who are all stand are for election in the mid-term elections. all people who, because of their positions, might have been interesting targets from an espionage standpoint as well as an election disruption standpoint. >> senator mccaskill has been highly critical of russia and a top senate democrat facing tough re-election this year issued a statement saying the cyber attack was unsuccessful and "it is outrageous they think they can get away with this. i will not be intimidated." amazing report worth everybody's read at the "daily beast" sam. why senator mccaskill? >> a really good question and also an unanswered question. there is the coincidental times of trump going to missouri, vote her out. within a month this happens. she was highly critical of russia, also of wikileaks. those are circumstantial. what struck me about this was just how unsophisticated the whole thing is. really. they set up a fake page. tell you your e-mail password expired and ask you to log in and change it. that's it. anybody can be duped by that. >> the verification. two-step verification. >> i talked to a cyber security expert on the democratic side of the ledger who said this is the simplistic elements of this. they will catch up with people if they aren't prepared. anyone running for 2020, your campaign may not be targeted during that campaign but aides working on campaigns and go to your campaign may be targeted now and may bring that hacker with them when they come to your campaign. it's unsophisticated but definitely malicious. >> kasie, something they're worried about on capitol hill before this report even came out? such a high-profile senator targeted it could be anybody? >> sure. something -- not the first time it's happened. other members of congress, on a lower profile scale have been targeted using similar methods as we saw with john podesta's e-mails in the presidential campaign. it's something a lot of members despite the president's repeated insistence none is happening, doesn't matter, don't look at that. members of congress especially those on the intelligence committee have access to deep information about these kinds of attempts to penetrate their campaigns and are concerned about it. to sam's point, a lot of these congressional campaigns, they aren't presidential campaigns. john heilemann you know this. you've covered both. often they're shoestring operations, often inexperienced -- people have to start some place. they're often young. you can make a mistake like this. sometimes the people who be most vulnerable are actually people who are older. john podesta, for example, fell victim to this whereas other staffers didn't. >> think about congressional campaigns. a lot of these campaigns, not like they have an i.t. department and their security amounts to a mcafee anti-virus heavy installed in their computers. they're not running with the he of vigilance or technical sophistication of a presidential campaign and not just congress' campaigns. a lot of senate campaigns don't have anybody that resembled, even multimillion senate campaigns don't have anything that resembles an i.t. department unlike the multibill dollar campaign hillary clinton campaign and donald trump campaign is involved in. you said, kasie. even those with all vigilance and focus and knowing they might be targeted, still you can find someone like john podesta and others on the campaign, simple mistakes that ended up causing a huge amount of chaos. >> michael steele, a new world. i imagine it wasn't something you worried aen to about when you were chair of the rnc? >> actually not as much then as now. i mean, we did find interestingly enough, when i came in as chairman, that a significant number of state party operations didn't have websites or had poorly managed websites. so every little entry point was vulnerable and has been vulnerable for quite some time. there was a point in that period where everybody was focused on the democratic party being hacked. folks now realize the republican party was hacked as well. so despite this idea that this was a push to sort of help trump or help hillary clinton, the bottom line is that we had foreign agents who figured out the play inside of our electoral system. it's a big deal for 2018, folks. do not underestimate the opportunity here with so much on the line in terms of power and control of the house. how that plays out in ledge installation could impact russian interests, between now and 2020. so there's a lot at stake and claire mccaskill's campaign is the tip of a very, very deep iceberg. >> just one really quick thing. the reality is, like in presidential campaigns. back to john kerry, 2008 campaign. always have been successful hacks of presidential campaigns. the difference between what happened 2016 and what will happen now and in past effort, the past efforts generally done by the chinese looking for information, not weaponizing that information. 2016 to 2018, hacking the information and putting it out in order to cause political damage as opposed to just gaining intelligence. >> donny, what's the obligation these campaigns should have? one of the big fights i've covered on the hill is calls for people to stay away from whatever information is gleaned by russian hacking attempts. don't put it in your ads. don't spend money pushing a claim that was hacked? >> speaking, before i get to that question, speaking of hacking. still stuns me. last week, week before, the republicans voted down a bill that would have added additional money to protect our voting apparatus. talking about hacking into people's e-mails. actually said, no, no. we're not going to spend money to make sure the process of 2018 and '20 going forward is protected. the same technology. hacking is hacking. if we ever get to the point where people are doubting electio elections, it's over. as far as, kasie, your question, i go back to bringing it back to trump. i believe at the time in the idiot defense. i even believed at the time when trump was getting the information from russians. this is great! you know? i think that there's now obviously a heightened understanding of anybody, any gray areas whatsoever about getting money from i mean, getting information from hostile foreign actors, i think right now every campaign would have an over sensitivity to it. >> there's actually conversations happening right now between the top people at the democratic house campaign arm and the republican how campaign arm about this very question. what do you do when hacked material makes its way into the public domain? they're at an impasse right now. the democratic campaign arm is saying under no circumstances should anyone use that material whatsoever. make a pact in that way. it can't be weaponized or can be but won't be as damaging. the republican position has been, how can we ignore hacked material that makes its way out into the press? say the "new york times" writes a big expose. are we at that point not allowed to reference the "new york times" or the "washington post" material? so that's where the impasse is, and i don't see how you bridge that divide. i know they're trying to figure out a way, were ut if it's in the public domain and republicans say we should have to use it, democrats saying, no. can't use that. >> that's what happened in the 2016 campaign with the podesta e-mails. flooded out and the public's fear. >> 2016 campaign one instance i believe on the debate stage a candidate specifically referenced -- not the president's, congressional. specifically referenced hacked materials. that would have been a step too far in the current discussions that they're talking about. >> and heidi przybyla, you cover capitol hill. a public case of senator mccaskill, attempted hacking. not successful. what's the level of concern you pick up among other members? >> reporter: i think there a divide between the hill and this administration, because you saw recently the department of homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen downplay this threat and at the same time if there is one issue where republicans and democrats are aligning, it is on the issue of election security. they've already, without making a lot of hay, disbursed more money to the states for election security. there is now pending consideration for another disbursement of money to the states. to the question of why claire mccaskill, though? as you discussed earlier. go with the most obvious explanation, which is that donald trump has had no pretense unlike with some of the other red state democrats of having any kind of a good relationship with claire mccaskill. they've -- he went to missouri and criticized her in her own state, unlike what he's done with some of these other red state democrats. she came out early in opposition to brett kavanaugh, unlike the other red state democrats. they've had prediction frfricti beginning. she's an obvious target and where you see the interests of these russian bots and the russian campaign, aligned directly with the president. it will be interesting to find out who those other two democratic members are, and also to understand what the scope is going into 2018, because facebook, zuckerberg, was just questioned in a conference call recently and he flat out refused to say what they know about what's already going on in 2018 on his platform. >> worth reading the piece at "the daily beast" today. >>> and jonathan swan coming up. going to break, the white house note add minor change to the president's travel plans yesterday morning. citing bad weather and fog. a problem with that. our own hallie jackson 30e679po the view from my white house window, the president will take a car to andrews rather than is via helicopter where reporters can gather to take questions. perhaps even the weather has become fake news. we'll be right back on "morning joe." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. the full value oft wyour new car? you'd be better off throwing your money right into the harbor. i'm gonna regret that. with liberty mutual new car replacement we'll replace the full value of your car. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ >>> joining us now from washington, national political reporter for axaxios, jonathan swan. a rapically changing view of president trump. what did you find? >> michael cohen told friends after the helsinki press conference he felt that was a turning point in the trump presidency, and he said that he's long questioned trump's fitness to the president, but had no occasion to question trump's loyalty to the country. quite a different thing. i texted with michael cohen about this and quite significantly he didn't deny it. he said he wasn't going to comment on somebody's innuendo. would you like to deny it? as emily and others on the panel who have dealt with michael know, he's never shy to correct you when you have something wrong. so i thought that was quite telling. >> jonathan, he says he's long questioned the president's fitness to the president. he defended him at every turn until about a month ago. >> seems a little convenient, willie, and count me in the camp of skeptics who don't quite believe yet tbd on michael's moral awakening. i'm still putting a little asterisk next to that one. two things out of last night. number one, emily is absolutely correct that the line from the cohen camp is, why in god's name would we have leaked this? it's not in our interests. and look, i do kind of buy that. i mean it would be as michael, as schmidt pointed out, it's insane. i mean, if you take this to mueller before you would air it publicly. there is no strategic reason for doing that. i don't know who leaked it but i can at least buy their line there. another, a friend of michael's also pointed out to me that they described it as ironic that president trump, who lied about this meeting in a statement from air force one would then deploy rudy giuliani to describe michael cohen as a liar. so, you know, that irony was not lost on them. >> donny, the idea michael cohen turned because of helsinki brought a smile to your face. >> interesting. i spoke to him a day after that. he was like, can you believe it? i think it's continued validation of decisions he'd made. that was not a turning point. that was, maybe, the opposite of buyer's remorse or buyer's validation. >> isn't this the simplest thing in the worlds, always been the simplest thing in the world. michael cohen realized there's no loyalty in donald trump, headed in his direction and now he's going to protect himself. not going to jail for a guy totally disloyal to me. >> the irony in all this, bizarre part about trump, talked about it on tv at the beginning, to the point i wouldn't understand. michael what are you doing? in his dna it wasn't in him to turn on trudge. and, yes. i don't think there needs to be anymore prognostication what's happening here. >> jonathan is your view, and your reporting out of the white house, that michael cohen is a dangerous problem for this president? or do they feel they can discredit him in a way rudy giuliani tried to do last night? >> well, firstly, just to donny's point, to be clear. i don't believe that michael cohen -- this was a turning point for him. i think it's interesting that he's saying this to people. it's, again, more of an indication he really quite violently turned against the president and questioning his loyalty toy country and things like that. i don't believe for a second this was a turning point. inside the white house, look, when the revelation came out about the investigation and cohen's office raided, there was no single event that got people's attention and rattled people around the president like that. and i don't know about -- i mean, i'm curious to know about weiselberg. i still don't have firsthand knowledge how trump reacted to that, but seems to me that's the only event with the same level of personal exposure to trump. >> okay. been at trump's side something like 35 years. jonathan swan, find his reporting at axios. thank you. >>> and north korea handed over the remains of u.s. servicemen killed during the verien war. we go like to the pentagon for the latest, next on "morning joe." so, dave here is taking the family up to the lake for the weekend. but without the white knuckles this time. 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"morning joe" is coming right back. >> i love this twittering and tweeting. i love it, because, you know, i'm bigger than the "new york times." i got tons of people. >> if i didn't have social media i probably wouldn't be standing here. i wouldn't be able to get the word out. >> you see all over television. we have breaking news, and i may be tweeting from bed, okay. >> if i put out like a 140-character tweet, they go crazy. we have breaking news. they break into every story. so -- so you've got to use it. to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource. to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com appointments available now. welcome to holiday inn! thank you! ♪ ♪ wait, i have something for you! every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. save up to 15% when you book early at hollidayinn.com save up to 15% when you book early if your adventure... ...keeps turning into unexpected bathroom trips... ...you may have overactive bladder, or oab. ohhhh...enough already! we need to see a doctor. ask your doctor about myrbetriq® (mirabegron). it treats oab symptoms of urgency, frequency, and leakage. it's the first and only oab treatment in its class. myrbetriq may increase blood pressure. tell your doctor right away if you have trouble emptying your bladder or have a weak urine stream. myrbetriq may cause serious allergic reactions... ...like swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, or trouble breathing. if experienced, stop taking and tell your doctor right away. myrbetriq may interact with other medicines. tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems. common side effects include increased blood pressure, common cold or flu symptoms,... ...sinus irritation, dry mouth, urinary tract infection, bladder inflammation,... ...back or joint pain, constipation, dizziness, and headache. need some help managing your oab symptoms along the way? ask your doctor if myrbetriq is right for you, and visit myrbetriq.com to learn more. through the stuff. >> did you know at the time that they had the meeting. >> no. >> it must have been a very important -- must have been a very important meeting. >> no one told you a word. nothing? >> no, nobody. >>> donald trump talking to the "new york times" a year ago. donald trump's former lawyer michael cohen says those claims are a lie. nbc news has confirmed that michael cohen is willing to inform special counsel robert mueller that donald trump as a candidate knew in advance about the june 2016 trump tower meeting with russians. welcome back to "morning joe". it's friday, july 27th, 2018. i'm willie geist alongside kasie hunt. get lawrence in. we got john hyland, donny deutsch, michael schmidt, former chairman of the renational committee, michael steele and joining our conversation, eugene robinson, the former u.s. attorney for northern district of alabama joyce vance and as promised the host of msnbc's last word lawrence o'donnell, joe and mika will be back on monday. >> this is no longer a show, it's a gathering. >> i get an hour every night. joyce vance, go ahead. >> genuinely curious how we got you up early. >> the threat came late at night. i can't remember what the terms were. but here i am. >> we caught you at a weak moment. nbc confirmed michael cohen is willing to inform robert mueller that donald trump as a candidate knew about that 2016 meeting between russians and his top campaign aides at trump tower. he's willing to tell special counsel that donald trump jr. told his father in advance of that meeting. cohen's claims were first reported last night by cnn whose source said cohen does not have evidence to back up his story. cnn reported the source familiar with cohen's testimony to the house intelligence committee says cohen did not testify that trump had advance knowledge nor does this claim appear in either of the committee's report. cohen's lawyer declined comment but reportedly told cnn i have to wonder why the trump people put out that story, it was not from us. president trump's lawyer rudy giuliani had this to say. >> he's not credible. i wouldn't accept him as a witness as a prosecutor. if mueller has any kind of case this is a kind of witness that can destroy your whole case because any finder of fact loses confidence in the case when you rely on a guy like this. when you rely on a guy before you're finished with him you'll have a string of lies, you just can't trust him. when you put him under this kind of pressure, what's his history. history is lying under pressure. >> let's sort through this. we got this reported claim made by michael cohen, reported that he doesn't have specific, hard evidence to support it. that he did not testify to this when he was in front of the house intelligence committee. he also testified in front of the senate house intelligence committee. do you believe his claim that president trump knew beforehand about the june 2016 meeting? >> no. there's no reason to believe the claim. we haven't even heard the claim from the person who we expect at some point possibly to hear the claim from. we're some distance from believing it. what's really fun about rudy giuliani saying well, you know, michael cohen is a liar and he's lied about other things therefore you can't believe anything he says and you never use a liar in court. this is an experienced former u.s. attorney. never use a liar in court. one thing we know about this meet sewing far, one big lie that's been told is donald trump's own version of this meeting which he dictated to the "new york times". that's proven tube lie. we know donald trump has already lied about the meeting. but rudy giuliani and using liars in court, rudy giuliani ran mafia prosecutions down here in the same courthouse that michael cohen is going to find himself in possibly some day. he used mafia murderers as his witness to testify against other mafia murderers. and the jury sat there and decided which mafia murderer do they want to believe and they believe rudy's. they took his mafia murderers and said yes we believe you that guy is guilty. as joyce vance can tell us, prosecutors and lawyers have been using proven, demonstrated liars in court to testify and testify successfully for literally hundreds of years. >> since the invention of courtrooms. >> yes. >> joyce vance, to that point, i mean weigh in here. aside from the richness of the rudy giuliani saying you can't trust anybody who doesn't tell the truth in public when he represents the president. >> prosecutors don't get to pick their own witnesses. the defendants pick the witnesses that prosecutors end up using. they pick the people that they choose to participate in crimes with who become government cooperators. really the prosecutor's job is to explain to the jury in a credible, candid way why the witness has lied in the past and why the jury should have some comfort in believing them now and prosecutors cluing rudy giuliani have done that with great success over the years. i think what we're really seeing here from giuliani is he's trying to talk to an audience of one, but it's not the president. it's bob mueller. he's trying to give mull ear reason to not pick up cohen as a cooperator, cohen is not credible, he's a liar, no jury will ever believe him and that tells me that giuliani and the

between president trump and his former fixer, michael cohen escalates over a taped conversation and claims the president knew about that trumped our meeting with the russian lawyer.he will discuss what it means for the special counsel investigation with the president's lead lawyer, rudy giuliani. >>> plus, getting to the bottom of what happened in helsinki. >> did he tell you whether or not, what happened to those two hours? >> yes, the predicate of your question implies some notion that there something improper about a one-on-one meeting. >> i didn't ask you predicate, i asked you a simple question. >>chris: we will talk about mike pompeo's hotseat. alright now on "fox news sunday". hello again from fox news in washington. the gloves are off in the fight between president trump and his former attorney michael cohen. the president lead lawyer rudy giuliani will be here to talk about why the - - is no longer in effect. but first, the republican plan to hold on to control to congress relies heavily on a growing economy. one president trump took full credit for on friday. the president

seized from michael cohen, his hotel, his home and his office. and it is our understanding that it is a brief record iing, i thk it was early september, in which they can be heard discussing, it was a conversation between the two, they can be heard discussing the payments by ami to karen mcdoogle for the rights to her story where she claimed to have an affair with president trump before he ran for office. they never commented on that story. they claimed it was an additional payment for her silence. apparently on the audio, you can hear mr. trump saying it should be done through a check, and not by cash. what his lawyer said to us, rudy giuliani is that shows that he wasn't trying to hide it, that this was above board because he knows that a check can be subpoenaed or bank records can be subpoenaed and our understanding was that payment was never made. but it does raise questions as to why it is that the trump campaign in october 2016 when the wall street journal asked about these payments, asked about ami and karen mcdoogle that they didn't know anything about it. he apparently knew abo

spoke to rudy giuliani, he said that the discussion on the tape was about whether michael cohen himself should make a payment to ms. mcdougal. then a couple of hours later, he says i want to clarify that. what we are talking about is whether cohen should buy the rights to mcdougal's story. this is especially important. let's remember that the "wall street journal" broke the existence of the secret deal, the deal to keep the story quiet a few days before the election. and the trump campaign said we know nothing about it. and now we find this tape exists and suddenly they are talking about it. >> a substantive conversation occurred. we are going to get to the legal implications in a moment. first i want to talk to you about what rudy giuliani's interesting spin has been. he says in the big scheme of things, it's powerful exculpatory evidence. that may not be the same conclusion that everybody else comes to. but what do you think he means by that? >> his view is that the president was saying, if you are going to make a payment, you should make a payment by check and not by cash so there is

east. 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. going to war, new reporting michael cohen is prepared to tell all to robert mueller about what may now be the most famous meeting ever to take place at trump tower. >> this is about truth versus lying and ultimately donald trump is going to be done in by the truth. >> and why some of trump's tweets could be dangerous for the president. >> plus, what plan we are 101 days out from the midterm elections and there is still no strategy for security. how vulnerable is our democracy this november? >> and this town ain't big enough for two. two of the most talked about men in d.c. happened to be waiting at the most hated airport gate in washington. >>> and we begin with new reaction from one of the democrats on the house intelligence committee following the bomb shell accusation by michael cohen. congressman said on msnbc last night said the president's reactions only adds to the collusion argument. >> it's not about what donald trump did with that meeting. i think what is significant is what he did not do. if he knew that the meeting was to take p

michael cohen. >> and the man is a pathological manipulator, liar. these tapes completely demonstrate the president did nothing wrong. it seems like his default position is to lie. he's a bad liar. >>> meanwhile the media is growing more intense, and the legal fight that could force the president to give up one of his most prized secrets. i'm alex witt in msnbc headquarters in new york. rudy giuliani is trying to give new insight for the trump-mueller face-to-face interview. >> it relates basically to the russia collusion thing, which we think there is no evidence and the president didn't do anything wrong, so we don't have much of a problem with it. but the obstruction thing, it's more a question of we don't see the legal basis for the president obstructing by merely taking an action in firing somebody that he had every right to fire and about ten good reasons to fire. >> when are you going to nail this down? >> i think a couple -- maybe this week, maybe next week. >> last time you told us it was july 4th, mr. mayor. >> well, a lot happened since july 4th. >> giuliani als

criminal investigation of michael cohen. the president's long-time personal attorney and a long-time executive at the president's business, trump organization. these 1400 plus documents are items that michael cohen's lawyers and or president trump's lawyers had actually singled out and said these documents were privileges and they should not be given to prosecutes. late last night, the special master who is dealing with the evidence in that case disagreed. she rejected that claim these items were privileged and instead said nope, these items are not privileged. they are going to prosecutors despite your objections. now, no criminal charges have been brought against cohen. but he is the subject of an active criminal investigation which gave rise to the search warrants which were used to obtain all of these millions of documents from his home and his office and his safety deposit box even from a hotel room in which he was living. we've had weeks and weeks now of back and forth in court over whether federal prosecutors would actually get to see the stuff that was seized, whether they wo