The latest news from around the world with hosts John Berman and Poppy Harlow. Listen. Are you considering pardoning Paul Manafort . I have Great Respect for what hes done in terms of what hes gone through. You know he worked for Ronald Reagan for years. He worked for bob dole, i guess his firm worked for john mccain. He worked for many, many people. Many, many years. And i would say what he did, some of the charges they threw against him, every consultant, every lobbyist in washington probably does. Well, so much for draining the swamp. It seems very much that President Trump is not at all concerned about those charges Paul Manafort was found guilty of. In fact he later told the fox news interviewer that one of the reasons he had respect for manafort was that he didnt flip like Michael Cohen did. This is clearly something the president believes is part of a broader conspiracy against him. He even went on to say that he believed his own Justice Department was still under the control of democrats, poppy. Abby phillip at the white house. Thank you for that reporting. With me now, Jeffrey Toobin and eli hoenig, former federal prosecutor. The president says what Michael Cohen pled to is not a crime. Is there any planet on which this is true . Not this one. Michael cohen was advised by very fine lawyers. He was perfectly capable of fighting the charges if he wanted to and its worth remembering why people have Campaign Finance laws in the first place. We have them so we know where must be comes from in campaigns and where it goes, how its spe spent. What Michael Cohen did, he says at the direction of the president , was he lied in both of those where the money came from and where it went on an extremely consequential subject. Whether the president was providing hush money to these two women. Right. That is a crime. So lets listen to some of what the president is saying now and what he said then about exactly that, about these payments. So here is what was said to fox about these payments. Lets listen to this exchange first. Did you know about the payments . Later on i knew. Later on. But you have to understand, ainsley, what he did and they werent taken out of Campaign Finance, thats a big thing. Thats a much bigger thing. Did they come out of the campaign . They didnt come out of the campaign. They came from me. But it completely contradicts, eli, what he is heard saying on tape with Michael Cohen. Lets remind people. When it comes time for the financing which will be listen, what financing . Well, i have to pay. Pay with cash. No, no, no. Theyre talking about 130,000 payment to keep Stormy Daniels story secret leading up to the election and the 150,000
remember, too, he said in an interview on Air Force One that he didnt know about the payments at all. At all. So he has been he has said many contradictory things about the whole Michael Cohen situation already. Can i ask you on that, jeff . He is playing down Campaign Finance violations. Correct. Another thing he said is that theyre a really little thing. They dont really even matter. But could it wouldnt just be here possible that the president made a Campaign Finance violation. Couldnt there be a Conspiracy Charge . Well, of course there could be, but remember also we are talking about an environment where Justice Department policy says he cant be charged anyway. So this is not really parsing what legal what crimes may have been committed. This is discerning whether there are any grounds for impeachment. That is much more a political process than a legal process. Sure, but that would be included if there was conspiracy in muellers report to congress. Correct, correct. That is certainly a relevant concern and but it will be resolved not in a courtroom but in the court of Public Opinion in congress. So flipping, eli. The president said also in this interview its called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal. So twofold question there. Is that saying that telling the truth should be illegal or, of course, you can flip and you can lie but if you lie initially you have to stick with the lie . This is a subject close to my heart having been a prosecutor not long ago and this is lunacy. Do you know who hates cooperating witnesses most . Jeff knows this, the leaders of criminal organizations, Drug Traffickers hate cooperating witnesses. Mob bosses, corrupt ceos and politicians because thats how they get brought down. To be discouraging and intimidating people from giving testimony is outrageous. And i will say this, the president went on to say now
theyre saying Michael Cohen is a hero and theyre going to build a statue. Not at all. Cooperating witnesses are bad people. Thats what we say as prosecutors all the time, theyre cooperating for a reason, because theyre criminals. Thats where the jury system kicks in. Juries will evaluate the cooperating witnesses and theyll see them and decide do i believe this person, does the other evidence back them up . If not, they acquit. But if they credit the cooperator, as we just saw largely in manafort, theyll convict. But thats the system. Elsewhere in the interview he says the Justice Department, with justice in quotes, which is amazing itself. But all of us who have been federal prosecutors, the whole structure of how federal prosecutions work is based on the idea of working from the bottom up. Of getting lowlevel people to cooperate against people above them and thats why federal Law Enforcement is so successful and we are we were i mean, im not there anymore but thats why we were so good at our jobs is because that structure works. You were so good at your jobs. So why are you sitting here with me. They survived my departure from the legal profession. On the Justice Department, its interesting youre Hearing Other other republicans like Duncan Hunter in california echoing the president saying this is the democrats Justice Department, sort of through the Looking Glass but here is what the president said about Jeff Sessions, his Attorney General, this morning. He took the job and then he said im going to recuse myself. I said what kind of a man is this . And by the way, he was on the campaign. You know, the only reason i gave him the job, because i felt loyalty. He was an original supporter. He was on the campaign. Is that how you pick an Attorney General . Not because hes qualified, not because he was going to do a good job but the only reason he gave it to him is because hes loyal. He just said that. I was listening, poppy. Elie, remind us who pays Jeff Sessionss salary. The federal government. Oh, not the trump
organization . This is trumps problem. From day one he was shocked when he got in office and realized the federal government does in the work for me personally donald j. Trump and hes been struggling with that everyday since. He thinks eric holder worked for obama. Exactly. And he said why Doesnt My Guy protect me. These guys, you know, these attacks on sessions are far beyond anything ive ever seen in terms of a president undermining and attacking the Department Of Justice and half of me cant believe sessions stands for it. But half of me also is somewhat i guess grateful because if he did step down you know what would happen. The next ag would be someone who goes in there with a promise to the president of i will take over the Mueller Investigation and make sure it gets done your way. To that point, how important to democracy and the pillars of American Freedom and what we live by is Jeff Sessions right now . Goodness. I dont know if i speak to the pillars of american democracy. Thats a little grand. Not sure if thats within my jurisdiction. Look, he is not hes not leaving notwithstanding all these attacks. He is actually following a lot of Donald Trumps policies on immigration, on limiting Voting Rights for minorities. These are the kinds of things the president wants him to do. But in terms of staying in his post and not for now at least being held in his post and not allowing what elie mentioned to happen, to be replaced by, i dont know, someone who would carry out the druthers. The question would be would the Republican Senate confirm anyone . Even some republicans have some misgivings about this endless trashing of the Justice Department. But look, one of the absolute touchstones of the Trump Presidency has been that republicans in congress occasionally say a word that is critical but they do Donald Trumps bidding over and over again. And i suspect that if sessions were to leave, they would do his bidding and confirm whoever he appoints. Gentlemen, thank you for being here, elie and jeff, toobs, thats what i get to call you now . Ive been called toobs since i was ten years old. Ahead, the president says the stock market would crash if he were to get impeached. Really . Well talk about that. And the trade clash with china revs up overnight. Were talking to a Business Owner who supports the tariffs and will Tell Congress as much tomorrow. Ine and see how activia yogurt with its billions of live and active probiotics may help support your Digestive Health so you can take on your day. Start the activia probiotic challenge today. It works or its free
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i dont care where we go and i dont care what we do just take me with you there are roadside attractions. And then theres our worldfamous onroad attraction. The 2018 glc. Lease the glc300 for just 459 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Paul manaforts conviction and Michael Cohens guilty pleas seem to keep the president up at night. He was up late tweeting in the wee hours. You can see the light on at the white house around 1 00 a. M. And thats when the president wrote in all caps no collusion, rigged witchhunt. Just how much of an impact is all of this, this week, having on the president and his inner circle . Thats the focus of a
to discern poppy is how damaging this news is for the president. Its never a good day when your lawyer stands up in court and says you are part of a crime. That said, he could survive this as well just like he said a number of issues where at the time it seemed of consequential importance and he moved on. But here is a way that it makes me wonder if it is different, josh, for him. Legally putting that aside because if you ascribe to the precedent that you cant indict a sitting president , what about among voters . You quote a man ive interviewed for years, dan everhart, a republican who made a ton of monoin the north dakota oil boom, whos a huge advocate for the president , he seems to be changing his tune. He told you guy this is cohen stuff is an earthquake. Cohen admitting trump told him to commit a crime. People in trump world have been spinning and spinning, how do you spin a fact . This is a hard fact in a formal setting that is unavoidable. How much of a threat is it to even staunch supporters of the president . Well, its do what the president s supporters do. We quoted josh holmes, a respected gop strategist who said yesterday on the phone i dont think trump voters care that much if he had an affair with Stormy Daniels or telling the truth about it. I dont think anyone has been banking on him to tell the truth about it. I think the gop establishment will follow the cue of what voters do and if you see him dragging down his numbers, if you see new revelations on the Mueller Probe, if you see cohen come out with more damaging facts i think you could see slippa slippage. Im not sure among the president s supporters theyll see this as a reason to move away from him. A lot of folks i talked to say this is baked 234 and you have to remember the Access Hollywood happened last fall and he was elected three or four weeks later. A lot of his voters and supporters dont think hes perfect. They like what hes doing on policy and im not sure this moves him away. Mind you, i think were at chapter two or three in the book right now. I think we have a lot to go this fall and well see what else comes out. On the issue of impeachment, the president spoke bluntly about it and threats of impeachment this morning on fox. Lets listen. You know, i guess its Something Like high crimes and all. I dont know how you can impeach somebody whos done a great job. If i ever got impeached i think the market would crash, i think everybody would be very poor because without this you would see numbers in reverse. It depends on how you parse that but its high crimes and
misdemeanors are not about a great job and how the economy is doing but is he banking on the belief and line James Carville made so famous its the economy stupid, saying this i going to matter more than anything . Theres no act of selfconfidence they said how would you grade yourself and he said a plus. What the president knows intuitively is that impeachment is a political fight not a legal fight and how much republicans support him, what his strength looks like nationally, whether democrats win the chamber, the house in november, one of these issues are political ones and whether impeachment is a thing or not i think is a political fight and hes saying to supporters look at the things im doing, under dismiss all of this other noise and i think one of the things we wrote in our story today, poppy is that the president has begun discussing impeachment with his advisers and saying he thinks democrats might overreach if they go after
him. You also saw my colleague had a great piece on the front of todays post where he said nancy pelosi and others are saying dont mention the word impeachment yet. We dont think this is an effective Talking Point among more mainstream democrats so i dont know that were quite to that being fully formed yet and seeing the contours of our debate. I dont think were there yet. Lets check the market before the opening bell. U. S. Stock futures look like theyll open flat as the trade war intensifies overnight. All of this as the u. S. And china slap retaliatory tariffs on one another. Well have much more on that ahead. Introducing e trade personalized investments professionally managed portfolios customized to help meet your financial goals. Youll know what youre invested in and how its performing. So you can spend more Time Floating about on your inflatable swan. [ding] ahoy gotcha ah nooooo. Noooooo. Nooooo. Quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker and is 2x more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. Ahoy laughing bounty, the quicker picker upper. Instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to liberty mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Dream faster, and above all. Now, ill dream gig. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Welcome back. Trade tensions wean the u. S. And china, President Trumps latest round of tariffs kicked in at midnight. A 25 tax on 16 billion worth of chinese goods. China of course immediately retaliated with a 25 tariff on meat from auto parts to leather goods. The two counterparts sit down for trade talks. Now we have the ceo and owner of a leather supply company happy to see these tariffs. Hes set to fly out to testify
before congress tomorrow. Thanks for being with me. Thank you, pleasure to be here. I should note you said just a few blocks away from where your grandfather started the company in cincinnati, right . That is correct, in 1917. This is a true American Business and a true american success story. Youre going to go in front of congress and say this is okay. Let these tariffs continue, let this trade tension trade war if you will escalate. Why . Well, i believe its good for our business and good for the American Manufacturing worker. What im going to tell them is that were one of the few remaining companies in our sector, in our industry that survived the onslaught of chinese imports that began in earnest in the late 1970s after i started my career. By 1980, most designs that had been duplicated in china and sent back to this country cost below anything we could produce and by 1982 we lost 30 of our sales because of chinas lack of respect for our Intellectual Property and because of chinas subsidies to their industries with the clear intent of taking over our manufacturing base. Roll the clock forward to 1999 now china has slapped 25 tariff on leather goods, your goods. So how does that help you guys . Yeah, poppy, but the thing of it is, there are two sides to it. One, are you if youre manufacturing and selling into the u. S. Market obviously additional tariffs on imports from china help level the Playing Field and allow us to compete, hire more workers and have increased sales in the u. S. On the other side of it, exporting to china, something wed love to tell and ill tell
you i wouldnt be in favor of this if the Chinese Market had been open to our goods. The truth is the duties already in our category i shouldnt say duties but other barriers to trade, taxes, et cetera, equal almost three to four times depending on the product of what it takes for them to come into our country. So if china wanted to be fair with us, i would not be in favor of tariffs. I hear your argument. These tariffs on china you say will help our business, you, your workers, you even said in different articles will help you hire more and expand your business. What about critics that say look, youre only looking out for your own business. Look at The Big Picture here, look at the Federal Reserve warning yesterday that if this escalates it will depress the
economy, look at Soybean Farmers in the middle of if countly who have taken a huge negative blow because of the tariffs and the serious damage that it caused them. What about those American Workers . I believe the netnet will be good for American Workers. When you implement bad trade policy for almost 40 years and do business with a partner that doesnt respect your values or laws, some day theres a reckoning. You have to show them if youre going to enjoy their market, they have to support certain values you have and allow you access to theirs. The pain will be far less, poppy; than people say. In our industry theres been an exodus out of china to other Asian Countries for the last ten years. How do you know that, michael . How do i know that . All of these tariffs have not
changed chinas behavior when it comes to sIntellectual Property et cetera. How do you know the pain will be less than what is being predicted . We have not had restrictive tariffs on china. Its like the Albert Einstein thing, you keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. Weve done the same thing for 40 years and the result is not good. So if we are going to turn this around we have to do it while our economy is strong, while we have leverage to bargain china, by the way something they respect very greatly, and we need to turn this thing around. Just the discussion of these duties, its not that we might be hiring, we are hiring and have been hiring since the news started coming out that there may be duties. There are new American Manufacturing jobs being created as we speak. And we applaud that and thats good to see. I think the question is and this
will be a heated debate tomorrow, how Many Industries are feeling that, right . Does the benefit outweigh the pain across the sectors . Its an important conversation and im glad youre here for it, michael. Thank you. Thank you, poppy. Ahead for us, the president says Michael Cohen was, quote, not somebody with me that much. We seem him right there and there and there. The president says cohen, who has called himself the president s fixer and said he would take a bullet for him, what was their relationship actually . Well fact check it ahead. Seeny tours of duty. And for the past 15 years ive been a navy federal member. Thanks to their fast approval process, when it came time to buy a new car, we got everything we needed to transport my wifes little bundle of joy. Who i just adore. Open to the armed forces, the dod, veterans and their families. Navy federal credit union. The first survivor of alzis out there. Ase and the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Join the fight with the Alzheimers Association. Let your perfect drive come together during the final days of the Lincoln Summer Invitation event get 0 apr on select 2018 lincoln models plus One Thousand Dollars bonus cash. You might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish,
prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. With tough food, your dentures may slip and fall. New fixodent ultramax hold gives you the strongest hold ever to lock your dentures. So now you can eat tough food without worry. Fixodent and forget it. We believe nutrition is full of possibilities to improve your pets life. Were redefining what nutrition can do. Because the possibility of a longer life and a healthy life is the greatest possibility of all. Purina pro plan. Nutrition that performs. Michael cohen, tell me about your relationship with him. Well, he was a lawyer for me for one of many. They always say the lawyer and they like to add the fixer. Well, i dont know if he was a fixer. I dont know where that term came from. He did small deals, not somebody
that was with me that much. They make it sounds like i didnt live without him. I understood Michael Cohen very we well. Turned out he wasnt a very good lawyer, frankly but he was probably with me for about ten years and i would see him sometimes. All right. So that was the president this Morning Distancing himself from his former attorney Michael Cohen, a man who once said he would take a bullet for the president. Joining me now, a reporter with a look at this relationship that was either really close or not close at all, i suppose it depends when you ask the president , right . Here is how he described Michael Cohen previously. Listen to this. Believe me, Michael Cohen got calls at 3 00 in the morning, michael and i would be at dinner, the boss would be calling him all the time. Michael cohens attorney talking about their relationship. Fact check it for us. Were they close . Were they not . Their relationship goes back to 2001 when Michael Cohen started buying condos in trumpowned buildings and they really forged their bond then because there was a Condo Dispute and Michael Cohen decided he was going to back trump the developer. From that point on trump hired him and hed been working with him at the Trump Organization since 2007. And over that period of time david schwartz, that lawyer we listened to, he described it as a hot and cold relationship, father and son like. But he was certainly someone trump trusted. Michael cohen was trying to develop branding for the Trump Tower In Moscow which was a Project Trump was interested in. He was on the road when trump was considering whether to run for the presidency. Michael cohen went out to test some of these states. He wouldnt do that if it was someone that was not someone he trusted. And as we see in what Michael Cohen just pled guilty to, he was someone that trump turned to when he wanted to keep negative
stories out of the press. So Michael Cohen was there for him for that. As we know. Good point. Let me read something else. This is from a vanity fair article talking about their relationship, et cetera. Let me quote this. Cohen became executive Vice President of the Trump Organization and Special Counsel to trump, setting up shop in ivankas old office, making him one of the highestranking employees without a shared last name. And then in a fundraiser for trumps 2020 reelection, this is a fundraiser held in june of last year, the president said, quote, michaels a great lawyer, loyal, a wonderful person, talented and loves being on television. I mean, a completely different story from the president now. Right. Once even if you remember when the fbi raid of cohens hotel room, apartment yes. Trump was out there he was in a Cabinet Meeting talking about it. He said it was an attack on america, that was trumps quote because he could not believe the
fbi would raid his lawyers office. And then since that period, though, you started to see the distanci distancing, both trump directly saying cohen had done a very, very small amount of legal work for him, that they werent that close and that is only now as we see today become even more of a the effort to distance themselves, theyre not that close. Thank you for the important fact check. We appreciate it. Ahead, a crucial choice for democrats ahead of the midterms. Will running on Impeachment Help them or hurt their chances. Well ask a congressional hopeful what she plans to do next. Add the activia 2 week probiotic challenge to your healthy routine and see how activia yogurt with its billions of live and active probiotics may help support your Digestive Health so you can take on your day. Start the activia probiotic challenge today. It works or its free
today, lifechanging technology from abbott makes it possible to track glucose levels. Without drawing a drop of blood, again and again. The most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. Life. To the fullest. Just 75 days until the midterms. Democrats are wondering whether to run on impeaching the president. Listen to what Michael Caputo told me last night. With this one charge that cohen has made apparently at the president , we know that they have enough now to do it. Its about impeachment in november. I gotta go. Quick yes or no. Is the president closer to impeachment today than he was 48 hours ago . I believe so. I believe we have got real problems in the house of representatives. If democrats want to move forward with impeachment, they will need to win back the house. A new Record Number of diverse candidates are trying to do just that. Which brings us to congressional hopeful sharice davis, shes a former Sonic Drivein car hop. The first in her family to go to college. Raised by a single mother. If elected, she would be the
first gay Native American In Congress and the first to represent kansas on the federal level. She joins me now. A lot of attention great to be here. A whole lot of potential first there. Let me get to the issue of impeachment. Then we will move on to your story. You said, look, we have to wait for the results of the Mueller Probe before we Start Talking about impeachment. I wonder if the Felony Conviction of Paul Manafort, the guilty pleas from Michael Cohen, as it relates to the president and what he said about the president in court, does that change your opinion on impeachment . I would say it definitely makes me that much more adamant that we have to protect the Special Counsels investigation and make sure that mueller is able to continue the work that he is doing. It doesnt change my thoughts on it. It just makes me that much more
adamant that we have to protect the Special Counsels investigation. Lets talk about you and the potential firsts, if you win in november. You said you started running, you started this campaign because you felt called to use your skills differently. What do you mean . So, i had actually been focusing a lot on policy. And i think that had a lot do with my background, you know, as you mentioned, a First Generation College student. I started off getting an Associates Degree at a Community College here in the Third District. I definitely saw that there were a lot of experiences that werent represented in policy making. As i move forward and learn more about how the federal system works, i definitely saw that i could put my skills, you know, and need to make change to use by getting into the political sphere here. I know you have said you have felt discriminated against in
your life before, for example, when you were barred from certain housing in south dakota, i believe. That happened to you. Can you talk about your personal experience with discrimination . So, its interesting because i actually while i have definitely experienced forms of discrimination, i also recognize that i have been very fortunate in my life. And actually, the Third District has provided me with a lot of opportunity. I like to think that i can take the experiences that ive had that have been negative as well as the ones that have been positive and use that to help create new open new doors for folks and there are certainly a lot of people that experience discrimination in a way that i dont fully understand. And i think thats part of why i know that i have to listen to people and hear what they are
experiencing so that we can take all of that to d. C. To help make new legislation thats going to be provide opportunity for everyone. Your opponent come november, kevin yoder, said of you recently, quote, she isnt from around here. And then he said this, listen. They dont know kansas. They dont know our values. And neither of them should be our voice in washington, d. C. He is talking about, you dont know the values of the people of kansas. To that you say . Its laughable. You know, i think i think trying to say that i dont understand kansas values makes me wonder if he is talking about listening to people or if he is talking about wanting to have, you know, a system where people who work hard are able to make their way and have opportunity. Thats what i think kansas
values are. If kevin doesnt think those are kansas values, then maybe he is not the best person to represent us. Lets talk about your party and specifically leadership. Because as you know, when it comes to nancy pelosi, shes getting a lot of attention from the Republican Party and your fellow democrats right now. There are some of your fellow democrats who say she does not represent the future of the party. She does not represent democrats. And she shouldnt be leader if democrats retake the house. You are not among them. We do know that she is a phenomenal fundraiser. I mean, since 83 million is what she has raised in the 2018 election cycle. More than double the next democrat. I wonder if you think that shes worth more to your party than your fellow democrats know right now who are opposing her. Thats an interesting question. You know, i think that, actually, the framing of the
question makes me think about how often i hear from people that they are concerned about money and politics in general. I think the value of fundraising right now in politics is probably too focused on, especially as someone who comes from i dont come from a family with money. I dont have access to networks. You know, i didnt come into this with access to networks of people that can write large checks. That has called a lot of us to want to run for office. It shouldnt be about how much money you can raise. It should be about the value that you can bring as a length lay to legislator, to serve your community. I think its interesting for us to frame a persons value by their fundraising capacity. Do you think that she represents the future of the democratic party, or do you think that democratic
leadership, especially in the house right now, is too old and too white . I definitely think as somebody who is younger and part of this more Diverse Group of people, i would love to see more diverse leadership at the table for sure. And i think that with everything, the future is going to include change. Its going to include more diversity. Is it too old and too white, sharice . I mean all of congress on both sides is probably definitely not diverse enough. All right. I think i get your point. I appreciate you being with me. Thanks very much. Thank you. Have a good day. Well be right back