Page 162 - Ami News Today

And b, talk about the relationship between the kingdom, the saudis and ami. >> theres been much conjecture this evening, and we all need to proceed cautiously and carefully. there are enough facts on the record to be concerned that theres more to this than just -- and by the way, in a normal world, this would be enough of a story that a tabloid is extorting the head of the washington post. but theres more. theres more to this, because we dont live in a normal world. we live in a world where peop...

Which mr. bezos owns personally. why did american media, why did the national enquirer do this particularly against the wealthiest guy in the world? >> i want to ask about the white house reaction about this francesca, and the deputy press secretary was asked about it yesterday. and lets take a listen to what he had to say. >> is the president aware of the bezos situation? what is the white house reaction? >> im not sure if he is aware of it and were not going to get into a conversation between ...

Whether ami and the "national enquirer" committed a crime by violating its nonprosecution deal in the michael cohen case after amazon ceo and owner of the "washington post" jeff bezos published threats by the tabloid accusing the publisher of "extortion and blackmail." joining me now is former assistant watergate special prosecutor jill wine-banks and former u.s. attorney joyce vance as well as stu sb zaku former spokesperson of ami. a reminder jill and joyce are both msnbc contributor. joyce yo...

Havent come together quite the same way because they were breaking around the same time. remember that he is, whitaker is asked the question about whether he has interfewer efeared in -- interfered in the sdnys investigation into michael cohen. he refuses to answer the question. we know the investigation exists. you cant say i cant confirm or deny the existence of an investigation which is true -- which is true. but fli case its public records, there are public court filings. theres flow questio...

When you hear a statement from the crown prince that i would have liked to have put a bullet in mr. khashoggi, you wonder if a relationship between pecker and ami and saudi arabia is what inspired and a fear of something being exposed is what inspired this reckless conduct that resulted in new crimes that potentially voided out their nonprosecution agreement. again, it had to be something dramatic that motivated them to do it and it looks like to be a saudi arabian connection. >> in this adminis...

Angle to what has happened to him to is the extortion and the blackmail being alleged. there is a federal crime of extortion. it is the idea that you transmit something to a person and you threaten to injure their reputation and you want some of value. well, the thing of value in this case, kendis, is the fact that jeff bezos would have to admit there was no political angle. so if im ami, im nervous that agreement will allow the southern district of new york to really dig deep into how the "nati...

A communication as these things were nounfolding. he was applauding the efforts of ami to bring jeff bezos down. >> as a former aide to donald trump and one who worked at the campaign, that you would suspect there may have even been communication between the president and pecker during this time? >> yes, because lets look at this. david pecker has a cooperation agreement with sdny, federal prosecutors. and he actually agreed that he would not after taking that agreement engage in any type of cri...

Coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces. its raising questions about whether ami violated the terms. a non-prosecution agreement reached with federal prosecutors last year over a hush-money payment to help donald trumps prospects in the 2016 election. the agreement requires ami to commit to crimes -- to commit no crimes whatsoever for three years. if ami breaks the terms of the deal, it could be charged with campaign finance violations. federal prosecutors are now re...

York, it could open up ami to a hotel of liabilities including the finance charge and plus open a lot of other investigatory doors. that could be a big problem for ami. >> charlie, how long do you suspect before we hear from federal prosecutors whether they are there in washington and new york? >> we know nbc has reported, "new york times" has reported they are looking at this not just as federal extortion statute which relies on this vague term thing of value. a state crime could also come into...

Exercise a vendetta on behalf of a personal -- a personal vendetta. what were trying -- to get out here, not only was this politically motivated was this politically assisted. did ami have -- have exposure or access to government tools to get the text messages from jeff bezos and from lauren sanchez phones. that is the most essential question here. >> and there is another factor here that is important. cynthia, when you talk about the deal, the nonprosecution deal that ami had with the federal p...