Page 229 - Ami News Today

Reporter, howard fineman and michael steele, former rnc chairman and current msnbc political analyst. mr. rosenberg, i want to start with whether the president has been accused of committing a crime by the federal government. because i feel like thats a bit unclear. members of the united states congress arent necessarily ready to believe the presidents been -- been found to have committed a crime. how would you describe it? >> hes certainly not been accused, chuck, at least not formally. hes abs...

Who gives us his principal. i think the man made a decision about his family. three years away from your family is doing a whole bunch of other things. the guys that live that would respect it, the answer is yes. donald trump came michael cohen to access to a world most people would have access to. the question now he doesnt have it anymore and neither does donald trump. >> were talking about ami, with the role they played in facilita facilitating that story from karen mcdougal coming to light. ...

>> reporter: theyre saying that as well? two of the four parties, daniel goldman, you remember that recording that came out michael cohen made of him talking to donald trump, in which he refers to david pecker of ami and alan weiselberg, the ceo of the trump organization. of the four people mentioned in that thing. two have said these payments were made, whether the payment made to stormy daniels or american media to pay karen mcdougal were made with the purpose of influencing the election or as...

Actually said that. that was clearly a message to trump. then on the other hand, you have the southern district case. what we are starting to see with this announcement with ami, is theyre building potentially a really strong case against donald trump for campaign finance fraud. the lynchpin, though, to that case is going to have to be michael cohens cooperation. and at this point, he has not jail, though, is probably more than what he hoped to get and his cooperation could still be forthcoming....

>> thats exactly right. if you think about it, you cant have an outside actor just work with the campaign to spend millions of dollars of his own money on tv ads. thats wrong. that person is trying to influence the campaign and you need to have the money regula regulated. at issue is whether the money was made for the purpose of influencing the campaign. thats the issue. thats what donald trump earlier this week when he tweeted. this was just a private interaction between two people or something...

And ally to president trump -- >> right. >> to jared kushner for years and years. he and trump have been in business together. i can think of stories that investors who have backed ami told me where they said they were in meetings, over the years, with david pecker and when that phone rings and its donald trump, hes got something to say, pecker leaves the room. these two have been tangled together for decades. mimi, what does it say to you? >> so, what this does, stephanie, gets rid of the john ...

The u.s. office of new york is announcing it reached a non prosecution agreement with america media incorporated in making the $150,000 payment before the 2016 presidential election. they acknowledge they admit the payment in concert with the candidates presidential campaign, of course, donald trump and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election. this next segment, this next sentence is important and signific...

>> this is about attention kill. this is about the former playmate has a story to tell so american media pays her to tell her story and then -- >> doesnt publish it. >> never gets published. >> thats exactly correct. and now, instead of just michael cohen saying, hey, i made this not to influence an election because the president has stated this was a private settlement which, of course, would be completely legal as pete williams pointed out several times today and changes things because now ame...

Company of national enquirer coming from the u.s. attorneys office as part of a press release following the sentencing of michael cohen. >> put that through -- thank you for that reporting. put it through the daniel goldman filter. we dont understand non prosecutorial agreement. to the point that most of america is focused on what donald trump and michael cohen did to possibly influence the outcome of the election and now american media enterprise said, yeah, that catch and kill, that was about ...

Tapes. >> and donald trump heard one of the most alarming sounds a president can ever hear -- his own voice in a secretly recorded conversation. >> and ive spoken to allen weiselberg about how to set the whole thing up. with -- >> so what are we going to pay for this? >> yes. >> that recording appears to confirm that donald trump was in the loop about that september 2016 plan to use ami to pay off karen mcdougal. >> so im all over that. and ive spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the...