signal to cohen that a pardon was in store as long as he kept his mouth shut? >> we've seen the president d g dangle pardons publicly, really, through much of the course of the investigation. we are obviously very deeply interested in all the documents that mr. cohen produced and others that we have been able to obtain. >> is there really any legal significance if a pardon was discussed? >> yeah, i think so. there's some legal debate about this. some people are of the view that the president undoubtedly has a pardon authority and he can pardon anyone for any reason. that's a view that barr and kavanaugh and others have written about. i disagree. the president has the ability to pardon somebody but if you're doing it for the purpose of shutting that person up, that has to be obstruction of justice. those e-mails are ambiguous. they're sort of speaking in code. it's the kind of thing i've seen in criminal organizations but also can be looked at as an innocuous way that friends talk to one another i want to talk to