Anderson Cooper takes viewers beyond the headlines with indepth reporting and investigations. Very troublesome for the president here. The fact is if President Trump were president right now, he could be indicted for these Campaign Finance violations, couldnt he . Absolutely. When you look at the way the prosecutors have described it, when you look at the way Michael Cohen described it in court, these documents, its criminal information, so its essentially laying everything out. If this was an indictment and trump, donald trump was not the president , we could be looking at an indictment against the president. We could also, you know, if this was an indictment, look at this as the president being an unindicted coconspirator. Think of that, and certainly, the ramifications of that. Its really serious here. Well see what happens from here. The other thing in these documents that the prosecutors have talked about was that Michael Cohen, and we dont know who these people are, was working with other people on the campaign as well. On some of this influence. And that certainly indicates this investigation perhaps is ongoing and may not be over. Shimon, thanks very much. Well have more on this throughout the hour. Theres reaction tonight at the white house. Kaitlan collins joins us now with that. The president spoke to reporters when he came off the plane going to his campaign rally. Didnt really speak about Michael Cohen. Has he had anything to say about that since the plea deal . Not a word from the president on all of this, even though as we speak hes on stage in West Virginia speaking in front of a crowd of very friendly audience, a very friendly audience, the president s biggest supporters in the audience tonight, but so far, he has not brought up Michael Cohen once. Of course, we know that the president s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, did respond to the cohen news today, saying in a statement that those charges from the government included no allegations of any wrongdoing on behalf of the president. While thats right that the government did not say that, he did not mention the fact that the president s longtime attorney walked into a new york courtroom today and implicated the president in a crime. We know from what our sources are told us for months now that
the president has long feared that the cohen investigation could be much more damaging to him than the special counsels investigation could be. And hes long been enraged by all of the developments with Michael Cohen, including the fact that he recorded a conversation they had about paying women. So its very likely that we will hear from the president on this at some point once he watches all of the cable news coverage. But anderson, the bottom line here is this is someone who for so long has been in charge of fixing the president s problems, and tonight, he became one of the president s biggest problems. All right, kaitlan collins, thanks very much. I want to dig deeper. Were joined by Jeffrey Toobin and preet bharara. Lets start with you, jeff. I know you think its virtually impossible to overstate what Michael Cohen said in court today. Just talk about why you think its such a big deal. Well, because this is the First Time Since watergate and
perhaps even before watergate that a federal criminal guilty plea has taken place. And the guilty person has said i committed this crime with and for the president of the united states. If this were any other person, given the evidence that was presented in court today, it seems to me a virtual certainty that donald trump would have been indicted and charged, too. Remember, who benefitted from this Campaign Finance violation . It wasnt Michael Cohen. The beneficiary was, according to Michael Cohen, the person who directed and then helped cover up this Illegal Campaign contribution. This brings this criminal case to the door of the Oval Office Like nothing we have seen before in this investigation. But jeff, obviously, you know, sitting president ,
according to precedent, not law, cant be indicted. Had the president leaves office, is this something charges could be pursued against him for . Well, it could. I think. I dont think the Statute Of Limitations will have run. You know, that could be a long way off. There are a lot of things that may change in the interim, but the Justice Department policy, and as you point out, its a policy, not a law. Its not part of the constitution. Says no criminal charges against a president while he is president. This issue may arise when the president leaves office, but all of that, i think, is down the road. Preet, do you agree if donald trump were not the president , if he lost the election, given what Michael Cohen is claiming and swore under oath today that he himself did under the direction of donald trump, that donald
trump would be indicted or would be an unindicted coconspirator . The would be a likelihood of that, but i think its an enormously significant thing. I think its correct to say we havent seen Something Like this, the likes of this, like the president likes to say, the likes of this we have never seen. Because we dont know how corroborated Michael Cohen is on the particular allegation that he made in court. That this was done at the direction and in coordination with his boss, the president. When you say we dont know how corroborated . We dont go if there are tapes or emails. I tend to credit Michael Cohen on this allegation, but the president s lawyers are right that this allegation of this being done at the direction of the president is not in the documentation. The charges. Its not in the criminal information. Its not in the plea agreement. Its not even necessarily a requirement to form the factual basis for Michael Cohen taking the plea. You go into court, and you have
to give a factual basis for why youre guilty. So one could argue, i dont think this is right, and im sure giuliani and others have been arguing this. That it was a gratuitous slap by someone who has been left behind and now has an ax to grind with the president , to throw this in in open court under oath. It still is the case, he said it. Would prosecutors have accepted this agreement if they didnt believe Michael Cohen . I think if prosecutors thought he was lying about that aspect of why he did what he did, i think they would have a problem accepting his plea agreement. They would have to Say Something in court. So i think its enormously significant. Its not clear to me, though, not knowing what other evidence there is to back up Michael Cohen, who is, by the way, a criminal and a liar and now a convicted one, you need Something Else to back that up. You pointed out that this president go ahead, jeff. If i could just add, preet is exactly right that this allegation by cohen is not in the charging documents. But just if we step back and ask ourselves, okay, Michael Cohenhas pled guilty to an Unlawful Campaign contribution in terms of paying these two women. Why would he pay that without talking to donald trump . It is never made any sense that Michael Cohen did this on his own. Well, first of all where did he get the money. Second of all, who benefitted . That argument has never made sense. Its been made by all the surrogates who came forward after Stormy Daniels spoke. David schwartz was on the program, an attorney for Michael Cohen in another matter, and other friends of Michael Cohen, all of whom said the president didnt know anything about this. He did this out of the goodness of his heart because thats the kind of guy he is. He took out a home equity loan, didnt seek repayment. None of that is true. Either they were lied to or they were on television lying as well. Im not saying its not a good case against the president based on the fact Michael Cohen is willing to say it under oath. Common sense, as jeff points out, the benefit of this is for the president. Doesnt make sense for a lawyer in Good Standing to have done
these actions without the permission and the direction of the president. You could make a case. Im just saying i dont know how much direct hard evidence there is to corroborate. Not regarding Stormy Daniels. Theres audiotape regarding the Karen Mcdougal situation in which donald trump and Michael Cohen, i dont know if conspiring is the right word, but they seem to be talking about and discussing the details of buying the rights to her story from ami. Why they would be not like trump magazine actually exists that they were buying the rights so they could publish it. They were wanting to hold on to the rights so if the head of ami got hit by a truck in the immortal words of then candidate donald trump, they would be safe. You said he could still get immunity from mueller or immunity from congress if democrats win and decide to pursue impeachment charges. In both scenarios, he would be compelled to testify, right . Right. And its not it doesnt even require an impeachment investigation. Remember, congress has very broad jurisdiction to investigate whatever they want. They could be investigating Campaign Finance violations. Congress has the power to give immunity to people that they want, who are citing their fifth amendment rights. Congress generally refrains from doing so if its going to interfere with a Criminal Investigation. But here, that Criminal Investigation is over. Theres no risk of a case against Michael Cohen because hes already pleaded guilty. So if jerry nadler, who was the democrat who would be chairman of the judiciary committee, says we want to investigate this, and if his colleagues vote to give cohen immunity, he has to testify before congress. And if he doesnt, he goes to jail for contempt. Same principle applies if Robert Mueller wants to give him
immunity, if Robert Mueller says i want to hear what cohen has to say, im not worried about jeopardizing the southern districts investigation because its over, he can give him immunity and force cohen to testify before muellers grand jury. So i expect we will hear from Michael Cohen one way or another in one or more forms before too long. Preet, do you agree with that . I do. Overall, given the events of today, the likelihood of impeachment certainly went up. Because of Michael Cohen. More people, i saw people who were on the right, theyre maybe never trumpers who were saying themselves this is a bridge too far. You have something that didnt come directly out of the mueller investigation. Out of my former office which im very proud of today. From a person who is associated with the president , who has some Credibility Problems but also you have reasons to believe him. About something thats tangible and real, in which the person who is alleging the thing is not
just charged but pled guilty to it. So there is added credibility. When someone says i did this crime, this is not a witch hunt against me. And not only did i do the crime, i did it with this other person, at the direction of this other person, all of common sense and Common Sense Reasoning tells you makes total sense. Like thats the normal way it would occur. That someone says, i cant be hurt in the election. And all the evidence is that this was related to the election. And then a guy pleads guilty to it and says this was my coconspirator, and it makes sense it would be because thats the person who benefitted, thats a much more tangible, concrete thing, for people who care about these things to pursue. You then charge according to these documents with false consulting fees, essentially, to his corporation to then various ways, cheating on each other, and you have as you said the lies. You know, theres a back and forth story, whether youre talking about the meeting in trump tower related to the russia investigation or youre
talking about the payments to the two women, Donald Trumps story keeps changing about it. At any trial that would occur in the house or somewhere else or in the senate or somewhere else, you explain to the people who are the deciders of fact, if there was nothing to hide here and you werent involved, why do you keep lying about it . This is as swampy as it gets. Thanks very much. Jeff is going to stay with us because i want to explore more of the political angles preet was talking about. Joining us is jen psaki, and former senator rick santorum. Senator santorum, is there any scenario where this isnt a big problem for the president , whether its political or, you know, well political, lets say . No, you focused, i think rightfully so, on the cohen plea bargain. I dont think the manafort guilty plea guilty conviction is problematic for the president. But Michael Cohens admission or pleading guilty to, quote, cooperating with the president
in violating Campaign Finance laws, thats a serious problem for the president. Period. Jen, of all the things that have gone on over the last year and a half, in your opinion, is this the biggest shoe to drop so far . Look, i think if there was a movie script about what happened today and cohens statements in court and the manafort conviction, you wouldnt believe it. This is like one of those Movie Montages where several things happen at once and youre like its getting to the end of the movie because its a montage. Youre thinking this isnt realistic. Theres no way this could happen in real life. This just happened in an hour this afternoon. I do think it should be a game changer politically. It wont be right now because republicans are scared of trumps base. And unsettling them. Democrats are probably not scared but they dont want to energize trumps base, and were two months from an election. This is definitely a game changer in terms of the politics of this and being accused of committing a federal crime to win an election, which is what Michael Cohen accused the
president of, is a serious difference from what we have seen, where we were just even a couple days ago. I want to pick this up after the break. Want to get a quick break in. Also tonight, the other big case today, the conviction of Paul Manafort, the other guy the president suggests he never knew, also known as the man who ran his campaign. That and more ahead on the program. Mom okay we need to get all your School Supplies today. School. Grade. Done. Done. Hit the Snooze Button and get low prices on School Supplies all summer long. Like these for only 2 or less at office depot officemax. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Need a hair smoother. . Get super fruit moroccan argan oil. With fructis sleek shine shampoo. Hair is super sleek, even in 97 humidity. No parabens. Just sleek hair. And to control frizz even longer, try fructis sleek shine leavein cream. Discover fructis sleek shine. Americas 1 smoothing brand. Super fruit. Super hair. Garnier. Oscar mayer deli fresh ham has no added nitrates, nitrites or artificial preservatives. Now deli fresh flavor is for everyone. Like those who like. Sweet. Those who prefer heat. And those who just love meat. Oscar mayer deli fresh. A fresh way to deli. You shouldnt be rushed into booking a hotel. With expedias addon advantage, booking a Flight Unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. Addon advantage. Only when you book with expedia. Whats a difference a day makes. Yesterday on fox, Rudy Giuliani was saying this. If he gets indicted for something that has nothing to do
with the president , i feel sorry for michael, although i dont know how sorry i feel for him because he was tape recording the world and deceiving him, including his client. This is today, and today, Michael Cohens client, now his exclient is a possible alleged coconspirator. Jeff, just before the break, jen was saying this could eventually be a Breaking Point for the president s supporters in congress. Do you agree with that . You know, we have been spending two years now saying this is it. This is the straw that breaks the camels back, whether its saying that donald trump and were having a Connection Problem with jeff. Senator santorum, do you ill take a shot at that. Do you see any appetite certainly on the republican side for addressing this . Well, i