The latest news from around the world with host Brooke Baldwin. Meeting with Labor Leaders this afternoon in the Roosevelt Room outside of the oval office when this story was breaking. No statement of any kind from the white house. Hes scheduled to leave here at about 4 00 to head to a rally in West Virginia in support of patrick morsi. The president usually doesnt hold back in these rallies. He may speak to reporters as he leaves the white house. White house not reacting to plea deal from a Top Associate in Michael Cohen but the fact that Paul Manafort jury could come back at any moment. President connected to all of these but so far not commenting. Let me turn to my four brilliant people sitting to my right. You have been out front in this cohen reporting. Hes going to plead guilty to x, y, and z. What will you be listening for . I think this is really going to be something to listen to because the judge is going to say to cohen i want to hear in your own words what crime you committed. In that allocution, how detailed does cohen get as it relates to Campaign Finance charges . Does he say he did it at the direction of anyone . Is that person the president . Does he say that more vaguely and does the judge accept it . The judge could say i want to know that what you did was a crime and i want to hear in your words every step you took that was an element of that crime. I think thats going to be the wild card. What does cohen say about the Campaign Finance charge. Who told him to do it . Did he do it on his own . I think well learn a lot from that which may help understand is he going to cooperate in some way. Our reporting is this deal is not including that. I think an element of that is also the Justice Department says you cant indict a sitting president and the u. S. Attorneys office follows those guidelines. So in the instance of where you would flip, you have to kind of
range of felonies in many different areas suggest that donald trump placed his trust in someone who was a very elaborately a very extensively credentialed criminal. The question we all want to know is will he cooperate in a way that is at all damaging to donald trump and i wouldnt want to presume that one way or the other. You know, given the breath of these crimes hes apparently Pleading Guilty to, the question of what was the president s involvement in any of them is certainly one that were all going to want to know the answer to. So what about the point in terms of president s involvement. When Michael Cohen is standing there today before this judge Pleading Guilty to the Campaign Finance piece of this whole equation and there is that possibility that he could be specific and say, again, a possibility we dont know but he
could say he was asked to do this by the now president of the united states. Wh that is a direct connection. Right. And the process of Pleading Guilty varies somewhat by judge. Judges sometimes ask defendants to say in your own words what did you do . And because they dont want to be just tools in plea bargain. These judges want to know that someone is Pleading Guilty to something that is general wuine crime. I have been before a judge that says tell me in your own words what did you do. Sometimes they ask questions. Sometimes they ask who asked you to do it and who did you do it with . The act of Pleading Guilty is not just a legal formality. The act of Pleading Guilty often involves some actual explanation
especially in white collar cases of what happened here, and so it will be very important to hear what goes on in this courtroom. It will also be important to hear when the spokesman for the u. S. Attorneys office talks about what sort of cooperation is agreed to. Were mostly getting spin here it sounds like, that there is no cooperation. Id like to hear what the government thinks about that. Id like to hear a more specific is it possible theyre keeping that close to the vest, the cooperation piece, and theyre doing that on purpose . I actually dont really think thats possible. There will be a document filed in court in connection with the guilty plea called a Cooperation Agreement if there is one, and thats a Public Document so well see that. I dont believe you can keep a secret at this point about
whether someone is cooperating. I think we will know. I think its very hard to believe that the government would agree to a scenario where Michael Cohen walks into court today, pleads guilty, and then never speaks to prosecutors. I suppose thats possible legally, but it just seems like something that is not likely to be agreeable to prosecutors. Jeffrey toobin, thanks for calling in and lending your voice here to what has been a wild past hour. Again, we are now less than an hour away from seeing the man who once said he would take a bullet for this president now Pleading Guilty to Campaign Finance, tax fraud, bank fraud, depending on how the judge feels could face up to three years behind bars. Were told a lot of what he was concerned about was money and his family in making these
decisions. How does he describe this to this judge inside the Federal Courthouse . So much to happen in the next hour. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Well continue the breaking News Coverage after this quick commercial break. E year on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses your movement and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. And now, all beds are on sale. Save 50 on the new sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, free home delivery. Ends saturday. Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the Essilor Ultimate Lens Package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Anncr as you grow older, your brain naturally begins to change which may cause trouble with recall. Learning from him is great. When i can keep up anncr thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. Dads got all the answers. Anncr prevagen is now the numberoneselling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. She outsmarts me every single time. Checkmate you wanna play again . Anncr prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. To tax fraud charges officially there. Well be listening to the language and if at all he specifically mentions President Trump. As we wait for that, the political reaction is pouring in from democratic lawmakers, congre saying the clouds around the white house are darkening telling the president to come clean. Thats a tweet from a congressman. And one by one all of the president s men are going down. Thats the connection to the campaign. From everything weve learned to this point and Michael Cohen and Michael Avenatti and stormy
daniels. I do think youre right. When you look at this, you cant look at it as a singular event. We cant look at the 4 00 event with Michael Cohen in solitude. You have to look at whats going on all around us right now. You have Paul Manafort, the Campaign Chairman for President Trump, the man with him for four and a half months and got him through a difficult time during the convention, you have him facing 18 counts in virginia. You have President Trumps personal lawyer right now copping a plea right now within the next 45 minutes up in new york. That has got to cause some concern and raise some red flags even amongst supporters of President Trump. Unfortunately i dont think well see those red flags. But this really is a moment in history i think that well look back on and it will be a very dark day. We havent heard a peep from this white house in the wake of this news. Not surprised, right. They only seem to come out when they have to come out or they come out on the offensive or they have to come out when President Trump comes out and actually says something without them knowing. Thats when we hear from sara huckab Huckabee Sanders and others. Back to my lawyers with me here in new york. John, welcome to you. You know, youve been listening to all these conversations. I want to hear your voice for the first time. Your key question is on cooperation. I try cases in this courtroom. Its shocking to me that theres not a Cooperation Agreement in place because for mueller, cohen is the gold standard. He wanted cohens cooperation and the fact that theres not a Cooperation Agreement apparently as part of this plea deal is very surprising. It can only mean one of two things. Either he didnt have something to give the prosecutor or they
werent convinced that he was completely honest with them. Its unusual not to have a Cooperation Agreement. Lets take three steps back. For people just joining us trying to wrap their head around whats going on with Michael Cohen. Hes in fbi custody right now. Fingerprinted, processed, et cetera. He goes into this courthouse and stands before a judge saying, yes, i did it to counts of Campaign Finance violations, bank fraud and tax fraud, right . Thats the reporting we have so far. Connect the dots for me on this is what hes doing and we still dont know whether or not hes cooperating. Were going to find out about it very soon because the judge is going to ask him what did you do to bring yourself into my courtroom and under the agreement, which the judge is going to read in open court, theres going to be cooperation or not cooperation and thats the key story today. And its this judge were making the point that in Southern District of new york
the judge is going to want to make sure he hears from Michael Cohen himself. Absolutely. Hes not going to hear through the lawyer. Hes going to ask cohen, the defendant, what did you do and he has to through his admissions indicate to the judge that he committed the crime hes Pleading Guilty with and only then does the court accept the plea. On the issue of sentencing, thats not going to happen. You wont see a commitment from the court on that today. That will get put off to a future type after more reports are done on cohens background for the court. Jennifer, over to you. As a former federal prosecutor, how big of a day is this . Its a huge day. I mean, if you take Michael Cohen on one hand and Paul Manafort jury reaching agreement on most of the counts, its an enormous day. Theres a lot to be said about it. I dont want to count my chickens on the manafort side, but to me this is a huge day for
justice and huge day for the rule of law. It shows that when youre inside the courtroom, thats what matters, evidence, facts and truth and jurors in the Manafort Trial Will Show us they havent been paying attention to whats going on outside. Theyve been paying attention to the inside. Similarly, Michael Cohen is going to go in there and swear under oath what he did to commit the crimes that hes charged with, swear to tell the truth, and hell do it under oath. Then well have something tangible we can rely on instead of the noise and nonsense weve been hearing for months and months. We should see Michael Cohen any moment now walk through those doors presumably front door, gentlemen . Front door. With fbi agents. That will be quite the show. Hell walk through those doors with the fbi agents in toe and have that conversation with the judge, plead guilty to those counts, and well be listening to the language he uses and if he name checks the president at all or anyone in the campaign so well wait for that. Thats happening momentarily
also as jennifer just mentioned, Paul Manafort, his tax fraud, bank fraud, thats been going on. Day four for this jury deliberating. Theyve had a couple questions for this judge. Theyve been back hold up for the last couple hours. What about that verdict . Might the judge accept a partial verdict there . Well take you to that courthouse next coming up next. Stay with me. Youre watching cnn. As we await the arrival of former trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen who is expected to announce his plea deal in that Federal Court in new york, also breaking this hour, the jury is deciding the fate of trumps former Campaign Chairman paul mania f manafort. They could be close to a verdict after asking the judge this question today. Ill read the question for you. If we cannot come to a consensus for a single count, how can we fill in the Verdict Sheet . The judge in this trial instructed the jurors to give deference to each other but to keep deliberating. Jessica schneider is outside of that Federal Courthouse in alexandria. Whats the word . Reporter no word, brooke. The jury has been silent for about three and a half hours now after since they went back into the Deliberation Room. So, you know, its assumed that theyre working through this, that if they had one count or others theyre working and
taking the judges instruction to heart here. Maybe working with each other more showing more deference, listening to each other, those were all things the judge said they should do. So they went back into that jury Deliberation Room at 11 58 after asking the judge that question what should we do if we cannot come to a consensus on a single count, how should we fill out the verdict form . The judge said to them essentially go back, try this, try it again, try some more. You know, thats standard what a judge does in these cases. Its often referred to as an alan charge in District Court in virginia its saucalled a sayer charge. Thats something the judge gave to them. We havent heard from the jury since. Presumably whether theyre working on one count or working on several counts, they have gone back to the Deliberation Room to continue here. Yesterday we got word as to when we could expect to wrap up the proceedings for the day. Yesterday it was 6 15. No word yet from the jury as to whether they might wrap up today, whether we could see a verdict, whether there might be more questions. We have all been left lingering out here wondering how this jury is progressing. The judge telling them, look, go back in there. Keep trying. So well see what happens next. Brooke . Jessica, thank you. Hang tight. Im sure with everyone else wondering with bated breath what this jury brings back. Paige, if you are that jury is back in there. Deliberating day four. Several more hours. If you are the prosecutor, are you starting to worry . I dont think so. All we know is theyre having trouble with one count. It would be safe to assume the other counts they were able to reach a verdict on and given the amount of evidence in the case, i think we can say theres certainly a good chance that thats a guilty verdict on all those other counts. So you cant really tell
obviously at this point where they are on that remaining count. I expect well hear something today because by the phone of that note, it indicates to me that they were having some difficulty and they were just trying to figure out what do we write if we cant come to agreement on this one count. It may have prompted them to try to reach an agreement but at the end of the day well either have a verdict or theyll report back and say, look, we just cant agree on this one count and then the judge has the option of taking a partial verdict or simply declaring a mistrial. Page, thank you. Paul, go ahead. I agree with page that this sort of indicates probably theyve already reached guilty verdicts on 17 of the 18 counts. But, let me just be a contrarian as i look closely at the wording. The Jury Question its hard to read the tea leaves in Jury Questions. The question was we cant come to a consensus. How do we fill out the juryVerdict Sheet if we cant come to a consensus on a single count. Let me phrase that a different way. If we cant find him guilty on any count, what do we do then . Is that a variation on that . I mean, you could read this if you want to be a manafort optimist that they cant reach a consensus on any count and because the jury Verdict Sheet doesnt have a box you check for hung jury, its just going to have guilty or not guilty as you go down to the counts. It doesnt have a section that says hung jury. So i suppose that could be