The latest news from around the world with host Brooke Baldwin. Needed for a long time. I think these are people who cant speak publicly and they depend on their leadership to speak out. Fbi director Christopher Wray pushed back a little while ago. A few months ago. I think that its great that this message has been sent and remember, ana, that every time the president talks about how much he hates the fact that Jeff Sessions recused himself, this is an angle that is being investigated by the Special Counsel in terms of the obstruction of Justice Charges for firing james comey. So each of these tweets is yet another piece of evidence that goes to this longstanding resentment and grudge that he has that as david kris said, he has not been protected and had an expectation that this investigation would go away. David, what does trump do now . Because sessions just made pretty clear loyalty isnt on the table. Yes, well, i would have loved to have been a fly on the wall
in their recent inperson meeting that was supposed to be about Prison Reform, but i imagine may have addressed other topics. He can rail and he can storm and he can thunder, but sessions has made clear, i think, that hes going to hold the line, and the recusal is going to stay in place which means Rod Rosenstein is going to supervise bob mueller and thats going to go forward unless and until the president takes really drastic action, saturday night massacre style, by Firing Rosenstein or Firing Mueller or revoking their Security Clearances and all of those actions by the president that would really disturb or potentially disturb the investigation have enormous political consequences that could come into play, so i think for now the president is essentially having a tantrum and yelling, but im not sure hes actually going to do anything and so sessions will hold the line and doj will continue to grind forward. I mean, the president s comments were apparently the
president s hands to stop it, but he could potentially put different leadership in place. David, we had manafort this week, cohen, and now sessions. All in the same week. Do you see this as a potential Turning Point in the Trump Presidency . Well, as i have said, its a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the president when cohen and manafort hit, and this business with Sessions Doesnt Help at all, i think. It seems to be building toward a potential crescendo, and any number of things could emerge from this tremendous pressure that i think is building. But. In the meantime, the Southern District of new york will carry on with its work and the Special Counsel will carry on with his work and the chips will fall where they may. Stand by, guys. More breaking news. The the Wall Street Journal reporting that federal prosecutors granted immunity to American Media chairman david pecker in the Michael Cohen investigation. Now, American Media is the
parent company of the National Enquirer. Cohen claims pecker approved a scheme to buy and kill a story about the alleged affair between trump and a playboy model. An Offense Cohen says he committed at the direction and coordination of trump in order to influence the 2016 election. Remember that secret audio of cohen and trumps conversation . Well, david pecker is at the center of it, so, listen. I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, david. Joining us now, cnns Sara Sidner Who did a cnn Special Report on these hush money payments. Sara, tell us more about the relationship between trump and david pecker. You know, whats interesting is if all you have to do is sort of look as youre going in the Grocery Store and look over at the enquirer, youll notice early on during the campaign it was all negative toward Hillary Clinton and it was all glowing toward donald trump. That should tell you something. Sara sidner, thank you. Much more on david peckers deal with the feds and the impact this could have on trump. Next, our legal analysts will weigh in. Also a juror in the Paul Manafort trial is now speaking out. Revealing what happened Behind The Scenes during those intense deliberations including how one holdout juror prevented guilty charges on all the counts. And President Trump now making the case against his own impeachment. Warning, quote, everybody would be poor, if he were forced out. Is this governing by fear . Well discuss. Pah that will never work. No, no, no, nah. A bulb of light . . Aha ha ha a Flying Machine . Impossible a personal computer . ha smart neighborhoods running on a microgrid. A stadium powered with solar. A hospital that doesnt lose power. Amazing. I like it. Never gonna happen. Publishing company that owns the National Enquirer has been granted imprunety immunity in the case against Michael Cohen. Saying he worked with david peck tore kill a story about an alleged affair between trump and former playboy model. Asha, cnn also reporting that david pecker gave federal prosecutors the details about the payments and told prosecutors trump had knowledge of these payments. How big is all of this . This is pretty big. We know that Michael Cohen pointed the finger at President Trump in court and said that, you know, he did his actions at the direction of the president. So if, you know, if they are getting actual documentation to corroborate that, that is going to be a big problem for the president in terms of, you know, being complicit in a conspiracy or agreement to commit a crime. There are a couple other ways he could be liable. If any of these people who gave
away their stories do what mcdougal did, decide to sue, there was no meeting of the minds, the people knew they were never going to publish my story and if the lawsuits proceed, the president is many danger of potentially being deposed and cant get out of that. Finally, we dont know the contents of these stories. There could be, you know, there have been allegations that some people, some women, did not consent, for example. They made allegations against the president. If those are the kind of stories that are buried and pecker can corroborate those, those can be big problems for the president. David, the fact that prosecutors gave him immunity, david pecker, again, according to the the Wall Street Journal, what does that tell you . That he got immunity. Does it tell you that he has some kind of smoking gun . Doesnt necessarily tell you hes got a smoking gun, but it does tell you that he has potential liability. Which is motnot surprising givi
the scope of the offenses and the way Michael Cohen and the government described hem in the documents and in macourt proceedings. The scope of liability here especially when you add in Aiding And Abetting and conspiracy is pretty broad and he was pretty clearly involved in important aspects of it. And i totally agree with asha that this is quite significant because its going to add a second witness who can corroborate the documents and cohens statements in any subsequent investigation or prosecution. Cohens got tremendous access, but a lot of baggage. Pecker, i think, may have not quite the same level of access although he appears to have a good deal of it and much less baggage. Asha, are we going to see more investigations here in new york . I think so. I mean, you know, they wouldnt have proceeded this far with Michael Cohen, you know, if they werent really serious about it. Whether it stops at michael
cohen, you know, i find that i would be surprised if it did and if this didnt lead to more. Whether it leads to the president , i think, you know, the department of justice isnt going to indict a sitting president. And i believe that if it got to if it actually reached the doorstep of 1600 pennsylvania avenue, it would probably go to main justice as a special case to be handled. David, is this another case in which trumps words are coming back to haunt him . His everchanging stories regarding these Hush Payments . Yeah, theres no question that all of the conflicting and evolving web of statements that he and his closest proxies have been making could have both legal significance and more importantly, i think, political significance. At some point, some people are going to become sort of fed up or disenchanted with the constantly shifting positions. And the more that he says, you
know, the more that can be used against him. Asha is absolutely right, theyre probably not going to indict the president in keeping with doj policy, but i think it could be the case that he becomes an unindicted coconspirator in some future charges. Its very interesting in the documents, themselves, the information to which cohen pleaded guilty, the president is not singled out. Its only in cohens own statemen statements orally in court that the president was identified but i can imagine a new round of Charging Documents coming out which do name the president once they have pecker lined up and locked in. We do know that new York State Tax Department is taking a look at cohen following this federal indictment, plea deal. David kris, asha rangappa, thank you, both. We appreciate your expertise ep helping us understand and digest these latest developments. Up next, President Trump trying to distance himself from Michael Cohen claims that crimes
arent really crimes and he says hes done an aplus job so far as president. Well break down the wildest lines from this mornings interview in just moments. Know what . No, what . I just switched to geico and got more. More . Got a company i can trust. Thats a heck of a lot more. Over 75 years of great savings and service. You cant argue with more. Why would ya . Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. Now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller im Gonna Follow The Sun now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller transitions™ light under control™
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thing. So thats cohen part one. Lets play cohen part two. Donald trump taking about his personal relationship with his former attorney. Michael cohen, tell me about your relationship with him. Well, he was a lawyer for me for one of many, you know, they always say the lawyer, then they like to add, the fixer. Well, i dont know if he was a fixer. I dont know where that term came from, but hes been a lawyer for me. Didnt do big deals. Did small deals. Not somebody that was with me that much. You know, they make it sound like i didnt live without him. I understood Michael Cohen very well. He turned out he wasnt a very good lawyer, frankly, but he was somebody that was probably with me for about ten years and i would see him sometimes. If he wasnt a very good lawyer, why was he Donald Trumps personal attorney for almost a decade . Look, donald trump has done this before, ana, we saw this with Paul Manafort who was convicted earlier this week, who was Donald Trumps campaign
chairman, i barely know him. Saw it with george papadopoulos, former adviser to donald trump, who already pled guilty in the mueller probe, just a coffee boy. This is the kind of thing he does. Make no mistake, we saw Michael Cohen, he set up a show company to make two payments to women making allegations that drup dru donald trump had affairs with them in the 2000s. To silence them, influence the runup to the 20 16 election. How do i know that . Michael cohen testified under oath to that in the Southern District of new york. Okay. I want to play one last clip. Cant have a donald trump interview without him talking about winning. Lets play that. Well, its part of my life, i guess my whole life has been this way. Somebody said, oh, gee, this is always such controversy. And i dont know, ive always had controversy in my life. Ive always succeeded. Ive always won. Well, hes 100 right, ana, he always has had controversy. Donald trump the private citizen, donald trump the politician, controversy surrounds him. And i do think its important, i
won, i always win, remember, in Donald Trumps world theres not really a right and wrong. Theres a winning and not winning. A prodonald trump and notprodonald trump. Thats how he views the world. I urge people if you want more, go to cnn. Com. Theres a lot more that he said there. That gives you a taste of what i would say is an aplus interview. Well done, my friend. I give you an aplus f