Fraud and bank fraud according to three sources and the deal would include jail time and a substantial monetary fine. This plea is no doubt a big blow to the president with cohen having been part of President Trumps inner circle for more than a decade. We anticipate prosecutors with the office of the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york to address the public about the deal. Any minute now that will be live when it happens. For now, lets go to cnns brynn begi gingras. Has he pled guilty yet . Reporter these proceedings happen on time. Very timely here at Federal Court, especially with the sdny. One can only assume he is in the courtroom right now and i can tell you We Dont Have Transmission from the courtroom. It is a Federal Courthouse and not able to verify that 100 . Certainly any minute now safe to say. These are, of course, as you
mentioned, jake, charges of bank and tax fraud related to cohens business of taxis and Campaign Finance and cohen is going to appear before a judge like he has been doing for the past four and a half months since the investigation started when they raided his home, hotel room and office back in april. And this time hes going to admit to guilty admit guilty pleas to all of the charges. They will be read one by one and unclear if the judge will make him give in detail what he is guilty to or answer yes and all things we are waiting to find out. Also waiting the find out is, you know, earlier reporting saying hes not cooperating as part of this plea deal. Certainly, that will be revealed in court. If thats true, if its not true. And so, theres just a lot of details that are going to unfold and a lot of drama. I can tell you building up outside of the Courthouse Waiting for any word of whats
going on inside as this unfolds, jake. All right. Brynn, thank you so much. Lets talk about wit the panel. I mean, it is just stunning on its face. Michael cohen one of the president s closest advisers, not any longer, about to enter into a Plea Agreement and admit his guilt about bank fraud, Campaign Finance violations. If im President Trump, im not particularly happy right now. Im not particularly happy and concerned about what this may mean for me and the Mueller Investigation that, again, is this grew out of that. It was a referral. This is a Southern District of new york. I also think theres no small coincidence on the same day of Senator Warren Introduced A had a speech talking about corruption and introduced legislation to curb the corruption in congress and on the Executive Branch and this culture is something the democrats have been increasingly talking about on the Campaign Trails for 77 days away from the
130,000 payment. Right. The settlement payment. A regular thing for lawyers to do. The question there was, only possible violation there would be was it a Campaign Finance violation . But usually result in a fine by the way. Not this big Storm Troopers Coming in and breaking down his apartment and breaking down his office. That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way i would do out of his Law Firm Funds or whatever funds. Doesnt matter. President reimbursed that over a period of several months. First of all, it was fbi agents, not storm troopers. The point about what . Theres imprecision there. I think more importantly, this is sort of an only nexus to the Trump Campaign we have seen to date. That we know of. Manafort trial happening. Could have a verdict today. A guilty plea by cohen to myriad of charges that, you know, stem from his own personal finances and his own personal business operations. The Campaign Finance piece is different and what im
the payment that Rudy Giuliani says President Trump reimbursed cohen for, does that make President Trump vulnerable in any way . Absolutely. His exposure is increased. Because remember, theres a Discredi Discrepancy of what he knew and what he paid. Theres what President Trump said on the back of Air Force One and not just Stormy Daniels case. Karen mcdougall, as well. Theres a pattern of corporations created to pay off and silence around the time of the actual election and Going Forward you think about this. Bank and Tax Fraud Charges are very, very big charges. Big felony cases to make. Just ask Paul Manafort about that. To add on the Campaign Finance violations whether theres no Cooperation Agreement available for Michael Cohen suggests that perhaps he is aware that he is
alone and he is retaliating against the president of the United States to include that. They would still need to have a basis upon which toen collude that as a charge they could prove but we shouldnt take it lightly that he made a decision to plead guilty to two things that the president of the United States has already commented on, on camera. Amanda, your take on all of this . We have to absorb the magnitude of the situation for anyone in the white house. Paul manafort who represented the head of the campaign is awaiting a verdict. Michael cohen who is the biggest player in the Trump Organization representing all trumps Business Interests is pleading guilty. The youre in the white house you have to wonder how this blows back on you. Lets not forget about mike flynn, National Security adviser that pled guilty and awaiting sentencing. And im interested of the Campaign Finance angle. Theres jurisdiction of funds there and pleading guilty to
The days top stories from around the world, from politics and money, to sports and pop culture. Reporters. What is the relevance of that . It is a crime if Michael Cohen is in the courthouse today telling the judge that hes pleading to Campaign Finance violations and if those Campaign Finance violations charges relate to the statements that the president of the United States just made, well, now you are talking about a court of law weighing in. Not simply the media or the American People duped by the president of the United States. And so, if the judge and what the judge will do is ask questions like, were you directed by anyone in particular to make the Campaign Finance violations or what campaign were you acting on behalf of . Well, if hes able to link those two things, then you have evidence. The clip you just played becomes not just a sound bite but an exhibit possibly in a case against someone in the future. And it should be noted as they were talking about the magnitude is very, very real and surreal for a number of reasons but
namely you have Michael Cohen here who not only is political arm but his as the fixer of the president , no longer the privilege. They removed that by saying he is not my lawyer. It was a small fraction of things he worked on. Whatever he says today, therefore, it is not privileged. The court will want to know. I say it a lot of times but its not a crime to lie to the American People or the reporters because President Trump sure does it a lot but you hear from laura coates it might be an exhibit potentially. I think its important to remind folks it wasnt just President Trump that lied about this. The entire orbit of the white house was involved in this intricate lie. Sarah sanders from the podium said the president knew nothing about this. Then when it was revealed by the president himself that he did, in fact, have knowledge she had
or two questions from the jury pertaining to what they should do if they cant come to a consensus on a single count. That was around 11 00 this morning and then thats when the judge gave them what is essentially an allen charge, termed here in virginia as a sawyers charge. And the judge said to them you should go back into the courtroom, continue deliberations whether to this one count you cant come to consensus. Were unsure how many counts the jury may have had some question on. So that happened just past 11 00 a. M. They went back into the Jury Deliberation Room at 11 58. Here we stand at about 4 15, 4 20. About four and a half hours the jury has been there in deliberating so well wait to see, jake, what the note says. Unclear if its more Clarification Questions or if it could be a verdict here. So were going to wait and see and get back to you as soon as
we know more. Jake . Were going to go right now to the Senate Intelligence committee to listen in to senator burr and the Vice Chairman of the committee warn ir having a joint statement of Michael Cohen. Lets listen in. We lost audio on this. Well go there when we get audio back. Lets go to laura for a second. Let me ask you. Obviously, we dont know anything about the jury verdict until the jury comes out and makes their announcement. Several days that this has taken so long. Not that long but taken longer than just an afternoon has been int interpreted that perhaps the jury considering leniency and now the jury saying suggesting of the 18 counts deadlocked on 1 of them. Cant come to a conclusion on one of them which would imply that they have reached a conclusion on the other 17. A lot of Defense Attorneys that have been on cnn and other
places have said that would make them feel bad as a Defense Attorney seeming like 17 counts they have all agreed and the 18th they havent. That would seem to suggest that maybe theyre finding guilty. But as a former federal prosecutor how do you interpret it if at all . You have to be careful of reading the tea leaves too much but its clear the jury had some conundrum of figuring out how to reconcile it. Its not just 18 charges but for each 18 charges, theres 4 elements for the government to prove. 18 times 4, you have 12 strangers trying to decide of 72 things. Try in your family agreeing on one or two things in a day. The other part of it is they can render a partial verdict. If they do have consensus on all the other issues by any combination, acquittals and convictions or any combination thereof, all convictions or one
acquittal, they can render a partial verdict. The prosecution has the choice of whether or not to retry the case on that charge. Remember, that happened in one case of john edwards where they had acquittals and one hung on a particular issue with his extramarital affair case and the president ial bid. So you can have that different dynamic at play but i think ultimately if you are the prosecution in this case, you are cautiously optimistic. Not having more questions about what is reasonable doubt. You have not had a second note which often comes to say, listen, we are hopelessly deadlocked. No amount of deliberation will allow us to come to a decision. A mistrial of that count or multiple counts could be rendered. The youre the prosecution, you have deliberation all this time, consensus and you have had jurors who got along well they
agreed on friday to allow everyone to leave so that one had an event that evening. This is not jury that hates being around each other but you do have them trying to put the nose to the pavement and get the job done and i bet the next note is about being deadlocked on a particular charge. Thank you. In new york, the case of Michael Cohen, joining me on the phone is preet barara. He was the District Attorney there. What is your reaction to the case going on with Michael Cohen right now as obviously happening at the same time that theres a jury seems to be coming to some sort of conclusion in the case against Paul Manafort . And, bob mueller is also asking for another delay in sentencing against Michael Flynn suggesting that maybe theres something there that hes still getting cooperation on or sources and methods he doesnt want to reveal. Yeah. Theres a length of your question indicates how much is going on at the moment. Both in the Eastern District of virginia and new york. The reaction to the cohen case im suspending a little bit because im waiting desperately like so many other people for the documents. Thes speculation over the last few hours of what the nature of the plea deal is and theres a regular straightup plea and then a deal with a promise of cooperation on the part of the defendant. On the other side, a promise on the recommendation of leniency by the government. All accounts i have seen including by cnn is that this is a straightup plea. Not people indicated but that Doesnt Rule Out forever the possibility of Michael Cohen cooperating and providing substantial assistance in testimony against other people, remember, perhaps the president given that the Campaign Finance violations appear to be part of
this. We dont know. I will tell you, though, its very unusual for someone, you know, to resolve a case of criminal nature with a fullon plea where youre accepting potentially a and you havent worked in a cooperation deal. Not saying its not possible but for people trying to read into this, that it means the eminent demise of the president some way because there happens to be charges of Campaign Finance fraud i think we are not there yet and important to see what the documents say. Preet, assuming that krrn and everyone else, our information is correct ux what does that suggest about Robert Mueller and Michael Cohen . Does it suggest that cohen has no information that mueller can use when it comes to the Russia Investigation . Does it suggest that Mueller Doesnt Think Cohen is a credible enough witness to use in any way . Could be all those things. As an initial matter, the special counsel Robert Mueller, you know, spun off this case to the Southern District and so, you know, if youre talking about the moment before he gave the case to the Southern District of new york in the first place if he had a lot of information of what people call collusion or the Russia Investigation, i dont see why he would have given it to the Southern District. That was the first hint maybe Michael Cohen not central to what the mueller, you know, team was looking at and focused on most intently. But id always assume if theres a Cooperation Agreement with the Southern District, whether in regard to his crimes relating to bank fraud or tax fraud or the taxi medallions we have been hearing about as part of the that Cooperation Agreement be required to give information that he knew about Russia Investigation but it seems theres no agreement at all. People need to be careful to understand it may be in that Michael Cohen wanted to give information and giving the signals that he wanted to flip,
that his wife and family came first. He was no longer willing to take a bullet for the president who used to be his boss and that the Southern District either as you pointed out, not credible enough or, i mean, again, this is a guess, even if he had some information to cause you to draw a line to the president , because of im obviously off the top of my head. I havent seen the documents yet. I dont know the details. If its not possible to prosecute a sitting president according to office of legal counsel, really not going to lead to a prosecution of someone else and sometimes people have information about other folks and other criminal activities higher up in the food chain and if theres a legal impediment to bringing that other case against someone else higher up in the food chain, statute of limitations or a change in the law or the fact of a sitting president , you might not find the agreement even if the information otherwise deemed to be incriminating of someone
else. Im speck latting. I havent seen the documents and not there anymore. You know . Days like this i wish i was and i would know this stuff. I think people need to see what the information is. Obviously. Were awaiting that Press Conference from the Southern District of new york. We know Michael Cohen worked for President Trump for a decade. We know that if one of the charges is related to the payment to Stormy Daniels, the hush money payment, the thats considered a Campaign Finance violation, we know that President Trump reimbursed cohen for that. Also, were told and this is obviously if you believe cohen is a credible source but cohen has made it clear that he believes that President Trump knew about the meeting at trump tower ahead of time and not after the fact. Hes the only one that we know of whos saying that. Right. So, that would suggest to me that mueller either doesnt
believe him or take it seriously enough if mueller is not part of the deal. Or that theres no crime there. Any or all of those things and may also be back to what i said at the beginning, this is unusual. This idea that you would plead guilty and then cooperate later but everything about this case and, you know, throughout this period of time with the Russia Investigation, is not only unusual im going to interrupt you. I apologize. We have major Breaking News in the case. Breaking news in the case of the United States of america versus Paul Manafort. The former Campaign Chair for President Trump, it appears that the jury reached a verdict on at least some of the 18 counts. Cnns Jessica Schneider is outside the courthouse. What is going on . Reporter yeah, jake. This jury submitted a note to the judge and the note says that they have reached a verdict, a unanimous verdict on eight of the counts and cannot reach a
consensus on ten of the counts. Remember, Paul Manafort is facing 18 separate counts of bank and tax fraud as well as counts related to his foreign bank accounts. So this jury now saying we can come to unanimous agreement on eight of the counts and cant come to agreement on ten of the counts. We aren sure of which counts they have agreed on and which counts they havent. This is going to play out in the courtroom. This judge will have to decide what happens next here. This judge earlier in the day instructed the jury to go back and work more at it. Thats when he did that, the jury note perhaps left a little question because the jury note in particular at that point said if we cant come to consensus on a single count what should we do . A lot of people, maybe even the judge interpreted this as They Couldnt Reach Consensus On One count but they cant come to
consensus on ten of these counts so at the time, the judge told in the courtroom the jury was not present, the judge had said, yes, i probably would allow a partial verdict here and instructed the jury to go back to the deliberations and continue pressing forward to see if they could come to consensus on all counts but given the fact that the judge said he might be happy with or come to terms with a partial verdict, that was when the situation was a little bit more unclear. Now the question is, what will the judge do now that there are ten counts that this jury is essentially hung on those ten counts . Will the judge be satisfied with that . Possibly not. This judge may opt to do another alan charge or as its called here a sawyers charge. He might send the jury back again. But, jake, were still waiting to hear word inside the courtroom what the judge does. When we know that, well get
back to you. This jury saying we cant agree on ten. We can agree on eight. Jake ma jake . Thank you. Evan, what just happened . Well, thats right, jake. A thing that the judge is now discussing with both the prosecution and Paul Manaforts lawyers is what he can do next. We expect that one of the possibilities here would be for the judge to tell the jury, almost 5 00 right now. Usually the jury goes home at about 5 00, 5 30. Perhaps give them another shot at trying to bridge the gap on those ten counts. So far they say they have not been able to reach consensus on. I think thats where the prosecution prefers for the young to do, at least urge the jury just try One More Time and perhaps if they cant by tomorrow morning then he can consider the other option as jessica pointed out. The judge raised the possibility that if the jury reaches a
partial verdict that that is something that he would consider. Obviously, he has to hear from both sides before he does anything like that. So, right now, he is going through the motions, the options for the two sides because he needs their input before he gives any further instructions to this jury. It is a bit of a surprise. As jessica pointed out, jake, the note this morning was interpreted different ways. I think Paul Manaforts team came out thinking pretty good. They thought that perhaps this meant that the jury Couldnt Reach A verdict on any of the counts. Clearly, they were mistaken. And so, eight counts is what so far they seem to have come to agreement on and that means some serious likely jail time if that is what exactly comes to pass. If they agree with eight counts of guilty and not guilty. Evan perez. Laura, you have the information there from jessica and evan. The jury is able to come to a verdict coming to eight of the 18 counts. The other ten they are hung or deadlocked, not able to come to consensus. Very predictable when you have the first questions about that coming from the jury. Questions about not only the definition of reasonable doubt but the nuanced aspects of these sorts of charges. Bank fraud, tax fraud cases, Money Laundering cases, remember the ostrich jacket . If theres the most titillating part of the case, its a dry presentation of the evidence. Strictly the facts dragnet style. If thats the case, they had to comb through and figure out whether or not the government was able to satisfy their burden of proof reasonable doubt on each element of claims. They asked two claims thats key. Jake, one of them about the definition of even a Shell Company or a corporation. Owning half of the access to the
account and Delegation Authority and reporting requirements and Tax Implications and obligations. This suggests to you how nuanced this case is. And they also asked for the government to provide an exhibit list that corresponded to the elements of the case and proves it per exhibit. That tells you the full breadth of the information theyre grappling with. There is some disagreement about the proof. Now, having said that, we still dont know, jake, whether the eight of the 18 are convictions. Right. Whether or not theyre acquittals. You can be sure that the government normally does a Cost Benefit Analysis of the number of charges to prove at a retrial and already been able to prove. If it outweighs they wont get greedy. Thank you so much. Lets get back to Jessica Schneider outside the courthouse in alexandria. Were learning that judge ellis wants to interview the jurors
individually . Thats right. The judge just announcing how he plan to proceed here. The judge ellis plans to talk with the jurors one on one and he said he plans to get their feelings here as to how theyve come down on these counts and maybe if they are holding fast to their opinions and theres a split here in the jury room whether or not they want to convict or acquit here. So the judge, he is going to go person by person. There are 12 jurors here. Six men, six women. Hes going to talk to them individually. So presumably, thats going to take sometime. Its already 4 30. Court sort of closes up here by 5 00. Last night until 6 15 but it remains to be seen how this tick tock and the process will go here. So the jurys going to sorry. The judge talks to them individually. The judge has told the attorneys in this case without the jury present he said he is prepared to read their decision as it
pertains to the eight counts and if necessary prepared to declare a mistrial as to the other ten counts. As laura pointed out, we dont know as to those eight counts whether theyve decided on guilty or acquittal here. That remains to be seen but now this process will begin. The judge talking to these jurors one on one. Perhaps if some are waivering, maybe he would tell them to go back into the jury room again and continue deliberations. Remains to be seen here. We could be in for a process as the judge talks to these jurors one on one. Jake . All right. Jessica, thank you so much. I want to bring in Preet Bharara again. Your reaction to the news in the Paul Manafort trial, President Trumps former Campaign Chairman, is able to come to a verdict on eight of the 18 charges. But on the other ten, they are deadlocked. So my reaction is the same as those saying that this is probably very bad news for paul
manafort. You never know. It could be either they decide that they found not guilty on the eight counts but given my sense of the strength of the case, and of all the counts, actually, i think its probably bad news chls. I think also not great news for Paul Manafort because theyre not saying even if the acquittals or finding him not guilty, the fact they havent decided on the others doesnt mean he gets off as you know. It means there could be a new trial on the counts. Even if a mistrial is declared and then on top of that, Paul Manafort still has a pending trial on other counts in the District Of Columbia. So there are a lot more opportunities for the government even if it did not succeed on the eight to find Paul Manafort guilty of crimes that should get him substantial jail time. Preet, can the judge essentially split the baby here, accepting the verdict of guilty or not guilty on the eight and
on the other ten, the prosecution gets another whack at it . Yes. Bad news for Paul Manafort no. If guilty on the eight, bad news for him. Look. Sometimes it is even not guilty is what im saying. Correct. The other ten, its a deadlock, a mistrial, has to start again. Lives to fight another day and better to be acquitted on the eight and lives to fight another day. Actually, two other days. Right . These counts and then the d. C. Case, as well. Im sorry. Interrupting. We have some more Breaking News. Bringing in Jessica Schneider. The judge made a ruling in the case of the United States of america versus Paul Manafort. Jessica . Thats exactly right, jake. The judge declaring a mistrial as to ten of the counts. Ten of the counts the jury could not come to a unanimous c consensus on. The last word was the judge
talking to these jurors individually and we understand the jurors are inside the courtroom. The judge is talking to them but in the meantime, the judge is now decided a mistrial will be declared as to those ten counts where the jury could not reach a consensus. This in a sense is a victory for the defense team here. They were hoping for this hung jury and now they have it with at least ten of the counts. We have the other eight counts. 18 counts total so for those other counts, judge ellis indicated hes reading the verdict. Jessica, if i can interrupt. Im told that manafort has been found guilty of at least one of the counts. I suppose hes reading them out in the courthouse right now. So if hes guilty of one of the counts, id i dont know what that means for the other seven. Evan, Whats Going On . Thats right, jake. The judge is going through the verdict from the jury and basically what we know right now
is that Paul Manafort has been found guilty of at least one count. Now, we dont know exactly what the details are thats happening right now in the courthouse behind me. You can hear some people out, a crowd out here in the square in front of the courthouse reacting with cheers hearing the news, as well, that Paul Manafort is found guilty of at least one of these 18 charges that he was facing. Now, we are still waiting for the details of which count this is but what we heard as jessica pointed out was that the jury agreed unanimous verdict on eight counts and they were deadlocked on ten. Right now waiting to hear the details of which charges he was found guilty on and which ones they were deadlocked on, jake. Whats going on right now for viewers at home, the judge is reading each one of the verdicts and thats not just a matter of bang, bang, bang, bang. You have to go through the
charges and say what the jury has concluded so one of the 18 counts, Paul Manafort has been found guilty. And now im being told right now that the jury has found Paul Manafort guilty of eight of the 18 counts. The other ten there has been a mistrial declared. Lets go to Jessica Schneider with the Breaking News. Paul manafort found guilty of eight counts. Guilty on eight of those counts. Ten of those counts sort of wiped away for now for lack of a better term because the judge declared a mistrial. The jury couldnt come to a consensus on those ten countings. And, you know, i want to explain for viewers here a little bit of the reason for the delay. There are no cameras. There are no phones allowed inside the court at all. So what were relying on people running from the courtroom down to our people who have computers and theyre able to talk to us. Thats the reason why were not in there with the cell phones. So yes. The judge has announced that this jury found Paul Manafort guilty on eight counts and theres been a mistrial declared in ten. So were still waiting to get a bit more information here as it comes out. We did hear some cheers outside the courthouse as evan mentioned. You know, so not good for the defense on those eight counts. But, you know, a little bit of a win for them as to the ten counts declared as a mistrial here. But again, considerable jail time, Paul Manafort is facing. Remember, if he had been convicted on all 18 counts, he faced 305 years in prison. A lot of these counts are up to 30 years in prison. So this is by no means a win for Paul Manafort. He has been found guilty on eight of these counts. Jake . All right. So just to take a step back we started the show in manhattan. President trumps former fixer and long time personal attorney
Michael Cohen pleading guilty to a number of charges including Campaign Finance violations, tax fraud, bank fraud. 250 miles south President Trumps former Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort has been just found guilty of eight charges. Laura coates, lets go to you. I guess the government will have to decide whether or not it wants to have another trial to bring these other ten charges but the eight charges, very significant and it does call into question why Paul Manafort did not agree to a plea deal. Well, hes 68 years old, jake. Talking about 30 years for each of the charges. 240 years hes facing right now in prison. If he actually does not have a successful appeal to overturn the convictions, he didnt he probably didnt try to do a plea offer thinking theres a chance of pardon and thats still out there but 240 years, not talking about one Life Sentence for the 68yearold man but countless Life Sentences. This is a huge burden and the government will not get greedy e predict to get him the remaining
300 years for each of those 10 charges. Lets bring in preet. If you were prosecuting this case, and let me just take a moment to break down the charges. Eight charges. Manafort found guilty of five Tax Fraud Charges. One charge of hiding foreign bank accounts. And two counts of bank fraud. These are all felony charges. Very serious charges. Five Tax Fraud Charges. One charge of hiding foreign bank accounts. And two counts of bank fraud. Preet, if you were the prosecutor, would you just take the w and walk away or try to also prosecute the charges that were found hung, the ten other charges . Yeah. You might. This is so unusual as i said a couple times insofar as another case pending against him and what i would probably do is tell my folks, lets see why the case turned out the way it turned out in this case. See what the appropriate sentence would be on the charges of which he was convicted and
see how much difference it would make if any if we convicted on the remaining ten charges and also see what happens in washington at the end of the day maybe its a wash. And you wouldnt get more accountability by convicting someone of additional counts. Depending on how the guidelines work out and what accountability is brought to bare in the District Of Columbia case. How soon how long do they have to make up their mind about whether or not they want to retry the ten charges on which he was the jury was unable to come to a verdict . Theres no absolute set time. Usually the court wants to know. I would announce immediately. If there were no convictions at all that we were prepared to go forward and people knew we were serious about holding the person accountability. They would probably decide in a relatively short period of time. In terms of sentencing, you heard laura coates there say that Paul Manafort if given the
harshest possible sentence for eight charges could be facing life in prison. 240 years in prison. Hes 68 years old. People like to how long do you actually anticipate . Whats the average sentence for charges like this . Again, i dont know which particular charges he was convicted of and what the dollar amounts were. White collar case like this, probably talking about a few years and when people cite the huge amounts like life in prison, or 300 years, theyre going on what the statutory maximum is for every count and the way the guidelines work often is, you know, additional counts he might be convicted of dont necessarily add any jail time and they become sort of redundant. Of course, then theres also the question of whether or not President Trump pardons him. Always that. There has been some discussion of some charges are state charges, some are not and some of the cases. All of these are federal charges
so President Trump theoretically would be able to pardon him for all of them . That is correct. Okay. And Paul Manafort has acted as if hes a man not worried about this case so one might wonder if he is counting on such a thing. You know, he may be. He was pretty brazen when he was in on house arrest and remember in the other case in d. C. I keep referring to not only charged with the original counts that the prosecutors brought against him and Witness Tampering and landed him back in prison to begin with. Lets bring in evan perez for a little bit more detail on the charges. Evan . Thats right, jake. We have now the details of the which charges. Count one through five which were the Tax Fraud Charges, found guilty on all of those five charges and those all carry threeyear terms, concurrently served. Count 12, the failure to declare
a bank account for the year 2012, that carries a fiveyear term and then theres two charges of bank fraud which are 30year terms for both of those charges, jake. So Paul Manafort is looking at the rest of his life in prison. When this is all over with. If this is allowed to stand. All right, evan. Thank you so much. I want reaction from the panel here. Sorry, guys. Its been theres been Breaking News. Everything is breaking. Not taken any commercial breaks. Paul manafort guilty of eight charges, jen . Fie youre President Trump and you have a Campaign Manager going to jail for a throng time you have the personal lawyer going to jail for a long time, youre pretty freaked out. Ultimately, a political question. Not just a legal question for the people. What Point Will Republicans in Congress Stand up and say this is not acceptable . This is not okay. Theres something bad going on here. We havent seen a lot of courage on that front and more is happening that people point to
as in asking the members to stand up i think. To be fair, these are charges at least as far as we know, because we dont know what Michael Cohens plea is for things before donald trump was president. Josh, im sure thats something a republican would say. I feel like a onetrick pony on this. Its so easy to conflate two issues. Russia investigation ongoing with mueller and what happened with Paul Manafort. I mean, what happened with Paul Manafort looks like five convictions of tax evasion that happened over the previous decade and a half before he even met donald trump. Right . But, josh, look. Paul manafort was the guy overseeing the changing of the Convention Platform that made it friendlier to russia. Michael cohen leading the russia business dealings. Theres more here than just this has nothing to do with trump. Well learn more but we do and if it gets to that ill concede the point. It hasnt gotten to that. What you are introducing there
is a bunch of facts that have absolutely nothing to do with the fact pattern that convicted Paul Manafort today and were at the beginning. This is not the end. What this case proved, what hes found guilty of is broadly hiding money. When it goes to the d. C. Court, they look at if he was acting as a Foreign Agent and Money Laundering charges. You dont know where this goes. When watergate happened, ultimately 40 Government Officials including the you have no far how goes it. I take your point and point out that the money that Paul Manafort is accused of laundering or hiding, a lot of it is from people in ukraine no w. H. O. Are strong alliances with vladimir putin. Thats just a factual. That it happened before trump. Et cetera. But there is the cloud of russia over this. Looking at the cases, were
Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort although theyre separate cases, are the prosecutors showing they were corruptible in thats the big thing to keep in mind as we move forward. I think what were seeing is the Culture Of Corruption. You love that. Yes. Im here for the Culture Of Corruption today. Sing the song. 3. 0. Im sorry. Guess what. I apologize. We have some Breaking News. Lord. Involving Michael Cohen in new york. Entering a guilty plea. Im joined by cnns cara scanell. Tell us about the plea. Well, jake, i mean, it is a pretty intense scene inside there. Michael cohen is addressing the court and walked through how he committed eight counts including tax evasion on his personal income taxes, false statement to a bank and then critically he just described how he violated Campaign Finance laws two ways, both involving one involving
the Karen Mcdowellall payment and the Stormy Daniels payment and clear 150,000 payment and 130,000 payment. Specifically, when asked by the judge to describe the crime, Michael Cohen said, in coordination and at the direction of the candidate for federal office. He had made these payments. He is implicating donald trump in this. Although not specifically by name. So we just heard that. I ran out of the courtroom. Michael cohen is still answering questions by the judge whos running through the process here informing him of his rights and we also learned that as part of this agreement hes agreed to prison term, although the judge is not bound by this, but of between just under four years and five years in prison. Judge will sentence him later at a future date and could change and thats the agreement of the Prosecutors Office and Michael Cohen and his attorneys, jake. All right. Thats stunning news. Let me ask you, i mean, just
first of all to underline, you said that when Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to Campaign Finance laws violations, he was referring to Stormy Daniels and he said he did it, quote, in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office and specifically could only be President Trump. That is stunning news. You said Something Else about a different Campaign Finance charge before that. Can you repeat that . Well, one of those also had to do with the payment that was made to Karen Mcdougall saying that he worked with the Media Company which we know is american media, the publisher of the national enquirer, to craft this deal and mentioned at the direction and with coordination of the candidate for office who could only be donald trump. So both of those, the Karen Mcdougall one, he mentioned the Media Company and they have not been charged with anything and neither has the president. But in both instances the first
one having to do with Karen Mcdougall at the coordination and direction of federal candidate and then second payment he said in coordination and at the direction of President Trump whos then the candidate, jake. All right. Thats stunning news. Lets bring in Preet Bharara. What does this mean for President Trump . You have his former Campaign Fixer pleading guilty to Campaign Finance laws and did so in coordination with and at the direction of President Trump and both of these are hush money payments, one to a former playboy playmate of the year. The other one to a porn star and director. Whats that mean for donald trump . Extraordinary and stunning as you said. I didnt expect it to be as vocal and direct and clear as what cara just described. I think thats terrible news for
President Trump. Im not surprised given that in open Federal Court theres not a Cooperation Agreement and may be that they have what they need and the information provided obviously to the special counsel and will be in whatever report he prepares for the Deputy Attorney general and for further distribution to congress. But i agree. That is a big deal. You dont hear that kind of thing. But that kind of specificity of someone in that seat of power. During guilty plea allocution. The things he said for the judge to accept the plea is under oath. Is there legal exposure for President Trump or a sitting president cannot be it dieted . Theres impeachment with evidence of a crime and the constitution, high crime or misdemeanor. I want to caution folks. I didnt attend the hearing. I dont know all the details. I dont know everything that was said. But based on what was just described, it sounded like Michael Cohen was directly implicating his former boss, his client, the president in the federal crime. Let me bring in jeffrey toobin, senior legal correspondent. Jeffrey, campaign violations, Rudy Giuliani, pooh poohed them a few months ago saying its just generally a small fine, not that big of a deal. Obviously, other people have been sentenced to jail for Campaign Finance violations. It depends on the individual case, depends on the individual judge. Whats your reaction to this news . Jake, this is news of immense significance. Here you have a now convicted felon Michael Cohen, admitted felon, saying that his coconspirator and or his aider and abettor was the president of
the United States. I mean, that is something that is i think basically without precedent in american history. I dont think that happened during the watergate. That someone pled guilty and said the sitting president was a coconspirator. Now, it is true that there are Justice Department guidelines that say a president cannot be indicted. Thats that is i mean, that is something that Robert Mueller has certainly apparently agreed to follow. But this crime could be prosecuted after donald trump leaves office. This crime could be referred to congress as a high crime and misdemeanor but the fact that we have an admitted felon saying that the sitting president of the United States was his cocon superior or t
coconspirator. That is stunning news. This does become as jeffrey and preet suggested a political matter which would mean that the Current Congress or the next congress which may, in fact, be a democratic house, we dont know, perhaps even a democratic senate, though i doubt it, that it becomes a political discussion if President Trump broke Campaign Finance laws in having hush money paid in one form or another to Karen Mcdougall, a former playmate and Stormy Daniels. What does that mean . Well, it means that the president clearly worked to suppress information from voters before the election and more broadly one of the closest allies Michael Cohen saying the president directed me to lie, to cover up a secret that he wanted to keep and i committed crimes along the way. Given the way that this white house conducted itself, you may see that narrative play out again. Jake, what we heard today
is what we know today is the president hired criminals, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort. We dont know if they include Michael Flynn and who else down the line. This does, in fact, become flynn pleaded guilty. Pleaded guilty. We dont know who else. The white house has been very, very, very resistant to answering key questions on this. I dont think well get truth from the white house, truth from Sarah Huckabee sanders. What is Congress Going to do . Where does Congress Stand on this . I do not see an appetite from the republican congress, particularly republicans in the house, to bring any types of articles of impeachment or any legislation to about this about the president. This becomes what are voters going to do in 2018 . We have 77 days. Will folks vote for democrats . Josh worked for mitch mcconnell. What do you think the republicans have an obligation to do if the president is implicated in a i dont know if conspiracy is the right word
but a plot to break the law to hide information . I think, look. Ten minutes removed from first credible allegation of anything that touches the president during his campaign. So, you know, lets set that aside. What we have heard right now is from the personal attorney, a testimony under oath in court that this happened. Im sure theres another side of the story. Campaign finance laws the president already hold on. This is complicated. Giuliani said that the president made the payment. Sure, absolutely. You have to unpack the facts here. Campaign finance laws extremely tricky. Talking about something that don mcgahn, whos the campaign general counsel on the campaign, did he have knowledge of this . Was this a Campaign Effort that paid off this is was this a is the president guilty of a federal crime . What are republicans going to do in that case . So, they are if its true. She said if. The reality is many
republicans are nervous about the base because trump has a lock hold on them and they dont want to anger the base. Thats the 3politics of right now. They have to make decisions of whether to put country before party or not. They wont. Theyll let mueller write the report and voters decide. Republicans, you have seen ever since trump popped on the scene summer of 2015. Democratic votes are fired up. Independent voters are upset of what theyre seeing from the white house and congress across the board and go to the polls and vote for change and change results in the democrats taking back the house and hopefully people being held accountable. I believe manaforts legal team coming to the mike are phones and thi microphones and are going to speak. He and his wife, there they are walking out of court. A bad day for the manafort
family. Paul manafort found guilty of eight counts. Tough to keep them we were talking about the Michael Cohen case and pleaded guilty to eight counts. Eight counts being the big number today. Eight counts for Paul Manafort. Eight counts of pleaded guilty by Michael Cohen. Josh, i understand were still waiting for the facts to get in and there is another side of the story. We want to hear it. But obviously on its face you have the president s attorney, fixer, pleading guilty to violating the law to pay off two women who with whom President Trump allegedly had an affair as a private citizen. Implicating President Trump doing that. On its face, theres a horrible story for the president. Absolutely. I dont want to minimize the significance of that development. Extremely significant. No question about it. I tell you. What most Republican Voters are thinking right now, i know you all are surprised to hear this, what most republicans are thinking right now, what the heck does this have to do with
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