Transcripts For MSNBCW All In With Chris Hayes 20180517 : vi

Meeting russians for dirt on his fathers opponent in trump tower. It was such a nothing. I wouldnt have remembered the meeting. And the New York Times breaks the inside story of how the fbi sat on facts that could have devastated the Trump Campaign. I am a big fan of the fbi. I love the fbi. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. It is now official. On the record in black and white. Donald trump the president of the United States did in fact pay off Stormy Daniels shortly before the election to keep her from going public about their alleged sexual encounter. Trump admits it right here in this document, his 2017 Financial Disclosure form which we got today and what is also at this point pretty much official is that the President Donald Trump was lying when he said this. Did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels . No. Then why did Michael Cohen make it if there was no. You have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney and youll have to ask mike. Do you know where he got the money to make that payment . No, i dont know. Who knows . I dont know. Paints, mike cohen. Trump said he did not know about the payment, didnt know where cohen got the pone. Heres whats in his Financial Disclosure on page 45 in a footnote. It should have been on page 1. In 2016, expenses were incurred by one of Donald Trumps attorneys by Michael Cohen. Mr. Trump fully reimbursed mr. Cohen in 2017. The category of value would be 101,000 to 250,000 and the Interest Rate would be zero. According to trumps lawyers, cohen paid daniels 130,000 right in that 100,000 to 250,000 range. Trump is claiming this was no big deal. His lawyer said in the Financial Disclosure form they were only revealing oat information in the interest of transparency as the payment is not required to be disclosed a reportable liabilities. Basically theyre arguing this was just reimbursement of expenses not a loan, so is wasnt illegal and trump wasnt required to disclose a payment. You know who is not buying that . The governments top ethics official who released a letter to rod rosen tine in connection with the disclosure. He asserted the office of government ethics had concluded the payment made by mr. Cohen is in fact required to be reported as a liability despite trumps claim and added that rosen tine may find the disclosure relevant to any inquiry you may be pursuing. Thats something. Indeed, according to david apples predecessor, the let ser tantamount to a criminal referral. Oge reported the president to doj for potentially committing a crime. Joining me now, georgetown law professor, neal katyal. The legal significance of the president putting this in writing and the referral by oge. Theyre both huge. This is a big deal. And you know, its not just that the president has finally come clean on what happened with Stormy Daniels, its also that there is this almost a criminal referral which is an extraordinary thing. Our governments top ethics officer sent this Financial Disclosure report that President Trump signed today and sent it to Rod Rosenstein and said hey, that may be relevant in the criminal investigation youve got ongoing. Thats an extraordinary thing. This is ans a political office, the same office that President Trump last year tried to file his disclosure form without signing it for the first time in history kind of like filing your tax returns without signing them. The Government Ethics Office balked at that last year and this year taken an extraordinary step. I want to zero in that you mentioned which people may have forgotten. He tried to file it and not sign the part that certified the contents were true. Is that right . Exactly. Its kind of like you know, having your fingers crossed behind your back or something while youre signing it. Its a real tell. For anyone that would be bad. Were talking about the president of the United States. Someone should be above all of this reproach. I want to ask about another question about the criminal inquiry into the president of the United States that comes from the president s lawyer Rudy Guiliani. Rudy guiliani is telling people now today that he was told by someone on muellers team that mueller doesnt plan to indict trump because of doj rules. Thats what Rudy Guiliani says. Youre very familiar with the rules and have a lot to say about this bit of news. Have at it. So the first thing is, its extraordinary were even talking about there, the president of the United States. This isnt like two law professors like me and kate trying to say do you think the president will be indicted. This is mueller, the special counsel having a conversation with giuliani. Giuliani, of course, is not a stickler for details. We dont know exactly what was said. It seems very incomplete because the special counsel rules do in fact permit mueller to depart from doj policy and the way to do that, he has to ask the acting attorney general Rod Rosenstein to do so. He certainly has a path forward if he wanted to. It may be that giuliani you know, was trying to negotiate with mueller and said were not going to show up, the president is going to assert his fifth amendment right against selfincrimination and muellers team said well, you know, under doj policy, there is no incrimination to be had because we cant indict a sitting president. That would be a very, very bad thing for the president if the fifth amendment is removed which is basically the only thing standing between him and testifying right now with mueller. To your first point, it is worthy lingering on that. People in the president s circles were speculating whether Michael Cohen would flip. What was implicit in that, was theres nothing for him to tell the investigators because the president hasnt done anything wrong. It was no, obviously the president has done bad things. Rudy guiliani saying weve been told under it sure suggests that he has. Cohen i think the story that cohen has been telling you know, i think is falling apart quickly. The idea that this 130,000 was not a Campaign Contribution. That story smells both on timing and the manner. The timing, the payment was made 11 days before the election. The affair was like ten years old. All of a sudden, magic . Hes got to pay. Then the timing of this. Remember trump is a socalled billionaire and has a lot of money. Cohen takes a Home Equity Loan out to pay the 130,000. Right before election. The whole thing smells. Indeed, there that this Campaign Contribution of 130,000 its not just a Campaign Contribution. It may be the most stith Campaign Contribution income United States history. It turned an election. You know, the idea that the Trump Lawyers are standing around saying its for his personal life or Something Like that is to use the technical legal term poppy cock. Neal katyal, thanks for being with me. More breaking news to tell you about. It has been a wild day. The new yorker speaking to a Law Enforcement official who claims to be the individual who leaked Michael Cohens bank records. A whistleblower. The official had grown alarmed after being unable to find two important reports on cohens financial activity in a government database. The official worried that that information was being with head from Law Enforcement released the remaining documents. The two missing reports reportedly involved more than 3 million in additional transactions which we have not seen, triple the amount in the report released last week. With me now to talk about this breaking news, former Deputy Assistant attorney general and u. S. Attorney harry litman. This is a crazy story. On a number of fronts. First, your reaction to the fact that a while ble blower and Law Enforcement official essentially leaked what is a suspicious activity report from a bank to the public. Yeah, crazy story capping a crazy headspinning day. How many weeks ago did we hear about donald trump jr. s testimony in front of the senate . That was the a. M. This morning. Everythings happened since. Yeah, and this latest development, chris, bizarre with a capital b. The actual event underlying it, the possibility of a disappearance of an sar from the Treasury Department database, i dont know of any mechanism for doing it. It is completely unprecedented. And then as you say, the wrinkle of a Law Enforcement officer beak the one who came forward and by the way, did he produce it to avenatti . Did he try first to just you know, go to superiors in the Treasury Department and say what exactly is going on here . It is really head spinning. That said, you know, there are echoes of watergate here. The conscience stricken Law Enforcement officer coming forward. And in the bad movie version of this, somehow trump or cohen has succeeded in vaporizing these reports. I just cant believe it. Somehow for some in some mechanism that ive never heard of, i think it has to have been either mueller or the sdny that for some reason was able to remove these two reports from the file. But this is a huge database that everybody uses. Well know eventually. But how it was done and by what mechanism is completely befuddling right now. Let me start just to lay the groundwork. These are suspicious activity reports that banks, thousands of banks and thousands of these reports are filed where compliance officers at banks see a transfer or something happening and go it look right and file it with fin sen at the Treasury Department. Is that a think that you as an attorney, its something you interact with, right . All the time. Suspicious activity reports are no big deal. They happen, you know, hundreds of times a day. What happened here is the First Republic bank where cohen had set up the essential consultants account flagged something, could have been the source of funds, the multiplicity of funds. The wires apparently looked a little bit silly or unusual. So they flagged it. And then theres the suspicious activity report, but it refers to two other reports from the same bank that the Law Enforcement official after reading this couldnt find in this database which yes, is used all the time by multiple agencies. And so it would have been a natural thing to say well, let me look at these other two. By the way, there were different sars filed by other banks, as well in the whole kind of stew, all around cohen and essential consultants. Theyre going to figure in importantly when they bring the charges against cohen. But yes, its a very routine thing but then theres a reference to two other reports. He just cant find them. As i say, i dont know how i know of no mechanism for scrubbing the network here to erase reports. That right now, that is an outstanding question posed here. Its not answering the piece of reporting in the new yorker by ronan farrow. Theres some question. You just suggested its possible, so exploeszive and the database is accessible by thousands of people. Lots of folks have access to the boop to be cheer that they were worried about did and so either muellers team or sdny took them offline. The concern it appears the whistleblower is they were scrubbed nefariously to aid the president. What do you think of that . Well, i find it less plausible than mueller or sdny, again, by some unknown mechanism thinking we dont want the thousands of people doing this and actually going through official channels and making it happen. And if thats so, it will all be revealed. But the most sinister overtone that somehow trump or trump and cohen managed to vaporize it, i cannot get might head around though if it happened, i want the movie rights. Yeah, i want to say that there are a bunch of details in the report what was in that report which are fascinating and raise lots more questions. Harry, thank you. Everyone stay tuned because ronan farrow on the hottest reporting streak in recent journalistic memory and authored that report, yet another scoop will be joining rachel coming up. You want to stick around for that. With me now, maxine waters, democrat from california and ranging member of the Financial Services committee, the committee that has oversight Statutory Authority over the Financial System that is very intimately familiar with the ways in which the Financial System is compelled to report things specially. I want to get first your reaction to this news that the a whistleblower leaked a suspicious activity report about Michael Cohen. Well, allow me to add Something Else thats breaking news. And that is the fact that i sent a letter to the treasury secretary mnuchin in january. This is what i asked. Have you ever directed or has any other Trump Administration official, Trump Campaign official, or trump Family Member called on you to direct us treasury officials or Staff Members to obscure, destroy, or withhold information implicating the president , Trump Campaign officials, trump Family Members or his associates. We asked for this information. We never got a response from the treasury secretary and now were finding out that it had been scrubbed. The whistleblower who went to look for the information discovered that it was not there. Where did it go . It did not move by itself. Someone removed this information and the treasury secretary is going to have to answer for this. Let me shake sure i understand. That letter you wrote to the treasury secretary to say look, mr. Secretary, i would like confirmation in writing that you have never been asked to destroy or obscure any records having to do with the president or his associates and what was his spobs . None. No response. He did not answer us at all. And no explanation . They just didnt respond . No explanation no, response, no nothing. And we was asking because we thought there may be suspicious activity. And if there was suspicious activity, we would know where it might come from. But we also know that it would be sent to fin sen and it would be deposited there. He would know, should know or could go to it and find it and respond to us and he didnt. The question is, why did he ignore us. Did you come into any specific information to make its way to your office that would prompt you to have a concern that the Treasury Department might be doing something to obstruct, obscure or destroy records. Was there something specific that prompted it or just a concern you had generally because the president s finances might end up being investigated . Yes, dont forget, we were also taking a look at the relationship to Deutsche Bank at the time. Right. So because my staff has been so involved in taking a look at the movement of money and some of the allegations of money laundering, et cetera, were just looking. And so we thought wed better ask whether or not there was any suspicious activity that had been forwarded to fin sin. So it was not specific. It was general. Are your suspicions heightened based on the news that just broke about a whistleblower fearing that something was scrubbed. Absolutely, absolutely. And i think the treasury secretary is going to having to answer to this question. And i want you to know that i think that the ethics officer that directed it to mueller and said to him, this may be relevant to your investigation is absolutely correct. And he did a good thing. Youre saying the office of government ethics that referred the president s payment. I have another question about that disclosure form the president signed today. Which disclosed a year late that payment. It also says i think the trump hotels brought in about 40 million in the past year. Is it problematic to you that the president and the Republican Party use and promote this hotel, the president is so clearly benefiting from . Well, absolutely. And you know, questions have been raised about that. And i think one organization that looks into this kind of thing have asked for investigations into whether or not theres a violation of the constitution or whether or not laws have been broken because obviously, it appears that the president is you know, helping to direct business and hes making money on it. And that there are those who are coming from Foreign Countries who are glad to comply with this request to stay at the hotel because they think theyre going to create some favor with him. So its all very criminal looking. It doesnt look good for the president of the New York Times<\/a> breaks the inside story of how the fbi sat on facts that could have devastated the Trump Campaign<\/a>. I am a big fan of the fbi. I love the fbi. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. It is now official. On the record in black and white. Donald trump the president of the United States<\/a> did in fact pay off Stormy Daniels<\/a> shortly before the election to keep her from going public about their alleged sexual encounter. Trump admits it right here in this document, his 2017 Financial Disclosure<\/a> form which we got today and what is also at this point pretty much official is that the President Donald Trump<\/a> was lying when he said this. Did you know about the 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels<\/a> . No. Then why did Michael Cohen<\/a> make it if there was no. You have to ask Michael Cohen<\/a>. Michael is my attorney and youll have to ask mike. Do you know where he got the money to make that payment . No, i dont know. Who knows . I dont know. Paints, mike cohen. Trump said he did not know about the payment, didnt know where cohen got the pone. Heres whats in his Financial Disclosure<\/a> on page 45 in a footnote. It should have been on page 1. In 2016, expenses were incurred by one of Donald Trumps<\/a> attorneys by Michael Cohen<\/a>. Mr. Trump fully reimbursed mr. Cohen in 2017. The category of value would be 101,000 to 250,000 and the Interest Rate<\/a> would be zero. According to trumps lawyers, cohen paid daniels 130,000 right in that 100,000 to 250,000 range. Trump is claiming this was no big deal. His lawyer said in the Financial Disclosure<\/a> form they were only revealing oat information in the interest of transparency as the payment is not required to be disclosed a reportable liabilities. Basically theyre arguing this was just reimbursement of expenses not a loan, so is wasnt illegal and trump wasnt required to disclose a payment. You know who is not buying that . The governments top ethics official who released a letter to rod rosen tine in connection with the disclosure. He asserted the office of government ethics had concluded the payment made by mr. Cohen is in fact required to be reported as a liability despite trumps claim and added that rosen tine may find the disclosure relevant to any inquiry you may be pursuing. Thats something. Indeed, according to david apples predecessor, the let ser tantamount to a criminal referral. Oge reported the president to doj for potentially committing a crime. Joining me now, georgetown law professor, neal katyal. The legal significance of the president putting this in writing and the referral by oge. Theyre both huge. This is a big deal. And you know, its not just that the president has finally come clean on what happened with Stormy Daniels<\/a>, its also that there is this almost a criminal referral which is an extraordinary thing. Our governments top ethics officer sent this Financial Disclosure<\/a> report that President Trump<\/a> signed today and sent it to Rod Rosenstein<\/a> and said hey, that may be relevant in the criminal investigation youve got ongoing. Thats an extraordinary thing. This is ans a political office, the same office that President Trump<\/a> last year tried to file his disclosure form without signing it for the first time in history kind of like filing your tax returns without signing them. The Government Ethics Office<\/a> balked at that last year and this year taken an extraordinary step. I want to zero in that you mentioned which people may have forgotten. He tried to file it and not sign the part that certified the contents were true. Is that right . Exactly. Its kind of like you know, having your fingers crossed behind your back or something while youre signing it. Its a real tell. For anyone that would be bad. Were talking about the president of the United States<\/a>. Someone should be above all of this reproach. I want to ask about another question about the criminal inquiry into the president of the United States<\/a> that comes from the president s lawyer Rudy Guiliani<\/a>. Rudy guiliani is telling people now today that he was told by someone on muellers team that mueller doesnt plan to indict trump because of doj rules. Thats what Rudy Guiliani<\/a> says. Youre very familiar with the rules and have a lot to say about this bit of news. Have at it. So the first thing is, its extraordinary were even talking about there, the president of the United States<\/a>. This isnt like two law professors like me and kate trying to say do you think the president will be indicted. This is mueller, the special counsel having a conversation with giuliani. Giuliani, of course, is not a stickler for details. We dont know exactly what was said. It seems very incomplete because the special counsel rules do in fact permit mueller to depart from doj policy and the way to do that, he has to ask the acting attorney general Rod Rosenstein<\/a> to do so. He certainly has a path forward if he wanted to. It may be that giuliani you know, was trying to negotiate with mueller and said were not going to show up, the president is going to assert his fifth amendment right against selfincrimination and muellers team said well, you know, under doj policy, there is no incrimination to be had because we cant indict a sitting president. That would be a very, very bad thing for the president if the fifth amendment is removed which is basically the only thing standing between him and testifying right now with mueller. To your first point, it is worthy lingering on that. People in the president s circles were speculating whether Michael Cohen<\/a> would flip. What was implicit in that, was theres nothing for him to tell the investigators because the president hasnt done anything wrong. It was no, obviously the president has done bad things. Rudy guiliani saying weve been told under it sure suggests that he has. Cohen i think the story that cohen has been telling you know, i think is falling apart quickly. The idea that this 130,000 was not a Campaign Contribution<\/a>. That story smells both on timing and the manner. The timing, the payment was made 11 days before the election. The affair was like ten years old. All of a sudden, magic . Hes got to pay. Then the timing of this. Remember trump is a socalled billionaire and has a lot of money. Cohen takes a Home Equity Loan<\/a> out to pay the 130,000. Right before election. The whole thing smells. Indeed, there that this Campaign Contribution<\/a> of 130,000 its not just a Campaign Contribution<\/a>. It may be the most stith Campaign Contribution<\/a> income United States<\/a> history. It turned an election. You know, the idea that the Trump Lawyers<\/a> are standing around saying its for his personal life or Something Like<\/a> that is to use the technical legal term poppy cock. Neal katyal, thanks for being with me. More breaking news to tell you about. It has been a wild day. The new yorker speaking to a Law Enforcement<\/a> official who claims to be the individual who leaked Michael Cohen<\/a>s bank records. A whistleblower. The official had grown alarmed after being unable to find two important reports on cohens financial activity in a government database. The official worried that that information was being with head from Law Enforcement<\/a> released the remaining documents. The two missing reports reportedly involved more than 3 million in additional transactions which we have not seen, triple the amount in the report released last week. With me now to talk about this breaking news, former Deputy Assistant<\/a> attorney general and u. S. Attorney harry litman. This is a crazy story. On a number of fronts. First, your reaction to the fact that a while ble blower and Law Enforcement<\/a> official essentially leaked what is a suspicious activity report from a bank to the public. Yeah, crazy story capping a crazy headspinning day. How many weeks ago did we hear about donald trump jr. s testimony in front of the senate . That was the a. M. This morning. Everythings happened since. Yeah, and this latest development, chris, bizarre with a capital b. The actual event underlying it, the possibility of a disappearance of an sar from the Treasury Department<\/a> database, i dont know of any mechanism for doing it. It is completely unprecedented. And then as you say, the wrinkle of a Law Enforcement<\/a> officer beak the one who came forward and by the way, did he produce it to avenatti . Did he try first to just you know, go to superiors in the Treasury Department<\/a> and say what exactly is going on here . It is really head spinning. That said, you know, there are echoes of watergate here. The conscience stricken Law Enforcement<\/a> officer coming forward. And in the bad movie version of this, somehow trump or cohen has succeeded in vaporizing these reports. I just cant believe it. Somehow for some in some mechanism that ive never heard of, i think it has to have been either mueller or the sdny that for some reason was able to remove these two reports from the file. But this is a huge database that everybody uses. Well know eventually. But how it was done and by what mechanism is completely befuddling right now. Let me start just to lay the groundwork. These are suspicious activity reports that banks, thousands of banks and thousands of these reports are filed where compliance officers at banks see a transfer or something happening and go it look right and file it with fin sen at the Treasury Department<\/a>. Is that a think that you as an attorney, its something you interact with, right . All the time. Suspicious activity reports are no big deal. They happen, you know, hundreds of times a day. What happened here is the First Republic<\/a> bank where cohen had set up the essential consultants account flagged something, could have been the source of funds, the multiplicity of funds. The wires apparently looked a little bit silly or unusual. So they flagged it. And then theres the suspicious activity report, but it refers to two other reports from the same bank that the Law Enforcement<\/a> official after reading this couldnt find in this database which yes, is used all the time by multiple agencies. And so it would have been a natural thing to say well, let me look at these other two. By the way, there were different sars filed by other banks, as well in the whole kind of stew, all around cohen and essential consultants. Theyre going to figure in importantly when they bring the charges against cohen. But yes, its a very routine thing but then theres a reference to two other reports. He just cant find them. As i say, i dont know how i know of no mechanism for scrubbing the network here to erase reports. That right now, that is an outstanding question posed here. Its not answering the piece of reporting in the new yorker by ronan farrow. Theres some question. You just suggested its possible, so exploeszive and the database is accessible by thousands of people. Lots of folks have access to the boop to be cheer that they were worried about did and so either muellers team or sdny took them offline. The concern it appears the whistleblower is they were scrubbed nefariously to aid the president. What do you think of that . Well, i find it less plausible than mueller or sdny, again, by some unknown mechanism thinking we dont want the thousands of people doing this and actually going through official channels and making it happen. And if thats so, it will all be revealed. But the most sinister overtone that somehow trump or trump and cohen managed to vaporize it, i cannot get might head around though if it happened, i want the movie rights. Yeah, i want to say that there are a bunch of details in the report what was in that report which are fascinating and raise lots more questions. Harry, thank you. Everyone stay tuned because ronan farrow on the hottest reporting streak in recent journalistic memory and authored that report, yet another scoop will be joining rachel coming up. You want to stick around for that. With me now, maxine waters, democrat from california and ranging member of the Financial Services<\/a> committee, the committee that has oversight Statutory Authority<\/a> over the Financial System<\/a> that is very intimately familiar with the ways in which the Financial System<\/a> is compelled to report things specially. I want to get first your reaction to this news that the a whistleblower leaked a suspicious activity report about Michael Cohen<\/a>. Well, allow me to add Something Else<\/a> thats breaking news. And that is the fact that i sent a letter to the treasury secretary mnuchin in january. This is what i asked. Have you ever directed or has any other Trump Administration<\/a> official, Trump Campaign<\/a> official, or trump Family Member<\/a> called on you to direct us treasury officials or Staff Members<\/a> to obscure, destroy, or withhold information implicating the president , Trump Campaign<\/a> officials, trump Family Member<\/a>s or his associates. We asked for this information. We never got a response from the treasury secretary and now were finding out that it had been scrubbed. The whistleblower who went to look for the information discovered that it was not there. Where did it go . It did not move by itself. Someone removed this information and the treasury secretary is going to have to answer for this. Let me shake sure i understand. That letter you wrote to the treasury secretary to say look, mr. Secretary, i would like confirmation in writing that you have never been asked to destroy or obscure any records having to do with the president or his associates and what was his spobs . None. No response. He did not answer us at all. And no explanation . They just didnt respond . No explanation no, response, no nothing. And we was asking because we thought there may be suspicious activity. And if there was suspicious activity, we would know where it might come from. But we also know that it would be sent to fin sen and it would be deposited there. He would know, should know or could go to it and find it and respond to us and he didnt. The question is, why did he ignore us. Did you come into any specific information to make its way to your office that would prompt you to have a concern that the Treasury Department<\/a> might be doing something to obstruct, obscure or destroy records. Was there something specific that prompted it or just a concern you had generally because the president s finances might end up being investigated . Yes, dont forget, we were also taking a look at the relationship to Deutsche Bank<\/a> at the time. Right. So because my staff has been so involved in taking a look at the movement of money and some of the allegations of money laundering, et cetera, were just looking. And so we thought wed better ask whether or not there was any suspicious activity that had been forwarded to fin sin. So it was not specific. It was general. Are your suspicions heightened based on the news that just broke about a whistleblower fearing that something was scrubbed. Absolutely, absolutely. And i think the treasury secretary is going to having to answer to this question. And i want you to know that i think that the ethics officer that directed it to mueller and said to him, this may be relevant to your investigation is absolutely correct. And he did a good thing. Youre saying the office of government ethics that referred the president s payment. I have another question about that disclosure form the president signed today. Which disclosed a year late that payment. It also says i think the trump hotels brought in about 40 million in the past year. Is it problematic to you that the president and the Republican Party<\/a> use and promote this hotel, the president is so clearly benefiting from . Well, absolutely. And you know, questions have been raised about that. And i think one organization that looks into this kind of thing have asked for investigations into whether or not theres a violation of the constitution or whether or not laws have been broken because obviously, it appears that the president is you know, helping to direct business and hes making money on it. And that there are those who are coming from Foreign Countries<\/a> who are glad to comply with this request to stay at the hotel because they think theyre going to create some favor with him. So its all very criminal looking. It doesnt look good for the president of the United States<\/a> to be involved in business while he is the president of the United States<\/a> making money off of a government location. That location belongs to the government. Hes only leasing that location. And i think the constitution says that no one should be able to you know, have a lease or have business that they have incurred because of their relationship to government. I guess the final question is, do you think youll get an answer frns Steve Mnuchin<\/a> to your january letter given the news that just broke. No, i dont expect an answer from him. But now that it has been leaked and now that the ethics officer have sent it to mueller, i think now that it will be investigated. It could be investigated. And more can be found out about how that information got out of that database. Who took it out . Why did they take it out . Soapy hope that the investigation will be able to be answer those questions. Congresswoman maxine waters, thank you so much for being with me. Youre welcome. Thank you. Next, more news that broke today on the secret slush fund of the president s lawyer. Tonight, a qatari investor has just come forward on the record saying that Michael Cohen<\/a> approached him with a Million Dollar<\/a> offer. The reporter who broke that story in two minutes. Let your inner light loose with one a day womens. The reporter who broke that a complete multivitamin specially formulated with key Nutrients Plus<\/a> vitamin d for bone health support. Your one a day is showing. Sure. Mom,whats up son . Alk . I cant be your it guy anymore. What . You guys have xfinity. You can do this. Whats a good wifi password, mom . You still have to visit us. I will. No. Make that the password you stillohave toovisit us. Thats a good one. [ chuckles ] download the xfinity my account app and set a password you can easily remember. One more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. As we told you last night, the daily mail, british paper, had a wild story which we werent sure what to make of it. The tabloid claimed that a qatari investor named Ahmad Al Rumaihi<\/a> who met with the officials a month or so after the election told people that Michael Cohen<\/a> asked for millions of dollars which he would pass to trump Family Member<\/a>s. We didnt know if it was true. Now that story had a single anonymous source but now the guy at the center of it, Ahmad Al Rumaihi<\/a> has gone on the record. His claims are not quite that but still sensational. City told the intercept that cohen asked him straight up for a Million Dollar<\/a>s during a conversation about potential qatari investment. Nbc news confirmed that claim with a spokesman for al rumaihi. Joining me is it the author who broke the story. Great reporting, ryan. Set the context here. Al rumaihi ran an Investment Fund<\/a> for the qatari government. Is that right. Yeah, he was a senior official in their Sovereign Wealth Fund<\/a> worth a couple of trillion dollars. He had responsibility for a piece of it that had about 100 billion or so. He was coming to the u. S. Looking to invest roughly 50 billion infrastructure fund. It was time to make America Great<\/a> again and thought there could be a marriage between what they were looking for and what trump wanted. So hes here thinking trump ran on infrastructure making America Great<\/a> again. Woo weve got money to invest in the u. S. Maybe we can find ways to invest in infrastructure that help everybody out. Yeah, trump name checked their airports during the campaign. He trashed new york airports and said if you go to doe harkes you should see the airports over there. Back in doha, theyre like hey, we can build these airports over here for you. Lets do this. They were as stunned as every other country and every other american at that time. This is december, 2016. People are trying to figure out you know, who this administration is and how do you business with them. And so Michael Cohen<\/a> and him are talking about this kind of idea, some idea of that Fund Investing<\/a> in the u. S. And then what happens . It started to get weird when Michael Cohen<\/a> floats there an unorthodox approach. He says look, how about and this is kind of a fictional version of america but he says Something Like<\/a>, how about we find a midwestern town where a steel plant is about to close down and you guys buy the steel plant and you know, millions of partners come in or partners come in who have the know how and they run it. You save the town. You save the steel plant. And then you split the profits 50 50 with the partners and you guys. Everybody wins. He says hes thinking well, certainly there are a lot of winners in this scenario but the people who just kind of get to own half of a factory are among those. At that point, he says, well, what kind of projects do you have in mind. He says before we go any further, ill need 1 million. Michael cohen first floats some crazy lets go into business idea 50 50, your money, my home boys. Well figure it out and split half the profits with you, qatari investor . Thats what he said. That may be where the game of tefl wound up with the daily mail saying the Family Member<\/a>s were getting enriched. But right. Then for the privilege of that, you know, continuing to talk about ideas like that, i would need a Million Dollar<\/a>s. So then he says we need 1 million which seems like it fits with the way he was going around telling people pay me up front if you want to learn about, know the mind i have donald trump. And what does rumaihi say . He told me this two months ago or so off the record and wasnt talking publicly yet. When cohens ledger came out and you start seeing Million Dollar<\/a> paints and y payments and you see hes offering consulting, it very much mirrored what rumaihi said. Cohen said it was untrue. And these are salacious stories that are you know, and that theyll be proven wrong in court, something along those lines. Well see what happens. Ryan grim, thanks for being with me. Hundreds ef pages of testimony today paint a picture of a president ial campaign very interested in col including with russia. What we learned today about the Infamous Trump<\/a> tower meeting after this. People said it just made a mess until exxonmobil scientists put it to the test. They thought someday it could become fuel and power our cars wouldnt that be cool . And thats why exxonmobil scientists think its not small at all. Energy lives here. 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 im gonna follow the sun transitions\u2122 light under control\u2122 now that we have your attention. Capri sun has four updated drinks. Now with only the good stuff. Do you know how to use those . Nope. Get those kids some capri sun hundreds of pages of Interview Transcripts<\/a> released today by the Senate Judiciary<\/a> committee reveal more evidence that senior members of the Trump Campaign<\/a> really wanted to collude with russia. According to participants in that Infamous Trump<\/a> tower meeting in june, 2016 who testified before the committee, donald trump jr. And colleagues didnt end up receiving much in the way of official documents and information that would incriminate hillary as promised. Whether they got direct help from russia remains an open question. Its the subject of the special counsels investigation. Whats clear from the transcripts released today is that senior Trump Officials<\/a> in that meet were extremely eager to obtain dirt on their opponent from someone billed to them as a representative of the russian government. So much so they apparently got angry when she didnt deliver to their satisfaction. The transcripts also show that lawyers for the trump organization, the president s as private business, scrambled to get participants stories straight before news of the meeting first broke last silver and that the president himself was involved in efforts to the cover up the meetings original purpose. Don junior confirming reports his father helped with the initial misleading statement describing the meeting as being about adoption. Im joined by rosalynn helderman reporter for the Washington Post<\/a> and msnbc contribute ker clint watts, author of the book messing with the enemy out later this month. Let me start with you as someone who worked at the fbi and worked in Counter Intelligence<\/a> about this moment here about this meeting. What seems hard confirmed here is, this was floated and they took the bait. We dont know what happened in the meeting. Whats your take away from what that meant . Collusioning whether failed attempted or successful is all collusion. Its the take away from it. They took the meeting under the auspices they were going to get dirt. They seemed to be when they didnt get what they wan and didnt realize they were being offered this is a quid pro quo. You might look into the magnitsky act. If you do something about it, then. You think this was a lost in translation that the structure of the meeting was were telling you what the quo is. Maybe well get to the quid later. They were just lake whats the deal. Theres no dirt. Gimme, gimme, gimme, can you do it quickly. Thats your interpretation. Its one what the russians successfully do, weve talked about the online game, how do you get the attention of your target. Their ground game is exceptional. They createsed this russian government attorney is coming to see you. Were coming to your building of your business. Got your name on the top. And were going to have a meeting with you and we will give you dirt. We want to talk to you about the magnitsky act. Whats fascinating is not only were they trying to taint the clintons but in doing so they created a situation whereas i believe the russian story more than i believe the president of the United States<\/a> version of events. They can now play this either way and influence if they want to support the trumps they can. If they dont, now theyve created provocation they can influence the other direction. Rosalynn, don junior says the president did contribute to the initial report. Heres a question to the best of your knowledge, did the president provide any edits to the initial statements meeting about adoption or other input . He may have commented through hope hicks. Do you know if his comments were incorporated into the final statement . I believe some may have been. What do you think of that . We understand that episode is of keen interest to bob mueller and his team as they explore the possibility of obstruction of justice because it starts to look like there was an effort to tell witnesses what their story should be and to potentially hide even from investigators what the true purpose of this meeting is. Now, the other side that is, it was a Media Management<\/a> strategy that had nothing to do with the investigation. Thats what mueller will be looking at. Heres another thing i found interesting on the Media Management<\/a> obstruction question. This trump lawyer pons up in here, alan garton who is going to all the parties emailing goldstone before the story breaks. Theres something odd about the fact that this person is not someone from the white house or the campaign. He works for the private business of the president of the United States<\/a> and hes going to line up everyones stories. We didnt know that before. Yeah, i was struck by that, as well. And one of the things that you can see happening is sort of trading around of statements that might be distributed and goldstone tells the committee at one point that a statement that was suggested for him he felt like wasnt accurate and he didnt want to sign on to that. Theres also the question of whether the president was told. Right. Don junior says he never told his father but theres this blocked number. Yes. Right . In between the calls to emin aglavrov. That blocked number is something someone could learn. Thats tricky. Phillip bumps timeline in the west is fantastic. When you lay that out, you see two things. One the blocked phone call is the only unexplained phone call of all of this. Hes calling emin. Calling someone else, calling emin back. We dont know what happened. There are investigators that can figure that out. Through records, those can be subpoenaed and gathers. There are ways you can hunt that down. It becomes a question to the president , you know, it becomes a question to the president s staff who, made this phone call. Whats also interesting is trump junior seems to call manafort in between these segments. And youve got to the wonder what those are about. Was it just coordinating for the meeting or also, does this check out . Is this something we want to do. You kind of know this world. What do you think about this. Right, so why would you call these people . Youre trying to organize the meeting but you may be trying to figure out. Trump junior seems the one person will go for just about any opportunity that comes up. Rosalynn, goldstone and others seemed freaked out. They seem thats one thing that comes across is, maybe they didnt know what they were doing or what they were enmeshed in but theres panic in some of those emails. We hear from goldstone he warned the russians, warned the aglavrovs he thought this was a bad idea. When it goes south, he reminds them repeatedly he had told them this was a bad idea. This seemed to be some understanding. The aglab roves own employee said when he got wind there might be dirt about Hillary Clinton<\/a> involved he thought about backing out even though he was sort of required to be there because he was actually a clinton supporter. Everyones alarm bells except the people working for the campaign. Rosalynn and clint watts, thank you both. Weve got more ahead. Congressman adam schiff will be here. Plus scott pruitt faces democrats in the senate and thing 1, thing 2 next. Having moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis<\/a> is not always easy. 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I try so hard, i cant rise above it dont know what it is bout that little gals lovin. Applebees new bigger bolder grill combos. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Feeclaritin and relief fromwsy symptoms caused by over 200 allergens. Like those from buddy. Because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. Feel the clarity. And live claritin clear. Thing 1 tonight with questions over his use of multiple email accounts, epa chief scott pruitt is now well past a dozen concurrent investigations into his him or his agency. His rationale for 24 7 security and first class travel is coming under under scrutiny and while he still somehow has a job, part of that job includes facing senators at open hearings on capitol hill. Forget about your own ego and your first class travel and your special phone booths and all these things that just make you a laughingstock and your agency a laughingstock. Scott pruitt faces some pretty unhappy democrats in the senate. Thats thing two in 60 seconds. At some point, we are going to be able to beat als. Because life is amazing. So i am hoping for a cure. I want this, to uh, to be a reality. Um, yeah. At Scott Pruitts<\/a> hearing today, the impeach pru at this time contingent may have filed out quietly but tom udall of new mexico made sure if pruitt wouldnt provide sufficient answers he was certainly going to have his say. Do you know how many investigations into your ethics and spending are ongoing as of today. As far as the total number, i dont know. I know that those agencies and those individuals are offices are involved. By my count, there are 14. And its 16 if you include the two ongoing reviews by your bosses at the white house and the omb. Did you personally on your first day ask for 14 7 protection for yourself. Personally on the first day, the 24 7 had been determined by the criminal enforcement office. So your answer is no . My answer is i did not direct that on the first day. All the documents dispute that. Do you see a conflict of interest in accepting a pretty good housing deal from a lobbyist couple that has business before the epa and all of these questions ive been asking about is this swampy behavior. Incidentally, what a silly reason you had to fly first class. Because of a danger to you unless you flew first class. He said nobody even knows who you are. Touch shows how we really feel. But does psoriasis ever get in the way . Embrace the chance of 100 clear skin with taltz. Up to 90 of those with moderate to severe psoriasis had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. Most people were still clearer after one year. With taltz, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. Dont use if youre allergic to taltz. Before starting, you should be checked for tuberculosis. Taltz may increase risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, symptoms, or received a vaccine or plan to. 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In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. As if it werent clear enough already, the Trump Administration<\/a> is going to great pains to make it more clear what they really think about immigrants and people that come to this country seeking ref future. With preparations for a horrifying new plan to rip undocumented children from their families and then warehouse them in military bases. Now, coming from this president such a plan is not so much of a surprise. But heres whats crucial. He is hardly the only one in the white house who apparently supports ripping children from their mothers. John kelly told npr last week that separating families would be a tough deterrent adding the children will be taken care of, put into foster care or whatever. But the into foster care or whatever. Thats how john kelly thinks of tearing children away from families. Now thanks to the west we have some idea of what whatever means. Potentially warehousing children on military bases, children the most vulnerable coming here fleeing danger in their hope countries seeking refuge in this beacon of liberty the United States<\/a> and there is a reason why people in this administration can think this way of putting children on military bases because crucially they do not see undocumented immigrants as people. From the announcements it of Donald Trumps<\/a> president ial campaign he has consistently repeatedly talked about immigrants as criminals, as threats, as thugs. Today in referring to the people the administration has deported in response to a question about ms13, he said these are not t people, theyre animals. It is a disgusting way to talk about human beings, and this plan to destroy families, to warehouse children is a shocking thing for a country to do. It is deeply indecent, and anyone who works for this administration and does not quit over it should be ashamed. Ontro, im allbusiness when i travel. Even when i travel. For leisure. So i go national, where i can choose any available upgrade in the aisle without starting any conversations or paying any upcharges. What can i say . Control suits me. Go national. Go like a pro. At fidelity, our online u. S. Equity trades are just 4. 95. So no matter what you trade, or where you trade, youll only pay 4. 95. Fidelity. Open an account today. Todays other big news comes from the Senate Intelligence<\/a> committee whose leaders are siding with both the Intelligence Community<\/a> and directly contradicting the republican counterparts in the house with a bipartisan statement saying they believe russians were trying to help donald trump get elected president. Joining me now is a Ranking Member<\/a> of house intelligence committee, congressman adam schiff who agrees with that statement from senate intel. Let me start with your reaction to your counterparts in the Senate Backing<\/a> up your report from the minority committee. What do you think . There is really no question that the Senate Intel Committee<\/a> on a bipartisan basis got the conclusion right. All the evidence we have seen corroborate whats the Intelligence Community<\/a> found in terms of the russian motivation, which was to help the Trump Campaign<\/a>, to hurt Hillary Clinton<\/a>, and more generally sow discord in our election. That was the bipartisan conclusion in the senate. That was the conclusion clearly of the mueller team, as you can see reflected in their indictment of these 13 russians. But also, the overwhelming conclusion of the intelligence agencies. So sadly, the majority on the house Intel Committee<\/a> is now an outlier. And thats not at all surprising because they have from the beginning viewed their mission differently, not at getting at the truth, but rather protecting the president , whatever the costs may be. New transcripts and documents out today from the senate, from the Judiciary Committee<\/a> in terms of their portion of the investigation into that trump tower meeting. Im wondering as someone who was part of your own investigation on the house intelligence side, do you feel like you learned things today from the documents made public . You know, were still going through the documents. On first read, a lot of the testimony in the senate very much tracks what we heard from these same witnesses in the house. We also see some of the same infirmities i think in the investigation in the Senate Judiciary<\/a> committee that weve had in the house, and that is that when witnesses would make a statement, the investigators werent allowed to progress and attest to truth or falsity of that statement and probe and find additional evidence. In our interviews, for example, of donald trump jr. , we asked him about this blocked call that he received in between communications he was having with agalarov. He claimed not to remember who that call was to or from. It was a blocked number. We know the president was using a blocked number when he was then candidate donald trump. Its very easy to find out by subpoenaing Donald Trumps<\/a> phone records during the campaign to see if that was him, if that was a conversation that don jr. Was having in midst of trying to figure out whether to take this meeting at trump tower. Thats a key piece of evidence, a pretty obvious step. The republicans on our committee wouldnt allow us to take it because they didnt want to know the answer. It didnt appear the Senate Judiciary<\/a> committee took that step either. But bob mueller, i have to imagine, has taken that step. He knows the answer, and i would hope that we will have an opportunity in our committee, if not now, then down the road, to do this investigation and the way that we need to. The president today in filing his Financial Disclosure<\/a> with the office of government ethics finally admitting he did in fact reimburse Michael Cohen<\/a> for the payment to Stormy Daniels<\/a> with the intent of keeping her quiet about her allegations. Whats your reaction to that . My reaction is that if this is a campaign expenditure, if its a loan for Michael Cohen<\/a> to the tune of 130,000, then it violates the limit because that loan is considered basically a contribution and would be limited to a few thousand dollars, not 130,000. So the failure to report this last year in the Financial Disclosure<\/a>s, the violation of the limit on Campaign Contribution<\/a>s, i think this is a pretty Serious Business<\/a> because it now looks like there may very well be violations of both Campaign Laws<\/a> as well as Financial Disclosure<\/a> obligations. So thats a first take. I would certainly want to delve into legal issues more, but i think the president was in a nowin situation given the sort of false web he had woven over this in that if he reported it, it led to one conclusion about prior falsehoods. If he didnt report it, it led to a different conclusion about prior falsehoods. But to me, the implication is it was a loan and it exceeded the campaign limits. And second, it should have been reported a year ago. And thats a problem. Youre on a committee that has a lot of business to attend to day in and day out, week in and week out. The majority issued their somewhat perfunctory report. There is a minority report from the folks in your party. What is it now like on that committee as the chair of that committee, devin nunes is out spinning further conspiracy theories about infiltration of the Trump Campaign<\/a>. What is your relationship with him like . What is it like on that committee right now . Well, what its like is really what had been going on in private is now going on in a very public way, and that is there are now two very different investigations going on. The republicans walked away from the russia investigation, the one they were charged with doing. We still are continuing that investigation on the minority side. Were continuing to bring in witnesses and receive documents from those that are willing to cooperate with us. The majority for its sake is trying to investigate the investigators. Its trying to tear down to fbi and the justice department. Its a basic scorched earth policy that says we will do anything to protect the president , including tearing down these important institutions. So obviously, that makes for a pretty tense environment in our committee. At the same time, we recognize i think on a bipartisan basis that notwithstanding these very serious differences about the investigation, the other work of the committee overseeing these agencies, making sure that theyre talking to each other and protect the country, all of that must go on in a nonpartisan manner. And i think on the positive side, we continue to do that work, which is the bread and butter of our committee in a very nonpartisan way. How would you characterize your relationship with devin nunes . Look, certainly very strained, and its a tragedy because prior to this investigation i think we got together and worked together very well. We had a good relationship. We passed any number of very difficult intelligencerelated legislation, reform legislation on a bipartisan basis. So its been tough, but the reality is from the very beginning of the investigation with that midnight run, the chairman made it clear that his priority was very different than following the facts, and that was going to amount to a rupture no matter how hard we tried on the democratic side to make this investigation work. Congressman adam schiff, thank you. Thanks, chris. That is all in this evening. The Rachel Maddow<\/a> show starts right now. Good evening. Thanks for joining us this hour. Busy news day, and news still breaking tonight. Lets get right to it. 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