Progress until everybody has that to give their grandchild. Ill see you back here next sunday. Now to my colleague. Wise, wonderful words. My biggest take away youre going to go from being rev al to papa al. 9 00 a. M. Here in the east and 6 00 a. M. Out west, and heres whats happening. Now President Trumps lawyer says you cant believe what youre hearing on that Michael Cohen recording about paying a former playboy model. I think they put it out because they wanted a doctored version to obscure whatever else that might be on that tape. As the accusations fly, the big question, how will this impact all Mueller Investigation, when will it end and is it close to the president . The scale is tipping towards
one party in a big way. Were going to go behind the new numbers. If you travel anywhere by plane, the tsa may be tracking you. Details on a new explosive report out just this morning right here on msnbc live. We begin with the war with the president s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and the president representing the president s former fixer, Michael Cohen. We may not be able to determine that, but we have determined the fact that he tampered with the tape in a sense he abruptly midconversation turned it off. I think they put it out because they wanted the doctored version to obscure whatever else might
be on that tape, which im sure will be very good us. Giuliani also telling nbc, quote wrooev complained to hes violated attorneyclient privilege publicly and privately. Mr. Cohens attorney fired back saying he seem tuesday be confused and has repeatedly and inaccurately as proven by the tape talked about forfeiting all confidentiality. Kelly, boy, theres a lot of back and forth to get to on this. With a good morning to you, im going to let you take it away. Reporter well, it does represent another chapter in the confusion about this issue, and Rudy Giuliani on behalf of the president is adding another layer of intentional doubt, trying to discredit the tape and by Extension DiscreditMichael Cohen. That gives you an idea how they
see this as potentially perilous for the president. On the same side youve got the president who has been a little all over for the place when it comes to Michael Cohen and the issues related to the Trump Tower Meeting in 2016 where a russian lawyer and other russian associates went to trump tower to have a meeting with trump, jr. And other top campaign officials. And we now know that was an offer of dirt on Hillary Clinton that did not materialize as best we know. And lart we saw how the president helped to give alternate explanations for how that happened, including a discussion on banned russian adoptions as one reason why they would seek out the meeting. And the president s personal long time lawyer and fixer saying he had been loyal and honest and now giuliani painting a different picture of cohen to allege that tampering is the,
Alex Witt hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Significance, though, alex weve moved from the territory of collusion into the potential territory of conspiracy. Do republicans see this particular tape as damning those on the hill . No, not really at this point. I mean they were trying to avoid it altogether when asked about it, saying they wanted to talk about other things like the economy. And thats kind of been the refrain for the past year and a half really. What i think is really significant in terms of this split between cohen and trump now, this doesnt only relate to the Mueller Investigation. Remember the cohen case is in the Southern District of new york, which the president has no control over, and that could relate to his Business Dealings and Business Ties of which cohen was very intimately involved. We know the extent of their relationship, the length of their relationship and the intimacy of that relationship in terms of cohen being a fixer. I think there are a lot of moving parts here, and a couple of those you could see how the
president could be very anxious about what cohen says in public, what hes willing to say. And thats why to alis point, you have the president s allies trying to denigrate cohen as a reliable person in either case. Who is winning the argument at this point . Is it trump or cohen 1234. There is something to be said for getting the tape out there first and i think thats why you do hear Rudy Giuliani expressing a bit of that concern, saying, well, if it is doctored they wanted to get it out there first. And peoples memories are short. Im out there all the time and lot of them tell me theyre paying attention, whether or not they believe its a witch hunt or not or its a real probe and these legal issues are valid, both sides are paying attention. But not to the minutia of this. I think the benefit of getting the tape out there first is you make the initial headline and now people say all right, now
its getting too in the weeds a bit. Who ultimately wins . These are legal issues. I know i said at the beginning of this, its a pr battle. The courts will have to decide this. I dont know whos going to win, but when i talk to voters a lot of them tune out past that initial headline. Thats something theyre going to have to contend with in the midterms. Giuliani confirmed yesterday, the president s legal team served all ties, so theres no Joint Agreement to share information anymore. Isnt this what happened before National Security advisor Michael Flynn flipped . Are we seeing history potentially repeat itself . The interesting thing about comparing this to flynn too is that the president s comments after flynn were still praise worthy of him. He defended Michael Flynn and said he was treated unfairly. This serving of ties with cohen seems very personal, and of
course thats understandable given their history. But also it raises even more questions about what cohen knows and what he is willing to say. And when were focused on what cohen has been saying at that Trump Tower Meeting, that Trump Tower Meeting is really a center piece of this investigation as it relates to the allegations of collusion. And so i think the president s reactions here are very telling. The reactions from his legal team are very telling in terms of the level of the concern they have with cohen being out there and cooperating as it seems he is doing. You know, ali, what is it today, 100 days from the midterms. And the president has said very recently im going to be out there on the campaign trail, six, seven days a week. Will he be a benefit . I think thats what republicans and strategists are trying to figure out. He is the total wild card. Hes a looming figure and can
good. And you have the president , you know, wanting to tout those numbers that we saw come out on friday. You see republicans wanting to talk about that, but they also know that there is some concern about whether voters actually turn out to say thank you to republicans if in fact they attribute the economy to them or whether they are kind of complacent and stay home, or whether a good economy allows voters to kind of think about other things, opens up their bandwidth a little bit to think about the russia investigation or other items that might be going on. All right, good to see you both. Thank you so much for joining me. Coming up next another legal battle for the president that could wind up making him revile one of his closely guarded secrets. And how jared and ivanka are stronger than ervin their white house roles. Have to happen . I didnt see it. vo what if we could go back . What if our car. Could stop itself . In iihs frontend crash prevention testing, nobody beats the subaru impreza. Not toyota. Not honda. Not ford. The subaru impreza. More than a car, its a subaru. Uhp. I didnt believe it. Again. Ooh, baby, do you know what thats worth . I want to believe it. [ claps hands ] ooh im not hearing the confidence. Okay, hold the name your price tool. Power of options based on your budget and well make heaven a place on earth yeah oh, my angels ooh, heaven is a place on earth
[ sobs quietly ] ooh, heaven is a place on earth we really pride ourselves on making it easy for you tech at safelite autoglass, to get your windshield fixed. With safelite, you can see exactly when well be there. Saving you time for what you love most. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace anncr as you grow older, your brain naturally begins to change which may cause trouble with recall. Learning from him is great. When i can keep up anncr thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. Dads got all the answers. Anncr prevagen is now the numberoneselling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. She outsmarts me every single time. Checkmate you wanna play again . Anncr prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. With us about your former lawyer . Cohen lawyer, lanny davis, says mr. Giuliani seems to be confused. He expressly waived attorneyclient privilege and has repeatedly and inaccurately talked about the recording whereby forfeiting all confidentiality. Giuliani says cohen is violating attorneyclient privilege. But then davis argues, no, theyre not. Whos correct in. Last week giuliani and his team said they were waiving privilege on this recording and a few other recordings as well. So theres there seems to be no claim of privilege attached to this recording. Secondly, the this recording is evidence of a crime, there is no privilege whatsoever. So attorneyclient privilege does not attach. It does seem to me his team are trying to intimidate Michael Cohen. But i think on the issue of these recordings theres no
happened to them. If these recordings have been edited, have been deleted in some way forensics at the fbi should be able to figure that out, and that would place Michael Cohen in a very precarious legal situation. So i think its highly unlikely they have been. Giuliani is raising the possibility that cohen that trump abruptly cut the tape off. But then you have to be thinking that cohen back in 2016 planned to get in trouble and he was going to get incriminating evidence on trump. That is highly unlikely. I dont see the circumstances that would have occurred. I dont think giulianis claims are valid but i think they are the smart defense move. All tis, Whats Going On with these tape, how does the relate to the russia investigation . Is there any indication that legally speaking the walls are closing in on the president . I think as to the tape itself it relates to a potential
Campaign Finance violation. So if you if these payments were made to protect Donald Trumps chances to win the election, he could be making payments outside the normal Campaign System and getting into legal trouble for doing so because thats supposed to be public. The public has a right to see that. The russia investigation also plays into those Campaign Finance violations. If the campaign sat assistance from a foreign government, thats a whole another illegal violation. And as, you know, we know Michael Cohen is raising the prospect that donald trump knew about that Infamous Trump tower meeting where a russian lawyer promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. And you could see where these two different types of Campaign Finance violations, election law violations, could be coalescing around the president. Okay. I want to get to the emoluments situation. Because a judge ruled it can now move forward. So whats the basis for this lawsuit . The state of maryland and the
district of columbia are suing the president saying hes violating the Emoluments Clause having foreign dignitaries pay money and state dignitaries pay money by going to the Trump International hotel in d. C. The public conversation on this and the dodges position on this are that emoluments are saemgs bribe and unless theyre certain gifts given directly to the president its not a violation of the constitutional Emoluments Clause. A judge this week in maryland founds that no bribes are specifically mentioned in the cost tunes and thats Something Different from emoluments. And when the constitution was written emoluments involved any sort of profit, or benefit that an officer of the United States could make from a foreign government. So on its face this lawsuit should be allowed to go forward. Because the judge sees particularly these four countries were named and also the state of maine, that they went and stayed here, did business here because of the proximity to the president was
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ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a oncedaily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well enough it can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. The count down to the 2018 midterms hits the 100day mark today in the battle to take the white house arb number of polls show democrats on the brink as soft favorites. Joining me now to talk about it larry, director of the University Senate for politics which puts out the weekly crystal ball. Its latest report is showing the house is tilting towards the democrats. I dont have to tell you that. Youve been putting this out here. Its going to be at 50 50 odds for the First Time Since this election. So what is driving this tilt . Its interesting. First of all, democrats have been showing tremendous enthusiasm throughout the country. And their turn out in primaries has been enormous. Republican turn out has been up, but democratic turn out has been up in a way democrats could have only hoped to have seen in 2016. So thats one factor. Democrats are also doing well vinchy in raising money. They probably wont have as much
as republicans in the end but they will have enough to get their message across and the momentum is with them. Okay, i want to go through 17 house races that you have rated. Five went from safe republican to likely republican among them notably is steve kings seat. And then three likely went to lean republican and one likely democratic seat that went to safe democratic. So as you look at all of this, the geographic spread of this change, are you picking up on a trend . Sure. In most cases theyre suburban districts where College Educated whites and especially women, College Educated women have been turned off mainly by donald trump, but it carries over to congress and thats one. And wave seen kind of an edging forward of democrats in a lot of different races, even some rural
districts. I wouldnt call them toss ups. But there are 36 pure toss ups around the country. 435 house seats, 36 were toss ups. Well, 34 of the 36 are currently held by republicans. There are only two toss ups conly held by democrats. So that tells you right there that as long as democrats can effectively split the toss ups, theyll be very close to 218, the majority of the house. So the president is saying he wants to weigh in on the midterms. Take a listen to what he told shawn hannity. So many things have taken place but the economy is the strongest ever and i think thats going to have a very positive impact, and i am going to work very hard. Ill go six or seven days a week when were 60 days out and i will be campaigning for all of these great people that do have a difficult race, and we think were going to bring them over the line. Look, when it comes to house
of representatives, it goes down to each line. But overall do you think the president is benefit on the trail . I think hell have more impact frankly in the senate races than most of the house races, but hes a tremendous liability not just in blue districts where i dont think hes ever go i dont think. Hes a liability in those competitive purple suburban districts. Because hes going to remind all those swing voters of all the things they dont like about trump. This may be a case where a foreign trip to i dont know bermuda, would be in order in october. So basically youre saying go to the safe places, go to the places where we know republicans are going to win, deeply red places, but things that are a toss up, stay away . Well, i think you have to edge the president towards red Senate States like north dakota, like indiana, like missouri. Places like that that he carried by wide margins. Thats where he can have an impact and maybe keeping the senate republican. I think that has to be in his main goal. Hes right about the economy. If he can sell anything he can sell a good economy. That might cut down the loss among some of these key subgroups. Look, its the end of the july. I cant stress that enough. The election is in early november, and weve seen things flip back between july and november. But if youre judging today the elements of a democratic take over of the house are basely there. Theyre not in concrete, but theyre basically there. Voter turn out is up especially on the House Democratic side. Just under 14 million registered democrats voted compared to just 7 million in the 2014 midterm
cycle. So Voting Patterns do they hold in a general election . What they basically tell you is that a party is energized or not. Theres absolutely no question that the democrats are energized. I have heard people say in the Democratic Party im worried about another case of overconfidence like we saw in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. I dont see any evidence of that. Democrats seem determined to produce one check and balance institutionally on donald trump and that would be the house if they can get it. Okay, but voter enthusiasm has been measured. I want to look at some of the numbers. Pew shows 51 of registered voters are more enthusiastic. And 55 compare today republicans, 50 . Then among the democrats liberals are particularly enthusiastic. He had 64 . That registers the highest, larry, since 2006. So does this necessarily mean
democrats could be on the brink of victory if this stays ini mean do you see a scenario where the house could slip through the fingers of the dems . Well, yeah, if they stop being enthusiastic or they get turned off for some reason or they start focusing on their internal party factional fights. That would be very stupid, and i dont think democrats are going to be stupid this way the way frankly some were in 2016. Larry, never stupid. Let me just say that for the record. Not that anybody would ever think otherwise. Youre great. Thank you. Coming up next, the alarm why over federal Air Trarmarsha are tracking ordinary u. S. Citizens. I dont keep track of regrets. Here and los angeles, i was like what . This is pretty shocking. You report there are a dunz rules for screening passengers. Based on this information you were able to get, how does this exactly determine who gets tracked, when does actual surveillance begin . So tell us the story. Its actually heres what we know. We know that thousands of ordinary americans have been followed by teams of Armed Air Marshals on domestic flights and that these people are not suspected of any crime, theyre not on any watch list. And yet there are reports being written of every single thing they do at the airport, on the flight and until they leave the airport. We know that every Single Person who is an american who leaves a country and flies back is screened for this program. What we dont know, we know right now in a may bulletin that we obtained there were 15 rules related to travel patterns and behavior. It could be because you have
traveled through istanbul, that which is what were hearing. Its something weve asked tsa repeatedly for more details. We dont know, they wont tell us and the people, the air marshals carrying out these missions have no idea why these people have been chosen. Im curious here because the article goes onto say theyre taking notes on whether travelers use cellphones, go to the bathroom, chat with others, change clothes. How is all this relevant . I mean, have you spoken to tsa . How are they saying this all applies to quiet skies . Thats i mean, thats the question. Tsa wouldnt even acknowledge the existence of this program. But ill tell you that ive talked to more than a dozen air marshals, and they came forward because they want to know what theyre doing and why this is important and how is this not a huge waste of taxpayer money. In terms of numbers
indictments you see show there are about 50 to 60 passengers passengers a day that are being followed and what happens when they get off the flight . These are great questions. We didnt even know this program existed. So for sure if youre on this You Dont Know. I dont know how you would. I would direct those questions to tsa for sure. Do we know if these people then join some sort of a list that tsa keeps a track of . Are they expunged, do they stay on it for a while . Any idea of that . We know that in the past air marshal teams have been assigned to surveil someone in this capacity. In those cases it was someone who was under investigation for terrorism by the fbi. In those cases the same activity reports, checklists, were sent
back to the agents investigating the case. In this situation we know that that the air marshals are told if You Dont Know this detail is important, include it. Write anything about not just the person youre following but anyone they talk to or interact with. And we know this information is being sent back to the tsa and according to the documents is not being shared elsewhere. Weve asked tsa a whole bunch of times why theyre doing this, what theyre doing with this information, is it being purged. They wont say anything. Clearly theres got to be Civil Liberties issues that are being brought up here and if those regulations are being violated. But race, religion, is that at all a factor into those people being targeted . We have no idea, and thats one of the big issues here. Some of the air marshals have come forward have said, listen, we dont know why were doing
this. Do they think theyre wasting their time, the people who came forward to you . Absolutely. Their time, their resources there arent that many of them. Theres less than 3,000 air marshals who are called flying fan, they work the skies. And the there are more than 40,000 domestic flights a day. So scrambling these teams means theyre being diverted from the other flight they were previously scheduled on, which could be more of a threat and be less than a threat than the people theyre being assigned to target. And without obviously revealing details about the sourcing, how did you get tipped off onto this . Like any other reporting assignment, you hear something from a source and you say, what, and so for the last few weeks weve been working on this and collecting documents and talking to more than a dozen people involved. And now we have this. And i just want to
doublecheck, tsa has yet to speak with you on the record about this, but youve posed questions . Tsa provided a statement that spoke generally about what they do to secure flights, which was basically a way of being not at all specific to the Quiet Skies Program but saying that their programs received proper congressional and other oversight and that things are done in accordance with the law. So well see. Okay. I suspect well be speaking with you again. Thank you so much from boston globe spotlight. Up next the survival of ivanka trump and Jared Kushner in the white house. And President Trumps war of words with iran. Merely bluster or worse . Im ray and i quit smoking with chantix. I tried cold turkey, i tried the patch. They didnt work for me. I didnt think anything was going to work for me until i tried chantix. Chantix, along with support,
helps you quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke. I needed that to quit. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. Use caution when driving or operating machinery. The most common side effect is nausea. I cant tell you how good it feels to have smoking behind me. Talk to your doctor about chantix. Where were changing withs . Contemporary makeovers. Then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. Who has the upper hand now . Start winning today. Book now at lq. Com. Lets go now to escalating battle between the president and his former socalled fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen. In a new interview Rudy Giuliani is claiming the recording released last week by cohens lawyer may have been doctored. He abruptly ended that recording as soon as the president said the word check. We are now what were investigating is why did how
did that happen . What actually did happen . What was eliminated, and then how many of them are did he play around with . I mean the guy has like 180 tapes . Lets bring in bill press, also the author of from the left, a life in the cross fire. And msnbc contributor chris whipple, author of the gate keepers. Gentlemen, a good sunday to all three of you. Im going to begin with you, bill. Lets listen together to a portion of that recording. Its a short one but here it is. I spoke to allen about it. When it comes time for the financing what financing . Well have to pay pay cash . No, no, no. I got no, no, no. I want to make sure i start with you, bill. What are your thoughts on that . Look, i think Michael Cohen is trumps greatest threat right now number one because hes under investigation up there in the Second District on financial matters and nobody knows more than Michael Cohen does, his private attorney, but he has links to the Mueller Investigation as we learned this week when he said that he believes donald trump he could testify that donald trump knew about that june 16 meeting at trump tower before it happened. So i think the fact that Michael Cohen looks like hes ready to cooperate is real trouble for donald trump and on this tape, alex, no matter what Rudy Giuliani says about whether its doctored or not doctored, hes sowing doubts but what the tape shows, whatever may be in question, the tape does show that donald trump knew who david pecker was knew what Michael Cohen was talking about, knew they were talking about financing, knew they were talking about offering money to Karen Mcdougal which contradicts everything hed been saying for
a year and a half. But, bill, it does have that sharp its a really abrupt cutoff. Clearly i mean, is it clear to you that there was more . I think there was but cutting a tape off or ending a tape doesnt mean doctoring. Im no audio expert so if they want to bring Audio Experts in and analyze the tape, sure. But the claim of doctoring is rudys attempt to sow doubts about the whole thing. So youve got Roogiuliani Mag the claims about the reporting and he and the president are blasting cohen. The president says hes making up stories, giuliani says over and over hes a man whos lied. Could this be counterproductive to them . I think potentially, but the fact that the tape does cut off so abruptly, the fact that giuliani is putting that out there it does raise some questions in peoples minds, why did it cut off abruptly . Did he get a phone call . Did he stop it . With cutting off a tape, is that doctoring a tape or editing something . Because people accuse the news media all the time, well put out a soundbite and theyll say they didnt let the whole thing play out. I wouldnt use that word but back in may a cbs poll found that 53 of the country believed that the Mueller Investigation was politically motivated. That was up by five Percentage Points over five months so what it shows is that everything they are throwing out there is ludicrous and as crazy as it may seem to many of us in the d. C. Circle, in the political bubble, those that dont follow this everyday its having an impact. This is complicated and people dont have the time to go through every detail. So what theyre doing is working what. Im not sure how long it will work or last. What about the spat between cohens lawyer lanny davis and giuliani. Davis is saying that giuliani is the one who waived it for the
recording. What is giuliani trying to accomplish by all these things about Attorney Client privilege . At the end of the day this is Rudy Giuliani doing what he does best, sadly and its a sad and disillusioning spectacle. This is somebody who Wasnt Person Son Phi it had rule of law, celebrated adds a profile in courage after member and hes become Donald Trumps lap dog. Hes willing to do or say anything in defense of trump and its another example of how so many people in the other bit of this president are tarnished and destroyed. Bill, i want to ask ask you about davis, youve known him for a while. It was the column he wrote back in march for the hill and he talks about how he loves you. So your take, then, you can get inside of his mind, his motive for representing cohen. Given his history well known as a former attorney and ally of
the clintons, is it possible hes more interested in hurting President Trump than in helping Michael Cohen . First of all, lanny was right in everything he said about my book. All good. I met lanny was representing fwhik the white house and did a masterful job on the whole Monica Lewinsky situation. His m. O. Was tell everything, let people sort through it and people will understand. So whether Michael Cohen went to him or lanny went to him, i think you saw it, i dont know. But i think hes getting thrown under the bus by his former boss and hes saying heres a good
client with a good case. We only have about two minutes to discuss this but shermichael, with you, a report the Trump Organization cfo was called to testify in the cohen probe. This report on special Counsel Robert Mueller examining the president s tweets. Theres the word from nbc news that cohen is willing to Tell Mueller Trump knew about the 2016 Trump Tower Meeting in advance. Which of these pose the greatest risk for the president . There is a few more we can talk about. Theres a saying cohen may know where the bodies are buried. Well this account about the buried those bodies. This should be extremely concerning to the administration and the president and if i were them i would be very, very careful with sending giuliani out there making ludicrous statements that could come back to hurt him. Thank you for being brief. Ill ask the both of you asle with, which is the worst . Well, you know, look, i think the meeting with the russians and trump tower is still a really dangerous thing for donald trump. And look, cohens account of
this so far has been consistent with everything we know about President Trump and about don trump jr. And almost a year ago steve bannon, you may recall said it was inconceivable that donald trump wouldnt know about this meeting and now it looks as though he may have known all along. Unfortunately im out of time but bill we love you and your book, everybody does. So good to see all three of you. Thank you so much. Coming up ahead on a. M. Joy why the government says hundreds of Migrant Children wont be reunited with their parents. Gillette. The best a man can get. This is moving day with the best inhome Wifi Experience and millions of Wifi Hotspots to help you stay connected. And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best Wifi Experience and twohour appointment windows