You often do not hear this Attorney General pushing back against the president. Sessions may not be the only loyalist that the president is concerned about. Nbc news has confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that federal prosecutors have granted immunity to this guy youre looking at, david pecker. The Chief Executive and chairman of American Media, which publishes the national enquirer. Hes a longtime friend of President Trump. Joining me now is nbc news investigations reporter, tom winter. Also with us by phone is msnbc contributor and vanity fair special correspondent, gabe sherman, whos out with a new piece, Trumps National enquirer allies are the latest to defect. Gabe, let me start with you. What do we know about the immunity for david pecker and what that means . Well, ali, you know, two things on an legal level, this shows that prosecutors had enough to put pressure on david pecker and American Media for their role in essentially becoming a de facto arm of
so in order when you have all of those things together, at that point, you can be charged with or somebody can be charged with improperly influencing an election, but most specifically, to these charges, making a Campaign Donation in excess of the maximum allowable amount. In this case, they paid Karen Mcdougal 150,000, clearly above the 25,000 threshold. So at that point, they committed a crime. If they had just they can go around, they can pay you, they can pay me. Anybody on the street this total amount of money and be fine with it. But if its done at the behest of a campaign in order to influence an election, at that point, theyre in the arena of Campaign Finance laws, if they go over that threshold, theyre in trouble. But are they in the arena of Campaign Finance laws, if a Media Organization does something to influence the outcome of an election . Because Media Organizations do that all the time. If theres no coordination with the Trump Campaign or no direction from the president , peckers okay . Yep, thats absolutely correct. So in this particular case, they say, hey, Michael Cohens involved in this. Hes involved in essentially charging them to do or it
causing them to do that is actually the correct term. So, yeah, as soon as Michael Cohen causes them to do that or is involved in this process and hes doing it at the direction of the campaign, thats where people start to run afoul of the law. All right. Gabe sherman, tom winter, thanks to both of you for shedding some light on this. Nbc news investigations Reporter Tom Winter and vanity fair special correspondent, gabe sherman. As we said at the top of the hour, Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions pushing back against the president. He said, while i am the Attorney General, the office will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards and where they are not met, i take action. However, no nation has a more talented and dedicated group of investigators and prosecutors than the United States. Joining me now is nbc news justice correspondent, pete williams. Pete, this is entirely out of character for Jeff Sessions, who has taken been taking a
whipping from donald trump pretty much since he was appointed to Attorney General. It is, absolutely. And what were told by people close to the Attorney General is that he basically decided that this was that the attack today was of a different character from the president. That in the past, the president s tweets and statements have been about specific Justice Department decisions. Sessions decision to recuse, of course, which is a constant theme for the president , that he sounded again today. Not releasing more documents that republicans on the hill are demanding, in the house. The whole idea of peter strzok and lisa page, the hillary email investigation. So those are in one category. Today they felt was different, that it was a direct attack on sessions control of the Justice Department and they felt that this more muscular statement was to be issued, just as sessions was on the way out the door to go to the white house for that meeting that you talked about, that was previously scheduled
about criminal justice reform. The key sentence in it, of course, is the idea that as long as im Attorney General, the Justice Department wont be improperly influenced by political considerations. A very muscular statement by any Attorney General against the white house o or or in respo to a white house statement. The statement does three things, i dont think theres a more loyal cabinet member than jeff session and he does it again in this statement. He says, look, i took control of the Justice Department, im trying to pursue the president s agenda of fighting Violent Crime and reducing illegal immigration. Secondly, he praises the men and women of the Justice Department, which is again, i think something that people at doj will be grateful for. And thirdly, this is, enough is enough, dont push us into improper political considerations. All in all, a very, very strong statement from an Attorney General, whos been punched at
by the president for months now. And i think the second part of that statement is really important, because the president never goes out of his way to compliment the Justice Department. Its almost the opposite. Hes always insulting the Justice Department. Just earlier this week, you had a tweet about them. So on a lot of levels, this is a surprising response from Jeff Sessions. Pete, thanks very much. Pete williams for us In Washington. How is the white house responding to all of this now . Joining me now with the latest is nbc news chief white house correspondent, hallie jackson. I told you this morning i would be seeing you again, hallie. Reporter you called it. I decided, it was such a nice day, wed come out and have a little talk, ali. This is a little unusual. The president politicized Jeff Sessions again this morning, and Jeff Sessions nobody expected that to happen said thats not actually the way its going. Reporter and then the two of them go in and have a facetoface this afternoon as all of this is developing. Jeff sessions walking into the white house for a previously scheduled meeting, at least, we know that much for sure. Listen, this is a moment, right, again in this long and convoluted relationship between
donald trump and his Attorney General. Im old enough to remember the campaign, ali, when Jeff Sessions was, as you guys talked about, the first senator to come out and endorse donald trump at that massive rally in alabama. That was back in february of 2015, at a time when donald trump had just gotten through the early january races, didnt have a ton of establishment quote unquote support from people inside the beltway here In Washington. Sessions was that. He backed him up the entire time. Now that relationship has just disintegrated, as pete has ably laid out there. So the president hasnt said anything publicly other than the fox interview yet. He had that spray earlier this morning that you saw, that meeting that was opened up to members of the press. And the president did not respond to reporters shouted question. Ill tell you, i think most of those shouted questions related to Michael Cohen, the other guy at the center of a big headline today. And how is the white house strategizing around this . I will tell you that based on our reporting here listen, theres a sense that people are talking about wanting to soldier
Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. And that is an antipublic Safety Position for the president to take. Evelyn, this morning on an interview with fox, donald trump talked about the payments that were made to these two women. Hes also trying to reframe that discussion. Lets listen. He made the deal. He made the deals. And by the way, he pled to two counts that arent a crime, which nobody understands. I watched a number of shows, sometimes you get some pretty good information by watching shows. Those two counts arent even a crime. They werent Campaign Finance. Did you know about the payments . Later on i knew. Later on. But you have to understand, ainsley, what he did and they werent taken out of Campaign Finance, thats a big thing. Thats a much bigger thing. Did they come out of the campaign. They didnt come out of the campaign. They came from me. My favorite line there is i watch a number of shows, sometimes you get some good information from watching shows. I get a lot of my information
from law order, for instance. He might be watching you, ali, rate now. The president has sort of missed the point that the judge this Federal Court in manhattan seems to have also missed, the idea that payments were made for the purpose of influencing a campaign, which is a crime, the Distraction Technique is kind of remarkable. The president focusing on whether the technicality of it is a crime, which, again, it is, is almost secondary to the fact that the president admits he made payments to women, dot, dot, dot, as Michael Cohen said, for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the campaign. Well, first, ali, its not just where the money came from. Its dish me i mean, thats irrelevant. Its the fact that they spent the money and then hid it. They hid the fact that they were spending this money to hush up his affairs. So that in and of itself is problematic, and obviously, hes sort of doing a sideways admission to these two affairs, which he had denied all along. Or just paying two people off with lots and lots and lots of money. Raight. Glenn, the president also spoke about manafort. This is the second time hes been asked in a few days about pardoning Paul Manafort. Heres what he had to say. Are you considering pardoning Paul Manafort . I have Great Respect for what hes done in terms of what hes gone through. I would say what he did, some of the charges they threw against him, every consultant, every lobbyist In Washington probably does. I have Great Respect for what hes done. Glenn kirschner, he was convicted on eight counts, which had a great deal of evidence behind them. Yeah. You know, prosecutors and Law Enforcement generally just cringe when we hear these kind of things and when we see the president putting air quotes around justice and the department of justice. But let me tell you, ali, if he decides to pardon Paul Manafort, guess what . That freeways up Paul Manafort from being able to assert any right against selfincrimination. Bob mueller can then take mr. Manafort, put him on the stand in any trial he pleases and introduce every single document and other item of evidence through Paul Manaforts testimony against the defendant. And lets be clear about that. If hes pardoned and loses his Fifth Amendment rights and bob mueller puts Paul Manafort on the stand and asks him a question that bob mueller knows to be true or has evidence about, Paul Manafort is then again guilty of a different k m crime. Exactly, if he lies, hes guilty of contempt, perjury, Obstruction Of Justice, so no matter which way the president turns on this one, Paul Manaforts testimony will be available to the special counsel. Thank you both, Glenn Kirschner and evelyn farkas. Up next, its not just the democrats pushing for a delay in Supreme Court nominee Brett KavanaughsConfirmation Hearing which is now less than two weeks away. After the break, im joined by a
senate aide who says that kavanaughs confirmation should not be before the november elections. Today can save your l. Sometimes you need an expert. I got it. And sometimes those experts need experts. On it. [ crash ] and sometimes the expert the expert needed Needs Insurance expertise. Its all good. Steve, youre covered for general liability. And, paul, we got your back with workers comp. Wow, its like a party in here. Where are the hors doeuvres, right . [ clanking ] tartlets . We cover commercial vehicles, too. I think theres something wrong with your sink. 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. The current president of the United States may have directed his lawyer to commit twofulness. Theres too much here to simply proceed as though we were just this were just another nomination. The voters deserve a chance to weigh in before the senate rushes to place a justice on the court, one who will still be there decades after trump is out of office. Joining me now is the author of that piece, tom nichols. As i mentioned, hes a former Senate Republican aide and a professor at the naval war college. Tom, im glad to have you here, but i feel like id really like to have a senator, who says what you said. Youre not making this stuff up. This is not weird antirepublican party stuff. This is credible. There is a president who has reason to be under investigation at this point, and there is a justice of the Supreme Court who may be nominated, who may be called to opine upon that while sitting. Two things right away, ali, one is that, first of all, theres no chance this is going to happen. I wrote the piece kind of as a
cree decur about hoping that the gop would think about principle here. The second thing i should say is that, of course, i only represent my own views. Sure. The test here should be, if this were Hillary Clinton and she had been elected and was under this kind of investigation with this many charges, with legal experts again, im not a lawyer, but legal experts telling us that theres this kind of credible evidence and she sent a judge to Mitch Mcconnell for confirmation who could then be sitting in judgment of her, quite soon, you know, it fails the laugh out loud test to think that Senate Republicans would then say, well, with you know, this has got to be an apolitical process and were exercising advise and consent. Theres no way that could happen. That second part of what you just said is what the important part is. This judge may be sitting in judgment of donald trump. And if you didnt think that was the case, the chances of that becoming the case got a little stronger earlier this week. And thats the relevant part of
this. That, whats the in fact, i want to read from your Washington Post oped. You said the same republicans who felt obama had no Business Nominating a justice so close to an election are now rushing to confirm a judge whose entire nomination now could represent a gigantic Conflict Of Interest for their own president and party. We ought to ask why republicans fee