Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. Inaugural address, which my old boss had colorful language to describe. George w. Bush called it some crazy bleep. I was thinking about the line about carnage and i was thinking that the real carnage and it was all in motion when he came that day. The real carnage is the people closest to donald trump. The lives that are being destroyed for crimes theyve committed. I mean, you know, its not a night to feel sympathy for Michael Cohen, but the events that are sending him to jail potentially are events put in motion by the things donald trump demanded of the people close to him. It may end up ensnaring his family. But just this idea of wreckage. A source close to Michael Cohen tonight told me that everything donald trump touches is tainted by his toxic brew of lack of ethics and lack of any adherence to the law. I also thought of something that someone who advises this president said to me earlier in the day. Before the 4 00 hour. He said if the president is handing out one pardon today, its going to Paul Manafort. Not Michael Cohen. In describing that and then this evening when i spoke with him, emotional talking about the toll this took on his family. Something he stressed to me over and over again, though, was how well he felt like he was treated by Law Enforcement and by prosecutors. And that was an Important Message he wanted to get across. That was something he said in the initial raid of his home, hotel room, and office. And that is, in a way, another contrast with his former boss. Someone who attacked Law Enforcement over and over again on twitter and in his speeches. So this is just another sticking point. Even at this emotional loaded moment in his life. He was trying to plant a flag and say im not like this guy and im not going to be like him going forward. Let me ask you about his family and correct any of this i have wrong. Two daughters, both under 25, his wife born in the ukraine is kind of a dual role as bookkeeper for his legal concern
and having read that, it always made me wonder were the feds going to dangle that in front of cohen, if she cosigned agreements or checks. If they were going to perhaps say you wouldnt want to see your wife go in the federal slammer. Did she have any culpability, any involvement that you know of . Ill only correct you in the fact that he has a daughter and a son. Okay. Forgive me. Thats it. The rest i think youre spot on. I think thats a very important point. This is very closeknit marriage. They are people who are very involved in their businesses. As the New York Times reported over the weekend, shes someone who cosigned loan documents. From all i know in my year of very close reporting on Michael Cohen, he would do anything to save his family from any trouble, any pain, any hardship. And so if his wife were in fact in any kind of trouble, that would be a reason for him to take action and to stand up and do something. Artfully answered and our thanks. Hey michael, all the smart reporters in the business, everything weve seen come and go, everyone weve seen come and go, the folks who knew the Name Of The Game kept saying cohen is the one. Cohen is the one that could do the most damage here. Cohen is the one to concentrate on. You were among them. Is this kind of what you were talking about . Go back to the spring, the raid happens and the president s lawyers say, okay, its a new front in our legal wars. We know the extent of the Mueller Investigation. At least they thought they did. We understand the questions of collusion around the president. We understand obstruction. We have no idea what went on between the president and Michael Cohen. We dont think were getting truthful answers from the president about it. We do not understand the extent of his criminal exposure, and that is incredibly scary. Up until today, i still do not
think they appreciated just the gravity that this was going to have on the president. And im really not sure what they can do at this point. I dont know how they get themselves out of this situation. And thats just one part of the fight. We still havent seen what mueller is going to do. Thats exactly right. Daniel, please help us lay people out. Describe the agreement agreed to today. What is in it . Whats not . Does this constitute the quick and easy phrase of flipping. Did Michael Cohen flip today . If not, how shy of that is he . Well, the big surprise here is that he did not flip. This is not a Cooperation Agreement. This is a standard Plea Agreement where Michael Cohen went into court, as we all saw and witnessed, and admitted to committing eight crimes. But he did not agree to cooperate with the government in any meaningful way including
testifying down the road. And the government did not agree to write a letter to reduce his sentence, which is the benefit that he would have gotten. This is very surprising to me as a former assistant in that office because all indication is that Michael Cohen is not only willing but desperate to cooperate. So i, frankly, do not understand exactly what is going on because it does seem based on his allocution in court today where he volunteered and by the way, when he pointed at the president , that was unnecessary. That was something he did not need to say in order to fulfill his obligation to allocute to the judge. Its not in the information. It is something that he added himself to essentially make the president an unindicted coconspirator. Even though he is not referenced that way in the information. He clearly wants to cooperate but this is not a Cooperation Agreement. And daniel, ive got to say,
hes got lanny davis appearing on this network and cnn tonight certainly indicating theres more, there are stories to tell, including but not limited to advance knowledge of russian hacking, a Point Omarosa Last made a few days ago. Its almost as if theyre begging to have a meeting with prosecutors. And as a former prosecutor, and im sure chuck will say the same, we would offer that meeting any day of the week. Its surprising given the foreshadowing lanny davis is making, begin what he said in court today, thats enough to meeke the prosecutors interest. It certainly piques our interest. The only other explanation is the prosecutors dont feel like hes told them the truth, maybe theyve met. By dont think theres been enough time they could have been meeting over the past couple of weeks and for the prosecutors to believe hes not truthful. So the final conclusion, the only thing that makes any sense to me is that this is a marker. This is a place holder before labor day, before we get into
election season, so they dont disrupt anything and cant be accused of disrupting anything related to the election. Have him plead guilty to what we all know hes under investigation for, and then theyll sort of begin the cooperation process, which requires many, many meetings between cohen and the prosecutors and investigators. Okay, chuck, it all comes down to you. In the moment as it was happening today, i heard several good legal minds open the door and toss out the phrase unindicted coconspirator. It had me flashing back to 1974 and 5. Is it a term of art in the law . Can it be applied to one donald trump after a day like today . It is a term of art in the law, brian. And i think it can be applied to the president of the United States as of today. Weve thrown it around before but today we had someone stand up in court under oath by the
way, it wasnt just any someone. It was the president s personal lawyer who said i was directed to do this by donald trump. Its a remarkable thing. Daniel is right. Cohen did not need to go there. But he did. One other point i would like to amplify. Like daniel, im a bit confused as to why there was no Cooperation Language in this agreement, but nothing in the agreement precludes him from cooperating down the road. And so it may well be a marker. As daniel said. The cooperation may follow. It certainly seems like mr. Cohen and his team are foreshadowing that. And if hes truthful and hes helpful, im quite certain the government will be interested. Nicolle, here is the big question. The rest was all windup. What did today do to the trajectory of this presidency that you and i talk about for a living . Where are we headed now, do you think . It shattered the narrative that the investigation into this president is a witch hunt. I mean, the witches all had, you know, Keys To The Kingdom and these were all people that were doing Donald Trumps bidding. So the idea that he can smear this investigation, that that taint will follow to the Southern District of new york which had nothing to do with the targets donald trump attacks on a daily basis i think is a bridge too far. I think this might be the day. If we look back and theyre whipping the votes in the senate to see if the Impeachment Vote in the house, if they have enough votes to convict him. Theyll look back on this day as one of the days that began to erode that lock they have on the republican base. The republicans have been pathetic. Theyve been pathetic during the campaign and during the presidency. But you cant sustain too many days where the president s former fixer lawyer stands up in
court and said i committed crimes at the request of the president and look the other way. They did it after that Access Hollywood tape. Theyve done it after bleep hole countries. Theyve done it after every sort of norm gets broken. But these are serious crimes being charged of the people that were closest to this president. Michael schmidt, i dont know that anyone at the New York Times has assigned this side bar. But i suppose its plausible. That today was the day on two fronts when the good guys, meaning men and women, won. In Northern Virginia a jury of Paul Manaforts citizen if not financial peers acquitted themselves well and put in a lot of Earnest Effort in that case. And in new york we got to work we got to watch the career Public Servants of the Southern District of new york, one of them actually called cohen out as a fellow lawyer, as someone who had disregarded his training and tradition. But to a lot of people watching it felt leek a recentering today. Part of this story we dont
know the answer to. And that is why did Rod Rosenstein have the Cohen Investigation moved to the Southern District . Because what it did was it took the issue of a witch hunt sort of away from mueller on that thing. He gave it to these Career Prosecutors here who did the case. So they walk into court today, they get this plea, and they walk out. And its not bob mueller and its not the 17 angry democrats. Its a bench of welleducated assistant United States attorneys that have done this. That protects the integrity of it certainly from a political perspective. The president cannot as easily stand up tomorrow and say look at what bob mueller has done. This is not bob mueller. Thats a great point. Our guests have agreed to stick around while we fit in a quick break. When we come back, how today fits and what it tells us about that point. The larger Mueller Investigation. And later, bad news for another Senior Member of the trump team. It has to do with a house guest of his and another republican member of the house indicted. The news watch never stops, as they say on a new york radio station, and we are here to cover it all. The 11th hour just Getting Started on a tuesday night. Admitted he arranged payments for two women at the direction of the candidate, referring to trump with the purpose of affecting the election. Right now its not totally clear what this news means for muellers overall russia investigation, but Harvard Law Professor lawrence tribe wrote on twitter tonight about something weve just been discussing. Quote, no way cohen would have entered guilty pleas to eight Felony Counts in new york city today without either a sealed Cooperation Agreement or a confidential understanding with mueller, which the Plea Agreement in the Southern District of new york expressly left open. So he still has Key Information on trump to share. Meanwhile, no mention of Michael Cohen or Paul Manafort at the president s rally tonight in west virginia. But he did briefly bring up the whole raur thing. Fake news and the russian witch hunt. Weve got a whole big combination. Where is the collusion . You know, theyre still looking for collusion. Where is the collusion . Find some collusion we want to find the collusion. The panel remains with us. Nicolle wallace, michael schmidt, emily jane fox, Chuck Rosenberg and Daniel Goldman. Chuck, talk about Robert Mueller. Talk about what quarter we may be in of this investigation. I guess the motto there continues to be steady as you go. Steady as you go. Every time you ask me a bob mueller question, brian, i Say Something like steady as you go. Were not in the First Quarter anymore. I know that. I dont think were in the Fourth Quarter either. I guess that only leaves two other quarters. But my sense is that theres a lot more work to be done. By the way, i dont think i agree with professor tribe. Far be it for me to disagree with a Harvard Law School professor. But Plea Agreements in the federal system have to be the entire agreement. There can be no Side Agreements. We make that clear in court and in writing. And so i still believe that mr. Cohen may cooperate at some point, and im sure mueller would want it. Of course, he would, if its truthful and helpful. But i dont believe there are Side Agreements here. Somebody who would know more about that practice in the Southern District of new york than me would be dan goldman. But i suspect that mr. Tribe may just be wrong about that point. And dan, when you hear the president on the no collusion front, weve just emerged from a 24hour period with a lot of discussion about the email setting up the meeting at trump tower because of the intense russian government interest in seeing donald trump elected. Is that ball game for you right there . Its not ball game, but it is a strong indication that there
was an appetite, a willingness, an intent to engage with russia in order to allow the russians to interfere with our election, which is a crime. It gets us part of the way but it doesnt get us all the way. So, you know, collusion, of course, is colloquial. I dont think that in and of itself would be grounds for a conspiracy charge, which is how bob mueller would charge it, but it gets it part of the way. Then when you start to add up the different data points, the july 27th date, when trump asks russia to find Hillary Clintons emails. Then an indictment from bob mueller which says that on that date they went phishing, ph, not f, phishing for emails, it starts to make a little bit more sense. Now you have lanny davis who goes on air tonight on Rachel Maddows show and said that Michael Cohen might have information that donald trump knew about the hacking before it was released. Were starting to get closer and
closer and closer, and remember, bob mueller speaks in indictments. He speaks in very thorough, detailed, complicated and sophisticated indictments. He doesnt speak in the media. So all this talk about no collusion, no collusion, no collusion within literally knocked out of the air with one major indictment. Nicolle, that is such a great point. The one person in all this mess we havent heard a peep from and never will until its time is bob mueller. Do you think he shares this view of labor day being the start of a forced national rest period where he must put all pencils down in the Special Counsels office . I was warned by someone who worked closely alongside bob mueller for close to a decade not to accept any sort of analysis of what bob mueller is going to do. This person said bob mueller wouldnt tell his dying mother if he was going to indict or not indict. If he was going to charge or not
charge. If he was going to follow doj policy on this or that. It is a known unknown what bob mueller is thinking and what hes going to do. That said, i think that you look at the Mueller Investigation and you look at the helsenke moment. That was the moment when the people closest to the president said they said on obstru