Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. Here in new york. Day 581 of the trump administration, and just tonight a short time ago, in fact, new legal troubles potentially for the president on a new front. Well let the New York Times tell it. Quote, the Manhattan District Attorneys Office is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two Senior Company officials in connection with Michael CohensHush Money Payment to an adult film actress, according to two officials of the matter. A State Investigation would settle on how the company accounted for its reimbursements to mr. Cohen for the 130,000 he paid to the actress, stephanie clifford, who has said she had an affair with President Trump, closed quote. Mostly along those same lines a big story today had to do with a long time friend of the president who has apparently turned on him. The publisher of the national
they came from me. Remember we heard the president on audiotape talk about one of the payments, and with that answer there the president could just have admitted to possibly violating another Campaign Finance law. Because if that money came from him trump would have had to report it as a campaign expenditure, something he did not do. The president also took issue with cohens guilty plea and suggested that cooperating with authorities in any form should be against the law. If youre saying the payments if theyre not illegal, then why would he why he use that information . Because he makes a better deal when he uses me. This whole thing about flipping, they call it, i know all about flipping. I 30, 40 years ive been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get ten years in jail and they flip on whoever their next highest one is or as high as you can go. It almost should be outlawed. If you can Say Something bad
sought his lawyers advice several weeks ago on whether to pardon manafort, and they talked about, quote, pardons in general. Tonight the white house denies that a pardon is being discussed and that no decision has been made. Meanwhile, as the president grapples with his legal challenges and the investigations of his associates, he is taking aim once again at his Attorney General jeff segs who has been one of his most loyal lieutenants in this administration. Coming up youll hear the president s latest complaints about the job sessions is doing. But first here now is how trump describes his own job performance. What grade do you give yourself so far . So i give myself an a plus. I dont think any president has ever done what ive done in this short we havent even been two years. I would honestly give myself an a plus, and so would other people. On that note lets bring in
theres increasing pain being brought to anyone associated with this president. And when you bring pain to associates of the president you increase the likelihood that people cooperate as they assess that cost benefit analysis. And thud, brian, while the u. S. Department of justice may well have a legal memo in their files discouraging the indictment of a sitting president theres no such memo in the Hmanhattan Da office or the Attorney Generals Office in new york. Frank, i thought about you today. All of of the former friends. He is supposed to be the protector and up holder of the rule of law and there he was today talking about socalled flipping, coming out against cooperating with government prosecutors. Its becoming increasingly clear, brian, that this president never truly had
payments but also other settlements. The way the National Enquirer appear tuesday have worked is they had this catch and kill policy, wrab they would pay people for their stories in an effort to prevent them from ever being published. It was something frustrated for writers who worked there because you got a big scoop and then you have your boss out there saying no, this can never be published. And what the reporting reveals and Court Finding revealed is this pattern that cohen had with this organization and actively using them to try to find out whether there are any stories brewing out there and sending them after to kill them. Jill, did that includes stories against opponents, Commissioning Stories against people like Hillary Clinton . I know we have a montage of some of their covers in the past. Im glad you mentioned that. Its really interesting. As early as 2010 employees said that cohen and the national
enquirer were in conversations. It was as early as 2010 the National Enquirer was running stories, kind of boosting the president s ambitions. Linking to a site cohen had set up. And theres stories in which the National Enquirer wrote no negative stories about President Trump and had story after story that was deeply negative not only to Hillary Clinton but remember their ted cruz coverage, really ridiculous allegations the president then used on the Campaign Trail to try to discredit ted cruz. You see this pattern of this News Organization i use the term News Organization very loosely this organization, you know, seemingly working on behalf of trumps campaign. And i imagine a lot more will be coming out. Bob costa, you had the president today seemingly divorced from his role as the head of a lawabiding society. Youve always been a very good west wing whisperer and
interpreter. By how much is there a sense that the walls may be closing in . Theres a sense of shock inside this white house because of the double barrelled legal news that happens on tuesday. Still reeling from that in most respects. And the president has become isolated, but it was isolated in many ways over the last few weeks. Hes been unhappy with Michael Cohen, the person he relied upon to talk to people like david pecker, keep him in the tabloids, handle situations behind the scenes. Now he feels betrayed. The candidates been named by cohen in court, and so now its been brought to the presidency. When you listen to sara sanders, the Press Secretary and others, they keep saying theyre not talking about pardons in the white house. But that doesnt mean the president is not talking about manafort and cohen with people like giuliani playing golf in scotland. For frank, for all of us who dont have a background in your
decision to protect himself and to cooperate with the special counsels office, and that should give the president and his attorneys great pause tonight. The contents of that safe that were talking about, which mr. Pecker relocated those contents soon after the president was elected, we have to assume and the president s attorneys have to assume those are in the hands of the special counsels office. They should be very worried about that. In my lifetime anytime you say the word safe it gets peoples attention because it means stuff they dont want out there. Whats the difference you tell people between immunity and the president s term, flipping . Theyre sort of different species but similar. If a person doesnt have quite enough criminal expoegsure, so u cant require them to take a plea, theyll respond the fifth. And you can give them immunity. They still have to tell the
truth, still have to testify. But unlike Michael Cohen had to plead guilty to a charge someone whos immunized doesnt actually have to plead guilty to a criminal charge. Its a way to get testimony you might not otherwise be able to get. Theres manafort tonight in a lock up. Hes already been through one trial, awaiting his second. Hes already been knicked on enough charges if they give him the maximum, he could be in prison for a long time. Hes getting a message thats not a phone call but its pretty much as direct as a blinking red light. When you get joll yawny talking about how he has had conversations with the president about pardons in recent weeks, its a reminder why mr. Manafort
hasnt said a word in court. Sitting, waiting, convicted but he sees hope on the horizon. And his lawyers im told are telling him to sit tight. He has another trial coming up in d. C. , but if he sits tight he could get a play out. We were all home from our shift here, which we consider the night shift, 1 10 a. M. , the president took to twitter and had caps lock on. Obviously no collusion, rigged witch hunt. I dont imagine, jill, the president feels hes getting the air support he would like these days. No, he doesnt. And this is something even allies of the president outside of the building have also been critical of, feeling theres not been this coordinated effort to fight back. Youve got Giuliani Making Contradicting statements and
youre not seeing, for instance, what you saw during the clinton administration, where there was an organized effort, outside team who were there to try to push back in a coordinated professional manner. And that means youve got a president whos furious, who always feels like the media is out to get him, and who now is watching the television, you know, flipping the channel and not seeing any type of coordinated defense for him. Much obliged to our front four on a busy thursday night. Robe thank you all very, very much. Coming up President Trump once again attacks his own Attorney General, but this time Jeff Sessions hits back. And then later president ial scandal. An investigation into the president and chatter of things like high crimes and misdemeanors. The kind of talk we havent heard in this country since way back in 1998. The 11th hour is just Getting Started on this thursday evening. To find the right hotel for you at the lowest price. So you barely have to lift a finger. Or a wing. Tripadvisor. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . I put in an Attorney General that never took control of the justice department, jeff session. Never took control of the just department. Jeff sessions recused himself, which he shouldnt have done, or he should have told me. Even my enemies say that Jeff Sessions should have told you he was going to recuse himself and then you wouldnt have put him in. He took the job and then he said im going to recuse myself. I said what kind of a man is this. And by the way he was on the campaign. You know, the only reason i gave him the job because i felt loyalty. President trump attacking his own ag again for recusal as you heard and never taking control of the justice department. But hours later came a rare brush back from the a. G. Himself, quote, i took control of the department of justice the day i was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented
success in afeck chting the president s agenda. While i am Attorney General the action of the department of justice will be not befluenced by political considerations. While it may be a new dynamic to this presidency this president has openly trashed and diminished his own chief Law Enforcement officer. I am disappointed in the Attorney General. He should not have recused himself almost immediately after he took office. And if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me prior to taking office and i would have quite simply picked someone else. Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me before he took the job and i would have picked somebody else. The Attorney General made a terrible mistake when he did this or when he recused himself. Or he should have certainly let us know he was going to recuse himself and we would have put a different Attorney General in. Trumps twitterbased attacks
on sessions have included disgraceful and its close cousin beleaguered. Just last week the president said if we had a real Attorney General there would be no russia investigation. Weeks ago he called on sessions to stop this rigged witch hunt right now before it continues to stain our country any further. Sessions had only been Attorney General for about six months when he was asked about, lets call it his working conditions under donald trump. Youve seen the president s criticism of you. Do you think its fair . Well, its kind of hurtful, but the president of the United States is a strong leader. He is determined to move this country in the direction he believes it needs to go to make us great again. Joining our conversation tonight jeremy peters, political reporter for the New York Times. And we talked robert costa into just hanging around for a few more minutes as well. Jeremy, today comments came at an unusual time. Theres a chance, i guess, that
well look back at this week as a low point in the Trump Presidency. Theres a chance itll be further eclipsed. And sessions i think looking at the calculus thought he might get the better of todays exchange. I think, brian, what youre seeing here is kind of the Trump Presidency writ large. This was a whole lot of fun for Jeff Sessions and donald trump when they were riding around on a Plane Together Chris Crossing The Country and campaigning. And now that its gotten very real, its gotten very ugly. Donald trump is all about himself. Preserving himself and avoiding, you know, any type of bad political outcome here in his presidency. Jeff sessions is a lawyer, a prosecutor, somebody who understands the law and the role of the Attorney General not as the president s personal attorney but as the chief law
enforcement officer of the nation. And thats where they diverged. Once they had to Work Together in the scriptures of the United States constitution, something Jeff Sessions understands very well but donald trump does not. This vindicates two things like my mother says this is all Fun And Games until someone gets hurt and this is why we cant have nice things. This relationship has gone absolutely sour. Is it all in your view over the russia subject which the president keeps talking about and specifically recusal and the like . You think about the Attorney General going to the white house today to talk prison reform, the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner doesnt like the Attorney Generals Hard Line Position and how hes really against kushners own reform. The president was looking for someone to be his enforcer on
the russia probe, to be a loyalist. But hes in this box now. All his lawyers are telling him do not get rid of the Attorney General because it would be similar in a sense what happened with jim comey in 2017 if you push out someone from the justice department, whether the fbi director or a. G. And you had the intent of doing that because you wanted to obstruct the investigation, you could be up for obstruction. And when they sit down with muellers team, asked about the president pushing around sessions on twitter, behind the scenes, these are coming up in the obstruction interviews. Jeremy, i want to roll for you some video of some of the men and women you two guys cover on capitol hill for a living, specifically a couple of senators talking about Jeff Sessions today. He serves at the president s pleasure, so the president can fire him but i sincerely hope he doesnt. People worry about the dominos if Jeff Sessions goes. It would be a very, very, very bad idea to fire theAttorney General because hes not executing his job is a political hack. Clearly Attorney General sessions doesnt have the confidence of the president , and all i can say is i have a lot of respect for the Attorney General, but thats an Important Office in the country. And there after the election i think there will be some serious discussions about a new Attorney General. So jeremy, Lindsey Graham says very little by accident. Did we just move the time line up that the president could be allowed to replace the a. G. And the senate if its after the midterms . I think Lindsey Graham, if thats the case, is assuming a lot we dont know. And thats what the margin of victory is in the senate. If for the republicans if they hold onto it or if for the democrats if they surprisingly seize it. So we just