The days biggest political and news stories, with interviews and reporting from around the nation. Charge of an investigation and a guy who is the subject of an investigation that just got more profound. We have to preface everything, ari, with if the account from Michael Cohen is true, blah, blah, blah. So if the account is true, it is a tremendous change in the landscape. What it does is show us two things. One, that donald trump, from the very beginning, was in on an attempt at collusion, an attempt to conspire with a plot that was described to donald trump jr. As a secret operation by the kremlin to help trump. So if trump knows about that from the very beginning, and is in on it, i think that has a lot of legal, but even more so, political implications. Plus if hes told about this, and even if nothing came out of the meeting, remember throughout the whole campaign and up to now he keeps denying or dismissing the russian operation. Could have been a 400pound guy in a basement. The russians didnt do this. We dont know the russians did this. They kept doing that. What does he want up front . It makes everyone, democrats, republicans, members of his own administration, very nervous what he is doing in these twohour, oneonone meetings with putin. Something strikes me, as david was talking about this meeting, even the fact of the meeting, the fact that his people took a meeting with russian operatives is itself then leverage and a reason for blackmail because if that comes out during the campaign, oh, they were conspiring with the russians, that in itself is a way of applying pressure to the president. So the president from day one has been very upset that somehow his entire presidency would be discredited by the notion that the russians had helped him. Guess what . The russians did help him. If he knew about that, thats reason to fire james comey, reason for him to craft a phony explanation for that meeting in trump tower. Its reason for a lot of behavior that seemed odd at the
then you add Michael Cohen here potentially alleging to mueller that donald trump had all this advance notice, what does that do to the investigation in your view as a prosecutor . You know, the president s coverup here, the statement that he dictated on Air Force One has never made any sense. On the one hand if the meeting was unimportant, and as someone said at the time a nothing burger, then why does the president go to the trouble of lying about it . That statement that the president drafted for don jr. Has only ever made sense if this meeting was critically important, and equally important to cover up. So now what we see, if cohens statement is true, and david corn is correct, we need to understand whether it can be authenticated, and also precisely what cohen will have to say when he makes it. But if it turns out to be true, a lot of these pieces, Puzzle Pieces that are scattered across the table start to click into place. Well put up, while youre
and its a statement that we know more about now because the indictment that Robert Mueller put out recently of 12 Russian MilitaryIntelligence Officers who were involved in hacking the democrats to help trump and hurt Hillary Clinton in that Indictment Mueller describes this day as the day late at night. He puts that into the indictment for a reason, late at night they started targeting or trying to penetrate Hillary Clintons own personal emails, and emails of people on the campaign as if they were taking Donald Trumps instructions and guidance. So here, you know, to go back to joyces point, we understand more now. If donald trump was told about this meeting, it means he was told that russia wanted to help him secretly. And here he is now publicly communicating with russia say, hey, this is how i want you to help. I mean, collusion, conspiracy, obstruction, coverup, all these
narratives which intertwine are bolstered by Michael Cohens account if true. And so jennifer when david lays it out like that, its chilling because the more benign earlier interpretations that were available were lowerlevel people did this, or everyones an idiot, and they didnt really understand all the meetings they were going to. By the way, Idiot Defenses can work in the law. Its not a crime to be stupid and go to the wrong meeting. What david lays out when you put these pieces together, according to cohens theory of the case. We always can report there will be denials, there will be other perspectives. But according to cohens theory of the case, youre adding Testimonial Evidence that suggests, no, they werent idiots. At a very high level they had a lot of information that they then acted on. And all the idiot behavior was in one direction. No one ever thought, oh, i met with the russians when they didnt. They kept saying they never met with the russians when they did. Every piece of evidence that weve seen, the public statements, the private statements, the fact of the meeting, the attempt to cover up the meeting, it all makes sense only if there was an attempt to solicit help from the russians. And if you recall way back when the trump people have always said whats so bad about taking a meeting like this this . Anyone would take information that they were offered. Thats how campaigns run. That was a very telling statement. I think it suggests to us that thats what they thought. They thought, hey, the russians are going to help us, thats swell. And its only been as time goes on that they realize how politically and legally perilous that was. So hence the coverup. Right, because youre not supposed to hijack elections with foreign governments. Yeah, who knew . Right . Who knew . No one ever told them that. You know, they were novices. I want to thank Jennifer Rubin and joyce vance. David real quick, have you ever
been on Fallback Friday . No, i have not. Could it perhaps happen today . It could happen today. A year in we will take you. I would hope to get both of you in some day as well. Thanks to each of you for being part of our top of the News Coverage here. Coming up, new reporting on how trumps legal team says they might, quote, bury Michael Cohen. Michael avenatti is here live. Coming out of his court fight in the Stormy Daniels case. Plus, were debuting a new series today with Tony Schwartz, author of the art of the deal, and talking about the pressure facing trump. All that, plus, of course, Fallback Friday and our most awkward moments of the year. Youre watching a Special Edition of the beat on msnbc. Clarity, and protection. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the Essilor Ultimate Lens Package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Welcome to holiday inn thank you wait, i have something for you every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. Save up to 15 when you book early at hollidayinn. Com were in a small room. What . welcome. [ gasps ] a bigger room . how many of you use Car Insurance . Oh. Well, what if i showed you this . [ laughing ] hohoho wow. Its a computer. We compare rates to help you get the price and coverage thats right for you. Thats amazing the only thing that would make this better is if my mom were here. What . an unexpected ending are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home,
and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Theres news tonight that shows donald trump is genuinely nervous about the risk Michael Cohen poses. The political world shocked by these leaks that cohen would put cohen squarely inside of a conspiracy to get clinton material from the russians. Sabotaging his fixer. His aides are telling reporters theyll bury cohen. Calling him a traitor. The daily beast reports trumps furious and swearing about cohen. The attack on cohen is weak was previewed earlier this week by the man who served as trumps lawyer before cohen, jay goldberg on the beat. If you spend five minutes with Michael Cohen, you know
that hes not strong. Hes weak. Its odd to say this, but when he said that he would stand up for the president , i knew from talking with him for less than five minutes that he was sufficiently weak, that he would cave in with respect to any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, trumps current lawyer is reversing his past praise of cohen. He doesnt have any incriminating evidence about the president or himself. The man is an honest, honorable lawyer. I expected Something Like this from cohen. Hes been lying all week. Or for hes been lying for years. Theres nobody that i know that knows him that hasnt warned me that if his back is up against the wall, hell lie like crazy. Hes lied all his life. In a moment im joined live by Michael Avenatti about all of this. First, how does this battle go down when all of it can involve the trump organization, the history of the apprentice . Before that, i bring in tara
dardenel, a former contestant on the apprentice and a democratic operative. Youve lived many lives. Yes. And there you are. There i am. When you look at this and cohens involvement in the trump organization, what do you see as key in this fight. I think whats going to be key in this fight for trump is all about the pr, all about the spin, all about the deny, deflect, attack. As far as cohen is concerned hes going to have to be very careful, because im not a lawyer like you, but i think we all know when you are under a criminal investigation yourself and youre seeking to be a cooperating witness, the last thing you want to be doing is talking. Any good lawyer will tell you to keep your mouth shut. What cohen clearly wants to do is he wants to go head on at donald trump. He is a man, ive said this before, and some people doubted me on this, hes a man thats been sending Smoke Signals to donald trump for the past several weeks. Those Smoke Signals went unrequited. I think he is now a man scorned. I think he wants to settle scores. Trump has betrayed him multiple times, this was the last straw. Youre not a lawyer, but you are an apprentice, or you played an apprentice on a reality show. When you look at this situation, something that many of us have grappled to understand, and you were closer to it at an earlier phase of trumps life. Certainly Michael Cohen has seen donald trump screw other people. Do you know what it is about some of these people around trump that they see that happen to other people and they dont think it will happen to them . It is actually a mind boggling thing. Literally on the apprentice, people were threatening to sue donald trump at that time. Those people then went back to basically work on his campaign after threatening to sue him and or initiating the process of suing him. It is actually mind boggling. What it is is that trump attracts people like trump. A lot of people that choose to be in his orbit are people who are looking to ride his coat tails of fame. And i think that that becomes paramount for them. Thats the overriding issue. I think Michael Cohen was one of those people. One of the things that trump is notorious for is not paying people. What he tells the people that he does not pay is that just use my name. Tell people you did work for me. Thats the value. Youre alleging that he tells people to say my name . Say my name, say my name. Say my name, say my name, say my name. Thats right. Well, you know, were doing an awkward montage later in the show, but i wanted to have some you wanted to get it out there early. Do some of it live. Its still a live show tonight. Tara, thank you for bringing your experience and insights here. Now i bring in Michael Avenatti, attorney for touchdown and a rumored iowa visitor. Why are you going to iowa . Its not my first visit to iowa, ari, as you know. I grew up in the show me state of missouri. Im going to our neighbor to the north. I know people who grew up in missouri but arent going to iowa. They must not have good taste. Well, everyones interested in your expanding role, your portfolio, your politics. Walk us through what happened in court today because your case still continues. Well, we had a very good morning in court today, ari, as you know, Michael Cohen and the president have sought to place a gag order, have the court place a gag order over me and prevent me from coming on shows like this and talking about the case, and talking about the evidence to you and your audience. And it was a very good morning. The judge took it under submission. He hasnt issued a ruling yet. But id be shocked if he granted the motion. Michael cohen and the president s attorneys were almost laughed out of court. The judge was very critical of the motion. And expressed considerable skepticism on the legal arguments they were making, and for good reason, because they were absolutely baseless. And it reeks of desperation. It seems like they want to silence you. People can understand why. What about the argument that you
savaging mr. Cohen at times could affect peoples opinions of him and thus jurors . Well, i dont put a lot of credence into that, ari, because, as you know, when it comes to jury selection, the court can guard against any bias that a juror may come to the court with. And usually does guard against that. You know, its interesting to me that Michael Cohens attorney was arguing so vehemently that i should be gagged and should not be able to speak openly. And look at Rudy Giulianis comments last night about Michael Cohen on chris cuomos show, he called him a pathological liar, hes been saying he has been lying for years, months, weeks, he said a fact finder should not trust him in a trial. Those comments were far beyond anything ive said about Michael Cohen, why isnt Michael Cohens attorney trying to have a gag order placed on Rudy Giuliani . Which would also affect my case,
because rudy is the best attorney working on my team. I know you feel that way. The other thing i want to ask you about is other news youve broken, and youve been a source of not only ideas and opinions, but also information in this case. You have new women you say are coming forward. Im wondering why now. So i want to get your answer to that. Lets fit in a quick break. Well come back in just 30 seconds with Michael Avenatti. E . Its show of strength. Or its sign of intelligence . In crossing harsh terrain. Or breaking new ground . This is the time to get an exceptional offer on the mercedes of your midsummer dreams at the mercedesbenz summer event, going on now. Receive up to a 1,250 summer event bonus on select suvs. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Were back with Michael Avenatti who says today there are new women coming forward claiming they were also paid by donald trump or others for their silence. He intriguingly mentions it could even include the same Tabloid Company in the middle of this whole cohen case. There are three additional female clients of mine that have not been disclosed that were paid hush money prior to the 2016 election, whether it be from Michael Cohen on behalf of the president , an entity that Michael Cohen formed, or ami, thats what im saying. Those women had a relationship with donald trump. Last time i checked they werent handing out checks to anyone whether they had a relationship or not. Michael avenatti, making news. Why are you putting out the idea that there are these three women now, and why are you putting it out in this manner without more information or their names . Well, im not putting the idea out there, ari, im stating a fact. I have three clients that have hired me as their counsel. Each of them had a relationship with mr. Trump. Each of them were paid hush money prior to the 2016 election. And the time had come to
disclose that. And were going to be disclosing Additional Details here hopefully shortly, as soon as the clients authorize me to release specifics relating to their each individual instance. But heres what i find to be i want to hear you on that. Let me press you on that. There have been other times in this wideranging case where youve put out substantiating information, written information or youve made a client available for public interviewing. Thats usually in our business how we verify facts. Here youre asking people to take it on your Authority Without the additional information. This has been going for a while. What, in your view, is holding them back, or why not more information now . Well, because its a big decision for each of these individual women to come forward and release their name and provide specifics. I mean, this is serious business, ari. You know, you subject yourself to this scrutiny of the press and you subject yourself to the scrutiny of fox news and others when you do that. Its a very, very serious decision, a big decision for them. But, look, if people dont want
to believe me on it, thats fine. I think thats pretty risky in light of my track record over the last six months. Does at least one of them involve ami . Yes. And that would be a previously undisclosed, not Karen Mcdo