Manafort. The defense is going to go on offense to attack gates credibility. All of that is part of the drama today. The nuts and bolts of this case are still in the numbers, in the tax fraud, bank fraud, alleged deals for these clients allied with the putin regime. Now, Paul Manafort faces 18 fraud charges from a time before he ever joined the trump campaign. This was all the ukrainian consulting work, which means theres a ton of paper and prosecutors are arguing to this jury whatever happens with mr. Gates, the paper doesnt lie. For example, also new, we can tell you, they showed an email today that manafort sent to gates with gates testifying that trumps former Campaign Chair wrote this is a disaster in april 2015 in that email, about a higher than expected tax bill, throwing in a wtf as well. The full quote is he told the jury hes not happy, i just saw this, wtf, how could i be blind
The days biggest political and news stories, with interviews and reporting from around the nation. The days biggest political and news stories, with interviews and reporting from around the nation. He handles his courtroom in a District Court that is known for actually being very aggressive about ensuring that cases move very quickly. I think what were seeing really is much more about the personalities that happen in any given trial. The primary issue is the law and the evidence. This is a case, in which if anyones crying in that courtroom, it should be Paul Manafort. Betsy woodruff, you know the ins and outs of this team well. That exchange with muellers prosecutor reflects some of the tensions, as maya says, the prosecutors want to be in command. What did you make of both that moment and what else weve learned today, and the manafort strategy of trying to undermine rick gates. The friction between greg andres, the prosecutor involved in that exchange and the judge is instantly. Andre has stepped away from a lucrative private practice gig to get on board with the mueller team. Hes one of a number of prosecutors who walked away from
extremely high paying jobs to see dramatic salary cuts to work for mueller. This is something that very much, we can surmise, this is very personal for him. Hes made a big sacrifice to do part of this work. And, you know, maybe it was a little emotional. Additionally, though, setting aside that, i think one of the most important revelations that we learned today was that kovich, the putin friendly President Of Ukraine paid manafort not just for the work he was doing on his elections, which is what weve known up to this point about the relationship between manafort and yanakovich, but Mapaid Manafort to give political advice. That means that manafort wasnt just helping him win elections, he also seems to, according to what we learned in court today, played a role that helped
yanakovich. We see the fate being linked. When things went south for him in 2014, all the Sudden Manafort found himself on the rocks. He was very much deeply financially connected to this proputin autocrat who ended up having a troubling political fate. Its interesting to see the parallels of those two mens rises and falls. Franklin, youve followed that career. Your views . They were really close. He was helping run the country. He had a hard pass that gave him access to the inner i found it to be extremely interesting to watch because there was this filial relationship between the two. They were extremely close. He was manaforts inner circle. And so the just the drama, this notion that was described in the beginning of manafort sitting there, staring at this
sonlike character as hes just giving evidence mounting on evidence against him, describing every single aspect of their misdeeds. Yeah. And maya, on the part that they stale have in common, gates famously praising manafort to this day under oath saying hes probably one of the most politically brilliant strategists ive ever worked with. What do you think will be front and center in the jurys mind as they look at these two people who are living lives that those of us who follow this stuff and have been around politics found it all a little fantastic. If youre a normal juror, youre like, youre spending millions on this international thing, youre getting the money back, youre broke, youre running out of money, you praise each other, but you stab each other in the back, what do you make of this . I think the mueller strategy has been very clear to demonstrate theres a lot of
crime thats been committed here, and graft and greed and corruption. And i think thats what were seeing play out in court. Neither rick gates nor Paul Manafort are very likable people. Right. And i dont think theyre going to be likable to the jury. The defense has tried to play that card by painting rick gates as someone whos basically a dirt bag that you wouldnt want sitting in your living room with you. Manafort comes off just as dirty and just as bad. I think what the jury is sitting there thinking about is that bookkeeper, that accountant, the guy who was selling suits, the lawn company, those wire transfers that only manafort knew about and was making, the falsified statements. You know, at the end of the day theres a whole bunch of crime, and a whole bunch of documents that demonstrate that crimes were committed. And thats what theyre going to focus on. And franklin, take us inside Paul Manaforts mind. We are here, heading into the
middle of the week. There could be basically deliberations this week. There could be a verdict by the end of the week. Where does this go, do you think, as he prepares for that . Well, you know, hovering over this entire trial is the question, why Didnt Manafort do the same thing as gates, cut a deal with the Special Prosecutor . Because the evidence against him was clear. We saw that in the indictment. He knew this was going to be a hard trial. And yet he persisted, he decided to go along with that. And i think that relates to the prosecutors theory of the case, which is that Paul Manafort is a guy who acts with impunity. He always has. And thats the narrative of this whole trial. Its the reason he pulled off the stunts that he pulled off constantly. And i sat there in court and stared at the guy, and watched him mug for the jury. And theres a confidence that he tries to project. Hes advised senators his entire life. And in politicians. And hes projecting this senatorial sort of image. Hes got the perfect lean, the
hands in the pocket. Hes a political strategist. And he thinks he has a strategy to convince the jury. And hes very intimately involved in orchestrating his lawyers, at sending them notes, huddling with them. And i think probably in his mind he thinks hes got a shot at winning. Well, or a shot at one as always, betsy, one jury, a shot at one juror, identifying with him in some way and getting you to a mistrial, which would be huge for the trump folks. They would say, on the strength of that one juror, look, looks more like a witch hunt if bob mueller cant close the very first case he brought to court. Speak to franklins analysis that goes to the fact we are dealing with a Master Strategist who may be down on his luck but who has certainly pulled off other Long Shot Strategies in his life. Manafort is very strategically intelligent, and also deeply ambitious. Hes, you know, over the course of his time in public and private life, hes worked closely with clients who come
from long shot situations to try to carry them into the highest echelons of power. Manafort actually was something of a Ground Breaker in the lobbying world. Over the last few decades he worked closely with a number of dictators, autocrats. Authoritarians, he worked with Ferdinand Marcus in the philippines along with his wife embezzled billions of dollars from that country. Manafort worked with jonas a cold war era and Guerrilla Fighter who used Child Soldiers as his war. Manafort works to lobby trying to bring him into the good graces of the conservative movement. You want to talk about a tall order, but thats something manafort appears to have done with some degrees of success. So then he actually was able to find himself at cpac, thanks to manafort. Manafort worked with obacha from nigeria who according to the u. N. And United States tortured
his political opponents. Over the course of his career manafort has shown comfort working with the most notorious thugs the Western World has seen. Theyre trying to take that into the confidence. Up to the jury to decide what to do about it. Reverse captain america. Betsy woodruff, maya wiley, and franklin foer, thanks to each of you. Coming up, a feds open up a new front in the Michael Cohen probe, and it could be a new point of pressure. Also, trumps legal team prepping a new move against bob mueller trying to avoid the entire obstruction questioning. Also, tonight, im happy to say we have a very special, and we believe important conversation on race in the trump era with some special guests. And then later, because its the beat, something very different, a legal fight over this. Look, a snakes up in the
tree. Honey badger dont care. It just takes what it wants. Whenever its hungry. And it eats snakes. Look at that digging. Look at that digging. Ill be joined by the man who created one of the most viral videos in the history of the internet thats led to a high stakes court battle. Im ari melber, youre watching the beat on msnbc. The staff needs to know, they will theyll drop everything can you take a look at her vitals . Share the data with other specialists yeah, im looking at them now. Theyll drop everything hey. Take care of this baby yeah, that procedure seems right. That one too. At t provides edge to edge intelligence. It can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. Thats the power of. When your patients tests come back. I receive travel rewards. Going new places. oh going out for a bite. Going anytime. Rewarded learn more at theexplorercard. Com a hotel can make or break a trip. And at expedia, we dont think you should be rushed into booking one. Thats why we created expedias addon advantage. Now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. Your Digestive System has billions of bacteria but life can throw them off balance. Realign yourself with align probiotic. And try new align gummies with prebiotics and probiotics
to help support digestive health. When you rent from national. Its kind of like playing your own version of best ball. Because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if its a better car class than the one you reserved. So no matter what, youre guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] vo go national. Go like a pro. See what i did there . Week, Donald Trumps former fixer Michael Cohen, also, according to new reports, is under investigation for tax and bank fraud. This was first reported by the wall street journal. Investigators reportedly looking at if Cohen Underreported income from his tax business on his federal tax returns or if he also overstated the value of any of his assets when applying to banks for loans. Cohens relatively new lawyer lanny davis did not comment to the journal, saying thats out of respect to these open investigations. The feds subpoenaing cohens accountant, turning up the heat on him, cohen already signaling he could cooperate. Convictions for bank fraud can carry major Prison Sentences, up to 30 years. We turn to nick akerman. Why does it always come down, it seems, to taxes . Well, i think its because people like manafort, people like cohen, cheat on their taxes, what is remarkable here is the similarity between these two situations. I mean, the evidence at the manafort trial this past week has shown that what manafort did on numerous occasions was understate his income during the time he was making fortunes from his work in ukraine, and then when his golden goose fled to russia, he suddenly had to understate his income in order to get bank loans, committing bank fraud. Whats interesting in the reported statements that have come out today about Michael Cohen is, its a very almost identical situation in the sense that his golden goose were the taxing medallions that were providing him lots of income, that he allegedly did not report on his taxes. And when those taxing medallions that didnt flee to moscow, but uber came in, lyft came in, and all of a sudden these medallions were not worth as much as they were before. He started applying for bank loans. And overstated his income. So youve got both individuals essentially doing the same thing, if the reports are true, and, of course, when youve got bank fraud, which carries a maximum Prison Sentence of 30 years. Yeah. Somebody who gets that kind of a sentence has a lot of incentive to deal with the government and cooperate. If this is where this probe goes, what do you say, nick, to the idea that whatever Michael Cohen allegedly did, it increasingly does not look all that related to donald trump . Well, i may have done a lot of things. I mean, certainly what he may have done with his own taxes is just like what manafort did with his own taxes and what he also did with the banks has nothing to do with donald trump. Although, you know, donald trump, was also somebody who borrowed a lot of money from banks. And went bust. And none of us know what he said on his taxes because he didnt release his taxes. And he certainly, we dont know what he said on his bank
applications to various banks. But all of this, i would think, would be of interest to the mueller probe. Nick akerman, always on the case for us. Thank you very much. Up ahead, Donald Trumps under legal and political pressure in tonights race in ohio. Democrats say they may have an upset. Ive got Eugene Robinson here when were back in just 30 seconds. People who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams theyre handing us more than mail theyre handing us their business and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you the other top story tonight, Donald Trumps presidency increasingly looks like it is in crisis. Theres the crushing legal
pressure, but theres also political head winds going into the midterms. On the law its Rudy Giuliani trying to buy more time, bob mueller pressing for more on that interview. And real reluctance, doesnt sound confident from giuliani. Then the political side we are right now just an hour or so away from polls closing in the ohio special election. Now, historically, this isnt one wed watch that closely because republicans have held the seat for three decades. But there are clues that the democratic candidate is closer than usual. There could even be an upset tonight. Heres Donald Trumps response when he was campaigning in this district. If the democrats get in, theyre going to raise your taxes. Youre going to have crime all over the place. Youre going to have people pori pouring across the border. I think it should be a red wave. And while every team tends to hype their own side, we will
note that its prominent carl rove saying the republicans could lose the house, hes saying, quote, start lowering expectations. For our coverage of what could be a Bellweather Race tonight. We are joined by ju neEugene Robinson, a veteran of many late election nights. You posed this damage to donald trump after he was declared the winner in 2016. Trump appealed to them by saying not just im going to make America Great again. But that the problem really is those immigrants. And the problem is those muslims. And the problem is those people in the inner cities. And, you know, so how does thats what were left with. Does he does he knit that back together . Does he knit that back
together . Gene on gene, go ahead and answer. I think i have the answer to my question now. You know, he drives wedges wherever he can. He rips us further apart. Thats what donald trump does. Its been an extraordinary yeah, its hard to remember back to that night. It seems like it was eons ago, in a different country. But, you know, onward. Tonight will be interesting. And everybodys looking at that ohio race. The big clue that it was close is a poll, the most recent poll showing a one point difference with the democrat one point ahead of the republican. And that is, you know, sirens and alarm bells for republicans in what really ought to be a safe republican district. Right. It ought to be safe. And thats a question of whether the resistance, as defined by people who are actively against trump, is broader into something thats become a vote for a check. I mean, you and i know from
covering past midterms, there are voters who will literally vote against the White House Party in the midterm and then come back to it by the following. Different than resistance. Take a listen to Rush Limbaugh saying it all boils down to trump hate. In the democrats win, what are we going to get . The democrats are basing this blue wave on one thing, trump hatred. The resistance. Theyre not basing it on peoples desire for democrat policies. Now, isnt that kind of flimsy . Is that flimsy . Well, thats not really true. I mean, look, there is a lot of angst and anger on donald trump the way hes performed as president and all the things hes done, charlottesville, the Child Separations. You just name the list. So yeah, theres a lot of there are a lot of people upset abou