Manafort. Tonight we are learning why that cooperation deal completely fell apart. This is the first time weve heard these details. Muellers investigators apparently saying manafort lied to them about how he shared polling data from 2016 with the kremlinlinked operative. So manafort was allegedly hiding his russian links, even after flipping, which makes the other news tonight even more intriguing. Federal prosecutors indicting the russian you see on the screen in the upper right, that is the russian that Paul Manafort and others met with at trump tower. Other Key Players Like don jr. And jared kushner, she is indicted for obstruction. So before we go any further, why is this all coming out tonight . The indictment of the russian lawyer is public because the feds acted today, a deliberate development. The Manafort News is different, an accident. This whole intricate story unraveling because Paul Manaforts own lawyers accidentally revealed what he was basically up to. So this was supposed to be redacted. Well show it to you. In manaforts response to mueller accusing him of breaking that cooperation deal, we see manafort met with criminallinked operative const Konstantin Kilimnik in madrid. Thats not all. This was during the 2016 campaign. Paul manafort forking over polling data. Not only did manafort allegedly hand off political intel to this russian operative, well, that sounds a little suspicious, right . But according to bob mueller, manafort would then try to cover it up. Now prosecutors bear down on that kind of lying because it suggests the defendant has decided its better to risk committing a new crime of lying to the feds than coughing up the truth. The crime of obstruction is also exactly what the new york feds are using here as i mentioned the russian lawyer from the trump tower meeting. They allege she was intentionally misleading and fabricating evidence from the russian government in secret cooperation with a senior russian prosecutor all for a separate case. We are seeing in this bombshell new pressure on the russian side of the trump tower meeting. You may recall some of this. This is the lawyer who went on tv to disclaim any connections with the russians, she now stands accuseed of those very russian connections. Donald trump jr. Is told that they want to schedule a meeting with him and the russian government attorney, who is flying over from moscow, the russian government attorney. That means you. Translator no. Im certainly flattered by being mocked and called as a government attorney, but i have never worked for the government in the first place. Nbc keir simmons and Richard Engel have reported on this story and broke some of these very documents you see on your screen. Those are now cited in this indictment alleging the government link. Like any defendant, she is still innocent until Proven Guilty in america. So what are we learning tonight . When you take this together, these key developments, what does it tell us about the investigations into the 2016 campaign . Well, lets look at it like this. It all started with some indictments of americans and skeptics of bob mueller argued, well, crimes at home arent collusion. Then we saw remember those indictments of russians, Rod Rosenstein came to the podium and announced them. It was a huge deal. And skeptics said, well, okay, but crimes abroad dont necessarily have help at home in america. So here and here but not here. But now we are seeing a new indictment of a russian who was in america. Not only in america, she was in a room at trump tower with Donald Trumps top aides and family members. Today is the first time we have seen two people in that room, one american, one russian, are now both indicted. The american, of course, pled guilty. What happens with the russian . As i mentioned, as always, innocent until Proven Guilty. Whether theres more information to come out, well, thats what comes next. Joining me now on this very big news day is lawrence tribe, a constitutional law professor at harvard. Hes argued dozens of cases before the supreme court. He advised president obama. The author of many books, including the latest, to end a presidency, which is a study on the power of impeachment. Im also joined by former federal prosecutor Glenn Kershner and natasha. The possibility of there being indictments of multiple people in that room for that fateful meeting that brought them all together, at least one time. Yeah, ari, the veselnitskaya development is a really interesting one. And i think it highlights a couple of potentially important things about who she is and who she was at the time she participated in that trump tower meeting. She was not only meeting with and obviously close to russian government officials and its being reported in the documents released by the Southern District of new york a senior russian prosecutor. Its one thing to be closely aligned to those kind of people, its quite another thing to be involved in conspiring with those people to create false documents and declarations that you will then offer to a court in new york that was going after her, veselnitskayas client, trying to get them to forfeit some properties that he had allegedly used to launder dirty russian money through. So what does it tell us . It tells us that ms. Veselnitskaya was intimately involved with the russian government, with the russian prosecutor and was actually conspireing to commit crimes with them to the disadvantage of the u. S. Criminal justice system. And the other thing, ari, is we learned that the prosecutors have some of her email traffic between veselnitskaya and the russian prosecutor, and when i saw that i thought to myself, boy, were going to be hearing a lot more moving forward about veselnitskayas emails, i suspect. Professor tribe, how do you view this in the larger context of these multiple investigations . Ari, i view it as quite a bombshell. The veselnitskaya part is probably less profound than the manafort part, but i agree with glenn that veselnitskaya is now clearly exposed as an agent of the kremlin so that when an offer was made at that Infamous Trump tower meeting of emails from Hillary Clinton, the offer that donald jr. Said he would love if it came at the right time in the campaign, we now know that thats basically an offer of help from the kremlin and a violation of american law, which forbids accepting offers or soliciting offers of foreign help. As far as manafort is concerned, wu now have the umbilical cord that connects all of the russianside conspiracies with the americanside conspiracies. So, professor, let me draw you out on your first point because mmmhmm. Like any harvard law professor, you speak in multiplepoint thoughts. On your first point, sir, you are saying that the material emerging here adds to the kremlin side of collusion, that that could be for a prosecutor useful combined with presumably other information to tie the person in the trump tower meeting directly back to putin. Correct. And it means that the president s son and the head of the president s campaign and the president s soninlaw, all of those people were soliciting help, not just from some random russian but from the kremlin. As far as the manafort revelation today is concerned, what that shows is that the head of the president s campaign, almost certainly with the president s knowledge, was offering information about secret polling data in the United States to the kremlin. Now, its not that the kremlin makes a hobby of following american politics. The only point of giving them that data would have been to facilitate their intervention in our campaign. It was a quid pro quo because the other thing we learned from that inadvertent revelation was that part of this was involved with helping russia visavis ukraine. Mmmhmm. So all thats all thats missing is a bow to tie this whole thing into a knot. And i think we are now seeing the structure of a multinational conspiracy to help donald trump win the election. Its quite profound. Its profound when you put it like that. Natasha, americans coming home tonight looking at their screen will see a headline that is a bombshell no matter what administration you imagine or what family members you imagine. If you see feds indict foreigner from hostile foreign power who met with guilty Campaign Chair and family members of the president , if it was obama family members, bush family members, this is a bombshell. People expecting that, you know, to be more about thinking about the speech and the shutdown, a lot of other news, this is a bombshell. How do you view it in the context of what muellers doing . Because it is a separate a separate federal prosecution. It is separate, and at first i, like many other observers said, well, we knew for a very long time, for over a year now, that veselnitskaya had these ties to russias chief prosecutor, u prosecutor, and that she had been working very closely with him to undermine the magnitsky act worldwide. That was their entire effort in 2016, especially with regard to the Trump Campaign, was to try to get them to lift these sanctions. But on the other hand, its extremely significant because it shows that the southern bedistrict of new york is lying out in Court Filings the fact that she is a kremlin agent. And legal experts have told me that that is a prelude essentially to for whats to come. Especially if mueller wants to lay out in his own Court Filings that veselnitskaya was working for the russian government when she met with the Trump Campaign at trump tower in june of 2016. So i think for that reason alone, just the fact that shes now been implicated, not only in this major Money Laundering scandal, of course, which is at the heart of the matter, but also that she was working hand in hand with the russian government and that she was not just an informant for the government, as she has claimed in the past to nbc, but also that she was acting essentially as their agent, as someone who was going to go to the United States and try to lobby highlevel officials to lift these sanctions which, of course, was Vladimir Putins top goal, really, over the last eight or so years. Mmmhmm. Especially after the magnitsky act was implemented. Right. I think we have to look at it through that lens. Through that lens, glenn, to natashas point here, if bob muellers playing chess, you start to wonder, are these federal prosecutors in new york his queen . Hes moving it over the board pretty aggressively while sometimes people dont realize how it intersects with what hes planning. Yeah, i think even though theyre separate investigations, i think they are probably coordinating with each other fairly regularly to make sure, one, that theyre not stepping on each others toes. They do have slightly different mandates. I agree with professor tribe, with the revelation of what manafort was concealing from bob mueller about sharing polling information with kilimnik and now we know that veselnitskaya was not only close with but would be in a position to conspire criminally with senior prosecutors and government officials with russia, you can see these tentacles, given these new revelations, just kind of stretching out and pulling the Trump Campaign piece, the trump tower piece and the russia piece closer and closer and closer together. I want to get professor tribe back in. I dont know if anyone would have expected we would be starting the new year with a russian from trump tower being indicted. I mean, that alone tells you about the pace of this investigation. Whatever jurisdiction its coming through. Professor tribe, id like to give you the final word, the closing statement, if you will, on this segment, and also have you listen to some sound that was unearthed today. Funny that it didnt come out earlier, but it was unearthed of donald trump back in the day after his russia visit, toutth that they wanted him to do business there. Interest reg. Take a look. I went to russia at the invitation of the russian people and the russians. I went to russia in order to perhaps build hotels. At their invitation. They want me to build a great hotel in moscow. They still want me to. Im trying to drive the right kind of a bargain, unlike the bargains the city of new york drives. Im trying to drive a tough bargain. They want me back. Theyve asked me back. I may go back. I dont know. I can do the deal in two months, i can do the deal. It will be done on my terms or not at all. Two minutes or three decades, gives or take. Professor tribe, your view of tying this all together. Well, my view is that one of the possible reasons for the bl brouhaha about the wall and the shutdown is to distract attention from the coming together of the russia probe because the president obviously fears being cornered, having the walls collapse on him, and maybe the main reason hes putting so much emphasis on Emergency Powers to build a wall is that he wants to hold the walls back. A very interesting point. One that i think is part of the rest of our coverage. Professor tribe, i want to have you back later in the hour to discuss some of the legal powers the president may try to seize. Glenn and natasha, thank you for joining us on this big story tonight. Coming up, what donald trump could gain or lose from this Oval Office Address tonight. The shutdown is hurting mean people, according to reports around the nag. Maines independent senator angus king is my guest next. Later, as mentioned, the legal debate over this leak that Donald Trumps advisers may help to declare a National Emergency to have military troops involved in some sort of scheme to build the border wall. Later, my interview with a man who is both a witness and a potential target in the russia probe. Jerome corsi fighting with bob mueller in court. Im ari melber. Youre watching the beat on msnbc. I melber youre watching the beat on msnbc. By moments like this. Dont let Psoriatic Arthritis take them away. Taltz reduces joint pain and stiffness and helps stop the progression of joint damage. For people with moderate to severe psoriasis, 90 saw significant improvement. Taltz even gives you a chance at completely clear skin. Dont use if youre allergic to taltz. Before starting, you should be checked for tuberculosis. Taltz may increase risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, symptoms, or received a vaccine or plan to. Inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz, including worsening of symptoms. Serious allergic reactions can occur. For all the things that move you. Ask your doctor about taltz. Ultimate feast time itsat red lobster. R own pick four of ten favorites to create the ultimate feast youve been dreaming of. Like lobster mac cheese. Or tender snow crab. So hurry in before new create your own ultimate feast ends. Before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn, marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. Now no fruit is forbidden. Nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for allday, allnight protection. Can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn . Why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. Were the tenneys and were usaa members for life. Call usaa to start saving on insurance today. And were usaa members for life. Do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet . Yes . Great then youre ready for power e trade. The platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. Sweet e trade. The original place to invest online. Every day, visionaries are creating the future. So, every day, we put our latest technology and vast expertise to work. the United StatesPostal Service makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. Makes more ecommerce deliveries to homes i am a techie dad. N. I believe the best technology should feel effortless. Like magic. At comcast, its my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. My name is mike, im in Product Development at comcast. Were working to make things simple, easy and awesome. Our other top stories tonight, and the one the president will be addressing the nation about tonight is significant. Think about it like this. We are at the second longest Government Shutdown in American History. 18 days with no end in sight. Just under three hours, President Trump will deliver his address followed by a democratic response from nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. Democrats have already said they reject any case trump would make to justify the border wall, that the country is facing a National Security crisis at the border. A major open question, would trump try to use that claim to declare a National Emergency, which some advisers believe could create a legal path to use military funds to build the wall without congressional approval. Meanwhile, there are reports here that congressional leaders will be back at the white house tomorrow to meet all about the shutdown. Im joined now by senator angus king, independent from maine, who caucuses with the democrats. Thanks for joining me on a very busy night. Sure, ari. Glad to help. Is there an argument the president can make tonight that would make you support funding the wall through congress . Unless he has some extraordinary data that nobodys seen yet, i dont see how. And whats theres a real big question contained within your question is, what is the wall . One of the problems that we have here is that theres been no plan submitted that i know of for what were talking about. Where, how much it would cost, what it would do, what parts of the border it would cover. Thats one of the real issues here is. He keeps talking about someth