Appearance on capitol hill. Here he was moments ago, recapping his hearings, including eight hours today alone. And he discusses whether the democrats in charge do accept the testimony he gave against trump. The hearings went very, very well. I believe that all of the members were satisfied with the statements and the responses that i gave to them. I told them that any Additional Information that they would want, they should feel comfortable to reach out to my counsel and i would continue to cooperate to the fullest extent of my capabilities. Completing that house cooperation today which we should note, today is Michael Cohens original date to report to prison. A former federal prosecutor representing cohen told us in our reporting this week they do hope this cooperation all of it together might reduce his jail sentence. Hes been hit with leaks from all sides. Some allege he could have misled congress about pardon discussions. Trumps lawyers may have crossed their own line when reaching out to cohen. The worst leak for trump could be this. Alleged edits made to a document that became part of a crime. Cohens now infamous 27 page statement to congress downplaying the trump tower moscow preparations, and the New York Times obtained, look at it, more checks that cohen says trump used to reimburse him for those hush money payments including six signed by donald j. Trump himself. You could take the pattern together tonight. Whatever one thids of Michael Cohen, the march of checks and evidence and documents and testimony would appear to move this, according to any rational observer, away from a debate about him, about Michael Cohen and towards a debate about the evidence against trump. And then there is one more thing coming out tonight. This report that i just mentioned, that hints at potential misconduct by trumps associates. Abc news cites sources who say in the crucial period after the feds searched cohens office, lawyers linked to team trump and giuliani popped up and started pressing Michael Cohen to do a very particular thing, to stay in his joint Defense Agreement with trump, even as his legal headaches multiplied. And they implied if cohen was loyal, he could increase his chances of a pardon down the road. Let me be very clear about what we know. It can be an abuse of power to trade a pardon for some sort of obstruction, a crime. That was literally in the articles impeachment against nixon. Trumps lawyers know that, and youll see this story doesnt say donald trump personally made this offer, but rather that some intermediaries implied it. The kind of move which, again, is exactly how cohen said trump operates, by pushing people implicitly while trying to avoid getting in trouble. And then, of course, if you follow the news, you may notice an echo here and its a bad one for the white house because this whole report tracks exactly what we saw play out in public when Paul Manafort claimed to remain in a joint Defense Agreement with trumps people even after he pleaded guilty, which is usually a legal impossibility. In fact, when Rudy Giuliani was out there claiming they had good talks with manafort after he flipped, a lot of people said another rudy gaff. You have to remember as we deal with all these weird stories. Sometimes what looks like a legal gaff is actually a tell. Mueller went on to bust manafort, took away his plea deal for exactly those kind of shenanigans. Now, we dont know at all, we dont know if that is what these anonymous lawyers were aiming for, but we do know one thing that does look pretty serious. Cohen testifying under oath that the feds are probing his last contact with donald trump. And what did he or his agent communicate you . Unfortunately, this topic is actually something thats being investigated right now by the Southern District of new york and ive been asked by them not to discuss it, not to talk about these issues. Im joined by my wiley former counsel the mayor of new york and civil prosecutor in that same Southern District handling cohens case and former new york congressman joe crowley. Good evening to you both. Congressman, how serious is this . I think this is incredibly serious when you start to link the cryptic messages that the Trump Administration through his attorneys were trying to really convey to Michael Cohen that if you stay under the tent, we can still keep this, keep this down. And if you play along, there may be a possible pardon down the road for you. To me its very clear that thats what the intention here was. And when you combine that with what has been in the piling up of the evidence, i want to read something totally bizarre to you for your analysis. Youve been around the congress and been around a lot of politicians in both parties. One of the reasons that people around trump say hes more likely to run for reelection, even as theres all sorts of controversy is, quote, he privately predicted trump will choose to seek a second term, in part, because of his legal exposure if hes not president. Have you ever heard of Anyone Running for that reason, congressman . Usually if you have issues of credibility and ethics, its really a reason not to run for public office. And here you have the president using an ethical violations or criminal violations as a reason to run for president. It is absurd and unheard of in the american body politic. But today, ari, it seems that just about everything goes. Yeah, and youre saying thats a bad thing. Yeah, i think its a terrible thing, to use the office of the presidency to cover your tail, to use the office of the presidency to prevent investigation of criminal activity i think is just absurd, and really, i think the American People are going to really start to come around to understanding whats going on here. That sourcing from the times, maia, are people close to trump. Thats not critics, thats not negative fan fiction, i dont like the way hes running. Those are people a k0rding to the times. They have to corroborate that, they cant just print that. Around trump. Square that with what cohens attorneys are alleging, because it links donald trump to crime in office. Take a listen to lanny last night. There is no way to dispute that he committed a crime. He not only wrote a personal check, but they invented a cover up story that it was a retainer check. There was no retainer agreement. It was a scheme concocted by michael, by donald trump, and by mr. Weisselberg as a way of avoiding tracing the payoff money, the hush money to Stormy Daniels. The prosecutors and the u. S. Government said that. Well, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, its probably a duck. I mean, i think thats what were talking about here, right . And i think whats true about what lanny davis is saying is if the evidence establishes each piece of this, right, and what prosecutors have to do is make sure they have corroborating evidence that substantiates each piece. And what weve seen is pieces, right, when Michael Cohen says heres the check he signed, heres the check he signed in 2017, when in 2018 he was claiming he didnt pay me at all. I mean, yeah, it doesnt look very good for donald trump. What i find most astounding about the conversation about running for president in order to stay out of jail, if thats true and that sourcing is true, it ignores the new York State Attorney general. It ignores part of what Michael Cohen came to congress with last week which new york state is looking into is the question of insurance and taxes. And that means the potential for state crimes of Insurance Fraud or tax fraud. We dont know enough yet there, but theres certainly the possibility that there are criminal violations at the state level, and he would not be immune from indictment by the Justice Department if its not the Justice Department indicting. Well put and very interesting. All of this. Both of my guests make me wonder what was it like in those cohen hearings today. Both of you stay with me. Im going to bring in someone who was in the room, congresswoman val demming who was there for Michael Cohens private session today. Thank you for joining us tonight. Ari, its great to be here. Thank you for having me. What do you see as significant on the president ial side, meaning this is the current president , how is he governing whether or not the house ultimately decides there is an abuse of power, as distinct from i think what everyone saw Michael Cohen testify to was all kinds of terrible allegedly stuff if you want to be charitable in the hearing last week. What do you see as important about him as president . Let me just say this. Mr. Cohen, Michael Cohen was extremely cooperative today as he was the first time we interviewed him, as he was in the oversight and government reform hearings. The more i hear testimony from Michael Cohen, look at physical evidence and talk to others, you know, theres been a rumor that the president had no idea that he was going to win the election. I believe that that i believe that more and more the more i listen simply because i dont believe there is anyway that the president would have run believing that he would win and not knowing that there would be oversight, particularly from congress. Were particularly looking at obstruction of justice. Were looking at abuse of power. And if its true that the president did not expect to win, he had no other choice but to try to discredit the department of justice, to try to discredit the judiciary, to try to discredit the media. And so its just been an interesting time. And as i said, Michael Cohen was extremely cooperative. He provided documents we requested or agreed to, continue to try to do that. But we have a lot more work to do. Do you see the issue at this point as an investigation to determine if donald trump obstructed justice, or an investigation to determine the nature of a lot of obstruction that occurred in public and whether and if the house should take extraordinary measures about it . You know, there is so much here. And, look, i never expected as a member of the Intelligence Committee or judiciary to be in this place, but we play the hand were dealt. And there is just so much information that is being thrown to us. But i believe that the president you know, its interesting to watch him say publicly, for example, that he fired comey, director comey because of russia. Its almost like a person who believes if he commits a crime in public that it somehow has less meaning. And believe me, we are going to continue to aggressively investigate the president , those around him. As i said, we are particularly looking at obstruction of justice, conspiracy and other inappropriate behavior, criminal behavior you think he did obstruct or we dont know yet . Well, we are piecing the puzzle together. And as i said, every day it seems like we are getting more evidence that points us into a particular direction. Before i go, ill give our colleagues a yes or no. Congressman crowley, your view, he did or didnt . I think there is ample evidence now that he attempted to cover up his daliancs. I know the credibility is an issue. He has a good distance to make up for that. Maia . I think theres certainly evidence to suggest that i think its premature to say whether there is evidence to prove it from a legal standpoint. One question i wonder if congress is asking and getting answers to from Michael Cohen, if he wanted to if he wasnt trying to win, why did he cover up the affairs in order to right. Given cohen testified about also discussing with the first lady, there may have been multiple issues there. Congresswoman, especially those sessions today. Thank you for making time. Congressman joe crowley, great to have you on the beat. Maia, always great to have your analysis. Coming up, a witness is also here to talk about the investigations and cooperation. Fact check trump on immigration. Are we putting children in cages . I just want you to admit that the cages exist. Sir, theyre not cages. Its a detention space well bring you the facts on that. And later the dnc rejecting fox news for any president ial debates in 2020, and then later, designer Isaac Mizrahi and our own craig melvin are here to talk politics, fashion and to dress, yes, Michelle Obama. Im ari melber and youre watching the beat on msnbc. Smile dad. I take medication for high Blood Pressure and cholesterol. But they might not be enough to protect my heart. 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Liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty a new escalation in the battle over house demes demand for more evidence from 81 Trump Associates ranging from the top aides and children to more witnesses, caputo who lobbied for a foreign power on behalf of Russian Energy conglomerates and who has done a hat trick talking with muellers team and addressing both the house and senate Intelligence Committees. Hes never been accused of misleading investigators and tonight caputo is saying why isnt all that enough . He suggests chairman nadler review his past transcripts before these committees and move on. Some outlets have reported that means caputo wont cooperate with the democrats. Caputo says its not the whole story and hes claiming his own past cooperation. I am joined now by former Trump Campaign aide michael caputo. I should mention its ash wednesday, and former attorney nick ackerman. Good evening. Let me ask the question house demes are asking. Why not go back in, tell the truth and move forward . First of all, i want to correct, i never lobbied congress. Certainly not for a foreign power, so i dont know where you get that. Ive heard it before. Its patently false. Weve had you on before. I didnt the last time you and i have spoken about it. You have lobbied on russian interests i didnt lobby. You advocated for russian interests . I did a press conference for gazprom media. I didnt lobby for russian ghochlt or lobby any government or any foreign power in this country. Ive never done it youre saying right. I dont mean to mislead. When you and i talked on the phone, they want to to talk to you talk to you because you worked for folks tied to the kremlin. Thats what i was referring to. I advised the kremlin. I lived there seven years. I was sent there by the Clinton Administration to meddle in russian elections. Not a registered lobbyist, but there is not a debate you did a lot of stuff back then for no doubt. I can understand why they wanted to talk to me. Thats why theyve interviewed me three different times now. You make a point that i think a lot of people could think sounds reasonable. Youre saying youve talked to the house already. Why do you have to talk again. Explain . Right. Well, first of all, when i was invited to speak to the house Intelligence Committee two years ago coming up soon, i asked to be able to do that in public. And when they refused to let me do it in public, i agreed to do it anyway voluntarily. I asked them to release my testimony to the public. They refused to do that as well. The same thing went down with the senate Intelligence Committee and, of course, the mueller team, they do all of in private. Eventually at some point in time, theyre going to have to stop asking me to testify. This would be the fourth time im asked the same questions all over again. And from my perspective. Its a perjury trap. Before we get to the perjury trap, perjury trap house as some call it, one more thing to be clear for the record. All this matters to a lot of people. Let me read from what theyre asking you about. Theyre asking about the trump tower meeting, the contacts with the Russian Federation and Trump Associates, contacts from january 2016 with manafort, gates, kilimnik, of course a big deal, and other figures. It is your contention tonight that you have addressed all of that already there . Yes. My attorney, the former new