Footsteps trying to follow your lead for how to extract information from this man. We have doubleteamed him, as has the world on this question of where did you get the information . And what strikes me as so interesting today, no reporters have caught up with that. Theres no report in the new york times, the washington journal, the Washington Post, no one has figured out where Michael Avenatti got all this Banking Information about Michael Cohen. And weve got little pieces of it and prospects of little piece of it. We have news organizations, including nbc news saying they too have seen financial documents that corroborate what Michael Avenatti reported p p we have these Big Companies corroborating what he reported saying yeah we paid that money to Michael Cohen. Now we have the treasury Inspector General reportedly investigating to find out if somebody released suspicious
reports from the Banking Sector and if thats the way he got this information. If thats the way he got it, and the news organizations got it, it might be a legal problem for whoever leaked that information in the first place. I got to think well figure it out, but not before we get more revelations about what Michael Cohen does for a living. I think Michael Cohens lawyers might force Michael Avenatti to tell us, thats what they were asking for in court today. I was very pleased to see my Math Checkout because i had done this calculation about an hour before Michael Avenatti did it on your show where he pointed out that the amount of the amounts that are in dispute in his reporting are 20,000 out of what he said was 3. 5 million. He said that was 99. 3 accurate. Theres actually 4. 5 million in
the total flow we know about now. So that makes Michael Avenattis number 99. 6 accurate, which i had figured out all on my own before Michael Avenatti said that. It is an i mean, tactically its an interesting thing to take a document thats been substantially admitted to, at t and the Company Associated with the Russian Oligarch, saying yeah thats all true. So its a tactically interesting move to say the part of it we have issue with is the 700 that went through the kenyan bank account. Tactically its interesting. That will be the way the right and maybe cohens lawyers in court seize on this document trying to discredit it. And it makes me all the more curious as to where the information came from. Because clearly some of the information is definitely true
and it m seems like some of it might not be true. Its weird to get a mixed bag of half true and half untrue information or 99 true and 1 untrue information. Michael avenatti is clearly driving Michael Cohens lawyers crazy because they rushed into court today with this document which basically said hes more than 99 right but were really, really angry were really angry about this less than 1 he got wrong and he should be slapped on the wrist for that and forced to reveal where he got that. Thats an understandable pleading. I can understand legally why they made that pleading, but they ran the risk, which they did, of completely confirming all of the big transactions in the bank records. And making that document and those allegations about Michael Cohens Business Life part of that case. The only reason a document released by Michael Avenattiwould end up in that case is because Michael Cohens lawyers made it that way. The only hook they have have to go after avenatti with the judge is that avenatti sought at one point to join that case. He did not join that case. Hes not associated with the case, hes not a party in the matter. Yet theyre asking the judge to reach out beyond the inl of the case to go after him on this. All theyre doing is succeeding in moving these damning allegations into the center. These are the things when you talk to Michael Avenatti the errors that he forces them to make. Thats what that pleading in Federal Court in new york looks like to me. Hes a sure footed man. Thanks, lawrence. Thanks, rachel. Its like every day sinceMichael Avenatti entered his life, a crazy day for Michael Cohen. Mr. Cohen how are you doing today . Doing great. Thank you. My comment about Michael Avenatti . In response . Any response to avenatti . His document is inaccurate. How do you feel about you may have changed an election . People whove known Michael Cohen a long time tell me this is what hes always wanted. To be a celebrity. A celebrity in sunglasses surrounded by the paparazzi. Thats why he wanted to be in trump world. He wanted to be at least near a celebrity, donald trump. Thats what people who knew him before he knew donald trump tell me about Michael Cohen. And so, the good news for Michael Cohen, is finally
paparazzi are gathered outside his door. So he loves that part. Thats why he walks you out of the hotel and says good morning to the awaiting cameras and when asked how is he, im great, as if hes a movie star on the oscars red carpet. And for that second, Michael Cohen is standing on the tip of the highest peak hes ever been on in his life. Way up there in the thinner air of his very own celebrity. And then, in the next second hes brought crashing back Down To Earth by the two words that have made him such a celebrity, Michael Avenatti. Any comment about Michael Avenatti . Any response . And Michael Cohen, coming as close as he can to speaking grammatically correct english
says, his documents is inaccurate. And for once Michael Cohen is right. The documents that Stormy Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti presented to us on this program Last Night Showing 4. 5 milli 4. 5 million going into and out of the llc that Michael Cohen created in order to pay Stormy Daniels 130,000 to keep her quiet, those documents contain some minor inaccuracies that Michael Cohen has been owning up to as soon as they were discovered. Sitting here last night Michael Avenatti described 4,425,033. 46 that flowed through essential consultants l. L. C. And Michael Cohens Bank Accounts. The flow of that money contains possible inaccuracies about four
transactions, amounting to 20,583. So that makes Michael Avenattis document 99. 6 accurate. One of the inaccuracies in Michael Avenattis document was a Wire Transfer from kenya to Michael Cohen for 980, but it was not Michael Cohen, the man who has said he would take a bullet for donald trump. It was a 26yearold israeli named Michael Cohen, who told nbc news, i am an aveonic technician in ll airlines. The 26yearold Michael Cohen said he had no idea how the mixup could have occurred but hes been getting lots of attention. My whole family was surprised. Friends called me, it was a crazy day. It was a crazy day because ofMichael Avenattis 99. 6 accuracy of the flows into the accounts of the man who has always called him Donald Trumps fixer. Last night Michael Avenatti told us there were possibly more payments than he discovered and today that was proven true. Michael cohen showed a farm pharmaceutical company. The company or Michael Cohen seemed intent on recording on something less than 100,000 a month. Each payment was 99,980. All the Companies Involved with Michael Cohen are now offering explanations of why they funneled massive amounts of money to with a man with no no skilled, a man who couldnt even
successfully execute a pay to a porn star to stay quiet about the most embarrassing sex of her semipublic sex life. The corporate payments to Michael Cohen are the very definition of filling the swamp with money. The washington influence swamp that donald trump lied about to his voters when he promised to drain that swamp. At mntt paid Michael Cohen 50,000 at the beginning of the presidency in the hope that michael would convince the president to support at ts merger with time warner. At t failed to get support for the merger. But who knows what else they got with their Michael Cohen money
with regard to the myriad of regulations that affect their business. Novartis tried to blame their former ceo last night but we learned much more about the novartis deal today. Michael cohen reached out after the election and promised access to the new administration. Novartis said they paid Michael Cohen 100,000 a month for advice on u. S. Health care policy matters. And according to sources at the company, novartis had exactly one meeting with Michael Cohen three months into the deal. And by the end of that meeting, they realized they were wasting their money. One unnamed employee said, quote, they decided not to really engage cohen for any activities after that. The employee continued. Rather than attempt to cancel the contract, the company
allowed it to lapse early in 2018 and not run the risk of ticking off the president. It might have caused anger, this person said. If they cancelled that contract when they discovered that President Trumps friend, Michael Cohen, was absolutely useless to them. New reporting in the Washington Post tonight quotes Michael Cohen as saying, im crushing it when all the money was pouring in. And now it is apparently crushing him. The Washington Post reports as hes facing mounting legal bills Michael Cohen refinanced his park avenue condominium in recent days. Everyone tried to get the answer to my first question to Michael Avenatti last night which is how did he get this information about money flowing to and from Michael Cohen . No reporters have figured it it out. But Michael Cohens lawyers may have figured it out. In a letter to the judge in considering how to handle Michael Cohens case, they said that, quote, Michael Avenatti appears to be in possession of some information from mr. Cohens actual bank records. He should be required to explain to this court how he came to possess and release this information. And were going to be right back with more discussion of this with our panel. Riends. And we got to know the friends of our friends. And we found others just like us. And just like that we felt a little less alone. But then something happened. We had to deal with spam, fake news, and data misuse. Thats going to change. From now on, facebook will do more to keep you safe and protect your privacy. Because when this place does what it was built for, then we all get a little closer. With Dell Small Businessout your Technology Advisors you get the oneonone partnership you need to grow your business. The dell vostro 15 laptop. Contact a dell advisor today. At a comfort inn with a glow taround them, so people watching will be like, wow, maybe ill glow too if i book direct at choicehotels. Com. Who glows . Just say, badda book. Badda boom. Book now at choicehotels. Com. He was hired for one reason and one reason only, and that was he was selling access to the highest office in the land. At best thats what he was doing. At best. And ultimately, Robert Mueller or myself or someone else will get to the bottom of exactly what he was selling, and perhaps more importantly, rachel, where did all of this money go . That was Michael Avenatti talking about Michael Cohen with rachel in the last hour. Were joined now by ron klain, former chief of staff and a former senior aid. Barbara mcquade, former federal prosecutor, and deanna fill la pain co, a form investigator. Ron klain, the speculation continues of where Michael Avenatti got this information. Theres one expert quoted in one report saying that this is the kind of information that could be obtained from one of those suspicious Activity Reports or from a series of suspicious Activity Reports about Bank Transactions but so far its Michael Avenatti leading the way on this. It is. And, you know, he will, i imagine that judge wood will order him to disclose the source of this information and hell have to do so. If indeed it did come from an illegally disclosed sar, the person who disclosed it will be in trouble. As you said earlier the fundamental point from the broader perspective here is the information he put forward turned out to be 99. 6 accurate. Who could have imagined just a few days ago that the single least slimy transaction would be paying a former adult star 130,000 to be quiet about her affair with the president. What is piling up is a powerful tale of corruption and undisclosed payments. Where they came from, particularly the payments from the Russian Oligarch, are troubling and theres a lot more to come out about that. The explanations from the companies about why they spent money with Michael Cohen vary in, i guess, laughability in a way. So the company backed by the Russian Oligarch is claiming that theres no russian influence whatsoever here. Theres no reason to claim that. And then the reasons they give for paying Michael Cohen have absolutely nothing to do with anything Michael Cohen has ever done in business. Absolutely. I mean, the statement that weve had from Columbus Nova is that these were payments made for
investment advice. This is not consistent with what Michael Cohen has been engaged with. When we pair the statement from Columbus Nova with the other companies we see theres great inconsistency in what theyre saying the services were from Michael Cohen. This raises a red flag in my mind because if youre typically a bona fide company if Michael Cohen was providing consulting or lobbying advice you would expect to have Consistent Services youre offering. Here we have an array of different clients that are, you know, providing Different Reasons for why they engaged his consulting and advice. Barbara mcquade, im particularly struck by the way the story has unfolded with novartis. First of all last night we all heard the statement they issued saying this deal was done under the ceo who no longer works here, disowning it as much as
they could. Today it was revealed after three months of paying Michael Cohen 100,000 a month, there was no business reason to do so but they were afraid to stop paying him because they were afraid of the reaction of the president of the United States. So they went on to pay Michael Cohen an additional 900,000 because they were afraid, in effect, of retribution from the president of the United States. Zb zb yeah, some red flags here. First the shifting stories. They issued a couple of statements. And then the fear of retribution. It may be something they assumed themselves without any w