2016. On the left, congressman Chris Collins who was indicted on Felony Charges less than two weeks ago. He was the first to endorse donald trump for president. And then on the right side, thats congressman Duncan Hunter. He was the second sitting member of Do Know Support donald trump for president and now today he too has been indicted on multiple Felony Charges. Who was third . As i say, congressman Duncan Hunter probably considers himself lucky today. If youre going to get indicted, today was probably a pretty good day. Because the news of his indictment arrived on a day like no other. In this remarkable scandal ridden candidacy. We actually called Michael Beschloss to ask if theres anything like this. Has there ever been a single day in the news for any u. S. President that held similar
come one in u. S. History would be march 1st, 1974. That produced this headline the next day. March 1st, 1974, was the day a grand jury indicted Richard Nixons campaign manage here he had named Attorney General and the president s top two aides in the white house and a bunch of other white house nixon staffers. The critical catastrophe for nixon that day, march 1st, 1974, is that nixon himself was named as an unindicted coconspirator by the grand jury in that criminal behavior. And those findings of Criminal Activity by president nixon, those were ultimately handed over to congress for them on impeach him. Tonight President Trump is not facing impeachment. He is doing a rally in west virginia. But his Campaign Chairman and his long time personal lawyer are both convicted felons, as of tonight. And there is tremendous interest
him guilty. On those eight guilty verdicts, the defense could appeal. So well get more Expert Advice on this. It turned out the whole story about the Federal Savings Bank in chicago worked out and how the jury viewed Paul Manafort basically offering Trump Administration jobs to the ceo of that bank in exchange for him offering manafort millions of dollars in loans, the way the jury saw that turns out to be fascinating. There are three things on watch when it comes to manafort now. Specifically, potentially the president s own fate as it relates to Paul Manafort. Three things to watch. The first two are logistical. Number one, will manaforts defense team feel eight Felony Choornlgs which he was found guilty . Also, will the government try on Charge Manafort again to the other ten felonies on which there was no verdict . So logistics. Is this trial over . Are these 18 counts settled . Or will they continue to be litigated . Thats one thing to watch. The second logistical thing to watch. After these convictions today on these eight Felony Charges, how much better or worse does manaforts fate look for his next felony trial which after all, starts in less than a month in federal court in d. C. This was manaforts trial in virginia. He is about to go on trial in less than a month in d. C. And tonight is the deadline for prosecutors to list that they are planning to use next month. We are expecting over the course of this evening, sometime Tonight Torsion get access to that Evidence List. Were expecting that it will contain well over 1,000 individual pieces of evidence that prosecutors will use in their case against Manafort Next month. When we get Evidence List tonight, presumably it will land
like an anvil on the manafort defense team. Right . It will come just hours after the client was convicted on eight Felony Counts in a different federal court today. Two things on watch. It will be fascinating to watch. The third thing on watch here when it comes to manafort. With these, the Trump Campaign manager is facing a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison. Now, he wont get 80 years in prison. Realistically, according to the sentencing guidelines, he is looking at realtime, maybe seven to nine years. And he is about to face another felony trial against the same Special Counsels office who just got him could not voiktd eight felonies and thats coming up in less than a month. You see where this is going. The last thing to watch when it
Rachel Maddow takes a look at the days top political news stories. Face in his new trial next month. Were going on get some Expert Advice on this. Whatever math Paul Manafort has done in his head about whether or not he wanted to flip and help prosecutors and any other work on any other cases, including cases potentially involving the president , that math might have changed today when the jury pronounced him guilty. So it is half of what is looming today. Does Paul Manafort feel differently enough that he might be willing to talk . Thats half of what is looming. And then there is the president s personal lawyer. The judge. Lets begin then with an initial appearance. Mr. Cohen i am district judge william pauley. The purpose of this proceeding is to inform you of certain rights you have. To inform of, to decide under what conditions you should be released. First, you have the right to
glass of glenlivet 12 on the rocks. The judge, all right. Is it your custom to do that . No, your honor. The judge, all right. Have you had anything since that time . No, ushs. Is your mind clear today . Yes. Are you feeling all right . Yes, sir. Are you represented by counsel . I will. Who are your attorneys . Guy pet littlo and amy. Do you have any doubt to your clients competence to plead at this time . I do not, yurns. Your attorney has informed me that you wish to enter a plea of guilty. Do you wish to enter a plea of guilty . Defendant, yes, sir. The judge, have you had a full opportunity on discuss your case with your attorney and to discuss the consequences of a plea of guilty . Yes, your honor. Judge, are you satisfied with your attorneys, mr. Petrillo in this matter . Very much, sir. On the basis of mr. Cohens
responses to my questions and the observation of his demeanor this afternoon, i find that he is fully dpoenlt enter an informed plea at this time. Warned that he will be prosecuted for perjury if he gives any false statements at this hearing today. They then go through it. There is a long back and forth at this point about cohen understanding the nature his plea deal and the charges against him and the clear mind with which he is pleading guilty. He pleads guilty to eight Felony Charges today. Felony. At a evasion in five separate charges. Making a false statement to a Financial Institution to get a loan that he shouldnt have otherwise gotten and then last two charges blew the proverbial lid off the place today. As theyre going through all the charges, between judge and the attorneys and Michael Cohen, just saying yes, your honor, a lot as theyre going through stuff. There comes this moment the todays hearing when the judge
asked Michael Cohen to explain in his own words the crimes he has committed and to which he is pleading guilty. The judge. Mr. Cohen, would you please tell me what you did in question, each of the crimes to which you are entering a plea of guilty . Michael cohen, yes, your honor. May i stand . The judge. You may. The defendant, thank you, sir. Michael cohen. I also just jotted down some notes so i can keep my dpoeks is address this court in proper fashion. As to counts one through five, i evaded paying substantial taxes on certain income i received that i knew was not reflected on the return and that i caused to be filed. I wont read all the details. But he says how he evaded charges. He lied by omission to a bank where he applied for a loan. We learned he used it to pay off Stormy Daniels. Well have more only later. With you then we get to the part
that led to front pages like this. This is the front page of the new york times. Cohen pleads guilty implicating president. Thats the front page of the new york times. Heres where that comes from in court today. Ready . Okay. Michael cohen. Thank you, your honor. As to count number seven, on or about the summer of 2016 in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office, i and the ceo of a Media Company, at the request of the candidate, worked together to keep an individual with information that would be harmful to the candidate and to the campaign from publicly disclosing this information. After a number of discussions, we eventually accomplished the goal by the Media Company entering into a contract with the individual under which she received compensation of 150,000. I participated in this conduct which on my part took place in manhattan for the principle purpose of influencing the election. The federal candidate in this
case is the president of the United States. The election is the mexielectio that made him president of the United States. And this is the president s attorney, saying under oath, that the president directed this illegal payoff during the campaign for the purposes of influencing the election. This count, number seven, is the Karen Mcdougal case. The woman who used to model for Playboy Magazine who said she had a long Running Affair with the president. Michael cohen said in court today that the president directed him, Michael Cohen, and the ceo of a Media Company, which appears to be david pecker, the ceo of america media, the owner of national enquirer, Michael Cohen said the president directed two of them to arrange a payment of 150,000 to Karen Mcdougal during the election. Specifically for the purpose of influencing the election. Now, that is something that has been reported in detail. That you have heard about over
months. That is now being charged as a felony. As an illegal corporate contribution to the president s campaign. One that, according to this Court Proceeding today, was directed by the president himself. Now, Michael Cohen is needing guilty to his own role in that but he is directly implicating both the president of the United States and the executive david pecker in that same criminal act. So well have more on that in a second. Heres the next part. Your honor, as to count number eight, on or about october of 2016, the month before the election, in coordination with and at the direction of the same candidate, i arranged to make a payment to a second individual with information that would be harmful to the candidate and the campaign to keep the individual from disclosing the information. To accomplish this i used a company that was under my control to make a pay. 130,000. The moneys i advanced were later repaid to me by the candidate. I participated in this conduct which on my part took place in manhattan for the principal purpose of influencing the election. The reason he is saying, i did this in manhattan is because he is being charged by federal prosecutors. Thats establishing their jurisdiction to charge with these felonies. When he says he participated in this conduct for the principal purpose of this election, that is identifying it as a campaignrelated felony. A Campaign Finance felony. So the president s lawyer has pled guilty. In so doing, he implicates the president Personfully Arranging Two Illegal Payoffs during the campaign for the purposes of influencing the outcome of the campaign. Mr. Cohen, Michael Cohen, will be going to jail for this
conduct. But he has implicated the president in this criminal act as well. And then after did he that, federal prosecutors told the judge they have lots of evidence to prove this crime. The judge asked the prosecutors to summarize its evidence on these charges that cohen has just described. The prosecution goes through all the evidence. When it comes to the last two bomb shells, the Felony Charges on which Michael Cohen implicates the president personally, he stands up and gives Bullet Points that are a list of evidence that the government has dloektd prove the charges. Quote. From Search Warrants on mr. Cohens premises including hard company documents, Seized Devitd and audio recordings. Messages sent and emails. Via subpoena including records from the corpse referenced, and
also referenced in the information. Finally, we on Offer Testimony of witnesses including witnesses involved in the transactions in question, who communicated with the defendant. Now, thats the list of evidence that government says it has compiled to prove that case. They explain that theyve got all that evidence to the judge today in court. But the government is not going to put that evidence on display in a trial against Michael Cohen. Because theres not going to be a trial because cohen has pled guilty. So cohens plea and the Court Filings from prosecutors in this case, they implicate cohen. They also implicate the president in this same behavior. Cohens guilty plea spelled it out, out loud in the transcript that i just read to you. It is also spelled out in even more detail in the criminal information document which the prosecutor was just referencing there. The criminal information
document became public later this evening. It spells it out in even more detail. It describes one or more messages of the Trump Campaign coordinating with Michael Cohen to make these illegal payoffs. And this is interesting to me. Hasnt received a lot of attention today but i think it is worth focusing on. The president s company, his business, the trump organization, also appears to be implicated in the description of this crime. Because it is the president s company that is apparently the entity that reimbursed Michael Cohen for the illegal payoff. It was 130,000 illegal payoff to Stormy Daniels. They not only reimbursed him for the payoff. They also paid off a lot more on top of the reimbursement. It is spelled out that Michael Cohen put out this 130,000 as the payoff but then trump organization, the president s business, paid him back. Not 130,000. They paid him back over 420,000. For having provided that
service. And that service, of course, was a felony for which mr. Cohen will now go to prison. They paid him a lot of money to do that. I dont know if you can indict a president but im pretty sure you can indict president s company. So a big day. The indicted congressman today, congressman Duncan Hunter is very lucky to have had his criminal news land like a rain drop in this ocean of criminal news today about the president s Campaign Chair and his long time personal lawyer. As of today, both convicted felons. The last day like this, march 1st, 1974, saw mr. Nixon named as an unindicted criminal conspirator. Today there was no grand jury to do that kind of naming. But in the Court Filings, the president is implicated just as overtly as nixon ever was. So now i have questions. Ive laid out my questions on manafort. Basically, how much time is manafort looking at . Will that change his mind on flipping and cooperating . Pretty simple. Watch this space for that. Including watch tonight for the publication of that list of evidence from the prosecution. Manafort. But on cohen, tell me this. Cohen and federal prosecutors in the Federal District of new york, they implicate the president explicitly today in Campaign Violations with the secret payoffs. Thats not the same thing as indicting the president for those charges. But whats the distance between implication by prosecutors, this explicit implication today, and indictment . Like how do you travel that distance . And can you travel that distance . What happens now that the president is named as someone involved in the commission of multiple felonies . Where does that go . Second question, Michael Cohen is not required to cooperate with prosecutors as a condition of his Plea Agreement. Why not . Did Michael Cohen not want that . What does that mean . And third, where is the Special Counsel . Robert mueller and his prosecutors at the Special Counsels office r