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- 7 weeks ago
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00:00Good evening, I'm Erin Burnett, and out front tonight, the breaking news.
00:03The chairman on the House Oversight Committee, which just wrapped up a dramatic seven-hour
00:07hearing with the president's former fixer, Michael Cohen, telling reporters moments ago
00:12that he now believes the president broke the law while he has been in office.
00:19All right, ten in total.
00:22That is, well, I mean, let's just be honest, it's a complete contradiction of what Ivanka
00:26Trump has said.
00:27She said she literally knew, I'm sorry, literally almost nothing, those are her words, about
00:32the project, and Don Jr., who told Congress that he was, quote, only peripherally aware
00:36of it.
00:37Obviously, neither of those things square with about ten briefings and discussions which went
00:42on all the way until the president won the White House.
00:44Out front now, former Nixon White House counsel, Michael Cohen, perform from your perspective.
00:48I thought, on the whole, he did well.
00:50They would have calmed down and hit his stride.
00:52I thought it was very persuasive for him, strained in certain ways.
00:55Those are things consistent with truth-telling.
00:58Now, he's a damaged witness.
00:59He's convicted of perjury before Congress.
01:01Interesting things here is, obviously, that would be significant if they want to leave
01:04that for the Southern District.
01:06But the question that I have is, you have, you know, Michael Cohen saying Donald Trump
01:10would say, he wouldn't say, go lie.
01:12He would say, you know, Michael, there's no Russia, there's no collusion, there's no...
01:15That's exactly how Donald Trump would speak.
01:17But why would he do that?
01:18Why would Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump have been briefed around 10 times if what
01:24Michael Cohen is saying is true and to hide?
01:28That's a perfect question.
01:30And every time you'd are...
01:31This is very common.
01:33You see defendants in organizations...
01:36Nod.
01:36Code was the word that Michael Cohen used.
01:38And there's a reason that people do that, because it...
01:40You know, now, I want to, David, also play, because we talked about a few new things that
01:44we learned.
01:44And another thing that we learned, new from Michael Cohen today, was new allegations
01:48about Roger Stone.
01:49Yes.
01:49Okay?
01:50Roger Stone and Donald Trump have said, until they are blue in the face, that they never
01:54had a conversation about WikiLeaks and all this...
01:57These damaging emails, this hacking in emails that were done by the WikiLeaks, which, of course,
02:02is, you know, being used by Russia.
02:03Let me just play what Michael Cohen said about that today.
02:06True, completely lied.
02:07And Michael Cohen was very explicit.
02:09He said, Rona Graff, then Mr. Trump's assistant, said, oh, Roger Stone.
02:14He put his phones on speakerphone.
02:15He put him on speakerphone at that big desk.
02:18And Michael Cohen overheard this whole conversation.
02:20Right.
02:21And, well...
02:21Julian Assange was seen, you know, he's seen as an agent, right?
02:23Julian Assange, certainly, those communications could have been monitored.
02:26I mean, April, what I'm getting at here is, again, back to the question I had to bear,
02:31because we were talking about two big issues that developed today, right?
02:33The Russia investigation with Trump Tower and the WikiLeaks connection and also the Hush
02:37Money payments.
02:38The checks that we saw.
02:39We saw a couple of them that Michael Cohen submitted as part of his exhibits, right?
02:42Donald Trump signing and paying to Michael Cohen with Alan Weisselberg and Donald Trump
02:47Jr.
02:47And that would be a crime.
02:49So, the reason why that would be a crime...
02:51This retainer that was being paid, now we know...
02:54It's nonsense, though.
02:54It was not a retainer.
02:56It was a reimbursement.
02:57And none of it was disclosed.
02:59And the amount...
02:59Paying finance violation, because we knew the Hush payment is payment.
03:02The development today, obviously, I'm just making this very clear for everybody,
03:04is that we now have evidence that those checks and that payment continued while Donald Trump
03:09was president of the United States.
03:11That's right.
03:11While he was president...
03:12Barrett, just another point to make to people, because people make this point.
03:15Well, okay, then it's impeachable because it's while he was in office.
03:17Well, I'm sorry.
03:18You can be impeached for things you did before in office, but...
03:21And maybe that's why they're being more cautious, right?
03:23Because they're saying, okay, we knew about the crime.
03:24Today, we found out that the crime continued while he was in office.
03:29Both of those things could be impeachable if they choose to proceed.
03:32Exactly.
03:34But it doesn't really change, you know, if it is a crime...
03:37Because we have a lot more to talk about.
03:39Next, a Republican lawmaker attempting to prove Trump is not a racist,
03:42and it sparked one of the most memorable moments of today.
03:47One point, Mark Meadows literally starting to cry.
03:50Plus, Michael Cohen handing over years of Trump's financial statements,
03:54things that we had, you know, didn't think were out there.
03:56So, what does he claim they prove?
04:02President Trump, today, right now, about to head to a one-on-one meeting
04:06with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.
04:07It's morning in Vietnam, but it might have been a very long night for him.
04:12Caitlin Collins is out front from Hanover, as of course we've seen,
04:14in one of the filings here, where they said Roger Stone was directed
04:17by a senior member of the campaign, or someone directed, I'm sorry,
04:20a senior member of the campaign to tell Roger Stone to do this, right?
04:23Michael Cohen, if he knew that was Donald, didn't go that far,
04:25although, obviously, he did move the bar in a huge way on WikiLeaks
04:28by saying that conversation happened.
04:31You know, one other thing that he did was there was a lot of talk
04:35about the catch and kill, right?
04:37Bad stories about Trump and the tabloids that they would basically pay to buy
04:41and then bury, right?
04:42Okay, they were explaining how that happened vis-a-vis the National Enquirer.
04:45Tapes came up about, you know, a question about a love child
04:48and physical abuse of Melania Trump in an elevator,
04:51and Michael Cohen made it very clear to say those things did not happen, right?
04:55I mean, he was very adamant that they did not happen,
04:57the President of the United States would not do that.
04:59Absolutely, that's just that that did not happen.
05:01Now, on the personal side, there was so many,
05:03a lot of this was deeply personal, right?
05:05Says federal prosecutors are investigating undisclosed wrongdoings,
05:09things that we didn't know about.
05:10We still don't know what they are tonight,
05:11but now we know that they may be there.
05:13So what is he talking about?
05:15Plus, Cohen telling all about Trump's mysterious finances for the first time.
05:21Breaking news, President Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen,
05:24pointing tonight that there could be more other investigations
05:27that we do not yet know about by New York prosecutors that involve the president.
05:32Harry, let me start with you on this.
05:34Is there any other wrongdoing or illegal act that involves the president that you know about,
05:38that we're not talking about?
05:39Yes.
05:40In the Southern District.
05:41How much more?
05:42There are also Trump organization-related investigations.
05:44We know they gave immunity to Weisselberg and to David Pecker and to AMI.
05:49Changes here.
05:50Michael Cohen was honest that, sure, he's cooperating with everything else he can
05:54in the hopes of reducing his sentence further, right?
05:56So he was honest that he has a dog in the fight.
05:59But do you think it's possible that there is something else big out there
06:02that could involve the president that is in another jurisdiction like the Southern District?
06:06It's possible.
06:06And I think that's the likely...
06:07But not all of them.
06:08All right.
06:08So, David, when it comes to what else is out there,
06:10we know for a time about his finances, right?
06:12And in some ways that are certainly not illegal, like lying to Forbes about your net worth, right?
06:18Those sorts of things happen all the time.
06:19One thing, though, that Michael Cohen said today, to me, sort of opened the door to something much more sinister
06:24and perhaps illegal.
06:25Let me play.
06:27Okay.
06:27Okay, again, to Forbes, not against the law, but lying to a bank to obtain a loan, totally different.
06:33This book, yeah, going to prison for that.
06:36What does it mean if this is true, and again, we don't know, but if this is true,
06:41that would mean that was something that would appear to me that Donald Trump would have done all the time.
06:45If you're willing to lie to a bank once, then you're willing to lie.
06:47Well, in fact, authority.
06:49And you've got a whole package of financial wrongdoing.
06:52And the question is, of course, whether that will come out, whether that will be a part of this.
06:56Absolutely.
06:57You know, as someone pointed out, I thought pretty fairly tonight during the hearing,
07:01that Michael Cohen himself, you know, Republicans were quick to say he has no morals
07:04because he lied on his taxes, but they refused to ask the president for his.
07:08All right, next, Michael Cohen now preparing to testify for the House Intelligence Committee.
07:13That's tomorrow.
07:14One congressman who will be in that hearing is my guest.
07:17That's next.
07:20Breaking news coverage continues now with AC 360.
07:23Well, that's all right.