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Fmr Fox News Reporter Asks Congress: Subpoena Me To Override NDA | The Beat With Ari Melber | MSNBC - YouTube
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here's a headline it was political that
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is what the former lawyer for stormy
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daniels and former playboy model karen
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mcdougall is now saying
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about these controversial hush punny
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hush money payments that he originally
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negotiated
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now there's a lot in here but you may
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remember the name keith davidson was the
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lawyer before michael avenatti
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and he says it was the release of the
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now infamous access hollywood tape that
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changed everything
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the access hollywood tape was the
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motivating factor
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in this case actually resolving it
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defeats the
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argument that this was done for purely
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personal
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reason and that this was in fact done
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for political reasons
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because after the access hollywood tape
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that something like this could be the
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straw that broke the camel's back
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you might say of course it was political
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or who cares
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but this all matters now because it goes
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back to the crime that michael cohen
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confessed to donald trump continues
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to mount a defense claiming that those
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payments were personal and not political
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meaning you wouldn't get in trouble with
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campaign law
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now cohen's going to jail because he
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pled guilty to yes a campaign finance
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violation
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and this man who was on the other side
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of the table with cohen
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davidson isn't necessarily in the clear
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either congress wants to hear from him
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he's also
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on that now famous list of 81 people
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that the house judiciary
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is investigating he's also facing sever
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separate allegations that he originally
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colluded against his own clients with
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cohen that's a claim he denies we've
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covered it on the show but in this new
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interview he is dishing on how friendly
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he and cohen were davidson says cohen
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confided him
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about being upset that he didn't even
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get wait for it
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a role in the white house which of
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course is also interesting because what
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everyone thinks of michael cohen this is
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one of the issues that has come up
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in whether or not he's being 100 percent
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truthful about
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he confided in me that he was just
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beside himself
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and in his words he said
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can you believe it after everything i've
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done
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he's not taking me to washington can you
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believe it well many people say yeah you
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work hard for donald trump
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doesn't necessarily get returned now how
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central is the access hollywood
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tape a former fox reporter is also
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trying to get out of an nda
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after reports that fox killed the story
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on that before the election
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because rupert murdoch was trying to put
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a thumb on the scale to get trump to win
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releasing a statement
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that says the quote the public has a
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right to know the truth fox news has
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denied this
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davidson today also weighing in telling
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abc the fox reporter called him for
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comment
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right after the access hollywood tape
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came out with
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factually specific details that might
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have informed that story
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which didn't originally run here with me
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now exclusively
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is the lawyer for that former fox
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reporter nancy erica smith a leading
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civil rights lawyer who also represented
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great
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gretchen carlson in a sexual harassment
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lawsuit against
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former fox news ceo roger ailes i'm also
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joined by david dorsen a former sdny
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prosecutor and former chief counsel
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of the senate watergate committee who
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knows a thing or two
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about investigating political crimes uh
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thanks to each of you
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for being here nancy before we get into
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deep into the details what do you think
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of what mr davidson whatever his
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credibility the core of what he's saying
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does that
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help the case against trump because it
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seems like another person corroborating
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that this was
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campaign related it absolutely does and
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the timing does as well
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when you're talking about mid-october
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weeks before the election
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you're talking about something that
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could clearly affect an election
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obviously trump thought that and there's
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there are witnesses who spoke to jane
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mayer at the new yorker
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who indicate that murdoch knew that as
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well that's why the story was killed
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according to
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jane merritt the new yorker although
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they deny that they deny it but it's
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really easy this is simple maybe the
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congress should subpoena my client and
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all of her records
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and then we will see exactly what fox
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news had
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have you and your client been contacted
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by say house judiciary or oversight
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not yet but a subpoena will trump an nda
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so you're making a little bit of news
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here which is why we like exclusive
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guests you're saying that your former
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fox news
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reporter diana falzone is bound legally
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by this nda contract unless and until
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it's videated by the courts or she gets
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a subpoena
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or right or a lawful subpoena which
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you're saying would override it anyway
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absolutely so you're saying if you know
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we just had a congressman early in the
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show if
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if one of these congress persons wanted
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to subpoena your client with the power
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of the house
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that would you say deliver what what
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value would that add that would add
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it would add to the investigation of
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whether fox
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t is really a news organization or
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whether it is a campaign arm of donald
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trump
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or whether just killing this story was
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an illegal campaign contribution worth
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what obviously they thought it was worth
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something if it happened
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he won the electoral college by 78 000
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votes
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would 78 000 so-called evangelicals have
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thought differently about him if they
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knew about an affair and a payoff money
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for with a porn star
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possibly i almost get the feeling you're
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like an effective lawyer with a
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long-term strategy here
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thank you david you know your way around
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the congressional investigative process
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uh nancy knows a lot but also has a
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client here so she has an agenda and
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interest do you
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fundamentally think in your independent
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analysis that this is
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a a proper uh and fruitful avenue for
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the house democrats what's your reaction
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to what she just said and the story
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oh absolutely i think it's a very
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important part of the picture
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and i think it's also a very important
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part of the picture for the southern
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district of new york
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and i think that's where the action is
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going to be for one reason
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as a prosecutor i could get income tax
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returns
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so the southern district of new york may
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be sitting there with
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trump's income tax returns and what's
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going on when trump paid
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cohn to reimburse him for the payments
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to stormy daniels
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he listed that as a retainer and
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presumably deducted
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those payments
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you know i get excited when you start
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talking about tax deduction
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well it's it's a subject that bores a
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lot of people but when it comes to
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donald trump it may be is that part of
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his downfall because
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he deducted those payments to donald to
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michael cohen but is this like
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are you are you are you basically
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imagining an al capone situation where
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after everything that's happened
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he gets in trouble for tax deductions
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perhaps because for one thing trump
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could pardon himself
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but he couldn't pardon himself for
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violating state law
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and the income tax returns that he filed
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on behalf of this
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for the state would be false because he
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presumably deducted
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uh the payments to michael cohen well
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david take a listen to the way
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the white house is handling this uh
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deflecting basically on
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cohen a problem that won't seem to go
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away take a look
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why did the president write a check to
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michael cohen for thirty five thousand
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dollars in august
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of 2017. about this he specifically
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accused the president of engaging in a
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conspiracy to conceal campaign finance
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violations he presented the check
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the president's been clear that there
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wasn't a campaign violation beyond that
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uh i can't get in he didn't know about
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these hundreds beyond that
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again i would refer you back to the
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president's comments
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david your view of their struggle to
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even explain what is corroborated which
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is these payments for again an nda that
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they literally sued stormy over again
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which was their way of corroborating
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they paid for well
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i i don't really know what they're
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talking about uh because the payments
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are
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documented now with checks i i think
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they're
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doing gobbly as in watergate where
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hush money was an important part of the
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picture
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and ultimately i think was the downfall
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of the cover-up
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i think that these payments are going to
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be very very important interesting and
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that's interesting coming from your
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watergate experience and as dny before
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we go
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nancy i do want to make sure we're clear
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here because this is a dispute
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and i want to read to you what a fox
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executive says about this
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which is quote daniels and her
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associates were actually playing a
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bizarre cat and mouse game with fox news
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and other outlets trying to get their
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story out
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without fingerprints and ultimately
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without enough proof
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to publish isn't that a fair defense for
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journalistic outlets that say they
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needed to be sure before they went with
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something
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journalistic outlets wouldn't have to
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keep reporters who
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had the story under an nda if they
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wanted the truth to come out would they
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and presidential candidates should not
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be able to hide information from the
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american public with ndas
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so are you saying if that defense is
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true it might be valid and your
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your formal contention here is not that
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they don't have a a good argument to
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discuss but that they're actually trying
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to prevent
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the discussion of that absolutely yeah i
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think that makes sense and i think the
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point you raised about the house is
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certainly interesting nancy erica smith
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and david dorsen thanks to both of you
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hey i'm arie melbourne from msnbc you
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