New Revelations Emerge on Michael Cohen Raid
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: In that taping released a month before the presidential election, or perhaps, as they would have liked it, not to have been, but, on top of that, the other piece of breaking news that's just been turned around, this involves the federal judge in the whole Stormy Daniels case. So, let me just read you a bit of this. This federal judge in California -- this is Judge James Otero -- ordered attorneys for Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump and Essential Consultants, LLC -- that was company that Cohen established to paid off Daniels and that $130,000 -- they're now to meet and to figure all this out by Friday, April 13, which is two days from now. So, M.J. Lee has just sat down. She's going to tell me a little bit more about this. Paul Callan with me, Jennifer Rodgers. And they were saying this is pretty typical. It's called a meet and confer. But tell me exactly what this judge has asked of these lawyers.</s>M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is basically -- you summed it up pretty well, that he would like the legal representations of both sides to get together and basically hash things out, because there's been a flurry of filings in court, both sides wanting different things, obviously. And in the big picture, I think the easiest way to understand this is that the lawyers involved in representing Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, they want things to go to private arbitration. They do not want all of this playing out in the open. Already, a lot of this has been discussed in public, but they would like to keep everything behind closed doors as much as possible. What Stormy Daniels and her lawyer are arguing for is, they want as open a process as possible and they are asking for things like an expedited trial and expedited discovery process. And so a lot of the paperwork that you're going back and forth, it's very complicated. And you can all assess that better, but this is sort of the big disagreement right now, the big picture disagreement.</s>BALDWIN: But this whole notion, Paul, have you watched "A.C. 360" lately with these two lawyers on TV screaming at each other and calling each other thugs? This is what you're getting from these attorneys on live national television. How are they supposed to hash this out?</s>PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: I'm surprised they all haven't been held in contempt of court by the federal judge who is handling the litigation. I have never seen attorneys fighting about a case one on one on television, with Jeffrey Toobin acting as the referee.</s>BALDWIN: Right. Right.</s>CALLAN: So, it's a strange sight. But this is an indication why the judge I think is getting fed up, because this meet and confer requirement is whenever you do something major in a federal case, you're supposed to sit down with your adversary, have a conference and try to work it out, so you don't have to go to the judge. But obviously the temperature has gotten so hot, these guys are fighting with each other so much, the judge now has said sit down, hammer this stuff out before you come to me with motion practice. So, I think you have got an angry federal judge saying figure it out yourself before you come to me.</s>BALDWIN: Speaking of Avenatti, I want to play some sound. This is Avenatti reacting to Don Lemon reacting to his phone conversation with Michael Cohen last evening. Watch.</s>MICHAEL AVENATTI, ATTORNEY FOR STORMY DANIELS: It's moronic under the circumstances. And it really shows...</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That Michael Cohen should be saying anything?</s>AVENATTI: Any experienced attorney would tell a client not to be speaking to the press the day after the FBI executes three search warrants on your homes and your offices. This is just crazy. It's ludicrous. When I heard that he had spoke to Don Lemon, I didn't believe it until I saw Don's report. And lo and behold, I believe, Don, that it happened. It's beyond stupid.</s>BALDWIN: So, Jennifer, the fact that Michael Cohen did hop on the phone with our friend over here at CNN Don Lemon, said that he was respectful, understanding what the FBI was doing, frightened him, frightened him for his family, but Avenatti calls him moronic for having this conversation with Don. Was it moronic?</s>JENNIFER RODGERS, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: I think any lawyer would counsel his client. And now in this position, Michael Cohen is a client, not a lawyer -- would say don't talk to the press, don't talk to anyone, let's go to ground for a little bit and see what we're facing and then kind of make some decisions from there. Yes, I think moronic is strong, but I think any lawyer would counsel that Michael not speak to the press.</s>BALDWIN: OK. The other piece of news that we have been discussing -- and Jeff Zeleny, our senior White House correspondent, can help us sort of piece this together, is the news that also dropped just a few minutes from "The New York Times," the fact that all and part of this raid involving Michael Cohen earlier this week reportedly also was looking for evidence related to -- and how it's related to, we don't know yet -- but that "Access Hollywood" tape that dropped a month before the presidential election.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this is very interesting. Certainly, what it says to me is that the authorities, the prosecutors are trying to get a better sense into what the exact role that Michael Cohen was playing in the Trump campaign in the final days leading up to the election. It clearly -- that, of course, was a bombshell that came out in October back 2016. It seems like a long time ago, of course. But it seems to me they are trying to piece together a bit of what was going on in those days leading up to the election, because we do know -- we didn't know at the time, of course -- that Michael Cohen was the person who was leading the effort here for the hush money.</s>ZELENY: He was writing the check of $130,000 through that illegal entity he set up. So, it seems to me they're trying to create more of a better sense of what was going on in those days, what Michael Cohen exactly was involved in. It certainly speaks to why the president may have been angry earlier this week when he found out about that, because this, of course, was a dark period of his campaign. Many people thought it would end his campaign. It didn't, of course. But Michael Cohen, we don't know if played a role in the "Access Hollywood" tape or not. He was working for the president at the time, of course, Mr. Trump, of course, before he became president. But it certainly signals to me they're isolating that period of time. We will have to find out exactly what else they were looking for. But we do know that know it was a variety of things they were looking for in his office, in his hotel room, not simply this, the payment to Stormy Daniels and the other person as well there. So, certainly one more piece of detail here, perhaps explaining a bit why the president was so unglued the other day -- Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: So furious. Jeff, thank you so much. Paul Callan, I haven't heard from you on this. But, again, just reminding people, when we talk about Michael Cohen, he's not just a lawyer. He's -- like Kaitlan was saying earlier, he's like the president's pit bull. And to know -- and, again, the key line in this "New York Times" piece, it's not clear what role if any Mr. Cohen played, but the fact that the agents were seeking documents related to the tapes revealed this new front in the investigation. What are you thinking?</s>CALLAN: Well, I can see why the president has been upset, because Cohen has sort of been his right-hand man for a long time, way before the presidential election, fixing problems that the president had, fixing -- negotiating nondisclosure agreements with women who allege intimate relations with the president. Now, how could he tie into the "Access Hollywood" tape, AKA, the Billy on the Bush tape.</s>BALDWIN: Billy on the bus.</s>CALLAN: Billy on the bus tape.</s>CALLAN: But -- well, I suppose -- I don't want to go that road.</s>CALLAN: But, in any event, the tie could well have something to do with something the president said, which was -- remember, there were rumors coming out of the White House that the president was saying that's not his voice on the tape, that the tape was tampered with.</s>BALDWIN: Even though he apologized.</s>CALLAN: Yes, he did subsequently apologize for it. But now, retrospectively, he's wondering whether it's his voice on the tape. Now, I'm wondering, did Michael Cohen get involved in some negotiations relating to that tape? Did they come across information about the tape? There's got to be something there, because if that tape is specifically mentioned in the federal search warrant, that means a federal judge heard evidence and had probable cause that something related to that tape was criminal in nature. Now, it's totally speculative at this point, but obviously it has something to do with Cohen's role as a possible fixer for the Trump administration.</s>BALDWIN: You're nodding.</s>RODGERS: Well, I agree to some extent. I also think, though, that it meets a pattern. Right? He has a pattern of these, what ultimately are campaign finance violations, giving benefits to the campaign, with the Stormy Daniels silence, the Karen McDougal silence. This may be part just of kind of establishing that pattern. It didn't succeed here because the tape came out, but maybe this is just a plan for evidence of OK a similar pattern of activity or a conspiracy to violate the campaign laws, something like that.</s>BALDWIN: OK. OK. Stand by, everyone, because the White House will certainly be asked about these new developments coming up at the White House briefing in just a little bit. Of course, we will take it live, as we do. Also ahead, Russia responding to President Trump's taunt over Twitter. Trump saying, get ready, his words, missiles are coming. The president catching both enemies and allies off-guard with that comment. Did Trump just break his own rule by telegraphing next military moves? And is a U.S. attack on Syria imminent? What the defense secretary, James Mattis, just said from the White House. We will have a live report next here on CNN.