-Even as he tries to refocus on trade policy,
Donald Trump's presidency has been rocked this week
by escalating scandals related to everything
from Russian meddling to porn stars.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
On top of everything else going on right now,
President Trump, of course, is being sued
by porn star Stormy Daniels over a reported hush payment
Trump's lawyer made to her just weeks before the election
to hide an alleged affair.
The Trump White House has insisted
that the accusations are false,
but last night, we found out more about
the lengths to which Trump's lawyer has gone
to silence Daniels.
-NBC News has learned that, in late February,
the President's lawyer, Michael Cohen secretly obtained
a temporary restraining order against Daniels.
The order, issued by a private arbiter,
bars Daniels from disclosing confidential information
related to what her lawyer calls a hush agreement
designed to keep Daniels quiet about the intimate relationship
she's alleged to have had with Mr. Trump.
-That's right -- The President of the United States
got a restraining order against a porn star,
which means we have to say goodbye to the old
lowest point in American history.
Goodbye, Garth Brooks'
rock-'n'-roll alter-ego Chris Gaines!
[ Laughter ]
We hardly knew you!
[ Laughter and applause ]
And while that story is developing,
Trump is also dealing with the fallout
from the ongoing Russian probe, which, not for nothing,
isn't a bad porn title.
[ Laughter ]
Now, there's a lot that we don't know
about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation
of Trump's ties to Russia, but one thing we do know
is that Trump has been acting super guilty.
Trump has tried to fire or coerce
almost everyone involved in the Russia investigation
and refuses to impose sanctions on Russia.
And yesterday, we got yet another report
about Trump's suspicious behavior.
Against the advice of his lawyers,
Trump has been talking to witnesses in the investigation
to find out what they've been saying,
and Robert Mueller found out about it.
-The Special Counsel has learned of two conversations
in recent months in which President Trump
asked key witnesses
about matters they discussed with investigators.
-He asked witnesses about their conversations
with investigators.
Trump looks so guilty at this point,
even pictures of him have shifty, haunted-mansion eyes.
[ Laughter ]
Now, as you might recall, "The New York Times"
reported in January that Trump had ordered
his White House counsel, Don McGahn,
to fire Mueller, which McGahn refused to do.
Now, according to this new reporting,
the president told an aide that McGahn should issue a statement
denying the "New York Times" article in January.
But McGahn did not publicly deny the article.
So, just to recap, Trump told McGahn to fire Mueller,
but McGahn refused, which got out.
So Trump told McGahn to deny
that he told him to fire Mueller,
which McGahn again refused, which then also got out.
Seriously, how are these two still together?
Trump tells McGahn to do stuff, McGahn says no,
it keeps getting in the press,
but Trump doesn't fire McGahn, and McGahn doesn't quit.
They're like one of those couples
that ruins every dinner party by fighting,
and when they leave, someone says,
"They must have amazing sex."
[ Laughter ]
Meanwhile, we keep getting more information
about the Trump team's ties to Russians,
specifically their efforts after the election
to set up a secret communications channel
with the Kremlin.
Apparently, Mueller is now homing in on Erik Prince,
founder of the mercenary company Blackwater
and an adviser to Trump's transition team.
Specifically, Mueller is now looking at a secret meeting
Prince held with a Kremlin emissary
on a remote island shortly after the election.
-Robert Mueller has "gathered evidence
that a secret meeting in the Seychelles
just before the inauguration of Donald Trump
was an effort to establish a back-channel
between the incoming administration and the Kremlin.
Erik Prince, the founder
of the private military company Blackwater,
met with a Russian official
close to President Vladimir Putin.
A witness cooperating with Mueller has told investigators
the meeting was set up in advance
so that a representative of the Trump transition
could meet with an emissary from Moscow
to discuss future relations between the two countries."
-Wait. You're telling me a secret meeting
on a remote island in the Indian Ocean
between a mercenary and an agent of the Kremlin
turned out to be suspicious?!
Where was the meeting --
inside a volcano the shape of a skull?
-"We'll get down to business shortly, gentlemen,
but, first, enjoy your zebra steaks!
Orphans! Serve us!"
[ Laughter ]
Now, the meeting is of special interest to Mueller
apparently because Prince has lied about it.
He later told investigators the meeting
was an unplanned encounter that came about by chance
because he happened to be at a luxury hotel
in the Indian Ocean island nation
with officials from the United Arab Emirates.
That's right. He tried to pass it off as a chance encounter.
"I swear! I just happened to be vacationing on a remote island
when I ran into a close friend of Vladimir Putin.
Then -- silly me -- I got a paper cut on my hand.
And before you know it, we were swearing a blood oath
and chanting "Hail Hydra."
It was just like one of those Sandals commercials!"
[ Cheers and applause ]
And, by the way,
this isn't even the first time the Trump team has tried
to set up a secret back-channel with the Kremlin,
which, not for nothing, isn't a bad porn title.
[ Laughter ]
Because last year, as you may recall,
"The Washington Post" broke the story
about the president's son-in-;aw
and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.
-Jared Kushner and Russia's ambassador to Washington
discussed the possibility of setting up
a secret and secure communications channel
between Trump's transition team and the Kremlin.
-That's right -- Jared Kushner tried to set up
a secret communications channel
between the White House and the Kremlin,
but unfortunately he couldn't find a string
long enough to reach Moscow.
[ Laughter ]
Now, we don't know exactly
what came of all these attempts to set up a secret back-channel,
but earlier this week, we learned more about
what exactly the Kremlin may have wanted from the Trump team,
when "The New Yorker" published a blockbuster story
about ex-British spy Christopher Steele.
He's the guy who wrote that infamous dossier
about Trump's alleged ties to Russia,
the one that contained those salacious rumors about Trump.
Now, I can't tell you about those rumors because they are unverified,
but I don't need to because,
as we've documented on this show before,
Trump wingman and Fox News host Sean Hannity is all too happy,
for some reason, to repeat the details
of this embarrassing allegation over and over again on his show.
And with the Steele dossier back in the news,
Trump supporter Sean Hannity is at it again.
-Remember that's the dossier that talked about Trump
at a Ritz-Carlton in Moscow
with two prostitutes urinating on his bed?
The fake document about President Trump,
and that goes to the Ritz-Carlton,
and that goes to hookers.
That phony dossier quoting Russians
and the Ritz-Carlton and hookers.
That was about the Ritz-Carlton and hookers.
You know, talking about hookers and urinating in beds.
Hookers. Ritz-Carlton. Urinating on a bed.
Russian, hookers. Hookers. Hookers. Hookers.
Hookers urinating in his bed.
Peeing. Urinating. Urinating.
Urinating on beds. Wow!
Easy to laugh at the hookers and the Ritz in Moscow.
Is that the funny part?
-No.
The funny part --
The funny part is that you keep telling us about it.
The only way you could do more to advertise this story
is if you took out three billboards.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
This allegation was actually back in the news this week,
thanks to ex-Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg,
who you may recall had a meltdown on cable news
when he was called to appear before a grand jury by Mueller.
Nunberg mentioned that Mueller was interested in Trump's trip
to Moscow in 2013 for the Miss Universe Pageant.
Nunberg admitted that a Russian associate offered
to send women up to Trump's hotel room
but insisted that, according to Trump's longtime bodyguard,
Keith Schiller, Trump had rejected the offer.
-I was told that that idiot Emin
had offered to send women up to Trump's room.
But Trump didn't want it.
-When you say, "I was told that
the Russians offered to send women to Trump's room --"
-No. I was told that Emin offered to send women up there.
And Trump flat-out refused it.
And Trump did flat-out refuse it.
And I can tell you that Trump is too smart
to have women come up to his room.
-You think Donald Trump
is too smart to have women come up to his room?
He's not even too smart to not take a picture with them.
"Okay. Got that camera ready? Everybody say...
exhibit A!"
[ Cheers and applause ]
Okay. But still...
Let's give Trump the benefit of the doubt.
He might be an idiot, but even he is too smart
to ever have women up to his hotel room, right?
-In an interview published tonight by "The Daily Beast,"
adult-film star Alana Evans says she spoke with
Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels.
"She tells me, 'All I'm going to say
is I ended up with Donald in his hotel room.
Picture him chasing me around his hotel room
in his tighty-whities.'"
-No!
I don't want to picture that!
But, seriously, while it's a terrifying thought
to picture Trump chasing you in his tighty-whities,
the only way he'd ever catch you is if you broke both ankles.
"Oh, no!" "Enh! Come here!"
"Wait. Are you chasing me?" "Enh! I'm gonna getcha!"
"I have to be honest -- you're moving so slowly,
I can't tell if you're even getting closer."
"Ennhh..."
Okay, now, that was all from the first Steele dossier,
but "The New Yorker" reported this week
that Steele actually wrote a second dossier
about the Trump transition team's communications
with Russia after the election,
specifically about an alleged attempt by the Kremlin
to block one of Trump's possible picks for Secretary of State.
-Steele wrote another memo back in November of 2016
in which a senior Russian official relayed
talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
the Kremlin had intervened to block Trump's
initial choice of Secretary of State, Mitt Romney,
and that the Kremlin, through unspecified channels,
had asked Trump to appoint someone who would be prepared
to lift Ukraine-related sanctions.
-That's right -- the Russians allegedly intervened
to block Mitt Romney from being Secretary of State,
which is a bummer for Romney
because he still had to have dinner with Donald Trump.
Look at Romney's face.
That face is the physical manifestation of this sound.
[ Womp-womp! ]
[ Laughter ]
So, Trump is swinging wildly on policy,
he's being sued by a porn star,
and investigators are homing in on his ties to the Kremlin.
And even his biggest supporters
seem to be mostly interested in...
-Peeing. Urinating. Hookers.
-Which, not for nothing...
isn't a bad porn title.
This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]