Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles -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.