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  • -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.