[Cooper:] A judge has ordered Michael Cohen to be in court for a hearing on Monday as lawyers for him, the president, try to stop federal prosecutors from using some of the records they seized in that raid on his home, the office, and hotel room. Yesterday, it came to life that Cohen has under criminal investigation for months. We don't know yet what specifically Cohen is under investigation for. We do know that he has been the president's fixer for years. Gloria Borger tonight has more.
[Gloria Borger, Cnn Chief Political Analyst:] In the soap opera in which a porn star accepts a payoff to keep quiet about her affair with Donald Trump, there's got to be a guy who gets it done.
[Michael Avenatti, Attorney Of Stormy Daniels:] Where is Michael Cohen? Where's Mr. Cohen? Where is this guy? Where is this guy?
[Borger:] Michael Cohen is where he's been since 2007, standing behind Donald Trump, or closer in his back pocket.
[Sam Nunberg, Trump Campaign Aide:] Michael was I'd always like to say the Ray Donovan of the office.
[Ray Donovan, Fictional Character:] I'm going to take care of it.
[Nunberg:] He took care of what had to be taken care of. I don't know what has to be taken care of, but all I know is that Michael was taking care of it.
[David Schwartz Attorney Of Michael Cohen:] He's the guy that you could call 3:00 in the morning when you have a problem.
[Borger:] Do you know stories of Donald Trump calling him 3:00 in the morning?
[Schwartz:] Donald Trump has called him at all hours of the night. Every dinner I've been at with Michael, the boss has called.
[Borger:] But Cohen did not call the boss, he says, when he decided to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket. 11 days before the election.
[Avenatti:] I think it's ludicrous.
[Borger:] So you believe 100 percent Donald Trump knew?
[Avenatti:] One hundred percent.
[Michael D'antonio, Trump Biographer:] There's not a meeting that takes place, there's not an expenditure that is authorized, that he doesn't know about it.
[Borger:] Cohen wouldn't go on the record for this piece. But his friends claims it's all part of his job in Trump world, giving the boss deniability and protection.
[Schwartz:] If you know the relationship between the two people, he took care of a lot of things for Mr. Trump without Mr. Trump knowing about it. That's part of the overall structure, is that Michael had great latitude to take care of matters.
[Borger:] In Michael Cohen, Trump hired his consigliore, a version of his long-time mentor, the lawyer Roy Cohn, a controversial pit bull and aggressive defender of all things Trump, no questions asked. After D'Antonio finished his book on Trump, he got the Cohen treatment in what turned out to be an empty threat.
[D'antonio:] Then he got mad. It was, "You just buy yourself an effing lawsuit, buddy. I'll see you in court."
[Borger:] In 2011, Michael Cohen described his job this way.
[Michael Cohen, Attorney Of President Donald Trump:] My job is I protect Mr. Trump. That's what it is. If there's an issue that relates to Mr. Trump that is of concern to him, it's of course concern to me. And I will use my legal skills within which to protect Mr. Trump to the best of my ability.
[Borger:] Cohen, a sometimes Democrat, first came to Trump's attention after buying apartments in Trump developments. Then went to the mat for Trump against one of his condo boards and won.
[Schwartz:] Trump loved him for it. That was the beginning of it. And then after that, they became close. It was much more than an attorneyclient relationship. It was something much deeper, almost father and son kind of thing. Always hot and cold. Donald Trump could be yelling at him one second and saying he's the greatest person in the world the next second. Donald Trump knew that Michael always had his back.
[Borger:] For Trump, it wasn't about pedigree. Cohen, who is 51, got his degree from Western Michigan's Cooley law school and had some initial success in the less than genteel world of New York taxicab medallions.
[Nunberg:] If you look where Michael came from in his legal career, before he started working for Trump board, it wasn't like he came from a white shoe law firm. He came from a hardnosed New York trial firm. Trump has an eye for talent. And this was somebody that, I mean, he used to call him his bulldog, his tough guy.
[Borger:] At the Trump organization he's done a bit of everything. Running a mixed martial arts company, securing real estate branding deals, and even taking care of transportation.
[Nunberg:] The famous Trump plane, there was an engine issue that he actually took care of and got a really good deal on.
[Schwartz:] Watching him is it's like a reality show. He's got three phones. He's got the hardline. He's got two lines. He's texting. He's on the computer.
[D'antonio:] You can almost say this is Donald Trump's mini-me. For a guy who started really in the middle class, on Long Island, to now be quite wealthy himself, known internationally, and yes, he's in a bit of a jam with the Russia scandal.
[Borger:] In the eye not only of Stormy, but now under criminal investigation in New York. And also of interest to the Special Counsel Bob Mueller and Congress.
[Cohen:] I look forward to giving all the information that they're looking for.
[Borger:] During the campaign, when Trump said he had no contact with Russia, Cohen was privately trying to cut a deal for a Trump Tower Moscow. It never happened, but Mueller has asked about it.
[Nunberg:] The sad reality is that Michael pursuing that Trump Tower deal in December is just another factor that goes into this whole Russian narrative.
[Borger:] Cohen's name was also in the infamous dossier which alleges he traveled to Prague to meet with Russians. He's completely denied it and is suing BuzzFeed which published it.
[Schwartz:] It's immeasurable, the damage that has been caused to him, to his family.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] I will faithfully execute.
[Borger:] When Trump became president, he did not bring his brash wingman to Washington. Do you think he wanted to be in the White House, be White House counsel?
[D'antonio:] There must have been a part of him that was dreaming of a great job at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But he's also the guy who not only knows where all the bodies are buried, he buried a lot of them himself. And that ironically disqualified him.
[Cohen:] They say I'm Mr. Trump's pit bull, that I am his right-hand man. I mean, I've been called many different things around here.
[Borger:] Now he may be called to testify. With the Stormy Daniels case in federal court.
[Schwartz:] I know Michael Cohen for over 21 years. And I know that he will not rest. He will not sleep. He doesn't sleep anyway, right? Until he recovers every single penny from Stormy that's due the
[Llc. Avenatti:] I've seen a lot of attorneys use intimidation tactics. The problem is, is if that is your speed, and if you are a one-trick pony, and you use that in every case, when all of a sudden you run up against somebody that doubles down and that isn't intimidated, well then you're lost.
[Borger:] Cohen flew to Mar-a-Lago to dine with the president the night before Stormy Daniels appeared on "60 MINUTES." Because if you're Michael Cohen, you're the ultimate loyalist.
[Cohen:] The words the media should be using to describe Mr. Trump are generous, compassionate.
[Borger:] And you still believe Donald Trump will be loyal.
[Cohen:] Kind, humble, honest.
[Borger:] To you. Gloria Borger, CNN, Washington.
[Cooper:] What kind of legal trouble could Michael Cohen actually be in? What are the implications for the president? And what happens next? We'll talk about all of that when we come back.