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