Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20180217

Of this entire operation, which was almost like a business they were running it as a business, and all the purpose was to create this Information Warfare to infiltrate really our country, and to infiltrate our election process. And it did begin back in 2014 according to the department of justice. It did. So even before donald trump was announced as a candidate, they wanted so sow discord, they wanted to impact the election. Thats right. The russians have been known this is what they wanted to do. It also shows you how the fbi and gives you a window into an fbi counterintelligence investigation and the resources that it takes, the money that it takes, the manpower it takes. They were able to infiltrate this organization every which way possible. It says a lot also about the mueller investigation. I mean weve been hearing now for months from the president s attorneys who say by thanksgiving it looks like its going to be winding down. By new years. It doesnt seem like its going to be winding down. This indictment is very specific that just it keeps saying about this indictment, indicating there could be others. Thats right. And Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general, said that in this indictment there are no americans who were charging. Theres nothing to indicate that the special counsel investigation is coming to an end anytime soon. We know just based on our own reporting steve bannon was in with the special counsel this week, was interviewed. We know other people have been in there this week to interview. Theres still the obstruction case. That is a large part of what the special counsel is still doing, and there is every indication things are moving forward and nothing is coming to an end kne anytime soon. I want to go to florida. Cnns jeff zeleny with more on the president s evening. Has the white house had anything else to say on these indictments because first the president , you know, let loose a tweet which basically just referenced himself, and the white house did put out a statement allegedly from the president shortly after. Reporter indeed, anderson. Just those two brief statements, thats all weve heard officially from the white house, but i can tell you this has been a big topic of discussion behind the scenes. I would almost wager a bet that it was also a big topic of discussion as the president flew down here to florida. Of course hes spending a threeday weekend at maralago. He spent a little bit of time earlier this evening with the shooting victims of that horrific parkland shooting. But as he was flying down here, he was with his chief of staff, john kelly, of course embattled, other top advisers. Theres no question this is on the president s mind, but lets unpack a little bit of what he has said. Lets look at that tweet first and foremost, anderson. Its pretty telling when you look at it. He says this. He said, russia started their antiu. S. Campaign in 2014, long before i announced i would run for president. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump Campaign did nothing wrong. No collusion. The point here is hes acknowledging in there that this has been going on since 2014. So even by saying that, hes doing something that he has rarely said, acknowledging that russia did meddle and has been meddling in u. S. Elections. But simply again, not calling it out or not seemingly make a big deal of the fact that this is, indeed, an act of war, at least in this cyber age, super information world if you will. But then when you look at the president s statement that was sent out through the White House Press secretary, even more interesting. He says this. He said, its time we stop the outlandish partisan attacks. Wild and false allegations and farfetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors like russia and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions. So interesting in that, that he calls out the bad actors, in his records, of russia, but then goes to say farfetched theories. The fact of the matter is the u. S. Department of justice had an indictment enough information they believe that could stand up in a court of law to issue these indictments today. So hardly farfetched theories. The president , of course, has had a sound track for more than a year saying the russia investigation has been a hoax. Hes called it a witch hunt from rallies to the oval office to television, to social media. Again, though, today was probably the biggest quieting of all of the fact this is a hoax. The u. S. Justice Department Said its not indeed. It is a very, very real thing. Also, jeff, we heard recently from Christopher Wray, the director of the fbi, when asked, testifying in front of on capitol hill saying that, no, the president had not directed the fbi to do specific things in order to combat meddling in the next election. The reporting, i think it was from the Washington Post, the New York Times months ago was there hadnt been any Cabinet Meeting devoted to what to do about russian meddling, and obviously youve had all the president s denials, calling it a hoax, a ruse, and the president refusing to impose the sanctions that were passed almost unanimously, overwhelmingly by both houses in congress. There really is nothing the president has said about how the u. S. , how he is wanting people and this country to defend this the next time. Reporter anderson, youre right. If theres been one consistency, one consistent theme throughout the first year and month or so of this trump presidency, its been that he has consistently denied or declined to talk about russias meddling in the election. You mentioned sanctions. That is a very key point. There are very few bipartisan things that happen, unanimous things that happen in this United States congress. Almost nothing. The russian sanctions, that was one of them. An overwhelming vote in the house and the senate by republicans and democrats. More than 500 members of congress voted to impose tougher sanctions on russia. Just a couple weeks ago, the Trump Administration declined to impose those. So there has been a reluctance on the part of President Trump to go hard after Vladimir Putin. In fact, i remember last november when he was traveling in vietnam at the apec summit, he had a brief meeting with Vladimir Putin, and the president said he believed the denials of Vladimir Putin that he did not meddle in the election. So, anderson, as we end this one more interesting, troubling week on many fronts here, im struck by the fact that this is the beginning, not the end, as shimon was saying earlier. Keep in mind one thing, steve bannon, the chief strategist, spent more than 20 hours this week with the special counsel. He told Michael Wolff in the book fire and fury its about money laundering, so that 20 hours will certainly come out potentially in indictments to come, potentially not. But this seems to be just the beginning. Appreciate the reporting. Were joined by senator Richard Blumenthal of connecticut, who serves on the judiciary committee. Senator blumenthal, im wondering what your first reaction is to this indictment. I was stunned, anderson, by the massive detail, really chilling facts, and were dealing here with real facts about real criminal action by russians, doing real harm to our democracy. And the president may choose to believe Vladimir Putin, but these facts are provable beyond a reasonable doubt. Thats the standard for bringing this kind of indictment. And the people involved in this indictment, some of them are very Close Associates of Vladimir Putin, and they run companies that are slush funds for the russian government. So the involvement of the top russian leadership, including putin, is virtually undeniable. What we need now is those sanctions to be implemented vigorously and strongly and to send a message to the russians that theyre going to pay a price for what they did. Theyre going to be deterred if they continue to do it as they are now doing it. And the Intelligence Community testified just this week in the senate that they are, in fact, continuing to do it. So thats a terrifying blueprint. It was stunning to me that in the president s initial tweet, it really was all about the president and how he believes this vindicates him, that theres no collusion talked about in this indictment. Nothing about the informational warfare which is being waged, and thats the term the department of justice used, by the russians against the United States, effectively an act of war. And any outrage about it or what he is going to be directing our government to do about it. What donald trump says or does is, in my view, less important than what the American People say and do. They ought to be outraged and furious. It was, in fact, informational warfare. Thats the term the russians used to describe it, and its repeated in the indictment. And it went on for years. So unfortunately donald trump evidently is still about himself, perhaps not surprisingly, but the American People have to worry about this repeated attack on our democracy, trying to sow discord, suppress voter turnout by using money laundering, fictitious identities, as well as identity theft, a raft of criminality that is real. It was interesting to hear Rod Rosenstein say there was nothing in this indictment that americans willingly colluded or dealings with russians. This indictment, he kept saying. Very good point. The indictments to come and probably convictions, criminal pleas, will provide more details very likely about that topic. And i think it is almost certain in my own view at least, that there will be more indictments and convictions relating to the russian interference and attack on our democracy and also potential collusion involving the Trump Campaign. Investigations proceed in stages. They focus on different facets. Just because this indictment has no mention of collusion or of knowing participation by americans doesnt mean it isnt going to happen in the next indictme indictment, and the involvement, even if the term unwittingly is used to describe it at this point of americans is very, very telling. Some Trump Supporters have been saying, well, look, the russians were pushing some support to Bernie Sanders, talking about jill stein. They had a rally for Hillary Clinton allegedly conducted by american muslims with some signs which would obviously be damaging for Hillary Clinton about sharia law. There was an antitrump rally after the president was elected, and they point to all those things and say, well, look, it shows that the russians were not pushing for donald trump to win the election. The conclusion of the indictment is that they were, in fact, pushing for donald trump predominantly. They were, in fact, seeking to disparage thats the indictments term Hillary Clinton. And they may have embarked on these other ventures perhaps with the idea that they would aid donald trump. But clearly the overall objective was to aid him. And it is such a massive and sweeping plot and conspiracy to sabotage our elections. Ive been calling it an act of war for some time. I think this indictment clearly shows that this informational warfare was an attack that constitutes an act of war, and we need to meet it effectively. Its also just interesting how limited, in fact, this indictment was, as stunning as it was, to use your term and shocking to some people. It was nothing about the dnc hacks, about the hacks of John Podestas emails or any coordination in how that information was released. Thats a very good point, and it ought to be a sobering moment for the trump sycophants and surrogates in the congress who have been attacking the special counsel, trying to discredit the fbi and the mueller team because clearly he is proceeding in a very methodical and systematic way to build a series of cases in stages as the best prosecutors do given complex facts and law. That kind of approach will eventually rebut and refute these politically motivated, reprehensible attacks on the department of justice and the fbi. Coming up next, what the kremlin is saying about the indictment. Were live in moscow for that. Later we learn more about the lives taken by the killer in florida. We want you to hear their names, of course, to learn how their loved ones will remember them. Special night . Abdominal pain. And diarrhea. But its my anniversary. Aw. Sorry. Weve got other plans. Your recurring, unpredictable abdominal pain and diarrhea. May be Irritable Bowel Syndrome with diarrhea, or ibsd. Youve tried overthecounter treatments and lifestyle changes, but ibsd can be really frustrating. Talk to your doctor about viberzi,. A different way to treat ibsd. Viberzi is a Prescription Medication you take every day that helps proactively manage. Both abdominal pain and diarrhea at the same time. So you stay ahead of your symptoms. Viberzi can cause new or worsening abdominal pain. Do not take viberzi if you have no gallbladder, have pancreas or severe liver problems, problems with alcohol abuse, longlasting or severe constipation, or a bowel or gallbladder blockage. Pancreatitis may occur and can lead to hospitalization and death. If you are taking viberzi,. You should not take medicines that cause constipation. The most common side effects of viberzi. Include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. Stay ahead of ibsd with viberzi. From maybelline new york. Temptation mascara our most addictive volume. Creamy formula infused with coconut extract. Lashes so soft. So dense. So tempting. New temptation mascara. Only from maybelline new york. Blue moon is a wellcrafted belgian style wheat beer brewed with valencia orange peel for a refreshing taste that shines brighter. Blue moon. Everyone has a thing. That binge watch over the weekend thing. More checkingin or checking out things. That tripledouble thing doing it yourself or tagging a friend thing. More revolutions in the making thing. That play like a girl thing. That fourlegged friends thing. At t gives you more for your thing. More entertainment, internet, and unlimited plans. More for your thing. Yeah, thats our thing. Im walkin wow nshine oliver. Nd dont it feel good hey alright now and dont it feel good applebees handcrafted burgers. Any burger just 7. 99. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Todays indictment of 13 russian nationals in a massive scheme to interfere in the 2016 election and help candidate trump is certainly being felt here. The question is whethat the reaction is in russia. Fred pleitgen is in russia. I understand some of the 13 nationals named in this indictment have actually responded. Reporter yeah, they responded, anderson. They responded very quickly. Theres one name that really sticks out in that indictment, and that is yevgeny prego schenn. Hes the head of the vast empire which the troll factory is part of. He came out with a statement very quickly. He said, quote, americans are very impressionable people. They see what they want to see. I have Great Respect for them. Im not at all upset that im on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see one. Now, if that sounds to you like someone whos not really impressed to be on thattis wi lt certainly seems that to way to us as well. A lot of these oligarchs who want to impress Vladimir Putin, who want to show theyre loyal to putin, they wear an indictment almost like a badge of honor. Its really interesting to see, especially with progozhin that since all this happened with the election, hes actually been able to expand his Business Empire here in russia rather than facing any sort of consequences here, anderson. What has the russian government actually said . Reporter that was the other interesting thing we saw as well is that the russian government came out very quickly in the form of the Foreign Ministry and its spokeswoman. This really happened only minutes after the indictments came down. She said, im quoting again, she said 13 people of course 13 people listed in that indictment, intervened in the elections in the u. S. , she questions. 13 against billion dollar budgets of special services against intelligence and counterintelligence, against the latest developments and technologies. Absurd, she says, yes. Also goes on to say she believes this is part of what she calls the culture prevalent in the United States. So the russians really brushing this off. One of the things weve seen over the course as weve been dealing with the russian meddling and the aftermath in the u. S. Election in 2016 is them saying they believe that this is part of antirussian propaganda thats going around in the u. S. And of course theres using that term of a witch hunt as well, anderson. Fred pleitgen, again, thank you very much. Joining us now is josh campbell, anne milgram, carl bernstein, and phil mudd. I want to get your quick takes. Joshua, lets start with you. The revelations are stunning. I think as you indicated earlier, it really starts to show why mueller picked the people he did to serve on this team, people with diverse experiences. When i was at fbi headquarters, i had the honor of working for james comey. After he was fired, i couldnt go work on the special counsel team because i was conflicted. But those of us who didnt go work the case would kind of look around and see our friends kind of disappear. This person is leaving and wonder, hmm, i wonder why that person is there. Okay. That person had cyber expertise. This person has white collar experti expertise. As you look through the indictment you see the diverse charges that we see. You really start to paint that picture. I think the one question that i have is has mueller held off on including any americans who were witting in this operation . He wouldnt necessarily need to include that to youre saying he might have intentionally held off. Correct. Is there another indictment coming . He wouldnt need to indicate that here, but thats the one question i have as well. They do keep talking about in this indictment. To joshs point, raising questions about possible other ones. Just, that the granularity, the specificity in the whole indictment and the tradecraft involved, but just as significant is watching Rod Rosenstein, who trump has been firing off missives to his assistant, saying we have to find a way, even in the last two weeks, to get rid of rosenstein. We have to bury the mueller investigation. Today this investigation is in place, and it is going to be almost impossible, i think we can say, for trump to make it go away. So theres that additional significance to these seismic events today. And also its very much about the dereliction of duty by the president of the United States, who takes an oath to defend and protect the United States from enemies foreign and domestic and has done nothing but demean, diminish and obstruct this investigation rather than try to protect us from further encroachment on our democratic processes by the russians. Its extraordinary. Its dereliction. Thats not the criminal part. But also other shoes dropping. You now hear for the first time from other lawyers involved in this today. They see other shoes coming. Anne, in your long career, you formerly were with the department of justice. To you, what stands out, and what was left out . So there are a couple of things. I think first at a really high level, you know, the special counsels mandate is to look at whether or not trump and his campaign conspired with the russians to influence the election as well as to look at obstruction and other charges. But when we start to think about whether or not there could have been a conspiracy, the first question you have to ask is were the russians actually influencing the election . And so weve seen the Intelligence Community say, yes, that they had hacked the dnc emails. Weve seen public statements to that effect, but this is the first time weve seen pure factual evidence, really methodically put in where people are being charged with a crime of conspiring to defraud the United States. So that, to me, is in order to prove there was anyone who conspired with the russians, we have to improve the russians were engaged in this behavior, and this indictment is really just an astounding statement of that behavior. Phil, as a former fbi and cia official, just the tradecraft involved in this, the amount of effort put in, although at relatively low cost, i think about 1 million a month, from a russian standpoint, do you think they saw this as a Successful Operation . Successful . This is brilliant. Starting in 2014, a foreign intelligence entity was so successful with hundreds of people and maybe tens of millions of dollars, that they not only placed ads on facebook, they participated in supporting political rallies on the soil of the United States of america. A pissant dictatorship did that to us. If you look at this from the russian perspective, just the effectiveness of the action was incredible, but theres another piece. If you look at both the beginning of the indictment, which talks about support for the Trump Campaign, and the undervalued end, which talks about after the trump election, continuing to try to sow discord in america by saying, hey, the quote i have here is, not my president. They were supporting not my president operations after the election of the president , which tells me they wanted to cripple the american political apparatus by creating friction between democrats in america and republicans. The success of this operation in sowing discord in this country with just hundreds of people and tens of millions of dollars, incredible. Its just incredible. Anne had a couple points. The indictment refers to russians working with other, quote, persons known and unknown to the grand jury. I wonder what you read into that, that the special counsel is referring to other people. Yes. Thats a common thing to have unnamed coconspirators or Unnamed Party whos were involved in transactions. You know, i think josh may be right that there are other shoes that are going to drop related to this. Its very possible, though, just to be forthright, sometimes they dont drop. Sometimes there are just people who are involved, who we name because theyre a part of the story and they come. They may or may not testify at trial. But i think this could go either way. But theres certainly more evidence here that theres an incredible amount here, but theres certainly more we dont have. Carl, what does this do for Robert Mueller in terms of, you know, all the criticism thats been leveled against him by some republicans on capitol hill . Does this buy him time . Does this give him cover . Does this get him protection by some republicans maybe who werent offering him protection before . All of the above and in spades. Take a look at what paul ryan, the speaker said today for the first time unequivocally, instead of trying to defend trump and go the witch hunt way, he said we have to follow all the facts here. This is a seismic shift. Ill use the term again, and were starting to see it, i think, on capitol hill where there is now recognition perhaps by some republicans that they can no longer blindly follow donald trump in characterizing this investigation as a witch hunt, as a ruse, as the conduct of the fbi is what is at issue here, not the conduct of the Trump Campaign or the trump family or the trump organization. All of those things are being investigated by the special prosecutor, and it is going to be very difficult for many republicans to continue to blindly follow trump down this dark alley in which he yells, oh, the conspiracy is against me. Josh, do you think there is an investigative strategy in terms of when the special counsel releases an indictment like this . Yeah, i think there is. I mean i highly doubt that this document was released today simply because it was ready to go, it was ready to go out the door. I think if you know bob mueller, hes someone who is intelligent, someone who is circumspect and someone who is very strategic. I would imagine this is part of some larger investigative strategy. Phil, you agree with that . Im not sure i do. I worked for him for 4 1 2 years. I work with josh, who is a friends of mine. Im not sure i agree with that. Robert mueller, i agree, is incredibly shrewd. Hes also not a player. I never saw him play the media. I never saw him play the congress. I suspect maybe its not 100 of this, but at least part of this is the investigation on the russia side was concluded, so let me roll it out. But let me be clear. This is not an indictment that relates to whether the investigation has concluded on whether Campaign Officials did something inappropriate. And i think the president s comment on that was totally off the mark. This is simply 13 russians got indicted. The rest of the investigation about the american side is not complete. Phil, as somebody who worked on National Security and with the cia and fbi, i just got to ask you personally what was your reaction to the president s initial tweet because, again, you know, informational warfare is the term the russians use. The department of justice referenced in this indictment. Essentially an act of war against the United States. And the president in his first tweet, its really just all about himself. He cant seem to separate himself and his fears that this somehow weakens him or somehow makes his election illegitimate, which theres no evidence of, from an attack on the United States. As somebody who has worked in National Security, im wondering what do you make of that . Is that appropriate . No. The president has a responsibility to sublimate himself to the National Need. The National Need in this case is very simple. A foreign intelligence adversary participated in the most sacred thing we hold in this democracy, the right of 330 million americans to vote free and fair in an election. The first tweet should have been simple. A foreign adversary tried to affect an election. I will do everything i can to stop this again in 2018 and 2020. The first tweet we got was, i didnt do anything wrong. I is not the answer. We is the answer. We got burned, and he should have talked about it first. Carl, i keep thinking about how many conversations we had about is this thing wrapping up. We heard from team trump that, well, maybe by november, by thanksgiving, oh, by new years its going to be wrapping up. You read this indictment. Theres no indication there was nothing about the trump tower meeting. I mean if anything, we learned today about how little we actually know about how much mueller knows. Thats right. And there have been no leaks out of mueller either. The socalled leaks weve seen have been through lawyers in the case. But the timing of this that youve mentioned is so clever on behalf of mueller and rosenstein because a few days ago, there were an awful lot of people in washington and in the white house who really believed that trump was going to succeed in shutting down this investigation and getting rid of rosenstein especially. He has talked about it incessantly in the past few weeks according to people in the white house. That is off the table if you talk to people there today. What rosenstein did, rosenstein, who was not familiar to the American People, got up and addressed them today. And the subtext of what he was saying is, the president of the United States is not above the law. I believe that there is an element of that that goes through everything that weve seen today. This investigation is sacrosanct. That is part of what we heard and saw today, and i think some republicans are beginning to get the message that it has to be sacrosanct, particularly because the stakes involved, the foreign power and what theyve done here. Time out, anderson. Go ahead, phil. Let me make a 15 second comment. If you really want to time something, you dont do it friday afternoon in that nasty shark tank of washington, d. C. You do it monday morning, because then you own the news cycle for the week and not the weekend. Friday afternoon seems to be the new monday. I got to tell you. Not in my world, dude. I know, i know. We got to leave it there. I go tot get a short break in. Ahead, a look at some of the things President Trump has said about the investigation. A spoiler alert. Its going to sound pretty familiar. More news ahead. I let go of all those feelings. Because i am cured with harvoni. Harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. Its been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. And is proven to cure up to 99 of patients whove have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. Certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. Before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if youve ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. Tell your doctor if youve ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. Taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. Common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. Ready to let go of hep c . Ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. Intrtechnology withnema. Incredible color, sound and streaming. Just as the creators intended. Up to 40 off at dell. Com russian nationals, three russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 election. As you know, President Trump has repeatedly said, in effect, move along, nothing to see here. Its all a hoax. Heres just a brief sample. The russia story is a total fabrication. Its just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. This russia thing with trump and russia is a made up story. The entire thing has been a witch hunt. How many times do i have to answer this question . Can you just say yes or no on it . Russia is a ruse. Ive been in office for 11 months. For 11 months theyve had this phony cloud over this administration, over this government. Its a democrat hoax that was brought up as an excuse for losing an election that frankly the democrats should have won because they have such a tremendous advantage in the electoral college. So it was brought up for that reason. Im joined by jack kingston, robby mook. Robby, im wondering what your reaction was to these incredibly serious allegations and very limited in scope . Its not talking about dnc emails. Its not talking about podesta emails. Well, in some senses this wasnt surprising. We knew the russians had meddled. We knew they were pushing propaganda. What was particularly new to me here was that agents were actually dispatched into the United States for the express purpose of, you know, organizing in key states also. Honestly, in a way, its kind of like what you do on a campaign. You send people out into the field. You collect information on what messages might be salient. At every point in this entire investigation, weve just gotten closer and closer to the worst possible outcome honestly. This brought us another step closer. The other thing id say is there were a lot of questions, well, could any of this really have ever been illegal . Could there really be Campaign Finance violations. This was legal. There were financial crimes, but this established for the first time there were actual violations of campaign law. The last thing that was kindof chilling is we heard rumors they were trying to suppress certain segments of the electorate. It seems like that was an overt suppressing africanamerican vote was talked about. Also support for jill stein, other thirdparty candidates, Bernie Sanders in some cases. Also even after the election, jack kingston, that was one of the things. After the election, having antitrump rallies to just continue kind of fomenting dissent in this country. This was, you know, an incredibly detailed indictment, jack, you know, with extremely serious allegations. Can the president at this point continue to call muellers investigation just a hoax and a witch hunt . Well, i think when he says that and it depends on, you know, who you ask. But when some people hear russian investigation, they think, ah, trump, collusion. When others hear this, they think russian interference. So i think the president is more concerned about the suggestion of collusion than he is about them interfering, and i dont think theres any question about their interference. Let me stop you right there because first of all, what you just said is pretty damning of the president. Hes more concerned about allegations of collusion than he is about an act of war by russia against this country. I mean youre essentially saying hes more concerned about himself than he is about the country. I think in the political sense of the russian investigation, but obviously hes very concerned about russian interference, and i think thats one really . Well, one reason he moved nato troops up to the baltics, which no other president has done, one reason he bombed i think in syria was to show russia, were not afraid of you. Youre talking about bombing the airfield. If hes so concerned, though, Christopher Wray says he hasnt directed the fbi specifically to do anything about continued meddling. According to the Washington Post or the New York Times months ago, he hadnt held a cabinetlevel meeting. He hasnt imposed the sanctions that were basically, you know, passed by both houses of congress overwhelmingly. And even today, his first tweet said nothing about, you know, that this country has been attacked, and weve got to do something about it. It was about me, me, me. Well, but let me say this. I certainly hope he doesnt take Barack Obamas lead, who under his watch, this started again, youre changing the subject. No, im going to answer it, anderson. But barack obama was told about this by the cia in august 2016 and did not take any action on it. So i certainly hope President Trump does not follow that lead, but the other thing hes made clear about what you just said makes no sense because hes now been president for a year, and he actually you would say he has followed that lead because he hasnt done anything. What has he actually done . The other thing he has said is he doesnt want to orchestrate to the enemy what his plans are. I do believe that behind the scenes he is taking action on this. Let me just ask you so when he said that he believed Vladimir Putin, when putin said to his face, oh, no, i didnt meddle, you think thats a double secret covert operation mind meld . I think it could be part of a diplomatic twostep where you kind of agree with somebody public but behind the back, you say go after them and break this. Okay. Jack, but if thats true, how come he then backtracked after there was outrage about what he said, and he said, oh, well, i believe that putin believes that, but of course i side with the Intelligence Community. So if it was a rope a dope or a twostep, he nullified it a few hours later. I think theres an old expression, confusion to the enemy, but let me say this. The good thing about todays indictments, it gives robby and me, both hillary and obama Trump Supporters, something to say, you know what . This is serious. Weve got to unite. We need to quit the circular firing squad. We need to be on the same side as against the russians. 80 employees and a 1 million a month budget, this is such a serious thing i would think everybody in the United States congress would come back to washington on monday and say lets do something about this and lets do it now. Havent they done that . Our commander in chief when the man who is in charge of our National Defense will not simply say that this happened, that its real and that it is warfare i mean you used the right word there. This is part of the russian view of warfare. Its on that spectrum. We were attacked. This is the big thing today. They came into our country. They organized an effort to and this is the other thing that doesnt get recognized here. They attacked Hillary Clinton because she went after putin repeatedly. This is revenge by putin. I believe this was personal by him to get back at her. But also one thing we also didnt mention, the reporting is that National Security officials are known not to bring up russia to the president because he will view it as some sort of personal slight. So if the National Intelligence apparatus doesnt want to bring up russia to the president , how does anything and i hate to say this because i dont want to, you know, light my hair on fire. Its dereliction of duty. Duty number one, president of the United States, defend the nation. We cannot even get our own president to declare but i mean, you know, im kind of hearing a little partisanship here, and i say that sincerely because do you really think the president s not doing anything about russia and that hes going to give them a pass on this . Jack, hes not. No, he is not going to orchestrate. Jack, if hes not getting briefings on it, if he doesnt have cabinet level meetings, if he hasnt told the fbi specifically things to do, if he doesnt use his bully pulpit, this is the only rope a dope hes playing, it seems, because hes throwing all his cards on the table on just about everything else. Weve got to take a break. Stay tuned because youre going to see some action. All right. Jack kingston, robby mook. Appreciate it. Coming up, we remember more of the young men and women who lost their lives in the high school mass murder in florida. This beer has conviction. For us, its Rocky Mountain water. Or nothing. Coors banquet. Thats how its done. We have one to two fires a day and when you respond together and you put your lives on the line, you do have to surround yourself with experts. And for us the expert in gas and electric is pg e. We run about 2,500 2,800 fire calls a year and on almost every one of those calls pg e is responding to that call as well. And so when we show up to a fire and pg e shows up with us it makes a tremendous team during a moment of crisis. I rely on them, the firefighters in this department rely on them, and so we have to practice safety everyday. Utilizing pg es talent and expertise in that area trains our firefighters on the gas or electric aspect of a fire and when we have an emergency situation we are going to be much more skilled and prepared to mitigate that emergency for all concerned. The things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harms way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldnt ask for a better partner. The president and first lady began their florida weekend with a surprise visit to a hospital treating survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in parkland. Also today we learned more about the lives of some of the 17 who did not survive. We began telling you their stories last night with the information that we had. Its one of the saddest duties that we have, yet its also the least we can do. After the mass murder in aurora, were reminded of a vigil held there and the crowds rallying cry as each name was read. We will remember, the crowd said. Tonight we remember peter wang, who was in rotc. His parents owned a local restaurant. A friend who took cooking lessons with peter wore a shirt today from the class they shared. She said its hard to not have him in the hallways anymore because he and she used to laugh with each other. He used to make me smile, she says, and now hes gone. Peter wang was 15 years old. His friend will remember, and we will remember. Alex schacter was in the marching band in the orchestra. His band director said he had quite a future as a trombonist. A scholarship is being created in his name to help other students enjoy music. Just 14 years old. Alex schacter, we will remember. Meadow pollack was College Bound by staying close to home at nearby lynn university. A friend says please say a prayer for an amazing girl i got to call my best friend. Her life was taken way too soon and i have no words to describe how this feels. Rest in peace my beautiful angel. She was 18 years old. We will remember meadow col app. Carmen schentrup had a future that seemed all hers to write. She was 16. Carmen schentrup, we will remember. And gina montalto, like alex schacter, was in the marching band. She was also a member of the winter color guard, an instructor calling her the sweetest soul ever and saying my heart is broken into pieces. She was just 14 years old. Gina montalto, we will remember. Today there was news thats likely making the suffering harder for the families and the entire community. A startling admission from the fbi just six weeks ago a caller to their tip line warned them about the shooter and his gun ownership, erratic behavior, as well as the potential of him conducting a School Shooting. The fbi apparently did nothing about it. Joining us now is mark kelly. You of course remember hes the husband of former arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords who was critically injured in a shooting in 2011. They started an organization to fight the gun violence epidemic. Captain kelly joins me now from arizona. Captain, im wondering when you saw over the last two days so many of the young kids from that School Coming out and being very vocal about what they want to see change in terms of gun laws in this country, something i dont think weve seen after a School Shooting, so quickly after a School Shooting among the young people who suffered from the shooting. Im wondering what you thought of what you heard and what youve seen over the last several days. Well, anderson, i cant recall having seen this before with, you know, young people of that age. Its kind of a unique circumstance. I mean it was one of the most horrific Mass Shootings weve had in our countrys history, and you have, you know, older teenagers having had to experience that. They were incredibly articulate. I remember seeing one young woman. I think her name was isabel or Isabella Gomez speak after the president gave his remarks. And she you know, she had it spoton. She had it figured out. She noticed there werent a lot of solutions there. She had some ideas of her own. I think what were going to see here over the i hope, you know, over the weeks and months, that these kids, young adults stay engaged, push their communities in the right direction, hold their elected leaders accountable. Theyre going to be voters here, a lot of them. Some of them might be voters already. And that they vote on this issue and demand for change. Do you worry that some may seize on the mistake by the fbi, which is clearly horrific and obviously going to shabe investigated and blame well, there are certainly, you know, people that are elected to congress in washington, d. C. That im sure youve got this figured out, that thats probably going to happen. I was happy to see that the fbi has such a professional organization to own this. You know, the fact that they missed it, they realized they missed it, they owned up to it. Im sure therell be an investigation. Im sure therell be people held accountable as they should be. But they didnt run away from it. Weve seen a lot in government, especially groups of people who have not owned mistakes and problem. So im glad that the fbi stood up and said that this was something that they missed, and im sure theyre going to fix it. Hopefully it doesnt happen again. You know, theyre dealing with an incredible difficult situation in our country with so many firearms and the ability of people that shouldnt have them to get their hands on them. It makes their job incredibly incredibly difficult. But somebody should be held accountable. Clearly there were Mental Health issues with this person that committed mass murder, and ought laugh opeople have focused on that. Is it fair to focus on that, and are you worried thats focused on at the exclusion of focusing on guns as well . Does it have to be either or . We have an incredible high rate of gun violence. 38,000 die for gunshot wounds. Its not for one single reason. Theres not one button we can push or lever we can pull to fix this problem. Dangerous people getting ahold of firearms is an issue. We see that occasionally with these Mass Shootings. We need to address that. At the same time for suspected terrorists, domestic abusers to get their hands on powerful weapons without a background check is just crazy. And the sad thing about this entire situation is we know what works. We know that in the states that have stronger gun laws there is significantly less gun violence. But the problem is we elect people to congress who are supported with a lot of money from the corporate gun lobby, and it paralyzes them. We saw it just in the last couple of days. United states senators speaking on the floor of the u. S. Senate and on the floor of the house of representatives that barely will acknowledge we have a gun violence issue in this country. Is there really a chance for change, though . I mean, look, after new town there was so much talk of change. People saying enough was enough. After vegas there was talk of, you know, bump stocks, which a lot of people hadnt known about prior to the las vegas shooting. There seemed to be bipartisan support for that. Nothing came of it. Were holding elected leaders accountable. Weve passed 200 pieces of legislation in 45 different states. Washington, d. C. Admittedly is incredibly difficult. But we are gradually changing the politics on this issue. If you look at the vote on the concealed carry reciprocity bill about a month ago in the house of representatives, it passed. But there were a lot less republicans that voted actually, a lot more republicans that voted against it than in 2012. Same thing on the democratic side. A lot of democrats that voted before in 2012 did not vote for it in 2017. So we are shifting the politics, but, you know, the gun lobby has been at this a long time and have built an incredible amount of influence. But we really need people, you know, to support candidates that will try to fix the problem. Its a tough problem, but as a nation, you know, were pretty good at solving hard problems. Anderson, you know, we sent people to moon in the 1960s. I mean, were pretty good at this. Ive been at this now since the sandy hook School Shooting, gabby and i. And its devastating to see these Mass Shootings. But we just have to hold people we elect to Office Accountable to do something, and i think these kids are going to make a difference. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Wish you the best. Were back in a moment. Just as the creators intended. Up to 40 off at dell. Com show me the olympic winter games like ive never seen before. Xfinity x1, yeah, i always know the scor. Triple corks in 4k. Lookin so sick. Stream live on every screen, every win, every trick. 2000 hours of coverage, get your mind blown. 50 olympic channels, yup, youre in the zone. And if theres something that you want to see, pick up that voice remote and just say show me. Experience nbcuniversals coverage of the olympic winter games like never before with xfinity. Proud partner of team usa. Another day, another report of a pay off to a woman in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with donald trump. First it was porn actress Stormy Daniels and now its playboy model. The affair began in 2006 when trump had been married for less than two years and Melania Trump had just given birth to their son, baron. The white house says, quote, the president says he never had a relationship with mcduringal. It really put a trip on the beginning of the couples trip to florida. The first lady decided to go to Andrew Air Force base separately from the president , driving there. The president took the helicopter. Do we know why that was and when the decision was made . Her office is telling cnn the decision was made because her schedule made it easier to meet the president on the plane. However, theres nothing public on her schedule today. We learned about this very quickly before it actually happened, not a lot of notice. So clearly this was a decision for the first lady to ride separately on a motorcade and for the president to hop aboard marine one. They did appear together coming off the plane and at a hospital. Its impossible to know what goes on in someones relationship. Weve seen some nonverbal between the first lady and the president. Do you make anything of what you saw today . I think we have to look at Melania Trump and see these nonverbal cues. She is very mysterious, very private. We certainly havent heard a lot from her where some of these headlines really must be a difficult situation for her, from the Stormy Daniels scandal. She did cancel that trip to davos, again saying scheduling. She did slip off to florida sort of unannounced on her own a couple of weeks ago. She did go with the president to cincinnati the other week, but she did attend his speech. She was at a childrens hospital. Clearly were looking at a first lady whos independent, who is not speaking on this topic but who is asserting her independence and breaking with tradition. Kate bennett, appreciate it. Thank you very much for watching 360. Time to hand it over to don lemon. Cnn tonight starts right now. This is cnn tonight. Im don lemon, and we have breaking news on two huge stories tonight. First, the latest bombshell in the russia investigation, and this is big, 13 russians indicted. Charged with attempting to interfere in the 2016 president ial election. Rod rosenstein saying the russians conducted what they call Information Warfare against the United States, which forced coldwater on it president s constant claims the investigation is nothing but a hoax or a witchhunt. Now he cant tweet away the fact that a 37page indictment describes in black and white an Unprecedented Campaign by russia to influence the 2016 election. Supporting trump, slamming hillary cli