Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20180416

James comey calls the sitting president of the United States a liar who might be vulnerable and wait until you hear how President Trump responded today. Plus the rift growing between the worlds Biggest Nuclear powers after President Trump orders airstrikes on syria. Is there a plan for after the dust settles . Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. We begin with the politics lead and words that surely have never before been said by any news anchor in any circumstance. The president s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen who is under criminal investigation is appearing in court right now alongside Stormy Daniels and there is already a bombshell revelation. We know now that among Michael Cohens clients is fox news host sean hannity and we know that because the judge ordered the identity of the client who requested to be unnamed revealed. This comes as the judge will decide if prosecutors can look at material the fbi seized during the raids on the president s Lawyers Office and hotel and home and safety deputy boxes and Electronic Devices. Court order that sought information about among other things hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels not long before the 2016 election. And this is an unprecedented battle in which the Trump Legal Team is asserting they do not trust the trump administration. The justice department. And were going to try to make sense of this. Shimon, the hearing still ongoing and what have we heard about the bombshell news and Sean Hannitys relationship with Michael Cohen. Yeah, jake, ive been out here since friday and what should have been a very simple hearing with the judge making a simple decision has turned into one bombshell after the other. And just a short time ago the judge forcing Michael Cohens attorney to reveal who this mystery third person was, they submitted Court Documents this morning saying that they revealed two of the clients, the president and Elliott Broidy, a republican finance guy, and the third person they would not reveal and the judge basically after countless arguments by two attorneys representing Michael Cohen and also media attorney there arguing for us in the press saying that preventing Michael Cohens attorney from filing this under seal forced them to reveal the name. He stood up in court this lawyer stephen ryan and he basically said sean hannity ands can you imagine, there was really shock in the courtroom. People ran out, including myself to report the news. And sean hannity just addressed this on his radio show. Well bring that sound in a minute or so. Shimon, weve learned that the u. S. Attorneys office is describing this investigation as fastmoving and that even aside from the raids they have, quote, considerable information about Michael Cohens activity. What does that mean . Reporter so this was in a transcript that aoccurred on friday. A side bar conversation that was released today. And essentially it apee it appears government has been working on this for quite sometime. They obtained emails from other covert warrants they submitted and reviewed emails, and several mail accounts according to the court filing today. In addition, jake, in court we learned this afternoon that the fbi seized some ten boxes of material, this is some of the material that cohen is claiming is privileged and learned there are hard drives and other Electronic Devices they would like to review. And im joining by Jeffrey Toobin and laura coats. Hannity is holding his regular radio show and just addressed this revelation. Take a listen. And let me be very clear to the media, michael never represented me in any matter i never retained him in the traditional sense as retaining a lawyer. I never received an invoice from michael. I never paid legal fees to michael. But i have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which i wanted his input and perspective. Jeffrey toobin, your response . Well, there seems to be some disagreement between Michael Cohen and sean hannity about whether they ever had a legal relationship. And that is potentially significant because if sean hannity is telling the truth there, then their conversations would not be privileged. And any relationship between them would not be privileged. Certainly if sean hannity did retain Michael Cohen he should have disclosed that because hes been a big advocate of Michael Cohen on his television and radio show. That is a matter of journalistic ethics and not a legal issue. But there does seem to be a difference of opinion here about whether there ever was an attorneyclient relationship between the two of them. And laura, one of the things that sean hannity made clear to say was that Michael Cohen never represented him with any third party matter. In comes in the context of Michael Cohen representing donald trump in the Stormy Daniels matter and also representing former Republican National Committee Vice chair Elliott Broidy in a 1. 6 million payment he made to a former playboy model who got pregnant. So hannity trying to make it clear, nothing like that is afoot with him. Of course, he wanted to have the optics look good for himself. But what i picked up on was his statement of he never represented me in a traditional sense as an attorney and client. That is precisely what the government is arguing about why they went into Michael Cohens office, his home and hotel to say, this was not a true attorneyclient relationship. This is somebody who happened to be an attorney, happens to be an attorney on behalf of the president of the United States, but maybe not. And because of that, because there is a disconnect in there, the statement by sean hannity helps the governments case to say, this isnt somebody you could protect or somebody who had an invoice. You could do probono legal work. But the idea there was never a time that actually had a clear Attorney Client relationship, that is horrible for Michael Cohens ability to say, please do not let them look at these documents, this footage or electronic information. And jeffrey to your point. Hannity, one of the most successful and viewed anchors in cable news and covering this story of the raid on Michael Cohens office, hotel room and home and safety deposit box, Electronic Devices and here is how he reacted to the news of the raids on cohen a week ago today. Do you think Hillary Clintons attorneys had their offices raided during the email investigation. Not a chance. Mueller has declared war against the president of the United States. Clearly his objective is to remove him from office. Now i told you and i told anyone who will listen, muellers team is corrupt starting with him so not in that clip and as far as we can tell, never did he disclose that Michael Cohen had he had some sort of professional relationship with him. Right. That is sort of journalistic ethics 101. If you have some sort of relationship with someone you are reporting about, you let your viewers or readers and your readers know about it. What is confusing here is that he does not seem to say on the radio today, hannity seems to say that there was no Attorney Client relationship so maybe there was nothing to disclose. I think all of us know sean hannity is a krorve and trump supporter is not supporting that he would speak to Michael Cohen in a friendly way. There is nothing wrong or inappropriate about that. But if there was an Attorney Client relationship it should have been disclosed on the air. And it sounds like you pointed out initially, Michael Cohen and sean hannity have a disagreement of sorts about whether or not sean hannity is a client of his. In a new transcript the Attorneys Office is describing the cohen investigation as a fastmoving investigation and side from the rain they, quote, already have considerable amounts ever information about Michael Cohens activities. What is your takeaway on that. This is clearly what we thought in the beginning. This does not start with avenatti talking about Stormy Daniels and the off the cuff remark by the president in the back of air force one. This began weeks and potentially months ago. And we thought that would be the case because remember, probable cause is the floor, not the ceiling for getting a warrant. A warrant of this magnitude of an attorney of somebody who said that they are the attorney for the president of the United States, that would have been the bear minimum. And so they have to have the piles of information and evidence to convince a judge and a neutral magistrate to say, there is a reason we have to raid this persons home, their office and their hotel room without getting any permission and without any notice before hand. This is not surprising to me. But it is shocking for Michael Cohen to know this has been in the works for quite sometime. There may be even tapped lines in some way. That we dont know about it yet. A lot of coming his direction. And i spoke with Stormy Danielss Attorney Michael Avenatti yesterday on state the union and he told me that i strongly believe that within the next 90 days well see an unceiling of an indictment against Michael Cohen for a host of very serious offenses. Is that brafr bravado or a reason to believe it is true. There is certainly reason to believe Michael Cohen is in a world of trouble. It is very unusual for judges to agree for a search of a Lawyers Office. It is happened. It created unusual problems and that is what they are sorting out in court about who reviews the documents to see if theyre privileged. But just the basic fact is the judges dont give search warrants for Lawyers Offices unless there is very compelling evidence of criminality. That suggests an indictment might be possible. But i do think in fairness to Michael Cohen, we need to be very careful about saying that. And more careful than Michael Avenatti because we dont know what the evidence is and we dont know what crimes hes suspected of. So im not going to sit here and say hes about to be indicted for x when i dont know that is the case. Jeffrey toobin and laura coates. Thank you. Could the revelation about Michael Cohen and sean hannity hurt President Trump . New information about the relationship between hannity and coen next. Stay with us. You might take something for your heart. Or joints. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Helets see whatll forensics thinks. Sorry im late. What did i miss . Wanna get away . Now you can with southwest fares as low as 49 dollars oneway. Thats transfarency. So we know how to cover almost weve anything. St everything even close claws. [driver] so, we took your shortcut, which was a bad idea. [cougar growling] [passenger] what are you doing . [driver] i cant believe that worked. I dropped the keys. [burke] and we covered it. Talk to farmers, we know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum whatever it takes, wherever i have to go. Im beating this. 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According to Michael Cohens attorney, but a source tells cnn that sean hannity never asked Michael Cohen to assert Attorney Client privilege and hannity said on his radio show he thought conversations were confidential and the source said he has no interest in being associated with the proceeding but insisted the information is not permanent to the government investigation. And my panel joins me to make sense of this. I dont understand what is going on. What do you think is going on in terms of Michael Cohen asserting that sean hannity was a client and sean hannity kind of down playing it . It is the most bizarre thing. Because we were talking ourselves trying to figure out, well what does this all mean. But here is the thing, jake. I think the problem here is youre talking about two people who have no credibility. And neither of them are honest brokers. So it is like, who do you believe . I cant i dont see myself believing either of them and you need more evidence before you would make a statement on this. David you you have a different take. As far as credibility, ill leave that up to you to judge. And sean hannity is a smart guy and he said he assumed the conversations with mr. Coen were privileged and not confidential. Priv linled is protected under the law. So his choice of words are pretty specific thinking obviously he is saying he wasnt my attorney and we didnt have Attorney Client privilege and Michael Cohen asserted the exact opposite of that. Im not sure if hes trying to posture or perhaps for whatever reason and assert that sean hannity was his client. I dont see that what gets him moving forward. But well have to stay tuned. And jackie, this comes as Michael Cohen is disclosing who his clients are. Right. We know the president is one of the his clients and the storm started some of this, presumably and Elliott Broidy a former republican finance vice chair through Michael Cohen paid off a playboy model 1. 6 million. He had impregnated her apparently. But sean hannity quick to say hes never represented me in a thirdparty matter. I think this is a list like being on the rnc finance committee, you dont want to be one of Michael Cohens clients at this point. But the real question is when you take a step back, why didnt hannity disclose this on his show . Hes been talking about this case and talking about Michael Cohen over and over again and he if i would say that before i commented. For the viewers, for people who are following this. I think that is a question of, okay, if you talked to him, why not say that. So are beyond reproach on this issue. But jackie, at that point maybe sean hannity didnt consider the conversations as attorneyclient and he wasnt engaging him as a lawyer. But he got legal advice. But here is the problem. You have sean hannity on fox news every night for the past how many years now that weve been dealing with donald trump. And donald trump in particular who is literally using his show like a state tv for the white house and going after the doj and everyone against donald trump and here this is a detail that he did not share that is true. I dont have the i cant answer it. Im just hypothesizes why. There is nothing we can do because we dont know the details. I thought i heard sean hannity say on his radio show today and listening out of the corner of my ear as we were getting ready for the show, there were times maybe he would give Michael Cohen like 10, so that something was covered under Attorney Client privilege. Youre a lawyer, does it work that way. I play one on the show. Lets put it that way. You have a law degree. I was a Public Finance lawyer not a criminal lawyer. I cant tell you the construct of what constitutes or threshold you have to cross to have the protection. I dont think that perhaps giving somebody 10 and shaking hands constitutes the privilege. I could be mistaken but you im sure twitter will blast me and say it does. Twitter is going to twitter. Do you buy the argument that the New York Times report associates of President Trump think this matter, the Michael Cohen matter and forget sean hannity but this is potentially more worrisome than the mueller matter . He seems awfully upset about it. And this is something even if he fires mueller, this is going to go on. This in a different jurisdiction, he cant touch this because it involves new york state. So the fact that he has no control over it, you have to imagine that will anger the president even more and could have bigger consequences. He cant make this go away. It is going to have a he cant. There are consequences and impeachment. There is and Michael Cohen is like his fixer. His hatchet man. Things are buried. Not literally. Stick around. Just want to make sure. Stick around. Fired fbi director james comey saying the president is morally unfit for the office and how is the white house responding . Stay with us. Almost 800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to liberty mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782 when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. If youd have told me three years ago. That wed be downloading in seconds, what used to take. Minutes. That guests would compliment our wifi. That we could video conference. And do it like that. snaps if youd have told me that i could afford. A gigspeed. A gigspeed network. Its like 20 times faster than what most people have. Id of said. Id of said youre dreaming. Dreaming definitely dreaming. Then again, dreaming is how i got this far. Now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Were just learning that 10 Million People tuned into to hear james comey first tv interview where he questioned everything from the president s hair to the size of his hands to most notably his fitness to lead the United States. Cnn Boris Sanchez joins me live from West Palm Beach where the president will spend the weekend. We know he watched bits and pieces of james comeys interview but since it aired, hes only tweeted one nasty tweet about cohen. That is right. And hes had plenty of opportunities to respond on camera after a barrage of tweets over the weekend. And instead the president letting that tweet and some of his surrogates do the talking for him. Did you watch james comeys interview . President trump avoiding reporterss questions today as his staff takes up the battle for believable against james comey and hi tellall book in a scathing first interview since being fired last year, he told abc news that President Trump was unfit to lead. I think hes morally unfit to be president. [ chanting ] the person who sees moral equivalence in charlottesville and talks about and treats women like they are pieces of meat and lies constantly about matters big and small and insist the American People believe it, that person is not fit to be president of the United States on moral grounds. Reporter the white house quick to shoot back. James comey is a disgrace, disgruntled, discredited individual. This morning the president s close advisers lined up and took direct aim at his credibility and motives. The president thinks that james comey is isseni engagi [ inaudible ]. And it is unfortunate that people think hes got a big story to tell. He had very limited interaction with the president reporter this as a recent abc news poll Shows Americans find comey more believable than trump. By a margin of 48 to 32 . Also drawing ire from the oval office comeys admission that he reopened the fbi investigation into Hillary Clintons emails days before the 2016 president ial election because he assumed that she would win the president ially. His october 28th letter to congress on the matter no doubt a key moment in the race. Wouldnt it feel like to be james comey in the last ten days of that campaign after you sent the letter. It sucked. I walked around vaguey sick to my stomach and feeling beaten down and i was totally alone and that everybody hated me. And that there wasnts away out because it really was the right thing do. Reporter the president tweeted out his response this morning, leveling criminal accusations at the former fbi director, wroting, comey drafted the crooked hillary exoneration long before he talked to her, lied in congress to senator g. And then based his decisions on her poll numbers. Disgruntled, he and mccabe and the others committed many crimes. It was just the latest in days of unfiltered response to comeys revelations. It seem this is fight is one neither the president or comey is willing to forfeit. And we may still see a more thorough response from President Trump as you well know, jake, james comeys media tour is just kicking off with a number of different appearances still to be aired this week. And as you noted, the president is here in maralargo where his more lengthy and angry twitter tirades have been spawned. Jake, indeed. Thank you so much. My panel is back with more. David urban, so i guess probably the most strongest thing that comey said last night was that he said the president is morally unfit for the job and he said based on the president suggesting there was a moral equivalence between different sides in charlottesville and women treated like meat and the lies how do you respond to that. The president is morally unfit. Obviously i dont im not here to debate the how the president s what the president s response to charlottesville or the issues of the women, but in terms of the moral equivalency and kocombys association they are not not asking for him to be a moral the media takes umbrage with any and they make fun of him. You cant have it both ways. They make fun of him for being too moral and the president for being amoral. So im not sure where everybody wants things to fall down and i dont think this stage in america that the nation looks for the president to be the moral leader. I dont think ive ever made fun of the vice president. A lot of people have. You have to admit. But let me ask you lets about the point that the American People knew who donald trump was before they elected him, that is a fair point. It is not as though people thought he was im going to date my selfwith this reference, but like alan alda with women and people knew he was a cad and said things that werent true and when it came to some maybe he had some blind spots to issues of race and such. He has a point there. Yeah, but here is the thing. If we go back to 2016, james comey mishandled the Hillary Clinton emails. He just did and that is a fact. And i do believe that he did hand over the white house to donald trump. There is Scientific Evidence that shows that it did have an effect what he did days out before the election. And we have to remember, her polls were way up and then that happened and things changed. And so that is a problem that James Comey James comey has to live with. But at the end of the day, that is not that is absolutely not why donald trump fired comey. He fired him because of the russia thing. He said it himself. And he wanted to obstruct justice and protect himself and his family and his top aides. That is not true he said no, james comey never once said that. Im talking about donald trump. Donald trump said he said that to lester holt. And there is one thing about james comey and what he did but that is not why he fired james comey. And jackie, i want to get your response and Kellyanne Conway in october of 2016 when everybody sitting in the different chairs and the Hillary Clinton people were attacking james comey and Kellyanne Conway tweeted astonished by the allout assault on comey by team clinton, suggesting he is a partisan interfering with the election is dangerous and unfair. There is say tweet for that. It is a genre of i feel like twitter and and it is hypocritical. Of course. Because theyre all guns blazing at james comey. And also the Sarah Huckabeesanders tweet about when you are atalking the fbi you are losing. Right. So there is a lot of this. Now on the other side of it, they are taking the opposite position. And james comey will argue and i think on thursday when i interview him, i think he feels that he gets attacked by both sides means he is doing his job the right way. He would probably argue that. But i know you two disagree. Well it is just it is hard to believe that he came forward with the information about Hillary Clinton because he was worried about her being a legitimate president. I think he was more worried about the fbi and and you agree with that. Absolutely. He was trying to protect himself. Self preservation in 2016 listen, and then in 2016 and the majority leader harry reid sent a letter saying comey is guilty of a violation of the hatch act. Hes a Public Employee and engaged in electionering. And it is the same genre of Rod Rosenstein and how he handled the Hillary Clinton case, it is not true. But everybody using whatever they want to make the argument and stick around. What you didnt hear during the comey interview next. Vo gopi has built her business with her own two hands. Each unique piece comes to life in the same way. A messy, sloppy, splattery way. But now shes found a way to keep her receipts tidy, even when nothing else is. Brand vo snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, 4,340 in tax savings. Smarter Business Tools for the worlds hardest workers. Quickbooks. Backing you. Ythen you turn 40 ande everything goes. Tell me about it. You know, its made me think, im closer to my retirement days than i am my college days. Hm. Im thinking. Will i have enough . Should i change something . Well, youre asking the right questions. I just want to know, am i gonna be okay . I know people who specialize in am i going to be okay. I like that. You may need glasses though. Yeah. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today with td ameritrade. Hey, im curious about your Social Security alerts. Oh well alert you if we find your Social Security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so youll be in the know. Ewww being in the know is very good. Dont shake ahhh sign up online for free. Discover Social Security alerts. Of all of the things james comey said in his first interview promoting his bombshell book, this might end up being the most dangerous for President Trump. Was President Trump obstructing justice . Possibly. It certainly some evident of obstruction of justice. Joining me now is jim sciutto and the question is, is comey now a star witness for the obstruction of justice case. A star witness. That is the way to look at the interview and set aside for a moment the assessment of trumps fitness for office and his personal description and remember he is a witness to issues that we know are of interest to the special counsel and most importantly the meeting in the oval office in early in President Trumps term when President Trump according to james comey asked him to let it go, the case against Michael Flynn when he was under criminal investigation and he said in the interview airing yesterday he would be willing to testify under oath if the special counsel pursues a prosecution under obstruction of justice with that in mind. Hes a witness and you could argue a credible witness. People have their opinions but he is a credible witness in that environment. What did comey have to say on whatever compromising information russia might emphasize might have on trump. He had to Say Something remarkable to hear from the mouth ever a former fbi director who was briefed at least on the early its about this. Have a listen. Do you think the russians have something on donald trump . I think it is possible. I dont know. These are more words i never thought i would utter about the president of the United States but it is possible. Possible that the russians have compromising flf informan on donald trump. From early on that was the central claim of the steel dossier that we were among the first to report on this briefing that they sh financial and personal information and some salacious on him and the fbi director saw much of the intelligence and not making a final conclusion but saying it is possible. Lets bring the panel back. Okay, let me just ask this, it is possible. Jeffrey toobin today on cnn was very harshly critical of james comey for saying that. Because it is possible that the russians have it and it is the same thing as saying it is possible that they dont. And toobins argument is that is not what prosecutors do. They either have evidence or no evidence and toobin said this is the same thing he tried to do with Hillary Clinton. Where they had no evidence that she had broken the law but he also wanted to chum the waters and criticize her. Right. I dont disagree with jeffrey on this one. It is irresponsible to throw that out there and not say anything to back it up and say anything to refute it. It really does it fuels already toxic environment where and people were tuning into that interview to understand what happened. That doesnt contribute to anybodys understanding of what happened with the president in russia. There is possible there is life on other planets. It is possible. I agree with Jeffrey Toobin and a respect him and i think he is a smart guy and i dont have any argument against that. The only thing i would say is that donald trump has not been acting like a innocent man in all of this. And the fact of the matter is that his Campaign Chair has been indicted, the deputy to the Campaign Chair has been indicted and now cooperating, Michael Flynn has been indicted and now cooperating. But im just saying, there is something there and to this, that is all corin, you know as well as i do, manafort, gates, those are 2013 crimes they are pleading guilty to. 2013, long before donald trump was a candidate. James comey and the rest of the quote if you read it and let it play out, it said it is possible, but i dont think it is likely. So completely i agree with toobin and these two fine ladies here, i think it is irresponsible for director comey to be doing that and saying those things. Comey spoke with usa today about how trump talked about putin behind closed doors. Take a listen. At least in my experience, he wont criticize Vladimir Putin even in private. Even in a meeting with three people in the oval office he is arguing that he gave a good answer when he said essentially we are the same kind of killers that putins thugs are. And this comey writes about this in the book. One of the arguments is even if trump publicly wants to have a Good Relationship with Vladimir Putin and that is why he publicly doesnt want to criticize him and make an argument for that, why privately would he be unwilling to criticize putin and this is in response to his interview with bill oreilly when he said putin is a killer and he said you dont think we are killers to. You dont have to take james comeys word and there is a lot of recording that says that and the Washington Post had a story about how the president had to be dragged over the finish line to expel the Russian Diplomats and he was angry when he found out they expelled 60 and it would look different than the European Countries also expelling diplomats. His behavior with Vladimir Putin is questionable which is why when james comey is asked about whether the president is colluding with the russians or whatever question was, it does raise eyebrows because he needed to give a strategy answer quickly because i think the russia stuff if you are hanging your head on russian collusion im not hanging their hat on russian collusion and big finding, you will be wait a long time. I will repeat what i said early is donald trump is not acting like an innocent man you will be waiting a long time on the russian thing. And she escaped as a little girl and watching today fascism is here in our faces and here and abroad and pointing at the white house. Is that fair . Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright joins me next. Stay with us. For all the noses that stuff up around pets. Theres flonase sensimist. It relieves all your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. Accused of obstructing justice to theat the fbinuclear war, and of violating the constitution by taking money from foreign governments and threatening to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . Im tom steyer, and like you, im a citizen who knows its up to us to do something. Its why im funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. Yet today people in congress and his own administration know that this president is a clear and present danger whos mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing. Join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. Our country depends on it. 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Vowed additional measures will be announced as early as today. This comes as International Investigators are trying to get to the site of that april 7th chemical weapons attack in syria and expressing fears russia may have already tampered with the evidence. Joining me now to talk about this and much more is Madeleine Albright, former secretary of state under president bill clinton and out with a new book titled, fascism and the news that the president stopped the sanctions, even though nikki haley announced they might come as soon as today, happened the same time that comey is on usa today saying that even in private President Trump wouldnt criticize Vladimir Putin and there is the new Washington Post report saying the president is upset to learn how big the expulsion of the Russian Diplomats was. What do you make of this reluctance of President Trump to criticize putin . There are so many crazy parts to all of this. And i think the question is why does he want to do that . And i think that some of the things that there is something that he wants to make sure that putin stays a friend of his. So we only have to speculate about what that is. The bottom line is everything about this is nuts. Because in fact, the russians were supportive of assad in terms of using the chemical weapons because they were the ones that had delivered him in terms of getting an agreement. The other part is that they the reason for the earlier sanctions and throwing all of the diplomats out has to do with what the russians were doing in england and putin is behind all of that. These things would not be happening. And then just the disarray in decisionmaking. I was ambassador to the United Nations and i have to say, i feel sorry for nikki haley to she has been very tough up there, making points. She makes very clear that she represents the president. And all of a sudden shes put into this ridiculous situation of looking as though she is out there by herself on something and that undermines the whole decisionmaking process and makes us, frankly, look absolutely inept. Your book focuses on the spread of fascism across the globe and the threat to the United States. You write about leaders such as putin and trump, quote, if we think of fascism as a wound from the past and it almost healed and putting trump in the white house was like ripping off the bandage and picking at the scab. Those are tough words. There is not fascism in the United States and i have freedom of the press and people are voting, what do you mean by that. Im not saying trump is a fascist but hes the most undemocratic president in modern american history. That his in instincts are antidemocratic and to undermine the president and underplayed the role of the Judicial Department and he does make clear that he doesnt understand the way a democratic system works and that gives a lot of comfort to those authoritarian fascism people out there and he is not playing the role needs to play which is the leader of the free world. You write about the comfort he brings President Trump brings to people like duterte in the philippines or erdogan in turkey. How does he bring them comfort . Well first of all, it used to be that the United States makes clear what democracy is about, freedom of speech and independent judiciary and not propaganda and the number of different ways. So we are not carrying that out. That seat in america now is empty. But the other part is even worse than that. He will go, for instance to poland and stood behind beside the polish leader and said what they were doing was great. And what theyve done is also undercut their judiciary so he is giving importance to them. We have to go to the courthouse in manhattan where a hearing involving the president s lawyer have concluded. He never thought that the little man or women and even more women like me mattered. That ends now. My attorney and i are committed to making sure that everyone finds out the truth and the facts of what happened. And i give my word that we will not rest until that happens. Thank you very much. That was porn actress Stormy Daniels at the courthouse. Here is her Attorney Michael Avenatti. I will now accept questions about todays hearing and other topics relating to my client. [ inaudible question ]. I think judge wood was very reasoned and measured in her approach relating to the documents. Our number one concern was that the documents, the integrity of the documents be maintained during the process. It is clear from the order by judge wood that that is exactly what is going to happen. That will ensure that no documents are exfoliated or destroyed or otherwise tampered with which is our chief concern [ inaudible question ]. Im not going to answer that. That is a ridiculous question. Next question. [ inaudible question ]. Well shes ultimately going to determine whether a special mast ser appropriate or not. One thing i will say is this, i said last friday and this weekend that Michael Cohen was radioactive and that anybody that was associated with him in the last 20 to 30 years should be very, very concerned. What we witnessed earlier in the hearing with the disclosure relating to sean hannity proved my point exactly. He is radioactive. Anyone that had any contact with this man in the last 20 years should be very concerned about what secrets of theirs are within these documents. Next question. [ inaudible question ]. Im sorry . [ inaudible question ]. Depending on what is contained in the documents i think there is significant danger to the president , the president trusted the president trusted mr. Coe cohen and with his inner most secrets and i think the chicken are about to come home to roost. [ inaudible question ]. I wouldnt even begin to advise the president at this juncture. I think the ship has sailed. [ inaudible question ]. Because we wanted to ensure the integrity of the documents was maintained and lend her voice toward making sure that the American People learned the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about what happened to her and to others in her position over the last 10 to 15 years. We havent made a determination as to whether she will attend each hearing in connection with this process. [ inaudible question ]. Well i think it speaks volumes and i think sean hannity got thrown under the bus by Michael Cohens counsel who was more concerned about protecting the president than sean hannity and well let them sort that out. And anything else . Yes, are you concerned for your safety right now as we speak today . I have been concerned with my safety for the duration of the case as my client has been. But weve decided the risk is more than worth it and well see this to conclusion, whether it is next week, next month, next year, no matter how long it takes, were not going away. Thank you. That was Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels whose real name is Stephanie Clifford outside of the courtroom where Michael Cohen had. And shimon, what came out of todays hearing other than the disclosure that mr. Cohen believes he has also been a clientalso had a client of sean hannity. So to the legal case, a small victory for Michael Cohens team. The judge has agreed and told the prosecutors the government here to turn over and hand them all of the documents that they obtained in that fbi raid, remember were here because Michael Cohens attorneys are arguing there is privileged material. Well the judge sided somewhat with Michael Cohens attorney and said, okay, im going to have the prosecutors hand you all of the documents, all of that material, and then we will reconvene and you well essentially what will happen is theyre going to decide after that what is privileged and what is not. The bottom line is the government and the fbi and prosecutors cannot begin looking at any of this material for their investigation. So this will perhaps delay it somewhat. Thank you so much. Cnn legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and laura coates are with me. Break this down. What just happened . What did the judge do. The question is who will look at the documents to decide whether there is even assertion of a privilege and it looks like cohens the president s lawyers will look at the documents and make a case to the judge that these documents should not be shown to the prosecution. So it is a victory i think for the recipients of the search warrant, the people who were searched because they now have the right to make an argument that trs privileged and the judge will decide whether the privilege applies. And that is true. To have this covert way of handling the warrant because they didnt trust the person to be forthcoming or hand over materials so it seems counter intuitive it will go back into the hen house to figure out how to deal with it from here. That is it for the leed. Thank you so much. This thursday i will sit down with former fbi director james comey for his first cable news interview live right here on the lead on cnn this thursday at 4 00 i now turn you over to wolf blitzer with more on breaking news in the situation room. Thanks for watching. Happening now, Michael Cohen is forced to reveal in court that the secret name of his client list is fox news host sean hannity. One of the president s biggest boosters. Why was hannity talked to a man nobody as the fixer . Fbi evidence, as Michael Cohen fights to suppress evidence seized in the fbi raids against him, why is the president s legal team joining that battle against federal prosecutors . Stormy hearing. Storms steals the spotlight from Michael Cohen when she showed up at his hearing. What does her appearance mean for her own fight against the man who funded her hush money agreement. And morally unfit. Former fbi director james comey said President Trump is morally unfit, lies constantly and treats women like theyre meets pieces of meat and trump said comey committed many crimes. How do they really feel . Im wolf blitzer and youre in the situation