Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, breaking news and international stories. Alongside manafort and even stole several hundred thousand dollars from him. I want to quickly go to our justice correspondent jessica schneider, monitoring all these developments. Whats the biggest takeaway so far from todays dramatic testimony . The biggest takeaway, woman, just how elaborate this financial scheme was and how involved is Paul Manafort really seemed to be, directing the movement of money here. Rick gates has been testifying about these hundreds of emails where manafort actually signs off on transferring the money their Consulting Company earned throughout these various foreign bank accounts. Paul manafort would always write back, approving these transfers and signing it with his initial p. This is the prosecution laying out that it was, in fact, Paul Manafort in charge. Also, rick gates is talking about some of these fake invoices that he actually created. We heard about them from the accountants last week. Gates is now owning up to it. He says the invoices were made is actually going to come across in a real way to the jury here. Pretty soon the defense will have an opportunity, michael, to crossexamine. Theyre going to try to undermine this guy as much as possible. Say, you know, hes already admitted lying to federal prosecutors. You cant believe a word he says. Thats exactly right. So they could say to the jury, you have a reasonable doubt when you get to the jury room to deliberate. The problem is that gates testimony is corroborated by all the emails, by the accountants, by the tax preparers, by the weight of the bank records in the fraud aspect of this case. Even if they dont like gates, i think its going to be hard to discredit what he says because theres so much support for it. We have two cases going on here. We have tax fraud, when they were making a lot of money and moving it through cyprus. Then we have bank fraud, where they had no money and were trying to trick banks into do not pay much attention to this cooperation agreement, as if thats the thing that says you cant believe him, he would lie to protect his own hide. In many ways, he has that sentences hanging in front of him as a carrot. He must tell the truth. It enhances his credibility. Everyone stand by. More news coming in. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that federal prosecutors are looking into possible tax fraud by Michael Cohen, the president s former fixer and lawyer. Lets get some analysis of what were just learning from the Wall Street Journal. Laura, let me start with you. The Wall Street Journal headline, former trump lawyer Michael Cohen under investigation for tax fraud. We know the federal attorney for the Southern District of new york in New York City, theyre investigating him. Hes under Criminal Investigation. He hasnt been charged with any wrongdoing yet. But theyve raided his home, raided his apartment at the Regency Hotel in new york. Theyve raided his safe deposit box, his office. A line jumps out at me. Federal authorities are assessing whether mr. Cohens income from his taxi Medallion Business was underreported in federal tax returns. One of the people said, the income included hundreds of thousands of dollars received in cash and other payments over the last five years. So what does this say to you, that theyre squeezing this guy big time right now . Im hearing deja vu. This is precisely in a way what Paul Manafort is on trial right now. Underreporting his income, trying to evade tax payments and only gha obligations, somebody orbiting the president of the United States who would know about their conduct in some way shape or form. Im seeing a bit of a deja vu. Whats interesting is unlike the case of Paul Manafort, Remember Mueller has not wanted the case of Michael Cohen. He has passed this off to a different district court, a different u. S. Attorneys office. I was curious as to why hes chosen to argue on behalf of one and not the other, probably because of the role that Michael Cohen did not play on the campaign, unlike Paul Manafort. How do you see it . Well, this is what you expect in a situation with a depreciating asset like a taxi medallion. They were worth 1. 2 million until uber came. Then this is a depreciating asset. Hes got a whole host of money invested in these medallions. Hes got to deal with this, with the banks, with his taxes. It makes perfect sense there would be fraud on the banks and fraud in the preparation of his taxes as it relates to that asset. And because He Hasnt Bandage charged with any crime, although theres a Criminal Investigation under way right now, but this article is very devastating. If you take a look, he was the president s lawyer and fixer for a decade, maybe 12 years. Hes in deep trouble right now. The former chairman of the president s campaign, Paul Manafort, in deep trouble right now. The Deputy Campaign chairman, rick gates, in deep trouble. The president s former National Security adviser Michael Flynn in deep trouble right now. What does that say to you . Certainly connections to the president. One thing is the Justice Department is sending a strong message. Were on our game. Weve got our facts. Were ready to go after these people. I think also farming some of it out to other parts of the Justice Department makes it a little harder for trump to play the im Firing Mueller Card and calling everything off. I think thats one really important point. The other thing is because you make the Point Mueller referred the Michael Cohen case to the Southern District of new york. Exactly. The tendrils are in different places in terms of how this entire thing is being investigated and prosecuted. I know theres concern were going to see another Saturday Night Massacre like we saw with nixon, but i think its a smart move to have other parts of the Justice Department that are answering to Jeff Sessions and not to Rod Rosenstein to address some of these issues. What it also says to me is theyre squeezing Michael Cohen big time right now to make sure that he does flip, that he does cooperate, pleads guilty to whatever crimes they may have against him, and he could be an excellent witness in terms of the bigger picture. He could be. Of course, all these mounting legal jeopardy cases are going to make him uniquely desiring of doing that very thing, but remember, they actually have to want to hear from him. You cant just say to a prosecutor, id like to make a deal thats favorable to me, i dont actually want to hear from you. I already have the information some place else. I no longer need you. When it was important for you to come forward, you did not. Remember, weve seen him already trying to give little nuggets and Colonels Kernels of informa. Everybody stand by. Theres more we need to follow up on. Were also getting some new reporting right now that suggests the president s legal team is reluctant for the president to answer any questions about possible Obstruction Of Justice in an interview with Robert Mueller and his team. Youre going to find out what happens if they refuse. Plus, a huge primary night here in america that may paint a clearer picture for the midterm elections. Will President Trumps picks win out tonight, and how successful will socialist backed democrats be tonight . Also, as iran gets had hit with u. S. Sanctions, israel says the regime should be, quote, have been aish vanished from the world. This as President Trump issues a new threat against any nation dealing with iran. Stand by. But it seems theres another Sticking Point right now. Namely, the obstruction investigation. Lets go to our White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins outside the president S Bedminster Golf Resort in new jersey. The president has been vacationing there over the past several days. Where do we stand right now on the interview negotiations, kaitlan . Reporter wolf, we still seem to be very much in the middle of this. This has been going on for eight months now, the back and forth between the president s legal team and the special counsels team over whether or not hes actually going to sit down with an interview with the special counsel. What we do know, the latest reporting we have is that the president s legal team is prepared to respond in the coming days to the latest proposal from Robert Muellers team. Wolf, youll remember that proposal was that they would agree to limit the number of questions about Obstruction Of Justice, but they still wanted to ask the president those questions in person. That is something the president s legal team does not want to agree to. They actually want to have no questions about Obstruction Of Justice. Rudy giuliani has made that quite clear. Instead, hoping the questions can only focus on collusion and events that occurred before President Trump took office. You heard that in Rudy Giulianis quote to the washington post, saying theres a real reluctance to allow those questions about Obstruction Of Justice if the president does sit down with them. So they seem to be very much in the middle of this still, this catandmouse game, going back and forth. What we do know, even though these negotiations hit a wall after the fbi raided Michael Cohens house, office, and hotel, the president no longer seeming willing to sit down with the special counsel, he does in recent weeks seem to be expressing that interest once again in sitting down with him, putting him at odds with his legal team here, wolf, but it does seem that it will be the president who makes the final decision about whether or not hes going to sit down with Robert Mueller. Well see what happens, kaitlan. Thank you very much. Back with us now, is there a chance the president will actually sit down with robert moo mueller and his team face to face . I think hes using the media as a focus group. Knowing the court of Public Opinion will ultimately influence the impeachment process, if there is one. I think its in his best interest to speak with his attorneys president , which would not happen if he were subpoenaed. You want that harness and potential muz. Around him and a script in front of him to answer questions that would not be allowed to be there if he had a grand jury. Its in his interest whether hell follow suit is very different. One of the points that were made, maybe hell answer questions on these allegations of, quote, collusion, but hes only going to do it in written form, any questions involving Obstruction Of Justice. So you have three Different Things going on here. You have coordination conspiracy p preelection. Theres no Executive Privilege. He has a hard time denying mueller the right to talk to him about that. Thats the collusion issue. Then you get to obstruction. Obstruction breaks into two different parts. One is the firing of comey. Now, he received information from his topped advisers, rosen ste rosenstein and sessions. That falls within Executive Privilege. Thats what they dont want to talk about. Then theres the firing of flynn, the interference with the fbi by the intelligence community, the interference alleged with the burr committee. All of that doesnt include Executive Privilege. Theyre really trying to parse this out into various pieces so they are only talking about things that Dont Implicate Executive Privilege. Its interesting. If they refuse to answer questions, if the president refuses to answer questions, he potentially could be subpoenaed. That could wind up a decision before the u. S. Supreme court. I want you to listen to what one democratic congressman, adam smith of washington state, told me last night. Nobody has the right to ignore a subpoena. However, remember the Supreme Court that we have. If this goes all the way up to this Supreme Court, you can bring it back to nixon when the Supreme Court at that time required president nixon to turn over the tapes because they were following the law. As ive noted before, this Supreme Court seems to make its decisions based on what donald trump and the Republican Party want as opposed to precedents of the constitution. So if this issue goes up to the Supreme Court, what do you think . Yeah, i mean, i think its hard to get around the nixon case. In addition, even Executive Privilege wouldnt necessarily protect the president from speaking, responding to a subpoena. But the other issue is were dealing with President Trump. Even in the world where we have an order from a court saying you must comply and you must actually respond to the subpoena, this is not a person that i would put would assume would necessarily comply. He might say, listen, i dont think thats a real court, i dont have to, im the president of the United States, im the head of the executive branch, i choose to ignore it. Then were in a fullfledged constitutional crisis. Even if the Supreme Court says you must comply, he could always plead the fifth and not necessarily comply. For specific questions, yes. Okay, guys. Excellent conversation. Thanks very much. Theres other news were following, including a very important primary night here in america. Youre going to hear why the president will be watching very closely, including his 11th hour endorsement and the controversial candidacy of one of his most famous loyalists. Also, cnn uncovers past columns by the Vice President of the United States mike pence who argues that a sitting president can be removed from office over the issue of morals. Saved 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. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Right now, voters in five states are heading to the polls. This will be another major chance to gauge the temperature of voters ahead of novembers midterm elections here in the United States. Were watching primaries specifically in kansas, michigan, missouri, and washington state. All eyes really are on the Special Election in ohios 12th district, where a reliably republican seat is at risk of switching parties. Republican state senator Troy Balderson is squaring off against democrat danny oconnor. Trump, the president of the United States, has thrown his support behind balderson, whos fighting to maintain the republicans threedecadeold hold on the district. Joining us now with big things to watch, associated editor and columnist for real politics, a. B. Stoddard. This is an important race. Were going to be watching it to see if there could be a blue wave in november. Wolf, the democrats are already overperforming in this district. I think the former incumbent won it by 37 points in 2016, trump by 11. So that wasnt a democratic fantasy. That was a democratic fever dream. The idea this race is too close to call, the idea the early voting is coming in better for the democrats is very much spooking republicans. Even a close call tonight, a near miss for republicans, they hold on by a little, is an indication theyll be in for incredible amounts of surprises in otherwise unthinkable places, spending resources all over the map in competitive races across the country. Were going to be watching this Congressional District very closely. Were also watching a race in kansas right now. A race where the president only recently came in and endorsed kobach for that seat. Republicans have made it clear in the last 24 hours, wolf, they did not want this to happen. Theres a sitting republican governor. He replaced a former governor who vacated the seat to go to the administration. Kris kobach is the secretary of the state, a very controversial figure. He ran up President Trumps voter fraud commission. It was not a successful story. Many secretaries of state around the country rejected his methods. They wouldnt share their data with him. The idea that trump is coming in at the last minute and could throw this to kobach would be a gift for democrats, making them far more competitive in the general election and god forbid have a democratic governor in kansas. That would be a huge, luge deal. Were also watching on the democratic side to see where this party, the democratic party, is moving as a result of what happened in New York City just a few weeks ago. Alexandria ocasiocortez won a democratic primary against a longtime democratic sitting congressman. Were seeing if her support for some of these other candidates really can make an impression. Were also seeing if whether the democrats are moving towards this notion of being democratic socialists. The Party Leadership certainly hopes not. Theyd like to take back the white house in 2020, and theyre very conflicted about this movement. They want a star. They need a star. They want the spark and the heat but not the wildfire. So this is being watched with tremendous caution. The first candidate, james thompson, he came close in mike pompeos seat, which was vacated. He almost won by five seats in a district that trump won by Something Like 27. Hes on the heels trying to compete against ron estes. Hes hoping for a comeback and has the best chance. Brent welder is the Bernie Sanders candidate that the democratic establishment is worried if he prevails, theyll lose the seat anyway to the incumbent ken yoder. Cori bush is running against a family legacy. Bill clay, one of the founding members of the congressional black caucus. It will take a lot to prevail. Abdul elsayed, very popular among liberals because they want him to prevail against the democratic establishment. Shes a former state Senate Majority leader who is ahead of him in the polls, but he becomes the first muslim governor of the nation if he wins the primary and prevails in november. A lot of extensive coverage of these races tonight. Thanks, a. B. Excellent analysis. Coming up, ramping up the pressure on iran. The president signing what he calls the most biting sanctions ever imposed on the country, as israel says it would be best if the Iranian Regime would simply vanish from the world. Plus, why is saudi arabia declaring diplomatic war on canada . The saudis expel canadian diplomats, cancel flights, freeze trade, and now telling saudi students who study in canada to return home and go study some place else. Youre going to hear why. Metimek is more than just a day at the ballpark. Stadium pa all military members stand and be recognized. 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Putting the pressure on iran, President Trump is touting tough sanctions on iran saying they are the most biting ever imposed and warning that other countries had better also turn their backs on tehran. Israeli Officials Say it would be best if the Iranian Regime, quote, vanished from the world, while republican senator Lindsey Graham sees it this way. The sanctions today issued by President Trump through Executive Order against iran are crippling, and i think our goal should be as a nation to drive this regime into the ground without firing a shot, stand behind the iranian people. All right. Joining us now, Elizabeth Sherwood randal. As you know, senior trump administration Officials Say Regime Change is not necessarily the goal, but they want to modify the regimes behavior. Is that a realistic goal with these renewed sanctions . Thanks, wolf. You know, this decision the president has taken to reimpose sanctions has huge costs for our leadership and the world for our National Security and for our economicing security. And so my view of this decision to reimpose sanctions when iran iss is dismantling its Nuclear Weapons, the decisions he makes are putting us at risk. You dont think that these kinds of economic sanctions and telling the europeans, the japanese, the chinese, you either are with the United States, you can have trade with the u. S. , or you can have trade with iran, but you cant have trade with both . You dont think thatll have a huge impact domestically, internally . I think it will have a huge impact, but unfortunately not a positive impact. One of the important aspects of the agreement that was put in place was to give benefits to the iranian people for supporting a regime that made the difficult decision to give up its nuclear program. Now that were reimposing sanctions, which makes life harder for the iranian people, that emboldens the hard liners in iran who are always opposed to this agreement and who want to foment the kind of instability that the trump decision supposedly is going to stop. So the president says he wants to stop iranian malfeasance. In fact, what we had done previously was take Nuclear Weapons off the table, encourage the iranian people to move in the direction of engagement with the world, and over time to create more incentives for the iranians to stop their bad behavior in other dimensions. That is now all being blown up. What it does is isolate the United States. It diminishes our standing in the world, the credibility of our word, and puts our allies and partners at risk. So what were doing is also harming their economies, multinationals that are both american and european and asian, and creating the kind of risk that we dont need right now. It gives strategic opportunity to those who are competing with us and indeed hands an economic win to both china and russia. So let me give you some concrete examples. Hold on for one moment. I want to point out that the iranian president , hasan rouhani, says he would welcome talks with the United States and said hes ready to start those talks right now. As you know, last week the president , President Trump, said hes ready to meet with the iranian leadership with no preconditions. So what are the chances we see a summit between the u. S. And iran emerging like the summit we saw between the u. S. And north korea in singapore . Well, its certainly part of President Trumps playbook. We could see a conversation take place. The question there is what are we willing to do . We have taken an action thats unwarranted. The iranians were implementing an agreement. What will be on the table for such a discussion . Whats the credibility of President Trumps word . What is the credibility of the United States at this time when weve ripped up an agreement thats successfully stopping a nuclear program. Israel says the european union, which of course supports the Iran Nuclear Deal, is, quote, morally bankrupt for wanting to keep the Iran Nuclear Deal in place. So why are the european leaders still trying to save the deal after the u. S. Ripped it up . This is an inexplicable stance on the part of the israelis. The israelis are far more secure with an iran that does not have Nuclear Weapons than an iran that restarts its nuclear program. What the europeans are correctly doing is looking for mechanisms that will allow them in concert with others to continue to provide the benefits to the iranian people that would lead the regime to decide to stay in the agreement despite americas withdrawal and despite americas reimposition of very substantial sanctions. This makes it much harder for our companies to do business successfully. Boeing, for example, has a 20 billion Civil Aviation deal with the iranians right now, which has to be put on hold. That affects our workers, our economy. European companies as well. A 5 billion deal to develop the South Oil Field in iran. Theyre most likely to hand it off to its partner, the Chinese National petroleum company, which will benefit from europe pulling out. Elizabeth sherwoodrandall, thanks for joining us. Thanks, wolf. Despite the president declaring that north korea is no longer a nuclear threat, his National Security adviser says kim jongun is not, repeat not, living up to his promise to denuke. This as we learn what the president is telling kim jongun in a new letter. Also, cnn uncovers past writings by the Vice President mike pence in which he argues that a sitting president of the United States can be impeached over morals. Well discuss. If you told me a year ago where id be right now. Aah . I would have said you were crazy. But so began the year of me. I discovered the true meaning of paperless discounts. And the indescribable rush of saving drivers an average of 620. Why does fear feel so good . I fell in love three times once with a woman, once with a country, and finally. With myself. So, do you have anything to declare or not . Isnt that what im doing . Willing to come and talk about all of their malign behavior in the region and around the world, i think theyd find the president willing to do it. But once again, this is a question less of what their propaganda is and what their real intentions are. Joining us now is max boot, a cnn Global Affairs analyst. Hes with the consulate of Foreign Relations as well. So what do you think . Because there is an exchange of letters between President Trump and kim jongun, talk of a second summit, maybe before the end of this year. But you hear john bolton saying the north koreans are not doing what they were supposed to be doing. Theres a clear clash here between the president and his National Security adviser because bolton is speaking the truth, that the emperor has no close. It this agreement is not resulting in denuclearization, u. S. Intelligence suggests theyre expanding those programs, and yet donald trump is not willing to admit that. He says hes, quote, very happy, with the results of the singapore summit. Bolton is basically calling him out here. I wonder what conversation they had back in the white house. You think theres going to be a second meeting . There could well be. Trump is just determined to ignore all the evidence that the north koreans are not actually denuclearizing and to make this the deal of the century, essentially. He wants to play along, especially going into the midterm elections. Hes basically trying to put a happy face on a nondeal where the north koreans are not making significant concessions. Yeah, hes had very nice words to say about chairman kim of north korea. Remember, this is a guy who keeps like 200,000 of his own citizens in slave labor camps. This is a guy who killed his own half brother with Weapons Of Mass Destruction in a national airport, killed his own uncle. This is a brutal, deadly dictator. Its Disgusting Donald Trump lavishes all this praise on him. Lets talk about another sensitive diplomatic issue thats developed. A real crisis between canada and saudi arabia. The saudis pulling out, telling the canadian ambassador hes got to leave, telling saudi students studying in canada on saudi scholarships they have to leave. Were talking about a lot of students. Saudi airlines no longer flying to toronto and other places in canada. Give us some background on Whats Going On right now. This is a really, right. Not normally one of the hot flash points of the world but it is today. This is the crown prince of saudi arabia who likes to portray himself as a modernizer, liberalizer, very young man trying to remake the kingdom. He is allowing women to drive. Hes opening up movie theaters, doing positive things. But at the same time he is a brutal authoritarian who does not want challenges against his rule. Hes allowing women to drive, hes actually putting some of the female activists in jail, the very people calling for the right to drive and canada called him out on that. Now you see this hyper bollic reaction. He bullies at home and abroad. He tried to enhance saudi standing in the region, not very successfully. One of the things that troubles me about this confrontation, wolf, is that the United States is not standing by our canadian allies. The u. S. Takes a handsoff approach saying canada and saudi arabia, you sort it out. Ignoring the fact that canada is a nato ally and they are standing up for human rights the way the United States used to do before the trump administration. Its a real crisis. Max, thank you very much. Theres more news were following. The outgoing speaker of the house of representatives, paul ryan, now opening up about his time in the trump era in a new tellall interview with the New York Times saying hes helped avoid tragedies, but what kind of tragedies is he talking about . Well discuss that when we come back. We really pride ourselven making it easy for you to get your windshield fixed. With safelite, you can see exactly when well be there. Saving you time for what you love most. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace since joining ninehahi, ubmonths ago,o. My priority has been to listen to you. To cities and communities, and to my own employees. Ive seen a lot of good. Weve changed the way people get around. Weve provided new opportunities. But moving forward, its time to move in a new direction. And i want you to know just how excited i am, to write ubers next chapter, with you. One of our core values as a company, is to always do the right thing. 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Cnns kay file uncovered two files where pence argued that bill clintons admission of affair with white house intern and prior lies to the American Public about the matter possibly also under oath meant clinton should be removed from office. He also argued in general about the importance of morality and integrity to the office of the presidency. The White House Correspondent for reuters jeff mason is joining us right now. Jeff, so thats what he said then. Vice president pence has apparently a different view right now. He doesnt talk about it much now. When he made those comments he was not a politician, he was a radio host in indiana. If you look back at his sort of tenure with President Trump during the 2016 campaign, he did criticize then candidate trump after the access Hollywood Tape came out. Since then he as absolutely aligned himself with the president on everything from policy to moral issues. He stands behind the president. He gives his support to everything that he does. Its pretty much his thats who he is now is president trumps number two. Even when hes been asked about stormy daniels, Karen Mcdougal and socalled hush money and all that was paid. Yeah. What does he say . Yeah, hes dismissive of that. He questions the allegations that have been made. He does not come out and talk about moral arguments. If this was a democrat in Office Congress or governor in indiana that his tone and criticism would be much different. Fascinating article the New York Times posted today that will be in the magazine about the outgoing speaker of the house, paul ryan. Its really revealing article and among other things ryan suggests that hes been relatively quiet in public because he wants to make sure he can prevent, quote, tragedies by working with the president and avoiding any serious criticism. In fact, he said he had prevented some tragedies. Then when the reporter followed up and asked what sort of tragedies he didnt expand on that. Yeah, it was a very interesting interview. Interesting to compare the two, mike pence and paul ryan both are to some extent now whether they like it or not tied up or connected to President Trump. Ryan, of course, is leaving office, but his legacy will be connected to this president. Very good article the New York Times. Quickly, you were in helsinki, i was in helsinki. Uhhuh. The president of the United States called on you for a question. It generated a lot of buzz. Let me play the exchange. President putin, did you want President Trump to win the election . And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that . Translator yes, i did. Yes, i did because he talked about bringing the u. S. russia relationship back to normal. So, tell me what happened after the question was. It was a good question. Clearly President Trump was not very happy with your question or your colleague from a. P. , his question either. Yeah. It was an extraordinary press conference. The last question, that was the third one i got, and i was Still Holding on to a microphone even though somebody was trying to pull it away from you. Who was trying to pull it away from you . A staff member. I think they were ready to move on. Were not sure if putin heard the second part about my question, whether he directed staff to help President Trump win the election. It was just an extraordinary moment. And the reaction to it both to the answers that the president of the United States gave and the president of russia continue to reverberate today. Putin confirmed that, yes, he clearly wanted donald trump to be president and Hillary Clinton not to be president. Absolutely. It negates subsequent tweets from the president which he has done since then that russia would have liked clinton to win. Russia doesnt want republicans to be in office. Russia doesnt want me to be in office. President putin admitted on Live Television to all of us there and the millions of people watching that thats exactly what he wanted, indeed. Good point. Good question, jeff