This is cnn blakicnn break im wolf blitzer in the situation room. We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Were following Breaking News on the president s former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the russia investigation. Two Court Filings just released, one by the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, the other by prosecutors in new york, and theres new information about cohens cooperation. What it could mean for President Trump and for Michael Cohen as the feds in new york argue he should get substantial prison time. Right now, Robert Mueller also is set to file a secret document on Paul Manafort, the former Trump Campaign chairman, and why prosecutors believe manafort lied. Theres lots of news to unfold right now. I want to go first to our
political correspondent sara murray. Sara, muellers document makes it clear that Michael Cohen was cooperating but hes not necessarily suggesting he shouldnt get a substantial prison sentence. No, i think theres
the today show, he reveals stunning new details about those critical days after comey s shocking ouster. did you suspect the president might be actually working for russia? we thought it might be possible. did you tell congress? and i told congress what we had done. did anyone object? that s the important part, savannah, no one obtainjected, on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds. joining me now, harry litman and jeff mason, thank you very much both for being with us. harry, first of all, the significance of mccabe saying that they notified congress of this counterintelligence investigation in those days. and justifying in his book and in this interview why they felt the president was a threat. the title of the book, as savannah pointed out, is the athleti threat: how the fbi protects
take the fifth because i don t want to tell the real story. the question here is not whether people lied. it s about contacts with the russians. if they weren t significant, why does everybody lie? i think, yes, it is about context with the russians, that s what mueller is investigating, whether there was collusion but i think it matters that donald trump lied if you believe what investigators have laid out in all these documents when he was a kacandidate, he s koblted to lie to the american people when he was in the white house. and one of the questions that springs to mind is why? donald trump may still have won even if there were women that they had paid off, even if the american public knew he was working on this project in moscow. he may still have won. but you are left with this picture that donald trump and all of the people he surrounds himself with are willing to do whatever it takes to get power and then to stay in power. pamela brown, what do you think? how s the white h
same perception when he criticizes them based on his perception of what their nationality might be. i know you agree with that, too, but in terms of when he complained about the judge who may oversee one of his trump university cases judge curiel. judge curiel, certainly when you are talking about the criticism of the messenger himself. my point is that when you criticize a judge based on non- legal grounds or grounds that have nothing to do with the actual mission and job and the judiciary, i think it is offensive. well, candidate trump s racist attack on judge curiel was beyond the pale. but, you know, he demoralizing, are these people so sensitive that they can t take some criticism? you know, what is interesting about this is part of the judge s ruling on the sanctuary city case was based on things the president and his administration officials have said about sanctuary cities, and we have seen judges doing this before, certainly on the immigration case, on the ban from s