The White House Press corps have had for him all week about this. He also left for bedminster this afternoon, ignoring questions once again. Its just a pattern of this white house refusing to answer for why statements made both from the president and also from his senior aides at the White House Press podium have not turned out to be true, or at least they are now under question based on what we now are hearing from what Michael Cohen might have to say to special counsel mueller. It wouldnt be the first time that Sarah Sanders has had to correct herself after making statements about what the president knew and didnt know, but this time Sarah Sanders hasnt even been available to answer questions about this. The white house has been virtually silent. Yeah. Is there reporting on how the president is feeling about the latest news . Reporter well, the president has been very angry. Thats what were hearing from an Administration Official this week. Hes been watching the coverage on television, Angry With Cohen for releasing the tapes, for bringing up these news stories, for hiring bill and hillary
clintons former attorney, and hes also been angry at the news media for continually asking him questions about this and not about a lot of other things that he would rather talk about. The president has been stewing about this coverage. He wants to change the subject, and he is talking to his lawyers as well, talking about legal strategies for how they cope with this. It seems, though, anderson, that the strategy theyve come up with is attack Michael Cohen and say nothing publicly to the media. And still no explanation from the white house why it seems like the president lied about his knowledge of any payment from ami to Karen Mcdougal. Reporter this is another case of the white house making statements about what the president did and did not know. Senior Trump Officials have said the president didnt know anything about these payments. That turned out to be completely untrue based on the audiotape of the president himself talking about that payment were Michael Cohen before the election. But, again, here the white house refusing to talk about it. White house aides are now referring questions about this issue to the president s outside
lawyers even though some of these issues involve the statements made by people who worked in the white house now or very recently. So, anderson, theyre hoping that we dont continue asking questions about this. There hasnt been a White House Press briefing in several days. There have only been three this month at all. They are clamping down on the opportunities that reporters get to ask both the president and also senior white house officials questions about all of these matters. Abby phillip, thanks very much. Needless to say, cnns scoop on Michael Cohen got a lot of people talking, especially among democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee who believe their republican colleagues ended their investigation far too soon. Earlier tonight i spoke with congressman Eric Swalwell of california. Congressman swalwell, Michael Cohen testified in front of your committee back in october of last year. Did he say anything that indicated the president did, in fact, know about this meeting with the russians at trump tower . Good evening, anderson. Michael cohen was asked by our committee about the trump tower meeting. Were not allowed to go into
what he said, but i do believe this is all the reason that the republicans should release the transcripts, not just for Michael Cohen but every witness who was interviewed around the trump tower meeting. I will say this, though. Michael cohen is being accused of being a liar, but all of the lies that he has told were on behalf of donald trump, and we have seen every day in america witnesses who come forward, testify in court, change their story because they want to Tell The Truth, and juries rely on that, and that is often persuasive if it can be corroborated. Thats what we have to do now is to see if his testimony can be corroborated. If it turns out donald trump jr. Didnt Tell The Truth in front of congress, should he be held in contempt . Would there be any appetite from republicans obviously to do so . Right now, theres no appetite from the republicans. They closed our investigation. I think this revelation shows how premature and irresponsible it was that we ended our investigation because ideally with this new information, you would bring Michael Cohen back, give him an opportunity to come clean, and then youd also want to confront donald trump jr. With the new information. Thankfully bob mueller is able to pursue this, and thats all the more reason that his investigation should be protected. Is there any reason to take cohens word over the president s on this . I mean cohen certainly didnt make a career as the president s fixer of being guided, you know, it seems by truth and honesty . Well, the tough part here is theyve all lied from the president , when he tried to clean up his sons statement and when this was revealed, to donald trump when he first told the public what this meeting was about. But in our investigation, we believe that the president did know for a number of reasons. One, he was just one floor above where this meeting took place when it took place. He had put out days before the meeting took place that new information about Hillary Clinton was coming. We also know that the president used a blocked number at that time, and donald trump jr. , before the meeting took place, talked to the russians in a onehour period, called the blocked number, and then talked to the russians again. And then finally, anderson, the family that asked donald trump jr. To arrange this meeting were very close to candidate trump, and its someone that candidate
trump corresponded with just days after the meeting. All the circle evidence suggests he did know. Just the common sense thing of the headline from that meeting, even from the email, is the russian government is supporting your campaign. If youre donald trump jr. , i find it almost impossible to believe that hes not going to say to his dad, hey, guess what, i dont know if this is true or not, but weve been told now by you know, by this prominent family and these people representing that the russian government is supporting your campaign. Were going to meet with them, or we just met with them and nothing came of it. But they said they were supporting your campaign. And, anderson, because so much of our testimony came from selfserving deniers, the people, you know, who were at the meeting and said that donald trump never knew about it, we sought to build the closeness in relationship between donald trump jr. And his father. And what we established was that donald trump jr. Often relayed to his father the most minute information that was coming from
the campaign. So, again, to suggest that he wouldnt bring to his father something as powerful as the russians seeking to help his campaign and hurt his opponent, its just it doesnt add up. Yeah. Congressman swalwell, thanks so much. Appreciate it. My pleasure. More now on the many legal implications for the president , his son, and Michael Cohen. Joining us are Carrie Cordero and asha rangappa. Carrie, the president has never been under oath about this. So i mean if Michael Cohen not only tells this to Robert Mueller but also has people who can corroborate it, legally speaking is there any risk for the president . Well, theres risk in terms of the broader russia investigation. So a lot of times we talk about collusion. Right. But what that really means if we want to translate it into the Legal Framework is conspiracy. And its very clear that the Mueller Investigation is conducting a broad conspiracy investigation. Thats what they charged the russian Intelligence Officers with, Conspiracy To Defraud the United States. And then they did the hacking and the unauthorized access to Computer Systems to facilitate
that conspiracy. So the closer we get to either the president or his inner circle having advance knowledge of any of those activities, coordinating in any way in those activities, then the closer we get to their legal exposure in the big overall investigation. In terms of donald trump jr. , if he lied to congress, there would be legal jeopardy for so they yeah, he could potentially face proceedings for, if he perjured himself in front of congress under oath. Any individuals who have been interviewed certainly by the special counsels team, even if theyre not before the grand jury, but if theyre interviewed by federal agents, then they have exposure on false statements. So theres a lot of exposure at that lower level. But if were talking about the overall big investigation and major exposure both legally and of course politically if it turns out they were involved in this conspiracy in some way, thats the big, significant change. Asha, just in terms of the
phone calls that donald trump jr. Made to the blocked phone number before and after the trump tower meeting, we dont know who was on the other line. If that was in fact donald trump on the other end of the line, would that be something that muellers investigators would be able to find out . Yes. They can subpoena those Phone Records and be able to see where those to whom those calls were being made, and that could corroborate the timing, for example, of Michael Cohens account. And just to complement what carrie just said, from the intelligence standpoint, collusion doesnt have to be criminal to be a National Security threat. She mentioned the russians were hacking information, trying to weaponize it to promote candidates to help russia. And anyone who worked with them secretly to facilitate or encourage it is colluding, whether they meet the elements for conspiracy is a different story. But i think we have to remember that there is a National Security aspect to this as well as a criminal aspect. But that National Security aspect, i mean that doesnt i mean that would really only come
into play in terms of impeachment proceedings, wouldnt it . Or are you saying that would have little Emappegal Implicati . Well t could have legal implications. We see there are tools that are used on the intelligence side like fisas and other techniques that have a lower threshold precisely because were looking at the security of the United States, not necessarily trying to pursue criminal charges. When what they see crosses into the criminal realm, youre going to see the indictments that mueller is bringing. But theres a whole story behind the scenes, and i think we can just look at the things that weve seen in front of our faces that don junior happily accepted this meeting from Russia Offering Dirt on his opponent, which is a part of their covert action. And theres a lot of colluding behavior staring us right in the face that may not ever result in charges. Carrie, we also know what Michael Cohen has previously said in front of congress about this very issue. So if he didnt Tell The Truth then, theres obviously legal jeopardy for him there. He has some exposure in terms
of whether he would have to go back and perhaps correct his testimony. So thats something that a witness before congress could do. They could go back and either write a letter or ask to reappear to correct their testimony. But i think the Bigger Picture whether or not its Michael Cohen who provides this information to the special counsels office, the more important point is whether or not its true. Right. Not so much that Michael Cohen provides the information that donald trump knew about this meeting if, in fact, he did and the purpose of it, but whether its true. So that goes to the bigger question of whether or not individuals in the campaign knew in advance. So if we look, for example, at the russia indictment of the russian Intelligence Officers, there was a date that stood out to a lot of people including myself who read it, which was july 27th, 2016. And that was the date that donald trump as a candidate had stood up and said, you know, wikileaks, i hope that you hack into emails, and what the Indictment Shows is that very
day, russian Intelligence Officers tried to access emails affiliated with Hillary Clinton he said russia, look into the 30,000 emails. Youll get a lot of praise from reporters. Exactly. So there were these activities that were taking place In Plain Sight. And what it may turn out to be is are those activities that took place In Plain Sight turn out to have been actual advance knowledge of things that were going on . Carrie c. Two this will mean to his former client and confident daunt. Later a live report from the fire lines in california where fast moving flames are threatening tens of thousands of people. No sign yet of when conditions will improve. Paying too much for insurance you dont even understand . Man 1 this is my body of proof. Woman 1 proof of less joint pain. Woman 2 . And clearer skin. Woman 3 this is my body of proof. Man 2 proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. Woman 4 . With humira. Woman 5 humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the 1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. Avo humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b,
are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Woman 6 need more proof . Woman 7 ask your rheumatologist about humira. Man 1 whats your body of proof . When shakespeare wrote in the tempest that misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows, he probably did not have Reagan National airport in mind. Take a look at the guy on the phone ain the background at gate 35 x. Thats donald trump jr. , and in the foreground with the newspaper, thats Robert Mueller. The two apparently did not speak. But we hope our next two guests will. They are steve cortes. Always good to have you. And republican strategist rick wilson, author of everything trump touches dies. How much does it Dom Appcomplic things that neither cohen nor the president have the best track record with the truth . Well, i think the thing with cohen is hes got something that is called paper. And hes got records, and hes got documents. Hes got contracts. Hes got the record of the ndas that trump has had various women sign over the years. Hes got a variety of things where trump went out to make deals and to get financing over the years. So theres a pile of paper on top of Michael Cohens just assertion alone, and theres also Phone Records and there are Text Messages and obviously the guy records things. Im sure he screen capped tweets and texts and messages back and forth with trump. So he sought to protect himself for some time well before this. So i think its a bad bet to say that Michael Cohen doesnt have things beyond just his assertion. I also think its a bad bet to think Robert Mueller doesnt have those things. Right. And overlaps of those things. I think were going to end up in a situation where, you know, he said he said. Its going to redound to The Dark Haired Discusszy Guy rather than the blond scuzzy guy. If it turns out to be true that President Trump knew about
this meeting ahead of time and approved it, do you see that as a big problem for the president , if for no other reason obviously he would be caught in yet another lie . Right. Well, hold on. I wont say yet another lie because i dont concur with your opinion that hes some sort of serial liar. Well he lied about not knowing about the ami deal with Karen Mcdougal. We now know that. Rick, you can steve rick, you can cackle, but i just reject steve but you are admitting he lied about the ami deal, not knowing about the Karen Mcdougal ami deal, ye