The latest news from around the world with hosts John Berman and Poppy Harlow. Yesterday, trying to defend his client, talking about a lot of these issues related to Michael Cohen. Seemingly, creating more chaos and confusion in his wake. After an interview with cnn yesterday morning, giuliani seemed to open two new fronts in this whole saga, claiming, first, that collusion may not even be a crime, which is different from what we have been hearing from the president. The president has been saying there was no collusion all along. Now we are seeing President Trump backing giuliani up in a tweet this morning, reiterating that collusion isnt a crime, even though he himself just two days ago suggested that democrats should be investigated for what he claims is their collusion with the russians. Then on a second matter, giuliani starts talking about a meeting, a Planning Meeting that he claimed happened before that Infamous Trump tower meeting with don junior and russians promising dirt on hillary clinton. He later tried to clarify in a subsequent interview saying
this. He says there was a meeting with donald junior, with jared kushner, with Paul Manafort, with gates and possibly two others in which they, out of the presence of the president , discussed the meeting with the russians. We checked with their lawyers, the ones we could check with, which were four of the six. That meeting never, ever took place. It didnt happen. Reporter First Giuliani seems to open up the possibility that a Planning Meeting happened, that no one was talking about but him. Then he went on to say that that meeting didnt happen. Everyone is just left really confused here, poppy. The white house aides telling us that they did not coordinate with giuliani over his appearances yesterday, which isnt entirely surprising. It indicates that they are not entirely happy with all the things he has been saying that seem to put them in more hot water. Thank you, abby, reporting
from the white house. Lets talk about, selena zito and lynn sweet join me. It would make better Tabloid Sense for trump to dump giuliani and Hire Dershowitz who has worked to shield him from his appearances, f appearances. Trump has been surprisingly f t flatfooted so far. Perhaps, he has finally met his match. Is giuliani setting more fires than he is putting out . Absolutely. Its a bigger world than just the nosew york tag war going on and trump and giuliani should know that if theyre trying to
communicate something, its more than to the woods on those new york papers. Giuliani has succeeded in one thing, in confusing everybody who isnt keeping close tabs on this case. Dont underestimate the power of confusion. It runs in parallel with the war that President Trump is waging on the news media with another issue just a few minutes ago on his twitter feed where he predicts we will bow out of Busine Business in seven years, that he will win another term. Confusion is a tool if they want to make people think i think what they are aiming at that somehow this is a witch hunt. See how it all plays into this theme. Confusion is an important tool that giuliani is using. I dont take it lightly. Great, thats exactly how i want the press to be spending their time. Selena, it appears the tactic is working, at least somewhat in trying to discredit mueller. Cnns most recent polling on this shows the number of americans that approve of the way that mueller is handling his job and the russia probe has fallen from 48 in march to 41 in june. Are they winning the messaging war here, at least in the court of Public Opinion . For a tactic that has not message as lynn said, its all over the place. Yeah, obviously, it appears that way. Im a reporter and every day i feel as though im placed in the third season of Game Of Thrones and i should have never watched the first two and im trying to figure out all the characters. Its really hard to put
everything together, piece every message together. Lynn is right. Dershowitz would be perfect. He is always on message. He is always very articulate. He explains things, not always in the way that benefits trump, but in a way that people understand. I agree, this is a chaotic tactic. Its working. Its working. When it comes to the trial that ann laid out exactly whats at stake for muellers team here, how do you think this plays among his voters and among the biggest supporters of the president . How critical is a win in this manafort case, the first one, for the president . Well, its critical because if this case is lost, then it will force the mueller team to regroup and say, what are we
doing. On the other hand, the rebuttal is that this case is the fruits of the investigation into the russian role into the 2016 election. Its not about it. That is hard to explain to the public. This is an important case, but it just is an offshoot. Prosecutors are allowed to follow where it leads. It wont be good. A lot of these one of the things that will be done in this trial is to tell the manafort story, which puts the attention on him, not on trump and not on russia. It may in summary, its not good if mueller loses this case. I dont think its the end, because his prosecution continues. There are other people still in the pipeline. Some of the revelations from this trial still may have an impact. Selena, the president has tried ever since the indictment dropped and the charges were filed against manafort to
distance himself. He ran the campaign at a critical time leading up to the convention for five months. You travel through parts of the country that support this president so much. Do they believe him . Do they think Paul Manafort is not that big a deal in the president s world . Well, for instance yesterday, i was in ohio, in a Rural Suburban Area outside columbus for covering the special election. There were tons of voters there. I talked to them about numerous things, Including Manafort and Michael Cohen and all of this russian thing. They dont pay as much attention to who is running the campaign. That name Didnt Imprint on them as someone that was important. A lot of people that i asked said, he was the delegate counter, right . So thats how they sort of view him as some guy who was brought in to make sure delegates worked
and left. I think because theres so many moving parts and because the Manafort Trial is separate and its not having to do with trump, people are like confused as to why its even happening and or what his ties are to trump and ties to why mueller is conducting the special prosecution. I think thats where the problem lies. Theres too many moving parts for it to stick with voters. And be meaningful. One part of the case that we will all be watching for and where his role in the campaign does come up is how he got a loan from a bank in chicago, from a chicago banker we talked about that. Who was who thought he was he was angling for a job in the trump white house. He did get an appointment to an advisory panel. Of those five people who were granted immunity, which you were talking about, two of them two of them work or have worked for the bank and two of them are among the 35 on the witness list. Right. He didnt get a job in the white house. But i hear your point. The case the prosecutors will try to make. Thank you. Ahead for us, a new report says north korea is working on new advanced missiles, all of this despite the president recently declaring that north korea is no longer a nuclear threat. A close eye on a hearing going on in the senate. Officials with the department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department are testifying on efforts to reunite families separated at the border. We are on that. Cnn goes one on one with lebron james at home in his hometown of akron, ohio. During the interview, he got candid about the president. Listen. What i noticed over the last few months, that he used sport
to kind of divide us. You will hear more from dons interview with lebron ahead. Is more than just a day at the ballpark. Stadium pa all military members stand and be recognized. Sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. No matter where or when you served, tmobile stands ready to serve you. Thats why were providing half off family lines to all military. 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. I knew at that exact moment. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors. Its not just picking a surgeon, its picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. Visit cancercenter. Com breast at crowne plaza, we know Business Travel isnt just business. Theres this. A bit of this. Why not . Your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. Which is what we do. Crowne plaza. Were all business, mostly. We heard the same thing from mike pompeo, pushing back on lawmakers in the Senate Testimony who were asking for evidence here. He did say that there was still material being produced. He said, we have not been taken for a ride. Does this intelligence change that . Perhaps theyre not being taken for a ride, but they dont have much evidence of success yet. Before the summer, north korea was making enriched uranium. Seven weeks later, they still are. They have done a few things in the margins, returning some remains, shutting down one engine test site. In terms of evidence, were not seeing it. What can you tell us about the new missiles that this intelligence indicates north korea is building, and the specific factory . If i have it right, this is the factory that produced the first north Korean Missile that had the range that could hit the
united states. Right. If you are worried about missiles hitting the u. S. , this is the plant. Its where north korea made two of their biggest icbms, including the one from last november that had a range long enough to reach the east coast of the united states. Thats where they are still seeing signs of work. Theyre seeing construction on at least one, possibly two new icbms, these long air frames that can reach the u. S. You mention this in your reporting that this is not an expansion of north koreas abilities. Its building on the current what they currently have. Is that significant . p. Thats important to point out. Whats going on is business as usual, the same activity we saw before the summit, theyre still doing it. They dont show signs of stopping. What we hear is they are talking
aamo among themselves how to hide it. How to deceive the united states. Exactly. And sensitive intelligence Collection Effort that show north korea intends to deceive the u. S. On what they have. You have not gotten any comment from the white house on this . No pushback yet. We hear from mike pompeo himself that they know this activity is still going on. I dont think its a surprise to them. Thank you. President trump not backing down from his threat to shut down the government if he doesnt get funding for a border wall. Republicans are hoping this threat coming so close to the midterms is just that, an empty threat. Ordinary stains say they can do the job, but behr premium stain can weather any weather. Overall 1 rated, weathers it all. Find our most advanced formula exclusively at the home depot. Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Were in a small room. What . welcome. [ gasps ] a bigger room . how many of you use Car Insurance . Oh. Well, what if i showed you this . [ laughing ] hohoho
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the answer is simple. Ill do what ive always done. Dream more, dream faster, and above all. Now, ill dream gig. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. President trump is reupping his threat to shut down the government just ahead of the midterms over immigration and funding for his border wall. If you ask just about any republican in congress, they hate that idea. Phil mattingly is not in washington. You are not even working today. He is here with me to talk about all of it. Thank you for being here. When you listen to john kennedy or senator cornen, it seems like they think the president is totally bluffing and he doesnt mean it. They are brushing it off. Thats for two reasons when you talk to republican senators and
their top advisers. Theres an agreed upon strategy here. That is, dont have a shutdown at the end of september. There will be a shutdown fight. Everybody im talking to says it will come after the election. You look at what john thune said, its a negotiating tactic. Mitch mcconnell said we will Fund Government in a timely and ordinarily manner. Im a believer in hitting things head on. If the president wants to shut down the government, thats his prerogative. I dont i think it would be a mistake. I dont think its going to be necessary. Thats repeated by everybody. It shows you where they are. The big question right now on capitol hill is how serious is he. Think back to health care or tax reform. The president diverging from the strategy is not necessarily a rarity. But whether or not he is willing to hold on to that and make a fight out of this is another question. Is he willing to lose the house over it . Thats the concern. I will tell you something thats
happened over the last couple of weeks, that is, is the white house willing to sacrifice the house because the president wants a punching bag coming into the 2020 election . Theres this idea of it will be better to run against congress, better to run against house democrats. I havent heard that from the white house. Republicans are concerned sometimes. Frankly, when things are quiet, they get concerned. Theres kind of relevance to the idea. It worked for bill clinton at one point in time. I think the reality right now is behind the scenes, when i talk to republican staffers on the hill, they are hearing the strategy stands the president will be with them in the end. They are willing to have the night after the election. The concern is real. There was no time line on that trump tweet a few days ago threatening the shutdown. You know this is going to be a fight. Theyre ready for it. If it were to happen before the midterms, he would put the kavanaugh hearings in the air. This is a huge point im told was made by Mitch Mcconnell in the oval office two the president in a private meeting last week. Which is republicans feel good about where they are in the kavanaugh nomination. A lot of time to go, but they feel they can get him confirmed. It would happen at the end of september when a shutdown would occur. They dont want to step on that message, on a confirmation. Push it off. Mcconnell thought trump heard him at the time. We will see. Your sources telling you, take a win here. Thank you. Nice to have you. Thanks for having me. President trump heads to tampa, florida. He will campaign for a candidate who according to the New York Times the president decided to support after he saw him defend the trump agenda on fox news. The president tweeted this morning, congressman ron desantis will be a great governor, if he wins. He embraced all things trump. Here is part of his latest political ad that certainly got a lot of people talking. He is teaching madison to talk. Make America Great again. People say ron is all trump. But he is so much more. Joining me now is the former chairman of the Florida Republican party, al cardinus. Thanks for being with me. My pleasure. Good to be with you. Lets talk about this. You have his primary challenger, who the vicepresident was supporting, who was way ahead in fundraising, way ahead in the polling, until desantis started going on fox news over and over again. The president saw him on fox news, tweeted about him and has been supportive of him ever since. The table has turned here. Has the president been a king maker in florida on this one . So far, apparently so. Desantis was 20 points behind, very few people knew him. Between fox news and some of their personalities and the president and his tweets and commentary, he gained more than 30 points without spending a lot of money in a period of less than a month. We dont see that in florida. So thats a strength. Its a weird race. Republicans have had republican governors for 20 years. Statewide elected officials are republican. This is a highrisk deal for the president. Let me read you how the New York Times puts it this morning and get your take. Quote, mr. Putnums collapse and mr. Desesantis rise illustrate the extraordinary clout mr. Trump wields. I think we will see in the General Election. Some states he is liked. Some states he is not. In florida, he is under water right now. Think about this. If republicans cant win the presidency unless they win florida. 2020 is coming up next. If for some reason the dem