Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20170303 : c

Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20170303

Hearings. I had not had any such meetings. I was not meeting with russian officials on a continuing basis to advance any campaign agenda. Sometime before that, i had met in my office in an official way with the Russian Ambassador and so i that was the answer i gave and i think it was an honest answer, tucker. I thought i was responding exactly to that question and it really became a big brouhaha. Meanwhile, a Senior Trump Administration official said the president s soninlaw and former National Security advisor mickael franklin also met with the Russian Ambassador at trump tower in december. California talk radio host and Republican National committeeman. From san diego trump supporter gina loudoun. Jeff sessions fate is probably in the hands of the president it seems for now, and for now donald trump is standing by his attorney general. Listen to this. Mr. President do you still have confidence . Total. I dont think so at all. When did you first learn that sessions spoke to the Russian Ambassador . Did you know during the campaign . When were you aware that he spoke to the Russian Ambassador . I wasnt aware at all. Do you think he should have spoken truthfully . He probably did. After that less than enthusiastic statement from the president , the white house did issue a longer statement. This is what it read. Jeff sessions is an honest man. He could have stated his response more accurately but it was clearly not intentional. The this is a way of saving face with democrats losing an election that everybody thought they were supposed to win. A total witch hunt. He said he had full confidence in Michael Flynn until he didnt. Is there a point donald trump will abandon Jeff Sessions like he did Michael Flynn . Frankly, im a little insulted. I seem to be the only republican who hasnt met with a russian. I want to put that on the table right now. This Russian Ambassador who seems to be a rolypoly kind of political plaque met with senators. He gets around. He likes meeting a lot of people. Its not the end of the free world. Nobody cares about it outside of washington, d. C. And a couple of newspaper journal i haves. The president standing by Jeff Sessions, does he risk driving a wedge between the white house and gop Law Enforcement lawmakers in doing so . I dont think yet. But if this goes any further in terms of perjury or something else, i think thats when it would reach that level. For now trumps big thing is loyalty. Hes stuck by general flynn all the way until the bitter end. That was ugly. In january Vice President Mike Pence Lied about conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador. This was the exchange between flynn and michael wallace. Im asking a direct question. Was there any contact in any way between trump or his associates and the kremlin or cutouts they had . I joined this campaign in the summer and i can tell you that all the contact by the Trump Campaign and associates was with the American People. We were fully engaged with taking his message to make America Great again all across this country. Have you ever thats the reason sir, im just trying to get an answer. There of course not. Why would there be any contacts between the campaign . Chris, the this is all a distraction. Its all part of a narrative to delegitimatize the election and to question the legitimacy of this presidency. The American People see right through it. So that, to you, from the Vice President , now its not just Michael Flynn but its the attorney general Jeff Sessions. It also turns out to be trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner as well as two other officials from the Trump Campaign who melt this Russian Ambassador who gets around hell of a lot. The amazing thing here is that donald trump could easily resolve this. He could say heres the people in my administration met with, heres when they met with them and put an end to all of this but he chooses not to. Youve seen Jeff Sessions lies about meeting with the Russian Ambassador. Why is all this happening . I think the American People want to know which is why a lot of people are calling for an independent commission. This is not going away. Its particlizing trump with congress. Gina, why doesnt the white house do that . Is it a case of they dont know or is it theyre just choosing not to do what matt suggested there . Well, first of all, matts assumption that there was any kind of a lie, there is absolutely zero evidence of that. Theres zero evidence that theres any wrongdoing Michael Flynn told the truth . And to even be concerned about this, you have to first believe the lie that the russians had why would had any impact in our election in the first place but to publish some random list of who other people met with. Its the job of senator sessions in his position as a senator to meet with certain people. He had two staffers there. So if people really want to get upset about this. There was two staffers. This wasnt a campaign conversation. Neither was the meeting after after sessions met with spoke to the heritage foundation, he was leaving his speech and he saw and shook hands with the ambassador. Those are hardly campaign meetings. You cant qualify them as such. To do so Jeff Sessions pardon me but Jeff Sessions doesnt the left used during the campaign and theyre not working. Right now Jeff Sessions does not know if it was about the campaign. He says he cannot recall. Why would he have talked about the campaign on his way out of the he doesnt know. Speech he gave he doesnt know. I didnt hear that john and that my good try. On if it is true he doesnt remember every single detail he knows he didnt meet on the terms of the campaign. He met with them as a senator. He was clear about that. There is no accusation of wrongdoing. Theres no there there. Its a nonstory. Hes a surrogate of the campaign. He was one of the first people to get on the trump train and was campaigning for then candidate donald trump. So that whole argument that gina just said is completely irrelevant. He lied because he said something that was factual by untrue. At the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings twice from two different senators and now like john was pointing out, he said he doesnt recall if it was about the campaign in perfect lawyer speak. This is just as important as asking Jeff Sessions what he had for breakfast three weeks ago. Youre kidding me. Its silly. Its not a side for russia and the United States of america who ended up meeting with all these other people, other than you, of course. But the democrats the point is he accepted them he said two things that were untrue under oath. Were going to the get to Vice President mike pence, the star reporting that he was using his own private email address as governor. Its not illegal but theres concerns it may have been hacked. And shown to you. Mike pence was one of the biggest critics of Hillary Clinton for the use of her frooift email server. How do you explain this one . What Hillary Clinton did was illegal. She should have been prosecuted for it. She wasnt. She should have been. The good news is mike pence, what he did is perfectly legal in indiana state law. He didnt have a private server. Were talking about the nice color of apples and grape fruits over here. They have nothing to do with each other. But theyre struggling to find some dirt, some mud. Its crying wolf once again. Every time they do this they try to create a temporary new story that two newspapers in america thinks is important. It gets less credible each time. Dont let your children grow up to be journalists, please. We werent consulted. To bring you in there to respond that the democrats are just being mischievous . Let me go back to Jeff Sessions. Hes not on the Senate Foreign relations committee. When people meet with the Russian Ambassador, Jeff Sessions was frumps number one advocate in congress, so why do you think the Russian Ambassador wanted to meet with Jeff Sessions, number one, and to ginas point earlier, mike flynn was fired for lying so we both we see whats happening here with this russia situation. We need an independent commission to look into this. Donald trumps legislative agenda is paralyzed. Hes not even pushing for anything in congress right now because of all these scandals. Ok. Its now a situation where more than 100 Congressional Democrats demand Jeff Sessions step down. This is how nancy pelosi, the minority leashed leader of the house said it. An investigation will take us to the next place but an investigation of those charges of those actions is definitely warranted. Definitely warranted. I remind you that this congress impeached a president for something so far less having nothing to do with his duties as president of the United States. Ethan, is pelosi right here. Is there a dirchls between clinton lying under oath and sessions lying under oath . There are differences in terms of the court that they are under oath in. She makes a solid point. Big clinton was impeached over lying under oath. He also lost his license to practice law. That would be my concern here with attorney general sessions. He should be subject to the same scrutiny for lying under oath. Gina, to bring you in, you heard what nancy pelosi said that there should be an investigation, many looking to gop lawmakers on capitol hill to see what stand theyll take in the days to comeaged to see whether theyre going to put country over party. What are you how do you respond to that . I hope nancy will keep talking just like that all the way to the mid terms and all the way to 2020, because whats going to happen is that the country is so tired of the divisiveness and the fake stories that they are going to hand trump a massive majority if they keep being this way, if the democrats keep being this way. It is good, i have to say, to see this obsession with russia amongst the left at all when they werent worried about it all when he promised he would be more flexible in the altitude about the things russia wants. They didnt seem that concerned when it was discovered that hillary had maded the uranium deal with russia. So im gratified to see that russia has become such an obsession with the democrats. I hope they take it all the way to 2020. It ensures that donald trump will win president again and get even more done. Good time to take a break. Thank you all of you. Thank you, thank you. Thank you all. When we return, u. S. Attorney general Jeff Sessions fighting back, insisting he did not lie about his connections with russian officials. The ambassador who is said to have met with Jeff Sessions is said to be a spy. Well speak an actor and an actress about speaking out in todays divided legal climate. I realize that ah, that 100k is not exactly a fortune. Well, a 103 yeah, 103. Well, let me ask you guys. How long did it take you two to save that . A long time. Then its a fortune. Well, im sure you talk to people all the time who think 100k is just pocket change. Right now were just talking to you. I told you we had a fortune. Yes, you did. Getting closer to your investment goals starts with a conversation. Schedule a complimentary goal Planning Session today. What if we could bring you by having better values . At blue apron, we work directly with more than a hundred family farms. So instead of spending on costly middlemen and supermarkets, we can invest in the things that matter most making farmland healthier. Cutting down on food waste. And bringing you higher quality, fresher ingredients for less than you pay at the store. Because food is better when you start from scratch. Get 30 off at blueapron. Com cook music pla throughout announcer get on your feet for the nastiest bull in the state of texas. crowd cheers . Breaking news. Heres attorney general Jeff Sessions glifs in and recuses himself from any investigations into the Trump Campaign and its kablgts with russia. That decision came after he admitted he did not disclose two meetings he had with russias ambassador to the u. S. During the president ial campaign. Now session ss giving more details about the discussions which he says were completely appropriate. I dont recall any discussion of the campaign in any significant way. It was in no way some sort of coordinating effort of doing anything improper and i dont believe anybody that was in that meeting would have seen or believed i said one thing that was improper or unwise. It was really a sad thing to be attacked like that, but i had i think weve explained it and we intend to move forward. Top democrats say sessions should resign for his actions, even be charged with perjury. Lets bring in the former assistant chief deputy with the u. S. Justice department. Also cnn analyst and attorney and criminal defense attorney. Welcome, everyone. Hello. The question is is the recusal from the investigations linked to the Election Campaign, is that as far as this goes for Jeff Sessions or will it go further, make to a perjury charge . For our viewers, the definition of perjury is the willful intent to provide false testimony. Sara, first to you on that issue. How does that willful intent, how do you prove that part of perjury . Thats what makes this charge very difficult to prosecute and prove. Often, the witness, the person thats alleged to have made that statement will find an explanation for it that will cast some doubt. So you know, prosecutor cant prove beyond a reasonable doubt guilty on perjury. Its very, very difficult. In this case Jeff Sessions is already laying the groundwork for his explanation. What hes going to be putting in a letter to the senator sfranken. Essentially hes saying that these visits that i did not disclose had to do with my senatorial obligations, had nothing to do with the sort of russian connection to the election. Arched to the extent i met with the ambassador of russia its because of what i do. I oversee the military operations and thats my job on the senate floor and i had to go and meet with this barf. Well the issue is that apparently that is not something that a senator does urch laterally, to set up this meeting and certainly not in july and september right in the middle of the campaign. So its very suspect, but he does have this explanation that essentially he was a trump surrogates and he was a senator at the same time and that these advises, these communications were limited to his senate toerl hat, if you will. Were talking about will he or will he be charged, can they or can they not prove personally. Is there a forgone conclusion that there will be an investigation . Unfortunately, we dont know. There are reports coming out that sessions may have had communications with the fbi before he recused himself. And were also hearing that some congressional investigators are having difficulties getting information from the fbi about this entire trumprussian connection. We dont know if the fbi is going to move forward with the investigation. We dont know what that investigation even will look like. I want to comment on one thing sara said about proving willful intend. I agree with her. The standard sd very high for perjury, but the circumstances of this miss statement of this false statement have to be investigated. The integrity of the department of justice is at stake here. When are we what are we going to say to our kids, to other members who may come before a senate jishy or House Committee about telling the truth . This is really about this blanket false statement that Jeff Sessions made. We cant let this be swept under the rug. This is something very serious and we have to take it very seriously. Since he works at the Justice Department do you think the integrity of the department is at stake . , not at all. Why . There was no false statement. The statement was given in response to a question about whether or not the campaign had contacts with the russians. It would be like this. If the senate was investigating my son sam whos 9 years old and they said have you ever threatened to kill somebody . He said no. They said your brother has threatened to be killed many times. Respectfully, your son are you interrupting or is that somebody tsh. Thats sara thats the point being is the context matters. The context was clear. He was asked a question about the russians contact with the campaign. He said no as a surrogate of the k578 pain i had no contact with the us ares. Theres nothing false or mislead

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