Will President Trump have anything to say to putin about it . Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. The world lead. President Trump Holding crucial meetings now with World Leaders at the g20 summit in argentina, but just one glimpse at his twitter feed makes it clear the president s focus is somewhere else entirely. Mr. Trump going after the russia investigation this morning, and trying to explain why its no big deal that he repeatedly lied to voters by denying any business or political ties to russia during the campaign, despite the fact there were some. He tweeted, quote, oh, i get it, im a very good developer, happily living my life. When i see our country going in the wrong direction, i decided to run for president and continue to run my business. Very legal and very cool. Talked about it on the campaign trail. Lightly looked at doing a build somewhere in russia, put up zero money and zero guarantees and didnt do the project. Witch hunt. Wow, a lot of falsehoods. President trump clearly rattled by Michael Cohens admission that cohen lied to congress about a proposed trump project in moscow, so as to be consistent with the lies President Trump was telling voters on the campaign trail. A source telling cnn the president is, quote, spooked and completely distracted. Mr. Trump also cancelled his meeting with Vladimir Putin, citing russian aggression against ukraine, but talk with crown Prince Mohammed bin salman, also known as mbs, the autocrat that the cia believes ordered the murder of jamal khashoggi. Mr. President , what did you discuss come on, come on we had no discussion. We might, but we had none. Thank you very much. Cnns jeff zeleny live in buenos aires where the g 12 summit is under way. The russia investigation is affecting the president as he attends this important summit. Reporter jake, the White House Press secretary, Sarah Sanders, used the word undermine when she says that is what theyre doing with the relationship with russia. Clearly it was on the president s mind from the very beginning of the day when he got up ask set out for a daylong series of meetings, meetings with World Leaders. He still spent the day also explaining why hes not meeting with one of them, Vladimir Putin. President trump on the world stage today at the g20 summit in argentina. But still furious and fixated on the russia investigation. The president insisting again today its not why he cancelled a meeting here with Vladimir Putin. Still blaming that on russias aggression against ukraine. Ukraine. We dont like what happened. Were not happy about it. Nobody is. And hopefully theyll be able to settle it out soon, because we look forward to meeting with president putin. Reporter but the optics and timing of a oneonone Putin Meeting not ideal for the white house. As trump becomes the central figure into whether his campaign conspired with the russian government in the 2016 campaign. The president started his day here in buenos aires, defending his business dealings with russia on twitter as very legal and very cool. Later, the white house released a statement, again, calling it a russian witch hunt coax but acknowledging, it does undermine our relationship with russia. As World Leaders gathered, the president four seats away from Saudi Crown Prince mohamed bin salman who the cia believes ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist, jamal khashoggi. The president has repeatedly contradicted that assessment. Today said the white house and crown prince exchanged pleasantries. Asked about what . The president shrugged. The president only a few steps behind as the saudi leader and russian president had a warm encounter. All smiles and a longhand shake. The white house hoped a signing ceremony for the new u. S. , mexico and canada trade agreement would be the high point of the day. But a frosty relationship with canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau over steel and aluminum tariffs made clear that deep tensions remain with the key u. S. Ally. So the most consequential meeting of this summit here, jake, is coming tomorrow evening at a dinner with the chinese president , xi jinping. That is the first time that President Trump will meet facetoface with his counterpart in more than a year. Of course, at issue is the u. S. Going to back off, back down. Is the chinese president going to back down in this ongoing escalation of a trade war. The president we know likes to make a deal here. But his base also likes this fight with china. Jake, that is the one overriding question of many here at this summit. Not involving, at least, whats on the president s mind, russia. Jake . Jeff zeleny with the president at the g20 summit. Thank you so much. Lets talk about this with my experts. I want to start with the president and the delicate dance about whether or not hes actually going to have a meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince, mohamed bin salman. They exchanged pleasantries but havent had a formal discussion yet. Look, the cia said that mbs, the crown prince, ordered the murder of one of your colleagues at the Washington Post, jamal khashoggif khashoggi. Is the white house concerned about that potential imagery or the imagery of pleasantries being exchanged . Thats something to watch. We know at these International Summits there is a lot that goes on beyond the formal bilateral meeting. Thats why this also is relative to putin and well be really watching closely and looking for what kind of conversations they have. For example, at tonights dinner with all the g20 leaders. When i was on the paris trip, we know he had a lot of interesting conversations with other World Leaders in paris that day. But the image, especially just with the mbs and Vladimir Putin kind of having that highfive earlier today was a reminder about just what are intelligence agencies have said and how the president cast so much doubt on what our intelligence agencies have said. Were told that the french president did bring up the murder of khashoggi with the crown prince. Do you think President Trump will . Absolutely. Heres whats bothersome about watching all of this unfold in terms of saudi arabia and russia. Donald trump is supposed to be the americafirst president. And yet he seems to be in a very submissive, weak pose when it comes to these meetings with World Leaders. Why is it that when the president of the United States says there will not be a meeting with putin, putin feels so emboldened he says, no, there will be an impromptu meeting . To me that sounds like a confrontation where putin is in control of events, backstabbing his buddy who killed a Washington Post journalist and the president doesnt know what to do. Its very curious, President Trump was asked if hell meet with president putin. Take a listen. Will you meet thank you so much lets go we dont know. So hes asked, mr. President , will you be exchanging pleasantries with putin . And trump says, i dont know. I dont know. Not particularly. I dont know. Whats going on here . Well, i think its a lot of diplomacy, but donald trump trying to figure out what his place is and what his place isnt. The reason he cancelled the meeting with putin, he may say hello to him, he didnt want the press and he didnt want the scrutiny on whether his business interests in russia during the campaign and perhaps even now, he havendoesnt want to be aske about that. He knows what cohen said and what he knows what he said. And if those are inconsistent, there would be more questions about his relationship with putin now. And is his business interest driving what were doing as a country in russia or his political interest for america driving it . And right now its unclear and jackie, the president says he didnt meet with putin or cancelled the meeting with putin. Who knows if hes actually going to meet with him. Because as a protest for russian aggression against ukraine. But Sarah Sanders released a statement this morning, attacking the Mueller Probe and saying, quote, the russian witch hunt hoax, which is hopefully now nearing an end, is doing very well. Unfortunately, it probably does undermine our relationship with russia. Okay, first of all, that sounds like it was completely dictated by President Trump. Nonsensical. Doesnt make any sense. But second of all, why would the Mueller Probe be more upsetting and more undermining of the relationship than the fact that russia attacked the United States and interfered or attempted to in the u. S. Election . That doesnt seem to make sense. Because it affects the president directly. I think is the answer to that question. But look, the reason why President Trump is so distracted is because there are very few things in this scenario where he can have control. The Mueller Probe, the relationship with saudi arabia right now hes facing a revolt in the senate over, you know, not being able to brief them. Even with russia. He was his hand was forced on russia sanctions because the congress rebelled against him. He really is sort of tailspining right now, because he is someone who really needs to be holding the reins and is not. And i want to bring the image that sunlen talked about a second ago, which is really just the most jarring image. And its russian president Vladimir Putin approaching the crown prince, and they slap each other five like nba allstar players in the locker room. So delighted with each other. And just show it again. They know that they are on camera before the world. And they are strutting. They are excite about meeting each other. And i think a lot of people see that and are horrified. Exactly. And, again, like, it just that smile, especially, because we had a better view of putin there. And just that giant smile. Ive never seen him smile like that. The biggest smile ive seen. Again, that reminder, for us especially, and perhaps the rest of the world, that these are two leaders that our president has, you know hasnt been able to stand up to in these incidents. And theyre both strong men. Theyre both strong men who the president has embraced around the world. And murderers. Right. And theyre vicious and they suppressed the press in their country. But i think it was more than that. And that is that they know theyre on camera, which is what you said. So theyre strutting, right . But theyre sending messages to the u. S. And others that at these critical times, despite how bad we are as autocratic leaders or as dictators, if you will, that saudi arabia, weve got other friends than just the u. S. Mr. Trump, weve got other friends. And as a matter of fact, were building a better friendship now, because were strutting our stuff in front of the world stage. And take a look at what democratic senator bob menendez, the ranking democrat on the Senate Foreign relations committee. He put up that video and wrote, that feeling when you own the president of the United States and can do whatever you want. Thats what he wrote. Listen, thats harsh, but its just hard to watch. Because its my view, i have a lot of problems with how President Trump acts. But when he goes abroad to a conference like that, he is our president. I dont want to see our president take a back seat to thugs, backslapping each other and watching our leaders flail and let it happen. That is the whole point of going to summits like this. And if he cant express american interests on that stage theres a lot of problems and we take a lot of stuff here. But those are our family. Those are domestic problems. He needs to tell those people to stop and get in line. And when shinzo abe, the japanese Prime Minister, met with President Trump, he said, quote, i would like to congratulate you on your historic victory in the midterm elections in the United States. Obviously, whether or not President Trump had any sort of historic victory in the midterm elections, where he lost the house of representatives is another is a question. But clearly, foreign leaders have learned flattery is all that matters. All that matters is what you say, not necessarily what you do. Because then you can do what you want. And youve seen this over and over again with foreign leaders. I mean, you saw it with saudi arabia. Flattery will get you everywhere. Save the penthouse for putin. New details on what Robert Mueller is uncovering about business deals as he looks at the president s children and leaps right over the president s red line. Then, that escalated quickly. Trump cabinet secretary ryan zinke getting really personal in a public attack in a congressman who just told him to resign. Stay with us. burke parking splat. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum oh oh ozempic® vo people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of onceweekly ozempic®. In a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. Oh under seven . vo and you may lose weight. In the same oneyear study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. 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Its racquetball time. Carl, does your firm offer a satisfaction guarantee . Like schwab does. Guarantee . Carl, can you remind me what youve invested my money in. Its complicated. Are you asking enough questions about how your wealth is being managed . If not, talk to schwab. A modern approach to Wealth Management. Welcome back. Sticking with our politics lead, the Mueller Investigation ramping up and seemingly getting closer and closer to President Trump and his inner circle. Former trump fixer, Michael Cohen, testifying that then candidate trump, despite claims to the contrary, was pursuing plans for a trump tower moscow well through june 2016. Sources telling cnn that donald trump jr. And ivanka trump both had knowledge of the trump tower moscow plans and according to yahoo news, mueller asked questions about their roles in the project. Cnn has also confirmed the buzzfeed scoop that there was talk of gifting russian president Vladimir Putin with the 50 million penthouse apartment in the proposed luxury building. Cnns sara murray joins me now. The president may be thousands of miles from home but the Mueller Probe is not far from his mind or twitter fingers. Ask gives you a sense about how this moscow project could be more worrisome to President Trump, because they could drag the trump kids further into the russia probe. We have a great relationship with putin and russia. The glitzy trump tower moscow could have featured a pent house for Vladimir Putin and a ivanka trump branded spa. Instead the deal is creating another