Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, breaking news and international stories. Alongside manafort and even stole several hundred thousand dollars from him. I want to quickly go to our justice correspondent jessica schneider, monitoring all these developments. Whats the biggest takeaway so far from todays dramatic testimony . The biggest takeaway, woman, just how elaborate this financial scheme was and how involved is Paul Manafort really seemed to be, directing the movement of money here. Rick gates has been testifying about these hundreds of emails where manafort actually signs off on transferring the money their Consulting Company earned throughout these various foreign bank accounts. Paul manafort would always write back, approving these transfers and signing it with his initial p. This is the prosecution laying out that it was, in fact, Paul Manafort in charge. Also, rick gates is talking about some of these fake invoices that he actually created. We heard about them from the accountants last week. Gates is now owning up to it. He says the invoices were made
is actually going to come across in a real way to the jury here. Pretty soon the defense will have an opportunity, michael, to crossexamine. Theyre going to try to undermine this guy as much as possible. Say, you know, hes already admitted lying to federal prosecutors. You cant believe a word he says. Thats exactly right. So they could say to the jury, you have a reasonable doubt when you get to the jury room to deliberate. The problem is that gates testimony is corroborated by all the emails, by the accountants, by the tax preparers, by the weight of the bank records in the fraud aspect of this case. Even if they dont like gates, i think its going to be hard to discredit what he says because theres so much support for it. We have two cases going on here. We have tax fraud, when they were making a lot of money and moving it through cyprus. Then we have bank fraud, where they had no money and were trying to trick banks into
do not pay much attention to this cooperation agreement, as if thats the thing that says you cant believe him, he would lie to protect his own hide. In many ways, he has that sentences hanging in front of him as a carrot. He must tell the truth. It enhances his credibility. Everyone stand by. More news coming in. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that federal prosecutors are looking into possible tax fraud by Michael Cohen, the president s former fixer and lawyer. Lets get some analysis of what were just learning from the Wall Street Journal. Laura, let me start with you. The Wall Street Journal headline, former trump lawyer Michael Cohen under investigation for tax fraud. We know the federal attorney for the Southern District of new york in New York City, theyre investigating him. Hes under Criminal Investigation. He hasnt been charged with any wrongdoing yet. But theyve raided his home, raided his apartment at the Regency Hotel in new york. Theyve raided his safe deposit box, his office. A line jumps out at me. Federal authorities are
assessing whether mr. Cohens income from his taxi Medallion Business was underreported in federal tax returns. One of the people said, the income included hundreds of thousands of dollars received in cash and other payments over the last five years. So what does this say to you, that theyre squeezing this guy big time right now . Im hearing deja vu. This is precisely in a way what Paul Manafort is on trial right now. Underreporting his income, trying to evade tax payments and only gha obligations, somebody orbiting the president of the United States who would know about their conduct in some way shape or form. Im seeing a bit of a deja vu. Whats interesting is unlike the case of Paul Manafort, Remember Mueller has not wanted the case of Michael Cohen. He has passed this off to a different district court, a different u. S. Attorneys office. I was curious as to why hes chosen to argue on behalf of one and not the other, probably because of the role that Michael Cohen did not play on the campaign, unlike Paul Manafort. How do you see it . Well, this is what you expect in a situation with a
depreciating asset like a taxi medallion. They were worth 1. 2 million until uber came. Then this is a depreciating asset. Hes got a whole host of money invested in these medallions. Hes got to deal with this, with the banks, with his taxes. It makes perfect sense there would be fraud on the banks and fraud in the preparation of his taxes as it relates to that asset. And because He Hasnt Bandage charged with any crime, although theres a Criminal Investigation under way right now, but this article is very devastating. If you take a look, he was the president s lawyer and fixer for a decade, maybe 12 years. Hes in deep trouble right now. The former chairman of the president s campaign, Paul Manafort, in deep trouble right now. The Deputy Campaign chairman, rick gates, in deep trouble. The president s former National Security adviser Michael Flynn in deep trouble right now. What does that say to you . Certainly connections to the president. One thing is the Justice Department is sending a strong message. Were on our game. Weve got our facts. Were ready to go after these people. I think also farming some of it out to other parts of the Justice Department makes it a little harder for trump to play the im Firing Mueller Card and calling everything off. I think thats one really important point. The other thing is because you make the Point Mueller referred the Michael Cohen case to the Southern District of new york. Exactly. The tendrils are in different places in terms of how this entire thing is being investigated and prosecuted. I know theres concern were going to see another Saturday Night Massacre like we saw with nixon, but i think its a smart move to have other parts of the Justice Department that are answering to Jeff Sessions and not to Rod Rosenstein to address some of these issues. What it also says to me is theyre squeezing Michael Cohen big time right now to make sure
that he does flip, that he does cooperate, pleads guilty to whatever crimes they may have against him, and he could be an excellent witness in terms of the bigger picture. He could be. Of course, all these mounting legal jeopardy cases are going to make him uniquely desiring of doing that very thing, but remember, they actually have to want to hear from him. You cant just say to a prosecutor, id like to make a deal thats favorable to me, i dont actually want to hear from you. I already have the information some place else. I no longer need you. When it was important for you to come forward, you did not. Remember, weve seen him already trying to give little nuggets and Colonels Kernels of informa. Everybody stand by. Theres more we need to follow up on. Were also getting some new reporting right now that suggests the president s legal team is reluctant for the president to answer any questions about possible Obstruction Of Justice in an interview with Robert Mueller and his team. Youre going to find out what happens if they refuse. Plus, a huge primary night here in america that may paint a clearer picture for the midterm elections. Will President Trumps picks win out tonight, and how successful will socialist backed democrats be tonight . Also, as iran gets had hit with u. S. Sanctions, israel says the regime should be, quote, have been aish vanished from the world. This as President Trump issues a new threat against any nation dealing with iran. Stand by. But it seems theres another Sticking Point right now. Namely, the obstruction investigation. Lets go to our White House CorrespondentKaitlan Collins outside the president S Bedminster Golf Resort in new jersey. The president has been vacationing there over the past several days. Where do we stand right now on the interview negotiations, kaitlan . Reporter wolf, we still seem to be very much in the middle of this. This has been going on for eight months now, the back and forth between the president s legal team and the special counsels team over whether or not hes actually going to sit down with an interview with the special counsel. What we do know, the latest reporting we have is that the president s legal team is prepared to respond in the coming days to the latest proposal from Robert Muellers team. Wolf, youll remember that proposal was that they would agree to limit the number of questions about Obstruction Of Justice, but they still wanted to ask the president those questions in person. That is something the president s legal team does not want to agree to. They actually want to have no
questions about Obstruction Of Justice. Rudy giuliani has made that quite clear. Instead, hoping the questions can only focus on collusion and events that occurred before President Trump took office. You heard that in Rudy Giulianis quote to the washington post, saying theres a real reluctance to allow those questions about Obstruction Of Justice if the president does sit down with them. So they seem to be very much in the middle of this still, this catandmouse game, going back and forth. What we do know, even though these negotiations hit a wall after the fbi raided Michael Cohens house, office, and hotel, the president no longer seeming willing to sit down with the special counsel, he does in recent weeks seem to be expressing that interest once again in sitting down with him, putting him at odds with his legal team here, wolf, but it does seem that it will be the president who makes the final decision about whether or not hes going to sit down with Robert Mueller. Well see what happens, kaitlan. Thank you very much. Back with us now, is there a chance the president will actually sit down with robert
moo mueller and his team face to face . I think hes using the media as a focus group. Knowing the court of Public Opinion will ultimately influence the impeachment process, if there is one. I think its in his best interest to speak with his attorneys president , which would not happen if he were subpoenaed. You want that harness and potential muz. Around him and a script in front of him to answer questions that would not be allowed to be there if he had a grand jury. Its in his interest whether hell follow suit is very different. One of the points that were made, maybe hell answer questions on these allegations of, quote, collusion, but hes only going to do it in written form, any questions involving Obstruction Of Justice. So you have three Different Things going on here. You have coordination conspiracy p preelection. Theres no Executive Privilege. He has a hard time denying mueller the right to talk to him about that. Thats the collusion issue. Then you get to obstruction. Obstruction breaks into two different parts. One is the firing of comey. Now, he received information from his topped advisers, rosen ste rosenstein and sessions. That falls within Executive Privilege. Thats what they dont want to talk about. Then theres the firing of flynn, the interference with the fbi by the intelligence community, the interference alleged with the burr committee. All of that doesnt include Executive Privilege. Theyre really trying to parse this out into various pieces so they are only talking about things that Dont ImplicateExecutive Privilege. Its interesting. If they refuse to answer questions, if the president refuses to answer questions, he potentially could be subpoenaed. That could wind up a decision before the u. S. Supreme court. I want you to listen to what one democratic congressman, adam smith of washington state, told me last night. Nobody has the right to ignore a subpoena. However, remember the Supreme Court that we have. If this goes all the way up to this Supreme Court, you can bring it back to nixon when the Supreme Court at that time required president nixon to turn over the tapes because they were following the law. As ive noted before, this Supreme Court seems to make its decisions based on what donald trump and the Republican Party want as opposed to precedents of the constitution. So if this issue goes up to the Supreme Court, what do you think . Yeah, i mean, i think its hard to get around the nixon case. In addition, even Executive Privilege wouldnt necessarily protect the president from speaking, responding to a subpoena. But the other issue is were dealing with President Trump. Even in the world where we have an order from a court saying you must comply and you must actually respond to the subpoena, this is not a person that i would put would assume would necessarily comply. He might say, listen, i dont think thats a real court, i dont have to, im the president of the United States, im the head of the executive branch, i choose to ignore it. Then were in a fullfledged
constitutional crisis. Even if the Supreme Court says you must comply, he could always plead the fifth and not necessarily comply. For specific questions, yes. Okay, guys. Excellent conversation. Thanks very much. Theres other news were following, including a very important primary night here in america. Youre going to hear why the president will be watching very closely, including his 11th hour endorsement and the controversial candidacy of one of his most famous loyalists. Also, cnn uncovers past columns by the Vice President of the United States mike pence who argues that a sitting president can be removed from office over the issue of morals. Saved us almost 800 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. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Right now, voters in five states are heading to the polls. This will be another major chance to gauge the temperature of voters ahead of novembers midterm elections here in the United States. Were watching primaries specifically in kansas, michigan, missouri, and washington state. All eyes really are on the Special Election in ohios 12th district, where a reliably republican seat is at risk of switching parties. Republican state senator Troy Balderson is squaring off against democrat danny oconnor. Trump, the president of the United States, has thrown his support behind balderson, whos fighting to maintain the
republicans threedecadeold hold on the district. Joining us now with big things to watch, associated editor and columnist for real politics, a. B. Stoddard. This is an important race. Were going to be watching it to see if there could be a blue wave in november. Wolf, the democrats are already overperforming in this district. I think the former incumbent won it by 37 points in 2016, trump by 11. So that wasnt a democratic fantasy. That was a democratic fever dream. The idea this race is too close to call, the idea the early voting is coming in better for the democrats is very much spooking republicans. Even a close call tonight, a near miss for republicans, they hold on by a little,