Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, Breaking News and international stories. Night that he found out some Bad Information about the company. And then proceeded to tip off his son who also invested in the company. So take a look at this timeline. This was on june 22nd of 2017, summer of last year. At 6 55 p. M. , the indictment says he received an email from the ceo of the company saying that a drug trial had been a failure. Now 16 minutes later, at 7 11 p. M. , he starts calling his son. He tries to make that call four times before he is successful. And at 7 16, he speaks to his son and informs him about this information that he had learned. And it is the next day, 7 42 a. M. , in the morning, that his son starts putting in orders to sell off his shares of his stock in this company. N ultimately, the indictment says that he was able to avoid some 570,000 in losses. Now a lot of congressional reporters are actually already familiar with this company Innate ImmunotherapeuticsCongressman Collins will have morto s more to say on this issue later today. Well see whether he makes a direct statement about this, but, obviously, very stunning and serious news coming just three months before his reelection, wolf. Very stunning indeed. All right, m. J. , well have a lot more coming up on this story. A lot of legal analysis. Theres other Important News including this just coming in. The Trump Legal Team has delivered their answer on the Interview Request from the special counsel Robert Mueller. One of the president s personal attorneys, Rudy Giuliani, says they want to get this over before the midterms in november. Maybe by september 1st, around labor day. Our chief Political Correspondent dana bash has the Breaking News on all of this. What can you tell us about the response . Will there be any conditions, especially about questions pertaining to possible Obstruction Of Justice . Well, i spoke to Rudy Giuliani this morning. He wouldnt give any details on the nature of the response
like, what did you say to comey about flynn . Why did you fire comey . Answers to those questions, they say, and the president s legal team said mueller already knows the answer to. So to ask that question of the president would be simply trying to catch him in a lie. Thats the argument. Was there anything on those topics that could potentially be okay with you . Possibly but cant think of any. So that certainly seems to be, if Robert Mueller is still determined to ask the president questions releasing to potential Obstruction Of Justice. We dont know. But we dont know because theyre completely mum over in mueller land. That could be the deal breaker on this potential interview. It is very incremental. They are proposing, counterproposing and have been for months and months and months. But it is noteworthy. Giuliani talked about the september deadline and that is the traditional window in which the Justice Department doesnt
of the world if the president is still kind of facing this potential investigation or what have you during the election because they need the base to be energized and perhaps thats a way to energize the base. Well see, though. Its not up to them. Its up to Robert Mueller. It certainly is. He knows a lot more about any of this than any of us do. Thanks for that excellent reporting. Lets discuss all of this. Eliot williams, former Deputy Assistant attorney general. Molly ball, cnn political analyst, national Political Correspondent for time, also with us former federal prosecutor Glen Kershner and cnn legal analyst laura coats. Lets talk about this latest response from the giuliani Trump Legal Team to Robert Mueller. Wrap this up by september 1st. They dont want to talk about obstruction but theyre willing to answer other questions. Im shocked giuliani continues to believe he has so much leverage that he can
dictate the terms of a conversation with special counsel mueller. The only leverage they really do have is you have this election thats looming and this doj initiative that says you cannot have this in an election year. You want it wrapped up. Donald trumps not actually on the ballot. So theres an arguable claim to make that says that wouldnt actually impact the president of the United States. Hes not on the ballot. But im really shocked. Many of us are, that the two president s personal attorneys are conversing about a legal matter with a pending federal investigation on a radio show where theyre prepared to make comments about privilege im sure later on about executive privileges, certainly Attorney Client privilege and arguing as if the only way Robert Mueller will talk to them is if they dictate the terms. Its not going to happen that way. Ultimately, i think hell have to sit down and answer some questions. I want to say to glen, how do you see it . So, wolf, im not convinced that this is actually a twosided negotiation. I think Rudy Giuliani has been negotiating against himself in his zeal to get all this information out into the public square. I dont think theres ever been an intent on the defense teams part on President Trumps defense team to bring the client in, have him sit with Robert Mueller. I was surprised at the recent reporting that mueller was willing to put some questions in writing and submit those to the president. But the more i thought about it, it may very well be that some of the questions proposed in write, things like, mr. President , did you tell Director Comey to lay off mike flynn . There are only two answers to that question. If the answer is, yes, thats evidence of Obstruction Of Justice, arguably. If the answer is no, i am betting that Robert Muellers team can prove that to be a lie. So his latest terms which are basically the way it sounds to me is, well bring him in as long as you dont ask the president Anything Incriminating or relevant. I mean, that seems to be
laughable. Elliott, go ahead. The other point is its not a perjury trap if youre telling the truth. And if you arent trying to conceal or change facts or mislead the people. And i think its unfortunate theyre using perjury, trap and trying to convince the public that somehow Robert Mueller is the one at fault here and rob mueller isnt the one under investigation. We should be careful when hearing perjury, trap or am i going to be trapped into incriminating myself when you might have done something wrong. A lot of people, molly, believe the president is never going to sit down with Robert Mueller and do a q a. Maybe in written form,ing . Along those lines but not in a facetoface interview with mueller and his team. That all of this is just politics right now. Setting the stage, we tried our best, wanted to do it. The president certainly wanted to do it but these guys have 13 angry democrats. They are just engaged in a witch hunt and its not going to happen. Theres a couple of aspects to that. Giuliani may be negotiating with himself but he also seems to be negotiating with his client because trump, number one, reveals so much about this in public, insists on tweeting about it, making his case in public when any lawyer would probably prefor that he did not do that. And second, when trump has repeatedly said publicly and privately that hed like to do this whether or not his counsel thinks its a good idea, and he continues to say theyre trying to talk me out of it, but i think i can do it and it may be partly plu partly bluster. But what hes doing is running interference between trump and mueller trying to satisfy trumps wish to do the interview while also protecting him in some way from himself. And then the third point is that he may not have a choice. Part of what he may be doing is trying to run out the clock without saying no because the minute they say no, that sets up a potential subpoena fight. I think neither side wants that,
but it is something that can happen when and if they do shut off the possibility. Stay with me. A lot more thats developing right now. Theres more on the other Breaking News were following. Republican congressman Chris Collins of new york, one of the president s first big supporters, hes now been arrested and indicted on Insider Trading charges. Also lying to the fbi. Well talk about his fate. Plus, the president declaring victory in ohio despite the special election there still too close to call. Does the cliffhanger spell trouble, though, for the gop ahead of the midterm elections . And senator rand paul delivering a letter from President Trump to Vladimir Putin. We have details. Lots of news. Well be right back. Hey allergy muddlers. Are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec®. Its starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. Its so hard to believe
but its all coming back me. Baby, baby, baby. All you can eat is back, baby. Applebees. No matter how much you clean, does your house still smell stuffy . Thats because your home is filled with soft surfaces that trap odors and release them back into the room. So, try febreze fabric refresher. Febreze finds odors trapped in fabrics and cleans them away as it dries. Use febreze every time you tidy up to keep your whole house smelling fresh air clean. Fabric refresher even works for clothes you want to wear another day. Make febreze part of your clean routine for whole home freshness. Back now to one of our top stories this hour. Republican congressman Chris Collins of new york arrested on charges of Insider Trading. Prosecutors say collins tipped off his son about negative information regarding a biotech firm. Collins was on the board of. His son was able to then sell off shares avoiding more than half a million in losses. Collins was already, by the way, under scrutiny for his role on the board, as well as recruiting several lawmakers to invest in the firm, including the former health and Human Services secretary tom price when he was a member of congress. Prices investment, by the way, came up during his confirmation hearing last year. I asked Congressman Collins about it at the time. Heres what he told me. This is in january of 2017. Did you encourage him to buy stock in this Company CalledInnate Immunotherapeutics . No, absolutely not. There was nothing done that was Insider Trading or unethical. Ive been involved with Innate Therapeutics for almost 15 years. Im the largest shareholder and i talk about it all the time, just like youd talk about your children. Were your telling other constituents and friends of yours to go ahead. This is a great stock. Go ahead to buy it. I talked to them about the great work this company is doing. The market for secondary progressive m. S. And there are many hundreds, 50, 100 people from western new york, friends, family and so forth who decided on their own, this was a pretty darn good investment and it certainly turned out to be so. You understand why to the average person out there, there is something sort of smelly in all of this. You understand why people are complaining and why it seems a little sloppy, if you will, why the democrats, a lot of democrats are going after Congressman Price and threatening his confirmation over this one issue. Its just so absurd. Lets discuss this and more. Elliott, what do you make of what we just heard from him knowing the allegation against him is that when the stock was about to collapse, he gave advance word to his son to sell and in the process save a half a million dollars. Hell have plenty of time to get his story straight from behind bars at some point. And frankly, looking at the fact he was a top supporter of the president , the president is making the washington, d. C. , swamp look like lake tahoe in upstate new york. Or lake placid in upstate new york. What we keep hearing from him is and his lawyer said, i never bauought, he never bautou any stock. He was unlawfully providing information to members of his family. He broke the law. Trying to make it about democrats going after representative price or whatever, its misleading like we were talking about earlier. I want to be fair to the president. Theres nothing in this indictment that involves him at all. Collins is one of the first supporters in the house of representatives. He endorsed him very early on. But the president , donald trump was never involved in this Company Biotech firm. Thats perfectly fine but how many times are we going to hear about corruption from the president , a top supporter, a lawyer, a Campaign Chairman before we start to really recognize how much this corruption is running through everything the president touches. Its like king midus was the president turned everything that turned to gold. The president seems to Touch Everything that turns to corruption and everywhere it seems to be following him. The indictment and ive read it and youve read it. It doesnt say he did anything wrong when suggesting to other family members, friends, hey, this is a great stock, a great company. They could come up with a cure for some form of m. S. He didnt tell them to buy but clearly that was the implication. The charges that when the Clinical Trial was about to fail, he got advance word and then tipped off his son. Who then tipped off others. They wound up Saving Hundreds Of Thousands of dollars. Its not about the innocent conversation and encouraging who would not want to have a cure
from m. S. And if theres a lead to it, youd talk about it, of course. The real criminal behavior is that you were in a unique position to get information that was not disclosed to the public. Nobody else had the advantage to have the information but suddenly you got it and within minutes you tried to call people while you were still on the white house grounds to tell someone to sell off their stock or coordinate some plan that not more than 12 hours later suddenly actually went by. So thats the crux of Insider Trading and what you saw from the graphic that m. J. Lee played was that you have the Documentary Evidence very early on. The phone call, the email that said the drug test has failed. Thats why most of the time Insider Trading cases are very document heavy. Either you have the information in advance and you acted on it or you did not. And what youre seeing here is somebody who wants to deflect, possibly, on the discussion of, i was just innocently telling you about a drug to actually that turned into Insider Trading and suddenly they saved hundreds of thousands of dollars. Glenn, his lawyer, the
congressmans lawyer says theres no charge in this indictment that he personally sold when he got the advance word. He had a lot of money invested in that stock as well. His son sold. Others sold. But he personally didnt call up his broker and sell off this stock. Is that a strong argument he has on his behalf . So its not a strong argument. Heres how. And we have heard similar refrains regarding the trump tower meeting. They never got any information so it must not have ripened into a crime. Let me break down the law of conspiracy. The law of conspiracy says if two or more people get together and agree to commit a crime and then take one step, what we call an overt act toward committing that crime, that in and of itself is a crime. Its the crime of conspiracy. They dont have to commit the underlying offense and i use as an example all the time a conspiracy to commit a murder. Two people get together and decide to murder a third person
and they rent a car to use in the murder and buy a gun and they map out the victims route but they never do pull the trig eso to speak, they have committed the crime of conspiracy to kill. The District Attorney says collins placed his friends and family above the public good. Whats going to be the political fall out of this . I think it is one more headache that republicans dont need after last nights Election Results also buoyed democrats and discouraged republicans, this is yet another blow. Congressman collins is in a heavily republican district. Its hard to imagine him being vulnerable even in the face of Something Like this, but he may come under pressure to resign. He does have a democratic opponent. But the more political impact is along the lines of what elliott was saying. It contributes to a narrative that democrats have been trying to build. Pointing to the Trump Administration, pointing to what they call a Culture Of Corruption. And the there is reason to believe that that resinates with voters much more than, say, the russia investigation. You know, a lot of people, a lot of politicians have found that the russia investigation is complicated. Its convoluted. Trump has succeeded in moving the needle and making a lot of people think this is a witch hunt. This really does bother someone when they think their elected officials are not working on their behalf but selfinterested, profiting from their office, helping their friends and cronies. So you can expect to hear a lot more about that from the democrats. In this indictment, the other very serious charges against him and his son are that they lied to the fbi when they were initially questioned about all of this perjury. Thats a big deal. You go to jail if you lie to the fbi. Dont do that. Theres a pair of nailbiters too close to call in ohio and kansas. Were watching right now. President trump already declaring victory, but could this spell some trouble for republicans in the midterm elections coming up in november . Ballpark. E 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. 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. Uby making it easy to Verifye You Hyour Car and driver. Ome, uber is moving in a new direction. Forward. I saw my leg did not look right. I landed. I was just finishing a ride. I felt this awful pain in my chest. I had a Pe Blood Clot in my lung. I was scared. I had a dvt blood clot. Having one really puts you in danger of having another. My doctor and i chose xarelto®. Xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration Blood Thinner thats. Proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt or Pe Blood Clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your bodys natural bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor,
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months . What last night showed us, i think it solidified the trends weve seen all along. In all the special elections, the story has been democrats are significantly overperforming in these republicanheld districts. Where Hillary Clinton got there, what the previous democratic candidate got there. And thats because all the enthusiasm right now in American Politics is on the democratic side. Good point. David chalian, thank you very much. Well be busy between now and november. Well watch it very closely. Well get back to the Breaking News. Republican congressman Chris Collins of new york set to be in court within the hour after being arrested and charged with Insider Trading this morning. We have details. Plus, senator Lindsey Graham reveals what President Trump couldnt stop talking about during their golf outing at the country club in new jersey. Stand by. We have details. Hey, uh. Whats in that one . Thats a shark. New and only with at t, you can get unlimited data, 30 channels of live tv, and your choice of things like hbo or pandora premium. More for your thing. Thats our thing. Visit att dot com. Tap one little bumper and up go your rates. What good is your insurance if you get punished for using it . News flash nobodys perfect. For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch and you could save 782 on home and auto insurance. Call for a free quote today. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool . Try zyrtec®. Its starts working hard at hour one. And works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. Stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. Republican congressman Chris Collins of new york is expected to appear in a federal courtroom in the next hour. The new york republican surrnderred to authorities today after being indicted on charges related to alleged securities fraud. Collins was the first sitting member of congress to support donald trump during the 2016 president ial race. Joining us now from rhode island, democratic congressman david sicillini, member of the
house Judiciary Committee and Foreign Affairs committee. Congressman, what do you think of this indictment of your fellow congressman Chris Collins . I think its, obviously, very, very disappointing. Serving the public in elected office is a tremendous honor and a great privilege and everyone has a responsibility to conduct themselves to the highest standard and certainly this is a gross violation of that. And i think it feeds into the narrative sadly that were seeing so much from this administration, republicans in congress. This Culture Of Corruption. We saw it in Administrator Pruitt and in secretary tom price. We see it in the selfdealing, the idea that government is not working for the people, but working for the powerful Special Interest and the well connected. People are sick and tired of it. Heres just the most recent example of someone using his position where hes supposed to be serving the American People and instead is serving his own financial interest. Its disgraceful. Its very sad day. And i think the American People are going to say loudly and
clearly in november theyre sick and tired of the swamp and Culture Of Corruption in washington and theyll give democrats the responsibility of leadership. The indictment and ive gone through it and im sure you have as well, it doesnt allege that donald trump had any involvement in this biotech firm or any of this Insider Trading. Oh, no, no, im not suggesting the president does. Im saying weve seen in this administration other examples of this Culture Of Corruption of the swamp of washington and although the president committed to draining the swamp, this is the most corrupt administration in recent history. And this is another example of folks who think that Elective Office is not there for the service of the people of this country but for their own personal gain or benefit. Weve seen lots of examples of that in the Trump Administration. We now see an example with Chris Collins. I think people are sick and tired of it. They want washington and the government to work for them to the best interest of the people of this country. Lets talk politics. The race in ohios 12th
congressional district is still up in the air. Too close to call right now. Whats the significance of this very close race for the democrats, either way it ends up heading into novembers midterms . I think the most important thing is to remember that a democrat has not held this congressional seat but for one time since 1938. So this is a solidly red district. And i think its evidence that the democratic candidate and candidates like him across the country that are focused on the important issues facing the American People, driving down health care costs, creating good paying jobs, rebuilding the infrastructure of our country and draining the swamp in washington and ending this Culture Of Corruption, those are resonating. This is a complete rejection of the Trump Administration and the republican narrative. And people are looking for a new direction in our country. New leadership. When democrats focus on the issues that matter to the American People, they prevail. The republicans have to spend over 5 million in this special election. They shouldnt have had to spend
a penny. Its a solidly republican district and its a harbinger of whats to come in november. Theres going to be a Big Blue Wave because people are tired of what theyre seeing. Lets talk about the Movement Among democrats right now. The governors race in michigan, for example, where a Progressive Democratic candidate lost the democratic primary. You are the vice chair of the congressional progressive caucus. Do you think some more Middle Of The Road or establishment democrats are actually breathing a sigh of relief that the more progressive or Democratic Socialist candidate support supported by bernie sanders, for example, didnt win . What does that mean for the future of your party . I think what it means most importantly is that theres tremendous excitement about democratic candidates. Enormous enthusiasm. Were seeing that reflected in the increases in voter turnout. Well have a lot of new candidates. A lot of new members of congress from a whole range of spectrums
from the very progressive to more moderate to blue dogs and new dems, to progressives. Thats great for our caucus. Its great for the country. What will happen is well Work Together when were in the majority to develop consensus around issues. Theres a lot more in common than we have disagreement. But thats a good problem to have. Theyll bring their best ideas. A lot of new energy. And theyll advocate for their positions. And out of this will come some real consensus within our caucus. Its a great sign of the energy of the enthusiasm of voters for democratic candidates. And were a big tent. Well have lots of people with different views all committed to driving down health care costs, draining the swamp, rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure and moving us forward. So its a very exciting time for the party. Very exciting time for our country, and i think this sort of broad appeal across the spectrum among democrats is very, very good. Remember what Ronald Reagan used to say about the republican party. He wanted it to be a Big Tent Party. Have a lot of different views
and you use the words big tent right now. You want the Democratic Party to be a Big Tent Party as well, right . Absolutely. And we want people to come into the party and bring their best ideas. When ideas are generated to make suggestions and make them even better. Out of that legislative process will come the best product that will serve the American People. We should be excited about that. We should embrace it, and not run away from it. Congressman david ciciline, thanks for joining us. Senator rand paul delivering a letter from President Trump to Vladimir Putin. We have the back story. Stand by for that. And new details emerging about what the president and putin may have discussed during their still mysterious one on one meeting in helsinki. Keep it comin love. If you keep on eating, well keep it comin. All you can eat riblets and tenders at applebees. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Republican senator rand paul makes a diplomatic delivery. He delivered a letter to the russian leader Vladimir Putin from President Trump while paul has been visiting russia this week. He tweeted this, quote, i was honored to deliver a letter from President Trump to president Vladimir Putins administration. It emphasized the importance of further egaugement in various areas. We heard from the white house a few moments ago the press secretary, assistant press secretary, describing as a letter of introduction in hopes of meeting with Vladimir Putin. But as far as we know, no meeting has taken place between the senator and the russian leader. Lets bring in our chief International Correspondent clarissa ward. What more do we know about how all of this came about and how the kremlin has responded. So what we know so far is that the three specific issues that the letter pertained to were counterterrorism, improving counterterrorism between russia and the u. S. , improving legislative dialogue and also resuming cultural exchanges. These are seemingly, wolf, very anna dime topics. The very thing you expect to see the president of the u. S. And the president of russia discussing as they go about trying to repair the very damaged relationship. What makes this, however, very unusual and quite striking is the method of the delivery of the letter. There are diplomatic protocols. There is a chain that one goes through. We have a thing called the state department. And traditionally a letter from the u. S. President to the russian president would go through that typical diplomatic chain or protocol. So very unusual to see President Trump giving this letter to the senator to hand deliver to
russian lawmakers who then reportedly passed it on to the kremlin. We gather from a Russian News Agency that the kremlin has the letter but that it has not yet been reviewed by President Putin himself. One can only assume, wolf, that he will be reading it soon. But again, very untraditional mechanism for delivering this letter, opening up the possibility people are saying of is this some kind of a back channel, really too early to draw any conclusions about that, wolf. But given that the topic of the letter, the specific things that are discussed seem so generic, it seems an unusual way of handing over this letter to the president of russia. When it comes to direct dialogue between the u. S. And russia, senator paul and President Trump, theyre on the same page. They want to have these kinds of exchanges. Theyre clearly working together in that area. As you know, clarissa, theres a leaked document now that sheds more light on that private meeting that President Trump had with President Putin
in helsinki. According to politico, the memo shows that putin lobbied the president on various issues, including arms control and prohibiting weapons in space. So what more are you hearing i about all of this . All of this is coming from a report from politico. Cnn has not yet been able to independently verify the report. But from what we gather, again three main topics that President Putin reportedly drilled down on with President Trump during that twohour meeting, as you have said, many times before that twohour meeting, that private meeting has been the source of endless speculation, a lot of mystery surrounding it, a lot of questions of what was discussed. According to this document which was written in russian much of it leaves putins agenda really focussed of issues of arms control with three specific topics, the fiveyear extension of the new start treaty, this essentially dealing with limiting Nuclear Armaments for
both sides, both the russians and the u. S. , commitment to reaffirm the inf treaty, this deals with intermediate ranges which both sides have accused each other of violating that treaty and as you mentioned also a possible ban on placing weapons in space. Again, what is striking about this, wolf, is that these are very typical topics to be discussed between the u. S. President , between the russian president. But we have heard the Russian Foreign ministry coming out with a blistering critique of politico saying it seems about once a month there is a leak from the american side. What kind of interference in the american elections from russia can there be if in the United States even the content of president ial talks cannot be kept secret. Harsh words there, wolf. Very interesting indeed. Clarissa ward in london, thanks very much. Other news, any minute now republican congressman Chris Collins will be in a new york federal courtroom just hours after being arrested and charged with Insider Trading. Well go there live. Plus the scene gets testy in the trial of president s former Campaign Chairman. Why teams went back and forth over the star witnesss extramarital affair. . Can this much love be cleaned by a little bit of dawn ultra . Oh yeah one bottle has the Grease Cleaning Power of three bottles of this other liquid. A drop of dawn and grease is gone. Sometimes a day at the ballpark 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. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . But how do i know if im im getting a good deal . I tell truecar my zip and which car i want and truecar shows the range of prices people in my area actually paid for the same car so i know if im getting a great price. This is how car buying was always meant to be. This is truecar. And its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country,
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