vladimir putin is doing a lot of talking all of a sudden. this is "cmn tonight," i'm don lemon. putin is calling it useless chitchat, when he suggested that patriotic russian hackers may act on behalf of his country. he said that he will not judge president trump for quitting the paris climate accord, even though supports u s it, meaning putin. is he messing with trump now? and you know who else is going to be doing talking soon? that is james comey. the white house is considering

trying to muz he wizel, let's t him had -- let's talk about it. good evening to all of you. timothy. fbi, former fbi director james comey testifies on capitol hill. he will be asked whether president trump pressured him to drop the russian investigation. how consequential do you think it will be for the trump administration? >> it would be huge. he could lay the basis for a charge of obstruction of justice. mr. dean is part of our group tonight and when mr. dean testified in 1973, he was the first insider in the white house to make a case that the president was involved in an obstruction -- in the cover-up and b definition the obstruction of justice. if mr. comey lays out of the case that he was pressured by the president to stop the

russian investigation, that's the beginning of real trouble for the president. >> how likely is it, john dean, that comey is going to lay the case as timothy says for obstruction of justice, for possible obstruction of justice? >> you think he is a sophisticated witness. he is a former prosecutor and former fbi director. he knows his way around hearing rooms and courtrooms. he knows what to say. he has talked to the special council about the parameters so he does not mess up any reputation -- any pros accusations. i think he will layout his first hand knowledge and it's something he has seen better from a distance since being fired. he probably reinterprets the conversations he had with trump given that he is no longer fbi direct director. >> given that the president has spoken out about the private conversations with comey, and tweeted about it, how likely is it that he will try to invoke

executive privilege? >> it's a lot of smoke his aids have put out that he is in the end not going to do anything. like he gave his consent. he was not worried about this testimony. i can't find any precedent for any president telling an exfbi or high level official, you can't testifies as a private citizen about your dealings with the president. i just don't know what the executive privilege basis would be. >> hm-mm. >> speaking of executive privilege, the white house press secretary sean spicer and kelly ann conway refused to rule out executive privilege. listen to this. >> is the white house going to invoke executive privilege to prevent james comey from testifying in front of the committee next week? >> the committee hearing has just been noticed and it has to be reviewed. >> that is not a no. >> literally my understanding is

that the date for the hearing is just set. i have not spoken to council yet. >> so he is not going to invoke executive privilege. >> the president will make the decision. >> have they lost the ability to speak for him with any confidence? >> i think it's tough, certainly and they have been more cagey lately saying i have not checked with the president on that, or i have not asked him about the question that you are asking. but i just think the optics -- >> how does it look, why are they speaking for him? isn't that their jobs? >> yes, it is. but i mean, clearly they are being more careful after a series of misstatements that have misled people about what the president is thinking or what the president is going to do. and you know, he has -- his tweets have conflicted with what his advisers said. there's the american people that have lost confidence in some of what his advisers have said, but i think to john's point, beyond

the fact that thehite house has an incredibly weak case to, you know, to try and claim executive privilege to prevent comey from testifying, the optics of this, would just be so terrible for the white house. i mean, the whole problem that trump has right now, and the rest of his administration is that he has created a pattern of conduct that has raised all these questions about whether he, you know, is involved in obstruction of justice or preventing this investigation from going forward in the way that it should. and clearly this is not a white house that gets the optics right. a lot of the time, but i think that his advisers understand how bad it would look if he was m muzzeling comey next week. there's clearly going to be a lot of fall-out for this hearing for trump. >> there's the thinking that while comey was disturbed, and people are saying, why didn't he

speak out sooner at the time. that he was disturbed by the president's actions and thought he had it under control and maybe the president did not know how to conduct himself and what was right and what was wrong with the director of the fbi. do you think that he maybe just didn't understand the inappropriateness of his own actions? >> mr. had trump didn't? >> yeah. >> president trump. oh. what is fascinating about this, is that generally speaking, people engage in a conspiracy at the top. they don't do it directly. they have people do it for them. the fact that comey spoke with him in the residence, it's dangerous. and i suspect it had something to do with the way he conducted business in new york in the '80s and '90s. he does not understand government. he does not understand the regulatory environment he is living in. >> john, you are saying, he does

not understand. when i asked the question and when i read the comment from the source, can you claim not knowing what is appropriate like you can't claim ignorance of the law. you are the president of the united states, how do you not know? you are supposed to know these things. >> a lot of watergate were people that did not understand the law were unaware of it. one of the first reactions that i had after learning what had happened was to raise with my predecessor, john erlickman that we needed a good criminal lawyer. and i said, to my knowledge, you have no background in the criminal law, i have no background in criminal law, i could not convince him to bring somebody on. and every council since my time in the white house has had somebody on their staff or themselves had experience in the criminal law. >> hm-mm. the deputy attorney general rod

rosenstein who pointed robert mueller as special council, he said that he would recuse himself of any oversight of mueller's probe if he was the subject of the investigation. do you think it's where things are going, john? >> it could happen. i was surprised to hear the new scope of mueller's investigation, and that's the right thing for the deputy attorney general to do is to inde indeed recuse himself if he is part of it, that will take it down to the head of the criminal division, who i'm not sure that is at this point. that is wre it will fall if the chain. so, that will, you know,ed a more confusion to the investigation in a sense for justice, bought we have a special council that is leading the whole drive, so they are really not involved in it. >> i have to ask, i understand you have reporting regarding ivanka trump and what is going on with her, what do you have? >> well, we, in our magazine at

cnn.com/state, we are writing this time about origins and we have a story looking deeply in to donald trump's faith and his guiding principals or lack thereof. and also, a story looking at ivanka trump's role, particularly as a high profile jewish woman in america. given the amount of, you know, of anti-semetic attacks around the country and the troubling pattern that we are seeing. it's interesting how little she has spoken out about that, given, you know, her very public visit to the western wall and accompanying her father to jerusalem, so it's a fascinating thing to watch. i think a lot of people are looking to her to step up that role and really, really speak out on those issues since her faith is obviously such a central part of who she is. >> right.

thank you panel, have a great weekend. when we come back, vladimir putin speaking out about reports that russia medaled in last year's election ly denying it.

vladimir putin having a lot to say about our election. robert, who is a professor emeritus at columbia university.

thank you for joining us, robert, we will start with you. vladimir putin speaking out about the russian involvement in hacking the u.s. elections. >> they voted for him and the other team, they made a mistake and they don't want to recognize this mistake right now. he they don't want to say that they were not wise enough. it's easy to say it's not our fault, it's all -- it's the russians, they intervened, they interfered. it's like anti-semmitism, the jews are to blame. you are an idiot because the jews are to blame. >> so he is not flat out denying russian involvement like he has in the pass. what do you think he is saying here? >> well, i think first of all, the russians are perplexed by has blown up and now, affects

just about everything that the trump administration can and can't do with its relations with russia and they don't know how to behave in the context. putin knows what the russians have done in the election and sub consesequently and at this i don't think they understand how serious it could get. although they are getting an idea of it. the question is, whether they have begun doing a cost benefit analysis. >> they said the other day, when he said the other day, that russians may have been involved, but they were sumply patriots who were offended by the way russia was being treated in the u.s. press and by politician ans, but it was not the russian government, that suggested that they are moving in the way that they have to deal more directly with the issue and they cannot continue to stonewall, which is

the position that they have been in. >> what price are they paying? >> well, right now, it's an absolute conrestraint and distraction on a trump administration if they want to make progress in the relationship with the russians. >> got you, all right. >> and after the inflated expectations following the election which did dissipate on the russian side, more recently as the result of the tillerson, lovrov's conversations, i think they believe the administration would like to move forward on issues but yet they see the question of russia and the election now disrupting everything. >> got it. matthew. putin has been incredibly out spoken on the hacking in the u.s. election in the pastweek. what do you make of the strategy? >> i think he has been on a diplomatic offensive in st. petersburg this week. he is exploiting what is increasingly clear as a win/win situation for him. because on the one hand, he can deny any involvement in the

hacking. he can deny that there was a deal that was hatched before the inauguration. but on the other hand, he can, with a wink and a nod, remind everybody that in fact, he did endorse and sort of license had this behavior. and that it was successful. the russia covert operations, the cyber warfare was sophisticated, well timed and well sequenced and it worked. he is getting sort of the best out of both situations. he is saying he is not involved. but he is also sending a message to both his people and to the global audience that he is sitting in front of that he is somewhat omnipotent on this front. and at the same time, don, he is exploiting a growing rift in the u.s. policy. he is exploiting president trump's efforts to get around the nature of russia's interference with the election

and the growing division between the white house and the justice department and the white house and congress. but to the point, it's a very important one, and that is to say that putin also recogzes that he h painted himself and trump in to a corner. >> yeah. >> he recognizes that he cannot, at this point, negotiate a deal to end sanctions. and that he otherwise can't do -- take steps on a global and regional conflict that require u.s. cooperation. >> those, that's the consequence. that's the price he is paying right now at least russia is paying right now. could he also be signaling to the president that he knows more? >> he could be. and what, i guess the broader point that is remarkable to me is the position russia is in today. the level of discord between the united states and europe is sort of unprecedented for many, many years. you could argue many decades. this has been a goal a weakened

divided european nato and european union. every day there's headlines like this, it makes moscow look that more powerful on the global stage. whether or not, you know, the hacking, you know, was intentional or changed the election, it's amaze if you go enthusiasm of putin again, five -- if you think of putin five, ten years ago, they were a backward country and now they are interfere engine ing in an . >> vladimir putin has to be loving the attention. it's a big accusation that he is powerful enough to fix elections. >> i don't think so. i think something else is at work here. i was in moscow several weeks ago, and across the board, including russians who do not support the putinolic p are quite critical. they all agreed this was a dozen people or more, that putin now,

and even before the presidential election, is very interested in improving and repairing relations with the united states. when i said that was my impression, one of the russians corrected me and said, no, he desperately wants to improve relations. and as a consequence, the role that they played in these elections are certainly preventing any significant progress in that direction. there's small things that are happening that we are overlooking and i think the russians are focusing on some of the things that have come out of the original tillerson visit in moscow. but, in the present circumstances there's a very high price paid, if what he wants to do is begin repairing the u.s. russia relationship. which he needs to do. because the consequences of the ukrainian crisis has not worked out how he wants. >> i enjoyed the conversation, what will james comey say in his

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the president trump does

noot blo -- does not block him, james comey is set to testify before the senate. sources are saying that the testimony will go forward. what do you make of the new news? >> well, i think the president would be fall iss-- would be fo tray you to block it. he has a hard time learning new lessons but one of them that i hope he took away from the whole comey affair was that it was a bad idea to fire him had at least how and when he did. i hope the administration realizes that it would be another mistake you to try and block his htestimony, his testimony is in the public's interest. if trump tries to block it, based on legal experts opinions, it would fail and it would be a failed attempt to block the testimony that, you know, the public needs to hear. so i expect to hear from comey on thursday.

>> what do you expect to hear from him? >> i don't think that what he is going to do is talk about the investigation. we are learning that robert mueller is expanding the scope of the focus of his investigation and so, as he expands that investigation, that gives, had that allows less room for comey to talk about the investigation in prior testimonies he has not wanted to good in -- he has not wanted to go in to much detail anyway. what we will hear from comey and i think we will hear significant candor is about his engagement with the psident mself. so, i think we are going to hear abou you know, whether the president tried to get him to stop the investigation in to michael flynn, or the broader investigation. i think we will hear about the pledge of loyalty that apparently donald trump tried to get comey to make. i think we will hear about other related factors and the reason that i think we will hear so much candor from comey.

he is a law man. and i have said it before, it bears repeating that men, and the women in the line of work of comey and our intelligence professionals, they depend on their integrity and their honor. they literally cannot do their jobs without it. and so, it's a part of the culture that you just don't allow your honor and integrity to be questioned. so, when politician ans do that and the fbi and the cia are easy targets, but when they do that, they better be correct. if they are not correct and if they are just trying to score points unjustify ably on one of these public servants, you can expect them to try to clear their names. i think that is what comey is going to do. >> before i ask you about vladimir putin, what questions should congress be asking? >> i think there's a series of questions. they need to know, for example, whether donald trump ever made comey's continuous in that role

as director of the fbi contingent upon his stopping the investigation or limiting the investigation or whether it was contingent on a pledge of loyalty. they need to of course ask whether donald trump asked if he was under an investigation and whether comey responded or not. he needs to account f that. he needs to, you know, he needs to descre any other relevant exchanges that they might have had. but there's plenty there. and i think we are, you know, there's still an investigation obviously ongoing and expanding about russia's influence in our elections and what else they may be doing. but really, i think as much as comey's firing was an inflection point in the way that the nation looks at that issue, i think that, i will predict that comey's testimony on thursday will be an inflection point or maybe an inflection point in which we start to look at

potential obstruction of justice on the part of the president, i think it will be a big deal. >> okay, so let's talk about vladimir putin now, he said that americans must stop the hysteria about an alleged russia deal with the u.s. president donald trump. he conceded that it might have been a patriotic russian hackers, it was patriotic for them to interfere in our election. as a former cia officer, what do you say to that? >> well, i would say that if he is saying it's a pat rot i can duty for russians to influence the outcome in our democracy, he has clearly articulated what our problem is. we have a real threat bay foreign power to our ability to choose our own leaders and hold them accountable. that is what this is and so there's no mystery anymore. i think the level of partisanship in our country has gotten to the point that even now that putin is acknowledging

that we may have played a role, or did play a role, he is not denying it anymore. there's still people that want to downplay the significance of this. and those in public office do a tremendous disservice to the interests of the american people when they do. but vladimir putin is essentially condoning that activity when he calls it an act of patriotism, and it makes our challenge clear. >> do you say that trump and putin have everything to gain by down playing their relationship, explain that? >> absolutely they do. their relationship is long standing, i don't care what donald trump has said before the campaign. he bragged about his relationship with vladimir putin. there are all kinds of touch points there that continued in the campaign and after. obviously, at this point, vladimir putin engaged in an effort to under mine our democracy and to sway our election towards donald trump,

donald trump seems to have some strange allegiance to vladimir putin putin, if there's one thing he is consistent about, that is it. we are learning the nature of the relationship. and by the end of this, we will get to the bottom of it. but they are both advantaged in downplaying the nature of that now, because look, there's a special council investigating a, you know, a broad range of his staffers. they are in hot water on both sides. >> i have to run, thank you. have a great weekend. when we come back, team trump has he glowing praise for the president, what does it really mean? i will ask a language expert what is behind their words.

the way team trump talks about the president may tell you everything that you need to know about what is going on behind the scenes at the white house. so, welcome, welcome, all week we have heard team trump speaking of the president and his had actions.

i want to start with the vice president and the epa chief in the rose garden. >> thanks to president trump's leadership, american businesses are growing again. thanks to president donald trump, america is back. >> thank you mr. president. >> your decision today, to exit the paris accord reflects your unflinching commitment to put america first and by exiting, you are fulfilling yet one more campaign promise to the american people. know that i'm thankful for your courage, and your stead fastness as you serve and lead our country. >> what do you think? >> that looked like some 19th century or better, ninth century ritual, it's absurd, think of it this way, imagine in 12-yeaold were fashioning poci and there's a battery of people who a assigned to interrupt his policies for the

public. now, they have always been this battery of people for other presidents who were real presidents so we have a ritual that policy is set and either because it's complicated or because everyone wants to figure out how politics is being played, you have these people who's job it is to ask questions, to try to bring these things out. well, you keep things going. so, sitcoms used to have theme songs, they don't as much now. there was no reason for a sitcom to have a theme song, so we figured out it does not need it. in the same way, we may not really need this business of these press briefings at this point. because the policies that are coming from this president, are almost invariably under considered, not to mention mean spirited pop pyoppycock, theref why do you need people to ask questions about it?

there should not be briefings at all. >> you said real president, you are saying he is not a real president? >> yes, i'm putting forth the unusual, unprecedented insight, of course, he was elected president, but in terms of what we have seen, he does not act presidential, he is not giving thought to the presidency that we expect him. therefore the policies to not make sense, they are not well thought out, they don't deserve, no, they can't be subjected to analysis the way previous presidencies policies could. so we need to let it go. these things should be put in writing and people should discuss them. to have somebody like sean spicer assigned to explain what the policies are to justify something that almost always has no moral justification, it's cruel to him and it makes no logical sense. it's a waste of time. >> the people around him, same thing, you don't need, you don't think there needs ton an announcement. >> it looks so ritual for the simple reason that there's nothing good to say.

and imagine being in that position. >> okay, let's start with, let's talk about the statement from this is the director of strategic communications. president trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive ergy which is infectioous to those around him. he has built great relationships around his life and treats everyone with respect. he is brilliant with a great sense of humor and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible. >> this is fantasy. >> is he writing his own statements? >> he would not be capable of writing anything that articulate. but the point is, he is about as charasmatic as a kitchen cabinet, she understands it. she is making it up because there's no basis in realty to work from. she is not writing about him.

it's gotten to that point. >> what do you think she is thinking? what will make him happy? >> she is working for her boss and doing something that has the form of her doing her job so that she can look qualified to do the next one. >> equally as striking is what his team was able to say or maybe not able to say whether the president believes in climate change. watch this. >> what does the president actually believe, climate change, does he believe it's a hoax, can you clarify it? >> i have not had the opportunity to have that discussion. >> does the president believe that chiemt change is a hoax? >> it's not about whether climate change is occurring or not. he believes in clear water, air, and -- >> let's do it one more time. does he believe that chiemt chan -- climate change is a hoax? >> why do you think that nobody wants to answer this question? >> climate change is relatively complex, you have to read both

sides and these days i think there's a point where there's one side whose justifications you need to read. you need to concentrate. and that's not something he does so his position on climate change is roughly that climate change policies was something that the previous administration liked so therefore he doesn't. this man is not acting like what the leader of a nations supposed to act like. >> the leader of the french nation macron has been in office for a few weeks and he is the one person who is willing to stand up to president trump. and he had some really harsh words about him pulling out of the paris accord, watch this. >> to all scientists --

responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the president of the united states, i want to say that they will find in france a second homeland. i call on them to work on solutions to our climate. >> ma is yo-- what is your take make our planet great again? >>statesman and he is thinking and he has focus. it's unfortunate to contrast that. it's a bit off script, but there's people who are working for this man, there are people who are writing about this man in his favor.

i think it's sad. >> well, if you listen to macron whose english is not his first language, what do you think his grasp of the english language is, do you think it's better than thepresident? >> for better or worse, english is the closest thing to an international language. it's more likely that macron would speak english and of course, his english is let's say thiftyer and tidier than the spoken english of trump. those that are taught english as the second language are not taught the barstool language. when he speaks to the french

public, he speaks in a formal french. and a french that requires forethought. that is different than a u.s. president. >> this may be one of the most important days in american history. what will you be listening for? >> i will be listening for comey to explain how it's been a disagreement between him and the president and to make it clear in terms of words mattering that what the president said corresponded to facts that are extremely damning to his account. i mean the president's account of what has been going on. i think that, the president tends to think you can kind of spew. i mean, that you are sitting here tweeting and you fall asleep while you are writing the word coverage and send it and tease everyone the next day. he thinks that words don't matter. because they don't when you are

sitting on a bar stool or bouncing your grandchild on your knee. words do matter. you can never say an unmonitored word. you are using language in a different way when you are president. except roughly when you are in the bathroom. trump does not understand that and i hope that as we iron out what is going on between him and comey, that becomes clearer. and frankly i'm biased, i think when we do understand what went on between him and comey, it may be the beginning of republicans realizing that we need to reconsider he should be in the oval office. >> are you saying that people willsay, really smart people do not understand the words he is using? and i know, you are a linguist and i am sure you do not understand. is that the definition of covfefe? >> that doesn't work. if you take a written transcription of his babbling, it looks like somebody that

learned english last week. context means a lot and he is coherent in casual speech that does not mean there's hidden, sophisticated resonances in the things he says that we, who are maybe smart but not gifted like these other people are not quite getting. these people are flailing because the president is 12. i mean, you imagine a 12-year-old doing these things and you imagine how silly there would be for handlers to translate what the 12-year-old is saying. that is happening. >> except of admitting it's a typo. i have to say, you are, you have a magnetic personality, you make me want to aspire more than even i thought i could. >> you are one of two people who said that. thank you, don. >> thank you, john. always a pleasure. we will be right back.

america's more divided today than it has been in a long time. bill weir hit the road to dig in to his familyfamily's contradic

>> crimes against the people, c conspiracy -- as a feeling member of the human race. >> milwaukee knew him as sgt. miller and i knew him as grandpa and i loved him dearly. >> he was intimidating to a lot of people, but anybody that got to know him would realize, he would basically give the shirt off of his back to you. >> this is my uncle dan. frank's youngest son. >> he took his job seriously and if you broke the law, or you committed a crime, he has got a job to do. >> and my grandfather's memorabilia, i find a flip book of mug shots, including a 19-year-old named prentis mckinney. >> we went out with our hearts and minds and eyes open, we love everyone. they love you.

i don't love everyone, but when a big othe throws a brick at me, i don't love him. you understand. when they are sending wild dogs across the street to bite me, i'm going to cut his throat. >> how are you this morning? >> old but here. >> i cannot explain. >> i feel the same way. >> he said that the local paper dubbed him the angriest young negro, today the youth has passed and the anger has not. >> recognize him? >> yeah. his picture captures him. yeah, he was a real [ bleep ]. >> and his men? >> the -- squad was incorporated. >> you can get the gist of the description there. >> when you are not traveling around the world, i know you watch the show and you realize we tackle the issues on the show. maybe not as personally as you did. why do you think we are so divided now? you think we always were? >> it's because we always were.

we like to think there was a time when everyone locked arms and sang and the founding fathers took off wigs and had a sam adams. no, if you strip away the borders of the 50 states that are arbitrary and you map america of who got off what ship there's 11 different nations. and they have different definitions of what liberty and justice means and we have been having a 240-year-old argument over that. very different people, very different values and so, you know, this was a way to use my grandfather's legacy as a law man in the civiligs era and to see it in the age of black lives matter how much resentment echos. if he had done his job differently, would we be going through what we are going through now. you realize one generation at a time, you are trying to, the arc of the moral universe bends

hopefully the right way. >> towards justice. hopefully. >> towards justice. then comes times of anger and people who have been living in their own bubbles. those are ripe times for leaders that want to divide and people that want to sort us versus them. we the people is us plus them. >> you are always traveling and we are learning from your travels. thank you mr. weir a pleasure to see you. >> don't miss bill weir, states of change, tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern. we will be right back.

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in action, go to cnn heroes.com. and while you are there, nominate someone you think should be a 2017 cnn hero, that is it for us tonight. thanks for watching. . >> does the president still believe climate clang? does he think that's a hoax? >> i have not had an opportunity to have that discussion. >> a day of the u.s. president withdraws from a global climate deal the white house refuses to answer a simple question. is climate change real? well, science as it is, official, the ducking and dodging, details on all of that. >> the president says there is no evidence the russian government interfered in the u.s. election. we will have a live report from moscow this hour after a big interview. it is 4:00 a.m. on the u.s. west coast. we will welme