tv Anderson Cooper 360 CNN June 6, 2017 6:00pm-7:01pm PDT
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there's a tidal wave of breaking news. the fired fbi director's testimony before the senate intelligence committee approaches. to say this could shake washington to the core is not overstating things. tensions between the attorney general and the president. we're reporting he offered to resign sometime in the last eight "the new york times" repo that comey asked sessions not to leave him alone with the president or he didn't want to be in a room alone with the president. gloria borger is saying comey will dispute the president's claim that he was not under investigation. now "the washington post"
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reporting on another incident, director comey is expected to testify to, efforts by the president to get his top intelligence and law enforcement owe fifficials to back off on t russia investigation. the president asked director of national intelligence dan coats to intervene with director comey on the russia probe. officials telling the post that coats discussed the conversation with other officials and decided that intervening with comey as the president had suggested would be inappropriate. first go to the panel. carl, what do you make of this reporting by "the washington post"? >> it's of a piece. that piece is that the president of the united states has made multiple attempts to try and conceal what has happened. and to make an investigation go away by going to the principal conductors of those investiga
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investigations, comey, coats. what we are going to hear before the committee is the testimony of one of those people and a narrative of how that occurred from the point of view of mr. comey. we're going to also see, i suspect, a huge effort to impeach that word, mr. comey's credibility by the republicans on the committee. marco rubio has an opportunity here to maybe be the howard baker, similar to the watergate investigation and say what did the president know and when did he know it. but president trump has said, i wish mr. comey luck. it's a strange thing to say. about this upcoming testimony. we can see a real fuselage of efforts to go after comey and his credibility by the republicans. >> the president may say more if he is live tweeting as there's reports he may do. >> yeah. there's reports there's an outside group, pro-trump outside group that's going to be running
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ads attacking james comey. i think we saw -- we have seen in the past couple days hints that people who support donald trump want to attack and impugn the character of james comey. i think that ultimately, it's going to be very interesting. the nuance is going ing ting t interesting in terms what james comey says. there's a way to portray what donald trump did in the most negative way, that is obstruction of justice, it's heavy handed. you do what i want or you will be fired. then i think there's a way to present it that's like, trump doesn't really know how this works. do we a favor. be nice to my friend, michael flynn. could you talk to james comey? it's a fine line. the perception of the heavy handedness of donald trump i think could matter in the court of public opinion.
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>> what do you make -- this washington post report, it's one thing obviously comey was fired. for him to go to coats to try to get to comey. >> you have this -- as carl is pointing out. you have a fact pattern. he went to coats. he went to yocomey to try to influence the investigation. he ended up firing him to influence the investigation. trump was obsessed with this investigation for some reason. just to add one more thing, he asked comey to lay off of michael flynn as national security adviser. you have the series of events that comey is going to lay out in a narrative. if his previous testimony is any indication, in a pretty compelling and powerful way, because he's a good storyteller. just to matt's point, i think how he lays that out and what the public and what is more importantly congress makes of this series of events and these facts is the key question after
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this committee -- after this hearing. at the end of the day, we're not talking about criminal statute obstruction of justice. we're in the realm of does congress view this as so serious that it rises to the political nuclear option? >> very nefarious. >> if the president obstructed justice -- >> boys will be boys. >> what's congress going to -- how does congress -- what do they think of that question? >> but there seems to be a strategy here on comey's part. right? if the reporting by gloria borger and others is to be believed, he very much wants to set himself up as a neutral person and have the political actors be the ones making the judgme judgments. he wants to only be the storst y storyteller, not interpreting the conduct. only saying, this is the interaction i had. he may say he was troubled by it. all of the reporting we have had
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and to carl's point, it has all been in the same direction. all of the revelations have been of very similar behavior by the president. he leans on one person and then when he doesn't like the answer he gets, he goes and he leans on someone else. it's whether you interpret it as him -- it's very telling that the most jenngenera generous inn is that he didn't know what he was doing. even then we have been told he was warned. >> i would like your take on this washington post report about the president going to coats. >> first of all, the last comments made are very interesting. where james comey started to get himself in trouble, contrary to an otherwise solid professional history, was about a year ago when he did start making legal judgments that were the province of prosecutors and the department of justice, when he held press conferences that were unprecedented in fbi history. when you had people on both sides of the aisle, myself included, saying that was out of bounds for an fbi director. he out ght to be fired order
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resign. forward almost a year and that happens. it's done with timing right before russians show up -- meeting with the trump and his administration. the timing was terrible. the rollout was completely mishandled by the white house staff. so now we're going to hear from comey on thursday. i do agree that i think that he would like to simply be a fact provider. let other people make judgments. i fully expect that you will see congressmen on both sides of the aisle asking what i would call a leading question and saying, isn't it true that, and trying to get him to confirm a characterization of what he views as the facts. that's going to be -- frankly, it's going to make for a long day, i think, for james comey. i don't think that's what he wants to be doing. i don't think that where he wants to be. he wants to tell his story and step back and let others deal with it as they may. >> carl? >> i think we need to recognize
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that this is early in a huge train that is running down the tracks which is mueller's investigation. this is really the first great event on this train ride. it's not the end. what comey is going to do, whatever he says and however he is aattacked or supported, is t set up what the train ride will be. that train ride is going to center partly on the question of whether or not the president obstructed justice. comey's testimony is going to convince some people, i suspect, that what the president did comes very close or over the line of obstruction or it fails. he is also going to present a case that some of those on the republican -- republicans are going to say, wait a minute, mr. comey, isn't the real issue here that of leakers in the obama administration? isn't it have do as well with
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unmasking? we're going to see a repeat of all of these tropes that have the republican affect of trying to make this go away. it's not going to work. >> those are tropes? >> that's right. >> this isn't just the republicans. the president was telling the truth when he said that former director comey had been unpopular with both sides. that may have been why trump didn't anticipate the firing would cause as much trouble as it did. it was true that republicans had problems with comey's failure as they saw it to charge secretary clinton. democrats had problems with comey speaking out on secretary clinton and the letter right before the election. i think we can expect this to be a larger referendum on the conduct of james comey as fbi director and all of this stuff is going to be dredged up. >> according to the reporting, the president going to coats is another incident where the president told everyone to leave the room, which this is something the president didn't want to speak about in front of a large group of people.
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i guess the cia director was in the room. >> he probably knew what he was doing was improper or at least out of the ordinary. he didn't want to have coats answer the question in front of other people. because perhaps he knew that coats wasn't going to answer the question and that it would cause some kind of a problem. what you have here is a president looking for assurances everywhere that this russia problem was going to be put to rest in one way, shape or form. and that he would -- he would not have any liability here, nor would the people on his campaign. he was trying to shut it down, i'm sure. and his frustration stems from the fact that, of course, he want able to do it. >> jim, this reporting comes on the heels of your reporting a couple weeks ago that the president also asked coats and rogers to deny evidence of collusion with russia and they refused to comply then as well according to sources. >> this is the other side of the
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president's efforts here. he has his private efforts detailed by my colleagues here to get people in positions of influence to stop pursuing particular investigations. then you have the public push to try to enlist some of those, the same people, to tell the public that there is no there there. in each case, they have refused. even appointees of the president, dan coats, an appointee of the president, refusing that request both in the public sphere and private sphere. the other point -- carl made a good point about how this -- what's tieing this together are various efforts to -- give the appearance interfering. the other is russia. in each conversation is the question of russian interference and influence in the election in various ways. in a different way, with michael flynn, the investigation, unreported discussions that get at the heart of sanctions. with sessions, it's his recusal
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because he did not declare meetings with russian officials. i would just add that in addition to the reporting tonight on sessions and his falling out with the president, just a reminder to our report last week that there is now another possible third meeting that sessions did not report. you have many layers to the russia investigation. each of these stories that we have out tonight is tied back again to that russia story. >> there's so much happening tonight. we have to take a break. more breaking news on the other side of this. we're devoting this to james comey's testimony. there's so much breaking news and other stories. new reporting on whether the president still supports director comey's former boss. a spokesman would not say -- sean spicer. see what the west wing is saying now. [vo] what made secretariat the greatest racehorse
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with calcium and vitamin d. one a day women's in gummies and tablets. [ barks ] radio: scorching heat today, staywalter!ut there! stop suffering with hot ac. cool it yourself with a/c pro. in just 3 easy steps, enjoy the comfort of 2 times the cooling boosters from the #1 selling coldest air. nothing cools like a/c pro. breaking news on james comey's testimony, tension going into the hearing between the president and former senator, now attorney general jeff sessions. he offered to resign. today sean spicer has asked repeatedly about the attorney general's standing with the president. >> how would you describe the president's level of confidence in the attorney general? >> i have not had a discussion with him about that. >> last time you said that there was a development. >> i'm asking -- i'm answering a question, which is i have not had that discussion with him. i said i have not had a discussion with him on the question. if i haven't had a discussion with him about a subject, i tend
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not to speak about it. >> that was this afternoon. what about tonight? joining us more with from the white house is jim acosta. you have new reporting on that. >> reporter: that's right. here it is quarter after 9:00 in the nation's capital, seven hours after that press briefing earlier today. a white house official could not answer the question as to whether or not the president has confidence in attorney general jeff sessions. this is obviously a major -- >> they're still saying that tonight? >> reporter: they're saying that tonight. this official said it was still necessary to go back and check with the president to ask him whether or not he still had confidence in jeff sessions. that question has not been answered over the last seven hours. i asked this official why is that? why are you being so cautious about this? this official said, point-blank, we don't want another situation like we had with the national security adviser michael flynn when he eventually stepped down. earlier in the day, kellyanne conway was on national te
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television saying president had confidence in michael flynn and hours later he was forced out. we found out he was fired. this is a situation where the white house is basically -- they are afraid of being undercut by their own president. they don't want to say that the president has confidence in jeff sessions. i will tell you, i did talk to justice department spokeswoman who said earlier this evening, about an hour and a half ago, that the attorney general has not resigned. he has not stepped down. he has not been fired. all of these questions are swirling, anderson, because the president has not told his team here at the white house whether or not he has confidence in the attorney general, which is a rather remarkable thing to have going on for seven hours here in washington. the other thing that is remarkable about all of this is that we're just two days away from jim comey testifies on capitol hill. a lot of these questions may be about jeff sessions. it may be about what the president knew and when he knew it.
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yet, we have this big mystery hanging over the air as to what is going to happen with the attorney general. i was cautioned that perhaps later tonight we may get some kind of clarifying statement about whether the president has confidence in jeff sessions. at this point, we are 9:19 in washington, we don't have that answer. >> it's fascinating. jim acosta, thanks very much. back with the panel. we haven't heard from you, steve. i guess credit to the spokes wom people po people for not wanting to say something they don't know is true or not. the fact they don't know and to jim's point, this was asked seven hours ago, that they haven't asked is telling. >> yeah. you might say the silence is deafening. it's remarkable to think that the white house isn't in a position to say that the president has confidence in any of his cabinet officials, let alone someone as visible as as closely connected to him as jeff sessions. i don't know if it means jeff
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sessions' days are numbered. i think with director comey's hearing on thursday, let's not forget, the director of national intelligence is testifying on capitol hill tomorrow. i think we're going to hear a lot, not just thursday but tomorrow about exactly what kinds of high level conversations are happening within the administration about who is in charge. and about what the future should be going forward with regard to the presidential relationships with these senior advisers. >> ken, as a former state attorney general, how strange is it for the white house not to know what the president has confidence in jeff sessions? >> well, i certainly think this whole situation is peculiar. if you are jeff sessions, you've taken your position with the president. you go to work. you do your job. if things change, you deal with it at that point. i don't know that the president has shown any long-term inclination to be rid of jeff sessions. the evidence is to the contrary,
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even if he would like him to be carrying more water for him, if you will. nonetheless, jeff sessions was an easy pick for the president. while any of his picks are challenging and especially for that position, would have been challenging to get through the senate, i think he is on solid ground now. while that can go away quickly in this administration, until it does, if you are jeff sessions, you have to just keep pressing ahead and doing your job. by all observation, that's what he is doing. i don't think that the testimony tomorrow by director coats is going to change that. you may hear testimony when questions arise about what did you and the president say to one another, i think you may hear coats demure on those. i don't know that he will answer those questions at all. >> carl? >> you just said it, ken. carrying water. what i'm told by people in white house is that the president is in a rage at sessions.
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it's because sessions did not carry water. for him. that sessions did not insulate him and stay involved in this investigation. instead, he arecused himself. in that recusal that opened the floodgates for the appointment of mueller after comey was fired. so he had depended on sessions, according to people in the white house, to help protect him from these investigations on top of which sessions is among those whose activities is -- are being looked at. not necessarily criminal. but they are being looked at. >> but that makes it less likely that he was terribly dependent on that as a firewall. they knew that very early on. >> ken, i -- i beg to differ. >> one more point. the attorney general is the most independent cabinet member by
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definition in the cabinet. the president -- >> by statute. >> the president may want to treat him the same as everybody else in cabinet, but he is not. this outside of policy in the areas of law enforcement, the attorney general is called on to exerci exercise independent. but he has acted in that area of his responsibility. there's been no sign to the contrary. >> you are right in sessions did not inform the president of the united states, give him notice, he was going to recuse himself. >> this is a positive thing. if you care about separation of powers and the independence. this is a great sign for america with all the horrible things that are happening and all the controversy -- >> i wouldn't go that far. >> it is. >> he would -- >> it's a great sign we have people like james comey who were standing up to the president,
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exercising the independence of the fbi and jeff sessions who was a loyalist who supported donald trump and then who acted independently and stood up to the president with all the negativity. >> one at a time. steve, go ahead. >> before we all jump on the jeff sessions has shown nothing but ind pependence bandwagon, h was involved in comey's firing. just because he are yrecused, i not clear he honored that. the biggest point is, play this out. if jeff sessions is gone from the justice department sometime soon, then what? i don't think the trump administration will be any happier with rod rosenstein as the acting attorney general. you have to wonder given how hard it has been for them to find someone to replace comey, what kind of nominee for attorney general is going to get through the senate judiciary committee given everything that's swirling around right
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now? >> steve is right. if jeff sessions -- if you done think jeff sessions is a loyal enough soldier for you at the justice department, there's nobody in public life that is going to make it through the senate and be in that position that is going to somehow be more loyal. trump can't do much better than sessions. remember -- i made the same point you made before, matt. it's a good thing that sessions went to the president reportedly and said maybe he would have to resign if the relationship was off track or if he felt pressure from the white house. that's a good thing. sometimes we use a little low bar for this administration. at the same time, he made a mistake in reuse itting himself fr from the investigation and abandoned that and recommending to the president that he -- >> i don't think it really matters at this point. does he stay or does he go. the white house has hung him out to dry. as you all said, he is the most extreme trump loyalist you can
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imagine. a lot of people's minds, he has not been an independent attorney general. he has carried the president's water. that is still not enough. >> the fact that seven hours have passed and he is hanging out to dry. >> trump has done this. he tortures people by putting them out as potential firing. then he doesn't end up cutting them loose. he keeps them there stewing in their jobs. he lets it be out there. i think it's very purposeful and pointed that these spokes people have refused to issue that statement of confidence. it's a way of saying, you are being hung out to dry, you are getting your turn in the spotlight to sort of be tormented by the president's potential lack of confidence. you get a little bit of uncertainty of whether you get to keep your job just because -- >> wait, wait. you are telling me the guy who keeps track of how many scoops of ice cream you get might be petty enough to play that game? >> perish the thought.
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>> we will take a break. we will continue the conversation. i want to dig into new reporting tonight exclusive cnn reporting that former director comey will testify to at least one point that directly refutes what the president said about their conversation conversations. details on that ahead. to those who know that the essence of integrity is a promise kept. ♪ if you've got the time welcome to the high life. ♪ we've got the beer ♪ miller beer
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the president's interpretation of what he said to him about not being under investigation would be incorrect. that he will dispute that he ever assured the president that he was not under any kind of investigation, but that these conversations are often quite nuanced, as you know, in the legal world and that the president may have misunderstood the exact meaning of what comey was saying. comey is kind of a slick guy. i'm sure he wanted to try and figure out a way to answer the president's question without really answering it. trump took away from it what he did, which was he said, i have been assured that i'm not under any investigation. so trump took away kind of this blanket assurance which we believe comey will say he did not give the president. >> so just to be clear, he is going to try to leave it up to
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everybody else to decide whether or not it was obstruction of justice? >> yeah. comey is going to present himself as a fact witness, we have been told. he is going to say this is what occurred. we're not sure if he is going to read from the memos or not. congress have asked them them but haven't gotten them. he is going to say, this is what occurred and leave the judgments, legal a mrnd politic up to everybody else. he wants to state the facts. >> carl, does that make sense to you that he would go that route? >> yeah. he is not going to be a prosecutor in this instance. he is going to construct a narrative that is his explanation of what occurred. the background of that narrative is that there has been a coverup in the white house of whatever has occurred here that has gotten the president and those around him so concerned about disclosure of facts for the last four months. we don't know what the coverup
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is of, exactly. we do not know with any certainty that there's been an obstruction of justice or an illegal act. what is clear is that there has been concealment. what all of what we are talking about here is the president's reaction and instinct to conceal and to hide and not have an open investigation in which he cooperates and makes facts available. that's where we are. that's what this hearing is partly about. as i said earlier, this is early in the process. we have a long way to go. that is one of the reasons that the president is so enraged. >> james, you worked for the fbi for a long time. you knew director comey. do you have any doubt that from trump supporters that even from the white house side, they are going to -- somebody on that side is going to go after james comey in a rebuttal to what he says? maybe the president himself live tweeting? >> i don't.
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if there's anyone that's built for the explosive testimony that's going to happen on thursday, it's james comey. since his time as a deputy attorney general and forward, no one is going to doubt the veracity of his comments. no one is going to doubt his moral rectitude. no one is going to doubt that he took notes regarding his meetings with president trump in the white house, no one is going to doubt that. >> he did say something which was inaccurate the last time he testified and had to correct it. >> the did. the fbi director, his job isn't to investigate crime. when you are on the hill and you are testifying as much as he does and you are in front of cameras, i understand that sometimes you can misspeak. they quickly took care of that afterwards. where he could potentially get boxed -- on may 3, he testified on the hill before his firing, he was asked if he had -- there was any type of obstruction efforts from the trump white
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house. his successor who on may 11th, i believe, testified in front of the senate intelligence committee and said, no one -- no one has tried to impede this investigation, if he cop co com and says it's different to what i testified to, that's where he is going to get boxed in. >> by not saying it was obstruction of justice before, he would be in a very difficult spot if he suddenly said it was obstruction of justice. >> that's a good point. he had not been fired yet. maybe the pattern of facts is different in his mind now since he was dismissed and then the next day the president said -- suggested in an interview with nbc it was a dismissal over russia. so maybe -- i don't see why he couldn't change his mind about that set of facts. i know people around comey are -- believe -- there's some people close to comey who believe there's a case for obstruction of justice when it cops comes to this pattern of facts.
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>> the president he is a grandstander. it's possible we will hear that again from backers of the president. here is another example of now jim comey is a private citizen insisting it being a public hearing. >> i think the discrepancy we have been discussing is an instance where it's going to be difficult for jim comey to do this whole sort of just the facts, ma'am, presentation. he very much wants it to be and i think his people putting it out there that this is going to be purely factual is a strategy of trying to position himself as someone who is neutral. there's a chance that gets taken as too cute by half by questioners who say you didn't have a problem making judgements when the subject of the investigation was hillary clinton or when the last time you were testifying and you were asked to make this judgement before congress. it may get harder when he is facing aggressive questioning for him to take this position that all he is doing is recounting events to which he
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was witness and not making any judgments. >> the deputy attorney general of the united states, ron rosenstein, wrote the brief against him. when he presented the reasons why comey should be fired in that letter that went to the president of the united states. it's a case that has some serious stuff in it. to think the republicans on that committee are not going to may hay out of that report and use it as a basis -- use that word to impeach comey's credibility is to fool ourselves. >> is he freer as a citizen to -- in his testimony than he was at director? >> for there to be a potential invocation of presidential executive privilege -- i heard that discussed. they said they're not going to. that applies to government employees. does it apply to civilians who were once in government employ? that's going to be a dicey question. i think good and decent people
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can come down on both sides, did james comey make mistakes. there can be a good argument for he is a moral, upright man. i believe his moral compass points toward the north star. as he explained on may 3, in the last appearance before congress, i believe he explained the c calculus he went through. he struggled with it. >> all eyes are on comey on thursday. >> he is not going to help the president. that's the bottom line here. the question is, how much damage is he going to do? >> to take a step back. think how powerful james comey has become. he arguably -- >> more famous than the president. >> not since j. edgar hoover. >> we have to take a break. all eyes on comey on thursday. tomorrow senators will question
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phil mattingly joins me. democrats are planning to put trump -- put russia and president trump at the center of this hearing. how? >> dead center. it's worth noting, it's not just rod rosenstein who will be on the witness stand, it's dan coats, it's michael rogers. it's a discussion you have been having in terms of these individuals at the center of just about every major russia bombshell story we have seen over last couple of months. democrats are keenly aware of that. aides tell me that they are going to make that a very prominent issue in this hearing. when it cops mes to coats and rogers, they want to know what president trump asked them. you have been talking about "the washington post" report. democrats want them on the record, want to pin them down on anything they may have heard. when it comes to rod rosenstein, there's similar questions for him. what was his role in the comey firing? what was the influence of the president in his decision to write that memo that many
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officials point to as the rational for that firing? all of these are front and center issues. these democrats as they ask the questions, even some of which they probably won't get many answers to, particularly in a public forum, this is laying the groundwork for thursday. they are aware that all of the witnesses have been key players. they want to set the tone for exactly what we're going to see at that super bowl of hearings of sorts that's coming 24 hours later. >> it doesn't mean republicans don't have a strategy as well. >> the interesting part of this is it has nothing to do about the russia investigation. it's about the reauthorization of an intelligence program that deals with the scooping up of communications of non-u.s. citizens outside the country. what we have seen over last couple of months, when it cop c to this program, it gets tangled up in the unmasking debate. we had house intelligence committee chairman nunes make a large issue that the obama
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administration officials were requesting taking off the redaction of u.s. official names. trump campaign officials in nunes' okacase. democrats feel like it's an attempt to move the story away from russia, move it away from president trump. there's a very good chance i'm told you will see similar types of inquiries tomorrow. the hearing is not supposed to be about russia. everybody that's involved that i have spoken to, they are aware while this is a very important intelligence program, a debate that is going to happen going forward, it's necessary going forward for the reauthorization, russia is where this hearing is going to be focused. everybody understands what's at stake when it comes to the hearings. everybody understands what's coming just 24 hours later. expect some fireworks, i'm told, when the senators take the stand tomorrow. >> phil mattingly, thanks very much. tweet or not to tweet? will the president live tweet during director comey's testimony?
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and a pro trump group is trying to label comey as unworthy. with this ad. >> as head of the fbi, james comey put politics over pro10thing america. after they banned terms like radical islam, comey threat practice to continue. comey was consumed with election medaling and comey's own staff admitted some of his answers were flat out wrong. just another d.c. insider only in it for himself. >> joining us now is democratic strategist and deputy communications director. we've seen president trump creating many of his problems via twitter. a, do you believe he would live tweet? >> i think he should. what we're having is a political
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discussion. and the most powerful weapon today is donald trump's twitter. why would you -- >> do you think his tweets in general are successful? do you think they're successful in terms of what the white house wants to be doing? >> i think they're successful communicating to the majority of americans. you have to understand his twitter is saying this is what he's saying and this is what he means. but at the end of the day it's the voice of millions of man dates. he's speaking out in a very loud way and stlarthat's why you see stuck with him through the courts. as we have this political discussion going forward regarding the hearing. >> as a democrat, who's not the biggest trump supporter, i think
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it's great. as a commentatorcommentator, i great. let me -- he's great at distracting and moving the news away from the story of the day. not sure he can do it on comey day but nobody's better than the mas distraction of donald trump. he's tactical and not strategic. when jeff sessions recused himself, it was a tear rrible sy for donald trump. he tweeted that barack obama had wire tapped him. got trump in much more trouble over time. it caused him more trouble. the truth is, honestly, to give you free advice, he's got something more powerful than twitter. he's got the office of the presidency and what those folks who voted for was not bitter
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attacks on james comey, which is waut i fear, i predict he will do. they actually care about things like jobs, like health care and like the opioid addiction crisis, which seems like nobody is caring about, certainly not donald trump. he could take the presidency and focus it on the people who elected him and got forbid, even the people who didn't vote for him. he's a narcissist. he's going to focus on himself. >> but bryan, the white house this week was talking this is going to be a week about infrastructure. the president, that's not what he started out tweeting about. wouldn't it make more sense for him to, in terms of his legislative agenda move that through twitter? >> he has multiple fronts that he's fighting here. but the most important thing is
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the russian investigation. that is a political investigation. that's a political trial that deals with that. you want to hear what the president has to say. so people connect with his message. so i'm probably not in agreement with my colleagues in the white house. nobody has the strength and the depth of the president when he's talking about these topics the media's forced to say what he says and what he means and i think that's a good discussion. >> do you think there's a lot of d depth in his tweets? >> there's a ton of depth. his tweets are directly towards the audience of the 300 plus electoral votes that brought him to d.c. he is their voice. >> but enterms of depth, 140
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characters, there's only so much depth you can get. >> i think words are a powerful meaning to communicate your message and sometimes less is better. >> his tweets are like him, they're riveted. you can't turn away from him. they hurt his own cause. they're very often unhinged. >> we got to leave there. be right back. americans - 83% ty to eat healthy. yet up 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day 50+ a complete multi-vitamin with 100% daily value of more than 15 key nutrients. one a day 50+. thithis is the new new york.e? think again. we are building new airports all across the state. new roads and bridges. new mass transit. new business friendly environment.
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that's all the time we have. i'll be anchoring tomorrow from washington for tomorrow's hearings. hand it over to don lemon and cnn tonight. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. there is so much breaking news for you tonight and we're going to bring you up to date on all of it, so i hope you're ready. i'm don lemon. they all have broken within the last few hours. sources telling cnn james comey expected to say president trump misinterpreted his conversations with him. on top of that the washington post reporting the director of national intelligence told associates in march that trump told him if he could convince him to back off the
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