engage in these talks with north korea. he said trump, when he went to japan last fall, said the thing about the japanese. there was nothing additional abe got out of him. >> up next on your test tuesday. we'll see you back at this time tomorrow. wolf starts right now. hello, i'm wolf blitzer. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we begin this hour with a blunt warning to president trump from one of his former lawyers regarding one of his current attorneys. the warning, michael cohen is likely to flip and cooperate with federal prosecutors, especially if he ends up facing the threat of serious prison time. former trump attorney jay goldberg says the president called him last friday, asking for advice, and he told him to be very, very careful regarding michael cohen.

sham blue was the deputy to the former deputy campaign chairman paul manafort. good to see you again, good to have you as one of our legal analysts. walk us through your thoughts on michael cohen. he hasn't been charged with any crime. he's being investigated in a criminal investigation underway, but what is goldberg's warning to the president? >> goldberg knows how to reach his client. he addressed him through the media and that's probably the best way to get information to this particular client. it's good advice. it's telling him to be very cautious. don't trust cohen who is a man under tremendous pressure right now. anybody facing a criminal investigation has enormous pressure and this is a particularly aggressive information. i know, i've been there. >> but the republican records, taking a step whether to execute a search warrant probably puts

pressure on michael cohen. >> you served in the justice department as a special prosecutor for serl years, so you know what's going on. do you think this is more intense than last time? >> yes, it's much more intense than usual. it takes a lot to prove a search warrant on a lawyer's office. for cohen at this point, it doesn't look very good considering what his options are. >> enormous legal bills, two kids, that a wife, but most charged, criminal investigation. there is no problem being that step, everything will be an open book to the government. >> now we've learned that michael cohen has actually dropped those liable suits.

he said they had a tactic and now all of a sudden, they're dropping those things. >> he. so you think goldberg gave the president good advice? >> i think he gave him good advice. i think the concern mr. so that would be crossing the line if they actually tried to put someone in with a wire on. there's other news we're following. the justice department is pushing back against accusations that special counsel robert mueller has overstepped his bounds. in fact, prosecutors say mueller has been in frequent contact with the acting attorney, general rod rosenstein, about the russia investigation. this comes a day after the president responded to questions over whether he plans to fire mueller or rosenstein.

>> as far as the two gentlemen you told me about, they've been saying i'm going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months. and they're still here. we want to get the investigation over with, done with, put it behind us. >> cnn political analyst ryan lizza and april ryan. they are both here joining us right now. april, does this new information undercut the claims that mueller's investigation has gone rog rogue. >> he has a broad stroke. the problem is many don't like it, and he is allowed to follow the trail where it leads. he is consulting with the justice department. ment this has been in our past for many, many years.

we ha >> paul manafort, his lawyers argue that the lawyer's team shouldn't be able to prosecute anything other than his role in the campaign. >> it seems like they're spending a lot of money with very expensive lawyers with this authority is not there to prosecute me, right? that he's going line by line through the justice department regulations and making this what i think -- i'm obviously not a lawyer -- but most don't think it it's. he's trying to generate some support for trump supporters. others who want to defend trump,

they're trying to support arguments in the press to loosen up mueller and work the refs a little bit. really, all i've seen, this argument is not likely to succeed. >> what do you think we were just talking about, the advice jake goldberg was giving him, a very old-time attorney. >> they're trying to get everyone close to the president to flip. we've had the president trying. when you think about then civilian donald trump, he was known himself to take conversations. he even threatened on twitter with comey. this is not beyond the realm of

possibili possibility, and it could happen this time because he is in need of help. he's in a criminal investigation. that's a huge thing. the president may not want to talk to cohen so much. >> gates has flipped. at and was being investigated for this possible violation in the logan act. if it is angry. i think the one thing about

th this. anonymously and on the record in the last 48 hours, they have been arg, oh, he could trip on the president. the implication is tri prp that cohen knows. otherwise, why would you care? >> reportings, reportings. zds the president hasn't done anything wrong is that there's something to flip on the floor. >> you have tapes, potentially, and that could be incriminating evidence. something is going on. >> something is definitely going on. we'll see what it is, guys. . if the meeting of kim jong-un

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we're flirng learning new d about the plans north korea and the u.s. have made. they said let's withdraw military forces in south korea in exchange for denuclearization. the concession comes one day after president trump said he was prepared to leave the meeting with kim jong-un if it falls short of his expectations, but president trump said he fully expects the meeting to take place. i'm joined now by our senior diplomatic correspondent michelle krasinski and lisa lavin. how does he figure into all this

strategy with north korea? >> he's been advising mr. trump on how to make this meeting work, how not to screw it up because that's the big question surrounding this. how do you get something useful out of this without giving north korea too much initially, and some people see this meeting being a big deal without getting something in return. bolton has been saying it could be less than an hour to be successful, and if doesn't go your way, just get up and walk out. it's kind of an odd thing to say, especially when you hear south korea and what they're sega head of their prom with south korea. they're saying we need creative solutions, we're going to look for ways to make diplomacy work. so to here -- hear that he might get up and walk out remains to

be seen. >> he is said to be the next secretary of state, mike pompeo, but he didn't bring out those three u.s. prisoners that have been held in north korea for a long time. >> you can see they were willing to discuss their release. they had some meetings and stockholm and sweden, which is the protective power about releasing them. officials tell me they're trying to get out feelers for the negotiations. i think north korea wants to keep it on a second track, and i think the u.s. wants it on a second track. at the same time, i think you'll see improvement the the and i

think that's one of the things they're discussing behind the scenes. >> president trump says withe meeting between mike pompeo and kim jong-un, mike pompeo is the first meeting. >> you hear north koreans saying many of the right things. just today saying they won't insist but they hope they take our troops ut of the way. >> this is a big game of leverage. who is going to be willing to move and who is giving over you know what? resaw releases around the nuclear deal. we even saw would happen without

them doing something about these americans. >> there are about half a dozen locations. some are in europe, some are in asia. whether it's this peace island inn inner. wouldn't there be any type. i think you might see it a little bit closer to the koreas. >> let's see where it is and that might be significant as well. thank you, guys, very much. leaving a world of torture behind, an american woman tricked by her husband to join isis fights to leave syria with her children. you'll want to see this exclusive cnn report. that's next.

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all it took was a vacation for one woman's world to turn up side. she said she was duped by her husband to work for isis. now she says she just wants to return home. >> reporter: a story of how an indiana family went from a mundane life of sports cars and the delivery business to joining isis and to see their son here, the face of isis propaganda, against america is one of mystery, compassion and animal savagery that stretches belief. >> the fighting has just begun. >> all i saw was a bunch of drug-using thugs that came from their countries who had no place. >> reporter: we meet sam sally and sara aged fooiive, and her

youngest, too, born in the isis caliphate now in syrian custody in limbo. whether they go home or not depends on how well sam explains her innocence and four-year ordeal behind them. they went to turkey where she says she was duped into crossing into isis' world. there are people who simply won't believe you. >> they can believe what they want, but they've never been in a position like that. >> her husband grabbed sara while she had matthew. >> the position i was in was stay with my son or watch my daughter leave with my husband. i had to make a decision. i thought, like i said, we could just walk across the bored skde come back again. >> reporter: she chose to keep their family together, but she never knew what she was getting

into. her husband became an abusive monster. >> before he used to spoil me, i love you -- we were very much in love. the romance never left. as soon as we came here, it was completely different. everything was completely different. i was a dog. i didn't have a choice. it was extremely violent. >> he beat s >> reporter: he beat sam at home but still had two children with her. the abusive relationship may live inside sam along with exactly what she knew and when about his radicalization. had he suggested they buy slaves captured by isis in 2013. they spent thousands of dollars on a boy and a girl to keep her company, he says, and to rescue the slaves to a better life. yet musa repeatedly raped the

girls. >> i couldn't think about money. i would have spent every dollar i had on her to bring her. >> reporter: but it turned out she was repeatedly raped by your husband. >> that's true, but in every single house she was in that was the situation, but she didn't have any support but me. >> do you regret a serial rape? >> no one will ever imagine what it's like to watch their husband rape a 14-year-old girl. ever. and she comes to you, comes to me, after crying and i hold her and tell her it's going to be okay, everything is going to be fine, just be patient. i would never apologize for bringing those girls to my house. we knew that if we were just patient, we would stick through it together, you understand? i was like their mother. >> reporter: astonishingly, she sent this message confirming

sam's fears that she was being beaten black and blue. i'm doing well with my family, she says, and i want to see you, even just once more. let me know what i can do to get you out. yet the terror did not stop there. matth matthew, from his first marriage, wanted to be in a video shoot. how did he end up in that video? >> it was not by choice. i ended up with two broken ribs over that video. i fought and fought. what do you remember about that video, matthew? >> it was hard. i didn't want to do it. >> reporter: musa died in a drone strike late last year. >> and i was able to breathe. it was like, okay, we can start phase 2. >> reporter: tens of thousands fled the siege, but sam said she

felt very safe at the end leaving with these hundreds of thousands of isis getting a passage out. the fbi has viewed them but there are no charges yet or tickets back home. >> we want mcdonald's, we want to live a normal life for us again. >> reporter: instead now she is surely reliving her decisions over and over again. nic walsh, cnn, syria. is the president in for a 2020 revolt? i'll ask mark meadows about reports. many members of the republican party aren't ready to back president trump's bid tofor reelection.

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noncommittal when it comes to 2020. several republicans say they're not ready to say if they're going to back the president for reelection. many say they wouldn't be interested in having him run again. >> i have no idea who is going to run for president in 2020, and i am not about to say who i would support for that happening. we have no idea who is going to run. whether the president runs again or not, i think, is very questionable. >> joining us now, congressman mark meadows. he's the republican on the house affairs committee. he's also a chairman of the conservative freedom caucus. thanks for joining us. >> very good to be here, wolf. thanks very much. >> do you think the president will run for a second term and will you support him? >> i think not only is he going to run for a second term, but he's going to run strongly for a second term, already putting

together his team to do that. so suggestions by some senators that they don't know or they're not supporting him really is not something that i'm hearing back home in my district. i can tell you that, you know, when you have more money in your paychecks, that bodes well for reelection, but my conversation with the president doesn't give me any indication that he's not running. certainly i'll support him and we're going to try to make sure we continue to deliver on behalf of this administration to the american people what they've asked for. and so senator corker or any of the others weighing in, i think it's -- normally it's the other way around. senators are asking for his endorsement, not the president seeking theirs, but even with that, i think he'll run strong. >> let's get to some other issues in the news right now. as you know, a lot of republicans have been highly critical of the special counsel robert mueller, saying he's overstepped his bounds.

but prosecutors are pushing back on that idea, saying he hasn't gone rogue at all. why not just let him finish his job? >> well, listen, we've been all about him finishing his job. i believe that he should finish his job and get it done quickly. you know, even director comey said a year in to the investigation into hillary clinton, he believed that he had all the information he needed to either have a guilty or not guilty verdict. we're past one year on this russia collusion narrative. i think he needs to bring it to a close and finish it. when we talk about prosecutors are saying he hasn't gone beyond the scope of it, no one really knows. i mean, bob mueller is doing his investigation. much of that is not leaked to the press. kudos to him for that. and the other part of that is everybody is opining on what should or shouldn't happen. i can tell you there is no evidence of collusion. at this point we need to bring it to a close and get serious

about what matters to your viewers and certainly to me, and that's making sure the economy and jobs continue to grow and spending our effort there. >> we don't know what, if any, evidence he's filed with mueller and his team. i assume, counsel, you would oppose the president's firing of mueller or rod rosenstein, the deputy attorney general? >> i think those are two different questions, wolf, and one of those really is with bob mueller. there have been no discussions whatsoever about this president firing bob mueller. i think he's frustrated with the fact this investigation continues to go on as most americans are frustrated with it, although at the same time rod rosenstein has issued a scope letter and has given bob mueller the directions he sees fit in terms of that

investigation. at this point rod rosenstein has a number of other issues, and that's really getting documents to congress that we've asked for, and he needs to get serious about that. hopefully he will be. but i see those as two separate questions. i don't think bob mueller is in jeopardy of being fired or terminated. perhaps, you know, rod rosenstein is a little bit more ambiguous in terms of his future with this administration. >> so would you be okay with the president firing rosenstein? >> you know, rod rosenstein's real problem right now is more with congress than it is with the president. i can tell you that having really requested a number of documents, having subpoena deadlines that have come and gone without real response, having really the ag's office admit that they've been redacting things inappropriately in their sending of information to congress, he needs to get

serious about responding to congressional requests in days, not in weeks or months. and if he's willing to do that, i think it will bode well for him, bode well for our country and obviously we'll take some of the pressure off of him that he's getting from members of congress. >> as you, of course, know the house speaker paul ryan has announced he will not seek reelection. who do you want the next speaker to be assuming the republicans maintain the majority? >> i would have been disappointed, wolf, had you not asked that question and you'll be disappointed in my response. obviously there is not a race that's going on right now. kevin mccarthy is certainly the frontrunner. but really, there is a number of other people beyond the ones that have been reported that are talking about jumping into that race. i don't see that race happening until after the november midterms. there is a question right now whether we keep the majority or not, and so whether you run for speaker or minority leader, maybe a decision we make in the

coming months, not in the coming days, but right now i can tell you there is no one who has 218 votes to be the speaker other than speaker ryan, and so that's a case to be made. whether it's made by kevin mccarthy or steve scalise or jim jordan or anybody else that might be considering a run. >> congressman mark meadows, thanks as usual for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. always great to be with you and your viewers. >> thank you. thanks very, very much. an important programming note to all of our viewers. don't miss james comey later today live here on cnn. he sits down one on one with our own jake tapper 4:00 p.m. eastern on "the lead." you'll want to see that. coming up, fox news sean hannity being dubbed the president's unofficial chief of staff. >> what is hannity? is he an opinion journalist, is he an advocacy? i'm a talk show host. >> alan dershowitz standing by

live. he'll weigh in on hannity, michael cohen and other sensitive issues. alan dershowitz will join me live right after this. me of the house-buying... stress. at least you don't have to worry about homeowners insurance. call geico. geico... helps with... homeowners insurance? been doing it for years. i'm calling geico right now. good idea! get to know geico. and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be.

president trump is reaching out and calling on friends and former advisers for advice on the investigation into his personal attorney michael cohen. the advice: don't trust him. joining us now, the famed emeritus professor also the author of the book "trumped up." alex, thank you for joining us.

do you think being investigated as part of this criminal investigation will flip and cooperate with prosecutors? >> i have always said assume your best friend will flip. prosecution has enormous leverage. they can charge you with a dozen crimes, even if they're technical crimes, that can follow the guidelines and tell you you'll never see the outside again, you'll spend your life in prison. witnesses realize the better the story, the better the deal they get, so the risk is they will exaggerate or elaborate or even sometimes make up stories. so i think the president has to assume that his closest friends, his greatest associates, the people he trusts the most, if exposed to the pressure, the risk of life imprisonment, will flip. that has to be his working assumption. >> i just want to be precise. michael cohen has not been

charged with anything, at least not yet, though he is under criminal investigation. do you agree with the president's former lawyer, jay goldberg, that the president should simply stop talking to him and assume he's going to flip and cooperate with federal prosecutors against him? >> jay goldberg is one of the great criminal lawyers of my generation, and his advice should always be taken very seriously. he should not be talking to him, and if he is talking to him, somebody should be a witness and he should just be saying, hi, i wish you well. but people get into a lot of trouble talking to potential witnesses because then the witness can say credibly, well, he talked to me and there will abe phone record that he talked to me but he can elaborate on what he said. >> what do you think of the chance that he talked to michael cohen the same day that the fbi raided his home, his office, his safe deposit box, took his computers, all the electronic equipment. was that a wise move for the

president to call his attorney and speak to him on that day? >> it was an understandable move. this is a man he's known for years and years and years, and he wanted to show he still supports him. but no, it was not a wise move. it's far, far better not to speak to people who might be potential witnesses against you or even in your favor. if you speak to them and they're a witness in your favor, they can be cross-examined about the conversation they had with you. so no, it was not a wise move. the president makes a lot of decisions about talking when he shouldn't talk, and they end up hurting him. my advice to him on television -- i'm not his lawyer, i would never give him advice -- would be don't tweet, don't pardon, don't fire and don't testify unless you have to. >> he's not listening to part of your advice, as you well know. the president, though, he has the power of pardoning michael cohen or anyone else he wants. that's a very, very vast ability that he has, potentially, to convince individuals under

criminal investigation, don't say anything ill of the president. >> of course, president bush had that same power and he exercised it in relation so weinberger and five other people. the problem is states have become more sophisticated lately and lsis a state investigation, and he can't pardon people accused of state violations. in fact, there is a statute that would prevent double jeopardy, in effect, prosecution of someone who has been pardoned by the president federally would be allowed to be tried on comparable or even identical state charges. this is a way to try and eliminate the power of the pardon, at least to some potential witnesses. >> if the president hasn't done anything wrong, why should he even be so concerned about individuals flipping? >> well, of course, you always have to be concerned about that. again, in so many years of practice, it's a mistake to say if you've done nothing wrong, why should you plead the fifth?

why shouldn't you allow a search? why shouldn't you a, b, c and d? it's certainly possible for people who have done nothing wrong to be caught up. you can be charged with perjury for telling the truth. if someone tells a different truth and the prosecution believes that truth, that's what happened with scooter libby. scooter libby told what he believed to be the truth. someone else came in and told a different truth. he was arrested and now the president has pardoned him. prudence requires that everything you do and say can eventually be used against you. they say why shouldn't he cooperate with the prosecution and sit down and talk with them? we heard comey. comey said the only reason they call somebody after an investigation like hillary clinton or like president trump is to see if they'll lie. they already have made up their mind tentatively whether to charge or not to charge, and then they call them in to see if they'll lie.

that's a very good reason why criminal lawyers say they're not there to help you, they're there to hurt you. >> the inspector general has just sent a criminal referral regarding andrew mccabe who is the fired deputy director of the fbi to the u.s. attorney's office in washington, d.c. what does that tell you? >> well, it tells me they think he created a perjury or lying to government officials. look, i think these criminal look, i think these should be used very sparingly. the criminal justice system has become too politicized on both sides, lock her up, lock him up. i think the criminal justice should be considered the last resort, not the first resort,

and not to try to stretch the law to fit political opponents. >> michael cohen, how much legal trouble is he? >> i think he's in a lot of trouble. a lawyer would be embarrassed if they came in and took a treasure trove of material and turn it over to a taint team. i think he's in very serious legal jeopardy. >> alan dershowitz, thanks so much for joining us. >> coming up, outrage as the president describes sanctuary cities as a breeding concept. was that a racist sentiment? reaction next. and work life without it. ♪ ♪ and don't forget who you're really working for without it. ♪ ♪ funding to help grow your business... ♪ ♪ another way we have your back.

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criminal referral for andrew mccabe, the fired fbi deputy director, fired only a couple of days before he was supposed to receive his full pension. let's get reaction immediately from the new jersey senator, bob menendez, the ranking democrat on the foreign relations committee. michael horowitz, the inspector general, saying he committed perjury, mccabe, and should be tried criminally. >> mr. mccabe has asserted not only his innocence but had a different set of facts. obviously the u.s. attorney is going to have to evaluate the referral and what's been said and make a determination and we'll see where it goes from there. >> let's get your thoughts on some other sensitive issues right now. we're expecting a close vote on your committee, the senate foreign relations committee, mike pompeo, in line to become the next secretary of state.

if he could get past the senate -- he's probably not going to be confirmed in the foreign relations committee but presumably there will be still a full vote on the senate floor. you oppose his confirmation, right? >> i do. he failed to prove he would be a robust advocate for diplomacy. i think he was not transparent, both on the question of the mueller investigation, questions that were placed to him about russia, which is a critical issue before the committee. he certainly wasn't transparent about his visit to north korea and when we asked him on some of the critical hot spots in the world, russia, syria, iran, venezuela about what strategies would he envision advocating with the president, he really could enunciate none.

so i'm afraid that he would not be someone who would seek to break the president's worst instincts but actually to facilitate them. >> do you think he'll still be confirmed on the senate floor even if he's rejected in your committee in. >> well, look, you know republicans have a majority in the senate. if all of them line up and vote for him, he'd be confirmed. i don't know what democrats would seek to vote for him. but i think he's going to have a tough time in the foreign relations committee. >> in the committee he will. but i assume some democrats, maybe some red state democrats in the senate, will vote to confirm him. we'll see where that goes. i know you and your colleagues were briefed on the trump administration strategy towards syria. a lot of disappointment emerged from that closed-door briefing. >> everything in that briefing made me more worried, not less. this makes no sense to me.

i am very unnerved about what i hear and what i see. i think president trump has been a good commander in chief but when it comes to syria, i think he's going down a very dangerous path. >> what was your takeaway from that closed door briefing? >> it's what i said in public before, wolf, that one of the major challenges we have with president trump as he deals with critical issues throughout the world is that there is no strategy. you know, a military strike against assad because of chemical weapons is not a strategy. he did at that a year ago. it didn't stop assad from using chemical weapons. a strike now in and of itself is not a strategy as to how do you stop the civil war, how do you stop the humanitarian disaster, how do you end up defeating the rest of isil, how do you bring an agreement on the future of syria in the middle east but an

international coalition at the united nations where we have a role to play? all of the elements of that, getting our partners to isolate russia and iran, who are the one who is embolden assad, getting our gulf partners to have some economic consequences on those countries as well, as countries that are critically interested in what happens in syria. that's a strategy. but what i think lindsey graham is speaking to, what we heard, without getting into specifics is that there is no strategy. >> well, you think that iran and russia are the big winners in syria, that they're really in charge together with the bashar al-assad regime and the u.s. has lost? >> absolutely. i mean, look, russia has now a major foothold. iran has been building up sources, resources within syria, ballistic missile, doing a whole host of other things, training, having troops, aiming it at israel, our ally. so the destabilization of the

region is created by russia and iran embolding assad. russia is now developing its base there is. russia has a clear foothold. iran has really created an opportunity for themselves. i think they're the real winners so far. >> senator menendez, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> that's it for me. the news continues on cnn right now. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> wolf, thank you so much. hi, everyone. i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn on this thursday afternoon, just hours before james comey is set to speak with jake tapper at 4:00. he's one step closer to facing a criminal investigation. andrew mccabe was fired after an inspector general report indicated that he, quote unquote, lacked candor when discussing the investigation of the clinton foundation.