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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  May 16, 2018 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT

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good evening thanks for joining us for the second hour of 360. one of the many questions looming over the mueller investigation and the white house can the special counsel diet the sitting president. the president's lawyer rudy giuliani got an answer. dana bash spoke with him and talks with us now. explain what giuliani had to say. >> he told me that through a conversation that the trump legal team had -- with the mueller special counsel team, it -- it was made clear orally, giuliani said, that the special counsel is going to adhere to historical justice department guidelines. what the guidelines say is basically that a sitting u.s. president can't be indicted. this goes back to the nixon administration. it was reaffirmed in the justice department of the clinton administration. and this is something that even
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though there is that historical standard it has never been tested. it has never been brought before any court, obviously, it ultimately would end up getting to the supreme court because no justice department tried to diet a sitting president. it was an open question whether or not mueller would actually be the first to challenge it. if he felt he had enough incriminating evidence against the president that he would do that. we don't know the answer to that question whether he has incriminating evidence. but at least according to rudy giuliani, the mueller team has told him you know, we're going to adhere to the press den and not going to going are go forward in any way shape or form with an indictment if it comes to that. >> but to be clear this is what rudy giuliani said. >> exactly. >> was heard by someone on the mueller team not mueller himself, correct. >> he wasn't clear as to whether it was mueller himself or not. butway we also know from gloria borger talked to another source
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familiar with the legal strategy who said that this is -- and this is another thing giuliani also suggested to me -- this is very much remoted to the notion of a potential interview. >> or a subpoena? >> exactly. because if the special counsel demands an interview that the trump legal team is out of bounds they might say, you know, we're not going to do this go ahead subpoena us. subpoena the president. and that is the situation -- another situation that has some press den on the civil tide but not on the criminal side, which this would probably be. and this whole idea came up because the -- the idea that the trump team is trying to get across to the mueller team -- they hope now they have this little piece of information in the back pocket is -- well if you if you aren't going to diet the president why would you need a subpoena for information. >> if there is not a crime dietable. >> exactly. >> there is no reason for a subpoena or no reason for the president to respond to a
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subpoena. >> exactly. but the other thing to keep in mind is that indictment is a very -- something very specific and obviously goes through the courts. when you talk about the president of the united states, the constitution also has another structure in place if there is a potential crime. and that is the united states has a representative. the articles of impeachment. so that is another reason why sort of the precedent -- for the really press den -- standard has been that a president can't be impeached -- excuse me -- can't be indicted because if something is that bad, for example, if robert mueller finds something that he has to report on to his supervisor, which is the deputy attorney general and then they have to then report it to congress as a matter of oversight, then you know if it gets to the point then it is the constitutional prerogative of congress to then move on basically trying to get rid of the president and doing that
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with impeachment. but we're far from that right now. we just want to know exactly what robert mueller has. and i can tell you so did the trump legal team. and they are waiting for and hoping for the final discussion about a potential interview. they don't want it but they want to have the discussion to move on and move off that issue. >> yeah. dana bash thanks very much. we'll discuss this with our panel a little bit coming up tonight. we're also getting new insight into the now infamous trump tower meeting that donald trump junior had trying to get dirt on hilling. the senate jshdary committee released transcripts related to the investigation of the june 2006 meeting including more than 200 pages of trump junior tp testimony. sara murray joins with us the latest on that. walk us through the headlines that came out out of the documents. sure. these are thousands of pages of documents. shedding light on the june 2016 meeting in trump tower where donald trump junior and paul manafort and jared kushner are meeting with the russian lawyer. they show how eager donald trump
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was to get dirt on hillary clinton and how poorly the meeting went. it became clear to the folks when he he went into the meeting the russian lawyer launched into a conversation about russian adoptions and people got disinterested or agitated according to testimony from some of the witnesses who were there. one of the witnesses said that jared kushner seemed agitated and then even infeweriate the when he realized this was going to be about russian adoptions. the other thing that donald trump jr. is adamant with huss in his testimony is he then never told his father candidate donald trump about the meeting. he never told him about the underlying purpose what they thought they were doing in the meeting which is getting dirt on hillary clinton and said i would never bring my father sort of an unsubstantiated cranium like that i would check it out first. >> there seemed to be things that donald trump couldn't recall. >> that's right. and there are sort of many gaps in his testimony that leave a lot of wiggle room. and i'm sure special counsel
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robert mueller is looking at the gaps. but a big one gets to the question of what did he tell his father about this meeting? even though he testified, look, i didn't tell my dad about the meeting beforehand there was a phone cull he made shortly after arranging the meeting lasting 11 minutes to a blocked number. when corey lewandowski the former trump campaign manager was testifying in front of a house panel he said that donald trump's primary residence has a blocked number. this is one of the points that we have seen democrats seizing on all day. does that mean that donald trump called his dad and told him about the meeting? no, it doesn't mean that. but, you know, it is an area that the special counsel could be looking into process. and it's anaire that senate democrats have question base. >> thanks want to get into the panel. jackie, michael kaubt o. jill lockhart and aen millgram. from a legal standpoint no smoking gun certainly for donald trump jr. in the transcripts.
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>> yeah, i agree. i don't think there is a smoking gun. you know there are questions. kushner was not part of the testimony before congress. and so there will o are i think pieces missing. but it's sort of -- i think what's interesting about it is there's always a question of what actually came out of that meeting. and it seems clear from most of the people were there that it was nothing substantive about hillary clinton. and i think that's one thing that's answered by the transcripts. but i agree there is no smoking gun. >> do you -- jim schultz do you find it odd donald trump wouldn't remember who he called after the meeting to a blocked number. >> you're talking about a campaign. you make phone calls all day every day. it's craziness during a campaign. taking calls making calls. ooltd of us have blocked numbers. you might have a blocked number. but it's silly to make that immediate assumption that it was his father. >> joe what do you think. >> i think there is -- you don't know about this cull. but it's a piece of the puzzle. i've worked in five presidential
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campaigns. the idea that the candidate's son, the campaign chairman and the candidate's son-in-law took this meeting, you can't just pass it off as oh, they were just on a fishing expedition. there is something here. mueller may know how the pieces fit. we don't know but the idea this that this was a meeting we were border by the meeting is absurd. >> it's interesting michael, i've always thought it odd that donald trump junior learns in the email that russian government is supporting his father's campaign and that he never mentioned that to his father. i always thought that odd. maggie haberman had an interesting point in the last hour which is it might not be that odd knowing the rmgts between donald trump and his father is for him not to go to his father unless there was something that he won out of a meeting. that there was something positive to report that it's not necessarily the relationship that you go -- he would go to his father with something just
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inconclusive. >> when i was working with the president, i would never take something unsubstantiated to him it's a waste of his time. and he didn't like it. i would imagine nobody knew that better than his own children who grew up with that attitude in their father. i always found this meeting to be a bad idea. i always knew it needed to be investigated down to the again etic code. i think we're there and we found out there is nothing there. i mean it's did -- it was a bad look. probably a bad idea. but now we know. and even though the special counsel might have some more information about it i don't think it's going to end up going anywhere. >> maria if it was just a bad idea for a meeting, what do you make of the reporting about what happened on air force one or the president putting out the statement about it being about adoption. >> that is what i think surrounds the issue that i think just strains credulity here which i think first of all is the phone call. >> he is ordering pizza. >> right, exactly to a blocked number. >> really. >> right.
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top secret pizza there. >> that place rowe is up the. >> i don't think anybody believes he didn't tell donald trump about this. because you can't tell me that in the fight of his life, in a campaign he thought he was going to lose against hillary clinton, if you find out that a foreign governor wants to help your campaign. >> government. >> foreign government wants to help your campaign and has potentially incriminating dirt on your opponent. i'm sorry. if i was the son and my -- my father was running i probably would tell him. especially if he is saying, he didn't really know about how these things. he didn't know about how campaigns worked. i don't think anybody he was he won be the iris. >> you would expect him sfl pick up the phone and tell his father this is what happened or didn't happen. >> i u suspect him to pick up the phone and call his father and we took the meeting and came off with magnitsky act stuff and nothing happened. >> i don't believe that donald
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trump didn't know about the meeting to begin with. >> that's my question. did he know about the meeting. >> exactly. >> because we found this out today as well. there were logs to this mystery blocked number. it's a mystery to us. i would imagine that a blocked number is not stopping bob mueller from figuring out how who the calls were to. >> why he would then call his dad and say by the way nothing really came of this and i'm pissed because i thought i was getting dirt on hillary clinton. >> i don't know what planet you guys live op this is all speculation we have no facts. >> there are two things that -- there is one thing not speculation. two days after donald trump had the first call i think it was june 6th to the blocked number donald trump did say in a campaign speech was talking about a big reveal some information that was coming out. then i believe nothing really came out. >> right he didn't follow up. >> he didn't follow up. >> joe that the kind of thing. >> yeah, i think what strains credibility a little bit today is the idea that no one would
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take something to donald trump that wasn't substantiated. birtherism. he entered the political fray in 2016 by saying barack obama wasn't born in america. unsubstantiated claim is his stock in trade. >> didn't come from his son. >> the idea that his son wouldn't take something he heard or that he had retweeted is ridiculous. >> i think there is one other thing also which is that he know that there is this incident on air force one where they're trying to figure out how to write the statement. we know the first -- the statement that trump writes is inaccurate. there has to be a reason why they're falsifying the statement or scrambling to come up with the excuse for the meeting. it could be they were looking for the dirt before the meeting and could be there was something substantive in the meeting. but there is no reason to have that kind of interaction if there is no issue. that's the question i have in my mind. >> jim, you don't buy that. >> no, look, i think good staff work is you run thengs to the ground. you make determinations. you make recommendations for the campaign manager. the fact that something would get to the candidate every time,
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son, father relationship aside. >> you're talking. >> example of good staff work in the trump campaign or would you say. >> there was plenty of good staff work in that campaign. it wasn't, you know everywhere and it probably went that in meeting. >> but my understanding, though wind chill ft. world within trump tower during that time was people coming and going, stepping in doors. i mean it wasn't as if it was a locked down campaign. the idea that. >> that's all campaigns are. all campaigns are chaos. that's what they are. the fact. >> but not every campaign you don't have the campaign coming out saying that one of his opponent's father was involved in the kennedy assassination or castro. >> it's chaos or organized campaign where people only go to candidate with substantive issues. >> no you can have chaos at the staff level but you have to run to the ground and no way everything gets to the candidate. >> i was there. >> what i'm arguing is that this particular thing would definitely get to the candidate if the candidate is donald trump
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and if the dirt they're promising him would be on hillary clinton. >> way off base making that assumption. >> you don't know that. >> it was -- it was an virmt environment where a lot of things were moving, a lot of things happening. i can tell you i've been on dpozs and dozens of campaigns rich i've never sat in a campaign and got so much dirt on our opponent coming across the transom. we had a guy from haiti sitting in front of trump tower begging campaign staffers to take it to the president. it came flowing like wert. and this was just one of those meetings. >> coming up ask a sitting president be indicted more about what rudy giuliani said about it and what he said the legal team told him about it. and who elsed the records showing why michael cohen received payments and why this person says they released the records. coppertone sport. proven to protect street skaters and freestylers. stops up to 97% uv.
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more on the preg news we told you about at the top of the hour. president trump's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani. told dana bash that robert mueller ear team believe they can't diet a sitting president. and this is rouge saying we don't know for a fact this is what mueller's team actually said. and according to the various reporting it didn't come from mueller himself. is this true that this is -- i mean it's true this seems to be longstanding department of justice guidelines. does that mean this is iron
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clad. >> i mean, we have talked about this before. i think it dsh robert mueller will absolutely follow the united states department of justice guidelines. so i have no question in my mind that that is the rule of the department of justice. every prosecutor is bound by it. mueller will follow the rules. he is appointed by the deputy attorney general. >> does that mean -- which it seems like the trump team hopes it means or pleebelieves it mea that you won subpoena somebody or won need to respond to the subpoena if there is no underlying crime that can be indicted. >> i don't think it pleens that. they've drawn almost the opposite conclusion i would draw from it. to me they're saying we can't charge the sitting president. that's the rule of the department of justice. but they're conducting a criminal investigation. the deputy attorney general asked them to conduct he was acting the attorney general. >> also a counterintelligence investigation. >> yes. there are a couple of things to remember. they can still investigate and gather information on crimes committed. and there is a big allegation here that members of the trump
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campaign were active with russia. and so they can absolutely subpoena donald trump. i mean, he is a witness a potential witness to all the different things. whether or not it's specific to his obstruction -- the obstruction claim alone or to all the other things that would have transpired he can be brought. >> joe lockhart. >> i wish i didn't know as much as i do about this for obvious reasons. i think the kind of spin i've heard from the pro trump people today, which is inaccurate, is well if he says he is not dieting him it means he doesn't have a lot. that's an absolutely wrong conclusion. he could have everything and he wouldn't seek to diet. he can diet -- he can fame him as an unindicted coconspirator like with nixon. more likely the higher level of charges the more evidence of the case they put together he'll go to congress. that's the traditional route. no one has tested this.
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and i trust the legal opinion here that mueller is not in -- you know, is not in a place to test it. but it doesn't mean anything about the case he has put together. >> sfr a legal standpoint how do you see it. >> it's a open question we said this time and time again whether a subpoena can be effected upon the president in a criminal matter. we have seen it in a civil matter. but it's never been tested in a criminal matter. and you know, there has been -- there have been subpoenas issued as it relates to dualities but not for verbal testimony. so that's an open question. if the president doesn't agree to be interviewed does the lawyer say look we're not providing him for brf then it opens the door to subpoena. at that point in time that's something that will probably go to the supreme court no question. >> you know, i got to tell you what i take away from this is what i said now for months, the president should take this -- and the team should take it as a signal that it's time to start working the jury. start to using the charm offense every and talking tots people
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sitting and preside over the impeachment. work with house members. invit them over for dinner work the jury. it's one -- it's a unique situation. we can't to that in american jurisprudence but the president can do it in a situation with impeachment if he starts trying to make better friends with congress he stands a chance of with standing it if we laws the house. in november. >> and rudy giuliani made a good point waste the purpose of the interview? right if you have all the information you need you have documents and other witnesses can you get the information from other folks? can you get the information from the documents? and i think that's what the trump legal team will start making that argument. you don't need to interview him you have the information. you have 1.4 million documents. >> isn't the counterargument to that that if intent is so important how do you find intent. there may be intent vised in documents but don't you have to interview the person to find intent. >> but if we've said the president can't be indicted you're not getting the president's intent. the president's state of mind when he said certain things because the president is not a
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target of investigation. and not going to be indicted. i think i agree with ann that -- i agree with ann that mueller will be very cautious with this and follow the justice department memo. >> but see, i don't think you're taking away from this -- i agree with ann i think you're taking exactly what you want and the what the trump people want to take in which which is if mueller said they can't diet the president that doesn't mean they are not going to find criminal wrongdoing. he could well find the highest level of criminal wrong doing but not turn it over to an indictment because he is a sitting president. >> but there is an argument to be made in court. i understand what you are saying that's not my argument. there will be an argument made in court that if a subpoena is issued it should be quashed because if -- did dsh if the purpose of this is to get the -- the state of mind of the president to see whether there is any criminal intent, then you know what's the purpose of that. >> i think ultimately this will go to the -- ultimately it will go to the supreme court. but the political question is the optics of the president of
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the united states tying the courts up for the next year or two to cope himself from going in and telling the truth to the prosecutor are very bad political optics. >> in the meantime we could see congress change hands. and that would be -- when you talk to democrats most are not talking about impeachment because they know that the voters don't want to hear about that. and don't really -- they don't have to go through it they don't want to go through it. that said if let's say mueller hands the recommendations down to congress. that's not impossible. >> go ahead, ann. >> the other thing to point out quickly is that the president not being able to be indicted actually means to me that he is so much more likely to be subpoenaed and to have to answer that subpoena. . every american has to answer an subpoena. the argument has been the president is unique and that there are all the reasons why we are concerned about him as the president being a potential target in a criminal investigation. now we're saying he is not going to be indicted. so there is less jeopardy and there is even more reason that he should have to provide any
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type of evidence that he has. >> interesting. we'll take a quick break. up next more breaking news how do the financial records about michael cohen's shell company got out or limited liability company got out. tonight the new yorker says they know who released them and why. we test all of our paints and stains for months.
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there is more news breaking ton. tonight we learn about how and why records got out showing that michael cohen's shell company, the limited liability company, essential -- what was it called -- essential consultants i guess the one he created to facilitate the payments to stormy daniels also received payments from several companies. in the new yorker ronan farrow reports that a law enforcement official is the one who leak the confidential documents. this official according to the reporting grew alarmed after being unable to find two important reports on cohen's financial activity in a government database. the official -- he says he was -- he or she was concerned about the information being withheld from law enforcement, released the remaining documents, again this is ronan farrow reporting in the new yorker. back now with the panel. just from a legal standpoint, i mean it's -- jim it's illegal to
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release these documents. >> sure. and it's inconceivable that someone would be allowed to do that, right. just because they feel like it's not getting to law enforcement. all of a sudden you're having an employee of law enforcement employee all of a sudden just release this. >> acre to the reporting this person said that it's not common. in fact unheard for the documents not to be in the government database. and the fact that two key documents which were the -- i believe the sars were not there. i guess they were concerned there was a cover-up. the counterargument to it is it's possible mueller's team according to ronan reporting experts he talk to it's possible that mueller's team basically took those out of the database for reasons of, you know. >> so that employees gets to make a decision that is a crime to release this publicly? just doesn't make any sense. doesn't make any sense what so far. >> i say lock him up whoever it is.
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lock him up, the leaks have been going on too long this is a law enforcement official doing this. i mean and the more he talks in the media the more he starts working with information, the closer they get to him. i think he should pack up and get his toothbrush and get ready to go. >> ann how serious is this. >> it's serious. we talk about last week. they were putting michael cohen as personal banking information everywhere. and it's up to the investigators and the people behind closed doors to figure out if a crime is exited. that kind of information shouldn't be public. and so the thing that i find troubling about this is that let's say he thought that two were missing. first of all it's possible that mueller's team or somebody else pulled them aside. second there are other ways to handle potentially missing suspicious activity reports. >> what other says. >> you would go to the base. go to the head of the department. go the inspector general of the department. you could write an aanonymous letter to the inspector general or writ a named letter. there are mechanism this law enforcement officers obviously decided that wouldn't work. but this is a pretty -- this is
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a gigantic leap to decide to put personal banking information in the national news. >> um-hum. >> what will happen to him do you think. >> i mean, it is a criminal -- it's always a criminal to leak a suspicious activity report. so i suspect that there will be an investigation at a minimum the inspector general is already investigating but it's a serious question. i mean michael cohen is the subject of a criminal investigation. but none of this should be public. >> you know, if you put aside -- i'm not going to defend someone leaking something -- that one of the possibilities you mentioned is this was taken and put aside for the special prosecutor, the other possibility is very alarming. now you are getting into the nixonian era where potentially someone is using the levers of power to obstruct justice. that's why this is -- it's an interesting story now. we need to know which one it is. we don't know now. >> because you go from whistle blower leaker to whistle blower. >> and it's a whistle blower.
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remember if you look back -- and it's the oldest cliche in the book but it's rarely the crime. it's when you start using the instruments of government to cover up the crime is where people get caught. and it's the oldest rule in politics. very few follow it. >> you don't go from leaker to whistle blower because there are rules in place and laws in place to prevent this kind of information from making its way to the public. the way to do that -- the way to do that is g to the inspector general. >> i hear what you are saying. >> they're not political folks. >> i hear what you are saying. but if they -- if you are rate that -- this person should have gone to the inspector general. but if they think that these protocols aren't being followed and maybe there was noun no one they could trust. >> it's also interesting as soon as some documents were released by michael avenatti you had companies coming forward and saying actually, yeah, we did this. which they hadn't done before that at&t. >> why would they. >> they didn't have a reasons -- they didn't have a requirement
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to disclose it. they're hiring a consultant. the fact of the matter is this is -- i'm guessing -- this is a never trump guy inside the department of justice,right. and the leaks that come from the department of justice over and over depend,s leaks from across the administration, the fact of the matter is if he thinks today's department of justice would be working on before of the president to block information about his lawyer that's hilarious. this department of justice? >> would it be the department of justice who had access or the treasury department. >> treasury. >> treasury. >> can we sit back for a moment and low back at what we have been talking about in the last three segments. the first segment was about donald trump junior, the trump meeting, the things that he disclosed that were not true about the trump meeting. the press release that the president helped write misguided at the very lowest and a huge lie at the worst. the second segment we talked about, you know, was about this whole other mess. this segment is about michael
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cohen. the things that we are talking about is all centered around the scandals that this president and his administration and his family started when they came into office. or frngly started during the campaign. this is a president of the united states that campaigned on that he was going to be you know so much better, that you can't -- you can't elect the other person because imagine how many scandals there would be if hillary clinton was in office. >> i'm happy to debate tax reform regulatory reform all the good things right i'm happy to talk about all the good things, the jobs report. all of those things weekend debate that all night long. >> you can't because the president of the united states the from the moment he went on to the scene on the campaign scene he has not been able to either follow the law to tell the truth, and to be you know civil and to be somebody who was actually fit for the presidency. >> ann just on a factual thengs do you know how many people would have access to these kind of documents in the treasury department. >> thousands of law enforcement
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agents can access them. >> thousands. >> they're basically provided to local laufts. agents throughout the country can access them. >> can thousands take them out? >> no the ability to take out or remove would be extraordinary. >> if anybody actually -- i assume it's on a computer database if anybody actually accessed them and tried to print them up or something i would imagine there is a record. >> there is a record no question there is a record. remember these are just suspicious activity reports. >> doesn't mean there is a crime. >> any time there is a transaction over $10,000 or anything unusual for an account these things get flagged. >> everybody thanks very much. coming up next, a talk with the former director of national intelligence james clapper who testified before the senate intelligence committee today. it's time for sleep number's 'semi-annual sale'. the dual adjustability of the sleep number bed
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a lot to talk about the former director of national intelligence james clapper. he appeared before members of the senate intelligence committee in a closed session prior to the release of the report which flatly states there was russian interference in the 2016 election. designed said the top dkt to help donald trump. there is the back and forth about the latest developments with north korea. director clappers joins us now.
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director, obviously a closed door hearing. i'm not sure how much you can see about what you talked about. can you say what they wanted to know and what you think about the conclusion they came to. >> well, first, the hearing was right after they voted out gina haspel at a committee 10-5 to advance her nomination to the floor of the senate for confirmation as director of cia. the purpose of our hearing -- i say our- it was john brennan, mike rogers still on active duty no longer director of nsa and myself. jim comey was traveling so couldn't be there. and what the purpose was was to kind of round out or complete the phase of their investigation, particularly as it pertain to the intelligence community assessment that we put out on the 6th of january of 2017. and obviously it was very
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gratifies that they agreed with our findings and also that they substantiated the annual itic integrity and trade craft employed in the generation of the intelligence community assessment. very gratifying. done on a bipartisan basis, cordial and collegial. and we had quite a bit of discussion. primarily a lot of questions about certain decisions we made about how we handled -- put together the ica as well as the rationale for how we handled the dossier. >> the ica is the intelligence community assessment. i want to ask you in terms of north korea it's now threatening to cancel the summit if the u.s. insisting on pushing it into a corner on disarmament. you've been involved in north korean negotiations you were there. is this bringsmanship or
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something we've seen before from the north koreans. >> this is familiar behavior on the pastor north koreans. this administration is learning what past administrations learned about the north koreans. they are prickly sensitive, opaque and unpredictable. and i think this is -- you know, we're going to -- two steps forward one step back sort of thing. i do think that it points up their grace sensitivity about exercises, particularly air exercises. and that as i saw when i was there, very high degree of paranoia and the siege mentality and particularly concerned about aircraft systems. i might point out with respect to denuclearizing the nuclear peninsula. and my comment here is we need to careful what we ask for. because denuclearization in their mind could apply two ways, meaning one thing they really
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fear are b 1s, b 26 and b-52s. if they insist for us to remove the nuclear umbrella that has protected the republic of korea for decades and not allow aircraft or we have to agree not to allow those aircraft to either be on the peninsula or operational proximity to it. and i have an idea -- i don't know this of course -- that president xi may have counselled kim jong un on this fact when they met. because that certainly serves chinese interests as well. >> i want to ask you something about former secretary of state rex tillerson said today at cadets asset a military institute. i want to play it for the viewers. >> if you're leaders seek to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting of alternative realities no longer grounded in facts then we as american citizens are on a pathway to relink wishing our
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fraemd. a responsibility of every american citizen to each other is to preserve and protect our freedom by recognizing what truth is and is not. what a fact is and is not. >> it's pretty stunning to hear rex tillerson a former secretary of state say that i wonder what goes through your mind when you listen to what he said. >> i thought it was compelling and striking -- i agree with you -- stunning that hear a former cabinet member senior cabinet member in the trump administration would say that. he is circumexpect and didn't name names. but he is exactly right to point that out. and if we lose sight of the truth in this country we are in serious trouble. i also comment that i thought the venue he chose which is a duty honor country kind of institution was appropriate. >> of all the people that left the administration why do you think tillerson is the only one
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to say something like this? >> well, i don't know. you know, i -- i could speculate that it may have had something to do with the way he was treated, the way he was let go. but i think he is a principled man. i don't know him but he strikes me that way. he has had time to contemplate what he experienced and what the dangers as he saw it posed by loss of sight on what is true and what isn't. >> and saw them up close. director clapper always good to talk to you thanks very much. >> thanks anderson. >> up next three days away from the royal wedding what you may not know about the bride and american actress and how she may change the british month arcy. sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. no matter where or when you served,
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as we have been reporting, the bride's father thomas markle will not be there at least as of now. he says that it has nothing to do with the staged photos for the paparazzi. instead he told tmz he underwent heart surgery today and he'll be staying in the hospital a few more days. it is unclear at this point who will walk the bride down the aisle at windsor caster. torrent cnn's jason carroll gives us insight on the actress and who will become the newest member of the royal family. >> reporter: meghan markle's life began here in los angeles, the city where her mother was born. her mother, a social worker is african-american and her father thomas an emmy award winning light director is white. even at not early age growing up in los angeles, she showed early signs of speaking up about issues that would later help define her as an adult, namely her bi-racial identity and gender equality. >> i don't think it's right for kids to grow up thinking these things, that just mom does the right thing. >> reporter: mark was offended
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by an ivory dish washing dee ternl entitle commercial because detergent commercial because it focused on women doing housework. >> how could somebody say that? >> reporter: an 11-year-old markle wrote to procter & gamble. her letter worked. procter & gamble changed their commercial. around that same year markle took a stand on her racial background. she told o magazine while in class she was asked to check a box for the census caucasian or black. my teacher told me to mark the box for caucasian. because that's how she looked. she refused. her father told her to draw her own box. markle's parents eventually enrolled her at immaculate heart, a private all girls middle school and high school. and some of her teachers here still have fond memories of her. >> my first thought actually was, he is so lucky.
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>> reporter: maria was markle's theology teacher. she talked about markle wanting to volunteer at a soup kitchen in downtown l.a.'s skid row and the advice she offered to help markle overcome her fear of volunteering in a dangerous neighborhood. >> you need to simply put the needs of others above your own fears. and meghan says she's remembered that conversation ever since. >> reporter: markle ended up volunteering on skid row for years. she also performed in school plays. this rare footage is from her sophomore year solo as little red riding hood in the production of into the woods. ♪ ♪ markle went on to northwestern university where she continued her love of drama. she double majored in theater and international studies, but acting was her passion. once back in los angeles, she landed minor guest roles in shows like csi new york before
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being cast as a regular on the usa drama suits in 2011. >> i don't care who knows. >> reporter: shortly after the show's launch, she married long-time boyfriend film producer trevor ingles son, they divorced less than two years later. in 2016 a mutual friend of markle's and prince harry set them up on a blind date. >> we met once then twice back to back in london. it was i think about three, maybe four weeks later that i managed to persuade her to come and join me in botswana. >> reporter: the two bonded while camping in botswana, and after about a year and a half of courtship came the proposal. >> it was so sweet and and natural and very romantic. he got on one knee. >> of course. >> was it an instant yes from you? >> yes. as a matter of fact, i could barely let you finish proposing. i said, can i say yes now? >> reporter: markle has since become a household name. a fashion icon. style watchers closely eyeing every look.
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not all has been well. english far-right tabloids have attacked the 36-year-old because she is american, divorced and biracial. prince harry and the palace have defended markle and called for an end to the public abuse of her and her family. markle has won the hearts of millions, including the heart of the one that matters most. >> jason f her father won't be walking her down the aisle, do we know who will? >> reporter: well, it's a very good question, anderson. you know what's been going on with her father. it was off, then it was on, it's off again. there was some thought perhaps prince charles could walk her down the aisle. there's been others that have been saying perhaps her mother would do her the honors. what is clear is that the people who are closest to her are boy her side at this point. her mother flew into town. one of her closest friends jessica mull rooney, 23re7 her
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from toronto is here as well. these are the people closest to her and they continue to be with her at this time. >> all right, jason carroll, appreciate it. we'll be right back. pah! that will never work.
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a which can programming
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note: i'm going to be traveling to england and reporting live from windsor on 360. while you enjoy your tea and crumpets, enjoy the team with live coverage starting at 4:00 a.m. eastern on saturday morning. i'm not sure if you have tea at 4:00 in the morning. time to hand it over to don lemon. cnn tonight starts now. >> this is cnn tonight. we have break being news on the mueller investigation. rudy giuliani is telling cnn the special counsel's team has concluded they cannot indict a sitting president and the source goes on to tell cnn trump's legal team will claim that means the president can't be subpoenaed. we're going to have more on that in just a moment. we are also learning a lot more tonight about that infamous trump tower meeting between donald trump, jr. and several russians in june of 2016. and when i say a lot, i mean a lot. the senate judiciary committee today releasing nearly