recording on the news. that's going to do it for me. thank you for being with us. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. ♪ welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. the president and his fixer calmly talking about how to keep a playmate quiet. the recording that exposes another trump lie and raises some big legal questions. plus, a big trade meeting with the european union as republicans complain bailouts to farmers take the president's trade policy in their view from bad to worse. and political life in the age of trump. secret recordings, tweet storms. a president who says do not believe your own eyes and ears.

>> how are you doing? >> let's find out how little i know again today. >> we begin with the president's own voice calmly discussing a plan to buy a playmate's silence. the president wants you to ignore what you see and hear and focus instead on how we know this. what kind of lawyer would tape a client? so sad, the president tweeted early this morning. why was the tape so abruptly terminated, cut, while i was presumably saying positive things? we, of course, can presume no such thing because one thing this piece of the conversation we do have, we know exposes is another trump lie. that tape is the secretly recorded conversation between then-candidate, republican nominee donald trump and his former fixer, the attorney michael cohen. cnn exclusively obtained the audio last night. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend david

so that i'm going to do that right away. i've actually -- i've spoken to alan about how to set the whole thing up with funding. >> [ inaudible ]. >> yes. and it's all the stuff -- >> all the stuff because that company, you never know -- i'm all over that. and i spoke to alan about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> what financing? >> well, i have to pay -- >> no, no, no, i got -- >> you hear candidate donald trump there two months before the election talking about potential payments to buy a story about a playmate. borrowing this from the mob culture calling cohen a rat. in his tweet the president did not address the tape's content

nor did he dispute its authe authentici authenticity. saul, this is like picking up a book in the middle. we don't know what happened before. we don't know what happened after. but from this piece of the recording and what context we can derive, do you see evidence of a crime or at least suspicion of a crime? >> not really. i mean, from what i understand, no payment was actually made. keep in mind that president trump himself as a candidate can spend as much money as he wants on the campaign. if the money had been spent, he would have arguably had to report it but you never even got to that. so i don't think it's a crime, based on what i've seen, or even an attempt or even a conspiracy. however, it's very embarrassing because it shows that he was already aware of this whole issue in these payments at a time where he has said apparently that he wasn't. and also here's another question. if these stories about ms.

mcdougal and these women are false, why is he worrying about paying them? and keep in mind, this isn't just like a nuisance suit because she'd already been played and done the buy with mr. pecker who runs the parent company of national enquirer. so the question is they are paying mr. pecker to get the goods so they can have them in case he gets hit by a truck. that's the elephant in the room here is that, to me, this shows that the stories are true. i don't know if people care about that given the president's reputation in this area. but i don't see, based on what we have, anything close to a crime. even if it was a crime, the campaign finance violation, it's minor. none of that ever happened apparently, so i think he

goes -- he skates on this. >> let's talk more about the cult purp using the term rat. what kind of attorney would do this? this attorney was somebody in his employ, not for a couple days or weeks but for years and years doing this thing. you are a veteran. you've been on both sides of the law. what does it tell you about michael cohen that he felt to compel his client who, at that point, was the republican nominee for president? >> probably his own insurance policy. i agree with most of the commentators who believe it was terible to do that, probably unethical for him to do that. keep in mind, again, according to stories from a few months ago, apparently the president knew that michael cohen taped other people's conversations and sometimes cohen played them for mr. trump and he thought they were funny. so there's a little hypocrisy,

but nonetheless, i think it's terrible and very wrong to tape -- secretly tape a conversation with your client. but, still, that doesn't change what the tape reveals. and what it reveals is that the president was fully aware of these payments that had been already made and that he was more than happy to make similar payments in order to get the information from pecker. >> excellent points from solomon wisenberg. i know you hustled to get into the studio. here with me in studio, margaret t tallop and nia-malika henderson. we can't make conclusions based on parts of the tape but let's set aside the issue of is there a campaign violation. if there is, is if t with ami or michael cohen less so than with candidate trump. candidate trump through his staff, through hope hicks, the spokeswoman for the trump organization and the campaign said we have no knowledge of any

of this. that's not -- there's no gray there. we have no knowledge of any of this. that's in november 2016. this is the president on tape in september 2016 having knowledge of a lot of this. yes? >> yes. 100%. and so what it does underscore is the fact, either that the staff when they say nothing has happened, doesn't -- is not speaking with authority or that the president and his team are not being forthcoming. the president has enforced that point himself when yesterday he said at an event, don't believe what you're seeing. but it also gives some added kind of momentum behind what robert mueller is doing because this question of whether or not the president himself needs to be questioned or whether the probe is going too far into different tentacles. if you have that sort of contradiction between what the white house said earlier and what the tape appears to show.

>> sol is speaking as a lawyer but he raises a good political question there. will this change anybody's views out n you listen to this. we'll get to rudy giuliani in a minute. he makes these mob analogies. i used to work in rhode island so i get the mob analogies a little bit. it's like the mob. he's talking about the guy who is like the president of the united states, number one. if you listen to this, it sounds like this is the weekly or monthly, michael is here to figure out what we have to cover up meeting. that is in and of itself damning to the culture and to the, who is donald trump? >> i think that's the moment last night when we were watching this on cnn when you pause and think, this is the now president of the united states recorded talking about knowing about potential -- like that's insane. >> as if it's normal. it's not like, oh, my god -- >> in a normal historical context, this is something that sinks an administration or drives coverage for an administration for months,

perhaps the entire four years and there's a very real possibility we move on to a different news cycle in the next 12 hours or 24 hours. when you move back to 37,000-foot level and we heard from sol. i'm not clear on the legal issues, if there are any at all, but the broader issue and this was driving the president, you could tell via tweets, when the fbi first raided michael cohen's hotel room is what michael cohen knows. his relationship to the president and what it all means from the broader scheme ever things. whether there are more tapes with the president, that's unclear but this is an individual who has been by his side and dealing with both the above side and under side of the business operations for the trump organization for years. now we have conclusive evidence that not only does he appear to be turning away from the president, clearly, but he's also putting out tapes as well. and i think that's problematic. >> and lanny davis, one of his attorneys, i knew lanny very

well back in the clinton days when he came in during the lewinsky episode. we'll call it that. it is clearly over when you listen to this. >> it's about lies and truth. giuliani can't make up the words don't pay. listen to the tape. the words don't pay are not heard. the word cash. it's not about cash versus not cash. it's about truth. and the power of the truth is what michael cohen now has no matter what giuliani invents or mayor giuliani invents for a president who has been known to lie. >> the question is where are we going? i guess what is the southern district of new york looking at? does any of this spill back into bob mueller's land? but how long does this go on? if the president is going to attack michael cohen today, are we going to have daily lanny davis? is he going to do michael avenatti on tv? i don't even say it. it's in the boom, boom of this world -- >> it seems like that's his

purpose to go toe-to-toe with rudy giuliani. there he is going back and forth. it's interesting that he's off the cash versus check comments that he was very much absorbed in last night and now he's talking about this idea of the truth. you talk about this idea of cohen. he said he would take a bullet for donald trump. maybe he wouldn't take a bullet for donald trump because that's clearly what his stance is right now. also goes to show how involved in the campaigns day-to-day michael cohen was. he's talking about polls. talking about some event in charleston. talking about these pastors, whether or not they're still supportive of the president and whether or not the president can still use these particular pastors. because that's been another idea. oh, he wasn't really part of the campaign. and here it's showing that he really is. >> he was a lieutenant to this candidate and president. and still businessman as well. and that's the nature, if you listen, it's the calmness that strikes me. get me a coke. the president tells an aide, get me a coke. rudy giuliani, back when we

first knew about these tapes said nothing in the conversation suggests he had any knowledge of it in advance. in the big scheme of things, it's powerful, exculpatory evidence. it's like picking up a book and reading the middle pages. you don't know what happened before or after. you can't trust what rudy giuliani says or the president. i'm not sure we can trust what the cohen side is saying about this either. but listen to rudy giuliani on fox last night. listen to his language, his client is the president of the united states. >> i question the strategy of doing this, of trying to make a tape say what it doesn't say or putting out a tape in which you're proud of the fact that you're a lawyer taping your client and then thinking you can cooperate with the government? to cooperate with the government, you've got to have credibility. first thing that happens is this guy is going to be disbarred. it's ridiculous. he's a pariah to the legal profession. >> mirror, mirror, on the wall. if you're going to cooperate

with the government you have to have credibility. i guess we can end the mueller conversation with the president now. >> there's a number of people that have given different lines to the media versus what they may be saying to mueller. a lot of people who have lied or flipped or changed their story. it's, in terms of being exculpatory, it's not when you planted a very, very large seed of doubt in somebody. are there other tapes that go toward proving having more legal weight? and also who is listening? if mueller is listening to cohen talking about certain things that potent yeially matter more the investigation, that matters. are these trump supporters listening? people already opposed to the president? and has everybody in the middle, are they still listening or just tired by this whole story because there's a new fit and start every other hour in it. all of that matters. >> to giuliani's initial point that nothing suggests the president had any knowledge of it in advance.

there's nothing in it that suggests he didn't in terms of how this comes out. we only have a couple minutes of the snippet. you don't hear the president say, michael, you know this is a lie. why would anybody have to pay -- what we are talking about? this is an update, not a new thing from the pace and calmness of the conversation. >> yeah, doesn't go toward establishing integrity really. except the release of the tape is an attempt to. >> this is giuliani tweeting this morning. is this going to go on and become hour by hour? apparently so. if cohen is telling the truth y are he and lanny davis misrepresenting the language from trump? do not pay by cash -- check. and why are they leaking falsely privileged and confidential information? the president's team waived privilege. that's a diversion and a nonfact. we don't know in defense of what giuliani is saying, we can't clean up the language exactly about cash/check. that's inconclusive when you listen to the audio. everyone is trying to enhance

it. a he said/he said and within the he said/he said, distortions and distractions. >> yeah, clearly. everything is going to be clear as mud for the next couple of weeks. one of the interesting elements over the last couple of weeks with lanny davis coming on board, there's no longer a vacuum. no longer just rudy giuliani's view. there's somebody on the other side. does that add clarity? no. clearly, it doesn't. but it is a very different ball game now that you're going to have two sides fighting it out for whatever they view as the truth. not sure that brings a better understanding to anybody, but there's now -- rudy giuliani is no longer punching against air. he's punching against somebody and that's going to change the dynamic. >> the legal questions and the political environment now has more people involved. president trump is asking farmers to be patient but will they stick with him through what could be a lengthy trade war? me feel sluggish. ke

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welcome back. trade is a giant topic at the white house today as the president spends some time with republicans mad at his tariffs and now a new farmer bailout plan. as as he meets with a top european union official. tensions are high. but you'd never know that reading the president's don't worry, be happy tweets about the trade war. negotiations are going very well. be cool. the president tweeted this morning about trade negotiations. the end result, he says, will be worth it. that's the day after the administration promised $12 billion to help farmers hurt by the trade war. the president himself started. the reaction to the farm bailout decidedly mixed out in the states he's trying to help. the "omaha herald" thanks for aid but we want trade. he says he is not to blame for the fallout. >> i would argue, don't blame president trump.

i've said this so often. all i'm saying is, this is not of mr. trump's own making. this is something mr. trump inherited. very unfair trading practices. this is a very difficult task. reform always is. there's a swamp for the world trading system. and he's trying to drain it. >> got it. the speaker of the hour, the majority leader of the senate speak with the president today. they're not happy about this. most of them. other republicans coming to the white house today. the political part of it there. if you're following the markets today, gm stock headed for its worst day in seven years in part because of these trade issues. fiat chrysler lowers its profit forecast. stock up 15% today. yesterday whirlpool stock plunges more than 14% after the company lowered its outlook citing skyrocketing steel costs because of tariffs. this is the here and now that has, a, an economic standpoint if you're watching what happens.

b, from a political standpoint, republicans say we're in the ballot in these states this year. but the president says it's worth it. it's overdue. hang in there. is he going to keep it that? >> he's got a problem. all of what you just said plus the eu visit that is happening today and this looming threat of whether or not the president is going to make good and impose extremely large tariffs on german automakers. so he is now in a position where he's trying to defend himself with an affirmative embrace of the farmers. we saw it at the vfw convention. we'll see it when he goes to iowa. you know -- but increasingly, you're seeing republican lawmakers and those industries pushing back against it. he's got a real problem. >> i want to put the map up. it's a problem. we're having this conversation in washington, d.c. it's much more of a problem out there in farming america. this is a bloomberg map of soybean concentration.

one of the crops hitting. if we overlaid a presidential map on that, you'd see a lot of trump states right there. farmers, though, split on this because a lot of farmers supported the president and would tell you they get it. especially china. bad actor when it comes to international trade. victor miller, an iowa farmer saying there's going to be some pain immediately but that pain will lead to a much better future for all of us. he trusts the president he's going to work this out. or this is michael b. fish, a minnesota farmer. it seems pretty political and like they want to shore up some midterm support. the last part is about the bailouts which a lot of republicans say, you start a trade war, including tariffs on china. now use deficit spending, money borrowed from china to bail out the farmers. it's circular and not traditional republican orthodoxy. >> it's unclear when china's going to feel the pain and cry uncle or mercy or whatever the phrase is because they have a stockpile of soybeans.

also other partners they can trade with, brazil and argentina. i believe they can also start relying on corn. it's not clear how this ends up well for these soybean farmers who are going to be given what some call welfare instead of having a crop that's valuable in the way it was last year. it's unclear how this ends but also it's clear that the president yesterday seemed to be in a corner in that speech essentially pleading with farmers. there's going to be a little pain but stick with me because it will all work out. >> he's been consistent on this issue. we often beat up politicians for ducking a hard fight. if the president believes this, give him credit for having the resolve to do it. will he hold it in the face of this relationship pressure. this is ben sasse, not a trump fan, but on this particular issue, he says the president has it backwards. >> when you have tariffs, they're a bad thing and then try to solve them with bailouts, you're not heading in a good direction. you're trying to make america 1929 again. that's not what the people in

the state i represent want. we want more markets and more trade. >> a broader, deeper, more sustained republican pushback to the republican president we've seen on any other issue. are they going to do anything about it or just keep complaining about it? >> i think the short answer is, no, they're not going to do anything about it. the effort to do something legislatively and frankly take back what the power was initially that belonged in congress when it came to trade is not going to happen any time soon. that creates the space. the president clearly has. you make a crucial point and the one that defines why is not going to change his stance. this is always where he's been on trade. sometimes people chuckle at larry kudlow trying to explain where the president is. he's explaining the strategy, the one on capitol hill that people don't think exists which is we believe because of the heft in light of the u.s. economy we can beat the living hell out of everybody else until they break and essentially reassemble trade coalitions or

the international trade system as it currently stands. the big problem that you hear on capitol hill is that takes time. $12 billion, not clearly -- not nearly enough to make up that gap in the near term and also there's an election in a couple of months. the president is willing to wait and take that time and see if he can break, in his view, opponents. republicans on capitol hill, even if they'll not do anything about it, are uncomfortable ideologically and most certainly politically. >> and take the politicians out of it. i heard that minnesota farmer with poppy harlow on this morning saying, i get it, but a lot of farmers don't have two or three years. we will collapse. so it's an interesting one to watch. the president did say, he did say to do this. he also said it would be easy. he also said these new trade deals would be easy. we're 18 months in. evidence piling up against the russian agent maria butina. they have well over 1 million documents to introduce as evidence.

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them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go online today. welcome back. a court hearing for the alleged russian agent accused of using sex and her love of guns to gain access to conservative political groups. maria butina was arrest last week on charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. she's being held without bond because prosecutors say she's a flight risk. sara murray is outside the courthouse. what happened at the status

hearing today? >> reporter: well, the battle today, john, was about how the government is going to share the evidence it's turned up with butina's lawyer. he wants to see, in particular, how the government can explain their claim that his client offered to trade sex in order for a job in a special interest organization. he said he and his client have no knowledge of where that would have come from and they want to see the evidence of that on an expedited basis. the judge did not seem particularly sympathetic to that argument today. but the government's part, they say they have four to six terabytes of information, about 1.5 million documents that are pretty much ready to share with butina's lawyer but they want him to agree to receive those under a protective order. they took aim at a number of appearances he's made in the media saying without a protective order they'll turn this evidence over and that he's just going to go and use it on television. the judge essentially told the sides to put their arguments in writing. we should see that in the next

couple of weeks. both sides are due back in court in september. >> sara murray, appreciate the update. in this case, which back in court in september means this is going to take a while. especially when you hear about discovery. but this case has become part of the case in washington on a bipartisan basis but including significant republican critics of the president saying we need to do more. russia is still meddling. proof of one of the ways they allegedly -- innocent until proven guilty -- allegedly meddled. the president says all is fine to impose new sanctions. phil, you write about this on cnn.com. karoun, you write about this as well. clamor is the headline. in negotiations on the defense authorization bill, house and senate lawmakers agree to give the president power to waive sanctions without first checking with congress against certain entities that still do business with russia. is this another example where they're talking tough but then actually bowing to administration pressure to soften it? >> multiple things going on.

a huge push since the helsinki summ summit. step up sanctions against the people indicted in mueller's last indictment and to make sure the sanctions already on the books are imposed. there's been a tension point between the defense secretary james mattis and congress about this for months because he's saying, if we want to be able to pull countries out of russia's orbit, we have to be able to do business with them on the defense side. if they have connections to the russian defense apparatus, we'll never get them to cross over into our side of the swimming pool. timingwise, this looks really bad because everybody is saying get tough or russia. do more to actually punish them and to ostracize them from the global community. yet they're saying we need this to be able to exert more influence around the world. so it's a bad look in a way, even though it seems like it's a thing that republicans are arguing is necessary. and it doesn't go any place towards solving the other problem which is that people

want to take action and yet the people who are in control of these committees and control of the floor don't want to do anything hastily or fast. one, because they don't want to repeat mistakes like they did before and, two, just because there's not really consensus. there's bipartisan pairs of people all over congress that want to do something. no consensus about specifically what the right move is. >> you can help answer these if you knew more about what the president told vladimir putin in private. the secretary of state will be up on capitol hill today. he has said they have agreements but he's been very vague. he's talked to the president about it. this is bob menendez on the foreign relations committee saying they need more clarity and specifics from secretary pompeo. >> i'm concerned that a two-hour-plus meeting with vladimir putin one on one with an interpreter, what did the president agree to, if anything? they're going to ask him, how do you know? when you answer a question to me, did the president agree to ease up on sanctions with russia and whatever your answer is, if your answer is no, fine. how do you know that?

>> how forthcoming should we expect secretary pompeo to be in just a little more than an hour or so on capitol hill? >> it's going to be tough. he talked about it yesterday. one thing they discussed was business councils. for two hours? in the presser, donald trump talked about setting up these business councils. it's unclear how much he knows, how much donald trump briefed folks and how transparent the president was in talking to folks around him. we'll see. but it should be really fascinating hearing to see what pompeo says. >> maybe the kremlin will give us a fact check of pompeo's testimony. >> maybe a tape exists. >> that's the weigh thiay thing gone. the president's preferred pick wins a big southern primary and now faces a democrat trying to make history.

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♪ political radar is brought to you by america's biopharmaceutical companies. go boldly. >> topping our political radar today, it's no secret president trump is not a fan of this news network. apparently his wife will tune in to our channel, at least when traveling. "the new york times" says melania trump infuriated her husband during their recent overseas trip when she noticed her tv was tuned to cnn. as to whether the first lady is bothered by the president's reaction, her spokesman tells us mr. trump will watch, quote, any channel she wants. los angeles police are questioning a suspect who may have done this to president trump's star on the hollywood walk of fame. officers say someone took a pick ax to it overnight and a man

turned himself in to beverly hills police this morning. the president's star was also vandalized back in 2016. another big victory for candidate backed by president trump. the secretary of state winning the republican primary run-off in the georgia governor's race last night and now faces democrat stacey abrams who is trying to become the first african-american female elected to any state's top office. it's already the most expensive georgia governor's office race in history. kemp alluded to all that outside money pouring in. >> the governor that's going to answer to nancy pelosi and hillary clinton. do you want a governor who thinks that government is the answer to every challenge that we face? >> no! >> of course you don't. i figured that out. of course not.

this is the state of georgia. we are a red state. >> coming up for us, echoes of orwell? the president draws a contrast after telling a crowd don't believe what you see. duncan just protected his family

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a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! and just remember what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening. just stick with us. don't believe the crap you see from these people. >> that was right there, the president of the united states standing before a crowd of war veterans in kansas city yesterday warning don't believe what you see or read. just stick with us. the comment struck many observers as being similar to george orwell's "1984," the

distopian nov bel a government that destroys facts and manipulates its public. we report, you decide. consider what you just heard from the president. compare it to this line from the book published seven decades ago. the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. it was their final, most essential command. maybe the president is a george orwell fan? >> he's a big reader, so -- no, obviously, it shouldn't take a panel to discuss the fact that that's just a completely inappropriate statement from a sitting u.s. president. but what i thought was interesting was that yesterday after his remarks and after some of the boos from within that crowd at the vfw hall, the vfw itself put out a statement basically saying we were sorry to see that. we invited journalists and we appreciate their role in society and it's important we've seen colleagues like martha raddatz and others remind all of us that many journalists are themselves journalists and have been to

cover wars in military war engagements and it's always been the u.s. -- part of the u.s. embrace of free speech to have journalists robustly cover what happened overseas so people in those countries also can have a sense of what their own governments are doing. >> look, he attacks the press all the time. attacks institutions all the time and attacks political opponents all the time. maybe this is just amping it up. what is it that people -- common sense. you at home. common sense, whether you vote democrat or republican. you have one of these if you aren't sure if it's him or us that you should believe, check your facts yourself. what is it he doesn't want us to believe? the protest from farm bers his trade policy? the chairman of the intelligence committee saying this condemnation of the fisa is bs. they had every reason to hold carter page under surveillance? what is it? the helsinki summit was a disaster? what obvious things does the president want us to ignore? >> the president is constantly

in conflict with the news media over reporting that's done and wants to be able to control the narrative. he does that via twitter. it's something new every day. he keeps returning to -- the tariffs have come to bite him in a way that i'm not sure he expected being so strong from his own party. so certainly that's a veents e one, too, to see listen to me, not to them. generally speaking, this is a prescription that applies to everything and whatever is most convenient for the moment. >> it's also at the same time he's bashing the media. bashing other people, too. any opponents. talking about stripping their security clearances and the like. also an administration less and less transparent. kaitlan collins reporting just yesterday they'll stop putting out read-outs of these phone calls. often they don't tell you much. president trump spoke to the prime minister of xyz. they discussed mutual concerns and trade relationship. at least it's a democratically elected government providing transparency to its government through the news media or your

own access to white house.gov. for what reason would you not tell us the president is talking to other world leaders? >> there is no up side for the white house on this other than perhaps they're not totally sure when those conversations are happen or what the details of those conversations are. the point of this, and you make an important point. usually they're rather benign. margaret and i did it a lot with the obama administration. you read the tea leaves. you want to know if there's a sentence there that's different or making note of something. sometimes that can be important and drive news or let you know what they're trying to say. this specifically allows the white house to frame the conversation and get out in front and not allow another country to tell you what's happening. >> i don't think this will be followed through. what's going on is the white house is dialing back what has been this policy of doing some kind of read-out of every call which actually past administrations didn't do. i think they'll be a little more selective in the calls they read out, but if they don't already get it in the next couple of days they will.

when you give the russians or turks a four-hour lead time on what your call was about or the europeans for that matter. >> they've repeatedly played by the russians -- >> the only control of the narrative, you lose your leverage and become weak. i think this is a false start on what the policy is going to be. >> what is to be feared from transparency? >> when you're dealing with adversary nations, what has happened is there's been a read out that doesn't match what we later find out is going on. it gives rise to the new palace intrigue scrutiny and this cacophony within the white house's team whof is actually speaking for what happened and is the president undercutting his own people? some of that but at the end of the day, it doesn't actually gain the country anything to take a back seat. >> up next for use international intrigue. what exactly was in that soccer ball president putin gifted to president trump?

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to nearby phones and mobile devices but it's not a russian listening device. adidas, the company that manufactured the ball says the chip is a standard feature in the ball so fans can use the mobile devices to access world cup and other related soccer content. it's very, very hard, we are told, to turn this kind of chip into a cyberweapon but forbes did report one hacker did it, said he did it in 2015 and was able to take over the user's phone by getting him to click on a malicious link. again, i am -- you can't make this up. sarah sanders saying in this article, the security screening process that's done for all gifts was done for the soccer ball. we're not going to comment further on security procedures. the big takeaway is that mr. president, or madam first lady buy barron another ball. he's not getting this one. >> he was probably never getting this one anyway. we don't know if it's in a gift

storage facility or if it's been destroyed but, yes, props to my colleague for figuring out that this was an adidas ag ball. there's a logo that looks like a wifi sign and during manufacturing they take the chip and slide it under that logo and that's where it sits. so the whole thing where putin tossed him the ball was such a -- it was such a bad moment for the president anyway. now it's just gotten worse. >> nothing in "1984" about a soccer ball with a chip, is there? >> you figure maybe it's a shot. or maybe it's absolutely nothing and we've totally entered the -- >> conspiracy zone. >> but there are a lot of conspiracies and the russians -- >> they have done other things we weren't expecting in the past with listening devices so it wouldn't be the 50 time. >> there's zero percent chance he's playing with that ball. >> mattingly sitting there with his hands closed saying nothing. >> i think it's hilarious.

when the ball was given, everyone was like, heads-up. and then -- i don't think there's anything malicious there. it's just really funny and ironic. >> and maybe in the museum, can the ball -- save the ball, preserve the ball in the trump presidential museum whenever that is. the ball deserves a place. thanks for joining us for "inside politics." don't go anywhere. a lot of news to report. "wolf" starts right now. ♪ hello. i'm wolf blitzer. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. the war begins. one of the people who has been closest to president trump officially turns on him. after michael cohen and his lawyers release a secret tape, the president is now responding with a blistering attack on his longtime former fixer. plus, does this tape show the president and his team violated campaign finance law? we have expert analysis on what this all means. and moments from now, the president has face-to-face negotiations with