welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day. it is a very newsy friday. a dramatic new confrontation between the president and his long-time fixer. sources telling cnn michael cohen now prepared to testify candidate trump had advanced knowledge of that now infamous trump tower campaign meeting with russians. not true, the president tweets. plus, vladimir putin showers new praise on president trump and says he's ready and eager to meet again, in washington or moscow. and the economy reared into high gear in the second quarter, and the president raced to

celebrate. >> i happen to think we're going to do extraordinarily well in our next report, next quarter. i think it's going to be outstanding. i won't go too strong because then if it's not quite as good, you'll not let me forget it. >> back to the economy in a moment. but we begin with two pressing questions. who is lying, and why now? the president, who bends and breaks the truth daily, finds himself locked in a credibility cage match with his former lawyer. michael cohen, cnn is told, prepared no uh to tell special counsel robert mueller that the president knew in advanced about a 2016 trump tower meeting with russians who promised dirt on hillary clinton. the president this morning tweeting he did not know about the meeting, and he says cohen making up stories because he's in a legal bind. whoever is lying, well, the special counsel likely already knows, already knows who knew what when. sources say cohen has no evidence to corroborate his claim.

he does say others know, though. the trump tower meeting was, despite all the president's denials, cooperation, you could say collusion with the russians. the question is, was it naive or nefarious? that is the question for mueller and his investigators. and it's important to remember they already have testimony from dozens of witnesses, phone records, text messages, e-mails that point to the truth, point again to the big question, who knew what when. why cohen chose to tell others he's willing to share his recollection with the special counsel now, that's beyond curious. saying trump knew in advance is a switch from what cohen told congressional investigators. so he's calling his own credibility into question at a time he's hoping for some kind of deal or leniency from the feds. but if the goal was to rattle the president and provoke a tweet fight, mission accomplished. cnn's jeff zeleny is over at the white house on this dramatic day. jeff, take us inside the president's tweet and how they feel about this inside the west wing. >> well, john, it is a week of good news and bad news for the president. there's no doubt that that

economic news that he was trumpeting this morning is indeed very good news. any president would have done that, walked on the south lawn and delivered that. but boy, what else is going on inside the president's mind and indeed inside the halls of white house here are much more than about the good economic news. it's also about what's going on in these variety of investigations. you saw the president. he's really been holding his tongue all week long. again today, the third day in a row, not answering questions about what he feels about michael cohen betraying him. of course, he's his long-time confidant, his protector. now he's anything but that. but john, it still goes back to that meeting. everything seems to go back to that meeting in june 2016 in the trump tower. did the president know, did he not? michael cohen, of course, now saying through sources, we're reporting that he did know about that meeting. the president always saying he did not. we do not know how this will be resolved publicly, but as you said, a high likelihood that special counsel bob mueller already knows the answer. certainly much more information

than we have. john, the white house would like to celebrate this economic news, but it is still, despite a sunny day here in washington, that cloud of these various investigations hanging over the president. we'll have one more opportunity to try and ask the president questions this afternoon when he goes to bedminster, new jersey, for a weekend there. we'll see if the president answers any questions or not. we don't know the answer to that, but he's yet to talk publicly at least about michael cohen. again, a self-inflicted wound, if you will, because the president has had him as his long-time protector in spite of all this which otherwise would be a sunny, good news day here at the white house. >> i think it's a safe bet the president's lawyers would prefer the president not say anything publicly about this. jeff zeleny live for us at the white house. appreciate it, jeff. this is a big deal.

you got to say right up front, the president often wanders far from the truth. michael cohen often wanders far from the truth. if you knew michael cohen back in the day, his relationship with reporters, very combative. so the question now is why? why is michael cohen -- we know the president hasn't reached out to him. he feels detraybetrayeded b by president. he's saying the president news in advance about that meeting. why now, and can he be believed? >> this is a tricky one, i think. both of these guys are on the record already having fudged the facts about this. michael cohen not having disclosed this to congress, so he will have been caught lying under oath essentially or at least not disclosing this under oath. the president and his team already clearly having fudged the facts about don junior and what he knew about the meeting, issuing that statement afterwards. this is like a battle between

two people who have zero credibility. at the very least, i think michael cohen is going to have to surface somebody else or some sort of document or tape that backs him up on this before he really backs the president against a wall. >> another example of this dramatic moment in the sense that michael cohen for years did all the president's work. some would call it dirty work, taking care of things, fixing things. when they thought michael cohen was going to be loyal when he came under investigation, the white house had no worries. now listen to rudy giuliani's then and now. >> the man is an honest, honorable lawyer. i don't see how he has any credibility. there's nobody that i know that knows him that hasn't warned me that if his back is up against a wall, he'll lie like crazy because he's lied all his life. >> he's lied all his life, but just a month before that, he was an honest lawyer. >> a few weeks ago. pretty remarkable. one of the ways we can test who's telling the truth is who's willing to say that under oath. if cohen does go forward and say this under oath, will the

president also say something opposite or his view under oath or will he say something different? i think it does raise a lot of questions. you mentioned what did michael cohen disclose to congress. almost certainly he was asked about this in his house intelligence committee interview that was not disclosed in their report. but the republican report and democratic report, presumably if he'd said the president had knowledge of it, they would have noted that in their report. it also raises questions about what donald trump jr. said. he said he did not tell his father about this meeting in advance. when asked about those blocked phone calls he placed before and after the meeting, he said he did not know if that was his father who called on the other side of the line. those are also big questions for him. >> to that point, before you jump in, just because you mentioned this, in this story where there are no clean actors, everybody raises doubts or suspicions in some way, i'm

absolutely sure my father didn't know. well, who was the blocked call from before and after? i don't know. so you know except when you don't know. does your father use a blocked number on his cell phone or any phone? i don't know. so you don't know whether or not this might have been your father? i don't. >> i have to say, michael cohen had to have seen this coming. all the sudden he's a liar and a cheat. paul manafort doesn't even exist at this point. >> for trump, you mean. he was that guy around for a couple weeks. >> no one really knew his name. sam? sam manafort sm ? is that his name? they've done this with other people with the exception of michael flynn. they still acknowledge he's on this earth. everyone else who has gotten in trouble, who crossed them, who seems to have flipped, out the door. >> they don't have any public knowledge what flynn has told the special counsel. >> that's true. >> loyalty still exists because at least there's no public

evidence that flynn has given damning information about the president himself. i'm sorry, go ahead. >> first, happy anniversary of the president asking russia if they can find hillary's e-mails. also, i think at least as important as cohen saying the president had advanced knowledge is the fact he says others can corroborate this story. that's very important. it goes back to what we don't know about what bob mueller knows. does he have documented evidence? can he already essentially corroborate what he's claiming? also, i want to point out, michael cohen has stage managed this kind of in an interesting way. in his interview with george stephanopoulos, he declined to say whether the president knew about this meeting. he's been tiptoeing ever closer to this line. now he's finally given this reveal. >> and to your point about michael cohen says there are others who knew, we know the special counsel has been at this for months. i will give you one name central to this and many other unresolved questions, hope hick, who was at the president's side throughout the campaign when the meeting was happening, who was at the president's side on air

force one when they had the phone call with donald trump jr. about issuing a statement to "the new york times" that was not factually correct, if you will. if your memory is a little blurry on this because so many things happened in this investigation and administration, june 2016, donald trump jr. takes a meeting with russians who promised dirt on hillary clinton. several other top campaign officials, paul manafort included, jared kushner included, are brought into the meeting. this has been asked about a lot of times. who now about it in advance? here's a little bit of the history. >> when did the president learn that meeting had taken place? >> i believe in the last couple of days, is my understanding. >> did you tell your father anything about this? >> no. it was such a nothing. there was nothing to tell. >> let's focus on what the president was aware of. nothing. the president was not aware and did not attend this meeting. he said he has no -- had no m t meetings, was aware of no meetings with russians, was not aware of this one until really right before it all broke.

and that's what the president has said. >> did you know at the time they had the meeting? >> no, i didn't know anything about the meeting. >> there is zero wiggle room here for the president. this is not one of those things where he meant this, if it turns out cohen is telling the truth now and that there's others who can corroborate that and the president did know about it in advance. there's no way to wiggle out of that one. >> the question to me sort of is what's the worst-case scenario for the president? let's say he did have advanced knowledge of this meeting and it's proven indisputably. so the president is caught in a lie. his lawyers are caught in a lie. his children are caught in a lie. that's happened quite a few times before. collusion is not a criminal offense. so i sort of wonder, you know, what will the upshot of that be? that, i think, is an interesting question to ponder. the president can't be indicted for that. he can be impeached for it. but i do sort of wonder whether house republicans or if democrats take over after november will move to impeach

the president for having advanced knowledge of a meeting that we're not quite sure whether anything came out of. >> also, the way that it came out and whether the president tried to essentially cover up what happened. we know that he dictated that statement on air force one about when "the new york times" first reported on this. they initially denied that he had any role whatsoever. it turns out he did dictate that statement. it goes to the president did know about this ahead of time. they denied that. maybe, you know. >> how does this fit into the bigger story and the other potential mistruths, distortions, and the like? the bigger question here. still, dramatic to see michael cohen's evolution, shall we call it. up next, big economic news that should boost the president and the republican party, but what does it mean for your wallet as the president says his tariffs aren't going away any time soon. you always pay your insurance on time.

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gangbusters economic news today. the government reports the economy grew at a 4.1% rate last quarter, the fastest rate since 2014. the president quickly adding a white house event to celebrate. he says his big tax cut and war on regulations are big reasons. the big question is can this boom last? cnn's christine romans breaks down the numbers. >> john, the american economy roared back in the spring from its first-quarter lull. it was the strongest quarter since 2014 when the economy grew 5.2% under president obama. president trump says this quarter was not an anomaly. in fact, he's promising 3% plus annual gdp growth for the year. >> as the trade deals come in one by one, we're going to go a lot higher than these numbers. and these are great numbers. these numbers are very, very sustainable. this isn't a one-time shot. >> it would take another two very strong quarters to get there. you know, gross domestic product

is the broadest gauge of an economy's health. it shows in the second quarter consumers dug into their pockets. they bought more. companies invested more in plants, technology, and equipment. the government spent more on defense. this strong quarter reflects an economy in excellent shape. unemployment is low, companies are enjoying record profits and lower tax bills, and exports are surging. in fact, exports rose more than 9%. but john, for an interesting reason. morgan stanley says soybean shipments surged some 9,000% in a rush of stockpiling before farm tariffs kicked in. the tariff threat boosted exports in the second quarter, but economists expect exports to drag after that. the kquestion is can all this ht growth last? the president says it can. but the effects of tax cuts will fade later this year. higher interest rates could depress consumer spending.

the big question is sustainability. can this continue? >> thank you, christine. let's try and answer that with our panel. this is great news for the president. for americans out there at home, a strong economy is good. is it as sustainable as the president wants us to believe? >> most economists say it's not. they expect that this quarter, the over 4% gdp growth will not be replicated in the next quarter. but it's important to note, of course, that the timing of this really could not be better for republicans heading into the midterms. so the next quarter numbers are going to come out just 11 days before the midterms. that won't be enough time to change the narrative, which is strong economic news. >> as you jump into the conversation, i want to show this score card. again, the president always says he doesn't get enough credit. some of this started under obama. no question the tax cuts and

deregulation of the trump administration have helped. they've added fuel to the fire, if you will. gdp growth, 4.1% for the quarter. the unemployment rate of 4%. consumer confidence near a 14-year high. whether you voted for the president, whether you're a fan or not, he does have reason to brag today. >> absolutely. 4.1% growth itself is unsustainable. if you look below the details, ignore the export stuff, you have strong growth in business investment. it looks like the underlying trend is around 3%. that will continue through the third quarter. can the president take credit? that's the $65,000 question. the tax cut was supposed to help business investment, and we're getting strong business investment, but maybe a lot of that is just because oil prices are up, so there's a lot of drilling going on. if you look at some of the other numbers like how much equipment are people buying, that seems to have tapered off. but these nuances aren't going to matter much either to the president or voters. it's still underlying all that, a very good, solid picture. >> just to add a little context. this is a great quarter.

the president deserves every right. we have seen this before. if you go back to the clinton administration, you had quarters with 7.8%. george w. bush administration, 6 6.9%. obama had a high of 5.2%. this president's high, 4.1%. the question is sustainability. to that big question, you heard christine talk about how some of the soybean exports boomed because those farmers were like, okay, the tariffs are coming, let's get this out of here now. is there any evidence -- or when will we have evidence of if this trade, call it what you will, skirmish, war, will smother the growth? >> it is very ironic, really, that the trade war which a lot of corporations and economists are worried about, in fact, contributed to the strong growth in this quarter because of the stockpiling christine was talking about. it's difficult to predict where that goes. the deal that the president struck with the european union, although we don't know really what it's going to mean, is that going to be replicated, that kind of came out of nowhere. so those things are hard to

predict. >> the deal is to talk about a deal. there's no specific deal. you heard the president saying when those trade deals come in. he's been saying that for 18 months. >> i would also say that thus far, businesses are very worried about the uncertainty about the trade war, but that doesn't seem to have affected their actual behavior yet. as the economists keep telling us, the actual numbers don't add up to very much in a $20 trillion economy. in terms of the sustainability, i would look elsewhere for things to worry about. one of them is the fact that obviously one of the reasons people are spending a lot of money is they just got a big tax cut. unless they get another big tax cut next year and the year after that and the year after that, that's got to slow down. the second problem is we are running out of people. a big reason that growth has been so strong is we keep adding 200,000 jobs per month. at the rate our population is growing, that's not sustainable, especially if we go ahead and restrict immigration. >> if you're jerome powell and chairman of the fed, you look at this data and think, i'm right. we have to keep gradually increasing interest rates. that's what the data says. this is what the president says.

>> i'm not thrilled because, you know, we go up and every time you go up, they want to raise rates again. i don't really -- i am not happy about it. but at the same time, i'm letting them do what they feel is best. i don't like all of this work that goes into doing what we're doing. >> is it a safe bet that the fed follows the numbers and continues the policy? or does the fed get intimidated by the president at all? >> well, no. the expectation is that the fed will, despite the president's unusual intervention there, maintain its traditional independence. >> very polite way to say it. >> i don't think the fed does anything differently. i think the president just hurts himself. there's going to be fed officials who are saying, gosh, i was torn between going once more this year and twice more this year, but now i have to show i'm independent, so maybe i'll go twice more. if you look at the numbers, i think trump really stepping aside from that rhetoric, he should be delighted. he has this strong economy,

incredibly low interest rates, and a fed chairman who has said publicly he doesn't want to stamp out this growth. he wants to get unemployment lower. what more could you ask for? >> the president has asked for 5% and 6% growth. in fact, that's what he predicted or called for during the campaign. those numbers are highly unlikely to emerge. >> highly unlikely but still a day for the president so celebrate. appreciate you coming in. up next, an offer the president has not refused.

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russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. >> a little flashback friday. that unforgettable moment exactly two years ago today. and now today, well, the love fest between president trump and russia's vladimir putin is again front and center. president putin today heaping new praise on his american counterpart and saying he's ready for more summits. >> translator: we are ready for such meetings. we're ready to invite president trump to moscow to be my guest. he has such an invitation. i've told him that. and i'm ready to go to washington. i repeat once again, if the right conditions for work are created. >> now, remember, there was giant republican blowback when president trump suggested a second summit this year here in

washington just before the midterm elections. so the white house pulled back and said any meeting would have to wait until after the new year and after the russia meddling investigation ends. still, the white house is responding warmly to president putin's offer today. this from the white house press secretary. quote, president trump looks forward to having president putin in washington after the first of the year, and he's open to visiting moscow upon receiving a formal invitation. so the reviews of helsinki were horrible. the president's own team still can't tell us with any specificity what was discussed in the long one-on-one meeting. and yet, the two presidents seem gung ho about more summits. >> the most interesting thing identify pick i've picked up in reporting since helsinki and since the president's invitation was sort of kicked down the road until after the new year is people around the president in the white house don't really feel that he can get into any sort of substantive negotiations with vladimir putin or make any sort of substantive deal with russia

until after he's cleared of collusion, until after the mueller report is issued. that was something i really hadn't realized. he can have meetings, but it doesn't really make sense to do one of these summits or they won't really have any sort of substantive outcomes if or until he's cleared by mueller. >> that's assuming that's going to be over after the first of next year. there's no promise. i know people around the president like to tell him it's almost over, it's almost over. they don't know. no one knows when this is going to be over. thissing stret this could stretch another year. no one knows what mueller has, when he's going to drop it. there's a lot of guessing that if he doesn't do it in the next couple weeks because of the midterm elections, he's not going to run up right against them. we'll have to see, but that's wishful thinking in and of itself, that it's going to be over this year. >> you hit on a key point earlier. we still don't have a real good sense of exactly what happened between vladimir putin and donald trump in helsinki. when mike pompeo was testifying

about that this week, members of both sides were visibly frustrated that he was not divulging more information about what happened when he was asked specific questions about policy issues that came up in the meeting, whether or not the president talked about drawing down troops in sooyria, for instance. pompeo pushed back and said that's not the question at issue here. the question is whether u.s. policy has changed, and it hasn't. it's not clear to anybody what they agreed to and why the second summit is so critical. >> to that point, the russians have said they made some progress in the private meeting about syria, whether that's about refugees or military cooperation. the defense secretary was asked if anything changed on the ground. he answered with one word, no. does this from president putin help or hurt the president, or does it not matter? >> translator: you can critique him for what he does, and many people do that, but one thing is clear, he is willing to fulfill

his campaign promises. >> there is this giant overhanging question. you know, donald trump, president trump, has criticized just about everybody on the planet except for kim jong-un and vladimir putin. there you have president putin saying he keeps his campaign promises. if you're a trump hater, it raises your suspicions and doubts. does it do anything else? >> no, i don't think it does anything else. there's been interesting dialogue between moscow and washington about this possible second summit. you remember initially when it was -- the president got really upset about the coverage of helsinki and basically directed they announce he'd invited vladimir putin for this fall in washington, d.c. the russians didn't accept at first. >> they played hard to get. >> they said, well, you know, there are all these other venues. there are all these other summit where is where we'll both be present. i won't go to the dance with you, but i'll dance with you if you're there maybe. today, a pretty stark change from vladimir putin.

i don't know what the right working conditions are. >> after the white house had already kicked it down the road. it seems there's a sort of cat and mouse game happening. >> i'm trying to figure out exactly what they're doing. the relationship between what the president says and american poll circumstanc policy, i don't know that the secretary of state can separate the two quite as neatly as he tried to. >> as he would like. >> also, we're going to have less information coming out of this. they announced this week they're no longer going to release transcripts after the president speaks with someone. that means we're going to be at the mercy of foreign governments to tell us what the president said. >> i'd be skeptical if that actually happens, if they completely discontinue what are called read outs. i really am skeptical. the folks at the white house are pretty keenly aware of exactly the problem you just described, which is that, you know, making everyone rely on a foreign government's account of a conversation between president trump and their leader is deeply problematic. i can give you a lot of examples

of read outs being dramatically different, even among allies, between president obama and francois hollande, the former president of france. vastly different read outs. >> all politics is local. >> ample frustration from lawmakers this week about learning more about what's happening from the kremlin than from their own administration. >> all right. we'll keep an eye on that one. up next, after six decades, some american heroes finally heading home. belly fat: the chili pepper sweat-out. not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort,and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com today for your chance to win a free treatment.

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topping our political radar today. yes, he waited 18 months, but president trump will hold a national security council meeting this afternoon to talk about election security. secretary of state mike pompeo among the top national security officials likely to attend. and a white house official says the meeting could include an update on russian interference efforts. this morning, the department of homeland security says it has reunified all eligible parents and children separated at the border. the court ordered deadline to reunite families was yesterday, but officials say 700 children could not be reunited because their parents were either deported, declined reunification, or have criminal histories. today 65 years after the end of the korean war, remains said to be those of 55 american servicemen killed during that war began their journey home. you see the pictures arriving in south korea this morning. there will be a repatriation ceremony next week. then off to a u.s. military

laboratory in hawaii for dna analysis. the president paying tribute this morning at the white house. >> these incredible american heroes will soon lay at rest on sacred american soil. l babysittr instead of your brother. hey! oh, that's my robe. is it? when you switch to liberty mutual, you could save $782 on auto and home insurance. and still get great coverage for you and your family. call for a free quote today. you could save $782. liberty mutual insurance. liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

this story just in to cnn. cbs says it is investigating its own ceo ahead of a coming "new yorker" expose. sources telling cnn the magazine about to publish an investigation from ronan farrow detailing alleged sexual

misconduct. reports of that news sending cbs stock tumbling. back to our big story here in washington. big boom for the economy. the republicans hoping they get some too. let's look at the mood of the country when it comes to the economy. satisfaction with the economy is skyrocketing. this is george w. bush's election. this is 9/11. this is the financial crisis, the obama election. the economy, confidence in it, has been growing for quite some time. this is donald trump's election, spiking since then. 66% of american people satisfied with the direction of the economy. here's another way to look at it. more americans do think the economy has rebounded, and more americans say the president deserves credit. this is last year. this is this year. you see the improvement numbers are up, including the president's, getting credit for it. if we asked this question a year ago, president obama was still getting more of the credit for the growing economy. now a majority of americans say, no, president trump deserves more of the credit. so if you're the republicans running in a midterm election

year, you hope the economy helps. there's some evidence that's possible. these are the last four big midterm years. look at the negative mood of the country in 2006, 2010, and 2014. decidedly negative in 2006, the president's party suffered. negative again in 2010, the president's party suffered. again in 2014, the second obama midterm, the losses aren't as big but still losses. yes, the country is still in a negative mood despite the good economy, but by a much smaller margin than in these prior elections. republicans have a path, if they can make the case you should feel better, we deserve some of the credit. that's what the president tried to do today. >> if economic growth continues at this pace, the united states economy will double in size, more than ten years faster than it would have under either president bush or president obama. but we're getting jobs. we're getting money coming in.

we're respected. >> it is the ultimate frustration for the president's party in this year. 4% unemployment, 4.1% growth last quarter. republicans should be dancing. but the prognosis today is they will at least lose the house because the president in much of the country, not all of the country, but in much of the country and places where it matters, he's politically toxic. >> that 2014 midterm is an interesting one. political scientists say that was one of the most nationalized and president centric midterms in a long time. so that suggests a possible echo here. booming growth didn't pay dividends ultimately for the president's party. remember in 2014, it was just a debacle for the democrats at every single level. senate, house, governorships. i'm sure they're watching that closely at the white house. >> 2014 was also interesting because the economy grew in one of the quarters at a similar

rate, i think more than today's numbers, and of course the democrats lost the senate. it was a terrible midterm election year. talking to house republicans yesterday, they were looking forward to this number because they wanted this to be their argument and pitch going into the recess. they're feeling a lot better, something to campaign on. perhaps one reason why they keep the house. still, so many other issues, so many other controversies drowning out their message. the president being so toxic and riling up the democratic base. the enthusiasm still on the democratic side. the ultimate question is how do americans feel? >> i just want to show those numbers one more time. this is right track, wrong track in the country. you see the country in a negative mood 2006, 2010, 2014. still in a negative mood. these are nbc/"wall street journal" numbers. there's your argument for republicans. can they make it? the problem is they're trying to get through the president's personal unpopularity when they say, look, we're making your

lives better. >> when you saw what happened in helsinki, the tariffs, you've got republicans on the hill in particular that are just saying, okay, make this stop. the announcement of the $12 billion for farmers. well, that's good news for farmers in some ways. republicans are saying, no, they don't want to be given money. they want to work. the fact that the president is sort of making it harder for them to talk about the economy in a positive way, i think, is causing a lot of consternation within that party. >> the other thing is when we talk about the economy, if you look at the list of concerns on people's minds and look at health care, for example, clearly an economic issue, right? there's a lot of concern about health care. when you talk about the big job numbers and the rest, which are incredibly positive, for a lot of americans their top three or four concerns are not quote/unquote the economy necessarily. that's another challenge in the messaging. >> it's important there. all right. quick break for us. when we come back, back to the big michael cohen news today and rudy giuliani saying the president feels betrayed.

welcome back. today's confrontation between president trump and michael cohen is a reminder the trump inner circle is very different now. the familiar faces from the past not only not around, many are key players in the investigations the president loves to hate. cohen flipping from an i will take a bullet for mr. trump to i will testify the president knew about a campaign meeting with russians. former communications director

hope hicks gone from the oval office now and in the know on many big questions being explored by the special counsel. ex-national security adviser michael flynn cooperating with the special counsel. "the wall street journal" reporting this week the man who knows the ins and outs of the president's finances has been subpoenaed. to listen to rudy giuliani, the president took cohen's turn especially hard. >> he wasn't angry. you know president trump can get angry sometimes. he was disappointed, almost like a father who's been betrayed by his son. it was very moving for jay and me. >> like a father who's been betrayed by his son. >> it's a little dramatic. you know, i think we've seen repeatedly in the white house what's been on display in the trump organization for years and years, which is that the president expects loyalty, but he doesn't return loyalty. loyalty is often not paid. that's certainly on display now on the national stage with michael cohen.

>> and one lawmaker told me yesterday that it really reveals that a lot of these members are just -- i mean, a lot of these people within trump's inner circle are out for themselves. they're trying to protect themselves. at the end of the day, that's where this may go. another reason michael cohen is doing this right now is he's trying to protect himself. he has much more loyalty to his family than he does to the president. >> take this any way you want, but in a sense, you have a 72-year-old man who's president of the united states, who ran a tightly held family business who's used to having the same people around him for a long period of time. his inner circle has changed. an official described the president's mood as angry a point that was reflected in his speech in illinois. the president spent time on the phone with lawyers and others learning details of the subpoena. it's getting closer and closer to his inner circle. how do you think he feels? >> well, especially this accountant. he was with trump's father in the '70s. it was his first job, i think,

right out of school. so this is someone who not only knows the business finances, he knows the trumps' personal finances. i would imagine the president just knowing what we know about him is enraged that this is getting so close. >> to that point, tim o'brien wrote this in bloomberg view. if he winds up in investigators' cross hairs for secreting payoffs, he could provide much more damaging information to prosecutors than cohen ever could about the president's deal making. he also handled trump's personal finances as well as the corporate finances. he's paid household bills, made large purchases, and has communicated with trump's outside investment advisers. in other words, if there's something to be worried about, he knows. and we should emphasize that's still an if. we don't know that. it's an if. >> very clearly. the cliche is he knows where all the bodies are buried, but that's applicable here. if there's any financial hanky

panky, he'd be the guy to know about it. they're in a uniquely well-placed position to help mueller along, at least in understanding the president's finances. >> who is it around the president? he liked having hope hicks close by. michael cohen did not get a white house job. that hurt michael cohen's feelings. he didn't get into the administration, but they did talk a fair amount. is there somebody new who's replaced him, or is the president relying on a smaller circle? >> there isn't anybody like that. i think that's why you see the president using his phone more but also inviting people into the white house, corey lewandowski, his former campaign manager, inviting those people in, inviting them on trips with him. i think he's lonely. he likes the company. so the president's doing more outreach since he doesn't have those people internally. >> and we'll see what he says this weekend. he's going to bedminster. apparently there's rain in the forecast. maybe he doesn't go out and play golf. he's going to be calling a lot of these people, be on twitter.

we'll see how he reacts to all this news. >> we'll keep an eye on that. thanks for joining us on "inside politics" today. jim sciutto in for wolf blitzer today. he picks up our coverage right now. have a great weekend. hello. i'm jim sciutto in today for wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. a new denial. president trump disputing michael cohen's claim as first reported here on cnn that the president knew of and approved of the trump tower meeting with the russians before that meeting happened. so in a battle of credibility, who are we to believe? plus, vladimir putin invites president trump to moscow and accepts his invitation back here to washington. this as we learn russians attempted to hack a senator's office this year. and the u.s. economy